“You think someone might hurt Charisse?”
“I didn’t say that, but you’re dealing with Medusa’s daughters and since you ain’t turned to stone yet, it means that they are going to turn on each other. Evil like this usually does and I would say the one that’s always been picked on will be the worst to get it. Personally killing her would just save you all the hell that’s about to hit the fan, but since you didn’t pay me to do that– “
“And I should add she’s carrying my baby!” he cut in.
“Well, I suggest you do yourself a favor and take what that lawyer said to you as a worthy piece of advice. If she’s giving you the divorce, take the baby and run.”
“You’re listening on my phone too?”
“I need to know everything.” She handed him a piece of paper. “Your buddy Pascal will be arrested once his wounds heal from a Florida hospital in about seven months. By that time, he’d have finally called his tramp up here and let her know you know what’s going on. The oldest sister is clean and made sure that she has nothing to pin on. Used the money through humping him, but she’s a bad flavor if I ever saw one. Until then, you’ll be rid of the twins.”
“And what about Charisse?” he questioned. “What should I do with her?”
She cut him a look of stupidity. “Wake up and smell the damn coffee, Parker!”
‘What the hell did all that mean?!’
He knew that even writing a blank check to her, Onyx wouldn’t give him any satisfaction to his burning question.
***
On his third day, he joined one of his drivers on a new route and worked until he couldn’t see straight. By the time he laid down, he had Charisse running through his mind all day and as he fell asleep, he knew that if he worked around her, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.
He didn’t want to jeopardize the baby with the stress he’d put on her and he didn’t want to create a horrible situation. Plus, deep down inside he wanted to be platonic with her.
Ethan came over the morning of the fourth day with a breakfast. “Jaelen’s threatening to call the police if you don’t answer his calls.”
The only reason Ethan had found him was because his wife, Nicole, shared ownership of the Laundromat next door where Parker was blowing off steam when he couldn’t sleep. That was where the breakfast had come from because Nicole was worried about Parker and had probably asked her husband to deliver the plate of food.
“Jaelen hates the police since they laughed at him for walking into a precinct and telling them he was raped.” Parker grabbed the food because for the first time in a while he really had his appetite back.
“You’re welcome,” Ethan chuckled. “You’re living in your office? You really haven’t gone back home.”
“Nope.”
“Damn, Parker, how long you plan on staying here?”
“I don’t know. For the next week.”
“Nic and I have a spare for a couple of weeks until we transform it for the baby, but I don’t plan on that until the custom furniture is finished. You could move there until the time being.”
“I’m fine,” he said with a mouth full of food.
“You don’t look fine.”
“I don’t feel fine either, but I’m going to be.”
“What do you mean by that?” Ethan rested on the couch.
“I want to have serious sex with my sister-in-law.”
“I thought you already did that.”
“Not that one. Her sister.”
“You mean the crazy one?”
“She’s not crazy.”
“Oh okay,” Ethan said. “And three stays in a crazy house was really a life vacation huh?”
“You’re not funny.”
“I wasn’t trying to be, but Parker, I don’t mean to sound like Jaelen.“
“Which is why I’m not answering his calls,” Parker said.
“But –“
“I don’t want to do it, Ethan! I really don’t and hell, it’s not my wife keeping me away from the house. It’s her! She’s there and the more I see her the more I want to touch her.”
“Doesn’t she have– “
He cut him off again. “I know what she has and I keep telling myself that, but I … last time I was with her, I did and she had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctor said she’s sexual peaking and that isn’t good to tell a man when he hasn’t had proper sex in a very long time.”
“Parker, maybe you should check yourself in a facility.”
“I want to be friends with her!”
“Then be her friend, Parker. We’re men and we’re going to want sex. We all do and there’s nothing wrong with you for thinking that. Maybe she’s pretty and attractive, but if you want to stay platonic, just let her know what you want and she’ll understand when you may lose control sometime and just help you stay on track. Women are supposed to be the reasonable ones when it comes to sex, so she’ll definitely be reasonable because she doesn’t want to be touched anyway.”
It made sense. Parker just needed to think exactly how he would be able to enjoy Charisse safely as friends. Being her boss would never do and he knew if Onyx suspected something he didn’t want to put Charisse in the position that would bring her harm because information she knew because of him.
His best bet would be to release her from her duty, but still get her to obligate herself to him as a friend.
Once the baby came, he’d have this sexual issue under control and then the baby would occupy his time completely.
“First things first Parker,” Ethan said after Parker told him of the plan. “Let’s get this shit together around here. Your office looks like shit.”
Parker breathed a sigh of relief because he knew what he had decided would be reasonable and hopefully on the night he picked up Charisse, she’d have an answer for him about her “long term decision” with him.
Chapter 29
Chyna had asked Kimberly to come over when Charisse really didn’t want to be bothered with her sister and Chyna was tired of Charisse’s “catty” attitude.
Having Kimberly around was pleasant and even when Charisse did say something catty; Kimberly either ignored it or said something ridiculously silly. It was hard trying to keep a sour disposition and now she understood why Jaelen kept her around. It was next to impossible to get angry with her.
