Fortress (Forde Family Series Book 2)

by nikki blaire

  “Marc, long time, no see.” Marcus looked up to see his sister’s ex-fiance, Aaron Masters, standing in front of him.

  “Aaron, what’s up, man. You’re right. It has been a long time.”

  He wasn’t sure of how to approach Aaron, especially with Tremaine being in the same room.

  Marcus had liked Aaron enough. He came from a family similar to the Fordes and was in the Black elite circle. These things had made Aaron seem like the perfect fit for his sister.

  Now, after everything that had happened to Marcus, he knew that there was so much more to being a good “fit” for someone. He hated to admit it, but he had been wrong to come down on Ayda so hard for ending her engagement to Aaron. He owed Ayda an apology.

  “It’s good to see you, but I do have to say that I’m surprised to see you here.”

  “Oh, yea, Brandon gave me a last minute invitation. We’ve got a few friends in common.” Marcus shrugged.

  “Not that.” Aaron looked over in Tremaine’s direction. “I’m talking about your being here with that.”

  Aaron’s expression balled up into a look of disgust. “I know your family is going through a lot right now and need to garner some good publicity, but this kind of charity is a bit much...don’t you think?”

  He chuckled, expecting Marcus to share his sentiments. And at one point in time, Marcus did. He blinked at Aaron for a second, hoping that he was a figment of Marcus’ imagination. He couldn’t believe that he had also once made such deprecating comments about a person that he didn’t even know.

  “Look, Aaron, I don’t know exactly what happened between you and my sister and I’d like to keep it that way. I’ve never had a problem with you. Let’s not start now.”

  “Are you serious, Marc?” Aaron was just as shocked by Marcus’ change of heart.

  “Wow, your sister was definitely a bleeding heart, but you were always sensible.”

  He took a puff from his cigar then blew the smoke near Marcus. “You know, I thought it was the right choice to have you take over for your father. But now, I’m not so sure?”

  Marcus clenched his teeth at his tested patience. “And why is that, Aaron?”

  Aaron shrugged. “It just seems like you’ve gotten a little weak. That can’t be good for business.”

  “Alright, I’m gonna head out.” Marcus stood up to spare both of them.

  He didn’t need the drama and Aaron didn’t need to get his ass whooped.

  Why does everyone try me?

  He left the cigar on the table and walked away to find Tremaine. Marcus hoped that he had made some connections by now because he was ready to go. He found Tremaine sitting with a group of men and talking. Marcus came up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder, and then motioned for them to make an exit.

  “Aight, well, it was nice to meet you all, but I’ve gotta get going. Girlfriend at home.” Tremaine grinned and all of the men laughed or made comments of “I know how that is” before shaking Tremaine’s hand.

  The man was a natural with people, but Marcus didn’t have time to dwell on that. He needed to get them out of here. This was no longer Marcus’ kind of crowd.

  Tremaine followed him to the door, where they ran into Brandon.

  “We’re on our way out, Councilmember. Thank you for your hospitality. We’ve got your donation information, so be on the lookout.” Tremaine spoke for both of them because Marcus was seething too much to say anything nice.

  “Of course and good luck in your new role.”

  They shook hands before he turned to Marcus. “We’ll be in touch, Marc.”

  The comment made Marcus chuckle sarcastically. “Yeah.”

  He snorted then pushed the door open to leave. But he wasn't fast enough.

  “Did I say something to make you leave so soon, Marc? I thought we were just chatting.” Aaron approached them.

  “Aaron.” Tremaine laid eyes on him.

  Marcus could hear the bass in his voice drop lower, which wasn’t a good sign.

  “Let’s just go, Tremaine.” Marcus murmured to him then tried to move Tremaine out of the door.

  “Yea, you should go. You don’t belong here.” Aaron spat, which caused a few people to look in their direction.

  Marcus expected Tremain to react, but instead he thanked Brandon again and then walked out of the door. Shocked at his ability to control himself, Marcus quickly followed behind him because he knew that he didn’t have that kind of self-restraint. He had made it up a few stairs when Aaron muttered something under his breath to Brandon.

