King's Pleasure (12 page)

“P
ositive!”

Leigh shook her head. “That just can’t be. It can’t be.” She pulled in a deep breath, said a prayer and then slowly peeled her eyes open again. The results of the pregnancy test were still the same. “Positive.” She doubled over and collapsed onto the bathroom’s tile floor. The headaches, the nausea and the missed period suddenly all clicked into place. “I’m pregnant.” Her announcement echoed off the bathroom walls and hit her with resounding force. “I can’t believe this. I can’t…” Just the thought of being someone’s mother seemed so foreign to her. She couldn’t even begin to process what the rest of the news meant.

Slowly but surely, those other questions started creeping into her head. “No. I can’t think about that right now. I just can’t.” However, her mind rebelled against her declaration and the needles started getting bigger and sharper. The memories tumbled faster until they rewound back to the moment during her torrid one-night stand when the condom had broken.

“Don’t go there, don’t go there,” she told herself. She didn’t want to be in this position. But reality kept slapping her around pretty hard.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Leigh jumped, and then quickly pulled herself off the floor. “Just a minute.” Her eyes rounded when she saw the doorknob twist. She scrambled to grab the four boxes of pregnancy tests from off the counter and shoved them into the wastebasket. Thank God she apparently had the good sense to lock the door.

“Yo, Leigh. What’s taking you so long in there?” DeShawn asked. “We’re going to be late to our own engagement party.”

Leigh sighed. Just the idea of spending the entire night smiling and forcing herself to make small talk with a room full of people triggered another wave of nausea. She quickly slapped a hand across her mouth.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Leigh, honey. Are you all right?”

Finally, she managed to stave off the rising bile in the back of throat and answered. “Yes. I’m fine. Just…give me another minute.”

On the other side of the door, she heard DeShawn exhale a long, frustrated breath before turning and walking away from the door.

Once he was gone, she exhaled as well and turned toward her reflection in the mirror. The perfect flat-ironed hair, perfect makeup and soft, flowing, body-hugging Herrera gown in no way resembled the turmoil raging inside of her.

“How could this have happened?” Tears glossed her eyes, but she blinked them back before they could ruin her hour-long makeup job.

“Yo, Leigh!” Deshawn shouted. “Shake a leg!”

She rolled her eyes, but she knew that DeShawn had a thing about being late. “All right. You can do this,” she told herself, then forced the pregnancy-test results to the back of her head. After straightening her dress and inhaling several deep breaths, she finally emerged from her bathroom and joined DeShawn, who was pacing a hole in the living-room floor.

“Well, it’s about time.” DeShawn glanced at his platinum Cartier watch. “If we leave now and I drive at warp speed we may—just
may
get there twenty minutes late.”

Leigh’s thin veneer crumbled on the spot. “Fine. Then we won’t go.” She slapped her hands to her sides and spun around to head back to her bedroom. “You can let yourself out.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Deshawn rushed and grabbed her by her arm. “It’s all right. It’s cool. I was just buggin’. I’m sorry.” He flashed her a smile to try and patch things up. He raked an appreciative gaze over her gown. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

She crossed her arms, her irritation far from being alleviated. When she failed to recapture her smile, DeShawn got the hint that he was walking on eggshells.

“Again, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” He switched over to his puppy-dog face.

Leigh sighed and gave him a “whatever” look. “C’mon. Let’s go. The sooner we get there, the faster we can get back.”

That answer probably wasn’t what her fiancé was looking for, but, again, “whatever.”

DeShawn rushed to help her into a light jacket and opened the door. “I mean it, baby. When the fellahs get a look at you, I’m going to be playing defense the whole night.” His smile broadened as if by doing so it would encourage her to do the same.

It did. After all, there was no reason for him to be in a good mood if she wasn’t.

“I don’t think that I’ve ever been a dude’s plus one before,” Quentin cheesed, snapping on his cufflinks. “I think that it’s only fair for me to tell you now that I’m not a cheap date.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes and checked his watch. “Are you ready, yet? Damn, cuz. I swear that you’re worse than a woman getting dressed.”

“Don’t hate just because my regime is a little more than cocoa butter and ChapStick.”

“Funny. Can we go now?”

