“She’s worth it,” he said before taking a sip. “But I’m tapping out after this.”
I damn near slid off the couch. “You serious?”
He nodded. “Deadass. I knew Jas was my wife the second I laid eyes on her at Palladium. I was drunk as fuck, but I knew.”
“You know you sound crazy, right?”
“I’m almost forty, Nai. The hell I look like doing this forever? I’m tryna have the life my parents never had. I can handle myself, but I can’t be worried about somebody sliding on her every time I turn around. I’ll clean the money. Jelani can hold down the rest.”
I whistled and shook my head. “Damn. Never thought I’d see the day Big Money Banks was ready to hang up his jersey.”
He gave a lazy shrug. “Fontaine would do the same for you.”
I blinked, forcing out a laugh. “The hell are you talking about?”
Cash drained the rest of his drink and set the glass down. “Come the fuck on, Nairobi. Y’all thought nobody noticed? That shit at Stilettos? The way y’all sat together on the plane? His little outburst with CJ just confirmed it.” He leaned back in the chair. “You really thought y’all were being low?”
Well shit. “It’s not—” I started, my voice catching in my throat.
He cut me off. “Shorty, I know you, and I know him. I know y’all are sharing a suite.”
My mouth went dry. “How?”
Cash rolled his eyes. “Fontaine’s not the only person who can hack into a hotel’s database. Stop playing.”
I shot to my feet. “I’m leaving when we get back to Atlanta.”
“And he’ll just come after you.”
He might.
But if he did, I’d just have to show him how good I was at disappearing.
CHAPTER27
JASMINE MILLER
I decidedto follow my intuition for once and skip seeing my parents. One look at me at my mother would’ve immediately clocked that something was off. She had this look she got whenever she was sniffing out bullshit—lips pursed, eyes squinted. I’d fold in seconds.
Worse if my daddy found out. He’d show up at the penthouse waving his .44 before my mama had NYPD on the line.
Nobody else needed to be dragged into this mess.
So I told Marcus I changed my mind and braced myself for another tantrum. Instead, he surprised me by calmly handing me his black Amex and told me Amber could take me shopping for the gala. I was going regardless whether I’d taken him up on his stupid-ass excuse of an olive branch.
Seeing Cash the other night gave me a little bit of hope. He was somewhere in the city working on a solution. Until then, I had to keep it cute and play along. But if the nigga put his hands on me again, I was definitely swinging back. Even if it got me killed.
Amber and I drifted through Saks, like we were two besties on a carefree shopping trip and not that I was a hostage in broad daylight. I tried on dresses and cracked jokes, but the whole thing felt surreal. It was as if I were watching all of it happen outside of myself.
“You tryna stay in Atlanta?” she asked as we headed to the shoe department.
I shrugged. “Who knows. My contract with Peachtree is almost up, but I’ve been MIA for damn near a week. Pretty sure they fired me. Then Cash and I just got serious and now…” I waved a hand. “This whole mess. Chile, maybe I need to go back to square niggas.”
Amber snorted as she picked up a pair of heels. “You don’t even believe that.”
I let out a short laugh. “You right.”
Atlanta was supposed to be a temporary chapter. But being with Cash had me wondering—what if it wasn’t?
