by Linda Verji
Why do you always do that? He wanted to tilt her chin upwards and ask her why she seemed afraid to look at him, but they weren’t close enough for such personal questions – yet.
“You’re welcome.” He rifled through the inside pocket of his coat to come up with a business card. “Here’s my number. Call me if you’ve got any more questions.”
Thanking him again, she took the card and tucked it into her bag before standing. “I think I’ll be going now. I’m sure Polo is waiting for me.”
“Let me walk you to the lobby.” The moment he touched her elbow to guide her out, she flinched and quickly stepped away from him. Kian frowned as he followed her out the door. He’d seen similar behavior lots of times in women around his hood when he was younger. It always meant one thing. But it wasn’t possible, was it?
“I’m sorry I was rude to you,” her apology cut through his whirling thoughts.
“That’s okay.” He smiled pushing thoughts of Tasha being an abused woman away. It was inconceivable. She may be quiet but she was no shrinking violet as evidenced by how she’d confronted him in the boardroom. He asked, “So are we good?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” For the first time since they’d met, she smiled; a real smile that actually reached her eyes and Kian almost stopped walking. My God! She was beautiful. Not in the classical definition of beauty but rather in that raw untouched way of someone who didn’t know that she was capable of bringing men to their knees. She asked, “But what about Ash…”
“Ash?” He racked his brain for a second trying to remember then nodded his head when he did. It would take a strong woman to deal with the consequences of Polo’s infidelity. The idea of having her husband’s unfaithfulness rubbed in her face every day, must have been affecting her more than she was letting on. “If you want I can-”
“No, not that!” she interrupted hastily. “I’m just wondering if Polo will agree to go and ask for him.”
“Don’t worry about it. Leave your husband to me.”
“Um…Mrs. Nelson,” Lauren met them at the lobby. Though her expression was neutral the high blush on her freckled skin said that she was embarrassed by what she was about to say. “Mr. Nelson told me to tell you to find your own way home because he wasn’t going to wait for you.”
The mortification Lauren felt was reflected in Tasha’s own eyes and in the uncomfortable smile that she gave, “It’s okay! He was probably in a hurry…” She reached inside her purse. “…I’ll just call a cab and then-”
“I’ll take you home.” Kian interrupted. Something was seriously wrong with Polo. What kind of man left his wife stranded in an office he’d brought her to save his ass.
Tasha protested, “But-”
“Please Tasha, let me take you home.”
By the time they got to the parking garage and into his car, Kian had mentally resolved to shake off his brooding. It took a while to talk Tasha past her own embarrassment but by the time they got on the highway she was responding to his questions with more than one word. Mostly they just talked of what he already knew. It was a bit confusing that she and Polo had been married for three years but had an eight year old daughter. The moment he’d asked, she’d started to shut down and Kian had immediately backed off. He switched the conversation to her daughter.
“Asia’s an amazing swimmer.” From the pride in Tasha’s voice it was obvious Asia was her reason d’être. “I bet she’ll be swimming for the American team by the next Olympics.”
“That’s a lovely name, Asia.” He arched an eyebrow. “Any relation to the continent.”
“Obvious, right?” She chuckled sheepishly. Damn! Kian was just discovering how much he loved her laugh. She added, “I’ve always wanted to go there. It just feels like such a vibrant culture.”
“You’ve never been there?” he asked. She shook her head.
Shocked, he asked, “Seriously?”
“Seriously!”
As the wife of a multimillionaire she should’ve been anywhere she wanted to go. If she was his woman, she’d already have been there more than once. Polo was seriously slacking off.
“Have you been there?” she asked him.
“I’ve got some business interests in Tibet and Indonesia, but I’ve been to most countries in the East.”
“Really?” Tasha’s eyes widened in interest, “What’s it like over there?”
He seemed to have tapped into a real interest of hers because she listened intently to his descriptions of the culture and the country. Kian didn’t really think of himself as a storyteller but the intentness of her attention had him speaking more than he usually would. The air of camaraderie between them persisted – until they turned the corner that led toward her home.
