“I agree. It’s already in progress,” Penny reported.
“Good. Now, my primary concern at this point is whether or not we’ll be able to find out if other media outlets have gotten hold of the published article. Because—”
“No worries there, sir. I’ve already activated six social media monitoring tools that will notify me, at once, of any mentions having to do with your son.”
Lance tapped his forefinger on the top of his lacquer desk, then cocked his head in confusion. “You need to monitor my name primarily, Penny. This has a huge impact on my business dealings. There are implications there that point to me being a racist, and I can’t have that. The media will run with that news. They could care less that another athlete fathered a child with a random piece of ass.”
“O…kay,” Penny hesitantly responded.
She really wanted to say something about the situation, but she knew better. She’d heard enough about the sins of the mother rubbing off on the son, to last her an entire lifetime. But she still never understood. In fact, she happened to be quite fond of Rush and both her son and her husband watched diligently when he played baseball, and still spoke highly of him. Her husband still frequented Chaos ever so often.
“Do we have a problem?” Lance challenged, when he noticed Penny’s hesitation.
“No sir, we don’t.”
“Good. Well, in that case…” he started, with a crooked smile. “You can leave now. I need to prepare for my outing with the guys this evening. I just needed to know that everything I needed handled would be handled properly before that time.”
“And it is, sir. All is handled, sir,” Penny reiterated. “Enjoy yourself this evening.”
“Oh, I plan to.”
EIGHTEEN
Alika
After Rush left to go see what could be done about the trash piece, I hopped in the shower and prepared for the day. The moment I saw my braids, I cursed myself because I should’ve already taken them down, but I hadn’t. Luckily, the hair was human and had a deep wave so there was still a little life. I figured I could treat the hair and apply a really cute style. But after today, I would be taking them down immediately. I would much rather greet the mother of Rush’s child in my cute haircut and something nice and fitted.
You’re being petty, Alika, I scolded myself.
But even with that, I made no excuses. Although I wasn’t planning to stick around while Rush had his visit with Michaela, like any woman, I wanted to look my very best when they showed up. I didn’t know what Janae’s intentions were, but she needed to know that mine weren’t to abandon my spot any time soon—at all. She hadn’t displayed any shady behavior yet, but I still needed to be on guard. I knew all too well what other women were capable of and as strong and intuitive as my man was, I also knew that his focus was on establishing a bond, so he might miss some things.
Stay one up. She is Jacob’s sister, after all.
I knew that I shouldn’t have, but I found myself wondering what she looked like all the time. This morning when I had seen the picture of Michaela side-by-side with Rush, my mind kicked into overdrive. She had green eyes that I knew didn’t come from him, so that let me know that her mama had them. So, she was probably one of those light-skinned black chicks with the colored eyes like her brother. Thank God I had grown into my own beauty because her look was the very look that I was intimidated by all during my youth. Now, in the present, I was unbothered by that. But the fact that she had birthed Rush’s first born…whew! Words couldn’t describe.
After I moisturized my face, and applied a light application of makeup and gloss, I took out the oversized plaits I’d put into my hair and allowed the waves to fall where they might. I then pulled a portion of the front up into a small rubber band so that the hair would be off my face, and loosely pulled on the band and allowed the hair to fall into a wild mass around my shoulders and down my back.
I smiled at myself in the mirror. “That’s cute, girl!” I grinned.
I went to my closet and pulled a pair of ripped jeans, a v-neck charcoal-colored Tinkerbelle shirt that I’d gotten from Disneyland, and a pair of all-white tennis shoes. I had hoops in my ears and a thin bracelet around my wrist. I was chic, but casual. I didn’t want to overdo it, but I wanted to make enough of a statement.
Minutes after I had finished prepping, Rush came into the house. His mood was better than when he had left. He breezed in, kissed me on the cheek and took off for the shower.
“Gotta get dressed, baby. She’ll be here soon. Shit went longer than I thought it would, but it’s all taken care of now.”
As he undressed, I walked behind him toward the shower. “What does that mean, babe?” I asked, trying my best not to lust after the extremely toned, bare ass facing in my direction. “Did you beat the man up?” I kidded.
“Nope!” he sang out. “The man wasn’t there when I got there. Today was his last day on the job, apparently. So maybe he wanted to go out with a bang. That worked out for him, but I’d hate to see him on the street because despite the fact that it’s now been removed, he ran it in the first place. He deserves his ass kicked for that, and I’m just the person to give it to him.”
“So, you didn’t see him at all, and couldn’t ask any questions about who the source was?”
“Nope!” he shouted over the shower water. “But baby…I got everything that he had. They used some fake ass email address. But case closed. We already know this was Jacob. Right now, though, I’m more concerned with getting my ass washed and being able to be nice and clean for the visit. You look really nice, by the way!”
I smiled. “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re gonna stick around to meet them, right?”
I smiled again. I had no idea that he was going to ask me to do that yet, but I was going to find a way to do it anyway. So, now it was even better.
