Beginning of an Eclipse (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES PREQUEL) (5 page)

    
The frown on Darrell’s face relaxed into a smile. “It’ll fit.” The smile left his face as his eyes dipped down between her legs. His dick twitched as he remembered how snug she’d felt when her muscles clamped around his finger. “It’ll be a tight fit, but….”
    
He brought his eyes to her face as he prepared to enter her. Just as he felt the wetness against his tip again, the door opened.
    
“Oh, Roni, I forgot to tell you….” The rest of Bryan’s sentence silently hung in the air between the three of them. He stood glued to the spot with his mouth hanging open.
 
Darrell’s glare was ferocious, and Roni looked as if she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
    
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
    
“Uh, sorry….” Bryan quickly turned around and walked out the door. Before he closed it, he reached back and turned the lock from the inside then pulled it to.
    
Roni felt Darrell looking down at her. “Where were we?”
    
“No!” She pushed a stunned Darrell back before hopping off the desk and pulling her skirt down. She looked at the ruined panties lying on the floor before turning around and covering her face with her hands. She was mortified, not only at what Bryan had seen when he walked in, but also at what she had been about to do.
    
“Roni…” Darrell stepped behind her and slid his arms around her waist.
    
“I said no!” Roni pulled away from him and went to stand on the other side of the desk. She had to put some distance between them before she found herself propped back up on the desk with legs splayed open again. “I mean it. Please. Get dressed….”
    
Her eyes dropped to his erect dick which was pointed straight at her in temptation. She averted her eyes and hugged her arms around her waist.
You have truly lost your damn mind, Veronica!
Needing even more distance, she hurried over to the other side of her large office and sat down on the black velvet couch.

    
Darrell watched her for a minute. He could tell from the stiff way she held her body that the moment had passed. Softly cursing, for the second time that day, he gingerly pushed his bone hard erection down into his pants then walked over to her. “Roni….”
    
“Darrell, don’t. This never should’ve happened.”
    
“That’s the problem. Nothing did.” The painful throbbing in his pants made Darrell’s voice sharp and edgy.
    
“And nothing ever will. You work for me. I told you from the very beginning, I don’t sleep with my employees. If you can’t respect that, then maybe Bryan was right. Maybe you don’t need to be working here.”
    
“Don’t act like I was in this by myself. You wanted it just as much as I did.”

    
Roni lifted her chin. “Maybe I did, but I’m telling you now, it won’t get to that point again. The next time you step out of line with me, you’re fired. Do I make myself clear?”
    
Darrell snorted as his eyes became cool and hard. “You know what, if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were frigid. But we both know you’re not.” Ignoring Roni’s outraged glare, he went to the door. “No problem, though. If that’s the way you want it. You’re the boss.”
    
He unlocked the door, but before leaving looked at her one last time. “I won’t bother you again. I can wait. You’ll come to me. And when you do, I’m going to fuck you until you beg me to stop just because you made us wait.”
    
Roni wanted to stay mad at him, but the way Darrell stood there grinning at her made it next to impossible; he was too adorable for his own good. Roni shook her head, twisting her lips to stop from returning his smile.
    
“Don’t worry about me. Just remember what I said.”
    
Darrell shrugged and sent her a sexy wink. “Fa’ sho’. You’re the boss.” A second later he was gone.
    
Roni blew out a relieved breath and sank down on the sofa. She covered her mouth with her hands as she realized how close she’d come to making a huge mistake. And Bryan. She closed her eyes. She’d never hear the end of it from him.
    
As she leaned back against the cushions, she thought about Darrell. She was wildly attracted to him, without a doubt. But he was young. Yes, she could’ve had sex with him tonight, and then what? Feel like a fool when he moved on to the eons of women who would be falling at his feet ready to give it up at the snap of his fingers? And they were plentiful. Her dancers had more pussy thrown at them than they knew what to do with.
    
She shook her head. No. She had too much pride to be lumped into the same category as the women who walked through the club. He’d get over this fascination he seemed to have with her. She just prayed it would be soon. Until then, she’d have to stay as far away from Darrell Monroe as she could get.

Four weeks later
Club Ecstasy 12:00 a.m.
    
“Ladies, we at
Club Ecstasy
have a special treat for you tonight…”

   
The MC stood on the stage looking at the hordes of screaming women waiting for the next dancer to take the stage. They’d already seen some of their favorite performers and were ready for more.
    
“Let me ask you something ladies. How many of you know what an 'eclipse' is…” When a flood of answers were shouted out from the pumped up audience, the sexy MC laughed and held up his hands to quiet them down. “Okay, I see we have a lot of smart, sexy women in the house tonight.” He smiled again as they screamed.
    
“That’s right. An eclipse happens when there’s a loss of light… shadows are cast when an object blocks the sun…but it’s not something that occurs every day. Circumstances have to be
just
right for this phenomena to occur. Guess what….”
    
“WHAT??!!”
    
