Hate You, Love You. - Chapter 106

Jason

The Tollidos ain’t shit.

Honestly, I ain’t shit either but if we’re comparing shits I’m Mary Slessor.

I still don’t know what she sees in me, despite the fact that I ain’t shit, quite frankly, I still can’t believe she’s standing right next to me, letting me hold her hand while I burn a fucking hole the size of a football stadium in the skull of Gerald Tollido.

Gerald. Fucking. Tollido.

We go way back, even before we became enemies competing for who was the best driver at the Jaguar.

The motto isn’t Only The Swiftest Survive for nothing.

In order to be on top of your game, you have to be fast and you have to be furious. The amount of times I’ve wiped Gerald’s ass on the floor with a mop before he could realize what hit him shows who is clearly the Dominic Toretto in our war.

The Tollido’s used to be the big dogs in Bridgewood three years ago. They ran the underground of this town, controlled the drug rings from Bridgewood to Mexico and even had a few mafia’s like the Siddeno’s at their beck and call. Of course, Gerald thought he was the shit since he became the leader after his brother was killed in retaliation by a rival gang because the Tollido’s killed their best hit man.

Blood for blood, that’s how it works in these parts.

Once upon a time, the Tollido’s were chummy with my family-or should I say they were chummy with Dean, my stepfather. I never knew if Dean was aware he was shaking hands with a criminal in the form of Gerald’s father-Stan, but they were close. They come from old gang money, blood money, dirty money and their hands are not fucking clean.

None of our hands are.

They’re one of the oldest families in Bridgewood and that filled Gerald’s head with hot air. Our families were in the same social circle, we attended the same social events and we were basically forced to be friends. My reasons are my own but I never liked him, didn’t fuck with his energy at all. He reeked of fakeness and seedy behaviour even at the age of twelve. He rubbed me the wrong way ever since we were younger and my resolve hasn’t changed.

Of course, I had to be cordial and diplomatic when dealing with him because our parents would force us to bond. We never did because our dislike was about as mutual as two tities.

He didn’t like me because I didn’t come from old money. The snobby bastard who had his ass wiped with money before he was born thought he was better than me because of paper. He had lots of it from birth. My mother was lucky enough to marry into it and changed her life-changed my life.

One minute we were living in motels and suitcases, the next minute, we were living La Vida Loca in a fancy mansion that I only thought existed in Hollywood. I also had a new dad and a new sister. Dean and Patricia opened up their home to us with open arms and before I could say “Fuck,” they were already married, solidifying our family ties.

I had no idea my mum was even dating anyone at the time till she came to the rickety motel we were staying one day and announced that she had bagged a millionaire.

No one knows about this part of me, not even Ryan who is closer than a brother. Dean has always treated me like his own son, even adopted me so I have his last name and Patricia basically embraced me as a brother. We may not be as close as we were before she left for Paris but she has always had my back.

And I’ve always had hers until now.

She is exhibiting traits of seedy behaviour, yes, even seedy behaviour worse than Gerald and I don’t like it one bit.

That’s a story for another moonlight.

”I never thought you’d show your face in these streets, Blunt.” Gerald spits in my face as he stands up from the couch, tossing the half-naked blonde who had no doubt sucked his dick minutes before away from him. The music stops once Gerald’s voice raises and the chatter dies down.

The others at the Jaguar stare at Princess and I like we’re foreign objects and I almost roll my eyes. I haven’t been here in the past eight months because I have a gang to run; paperwork needs to be filled, weapons need to be procured and I need to keep the police and the feds away from me. For all they know, I’m just a normal high school student with rich parents and a Bugatti Veyron.

”And let you have all the fun, Jerry,” he grits his teeth at the nickname. ”Never.”

I started calling him Jerry when we were kids. It annoyed the fuck out of him, said the name made him sound like a chick with no balls. It isn’t far from the truth; he is a chick with no balls who can’t seem to take a defeat or two.

Or three. Or four. Or fifty.

I don’t just destroy him in streetracing.

I destroy him in the ‘professional’ area as well. Janet, Pearson and I ran the Tollido’s over faster than a train runs over a rat on the train track, taking their place as the most lucrative and most feared gang in all of Bridgewood. It was easy; Gerald is an idiot- a snobby idiot, and an even bigger idiot for sending men to threaten us three years ago at the warehouse just because he couldn’t handle being whipped by a teenager who is two years younger than him.

