Church Boyz--Book 4 (After the Rain)

by H. H. Fowler

  Leroy pulled his arm away from Ellie as Michelle and Brenda were entering the lobby. “Then why didn’t you inform me that she was coming?”

  “Leroy, please…” Ellie pleaded. “I love you.”

  “Don’t touch me,” Leroy said. “I should have known that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You’re as wicked as your sister, Shaniece.”

  Assuming that it was Ellie who’d instructed her to meet at this location, Michelle immediately began to search for that immature little girl, hoping to give her a good tongue lashing that would last for a lifetime. However, her eyes first landed on her husband, which sent a jolt of shock through her body. Didn’t Leroy say that he was at the church? What is he doing here at the MOSI? Lord, please, I can’t go through this again…She completely froze when her gaze finally zeroed in on a woman standing adjacent to Leroy, who she recognized as Ellisa Benjamin.

  Leroy approached Michelle with caution. “Honey, before you jump to any conclusions, please let me explain what is going on.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Two years ago, had Michelle walked up on this compromising scene, she would have already jumped to a conclusion, resulting in Leroy receiving a stinging slap. Instead, she sized up Ellie and determined that her husband deserved the benefit of the doubt. The fact that Ellie showed up at Leroy’s birthday party uninvited after being inaccessible for so long, suggested to Michelle that Ellie had a plan all along. But Michelle was not entirely sold on the idea that her husband had been completely honest with her. She still felt there was some measure of betrayal. The least Leroy could have done was tell her that Ellie had tried to contact him and by the looks of it, she had succeeded.

  With her eyes still pinned on Ellie, Michelle replied, “I don’t want you to explain anything, Leroy. It’s clear that this young lady wants to start some trouble. So let her do the explaining.”

  “I never meant to cause any trouble,” Ellie said. “I simply want what is best for my child.”

  “And what is best for you, right?” Michelle shook out of her stupor and got right into Ellie’s face. “You intentionally tried to play me against my husband. A very manipulative move that you hoped would work in your favor. But I’m sorry to tell you, young lady, you’re just making a complete fool of yourself. I always knew someday you would pop up on the radar and use your child as a pawn to trap my husband.”

  “How dare you call my child a spawn?” Ellie spat. “Do you even know what a spawn is? That’s like saying my son is a spawn of the devil and I resent that.”

  What kind of nonsense was that? Michelle almost laughed, but the situation was too serious for her to make a joke out of it. “My dear girl, if you can’t even understand the simple words I’ve just said to you, you have no business playing these silly games. You’re out of your league.”

  Ellie’s smirk almost made Michelle lose it right there in the lobby of the museum. She was certain Ellie got the message, but just in case she didn’t, Michelle repeated herself using words impossible for Ellie to misconstrue.

  “Stop trying to use your son to come between me and my husband or I promise you will be sharing that prison cell with your revolting sister. I hope I don’t need to express myself any clearer than that.”

  Brenda shared a look with Mackey that said they’d better get the Paxtons out of this public place before the scene ended up on the six o’clock news. But to Brenda’s enjoyment, Michelle suddenly gripped Leroy’s hand and began to pull him toward the exit.

  “If you want a meeting with me or my husband,” Michelle tossed behind her back at Ellie, “do things in the proper way by making an appointment with the church. And we will decide whether or not it is necessary to meet with you or with our legal counsel. Because this little stunt you’ve just pulled today has killed whatever little respect I had for you.”

  Ellie allowed Leroy and Michelle to walk away without protesting. She was too hurt to respond anyway. Even if she had, her words would have only come out sounding stupid, making her a doormat for Michelle to trample on. That smirk had been her only saving grace to mask her real emotions. How dare Michelle refer her to the church to make appointments? This was not a routine business meeting. This was Leroy’s child and Ellie felt she had every right to demand Leroy’s time – without going through a wall of bodyguards and office assistants. Who the heck did Michelle think she was? Ellie had never hated anyone as much as she hated Michelle in that moment.

