by S. K. Hardy
He looked up at Darrell. Several seconds passed before he slowly moved the gun out of the terrified man’s face.
“Looks like this is your lucky night. The next person you decide to fuck with might not be so generous,” he told him, slipping the gun back into the black ankle holster. He stared down at the man in disgust before glancing at Darrell. “Ready to go, Cous’?”
Grimacing, Darrell nodded. When they passed one of the men moaning on the floor, Hawk kicked him in the side, then stepped over him before heading to the entrance. Darrell whispered to one of the bouncers to make sure Jake took care of the security tape. The last thing they needed was evidence floating around of Hawk threatening someone with a gun. The man immediately took off to do as Darrell requested. Five minutes later Darrell burnt rubber out of the parking lot, dividing his glowering stare between the road and Hawk as he roared down the highway.
“What the hell was that?” he snapped.
“Give me a little credit. I wasn’t gonna shoot his ass.” Turning his head to look out the window, Hawk added under his breath, “At least not in front of witnesses.”
“You a crazy mu’fucka, you know that?”
Hawk laughed and leaned his head back against the headrest. “The Pattels are all crazy mu’fuckas, including you. It’s in our blood. That’s how I knew you had my back.”
Darrell’s lips tightened, before he relaxed and grinned. “No doubt.”
“You gotta admit that was fun, though, right?” Hawk’s white teeth flashed in the darkness as he looked at Darrell. “I probably saved that asshole’s life. Bet he’ll think twice before confronting anybody else like that.”
Darrell laughed and shook his head. “Crazy mu’fucka,” he muttered again.
Hawk joined in his laughter, amusement thick in his voice. “Runs in the family, Cous’. Runs in the family.”
By the time they got back to Darrell’s condo, the brief tension between the two of them was long gone. Darrell unlocked the door, leaving Hawk to follow behind him. Darrell shook his head as his cousin continued spouting the foolery he’d been talking on the way up on the elevator.
“I mean, come on, I gotta have somebody to have a lil’ fun with every now and then, and you’re it. Between my brothers and yours, they have no sense of humor when it comes to shit like what happened tonight.”
Darrell glanced at Hawk while opening the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. “I wonder why?” he asked sarcastically.
“Like I said. They don’t know how to have fun,” Hawk laughed, heading to the living room. “Just like that night we all had dinner at the restaurant. I wasn’t going to actually jack Rae’s date up. Just ruffling his feathers a bit.”
Darrell stood in the kitchen listening to Hawk with a look of amusement while drinking his water.
“But before I could say more than a few words to his ass, here comes Lorenzo, offering to pay for their dinner and…” Hawk stopped talking abruptly. He stared down at Darrell’s couch before looking up at Darrell with his mouth open. “Hey. Thought you said you didn’t fuck around on your wife?”
Darrell’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. “What? I don’t. What are you talkin’ about?”
“I guess strange women just wander into your place when you’re not here all the time, huh?” Hawk said, staring again at Darrell’s couch, licking his lips as if preparing to sample something deliciously tempting. He tilted his head to the side as Darrell took long strides towards him. “Although I have to say, I wouldn’t have minded if this one had kept going until she sashayed her cute lil’ ass to my bedroom instead of stopping here. After the way our evening ended tonight, I could use a bit of TLC between those smooth, brown–”
“Hey!” Darrell’s eyes followed Hawk’s to the woman asleep on his couch. His sharp tone cut Hawk off before he could finish the thought. “That’s my wife!”
CHAPTER 29
Surprise shaded Hawk’s face as he swung his eyes back to the woman curled up asleep on the couch. The little black dress she wore had risen to the very tops of her thighs, showing a generous amount of tantalizing skin. “That’s Jerra?”
“Yes!” Darrell’s voice was thick with warning. His eyes narrowed threateningly. “And stop staring at her like that!”
“Like what?”
