Looking For Trouble (33 page)

Jess sucked in a breath and pushed the
question past the constriction in her throat, "So, if I was in that
bed in the shape you are, you'd walk out on me? Move on?" Jess
thought she knew him better than that, but maybe not...maybe she
was seeing what she wanted to see in him.

"We're not talking about you--
I'm
the
one laying here paralyzed. I can't take care of you and Angel...and
I'm not going to be able to provide for you. I'll do what I can,
but it's gonna be rough...I won't be able to work."

"Who says I
need
you to provide for
me. Have you noticed that I make pretty damned good money singing?
And I have a contract now, even if it is with that slimy bastard
Ray Turner...it's only two years then I can find another label.
I'll have songs recorded."

Wade shook his head then said, "That's not
happening, darlin'. Ray Turner is going to jail...."

Jess snorted then spat, "Yeah right, and I'm
the tooth fairy. That guy is so slick nobody would catch him...I
know, I lived with him for five years, and didn't have a clue."

His face flinched, and paled, then he told
her, "That accountant I sent the files to here in Dallas found
hidden files inside of them, and said he has the proof you need to
prosecute him for money laundering and embezzlement. Travis is
helping him by going through the computer to look for other deleted
and hidden files. They're gonna let me know what's going on
tomorrow."

"Why didn't you tell me all this?" she asked
astonished that he'd withheld something so important from
her...this was
her
business, about her life.

"I wanted to wait, until I had all the
information to give you...I figured you'd go off half-cocked if I
didn't."

Jess tilted her head and looked at the man
laying in that bed, and realized she didn't know him at all, and he
didn't know her either, if he thought that. "So, you were
controlling me, right,
daddy
?" she said in a high-pitched
voice, and pinned him with her eyes.

"I'm not your daddy, Jess...I just thought
waiting to tell you was the right thing to do," he said weakly then
closed his eyes and flinched.

"You were doing what you thought was right
for
you
. If you told me, I'd have told you not to ride,
because there was another option, and you wanted to ride, didn't
you Wade?"

"That's not true...I'd already ridden the
first two rounds, before I found out. I didn't tell you for the
reason I said...you would've been upset and probably called him and
tipped him off, and we wouldn't have had all the information yet.
And he could take off."

"So you don't trust me...thought I was too
immature to handle big girl things, in the big girl world, is that
right
daddy
?" she asked snidely, then told him, "I put on my
big girl panties this morning, like I've done every morning now
for, oh ten years, or so."

He opened his eyes and he turned them on
her, then said angrily, "If that's true, then why the hell did you
let Ray take such advantage of you for so long? Was it just easier
for you to let him handle things, Jess? Worth all the money he
stole from you?"

Jess sucked in a breath at his brutal words,
and her heart lurched in her chest. "Wow, I can't believe you just
said that. You don't know me at all do you? I've worked my ass off
for eight years to build a career, and an asshole I trusted robbed
me blind. Maybe my problem is that I'm not a good judge of
character...I trust people too easily," she told him then added in
a choked whisper, "Like I trusted you."

"I haven't abused your trust, Jess," Wade
told her firmly.

"Yeah, you have...I trusted you to treat me
like an equal partner in
whatever
relationship we have going
here, something my daddy, or my last boyfriend didn't do...and all
you've done is try to control me, just like them."

"Maybe they had reason to take control," he
said gruffly.

"It gets better and better...is this your
way of driving me away? If so, you're doing a good job, Wade," she
told in a soft pain-filled voice with tears blurring her
vision.

He looked away from her and said, "I'm just
telling it like I see it..."

She stomped over to the bed and jerked his
chin, then grated, "Look at me asshole...see what you're doing to
me. You're crushing my heart, I trusted you with that too...and
with my daughter's. You want us out of your life, so you can feel
sorry for yourself, wallow in all you
can't
do now. Well
there's a helluva lot you
can
do, and loving us is one of
them."

"Just leave me alone, Jess..." he told her
flatly, then his lips wobbled and he told her, "We're done."

"We're not done, until
I
say we're
done, you're not going to control that too! Angel and I are going
to be staying at Jazzie's parents house in Dallas, I'm not going
back to Bowie, so you can move into that big ole house all by
yourself and wallow all you want."

"
NO
! You and Angel are moving in that
house, Jess..." he said then gritted his teeth, and clutched the
sheet.

"Oh, hell no we aren't. We're doing things
my way now, Wade Roberts."

"I don't think so, I have full custody,
remember?" he reminded her smugly.

"Not for long, jackass...if I have to sell
my
soul
to Ray Turner, I'm getting an attorney to fix that.
You'll be lucky to get monthly visitation. I don't want anything
from you either...
nothing
...not money, not clothes,
nothing
."

"Jess, don't do this...I'm not able to
handle it right now on top of everything else..." he croaked
hoarsely and slammed his head back on the pillow.

"Too fucking bad, Wade...you wanted to push
me out of your life? You got what you wanted, sugar...and this time
there won't be an ultimatum. No conditions, I'm done...
now
we're done. Goodbye," she told him then ran out of the room and
down to the waiting room, not even seeing things around her,
because tears were blurring her vision and her heart felt like it
was being ripped out of her chest.

She ran into the waiting room, and the
cowboys converged on her with concern on their faces. Holding up
her hand, she choked out, "He's fine...can't feel his legs, but the
doctor says it might be temporary. They'll come let ya'll know when
the MRI results are back," she took a deep breath then swallowed
the nausea that suddenly shoved up her throat, "I'm leaving, so
ya'll t-take c-c-care of him, okay?" Jess put a hand over mouth,
then waved and Jazzie and ran out of the room to find the
bathroom.

