Page 31 of Trial of Deceit (The Family’s Oath #1)

The Jamaican government gave the F.B.I. a grace period of one year to build their case before they had to hop on the first flight out of the country. It’d been four months, and Ashari felt no closer to breaking this case. If she were her father—

A loud clang came from somewhere, startling her. Ashari’s eyes scoured the area, trying to find where the sound came from. It seemed so familiar, but she couldn’t place a finger on where she’d heard it before.

The clang came again. Ashari noticed a large door slamming shut. She sighed. No, that wasn’t where she’d heard the sound the first time. Ashari erased the look of disappointment off her face, replacing it with curiosity as she watched the men who stopped beside the door that had slammed shut.

Jediah had an unlit cigar tucked into the corner of his mouth.

Elias handed him a rag, and Jediah wiped blood off his hands.

Jediah looked at Ashari while the door opened again — and there went that loud clanging sound before it closed, twice, again.

Dimitri and Tyre dragged a man into the mess hall by his arms while his legs dragged behind him in tattered pants.

The man was barely conscious, beaten and bloody that he might as well have already been dead.

None of the women or men had stopped working to glance at the loud interruption.

Ashari approached them. She stopped before Jediah, her nose wrinkling at the strong waft of piss lingering in the air around the bloody man.

Now that she was up-close, she got a better look at him.

His skin was missing in square patches all over his body, leaving behind irritated white flesh.

Someone had taken their time to carefully carve the man.

“What happened?” Ashari pried.

“He was being too familiar with Reine,” Tyre answered.

“Bring him to the dungeon and castrate him,” Jediah said.

The eyes of the battered man snapped open, his mouth opening wide, but his scream became frozen. Dimitri scowled, tightening his grip around the man before hauling him away. Tyre took quick strides to keep up.

Jediah motioned his head for Ashari to follow him. They entered a bathroom, and she watched as he washed his hand.

“Queen,” he said, and she dragged her eyes to his. “Tek mi lighter outta mi pocket, and light this.” He turned his head toward her as she brought the flame to the cigar.

“This thing kills, you know?” she asked as she returned the lighter.

“It doesn’t. It helps me refrain from killing people.”

“You’re castrating a man ’cause he flirted with your sister. You can’t watch over her forever, you know?”

Jediah dried his hands. “I’ll protect Reine for as long as I’m alive. And even when I’m dead. Mi naa mek nobody distract her from her dreams. Ever.”

“You don’t have control over everything that happens in the world.

Do you think of the repercussions that’ll happen every time you try to kill someone who dares to go against you?

People have tried for years to take down the Richardsons.

Not just the force, or that man out there.

And this attitude of yours is gonna make it so easy for your enemies to constantly remind you why you don’t have control over the future.

You need to be careful , Jediah,” she warned while holding his heated gaze.

Her chest heaved hard as she finished speaking.

Her voice held such a burst of emotion, she had no idea where it stemmed from.

Jediah scoffed. “I am careful.”

“Really?” she hissed. “You don’t even have an alias. Every gang in Jamaica knows who’s foolish enough to leave a chess piece on a dead body.”

“Allegedly,” Jediah corrected. “And if you’re so concerned about our family, we have nothing to hide.”

“ Cocky , Jediah.”

“Smart,” he insisted. “Come,” he said, then opened the door. He stared at her while waiting for her to make a move.

Sighing and shaking her head, Ashari exited the room. “Where are we going?” she asked as he fell into stride with her.

“A go find a shovel, then dig up yu bredda.”

Her feet stopped moving. Flashbacks from that night crashed into her mind. Her arm shot out, her fingers pressing against the wall to keep her body steady.

Jediah’s hand landed on her waist. He gave it a gentle squeeze. “We don’ have fi do it now. We can go whenever yu ready.”

Ashari released a long, shaky breath as she met his eyes. Jediah looking at her with a tender expression shouldn’t have made her knees buckle at a time like this, but it did. This man confused her in ways that no textbook had prepared her for. Made her feel things that were incomprehensible.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He gave her a smile before moving his hand. He waited for her to walk off before he did. He stayed close to her side, and Ashari didn’t complain. It gave her a solid excuse to reach out her hand that was closest to him, then wrap it around his muscular forearm.

