Delicate Hearts

Chapter 20: Discovering Secrets

Delicate Hearts

Chapter 20

'Discovering Secrets'

Gabriella decided to ground the three of them for two weeks after the fiasco that was supposed to be the party of the year. Jasmine couldn’t say she minded that much. She could still invite Lucy over, which was a huge relief. After what happened at the party, Lucy crawled back into her shell and started to push people away. The girl felt horrible after her reckless behavior and blamed herself for what happened.

Nothing Jasmine or Nathan told her made her change her mind. Lucy was convinced she was the reason Cedric forced himself on her. It was absolutely ridiculous. Jasmine had done everything she possibly could to change the girl’s views, but her effort turned out to be futile.

Stepping outside in the cold January air, Jasmine made her way to her car. School had just ended and she couldn’t wait to drop her ass on the couch and watch a few good TV-shows. It had been a long and tiresome day.

Arriving in the parking lot she noticed a tall man standing in front of her car, leaning against the hood. Jasmine’s eyes widened a little as her heartbeat sped up, warning bells going off in her head. It could be a coincidence he was standing next to her car. Still, she felt a little nervous. As she walked closer, she could properly see how big the man actually was, his muscles bulging under the black coat he was wearing. He looked scary to say the least.

“Holy shit,” she mumbled under her breath as she halted a few cars away from hers. The man’s eyes were focused on her, his lips twitching as he noticed she stopped moving. Pushing away from her car, the man started walking in her direction. Jasmine unconsciously took a few steps back.

“Jasmine Price,” the man stated, his voice lacking any politeness. His eyes were deadly cold as he watched her, his hands hidden in his pockets. Jasmine’s eyes widened, blood rushing through her veins as her breath hitched. How did he know her name? What did he want from her?

“Who’s asking?” she eventually replied, deciding she needed to figure out who he was first.

“Doesn’t matter,” the bulky guy told her, taking another step closer. Jasmine’s hands started to shake as she slowly took a step back, her legs almost giving out.

“What do you want?” she gritted out through clenched teeth, her lips quivering. Fear gripped her heart in a tight squeeze, shooting adrenaline through her entire body. Something was epically wrong. The notes, phone call,… it all finally started to add up. It wasn’t a prank from one of her silly classmates, it was a serious threat. She should’ve mentioned what was going on to Lucas. What if the man wanted to kidnap her? No one would know where to start looking.

“Money,” the man answered evenly, his fierce stare still focused on her face. Jasmine shivered at his cold tone.

“Money?” she asked confused, her brows drawn together. Why would someone ask for money from a teenager? The guy must know she didn’t have much of it. The trust fund her grandmother left her was a nice sum of money for a rainy day, but not even close to a fortune.

“And payback,” he added grimly, a dangerous smile making its way across his lips. “Preferably both,” the guy stated after a long silence, taking a few steps closer until he was only inches away from her. Jasmine stayed frozen in place, afraid to make any movements. Holy shit. What did she get herself into?

“Why? Why me?” Jasmine questioned, beyond confused and terrified. As far as she knew, she’d never done anything wrong, at least nothing big that would attract bad people and hulky messengers.