His Substitute Wife... My Sister Book Two

by Sylvia Hubbard

  “And that’s your real name?”

  She faced Charisse looking insulted. “Nevada’s my real first name.”

  “And your last?”

  “Don’t worry yourself over it now, Charisse. You got a lot of explaining to do to your lover because that bitch done put a doozy in his head.”

  “What doozy?”

  Exasperated, Nevada said, “Doubt. She put a twinkle of doubt and with them not being able to get in touch with your sister, how you gonna explain that money in the bank if Chyna ain’t saying shit?”

  “But I had nothing to do about it!” Charisse said. “I was in the facility.”

  “People always going to believe the apple don’t fall too far from the tree, Charisse. People like Onyx will assume the worst until you prove them wrong and the only way to do that is to tell your lover the truth.” Nevada looked around the room for anything she was missing frantically.

  “I gotta go, Char and I probably will keep my distance from here from now on. Just until I get things settled, okay?”

  Charisse felt like she was going to miss a sister. “How would I get in touch with you?”

  “Leave any messages for me at the restaurant with Boyd the manager. I don’t work there anymore, but I’ll check in with him occasionally. He usually works nights.”

  “What if something happens to him?”

  Nevada bent down to Rochelle’s room and took out a small pin. After a few moments, she picked the lock and walked right in where there was a window that led to the neighboring house. This one was closer to the next house than any other window in the whole house and although that was a crappy view, it seemed to satisfy Nevada who reached inside and under her army jacket and pulled out a rope.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “That bitch and her monster are watching the bottom of the house,” Nevada said as if it were obvious. “I got to be half past stupid to go that way.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Duh.” Nevada chuckled and then hugged Charisse, stuffing something in her hand. “Keep it close to you at all times and remember where I said to hide it.”

  Charisse hugged her back. “Take care of yourself.”

  They both heard the heavy footsteps of Parker and Nevada whispered quickly. “Take care of you too, Charisse.”

  Charisse closed the door to Rochelle’s room and heard Nevada open the window. Praying for her friend to land on the ground safely, she moved away from the door, just as Parker entered the room looking around suspiciously. “Where’s Nevada?”

  “She woke me up and said it was people in the house and said she had to leave,” Charisse said.

  “I didn’t see her leave.”

  “She’s probably getting out the house now. You know she can sneak in and out if you leave the perimeter alarm off.”

  He didn’t question this. “Did you pack your bag already?”

  “Yes.”

  Moving to her, he drew her in his arms. “You heard Onyx didn’t you?”

  His sudden affection caught her off guard, but also warmed her heard. “Yes, but I figured you’d know the truth already, Parker. Which is why you defended me.”

  “Yes.” Tenderly he kissed her. “But there are some things I need to discuss with you and I think we might be staying away just a little bit longer than we both expected.”

  She’d already said her good bye to Nevada and she knew she could call Kimberly if she could just remember the number, but even that she could get from Parker. “I’m fine with that.”

  “Let’s hurry and get on the road. Did you hear her say about the exit we could take?”

  “Yes and I’m fine with that.”

  Parker looked extremely grateful. “You really are cut from a different cloth than your sisters, aren’t you?”

  She kissed him to distract from answering that question and he accepted her kiss. It was something she wanted to believe, but deep in her belly she was scared that she wouldn’t be able to make the right decision that Parker would want her to make when the time came.

  Two hours into their trip in the rented dark tinted windowed burgundy mini-van, Parker called Chyna’s cell phone again, but there was no answer. Yet the manager said he spoke with her and she insisted she was fine.

  “You gave her my message to call me immediately?”

  “Yes sir and Ms. Mills said she would call you after her massage treatment later on,” the manager answered in a monotonous voice.

  “Has she had any visitors?”

  “No sir.”

  Frustrated Parker disconnected the call and looked over at Charisse who had listed to the call.

  “Maybe we should go there instead of Canada,” she suggested.

  “Unfortunately, I have to go here for some business I’ve already arranged and I can’t change my plans.”

  She wondered if she should press it and ask exactly what business was more important that family issues, but he seemed very bothered at the moment, so she kept this thought to herself.

  “You said there was something you wanted to discuss with me?” she questioned.

  “Yes, there is, but could you get me a bottle of water first?” This was more or less a stall tactic because he was formulating his thoughts while he drove.

  Getting out the house was very easy with Onyx’s suggestion. He still wondered how had Nevada gotten out the house and when he texted Mandingo to ask if she was seen leaving, the reply was, “No one left the property.”

  If she was still in the house and tried to leave - even if she cracked a window - all the alarms would go off, but he doubted that she would have gotten herself locked inside to wait until they returned. There wasn’t enough food in the house for her if that was the case.

  He called the accountant to let them know he would handle the bank account matter upon his return because that really was too much to think about, but he did request the accountant obtain when the account was opened and could they fax him original documents to the hotel he would be staying at.

