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)
He was also fun. In this week, I loved being around him. He’d taught me so much about business and just watching him work made me feel like I was learning valuable lessons. I got the feeling that whether he was rich or not, if I’d been with him, my life would improve just from his advice and support. He fascinated me. Even the arrangement was interesting.
But interesting from afar.
I would’ve loved to read about this relationship or watch it on TV while snacking on a bowl of spicy buttered popcorn.
But participate? No way!
“I’m sorry, but no, Chase. I can’t do it.”
He returned to finger tapping. The muscles in his jaw twitched. “Is it because of the three girls who died?”
I tensed. “Were those girls a part of this arrangement?”
He averted his eyes and stuffed his mouth with food.
“Chase?”
He finished chewing. “Yes. All three had been involved with us.”
And now they are dead.
“Am I in some sort of danger?” I pushed my plate away, no longer hungry.
“No. The last woman died two years ago. Since then I’ve doubled up on security. Those deaths emotionally broke me and everyone else in the arrangement.” He frowned. “I’d been determined to never add another woman again.”
“Then why me?”
“I saw you at that party and everything shifted inside of me. After two years of mourning, depression, and regret, I heard your laugh and wanted to be able to laugh like that with you, to experience happiness again.”
“You have three women to make you laugh.”
“And still I want you.”
I sighed. “Back to these deaths. Do you think the women were killed by someone who—”
“Oh no. I don’t think they were killed. It’s just discovering that a man’s three ex-girlfriends died back to back would scare most, so I figured that was why you were hesitant.” His eyes widened as he shook his head, but for some reason I didn’t believe him.
Fear plopped to the pit of my stomach and then unfurled into a full blown anxiety attack.
I hadn’t had an anxiety attack like this in a year.
My throat tightened. Sweat appeared and dripped down my face. My heart banged in my ears. I scanned my eyes around the restaurant as if any of these customers sitting at the tables could be there to harm me. My body trembled. The waiter approached from behind me with a pitcher of water.
I shrieked and jumped in my seat.
“Jasmine? Are you okay?” Chase reached for my hand. I shoved it away and rose.
“I have to go to the lady’s room.” I wiped some of the sweat away. My stomach twisted into an unsettling knot.
Focus on breathing. Count your breaths. You know what to do.
I sucked in a lot of air through my nose.
“Let me walk you.” Chase rose.
“No.” I hurried away, bumping into a woman as she left the bathroom.
They all died.
A cold dread expanded across my skin. My fingers turned ice cold. I rubbed them together.
But who did it? Do they want to hurt me? Am I safe? Stay in the moment. Don’t think about it. Breathe.
Chapter 9
Drunken Lyrics
I stood in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, meditating and calming myself down.
When I walked out, Chase stood by the door.
It took another five minutes to reassure him that I was okay and it was just one of many anxiety attacks I’d experienced in my life. They’d started the day after Troy killed my mother’s boyfriend.
Through the years, I’d learned to cope with them.
Dinner continued in silence with a little casual talk tossed in. I think Chase figured I was too fragile for his arrangement and decided not to bring it up again.
Fine by me.
“I’ll be dreaming about that chocolate lava cake all night,” Chase said, interrupting the quiet in the limo.
“Yes, that qualifies as an orgasmic moment.”
“So what’s next for us?” Chase opened a glass panel on his right that housed a tiny bar. He poured me a glass of champagne. The bubbles skittered to the rim. “I still get to enjoy your company for the rest of the evening.”
“I don’t remember agreeing to that.” I took the glass and sipped. The luscious liquid poured over my tongue.
God, he’s spoiling me.
“What were you going to do tonight?”
“Hang out with my brother, Vivian, and her boyfriend at Drunken Lyrics.”
“Cool. I never heard of the place, but your taste in food is impeccable. I trust you.”
“You’re just going to invite yourself?”
“Of course.” He poured himself a glass.
* * *
Sue Lin owned Drunken Lyrics. She’d been a famous Asian poet who traveled all over the world. I owned all her spoken word CDs when I was in high school. I knew her popular poems by heart. So when she moved to Oshane City and opened her place I was her first customer.
Once I met Sue I understood the full meaning of her place’s name. She drank nonstop and always held a glass of wine, shot of liquor, or can of beer when I saw her. The nights began with her tipsy announcements on the microphone and continued with her drunken slurring by the end of the evening.