Scandalous Heroes Box Set

by Latrivia Nelson

  Her mother continued. “You realize that your life is here. You don’t need to go out and experience anything. Just like with the wine festival, people will come here to you. Why bother roaming around anywhere?”

  Eminence nodded, but inside she started to feel differently about the path she’d been traveling. “I know what you mean.” She took a deep breath. “But in order for me to move forward, don’t you think I need to take some risks?”

  “Like what?”

  “My work has a supervisor job open.”

  Eminence heard her mother clapping on the other end of the phone.

  “That’s wonderful! Are you going to put in for it?”

  Eminence smiled. “I don’t know.”

  “Oh, I think you should. You’ve worked there long enough. They have to recognize your talent. I’d say go for it.”

  Eminence’s heart started to pound. “It’s good to hear you say that. The job is in Maryland.”

  Silence.

  Eminence took a couple of steps toward the bathroom.

  “Your job here is great, right?” Caryl asked.

  “Of course. I love my work at Pyle.” Eminence leaned against the wall closest to the bathroom.

  “Maybe then you can just wait until a supervisor job opens in the office you’re in. No need to do something hasty and run off to Maryland. That’s just crazy. No.” Caryl probably shook her head right about now. “You need to stay here. I’m here, and you know I need you.”

  Eminence gripped her stomach.

  “And Les is here.”

  “I don’t think Les is really the one for me.” Eminence shook her head.

  “Why? Because he doesn’t drive some fancy car or have millions in the bank? Not everyone can live the life of a romance novel. Relationships take work. If you feel there’s something wrong, fix it. See a counselor.”

  Eminence didn’t mean to laugh but it came out of her mouth. “A counselor? We’ve only had four dates. If he goes with me to this club opening, it will be date number five. I think it’s too early to call this a relationship or to invest money to save this relationship.”

  “Don’t quit. Don’t give up. He’s stable and kind and you know he’ll come home every night. Those are good qualities in a man.”

  Eminence knew where Caryl came from in her speech. Her heartbeat slowed as she digested her mother’s words.

  “Promise me you won’t put in for that job.”

  Eminence couldn’t speak. If asked about the job days ago and her potential of moving away, Eminence would have sounded just like her mother. Knowing that she’d picked up the same fears her mother had been harboring for years let her know that she couldn’t end up her mother’s life, scared and alone and bitter.

  “I can’t make that promise, Mom.” Eminence shook her head. She pressed her back against the wall when her stomach started to settle. “You said so yourself. I have the potential. I could do the job. Geography shouldn’t make a difference.”

  “But—”

  Eminence cut off her mother. “And I’m going to that club opening.”

  Caryl gasped, evident through the phone.

  “If I’m going to move forward, I have to put a period on the past.” Eminence would leave out the fact that she saw Keys, and that she longed to clear the air with him as well. Her mother would drive over to Eminence’s apartment to shake some sense into her.

  “I’m coming over there.”

  Eminence called it. She knew her mother would want to talk to her face-to-face.

  “It’s late. We can talk tomorrow.” Feeling a bit at ease, Eminence walked back to her dining room table to get the remains of her dinner.

  “At least promise me that you won’t put in for that job until we talk.” Desperation coated every word Caryl spoke. When Eminence didn’t answer right away, her mother filled in the silence. “Please. Please at least promise me that.”

  As she exhaled, Eminence said, “Okay. I’ll talk to you before I apply, if I even apply. I just don’t want to cut off my potential.”

  “I don’t want you to, either, dear.” The lightness returned to her mother’s voice.

  Had Eminence been a betting woman, she suspected that her mother thought she won this battle. Maybe she had. Eminence pretty much had herself convinced to not put in for this new position. Based on the conversation with her mother, now she didn’t know if she should go that route. Did she want to hold onto the past so much that she couldn’t move forward? Did she want to be stuck?

  After disconnecting the call from her mother, Eminence knew the next call she had to make.

