Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“We have monthly get-togethers, just us girls, where we eat, discuss any problems with Chase, and complain about things that didn’t work last month.”
“Is attendance required?” I sucked my teeth.
“Absolutely.”
I won’t be doing that either. I don’t want to join the Chase Hump Club. I only want to get to know him.
“Do we have to take notes and hug each other?” I joked. “And at the end of the meeting is there a club song and a statue of Chase where we get on our knees and kiss its toes?”
“Whoa.” She doubled over and laughed. “You and Dawn are really going to go at it. I’m pretty excited for you to meet.”
“Clearly, Chase didn’t consider our personalities when he decided to go after me.”
“Nope. Oh yeah. We also have to go to an assigned therapist weekly and Dawn’s gynecologist monthly for checkups.”
“Not happening. I have my own therapist and gynecologist, thank you very much. Is it not enough that we’ll all be living together? If I do plan to live in Willow Park.”
Lucy shook her head.
“Hey, there’s some green stew thing over there. Let’s check that out.” I pointed that way.
“Okay,” Lucy said, but the expression on her face seemed concerned, as if we were heading toward poisonous slush. “Jasmine, the therapist and gynecologist are important. I don’t think you should fight that.”
“Well, I get the gynecologist, but why a therapist?”
Lucy remained silent and began to bite her thumbnail.
“What?” I nudged her with my hip.
“The therapist appointments started once Vickie committed suicide.”
I stopped walking. “Who’s Vickie?”
“She’s the first woman to hold your position.”
My position? They’re insane.
People marched by us.
Someone chattered.
Others carried kids or bags.
“Why did she kill herself?” I asked.
“I don’t want to talk about any of the three.”
“The three?” I quirked my eyebrows.
“That’s what we say instead of saying their names.” She headed off.
I hurried to get back to her side. “I would think knowing about them is significant to me being with you all. I mean, why did they–”
“No, Jasmine.” She combed her hair with her fingers. “The threes’ situation won’t happen to you.”
“But how do I know that?” I crossed my arms over my chest.
Lucy released an exasperated breath. “Vickie was bipolar and suicidal. We had no idea beforehand. Vickie never took the arrangement well.”
I don’t imagine so. How would I handle it?
I hugged myself. “And the other two?”
“I told you how they died.”
“But—”
“Please, Jasmine.” Lucy gazed at her feet. “Wendy and Dawn are close and always have been. When there is a new girl, I end up being her friend. We almost always become confidants. And when they die, they take a part of me with them.”
“I’m sorry.” I grabbed her hand and held it.
“Those three deaths seem weird, but trust me. It’s not some big murder conspiracy.” She looked at me. “Vickie had mental problems. A normal person, even a mentally stable person, would be stressed out if they were in this arrangement. It’s why we made you go through a mental evaluation.”
“True.” I wondered if they knew about my anxiety problems.
“Evelyn really drowned in the pool on our estate. She wasn’t electrocuted. What no one said in the papers is that she did lots of cocaine and other drugs.”
“So she really overdosed in the pool?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Yes, Yancy was the final girlfriend. She owed lots of money to some very vile people. She’d latched onto our arrangement for the money side.”
“How much money do we get?” I scrunched my face up in confusion.
“Way more than we ever need. Chase gives us an ample allowance, plus our own car, credit cards, an apartment in Willow Park, as well as anything else we want. Yancy was a gold digger. When it wasn’t her date night with Chase, she flew to Vegas and gambled. We think she owed people money and they killed her when Dawn cut off her allowance.”
“Why did Dawn cut her off in the first place?”
“I don’t know or care. Yancy was so nasty and mean to everyone. Even though we were close, she was always bullying me.” Lucy lifted her sunglasses and wiped a tear from her right eye. “Even Chase was tired of Yancy. He had planned on holding a secret meeting with Dawn, Wendy, and me to get our approval to end the relationship with her, but that evening someone attacked her.”
Too much of a coincidence.
A sliver of fear crept up my spine.
My mind began to do all the things I’d been training it in the past years not to do—creating scenarios of my oncoming violent death and wondering about strangers lurking around me with knives ready to attack.
Breathe. Relax. Stay in the moment.
“Due to Evelyn and Yancy, you had to take the drug tests and credit check.” She looked at me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m just a little freaked out by this news.”