Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“That’s not a bad price,” Chase admitted.
“That’s fucking ridiculous for a stupid hot dog.” Vivian seared Troy with her gaze. “Go ahead and spill it. Why do you think my father is capable of murder? Sure he’s a lying cheating bastard that hid a major secret from us all of our lives, but a killer, now that’s something I need to know about.”
“Troy is drunk,” I said. “Let’s leave it alone.”
“He got rid of a body for me once.” Troy drank more from the bottle and then wiped his mouth. “Isn’t that right, Jazz?”
Chase and Vivian switched interested faces to me. I opened my mouth, closed it, and then punked out and said, “In New York there’s this sundae that costs a thousand dollars.”
Vivian sighed. Chase raised his eyebrows. “Interesting. What’s in it?”
“Please, stop encouraging her,” Vivian huffed.
“We’re talking Tahitian vanilla ice cream infused with Madagascar vanilla beans. I have no idea if these two things are awesome, but I want to try them,” I said. “Then on top of the sundae, you have 23k edible gold leaf, gold dragnets—
“What’s a dragnet?” Chase asked.
“I have no idea, but I will one day. And it’s sprinkled with rare chocolate truffles and tiny drops of caviar. Even the serving dish is gold, with a real 18k gold spoon—”
“Jasmine!” Vivian hit the table. It wasn’t a major slam or boom. The dishes didn’t lift up like in cartoons, but my wine did swish in my glass. No humor showed in her face, just annoyance.
“Yes?”
“Did my father get rid of a body for you and Troy?” she asked.
This wasn’t fair. The secret was supposed to remain hidden forever. Troy and I promised as much to Benny. He’d done a lot for us that night. My mom was passed out on the couch as she usually did. Her latest boyfriend of the time enjoyed catching me in the hallway after my showers and making me feel uneasy with sexual comments no man should say to a young girl. I’d told Troy. By that summer, all our brothers resided in juvie. It was just Troy and I, against my mother and her men. For some reason, he took protecting me as his number one goal, so he began sleeping under my bed. And the punk in me let him. I’d been scared enough to allow it.
“Yes. Benny got rid of a body for Troy and me,” I whispered. “But Benny didn’t kill the man. Troy did.”
Chase knitted his fingers together. “My investigators never uncovered this when they looked through Jasmine’s background.”
“Benny took care of it.” Troy took the bottle to the head, his Adam’s apple jumping up and down in his throat as he finished it all.
Vivian raked her fingers through her hair. “What did this man do to you both where you had to kill him?”
“He tried to rape me.” I grabbed the bottle from Troy, noticed it was empty, and handed it back. “Troy had been sleeping under my bed with a steak knife, just in case the man tried to sneak into my room. The guy did and. . .Troy being young and on edge, stabbed him in his throat and then in his heart.”
“You should probably stop with this story before your boyfriend gets scared and fires me.” Troy burped.
“No way. I’m glad a man like that is gone.” Anger creased the corners of Chase’s eyes, pure anger. It was raw and uncontrolled. I inched back a little in my chair, happy that he wasn’t pissed at me and hopefully anybody else in the room. “You did what you had to do. It was good that Jasmine had you there. I know a whole lot about having to do something bad to save another person.”
He does?
“How did my dad get involved?” Vivian asked.
“I called him,” I said. “He rushed over and like Troy said. He took care of it all. A bunch of men rushed in, cleaned up, took the body, and put everything back the way it was. I have no idea if Benny even told my mom or not. Much later, somebody found the dead body in an alley. The police chalked it up to gang violence. No one pursued the murder. All of that being said, I don’t think Benny has anything to do with my getting shot or these other women’s deaths.”
“I’ve always suspected him of killing my mom, but I have no proof,” Chase said.
What the fuck?
I sat there with my mouth open.
“And then there’s the fact that Vivian’s ex-boyfriend is still missing after he hit her,” Troy said. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
Vivian covered her eyes. “For the hundredth time, my dad didn’t hurt Noc.”
“We don’t know that he didn’t,” Troy said.
“Let’s get off of this. It’s all a bunch of unfounded accusations about a man who I know for sure loves us all.” I looked at Chase. “Well, most of us. A woman shot me. I say it was Lucy, but I’m suspecting Dawn and Wendy too. Let’s stay off of Benny.”