Billionaire Wedding: Brooklyn's Baby (Interracial Billionaire Wedding Romance) ( Contemporary Taboo Alpha Male Wedding Romance) (9 page)

              Kerry jumped back, and Mercedes sat up and quickly jumped off the desk – rushing to get her underwear and pants pulled back up. Kerry jolted behind the desk, sitting down in the chair to hide his erection from whoever had come to interrupt what would have likely been an erotic sequel. Mercedes blushed while trying not to laugh at his nervousness. She had her pants up and buttoned before the office door opened.

              “Hey, Miss Mercado?” it was Al.

              “Whatcha need, Al?” Mercedes asked.

              Al saw Kerry and nodded approvingly at his employer. “Good morning, Mr. O’Brian.”

              “Morning,” Kerry said, looking down at some paperwork that had been left out on the desk for Mercedes so as not to meet eyes with the construction worker.

              “Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in a meeting.” Al said. “When you have a moment, Miss Mercado, those replacement wire rope slings and the lifting assemblies just got here.”

              “Thanks, Al. I’ll be out in just a moment,” Mercedes said.

              Al nodded and closed the door on his way out. Mercedes and Kerry waited to speak until after Al had left the trailer. She began to laugh as she turned around to face Kerry. “Maybe you should go, Kerry. Lunch break is almost over.”

              He nodded, clearly embarrassed after almost being caught. Kerry stood. “I will see you again soon,” he said it as though he were asking a question. She did not say anything; she just stared at him, unsure of what to say. Kerry frowned. “You need to think,” he said, disappointed.

              “I’m sorry,” she said, “But yes.”

              Kerry nodded as though he understood. “Okay,” he said rather unwillingly. “But I hope you decide that you want this as much as I do.”

              As he passed by her he leaned in and kissed her forehead before heading out the door and off site. Mercedes rolled her eyes, but a part of her actually felt happy.

              That afternoon Yury drove her home. The two flights of stairs did not seem so awful that day. When she entered into her apartment she collapsed on the futon and took a moment to breathe after a long day at work. Mercedes noticed a missed call on her cell phone. After holding the phone up to her ear, she heard her uncle’s voice. Whatever it was he sounded somewhat urgent but not so much so that she felt like she had to jump up and run out the door. He merely said that he needed her to come by the garage as soon as possible.

              A heavy sigh escaped her since she had hoped to have an afternoon alone in her apartment, but it did not seem as though that was going to happen. Mercedes decided to walk rather than calling Yury. She made her way down the familiar street that led to
Benny’s and Tito’s
, taking the long way around so as to avoid the bar. She had avoided going to the bar ever since her run in with Edgar in the bathroom. She did not even want to walk by it to risk running into Edgar as he was entering or exiting the building.

              The sun was setting just as she was arriving. Tito was waiting out front, an annoyed sneer on his face. “How was work?” he asked, trying to sound casual, but Mercedes knew something had greatly irritated him. There was something off that had him fuming slightly. She assumed it had something to do with the bank, but she was wrong.

              “It was good,” she said, deciding to play along with the small talk he was insisting upon them having. He was quite, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Eventually she realized that the conversation would be going nowhere unless she pressed for information from him. “Everything all right, Uncle Tito?”

              “Ernie is here,” he said under his breath, clearly not pleased with the information he was providing her with. “He waited around here for you all afternoon. He’s passed out in one of the cars inside.”

              Mercedes stomach ached. “Ernie? He’s out?”

              “He’s out.” Tito practically spat when he said it. “He didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he came here. I wanted to make sure you knew he was back in town though. He wants to see you, but I wouldn’t bother with him if I were you. He’s out on parole.”

