A Los Angeles Passion

by Sherelle Green

  Trey looked from Derek to Max, hoping the start of this conversation wasn’t a reflection on how the rest of it would go.

  “Listen, guys,” Trey said. “We’ve spent our entire lives letting our relationship with Reginald come between our bond as brothers. Derek, I understand why you’re upset. Reginald wasn’t in our lives, and for that reason, we really don’t owe him anything. Max, I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t want to build a relationship with you because every time we spoke, you would only want to take up for Reginald and couldn’t seem to understand that he didn’t treat Derek and me like he treated you.”

  Trey looked at both men before continuing. “But Reginald is dying, and although I dislike the man, if there is a chance that he’s innocent, I don’t want him to die without the truth coming out.”

  “I’m sorry,” Max said. “I know you guys didn’t have it easy growing up and I didn’t know I always came across that way. To be honest, I just wanted to have a relationship with my older brothers. That’s all.”

  Some of the tension in Derek’s shoulders released. “I know that,” Derek said. “Back then, I was too stubborn and hurt to even think about having a relationship with either of you.”

  “We’ve all made some mistakes in the past. And I still can’t believe I’m saying this, but now is the time for us to come together.” Trey looked at Derek. “We’d be a better team if the three of us work together on this. So, Derek, what do you say? Are you in?”

  Matthew’s loud wail echoed against the walls before Derek could respond. Trey immediately picked him up out of his car seat and brought him over to where his brothers were sitting just as his cell phone rang.

  “Can one of you hold him while I get that?”

  “Sure,” Derek said with a nod.

  Trey was relieved when he glanced at his phone. He’d been waiting on this call. “Hey, Pete. Tell me you have good news.”

  “I do,” Pete said on the other line. “I was able to hack into the San Diego chapter’s server and I can already tell others have been here, too. Hackers always leave crumbs behind and the really cocky ones even like to leave their trademark in some way. It will take some digging, but once I have more info, I’ll be able to trace the hacker and get you a name.”

  “That would be great,” Trey said. “My brothers and I would be able to handle it from there.” Trey got a few more details from Pete before disconnecting the call.

  “Was that about Reginald’s case?” Max asked.

  “It was. I have a friend who’s following the trail of the files that were hacked from the San Diego chapter. If he can find the hacker, it’s possible we can figure out who hired them.”

  “Sounds good,” Max said. “I’m following up on a few leads, too.”

  They both looked to Derek, who was engrossed with baby Matthew. “I can feel both your eyes on me,” Derek said without raising his head. “I’m assuming you both have already started digging.”

  “We have,” Trey said. “Max called the other day and mentioned that we have to consider the possibility that Reginald was framed by someone in the LA chapter.”

  “Have you given any more thought to helping us?” Max asked.

  Derek sighed, looking from one man to the other. “Let me be honest in saying that the only thing I think this investigation will prove is that Reginald was indeed behind sabotaging the San Diego chapter.” He glanced back down at Matthew, who was now interested in playing with Derek’s watch. “And I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for both of you, and I guess, a little for me, too. Just because Reginald was never a father to me, it doesn’t mean I can turn my back on the situation.”

  Trey and Max shared a hopeful look. “Does that mean you’ll help us?” Max asked.

  “Yes, I’ll help.”

  Trey walked to stand between Derek and Max and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. Now was the time for him to say something else insightful, but honestly, Trey was content to soak in the moment without any words.

  “Is now a good time to let you both know that Reginald would like us to stop over soon?” Max asked, breaking the silence.

  Derek shook his head. “Let me guess. You told him about this meeting and he assumed we’d all agree to help with the investigation?”

  “Something like that,” Max said. “He didn’t assume, but he was hopeful.”

  Trey looked at Derek and the two shared a laugh. There was nothing funny about the situation, but it was nice to laugh about it to break up the tension.

  The world worked in mysterious ways, and Trey would be the first to admit that it was strange to feel a closeness to men he’d never really had in his life before, talking about a man whose name he purposely tried to leave out of his mouth.

  “Max,” Trey said. “How about we exchange notes regarding any efforts we’ve already begun initiating and fill Derek in on everything?”

  “That’s a good start,” Max said before diving into the details. Halfway through his explanation, he was interrupted by a series of messages pinging on his phone.

  “Oh, no,” Max said, reading the messages. “Looks like the meeting may happen sooner than we think. Can you both spare an hour right now?”

  “Why?” Trey asked. “Is that Reginald?”

  “Yeah,” Max said, frowning. “He says he woke up pretty sick and was hoping to talk to us today instead.”

  Trey shook his head. It was just like Reginald to expect them all to work off his time. He was about to tell him that he couldn’t meet today since he needed to work on his screenplay, but Derek spoke up, surprising them both.

  “Let’s go,” Derek said. “Let’s meet with him today. If we’re doing this investigation right, we need to hear all the details from the horse’s mouth. It’s one thing to claim you’re innocent, but his alibis didn’t check out and I want to know why. He also needs to understand that we won’t be at his beck and call.”

  Max and Derek looked to Trey. “Okay,” Trey said. “You both head to his place and M-dog and I will meet you there.”

