End of an Era (Book 7)

Deal With It

|Brandon's POV|

We said goodnight to Ty, Izzy, and Mikayla before heading home. As soon as we stepped outside, I turned my attention to Addison. She immediately put her head down. She knows she's in trouble. Honestly, there's nothing I can do about the tattoo, but her attitude? How disrespectful she was and the way she spoke to me? That I can always fix.

"Addison, get in the truck. Liam, you can ride with Bianca."

Addison looked at Jamie as if I wasn't speaking to her. I looked up to the sky taking a deep breath. Why was my child continuing to test me today?

"Am I talking to myself? I told you to do something."

I felt Jamie touch my back, stepping in between me and Addison.

"Bianca, are you going home or to campus?" Jamie quizzed.

"Home."

"Alright. Addison, Liam, you can ride with your sister."

I turned to my wife. What happened to being a united front? The kids just stood there staring at us.

"Go on. Straight home, Bianca. Thank you," Jamie stated.

"Uh, yeah, no problem mom. Come on guys."

Liam quickly moved to open the door for his sisters. I cut my eyes at Jamie before going to open the passenger door for her.

The drive home was silent. I was irritated with Addison. Now irritated with Jamie. Out of all the things my youngest daughter could do, a tattoo and a belly piercing? I let out a frustrated sigh. I'm not going to sit here and say I'm always the cool dad, but yes, Jamie and I give our kids a lot of wiggle room.

Jamie's hand touched the back of my neck as she gave me a massage, her nails lightly scratching the back of my scalp. I started to relax under her touch.

"What the hell was that, J?"

"You need to calm down, Brandon. Addison isn't going to be receptive to a lecture about what happened this afternoon with your anger like this."

"No, she needs to see my anger. She's not a Senior, she's not grown. We have rules in place for a reason. So, yeah, I'm pissed and my reaction is warranted."

She didn't say anything as she continued to rub the back of my head.

"How do you want to handle this?" she quietly asked.

I glanced over at her.

"How do you think I'm going to handle this, J?Did you hear how she was speaking to me?"

She sighed.

"I know and she will be apologizing."

"She called me a jerk. The disrespect from her when she's in the wrong is getting pretty bad. You call her on it and she flips it on us. I should've pulled her ass over my knee and spanked her like the best she was being. I didn't though. I'm trying to treat her like a young adult. We give and give and give, J. This is what we get in return?"

"You know, I was hell when I was her age. Her attitude today reminded me a lot of myself."

I gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze.

"Babe, you had a lot going on in your life at her age."

"You're right, I did. Still, my uncles put me in line, real fast. I thought I was just going to do whatever I wanted. Uncle Paul let it slide for a while, but then his brothers got to him."

I chuckled.

"They got to him?"

"Yup, they told him he was handling me with kid gloves and I needed him to be my parent. This was before my parents passed. This is when everything came to the light. He dragged my ass out of a club I had no business being at. When my parents passed, my behavior got even worse and I shoved him."