by J. L. Leslie
“I’m not in a frat.” he defends.
“Oh. You sorta look like the type.”
Anniston turns to Memphis, ignoring Rhys and I want to laugh. “Do I smell chocolate?”
“I made you cupcakes.” Memphis says, proudly.
The two of them head into the kitchen. Rhys glances at me and I chuckle.
“What?”
“She’s not interested.”
“I’m not interested.” he says.
“Good. You shouldn’t be since you came here with someone.”
“I know. I’m not interested.” he repeats.
“You said that already.”
Chapter 28
Memphis
“So they just showed up unannounced? What kind of assholes do that?” Anniston asks.
“This kind.” Rhys answers, walking into the kitchen. “Can I get a cupcake?”
“Sure.” I tell him. “I wasn’t calling you an asshole. I was just explaining to Anniston that we didn’t know you were coming. It’s okay that…”
“I was calling you an asshole.” Anniston cuts in. “You should probably call before you just show up at someone’s home.”
“Anniston…”
Rhys doesn’t say anything. He just takes a bite of his cupcake and walks back into the living room. It occurs to me that he’s the ‘birthday boy’ Leah bragged about. I try not to think about him going ‘on and on’ as she put it.
“Don’t be like that. He’s Cameron’s cousin.” I scold her.
“He’s hot too, but that doesn’t give him an excuse to ruin my trip home.” she whines.
“Is that what this is about? You not being the center of attention?”
“Maybe.” she grins.
“Well, I’m sure you will be. Blake and Langston are meeting us at Melee’s and you’ll like this club. We’ll have a great time.”
“Fine. Give me another cupcake first.”
I hand her another cupcake and then toss my wrapper into the garbage. She takes a bite and her eyes roll in the back of her head.
“Mmm. Me likey.” she laughs.
“I know you likey. That’s why I made them for you.”
Laughter coming from the living room breaks up our moment. I silently pray everything goes well tonight. I know Anniston will have no problem letting anyone know if things aren’t up to her liking.
“I like him. He makes you happy.” Anniston announces.
“Good. I’m glad he passed your judgment.”
“He’ll receive my wrath if he does anything to hurt you.” she warns.
“Yeah, yeah.” I smile. “Hurry up with that cupcake.”
We walk into the living room and Rhys has Myra lifted in his arms, making out with her right in front of everyone. Cameron is not in the room. Where is he?
“What an idiot.” Anniston mutters.
Rhys glances at us and then lowers Myra to the floor. She giggles against his chest. I look around the room. Randall is kissing Thalia’s neck. Weston sits beside Celia, his hand on her thigh. He gives me an apologetic look and I smile. Weston seems a bit more subdued than Rhys and Randall. Maybe it’s because he seems a little shy. Quiet. Rhys and Randall could use a little shy and quiet.
I walk to the bedroom and find Cameron there. He’s on his phone and he doesn’t look happy. He motions for me to come inside.
“Jim, I don’t care what he wants. It’s our best defense and you know it. We’ll talk more about it Monday.” He hangs up and tucks his phone in his back pocket.
“I’m sorry I interrupted.”
“I think maybe I should tell Mark to announce when we have visitors coming unless we tell him we’re expecting someone.” he says. “Imagine if they’d came in earlier when I had you bent over the counter. That’s not something I want my cousin or my friends to see.”
I giggle against his lips. “I prefer that they don’t see that either.”
“Let’s go.”
We go back into the living room and Anniston is sitting in the chair, busying herself with her phone. Rhys and Myra have disappeared, most likely into the kitchen.
“I’ll get them.” Cameron says.
He disappears into the kitchen and I can hear muffled voices. It sounds like they’re arguing, but I don’t go and check. Whatever is being said between him and his cousin is between them. I just want to have a good time with my sister.
When they emerge, Cameron and Rhys both wear hard looks. Neither of them speak a word about whatever was said in the kitchen. Myra doesn’t say a word either. I don’t question what’s happened as we exit the apartment, but the tension is thick. I notice Anniston glaring at Rhys and Myra and I remind her to behave.
“As long as he does.” she mutters.
Great. It’ll be a long night.
Cameron
“What were you thinking? In my apartment?” I hiss once Memphis and Anniston have gone down to the dance floor.
“It won’t happen again.” Rhys assures me. “No worries.”
“It fucking better not. It’s time to grow up, Rhys.” I warn him.
“I know. I get it and I will.” he tells me. “I am. You know how hard it is. Dad can’t get over the fact that I took a year off before starting school. Now he’s breathing down my back because I have a 3.9 GPA and not a 4.0. Nothing’s ever fucking good enough for him.”
“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t a Morgan too.”
“At least you don’t look like one. I’m the spitting fucking image of my old man and I’m constantly reminded of that.”
“Where’d you meet Maria?” I ask, changing the subject, and he laughs.
“Myra.”
“Whatever.”
“She’s a volunteer at the hospital.” he grins. “Works right there with my father. She’s his favorite volunteer.”
“I bet she is.”
“Don’t judge. She helps me…with my daddy issues.”
