More Than A Four Letter Word (21 page)

Clarissa used the phone on the receptionist’s
desk to call security. She has to stop Julian before he killed
Lawrence. Julian’s fist flew up in the air when she grabbed it.
“Enough Julian!”

Clarissa has to realize that Randle would
have to pay for touching her. "He tried to hurt you! He has to be
taught a lesson." Julian feels as if he's having an out-of-body
experience. He went a little crazy when he upon seeing Clarissa’s
torn blouse and bloody face.

"I'm okay, you saved me."

Julian's still standing over Randle when
security showed up. “You guys sure did take your sweet time getting
here. Escort Miss Marks back to her office and wait for the
police

"What about him?"

"I have some unfinished business with Mr.
McHale before the police can have him."

Clarissa has never seen this side of Julian.
"Julian!" His dark gaze rested on her face.

Julian removed his suit jacket and put it
around Clarissa’s shoulders. "Don't worry baby, I promise not to
kill him." Clarissa gives him a nod of understanding and walks away
with the security guards.

Randle began laughing hysterically. “I almost
had her.”

"I promised my woman that I wouldn't kill
you, that doesn't mean that I won't beat you bloody. You should
have never put your hands on my woman, now your hands and legs will
never work properly for the rest of your miserable life.

***

Julian called Ivan. "I want you to get rid of
the men on McHale's detail. They lost him, and he attacked
Clarissa."

"Oh shit Julian! Ms. Marks okay."

"No! She damn well isn't okay."

"I'll take care of the guards immediately.
What happened to McHale? Do you need me to dispose of the
body?"

"What's left of him is in police custody."
After putting his phone away, Julian goes in search for Clarissa.
He finds Clarissa in her office picking up her personal items off
the floor. “Clarissa, you okay?”

“
I’m OK Julian. I just want
to go home.”

“
The police are here, we
need to make a statement, and then I’m taking you to the hospital
to get checked over.”

The police arrived and questioned Clarissa
and Julian. Clarissa could feel Julian distancing himself from her
as he helped her into his car. The ride to the hospital is a silent
one, when they reach emergency Julian refuses to leave her side.
The doctor comes in and asks Julian to step into the hallway before
he examines her.

“
You are an extremely lucky
lady Ms. Marks; there are no broken bones just a few abrasions.
I’ll have the nurse bring you something for the swelling in your
face.”

The doctor leaves, giving Clarissa time to
dress before the nurse arrives. She wrapped Julian’s jacket around
her body, which gave her some comfort. Julian followed the nurse
into the examining room and waited patiently for her departure.
Clarissa's head is full of questions, and she couldn’t wait for the
answers any longer.

“
The doctor told me that
it’s okay for me to take you home. We have a lot to talk
about?”

Clarissa followed Julian to his car her mind
ran rapid thinking about tonight's events. She wasn't supposed to
be at work when Randle attacked her. Why was Julian so upset when
he found out that she was in her office? All of a sudden,
everything clicked into place. She turned to look at Julian's tense
face; he hadn't said a word since they got into the car.

“
I just found out tonight
that Randle was engaged to Lacey Hamilton. Somehow, I have an
inkling that you already knew this bit of information. Turns out
the Randle and his lover planned everything. She falsified soil
results, and he did the clean-up work."

Julian cursed. "Clarissa, listen to me."

"Not in the car Julian, we'll talk in my
condo where I can get mad and throw things when you tell me why you
set me up."

Julian pulled into her parking space and
followed her quietly into her condo. He had never seen her so
pissed off. Now certainly wasn't the time for him to try and
manhandle her. She'd probably kick his testicles into his
throat.

Clarissa walked into the kitchen and started
preparing dinner. She motioned Julian to sit down. "Whose idea was
it to use me a bait to lure Randle to Chicago?"

"Honey it wasn't like that. You were never in
any real danger."

"Never in any real danger! Look at my face
Julian. What do you think Randle would have done to me if you
hadn't arrived when you did?" She put the steaks in the broiler and
warmed the garlic mash potatoes and sautéed the mixed
vegetables.

