by S. K. Hardy
Darrell tried to ignore the caution bells going off in his head. He agreed, it was all about instinct; his had served him well more times than he could remember, and right about now, everything in him agreed with what Lorenzo just said.
“I don’t know, I…” He thought about Jerra and the situation they were going through. “I’ll think about it.”
Lorenzo nodded. “Good. Besides, I’d like to meet my sister soon. Even if you decide not to come to New York to see Isaac, I’d appreciate an introduction to her.”
Darrell immediately shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Lorenzo’s face closed up and his body stiffened. “That wasn’t a question, and I damn sure wasn’t asking for your permission. I just thought it might be easier on Gabrielle if you were there. I plan on meeting her… with or without you.”
A hard edge crept into Darrell’s voice. “I don’t want her associated with the Pattels. I don’t care how that sounds I’m only concerned with Gabby’s safety.” Darrell glared at Lorenzo through thinly slit eyes. “Stay away from her.”
Although Renzo’s eyes burned with anger, his lips turned up in a taunting grin. “Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but I don’t take orders from you. Gabrielle is just as much my sister as she is yours, so I will meet her. It goes without saying I’ll make sure she’s protected. I’ve lived my entire life taking precautions and flying below the radar so as not to draw unwanted attention to my family or myself. I don’t need you to give me a crash course.”
Darrell’s jaw twitched repeatedly as the two men held each other’s gazes. As stubborn as they were, neither intended to look away first.
Sighing impatiently, Angel straightened from the corner of the desk where he’d been sitting. “I promised my wife she and I would have dinner at a fairly decent hour tonight, so you two will need to find somewhere else to finish this standoff. Darrell, I think there’s something you need to take care of at home, yes? And Renzo, you should call Isaac to find out exactly what the hell he’s talking about. At least you’ll have a better idea of what’s going on.”
Reluctantly, Darrell broke the stare down. “This subject is closed. Stay away from Gabby.”
Lorenzo’s lips tightened, but he let Darrell’s statement go without comment. He’d said his piece and didn’t feel the need to reiterate. However, just before Darrell walked out, he couldn’t quell the urge to provoke him one last time.
“See you tomorrow…little brother.”
Darrell paused and looked back. If looks truly had the power to kill, his would have obliterated Lorenzo into a pile of nothingness right where he stood. He was goading him to react and they both knew it. With a superhuman effort he managed to find from somewhere, Darrell forced himself to turn and walk out the door without another word.
CHAPTER 8
“He did what?” Aleesha lowered her voice to a hissing whisper when Addy stirred in her crib. “Hold on, Jerra.”
Aleesha placed the pacifier back in the baby’s mouth, smiling when her little mouth latched on to it and started suckling furiously. Rubbing her back in a gentle motion, Aleesha let out a quiet sigh when Addy almost immediately fell back into a peaceful slumber.
Turning, she glanced at Marcus Stephen and saw that he was still fast asleep. After pulling the blanket up around him, Aleesha made sure the baby monitor was on then tiptoed out of the room.
Once she closed the door behind her, she brought the phone up to her ear. “I’m back. Jerra, tell me Darrell did not call her.”
“You heard me, Leesh. And if I hadn’t checked the cell phone bill, I never would have known it because he sure as hell had no intentions on telling me.”
Aleesha could hear the stress in Jerra’s usually calm voice. Walking into her bedroom, she glanced at Marcus, shaking her head in amusement when she saw how soaked his shirt was. While she’d taken care of the babies and put them down for the night, he’d seen to Olivia and Dillon’s bath and gotten them ready for bed. They were more than likely asleep now, but Aleesha would look in on them in a moment.
Marcus followed her gaze, grinning back at her before stripping the wet shirt off and heading for the bathroom. Momentarily distracted by the loping swagger of his sexy walk, and the sight of his wide, contoured back, it took a moment to realize that Jerra was still talking. Aleesha forced her attention back to the conversation.
