Coming For What's Mine pt 2: The Politician (Law Boy's Series)

by Edwina Fort

  “Brothers, baby…these are my brothers.”

  I chuckled shaking my head. “Sooorrrryy…have fun with your brothers.”

  Before I left the house, he surprised me by pulling me close and taking my lips in a kiss my body had been feening for over the last week. Standing on my toes I wrapped my arms around his neck and moaned as I tried to deepen the kiss.

  But Mr. Tease only pulled back, making my moan turn into a growl. That’s okay, I let him go. But tonight, he was mine, just watch!

  After we left the cottage, I told Albert to run me back to the penthouse because I’d forgotten my notes. I didn’t fill him in on my plan because Albert was only loyal to me to a certain extent. His complete loyalty belonged to Jo, make no mistake about it. Had I told him what was going on in my head, I wouldn’t put it past him to send a warning text.

  When we got back to the penthouse Albert used his key to open the door. I could hear the men in Jo’s home gym. Albert went to the kitchen because I told him there was some blueberry muffins left over from what I made this morning, I continued down the hall.

  Without making myself known I looked in at the men. They were all dressed in cargo pants and wife beaters. Some of them wore gym shoes while others wore military boots, including Jo. They all had on their dog tags and sported the same tattoo in the same spot, which meant like Jo, they were all Navy SEALs.

  And what do you know. The cast was nowhere to be seen. For a moment I allowed myself to study him as he lifted weights and joked with his brothers. This is the real him. Jo is a warrior. He wore this more comfortably then any suit. When he was finished his set, he bent down and scooped up Ayana, who had been sitting in her little chair waiting on him. A big man with red hair and freckles walked up to her and tickled her.

  “What’s going on, scrubs?” Albert called walking around me with a muffin and a cup of coffee in his hands.

  When Jo looked up and saw me, the con-artist didn’t even miss a beat. He grinned holding up his free hand.

  “Look, baby, it’s a miracle!”

  I folded my arms across my chest as I stepped in the room. Albert held his head back and barked with laughter when he noticed Jo was wearing a pair of boots instead of the cast.

  The other men looked around puzzled, wondering what they were missing. So Albert being the wonderful story teller that he is, filled them in on what Jo had done.

  “Okay, I can explain.” He said approaching me with Ayana in his arms as the other men began to join Albert in laughter.

  I shook my head. “You ain’t got to explain. I knew you was faking.” His mouth dropped.

  “And you let me suffer this whole time, when you could have put me out my misery?”

  With my hands still folded across my chest, I took a step closer to him closing the gap between us. Then I lifted an eyebrow at him.

  “Ditto, playa…”

  The devilish sexy grin that appeared on his face let me know he had been torturing me on purpose.

  “There’s a method to my madness.” He whispered.

  “And what is that?”

  He winked. “I’ll tell you later. Come and meet the boys.”

  Jo introduced me to all eight of his brothers. Surprisingly, he was the only black man amongst them, but there was no racism between them. Whatever they had gone through had caused these men to form a bond that was unbreakable. They said only one was missing from their group, a female soldier named Nakhti.

  With them, Jo was free to be himself. He laughed and talked crap. And oh my goodness…they teased him so bad about the huge picture of me on his living room wall.

  Guess who led the charge. Mmmmhhhmm, you got it… Albert.

  And it didn’t help that PMZ aired Jo’s little interview the other day and that somebody uploaded it to YouTube, giving Albert even more fuel. Of course, he just had to play it for the fellas. Now he didn’t just press play on his phone. No, that wasn’t enough for Albert, he had to set it up on the big screen so that I could once again be embarrassed out of my mind.

  The producers of the show had spliced the interview in a way that threw major shade at Jo’s ex-fiancée and apparently, I was now famous. That kind of frightened me a bit, but Albert assured me that the public was fickle, and I would only be famous for a day.

  He pressed play on the video as the fellas settled down to watch. I eased down on the couch next to Jo.

  “So, do you guys remember when just last week the media was trying to get an engagement announcement to the lovely Ms. Chloe out of Jo Warren, as well as the announcement of him running for his father’s senate seat?” The host of PMZ asked his staff who all sat around the office waiting for the latest gossip.

  “Well, it appears as if Dusty found out why Mr. Warren has been so tight lipped.” The screen cut away from them to me killing it in that beautiful yellow dress trying to step away from Jo and the cameras and he taking my hand pulling me back close to him.

  Jo’s brothers-in-arms actually began to cheer at this point.

  Dusty asked Jo who I was and he looked at the camera and smiled like a man in love before he told them I was the woman he’d hoped to one day make his wife.

  Kurt, the soldier they all teased for being super short patted Jo on the back. “Good job, man.”

  The screen went back to PMZ’s office, they all wore shocked faces. One of the black girls on the show nodded her head enthusiastically. “Wow, she is the complete opposite of Chloe. He went and found him a real sista.” The host of the show and the other employees laughed and asked her what she meant by that.

  “You can just tell she is down to earth and proud of her culture. I like her. And if he runs for president, he definitely has my vote.”