  Charisse handed him the water partially opened and Parker was touched by her thoughtfulness.

  “I did something awful, Charisse. Really bad and you’re going to probably hate me for what I did and probably never want to speak to me again. This is something that I’ve never told anyone. Not even Jaelen, but I feel you should know because before you make any decisions to stay with me to help with the baby, I want you to know the truth. And know that I’m not like that anymore.”

  Frowning in confusion, she wondered what could Parker possibly have done to believe he had been more deceitful than she?

  Parker took a swig of the water because what he had to say would make a big difference to how Charisse would feel about him from this point forward.

  Charisse decided to say her peace before his confession. “Whatever it is, Parker, I haven’t fully made a decision to stay. I know you gave me time and haven’t pressured me about it, but that’s a big decision.”

  He clearly showed he was hurt by her words. “And us?”

  “I don’t know. There’s a lot to think about and right now, I’m just going by moment to moment with us. I don’t want to come to a decision until… until the baby is here.”

  “The baby is going to make a difference between you staying or not? What about me, Charisse? What about what we shared?” Parker now was unsure if he should even tell her the secret he was keeping.

  “Parker, I’ve never been with anyone before. And there are certain facts to this relationship that we are ignoring.”

  “I know the facts and I know you’re not crazy to pretend you don’t know them. But I know that you have feelings for me Charisse. Deep feelings that damn the facts and bond us together.”

  Charisse felt her heart racing from the passion of his words. “Pull over, Parker,” she ordered through gritted teeth.

  Parker obeyed her request thinking that he may have gone overboard in his feelings and had overwhelmed Charisse emotionally. Was this wh
en he would see her wig out?

  ** *

  They were seriously behind schedule, but Parker couldn’t stop kissing her, which led to more touching and then more pleasure. Both of them seem insatiable in their lust for each other or both were trying to avoid what they didn’t want to talk about.

  The moment he had pulled over, Charisse literally jumped over to him and kissed him. This lead to somehow getting to the backseat, removing their clothes and then for the next two hours they were taking full advantage of the seats that laid down into a bed.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered in his ear as they were coming down from his second culmination. “I just lost it, Parker.”

  He chuckled. “You can go crazy any day if it leads to this, Charisse, but you know we’re just using sex as a salve to avoid things we need to speak about.”

  “Yes,” she said honestly with deep regret.

  Moving to the side of her, he still gathered her in his arms and held nicely thick in all the right place body close. Her eyes looked up at him and he couldn’t believe how enamored he was of her. Visually he caressed the soft lines of her angelic face relishing the creamy caramel skin, sensual burnt orange eyes and full dark pink lips swollen from all the kissing they had been doing. There was no way he could ever compare this remarkable woman to any other woman who had ever touched his life and he knew no matter how bad things became he would still want to be with her, still want to make love to her and still need her in his life. Before having someone only mattered to others, now having Charisse mattered to him.

  “We’ll take us slowly, Charisse. I can understand your feelings are new to you and proclamations of love and devotion are just too soon.”

  “Keep speaking like that, Parker and we’ll be doing some more proclamations of love and devotion,” she warned.

  Chortling, he tenderly kissed her and loved her ardent response.

  “What is it you need to tell me Parker?” she asked, regretful that they had to get back serious again. Whenever he spoke about their feelings toward each other, she always felt so light in the head and happy. This overwhelming burst of excitement overcame her and she had to express it before she screamed her exuberance.

  Attacking his lips as soon as he put the van in park was her way of getting the “sickness” out of her and it was contagious because he didn’t refuse. Matter of fact, Parker guided them back to the rear of the van while stripping off their clothes just enough to reveal the necessary body parts.

  It was almost hilarious the passion they had for each other, but she knew nothing could stop the truth. ‘Shit floats,’ she could hear Nevada saying in her own eloquent way.

  He grimaced in remorse reluctant as well to get back to the original subject. “A horrible thing I did in the past has been forced upon me to remember and rectify.”

  “What horrible thing did you do, Parker?” she asked.

  The fact that she made attempt to move away from him gave him courage to tell her. He touched his lips as if he were trying to hold it from coming out for a long pregnant moment, but he bit the bullet and confessed the worse thing he had done in his life.

  “I’ve always been a person who has strived to have perfect life… before I met you, Charisse.” He needed to add that because since meeting her, life had become twenty times more interesting. “And when things didn’t happen according to plan I felt I needed to either hide it or ignore it. Public opinion meant a lot to my family. In fact, my parents died while trying to live up to public appearance.”

  “How’d they die?”

  “An accident in an RV, which my father only bought and went on the trip through icy conditions like everyone else had. If he hadn’t had the severe arthritis he would have been able to handle the vehicle, but he lost control.” He stopped himself because he really missed his parents and maybe if they had been there, he wouldn’t have been so miserable. Yet he wasn’t going to blame them for the bad decisions he had made in his life.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, Parker, but what does this have to do with changing my opinion of you?”