Jerra had called Aleesha to find out if she’d spoken to Keisha lately. The last time either of them talked to her was a couple of days ago when Dominick made it home safely. They knew her priority was making sure Dom was okay and looking after the children, so they hadn’t wanted to bother her. After they established that she would call when she had a chance, Jerra had told Aleesha about Darrell calling Roni.
“And when I confronted him, he had the nerve to act condescending, said that I was overreacting.”
Aleesha shook her head, her eyes on Marcus as he came out of the bathroom and went to his bureau to grab a pair of clean underwear. “I can’t say that I’m surprised he used that tactic. Men are so good at trying to shift the blame from themselves when they know they’re in the wrong.”
Marcus looked over his shoulder and stared at her with a frown, but feeling Jerra’s outrage, Aleesha cut her eyes away from him and started taking the mound of pillows off the bed as she continued to listen.
“Aleesha, it was worse than the last argument we had about this same issue when he went to see her. I…I told him to get out.”
Aleesha paused in the act of reaching for another pillow. “Wait. You kicked him out?”
Marcus’ frown was now one of concern. He came over and stood in front of Aleesha. “Who? D?”
Eyes wide, Aleesha looked up at him and nodded.
“Why? What happened?” Marcus asked.
“Jerra found out Darrell has been calling Roni.”
“What?” Marcus shook his head, immediately dismissing Aleesha’s statement. “Nah, she’s gotta be mistaken.”
Jerra cut in. “Leesh, you may as well put me on speaker.”
Once Aleesha complied, Marcus didn’t waste time with pleasantries. “Jerra, what’s going on?”
“When was the last time you talked to him, Marcus?”
“A couple of days ago when Dominick made it back safely, but it was a brief call.”
“Between Dominick getting kidnapped, and you guys bringing the babies and the kids home, he probably felt it wasn’t a good time to tell you. I just found out everything today, and that was only because he was more or less forced to,” she said with a twinge of accusation in her voice.
“He didn’t want to tell me what? Jerra, talk to me.”
Marcus was silent as she proceeded to give him a rundown of Darrell finding out the identity of his father from Tina a couple of weeks ago. When she got to the part where Tina also told him he wasn’t her first child, Marcus’ eyebrows shot up.
“Hold up, what?”
“Apparently, she had a son a year or so before she had Darrell, but Isaac more or less forced her to let him and his wife raise him.”
The further Jerra got into the story, the more incredulous Marcus’ face became. Before she even finished relaying Darrell’s reason for calling Roni, Marcus already had it figured out.
“So Darrell called Roni to find out what she could tell him about the Pattels since she’s dealt with them in the past.”
Jerra sputtered on the other end. “That’s what he said, but it’s kind of a simplification of the facts–”
“Do you think he’s lying?”
“Well no, but–”
“Good. Because you know as well as I do that, one, Darrell loves you more than anything in this world. You and D.J. mean everything to him.”
“But, Marcus–”
“And two, Darrell’s never lied to you about the situation with Roni.” Marcus gentled his tone. “Honey, believe me, if he had feelings for Roni like that or was conflicted about his marriage, he would sit yo
u down and tell you. That’s the bottom line.”
“The same way he sat me down and told me he called her, Marcus?” Jerra said sharply. “Let’s not misstate the facts here. He kept this from me because he knew he was wrong. If he felt he needed to get information from her, he should have come to me first. Before he called her. Better yet, give me a chance to determine if I could’ve helped him, which it turns out I definitely could have being that I met his brother years ago in law school.”
“What?” Marcus and Aleesha exclaimed in shock at the same time.
They both started shooting one question after another at Jerra until the story came out about how she came to know Lorenzo. By the time she got to the part about Renzo showing up on their doorstep earlier that day, Marcus was shaking his head in disbelief.
