He didn’t say good-bye, only hung up and tossed his phone on the bed. He looked down at Julia and wondered if he would ever care about her. She was so eager to please him; most women were. But it didn’t seem to matter. Nothing mattered.
Fuck Avery and her whole family.
Just as she stepped inside the Jackson home, Janet came face-to-face with Nikki and Avery standing in the front hallway. “Hello, ladies.”
Both women were a little shocked to see her, but Avery adjusted and approached. She wanted to slap herself for wondering if Carter wasn’t close behind. “Janet, what are you doing here?”
Janet held out the bouquet of Casablanca lilies, orchids, and hydrangeas. “This is for the chief’s homecoming.”
“Thank you.” Avery accepted the gift. “They’re beautiful. He’s resting now, so . . .”
“That’s okay.” Janet turned to Nikki, who finally approached. “Hello, Nikki. My family’s prayers are with you.”
“Why are you really here?” Nikki asked.
“Mom.” Avery was surprised. It was unlike her mother to be rude to any guest in her home even when someone deserved it.
“It’s okay.” Janet was smooth and unaffected in her delivery. “It’s a mother’s prerogative to be overprotective. I’m the same way. And no, this isn’t about Carter. As a matter of fact, I just spoke with him and he made it clear to me that there will be no more . . .”
“Stalking?” Nikki asked.
“I wouldn’t call it stalking,” Janet said.
“No more what?” Avery forgot to check her eagerness.
Janet felt that the look on Avery’s face, matched by the broken, heightened tone of her voice, meant something. Maybe it was her desire for the baby to truly be Carter’s fooling her or maybe Avery still cared very much.
“No more anything,” she answered. “I’m sorry for the way he behaved at the country club, but I guess in the end it was good.”
“What happened at the club?” Nikki asked.
“I’ll tell you later.” Avery had hoped to never have to tell anyone about that horrible moment.
“What’s important,” Janet continued, “is that he has said it’s all over. He’s moved on and he won’t be bothering you anymore for anything.”
Avery gripped the stems tightly in her hand. “That’s good.”
When she turned to her mother, Nikki’s suspicious stare made her lower her head ashamedly.
Janet felt sufficiently pleased with her visit. Avery certainly did care. She looked down at her belly and said, “I wish you and your family well, including the ones yet to come.”
“Thank you.” Nikki’s tone made it clear that she actually meant “please leave now.”
Closing the door behind Janet, Avery didn’t wait for her mother to start in on her. “It’s not important, Mama. I was having lunch with Janet, and Carter followed her. We talked and—”
“Why were you having lunch with that woman?”
“Was that Janet Chase?” Taylor asked as she entered the hallway. “I saw someone getting out of a smooth black car.”
“Go put these in some water.” Avery handed the flowers to Taylor.
“Did you kiss him again?” Nikki asked, even though she wasn’t in any condition to deal with her daughter’s drama today.
Feeling the baby kick, Avery moved her hand to her belly. “This is good news, Mama. Carter has made it clear he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”
“Until he does again,” Nikki said.
“No.” Avery awkwardly cleared her throat. “This was different. His pride and ego have been too damaged to keep this up. He’s done with me.”
Nikki reached out and gently touched her daughter’s chin. With her index finger, she lifted Avery’s face so their eyes met. “He’s done with you, but I only wish you felt the same.”
“Where are you going?” Kimberly asked as she rushed after her husband headed for the door.
“Out with Carter.” Michael stepped aside as Marisol, who was already at the door, picked up the mail that had fallen through the mail slot and onto the floor. “I’ll be home late.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Kimberly was completely on edge and suspicious of everything.
It had been almost five days since David gave her his twenty-four-hour ultimatum, and Kimberly knew she was chancing luck with every second. She hoped she could work up the nerve to do what she had to do, but it didn’t happen. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to hire someone to kill David even though there was nothing more she wanted in this world than his death.
It was too much. She was already risking enough by doing any of this. To bring another person in, who could link the family to a murder, would be suicide.
So Kimberly did what she never thought she’d do. She took money from the children’s trust fund. It was the one thing left that Michael hadn’t put a limit on or required prior notice. This was because he would never have suspected that Kimberly would even consider putting her hands on that money in a million years.
“Quiêre usted el correo?” Marisol asked Michael as she offered the mail.
“Sure.” Michael took the mail, skimming for anything interesting.
Kimberly’s heart jumped when she saw the exchange. Ever since those first pictures came, Kimberly made a point of getting the mail or making sure that Marisol gave it to her instead of Michael. She had to run interference in case David thought to pull another mail stunt. Nothing had happened since the first time, but she was still nervous. And that large white envelope, larger than any other piece of mail, really frightened her.
Feeling his wife’s eyes on him, Michael looked up and saw the most pensive look on her face ever. “What?”
Kimberly swallowed hard, trying to pretend the mail wasn’t what she was worried about. “You could at least pretend to care what I think and tell me where you’re going.”
“I just did.” He ignored her judgmental tapping of her shoe on the hardwood floor and tossed the mail on the console table.
