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  “Grab her Tristan, she’s going to crash,” Sinjin yelled out just before Tristan had swept Alisha up into his arms.

  “Dammit, that little fuck better pray to whoever it is that he prays to that I don’t catch him before the police do,” Tristan bellowed as Sinjin handed him a cool towel to place on Alisha’s forehead.

  “Should I get an ambulance for her,” the detective asked looking worried.

  “No, she will be alright in a minute. Come on Beauty,” Tristan soothed as he rocked her back and forth in his arms trying to acclimate her with his body heat to bring her around. Tristan began to relax when he felt her body relax and noticed her eyes fluttering. “Come on baby everything is fine. I got you.”

  Alisha awoke sitting on Tristan’s lap. “What happened?” she whispered, still too weak to lift her head.

  “You passed out Beauty. You were going into shock. That happens once the adrenalin rush wears off. The body crashes,” Tristan informed her as he continued to rock her back and forth.

  Everyone looked up at the sound of the door opening, Sinjin went on full alert. It was Brandon and the others. Darion and Trevon started to go to Alisha when they saw her sitting on Tristan’s lap visible upset.

  “Don’t,” Sinjin commanded in a firm voice. “Let him handle it. She went into shock.”

  “Tristan,” she called.

  “Yes Beauty.”

  “There was so much blood…and…and,” Alisha began to cry deep, heart wrenching tears.

  “I know Beauty, I know.” Tristan clutched her tighter against him, running his fingers through her hair and kissing her on the top of her head.

  Her tears were tearing him apart. He began to tear up as he consoled her.

  Everyone in the room started to tear up at Tristan’s consoling words to Alisha.

  “We need to catch this son of bitch Langston. He will not hurt my sister,” Trevon muttered. “He had better hope that the police catch him before I do.”

  The detective had heard enough. He couldn’t blame them for wanting to hurt the person that was trying to hurt their loved one. As a police officer he had to warn them against taking the law into their own hands. He didn’t have a wife but he did have two younger sisters and he would probably want to do the same thing. “Since that is the second time in a manner of minutes that I have heard that, I will warn all of you about taking the law into your own hands as I am required to do. As a man I will tell you that I have all the information that I need so far. I will say off the record, “handle your business.” With that he walked out of the apartment.

  Sinjin was not one for showing emotion. “I’ll be back.”

  “Where are you going?” Brandon asked mystified. “You just got here.”

  “Fishing.”

  “Fishing!” Brandon, Darion, and Trevon roared.

  “Let me know when you catch something,” Domino remarked.

  Brandon and Trevon were clearly baffled at the two men standing there talking about fishing at a time like this.

  “Should I come along on this fishing expedition with you,” Darion asked.

  “Nope, everybody stay close to those two. I’ll let you know what I find, maybe.” With that Sinjin was out the door.

  “Man that dudes even more intense than Tristan,” Trevon said.

  “Definitely,” both Brandon and Domino countered.

  Chapter Thirteen

  One month later

  Slamming the phone down on its cradle, the angry man sitting behind the desk in his study began to get anxious. “Those blundering idiots!” Why? Why? Why, couldn’t anybody do anything right? “Must I do everything myself!” he shouted to the empty room, totally out of control. After the botched kidnapping attempt twice, he had hired someone else to find Ms. Carrington and bring her to him. After a month of lying low, he had thought that she would finally be his, just to be told that she had been moved again. She had become his obsession. He wouldn’t stop until he had her. Her security and the fool, Cameron, would slip up and she would be his for the taking. He began to salivate just thinking about all the fun he intended to have with her.

  The door to his semi-darkened study opened and in walked a tall figure. “What are you doing here?” he yelped. His frown deepened the lines that already marred his face.

  “What do you mean what am I doing here? You sent for me,” the figure said.

  “What the hell are you talking about you imbecile, I never sent for you,” the man began to panic. “You cannot be here! Do you want us to get caught, you idiot?” he yelled.

  “Well if you didn’t send for me…who did?” he asked.

  A lone figure appeared out of the shadows of the semi-darkened room, gun in hand. “Why, I did of course,” said the figure.

  “Who the hell are you?” The man shouted.

  “Your worst nightmare, Langston.”

  “Wh—What are you talking about? How do you know my name? Who are you?” Sweat was popping off of his forehead in buckets, as if he was on drugs or some type of medication.

  “Oh, I am familiar with both of you. It took me a little while to figure it out…once I did, everything was simple. As for my name, I’m Sinjin Cameron,” Sinjin informed them with a sneer.

  “Bu—But you were in New Mexico. Wh—When did you—“

  “Get back? Oh the day those two goons showed up at my brother’s place to try and kidnap Ms. Carrington and tried to burn down the law firm, of course.” Sinjin’s voice was low and deadly. “You know attempted arson is a serious crime.”

