Page 20 of Intrigued
“But why?” Jasper asked his father probably a thousand times.
Randolph would glare at him with that aggressive look in his eyes, and say something like, “Don’t question me boy. Just do it.”
After that memory Jasper had a change of heart. He was positive he hated his father, although he would never say it out loud.
As soon as he walked in through the back door, Nigel, the house butler, took his coat. “Good morning, Jasper. Breakfast will be served in half an hour.” Then he handed him theTimes.
Jasper took the newspaper from him. “Did you do what I asked?”
“Yes, the subject is in her room. No one saw her.”
He nodded once, rapidly. “Thank you. I take it father hasn’t improved?”
“No, he has not. He had taken a turn for the worse overnight. I didn’t inform you because you asked me to not—”
Jasper raised a hand. “I know what I asked. That’s fine.”
He looked up the curved stairway. Father’s room was on the third floor.A turn for the worse?Randolph was already on his last leg. However, Jasper was happy Nigel hadn’t disturbed him. He had made plans to fuck Holly Henderson all night long. He wanted to fuck her until she couldn’t stand. He wanted to drink all the juices she had to offer. But something unexpected was happening, and it had started the second he went down on her. He was enjoying sex. He was relishing in her puffy, delectable pussy that his mouth found tantalizing… That intoxicated look in her eyes as his tongue stroked her clit… The heat from her inner thighs warming his face… Then she’d come, and that had made her wetter. He had fucked her like a madman. He’d never done it that way before. It felt liberating.
Jasper set his gaze back on Nigel, making sure the butler didn’t see anything in his expression that would expose his thoughts. “Thank you. I’ll go up now.”
He took his time climbing the stairs. It felt good to not be filled with anxiety for having to jump through all of his father’s hoops. He knew exactly what he’d find, a decrepit old man being kept alive by ventilators. Jasper would’ve let him die a long time ago. But Randolph insisted he be resuscitated. The old man meant to go into the dark kicking and screaming. Finally, Japer made it to his father’s room and braced himself as he put a hand around the fine brass doorknob. Usually, it was locked, but Nigel had made sure the hospice care staff had kept it unlocked for his arrival.No more stalling.He entered.
The room covered half of the third floor. Jasper moved slowly through his father’s personal parlor. The brown leather furniture was polished, everything was dusted and cleaned but that hadn’t changed a thing. Randolph used to entertain some of the most powerful men in the country in the space, treating them with cigars, alcohol, all kinds of drugs, and high-end prostitutes, who were male or female, depending on a man’s preference. His father would sneak other pleasures into his den, must-haves he wanted to keep from Jasper’s eyes. But the room had always held an anything-goes energy. No matter what, he could smell the sour pussy of hookers and the bad breath of two-faced conmen lingering in the air.
Jasper released his breath after clearing the space, which opened up to the big bed of lasciviousness. It was where his father fucked all of his hookers. But there was no woman sitting on his limp dick anymore. Randolph was alone and as pale as a ghost with tubes hooked up to his body and a breathing apparatus over his mouth. The scent of the death was in the air. Jasper knew that at any moment Randolph would live his last second on earth.
Jasper hadn’t noticed the nurse standing at attention, watching him as he examined his father.
“Good morning, Laura,” he said to the exhausted-looking woman in the blue hospital scrubs.
“Good morning, Jasper,” she replied.
He set his focus back on his father. “So what happened here last night?”
She walked over to stand on the other side of his bed. “He had another series of strokes. But he’s stabilized for now.”
“I see. Is Dr. Carlisle around?” Jasper asked.
“I’m here,” the doctor said.
Dr. Carlisle walked into the room and provided Jasper with the full prognosis in regard to Randolph’s recovery.
* * *
It was after eight a.m.,and all the siblings were seated at the table, eating breakfast. Jasper had just relayed what the doctor had told him. Randolph may not make it through the rest of the day or night. The mood was sullen but not because any of them were sad. Things were on the verge of changing, and they knew it.What will it be like to not live under Randolph Christmas’s watchful eye?
Jasper noticed the way Asher, Spencer, and Bronwyn were watching him. He could see the question in their eyes. They wondered if he would becomehim,his unique version of Randolph Christmas. He would not, and that he was sure of.
“Then he’s dying?” Asher asked.
There was no way to sugarcoat it. “Yes,” Jasper said.
“Then what do you want from us?” Bryn said in a scathing tone.
Jasper meant for his scowl to burn the hell out of her.
“It’s more of a matter of what I need from you,” he said to her.
