Men of Honor Eric, page 9
The only thing that kept me from forcing the issue was that I’d already called in a favor and had someone all set to keep an eye on my ex, who would let me know every move she made for the next few days. I’m still not sure what plans Tyler and his little friend have, but I’m not taking any chances that my son was going to do something that can mess up his future.
It’s only as I was driving to work that I realized that my son was well and truly a man. He still has his moments where I can still see flashes of the little boy who needed me to tie his shoelaces, the little tike who’d follow me around and look at me with hero-worship in his eyes, but my boy had grown up.
I also felt a way about keeping things from Justine. Not that I would share this worrisome shit with her, but I felt like she should know enough to keep her on guard. Since I haven’t had a real relationship in so long, I’m amazed at how much I’ve changed when it comes to sharing certain things with my woman.
In the past, I’d probably have been the first to scoff at any man who thought it was best to keep shit from his woman. I’d have probably spouted some shit about women’s rights and not to treat your woman like a child. That’s before I met and fell in love with the most amazing creature there is. Now I don’t want any of this negative shit touching her.
As far as I’m concerned, her days should be filled with nothing but rainbows and sunshine. Especially after the hell, her ex had put her through. And the fact that I know exactly how it feels to have an asshole for an ex only solidified that for me. So I got over my guilt for not telling her about what Janine was up to real quick. Leaving it to Tyler to handle was a whole other kettle of fish, though.
As Janelle had said, there wasn’t much going on at the office today, and I didn’t need to go to the site since my guys knew what they were doing, and I’d been there the day before. I grabbed my keys and stood up to leave with a semi plan forming in my head.
I won’t go to the cops because, as Ty had said, what he’d done to get the information on his mother was illegal, but there’s no way I’m going to let this shit go for another day. The sooner I end this, the better, and yes, I have to be the one to do it. This way, I can protect Tyler from having to be the one to go up against his mom and save my wife in the process.
I know my boy is strong, but I don’t ever want him looking back at this thing with regret. Especially when it’s for me to handle as his dad. I felt much better when I headed down to my SUV than I had when I was coming here this morning. I looked at my watch and checked the time before grabbing my phone and calling Warren, the ex-military vet who worked for me doing construction and who I’d hired to keep tabs on Janine.
“Where is she?”
“She’s been at the country club for about ten minutes. Looks like they have something going on here today with the number of women I see coming and going.”
“Okay, cool. I’m headed out that way.”
TYLER
“Dude, isn’t that your stepmom?”
“Where?” I stopped with my hand on the car door and looked in the direction Paul was pointing.
“What the hell?” What was Justine doing here, and with Janelle? I creased my brow in concentration, trying to figure out what I’d missed.
As far as I know, dad and Justine hate this place and have avoided it every chance they get, even when they kept getting invites to become members. It still amazes me that dad and I had gone from barely being able to put food on the table to being on everyone’s list of invites.
I had no interest in this place either, even though I go to school with most of the kids of the members and have even been through the doors a time or two. The fact that Janine and her husband are members is more than enough to have me looking at this place side-eyed.
I’d checked Janine’s Instagram and knew that she had something going on here today and thought it was the best opportunity to confront her. I wanted to take her down in her natural habitat, in front of the women she has hoodwinked into thinking she’s something she’s not.
Dad might’ve been able to move on and forgive her for all the skeezy shit she did to him in the past, and I might’ve too. Like the rumors she’d spread about him hitting her and how that was the reason for the divorce when she didn’t want the world to know that she was a cheating slag.
That one could’ve done a hell of a lot of damage had the people who knew him not stood by him until the rumors died down. Thank heaven for those people and men like Grey who’d seen through the bullshit and given my dad a chance, which in the end had made him come out on top.
Like I said, I might’ve given her a pass since it was nothing more than water under the bridge, but she had to go and set her sights on the wrong one. Granted, she didn’t know that Lora was the one I’d chosen to protect, that even though I didn’t see a future for us, this was the hill I had decided to die on.
“Change of plans. We’re going in, but let’s wait and see where this is going.” As far as I know, Justine has no dealings with Janine, and this little soiree was being run by Janine unless there was something else going on here, which I doubt. I’d already cut class and was already here, might as well see this through.
Justine
As I walked through the entrance to the Country Club behind another group of well- dressed women, I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. “I’m having second thoughts about this. Maybe I should’ve thought this thing through some more.” It was the first time I’d ever been this rash, and I told Janelle as much as that feeling in my gut intensified.
“Nope, sometimes heat of the moment is the way to go. You have nothing to worry about, trust me on this. You just follow my lead, and by the end of this thing, you’ll have that hag out of your hair. I don’t know how Eric hasn’t buried her under one of those hotels he builds yet.”
I shouldn’t want to laugh at such a horrid idea, but it was close. “Where are we going?” Instead of heading straight to the private dining room where Janine was spearheading some kind of monthly meet-up group, Janelle dragged me in the direction of the bar.
