Page 94 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

‘Julia,’ Josh called out, chasing after her.

‘Josh, stay in the apartment.’

Who…’

‘Just let me deal with this,’ she yelled at him as she reached the bottom of the stairs. I didn’t see Josh follow her from my limited visual of the scene playing out in front of me.

‘Jean-Luc, what the actual fuck?’

‘I got a tip the police are going to raid my place and I need a place to keep my stash. I don't trust anyone else down here at the moment.’

‘Jean-Luc, he’s not a part of any of this.’

‘Yeah, that was evident by his pajamas,’ he laughed.

Jean-Luc’s driver walked to the back of the SUV and pulled out another two duffle bags and tossed them at my sister’s feet. ‘Keep them secure, I’ll be back for them in a few days.’

‘A few days,’ my sister hissed. ‘I can’t keep this kind of product lying around.’

‘I’ll send a guy in the morning when the dust settles to guard it if that makes you feel better.’

‘No, it doesn’t…’

‘Well, you don't have a choice,’ Jean-Luc said as he got in his SUV, driving off and leaving my sister in the alley with what appeared to be a significant amount of drugs.

‘Julia,’ Josh came running down the stairs. ‘What the fuck is going on?’

She picked up the two bags, clearly struggling under the weight before Josh took them from her. ‘Go back upstairs,’ she instructed.

‘Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on here, why did he call you Jordanna?’

I took a deep breath and rested my head on the wall. My sister was good at playing her part in the con, but she was stressed and I knew she really cared for this guy.Everyone had their breaking point, and I feared she was reaching hers.

‘Josh,’ she whispered in her angry frustrated voice. ‘I am not having this conversation out in the open in a back alley.’

He let out a breath and led the way back up to her apartment, carrying the massive amounts of drugs.

I heard the door close and the two bags fall to the ground. Their voices were muffled but I could still make out Josh’s voice. I’d never seen him angry, I didn’t think Julia ever had either.

‘Please tell me it’s not what I think it is, in those bags.’

‘If you think it’s bags of apples, I'm not going to correct you.’

‘You have got to be fucking kidding me right now,’ Josh screamed. ‘How the fuck can you make jokes, that...that...fuck, I don’t even know what to call him. That criminal just pulled a gun on me in your doorway and you’re making jokes.’

‘I…’

‘And how the fuck do you even know someone like that, and why is he calling you Jordanna?’

‘He’s a client, and I don't know why, maybe he’s mistaken my name.’

I heard footsteps head back to the bedroom. ‘What are you doing?’ she yelled.

‘Jules, we have to call the police,’

I heard a scuffle, like they were wrestling, ‘Fuck, no, he’ll kill us.’

‘Jules, if you are messed up in this shit, I can’t have anything to do with it.’

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