TOTAL ECLIPSE: The Evolution (Sin City Heat Series Book 7) (30 page)

Jerra didn’t have to complete the sentence. Melissa finally got the whole picture. When the elevator doors opened again, she gave Jerra a curt nod. “I have to take care of a few things, but I can be in your office in about thirty minutes.”

“Good. I think I’ll take the stairs. See you in thirty minutes.”

After the elevator doors slid shut, Jerra puffed her cheeks out and exhaled. That girl was exhausting. Hopefully, she’d been able to get through to her. Jerra had no doubt that Melissa had been planning to sabotage her and try to make her look bad. She wouldn’t have succeeded, of course, but Jerra didn’t have time to keep checking her back to make sure a knife wasn’t sticking out of it. This case would require all of her attention.

As she turned to catch the stairs, she heard someone applauding behind her. Looking over her shoulders, she saw Justin walking towards her.

Jerra grinned and met him halfway. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough to once again thank my lucky stars that I never gave up on getting you here.”

“So am I.”

Grimacing, Justin glanced at the elevator Melissa had just got on. Jerra fell into step with him when he gestured for her to follow him back to his office. “And she wonders why you’re taking the lead on this case. I still have half a mind to fire her ass. At the very least take some type of disciplinary action. I still don’t know what she was thinking.”

“I think it was her ego talking, but mostly...”

Justin closed the door behind them once they got to his office. When Jerra stopped before completing her sentence, Justin tilted his head, eyes full of curiosity. “Mostly what?”

Jerra hesitated then shrugged as she sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “She has a thing for you, that’s what. She’s jealous.”

“Of what? You and me?” he asked, leaning back on his desk and folding his arms.

“Yes.”

Justin looked truly perplexed. “Why? I’ve never been anything but professional with her.”

Jerra rolled her eyes. “Justin, half the women at your firm are in love with you. It’s the same as in law school; you never had to
do
anything but be yourself. That’s reason enough for these poor women to lose their minds over you.”

“Thanks. I think,” he frowned.

Jerra’s eyes went to the picture of his twelve year old son whom he shared custody of with his ex-girlfriend. The boy was a beautiful mixture of cultures. Although he inherited Justin’s beautiful blue eyes, there was no doubting the African American blood that ran through his veins.

“There’s never been anyone special since Kyle’s mother?” she probed gently. Justin hadn’t said much about her, but Jerra got the feeling the breakup was a bad one.

“No, and that’s the way I plan on keeping it. I have my son and that’s enough. Believe me, having my heart broken once in a lifetime is enough.”

“Yes, love hurts but it doesn’t mean you should give up on it and try to avoid it at every turn.”

“Says the pot to the kettle. If that’s true, why aren’t you taking your own advice?” Justin asked, smoothly turning the tables.

Jerra lifted her eyebrows. “Touché.”

But he wasn’t letting her avoid the subject. “Well? I’m waiting.”

Jerra shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “I honestly don’t know how to answer that. Darrell and I…we’ve been through a lot.”

“It’s obvious the two of you still love one another.”

Jerra nodded slowly. “Yes. Very much.”

“Isn’t that reason enough to try and work on your problems? The guy’s crazy over you, Jerra. I could see that the first time I met him.”

“He’s trying, I do admit that.”

“You know, you and I share that blasted Type A personality, my friend. Sometimes we can be too rigid, unwilling to bend. It’s hard for us to admit that not everything is black and white.”

Jerra’s brow furrowed slightly as she thought about the initial cause of their separation. “Maybe.”

“Take it from me, it’s rare to find something like what you and your husband share, Jerra.”

“I know and I agree.” Jerra smiled and glanced down at her watch. “I’d better go. I can’t have Melissa beating me to my office.”

Once she got to the door, she turned back to look at him. “Thanks, Justin.”

“Don’t mention it. And Jerra?” he stopped her before she left the office. “Keep me abreast of this case. I want to be made aware of every single move you plan to make.”

