Page 32 of Masters of the Game: Colton
“Yes. All three of us are home. The church is honoring Uncle Howey on Sunday, in an appreciation dinner, and we came home for that.”
“Mom did mention something about a dinner being held in the banquet hall that you and your brothers built for the church. Ha! And to think, the woman we arrested thinks you’re a gangsta. Just wait until Ms. Inez hears about this.”
Cobra rolled his eyes. Of course, his mama would hear all about it because Straw’s mama would tell her.
Inez Masters and Molly Collins-Strawberry had been thick as thieves since the two women attended junior high school together.
Straw wouldn’t tell his mother a thing, but news seemed to reach certain people’s ears regardless.
“I guess I shouldn’t tell Mom that the woman questioned her sanity for naming me Cobra. ”
Straw chuckled. “If I were you, I wouldn’t.”
**
A few hours later, the triplets – Cortez, Colton, and Cobra ─ sat in Cobra’s home nursing their favorite drink ─Scotch.
Cortez was married and lived in LA with his wife, Victoria.
Three months ago, the couple had welcomed their son, Cortez Masters, Jr., into the world.
It had happened on the very same day that Victoria’s cousin, Kennedy, and her husband, Haddison’s son, was born. They named him Bracen Maceo Wolf.
Colton was engaged to be married in June–seven months from now ─to Kelly Perkins.
Everybody was happy for Colton and Kelly and excited about their wedding plans.
Kelly, who owned KP Consulting Agency in Orlando, had been brought on to work exclusively for Masters Unlimited and would be opening additional offices in Boston and New York.
Eric Venters of Venters Consulting Agency, who had attempted to create a scandal within Masters Unlimited, discovered the hard way not to mess with the Masters. He ended up settling out of court for an amount that nearly bankrupted his company. He had since left Orlando to start up elsewhere.
After hearing Sherelle’s story and knowing how a woman could get taken in by a lying, no-good man, Kelly decided to give the woman a chance to start over and hired her to manage one of her three offices. After undergoing therapy, things were working out wonderfully for Sherelle.
It was a cold night in November, and the brothers appreciated the heat from the fireplace.
They’d spent three hours at the sheriff’s office because Allison–whose real name was, in fact, Bernice Whey—decided to retaliate, trying to get Cobra arrested by claiming he had not told her there was a video camera in his bedroom, and accusing him of inviting her to his home for the sole purpose of taping their sexual activities.
Her attorney, who showed up looking as if he’d slept in his suit for the last two days, suggested Cobra drop the charges against his client, allowing them both to go on their merry way.
Speaking on his client’s behalf, Attorney Cortez Masters didn’t accept the offer.
He made it clear that the charges would stand, and if Bernice Whey, aka Allison, attempted to fabricate false allegations against his client, he would have no qualms about taking the matter to trial and proving that Bernice had a history of engaging in similar behavior with other men.
All it had taken was a call to Peachtree Investigations, where Landon Chestnut was a partner.
Landon was a family member by marriage with Cortez and a good friend of Colton and Cobra.
In less than an hour, Landon had discovered documentation filed a few years earlier by the fathers of Bernice’s two kids stating that although they would admit to having sex with her, since DNA proved the kids were theirs, they knew without a doubt they had used condoms. More than likely, the condoms had been tampered with in those two situations as well.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t gotten caught in the process. This time she had.
Cobra had been watching Bernice the entire time and saw how nervous she’d become when Cortez had revealed what Landon had discovered about her in just a short period of time.
Obviously, there was more she didn’t want to come out, and wouldn’t take the chance of Cortez’s private investigative firm digging deeper.
In a surprising move, she pleaded guilty to all charges. Two counts of sexual assault for the condom tampering and spiking of the wine, along with the assault and battery charge when she tried kicking Cobra in the balls. She was released on bond but had to return for sentencing in a week.
“You know, Straw is right.” His brother Colton grinned. “You really do need to put a lock on your zipper.”
“I’m on board with that,” Cortez said, grinning as well.
Cobra honestly didn’t see anything amusing about the situation.
What if he hadn’t seen that video and discovered exactly what Bernice, aka Allison, had planned?
Hell, that would have meant in nine months, she would have accused him of being her baby’s daddy.
Once it was proven true, he would have been responsible for a child he had been tricked into making.
And another thing. If Cortez hadn’t forced the woman to drop her frivolous charges about inviting her to his house to tape their bedroom activities, he could have been charged with a sexual offense.
He didn’t want to think about how such a thing would have tarnished his reputation—personally and professionally.
What had gone down tonight had definitely been a wake-up call for him.
“I think you guys are right. I will take Straw’s advice.”
His two brothers stared at him for a moment, then, as if he needed clarification, Colton asked, “What advice is that?”
“I’m keeping my zipper locked.”
His two brothers broke out laughing.
“What do the two of you find so funny?” he asked them.
It was Cortez who answered. “There’s no way in hell you can remain celibate.”
Cobra shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
“Well, I can,” Colton said. “For years, you’ve been telling anyone who’d listen that having sex regularly keeps the mind sharp.”
“Yes, I still stand by that,” Cobra confessed. “But I will survive without sex for a year.”
“A year!” Cortez and Colton exclaimed simultaneously. “There’s no way you’ll last a year,” Cortez said.
A smirk appeared on Cobra’s face. “An all-expense-paid trip to the Bahamas for a week says I can.”
“You’re on,” Cortez said.
Cobra then looked at Colton. “And I bet you four paid airline tickets ─first class ─to LA, over the course of a year, to visit my favorite nephew, that I will go without sex for a year.”
Colton smiled. “First of all, TJ--Tez Junior--is your only nephew, and since you will lose, I have no problem taking those four tickets from you.”
“Neither of you will win the bet,” Cobra said. “After what Bernice, Allison, or whatever name she cares to use tried doing to me tonight, I am through with women and sex.”
“For a year?” Colton asked.
“For longer than that, but we can bet on a year,” Cobra said. “No woman will tempt me, and even if I am tempted, all I’ll have to do is remember what went down tonight. I can’t think of anything that will kill my desire faster.”
Cortez rolled his eyes. “We’ll see. And you must be honest with us, Cobra, if you fail and can’t hold out for the year. Then we win.”
“You guys won’t win.”
“Let’s shake on it,” Colton said.
The three brothers placed their glasses of Scotch aside, then shook hands to seal the deal.