I slammed his frame against the wall in the hallway and he pushed me back hard. “Fuck that shit Manny. I don’t give a fuck who she is, she needs to watch her motherfucking mouth.” He growled at me.
“And you need to watch yours Cole.” I warned.
“Whatever. I’m not watching shit. She’s lucky I don’t hit females.” The father and protector in me wanted to knock him around a little but even I felt the burn from Christina’s words. I opened my mouth to smooth things over with Cole but I heard whimpering from Chris’ room and I realized my grave mistake.
Cole and I rushed back inside to find Camilla pressing on Christina’s midsection and leaning into her with a maniacal grin plastered on her face.
The only thing I heard her say was, “If you do it again I promise I won’t be as nice as I’m being now.” She let up on her and Christina tried to breath but it looked like it pained her.
Camilla had been pressing on her broken rib.
“Camilla, what did you do?”
“Nothing. She’ll be fine.” She pressed the call button for Christina’s nurse and smiled like the picture of innocence when the woman rushed in. “My sister is having trouble breathing. Has she had the proper dosage of analgesics for the pain?”
“Let me check.” The woman smiled sweetly and left the room. When she returned she gave Chris more pain medicine and within minutes she was knocked out. Camilla thanked the nurse with a syrupy smile before closing the door and dropping the act.
“Emmanuel, get her under control before I have to really fucking hurt her. I came up here to apologize. I understand if she doesn’t want to hear it or see me but the way she came at Cole?” Camilla shook her head vehemently and folded her arms.
Cole sighed and put his arm around Camilla’s shoulders. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded. “I’m going to the car. Fuck this shit.” Cole muttered before walking out.
As soon as he left, she turned her green gaze to me with piercing anger. “Did you hurt Cole?” She asked.
“No. I just took him out of here. He was getting out of fucking line.” I told her lowering my brows.
“And she wasn’t?!” Camilla hissed. “Don’t make excuses for her because she’s your baby and you feel bad for fucking me.”
“I don’t feel bad. She’s angry and hurt.”
“I understand that!”
“I think she has bipolar disorder too, Cami.” My words halted her momentarily. I sat down and Camilla sat beside me. Our hands found each other and our fingers intertwined.
“Well that explains a lot. She still shouldn’t have said that shit to Cole. She can come at me all day long but he didn’t do anything. He was arguing on her behalf before we came here,” she told me. It made me feel like shit for getting pissed at Cole.
“Dammit,” I exhaled. “You shouldn’t have hurt her anymore though. She’s already fucked up enough Camilla.”
“I just pressed on her rib a little”
“It’s broken,” I frowned.
“Oh, I know. I got the information before I even came in here.” She shrugged. She was so fucking diabolical sometimes I just marveled at it. “I also noted that they didn’t give her the right dose of pain meds for her weight.”
“You’re bat shit,” I grumbled.
“Whatever. You love me. You put a baby in me. You then lied about the baby. I’m bat shit though?” I wanted to argue with her but she had a point. “You’re going to apologize to Cole too.” She pointed at me with a manicured nail. I moved her hand and nodded begrudgingly. I was already going to smooth shit over with the boy.
“Look at me.” I told Camilla with a serious expression. “The shit that you do with Cole? Cut that out.”
“What?” She feigned innocence with her cute ass. I just looked at her until she rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Wait, why are you putting me on lock down?” She laughed. I gave her hand a squeeze.
“Because you’re mine.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Are you officially claiming me?” A sense of pride swelled in my chest thinking about finally making Camilla mine, and bucking society in every way.
“Yes. I’m claiming you.” I told her while kissing the back of her hand.
“So, does that mean no more wild naked nights with Xavier?” She grinned tauntingly.
“Watch your mouth Cami. I’m gonna have to spank you when we get home.” I pointed at her and she giggled.
“Promise?”
“Oh, it’s a fucking promise.” I leaned over and kissed her lips.
“Ugh, so fucking gross.” Christina creaked out from the bed. Camilla rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to Chris. I noticed the fear in Christina’s eyes the closer Camilla got. Hell, I didn’t blame her.
“Look, I’m sorry Chris. I did not mean to hurt you like this. I feel like shit and I’ll try my best not to let it happen again. You’re my sister. I love you no matter what. I know you hate me because of Emmanuel and all that shit. I never expected all of this either.” She sucked in a breath and shook her head. “I understand if you don’t wanna really talk to me anymore. Just know that I’m sorry for this.” She gestured to the hospital.
Christina folded her arms loosely and winced a little at the pain. Camilla looked over her shoulder at me and waved. “I’m leaving,” she said.
**
Chapter Eighteen
Alexander
After finding out my father was alive, I’d been in a daze. Anais had been sweet, cooking and cleaning, and fucking my brains out at night. I still wasn’t all the way there though.
When she was at work, I decided to poke around a bit and find out who in the hell my father had turned himself into in Helena. I went to his church and started asking questions. To my surprise his secretary was more than happy to come forth with information.
I found out that his new name was Joshua Strong and he’d been a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church for seven years. Justine was his wife, and he’d saved her from some awful situation that nobody in the church wanted to talk about.
