I chuckled. “No dad, the implication of this is more than you’re prepared to handle. Me? I’m prepared to die for this.”
His eyes rounded. “Prepared to die? What nonsense is this?”
I gritted down on my teeth to control the rage that was roaring inside me. “Journey and Ayana are mine and that’s a fact I’ll die for.” I snatched my arm from him again and closed the gap between us, so that I was standing eye to eye with him. I needed him to understand that the words I now spoke were true.
“That’s a fact I will kill for.” I heard my mother’s indrawn breath, but I didn’t wait around to see her fainting spell.
“Joseph, what’s going on?” Chloe cried meeting me at the bottom of the stairs. My mother’s assistant was doing a great job of making sure the rest of the guests were good and distracted inside the ballroom. I could hear Senator Banks speaking on the mic about my accomplishments.
“Who is that woman you were chasing?” I forced myself to stop and give her a few seconds of my time. Like me, Chloe was just a pawn in our family’s politics.
“Chloe, that woman is the mother of my child.” Shock registered on her face. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I can’t marry you.”
She shook her head. “Nonsense, you won’t be the first man to have a child before marriage. The good thing is it happened before we announced our engagement, which means—”
“Which means,” I said interrupting her. I did not have time for this conversation; this needed to be short and to the point. “If she’ll have me, it is her I want to marry.”
“Joseph, please wait!” My mother cried coming down the stairs. No doubt my father was in his study sulking over a glass of his eighty-year-old scotch.
“I will talk to you guys later once I find Journey.” I told her, leaving Chloe in her capable hands. When I pulled into the gate at the cottage, I had to forcibly quit the anger in me. The last thing I wanted is for Abby to see me in savage mode.
As soon as I opened the door I knew something was wrong. Abby was sitting on the couch pushing a sleeping Ayana in her little chair swing.
“Where is Journey?” I asked using all my strength to school my voice. She stood and came towards me with a worried look on her face.
“What’s going on? Journey ran upstairs crying and a minute later she came back down saying she couldn’t sleep in this house or in you guys’ bed. She asked me to look after Ayana for a couple of days. Jo, what happened? Are you guys fighting? Why was she crying?”
I clicked on my phone and saw that her tracker was still here.
“No J.” I hissed as I took the stairs up three at a time. “F***!”
Sitting on the bed next to the necklace I bought her was the phone I’d gotten her and her credit card.
“F***!” Needing to vent some of the rage that was burning in me I turned and threw my phone into the corner of the room so hard it shattered. The slight gratification I got from it was cut short when Abby’s concerned voice came from the bottom of the stairs.
“Is everything alright, Jo?”
“Yeah, Abby, everything is alright.” I muttered as I sat heavily on the bed burying my head in my hands.
Damn, I messed up! Damn!
I was so angry I couldn’t think clearly. I had to steady my heartrate and figure out what to do next.
I needed to get to my office where I had the materials to track her down.
Journey
Okay, so what I’m going to tell you guys next may sound confusing, and it’s because I’m confused. Something happened to Jo. Something very bad. He’s not what any of us thought he was. He’s some kind of… I don’t know.
Let me just tell you guys what I saw.
When Kyle pulled up in front of the cottage I asked him if he would wait for me. I knew that there was no way I would be able to sleep in the same bed Jo had just made love to me in without being ill. Plus, there was no doubt in my mind that he was on the way here, and as you guys can see I’m not that strong. Jo was clearly my weakness and I needed to get away from him so that I could think of what next to do.
So, I went in and asked my mom if she would watch Ayana for me for a few days. I couldn’t stand the feel of that necklace around my neck, so I took it off. And the thought of spending another dime of his after he had told his father that he paid me for sex was just inconceivable.
I held back my grief as I talked to my mom, I wasn’t ready to admit to her how stupid I had been. I held back my grief when I got back in the car with Kyle and asked him to drive me to a dinky motel way across town where Jo would never think to look for me. I was ashamed that I had to ask him to borrow money.
“Really, it’s no big deal.” He told me as he took a hundred dollar bill out his wallet. He reached in to give me another, but I stopped him. Let it not be said I went from being one man’s whore to another.
“I don’t think it’s wise for you to be alone.” He said when I reached for the door handle. I was so physically and mentally exhausted I could barely speak. Plus, the downpour of tears, I was holding back was now choking me.
“Please Kyle, I just want to be by myself.”
“Okay, but promise me you’ll call
