Yield to Love

by Chanta Jefferson Rand

  She stuck out her chin. “Don’t be pissed at me because your girlfriend found out you’re still married.”

  Roque’s jaw clenched so hard he thought he might break a tooth. “Marlowe’s not—”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Natalyn she wasn’t his girlfriend. But it was none of her damn business. And really, he had no reason to be mad at anyone but himself. He was the one who’d never finished filing for the divorce, despite the fact that he and Natalyn hadn’t lived together as man and wife in over eight years.

  He let out a long breath. “Just leave, Natalyn.”

  “Not without seeing my daughter.”

  “She’s not here.”

  “You’re lying. You just don’t want me to see her.”

  “Woman, I could care less. And I don’t have to lie. If I didn’t want you to see her, I’d haul your ass to court, tell the judge how you left your daughter and ran off with an old geezer, and I’d demand your visitation rights be revoked.”

  She walked back down the three stairs she’d climbed. “I can see there’s no reasoning with you. There never has been.” She stood directly in front of him. She must have had on five-inch stilettos, but he still towered over her. “And obviously, you still want me,” she challenged, “or else you’d have filed for divorce a long time ago.”

  “I did file. You never signed the papers. Maybe I should have tried harder, but I got tired of having my private investigators hunt you down.”

  “Well, I’m here now.” She took a step toward him and ran her palms down his chest.

  He grabbed her wrists in a vise-like grip. “Why are you really here?” he growled.

  “To see you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve missed you.”

  “What?” He frowned. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “We were good together, Roque. Remember the hot nights we had in bed?”

  Oh, he remembered all right. And now that he thought about it, those nights weren’t so hot. Marlowe fulfilled his desires more than Natalyn could ever dream of. Or any other woman for that matter. Physically, Natalyn didn’t even turn him on. Yeah, she looked fantastic in her high-end wardrobe. But he knew that beneath the glitz and glamor was a deceitful opportunist.

  “What I do remember was how manipulative you were, Natalyn. Using sex and withholding it to get your way.”

  “I didn’t want you to grow tired of me. I had to keep your interest, Roque.”

  He shook his head. “What really prompted this visit? Daddy Warbucks run out of Viagra?”

  She pursed her lips. “You want the truth? He doesn’t thrill me like you do.”

  She tried to rub her body against his, but he released her wrists and pushed her away from him.

  “There was a time I would have walked through the fires of Hell for you, Natalyn. But time has passed and that ship has sailed.”

  “Think about Jade,” she pled. “She needs her mother. We could be a family again.”

  “Family? You have no concept of family. That’s a foreign word to you.” He strode toward the door and yanked it open. “If you want to see your daughter again, call next time. Goodbye.”

  Natalyn pulled her mask of nonchalance back on and squared her shoulders. “I was a fool to come here,” she said.

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  “You haven’t changed one bit. You’re still the same cold-hearted brute you were when I was married to you.” She walked over the threshold. “I feel sorry for Marlowe. One day she’ll learn that you’re incapable of passion and love.”

  He sneered. “Thanks to your meddling, Marlowe may never get to find out exactly what I’m capable of.”

  He slammed the door in Natalyn’s face. Then, he pulled his cell phone from his back pocket and punched in the numbers to Brett’s cell phone.

  “Yes, sir?” Brett answered just like he was at the office, even though it was a Sunday.

  “Get my lawyer on the phone,” Roque barked. “ASAP.”

  ###

  Hours later, Marlowe sat in her living room reliving the encounter with Roque’s wife. She smacked her forehead with her palm. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” She couldn’t believe she’d fallen for Roque’s charms. All that shit about her being the only woman for him, when he knew he already had a wife.

  She shook her head. Natalyn Coleman didn’t even seem like his type.

  Stuck up.

  Pretentious.

  Plastic Barbie doll-looking.

  He could do so much better.

  What do you care?