Almost immediately there was a perceptible change in mood. Where Tasha had been slouched slightly against the seat facing him, she straightened up, her shoulders stiff with undefined tension and her face expressionless. By the time he got to the large black gates she’d gone completely silent. Something was very wrong here!
Kian drove into the compound, parking beside a black Mercedes truck that he assumed was Polo’s. As the car came to a stop, Tasha immediately began fumbling with her seatbelt. He should’ve let her go but instead found himself calling out to her, “Aren’t you going to at least offer me a cup of a coffee.”
Coffee? Really?
“Could we…could we do it another…” Her stammering only raised his hackles and even before she finished her sentence, he was out of the car and opening the passenger door for her. She threw him a nervous look before leading him into the house.
CHAPTER 4
That’s what she deserves! Polo thought as he heard the sound of the cab dropping Tasha home. If that bitch had been expecting him to stand in the lobby waiting for her slow ass, she was fucked up in the head. When he’d walked, she should’ve walked with him, that’s what good wives did.
See! That was the kind of crap that got him so mad at her. She just didn’t know how to treat her man right. If she did, by now he’d already have donated his kidney to Asia. Their child would be well and healthy if it wasn’t for Tasha. Polo wasn’t stupid. He knew that Tasha was planning to skip out on him the moment he went under the knife. She’d done it once – and now that she was older, she’d probably be even better at it. Of course he was going to give his baby girl a kidney. He just needed a little more time to figure out how he was going to keep Tasha from running afterwards.
How ungrateful could one woman be? He’d given her everything. When her father had put her out like a dog for being pregnant at seventeen, Polo had taken her in, given her a roof over her head and everything else she needed. Any other woman would’ve been on her knees thanking him. Tasha? Oh no! Slap her around a couple of times and she runs away.
Of course she’d come back crawling to him. Generous as he was, he’d put a ring on her finger and claimed her this time. He was the one busting his balls on the field to pay for everything. The expensive clothes she wore, the Mercedes she drove, the food she ate and the money she sent her parents. Shit! He was the one paying all of Asia’s bills.
That wasn’t enough for her. No! She always had be disloyal and do shit like this. It made him so damn mad that over the years that he’d gotten rougher with her. All she had to do was be a better wife then he wouldn’t have to discipline her all the time.
“Tasha,” Polo yelled the moment he heard her open the door. “Where the fuck have you been?”
She came rushing into the room, smiling in that way he knew she did when she was faking it and said, “Baby look, we have a guest!”
Kian came striding in behind her. Polo immediately sat up straight on the armchair. What the hell is he doing here? “If you’re here about that boy, I already told you I’m done with the kid.”
In fact he was so done with the little bastard that he hadn’t even called Social Services on the Fords. As satisfying as it would’ve been to repay them for keeping him in jail for a weekend, he
didn’t want the government forcing the kid down his throat. He’d be damned if he’d let some suit to do what even the government couldn’t.
“Tasha, please go get that coffee for me,” Kian said.
The rush of anger was instantaneous. How dare the man talk to Tasha as if she was his wife? Polo turned his furious gaze on Tasha, daring her to leave the room. Lucky for her, though her eyes shifted warily between him and Kian, she didn’t move an inch. Polo sat back in his armchair with a self-satisfied smirk. “Like I said, I’m done. I assume you know your way out?”
Kian’s face was completely blank as he said, “I’ll leave when I’m ready.” ”
The fuck! Who the hell did he think he was?
“If you don’t get the fuck out of my house,” Polo barked as he hopped to his feet, “I’ll throw you out myself.”
There were some advantages to being as big as he was. People rarely stood up to him and he didn’t expect some punk like Harper to either. He was shocked when instead of backing off, the guy strode further into the room and sat on the couch, his arm slung over the back and dared him, “I’d like to see you try.”
