I let my eyes roam from the windows to the bed at the far end of the open space where my laptop sat on top of the comforter and decided to check my email, because Damon would sometimes send one instead of calling or texting. When I saw there was no email, I breathed a sigh of relief. He would’ve contacted me by now. He must be coming home on time.
I shook my head at the fact that my damn moods depended on his arrival time. I really needed to get myself together, but hell, I loved the man.
Mindlessly perusing my inbox, I damn near fell from my perch on the bed when I saw Travis’s name.
What the hell?
I let my hand hover over the screen of the laptop before tapping the line that held his email.
Hey, Nicky,
I don’t have your new phone number, and I’m sure that’s by design, but I need to talk to you. I’d like to apologize, and it would be nice to hear your voice. My number hasn’t changed. Please call me when you get a chance.
Travis
I stared at the email for ten minutes, and then for some insane, arbitrary, stupid-ass reason, lifted from the bed to grab my phone.
*****
“Hello?” He sounded uncertain, probably wondered who was calling him from a blocked number.
“What do you want to apologize for? Trying to marry me into screwing your father?” was my response.
“Uh…that wasn’t my plan; it was his,” Travis replied, sounding a little taken aback, but how’d he think this would go? Surely he wasn’t expecting a little benign, pleasant chit-chat.
“A plan your ass was going along with.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Well, I sure as hell didn’t hear you denying it at Dukas.”
He sighed into the phone. “I’m not good at directly defying my father, but I would never have let him touch you, Nicky.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t blame you for being skeptical. But I do care about you. I wouldn’t have let it get that far.”
“Get that far? What the hell does that mean? How far would you have let it get? To him touching me? Almost, but not quite, screwing me? I mean, was I gonna have to cut off his hand or his dick? Huh?!”
“What I meant—I wouldn’t have let him come near you, Nicky.” He was whining. He was actually whining into the phone.
“Your father is a disgusting, nasty, old-ass predator. And you’re not much better than him. He said he chose me for you like I was a damn puppy or something, and you let him.
“He approved you. There’s a difference.”
“You mother—”
“He got arrested last night. My mother bailed him out this morning.”
My eyes almost popped out of my head. “What?! Who’d he molest?”
“He didn’t molest anyone. He got caught in his car with his mistress’s head in his lap, and there was marijuana in the car.”
“What?!”
“It’s in all the papers and online. He’s a federal judge, so it’s big news. Embarrassingly big news.”
I thought back to when Travis was worried about my way of dressing embarrassing him. I bet he wished that was the only thing he had to worry about now.
“Guess I just made your day, huh?” he asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“Well, I’m not planning on popping any corks, but I won’t be losing any sleep over it, either.”
“Yeah, well, the only good thing to come out of this is his mistress was arrested, too. He’s been seeing that woman for years, since I was a baby. He has a son with her. I hate her…”
I rolled my eyes, finding it hard to conjure up an ounce of sympathy for him and his family drama. “I bet you do.”
“But nothing will come of this. He’ll probably bury it under a rug and be back at it with her soon. I hope he loses his job…”
“Uh, yeah.”
Silence.
“Um, Travis, I should probably go now…”
“Damon’s on his way home?” It was more of a statement than a question.
I held the phone.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t have called me if he was with you right now. He’s, uh...very territorial with you. I can tell.”
“He loves me.”
“And you love him?”
Fuck it. Why lie? “Yes, I do. Have for a long time.”
“Are you happy?”
I hesitated. Was I happy? Finally, I said, “Yes, I am.”
“Good.”
More silence.
“Um, I guess…bye, Nicky. Thanks for calling. It was good to hear your voice.”
“Bye, Travis.”
I pulled the phone from my ear and kind of just stared into space, trying to process my conversation with Travis. When a text from Damon came through, it startled me.
It read: Get ready.
Included in the text was a YouTube link that I quickly clicked on. My ass was grinning from ear to ear when OTW by DJ Luke Nasty began to play. I hopped my butt up from that bed and raced into the shower.
“Damn, baby!” Damon moaned.
I smiled. “I know, right? It’s good, huh? Got the recipe from Pinterest. Who knew I could cook?”
“Shit, I have no doubt you can do anything you put your mind to. That brain of yours is incredible.”
I loved when he said stuff like that, but never really knew how to respond to it, so I took another bite of my maple salmon, and said, “I really did cook the shit out of this, didn’t I?”
Damon grinned. “Yeah, Nick, you did.”
We were at the small kitchen table half-naked, enjoying dinner together, both sated from some bomb-ass sex.
“I can’t believe your scared-to-drive ass went grocery shopping, though,” Damon quipped.
“Oh, I had them delivered before Onika picked me up. I ain’t driving in this traffic out here.”
He chuckled and pointed his fork at me. “I almost forgot. Aunt Monda got arrested last night. Theo had to wire some money to bail her out.”
My eyes widened. “What?! Is she selling weed again or something? I thought she stopped doing that years ago.”
He shook his head. “No, get this, she was arrested for public sex or some shit like that, plus possession of a controlled substance.”