  I don’t! As far as I’m concerned, Roque and his Barbie Doll wife can have each other.

  She walked into the kitchen to make herself a cup of cappuccino. She probably should call someone, one of her sisters, maybe and vent. But she didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She felt like curling into a ball and hiding from the world.

  She spotted LaReesa’s scrapbook on the counter. She absently flipped through the musty pages while her cappuccino brewed.

  “This is all your fault, Reesa.”

  It seemed everything surrounding her mother brought only misery. If she wouldn’t have left that house to Marlowe, then Marlowe would have never met Roque. She would have never bumped heads with him. Never fallen for his wicked kisses. Never flown to another country with him on a whim. Never been forced to remember how he rocked her galaxy.

  She closed the book. She wished she could do the same with her memories of Roque.

  The shrill ring of her cell phone brought her back to reality. The caller ID showed it was Jade calling. Marlowe didn’t want to talk to Jade or anyone else affiliated with Roque, but she answered anyway.

  “Marlowe? It’s me, Jade. I need you to pick me up right now.”

  “Listen, girl. I don’t have time to play games today—”

  “Marlowe, I’m scared. He wants me to do something I don’t want to do.”

  “Who?”

  “Some guy I’m on a double date with.”

  Her heart thudded. “What are you doing on a double date? You shouldn’t be—”

  “Please,” the girl pled. “Come get me. I can’t call my dad. I’m at the La Quinta Inn on 42nd Avenue. I’m hiding out in the lobby.”

  Marlowe grabbed her purse from where she’d thrown it on the couch. “Stay put, Jade. I’ll be right there.”

  Marlowe flew like a lunatic across the freeway to make it in record time to the hotel. Jade was easy to spot. The red hood of her hoodie stood in stark contrast to the muted tones of the hotel’s front facade.

  Marlowe threw open the passenger side door to her Acura. “I thought I told you to stay put,” Marlowe chastised. She was all prepared to give Jade a lecture when she looked over and saw the girl’s bottom lip trembling. Before she could speak, tears spilled over her pale cheeks.

  “Oh, no.” Marlowe wrapped her in her embrace. “Everything’s gonna be all right. Tell me what happened?”

  She had to wait for Jade’s sobs to subside before she got all the details. Jade related the story of how she’d hung out with some of her friends for a few days. One girl’s parents were in Europe, and she had the house to herself for the week. Everything was fine until two of the girls invited a half a dozen boys over. Two of the older boys gave them liquor and drove them to a hotel.

  “They were nice at first,” Jade said. “One of the boys asked me if I wanted to go on a double date with my friend, Martinique. We played Uno and watched movies on the TV. Then, he started putting his hands all over me.” She squeezed her eyes shut as if she were shutting out the horrible memory. “He said I’d been holding out all weekend.”

  “Did he hurt you?” Marlowe asked. “Did he…?”

  Jade shook her head. “No. I kicked him in the nuts and I ran.”

  “Good girl.”

  “He just changed so quickly.” Her sad face had dried tear tracks on it.

  “He was a jerk. And you have to know that it was not your fault.”


  “I shouldn’t have gone with them. I shouldn’t have flirted.”

  “It’s true, you shouldn’t have gone with them. But you still have rights. ‘No’ means no. I don’t care whether you flirt or not. A real man does not take advantage of any female.”

  “Why are guys so single-minded?”

  Marlowe patted her hand. “Honey, it’s in their DNA. They’re going to try everything. You have to set the bar for how a man treats you. Always carry yourself with respect and demand it in return from him.”

  “I promise, I will. And I’m never drinking alcohol again. It tastes nasty! How can grown-ups drink that stuff?”

  Marlowe started up the car and backed out of the parking lot. “Some of it ain’t so bad, kid. But you should definitely lay off the booze until you’re at least twenty-five.”

  “I thought the legal drinking age was twenty-one.”

  “In your case, I’m raising it.”

