Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,6

having.

But I can’t go back in time.

I can only go forward.

I finish my shower and go into the bedroom.

The covers are a mess.

That makes me grin.

I can’t get enough of Jolie.

I’ve unlocked her desires…

I reset my mind and focus.

That means getting dressed, grabbing my cigarettes and phone, and heading downstairs.

I hear laughter in the kitchen.

That’s a sense of peace and comfort for me.

Jolie is in the middle of it all, as always.

Mama stands with a pancake flipper at Taz’s nose.

“Tell me again to flip the pancakes, Taz,” she warns.

“I would never do that, Mama,” Taz says. “Ever.”

Mama looks at me. “Look who showed up.”

“We knew there would be a big meal,” Les says. “And we wanted to check on Jolie.”

I look at Jolie and wink.

She’s holding a cup of coffee, one eyebrow raised at me.

Her hair is a sleepy-sex mess that makes me want to take her back upstairs.

“And we wanted to talk about what happened yesterday,” Les says.

I look at Les and curl my lip.

“What’s there to talk about?” Mama asks as she goes back to making food.

I take a step toward Les and Taz puts his forearm to my chest and shakes my head.

“There were a few issues,” I say as I stare at Les. “Just minor things. Details.”

“I don’t like to hear that,” Mama says. “Everyone go sit down. I’ll be there in a few.”

Taz tries to keep Les and I apart.

But Les isn’t afraid of me and I’m not afraid of him.

That leaves Taz rubbing his forehead as Les and I almost go nose to nose.

“Is this really what you want to fucking do, bro?” I whisper to Les.

“You know what needs to be done,” Les whispers back.

He walks around me.

I grit my teeth.

Jolie hurries toward me and reaches up and touches my neck.

“What is it?” she whispers.

“Nothing,” I whisper to Jolie.

We walk to the table.

Now before anyone else’s head start spinning, the fake kidnapping had to be done a certain way. That means… those who need to know, know. Those who don’t, don’t.

The crew knows.

Except Ado.

We took a vote and decided we can’t trust him enough.

His mental state with his mother has him so fucked up as it is. I don’t need him out there, messing up and saying something about Jolie.

For Ado, I have him on small jobs just to keep him busy.

But eventually… we’ll have to make a decision on what to do with him.

In a perfect world, when his mother passes, he’ll want to take time to himself or move somewhere else. If that happens, I’ll gladly give him the cash needed to start over.

Until then… he’s on the outside of this.

“So, how was your day and night, Jolie?” Taz asks with a grin.

Jolie shows her middle fingers to him. “Very funny.”

“It can’t be that bad,” Les says. “This place is like a fortress. If I was going to be fake kidnapped, this is where I’d want to be.”

“I’ll trade you,” Jolie offers.

Les laughs.

I slowly sit down as Mama brings a giant platter of food.

“If I was going to be fake kidnapped, I’d want to be trapped in bed with a pretty girl,” Taz says. “For days and days and days…”

“You would say that,” Jolie says. “I’m surprised you didn’t mention Violet.”

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Taz says. He rubs his hands together. “Bring it on. She’s Violet. I can be… red… and that makes… wait a second…”

“You do realize that red and blue make purple, right?” Jolie asks.

“Yeah,” Taz says.

“Don’t even go down this road with him,” Les says. “Taz failed preschool.”

I start to laugh.

“Oh, fuck off,” Taz says.

“You fuck off, Taz,” Mama says.

Everyone goes quiet.

Then she smiles.

“Now let’s sit and eat. I want to hear about these details.”

I look at Les and curl my lip again.

He opens his mouth and I shake my head.

It’s my job to talk now.

I swallow hard.

“The SUV was late,” I say. “Thirty seconds late.”

“But late,” Les says.

Mama just stares. “Anything else?”

“It was the wrong color,” I say.

“What?” Mama asks.

“Blue,” Les says. “I jumped out of the car and took out my gun…”

Mama’s eyes move to Jolie.

I look at Jolie.

She’s listening. Her cheeks are a little rosy.

I’m not sure if she should be sitting here for this, but too late now.

Mama looks at me.

“I stopped him,” I say. “Not that Les did anything wrong. He saw the color was different and we were told…”

“Right,” Mama says. She stands up. “I guess there was a little misinformation.”

“When I saw who got out of the SUV, I knew it was