by Nia Arthurs
Wilson folds his arms over his chest. His bearded jaw is hard, like it’s carved out of granite. “Get out of my face before I hurt you.”
“That’s enough.” I yank on Thomas’s arm.
He shakes me off and glares. “What’s your plan, huh? You messed with my sister’s body now you’re out for her heart?”
“Thomas, I said enough!”
Both men are breathing hard, chest heaving. The scent of testosterone is about to choke me. I’m starting to wonder if I should just let them beat each other up so they can get it out of their system.
“It’s been a long day. Could you please just act like civil, rational people and not cavemen? Gosh.”
Thomas stands down. “Fine.”
“Whatever.” Wilson glances at me. “I need to talk to you.”
“What about?” Thomas blurts.
“None of your damn business.”
They’re gearing up to fight again so I butt in before things can go any further. “Not tonight, Wilson. I’m exhausted.”
“Okay.” He steps back. “But make time for me tomorrow.”
It’s not a request.
I turn toward my door and fit the key in the lock when another, familiar voice calls my name. “Zora.”
My hand falls. I lift my head and fall into a pair of hazel eyes. Shock twines around my heart.
“Keanu?” His name falls off my lips on a soft breath.
For a moment, we all stand and stare at the newcomer. Then, as if they planned it, my brother and Wilson jump into action.
Thomas drives Keanu up the wall and holds him by the throat. Wilson steps protectively in front of me, his arms held wide and falling over my stomach.
I claw at his hand and scream at Thomas, “What are you doing?”
“You got a death wish, punk? How dare you show your grimy little face around her again?”
Keanu grapples with Thomas’s arm, but my brother is twice his size and way too pissed off to drop him.
My gaze falls over Keanu’s light brown skin, soft black hair brushed to fine waves, and the plain white T-shirt that hugs his shoulders. I remember being in those arms, feeling that skin against mine.
My heart patters, but I’m too shocked to interpret if it’s from love or just plain surprise.
Thomas drives his elbow deeper into Keanu’s throat. “You have three seconds to tell me what the hell you’re doing here. One… two… ”
Chapter Thirteen
Wilson
“Okay! Okay!” The pretty boy in Thomas’s chokehold blurts. He squeezes his eyes shut. One vein bursts out of his temple. “I came to see Zora.”
“No crap, Sherlock.” Thomas grimaces. “I’m asking you why.”
He glances up, looking straight past my shoulders to where Zora is trembling behind me. “I miss you.”
The moment those words touch the air, Zora does a little shudder. I feel her folding into herself, crumbling beneath the weight of whatever spell this guy wove.
I know two things in that moment.
The first is Silver Tongue here is bad news.
The second is Zora’s too blind to see it.
So I let my instincts take over. My arm falls over Zora’s shoulders, and I draw her into my side. She looks at me, brown eyes wide and slightly glassy. Her eyelashes wander down before bouncing back up.
I smile calmly. “Who is he, babe?”
“Babe?” Thomas and the other guy scream together.
Zora fastens me with a sharp look, mirroring the expression she had after I called her ‘babe’ in front of the delivery guy last week.
Good. I’ve achieved my goal. All I needed was the real Zora back.
I keep my arms around her and shoot Silver Tongue a disinterested glance. “Who are you?”
“Keanu Burges. Who the hell are you?”
“He’s none of your business,” Zora snaps. She elbows me so I let her go. “I can’t do this tonight, Keanu. Go home.”
“But Zo, I—”
“Don’t call me that.” Her nostrils flare and she gives him a look so scathing I almost jump back from the heat of it.
Thomas thrusts Keanu down. The guy lands on his feet and scrambles back, massaging his throat. I know what that’s like. The last time Thomas blew a fuse and came after me he left bruises on my neck.
These siblings could really use some anger management classes.
“I know I messed up. But I want to make it up to you,” Keanu pleads, ignoring the fact that both Thomas and I are closing in on him.
“I can’t do this right now. I’m going to bed.” Zora turns around and opens her apartment door.
Thinking she’ll need protection or, at least, someone to talk to, I switch directions and move toward her. In the corner of my eye, I see Thomas making a beeline for Zora too.
“Alone,” she glares at me and then focuses that dark energy on Thomas. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
I skid to a stop.
Thomas keeps going. Foolishly. “Sis…”
“Goodnight.” Zora slams the door in his face.
Thomas grits his teeth and whirls on Keanu. One arm rises, and he points a crooked finger. “You!”
“It was great seeing you, Tommy,” Keanu says. Sweat pops out on his forehead. “We should do this again another time!”
With that, Keanu takes off.
Thomas roars and follows him.
I watch them turn the corner, debating whether I should join in the chase. Given the tension between Zora and Keanu, I’m guessing that’s the infamous ex Gretchen was telling me about.
He’s got the smarmy good looks to make women lose their common sense. It’s obvious Keanu relies on his face to get him through life. There’s plenty of fluff, but not enough substance.
How did someone as tough as Zora get involved with a player like him?
By the time I convince myself to join the hunt, Thomas and Keanu have already sailed down the stairs. I shrug, slant one more longing look at Zora’s apartment and then head into my own.
