The Best Part of Me 2 Read online

  Chapter 1

  I had to make you mine

  Cool air circulated around the pitch-black darkness as Jerrico lay flat on his back looking up at the ceiling fan. It was early morning, nearing sunrise, and he’d been in the same spot for the past hour. As comfortable as it was, his bedroom was the last place he wanted to be. The bright pink and lime green comforter that had been shielding his body for hours was far more comfortable than the silk sheets of his California King.

  Balled up under his woman in a deep, peaceful sleep had been the perfect ending to a decent day, and he’d enjoyed it until all hell broke loose. Jerrico had never been the type of man who ran from a fight or allowed another man to take what belonged to him, but he was also a grown, successful businessman with things to lose. He couldn’t afford to catch any unnecessary charges that would prohibit any of his future endeavors.

  With his hands tucked behind his head, Jerrico closed his eyes and sighed. Just when things were starting to get good.

  “You are not my husband, Kayson!”

  Kayson was furious. “You really ain’t told this nigga?”

  Jerrico looked at Goody. “Told me what?”

  “That she’s still my fucking wife!”

  Jerrico stared at Goody, but all she did was drop her head and cover her face. He watched her calmly, waiting for her to provide some sort of clarity. On top of the current catastrophe at hand, Jerrico had a million and one other questions. All of which surrounded another man showing up to his woman’s house and claiming her as his wife.

  “Hold your fucking head up and talk!” Kayson yelled.

  Jerrico turned to say something but should have known better than to think Paradise needed any help. Her head shot up at the speed of light.

  “Kayson, get your bitch ass out of my house!” She walked toward him, grabbing his arm in the process.

  He snatched away and stayed where he’d been standing. “Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  “Tell you what? I don’t owe you any explanations for having another man. We are divorced. I am not your concern anymore.”

  “We’re not divorced until the paperwork is finalized.”

  Paradise stopped in her tracks and bucked her eyes at him. “You have lost your mind. Get your cheating ass out of my house. That divorce has been finalized for the past two months. I texted you and told you to pick up your copy of the divorce papers from my lawyer, but you never responded.” Paradise grabbed both of her hips with her small hands. “Oh, I forgot. You were too busy in the mountains skiing with your girlfriend. Get your hypocritical ass out of my house, I’m not saying it again.”

  Jerrico breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she wasn’t still legally that man’s wife, then they could figure the rest out. He was still very disturbed about Kayson knowing where Paradise lived and why he felt comfortable enough to just pop up at her house, but he’d address that later.

  “You really think you have room to come at me about a girlfriend when you have a whole nigga at your house?”

  “It’s my fucking house and stop calling him a nigga. You don’t even know this damn man.” Paradise marched past him and opened the door. “Kayson, get out.”

  Jerrico looked at Kayson. They held a combative stare down until Kayson sneered and walked away. He stopped at the door and pointed in Paradise’s face.

  “You’re fucked up for this.”

  All she did was push him out of the door and slam it behind him. Her eyes immediately went to Jerrico’s. He could tell she wasn’t sure what to say, but to be completely honest, neither was he. He didn’t even know what he wanted to hear her say at that point. The whole ordeal had been too much and too unnecessary.

  Jerrico played those type of games when he was in high school, but never as an adult. He had better things to focus on and had absolutely no interest in women who lived that lifestyle.

  “I’m sorry he came over like that.” Paradise walked to him and grabbed both of his hands in hers.

  Jerrico looked at her but didn’t say anything.

  “Say something, babe.”

  Babe? Since when had he become that? He guessed desperate times caused for desperate measures.

  “Why does he know where you live?”

  Paradise shook her head while shrugging her shoulders. “I honestly don’t know. Maybe my brother told him. They’re still good friends.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Yes, my brother. He stays here with me when he’s not with one of his women. He probably told Kayson. I know I didn’t. He wouldn’t even have my new number had I not texted him about the papers a while back.”

  “So, your divorce is finalized?” Jerrico asked again for clarification.

  She nodded.

  “Aight,” Jerrico pulled away from her and walked back to her room.

  He looked around for his things as soon as he was inside. He needed to leave. There were too many emotions floating around him right then, and he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do about them just yet. He didn’t think he was angry, but he was a bit confused and felt somewhat disrespected.

  “You’re leaving?” Paradise’s sad voice almost made him stay, but he had to go.

  He continued grabbing his things without responding to her. She moved around him and sat on the bed, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she sat Indian style in the middle of her bed, scrolling on her phone. When she dropped the phone on the bed and grabbed her forehead, the part of him that cared about her needed to know that she was okay.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “There are pictures of us from your cousin’s pool party on the internet.”

  “Where on the internet? What kind of pictures?”

  “The stupid gossip sites and they’re just regular pictures.” She grabbed her phone and extended it to him.

  Jerrico’s eyes went to the caption first. Bae Watch!!! Looks like rapper Slim Goody and infamous bachelor, Jerrico Blake, are cooking up something special. The couple was spotted together over the weekend at a family function for one of Blake’s cousins. You know it’s real when you get to meet the family! From the looks of it, things have been steamy between these two for a while!

