Snapped (Urban Renaissance)

by McKinney, Tina Brooks

  Her tears stopped. She followed my every move with dilated eyes.

  “Did I scare you?”

  She didn’t answer right away, but after a few seconds she nodded and something in me cracked. My heart moved and my anger disappeared.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you and I’m sorry I put my hands on you, but you confused me when you attacked me. I just needed to speak with you alone. I could tell that something changed between us when I came to your house today, right when everything was perfect. Do you know how badly I want to touch you, taste you, feel you?”

  Her eyes got wider.

  “Yes, I was staking out your apartment but my intentions were good. I saw Braxton leave today. You see, I’ve not been able to get you out of my mind since the first time I slept with you, and after the last few days of closeness, I can’t wait to sleep with you again. Am I wrong for wanting to feel that from you again? Can you deny the energy between us?” I removed the tape from her mouth.

  “Did you forget I’m already married.”

  This was not what I wanted to hear from her, and I had to stop myself from punching her in the fucking face again. I was still going to have to go slow with her, but with Merlin locked up, I had time. “I want to let you go, but you’ve got to promise me that you are going to behave.”

  She just looked at me as if I were speaking a different language.

  “Did you hear what I just said?” I raised my voice because I was getting tired of this whole episode. I wasn’t used to having to woo women. Normally, women flocked to me. This was the first time that I actually cared enough to put my best foot forward. Cojo shook her head, and I took that to mean she would cooperate. I let one hand loose.

  “Ouch,” she yelled.

  “I done told you, you need to be quiet.”

  She nodded again. I was about to release her other hand, but she hadn’t proven to me that she was going to fully cooperate with me yet.

  “What do you want?”

  “That’s easy. I want you, and if you are honest with yourself, you would realize that you want me too. I want to kiss you, taste you, and lick you. After the time we spent together, I know you love me.” I was prepared for her initial denial, but it didn’t come.

  “What about your brother? Are we gonna just let him rot away in jail, pretend like he doesn’t exist?”

  “My brother? Fuck my brother. This isn’t about him and me, it’s about us. We connected and you know we did.”

  She really pissed me off when she brought my brother in the room. I was sick and tired of people bringing my brother into my life. I’d spent the last seven years without a care in the world for him, and now, all of a sudden, he was in practically every conversation that I had and I was sick of it. I had half a mind to beat her ass to death just for mentioning him.

  “But he’s still my husband.”

  Damn, she had a point. For me, it was so easy to dismiss him; I forgot he had first dibs on the woman I wanted to claim as my own.

  “So what did the doctor say?” I needed to change the subject so I could figure out a way to convince her that I was the man of her dreams and not my brother.

  “How do you intend to support me and a baby?”

  I started to get mad all over again. Everyone, including my mother, was focused on me working a nine-to-five. Why couldn’t they understand that a nine-to-five job was not for me?

  “There are other ways to support a family beside a nine-to-five.”

  “Oh, really? Name one.”

  “I could go into business for myself.” I just pulled that answer out of my ass. She was not ready for the strip club.

  “Doing what?” She had me there.

  When I mentioned going into business, I was talking about going back to my old ways of robbing and stealing. “That ain’t none of your business. I just want to know if you want to be with me or my brother.”

  “I know the truth now. I want to be with my husband.”

  I jumped up from the bed as my blood pressure rose. This was just another slap in the face. As much as I loved her, I couldn’t allow my brother to walk into the sunshine with the love of his life. That just wasn’t going to happen.

  As I approached the bed to put Ms. Smarty Pants out of her misery, the door to my hotel room burst open. The noise startled both of us. Cojo started screaming as I backed up against the wall trying to find out what I was dealing with.

  “Police, get down on the floor.”

  Son of a bitch, how did they find me? I slowly lowered myself onto the floor as my mind started thinking of a defense for being in a hotel room with my brother’s wife bound to the bed. I would probably get at least ten years for kidnapping, but if I got a good lawyer it could possibly be reduced. I was going to enter a plea of temporary insanity.

  The third person through the door was my brother. At that point, I knew that I was screwed because he would go above and beyond to make sure that I was locked away behind bars with no options of a release. For the first time in a long time, I prayed.

  My hands were cuffed behind me. The first officer in the room began to read me my rights. “Gavin Mills, you are being arrested for attempted murder, arson, and kidnapping.”

  “Shit!” I wish that bitch would have burned to death.

  “You have the right to remain silent—”

  “Fuck you.”

  The officer snatched at my cuffs hard enough to leave a gash. “I’d watch my mouth if I were you.”

  I turned my head and looked my brother in the face. He had a satisfied smirk on his face. I didn’t realize that my mother was with him until I gritted on him. I wanted to tell him so badly how much I wanted to fuck his wife again, but seeing my mother shut my mouth. Admitting my intentions in front of the police wouldn’t have been such a smart idea.

  My mother said, “I’m ashamed of you. I can’t believe that you could be this lowdown.”

  “Shut up, woman, you don’t know anything about me.” I didn’t have to worry about holding my tongue now because she would not be supporting me. I was now custody of the state of Georgia, and I was quite sure they would not allow me bail.

  “You’re right, I don’t know you. And if you want to take it a step further, I don’t want to know you. You’re an animal, and completely out of your mind. I would like to blame this on your father. But truth be told, it probably came from your hoodrat mother. I’m done with you. Do not, I repeat, do not call me again—ever!” My mother yelled.

