Page 20 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

Chapter ten

A shari’s lips were softer than he remembered. He pressed his mouth harder onto hers, causing her to gasp. He stuck his tongue into her mouth, savoring her sweet taste of strawberries, until she bit him.

Jediah yanked himself away, a sting running along his tongue as he glared at Ashari. She huffed, wiping across her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You’re sickening, Jediah!” Ashari yelled, shoving out her tongue and wiping her fingers over it.

He licked his bottom lip as he watched her.

The faint sting was subsiding. “You make me so hard, Ashari,” he said, and she froze, her eyes darting to below his belt before she looked away.

His smirk widened, and he stepped closer to her.

He held her by the waist again, and she stiffened even more than he thought was humanly possible.

He lowered his head to her ear and allowed his lips to graze it while he whispered, “You want me, Ashari. You know it, and I know it. And I won’t stop until you admit it to yourself.

” He placed a light kiss against the shell of her ear, and she sucked in a breath.

Jediah smirked, pulling away from her as the door opened.

He looked at Dimitri, who glanced between them.

“The car clean?” Jediah asked, and Dimitri nodded.

“Ah…” He looked at Ashari, who was yet to move a muscle.

He extended a hand toward her, raising a brow as she glared at him.

A second passed before she placed her hand in his, and he brushed his thumb across the ring on her finger. The hairs on her skin rose, amusing Jediah as he locked their hands and led them out of the building, then into a different car. Dimitri hopped into the car that Jediah drove there.

Ashari attached herself to the door as Jediah drove back to the estate.

The ride was quiet. With her brows furrowed, Ashari stared at the ring the entire time.

Jediah wanted to reach over and rub his thumb against the creases on her forehead until she was at ease and as beautiful as she was when he first laid eyes on her, but he resisted the urge.

Ashari was fun to tease, but he couldn’t allow himself to yield to the feelings that stirred in him from the night she’d dared to use him.

In another life, where she wasn’t an agent, and he wasn’t a criminal, they’d be free of familial obligations, with the ability to be and love whoever they wanted to. But that wasn’t possible. Not right now. Not in this life.

And until then, he had to make good use of her.

Jediah smirked as he drove around the fountain at the center of the driveway and before the stairs that led into the main house. He exited the car and took a step toward the house, pausing when he didn’t hear Ashari exit. He walked back to the car and opened the door. “Ashari?”

She looked from the ring to him. Her lips parted, then she closed her mouth and scowled.

She pushed him away from the door and stomped away.

He slammed the door shut and caught up to her.

Stopping in the foyer, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her against him.

Her hand with the ring landed against his chest. The gleam from the sunlight reflected off it and momentarily blinded his vision.

“Ash,” he whispered. “Be on your best behavior, or else…”

“Else what?” she dared.

His eyes narrowed on her, but she didn’t cower. He was about to issue a stern warning when footsteps came into the foyer.

They looked and Bryony came into view. Ashari pulled away from him.

Jediah grabbed a cigar from his travel case. He rested it in his mouth and lit it, blowing fumes away before looking at Bryony. “Miss B, show her to my room.”

Bryony’s brows furrowed. “Who’s this, Jediah?”

He looked at Ashari, who was silently fuming. Jediah smirked. “My wife.”

“ Wife ?” Bryony repeated, and Jediah looked at her. “The Majors—”

His eyes narrowed. “Don’t mention them. Do as I say, Miss B.”

She stared at him for a moment before motioning for Ashari to follow her. As they disappeared, footsteps approached Jediah from behind.

“Yu know she a go vex with yu, right?” Dimitri asked, and Jediah scoffed as they walked toward the wing that hosted the office and meeting rooms.

Entering the meeting room, Jediah’s eyes widened at Elias, Iyana, and Howie, who were laughing with each other. He glanced at Dimitri, who was frozen by the door.

Elias glanced in their direction, and his laughter faded away. “I wasn’t expecting you so early,” he said, pushing Howie’s chair behind his.

Iyana jumped to her feet. “We’ll leave now,” she said, grabbing a confused Howie and hurrying through the back door.

Cameron looked up from his phone. His brows furrowed as he looked around the room while removing his headphones off his head.

When he noticed Elias’ family was gone, he looked toward the door.

Jediah shook his head. Cameron’s brows evened out, and he straightened in his chair.

Dimitri’s jaw clenched as he finally entered the room.

He sat at the right side of the chair Jediah always sat in.

Closing his eyes, Dimitri hunched over the table with his head in his hands.