              Mercedes sighed, “Well, I guess if he’s come all this way.” She and Tito made their way back to the garage; her ex-boyfriend was one of the last people she wanted to speak with at that moment. Once inside the garage, she saw him fast asleep in the passenger’s seat of a car. It had been years since she had seen that stupid face of his. They had gotten into a terrible fight and had broken up only weeks before his arrest. Those were her younger years that she was not proud of. Mercedes rolled her eyes. “Don’t wake him. Let him sleep,” she said to Tito. “I’ll wait for him in the office. I’ll do some filing for you while I’m here.”

              She dragged herself across the garage to Tito’s office, discovering that the man had emptied out countless files in a failed attempt to organize his paperwork before the bank took the place. She sighed, realizing she had her work cut out for her. She began by gathering everything up into large heaps on the floor, deciding it would be easier to lay everything out on the floor rather than the small desk with the ungodly amount of papers. She sat on the seat cushion that had still yet to make its way to the dumpster and began sorting.

              Several hours of sorting papers went by before Mercedes fell asleep sitting on the cushion, her head leaned back against one of the filing cabinets. She was not sure how long she was out, but when she arose and gazed out the window she could see that it was dark out. Mercedes stretched and exited the office, heading into the garage. Tito was across the way, sipping on a fresh batch of coffee while on his cell phone. It sounded as though he was talking to someone with the bank, so she did not pester him. Ernie, however, was up under the hood of a car working in an attempt to repay Tito for allowing him to sleep at the garage all afternoon.

              Mercedes’ stomach ached; she did not want to talk to Ernie, but it did not seem like she had left herself much of a choice by staying. “Ernie,” she said and he slid himself out from under the car.

He grinned, showing off that he had lost a tooth while in prison. Ernie stood, “What’s up, baby girl?” he came towards her, his arms outstretched.

Mercedes took a step back, and he awkwardly lowered his arms. “Why are you here, Ernie? What do you want?”

“Baby, you know I’m here for you. I want you, baby,” he said flirtatiously.

Mercedes rolled her eyes, trying to be as obvious as possible that she was not at all thrilled to see him. “Here for me?” she questioned. “That’s quite a change of heart since the last time I saw your stupid ass.”

Ernie chuckled half-heartedly. “I know, I know. Mercedes, look, while I was away I had a lot of time to think. You know what I realized?” She did not respond to his question; she did not want to give him any sort of satisfaction. He continued, “I realized that the best thing about my life had always been you, baby. I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I know you have been thinking about me too. I know you missed me.”

Mercedes laughed. “Not really. Ernie, we’re not kids anymore. There’s a reason I never visited you in prison, you know?”

“I know I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve missed you, girl,” he said. “I’m different now. I swear. You’ve missed me too, right?”

She could tell he had not changed. He was on a freedom high - that was all. “Ernie, I’m sorry, but I have no intentions in playing around with you anymore. I’m not going back to our hoodlum, teenaged yank-selves. I’m done with that life.”

“Come on, I know that can’t be entirely true,” he grinned, attempting to step towards her but each step he took she took one back. “I heard you dropped out of MIT to come back to the neighborhood. Did you miss it here that much?” he asked. He was desperate to hold her in conversation. Tito had said that Ernie had nowhere to go, but she certainly was not going to bring him back to her apartment and offer him a place in her bed just because she felt sorry for him.

“Ernie, let’s get one thing straight,” she jeered, “I dropped out because my dad had gotten sick. I didn’t come back for this neighborhood or for you. I came back for him.”

“Well now you’re back,” he said. “I was hoping things could go back to the way they were - you and me and Tito and the garage?”

Mercedes crossed her arms. “I got another job too. The garage is going to be gone, Ernie. The bank is taking it.”

Ernie bypassed the news about the garage. “Another job?” he acted like the words tasted nasty on his lips. “What other job?”

“I’m working an architect project with a prominent businessman right now. It pays well.” She let herself brag a little, wanting Ernie to see that she had moved on in her life. She did not want to hurt him, but she could remember how stubborn Ernie was. He was not the kind you gave subtle hints to.

