Lust (The Stripped Bare Series Book 1) (20 page)

Jasmine

“Hey, Rach. It’s great to see you.” I hug my sister tightly. We were never very close as kids and we haven’t really seen each other in a long time, but I’ve missed her. I glance over her shoulder at my nephews. Wow! How did they get so big? “Joseph, Jack, who gave you two magic beans?” I pull out of my sister’s embrace and walk over to the two teenage boys. “You’ve gotten so big. Where are my baby nephews?” Jack, the eldest, who is now sixteen, looks at me like I’ve grown two heads. I guess I have the teenage boy syndrome to contend with soon enough. Joseph is eleven and almost as tall as his big brother. He shrugs when I walk over to them. I feel awkward. They don’t really know me and I hate that I’ve been missing from their lives for so long.

“This is Tim,” my sister announces, introducing me to a tall man with glasses and shaggy brown hair. I shake his hand and he smiles politely at me. We take a seat at the table and Dad gets a round of drinks in. Rachel and I chat about what we’ve missed in each other’s lives. I leave out the parts about London, Lust, and Max. She looks good, she used to be a chubby girl but she’s lost the weight and looks really well for it. She has a great job, a nice apartment, and Tim seems really good for her. I’m pleased that my sister has got her life sorted. She went through a really messy divorce years ago, her now ex-husband was an arsehole. I think he was cut from the same cloth as Gavin. Speaking of Gavin, I’ve yet to call him back. I’ve been so busy since I left Max, I’ve not had chance to see what he wants. And to be honest, I really am not in the mood for his mind games. I’m in a happy place and I don’t want anyone to burst my bubble. I watch as Austen and Joe play on the climbing frame outside, it’s nice that he has his cousins in his life. I don’t think Jack is too fond of him, though.

The meal is delicious and afterwards I give them all a hug and promise to stay in touch. Mum, Dad, Austen and I, make our way home in the car. I promised to drive so that my parents could have a drink with their meals. We turn the corner to my parents
’
house and I notice the BMW parked across the driveway. Rolling my eyes, I know immediately who it is.

“Who the hell has parked their flash motor like that in front of our house?” My dad grumbles. I notice Austen stretching his neck in the back seat, trying to look. The car door opens and someone climbs out, just as we pull up behind it.

“Dad…It’s Dad.” Austen bounces in his seat.

“What the bloody hell does he want?” Dad says, unimpressed. Dad has never liked Gavin, even before we got married he hated him, but he bit his lip for my sake. I wish I had listened to his instincts. I climb out of the car and nervously walk over to Gavin, who is now leaning against his flash car.

“Why the hell haven’t you been answering your phone?” he yells, as I get closer. His face is contorted with anger. He looks behind me and sees Austen climbing out of the car; he smiles at his son and then turns back to me.

“I’ve been busy. I didn’t know that I needed to jump to your every demand. We aren’t married anymore!” I go to walk in the house but he grabs me by my elbow and leans in towards my ear.

“We need to talk. Now.” He growls.

Turning to my parents, I ask them to take Austen inside, promising him that he can speak to his dad soon. Gavin climbs back inside his car and I nervously go around to the other side. Why would he come all the way here just to mess with me, I don’t get it?

“Jasmine, what happened in London?” His eyes are wide and it’s scaring me. What does he know? Who told him? My heart starts to race and I can feel my palms sweating as I twist my cardigan around in them.

“Why? Gavin, what’s happened?” He lets out a sigh.

“The police have been in contact with me. They’ve been trying to get hold of you.” Is that all? I thought it was something serious. My heartbeat slows down.

“Is that why you drove all the way up here? To tell me that the police want me? Why didn’t you just tell them where I am?” I roll my eyes at him. He always has to make everything into a big drama.

“If you’d let me finish. I gave them your address; they said they would send someone to take a statement from you from the Cheshire Police. Has anyone been in contact?”

“Nope, no one has been round. It’s probably a routine thing. I found a body outside the bar before I moved up here. It shook me up a bit and made me realise I needed my parents. That’s all.” I shrug. He can tell that I’m lying, though. His eyes narrow as he turns his whole body to look at me.

“Jasmine, some bloke came to my office after the police, he was asking questions about you. Asking the same things that the police wanted to know. He said he was a detective but I didn’t buy his bullshit story. Tell me what you saw.” My whole body shakes with fear. He must see the terror in my eyes because his whole demeanour changes. He moves to take my hand, stroking it with his thumb. “Tell me, Jasmine, tell me what happened. I need to know.”

“I saw…I saw the man that killed him.” I look up into his eyes as tears leak out of my own. He mutters under his breath and I can see the terror on his face.

“Fuck, Jasmine. Why didn’t you tell the police what happened? Why did you lie? They could’ve protected you, they could’ve arrested the man.” He moves away, his breathing heavy. I don’t know if he’s irritated with me or with the situation.

“I didn’t think he’d seen me. I was hiding.”

“I ran a check on the man that came to my building. His name’s Blake O’Reilly he works for Johnny Dunn. Johnny’s a big time gang boss in London, mainly drug dealing.” I feel my pulse racing as he talks. I’ve never heard of these men but the words
gang boss
makes me feel sick. “Jasmine, are you okay? You look white as a ghost.”

