A Commitment to Love, Book 3 (24 page)

“Hold on,” I told Sophia. Like a madman, I unbuckled myself, rose from the seat, and rushed to my private bedroom in the back of the plane.

“Chase?”

“Yes.” The word rode the panting of my breaths as I hurried to get some privacy. “Y-yes. Don’t hang up. Please, don’t hang up. I just needed to get away from others. Don’t hang up, tesoro.”

“Are you with my mother?” she asked.

In my small bedroom, I closed the door behind me and leaned on it.

“Chase, did you hear me? Are you with my mother?”

I tried to keep the pain out of my voice, but it was too hard. “Jasmine … .why did you go?”

“I …” Jasmine wouldn’t finish the damn sentence, and I hung on hoping that she would. “I wrote you a letter.”

“And you think we’re done? That I would understand from your letter? Not even a doctor’s note could excuse your absence from me. Where are you?”

“Chase—”

“Where are you?”

“Just answer my question. Is my mother with you?”

The plane’s rumbling increased. Now was not the time to take off. I had to finish this conversation. “Where are you?”

“I can’t tell you. Is Mom right next to you?”

“No.” I closed my eyes while my heart crushed right there. She hadn’t called to come back to me. Of all the people in this situation, I hadn’t expected her to be the one to keep things from me. She was just checking on her mother.

“Yes, your mother is here.”

“Don’t trust her.”

“Now that’s a twist.”

“I’m serious, Chase. Stay away from her.”

“She’s helping me find you.”

“She has no idea where I’m at.”

“But she could help me find you.”

“No, don’t trust her.”

“I only trust you.” I gripped the phone hard and wished she stood right in front of me. “Are you safe?”

She stayed quiet for a few seconds and then answered, “Yes, I am.”

“Our love is worth everyone else’s death. You hear me?”

“Chase, don’t say that.”

“Let them all die.”

“I can’t.”

“Let Benny kill every last one of my friends and family.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do.”

“Chase, you have to focus.”

“I’m more focused than I’ve ever been. I’m locked in on my mission. You’re my target, and I won’t get off the track until you’re in front of me. Do you see how foolish you’ve been? You were crazy enough to think that you could leave me, and I wouldn’t have any say in it. You’re mine.”

“Don’t—”

My voice roared through the phone. “You’re mine!”

Silence.

Her voice cracked as she spoke, “I’m sorry, baby.”

“You will be.” I licked my lips. Tears mixed with rage and lust. “You’ll be so sorry, when I get my hands on you.”

Her words came out as a low shiver. “Chase, you have to … you have to—”

“Focus.” I finished her sentence. “Focus, right? I know. I’ve been around your mother enough. She says it every minute. Focus, Chase, focus. Troy says it, too. Focus, Rich Boy. Now you’re saying it. But don’t you all understand, I can’t concentrate, if you’re not next to me and safe? Where are you?!”

My hold on the phone tightened to the point where I could swear the plastic cracked around me.

“I can’t tell you.” A sad sigh passed over the phone. “Chase, listen. We have to—”

“See each other.” I finished her sentence.

“No. Stop that. I’m trying to talk. We need to—”

“Be together immediately,” I finished again.

“You’re not listening.”

“Because you’re not making any sense.”

“Troy and I came up with a plan.”

Great. They’re going to get each other killed.

“No.” I kicked the door with the back of my feet. “You and I are one. We don’t make plans with other people. We don’t keep secrets. We don’t do things unless we’re together. Where are you?”

“Stop working with my mother. I don’t know what you’re doing, but Benny was upset this morning. Please, tell me you had nothing to do with it.”

Awww. Benny’s upset? Maybe I should come over there and give him a hug.

I grinned. “Where are you?”

“Get away from my mother.”

“You want me away from her, then come home. Until then, your mom and I will be best friends.”

She sighed on the other end. “And how’s this friendship working out for you?”

“Currently, I’m on a plane. She’s here, too, in the back. We’re heading your way. She’s just had lobster and will be getting a massage soon.”

“From who?”

Jealous, are we?

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“No, Chase. You can’t be around her.”

“Yes, I can.”

“Go home. Troy and I—”

“Don’t have the resources that I do,” I finished.

“What? No. Troy and I—”

“Are morons and weak next to Benny.”

“Stop interrupting my sentences!”

“Then start making sense!” If my hold on the phone got any more constricting, the device would be cracked to bits and pieces of plastic, electronics, and metal. “Where are you?”

Jasmine huffed. “I think Benny knows you and Mom are together.”

“Good.”

“Whatever is going on, she is the mastermind.”

“Mastermind?”

Jasmine sighed. “Troy’s words. Not mine.”

I grinned. “Tell me more.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“No. I’m trying to keep you on the phone longer so I could just listen to your voice. I’m trying to imprint this conversation in my mind so I’m not biting my pillows as I lay in bed tonight. Tell me more. I don’t care. If you want to talk about your mom, then do it. Just don’t hang up.”

Her voice came out strained. “I’m sorry.”

“I love you.”

“We … listen—”

“Our love is worth everyone’s death.”

“Don’t say that.

“I don’t care if everyone dies around us, just as long as you’re with me.”

“Chase, I do care. I don’t want anybody else to be hurt.”

“Everyone that’s dead knew what they were doing. Half of them caused it. Dawn, Wendy—”

“And Lucy?” she asked.

“No, not Lucy.”

“No more innocent people.”