“Let me get this straight, Jerra. After everything the man has gone through in the last few weeks, which includes finding out about his father, discovering a brother he knew nothing about, then having that brother show up outta nowhere…you kicked him out the house?”
“Save it, Marcus.” Jerra’s voice trembled with fury. “Of course you’re going to take his side, but I don’t want to hear it. Yes, I kicked him out because it hurts too much to look at his lying face right now. I’m tired of dealing with this with him. I forgave him once already. How many women do you know would take their husband back so easily after he basically ran to his old girlfriend because of ‘unresolved issues’ he felt needed ‘closure’ to?”
“Come on, Jerra, now who’s misstating and oversimplifying facts?” Marcus ignored the daggers Aleesha was shooting him with her eyes.
“You would think that.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you started all of it. You couldn’t wait to call him and tell him you’d seen Roni while you were in Aruba, could you?”
“So we’re back to that now?”
“I’m just saying that you’re always going to have Darrell’s back and put his best interest above mine, but I’m not going to let you make me the bad guy in all of this. Anything you have to say about the subject doesn’t hold any weight with me because I know where your loyalties lie.”
“That is so far from the truth it’s laughable. You know I call Darrell on his shit whenever I think he’s wrong about something. Was he wrong in not coming to you first, or telling you about the phone call to Roni? Yes. He made a mistake. You kick him out of the house and threaten to divorce him over a mistake, Jerra?”
“Marcus, that’s enough!” Aleesha snapped.
He exhaled loudly. “Where is he now?”
It was obvious Jerra was making an effort to control her anger, but her tone carried a definite chill. “Angel called for both he and Lorenzo to come to his house a couple of hours ago.”
“Angel? So he knew about…” Marcus blew out a long breath and then pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “Of course he did. I’m going to try and call him. Do you need anything, J., anything you need me to do?”
“No, thank you.” Jerra’s firm response was brief and decidedly distant.
Marcus grimaced. From Jerra’s tone and the way his wife glared at him, he knew he was in deep shit with both of them. “J., listen…”
“Aleesha, I’ll talk to you later,” she cut in. “Goodnight.” Moments later, the line went dead.
Aleesha couldn’t keep the astonishment from her face. “What’s wrong with you? Why would you attack her like that when she’s going through something so horrible?”
“Come on, Aleesha, I didn’t attack her. I sympathize with both sides, but do I think Jerra overreacted? Yeah, I do.”
“You know what, Marcus, I’m inclined to agree with Jerra. No matter what, you’re always going to take Darrell’s side, right or wrong.”
Marcus shook his head, trying to contain his impatience. “No, that’s not what he and I do, it’s what you and your girls do…and you’re proving it now.” He dialed Darrell’s number and brought the phone up to his ear.
Seeing Aleesha readying to bombard him with a rebuttal that was sure to turn into an argument, Marcus silenced her with one look. “Not now, Aleesha. We’ll talk about it later.”
She stared at him for a long moment, her gaze drilling into him like a pin sticking a butterfly to a board. With a hard roll of her eyes, Aleesha snatched the baby monitor from the nightstand and angrily stalked to the master bathroom.
Marcus shook his head after she slammed the door behind her, but when Darrell answered the phone, he gave his attention to the call. “D., whattup. It’s Marcus.”
Darrell let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. “No shit. What’s up, bruh?”
“I just got off the phone with Jerra. You wanna tell me what’s goin’ on?”
Silence greeted Marcus’ statement for a moment before Darrell answered. “It’s complicated.”
“Where you at, man? You still at Angel’s?”
“Nah, I left a little while ago. Just ridin’ around, trying to clear my head some, ya’ know?”
“Why don’t you come and crash here for a couple of days? You can have one of the suites on the other side of the house so that you’ll have some privacy.”
“I appreciate the offer, Marcus. No offense, but I just want to be alone right now.”
“D., why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“You had your hands full with your family. I know you would’ve been there for me, even if it was only to let me bend your ear, but I didn’t want to intrude on your time like that.”
