NO SECRETS NO LIES (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 3) (14 page)

     When she did, Marcus took the opportunity
to fill in the blanks for her, his voice hardening with every word he spoke.
“What he’s not telling you is that he’d cheated on Aleesha…not once, not twice,
but several times, which she later found out.” He leaned back with a smirk as
he delivered the rest of the story Amir didn’t want his sister to know.
“Apparently, while she was in Las Vegas at her bachelorette party, he was
having one last fling…in her house and in her bed. That’s how little respect he
had for her.”
     Amir and Marcus stared at each other in a battle of
wills. After a couple of seconds, Amir looked away. It didn’t matter if Aleesha
had also cheated. Alexis was in a relationship with him, and hearing his part
in this whole ugly mess was not something he ever wanted her to know. He’d been
a different man back then. He’d changed because of her.
     “Amir…?” Alexis waited for him to deny the accusations
that Marcus had just hurled at him. Her heart sank when he remained quiet. She
slowly pulled her hand from his.
     Marcus turned to his sister. He was almost sure she
wasn’t aware of the kind of man Amir was, and he would be damned if he’d stand
by and let him treat her the way he had treated Aleesha. He snorted in disgust
when he thought about how he’d actually wanted to thank the man Alexis was in
love with for taking care of her.
     A thought suddenly occurred to Marcus as he thought
about Michael. Alexis said Michael was almost ten years old now. Aleesha had
never mentioned Amir having kids, nor had he heard about any children in the
media. Knowing the type of man he was and the morals he had, Marcus didn’t
doubt that he probably hadn’t even told her. That meant this bastard had left
his sister alone with a child to raise on her own. Probably had treated her the
same way he’d treated countless other women - with no respect. But the problem
here was the other women weren’t his sister. He turned eyes full of renewed
anger towards Amir. No good son of a bitch.
     “Alexis, I realize this is a lot for you to digest.
You and I have found each other then you discover that he…" Marcus jerked
his head towards Amir. "...treated his ex-fiancée like dirt.”

     Amir sent Marcus a hate filled glare,
wanting to shove his fist down the other man’s throat.

     “Honey, maybe you should just come back
to my house and stay with us, or at the very least, let me get you another
room. I’d feel better knowing -”
     “Alexis is not going anywhere. She’s staying with me.”
Amir didn’t raise his voice, but his tone told Marcus how serious he was.
     “I wasn’t talkin’ to you. I was talkin’ to my sister.”
     Amir scowled. “She’s my girlfriend.”
     “I don’t give a fu -”
     “Enough! Will you two please stop it!! Now!” They both
became quiet as they continued to glare at one another. Alexis turned to Amir.
“Will you excuse us, please? I need to speak with my brother.”
     Amir clenched his jaw and put his hand over hers.
“Alexis, baby, I can explain everything...”
     Alexis pulled her hand from beneath his. “Amir, please.”
     Amir tried to draw her eyes to his, but she refused to
look at him. Finally, he exhaled in a huff and stood up. He leaned down to kiss
her lips, but Alexis turned her head so that his lips landed on her cheek. When
she kept her eyes lowered, he pushed away from the table and walked out of the
restaurant without another word. 

Chapter 18

    
Marcus
watched Amir as he left the restaurant. He felt no satisfaction in his sister’s
unhappiness, but better she end it with him now than continue and eventually be
hurt by him. He signaled the waiter for the bill.
     “Let me just take care of this. After you pack your
things, we can be on our way -”
     “I’m not leaving with you Anthony…I mean Marcus,” she
said with a small smile. “I guess I’d better get used to calling you that since
that’s what you go by.”
     Marcus stared at her and then carefully said, “Alexis,
you can’t stay with him…especially after what you’ve just found out. Honey,
he’ll only hurt you. Look, if you don’t want to come home with me, as I said,
at least let me get you another room…”

     Alexis shook her head gently at her
brother and squeezed his hand. “Marcus, I appreciate you looking out for me.
You don’t know how much. But I love him.”
     “Alexis…”
     “Marcus, he’s not the same man he was back then. Yes,
it was shocking to hear what he did, but that was in the past. You should see
him with Michael. He's such a great father and Michael is crazy about him.”
     “That’s fine, Lexie, but he can still be a good father
without you wasting your time with him.”
     “You have to promise me something. Promise me you’ll
stay out of it,” Alexis said softly to take away the sting of her words. “I can
handle this. I’m not a stupid woman, you know.” She gave him a teasing smile.

