CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Four Months Later
Daisy
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Jack began, standing on the stage in Salazar Nights, microphone in hand, and looking fucking gorgeous in his tuxedo, “Thank you for coming out to support CaveSphere. Without you, whether you’re here as an investor in Lancaster Games or a superfan for CaveSphere, none of this would be happening.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for making these games what they are today.
” He paused for applause and cheers, and I marveled at how much more relaxed and at home he seemed onstage.
He’d come a long way. His sister and I had been working with him on how to speak to the public, and it was paying off.
These ‘hype’ parties were getting easier and easier for him.
The crowd went wild. Well, the superfans known as the Sphericals did. The investors clapped loudly, but that was as ‘wild’ as they really got.
“Second, I have an official release date for CaveSphere 4.” He gestured to some workers in the upper levels of the club who released banners at the same time announcing the date the game would be available.
I watched in awe as several of the invited media personalities took pictures and did live video shots for social media and the local news.
When the crowd had died down, I looked back to Jack. I didn’t know what the last announcement was. We hadn’t practiced this. I shot a look at his sister and his grandma, but they both shrugged.
“The third thing I have to announce is personal. Daisy, would you come up here for a minute?” He looked out at me, beautiful hazel eyes full of love, and held out his hand.
I hurried over and took it so he could help me up the stairs in my ballgown.
“I want to let all of you know that Daisy Tiller is not only the newest member of our marketing team at Lancaster Games. She’s also agreed to become my wife. ”
With that, he set the mic on a stand, swooped me up in his arms, and carried me down to the dance floor. We danced to “Gold” by Myles Smith while everyone clapped and swayed to the music. He twirled and spun me until I was giddy and dizzy, and ended the song with a not so gentle or sweet kiss.
I pulled back, holding his face in my hands. “What are you doing? We’re not alone,” I whispered, giggling.
“I don’t fucking care, baby.”
“I care a little,” I said looking around at everyone staring at us.
He stood up straight lifting me flush against him, my hands on his chest. “We’ll go soon, okay? I see a few people I need to speak with.” He rolled his eyes but maintained his grin. He was less grumpy with people these days, and I liked to think it was because he and I were so happy.
He walked off just as Nia attacked me and pulled me over to a table with her, Jelly, and Carmen.
I had asked Carmen if Jelly could attend the party as a guest instead of work it as a waitress.
She’d agreed, saying that she’d use it as a chance to show Jelly off since she would be going into the auction soon.
Whatever her reasons, I was glad she’d said yes.
I sat down gladly. The stilettos I was wearing to pull this dress off were killing me. Carmen raised her hand and asked for several bottles of champagne.
“Let me see it,” she said gesturing for my hand.
I held my hand out, making sure the massive chandeliers above us sparkled off the surface of my diamond engagement ring.
“My God. That’s gorgeous,” she gushed, surprising me. Carmen wasn’t much of a gusher. “And huge!” Her dark eyes were wide as she looked up at me. “Damn, girl. What have you done to that man?”
I laughed.
“Seriously, though,” she griped. “First Reynolds and Nadine, now you and Jack. People are going to think I’m running a marriage auction instead of a sex auction.” She pointed at Jelly. “You better not start getting any ideas.”
Jelly snorted, and the sound seemed strange coming from her beautiful face. “I’m not planning on ever getting married. Tied down to one man for the rest of my life? No thanks.”
A man I hadn’t noticed walked up, staring at Jelly, the look in his light brown eyes intense. “You don’t like being tied down, Ray Ann?” He had just enough of an accent to make it plain he was of Italian descent. I wondered if he’d been born in America or moved here at some point.
Jelly turned pink and looked away from the handsome man.
I knew he was her boss at the hospital where she worked and that his name was Paolo, but Jelly didn’t share much else about him.
I recognized him as having been one of Reynolds’ groomsmen at his wedding to Nadine.
He’d danced with Jelly there, and I knew he always requested her to be his hostess at Sugar when he was there. Which was a lot.
The man leaned against the booth. The straps of his tux tie hung loosely from under his collar, which was unbuttoned. He had a glass of whiskey in his hand, and he took a sip every now and then. He was probably trying to look casual, but it didn’t work. He looked predatory, and his prey was Jelly.
He leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear, but we could all hear him.
“I know you’ll like it when I tie you down.
You just have to say when and where, and I’m there, dolcezza.
” He winked at her, stood up straight, and walked over to stand next to Reynolds.
But every now and then those amber eyes of his landed on Jelly like she was the last piece of pie on the dessert table.
Nia fanned herself. “Whew. He’s hot, honey. And that accent—damn. How long have you been fucking him?”
Jelly’s eyes darted over to Carmen, who looked very interested. “I’m not fucking him. He’s just been after me for months. He’s my boss by day, and by night… well, he wants to be something else entirely.”
Carmen tapped the side of her head. “I’m filing that information away, Ray Ann. You’re going to be the featured cinnamon girl soon in the auction. He seems like the type to do whatever it takes to win you.”
“He can’t win me,” Jelly was upset. “I don’t want to be that girl. You know, the nurse fucking the handsome surgeon until he gets tired of her and moves on to the next one? I’m not looking to be his next conquest. And I don’t want to be with anyone I work with.”