The sound that came from Darrell was savagely fierce when Hawk was slow in averting his gaze. He stepped in front of Hawk to block his view. Where minutes ago his grey eyes had been sparkling bright with humor at his cousin’s antics, they were now dark and tumultuous because he knew exactly what Hawk was thinking.
“Alright, alright.” Hawk threw his hands up and took a couple of steps back. “My bad. She just took me by surprise, that’s all.”
Darrell eyed him for a moment longer then forced himself to bring it down a notch. Maybe he was overreacting, but he didn’t play that shit with anybody when it came to Jerra.
“Sorry,” he said grudgingly, but his tone clearly said he didn’t care one way or the other if Hawk accepted his apology. He reached for a cream-colored cashmere afghan draped over the arm of the sofa and used it to cover Jerra from the waist down.
Darrell studied her face in the dim light. What was she doing here? He frowned when he realized she hadn’t even stirred while he and Hawk were talking, and Jerra was a light sleeper.
“She must really be tired,” he muttered to himself.
“What?” Hawk asked.
“Nothing.” His eyes still glued to her sleeping form, he pointed to a desk a few feet away. “Do me a favor and open the top drawer of that desk over there and get the keys on the black keychain.”
After Hawk found them, he tossed them to Darrell. Darrell tossed them right back. Hawk looked at him with a question on his face.
“Those are the keys to my business partner’s condo on the forty-third floor. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Hawk cocked his ear towards Darrell. “Wait, what?”
Darrell’s jaw locked tight when he saw the now familiar gleam in Hawk’s eyes that was a preface to some good-natured teasing. Hawk tried to keep his face expressionless, but the corners of his mouth fought a losing battle as they twitched from the effort to stop the smile.
“Hawk.” Darrell called his name through gritted teeth.
“What? Is it unrealistic of me to try and get an explanation here? I mean, you invited me to stay, now you’re kicking me out.”
“You act like I’m sending you to the bowels of hell instead of…” Darrell’s teeth snapped closed. His glower turned fierce. “I’m tellin’ you now, I’m not in the mood for your shit. Carl’s place is empty, someone comes in to straighten up once a week, so it’s clean.”
Hawk folded his arms. “That’s not the point.”
“Darrell?” Jerra’s soft voice called his name from the couch.
Darrell turned around and saw that she had sat up and was rubbing her sleep-blurred eyes with the back of her hand. “Hey. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“That’s okay,” she said, then promptly let out a wide yawn. “Sorry. I must have dozed off.”
Both Darrell and Hawk stared like helpless idiots at the adorable picture she made sitting there, still half asleep, her thick lashes blinking lazily in their direction.
“Hi, Jerra,” Hawk smiled innocently.
The dark glare Darrell directed towards him was menacing in its intensity.
“Hello,” Jerra answered. Then she frowned and brushed a curl out of her face. “I’m sorry, do I know you? You look familiar, but...”
Darrell took a step towards the couch. “This is my cousin, Hawk Pattel. Hawk, Jerra.”
Jerra’s eyes stretched wide in surprise. “Oh. You’re Hawk.”
Darrell knew it was still weird to her to think of him having an extended family other than Gabby and Tina. He still wasn’t used to it himself.
“Yes,” Hawk grinned teasingly. “And you’re Jerra.”
She laughed and nodded. “It’s ni
ce to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’ve heard a lot about you, all good of course.” He paused then looked slyly at Darrell out of the corner of his eye. “Matter of fact–”
“Matter of fact, Hawk was just leaving. Right, Hawk?”
Jerra looked from Darrell to Hawk. “You’re leaving?”
Hawk’s amused gaze stayed on Darrell before finally giving Jerra a nod. “It would seem so. But I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon. After all, we’re family now, right?”
Jerra’s smile was strained. “Yes, I guess we are.”
“Walk me to the door, Cous’?”
“I’ll be right back, Jerra,” Darrell told her.
Jerra nodded, her eyes following them as they left the living room with the same confident gait.