“Where are you, tesoro?”

“Benny is calm now, besides the fact that he’s just got upset over something probably about you and Mom. Leave this alone. Benny thinks this is a big family trip. He wants us to learn about where he came from. Troy and I have a plan. If it works, then maybe we can be together again.”

“There isn’t a maybe. I can’t live with maybe. I’m on a fucking plane! I don’t care about your and Troy’s plan. It’s nothing to me, unless this plan leads me to you.”

My name ripped out of her mouth in a ragged plea. “Chase, please go home. Don’t look for me, and stay away from my mother.”

“Why?”

“There’s a reason my brothers had all of South End on lock. Do you think a bunch of teenage boys could’ve done that all by themselves?”

“Your mother helped?”

“According to Troy, my mother masterminded the whole thing. And if she’s with you, she’s doing it again.”

“Well, you’re not here so fuck it. And by the way, she took me to South End,” I admitted.

“Jesus.”

“We went into the Chops.”

“Oh God.”

“I own the building now by the way.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Did you know that one of the elevators doesn’t work?”

“The odd one? It never worked.”

“I’m going to fix that. And there’s little girls on the street selling their bodies. I’m going to stop that, too.”

“Chase—”

“In fact, we’re going to fix that, of course this is after I dig a deep hole in the earth and drop Benny right into the ground. We’re going to fix South End.”

“Have you been drinking?”

“Maybe.”

“Why did she take you there?”

“Benny has a place in the Chops.”

She muttered something under her breath, probably a curse word. “I think they called it the Penthouse. I was never allowed to hang with anybody in South End. My brothers made me stay in the house all the time. But I remember something like that.”

I raised my eyebrows. “So you never went there?”

“No. I heard things and didn’t believe them. Now I’m certain most of the stuff was probably true.” She paused for a minute and then asked, “Mom came with you?”

“Yes, and she took all of the cash out of his apartment. It was a huge garbage bag full.”

Troy must’ve grabbed the phone because his voice came through next. “I heard some of it. You mean to tell me Mom took money out of Benny’s place?”

“Put Jasmine back on.”

“Focus, man.”

I gritted my teeth, doing my best to not scream at him.

“She’s still with you?” Troy asked.

“Yes. Now put Jasmine back on the phone.”

Troy ignored me. “If Mom got the money and she’s still with you, then the money wasn’t her goal, it was just the icing on the cake. She’s after something else.”

Jasmine’s voice sounded in the background. “They’re on a plane, heading our way.”

“But they probably don’t know where we’re at,” Troy said to Jasmine and then returned the conversation to me. “Listen, man. As soon as you land, drop Mom’s ass in that country and move on. Go back to Oshane City. You don’t want any part in this. Wait it out. Mom is doing something, and—”

“I’ve got Sherman.”

“Say what?”

“He’s handcuffed and guarded by three men on another plane.”

Something rubbed over the phone on his end as he must’ve yelled back to Jasmine. “This motherfucker has lost his mind.”

“I have,” I confessed. “And I’m not sure what I’m going to do with Sherman. Not sure if he’s going to help or deter me, what I do know is that I’m not going to let him go until I have Jasmine’s location.”

“Here, maybe you should talk to him,” Troy must’ve handed the phone back to Jasmine, since her voice came on next.

“I know what you’re trying to do, Chase, but just trust us.”

I grinned. “No.”

“He’s going to try and kill you. Stay away until we can figure this out.”

“No.”

Jasmine’s voice rose. “Damn it, Chase!

“It’s not fun hearing
no,
is it?”

“You’re being a stupid fool.”

“You ran away. That was stupid. Now I’m coming for you. Benny can’t scare me out of loving you.”

“Benny is not going to listen to reason, if you’re still involved with the situation. If you’re out of the picture, I may be able to help Benny come to a more logical conclusion. These past months affected us all. He’s getting worse and worse—”

“Has he hurt you?” I growled into the phone, wishing the sick bastard stood right in front of me. “Has he threatened you?”

“No. It’s been awkward, but okay.”

“Where are you?”

“I have to go.”

I shut my eyes. A steady ache drummed in my chest. “Don’t you fucking go.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

“Love is all we need.”

“We need more than love,” Jasmine countered. “Benny isn’t going to give up until you’re no longer walking on the face of this earth. With you and I broke up, he may focus on something else.”

“John Lennon had a quote about love—”

“John Lennon is dead, and you will be, too. Get off of the plane, get away from my mother and brother, and go home.” Her voice cracked at the last word. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll see you soon, tesoro.”

The line clicked off before I could say anything else.
Don’t trust your mother. Interesting. It seems like that’s the theme of today. Trust no one.
I passed Sophia, right as she lifted her fork and pierced through a circular slice of dark chocolate cake layered in honey coated nuts.

She looked up. “Any problems? You were pretty loud back there.”

“No problems yet. Everything is bloody awesome and fantastic.” I headed back to my seat, glancing over my shoulder every few steps. Too many enemies surrounded me, and the only person I trusted on this planet refused to work with me.

You don’t believe in us? I’ll show you, stubborn woman.

I grabbed Benny’s psychotic notebooks off the tray and rummaged through them.

I’m just as smart as you, tesoro.

In the phone conversation, Jasmine had revealed more to me than she’d actually knew. If Benny had made the trip about family and wanted his kids to know where he was from, then he’d be taking them to his birthplace. I didn’t think he’d been born in Paris.