King's Pleasure (16 page)

A
million thoughts raced through Jeremy’s mind as he stood with his feet bolted to the floor. He thrust his chin up and tried to prepare for anything. As a sign of unity, Q sprang up from his seat to stand beside him. The gesture touched Jeremy. It didn’t mean that they weren’t about to get their butts kicked, but it touched him all the same.

Roy slammed the office door and then proceeded to pace around like an angry, fire-breathing dragon.

“Roy,” Jeremy began cautiously. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at your engagement party?”

“Screw that damn party!” Roy said, tossing up his hands. “Screw all those fake-ass friends…and screw
her!
”

Jeremy jerked and then cut a look over at his cousin.

Quentin stood, bobbing his head as if he was bonding with Roy’s pain.

“Would you like a drink or something, man?” Jeremy asked, even though he knew that there was a fifty-fifty chance that the alcohol was going to either calm or escalate this fragile situation.

“Somebody better give me something,” Roy said, pacing like a caged lion. “’Cause I swear that I’m really ready to set it off in this damn town.”

Jeremy turned to go back to the bar, but Q caught him by his arm and said, “I got this, cuz. You see about your boy.”

The look his cousin gave him said for Jeremy to toss all his cards on the table and do the right thing.

Reluctantly, Jeremy nodded, but wondered where in the hell he was going to find the right words that could help this situation. Should he start off with humor, as in, “Hey, man, I have a funny story for you.” Or apologetically, like “Sorry, dude, but I accidentally hooked up with your girl. And, oh, by the way, is there any way for you two to break up so that I can date her?”

Sucking in a deep breath, Jeremy suspected that there really wasn’t any right or good way to about this. “Roy…would you like to sit down?”

“Hell, no, I don’t want to sit down.” Roy punched a fist into his palm. “I’d rather smash a brother’s face in.”

Jeremy touched the side of his face. “Now, c’mon. Violence has never solved anything.”

Quentin chuckled from behind him.

He mumbled. “Well, it hasn’t.”

Roy was in his own world as he tried to wear a hole in the floor with his pacing. “I can’t believe this, man. I can’t believe this!”

Wait. Why isn’t he already trying to pound my face into the ground?
“I’m not quite sure what it is you’re mad about,” Jeremy said, tilting his head.

“I can’t believe this woman straight up played me. I feel like a damn fool!” He punched his hand again. “Me!”

Something wasn’t right here.

“Do you know how early in the morning you have to get up to pull something over on me?”

Jeremy shook his head.

Quentin took a guess. “About six?”

Both Jeremy and Roy cut a look at him.

Quentin shrugged. “What? He asked a question.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“Well,” Roy said, disgruntled, “pretty early. And Ms. Leigh Matthews has been getting up at the booty crack of dawn for a while, ’cause this woman…” Roy slammed his eyes shut and shook his head.

Jeremy still wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about. He glanced back over his shoulder and gave Q a questioning look. Maybe he was having a better time deciphering what the hell Roy was talking about. Leigh told his boy something, but clearly not the whole truth. The last thing he wanted to do was rush headlong into a five-alarm fire armed with just a bucket of water.

Since Quentin didn’t have a dog in the race, he asked, “Did something happen?”

Roy laughed. The sound bordered on demonic. “Oh, something has been happening, all right. All this damn time, Leigh has been riding my back about how much of a dog I am—how I can’t walk by a set of tits without getting my howl on—and what has she been doing?”

“Clearly not out trying to get a fenced-in yard,” Quentin chuckled, plopping ice cubes into a glass.

No one laughed at the joke.

“Nah. She’s been out here roaming the streets without her own damn flea collar on.” Roy shook his head. “I can’t believe I fell for that straitlaced, girl-next-door bullshit!”

Jeremy dropped his head. “I’m sorry, bruh.” And he was sorry, but it didn’t mean that he still didn’t want her for himself.

