Twisted Obsessions (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES Book 2) (5 page)

Chapter 7

     Aleesha and Keisha took a seat as they waited for Marcus. They talked enthusiastically about Jerra’s baby and how they couldn’t wait to hold him and spoil him once he came home. When Keisha’s phone rang, she indicated to Aleesha that she would be a minute.

     Aleesha decided to send out a few text messages to friends at home to let them know Jerra had given birth. After a few moments, though, the hairs on her neck stood up. Turning her head, she scanned the room. Her eyes came to a screeching halt when she saw two women whispering to each other and staring her down. Aleesha immediately recognized the tall, fair skinned one right away - that bitch from Marcus’ house last night.
     Aleesha’s eyes narrowed as she crossed her legs and stared directly at Melanie to let her know she wasn’t intimidated in the least. Melanie must have been feeling a little courageous due to her friend standing beside her because she defiantly held Aleesha’s gaze then rolled her eyes. Aleesha switched her attention to the other woman. She was very attractive with flawless dark skin framed by naturally curly dark hair which fell past her shoulders. Unlike Melanie, she didn’t avert her eyes, just continued to stare at Aleesha with intense dislike.
     Keisha ended her call and slipped her phone back into her purse. “Okay. Sorry, girl. What were we talking about…?”
     Her voice trailed off as she noticed her friend staring across the room like she was ready to give someone a serious beat down. With her expression unconsciously mirroring Aleesha’s, she turned in the direction Leesh was glowering in to see what had her so angry. That's when she saw the two women standing by the nurses’ station. One had on a doctor’s coat, while the other looked to be a nurse. They were both staring at Aleesha with salty expressions. When they saw Keisha looking at them, they leaned close and began to whisper again.

     Keisha sat on the edge of her chair and slowly turned towards Aleesha. “Who -
in the fuck
- are those bitches?”
     It took a moment for Aleesha to answer. “Remember the fight from last night I told you about? Well, the tall light-skinned one with the long hair is the one whose ass I kicked. I assume the other woman is a friend of hers.”
     Keisha’s mouth fell open as she turned completely in her seat to face the two women. “You mean that bitch is a doctor?”

     “Apparently so…”

     “What kind of fuckery is that?! She must be ready for another ass whippin’ the way she’s mean muggin’ you over there. She’s a bold bitch, isn’t she?”

     “Bolder now that she thinks she has back up.”

     Keisha looked at the woman standing beside her. “Back up my ass. Watch my purse. Bitch thought
you
were ghetto. Oh, she hasn’t met Keisha Danielle McKnight. I‘m about to show her ‘ghetto‘.” Keisha stood up, but Leesha shook her head.
     “Keisha, wait. This is where Marcus works. I don’t want to do anything to get him in trouble.”
     “He’s your man, not mine, so he won’t get in trouble. You stay right here. I just want to have a little talk with her.” Keisha gave Aleesha a deceptively sweet smile and walked off before Aleesha could grab her arm.
     “Keisha!!” Aleesha hissed.

     At that exact moment, Marcus came walking towards Aleesha with long, quick strides. He turned his head just in time to see Keisha making a bee line over to Melanie and Paula.
“Keisha!” he called out in a sharp voice.

     Keisha glanced over her shoulder. She held up one finger for him to hold up just one moment and kept walking.

     “Keisha!” This time there was no mistaking the fact that Marcus demanded her attention.

     Hearing the no nonsense timbre in his voice, Keisha stopped and turned towards him with a frown.

     Marcus strode up to her and curled his hand around her arm. “Let’s go.” Keisha opened her mouth to respond, but Marcus walked back to Aleesha, bringing Keisha with him.

     Aleesha stood up and gave Keisha her purse. She looked at Marcus with eyes full of concern. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
     Marcus shook his head. “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”

     Leesha and Keisha walked ahead of him and glared at the two women as they passed them, but both women’s eyes were on Marcus. Melanie’s mouth twisted in self-satisfaction and Paula‘s face wore an expression of lust and desire she couldn’t hide. Once he was close to them, Marcus paused and stared into their eyes. His glare made Paula quickly turn away, but Melanie, however, held his gaze, refusing to be cowed.
     “Everything okay?
Doctor?
” Her tone was spitefully triumphant.
     Marcus’ jaw clenched. He knew he should ignore her and keep walking, but he couldn’t. “You’ve just made one of the biggest mistakes of your life.”