  “What did you say?” Marcus couldn’t stand the thought of either man talking about him.

  Brandon looked like he wanted to drop the issue, but Aaron was bold enough to repeat himself.

  “Dysfunctional. I said your whole family is dysfunctional.” Aaron let the words roll right off his tongue.

  Marcus had been called worse, especially during his family’s recent controversy. Still, the words stung.

  “Is that so?” He went back to Aaron, daring him to look Marcus in the eye.

  He couldn’t because he was actually the one who was weak.

  “Dysfunctional, huh. Yet, you’re still pining after my sister years later. Dying to be apart of my family.”

  “Don’t take the bait, Marc. Let’s just leave.” He heard Tremaine behind him, but Marcus wouldn’t dare leave now that he had Aaron where he wanted him.

  “You’re right, Marc.” Aaron smirked. “And I may still have a chance since I heard that you’re mother’s single.”

  Marcus’ fist connected with Aaron’s jaw as soon as he finished his sentence.

  “Oh shit!” Tremaine jumped on Marcus once he saw what happened and pulled him out of the room and back up the stairs before Aaron hit the ground.

  “Let me go!” Marcus yelled, but Tremaine just pushed him to the door once they made it up the stairs.

  “Hell naw.”

  They heard footsteps behind them followed by Brandon’s voice.

  “He’s knocked out cold, Marc. What the fuck?”

  “What the fuck? Really?” Marcus was still riled up. “He just implied that he’d fuck my mother. I know you can’t be asking why I hit him?”

  Brandon opened his mouth to speak, but Tremaine interrupted. “We’re going.”

  He pushed Marcus out of the front door of the house and walked him out to the curb.

  “Fuck!” Tremaine looked down at his phone. “We’ve gotta wait three minutes for an Uber.”

  He sighed. “My brother told me real niggas don’t take Ubers because of shit just like this.”

  “Who said what?” Marcus wasn’t processing anything that Tremaine said because his adrenaline was still pumping.

  “Don’t worry about it.” He turned to Marcus and laughed. “Just be thankful nobody’s shooting.”

  Their car finally arrived and the two of them piled in. The driver confirmed their address for their office, but Marcus didn’t want to go back there. He could leave his car overnight. He wanted to go see Charlisse, right now.

  “Can you add a stop?” Marcus asked after they had pulled off. “I just wanna go to Charlisse’s.”

  “No problem.” Tremaine added the stop then exhaled loudly. “What a night? Ayda’s gonna kill me.”

  “You?” Marcus chuckled. “You had nothing to do with it. Why would she be mad at you?”

  “Oh, she’s gonna be mad at you too.” Tremaine grinned. “But Aaron and I have already had a run in. The piece of shit likes to fuck with people, but then cries victim. It’s crazy how he can put his hands on women, but can’t stand up to a man. He's a bitch.”

  Marcus froze at Tremaine’s words and shot him a look that made Tremaine’s eyes grow large. He could tell that Tremaine wanted to take the words back, but he could not. It was too late.

  “Did you say that bastard was hitting my sister?”

  Hesitancy filled Tremaine’s face.

  “Marc, I got ahead of myself and it slipped out.
I’m not supposed to tell you...or anyone else. It just came out. I got pissed off about it all over again." He started to ramble.

  "I roughed him up in a bathroom before...Ayda and I just have history about my fighting...I just,”

  “Stop.” Marcus could tell that Tremaine was reliving a moment that he didn’t necessarily want to. “It’s cool. I’m glad you told me.”

  He looked out of the window. “Turn the car around and let me finish beating his ass.”

  “Marc, I feel you, but we can't. Ayda will,"

  “Why the fuck not?” He cut Tremaine off.

  His heart wrenched. “How long, why didn’t she tell me?”

  He had so many questions, but couldn’t quite form any of them well enough to get his sentence out.

