TOTAL ECLIPSE: The Evolution (Sin City Heat Series Book 7) (28 page)

Jerra giggled, but the reality of what they’d just done quickly sobered her. “We probably shouldn’t let this happen again, Darrell.”

Silence met her statement before he answered. “Okay.”

She lifted her head and gave him what he called her courtroom glower. “I mean it.”

Darrell placed a hand on her head and pushed it back down to his chest. “I said okay. Now get some rest.”

When he kissed her forehead, Jerra tensed, ready to reiterate her point. However, once she opened her mouth to do so, a huge yawn came out instead. Darrell was right. She was exhausted. And after the countless orgasms he’d just given her, it wouldn’t take much for her to pass out right now.

Another yawn hit her. She tried to lift her head but her eyelids felt heavy and weighted. “I should get up and…go…” Jerra burrowed closer to the warmth of Darrell’s body. “Maybe I’ll just lie here for a few minutes. I feel like I’ve been drugged or something.”

Amusement was thick in Darrell’s voice. “Good dick has a way of doing that.”

Jerra was so relaxed she couldn’t even summon up the strength to fling a comeback at him. Her breathing deepened as she drifted off to sleep. The last thought that ran through her mind was that he was so arrogant…but so right. Her husband’s good dick was the best relaxation tool that she could think of.

CHAPTER 32

The next morning, Jerra pulled the covers up to her ears as she fought to block out the annoying sound of her cell phone. By the ring tone, she knew it was Keisha. For the life of her, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she would be calling so early. She had to know that Jerra would be sleeping in late since D.J. was at Angel and Nikki’s house.

Finally, the phone stopped ringing. Jerra sighed in relief and snuggled deeper into her pillow, but the reprieve didn’t last long because seconds later, the irritating ring tone sounded out again.

Groaning with mounting frustration, Jerra jerked the covers down and blindly reached over and snatched her cell phone off the end table. Eyes still closed, she connected the call and answered with hella attitude.

“What, Keisha?” she snapped.

Keisha paused before responding. “Well. That was rude.”

“Keisha…”

“Whatever happened to ‘Hello, Keisha. How are you?’”

Jerra took a deep breath. “Hello, Keisha. How are you? Now, what do you want?”

“I know you’re not still asleep, Jerra. You never sleep this late. Now if it were me, or even Leesh, yeah, that would be normal, but you? Uh-uh.”

“Keishaaaaa….” Jerra cut in to stop her rambling. Hearing the hoarseness in her voice, she cleared her throat. “Why are you calling me this early? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine,” Keisha answered, sounding a little bit miffed at Jerra’s tone. “But even I wouldn’t call two in the afternoon early.”

Jerra’s eyes flew open. “What? It is
not
two in the…” Her voice slowly trailed off when she realized she wasn’t at home in her bed. She popped up into a sitting position and looked around the chicly decorated bedroom. She wasn’t still at…she
couldn’t
still be at…

She closed her eyes tight then opened them again. She thought last night had been a wonderful dream, but it wasn’t. She and Darrell had made love…several times. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep and Darrell promising to wake her in a few minutes…

I’m going to kill him!
She fumed. It was bad enough that she’d been weak enough to give in and have sex. She hadn’t wanted to compound the mistake by sleeping over and waking up at the condo the next morning. So much for that plan.

“I tried to call your home phone but didn’t get an answer,” Keisha continued. “Do you have your ringer off or were you just ignoring my call?”

Still thinking about how Darrell had probably deliberately let her sleep in, Jerra threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. “He is
so
dead.”

“What? Who?”

“Huh?” Jerra impatiently flipped her thick curls over her shoulder and looked around the room for her clothes. “Uh, nothing.”

“You sound…strange,” Keisha commented in a slow, cautious drawl. “You saw the pictures, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” Jerra responded in a distracted tone. “What pictures?”

She quickly walked to the bureau and pulled open a couple of drawers until she found Darrell’s t-shirts neatly folded there. Snatching out the first one she got her hands on, she slipped it on. There. That was a little better. She didn’t have any underwear on, but the shirt almost reached her knees so it would do for now.

“The pictures of Darrell online. I know there’s a logical explanation for them, but…”

“Keisha.” Jerra blew and frowned impatiently.

“You still need to kick his ass. If it were Dominick who’d been photographed with some half dressed thot in a club, I’d–”

“Keisha!” Jerra was getting more confused by the moment. “What are you talking about?”

