Chapter Eighteen
“
M
airettie we have a problem,” Rita growled as she waddled into Bobby’s office.
Bobby looked up alarmed. Both Pam and Rita were moving closer to seven months and Paige was already eight months along. His nerves were shot knowing that Paige and Pam could go into labor sooner rather than later with the twins and Rita had had more than one scare in the last few months. He wasn’t even sure what she was doing here up on her feet.
Bile rose in his throat as he thought of the other possibility for Rita showing up in his office. Nate had been off the grid for two weeks. He was due to show up tonight. Bobby still had no idea whether everything went without a hitch. The color drained from his face as Rita approached his desk with something clutched in her hand.
Only when she tossed the photos on his desk his brows drew down in consternation. It took him several minutes to connect with what he was looking down at. If it weren’t for the hair he would have made the connection right away.
He knew those full pretty lips on that pretty face. He had those same lips wrapped around his cock on more than one occasion that he could remember. As images filled his mind of all the ways he really knew this woman he felt sick.
Bobby went through a wide range of emotions as he looked at the image of the woman he knew as Luscious. None of the images floating through his head were doing what the mere sight Paige falling apart within his arms did.
What had I been thinking
, Bobby thought as his jaw worked beneath his skin. He had always had a high profile and now he had a wife and family. This woman could do so much damage to his life. It didn’t matter that she was bound to the contracts of Desire. No matter what kind of hell he would rain down on her the damage would already be done if she broke the NDA.
“Motherfucker,” Bobby spit out. “What the hell is she doing with my wife?”
Bobby dragged a hand through his hair as his eyes stayed fixed on the photos before him. This was the last thing he needed. It was the last thing Nate needed. Bobby knew Nate had continued to see the pretty vixen standing between his wife and sister in law in the photos.
Rita’s eyes widened. “Shit Bobby, what the hell? Were you two sharing or something? Ugh, don’t answer.” Rita tried to shake the images from her head. “Lucky for you I really don’t think your wife is her target,” Rita said with restrained fury.
Rita loved her brother and she was very fond of Pamela. “It seems her mark is Pam or maybe Nate through Pam. I’ve gotten into my brother’s business a little more than he may like but I needed to get a handle on this. She has been around for some time now and I just never trusted her. Camille came to me a few days ago because she remembered where she knew her from.”
“Fuck,” Bobby growled and put his head in his hands. His wife was pregnant, she didn’t need this stress. They’d started their relationship after an encounter at the club but it was like an unspoken rule between them not to talk about his connection to club Desire. Nate was doing all he could to get Pamela to trust him. He did not need something like this right now.
“No worries. Camille is not going to share what she knows with Paige. That’s why she brought this to me,” Rita frowned. “But I do think you and Nate better come clean before she drops whatever bomb she is holding.”
Bobby let another loud curse rip from his lips. “Don’t worry I’ll find out what she wants. Just get me an address,” Bobby said through clenched teeth. “I’ll take care of it. Just make sure as soon as Nate is back on the grid he knows what is going on.”
Rita snorted. “You’re not going to believe this, but she is living in the condo next door to Paige’s condo. The place is under a pseudo company name. According to Justin, Nate had already been digging into things. He either didn’t recognize her in the photos or he never got a visual on her.”
“Vanessa… fuck me. Paige has been going on and on about this Vanessa that has been hanging around Pam. I know her as Luscious but I swear Nate has referred to her as Vanessa before,” Bobby scowled in thought.
“Yup, that would be her,” Rita replied. “She has had contact with all the women. She could have outed you all weeks ago so I’m not sure what she wants. Frankly, as one of the wives, I know Marcus is not a saint. I know he had a membership to the club. It’s my job to know these things, but if one of his play toys showed up in my home. I’d lose it and she would be catching a bullet.”
“Don’t I know it,” Bobby grumbled. “I hope Nate and I can trust you to hold this one to yourself. For me this was all before I met Paige, but the fact that this woman has planted herself in our lives for some reason will not go over well.”
“Oh trust me. I will not be breaking up my family. This is the stuff that gets you maimed,” Rita chuckled. “Doesn’t mean I think you shouldn’t be the one to say something just in case.”