  “I felt the same way when I found out. I know it’s a lot to deal with.” Tremaine ran his hands down his face.

  “But, she’s been dealing with a lot because of it. And it's her call on how to handle it. She doesn't want me to beat his ass, so I'm sure that she doesn't want you to."

  "Why?" Marcus wasn't understanding. "Why the fuck would she want him walking around like everything's cool?"

  "Well, part of it is that she doesn't think that anyone would believe her. She doesn't think that anything would happen or than more scrutiny on her."

  Marcus felt sick. He knew that his actions contributed to why Ayda felt that way.

  "That’s why she’s not ready, why we’re moving so slowly. Like I told you. She told your mother, but that’s it. And I’m assuming you didn’t talk to her yet…”

  “No, I haven't gotten around to it.” His blood was boiling.

  His baby sister had been dealing with domestic violence right under his nose, while he had the audacity to berate her about leaving the relationship.

  “When it rains, it pours.” He said to himself, as they pulled up to Charlisse’s building. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell her that I know, Tremaine.”

  “Thank you. She trusted me and I don’t want to break that. Takes too long to rebuild.”

  “I understand.” Marcus opened the car door. “I am going to talk to her though. Tomorrow, if she let’s me. I want that nigga in jail.”

  “I want him dead.” Tremaine responded. “It’s taken everything that I have not to run up on him, but I never have out of respect for your sister’s wishes. All we can do is make sure she feels safe.”

  “Well, we’ll see if we can get her to change her mind.” Marcus held out his fist for Tremaine to dap.

  “And thanks for having my back and getting me out of there.”

  He looked up at the condo that belonged to Charlisse. He knew that he was about to get an earful from her. Knocking someone out was not going to be good for the new image that Marcus was building.

  “It’s nothing. It’s what family does for each other. Goodnight, man.”

  Marcus closed the door then made his way up to Charlisse’s building.

  “This is gonna be a long night.” He said to himself, while he buzzed her condo to be let up.

  Eighteen

  Now or never.

  Charlisse breathed deeply before she let Marcus up. She hadn’t expected to see him tonight, but his showing up at her doorstep was nothing short of "divine intervention," as Marcus had once called it.

  “Just do it. Now or never.” She repeated.

  She hoped that he would understand and support her choice. The decision wasn’t easy to make and the procedure wasn’t going to be either. She had done her research, so she had an idea of what would happen once she went through with it. And she didn’t want to do it alone.

  “Hey.” She greeted him at the door.

  Marcus practically fell into her arms. “I fucked up.”

  He stared down at her. “I fucked so really badly.”

  He let her go and then went straight to her wet bar, but decided not to drink after picking the bottle up. He placed it back down on the table with a loud sigh.

  “What happened?” She could feel his eyes hovering over her. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m surprised Councilmember Bridges hasn’t called you already to tell you how much of a screw up I am.”

  He trudged to her sofa and then flopped down. “I’ve had a hell of a night, baby. Can you just come sit with me for a minute?”

  “Sure.” Charlisse joined him.

  This is not going according to plan.

  She blew out a hard breath, but didn’t want to seem annoyed. Clearly, Marcus was upset, but she wanted him to go ahead and get it out. The longer they belabored on his issue then the less likely it was that she would get to talk to him tonight. Her courage to tell him was wavering with every passing minute.

  “What happened?” She asked again. “What is wrong?”

  “I got into a fight at Brandon’s fundraiser.” He fell back onto the sofa. “I hit my sister’s ex-fiance in the face. Knocked him out.”

  Everything that Charlisse had been previously thinking about drained from her conscious. She started to respond, but Marcus kept going.

  “That’s not it. There’s more.” He gave a sarcastic snort. “On the way here, Tremaine told me that he was hitting her.”

  Marcus looked off at nothing in particular. “I wish I’d known that before, but I’m glad that I didn’t. I wouldn’t have stopped hitting him if I did.”

