Snapped (35 page)

Gillian was spent and Frankie was rock hard. Eagerly sliding on a condom, he watched her feeling the aftereffects of multiple orgasms. He climbed on top of her, slipping her bra off and sucking her nipples till they stood rock hard against his chest as he entered her. He slid within her wetness and took his time, stroking her, kissing her, whispering in her ear that she felt so good.

Gillian grabbed Frankie’s back and grinded back at him, loving the way he felt inside of her. She had never felt anything like this and didn’t want it to ever end. He held her tightly to him as he stroked her, held her so close that their sweat mixed together and their breathless kisses made her emotions overflow. Gillian began to cry and Frankie kissed her tears, slowed his pace, and looked in her eyes.

“You want me to stop?”

She shook her head and grabbed him tighter, wrapping her legs around him as if to pull him in deeper. “No,” she whispered. “No, don’t stop.”

For the rest of the night they expressed the love they’d felt for each other for so long. As the sun came up, Frankie watched her sleep and knew that her sleeping face was the first thing he wanted to see every morning for the rest of his life.

Toya could not believe her ears. Camille was bugging the fuck out about Frankie on the phone. “Slow down!” she demanded. “I can hardly understand what you’re saying!”

“Frankie might be hurt!” Camille yelled, holding the phone closer to her mouth as she shouted, as if Toya were deaf. “Nobles got killed last night, and Frankie hasn’t called and he never came home.”

Toya sat down at her desk at her real estate office and held her head in anguish. Once again, one of her dearest friends was in crisis. “Oh God!” she lamented. “Tell me what happened, from the beginning. The last time I spoke to you, you were going to the old man’s anniversary party.”

Camille poured herself a glass of cognac and sat down. “We went to the party. Everything was nice and we had a good time. But everybody was acting tense, and Frankie took me home so I would be out of harm’s way just in case something popped off.” Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. She was conveniently leaving out her argument with Frankie and the fact that he had moved his things out.

“How did he know that something was gonna happen? He just sensed it?” Toya was frowning.

“I don’t know. He just said something didn’t feel right and he wanted to take me home.” As she lied, Camille wished that was all there was to it.

“Okay, so he takes you home and goes back there. Then what?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I haven’t heard from him since. Now he’s not answering his phone and I only heard about Nobles when I looked at the newspaper this morning. The story about his murder is on the front page.” She looked at the headline of the
New York Daily News
, which blared,
NOTORIOUS NOBLES DEAD IN AMBUSH
. “It’s not like Frankie not to answer his phone when I call, Toya. I’m scared.”

“Did you call that bitch Gillian?” Toya felt that she had to ask.

Camille hated to admit that she had. In fact, she had been repeatedly dialing Gillian’s home number since about an hour after Frankie stormed out. “I got her number off the caller ID and I’ve been calling her and she’s not answering, either. But her father is dead and her brother is not going to make it, according to the newspaper. She could be anywhere.”

Toya searched to find the right words to say. She put her inner bitch on the shelf in order to show compassion to her friend. “Camille, just relax. I’m sure he’s fine. Did you call the hospital?”

Camille fought back tears. “I called St. Vincent’s, where they took Baron, but Frankie wasn’t admitted there. What if he’s dead, Toya?”

“Stop thinking like that! Here’s what we’ll do. Meet me at St. Vincent’s Hospital. I’ll leave now. If Baron is there,
somebody has to know where Frankie is. We’ll ask questions. Stop panicking and meet me there now.”

Toya hung up before Camille could protest.

By the time
Gillian woke up, Frankie had a full report on Baron’s condition. She rose out of bed, naked as a newborn child, and walked into the bathroom, where Frankie was shaving. She felt like last night had been both a terrible nightmare and a dream come true. She had ended the night in the arms of the man she loved. But her beloved father was gone and her brother’s life hung in the balance. “Good morning.” She looked at him expectantly.

Frankie looked back at her and felt guilty for wanting her all over again. Her body made him bite his lip with longing. “Good morning, gorgeous,” he greeted her. Then he kissed her, morning breath and all.

“Did anybody call about Baron yet?”

