Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
Jazz
You heard it here, folks. Not only is America’s supposed sweetheart living as a sex slave, but she abandoned her family to live in squalor while she wants for nothing. Is this who you want your kids listening to? I know I sure don’t.
Jazz slipped out from under his arm and looked at Michael as he slept peacefully. He hadn’t been kidding when he said she’d need carbs for dinner. They’d been up half the night, and she was sore in places she didn’t remember being sore before.
She didn’t deserve him, and she knew it. He’d been so good to her from the moment they’d met that it had almost felt like a fairy tale. The peace he brought with him allowed her to believe that dreams could come true. She could escape the life she’d been born into and live the way she chose with the career she wanted and the man she loved with all of her heart.
Sitting there looking at him, her heart started to beat faster, and her chest felt tight. She needed to get out of there and get some air. She went to the wardrobe and quickly thew on a pair of her favorite sweats and tennis shoes, and after pinning her hair up in a ponytail, she grabbed her phone and quietly left the room, pulling the door shut behind her. Michael deserved a chance to get a little rest without worrying about her.
It was early enough that there were very few people milling around which made it her favorite part of the day. She sat in front of the fireplace in the main room and texted Jamie wondering if he was up. This was longer than they’d gone without talking since they’d been friends and she was missing him.
It came as no surprise when her phone rang and her caller ID showed it was him calling, her bestie never did sleep. “Good morning, why aren’t you in bed cuddled up with your hottie?” she asked as she got up and made her way out the front door so she didn’t disturb anyone who might be around.
“Oh my god, girl, I wondered when I would hear from you.” He sounded worried.
“Hey, Michael told me you knew what was going on and where he’d taken me. There’s no reason for you to be freaked out.” She tried to reassure him.
“I take it you haven’t been online this morning then?”
“No. I literally had to sneak my phone with me because Michael all of a sudden decided to get bossy and told me to leave it at home. This is the first time I’ve had it out, and that was to check in with you.”
“Fuck. There was an article written, and it does not paint you in a very good light.”
If Jamie was as upset as he sounded, then it was so much worse than he was letting on.
“Jamie, who are you talking to?” She heard his man, Dom, in the background.
“Listen, I have to go. Don’t do anything crazy. Let Michael take care of you and call me again when you can. I love you.”
“I love you too, don’t let Dom know it was me,” she said as they disconnected the call.
She pulled up Google and searched her name and the first result was the article he’d been talking about. As she read it, her heart began to race, her chest tightened.
She looked around for a way to escape. There was a work truck parked to her right and when she walked up to it, she saw it had the keys hanging in the ignition.
She didn’t know what motivated her to do so other than the fact that she really just needed to get away for a few minutes, so before she could change her mind, and thinking she wouldn’t be gone long enough for anyone to notice, Jazz climbed in behind the wheel and started the truck. She took off down the long drive and decided to go to the diner Sunny had mentioned. Maybe she could just sit alone for a few minutes and eat some breakfast, then she would return the truck before anyone was the wiser.
Twenty minutes later, she pulled in front of Leroy’s Place. She saw a baseball cap in the seat next to her and pulled it on her head before sliding out of the oversized truck. As she opened the door, the chime alerted everyone of her presence. The tag on the waitress’s uniform identified her as Roxanne who smiled and welcomed Jazz in. “Good morning. Sit anywhere and I’ll bring you a menu,” she said before going back to pouring the coffee she had in her hand for the table in front of her.
Jazz decided on a booth in the corner and slid in facing out so she could see everyone who came and went. She needed to figure out what she was going to do. Her phone had dozens of missed text messages she needed to answer knowing she was likely going to lose producing clients. It wasn’t like they would truthfully care about her life, but they would care how it reflected on them.
“Good morning, sweets, what can I get you to drink this morning?” Roxanne slid a plastic-covered menu across the table Jazz was staring down at.
“I forgot my wallet; do you take Apple Pay?” she asked realizing all she had with her was her phone.
“Sure do. Leroy upgraded the system just last year,” Roxanne answered with a smile on her face.
“Wonderful. Then just a water, please. And pancakes with crispy bacon would be wonderful.” She didn’t need the menu, she wanted something sweet to make her feel better this morning.
“Of course. I’ll have it right up.”
Jazz knew she should open the many emails and texts that were waiting for her attention, but she didn’t have the heart, so she sat playing her favorite solitaire game on her phone while she waited for her food. She needed to calm her nerves before she took the truck and kept driving as far away as she could.