Roy kept trying to rationalize how he got caught up. “You know what it was?” He stopped long enough to wave a finger. “I think I liked her because she wasn’t another one of those chicks that always had her hand in your pocket because she needed to keep her hair whipped and dipped. A lot of these females spend enough money on wigs and weaves to run a small country—saying nothing for what it costs to keep them in the right labels and shoes. Not once did that girl ever ask me for nothing. She had her own, you know what I mean? But not in that bourgie, I-don’t-need-a-man kind of way. She was cool. She was honest….” The anger gave way to confusion. But it wasn’t long before he was shaking his head again. “I need to get my B.S. detector fixed.”

“We all do,” Quentin said, stepping from behind the bar.

Q was the lone amen choir today.

“Fell for it—hook, line and sinker,” Roy continued. “Joke’s on me.”

“Here, have an Irish car bomb,” Q said, handing him his drink. “Should hook you right up.”

Roy snatched the drink and then tossed it back like it was water. “Thanks, man. But in all honesty, I don’t think even a horse tranquilizer could calm my nerves,” he said, handing the glass back to Quentin. “Right now, I just want to find this sneaky son of a bitch that’s been creeping with my girl behind my back.” Another fist pound. “Might even catch a case, you feel me?”

Quentin glanced at his cousin and winced.

Jeremy ignored him while he processed this information.
So she told him about the affair, but not who it was with
. That tidbit gave him a pinhole of hope. Why? He had absolutely no idea. After his argument with Leigh in the freezer, he doubted that he was very high on her list of eligible bachelors.

“Well,” Q said. “Since I’m fresh out of horse tranquilizers, how about I just fix you another drink?”

“Thanks, man.” Roy bobbed his head and then resumed his pacing.

Jeremy struggled with his guilt. It wasn’t like he had originally set out to steal Roy’s girl, regardless of what Q’s beady-eyed gaze seemed to accuse him of. He met a woman at a party. He liked her. They had a fling and tonight he discovered that she was his buddy’s girl. How did that make him the bad guy?

“Look, Roy. Maybe you shouldn’t just jump to conclusions,” he backpedaled. “Maybe this dude didn’t know she was your girl.”

Roy stopped. “What? You’re defending this dude now?”

“Nah. I’m just saying…” He shrugged his shoulders.
What am I saying?

“What are you saying?” Quentin pressed, folding his arms.

Jeremy cocked his head. “I thought you were about to make Roy another drink.”

“Fine.” Q headed back to the bar, but as he walked past Jeremy he added, “I was just trying to help you out.”

You call that help?

“All I know,” Roy said. “Come tomorrow, I’m going to be a laughingstock. We bust up on the night of our engagement party. You know how that’s going to look in the papers? Hell, I turned my whole life upside down to get traded to L.A. Why? So we could be closer—so I can spend less time on the road.”

“And less time in someone
else’s
bed,” Quentin added, nodding. “That’s a huge sacrifice.”

“See?” Roy gestured to Q. “He gets it.”

“That’s a scarier thought than you know,” Jeremy said.

“All I know is there’s no way I’m signing those papers come Monday morning. I can’t stay in this town. What if I run into her again?”

“So you’re going to blow up a huge multi-million deal over a woman,” Q marveled. “Damn, that is love.”

“Oh, c’mon,” Jeremy said, strolling over and pounding Roy on the back. He needed to try and fix this. “I wouldn’t take things that far. This sort of the thing…happens—intentionally or unintentionally.” Roy frowned.

Jeremy gave him an awkward laugh. “I mean…take me for example…” A rock suddenly lodged itself in his windpipe so he started coughing to try and dislodge it. “Now, you know that I would never try to…intentionally hurt you, right?”

“Yeah…and?” Roy was clearly lost as to where Jeremy was trying to go with this. From the corner of his eye, he saw Q set the bottle down and lean over the bar, resting his elbows on the counter, like he was watching reality TV.

“And…who knows, it might have been the same way for Leigh.”

“What? You’re going to tell me that she accidently fell on some dude’s dick? Bruh, c’mon, now. Stop playing.”

“No. No. I’m just—”

“Look. All I know is that I don’t ever want to see that woman again. And if I
ever
catch wind of who this brother is, I’m going to stomp him into the ground. That man is
dead.
And to think how close I came to actually raising that man’s child!”

Jeremy’s head jerked up. “What?”

Roy sobered as his jaw squared. “Yeah. To top everything off, Leigh’s pregnant!”

