Our first Sunday Excerpt comes from bestselling author, Perri Forrest. The sequel to her hot bestselling BWWM, alpha male novel Rapture will be releasing tomorrow, October 5th.
When you think of rapture, you think of ecstasy, bliss, elation, and things of that nature. In short, a feeling of intense pleasure or joy. Rush had that. Or rather, Rush has that in the beautiful Alika Collins. Alika brings forth everything he wants in a woman. The two literally crashed into each other’s lives, and their whirlwind love story is safely set on solid ground. But is it really? And if so, for how long? There are certainly things that can disrupt what they have just begun to build.
Recently, Rush was dealt a devastating blow: He has a young daughter who he never knew existed. After this life-shattering secret is exposed, Rush finds out that those close to him are the ones behind it all. Feeling betrayed, he instantly dismisses those individuals from his life. In his mind, their actions were unforgivable and mending fences is not of urgency. At present, his primary goal is finding, and forging a relationship, with his child. Nothing will keep him from doing that.
But while Rush is establishing this new phase of life, things are in disarray in the old life.
For one, someone wants Rush's father dead and will go to great lengths to make it happen. Then there’s the mother of Rush's daughter who wants more than to co-parent. This leaves Alika feeling the strain of it all while trying to remain by his side. Yes, things become chaotic. But, Rush is no stranger to chaos. Hell, he even has a club called Chaos, as a testament to where he's been and what he's made of.
But how much can one person take?
Rapture 2 brings many things to question, but it will be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end. Specifically, which relationships will remain intact, and which ones will be forever altered to the point of no return.
Synopsis
When you think of rapture, you think of ecstasy, bliss, elation, and things of that nature. In short, a feeling of intense pleasure or joy. Rush had that. Or rather, Rush has that in the beautiful Alika Collins. Alika brings forth everything he wants in a woman. The two literally crashed into each other’s lives, and their whirlwind love story is safely set on solid ground. But is it really? And if so, for how long? There are certainly things that can disrupt what they have just begun to build.
Recently, Rush was dealt a devastating blow: He has a young daughter who he never knew existed. After this life-shattering secret is exposed, Rush finds out that those close to him are the ones behind it all. Feeling betrayed, he instantly dismisses those individuals from his life. In his mind, their actions were unforgivable and mending fences is not of urgency. At present, his primary goal is finding, and forging a relationship, with his child. Nothing will keep him from doing that.
But while Rush is establishing this new phase of life, things are in disarray in the old life.
For one, someone wants Rush's father dead and will go to great lengths to make it happen. Then there’s the mother of Rush's daughter who wants more than to co-parent. This leaves Alika feeling the strain of it all while trying to remain by his side. Yes, things become chaotic. But, Rush is no stranger to chaos. Hell, he even has a club called Chaos, as a testament to where he's been and what he's made of.
But how much can one person take?
Rapture 2 brings many things to question, but it will be interesting to see how it all turns out in the end. Specifically, which relationships will remain intact, and which ones will be forever altered to the point of no return.
Rush
November 3, 2014
On the flight home from Anaheim, Alika’s excitement was still tipping the scales. It was cute to see her in such a space. She couldn’t say enough about the water shows, the views from our suite’s balcony, the food, and how she wanted to go back in the summer. All I could think about was how much she would regret that statement when we did take the trip in the summer. Disneyland in the summer was not just ridiculously crowded, it was scorching. Fall was much better. We were able to dress comfortably, and the lines weren’t three hours long! But hey, whatever she wanted, I was determined to see that she got it. So if summertime was when she thought she wanted to go, then summertime would be when she’d be there.
There was so much to do when we did finally land. It would be back to business as usual. I had to check in with Oscar to see if he had made progress with finding Janae. Wow. Just thinking about that hits me in the heart with a heavy pang. Nine years lost. If I did find her there was no guarantee that she would want our child to have anything to do with me. Wow, there it is again…my child. I have a child out there in the world that I made with someone. I’d been in so much shock about it that I’d allowed my feelings to numb up on me. As anxious as I was, I had no idea where any of it would go, if or when Oscar located her. It could very well be that she’s married by now to someone who has assumed responsibility for Hunter. It could very well be that she hates me to the core and has already prepared for battle should the day ever come where we had to discuss matters as they pertained to our daughter. There was no telling what I was walking into. But what I did know with every fiber of my being was that there would be no man or woman, no time or space that would keep me from seeking her out. If for no other reason than to let her know that when she was of age and wanted answers, where she could find me.
Shit, I sighed. This shit is heavy, was all I could think. It was…heavy as damn concrete. I knew that I needed to gear up for what could possibly be a battle royal.
When we drove through the gates, Alika’s head lifted from the headrest and she looked around as though she was in foreign territory. I chuckled at her as the realization hit her that we were back to our reality. And as if on cue, I immediately went into business mode about all the pending items that needed my attention. I had to have a collective bi-weekly staff meeting, Alika and her assistant manager needed to sit down with their team, and I also had to go over financials with my new business manager, Davis. I was sure that Gigi had an earful for me. She knew not to contact me in Anaheim unless it was urgent, but I was willing to bet my last dollar that Jamie had tried pleading her case to Gigi knowing that Gigi was a direct line to me. Which also meant that Gigi was probably in the know about everything by now. Which also meant that now was probably as good a time as any to fill Alika in.
Double sigh.
“Well, baby,” Alika said, stretching her arms outward. “Home sweet home.”
“Yep, home sweet home,” I replied, softly.
She leaned over to kiss me on the lips, then pulled back and rubbed her hand up and down my arm. “What’s going on inside that beautiful mind of yours, Rush?”
