Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"What the hell is going on?"

Spinelli loosened his grip on Maxie as she pulled herself away from him. "Sweetie, you're back," Maxie said as she smiled at her daughter.

"Oh cut the crap Mom," she said to Maxie as she walked up to Spinelli. "I can't believe you."

"Me, what has the Jackal done?" he asked innocently. Maxie could not believe how he could be so…overpowering with her one minute and sweet and loving with their daughter the next. Not that she was complaining, it was about time he manned up, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"You act as though you really care about me, when you really don't. It's just a way to get into my mother's pants."

"That's not it at all. I do care for you Ava," Spinelli insisted as took her hands in his.

"If you did, you wouldn't be trying to screw my Mom," she said pulling her hands out of his.

"Ava, how do you know I wasn't trying to get him into bed?"

"Oh come on Mom, you're the biggest prude on the planet, you wouldn't throw yourself at a man."

"What?" Spinelli asked in disbelief.

"Ava, you will show me more respect," Maxie yelled as she turned her back to Spinelli.

"Little One, what did you mean by that comment?" Spinelli asked curiously. What other lies had Maxie been telling their daughter? He knew Maxie hadn't told her about her past, but he knew she hadn't changed her ways.

"You mean she hasn't always been like this? She thinks she's perfect and she doesn't mind to criticize those around her. She doesn't date and she doesn't allow me to. She says that boys are only after one thing and that I should never fall in love, because that leads to nothing but pain." Ava paused and approached her father. "But you know what, now I realize that it was you who made her this way. You've turned my mother into a shell of her former self. You're the reason she's thrown herself into her career. You're the reason she doesn't date. Oh my, I don't know why I didn't realize this earlier; she's still in love with you…"

"That's enough Ava," Maxie screamed from the other side of the room. "You can stop this psycho analysis shit. You know nothing of my feelings or of Spinelli's. You are a little girl."

"I'm not a little girl and I'm tired of being treated like one," she screamed as she ran upstairs to get ready for her date.

Spinelli stared at Maxie from across the room. Was she ever in love with him? Could she still be in love with him? No, Ava had to have that wrong. This is Maxie Jones, we're talking about; Jesse was the love of her life and still is.

Maxie could feel his gaze on her. Why did Ava have to read her so well? Why couldn't she oblivious to everything around her, instead of being like her father? Maxie slowly turned to face him. "Are you going to stop her?"

"And how would the Jackal go about doing that?"

"I don't know, figure out something. Listen, you don't want her to go out with Jake any more than I do."

"Why is that though? I would think you would want your daughter to be with Lucky Spencer's son. I mean, if you couldn't have him, than maybe your daughter can have his son, another way of sticking it to Fair Elizabeth."

"Except, he's not Lucky's, is he. I don't want my daughter in anymore danger than she's already in with you as her father. By dating Jason's son, she's putting a bigger target on her back."

"We're the only ones who know his true paternity."

"No, Spinelli, everyone knows Jason is Jake's father except Jake. I don't want her hurt physically or emotionally."

"And you think I do?" he yelled.

"No, I know you don't, like I know that you know that what I'm saying is the truth."

"What?" he asked confused.

"You know what I mean. You were just using Jake's age as an excuse."

"You're right, are you happy?" he asked as he walked across the room to stand in front of her.

"Spinelli, I know that you trying to protect Ava…" Maxie stopped suddenly. "What's that beeping noise?" Maxie watched as Spinelli ran over to pick up his laptop. "What is it?" she asked going to sit beside him on the couch.

"I slipped into Evil Al's place last week and bugged his phone," he informed her not looking up from the screen.

"You did what? Spinelli, how could you do something so dangerous? Don't you have business associates who can do the dangerous stuff for you?" she asked franticly. She knew she sounded worried, but she was, and she really didn't care if he knew it or not.

"Of course I have business associates; there are just some things I have to do myself." Spinelli paused as he picked up his ear piece to listen to the call.

Maxie waited patiently for him to tell her what was going on. 'I can't believe I'm getting pulled back into this mess,' she said to herself. She couldn't help her curiosity. She watched as the man she loved placed the ear piece back on the table. "What is it?" she asked nervously.

"It appears that the Simeon One is in cahoots with Evil Al," he said looking into her beautiful eyes.

"Logan? Why would he be doing business with Lorenzo?

"He's willing to help Evil Al put me six feet under."

Maxie felt the weight of fear settle in her stomach. "This is why I didn't tell her about my past and about you. I didn't want her to go through the heart break of losing someone she loves," she said as she buried her face in her hands.

"Maxie, I can't deal with this right now. Do whatever you have to do to keep Ava in this house; I don't want either one of you leaving."

Maxie looked up to see him walking toward the door. "Where are you going?" she asked with worry.

"I'm going to see Stone Cold," was all he said as he walked out the door.

TBC