Wild Child (A Soul Sister Novel Book 1)

by Audrey Carlan

  I tried to shove Trey off. “Trey, let go of me.” I wedged my hands against his chest but it didn’t matter because Jonah had already ripped Trey’s hold off my ass and twisted his wrist and arm so fast I spun out of the way as Trey went face down over the bar.

  Jonah leaned over Trey and spoke through his teeth. The music pumped loudly around us and our audience had grown to twice the size.

  “Keep your filthy fucking hands off my woman,” Jonah bellowed. “Simone is no longer on your radar, got it?” He twisted Trey’s arm up his back a little harder ferreting out another cry of pain from my ex.

  I had to get the situation under control and fast or I’d end up jobless anyway.

  I pressed my hand to Jonah’s back. “Honey, it’s fine. Trey didn’t know I’d entered into a new relationship nor does he know that my new boyfriend is a testy FBI agent.”

  “FBI? What the fuck, Simone. Dude, I didn’t know!” he cried out.

  Jonah let Trey up and pushed him down the long skinny row where we worked behind the bar. “Stay at your fucking end and do your job.”

  “What are you? Like, her bodyguard?” Trey rubbed at his wrist and up his arm.

  “Yeah, something like that. Back the fuck off.”

  “Dude, I was with her like a week ago.”

  I crossed my arms and stepped in front of Trey. “You were with Melinda a week ago from what I heard. And you were with Sarah the week before that. Trey, we haven’t been in a romantic relationship in at least a month regardless of the actual date you ended things. And let’s not forget, you ended it. In a text. What kind of douche canoe ends a relationship in a text?”

  “Baby girl, come on. You know I’m hard to tie down, and I gave you a lot of my time…”

  “He can give me some of his time,” a buxom brunette who twirled a strand of her hair around her finger spouted off.

  Trey, already distracted by a pretty face and a pair of pushed-up tits lifted his chin, winked, and said, “Be right with you, babe.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned to Jonah. “He literally means nothing to me.”

  “Hey, that’s fucked. You loved me. All the ladies do.” He waggled his brows and grinned that sexy smile making at least three of the girls at the bar swoon.

  Though there was a line of other women on my side that were sizing up Jonah as well.

  “Like I said, he one hundred percent means absolutely nothing to me.”

  Jonah hooked me around the waist, plastered me against his chest, and took my mouth in a heated, delicious kiss. I went straight into a Jonah kiss haze getting lost in the moment.

  “Damn, if my man kissed me like that, I’d be on my knees every night.”

  “Hell, I’d happily go to my knees right now if he didn’t seem so into the blonde,” I heard another say from behind my back.

  Jonah ran his hands down my side and back up to cup my cheek. He pecked me once and then a second time before he whispered, “Get to work, baby. I’ll be here waiting.”

  “Swoon-tastic!” A woman smacked the bar.

  “Lucky bitch!” Another said laughing.

  I turned and poured the mouthy chicks and myself a shot of Patron Silver. Then I pushed the shots toward them. “Cheers to good fucking men.”

  “And men that can fuck good!” One of them blurted back and clinked my glass.

  “I’ll definitely drink to that.” I grinned at Jonah and he shook his head as I shot the tequila back.

  As I worked, he monitored the club and Trey, who kept giving me sidelong glances every so often. I ignored him, served drinks, flirted with my man, and made some serious cash in tips.

  Right at last call I heard a familiar voice call out, “Yo’ bitch, can I get some service around here?”

  I spun around as Jonah sat up straighter in his seat.

  My gaze clapped onto her totally black ones and I held my breath. Her hair was a deep blue-black, cheeks sunken in, and her normally pink pouty lips dry and cracked.

  I couldn’t help the tears that filled in my eyes as I ran around the bar, flung up the little door, and smashed into my sister.

  “Tabby,” I cried against her extremely thin frame. On average she was always thin, never kept much weight on but this was in the territory of unhealthy emaciated thin.

  I pulled my face out her neck and kept hold of her shoulders in order to be sure she didn’t go poof and disappear.

  “Where have you been? My God, Tab, so much has happened.”

