Southern Admirer (Southern Loving Book 2) (24 page)

“Straight up asshole, douchebag,” she interrupted.
Benjamin stared at her so hard, she thought if looks could kill she would be
dead. “Fine,” she said, as she sat back down quietly in her chair.

“I care what happens to you,” his voice softened.
“When you were a baby just like Shay, I promised you that I would always be
there and to protect you…I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole.”

“And douche bag.”

It was Benjamin time to roll his eyes. “Fine,” he
said reluctantly. “That too.”

“I’m sorry I was secretive.”

Benjamin stood up and pulled his sister into his arms.
“I will never let anything happen to you,” he said, as he looked dead ahead at
Shane watching them.

“This is so sweet,” Shane grinned, before
receiving glares from both Jasmine and her brother.

“Shut up,” they muttered, stepping back from each
other.

“So, Angela Lansbury are you going to tell us
what’s going on?” Shane asked.

“Angela who?” Jasmine frowned.

“Oh God, we’re officially old.” Benjamin slapped
his hand to his forehead.

“Never mind.” Shane shook his head. “Just tell us
what’s going on so we can help.”

***

Sitting back down in the chair she vacated a few
second ago, she picked up Shane’s cup of coffee and took a sip to calm her
jittery nerves.

“Moving to Denver was my greatest accomplishment I
did after I graduated college and before having Shay.” Her eyes traveled to her
baby girl and smiled. “I got my first shot as a traffic reporter and filling in
doing assignments. Two months after being on the air, I started receiving these
crazy fan mails.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Benjamin asked.

“I didn’t put much stake into those perverted
guys,” she replied. “Then there was this mysterious white truck that was always
parked at the new station and following me back home. It’s hard to prove that
someone is stalking you especially when you don’t know how they look.”

Both Shane and Benjamin nodded their head in
agreement.

“So I was six months pregnant when I really
started to fear for my life. I thought by me being on the camera was the
problem so I resigned from my job and took a position at the newspaper. But it
didn’t stop; the person would call my phone number and leave messages about the
reports I did.” Her brother placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I just
thought that chapter of my life was over…but I guess one can’t be too
cautious.”

“Do you know anything that can help us catch him?”
Shane asked. Being the law man he was taking notes down on a piece of paper.

“I didn’t know how he looked until a few days
ago.”

“What?” Benjamin and Shane said together.

“I’m pretty sure the same guy who accosted me on
the side of the road is the same guy from the restaurant. He has a heavy
Spanish accent, tall, dark eyes.” Jasmine wanted to forget how the man looked
but she couldn’t, he was another nightmare that kept her up at night.

“No more investigating, leave it up to me and
Benjamin,” Shane said sternly. “You will not leave this ranch by yourself, not
even with Farrah.”

“I can’t just stop living my life,” she said

“He is escalating,” Benjamin said. He pushed the
file that he read to her. “Look at those marks in your tire. Tell her what
you’re thinking.”

“He had been lying in wait. Since you’ve been here
we been together from shopping to going out to eat. But the day you went to
visit your grandparents was his day to strike, he knew the route we take.” He
paused. “You took that country road by yourself. I think while you were at your
grandparents he punctured your tire, giving you enough air to get onto that
secluded road.”

“So you’re saying it was intentional?” Her hands
started to shake badly. Jasmine stood up from the table and ran to the bathroom
where she vomited liquid which eventually became dry heaves.

“Jasmine?” Shane walked into the bathroom,
kneeling down he held hair. “We will catch him.” He wet a washcloth and placed
it to her forehead.

Flushing the toilet, she scrambled back to the
wall. “I don’t know what to do,” she cried.

He sat next to her, enveloping her into a
protective embrace. “It’s okay,” he assured.

After a few moments, she caught her breath. “It’s
awful to feel this way,” she confessed to him. “Not knowing when the boogeyman
is going to jump out any moment.”

He stroked her hair. “You know I will never let
anything happen to you, right?”

She nodded. “Where is Shay?”

“With Benjamin, she is his first niece,” Shane
soothed his scared girlfriend. “I don’t want you to shed another tear.”

“Thank you,” Jasmine said, pulling away from him.
“You’re always here when I need you.”

“And always will be,” he assured with a grin. “Are
you going to be okay?”

“Yes, yes, I’m okay,” Jasmine replied. “Don’t you
have to go to work today?”

“I’m going to stick around the house with you and
Shay,” he said.

“No, no.” She looked at him and shook her head.
“I’m fine, you don’t have to say here, this whole ranch is surrounded and
security just doesn’t let anyone waltz in here.”

“Are you sure?” Shane seemed hesitant.

“Positive,” Jasmine promised. “Now go. I don’t
want you to be late for work.”

He kissed her forehead before releasing her.

Getting up, Jasmine walked back to the living room
and sat on the sofa watching her brother talk baby gibberish to her daughter.
“She needs to know her uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins.”

Benjamin stood up and placed Shay in her arms.
“Well my dear sister, you have to figure out a way to get everyone under the
same roof.” He kissed her cheek before walking out the door.

“What you’re thinking about?” Shane asked,
standing in the doorway buttoning up his crisp black shirt.

“How to get everyone under the same roof,” she
mused.

“Simple,” he grinned. “I recalled how Reginald St.
Clair prides himself on having those Sunday family dinners.”

“Last time I check McBride, I can’t cook.”

“We can have it catered. Invite the family.”

“Yeah, but that’s not how Sunday dinner is
normally ran, food is cooked with care,” Jasmine whined.

“Well put it together and we’ll send the invites
out.” He stepped back and looked at her. “I’m locking the door behind me, I’ll
have a few cars patrolling the area to look out for the truck.”

