Authors: Niobia Bryant
She held up her hand when Chloe’s face tightened in anger. “Hold up, Chloe. I also don’t believe you’re lying . . . just mistaken. Maybe someone else got into the house before you moved in and took the pictures.”
Chloe said nothing as she wrapped her arms around herself, avoiding Devon’s gaze, which she felt intently upon her. Deshawn re-entered the house carrying the large black leather-bound portfolio under his arm. “Here it is, Chloe.”
She nodded. “Please find the pictures Alicia took of my house for the portfolio when the house was first completed.”
Devon rose, coming to stand next to his brother, as did Nana Lil. Deshawn flipped to the two pages, easily found since her house was their last project. Chloe remained where she stood, the tabloid in her hand opened to the color layout displaying photos of her home.
“I think you will find that the photos in this rag are the exact same pictures in the portfolio. I remembered them from when Deshawn showed them to me.” She stepped up and placed the open tabloid onto the open pages of the portfolio in Deshawn’s hands.
“I’ll be damned,” Deshawn whispered.
“Oh, Alicia, why?” Lil turned away from the incriminating evidence.
The photos were exactly the same, just as she knew they were. Only Devon, Deshawn and Alicia had access to the precious portfolio chronicling Jamison & Jamison’s achievements. Obviously if they weren’t the ones to turn over the photos or the negatives, then Alicia had to be the culprit.
Just then the lights flashed against the walls again as a car turned into the yard. Lil moved to look out the window. She lowered her head with a pained expression. “Lord help us all,” she murmured dryly before moving to open the front door.
Alicia flew in with quick strides, heading straight for Devon with wide, frantic eyes. “I heard about the fight at Charlie’s. What happened, Devon?”
She looked back and forth between Devon and Deshawn’s identical faces, both expressions cold as they looked down at her. It was then she knew something was terribly wrong.
“Didn’t I warn you what would happen if you didn’t keep my name out of your mouth?”
Alicia turned at the sound of Chloe’s voice closing in behind her and immediately felt the sting of a hard slap across her mouth. Chloe moved to grab at the woman’s neck, her eyes blazing with murderous rage.
Devon stepped quickly between them and wrapped his arms around Chloe. She struggled against his strength, clawing and twisting to get at Alicia. “Let me go, Devon. Let . . . me . . . go!”
He didn’t flinch when she directed the angry blows on his chest. Turning, he saw that Deshawn had Alicia similarly detained. “Girl, I’ll stomp a mud hole in your little behind,” Alicia yelled over Deshawn’s shoulder as she tried to be freed from his strong hold as well.
Lil stepped between the two couples. “I will not have fighting in this house. Now stop it . . . both of you . . . now!”
She gave both women a hard stare, brooking no room for argument. She was an elder and when she spoke, she expected and deserved to be listened to. They both immediately quieted down, though they shot angry glares at each other from around their captors’ bodies.
Lil faced Deshawn and Alicia, moving sideways so she could look into the woman’s face. “I just want to make it clear that I am very disappointed to see that you have such a mean and evil spirit in you, Alicia.”
The woman feigned innocence, making her face the picture of confusion. “Nana Lil, what did
I
supposedly do?”
Lil held up a thin hand. “Just stop it. Haven’t you lied enough?”
She turned to Devon and Chloe. “Take Chloe in my room.”
He immediately swung her up into his arms easily and strode with her across the short span to his grandmother’s bedroom, right off the living room. Once inside, he lowered her to the floor and closed the door behind them.
Chloe moved away from him, offering him the view of her backside and an icy cold shoulder. She felt his warmth as he neared her and stiffened when he reached out to touch her. “Don’t,” she spat.
Devon rubbed his hands over his eyes. “Look, I’m going to see about Alicia. We’ll talk as soon as we’re all done out there.”
Chloe flung herself onto the edge of Nana Lil’s quilt-covered bed. “Whatever, but I hope you know that if not for Nana Lil I would have clawed her eyes out.”
“I don’t doubt it,” he muttered before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
Alicia twirled to look at him. “Dev, I know you don’t think I had anything to do with this?”
He took the paper that she wiggled in his face. “Alicia, how do you explain these pictures being the same exact ones in the portfolio?”