"Calm down Clarissa. It was Harland's idea to
use Randle's connection to you. He noticed on your transcripts that
you and Randle had attended the same school. We knew that he was
involved knee deep in the situation with the EPA, but we couldn't
prove his involvement. Therefore, we led him to believe that an
individual investigator or tracker was looking into Lacey's virtual
hard drive for evidence.

"Why didn't you just tell me what was going
on?"

"I wanted to protect you. I had a security
detail on Randle as soon as he arrived in Chicago. It wasn't my
intention to put you in harm's way."

Clarissa didn't know whether to be angry or
hurt. "That's what you did Julian. If you had leveled with me from
the beginning, Randle never would have gotten close to me because I
would have taken precautions." She pulled the steaks out of the
broiler, fixed both of their plates, and set them on the table.

She grabbed a beer for him and poured a glass
of wine for herself. "I want to hear about everything else you
haven't shared with me. Let's start with your ex-wife."

Oh shit! Clarissa was out for blood tonight.
Ivan warned him to tell her about Randle, in his arrogance he
decided that he knew what was best. Now he has to come clean about
everything or he runs the risk of losing Clarissa. Losing her was
not an option. How did he even begin to tell her that Donna wasn't
his ex-wife, she's dead?"

Clarissa watched Julian as several emotions
flashed across his face. "Julian you were talking about the rules
of our relationship. Now I'm going to share my rules with you. I
cannot be with a man who lies or cheats on me. I'll give you this
one chance to come clean about everything. I'm tired, angry,
hungry, and horny as hell, and I plan on being appeased
tonight!"

Julian looked at Clarissa as if he had never
seen her before. Undoubtedly, Clarissa would be angry if she knew
that his cock was hard enough to pound nails into the wall. "I'm a
hard man Clarissa and I'm not used to answering to anyone.
Including you. I planned on telling you about Donna, but I wanted
to wait until you moved into my house with my ring on your finger.
In light of current events, I'll tell you everything you want to
know."

Clarissa nodded for him to
continue. "Tell me everything Julian.
What
happened to Micah's mother?"

Julian knew they would have this conversation
sooner or later, but he was hoping that it would be later. "Close
to ten years ago, I worked for a security company in Kansas City.
One of my teams blundered a contract with one of our biggest
clients, and I had to fix the problem. It wasn't a good time to
plan a trip to Los Angeles, but my hands were tied. I especially
felt terrible about leaving Donna with a two month old baby."

"Harland, who was my boss called me in Los
Angeles, and told me to catch the first plane to Kansas City. He
didn't tell me what the emergency was; I knew it was necessary
because he met me at the airport. Instead of taking me home, he
took me to his house where two police detectives came in and told
me that my wife had been murdered."

Clarissa felt a deep sense of foreboding as
Julian told her about his wife's death. "Murdered!"

Julian grasped Clarissa's hand as if he would
gain strength from her presence. "If you're going to be a part of
my life, you need to know how my wife was murdered. I just hope you
realize that I won't lose you in the process."

"Donna was murdered? How could you keep me in
the dark about Donna?"

"Well it's not the sort of thing you bring up
in casual conversation, and it really wasn't any of your
concern."

"It's something you should have told me up
front before I got involved with you." Before Clarissa could utter
another word, Julian silence her by putting two fingers over her
mouth."

"I'm sorry baby, but this isn't easy to talk
about. Let me finish telling you about Donna. After the detectives
had informed me about Donna, I had a fit. I accused them of lying,
and I demanded to see my wife and child immediately. The detectives
tried to question me, but I wouldn't cooperate. I kept demanding to
see my wife and child.

"I didn't believe the detectives until they
took me to the morgue to identify Donna's body. She was stabbed
several times and her throat slit. As I stood there in a trance,
the detectives assured me that my son was in foster care and that
he was unharmed. After a few hours of being questioned by the
detectives, they finally let me go."

"Did they ever find out who murdered
Donna?"

