James: Remember you’re married. Certain parts of the college life are off limits to you.
Simone: Duh. See you Monday.
I didn’t bother to point out, again, that we didn’t have the money to take off to wherever Cassidy attended college. I knewshe needed a break away after the miscarriage, though, so I let it go.
“That the wife?” Jasper asked.
“Yeah,” I agreed as I put my phone away.
“You staying married even though…”
“Even though,” I said.
“I was sorry to hear about the baby. Is she doing okay?”
“Yeah, off to hang with a friend for the weekend. First time getting away since it happened. We can’t really afford it, but she needed it, and I’ll be here, so…”
“I get it. Kinda.” Jasper grinned at me and then glanced around and leaned in to whisper, “You weren’t wrong about me swimming in pussy here. We’re not supposed to touch the club girls until we’re members, but there are other women that come in and they aren’t off limits.” He winked and whistled a tune all the way to the back of the bar where he started to show me the ins and outs of running the place efficiently. Something I would need to know for the weekend since the club was expecting out of town guests and they were ready to party.
8.GONE NOT FORGOTTEN
CASSIDY
It had beeneight years since I left Violence and I couldn’t believe the first time I stepped foot back in my hometown was to meet with a lawyer. A lawyer who wanted to go over my father’s Last Will and Testament with me because he was gone. Fucking Tiffany, his stupid wife, hadn’t even bothered to contact me to let me know he was sick. Then again, I expected no less from her. She probably thought if I didn’t know, then I wouldn’t be around to contest his Will if he left everything to her. What she failed to realize was that I didn’t care. If he left it all to her, then I hope he burned in hell for eternity and that she joined him there one day.
I wasn’t exactly itching to come back to Violence, but that property wasn’t in my father’s family for generations. It had belonged to my mother’s family and rightfully should have passed to me as her only surviving family member who shared her DNA. I was angry about losing her legacy, but there wasn’t much that could be done if my father decided to fuck me over yet again for that hag.
“Good morning, Miss Billups. Thank you for coming in. There are a few things I need to cover with you, so if you’ll kindly hold any questions until the end, we can get through this and then go over the finer details.”
I nodded my agreement because honestly, I wasn’t expecting to have questions about how my dad forgot he had a daughter.
“Before your father passed there were sixty acres of land in your family. That will be discussed in just a moment. First, I want to assure you that your father had his services and the wake all planned and paid for out of his account. I handled all the details and arrangements. He wanted it done through me so that Tiffany couldn’t shut you out. After we learned that she had not gotten in touch with you when he got sick, as he instructed her to do, it felt like the best bet.”
“He asked her to reach out to me when he was sick?”
His lawyer, William Mathers, gave me a grim look. Your father tried to find you himself before he got sick. By the time we were able to track down where you were stationed, he was unable to speak for himself. He asked that Tiffany get you on the phone for him or get you there in person before it was too late.” The man took a moment to gather himself. He looked fit to be tied, as my friend Amberlee would say. It was clear that Tiffany’s actions angered him.
“So, you’re saying I can attend his funeral and wake with no issues from her?”
“I don’t think she’ll be in attendance at all since she knows you’ll be there and that I planned to tell her about all of this. I think she feared for her safety or some such nonsense.”
I chuckled at that. “Good. Let her live in fear for a while. If that’s everything, I had a long flight and a tedious drive from the airport in Albuquerque. I need a shower and bed ASAP.
“The shower and rest will have to wait a little longer, I’m afraid. We need to discuss the land.”
“Let me guess, he left it all to her?”
Mr. Mathers shook his head. “If he thought he could get away with leaving her nothing, he would have. He finally saw her true colors in the years since you left and things had beengoing downhill since. They were technically still married but in name only.” When I didn’t have anything to say about that, he continued. “The land was originally-”
“My mother’s,” I cut him off to say.
“Ah good, so you remembered that. Then you will be happy to know that when your mother passed away, she did not leave a Last Will and Testament to be followed. She trusted your dad to do right by you.” I rolled my eyes at that.
“He did.”
“He did what? He certainly didn’t do anything right by me after he met Tiffany. He couldn’t even be bothered to show up to my high school graduation or even give me a ride to it. I had to hitch a ride there so I wouldn’t stink of sweat.”
“I am terribly sorry about that and so was your father, whether you believe me or not. Before he met Tiffany, he did manage to do one solid thing that would secure your future, though. He put half of the property - 30 acres to be exact - into your name. It has been that way since about a month after your mother passed and remains so now.”
