by Posey Parks
Even Jacob wore a T-shirt, board shorts, and flip-flops. My cousin didn’t mind dressing for the occasion, but while on vacation he’d rather wear comfortable clothes.
The rest of the guys were dressed for the hot weather, sipping a beer and smoking cigars, lounging on black and white outdoor furniture under a large umbrella. Tiki torches surrounded us. The beautiful green palm trees swayed in the warm wind.
“Hey, hey, guys, nice of you to join us.” Dominic pointed toward the tiki awning. “There’s a full bar waiting for you.”
Carmen stood. “Zoey, let’s grab drinks.”
He pulled her back into his lap and whispered in her ear. Dominic was probably the most possessive husband out of us all. He tore Cruise and Jasper a new asshole after the girls gave them the slip. I thought he’d blow their brains out. Let’s just say there were several tense moments on the trip with Dominic.
Zoey stood on her tippy toes in front of me and kissed my lips. “The girls and I are having a quick drink together. I’ll bring you another beer.”
Pulling her closer, I tapped the beer bottle against her ass. “Sure, you are.”
“Relax with the guys under the starlit sky. I’ll be back.”
I released her. “Yeah.”
The guys and I tried not to read our wives body language, but we couldn’t help it.
I sank in the chair beside Sebastian. “Guess their discussing where and how we made love tonight.” I snatched a cigar out of the box. Hopefully, not how my dick didn’t rise to the occasion over the last year. If Zoey knew the issues hanging over my head, she might’ve understood.
“That’s all they do. I thought only guys talked about fucking.” Dominic blew the cigar smoke into the air.
“Not our wives.” Dillon shook his head.
“Fella’s we’re married to badass black women. It’s to be expected.” I chugged my beer.
“We’re hitting the water at eleven.” Jacob swirled the ice in his glass, then sucked down half the contents. Bet it was vodka.
“I need to tan. Shit, I’m pale from the winter months.”
“Dude, if you lived in L.A. you wouldn’t have that problem.” Sebastian grinned.
“I’m Boston bread. I’ll stay right where I am. Don’t we visit enough?”
“No, Brandon, you don’t.” Jacob widened his hands.
“Well maybe you’ll see us more in the future. I turned down the chief position.”
Jacob sat on the edge of the seat. “Bet uncle B wasn’t happy.”
“Nor was Zoey. She thought I’d blame her later in life for my decision. I told her I’d still practice medicine.”
Jacob chuckled. “Samantha, flew off the handle when I mentioned quitting. Said I’d do no such thing. I told her she wouldn’t have to deal with the women anymore.”
“Jacob, she’ll always have to deal with the chicks. You’re still Jacob Latters. America’s heartthrob.” I threw up air quotes.
“Shut up,” he hissed. “You sound like the entertainment shows.”
The guys burst into laughter around their cigars.
Jacob shielded his face. “If she finds out my costar is trying to fuck me every day, she’ll kill her.” He rubbed his brow.
My eyes diverted to his wife. I sat up straight. “In coming.”
His brows almost slapped his hairline. “Baby, the sex talk is over?”
She sat in his lap. “Who will I kill?” Her fingers wiggled through his brown hair.
He squeezed her waist. “Nobody. The guys and I were just chatting.”
Emoni ran toward Marco. “Shit, this is about to be good,” she grinned.
Marco palmed his face.
“Don’t do that.” She wrapped his arms around her waist as she fell into his lap, eyes glued to Samantha and Jacob.
“About me.” Sam held Jacob’s gaze.
“It’s nothing, Samantha.”
Her eyes darted to Tony. “Who am I killing?”
He tossed his hands in the air. “Sam, you know I have your back, but I won’t come between you and Jacob.”
She rolled her pretty brown eyes. “Jacob, spill or you’ll beat your dick for the remainder of this trip.” Her arms crossed her chest.
