BIG DADDY SINATRA 2: IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU, Book 2

by Mallory Monroe

  “Correction,” Charles said. “You didn’t leave them. He made you leave them.”

  “I know. But still it has got to be a very scary time for them. And what if it’s true about Quince being involved in their mother’s car crash? Oh my goodness. They will be devastated if they find that out. She wasn’t a good mother, but she was still their biological mother.”

  “I’m sure that’s true. Hopefully the cops will track him down and bring him to justice. And hopefully, in the meantime, he won’t do those girls any harm.”

  Jenay shook her head. “He won’t hurt Carly and Ash.”

  “Did you ever think he could be involved in their mother’s death?”

  Jenay closed her eyes. “No,” she said.

  “Then stop giving him so much credit. He’s a bastard and that’s all there is to it. But I pray you’re right about him concerning those girls.” Then Charles exhaled. “That’s why I’ll call Ike and get him on the case.”

  Jenay looked at him. “Who’s Ike?”

  “A private investigator I use. He’s looking into who could have planted that bomb in your car. I told him we would check this angle. Now that Quince has taken off, I want some of his men tracking him down too.”

  “You think Arianna’s lying, don’t you? You think she and Quince did have something to do with that car bomb?”

  “I think the fact that the cops have arrested her, and have a warrant for Quince’s arrest in another car accident, I don’t see how we can put it pass them.”

  “So you don’t believe her pleas of innocence?” Jenay asked.

  “I don’t know if I believe her or not,” Charles responded. “That’s all the more reason why I need to make sure. That’s why Ike and his men are going to find out one way or another if she and Quince and anybody else on this end were involved.”

  Jenay shook her head. “I never thought I’d ever see Quince again. And then after I see him, all of these tragedies happen. I just pray the girls are okay.”

  Charles nodded. “That’s certainly my prayer.”

  “So if your investigator is going to handle this part of the story, where does that leave us?”

  “We’ve got to go down our enemies list and check them off, one by one. That’s the only option left for us.”

  “And if we turn up empty?” Jenay asked.

  “Then we’re screwed,” Charles responded. “Because the devil you know is always preferable than the one you don’t know.”

  Jenay exhaled, as emotions began to overtake her, and she looked the other way.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Over the next several months, they went down the list. From Stoke Ackerman to Aaron Gentry and every other member of the country club governing board, to even those drug dealers Robert had been briefly mixed up with, they checked off every name. And turned up nothing. No leads, no questions, no answers. Nothing. Even their private investigator, who was on the case in Richmond, was turning up blanks. It was as if Quince had dropped off the face of this earth, and taken his daughters with him. Even the local police, who had been vigorously investigating the car bombing, eased up too. Tess Magrid was dead and buried, Jenay and Bonita were alive and well, they slowly moved on to other cases.

  Even Charles began to wonder if they would ever find the answers because he felt as if they were just spinning wheels. “Spinning wheels turn up a lot of dirt,” he once told his sons, “but they also leave a lot of holes.”

  Four months after Jenay’s Mercedes was bombed on Harvey Street, and poor Tess lost her young life, they still had a lot of holes. It forced Charles and Jenay to reach an unsettling truth: that this was their new normal, and they had to accept it, and live with it.

  Jenay drove up to the front entrance of the Jericho Inn in her brand new Mercedes. Unlike the last one, which was red, this one was pure white. And it wasn’t an S-class like before, but a ML500 SUV. Charles bought it for her because it was big and he therefore believed it would be safer. Jenay just liked the look of it.

  “Look at you,” Megan said as Jenay entered the lobby and headed for the front desk. Her car might no longer be red, Megan thought, but she was decked down in a red pantsuit and heels. “I want to be like you when I grow up.”

  Jenay laughed. For the first time in four long months, she actually felt as if she could laugh without any lingering feelings of dread. They still had no answers, and Quince was still roaming out there somewhere with his daughters, but for the sake of her own family she had to lift that metaphorical black veil and move the hell on.

