Never Again, No More 6

by UNTAMED

Genres: African American Urban; African American Romance; Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

LaMeka and Gavin have a love so pure that it could only be ordained by God, but devilish intentions lurk in the shadows, and it’s a lot closer to home than LaMeka thinks. Will the evil intentions of others be the final breaking point of their relationship?

Despite Lucinda’s ultimate betrayal, she isn’t the only one feasting on forbidden fruit. Love still brews under the surface, but will it be enough to overcome the extreme perils of their sordid love affair, or could the hurt they’ve caused one another prove to be the final straw?

Although Terrence’s life was spared, the events have changed the man that Trinity once knew and loved. For Terrence, it isn’t the circumstances that changed him; it’s Trinity’s actions. Will her decisions cause a permanent rift between these lifetime lovers?

As Charice battles her indecisiveness, Ryan and Lincoln may have sealed her fate for her. As she comes to grips with what she wants, the final decision may no longer be hers to make.

In part 6, the final chapter of the Never Again, No More series, the lives of all the men and women are forever changed as they are forced to come to terms with the consequences of their actions. And one thing is for sure: none of them will ever be the same again.
 

Release date: June 14, 2022

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 288

Sample

“LaMeka! LaMeka! Baby, I know you hear me! LaMeka! LA-ME-KA!” Standing outside on her front steps, I took a swig of my Hennessy straight out of the bottle, then wiped the remnants of the liquor from my mouth with the back of my hand before recapping the bottle. “LaMeka! Open this door. Talk to me!”

“Gavin?” I heard a voice by the side of the house.

It was her nosy-ass neighbor, Mr. Jim.

“Yeah, it’s me, Mr. Jim. Just trying to talk to my girlfriend. You can go back inside.”

Mr. Jim looked at his watch. “You do realize the hour, don’t you, son?”

I looked at my watch. Twelve thirty in the morning. “Yes, I do. You do realize I’m not talking to you or knocking at your door, don’t you, Mr. Jim?”

“Listen to me. You’re drunk. Nothing is going to get resolved today and definitely not at this godforsaken hour that doesn’t have disaster written all over it. Why don’t you come inside with me and let me fix you a hot cup of coffee? You can sober up, and we can talk. Then you can start fresh again in the morning with Meka.”

“No. She’s gonna answer the door. You just wait and see.”

“Gavin, she hasn’t answered in the full two weeks you’ve been coming over here. Now, son, come on over for some coffee before someone calls the police on you.”

“If they call the police, she’ll probably open the door.” I kicked the front door with my foot.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and LaMeka walked out wrapped in her robe and bedroom shoes. “Hi, Mr. Jim. It’s okay. I’m going to let him in. You can go back inside. I’m sorry for the disruption.”

“It’s not your fault. Are you sure you’ll be okay?” he asked, eyeing me closely.

“She’ll be fine. I’m not gonna hurt her. I just wanna see her. Talk to her.” My eyes never left LaMeka as I caressed her face. “I’ve missed you so much. Don’t you miss me?”

She sucked her teeth and swatted my hand away. “I’ll be all right. Goodnight, Mr. Jim.” She waved at him as he nodded and went inside. “Get your ass inside this house and shut up before I call the police on you my damn self.”

I staggered inside as she closed and locked the door. Her mom and sister were standing there in their robes, too, one with a baseball bat and the other with a frying pan.

“Heeeeyyyyy!” I put my hands up. “What the hell?”

“Oh, we’re here just in case you get outta hand,” Misha said, holding the frying pan. “I love you like a brother, Gavin, but this is my blood sister, and ain’t nobody putting a hand on her again.”

“And I second that,” her mother concurred.

“Ms. Barbara. Come on, Mama. You know I’d never do anything to any of you all. I just want to see Meka.”

“Well, Hennessy makes people do strange things. Makes them act out of character. I’m just here to make sure that you don’t get out of character because if you do, I will get out of hand,” Ms. Barbara said. “Do you understand me?”

“Understood.” I put my hands up to let her know there wouldn’t be any problems from me.

LaMeka walked in front of me, turning her attention toward them. “We’re going to go to the family room and talk. You guys can fall back.”

They looked at each other. “We’ll be in my room, which ain’t far from the family room. If I hear one thing that sounds remotely like a cry of distress—”

“I promise you won’t.” I interrupted Ms. Barbara’s rant.

“I better not,” she said before turning away. “Come on, Misha,” she ordered as they both walked away, eyeing me closely.

