“Well?” I say against the skin on his neck because I am too scared to come out of my hiding spot.
“Not pregnant baby.” He says with no inflection, like he’s telling me the weather.
“Got dammit Asher!” I say as I push against him so hard, he almost drops me. “We’ve been trying for months and NOTHING!”
“It’s only been a few months and we knew it would take a while between the reversal and your PCOS’ We knew we were in for a fight. Don’t give up baby and don’t let this make you mad and bitter.”
“I am struggling here, Asher! I am taking that damn medicine and I’m sick and losing weight. Normally I’d be happy but not when it’s due to being nauseous, throwing up, diarrhea, and weird taste buds and there’s still no progress. Why am I putting myself through this!? That medication is killing me.”
“Then stop taking it! We tried it your way baby doll, now let’s try it my way. Let’s talk to Lennox and Brooklyn. We’ll ask them to keep it a secret, they can’t talk to anyone else about our medical situation. But I know they can help; will you talk to them? When I don’t respond he follows up with “Please.”
How can I say no to that? Asher is not a man who begs or pleads for anything, so of course, my response was, “okay.”
“Thank you, baby. I’ll give Lennox a call and set up an appointment. Now come on we have to get dressed for our appointment that’s only twenty minutes from now.”
“Fine,” I say with a pout as I stomp my way out of the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later on the dot, we are in the main house, the doorbell rings and, in walks Eliza and Emerson. It’s been several months since Asher was cleared of the murder charges, but he still wanted to find out who killed Antonia in his club. The twins were working on it but got a call from some big wig whose name they weren’t able to divulge and asked if we would mind if they handled that. Asher wanted to give the police, minus Detective Marshall who lost his job, by the way, a chance to solve the murder; but since they made no progress Asher decided to see if the twins were able to start back on the case, to which they said they would.
“Asher, Carla, it’s good to see you guys again,” Eliza says as she and Emerson shake Asher’s hand and they both give me a brief hug.
“Well let’s get down to business, we’ve been hard at work since you guys called us, and we’ve run Lynn to ground. She was hiding in the Seattle area, and we missed her by a few minutes if I had to guess. When we got to the room she was renting the coffee in her cup was still hot. If I had to guess, I would say she saw us coming on the light bulb camera she installed in the outside light. A camera, might I add, the landlord was unaware of. She must be low on funds since she took a job at a coffee shop in the area, that was the first time her social security number popped up on the radar, before that she’d been smart and damn near impossible to find. If she uses her social again, or even her name we will get an alert.”
“Do you think she will have any information once you find her?”
“Only time will tell. I mean she’s running for a reason. Changing the camera angles would get you fired but not jail time unless she’s an accessory to the crime.”
Asher and I nod at her assessment. Also, I would like to talk to your brother, the one who’s good with computers. Emerson has a hunch that has been nagging at her and we need his help.”
We all look to Asher as he nods and pulls his phone out to likely send Jabarri a text message.
Asher
We talk with the twins a little bit longer before Jabarri walks in. “We need your help with the cameras and guest list for that night,” Eliza tells him without preamble.
“Alright, let’s go back to my office and you can tell me what you need,” Jabarri says and the twins are in motion before he can finish his statement.
“Well baby, let’s go see if Jaasiel needs help with anything for our barbecue today.” And we head to the kitchen. Jaasiel already there, but the retractable doors are opened up, the music is blasting, and he’s loading up the cart with food to take to the outdoor kitchen.
‘I’ll help Jaasiel, you go on to the outside living room and chill, I see my sisters are out there already.” I can barely get the words out before she raises up on her tiptoes, grabs my shirt to pull me down, and gives me a kiss before she turns to head outside. As soon as she clears the doorway, she is snapping her fingers and shimmies her way over to the ladies.
“You know there is food in the kitchen at all times, right?”
“Huh?” I say once I can pry my eyes off her.
“She’s lost weight.” Jaasiel says indicating Carla with his chin.
I turn back to look at her. I know she’s lost weight, knowing her body intimately, but I didn’t think it was enough for other people to notice too.
“It’s a side effect of a medicine she’s taking.” I tell him without giving it much thought. “But I need you to keep your over-observant eyes off my woman,” I tell him while mean mugging him. He throws his hands up in surrender.
“I was just making an observation; I’ll keep my eyes to myself. But umm maybe you should tell her to stop making it easy to notice her.” He says as he gestures to her, and I follow his eyes to my baby doll stepping into the pool in a two-piece bathing suit.. Oh, she is going to pay for that shit there. I have never seen that bathing suit before, so I know she snuck it in. And yes, I know all the clothes she has upstairs in our closet. But before I can blink, my eyes continue to bulge out of my head as all the women reveal bathing suits and join Carla in the pool.
“Umm, maybe I should just cook in here. I just barely survived the planned fratricide Josh planned on us before he married Savvy and today, she is wearing a, uh, I am not sure what the hell that is. Not to mention True, Joyce, Brooklyn, Skai, and Megan’s pool attire. I like living and want to do so past today,” Jaasiel says as he backs away from the backyard. I on the other hand have not been able to take my eyes off of Carla.
“What is everyone looking at?” Josh says as he and Atlas walk in from his side of the house. Jaasiel just points because I haven’t figured out how to talk yet. But neither Josh nor Atlas has the same problem as they look out to where Jaasiel is pointing.
“What the fuck is that?” he bellows. His mouth falls open, then closed, then open again as he sputters.