Page 44 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

WALK THE PLANK

“ W hat color were they?” Dillion asked an hour later.

“What?” he asked. They’d both showered, dressed, eaten breakfast, and were just cleaning up.

If he didn’t know better, he’d think Dillion was dragging the morning out to pick up Gianna.

“My eyes,” she said. “What color were they when I came? You said they were like bluish-gray storm clouds before.”

He laughed. “They cleared right up and it was bright blue on a sunny day after.”

She pursed her lips and gave him a playful shove. “Get out. I don’t believe it.”

He closed one eye at her. “Fine. They were the same color but deeper. Filled with emotions.”

She nodded. “That is what your eyes looked like. You shut them right after too, so don’t give me a hard time about it.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Relaxed now?”

“As much as I’m going to be,” she said. “Time to walk the plank.”

“I’ll be right by your side,” he said.

“I know,” she said. “I can’t even blame my father either.”

“That’s right,” he said. “He is only doing it because he cares about you and Gianna.”

“I never thought you’d be this reckless, Dillion,” her father said the minute she walked in the door ten minutes later.

She turned to look at Jax.

He figured Dylan would be upset, but that was a shout loud enough that the neighbors could have heard.

“Where is Gianna?” she asked right away. “She doesn’t need to hear this.”

“Your mother took her to the park around the corner,” her father said. He was pacing and his face was red.

“So there’d be no witnesses and she couldn’t come to my defense?” she asked with her hands on her hips.

“Your mother and I had it out last night. I wanted to drive over and talk to you then, but she told me to wait. Like she thought sleeping on it would calm me down.”

“I hope Mom gave it right back to you,” she said, lifting her chin. Damn, these two were going at it. “Don’t take it out on her. She didn’t have to go.”

“I don’t know if I would have been more pissed if she hadn’t gone and knew you were than I was that she went and didn’t tell me.”

Jax couldn’t fault the guy there.

He didn’t want to get into the middle of this argument, but he would not let Dillion get verbally run over either.

He might not have been happy about what she’d done, but he believed that maybe it was the right move in the long run.

“Are you and Mom still fighting?” she asked.

“No,” her father snapped. Didn’t sound it to Jax. “It doesn’t mean I’m not pissed off at you. You didn’t have to do this alone. You always think you can.”

“Because she can,” Jax said, interrupting. “And she handled it well.”

“You agree with what she did?” Dylan asked, rounding on him, his eyes narrowing.

“No,” he said. “And Dillion will tell you we got into it last night too. Not a fight though.”

“An aggressive heated discussion,” Dillion said. “I told him to calm down if he wanted to know everything that happened.”

Dylan was staring at him. “I took some time to get my emotions under control,” Jax said. “I wasn’t happy with what she did any more than you, but it is her decision. Gianna is her daughter. When I calmed down enough to listen to how it turned out, I realized maybe she was right.”

“You think that?” she asked him, turning. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“You didn’t ask,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have to ask that,” she said.

“Why do you think my daughter was right?” her father asked. He stopped pacing at least. “Because I think it was a stupid move and that is what you pay attorneys for. She could have messed it up.”

“I didn’t,” she snarled. “And Gianna is my daughter. I know you mean well, but you don’t know everything. You’re not always right.”

Her father’s face was red enough he expected steam to come out his ears. It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest the older man sit down.

“Your mother told me you felt sorry for Martha.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head rapidly. “Mom felt sorry for her. I didn’t. I’d never let my daughter go through what Alec did. That’s not me. I don’t think she protected her child, but it’s not for me to judge.”

“Don’t defend Alec,” her father snarled. “He made his choices in life as an adult. Poor choices. Right, Jax?”

“I said the same thing,” he said. Not that he wanted to gang up on Dillion either, but he would not lie.

“I can feel sorry for him as a child and what he went through. I can even agree that his childhood led him to make poor decisions. But he broke the law. He was an intelligent man who knew right from wrong. That’s on him. ”

“That’s right,” her father said, crossing his arms and nodding his head. “It’s on him. Everything he did to you and could have cost you is on him. Are those the type of people you want around your daughter? I don’t want them around my granddaughter.”

