Alice's Book Club (BWWM)

Father to Son

Jared

I pulled up to my father's house by 10:30 and banged on the door till my mother answered "Jared Maverick what Hell has gotten into you?!?" She flew open the door "Sorry mom but I have to talked to dad " I headed for his study knowing that my old man never went to sleep till the early am, I found him working on his computer and saw the confusion twist his face. "Jared?" He asked "We need to talk" I said making a b line for his desk. "Now, Jared we can talk tomorrow your mother is trying to sleep" he explained "No we talk tonight, I need to know why you funding David and Paula" I laid it out there not in the mood to play games. "What are you talking about?" He played dumb "Cut the Shit dad I saw the records I know you have been using companies to move money to Paula and that shebang" I slammed my hands on the desk "He turned from his screen and placed his hands on his face. "Is everything all right" Mrs. Luisa asked standing at the door "Yes, were fine just go to bed" He instructed her, once she left the doorway he began to explain "Look son, there are just some things you just don't understand. So just be smart and let it go" He replied to me as if I was some silly child asking about grown up business. "Fuck no, I came to you asking for help to protect the woman I love from this monster and I find out your helping him!!" I yelled unable to hold back "It's complicated" He kept dodging my accusation "What's complicated, enough with the bullshit, enough with the threats be a man and tell me what the fuck is going on" I trembled with rage, he got up walked to his liquor cabinet and grabbed his bottle of bourbon he didn't bother with a glass and took it straight to the head. I was dumbstruck my father had always loved his liquor but he never struck me as some reckless alcoholic. "Alright I'll tell you" He said clearing his throat. I took a seat and waited for his story praying that this was all some mistake and I could go back to being proud of my father.

"Before you and your brother were born, I worked a firm named Hanson and Johnson it was my first real job after college and I was desperate to make waves and work my way up so that I could get the life I always wanted .Unfortunately I was struggling to even be noticed you see Hanson and Johnson were a big into family names and back then Maverick didn't mean shit.' He gave an empty chuckle 'With time and hard work I climbed the ladder and got to sit amongst the big player's one of who was Paula. Me and here worked well together and developed a friendship, and eventually we fell in love." I shot him a look of surprise 'We were going to the top best power couple in New York, but being an interracial couple wasn't as accepted back then as it is today. So when it came time to choose partner I was up for the promotion as long as I dropped my relationship with Paula.....So I did I choose the firm over her and found your mother a few weeks later. Paula came to me letting me know that she was pregnant, but I insisted it wasn't mine and turned her away. Three months after that you mother said she was pregnant as well and we got married immediately, I couldn't have the press thinking I got her pregnant out of wedlock. A year later Paula came demanding I acknowledge her child but I turned her away and had my lawyers tie her up in court eventually when he was 5 I took a paternity test and found out that he was indeed mine. Instead of taking him in and being the father I knew I should have been I just sent enough money to pacify her and him and pretended it didn't happen" He finished his tale and drowned the bottle of scotch.

"Jesus Dad, does Mom know?" I asked, still reeling from the fact that I have another brother. "Of course she does, she doesn't care though she knew what we were when we started" He scoffed, and here I was thinking she was an innocent bystander. "So you see son, I need you to part ways with Alice and the kid let David settle and Paula settle this. We can't have the Maverick name being brought up in all this" He said. "I can't believe you, do you not have any remorse for abandoning your son?" I asked fearing the answer "That kid had over $500,000 a month handed to him. He could have been worse off" He defended, "That's not the point, all you care about is your precious image you don't love me, mom, or Kyle. You only love yourself and you will cut off anyone that gets in the way of what you want is cut off and thrown the wolves.... I defended you when Kyle said you were a piece of shit but I can see he is right this whole time I was following a lie....Not anymore I'm going to stay with Alice, and raise Bruce, and I don't give a fuck if you fire me or not, because you know just as much as I do that I make that company what it is. So you want to cut me off, go ahead but you will never break me or her and if fucking David or Paula tries to touch my SON I'll kill them. Be sure to tell them that" I walked out the study down the stairs and towards the front door where Mrs. Luisa looked at me with pride "Bless you Jared" she kissed my cheek and opened the door for me.

Alice

I couldn't stop pacing the floor in the Jared's office just a few hours ago a board meeting was called to discuss Jared's employment and I was terrified that his father had made well on his promise. I was on the phone with Dee all morning catching her up on everything, from our wedding to Roy's threat, she was shocked so much could transpire in a few weeks. We made a dinner date at my house to catch up, but the way my mind was racing I don't think I can make it till then. "Still pacing" Jared chuckled entering his office "What happened?" I asked frantic "Sit down and I'll tell you" he explained so I took a seat across from his desk "Sooo, did he do it?" I asked "Yeah he pulled all the stops trying to get the board to dismiss me, he even got his old friends to help, but people weren't buying it they knew I kept this place going." He explained and I sighed with relief "Yeah, it was a good couple of hours of yelling at me yelling at him saying I was some naïve punk. They even tried to use you to discredit me but your work has been impeccable since you joined so that didn't go too far. At the end of the day they wanted to keep me" He continued "I feel a big BUT coming on" I replied "But I'm done with this place, I told you how I had always played with the idea of opening up my own agency and now is the time to do it" He smiled, my jaw dropped I couldn't believe his was ready to walk away from this place "But you built this place you always said you wanted to run it one day you have been working for that dream for years" I said "Yes, but I have a new dream. A dream of being the best husband and father that I can be, and I can't do that knowing I work for a man like my father. I won't do it, but I'm asking you will you join me building from scratch is never easy but if you're beside me then I think we can make it. I already sent out an email to the best agents here and most have said they would join me but some hold back." He ignored my concern "Where is this all coming from? You and your dad were close as ever....before me" I sighed I knew he was separating himself from his family because of me.

Jared

I could practically see her beating herself up, but I knew I had to share what I learned with her. I laid out all my family secrets and I watched her world crumble. "Oh god, Jared I don't know what to say" she finally spoke "I don't know either, it's a lot to take in. I mean just a couple months ago I was living a single bachelor life, I had a good job, my father wasn't some malicious villain, and my mother wasn't his seedy henchman. Hell, a couple days ago I only had one brother." The weight of the truth was starting to crash down on me. "Maybe we should stop" I heard her small voice. "Think about it, a couple of months ago you were fine and ever since I got involved everything has gone to Hell. Maybe your dad is right and we should just break up...' I was stunned by her reply '....Look if you're worried about me and Bruce don't be, I have some money tucked away in case this ever happened and, I even went a step further and got us some fake ID's. So we'll be fine, and to be honest this is for the best. You can go back to normal you and your father are hurting now but you will patch things up, all you need is me gone" Her voice broke on her last words.

Alice

God, help me I tried to hold myself together but I couldn't. I meant every word I said and I truly hoped that Jared would believe me and end this, but a selfish part of me wanted him to stay, No, I needed him to stay. I was telling the truth about me and Bruce being okay but I cannot imagine being happy without him, in these past few months he had become the missing piece to my life, he made me feel like I could conquer the sea's and tame mountains. I searched his eyes for, an answer but I couldn't find any he wasn't rushing to accept my offer but he also wasn't refuting it. I reached out to touch him but he just turned his back and walked away, I willed myself not to follow it was clear that we were over.