NO SECRETS NO LIES (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 3) (15 page)

     “Damn, I’m sorry Marcus, I forgot.” He sat
up straight and looked longingly at Jerra’s shapely rear as she walked to the
bathroom and closed the door.
     “It went great, D. I can’t wait for you to meet her
tomorrow. It’s like the years we hadn’t seen each other all but vanished. But
wait, that’s not what I wanted to tell you."
     Darrell frowned into the phone. “What happened?”
     “She brought her boyfriend along.” Darrell could hear
the obvious dislike in Marcus’ voice.
     “Oh, he was an asshole, huh?”
     Marcus paused. “You’ll never guess who the fuck he
is."
     Darrell watched Jerra as she came out of the bathroom
and grimaced when he saw she had put on a long t-shirt and pulled her hair up
into a ponytail. He asked in a distracted tone, “Who?”
     “Amir Montgomery. Aleesha's ex-fiancé!”
     “What?!” Darrell jumped up and yelled into the phone.
“Get the
fuck
outta here!”

Chapter 19

     Jerra frowned at her husband. “What’s wrong, baby?”

     Darrell glanced at her with a deep scowl
but didn't answer because he was still engrossed in what Marcus was telling
him.
     “You heard me, man. That bitch is the man my li'l
sister is in love with, or
thinks
she’s in love with.”
     “You shittin’ me Marcus.”
     “I shit you not. On top of finding out he's her
boyfriend, she told me he’s also the father of her ten year old son.”
     “Darrell…
what is it??
” Jerra came and stood in
front of him.  
     “His punk ass was sittin’ there actin’ all innocent
and shit, trying to tell her half of what went down. I fixed that shit quick,
though. I told my sister everything about his cheatin’ ass.”
     “Good! At least that’s the end of it.”
     “Nah. She says he’s changed and she loves him. Man, if
that muthafucka hurts my sister…”
     “Aw hell nah, Marcus! We gonna take care of this shit!
Call Dominick now and let’s all ride back over there and whip this muthafucka’s
ass…”
     “D, hold on. My sister thinks she’s in love with him.
I just found her. I can’t lose her now. They’re both coming to the house
tomorrow for the get-together we’ve planned. She’ll be able to hear directly
from Aleesha what a no good, two timing bastard he is. Believe me. His days are
numbered. He won’t be a part of my sister’s life after tomorrow. You can bet on
it.”

    
After Marcus hung up, Darrell
stood deep in thought, mentally going over the conversation he and Marcus just
had. "Son-uv-a-bitch," he muttered under his breath.

    
Jerra tugged on his arm. "Are you going to tell me what that was all
about? How did the meeting between Marcus and his sister go?"

     
"You are not gonna believe this shit. Apparently, things were goin' fine
until Marcus met her man."

    
"Why? What happened?"

    
"It's not what happened - it's
who
the fuck happened. Marcus'
sister is seeing Amir Montgomery!"

    
"What??"

    
Darrell nodded and went on to tell Jerra about the meeting and how Alexis made
Marcus promise to try and get along with Amir. "Thinks she's in love with
that muthafucka! Even after everything Marcus told her, she still wants to say
his lyin, cheating ass has changed.  I told Marcus we need to nip this
shit in the bud now. I mean, who in the fuck does he think he is? Does he have
a shitload of nerve or what?"

    
He waited on Jerra to add her input, but when she simply went over to her bureau
and grabbed a nightgown before heading to the bathroom, he called out to her.
"Hey...you ain't got nothin' to say?"

    
Jerra paused before closing the bathroom door. "Yes. Four words: stay out
of it."

   
Darrell folded his arms and his expression grew dark. "Excuse me?"

    
"You heard me, Darrell. This is between Marcus and his sister. No, I take
that back. It's really not Marcus' business either. He can't tell his sister
who to date. And they have a ten year old son? I don’t know what that's all
about, but apparently there's a lot more to it than either of you are aware
of."