“Will do. Talk to you soon.”

CHAPTER 34

It was after nine o’clock that night by the time Jerra left the office. She picked up her briefcase, which contained information about the case she planned to work on once she got home and headed towards the elevator.

It seemed as if she and Darrell had been playing phone tag most of the day. He’d been busy in meetings, and then out at a work site checking up on one of the new projects he and Carl had started on. Text messages and voicemails had been their mode of communication. Jerra had let him know that she would be unexpectedly late due to a case she’d just been assigned to. Darrell responded that she didn’t have to worry. Mrs. Henderson would be with D.J. until he got home.

As Jerra rode the elevator down to the garage, she thought about the middle-aged woman Darrell had hired a couple of weeks ago to work as a part-time nanny/housekeeper. To say that Jerra had been adamantly opposed to the idea was an understatement, but now she freely admitted that Mrs. Henderson was a godsend for all of them. She’d immediately put Jerra at ease once they met and D.J. was already crazy about her.

Biting her lip, Jerra’s mind went back to Darrell. She smiled as she thought about the last text she’d received from him a couple of hours ago…

I don’t know how long u’ll b but u might as well let D.J. spend the night. I’ll get him 2 camp in the morning… & fyi the invitation 2 spend the night xtends to u 2. ☺

She’d sent him a return text telling him thanks for keeping their baby for the night…but no thanks on the extended invite. Before she hit
SEND
she’d included a smiley face as well, letting him know she hadn’t taken it the wrong way.

Jerra stepped off the elevator and waved to the security guard as she headed to her car. Once inside, she pushed the button to start the ignition and pulled out onto the busy city streets that were bright and alive with activity. While she was preparing to wind her day down, Vegas was just getting started.

She drove for a while, thinking about the case and mentally reviewing the line of defense she’d outlined. Jerra loved her job. Although she wouldn’t trade the time she’d spent at home with her son for anything in the world, she had to admit that she’d missed practicing law. It was good to be back in the midst of it.

When she came to a stop at a traffic light, she tapped her fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song that filled the interior of her car. It was a new release from one of her favorite artists. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a car pull up on the side of her and stop as it too waited on the light to change. She paid it no attention until the driver beeped its horn.

Frowning, she instinctively turned her head towards the expensive sports car and saw that an extremely handsome man was behind the wheel. Seeing that he had Jerra’s attention, he slowly rolled his tinted window down and nodded in greeting. Jerra gave him a tired smile before turning her head to wait for the light to change. When he blew his horn again, Jerra started to ignore him, but looked at him with a touch of irritation. He gave her a charming smile that she was sure normally worked for him and mimicked a gesture that more or less asked for her number. Jerra shook her head and held up her left hand to show him her wedding band. The man held up his own hand to show her he was married as well so it didn’t matter.

This time Jerra didn’t bother to acknowledge the gesture he gave her again for her number. When, she heard her cell phone buzz, alerting her of an incoming text, Jerra picked it up and glanced at the message. She smiled when she saw it was from Darrell. 

Just wanted to tell you to be careful going home. Have a good night.

Without realizing it, Jerra’s smile stretched out to a wide grin. Placing her foot on the accelerator, she pulled off, instantly forgetting about the disappointed driver of the other car. Her first response was to give her husband a quick call, but at that exact moment, she spied the exit that would take her to his condo. Making a lightning quick decision, she sped up and switched lanes to take the exit. Almost three weeks had passed since the amazing night they’d shared together. Jerra had thought about it every day since. They’d handled it well. Things hadn’t been awkward between them at all. In fact, they’d been talking quite a bit, and as a result, things had improved greatly.

Although Jerra couldn’t help but notice the way Darrell looked at her whenever they were together, he hadn’t pushed for a repeat of that night. He’d kept his promise to leave that decision up to her. 

