“It’s nearly time for the welcome speech,” he said.
“I’m ready.” Jackson’s shoulders were tight, a muscle twitching in his cheek. There was a strange air between them which thrummed with latent hostility.
Delving into the inside pocket of his jacket, Alistair pulled out a handful of index cards. Celia wandered closer, followed by Niamh’s mother. “I’ve jotted down some bullet points. They’ll help keep you on track.”
Jackson eyed the cards. “I’m good, thanks. I know what I need to say.”
“But you don’t know what I want you to say.” There was a waspish bite to his dad’s formal reserve.
“It’ll be fine. I don’t need your prompts.”
The standoff between the two of them was taut with friction. It seemed to run deeper than some neatly printed words.
“You’re being stubborn with no need. Tonight is important to us, too. I’ve kept it simple so you can read them.” Alistair thrust the index cards forward again, the exasperation in his voice grating like sandpaper on satin.
Leah knew her sharp breath was audible. Beside her, Niamh played with a fine gold chain around her wrist, eyes averted as if she wished she were somewhere else. Sam, Kash, and Oliver shifted in silent discomfort; Natalia’s face was glacial.
Plucking at her husband’s sleeve, Celia Hale pursed her coral-painted lips. “Leave it, Alistair,” she murmured.
“I need some water.” There was an edge to Jackson’s rough swallow but his expression revealed nothing. Holding himself tall with rigid control, he strode between two of the skyscraper models and disappeared out of sight. The prompt cards remained clenched in his father’s hand.
“Oh, for Chrissake! All this fuss about a few words on a piece of paper.” It wasn’t clear who Alistair Hale was speaking to. “I thought he’d have sorted that out by now.”
“Sorted what out?” Since no one else stepped in to ask, Leah found herself unable to hold back the question.
Jackson’s father let out a gust of breath through his nose. “His petulant inferiority complex. It’s about time he stopped using dyslexia as an excuse.”
Oh, no. He did not just say that.She narrowed her eyes.
Her glow-up might not have garnered the reaction she wanted from Jackson, but he didn’t deserve this. And Leah was done with biting her lip to please other people.
She waved goodbye to her chances of seamlessly blending in without ripples.
“Who the hell do you think you are to speak to him like that, after everything he’s done for you?”
Chapter 49
Jackson
Veiled by a twelve-foot-high model of the Chrysler Building, Jackson halted, choked with the humiliation which stung all over his body like one hundred paper cuts. Twenty-plus years of putdowns, stacked like Jenga blocks, teetered and fell, crashing in splinters. The fuck if he’d take this shit from his dad anymore. He’d even quit and the man still thought he could control him.
Jaw tight, he was just about to retrace his steps when Leah’s voice cut through the low rumble of background conversation.
“Dyslexia is a learning disorder, not a fucking excuse. It says more about you than Jackson if you can’t understand the difference.” The carefully moderated tone she’d adopted all evening was nowhere to be heard.
“You need to watch your language and mind your own business, my dear.” His father’s voice held a dangerous edge as he glowered at Leah with a disdain that could freeze helium. Jackson moved instinctively, the barest twitch of his muscles, but Leah was on a roll; she didn’t need his protection. Still hidden by the towering model, he listened with his heart hammering at every pulse point.
“And that’s where you’re wrong, you see.” She was fire and force. Her eyes flashed and her fingers clenched. Barely reaching hisshoulder, Leah took on his dad, toe to toe. “Because I’m an adult with my own mind and I don’t have to react how you think I need to react. I don’t have to agree with everything you say. I don’t even have to care what you think of me.” She set her empty glass down with deliberate precision on one of the low tables. “Jackson told me I wouldn’t fit in tonight and quite honestly he was right, but I came for Esther anyway. I’ve worn the right clothes and been polite. I’ve smiled and I’ve nodded. But I won’t listen to you getting at your son—like some self-appointed king of the fucking world—when he’s done nothing to deserve it.”
Jackson’s father knocked back his drink. His mother gaped as she plucked at the neckline of her dress, while Natalia managed to appear both impassive and delighted at the same time. Sam and Kash both took a step closer to Leah, bracketing her supportively on either side.
The sound of his own blood rushed in Jackson’s ears. Whatever she might think or feel, she was utterly flawless from her head to her toes. So perfectly put together that he hadn’t known what to do with his face when she first arrived. Leah didn’t need to be anyone other than herself to send the temperature of his blood soaring, and he was pierced with guilt that he’d implied otherwise. He ached for her just as much in the carefree hodgepodge of clothing and colors, which was her at her most comfortable, as he did tonight when she was sexy, sleek, and sophisticated. She tied him up in knots and he still couldn’t find a minute to spill his guts.
He wanted to grab her and haul her toward him. He wanted to drop to his knees and beg that she never take such a senseless risk again. His heart had nearly stopped when Hazel called him last night. The thought that Leah might have been asleep in bed with fire licking at the front door of Amity Court made him want to retch. He was filled with self-loathing that he’d left her alone and vulnerable, with awe and horror at the way she’d handled thesituation. Like she was handling his father now. Fearlessly and with utter confidence. Elegant still but gloriously unleashed.
He was so fucking proud of her.
“Dyslexia is a part of who he is and he can’t change that. It’s not something Jax can just turn on and off. He’s given everything to make a success of this role you’ve forced him to take on, even though it stresses him out and he blatantly hates it. But have you shown him any respect for what he’s achieved? No, you haven’t. You’ve just sniped and picked and steamrollered and bullied. So I’ll tell you whatIdon’t respect. And that’s people like you whocanchange but who seem to think you’re faultless the way you are.” Leah was going full scorched earth and Jackson was mesmerized. She had everyone’s attention.
