Sinful Chocolate (16 page)

“M
ission accomplished,” Lexi murmured under her breath. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that the look on Gisella's face when she stormed toward her car in the high-rise parking deck meant one thing: everything had gone exactly as planned.

Now
she felt vindicated. Of course she still had one more bomb set in motion, but she had no doubt that when all was said and done, Charlie Masters would learn a valuable lesson.

Gisella slammed her car door and revved the engine. A second later, tires squealed, and a cloud of white smoke jetted out of her exhaust pipe when she peeled out of the parking deck. To Lexi's surprise, she experienced a nugget of sympathy but quickly shook it off. “Trust me, Frenchie. I did you a favor.”

 

Charlie leaned his head against the front door while the left side of his face still throbbed from Gisella's powerful slap. He felt as low as a man could get. Now Gisella believed that she was no different than the already forgotten faces and names in his damn black book.

He squeezed his eyes tight, but tears still managed to escape and race down his face. This morning he was looking forward to officially proposing to Gisella. He would have never believed that the day would end with her hating his guts and with him hating himself.

The only thing that prevented him from running after her was Dr. Weiner and his frat brothers' words. He couldn't continue to be selfish. It wasn't fair. However, there was one thing he now knew for sure—he was definitely in love with Gisella. It wasn't fear of fading mortality. The gut-wrenching sickness he experienced now could only be love.

Somehow he managed to pull himself away from the door. Seconds later, he was in his bedroom pulling out the small royal-blue box from the top nightstand drawer. Before he could open it, he eased down on the edge of the bed and held his breath.

Ready, Charlie opened the box and stared at the elegant two-carat princess-cut diamond ring. Now he would have to continue to use his imagination of how the ring would've looked on Gisella's finger. After a long while, he finally exhaled and accepted the pain in his heart. It was worse than anything he'd ever experienced.

He lay back on the bed and wondered how long he would have to endure. Surely it would ease soon.
Please, Lord, let it ease soon
.

 

“A plastic what?” Isabella asked her husband. It was late and they were getting ready for bed when he dropped this bombshell on her.

“Aplastic anemia,” Derrick repeated. “The whole thing is messed up,” he said worriedly. The idea of losing not only his best friend but a man who was like his brother was hard to wrap his brain around. “We're all waiting for his test results. It can take up to seven to ten days. Until then, we're not to breathe a word…not even to Mama Arlene.”

Isabella's heart ached for her husband. She loved Charlie. He was like family. And seeing him so happy these past two months had given her hope that he was finally ready to settle down.

“What about Gisella? Does she know about this?”

Derrick stopped pacing, guilt flickered across his expression.

“Don't tell me he hasn't told her.”

Derrick hedged. “Look, honey. There's a real good chance Charlie and Gisella may be breaking up.”

“What? But Charlie's crazy about Gisella. They're supposed to be getting engaged.” This didn't make sense.

Derrick started pacing again.

Isabella eyed her husband suspiciously. “Why would they break up?”

Derrick remained quiet.

“Who broke up with whom?” she needled.

“C'mon, honey. I don't butt into Charlie's business.”

“Since when?” She climbed out of bed. “The Kappas huddle together at that barbershop every weekend and do nothing but gossip and high-five each other.”

He tried to look insulted, but didn't quite pull it off.

“Charlie broke up with her and didn't tell her why, didn't he?” Isabella asked. “And something tells me the Kappas had something to do with it.”

“That's not true,” Derrick protested.

Isabella crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

“We just asked Charlie to evaluate his motivations for getting married. We thought it seemed like an awfully big coincidence his falling in love the same time he'd been given a death sentence.”

“Oh, did you now, Dr. Phil?”

“C'mon, Bella. Don't be like that. What he was doing wasn't fair to Gisella. Surely you can see that.”

“I'm calling Gisella.” She rushed back to the bed and reached for the phone.

Derrick flew across the bedroom, dove over the bed and jabbed his hand against the receiver to hang up the line. “We promised Charlie we wouldn't tell her.”

“
You're
not. I am,” she said. “Gisella is
my
friend…and my business partner. I can't keep something like this from her. She deserves to know.”

Derrick cocked his head. “It's not our place.”

“It wasn't your place to tell Charlie to break up with Gisella, but that didn't stop you, now did it?” She watched another flicker of guilt cross his features. “I expected this kind of behavior from Taariq and Hylan. A party ain't party unless Charlie Masters is there, right? But you…”

“So what are you saying?” Derrick challenged. “You want her to fall in love with Charlie just so she can watch him die? Is that what you want her to do?”

“It should be her choice.”

“No. It's
his
choice,” he argued, his eyes glossed with tears. “It's Charlie's decision, and we
will
respect that.” He watched her jaw harden and then added. “Please, Bella. For me.”

Isabella's resolve held until she watched a tear streak down her husband's cheek. She cupped his face and pressed his head against her bosom. “All right…we'll do things your way.”

“Thank you, baby.”

 

Gisella promised herself that she wasn't going to cry.

For seven days, she kept that promise…until Sunday morning when she was soaking in her hot bubble bath with her green cucumber mask. One moment she was fine, and in the next she was a blubbering mess.

How could she have been so stubborn, hard-headed and foolish?

