Page 4 of His Heaven, Her Hell
“Y-yeah. I’m good,” I stuttered.
No one in this family had ever asked me that. Hell, they barely talked to me. Neveah and her sister, Charmaine, were the only girls in the family and around my age. We were cordial, but they never said more than “hi” and “bye” to me, so her question caught me off guard. Honestly, Neveah had been traveling the world with her new boo, so I rarely saw her, but Charmaine had been around most of the time and never said a word to me.
“You can say if you’re not. I know we don’t talk much, and I know you don’t have any friends here. If you ever?—”
“Nev! Come on!” someone yelled from down the hall.
“Sorry. I gotta go. King Truce has entered the building.” She playfully rolled her eyes, rubbed Scottlyn’s thick hair, and then sauntered off.
I closed the door before sitting on the bed to rock my baby back to sleep.
God, please take me away.
It only took thirty minutes to get my baby back to sleep after Damien and Neveah left the room. I think Scottlyn knew that I wasn’t fucking with her daddy and needed an escape from him. I let out an exasperated sigh, dreading going back out there and being fake. I wanted my mom. I missed my sister and my friends. I literally had no one, and just the thought of it made me sick.
I grabbed the baby monitor from her bag, then headed down the hall toward the voices that had now migrated to the sittingroom. Upon entering, my eyes caught the broad back of the person who had the family in jovial moods. He was tall, maybe six-four, and had long hair that hung down his back in two braids. I could tell he’d just gotten off from work, being that he had on slacks and a dress shirt. He was talking to Damien while Neveah was tucked under his arm. His laugh echoed around the room while everyone else laughed at whatever Damien had said to him. I was about to head to the kitchen to get some water and sit out on the back patio when Damien spotted me and called me over.
“J, come here. I want you to meet my brother.”
Brother? Since when did he have one of those?
Damien had never mentioned having a brother. He called hisworkershis brothers, but that was as far as that went.
As I headed in their direction, hisbrotherturned, and my heart stopped momentarily. This couldn’t be his blood brother. This man was too damn fine to be a relative of Damien’s. Not to say Damien wasn’t fine, but hisbrotherhad light brown eyes, a chiseled face, thick brows, and long lashes that made Damien look “okay” at best.
Trying to keep my cool, I stood next to Damien while he wrapped his arm around my waist.
“J, this is my brother, Truce. Tru, this is my fiancée, Jela.”
Our eyes met, and the smile that adorned his rich, caramel face had my panties moist.
Shit.
“Nice to finally meet you, Jela. Welcome to the family.” He extended his hand, and I took it.
“Thanks. Nice to meet you as well,” I replied, hurriedly taking my hand from his. I didn’t want to let on how I wanted that hand to touch me in every sinful way possible.
The way he stared at me made me want to sink into the floor and disappear.
What the hell is wrong with you, Jela? Don’t give this man any more eye contact unless you want to go waterboarding again.
“When were you going to tell me you were gettin' hitched, bruh?” he asked Damien.
“When ya ass finally decided to make an appearance. You’ve been gone since forever. You ain’t even met ya niece yet.”
“Had to get that promo. Now that I got it, y’all will be seeing more of me.”
“You're staying?” Uncle Dakari asked.
“I am. My house should be done in the next sixty days, hopefully sooner.”
“Really?” Delilah asked, smiling widely.
Truce smiled his gorgeous smile, now indented in my memory. “Yeah, Ma. Your prodigal son is returning home.”
“Ayyyeee!” The room erupted with praises, and Delilah fell into his arms.
“I’m so happy, baby. I missed you,” she said, rubbing his back before stepping away.
