"What's wrong with it?"
"Normally nothing. But Pa is one of those people who doesn't appreciate that sort of humor."
Brad snorted. He turned the engine on and the car pulled away from the sidewalk. "Has he been forgetting his daily injections of a sense of humor?"
"I don't think I've ever seen him laugh or smile when it wasn't part of an act."
That sounded incredibly sad. Cherrelle hadn't realized that until now that she had never seen genuine emotions from her father. He was incredibly restrained and always seemed to be angry.
"Your life sounds like shit," Brad commented.
Cherrelle didn't say anything until they got on the freeway. It sounded embarrassing that, even with all the money and the lifestyle she should have had, she hadn't really had a good life at all. She had known her life hadn't been great but to hear it like that...
She looked out the window, not able to look at Brad, whose hands were driving her insane with the way they controlled the wheel.
"Usually people tell me I should be appreciative that I have money and don't understand why I'm complaining."
"I didn't grow up with much money so I didn't take things for granted," Brad said. "But money doesn't buy love. I learned that the hard way."
He sounded so bitter that Cherrelle turned to look at him. While his expression was calm and pleasant enough, his knuckles were white on the wheel. Cherrelle realized that she didn't really know him as all. She gave him her full attention.
"What happened?"
It was a moment before Brad spoke. "My mom always aimed higher than she should have. When my parents divorced, she used her position as a caterer to snag a new husband from the elite classes." His voice sounded loathing. "She succeeded but ended up with an abusive man who...liked to touch kids."
Cherrelle's heart clenched. "Dear God."
"I kept telling her but she refused to give up the money." Brad snorted. "She chose money over me. In the end I turned myself in to social services. They allowed me to live with my dad, but all the charges against my stepfather were dropped because he bought someone off." His mouth twisted in a snarl. "Three months later, I heard she had been killed by her husband. Simply for overspending."
Cherrelle was speechless for a moment. She knew a lot of things that went on behind mansion walls were unsavory, but this was one of the worst she had ever heard of. She reached out and put her hand over his as it rested on the gear stick. "I'm sorry that happened. Not all rich people are like that."
"I know. But it gave me a reality check with money and what it can do to people." He glanced at her. "A bit like Mr. Colney and yourself."
"You got that right." Cherrelle sat back and snorted bitterly. "Pa thinks everyone should be like Colney. I think Colney should be sanctioned."
They drove in silence for a little longer. It wouldn't be too long before they got to her parents' home, behind steel gates and acres of land. Something that just spoke of money - practically screamed it - and not much more. They needed a game plan, a plan between them what to say.
"So, what do you need me to know about your family?"
Evidently Brad was of the same mind. Cherrelle knew they would be able to pull this off if he was able to be on the same page.
"Both of them will quiz you about our relationship," she said. "Pa will not hide the fact he is questioning you and will be very rude and invasive. Ma will be a lot more subtle and appear very nice, but she's all about image. There's a snake hidden under there just itching to get out." Cherrelle swallowed. "I also have a sister, Serena."
"I thought you were an only child."
"Technically I am." Cherrelle bit her lip. "Pa had an affair with a woman who used to clean for us and she got pregnant. To avoid a scandal and the fact the woman was living in conditions unfit for a child, Pa paid her off, so once Serena was born she would immediately become one of the family. Ma is named as her birth mother on the birth certificate. Her biological mother has been banned from ever seeing her daughter, which resulted in her committing suicide a few months after the birth."
Cherrelle had discovered the truth when the brother of the woman in question had confronted her when she was sixteen, demanding to know why she hadn't bothered to find her birth mother. After both realizing it was a case of mistaken identity, the brother had told her everything. It had shocked Cherrelle initially, but after it sunk in, she realized she wasn't really surprised. She had known for years that Emily Mason hadn't given birth to her, so it wasn't a stretch.
Even then the story was shocking.
"Dear God," Brad breathed her words from a while before. "And your mother allowed him to do this?"