Ernie’s shoulders seemed to tense up. He came closer to her abruptly and pointed a finger in her face. “I never thought you’d be a sell-out like your damn mom.”

Mercedes flung a palm into his face, slapping him hard on his left cheek in such a sudden motion that his head spun to the side. “Get out!” she roared. “Get out of our garage!”

Ernie was infuriated. He reached out and grabbed both her wrists and violently ran forward with her, eventually knocking her back into the car he had been working on. She felt her lower back bash into the passenger’s side door, and she yelped from surprise more so than pain. In all their years of dating, Ernie had never been violent towards her before. “You stupid-” before he could finish his thought, Tito was at their side with his hand on Ernie’s shoulder.

“I dare you, kid,” Tito said furiously, “I dare you to try something right now.” Tito was holding a wrench down at his side. “Get out of my garage before I bust your head in, you piece of shit.”

Ernie glared at Mercedes and released her wrists. “I know you haven’t changed, Mercedes,” he mumbled and headed out, not willing to fight Tito, even knowing that he could likely win in a brawl with the older man. Soon he was gone and she felt relieved.

“Are you all right. Mercedes?” Tito asked. He was just as shocked as she was by Ernie’s outburst. Clearly prison had not been good to him. He was worse than before.

She nodded, suddenly noticing the slight color in the sky as she gazed out of the opened garage door. “Is it morning?” she asked, shocked.

“Just about,” he yawned. “You want some coffee?”

Mercedes felt her jaw drop, “I slept here all night?”

“You, Ernie, and me. Yeah,” he said. “I saw you passed out against the wall. You looked comfortable, so I didn’t bother you.”

“I feel like I only closed my eyes for a second,” she groaned. “I have to go to work.” She placed a hand to her head and began to massage her temples, hardly able to believe that she had slept the entire night away without even realizing it. She called Yury to let him know where she needed to be picked up while Tito revealed that he had gone for doughnuts that morning while she had been asleep. He had gotten nearly two dozen, probably under the assumption that he would have had Ernie with him all day at the garage before his and Mercedes’ quarrel.

Mercedes had coffee and doughnuts with Tito while waiting on Yury. When the excitable Russian driver pulled up in front of the garage, Mercedes bid Tito farewell after reassuring him that she would be all right several more times. Yury talked the entire ride to the work site, but she hardly heard anything he was saying. There was simply too much on her mind between Kerry and Ernie.

              She exited the vehicle as they pulled up on the sight, the coffee and doughnuts had her stomach churning. Suddenly she felt herself becoming shaky and she ran for the nearest drain pipe and vomited. “Holy hell,” she shrieked, holding her stomach. Soon the intense nausea passed. She really needed to get some sleep and some real food instead of sugary, glazed doughnuts. She was letting everything get the better of her.

              Once she was feeling better, she headed onto the worksite and towards her office so as to unload before the day began. Upon entering the trailer, she cringed to see that Kerry was sitting on the couch waiting for her. He stood up eagerly as she entered. “Hey,” he said, his voice full of anxiety. She did not have her wits together enough to deal with him as well as Ernie that day.

              “Hey,” she said as he was coming up to her. He leaned in for a kiss, and she turned her head away from him.

              He looked hurt. “I see,” he said, disappointed that she would not allow him a simple kiss.

              “No, that’s not it.” She assured him and almost laughed at how heartbroken he suddenly looked. “I lost my breakfast just a second ago.” Her face turned red from embarrassment. “One too many doughnuts and
way
too much coffee,” she said.

              Kerry laughed, his famous smile slowly reemerging. “Thanks for warning me,” he said. “I don’t suppose you had time to think about what we talked about yesterday?”

              “I’m sorry, Kerry,” she said, gently pushing by him to throw her belongings down in the office before heading for the door. “I have been feeling a little sick. I just don’t have my head on straight right now. Can we talk later?”

              Kerry smiled at her. “Of course.”