  As soon as Les answered, Eminence didn’t give him an opportunity to speak. “I’m going to that club opening this Friday.” She thought that if she sounded confident that Les would fold.

  “Okay.”

  Eminence waited to hear what else he would say. When he remained mute, she pressed forward for clarification. “Does that mean you’re going with me?”

  “No.”

  She blinked. Les’s response jarred her. She hadn’t expected Les the Librarian to turn her down.

  “I want to get to bed early and not come home smelling like cigarette smoke and alcohol. Besides, the scene is not my thing.” He cleared his throat as though implying that maybe Eminence should consider her actions as well. “If you would like to go, then I won’t stop you.”

  Eminence chuckled. A man she had four dates with and never had sex with him thought he had enough power over her to make her decisions. “Uh, thanks. I could have used the support but I see you’re not willing to be there for me.”

  “Support? Are you planning on drinking yourself into a stupor?”

  In Les’s defense, Eminence hadn’t shared with him about her past with Jordyna and Keys. She just thought since she attended his event that he would have returned the favor.

  “Goodnight, Les. I’ll talk to you later.”

  Eminence now had to figure out what she would do if she saw her former friend again. She had ruined that opportunity with Keys when she saw him. She would have to assert herself more with Jordie. The hell she would remain stuck.

  Chapter Five

  Damn. Friday night, and Eminence found herself standing in line at a club. Had time just shifted back about fourteen years ago? She couldn’t complain. She had professed to Les and her mother that coming to Jordie’s club would be a good thing. Something positive had to come out of this experience.

  Since she hadn’t been brave enough at work to apply for that supervisor job – not just yet – she figured coming to a club alone might jumpstart her nerve. Eminence found no pride in the fact that she’d been ducking Mr. McCluskey over the past week. Whenever she heard that he roamed her floor, she ducked into the bathroom to redo her makeup or chit chat with the ladies using the facilities. That act got a little awkward when the women went into the stalls. Eminence just couldn’t chance talking to the man about her future at the company when she didn’t know what she wanted.

  The conversation she’d had with her mother didn’t help. Guilt riddled her whenever she thought about putting in for a job that would have her abandoning her mother. Caryl had boiled down the concept in that way. Not that Eminence could be furthering her career, it would be that with the promotion, Eminence would be leaving her mother alone. Eminence couldn’t cause that type of pain to her mother again. Her father had already done a number on her mother’s head.

  Eminence shifted her weight from one foot to the other to relieve some of the pressure. She had herself to blame for her sore feet. In her spiky heels and short skirt, she wore just the right outfit to make someone envious or jealous, or hopefully both.

  It didn’t escape her attention that as she dressed, she thought of Keys the entire time. When she contemplated putting on a jumpsuit, she thought about what Keys would have liked. Back then, he used to tell her he loved her legs. For that reason, she’d changed into a short skirt and added the heels. She’d slathered the reddest shade of lipstick on
her lips and imagined Keys admiring them. Eminence even squirted a little more perfume behind her knees and behind her ears as images of Keys kissing and licking those spots filled her head.

  At one point while Eminence dressed to go out, her imagination took over her reality and she had to take matters into her own hands. Seeing Keys brought back too many memories. She reached for her trusty vibrator and gave herself a needed orgasm before her outing.

  She didn’t think about Les at all as she plunged the vibrator in and out of her greedy vagina. Eminence pictured his piercing blue eyes, the corded muscles down his arms, his big hands, and those strong thighs. She remembered back in the day that even when they didn’t have sex, Keys had a way of making her feel special and sensual all at the same time.

  Whenever he talked to her, Keys kept his full attention on her. The stare caused Eminence’s flesh burn with desire. He hadn’t touched any of her intimate spots. Hell, he hadn’t even kissed her. With that one, small act, Keys had her.

