Page 52 of Veiled Vows

“That’s cute and sad at the same time,” Jasmine says softly. “Your mom sounds like she worked really hard.”

“So hard.” Jasmine’s car sinks further, and Seth’s pounding fists are almost musical in his panic. “She did everything to put food on the table and worked herself so hard. Looking back, though, I can see that she was just really sad. I think the noise and chaos of places like this were a great distraction. And when I got older, I started making money. She worked less, her health got worse, and she…she ended things on her own terms.”

“I’m sorry,” Jasmine says, reaching for my hand. Her fingertips brush over my knuckles, and when I thread our fingers together, she tightens her grip. My heart lurches faintly in my chest, and I can’t take my eyes off her.

“I don’t hold it against her, and it was a long time ago,” I murmur. “I can’t believe you’ve never been.”

“Overprotective parents,” Jasmine replies. “And y’know, my mother is kind of all over the place and my father is a workaholic.Funisn’t a thing in our home.”

“I bet you make the cutest faces when you’re terrified.”

Her smile turns sultry. “Are youflirtingwith me?”

“Maybe.” I lean close until my nose brushes her cheek. “Is it working?”

“Maybe.” She turns her head into mine and nudges our noses together just as the thumping of Seth’s fists starts to slow. “I think that’s been enough time.”

“The things I do for a date.” Sighing dramatically, I quickly shed my clothes down to my boxers and then hop off the pier into the water. “Fuck!”

“Are you okay?!” Jasmine drops to her knees immediately, panic lacing her tone.

“It’s cold,” I gasp, to which she then splashes water at me with her hand.

“I thought you were hurt!”

“I might die if any of this gross water gets into my stab wound.”

“Suck it up,” she laughs. “I thought you Gattis were built differently.”

“We are. Sort of.” Amusement aside, I wade closer to her car just as it sinks fully beneath the waterline, then I pop the trunk. Seth lunges upward with a gasp and a splutter, coughing up his lungs as he drags in desperate breath after breath.

“You maniac!” he chokes, clawing at me as I drag him out of the water and toward the shore where Jasmine waits for us. “I could have died!” He can barely speak around all the coughing, and by the time I drop him at Jasmine’s feet, he’s mostly breathing. Landing in a shivering, trembling heap, Seth manages to get onto his hands and knees. “Okay, okay! You’ve made your point now let me go! Please, I won’t tell anyone. Please, please!”

“Did you listen to Catherine when she was on her knees begging you to stop?” Jasmine asks in a cold voice. “Did you believe her when she told you sheunderstoodwhatever shit you were punishing her for? No. You didn’t.”

“It’s not what you think,” Seth gasps. “She’s a liar!”

What an unwise thing to say to her furious best friend. I remain nearby dripping wet as Jasmine removes her gun from her hip, pulls back the safety, and shoots Seth right in his kneecap. As he bursts to life screaming and flailing in pain, she knees him hard in the face and then dives onto him, dragging his twisting body back to the water.

“Call her a liar again!” Jasmine yells. “I fucking dare you! Call her a liar, you worthless prick! Go on! Do it!”

Seth can’t answer her as Jasmine kneels on his chest and holds his head under the water. His arms and legs flail, blood pours from his shattered kneecap, and water violently sloshes as he fights for his life.

But Jasmine is stronger. Angrier.

It’s surprisingly erotic watching her hold him down, knee to his sternum while yelling at him to beg and call Catherine a liar once more. She holds him down, and within forty seconds, Seth is no longer moving. By the time she stands up, even the blood flow from his shattered knee is sluggish. She delivers a hard kick to his ribs, which makes him flop over and float face down as the rolling water lifts and catches his drifting body.

“Twisted motherfucker,” Jasmine spits, shaking the water from her hands. Then she looks at me and the most adorable smile spreads across her face. “What?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staring.”

“I’m admiring,” I correct. “There’s a difference.”

“Oh.” She attempts to adjust her soaked clothes and sighs. “Why don’t I feel better yet?”

I walk closer and nudge her chin with my knuckle. “You will.”

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