I turned to look at her curiously, and smiled. It might’ve been wrong to be turned on in the same moment that I knew there was something extremely important I needed to tell her. And she of course caught it.
“Uhhh…that look, as sexy as it is, is being used as a buffer. You’re trying to prolong a process. But I can tell that you’re ready to spill whatever is on your mind, so let’s go.”
I shook my head side-to-side in disbelief, blinking in the process. “How the fuck did you know that?”
“Listen. I’m a woman who takes my role seriously. You’re not the only one who pays attention, you sexy beast. Your woman watches everything. I have to stay on patrol,” she laughed. “You wanted to be the best boyfriend ever and wait until my birthday was over and now that it is, you’re ready to talk.”
I lowered my head as the reality of what all needed to be said, swam around like darting fish. I hunched my shoulders in surrender. She had me. It was time to purge.
“So, come on,” she instructed, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Let’s get inside and get this over with so we can relax for the night.”
As we ascended the stairs into the house, I hoped with everything in me that relaxation would still be on the table as an option by the time I confessed everything to Alika. Although this situation had happened almost a full decade before her time, I could imagine that it would be mind-boggling for her as well.
~*~*~
The moment Alika and I walked inside, the aroma from the kitchen filled my nostrils. I could already tell that it was my chef’s signature Brazilian steak dish. The welcoming scent of garlic had made its way down the very long Spanish-tiled corridor.
“I see Hazel is at it!” Alika exclaimed, excitedly. “Let me go say hi, and then you pick the spot for our talk.”“Damn, you’re bossy!” I exclaimed, playfully slapping her ass as she walked away.
“Hey!” she shrieked, rubbing her palm across the touched area.
“You know I do,” she purred, looking back over her shoulder.
While she went into the kitchen to speak to Hazel, I poured us both a Brandy & Coke and walked them out to the indoor patio where I sat them down on top of coasters, and slowly paced the floor in front of the window.
“Lord! The man don’ made us drinks!” she proclaimed, playfully taking a seat on the sofa and grabbing her drink into her hands. “I’m ready,” she instructed. “Lay it on me, baby.”
As bad as I wanted to grab my drink and down it, I couldn’t make myself do it. It wasn’t so much telling Alika as it was saying it aloud. It dawned on me that it was the one thing I hadn’t done—said out loud in any setting, that I have a daughter.
Alike patted the cushion to her right. “Come on, Rush.”
The period for contemplating was over. I stopped pacing; I abandoned my spot, and reached down for my drink before taking the seat next to her. I turned the glass up and in two gulps, emptied the contents. It was when I did that, that I could finally see the anxiety behind Alika’s eyes. There was no easy way to start, so I opted for just diving right in.
“I need you to take in every word, babe, because there’s a lot that I have to tell you.”
She nodded her head in affirmation, probably like, Fuck the speech. Just spit it out, already! She had taken to lightly tapping the side of her glass with her nail tip.
“Before we left for your birthday trip, I went to see Jacob.”
“Right. I remember. Jacob who Bart was mixed up with, right?”
“Yeah. I know I didn’t talk too much about that subject, but we all grew up together: Me, him, Bart, and Gavin. But I was really tight with Jacob’s family. Earlier in both of our athletic careers, I took responsibility for something that really belonged to him. Long story short, we got pulled over with drugs in the car, and I told the police that the shit was mine.”
“Okay…” she stated, anxiously.
“Well, there were a few reasons I did it. For one, he was a like a brother to me and I loved Miss Glenda, his mom, like she was my mother. And then also, he was days away from NFL draft. I felt it would fuck up his chances, so I took the rap knowing that my father had the power and resources to run circles around any damage they might try to do to my budding career. Jacob didn’t have that kind of backup. It’s ultimately what caused the beginning of the huge rift between my father and me. He used that one incident to pretty much form an opinion of who I was as a person.”
“Wow, baby. I’m sorry,” she empathized.
“Nah, it’s okay. I let that shit go a long time ago.”
“Oh okay,” she said, reaching over to caress the length of my arm. “I guess that’s why there was no rush to put us in the same vicinity,” she chuckled.
“Yeah, something like that. So, anyway, when I went to see Jacob, he told me something. It kind of put a lot into perspective because I’d wondered for years what had happened to the dude that I grew up with. The way we were, whenever you saw one, you saw the other; and if you didn’t, he wasn’t too far away. But when we grew all the way away from that brotherhood, it didn’t take long for me to realize that he had just gotten caught up in his new life. I chalked it up to him getting lost in the fame, and I just let him be. Then I’d hear all this stuff about him still getting into shit even though he had reached a status where he could leave the hood behind him—”
“I already know, baby. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of that. I’ve seen it. You can take the boy of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the boy…”
“Exactly.”
“You don’t have to tell me that that’s who Jacob is, or was. I got a good read on him the day I saw him with Bart. You were blessed to have him exit and not stain your life the way he did his own. I mean, look at where he is now.”
“Right,” I nodded, solemnly. “According to him there was a method to all his madness. After all this time, that man hates me. Honestly, I’d be lying if I said I gave even half a fuck because I don’t. The way I see it is if the people in your life can’t tell you what their issue is, the moment there is an issue, fuck ‘em. That’s really how I feel.”
Alika nodded her head and her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but then she stopped herself. But just as quickly as she stopped, she blurted out: “If it’s ‘fuck ‘em’, why did you go see him, Rush? I just have to ask.”
“It’s a legitimate question,” I answered, taking a small pause. “I went because something was tugging at me. I didn’t go to ask him why he did what he did or any of that shit because at the end of the day, he failed at what he came for. But, knowing him as I once did, I felt that something was off.
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