Treacherous (The Wolf Pack Series) (4 page)

“Yeah,” they mumbled, eyes downcast.

“Yup,” Sterling agreed, “it certainly looks like you are.”

“Aren’t you gonna introduce us to your lovely companions?” Stanton drawled.

When Michael grudgingly made the introductions, the two girls smiled and offered friendly greetings to Sterling and Stanton.

“Wow,” the shorter one exclaimed. “All of you look
just
alike.”

“Yeah, we get that all the time,” Stanton said, grinning affably. “Anyway, it’s always good to see the boys making new friends. Savannah’s such a beautiful city that we’ve even considered moving here. Hey, maybe the four of you would end up at the same high school.”

The two friends giggled. “Oh, we’re not in high school anymore. We’re sophomores at Savannah State.”

“Really?” Sterling and Stanton echoed with identical expressions of exaggerated surprise. “You’re both in college?”

“Yes.” The taller girl glanced at Michael, who looked like he was ready for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. “Aren’t you and your cousin in college?”

Before Michael could respond, Sterling guffawed. “Is that what he told you?”

“Well, yeah.” The girl frowned. “He said they were both going into their second year at Morehouse.”

The two fathers laughed.

“Sorry, ladies,” Sterling said ruefully. “But Mike’s only sixteen—”

“—and Manny’s fourteen,” Stanton finished.

“
What
?” the girls exclaimed, looking the shamefaced cousins up and down.

“But they’re both so tall—”

“—and they look older than that!”

Stanton grinned with relish. “Don’t let the peach fuzz fool you. These boys are bona fide jailbait.”

“Oh, hell no. Come on, Jessica, let’s go.” The two friends stomped off in an indignant huff.

Sterling and Stanton burst out laughing as their sons groaned and hung their heads in abject humiliation.

“Was that really necessary?” Michael grumbled darkly. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Sterling chuckled, affectionately palming the back of Michael’s head. “Lying to a woman is never a good way to start off a relationship, son. Remember that.”

“Yeah, sure,” came the boy’s surly response.

Sterling grinned, watching as his brother put Manning in a playful headlock, coaxing a reluctant grin out of him.

“All this walking’s got me hungry,” Sterling announced cheerfully. “Who’s ready to eat?”

They went to one of their favorite home-style restaurants, where they dined on steaming platters of fresh seafood, fried chicken, black-eyed peas and collard greens, with generous helpings of pecan pie and banana pudding for dessert.

During the meal, everyone teased Michael and Manning about their thwarted attempt to pick up older women.

“It was
Mike’s
idea to tell them we were in college,” Manning said accusingly.

“They wouldn’t have talked to us if they knew how old we were, dummy,” Michael shot back.

“Are you kidding? Didn’t you see the way they were checking us out?”

“Checking
me
out, you mean,” Michael corrected, then laughed as Manning tossed a crab claw at him.

“No throwing food at the table,” Prissy lightly scolded, then shook her head at the feuding pair. “I still can’t believe those silly girls fell for your lie. Even if Mike
could
pass for a college freshman—” Sterling snorted. “And that’s a big
if
.”

“—there’s no way anyone could believe that my Manny is in college. Not with this baby face,” she cooed, cupping his cheek in her hand.

“Ma,” Manning groaned in embarrassment.

Laughter swept around the table.

Marcus sighed dramatically, shaking his head at Michael. “My poor brother.

This just hasn’t been your week, has it? First you lost Kiara to your best friend—” Michael scowled. “I told you—”

“Wait a minute,” Manning laughingly interjected. “Who’s Kiara?”

“A girl from the neighborhood he likes,” Marcus said smugly. “Only problem is,
she
likes Quentin.”

“How do you know?”

“Last week when Mike was at basketball camp, I saw Kiara and Quentin walking to the corner store together, holding hands. The next day I overheard Mike and Q arguing about her.”

“Marcus,” Celeste gently chided. “What have I always told you about eavesdropping?”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping, Ma. They were loud.”

“Well, well, well,” Manning gleefully intoned, grinning at Michael. “Guess you’re not the man after all.”

