A Commitment to Love, Book 3 (22 page)

“What?”

“I think Chase and Mom are together.”

“Huh?” I almost laughed. The very idea sounded comical. “My Chase?”

“My Chase?” he mocked me.

“Shut up.”

“When I talked to him yesterday, he said he was with somebody. He was speaking in code and shit. Confirmed that the person knew me. Now how many people could Chase be around that knows him and me?” Troy raised his hand and touched his fingers one by one as he listed names. “Viv, Benny, Sherman, and Mom. Viv was with me. Benny with you. That only leaves Sherman and Mom. Either way that’s Mom. Sherman’s her puppet.”

“Stop it.”

“It’s the truth. First born and all that shit. You think he was able to control the block without her whispering in his ear?”

“Concentrate, Troy.” My bottom lip shivered. “Okay, let’s think about this crazy theory for one second. If Mom or Sherman was with Chase, why would they be with him?”

“To find you.”

I closed my eyes. Grief over took me. “They can’t help him.”

“Why not? Only person on this earth that understands Benny better than us, is Mom. If I was Chase, I would go to her.”

“She’s not going to be able to help him. She’ll just use him.”

“She’s already using him. Chase got her on a salary. I was in his system’s records. She’s on the payroll like she works there.”

“Why were you in his corporation’s computer?”

“It was months ago, when we were trying to figure out who could be working against us and helping Benny out. We figured it had to be some of Chase’s security. When I happened to see her name on there, I asked Chase about it. Motherfucker told me that she’d been up in his office demanding money and education funds for Tee-Tee, Sherman Jr., and them.”

“He never told me that.” I couldn’t even open my eyes as reality slapped my face.

“Don’t matter now. This is the problem. Look at me.”

I opened my eyes.

He leaned in closer. “Mom is involved somehow, and she wants something. This whole thing doesn’t make sense. She’s been cool with Benny forever. He’s helped her out in South End, I’m sure of it. Biggest reason why she got control of the block was because people are too afraid of him, and didn’t want to fuck with Mom, and have them on his back.”

“Has Benny killed for her?”

“I don’t know.”

“Troy,” I shook my head, “I think you’re just fishing and walking straight off the path. If Mom is in this, then what would she expect to get out of all of it? She’s apparently getting money from Chase and protection from Benny. It’s in her best interests for both of them to get along and stay alive.”

“Is it?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Mom might have lied to Benny about us being his kids. She was willing to let us believe that we didn’t have a father, yet tell Benny that we were his children. Why say that to him, and keep it from us? What would she get out of doing that?”

“Money.”

“Exactly. Benny took care of us—paid for our school, drove us around, and dropped dollars here and there. We never got out of the hood, but when there were emergencies, shit would get paid. I bet that was Benny’s doing. It was in her best interests to have Benny think he was the father. But if we weren’t his kids, it would be in her best interest to keep that shit a secret.”

I placed my hands on the table and traced tiny circles near my plate. I needed something to do before I stabbed myself in the head from thinking too much. The thing I hated about Troy, was that he remained paranoid of everyone. Fifty percent of the time he was wrong. It was just that other fifty percent that I worried about.

What if he’s right? Could he be? It’s logical, but so insane that … no, it can’t be.

Troy continued. “And I have no reason for why Mom would give Lucy up like that, but I’m sure she did. Sherman would have given Lucy to Benny, if Mom asked him to do it. Sherman said he was sorry. How many times does he apologize?”

“I’ve never heard him say sorry.”

“This was the second time. He only does it when he feels really guilty.”

“When was the first time with you?” I asked.

“When he got me locked up for putting those drugs in my book bag.”

Noise sounded from down the hallway. I checked, but I didn’t see Vivian or Benny.

“That being said, let’s keep Viv out of this for now. If Mom is in this, Viv has another enemy in the midst. I can’t think of why, but Mom never liked her.” Troy stopped talking and stared at me. “What?”

“I’m thinking.”

“About what?”

“The different times I’ve talked to Mom in the past weeks.”

“Okay. What?”

“I called her, when we were in Italy. It wasn’t long, barely ten minutes, but I remembered thinking it was odd that we’d been on for so long. Usually she was short, but—”

“Maybe Benny had some sort of tracking device on here. You know? Like those FBI movies where they need like five minutes to keep the person on the phone and locate where the signal is coming from.”

I frowned. “I feel like we are losing it.”

“You talk to her again?”

“Yeah. It was last week. We’d barely been on the phone for two minutes. I’d only called to talk to everyone else, but she asked about Chase and me. The typical things that people say. Then she asked a weird question. She wanted to know if Vivian was still heartbroken over you. I was shocked. One, she’d said Vivian, when usually she just called her
that white girl
. Then, I didn’t even realize that she’d known you both had been … dating before the news came out.”

“What did you say?”

“I told her that Vivian was still in love with you.”

Troy put his elbow on the table and his hand under his chin. “I don’t know why, but don’t tell Viv this.”

“Okay.”

“We need to find out if Chase is working with Mom. I got an idea, but I almost don’t want to try this shit.” He shook his head at me.

“What?”