"I was born via a surrogate. Pa's sperm and Ma's eggs but implanted in another woman. Ma didn't want to ruin her figure by having a baby even though she wanted children so she could be shown as the perfect mother." Cherrelle sneered. "And that was the only time she could give viable eggs; they had been trying for ten years before they discovered that her eggs weren't usable due to an undiscovered cyst in her fallopian tube." Her mouth curved in a sneer. "She hates the scars they had to make to open her up, but that part of her body she can hide."
"Can you spell dysfunctional?"
Cherrelle snorted. Open the dictionary and there would be a picture of her family under the word. "Serena is a bitch of the highest order. She doesn't know of her actual parentage and thinks she's Lady Luck. She also believes men can't resist her and she's only eighteen."
"I thought the age of consent was eighteen."
"It is." Cherrelle glanced at him. "So, watch out around her; she'll try and seduce you. Maybe right in front of me."
"She does that?" Brad sounded incredulous.
"Unfortunately. Part of the reason I don't take boyfriends home anymore. Not that I haven't had any in the last couple of years," she added gloomily.
Brad mulled it over for a moment. "Sounds like a tough job."
"Think you can handle it?"
"Sure." Brad flashed a smile that made Cherrelle's stomach into mush. "I've dealt with tougher customers."
"I doubt it."
Brad glanced at her. Then he laid a hand over hers as it lay in her lap and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Trust me. It'll be fine."
Cherrelle hoped the trust wasn't misplaced.
*****
Cherrelle's parents lived in Oak Lawn, a sprawling one-story condo with vast grounds and a steel gate with a guard. The guard nodded at Cherrelle and let them in, Brad driving up the sweeping driveway to the front of the house.
Brad turned off the engine and turned to Cherrelle. She was sitting with her hands in her lap, staring ahead. As they had got nearer to their destination, she had withdrawn into herself, silent and huddling into the seat. Brad wanted to reach across and hold her, tell her things were going to be okay, but he stopped himself. Cherrelle needed this moment to gather her thoughts; she wouldn't want a moment of pity.
"You okay?"
"No." Cherrelle took a deep breath and opened the door. "But let's do this."
Brad climbed out and went around to Cherrelle's side, helping her out and closing the door behind her. He slipped her arm through his and squeezed her hand.
"Hold onto me," he whispered. "I won't let you fall."
Cherrelle was still looking pale, but the color was starting to come back. She looked up at him and Brad felt something pass between them. He wasn't completely sure, but it zapped right through his body. Cherrelle gave him a grateful smile and pressed her head to his shoulder for a moment. Brad let her have that moment before they went up the path to the front door.
Cherrelle rang the bell and the door was opened a moment later by a plump, African American woman with graying hair and a pleasant countenance. Cherrelle smiled warmly when she saw the woman, the smile going all the way down to Brad's groin.
"Hello, Madge."
"Miss Cherrelle, hello." Madge turned her pleasant smile onto Brad. "And who's this handsome lad?"
Ch
errelle grinned and led Brad into the huge foyer, Madge shutting the door behind them.
"Brad, this is Madge, our housekeeper and one of the best cooks in Oak Lawn. This is my fiancé, Brad Jarrett."
"Pleasure to meet you, Madge."
Brad stepped forward, took Madge's hand, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Madge laughed and slapped his shoulder playfully.
"A real charmer, isn't he? Has he got a handsome dad? This one's a little too younger for me."
Brad laughed. "Unfortunately my father is married. Sorry."
"Cherrelle."
Brad turned. A huge bald man, his head shining in the light coming through the windows, stalked into the foyer. And he was huge, as tall as Brad's six-five and just as broad. His muscle tone just looked thick rather than defined, pushing against his gray suit so it made him look like he was close to wearing a sausage skin. His face was twisted in a disapproving frown that he directed at his daughter.
"Stop conversing in the hallway with the staff."
Cherrelle looked like she was about to say something, but she kept her mouth shut, merely nodding at Madge who walked away after giving the newcomer a slight bow. Cherrelle sighed and turned to the huge man. "Hello, Pa."