Jacob gruffly rubbed his chin as he pondered on his words. I knew my cousin, he didn’t want Samantha threatening to end their trip tonight to kill the woman.
Zoey snuggled into me. I peeked at the other couples. Everyone blankly stared at my family. Samantha and Jacob could star in their own reality show. Drama happened on the daily in their world.
“My co-star has flirted with me. I shut her down. See, I resolved the problem.”
Samantha’s lips twisted. “No, it isn’t solved. Jacob, I know about her. I keep tabs on them all.”
“All?”
“Tony and I took precautions after I was kidnapped.”
His head twisted to Tony. “We talked about this the other day. You didn’t mention any measures you’d taken.”
“The fact is, Jacob women will always threaten Samantha. They’ll try to end her life if she doesn’t leave you.” He sipped his whiskey.
“Did you tell him about the woman I had to shoot...”
Samantha waved her hand in front of her neck, begging him to shut up.
“...with a tranquilizer.”
She shook her head.
“What the fuck?” Jacob roared.
“It happened at an award ceremony last year. A fan said she’d poison me. Tony and I had a time tracing her letter.”
“Wait was that the night you ate a buffet out of your Birkin bag?”
She flashed an uncomfortable grin. “Yes.”
“Shit, Samantha, you’re keeping secrets again?”
Her eyes saddened. “I knew you wouldn’t attend the ceremony if I didn’t go with you. I couldn’t be the reason you didn’t accept the award in person.”
He clutched her face. “No more. I will not attend another awards dinner or ceremony if you are in danger.” He pointed between Samantha and Tony.
“Enough with the secrets. I thought we ended this shit years ago.”
“To be fair, Jacob. You’ve kept clean for years now. I think Sam was afraid you’d relapse.”
“The two incidents that happened this week brought me close to falling off the wagon. I admit I wanted pills to wash away how helpless I felt Tuesday night.” His eyes fell across our faces.
“We almost lost our wives. The icing on the cake was the dangerous mission and the townspeople trying to kill them.”
Samantha wrapped her arms around his neck. “We won’t let last night ruin our trip. Dillon crank the music.”
“On it.”
The girls cheered. “This will be the best trip ever,” Zoey shouted. I pulled her closer, crushing her lips.
“Baby, I need to talk to Tony,” I muttered.
Her shoulders slumped. “Ok.”
“Come on, we’ll talk to him together.”
Her arms gripped my neck tight. “Thank you.”
I had to be a man of my word starting now. Keeping Zoey out of the loop wasn’t smart.
We stood, and I glanced at Tony, nodding toward the house.
“Be there in a second.”
∞
Zoey scurried into the house and retrieved three bottles of water from the fridge.
I met her in the middle of the living room and removed the bottles from her arms. “Are you ok?”
“No. But I will be.”
“I’m here.” Tony closed the door behind him.
I tossed him a bottle of water.
“Thanks.” He twisted off the cap and peeked at the sofa, then at us. “Did you two?”
“No. Have a seat.” Zoey and I sat across from him in the taupe chairs.
Tony thought we had sex on the sofa. I chuckled inside.
“Happy you included Zoey. I’m all ears, Brandon.”
“Keeping this problem close to the vest almost cost me my marriage.” I sat th
e bottle of water on the glass coffee table.
“I’m being blackmailed.”
Zoey gasped, rubbing her forehead with two fingers.
“A guy who was my best friend growing up threatened to destroy my world. We were once thick as thieves. He had anger issues, but I thought he’d grow out of it. I spent the night at his house often when we were kids. One night I caught him killing an animal in the backyard.
At the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal. Some boys tortured and killed animals. That wasn’t my thing. I didn’t operate on animals, then decide I wanted to become a surgeon. Anyway, we grew apart.” I gruffly ran my hands over my face.
“He reached out to me in my sophomore year of college. Said we should hangout. I thought it was harmless. We kicked it at a few parties together.
