Scandalous Heroes Box Set (171 page)

Right now Tank couldn’t appreciate the odd coincidence. He would have to make a stop to visit his employee before leaving. If nothing else, maybe Dru saw something.

“Lock up. Watch your employees. Call me whenever you need me.” With those words, he walked out to start the next chapter of his life. Whether Eminence became a part of it was still up in the air.

Tank drove over to Dru’s apartment in Norfolk. Once he got to the door, he pounded on it with his fist. Although he wanted to approach his employee with a calmer demeanor, the more he thought about someone stealing from Jordie, the more his blood boiled.

Tank pounded on the door again.

“Yeah, yeah. This had better be fucking important.” Dru opened the door.

Wearing nothing but boxers shorts, he looked like Tank had interrupted his sleep. If Dru had nothing to do with the missing items, Tank would apologize for waking him. If not, God have mercy on Dru’s soul.

“Tank. What are you doing here?” Dru rubbed his eyes as he leaned against the door jamb. “I thought you would be gone already.”

“I was just over at the club. I had forgotten something over there.” Tank peered into Dru’s place. “Mind if I come in so we can talk?”

Dru peered over his shoulder then back at Tank.

“You have some company over?” Tank stared into Dru’s eyes, watching for any signs of nervousness.

“Nah, I’m here by myself.” Dru took a step to the side. “Come on in.”

Tank stepped into the darkened apartment. Even in the dim light, he saw that his employee did not like to keep a tidy household. Clothes, shoes, and papers littered the floors and counters.

“Make yourself at home. I’ll throw on some pants.” Dru patted Tank on his shoulder before disappearing down a hallway to his bedroom.

“You could have just gotten dressed out here. You have enough clothes lying around.” Tank strolled around the apartment, looking for clues.

He really had no real reason to suspect Dru of any wrongdoings. He had been a model employee. Tank had even toyed with the idea of making the man general manager of the Tidewater region. His gut told him not to leave any stone unturned. He had to know.

“So what are you up to, man?” Dru shuffled back into the living room area and plopped down on the couch.

“Like I said, I was just up at Jordie’s getting some stuff and she shared something with me.” Tank stared at his friend, the same one who, back a few years ago, admitted to stealing before.

Okay so it had been bubblegum and Dru had been five. Still Dru could be reverting back to bad habits.

“What did she say? The place was packed, so I know she has to be happy about that.” Dru rubbed his eyes, then moved his hand to the top of his shaved head and rubbed that as well.

“Do you mind if I get something to drink?” Tank jumped up from the couch and headed to the kitchen area before Dru could answer.

“Grab me something while you’re in there. I’m sure this will be the only time I can ask my boss to do something for me.” Dru laughed.

Tank opened the refrigerator door to grab some water or even a soda. So far he hadn’t seen anything out of place in Dru’s apartment. Then something caught his eye as he turned around. The trash can next to the fridge had garbage overflowing from it. That didn’t surprise Tank. When he saw the familiar gold label, he stopped in his tracks.

Tank pulled the butt end of the bottle from the garbage first before turning it over and looking at the label.

“I know my place is a mess, but surely you can find something to drink.” Dru laughed.

Tank found nothing funny. He stomped into the living room and turned on the overhead light. He wanted to be sure to see the expression on Dru’s face when he confronted him.

“What the hell is this?” Tank held up the empty bottle.

Dru looked at his and smiled. “I’ll say it was the start of a great evening with some twins.” Then he laughed.

Tank slammed the bottle on the coffee table. “Jordie told me that someone took a case of Cristal from her bar. Then I come in here and find—”

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Dru stood up fast for a man who had just woken up from a deep sleep. “You don’t think I stole anything from her, do you?”

Tank didn’t say anything. He hoped his stare and the evidence would speak for themselves.

Dru shook his head. “Fuck you, man. I thought you were my friend. I can’t believe you would accuse me of doing anything like that.”

“But you never answered the question.”