“I’m sure Mom told you that isn’t going to happen any time soon, if at all. I haven’t decided what I’m doing, but there will be no visitations alone at all. Not while she is under eighteen. I can’t control her after that.”

Jax smiled over that.

They had talked about it last night.

He appreciated Dillion was open-minded enough to not keep this information from Gianna forever. That secrets never stayed hidden.

“Sure, you can,” her father said.

“No,” she said, her eyes wide. “You tried to control me and we had our fair share of fights over it. Mom was the one who held us together. Alec didn’t have that.

I can’t change that, but I did think about what if he did still talk to his mother.

What if he was in touch with her and they knew about me all along?

They’d be part of Gianna’s life and there wouldn’t have been much I could have done about it. ”

That crossed his mind too, but he hadn’t wanted to bring it up and sway her decision.

It was Dillion’s choice what she did, not his. And it was too early for him to play the peacemaker like he did so much in life.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to when it came to Gianna.

Which went against everything he always stood for.

Guess it didn’t make him the nice guy after all.

“That didn’t happen though,” Dylan said. “So there is no reason to think about what-ifs. What you know is now. And your mother said that everything Alec told you was the truth.”

“Not everything,” she said. “There you are exaggerating again to get your narrative to the top. What that meeting with Martha proved was that Alec hadn’t lied about his relationship with his father. I never thought he did, but I didn’t know it all either.”

“Do you think you do now?” her father asked. “His mother could be lying to you. She could be using you to get to Gianna.”

“For what purpose, Dad? To gain what? If she was going to lie, she wouldn’t have admitted she threatened more so she could get a little.”

“You can’t trust any of what they say,” her father argued. “Just like you should have never trusted Alec.”

Dillion’s face was redder than her father’s and he wasn’t going to let this go on.

If she got pissed because he interfered, or Dylan did, he didn’t care.

He’d said he’d be there for Dillion and that meant having her back even if he didn’t disagree with everything her father was saying.

“I trust Dillion,” Jax said. “You should too. You raised her to make good informed decisions. She’s smart and she knows what is right and wrong and what is best for Gianna.

She’s compassionate in that she’s open-minded enough to see Martha’s side of this, but also will put Gianna first and foremost.”

“You don’t know her like we do,” her father said. “She always says she has it covered and she doesn’t.”

“That’s not true,” she argued. “Many would say I’ve got my life together just fine even if it’s not what you would do all the time.”

“I don’t need to know her for years to know the type of woman she is,” Jax said.

He was pissed off now. “She’s a kind gentle woman who fights for those she loves.

She’s listening to you and staying in this room while being insulted when she doesn’t owe you any explanation of what her decision is going to be.

She’s not a child and she’s raising her daughter right.

She’s raising Gianna the way she was raised and that means not being afraid to go to her parents for help if she needs it or is in over her head.

But Dillion has the right to try to do it her way first! ”

He hadn’t realized he was shouting until both Dillion and her father turned to him with their jaws open.

When clapping broke the silence, he turned to see Leigh standing there with a grin on her face.

“Thank God you’ve got someone in your life not afraid to stand up for you and to you,” Leigh said to Dillion.

“And someone not afraid of my husband either. Dylan, I told you last night to stay out of it and Dillion would come to us if she needed us. To trust in the fact we raised her to know she always could. Don’t you dare ruin that now so that she won’t come to us in the future. ”

“I’m sorry,” Jax said. “I shouldn’t have yelled like that.”

“Oh, you should have,” Leigh said. “And you two, stop the fighting all the time. It’s like looking in the mirror. You both want to be right and you both can’t when you don’t think the same way.”

“Where is Gianna?” Dillion asked.

“She’s in the backyard playing. I came in to get us some water but heard the yelling. I have to admit it wasn’t Jax’s voice I was expecting to hear. My husband should be happy about that.”