I damn near dropped my fork, but didn’t say a word.
“And guess who she got arrested with?”
Not—
“H-who?”
“Judge McClure.”
I still couldn’t speak. Hell, I didn’t want to give away the fact that I already knew about his arrest or how I’d come across the information. I’d be damned if I told Damon I’d called Travis. Hell, no!
With raised eyebrows, he said, “Crazy, right?”
I nodded. “That really is crazy.”
“Man, Theo was so pissed, he started talking all over himself, told me the judge is his dad. I think he hates him more than you do.”
“Theo is Travis’s brother?” That fact was mind-boggling to me. Could they be any more different?
Damon nodded as he forked up more salmon. “Yeah, ain’t that some shit?”
That truly was some shit.
Damn!
34
Something was off.
Nicky had been too quiet lately, reserved even.
Nicky Strickland—reserved.
Hell, if we weren’t still having sex virtually every second we were together, I’d be in a panic. We’d been in LA for nearly two months and were getting ready to return to Romey for the first time since the move, because Renee’s baby was due in a week or so. I had to figure out what was going on before we left. I didn’t want Nicky to get to Romey and decide she wanted to stay. We were going to have one hell of a fight if she did, because that shit was not happening.
I finally decided to come on out and ask her what was going on after she showed her ass at Karyn McNooner’s birthday party, a party packed with celebrities. I thought Nicky would be thrilled about being there, since she love
d clubbing and celebrity-watching. But instead, she stayed in her seat the whole night sulking, didn’t dance, and rolled her eyes every time they landed on Karyn. She kept mumbling stuff under her breath, and when different people—famous people—came to me, congratulating me on the monster success of both Foreign Son and Nick and Dame, she would smirk or roll her eyes dramatically. Now, that shit hurt my feelings. Nick and Dame was for her. In my mind, it was more of a love letter than anything, a chronicling of the most important relationship in my life, and there she sat, acting like it didn’t mean anything to her.
We ended up leaving early, and once in the car outside the club, I asked, “The hell is wrong with your ass tonight?”
She rolled her eyes a-damn-gain.
“Keep rolling them motherfuckers and I swear…”
There she went smirking once again. “You swear what? You ain’t gon’ do shit but screw me. That’s all you do with me anyway!”
I turned in my seat to fully face this lunatic I was hopelessly in love with. “And that’s a problem? Since when?”
“No, Damon, you’re a problem!”
“What the hell does that mean?!”
“It means you’re never-the-hell home! All you do is work, and when you’re not working, you’re dragging me to some bullshit-ass party or something! And are you fucking Karyn McNooner? I can tell she likes you.”
“Nick, are you on crack? What kind of shit is that to ask me?”
“Are you?!”
My mouth hung open for a second. “Hell-no I’m not fucking her! Have you lost your mind?! She’s my boss and a mentor. Got-damn, Nick! Really? I mean, even if she does like me, that means I gotta be fucking her? Like my ass is brainless or something? A damn pussy drone? Shit, how many niggas want you? Are you screwing them?”
“No.”
“Exactly. And believe me, I got more than I can handle with just you.”
“Then why are you always working and stuff? You’re barely ever home!”
“For the same reason I worked all the time back in Romey. For you! The job, moving out here? All of that is for you! I’m tryna take care of your ass!”
I could tell she’d been prepared to shoot something back at me, but wasn’t expecting me to say what I said, so she closed her mouth, frowned, and softly said, “W-what?”
I nodded. “Yeah, crazy-ass woman, I took this job and have been working my ass off for you! Hell, you know I don’t like working real jobs, but I know how you grew up and I realize you picked Paul Robinette because of his money. I’m trying to give you what you want. Damn!”
Nicky’s back fell against the passenger’s seat of my car. “Damon…I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted you to be rich or something…”
I shook my head. “No, you didn’t just give me the impression, you said you wanted a man with money. You told me that years ago. Then you admitted that’s why you were with old dude you were gonna marry.”
“You just refuse to say his name, don’t you?”
“Yep.”
She shook her head and turned to face me again. “Look, Damon, I-I just want you. I don’t care if you don’t have a damn penny to your name. I couldn’t care less about how many commas and zeros are in your bank account. Not anymore. I just want you, Damon. I-I miss you.” I watched the first tear trickle down her cheek.
I reached over and wiped her face. “You don’t like the gifts? The apartment? None of it.”
“The apartment? That was for me, too?”
“Who else? You know I don’t care about shit like that.”
She was on me in seconds flat, hugging me tightly across the center console. “Oh, Damon! You were just—”
“Trying to make you happy, Nick. That’s all,” I said, as I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her.
“But you were already doing that. Just being with you makes me happy. Don’t get me wrong, I love the gifts, like really, really love them, but I need more of you. I’m not saying you have to quit your job, because I can tell you actually like it.”
“I really do, baby.”
“Yeah, I don’t think you’d spend that much time there if you hated it, even for me. So I want you to keep working there, because I want you to do what makes you happy, but can you stop working late? And can we go to fewer parties and let it just be us together at home more often?” She released me and looked me in the eye.
