“Dad!” I yell, shocked that Jackson would try this one on.
“You started with a fucked up life,” Jackson begins, giving me a look. “You ain’t gonna finish with one.”
“That’s not your choice to make,” I protest.
“He’s no fuckin’ good for you, Addison.”
“Again,” I say, keeping as calm as possible. “That’s not your choice to make.”
“Like fuck it ain’t!”
“I’m twenty-one, Dad. Don’t start trying to tell me what to do.”
“Sugar, it’s cool. Let him take his…” Cade begins.
“No,” I snap, cutting him off. I look Jackson right in the eye. “You made a mistake once, you picked the wrong person and you got burned. I’m sorry for that, but you don’t get to throw that on me. I want to be with Cade, and I want to be around you. If you won’t let me have both, you know which one I’ll choose.”
Jackson glares at me. “That’s blackmail, kid.”
“You can’t choose who I fall in love with, Dad.”
Cade jerks a little beside me, but he says nothing.
“No, I fuckin’ can’t, but I can warn you that tangling yourself up in the biker life ain’t the happily ever after you dreamed of.”
“Who said happily ever after couldn’t involve bikers?”
Jackson’s lips twitch, and I know I’ve managed to soften him a bit. Taking the moment, I step forward. “I want to be in your life, but I want to be in Cade’s, too. Don’t make me choose. Please?”
“I just want the fuckin’ best for you,” he grumbles.
“Then let me choose, for the first time in my life, what I think is best for me.”
Jackson sighs deeply, and then turns to Cade. “You fuckin’ hurt her, so help me God, I’ll fuckin’ cut your dick off and feed it to you.”
Cade nods. “I got ya, boss.”
“You fuckin’ treat her with respect. She ain’t no whore, Cade.”
I flinch now.
“No, she ain’t,” Cade says simply.
Jackson glares at Cade once more, I know he’s still not happy with it, but he doesn’t really have the grounds to fight it. He points to the table nearby.
“Sit, we all gotta talk.”
We all take a seat, and I feel my chest begin to clench. I’ve been dreading this moment, and yet I so desperately want it off my chest.
“Start talkin’, girl,” Jackson says, giving me a soft look.
“I don’t know where to start,” I say in a small voice.
“From the beginning, sugar,” Cade says.
I swallow, look down at my hands and begin telling them my story.
“When you mentioned Jasper’s name a few weeks ago, Jackson, I wasn’t honest. I said I knew of him. The truth is, he…he made my life a living hell. He was the one who took my virginity when I was thirteen.”
Jackson is out of his chair before I can say another word. It skitters across the room and smashes into a nearby wall. He storms around, grips me from my chair by the shoulders and lifts me. He’s powerful. I can feel it in the way he lifts me from the chair. He brings me close to his face. His eyes are wild. His body is trembling.
“All this time, all this fuckin’ time you didn’t tell me? How could you keep that from me? Fuckin’ hell, Addison, why?”
My tears shock me because they’re not something I want to show my father, let alone Cade.
“Because I didn’t know you!” I scream.
He drops me, then I’m in his arms, and he’s holding me tightly. I can feel his heart thudding against my cheek. His fingers tangle in my hair and he holds me close, and I sink into him. This comfort, is a comfort I have needed my entire life. God, Jackson, why weren’t you around when I needed you?
“Baby,” he rasps. “So fuckin’ sorry. I should have fought harder for you.”
I shake my head, soaking his jacket with my tears. “Why didn’t you?” I croak.
“I tried, baby, I did. I looked for your Ma, but I couldn’t find her. She gave me a false name. Then I searched for your name, couldn’t find that either because apparently she changed your name as soon as she bolted. I figured maybe you were better off without me, and eventually, I stopped lookin’. Worst mistake I ever made.”
I jerk, and he holds me tighter. When I finally pull back, he grips my face.
“Can’t change what I did back then, but I can change what I do now. I’ll find that fucker, and I’ll make him pay for every moment he hurt you.”
I nod, knowing he will do just that. I don’t care either. Not one, tiny bit. I look past Jackson to see Cade sitting at the table, just staring at his hands. He’s too still, too quiet. I step out of Jackson’s grips, and gently walk over. I place my fingers on his arm and he flinches.
“Hey,” I whisper.
He looks up at me, then he grinds out, “Keep goin’ with the story, yeah?”
I stare at him a long moment before sitting back in my chair. I take a few deep breaths, wipe my face and continue once Jackson sits back down.
“So, after that, Jasper was a big part of my life. He was Mom’s pimp; he was always around. He continued to rape me. Eventually, I stopped fighting him.”
Jackson growls and Cade smashes the glass in his hand, splinters of it scatter across the table.