Carmen frowned. “I don’t think Paolo’s like that. I doubt he’s ever fucked anyone he works with. He’s too professional for that.”
“Well, I love my job. So, if he’s going to fire me if he wins me in the auction, that’s not going to work out well.”
Carmen rolled her eyes. “You can get another job. Plus, he’s loaded, and it seems he’s willing to pay whatever it takes to get you.” She leaned closer to Jelly. “I’ve seen how he looks at you at Sugar. No matter what’s going on between you two during the day, he’s desperate for you at night.”
Suddenly, the sheriff, Tate Richards, walked in. He looked out of place in his uniform, but he also looked hot as hell. His dark hair and eyes, and kind of ‘rough’ look reminded me of the guy who’d played Angel on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Carmen frowned. “I wonder what he’s doing here.”
Almost as if he’d heard her, his eyes roamed over our table until they stopped on Nia. She sucked in a breath as he stared at her. He watched her so long, it bordered on becoming awkward. Finally, he winked at her and grinned, before his face turned serious and he strode over to Reynolds and Jack.
“Hmm,” Carmen said, watching him. “Maybe you should work at Sugar after all, Nia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sheriff looking possessive. He’s a love them and leave them kind of guy.”
“I think he’s amazing,” Nia whispered, and we all turned to look at her. “What? He was so nice to me during the whole horrible fiasco of finding you at Ivan’s mother’s creepy murder house.”
“No one has proved that he’s the guy who’s been murdering people…”
Carmen cut me off. “He is. There’s no way a guy could have a set-up that bizarre and not be using it. There are probably dead bodies buried all over that corn field.”
“They’ve had excavators out there and haven’t found anything,” I reminded her.
“Yes, but…”
Nia made a strangled noise in her throat. “My God. Let’s talk about something else. Please.”
Carmen nodded. “I’m just trying to say that you weren’t his first rodeo, Daisy. I’d be willing to bet he killed poor Candace Keys.”
We were all quiet for a moment, thinking about the sweet stripper who’d worked at Sugar and had been murdered over a year ago. Her killer had never been caught, but police were working to connect the dots so they could charge Ivan with her murder.
I watched Jack’s body language as he listened to whatever it was the sheriff had to tell Reynolds. In his job as the Mayor of West Bay, he was always on duty.
“Something’s wrong,” I said as I watched Jack go stiff. His eyes flicked to mine, and then he started talking to the sheriff in earnest.
Carmen’s face looked grim. “I’ll go find out what’s going on.” She got up and sashayed over to the table, hooking her arm through Nadine’s to give her a hug as she got there.
Jack was suddenly in motion. He hurried over to me and practically yanked me out of my seat. “We have to leave.”
“Why?” I was shocked. “What in the world is wrong?”
“You know how the sheriff thought you had two stalkers?”
I nodded.
“He was right. They found the body of a lawyer who went missing a couple of days ago.”
“That’s awful. But what does that have to do with me having more than one stalker?”
“Well, first, she looks a lot like you. I should know. I, uh,” his eyes scanned the table where Nia and Jelly were hanging on his ever word, “got to know her when I was trying to stay away from you.”
I knew exactly how he’d ‘gotten to know her’. He’d told me that he’d requested someone who looked like me when he’d visited Cayenne. It was kind of flattering, but the thought of him with another woman still pissed me off.
But she was dead.
“Are you saying she was killed because she looked like me?”
“I mean, yeah.” He was very upset and agitated. “But there’s more. The other reason we know you had two stalkers is that a note was found on the body.”
I felt a chill wash over me. “What did it say?”
“It’s not so much what it said as who it was addressed to.”
I stared at him.
He looked away for a minute, as if he didn’t want to tell me anything else. Then he set his shoulders and looked me in the eye. “It was addressed to ‘Pretty Girl’.”
I gasped and my knees buckled. Jack grabbed me and pulled me to him before I could fall. He held me tightly and buried his face in my hair.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“We’re moving.”
“What?” I pulled back to look at him. “What are you talking about?”
His face was determined. “We’ll work remotely from my house in the Bahamas.”
I opened my mouth to protest but then closed it.
I loved the house in the Bahamas. It had become my favorite place on Earth.
Jack had taken me there to recover after I’d gotten out of the hospital.
We’d been so happy there, so content, that we’d taken to going there a couple of times a month to relax and recharge.
“We’re already living there part-time,” I conceded. “I guess it wouldn’t be that hard.”
He shook his head. “Not at all. And it’s only a two-hour flight from Atlanta. Anything we can’t do from the Bahamas we can fly to West Bay to handle.”
Things were running well for my family in Crosston.
My mom had come home from her ‘retreat’ a changed person.
She’d happily handed over the business operations of the florist shop to my sister Hy, who’d graduated high school and enrolled in the local community college.
Ola, a high school senior, helped Hy run things after she got home from school.
Mom was perfectly happy to handle the more intricate floral design jobs and raise the triplets.
They hadn’t needed me to move home after all.
“Let’s do it,” I said, a huge smile on my face. “I love it there, and we’ll be away from any stalker drama.”
“We’ll stay there until they catch him,” Jack said. Then he pulled me close, kissed me, and said, “Or we might just stay there forever.”
That would be fine with me, too. As long as I was with Jack, I knew I’d be safe. And happy.
The End
Keep reading for Jack and Daisy's Epilogue...