After returning to the estate, Ashari and Jediah made themselves comfortable in the gazebo in the backyard.

Ashari munched on strawberries while coloring.

Every bite from the plump fruit left sweet, tart juice at the side of her mouth.

Her tongue would jut out to lick the flavor away, causing Jediah to shuffle about on the metal chair on the opposite side of the table.

He was playing a game of chess against himself.

Each gust of the cool wind made his woodsy cologne and the lingering aroma of tobacco more prominent.

“You’re distracting me, Ashari…” Jediah murmured.

Eyes widening, Ashari snapped her focus to the coloring. “What?”

“When playing chess, I try to be aware of my opponent.”

Her brows furrowed as she looked at him. “Me naa play against you.”

Jediah slightly tilted his head forward. “You’re sitting where an opponent would. It’s just a habit of mine, and you keep licking your lips.”

“I see…” she said, and his eyes lifted from the board to settle on hers.

“Does coloring help you to feel normal?” he asked, and she nodded. He looked back to the board. “Sorry for implying you were childish the first time.”

“It’s okay. Not everything is what they seem to be on the surface,” she said as his eyes met hers. She cocked her hand to the side to dust coconut flakes from the tips of her fingers. Ants would soon gather at the minuscule hill of food on the floor.

“Right.”

They held each other’s stare. The wind continued to whip around them, whistling high in the air as if it were trying to whisper secrets about the other into their ears.

Ashari felt like a specimen beneath Jediah’s calculating stare.

By how Jediah fidgeted ever so slightly, Ashari knew he felt the same.

Discomfort made breathing near impossible—

Ashari sucked in a breath and slapped her hand against the pages of the coloring book as they flipped over. Jediah cleared his throat and looked back at the board. Ashari shuffled about while finding the page she was on.

After she found it, she grabbed a random crayon.

She rubbed it against the page while sneaking a glance at Jediah.

He made a move with a pawn, bringing it to the opposite end of the board, then promoting it to a rook.

Or was this new piece a knight? She still couldn’t figure out the ins and outs of such a dull game.

Jediah leaned back into the chair. Stretching an arm across the table, he slipped his ring off his finger, and began rolling it across his knuckles. He wetted his bottom lip as he looked at her. “Are you done?”

She dropped the crayon. It rolled off the book, slid across the table, and fell onto the ground. “Yes… I was waiting for you to pay attention to me.”

He smirked and stopped rolling his ring. He put the family heirloom back onto his finger, then tapped his lap. Ashari’s heart skipped several beats as she moved over to straddle him. He laid his hands on her waist and puckered his lips.

Ashari chuckled. “You act different when you’re around me.”

“How?” he asked.

“Relaxed… Nice… I like that,” she said, smiling.

“That’s a good thing, no?” he asked, and she nodded before leaning in.

Jediah leaned forward, and at the last moment, Ashari turned her head to the side.

Jediah’s lips met her cheek, and he kissed along her skin until he found her neck.

He sucked on the skin while Ashari craned her neck to the side to give him better access.

She moaned, low and fast, as his fingers dug into her waist before he tugged on the hem of her blouse and pulled it over her head.

Ashari panted as she turned her head upward. Her eyes locked onto the cameras in the gazebo’s ceiling as Jediah buried his face between her breasts, alternating kisses between them while Ashari clawed at his low trim.

Jediah lifted her and laid her atop the table.

His body pressed against hers, their chests heaving against each other while Jediah began to skillfully remove her tiny shorts and panty.

The garments bundled around Ashari’s ankles.

Her clit throbbed harder as desire continued to pool, making her desperate for Jediah.

She kicked off the clothes before he could continue tugging them off.

Jediah chuckled as he pulled back. He reached a hand above her head, then pulled it back with a strawberry. He took a big bite out of it, then swallowed the piece. “I wonder if you’ll taste as good as this fruit.”

Ashari’s mouth fell open from shock. Jediah had never eaten her out before. Matter-of-fact, no man had ever done that to her before. None of her past flings with men had ever developed beyond kissing.

Jediah pulled back. He leveled himself with her parted legs, and squeezed the juices of the strawberry onto her already wet pussy. Ashari shuddered as the fruit’s cold juices trailed along her slit.