  As she masturbated now and thought about everything Keys had done to her and with her, it didn’t take Eminence long to climax. To calm herself back down and to erase any scent of her wanton behavior, she took another shower, a much cooler one this time.

  A clearing throat and a brush against her shoulder snagged her attention. Eminence turned to see a scrawny man standing behind her. A stiff wind could have blown him over.

  Men should be substantial like Stonehenge. A strong, sturdy man like that, a woman could lean on, rely on, feel protected and safe.

  As much as she didn’t want to, she loved that Keys swooped in the other night and helped her at the store. He had grown up to be a gentleman. Too bad he couldn’t be that way all the time back in high school. In the meantime, Eminence had slivers of guys like this pressing against her.

  At eleven at night, it didn’t make sense for this dude to be sporting sunglasses, but he rocked them along with his Mr. T starter kit worth of gold chains around his neck. His dark skin had to be the only thing remotely appealing about the man. His mouth full of gold-covered teeth didn’t interest her. She smiled just to be polite.

  “You look good in that outfit.” He snaked his tongue over his lips.

  Eminence’s stomach churned at the sight. Before she responded to his compliment, she noticed a woman standing next to the man.

  “Maybe you should compliment your date.” Eminence nodded toward the woman who carried a scowl on her face that looked like she had been born with the expression. To give him an example of what she wanted him to do, Eminence scanned the woman’s outfit. After observing the woman’s sky-high, architecturally impossible hair, to her transparent blouse with an unfortunate sight behind it, to her too-tight pleather skirt, the date’s shoes had the most attraction. “Cute shoes. Louboutin?”

  “What does it matter to you?” She sucked her teeth. “Just turn your happy ass around and stop hitting on my man.”

  Eminence wanted to tell the woman that no one wanted her rat-faced troll, but she, instead, kept quiet and returned her attention to the line in front of her. A woman of her age and standing should not be fighting while waiting in line at a brand, new club, especially when she had the lure of securing a better job...if she really wanted to go for it. Eminence still hadn’t decided.

  Going out to this club opening would help her settle on a couple of things: did she really want to be in a relationship with Les Hill, and could she face a person she hadn’t seen or talked to in years?

  Part of that query had come to her suddenly in the form of her former boyfriend, Keys Tanksley. She hadn’t expected to see him in the store earlier that week. She couldn’t deny that she didn’t love the sight, evident from her self-loving act at home.

  She still remembered how her body reacted as soon as she saw him defending her from that jerk. Her nipples had hardened right away. She felt her clit throbbing. As soon as she touched his hand when he handed her back her license, an electric jolt shot up her arm and exploded in her head. No denying it. Keys still held that magic that could always get to her.

  She shouldn’t be thinking about him. She had a possible promotion to think about. She had a quasi-boyfriend on the side. She had a possible confrontation with a woman she had considered to be her best friend years ago.

  What or who she really needed to support her decided to keep himself at home. Les had politely declined Eminence’s third offer to come out to the club. “Don’t you want to curl up with a good book instead?” he’d asked her.

  A good book. Les hadn’t even offered up himself as a lure for her to stay at home. Then again, she would have been home alone. Les didn’t think it would be wise in their brief relationship to exchange home keys.

  Eminence didn’t have a problem with that decision. She liked her privacy. It would have been nice to be able to spend the night at his place or have him stay at her home once in a while. If that happened, it might lead to breaking another one of his rules: no sex.

  She should have found his desire to keep their relationship to a PG rating endearing. Les would kiss her, but he wouldn’t even touch her breasts over her clothes.

  “Heavy petting leads to more.” Les had sounded like a school teacher rather than a man in his early thirties.

  The fact that her sweet, cherubic-faced partner treated her so gentlemanly should have comforted her. As soon as Eminence hit puberty, guys had been hitting on her constantly. The idiot in the line tonight proved her point.

  She needed to be grounded right now. Taking her cell phone out of her tiny purse, she hit one key to dial Les.