“Baby, everything is going to fine.” Jasmine stood
up and adjusted his tie and placed Shane’s cowboy hat on his head. “Now, go get
to work and make our money.”

“I have a question.”

“I have the answer.”

“A little birdie told me you was planning on
buying Farrah’s townhouse, is there any truth behind that?” he asked.

Jasmine couldn’t help but laugh. “Let me guess
that birdy was Austin McBride.”

“Hey, no laughing,” Shane began. “I don’t’ want
you to think that you have to leave because you don’t.'”

“You do know that Austin’s loves to tease you to
death?” She kissed him on the lips.

“I’m going to kill that little birdie.” Shane
grabbed his keys and closed the door.

***

Shane was nearly to the interstate when his cell
phone rang.

“This is McBride,” he answered.

“Ranger this is officer Brooks, I’m calling to let
you know that we spotted a suspicious vehicle within the McBride ranch. It’s
not a white truck but a dark blue four-door sedan,” the officer reported.

“No one goes near the car, my ETA is ten minutes.”
Shane hit the sirens on his truck and made a U-turn. He made a call to Hank to
go check on Jasmine as he grew closer to the location the officer said the
vehicle was located.

Nine minutes later, Shane pulled up behind the
car. He asked the dispatcher to run the license plate. Stepping out his truck,
he took his gun out his holster and slowly made his way to the driver’s side.

“Sir, there is blood running down the bumper,” an
officer said, with his gun drawn.

Shane busted the window in the front car and
pulled the lever for the door.

“We have a deceased male victim.”

Shane looked down at the body in the car, a Latino
man in his late twenties to early thirties laid stiff in the truck with a
gunshot wound to the head. “Call it in,” he said to the officers.

“Ranger McBride, this is dispatch, the vehicle is
registered to a Gil Novik.”

***

Jasmine just finishing brewing a fresh pot of
coffee and going over a mental list of things she had to do. She called Farrah
twice and talked about the impending family dinner she wanted to plan. Farrah
even offered her chef name Victoria from Southern Rose Eatery that she was
planning on rebuilding after a devastating fire.

She was holding Shay as she walked down the
hallway when the doorbell rang. Moving slowly to the front door, she peered out
the peephole to see Gil Novik standing there with a friendly smile.

“One second,” she said. Knowing Shane, he had the
security attendant coming to check on her. Placing Shay in the bassinet,
Jasmine straightened her shirt and opened the door. “Good morning Gil, let me
guess, Shane wanted you to check on me.”

“Mr. McBride called the security hut and asked for
someone to do a security sweep of the house.” Gil Novik brushed past her.

“I have this annoying habit of making too many
grits…so there are a leftovers, let me fix you a plate.” She picked up the
bassinet and headed into the kitchen.

Jasmine was fixing a plate for Gil Novik when a
string wrapped around her neck. The dish she was holding crashed to floor,
shattering causing Shay to scream at the top of her lungs.

“When you want something done, you have to do it
yourself,” he said against her ear.

She reached back and clawed at his face. Panic was
rising in her chest. Was this how her life was going to end? Air coming in
strangled gasps and there was nothing she could do. She tried to pry away the
string from her neck, but it was too tight. The last thing she would hear was
her daughter’s cries. Blackness crept around the edges of her vision.

***

Shane drove like a madman to his house. He
mentally scolded himself for leaving her this morning. If something happened to
Jasmine and his daughter, he didn’t know what he would do.

The whole entire time they thought it was a Latino
man who was stalking Jasmine but truth be told, it wasn’t. A few months they
hired a new security attendant Gil Novik. The inside of the blue sedan painted
a chilling story about a man that was obsessed with Jasmine since the first day
he saw her on Channel Four morning and afternoon traffic report. There was bank
statement revealing that Gil paid an illegal immigrant named Juan Barrios. The
description of the man Jasmine said accosted her on the side of the road and
the man from the café fitted the same description of the man found deceased in
the back of Gil Novik’s car. It appeared that Gil was tightening up loose ends
and the only thing that was left was Jasmine.

Suddenly his phone began to ring shrilly.
“McBride,” he answered.

“Shane!” said a scared voice, one Shane almost
didn’t recognize because it was so hysterically

“Farrah? What wrong?”

“Jasmine is gone! Shay was here crying. Oh God,
Jasmine is gone!” Farrah sobbed.

Shane could hear his daughter’s shrills. Sucking
in a deep breath as his vision became blurry. “Farrah I’m sending officers over
there.”

Farrah sobbed hard. “There is blood in the
kitchen, it’s a mess.” Her voice quivered and shook.

“Farrah, listen to me. I’m going to find Jazz.
Everything will be okay.” Shane brought the car to a screeching halt. All the
exit routes of the ranch were sealed off by uniforms, except the new route that
the construction crew was building the new house at. Turning the truck around
he sped down the dirt road, hoping he could catch up to Jasmine.

It’s like someone was suffocating him as a long
and slow shiver ran up his spine. He mentally shook himself; he had to be
strong for Jasmine. Picking up the phone, he pressed a button on speed dial.

“Dad it’s me, are you packing today?” Shane asked.
He knew it was a stupid question, his father always carried his conceal weapon
wherever he went.

“Always,” his father replied.

“Jasmine’s in trouble and I need your help.” He
told his father about Gil Novik and how he kidnapped Jasmine. “You might be
able to slow him down.”

“I got you son, you know I don’t mind putting a cap
up his ass,” Gerald McBride said before hanging up.

***

Jasmine woke up to total darkness. Her body felt
like it was on fire. She bit down on her lower lip as a searing pain kept
shooting throughout her body. She groaned as she moved in the cramped space. Oh
God, she was in the trunk of a car.