      Marcus sighed, his face still
serious. “Alright. I don’t like it, but as you’re so tactfully trying to tell
me, you’re a grown woman. And I trust you to do what’s best for yourself and
your son.”
     “Thank you.”
     “But I’m going to be watching him. If he hurts you…I
will
kill him.”
     “He won’t hurt me. But he and I definitely have some
things we need to clear the air about.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek as
she stood up.

     After he paid for the bill, Marcus walked
her to the elevators. “So…I’ll be by to pick you up around ten o’clock in the
morning?”
     “Yes.
We'll
be ready."

     Marcus started to protest, but when he
saw the stubborn set of her mouth, he changed his mind. Through gritted teeth,
he said, “Fine. I’ll be here to pick you
both
up in the morning.”

     Alexis smiled in relief and gave him one
last hug and kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, big brother. I love you.”
     “I love you too, sis.”
     Amir's thoughts raced as he stalked back and forth across
the room, and had just made up his mind to go back to the restaurant when he
heard the door opening. He walked over to stand in front of it, and when Alexis
came in, he anxiously searched her face for some sign on what she was thinking.
     “Lexie?” Alexis nibbled on her lip as if unsure of
what to say. Amir dropped his head and sighed. "Okay Alexis, let's not
draw this out any more than necessary. I suppose after hearing what Bennett had
to say you want to end things."
     Alexis cocked her head to the side and looked at him
with soft eyes. “Why would you think that? I may not be happy about what I
learned, but I know in my heart you’ve changed. I told my brother the same
thing. I’m right…aren’t I?”
     Amir carefully examined her face. "So you’re not
breaking up with me?"

     Alexis moved her head from side to side.
"No. I love you, Amir. I thought you'd figured that out by now."

     Amir let out the long breath he'd been
holding and pulled her into his arms.  “I love you too, Alexis. Very much,"
he whispered. "I can explain -"

     "Wait..." Alexis covered his
mouth with her finger. She led him over to the bed so that they could sit down.
"In a minute. First, I want to apologize again for not being truthful
about why I came to Las Vegas."

     "It's just so crazy that your
brother is the man my ex-fiancée is married to. The times you've mentioned him,
you've always referred to him as 'Anthony'."

     Alexis nodded and wiped her eyes. "It's
funny. For some reason, Anthony is how I always thought about him.  Over
the years, vague memories have surfaced, but of course I don’t remember much.
Only that he used to hold me when I cried, would pat my back if I was scared.
I…I can’t remember his face or anything, but I remember he made me feel
safe."

     “Has he been in Vegas this entire time? I
would imagine he's been trying to find you as well."

    “He has, but it would’ve been next to
impossible to find me. See, I found out when I was adopted, my parents changed
my name so even if he’d been searching me, that would’ve made it harder.”
Alexis frowned. “The system lost track of him a long time ago. He grew up in an
orphanage. The last records they have are when he was a teenager, but after that,
it’s as if he dropped off the face of the earth.”

    Amir ran a hand over her hair. “Just know
you’ll always have my support, no matter what, Alexis. You and Michael….you’re
my family and you mean everything to me. I'm gonna tell you something. Even when
I was engaged to Aleesha, things somehow just seemed...off. It didn't feel
right and I should’ve handled things differently. After the engagement was
called off, my life spun out of control and it didn’t right itself until you
came back into my life. I love you, baby. If nothing else, please know
that."

     “I love you too, Amir.”

     As they continued to talk, it was like a
barrier had been lifted which allowed them to become even closer. Wrapped
securely in Amir’s arms, Alexis felt as if she were right where she was
supposed to be. Her brother had been the missing link, and now that she'd found
him, she couldn’t imagine her life being any more perfect.
 