“It doesn’t count when I have to ask you first.” Kimberly was able to breathe now that the mail was out of his hands. She noticed he was wearing his favorite navy blue Salvatore Ferragamo blazer over the sky-blue D&G twill shirt she had brought him last Christmas. “And I assume from the way you’re dressed, you’re going to a club again.”
“You can assume whatever you want,” Michael said. “I always come home, baby. It’s Carter that whores it up. I’m just there to keep him from doing more damage.”
“Yeah,” she said with a smirk. “I’m sure it’s a painful job for you.”
“I’d tell you not to wait up,” Michael said as he opened the door. “But you always do anyway.”
“You’re damn right.” Kimberly gave him the finger in response to that mischievous wink of the eye he offered her before heading out.
As soon as the door was closed, Kimberly rushed to the mail. The second she could see the large white envelope was from the stationery of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and addressed to Michael, she ripped it apart. What she saw made her scream so loud, Marisol came running as if someone were being murdered.
“Where you at, boy?” Michael made haste down the hallway of Carter’s condo. Swinging his keys around his fingers, he was ready to get downtown and start the night. “Let’s hit the . . .”
When he stepped into the dining room, where he’d thought he’d heard something, Michael came face-to-face with a petite Asian woman dressed only in black panties and a matching bra.
“Well, hello.” Michael took his time to look her up and down. Fake tits, but otherwise, she was pretty nice.
“Hi.” She just stood in the archway looking clueless and not at all concerned about her state of dress.
“Where’s Carter?”
She nodded in the direction behind Michael, who turned around to see Carter, also only wearing underwear.
“Hey, bro.” Carter rubbed his hand over Mi
chael’s head as he passed him.
Michael could tell Carter was either drunk or high. “What’s going on?”
Carter turned around. “What?”
“We still going out?”
“Oh yeah.” Carter waved the woman over. “Emily Kim, this is my brother Michael. You’ve met Michael before, haven’t you?”
“Actually I haven’t,” she answered. “Surprising, but no. Nice to meet you, Michael.”
“Yeah.” Michael was confused. “Why would he think we’ve met?”
“At the office,” she says. “At Chase Law.”
Michael was speechless as he looked from Emily to Carter. In the air, he thought he smelled weed, but Carter had to be smoking crack to be sleeping with an employee.
“Emily, can I get a second to speak to my brother, please?”
“Go on and get dressed.” Carter patted Emily on her butt.
“Are you crazy?” Michael pushed Carter backward.
“Take it easy.” Carter was looking around for his glass of scotch. “Where did I put that—”
“You’re a fucking lawyer, Carter! You should know better than to sleep with one of your underlings. You might as well just write that big check out to her now. Save the court fees.”
Carter waved a dismissing hand. “She’s just temporary help. I hired some freelance lawyers to help with the Keltech deal.”
“Is your name on her paycheck?” Michael asked.
Carter laughed, nodding at his little brother. “You have a point there.”
“What happened to Julia?”
Carter had to think for a minute. “Oh yeah, Julia. Nothing. She’s cool. I like her.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“I know her better than you,” he said. “Jealous?”
“Look, man.” Michael took a step closer, lowering his voice. “You want to mess around, that’s your choice, but not with women like Julia Hall. Our families know each other and her father is very influential. Upsetting her could hurt a lot more than her feelings.”
“Who is upsetting who?” Carter asked. “I said I liked her. What do you want?”
“I want this to stop.” Michael pointed in the direction Emily had gone.
Carter wasn’t laughing anymore. Michael was starting to piss him off. “So now you’re telling me who I can fuck?”
“No,” Michael said, “I’m telling you who you can’t fuck, specifically family connections and employees. Stick with the models, actresses, and assorted buppies you come in contact with.”
“Look, little brother. You don’t have to worry about Julia, Emily, or anyone else. I’m handling these women. Matter fact, watch me go get rid of Emily without any drama. You’ll see what I mean and then we’ll go out, okay? Make yourself a drink.”
Michael jerked away as Carter tried to guide him toward the living room. “I don’t want a drink. I’m sick of this.”
Carter threw his hands in the air with an exhaustive sigh. “Sick of what? You sound like a woman, Mikey. It’s my life. If you don’t like it, then why don’t you just leave me the hell alone?”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Michael turned to leave, stopping at the hallway to look again at the brother he had always looked up to. “I knew that bitch coming back would mess you up again.”
“Don’t call her that.” Carter’s words seethed between his teeth. “And this isn’t about her. I’m single, I’m hot, and I’m rich. What the fuck else should I be doing?”
“Keep saying it,” Michael advised, “and maybe you’ll convince yourself, but not me. Avery was the worst thing to ever happen to you and she still is.”
Carter rushed over to him, standing only a few inches away. As he pointed his finger into his brother’s chest, he said, “This is all your fault, so you don’t get to say another word.”
“My fault?” Michael laughed, slapping Carter’s finger away. “I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to, big brother. I never have.”
“I let you talk me into using Lisette to get Alex out of the way.” Carter poked again at Michael’s chest. “You said it was better with someone we knew because she would understand how powerful our family was and we could control her.”
