Awww, little fucker.Big Country smiled, more than ready to follow Zeus’s example of eliminating exes. He’d never been so inclined, but for the first time, he could understand the lure of staking one’s claim. He wouldn’t, but he’d be damned if he was going to allow a man—one who didn’t have the good sense to know that divorce meant a woman was no longer your woman—to do so.
“Your wife should be at home with your two children, but in the event that she’s not, I promise you Alma is not here, Chad,” Stormy said from the top of her stairwell.
Big Country turned to see her walk down the stairs as she put on a pair of dangly silver earrings. Her hair had been tamed into two neat thick French braids that reached to her breasts. She was barefoot and wore a teal sleeveless T-shirt that showcased her magnificent breasts, and a pair of gray yoga pants that hugged onto all that ass and thigh. If more women were built like her, yoga would become his choice of recreation.
Bubba was spent, but Big Country could feel him stir in greeting. “Well shit, shug, ain’t you the finest sight for these tired eyes.”
She smiled at him in playful seduction.
The bastard ex, Chad, took Big Country’s moment of distraction and slipped past him into the foyer.
“Lucas Beaumont, I’d like to introduce you to my ex-husband ofmanyyears, Chaduwo Akombi.”
“I could give a flying fuck what this little fucker’s name is. He needs to get gone.”
“Wow, Sinclair, is this the caliber of man you’re forced to accept these days?”
Big Country sucked his teeth and rocked back on his heels. “Look here, cousin, you got a good twenty seconds to turn around, get in your sleek little car and move on to your next destination. If you’re here any time after that, I can’t guarantee you’ll be leaving as pretty as you walked in.”
The other man laughed and looked around. “Am I being punked? Is this some kind of joke, Sinclair, because—”
“Why does he keep calling you by your middle name?” Big Country asked.
“Because he doesn’t believe the name my parents gave me at birth is respectable enough.”
Was that the reason she demanded Big Country use her name instead of the handle that fell from his lips like a prayer? Calling her Sienna Red was not a denial or a rejection of her, but his special handle; just forher. Almost all the Brood had a handle…not that she was Brood.
“Bet your parents didn’t think highly of him disparaging your name.”
Stormy’s eyes widened as if he’d verbalized a well-kept secret.
“Darlin’, back where I’m from, storms are a living force. When they hit, some people would go quiet and stay prayed up as the world raged around them, some went wild…storm-drunk,we called it, and some…some folks just sat in appreciation and wonder at the beauty of life. Stormy…” Her name fell from his mouth reverently. “It’s a beautiful name, darlin’, and you’d be all kinds of right to cut loose any man fool enough not to see that.”
“Cutmeloose?” Chad said incredulously. “She was desperate to save our marriage, but back then she didn’t want to do what it took to make mewantto stay. It’s only recently that she’s begun to present herself in a way that a man would even look at her twice. If she had kept herself up in the first place I wouldn’t have had to give up on—”
The flame sparked and Big Country’s reaction was instinctual. He struck out, slamming his fist into the other man’s chest. Chad stumbled back, lost his footing, and landed at Stormy’s feet, giving Big Country a soul-abiding satisfaction…until Stormy gasped.
Shit. He was supposed to be trying to get her to say yes to a contractual relationship with him.
In an attempt to salvage the situation, Big Country bent down and grabbed Chad by the collar, helping him back to his feet as he covertly choked the little pissant. “Sorry about that, cousin, sorry, I got this medical condition, see…”
“Call the police.” Chad croaked out the order to Stormy as he wrenched himself free of Big Country’s hand. “I’ll have you charged with assault and then sue your inbred ass for every wooden nickel you have in your possession.”
“No. You won’t.” Stormy countered. “You came tomyhome after I expressly told you not to…and I have the texts from yesterday to prove it. For all intents and purposes, Chad, you entered my home without permission, verbally disrespected me, and Lucas simply did what any good man would and moved to protect me from harm.”
“I have never laid a finger on you—”
“Which is very different from not harming me now isn’t it, counselor?”
“Harmed,” Chad muttered, tucking his shirt more securely beneath his belt before flinging his arms wide. “Look at this house, Sinclair, look at all that you have! A graduate degree, a life where you are respected, you are retiredandabout to have your own practice, you know how to carry yourself in all arenas. You’ve finally returned to the beauty I once desired. How is any of that harm? I taught you to be better, Sinclair, to want more, achieve higher. Without me you wouldn’t have developed into more than the crass college sophomore from West Oakland on a fast track to single motherhood and subsidized housing after screwing some frat boy who wouldn’t remember your name the second after he finished with you.”
Well now, Big Country thought, keeping his head down, crossing his arms over his chest, and focusing on his overly large feet. This was a peculiar kind of situation he never aspired to find himself in. On the one hand, he wanted to put his fist so far down Chad’s throat until it came out the other end, smelling like the ass Stormy’s ex was. On the other hand, some sixth sense told him to shut the hell up, do nothing, and wait.
He chose the latter.
“Muthafucka, please,” Stormy said calmly and turned a tight smile to Big Country. “As you can see, Chad likes to believe the great lie that he created me. It was a kind of unspoken agreement between us; I pretend his great lie of creation was truth, and somehow our lives, our relationship would be stronger for it. I feed his belief that he is the end-all and be-all, then he is no longer insignificant. And as for me, I got to have a safe place to hide away the pieces of me that I no longer wanted…but then, of course, that wasn’t enough, I was no longer enough, andpoof, Chad went on to create another life. Another wife.” She stepped closer to Chad and smoothed out his lapels. “And yet here he is, still demanding that I worship him. How ridiculously selfish is that, Lucas?”
She turned away from Chad and walked to within kissing distance of Lucas. “The truth is, Iwaswild and irresponsible, and someone I love almost got hurt because of it, but he did not make me. My grades have never dipped below a B since I started receiving grades in elementary. My parents are solidly middle-class and have owned their own home the entirety of my life. I have always had a good heart, put myself out there for others when I damned sure should have known better. For me, having stuff has never been a priority.” She smiled and shook her head. “Chad could never understand that. But, as my grandmother used to say, being smart doesn’t save you from being a fool.”