  Derek was right. They needed to get this meeting over with.

  * * *

  Trey glanced down at Matthew, who was in his car seat and still fascinated by his toy keys.

  “Reginald, you have to try and understand,” Trey said for the third time in the past hour. “We need you to document anything that you previously told the Prescott George board about the San Diego sabotages. We have the files that state what you said, but the only way to know if some of your words were twisted or changed on the doctored files is if you tell us what happened again in your own words.”

  “I already told you,” Reginald said, his voice slightly carrying. “For some of the nights you’re asking me about, I had alibis. For other nights, I can’t remember. But I didn’t do what they’re claiming I did.”

  Reginald leaned back in his grand desk chair and sighed. “I’ve reached out to every man who I once considered a friend and who I assumed would know I’m innocent, and with the exception of a couple, they’ve all turned their backs on me. After all the time I committed to Prescott George, they were willing to throw away our friendship at the first sign of trouble.”

  When Reginald coughed, Trey cringed. It didn’t sound good and Trey could visibly see how much frailer Reginald looked from the last time he’d seen him. Even when they’d arrived at his Malibu mansion, he hadn’t appeared to stand as tall as he once did. He hadn’t shaken their hands as strongly as he once had. He hadn’t even had as much strength and power in his voice as Trey remembered. Trey hadn’t realized it had gotten this bad, and one look at Derek and he could tell he felt it, too. They may have never been close to Reginald, but Reginald had always seemed like the type of tall and powerful black man who would live forever.

  “I know I’m not helping,” Reginald said when his coughing died down. He stood from his
chair and leaned both hands on his grand maple desk. “I’m aware that I’m asking my boys to perform a miracle on my behalf when I’ve never been that great a father.” Reginald looked from Max, to Derek, to Trey. “The truth is, I don’t deserve sons as good as you and one of my biggest regrets is that I was never a true father to Derek and Trey. My lack of responsibility and duty as a father pushed my sons farther apart when all of you should have had the opportunity to be in one another’s lives.”

  “That part wasn’t just on you,” Trey said. “We could have worked harder at having a better relationship with one another, but we didn’t.”

  Reginald opened his mouth to speak, but instead, he went into another coughing fit. Max went to his side to help him sit back down in his chair. Watching Max and Reginald together made Trey’s heart ache for a different reason than it used to.

  Despite the circumstances, Trey couldn’t imagine losing a mother to cancer like Max had a few years ago, just to turn around and have a father diagnosed with a different form of cancer.

  “How about we let you get some rest,” Derek suggested. “The three of us can get together and work through some of the things you discussed with us today.”

  “I agree with that,” Max said. “You need your rest, Dad.”

  Reginald took a sip of water. “Okay, that works. There was just one other thing I wanted to discuss with each of you while I have you all together.” All three brothers remained silent as they waited for Reginald to continue.

  “You don’t have to give me an answer now,” Reginald said. “But I would really love to have each of you over for Thanksgiving dinner here at my home. I know it’s asking a lot of you, but all I ask is that you think about it.”

  Trey’s face remained neutral, although internally, he was shocked that Reginald had asked them all to spend a holiday with him. Back when Trey was a kid, he would have given anything to have an invite to celebrate a holiday with his biological father.

  They all agreed to think about it, and ten minutes later, Trey and Matthew were headed home. “Well, M-dog,” Trey said aloud. “We survived our first meeting with the brothers and Reginald. How about I spend the rest of our Sunday working on my screenplay and you spend the rest of it sleeping? Deal?” In response, Matthew blew spit bubbles.

  Trey laughed. “Should I take that as a yes or no?” An incoming call redirected Trey’s attention.

  “Hello, this is Trey Moore.”

  “Hi, Mr. Moore. This is Lacey, one of the bid assistants for Rent-a-Bachelor.”

  Trey clenched his wheel a little harder. Crap, how could I forget about this? Although he was proud the Rent-a-Bachelor program was a success, he’d forgotten that he’d opened one day this week for him to be rented. The timing was horrible, but he felt as though he had to give up at least one day to the initiative since he was the brain behind the operation. “Yes, Lacey. What can I do for you?”

  “I was calling to let you know that you’ve been rented for Monday night. Are you still available tomorrow?”

  Trey refrained from grinding his teeth. No, I’m not free. I have the next blockbuster sitting on my desk and I must get to it. “Yes, I’m still free,” he said.

  “Great,” Lacey said. “You’ve been rented by a Ms. Kiara Woods.”

  Trey cleared his throat. “Did you say Kiara Woods?”

  “Yes, sir. I will send you the additional details to your email.”

  “Thank you, Lacey. Have a good day.”

  “You, too, sir.”

  Trey disconnected the call and glanced at Matthew through the mirror. “Did you hear that, M-dog? Looks like Uncle Trey has a date with Kiara tomorrow. So, you know what that means, right?” Matthew waved his toy keys in the air.

  “How about I just tell you,” Trey said. “That means I need you to be a good boy tomorrow and go to bed a little early. Can you do that for me?” Matthew threw his keys on the floor.

  “Nope, wrong answer, M-dog.”