  She looked left and right and twitched a little. I frowned and watched as she rubbed under her pert, reddened nose. Her face was pointed and pixie-like though right now it was as if her skin was hanging on her skeleton by sheer force of will.

  “I heard about you getting in trouble. Wanted to see you alive for myself. But now that I have, Si, I gotta go.” She blinked several times in quick succession.

  “You’ve got to go, no! What do you mean?” I cried, fisting my hands.

  “Shit to do, girl. Gotta keep moving.”

  “Tab, please. There’s a really bad guy out there right now. He wants to hurt me and maybe all of you. That’s why we were all trying to find you. You needed to be warned…”

  She flinched, twitched, rubbed under her nose, and looked around. “Can’t be held back. Got shit to do. Just needed to check on my sister, ya know? Make sure you were still breathin’ and shit.”

  “Tabby.” I cupped her cheeks. “Are you using again, honey?”

  Her eyes narrowed and she flinched, pushing out of my hold. “So, what if I am? What do you care? It’s my life. I’ll do what I want. And I fucking want to be free.” She rubbed at her arms and then looked around. “Gotta go, girl. Just checking in.”

  “Mom needs to see you.” I tried the big guns. Mama Kerri was everything to us. Our mother. The woman who took care of us when the world had forgotten we’d existed. Our light at the end of every dark tunnel.

  She shook her head. “No, no, nut-uh. She doesn’t want me around. I’m not good for her. No good for any of you. Got shit to do.”

  “Tabby, please come with me and Jonah. He’s with the FBI…” I gestured to Jonah who was standing not two feet behind me monitoring our conversation.

  “Hey, Tabitha, I’m Jonah…”

  “You’re with the FBI?”

  He nodded.

  “Fuck! What the fuck, Si. You setting me up?”

  I jerked my head back. “Tabby, you came here to see me. Why would I set you up?”

  She plunged her fingers into her hair and looked around. “Shit. Shit. Gotta go.”

  I grabbed her wrist. “No, you need to come with me to the back room so we can talk. Call Mom. Get her here to help you. Honey, you’re high as a kite and you’re not making any sense. You look like you haven’t eaten in a month, sister. Come on.” I tried to get her to come with me, but she ripped her arm away.

  “Si, Mom and the girls don’t need me in their lives. I fuck everything up. I gotta go! I’ll keep an eye on you, sister, but I gotta go!”

  Feeling completely hopeless, I reached for her and she shoved me hard enough that I fell backward into Jonah who broke my fall.

  Then as quick as she came, she disappeared into the crowd.

  “Go after her!” I cried out.

  He shook his head. “Baby, she’s smoke. Gone. Wiry woman like that can disappear in broad daylight especially if she doesn’t want to be found. And she doesn’t seem to want to be found or receive any help right now.”

  I spun around and put my face against his chest. “She’s using again. Probably selling too. She looks bad.”

  “We’ll figure it out. Talk to your sisters and mother. See what we can do about nailing her down and getting her into a program.”

  I nodded. “She’s already been through two of them. We thought this last one worked. She’s been clean for two years since she left the six-month program.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know your sister, honey, but for n
ow, all you can do is pray and bring the other women into it.”

  “Yeah, I gotta finish my shift.” My shoulders dropped as the weight of Tabby using again truly hit me.

  Mom was going to be devastated. Though I doubted she’d be surprised.

  “Oh, my poor little chick.” Mama Kerri paced the open space in the center of the rented apartment in Sonia’s building while ringing her hands.

  My heart hurt at the sight. The constant worry, concern, and fear that a young girl she raised, loved like her very own, and accepted into her life as her daughter had once again gone down the wrong path.

  Jonah had left us, went out in the hallway to get an update from Ryan on the case. I knew he was eager for the autopsy results on Helen in the hopes that it would enlighten the team on new leads. Even though he wasn’t officially on the case, they kept him fully updated in the event that he could shed some light on anything new.