“They’re coming for me aren’t they?” What am I going to do? Tears stream down my face. Austen! “What about Austen? If they hurt him I’ll never forgive myself.” Bile rises from my stomach and I try to swallow it down, not wanting to throw up in his posh car. Shit, what have I done? A knock on the window startles me.

“Jazz, are you alright?” My dad’s voice sounds worried. “Has that son of a bitch hurt you?”

“No, Dad, he hasn’t. Can you take Austen up to his room, please? We need to come inside and talk.”

We make our way into the house. Mum puts the kettle on and makes a cup of tea, my hands shake as she passes me the mug. I don’t speak as Gavin tells my parents exactly what he just told me. Dad looks like he’s about to have a coronary. Mum clutches the phone in her hands the entire time, I’m not sure what good she thinks it’ll do. Eventually, we call the police and they tell me that they’ll send an officer round as soon as possible. Gavin goes up to kiss Austen goodnight and Mum makes up a bed for him to stay. He’s being really nice to me and I hate it. I spent years trying to get him out of my life, but right now, I’m relying on him to get me out of this mess. I need Max, but I don’t want to put him in danger. I don’t reply to his text message, I can’t drag him into this.

A uniformed police officer came last night and took down the details, informing us that a detective of some sorts would come to see us in the morning. They arrive at 8.30 a.m. Stretching my aching limbs, I open the door in my dressing gown. I haven’t slept a wink all night; instead I sat on the sofa, peering out at the darkness. Every single shadow had my heart racing. Every single sound had my body trembling. I’m a nervous wreck. Austen came down the stairs around 7 and I told him to go back to bed. I haven’t explained why he hasn’t gone to school; I don’t know what to tell him. He’s too young to understand the danger we’re in. I don’t want him to know that his own mother has caused his life to be in danger. I feel sick with the thought of anything happening to my baby boy. Mum and Dad discussed taking him away for a while. Mum has a sister who lives in Scotland, who’ll happily let them stay for as long as I need them to. Mum asked me to go with them, but as long as they’re looking for me, Austen isn’t safe. It’s me they want. It’s me that can identify the murderer.

“Are you Jasmine Allen?” the lady officer asks.

“Yes. Come in,” I offer, holding the door open for them. They take a seat on the sofa and I sit down in my dad’s armchair. Gavin comes down the stairs looking like he’s just stepped off the catwalk. I hate admitting that he’s gorgeous. I have to remember what a twat he was when we were married. The tension in the room is palpable. My mum rushes around making brews as I sit there, numb.

“Good morning, I’m Gavin, Jasmine’s husband.”

“Ex!” I exclaim, receiving an icy stare from my ex-husband as he walks past, sitting himself down on the computer chair. The lady officer gives me a knowing smile. Gavin proceeds to tell the police about the man that came to see him at his office. He continues to tell them that he took stills from the CCTV cameras to find out the information he has. The police jot all the details down in their little notebooks. The lady officer, who introduced herself as Dawn, looks at me sympathetically every now and then, but the male, who’s name I didn’t catch, pays all his attention to Gavin. I don’t know the point in which I zone out but I’m brought out of my reverie when my mum taps me on the shoulder.

“Jasmine, dear. The officer asked you a question.” Shaking my head I look up at her.

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you would mind coming down to the station to answer a few questions and to make an official statement. Once we have your statement we can begin the process with the metropolitan police to look into the case.”

“Yeah, sure. Let me go and get dressed.” I walk up the stairs in a daze. Everything around me is a blur, I feel like I am out of my body, looking down on myself. This is not my life. This can’t be my life. I was so ecstatic, everything was so perfect and now it’s all in ruins. Checking my phone, I notice that I have several missed calls and a text from Max. I can’t contact him, I can’t tell him what happened. I text Piper and tell her to let Max know that I’m ill and won’t be in work. I thought about texting him first, but I’ll get questions if I speak to him. Questions that I’m not ready to answer. Throwing on some clothes, I quickly brush my teeth and splash some water on my face. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I look terrible. What a difference a few hours can make. Climbing into the car, I look around at the ‘curtain twitchers
’
along the street. My mum is gonna hate this, the neighbours seeing their daughter being taken away in a police car. Gavin jumps in his car and follows us towards the station. I hate to admit it but he’s been amazing. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him. He may have been a crappy husband at the time but he’s grown into a good man.

The police keep me in the interview room for two hours. Two hours of questions and looking at pictures of known associates. I keep telling them that it was dark and I could barely see the man’s face, all I remember are his menacing eyes. The evil in them was unmistakable; he was bad to the bone. There are no pictures of the man on the computer, which doesn’t help the investigation. The police offer me protection whilst they look into everything. I accept, but also ask that they contact the Aberdeen police force to protect my parents and son while they’re there. Now, I just have Max to contend with. I need to leave him, I need to end things, it’s for his own protection. Gavin’s agreed to stick around for awhile. There’s no use in him going back to London. They already know he’s associated with me so there’s no point in him hiding it. Plus, he’s better here than near his family.

Gavin drives me home; it’s deathly quiet during the entire journey. The flow of tears has stopped and I just feel numb. I feel like my life is being played out on a movie screen and I’m the leading lady. It’s crazy. Shit like this doesn’t happen in real life. Especially not to single parent waitresses. Mum has Austen’s suitcase packed when we arrive home. Sitting him down on the bed, I explain to him why he’s leaving.