  “It’s very nice,” Megan said, looking at the SUV. “Did you just purchase it?”

  “Charles ordered it a month ago,” Jenay said as she walked behind the desk, “but it just came in last night.”

  Megan shook her head. “And here I was thinking all those stories about Big Daddy Sinatra were true. I believed that stuff before you came along. But he’s not ruthless at all. He’s not mean. He’s a pushover.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Jenay said, and Megan laughed. “He’s no pushover. But he is a good guy. That much is true.” Then Jenay realized what was missing. “Why are you playing desk clerk again today?”

  “Wanda had a doctor’s appointment.”

  “I thought I said Denise would handle back-up when the clerk wasn’t here. You have enough to do.”

  “But Denise went upstairs. She said she wasn’t feeling well. Again. And since Wilma is on vacation, and Betty quit, and Wanda had a doctor’s appointment, there was nobody else to do it.”

  “Well did you remind Denise that there was nobody else?”

  “I told her,” Megan said. “But she still claimed to be too sick to come down.”

  Jenay exhaled. Denise was becoming more trouble than she was worth. She and Brent were still together, to even Jenay’s shock, and it was changing Denise from the responsible assistant to the entitled girlfriend. She even told Jenay that Brent was looking to rent a house for her, that was how serious things were getting between the two of them, and she would probably stop working soon. Jenay told her it was a mistake. She told her that she should never rely on a boyfriend to pay her bills and take care of her. But she wasn’t trying to hear that.

  But Jenay wasn’t trying to allow her to get lazy on the job and have other people pulling her weight. That was why she headed upstairs even before she put her purse away. She and Denise needed to have a heart-to-heart. She didn’t show favoritism toward Donald when he worked here, she wasn’t about to show it toward Denise.

  But upstairs, Denise wasn’t thinking about favoritism. She was thinking about the test results staring her in the face. There it was. On the sink in her bathroom. An undeniable plus sign. It was her third test. All three turned up positive. She was pregnant.

  She didn’t know what to make of it. Would Brent be happy, or angry? Would he want to marry her, or dump her? And what about her? She didn’t want to be anybody’s mother! That was why Brent stopped wearing condoms three months into their relationship, because he knew it too. She made clear to him repeatedly that she was on birth control and would never chance a pregnancy. And she did take the pill faithfully. She could only remember missing one or two days. One or two days in four months! She never dreamed that a missed day once or twice would result in a positive test. In a pregnancy!

  She would often miss taking her birth control pills when she was with Mark. Now she missed a day here and there with Brent and she was pregnant? She knew it was possible, but she never considered that possibility.

  Knocks were heard on her suite door. And then she heard Jenay’s voice. “Denise, are you in there?”

  Denise hurriedly grabbed the test stick and threw it into the wastebasket. Then she wiped the tears that had been falling from her eyes. Then she hurried to open the door.

  “It took you long enough,” Jenay said. “I understand you’re sick?”

  “No I’m good,” Denise said, grabbing her purse from off of the side table. “I was on my way back do
wnstairs.”

  Jenay looked at Denise as Denise hurried out of the suite, and hurried along the corridor. What in the world was wrong with that girl, Jenay thought, as she watched her train wreck of a friend hurry to her post.

  That night, when Bonita was asleep in her Nursery, and Tony was still being nanny and was asleep in the nursery with her, Charles was riding Jenay’s ass in a slow motion fuck.

  Jenay was naked and on her stomach, with her hands folded beneath the side of her face, as she relished the weight of his big, naked body on top of her, and the feel of his big, hard dick swelling inside of her. Their sex life had eased considerably after that bombing, even to the point where they would sometimes go weeks without doing anything. But over the last few days that all changed. Charles’s appetite was back in force. He was still worried about his family, and he was still concerned that they might never find the person responsible, but he wasn’t going to let the stress of that nightmare ruin what used to be a major part of his marriage.