“I just can’t believe Pastor Strong has a son we knew nothing about.” Marilyn Talbot, the secretary, said shaking her head in awe. She couldn’t stop looking at me, just like Justine. They’d shit bricks if they saw Emmanuel. He was Dad’s spitting image right down to the voice.
“You should see my brother,” I chuckled.
“Brother?” She gasped. “Do you happen to have a picture? I’d love to see him.” Her blue eyes twinkled at me from behind black frames.
“Oh, he’s very prominent. Just Google Emmanuel Scott.” I flashed a smile at her and her fingers got to clicking on her keyboard. We were lounging in her office like old friends, and I was using every bit of psychological knowledge I had to make her feel comfortable enough to tell me everything I wanted to know.
“Oh my word.” Her mouth hung open as she scrolled through pictures and news stories about my big brother. “He is Pastor Strong’s twin.”
“Oh yeah, I know,” I said with a sigh.
“Look at his beautiful family.” She smiled warmly. I looked at the screen to see a picture of Manny with Camilla and Christina. Jealousy rose to the surface of my expression just thinking about how they’d probably fallen right back in line with each other since I’d been out here.
“I’m shocked my dad is so clean cut. I just knew he had a bad boy side to him. I guess he really is one of the holiest men of God, huh?” I flashed another smile and Marilyn was giggling all over herself.
“Oh well, you know I’m Pastor Strong’s secretary so I know a little bit about everything.” Her blue eyes darted around the small office. “He’s still human like us all and we all fall short.”
“We do. We do. I’m out here trying to get washed clean of my sins.” I shook my head and purposefully avoided eye contact with her. The corners of her lips were tugged down by a frown.
“Oh honey.” She rubbed the back of my hand and sighed. “We a
ll have a past.” Her eyes looked distant, even a little sad. The more I looked at her face I could tell she was beautiful in her younger years. She was nice looking now but age had taken its toll on her features.
Fine lines fanned out around her eyes and smile lines showed she loved to laugh. Her hair was dyed blonde and still styled immaculately, plus her nails were freshly manicured so she still liked to take care of herself. Judging by her sparkling jewels she had more money than just a pastoral secretary would.
“I can tell just by looking at you that your past was full of beauty. Just like your present.” I winked at her. Crimson flushed her cheeks and neck as she tried to hide her smile.
“I’m glad you think so.” She looked at a picture frame on her desk of a young man who looked tall for his age. His skin was tawny as was his hair, which was in wild curls all over his head. I expected to see blue eyes but instead…they were coffee. Coffee like mine. Like Manny’s. Like Dad’s.
“Is this your son?” I smiled picking up the frame. “Handsome young man.”
“Thank you, that’s my one and only baby boy; Jay.” She beamed proudly. I set the frame back on her desk and picked up another. In that one Jay wore a combat utility uniform and held a rifle.
“Marine?” I asked, impressed.
“Yes sir. Finest damn sniper you’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, wow. Look at that. Tell Jay thanks for his service.”
“Will do.” She chuckled. “He should be here to pick me up soon. If you’d like to meet him.”
“Of course!” I grinned.
“He’d love to meet you.” She sounded as if she were longing for something. I decided to pry and choose my words very carefully.
“So I notice Jay is a tall guy. Must take after dad huh?” Marilyn blinked rapidly and started clicking around aimlessly on her desktop.
“What? Oh…his dad, yes. Yup. Tall just like his father.” She nodded without her signature smile. Her lips were pressed into a thin line as she stared at the picture of her son.
“Well, Mr. Talbot is a lucky guy to have such a wonderful family, Marilyn.” I patted her hand and she sighed heavily.
“There is no Mr. Talbot.” She confessed, her eyes growing distant again. “Just me and Jay.”
“Oh, well his loss.” I shrugged casually.
“You’re right about that.”
“Mom? You in here?” A tall man, so tall he had to bend down to enter the small office walked in. Jay in the flesh. I stood and came up to his forehead. Marilyn’s smile was back and it looked as if she were trying to blink back tears.
“Jay, this is Alexander Epps. He’s Pastor Strong’s son.” Jay’s eyes darted to mine and he shut them briefly before shaking my hand firmly.
“Alexander, good to meet you. I’m Josh.” I nodded and patted him on the back.
“Thank you for your service, brother.” I smiled as I held on to his hand. “Look, I’m not gonna hold you guys. Thank you for your time Marilyn.” Jay didn’t want to let my hand go but he did so reluctantly. I could see the longing in his eyes and I made a mental note to get his information before I went back to Miami tomorrow.
I wondered how many other siblings I had floating around in the world thanks to my rolling stone of a father. After Marilyn and Jay left, I started to head out but as fate would have it, I smacked right into my father.
“Alexander, what are you doing here?” He frowned.
“What are you doing alive?” I snapped.
“Okay, I deserved that.”
“I was just in here talking with Marilyn. Lovely lady.” I told him. He grunted and walked into his office, I followed him. The space was small and not much different from Marilyn’s with a simple desk only holding a single framed picture of Justine. No pictures of Jay. His walls were decorated with awards and certificates for various things. I sat in a worn brown leather chair across from him.
