Chapter Four

 

 

 

“She writes erotica for a living,” Gabby could be heard saying from the front seat.

Toni gnashed her teeth as the vibe in Vincent’s car changed immediately. Carson, Vincent’s cousin and Toni’s blind date, immediately turned to give her a long, assessing look. Toni knew exactly what was going through their minds. ‘She must be a freak in bed.’ It was the same thing most men and women thought when they found out what she wrote for a living. Some people even came outright and asked her.

Toni shrank into the corner of her seat and pulled her jacket tighter around her. If Carson asked her, she would die.

Carson smacked his lips. “Really?” He said it like he’d just hit the sexual jackpot.

Toni wanted to melt into her seat and disappear.

She wasn’t ashamed about what she did for a living. She loved it. It was just the stigma that came with being an erotic author. Erotic writer equaled sexual freak to most everyone. There was really no point in trying to convince anyone that she had to research all of her sexual knowledge and it didn’t necessarily come from experience. No one outside her family and close friends believed her anyway. She preferred to tell everyone that she was a romance author. It was just easier not to mention erotica at all. It was almost exactly the same in Toni’s mind—the only little difference was that her characters had wild, passionate sex and Toni wasn’t afraid to use four letter words in her stories.

Gabby turned to peek at her in the back seat. “Tell them, Toni,” she said with a beaming smile.

Toni didn’t open her mouth, instead she stared daggers at Gabby. They’d just had this conversation a couple of hours ago.

“Sorry. I forgot,” Gabby mouthed.

“How long have you been writing?” Vincent asked.

Toni flicked her eyes from Gabby to the rear-view mirror. Vincent alternated between looking at the road ahead and watching at her reflection in the mirror.

“Nine years,” Toni said. She didn’t divulge anything else. She wanted to get off this topic as soon as possible.

“Is there any money in that?” Carson asked.

Toni pursed her lips together. She definitely wasn’t going to answer that.

“Oh, yeah, she was able to quit her job as a registered nurse and write full-time,” Gabby said, replying for her.

Toni went back to glaring at Gabby. Shut the hell up.

“So you’re rich? Like those authors who have their books turned into movies rich, or like Oprah rich?” Carson asked.

And that was another reason why she didn’t like people to know about her writing. They automatically assumed she was a millionaire.

“No, I’m not rich,” she said. She wanted to make that perfectly clear to Carson just in case he had plans on getting a sugar momma.

Carson frowned and leaned back. “Oh.”

Position successfully averted.

In her head Toni firmly put Carson in the ‘never see again’ category. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, average would be the word to describe him. He was on the thin side and not much taller than her. He’d dressed casually, like she had, in jeans and a sweater. His head was shaved bald and shined liked he’d just greased it up. While she’d sprayed a small amount of Chanel No. 5 on her neck, he smelled as if he’d doused himself in some unknown musk. The scent of him overpowered her senses, and not in a good way.

“That’s still cool that you were able to quit your job though,” Vincent said.

“I know, right?” Gabby said to Vincent as she turned back into her seat. “I’d love to write a story, but I just don’t have the patience or time for something like that. She has, like, fifty books out.”

“Fifty books?” Carson’s interest piqued again and he inched his way closer to Toni, as far as his seatbelt would allow.

Well, this evening is a bust.

Toni was trapped. She couldn’t get any closer to the door if she tried. It was best just to let the conversation go on around her and hopefully it would fade out. She turned to watch the scenery outside her window. She should’ve stayed home.

Vincent and Gabby kept a lively conversation going in the front seat. Toni half listened to what they were saying and, as expected, their interest drifted from writing. The pair mostly talked to each other but every now and then one of them would ask Toni or Carson a question, trying to involve everyone in the car. Toni made sure to answer yes, no or uh-huh where she felt it was appropriate, and that seemed to satisfy the chattering couple. She never thought she’d meet anyone who could talk about nothing like Gabby could, but she seemed to have met her match in Vincent.

Carson tried to ask her a few questions but they were all about her books and her finances. Toni didn’t take the bait—she wasn’t talking about either. Through the reflection of her window she saw him bring out his cell phone and open a search. He was probably trying to find information about her that was out there on the web. She was used to that too. All he would find under her real name was an old, deleted Facebook page. She’d gotten rid of her real page after Solomon died. She didn’t need reminders from his friends or family that he was dead, especially around his birthday or the anniversary of his death—she was painfully aware of those days.