Michael shrugged dismissively. “I’m not worried about Kiara. There’s plenty more fish in the sea.”

Celeste grimaced. “Darling, can we not refer to females as ‘fish’?”

“Yes, please,” Prissy agreed.

“Aw, leave the boy alone,” Stanton said. “He’s right. Life’s too short to be losing sleep over one girl. If she wants that light-skinned pretty boy, let her have him. And when Q breaks her little heart—’cause you know he will—that should teach her a lesson. Right, Sterl?”

Sterling took one look at his wife’s indignant face, then Prissy’s, and held up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m staying out of this.” Everyone laughed.

After dinner, Sterling and Celeste opted to attend an open-air concert at Forsyth Park while the rest of the family went to see a movie.

After stopping at a boutique to buy a blanket, they strolled to the park, which was a long strip with open fields at one end and scenic gardens at the other. At the center was a massive cast-iron fountain that was one of Savannah’s most iconic landmarks, as evidenced by the tourists snapping photographs and posing in front of the beautiful monument.

Sterling and Celeste weaved through the crowd until they found an ideal spot beneath a canopy of live oaks. They stretched out on their blanket and spent the next two hours listening to the symphony perform beneath the stars.

It was the most romantic evening they’d had in ages. When the concert was over and the crowd began to disperse, they lingered behind, wanting to prolong the experience. As they sat there cuddling underneath the trees, the silvery Spanish moss swayed in the gentle breeze, adding to the otherworldly romantic atmosphere.

Celeste sighed, a sound of utter contentment. Resting her head on Sterling’s shoulder, she murmured, “This is so nice.”

“Isn’t it?” Sterling agreed, rubbing his cheek against her soft, fragrant hair.

“I’m glad we decided to come here instead of going to the movies.”

“Me, too.”

“Why don’t we do things like this more often?”

Sterling felt a pang of guilt. “We should,” he admitted. “I guess we need to make more of an effort.”

“We really do.” Celeste paused. “I meant what I said earlier.”

“About?”

“About us staying here, not going home.”

Sterling went still.

After several moments of silence, Celeste lifted her head to look at him.

“Well?”

He shook his head at her. “I didn’t think you were serious.”

“Why not?”

“Why not?” Sterling echoed incredulously. “Because we both have jobs waiting for us. And the boys have their schools, their extracurricular activities, their friends.”

“All of which they could find right here in Savannah,” Celeste pointed out.

“Just think about it, Sterl. We could move in with Mama Wolf until we find a place of our own. God knows she’s got plenty of room, and I know she’d
love
having us there with her.”

Taking Celeste’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, Sterling searched her face. “What are you running from?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. Too quickly.

Sterling frowned, a strange unease stirring in his gut. “What’s going on, honey?”

“Nothing.” She swallowed visibly, dropping her gaze. “It’s just that…well, I’ve been thinking that maybe we need a change of scenery. You know, like Stan and Prissy did.”

“They moved because Prissy got a good job,” Sterling reminded her. “And Stan and the boys hate Denver.”

“That’s because they haven’t given it a chance.”

“It’s been two years, and they still want to come back home.”

“Well, that’s
their
problem,” Celeste snapped.

A heavy silence fell between them. The relaxed, romantic mood they’d enjoyed all night was suddenly gone, and Sterling wasn’t sure why.

“What’s happening between us?” he asked quietly.

Celeste averted her gaze, staring off into the distance. Tears glistened in her eyes, heightening Sterling’s alarm.

“Talk to me, honey,” he prodded gently.

She hesitated another moment, then confided, “I always hoped that I’d be able to leave Atlanta someday. Wendell and I talked about it all the time. We planned to move away after we’d both graduated from college. We were going to start over someplace new. But after he died…” She trailed off, unable to finish.

But she didn’t have to. Sterling knew what she’d been about to say. Even after all these years, the specter of Wendell Portman’s ghost hung between them.

