Fighting For Family: Summer and Jordan

Chapter Eight

Jordan

I stood in the living room, beyond anxious. I wanted to get this done. I needed to get this done because after we took this DNA test, I needed to start either looking for a fuckin’ job or work with Finn at his family’s business and honestly, that was something I didn’t want to do. I looked over at the standoff between Eli and Dylan and for once, I was glad that my family was not involved in this…yet, because a part of me knew that somehow, someone was going to find out if I’m a dad and that was something I wanted to avoid.

“I can’t believe you two are involved in this. We taught you better!” Eli yelled at them, pacing back and forth, “Do you know what could happen? What is she’s your daughter Dylan, what about Raegan? She’s already been through so much s**t and now add this on. How could you be so irresponsible and you, Finn, I know for a fact that I taught you better than this. A fake ID? Stalking them and not telling us he was in town? Getting random blowjobs and fuckin’ random bar chicks at the age of nineteen? How can you be so stupid! If I could turn back time, I would take you out of this world. I honestly should beat both your asses right now.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What the hell is so funny Jordan, don’t think you’re off the hook on this as well. You’re just as bad as them.” Austin glared. “What happens if your mother and father find out? What happens if she is yours? What happens with Summer?”

“If she’s mine then she’s mine, I’ll own up and take care of her. I’ll get a lawyer and get custody since Scarlett gave up her rights. And with Summer, I can only hope she stays with me, but I’m not going to force her to stay and live this life. And my mom and dad won’t find out, I haven’t spoken to them in years.” I lied. My mom has been trying to get a hold of me since I've been back in Texas and that was someone I was avoiding with everything I have.

“At least you have an answer while these two boneheads just stand there with their thumbs up their asses.” Eli glared. I love when he speaks, it’s just so random and hilarious.

“You never even let me speak damnit!” Dylan yelled, “If Ellie is mine, I already talked to Ray, we will figure it out, we always do!”

“And if she’s mine, I honestly don’t know what I will do.” Finn sighed and went over to the couch and his head fell, “I’m not ready to be a dad. I just started my career. I don’t even have my own place, f**k, I live with Summer and Jordan. I can’t do this if she’s mine.” His shoulders started to shake. He was crying. I walked over to him and sat next to him.

“You know we will be here for each other right? If she’s yours, then I will help the best I can. At least you have us. I’m in limbo right now with Summer, I think. She walked out on me last night at the possibility so who knows what’s going to happen if she’s mine.” I fell back on the couch and closed my eyes, “Can we just go to the doctor and get this s**t over with?”

“I agree. Let’s get the girls and go.” Dylan said just as the girls came down. They were bringing all three kids down the stairs and Summer was holding Ellie. She was always holding Ellie and f**k, it does something to me. My eyes went dark looking at her as she smiled at me. I needed some alone time with my girl. Seeing her with my potential daughter, playing mom, such a fuckin’ turn on. What the hell is wrong with me? I never thought like this before. Damn, I need therapy.

“Before you guys go, I need to tell you, Dylan and Ray, there is no way you are paying the thirty two million to the school district.” Hannah stated with such authority her voice. She walked over and stood next to Austin while she held Trey in her hands.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Austin crossed his arms over his chest.

“What the hell are they talking about?” Eli c****d his eyebrow, “Why would you pay thirty two to them? They get enough aid from the state.”

“We will explain everything when the kids leave to get swabbed. But no, not happening. We will talk to the board and figure something out and we are going to have a chat with Jo and Archer and look into this. As for your jobs, you’re not going back to the school district right now and you are not going to work for free just to coach the teams.” Austin demanded.

“Why am I lost? Why won’t you guys tell me what’s going on?” Eli questioned, being persistent.

“Later.” Bella glared.

“But dad those are our jobs. No offense to you guys or anything but we don’t want to work for Locke and brothers.” Dylan started to argue before Eli held his hand up to stop him.

“Plus, we’re not exactly kids anymore. We don’t need you guys fighting our battles. How did you even know about that anyways?” I asked.

“The money in your account was originally ours. We normally don’t get calls about what they use it for, but because we are on the account as well and due to the amount of money requested for transfer, it pinged their system.” Austin started, “it was suspicious and I know the bank manger very well.” He winked.

“Doesn’t matter, that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t want to work for Locke.” Dylan rolled his eyes.

“Do you even know what we do now?” we all shook our heads and Finn just smirked, “We changed from advertising to marketing about twenty years ago. With a new vision, we have started to go from the larger contracts to the smaller contracts and have more one on one time with our clients. We are no longer advertising; we offer numerous services depending on what the client needs. And because it is more personal, we are able to negotiate one on one without the pressure of big business. Surprisingly, well, not really, but a lot of people like the one on one models that we have developed.”