    
"Marcus’ sister is family now. Plus, I understand him wanting to protect
her. I'd do the same thing if it were Gabrielle. Speaking of which, what's up
with her anyway? You mentioned she called earlier today but Dominick and Keisha
came by before you could tell me what that was all about. Please don't tell me
she's still involved with that quarterback, 'Forest Rain' or 'Thunderstorm' or
whatever the fuck his name is."

    
Jerra pursed her lips and planted a fist on her hips. Darrell knew good and
well the name of the quarterback who played for the Miami Stingrays. He was
just upset because the athlete called himself pursuing his sister. Although
Gabrielle had confided to Jerra that she was feeling him - a lot - she wasn’t
foolish enough to get involved with him when she knew he dated other women.

    
"His name is Toby 'Hurricane' Jones." Jerra's eyes suddenly locked
with his. "Darrell, don't forget that you're not supposed to know about
that. If you hadn’t been eavesdropping on Gabby's and my conversation, you
still wouldn’t know."

    
"For your information, I wasn’t eavesdropping, Jerra. I walked into the
house and you just weren’t aware I was here. And that's another thing. Why the
hell doesn’t she want me to know about this clown?"

    
Jerra didn’t bother to remind him that the "clown" he was referring
to had led his team to the Super Bowl two years in a row to win the
championship - and was on his way to doing it again. "Probably because of
the same attitude you’re displaying now. Darrell, Gabby isn’t a child. She and
Marcus' sister are grown women. The two of you need to stop interfering in
their lives before you both get your feelings hurt." Jerra gave him a look
which said '
now think about that!'.

    
"Yeah, alright Jerra. You try’na be cute, but I tell you this. They can be
grown all they want but let a muthafucka act the fool with either one of them
and more than just hurt feelin's are gonna be involved."

    
Jerra rolled her eyes and let out a low hiss of frustration. She walked into
the bathroom and closed the door on Darrell's stubborn expression.

    
Darrell mumbled under his breath and continued to carry on a one-sided
conversation as he threw himself on the bed and interlocked his fingers behind
his head. He thought about the little sister he'd become extremely close to
over the years. When he left Philly almost fourteen years ago, Darrell had
periodically kept in touch with her without the woman who'd given birth to them
being aware of it.

    
His thoughtful expression turned to a frigid scowl when Tina briefly entered
his mind, but he just as quickly dismissed her. He'd mentally distanced himself
from her a long time ago after she’d dropped him off at an orphanage so that
she could be footloose and fancy free.  Darrell considered her one of the
sorriest excuses of a mother he'd ever come across. When he and Marcus turned
eighteen, they decided to leave Philadelphia for Las Vegas. He'd given in to
the temptation that had been gnawing away at him ever since he'd found out
where she lived and stopped by her house to see her. Darrell had secretly hoped
she'd at least be a little curious about him, but the chilly reception he'd
received left no doubt that she had no interest in him and only wanted to be
left alone. So that's what he'd done.

    
Tina Monroe meant less to him than a pile of dog shit on the cold, dusty
ground. Darrell didn't understand how a mother could give birth to a child then
give it away as if it meant nothing. He didn’t wish her any ill will, because
to do so would mean somewhere deep inside, he still cared...and he didn’t. To
be honest, he didn’t give a fuck about her one way or the other. But his sister
was a different story altogether.

    
He'd briefly met her when he stopped by Tina's house that day, but the moment
Tina saw him and realized who he was she'd rushed Gabrielle back into the house
as if he had a contagious disease. But Darrell never forgot his li’l sister. He
waited until she was in high school and showed up outside her school one day.
The moment their gray eyes connected, Darrell could tell she recognized him.
They'd talked for hours. Come to find out, she'd heard her mother and father
arguing about Darrell one night and that's how she'd found out about him.

    
Darrell cautioned her that it would probably be best if Tina didn’t know they
were in contact for a while, which Gabby readily agreed. They stayed in touch
and saw each other often over the years, and when Gabby went off to college on
a full academic scholarship, she informed Tina that her brother was going to be
in her life whether Tina wanted him to be or not. His sister had a strong will
just like he did, and Tina's objections fell on deaf ears. The bond between brother
and sister was iron tight. By unspoken agreement, Tina was a subject they
gladly avoided.