“I’ll handle it. Thanks Rita,” Bobby blew out a deep breath. “I think you should get my little nephew in there home and relax.” He gave her a quick smile nodding at her swollen belly holding his brother’s son.
“I’ll relax when the people in my life stop hanging around crazy people and homewreckers,” Rita teased and turned to waddle back out Bobby’s office. “Tell my husband I came by when he gets out of court, ‘kay. I left him something in his office.”
“No problem, thanks again,” Bobby sighed.
Bobby looked at the pictures one more time before destroying them. Luscious or Vanessa had cut her hair into a bob and dyed it a light brown almost blonde. He had his work cut out for him here.
~B
~
Vanessa heard the doorbell ring and her heart jumped into her throat. She had bought this place not only to be next to Pamela, but also to get away from Patrick. She’d learned a long time ago that she would have to run someday and Lexington corp. was her insurance policy. Patrick’s accountant was not as loyal as he thought and he had helped Vanessa start the company and funneled money into it over the years.
Dale, his accountant had been among the staff that witnessed the severe abuse Vanessa had lived through. It was often his job to make the arrangements for her to go on long vacations to heal before coming home for more. Being an older man Dale had become more of a father figure and had begged her to leave repeatedly.
Dale had actually been the one that introduced her to Desire. He thought it would secretly give her, her power back as well as show her that sex could actually be for pleasure. Dale had in his mind that this would empower her to leave someday before it was too late. She knew the man carried all kinds of guilt.
Vanessa prayed that it was Dale at the door and not her husband. Patrick had given her only two more months to get what he wanted. She didn’t know how she would do it but he would kill her if she didn’t.
Imagine her surprise when she opened the door to lock eyes with Bobby Mairettie. Heat infused her cheeks as she looked into the eyes of a man she knew very intimately. She’d always wondered what turned Bobby off and made him not want her. Now after meeting his wife it was nothing she had told herself.
She swallowed hard as she thought of why he could be here. A small part of her hoped he was here for her, to rekindle their past. However, one look in those intense grey eyes and she knew that was not the case. She silently stepped back seeing he was all business. It was clear that her charade was in danger.
“I’ll make this quick because I don’t want to be here longer than I have to be,” Bobby grunted as he stepped through the door.
“Can I offer you something to drink,” Vanessa said with a weak smile.
“What I want is to know what you are up to. Why have you been injecting yourself into my wife and my sister in law’s lives?” He said firmly.
“Pamela is my neighbor. I wanted to make friends with her. It was only after she introduced me to your wife that I realized the connection,” she nervously replied.
“Bullshit, honestly Vanessa…is that your name? You don’t want to play this game with me,” his voice came out with an unsettling calm.
“It…It’s not a game. Pamela is a friend of mine. I only learned recently that her boyfriend is Nathan,” Vanessa said as she took a few steps away from Bobby.
“Oh really, see I happen to know for a fact that you have been emailing Nathan and trying to get in touch with him through the club. So I find it a little too good to be true that this is all a coincidence. What’s your end game here Vanessa?”
“There is no end game. I like Pam and I consider her a friend,” Vanessa tried to say the words firmly and with more confidence.
“Let me help you out here, sweetheart. You are going to stay the fuck away from my family. That includes Nathan, Pam and my wife. If I even think you are going to start trouble for anyone in my family. I will destroy you,” Bobby growled low.
Vanessa laughed, she actually laughed. It scared her as it bubbled up, but she was hopeless at this point. Desperation can make a woman lose her mind and Vanessa believed she was at that point.
“Bobby, I have nothing left to destroy. I was ruined way before I met you or Nathan,” tears began to roll down her cheeks. “Why else would I seek out a place like Desire? There was nothing left of me then. If sex wasn’t the only thing you men wanted you would have seen it then as well.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly before sinking in to the nearest chair. “I want nothing from your family Bobby,” Vanessa sniffled.
“Now that I don’t believe,” Bobby responded coldly crossing his arms over his chest. What he did believe was that this woman had nothing to lose. He had seen it before and it made her very dangerous. There was no real reasoning with her. He and Nate would have to find another way to figure out what she was after and how to minimize the damage that was done.