I shake my head. I’m sure that’s not all she helps him with. I don’t lecture him though. I know I should, but I don’t have it in me. Rhys is so stubborn and bullheaded that it won’t do any good.
I look down at the dance floor and Memphis gazes up at me. Anniston dances beside her, her arms wrapped tightly around some stranger. I make my way down to join them and pull Memphis against me the moment I reach her.
“It’s going to be a long weekend.” she says in my ear.
I glance over at Anniston who is now making out with the stranger. I shake my head.
Monday morning comes a little too fast and I’m still a little hungover. I’ve learned one thing about Memphis’s sister. She’s a little wild and very outspoken. She also doesn’t like Rhys…at all. I wanted to tell them to screw and get it over with.
I take an aspirin before leaving for work and my headache has eased off by the time I’m headed into the conference room for my meeting. My irritable mood hasn’t changed though.
I look at Tanner Beasley as though he’s lost his mind. Jim shakes his head and leans back in his seat. I compose myself before opening my mouth to address him.
“Mr. Beasley, Harvey Taylor’s statement has holes all over it. He followed you to Ecstasy and he left in time to go to your home and attack your wife. We can put suspicion on him and off of you. He hasn’t been honest with us. That’ll be our best defense.”
“He was my wife’s closest friend.”
“Is it possible your wife was having an affair with Harvey Taylor?” I ask and I see the tears well in his eyes.
“I knew about it for a while.” he confesses. “I didn’t blame her though. There were things I needed that she couldn’t give me and there were things she needed too. A companion. Someone to talk to. I didn’t give her that. He did.”
“That’s motive, Mr. Beasley. Perhaps he tried to convince her to leave you and she refused. The two of you are the same height and size. You have the same color hair. It’s possible your neighbor’s could’ve confused him for you.” Jim explains.
“I can’t have you accusing an innocent man of murder!” he exclaims.
“What if he isn’t innocent? That’s up to the police to decide. You say you’re
innocent! That’s what we’re trying to prove here, Mr. Beasley. We prove that and let the police do their job with Mr. Taylor.”
I see his resolve starting to weaken. He doesn’t want to betray his wife by selling out her lover. Her companion. He also doesn’t want to go to jail for a crime he definitely didn’t commit. He was still in Ecstasy around the time of the murder. We honestly don’t need Harvey Taylor to prove that. But with eye witnesses stating they saw Mr. Beasley leaving the house with blood on his clothes, we don’t want to take any chances.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do.” he says, finally.
Jim and I work with Mr. Beasley on finalizing our best defense for him. We’ll throw suspicion to Harvey Taylor on the fact that he was Gloria Beasley’s lover, he was at Ecstasy the night of the murder, not at home sick and left with enough time to kill Mrs. Beasley. We’ll introduce his possible motive and we’ll show the jury that it’s possible the two of them could be confused for one another.
I exit the conference room, finally feeling better about this case. I walk into my office and see an IM from Memphis on my screen.
- Going home. Not feeling well. I’ll call you later.
I frown and check the time. It’s shortly after one o’clock. I decide to take my lunch and go check on her.
When I get to her apartment, I knock and wait for her to answer. After several minutes, I knock again. I turn the knob and curse when the door opens. I walk in and to her room. She’s curled up in her bed asleep.
“Memphis?” I whisper and put my hand on her forehead. She’s burning up.
Her skin is hot to touch, but she’s shivering despite being snuggled under her comforter.
“Memphis, you okay?” I ask and she mumbles. “You didn’t lock your door.” She opens her eyes and they’re bloodshot. Her lips look chapped and dry.
“Cameron, I’m sick. You shouldn’t be here.”
“You sure you didn’t just party too much with Anniston over the weekend?” I tease, cradling her against me. “Wow, you’re really hot.”
“I have a fever. Please, you’re going to get sick.”
“Do you want some soup or something?” I ask and ease her back down in the bed.
“Okay.”
I go into her kitchen and find a can of chicken noodle soup. I heat it up and
make her some toast too. I fix her a glass of water and bring it to her. I sit it on the nightstand beside her bed. I notice a thermometer sitting on it so I pick it up and ask her to check her temp. 102.1.
“I think you should see a doctor, Memphis. Your temp is really high.”
“I’ll be fine. Just need to sleep. My head will stop hurting if I sleep.” she
mutters.
“Who’s your doctor? Let me take you.”
“Don’t have one. Don’t have any insurance.” She coughs and it sounds like her chest rattles. She winces as though coughing hurts.
“Are you cold?”
“Yes.”
I go back to the living room and grab the blanket off the chair before returning to her room. I pull back her comforter and cover her with the blanket. I lift her in my arms and she snuggles against me.
“What are you doing, Cameron?”
“I’m taking care of you.”
Chapter 29
Memphis
I swallow the antibiotic and chase it with water. My last one. I’ve been on a full round of antibiotics for two weeks now. I felt better last week, but Cameron told me to take all of the medicine like the doctor prescribed. I don’t want to hear him fuss that I didn’t do what I was told. So I did what I was told. It sure has hell hasn’t stopped him from being all over me the moment I said I felt better. Not that I’ve complained. I haven’t.