“Here you go, best pancakes in the state. Is there anything else I can bring you?” The waitress set her plate along with a glass of water in front of her.
“No thank you, it looks delicious.”
She poured syrup all over her plate and started eating the wonderful breakfast, thinking everything over. She’d been allowing her anxiety to rule her since the press conference. It was time she took control and made some decisions about what to do going forward.
What was she doing here? She’d borrowed a truck without asking, okay so she’d kind of stolen it all because she’d read a gossip column, and now she sat here in a diner in a small town in Montana eating pancakes. She was going to have to talk to Michael now. He needed to know about the men in her past.
It didn’t matter that she was sad or stressed, she couldn’t just take something that didn’t belong to her. What was she thinking? Great, and now she was going to give them even more to talk about. She needed to get that truck back before anyone realized what she’d done.
She flagged down Roxanne and paid for her meal with a generous tip. It was time to get back and return the truck, hopefully before anyone realized what she’d done.
“Well, well, well, what have we here?”
Jazz looked up to see a young woman looking straight at her, and her heart dropped. She wasn’t going to get out of here as easily as she’d hoped because it seemed like someone recognized her. But the thing was, there was something about the woman that seemed familiar to Jazz. She just couldn’t put her finger on why.
“I knew if I was patient enough, you would show up again.”
“I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you’ll excuse me, I was just leaving.” Jazz moved past her hoping to avoid a confrontation. She was obviously not a fan.
“But, Jessica, are you sure you want to run away? Things are just starting to get good.”
Jazz stopped in her tracks. She’d called her Jessica. Nobody but Michael ever called her by her given name. She turned back to the woman. “Who are you, and what do you want from me?”
“Oh, now my feelings are going to be hurt. Are you saying you don’t remember me. Of course, I guess that comes from being a big shot singer, right. You no longer have time for the people from your past.” She continued to stare Jazz right in the eye, making her feel uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry, it seems that you are trying to insinuate that we know each other. Maybe you would like to sit down and talk.” Jazz looked around and realized they had caught the attention of the patrons and staff of the diner, which was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid.
“Sure. Besides, we have one more guest coming to join the party.”
Jazz led her back to the booth she’d been sitting in which had not yet been cleared.
“Are you going to tell me who you are? It seems only right since you obviously know me.” Jazz tried to place her again as she looked the younger woman in the eye. She couldn’t have been older than twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Jazz felt like she should know who she was but couldn’t remember from where.
“Oh, that is a secret I think I will keep for a little while longer. But I have had fun spilling your secrets, I will tell you that.” She grinned at her, but her smile was far from friendly.
“You’re the gossip columnist who has been writing all those terrible things about me. But you are not the one who was asking those questions at the press conference.” She would have recognized that woman’s face anywhere.
“True. I gave her that scoop because I couldn’t manage to get the credentials to get in. But I watched every second of your meltdown in real time, and I must say it was magnificent.”
“Why would you take such pleasure in hurting someone else? I truly don’t understand. Besides, what you’ve been writing isn’t even true.” She decided denial was her best option at the moment.
“Please. Let’s agree not to lie to each other, okay. It is in your best interest not to piss me off, especially here in a public place.”
The bell above the door rang, alerting them that it had opened again, and Jazz glanced up to see a woman walking toward their table. A person from her past, one she never thought she would see again, or if she was being honest with herself, she’d hoped she never had to see or speak with again at any rate.
“Well, Jessica, you sure have been difficult to find. Who would have thought you were hiding out in Montana of all places?” She slid in the seat across from Jazz as the other woman moved over to allow her in.
“Hello, Mother,” Jazz answered. Why didn’t she just stay in bed with Michael this morning she wondered to herself. “What are you doing here? Would you like to explain what is going on?”
“Still so high and mighty, I see. It seems like nothing ever changes.” Her mother stared at her from across the table. Jazz had left home the day she turned eighteen eleven years ago and hadn’t looked back. It appeared that the years hadn’t been kind to her mother.
Jazz had wondered off and on in the early days what she might say or do if she ever came face to face with her mother again, but she never imagined that it would be like this.
“It seems that you have been in the news quite a bit lately. It wasn’t enough with you playing that music for the world to hear, but you have to embarrass your family by living your sinful life with that sissy boy riding your coattails. Do you have any idea what life has been like for me having you as a daughter?” She leaned forward as she spoke, every word a knife through the heart.
She’d honestly thought she was finished giving her mother the power to hurt her when she left Johnson’s Fork behind all those years ago, but she was wrong.