“Do you need your pills, Dimitri?” Jediah asked. He knew Dimitri took his pills this morning and it wasn’t time for his nightly dosage yet, but if Dimitri was on the verge of an anxiety attack, he needed to get those pills.

Dimitri shook his head. “No.”

Jediah closed the door and walked toward the window, staring at the neatly trimmed shrubs that outlined the main house of the estate. He took a puff, savored the taste, then blew the fumes toward the glass while the lingering tension dissipated.

“I think it’s time you do exposure therapy,” Elias broke the silence while straightening his black tie with sharks printed all over it. “Clearly, talking is futile.”

“Jed says I’m not ready,” Dimitri muttered, and Elias scoffed.

“Are you going to listen to Jed forever? He doesn’t always know what’s best.”

Jediah mocked Elias’ scoff, his eyes darting from the outskirts of the estate to settle on the greying man. “Is that so, Elias? The only reason Dimitri is like this is because you never listened to me in the first place.”

“If we’d gone with what you said, too much attention would’ve been on the family.”

“Mi don’ care how much attention deh pon the family when it come to the Valcourts! Dem don’ care ’bout who dem hurt in the process fi get to we. Why me fi care?”

“Because you have more to lose,” Elias countered. “Now, your best shooter is scared of kids.”

Jediah yanked the cigar away from his mouth, rage rushing to his eyes.

“’Cause a you! Mi tell yu fi fire bomb Marquis warehouse weh close to the wharf ’cause him woulda lose more, but no.

Yu wan’ play the long game ’bout wi fi just kill him personal driver so him will scramble and fear how close we can come to him. ”

“And they do.”

Jediah shook his head. “No. Now everyone knows that we kill kids.”

“She wasn’t supposed to be in the car. She got picked up early from school.”

“It’s still your fault, Eli. Don’ blame this on me,” Jediah hissed and turned around.

The rage inside him was maddening. Despite his extreme actions, even he wouldn’t have gone as far as killing his enemy’s kid.

The girl was only twelve at the time, with a mother who was probably one of Marquis’ many whores, but she didn’t deserve that.

Jediah, remembering that he’d had an impromptu funeral weeks ago, clenched his jaw and deepened his glare at the window.

“Mi don’ wan’ know wa happen to Acacia.”

“What?” Dimitri spoke for the first time, his voice louder than the squeal of a pig as it shuffled about.

“Mi know unu don’ have the pig in here…” Jediah gritted out, his voice a warning.

Cameron ignored his comment and gave Jediah a sheepish grin. “Me and the rookie already a work pon getting the restaurant shut down.”

Jediah scowled as Cameron moved Barrel from off the floor, resting her on his lap and petting her.

“Mi think she a cry fi Acacia,” Cameron mused.

“Mi don’ think pigs can cry,” Dimitri said.

“But she is! Look!” Cameron held Barrel in the air, showing her to everyone in the room, one-by-one.

Dimitri hissed his teeth. “A goodly sweat she a sweat.”

“I don’t think pigs can do that either,” Elias added.

“No. Him might be right… But mi don’ too sure,” Cameron said, placing Barrel back onto his lap. He used the hem of his shirt to pat Barrel’s snout.

“Only thing yu sure ’bout a yu pixelated girlfriend,” Dimitri teased.

Cameron gasped. “She’s real!”

Jediah scowled as Dimitri opened his mouth to further poke at Cameron. “Unu done? Or mi need fi mek unu stand up in a waa corner, face the wall, and count to hundred like the children you are?”

Snickering, Dimitri shifted his focus to Jediah. “We’re done.”

“You and Tyre don’ need fi continue,” Jediah said to Cameron. “Mi have more important things fi worry ’bout.”

“Like what?” Elias asked, exasperated.

Jediah smirked, moving the cigar to his mouth. “A wedding.”

Entering the room, Ashari looked around.

All the furniture was made from dark wood and varnished with a glossy coat.

Jediah’s cologne still lingered in the air.

The door slammed shut behind her, and she turned around.

Faced with a scowling woman, Ashari forced a smile as she extended her hand. “I’m Ashari. Nice to meet you.”

Bryony crossed her arms. “How yu meet Jediah?”

Ashari pulled her hand back to her side. “At a club.”

“How long ago?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because Jed was engaged to a very nice girl, and now yu come outta nowhere weeks after she died,” Bryony stated before saying through clenched teeth, “I. Don’t. Trust. You.”

Ashari stared at Bryony, reminding herself not to scowl. “You don’t have to trust me. Jed does… and that’s the only thing that matters to me,” Ashari said with faux sweetness.