  He fucked Jenay with slow, lingering strokes. His big, muscular body was so horny when he first turned her onto her stomach and laid his body on top of her back, he found himself rubbing his dick between the crack of her tight ass for minutes on end before he put it in her. And when he put it in, he closed his eyes, leaned down, and gathered her tighter beneath him. The warmth of her vagina captured him. It felt as if he was home again. And he relished that feeling.

  But he was all in now, deeply in, and he was fucking her relentlessly. He was thrusting in and almost out of her, gliding across her womanhood repeatedly, until he had her on fire with sensual pulsations. His dick could feel her throbs. His dick was throbbing too with every stroke. For nearly an hour he fucked her. For nearly an hour they both were on the verge of cumming, but were so intent on prolonging their cum that they remained in a kind of euphoric, pre-climactic state the entire time.

  Jenay was nearly drowsy beneath him. She felt every muscle in her body relax as he did her. And it was the best time all over again. She never dreamed she’d be able to live with the pain of that day on Harvey Street. But right now, as Charles fucked her, she was not only living with it, but had actually stopped thinking about it. It wasn’t a matter of seconds anymore. It wasn’t a matter of what would have been if Donald had not taken Nita out of that car, or if she and Reuben had not been delayed when that teenager took a corner too fast and forced her back onto the curb.

  But because of the loving way Charles was doing her, he was allowing her to stop celebrating a near-death, and was giving her permission to embrace her life again. She was alive. Bonita was alive. For Bonita’s sake, for Charles’s sake, for their boys’ sake, she had to get over it. Tonight, she felt, was that beginning.

  And when they both finally came, she didn’t scream out the way she used to, and she didn’t groan or moan or laugh with delight. She cried. She cried for the life she had, not the one she almost lost. She cried for the husband she had, and the daughter, and the sons. She cried.

  When Charles finally stopped fucking her, and his dick finally began its retreat, he looked down at her. He was filled with his usual pride of completion, certain that he had pleased her mightily. But when he saw that she was crying, and that she was wiping away the tears, his heart dropped. “Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked her, his big green eyes bright with concern.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Jenay responded. “Everything’s right.”

  “But you’re crying.”

  “They’re tears of joy,” she said. “Everything’s right.”

  Charles smiled with relief. “Yes,” he said. “Everything’s perfect now.”

  “Not perfect,” Jenay corrected him. “Until we find that bastard it will never be perfect. But everything fits now. Everything’s right. Just right.”

  Charles was a contemplative man, and he therefore thought about what she had just said. Then he nodded his head. He understood exactly what she meant. All of the pieces in their life fit together now. Their sons, their daughter, and them. Everything was right. He kissed her lovingly on the side of her lips, and then rolled off of her.

  But unlike her, he didn’t lay there still contemplating what she had said. Within mere minutes, he was fast asleep. Jenay smiled when she heard him snoring. If she had a dollar for every time she was forced, after sex, into cleaning his wet dick because he had fallen asleep and wasn’t conscious to do it himself, she’d be a very wealthy woman. Then she realized she already was a very wealthy woman in every way, felt that surge of joy, and then headed for the bathroom.

  That next morning, Sunday morning, Charles woke up alone in bed. Not that he was unaccustomed to waking up alone. Jenay was an early bird, always up and showered and dressed before seven a.m. The idea of him getting up before nine was laughable. That was why he looked at the nightstand. If it wasn’t after nine, he was going to turn over and get more sleep. But it was ten. He reluctantly got his naked body out of bed, put on a robe, and then made his way downstairs.

  He heard female voices as he headed for the kitchen. When he recognized those voices, he was surprised. But it was true. When he entered his kitchen, he saw his wife, his secretary, and his assistant all sitting around the table looking at fabrics and catalogues.

  “Good morning,” Charles said when no-one saw him enter. Jenay and Mary didn’t bother to look up. But Faye McKinley, his young assistant, nervously did.