“Here at
Club Ecstasy
….the circumstances are just right. If fact, they’re perfect. So ladies, get ready…”
    
“Because an Eclipse is predicted right about now. And it’s gonna be like nothing else you’ve ever witnessed…..” Amid the ear deafening screams, the announcer slowly stepped back as the lights lowered.
    
“Ladies….hold on tight and give it up for
Club Ecstasy's
one and only…
Eeeeclipse
…!”
    
Darrell stood with his back to the audience for a moment as the women continued their screams. He wore a pair of black silk pajama pants with a black lounging robe tied at the waist. He slowly turned around and took in what seemed like hundreds of screaming women holding up bills and waving them frantically towards him, but he took his time.
    
He brought his hand to the belt of the robe and tugged until it fell open. The lust crazed females went bananas when they glimpsed a sculpted chest so perfect it would put a Greek god to shame.
 
Sauntering towards them with sexy swagger that would later become his trademark, he ran his hands over his muscular pecs and down to his stomach before clutching his package through the silky material of his pajama pants, showing them it was already hard and ready for action. He‘d had no trouble getting aroused - thoughts of Roni had easily done the job.
    
Bills flooded the stage before he even took anything off. Grinning, he looked at the sea of hot, horny females and smiled.
    
“Hell yeah.”

    
Roni watched his routine from the large security monitor in her office.
 
He was a natural and had the women eating out of his hands. By the time he was completely nude, the stage looked like an overflowing green river of bills.
  
  
Roni smiled and shook her head when she saw how much he was enjoying himself. Good. She had no doubt his focus would be elsewhere instead of on her. He had kept his word and not gotten out of line with her, but every time she happened to see him, she could feel the promise of what was to come in his eyes.
    
“Looks like you picked another winner,” Bryan told her as he glanced at the monitor. “They love him.” He turned his head to see her reaction.
    
Roni murmured her agreement. “Yes. He’s going to be big in Vegas. No telling where this will lead for him.”
    
“You okay with that?”
    
“Bryan...”
    
“Alright, alright. You packed and ready to go?”
    
Roni nodded and busied herself by shuffling through some paperwork on her desk. They were opening up a new club in New York and she had decided to stay there until it was off the ground. She’d been planning to go anyway, but decided to bump up the date and was leaving sooner than planned.

    
She determinedly ignored the voice that called her a coward. To her, it was self-preservation.

Chapter 5

Three years later…
    
Darrell slowly blinked and rubbed his eyes as he struggled to wake up from the exhausted sleep he’d fallen into just a couple of hours ago. He lifted his head and saw an arm thrown over his chest. Turning to his left, he saw a saw a thick, light-skinned sista sprawled on her stomach softly snoring.
    
He carefully moved her arm off his chest, trying not to wake her. Then he looked down and saw a shapely thigh carelessly thrown over his stomach. He looked to his right and saw a dark-skinned chocolate beauty snuggled up against his side. Carefully lifting her leg away, he climbed over them and got out of the bed.
   
After going to the bathroom, he pulled on a pair of sweat pants and made his way to the kitchen. He was guzzling the last of the orange juice out of the carton when he heard a key in the front door a second before it opened.
    
“Yo, wassup man?” he called out.
    
Marcus walked into the kitchen and came to a sudden stop when he saw Darrell. “You not ready yet? I came an hour later than we agreed, thinking that would give you more time.”
    
Darrell threw the empty carton in the trash can and glowered at Marcus, disgust evident in his expression. “It’s seven o’clock on a Saturday morning. And you wanted to be at the gym for six? Git the fuck outta here….”
    
He walked by Marcus and playfully shoved him on the shoulder as he went into the living room and sat down on the couch. He’d been a performer at
Club Ecstasy
for three years and had only gotten better. Due to constant workouts to stay in shape for his profession, his body had filled out and was pure muscle. The head of thick, black curls were long gone and styled in a low tapered cut. Now the featured performer of
Men of Fantasy
, he was living well and enjoying life. Young and handsome with a delectable selection of sexy women at his disposal, a brotha was blessed.
    
Having gone without for almost his entire life, Darrell went a little crazy the first couple of years after he first started making decent paper, but Bryan had finally starting to get through to him about the importance of not wasting his money. Bryan told him he needed to at least start investing some of it and making it work for him. After Marcus, Darrell respected Bryan more than any man he knew. They’d gotten close the last few years and Darrell trusted him implicitly, so he’d gotten a financial adviser and deaded his spending frenzy on things like ridiculously expensive clothes, fast cars, and hot women. He’d purchased a condo about a year ago while Marcus opted to rent an apartment closer to the university.

    
Marcus was also one of the performers at
Club Ecstasy
. He’d been accepted at a prestigious medical school in Las Vegas once he graduated from college, but it was very expensive. His act with
Men of Fantasy
had gotten to be as popular as Darrell’s. The money he made from the club paid his way through medical school and still left quite a bit to live off of.
    
