Free King's Passion by Adrianne Byrd Page B

left.
    The game plan was to help them make a demo good enough for them to get on Star Search. The result was them spending an awful lot of time together. Mainly because he was the only one they knew that had all the equipment—the microphones, the speakers, the sound board. Soon he was helping her write material. They hung out all the time and soon the high-school players took notice of him because of his association with the hottest girl in the whole school.
    By the time summer came around, they were officially a couple. She rapped and he DJ’ed. It was a whole year before Star Search came calling and by then, the whole rap phase had passed and Karen’s attention had turned toward fashion. She now wanted to be the black Coco Chanel.
    In their junior and senior years they were crowned king and queen at the prom. College was scary since she was bound and determined to go to design school in Chicago while he attended the University of Georgia. But Eamonwas determined to make it work so there were a lot of road trips and, if their parents felt sorry enough for them, occasionally airline fare.
    Friends and family members weren’t as sure that their long-distance love affair was going to last, but Eamon was determined to prove them wrong. To his family’s surprise, Eamon remained true, never once in college was he even tempted to stray. By senior year, he managed to make believers out of them all. As graduation neared, he took on a third job to help buy an engagement ring.
    Three thousand dollars seemed like a million to him at the time. It was a small gold band with a smaller diamond, but he promised himself as soon as he made it rich that he was going to replace the ring with something so big and gaudy that it would make all her girlfriends green with envy. The ring size really wouldn’t matter with Karen, but it was a promise he made to himself nonetheless.
    He never forgot the feeling he had when he walked out of that jeweler’s store. Too bad that he never got the chance to see how it would feel to slide the ring onto Karen’s finger.
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    â€œNow, you take that curvy brick house that came in here earlier,” Quentin said, returning to the bar and acting like there hadn’t been a break in the conversation.
    â€œDo what?” Eamon asked, struggling to pull his mind back from the distant memory.
    â€œDon’t front. You know exactly who I’m talking about or you’re not pitching on the same team that I am.”
    â€œOh. You mean Ms. Victoria Gregory.” As he said her name, Eamon’s lips curled back upward.
    â€œYeah.” Q nodded. “Now, there’s a woman with a body for sin, but one look into those sharp green eyes and my head is screaming danger. Even though I was teasingher today, I know to steer clear away from that kind of trouble.”
    â€œYou think so?”
    â€œI know so. She’s the kind of woman who can chew a man up and spit him back out to avoid indigestion.”
    Eamon had that impression, too, but that was the part of her that intrigued him more than anything else. “That’s all right. Trouble never scared me much.”
    Q smirked. “All right. A hard head makes a soft ass. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
    â€œDuly noted.” Eamon finally drained the rest of his drink and stood up from the bar. “But don’t worry about me. I’m a big a boy. I can handle Victoria Gregory.”

Chapter 7
    â€œC ’mon, Victoria. Nobody sleeps when they’re in Vegas,” Iris whined over the phone. “We’re all dressed and ready to go party. You need to get this whole Marcus thing out of your system.”
    Victoria’s eyes hadn’t stopped rolling since she answered the phone. “I’m not in the mood to go party. You two can go ahead without me.” She dropped her head against the pillows. If she could just hurry up and get them off the phone, she could