Any Man I Want

by Michele Grant

  “Not too much. I mean, she’s a scandal; I wouldn’t want my sons to date her, but I can’t find anything other than routine messiness so far,” Captain Calvin shared.

  “She needs to go down. She’s upgraded from nuisance to pain in the ass to an actual problem,” Beau said.

  Gramps looked at us and nodded seriously. “Well, we can disappear the girl, but that’s gonna cost you some. We don’t wipe people off the planet for free anymore.”

  Roman’s eyes went wide, my jaw dropped, and Beau froze, scared to take a breath.

  Jonas and Gramps stood stone-faced until they exchanged glances and cut up laughing. “Woo, you should see your faces!” Gramps slapped his thigh.

  Captain Calvin shook his head. “Boys, we’re joking.”

  “Mostly,” Gramps said.

  The three of us chuckled nervously. “All right, then. You got us,” I said warily. “What else do you need from us to keep going?”

  “Not a thing, I’m all set. Let’s get together again next week and I’ll give you an update. Only in person, nothing online,” Jonas declared.

  “Sir, we can’t allow you to do this for free,” Roman said.

  “You boys will all be getting an envelope so you can pledge a little something to the Foundation, don’t you even worry about that,” Gramps announced before shooting me a look. “And you, son? You get to work on my great-grandchild.”

  I exchanged uncomfortable glances with Beau and Roman and we rose as one to depart.

  18

  And why we gotta be nefarious heffas?

  Katrina—Saturday, June 26—2:15 p.m.

  “Oh my God, will you please hurry up! The smell of this potpourri she has everywhere is making me nauseous,” Jewel whined while I typed fast and furiously onto the laptop.

  “Everything makes you nauseous! I thought it was supposed to be morning sickness; it’s well after noon.” I snapped back at my sister-in-law as I entered in the information as quickly and accurately as I could.

  “Like my body gives a damn.” Jewel breathed slowly and deeply, speaking between the inhalations. “Just wait until you get pregnant. I’m going to torture you every second of every day.”

  “Don’t hold your breath. Wait, the way you were heaving earlier? Do hold your breath and don’t stand directly behind me. But I have to agree, she went way too heavily on the scent infusers in here. Smells like a place where all the floral life in the hemisphere came to die. Like a botanical garden threw up in here.” Jewel gagged and I chuckled evilly.

  She smacked the side of my head. “Your day will come.”

  “Look here Bijou, it’s your fault we’ve had to resort to this foolishness, so suck it up another few minutes.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Renee was your friend to begin with. You foisted her on the rest of us.”

  “Well, if you’re going to be all technical about it . . .” Her cell beeped. “Oh shit, they finished early. Veronica is going to try and stall, but we can assume we don’t have a lot of time left.”

  “I’m almost done. Text Belle and tell her keep her eyes peeled.” I keyed in the last command and hit enter.

  “Yeah, yeah. You do know what you’re doing, don’t you?” she asked for the hundredth time.

  “I can follow simple directions. If you quit talking I can finish up and we can go,” I scolded.

  “My God, you Montgomerys are high maintenance!”

  “You’re married to one, raising another, and carrying a third—you are stuck with us for life!” I cackled and waited for confirmation that the program had finished running. Letters and numbers flashed by on the monitor and finally a double beep sounded. A message flashed up on the screen. “It says program complete. We are out of here.” I erased the history, powered down the computer, closed the lid, and got up from the chair.

  Jewel and I tipped around Renee’s loft, making sure everything was as we found it. Yes, I said Renee’s loft. After doing some investigative work of our own, we discovered that Renee lived in a building managed by Parks Properties. One covert call to Shawn and we not only had the code to get in downstairs, but the key to open the front door. When he discovered what we were breaking and entering for, he also provided us the software and some instructions. The software he gave us allowed us to clone Renee’s computer and access it from a remote location without her knowing. I was just going to go in and look around, but having the time and leisure to search without worrying about getting caught was even better.

