“If you’re going to lie to me, then I’d prefer you don’t talk to me.”
“Dad, I won the lottery.” The truth makes my heart beat faster.
“Gia-”
“Have you checked your mortgage balance yet? Your utility bills? What was the balance on that stuff?”
“It was zero.”
“That’s right. I paid off your mortgage. You’re up to date on all of your utilities.”
“The electric company said that a Good Samaritan paid it off. I didn’t know it was you.” My dad is looking at me in utter amazement.
“It was. The debit cards I gave you and Mom yesterday give you access to an account that has a hundred grand in it. That’s why I told you that you can buy whatever you want using those cards. You don’t have to worry about the money.”
“You won that big jackpot at the beginning of this month, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.” I smile. My dad is finally believing me.
“Gia, that thing was over two hundred million.”
“Yes, sir, it was.”
“How in the…Who…You hired that lawyer?”
“He helped me claim the money anonymously. I had to do it that way to protect my identity. You know how family can be when money is involved. I’d have to move out of Georgia.”
“I’ll be doggone. You won all that money. You’re set, baby girl.”
“We all are,” I reply. “I’m going to take care of you and Mom from here on out, but you can’t go blabbing. It’ll cause nothing but problems for us.”
He nods, blowing out. “I’ve heard of people getting killed because they won a hundred grand. I ain’t saying a word.”
“Not even to Mom. If she finds out, she’ll have everyone in Rincon knowing about it in less than an hour, and you know she’ll be trying to get on the news and doing the talk shows.”
He laughs and nods.
“This has to be between you and me. I’m serious, or we would have to make some serious major changes.”
“You’re right. I agree. Okay, Gia. Wow, my baby girl is going to be alright. You’re going to be alright.”
“I hope so, Dad.”
“Well, your heart is going to take time.”
“Yeah, it will,” I reply sadly.
My dad gives me a hug. He’s so happy and tearing up that he’s making me tear up all over again.
I decide to go home. This was a good visit. I needed it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I should have spent the night by myself, but I didn’t want to be alone, and I was horny as hell for obvious reasons. JD is beside me, sleeping and snoring like a monster about to attack. He’s so loud.
Slowly, I go over to the window. There’s a distorted view of the house across the street. It’s a Tudor-styled home-very much like mine-with a brick chimney, and wood beams that corner and frame the front of the house.
“G, come back to bed, girl,” JD says groggily.
Before I turn around, I happen to catch Joslyn Montgomery walking up Privilege Place. She has my posters under her arms. She’s talking, but there’s no one with her and there isn’t a phone to her ear. Maybe, she has an earpiece in, but I can’t tell. She walks right by my house, legs moving fast. I should go out there and take the posters from her, but I’m not going to start a scene. That’s all I need is the neighborhood to be talking about the new girl showing no class over worthless paper. I’m sure people have seen them and word is around about my party tonight.
“I’m getting hard,” JD says.
Instead of answering or jumping in bed with him, I take a shower, making sure to lock the door behind me. JD will definitely try to worm his way into the shower, and I’d rather clean up in peace rather than being bent over or pinned up at his pleasure.
When I come back out of the bathroom, JD is still in bed and asleep again. I hear noise down the hall. I can hear Adam above most of the noise, and I walk to the kitchen to see what the fuss is about.
Zoe and her staff has taken over. Adam is on his cell phone, talking loud. I shake my head. I can’t wait for this party to be finally over. Maybe, I’ll just walk away from this house and move somewhere else when it’s all over.
I work my way through the fire team of caterers, grab bottled water out of the fridge, and drag myself to the patio. I stop when I see the chair that Anthony used the short time he was here. How many times did we sit out by the pool? I tried so hard to get him to be with me, but nothing worked. With a heavy sigh, I turn and go back inside directly to my bedroom.
“Hey,” JD says, sitting up on the bed. “You got a phone call.” He hands me my phone.
“What are you doing with my cell?”
“I heard it ringing in your purse.” He lays down.
I check the display. It’s Mac. Now what?
“Hello,” I answer coldly. I walk over to the window to give me some distance from JD.
“Gia, I was wondering if we could talk. Are you busy?”
“What do you want, Mac?”
“I know you’re mad at me.”
“It doesn’t really matter anymore.”
“The only reason why I slept with Anthony is because you said you had a new guy. You moved in with him. You told me that, remember?”
I remain silent.
“Gia-”
“There was no new guy, Mac. I lied.”
“What do you mean you lied?”
“It’s not hard to comprehend what I said. You should have just stayed away from Anthony. That was the bottom line. He was never yours to have, Mac.”
“Gia-”
“Just so you know, just in case you think there’s an ounce of a chance of you two becoming an item, he doesn’t love you. You’re another hole to wet his dick. And that’s all you’ll ever be to him.”
She falls silent. I got my point across. I disconnect the call.
“You two act like you’re lovers,” JD comments.
I twist around to look at him. He’s on his back with legs wide open. He’s flipping his tongue out of his mouth and grabbing his crotch. Why the hell not?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Six thirty in the evening, and no one is here. The caterers have tables all dressed and looking pretty on one side of the room. Adam is speaking to Zoe in the hallway. I’m pacing, waiting for the doorbell to ring.
