Scandalous Heroes Box Set (165 page)

“And if she doesn’t want to listen?”

Tank had thought about that prospect as well. He’d experienced that first hand with Eminence just a few minutes ago. Then again, like he’d told her, after tonight, they could walk away and never see each other again. After Tank touched her after so many years, tasted her, he didn’t want to stop. 

“Think positive. She can’t stay mad forever.”

That sounded good, but the fact that she managed to hold onto a grudge for more than a decade and a half didn’t scream out that she would listen to reason. For his sake, though, he hoped that her compassion would kick in sometime tonight. Kissing her ignited his slumbering need. Did this really have to be last call for them?

“By the way, does she know about your, um, other side?” Jordie flitted her eyebrows.

Tank had to blink. “How do you know about that? I’ve never talked to you about my lifestyle.”

“Reggie. He told me everything back in high school.” Jordie smiled.

“What a big mouth.” Tank scratched his head. “I didn’t even know back then what I was and what I wanted. How did he know?”

“He didn’t put a name on it. He said that you liked kinky stuff. He showed me some of the books you used to read.” Jordie nodded. “I would say kinky would be an understatement. I’m assuming you’re still into that.”

Jordie nailed her assumption, but Tank wouldn’t confirm or deny it. “What I like is just meant for me and who I’m with to know.”

Jordie held her hands up as if to surrender. “Fine, Mr. Secretive. You don’t have to say anything to me. I’m sure whoever you’re with, you’ll let them know up front, right?”

Tank had already hinted about his lifestyle to Eminence already. He had no plans on keeping her in his life. Maybe telling her all about himself would keep her running.

* * * * *

No he didn’t, Eminence thought as she stood seething by the bar. No Keys didn’t think that he could just kiss and fuck his way back into her life. Stupid her, she wanted to spread her legs open for him. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

She should have known that Keys wouldn’t have been too far away from Jordie. Friends? Hah! Once a lover, always a lover…except with her apparently.

“What’re you drinking, lady?” the bartender screamed to her over the music.

As she was about to shout back her usual order of an apple martini, the bodyguard that had stood with Keys at the door giving her a hard time sidled up next to her.

“Whatever she wants is on me, dog!” He pointed to Eminence then pounded his barrel-sized chest.

“You don’t have to do that.” Eminence shook her head, then placed her order with the bartender.

When her drink showed, the big man pressed money into the bartender’s hand before she could.

“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” The bodyguard winked at her. “The name’s Dru.” He jutted out his hand.

She stared at him and his hand before accepting it. “Eminence.”

“That’s a mouthful. Mind if I call you Emmy?”

“Actually, yes, I—”

Dru cut her off. “Want to dance?”

“I just got my drink.”

He took it from her hand and sat it on the bar. That never happened back in the day when she and Jordyna got guys to buy their drinks for them. With the night’s events, Eminence really wanted the liquid courage.

Dru pulled her out to the dance floor and began simulating what best could be described as chapter twelve from
The Joy of Sex
. He positioned her so that her backside pressed against his crotch, then started grinding against her and twirling them both around. Eminence held onto his arm and rode out this carnival attraction for dear life.

The large man wrapped his arm around her waist. When she felt his lips on the back of her neck, she started to turn around and give him a piece of her mind and the rest of her hand that she didn’t leave on Keys’s face, then she peered up and saw Keys standing across from her on the dance floor.

He stared at them, jealousy and anger and confusion masking his face. Keys hadn’t changed all that much in years. The man always showed his emotions. It made him a terrible poker player…but a wonderful lover.

She turned away and managed to rotate herself around in Dru’s arm. She had to make this show good. Eminence swayed her hips back and forth as she made a slow descent. Once down to eye level with Dru’s crotch, she peered up at him seductively, or as wanton as she could look with bile rising in her throat.

She stood up and wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders. She should be holding Keys right now. As soon as the thought entered her mind, she shook her head and kept her body moving, slithering her way around Dru and hoping beyond hope that she got the reaction she sought out of Keys.

Without warning, Dru released his hold on Eminence and took a step back. Her plan must have worked. She just didn’t think Dru would be this intimidated to see Keys come to the floor and claim her.