So this was Logan Mason. Brad could see why anyone would be scared of him, considering how big he was. He probably used his size to intimidate more than anything. And with the scowl that darkened his expression when it swung around on him, Brad knew that he was not going to get along with Logan in any shape or form.
"Is this your man?"
Cherrelle slipped her arm through Brad's. "Brad Jarrett, this is my father Logan Mason."
"How do you do, Mr Mason?" Brad held out a hand but Logan simply looked at the hand as if it was contagious. He gave him an incredulous look.
"Which street did she pick you up from, then?"
"How about Princeton University?" Brad didn't blink and bit back a smile as Logan showed surprised. "I knew Cherrelle when we were studying at the same place. We bumped into each other about a year ago and simply reconnected."
That sounded plausible enough and judging from Cherrelle’s smile she agreed. But Logan still looked disbelieving.
"And I'm supposed to believe this because...?"
"We were both in Rockefeller College. I made friends with her through my roommate, Jim Reese."
Brad knew that Jim had met her parents and hoped that his name would give him credence. Logan slanted an eyebrow at Cherrelle.
"Another boyfriend we didn't know about?" he asked snidely.
Cherrelle rolled her eyes. "Pa, Jim has had a girlfriend since he was nineteen. Off-limits."
"Right."
He still looked skeptic. But Brad had dealt with tougher characters when selling his cars. He had been taught not to back down and think the buyers were in charge.
Cherrelle sighed and tugged Brad through the foyer. "Can we take this into the lounge, please, Pa? I'm sure Ma would like to meet him."
Logan grunted and led the way through the house. As they walked, Brad glanced at Cherrelle and noticed that she wasn't the woman he had seen before. This woman seemed confined in emotions, almost timid. He wasn't sure he liked it.
There was no fire in this woman. And that worried him.
There was a woman sitting primly on the edge of an armchair cushion when they entered the lounge at the back of the house. One of the walls was floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating her in light. Refined in a silk blouse and suit, her hair twisted into a knot at the base of her neck, she looked every bit the lady of the manor. Brad knew behind the serene, empty expression on her face beat the heart of a cold-calculating woman.
He couldn't believe these people were Cherrelle's parents. They seemed to have completely different personalities.
Logan led the way in and flopped onto the couch.
"It seems Cherrelle has actually come up with a genuine boyfriend, Emily," he said brazenly.
"Oh, how lovely." The woman graciously nodded her head at Brad. "I'm Emily Mason."
"Brad Jarrett." Brad gave her a small bow. Cherrelle's hand ran down his arm and linked his fingers with hers. It felt good holding her hands, almost natural. Brad hoped they would do a lot of hand-holding.
Would make up for the no-sex rule.
"He went to Princeton with Cherrelle," Logan added with an evident sneer. "They haven't seen each other since."
"Really?" Emily's face said she was interested but her tone of voice said otherwise. She was completely bored. "What did you study, Brian?"
"Brad. And I studied architecture."
"So, you're an architect?"
"I'm actually a car dealer. It was my father's business," he added when he saw the confusion in their faces. "But when he got sick with cancer, he couldn't do as much as he wanted. So, I volunteered to take over."
"Really?" Logan pounced on that. "Is business going well?"
Brad met his gaze. He wasn't going to admit out loud that things were in the toilet. While Logan might be able to find that out on a background check, he wasn't prepared to give them ammunition to throw him out immediately.
"As well as can be expected in current economic climate," he said evenly.
Cherrelle squeezed his hand and jumped in, giving her father a smile that looked strained. "Things are great, Pa."
Then a door banged loudly somewhere in the house. A few moments later, a young girl in her late teens came sauntering into the room carrying an armful of bags. She was petite and lighter skinned than the rest of her family, her hair in long braids down to her waist, and she was wearing big sunglasses with a strapless red dress that ended several inches above her knee. She was pretty but young. Very young.