“Plus, we are in the process of adding upgrades, similar to Offbeat when Hannah and Bella worked there. The daycare center is being built right now which has been a huge priority.” Austin added, “So, you guys will benefit from that.”

“What other services are you talking about?” I asked, curious. I mean, I am not opposed to working for them, I just don’t really want to.

“Advertising, marketing, financial services, accounting, business advice, partnering up with local businesses and sending them there, which, we get a percentage of whatever business they do with the clients we refer to them, and much more. Bella wants to open a part for event planning, to help other business set up their grand opens and big events and what not. Some people say, its business, it isn’t personal, but we say business is as personal as it gets.” Eli stated, “But enough of this, let’s figure out who’s the daddy. The girls can stay here and we will take Ellie and get this done.”

Eli went over to Summer who was holding Ellie and tried to reach for her. As soon as she saw Eli, she started to scream and dig more into Summer, if that was even possible. The tears were heartbreaking. Dylan rushed over and tried to take her, wanting to calm her down, but that didn’t work, even with Eli stepping back. Austin and Hannah tried and she fought tooth and nail. Ray handed to twins to Dylan and Ellie just freaked out more in Summer’s arms. Summer tried calming her down, but it seemed like no matter what she tried, it didn’t work. Finn didn’t even bother, not wanting to touch her. I rolled my eyes and pushed through them.

“Hey princess. Come here.” I held my hands out to her and she looked at me and tilted her head to the side, “I won’t hurt you.” I smiled at her. She sniffled a bit and turned to look at Summer and then back at me. She reached out and open and closed her hands, wanting me to take her.

“Holy crap.” Austin muttered. I turned to look at them all at their dumbfounded faces.

“What?”

“I’m telling you this now, if you’re not the father, I would totally be surprised.”

“Why?”

“Not only were you able to calm her down but have you seen you two in the mirror? She looks exactly like you.” Eli stated.

I shrugged, “I mean, she’s a kid, she looks like a bit of all of us.”

“I don’t think you understand Jordan, she looks like a spitting image of you. How can you guys not see it?” Hannah said softly. We all just shrugged.

The girls ended up staying home with the twins and we headed to the clinic place that Ray sent us to with Ellie. I was sitting in the back seat with her, keeping her occupied. She didn’t want anyone but me and I’m not going to lie, it made my heart soar. I couldn’t stop looking at her.

I think deep inside I knew. A part of me just knew that we didn’t have to do this. She was mine. The look in her eyes as she stared at me, the smile she gives me and the way she grabs my hand. This was, this is my daughter, but I knew for the sake of Dylan and Finn, doing this test would give them the reassurance that they need.

We pulled up to the clinic and we all got out. Eli and Austin held the doors open for us after Bella’s friend, Marcy, pressing the unlock button so we could get in. Everyone was silent, too silent. We stood in the waiting room while Marcy talked to Eli and Austin in the room where they would be taking our DNA.

I don’t know why we were all silent. The only sounds were coming from Ellie who was playing with the necklace I was wearing. It was a gold chain with the superman symbol on it. Summer got this for me for my birthday. We were in the car listening to the song, ‘Superman’ by Daughtry and I was singing it out loud for all to hear my terrible voice, well, not all to hear since the windows were shut. But when she gave me this necklace, she told me that it was at that moment, she knew that no matter what happens in our lives, I would always be her superman.

And then she punched me because I made some smartass remark about using x ray vision to see her boobs. I totally deserved it.

“Finn, you’re first.” Eli called from the room.

“Why me?” he whined. He literally sounded like he was a five year old being told to go to bed. Man up dude.

Dylan pushed him forward, “You’re the youngest, you first.” He groaned and walked through the door mumbling who knows what under his breath. When it was just Dylan and I and I was sure we were alone, I turned to face him.

“I need you to do me a favor.” I picked Ellie up a little bit since she was squirming in my arms, “She’s mine.”

“Okay, how is this a favor and how do you know?” he c****d his eyebrow at me.

“When you look at the twins, do you get this feeling, this overwhelming feeling of home, belonging, love. That you would do anything for them. When you look into their eyes, do you see truth, honestly, love, family? When you hold them, do you feel comfort, warmth, strength? Does your heart ache when they cry or get hurt and you would do anything for them?”

“Dude, you’re getting sentimental again. I haven’t heard you say stuff like this since you told me about what love really is before I left New York…but yeah, yeah I do.”

