by A. C. Arthur
Yet, the kiss was rejuvenating. The feel of being wrapped in his arms once more, of tasting his tongue on hers, sent warmth spearing throughout her entire body. So when he pulled away, she moaned with resistance.
“I don’t know, Jenise. I just don’t know,” he whispered, his lips moving over her jawline, up to her cheeks.
“It’s okay, baby. We’ll figure it out together,” she told him, rubbing her hands up and down his arms.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” he continued, resting his forehead against hers. “I can’t remember how to live without you.”
Jenise smiled up at him then. “Now, you don’t have to.”
Chapter 13
Reginald reluctantly sat in a chair, dropping his head as he cried.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “Not again, Bruce, I just can’t.”
Bruce clapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “She’s going to be alright, Reggie. The doctors are just running all the tests to be sure. But she’s going to be alright.”
Reginald shook his head. “It could have been like Darla,” he said. “Just like Darla, dammit. Why did I let her go to that meeting alone? I always go to the church stuff with her when it’s close to the holidays because you know crazies come out trying to rob everybody during this time of year. I should have been there.”
“And then you would be lying in a hospital bed as well,” Janean told him. “You would be worthless to Carolyn at that point.”
“What the hell happened?” Parker said as he came rushing into the emergency waiting room, Adriana right behind him.
Savian and Jenise had just rounded the corner, right in time for Savian to look at his father expectantly. Reginald raised his head when he heard his oldest son’s voice. Now, he looked up at both of them.
“She’s going to be alright,” Janean said looking up from where she sat next to Reginald.
“What happened?” Savian asked. “Tell us right now what happened to our mother.”
He was looking directly at Reginald, accusing him without the words. “Where’s your sister?”
“We didn’t call her until we were almost here because we wanted to hear it first, just in case it’s too much for Regan to bear right now. What’s going on, dad?” Parker had taken a step towards his father. Adriana immediately grasped his arm to hold him back.
“Now, let’s just stay calm,” Bruce said, standing so that he could be a barrier between his brother and his nephew.
“Let’s just tell the truth for a change,” Savian replied instead.
Bruce opened his mouth to speak but Reginald was already standing. “He’s right,” Reginald said moving around his brother. “I’m going to tell you both the truth. Your mother was driving home from the church holiday bazaar and her car swerved off the road. You know where that curve is just before you get to the stretch of road near the house.”
“The road that drops down to the ocean,” Parker said incredulously.
Adriana gasped as Jenise moved closer to Savian.
“Sonofabitch!” Savian roared. “What do you mean she swerved? Mom’s been driving for more than forty years and she’s been coming around that curve for just as long. How could she have swerved?”
“Now hold on, son. We’re still you’re elders,” Bruce stated sternly.
“Then it’d be nice if you started acting like it,” Dion said as he made his way into the waiting room.
Sean came in with his brother. Their wives were not with them.
“Did my mother swerve off the road or did someone try to drive her off the road? Someone that has it out for you and your brothers?” Savian asked.
Reginald didn’t know what to say. That very thought had been coursing through his mind from the moment the paramedics called his cell phone to tell him that Carolyn had been in an accident. He’d remembered the exact moment years ago when Al had called him to say that Darla had driven her car off the road and she’d died. They’d all wanted to believe it was suicide because Darla had been diagnosed with cancer months earlier. But Al had known better. He’d known that it had something to do with Roslyn Ausby. Now, Reginald was facing the same theory.
“I don’t know that what you’re saying is true,” Reginald stated, because he didn’t know. No matter how much he suspected, he didn’t know for sure.
“Liar!” Parker spat.
“Stop it!” Janean yelled and came to her feet. “What is the matter with you? All of you? That’s no way to talk to your father, and you know your mother would not have you being disrespectful. Now, I’m going to assume that emotions are running raw here because we’re all upset. But I’m going to warn each of you right now, to cut it out before I really get angry.”
The boys went silent. All of them.
Then a nurse came out to tell Reginald he could see Carolyn now.
“We should go in together,” Reginald said to his sons. “She’ll want to see all of us.”
Savian nor Parker moved. Dion and Sean glared at him. Bruce was the only one to step beside him.
“I’ll go with you,” Bruce said. “Janean you stay with them so you can be here for Regan when they tell her.”
Janean nodded and Bruce led Reginald away.
“They know,” Reginald said.
Bruce nodded. “I agree. They’re not looking at us like we’ve just committed treason for nothing. So what are we going to do about it?”
“We’re going to tell our family the truth,” Reginald said. “No more lies, no more trying to work this out without them knowing. We’re going to tell our families and then we’re going to tell the world. Nobody else is going to die because of this secret. I mean it, Bruce. I won’t let it happen again.”
They were at the hospital room door when Bruce touched Reginald’s arm. “You’re right. It’s time. We’ll give the brothers a call as soon as you get Carolyn home and settled, and then we’ll tell them what we plan to do.”
Reginald nodded and went into the room to see his wife.
#
“I’m going to the house,” Savian said as he and Jenise climbed into his truck at the hospital’s parking garage. “I want to be there if she needs something or if her condition changes. I can drop you off at your apartment.”
