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Author’s Notes

Okay, I need to sleep for at least 12 good hours, and then I’ll be back. (I feel like that picture below looks). I need to delve into a nonfiction book to conduct an interview with Dale Roberts and then work on the Halloween story a bit.

I’m really excited about it, but Tori and her drama keep pulling me back.

I want to remind you to catch up with Dag Roth from Delilah’s Desire between chapters. Parts one and two of his book are now available, and Part 3 will be released on October 1st. Pre-orders are down, and I’d like at least 100 more to know this is going to rock. I hope to have the e-book, the paperback, and the audio all ready to go as well.

I know you’ll love the story because I loved the story.

Now, all I have to say about this part of the story: Malea is a jealous woman.

Plain and simple. What do you think?

Enjoy and happy reading. Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Chapter 10.2 The Lies

“Why do you say that?” her sister questioned, perplexed. “That blue room was perfect to start something. I saw it between you two. Hell, you two went out on a date!”

“We went out and it was a nice date. I got to meet Mrs Cosgrove and we kissed.” Tori didn’t know why she told her sister this, but it just fell out of her mouth.

Malea let hr shock come to the surface. “You kissed Shawn Carter? And he kissed you back?!”

Knowing that her sister had kept the knowledge that Shawn had only preferred men, Tori scrunched her face up and was glad her sister had not made this a video call. Tori decided not to let her sister know she knew anything. “Yes, he kissed me back, and he said that he would love to explore the idea of possibly being together for real, but he wants to take it slow.”

“Tori, are you kidding me?” Her sister sounded genuinely surprised.

She played into her sister’s response. “No, I’m not, Malea. I think Shawn really likes me.”

“Are you sure he’s not playing with your emotions just to get you to stay longer than a year so that he can get all the perks of the job? Or even get you to fall in love with him, to break your heart, since you hurt his mom. I heard he took it the worst out of all of them.”

Why did her sister say these things when she needed Tori to stay with Shawn? Was Malea being a devil’s advocate? “No, I think this is genuine, but unless you know something I don’t know,” she challenged her sister.

“I don’t know anything,” Malea said, very fast – almost too fast.

Tori decided to press the matter and be a contrarian to see what she could get out of her sister, “So you don’t think I’m Shawn’s type?”

Malea defended, “I didn’t say that. I think that you should be suspicious that all of a sudden, he’s getting interested in you like that when he clearly said it was just going to be a marriage of convenience. I don’t want to see you hurt, Tori. Everyone but Shawn knew you had a huge crush on Shawn back in the day, but you could be getting confused by the signals he’s given. And do you really think you want to be associated with that family in general? It looked like his brothers were caking on you just as hard as Shawn was in that blue room.”

If only her sister knew just how hard his brothers had caked on her. The thought made a wicked smile come to Tori’s lips. “Oh, I’m not confused about anything anymore, especially about Kevin and Duncan.”

“Are they bothering you some more?”

“I wouldn’t say they are a bother,” Tori said in a teasing light.

“What have they done, Tori? Do I need to talk to them because I’ll do anything to protect my little sister?”

Tori almost wished she had made Kevin stay so he could listen in on this conversation. She really needed an outside perspective because her judgment was clouded when it came to her sister. One moment, Malea made her feel like Tori was family, and the next, it felt like her older sister was jealous of her for having the life she had.

As much as she hated him for making her feel like an insatiable nymphomaniac, Kevin seemed more honest than what her sister was making her feel.

Stop saying negative things about yourself,” Kevin’s voice reverberated in her head so strongly that she had to look at the front door to see if he had returned. A slight fear crept up inside of her when she remembered his threat. What would he actually do to her?

“So are you coming?” her sister urged.

“Coming where?”

Malea huffed. “Coming to the Salsa club and restaurant. I’ll send you directions, and I won’t take no for an answer. Scott’s checking it out tonight because we might be getting a great deal to invest.”

Remembering what Norman said, Tori wasn’t sure which was the truth. “I thought you guys were hard up for money.”

Her sister refuted this. “Not that hard up. I mean, we aren’t rolling in the dough like your single ass. We have savings and decent credit scores. I wanted you to meet the owners, and you said that if we needed any business insights, you’d help us. This is me reaching out, and you know how hard that is for me.”

Guilt racked her because she had offered help. “Fine, Malea. Send me the directions, and I’ll be there, but not for long. I really need to get up early.”

“Yes! Wear that dress you got for that Puerto Rico vacation. Remember?!”

