Page 93 of Tease
What?“No…” A solitary tear trails down my cheek.
“Kill someone I love, and they’d welcome me into their world, with no more questions asked, knowing they’d always have something on me.” Joey sucks on his bottom lip. “And boy, did I crave the power they could give me. Could I give up Beth for it? It was an easy decision.”
“Iknewit wasn’t an accident. I knew you fucking killed her.”
He shrugs. “I did.” There’s no sympathy or regret in his words. Joey leans back into the chair and crosses his arms. “Ilaced her pill and put it on her tongue, knowing it would take her breath away.Literally.”
I can’t breathe. My vision becomes tunneled, and I know that I’m about to pass out. Joey slaps me, and the sting on my cheek doesn’t fade. “None of that. I can’t have you over here trying to pass out on me. I’m not done with story time.”
“Why Beth? You could have picked anyone. Why didn’t you?” I throw my head back.
“No. They knew she was mine. So they watched. And waited. Then afterwards, early in the morning, their enforcer invited me into the Russo Mafia family, with wide open arms, and more drugs than I could’ve ever imagined. Eventually, I worked my way up their ladder.” He looks over my shoulder at something behind me.
“Come here,doll.” He extends his hand. Sarah comes into view and slowly walks over, standing to the side of Joey, waiting for her next set of instructions. He taps his upper thigh, and she lowers herself onto his lap.
“Oh, god, no.” Stomach bile threatens to break free from my throat.
“What do you think, Kailey? I turned her into my own version of Beth. Don’t you like it?” Joey grabs her long, bleach blonde hair, exposing her neck. His lips go to kiss her dimple piercing. “Fuck, how I loved this on Beth.” He looks at me and just stares for a moment. “When you let it slip that night at the hospital, that your friend, Sarah, had seen what happened at the party between Beth and me, well, I made it my mission to own her. Got her addicted to drugs, and let her be used. Made her so reliant on me that she couldn’t ever leave. Now shehelps.”
“Why did you take us? What the fuck did we do?” I look over at Ajani, who’s still passed out.
Joey claps his hands. “Okay, now to the good part of the story. My boss is abrokerof sorts, and he deals in a veryspecifickind of merchandise. And he has become quite fond ofyou.”
I wrinkle my nose. “That’s not possible. I don’t even know who your boss is.”
“You see, he uses this app…” Joey waves his hand around the room. “What’s it called again?" He looks to Sarah.
Her voice is soft, barely above a whisper. “TEASE.”
Joey snaps his fingers. “Yes! That’s it! That’s the one.Teeease.”
I’m going to be sick.What have I done?I look over at Ajani again, and she still hasn’t woken up yet.
“Normally, Russo doesn’t need me to retrieve the women for him. But every attempt he tried with you, you shut him down. Most women fall for it, leap at the chance to have his attention and money. Always eager to meet up. Then, when they arrive at the spot he picked, they’re taken, and then sold to the highest bidder. TEASE has been one of the easiest ways for us to conduct our business…until you.” His hand reaches out to stroke my cheek, the same one he had slapped just moments ago. “For him…Incognito… you became a challenge. He had his people trying to ping your phone, find your location, and uncover all the details of your life. Until one post…one photothat gave away a detail about your identity. It would seem minor to anyone who didn’t know you. But I recognized it right away. Your sunflower tattoo.” His grip goes to my throat, tightening. “It was a reflection in a mirror. You see, even with the mask, and your false location setting, you weren’tquitecareful enough.”
Oh my god, no. We’re going to die.
“The head of the Russo family had officially claimed you. Wanted you for himself, to be used—hisdoll.”
Joey releases his hold on me. “Then, the family came to Chicago for business. Russo sent me a picture of his newestobsession on TEASE. Told me he was having the hardest time getting her to take the bait for an in-person meet. I recognized that sunflower tattoo in the mirror immediately. I mean, how could I forget it? My tongue had tasted one that looked almost exactly like yours.”
“You make me sick.” I spit at him, but he dodges it.
“But then, while I was at a fight, watching my little brother from afar,youhappened to be there too.It was fate.” He pushes Sarah off of his lap with a slap on her ass, then he stands. “At first, I thought about keeping you a secret. I knew it was only a matter of time before you and Jared were tangled back up again… But once I saw you dance during a business meeting at The Lavender Room, there was no way I could stop. Kailey, you were officially my mission, and there was no turning back.”
Joey walks around, stopping behind me, and his palms rest on my bare shoulders. “Kingtried. When he found out Russo wanted you for himself, he wasn’t ready to give you up. So, he told me he would find a doppelgänger, make her get a sunflower tattoo to match yours, then hand her off to Russo. Everybody wins.”
His nose trails my tattoo, making my stomach churn. “He found one, too, and I couldn’t believe it. But when King came back home from that ‘work trip,’ he realized what I’d already known. You weren’t ever really his. He’d already lost you to my brother.”
Joey’s hand grabs my chin and forces me to look up at him. “Then, King threw you to the wolves, like you were nothing to him anymore. You weren’t worth the hassle. Not enough to piss off his daddy’s best customer—Russo.”
Tears continue to freefall down my cheeks as I slowly shake my head. My voice is a whisper when I look at Joey. “It wasyou? The skittles, the sunflowers, the mask?”
“Yes. I like to scare the dolls before I take them.” He grins wickedly. “I also fried your battery, but who’s counting?”
I rip my chin from his hold. “Fuck. You. Jared will never forgive you!!!”
“Like I give a shit! That dipshit hasn’t spoken to me since the night I took Beth away from you.”