“No woman!” Charisse snapped when Kimberly tried to sneak in convincing her to wear a nice white shirt. “It is ridiculously impossible to make angry.”
“If I can survive sourpuss Jaelen Gates then I can certainly survive your catty tongue, Charisse. Maybe that should be your nickname.”
“I’ve never had a nickname before,” Charisse suddenly realized then cursed under her breath at Kimberly’s slick skills of making her forget her attitude.
Rochelle told Charisse that morning that after this night, her work hours would be shortened to only three times a week for the next couple of weeks until she was done. All morning, Chyna had been secretly packing without Rochelle knowing and she had planned to stay in a hotel tonight.
Both were gone once Kimberly had arrived glad to be away from Charisse who really didn’t want to speak to anyone since the movers had come to take the furniture away.
Kimberly eye twitched “There’s a nice white shirt and long black skirt in the closet calling your name.”
“If you like it so much, why don’t you wear it?” Charisse snapped.
“Because it’s just screaming for Charisse to wear it.”
“Charisse is not wearing anything but this dress.”
“Oh, come on! You look drab. Dull like a school marm or librarian. It’s almost depressing to look at you.”
Charisse tried to ignore Kimberly, but the woman was difficult to ignore when so many interesting things seemed to come out of her mouth.
As the hour grew closer to when Parker would pick her up, Jaelen came to the house and waited downstairs, while Kimberly stayed in Charisse’s room wit
h her to give them more time to talk privately.
“Parker asked him to meet him here,” Kimberly explained Jaelen’s presence. “After you two leave, Jaelen and I are headed to Ohio for a friend’s event.”
Kimberly had kept Charisse’s recovery to herself and for this Charisse was grateful because she didn’t think she wanted Jaelen to even look at her, much less even think he could touch her.
“Do you think I could just suddenly develop touch phobia?” Kimberly teased as she worked on the last French braid in Charisse’s hair.
She had decided to put her hair in two braids, which gave her a youthful appearance and brought out the soft features of her face.
“With a husband like Jaelen, I would just to piss him off.”
Kimberly chuckled. “You’re about as bad as him when you get going in your mood, Charisse. I thought Chyna was about to scream before she left. Are you sure you don’t want to wear the white shirt? You won’t look so depressing.”
“Unlike you, Kimberly, I like depressing.” Charisse refused, “She’s used to me being drab anyway.”
Moving in front of her, she looked highly perturbed. “Why would you speak your mind about things, but then turn around and make people think you’re an introvert?”
“Because that’s the only way I can have the advantage when dealing with people who want to control me.”
“The only way to defeat people like that is to look them in the eye and to tell them to kiss your butt. If that doesn’t work knocking them on their butt always works.”
“And who told you that?”
“My husband, but he didn’t say butt.” She blushed and Charisse covered her mouth almost letting go a chuckle.
“Jaelen has much bigger balls than I do.”
“Just take a page from him and I bet Cheyenne won’t look twice at you on a public street.”
“Jaelen does have a knack for making people not want to come around him anymore. Maybe I should take him instead of Parker.”
“Oh I wouldn’t suggest that. Jaelen can barely tolerate Chyna.“
“Or me,” Charisse interjected.
“He’d do serious damage to Cheyenne. He might be prone to neck wringing before any words come out her mouth. And I certainly can’t go bailing my man out of jail before this trip we’re supposed to take.”
“Neck wringing sounds delicious,” Charisse mumbled as she remembered the emotions she had felt when Parker had touched her and hated her sisters for denying her those feelings far too long. ‘I thought you weren’t going to think about that!’
“Kimberly! She’s not a damn baby! You don’t have to sit up there and change her fucking diaper,” Jaelen barked on the intercom.
“We’re talking,” Kimberly quietly answered back.
“There can’t be anything interesting that woman has to say.”
Charisse gritted her teeth from him. Jaelen Gates was a very dislikable man. “How do you put up with him?” she asked when Kimberly turned of the intercom in response to her husband’s cruel retort.
If he wanted further conversation he would have to come up there or yell through the house. Neither he would do, which gave them privacy from him.
“I don’t put up with him,” Kimberly said insulted. “You put up with annoying uncles or his friends that have male dominant issues or even your father-in-law that wants to control his son through the business, but you don’t put up with your spouse. I love the good and bad things about Jaelen. Matter of fact, I really don’t have any problems with the bad things that you see in Jaelen. Those were actually the qualities that caught my attention and my desire for him.”
“That just proves that love is blind,” Charisse snorted.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Charisse. Love makes us see the bad things about a person and true love – deep unconditional love, makes us see the real beauty of a human being’s soul. All my life I was never made to feel wanted or truly loved. No expectations were given for me emotionally and I was beaten down mentally when Jaelen came in my life. Matter of fact, I was at a point where I was scraping the bottom of the bucket and I saw no hope or happiness. But it was his bad traits that made me strong. Strong enough to leave the situation I was in and fight for the happiness I wanted. If I hadn’t met Jaelen Gates, I wouldn’t be the woman, mother or wife I am today.”