As the tears fell down her face, the realization hit. There was only one reason her mother would go to all the trouble to hunt her down in the midst of all of the bad press that was happening. “How much, Mother?” she asked.
“Excuse me?”
“I said how much? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? You want money, right? I guess what I don’t understand though, is why do this little ambush in front of a gossip columnist, though?” There was something happening here that Jazz still hadn’t figured out.
Her mother laughed and looked at the woman beside her. “Jessica didn’t recognize you. Are you kidding me?” She turned her attention back to Jazz. “You mean to tell me you don’t know your own sister when she is sitting right across from you?”
Jazz couldn’t breathe. There was no way it was Leah sitting across from her. The last time she’d seen her sister, she’d only been ten years old. It was no wonder she didn’t realize it was her. But now looking at the two women sitting side by side, there was little doubt that they were mother and daughter. Of course, it was Leah.
Jazz had few regrets in her life but leaving Leah behind when she left was one of them. But at eighteen, there was no way she could have taken her along, besides there was nothing indicating that she was being treated the way Jazz had been since she was young.
“Leah? Is that really you?” she asked, finally able to form words.
“Well, sister, at least you remember my name. I assumed you forgot all about me when you ran like your tail was on fire from our home and never looked back.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I had to go.”
“Enough of the touching family reunion,” her mother interrupted. “The way I see it, we raised you, and you owe us. If you don’t want things to continue to get worse for you and that doctor of yours, I think it’s time you started to pay up.”
“I knew you wanted money. The only thing I don’t understand is why now? I’ve been gone eleven years and been making a good living most of that time, so why hatch this plan now?” The timing made no sense.
“That, my dear, is none of your business. All you need to know is you owe me, and I intend to collect. If not, your sister is prepared to publish her next story, and this one is so much worse. If you think your embarrassment is bad, just think about what we can do to the people you’ve decided to surround yourself with.”
“Wait a minute.” There was only one thing that would bring her mother out of the woodwork, and that was if she didn’t have a man to take care of her. “Where’s David?” Saying his name felt like a knife through the heart. She glanced at her sister, and for a second she saw a flash of sadness in her eyes before Leah shut it down. Had he been hurting her as well?
“That’s none of your damn business. After you attacked him for no reason, you don’t even have the right to breathe his name.”
Of course her mother continued to defend the bastard who’d hurt one of her children, possibly both. Jazz couldn’t help but wonder what he’d done for her mother all those years to warrant such loyalty.
Jazz turned her attention to her sister, knowing her mother wasn’t going to give her the information she wanted. “Why would you do this? Do you realize that she is using you, and if I did decide to give in to her demands, and I’m not saying that I will, but if I did, you and I both know she won’t share a dime with you, so why would you go along with it?”
Leah scowled at her. “You don’t know shit. Just because you aren’t good enough for Mother doesn’t mean that I’m not, so don’t try to get into my head. I promise it isn’t going to work.”
“Nice try, Jessica, but you aren’t going to turn Leah against me. So, here’s the deal. You are going to pay me five million dollars by the end of the week, or Leah is prepared to release a story that will make your head spin, and by the time we are done, that doctor of yours won’t have a patient left willing to trust him to take care of them.”
She might have been willing for them to come after her, but they were going to do the one thing that they knew would make her comply. They were going to try to destroy Michael.
“After we receive word that the funds are in the bank, then I expect another payment of five million every year to buy my silence.” Her mother handed her a piece of paper with her banking information and a phone number on it. “This is where to send the first payment. I wouldn’t try me. You know me and what I’m willing to do.”
Jazz didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She sat there with tears running down her face. How had she fallen so far from the dream her life was just a few short weeks ago? The bell above the door chimed and she glanced up seeing Michael marching toward her with Master Derek right behind him. As if this fucked-up situation couldn’t get any worse.
Michael towered over her and held out his hand. “Keys,” he said.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the stolen keys, dropping them in his palm.
“Let’s go.” He turned his attention to Derek. “Thank you for the ride. We will be along shortly.” Derek nodded then turned and left. Could this day get any worse? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she was about to find out.
“Jessica don’t forget what we talked about. When you make the right decision, you can reach me on that number. You have until Wednesday and then we will take our next steps.” Her mother didn’t even bother to glance in Michael’s direction.
It was Thursday which meant she had less than a week. If she was going to do it, then she would need to reach out to her money manager to move things around. She had the funds, but she didn’t keep that much liquid. But it was time she came clean with Michael about her childhood and let him help her decide what to do, because it affected him now as much as it did her. She had a feeling that no matter how much she paid her mother it would never be enough, and it would never end.