“The
pictures
. Of Darrell and those skanks in the…” Suddenly, Keisha’s end went totally silent for several long seconds. “Crap. You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” Jerra asked suspiciously, but she was slowly starting to figure it out. Darrell had gone to
Club Ecstasy
with Hawk last night. From what Keisha was saying, apparently he’d had more fun than he let on. “Where did you see these pictures?”

“It doesn’t matter, Jerra. Like I said, I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for–”

“Where Keisha?” Jerra demanded, heart racing.

After Keisha grudgingly told her what social media site she’d seen the pictures on and the ‘hashtag’ to look under, Jerra pulled it up on her phone. She rapidly scrolled through the numerous photos until she came to the ones Keisha was talking about. The first picture was of Hawk and Darrell surrounded by a group of scantily dressed women who were primping and blowing kisses at the camera. Her mouth dropped open as she came to the next few showing Darrell seated in the VIP section of the club. In a couple of the pictures, several women sat close, crowding around him to get in the picture. The next shot captured an exotic looking model type with her arms around his neck kissing him on the corner of his mouth.

“Jerra. Hello? Jerra!”

Blinking her way out of the fog of jealousy closing in on her, she put the phone back to her ear and managed to answer Keisha in a surprisingly normal voice. “I’m here.”

“You okay? Because you know these bitches will snap a picture and post a selfie in a minute nowadays, so–”

“Everything’s…fine, Keish. I’m not worried about that.” She bit her tongue on the lie, but took a deep breath before continuing. “Anyway, I didn’t realize it was so late. I’d planned on picking D.J. up a couple of hours ago so that I could spend some time with him, maybe catch that movie he’s been wanting to see but now…”

“Actually, that’s why I’m calling. Dom and I are pulling up to Angel’s to get Manny and Dillon. If you want, we can scoop up D.J. too and drop him off to you before we take Dillon to Aleesha’s house.”

A look of indecision flashed across Jerra’s face. Her mind still on the pictures of Darrell, she couldn’t readily think of a reason to give Keisha not to pick D.J. up. But then again, if she let her do that, there was no way she’d beat her and Dom back to her house. She absolutely did not want Keisha and Aleesha to know about last night. At least not…yet. There was still a lot she had to process herself.

“I…uh, no, no, that’s okay. Don’t…don’t worry about it. I’ll get him.”

“Girl, it’s not a problem. Seeing as how you’re so discombobulated right now about the time, it’ll probably take you another hour or so to get yourself together. Besides, it doesn’t make sense for you to drive all the way to Nikki and Angel’s house when Dom and I are already here. We’re not staying long. Should be at your house in about half an hour or so.”

“Keisha, no! I…I mean…I appreciate it, but it’s okay.” Jerra closed her eyes. Hell, she sounded suspicious to her own ears. She had no doubt Keisha’s ass would pick up on it too.

Keisha’s next words told her she was right. “Okay, what in the hell is up with you? Please don’t tell me you’re upset about those pictures. You know you have nothing to worry about when it comes to Darrell and other women.”

“I…no, I’m not worried about that.”
Too muc
h, she added silently.

“Then what?”

Jerra heard her tell Dom that he could go on inside and she would be there in just a minute.

“Well? I’m waiting?” Keisha had that stubborn lilt in her voice that told Jerra she wasn’t letting this go.

Dammit! Jerra felt like stomping her foot. To say she was such a great lawyer, when it came to her two best friends she couldn’t lie worth a shit!

“I’m not home right now, but I’ll call you later on.” Jerra sped through the short explanation, hoping against hope that it would be enough to put Keisha off for a little while, but deep down inside, she knew she was only fooling herself.

“Wait. You said you were just waking up so–” Keisha stopped abruptly. The next sound Jerra heard was Keisha drawing in a sharp, drawn out breath. “Bitch, where are you?” she screamed.

Jerra sighed and pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment. After taking several deep breaths, she responded in a dry tone, “Do you think you could scream a little louder? I don’t think they heard you on the next street.”

“Jerra–”

“Can we please talk about this later? And yes, you’re right, since you’re there you can get my son and–”

“Oh,
hell
nah! We gon’ talk about this
now
! I know you went to the party your firm threw for you last night. Are you saying…Jerra, did you…have you been home since then?”