She felt panic as her eyes looked into the hardened, chiseled features of Devon’s handsome face. His eyes blazed with anger and mistrust. Even though he allowed for an explanation, everything about him said she had already been tried and convicted. Alicia knew then that she had gone too far. Gone were her friends, replaced by these two brooding strangers. Yet both of the twins looked at her as if
she
had changed.
“I’ll go check on Chloe.” Lil crossed the living room and walked into her room, allowing a brief glimpse of Chloe’s robed figure before she closed the door behind her.
“Why’d you do it, Alicia? Chloe told me you disliked her but I didn’t believe it. How can you hate her so much to sell lies to a gossip rag to hurt her?”
Alicia’s mouth widened in mock indignation. “Devon how could you believe—”
“Cut it, Alicia.” He slashed his hand up in the air in anger. “I thought you’d be woman enough to admit to what you did.”
Tears filled Alicia’s eyes. Her best-laid plans were going painfully awry as Devon eyed her with contempt. She felt swallowed by the pain. “I can’t believe my best friends would think this of me. Has she turned you against me? She hates me—”
“I can see why she would,” Deshawn interjected wryly from where he now stood by the staircase.
Her ready tears and pleas moved neither of them. What she did was treacherous and deceitful. Those were traits neither of them found they wanted in a person they called a friend, or an employee.
“Look Alicia, because you took advantage of your job to obtain the photos, we’re going to have to let you go.” Devon became saddened and wearied by the whole affair. “I’m sorry Al, but you brought this on yourself. Chloe is our client and this could jeopardize future projects because of your lack of respect for our client’s privacy.”
Alicia’s tears dried up and her face twisted in anger. She looked from Devon to Deshawn and back to Devon again. “I’m fired?” Her voice was incredulous and hoarse.
“Yes Al,” Deshawn answered from behind her.
She nodded and looked down at her hands, which were trembling with anger. “Oh I understand. You had a choice to make, either me or the rich bitch. With friends like you two, who needs enemies?”
Devon saw the hatred for Chloe and maybe even himself as he looked at her. He could hardly believe that this evil, twisted-faced shrew in front of him was his childhood friend. “Look, just calm down, Al.”
“Calm down?” she yelled, stomping her foot in frustration. “I hate her. Why couldn’t she just leave town? She’s got your nose so wide open that you’d turn your back on your friend. You’re whipped, Devon!”
“That’s enough, Alicia,” he warned.
“Just go home, Al,” Deshawn said wearily before walking over to slump into one of the recliners in front of the television.
“She’s a damn coke fiend,” Alicia spat as she shoved Devon’s chest.
He grabbed her hands and pushed them down to her sides, before releasing her. “And you’re jealous.”
She laughed bitterly to disguise the hurt his words caused. “Oh yeah? Jealous of what?”
Devon’s eyes raked up and down Alicia, his intent clear. “It’s pretty obvious.”
Alicia’s eyes filled with hurt and real tears. He instantly regretted the words because right now she resembled the girl he grew up with. “Alicia—” he began.
She slapped him hard across his face. “I hate you, Devon!”
His face stung from her attack. “Get out, Alicia. Stay the hell away from Chloe. If you attempt to harm her in
any
way, I will make sure you regret it.”
“Chloe . . . Chloe . . . Chloe,” she mimicked in a high- pitched voice. “This is all her fault.”
Devon eyes glittered with anger. “Chloe and I are together. I don’t give a damn who doesn’t like it, and that’s including you ... for whatever reasons you have.”
She stiffened at his words. “She told you that I was in love with you, didn’t she?” Alicia spat. “And y’all just laid up in bed together and laughed at me, right? Well I got the last laugh, didn’t I?”
“Get the hell out of my sight. You’ll never find a man to love an evil witch like you.” He turned his back and walked into Nana Lil’s bedroom.
She was weak with grief. Devon was completely lost to her now. Tears flowed bitter streaks down her cheeks, collecting at the edge of her face before dropping to wet her T-shirt. “What have I done?”
Deshawn felt pity for their friend as her legs seemed to give out beneath her. He moved just in time to catch her before she fell. But at the touch of his hands, she angrily slapped them away.
“You turned on me too, Deshawn. So stay away from me.” Alicia forced her body to move as she walked stiffly to the front door under his watchful gaze.
“Look Alicia. Are you gonna be okay?” Deshawn asked, but the door had already closed quietly behind her with a click.