Breaking up with Robert had been hard, but the pain in her heart now was stronger than anything she'd ever experienced. Reviewing the past week, Gisella realized that she had been more or less a walking zombie. She opened the shop at the crack of dawn and didn't leave until the dead of night. She did everything she could to keep busy.

At night, she fought the temptation of even fantasizing about Charlie, but lately, even that was getting harder and harder to do. She
did
want to see his face again, hear his voice. As her sobs bounced and echoed off the bathroom tile, she wondered how a man could make love the way he did and not feel anything.

Thereafter, every sentence started with
how
and
why,
and it continued until her head pounded mercilessly with a migraine.

“Gisella?”

At the sound of her sister's voice, Gisella made a lousy attempt to stem the flow of tears.

“Gisella, are you all right in there?”

She tried to respond, but all she could manage was more crying and sobbing.

The door flew open, and Anna rushed into the bathroom. Despite the water, bubbles and even the hardening cucumber mask, Gisella wrapped her arms around her big sister and cried until her heart was content.

“Shh. It's okay,” Anna assured her. “Shh. It's going to be okay.”

An hour later, Anna helped her sister out of the cold water, scrubbed her face and got her into bed. She instantly shifted into mother mode and fixed her something to eat and gave her aspirins for her headache.

She stayed with Gisella until she'd curled up in bed and fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep. This was exactly the heartbreak Anna had hoped her sister would avoid. But when Charlie Masters entered the picture, she and the Lonely Hearts knew that it was just a matter of time.

Still, there had been a sliver of hope that Charlie had changed, but life just proved that you can't teach an old dog a new trick. Anna sat on the edge of her sister's bed and lovingly finger-combed a few strands of hair from her sleeping face. Seeing Gisella look so childlike and vulnerable tugged at her heartstrings and renewed her anger.

Anna returned to her sister's bathroom and picked up the wet towels and straightened up when her gaze snagged on something in the small wastebasket.

A pregnancy test.

A positive pregnancy test.

 

Charlie wasn't going to answer the phone. He lacked the strength or even the desire to talk to anyone. A second before the call transferred to voicemail, he shot an arm out from beneath the piles of sheets and comforters to grab the receiver.

“Y-yeah.”

“Mr. Masters, this is Todd down at the front desk. You have a visitor down here.”

Charlie groaned. “N-no. No visitors tonight, Todd.”

“Yes, sir. But she's insisting that you'll want to talk to her.”

“If it's your crazy sister Lexi—”

“No, sir. She says her name is Anna Jacobs.”

Charlie sat straight up. “Anna?” He tried to defog his brain. “What is she doing here?”

“I don't know, sir. Should I ask her?”

He scrambled out of bed, trying to think. Was it Gisella? Had something happened?

“Sir?”

“Uh. Uh.” He glanced at himself in pajamas and a week-old beard. “Send her up.” Charlie slammed the phone down and rushed to make himself presentable. All the while, his brain conjured up horrible scenarios of why Anna was there. Surely it was to deliver bad news. An illness? An accident?

When the doorbell rang, Charlie raced to the front door while still pulling a T-shirt over his head. When he finally jerked it open to his old college friend on the other side, he didn't greet her with the traditional “Hello” or “How are you?” But with a “Is she okay?”

Anna's eyebrows climbed. “I'd love to come in. Thank you.” She stepped into his apartment. “It's good to see that you look like crap, too.”

Charlie rolled his eyes, shut the door and waited with his heart clogging his throat. When she seemed content to inch her way through the apartment, pretending to be interested in the paintings and the knickknacks on the wall, his patience snapped. “Just spit it out. What's wrong with Gisella?”

Anna glanced over her shoulder and speared him with an icy glare. “Why do you care? Surely you've moved on to the next chick, right?”

Feeling the room tilt, Charlie closed his eyes and braced one hand against the wall. “Look, it's not what it looks like.”

“Oh?” She crossed her arms. “And what does it look like
exactly?
”

Charlie sighed. Surely if something had happened to Gisella she would have said so by now. “That I'm…up to my old ways. That—that I was only after her for one thing.”

“And you're suggesting that's
not
what happened?”

He shook his head, convinced she wouldn't believe him. Instead of the expected yelling and cursing, Anna remained silent.

Charlie glanced up and was stunned by the tears streaming down her face.

“I wish I could believe you,” she said. “But I have a sister at home crying her eyes out, and I know your reputation firsthand.”

“Look, Anna. I don't expect you to believe me, but I love your sister.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

Tears now splashed down Charlie's face. “Trust me. I'm doing what's best for her.”

“And will you do what's best for your
child
as well?”

Stunned, Charlie stared. “Gisella's…?”

“I think the word you're looking for is
pregnant
. The question is, are you man enough to do the right thing?”

A baby
. His laughter started as a low rumble and grew into a loud raucous roar that vibrated off the walls.

Anna cocked her head, wondering about his sanity.

Charlie couldn't get over how cruel life could be. He made the mistake of removing his hand from the wall and when he took a step, he dropped like a stone.

“Charlie!” Anna rushed over to him.

He tried to laugh the incident off, but Anna wasn't buying. “What the hell is going on with you?” she asked. “And I want the truth.”