“First, you need to get a stiff one in you for courage. When you’re about to face a wild beast, you cannot falter in any way, shape, or form. That wildebeest can scent blood in the water, and she’ll eat you alive if given half a chance.” A stiff drink sounded good even though it was barely noon, but the rest of that I could do without.
I didn’t hear what she ordered from the bartender who looked like he had just finished setting up for the day, but it wasn’t long before a long cold glass of something pretty was slid into place in front of me. I eyed Janelle’s glass, and she shrugged and grinned. “I wouldn’t dare, my asshole husband has radar for such things, and my bitcher in law is just cruising for a reason. It’s virgin.” She shook her glass at me.
Now, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear she disliked her husband the amount of names she calls him, but nothing could be further from the truth. The few times I’d seen them together, it was glaringly obvious that they were both besotted with each other.
“Now, here are some truths you need to know before you go in there.” She took a sip from her concoction before putting the glass down again after an appreciative sigh. “Janine was born poor; in fact, she was even worst off than Eric when the two of them met and apparently, according to my big brother who’s been friends with Eric for years before he started working for him, she’d latched onto him once it was known that he had plans and was going places.”
“Eric won’t ever say it, but Tyler was an oops baby. Don’t get me wrong, Eric loves his son to the moon and back and was totally on board from the word go, but from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, he wanted to wait until he was on his feet before starting a family. She poked holes in the condoms and stopped taking her birth control without telling him.”
That only makes what she did to poor Tyler years later worst. I felt like my heart would burst and refrained myself from rubbing a hand over it to ease the pressure I felt there. “Like I said, Eric might’ve been heated at first, but from what I know, he was in love with that kid even before he was born.”
“When things didn’t go the way she expected, meaning, he wasn’t making the kind of money she expected because he decided to take care of his son when her lazy ass won’t, she decided to bounce. This is the condensed version so try to keep up. She went on the prowl, and we still don’t know how she did it, but she landed herself a fat fish and turned up the bitch-o-meter to a thousand. She did everything but accuse Eric of being raised by wolves to get her way.”
“It was bad; it was really bad. She accused him of some awful shit that had his friends not known the real story could’ve got him ostracized in this town. Fine, the bitch left, and Eric went into survival mode. It took him a while to get over the shock of what she’d done, but his only purpose for living back then was Tyler, and Eric would walk across fire in gasoline drawers for that kid.”
“Fast forward to a few years later; her husband got hit a few years after the recession. By then, Eric was coming up, so guess what that heifer did, she tried it. Eric didn’t even look in her direction. I’m not sure if she knew right away that her husband’s business ventures were failing, because she didn’t start acting up right away.”
“Anyhow, things settled down for a while, and then we get to last year when you showed up, and Eric lost his ever-loving mind. I knew that trick was gonna show her ass, and I was ready. Now something you have to know about what’s going on here today and why I gave you that little background story, Janine has spent her whole life trying to fit in with the moneyed men and women in town and the surrounding areas. Most of them only put up with her because of her husband’s money, but they can’t stand her. Guess whose husband has more money than hers.”
“Next, these women are fickle as shit. Now I don’t know what you had in mind when you decided to come here, but since you won’t let me light her ass up, I went ahead and made a phone call that is sure to make Janine see green.”
“Green? What do you mean?” Just then, she looked over my shoulder and waved at someone.
I looked in the direction she was staring in. “Isn’t that Samantha? Grey’s wife?” I’d met the other woman only a couple of times, but each time I’d felt tongue-tied in her presence. She has this air of regality that makes us lesser mortals feel out of place in her orbit. Though she’s been nothing but kind the few times I’ve seen her, I somehow always feel gauche in her presence.
“It sure is, this boss bitch is the cherry on top of the sundae we’re about to serve, Janine. Watch what happens when she walks into that room with you.”
“Ladies!” Samantha had reached us, and even her perfume smelt like money. “Wow, Justine, you look amazing. Janelle, that glass had better have colored milk in it.” Janelle rolled her eyes and took a sip from her drink.
“I forgot you’re the damn breastfeeding police. It’s a virgin, okay, so don’t go blabbing to Jack about my liquid lunch.”
“I’m just looking out for my little man; when are you bringing him by again, by the way?”
“Aren’t you childfree?”
“Yes, but this is the best of both worlds. I get to borrow other people’s kids for a few days or hours and give them back once that madness passes.”
I had no idea what the two of them were talking about. I was now putting things together in my head and was catching on to what Janelle had in mind. It was the perfect way to deal with someone as superficial as Janine. Honestly, I’d only thought of showing up here and infiltrating her little meet-up because I knew that it would piss her off, and maybe dropping a few passive-aggressive hints that were bound to put her on edge, but I was starting to like Janelle’s idea better.
