LITMIR.BIZ

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as she took in his mahogany face. The ruggedly handsome and manly face glaring at her right now had residual traces of the anger that had covered his more boyish face fifteen years ago.

      She braced herself as best she could, given the fact that she had just lost the only person in the world who understood her and loved her unconditionally. And the only other person she had ever loved with her whole being was standing in front of her, blasting her in a creepily déjà vu manner.

      She inhaled and exhaled several times. “You need to calm down, Jason. This is not the time or the place. If you cared about Big Mama as much as you claim you did, then you wouldn’t disrespect her wake like this.”

      A hand rested on her shoulder and stopped her from saying more. Praying it wasn’t her mother, Penny turned around.

      Terrill had finally made it.

      Penny let out a sigh of relief.

      “Everything all right?” Terrill spoke the words to her, but his serious hazel eyes remained fixed on Jason.

      Giving him a heartfelt hug and greeting, Penny felt herself shake just a little. She had no idea how much longer she was going to be able to hold up. But at least with Terrill—one of her oldest and dearest friends—there, she wouldn’t have to go it alone.

      “Everything is fine, Terrill. I’m glad you were able to make it.”

      She had just seen her friend before she left Los Angeles, so she knew Jason’s presence was what made her extra happy to see Terrill. She leaned on Terrill’s sturdy shoulder and clasped the arm of his suit jacket.

      Terrill smiled at her and winked, his way of letting her know he was there for her no matter what.

      Most of the people in the room were checking Terrill out. Success seemed to exude from him in ripples, and those who’d known him when he and his mother lived in a small one-bedroom attic apartment were either happy for him or jealous. The way eyes darted and conversations took place behind hands showed that Terrill had given many of the folks in the room something to talk about.

      In fact, given the history the three of them shared, the room was probably abuzz with gossip.

      She was very proud of Terrill, because she knew what it meant for both of them to make it from their inner-city neighborhood in Paterson, New Jersey, to their positions as movers and shakers in Los Angeles. Not many people from Warren Street who attended PS #10 and then Eastside High School ended up where they were. The two of them were kids from the ’hood who’d done well for themselves.

      Shocked by how much she needed someone to lean on at this moment, she let out another sigh. Shooting a hesitant glance at Jason, she couldn’t help but notice the intense anger in his glare.

      Whoever said time healed all wounds told a big lie.

      It seemed as if everyone in the funeral home had their eyes on the trio. Penny lifted her hand to her right eye and rubbed it across the tiny scar she had gotten when she was twelve. Although it was barely noticeable now, whenever Penny felt uncomfortable or put on the spot, her hand found and worried the small mark. She circled it with her pointer finger for a minute before she forced herself to put her hand down at her side.

      So what if everyone in the funeral home was probably waiting to see if the three former best friends would cause a scene? She refused to turn into a ball of nerves for their entertainment.

      As an image consultant, she knew the importance of appearances. The only thing a person really had any control over was the image he or she put forth. The perceptions of others might have been out of her hands, but that didn’t mean she had to play to anyone’s expectations.

      “Hey, Jason. How’s it going?” Terrill made an attempt to reach out to his old friend and got a harsh stare and a sneer for his trouble. His warm-honey complexion took on a tint of red when his former friend snubbed him. He slanted his hazel eyes and nodded.

      “You’re right, Penny. This isn’t the time or the place.” Jason gave her a once-over before walking away, and didn’t even bother looking at Terrill. “It wouldn’t even be worth it, anyway.”

      Her heart stilled, and a pain so sharp it could only be the reopening of an old, barely healed wound throbbed in her chest. Chancing a glance at Terrill, she couldn’t help noticing that he had been seriously stung by Jason’s words, as well. The two men hadn’t been able to say a kind word to one another in fifteen years.

      Terrill squeezed her shoulder, and she knew he was trying to let her know he didn’t blame her for losing his best friend. His attempt at comfort made the pain even worse.

      Looking at them now, no one would be able to tell people used to jokingly call them the Three Musketeers and tease them about being joined at the hip. They had been best friends since grade school, and the three-way friendship hadn’t changed when Jason and Penny became high school sweethearts. They hadn’t thought anything would be able to come between them. But they had been wrong.

      Jason hated Penny and Terrill now, and it was all her fault. The realization that it was too late to correct the past caused a sharp pain in her chest.

      Penny cringed.

      If Jason Hightower could still hurt her with his words in the same way he had when she had left Paterson years ago, then she had no business being back here.

      As soon as the funeral was over and done with, she was getting out of there as fast as her feet could carry her.

      As Jason walked away, he mentally chided himself for losing control the way he had. There was something about seeing Penny again after so much time that brought back all his emotions about what had happened when they were seniors in high school and thought they had had their entire lives in front of them.

      Seeing the man responsible for ruining all his dreams come up and comfort the woman he would always see as his did nothing to soothe Jason’s raging emotions.

      Neither of the two people who had betrayed him in the worst way possible had been home in years. Terrill had come back more often than Penny, who hadn’t been home once since she left. He had run into Terrill off and on through the years, but could never bring himself to speak to the man.

      Of the two of them, Jason didn’t know whom he blamed more. Thinking of Terrill’s betrayal made the blood run cold in his body. Numbness had come over him when he saw his former best friend, the man he had thought would one day stand with him at his wedding. Any emotion he felt seemed to be layered with ice, and he liked it that way. He didn’t think he would ever thaw when it came to Terrill.

      And Penny? Well, seeing her in person again for the first time in fifteen years caused his blood to boil and his body to run hot.

      Anger. Hurt. Attraction…?

      His conflicting feelings made for one jacked-up combination, as far as he was concerned.

      How could he still be attracted to her?

      Seeing the two of them together made him run hot and cold at the same time, and Jason wasn’t comfortable with the impact their presence had on him.

      It didn’t help that Penny still looked gorgeous. The simple black dress she wore clung to her curves in ways that brought scandalous thoughts—certainly thoughts he shouldn’t have been having at a wake—to his mind. The designer sandals with lots of straps and stiletto heels did things to her calves that caused his pulse to quicken.

      But that was nothing compared to what it did to his heart to see that toasted-cinnamon face, those bold copper eyes and that beautiful sandy-brown hair, all in the form of a woman whom had grown up to be just as beautiful as he’d always known she would be. Her hair was styled in those thin sister-locks and hung loose around her face and down her back. The sisterlocks had soft blond and bronze highlights that shimmered and beckoned to him to reach out and caress them.

      “I heard Terrill saw the light and got rid of that little slut soon after they left town.” Aunt Sophie had snuck up behind him, and now she tilted her head toward the corner

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