He nodded. “His mother is here. She’s at the hospital with him, and he made it out of surgery. They just don’t know how long it will take him to wake up. He’s not sedated anymore, but so far, he’s still unresponsive.”

Gillian stood there, digesting that. Her brother was in a coma. Her father was dead. What she had hoped was just a nightmare was actually very real.

Frankie pulled her close to him and tilted her chin to face him. “Everything is gonna be okay. I promise.”

She wanted to believe him but couldn’t see how things could ever be okay again. “What do I do now, Frankie?”

“First we’ll get you some clothes and go to the hospital and check in on Baron and see if Celia needs anything. Then we’ll go get your mother and take her to make arrangements
for Pops.” Frankie felt himself getting choked up as he said it. “Then we’re gonna come back here and lay low for the time being.”

“We can’t lay low forever.” Gillian felt like everything had fallen apart. “Eventually, we have to handle the business. What then?”

“By then, Jojo won’t be a problem anymore.” Frankie said it so firmly that Gillian knew he had a plan.

She stepped back and looked at Frankie, caught off guard. “I don’t want you to get hurt or go to jail, Frankie. I can’t take that on top of everything else. My brother is dying and Daddy is already gone. I can’t deal with losing you, too.”

“Don’t worry about me. Just let me do what needs to be done,” he said. “And Baron is gonna be okay, Gigi. Trust me.” Frankie hated even uttering Baron’s name. He was still furious that Baron’s beef with Jojo had cost Nobles his life.

She nodded, feeling reassured. It was amazing how this man could make her feel like no matter what happened, she could handle it with him by her side. She went to the sink and brushed her teeth with the brand-new toothbrush lying in the package on the counter. She looked at Frankie’s reflection in the mirror. He looked so good standing there, all chocolate and brown. She thought back to last night and how they’d lain together, their lovemaking bringing her to tears. He’d held her so close to him that their heartbeats seemed to synchronize. Gillian wanted to feel that again. She finished and set her toothbrush down, then turned the water off and faced Frankie.

“Take a shower with me.”

Frankie didn’t need to be asked twice. He stripped out of his wifebeater and boxers and turned the shower on full steam. Stepping into the hot streaming water, he held Gillian’s
hand as she stepped in after him. They slid the glass door shut, and Gillian reached for the soap. She lathered Frankie’s sexy brown body from head to toe, and when she was done, he reciprocated. He ran his fingers through her long, thick hair and kissed and sucked on her every hot spot. She moaned his name as he fingered her, and she felt her juices flowing like a river between her thighs. She pulled away and bent on her knees and slowly took all ten inches of Frankie into her mouth. He had to fight the urge to moan like a female. It felt so good! Not able to hold back any longer, he pulled her to her feet and scooped her up in his arms with her ass resting firmly in his big hands. Frankie pressed his back against the wall and, using his bulging arms, lifted her easily onto his rock-hard dick. Bouncing her up and down on his manhood, he watched her face twist into ecstasy and could feel her throbbing on his dick as she reached her climax. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and began to writhe on him, grinding her pussy onto him until finally he exploded.

They rinsed off and emerged from the shower, both of them light-headed from the sex. He followed her into the bedroom and pulled her down to lay beside him on the king-size mattress. Frankie looked into her eyes and realized that he was definitely in love with Gillian.

“You don’t love Sadiq,” he said.

“How do you know?” Gillian asked, smiling and noticing that Frankie had gotten her boyfriend’s name right for the first time ever.

“ ’Cuz I know you.” Frankie touched her nose, tracing the freckles that were now his favorite part of her face.

She didn’t deny it. “You’re right. I don’t love Sadiq.”

“So why do you stay with him?”

She hesitated. “Because he keeps my mind off of you.”

Frankie had suspected that. But hearing her say it was music to his ears.

“You don’t love Camille like you used to.” Gillian was turning the tables on him.

He sat in silence for a long time. He thought about their fight last night—how he’d been waiting for an excuse to leave Camille. She had finally given him a way out. “You’re right. I don’t.”

Gillian exhaled, pulled him toward her, and kissed him softly.

“So why do you stay with her?” she asked, meeting his gaze.