LaMeka turned around, rolled her eyes at me, folded her arms, and proceeded to walk to the family room. I followed behind her. Watching her ass swish side to side in that silk robe made me want to grab her and make love to her right there on the floor like I never had before. She flipped her hair, which made me take notice. She’d gotten her hair done and added some long tresses to it. Long hair looked very good on her. She was a goddess no matter how long or short it was, though. I just wanted to run my fingers through it and kiss her.

It wasn’t just about the sex with LaMeka either. For as many sexual fantasies that were going through my mind, I had just as many family fantasies. As we reached the family room, I peered at the dining room and smiled as I thought of all the Sunday dinners we’d shared in that room. Pictures of the boys were everywhere. To me, they weren’t just LaMeka’s boys. They were my sons.

My eyes fell on a picture that LaMeka and I had taken with them at Six Flags. Our first family photo, so to speak. I thought of all the times we’d sat on the floor in this room by the fireplace and held each other, talking about our dreams and aspirations. I missed everything from Saturday morning breakfasts to joking with Misha, helping Ms. Barbara deep clean, playing Transformers with the boys, and hell, even running to pay bills. I missed Meka and everything about her like crazy.

“What the hell is your problem coming over every day causing drama for me with my neighbors?” LaMeka sounded off, breaking my thoughts.

I sat on the sofa and put my bottle of Hennessy on the table. “Baby, I’m sorry for that, but I had to see you. You’ve been avoiding me.”

LaMeka put her hand on her forehead in frustration. “Gavin, I haven’t been avoiding you. I broke up with you. I don’t need to see you because we need to go our separate ways.”

Leaning forward, I shook my head. “I didn’t break up with you.”

“Ugh!” she bellowed. “This is ridiculous. It doesn’t matter who broke up with whom. It only matters that we are no longer together, but you already know that. You’re not dumb by any stretch of the imagination. So, let me be clear. Do not come by here anymore. Stop calling, stop texting, stop emailing, stop leaving me gifts, and stop trying to corner me at the workplace. Just stop. We’re done.”

“I can’t!” The words bounced out of me as I jumped up from the sofa. “Meka, I can’t let you go. How can you just let us go like that? Didn’t I mean anything to you?”

The question lingered in the air for a while, then I attempted to walk up to her. I needed to be in her space, but she put her hand up as a signal to thwart my attempt to enter her closeness.

“No, don’t come near me.”

“Why not?” I kept approaching her. “Are you afraid to be close to me? Afraid that if you’re close, you’ll be weak? Your feelings will take over?”

“You reek of alcohol, and it stinks,” she said plainly.

A smirk spread across my face at her comeback. “You’re playing hard. I know that’s your MO.” She waved off my words, but I continued despite her dismissiveness. “I know everything about you. I know that you really don’t want to let me go.” Still reaching out for her, I pulled her to me by the waist. “I love you, baby. Don’t let us go.”

Clamping down on her bottom lip, she began to blink back the tears that had begun to form in the corners of her eyes. “God, Gavin! Why can’t you just leave me alone? You keep bringing up emotions that I am trying so hard to let go of. I don’t want to let you go. I want to be with you, but I can’t. Your family would never allow it to happen, and I owe it to my family not to put them through that. We have no choice but to end this, so just stop.”

There it was again. The source of my forever headache, my family. Scratch that. My father and my brother were no family of mine. Their racist views had driven a wedge the size of Texas between LaMeka and me, and while I didn’t give a damn about their opinions and threats, LaMeka did. With all that had happened in her life, I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to engage in this fight, but I’d be damned if I wouldn’t. I had enough fight built inside for the both of us. If only she’d allow me to be her fighter.

Gently, she pulled away from me and took a seat in the recliner. My recliner. I had deemed it as my favorite seat months ago. I kneeled in front of her.

“I don’t care about my family, and I would never let them do anything to hurt our family.”

Her sad eyes lifted in shock from the words I’d spoken. Simultaneously, a small gasp escaped her lips, and her hand moved to her heart. “You said our family.”

Leaning forward, I caressed her face. “Yes. Ours. You, the boys, your mom, and Misha. You all are my real family. My loyalty is to you, and I will protect you all at all costs.”

Briefly she took in my words and then slowly shook her head. “I love and appreciate the fact that you want to be with us, but that is your father and your brother. They are your blood. If things don’t work out between us, then who will you turn to?”

“Things will work out between us. I know this. I can’t explain it to you, but in my gut, when I think about living my life with you, it just feels right. You’re my soulmate, Meka. I may not do all I’m supposed to do in my Christian faith, but I believe in God, and I believe He made you just for me.”

She wiped the tears that had finally managed to escape, then stared at me for a few moments as if searching deep within my soul before she spoke again. “Gavin, I’m scared, and I can’t feel secure in what you’re saying because I sense your fear, too. It’s best if we just end things. We can be friends. You know I’d do anything for you as a friend.”

