Twisted Obsessions (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 2) (4 page)

Chapter 6

 Once they made it to the hospital, Aleesha rushed ahead of Marcus as they entered the staff’s entrance.
 “This way, Leesh.”

 Marcus grabbed her hand and led her through a set of doors off to the side. They got on an elevator marked private and went up to the fifth floor. Hurrying down the hall, they made a left that brought them to the maternity ward of the hospital.
 “Baby, wait here while I find out what’s going on.” Marcus walked off to consult with the nurse on duty. Aleesha pulled out her phone to call Keisha and let her know that Jerra had gone into labor.
 “Damn, couldn’t she have waited two days until I got there?” Keisha grumbled.

 “Keisha…!”

 “Alright, alright. I’m online now trying to change my flight as we speak. How is she? Have you been able to see her?”

 “No, not yet. Marcus is getting an update. Just come as quickly as you can.”

 “Okay. I’ll call you to let you know what time my flight will be in.” As they hung up, Marcus made his way back.

  “Well?” Aleesha asked anxiously.

 “She’s dilated about eight centimeters. Apparently, she’d been having contractions all day. The baby could be here soon. The nurse said she’s doing fine, but Darrell is the one they had to calm down in there,” Marcus grinned.

 Noticing Aleesha’s worried expression Marcus put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “She’s gonna be fine baby. Jerra’s healthy and she’s had a perfect pregnancy. Don’t worry.”

 They waited for about two hours. Finally, Aleesha ended up dozing on Marcus' chest. When he saw Darrell step into the waiting room, he gave Aleesha a slight nudge to wake her up. They stood up and hurried towards Darrell who was grinning from ear to ear.
 “Well, I have a son! Darrell Jamar Monroe, Jr.,” he told them with his chest proudly swollen.

 Marcus grabbed Darrell, patting his back as they enthusiastically hugged each other. Having never had a family of his own, Marcus knew what Darrell’s wife and child meant to him and he couldn’t be happier for him.

 “Congratulations, man!”

 “Congratulations, Darrell,” Aleesha smiled.

 Darrell reached down and swallowed Aleesha up in a bear hug and lifted her off the floor. “Thanks, Leesh! I can hardly believe he’s here.”

 “How’s Jerra?”

 “She’s great. She did so good. You know her, though, still bossy as ever, yellin’ at the doctor and tryin' to tell him what to do.” The three of them laughed. It wasn’t too hard to picture that scenario at all.

 Half an hour later, they were able to go in for a few minutes to see a proud and radiant Jerra and meet the newest member of the Monroe family. He was adorable, and when he blinked up at them with his father’s gray eyes, everyone instantly fell in love with him.
 “Keisha called. She should be flying in tomorrow.”

 “Oh good. I’m sure she thought I went into labor before she got here on purpose just to make her mad,” Jerra said with an amused look on her face.
 “Wellllll…” Leesha and Jerra started laughing. Jerra could only shake her head at their friend. “Okay, well we’re gonna let you get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 Hugs were given to the ecstatic parents of little DJ, as Darrell had already dubbed him much to Jerra’s chagrin. Aleesha and Marcus walked down the hallway to the exit with their arms around each other, feeling happy for their friends. When they got home, they fell into bed exhausted from the events of the night before on up to that moment. They slept until late morning and were only awakened because of a steady pounding on the door.
 “What the…?” Marcus lifted his head and swung his feet to the floor. Aleesha just groaned and turned over. After pulling on a pair of jeans, Marcus went to open the front door. Keisha stood there with her arms folded and a deep scowl on her pretty face.

 
A smile crossed Marcus’ lips. “Keish! Hey, ma, you made it huh?” He tried to give her a hug, but she pushed right past him and stepped inside, pulling her suitcase behind her.

 “Marcus, don’t ‘hey ma’ me! You and Leesh were supposed to pick me up from the airport!” Keisha stomped her foot. Even with no make-up she was an extraordinarily beautiful woman. The ponytail pulled up high on her head bounced as she moved her head in agitation.  “I waited for almost an hour. I called
both
of your cell phones and didn’t get an answer!”