∞
“Nana Lil, can I talk to Chloe alone please?”
“I think that’s a good idea.” She exited the bedroom, leaving them alone.
Chloe flung her arms around a surprised Devon’s neck. He immediately pulled her tight against his chest, burying his face in her neck, fresh with the scent of soap. He enjoyed the feel of her body through the thin cotton material.
“Oh Devon. We heard every word in here.” She leaned back to look up into his eyes and saw the mixed emotions in them. “I’m sorry. I know Alicia’s your friend, but what she did was despicable. You did what you had to.”
Devon nodded before planting a brief kiss on her upturned mouth, his one good hand freely roaming her body with gentle massages. “I know. It’s just that I didn’t know she could be so vicious.”
“Where’s Deshawn?”
He shrugged. “Probably somewhere eating something,” he said wryly, and they both laughed.
“Did you really beat someone up for little ol’ me?” she asked sweetly, feigning weakness.
Devon slapped her soundly on her behind before tightly gripping the full swell. “If you were there you would’ve done it yourself. You’ve got one helluva swing.”
“Yeah, so you better watch out, especially with only one functioning hand.”
He raised a brow in mock indignation. “I’m shaking in my boots, baby.”
“I love that,” she sighed, just as his hands grasped her.
“What . . . this?” He massaged the soft fullness of her buttocks.
“No,” she answered quickly, laughing at his shocked expression. “I meant when you call me baby.”
“You are my baby . . . baby.” He lowered his voice as he nuzzled her earlobe. “I’m sorry about all of this. If I had just listened to you I could have prevented—”
“Ssshhh,” Chloe silenced him. “I wish it hadn’t happened either, but it did and I’ll just have to deal with it like before.”
“Before?”
“Uh-hum.” She filled him in on her first tango with the treacherous tabloids.
“Damn,” he swore when she was finished. “You were just a kid.”
Chloe nodded, her head against his chest as he rocked their bodies in a slow and gentle motion that could lull her into falling asleep on her feet and in his arms. They remained that way, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of one another. In each other’s aims they felt they could battle all challengers and win.
“Why don’t you sue?” Devon asked, his own voice dragging like he was near sleep himself. “Make them print a retraction. All of the lies can easily be proved false.”
“True, but I think I’ll follow my mother’s advice.”
“And what’s that?” His mouth kissed a trail from her ear lobe to the base of her neck as he struggled to lift her robe up around her waist with his uninjured hand.
Chloe gasped in pleasure when he began to explore her intimately with his fingers. “Let . . . it . . . roll . . . roll, uhm let . . . it . . . roll ... off... oh, my ... wow!”
He laughed low and husky against her neck, enjoying the havoc he wracked on her senses. “What’s that?” he asked as he lifted her leg around his waist and delved his fingers into her wetness.
“I said ... let ... it ... roll ... oh, just . . . forget it.” She grasped both sides of his face with her hands and kissed him, deepening it with her tongue. His moan of pleasure was just as loud as her own.
Baam . . . baam.
They jumped apart as someone knocked loudly on the bedroom door. “You two are mighty quiet in there. Whatever it is you’re doing, don’t need to be done in my room!”
They laughed as Lil’s voice floated through the solid wood. Chloe retied her robe just as Devon opened the door. Lil walked in, sniffing the air.
“I don’t smell anything, so I’m guessing I knocked just in time. Now scat. I’m gonna watch TV.”
Devon and Chloe left the bedroom hand in hand to enter the living room. Deshawn was nowhere in sight. “Wait here,” he ordered, before running up the stairs.
Chloe’s eyes caught the tabloid hanging halfway out of the wastepaper basket with the rest of the trash where it belonged. She felt much stronger knowing she had this family, especially Devon, behind her with support. Her heart swelled with affection for them as she thought of their immediate defense of her.
Devon walked back down the stairs carrying a small duffel bag. “Let’s go.”
Chloe feigned innocence. “Where?”
He pulled her in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. “We can finish what we started in my bedroom upstairs. I’m sure you remember how that was, keeping ourselves from screaming out each other’s name too loud. Or, we can hop in your big SUV and shake the rooftops at your place. What’ll it be?”
Chloe winked, her breathing still ragged from his kiss. “Race you to the big SUV?”