  The first two pictures that followed were of him and Paradise at Jaslynn’s party. One was when she’d taken a selfie of them while seated on the lounge chair between his legs. Apparently, someone in front of them had captured the picture as well. The other one was them while Jaslynn was cutting her cake. He’d been standing behind Paradise with his arms circling her waist and his chin on her shoulder.

  The last couple of pictures were of him and her by themselves but in the same place. Mostly at her shows. They had even gone as far as to post the video from her performance when she’d freestyled about him. Jerrico closed his eyes and tossed her phone back on the bed.

  “You mad?” Paradise asked.

  “For what?”

  “I know you don’t really like the spotlight.” She looked at him innocently.

  That was a fact. Jerrico hated the spotlight. It did absolutely nothing for your image. All the media did was take your words and flip them around into something the total opposite of what you were really saying. That was the prime example. He nor Paradise really knew what they were doing at the moment, and let the world tell it, they were a happy couple.

  “It’s fine,” Jerrico grumbled before grabbing his things and leaving.

  He’d heard her call his name once, but no more after that. He might have actually been surprised had she shown enough interest to follow him to the door because that wasn’t her. Slim Goody didn’t chase niggas. Not even one who had made it very clear that he wanted to pursue something real with her. Her lack of interest helped him keep truckin
g to his car and back to his house.

  The whole ordeal had been on his mind since leaving her, but some time to himself was what he needed. Jerrico had too much love to give to squander it on a woman who clearly had more drama than she was worth.

  The hours ticked by slowly as he waited for his alarm to go off. When it finally sounded, he was out of bed and preparing for his day. Hopefully, work would help take his mind off Paradise and how bothered he was by her situation.

  So long for that idea. The moment he walked into his restaurant, it was as if thoughts of Paradise maximized. Just thinking about her and the day she’d come to his office to sleep weighed him down. He could literally smell her, feel her, even hear her as he chopped his vegetables and seared the meat to order.

  The harder he tried to work, the worse it got. It didn’t help that Heather had her blasting through the small speaker system in the kitchen. As much as Jerrico wanted to tell her to turn it off, he didn’t want to be a buzz kill. Luckily, she eased his mind with idle conversation.

  “You okay? Something’s not right with you.” Heather stepped next to him, holding a large basket of fresh corn. “You’ve been off all morning.”

  Jerrico looked to the side, acknowledging her presence but didn’t say anything right away. It took him a minute to decide on something worth saying. His mind was boggled, and Heather was his girl, so he didn’t want to blow her off or offend her.

  “Just tired.”

  Heather leaned on the basket of corn with one arm and placed the other hand on her hip. “Jerrico Blake.”

  “I really am just tired, Heather. Nothing to really discuss.”

  “If you say so, but I know you’re lying.”

  Jerrico stopped chopping the steak in front of him and forced a smile on his face. “I’m not lying. Can’t you see I haven’t had any sleep?” He playfully bucked his eyes.

  “Get out of my face.” Heather smirked and began to grab corn from the basket to wash it.

  Jerrico watched her, trying to decide whether or not he wanted to address the situation with Paradise. It was so new, and he wasn’t really sure how to approach it. The last thing he wanted to do was come off as heartbroken because that was the furthest thing from him at the moment, but he also didn’t want to belittle the emotions that derived from the appearance of her ex.

  “You saw the pictures?”

  Heather nodded while running water over the strainer of corn. “They’re were cute. I liked them.”

  “You would.” Jerrico laughed.

  “I don’t see why you wouldn’t like them. You looked happy.”

  The knife and the steak both dropped from his hand. He exhaled and allowed his head to fall forward for a second, giving his eyes time to rest. Holding them open had been somewhat of a task since leaving Paradise.

  “I was happy. I just didn’t want them out there like that. I mean, not with that type of publication. It looks like we’re together.”

  “Aren’t y’all?”

  Jerrico shook his head.

  “I thought you were.”

  “I mean, we are, but we’re not. It’s difficult. I think we’re just trying to feel things out with each other first.”

  “And the pictures confuse that?”

  “Yes, the pictures and the fact that her ex-husband showed up at her house this morning on a rant about her being with me.”

  Heather dropped the corn in the sink and looked at him with a wide-open mouth.

  Jerrico chuckled and resumed cutting the meat.

  “Now, you see why I look tired.”

  “What happened? Did she check him? She didn’t let you and him fight, did she?”

  Jerrico’s eyebrows frowned as he shook his head. “Come on now.”

  “Come on now what? What happened?”

  Jerrico’s mind went to the way Paradise handled Kayson. Her li’l bitty self. An effortless smile graced his lips as he pictured her fussing.

  “I don’t know if you could tell it or not, but Paradise isn’t a pushover by far. She’s actually one of the toughest people I’ve ever met. Man or woman.”

  “I listen to her music, so I know.”

  Jerrico’s body turned toward Heather in surprise. “You do?”