  Charlisse was floored. She hadn’t been prepared for this. She swallowed hard before pulling Marcus to her. She rested his head on her shoulder, while she rubbed his arms. Anything to bring him some semblance of comfort.

  “Now that I think back to that time, how Ayda just up and left for a few weeks. Came back with nothing to say. How she detached from everything. She was telling us, but I was focused on my own shit. The whole time my sister,”

  He sat up. “I want him in prison. I want him locked up with a big ass nigga who’s gonna,”

  “Marc, hold on. Let’s focus on one thing at a time. Let’s control what we can actually control. We’ll fix one thing at a time.”

  “No,” Marcus let his head fall into his hands. “I don’t want you involved in this. I’m just venting to you. Trying to get my head right, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “Telling me not to try and fix this is like telling me not to breathe. Not to think. You want me to turn my brain off?” She stood up.

  “You want some tea? I’m gonna make some.” She needed something to calm her own nerves and tea would have to do since wine was off limits.

  “Yeah, that would be good actually. I don’t know why, but I’m not in the mood for a drink. I don’t want to do anything, but beat that nigga’s ass. It’s like I’m so frantic on the inside that I’m calm. Unnaturally calm.”

  Charlisse had to admit that his repose concerned her. She knew of Marcus’ temper flares, how he could act without thinking because of his anger. But she had never seen this before. Marcus sat on her couch as still as stone, while he pondered over this man’s fate.

  Charlisse knew of Ayda’s ex-fiance, Aaron Masters, but she didn’t know him well. He was just another face in the crowd, but she did know that he came from money. That was likely the reason why Brandon associated with him.

  She poured both of them a cup of tea then came back to the living room.

  “Thank you.” Marcus grabbed both mugs then sat them on the coffee table.

  “You know, I was expecting you to chew me out. I know this doesn’t look good, especially with all that’s happened. You told me to get good press. This is the exact opposite.”

  “This is definitely not good news, but you need me right now. Not a crisis manager. That can all be figured out later. Besides, there’s nothing to really fix here, yet. No police were called, right?”

  “I don’t know.” Marcus shrugged. “Tremaine got me out of there, but Brandon said he was out cold before we left.”

  “Do you think Aaron is the type to,”

  “Press charges? Hell yea. I’m sure he’s salivating
at the mouth. He’s got a vendetta against Ayda and our family. He called us dysfunctional.”

  “It’s no vendetta.” Charlisse knew better.

  “It’s about the loss of control. Abusers thrive off it. That’s what the abuse is really about. Your sister got away from the relationship and is dating someone new right under his nose. It probably drives him crazy.”

  “Is there anything that you don’t know?” Marcus arched an eyebrow at her, which made her giggle.

  “I've learned a little bit about everything, but I’m no expert. I am happy to help you though. Give yourself time before you talk to your sister. Don’t get upset with her for not telling you.”

  “I’m not upset with her. With the way I’ve treated her, I wouldn’t have told me either.”

  He hung his head.

  “Oh, baby.” She reached for him. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s the past and you were doing what you thought was best. Support her moving forward, but don’t dwell on what’s already happened.”

  They locked eyes and Charlisse knew that any attempt to discuss her pregnancy would be futile tonight. Marcus was fixated on her with an intense lust that she also couldn’t deny.

  “You’re perfect. You know that?” He leaned in to kiss her.

  “I try.” She smiled into his lips.

  “There’s some things that I wanna try on you tonight,” He deepened the kiss, but Charlisse put space between them.

  “Not tonight, baby.” The thought of having sex right now unnerved her a little.

  “Okay,” He tried hard to wipe the confusion from his face.

  “It’s not you. I’ve just got a lot on my mind...and now this. I know you said not to worry about it, but I think Terry should look into it. At least, he can keep an eye out for if Aaron goes to the police to file charges.”

  “You’re too good to me.” He kissed her again. “Finish your tea, so we can go to bed. You’ve had a long day. Let me give you a massage or something. It’s the least I can do.”

  “Wow. A massage?” She eyed him. “Just because?”