Dru snickered. “I shouldn’t have to.” He stormed to his door and opened it. “Consider this my resignation. I can’t work for someone who thinks I would steal from my employer.”

With his head held high, Tank walked to the door.

As Tank strolled through it, Dru said, “Call the cops over here if you want. I have nothing to hide. Apparently a backstabber like you have lots to hide.”

Tank turned to Dru. Before he could say anything, Dru got in the last word.

“So much for friendship.” Dru slammed the door.

Tank hated to accuse Dru of anything, but as Jordie’s friend and as his client, he had to ask. He just hoped he’d been wrong. Now he lost Eminence twice and one of his best employees. Maybe he needed to go to start a new life.

Chapter Fourteen

Eminence’s hands trembled as she held onto her cell phone. She wiped away the sweat on her forehead. Taking deep breaths helped her calm her nerves. She still had to make the call. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to heal other relationships in her lives, mainly with Keys.

The day after breaking up with Les, or rather Les breaking up with her, and after giving herself a pep talk, she pressed the speed dial number for her father. It’d been years since she’d spoken to him.

At the first ring, Eminence wanted to disconnect the call. She pressed her free hand onto the table to prevent herself from hitting “end” on the phone. After the second ring, her breathing increased.

The third ring had her rattled. Eminence pulled the phone from her ear to disconnect the call when she heard a click then a voice.

“Is anyone there?”

“Um, Dad.” She swallowed hard and waited for his response.

His long sigh would sound in her head for the rest of her life.

“I’ve waited a long time for this call, too long.” Her father’s voice hitched in the middle of his statement.

A lump formed in Eminence’s throat. She took another deep breath before speaking. “How have you been?”

“I’m fine. And you—”

“And you remarried, right?”

“You heard, huh? Yes, I did. And are you—”

“Any more children?”

“Let’s stop talking about me.”

Damn, her father had figured out what she tried to do, avoid talking about herself. “It’s been so long, Dad. I wanted to talk about you and what’s going on with you.”

“What’s going on with me? I’ve been worried about you. You’ve never left my thoughts.”

“I’ve thought about you, too.”

“Really? What did you think about? Were you thinking about how I taught you how to ride a bike without the training wheels? Or did you think about how I taught you how to drive? Or maybe you thought about how I chaperoned your very first slumber party.”

Eminence hadn’t thought about any of those great memories. “No, I—”

“You’ve only thought about that day you saw me and Lynette.”

She never knew the woman’s real name. Eminence flinched as though the woman had wronged her. “Lynette. That’s her name?”

“You can meet her. You know you’re always welcomed in my home.”

“Dad, I—”

“What? Are you about to tell me that you can’t meet her because you would feel like you would be betraying your mother?” Her father’s tone grew indignant.

“Yes. How could you think I would forget that?”

“And how could you think that I would do anything to hurt you?”

“But—”

“No, I don’t want to argue with you, but you have condemned me and my wife because you assumed something about a situation. You have to stop jumping to conclusions and pushing people away.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that.” Was she really that judgmental? After what she’d done with Keys, she had no right to be.

“I love you. Your mother loves you. If you give her a chance, Lynette will love you. Instead of judging a situation, I wished you would have just talked to me and your mother first.”

“That day.” Eminence shook her head as though her father could see her. “I saw you kissing her in our house. How could you bring her to our house? I don’t blame Mom for moving out.”

“Honey, even though you’re an adult, there are still things that are private between your mother and my relationship. I will never, ever say anything against your mother. I think I know your mother long enough to know that she would grant me the same courtesy. At least, that’s what I hope. But there are things that occurred between your mother and me that happened long before you saw me kissing Lynette.”

The implication of his statement sounded like perhaps Eminence’s mother hadn’t been faithful to her father first, or perhaps she had been emotionally unavailable and mentally cruel to him. Before she could spout off her theories, her father interrupted her.

“Don’t get wrapped up in our past. Just know that we both love you. We will always support you. But we’re human and we make mistakes. I probably shouldn’t have brought Lynette over to the house so soon.”

