Jasmine's POV
I swear to god Marcy had no soul or conscience. All eyes were on her and everyone in the room seemed confused as hell. What just happened?
Marcy tried to continue but as soon as she spoke again my mother cut her off by clearing her throat and everyone's attention narrowed on her. So now my mother wanted to speak up?
"Alright, I think it's time for everyone to leave now." She stated but no one budged. She spoke up even louder for those in the back that pretended they didn't hear her. "I said, the party is over. It's time for everyone to leave."
The crowd stood silent for a few moments longer before they eventually started slowly trickling out of the backyard. I didn't move a muscle. I continued to stare at my mother and like all the other times, she kept avoiding my eye contact. Once everyone was cleared out, only my parents, Jaxon's parents, and Marcy remained. My dad spoke up for the first time tonight.
"Maybe we should all head inside and clear this up." Marcy snorted sarcastically and rolled her eyes.
"Ya'll really want to talk about this? I don't think you guys can handle this truth." She said with a sarcastic attitude. I watched as my mother cut her eyes at Marcy and cleared her throat again to speak up.
"I think it's been one helluva day. We're all stressed out and on edge. How about we all call it a night and regroup tomorr-" I cut my mom off before she could finish. What kind of dumb suggestion was that?
"Nooo, how about we DON't do that and we all head inside and see," I nodded my head at Marcy before continuing. "What the fuck this bitch is talking about." Marcy laughed and I had the itch to run up on her and shove my fist down her throat. I wondered if she'd find that to be a joke also.
Eventually, everyone followed my suggestion and headed inside. We all sat down in my parents living room without speaking. Everyone seemed so on edge, you could cut the air with a knife. I continued to watch Marcy's every move; I didn't trust that bitch. I watched as she cut her eyes to my mother before refocusing on the group. Don't look at her, look at me bitch. My mom can't save you.
I was glad when Cindy, Jaxon's mom, spoke up first.
"Ok, so we can all agree that tensions are high right now but I encourage us to all have a listening ear before we jump down anyone's throat or else we'll be talking in circles." Everyone seemed to agree so she continued. "Marcy lets start with you. You were suggesting earlier that you were paid?" Marcy crossed her arms defensively over her chest and again looked at my mother for a moment too long before turning her attention back on Cindy. What was up with those glances towards my mother? Marcy finally spoke up.
"On second thought, I don't think that's such a good idea. Why should I tell any of you guys shit? I don't owe any of you an explanation." Marcy stood up to leave and I began to bight my bottom lip in order to hold in my spiteful thoughts. It was taking everything inside of my soul NOT to snap on her again. After everything we've been through because of her, this bitch should owe us her LIFE!
That's when Jaxon stepped in. Everyday I thank the gods for him. He cleared his throat. "Don't you work for Coconuts Hair company?" Everyone seemed confused by his question but we all stayed silent. I was wondering where he was going with this.
Marcy's eyebrows instantly raised up with curiosity. "Yeah why? What's that have to do with anything?" Jaxon didn't say anything at first. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on Marcy. His blue gaze exuded an intensity that seemed to force Marcy to shift in her seat after seemingly feeling uncomfortable by his deep stare. Jaxon finally continued.
"Doesn't Coconuts specifically work with a multitude of YouTube influencers? Actually, they thrive off of the voices of people like Jasmine right?" Marcy shifted again but didn't answer Jaxon right away so he continued.
"And...I'm sure Coconuts pays you a sizable salary as one of their senior Marketing managers. I mean, remember that awesome event you threw at the East Miami hotel a few weeks back...?" Jaxon chuckled sarcastically. "You did such an amazing job, I know your bosses were impressed with you.It's a shame to have to watch someone with such a promising career lose it ALL in the blink of an eye." He smiled brightly now. "I doubt they'll want to associate with you once they realize how much of a conniving person you are. I'm 100% sure you won't have a job after I send them the recordings of you harassing one of their most valuable influencers while also explaining how you've also been blackmailing Jasmine." Jaxon's smile got even brighter and it was contagious. I couldn't help the small smirk that creeped up my face despite how annoyed I'd been during this entire night. Marcy's skin paled almost instantly at the sound of Jaxon's threat.
"You wouldn't." Marcy said through clenched teeth.