The moment I step into the living room, my gaze lands on the mountain of paperwork leaning dangerously on my coffee table.
Kent and I have been running codes all week. Well, Kent’s done most of the heavy lifting. I was too distracted to be much help. It was hard to concentrate when I knew Zora was avoiding me.
Every time I heard footsteps thudding down the hallway, I dashed to the peephole in the hopes that it was Zora coming home. But she never did.
I was at a loss. On the phone, she seemed as civil and polite as she had been the last time we met in person. After a while, that started to bother me. Zora was never formal and withdrawn when I spoke to her.
Was Keanu the reason she seemed so distant lately?
I sigh and fall into the couch. Whatever’s going on between us, I’m just glad she came back. I was planning to storm the hospital and toss her over my shoulder if she didn’t show up sooner or later.
A knock on the door breaks into my thoughts. I glance up, wary. It can’t be Zora. She’s definitely not emerging from her apartment anytime soon.
Kent’s too busy with Amaya to show up unannounced so late at night.
Then who could be outside?
I step warily toward the door and open it. My jaw drops when I meet Thomas’s eyes.
He glowers at me.
I glare right back. “What? You couldn’t catch him?”
“Scum like Keanu have more practice running away than I do. Can I come in?”
“No.”
He clears his throat and glances down. “Please.”
I freeze.
Thomas rubs the back of his neck. “Keanu’s slimy. He might be back to harass my sister tonight, and I… I can’t wait in the hallway.”
“So you want to come in here? To my apartment?”
“Why not? You got something to hide?” Thomas barks.
I scowl. “Nope. But since this is my house, I get to choose who I want in it.”
“Fine.” T
homas’s gaze dips to the floor. “Let’s call a truce.”
“Excuse me?”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Or did you mean to act like you and my sister were a thing back there? I thought that was for Keanu’s benefit. I guess I was wrong—”
I shuffle my feet. “If I let you in, what’ll you do for me?”
“I’m not giving you money. I’d rather stake out from outside.”
“I don’t want money. I want information about Keanu and Zora.”
“It’s not my place to tell you—” When I start to close the door, Keanu yells, “Alright! You have a deal!”
I smile. “Great.”
He walks in, mumbling under his breath. I don’t catch the words, but I think that’s for the best. Thomas stares at my mess of a living room in distaste. “What do you do all day? You a bum or something?”
“I own an app development company.”
“Most start-ups fail after five years, you know. You’re better off working as a programmer for a corporation.”
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep that in mind.” I sweep my arms out toward the couch. “Sit.”
Thomas drops into the sofa. “So what do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“As you can probably tell, Zora doesn’t run to me with her relationship problems. All I know is what I saw with my own eyes.”
“Go ahead.”
Thomas leans forward and clasps his fingers together. “They were in junior college when they met. In Belize, most kids graduate high school then go to JC. It’s a lot of freedom compared to what they had before and they tend to make stupid decisions.”
“Keanu was Zora’s stupid decision.”
“Exactly. I’m sure they were ‘messing’ before she started bringing him around, but I found out they were dating on her eighteenth birthday. Some punk came to the door with flowers and balloons talking ‘bout surprising Zora with breakfast.”
I frown at the picture his words paint. “So Keanu approached you first?”
“Zora had no idea he’d do that. I tried not to blow up because it was her birthday. Looking back, I think Keanu chose that day ‘cause he knew I’d go easier on them.”
“So he’s smart.”
Thomas snorts. “Try manipulative. Keanu thought he could be all over Zora even when I was there. I tried to put a stop to it, but I guess that was my first mistake. Zora started sneaking around with him.”
I feel a twitch in my chest. Which makes absolutely no sense. Why should I care that Zora probably lost her virginity to that jerk? It’s not like I’ve been a saint.
“So when did they break up?” I ask to quiet my own thoughts.
Thomas purses his lips. “Can’t answer that. They broke up and got together so much it was like trying to predict the weather. Some days, Zo would be floating on air, others she’d lock up in her room, crying into her pillows.”
My jaw flexes. “He made her cry?”
“Yes. Too much. Zora never told me upfront but Keanu was cheating on her. It was especially hard for her because that year, our mom died. Zo was only nineteen. It was a lot to handle. She lost weight. Refused to talk to me. It was bad. I got really scared.”
“How did she get through it?”
“A few months later, Keanu came back and they seemed to get along better. Then he left. Found some other girl to use and throw away.”
“He broke her heart. Again.”
“It’s been like that for the past five years. Every time I bring Keanu up, she’ll get real quiet or snap at me.” Thomas squirms. “There’s this thing called soul ties. I’ve looked it up and I think Zora’s suffering from that.”
“Soul ties?”
“It’s a bond that connects you with a person. One so strong it can’t be broken. Keanu was her first, and she’s been stuck in this crazy limbo with him ever since. My sister’s intelligent, strong and capable, but she loses all of that when Keanu shows up. It’s frustrating.”
“So what do we do?”
Thomas’s eyes flit to mine. “We?”