She could not be serious. The realization of her words was beginning to take root, and I needed her to understand that the only fear she saw was the fear I had of losing her. My emotions got the best of me, and it was like a knot was lodged in my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I jumped up.

“Friends? I don’t want to be your fucking friend! I want to be your man. Your man, Meka! Fuck friendship. Fuck Gerald Randall. Fuck Gary Randall. Fuck Tony. Fuck every fucking body who tries to come between us!”

Before I could turn around, Ms. Barbara was already in the family room. “Everything all right in here?” she asked with the bat planted firmly in her hands.

“We’re fine, Mama,” Meka said with exasperation.

“I think it’s time for you to leave, Gavin. It’s after one o’clock in the morning, and the boys are trying to sleep. Now, you’ve said your piece, and Meka has said hers. It’s time to end this mess tonight, so we can all get some rest,” Ms. Barbara said definitively.

“Mama, please don’t push me out right now. I need to talk to Meka a little longer. I just have to get her to understand—”

Meka stood and threw her hands up. “Enough! I’ve heard enough. No more talking. I have to rest for my exams tomorrow, so I’m going to bed. Gavin, you’re drunk, and you’re not driving anywhere in your condition. I will bring you some blankets and a pillow to sleep on the sofa. In the morning, I want you to be gone before the boys see you like this,” she demanded before walking out of the family room and taking my bottle of Hennessy with her.

As I sat on the sofa, I knew there was no use in arguing with her. I didn’t want her mom to call the police on me or have the police called on her for beating me to death with that bat, so I decided to chill. I could try to explain again the next day that I had called my father and told him to buy me out. I wanted out of the family business, the family money, and the family. My father hadn’t been pleased with me at all. In fact, all he had said to me was that he’d look into it and then he hung up in my face.

Oh, well. He could feel how he wanted to feel about it. At the end of the day, I was sticking by LaMeka. She was my sole concern, but I needed her to know how committed I was to her and our life.

“Here,” I heard Meka say to me. I opened my eyes and saw her standing over me with blankets and a pillow.

“Why can’t I just sleep in our bedroom?”

“Because it’s not our bedroom. It’s mine.” She shook her head. “You are a piece of work.”

“I’m a man in love with a woman.”

Ignoring my words, she said, “Set your watch for seven in the morning. Junior has a therapy session at eight-thirty, so you need to be gone before he wakes up. Here are two ibuprofen and a small cup of coffee to fight off that hangover you’ll have in the morning.”

As she slipped the pills in my hand, I grabbed her hand. “I love you, baby.” My voice dripped with deep sincerity.

“I know,” she said, turning to walk away.

“Please say that you still love me, too,” I begged just before she walked out. My voice was thick with emotion as I pleaded. “Please.”

She stopped, and I could sense the internal debate she was having. Slowly, she turned around, let out a deep sigh, and told me the one thing I needed so desperately to know. “I love you, too, Gavin.”

Before she could move to leave, I got up and walked to her. Without warning, I kneeled on one knee and pulled out a small box that contained a three-carat diamond solitaire engagement ring. I opened it for her. She gasped as I held her hand.

“This is how ready I am to prove to you and the world that you are the only woman for me. I’m selling my shares back to my dad. I’ve already set that in motion. I’m out of the family business and money. You are my family now. I gave it all up for you because you’re meant to be my wife. I love you, LaMeka Shantel Roberts. Please do me the honor of allowing me to be your husband. Will you marry me?”

Emotion had overcome her as she stared at the ring and took in my words, and the tears that she’d once successfully withheld spilled down her face in waves. “I don’t . . . I don’t know what . . . I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes. Please. Say yes.”

She put her head down and bit her lip but still didn’t answer.

“I’ve done everything. I’ve given back the business. I’ve given up those two Randall men, and I’ve sworn them off. I promise, on my life, that I will never leave you. I want to be your husband, Meka. Please say you’ll be my wife. My life is with you and the boys. I want us to get married, have a little girl or boy of our own. Raise the kids. Grow old together. I can’t see my life without you in it, Meka. Say you’ll stay in my life and be my wife. Please.”

Meka fanned her tears away with one hand as I held her other trembling hand. “Gavin,” she said barely above a whisper. “I don’t know.”

“What can I do to show you? Tell me, and I’ll do it.” Standing, I took the ring out of the box. Bringing my left hand to her face, I gently wiped away her tears as I held the ring in my right hand. I drew her eyes into mine and held her gaze until she could see to the depths of my soul. “I promise you. I will never let you go. Never.”