He wouldn’t find anything else on her and that was how she liked it and why she chose to write under a pseudonym in the first place. When she’d first begun writing, Solomon had urged her to use her real name—he’d been just as proud of her as Gabby was. But when she had come to sign the publishing contract, Toni had changed her mind at the last minute. While Solomon and her family supported and encouraged her, there’d been a niggling feeling in the back of her mind. A little voice whispered that one day she might not want everyone in her business and that after the bright lights went away, she might want to fade into the background and not be noticed. It was times like these when she was grateful for that sixth sense.

She pulled her attention from watching Carson search for books under a name that didn’t exist and stared out of the window. Vincent got off the interstate and drove through a residential neighborhood. The houses they passed were huge, with sprawling lawns. The houses got bigger and were separated by more land—not feet, but acres.

When they pulled into a driveway and stopped at a security gate, she inclined her head, trying to get a view of the property beyond. Blackness and trees obstructed her vision.

“Hey, Jeffrey,” Vincent said to the guard. “Carson, plus two.”

The guard lifted the gate and waved them through.

“This is nice,” Gabby gushed, pressing her face against the window.

“I love this place,” Vincent said. “My brother moved here a couple of years ago.”

“I don’t know why he needs such a big place,” Carson said. “It’s just him. He should’ve moved to someplace like Brookbriar.”

“Brookbriar? That’s where Toni lives,” Gabby said.

Toni balled her fist. She’d never felt the urge to slap Gabby on the back of her head as much as she did now. Gabby must have felt it too because she moved up in her seat.

“That’s a pretty swanky place,” Carson said.

Great. Toni shrugged, not taking his bait.

“How much does a condo in Brookbriar cost? Half a mil?”

Again with the money. Toni took a deep breath. “I’m not sure what the going rate is now,” she said, hoping he’d leave it at that.

When the car slowed, Toni didn’t hesitate to open the door and jump out. She wasn’t even sure that the car had come to a complete stop before her feet hit the pavement.

Gabby had more patience than Toni did, but then Gabby wasn’t being hounded by a money-hungry blind date. Toni stood on the sidewalk and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting as Vincent got out of the car and walked around to Gabby’s door. Gabby made her graceful exit, all smiles and giggles. When Gabby’s eyes met hers, the smile quickly dropped from her face. Toni squinted at her and crossed her arms. When they were younger, their mother used to be able to stop them cold in their tracks with ‘the look’.

Gabby slunk away, mouthing, “I’m sorry.”

This was the last time she agreed to do anything like this for Gabby again. She loved her sister but there would be no more blind dates for Gabby’s cause. If Gabby screwed up and slept with Vincent, it would be on her. Toni wasn’t playing cock-blocker anymore.

Vincent held out his elbow and Gabby looped her arm in his. When Carson tried to do the same for Toni, she shook her head. She didn’t need this fool thinking this date would progress any further.

“I can walk on my own. Thank you very much.” She folded her arms across her chest just to drive home the point.

Carson jabbed her with an elbow and smiled at her. “Come on, don’t be scared. I won’t bite.”

She tightened her arms and shook her head.

Carson winked at her. “Playing hard to get? I got it.”

Ugh. Gabby owes me big for this.

Vincent and Gabby led the way, arm in arm. Toni followed behind them with Carson at her side. They walked up the paved stone pathway toward the large brick house—mansion was more like it. Lights on the lawn lined the front of the house, making it glow against the backdrop of the night. Up the steps they went, and stopped at double doors with painted glass. Vincent didn’t bother knocking or ringing the bell—he opened the door and he and Gabby went in first with Toni and Carson following.

There was an all-white sitting room with overstuffed couches and glass tables to the right and to the left was a piano that was so large that it wouldn’t have fit into her living room. A chandelier hung dramatically in front of a grand staircase leading to the second floor. The house was beautiful, both inside and out.

“Here, let me take your coat,” Carson said.

Toni slipped off her lightweight jacket, letting Carson take it and hang it in the closet. While she tried hard not to let her mouth drop open and appear as if she’d never seen a house like this before, Gabby wasn’t doing as good a job as she was.

“Vincent, you brother’s house is beautiful,” Gabby gushed. She turned in a tight circle, her head hanging back so she could view the ceiling. “And that chandelier, it’s gorgeous.”