“You should. In another life I would want nothing more than to be a part of a sisterhood like what Pamela and the others have,” Vanessa lifted sad eyes up to meet his. “I never meant to get here like this…. listen I have no intentions of hurting your family Bobby.”
Bobby drew his brows in concentration. He called on his wife’s ability to see what no one else could see. Looking deep he could see the broken woman before him. Part of her words were true, but there was something there not to be trusted. Most of all he could see a woman that needed help.
Bobby pulled his card from his suit jacket and tossed it on the coffee table. “When you are ready to stop talking in riddles call me. I can help you get out of whatever mess you are in. Hurt my family and that offer comes off the table. I’m a powerful man and I know powerful people. You may want to keep that in mind when making your decision,” Bobby watched her for a moment more before turning and leaving her home.
As the door closed Vanessa wiped at her tears. “But he is just as powerful and knows just as many people,” she whispered to the room.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. She would have to step up her game. Everything had just changed.
Chapter Nineteen
N
ate wished he could say that the mission went well without any problems but his gut was trying to tell him otherwise. He didn’t like to miss anything but he felt like a gaping hole was staring him right in the face. What really unsettled him was that Wyatt had the same feeling. He had told him just as much as they parted ways at the airport.
So now Nate would be watching the families’ backs to make sure there were no repercussions for the fifteen young women and ten young men they had saved. They’d managed to cut them off in transit. Three of the twenty five had wanted nothing to do with the offer they had given them.
Thomas had stayed behind to deal with those three. He had some connections that would still be able to give them a better life than the one they would have been sold into. It was important that they never fell back into the hands of the Russian traffickers, so that they could never give information on the masked men that saved them and offered them a new life.
The stress had mounted to a point that Nate just needed his woman. He should have turned his phone back on the moment he landed back home safely, but he just wanted to be Nate for a few hours. Just him his woman and his baby girls in her womb.
He wanted to spend time loving on the woman that had become his anchor. He knew Rita and Justin would kill him. He needed to debrief, but that meant living the last two weeks over again. His mind wasn’t ready for that.
That was why he had not turned on his phone and why he was creeping into the house at one in the morning. He was glad Pam had given him a key. Not wanting to wake her just yet he climbed into the guest bathroom shower.
As he washed away the last two weeks Nate’s mind went to Pam. She would be due soon. He and Bobby agreed on maneuvering the team for a bit so that Nate could come out of the field. He had men that knew how to protect Bobby and Paige without Paige ever really knowing they were there.
Besides now that Paige was being promoted to partner and married to a Mairettie, Bobby felt she needed more security and he planned on making that clear to her. He would not put his wife or sons in danger. Nate already had the best of the best in mind for his best friend and his family.
Now that he could relax and focus on his own empire and lead the troops from the background while his new recruits were trained, he could focus on what his next steps with Pam would be.
He could already see her walking down the aisle toward him. He remembered having that fleeting thought as he watched Paige walk down the aisle toward his best friend. It wasn’t hard to pretend for just a moment that short stuff was his pint sized villain. He’d shaken the thought off as crazy that day but now it was all he wanted with all his heart.
It was what he needed to make his life complete. He was so lost in thought as the water cascaded over his head and down his body that he hadn’t given the cool breeze much thought until small hands wrapped around his pecs. Soft lips connected with his back and he sighed with the relief this woman’s touch brought to him. He was home.
Nate placed his hands against the wall to steady him because when Pam touched him it was that powerful. It was enough to knock him off his feet every time. If he were a lesser man he knew that would be just what would happen. His pint sized villain would have him on his knees begging her for mercy.
When her hand wrapped around his shaft he thought he may just become a lesser man tonight. It had been two weeks too many. He wanted inside Pam sooner rather than later, not able to take the torture of her touch much more he turned and cupped her face. Looking into those beautiful eyes, they looked like golden honey.
Nate had never seen this look in her eyes with such intensity before. His heart swelled with the thought of what her eyes were saying to him. Tilting her head back his eyes dropped to her full lips, lips he missed like crazy.
