Rebels and Roses by Olivia Jaymes

Author:Olivia Jaymes [Jaymes, Olivia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blonde Ambition Press
Published: 2024-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Jane couldn’t believe how everything in the world could be upended in such a short span of time, but somehow it had. Erica was here in town, Tom was dead.

I’ve barely even had my coffee.

Erica was now crying for a different reason. Her fiancé Tom had been found dead, which was a shock to them all, of course. The young woman was beside herself, angry that she’d let him out of her sight. Apparently, she’d known that the man she planned to marry someday had a drug problem.

“He was getting help for it,” Erica explained, the tissue clutched in her hand a sodden mess. “He was seeing a therapist. He’d been clean for months.”

“Did you know that he’d been to rehab several times?” Cooper gently asked. Finn was still at the scene with Tom’s body waiting for the coroner. “Did you know that his sister Fiona was here to take him again? To a place in Miami?”

Anger immediately crossed Erica’s delicate features. She tossed the tissue onto the table and ripped a new one from the box that Lucy had slid in front of her. They’d moved this conversation into the backroom, but there were a few customers in the main area that were curious as to what was going on. The gossips would fill them in eventually.

“Fiona,” Erica spat out, her lips curled in distaste. “She wasn’t making anything any better. She babied Tom, telling him that his addiction wasn’t that bad. She’d say that he’d get help when he was ready. I find it hard to believe that she was going to take him to rehab. In Miami or anywhere else.”

“You didn’t get along with Fiona?”

“Does anyone?” Erica shot back. “She only cares about herself. I’ve never seen a more self-absorbed person in my life. She simply would not leave us alone. She’d dig around until she found one of Tom’s weaknesses, and then she’d try to exploit it.”

“What for?” Cooper asked. “How did she do that?”

“What for? She wanted to pull all the strings. Control. She wanted Tom to do whatever she told him to do. And before you even ask me, I don’t know why that was important to her. His life didn’t even affect hers, but she’d still do it. He and I would be doing great, and then she’d show up. She’d mess with his head, and the next thing I knew he’d go on a coke binge after being clean for months. It was almost like she couldn’t stand for him to be healthy and happy.”

From the expression on Cooper’s face, he believed Erica completely. For the dozenth time, Jane had to wonder just how he’d ended up married to Fiona. He’d explained that he’d been young and optimistic, but…damn. He’d been willingly blind, too.

Lust. It had to be lust. Perhaps Fiona was great in the sack. Jane had seen men fall for women who were a red flag-waving party, but they didn’t seem to care as long as they were getting laid.

Until later, of course.

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