  Jo leaned over on the couch and gently kissed me underneath my ear. “You’re good for business.” He whispered before he turned back toward the television. I bit my lip to try and tame the super cheesy grin that tried to take over my face.

  “But get this,” The host told his employees. “She turned him down.”

  All of their mouths dropped. “What do you mean she turned him down?” His co-host asked.

  The host smiled deviously. “I mean, he asked her to marry him and she turned him down.” He spaced the words out so that all the world could understand what he was saying clear as day.

  Another one of Jo’s brother’s hit his lap. “That explains the big a** picture. He’s begging.” This caused the rest of the men to chuckle.

  “I don’t believe you.” Another female employee said on the show. “There is no woman alive that would turn down a marriage proposal from Jo Warren.”

  The host chuckled. “Well, apparently he found the only one immune to his charms.” He said stealing Jo’s words. “Roll the clip.”

  The television cut away from their office back to us. Jo was ushering me through the restaurant door that was being held open by the doorman.

  “What do you mean?” Dusty asked.

  Jo turned to look back at him over his shoulder. “I mean, I asked her to marry me and she turned me down.”

  In the bottom of the screen, a photoshopped picture of Chloe appeared. She was cheering and clapping, glad about what Jo just said.

  “What are you going to do now?” Dusty called.

  “Keep asking till she says yes!” Jo called back over his shoulder. A big foot appeared next to Chloe, who was now crying hysterically to kick her off the screen. What made it so bad, they made the little doppelgänger of her scream as she flew across the screen.

  I held my head in my hand shaking it as Albert paused the video. Jo’s friends…I mean, his brothers all congratulated him.

  “It’s good to see you finally standing up to your old man.” Tad, the one they teased because of his buck teeth told him. They all nodded in agreement.

  “We thought you were going to end up dying miserable like him.”

  “Y’all can get off my boy. You know y’all whole generation is little weak.” Albert told them, picking right
back up from where he’d left off in his crap talking.

  He claimed Jo’s generation of soldiers was soft compared to his. And of course Jo and his brothers couldn’t take that sitting down. So they spent the rest of the night in a heated debate over which war was the worst, Vietnam or the war America has been fighting in the Middle East.

  And get this…At some point in the middle of this fierce debate, my mother called Albert’s phone. He looked down at it and smiled like a school girl before he hurried to the balcony and talked to her for a good while. Jo and his brothers teased him about that. They accused him of being curled up on the settee clutching the pillow close, pretending it was his Abby Cat.

  By the time all those men left, I had laughed so much my throat was raw. I still chuckled to myself as I cleaned up after everyone. When I was finished, I came out the kitchen to see Jo standing in front of his living room window staring out at the Potomac River.

  “Did you finally get her to sleep?” I asked, straightening the pillows on the couch.

  Our deal had been I clean and he try and get Ayana to sleep. All the activity of the evening had left her buzzing with way more energy that we liked to see at bedtime. When last I saw her, she was literally bouncing up and down on the couch singing her da-da song.

  He chuckled. “Yeah, I had to pretend to be asleep in the chair next to her bed.”

  I shook my head as my gaze fell on that ridiculous picture of me. I stood for a minute studying it. While his friends talked about him for being what they called p**** whipped, he’d just sat there grinning proudly.

  “You guys are just upset because I’ve found the kind of girl that helped me tap into my inner artist.”

  Alec, the redhead all his friends called the Scotsman shook his head. “No, buddy, you found the kind of girl that helped you tap into your inner Norman Bates.”

  He turned to look at me. “Listen to me, lass, if you come to a man’s pad and you see something like this on the wall, kindly excuse yourself to the bathroom and then call the cops and tell them if anything happens to you, to check his freezer.”

  That had caused all the rest of the men to erupt with laughter. And so it went, one after the other they talked about him shamelessly.

  Now I stood shaking my head, something had to be done about this thing.

  “Jo, what is it going to take to get rid of this picture?”

  “Marrying me.”

  I jumped because I hadn’t heard him come up behind me. As I turned to face him he was going down to one knee. In his hand he held that box he’d shown me the night of his party. When he opened it, the huge ruby winked at me.

  “Oh My God!” I felt like my heart was getting ready to beat out of my chest. I put my hand over it. I think I was going to have a heart attack!

  “If you marry me, I will get rid of the picture.” His voice shook as if he was extremely nervous.

  Tears came to my eyes as my mouth opened, but I was such an emotional wreck no words came out, all I could do was nod my head.

  “Yeah?” He asked, not sure he saw correctly.

  “Yes!” I cried as I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Yes!”

  He stood lifting me off my feet as he held me close.

  “Thank you, baby. Thank you so much.”

  He put me back on my feet so that he could put the ring on my finger, but my hand shook so bad he had to hold it still long enough to get it on.

  The ring was so beautiful, like the necklace he had bought, it was a rose gold band designed to be a flower. And just like the necklace, there were small diamonds on the leaves that looked like rain drops.

  “It’s so beautiful.”

  “Not as beautiful as you.” He whispered before he was kissing me.

  And not those teasing kisses of the last few days, he was kissing me in a way that fed my need, and my need was strong. He was kissing me in a way that let me know the past few days had affected him as well.