“Sure, if you want,” I replied.
“Of course I want. At least stay for a meet-and-greet, and then when things settle a little bit more—”
“I get it, handsome. No worries,” I said, leaving him to finish his shower.
I was headed down the stairs to hang out in the enclosed patio. As if time was on my side, the security phone rang out, and Hannah announced that a Miss Lawson and her daughter had arrived. Life just kicked up an entire notch.
I rushed to the front door and then stopped in my tracks to take a few deep breaths before pulling it open.
“Hi,” the woman said, extending her hand to me. “I’m Janae. And you are?”
“My name is Alika,” I answered, looking from her to Michaela.
I’d be lying through my teeth if I didn’t say that the chick was pretty. About my height, but not as many curves as I had, as evidenced through the dress she wore. A dress that was much too tight, in my opinion and that was definitely not for a friendly visit.
Stop Alika. Maybe she’s coming from an outing or something.
She was, as I thought, a lighter shade of brown, with the same green eyes as her brother. In fact, looking at her was like looking at his crooked ass all over again. The resemblance was uncanny. They were like girl and boy versions of each other.
“And you must be Michaela,” I remarked. “It’s very nice to meet you both.”
“You as well,” Janae stated, as they entered the house.
“I’m going into the media room, if that’s okay,” Michaela stated, gleefully.
“Of course,” I responded, smiling at the fact that she was already getting familiar…and comfortable with her father’s surroundings.
“Janae, you can have a seat,” I offered. “Rush will be down shortly. He had a meeting that went over and had to rush back and take a shower.”
“I understand,” she stated, smoothing her dress down around her form, and taking a seat.
I went and took a seat across from her and could tell that she had no interest in having any type of conversation. And that was fine. I wasn’t there to converse with her, onl
y to establish that she was treading upon my territory. However subtle or overt I needed to do that, I would.
“Thank you,” she said, with a faux smile affixed. “I can wait it out on my own from here.”
Her snide comment was the perfect opening for me. “I’m sure you can, but I don’t mind keeping you company until the man of the hour arrives.”
“I’m good,” she replied, settling back into the sofa’s seating. “I don’t need company.”
“Right. I’m sure you don’t need any company, Janae, but I figured we could spend a little bit of time before you all reconvened.”
She chuckled lightly, and then shook her head a little bit. “That’s cute.”
“What’s cute?”
“You…trying to stake your claim. I get it. You’re his girlfriend, right?”
“I am his girlfriend.”
“A very threatened girlfriend. I can only imagine how you must be feeling. Let me guess. You’re brand new, and now you’re just a little worried that he’ll want to readjust his priorities and that you just may not be included in that once the dust settles. So, you’re trying to assess the competition and secure a spot—a spot that you’re not even sure about.”
“I’m not threatened, Janae. I’m very secure in my place in Rush’s life.”
“That’s a trip. I never saw such a confident girlfriend. Wife maybe, but girlfriend? Not so much,” she cryptically stated. She looked down at her stiletto manicured nails and then back up at me. “My baby is pretty taken with her daddy. Seems we might need to move back up north so that they can really establish that father-daughter relationship that they missed out on. It’s a tragedy, isn’t it?”
“I see you two have met,” Rush remarked, as he made his way down the stairs, two at a time. “Where’s my girl?” he queried, looking around to the other end of the living room.
“She’s in the media room. It’s all she’s talked about since we left here,” Janae smiled. “You should go get her. I’m sure she’ll be excited to see you,” she commented, making sure to turn her gaze to me in the same moment.
“Okay. I’m gonna do that. But come here, baby,” he requested, palming the back of my neck and pulling me into a kiss. “You’ll probably be gone when I come back. Love you.”
“I love you too, baby,” I smiled.
After he was out of sight and earshot, I looked over at Janae, and saw that she had a trained stare on me.
“That was adorable. You guys make a really cute couple.”
“We do, don’t we? Thank you for the compliment.”
“You’re welcome, Alika. You should probably get to running along. Family time is upon us, and I’m sure they’ll be back soon. Since Michaela doesn’t know you yet, kinda don’t want her to be confused about anything.”
“You mean more confused than realizing that her mother was a one-night stand with a childhood crush? Yeah, Janae…I think you’re right. I should probably get going. Have yourself an awesome day.”
NINETEEN
Rush
“So, Janae, how’s it going?” I asked, reentering the living room, wearing a huge smile.
I had just come from giving Michaela a huge hug, then leaving her to watch Rio 2.
“It’s going good, Rush. Did you get a chance to get that situation fixed at that magazine?”
I sighed an exasperated sigh. “Yep, there actually wasn’t that much to do because when I got there the T. McKinney person had already been handed his walking papers. I was looking forward to seeing that clown in person. I guess that wasn’t in the cards. But that’s okay because I got what I needed.”
“You got what, exactly?” she asked.
“Oh, it was basic. I just made them give what he had been given which was basically an email. Nothing more. And it came from some generic ass email account. It’s a fucked up world when you can have technology in prison now. Jacob should be focused on preparing for his trial and less concerned about throwing his own sister and niece under the bus.”
