Page 67 of Mob Queen

She lifts her chin only enough to make quick eye contact with me, before dropping her gaze again. “Yes, ma’am.”

We walk toward the car, and I make sure she’s in it first before I put my hand on G’s chest, stopping him from advancing to the front seat. “Does she look familiar to you?”

“She fucking stinks, that’s the only thing I can fucking concentrate on. Jesus, Frank. She probably hasn’t showered for a month.”

“She can take a shower when we get to the house. Tell me though, doesn’t she look familiar?”

“At this stage, let me get back to the house without passing out from that horrendous stench.”

I shake my head at G. “You’re an ass.” I look to Miller and flick my chin. “She’s coming home with us.”

A big smirk tugs at his lips. “I gathered,” he says and slides in beside the girl. Jackie. Yeah, right.

Chapter 23

Jeremy

She’s a constant surprise, that’s for sure.

Just when I thought Frankie was going to leave the girl to fend for herself, she bundled the girl up in the car and has brought her to her home.

Now, Frankie and G are huddled away in her office talking while the girl and I are in the dining room where she’s devouring food. “Jackie, right?” I ask.

The girl has a mouth full of food when she looks up to me and nods once. It’s clear she’s lying about something. It might be as simple as lying about her name, but there’s more to this than she’s letting on. She swallows what’s in her mouth and she says, “I know you from somewhere.”

“Do you?” The cook, a youngish woman enters the dining room with another plate of food and places it in front of Jackie then refills her glass with more water before moving on to my glass. “Thank you.” I give her a small nod.

“Yeah, you look really familiar.”

If she can’t place me as the governor of the state, then this conversation about me is futile. “Tell me about yourself, Jackie.”

“Nothing much to tell,” she says and lowers her head.

“How did you end up on the streets?”

She protectively places her hand on her growing belly. “I had to leave,” Jackie says in a tiny voice.

My jaw clenches at this one small act. It tells me that baby may have come from a bad situation. “How far along are you?”

“Four or five months.” She nibbles on some of the food then adds, “I think.” I know nothing about pregnancy so I’m taking her at her word. “Frankie isn’t what I thought she’d be like.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.” Jackie lifts her hand to place over her mouth, like she’s said something she shouldn’t have. I narrow my eyes and look at her. There’s more to this than she’s telling. No use in pressuring her to tell me, because that’ll end up having an adverse effect. Besides, she doesn’t know if she’s safe here yet or if it’s a false promise.

I want to push her more to find out her truth, but I know that could be detrimental. “She stays here,” I hear Frankie say.

Both Jackie and I look to where we can hear Frankie. She enters the dining room, and pulls out a chair. “Mya,” she calls her cook.

“Yes, ma’am.” Mya appears like magic.

“Bring me a coffee.” She looks to Jackie. “Are you still hungry?”

Jackie barely glances at Frankie, and shakes her head. The next thing I know, another guy walks into the dining room and stops when he sees both me and Jackie. “Seriously, Frankie? You brought the politician to our home?”

“He’s staying with me.”

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head simultaneously before he walks over and offers me his hand to shake. I stand and offer the same. “Romolo, but everyone calls me Rome.”

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