Once Darrell and Hawk got to the door, Hawk gave Darrell’s shoulder a friendly punch. “You know I was just messing with you, right? Enjoy your time with your wife, and try to work on whatever problems you have. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want the same thing.”
Darrell glanced back in the direction of the living room. “Thanks, man.”
The two of them shook hands before Hawk left. As Darrell made his way back to the living room where he’d left Jerra, he again wondered why she was there. Not that he minded. Like he’d told Hawk, he’d planned on calling her tomorrow to talk after they both had a chance to calm down a bit, but now was as good a time as any. It was past time they cleared the air…about a lot of things.
When he made it back to the living room, Jerra had slipped her feet back into her heels and was sitting in one of the chairs facing the sofa. Her hands were folded demurely in her lap, her face composed and expressionless. But behind the façade she showed him, Darrell saw the wariness in her eyes that told him she wasn’t really sure what reaction to expect from him.
He sat down in the middle of the sofa across from her and spread his arms across the back of it. “Gotta say I’m surprised to see you here. Everything alright?”
Jerra cleared her throat and fidgeted around in the chair. “I…Yes, everything’s fine. I hope you don’t mind that I let myself in.”
Darrell shrugged. “Not at all,” he said. He waited, deciding to follow her lead.
“I realize this is your…personal space.” Obviously nervous, Jerra licked her lips. “Would’ve served me right if you hadn’t been here alone. Aside from your cousin, I mean.”
Darrell’s gaze never faltered. He deliberately refrained from addressing her statement. Instead, he asked, “How was the party?”
“It wasn’t really a party. As Justin said, just more of a get together at his house.”
Darrell’s eyes narrowed. “So the party was at Justin’s house?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t a–”
“I heard music in the background when you called me, people laughing, I’m sure there were drinks and food. Sounds like a party to me.”
“Alright, fine!” Jerra snapped. “It was a party. Satisfied?”
“There’s no need to get upset.”
“I’m not getting…!” Flustered, Jerra took a deep breath. This man could work her nerves like no other. She lowered her voice and tried again. “I’m not upset.”
“Good.”
“Anyway, it seems as if you had a full evening. It’s good to see that you and your cousin are getting along well. He seems nice enough.”
The corner of Darrell’s mouth quirked upwards in amusement. “I wouldn’t exactly call Hawk ‘nice’, but he’s a good guy. So are his brothers.”
Clearly frustrated from his brief answers, Jerra’s eyes flashed in irritation. “It’s just that from what Keisha told me about him when they met at Angel’s, I was expecting him to be a first class asshole.”
Darrell smirked at the description. “He can be.”
“She also said things got so intense that he and Dom almost had to be separated.”
“It was a tense situation. I think if the two of them had met under different circumstances they would’ve gotten along just fine.”
Jerra slipped a stubborn curl behind her ear and nodded. “So how was dinner?”
“It was fine.”
“When, um, I spoke with you earlier, you said you were having dinner with someone. Was that…Hawk?”
Darrell leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. After regarding her for a moment, he asked a question of his own. “Is that why you came by? Because you thought I was with someone else?”
“No,” she answered quickly.
“Good because I would’ve been insulted if you had. I’m your husband, Jerra. Of course I’m not goin’ to have dinner with another woman. Hawk and I grabbed a bite before heading out to Club Ecstasy.”
Relief clearly showed on her face, but it was almost immediately replaced by curiosity. “You went to Club Ecstasy?”
“Yes,” Darrell answered slowly. “I wasn’t invited to go anywhere else tonight, now was I?”
Jerra’s eyes darted around the room before they came back to him. “About that…I’m sorry. I didn’t handle it very well.”
“No, you didn’t.” Darrell wasn’t angry any longer, but he needed to make something clear between them. “Jerra, you and I? We’re better than that. I know we’re going through some thangs right now, but that don’t mean we can’t try to get along and communicate with each other, you know?”
“I agree. No matter what happens we’re always going to be connected because of D.J.”