Eminence turned around, ready to taunt Keys even more when she got face-to-face with the person she didn’t want to see.

“Hi, Eminence,” Jordie said. “We need to talk.”

Chapter Nine

Eminence knew her mouth hung open as she stared at her former friend before she finally answered her. “I’m just here to have a good time.”

Jordie stared at her employee. “I need you to get back to work. Will you escort our guest to my office, please?” Then she walked ahead.

Eminence felt the clamp of hands on her shoulders, then a not-so-gentle push off the dance floor.

When the elevator doors opened, Eminence had hoped Dru would have just shoved her inside the car with Jordie and left the two women alone. No, when Jordie requested that Dru deliver Eminence to her office, she meant that.

On the slow ride up, no one said a word. Tension choked Eminence until she found it difficult to breathe. She coughed to clear her throat and even that sound seemed out of place in the coffin-like elevator car.

When the doors opened to an office, Jordyna stepped out first before Dru shoved Eminence out and then made his way back down.

“That was rude.” Eminence composed herself as she split her gaze between the elevator doors and Jordie, who did look like a mature version of her high school self.

With her full lips even fuller, and her onyx eyes carrying more mystery than a whodunit novel, she looked like a true man-eater. Although Jordyna wore a conservative pantsuit, Eminence could easily picture her with a hot guy in his twenties and playing up the cougar role. Her jet black hair held soft, easy curls that cascaded down her face and over her shoulders. Man stealing and running a business looked good on her.

“Let’s not talk about your behavior right now.” Jordie, not looking like the sorry and apologetic woman that she should be, crossed her arms and squared off against Eminence.

“
My
behavior? Let me tell you what my night has been like. First your goons, and I’m including Keys in that category, pat me down like some sort of criminal. I’m held captive in a back room and sexually assaulted.”

Jordie raised an eyebrow, a sign that she didn’t believe her story.

Eminence kept going. “Your other guard bumps and grinds with me without my permission.”

“You didn’t seem too upset when I watched you.” Jordie kept her voice cool and calm, something that irritated the hell out of Eminence.

“And now I’m being held against my will again in your office.”

Jordyna shook her head. “Keys was right. You have become so bitter and angry.”

Eminence had to step back when Jordie made a comment about Keys, about her former man. “So you two are talking about me behind my back now? But, then again, there’s so much you two did behind my back.”

“Stop it! Just stop it.” Jordie stomped her foot.

“Or what? You’re going to kick my ass or something?”

To Eminence’s surprise, Jordie removed her shoes and took off her jewelry.

“If that’s what it takes. I can beat your ass again like I used to when we were in high school.”

“Bitch, are you crazy?” Eminence threw her purse onto a nearby chair, but kept her shoes on. With all of the straps, she couldn’t get them off in time.

“No, I’m tired.” Jordie, with fists up and ready, circled around her office as she faced off against Eminence. “I’m tired of you using your anger against me and Keys as a way of you getting to play the victim.”

“You bitch! You fucked my man and have the nerve to try to tell me how I should feel?” Eminence shoved Jordyna’s shoulder.

Jordie wasn’t about to pussyfoot around. Instead of getting into a shoving match, she grabbed Eminence by her shoulders and tackled her to the floor, pinning her arms down and straddling her body.

“I didn’t fuck Keys. I never did. I would never do that to you. You were my best friend.” Jordie hovered over Eminence.

“Oh yeah? Then what happened that day in his bedroom? Why were you two hugging?”

Jordie paused before she blurted out the secret that had kept Eminence away from the two people outside of her family that meant the most to her. “I had found out I was pregnant. I needed someone to talk to, and I went to Keys.”

Eminence stopped struggling under Jordie’s body. “Was it Keys’s?”

“Damnit, Eminence! The world does not revolve around you! I just told you I never slept with your man.” She hopped off of Eminence’s body and paced in her office.

Eminence watched her from her position on the floor. If she didn’t know any better, it looked as though Jordie nearly collapsed. She made it to the couch just before she could crumble.