     Melanie leaned close and whispered, “No. You did, the moment you rejected me for -
that
.” She jerked her head in Aleesha’s direction. “No one treats me the way you and your little uncouth girlfriend did and gets away with it. Then you practically blackmail me into not calling the police? Now, you’ll be paying the price for underestimating me - with
your
career,” Melanie said with a vindictive expression. Marcus’ face darkened with fury.
     “Marcus!” Aleesha shouted. “Baby, let’s go.”

     Marcus’ glare promised retribution to both women before he stalked off, anger evident in every step he took.

     “Bye, Marcusss…” Melanie sang out in a teasing voice.
     Marcus’ stride faltered and his hands curled into fists. He resumed walking out of the hospital, trying to control himself until he got home.
 

     The ride back to Marcus' house was made in absolute silence. The moment Marcus unlocked the door, he headed straight to the wet bar in the corner of his living room and poured a healthy shot of whiskey. After throwing it down his throat, he poured another before telling Aleesha and Keisha about his meeting with Dr. Roberts. Both women stared at him in complete shock.

     “They said
what?”
     “You heard me. They’re both accusing me of sexual harassment and apparently, I’m guilty until proven innocent. I’ve been suspended until an investigation is done.”
     Aleesha’s hands covered her mouth as she gasped. “Oh…! Oh baby, no!”

     “That’s why those bitches were staring us down like that,” Keisha said. “They probably knew you were being suspended at that very moment. Damn, I wish you had let me get on their asses.”
     Marcus shook his head. “No. That would have only made things worse, Keisha. Believe me, I would have loved to let you loose on them, but it wouldn’t have helped my situation.”
     Aleesha walked over to Marcus and reached up to hug him. “Baby I am so sorry. I feel like this is my fault because of what happened last night.”
     Marcus wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’s not your fault, baby. Melanie’s crazy. I should’ve let you beat her ass some more instead of pulling you off of her,” he said, only half- joking.
     Aleesha pulled back to look at him. “Who was that other woman?”

     Marcus was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. “Remember I told you about the woman who tried to commit suicide the first day you and I met at the conference in downtown Vegas?"

     "Yes."

     "She’s the one."

     Aleesha's mouth slowly stretched open.  "Her?"

     "Yep."

     Realization dawned like a rising sunset and slowly illuminated Aleesha's face as she put two and two together. “The one you went to the hospital to see about.”

     Aleesha’s mind went back over three years ago when she’d first met Marcus at a medical conference she’d attended here in Las Vegas. The two of them had been instantly attracted to one another and had snuck away for lunch and a tour of Marcus’ city. Later that evening, Marcus had brought Aleesha back to her hotel. The sexual tension between them practically sizzled. They made plans to meet up later to attend the dinner for the participants of the medical conference, but they both knew it was a foregone conclusion they’d end up having sex.

     But Marcus never showed up, nor did he attend the rest of the conference. Aleesha chalked it up to a bad experience and flew back to Atlanta. About a year later, she met and became engaged to Amir Montgomery. When Jerra and Keisha surprised her with a Vegas bachelorette party, she and Marcus amazingly ran into each other again and this time, nothing could keep them away from each other. Later that night, Marcus explained to Aleesha that the reason why he hadn’t come back all those years ago was because an ex-girlfriend had tried to commit suicide because he’d broken up with her. He felt compelled to go the hospital and stay by her side until it was deemed she was not in danger. They both silently wondered if things would’ve turned out differently for them if he’d come back to the hotel that night.

     However, with Aleesha being engaged to another man, it was a moot point. After she returned home, Aleesha was determined to put the amazing night in Vegas with Marcus behind her and proceed with the wedding to Amir, but when one of his jump offs confronted her about sleeping with him while Aleesha was in Vegas, Aleesha broke off the engagement. Months later, Marcus found out and flew to Atlanta to find her and they’d been together ever since.

