Interracial Desires: BWWM Multicultural Romance Box Set

by Tamara Black

  “Mr. Wilson?” the snooty man behind the desk asked as he looked at Matt.

  “No, not yet.” He chuckled. “Soon.”

  “Why are you here? This is a matter for Ms. Wilson and her son...”

  “I know, I know. I work at Chitown Shares. We've actually talked on the phone before.”

  “Have we? Have a seat.”

  I felt even more confident as Matt and I sat down across from the man dressed in an awful brown suit. He glanced over a folder full of papers on his desk.

  “Yeah, this is all a big misunderstanding,” Matt said.

  “That's why we were called in. Just to make sure everything is okay and the child is in the best possible situation.”

  “I understand. It's just that the person who called you guys is threatening Leah. You know it is, right?”

  “I assure you that I do not know 'how it is' as you say.”

  “Really, it's all a mistake. Trey, the baby's father, is a drug dealer. I can testify to that.”

  “That may or may not be necessary. We're going to have to do our own investigation into the person who called as well as the father.”

  “He's the one that called, right?” I asked, sitting up in my chair.

  “You know I can't tell you that, Ms. Wilson.”

  “It would really help us out,” Matt said, also moving to the edge of his seat.

  “All in due time. If you really work at Chitown Shares, you know how these things go. What did you say your name was?”

  “I didn't. It's Matt.”

  “Very well. I have everything I need from you two. If you left a phone number, we will get in touch with you. If not, come back and see us at the end of the week to check in on the progress.”

  I had written down Matt's cell phone number for them to contact me. We stood up and left the office. As we walked back down the hallway toward the waiting room, another young, black woman passed us. She was crying hysterically. I could only imagine what was happening to her.

  “I know you may not feel like eating, but we could get some lunch and plan our next move.”

  “Next move? Didn't you hear him? They'll call us.”

  “Well, I know people. I could make some calls.”

  We started walking toward the bus stop.

  “Why you doing this for me?” I asked point blank.

  “I like to help people.”

  “But why me?”

  “Lots of reasons.”

  “Like?”

  “You're a very strong woman.”

  “And?”

  “I'm attracted to you.”

  He stared into my eyes. Neither of us looked away for a solid thirty seconds.

  “You are, huh? I feel sorry for you.”

  “Don't be like that, Leah. I'm being serious.”

  “I am too. Why you want a woman like me? You just pity me?”

  “No, it's not that at all. I don't know what it is exactly, but I can't stop thinking about you.”

  “Sounds a bit crazy to me.”

  “Well, maybe it is crazy. Maybe love is supposed to be crazy.”

  “I can't have crazy around Terry.”

  “I know. I'm trying to help you make sure he gets out of Englewood.”

  “I'm sorry,” I reached over and held his hand.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “What?”

  Had I said something wrong? Was the hand holding too much?

  “The scholarship. We forgot to send it out.”

  “It's okay. We've been dealing with a lot.”

  “No, it's not okay. I should have stayed up last night and finished it for you.”

  “Really. It's okay. You're doing a lot to help.”

  “Well, maybe I can help you get Terry back.”

  “I don't know. CPS is tough.”

  “We need to call Professor Jensen and get his advice.”

  “Who is that?”

  “He was the man who helped me graduate college and got me into social work.”

  “Yeah? I might have to thank him.”

  He made a call. Half an hour later, we were at some Chinese restaurant. They acted like they'd been there many times before.

  “I'm Jacob. You must be Leah?” the older man asked me.

  “Yeah. How do you know?”

  Should I call him Professor Jensen like Matt? I wondered. I felt a little out of my realm.

  “Matt has talked about you quite a bit recently.”

  I looked over at Matt, and I began to realize he had feelings for me too.

  “All good, I hope.”

  “He's told me a little about your situation. If you're with Matt, I'm sure you're making the right choice.”

  “Something happened with CPS since I talked to you last,” Matt said. “We wanted to ask you some questions.”

  “Ask away.”

  Then the waiter arrived. They ordered as if they always had the same thing.

  “And you?” the waiter asked.

  “I'm okay.”

  “You sure? You should eat something.”

  “Orange chicken?” I asked, naming the only Chinese dish I could think of without looking at the menu.

  The waiter disappeared.

  “Ask away,” Jacob repeated.

  “Well, her ex called CPS and got her baby taken away.”

  “That's the drug dealer?”

  “You told him about that?” I hissed, punching Matt lightly on the arm.

  “Yeah. Not in a bad way.”

  He rubbed his arm.

  “Go on,” Jacob said.

  “Well, we need the best way for her to get her son back without pissing off the drug dealer too much.”

  The older man looked up and stroked his white beard thoughtfully for a moment.

  “How old is the child?” he asked.

  “Terry is four,” I said.

  “First, you need to have as stable of a home as possible.”

  “We put down my loft,” Matt said.

  “That's not going to work. You need to do better. Like a house. In a good neighborhood.”

