Page 131 of The Legend
No one crossedJameson. And honestly, it wasn’t because of his temper but out of respect forhim. In the sprint car world, NASCAR, and racing in general, he was highlyrespected. And the fact that he trusted Grady only to find out that he usedJameson was the lowest appreciation for respecting him.
I calledJameson several times. All my calls went to voicemail. I called Tommy, hehadn’t seen him. I called Willie, he hadn’t seen him and finally, I called Vanand Clint. No one had seen him.
I was oneworried Mama Wizard by the time the teams began to show up. We had family, theCup team, nearly everyone from Riley-Simplex Racing both the road crew and theguys back at the shop. JAR Racing was here, even the guys that drove the trucksand who we rarely saw. Andrea made it over. It was the first time I had sawMacy, her and Van’s daughter, in about a year. Logan and Lucas came. Mosteveryone we knew was gathered for us to show them how much we appreciated themin our time of need.
Castencame inside with Nancy when I was greeting a few of the representatives ofSolar Seals. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away with a smile to whereSpencer and Aiden were standing. “We have a problem.” Were his words to mefollowed by a grin and then an eye roll, “Shit’s about to hit the fan mama.”
“I thinkthe shit hit the fan a long time ago.” I reached out and snatched a beer fromsomeone’s table not carrying who had been drinking it. Following the boysoutside, I downed that beer in all of two seconds.
Castenlooked at me when I burped, amused. “Careful there, it’s still early.”
Outside, Ihad a feeling that Arie must have come clean to Easton because when Gradyappeared in the shadows of the parking lot, Easton Levi was the first one inhis face.
It made meproud that Easton felt the need to defend Arie and I think Jameson felt thesame way as I saw him leaned against the side of the building, still in theshadows, dressed in his tux. For a moment, I was caught off guard with howbeautiful and downright sexy he looked.
He had themysterious edge by keeping his distance but you knew the fire inside was stillthere. Much like the photographs I loved so much, his head was bent forward,the growth of his hair, finally showing, blended in with his jaw line.His hands were buried in his pockets with his cane beside him.
Theboisterous surroundings caught my attention and drew me to the crowd aroundGrady.
Easton hadthe upper hand but I had a feeling that Grady also knew he deserved it and gotwhat he had coming to him. Spencer and Aiden separated them quickly beforeanyone got in trouble but Easton was happy and kept trying to get at him.Apparently his licks he gave at the shop weren’t enough.
“You sonof a bitch!” he screamed at Grady pointing his finger at him as he tried tobasically climb over Spencer to get back at him. “She’s seventeen!Seventeen asshole!”
“That’senough, Easton.” Jameson voice, calm but threatening, came from behind thecrowd as he stepped from the darkness, his left hand remained in his pocket,his right dragging his cane. He stopped beside me, his lashes danced shadowsover his cheek as he slowly blinked, his eyes remained focused on the ground ashe handed me his cane. With a limp, he moved to stand beside Spencer.
Alley andEmma came outside to see why we left so quickly. “What’s going—” Alley came toa stop and looked at the boys. “Ah shit.”
“Prettymuch,” was my response. “Where’s Nancy?”
“Inside,Axel and Lily are with her.” Emma said and then smiled. “I might add, she foundthe wine,”
Aiden grabbedEaston and flung him back against the building holding him in place. “LetJameson take care of this.” He said to Easton. When he was confident Easton wascalming down, he let go of him but stayed nearby.
In themeantime, Jameson was standing in front of Grady now for the first time.
Gradylooked at his feet. He knew this was a fight he wasn’t going to win bothverbally or physically.
“I’msorry.” He confessed promising the sun where there’s only rain.
Alleysnorted completely disgusted with Grady’s response. I was so pissed for what hedid to Jameson and my daughter that I contemplated taking this cane in my handand shoving it up his ass.
“You’resorry?” Jameson choked out in a gasp removing his hand from his pocket andfinally looking up. “You tried to kill me and you expect me to just roll it offmy shoulders?”
“No! Iknow I messed up.” Grady didn’t know it, but it was too late for apologies.
His glareat Grady spoke volumes if the hands fisting in his shirt didn’t. “I fuckingwarned you. I told you when I hired you, don’t fuck me over or you’ll regretit.”
That’swhen Grady tried to explain. “My grandparents and my mom went into depressionafter my dad died. We were very close with his family and his sister who hadschizophrenia. Their entire family suffered from it. I felt like it was myresponsibility to defend him. I was wrong and I’m sorry. I never meant to hurtyou...well, I did, but I’m sorry. I never touchedJimi’s car...” He pleadedholding his hands up trying to back away from him. Jameson had him pinnedagainst a car in the parking lot and didn’t appear like he was going to let go.“I swear that I didn’t!”
Jameson’ssmile was bitter and hard as he ripped his eyes from Grady. His head turnedsideways as the muscles in his jaw tightened with each thought. “What makes youthink I can believe you now?”
Gradystumbled over a few words that meant nothing as far as Jameson was concerned.
“You hadno right to do that. I don’t care who you are.” Jameson said letting go ofGrady and stepping back. “You had no right to come into my family, my home, andact like it was your responsibility. This wasn’t your fight to defend and youknow absolutely nothing about what happened with me and Darrin. I did nothingto you.” He pushed between his teeth, still not looking at anyone.
I watchedhis chest expand, his shirt tightening against his skin. Taking my own deepbreath, I contemplated how I could calm him down but knew showing the funbagswould be just a little inappropriate given the circumstances.
But I did thinkabout it.