Eminence stood and strolled to the couch, hesitating before taking a seat next to her. When she glanced at Jordie, Eminence’s mind transported back to her teenage years and the two of them would sit around and talk about boys. She remembered how her belly used to quiver and her mind felt cloudy. Now she experienced those feelings for a whole different reason. 

Jordie took a deep breath before continuing her story. “You remember Reggie from high school?”

Eminence nodded. “Your, um, husband.” Although she hadn’t been in touch with Jordyna, Eminence knew the story of what had happened to Reggie Hampton. “I heard about the robbery and what happened. I’m so sorry.”

Eminence meant that. No one deserved to die in an act so senseless. She cried when she’d heard the news from her mother.

Even though she questioned her friend’s loyalty, Eminence knew how crazy Jordie was over Reggie. When the high school sweethearts had gotten married, Eminence started to doubt what she saw that day in Keys’s bedroom. She’d been so committed to the story of their betrayal, she couldn’t accept any other theory.

“Thank you for that, Eminence. I never wanted to be a young widow.” Jordie wiped under her eyes, careless about preserving her perfect makeup job. She streaked black eyeliner across her cheek and smudged her blush. “No one knew I was pregnant when I first found out. Reggie and I knew. It happened close to the end of the school year, so I knew that no one would be able to tell that I was pregnant.”

“But you were on The Pill. How did that happen?”

“You remember the warning on them saying that it’s ninety-nine percent effective? I was that one percent.”

No wonder Keys didn’t want to have sex without a condom. It all made sense now. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust her. He doubted the product. Even years later, Keys kept Jordie’s secret. He had been a man of his word, and Eminence questioned his character. Her heartbeat slowed as that thought hit her.

Jordie sat up taller. She smiled in telling the next part of her story. “We were excited about having a baby. We had planned on waiting until we graduated to spring the news on our families and close friends.”

“You didn’t want to tell me until later? I thought we were close.” A stab of rejection pierced Eminence’s heart.

“I did want you tell you. But Reggie wanted the secret to be a surprise.”

“That still doesn’t explain why I saw you in Keys’s arms that day.” Eminence had to hear this explanation.

She started to cross her arms over her chest, a familiar stance whenever she felt confused or angered, but she stopped herself. Jordie had just opened herself up to Eminence. Eminence had to be just as open to her friend.

“As you may have remembered, Reggie has always been so sure of himself. He was excited about the baby. At first, so was I. Then it hit me. What if I couldn’t be a good mother? What if I was way too young to have this baby? What if I wasn’t worthy? I called you that day because I wanted to tell you and to talk about my fears, but you weren’t home. So I went to my other good friend.”

“Keys,” Eminence said.

“I didn’t know what to do. You two were my best friends. I couldn’t talk to Reggie. He would just say that I was being silly and to get over myself. And I knew Keys knew Reggie from the football team. I thought that Keys could talk to Reggie, maybe shake some sense into him so I wouldn’t have to carry this worry alone. What you saw when you walked in on us was me crying to him about being pregnant in high school and not knowing what to do.”

Now Eminence felt like such a heel. For a fleeting moment, the realization hit her that even Keys knew about Jordie’s pregnancy before she did. Like Jordie had said before, this wasn’t about her. Had Eminence just trusted her friends, she wouldn’t have gone so many years without them in her life.

Eminence put her hand on Jordie’s to comfort her. “I’m so sorry I didn’t give you and Keys a chance to explain. I feel like such a fool. What I put you two through.”

Jordyna shook her head. “Don’t. I can’t live in the past. You shouldn’t, either. It killed Keys not to tell you. But he knew this was my story to tell.”

“That Keys. He is loyal.” Eminence felt stupid. “So the baby, he or she should be grown about now, right?”

Jordyna hung her head again. As though she had given herself her own pep talk on not living in the past, she raised her head and took a deep breath. “I lost the baby in my third trimester. You had already gone off to college by then and never saw my belly grow. Honestly, no one in the neighborhood did. I stayed in the house the whole summer until the day Aunt Janice had to rush me to the hospital. There was nothing they could have done for my daughter.”