L
eigh couldn’t stop crying.

When she didn’t answer Ariel’s fifty back-to-back calls, her best friend hauled butt out of the party and rushed over to Leigh’s place to check in on her. Seeing her girl sprawled across the bed and crying her eyes out, Ariel actually breathed a sigh of relief.

“Shhh. It’s going to be all right,” she consoled, rubbing her girl’s back and stroking her hair. “It wasn’t pleasant. But you did what you had to do and now you can move on.”

Leigh lifted her head off the pillow. “But you weren’t here. You didn’t see his face. He was soo excited one second and the next…I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that mad.
Ever.
”

“Are you having regrets?”

Leigh sniffed. Her guilt only doubled when she confessed, “No.”

“Then see? That just proves that you did the right thing. Sure, it’s painful now, but soon all this pain will go away.”

She could only hope so. “You know he’ll hate me forever.”

“Maybe. But why don’t we just try to concentrate on the things that we can control?”

Leigh smiled weakly at her friend. I’m so happy that you came over.”

“Aww.” Ariel curled up next to her on the bed. “That’s what best friends are for. Tears, chocolate and alcohol. Not necessarily in that order.”

Leigh laughed.

“See. That’s better.” Ariel smiled.

However, Leigh’s good feeling was only temporary. “I still don’t know what I’m going to do about Jeremy.”

“Humph. If you don’t know, then you’re more than welcome to pass his fine butt over to me—or at least his cousin, Quentin. I’d loved to spread that man over a Ritz cracker any day of the week.”

Leigh’s laughter rumbled pretty steadily. “Girl, you are a mess.”

Ariel shrugged. “Maybe—but I ain’t lying.”

Leigh propped her head on her girl’s shoulder and told herself that she was just going to have to rest her eyes for a few minutes. Next thing she knew, she was fast asleep and dreaming of a different party…

She was happy, nestled in the center of a large, white couch with equally large and overstuffed pillows. An army of women surrounded her. They were all laughing and smiling. A couple of them would tug on her arm only so that they could remind her of just how lucky she was.

“I know,” she’d tell them, one right after the other.
And she believed it—felt it—even though a part of her was still aware that this was all just a dream.

“Okay. It’s time to open this one,” Ariel said, passing her a giant box. However, it was awkward to maneuver the present around her incredibly big belly.

“Do you have any idea what you’re having this time?” Cathy asked, pushing back her perfect honey-blond hair.

A deep baritone interrupted the women’s conversation. “We want to be surprised—again.”

All eyes turned toward the door, where Jeremy stood holding a little boy on one hip, and on the other a beautiful even younger little girl dressed in an adorable pink dress. Jeremy bent over and set them down on the floor. “Say hello to your mommy.”

The kids took off running toward her on the couch. “Mommy, Mommy!”

All of her friends looked as if their hearts were melting at the picturesque maternal image.

“All I know is that I’ll be thrilled as long as the baby has ten fingers and ten toes,” her mother bragged. “And then they can get right back to work on the next one.”

Jeremy’s face lit up as his gaze shifted back to Leigh. “I think I can handle that.”

Leigh’s eyes popped open. She was back in her bedroom with Ariel, who was lightly snoring beside her. When she glanced at the clock, she guesstimated that she had only been asleep for about twenty minutes. Yet when she tried to recall the dream, it was like trying to capture a puff of smoke. Whatever she’d been dreaming, it certainly made her feel good.

Pregnant.

Stunned, Jeremy stared at Roy. It was the only thing he could do, especially since the room was spinning and the blood rushing to his head sounded like a freight train. After a moment, he managed to open his mouth, and in the next, he closed it.
Open
.
Close
. Surely if he kept it up, words would eventually start flowing—but he wouldn’t bet his house on it.

Pregnant.

Q was the first to get over the shock. “Now, when you say ‘pregnant’ do you mean with a child?” Okay, maybe he wasn’t over the shock.

“Crazy, huh?” Roy said, shaking his head. “But an hour ago, I was bouncing off the walls, thinking that I was about to be a father.” He resumed his pacing. “You should’ve seen me. There I was blabbing on like an idiot about how I was going to be a better man and predicting that we were going to have a boy. He stopped and a wave of sadness washed over his face.

