Arranged love

I DIDN’T HAVE much to say to Emilee. We drove around in silence after she informed me of Jasmine’s situation. So, when she took me back to Kingdom, I jumped in my own car and headed to her house. I wasn’t ready to speak to Cross just yet. Not sure what to really say to him anyway. I was afraid I’d just make myself look stupid again.

I stand on the front porch of her mansion and ring the bell. Seconds later, the door opens to Jasmine standing before me. Her eyes drop to the bottle of Fireball in my right hand before they return back to me. “Figured we’d have a drink.”

I half expect her to slam the door in my face, but I’m hopeful when she takes a step back, holding it open for me instead. I notice the boxes sitting in the foyer immediately. Not hard to miss. “Are you moving?” I joke.

“Yes,” she deadpans.

The smile drops off my face, and I go to ask why she hasn’t already told me this but her doorbell rings.

Jasmine yanks it open. “Lauren,” She sighs. “What can I do for you today?”

“Your dog is in your backyard.” The older woman places her hands on her hips.

“Yes. I know this may come as a shock, but dogs have to piss and shit like humans do.”

She pulls her lips back at Jasmine’s choice of words. “She’s barking at me through your fence.”

“Dogs bark. Just like Karen’s bitch,” she states dryly.

The woman gasps.

“Have a nice day, Karen.” Then she slams the door in her face.

“You got a dog?” I ask confused.

“Yeah,” she answers, walking from the foyer.

I quicken my pace behind her as she heads to her kitchen. “Wait. What?” Let’s go back to her moving. “Are you serious about moving?” How did I not know this?

“As a heart attack.”

We enter the kitchen, and I place the Fireball bottle on the counter and turn around to face her as she gets two shot glasses out of the cabinet. “Since when?”

Grabbing the glasses, she turns back around and places them on the white marble counter and unscrews the lid before pouring us both a shot. She stays silent, fills her glass, and then throws it back, not even bothering to wait for me. Once done, she refills it.

Before she can take this one, I reach out and grab it from her hand. “What the hell is going on, Jasmine?” I demand this time.

Placing her hand on the counter, she bows her head and takes in a deep breath. Then she looks up, her eyes on mine. “I was a Queen.”

I’ve heard of that before.

“Hey, girlie.”

I look up from behind the bar to see Jasmine sit down next to April. “Hey. What are you doing here?” April asks her.

She shrugs. “Was on my way out for the night and thought I’d stop by and see Alexa. Have to support my friends.” She drops a couple of hundreds in the glass tip jar that sits on the bar. “What are you up to tonight?”

“Nothing,” April answers, taking a sip of her Corona.

“Come out with me. I’m going to a party,” Jasmine offers, fixing the thin shoulder straps to her little black dress.

“Nah-”

“Hey, you work at Kingdom,” I interrupt her, joining their conversation. I’m not sure exactly what she does, but I’ve heard her mention it. Maybe she can help April out with her Ethan problem. “We have questions.”

“What? You work at Kingdom? What do you do there?” April wonders.

Jasmine chuckles, shaking her head. “Sorry, ladies. I can’t discuss that.”Content © NôvelDrama.Org 2024.

April frowns as my brother jumps in while he pours a Miller Lite into a frosted mug. “See, told you some bad shit goes down there.”

Jasmine squares her shoulders. “You know nothing about Kingdom. Trust me.”

He tops off the mug and sets it down before placing his forearms on the bar and leaning into her personal space. “I know that Bones is in with the Mafia. I know that a lot of illegal shit goes on there.” He pulls back and looks her up and down the best he can since she’s sitting, and adds, “And I know you’re a Queen.”

“What’s a Queen?” April whispers to me.

I shrug. No fucking clue.

Jasmine places her hands on the bar and stands, leaning over it. They’re nose to nose. “You seem to know a lot about nothing.”

His eyes drop to her breasts that are poking out of her skintight dress. He licks his lips before his eyes meet hers again. “I know enough.” Reaching out, he takes a piece of her red hair, freeing it from behind her ear. “How much does a Queen go for these days?” he asks her.

Her red-painted lips turn up at the corners before she runs her tongue along her upper lip. “More than you can afford.”

He lets go of her hair, his finger trailing down over her neck. “I don’t know. I’ve heard pussy comes pretty cheap.”

“Not the good ones.”

“Hey, Derek? Where’s my beer?” a guy shouts from the end of the bar.

He ignores him as he looks at her. It’s like they’re in a staring contest. Whoever looks away first will lose. “Let’s just say our opinions differ on what’s good,” he finally says before pulling away from her and delivering the beer.

“What was that about?” I ask Jasmine, wide-eyed and confused.

“I gotta go,” Jasmine states, picking up her clutch while completely ignoring my question. “We’ll do lunch next week.” Then she walks away without another word.

“Which is?” I ask again, hoping she fills me in this time. I tried to ask Derek, but he blew me off. Then I just forgot about it. I can’t ask him now. He won’t even speak to me. And I can’t go to him now that I know about Bones and Luca. I can’t let him know he was right.

She walks over to the bar and sits down at one of the high back stools. I sit down next to her. “Titan runs the Queens at Kingdom. The Queens are high-paid escorts for the worldwide elite.”

“Oh.” Not what I was expecting, but that conversation she had with my brother makes much more sense now.

“I couldn’t talk about it then because it involved an attorney and an NDA. Even now, I’m not supposed to say anything, but … Titan wouldn’t mind me telling you because I know you won’t say anything.” She runs a hand through her hair. “A … friend was in a hard place and needed a job. I knew about the Queens, so I went with her, and Titan hired us both. My father found out and demanded that Titan fire me, but he wouldn’t. My father is a member.” She rolls her eyes. “A man buys you a few tacos from a taco truck, and you’re expected to fuck him in the back seat of his truck. How dare a woman fuck and actually get paid for it? Anyway, now my dad is threatening to take everything from me if I don’t stop Kink.”

I reach out and place my hand on top of hers. “We can put it on hold.” I shrug. “Do it another time. Lucky’s isn’t going anywhere.”

She shakes her head. “What my father doesn’t know is that the money I put down for Kink didn’t come from him. He has no control over that. While I was a Queen, I met a guy who paid me a lot of money to just hang out with him. He was newly married, but his wife refused to do anything with him. I was supposed to spend an entire week with him in New York, but something fell through, and he had to head back home early. He found his partner’s son in bed with his wife.”

My eyes widen. Not where I saw that story going.

“She’s a year younger than me, and he’s fifty-five. She didn’t know that she had been caught with her boy toy. So he flew to Vegas, and we spent the rest of that week here in town at an attorney’s office.”

“Doing what exactly?” I ask, trying to keep up. I’m still processing everything I’ve found out in the past hour.

“He sold me several properties he had for really cheap. He was going to wait a few months and then file for a divorce. His parents are dead. He no longer trusted his business partner, especially if he knew his son was fucking his wife. And he didn’t have any kids.”

“That’s where you got the money for Kink?” I start to piece it together.