“Obviously not,” Jerra answered snidely.

“Where did you spend the night last night?” Before Jerra could answer, Keisha whispered, “Oh, please tell me you didn’t fuck Justin. Jerra, puleeze tell me you didn’t do that.”

“
What
? No, Keisha I did
not
sleep with Justin!”

Keisha dramatically released a breath she’d obviously been holding until Jerra answered. “Oh thank God!”

“Why would you even suggest something like that?”

“I’m sorry, sis. I, um, of course I knew you wouldn’t do that.”

“Yeah, right!” Jerra rolled her eyes at the insincerity she heard in Keisha’s voice.

“But if you didn’t spend the night with Justin…um, Jerra…?”

      Jerra could almost see the wheels turning in Keisha’s head. “What?”

“Where’s D.?”

Keisha’s innocent tone didn’t fool Jerra for a minute. Since she figured it out, Jerra refused to give her the satisfaction of answering. Apparently her silence was enough confirmation.

“You spent the night with Darrell, didn’t you? That’s why you weren’t worried about those pictures because you had D. on lockdown last night,” Keisha cackled.

Jerra bit down on her tongue because if she said anything to Keisha it would be to curse her the hell out.

“You sneaky, little horny slut!” Keisha sang the words out with excitement and glee. “I ain’t mad at you, handle your business, girl!”

“Shut up, Keisha!” Jerra couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Girrrl...” Keisha sucked on her tongue as she processed the juicy bit of information she’d unwittingly stumbled across. “Well, alright, Ms. J! It’s about time. Divorce my ass.”

“Keisha, it doesn’t mean we’re getting back together right now,” Jerra hissed in a hushed tone. “Darrell and I were both clear on that before we…before he and I…before anything happened.”

“Girl, please. Tell that to somebody that don’t know you.” When Jerra started to argue, Keisha shushed her quiet. “Look, I know Dom is wondering what’s taking me so long, so I’m gonna hang up and let you get back to…well, whatever you and Darrell were doing before I called.”

“I was
sleeping
!” This time, Jerra gave in to the childish urge and stomped her foot.

“I bet you were. D. wore dat ass out, didn’t he? Swept the cobwebs out that coochie!” Keisha screamed, laughing so hard she could barely speak. “Alright, alright, I’m gonna leave you alone…for now. But I want every last detail, starting with how you ended up at Darrell’s place,
which
, by the way, is almost an hour away from Justin’s house. In the meantime, we’ll have Lil’ D with us. You can pick him up whenever you’re ready.”

“Thank you.”

A movement in the doorway suddenly caught Jerra’s attention. She looked up and saw Darrell standing there unabashedly listening to her conversation. How much had he heard?

When he walked further into the room, her pulse sped up at the very sight of him. It made no sense at all for a man to be so devilishly handsome. Jerra swallowed hard as her eyes ran over him. He was without a doubt the sexiest man she’d ever seen in her life; she would be lying if she said she didn’t want him again.

Jerra felt the slight soreness between her legs that was not at all unpleasant. The sex last night had been so damn good, but it had only been a teaser. She wanted more, and the promise she saw shining in his eyes told her he wanted to give it to her.

She was tempted to give in to the urge. Then she remembered the pictures. Jerra tore her gaze away from his and turned her back. “Keisha, if you’ll just do that for me, I’d appreciate it. As soon as I shower and get dressed, I’ll be there to get D.J.,” she said quietly.

“He’s standing right there, isn’t he?”

Jerra started to ignore the question, but it was next to impossible to ignore Keisha. Jerra glanced over her shoulder and saw Darrell boldly observing her as if trying to decide what part of her he wanted to start in on first.

She turned back around and whispered in the phone. “Yes.”

Keisha giggled. “Alright, sweetie, I’ll let you go and handle up on that. One last thing, though.” She hesitated then added softly, “He’s learned his lesson, Jerra. He’s miserable. You both are.”

Jerra’s first response was to tell Keisha that he should’ve learned his lesson the first time he insinuated his ex-girlfriend into their lives, but she managed to keep the words inside. “I’ll see you in a bit,” she said.

“Okay, love you, girl.”

“Love you too.”

After they hung up, Jerra closed her eyes and said a silent prayer for strength before turning to face Darrell. She gasped in surprise when she found him right in front of her. She hadn’t heard him move.