Another fifteen minutes go by, and still there are no guests. I’ve tasted everything on the table and put down two glasses of wine. Adam is getting antsy, and Zoe is worried.
Thirty minutes later, the doorbell finally rings. I take a deep breath and smooth down my yellow chiffon dress. I open the door, ready to welcome my first guest, and I stammer when I see Joslyn Montgomery. In her arms are my posters. She shoves them at me and hands me another folded note. My temperature shoots up a thousand degrees, and it’s taking everything I have not to dot her whole face with my fist.
She glances over my shoulder into the house and laughs. “Are you having a party, Gia? Where are your guests?”
My whole body is trembling. I can’t even speak.
“I know where they are. Take a look.” She backs up off the porch and points up the street.
I step out to take a look. Legend and Charli Love have guests, a lot of guests. Cars are parked all the way down to the front of Joslyn’s house.
She folds her hands together and remarks, “It appears there’s another party at Charli’s house right now. Isn’t that a coincidence?”
I don’t even know what to say.
Joslyn takes one step closer to me, making direct eye contact, and says, “Let me tell you something, dear. Tudor Estates is not the hood. You don’t tape posters to stop signs. You don’t leave your garage door open. You keep your grass trimmed to our specifications. This is a high class community, and we don’t like trash. And let’s face the facts here, you are trash.”
I drop those posters and try to swing on her, but Adam comes from out of nowhere and grabs me just before I could make c
ontact. Joslyn doesn’t even flinch.
She continues in a calm voice, “All of this could have been avoided if you had read the Bylaws.”
“Fuck you,” I seethe.
“I guess that’s the best you can do with a second grade education.”
I try to go at her again, but Adam is still holding on. Joslyn’s not even scared. She’s laughing, enjoying the fact that she can get a rise out of me.
"Get the fuck away from my house,” I hiss at her.
She saunters away, and I storm back inside the house. I’m so pissed I can’t even see straight. The room bends and hollows out as I stand frozen in place. Adam touches me, bringing me out of the zone.
“Get out,” I snap at him.
“Gia, it’s okay.”
“GET THE FUCK OUT! EVERYBODY! GET THE HELL OUT! RIGHT NOW! SON OF A BITCH! GET OUT!”
In only mere seconds, Adam and the others are gone, and I’m on my way to Charli’s house. I’m going to crash that motherfucker and be the life of the party. Why not? I can formally introduce myself for real to those bitches.
When I get to Charli’s driveway, I start climbing the steep rise. Twice I almost break my heel trying to walk up that damn thing. By the time I reach the front door, my feet are killing me, and I’m exhausted.
I peep through the side window. I can see and hear people laughing and talking. R&B music is playing. I lift my hand to knock on the door, but it’s shaking so bad I have to put it down and squeeze my hands together. I take a deep breath, regain some strength, and bang on the door like a cop about to break it down.
It opens. A woman with long blonde hair is smiling at me. I’m not sure if she lives in the neighborhood or not, but she’s definitely not Charli Love. The woman is about to say something, but then a man grabs her and sweeps her away. She’s giggling, like a giddy school girl. The crowd doesn’t even pay attention to her, and they haven’t noticed me.
I slowly enter, feeling absolutely insignificant. I don’t even have the guts to start some shit in here. These people are dressed nice, standing in the lap of luxury, drinking expensive wine, enjoying pleasant conversations. I’d get my ass carried out of here and in prison before I can take a single drop of champagne.
I spot Natasha to my right. She’s having drinks with Charli and Legend. Any other time, I’d be falling all over myself trying to meet him, but I’m so pissed right now that I hate looking at him. I hate all of these people.
This is the first time I feel like I don’t fit in. Why do I even bother trying? I can’t take this anymore. I walk out.
By the time I reach my living room, I’m so angry to the point my ears are ringing. My face is tingling. My eyes burn from the tears. My chest hurts. I want to punch someone. I want someone else to hurt as much as I do.
I look around at the furniture that doesn’t belong to me. The beautiful woodwork that accentuates every piece, the dark mahogany colored beams that stretches across the ceiling. A champagne fountain is in the middle of the banquet table, spouting out pink champagne. Everything is so pretty, elegant, perfect. This could have been a nice party.
But that’s okay. I have a fix for this.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I call JD. His number goes to voicemail. I head to the security room to check the footage from his apartment. I turn on the monitor, and on the bed is that dumb idiot and another woman. The camera is positioned right above the bed behind a vent, and I can see bouncing boobs and swinging hair. I’m not even surprised. Honestly, I can’t believe it took him that long to have some other tail in the apartment that I pay for. JD stays horny. I grab my car keys and head for Savannah.
It takes me a while to get to the apartment, but I’m not in a hurry. I know the skank will still be there. JD doesn’t like to just fuck and send females on their way. He likes to stay in it, play in it, cum in it, let it breath, and start all over again. And if there was an option to live in it, he would do that, too.
I unlock the door and walk directly to JD’s bedroom. His ass is moving up and down. He’s holding her legs as wide as they can go, and she’s panting his name.
