It was 10:45 a.m. and Julian was in his room sitting on the bed, tying his shoes up when he heard Eve knocking softly on the door. The events from earlier this morning were still fresh in his mind as a devilish smile appeared across his lips.

{Flashback}

After he and Eve got into her bed last night, she slowly loosened his tie, a few buttons on his shirt, then put her head down on his chest and listened to his heart’s steady beating as she peacefully and quietly went to sleep.

When he came to this morning, he looked down at how peaceful she looked his arms as he slowly and skillfully bent down next to her right ear and said ‘Rise and shine beautiful’ before kissing her on the mouth softly. Eve stirred a little in Julian’s arms as his heart-warming kiss woke her up.

“Julian, what time is it?” Eve asked softly as she moved her body off of his and began to stretch a little.

Julian hadn’t heard a word Eve said because he was too busy looking at how sexy her body looked when she stretched in that silk nightgown she was wearing. How delicious her legs looked when the lower part of the silk nightgown raised up just a bit, or how smooth her caramel colored skin looked when the morning rays along with her silk nightgown outlined every detail of her gorgeous body. Her body was so well defined and perfectly sculpted, that Julian would bet any amount of money that Eve’s body was better than of most of these young female singers today.

Eve turned to see what was wrong with Julian because he hadn’t answered her question and before she could react at all, he had her on her back, straddling her from the front with her hands held high above her head. He had this devious look in his eyes as he looked her up and down slowly before lowering his face close hers.

“Do you have any idea what you just did to me Eve?” Julian said in a husky voice.

“No…why don’t you enlighten me?” Eve said breathlessly looking him straight in the eyes as she leaned her head up and captured his lips in an electrifying kiss.

{Flashback Ends}

‘Damn alarm clock!’ Julian thought with a scowl on his face as Eve entered his room. He looked up to see that she had the exact same look that he had on his face and at that moment the two of them broke out in laughter. It was so funny right now, but at the time it was damn right upsetting. Eve finally calmed down a little before she walked over to where Julian sat.

“So are you ready to go?” she said while still trying not to laugh out loud again.

“Yep all set.” Julian said as he took her hand.

“We’ll have to finish what we started earlier… later on.” Eve said as she batted her eyes at Julian with a devious smirk on her face.

“Yes ma’am.”

It was now 11 a.m. on the dot, as Eve and Julian walked into the coffee house. Eve spotted Devin sitting by his lonesome in a booth next to the window and grabbed Julian by his hand to follow her.

Devin had just arrived at the coffee house at 10:50 a.m. He had been looking out of the window next to his booth since he arrived, searching for any signs of Eve. He just couldn’t believe that he had accepted her offer, he should have told her no but he had to learn more about her, if he was ever going to get his revenge. He was so caught up in his own thoughts, that he did see or hear Eve until she got close to his booth.

“Devin…” Eve said. She noticed that he must have been in deep thought because when she called him, he didn’t respond. So she called him again and this time he looked up at her.

“Oh I’m sorry Dr. Russell, I was just thinking about something that’s all.” He apologized.

“That’s ok you don’t have to apologize. I hope you don’t mine that I brought someone here with me?”

“Not at all.”

“Thank you. Julian, I’d like for you to meet Devin, the young man that saved me last night.” Eve said as she watched Julian hold his hand out to shake Devin’s, but Devin looked hesitant at first before he took Julian’s handshake.

“Devin Johnson sir.”

“Julian Crane.” For a moment, when Julian and Devin’s eye met, Julian he thought he saw hatred in them as he shook his hand, but when Devin blinked his eyes the look was gone. ‘Maybe I’m just seeing things, that’s all.’ Julian thought as he helped Eve take her sit next to Devin.

“You look well this afternoon Dr. Russell compared to last night.” Devin said with a slight smile on his face.

“You too Devin.” Eve blushed. “And please call me Eve.”

“Ok Dr…I mean Eve.”

“Do you the two of you want anything to drink or to eat while I’m up?” Julian asked.

“Just coffee please.”

“Coffee Julian.” Eve said.

“Ok, three coffees it is.” Julian said as he got up from his sit, kissed Eve on the cheek and went to order three coffees.

After Julian left, Eve decided to get to know Devin a little better.

“So Devin, what can you tell me about yourself?” Eve asked curiously.

Devin was caught totally off guard at her question, but took a deep breath before answering. “Well…there’s nothing really to tell. My dad raised me, and my mom abandoned us when I was baby. I had a troubled childhood and never truly fit in with my family.” He said looking down at his hands.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Eve said looking at him. She knew what it was like first hand to have a troubled childhood… ‘What he must’ve went through.’ She thought. “I know…how you feel actually. I had a rough childhood too and it was very painful.”

Listening to what Eve said about her childhood being rough and painful, it struck a nerve deep down in Devin’s heart. He didn’t know why, but it just did. The way her face looked and how sincere she was when she said it, gave him the impression that there was no way she would lie about something that personal, but then he thought back to what his dad told him about her that day he came home from practice.