  “What?” I asked.

  My hopes were being dashed in front of me in some lame Chinese restaurant.

  “I'm sorry, dear. Even if he's questionable, CPS will likely side with him if he shows a source of income.”

  “I'm not sure how he can do that,” I said.

  “You might be surprised. Hell, he might even bribe someone down there if you're not careful. Contacting the media before things blow up might be a good idea just in case.”

  “I know some people, and I bet Brittney could help with that too,” Matt said.

  “Brittney?” I asked.

  “Uh oh, trouble in paradise,” Jacob said with a smile.

  “She works at Chitown Shares too,” Matt said as he looked into my eyes.

  Our food arrived, and we ate. Jacob asked Matt his opinion on several issues. I found it interesting to watch them interact. The more I learned about my white knight, the more I was falling for him.

  When we finished lunch, Matt and I left. On the bus ride back to his loft, we rode in silence while holding hands. It was something small and silly in a way, but when he held my hand in his, I felt like things were going to get better.

  FOURTEEN

  Matt

  After our meeting with CPS and lunch with Professor Jensen, I left Leah at my loft. I told her I had to go back to Chitown Shares to help with a problem, which was a lie. I felt bad, but I wanted some time alone to think. After being on my own so long, it was sort of unsettling to have our lives thrust together so suddenly. I also had another idea in mind.

  I would have to come up with enough money, but I wanted to find a modest house in a nice neighborhood that we could possibly rent together. If we could do that before CPS came for a visit, it would be better than if her and her kid were staying at my loft. With an actual house, we could make it appear like we had the perfect home for Terry.

  CPS was all about appear
ances sometimes, which was sad, but I couldn't change the entire world overnight. What I could do was keep helping Leah. I couldn't imagine being a single mother with a drug dealer as the father of the child. And the thought of her having to prostitute herself for another man to get rich literally made me sick to my stomach.

  Before I did anything else, I used my cell phone to call in a few favors. Within a half hour, as I rode the bus to one of the few nice middle class neighborhoods left in Chicago that were actually affordable, I had commitments for about three thousand dollars. People knew I was good for the money, even if I didn't tell them what I wanted to do with it.

  Over the last two decades, a great Exodus had taken place in the Windy City. That or a lot of people living in the area had gradually become poorer over the span of a generation. Jefferson Park was a nice predominantly Polish neighborhood. Thirty or forty years ago, Leah being a black woman might have been a problem, but if we could afford the rent and were good neighbors, I didn't see it being a problem.

  When I finally got to the neighborhood, I already had a list of potential houses for rent mapped out on my phone. It took a while to go from one to another, but I quickly found something perfect. The rent was a little high, but I had enough in my savings and with some borrowing to make sure we had first and last month's rent as well as a security deposit.

  We would have to get furniture, but we could deal with that problem when we came to it. The first thing I had to do was convince Leah that it was the best option for her. Even if the hand holding didn't lead to anything more, I wanted to help her. I felt horrible for causing so much trouble in her life while trying to make her world a little bit better.

  I knew that a nice house like the one I'd found would go fast, so I went ahead and called the number in the online listing. The lady who answered was very friendly, especially when I told her I had cash to put down if she could hold it for us. She told me that the deposit would not be refundable, but she could hold it until Monday for us. At that time, we had to come up with the rest of the money.

  After taking out a grand from my bank account, I got the money to her and signed some paperwork. When I told her I was a social worker with Chitown Shares, she said I didn't need a background check. Apparently, the non-profit I worked at had helped her cousin when she was going through a tough time. I had to smile at the way things just worked out sometimes.

  When everything was done, I took the bus back to my loft. I was excited to share the good news with Leah. I knew I was taking a risk by putting money down on the house, but I felt like I had to change, had to take charge and actually become a man. For far too long, I had let life happen around me, especially after getting dumped by Alyssa just after college. Would Leah understand?

  FIFTEEN

  Leah

  I was using Matt's laptop to look for some sort of job and cheap house to rent when the door to his loft burst open. He looked animated and happy. I wondered for a brief moment if he was a secret coke head or something. As he raced over to where I was sitting at his desk in one corner of the large, open area, I watched him closely.

  “Good news,” he said, out of breath.

  “Yeah?”

  “I think so.”

  “Go on. I'm listening.”

  “Well, we need to make sure you have the best possible chance to get your kid back so that Trey can't pull anything. To do that, I thought we could get married and rent a house.”

  My eyes widened.

  “Hold on, just hear me out before you go crazy. We don't have to actually love each other, but if we're married on paper it will be more stable, especially if we have a house. And I found one today.”

  “I'll have to think about it.”

  “That's fine, but we don't have much time. We need to have all this done by next Friday.”

  “I don't see how we're going to do it. I've been looking for a house while you were out.”

  He smiled. “I found one.”

  “Found one what?”

  “A house. It's great. Good neighborhood.”

  “How much?”

  “We can afford it for at least three or four months. That's more than enough time to make sure Terry is back with you and safe for a while at least.”

