I take a long pull from my beer. “It wasn’t a date.”
He laughs. “Right.”
“It wasn’t,” I repeat. “It’s all part of the plan. I need to keep her close to ensure she doesn’t go running her mouth and fuck everything up for me.”
Bentley rolls his eyes. “C’mon, dawg. Are you really going to play it like that? You’re into this girl—why is that so hard for you to admit?”
Because she makes me lose sight of my goal, and I don’t like that.
I grunt in response, earning another laugh from this asshole.
“How’d you know about her little sister anyway?”
I pick at the label on the bottle. “John dug it up. Jasmine’s call history showed multiple attempts to reach the kid’s father, but they only connected once. When I showed up at his house, he admitted she was trying to arrange a visit, but he claimed not to have the time to deal with it. He changed his tune really fast when I pulled out a wad of bills. Miraculously, he agreed to allow Jazz weekly visits with her sister as long as the money keeps coming.”
Bentley frowned. “Why would he want to keep them away from each other? You’d think at the very least, he’d like getting a free babysitter out of it.”
I shrug. “I get the impression it’s a power play... like, he wants leverage over Jazz. The way he looks at her isn’t right.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Like in a skeevy way?”
I nod. “Exactly. It was almost identical to how my dad looked at her. I wanted to knock his fucking teeth out.”
“You wanted to knock his teeth out... for a girl you have no feelings for whatsoever?”
“Just because I don’t have any feelings for her, doesn’t mean I want her to become some sick fuck’s plaything.” I take another drink of my beer. “Speaking of sick fucks... you won’t believe what John dug up on Jasmine’s mom.”
“Are you waiting for a fucking invitation? Spill.”
“Get this—for whatever reason, Callahan didn’t follow his typical pattern with Jasmine’s mom—besides the fact that she was only seventeen, maybe eighteen when he brought her in. She lived with him for over three years in the mansion. And she was formally employed as a live-in maid until shortly after Jazz’s second birthday, which means Jazz also lived at that house. Even after Charles married Madeline. I found a picture of me and Ains playing with Jasmine as a toddler. I’m pretty sure Jazz has no fucking clue. As far as she’s concerned, they first met after her mom died.”
“Oh snap,” Bentley mutters. “This shit is complicated.”
“No kidding,” I agree. “My PI dug up some other stuff that makes it even worse. My head’s been spinning nonstop.”
“Jazzy Jazz’s arrival sure shakes things up, doesn’t it?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Speaking of shaking this up... you takin’ her to Reed’s party on Friday?”
Reed’s parents are going away for the weekend. He’s the only one of us who doesn’t have absentee parents, so having the house to himself is a rarity. We all decided he needed to throw a party to celebrate.
“That’s the plan.”
Bentley gets a shit-eating grin on his face. “What if I told you I beat you to it?”
I narrow my eyes. “The fuck you say?”
“Why you getting so angry, bro?” The asshole laughs. “You say you’re not into her. You told me you couldn’t care less if I fucked her. If either of those things were true, why do you care who she goes to the party with?”
“I don’t.” I run my hands through my hair.
“Uh huh,” he taunts. “Well, buddy, I’ll do you a solid and admit that I haven’t asked her... yet. But I do have every intention of making a move if you don’t. You’re not the only one she’s hot for and I plan on exploiting the shit out of that.”
This fucker is looking to get a rise out of me, but I won’t let him.
I relax my jaw. “Be my guest.”
He cocks his head to the side. “Is that your final answer?”
“Go for it,” I insist. “Jasmine Callahan means nothing to me.”
Bentley laughs. “All right, man, if you say so. But remember this conversation when she’s in one of Reed’s guest rooms with me on Friday night.”
Not if I have anything to say about it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
JAZZ
“You’re going with me to Reed’s party on Friday night.”
I glance over at the bossy ass who just sat next to me at lunch. “Nice greeting, jackass. How about next time you try, ‘Hi, Jazz. How’s your day going?’”
Kingston’s jaw clenches. I totally don’t notice his eyes are more brown than green today. “Hi, Jazz. How’s your day going?”
“See? That wasn’t too hard, was it?” I give him a condescending pat on the cheek, making the rest of our table laugh.
“Watch it,” he warns.
I lift my eyebrows in challenge. “Or what?”
He gives me a wicked grin. “Or I won’t tell you about your surprise.”
“What surprise?” Ainsley asks.
Kingston points to his sister. “Stay out of it, Ainsley.”
She gives him a sugary smile before turning to me. “Do you want me to stay out of it, Jazz?”
I bite back a laugh. I love how much she enjoys fucking with her brother.
“Nope.” I emphasize the word with a pop. “What surprise?”
Kingston stares at my lips before moving back up to my eyes.
“Go to Reed’s party with me and I’ll tell you.”
Bentley, who’s sitting on the other side of me, leans into my ear and whispers, “Make him work for it, baby girl.”
I sit back in my chair. “What makes you think I’d have the desire to go to any party after what happened during the last one I attended?”
Kingston rolls his eyes. “Because this will be different.”
“How so?”
He holds up his index finger. “For one, you’ll be under our protection so no one will fuck with you.” He adds a second finger. “Two, it’s at Reed’s house, so we have complete control over the environment.” His ring finger joins in. “Three, it’d be a surefire way of getting back at Peyton and her groupies for bullying you.”
Kingston looks so smug, I want to smack him.
“For one, being under your supposed protection doesn’t stop you from screwing with me. I’m still convinced you had something to do with why I was so fucked up after only two drinks. Two, the location has zero influence over my decision because I don’t trust you. See reason number one. And three, you’ve bullied me, so wouldn’t refusing to go be getting back at you?” I tick off each reason mockingly.
A muscle jumps in Kingston’s jaw. “You done?”
“Are you?” I challenge.
“Not even close.” Kingston turns to Ainsley. “You’re going, right?”
“Yeah.” Ainsley looks at me. “You can ride with me if you want, Jazz. I swear I won’t take off like I did last time. And if you don’t want to drink, I won’t either.”