Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59120 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Fucking bitch.
I stride up and slam my hands on the table, leaning in close and growling. “Why did you tell him where I’d be?”
She startles, eyes wide.
Chief looks between the two of us, confused. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Ask her,” I seethe. “Tell him, Jasmine. Tell him what just happened to me.”
Chief’s eyes move to Jasmine, and hers dart down to her hands.
“Demon found me,” I say. “And he told me that she was the one who gave him my location.”
Chief turns slowly, calm but firm. “Violet, take a step back.” Then he addresses Jasmine. “Is that true?”
Her voice trembles. “Daddy, I—I didn’t know what else to do. He had men everywhere. He scares me. He won’t take no for an answer, I had no other choice.”
"Liar," I say. Simple. Flat. Her eyes flick up, flashing. “Don’t sit here and act innocent, because we both know you’re not. You haven’t wanted me back in since the second I returned, and I would just bet you’re willing to do what it takes to make sure I leave and you stay.”
Jasmine's face breaks and she snorts, loudly. Gone are the emotional trembles in her voice. “Can you blame me for not wanting you back?" she says. "Even when you vanish for years, the second you walk in the room everyone starts acting like the queen has fucking returned. We were good without you, we were finally creating a relationship...”
“Jasmine,” Chief says, but I cut him off.
“Think what you want," I snap. “But I had my reasons for leaving, and I’m not the only person to blame. Don’t put this on me, when we both know you would rather I turn and never look back so you can have ‘daddy’ all to yourself.”
I'm shaking too, but I force myself to meet her eyes.
“You think you get to take all this back? You think you can just fuck off for two years, break hearts and come back and throw your weight around like you own the place?”
Chief's hand slams the table so hard I bite my tongue as I was about to scream a curse in her face. “Enough," he says. "Both of you.”
Jasmine shoots me a look so full of hate it makes my skin prickle, and then she storms off, knocking over a stack of red plastic cups as she goes.
Chief doesn't say anything for a while. Finally, his voice comes out careful. “You all right, kid?"
“I will be.” Anger still sizzles in me, but slowly, my heartbeat calms down.
He studies my face. “What did he say to you?”
“Just that Jasmine told him where I would be, and that he nearly killed you a year ago. Did he?”
Chief glances at his beer, at Bill, then jerks his chin. “Walk with me.”
We walk toward the back fence, where all the coolers are lined up full of beer.
“He got hold of me, yeah. Wasn’t in a good place. Beat me up real bad, bad enough that I spent a week in the hospital. He’s been out to get me since he found out about Jasmine, and he ain’t goin’ to stop until he gets it.”
I pause, turning to face him. “Then you need to do something. He’ll kill you...”
Chief reaches out, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I won’t let that happen, but you need to be careful. He might come after you to make a point, to make me hurt, because in the end, the fucker is hurtin’ and that’s why he’s doing this. Among other things.”
“Like?”
Chief takes a sip of beer. “Not for you to worry about, baby. But this thing between you and Jasmine, we gotta fix it. It ain’t healthy and it has to stop.”
I huff.
He drums his fingertips on the bottle, breaking eye contact. “She acts tough, but she spends more time scared than you’d imagine. And when you came back, you didn’t just walk in the door. You walked in carrying every insecurity she’s felt since she came into my life.” He lowers his voice, almost like he’s confessing something. “She ain’t a bad kid, Vi. She just wants a family, and for the first time in her life, she almost had one.”
I shake my head. “So she sells me out to a psychopath?”
His stare pins me. “It’s not always that simple, kid. When you’re terrified, you lie and make dumb decisions because the alternative is even worse. Demon’s not just an asshole—he’s a monster. Jasmine grew up with that kind of hate simmering around her. Sometimes I look at her and I see his mannerisms, even when I don’t want to. She doesn’t have what you have. She never learned how to fight for herself. So when she’s scared, she claws at the thing she wants to keep.”
I kick a pebble into the grass. “That doesn’t make it better.”
“No,” he says, “but you have to find a way to deal with her. Not for me, for you. Otherwise, it’s gonna rot you both out from the inside.”