"They had several leads, but it never
amounted to much. I had a dangerous job, and Donna was murdered to
send me a warning. "

Clarissa gave up all pretense of eating. "Is
that why you haven't been in a serious relationship?"

"I hired a housekeeper and a personal
bodyguard for Micah. Most people don't know I have a son. I keep my
personal life personal. Micah doesn't know that his mother was
murdered or understand my need to keep him safe. I've had numerous
lovers since Donna died, but you are the only woman I let into my
son's life other than my Aunt Reva."

"Thank you Julian. I know how hard it was to
tell me about Donna. So what is the deal with Karen Nash?" She kept
talking before Julian could protest. "You've told me that you had
sex a couple of times, but that doesn't explain why she's still
hanging around."

"Karen Nash is an old friend. We hooked up a
couple of times, but that was way before I married Donna. We do
have a legitimate business relationship. We used her modeling
agency for some of our commercials, and we provided security
services to her company."

Clarissa snorted. "Security, huh! Well I hope
the security you provided for her was better than the security that
detailed Randle."

Clarissa had a right to be pissed, but he
needed to clear up some things too. "Well what about you Clarissa,
did anything happen in Orlando that you'd like to tell me? Randle
isn't the only one I put a security detail on. That morning you
almost got hit by a car; I thought maybe Randle was behind the
incident until Ivan assured me that he wasn't."

"So you had your security following me
around." Clarissa felt her anger begin to rise again. "Now I think
I understand why you were so pissy on the phone with me that day.
You were all indignant. Spouting off about relationship rules. Your
guys must have sent you a photo of me having a drink with Lawrence
and your fertile imagination sprouted out of control."

"I'm an extremely possessive man. Why didn't
you tell me that you met with Lawrence?"

Clarissa stood up and slammed her hand on the
table. "Because he didn't matter! I was there less than twenty
minutes, and the only person I could think about was you. You! You
arrogant, self-centered, jealous, possessive asshole! I felt
nothing for a man I was engaged to for three years because I was so
in love with you. Are you happy now?" Clarissa left Julian in the
kitchen as she sought out the sanctuary of her bedroom.

Julian wanted to follow her, but he has to
calm down first. His blood lust is still riding high from beating
the crap out of Randle McHale. The only thing he could think about
is thrusting his cock inside Clarissa's hot pussy. He cleared the
kitchen table, put the food away, and stacked the dishes in the
dishwasher. He took off his suit jacket and tie, throwing them
haphazardly on the chair before following Clarissa into her
bedroom.

He finds her lying on the bed still fully
dressed and not responding to his approach. He took off his shoes
and slid onto the bed beside her. She tried to turn her back on
him, but he gathered her into his arms, holding her until he feels
the tension leave her body. "Baby I'm sorry." He whispered. "You're
right I should have told you everything I knew about the EPA case.
I should have trusted you enough about Donna's death." He lifted
her chin and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I love you
too."

Clarissa pulled out of his arms. She stands
up and takes off her clothes, all except for a pair of lacey white
panties. She bends over him, unbuttoning his shirt, smoothing her
hands across his muscular chest. "I'm still tired. I lost my
appetite." She traced Julian's face with the slightest touch. He
kissed the palm of Clarissa's hand before he grabbed her arm and
yanked her on top of him. "I'm not as angry anymore, but I'm still
horny as hell. What do you plan on doing about that?"

Julian let out a throaty laugh. God knows he
loves this woman. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to make love to me and never let
me go."

Julian flipped her onto her back and rubbed
his erection against her mound. "Baby you must have read my
mind."

***

Chapter 16

When Clarissa woke up alone in bed on Friday
morning. She barely remembered Julian telling her about some
business he needed to attend to before their date tonight. She gets
out of bed and heads towards the bathroom. The left side of her
face is still a little tender, but she isn't feeling any pain. The
medicine the nurse gave her last night helped a lot. She did what
Julian suggested and put an ice pack on her face before going to
bed. She looked at her face in the mirror. Her face is still a
little red, but it didn't swell up.