Contents
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Other Titles By Chencia
Copyright Chencia C. Higgins © 2019
www.therealchencia.com
Cover: James, GoOnWrite.com
Editing: Patrice, Little Pear Editing
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writers’ imagination, or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locations, or organizations is entirely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews. All rights reserved.
This is thirteen. It’s a bfd.
I have to thank my boo, Kat, for all of the things. Jereth took me through it and she confirmed that it was he—and not I—who was the crazy one. She also mentioned Tonya, too, but let’s not get into that.
To my Regular Friend, thanks for letting me get on your nerves. Your feedback was immeasurable.
Patrice - Girl. You already know.
A special thank you goes out to the organizers of Krewe of Lit and Indie Love. Attending your events this year filled me up where I was empty and I’m forever grateful for all that you do.
And, always.
Thank you, reader, for taking this journey with me.
Chapter One
When You Haven't Found a Real One To Bust It Wide Open For
February 2017
“I swear on Pappy and GamGam’s graves, if you don’t drop that resting bitch face and let one of these fine-ass men around here take you back to their hotel room and fuck the curl pattern from that bomb-ass twist-out on your head, I will piss on you!”
I choked on the combination of cranberry juice and lemon-lime soda that I was sipping on and turned my startled gaze to my sister who seemed to appear out of thin air with her dark brown eyes lasered on my face. Latoya’s—affectionately called Toy by members of our family—perfectly arched eyebrows were raised toward her hairline and her left hand was planted firmly on her hip while her right hand was curled into a fist with her index finger inches away from my face. Slapping away her hand and straightening on the cushioned bar stool I occupied, I patted my chest lightly.
“Nobody wants any parts of your golden showers, you freak.” I shuddered, shaking my head in an attempt to stymie the thought from entering my head.
Toy stuck her pierced tongue out at me, the silver ball in the center catching my attention even from the corner of my eye. “Don’t kink-shame me, bitch. And don’t think you’re going to distract me from what I said; I meant that shit.” She signaled one of the half-dozen bartenders and climbed onto the stool on my right. After placing her order for a frozen margarita and a shot of tequila, she swung her head dramatically in my direction.
“I’m serious; it’s past time to gon’ sweep out them cobwebs with a dick-sized broom.”
“Latoya!” Why the hell were we even having this conversation? We’d come to Las Vegas to celebrate our cousin’s upcoming wedding, not to be fucking all willy nilly.
“Pshh. Don’t try to sound all scandalized on me; I know you.” Shooting me a knowing look over the rim of her frozen drink, she waited for me to deny her words, but all I did was roll my eyes.
She did know me. As my younger sister by only two years, Toy knew me better than anyone and was the yin to my yang. She wasn’t just my sister, she was my best friend, and as my best friend she knew exactly how long it had been since my vaginal walls had felt anything that wasn’t silicone or battery operated. I couldn’t even use work as an excuse since the both of us—along with our baby sister Tasha—had the same job: running Black Coffee, the café that had been started by our parents more than forty years ago. Our parents were getting ready to hand over the keys to the three of us soon, and we were all putting in major work to make the transition as smooth as possible.
On top of work, I had my extremely active pre-teen son to think about. Wisdom was in every club and played every sport offered at his elementary school. Even being a single mother wasn’t an excuse I could honestly cling to, though. Not only was Evan, Wisdom’s father, active in his life and a great co-parent, my baby was the only grandchild of both my and Evan’s family, and he was doted on excessively. If dating were on my mind, I had a tribe I could call on and they’d step in and pick up the slack when I needed time.
That was just it, though. Seriously dating hadn’t been on my mind for quite some time. It wasn’t even like I was averse to the idea of it. In fact, I longed for something new and fun in the form of male company. The problem was that I hadn’t spent any time looking for anyone. Lately, I tended to focus on work and my son and let everything else fall to the wayside. It wasn’t ideal, but it was life, and until our plane landed the day before, I hadn’t realized that anyone else was paying attention to my relationship status—or lack therof.
Sighing, I grabbed at Toy’s glass, flicking her fingers away from their post around the stem and pulling the drink toward me. “You’re right. I’m going to enjoy the rest of this trip, get a little relaxation in, and when we get home, I’ll definitely go on a few dates. Or maybe I’ll join that popular site JustOneNight.com.”
She frowned at me. “The fuck you will! You think I’m gonna let my sister pay for dick? You smoking rocks or something?”
“First of all, that’s not even how that website works. I’m not paying for sex; I’m paying for peace of mind.”
“You ain’t paying for shit!” In the most aggressive way possible, she tossed back her shot and slammed the one-ounce glass on the bar top. Dabbing carefully at her painted lips with a napkin, she glared at me once again. “Don’t worry about it; I got this.”
It all happened so fast; I blinked and she had hopped down from the stool and walked away before I could even bother to take a guess at what she meant.