Humming under her breath, Jerra hit repeat once the song finished, smiling at the nasty things the R&B artist sang about in the lyrics, and made a promise to reenact every single one of them with her husband before the night was over.

Darrell looked in on D.J. before he got ready to take his shower. As he expected, his son had kicked off the covers and was lying flat on his back with his arms splayed wide on either side of him.

Shaking his head, Darrell walked in and pulled the sheets and comforter back over him. “Boy, you and your mama are the worst sleepers I’ve ever seen, I swear,” he muttered as he tucked D.J. in again.

Leaning down, Darrell kissed him on the forehead and smiled. He had enjoyed spending the extra time with him this evening. They’d played a couple of rounds of D.J.’s favorite video game, wrestled a little, then ended the night watching television.

Darrell’s grin slowly faded as he thought about how much he missed being with his son. Yeah, he saw him mostly every day, but it wasn’t the same. Not at all. He missed Jerra too, but determined not to get lost in those thoughts right now, his mind switched to the counseling sessions he’d had with Dr. Williams. To say Darrell had been more than a little skeptical he had to admit, it wasn’t as bad as he’d feared. As always, his brotha had been right on the money.

Leaving D.J.’s room, he decided to put the food away first before taking a shower. Darrell rubbed his flat stomach as he walked into the kitchen and thought about the homemade banana pudding Mrs. Henderson had made for him and D.J. It wasn’t that Cool Whip and instant pudding kind either. It was the real mu’fuckin’ deal. He and D.J. had tore into it as soon as they’d finished dinner. Darrell couldn’t believe he was actually thinking about getting some more before he went to bed. He was already goin’ to have to do some extra sit-ups tonight as it was.

Frowning, Darrell shook his head. He was goin’ to have to talk to Mrs. H. about the desserts. Last week, it was strawberry shortcake. The week before that, homemade peach cobbler. He’d been sharing some of it with his neighbor, Charlene and her kids, and a few times, Marcus and Dom had come over and helped polish it off, so it hadn’t been so bad–but it was bad enough. Darrell exercised every day, but if Mrs. H. kept cookin’ these types of meals…

The rest of his thoughts were interrupted by the chiming of the doorbell. Darrell glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost ten o’clock. Walking to the door, he peered through the peephole and saw that it was his neighbor, Charlene. After disarming the alarm, he opened the door and saw that she was holding the container he’d put the strawberry shortcake in last week.

Handing it to him, she gave him a sheepish grin. “Hi, Darrell. I hope I’m not disturbing you. I know it’s late, but I figured I’d kept your container long enough, so…”

Darrell took it from her and smiled. Great. Now he could get rid of some of that banana pudding. “No, you’re not interruptin’, but there was no rush in returnin’ this. Since you did, though…” He swung the door open and grinned. “How ‘bout I just refill it with some homemade banana pudding?”

“Darrellll, noooo…” Charlene whined, pushing her bottom lip out in a pout. She gestured to the tight little workout shorts and sports bra she had on. “The kids are with their father, so I decided to get in a late night workout session downstairs. These scrumptious desserts your housekeeper continues to cook are one reason why I’ve had to double up on my exercise. Otherwise I would’ve gained ten pounds by now.”

“Aw, come on, I see how much you work out. As long as you keep burnin’ those calories you can eat whatever you want. And from what I see, you maintainin’ pretty damn good,” Darrell knew he was flirting a little, but it was all in good fun.

“Well, thank you.” Charlene’s pale cheeks blushed with pleasure at the compliment and flicked her long, strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. As if an idea had just come to her she said, “Hey, why don’t you change and come down and join me?” She reached out and patted his flat abs. “You can give me a crash course on how to get my stomach like that.”

Darrell was on the verge of refusing the offer, but before he could, a voice from behind Charlene did it for him.

“He’s busy…tonight and every other night in the foreseeable future.”

Frowning, Darrell peeked around Charlene. When he saw who it was, his lips parted in surprise because he hadn’t expected to see her tonight. “Jerra?”