Busted (Barnes Brothers #3) (29 page)

Neeci giggled and disappeared.

Angeline sighed.

Feeling the weight, and the command, in her aunt’s stare, Ressa turned to face her.

“I don’t know if I want to shake you or hug you, child.”
Angeline just shook her head instead. “I take it you’re concerned about what it might look like when and if things come out.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she said defensively.

“It’s an understandable concern. And tell me something.” Angeline gazed at the door for a long minute before looking back at Ressa. “Are you going to tell that little girl she never has the right to fall in love . . . with
whoever
she wants. That if she
ever
makes a mistake, she’d just better resign herself to an empty life? Are
you
going to be the one to tell her she better never fall for a rich man, a famous man—or any man she wants—because of what her mother did?”

Fury lit inside her and she opened her mouth—only to close it, sagging against the wall.

“I didn’t think so,” Angeline said, lifting an elegant black brow. “Did you explain things to him?”

“Not . . .” It came out in a rough whisper. She cleared her throat. “Not all of it. He knows about . . . me. Most of it. And he knows that Kiara’s in jail, although I didn’t explain all of that.”

Angeline came to her then, reached up to lay a hand on her cheek. “It is hard. I think about the fool things you did, and how she was so stupid to get involved—it’s not like she needed money. I think about everything that happened with Scott . . . and Sharon. Yes . . . it is hard. But
you
were the one to step up and do the right thing. She tried to hide. She made those mistakes—she did them and they are hers, hers alone. Not yours. And not mine.”

“Of course they weren’t yours!”

Angeline leaned in and pressed a kiss to Ressa’s cheek.

Ressa breathed in the scent of White Diamonds—the only perfume Mama Ang ever wore. The familiar scent wrapped around her like a comfortable hug and impulsively, she embraced the smaller woman. Angeline caught her up in her arms and Ressa tucked her head against her aunt’s shoulder.

“No,” Angeline said softly. “They weren’t my mistakes. We did what we could. We tried to help, not just once . . . but a hundred times. She made her choices. She has to face the consequences. Just as you’ve had to deal with yours. But this isn’t
a consequence you should have to face . . . walking away from a man you can love.”

“But what if . . .”

“No.” Angeline leaned back, shifting so she could grasp Ressa’s arms. “No
what ifs
. You haven’t given either of you a chance. Don’t you deserve that? At
least
that?”

When Ressa didn’t answer, Angeline smiled. “Somewhere inside, you already know the answer. Now stop being foolish and go after him. Sometimes we only get one chance in this life to be happy . . . You better not waste yours.”

“But . . .”

“No
buts
. I’m not saying it will be easy. You probably already have some challenges. Shoot, we
still
don’t live in a world where a black woman can marry a white man without people giving us the side eye. That’s one hurdle you’ll have to handle already. That he’s a public figure . . . that makes another one. But if you care for him, and he cares for you, those are just details.”

Just details.

“You make it sound so simple,” she said, her heart twisting.

“What else is it?” Angeline shrugged and snapped the top on. “You think it was easy for me? A black woman, struggling to finish school, working two jobs, dealing with her daughter, trying to handle her no-good brother
and
take care of you, when he’d let me. Bruce took all of that on. Yes, we had people look at us—he was this rich, powerful white man and he fell in love with me, a broke, single black woman who was raising a couple of girls on her own. Yes, it happened the entire time we were married. Yes, it pissed me off. And yes . . .” She slid Ressa a slow smile. “It was worth it. Every damn night, when I came home to him, when we lay in bed together. It was all worth it, even when I had to bury him far too soon. Love is always worth it, baby. Love is what matters . . . the rest is just details. Some are bigger, and suck more than the others. But you have to ask yourself . . . do you love him?”

She paused long enough to kiss Ressa on the cheek and Ressa obediently dipped her head. “Thanks, Mama Ang.”

“Think about it, baby.” Angeline moved to the door. There, she paused. “I need my caffeine fix so I’m making coffee. You
need to get dressed and see if whoever you had in mind can watch Neeci.” She paused before she left. “And Ressa, baby?”

“Yes?”

Angeline lifted a brow. “You’re too smart to do something like this . . . so sometime soon I expect to meet this man.”