Darrell had told him the condo was for both of them, but Marcus declined the invitation. He’d told Darrell point blank, he needed a quiet place to study and relax and he’d never be able to do that at Darrell’s place. Marcus liked to have fun just as much as Darrell, but Darrell’s life had gotten to the place where it was a constant party.
    
Darrell thought about the two women in his bedroom. Lately the excitement of that lifestyle had begun to wan. Tired of the 'same ole same ole‘, he was bored and needed a change.
    
Looking at Marcus with an expression of bewilderment, he settled back against the cushions of the couch. “I’ll never understand how you can be bright and rearing to go so early in the got damn morning. Hell, you worked late just like me.”
    
Marcus propped his feet up on the table in front of him, ignoring Darrell’s pointed glare when he did so. Darrell was a neat freak when it came to his things, always had been. Marcus took great pleasure in pushing his buttons sometimes.

    
“Yeah, I worked late but the difference is I went straight home after the show and was able to get some rest. You, on the other hand probably had what, two…three… hours of sleep?” He laughed when Darrell flipped him off. “Remember when we were at St. Joseph’s? I practically had to drag yo’ ass outta bed every morning to make sure you weren’t late for breakfast.”
    
Darrell grinned. “Yeah, and most of the time, we would barely make it. Sister Catherine would be standing there just waitin’ for us to be late…”
    
“…and you could tell by the look on her face that she was pissed off when we managed to get there seconds before we would’ve been tardy.”
    
“…yeah, by the skin of our teeth…”
    
“….it don’t mater. We made it.”
    
They stared at each other for a moment, thinking about exactly how far they'd come since those days. Darrell slowly nodded. “Yeah, bruh. We made it.”
    
Leaning forward, they bumped fists before becoming quiet and reflecting on their life during that time. It wasn’t that the time at St. Joseph’s was full of fond memories, but having each other’s back helped to make the best of a bad situation. No one ever thought they would amount to anything. Darrell looked around his condo. If they could see how he was livin' now. Welcome to the good life.
    
Marcus released a long breath and roused himself from his thoughts. “A’ight. Let’s go on and head to the gym, man. Might as well get it over with. By the way, what time…”
    
The opening of the bedroom door made them both turn in that direction. Marcus’ eyes widened when he saw the two women walk into the room and smile at him before going over and draping themselves over Darrell. They were as naked as the day they were born, and it didn’t seem to bother them in the least. Darrell laughed when Marcus just shook his head, but he noticed his boy didn’t look away.
    
“Maaann….see this is why your ass can’t get up on time.”
    
Darrell shrugged, not even trying to deny it. He leaned over and kissed both women. “Ladies, I enjoyed myself immensely, but I’m afraid we gotta bring this party to an end.”
     
The women pouted and whined as Darrell placed an arm over their shoulders and led them back to the bedroom to get dressed. About forty-five minutes later, he and Marcus were headed out the door.
    
“What time are you heading over to Roni’s birthday party?” Marcus watched Darrell’s face, looking for his reaction.
    
Avoiding Marcus’ nosy eyes, Darrell shrugged and got into the truck. He busied himself with the seatbelt then kept his head turned towards the window. The reply he mumbled was incoherent at best, but when he heard Marcus snort out a laugh, he whipped his head around and glared at him.
    
“What?!”
    
Marcus burst out laughing then just shook his head before starting the ignition. “Nothin’ man. Nothin’ at all.”
    
Darrell cut his eyes away from Marcus and turned back to look out the window. He was now in a foul mood and had no idea why.
    
You know why
, a small voice taunted.
    
Soon after Darrell’s first show, Roni had jetted to New York to oversee the opening of
Club Fantasy
, a sister club to
Club Ecstasy
. Darrell knew that’s the reason she’d given, but ever so often Darrell wondered if she had been running away from the magnetic attraction between them.

    
They’d seen each other periodically, but were rarely alone. Darrell scowled as a thought drifted into his mind. That dude, Luther, acted like he was Roni's fuckin' shadow whenever she was at the club. Darrell had never been able to maneuver any meaningful alone time with her, but maybe it was for the best. After a while, Darrell's bed became a revolving door of non-stop women, and he hadn’t looked back once.

    
Eventually, he and Roni came to an unspoken agreement and were able to talk and laugh around one another without so much tension. He was still attracted to her as he knew she was to him, but the timing was never right. Plus, he didn’t want to mess up the friendship they had by adding sex to the equation.
   
 
At least that’s what he told himself. Lately, he’d been thinking about her more and more. The newness of the fast life was starting to dull. He found himself wondering what would happen if they took things further between them. Bryan knew how he felt about Roni, but without divulging her confidence, he would just say give her time.
    
Darrell laughed to himself. Well he’d given her three years. When they first met, he admitted he was wild and crazy, and didn’t really give a fuck about much. But that wasn’t what he wanted anymore. He wanted Roni. And tonight he wasn’t taking no for an answer.