I nodded. “Yeah, baby. Anything you want. If it’ll mean I get my Nick back, I’ll do anything.”
She smiled widely and kissed me before settling in her seat again.
“Is that it? Anything else bothering you?” I asked.
Her smile faltered, and her gaze shifted to the windshield. “No.”
“You’re lying. Just tell me.”
She shook her head. “Nothing else is wrong.”
“Nick, you know I can see through your ass.”
“Fine.” She faced me again. “What do you see in our future?”
I shrugged. “More of this, us being together, having kids when you’re ready, traveling, just being happy.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
“You don’t want that?”
“Yes, but…”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Nick, what is it? Is there something more you want? Did I answer wrong?”
“Let’s just go, Damon.”
“No, tell me—”
“WHY DON’T YOU WANT TO MARRY ME?!”
I jumped at the volume of her voice, but kept my cool as I said, “Is that all?”
“Is that all? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Theo’s sorry ass already gave Onika a ring! What’re you waiting for?!”
“Theo is also a serial cheater. Not a good comparison, Nick.”
She closed her eyes and turned from me. “You’re avoiding my question. So that must mean you don’t wanna marry me.”
“How’d you come to that conclusion? I mean, that’s a stretch, Nick.”
“Well, do you?!”
I sighed. “Nick—”
“Don’t Nick me! Answer me!”
“You know what? Fuck it!” I opened the glove compartment, reached inside, and pulled out the small black box. Her eyes blew the hell up when she saw it.
“I was tryna wait until we got back to Romey so I could do this in front of your family, but your impatient ass just fucked that up.”
“Dame, I—”
“No, be quiet and listen. Nick, you are jealous as hell—”
“I’m jealous, because I know I don’t deserve you and—”
“Nick, didn’t I just tell you to be quiet and listen?”
“My bad. Continue.”
“You’re jealous, bossy, too impulsive, downright mean sometimes, crazy most times, beautiful, sexy, smart, and I love all of that about you. I love that we’ve got this history between us and that our love is so volatile and unconventional. I love that we were friends before we were lovers. I love that you let your walls down and gave me a second chance, a real chance to be your man. But most of all, I love how you love me and have always taken care of me. I’ve been working like a mad man to provide for you, because I’ve always felt like our relationship was lopsided. I always felt like you gave me more than I gave you.”
She shook her head as tears raced down her cheeks. “That’s not true. You were my only friend, Dame. You listened to the stupid stuff I’d tell you back when I thought I was so smart. You were my escape, the way I coped when my doting father started being an absent one. You loved me unconditionally. And even now, you love me like no one else. You don’t hold my past against me. You’ve never used it as leverage in an argument when I know I would’ve. You accepted me even after the Travis bullshit and I know I hurt you—”
“I was speaking, Nick. How many times I gotta tell you to be quiet?” She was about to make me cry, and I wasn’t trying to go out like that.
“Okay, I’m sorry,” she almost whispered. “Go ah
ead.”
“You cared about me when I was unattractive as hell—”
“No, you weren’t—”
“Nick, damn! Let me finish!”
“Okay! Shit! You ain’t gotta yell!”
I blew out a breath. “Man…I’m nervous as hell over here.”
She reached over and traced the scar on my forehead with her thumb. “Why? We’re just us. Nick and Dame.”
I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the fact that her messing with my scar was turning me on and breaking my concentration. “I know…”
“Then just ask me, baby.”
Opening my eyes and fixing them on her, I thought, screw it. “Will you marry me, Nick?”
“Hell, yes. Right now. Today. Yesterday. Last year. Tomorrow. Yes, I will marry your fine ass!”
My chest swelled up as I grabbed her at the back of the neck and stuck my tongue down her throat. By then, my ass was crying, but I didn’t care. After all those years of wanting her, she was going to be mine—legally and spiritually.
I ended the kiss, opened the box, and slid the ring on her finger, grinning as she stared down at it with her mouth hung open.
“Damon! It’s beautiful!”
Before I could respond, her mouth was on mine, and we kissed so long and savagely, I almost passed the hell out. When I finally backed away from her, we were both breathing hard. “Get that Wonder Woman costume ready, baby. And call your mom to reserve True Vine. We’re doing this as soon as we get to Romey,” I said.
“Nope.” She shook her head.
Aw, hell. “What? Nick, I’m not waiting to plan some big wedding. Screw that. We gotta do this as soon as we can. I’ve waited long enough.”
“Can I speak now?”
I nodded, hoping she wasn’t on some bullshit.
“First of all, you’ve got to stop holding me to stuff I said as a kid. I like Wonder Woman and all—less now, because I hated that new movie—but I’m not getting married in a costume. I’m too grown for that now. Second, I’m not waiting until we go to Romey to get married. You’re taking my pregnant ass to the courthouse in the morning. Call McNooner and tell her you need a few days off, because after we leave the courthouse, I’ma close you up in that apartment and screw you until my coochie locks up multiple times.”
Be with Me (Strickland Sisters Book 3) Page 22