  “Good morning,” she responded. He wore a robe and his hair was ruffled. She’d never seen a man look so beautiful.

  “Finally awake?” Jenay asked Charles as Mary handed her another swatch of fabric. “Now this is lovely,” she said to Mary.

  “Isn’t it?” Mary responded. “It’s one of my personal favorites too.”

  “Where’s NeeNee?” Charles asked as he headed for the refrig.

  “Tony took her out jogging with him,” Jenay said.

  Charles smiled as he opened the refrigerator door. “I’ll bet she loves that.”

  “She does. He’s quickly become her favorite brother.”

  “He lives here with her,” Charles said as he pulled out an individual bottle of milk. “He should be the favorite.”

  “I thought Tony moved into his own place,” Mary said. “At least that’s what I heard.”

  “He did,” Jenay responded to her. “But after what happened with Tess, he moved back in. He’s Mr. Nanny now.”

  “So what’s this about?” Charles asked as he stood at the center island and drank his milk. “And why did you two drag Faye into it?”

  “Faye’s helping me,” Mary said.

  “And Mary’s helping me design the lobby at the B & B remember?” Jenay responded. “She’s a budding interior designer.”

  “I know that part,” Charles said. “But why Sunday morning? It’s the only day you have off. You need your rest.”

  “We’re almost done. I’ll get my rest. Then you and I are going to church together, and then after church I’ll get more rest. Or not. But I’m fine. Thank-you for your concern.”

  Then Charles smiled. “I don’t know why you don’t just hire real designers,” he said. “What does Mary know about fashion?”

  “The same thing you know about business,” Mary responded. “Absolutely nothing.” Charles and Jenay laughed. Faye looked horrified that Mary would take such liberties with their boss.

  “Okay now,” Charles said, “if she muck it up don’t come crying to me.”

  “Will you be quiet,” Mary urged him. “She’ll be on to me!”

  Jenay laughed. “She will one day start her own interior design business. The Inn could be her biggest customer if she gets this project right. I’m giving her a try.”

  “So tell me, Faye,” Charles said. “You’re in on it too?”

  Faye looked as if he had just accused her of murder. “I’m just helping out Miss Mary,” Faye quickly pointed out, prompting Charles to smile. “I’m not in on anything.”

  Jenay laughed. “Don’t let him worry y
ou, sweetheart,” she said. “He’s just playing with you.”

  “But I can’t take it like Miss Mary can.”

  They all laughed, and then the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it,” Faye said quickly, as if this was a way for her to regain her composure. She hurried to answer the door.

  Jenay looked at Charles. “Why did you scare her like that, Charlie? You know she has a crush on you.”

  “All I did was ask her a question.”

  “All you did was accuse her of being disloyal to you,” Mary said. “And yes, I know it was a joke. But for a girl like her, it’ll take her days to get over such a joke. But it’s not entirely your fault. These young girls actually think you’re good looking.”

  “They need glasses,” Jenay said.

  “Bifocals,” Mary echoed.

  Charles laughed.

  Brent entered the living room area with Faye coming in behind him. As soon as Charles saw his son, and that worried look on his face, he knew something was wrong. “What is it?” he asked him.

  “Hey Miss Mary.”

  “Hello Brenton.”

  “Where’s Tone?” Brent asked.

  “He’s out jogging with Bonita,” Jenay said. “What brings you over here this morning?”

  “You guys going to church today?”

  “We’re going to try and make the eleven-thirty service, yes,” Charles said. “Why you want to know that?”

  “I’m going too.”

  Jenay looked at Brent. She could hear the anguish in his voice.

  Charles could hear it too. “What happened?” he asked his son.

  Brent stood still and placed his hands on his hips. Then he let out a harsh exhale. “I just got fired,” he said.

  Jenay, Mary, and Faye were stunned. They all looked at Charles. Charles was staring at his son.