“Yeah, that would have been nice.” Eminence wanted to tell him that because of that moment she stopped trusting men, stopped trusting Keys.

Like her father had said, she needed to quit blaming others for her judgmental nature and learn to listen.

“Your mother and I should have sat you down and talked to you about what was happening between us. As our daughter and a member of the family, you were owed that. For that, I am sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Eminence smiled. “Only if you’ll forgive me for being so stubborn and pigheaded.”

“You can’t help it. You get that trait from me.”

Eminence laughed with her father, a wonderfully intoxicating feeling that she wanted to bottle. “Thanks for the advice, Dad. I need to have a conversation with someone very important to me. I made a mistake. He needs to hear my side.”

“I’m always here for you if you need me.”

“Thanks, Dad. I don’t think cookies and milk will fix this problem.”

“Wouldn’t hurt.” He released a long sigh. “So will you come here for dinner tonight?”

Eminence wanted to say “no.” She had trained herself to close herself down to being hurt again. She had to learn to open up for her heart’s sake. She had to try. “What about tomorrow night? Would that be okay?”

Her father laughed. She could almost imagine his beaming smile.

“Yes, more than okay. Come at six. Or get here first thing in the morning and spend the day. I would love it.”

The way her heart pounded, Eminence would have loved it to, being able to reconnect with her father again.

“I love you, Dad.” She meant every word.

Years of distrust and hate melted as soon as she spoke to him. Everyone had a story. Eminence had to learn to listen once in a while.

“I—uh love you, too.” He choked up on his statement and quickly ended the call.

Eminence had to wipe her eyes from the tears that freely flowed. How could she have been so stupid? No more. She ended her situation with Keys on a bad note last night.

Now if she could get Keys to listen to her and forgive her, she could really be happy. From this conversation, she learned a great lesson. Eminence had to be honest with both Keys and herself. No time like the present.

Eminence grabbed her purse and ran out the door to do what she had been making Keys do their entire relationship: put herself on the line and stop him from leaving this time.

****

Stalking had never been Eminence’s thing, but she didn’t know what else to do. As she sat outside of Keys’s home, she thought about everything he’d said to her their last night together, how he’d called her a hypocrite.

She didn’t care that he had started his own business. Deep down she knew Keys had it in him to do great things in life. Owning a security company seemed right up his alley. In one form or another, he’d protected her, Jordie, and countless other people. The fact that he still loved her shocked her to her core.

Although she wanted to deny it, she loved him, too. He had been dead on with his assessment that she wanted an excuse to leave him. As she thought about the boyfriends she’d had after Keys, she’d done the same thing to them. First she left them if they came with any kind of drama—children from other relationships, being a mama’s boy, having too many female friends. Yes, some of the reasons made no sense, but she didn’t want to be attached and have her heart broken.

Now she was unattached and heartbroken. Keys meant the world to her, then and now. She just had to show him that before more time passed.

A large semi-truck rolled down the street and parked directly in front of Keys’s house, blocking Eminence’s view. Damn, Keys would be leaving soon. The driver and passenger got out and started heading up the driveway. After a couple of minutes, they came back to the truck and opened the back portion. They grabbed a couple of hand-trucks and headed back up the driveway.

Eminence could no longer wait. She jumped out of her car and started to go across the street. Before she hit the driveway, a car stopped in front of Keys’s townhouse. A tall, thin, beautiful woman stepped out of it. Her obvious honey blonde wig swung around a face that held small, delicate features with exception of her full, bow-shaped red lips that looked great against her dark skin. In her overcoat, Eminence couldn’t tell if she wore anything underneath. In her stilettos, her legs looked a mile long.

The woman looked at Eminence as she stepped onto Keys’s driveway. When Eminence noticed the woman also walking up the same driveway, she halted her gait.

“Who are you?” Eminence asked.

The woman stopped and turned to Eminence with a cat-that-ate-the-canary small smile. “Who are you?”

“I’m a friend of Keys.” Although the words came out of Eminence’s mouth with confidence, she didn’t think Keys would call her a friend right now.