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)
“Dr. Scott, could you just give me a few seconds?” Chase patted the doctor’s shoulder and signaled for me to follow him. “I’ll be right back.”
I trailed behind Chase, not too happy to have a man like him guiding me along like a dog, but interested in what he had to say nonetheless. Out of all the guys Jazz dated, this one was the cream of the crop. He had his own shit and seemed to know how to treat her when he didn’t have those other broads around. But then that was the thing, those other broads. Viv and Jazz had kept that from me for a while. By the time they told me, it was too late to make him eat his own dick. She’d broken up with him, and I’d gotten the news that changed my life— Benny was our dad.
We got to the end of the hallway, far away from Jazz’s room and Benny’s curious ears.
“I need your help,” Chase said.
“With what?”
“Finding out who shot your sister.”
“I’m not a private investigator, man.”
“No, but you’re smart and have been protecting her all your life.”
“True.”
“And you’d do anything to keep her safe?”
“Even take my own life, if it meant hers.”
“Then help me, please. I can’t trust the men on my team. They’re too close to my . . . ex-girlfriends.” The muscle in his jaw twitched. “I need someone who has Jasmine’s best interests in mind and can keep it all a secret.”
Still not sure where this was going, I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets. “What do you want me to do?”
“Everything.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“I don’t know what’s coming in these next days, but I need someone who’s ready to do it all for her.”
When a man talked like this to a man like me, he never meant legal stuff. Chase needed a guy that wasn’t scared to go where others couldn’t. He wanted a thug. I just wasn’t sure if I was that person anymore. Nothing about jail made me yearn to go back.
“I’m on probation.”
“We could fix that.”
“How?”
“I have friends, ones who look the other way when I need them too.”
“Then you should have friends to do the jobs you need done.”
“I do. I just don’t know if I can trust them.” He sighed. “Look. You’re Jasmine’s brother. I wouldn’t put you in a situation that I couldn’t get you out of. She’d kill me if she knew.” He gestured behind me. “And then Benny would eat up the scraps of me that she left over.”
“I doubt that.”
“Trust me. He would.” He held his hand out. “Join me.”
I stared at those manicured fingers of his. My older brother, Sherman, always told me to never trust a man who got his nails done. They were tricky cats, he said.
Can’t no one catch a tricky cat when he doesn’t want to be trapped.
“What am I joining?” I asked.
“A witch hunt.”
“Who’s the witch?”
“That’s what I need you to help me find out.”
“This witch shot my sister, right?”
His face darkened to rage. “Yes. Did it in the dark where I couldn’t see her and then ran.”
I shook his hand. “Let’s hope for her sake, I don’t catch her.”
Chapter 5
CHASE
Jasmine slept in my arms. Her fingers twitched a lot when in deep sleep. At times she mumbled things that I strained to hear. I needed any clue as to who she was, anything to point at and understand why she’d captured me so easily.
All the women in the damn world who’ve hunted me, and I lose my brain over this one. What is it about you, Jasmine, that has me so crazy?
Sure she loved food and was passionate about others. None of that triggered the blood to rush through my veins or head to fog with only thoughts of her.
What is it? Those lips, that fat cunt between your legs, or the way you make me scream your name? Can it just be the sex?
She stirred against me. I checked to make sure she didn’t put her weight on her injured arm. I breathed her in.
How fitting that Jasmine smells like jasmine. I should get the most expensive perfume with this scent. Would that please her?
Gifts always worked with the girls. Dawn loved money or anything that spoke of wealth. With each year, her birthdays and Christmas were settled with ease. I simply walked into any of her favorite boutiques or jewelers and asked for the top item in the space. Wendy didn’t need as much money spent on her versus my attention. Although she pretended to be self-sufficient, she competed for my attention most of all. It was suffocating to be with her, so I tried to keep her occupied with things. Since she’d been raised poor and was barely loved by her family, I adorned her with jewels, spoiled her with lavish vacations, and kept her bar stocked with top-label bottles. I’d met her father and mother a few times, paying for them to come along on some trips. They’d given me the creeps, always inquiring about the state of my health and how much money I held in my accounts.