The Will (Magdalene #1)(131)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Her eyes came to him and he saw her face still blank.

He didn’t like that. Not only because it was not Josie but because he couldn’t read it and he needed to know where her head was at.

He moved to her, sat behind her and arranged them so he had her between his legs up on the window seat, arm around her chest, the other around her ribs, her back to his torso.

He felt better when she rested her head on his shoulder and her arms over his.

“Amond called. He’s going to be here Tuesday,” she shared once she’d relaxed into him.

Fucking fantastic. Just what they needed. A protective, internationally known hip-hop artist showing up to pass judgment on Jake.

He did not share these thoughts.

He said, “Good you got that visit to look forward to.”

She said nothing, just looked out at the sea.

He let her do this for a while and then he was done letting her do it so he gave her a squeeze and said gently, “Baby, you’re freakin’ me out. Lots to think about, I know your head’s gotta be full of it but you’re givin’ me nothing.”

That was when she gave him something.

“How did Dad die?” she asked but she did it like she’d ask what was for dinner.

That was bizarre, but not for Josie. She’d needed to build that wall since the moment she was born. But in the end, her father did it for her.

Still, he drew in breath and pulled her closer before he suggested, “Maybe we can talk about that tomorrow.”

She twisted in his arms and he dipped his chin to see she was looking up at him.

“How did Dad die, Jake?”

Fuck.

“A lot hit you tonight. You ready for real?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” she answered immediately.

It was the immediately that convinced him. He nodded and gathered her closer, pulling her up his chest so they were near to eye to eye.

Only then did he give her real.

“After Lydie got custody of you, he got himself another woman. He also knocked that other woman around. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for the universe, she had a family that didn’t like that much. They got her out of that shit and got her to press charges. It stuck. He went down. Short-term sentence but he clearly was not the kind of man who made friends easily. He got shivved but not bad, guards didn’t see it or didn’t like him much and didn’t report it. For whatever reason, he hid the injury. It got infected and by the time he got treatment, that shit was in his bloodstream and they couldn’t fight it. Six month sentence for assault turned into life.”

“He died in prison?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Jake answered.

“From an infection from a knife wound?” she went on.

“That’s what’s in his file.”

“Because he was too much of a badass to get it stitched up and get a course of antibiotics,” she kept on.

Jake said nothing, though he did it fighting back a smile seeing as she used the word “badass.”

“That’s whacked, Jake,” she declared.

At that, he grinned.

“Not sure your father’s insanity was ever in question, Slick.”

She shook her head like she couldn’t believe all she’d heard but did it turning and nestling into him, putting her head on his chest and training her eyes to the sea.

Jake’s arms went tighter.

“He’s not getting Lavender House,” she whispered.

“No, he isn’t, baby,” he whispered back.

“I don’t care if it takes every penny I have, he’s not getting anything that was Gran’s.” She was still whispering but her tone was fierce. And hearing it, he finally felt relief.

“It won’t take every penny, Josie. But this will go away,” he promised.

She nodded, her cheek moving against his chest, before she declared, “Boston Stone is not a toad. He’s an ass**le.”

Jake grinned again and pulled her closer.

“Got that right, Slick,” he agreed.

“And that Baginski woman is odious,” she kept at it.

He said nothing.

“What’s her problem anyway?” she asked with mild curiosity and in a way she didn’t expect an answer. Then again, she couldn’t know Jake actually had one.

Shit.

So she had it all, something at this point she needed to have, he had to give it to her.

So he did.

“I regrettably f**ked her about ten years ago and didn’t go back for seconds,” Jake shared cautiously and she jerked in his arms so she could look up at him again.

But he was relieved when she asked, “That’s it?”

“Don’t know if that’s it. Just know you gotta know that history.”

Her brows drew together. “What did you see in her?”

“Ten years ago she wasn’t in a perpetually bad mood, nor did she wear that shit on her face.”

She studied him a moment before she announced the God’s honest truth, “Women are very strange.”

He decided not to agree verbally.

Her eyes held his and she declared, “So, at least with her, I have the best revenge I can have. I have you.”

He stared at her as his body locked.

Fuck him, but he f**king loved her.

“Yeah,” he whispered, his voice rough.

“Good,” she stated haughtily and settled in again, curving her arms around him this time. “Alas, she’ll never learn that I have you for precisely the reasons she doesn’t, that she’s odious and ridiculous and I’m not. It’s my experience that the men worth having dislike odious and ridiculous.”

Her words forced his body to release since he was fighting back laughter when he confirmed, “Nope, men don’t like either of those.”

“So she’s sad really,” she concluded.

“Yep,” he agreed.

She fell silent.

He stared at the top of her head, her cheek against his chest, felt her weight bearing into him, her arms around him and having all that, it was whacked, but he knew he wanted to sit there with her forever.

But that shit couldn’t happen and he told her why.

“Kids are worried about you, honey. If you’re good, you gotta get down there and show them that.”

Not surprisingly, instantly she moved.

Pulling out of his arms then grabbing his hand and pulling them both to their feet, she said, “Of course. I should have thought of that.”

She started to pull him to the stairs but he stopped her, calling, “Babe?”