Later that summer he reached out again. Said he was going pro, and I should celebrate with him and his friends at a private party.” I wrung my hands. “Sounds harmless, right? Well, it wasn’t.
The view of Boston from the penthouse suite was beautiful. A woman wearing fishnet stockings, and a black bra, and panties stepped between my legs. “Would you like a lap dance?” She braced her hands on my shoulders.
I didn’t respond.
“Rumor is you’re studying to become a doctor.” She smiled behind the heavy black eyeliner circling her blue eyes.
“Not yet. I’m only a sophomore.”
She shook her ass in my face. “But you plan to become a doctor?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Hey B dawg, the strippers are nice right?”
I peeked over my shoulder at my friend. “Yeah.”
Fifteen minutes later, I sipped my fourth scotch.
“I said no. Let me go. Your sauced man.”
I turned just as the stripper tore away from my friend’s grip.
“Hey man, what the fuck? You can’t man handle them. Their strippers, not prostitutes.”
“You’re wrong. They’re one and the same.”
My brow rose. What the fuck?
“Dude, maybe you had too much to drink.” He patted my friend on the shoulder.
His eyes flicked past angry to crazy. He leapt out of the chair, twisting the guy’s shirt in his hands. The guy towered over my friend.
“You don’t fucking touch me. Do you know who I am?”
“Chill man.” The guy raised his hands.
My friend slammed his fist into his face repeatedly.
I stumbled to my feet.
“Hey, that’s enough. Fights over.”
It really wasn’t a fight. The guy could barely defend himself.
I ran over and grabbed my friend’s arm. “I said that’s enough.”
Chest heaving, his cold eyes seared through me. “Back off, B dawg.”
I released his arm. He continued wailing on the guy. With good conscience, I had to stop the beating once and for all.
“I said that’s enough.” I yanked him by his collar and punched him in the nose.
“What the fuck, B?”
Wide eyed, he tapped under his nose, peering at the blood smeared on his fingers in disbelief. “You fucking hit me?”
I glanced down at the guy on the floor. He wasn’t moving. Dropping to my knees, I checked his pulse. “He’s not breathing. Someone call 9-1-1.”
“No, don’t fucking make that call.” My friend kneeled beside me. “You can help him. You’re training to be a doctor.”
I glared at him. “I’m not in medical school yet.”
He leaned into my ear. “Please you got to help me. If this guy dies, I’ll lose everything.”
He turned white as a ghost, staring at the guy on the floor.
“I’ll do my best.” I performed CPR and chest compressions.
The guy inhaled sharply, then exhaled as his eyes popped open.
Falling back on my ass, I took a deep breath.
My friend clutched my shoulders. “Thanks man.”
I blinked twice, then hopped up and ran toward the door.
“Brandon, wait.” I heard at my back.
I had to get out of there.
The stories only went downhill from here.
“Brandon, continue,” Tony urged.
I nodded.
“Dude became a successful professional baseball player. Best in the country. His ego was too big for his own good.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“Homework kicked my ass during my first year of medical school. Hunched over my books, I absorbed all things anatomy. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I stared at the unknown number. I shouldn’t answer. Hello?”
“Hey, Brandon. Good to hear your voice. You stopped taking my calls.”
My eyes pinched shut. “You know why that is.”
“I see you’re hard at work.”
Turning around, I scanned the library. “What?”
“I’m outside the door. I’ll see you in a minute.” He disconnected the call.
“Fuck.” I gathered my books into my backpack and walked outside.
“Dude, I don’t have time for this. I’m in the middle of finals.”
“B, I need your help with something important. I’ll have you back in an hour or two max. It’s life or death.”
My heart plummeted. “Yeah, ok, let’s go.”
We pulled into a vacant warehouse in a rough part of town.
“What are we doing here?”
He tapped my shoulder and smirked.
“Come on.”
We climbed out the backseat of the truck. His burly bodyguards in the front seat didn’t crack a smile.
