Games Divas Play (A Diva Mystery Novel) by Angela Burt-Murray Read Free Book Online Page A

kissing it as he looked out the car window. “We’ve got a lot to do to get settled. You ready to look for a house?”
    “Not really, but we have to get settled and get Damon i n school.”
    “Yeah, little man’s got to get into school, and we don’t want to live in the apartment forever. At least we’re out of the hotel , though.”
    When we first got to New York, we stayed at the Four Seasons hotel for several weeks, but as part of Marcus’s deal with the Gladiators, we were offered a penthouse loft in Tribeca to live in until we found a home. It was beautiful space fully furnished, and I, too, was glad to be out of the Four Seasons—but it wa sn’t home.
    “I’m going to start looking next week,” I said, taking in the scene outside the tinted windows as a bike messenger whizzed by, nearly clipping the limousine driver’s side mirror. Marcus picked up the interior phone to speak to the driver, Alex, and told him to drop him at the Four Seasons and then to tak e me home.
    “Aren’t we both going back to the apartment?” I asked. I had hoped the three of us would spend the day together, exploring the neighborhood and perhaps taking Damon to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs.
    “Uh, sorry, babe. Kareem set up this meeting with these guys from China who want to discuss some business opportunities for my brand overseas,” he answered quickly. “They are going back tomorrow, so we have to me et today.”
    “Oh, OK. I guess we’ll see you lat er, then.”
    “Yeah, hopefully not too late. These cats might want to have dinner though, so I’ll let you know.”
    As the car pulled up at the door of the hotel, I grabbed Marcus’s arm before he could step out o f the car.
    “Try not to be too late, honey. We want to see you, too.” I looked into his dark eyes as if they could show me if he was telling me the truth. But I could no longer read his eyes.
    “I’ll try, baby,” he said as he leaned in and kissed me quickly on the cheek before stepping out of the car. I saw Kareem grinning, at the curb, as he walked over to clap his boy on the back.
    “Hey, V.,” he said as he leaned down to speak to me. “Don’t worry, I’ll have your boy home soon. Unless he wants to go out and celebrate that big fat Gladiators contract I got for him!”
    Marcus and Kareem dapped each other up with broad smiles across all of their features.
    “I know that’s right, man. You did the damn thing on that big fat contract,” Marcus said to Kareem. “We did it, baby. We in New York!”
    Before I could tell Marcus again that Damon and I really wanted him to come home early tonight so that we could celebrate as a family, he and Kareem turned away to walk into the hotel. As I pushed the button to raise the car window, I saw Kareem slip something in Marcus’s hand as they walked through the door of the hotel. A phone. My sto mach sank.
    Suddenly I got that all-too-familiar feeling in my stomach as Alex began to steer the car downtown. It was a pain that seemed to indicate that our fresh start might be turning into the same old thing, and I wasn’t willing to let that happen. Pulling out my cell phone from my cherry-red Dior handbag, I dialed the only number that could help get my marriage back on the ri ght track.

CHAPTER 3
    Laila
    D amn, I’m a s exy bitch.
    Naked except for a thin lacy wisp of a black Agent Provocateur thong covering my freshly waxed kitty, a matching demi-cut bra, and six-inch fire-red studded Christian Louboutin suede platform pumps, I finished rubbing in the Carol’s Daughter Sparkling Body Butter on my toffee-brown body before I prepared to position my glistening self for my camera phone. Slipping one of the satin bra straps off my shoulder, I pinched my dark cocoa nipples so that they stood at attention through the delicate French lace as if they were waiting for his hungry lips. I ran my hands through my dark brown curls, causing the long layers to frame my face with the amber and blond