  For the past six months Jonah and Ryan had been chasing the Backseat Strangler across Illinois. The recent deaths of Katrina, my apartment manager, and Helen were the first they believed the Strangler had personally chosen. The rest seemed to be based on convenience. Wrong place, wrong time. Just like me. Originally. Now it’s as though the killer had escalated focusing on first Katrina by killing her in my apartment and then Helen. She specifically was a message screaming loud and clear that the killer was biding his time. He apparently didn’t like loose ends and I feared he’d kill more people Jonah or I knew before he was done.

  “Fuckin’ Tabby,” Charlie ranted on a huff. “There any liquor in this place? I need a drink.” She stomped off into the kitchen, her red ponytail swinging along with her.

  “Charlie,” Mama chastised, and Charlie gave a murmured, “Sorry,” as she entered the swinging door to the kitchen.

  The room was unusual and seemed to be focused on entertaining in the combined living and dining space with a clear opening in the center and near the patio. There were three matching white leather sofas forming a U-shape in front of the fireplace, which had a flat screen TV hung above it. I imagined it could hold a good thirty people comfortably. More if you opened the sliding doors to the wide patio where people could mingle inside and out.

  “I’m not sure what we can do at this point,” Sonia stated on a sigh, her eyes glued to her phone. Her hair was a stunning shade of spun gold. One side was pressed behind her ear, the other side skimming her cheek in a pretty natural wave. She wore a sexy as hell red suit with black piping. I loved her in red. It upped her powerful politician vibe times a thousand.

  “Kick some skinny girl ass, is what’s going to happen if I get my hands on her.” Blessing crossed her legs and pursed her lips, all sass and spitfire, ready to bring the smack down on Tabitha.

  Mama Kerri glared at Blessing and she clamped her mouth shut and looked to me.

  “I’m with Blessing. That girl needs a kick in the pants. Big time. You guys should have seen her. It was awful. Repeating herself. Looking thin and sickly. It was almost as bad as when she was eighteen and had gotten in with that rave crowd.” I frowned remembering that time as being awful.

  Mama Kerri shook as though she were cold, then pressed her hand to her forehead. “Please Lord, take care of my girl or bring her home to me and I’ll do it. Just keep her safe.”

  “Si. I agree. We need to find her, show her how much we love and need her in our lives. Help her to choose us over the drugs.” Liliana wiped a tear from her eye.

  Jonah entered the room from behind us, his face a mask of severity, jaw locked, dark gaze zeroed in on mine.

  Last night after my shift I was barely functioning when Jonah took me home. I had gone straight to his bathroom and brushed my teeth. From there I yanked off my top, my bra, and my jeans, and hit the bed face first in nothing but my panties. Jonah had promptly covered me up and did whatever it is guys do to close up a house at night before sleeping. I didn’t even feel him enter the bed, nor did I feel him leave it this morning when I woke. He’d been broody and serious all morning, even when driving us across town to Sonia’s building where everyone was staying.

  Genesis had taken a few days off work at the Department of Health and Human Services where she was a social worker who placed displaced and orphaned children into foster homes. Rory was sitting on her knees coloring in a Disney Frozen coloring book quietly at the glass square coffee table. For three years old, she did a damn fine job too.

  “There are a couple new programs for drug addictions that I’ve researched. They have impressive success rates. Though these ones are not only expensive, they are out of state, request no visitation from outside sources including family, and are deeply immersive. Tabitha would have to agree to it and sign herself into it. For serious cases like hers, they recommend a full year at their facility but no less than six months. We have to keep in mind, she’s already been through two before. She may not be willing. And that’s if we can find her first.” Genesis frowned. Her hair was pulled back in a long French braid that fell almost to her bum. I had some serious hair envy because hers was the deepest espresso color, silky, shiny, and perfectly flat.

  “Well, I don’t know what to say other than I’ll pay for the program this time. Mama Kerri paid for the first and Sonia paid for the second. I’ve got wads of cash in the bank and not a lot of time or desire to spend it. Besides, my agent just scored me a new bathing suit gig in the Mykonos that will pay off my condo downtown.”

  “Girl, you are rolling in it, as you should be with that fine full-figured sexy body.” Charlie snapped her fingers and gave Addison a high-five.

  “You are such an inspiration to women everywhere, hermana,” Liliana added.