“Are you ready?” Samantha asked me with a smile. I could only nod as the alcohol hit my system. “Follow my lead.” She turned in a cloud of expensive scent, the peach-colored slim-fitting linen dress hitting her just above the knees and showing off her curves to perfection as the three-inch designer heels did the same for her calves. Gosh, I wish I were half as put together as her.
She opened the door in such a way that Janelle and I were hidden from view of the rest of the room for the first few seconds. It was hard to miss the expressions of glee from the other women as they recognized her. Janine started to come forward with a huge welcoming smile on her face. I think at that moment, she thought she’d finally made it since Samantha Grey had made an appearance, but when Samantha stepped aside, and she saw me, the look of confusion on her face was priceless.
“What’re you doing here? You weren’t invited.” The room fell under a hush.
“She’s with me; they’re both with me. Are we not invited?” There was a buzz in the room amongst the other women, and Janine started to backtrack fast.
“Of course you are, I was just…surprised, I guess.”
From that moment on, all the attention shifted to Samantha, and she went out of her way to include Janelle and me in every conversation. Before I knew it, people were asking Janelle about her interior design business she does on the side, and she was showing them pictures of my DIY projects that I have no idea she still had on her phone.
There was a choking sound coming from the front of the room where Janine was standing alone when some of the women exclaimed over some of the pieces and started asking Janelle and I for our cards and inquiring as to how soon they can get an appointment.
Janelle didn’t miss a beat, and as if they’d planned it, she and Samantha were talking about some work she’d done on Samantha’s home and how my pieces would fit right in where. Okay, so it’s true I didn’t have a set plan when I left to come here. I probably would’ve said a few harsh words to Janine to vent my anger and frustration, but this was some next-level high school mean girl ish.
Every time I looked at Janine, she looked close to boiling point, and though I’d envisioned something like this, it was certainly not on this scale. It’s as if everyone forgot she was here. It was her meeting, her setup. She’s the one who’d invited all these people here, but within seconds of us walking through the door, they’d all shifted their interest. Fickle is right!
Janine was giving me the evil eye, and I could see that she was really hurt. I couldn’t feel sorry for her, though, not after what she’d done to Tyler. In a way, wasn’t this tantamount to what she’d done to him? The third or fourth time I looked in her direction, she gestured me over.
I walked over to her, gearing myself up for confrontation. It was bound to happen sometime, might as well get it over and done with.
“What’re you doing here, you bitch? And why did you bring that, that…” She flung her arm in Janelle’s direction as she gritted more words of venom through her teeth. It was the look of disgust on her face when she looked at Janelle that did it for me.
“Isn’t this a meeting for the more prominent women in town? My husband happens to be one of the wealthiest men here, even more so than yours last I heard. What’s more, I saw on the roster that it’s like some sort of mommy group as well, why are you here?” I knew why she went with the mommy angle; this set is either into their kids or their pets; at least they pretend to be.
“What do you mean, why am I here? I have a son.”
“No, you don’t, I have a son and a daughter, and according to Eric, another one on the way.” I patted my tummy knowing damn good and well that I could be lying. What’s going to happen in a few months when there’s no baby? I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Her face turned red, and she looked ready to kill. I felt safe confronting her like this because the other people in the room were preoccupied with Samantha, and though I was tempted to knock her on her ass, I doubted either of us would cross the line with so many witnesses here. Wrong!
“You’re pregnant?” She screeched the words like a demented owl and came at me. I was too shocked at first to react and didn’t get out of the way fast enough to avoid taking one to the face. It was open palm, so not much damage was done, just the shock of it and the way the sound reverberated around the room, which brought everyone’s attention back to us.
It was pure instinct that had me raising my hand to return the favor. I slapped her hard enough to knock her back a few steps. It’s only when she bumped into the table behind her and straightened herself up with murder in her eyes that I questioned just what the hell I was doing. I was suddenly worried for the baby that Eric was sure he’d given me the other night as silly as that sounds.
I braced myself for the attack when she came flying at me, hands raised ready to rain down blows on me, my only thought to protect my middle, but before she could even reach me, an arm shot out between the two of us and planted itself in her chest pushing her back away from me.
I looked slightly behind me in shock, expecting to see either Janine or Samantha coming to my rescue, but it was Tyler. The look on his face was one I’d never seen before, not on his anyway. “Tyler, how dare you?” Janine seethed and rubbed her chest where he’d pushed her.
“You don’t touch her, ever. You try it again, and I’ll make you wish you’d never birthed me. Like all those times you told me you wished you’d flushed me down the drain.” There were a lot of exclamations from the women who were now totally focused on the melee taking place in front of them.
“I’m your mother; you’re going to defend this…this trailer park trash instead of me?”
“Justine wasn’t raised in a trailer park, but you were. And even if she was, she has more class than your idiot husband’s money could buy you.” Uh-oh. Those words to Janine, I’m guessing, was like waving a red flag in front of an already angry bull.