Michael pushed back. “If you had bucked up and handled your shit, you wouldn’t have needed any help convincing Avery to leave Alex for you.”
Carter’s fist hit Michael’s jaw hard and before he could react, Carter hit him again. Michael stumbled to his left, hitting the wall. He pushed against it like a springboard and lunged at Carter. He wrapped his arms around him and slammed him against the ebony wood dresser, sending an expensive antique vase crashing onto the wood floor.
Michael let out a grunt when Carter’s right fist hit him in his side two times.
“You mother—”
When Carter came in for a third blow, Michael swerved out of the way and came back at Carter with a slam to his gut. Carter doubled over and in a tenth of a second, Michael’s fist connected with his chin and he went flying back.
Emily’s sudden screaming as she entered from the hallway took Michael off guard, and Carter took advantage. He grabbed Michael by the neck and used all the strength he had to pin him against the wall.
Is he fucking trying to strangle me? Michael asked himself as he grabbed Carter’s pressing arm. “Get off me, you—”
“Don’t push me!” Carter let go, pushing Michael away. He backed up, a fierce expression setting on his little brother’s face. “Don’t fuckin’ push me!”
Michael was rubbing his neck and shaking his head at the same time. “You’re crazy.”
“You’re all making me crazy,” Carter shouted. “Get off my back!”
Michael looked at his brother, his disgust showing all over his face. “You know what your problem is? You want to be the good guy and the bad guy at the same time, but neither of you can deal with the consequences of the other’s choices.”
“Stick to finance, asshole.” Carter was trying to shake away the pain in his right hand. “You sound like an idiot when you try psychology.”
“Decide, Carter! Are you gonna be the guy who does what he should do or the one who does whatever he has to?”
Michael turned to leave and saw Emily still standing on the top step from the hallway, her mouth wide open in surprise. It was the same look most people had on their faces when they found out the perfect Chase family was full of nothing but nuts.
Looking back at Carter, who was leaning against the dining room table, Michael said, “And do whatever . . . or whoever you have to to get Avery out of your system once and for all. This shit is beneath you.”
When Michael slammed the door behind him, Emily rushed over to Carter, but he held his hand out. “Don’t.”
“You look hurt,” she said. “I . . .”
“You want to help me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said eagerly.
“Then leave.” He was unaffected by the hurt, dejected look on her face. It had become so easy to hurt a woman’s feelings.
Alone in his home, Carter felt the silence all around him. He turned on the plasma television in the living room and attached his iPod to the stereo in the living room, but the silence wouldn’t leave. No matter what or who he filled this apartment with, he would still be alone if Avery wasn’t there.
He should let her go for everyone’s sake, but he wasn’t going to. Michael’s words rang in his ears. Are you gonna be the guy who does what he should do or the one who does whatever he has to?
Carter knew what he had to do. He went to the phone and dialed the number. It picked up after two rings.
“Hey, son,” Steven said. “What’s up?”
As soon as David opened the door to his suite at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, he got a fist to the face. He fell back a few steps and Kimberly pushed her way inside before anyone in the hallway could see her.
“You bitch!” David was rubbing his chin, checking to see if there was any blood on his l
ips.
“How dare you do this?” Kimberly tossed the illicit photos at him.
David reached for them, but only caught one before they all fell to the floor. “I was being kind, Paige. I have much worse.”
“How did you get those?” She couldn’t bear to look down at the pictures showing her naked on all fours giving a blow job to some bloated, middle-aged white man.
“How do you think?” He tossed the picture on the floor. “I took them.”
“You didn’t tell me?”
David looked at her as if she were crazy. “Why the hell would I tell you? You’re the ho, I’m the pimp. I don’t tell you shit.”
She looked around the suite, but couldn’t find anyone. “Michael had those in his hands!”
“They were addressed to him,” David said.
“Well, it didn’t work,” Kimberly said. “He never saw them.”
“I gave you twenty-four hours,” David said. “It’s been almost a week. Those pictures were my way of saying ‘fuck you’ right back.”
“I have the rest of the money.” Kimberly tossed a backpack at him. “It took a while, but—”
Kimberly jumped as he leaped toward her. She pushed away, but this time he wasn’t caught off guard. He grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back until she yelled in pain.
“I told you,” he whispered into her ear, “I don’t want any more money.”
Kimberly cringed as she felt his dry tongue lick the side of her face. She felt like throwing up.
He let her go and she fell backward. He was shaking his head as he looked her up and down. “No deal, baby. I want to see what a high-class ho tastes like. I want a piece of what Michael Chase made you into. It’s ass or nothing. Now you decide. I won’t force you.”
He took one step and then another closer to her. Kimberly turned her head, and her eyes glazed over as David ground his body against hers. His mouth slobbered on her neck as his hands pushed against the wall behind her. She let out a whimper before David grabbed her hair and pulled her head back hard.
“You about to cry, Paige?” He laughed as if he was aroused by her fear. “Go ahead and cry. Just like you did the first night I dug you out. You sentimental bitch.”
No More Good Page 22