“She’s carrying my child. I’m not going to sit back and watch Keanu put her heart through the ringer again.”
“Our.”
I tilt my head, confused.
Thomas arches an eyebrow. “You keep saying it’s your child. It’s Zora’s too. You should say ‘our child’.”
“You know what I meant.”
“And about Keanu,” Thomas narrows his eyes, “there’s nothing either of us can do.”
“I don’t believe that. There’s got to be a way. Maybe we can talk to her or—”
He barrels to the edge of his seat. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? When she was nineteen, I acted like a damn detective and found the girl Keanu was cheating with. I wanted her to see with her own eyes and dump his puny butt.”
“How did she react?”
“Unsurprised. She already knew. I thought she’d let him go then, but he kept coming back and she kept letting him. I took Zo to a pastor, signed her up for counseling but nothing worked. And then I realized, you can’t rescue someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”
“Things are different now. I’m here.”
Thomas studies me. “Is your concern just about the kid?”
“What else would it be about?”
“You tell me.”
“Look,” I stare him straight in the eyes, “Zora’s the mother of my child. I care about her well-being like I would my own family’s.”
“Could you not?”
My eyebrows fly up. “What?”
“Don’t care about her if you’ll just leave her when the baby’s born. It’s misleading and unnecessary.”
“Did she say that?”
Thomas glances away. “I can tell you’re not a bad guy. In comparison to Keanu.”
That’s not much of a compliment.
“Zora’s struggling enough as it is. Can’t you give her some space? Or try not to be so nice?”
“You’re asking me to be mean to someone because I’m not dating them? Do you hear yourself?”
Thomas stands and moves to the door. “At the very least, leave Keanu to me. Anything you do will just confuse her.”
“Why would it unless…?” My heart stutters. “Does Zora have feelings for me?”
Thomas stiffens. “Just leave my sister alone. Don’t try to be her friend. You stuck her with a kid and now you’re co-parents. Leave it at that. You hear me?”
“Yeah.”
I get where Thomas is coming from, but if Zora really does have feelings for me then… that changes everything.
Chapter Fourteen
Zora
Despite the drama my day ended with last night, I went to sleep and had a peaceful dream. This morning, I woke up feeling fresh and clear-headed, two things I haven’t been in a while.
Best of all, there’s no morning sickness creeping up on me.
I climb out of bed and rub my round belly. “Thank you, Little Bean.”
There’s no response, but Dr. Clara assured me there would be plenty of action in there come the second trimester.
I pour myself a glass of orange juice, take a sip and then pick up my phone. My hand trembles slightly. The moment my thumb brushes the screen, a chorus of ‘pings’ fills the room.
I brace myself as I read Keanu’s messages.
UNKNOWN: Zora, please pick up. I need you. Please talk to me.
UNKNOWN: Let me explain. Just give me thirty minutes. No ten minutes.
UNKNOWN: Zo, don’t be like this.
Most of his other messages are along those lines. I skim through them and then click on Thomas’s text.
THOMAS: Stay away from that guy.
It’s simple. To the point. Totally Thomas.
I chuckle and set the phone down. The only person that hasn’t contacted me all morning is Wilson. Since he lives right across the way, he’s probably planning a visit in person.
As if summone
d by my thoughts, there’s a knock on the door and Wilson’s voice rumbles, “Zora? Open up. It’s me.”
I grimace at my outfit. I’m wearing an oversized T-shirt and period-stained shorts. My hair is still wrapped in a bandana and I’m not wearing makeup. I debate whether I should keep him waiting while I change into something more flattering, but eventually decide against it.
The desire to impress Wilson is bad.
Scaring Wilson away with my au natural look is good.
I straighten my shoulders and open the door. Wilson smiles at me. His brown eyes twinkle when he sees my bandana, but he makes no comment about it.
Instead, he lifts a plastic bag in front of me. A sweet fragrance floats from inside. “I bought breakfast.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to. Can I come in?”
I step back and watch him stride inside. Wilson fills up my kitchen. I’ve noticed that wherever he goes, he’s always the center of attention. It’s more than his looks—which are stunning in their own right. He’s confident, bordering cocky but in a way that makes everyone want to befriend him.
Even in that simple T-shirt and jeans, he looks ready for a fashion spread. I suddenly wish I had slapped on some powder and gloss before I let him in.
“You mentioned you liked fried jack last time so…” He pulls the foil back to reveal the fluffy breakfast pastry. “I hope it tastes okay. Amaya told me where to get it.”
“Thanks.” I sit down.
He falls into the chair beside me. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah.” I squirm, unnerved by his closeness.
“Go ahead.” He waves. “Eat up.”
I tear the fried jack with my fingers and stuff it into my mouth.
“So,” Wilson taps the table, “I was thinking… do you want to marry me?”
I choke on the fried jack.
Wilson springs into action and fills a glass of water in the kitchen. He darts back to me and offers it. “Here, drink this.”
I grab it from him and guzzle it down, finally exploding with relief when the dough is dislodged and I can breathe again. Tears fill my eyes as I gasp. Wilson gently pats my back, waiting for me to calm down.