    
Over the years, Gabby had turned to Darrell many times for advice. He'd even
been the person she called the first time a guy broke her heart, which is why her
decision not to confide in him about Jones had him baffled. Okay, so yeah,
maybe he came off as being a tad bit overprotective when it came to her and
men, but it was only because he knew the game they would run on her if she let
them. Hell, he'd been the king of spittin' bullshit to a woman before he met
his baby. He'd be damned if he let some muthafucka use his baby sister the way
he'd done with more women than he cared to think about. If Jerra hadn’t sworn
him to secrecy, he would tell her under no circumstances was she to believe a
got damned word that came out of Jones' mouth.

    
A couple of minutes later, Darrell heard the shower being turned off. His mind
immediately switched to an image of his wife in the next room, wet, slippery,
and naked. Swinging his long legs off the bed, he figured it was just as good a
time as any to finish the fire they'd built up before he got Marcus' phone
call.

    
He was unsnapping his jeans and heading to the master bathroom when he noticed
what looked to be a slip of paper on the floor by Jerra's nightstand. Once he
got closer, Darrell saw that it was actually a photo. A small frown marred his
forehead as he tilted his head. He immediately recognized the young girl in the
picture as being Jerra. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. His eyes
went to the tiny mole above her lip and her smooth mocha complexion. Her dark
eyes were large and seemed to dominate her face, and her long, dark hair was
pulled into two ponytails, one on each side of her head.

    
Darrell laughed softly. He hoped the next baby they had was a girl. Although DJ
was the spitting image of him, Darrell knew if they had a little girl, she
would look exactly like Jerra. His eyes narrowed a bit. Why hadn’t he ever seen
this photo before...?

    
When the bathroom door opened a second later, Darrell looked up and smiled,
gesturing to the picture he held in his hand. "I thought you said you
didn’t have any pictures from when you were young..."

    
Jerra stood motionless in the doorway and tucked in the corner of the towel
she'd wrapped around her body. She literally stopped breathing when she saw
what Darrell was holding in his hand. She flew across the room and snatched it
out of his hand. "Where did you get that?"

    
Darrell's brows lifted in surprise at the sharpness of her tone. "It was
on the floor by your nightstand. You never showed this to me.” He folded his
arms and frowned. “And why are you gettin’ so upset?”

Chapter
20

    
Jerra made an effort to steady her breathing when his eyes went to the
pulsating vein in her neck. "I’m not upset. It's just an old picture of me
from when I was little," Jerra murmured. "I must have dropped
it." She busied herself by opening the nightstand drawer and stuffing it
under her address book. She'd have to remember to move it tomorrow...

    
Jerra looked at Darrell out of the corner of her eye and noticed him still
studying her with a puzzled frown. She knew he was hesitant to question her
because of the circumstances surrounding her childhood. Her stepfather had
savagely raped and beaten her when she was fifteen years old. She eventually
managed to escape after he passed out in a drunken stupor. Sixteen years later,
it was still something she didn’t like to talk about.

    
Her innocence had been stripped away from her in the cruelest of ways. In its
place, her stepfather's seed was planted.  Jerra gave birth to a baby girl
nine months later - the same little girl whose picture Darrell had been holding
in his hand. And he had no idea she even existed.

    
Seeing his mind still racing, Jerra was desperate to distract him from the
thoughts he was surely pondering. She reached up and circled her arms around
his neck. "I was wondering what was keeping you. I expected you to join me
in the shower so that we could finish what we started earlier." The look
on her face turned sultry and seductive as she slowly trailed a finger down his
chest. "I guess you weren’t interested...?"

    
His desire for her pushed the speculative gleam from Darrell's eyes as his
attention dropped to the edge of the towel snugly tucked between the valley of
her breasts. "Nah, baby, never that. In fact, I was just on my way when
you came out."