  Sinjin watched the man standing there with his eyes bugging out, shifting from one foot to the other in a very nervous gesture. “Kidnapping. Arson. What are you talking about? I never tried to kidnap anyone or burn down the law firm.” James turned to face the other man with a perplexed look upon his face, “What is he talking about father?”

  “Shut up James,” he shouted.

  “No. I didn’t kidnap anyone and I sure didn’t start any fire. I am not going down for something I did not do. Enough is enough. I told you to leave it alone. But you just had to have her just like everything else,” James screamed.

  “Shut up you stupid little shit. He has nothing. He can’t prove a thing. Keep your mouth shut,” Charles Langston roared at his son.

  Sinjin stood looking from one to the other, very interesting. So it had been the senior Langston that planned this. It still didn’t explain the sexual harassment charges against James and all the other crimes that he had been accused of. Sinjin decided to let them banter back and forth. Neither James nor Charles had noticed the officers standing off to the side in the doorway. Sinjin had signaled them to stay where they were. He needed Charles Langston to confess.

  “No. I’ll pay for my past sins but I won’t be accused of kidnapping nor will I take the rap for attempted arson. I have taken the blame for you long enough. It stops now!” James screamed, tears rolling down his eyes. “For years I’ve done things and have hung around the wrong people because you had me believe that I was this monster.” James turned towards Sinjin, “I will tell you and the police everything you need to know.”

  “No you won’t! I will kill you first!” Charles Langston howled.

  Sinjin had been so occupied with letting them talk that he hadn’t seen the senior Langston’s gun until it was drawn.

  “Die you stupid little shit,” Charles said before pulling the trigger.

  Sinjin was quick and on point. He fired just as Charles did, shooting the man in his gun hand. The senior Langston yelled out in pain before his gun dropped to the desk. Sinjin raced over and grabbed the gun from the desk over a crying Langston, senior.

  The police officers had rushed in when they saw what Charles Langston was about to do. Sinjin’s shot had caused Charles’ shot to miss James and hit the wall behind him. Had the officers not rushed, the bullet that went through the wall probably would have hit one of them.

  “An ambulance is on the way,” the officer said.

  “A
rrest him. He shot me!” an irate Charles Langston screamed.

  “You’ll live,” the officer said to Charles Langston while another one cuffed and arrested a dejected looking James.

  Taking out his cell phone Sinjin placed a call.

  “Hello.”

  “Yeah, it’s over. James Langston and Charles Langston have both been arrested,” Sinjin related.

  “Charles Langston. So he was the one who set the building on fire? Wow, I have heard of giving your child whatever he or she wants, but there are limits to everything.”

  “All wrong brother. It appears that it was Charles pulling the strings all the time. Charles is on his way to the hospital and James to the police station. James has agreed to fully cooperate, so I suggest you get Brandon and make your way down there,” Sinjin said.

  “I won’t ask how you got all this information, but thanks all the same. You said Charles Langston was on his way to the hospital, why?” Tristan asked.

  “He tried to kill his son…I had to shoot him. It’s a hand shot, he will live for now. I don’t know how he will fare in prison though…I will make sure he meets the right people in there. Trust me he will wish he was dead.”

  “Damn, they are both crazy. I owe you one brother. Thank you,” Tristan remarked, relieved that this was finally over.

  “No thanks necessary. I am leaving out tonight. Let me know when the wedding is brother,” Sinjin countered.

  “Will do, take care.”

  Sinjin disconnected his call with Tristan and placed another one.

  “Hello.”

  “On my way back in.”

  “So you caught your fish?”

  “Yes, both of them.”

  “I am sure there is a story in there somewhere. Brief me when you get here.”

  “Will do. Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  * * *

  Tristan hung up with Sinjin and turned to Alisha pulling her into his arms and kissing her thoroughly.

  “Umm, who was that and what was that for?” she asked him huskily.

  “It’s over Beauty. Both James Langston and his father have been placed under arrest.”

  “His father…for what!” Alisha sat up in bed and shrieked.

  Tristan explained everything that he knew so far. Instead of going down to the police station he called Brandon and asked him to go and if they were needed to call.

  “Now that everything is over I want to start planning a future with you,” Tristan said.

  “What kind of future are you talking about?” she asked just to be clear that they were on the same page.

  “The kind of future that entails a ring, marriage, and a few kids, and very soon,” he replied.

  “Tristan you live in Atlanta and I live in New York, how are we going to work this out? Or are you suggesting something long distance,” she asked him serious now.

  “Long distance…what the hell. No. I. Do. Not. Want. A. Long. Distance. Relationship. I want a marriage and either I will move here or you can move to Atlanta, or we can move somewhere else. I don’t care as long as we are together. Married,” Tristan declared.

  “Okay.”

  Tristan gazed up at her, “Okay what?”

  “Okay, we can live in Atlanta. Since my house is already on the market. You have been in New York over a month and I know it’s killing you,” she said smiling at him.

  Tristan was ecstatic. She had agreed to marry him and move to Atlanta. “Yes. We can be married in a week’s time. I will take you for your ring in the morning.”

