His Pawn (The Manhattan Tales Book 1) Read Free Page A

not?  She was a bouncy yet shy, sweet thing and a bit nerdy and awkward in appearance, but I recall that he was insanely protective of her.
    I stared at my mobile as I felt a grin form on my face.  A plan was hatching at that very moment.  This was too good to be true; The way this could work out seemed too easy. I had a way with women, and it would take nothing for an uncomfortable, socially awkward little thing like Jillian Pryor to melt around me.
    If Travis could take the love of my life from me, then I could take his little sister.  An eye for an eye. I felt the smirk on my face darken as I dialed the number and held the phone to my ear.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
    2.   Jilly Bean
     
    I sighed and pursed my lips as I sat in the quiet Starbucks.  There were still a few people in the shop, ordering coffee or tea, lounging as they enjoyed the free wifi and listening to the music.  It was going on nine p.m., and the store would be closing in an hour.  I cringed, feeling another lump form in my throat.  I was literally homeless for the first time in my life, and I was scared.
    Blindly, I scrolled through the contacts in my phone as my thoughts tried to sort out the whirlwind that had happened just four hours earlier.  For the last nine months, I worked as a full-time nanny for a family in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. 
    At the time, it seemed like I’d won the lottery as far as jobs for undergraduate college students were concerned.  They’d give me a decent paycheck every two weeks, and also provide me with room and board. It seemed perfect because my mom and brother could no longer afford to live in New York and my brother received a business opportunity from my Uncle who lives in Ohio.  I wasn’t ready to leave New York.  Brooklyn has been my home my entire life and I was neck deep in my college career at NYU. 
    Transferring to another school would basically mean I’d have to start my junior year all over again.  Financial aid helped to cover the cost of my tuition by the skin of my teeth.  I was able to get on a payment plan to cover the differences and this job paid for that.  At least, it did until the little girl I was responsible for had found my purple vibrator in the top drawer of my desk and ran around her mother’s soiree with it. 
    The shock and gasps that erupted from the small gathering of elitist women will forever haunt my mind.  The look on her mother’s face as she realized what her four-year-old daughter was waving around will always plague me.  I’ll never be able to use them as a reference, that’s for sure.
    It’s not that I couldn’t control the little train wreck, but she was not an easy child to manage.  She was the sweetest, most adorable child when her parents were not home, which was 98% of the time.  When they were home, she turned into a terror, desperate for their attention in any way.  Of course her mother blamed this behavior on me, and my “lack of control.”
    She fired me instantly, but had the decency to tell me that I had two days to find other living arrangements.  I’d never felt my heart thrum in  my chest the way it did while she watched me collect what few possessions I had.  I couldn’t stay in that place another minute, considering the circumstances.  Could you imagine how awkward that would have been? 
    I’d forgotten that my brother was on business in San Francisco and would not be able to help me.  I attempted to hug the little girl goodbye as she profusely apologized for “being bad” and my heart broke.  Her mother yanked her away from my attempted embrace, as though I were some criminal, and that was the worst.  It had been an all-around shitty night.  Silently, I cursed my best friend for talking me into getting that damn vibrator.  It was nothing but trouble and I barely used it anyway.
    The Sloanes were a very demanding family, and very difficult to please.  Aside from my duties attending to their