  She sniffed loudly and then offered a weak smile. “Thanks for coming to get me, Marlowe. I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “It’s okay. You can call me anytime, especially when you’re in trouble. But you need to find a new group of friends.”

  “It’s hard for me to make friends.”

  “I thought you were supposed to be at dance camp?”

  “I hate those fake ass cheerleaders.”

  Marlowe’s jaw dropped. “You told your dad you were there. He was so proud of you. He thought you’d finally found something of interest.”

  Her bottom lip poked out. “I lied to him. That’s why I couldn’t call him to come and get me. He would have killed those guys.”

  “I know.” Marlowe pictured Roque storming inside the hotel to rescue his baby from the hands of some horny teenage monsters.

  “I’m not a prude or anything. I know what happens between a man and a woman. Kenya and Martinique have experience with boys. But I’m still a virgin.”

  She said it as though she were ashamed. Marlowe didn’t want to give the girl a lecture, but she felt the need to impart some advice to her. “There’s no shame in being a virgin. At your age, you should be a virgin, Jade. There’ll be plenty of time for boys later.”

  “I’m saving myself for that special someone.”

  “That’s smart. I wish I had done that.”

  Jade glanced at her. “Were you promiscuous or something?”

  “Or something. Let’s just say I was looking for love in all the wrong places.”

  She nodded. “Don’t worry, Marlowe. I won’t judge you.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  They drove in companionable silence until Marlowe took the familiar road to Roque’s upscale neighborhood. Jade waved at the guard on duty, saving Marlowe from having to look him in the eye. She was still embarrassed after having him call a cab for her earlier.

  She parked further from Roque’s house than she would under normal circumstances. “Um, I’m going to let you out here,” she told Jade.

  “Okay. Thanks again, Marlowe.” She surprised Marlowe by leaning over and giving her a hug. Marlowe hugged her back, feeling a little choked up inside. “You’re the best girlfriend my dad ever had. In fact, you’re the only one he ever had.”

  Marlowe shook her head. “I’m not his girlfriend.”

  “Well, you should be. I can tell he likes you a lot.”

  Marlowe bit her tongue. Her issues with Roque were not Jade’s fault. Besides, the girl had been through enough tonight. “You’d better get going. Your dad is probably worried sick.”

  Jade opened the passenger side door. “Will you help me pick out a dress for the school dance in a few months? I could use your help.”

  “Girl, knowing your daddy, I don’t think you’ll be off punishment by then.”

  “That’s two months from now.” She flashed an impish grin. “I think I have a chance.”

  Marlowe waited as Jade let herself in with her key. Then, she drove back to her condo, ready to put the image of Roque and his house out of her mind for good.

  ###

  Roque stared at the person he loved most in this world. He didn’t understand females. His daughter was living proof of that. Hadn’t he indulged her every whim? And now look what had happened. After he’d heard her version of the weekend’s events, it was all he could do not to find the young man and rip him a new asshole. He’d have to settle for calling his parents instead.

  “What the hell were you thinking, Jade?” She sat cross-legged on her bed, looking at him with wide eyes. “And don’t say I cursed,” he told her. “Cursing is the least of your problems right now.” He towered over her, his arms folded across his chest.

  “I don’t know,” she answered sullenly. “I guess I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Clearly.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry doesn’t make me feel any better about what happened. You could have been raped or killed.” He tried to cool the anger boiling inside him. If anything had happened to Jade he would be beside himself.

  “I know you don’t trust me anymore,” she blubbered.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I don’t trust other people. Especially horny little boys who think only of getting in your pants.”

  “I figured if I went along they would like me more.”

  Peer pressure? His baby was desperately trying to be liked. He had to remind himself how hard it was at that age. And probably even more so nowadays. He sat on the bed beside her. “You don’t have to do things to get people to like you. You just have to be yourself. If they can’t handle that, they don’t deserve to be your friend. And any boy that forces you do to something you’re not comfortable with certainly doesn’t deserve you.”