  “I am not getting married in a week’s time Tristan. My parents would kill me. I want a traditional wedding,” she exclaimed.

  Frowning he looked at her, “How long are we talking? I am not waiting a long time to be married,” he said.

  “It is going to take at least a year to plan.”

  “Hell no! I am not waiting a year to marry you.”

  “Six months.”

  “No.”

  “Tristan a wedding takes time to plan and by the time my mother and your mother get a hold of this, who knows how long it is going to take.”

  “No Beauty. I will give them three months at the most and that is it.”

  She shrieked, “Tristan I can’t—”

  Shaking his head, “Three months, Beauty, and that is final or I will march both of us down to the Justice of the Peace. Choose,” was Tristan’s firm reply.

  “Okay. Okay, but you’re telling our parents. You know they are going to think I am pregnant and that is why we are in a rush, don’t you?” she said.

  “So we are getting married and living in Atlanta,” he confirmed, pulling her underneath him, spreading her legs, and sinking into her moist heat. “Beauty I am so potent now that you probably will be pregnant by the time we get married.”

  “Ummm, if not, at least we will have fun trying,” she moved in time with his movements.

  “Damn straight.”

  Epilogue

  Three months later

  Jamaica, West Indies

  Tristan lay naked in bed waiting for his wife to finish in the bathroom and wondering what was taking her so long. His wife, boy did that sound good. The wedding had been a glorious occasion. It had been a wedding that would be talked about for a while. The wedding had taken place in Georgia at a private dining hall owned by his family. They’d had to have it there because the media had gotten wind of Alisha’s sister, Asia, and cousin Diamond Shaw’s famous status as super models. That wasn’t all that would be talked about. One of his presents to his wife was to recite his vows to her. Everyone in the church was surprised. Hell, he had surprised himself. It wasn’t something that he had rehearsed. He had gone with what his heart was saying. They were very emotional words that went like this: From the moment that I met you, I knew that you were a special gift sent to me from Heaven above. Each day of my life, and yours too, I will cherish you as the special gift that you are. Every breath I take after pleasing God will be to please, honor, and take care of you. With everything that is within me I will make sure that you are treated like the queen that you are, for you are my queen, my reason for living. To say I love you is an understatement. So I will say this, not only are you in my heart, you are my heart. God has brought us together and only God can tear us apart. Because what God has joined together no man can put asunder. You are SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL and I cherish you.

  There wasn’t a dry eye in the place until Alisha’s younger brother, Darius, yelled out. “That’s my brother-in-law! Represent the fellows! Show ’em how the fellows do it!” Alisha’s parents reprimanded him, “Darius!” That wasn’t the bad part. Sinjin being Sinjin yelled out “Damn straight…that’s my brother!” and did a full bellied wolf whistle that had the entire younger crowd on their feet and his father boxing his ears in the hall. “What? It’s not church Pop, it’s a dining hall,” Sinjin informed his father, rubbing the spot on his ear. All in all, it was an excellent wedding and an even better reception. Tristan and Alisha had snuck away and left everyone there to continue to party.

  Tristan turned his head at the sound of his name being called. “Wow,” he said looking at his wife coming out of the bathroom with what he guessed was supposed to be a nightgown, he couldn’t tell. It was long and sheer, low-cut down to her navel, and had long slits up the sides, back and front, and from what he could tell she had nothing else underneath.

  Twirling around, she asked him, “So what do you think husband?”

  “Come here. I can show you better than I can tell you wife.”

  Alisha walked over to Tristan and he pulled her down on the bed beside him. “Are you happy baby,” he whispered.

  “More than you could know.”

  “Good, I’m glad. Is this sexy number one of your bridal presents?”

  “Yes, it is another one from Asia,” she said laughing. “Tristan, why didn’t you tell me what those things were that Asia gave me before I announced it to the entire family? Oh my God Tristan, I announced to eve
rybody that you said you were going to show me how to use the Ben-Wa balls that Asia gave me. I was mortified when Diamond whispered to me what they were.”

  Tristan laughed so hard tears were streaming down his cheeks. “Babe, I had no idea you didn’t know what they were. Sinjin and Darius thought it was funny.”

  “Well, they would. They are demented. I am going to find a way to get Asia back for that. She knew what she was doing,” Alisha said.

  Kissing her soundly on the lips he whispered, “I love you Beauty. Besides, think of all the fun we are going to have learning how to use Asia’s gift. Trust me, by the time I’m done we’ll be sending Asia a thank you gift.”

  “I love you too Tristan, with all my heart,” she declared.

  “Good, because by the time our two week honeymoon is up you are going to be good and pregnant,” he promised.

  “Then stop talking and get to work husband.”

  Tristan proceeded to make love to his wife all through the night.

  **SK**

  About the Author

  Serenity King is a new author of interracial/multicultural erotica and contemporary romance who has been reading romance novels since her auntie placed a Harlequin in her hands at the age of sixteen.