 Marcus tried not to grin because he knew that would only make her madder. Shaking his head, he thought about the three of them: Aleesha, Keisha, and Jerra. They were birds of a feather and damned sure stuck together. All three could be spoiled, bossy, and outspoken and none of them took any shit. Whatever man, or woman, Keisha ended up with was definitely going to have to be able to handle themselves with her. God knows he and Darrell had their hands full with her buddies.
 “Could you just be quiet and give me a hug? It’s been a minute since I’ve seen you, ya know.” Pulling her to him, Marcus kissed her cheek and gave her a bone crushing hug until she laughingly hugged him back. Marcus picked up her suitcase as he followed her to the living room.

 “Where’s Aleesha’s ass? No, don’t tell me. Still sleep. I swear that woman enjoys her sleep more than anyone I know.”
 “We were at the hospital until early morning with Jerra. I guess we forgot to turn our cell phones back on after we left out of her room.”
 “How’s she doing? How’s the baby?”

 “Mother and son are both fine. We can leave in a couple of hours to visit them. Aleesha’s in the bedroom if you want to go and wake her up. I’m going to put your bag in the guest room.”
 Keisha headed down the long hallway to Marcus’ room. Seeing Aleesha softly snoring and peacefully sleeping as if she didn’t have a care in the world pissed her off all over again. “Bitch, wake your ass up, had me waiting at the airport for you to pick me up! Ya’ll are
gonna reimburse me for that taxi ride over here, too.”
 Marcus laughed and shook his head as he heard her shouting at Aleesha. He decided to give them a little privacy and went to the kitchen to put some coffee on before going outside to get the paper.

 Aleesha loudly groaned and covered her head with the pillow. She was having the worse nightmare, and Keisha was the lead villain. Keisha jumped on the bed and began gleefully shaking Aleesha’s shoulder. Aleesha was the grouchiest morning person she knew, had been ever since they were kids.

 “Stop it!” Aleesha shouted from underneath the pillow.
 “Get up, dammit. You couldn’t wake your ass up to come and pick me up from the airport, but you’re gonna wake up now.” Keisha continued shaking her until Aleesha groaned and pushed her away.

 “Okay, Okay. I’m up! Damn, Keisha, you always know how to piss people off,” she said in a sulking voice.

 “Yes. It’s a gift,” Keisha proudly replied.

 “Keisha, why do you have to irritate my woman so early in the morning,” Marcus asked in an amused tone as he gave them each a cup of coffee.

 “Because I can, Dr. Bennett,” Keisha answered with a smile.

 “Here you go baby,” he told Aleesha, leaning down to kiss her.

 “Thank you, baby.”

 “Oh God.” Keisha’s voice was full of disgust as she muttered under her breath. Marcus left out of the room still laughing as he went to read the paper.

 “So,” Keisha said taking a sip of coffee. “Things seem to be going pretty good between you two again. Was he surprised when you showed up early?”

 “You have no idea.” Aleesha filled Keisha in on what she’d found when she first walked into Marcus’ house.

 “Oh, hell to the no!” Keisha shouted as she sat straight up. “I hope you whipped that bitch’s ass!”

 Aleesha looked at Keisha from the corner of her eye. “
Please!
Do you even have to ask? I tried to stay calm at first, but this bitch wanted to get all smug and shit. Marcus had to pull me off her ass.”
 “Hmph!” Keisha grunted, somewhat satisfied. Then, unable to help herself, she said “I hate to say I told you so, but fuck it. I told you so. You leave a man like Marcus out here with no ‘punani’ the bitches start circling like hungry vultures.” Aleesha paused in the act of taking another sip of her coffee and glared at Keisha. “What?! I’m just sayin’….” Keisha trailed off before changing the subject. “So Marcus said Jerra and the baby are doing good.”

Aleesha’s face softened. “Yes. Wait until you see him, Keisha. He’s gorgeous.”

 Marcus walked back in. “Speaking of which, we should get going soon if you ladies are about ready.”

 Keisha went to the guestroom to freshen up. When Marcus went in the bathroom to take a shower, Aleesha decided to lie back and get a few more minutes of shut eye. Seconds later though, she heard him clear his throat. Lifting her head, Aleesha saw him standing in the doorway of the bathroom with his hands on his hips wearing nothing but his ‘morning wood’ and a smile. Her eyes lit up at the morning greeting. Marcus just grinned and turned around to go back in the bathroom.

