Beg to Die

by Beverly Barton

  “You know, they say that we all got a double out there in the world somewhere. Guess Jazzy’s yours, huh?”

  “Ms. Talbot, may I ask you a question?” Reve Sorrell looked Sally right in the eye.

  Sally swallowed. Don’t blink, she told herself. Don’t show any fear. You ain’t done nothing wrong. Not thirty years ago. Not today.

  “What you want to ask, gal?”

  “If Jazzy is your niece, then you’d know if…if she had a sister, wouldn’t you?”

  Sally chuckled, the sound just a bit off. She hoped nobody but Ludie heard the nervousness in her voice. “Yes, I’d know. And if you’re thinking there’s any chance you and Jazzy are sisters, then get that notion right out of your head. My younger sister—Jazzy’s mama—had one baby girl. That’s all.”

  “I see.”

  Sally could tell by Reve Sorrell’s heaving sigh and her tentative smile that she was relieved not to be related to Jazzy. Judging the woman by the fancy clothes she wore and the expensive sports car she drove, Sally figured Ms. Sorrell came from money. Big money. And big bank accounts usually came attached to big snobbery. More than likely this gal was mighty glad to find out that she wasn’t blood kin to the likes of Jazzy Talbot.

  “What did Jazzy say when you two met?” Ludie asked, and Sally wanted to slap her friend senseless. Damn it, Ludie, leave well enough alone.

  “We really didn’t get a chance to talk,” Reve said.

  “I’m afraid Jazzy and I had a little difference of opinion,” Caleb admitted.

  “Let me guess.” Sally huffed. “It was over Jamie Upton coming around last night, wasn’t it?” Sally reached over and patted Caleb on the back. “You keep on giving her hell about it. When she told me she’d let that rascal in last night, I sure gave her hell for being so stupid.”

  “Jazzy told you that she was with Jamie?” Caleb asked.

  Sally eyed him speculatively. “She didn’t let him spend the night, you know. She ain’t that stupid. She swore to me that it’s over between them. And I believe her.”

  Reve cleared her throat. “If y’all will excuse me—”

  “Ms. Sorrell is a friend of Jamie’s, too,” Caleb said. “He’s the one who told her that she had a look-alike here in Cherokee Pointe.”

  “God help you, gal.” Sally pinned Reve with a warning glare. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll steer clear of Jamie Upton. He’s nothing but trouble for any woman. Somebody should have skinned him alive years ago.” Sally puckered her lips and spit a hunk of brown tobacco juice on the sidewalk. When she heard Reve Sorrell gasp and noticed her jump backward, Sally grinned. “Damn, I should have killed that good-for-nothing polecat back when he was a teenager. I could have saved Jazzy a heap of heartache.” Sally slapped her hand down on Ms. Sorrell’s shoulder. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to scare the woman off. No sirree, not a bad idea at all. Even if Ms. Sorrell thought she might be Jazzy’s sister, knowing somebody like Sally might be her aunt would run her off pronto. “If you been fucking around with Jamie, then you got my sympathy. Take my advice and stay away from him from now on.”

  “Ms. Talbot, I can assure you that I have not been—”

  “Call me Sally. Everybody does.” Sally interrupted before Reve finished her sentence, which undoubtedly was a denial of a sexual relationship with Jamie Upton.

  “Sally, it’s been…interesting meeting you. But I really must go.” Reve backed away several feet. “Having met your niece…and you…and finding out that she and I are not related, despite our resemblance—”

  “Did you really come here just to see if you and Jazzy might be related?” Sally asked. “Or did Jamie mention Jazzy and you came here figuring to see if she was competition? She ain’t. Her and Jamie are finished. But you do know he’s engaged…to be married?”

  “No, I didn’t know, but I’m pleased for him. Believe me, Jamie Upton doesn’t mean a thing to me. Now, if y’all will excuse me, I’ll be going.”

  Sally spit again, this time creating a lot of noise before doing so, making the event seem even more gross to someone unaccustomed to being around an old woman who chewed tobacco and occasionally dipped snuff, too.

  “Don’t run off,” Caleb called after Ms. Sorrell.