Quentin struck a pose on both his left and right sides before finally giving the go-ahead. “Let’s roll.”

“Finally,” Jeremy mumbled and turned to leave. When they reached his front door, he opened and held it. “Your highness.”

“Don’t be an ass, Junior. Just point me toward the groupies.”

“It’s an engagement party. There’re not going to be any groupies.”

Q laughed. “Oh, my naive li’l cousin. Where there are ballplayers, there are groupies. I believe it’s one of Newton’s laws of physics. Look it up.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Where do you get this stuff from?”

“I told you, me and Wile E. Coyote are suuuper geniuses.”

Jeremy laughed as they finally left the house.

A half hour later, the cousins arrived at Vinoteque on Melrose. Jeremy tossed the keys to his Porsche to one of the young valets with a warning, “You break her, I break you.”

“Yes, sir,” the kid said, with a curt smile.

Strolling into the lush European-style restaurant, Jeremy noted that Quentin had indeed been correct. His groupie radar was beeping off the charts as he spotted pockets of leggy-and-toothy women clustered together just outside or near the restaurant lobby.

“Name?” a tall brother draped in black asked.

“King—Jeremy King.”

After running his finger down several pages on a clipboard, dude bobbed his head. “And you?” he asked looking at Quentin.

“Actually, I’m his plus one.”

“We’re cousins,” Jeremy quickly added.

However, Q swung his arm around Jeremy’s shoulders and pressing their faces together. “Kissing cousins.”

“Cuz, if you don’t get off me—” Jeremy warned only for Quentin to crack himself up laughing as he strolled into the restaurant.

“You two enjoy yourselves,” the maître’d said, rolling his eyes over Jeremy.

He just shook his head and followed behind Quentin. “You know I’m going to get you back, right?”

“I’ll sleep with one eye open,” Quentin said.

Jeremy shifted his attention around the crowded posh restaurant. “So many women, so little time.”

“Ahh. It’s been a minute since I’ve heard that line from you. Does that mean that you’re officially finished obsessing over your Baby Girl?”

“Let’s just say that things are put on hold until I can at least find her again.”

“Well, in a city of 3.8 million people that shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Anytime.” Quentin popped him on his back. “Now let’s find some women and some alcohol—preferably in that order.”

The cousins melted into the crowd and easily struck up conversations. Before long, they rolled up on The Hoopstar and Drake Jennings.

“Well, it’s good to see that you two clean up well—especially after that ass-whooping me and Roy put on you.”

“Will you stop with that?” Roy said, suddenly popping up from behind. “How many times have I told you that Roy is my father? People call me DeShawn now.”

“Sorry, man. Old habits die hard. You didn’t start being
DeShawn
until you grabbed the spotlight in college.”

The best friends laughed, and then slapped palms and bumped shoulders.

“Thanks for coming, man.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jeremy said. “I see you spit-shined yourself up as well. I’m impressed.”

Roy struck a couple of
GQ
poses. “Please. I always stay ready for my close-up.”

“I guess that means things do change. I thought all through fifth grade that your butt was color-blind.”

“Oh, you’re going to roll up in here and crack jokes?”

“You make it easy, man.”

“A’ight. You know I know a few embarrassing tid-bits about your butt, too.”

“We’re going to brick wall that, bruh, because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I just bet you don’t.”

They laughed during another shoulder bump.

Truly enjoying the evening, Jeremy got down to the question of the night. “So when can I finally meet this imaginary fiancée of yours? Hell, maybe there’s still time I can talk some sense into her.”

“Better fall back. You scare this one away from me and I’m going to have to take you out back.”

“Oooh. All right.” Jeremy bobbed his head as his smile blossomed. “It’s like that, huh?”

“Just keepin’ it real.”

“Then mum’s the word.” He pounded Roy on the back.

His boy turned and surveyed the crowd. “I know that she’s around here somewhere. Yo, there she is.” Roy signaled Jeremy to follow him. They maneuvered through the growing throng.

Jeremy snatched a flute of champagne from a waiter’s tray without breaking his stride. But as he tossed back some of the bubbly liquid, he noticed a familiar backside—the height, the hair, the unbelievable curves.