  She dabbed her eyes with the backs of her hands to stop her tears from falling. It quickly dawned on Ellie that she wasn’t half as good as her sister when it came down to plotting and manipulating a situation. If she wanted to win this battle against the Paxtons, she had better swallow her pride and sit at Shaniece’s feet to learn the required skills. It was evident the Paxtons weren’t afraid of her.

  ****

  Leroy sent Mackey to drive along with Brenda, so that he and his wife could have the Escalade to themselves. Like a mute, Michelle sat silently in the passenger seat. Dozens of questions were flying through her mind as she tried to make sense of what she’d just walked into. Sure she’d defended her marriage and had seen through Ellie’s evil plot, but it did not bring her any peace about the situation. She had a sneaking suspicion that Leroy had been keeping something from her.

  But maybe she shouldn’t be too hard on Leroy, because she too had decided to keep Ellie’s visit to the mansion a secret, at least until she’d had a chance to speak with Ellie. And even then, Michelle wasn’t sure she would have said anything to Leroy. Ever since Ellie had moved back to Brandon, Florida with Leroy Jr., Michelle could sense her husband’s growing desire to be with his six-year-old son. It wasn’t fair, Michelle thought, that she was being forced to share her husband’s affections with another woman’s son.

  But then again, she’d asked herself repeatedly, why wouldn’t her husband be concerned about Ellie’s son? Regardless of the ungodly way the child had been conceived, that child was Leroy’s too, who unquestionably had inherited the Paxtons’ flawless genes. Michelle really did not want to seem like the wicked stepmother. It was hard to forgive Leroy when he’d broken their marriage vows with a fifteen-year-old girl. But the fact was she had forgiven Leroy; shouldn’t she have enough love in her heart to accept the child that had been produced from that union? But it wasn’t that simple. Seeing Ellie or that child not only reminded Michelle of Leroy’s unfaithfulness, but also of how much she’d gone through to get over her pain.

  “I’m sorry,” Leroy said, breaking the silence. They were five minutes into their commute on I-75, heading to their eight thousand square foot mansion. “I should have told you that I was meeting with Ellie. You have to believe me when I say that I’d always planned to tell you.”

  The soft way Leroy spoke to Michelle began to disarm her coldness toward him. She turned and stared at him, amazed at how handsome her husband appeared for his age. “We are keeping secrets again, Leroy and that really disturbs me,” she said. “You know it starts small, thinking we can handle it, but before we’re even aware of it, we’re caught up in a web of lies and deceit. I don’t want us going back there. Ellie has returned and there’s no use in us pretending that she’s going away anytime soon. Let’s deal with this situation out in the open.”

  Michelle paused, seemingly to get Leroy’s reaction; he simply nodded his response. He was too busy butchering his mind over how he was going to explain to his wife that Ellie didn’t contact him just that afternoon, but had been sending him illicit emails over the last six months.

  Michelle continued, “From this point on I want us to always be upfront with each other – no matter how small the issue may seem at the time. If we think it’s gonna affect our marriage in any way, we should talk about it.”

  Leroy mumbled, “Agreed.”

  Michelle was thrown off by her husband’s unusual succinctness. The fact that he wouldn’t take his eyes off the road for a second to look at her only added to her suspicion. Her heart rate
had already started to elevate when she asked in a clipped tone, “There’s more, isn’t there?”

  Leroy’s mouth opened and then closed when he heard Michelle’s cell begin to ring. He breathed a sigh of relief when she looked down and fished in her purse to answer it. The conversation appeared serious and within less than two minutes, Michelle’s expression morphed through a myriad of emotions. She disconnected from the line with tears threatening to gush from her eyes.

  “What is it?” Leroy inquired.

  “My mother has had symptoms of a heart attack…”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “The doctor won’t tell me. Take me to the hospital to see her.”

