Idlewild. Treasure Hernandez
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She just wanted the day to be over. She wanted to get away from around her father’s judgmental words and disproving eyes. “I guess this is good-bye,” she said to her mother.
Carolyn grunted and began mouthing a silent prayer. That was it! Desiree couldn’t hold back anymore when it came to her mother’s hypocrisy. There was but so much she could take.
“Oh my God, Mother! Praying now! You, of all people. You can’t be serious! First, you were trying to convince me to kill my baby, and now you’re praying for me! I don’t need all your Jesus talk! I thought you would understand and be supportive!” Desiree barked, on the verge of tears again.
Her emotions had been all over the place lately. No one could imagine how she felt being pregnant by a boy who had been a family friend for years, on top of the entire world knowing about it. Desiree was annoyed that her mother was giving her such a guilt trip after promising her that she’d be supportive. Desiree didn’t believe in abortion. And although she knew that she had her entire future ahead of her, and having a child under these circumstances was just not how she had pictured her life ending up, she had to protect her baby. Deep down inside, Desiree knew that her parents would probably accept the child eventually, but Desiree wanted her first child to be the joy of her parents’ life . . . not a shameful embarrassment. Desiree’s mind raced with all these things.
Rebecca fell silent after Desiree’s outburst. She knew all too well how tenacious Desiree could be when she was upset. She followed Desiree back to her bedroom.
“Desi, this will blow over. I promise,” Rebecca said, trying to comfort Desiree.
But she was wrong. The next morning, Rebecca was the one to break the news that Ernest and Carolyn had arranged for her to take Desiree away. They didn’t even come to see her off.
An eerie silence enveloped the interior of the luxury car as it whizzed down the highway, probably going well over the speed limit. Even the sparkling afternoon sun couldn’t change the dreary, almost funeral-like mood that hung over the car. Rebecca cleared her throat, breaking the heavy awkwardness that surrounded her and Desiree. Desiree put her hand up to silence Rebecca before she could start. It was all she could do to keep herself from screaming, crying, yelling and, worse, jumping out of the moving car in protest. Desiree shot Rebecca a glance out of the side of her eye and gripped the door handle tighter, so tight her knuckles paled.
Please don’t let her start up again. I really don’t feel up to this. Why is she staring at the side of my face like she wants to say something? Please just keep your mouth shut, Rebecca. I’m not in the mood, Desiree thought. She was having a hard enough time coping with the situation.
Desiree had thought Rebecca, of all people, wouldn’t judge her and would just give her the support she needed at a time like this. Desiree could feel the heat of Rebecca’s gaze on her even more intensely. She just wanted the driver to pull the car over and let her push Rebecca right out the door on the side of the damn road. Desiree kept her eyes forward and flexed her jaw in anticipation. Rebecca looked at the side of Desiree’s face one more time before she finally mustered up the courage to speak. Desiree braced herself.
“Desiree, your father is a man of very few words, you know that, right? I mean, maybe you can forgive him one day. Find it in your heart to understand him as a parent. I don’t know . . . something . . . ,” Rebecca said. “I . . . I just want everything to be normal again. I just wish this had never happened.” Rebecca squeezed a tissue in her hand. There. She’d finally said what she had been thinking for the past week.
Desiree remained silent.
Rebecca let out an exasperated breath. “You hear me talking?” she asked softly, being careful not to nag. She could feel the heat of Desiree’s gaze fall on the side of her face. Rebecca knew she was stepping on sensitive ground with Desiree.
“I’ll never speak to him again. He threw me away like trash, and I’ll never speak to him again. I don’t care if he’s on his deathbed. Don’t call me,” Desiree said with feeling.
The thought of her father’s deathbed snapped Desiree out of her thoughts. She jumped at someone’s touch. The memories of the past quickly faded as she looked over at her mother now.
“Hey, baby girl,” Carolyn whispered, rubbing her hand up and down Desiree’s back.
“Mother, why didn’t you call me home sooner?” Desiree croaked, her red-rimmed eyes barely able to focus on her mother’s face.
“For a while he didn’t want anyone to know. He was dealing with a lot,” Carolyn said, lowering her eyes to the floor.
“But I would’ve come sooner. I feel like it’s . . . it’s . . .” Desiree’s words trailed off, and she sucked in her sobs.
Her mother pulled her into a tight embrace. “Shh. He’s going to make it through this. He’s the strongest man we know,” Carolyn said, doing what she did best—pretend.
Chapter 5
Is This Love?
Junior let out a series of animalistic grunts as his newest sexual conquest, Bella, roughly bounced up and down on his dick. Bella had skills, that was for sure.
“Shit!” Junior belted out as he felt himself reaching a climax. Junior had never had such earth-shattering sexual experiences before he started seeing Bella. Just as he let out another series of passion noises, Bella leaned up a little and balanced her weight on her shapely legs. With one hand, she swiped her sweat-drenched locks of long auburn hair from her face.
“Is it good? Is it the best?” Bella panted, her thick Colombian accent making her seem to Junior like she’d just walked out of heaven.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Junior screamed as his body quaked all over.
Bella smiled, and then it was her turn.
“I guess it was good,” Bella said, satisfied, as she looked down into Junior’s smiling face.
“Damn, baby. You have no idea,” Junior panted as his body began to relax. Bella eased off Junior and flopped next to him on the bed. They were both winded and satisfied.
“I’ve needed that all week. I couldn’t wait to sneak away from all the crap I have going on,” Junior said, still reeling from the explosive orgasm.
Bella laughed. “Glad I could help,” she told him, her accent making her words sound heavy but sexy as hell.
She turned on her side and stared at Junior’s profile. Then she reached up and moved a cluster of sweat-drenched strands of hair from her forehead. Junior placed his hand over Bella’s, halting her movement. He inhaled deeply and brought Bella’s hand to his lips. He closed his eyes and kissed the top of her hand as he clutched it close to his face.
“You’re so sweet,” Bella commented.
Her beauty, her melodic voice, and the accent made Junior’s heart flutter. He was falling in love . . . a dangerous idea for someone like him. Junior had been hurt before, and he’d vowed that women would just be for his own personal pleasure and nothing more. But here he was, totally smitten with this woman.
“No. You are so sweet, and you have no idea how much I appreciate you,” Junior told her with sincerity.
He meant every word. His trysts with Bella had come just in time. Moments spent with Bella had been the one thing that had saved Junior from going off the deep end when he found out that his father was dying and possibly wanted to make his sister Desiree his heir. It was a betrayal that had cut so deep, Junior had contemplated putting a pillow over his father’s face before anything could be set in stone.
Bella had changed Junior’s mind. When he’d met her, Junior had decided he would work slowly and methodically to get what he wanted. If his family believed he was distracted by a beautiful woman, they would all let their guard down, enabling him to work on things in the background. After all, Junior considered his meeting Bella as fate anyway. It was the one time he hadn’t