The deepness of Kimberly’s words touched Charisse. “Oh okay, say I believed you about your feelings for him. You sincerely love, Jaelen. But he’s cold and cruel.”
Kimberly finished. “And meaner than the wicked witch of the east. One person said they’d rather spend a weekend in hell than an hour alone with my husband.” She shrugged about this. “Trust me, I’ve heard them all and then some. But some men just don’t tell you verbally they love you like other men.”
“I can’t believe any nice thing comes out of that man’s mouth.”
“And when it does, to this day, I’m still shocked,” Kimberly joined in. “But there are other ways a man shows you they love you. The way they look at you. Touch you.”
Charisse remembered at the dinner table, Jaelen had looked at his wife differently than what his angry tone of voice was and then he had touched his wife’s hand. “How does love feel?”
Kimberly frowned. “I don’t know how to explain it. No ones ever asked me that, but once my brother came in while Jaelen and I were together.” She blushed from the memory. “Of course I was horribly embarrassed the next time I saw him. He said I shouldn’t be because he’d never seen anything like it.” She paused and smiled brightly. “Leroy said he’d never seen a man and a woman look like they were in heaven before. I know it sounds crazy, but Leroy always makes the oddest sense.”
“Heaven is love?” Charisse determined.
Kimberly slowly shook her head. “Love is heaven.”
Charisse felt a smile creep on her lips at the sentimental statement and then an abrupt dry sob escaped her lips. Suddenly a tear slipped down her check and she tried to hurry and brush it away, but other’s started to immediately follow.
“I’m sorry,” Kimberly apologized profusely.
“No, it’s not your… your fault,” Charisse said quickly running to the bathroom to get some tissue as if her eye had busted a gasket. “It’s just ever since… that day, I…” It was getting more and more difficult to fight off the memories and feelings and … “You can’t understand what it’s like holding it back all this time, Kimberly and then being able to feel all of a sudden. I’ve been overwhelmed with things.”
“I know too much about being held back, Charisse,” Kimberly said, who’d followed her into the bathroom and even gave her another piece of tissue along with getting some more for herself. “Dear Lawd, girl. If we’re going to do this every time we get together, I’m never wearing eye make up around you.”
Charisse snorted trying not to laugh out loud, but then realized Parker had been right. Keeping away happiness had been so ingrained in her she was killing herself not to show it. This upset her even more because of everything she had done to him and knew her deceitfulness would come out eventually.
Worriedly, Kimberly observed, “Its more than that, Charisse. What’s overwhelming you?”
Charisse felt her chest was about to burst, because if she didn’t tell someone her secret she would really go certifiably insane. “I’ve been an awful person, Kimberly. I tried so hard not to be like my sisters, but I know I’ve done something horribly deceitful. And I hate myself for it because it felt so good.”
Perplexed, Kimberly took Charisse hand gently and led her to the bed to sit down. “There’s nothing you can tell me, Charisse to make me feel any different about you.”
“Parker and I touched,” she blurted out because it was the only way she could describe quickly what happened before she lost her nerve and said nothing at all.
Suspiciously, Kimberly assumed, “You mean at the doctor’s office the day I came to pick you up, right? Because you said he’s never touched you befor
e.”
“And he hadn’t.” She wrung her hands nervously. “Considering that whole day, he’d been through so much and– “
“You’re stalling,” Kimberly cut in.
She had been because now that she’d released the secret, she really had lost her nerve to admit anything else.
Tenderly, Kimberly said, “Start from the beginning.”
“That would take too long.”
“Then start from why you did it.”
“I was just checking on him,” she said surreptitiously as if that would justify everything. “He’d gone missing and he’d holed himself up in his office drunk.”
“Jaelen told me that was where he was at, but Parker wasn’t answering his phone or the door and hasn’t been for the past couple of days,” Kimberly said. “How’d you get in?”
“I used the extra set of keys and I knew the electronic code,” she answered easily.
“Parker’s never been able to hold his liquor well. I think he has a one drink minimum,” Kimberly commented offhandedly.
Charisse knew Kimberly must have assumed because she worked with Parker was how the key and code were obtained. Instead of correcting her, she said, “Chyna said the said thing, but I was really just checking on him. He was standing there in his underwear and I …” Her breath caught in her throat. “He was so muscular! And then he pulled me in his arms and started kissing me.”
Shock was the closest thing that could describe the expression on Kimberly’s face. “He kissed you?” She paused between each word as if it took an effort to speak.
“I tried to stop him. I mean I’d just gotten acclimated to this touching stuff, but now I understood that no means yes after the third– “
“Charisse!” Kimberly jumped up from the bed and stood reprimanding in front of her.
“But it felt like the first time. It was my first kiss, Kimberly!” she tried to explain quickly. “I’d never been kissed and I never thought it’d feel like that!”
His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book Two Page 2