“You know what, I outta whip your ass on principle alone just for thinking some stupid shit like that.”
This time, Darrell’s laughter was more genuine. “Sorry, man. My bad.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know, Marcus. I fucked up, man. I guess Jerra told you about me calling Roni?”
“Yeah, but I told her I could see where you were going with that. It makes sense that you would call her for information, especially after Bryan told you she’d just recently met a member of the family.”
“Swear to God, that’s all I was thinkin’ about. I understand why Jerra is upset, I do, but for her to go this far?”
Darrell shook his head as he pulled up to one of several high-rise luxury condominium towers his company constructed in the city. Located in a prime area of Vegas, the tower was within walking distance to high-end shops and boutiques, restaurants, nightclubs, and casinos. It was a mecca for young, single, professionals who had the world at their fingertips, as well as ballers who kept a place in Vegas for whenever they came out to enjoy the amenities the city had to offer.
He hadn’t even realized he’d been driving in that direction, but at the last minute took the exit that would lead him there. The condos were exorbitantly expensive; the units had sold before they’d even completed construction. He and Carl were in the process of building another similar to this one. Construction hadn’t even started and already half of those units were gone as well.
At first, they’d kept a couple of the condos in this particular building with the intention of using them as models to show potential buyers, but after Jerra fell in love with the space, Darrell had decided to keep one as a getaway for them. Carl and his wife had one as well. Darrell figured he’d just crash there, at least for tonight, and then decide what to do tomorrow.
“She’s just upset,” Marcus was saying. “Give her time to calm down.”
“I don’t know, bruh. It was bad.”
Darrell pulled into the assigned parking spot and got out of his sports car. Once inside the lobby, he nodded to the twenty-four hour security guard who greeted him by name and walked to the glass elevators that took him up to the 42nd floor. When the doors slid open, Darrell made a right and continued on until he got to his destination. By the time he unlocked the front door, he had finished telling Marcus about Lorenzo and the subsequent conversation he’d had with Isaac.
“Is he crazy
?” Marcus exclaimed. “He wants you to come to New York because of some bullshit story like that?”
“Same thing I said.” Darrell closed and locked the door behind him. Stuffing his keys in his pocket, he flipped a light on, moving further into the living room and looking around.
The sleek, but elegant, open plan three-bedroom condo was a virtual showpiece, that was for sure. Detail and imagination had gone into each and every square inch of it. Each wall of the unit was floor to ceiling glass that offered a breathtaking view of the lit up city at night, and served to let in plenty of sunlight during the day. A focal point of the spacious living room was a huge, slate fountain that continuously spewed a sheet of soothing, rippling water. The fountain had been Jerra’s idea, and the result brought a peaceful, calming effect to the room.
The recessed lighting and crown molding gave the space a modern, contemporary feel, as did the beautiful hardwood floors and built-in fireplace. The clean lines of the furnishings provided ample seating space that was chic yet comfortable. The overall effect of the room was simply stunning.
Although the décor was inviting and tastefully done, Darrell did little more than give it a perfunctory once over. He didn’t plan on being there for more than a couple of days.
“So what’s your brother like?” Marcus asked. “Must be a weird feeling to find out you have another family out there. I know how I felt when I finally found Alexis after searching for her for so many years.”
“Lorenzo seems cool enough I guess. Kind of a smart ass, though.”
“Must be an inherited trait,” Marcus mumbled under his breath.
“Whateva, man,” Darrell grinned. “Can’t say I look at him as a brother or anything, but I can see the resemblance,” he admitted. “Scary as fuck.”
“Kind of surreal Jerra knowing him from back in the day.”
Darrell was slow to answer. “Yeah. I don’t know, I think something’s up with that.”
“What do you mean? You think they…”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s me, but I sure as hell asked her about it. She skirted the question and never gave me an answer that I’m satisfied with, but I plan on revisiting that subject again.”