  The lady in question didn’t even bother saying good-bye. She unlocked her car, got in, and backed out of the parking place, all in a powerful hurry.

  “So, what’s going on?” Caleb asked Sally. “Why did you try so hard to run her off? Is she really Jazzy’s sister?”

  “What a fool thing to say,” Sally told him. “My Jazzy ain’t got no sister. My sister gave birth to one baby girl. Says so right on her birth certificate.”

  “Mm-hm…if you say so.”

  “I say so.”

  “Well, it’s been quite a day already and it’s not even ten o’clock.” Caleb nodded cordially. “You ladies have a good one.” Smiling, he turned and walked away.

  Just as soon as Caleb was out of earshot, Ludie grabbed Sally’s arm. “You might have run that Sorrell girl off pretty easy like, but we both know that Jazzy’s going to ask you about her. And you just remember that Jazzy knows you. She’ll be able to tell if you’re lying to her.”

  “I didn’t lie to that Sorrell woman and I won’t be lying to Jazzy when I tell her that my sister, Corrine, gave birth to one little girl. Not twins. Corrine’s baby didn’t have no brothers or sisters.”

  “That’s only a half truth and you know it.”

  “It’s all the truth Jazzy ever needs to know.”

  “Something tells me that sooner or later Jazzy and that Sorrell girl are both going to start wondering more and more about why they look so much alike.”

  “There could be another reason, another explanation,” Sally said. “I swear to you that I don’t know nothing about there being two babies. All I ever knew about was my little Jasmine.”

  “I believe you.” Ludie patted Sally on the back. “I been around all these years, all of Jazzy’s life. I know everything you know.”

  Not quite everything, Sally thought. There was one thing I never told you, my old friend. One thing I’ll never tell a living soul.

  Morning sunlight warmed her as it streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows and caressed her body. She’d been thinking about what she had to do to protect her child. No more, no less than any mother would do to keep her child safe. Jamie Upton was a danger she planned to eliminate. He didn’t deserve to live.

  She had to be very careful. Her plans had to be well thought out, meticulous in details, so that not only would Jamie die a horrific death, but so that Jasmine Talbot would be accused of his murder. They were both sinners. Fornicators. They both deserved to die. Why did men think they could betray the women they professed to love and never be punished?

  She had to act quickly. The wedding was in three weeks. Any time before then would be soon enough, but she didn’t think she could wait. The thought of tormenting Jamie excited her. She didn’t dare wait much longer. What if someone else killed him before she got the chance? And it was quite possible that might happen, because so many people hated Jamie. Even his beloved Jazzy professed to despise him. But she hadn’t turned him away last night, had she? And for that alone, she deserved all the misery that was in store for her.

  Chapter 4

  Jamie felt damn good. He’d scored a direct hit on the old man. Even if Big Daddy knew he hadn’t fucked Erin, some little fragment of doubt would remain in his mind about whether or not his mistress found his grandson a more interesting prospect. The more his grandfather worried about his own love life, the less time he’d have to interfere in Jamie’s.

  Of course, he’d have to cool things with other women for the next couple of months. Last night had been his final fling before walking down the aisle. After the honeymoon, he’d gradually ease back into Jazzy’s life and into any other woman’s bed he chose to pleasure him.

  Jazzy might have convinced herself that they were through, but she was jus
t kidding herself. The two of them were bound together forever, and nothing or nobody could ever permanently split them apart. Big Mama might be forcing him into a marriage he didn’t want, but she couldn’t make him love Laura. And neither she nor Big Daddy could make him give up Jazzy.

  Whistling with an uneasy bravado—he wasn’t sure he could soothe Mr. and Mrs. Willis’s ruffled feathers even if he squared things with Laura—Jamie headed up the stairs. By taking the back stairs, he ran less risk of running into his future in-laws before he spoke privately to Laura. Oh, she’d be spitting mad and all weepy. But a few kisses, a few well-chosen words, a promise to never stray again, and she’d be putty in his hands.

  As he approached Laura’s bedroom—the one she now shared with her younger sister—the door swung open, surprising him when Sheridan sashayed out of the room, wearing a bright pink springtime dress, looking much too sexy for a girl of not quite twenty. And that sexiness was more than just show. He knew, firsthand, that his fiancée’s little sister was a hot and wild piece of ass. She had taken great delight in thinking she seduced him the very night he’d asked Laura to marry him, back at their home in Kentucky.