“I feel that for the twins, I do, but no where near as intense as I do when I look or hold Ellie. Plus, she has a birthmark on her thigh, the same one I have on mine…” I sighed, feeling the tears building up in my eyes. I blinked them away quickly. He’s seen me cry, but I don’t do it often and I wasn’t about to do it now. “I get that feeling with Ellie. But I need to know more about her and about Scarlett.”

“So, I was actually talking to Ray about this when you and Summer were upstairs, hopefully not defiling my children’s room.”

“Dude…really? Is that what you all think we do all the time? Have s*x?” I was actually surprised. Yeah, we do sleep with each other a lot, but we can control ourselves. But hearing this, it’s starting to get old. “We are more than s*x, you know that right? We spend time together, we talk, we have serious conversations.”

“When are you going to tell her about your parents and why you don’t talk to them?” he snapped back at me, “You two may talk and converse and be more than just s*x. You two may be engaged, but how far have you both really talked? You’re keeping secrets from her and she’s keeping s**t from you. Is that really how you want to start everything out?” He sat down and sighed and I followed, both of us looking forward, “I’m not trying to be a d**k, I’m really not, but if Ellie really is your daughter, it’s time you put everything on the table.”

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you about Scarlett.”

“What about her?”

“I need helping finding her. I need to know why she gave up Ellie and what happened over the past year and half. I need to know how old she really is, when her birthday is and everything.”

“Ray is going to talk to Jo and Summer and they are going to do their detective work crap that girls do. I swear, they can look up and get information faster than the FBI.” We both laughed at this. I held Ellie a bit closer to me, shifting her a bit. She fell asleep at some point. Who knew that someone so small could be so heavy.

“Jordan, can you bring Ellie in here with you please? It’s your turn.” Marcy called out as Finn walked past me with a nod. At the door, I turned to Dylan and gave a small smile.

“Thanks man. If you could do me one favor over the next couple of days…”

“I got her. Ray and I will watch her while you spend some alone time with your girl, because after you get those results, everything changes.”

I rubbed her back and she snuggled closer to me. “Things have already changed Dyl and I can only hope that things get better, but I have this strange feeling that things around going to get worse before that happens.”

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“It’s just a feeling and for some unknown reason to the Greek gods above, my feelings usually turn out true.” I turned and walked into the room where Austin, Eli, and Marcy were waiting.

“Okay, so the test will take two to four days to come back. I am going to try sooner but I won’t guarantee it.” She started to say as she prepared the test.

“This is like some DeJa’Vu kind of crap.” Eli mutter, making Austin chuckle, “my head still hurts from that day too you fucker.”

Austin threw his head back and laughed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He smirked.

“Care to tell the story to us who are wondering?” I c****d my eyebrow at him.

“Open your mouth Jordan.” Marcy demanded. I did just that as she took the swabs needed while Eli told the story.

“This jerk here thought I was in cahoots to destroy him and Hannah and their business and he gripped my hair and ended up pulling some out. He handed it over to Tristian and told him to take care of it, meaning get a DNA test done. We had a feeling we were brothers, but the test just confirmed it.”

“Well, as long as you guys don't have to rip mine out, I'm good.” I said as Marcy took a swab into Ellies cheek, who slept through the entire thing.

“Way to take the fun out of it.” he scoffed.

“Sorry to burst your bubbe but I need to maintain my lucious locks.” At least that made them laugh a bit. Job well done Jordan. I sighed and pulled Ellie back onto my shoulder.

“Can you get Dylan. It’s his turn.” Austin said.

“Don’t even test him.” I shrugged, “The note said that his address was the closest she could find in relation to the father. Plus, I’m almost one hundred percent sure she’s mine. We have the same birth mark on our thigh.”

I got up off the chair and walked out of the room with Austin and Eli hanging their mouths open, “By the way, you owe Dylan and apology. You treated him like s**t earlier before getting all the facts. Get over the fact that he’s married to your daughter already and move on with your life.”

“You will understand soon when Ellie gets married.” He glared at me and I chuckled.

“You see, that’s where we’re different Eli. Yeah, it will suck when she gets married and finds the love of her life, but I will do my best to support her in every decision she makes, including the person she marries and I will treat him with respect especially if I want him to do the same for her. Now, I’m not saying Dylan would ever treat Ray like that because he wouldn’t, but you have no idea how lucky you are that he is the decent guy he is. So, get over it, move the f**k on, accept it and apologize before your relationship with him and your daughter becomes so strained, there’s no going back to fix it.” I turned to a stunned Dylan and Finn, “Let’s go home.”

We walked out the door and headed back to the house and I honestly couldn’t wait to see my girl, pull her into my arms, kiss her and finally have that heart to heart conversation we both have been avoiding for the past year and a half or so.

Summer, here I come because I’m laying everything out on the table for you.