  After she heard a lot of clicking and fumbling through the phone, Eminence heard a very sleepy, “Hello?”

  She glanced at her watch. Who, except for old people, goes to bed before ten?

  “Hey, honey,” Eminence said, smiling so that her happiness, real or not, translated both through the phone and to the two creeps behind her.

  “Les, please.” He sniffed.

  Eminence gritted her teeth. Aside from his insistence that she never use terms of endearments when talking to him, she knew what would quickly follow his standard sniffling.

  Immediately Les made a low grunting noise that emanated from the base of his throat and continued the pig-like sound for a solid thirty seconds. Of course he’d never made the noise the first couple of weeks while they dated.

  “Just calling to let you know I’m still standing in line.” She shifted her weight from left to right before taking a couple of steps forward.

  “You called me at—” More shuffling. “—ten after nine to tell me what I already knew? You know I have to go to work at ten tomorrow morning, right?”

  Eminence counted down from ten in her head before she continued. “I needed to hear a kind voice right now. Just needed a little support.”

  A long sigh sounded through the phone. “You know you have my support. I just don’t understand why you need to attend this club opening. You’re no longer twenty-one. You have a great job now. You don’t need to change anything.”

  Why did it seem like Les and Eminence’s mother had talked? Eminence cleared her throat. The dig at her age didn’t bother her as much as his conclusion that she needed to stay in her same rut without challenging herself.

  Les continued talking without acknowledging her. “No need to rock the boat. You should be happy to have what you’ve got.”

  Eminence felt her eyebrows draw together. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Les chuckled. “It’s not like you graduated at the top of your class.”

  “Cum Laude is not bad.” Considering she worked three jobs at the time she graduated made her proud to be a Cum Laude graduate.

  “And you make a good living now. Don’t be reckless. Just go home. We can see each other at church on Sunday.”

  So much for support. “Oh, look. The line is moving. Go back to sleep, bab—uh, Les. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  “Lunch. I get a break at lunch and I can talk
to you then.”

  This time she sighed. “Okay. Talk to you later.”

  “Stay special.” Les disconnected the call before Eminence could come back with her own sweet response.

  Despite Les’s decidedly unromantic nature, he did give her some of the best conversation and companionship she’d had in years. Who wouldn’t want an intelligent man with a stable job?

  Deep down, Eminence knew she needed more. During their lunchtime conversation tomorrow, she would have to break off this relationship bound for nowhere. She couldn’t take being with a man who couldn’t see her full potential.

  Eminence shook her head and decided to focus on her next step: walking into Reign. Standing in line, she distinctly remembered her very first club outing.

  Seventeen years old, she and her good friend at the time, Jordie, had masterminded a plan that got Eminence out of the house and into a too tight, too short dress in order to gain entrance to a hot new club at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Staring down at herself now, she did have to blink a few times to be sure she wasn’t still in high school again.

  Tonight she wore another tight, short skirt. She smoothed her hand down the leather and silk garment. To maintain her grown and sexy body, she worked out like a fiend, a habit Keys had taught her. Too bad she couldn’t teach him how to grow up and be responsible. He did know how to make her body sing, even back in high school.

  Keys Tanksley. Funny how locations, sounds, and sights can stir up memories, good or bad.

  Eminence wrapped her arms around her body, trying to ward off the chill she received from the sudden summer wind that whipped around her bare legs. The sensation brought her back to that special night so many years ago.

  After a night of club hopping, Eminence couldn’t make the drive back to Jordie’s house. When Jordie had made the suggestion to go to their friend Keys’s house, Eminence had to agree. Plus spending time with Keys had always been a good thing…back then.

  Eminence had to push Jordie’s rust bucket of a ride to Keys’s street so that they would not wake the neighbors. Of course the car could have been heard even a mile away. Eminence chuckled to herself remembering the metal-on-asphalt sound Jodie’s car muffler made as it dragged the ground.