  “Well, well, well. Look what the pussycat’s dragged in,” Sheridan said, a mischievous twinkle in her big brown eyes as she paused directly in front of Jamie and gave him a come-hither smile.

  “Good morning to you, too, sister-in-law.” Jamie leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  Sheridan reached up and curled her hand around his neck, then stood on tiptoe and brought her mouth in alignment with his. She whispered against his lips, “You can do better than that, can’t you?”

  He removed her hand from his neck, swatted her behind, and chuckled. “Behave yourself, child. I’ve got enough trouble on my hands this morning without being caught with my tongue down your throat.”

  Sheridan offered him a seductive pout. “Mother and Daddy are very upset with you. And poor Laura cried her eyes out all night. I’m afraid she may call off the wedding.”

  “Not on your life. Your sister is going to become Mrs. James Upton III in three weeks. Big Mama has decreed it to be so, and what Reba Upton wants, she gets.”

  “Then you’d better start making lovey-dovey noises to Laura. And don’t bother lying to her about where you were. She knows you went straight to Jasmine Talbot.”

  “I have no intention of denying where I went,” Jamie said. “Once I explain to Laura why I was with Jazzy, she’ll understand.”

  Sheridan’s eyes widened in astonishment. “This I have to hear.”

  “Later,” Jamie told her. “Meet me at the stables in an hour.” He winked at her, then walked past her and knocked on Laura’s bedroom door.

  “Who is it?” Laura asked.

  Jamie glanced over his shoulder and gave Sheridan another quick wink, then blew her a kiss. She smiled triumphantly before rushing off down the hall.

  “Laura, darling, it’s Jamie.”

  “Go away! I never want to see you again.”

  “Now, pet, don’t be that way. I have to talk to you. I have to make you understand why I did what I did last night.”

  “I don’t want to hear your explanations. I’ve forgiven you too many times already. If you want Jazzy Talbot, then you can have her. I’m calling off the wedding and—”

  “You can’t do that.” Jamie turned the doorknob and flung open the door. Still wearing her nightgown, Laura sat on the edge of her bed. “You don’t want to break my heart, do you?”

  “Don’t you dare come in here.” Laura jumped up off the bed and pointed to the door. “Get out right this minute.”

  Jamie slammed the door shut, then locked it. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you let me explain. Not until you forgive me for being a stupid jackass.”

  Laura lifted her pretty little head and hazarded a glance in his direction, but looked away quickly. That one swift glance told him that he had said just the right thing, given her just enough hope to make her listen to him. He would lie to her, tell her what she most wanted to hear. That was always the best policy with women. Tell a woman the truth and you’re doomed. Lie to her, flatter her, tell her whatever her heart desires, and you’ll have her eating out of your hand.

  He took several tentative steps in her direction, then paused as if uncertain he had a right to approach her. Act humble, he told himself. Pretend to be torn apart inside with the fear you might lose her.

  “Laura, I made a mistake in leaving our engagement party before it ended. I didn’t realize at the time how it would look to you, your parents, and our guests.” Jamie took another couple of steps toward her. “Chalk it up to my eagerness to do something I should have done a long time ago.”

  She looked at him again, this time for several seconds, before glancing down at the floor. “What—what are you talking about? What should you have done a long time ago?”

  “Ended things with Jazzy.”

  Laura’s head snapped up, her gaze focused directly on his face. He’d known that statement about Jazzy would gain him her full attention.

  “I don’t understand,” Laura said.

  He moved closer, bringing himself within touching distance of his eager-to-believe-him fiancée. “Last night at our engagement party, with our family and friends here to celebrate with us, I realized just how important this marriage is to me…how important you are to me. I want our marriage to work. I—I love you, Laura.”

  Tears gathered in her eyes as she stared at him, disbelief battling with hope in her expression. “You went to Jazzy and you spent the night with her.”

  “Yes, I went to Jazzy.” He reached out for Laura. She pulled back, retreating from his touch. “I went to her to tell her that it’s over between us. Now and forever. I told her that I love you. She understood. We talked for a couple of hours—just talked—then I left.”

