Page 38 of Heart's Masquerade

“Then I’m strong enough to weather it,” he said.

“That may be true.”

“Kenny has never forgiven me for…”

The microwave dinged, and she turned to remove the bread. “For what?” she asked, and sliced a piece of the warm bread for both of them.

He seemed to hesitate. “For striving to be who I want to be.”

Jaz spent the rest of the night in Torrian’s arms. She gave her body to him fully and accepted his loving touch in return. By morning, she was good and satisfied for the time being. She figured no matter how crazy the day got, she could recall every second of their lovemaking. On top of that, they had agreed to keep seeing each other for as long as they were both interested.

As for her sister, that morning, she had texted Yasmine to see how she was doing and got no answer. Only after a threat to come check up on her did her sister say she was working through the issues with her husband and would talk to Jaz in time. Jaz hated the sound of that. She hoped Yasmine wasn’t trying to work it out with that loser Lamont. As far as Jaz was concerned, he didn’t deserve Yasmine. Period. Lamont had issues he needed to work out in therapy, but Jaz couldn’t force her sister to see it that way. As she’d said, Jaz would support Yasmine and be there for her whenever she came around.

Jaz left her apartment well after Torrian had already gone with a happy grin on her face. She started down the steps when Glenda’s booming voice caught her off guard. “Well, well, finally up, huh? Saw your young man leave earlier.”

Jaz ground her teeth. She refused to even speak.

“You’re an energetic thing, aren’t you, Jaz?” Glenda shouted. “Two men, a white one and a black one! Makes my head spin.”

Jaz stopped and looked up to the second-story window. “My sex life is my business, and for your information I didn’t have two men here last night. That was my brother-in-law, and he left soon after stopping by. I don’t need to explain any of this to you. If you keep your nose out of other people’s affairs, you wouldn’t get it wrong. Now, I’m being nice. Don’t push me.”

Glenda’s mouth fell open. “Well, I…

I…”

Jaz pivoted and started down the street, leaving the nosy bat flapping her jaw and searching for a comeback.

Chapter Ten

Torrian stepped from the limo and hitched his shoulders. The tightness across them didn’t ease. In fact, it grew more pronounced when his cousin turned the far corner. At least he was alone this time. Torrian considered for the hundredth time if it was a bad idea to meet here where Niles normally dropped him off, and this time of day. Kenny had insisted. The least Torrian should have done was to drive himself, but he’d had meetings to prepare for in the scant amount of time he had to spare his cousin.

“Should I wait, sir?” Niles called from the interior of the limo.

“Yes, this won’t take long.” Torrian pushed the door closed and took a defensive stance as Kenny neared. His movements seemed to amuse the other man, and Torrian clenched his jaw in annoyance. “What do you want?”

Kenny ignored him and leaned down to press a hand to the limo’s side window. The tint made it hard to see inside. “Wow, fancy. I knew you were loaded, but to get bussed around like a spoiled princess…”

“In other words, you’re wasting my time.” Torrian reached for the door handle.

“I called you out here because as family I care, and this is how you treat me?”

Torrian froze. He narrowed his eyes. “Spare me, Kenny. I’m well aware of how you feel about me, or did you forget about the corn-maze incident?”

Kenny spit into the street. “We used to get into fights all the time as kids. I know you’re not going to hold that against me.”

“You fought on my side then.”

They stared at each other a long time. Despite what he said, Torrian figured Kenny had been envious of him from the beginning. He’d never truly been on his side. His cousin had betrayed him in small ways to show his true feelings, and he hadn’t been able to hide them at all after Torrian’s godfather took him in. Torrian told himself he accepted it, so why was he here?

“Everybody’s talking about it,” Kenny said.

“About what?” Torrian bit out. He judged how long it would take Niles to get downtown to his office.

“About Jazara Crane and her brother-in-law.”

Torrian thought he felt the last of his patience snap like a piece of thread.

Kenny chuckled and waved a hand. “Okay, not everybody. It’s not like she’s some celebrity. I just happen to know you’re fucking her and might want to know what’s been in the wind.”

---