"Sorry, I'm late. The shops were packed this morning. And it's meant to be Sunday!" She dumped the bags into an armchair and turned to face them. Brad knew when he had been spotted because she paused and slowly took off her sunglasses, giving him an approving once over. "Well, hello. Where did you come from?"
"This is our younger daughter, Serena." Logan sounded almost bored. "Brad Jarrett, Cherrelle's boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Serena snorted, tossing her sunglasses onto the coffee table. "Come off it. He's only around for the money. Every other man hasn't blinked twice when they got what they wanted."
"Nice to see you, too, Serena," Cherrelle said acidly.
Serena sent an insincere smile at her half-sister before she sauntered up to Brad. Brad resisted the urge to move away as she came up close to him, her breasts brushing up against his chest. She smiled saucily up at him.
"Why don't you walk away as well, Brad?" she asked softly. "Cherrelle's an uptight bitch and you won't get a good time in bed. Now, me, on the other hand..." She dropped her voice to a whisper as she leaned in. "I can make you scream."
That made Brad nauseous. He finally took a step back. "Aren't you a little young to be talking like that?" he asked.
"I'm eighteen." Serena sounded like she didn't consider it a big deal. "I'm above the age of consent."
"Barely. And I've never heard of virgins talking like that."
Brad glanced at Logan and was surprised to see the malicious glint in his eyes. Then he figured what was going on; Logan and Serena were conspiring to see if Brad would succumb to another woman's advances so Cherrelle would be free again for Logan and Emily's plans.
It was incredibly brazen to do that in front of Cherrelle, and Brad wasn't prepared to let them have the satisfaction. Plus an eighteen-year-old coming on to him made him feel like a dirty old man.
He put his arm around Cherrelle and pressed a kiss to her temple. Then Cherrelle turned her head and brushed a kiss across his jaw. The gentle brushed of her lips zinged like sparks through Brad, and he swallowed as his body responded.
"I prefer the more womanly type, not little kids." Brad leveled a challenging gaze at the now pouting girl. "Satisfied?"
Serena looked annoyed. Logan looked like he was about to say something, but Emily stood hurried
ly, smoothing down her skirt.
"Well, this is nice. Let's see if dinner's ready yet."
Brad didn't start breathing until Serena moved away from him, holding Cherrelle close to him as they went into the dining room.
What had he got himself into?
Chapter 4
"So, how did you two meet?" Logan waved his fork to reiterate. "I mean recently. You said you met again a year ago?"
Brad gritted his teeth. He had already said several times how they had met during the meal, but Logan was intent on asking the same thing over and over again. It was like he was looking for the lie in their story.
Cherrelle didn't bat an eyelid.
"We met in a pool hall, Pa," she said calmly. "I have a regular game with a group of friends from university. We've been doing it for years."
And, like the other times before, Logan showed his disapproval. "That's got to stop, for a start. You never know what you'll find in pool halls."
Cherrelle and Brad exchanged glances. While things seemed to be going well, they had to be on their toes. Logan was diligent in asking the same questions to trip them up and Emily, although polite and seemingly bored with the entire conversation, was listening intently. Brad could see it behind her eyes; she was paying close attention to their answers.
Serena, on the other hand, wasn't listening too intently. When they had gone into the dining room for lunch, the little chit had managed to snag the seat next to Brad, forcing Cherrelle to sit opposite. Now, she seemed more interested in rubbing her bare foot against Brad's leg. It had started as simple touching, but now she was rubbing it blatantly against his calf, getting higher and higher as the meal went on.
It wasn't comfortable for Brad, who kept trying to shift away or push her foot away, but Serena didn't take the hint. Her foot was as high as his knee. How her parents hadn't noticed that she was sitting in a kneeling position on her chair with her foot virtually in his lap, he had no idea. Cherrelle had noticed and she wasn't happy, but she kept a smile plastered on her face.
This was going to be tougher than Brad realized.
"Well, anyway," Cherrelle went on. "Brad was a surprise guest last year and...well, there was a spark. We got talking and things went from there."
Being Harrison Bloom's Girl (That Forbidden Love Book 2) Page 17
