“All paid up,” he tucked his credit card back in his wallet and slid it into his pocket. “Let’s go beautiful.”
“Oh my God! You’re sleeping together!” Denise accused with her voice high-pitched and shrill.
Denise’s head snapped back as Juniper raised her hand and smacked her hard against the face, “listen here you indecent bitch. Benicio is my friend as are Phineas and Adil. They have been taking care of me in the wake of your cruelty. So has my mom, Sandra and my friend Suki. They are good people helping a woman whose entire world imploded when she found out the man she’d been with for nearly fifteen years was cheating with your fake ass. However, and hear me well, I’m now separated from my husband because I won’t stay with a cheater since my Mama raised me better.” She was in Denise’s face, on tiptoes and poking her in the chest, “it means if I want to sleep with Beni, or Adil or even,” she grinned deviously, “Phineas, then I’m not breaking my marriage vows because my marriage is already over.”
Beni drew her back a bit, wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder while looking right at Denise, “Phineas admires a strong independent woman who works hard for the things she wants, Denise. All you do is lay on your back and demand things happen with minimum effort.” His words were a double-edged sword as she cupped her cheek which clearly showed the fingerprints from Juniper’s hand, “do you know, Juniper worked three jobs to put her hus through law school so they could have a better life? Do you know they both graduated college with no debt because she kept them on a strict budget and they lived within their means? They have money in the bank and were building a life together because she is smart, resourceful and planned their lives so they weren’t going to bring a baby into a world where it might struggle financially. Do you have a job? Who pays your credit card debt, Denise? Who bought your car? Who paid for your home? When you went to school to become an interior designer, you didn’t work for it, hell you barely earned your diploma. Now we all know why Phineas wasn’t interested in you, you gold-digging manipulative mean girl still trapped in high school behavior, but can you guess whether or not he might find this beauty in my arms as sexy as I do?”
Denise swallowed, “it’s not fair.”
“What’s not fair? Phineas admires hard work and good morals. His grandfather instills it in him. His parents instill it in him. They work hard for the money they earn. In a single year, you blew nearly six million dollars, and you don’t have a job, you’re mean to everyone, and you used my best friend for his wallet. Phineas has been watching Juniper be strong, resourceful and while she’s needed her friends this past bit, she’s highly independent. Do you know what Phineas likes in his women, Denise? He likes to be the one a strong woman turns to. He likes to see a spirited woman face their challenges and be the rack-up they didn’t know they needed. He’ll be that silent partner cehind her, supporting her, lifting her up and then when she’s tired from all of her fighting and working towards her goals. Le likes to pander, pamper and spoil. Take a hard guess which v. this space is exactly the type Phineas usually goes for?”
Denise’s bottom lip trembled, “but.”
“There is no but. You convinced your dying grandfather you should be with Phineas as a way to keep his friendship with Phineas’ grandfather alive when he was gone. It was sick and isn’t it twisted.” Beni stood tall, “but that’s who you really are, Denise? Sick, twisted, conniving and most of all, lazy as hell. when You’re so damn lazy. You want it all but don’t want to work for any of it. Now, for my sake, I hope this gorgeous woman, her heart is ready, is going to give me a shot. However, I know for a fact, she caught Phineas’ eye with her quiet strength and the way she conducts herself. He’s going to do everything he can to make sure this woman who can take care of herself, is very well taken care of, for the rest of her life. Do you know who he’s never going to even speak to again? That’d be you. Now, I’m taking my girl dancing because she deserves to smile after what you did to her last week. You brought her into our lives with your bullshit and we’re going to make sure she doesn’t suffer for it, but you are definitely going to pay.” ge it ir G..
Beni put both Juniper and Suki under his arms and escorted them out of the gas station and towards his car. He held their doors open, and Juniper heard Suki’s giggle when Denise came out to follow them and Beni flipped her off.
He revved the engine quite loudly before peeling out onto the street leaving Denise there with people staring at her.
“I think the clerk was chasing her for taking that bottle of wine,” Suki said as she was turned to look out the back window and giggling.
Beni reached across the seat and took Juniper’s hand, are you okay?”
“No. I’m not.” She used her other hand to swipe a tear off her cheek. “The nerve of her!”
“Yeah, she’s something else.” Beni sighed. “I’m sorry she’s ruining our night.”
