Arranged love

EMILEE

AFTER I STORMED out of my father’s office, I went back to Titan’s and brought my mother along with her nurse back to my parents’ house. I hate moving her so much, and I hate that we’re back in the house, but it’s better than the alternative. I can’t be around Titan right now. Or Bones. They both lied to me.

It’s been five days since the Kings walked out of my house, and they haven’t returned. My wounds have completely healed, and I can show my face in public again without the girls questioning me. And the fact that Haven hasn’t said one word about it lets me know that Luca hasn’t told her about my fight with Bones and Titan. They think everything is as it was a week ago.

That’s how I want it to be.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Haven and I are sitting down at the table as Jasmine comes strutting into Empire-the steakhouse on the twentieth floor of Kingdom. I want to do this as often as I can. Being around them made me realize how much I missed them and how lonely I was in Chicago. A part of me wishes we were all roommates now so I could spend the majority of my time with them.

She plops down in front of us and shoves her hair back off her face aggressively.

“What’s wrong?” Haven asks her.

“God is testing my intelligence. And right now, I’m at the bottom of the scale.”

I rub my finger over my lips to hide my smile at her obvious anger. “And how is he testing you?” I ask.

“Since when are you religious?” Haven speaks.

Jasmine grabs a fry off my plate and sticks it in her mouth. “Trenton messaged me this morning.”

I roll my eyes.

“Not this again,” Haven mumbles under her breath.

“It was a picture of his dick.” Jasmine bites down on another fry. “And he was hard. And then I was wet.”

I reach across the table and place my hand on top of hers to stop her from eating another. She stuffs her mouth when she’s nervous. With anything. Food, cock, drinks. Whatever she can get her hands on. “Don’t let him get to you. He’s married,” I remind her.

She shakes her head. “He filed for divorce.”

Haven and I exchange a look.

“That was in the second pic he sent me.”

“Jasmine …”

“I mean, I don’t love the guy. Not anymore. But the sex was so good.” She eats another fry. “How am I going to tell him no? Like I said, God is testing me.” Another fry. This one drowning in ketchup. “My grades are dropping as fast as I am to my knees.”

My eyes slide over to Nite who stands by the entrance. He’s still on Haven duty. Probably will be until the day he dies. He just stands in the shadows, watching us all the time. It’s kinda creepy, but I understand why Luca wants a protection detail on my best friend twenty-four seven. She’s pretty important. “Why don’t you get with Nite?” I offer.

She snorts.

“You guys have already had sex.” Haven shrugs as if that’s enough to start a relationship.

“We didn’t have sex,” she mumbles around a mouthful.

“But it was good,” Haven goes on.

Jasmine begins laughing, and I look over at Haven. “She needs an intervention,” I whisper. “She’s losing it.”

Her phone dings, and she picks it up. “Fuck,” Jasmine growls. “He wants to come over tonight.” Her fingers are running over the keys.

“You’ll regret that in the morning,” Haven informs her.

She looks up at us. “I’ll sleep until noon. Problem solved.”

“Jasmine …”

She holds her phone up to my face. “I told him no, okay?” She drops it to the table and buries her face in her hands. “Fuck, I have the worst taste in men.”

“Maybe try celibacy again,” Haven offers.

I burst out laughing but begin to cough to try to cover it up when her eyes narrow at mine. “Sorry.” I slap my chest and whisper, “I didn’t know that was a thing.” Jasmine not have sex? That’s like telling the sun it can’t shine-impossible.

“This morning, I tried to make a shake after my run, but it turned into a shot of Fireball,” Jasmine goes on, ignoring my comments.

“Since when do you run?” I ask, more and more confused about the girl sitting across from me. It’s like I don’t even know her.

“I’m making all kinds of mistakes today.” She grabs my water and takes a drink.

Haven and I sit in silence as Jasmine finishes off my fries. She has her red hair pulled up in a half ponytail high on her head. She doesn’t have any makeup on, and she wears a white sundress with spaghetti straps and no bra.

Her phone dings again, and she picks it up.

“Let me talk to him. I’ll make him go away.” Haven reaches for Jasmine’s cell.

She pulls it out of reach. “It’s not Trenton. It’s Titan.”

I sit up straighter, my heart instantly starting to pound at the sound of his name. “What does he want?” I clear my throat at my high-pitch voice, and Haven notices.

“I have a job.” Her fingers type out some sort of response. “I gotta go. I’ll call you bitches tomorrow.” She jumps up and walks out just as fast as she entered, not even bothering to look at Nite when she storms past him.

“I’m really worried about her.” Haven sighs.

I sit back in my seat, and my shoulders slump. I’m worried about her too, but Jasmine doesn’t allow anyone to help her. “She’ll be okay,” I say even though we both know I’m lying.

TITAN

“The papers are legit,” Luca says while we sit in Bones’s office. He was finally able to get his hands on Nick’s trust.

“But why would he leave everything to George when Nancy was still alive?” I wonder.

He shrugs. “He and Nancy were divorced. Maybe he hated her.”

“But that is what makes this even more unbelievable. His business partner and friend married his ex-wife. That had to have pissed him off.”

“Maybe he didn’t know they were married,” Luca offers.

“Maybe …” I rub my chin. “Any word on the guy who broke into the house?” I ask him.

He shakes his head. “No.”

I look at Bones. He sits behind his desk with his arms folded over his chest. He hasn’t spoken much in the last few days. “Let’s put another detail back on the house.” I killed one of the three from the last detail we had on George.

Bones looks at me. “You think he’ll come back?”

“I think if Nick owed someone a million dollars, then it’s possible he owes others.”

“True.” He picks up his phone and places it to his ear to call in a new detail.

Luca leans in and lowers his voice to not interrupt Bones’s phone call. “How is Emilee doing? Haven said she hasn’t said much about what happened.”

“Haven’t spoken to her.”

His dark eyes widen.

“I’m not going to push her. She wants to be left alone, so I’ll leave her be for now.”