Yeah, the dress she remembered her sister being jealous about because it had been the last on the rack. Tori had been confused by her sister’s anger because with Malea’s boob job, the dress in the front would have had to be drastically altered. “I guess I could dig that out.”

“Perfect,” Malea said.

When her sister was off her phone, Tori’s mind wandered to Shawn. It was true, the date had been pretty lovely, and deep down, she was still crushing on him from when she was sixteen. Having a little romance with Shawn would be nice, and she needed to stop fighting all her desires, as his brothers seem to compartmentalize their relationship with her.

But did Shawn really mind that she was having sex with his brothers, like Kevin said?  

She looked up the word Kevin had said.

Compersion was described as the joy derived from witnessing another person’s happiness, especially in romantic or sexual relationships.

Whispering the word out loud, Tori decided to text Shawn. “As my fake husband to be, I should let you know your fake wife to be is going out to a salsa club with her sister tonight.”

Seconds later, she was surprised to receive a response. “I thought you needed to catch up on work.”

Immediately, she adored his thoughtfulness. “I do, but I also promised her I would check out any business she had. Her husband wants to invest in this.”

“Send me the directions and I’ll meet you in an hour,” he responded. “I want to dance with my fake wife to be, again.”

Why did her stomach flutter? “See you soon,” she texted with the directions her sister sent her attached.

That was definitely a positive in regard to desiring her. She wasn’t going on what she imagined things to be. Shawn could want to be in a relationship with her, and he’d forget that she’d had sex with his brothers.

“I don’t want to see you hurt,” were her sister’s words, and Tori didn’t want to be hurt, so she’d take it slow and not get caught up in romance.

Hurriedly, Tori took a shower and lathered her skin with a sweet mango shea butter, wanting to taste as sweet as she could for Shawn. Of course, applying her makeup and twisting her hair in a ponytail to expose her neckline really brought out the softness of her face. She was glad the dress would somewhat cover the hickey and bite marks on her shoulder.

Tori foraged through her closet to dig through her going-out clothes. The sleeveless, partial-halter, bluish-purple dress features an asymmetrical aline with fringe glittered tassels hanging below her waist and two long slits on the sides. Matching shoes and a small purse put her in the mood, and she grabbed her shawl from last night.

She’d taken the solo trip almost a decade ago on her father’s insistence to get out of the house and get out of Michigan. Of course, she didn’t know how to salsa, but she loved the time she spent in Puerto Rico. Once the group home project was finished and running by itself, she planned to go again… Possibly with Shawn?

The thought was enticing.

Before leaving, knowing she was going to be out late tonight, Tori put her birth control in her purse and made sure her alarm was on so she could take it on time.

Arriving at the club, her sister’s instructions told her to go through the restaurant door and then let the maitre d know there were reservations for Scott.

She could feel eyes on her, but since she was always reserved, she didn’t encourage looks, even as she opened up to relationships with men. Her father always taught her never to hunt. If a man wants you, he’ll find a way to pursue you and keep pursuing for the rest of her life, even after he’s caught you.

Probably, this is why so many serious relationships disappointed her and why she stopped dating altogether: the generation of men out there weren’t hunters, and that’s what she needed, wanted, and desired. She refused to settle for less.

Briefly, Tori smiled, liking how Kevin was competitive with Duncan when he saw her enjoy the snack his middle brother sent her. He didn’t look the least bit jealous, though.

Malea always told Tori that she would be lonely forever because there was no way any man would want to work that hard in this day and age when pussy was so easy to get.

“You’ve set the bar a little too out of the way, Tori.”

Tori resolved she would get lots of cats, just like Kevin said, but until then, she’d enjoy having sex when the need was strong, which had been once or twice a quarter. Yet in the past forty-eight hours, she’d had more sex than she had in the past five years.

“Is that blush because you have every man looking this way at you?” Scott asked as Tori approached the table. “Wow, you look so good.”

He stood up and greeted her with a hug.

She had to blush again because she’d been caught thinking about things she shouldn’t have been thinking about. To avoid conversing about her salacious thoughts, she said, “You look good, Scott.”

Tori wasn’t going to put his business out in front of him. If he were gambling the family’s savings away, Tori would keep this to herself, feeling her sister had told her in confidence.

Scott was in a white dress shirt and some charcoal gray dress pants with dark dress shoes. Handsome, still looking like the high school jock, but much older, Scott was a forty-year-old black man with naturally textured hair, carrying himself with a confident posture and always exuding charisma. How her sister always described him as a man with no goals seemed to belie what Tori always felt when she saw Scott. He just seemed like a man who wanted to do right by his family. “Malea stepped away for a moment, but she told me to expect you.”

