BlackJack (A Standish Bay Romance Book 1) by Christine Donovan Read Free Book Online Page B

again. He had every right to question Shannon’s motives when it involved
their son. She may think, with his job, the never-ending suck the life out of
him house, his kids by his second wife, and another one on the way, that he was
in over his head. Which he was, hell he didn’t even have time to take a crap. Well,
he did, although interruptions always happened, making him understand why he guzzled
bottles of pink medicine. Anyway, he was not too busy he would let this thing
with Cole Jackson slide. He heard his son’s voice last night when he called him
and it sounded to him like he idolized the man. Now there were many other musicians
he wouldn’t mind his son worshiping, but Cole Jackson? Come on. He punched in
the numbers for Shannon’s cell phone. He placed the phone to his ear. His
knuckles turned white from his relentless grip, and he began counting the
rings.

Chapter
Four
    Shannon,
startled awake in the morning by the music of her cell phone, groaned as she
slid the little arrow across. “Hello.”
    “Shannon, what
the hell were you thinking letting our son socialize with a murderer?”
    She groaned
again, lay back down in bed, holding the phone away from her ear to let John
rant and rave. She’d known this was coming. Knew there would be a price to pay
for last night. John liked controlling the people in his life, and her name
still graced his list.
    “And you, when
I talked to Cameron last night he told me Cole Jackson asked you out on a date.”
His voice climbed high on the Richter scale. “Are you out of your fucking mind?
He killed his wife. I can’t let you date him! I won’t let you date him!”
    How dare he tell
her what she could and couldn’t do? He gave up that right after they divorced, not
that he ever had it to begin with. Although she had the feeling he would have a
different opinion on that subject.
    “My mind is
fine, thank you very much. I have every right to make decisions for Cameron and
myself. And I take offense to you thinking otherwise.” Her body shook along
with her voice, attesting to her anger and frustration. Many times they had
loud emotional filled conversations and nothing ever got resolved, so she took
a deep breath and spoke calmly. At least one of them would act sane and
reasonable this morning. “Calm down John, and while you listen to me, why don’t
you grab a bar of soap and wash out your foul mouth.” She heard him curse again.
“First, Cameron had the time of his life last night. You should’ve seen him. He
was awesome. This is his life’s dream and being exposed to the business now is
a good thing. Besides, I was with him the whole time and let me tell you, every
single member of BlackJack is a role model. And there were no drugs or booze
anywhere.”
    “Yeah, because
they’re all recovering drug addicts and alcoholics.”
    “Only Cole is,
smart ass. Which by the way, does not make him a bad person in my book or
anyone else’s for that matter. Second, Cole didn’t kill his wife. And third,”
she continued no longer capable of keeping the anger out of her voice. “Where
do you get off telling me what I can and cannot do?”
    “Oh, Shannon,
please!” John said exasperated.
    “I truly
believe he didn’t do it. If you met him, you would feel the same way.” She
heard him yell at the dog, something in the tune of, go wipe your muddy paws.
    “Shannon, be
reasonable, don’t date this man. Please.”
    “Whether I date
him or not, it’s none of your business. And just so I make myself perfectly
clear and there is no confusion, I do want to go out with him.”
    “Fine. If
that’s your decision. However, I don’t want Cameron anywhere near him.”
    She growled
into the phone. He was determined to make her lose it. “Don’t do this. If you’d
seen them together.” She flinched when she heard him bang something.
    “Shit! I think
I broke my God damn hand. I’m coming to the hotel to pick him up in an hour. Wake
him.”
    “Cole leaves
town