With a wince, Ressa said, “Well, that’s going to be
really
soon. I plan on calling to see if he can help with Neeci.”

“Ohhh?” Angeline drew out the word, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“Yeah.” Licking her lips, she decided to get it over with. Mama Ang gobbled up his books like they were candy.
And
she was one of the people who followed that
Trey
sightings board on Pinterest. She’d recognize him in a heartbeat. “It’s . . . um. It’s Trey Barnes.”

“Trey . . .” Her aunt’s brows arched and her mouth fell open. She pressed a hand to her heart.
“Oh . . .
as in
Trey Barnes—the
Trey Barnes?”

Ressa winced at the look that flashed across Angeline’s face, the way she fanned a hand in front of herself. “Hoo. It’s a good thing you told me that
last
or I just might have been too busy stumbling around in shock to give you that little heart to heart.”

Ressa found herself grinning as Mama Ang fumbled for the doorknob, still muttering under her breath as she closed the door behind her.

*   *   *

“You didn’t have to fly out here because of this,” Trey said, swinging between irritation toward his twin and his little brother, exhaustion, amusement, and about five hundred other emotions.

One of those emotions was longing.

It had been a week since he’d seen her, and it was killing him.

Just like that, she’d gone and made herself matter that much.

He wasn’t sure if he appreciated it, especially since it seemed pretty clear she’d never really planned on letting anything serious happen between them.

Okay, true enough, they had gone from a few hot, naked sessions of twisting up the sheets to feeling like they weren’t whole without the other, and it had happened fast, but she’d felt it coming on, just the same as he had.

It had also been a week since Sebastian had planted his lazy ass in Trey’s house and baby brother was just
now
telling Trey why he’d come.

“Now how was I supposed to ignore that, man? I couldn’t, and you know it.”

Trey read through the texts—texts that clearly Clay had sent because more than a few words were either misspelled or autocorrect had been having fun—and they’d all come from Travis’s phone, the night of Trey’s first date with Ressa. It had taken a couple of weeks, but Sebastian had done exactly what Trey suspected he’d do.

He’d shown up on his nephew’s door.

Kids at scool dont beehive your my uncle.

Beehive? Trey smiled a little even as he mentally translated the autocorrect.
Believe.

Sebastian’s response was simple.

Dude, I don’t believe you’re my nephew—you’re too awesome for me or Trey.

Damn the idiot. He couldn’t even be mad at him now.

Your funny. But they laughed at me.

The rest of the conversation went on that way and he shoved the phone back to Sebastian with a sigh. “I expect you feel about the same way I do, knowing kids are teasing him. But he also has to learn that he does have to . . .” He stopped, shaking his head.

“What?” Travis asked. “He’s in kindergarten. He’s got two famous uncles—and hell, his dad is an author. He’s proud of you. He wants people to know. It’s not like he’s bragging. He was just telling the truth and kids were mean.”

“People are going to be mean to him in life,” Trey said, frustrated. “Sebastian and Zach can’t always rush to his side to be there when somebody gives him grief.”

“And I’m not going to,” Sebastian said, shrugging. “But right now, he’s . . . fuck. He’s not even six years old. He’s in kindergarten, probably nervous about school. It’s gotta be hard on him, man. He—” Sebastian stopped, clamping his mouth shut and looking away.

“If it’s about Aliesha, don’t think I’m not aware,” Trey said tiredly, shaking his head. “The first day of school, he took off out of the classroom because so many kids had their moms there.”

“And that’s why I wanted to come,” Sebastian said softly. “He’s going to have some bumps and bruises already. I had the time. I don’t get to see him much anyway. What does it hurt? And if it helps him to feel better about himself? That’s a good thing, right?”

“Okay.” He blew out a breath and tipped his head back. “I guess I see what you mean there.”

“Excellent.” Sebastian gave him a wide smile. “Because I’d like to drop him off at his school on Monday.”

Trey’s answer was cut short by his phone ringing. Immediately, his heart did a hard and heavy slam inside of him, because that slow, lazy jazz tune was one he’d programmed for Ressa.

“What the—”

He didn’t even realize he’d half lunged across the kitchen until that moment, nor did he care.

All that mattered was that she’d called.

“Hello?”

There was a faint, hesitant pause.