“I missed you so much,” Pam was the first to speak.
“I missed you too, Baby,” Nate replied.
“Nate.”
“Yeah babe?”
Pam lifted up on her toes and pecked his lips then his jaw. “I just wanted you to know,” she pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I love you.”
Nate’s face broke into a bright smile that flooded Pam’s heart with more love for him. He bent to place a searing kiss on her lips that left her weak in the knees and clinging to his wet shoulders. She was so happy to hear the shower running in the guest bathroom. At first she was startled but then she felt Nate’s presence.
She couldn’t explain it. She just knew it was him. When she found him naked standing in the shower she couldn’t resist getting in with him, well after she stared at his perfect ass for a little longer. Her man was home and it was time he heard the words she should have told him before he left.
“If this is the welcome home I get I may just start traveling more,” Nate chuckled.
Pam gave him a pout and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t ever want to be away from you that long again,” Pam purred.
“Me either beautiful,” Nate’s hand went to her belly to rub his palm over it. It felt like an eternity since he last felt his girls move against his palms. He missed them too. He had gotten used to reading a night time story to Pam’s belly. The girls would respond to his voice every time.
Pam reached for his erection again, but Nate stilled her hand. “Let’s get you in the bed. We have a lot of time to make up for,” Nate said huskily against her neck.
Pam shivered with anticipation but didn’t hesitate to step out of the shower hastily. She grabbed a towel to dry off and wrap around her body when both of their heads shot up at the sound of the alarm going off. Pam’s eyes widen as she turned to Nate. With a towel on his waste he was already in action.
“Stay right here,” Nate ordered.
Pam nodded frantically as she scooped up the sweat pants and t-shirt she had been wearing. Nate made his way over to the bathroom linen closet where he had stored his gun to retrieve it. He looked over his shoulder to see if Pam noticed but she was too busy throwing her cloths back on.
After insuring she was safely closed into the room he made his way to the kitchen. The alarm system was informing him that the back door adjacent to the kitchen was the entrance that had been disturbed. Nate disarmed the system as he passed his key chain in the bowl Pam kept for their keys and things.
Just as Nate entered the kitchen the last person he expected came into view. Before he could ask her what the hell she was doing here, Vanessa flew at him. She wrapped her delicate arms around his neck. Nate placed the gun down on the counter and cradled her head as she cried into his damp shoulder.
Nate was confused and completely thrown by this woman being here in his woman’s home. His first instinct had been to lose it, but he had considered Vanessa to be a friend for the time he had known her. Something was clearly going on with her.
“Vanessa, you have to calm down so you can tell me what’s going on. What are you doing here?” Nate said softly.
What he hadn’t noticed was that Pam had disobeyed his orders and followed him. She stood in the open floor plan of the living room kitchen space watching her man hold this woman with way too much familiarity. She had never told Nate Vanessa’s name and she was sure they hadn’t met since Vanessa moved next door.
“Nate baby, I’m so glad I finally have you here. I tried to get in touch with you. I needed to tell you about the baby,” Vanessa sobbed. “I needed you.”
Nate stiffened at her words and pried her arms from around him. His face hardened and he glared at Vanessa. His first instincts kicked in and their friendship was forgotten. His mind started to become razor sharp as each of her words hit like rapid fire.
Pieces were falling into place faster than he could process them. The condoms that he used with Pam had come from the condom bowl at Desire, in his private room. He just remembered grabbing a bunch right after his last visit there with Vanessa right before the trip. Vanessa had been acting nervous the whole time. That was when he first started having thoughts about not going to the club as often or even finding someone else he was comfortable with seeing.
Somehow she must have tampered with the condoms. Nate could feel the rage boiling in his blood. This woman had no idea who she was messing with. To the world he was a real estate developer and online business mogul. To people less fortunate he was an expiration date that came with deathly force.
“What baby, Vanessa,” Nate said with seething fury.
“Our baby, I needed to tell you about our baby but you were gone. Then when you returned you wouldn’t return my requests,” Vanessa said and bit her lip.