{Flashback}

Thirteen-year-old Devin had just come in from football practice when his father motioned for him to come into the living room so that he could have a word with him. Devin had been asking a lot of about his mother lately and his father told him that he would tell him one day. Obviously that day had come and he was ready.

“Dad?” he said cautiously.

“So you wanna know about your mother huh?” he scoffed and Devin nodded.

“Well then I’ll tell you…Eve’s a whore. A no good, dirty (overused derogatory adjective) ! She left us for another man, a man with money. A white man at that!”

“What are you talking about?!” Devin said in a shocked voice.

“She wanted the finer things in life and I couldn’t give them to her. After she had you, she met a white man who had lots of money and left with him shortly after.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Are you calling me a liar boy?!” his father yelled at him as he hopped up off the couch he was sitting on and punched Devin in the face, sending the boy flying backwards out of his chair. “Don’t you ever call me a liar you little bastard! I raised you, not that bitch! Do you understand me boy?!” he said as he was stood over Devin shaking his fist.

{Flashback Ends}

From that day on, his father continued telling him how no good his mother was, and beat him on a regular basis just for asking about her. Not one good word about Eve ever came out of his father’s mouth. It was always about how good a life they had together, but she was never satisfied. How she left her child and him for the lifestyle that Julian Crane could give her. And after so many black eyes, busted lips and broking bones his father gave him, he started to believe every word that came of his mouth about her. But just now, hearing her talk so openly to him, he wondered could his father have lied to him?

After the introductions were all said and done, Eve and Devin were immersed in deep conversation as Julian looked at the two of them from the counter. The more Julian looked between Eve and Devin, the more the young man looked a lot like her… and for some other reason, Devin had his mother Katherine’s eyes too. This puzzled Julian deeply and made him curious about the young man, but he would keep this to himself until he got a little more info on Devin’s family background. With the coffees ready, he headed back over the two of them.

“Here you go, Devin and you too honey.” Julian said as he passed them their coffees.

“Thanks.” Eve said as she received her coffee from him.

“Thank you too sir.”

“Just Julian.” Julian said simply.

“Ok.”

“So what did I miss?” Julian asked as he slowly sipped his hot coffee.

“Nothing really, we were just getting better acquainted.” Devin said.

“Yes Julian in fact, I just learned that Devin and I have some things in common. He also has some things in common with you too.” Eve said with a smile across her lips.

“Really, how so? Julian said curiously as he sat back down next to Eve.

For the next two hours, the three of them got to know each other much better and realized that they had more in common than originally thought. Eve and Julian were both having a great time getting know Devin more and he too was having good time getting to know them. So when it was time for them to go their separate ways, Devin told them that he would stay in touch with them both.

Arriving back home to his apartment as few minutes later, Devin walked in with a smile on his face as he kicked his shoes off and placed his jacket on the rack next to the door. Getting to know Julian Crane was somewhat of a shock to him because his father had told him that Julian was promiscuous and a drunk, but that’s not what he’d seen in Julian at all. Julian was a total opposite of what his father described him to be. He was easy to get along with and so was his mother. Thinking back, what if all of the things that he father said about her were lies to get him to hate her? And what if he lied about Julian too? As he stepped further into his apartment, he noticed a few things had been moved. Looking around to make sure that the coast was clear, he was just about to go into his room to change when the bathroom door opened and out came his father.

“What are you doing here dad?” he scoffed.

“Came here to see what you were up to boy. Nothing much I guess.” His father said as he looked around Devin place.

“Well you should leave then.”

“Don’t you mouth me boy.” His father said an angered voice.

“I ran into mother last night.”

“You what?!”

“You heard me, I ran into mother last night. I even went out to lunch with her this afternoon…and Julian Crane too.” Devin said as he watched his father’s face turn up in anger.

“You stay away from her, you hear me?! She’s no good and Julian too.”

“That’s where you’re wrong! In fact you’ve been wrong about a lot things lately dad.” Devin spat at him.

“I don’t know…” he tried to answer, but Devin cut him off.

“Oh puleaze! She is nothing like you described her to be, nothing! You lied to me, my whole damn life about my mother! Now that she’s here in my life, you can’t stop me from talking to her. Maybe she’ll give me the truth about what really happened between the two of you.” Devin said to his father as he went over to the closet and got brought out a baseball bat. “Get the hell out of my house now!” he demanded as he held that bat tight in his left hand and pointed towards the door with his right.

His father looked at him with hate in his eyes before he slowly walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind him. When he was a little ways down the hall, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number. Moments later…

“Who is this?” the voice shouted over the phone.

“You know who this is…”

“What the hell are you doing calling me after all of these years?!”

“He knows something is up.”

“How?!” the person shouted over the phone again.

“He met Eve and Julian today. He knows something is wrong.”

“You better stop him right this minute or else Duke…” the person threatened over the line before he hung up on him.

“Whatever you say pops.” He scoffed as he walked on out of the apartment complex and disappeared into the streets.