“Pick up the phone, Lory. Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Sugar chanted frantically as her car sharply turned a city corner with her foot on the acceleration pedal. One hand was on the wheel and the other hand held the phone to her ear. She cursed aloud as it went to voicemail for the ninth time, but she refused to give up as she redialed her baby brother’s number. Finally, he picked up.

“Damn, Shug! What, what, what? Damn it what,” Mallory answered the call in an angry tired voice.

“I need you to open up the restaurant at noon,” Sugar said, not giving a damn about her brother’s nagging as she weaved her in between lanes of traffic.

“Uh-uh, Shug. That wasn’t a part of the deal,” Mallory returned, most likely shaking his head stubbornly like a damn toddler. “I promised to close the restaurant and you promised you would be in good enough shape to open it. Now, I’m happy that ol’ dude did a number on you and you probably walking funny, but a deal’s a deal. Just tell everyone you sprain an ankle or something.”

She let out a frustrated growl as she had to slam her brakes at a red stoplight. “Code blue, Lory.”

There was a long pause. “What did you just say?”

“I said code blue.”

Mallory queried in disbelief, “What in the hell did you and that dude do to cause a code blue?”

Between the Hartwell siblings, they had a code system when it came to family drama. Code red meant a Hartwell sibling was about to get their ass whooped by another Hartwell sibling. Code black meant a Hartwell sibling bond was on rocky terms and needed to be repaired immediately. Code blue meant a Hartwell sibling is traumatized by another Hartwell sibling. There had been very few code blues issued aside from someone walking in on a few of Mallory’s afterschool hookups at their childhood home.

Sugar’s face was burning up in embarrassment and shame.

When Chef drove her back to her house, he assured her that everything would be alright and name the time and place when he needed to meet her twin brother. Sugar simply told him it wasn’t that simple. Sully wasn’t that simple. Chef had walked her to her front door and tried to kiss her goodbye on the lips, but she turned her head to make him land on her cheek. He took the subtle rejection with stride and told her that last night—and this morning—was only the beginning. Sugar wanted to ask him what did he mean by that, but she quickly told him to have a good day and scurried into her house to concoct a peace offering.

Sully’s favorite dessert was sweet potato cupcakes with buttercream frosting. It took her over an hour to make them and package them up nicely. She took a shower while the cupcakes were in the oven and dressed into something Sugar Wallace would normally wear: a lovely dress and heels. She didn’t have time to tame her hair back into a bun, so she left her tresses in loose curls about her shoulders.

Now, she was driving to her twin brother’s job to do the very thing she had been trying to avoid for as long as she could.

“There was an accident regarding a,” Sugar said, clearing her throat, “phone.”

There was another long pause. “Did you…did you fuck-dial someone, Shug?”

She closed her eyes, groaning aloud in response.

Mallory burst out laughing. “Who was it? I gotta know.”

“The last person I wanted to know,” Sugar admitted.

The humor drained from her baby brother’s voice. “Are you being dead serious right now?”

“As a heart attack,” Sugar said.

Mallory sighed heavily. “Aight, aight. I’ll open the restaurant. Hell, take the whole day off you need to ‘cause dealing with Sully ain’t no joke.”

Sugar shook her head slowly. “That won’t be necessary. I will explain my case and be back before the lunch rush.”

“That’s if Sully doesn’t kill you before then,” Mallory said.

“Bye, Lory,” Sugar said as she pulled into a tiny parking lot with a small one-story brick office building. The business sign said Harty Jail Bonds. Her twin brother owned a jail bonds company with his wife’s family. Just as she and Mallory joined forces to create Sugar Mama, Rochelle and Sully joined forces often. Sully would recommend Rochelle as a lawyer and vice versa. It was a good business and one of the best bail bond agencies in the city.

She stepped out of the car with a white bakery box of baked sweets and sauntered into the building. It was busy as per usual, but the bell rang and caught the attention of Katrina’s uncle, Roger.

“Hey, Shug,” Uncle Roger greeted with a grin. “What’s in the box?”

She smiled at the man. “Sweet potato cupcakes.”

He got up from his desk and went to her as she opened the lid to reveal what was inside.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he said as he took a cupcake out and gobbled it up in a few seconds flat.

He shook his head and hummed, “Mm, mm, mm. That’s some good shit.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Sugar said.

“Might be just what Sully needs this morning. He ain’t in a happy mood,” Uncle Roger warned. “Came in with a stank mood and it’s smelling up the place.”

A forced smile spread across Sugar’s lips. “Maybe, these will help.”

Uncle Roger jabbed a finger towards Sully’s closed office door. “I have confidence that they will, honey. Only you and Katrina can seem to calm his ass down and make him tolerable.”

They made their goodbyes and Sugar made her way to the back of the office space, knocking on a polished wood door.

“I’m busy,” Sully said gruffly from the other side.

“I brought cupcakes,” Sugar said in a sing-song voice. Her heart raced in her chest as she heard heavy footsteps approach the door before it was yanked open to reveal Sully’s sour face.

