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“Nope, not going to happen. I will fucking pull the plug on this whole operation, if that—” he shouts while pointing a thick finger over my head at Jacob. “—fucker stays on this job. It’s you or nothing. This is not negotiable, Josephine. Send the prick back to San-fucking-Diego or I will personally take him there myself.”
Fear washes over me. Maceo’s within his rights to back out of the deal as long as he pays for material and services rendered. If it was just me I would tell him to go ahead, but I have a general contractor and two different crews relying on this job. I can’t do this to them.
“Are you seriously threatening me right now? You know my crew needs this job. Take your anger out on me all you want but leave them the hell out of it. You’re being fucking unreasonable,” I scream at him.
“I’m being unreasonable? How the fuck should I react after not hearing back from you for two fucking weeks? Rolling up tomyland to see that prick hanging all overyou? Eye-fucking you like you’re still his when you’re damn well mine. Tell me whatmanwould fucking sit back and allow that shit to fly. I’m not fucking threatening. I’m making a damn promise. It’s either him or the build, you choose,” he snarls.
I’m literally shaking with fury. The nerve of him to call mehis, claiming me like a fucking cave-man, pisses me off like nothing else. He fucking had me and threw me away.
“I was fucking worried sick about you for five days. I barely slept, hardly ate, and then I find out you were ignoring me. You deserved the silent treatment. Ugh! You’re such a hypocritical asshole!”
“You’re goddamn right I am! Now send the fucker on his way or God help me, Josephine, I will throw his ass out and you know I will,” he thunders. “Nobody, and I mean nobody, can have what’s mine. And that’s you, Pixie!”
Blood rushes to my head.That’s it!“I’m not a fucking possession, Maceo!”
Maceo anger slips and he looks regretful. “Of course, you’re not a possession, but did you give me your heart or not?”
“I—” I try to deny it and can’t.
Maceo sees me hesitate and his ebony eyes fill with relief. “You see? You’re my woman and that dipshit is trying to weasel his way into your life again. I fucking refuse it.”
“Everything alright here, Keebler?” Jacob says with a bounce in his step as he approaches us, acting completely oblivious to whole situation.
Maceo’s eyes narrow and his nostrils flare. He turns his whole body to face Jacob, forcing me behind him.Yeah, this isn’t going to be pretty.Now I’m the one grabbing onto his elbow, suddenly panicked with how Maceo will respond to Jacob.
Maceo’s fists clench at his sides. “What the fuck did you call her?” I yank helplessly on him, anything to shake him out of his rage. But Maceo doesn’t budge.
Jacob’s eyes widen and his hands go up in surrender. “Man, take it easy. It’s only a nickname,” he says in a slightly higher voice, and lets out a nervous laugh.
“Well, it fucking sucks. Does she look like an ugly cartoon to you? Don’t call her that again. It’s fucking disrespectful. She’s Jo to you, and only Jo,” he snaps, shaking his head angrily.
Jacob looks at me with wide eyes. “O-kay.”
“You alright, boss?” one of my crew members calls out.
My attention was completely focused on keeping Maceo from strangling Jacob. I didn’t notice the little militia of my construction workers forming around us, ready to swoop in and help me. Over half my crew members have stopped working and are slowly easing their way toward us, tools in hand. Jared is among them with a hammer in tow.
I need to do damage control, stat.
“It’s all good gentlemen, just a misunderstanding. Please, return to your duties. I’ll be around shortly to go over details and answer questions about the project,” I say diplomatically.
My crew doesn’t move on, not until I give them all a little nod of reassurance. Jared is the only one to keep pushing toward us till he’s standing beside me. With how tense the current situation is, I’m grateful for his presence.
“Name’s Jared,” he says nodding to Maceo and Jacob. “I’m Jo’s general contractor. Wanted to make sure we’re all on board going forward.”
“Hi, Jared. I’m Jacob, the consulting engineer,” Jacob says, leaning forward to shake hands.
“The fuck you are,” Maceo growls at him.
Jacob looks up in surprise at Maceo. He eyes up Maceo, suspiciously.
Jared looks between the two men then down at me, giving me a shrug. “You’re the boss,” Jared says to me with a sympathetic look before looking up at Maceo. “But Atlas is the client, and if he’s not happy with the arrangement then we can’t move forward.”
I all but bare my teeth at Jared.Traitorous bastard!
I should have known Jared would pull something like this. In his eyes we got what we needed out of Jacob when the blackball was lifted. He wasn’t on board with bringing on Jacob in the first place, but he doesn’t know the full story behind Maceo and I either.
I fold my arms over my chest and roll my eyes skyward before looking back at the three men in front of me.