Celeste and Wendell had been high school sweethearts, the most admired couple among their peers. Celeste was a beautiful, popular cheerleader. The preacher’s daughter every boy wanted to seduce. But she’d only had eyes for Wendell, the smart, ambitious class president who’d already secured an academic scholarship to Morehouse, while Celeste was bound for Spelman. Everyone had expected the couple to get married and live happily ever after. But just days after their high school graduation ceremony, tragedy struck. On his way home from visiting Celeste one night, Wendell’s car was broadsided by a speeding drunk driver. He was killed on impact.

Shattered and grief-stricken, Celeste had sought solace from Sterling, whom she’d been friends with for many years. She’d showed up at his apartment while his grandmother and Stanton were attending bible study at church, a weekly ritual Sterling had avoided that evening by pretending to be sick. In hindsight, he realized that he’d played right into the devil’s hands.

One moment he’d been consoling Celeste and wiping her tears. The next moment they were making sweet, passionate love like their lives depended on it. Four weeks later, Celeste came to him with the most devastating news. She was pregnant, but she didn’t know whether the baby belonged to him or Wendell, whom she’d slept with two nights before he was killed.

Her revelation left Sterling reeling with shock. He was only eighteen, and had been looking forward to starting college that fall. Although he’d never had any lofty expectations of becoming rich or famous, he knew his prospects would diminish even more if he were saddled down with a family. He wasn’t ready to tackle the responsibilities of fatherhood. But Celeste was pregnant and terrified, knowing she’d incur her father’s wrath if she had a child out of wedlock. Her strict Baptist upbringing also ruled out abortion as an option.

She’d needed Sterling to be a man. So he’d done the only thing he could.

He’d asked her to marry him. And thus began their rollercoaster journey together.

Gently stroking Celeste’s hair, Sterling murmured, “Are you feeling restless in Atlanta?”

She hesitated, then nodded against his chest. “I’ve been there all my life.

From the time I was young, my father made it clear to me that Atlanta was my home, and that was where I belonged. Going to college somewhere else was never even a consideration—it was Spelman or nothing.”

“I thought that was because your mother went to Spelman,” Sterling interjected, “and he wanted to continue the family tradition.”

“That was part of it, yes. But the main reason is that he wanted to keep me close by.” Celeste sighed. “I know you always saw my father as this larger than life figure. A strict disciplinarian and a fire-and-brimstone preacher who struck fear in the hearts of his congregants—”

“And our children,” Sterling added wryly. “Every time he was around, Michael and Marcus became perfect little angels.”

Celeste grinned. “That’s true. They knew Daddy would take his belt to their backsides the second they got out of line.”

“Hell,
I
was scared of him,” Sterling joked.

They both laughed.

Sobering after several moments, Celeste continued, “Yeah, Daddy could be very intimidating. But what most people didn’t know is that he was also very vulnerable and needy. You remember how it was. When my mother first got sick, he started leaning on me, expecting me to take care of all the things she no longer could. Mom used to tell him to give me some space, because I had my own family and responsibilities to worry about. But once she passed away, I became my father’s whole world.” She grimaced, shaking her head. “I can remember getting off from work, picking up Michael from the babysitter, then rushing over to the church to type Daddy’s sermons for him because that’s what Mom used to do.”

“I remember those days,” Sterling murmured, thinking of how guilty he’d often felt for resenting her father’s intrusion into their lives. It hadn’t helped that the old man openly disapproved of their marriage, believing that Celeste could do better than Sterling.

“Those were some trying times, God rest Daddy’s soul.” Celeste sighed.

“Anyway, to make a long story short, I think I’m ready for a change of scenery.” Sterling nodded slowly. “And how do you know you won’t feel restless in Savannah?”

She hesitated, biting her lip. “I guess I
don’t
know.” Sterling said nothing, continuing to stroke her hair.

After a prolonged silence, she let out a deep, resigned breath. “You’re right.

We can’t just pack up our family and move here on a whim. I’m talking foolish.”

“It wasn’t foolish,” Sterling countered mildly. “I understand where you’re coming from, wanting to experience someplace different. But it’s just not practical for us right now. And as much as the boys love spending every summer in Savannah, I don’t necessarily think they’d want to live here. They’d miss home too much.”