“You know I’m feeling much better. I can certainly take care of myself.” I tell him as he walks into the kitchen.
“You were basically an invalid.” he smiles and kisses me.
“Was not.”
“You were so out of it you were talking in your sleep.” he says.
“I did not!”
“Oh Cameron, get the lube!” he jokes. “You know where I want it!”
“I did not say that!”
“Maybe…maybe not.” he grins, mischievously.
I follow him to the elevator and then to his car. I channel surf his radio on the way to work.
“I could get used to this.” he comments.
“What?”
“You riding with me to work. Being at my apartment in the mornings.”
His comment surprises me. I know things have been great between us and I’ve basically lived at his apartment the past two weeks, but I keep waiting on something to come along and ruin that. I’m not used to happiness lasting a long time. I’m certainly not used to happy endings.
“You have that look.” he says, breaking my thoughts.
“What look?”
“That look that says ‘okay, now which one of us is gonna fuck up?’ I get it.
Things are going good. One of us is bound to screw it all up. I assure you, it’ll be me.” “You seem to be doing pretty damn good so far. I think I’ll be the one to fuck
it up. I don’t come from a happy background, I’m a former stripper, and I’m pretty uneducated. As far as futures go, I don’t really have one. I don’t want to start my own business, get married, or have kids. I’m definitely the lesser of us two.”
“You don’t want kids?”
Did I say that? “I…um…no. No, I don’t think I want kids. Do you?”
“Hmm. I guess I’ve never really thought about if I actually wanted kids. I just assumed one day I’d get married and have kids.”
Wow. And I just said I didn’t want to get married or have kids. I should’ve known Cameron would want to get married and have kids one day. He has a family legacy to carry on. It’s probably expected of him.
“And what do you mean you’re uneducated. You’re smart, Memphis. Very smart. Don’t sell yourself short. You’re young and can do whatever you want. You’re not the lesser of us.”
“Sometimes I really don’t know how I got here. With you I mean.” I say and then wish I could take it back. I don’t want to say things like that to Cameron.
Sometimes I think he feels the way I do and other times, I think it’s just me.
“Well, I bought and paid for you first.” he winks. “And you liked it so much
that thirty days just wasn’t enough.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep.” he smiles.
“I think it was the other way around. You liked it so much that thirty days wasn’t enough for you.”
“Yep.”
Cameron
“Are you ready to go?” I ask as I walk up to Memphis’s desk.
“Did you get my IM?” she asks and I shake my head.
“I’ve been in meetings all day and I had court this afternoon.” I explain. “Everything okay?’
“I have to go home and pack an overnight bag. Your father wants me to accompany him to Vermont to meet with a client.”
My heart skips a beat at the familiarity of what she’s saying. My mind goes back to the conversation I had with Collette before she went on her trip to Vermont.
Your father wants us to go with him to Vermont. There’s a friend of his there he thinks I should meet. He says he can help me get into medical school.
I wasn’t able to go when she did. I had to take a later flight.
“Don’t go, Memphis.”
“What?”
“I don’t want you to go.” I tell her.
“Cameron, I have to go. This is my job.”
She stands and slips her purse over her shoulder. She comes around her desk and I put my hand at the small of her back as I lead her out. I’m quiet as I drive to her apartment. I do
n’t want my past to haunt our future, but it keeps coming to the forefront of my mind.
“What time is your flight?” I ask when walk through her door. She heads straight to her room and starts packing her suitcase.
“I have to meet your father at seven.”
“He’s going to make a pass at you, Memphis. He knows you were a stripper.” I blurt out.
She slowly zips up her suitcase. Her eyes are glassy. “He knows?”
“Yes. He’s known since before you started working for him. He’s slept with a girlfriend of mine before. He’s going to try it again.” I can hear the panic in my voice.
“Well, I can’t back out of going. He’s expecting me.”
“Just call and tell him you’re not feeling well. Make up an excuse. I don’t fucking care. Just don’t go with him.” I plead.
“I’m not going to do that, Cameron. I’m a big girl. I can handle your father.”
“You don’t know him like I know him!”
Memphis comes to stand in front of me and cups my face with her hands. She brushes her lips gently across mine.
“Do you trust me?” she asks.
“I don’t trust him!”
“I need you to trust me. I will not betray you, Cameron.” she states, her fingertips trembling as they trace my jawline. “I will not betray you because…I’m in love with you.”
I close my eyes at her admission. I close my eyes and lower my head to hers, resting my forehead on hers. I hear her uneven breathing. Her nervousness. I press my lips to her forehead and feel her relax. A little.
I unzip her skirt and push it to the floor. I back her to the bed and lift her as I climb onto it.
“Cameron…”
“Shh.”
“Cameron, I…”
“Shh…let me make love to the woman I love.”
We strip each other slowly, not worrying about what time she has to leave. Not worrying about our earlier conversation and the mistrust I have for my father. Not worrying that eventually one of us is going fuck this beautiful thing up. For now, we just want to take our time with each other.