"Then try me." Jaxon said without any hesitance. I had to chime in. I wouldn't be Jasmine Smith if I didn't.
"Imagine how many views that Storytime video on YouTube would get. Coconuts is a pretty big company. A harassment lawsuit sounds good right about now." I pretended to think out loud as I spoke and I loved every moment that I was making Marcy sweat.
Marcy pierced me with a deadly stare before she let out a deep breath and finally conceded her defeat and sat back down.
"Alright. alright. Game recognizes game. You didn't have to threaten my job!" We waited patiently for her to finally speak up. "Have you guys heard of OnlyFans.com?" Everyone blinked silently at Marcy without saying a word. She finally took the silence as a sign that it was something we all never heard of so she continued to explain.
"Well it's a website were I make a little extra cash by posting sexy pictures and videos. People can subscribe to my page if they'd like. And I usually receive Direct Messages from people who want something specific from me. I was DM'd and asked to try and connect with Jaxon via Tinder. And of course, for the right price, I was down." I couldn't help myself when I began to mumble under my breath.
"I'm not surprised, you seem like you're down for anything." I was sure Marcy could hear me since I watched as she cut her eyes at me and paused.
"Are you done?" She asked me sarcastically and I rolled my eyes. She continued her story.
"This person gave me all of Jaxon's personal information such as age, race, and location etc. At first Jaxon was just a job. But once I saw he wasn't responding to me like I wanted, he became..."She paused for a brief moment to choose the correct words. "I mean...I've never had someone turn me down the way he did. Look at me? I'm smoking hot. So Jaxon became more of a challenge for me. And after awhile, it was no longer about the money."
Blah blah blah. All I heard was that this bitch was crazy. She just confirmed it for all of us. I needed to get down to the parts that actually mattered to me.
"Who DM'd you?" I asked. I watched as Marcy cut her eyes at my mother ever so slightly before refocusing on the group. Why did she keep looking at my mom. It almost looked like she was looking for some sort of guidance or reassurance. All I knew was that something wasn't right. The gears in my head began to turn slowly as I thought deeply about why I felt like something was off. A deep unsettling feeling crept up into my stomach. I decided to get up and walk the short distance it took me to stand in front of my mother. With my hands on my hips, I silently stared at my mom until she finally gave me the eye contact I'd been seeking the entire night. I didn't say anything for a good moment as I analyzed her. I was trying to read her body language and piece everything together.
"Babe, what's wrong? What are you doing?" Jaxon asked me while sounding confused. I ignored him and continued to analyze my mom. The skittish behavior, the lack of eye contact, and the ridiculous suggestion for us to all reconvene this meeting at a later time were all clues that spoke volumes to me. I watched as she took a napkin and wiped the sweat off her forehead even though it wasn't hot in the room. After observing her for a couple of minutes, I decided to speak up. My voice was low and slow.
"You set us up." I said hesitantly at first. I watched my moms eyes widen with shock. Even more sweat beads started to form on her forehead. I repeated myself without an ounce of doubt in my voice this time.
"You set us up." My moms eyes skittered to my father whose eyebrows were creased and shrouded with confusion and then she turned her attention to the Robinson's who also looked at her with bewilderment. Finally, she looked back at me. Her voice sounded rushed and desperate.
"Honey, it's not what you think. I can explain. It wasn't supposed to be like this or go this far." My mom tried to diffuse the situation as best she could but my blood was boiling once again. She sounded so pathetic.
"You're my MOM." I stressed while staring at her in complete bafflement. There was literally NOTHING she could say to make this better.
"Is this true?" Cindy questioned while seemingly speaking to both Marcy and my mother at the same time. Cindy's head swung back and forth between the two women. Marcy just snorted and threw her hands up.
"Hey, don't act shocked. Just know I warned all of you that you wouldn't want to hear the truth." I ignored Marcy and focused my attention back on my mother. I was so angry, words couldn't describe how I was feeling.
"Please mom. Please give me ONE," I lifted my index finger for emphasize. "ONE good reason why you would do this?" I threw my hands up in frustration. "There's so many questions I have. I can't find not one scenario in my head where any of this can be justified!" I looked at my dad. "Did you know about this also?" I asked him. I could barely keep sane just learning about my mothers betrayal. But if my dad was involved I would be completely crushed.
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