Pam stood stunned as she looked on. Her ears felt like they were burning. She couldn’t be hearing right. Vanessa didn’t know her man. She was not standing in her home telling her man she was having his baby. Suddenly their conversation from last week replayed in her head.
This bitch done lost her mind,
Pam thought,
and now I’m about to lose mine.
“It was you. You tampered with those condoms from the club and now you are showing up here at my woman’s house telling me I got you pregnant. Have you lost your mind,” Nate bellowed.
“I thought -,” before Vanessa could finish her sentence, forgetting all about being nearly seven months pregnant, Pam lunged at her jumping up and grabbing a hand full of the woman’s bob.
“Bitch, in my home. In my motherfucking home,” Pam shouted as she tugged Vanessa down to her height and started to punch her in her head. “I invited you into my life and the whole time you knew you had been fucking my man. What I look like to you? You going to come to my home and pull this shit.”
Nate stood in shock at what was on folding before him until Vanessa’s screams snapped him into action. He gently wrapped one arm around his woman’s shoulders and used his other hand to pry her hand from Vanessa’s hair. Vanessa scurried away from Pam’s reach as Pam bucked and fought against Nate.
“Baby, calm down,” Nate commanded. “Let me handle this. You are pregnant with our children. You have to relax, Baby.”
“I’ll relax after I beat that heifer down. She has been playing me all this time. Hold on,” Pam paused and whipped around on Nate. “The club…please tell me you’re not talking about that club Desire. You know what don’t answer that.”
“How does it feel to know your man isn’t perfect? None of ya’ll men are perfect. But you and your sister should know I’ve fucked both your men and at the same time,” Vanessa said with a sick grin.
“Shut the fuc-,” Nate growled.
He didn’t get to finish his words as Pam whizzed pass his. Pam lunged for her again as Vanessa sat huddled on the kitchen floor. Pam didn’t get her hands on her.
However, as Nate lifted her from her, feet first one then the other foot connected with Vanessa’s head then face sending her head flying back into the cabinet behind her not once, but twice. A sickening crack sounded through the room as her head bounced against the hard wooden surface.
“Keep playing with me bitch,” Pam snarled. “I knew I couldn’t trust your ass. You think you can come and break up my home. I got something for that ass. I love this man and your nasty ass coming here starving for attention can’t change that or the fact that he loves me. But what is going to happen, I’mma whip that ass not just for me, but for my sister. Then I’mma whip your nasty ass for trying to trap my man.”
Pam hissed all this out as Nate carried her to their bedroom. He placed her on the bed and cupped her face. “Listen to me,” he barked. “Let me handle this. I got this Pam.”
Pam sniffled and wiped her face. “I’m sorry,” Pam started to cry. “I let her in our home. I trusted her when I knew I shouldn’t. Paige kept telling me to watch her.”
“This is on me Pam. I take this one all on me. She never should have gotten this close and believe me I’m going to handle this,” Nate said firmly.
Some people were about to lose their jobs and heads were going to roll. He didn’t want to leave his woman sitting here sobbing, but he had a problem to go handle. Nate grabbed some clothes to put on before finding his phone and finally turning it on.
“Too late,” he muttered to the text messages from Rita and Bobby.
He shot Bobby a text to get his butt over here. Then he turned his attention to a pretty banged up Vanessa that hadn’t moved an inch. Nate snorted to himself.
He knew Pamela had a temper, but the last thing he expected was his little pregnant woman to hand Vanessa her ass tonight. She was quick about it to. She would definitely make a wonderful Mrs. Briggs. Next time someone tried to tell him his woman was all mouth he wouldn’t dare them to test that theory, unless they deserved it.
Nate moved to the kitchen and placed some ice in a baggie, ignoring the whimpers of the woman who walked in here with intentions of ruining his life. He had yet to rein in his own fury. Pam had only done what he mentally wanted to.
Handing her the ice Nate nodded to the living room. “You may want to have a seat. You’re going to be here a while,” Nate grumbled.
“I ….I want to talk to Bobby. He said he would help me. I need help. She’s not going to leave you is she? I need help because I can’t go through with his orders if she doesn’t leave you. Believe it or not I did want her as a friend,” Vanessa sobbed.