“She’s not going to,” Suki insisted. “We won’t let her.”
“Beni, how did you know all that stuff about me and how I worked three jobs and stuff?”
“Adil. He put together a hell of a file on you when he investigated Kyst. The only thing we didn’t have was your medical history which he didn’t feel was necessary. It was what we needed to make sure I did the divorce papers correctly.”
“He’s that good?”
“He’s better than good. As you heard in there though, she knew us from growing up, not that we ever exchanged a single conversation with her. She was a brat as a child, so we avoided her. In her teen years she was more refined, polished like her mother demanded at events but there was always something lurking under the skin the three of us avoided but Phineas was not so lucky. His grandfather and hers were the best of friends. He was definitely in her line of sight far more than we were. I can be honest and tell you there were years of my life where I never even crossed paths with her, but he did. Anyway, she knows our faces if not us personally. If Adil was seen i building you lived in, following her onto the floor with such limited entrances and exits, there is no way she wouldn’t have known the jig was up. She would have known. He couldn’t get to your floor without risking it when she was in the building. It’s one elevator and one set of stairs.”
“That’s why you needed her to put in the cameras,” Suki said quietly. came
“Yes but there was also the matter of consent to put videography equipment in her home as well.”
“You used her.”
The accusation from Suki was sharp, a rebuke and it hung heavy in the following silence.
Beni nodded once, his fingers squeezing Juniper’s as if seeking his own reassurances, “we did use her. It is something we acknowledged from the get-go Suki. You met Denise now. You can understand why Phineas was growing increasingly desperate to get out of his marriage. If they made it to the one-year mark, she was guaranteed an extra fifty million. We were just shy by three weeks. Their one-year anniversary is a week after Phineas’ grandfather’s birthday.”
“Holy shit, that’s a lot of money.” Suki whispered mostly to herself.
“Yeah. It’s a lot. He would have paid it to get out of the but we were pretty sure she was cheating on him before Kyat could never get the evidence. She’s really smart when it comes doing things she actually wants to do, like marry rich.”
Juniper exhaled a shaky breath, “how is it possible she was there at that gas station?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“When she was on the phone screeching away, she told the person she was speaking to she was grabbing a bottle of wine and would be right there. I think the friend she is staying with lives nearby.” Suki huffed, “I know Juni was trying to tune her out, but I heard every single word like it was impaling my hear with a pitchfork.”
“Well, that’s too close to our neighborhood, sunshine,” Beni grinned. “We’ll have to get Adil to find out where she is staying and then make sure she is forced to leave. I can’t have her anywhere near you.”
“Why do you call her sunshine?” Suki asked.
“Roughly three weeks ago now, Adil gave us the information packet he had on Kyst, and it included Juniper’s details. I was furious with the pair of them, and I went for a walk and there is a park about ten minutes from the Phineas’ building.”
“Yes. I go there sometimes to eat my lunch in the park. nodded.
“Well, I got to the park, and I was pissed off about what they were planning to ask you to do and then there you were. Sitting on a small blanket no bigger than a towel, under a tree with a book and there was this sliver of sunshine,” he cleared his throat, “breaking through the trees overhead and it was landing right on you. Hit me right here,” he released the wheel for a second and tapped his chest, “and I was even angrier at the pair of them for it. You were literally sitting in sunshine, and we were about to cover you in the volcanic ash of Phineas’ marriage. I started taking my lunch around the same time each day to see if I could catch you there again. I was able to see you multiple times, and for some reason, the sun always seems to find you.”
She giggled in spite of herself, “um, it’s not the sun finds me. I actively seek it out. I’m cold all the time. I could be in a sauna and shiver. I literally chase the sunshine in the summer to feel warm.”
He threw his head back and laughed, “well then, sunshine, is an even more apt name to describe you.” The car idled at a stop light, and he shot her a look, “we’ll have to make sure you’re plenty warm tonight then, sunshine. Let’s get to the club and raise your body temp.”
At the fire in his eyes, Juniper wondered if she might never feel the cold again.
In the club Suki picked out for them to attend, Juniper was stunned to find not only were the cover charges waived but Beni was bringing them through a VIP entrance.
“How?” she asked as they chased after an overly excited Suki.
He shrugged, “the guy who owns this place golfs with Phineas.”
“Phineas golfs?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.