Sugar smiled sweetly at her twin brother, lightly wiggling the box in front of his face as a peace offering. “They’re your favorite. Sweet potato cupcakes.”

Sully narrowed his dark eyes at her.

“With buttercream frosting,” she added.

“You’re here to bribe me with cupcakes?”

“It’s not a bribe. It’s a peace offering,” Sugar assured him.

He eyed her carefully before he widened the door for her to enter his office. She went inside and sat down a chair in front of his desk, placing the box on his desk. Sully returned to his office chair after closing the door and leaned back, looking at Sugar as if he could skin her alive and get away with it. The bakery box remained untouched.

“Who’s the dude, Shug?”

Sugar casted her eyes down. “His name’s Chef.”

“That’s his birth name?”

“No, his birth name is Miles, but everyone calls him Chef.”

Sully scoffed. “So, you’re dating a grown ass man who likes to be called Chef. He sounds like a good catch.”

Sugar frowned. “We’re not dating.”

“Oh, so you’re just casually bumping uglies then? That’s ten times better,” Sully said, clapping his hands. “Bravo, Shug.”

“Don’t judge me, Sullivan. I don’t see you looking at Mallory some kind of way with his one-nightstands and army of fast tail ladyfriends,” Sugar said defensively.

“At least, Mallory didn’t dial me up while he’s having a good time with one of his little friends,” Sully tossed back.

Sugar huffed, “It was an accident!”

“If it was an accident then why are you here, Shug, trying to plead your case?” Sully arched an eyebrow.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no single word could come out.

Sully wagged a finger at her. “See, you came here because you felt guilty—because you got caught. You were sneaking around trying to keep this Chef guy a secret from everyone and now you’re caught red-handed.”

He’s not a secret, she thought and her face gave away exactly what she was thinking.

Sully paused for a moment and cocked his head as a confused look oozed from his face. “Wait, he’s not a secret, is he?”

Sugar closed her eyes and sighed, “No, he’s not.”

Her twin brother’s facial expression changed from anger to pure hurt. “So who else knows about him, Shug? Mallory? Rochelle? Odette,” he queried bitterly. “Is that everyone or is there more?”

Sugar looked at him sadly, biting her bottom lip.

His eyebrows shot upward in shock. “So, there’s more? Who else, Shug?”

“Helena,” she said.

“Not surprised. She’s nosy as hell,” Sully commented, shaking his head.

“Reid,” she trailed off. “Mom introduced us.”

Kind of, Sugar added mentally.

“Mom too, huh? This day just keeps getting better and better.”

Sugar gazed up at the ceiling. “Mom and Dad knew him before me. He owns that restaurant they love going to at the Docks. The one we kept telling them to stay away from.”

“And Dad?”

“I said Dad knew him, but I don’t think he knows about us.”

“It’s good to know that I wasn’t the only one worthy of enough to kept in the loop,” Sully scoffed, shaking his head. “So, the final total is me, Dad, and Kat.”

Sugar winced at the mention of Katrina’s name and Sully caught it immediately.

“Katrina knows too? So, all ya’ll been keeping secrets from me! You got my wife keeping secrets from me,” he growled angrily. “That’s just icing on the damn cake. I’ll deal with her.”

“I asked her not to tell you.”

“Why,” he snapped. “Why didn’t I deserve to know?”

Sugar tossed her hands in the air. “Because I knew you would act like this, Sully! I knew you were overreact if you found out about him.”

“This isn’t overreacting. This is me reacting to the fact that some dude I don’t know was balls deep in my sister and I had the misfortune of listening to a few seconds of it,” he said, slamming his fist down on the desk. She startled by the suddenness of it, she jumped slightly.

“This is me reacting to the fact that everyone in this goddamn family knows about this dude except me. You trusted my own wife over me. You trusted everyone except your own fucking twin, Shug,” he voiced. “Do you understand that? Do you?”

Sugar nodded her head, but said nothing.

“I am your twin. The one person who has been by your side since day one. I’ve done everything for you. I still would do anything for you and this is how you do me, Shug? This is how you do your twin brother who picked you up when you were down? Patched you up when you were hurt? Helped you fight your battles? Protected you from that piece of shit ex-husband of yours,” he hissed.

“I almost went to jail for you, Shug! I almost lost my fucking business for you,” he kept going, pouring out his feelings, “because of that phone call seven years ago. You remember the one, right?”

Hot tears swelled up in her eyes, burning and stinging. Her bottom lip quivered at her twin brother’s question, but once again, she said nothing.

“The one where you called me crying and screaming. The one where you told me that Lance put his hands on you, but it wasn’t the first time. The one where you told me that you were tired of being his punching bag. I dropped everything I was doing like I was supposed to, called Dad and Lory, and the three of us went to that house to do what we needed to do. We could’ve got arrested for assault or attempted murder, but we didn’t care. I didn’t care because you were my sister—my twin sister—and I made a promise to myself to protect you. I was there at your bedside when you were recovering from two broken ribs, a fractured arm, and a broken ankle. I was there at your bedside when you lied to those doctors and told them that you fell down the stairs—when you covered for that motherfucker. I was right there when you took him back,” he uttered.