Frankie sighed. “Part of me feels obligated to her. Like I told you, in the early days, I didn’t have shit. I was making money, but I was spending just as much as I made. I needed to make more, but I didn’t have the cash to do it. Your pops helped me out a lot, but I was too proud to ask for more at that time. Camille was doing her modeling shit back then.” When Frankie had begun dating Camille, she had the face and figure of a top model. Long legs, slim waist, and big boobs, plus a chiseled face with beautiful warm brown skin. She was stunning. And Frankie had been smitten with her. “She handed me eight grand one time, which was all the money she made doing a shoot. She told me she could tell that I was struggling and she wanted to help me get on. We weren’t even married at the time.”

Gillian nodded. “That’s real.”

“It is.” Frankie cleared his throat. “And I did love her at first.” He remembered that their love was unparalleled in those days. It seemed so long ago. “Because she rode it out with me in the beginning, I stayed with her even though the
love wasn’t the same. The thing is, it’s getting harder for me to pretend like I’m happy. And now . . . I think it’s safe to say it’s over. I don’t really enjoy being around her anymore. She’s so uptight all the time, always concerned about what people will think about her or about us. I want her to let loose sometimes and rock a Yankee fitted.”

Gillian laughed.

“It’s like everything she does gets on my nerves. And on top of that, she gained weight. And I don’t want to be an asshole about it, but I don’t like her looking like that. She used to take care of herself better than she does now.” He shook his head. “I do love Camille. There’s a lot of history between us. So I got love for her. But it’s not how it used to be. With you . . . it’s different.”

Gillian felt her heart two-step again. “What’s different?”

Frankie stared into her dancing eyes and grinned slightly. “The way I love you is different.”

Gillian wasn’t smiling. “You don’t really mean that, Frankie.” Her expression turned sad. “And I don’t need to be lied to right now.”

He kissed her hand and stared at her for a few moments before he responded. “Have I ever lied to you before?”

She shook her head no, felt herself getting choked up.

“I’m not gonna start lying now.” He kissed her lips. “I love you, Gigi. I’m dead serious about that.”

She smiled and touched his face gently. “I love you, too.”

Frankie kissed her deeply, and they both knew that things would never be the same again.

“Here he comes.” Toya nudged Camille and nodded toward her approaching husband.

Camille’s heart sank. She sat and watched Frankie and Gillian walking down the hospital corridor in her direction. She had been calling her husband all night and day, and he never picked up his phone. She had called every hospital in Manhattan in search of him. She had even called the medical examiner’s office, worrying and praying the whole time that he was safe. Now here he was, looking perfectly healthy, headed in her direction with the bitch she now despised for being the reason their marriage was imploding.

Thoughts raced through her head at lightning speed. She was heated that, by the looks of it, her husband had spent the night with Gillian. But what enraged her even more was the fact that Toya was present to witness Frankie’s brazen infidelity. Camille prayed silently that Frankie wouldn’t play her by ignoring her or disrespecting her in front of her friend.

“Hmmm!” Toya mumbled, seeing Frankie and Gillian striding down the long hallway. It was a cold December
morning, and Gillian looked adorable in her curve-hugging Seven jeans, a fitted black and gray striped sweater, and black leather booties. A cropped black motorcycle jacket completed the look, and her long hair blew slightly from the swiftness of her stride. Frankie walked beside her wearing jeans and a black button up. To Toya, they looked like a sexy Hollywood supercouple with their coordinated outfits. She wondered if Camille was finally realizing that her husband was sleeping with his best friend.

Meanwhile, Frankie had spotted Camille sitting beside Toya almost immediately. “Shit,” he said under his breath. Gillian looked at him and slowed her pace.

“She’s been waiting here for you all night?” she asked.

Frankie shook his head. “She must’ve come after I called this morning, because if she had been here all night Tremaine would’ve told me.”

Gillian didn’t need a confrontation with Frankie’s wife after having just lost her father. With her only sibling’s life hanging in the balance, she was in no mood for Camille’s melodrama. As they got closer, she felt her adrenaline rushing. If Camille made a scene, Gillian would not hesitate to beat her prissy ass senseless.