  “Jo…I need you!” I moaned, reaching for his shirt pulling at it, not caring that I seemed desperate.

  “Damn!” He growled as he stepped back enough to rip it over his head.

  His back muscles flexed under my hands as he lifted me pressing my body against the painting. My legs wrapped around his waist as he snatched my shirt over my head. With hands as desperate as mine he pulled my bra down until my breasts popped out.

  “I’ve missed your pretty breasts.” He whispered.

  I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming when his strong arms flexed as he lifted me even higher until my sensitive tips were level with his hungry mouth. My nails scraped across his back as he feasted on me.

  Then I felt his hand under my skirt ripping my panties. Seconds later he was filling me. I couldn’t hold back my cries; they filled the living room to mingle with his heavy breathing, making beautiful music to my ears.

  “I told myself I would not make love to you again until you agreed to be my wife.” He whispered in my ear as he drove into me.

  I screamed out as my world exploded violently, snatching my breath away. He carried me to the couch where he continued to make love to me until he caused my world to shatter again.

  Oh, how I’ve missed this. This man made love like his alter ego destroyed…utterly.

  By the time he found his release, my entire universe had shattered three times. I felt depleted of everything I had left, so much so, I didn’t protest when he stripped away the rest of my clothes and carried me to our bathroom where he ran us a hot bath.

  I relaxed back against him as the warm bubbles rose around us, happier than I’ve ever been in my life. Holding my hand up I took in my ring. Gently he traced it with his finger.

  “It’s so beautiful.” I told him, if I wasn’t so drained I’d be crying right now.

  “I wasn’t lying, I’ve carried this around with me ever since I gave you the necklace.”

  “Why didn’t you propose before now?”

  He chuckled. “I was afraid you would say no.”

  I lifted my head and turned in his arms. “What?”

  He nodded. “See, I’m not as cocky as you accuse me of being. Even I doubt myself sometimes.”

  I ran my hands gently through his beard before I leaned in and kissed his lips. “You don’t ever have to doubt when it comes to me.”

  A sexy grin came to his face. “Dare I hope that you are finally going to say the three words my heart longs to hear?”

  I bit my lip trying to tame my smile. “Maybe.”

  A look of false hurt came upon his face that was so cute I held back my head and laughed. When my laughter died, I kissed his lips again.

  “If tomorrow I wake up and this is not a dream, I will tell you that I love you. And not only that, I’ll tell you just how much I love you. But something tells me this is too good to be true and that I’m going to wake up and you’re not going to be there.”

  He gently moved the locs that had fallen in my face behind my ears. “I’m going to be here tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that for the rest of our lives. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  Joseph

  The sound of my phone dinging woke me. That was a special ring that only meant one thing. My father had gotten into trouble and now emergency damage control was needed. I eased from underneath Journey. There were still a couple of hours until the sun came up and I was careful not to wake her.

  My business phone was in the room next door that I had temporarily made my bedroom. Quietly, I slipped on my pants and left out gently pulling the door closed behind me. My phone stopped dinging for just as second, only to start right back.

  F***

  That meant something really bad was happening. I frowned down at the number. It was my father’s assistant.

  “Tim, why are you calling me so damn early in the morning?” I growled into the phone, not even pretending to be civil.

  “Mr. Warren, you have to come quickly. Your father has locked himself in his o
ffice with a gun. Your mother is afraid his going to do something to hurt himself.”

  I was already moving to get dressed. I could hear my mother in the background screaming for my father to come out of his office.

  “I’m on my way.” I said hanging up the phone to slide my feet in my boots.

  Damn it!

  Damn it!

  Leave it to my father to pull some sh*t like this…

  As I grabbed my keys and headed out the door, I dialed his number.

  You bastard! You better not kill yourself!

  Chapter Eighteen

  In the Blink of an Eye

  Journey

  I woke up the next morning alone.

  For a half second, I lay there and thought about that. And I guess I can say that was the first clue as to how my day was going to go, that and the fact that something was not right with me.

  However, I was only allowed that half a second to ponder over it because I could hear Ayana talking to herself in her bed. Groggily, I used the bathroom and did my morning rituals before she started demanding my immediate attention.

  “Jo.” I called when I left out of the bedroom to head to the nursery. Outside of Ayana’s babbling the house was completely quiet.

  “Hmmm.” He must have had to run out for something.

  “I guess it’s just me and you, baby girl.” I told her as I prepared a bath for her.

  There was something off about me this morning, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Speaking of fingers, I took in my engagement ring.

  “Your daddy asked your mama to marry him last night.” I told Ayana as I got her dressed.

  She fingered my ring before she tried to bring it to her mouth. “No, sweetheart, you can’t eat that. Come, I will make you some breakfast.”

  I picked her up putting her on my hip and had to clutch my stomach as a slight cramp shot through it.

  Uh-oh! That explained that off feeling. My period was coming. It would pick to come now after not showing its face for three months.

  As I stirred my daughter’s oatmeal, a thought came to me. The last time I felt like this, I had been pregnant with Ayana and didn’t know it, then right behind that, another thought came.