“Trey. It’s . . . ah . . . Hi. It’s Ressa.”

“Hi.”
Breathe. You have to breathe.
That in mind, he drew in a deep careful breath, then blew it out, slow and easy. Didn’t do a damn thing to calm the sudden ragged rhythm of his heart, though.

“Are you . . . look, I feel like a heel doing this, but I need a favor. It’s huge and I’m sorry, especially after . . .”

Now his heart twisted—no, he thought maybe it shriveled. “What do you need, Ressa?”

“I have to go see my cousin,” she said, her voice now subdued. “I . . . she called last week and asked my aunt and me to come out. It was . . . well, I talked to her a few hours before I talked to you. There’s something going on and we have to go see her. We had arrangements but they fell apart and now . . . look, I can’t take Neeci out there. It messes her up too bad.”

“Bring her over.” He was proud to hear that he managed to keep his voice level. Completely straight. Nor did he lapse into a fit of begging. “Clay would love to see her.”

Then, before she could say anything else, he disconnected.

Carefully, he put the phone down and before his brothers could say anything, he walked out.

He had probably twenty minutes—maybe a few less, because Ressa wasn’t much on taking her time behind the wheel.

He would need every last one of those minutes to try to make it look like he wasn’t totally falling apart inside.

*   *   *

Baffled, Sebastian stared at the rigid line of Trey’s back as he disappeared down the hall.

“What the fuck was that?” he demanded. Then he jerked back as Travis rapped his head. “Hey!”

“Watch your mouth,” Travis advised. “Clay is going to be up at any minute.”

“Fu . . . yeah. Okay.” Rubbing his skull, he glared at Travis through slitted eyes. “What’s up? And don’t tell me nothing. You two have been pissed at each other all week. He’s been dragging like something tore up all his books and now . . . Son of a bitch.”

This time he moved back in case Travis tried to smack him, but Travis just scowled at him. Hands on his hips, Sebastian studied Travis—the one who
used
to be the funnier twin. The lighthearted one.

“It’s a woman, isn’t it?”

Travis’s only response was a sigh. He stared down into his coffee, brooding.

“Aaaaannnndddd there are problems.” Sebastian dropped into a stool across from Travis and braced his elbows on the counter. “Who is she?”

“You should ask Trey all this,” Travis pointed out. Then he
slanted a hard look at him. “Except . . . don’t. They aren’t in a good place right now so leave him alone.”

“Well, maybe he needs to
talk
about it.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “And you’ve been the
hey, let’s talk
guy since . . . when?”

“He’s my brother, too,” Sebastian said quietly, rising from the stool and moving away. “Yeah, maybe I’m not as close to him as you are. But he’s still my brother. I still love him.”

“Damn it, Seb!”

But Sebastian just shook his head. Seemed like not a damn thing he did lately went right. He’d just go back to his room. Crash there—

“Uncle Sebastian! Hi! Wanna eat some donuts?”

Looking up, he saw the cute, sleepy eyes staring down at him from the second floor landing. He managed to smile. Well, okay. Yeah, maybe he didn’t piss off everybody.

*   *   *

Her hands were shaking.

This is ridiculous.

She was half-afraid to even walk up to that door and she kept replaying that conversation over and over in her head. How Trey’s voice had gone from warm . . . almost . . . she didn’t know how to describe the low, almost intimate sound of his voice, but she knew how to describe the shift it had taken after she’d started babbling.

I’m not ready to talk relationships, honey, but hey, I need a favor . . .

He’d gone cool on her. Oh, he was polite.

And it had ripped the heart out of her, because she knew what that cool tone hid.

She’d hurt him.

As she opened the door, she looked at her aunt. “I’ve got . . . I’ve got a few minutes, don’t I?”

“A few.” A faint smile curved her aunt’s lips. “As much as I want to get out of this car, I’m not going to. Not right now. Ressa . . . listen to your heart, okay? Not your fear and not your common sense.”

She nodded and closed her hand around Neeci’s. “Let’s get you inside. Bet you’re ready to see Clay.”

They started to walk, but Neeci was dragging her feet. “But . . . but I think Granny should come. She’ll wanna meet—” The girl’s eyes went wide and she snapped her mouth shut.