For a moment Polo actually considered bodily lifting the man and tossing him out the gate. But something about the look in Kian’s eyes told him that it wouldn’t be that easy. He’d been embarrassed enough by the beating he’d taken from Lucky. He didn’t need another smaller man showing him up.
“Go!” Polo ordered Tasha. She scurried away like she was being chased by demons. When it was just him and the other man he settled back down in his seat.
Kian sat forward, propped his elbows on his knees and linked his fingers together as he spoke, “Let’s start again, shall we? This time, you’re gon’ do exactly as I say.”
“Or what?” Polo asked defiantly. He already knew that Kian was close personal friends with the Firebacks new boss but that didn’t make him Polo’s boss.
Kian smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. There was something… bone chilling about it. “Tomorrow you’ll to pick up your son from the Fords then you’ll call all your side-hoes and tell them that you’re out of commission ‘til I give them notice. On Thursday, you’ll turn up at Harper Inc. with your wife, your daughter, and your son for an interview and photo-shoot with Soul and then get the rest of your itinerary.”
This was too fucking much. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Polo wanted to stand up, he wanted to sock the guy right in the jaw and teach him how to talk to people. But there was something about the man’s tone that told him that defying Kian Harper would be a serious mistake.
“Do we understand each other?” Kian asked. Polo’s response was an angry glower. Kian smiled and stood up. “Good. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
The moment Polo heard the soft purr of Kian’s car as he drove off, he headed for the kitchen. Tasha was at the sink filling the electric kettle with water. She mustn’t have heard his footsteps over the rush of water because by the time she turned he was right behind her. Guarded fear immediately filled her eyes. That fear was like a shot of adrenalin. It was much better than the vague feeling of being bested that Kian had left him with.
“Who told you to bring that man into my house?” Polo demanded.
“I didn’t-”
His palm connected with her face even before she finished her sentence. The kettle fell to the ground with a clang, splashing water all over the floor and his sneakers. Messy bitch. As she cupped her cheek in her palm, she glared at him - as if she wanted to slap him right back, but she didn’t say a word. Polo wasn’t worried. Tasha would never do anything to mess up Asia’s chances of getting his kidney.
“Clean that mess up,” he ordered, “then go get the bastard.”
*
“I don’t understand,” Asia frowned. “Why is he my little brother if you aren’t his mommy?”
“’Even though Ash has got another mommy …” Tasha kept her eyes on the road as she explained the situation to Asia. “…Daddy is his father too, which makes him your brother.”
They were on their way to pick up Ash from the Fords. As much as she’d wanted to explain to Polo that today was dialysis day and juggling the baby and Asia was going to be a nightmare, she’d kept her silence and did as he’d ordered. After Kian’s visit he was in no mood to negotiate and needling him would only earn her more few more slaps, or worse.
From now on she’d have to avoid Kian Harper. Not only was he was a trigger for Polo’s anger, but there was also the little matter of how she’d reacted to him. First the initial attraction, then how easily she’d slipped into the conversation with him on their way home? These things didn’t happen to her. Her head told her that he was just another man and he couldn’t be trusted, but the rest of her seemed to have other ideas.
Her attraction to Kian was almost the same kind of attraction she’d felt for Polo when they’d first met. He too had also been attentive. He too had also seemed to really care about what she thought. That’s why she’d fallen so fast and so hard. Now after being with Polo for nine years, she’d learnt that her heart and body were not to be trusted. Neither was Kian Harper.
He was nice – but he could be nice right from over there!
She didn’t know how she’d manage to stay away from him considering this revamp plan probably involved a lot of contact with him, but she was going to try.
Her heart tattooed an almost uncontrollable rhythm as they got closer to the Ford’s house. The last time she’d seen Zain was the day Polo had shot her. Tasha hadn’t even visited her in the hospital even though she knew it was her fault that Zain had been shot.