  “Pretend married, huh?” I asked.

  “Yeah. All the good but none of the bad.”

  “Depends on what you consider good and bad in marriage, I guess.”

  “I wanted to call you, but you don't have a phone. If I hadn't put money down, I don't think we would have found a place so perfect. I made an executive decision.”

  “That's kind of a turn-on,” I said then stood up. “I need to go for a walk. I'll be back in a bit.”

  “Do you want me to walk with you?”

  “No, I'd rather be alone.”

  “Okay. I'll be here. Don't go back.”

  “I can handle myself,” I said then walked across the room to the door.

  Once outside, I started walking. I felt a little weird not having Terry around. You don't know what you got 'til it's gone, they said. I knew the reality of that saying as I put one foot in front of another. Everything that had happened over the last week went through my mind all at once. If it wasn't for Matt and all the help he'd been giving me, I didn't know what I'd be doing.

  Then again, I did know. I would probably be doing whatever Trey wanted me to do so that he didn't hurt me or my child. I couldn't believe that he was using Terry to try to control me. I was furious with him, but not enough to want to actually do him harm. I circled Matt's block a few times to calm down then went back inside.

  “Yes,” I said, staring into his hazel eyes.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, I'll marry you.”

  “Great.” He rushed forward to hug me then stopped. “I mean, I know it's a fake marriage...”

  “You don't gotta be like that,” I said. “We been through a lot in a short time and we're still hitting it off, I think.”

  I moved forward, threw my arms around him, and squeezed tight.

  “I think so too. I just want to make sure...”

  “Shhh. Don't ruin it.”

  He stopped talking. We spent the rest of the night talking about the best way to convince CPS that I deserved to have my only child, the light of my life, with me and not his drug dealing daughter. Matt had more faith in the system than me, but we both hoped for the best.

  * * *

  The weekend was a little sad because Terry wasn't around, but Matt and I got to know each other a little. He took another week off of work to make sure we got everything done. On Monday, we got married at the courthouse. I don't know when he did it, but at some point he sneaked out and bought us two plain silver wedding rings. I almost cried when he slipped it on my finger. Part of me knew we were just getting married to get Terry back, but I found myself caught up in the moment.

  Our “honeymoon” the next day consisted of us moving Matt's furniture and belongings into our new house. The two bedroom was nice in a way that was hard to describe. A lot of it had to do with the fact that there was a lack of gunshots going off in the distance. On top of that, everything in the house was new and actually worked. I had fought with so many landlords over the years that I'd given up on ever finding a nice place to rent.

  “One more surprise,” Matt said with another of his contagious smiles.

  “What now?”

  “Brittney and her activist friends got some baby stuff for us to replace what you had to leave behind. I wish I could've gotten more for you. Maybe...”

  “Shhh. It's okay,” I said. “You don't know how much I appreciate all you're doing for me. You're going above and beyond.”

  “You're worth it,” he whispered.

  Someone knocked on the door. When I answered it, I saw a thin white woman with a black t-shirt with a clenched, white fist on the front. She smiled as she held up a large box of diapers. A half dozen other people stood behind her with all sorts of other items, including a small bed
for the baby and some toys. I swallowed and tried to keep my emotions in check as they filed into the house and deposited their gifts one after another.

  We spent the rest of the week setting up the house and trying to make it appear like we knew what the hell we were doing. Both of us knew that our chances with CPS were up in the air, even with everything we'd done. Getting married and finding a house would definitely help, but I was nervous all week as we waited for them to call us.

  Surprisingly, they called Matt's phone on Thursday. I told them our new address and invited them over so they could check it out themselves. An appointment was set up for the very next day. Apparently, a few people from the press had called to ask about the case, and they wanted to get through with it as soon as possible so they could get it off the books and out of the public eye.

  SIXTEEN

  Matt

  After we found out that CPS would be coming to our house, I almost felt as happy as Leah looked. We hugged again, briefly, then decided to try to play cards so we could pass the time before the big meeting the next day. Hearts was our game. I didn't really care who won. We had spent so much time together that I felt myself becoming more and more attracted to her.

  I had to keep telling myself that we weren't really married, that we were just pretending so that she could get Terry back. After that, my job was to help her get back on her feet on her own. I couldn't try to control her. I didn't want to be as bad as Trey had been to her. She deserved the very best in the world, something more than I could offer her.

  We slept together in what we were calling our bedroom. I wanted her so bad, but I knew I had to respect her. She would let me know if she wanted me to make a move. She told me that sleeping next to each other in the same bed the night before CPS came would help us get on the same wavelength and have a better meeting.

  She had on one of the sets of pajamas I'd bought her. We had so much to do to get her back on her feet, but I felt good about what I was doing. I might have to ask for a raise at work, but with all the hours I'd put in with them, they were sure to listen if I threatened to go somewhere else. As I ran over my last week or so in my mind, I felt her leg brush against mine.