     Marcus sat in his truck outside the hotel. His first
thought had been to call Aleesha, but he didn’t want to tell her this over the
phone. He’d wait until he got home. Instead, he pulled out his cell and dialed
another number then impatiently waited for the call to connect.
 

     In the dimly lit room, Darrell leaned back in his
chair and watched the woman working the stripper pole like she was born to do
it. The seductive music played softly in the background. His gaze followed her
every movement as her body writhed sensually to the beat. His hot, hungry eyes
roamed over her toned and fit frame.
    
Damn. To be that G-string runnin’ along the crack
of her ass must be nothin' short of heaven,
Darrell thought with a deep sigh.
     The ridiculously high heels she wore accented her
thick legs and juicy ass, and the pasties that covered her nipples emphasized
her firm, full breasts. She had to have the best tits he’d ever seen on a
woman. His mouth watered as he imagined devouring each like luscious, sweet
melons.
     His eyes followed her sexy strut that was purposely
exaggerated in order to mesmerize and hypnotize her audience of one. Damn sure
was workin’ too. Turning to face him, she placed her legs around the pole then
slowly dropped backwards, curving her spine until her head almost touched the
floor.
     Darrell groaned as he eyes wandered in between her
slightly spread legs. He licked his lips as he looked at the path he wouldn’t
mind his tongue taking right about now.

   
“Do your thing, baby,”
he whispered to her in a low sexy voice.
     His private dancer slowly pulled herself up then slid
down to a squatting position. Once there, she used every muscle independently
to methodically slither and creep her way back up the pole, winding her body
like a sinuous serpent. She stuck her butt out then rippled inwards until her
stomach kissed the pole. Continuing the sinewy move, she pulled her shoulders
back and brought her pelvis in, grinding her pussy mound against the hard, cold
steel. She repeated the sexy act so that she flowed up and down the pole in a
slinky motion.
     “Hell yeah.” Darrell reached down to cover the crotch
of his pants and squeezed his rock hard phallus. “Work that shit, baby.”
     Standing in front of him with her back resting against
the pole, she slowly spread her legs out and slid down and ended the move with
the splits. With the pole still behind her, she began to hump the floor so that
the coolness of the steel rubbed enticingly between her ass cheeks.
     “Fuck…” Darrell whispered hoarsely. "Come
here."

     The words were spoken quietly, but there
was no mistaking the fact that it was a demand – not a request. His gray eyes
were dark with desire. He wanted her…now.

     “Are you sure your wife is okay with
this?” she asked as she got on all fours and crawled over to him.
     “My wife likes to see me happy. And right now? I’m
very happy. So why don’t you come over here and make me ecstatic.”
     The woman grinned as she approached him and slid
between his wide spread legs. She moaned in appreciation as her hands moved up
his muscled thighs to get to her prize which was outlined thickly in his pants.
She licked her lips in anticipation, but before she could go any further his
phone on the table beside him rang. The woman paused and looked at it.
     “Don’t stop,” Darrell urged as he put a finger
underneath her chin and turned her head back towards him.
     “But…”
     “Shhh...” He leaned down to kiss her soft, succulent
lips. Moaning, his mouth continued to the enticing curve of her neck, loving
the way she trembled at his touch.
     The phone rang again. She tensed and glanced over at
it again before pushing his shoulders. “You should get that.”
     “Nah, baby...”
     “Or do I need to.” Her eyes told him they weren’t
going any further until he answered the phone.
     Darrell threw himself back against the chair with a
thousand knots forming in his frowning face. “Damn, Jerra!”
     “It could be about DJ, baby.”
     “DJ’s fine, he’s with Keisha and Dom.” When she just
continued to stare at him, he leaned over and snatched the phone up.
     “What!” he growled.
     “D, it’s Marcus.”
     “It’s not a good time, bruh.”
     “I need to talk to you. You remember I was meeting my
sister today?”
     Darrell froze and shut his eyes. Shit! That’s right.