Zain had sent Tasha a text message warning her to get Polo out of the house and she’d gone home with every intention of doing that. But before she could say anything, Polo had slapped her for daring to interrupt his game. In that moment, anger overflowing, she’d seen an opportunity to finally get some sort of vengeance. She’d never thought the situation would get that out of hand.
How was Zain going to react to her? Was she going to throw her out the house? Would she even be allowed past the gates? Her fingers clung the steering wheel in a death like grip as she approached the guard’s booth. Surprisingly he opened the gate with a wave and smile. Tasha released a sigh of relief. One hurdle down. After parking the car and exiting it, she walked to the front door with Asia’s hand tightly clasped in hers, and pushed on the buzzer. A moment later, the door was jerked open.
“Aunt T,” Maari, Zain’s nine-year old, stood at the door. He rushed to wrap his hands around her waist.
“Hey Honey!” Tasha said. “How you doing?”
“Cool. Cool. You know how I do,” he nodded, his dreadlocks swaying slightly with the effort. He turned to Asia. “’Sup L’il Bourgie.”
“That’s not my name,” Asia wrinkled her nose at him in annoyance as she gave him a once over. “Don’t you have a belt? Your pants are about to fall off.”
Maari gave her an open-mouthed look like he couldn’t quite believe that anyone would dare talk about his pants like that. Tasha knew that whatever he had to say next was going to just start an argument between the two – it always did – so she interrupted with a laugh. “Maari, where’s your mama.”
“Maaaa,” he shouted as he ran into the house, almost tripping over his pants along the way. “Aunt T’s heeeere.”
Tasha and Asia followed him at a more sedate pace only to find Zain struggling to get herself off one of their plush couches. Except for the now very visible baby bump, Zain hadn’t changed at all. She was still the barely five feet tall pretty woman – hopefully she was still just as forgiving.
When she saw Tasha and Asia at the door, Zain frowned. “Tasha, you better come and get me up from this seat before this baby drops out of me.”
It felt as if the weight of the world had just been lifted off her shoulder. Tasha didn’t even have words at the moment so she walked towards Zain and pulled her to her feet. Zain immediately engulfed her in a tight hug. “What too
k you so long to come?”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me,” Tasha said struggling to swallow the tears already gathering at the back of her throat. Polo allowed her very few friends and when he’d cut her off from Zain and Chryssa, it’d felt like he’d clipped another bit of her sanity. As much she’d never told them exactly what was going on in her marriage, it was comfort enough just knowing that if anything really bad ever happened, she had someone she could run to.
“Maari, go show Asia your new tree-house,” Zain said over Tasha’s shoulder.
“I don’t want to. She made fun of my pants,” the boy whined.
“Boy!” Zain’s no-nonsense tone brooked no argument and pretty soon the sound of feet being dragged out of the room followed.
The hug between the two stretched on because once Tasha started crying she really couldn’t stop. It wasn’t until she realized that standing had to be killing Zain’s feet that she pulled back from her arms. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to lose it like that.”
“Please. I’ve been bursting into tears all damn morning because of my hormones. It’s a nice change of pace to see someone doing it,” Zain said as she lowered her self back down on the couch and patted the seat for Tasha to join her.
Tasha couldn’t help sneaking peeks around the den as they talked. The room was filled with little knickknacks and happy pictures from family events and vacations around the world. She could tell that, as opposed to the pictures in her own home, the laughter and happiness in the Ford family pictures was genuine.
Sometimes Tasha honestly hated being around Zain. It was hard to watch all the happiness and love the other woman had and not compare it to the hell she was living. But Zain was such a wonderful person and had been through enough heartache, that it was hard to begrudge her the happiness she had.
“How far along are you now?”
“Five months going on fifty.” Rubbing her belly, Zain complained, “Are you sure we can’t just cut them out?”
“You’re the doctor,” Tasha joked.
Sobering up, Zain said, “I’m sorry I haven’t come to check on you either. It’s just that with everything…” she let Tasha fill in the gaps for herself.