  Veronica took one for the team and invited Renee out to lunch. Seeing as they hadn’t really spoken since Veronica ended up married to Renee’s ex-fiancé, it was a calculated risk, but we assumed that Renee wouldn’t pass up the chance for some drama. We were right. So while Veronica had Renee occupied, Belle was downstairs in the parking garage acting as lookout and Jewel and I were in the loft loading the software.

  Okay, so we may have gone overboard. We all dressed in black jeans and black T-shirts with black sneakers. Hair pulled back into ponytails, no makeup. What can I say? We’d watched too many crime dramas growing up. We got caught up in the moment. How many times in our life were we going to attempt something like this? Never again, we hoped.

  But Renee had gone too far and we decided if she was going to just out-and-out lie, there was really no reason for us to play fair and square. The guys said they came up with a way to expose Kevin for the deceitful fraud that he was, but they weren’t sure what to do about Renee. Well, we knew what to do about Renee. Girl power, baby. All we had to do was think like she thought, wait for her to overplay her hand, and then we would have her.

  “We’re clear,” Jewel whispered over her shoulder and we exited the unit. I sent a quick text to Belle telling her we were coming out. The elevator dinged as we neared it and instead of chancing anyone seeing us, we dove for the stairs. Four flights down later, Jewel looked a little green around the gills.

  “Uh-oh. Vertigo? Your pregnant mind playing tricks on you?” I asked as she swayed for a second on the landing. We had one more floor to go.

  “Shut it before I spew that lovely chicken salad we had for lunch on your two-hundred-dollar jeans, supermodel.”

  “You know,” I observed drolly, “pregnancy has made you snarky.”

  She whirled toward me and started laughing. “It really has. I about took your brother’s head off this morning for eating the last croissant.”

  “Well, that’s slap-worthy. He knows better,” I commiserated.

  “Right?” She giggled and took a deep breath. “I swear I can still smell those crushed flowers. Let’s get out of here.”

  We reached the garage level and I stuck my head out to make sure we were good. We’d borrowed Carter’s black four-door Benz and before I could even step out fully, it backed to the door. I snorted in amusement and waved Jewel out with me. We climbed into the car and Belle drove out of the lot sedately, turned the corner, and then floored it.

  “Hold up, killa—it’s not like five-o is hot on our tail,” I teased Belle.

  She looked left and then right before getting on the highway and accelerating again. “I didn’t know, sugar. You two might have been coming out hot.”

  “Coming out hot?” Jewel cackled. “What is this? Set It Off?”

  “Don’t start with me, Jewellen! I’m an accessory. You two nefarious heffas may be easy tiptoeing along a life of crime, but I ain’t tryna do no jail.”

  I crowed with laughter. “Did your bougie behind just say you ain’t tryna do no jail?” I turn my head to see Jewel rolling around on the backseat in her amusement. “Was there a Law and Order marathon on last night?”

  Belle sniffed. “Criminal Minds, if you must know.”

  “Umm . . . They hunt serial killers,” I informed her. “We ran a software program. Is my brother not occupying enough of your time at night?”

  “Crime is crime,” she responded.

  “Slow down, Jesse James. Speeding is a crime too,” Jewel remi
nded her.

  “And why we gotta be nefarious heffas?” I asked.

  Belle finally slowed down to under seventy-five miles an hour. “Y’all took to that creepin’ and sneakin’ like ducks to water, that’s all I’m saying.”

  I tittered. “Look here, debutante. It’s not like we’re going to take up bank robbery. We didn’t even jack anything.”

  Jewel howled. “Ha! Jack anything! Stop, you’re going to make me pee!”

  My cell phone rang. I paired it with the in-car system so we could all hear. “Hey Roni.”

  “Hey ladies, how’d it go?” Veronica’s melodious voice filled the car.

  “Well, Belle thinks we’re on a slippery slope to knocking over liquor stores on Friday nights. Beyond that, we were in and out no problem,” I told her.

  “Good, ’cuz that bitch is up to something.”

  “Whoa—why she gotta be bitchy?” Roni was the most mild-mannered of all of us, so her name-calling came as a surprise.

  “Listen, after the lunch I just lived through—we need to be happy y’all aren’t posting my bail for first-degree murder.”

