Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
“Son?” She stood still. The word sounded like poison on her tongue. Thank God she didn’t possess the ability to lash that vile thing out of her mouth and swipe me with it. “Should I be worried?”
“Yes, you should.” I stepped away to give them more room just in case they needed to shoot her. Truth be told, I wanted to kill her myself, after realizing she’d been the cause for Jasmine’s near rape in her childhood. Plus, the woman had ruined Troy. He was such a smart man. Her little move to get power in the hood had shoved Troy off into a different path.
He’d become an unofficial killer.
You vile woman. The only reason why you’re still breathing is because Jasmine doesn’t know, and she wouldn’t forgive me. Troy probably guessed. If not, then he’d understand much faster than Jasmine. Your daughter’s biggest weakness is that she sees the good in people, even when they don’t deserve it.
Both men remained on Sophia’s side and hooked their arms around hers. In each of their free hands, the guns continued to point at her chest.
“Excuse me?” She looked at the guy on her right and then left. “Do I have special guards now?”
“Of course. You’re Jasmine’s mother. I have to protect you. Keep the most important lady safe. I don’t want Benny trying to hurt you.”
She frowned at both of the guns. “Benny won’t hurt me.”
“He might.”
“I doubt it.”
“But we still can’t be sure.”
She spat the next words out. “I don’t like these fucking guns at my chest.”
My smile widened. “Focus, Sophia.”
“Focus?”
“Yes, focus. The guns are not the problem. Benny is. Just focus on helping me get Benny.”
“Have them get rid of their guns. I’m not appreciating this at all. I doubt Jasmine would either.”
“They’re here for your protection.”
“No, they’re here to trap me.” She gestured to the guns. “Jasmine wouldn’t appreciate this.”
“Did Jasmine know about Omar?”
Sophia’s attention left the guns and shot straight to me. “Omar?”
“Yes, the guy that came damn near close to taking her virginity at twelve years old, if not for Troy stabbing him in the chest. Did Jasmine understand the part you played with Omar?”
“You read a few journals and you think you’ve captured the whole picture of our lives. I liked you better, when you were love-struck and pussy-whipped. Don’t start trying to use your brain, Chase. It makes you look ugly.”
“And you’re a scholar of ugly, right?”
Her expression hardened. “So you’ve decided to have guns pointed at your mother-in-law? Do you have any other genius plans?”
“I’m just seizing opportunities and learning my enemies.”
ACT THREE
Chapter 20
Jasmine
“What took you so long?” Troy met me in the kitchen.
Where’s Benny? He must be near. How am I going to tell them about the phone call, without saying things that Benny or his guards will listen to and pick up?
“Was it long?” I wiped the sweat off of my forehead. “It felt like a few minutes.
We did our best to speak in code, since we were in the east wing.
“You look well rested.” Vivian chuckled.
“What the hell are you trying to say?” I turned away and scanned the space for Benny.
“You look like you just had sex.” Vivian tugged at the bottom of my shirt. Some of the material had gotten stuck in between my pant’s zipper. I looked like I’d just had sex and hurried to put on my clothes.
“It seems your exploration of the house involved a whole lot of voyaging on the dark side,” she said.
So you think I got freaky on the phone call, fine. I slipped. Sue me.
“Oh be quiet.” I set the flashlight on the table. “Is Benny back yet?”
“I thought we were going to keep the sexy stuff to a minimum this week?” Vivian asked.
I said through clenched teeth, “I did keep it to a minimum.”
“It doesn’t look that way,” Troy insisted.
“There’s no looking anyway. I checked out the abandoned parts of the house and then returned.”
I made the call. Leave me alone.
Troy muttered, “Freak call.”
I pretended not to hear him. “Where’s Benny?”
Troy folded his big arms across his chest. “He’s not here yet.”
“What the fuck? Why did you signal me?” I asked.
“Signal?” Troy nodded to the ceiling as if to suggest that Big Brother could be watching. “I’m not sure what you mean, dear sister. However, if there was a way to do what you said, I would’ve done that because we don’t know how much longer you had or if there’s some sort of tracking system.” Troy’s volume decreased. “And we figured we should end your freak call.”
I mumbled, “Oh shut up.”
“So tell us about your walk around the house.” Vivian stepped between us. “Anything interesting?”
“The walk through the house was good. It reminded me of my conversations with Chase.” I hoped that they understood the meaning between the lines. “Yes, that walk was just like our talks.”