 Aleesha jumped out of the bed and ran after him. They laughed as he pulled her in the shower. Keisha would have to wait.

 About an hour and a half later, everyone was gathered around Jerra’s bed once again admiring the little star of the show who had them effortlessly eating out of his tiny hand. Aleesha was on one side of Jerra and Keisha was on the other cooing and smiling at DJ when a soft knock sounded on the door.

 “Come in,” Darrell called out.

 Dominick walked in carrying a large arrangement of balloons and flowers. His handsome face lit up with a big smile. After putting the flowers down on a nearby table, he congratulated his boy and shook hands with Marcus before walking over to the women. Aleesha got up and gave him a hug.

 “What’s up, champ?” he asked Aleesha, referencing the fight she’d had with Melanie the night before. He laughed when she playfully punched him in the shoulder. Marcus looked on, still not the least bit amused. Seeing his frown, Dom laughed even more.
 Darrell sent a questioning glance towards Marcus. Glaring at Dominick, Marcus just shook his head and said through clenched teeth, “I’ll tell you later.”

 Dominick walked over to Jerra and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “Congratulations, Mommy,” he told her while looking down at the baby. “He’s adorable.”
 “Yes, he is,” Jerra answered with a smile.
 When Keisha inconspicuously nudged Jerra, Jerra quickly said, “Oh, Dominick. I’d like you meet Keisha, the other half that makes up the Musketeers,” she said with a laugh. “Keisha, this is Dominick Spain and well, I guess he makes up the other half of the Musketeers for the boys.”
 Dominick did a double take when he looked at Keisha. He quickly glanced over at Marcus and Darrell, his eyes asking them why they hadn’t told him what a knockout she was.

 “Hi, Dominick. Nice to meet you.” Keisha turned up the wattage of her smile and blinked flirtatiously.
Mmm…now he could get it. No doubt about that!

 Jerra cleared her throat, effectively bringing the two out of their trance.

 Dom wrenched his eyes away from Keisha. “Well, Jerra, I’m not gonna stay, I just wanted to stop by and give you guys my congratulations and see the little man here.” He told the women goodbye and slapped hands with his boys, his eyes relaying the message that they would definitely talk later. He looked back to Keisha. “Nice to have met you. Are you going to be visiting long?”

 “I’ll be here for a little while,” Keisha answered, staring at him just as intently as he was her. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other before I leave.”
 Dominick’s eyes ran over her body. “Most definitely,” he muttered before leaving the room.

 Aleesha and Jerra gave Keisha "the look." They recognized the expression on her face all too well.

 "What??” she asked, grinning.

 “Ok, ladies, hate to break up your fun, but we’d better be going. I think they’ll be releasing Jerra tomorrow, so after they have a chance to settle in, we can go by the house to visit,” Marcus said.

 “Settle in my ass.” Keisha leaned down to kiss Jerra. “Call us the minute you get home.” The three of them laughed and said their goodbyes. Darrell told Jerra he would be right back after he walked them to the elevator.

 After they were gone, Jerra looked down in amazement at her baby. She wrapped her hand around his tiny fingers and brought them to her lips, instantly transported back to another time when she’d done the same thing for the first child she’d given birth to before she signed adoption papers.

 When she was barely fifteen years old, she had been violently raped and beaten by her stepfather. She'd barely managed to escape when he passed out in a drunken stupor afterwards. Jerra ran away and never looked back. She would have still been running if it hadn’t been for Darrell. Jerra considered herself a survivor and was determined to put the entire incident of the assault behind her, but last year Earl found out she was living in Atlanta and showed up on her doorstep. Darrell had just left to head to the airport and catch his flight back to Vegas, but a nagging feeling he couldn’t shake urged him to return to Jerra’s condo. He’d busted down the door moments before Earl was able to rape her again.  

 Sighing, she kissed her baby’s butter soft cheek. She’d never told Darrell about the child she’d given up from adoption, but she knew her time was running out. The longer she kept it from him, the more damage it would do to their relationship and Jerra couldn’t let that happen. He and her child meant everything to her. But how would he feel once he found out she gave up her baby the same way his mother did with him when she abandoned him at an orphanage?