  “Thanks, sprite.” Addison winked at Liliana.

  Liliana rolled her eyes and grinned. Sprite was a running nickname for Liliana because she was only five foot three. The smallest of us all. The woman was like a gorgeous Spanish doll. Perfect Latina features with her short curly dark hair, pointed chin, plump lips, rounded cheekbones, and skin the color of a pristine sandy beach made of crushed light brown coral.

  “Speaking of work…” Addison stood, and her upper body sagged. “I have a photoshoot scheduled for the next few days in New York. I have to go pack. I’m leaving tonight.”

  Her having to go to work had all of our attention, even Jonah’s, who had sidled up next to me with his ass to the arm of the chair, his hand warmly resting on my shoulder. As he listened to her statement, he gripped me tighter.

  She held her hands out. “No worries, the client secured a bodyguard to pick me up, drive me to and from the job and the airport, and to make sure I’m safely back in my hotel each night. Plus side, I’ll be out of state.”

  Jonah crossed his arms. “It’s not perfect, but we understand that you all need to live your lives. Please provide Simone with the information for the bodyguard and a detailed report of your schedule.”

  Addy nodded, grabbed her purse from the table, and laid a kiss to Rory’s head. Each one of us stood and accepted hugs. By the time she got to me I held her tight. “Be insanely careful. I’m talking, looking over your shoulder, never going out unattended, and don’t drink much. I know you need to put on a show for all the glamorous people you work with, but more than anything, you need to be on the lookout at all times. Okay?”

  She held me tight, then kissed my cheek. “Scout’s honor,” she giggled.

  “You weren’t in the Girl Scouts!” I whined.

  “I’ll check in. Don’t worry.” Addison flipped her long brown hair. “Love you guys!”

  After a round of love you’s from all of us, Addy took her leave, Jonah entering as she exited.

  “We have some more information that I’d like to share, but it’s not for little ears.” He smiled at Rory who had her tongue sticking out while she was coloring Elsa’s skin brown.

  Genesis looked over her daughter’s head at the picture. “Sweet Pea, you know that Elsa is white, right?”

  Blessing stretched her body
over to look at the page and grinned smugly.

  Rory frowned and looked over her shoulder at her mama. “Auntie Bless says princesses are black too.”

  Blessing snickered. “And it looks to me you have one fine African American princess there. Just. Like. You.” She tapped her nose and Rory giggled.

  Genesis shook her head and smiled. “And she is perfect. Great job, Sweet Pea.”

  Rory beamed and then yawned and rubbed at her eyes with her small fists.

  “I think it’s past time for someone’s nap. How about Grammy sets up a movie and watches a little with you?” Mama Kerri suggested.

  Rory nodded enthusiastically.

  “Wave to your aunties and your mama, baby,” she instructed.

  “Love you!” She waved and took her grandmother’s hand, entering the back hall that led to the three separate bedrooms.

  “That child owns my soul.” Blessing tsked.

  “Right?” Charlie agreed.

  “One hundred percent,” Liliana added.

  “Absolutely. You’ve done such a good job with her, Gen. She’s so smart and bright, even though her daddy is overseas on deployment and you two aren’t together, she seems super well-adjusted and happy. It’s gotta be hard doing it all on your own, though.”

  Genesis nodded. “Some days are harder than others. I have Mama Kerri so at the very least she gets family time every other day, but it is hard. And of course, I have all of you.”

  “We need to do better about allowing you some personal time. Once this is all over with, we should trade off. One of us taking her for a night every couple weeks. Give you an evening every so often so you can go out, let your hair down…”

  “Meet a man.” Charlie’s tone was thick with innuendo. “When was the last time you went on a date?”

  Genesis sighed and shifted her pretty amber gaze to my guy. “Don’t you have an update for us, Jonah?”

  Jonah stayed where he was and cleared his throat. “The preliminary autopsy results have come back. Helen was strangled as we suspected. Only the coroner found, uh, something really strange.” He rubbed the back of his neck and a long breath shuddered through him. Talking about Helen had to be difficult on a good day. Talking about her body being autopsied, far worse.