It can’t be.

Then Roy tapped the woman on the shoulder. “Leigh, sweetheart. There’s someone I’m just dying for you to meet.”

Suddenly, the universe shifted into slow motion. Well, everything except for Jeremy’s heartbeat. It more than quadrupled in speed.

She turned beaming a beautiful smile—until her eyes landed on him.

Baby Girl.

T
he night was officially a nightmare.

Leigh forced herself to blink several times, but the man in front of her remained the same. Judging by the look on his face, he was equally stunned to see her. That didn’t help calm the nauseating feeling inside her. To make matters worse, his cousin Quentin, at least she knew his name, strolled up to the small circle.

His face fell, as well. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

DeShawn’s smile rivaled the Joker in a Batman cartoon. “I know. I told you she was a dime piece, didn’t I?”

Silence.

“Hey,” DeShawn said with a note of warning. “Don’t look so hard, I don’t want you two doing those Jedi mind-tricks you do that cast women under your spell.” He laughed, but no one joined him. After another beat, DeShawn swung his arm around Leigh’s waist. “Leigh, honey, I’d like for you to meet my best friend in the whole world, Jeremy King. Jeremy, this is
my
baby girl, Leigh Matthews.”

“
You’re
Jeremy King?”

“
You’re
Leigh Matthews?”

DeShawn laughed. “It’s crazy I’m just now introducing you two. But as soon as I sign with the Razors by the trade deadline, L.A. will be my home and we’ll be spending a whole lot more time together.”

This isn’t happening.
Leigh blinked one more time, but Jeremy King was still standing there.

“Well, damn, y’all. Say something.” DeShawn laughed, swinging his gaze between them.

At long last, Leigh forced a smile and extended her hand—hopefully no one would notice it was shaking. “How do you do? It’s a pleasure to
finally
meet you.”

Jeremy glanced down, but then followed her lead. “I assure you the pleasure is all mine,
Ms. Matthews.
”

“Aw, man. There’s no need to be so formal. Just call her Leigh.”

Only one side of Jeremy’s mouth curled upward. “Certainly.
Leigh.
”

“I have to warn you, honey,” DeShawn said. “My boy here is quite the charmer. Half the state of California is in love with him.”

The other corner of Jeremy’s lips hitched upward. “That might be a slight exaggeration,” he said.

Somehow, I doubt that,
she thought. Their hands remained locked, despite the scorching heat rushing up her arm. Not only that, she was having a hard time trying to pull her eyes away from his smoldering gaze.

“You know, I was beginning to think that you were just a figment of Roy’s imagination.” Jeremy made his first attempt at small talk.

“No. I assure you that I am real.”

His gaze finally dropped to roam over her figure. “
That
you certainly are.”

Surprisingly, it was his cousin who stepped in and rescued them from themselves.

“Quentin Hinton. I’m this knucklehead’s cousin.” He thrust out his hand and forced Jeremy to break contact smoothly.

Leigh accepted the handsome cousin’s hand. “A pleasure.” Their grip fell quickly away.

“And on that note—” Quentin turned, and continued “—I need a drink. Why don’t you join me, cuz?”

“Actually, you go ahead, Q. I think I’d like to get to know Leigh a little better.”

Quentin shook his head and mumbled something that sounded like “Fools rush in” before strolling off.

When it was just the three of them, Jeremy tossed back the rest of his champagne, and then started the interrogation. “So remind me again how you two met?”

“College,” DeShawn said, puffing out his chest. “My girl here put all the other chicks at Ohio State to shame and she had the whole hard-to-get thing on lock. It must’ve taken me most of my senior year to convince her to go out with me.” He hugged her hip. “Said that she didn’t want to date athletes.”

The storm roiling inside Leigh was quickly turning into a hurricane.

Ariel rushed to her side and hissed into her ear, “Leigh, you’re never going to guess who I just saw over at the bar. It’s that…” Her gaze crashed into the man standing in front of them. “Oh, my—”

“Hello,” Jeremy said, shifting his eyes toward Ariel. “I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure.” He extended his hand. “Jeremy King.”

“I, uh—”

DeShawn chuckled as he warned his friend, “Careful, my man. She’s one of those loan-shark lawyers.”