“Happy?” he asked.

Dillion snorted and moved over to flop on the couch. “Yeah. He always said he had to approve of the man I ended up with. Hard for him not to approve of one that is just like him.”

“I’m not like your father,” he argued. “Not in the least.”

“Yes,” she said. “You are. You’re both salesmen in your own right. Just selling different things. You both are careful of how you act or behave in public because you don’t want someone to think ill of you. Again, different reasons.”

“You both have a stubborn streak,” Leigh said. “And when it comes out, it’s in the form of yelling out of anger. Though I have to admit, my husband rarely apologizes without his arm being twisted. You win there, Jax.”

“There is no winning here,” he said.

“No,” Dylan said. “There isn’t. This is about my daughter doing stupid things.”

“Don’t piss me off,” he said.

Leigh and Dillion both laughed. “I’m going to check on my daughter with my mother. You two can work this out.”

He hadn’t expected to be left with his girlfriend’s father.

It wasn’t a situation he ever saw himself in.

“With all due respect,” he said.

“Cut the formal bullshit,” Dylan said. “I will not hold it against you for sticking up for my daughter.”

“Then I won’t hold it against you for insulting her.”

Dylan smirked. “I never mean to do it and when you have kids someday you’ll understand.”

“I already feel it now,” he said drily.

“She’s only going to get pissed if I tell you to make sure she is watched after.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” he said. “But she can watch out for herself. She really can.”

Dylan moved over to sit in his chair. “I know. It’s difficult to admit though. I look at Gianna and think she’s just like her mother and all the stuff I should change.”

“I don’t think there is much you need to change,” he said.

“Probably not. I never liked Alec.”

“Can’t say I blame you there from what I know,” he said.

“He never stood up for her. He did more whining than anything. She would have made his life easier for him, but he didn’t see it.”

“I don’t need her to make my life easy. I don’t need her to do it all either. That’s not how a partnership works.”

“It’s not,” Dylan said. “I know my wife does more than me and always has in terms of the household, but I know enough to notice when she needs a break.”

“Everyone’s marriage is different,” he said.

Leigh never worked and maybe that was the balance they had. She cared for the house and their daughter.

But Dillion had a career and he’d never want her to give it up.

He’d never ask for that, just like she’d never ask him to do it.

“It is,” Dylan said. “You’re good for my daughter. I’m glad she opened up enough for you to find each other. I worried she’d be alone forever.”

“We might have had a little help,” he said. “But I’ll let her tell you that if you don’t mind. I’m too embarrassed over it now.”

“Embarrassment is part of life,” he said. “And a relationship. This thing with Alec’s parents. Be honest, what are your thoughts?”

It looked as if Dylan had finally calmed down.

“I’ve got mixed thoughts. It’s going to come down to what is the harm of them getting some pictures and knowing a little about their granddaughter. Dillion has the control and I believe one hundred percent she will pull back at any sign if it’s not what is good for Gianna.”

“Because she was raised well,” Dylan said.

“I was, Dad.”

Both he and Dylan turned to see Dillion standing in the doorway.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“Long enough. Thank you, Jax, for standing up for me. And thank you, Dad, for giving me the space to make decisions on my own.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

“You do,” she said. “A wise wonderful man once said that we all have a choice. We can change it, bitch about it, or accept it. In this situation, the bigger man will accept that you taught me well.”

“Now you’re just sucking up, Dillion,” Leigh said. “Jax, keep your eye on her. She’s a sly one. She’s got some salesman blood in her too.”

He held his hand out for Dillion to come to him.

She moved over and sat on his lap.

“I won’t take my eyes off of her.”

Gianna came running into the room. “Why is everyone in here? I’m hangry!”

“Who taught her that?” her father asked. “She says it all the time and it’s annoying.”

“Jax did,” Gianna said, giggling and running over to climb on his lap too.

“Be good with my girls,” her father said.

“You have my word!”