I squinted. “Is that a body?”
“No, the person isn’t dead, but he will be if you don’t save his life.”
I halted. “What the fuck? You need help. Running around knocking guys out because you didn’t like how they responded to you. That shit’s infantile. Seek therapy.”
His smile widened like the fucking joker. “Don’t disrespect me, man. We’re cut from the same cloth.”
“Yeah, but I don’t kill people at my leisure.”
He wiped at his nose. “This motherfucker is scum. He beat the shit out of my sister.”
My eyes widened. “Is Clara ok?”
“She’s a bit shaken. Clara called me after she slammed a lamp over his head. Can you see if you can save this piece of garbage?”
I exhaled. “Yeah.” Rushing over to the lifeless body. I checked his breathing, then his pulse.
“Fuck,” I roared.
“She killed him,” I mumbled.
He paced. “Damn it.”
“What do we do?”
Before I could answer he met my gaze. “We have to get rid of the body. Clara can’t go to prison. That’s my little sister.”
I stood. “Yeah, yeah. We’ll bury the body somewhere untraceable.”
He rubbed his brow. “Ok, let’s get him into the trunk.”
“Brandon,” Zoey gasped.
“Ok, so you buried the body and then what?” Tony asked unfazed.
“He’s holding the dead body over my head. I hadn’t heard from him in years. One day he was in my office at the hospital asking for my help again.” I gripped my hair. “I thought I was done with him. He showed me pics of us burying the body.”
Zoey stood to her feet, pacing. “No wonder you’ve been so distant.”
“What’s this fuckers name? I need to know how many people are in his entourage so I can devise a plan to take him out.” Tony leaned in.
“Joseph Stanch.”
Tony fell back in his chair and Zoey froze.
“The number one baseball player for the New York Mets. Are you fucking kidding?” Tony squeezed his eyes shut.
Zoey walked over to the window.
I peeked over my shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. It’s a monster of a problem.”
Something else was bothering her.
I turned my attention back to Tony. “The
re’s more, but we’ll discuss later.”
He stood. “Come on, I think you need a drink.”
“Yeah, I do.” Walking toward the door, I glanced back at Zoey.
“Baby, are you coming?”
Her smile rose and fell. “Yes.” She sauntered toward me.
I wrapped her in my arms. “Everything will be fine.”
Did I believe what the fuck I was selling? Because I didn’t think my wife did.
ZOEY
ASSASSIN WIFE
I DIDN’T THINK THE friendship I shared was a problem until now. The name that fell from my husband’s lips sent shivers up my spine. The man he described wasn’t the man I’d met on my runs or for coffee for several months. He was sweet and kind. Said my husband was a lucky man. And he wouldn’t dream of coming between us. He said he needed a friend. Someone who didn’t care about his celebrity status.
He spoke of the women he dated, and I gushed on Brandon all the time.
I understood why he wore sunglasses or a hoodie. He. I meant Joseph couldn’t risk a fan noticing him.
The thought of seeing him again makes me sick to my stomach. Why did he befriend me?
Joe blackmailed my husband. I never mentioned his name to Brandon, maybe because I was afraid he’d tell me he had an agenda. Clearly, he did. Still wasn’t sure what it was.
I’d help my husband bring him to his knees. Expose him. Destroy that bastard.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
MARCO
MOBSTER
ALMOST THREE YEARS together and Emoni and I were still going strong. Our family was growing. Despite almost losing her after our first child was born, I white knuckled through the delivery of our second child.
There weren’t any complications. Emoni wouldn’t let one near death pregnancy tarnish her dream of having more babies.
I freaked out earlier this week. She suffered from a migraine after being shoved to the ground. Chopping that bitch up would have been the highlight of my trip. Maybe not. The bastards who tried to kill our wives last night were the cherries on top of my banana split. I unleashed my pinned-up rage on those motherfuckers.