Ariel turned her confused look toward Leigh.

“Ariel, this is DeShawn’s best friend from Georgia that he’s always talked about and I’ve
never
met before today.” She felt Jeremy’s eyes zoom back toward her at the bald-faced lie. “Jeremy King. He’s also going to be DeShawn’s best man.”

Ariel’s eyes doubled in size. “
You’re
Jeremy King?”

“Have been since the day I was born.” Jeremy turned up the wattage on his smile.

Leigh leveled another quick glance at her girl.
Please, please, don’t blow this,
Leigh telegraphed through her eyes.

Ariel nodded as if she understood the message loud and clear. But it was clear from her face that she was also having a hard time processing the night’s latest development. She finally slid her hand into Jeremy’s. “Ariel Brooks. Pleasure to meet you—for the first time—Mr. King.”

Just shoot me now.
Leigh glanced at DeShawn and noted that he frowned for a moment, but then shook off Ariel’s comment.

“You know what?” Ariel said. “
I
need another drink.”

Leigh seized the moment. “And I need to make a quick trip to the ladies’ room.” She smiled at DeShawn. “Excuse me, won’t you, sweetheart?” She also tilted her head at Jeremy, and then made her escape. Her feet moved so fast that it was amazing she didn’t leave skid marks on the hardwood floors. Even Ariel had a hard time keeping up with her.

When she bolted through the doors, she breathed a sigh of relief that the only person in the ladies’ room was just leaving. Wasting no time, Leigh raced to an open stall and doubled over to empty her belly of the champagne and hors d’oeuvres.

“Leigh, are you all right?” Ariel asked, catching up with her.

“How can I be all right?” she asked between heaves, and then dropped down to the floor.

“Hold on.” Ariel turned and rushed to one of the sinks and started wetting paper towels. When she returned to the stall, she placed them along Leigh’s fevered brow. “Okay. Deep breaths. It’s going to be all right.”

“No. No. You don’t understand,” Leigh moaned.

“It looks bad. I understand that, but…” Ariel said, determined to find a silver lining. However, when she couldn’t find one, she abandoned her sentence all together. “Well, at least he didn’t blurt out about your…” She glanced back out into the bathroom to make sure no one was around to hear their conversation. “Affair,” she said in a whisper in case double security was needed.

“It was just one time.
One
time I sleep with someone else in five years and look what happens. I’ve been cast in some horrible Greek tragedy.”

“Calm down. At least no one has died.”

“Yet,” Leigh corrected her. “When DeShawn finds out he’s going to kill both of us.”

“There’s no reason that he needs to find out. I seriously doubt that
he’s
going to tell him. And I know that you’re not crazy enough to. Besides, it happened when you and DeShawn had broken up. You two were technically on a relationship break.”

“Yeah—and I
technically
used that break to unknowingly screwing my now fiancé’s best friend. His best friend! Of all the men in the world, why did it have to be him?”

“Yeah…that is unfortunate.”

“And that’s not the worse part.”

“Oh, honey, I don’t think it could get any worse unless…” Their eyes locked and then shock slowly rolled across Ariel’s face. “No.” She shook her head. “Stop playing.”

Leigh struggled to swallow the lump bobbing in the center of her throat. “I took the test before I came here tonight. Actually I took several of them.”

“And they’re all—”

“Positive,” Leigh answered.

Ariel joined her on the stall’s floor. “Sweet Jesus. Well, maybe it’s not…”

“I haven’t slept with DeShawn since we got back together. I told him I wouldn’t until after the wedding. I was still punishing him for having caught him cheating on me in the first place.” She shook her head. “We should never have gotten back together. But then you reminded me of all the time I’ve invested in this relationship.”

“What? Wait. Please don’t drag me into this.”

“No. No. I’m just saying that I’m confused. I think I was forcing something that no longer even feels right to me.”

Ariel blinked. “Are you thinking about breaking the engagement?”

“I don’t see that I have a choice anymore. Eventually, I’m going to have to tell him about the pregnancy. I sure as hell am not going to try pass it off as his.”

“Yeah. I guess that would be wrong?” Ariel said.

“Of course it’s wrong!”