They’d spent the night together last night and then the entire day, together today decorating his condo because Jenise said it was pitiful that he did not have any holiday decorations. This was after she’d made him flex his hand numerous times to assure her he did not need to go to the emergency room. He did need to get his wall fixed and soon because that hole was going to be a constant reminder of how he’d lost his temper yet again.
“I want to stay with you,” she said reaching over the console to gently take his still sore hand. “If that’s alright.”
Yesterday at this time, Savian would have said no, it wasn’t okay. He would have probably wanted to be alone with his feelings and his thoughts. Today, he did not.
“Sure. Thank you,” he told her.
They pulled up just behind his father’s car and Savian stepped out of the truck quickly so that he could offer his mother assistance.
“Savian, what are you doing here?” Carolyn asked when he was there to open her door. “I know you have better things to do with your Sunday evening than watching after me.”
“I want to watch after you,” he said, taking her by the arm and helping her out of the car.
“Oh nonsense, I’m fine. Just a bit sore,” she told him.
By that time Reginald had come around to the side of the car and Savian could see Jenise coming over as well.
“You were just in a car accident,” Savian reminded her, not that he thought any of them needed reminding.
Carolyn waved a hand. “It was nothing big. I wasn’t thinking. I tell you kids all the time about being so worried about those cell phones. But your father’s been after me about keeping mine on and near me. I heard it beep and looked down to see a message from him. That’s wh
en I swerved and thank god for that big ‘ole rock that stopped me from tumbling over the cliff.”
Thank all the gods for that big ‘ole rock, Savian said to himself.
“I’ll get your purse, Ms. Carolyn,” Jenise said and Savian knew it was because she didn’t want him to say anything else about the accident.
Last night, after they’d showered and lay comfortably in his bed, Savian had told Jenise about what he thought was going on with his family. She’d been shocked, but supportive, telling him that he should wait before judging anyone. They were both proof that there was more to a person’s past than anyone could sometimes imagine. He’d agreed with her on that stance, until they’d received the call about his mother’s accident.
“Thank you, Jenise. You’re so sweet to be here, too,” Carolyn said.
“You should come inside and lay down, Carolyn,” Reginald told her.
“Yes, I think you’re right,” she replied, moving slowly with Reginald on one side of her and Savian on the other.
When they came to the front door, Reginald used his key to let them in, while Savian hurried to the security pad to punch in the applicable code. Once inside, Carolyn stopped and looked around.
“Thank you, Lord,” she said over and over again, tears welling in her eyes.
Savian watched her, feeling a wave of gratitude wash over him as well. He did not know what he would have done if she had not walked away from that accident. If she had di…he shook his head because he didn’t even want to think about it.
“I may need one of those pain pills,” Carolyn said when she was finally ready to move again.
“Then you’ll need something to eat,” Jenise stated. “I can fix you something while you go up to bed.”
“Really? Someone’s going to cook for me for a change. You two hear that?” she joked with Reginald and Savian. “You keep this one here.”
The last was said as she leaned in toward Savian. He met her halfway and she kissed his cheek. “I mean it,” she whispered. “Keep her.”
Five minutes later, Savian was leading Jenise into his mother’s massive country inspired kitchen. The walls were canary yellow, the cabinets and counter tops bright white. More color accents came in everything from the fruit inside numerous bowls Carolyn had placed throughout the kitchen and breakfast space, to the artsy color knobs on the cabinets and the lively floral squares that were a part of the backsplash pattern.
“This space is a cheerful,” Jenise said. “Just like your mother.”
“Yeah, my mother loves color and anything that makes her feel at home. When I moved out and told her I didn’t need her to hire a designer for me she said to just be sure I picked furnishings that made me feel like I was home,” he told her.
“And did you do that?” Jenise asked as she looked in the refrigerator.
Savian managed a light chuckle. “Of course not. I picked stuff that matched and that I could order online.”
“Yeah, I could tell,” she replied.
“Oh, I didn’t hear you complaining about my furnishings at all today,” Savian said.
“That’s because I was hoping the Christmas decorations would help it out. But not even that gorgeous nine foot high Scotch Pine tree you bought makes it look better,” she said.
He watched as she moved easily through this kitchen she was in for the first time. It looked as if she were going to fix his mother a sandwich as she’d found the bread and the container which held the lunch meats and sliced cheeses.
“What type of condiments does she like?” Jenise asked when she’d headed for the refrigerator once more.
“Deli mustard,” he said and moved to the cabinet where the plates were, to get one down.
“So you don’t like any of my furniture?” he asked her when they were side-by-side making the sandwich together.
“It’s a bit stiff. You could use some color and some softer touches,” she said as she spread the mustard onto each slice.
Savian slapped honey ham onto the bread and then a couple slices of Swiss cheese. His mother loved Swiss cheese.
“You mean like flowers and those statue things you have in your home office?” The frown on his face probably gave away the fact that he did not like that idea at all.
“Yeah,” Jenise said laughing. “Something like that.”