“I agree,” Janae responded, solemnly. “So, what did the email look like, exactly?”
“Kinda irrelevant at this point, Janae. That shit is old news. You know it was Jacob and I know it was Jacob,” I shrugged. “So we can move on now to the important stuff. Like how we’re gonna work out these logistics for me seeing Michaela and making her a significant part of my life.”
“Well…” she started. “I’ve already made arrangements to move back in the next month or two. I just have to finalize a few things first. And I was hoping to let Michaela stay up until Christmas break.”
I couldn’t help the smile that formed across my lips. “Is Michaela okay with that? Not that I don’t want her here, but I don’t want her mad at me for having to uproot.”
“Oh please. She’s too excited about you to be mad. Her dad has a mansion with a pool and a theater room. She’s elated. I’ve already run it by her. She and I talk about pretty much everything.”
“Nice.”
“Yeah, she’s a little withdrawn when she first meets people so of course she would be too shy to tell you how excited she is, but when I tell you that she’s excited, she is. That might even be putting it mildly.”
“Really?” I asked, proudly stroking my beard. I was totally surprised.
“Yep. So, in answer to your question, I just figure maybe on the weekends you get her as well as on major holidays. Then maybe Christmas we alternate. Or we could even do them together. That’s up to you. She’s got a slew of cousins that all come together at my mom’s so we can cross that bridge when we get to it.”
“Sounds…awesome. I’m ready.”
“And speaking of my mom, she said to tell you hi. She said that she would be calling you and that she misses you.”
“Miss Glenda,” I said, smiling. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I can’t wait to talk to her. Tell her that I miss her too. It’s good to know that she’s aware that none of what she thought is true. That means a lot. I really love your mother. She was a major part of my adolescence and I’ve never forgotten that.”
I released a deep sigh of relief. It seemed that everything was falling into place perfectly.
Janae started to giggle. “Yeah, she’s ecstatic. Wanted all the details, and was throwing questions at me in bulk! It was like Costco up in there!” she joked.
“I can imagine. I mean, who would’ve thought we’d be here…as parents! To the same child?!”
“Isn’t that something, Rush? Growing up together pretty much, and then ending up sharing a child.”
“Life is crazy, right? But looks like we done good.”
“Definitely did,” she said, her voice fading slightly. “Look, Rush, before Michaela comes back, tell me about Alika. Is she your woman?”
I was taken aback by her question. What Alika and I had was nobody’s business.
“Yeah. Why you ask?”
“Well, I just think it might be a little early to introduce yet another person into the picture so early when this should be Michaela’s time to get to know you.”
“That’s why it won’t be a random person. It’ll be a person that I love. You probably shouldn’t be telling me how to handle things with my woman, Janae.”
“I’m not. I’m telling you how to handle things with our daughter.”
“Janae. Please don’t tell me we are already going to reach the point of involving the courts. Because trust me, paternity has been established and in California custody is fifty-fifty unless established otherwise. And even if you’d done that, it’d be overturned because I never knew I had a child. You don’t really want to go there, do you? Because I’m sure the courts would even award me more than weekends and major holidays. The only reason I’m not fighting you on that is because I think that while we’re still in the early stages, a gradual transition is good. So, don’t come up into my world throwing around orders. I’m not that guy, okay?”
I watched as she shifted in her seat uncomfortably. She
appeared to be searching for something to say, so I sat and waited for what that might be, never taking my eyes off of her. She lowered her eyes from mine, and then spoke.
“I’m sorry, Rush. You’re right. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“You did mean something by it, Janae. Women aren’t new to me. I know how it goes. But you and I will be getting along really well as long as we co-parent within our boundaries. Meaning that anything that has to do with my personal life…is none of your business. Anything having to do with our daughter…hundred percent, you have full access. Alika’s respectful. She loves me, and she’s a good person, so Michaela will always be treated with the utmost respect. Okay? Alika understands that nothing is more important than me getting to know my daughter. So, now your part is to not insult me by insinuating anything other than that.”
The look that Janae gave me wasn’t exactly the friendliest, but I didn’t care. My only concern was that she understood where I was coming from.
“Okay, I understand.”
“Good. Now, let’s join Michaela in the media room so I can give her the first of many gifts from her dad.”
TWENTY
Rush
I held Alika in a long, drawn out hug before I pulled out her chair.
“What’s that for?” she asked, taking her place in the seat before her. “Not that I mind one single bit.”
“It’s for you. It’s because you’re beautiful, because you’re understanding, and because I’m the luckiest man I know to have a woman like you in my life…in my arms…in my bed. Just damn lucky. That’s what that was for.”
“Well, I accept it all, baby. I’m just as lucky to have you—if not luckier. This life that I live in, I’m sure is one-of-a-kind.”
“Crazy family and all, huh?”
Rapture 2: a BWWM, Alpha Male Romance Page 11