Darrell frowned, not liking the sound of that. She made it seem as if they were never going to get back together. “Yeah. We are. And as far as me deciding to get a nanny, I shouldn’t have thrown it out at you the way I did, but–”
Jerra scooted to the edge of the chair and leaned forward, eager to make her point. “We need to talk about that, Darrell. I really don’t think–”
“But I’m not changing my mind.” Darrell finished his sentence as if she hadn’t interrupted.
“What?” Jerra blinked in surprise.
“You heard me. Like you said, other people make situations like this work. Just to reiterate what I’ve said before, our living arrangements are temporary. However, in order for this to work effectively for us, we’re going to need help. Yes, my job is flexible, but there are times when I have to go to meetings, or travel out to a job site. Normally, I know ahead of time when I’ll need to do that. On those days, it’s easier and less stressful for everyone involved if I have someone to watch D.J. here.”
Jerra was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s just that I don’t want him to feel…abandoned, I guess. And that has more to do with my own guilt than anything else. I’m away from him so much now, I just feel better when you’re able to be with him when I can’t be.”
“I understand that, baby, but again, it’s not going to be every day. Two, maybe three days a week. Plus, I’d rather he be in his own space if possible, than me picking him up from camp and having to bring him to my office on the days I have to go back.”
Jerra studied Darrell’s face. From the tone of his voice, she knew him well enough to know he wasn’t going to change his mind. Her face clouded with worry, she stood up and took a few steps. Wrapping her arms around her body, she stood with her back to him as her mind raced over the events that had taken place over the last month.
“I…I just wonder…” Unable to complete the thought because of the emotions that had gathered in her throat, she swallowed hard.
“You wonder what?” Darrell asked when she remained silent.
“Did I make a mistake going back to work? Do you think I’m being selfish?”
Sighing heavily, Darrell stood up and slowly came up behind Jerra. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him so that her back rested against the hard wall of his chest. It was an instinctive act to comfort her, protect her.
Jerra resisted for only a few seconds before she allowed herself to relax into his body. Her head fell back onto his shoul
der. For just a little while, she wanted to absorb his strength, wanted it to be enough to sustain both of them the way it always had been.
Darrell leaned down so that his cheek rested against hers. “You didn’t make a mistake and you’re not selfish. Don’t ever think that.” When Jerra tried to argue her point, his arms tightened around her. “You’ve always been the center of our family, the glue that keeps all three of us a cohesive unit. If going back to work is what you feel you need right now then you do that, ‘cause I got you.” He tilted his head to the side in order to see her face. “Okay?”
A tremulous smile finally appeared on her lips as she nodded. “Okay.”
Darrell stared at her with eyes that caressed and admired. His hands splayed flat against her stomach, then moved to her waist. “You’ve lost weight. Too much.”
“Come on, I think we both agree that I could’ve stood to lose a few pounds.”
Darrell’s scowl was quick as he turned her around. “I’m serious. I noticed it yesterday. You gotta take care of yourself before your body shuts down and forces you to.” He brought a finger up to trace the faint shadows underneath her eyes. “You’re not getting enough sleep, either.”
“I know. It’s been so busy and hectic at the firm. I’ve been away from the workforce for a long time. I guess I just feel like I have a lot to prove to everyone there who looks at me as if I’m some token brought in to disrupt the status quo.”
“Are you worried about your performance?”
“Hell no. I can run circles around everyone there.”
“That’s my girl.” Darrell cracked a smile. He looked as if he wanted to say more. Instead, he reluctantly dropped his arms and stepped away. “You should’ve gone home to get some rest instead of coming here.”
Feeling bereft from the loss of his body’s heat, Jerra briskly rubbed her arms. “I just thought we should talk.”
Darrell glanced down at his watch. “It’s almost two in the morning. It could’ve waited.”
Jerra immediately got defensive. Stepping around him, she picked up her purse from the chair. “Sorry. Never let it be said that I can’t take a hint. I’ll go.”
