LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE

He smirked and pulled me closer to him in the blink of an eye with his hand wrapped around my waist. I could feel his stinky breath on my face as he moved his face closer to mine with his eyes resting on my lips. "That kiss wasn’t enough to convince me…it wasn’t deep enough." He said in hushed tones. "Why don’t we take our relationship to the next level? Spend the night in my arms, and I will believe you," he said. Hearing his nasty thoughts was making my blood boil. Even if he were the last man on earth, I would never have sex with him.

"What’s wrong? Don’t you want to be with me anymore?" He asked trying to kiss me, I tried to hide my disgust, flinching at his gestures as he attempted to kiss me, and closed my eyes tightly, expecting another uncomfortable kiss from him when he let me go.

"Ashley baby, you may have underestimated me; just because I am drunk doesn’t mean I am dumb." He said stroking his hair backward. "It doesn’t mean I will fall for your tricks; you have hated me for years; why would you want to be with me now if you don’t have ulterior motives?" He said in a cold tone, I didn’t know convincing someone like him would be so hard.

"Fine! You got me; I don’t like you, and I will never like you... But I want to make this work; maybe I can like you some day. You know, there are strangers that get married due to an arranged marriage and end up falling in love." I said looking into his eyes, but he didn’t seem convinced. I never knew outsmarting the enemy would be this hard. "Ashley, tomorrow is our engagement. I want you to be the first person to show up. Don't forget to wear something elegant." He whispered, tapping my shoulder as he attempted to walk back into the strip club. I head followed him; I was irritated by his guts; I even had to kiss him for nothing. "Ugh!" I groaned in frustration and spat on the floor in rage as he paused next to the bouncers that were guiding the gate of the strip club. "I don’t want you to win me over Ashley, I will win you my own way, you should go home." He said he was walking away.

"Hey! What about my father? What if he dies after the wedding?!?" I snapped, attempting to go after him when Jake held me back. "Then he will die a legend." Noah said and winked at me before disappearing into the strip club.

"Let go of me!" I snarled, pushing Jake away. "Since he doesn’t want to play it safe, I need to start looking for new doctors." I said.

"You can’t do that, my queen; that is dangerous. You will endanger the life of another doctor, and I don’t think another doctor will be willing to take the job considering what happened to Dr. Paul." Jake advised.

"Are you saying I should just stay back and do nothing? While my father is dying?" I asked him, pouring out all my anger, but I wasn’t satisfied. My soul wouldn’t rest until I knew my father was no longer suffering or on the verge of death. Just then, an idea popped into my head. Jake was saying some words, but I couldn’t hear a thing he was saying. I started approaching my car, which was parked next to a street light close to the strip club.

"Where are you going?" Jake asked me as I was walking toward the car. I opened the door of the car and answered his question. "I am going to get evidence to prove Chris’s innocence." I replied and got into the car. I took my key from the glove compartment and was about to start my car when I saw Jake banging on the window of my car, motioning for me to open it. I lowered the glass of the car. "Go home; I want to go alone." I declared.

"What do you mean you want to go alone, queen? You can’t leave me out here; we are partners." He said.

"Find your way home." I said slowly and began driving down the road, ignoring him as he waved his hand in the air, requesting that I stop the car for him. I couldn’t trust anyone; I needed to do things alone. I increased the speed of my car and focused my eyes on the road. After driving past a few cops’ cars and people, I arrived at the scene of the crime. There was a roadblock just ahead, with a lot of cops and detectives standing at the entrance. I needed to find a way to get in there and see if I could find evidence. I got out of my car, slamming the door shut, as I caught the attention of the cops that were guiding the crime scene, standing in front of the crime tape.

"Who are you?" a high-ranking cop asked me. "I am Ashley Barbie Gates," I answered. His first reaction upon seeing me was shocked, and he looked around as if looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Your bodyguards, where are they? You don’t walk alone." He said.

"Well, they are not here, and I am here to get a glimpse of the crime scene because my bodyguard was arrested for this case." I said.

"I am sorry, Ms. Gates, but you can’t go in there." He replied.

"Why?" I asked bluntly.

"Because it’s late and everyone is planning to wrap everything up and go home, and if you go in there you might ruin the evidence we have." He said, from his body language, I knew he was looking for something else. I stole a glance at the cops that were around and made sure no eyes were on me before I pulled out a stack of money from my bag and handed it to him. His eyes widened with greed as he quickly took the money from me and shoved it in his pocket. "Come in," he said, smiling as he lifted the crime tape above my head.