“It took a couple of years for Ahmad to finally get his house decorated just the way he wanted. In the end, he opted to hire a professional. I’m glad he finally did, he was driving us all crazy obsessing over every little detail.”

Toni froze at hearing that name. Did he just say… “Ahmad?”

“I told you Vincent came from a good family,” Gabby said. She grabbed onto Vincent’s arm and smiled at him. “Ahmad Espen is his older brother.”

Holy hell.

 

* * * *

 

Ahmad had planned the small get-together thinking it was exactly what he needed to clear his head and get the woman he didn’t know but who smelled of Chanel No. 5 out of it. When he heard his brother, cousin and their dates arrive, he made his way to the newcomers. Vince hadn’t been able to stop talking about the woman he’d met at the singles mingle.

As he got closer, he noticed Vince with his arm around a woman’s waist—Gabby, Vince had said her name was. He recognized her from the party. She’d been the one and only person Vince had danced with the entire night. Gabby had her head tilted back and was admiring his chandelier. He liked it when guests noticed that intrinsic piece hanging in the grand entrance. It’d cost him an arm and a leg to transport from Rome, and he liked to be reminded that it hadn’t been a waste of money. The decorator had assured him he would love the piece and she’d been right.

His cousin Carson was standing next to his date. She had her back turned to Ahmad. Dark, wavy hair spilled down past her shoulders. His heart skipped a beat. He had many dreams about a woman with black, wavy hair. Ahmad kept his eyes on the back of her head, willing the woman to turn around. It couldn’t be. Could it?

Keisha?

Ahmad stopped right behind the unknown woman.

Vince pulled his eyes away from his date to finally acknowledge him. “Hey, man.” He motioned to Gabby. “This is Gabby.” Vince beamed as he introduced her.

Ahmad smiled and extended a hand to Gabby. She giggled and shook his hand, all the while glancing from him to Vince. “Nice to meet you. Can I just say that your words changed my life, inspired me to do better.” Her eyes were wide. “Reading your latest book brought me out of a deep depression. Vince talks about you all the time, how great you are.”

“You’re all he talks about. I feel like I already know you.” And Ahmad wasn’t lying either. If Vince wasn’t talking about Gabby, he was talking to her.

“And this is my date,” Carson began. “Toni.”

Ahmad’s heart sank in the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t his Keisha. He put a smile on his face and prepared to meet Toni, but she didn’t turn to greet him. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Toni,” Gabby said. “Don’t be rude. Aren’t you going to turn around for Ahmad?”

He could hear the heavy breath Toni took as she turned around.

It’s her.

“Hi,” Toni said as she wiggled her fingers at him.

“Keisha?” he asked.

Keisha or Toni, or whatever her real name was, lifted a hand to her temple and scratched. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting to see you again.”

“So your name isn’t Keisha?” Ahmad asked.

Toni shook her head. “Keisha is the name I use when I…” She rubbed her forehead.

“When you don’t want to give a man your real name?” Ahmad said.

Gabby groaned. “You gave him your fake name?” she whispered. “That’s the name that you give to the hoodrats.”

Toni opened her mouth as if she had something to say but then quickly snapped it shut.

Carson laughed and slapped his thigh. “That’s funny. Did you two meet before and she gave you the wrong name? When was the last time a girl didn’t want to see you again?” he said, laughing again.

Toni closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s a bit more complicated than that,” she said. “My name is Antoinette, but everyone calls me Toni.”

Ahmad put up both hands. “No worries.”

Gabby’s face flushed red. “I am so embarrassed,” she muttered.

Toni cut her eyes at Gabby. “You don’t have the right to be upset right now. I have my own bone to pick with you.”

If Ahmad hadn’t been a little embarrassed himself, he would’ve smirked at the sisterly exchange. He’d pestered LuAnn for a week to review the guest book looking for a name that wasn’t there.

“Ahmad,” Cindy called out behind him. “You didn’t tell me Vince and Carson made it with their dates.”

Ahmad swallowed his embarrassment and motioned toward Gabby and Toni. “This is Gabby and Toni.”

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Cindy, Ahmad’s PR manager and friend.” Cindy extended her hand in greeting to first Toni then Gabby.

Cindy slapped her hands together. “Well, are we ready to get started on the game of charades?”