Her brow furrowed as I saw her resolve beginning to dissipate. “Are you sure that you want to marry me?”

“Yes, woman! Only you. No regrets. Not one.”

“And your family?” she asked again.

“Not a problem or one regret.”

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you.”

I slipped the ring on her finger and picked her up, holding her tightly in an embrace. Once I put her down, she wrapped her arms around my neck and brought my face toward her for the softest, sweetest kiss we’d ever shared.

“I love you,” I whispered through bated breath as we touched foreheads.

She smiled giddily as she looked at her ring. “I love you, too. I’m getting married! I’m so happy.”

Hugging her tightly again, I declared, “That’s right, Mrs. Gavin Randall. You are. So, what do you say we go and celebrate?” I took her hand to led her to the bedroom.

She stopped me. “Ugh, no.” She removed her hand from mine and then crossed her arms, looking at me defiantly. “You’re still on sofa duty tonight, chief. You reek of alcohol, and you’re not getting that smell in my new pillowtop mattress,” she said before strolling up to me sexily. “Besides, I want you to go home in the morning and sober up. We’ll take the family out for dinner tomorrow to announce our engagement, and then we can do whatever we want to do.” She placed her arms around my shoulders in a loose embrace.

“Hmmm. Whatever we want?”

“Anything,” she answered, her voice dripping with seduction.

Bending down, I kissed her plump lips. “Ask Mama to keep the kids for us tomorrow night. I have a big date to plan.”

“I will.” She smiled giddily. “Goodnight, hubby.”

“Goodnight, wifey.” I smiled at her as she sauntered out of the family room.

I made my pallet on the sofa then took off my leather jacket, my Polo boots, and my long-sleeve shirt. I lay down with just my T-shirt, jeans, and socks on, with nothing but good dreams planned as I smiled down on the inside. Meka was going to be my wife. There is no greater joy in the world than being with the one you love and having that love magnified tenfold.

As soon as I dozed off, my cell phone buzzed. I reached in my pocket and answered without checking who it was.

“Yeah,” I answered sleepily.

“Glad to hear you’re up, s—.”

“Actually, I am asl—.”

“If you answered, then you’re awake. And stop cutting me off,” he interrupted. “I’m emailing you some paperwork in the morning. It’s about your shares.”

Groggily, I asked, “What’s my buyout?”

“Nothing.”

That was enough to jerk me out of my alcohol-induced slumber. “Huh?”

“Your lack of business skills amazes me sometimes, son. If I hadn’t had a blood test done on you myself, I’d wonder if you were really mine,” he said, sounding disappointed.

“Son of a bitch,” I mumbled. “I can’t believe you.”

“I don’t see why you shouldn’t. I had all my children tested. Of the seven that were blamed on me, only you, your brother, and your half-sister Veronica were mine.”

“Huh? I was talking about the shares. Wait a minute. I have a half-sister?” I asked. This was just like my dad to say something like that without regard to a person’s feelings. Just plain uncouth.

He heaved a sigh. “Yes, you do. I forget your brother is the only child of mine who actually talks to me to know these things. Veronica is like you, stubborn as a mule and mean as a rattlesnake. She refuses to talk to me.”

“I wonder why,” I said sarcastically. “Anyway, back to the subject so that I can go back to sleep, please.”

“Ah, yes. The reason your buyout is nothing is because you didn’t adhere to the clause about interracial dating restrictions. Seeing as how dating a black girl is the reason you want to give up your ownership rights, you get nothing. Not even the right to say it was yours. Hell, I gave it to you anyway. It was never yours.”

I shrugged. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. Goodnight.”

“Wait, son. Not so fast. However, I will need the interest produced from the shares that you’ve lived heftily off of. My accountant estimates that to be around five hundred thousand. You’ll need to give that back to me.”

Now he had my undivided attention as I sat up straight. “Wait a minute. You know I don’t have that kind of money.”

My mom’s policy was only two-hundred-fifty thousand, and I had that in an escrow account. It had only made about a hundred thousand. I was planning on using part of that for the wedding, then flipping it into a higher yield interest-bearing account to set us up for a nice savings and retirement plan. My pay at work was only about a hundred grand a year. It was decent, but nowhere near close enough to pay off that kind of debt.

“Yes, I do know this, son. You think I don’t?” my dad said snidely. “And it will need to be paid in full in sixty days.”

“Sixty days? That’s two months.”