He warmly hugged her. “I forget how short you really are, Tori, even with your heels, when your sister is three inches taller, but you two still do look alike.”

“Only in the face,” she commented playfully.

“Well, I always said bone is for the dog and meat is for the man. I never wanted her to have all those operations, but you know your sister,” he rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Malea had to have them.”

Never wanting to discuss married folks’ business, Tori avoided commenting on what he said and politely asked, “She invited me because you’re interested in investing.”

“I’ve been asked by someone I work with. A coworker and friend’s father owned this place, and now Bellini Entertainment has come in with a partnership without taking it out of the family’s hands. He doesn’t have all the money for renovations, and even with the loans, he can’t get everything, so he came to me.”

“I’d love to look over everything for you.”

Scott looked grateful. “I do need your eyes.”

“Seeing that you guys are going through some hard times, I wanted to make sure my niece and nephew don’t get left high and dry.”

Placing a hand over hers, Scott said, “Honestly, this past couple of months, it’s been hard. Paying for the kids’ college, living expenses, and coming up short on my business dealings has been really hard.”

“I could swing by and look at that on a couple of nights after I finish work,” she offered.

“Really? I’m drowning. And any time. Hell, I’ll email you some things. Malea’s been working late a lot of nights, so I’m just sitting around at home doing nothing.”

Her sister said nothing about working late, but Tori didn’t mention it either.

“Should I be jealous you’re touching my wife to be?” Shawn growled, coming to the table.

Scott chuckled, but Tori saw the serious look in Shawn’s eyes and couldn’t believe how really covetous he looked.

Her brother-in-law slapped the table, laughing. “When Malea told me about the plan, I hooted all night!”

Tori stood up and was quickly drawn into a very possessive hug by Shawn. Only then did it feel like he relaxed, as if he were no longer losing her. “I’m glad you could come,” she said, softly kissing his cheek.

“All you have to do is ask, wife to be,” he assured her, pressing his lips upon her gently.

This kiss was a little longer, and his lips weren’t so stiff. Tori smiled, perhaps because things could change between her and Shawn, and he could distract her from his brothers. With his possessive nature, she was sure that once they took their relationship to a physical level, Duncan and Kevin wouldn’t be able to get ten feet near her.

Shawn gently guided her to the other side of him so that she wouldn’t sit next to Scott. He was dressed in navy dress pants, matching shoes, and a soft cream silk shirt, with no tie. He was freshly shaven and smelling like he’d just jumped out of the shower with some heavy woodsy citric cologne on. Perhaps because Shawn had been married before in a marriage of convenience, he was used to going over the top and faking things, she assumed.

“Wow! You guys really look married,” Scott said, impressed, clapping his hands.

“Well, you never know who’s watching and what anyone knows,” Tori said as a way to explain.  

The waiter came over and took their drink order. Scott ordered for Malea while Shawn let her order.

“I’ll take a Mocktail Mule,” she said.

“There you go,” Scott said. “My non-alcoholic sister in law.”

“I don’t trust myself in public with liquor,” she admitted to Shawn.

“I’ll have the same,” Shawn told the waitress, and comfortingly took her hand, pulling her into him.

“I can’t believe how you look like the perfect couple,” Scott said, amazed.

Malea came to the table, and Tori immediately noticed her sister was fixing her clothes, and there was a huge hickey on her neck.

She shot up immediately out of her seat and said, “I have to go to the bathroom, and I need my sister to join me.”

Her sister started to protest, “No, I -ouch-“

Jerking Malea in the direction of the bathrooms as they walked by the club entrance, Tori saw Norman there, leering at them with the nerve to adjust his pants.

“What the hell?!” Tori exclaimed the moment they were in the bathroom together.

Malea gasped, looking in the mirror and seeing that her makeup was smeared. “What’s your problem?”

“My problem? What did you do with Norman?”

She dumped out her makeup bag to correct her face and cover the deep red hickey on her neck. “It’s none of your business.”

“Is this some blackmail shit? Because we can go to the cops, Malea.”

“No!” her sister said in a panic. “Please, Tori. It’s bigger than you know.”

“If you don’t start talking, I’m going out there and tell them what I know. That you just fucked around with Norman and that you’re lying to all of us.”

___ *** ___

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Her Substitute Husband… His Brothers (c) 2025 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

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