“You know what, man, I got to get out of here. I need to go for a drive or something.” He glanced up.

Jeremy struggled to pull his thoughts together. “Roy, we need to talk.” He turned toward Quentin. “Cuz, can you give us a moment?”

“Some other time,” Roy interrupted. “I need to try and get my head right or at least get it wrapped around this whole situation.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Look. I really appreciate you letting me come over here and blow off some steam. I know that when the chips are down, that I can really count on you to come through for me.” He locked gazes with Jeremy. “In fact, I love you for that.”

More rocks piled onto his windpipe. “And I love you, man—which is why I have to tell you that—”

“Tomorrow,” Roy said, turning toward the door. “I promise tomorrow we’ll hook up and finish this convo, a’ight? Right now I can’t really handle anything else. I got to do some serious thinking and make a couple of moves. Cool?”

Jeremy hesitated, but then after a moment of reading his friend’s expression, he nodded. “Cool. Tomorrow, then. I’ll call you on your cell.”

“Bet. I’ll catch you later.” Roy jerked the door open and a loud burst of music flooded the office again. “Yo, Q. Thanks for the drink.”

“Anytime.” Quentin gave him a two-finger salute.

“A’ight. Later.” Roy winked at Jeremy and then jetted out.

Jeremy stared at the door halfway expecting his boy to return and yell “April Fool’s.” But once one, then two, then three minutes passed, reality started settling in. He turned and Q stood next to him.

“Congratulations?”

“She’s pregnant,” Jeremy said, still stunned.

“I heard. Maybe next time you’ll start buying condoms that fit. Here you go.” Q handed him a drink. “You look like you could use this.”

Jeremy took the glass and, just like Roy, tossed it back like it was water. “Thanks. I needed that.”

“Don’t mention it.” Quentin folded his arms. “Look. I know that this may not be the best time to bring this up, but in the most-screwed-up-life category, you just pulled ahead by a hair.”

“Noticed that, did you?” Jeremy said, as he rolled his eyes and went back to the couch. On his back, he stared up at the ceiling. “You know, this means she knew when I hauled her into the freezer and practically showed my ass.”

“Guess that means that your daddy weekend visitations will have court-appointed supervision.”

Jeremy groaned. “Why didn’t she say something?”

“Would that conversation have happened between your being pelted with the chicken or the fish?”

Jeremy fell silent while the words
pregnant
and
father
tumbled around in his head. “Can I tell you something on the serious tip?”

“Sure.”

“I think I’m scared.”

Quentin’s brows knitted together, but then he thought about what he’d do if he was in Jeremy’s situation. “I feel you.”

Jeremy sat up, but still squirmed around in his seat. “I mean…I’ve never really thought about being a father. I guess I knew one day that it would happen. But I never thought about what kind of father I would be, you know?”

Q nodded. “I don’t think that I’ve given much thought to it, either. Heck. I’m having a difficult time just navigating being a son…and a brother.”

Jeremy braided his fingers together and said, “I hope I’m as good a father as my dad.”

Quentin glanced up. “Yeah. Jorell is cool. I remember a few summers when you guys would come up to the estate, and he would go out and play ball, wrestle or whatever you guys felt like doing. He was really hands-on,” Q said. His gaze floated back down. “I don’t have a single childhood memory of when my father wasn’t wearing a suit.” He shrugged. “But there was always Alfred, James and Antonio. There were plenty of times when they would feel sorry for the poor little rich kids and sneak in time to play with us. My playmates—the cook, the gardener and butler. What else could a child want?”

Jeremy’s heart squeezed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. It was a veeeery long time ago.”

“Still…”

“Well, instead of feeling sorry for me, do me a favor and make sure that you pay a little more attention to your kid than my old man. Maybe they won’t turn out to be so screwed up.”

“Deal.” Jeremy sucked in a deep breath. “All I have to do now is break my best friend’s heart and then hope that I haven’t completely ruined my chances to not only be in my child’s life, but in Leigh’s, as well.”

Quentin shook his head. “Maybe you should think about joining somebody’s church because that’s going to require a whole lot of praying.”