  “If that’s true, then where were you all night?”

  “I drove around for a while, thinking, pondering my many mistakes, making plans for my—our future. Before I knew it, I found myself over in Knox County, nearly in downtown Knoxville. I thought about calling you, but hell, sugar, it was the wee hours of the morning. So I pulled off at a rest stop and got a few hours sleep before I headed back home.”

  “I want to believe you.”

  Jamie zeroed in on her, leaving her no room for escape. Knowing she wouldn’t put up much of a fight, he pulled her into his arms and said, “Believe this, Laura. I love you. Only you.” When he lowered his head to kiss her, she turned away from him. He grasped her chin and maneuvered her face around so that he could take her lips. Once he kissed her, she succumbed without even so much as a whimper. God, she was so easy. Dumb little cunt.

  When he finally ended the kiss, she looked up at him with love and trust in her eyes. “Oh, Jamie, I love you so much.”

  “I know you do. And I love you even more. We’re going to be the happiest young couple in the state of Tennessee come three weeks from Saturday.” He lifted her into his arms and swung her around the room. “Hell, make that the happiest couple in the whole United States of America.”

  Reve wanted nothing more than to escape Cherokee Pointe as fast as she could. She’d been a fool for coming here, for seeking out Jasmine Talbot in the hopes the woman might prove to be her biological sister. Even though she didn’t quite believe Sally Talbot’s staunch denial that Sally’s younger sister had given birth to more than one child, Reve couldn’t accept the fact that she and a woman such as Jazzy Talbot might be blood related. The woman was trash. And from what she’d gathered on very brief acquaintance, Jazzy was a whore. Even if by some weird trick of fate she and Jazzy were related, Reve didn’t want to pursue the truth. She didn’t want to be the woman’s sister. Hell, she didn’t want them even to be cousins. And she certainly didn’t want the likes of Sally Talbot to be her aunt!

  As she zoomed her Jag along the highway leading out of town, she considered the can of worms she might have opened with her visit. Why had she
told them her name? If any of them wanted to find her, it would be very easy. Everyone who was anyone in Chattanooga, in all of Hamilton County, knew who Reve Sorrell was. She was the heir to Sorrell fortune! People like Jazzy Talbot and her aunt Sally were the type to want money from a long-lost relative.

  And what about Caleb McCord? She’d taken an instant liking to him, but she didn’t kid herself about what sort of man he was. From the looks of him, he was a diamond in the rough, a poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks. A woman like Jazzy would know how to handle that kind of man, but Reve figured she would be out of her depth. She liked her gentlemen friends to be her social, intellectual, and financial equal. It didn’t take a genius to figure out Caleb McCord didn’t fit that bill, at least on two counts.

  Would Caleb’s curiosity about why Reve Sorrell and Jazzy Talbot looked enough alike to be twins translate into action? Would she have to pay him off so he would let the matter drop? And once they discovered how rich she was, what would it cost her to make Jazzy and Sally Talbot disappear from her life?

  Cursing herself for allowing her desire to know the truth about her “double” to create a potentially embarrassing situation for her, Reve didn’t realize how fast she was driving until she whizzed past a big black pickup truck going in the opposite direction. Suddenly she heard a siren. Damn! Glancing in her rearview mirror she saw the blue flashing light atop the truck, which had turned around in the middle of the road. Oh, great. Just great. Who was this guy? A policeman? A sheriff’s deputy?

  Slow down and pull off to the side of the road, she told herself. Pay off this overeager lawman and be on your way.

  Before she could follow through with her plans to be a cooperative citizen, an enormous animal dashed across the road in front of her. Good God! A full-grown buck with an impressive rack that would gain the deer the admiration of any hunter. She swerved, trying to keep from hitting the magnificent animal, and in the process wound up running her Jag into the ditch. And not just a shallow ditch on the side of the road. No, it was a deep ditch, on the side of the mountain. Luckily she managed to bring the car to a full stop only seconds before it would have hit head-on into a massive oak tree. When she skidded to a halt, even her seat belt didn’t prevent her from bouncing. Thankfully, the air bag didn’t deploy.