Chapter 51

One long, cold shower later, Jadon was in an even worse mood than he had been when he stormed out of the kitchen.

It didn't help that he had been forced to beat one out because his damn cock wouldn't go down no matter how many times he reminded himself that being with Tapiwa was just asking for more trouble. Not that it had made much of a difference.

Jadon sighed in frustration and stared down the front of his suit pants with a frown. There was no missing the bulge his semi caused. But he didn't have time to indulge his body's needs. He had to head out, meet his friends, and figure out what he was going to do now that he didn't have a job at his father's company.

Finding another source of income as soon as possible was in his best interest. His bank account wasn't in the red, but he didn't have enough to live the rest of his life like a king either. Jadon knew if he lived on his savings for months, then he wouldn't have enough to invest into a business like they had planned with his friend. Hence, the time for decisions was now.

With that thought in mind, Jadon exhaled heavily, grabbed his tie and jacket, and made for the bedroom door. The entire time he stood under the cold spray of his shower, Jadon planned to avoid Tapiwa on his way out.

It should have been easy to do, considering he assumed she would still be in the kitchen trying to fix the apocalyptic disaster she had created. All he had to do was walk past the kitchen door and not walk in. That was what Jadon had planned to do. Except he found himself stopping and stepping into the kitchen before he even realized what he was doing.

To his shock, although Jadon thought he really shouldn't have been shocked at all, he found Tapiwa seated at the island, in the midst of the chaos, eating the omelet she had made for him.

She quietly watched him as he entered. Then, as though to prove a point, she carefully cut a rather large piece and stuffed it into her mouth, her eye still fixed on him. For a second, the ridiculousness of the situation and how full her cheeks were almost made him smile. Almost.

But then his eyes wandered back around to the mess and all the humor left him again. Not surprisingly, his rude self came back in full force. "Glad to see you are enjoying yourself," he snarled. "I hope you will still have the energy to fix the mess you created once you are done."

Tapiwa's chewing slowed, anger evident in her gaze as she glared at him. "I'm eating an omelet, not an elephant."

Jadon still didn't look impressed. He looked down at her half-eaten plate. "At least try to cut smaller pieces. The eggs are already dead. They won't suddenly turn into chicks and run off your plate."

A beat passed in tense silence. Jadon was certain Tapiwa was about to tell him where he could shove his opinion on her eating habits. Her jaw clenched, and the fingers wrapped around the fork tightened until her knuckles paled. The thought of taking a step back out of stabbing range flashed through his mind, and he almost followed it.

But before his feet made a move, Tapiwa dropped her fork on the island with a loud clatter. She then grabbed the remaining half of her omelet with her fingers. Jadon watched, shocked and quite intrigued, as she proceeded to roll the omelet into the size of a decent sausage roll.

Before he could guess what she was about to do, Tapiwa met his gaze and shoved the whole thing into her mouth.

Jadon slowly blinked. That hadn't just happened, had it? He couldn't believe it even as he watched her stubbornly struggle to chew the mouthful. After half a minute of watching, though, Jadon couldn't hold back, incredulous laughter burst from his mouth.

This only seemed to anger Tapiwa some more, of course. Furiously glaring, which didn't work well with full cheeks, she leaned back and folded her arms over her chest. Suddenly, Jadon had an image of an angry chipmunk in his head, and he nearly doubled over in laughter.

He was wiping tears from the sides of his eyes, his chest aching and heaving by the time Tapiwa swallowed the last of it. Her glare didn't waver.

"Are you done?" she asked in a prissy tone.

Jadon shook his head, a few more chuckles bubbling out of his throat. In all honesty, Jadon was enjoying himself too much, watching Tapiwa fume. At least it had taken care of the boner he had been struggling with and had the added bonus of adding a few more seconds to his life if he believed all that nonsense about laughter being a cure for anything wrong in the world.

He, however, still had a little wisdom left and Jadon knew he had to get out of the house before the anger he saw brewing behind Tapiwa's eyes reached a boiling point and spilled all over him. So, without any further words, Jadon turned on his heels and walked out of the kitchen.

Less than a minute later, he threw his front door open, only to come to an abrupt halt. Shit! Jadon took a step back, ready to slam the door shut in his brother's face, but Asher was quick. Asher gripped the edge of the door, forced it to remain open, and forced his way inside before Jadon would engage his muscles to stop him.

Jadon didn't step away from the door, even though Asher was now in his house, looking around with a snarl. Jadon didn't like this. Asher had promised to deal with him the last time he had been there banging on his locked door. He didn't want another physical confrontation while his body was still healing and he wanted one less right now while Tapiwa was in the house and might get hurt in the process.

This meant Jadon had to get rid of Asher before his brother exploded or found out Tapiwa was in the kitchen and the situation turned into a life-and-death gamble.

"Asher, what are you doing here?" Jadon asked just loud enough he hoped Tapiwa heard and understood the warning to stay out of sight.

Cold, glaring eyes met Jadon's gaze. Then an arrogant smirk took over the expression. "I told you I would make you pay. I'm the new CEO of the company."

That didn't sit well with Jadon. Suddenly, his stomach felt as though he had swallowed a giant rock. His father certainly hadn't wasted time replacing him. It had barely been twenty-four hours since he had been escorted out of the offices. It stung to know his father had just given the position to Asher so fast. But he didn't let it show on his face. "And? What is this? You just came to gloat?"

The snarl was back. Asher looked less than pleased by Jadon's response. But then, he looked like he still thought he had one over Jadon, and his next words told Jadon what his brother thought was the ace in his deck.

"Actually, I'm here to confiscate all company property in your possession." He smiled then, showing Jadon a row of teeth so white and straight he was tempted to rearrange them at the back of Asher's throat.

"I don't have any company property in my possession," Jadon gritted out.

His brother scoffed and then made a show of looking around Jadon's foyer. "I believe this house and the car belong to the company."

Jadon nearly burst out laughing. Was that what Asher was hoping? Had his brother come to his house hoping to throw him out into the street with nothing to his name? Jadon knew he shouldn't have been shocked by this.

Unfortunately, before Jadon could pop his brother's bubble and then ask him to get the hell out of his house, a choked sound behind Asher cut through the air and Jadon tensed. Shit. No. Unfortunately, it was exactly what he had feared.

In a heartbeat, Asher spun and came face to face with Tapiwa, who stood frozen in the kitchen doorway. Jadon was moving before his brain registered what he was doing.