FEVERISH UnbRoken

the end of the day, if you’re happy, I’m good. Are you sure you’re good?”
“Yes. I’m better than that. Now that we’ve examined my love life, what about you? Are you still dating . . . what was his name? Tray? Tracy?”
“Tray was two boyfriends ago. There was never a Tracy. I think you mean Tyrese and no.”
“What happened with this one?”
“The usual. He got on my nerves—for about three months too long—before I finally put the kibosh on something that I knew wasn’t going anywhere in the first place.”
“Wait . . . did you even date for three months?”
Imani bit her bottom lip. “Four.”
“Wow. You don’t give these guys a chance, do you? You’re so quick to kick someone to the curb.”
“Four months with the wrong man is a long time!” Imani sighed. “On paper, Tyrese was almost perfect. I could cross off almost everything on my list that I’m looking for in a man with him. He was a gentleman and had everything I wanted in a guy, except . . . I kept waiting for fireworks. There was just no real spark. When he started asking for more than what I was ready to give, I broke up with him.” Imani paused. “Do you have that with Drew—fireworks?”
Aaliyah nodded. “Oh yeah. Our chemistry is ridiculous. I’m just afraid it might burn out way too fast, and I’m doing my best to slow things down—if you exclude being pregnant and all.”
“Yeah. There is that. What I want to know is why is it so difficult to find a guy that can be both a gentleman and makes me say his name in three different languages during sex! I’ve just never been able to get the balance right. Usually, the guy is one or the other. I want both. Mama got both.”
“Yuck. I think I’m going to vomit. I don’t want to think of them like that. But seriously, everybody can’t be like Daddy, Imani.”
Imani took a sip of her coffee before responding. “Why not? I won’t settle. I’ll wait until I find someone close. I’m in no hurry. I have a career—no—an empire that I want to build. Hopefully, the right guy will come along in due time.”
“I think love overlooks a lot of faults.”
“That’s stupid. If true, I don’t want any part of not being able to think rationally.”
Aaliyah gazed thoughtfully at Imani. “It’s not about being stupid. It’s about being able to have someone love you flaws and all. We all have flaws, you know, even you. I wonder . . .”
Imani raised an eyebrow. “What? What do you wonder, and why are you looking at me like that?”
“Have you ever been in love?”
Imani squirmed in her seat. Was this real? Was she actually getting relationship advice from her baby sister? Still, she thought about the question. Had she ever met a man who made her heart go pitter pat? Maybe pitter but no pat, and maybe pat without the pitter. Unfortunately, no one made her heart do both at the same time. “How did we get on the subject of my love life?”
Aaliyah didn’t push too hard. She wasn’t an expert on the subject herself, but she’d known what being in love felt like. She wasn’t so sure about Imani. Aaliyah hunched her shoulders. “Just curious. Especially since you’re single, and Maddon’s homeless house guest is kind of hot.”
“Just what I need a hobo with problems.” Imani laughed.

Chapter 4
Garrett Tristan Hadley was devastated. The last twenty-four hours had left him reeling to the point of not knowing if he were coming or going. How else could he explain lying in a stranger’s bed, staring up at the ceiling in a bedroom that looked as if someone vomited an entire case of Pepto-Bismol onto the walls?
Not only had his life taken a one hundred and eighty-degree turn, but soon the choices he’d made would be put under a microscope and dissected as if he were a lab experiment. Garrett squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose hoping to drown out the noise in his head. It was impossible. How the hell did he not see what was right in front of him?
Garrett wasn’t a coward. He’d never run away from anything in his life and would face this problem like a man. But, he needed just a little time away from everything and everyone to regroup.
If he were a different kind of person he’d already be locked up, but given all that happened, no one would blame him if he acted on his murderous rage. Lucky for them, he was smarter than that. Garrett may have been down, but he wouldn’t be out for long. He’d worked too damn hard for his success to spend the rest of his life in prison for killing the two people he trusted the most—his wife and Raymond.
Now that he had slept off the alcohol, the numbness he’d prayed for yesterday was gone. Garrett’s heart ached to the point of physical pain. It was too early in the morning for another drink. He’d never tried to solve his problems from the bottom of a bottle and wasn’t going to start now. Difficult as it was, he managed to sit up and throw his legs over the side of the bed. Garrett didn’t want to move too quickly just in case he hadn’t recovered as much as he thought. Instead of standing, he rested his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. With a bowed head, he took a deep breath