Chapter Two
When All You Gotta Do Is Say Yes
“This is Vegas, Lee; if we leave this nigga alone for too long, he’s gon’ come back with a midget under his arm and a spider monkey on his shoulder!”
Halting my stride mid-step through the lobby of the five-star hotel and casino that me, Jeremiah, and Lisa were all staying in, I tossed my head back and howled with laughter. “What the fuck, J? First of all, the preferred term is little person, you insensitive-ass muthafucka. Second of all, where did that shit even come from?”
What started out as a cordial conversation about my post-dinner entertainment while walking them back to their room turned into my older brother and his long-time girlfriend attempting to clown me.
“Crazy situations just seem to find you, and your impulsive ass always jumps in feet-first without even stopping to assess.”
He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but I bowed anyway, my face to the floor as I laughed. When I straightened, my eyes met L
isa’s.
“So, you do these things on purpose, then?”
Her tone was light and jovial with a teasing slant to it, but there was an undercurrent of judgment that—although I was used to hearing it from her—did what it always did and grated on my nerves. With a cartoonish wink, I responded, “There is purpose in everything that we do, Lisa.”
Jeremiah snickered while Lisa pursed her lips, no doubt annoyed by my non-answer. “You know what I mean, Jereth. Do you intentionally do impulsive things?”
I opened my mouth to point out that actions done with intention couldn’t—by definition—be classified as impulsive but was cut off when a short, round woman brushed past me so quickly that I had to take a step back to maintain my balance. Turning to see where the fire was, I was surprised when the woman glanced back at us, long, golden hair whipping around her face as she stopped abruptly as if she had stepped into cement. Her mouth gaped open and she reversed direction, rushing toward us. Coming to a stop a few feet in front of me, small hands dropped to wide hips as big, brown eyes raked over mine and my brother’s bodies. If the assessing look in her eyes had held a smidge more heat, I would have felt violated.
“Oh my god!” she breathed. “Y’all are fine as hell!” Her tone was low; it was almost like she was speaking to herself.
Man, there was something about this city that imbued transients with an emboldened spirit that never ceased to bring me amusement. Uncertain of a fitting response to her observation, I laughingly issued my thanks.
“Um, excuse me?” Lisa glared at the woman who managed to spare her a quick look before refocusing on us.
“My bad, sis. I meant no disrespect.” She pointed at J and me, but it was clear she was speaking to Lisa. “Please tell me they’re your brothers.”
Lisa propped a hand on her hip, but J quickly wrapped his arms around her, and before she could get herself worked up, he set the woman straight.
“The only single person here is him.”
She followed his nod over to me. With a hand propped on one hip, she asked, “How single are you?”
Once again, I was interrupted before I could speak, Lisa choosing to answer the question for me. “No wife, no fiancé, no girlfriend, no kids.”
Chuckling, I shook my head, dragging the back of my thumb across my bottom lip. They called me impulsive yet here they were, thoughtlessly spouting off stats, selling me off to this strange woman for some unknown reason. “Thanks, Lee.” My…sister-in-law—for lack of a better fitting title—aimed a wide smile in my direction.
The woman tossed her straight, golden locks over her shoulder and narrowed her dark-brown eyes at me. “Fine and single? What’s wrong with you?”
This time, no one spoke before or over me. I smiled. “Apparently, I’m impulsive.”
To my surprise, the woman’s round cheeks swelled as she smiled in approval. “So, you’re perfect, then.”
My head canted to the side in partial humility. “Eh.”
Jeremiah laughed while his woman rolled her eyes, a smirk pasted on her lips. “Typical, arrogant Jer.”
I’ll be that. Sweeping my eyes back to the woman, I took in her appearance. With flat sandals on her feet, she looked to be the same height as Lisa who was no more than five-five. Her golden hair didn’t provide much contrast to her tanned, peanut butter-brown skin, but the strapless lime-green dress wrapped around her plump frame took on the job and excelled at it. She was cute—and bold—and I was intrigued.
“So, what’s up with you? What’s going on?
White teeth flashed at me as she smiled. “Okay, check it. My sister hasn’t had sex in like five years—”
“What?!” Lisa gasped and Jeremiah coughed through a shocked laugh.
She took the word right out of my mouth. Frowning, just that fast my interest began to wane. This sounded like the beginning of a poorly directed skin-flick accompanied by bad acting, and I wanted no parts of it. The woman held up her hands.
“Wait, wait, wait! Before you say no, just hear me out.”
“Nah, I’m gonna have to go ahead and stop you right there. It sounds like you’re trying to pimp your sister out, and I refuse to be involved with some crazy shit like that. I’d tell you good luck but…” My brows lifted in a shrug, and I made a move to go around her, averting my eyes so as not to be snared by the defeated slump of her shoulders.
“I understand.”
I edged around her, following Jeremiah and Lisa who’d already stepped away when the woman whipped around.