  He sighed desolately. “Before I met Chyna, I made a mistake. A major mistake that I thought I could just forget, but it didn’t go away.”

  “What mistake, Parker?” she insisted to know impatiently. “Quit beating around the bush and just tell me.”

  “I have a son, Charisse,” he said with regret.

  Chapter 39

  Charisse knew this should have been the moment she should have confessed about the bank account, but for some reason her tongue had not cooperated with her conscience.

  He didn’t speak and he kept his eyes on the road, but he gripped the steering wheel repeatedly and she could see him grinding his teeth in reaction to what she said.

  A police car pulled up behind them and they both looked at each other to make sure the other was dressed properly. He thoughtfully pushed a lock of hair behind her ears before moving quickly to the driver’s seat to find his wallet to present to the officer.

  “Is everything alright, sir?” the officer asked concerned, looking briefly back at Charisse who hoped her clothes weren’t too messed up.

  “Yes, sir. We’re fine.” Parker said presenting his license and registration. “Just making sure we have everything we need before crossing the border.”

  When the officer felt things were fine by making brief conversation with them, he returned to his car with a warning that staying on the side of the road this long was dangerous near the border.

  Charisse sat back in the front seat and buckled up as Parker began to drive.

  He glanced at her from the road. “I know I said I didn’t want to know, Charisse, whatever it was that had made you agree, but this…” Looking back at the road served as a good distraction to help him discern his confusion, hurt and anger.

  Staring out the windshield to avoid looking over at him, she felt her gut wrench tightly as if she had thrown up. Her arms wrapped around her waist and the inclination to rock in misery was there but she fought it. “Jaelen will be happy to know he was right.”

  “I could give a rat’s ass about Jaelen being right about now!” he snapped. Parker wanted to press it more because he knew there was more for her to say. “Does Kimberly or Nevada know this?”

  “No. I didn’t want them to know because of the same reason I didn’t want you to know. The adoration and respect you had for me meant a lot to me,” she said guiltily.

  Angered that Charisse could care so little about herself that she could make a deal to carry his child for peace away from this earth was dispiriting. Since meeting her, he could never understand that part of her and he didn’t know how to change the way she was.

  Driving a couple of miles before speaking, he said, “You are so miserable with life that only death would make you happy?”

  “It did.” She closed her eyes and succumbed to the emotions. Tears welled in her eyes.

  The urge to pull over again and shake her to death was almost his preference, but he didn’t. There were no words for him to speak because he was so upset that she had done this.

  Charisse felt horrible for what she had agreed to. “If you asked me that a couple of months ago, I would have said yes to it.”

  “But I’m asking you this now,” he said with sedition. She had betrayed his friendship and his confidence because he had thought all this time she was carrying his child to fulfill his happiness.

  “Today is a good day. I want to live and be with you.” Yet she didn’t want to bring his hopes up because she was so unsure of her feelings about everything now. “But tomorrow may be different, Parker. I stopped planning for the future.”

  He knew from her past he could not ask for an overnight miracle. That only happened in romance books by the next chapter, love movies in three scenes and television show by the next commercial. In real life, healing required a lot of time and a million tons of love.

  Looking down at her stomach and thinking of the life he wanted to spend wi
th Charisse, he knew he had less than nine months and he could find the love for her.

  Perhaps he could still give Charisse one more priceless gift to make her want to live. He could give her his heart.

  Taking her hand in his, he kissed her knuckles and looked in her saddened eyes. “Then let’s celebrate today and worry about tomorrow later.”

  Charisse took a deep breath and pursed her lips together. She was happy, but he could still feel there was more she wanted to tell him.

  ‘There’s time. She’ll tell you eventually.’

  They arrived at a large black gate with a huge red brick military style building behind him. Charisse felt they were entering another facility until she saw the young looking sentry manning the gate’s entrance.

  After they verified Parker, he drove around the large building, which must have been the main school because behind it were medium and smaller wood built buildings.

  Parker stopped the van here and helped her out.

  “That there don’t look like that evil heifer I met at’cha Christmas party,” a loud raucous voice bellowed coming around the van.

  The man had to be two feet taller than the van and towered over Charisse like a tall oak tree that’s been growing for thousands of years. Once she was over her shock at the black Paul Bunyan missing an ox man, she noticed he had the kindest face and brownish blue eyes.

  “Blu, I’d like you to meet Charisse Sheridan,” Parker introduced after letting the man give him a backbreaking hug.

  Instead of shaking her hand she’d outstretched, the human oak tree yanked her into his arms and pressed her against a hard chest and slapped the air out of her.

  “Blu,” Parker warned. “She’s pregnant.”

  The man instantly released her and set her away. “I know how you women get all fragile and stuff.” He smiled a bright white smile. “My missus died trying to bring my girls out.”