Ariel held up her hands in surrender. “All right. All right. I’m just saying that there are plenty of secrets out there that women have taken to their grave. Not everyone opts to ‘do the right thing’ and tell the truth.”

“Well, I’m not like that and I could never do something like that. I’m surprised that you would even think that I would.”

“Fine. Forget that I even said it.” Ariel lowered her hands, trying to process how fast things were changing. “But whatever you do, don’t tell DeShawn here—tonight. There are over two hundred people here. Have your Spike Lee moment when you get home. But not around any sharp objects.”

“Got it.” The tears that she’d managed to suppress for most of the night suddenly surged forward and blurred her vision.

“I think we
both
need a drink.” Ariel attempted to get up, but Leigh grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

“Are you crazy?” She popped her on the back of the head. “I can’t drink. I’m pregnant!” Hearing her own declaration was like another punch in the stomach. “Oh God.” Her shoulders deflated as she repeated softly, “I’m pregnant.”

“Not only that, but you have to get through this night sober?” Ariel shook her head. “Well, I definitely need one.”

“Wait. Don’t leave. I’m not ready to go back out there and face those people just so I’ll have to send out regrets in the next few days that the wedding is off. My parents are out there, practically floating on air.”

“I know, sweetie. But you can’t hide and throw a pity party in here.”

“Why not?” she whined. “I need one.”

“Because I think that it’s considered bad manners,” Ariel joked and then swung her arm around her friend. “But I’ll tell you what. We’ll compromise. We’ll stay in here another ten minutes, have a mini pity party, and then paint on fake smiles and get through this night.”

Leigh poked out her bottom lip and laid her head on Ariel’s shoulder. “I like that plan.” She sighed and then allowed her tears to flow.

“Congratulations,” Quentin said, raising his glass in a toast.

Jeremy’s gaze remained locked on the women’s-bathroom door as he helped his cousin hold up the bar. “For what?”

“I think that your life is officially more screwed up than mine.”

That comment finally got Jeremy to pull his eyes from the door to stare at his cousin. “Nice try, but I don’t think that’s even possible.”

Quentin thought it over some more, and then acquiesced. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” He drained the rest of his whiskey sour. “So when are you going to tell your boy?”

Jeremy pressed his lips together, and then turned his head back toward the closed ladies’-room door.

“You are going to tell him, right?” Q pressed.

“I need to talk to Leigh first.”

“Talk to her about what?” His cousin’s voice dipped into the serious territory. “What is there to talk to her about? She’s out here creeping on your boy—while he’s telling the whole world about how she’s such a
good
girl.”

“Q, man, I need you to back off. Right now, I’m trying to get to the bottom of this situation.”

“I’ll help you. The situation is that both of y’all’s baby girl has been running game on both of you. Not surprising, given what I know about women.”

Jeremy closed his eyes and shook his head.

“What? You’re saying I’m wrong?”

“Yes, I’m saying you’re wrong,” Jeremy snapped. “And right now I’m not in the mood for you to turn my situation into
your
situation. Believe it or not, everything is not about you. When the hell are you going to get your head out of your ass and just move on? Huh? Sterling and Alyssa have been married for
three
years. Aren’t you tired of singing this same pathetic song? I know I’m tired of hearing it.” He leaned into his cousin. “Your problem isn’t what Alyssa did or even what Sterling did. You can’t own up to what
you
did.”

Quentin leaned back in shock.

“What? You thought I didn’t know? You thought none of us knew?” From the corner of his eye, Jeremy saw the bathroom door swing open before Leigh and Ariel emerged.

“Do yourself a favor. No, do me a favor,” Jeremy said, standing up from his bar stool. “Stop tossing out your so-called wisdom to people who don’t ask for it. Fly your ass back home, get on your hands and knees and beg Sterling and Alyssa for forgiveness. After you do that, then maybe I’ll listen to what you have to say about my love life.” Jeremy slammed his glass down on the counter and made a beeline toward Leigh.

The fact that she was now smiling and laughing with guests only intensified his already hot temper to volcanic levels. When she turned and saw him fast approaching, her eyes widened and she started to make a retreating step. He latched on to her arm before she had a chance to bolt. “We need to talk.”