  Heather’s smile grew wider. “Yes! I love me some Slim Goody, honey. I was actually surprised to see her here with you that day.” she nudged him playfully. “Why do you think I jumped at the opportunity to talk to her that day? Once I recognized her, I started being extra loud so I could wake her up.” Heather snickered goofily, making Jerrico laugh with her. “I apologized like I didn’t mean to do it, but I definitely woke her up on purpose. I wanted to talk to her. I’ve been listening to her for a while now. I have all of her mixtapes downloaded to my phone.”

  “I’ve never heard you play her before today, and we listen to music all the time.”

  “Well…” Heather looked away. “Goody doesn’t have the cleanest lyrics, and I didn’t know how you would feel about it. The only reason I felt it was okay today was that she’s your boo now, so I’m sure you support her hustle.”

  “How do you know?”

  Heather flashed him the beautiful smile that he was sure made her husband weak in the knees. “You support everyone that you love. Look how hard you go for all of us.” She looked around the restaurant. “And all we do is work for you.”

  “No, you all make my business a success. I could never repay you all for that.” Jerrico looked around at the members of his staff doing an array of things. “And I definitely love you guys.”

  “I know.” Heather retrieved the clean corn from the sink. “You love Goody too. Maybe not in love, but you have something for her.”

  Just like that, Jerrico’s mind went wild again.

  “The ex-husband thing was a bit much, but that wasn’t her fault. Men love to come crawling back after you’ve moved on. As cute as you all looked in those pictures, I’m not surprised by his behavior in the least. She looked so happy.” Heather winked at him. “You did too. I hope you make up with her.”

  Jerrico watched Heather retreat to the back of the kitchen where the large stove and boilers were. Confused all over again, he went back to cooking. It was the one and only thing he could count on to make him feel better. Paradise and whatever he was doing with her was starting to feel a lot like what he had with Summer, and he didn’t want a replay of that. He’d been stuck for months after she’d moved on.

  “Damn,” he cursed.

  His behavior after finding out about Summer’s engagement had been somewhat erratic as well. He hadn’t shown up at her house starting anything with her fiancé, but he’d most definitely blown her phone and email up with pleas for her to take him back.

  Of course, it hadn’t worked, and much like Paradise, Summer was real and gave it to him raw as hell. Jerrico chuckled at how she’d read him before hanging up in his face. He laughed even harder, the more he thought about it. Summer had been mean, but Paradise was definitely meaner.

  Why on earth was he drawn to such evil women? Laughter consumed him for another few minutes as he pondered on ways to fix him and Paradise’s moment. It was ruined, but he wouldn’t be the infamous bachelor, Jerrico Blake if he didn’t have a suave way of making it all right again.

  Chapter 2

  Wrong is Right

  The sun was way too bright and way too happy for Goody’s mood. The rays were on a hundred, and the glow felt a million times lighter as Goody and Forever followed Marcellus into the building. It was a little after two o’clock in the afternoon, and Jacorey, Killa K’s manager had requested a meeting with her and Marcellus. Though it was extremely impromptu and she nor Marcellus normally handled business that way, she was on the grind and needed any opportunity that she could get.

  Not to mention, she’d been just sitting at her house looking like a complete fool since Jerrico and Kayson had left that morning. On any other occasion, she wouldn’t have thought twice about a nigga and his feelings, but Jerrico
being mad at her was seriously making her feel some type of way. Maybe it was all the time they’d spent together, or maybe it was just because she didn’t like for her character to be questioned.

  Whatever it was, it had her in a stupid headspace, and she was ready to get out of it. Her music would do that. She wasn’t expecting to perform or anything of the sort, but one thing about her was that she stayed ready. With not one rap written down or ready to be recited, she walked up the long hallway with her head held high. If need be, she’d freestyle.

  That was how she’d done it for years anyway. Long before club performances and any other larger platform, it had been her, Yummy, and their grandma’s back porch. Goody’s words came straight off the top of her head and would forever remain.

  “You okay, boo?” Forever grabbed her hand.

  Goody looked at her and nodded. “Yes, ma’am, just trying to focus.”

  She could tell by the subtle squeeze from Forever’s hand that she didn’t believe her, but whatever heart to heart that needed to be had would have to wait until her meeting was over.

  “That’s my girl.” Marcellus looked to her and winked.

  Goody nodded at him with a flat smile. “Have you talked to Jerrico?”

  Marcellus’ stride slowed a little, and he nodded. Goody wasn’t surprised that he didn’t offer more information. He wasn’t a talker, and even if he was, she was sure he wouldn’t disclose the specifics of he and his brother’s conversation.

  “Well?” Forever pushed.

  A smile that she didn’t have to force spread over Goody’s face. Forever was a ball buster, and it was so welcomed in that moment. Goody almost grew breathless from the look Marcellus gave her. It was so sexy and calming. His eyes were low, one corner of his top lip was between his teeth, and his eyes radiated so fiercely it almost put the sun to shame.

  Damn, Goody thought as she looked between him and her sister, who was also down for the staring competition. She hadn’t torn her daring eyes away either. As hot as his gaze was, hers was hotter. The way she challenged him was an orgasm in itself. Those two had something going on, and Goody didn’t care how much they pretended not to. Ordinary people who weren’t fucking didn’t look at each other like that.