“Lovely…sure. Pain in the ass is more like it.”
“Why? Because she still loves you even after you left her for Justine after she had little Joshua Jr.?” He froze and turned to face me slowly.
“What did you say, boy?”
“You heard me, Dad. I can see that shit a mile away. Jay is your son. He looks like us! How many more of us are out there?” I asked him.
“I don’t know. All the ones I know about, I took care of. Jay included so spare me the whining, Alexander. I told you I fucked up, okay?” His pleasant pastor act was starting to slip. “Now the real question is; why are you in Helena if you have a family in Miami?”
“I’m here minding my damn business,” I snapped. A smile crossed his face and he had a seat behind his desk. If the nameplate hadn’t read Pastor Strong I would have sworn I was talking to Manny.
“How many families do you have again, Alexander?” He asked slyly.
“One. One woman. One child.” I spat angrily. I don’t know who the fuck he thought he was trying to break my shit down when he’s the one who pretended to be dead for more than a decade just to run away from his issues.
“Yeah? One woman you haven’t had the balls to marry yet? One woman who’s probably laying up with Emmanuel right now while you’re tending to your other house.” He laced his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. “Look son, let me help you out …leave the whore in Miami and stick with the good girl here in Helena. You need to make sure the girl in Miami hasn’t been lying to you.”
“Lying to me about what exactly?” My voice was rising along with my temper.
“About your so-called son. If she’s opening her legs for your brother do you really think that’s your child? You’ve got to be smarter than that, Alexander.”
“We had a paternity test done before he was even born.” I told him confidently. Dad thought the entire thing was hilarious and his office nearly shook with his laughter.
“Emmanuel is the goddamn Mayor of Miami! You don’t think he can make a test say whatever the hell he wants? You think he wants to publicly have a child with his slut of a stepdaughter? He’s a snake, Alexander! Don’t trust him!” He slammed his hand on the desk and I jumped a bit at his intensity.
“He wouldn’t…”
“You don’t think? You don’t know him like I do.”
“I don’t have time for this shit Dad. You’re crazy. Mason is mine.” I laughed.
“Mason, huh?” He chuckled. “Let me see a picture of the boy and I’ll tell you if he’s yours or not.” He held out his hand in a commanding way and I scrolled through my phone looking for a good shot of Mason.
The best one I found was of Camilla holding him, pressing her face against his with a smile. I missed looking into those green eyes, and I missed my son. My goddamn son.
I placed my phone in Dad’s hand and he examined the picture. A hearty laugh escaped him and he put the phone on his desk.
“Alexander, that’s your nephew. Not your damn son. How is it that you were able to use all those brains to figure out Jay was your brother but you can’t tell that this child is the spitting image of Emmanuel?” He casually flipped through the photos in my phone without so much as a question. “And this girl here…” He eyed Camilla’s picture. It was one where she was on the beach in a white bikini, toes hidden in the sand and the wind was blowing her long ochre colored hair around.
I felt anger prickle on my skin the longer he stared at her. He stroked his chin and flitted his eyes all over her body with hunger etched into every feature on his face. I wanted to snatch my phone back so he couldn’t lay his eyes on her. He cleared his throat and handed me the phone back.
“This girl here…is vile.”
“Watch your goddamn mouth. I don’t care what’s going on between Camilla and I…you don’t know her. Don’t talk about her like that.”
“She must be a wild woman in bed the way you’re getting all hot under the collar.” He tapped his finger on his desk and grinned like the Cheshire cat.
“You’re out of line!” My hand turned to a fist at my
side. “I’m ten seconds off your old ass so watch what the fuck you say about Camilla.”
“Oh please, Alexander. You’re not doing anything. Look, I was just thinking…it’s time for me to come to Miami for a visit.” Ice ran through my veins at his statement.
“What? What the hell good would that do? It would destroy Manny.”
“Aw…would it?” He chuckled. “Good. I wanna get a look at all this shit up close. And of course I want to see my little bastard of a grandson.” It took no time for me to smash into his face with my fist. He leaned to the side from the impact. I couldn’t stop after the first punch. I hit him until he pushed me off of him and stood to his feet.
“Enough!” He shouted, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. “Okay. You feel better, Alex? You got your fucking licks in.” He approached me slowly but it wasn’t because he was tired or hurt. His hand lunged out and grabbed my throat with lightening fast speed for a man well into his 60’s. He moved so fast I didn’t have time to dodge it so I got pinned to the wall behind me awards and certificates crashed to the floor.
“You’re still a simple ass little boy. Fighting over a bastard child that’s not even yours. I’m trying to help you out. Don’t claim the bastards. Or didn’t you learn that from your own life experience, son?” He dropped me and I swung at him again but he grabbed my arm so hard it burned.
His age was clearly just a number.
“Fuck you!” I shoved him and he laughed.
“Look, I’m coming to Miami. I’ll find you, doctor. I’ll be here for you when you realize little Mason is really little Emmanuel.” I didn’t hear any of the other garbage he was spewing because I was headed out of the door. All I could hear behind me was his laughter.
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