“Wait!”
Lisa groaned. “We should have ran away.”
Jeremiah chuckled. “Why? She seems determined to have someone…do her sister, and it looks like she wants Jereth to be that someone.”
“I’m not fucking that girl’s sister,” I muttered.
“Oh yeah?” he questioned slyly. “Better make sure she understands that.”
The woman scurried the fifteen yards over to us, hips swaying with each step and attracting more than a couple of appreciative looks her way, not that she seemed to notice.
“Okay. Sex is out of the question. I get it, but can you just…I don’t know…just sit with her—keep her company or something until I find someone willing to fuck a complete stranger, no strings attached?”
My brows shot toward the roof. Was it that damn serious? “Real talk, what’s the deal? Why are you out here trolling for dick on the low?”
She huffed. “This is Las Vegas; if she’s going to let her hair down anywhere, I figured it would be somewhere that no one knows her—where she doesn’t have to worry about seeing the guy at work the next day or at the grocery store. It’s called Sin City for a reason, and she’s been a saint for too long. I’m just trying to help her get down and dirty.”
Arms folded across my chest, I looked down at the persistent woman. “What’s your name?”
“Latoya.”
“Is this your older sister or younger sister?”
“She’s older.”
“Does she know you’re out here tryna find her a bedmate?”
She grinned, causing those already puffy cheeks to inflate. “I told her…”
“But she didn’t believe you?”
She didn’t answer but her continued grin told me I hit the nail on the head. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
Her eyes widened.
“Jereth!”
Ignoring Lisa’s protest, I stared intently at Latoya, waiting on her reaction to my concession.
“You’ll give her the ole razzle-dazzle?!”
“The what?” I burst out laughing. “Hell no! I’ll chill with her until you find somebody else or decide to give it a rest and let your sister be a nun in peace. You’re getting twenty minutes of my time. Thirty tops.”
“Really?” Her brown eyes sparkled.
“Yeah. I got you.”
Something about her earnestness appealed to me. My two brothers meant the world to me; I would do anything for them—move heaven and hell if I could—so I recognized the love she obviously had for her sister, and it made me want to meet the woman who sparked this type of dedicated craziness. Ten years earlier, it would have been just my type of craziness, but I liked to think I’d mellowed out in my ripe old age of thirty-five.
I glanced at my big brother. Although J’s eyes were wide with surprise, his mouth was curved into an amused grin. This is exactly the type of shit he was just talking about, and all I could do was shrug. Lisa, on the other hand, had disapproval set into her quirked brow and tilted neck. I wanted to roll my eyes; without a doubt, her mouth would open at any second and voice her unsolicited, narrow-ass point of view. Since that was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear, I spoke quickly, facing the still smiling woman whose eyes had yet to leave me.
“Let’s go.”
Victory danced in her eyes, and I couldn’t help but smirk at Lisa’s gasp. I turned to slap J’s hand, letting myself be pulled into a hug.
“Be careful.”
I n
odded at his warning. “Always. I’ll get at you.” He’d hear from me before the night was over, no matter how it turned out.
He returned my nod and grabbed Lisa’s hand to hold her in place while I followed Latoya through the lobby and into the casino, toward the bar that took up a large portion of the back wall of the 6,500 square foot room. In the center of the long, crescent-shaped bar sat a lone woman with an empty seat on either side of her. It didn’t take long for me to realize that she was who the “recruiter” was headed for.
“TT!” Latoya sang, garnering the attention of the seated woman just as we were within arm’s reach. She spun in her seat, eyes widening when they noticed me.
“This is my sister, Tonya. TT, this is—” Latoya paused. “Jared, right?”
Smiling, I shook my head. She must have heard Lisa say my name. “Jereth. With a T-H.”
“TT, this is Jereth with a T-H. He’s here to keep you company until I return.” She grabbed my arm and gently pulled me closer, pushing me toward an unoccupied bar stool. “Come on, sit.”
I sat at the stool I was directed to and turned to take a good look at the woman occupying the seat on my right.
Wow.
The first thing that caught my eye was the nest of thick, riotous, corkscrew curls that framed her oval face. The black strands were streaked with the same golden color that covered her sister’s head and were lustrous and long, managing to sweep past her shoulders, even in the curly style. An orange, sleeveless blouse revealed the same smooth, brown skin of her thick but toned arms, and a quick glance at her moisturized hands noted the absence of a ring or tan line on her fourth finger. I knew better than anyone that the lack of ring didn’t mean shit these days, but it had become a habit I’d yet to break.
Sighing, she quickly slid her eyes over to me before glancing away and simultaneously bringing her glass to her lips. If she thought that drink would hide that alluring smile, she was mistaken. With skin just a couple of shades lighter than my own mahogany hue with a warm, olive tint, she managed to look effervescent even at nearly one in the morning. That was a feat if ever there was one.
To Break a Vow Page 1