  “Oh, you’re that type of bitch who would kick a brother when he was down? No wonder my father left you. Your pussy ain’t that good, either.” My mother lunged at me, and if it weren’t for the armed cops in the room, I was sure she would have tried to kill me.

  She said, “You lucky I can’t get to you like I want to. But that’s okay, you’re about to get yours. I’ve done everything that I could and should do for you. You’re a grown man now, and it’s time to face the music for the things that you’ve done. And you don’t have a clue what my pussy is like.”

  “Whatever, bitch.” If she had any objection to being called a bitch it was lost on me, because I was roughly hauled to my feet and shuttled into the waiting police car. I saw Merlin rush to his wife from the corner of my eye and my heart ached. He won again.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  MERLIN MILLS

  “Sweetheart, are you okay?” I held Cojo in my arms.

  “How did you find us?”

  “Later. I just want to know if you and the baby are okay.”

  “We are fine. He hit me in the face to get me into the car, and slapped me around a few times. Other than that, he hasn’t touched me.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know if I would have been able to handle it if my brother had sexed my wife twice. It was bad enough the first time, and I was still trying to get those images out of my mind. “Thank God!”

  “I’ve got good news.” She was smiling like there was no tomorrow, and it caused me to smile as well.<
br />
  “What’s that?” I started to work on untying her.

  My mother was right by my side.

  “It’s your baby. The test results are ninety-nine percent accurate. I think that is what set your brother off ’cause he followed me to the doctor’s office again.”

  “Sweetheart, I love you.” I was happy about the news, but I still worried about what had happened from the time that he’d snatched her until now. Although I vowed to love the child, regardless of who the father was, I knew I would eventually have a problem with it that could jeopardize our relationship. I leaped in the air and screamed, pretending all was right with the world. “I’m gonna be a daddy!” With all the excitement, I forgot to finish untying my wife.

  “Do you think you could untie me? I prayed that you would come and rescue me, but damn, my arms have become numb.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I just lost my head. You don’t know how bad this whole thing has been stressing me.”

  “Let’s not talk about stress, just unhook me. I’ve got to pee.” When she was finally free, she hugged me and my mother then ran to the bathroom!

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  MERLIN MILLS

  Cojo snuggled with me in our bed. Our interaction had been different since we started going to counseling. I was thankful and I was looking forward to the birth of our child. “I can understand now how you wanted to forget your brother. He’s one piece of work.”

  “You don’t know the half of it. He made all of our lives miserable, and I’m glad that he’s finally off the streets.”

  “Well, I forgive you for not telling me about him. I might not have married you if I knew he was floating around in your gene pool.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, ’cause crazy doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “That’s not fair. We’re brothers because we share the same parents, but I don’t really know shit about them.”

  “Well, he is about to find out ’cause I just got off the phone with your momma and she don’t want to have anything to do with him.” She paused then said, “I love you.”

  “I love you too, boo, and our daughter.” I rubbed her round belly. I felt like I was given a second chance at happiness. Everything was working out in my favor and I was thankful to God.

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Should Merlin have forgiven Gina?

  2. Why didn’t Merlin and Gavin confront Ronald?

  3. Why did Gina continue to love Ronald?

  4. Was Cojo a fool for trusting Gavin?

  5. Why did Gavin continue to torment Merlin?

  6. Why didn’t Merlin take his anger out on Gavin instead of Cojo?

  7. Should Cojo have left Merlin?

  8. Do you believe Cojo and Merlin will live happily ever after?

  9. Why did Braxton wait so long to speak to Cojo?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  A native of Baltimore, Maryland currently residing in Covington Georgia, Tina wears many hats, as she balances her time among being wife, mother, talk show hostess/interviewer, and the creative force behind the drama trilogy: All That Drama in 2004, Lawd, Mo’ Drama in 2007, and, Fool, Stop Trippin in 2008. All are published under the imprint of Strebor Books, a division of Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.

  Deep Deceptions was the first book published with her new publisher, Urban Books, LLC, under the Urban Renaissance imprint and it released in November 2009. Tina is currently working on the sequel to Deep Deceptions II.

  As an avid reader, taking in everything she could get her hands on, Tina decided to share her love of books with the world by hosting an Internet radio show called Real Talk With Tina Brooks McKinney . Tina’s show focuses on both traditional and self-published authors whose voices are seldom heard. To learn more about this show, log onto: www.blogtalkradio.com/tinabrooksmckinney. The show airs on Tuesday nights at 7:00 EST, but previous shows are available in the archives.

  Tina uses fictional characters to address real issues occurring in the world. Known for her “tell it like it is” banter, Tina hopes to enlighten and entertain her reading audience. Thus far, she has been successful.

  Tina loves to interact with her readers and is always interested in meeting more of them. You can contact Tina at tybrooks2@ yahoo.com. She is also available for book club meetings, chats, and conferences. Check her tour page to see if she is coming to a City near you!

  www.tinamckinney.com

  Notes

  Urban Books, LLC

  78 East Industry Court

  Deer Park, NY 11729

  Snapped Copyright © 2010 Tina Brooks McKinney

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.

  ISBN: 978-1-6016-2229-7

  This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living, or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.

  Distributed by Kensington Publishing Corp.

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