“JD!” I yell over them.
He jumps up off of her, and the girl starts grabbing for the covers and cussing.
“Get out,” I say to her calmly.
Her clothes are at my feet, and I toss them to her. She dresses quickly, and she’s gone within seconds. JD remains standing where he is. He’s breathing heavy with his hands on his hips. His dick is choked. He doesn’t give a damn that I caught him, and honestly, I don’t give a damn, either.
“Are you going to take her place or what?”
“Or what,” I reply. “Put your clothes on and meet me in the living room.”
It’s not long before he comes out. Still sweating and with only shorts, JD is pissed.
“What up, G?” he asks as he saunters over to the fridge. He looks like a damn peacock with his ass up and his chest all puffed out.
“I need you to do something for me.”
He brings out a can of beer and pops it open. He swallows half of it.
“JD, I’m talking to you! You heard what I said?”
“Fuck, G! Yeah, I heard what you said!”
“Are you going to do it?”
“Do what? Shit!”
“The same thing as last time.”
He stops and stares at me to see if I’m for real. My expression is stone cold serious.
“I want something else in return,” he says.
“I’m paying your rent, your utilities, I bought your ass a brand new car.”
“And it ain’t fuckin’ enough!”
I huff and ask, “Then what do you want?”
“To move in with you in that big ass house and to get that pussy any way I want, however I want, whenever the fuck I want, and you can’t ever tell me no at any time that I want it.”
I shake my head and remark, “No fuckin’ way are you moving in with me.”
“I can always talk to the cops.”
“And say exactly what?”
“You know, G,” he says with a smirk.
“You’ll go to prison, too.”
“Shit ain’t new to me. How about you?”
“Fine, but you better not fuck this up.”
“Did I fuck up the last time? No.”
“Get some clothes on. You’re going with me right now.”
“We doing this tonight?”
“Hell yeah.”
“You have to stop and get some gas, G, because I ain’t got that kind of shit around here.”
“We’ll stop along the way.”
“Alright, whatever man.”
It’s a shame that I have to resort to drastic measures such as burning a bitch’s house down. That’s all she had to do was leave me the fuck alone. But no, she had to put notes on my door and show up at my house to prove that she got one over on me. Well, I won’t be stepped on. I won’t be showed up, and I’m not about the games. Joslyn Montgomery is about to learn who she fucked with these last few days.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
When I turn onto Privilege Place, I see that the Love’s house still has the party of the century going on. The music is louder. The front door is opened. I bet Joslyn is all up in Charli’s ass right now.
I park my truck in the garage. JD gets out stretching and yawning. I open the door to the backseat and take out two gas cans. I give him one, and we head out the door to the back yard.
We cross the neighbor’s backyard with no problem. Their house is dark inside. We get to Joslyn’s house, and JD nearly trips over some kind of squeaky toy. He cusses and kicks the thing across the yard. It lands and squeaks again. I look at him like he’s an idiot, and he shrugs his shoulders like it’s not his fault. We go up to the porch and look inside the house. We can see the dining area and the kitchen. There are dishes on the table and on the counter. A light is on down the hallway on the other side of the living room to our left.
I try the knob
. It’s locked. JD tries the knob closer to him. It doesn’t turn, but by accident, we discover the door is open. Both of us are surprised by this. We tiptoe inside and listen for anyone talking or a television. A clock is ticking from somewhere in the house. There are two entrances out of the combined rooms of the living, dining, and kitchen. JD points to the one that opens up directly from the kitchen, and he heads for the other one. We end up in the hallway at the same time on opposite sides. I continue down a hallway that goes straight ahead, and JD disappears around the corner.
The room at the end of the short corridor is small. It has a desk pushed to one side and a table with printers and monitors on the right. There’s a door on the opposite wall. I dump gas on the floor while backing out. There’s a door on each side of the hallway, both are open. One is the laundry room and the other is a storage room. I pour gas in them, and I continue backwards.
“HEY!”
I jump, thinking I’ve been caught red handed, but when I turn around, there’s no one behind. I peek my head around the corner. At the other end of the hallway, I see JD. He’s standing still, gas can in his hands, and he’s looking straight ahead.
“What the hell you doing here! Who are you?” I can’t see whose talking.
JD doesn’t say a word.
“GIVE ME THAT GAS CAN! HAND IT OVER!”
JD isn’t moving. I look into the kitchen. I’m eyeing the exit.
“STOP!”
A shot rings out, and then a second one. JD hits the floor, and I drop my can and take off running. I run directly into a chair at the kitchen table. I almost fall right on top of it, but I stay on my feet and get out the door. I’m running so fast all I can hear is my panting and my hard, quick footsteps.
The moment I get into my garage, I get in my truck and wait. I’m hoping JD will come running in. I know he was shot, but I am so hoping he’ll make it. One minute slowly ticks by and then another. I can’t wait any longer. The cops will be coming soon, and I need to be gone.
I back up out of the garage slowly. The party is still playing out at the house at end of the cul-de-sac. No one is moving outside of Joslyn’s house. I drive off. I’m not waiting to see what happens next.
Gia (Women of Privilege Book 1) Page 11