“Chase isn’t going to tell me anything. He thinks it’s my fault that Lucy is dead, and you know what, he’s right.”

“No, the hell he is not. Stop that.”

“Don’t matter. I should’ve remained watching her by myself.”

“Stop it.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He sighed. “You ready to hear my plan?”

“What?”

“I want you to talk to Chase.”

My whole body came to life. A buzz of energy flowed through me. Memories of his lips, hands, and words rushed to my head. Images of our bodies entwined lingered in the most hungry corners of my mind.

“Really, Jazz?”

“What?”

“You look like the star quarterback just asked you to the prom. This isn’t a freak call.”

“I don’t do freak calls.”

“Sure you don’t.”

“I’m a lady.”

“You’re fucking grinning.”

“I’m in love with him. Of course I am.”

“Don’t tease him.”

“What? I wouldn’t tease him.”

“No, but you’ll have him thinking you’re coming back just because you wouldn’t be able to say no. Listen, we just need information and then we hang up. I’m not even supposed to have this phone.”

“Where is it?”

“Don’t worry about it. We make the call, find out if Mom has been with him, and then we hang up. Until Benny is gone, you need to stay away from Chase.”

“I got it. No one is more certain of that than me.”

“Well, just don’t forget.”

I glared at him. “I got it.”

A boom sounded from down the hallway. Viv appeared and strolled toward us with three long joints. Each must’ve been six inches long.

I forced a fake smile. “You’re not playing.”

“No, I’m not.” She set them on the table. “So … are you both still arguing about the differences between psychopath and sociopath?”

“Pretty much.” I shrugged. “Sociopathy is usually the product of childhood trauma and/or physical and emotional abuse. Benny told me that his mother and father beat him. They had him boxing, too, at a really young age.”

“He’s a psychopath. Why are you even listening to that? He told me that same shit. It’s all lies. He talked about fighting in that pub nicknamed the Bucket of Blood. Well I looked it up, and that shit was called that in early nineteenth century London. That was long ago. It hasn’t been hosting bare-knuckle fist fights in a long ass time, and certainly not when Benny was a kid.”

My face twisted into confusion. “That can’t be right.”

“Check it for yourself. In fact, I bet he’s not even from London. He’s a psychopath, which means that he was born with that madness. His brain has a defect, and there’s no talking your way out of that. You will die.”

Pulling out a long lighter covered in pink skulls, Vivian lit one of the joints. “As usual, Troy is more hopeful than ever.”

C
HAPTER
13

Chase

B
efore
Sophia and I headed off to the airport, I had a limo take a quick stop down memory lane. My empty stomach bellowed in pain. And to get my mind off of hunger, I thought of Jasmine, which always led me back to food.

“Where are we going?” Sophia asked. “The airport is the other way.”

“I want to stop by Mama Jane’s Pit real quick.”

“Boy, what you know about Mama Jane’s?” Sophia laughed.

“Jasmine has me addicted to the baguffins.”

“She’s good for that. Just like Benny, she always can point you to the best place to eat in any area. Which type of baguffin do you like?”

“Monkey bread.”

“Remind me to give my daughter a high-five.”

I hope I see her again.

Fear prickled against my skin. “I’ll do that.”

Once we stocked up on good coffee and mouthwatering baked treats, we headed to the airport.

I had a whole team scanning every one of Benny’s aliases. It took them five hours to give me a report. The good news, ten out of the fifty aliases were active. The bad news, ten out of the fifty were active, and all in different parts of Europe. On an optimistic note, he had to be using one of them now. I’d just have to find out which name. And if I had to go from country to country, city to city, I would.

By the afternoon, we sat on my private plane, which was headed to Paris. We hadn’t taken off yet. Jasmine loved French food. It made sense that Benny would want to cater to her loves. One of the aliases were active there, in a five star hotel right in the heart of the city.

Perhaps he took her to Paris. Would it be that easy? Maybe. I bet he never thought that I would find his aliases.

I looked at Jasmine’s mother, who sat several rows behind me.

Waiting for the plane to take off, Sophia sat in the main cabin, feasting on lobster and chocolate strawberries. Once she realized I had a chef on board, the baguffins weren’t enough to fill her. At her request, I’d brought my personal masseuse to keep her busy. Once we were in the air, Sophia would get a full body massage scheduled in an hour.

I didn’t think the woman could be trusted, but she’d gotten me further than I would’ve ever been on my own. In that respect, she’d get everything she damn well wanted, until Jasmine returned.

On the other side of the airport, a handcuffed Sherman sat on another private plane that I’d borrowed from a friend. My buddy Pierre didn’t even ask. He’d been at the ball, knew something drove me toward danger, and wanted to help. He obliged me, and understood that I paid back every last favor. Any problem that came to Pierre, I would help him with.

So Sherman rode Pierre’s plane that would fly off in an hour after us. Four men guarded him. I never told Sophia. She remained busy with my spoiling as I tried to make sense of the madness.

Benny’s madness.

Sipping Mama Jane’s dark roast, I read more of Benny’s journal and hoped the place would be ready to take off soon.

… The scotch drowned memories like Chase Jr being in a dress. I bet she would do more to the boy as he got older. He would end up worse than his father.