“Fuck you, you’re the liar!” Harrison interjected. “She would own it if she had done it. But she never did, and you know it. You’re a lying pile of shit.”
Jayda smiled. Finally he spoke up! But Felix seemed lost.
“Nobody will pay to see her strip anyway,” Kitty said and as soon as she said it, Felix backhanded her so hard with a slap to her mouth that it caused her to stumble backwards.
But to Jayda’s shock, nobody did anything. Not even any of the audible gasps they gave just from the recitation of her family’s background. Not even HB corrected his son. Not even Harrison corrected his brother. Not even any of the others in that drawing room. They all were behaving as if it was no big deal.
Jayda leaned against Harrison to ask him why, but he whispered to her. “That’s their business,” he said firmly, which made no sense to Jayda. But she knew there would be a lot in this new world that she would never understand.
But Felix caught her discomfort and decided, as was his way, to pounce. “Didn’t like that, did you?” He moved in front of Jayda.
“Step back, Felix,” Harrison warned him.
But Felix was singularly focused on Jayda. “That was beneath your dignity, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it, Tar Baby, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?” he yelled at her and slapped her across her face.
Before his hand could move from her face, and before his father and every couple in that room could even digest the slap, Harrison had jumped up, grabbed his kid brother and ran with him until he had slammed his back against the wall. “You ever touch her again and I’ll kill you!” he yelled and the fight was on. They fell over tables and chairs as they fought.
Kitty was the only person in the room that tried to pull Harrison off of Felix, but she was knocked down by her own husband. Jayda jumped up and grabbed the fire poker rod by the fireplace, but HB noticed how she didn’t intervene but watched the fight closely. She would use that rod, he was certain, if Harrison needed her to use it. But as it was, Harrison didn’t need any such help. He was beating Felix’s ass.
“Aren’t you going to do something?” Kitty anxiously ask her. “Make Harrison stop!”
“That’s their business,” Jayda said as she, like everybody else in the room, watched the two brothers fight.
But the fire poker she held tightly in her hand wasn’t necessary. Harrison was beating Felix so completely that Felix was crying for help. He was punching him and punching him until he was bleeding from the nose.
When Carter saw the blood, he jumped up, along with Archie and Dalton, and pulled Harrison away from Felix. Harrison snatched away from them angrily, and jumped back onto his brother. And continued beating him.
Until Felix cried, “You’re going to kill me,” and Harrison finally stopped the beat down.
“Apologize to my wife!” he said angrily to Felix. “Apologize to her!”
“I’m sorry,” Felix cried out. “I’m so sorry, Miss Jayda! It’ll never happen again. And I mean never!”
That was enough for Harrison. He finally released his battered brother.
But everybody in that room who knew Harrison for years were astonished. He was defending a woman? Awoman? What was this all about? Did he actually love this woman the way he claimed? They all had witnessed Felix be far more brutal with other women in Harrison’s life, including Gweneth. But he never once defended any of them. But he was willing to beat his own brother’s butt in defense of this woman? They all were astounded.
But none more so that HB. He’d never seen Harrison defend anybody in his life – not even himself. But he was defending this woman? It made HB look even closer, not at Harrison, but at Jayda.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“I thought we were having the retirement party right here,” Jayda said as she and Harrison got into his limousine.
“You mean you thought my fight with Felix and your fight with Gweneth was a part of the fun?”
Jayda smiled. “You know what I mean.”
“No, this was just some of the people meeting at the house before we head over to the banquet hall. He has several hundred guests expected to attend.”
“Oh wow. He’s popular, hun?”
“He’s rich. They come for rich.”
Jayda nodded “Yeah, I get that.” Then she realized Vincent was still standing at the back passenger door. “What is he waiting on?”
“Father is going to ride with you and I, rather than alone in his own limousine.”
“Why not with Felix?” Jayda asked.