She cut the sandwich—on the diagonal because Savian told her that’s the way his mother always cut their sandwiches. He poured her a glass of ice water while Jenise cut the lemon and added slices to the glass.
“If I told her I was having a sandwich for Sunday dinner my mother would have a fit,” Savian said looking down at the plate.
“I could cook something but I don’t want her to have to wait to take the pain meds,” she told him.
Savian nodded. “Right, I get it. Well, I’ll take it up to her.”
Jenise nodded and smiled at him. “I’ll wait down here and look around for more ideas that we can steal for your place.”
He was smiling as he walked away. As he took the steps he realized that he could have been crying at this moment instead, so he enjoyed the smile even more.
#
Jenise couldn’t believe what Savian had just said.
“Are you serious?” she asked. “You want to make-out on your childhood bed? Like you want me to believe that you never made out with a girl in here before?”
The sobering look he gave her said, 1) that he was serious and 2) that he really had never made out with a girl in his room before.
“Who said anything about making out?” he asked. “I asked you to take off your clothes so I could see you naked in my bedroom.”
When he’d come down from taking his mother the food, Savian had surprised Jenise by asking her to spend the night at his parents’ house with him. He didn’t want to leave his mother and he didn’t want to spend the night without Jenise. Saying ‘no’ had never crossed her mind. Now, she was in the room he’d occupied for the first seventeen years of his life. He assured her that it was still in the exact same condition as it was the day he’d left for college.
That meant, navy blue walls with stark white baseboards, two huge windows on one wall, a long desk on another. There were four bookshelves overflowing with books and magazines. Reading was one of Savian’s favorite hobbies. His full-sized bed stood in the middle of the room, two lanyards—one from Disney World and the other from Disney Land—hanging on either side of his headboard.
“And what are you going to do while I’m getting naked?” she asked playfully.
“Get naked too, of course,” he replied with a fake look of surprise on his face. “Come on,” he said, pulling the gray t-shirt he was wearing up and over his head.
“I feel like we’re playing truth or dare or some other teenage game,” she said.
He shook his head. “Nah, you’re just stalling. Besides, it’s getting late, we’d be undressing to go to bed soon anyway.”
It was nearing ten-thirty. The time she’d been with Savian had seemed to go so fast. Spending the night at his place last night had been a beautiful surprise. He’d driven her back to her apartment early this morning because she’d wanted to see Tucker off, and then they were going to buy him a tree. The formal introduction between Tucker and Savian had gone well and when Savian had suggested she pack an overnight bag, she’d happily done so. Now, that bag was sitting in the corner next to Savian’s basketball themed trash can because they’d done so much shopping they’d forgotten to take her bag out of his truck.
“That’s true, but I have a very nice nightgown over there in that bag to put on,” she told him as she was removing the belt from her waist.
Savian shook his head again, just before tossing the undershirt he’d taken off across the room to land like a professional shot into the clothes’ hamper on that side of the room. “I should tell you that I’m not really a fan of nightgowns.”
Jenise had taken off her flats and was now unbuttoning her jeans. “Really? Because in the la
st few weeks you’ve given me six of them. I counted.”
He untied and removed his boots. “That seemed like the polite thing to do. I wasn’t sure telling you to sleep naked was going to go over too well.”
“Hmm,” she said with a nod. “But you seem mighty comfortable asking me to strip now.”
He was pushing his pants down, his boxer briefs too, and stepped out of them before replying, “I’m stripping with you. That’s gotta count for something.”
She grinned and then sighed. He had the best body. Muscles everywhere and his erection always ready and waiting for her.
“I’m on top,” she said when she was naked. He’d been staring at her breasts, a glazed look coming into his eyes, his penis twitching and causing her mouth to water.
“I’m not complaining,” he replied before jumping onto the bed.
Jenise couldn’t help but giggle because she’d never seen Savian like this before. He’d been absolutely distraught when he received the call about his mother’s accident. She figured it had been a good idea that they stayed here for the night. He probably wouldn’t have been this relaxed if they hadn’t.
He lay on the bed, taking his length in his hand and stroked from the base to the tip. “We’re waiting,” he told her.
“Is that for me?” she asked coyly.
“Oh yeah,” he replied.
She was over him in seconds, positioning herself so that he was immediately pressing his length into her. They both moaned with that action. He felt so good, every last inch of him going deep inside, felt so damn wonderful she closed her eyes to let the pleasure settle through her. He clasped her hips immediately, telling her to, “Ride me. Now,” in a gruff voice.
Jenise did as he said, riding him hard and fast until they were both out of breath, trying their best to hold in the groans and moans of pleasure, especially when they climaxed simultaneously.
She’d been grateful for the private bathroom connecting to Savian’s bedroom. If she’d had to walk out into the hallway to get to the main bathroom and bumped into Mr. Reginald or Ms. Carolyn, she would have been so embarrassed. Instead, she and Savian shared a wonderfully hot bath, in the tub that wasn’t quite made to accommodate two adults. They’d gotten more water on the floor than they should have and used a bunch of towels to clean it up. Laughing, they came out to the bedroom and, at Savian’s request, slipped into bed naked.