He’s a shitty leader and thinks only when his dick is being sucked by some bimbo.

”Don’t call me that.” He takes another dangerous step towards me but I don’t flinch. I hear the murmurs around me but I don’t care.

The King of the Jaguar is back to claim his throne.

Mel is scared. I can see it on her face. I can feel it with the way her nails dig into my palm. I feel like a big asshole for bringing her here with the way things are going from zero to a million. In my defence though, I want her to understand the shit show that is Jason Blunt. She hasn’t accepted my proposal for a date and I won’t force her to.

I’ve told her several times that I’ll never force her to do shit that she doesn’t want to. If she wants to be with me, her decision needs to be informed.

She has to know all of me.

I don’t know how much she knows about the whole gang and mafia shit. She was with the head of the Siddenno’s without knowing it so my guess is she was left in the dark. I could see the horror on her face when I told her that her boyfriend gave me the gash she unprofessionally and hysterically stitched.

She looked like I had stabbed her in the chest with every word that dropped from my mouth. Fuck, I wanted to kiss her then, devour her mouth to the point that she’d need more than air to stop me. She looked so vulnerable and broken and I hated it. Moreso, I hated the fact that I couldn’t do shit to give her relief. I couldn’t tell her how much of an asshole her boyfriend was. I couldn’t tell her that he was a cold blooded killer with no soul. I couldn’t tell her that he’s not who she thinks he is.

Bob is a façade he created, no doubt specifically for her, for everyone, so that he’d look like some fucking hero. I know the real him, for fuck sake I worked for him.

I know Vladmir Gustaf.

I raise a brow. ”Still butt hurt after I beat your ass eight months ago?” What happened to bygones? Is this how you treat guests?”

Mel is warning me to stand down. But, I won’t. Never have and never fucking will.

When it comes to the war that is Gerald and Jason, I’m going into it with my armour ready and my guns blazing because he is doing the same.

Gerald is a good two inches taller than me, is enrolled in some pricey university and is still the same snob I’ve known him to be. Nothing has changed from when we were younger. Actually, the only difference is when we were younger, he was a little tolerable.

”Don’t make me laugh, Blunt,” he sarcastically says with his face still in mine. ”I won that race fair and square.”

Don’t make me laugh.

”The only thing that’s fair and square about you is your face and your dick, in that order.” That elicits laughter from the crowd around us, who minutes ago where looking at us like we were going to kill each other. We are, it just wouldn’t be here.

Anyone who’s a regular at the Jaguar knows about our rivalry. They know our history runs deeper than just me showing how much of a shitty driver and a bloody cheat he is.

Instead of responding to my jab with a low grade insult, he turns to Melody and my eyes turn to steel. Like the prick he is, his gaze falls to her breasts in the plunging V-neck line.

”She your girl?”

”She’s none of your fucking business,” I roar. For a second, I see a hint of fear in his eyes but it’s replaced by a smirk. ”What’s your name, dollface?”

Mel doesn’t respond, but instead rolls her eyes at his idiocy. She looks like she wants to pummel him for objectifying her with his eyes but holds back the inner Hulk that she has in her.

I’ve experienced first hand what a Hulk-ish Melody Jones can do and let me tell you, if you mess with her, it won’t end well for you. Hell, she even scares me sometimes.

But she’s my girl. Mine only and not for this asshole.

”You not going to talk to me?”

”Her eyes are up here, Jerry.”

”I don’t need to know where her eyes are positioned, all I need to know is how good she can suck-” He doesn’t get to finish his crude comment because the first punch lands square on his jaw. Everyone gasps in horror as he clutches his jaw, blood spilling out of his hands. I wish I would have knocked him out with the bat Melody keeps in her room. He needs a brain reset.

Gerald staggers for a bit, then regains himself. His hazel eyes are filled with rage and his blonde hair stands up. He retaliates by throwing a weak punch my way but I dodge it easily. He then tries to knock me to the ground but fails at that too. He may be taller than me but I’m an athlete and he’s not. Of course, his anger is going to blind him from seeing that.

That’s  one problem Gerald has-anger issues. It is what will lead him to his total downfall and the reason why I was able to overpower him. He lets anger override his reasoning and that’s why he makes poor decisions. Making poor decisions makes him a shitty gangleader and I don’t understand how the Tollidos can stand him.

”Okay, boys, wrap it up. I believe that was quite the introduction.”