     Marcus stared off into the distance as he, too, thought about that time. “After the sleeping pill incident, she took some time off, but everyone knows she still wants to pursue a relationship even though it’s no secret I’m seeing someone.” 

    
He paused and thoughtfully studied the amber colored liquid in his glass. “That’s how I know this whole thing wasn’t her idea. She and I have been over for years. If she’d wanted to make trouble, she would’ve done it a long time ago. Plus, she doesn’t have the nerve to do something like this on her own. Melanie is the one behind this.”

     Bringing the glass to his mouth, he threw back the rest of the whiskey. “That bitch does not know who she’s fucking with,” Marcus said more to himself than the two women.

     Aleesha shivered at the look in his eyes. This was a side of him she’d never seen before. “Is there anything I can do?”
Marcus shook his head. “No. Don’t worry baby. Everything will work out. Look, I’ll be back. I need to get out of here for a little while.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he gave her a quick kiss then left.

     Aleesha turned stricken eyes Keisha’s way. "What have I done?"

     The next few days passed in a blur. Jerra and the baby had been home almost a week, and everyone was at the Monroe house eating and having a good time. With the women inside talking while little DJ slept, Marcus, Darrell and Dominick sat outside on the patio drinking beers. Marcus was giving them an update on the progress of the investigation, which seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace.

     “Funny how they’re so quick to suspend me just on the word of those two, but take their time when it comes to proving my innocence.”
     “Man, I know it has to be hard. Try not to let it get you down. Stay positive, bruh. It’ll work out,” Dominick said.

     “How am I supposed to do that, huh Dom? This is my fucking career they’re playing around with. Being a doctor is all I ever wanted to do. The way you, me, and Darrell grew up, this wasn’t supposed to be how our lives turned out. According to statistics, we should either be dead or in jail. These two bitches tryin’ to ruin me. One of them because her pride is hurt, and the other because I won‘t give her any dick?!”

     Darrell was quiet as he listened to his best friend. Then he said in a low voice. “You know what Marcus. When I found out how that punk ass stepfather of Jerra‘s had hurt her, I could’ve killed him with my own two hands if the police hadn’t been at her house. And to make matters worse, they practically gave him a slap on the wrist for raping my baby when she was just a kid, then trying to terrorize her and rape her again when he found her. Eight years. That‘s all that muthafucka was sentenced to,” Darrell snorted as he took another sip of his beer. His expression grew pensive as his thoughts carried him a million miles away. “Too bad he ‘accidentally on purpose’ cut his throat while shaving. That was real careless of him. Jerra never said anything, but I know she was frightened to death of what would happen when he got out. He found her once and she was terrified he’d be able to find her again.”
     Coming back to the present, Darrell looked from Dominick to Marcus with eyes a dark shade of gray and cold as lead. “But now she knows she doesn’t have to worry about that. I made sure of it. By no means am I saying you need to go to those extremes. The circumstances are completely different, but there are ways of dealing with shit like this. If justice isn’t being fair, sometimes you have to help it along.”
     Marcus stood up and took a few steps, quiet as he stared out into the night. Yes, he understood what Darrell was saying, had thought about it himself actually, but he didn’t want to go there. He wholeheartedly supported Darrell's method of payback when it came to Earl. Hell, if it had been Aleesha those things had happened to, he would’ve done the exact same thing.

     Melanie had seriously misread him. Most people did. All they saw when they looked at him was a professional black man whose image fit perfectly with what everyone thought a doctor should be. But she’d made the mistake of letting his credentials fool her.
     He might be a well-respected physician who excelled in his chosen field, but Melanie and Paula had it twisted.
 
Underneath the doctor’s coat, he bore the scars of the hard-assed youth who’d practically grown up on the mean streets of Philly before he and Darrell up and moved to Vegas - and he’d be damned if he let them take away what he’d worked so hard to achieve. Being a physician was more than just his career. It was also the way he paid homage to his father who’d also been a doctor. As he had told Melanie at the hospital on the night he’d been suspended – she’d just made the worst mistake she could have ever made.