Page 89

Carla shut her eyes tight. There was no way she would betray him. No. She wouldn’t believe it. Lennox was a liar. Her body didn’t feel penetrated. She knew when she’d had a dick inside her. But she didn’t have proof. Worst, he had naked pictures of her. How could she defend those if he sent them to Jacob?

“Why am I naked in your house, Lennox?”

She found her phone pulled it out. One bar left. Ten missed calls—fourteen text messages.

“Why do you think?”

Anger boiled through her, thinking about Lennox.

“I need you to attend a gathering with me.”

She wasn’t going anywhere with him, but even as she thought it, anxiety-riddled her veins.

She closed her eyes and prayed, and prayed, and prayed.

“I need you, Lord.”

After refilling the water because it became cold, Carla soaked for another hour in the tub. Pulling herself from the tub, she grabbed a nearby towel, and blot-dried her body as she moved to stand in front of the mirror.

A gasp flew from her lips, her eyes getting closer to the image. She lifted her head.

Bruises. On her neck. They were light, but apparent.

Anger filled her again, and she tossed her hands up and screamed.

* * *

Turning on Carla’s street,Jacob tried to put the worry in the pit of his stomach to rest.

Since they’d separated when they arrived back in town from Barbados, Carla was in the wind. No phone calls from her, no text messages, and all of his efforts to reach out had gone unanswered.

That wasn’t the thing that had him on her street, pulling his Bentley into her driveway behind her Infiniti. It was when he went to Academy College Preparatory School to surprise her with lunch and roses—only to find that she’d called in with the excuse of a family emergency.

Immediately, Jacob thought to call her father. But if this emergency wasn’t about him, Jacob didn’t want to alert Mr. Jones for naught.

Exiting his vehicle, Jacob took the three steps up her front porch, opened her screen, and knocked firmly against the door.

* * *

Inside,Carla’s head snapped up from her position in front of the bathroom sink. She’d been inside, sulking, when she’d heard the knock on the door.

Tightening the bath towel around her body, she quietly walked through her apartment to the front door.

She leaned to look through the peephole into a mass of chocolate skin, medium lips, that wide nose she loved, and goatee made her heart thunder.

She pulled away from the door but stood in front of it. Her mind raced. If she let Jacob in, he would surely see her bruises.

She sighed and closed her eyes as dread consumed her.

Turning around, Carla braced her back against the door and spoke.

“Hey, you.”

“Bellissima?”

Her eyes closed on an exhale. “Who else would I be?”

“Are you okay?”