  “I know. I was never going to do anything with that guy, Dad.”

  “What you had planned and what actually happened are two different things. He could have easily overpowered you, Jade.”

  “I did what you told me to do if I ever got in trouble. I defended myself. I kicked him in the nuts.”

  Ouch. Roque clenched his legs together. “I bet that hurt him.”

  “I know it did. He howled like a coyote.”

  Roque chuckled. “Good girl.”

  “That’s the same thing Marlowe said. And she said I have to carry myself with respect and demand it from a man.”

  Hearing Marlowe’s name sobered him. “Marlowe is a smart woman,” Roque admitted.

  “Yeah, and she came to get me, no questions asked.”

  He was forever in her debt for that. He knew Marlowe was special from the moment he met her. Now, he’d gone and screwed up things royally with her.

  “She dropped me off,” Jade continued, “but she didn’t want to come in.”

  Roque stood. “She’s a little upset with me right now.”

  “What did you do?”

  “It’s what I didn’t do. I didn’t tell her I’m still married to Natalyn. She found out today.”

  “Dad, I’m sorry, but I have to side with Marlowe. You should have told her about mom.”

  “I know. Oh!” He reached under the bed and pulled out the cage with the turtle in it. “Marlowe bought this for you.”

  Jade’s eyes lit up. “For me? I love it! I’m going to text her and tell her thanks.”

  “I think she’d like that.”

  She pinned him with a serious look. “Okay, Dad. You cannot mess this up. She bought me a turtle. This is serious. Marlowe is worth fighting for.”

  Roque nodded. “I know, sweetheart. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

  ###

  Roque picked up his cell phone. So far, he’d called Marlowe eight times with no response from her. She was ignoring his calls. How could he make things right when she wouldn’t pick up the phone? He toyed with the idea of going over to her house. But he knew how it would end up. He’d be stuck on her porch looking like a dumbass. Marlowe was stubborn, and right now, she had every reason to be.

  He divided his life into two
parts. The part before he met Marlowe and the part after. It was crazy how he could feel so strongly about her after knowing her for only one month. No, it was more than just crazy. It was irrational. It was unrealistic. It was madness. Just like the ridiculous plots on those archaic soap operas. He’d told himself time and time again he couldn’t be falling for Marlowe. Yet, he couldn’t stop thinking about the way she felt in his arms. The way she kissed him. The way her tongue dueled with his. The way her long legs wrapped tightly around his back, pulling him deep into her hot wetness. The way she fit his body like a custom-made suit.

  But it was more than sex. It was her sharp intellect. Her biting wit. Her compassion for others. She was one of the few women who could keep him in line. She wasn’t afraid of his bark—or his bite. She was a special woman. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that. Jade was right. He had to get Marlowe back.

  He dialed her number again.

  He silently prayed.

  Dear God, if you have any pity on me at all, help me out. Please let her answer.

  “You have sixty seconds,” Marlowe said when she answered.

  Roque looked Heavenward. Thank you!

  “I appreciate you coming to Jade’s rescue,” he started. “I’m so glad she called you. She thinks very highly of you, you know?”

  “That makes one person in the Coleman family,” she snipped.

  “Okay, I deserved that. Marlowe, I think more highly of you than you know. Contrary to what you may believe, I do respect you.”

  “Nothing has changed, Roque. You’re still married. You lied about it.”

  “I never lied.”

  “Thirty seconds left.”

  “C’mon, don’t you think I’d be with Natalyn if I loved her? She doesn’t even have a key. We don’t live together. We’re separated. We just never got a divorce.” He was rambling, he knew it, but he had to get it all out. Marlowe had given him thirty seconds. And he knew she would follow through on her promise to hang up on him. “Jade was young at the time,” he continued. “I was trying to build my business. I never had time to pursue the divorce like I should have. I dropped the ball.”