“He just doesn’t mention the truth.”
Roz wasn’t going to defend it. “Yes.”
“And therein lies the problem.”
Roz nodded. “Yes.” Then she sighed. “I’m just tired of his . . .”
“You’re tired of his what? Lies? Or dare I say lack of communication?”
“Of his inconsideration. He doesn’t consider how I would feel about all that shit he pulls.”
“He doesn’t love you.”
“Man bye!” Roz frowned. “I did not say that.”
“What else could it mean, Roz, if he’s always hiding crucial information from you? He has a son he’s known about for months and he doesn’t bother to tell you? Who does that?”
Roz didn’t answer that because she didn’t know the answer.
Kelly looked down her very desirable body. Then back into her beautiful face. “You know what I always say?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“I always say if you can’tbeat’em, thenjoin’em.”
Roz took another sip of her coffee and then stared at Kelly. Being with a man like him would have made her life so much easier. He had the look, he had the style, he had the heart, he had the money. He had it all. She would be a fool not to drop everything and go with Kelly.
But he also had his share of other women. “Joining’emhas its risks too,” she said.
“How would you know?” Kelly fired back. “Mick knows. I’ll bet my 401K he knows. It’s high time, Roz, that you started knowing too.” Then he smiled. “And I’m just the man to give you that knowledge.”
“Mick will kick your ass you touch his woman.”
“He might try. But you know me from back in the day. I don’t play either. I’m no small-time mobster he can manhandle. I’m a rich bitch too. I have connections too. I dare him to try.”
Kelly wasn’t Kelly Cochran when he first hit the Broadway scene. He was nicknamed Kelly Cocky. But Roz had phoned him of all people when she left her house because she needed to buy what he was selling. With just his words, he always made her feel desirable again. He made her feel special. He made her feel everything other than the pain and anguish and disappointment Mick and his antics made her feel.
Kelly Cocky made her feel better about herself in every way. And right now, at this time in her life, that small thing was huge to Roz.
She took another sip of her coffee, leaned back and folded her arms, and then returned his unwavering, concern-filled, lust-filled stare.
CHAPTER TWENTY
When Big Daddy and Amelia first walked into Monk’s house, they could hear Ashley crying out and their bed bouncing upstairs after the butler sat them down in the living area and left the room. Even Monk’s groans and moans they could hear.
Which made Big Daddy shake his head in disgust. “His ass knew we were coming in and he couldn’t stop that shit and handle his business? It’s ridiculous!”
But Amelia smiled. Had it been she and Hammer going at it and guests showed up, there was no way, based on the way Hammer always put it on her, that they would have stopped either. Whomever was visiting would have had to wait. And based on what Jenay told Amelia about how Big Daddy always put it on her, she knew her brother wouldn’t have stopped either. He was just worried about the war and Ashley and wanted something to change. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. He was just blowing off steam.
But they had to wait. And eventually Monk and Ashley got themselves together and made their way downstairs.
It was strange to Big Daddy and Ashley to see Monk Paletti not wearing a suit and tie and especially not wearing his Humphrey Bogart-style gangster hat. But there he was: hatless and in jeans and a t-shirt. It was odd to see.
“Daddy!” Ashley said happily as Big Daddy rose to his feet and she ran into his arms.
Monk hugged Amelia while father and daughter were embracing. When they stopped embracing, Ashley hugged Amelia too.
But instead of sitting with her father and aunt on the sofa, Ashley went and sat on the loveseat with Monk. Although Big Daddy didn’t think anything of it, Amelia knew it was Ashley’s need to show some semblance of independence because she was around her very domineering father.