“You can do math. That’s refreshing.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, I’m very serious. Oh, and I pulled my funding for the hospital today. Thanks to you, they will no longer receive their annual million-dollar contribution. Oh yeah, and I’ve pulled my support of their cancer research project, which is a multimillion-dollar deal. After that went down, the head of the hospital administration called me, and I explained to him why I was doing all of this, which is the fractured relationship with their employee, my son. In the morning, you have a meeting with your boss and the administration. I might as well tell you this because I hate surprises, so I won’t surprise you. Your job is on the line. If you don’t figure out a way to get them those funds back, you can kiss your career goodbye—and Meka’s, because I fully intend to go after her job, too. I’m so glad I got that off my chest,” he said with a sigh of relief. “Now. . . you can go back to sleep, son. Goodnight and sweet dreams. Tell LaMeka I said hello.”

I was so mad, my entire body started trembling. “You leave her out of this, or I swear—”

“Doesn’t she have a baby with autism that currently receives treatment from the hospital? The biggest financial contributor to that program is my good friend Hans Johannesburg. Do I need to make a call to have that program discontinued?” he asked snidely.

“Wait! No. Don’t.”

He laughed. “I think you get my point. Keep your idle threats to yourself before you ruin any more of your life or LaMeka’s.”

“Dad, can we just talk about this?”

“Sure we can. I can talk, and you can listen,” he said firmly. “I’m done playing games with you, Gavin. You’re my son. Mine! And I will not sit idly by while you ruin my family name. So, either you leave that . . . that . . . jig alone, or I will not stop until I have single-handedly annihilated everything you hold near and dear to your heart. And that can only be five things: LaMeka, Tony Jr., LaMichael, Barbara, and Misha.”

“How’d you—”

“Know about her entire family?” he finished for me. “The same way I know everything I know. I have the money and the power to find out anything. And you won’t have the money to help her live out of a cardboard box by the time I’m done. Just how long do you think she’ll stay, knowing you’re the cause for all the problems in her life? She’s a good woman. She’s just not the woman for you. Hell, I don’t care if she is the woman for you. She’s not the right woman by my standards, and my standards are the only standards that matter. Checkmate, son. Game over.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was so hot I thought I was about to have a heat stroke. How could he do this to his child? All I wanted was to marry Meka, and now, everything was messed up after I had promised her that I could protect her. Not only could I not protect her, but I also couldn’t protect myself. I had just convinced her to marry me. If I told her what was going on, she’d throw that ring back in my face and never speak to me again.

I needed time to think. I couldn’t let him ruin LaMeka’s life.

“I swear you are nothing but pure evil.”

“I’ve been told that the devil is afraid of me.” He chuckled as if it didn’t faze him at all.

I rubbed my forehead, hoping to buy myself some time. “Please don’t cut the funding to the hospital programs or mess with Meka’s career. I’ll think of something. Just please don’t do that.”

He sighed. “I must be getting soft hearted. Fine. Since you’re my son, I’ll give you thirty days to be rid of this woman. I won’t cut the funding. I’ll call back and let them know it was a misunderstanding and not to say anything to you or LaMeka. But thirty days is all you have. Please don’t test me. You don’t want to go toe to toe with me. Believe me.”

As bad as I wanted to cuss his ass out, I tucked my tail. “Okay.”

“Thirty days, Gavin,” he said with finality and hung up in my face.

I deleted his call and slid my cell phone on the coffee table. Running my hands down my face in frustration, I picked up her engagement ring box.

Without realizing it, I squeezed the box until I crushed it. Deep down, I wished it was my father’s head. One day, that bitch karma was going to serve his ass the justice that I couldn’t. I prayed that I lived long enough to witness it. For now, the only thing going through my mind was the seven-thousand-dollar price tag of that damn ring, which was purchased through the interest of the money I now had to pay back.

I was so distraught I didn’t know what to do. So, I did the one thing I had gotten away from that always helped me calm down and use sound judgment. I got down on my knees, and I prayed.

I was not a hater. I wasn’t. I swear to God above I wasn’t a hater. But sitting there in my little sitting room, reading a book and trying to keep my mind off the state of my relationship with Lincoln while being interrupted by my best friend screaming—at the top of her lungs, no less—that she was getting married to the love of her life was not putting me in the best of fucking moods. Yes, I was miserable, and even though I really was happy for LaMeka, I kinda wanted some of that company that misery attracts, or at the very least, to wallow in my own self-pity in peace.

“Girl, I can’t believe it. I simply can’t believe it!” she squealed in my ear.

“Me either. I thought you broke up with him.” I managed to get a word in after five minutes of her yelling and screaming on the phone.

“You are such a killjoy. Why do you have to bring up old stuff?”

Smacking my lips, I sucked my teeth. “Hell, it ain’t old. You just called me last week and told me you broke up with him the week before, and now a week later, . . .