  Belle slid me a look. “See? Nefarious.”

  “That bad?” Jewel asked, sitting up and wiping the tears of mirth from her eyes.

  “She stood up in the middle of the restaurant and called me a treacherous Jezebel backstabber. Dramatic much?”

  “Wait, what?” Jewel asked. “She cheated on Greg by sleeping with Beau.”

  “Hey!” Belle interjected.

  “Sorry, Belle. Ancient history.” Jewel shrugged. “Anyway, she cheats, gets caught, Greg bails, and you’re the Jezebel?”

  “She said that I was ‘lying in wait’ for ‘her man’ and the minute she slipped up, I ‘swooped in’ and stole him,” Roni said.

  “Oh no, she didn’t. She is some piece of work.” I shook my head. “Can I ask y’all: Was she ever a nice person?”

  “The funny thing is,” Jewel explained, “she actually was. She had a rough childhood that left her with some insecurities, but overall she was cool. At one point, she was my best friend in the world. And then one day she started getting very concerned about status and status symbols and having the right man, right ring, right car, right house, and right job. She got wrapped up in these plans, but then when she had what she thought she wanted, she wanted an upgrade.”

  “Oh, one of those never-satisfied types,” Belle drawled knowingly.

  “Exactly!” Veronica exclaimed.

  “But really, and again—no shade to Beau, but it was about the time he entered the picture that she rode off the rails. She wanted him and Greg and after she lost them both, she became a different person. Now the older she gets and she’s no closer to having what she thinks she should have accumulated by now, it just gets worse,” Jewel continued.

  “And somehow this is our fault?” I wondered.

  Jewel answered. “She’s never going to point the finger at herself; she doesn’t have that kind of mirror. But this is a new level of low, even for her.”

  “Yeah, she was acting kinda shifty underneath all the mud-slinging. Like she had some secret she couldn’t wait to share,” Veronica said.

  “Now, see, Belle—that’s nefarious,” Jewel pointed out.

  Belle agreed. “Point taken.”

  “Just tell me we’re going to wipe the smirk off Renee’s face,” Veronica pleaded.

  “And mop the floor with it if all my prayers and dreams come true,” I added. The display indicated a call coming in from Carter. “Uh-oh. Everyone quiet! Veronica, we’ll talk to you later.”

  I clicked over. “Hey Carter.”

  “Kit-Kat—I appear to be missing one car and one girlfriend.”

  “You have another car,” I informed him needlessly.

  “But only one girlfriend. Whatcha up to?”

  “Just running some errands,” I hedged.

  “Errands, huh?”

  “Uh . . . yes?”

  “Errands that require you and your homegirls to dress all in black and run around Dallas in my Benz?” We exchanged looks. He was surprisingly well-informed.

  “Do you need the car back?” I evaded.

  “You and I both know this is not about the car,” he snapped.

  “I don’t have to tell you where I am every moment of the day, Carter Parks. And since when do you care what I wear?” I lobbed that out there to see if that would stick.

  “That’s what you’re coming with?” Carter responded. “Okay, then. Hold on a sec.”

  I heard some rustling and muted voices.

  “Jew-Ro.” Roman called Jewellen Rose by her nickname when she was in trouble. “What you out there getting into while carrying my child?”

  “Busted,” she whispered to us before speaking up. “Nothing, babe. We just had lunch. We’re going to drop by Madere’s and then head home.”

  Belle changed lanes to head toward Madere’s house.

  “Delaney Mirabella Montgomery,” Beau’s voice rang out. “I know you’re in on this, chère. Probably driving the getaway car.”

  “Getaway car?” Belle chuckled. “That’s some imagination, darling. A girl slithers into a black outfit and all of sudden she’s some sort of—”

  “Nefarious criminal?” I supplied, sending her a look. She raised one hand off the steering wheel and sent me a ‘talk to the hand’ gesture.

  Jewel giggled from the backseat.

  “Une momente, ‘tite chou—you had to slither to get into the jeans? How tight are they?” Beau asked.

  “How did you know we’re in jeans?” I asked.