  Leroy’s grip tightened around the steering wheel as he swerved two lanes to the right and applied pressure on the accelerator. In the back of Leroy’s mind, he knew at some point that he would have to tell Michelle the complete truth about Ellie and his true feelings toward his six-year-old son. Michelle wasn’t going to let him rest until he did.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The following Tuesday morning, with just a towel tightened around his freshly showered body, Eric descended the steps in search of food. Yesterday around this time, the kitchen was buzzing with activity; to see how lifeless it was today was a stark reminder of the inconsistencies in his family. And it shows plainly how much they care whether or not I leave for Denver. Well, he was not going to brood over it. The way everyone had been getting down on his behavior, he was relieved to be leaving anyway. He made a bowl of cereal and decided to eat it on his way back to his room.

  Without warning, it was knocked completely out of his hands as he banked one portion of the hall. Eric’s confusion showed in his gaze when it leveled with a stunned Rachel, who seemed to have been distracted with something on her Google Nexus 5. Slowly, their eyes found his towel, unhinged from his body and now soaking up the spill. Eric smirked at his good fortune. Had he not been wearing briefs beneath the towel, his precious jewels would have given Rachel a severe jolt – which, on second thought, would have been just fine with him.

  “You can relax now,” he told Rachel. “The world isn’t coming to an end because you knocked a silly bowl out of my hands.”

  Rachel frowned. “But you bumped into me.”

  “It doesn’t matter. If my brother catches you ogling my naked body, he’s going to be quite upset, don’t you think?”

  Rachel gasped at the pompous attitude being display in front of her. “Oh my word! You are so full of yourself. I was not staring at you.”

  “Oh yeah? What color briefs am I wearing?”

  Rachel’s eyes dithered, almost falling for Eric’s trick. “You do know that you’re totally being disrespectful to me and your brother, right?”

  “How so, when you were bathing me with your stares in the kitchen yesterday? I see that same look in your eyes right now, wishing that I would French kiss you.”

  “Newsflash, Eric, you are so not my type. As a matter of fact, I’m repulsed by your arrogance. Sex isn’t everything, you know?”

  “Who said anything about sex?”

  “You alluded to it.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “Yes you did.”

  “No…I didn’t.”

  “Oh God, I really don’t have time for this.”

  Eric grinned because he had Rachel exactly where he wanted her. Too scared to make the first move and too embarrassed to admit the truth. “So, back to the question at hand. Do you or do you not?”

  “Do I what?”

  “Want me to French kiss you?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “You sound so stupid saying that. I swear, you’re unbelievable!”

  Rachel hadn’t the chance to escape Eric’s mesmerizing spell. He drew her into his chest so fast that the hall felt as if it were spinning. That was when he leaned in and pushed his tongue between the softness of her lips. His huge hands travelled upward until they found her breasts, giving them a gentle squeeze as he deepened the kiss. Rachel felt her entire body stiffen with desire, which was a sure sign that Eric had been right all along. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  Eric suddenly pulled back and smirked. “You’re no virgin,” he stated, his eyes half-closed with lust. “Why did you lie to my brother?”

  Rachel couldn’t recover fast enough to respond. Her toes were still tingling from the sensation when she heard Sean’s voice echoing from downstairs in the foyer.

  “Rachel! What’s taking you so long, girl?”

  She leaned over the decorative railing, finally gathering her wits. “Give me a minute! I had a bit of trouble finding your cell phone.”

  “Well, hurry up! We have to stop at the hospital before we meet with the florist.”

  Eric stood next to Rachel, furtively resting a palm on Rachel’s buttocks. “Wait for me, knucklehead. I need a ride to the airport.”

  “What time do you have to be there? I have several errands to run.”

  Eric could sense the annoyance in his brother’s voice, but he couldn’t care less. He was not about to spend sixty bucks for a taxi. Besides, riding along with Sean and Rachel would give Eric a little more time to mess with Rachel’s head.

  “My plane leaves in four hours,” Eric responded. “Plenty of time for you to run your little errands.”