She let out a sob as hot tears streamed down her face.

He jabbed a finger at her. “But you don’t have the guts to tell me about some dude you’re having a no-strings relationship with?”

“I was scared,” she said softly, her voice raw with emotion.

“Of me?”

“Of what you would think of me,” Sugar answered as she tried to dab her tears away. “You’re the one person in my life that I’m terrified of disappointing, Sully. It killed me to call you that night. To tell you the truth that Lance had been beating me for a few years. I was terrified you would think I was weak. Sweet weak little Sugar who needs Sully’s protection and coddling. Everyone was telling me that I needed a casual relationship and let loose, but I knew you would think the opposite. I knew you wouldn’t approve of me sleeping some stranger.”

Sully closed his eyes, sighing as he ran his hand over the dome of his head. “I wasn’t going to approve not because it was a stranger, Sugar. I wasn’t going to approve because casual relationships aren’t your thing because you love too hard, Sugar. I don’t want you to get your heart broken again.”

“It won’t,” Sugar said. “He’s the one that wants a relationship, but I’m not ready yet. I’m starting to think that he’s the one that might walk away with his heart broken.”

“If you know that then why are you with him?”

 “He’s teaching me a lot of things.”

Sully groaned aloud in disgust. “I didn’t need to know that.”

“No, no, no. It’s not like that, Sully. I mean he’s teaching me to have fun and to stop thinking so much. He’s teaching me to indulge and to be a little selfish sometimes,” Sugar assured.

Her twin brother pursed his lips together and gazed at her carefully, his unsaid thoughts swirling around in his eyes. “He sounds like an alright guy and now that I think about it, if something was off about him then all of ya’ll wouldn’t have kept him as a secret,” he said as he finally decided to open the bakery box and retrieve a cupcake. “I’m inviting him to the annual Hartwell four-day weekend get-together.”

Every year in June, the Hartwell siblings made it a tradition to drive two hours south to a beach house and party throughout the weekend.

“What?” Sugar blinked.

“You heard what I said and I expect him to be there too,” Sully said before he took a bite of his cupcake. “I want to meet him face-to-face. Will that be a problem?”

“I don’t think he’d be into that kind of thing, Sully. Plus, he has a business,” she tried to reason.

“All I hear are excuses,” Sully said. “Ask him first and see what he says.”

“Fine, I’ll ask him as long as you agree to put this behind us,” she proposed.

Sully took two more bites of his cupcake. “I’ll put this behind us when I meet this guy face-to-face. Damn these are good.”

Sugar crossed her arms over her chest and nodded in agreement. “Fine then.”

“And be sure to tell him about the ‘no sex’ rule on this trip. The walls are too thin at that damn beach house and I’ve heard enough from you two this morning to last me a lifetime. I’m probably going to get an ear infection from those few seconds.”

She rolled her eyes sharply. “Shut up, Sully.”

“Speaking of infection,” Sully said, ignoring her previous statement. “This guy is clean, right? He showed you some papers?”

Sugar looked at her brother absolutely mortified. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Did you make sure this dude has a clean bill of health?”

“He’s clean,” Sugar assured, but she had yet to see ‘papers’ to be sure. It was a little too late to ask after the night and morning they just had, but she definitely would ask him later to be sure.

“Did he wrap it before he tapped it?”

Before Sugar went to pinch the bridge of her nose at the question, but froze as she thought about it.

Oh, shit!

Oh, fuck!

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Her taking too long to answer was the answer that Sully needed to sound off. “What the fuck, Shug? Have you lost your damn mind?”

“We were in the heat of the moment.”

Three damn times, she thought. She couldn’t remember any of those three times to ask him to wear a condom? How fucking stupid was she?

“You trying to get pregnant?”

Sugar frowned. “Sully, you know I can’t get pregnant.”

“You couldn’t get pregnant with Lance,” Sully said. “Something is probably wrong with his junk.”

“And yet he and Mariah had a perfectly healthy baby boy,” Sugar reminded him.

Sully arched an eyebrow and gave her a ‘be forreal’ look. “Are you absolutely positive that perfectly healthy baby boy is his?”

Sugar gave him a ‘probably not’ look.

Sully wagged a finger at her. “Mm hm, see! You don’t think the baby is his.”

“There’s a fifty percent chance he is Lance’s,” Sugar said. “Regardless, I can’t get pregnant, Sully. When I was with Lance, I went to so many fertility doctors that sung the same tune. I’m not built to carry a baby to term.”

“You’re built just fine, Shug,” Sully assured. “Just be sure you and this dude use protection. Doctors are wrong all the time and we don’t want any little Chefs or Sugars running around just yet.”

Sugar stood up from her seat and made her way to the door. “There’s no need to worry. There will be no little anything running around, Sully. I’ve accepted that and you should too.”

“We’ll see,” Sully said as she stepped out of his office.

“There’s nothing to see,” Sugar returned. “Bye, Sully.”