  “Chase saw you all making your escape. He spilled all the tea. You all needed to get in and out of somewhere quickly and hoped you knew how to work the program. What program is that, ladies?” Carter asked.

  Belle shook her head at us. I rolled my eyes at her. We had no intention of telling the guys anything until we knew what we had. “To a ten-year-old everything seems cloak-and- dagger. Wasn’t that big of a thing, babe. We’re gonna feed Jewellen for the sixteenth time today and then I’ll be home. Your girlfriend and your car will be home before you know it.”

  “Um-hmm,” Carter murmured. “I’ll look forward to that.”

  “Jewellen, I’ll be waiting,” Roman said.

  “Moi aussi, Belle,” Beau tacked on.

  I clicked the phone off. “Men.”

  We pulled up in front of Madere and Pops’s place. Madere opened the door and stood there with her hands on her hips. We climbed out of the car and she shook her head. “There better be a good reason why my boys are calling looking for you and the three of you show up looking like the brokedown Supremes on a stakeout.”

  Jewellen and Belle kissed her cheek. I linked my arm through hers and stepped into the house. “We’re plotting and scheming, Mama. Wanna hear about it?”

  Her eyes lit up. “I thought it might be something like that so I sent your father to Home Depot. He’ll be there for hours. Spill it!”

  “I’ll tell you how your daughter and Jewel almost made me catch a case.”

  “Catch a case?” I whispered as Belle stuck out her tongue at me behind my mother’s back.

  “Madere, did you cook today?” Jewel asked, heading for the kitchen.

  Madere smiled. “First trimester, I already have the bowls by the stove. Red beans and rice and shrimp Bienville.”

  “Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Belle said. “I’ve been starvin’ lately.”

  “Girl, will you take the test already?” Jewel said with a fork hovering over the pot.

  Madere slapped her hand. “Belle will take the test when she’s good and ready. Jewel, I put out bowls for a reason. Kit-Kat, get the bread out of the oven.”

  When were gathered around the table, she said, “Now mes enfants, tell me everything!”

  19

  You could have Parks 2.0 right here

  Carter—Friday, July 2—7:03 p.m.

  It had been a long week. No new drama, t
hankfully. We were making progress with our investigations. I still wasn’t 100 percent sure what Katrina and the girls had cooked up, but I was letting it go for now. Tonight, we were heading to the foundation headquarters for a talk with the kids and to serve a meal. We were late. It was my fault. When I walked past the closet, she was perched on the bench rubbing some sort of scented cream all over her naked body. She looked and smelled like dessert. Whatever good intentions I had were gone in an instant. I am a man. I had to taste. She was so open to me, it was addictive. All I did was walk over, lay her down, and kneel between those vanilla-scented thighs. Having her come apart against my mouth while calling out my name? It was so damned satisfying; I had to take her up and over once more. In my mind, that was just worth the twenty-minute delay. I left her to get cleaned up and headed downstairs. I stood at the kitchen counter, ignoring my insistent erection begging me to go back upstairs and be an extra thirty minutes late. The flat-front khakis didn’t seem like such a good idea with the obvious tent I was pitching. Untucking the T-shirt was not an option and it was way too hot for a jacket.

  Katrina swirled downstairs in a bright pink short cotton dress with strappy sandals on her feet and a glow on her face. Her hair was up in a curly ponytail and her lipstick matched the dress. She kissed my check. “You’re so much awesome. Let’s go, Sexy. We’re late and Gramps will give us hell.”

  “Ain’t that the truth?” I readjusted myself and snatched up the keys to the Range Rover. I followed her out to the garage, locked the back door behind us, and pressed the unlock button on the key fob. When I went to move past her to open her door, I felt my belt loosening.

  Before I could figure out what she was up to, my pants were unbuttoned, my shirt was pushed up, and my briefs were yanked down. “Katrina, for Christ’s sa—” I ground out as she wrapped both hands around my shaft and squeezed. Good lord, that felt good. My penis twitched happily in her hands. “You know we do not have time for this!” I reminded her. She responded by dropping down to her knees, mindless of the garage floor, and peered up at me through her lashes.