  “I will be outside waiting on you,” Sean said, his gaze becoming suspicious at how close Eric was standing to his fiancée, which would have been okay had Eric been wearing something more appropriate. “But do me a favor, send my woman downstairs, because I don’t trust you one minute alone with her – especially with you parading around in your underwear.”

  Eric laughed. “If you are so certain of Rachel’s commitment to you, my little brother, you have nothing to be concerned about.” He turned and smirked at Rachel. “Would you say that I’m right, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law?”

  Rachel bristled with guilt, knowing Sean was going to pester her with questions. She, of course, could not tell Sean that his brother had just shoved his tongue nearly to the back of her throat, which she’d tried her hardest not to enjoy, but had failed miserably. Sean would know by the shame in her eyes that she’d broken their trust. She tore away from Eric’s side and quickly made her way down the grand staircase.

  She slipped into the passenger seat of Sean’s Dodge Viper, internally butchering herself for letting perversion rule her body. That was so ungodly and uncharacteristic of her holy standards that she wondered what other evils could be locked away in her wicked little soul. And just as Rachel had predicted, the first words out of Sean’s mouth had to do with Eric.

  “I don’t trust my brother,” he said.

  Rachel rubbed Sean’s arm in a comforting manner, though she feared Sean could tell that her fingers were shaking. “That is not a nice thing to say.”

  “You need to understand, when it comes down to women, my brother doesn’t know where to draw the line. Why was he walking around in his underwear?”

  “Well, there was a towel wrapped around his waist, but I accidentally bumped into him and it dropped.”

  “But he should have picked it up and wrapped it back.”

  “Don’t get bent out of shape for nothing,” Rachel said. “Know that I love you and that we will be married in a short couple of months.”

  Sean grew silent for a minute before he built up the courage to ask, “Did he make a move on you?”

  Rachel’s throat tightened. Why would Sean ask such a question if he didn’t already suspect something happened between her and Eric? Play it cool, girl. He might just be fishing for answers. “I wouldn’t let your brother do anything he isn’t supposed to do,” she said. “You know that.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really. I love you and only you.”

  There was something in Rachel’s tone that Sean didn’t like, but he decided to let the issue slide for now, since his cocky brother was making his way toward the car. Where had that sulky attitude of his gone
all of a sudden? Sean feared that it had everything to do with his beautiful fiancée.

  “Sorry to keep you guys waiting.” Eric plunged down in the backseat, putting his small suitcase in the empty space next to him. “Everyone is out and I don’t want to chance getting stuck here without a ride to the airport.”

  Sean shook his head. “Why does the focus have to always be on you? Our grandmother is in the hospital, fighting for her life and all you can think about is getting away from everyone?”

  “What are you going on about?” Eric inquired.

  “Don’t play dumb. I was knocking on your bedroom door for the longest, but you wouldn’t unlock it. Mom and Dad have been at the hospital all night.”

  “I didn’t hear anyone knocking on my door,” Eric said. “And besides I probably wasn’t home anyway. I locked my door because I don’t want anyone going through my things.”

  “Why the heck would anyone want to go through your things?”

  “Don’t lose your cool with me for something stupid,” Eric said. “Just tell me what’s going on with our grandmother.”

  “You don’t really care, so why should I tell you anything?”

  Sean reversed through the gates into the street and then slammed his foot on the accelerator. The Viper leaped forward from 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds.

  For the second time, Rachel touched Sean’s arm in that comforting manner she usually employed. “Slow down, Sean. We have a lot of time to make it to the hospital and wherever else we have to go.”

  Rachel’s advice went in one ear and out the other, as Sean was already annoyed by her evasive behavior. He applied more pressure to the accelerator, causing the Viper to shift into another gear.

  “Sean, please, slow down,” Rachel pleaded, “before we are pulled over by the police.”

  “You should listen to your girl, moron,” Eric warned. “You gonna get us all killed.”

  “This is my car,” Sean spat. “Mine!”