  Chapter 7

  Unlike the last time she’d arrived at Trey’s, she had no problem getting out of the car. All Kiara had needed was a little time to put everything in perspective. Now that she had, she felt much more confident in her ability to keep things with Trey friendly.

  Just don’t forget why you’re here tonight, she reminded herself as she gathered a couple of bags from her car. She was woman enough to admit that the kiss they’d shared had rocked her world. However, there were still so many more things that Trey didn’t know about her. Things that she knew would be deal breakers as they had for relationships in her past.

  She approached the front door and rang the doorbell. Trey answered shortly after, wearing dark jeans and a navy V-neck shirt. She could smell his freshly showered scent from where she stood on the doorstep. When her eyes made their way to his face, she was surprised to see him wearing stylish black-rimmed glasses.

  “Come on in.” He stepped aside so she could enter. “I was surprised to hear that you rented me for the night and wanted to meet at my place instead of yours. Dinner is almost ready.”

  Dinner? She glanced around the living room and kitchen and noticed dinner warming on the stove, two wineglasses sitting on the counter next to a bottle of wine, and Matthew playing in his crib.

  “You made dinner?” she asked.

  “Of course. I had to make up for the other night. I was hoping we could eat outside on the terrace, but I don’t want to take Matthew out there with us and it’s a little chilly. So maybe we can start dinner here and make our way to the roof later.”

  “Oh, no,” Kiara said, placing the bags on the floor next to his sofa. “No rooftop tonight. I came here to handle some business.” She leaned down to reach into one of the bags.

  Trey scrunched his forehead. “What’s all this?”

  “This is the answer to your prayers,” she said. Kiara handed him a thick green binder. “I call this my baby bible, and it contains everything you need to know about how to care for a child, starting with newborns. Tonight, I figured I could show you how to properly care for Matthew since you’re a fish out of water at times.”

  Trey blinked. “You only rented me tonight so that you could show me how to care for Matthew?”

  “Yes,” Kiara said enthusiastically. “This is important stuff. And last time I was here, you mentioned that you wished I could teach you some skills.”

  Trey opened the binder and Kiara had to hold back a laugh at the way he was looking at it. “Uh... Thanks, I guess.”

  “You’re welcome.” Kiara glanced around the room. “May I ask... Do you keep a crib in your bedroom as well, or only your living room?”

  Trey looked down at the crib. “Only here in the living room. I’m on a deadline and the crib is centrally located to my office and the kitchen.”

  Kiara lifted a couple of folded blankets. “So, you’ve just been sleeping on the couch?”

  “Yes,” Trey said with a laugh. “I’m guessing from that look on your face that you think I should sleep with the crib in my bedroom?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Kiara said, dropping the blankets. “But it would probably be a better night’s sleep for you and Matthew. I would actually suggest a nursery, but since you’re only watching Matthew for a short while, it isn’t necessary. Your bedroom is probably more relaxing and calming. It’s not that your living room isn’t. I just wonder if it would be more comfortable.”

  “Um, I guess I never thought of that.”

  “No worries. You can consider that more when I leave. Tonight, I figured we could go over the basics, like diapering, feeding, burping, nap schedules, the correct way to warm a bottle, ensuring you have a routine. That sort of thing.”

  Kiara laughed aloud when Trey dragged his long fingers down his face, glancing at the kitchen before turning back to her. “Will we at least have time to eat before we dive into all this?”
<
br />   Kiara smiled. “Sure. I haven’t eaten anything yet, so dinner would be nice.”

  Trey returned her smile. “Great. I’ll go set the table.” Twenty minutes later, they were seated at the table and dinner was served. Kiara was surprised to find that Trey had made filet mignon, green beans and white rice.

  “You’ve outdone yourself,” Kiara said. “This tastes way better than the takeout we had the other night.”

  Trey laughed. “I had to redeem myself after that dinner fiasco. I’m glad you like it.”

  “I do. You didn’t have to make me dinner, but I appreciate it.”

  Trey looked up at her and held her gaze. “I have a confession to make. After that kiss we shared the other night, I assumed you’d rented me so that we could get to know one another on a more personal level. I had no idea you wanted to meet about Matthew.”

  “I thought about coming clean and telling you when you called me last night to confirm, but where’s the fun in that?” Kiara smiled slyly.

  Trey lifted his hands in surrender. “Yeah, you got me. I had a different night in mind. But I must admit, you know your stuff. I’m still trying to nail down this parenting thing, but you’re going to make an amazing mother.”

  Kiara shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Ah, yeah. I guess I would. But I don’t want to have kids, so it’s sort of a moot point.”

  Trey cleared his throat. “Really? Can I ask why?”

  Kiara pushed her food around her plate as she prepared to give the response she normally did when she was asked that question. “I mentioned the other night that I practically had to raise my siblings on my own. Although my siblings are scattered around the LA area, each of them has kids and I absolutely love being a doting aunt and spoiling them whenever I can.”

  Kiara forced herself to remain still as Trey studied her some more. “What about LA Little Ones? You’re so great with children.”

  “Just because I don’t want kids of my own doesn’t mean I don’t love being around them. I’m great at what I do and I think my upbringing and helping to raise my siblings helped with that.”