Jazzie was right behind her, as she ran into
a stall and tossed her cookies, sobbed, gagged, then tossed again,
until she was weak and sank to the floor resting her back against
the stall.

"Jess, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Jazzie knelt beside her and asked with concern pinching between her
brows.

"Wade and I are done...think we can stay at
your parents house for a couple of weeks, until I can make some
money to get us a place?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem, but what
the hell happened? He's laying in there broken up, and you busted
up with him?"

"He told me that he wanted me to
'move
on'
, because he was paralyzed and couldn't provide for me and
Angel, or protect us anymore...can you believe that shit?"

"Wow, he must've hit his head or something,
huh?"

"I don't know what his problem is, but
that's not all...he also didn't tell me that the accountant he sent
my books to found something to nail Ray with...he knew it
yesterday, and didn't tell me...said I'd go off half-cocked,
because he didn't have all the information yet."

Jazzie groaned and put a hand to her
forehead, "Was he trying to run you off?"

"Yep...that's exactly what he was doing. I
told him that I wasn't leaving him...that love was about the good
times
and
the bad times, then he came out with that and
basically told me I needed someone to control me because I was
immature. I'm gonna fucking show him just what this big girl can do
on her own, I don't need that crap. No more, mushroom relationships
for me."

"Keep you in the dark and feed you
bullshit?" Jazzie asked with a grin.

"Yup...that's it. He wanted to push me away,
he got his wish. I'm getting an attorney too to settle the custody
issue. I told him I'd sell my soul to Ray Turner, if that's what it
takes to do it too," she told Jazzie then looked into her eyes,
"This isn't a knee jerk thing, Jazzie...Angel deserves better, and
so do I."

"I agree, Jess...now, let's figure out what
we're gonna do. We're in this together, sister," she told her then
stuck out her pinkie.

Jess hooked it with hers, then pulled, and
told her with a wobbly smile, "I think the first thing we should do
is research that record label that Ray works for...maybe they're
not so bad, and can help us get rid of Ray. If we find out they're
legit, I'm going talk to the big dog over there, and see if we can
cut a deal."

"Good start...how're we gonna get rid of
Ray?" Jazzie asked conspiratorially, then sat on her butt beside
Jess and leaned against the wall.

"Get in touch with that accountant,
supposedly Trav has been working with him too. Between the four of
us, we can nail his ass, I know it. Then we'll contact the
authorities and have him arrested, and file a civil suit too, if we
have to do that to get some of the money back."

Jazzie snorted, then said, "Don't hold your
breath about getting money back from him...he spends it like water,
you know that."

"Yeah, but I think he stashed a lot too, we
just have to find it...and we will. We need to schedule that studio
time Travis set up for us, and cut some demos of the new songs,
maybe hit a few radio stations."

"I like your new attitude, Jess...it's good
to see you back to your old self again."

"My heart hurts like hell, but that's always
good for writing, huh? Angst and heartache make for good song
material. I should be able to write some chart toppers right now,"
she said in a nasally voice, with a watery chuckle.

"I reckon, sugar...let's get out of here,
there's probably all kinds of nasty stuff on this floor," Jazzie
told her then scrunched up her nose and stood up.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Beau took them back to the arena, and Jess
and Jazzie got Angel from Karlie and Gabe, who had lots of
questions she wasn't going to answer. She thanked them then Beau
took them to Jazzie's parent's house, and dropped them off, telling
them he had to get back to Lubbock tonight, and it was a long
drive.

Jess thanked him and they went inside the
large patchwork house that had been added on to over the years to
accommodate the six kids in the Ramos family. All but the youngest,
twenty-three-year-old Frankie, who was about to graduate from
college with a degree in engineering, had moved out now, so they
had plenty of room when the kids boomeranged back home for a little
while.

When they walked in the door, Mrs. Ramos
came bounding out of the kitchen yelling Jazzie's name, which to
her was Jasmine, pronounced with a Y for the J, so it came out
sounding like Yaz-mean...and unfortunately, hers was Yessie, she
thought with a chuckle. The beautiful, still young looking, Latina
woman turned her attention to Jess after she finished hugging the
stuffing out of Jazzie, and gave her the same treatment.

That's why Jess had always loved staying
with this family, they were real, they loved each other and weren't
afraid to show it...and they treated her like she was part of their
family. What you saw was what you got with them, you never had to
guess what they were thinking or feeling, because they let you
know.

And as soon as Mrs. Ramos caught sight of
Angel, she dropped to her knees and took her out of the car seat
and oohed and ahhed over her, then stood back up with her on her
shoulder. From staying with them, while she was pregnant, then for
a month or so afterwards, she knew that it would be a rare occasion
that she got to hold her daughter here. For all intents and
purposes, Mrs. Ramos was Angel's yaya, or grandmother, but
definitely not the first grandchild.

Jazzie's older brothers, Chichi and Raffie,
were married and each had two kids and her next oldest brother, Joe
was engaged, so it wouldn't be long, before he added more to her
brood. Tall and entirely too good-looking for his own good, her
brother Carlos was just a year older than her and Jazzie, and a was
confirmed ladies man. He'd told her he was having too much fun
shopping to buy the cow...his version of 'why buy the cow if you
can get the milk for free', she supposed. When they all got
together for family picnics or barbeques, it was quite an
experience, sort of like a circus sometimes, but Jess loved every
minute of it.

"Come in the kitchen with me, I just
finished making enchiladas for supper, there's plenty," she said
and Jess and Jazzie followed like ducklings behind her. The
delicious smelling food wafted out of the kitchen and teased her
senses, before she ever got into the kitchen, "Smells fantastic,
mama," she told her. After the state of her nerves earlier, Jess
thought it would be a long time, before she wanted to eat again,
but her stomach growled, and she went to the cabinet and pulled
down a plate for her, and one for Jazzie.