What Goes Around Comes Around

by Darrien Lee

Hurt that playboy attorney Winston does not remember the long-ago torrid affair that produced their son, sports medicine doctor Arnelle contemplates telling him about the child or keeping the secret and getting out of his life altogether. By the author of All That and a Bag of Chips. Original.

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Darrien Lee, a graduate of Tennessee State University, is a two-time Essence bestselling author with four published works with Strebor Books. She has been featured in several periodicals, including Romantic Times magazine and the Nashville Tennessean. She lives in LaVergne, Tennessee, with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book of four that Darrien Lee compose. Here the author brings fourth an old character from the 2nd book known as Winston Carter. She paints him as a professional, handsome, single, and smooth man. Every woman wants him, but the problem is he wants every woman. I believe the reason that this description is given is so that the ladies that are reading could visually see how irresistible he is. Lee allows her reader to go into the mind of Winston and exposes his thoughts of needing/desiring a woman that would love him for real. Though he masks his feeling on the outside he is torn within. Soon Lee introduces Arnelle; she is a mirror image of Winston except she passionately resists every man that wants her which causes Winston to pursue her. The author shows a young professional man (Winston) transform from having his walls up to a man forced to reveal his feelings in order to win this woman. This book arrests my attention because it was interesting to see a woman write about the thoughts of a man.

[Tiffany Spencer]

What Goes Around Comes Around (Updated)
Venice calls to check on “Skeeter” (Winston) and ask a favor of him. Arnelle’s car’s been having problems. So, she wants him to go pick her up. Only they don’t get along. He agrees but says she owes him. Arnelle isn’t happy either (and tells him she’s tired and trying to get home). When he asks her why she’s always so mean, she says he’s been giving her the cold-shoulder ever since they ran into each other again.

He doesn’t know what she’s talking about. He says she must have him confused with someone else. She says she can’t believe he forgot about her .. us. He’s a player but he can’t place this one. But she’s perfectly clear because she says they have (something). Only she’s interrupted by his cell. When he hangs up, she apologies and says she hopes he can forgive her and that he’ll never have to worry about her again. Just take her home. Again, he tries to tell her she’s mistaken and she says forget it. He lets the subject drop.

Arnelle finds out there’s heavy snow in her area and she can’t get home. Arnelle blames “Skeeter” and tells him to drop her off at a hotel. Instead, he takes her to Craig and Venice’s. She rants to Venice (and Craig). Venice asks what her issue is with him. She says they have issues but he’s not facing up to them. Venice tells her to straighten it out and play nice because he’ll probably be staying with them too. It’s decided after dinner that Arnelle will sleep in the guest room. Arnelle makes her exit when the men come into the room and says she’s about to turn in because “she’s tired”. Winston tells her he hopes she’ll have sweet dreams.

Craig need him he needs to “control himself”. He says he doesn’t know what it is about her. Craig tells him he wants her because he can’t have her. She’s not like the others that were easy. If he decides to pursue her it’ll take effort and frankly he doesn’t think he’s up for it. Winston tells him what happened in the car and that he knows for a fact he’d remember her. Craig tells him maybe in time she’ll be more specific.

That night, Winston can’t sleep and goes in the kitchen and there’s the reason (Arnelle) feed Craig Jr. She says she knows he’s upset with her and he might as well go ahead and get it out of his system because she can’t take it much longer. He thinks she means about the officer but she says that’s not it. He tells her he honestly doesn’t remember her and asks where they met. But she says she doesn’t want to get into it right then. So, they call a truce. By the time Winston gets up the next morning, Arnelle is gone. Craig asks him what happened between them. He got up to check on Craig Jr and heard them in the kitchen.

Winston says he was right. He doesn’t have the energy to deal with Arnelle. She’s too complicated. But Craig says he doesn’t think he’s given up yet. Anelle is in her office homesick missing Texas and her daughter (MahLeah). She’s with her parents temporally. Someone named Cyrus calls and tries to blackmail her but she hangs up the phone on him. She’s in tears and bumps into Winston. He escorts her back to her office and asks her what’s wrong, but she tells him she’s fine. He’s there to ask Venice if he can take Brandon to a ball game. Arnelle insists she’s fine and dodges the question of where they met again. He hugs her, gives her his card, and tells her if she ever wants to talk. He thinks about this back in his office. (How out of control he was getting). He wonders if she’s dating anyone. Not that he wants to know. He hopes she’ll decide to talk to him about their past.

Brandon spends the night at his place and he decides to see what he can get out of him about Arnelle. Brandon says she has a male friend that she’s brought by a few times. After this one of his women (Victoria) calls and they make plans for next weekend, but he just doesn’t get that spark from her. She’s been hinting around at marriage but he just doesn’t see it. On the way home, (the next morning) Winston notices Brandon is quiet. He confesses that Mrs. Arnelle told his mother something that made them both cry and he didn’t like seeing them do that. He went to his room after that. He asks why he didn’t ask what it was. He says because his mama told him don’t get in grown folks’ business. Winston says he’ll ask. He doesn’t get a chance tho because Craig kicks him out after seeing Venice in her workout clothes and starts plotting to get some. Later Winston talks to his mom who lectures him about settling down and Victoria who tries to come over but he tells her “It’s too late for her to be on the road”.

He vows to find out why Anelle and Venice were crying. Venice tho says she can’t tell him. If Arnelle wants him to know she’ll tell her. Just don’t give her a hard time right because she’s going through a lot. She says give her time. Or maybe ask her out. She says she’ll talk to Brandon. After going shopping and to the salon, Arnelle comes home to find that her place has been broken into. She calls Winston and tells him the police put her on hold (she thinks they’re still there). She can’t find Craig or Venice. Winston calls himself. Unfortunately, he’s with Victoria and tells her he has to go. She drops her clothes and asks if he’s choosing “his friend” over all this. She tells if he walks out the door he can forget her. He tells her he can’t believe she’d make him pick sex over a friend. He walks out on her and rush’s to Arnelle’s place.

He tries to get her to come to the door but she’s too scared. She directs him to where the spare key is. He comes in, finds her, and gets her to come out to his truck while he checks the house. He reports back to her that he’s checked out the house and the intruder is long gone. Again, he asks her what’s going on and tells her about what Brandon saw. He apologies to her for not remembering her and she says she understands why he’d want to forget but she never meant to hurt him. He asks how she’d hurt him. She says she didn’t know where to start. He tells her at the beginning. She says she’s too upset to get into it tonight. But she wraps her arms around him and thanks him for coming to her rescue. They have to let go of each other when the police come. The police suggests she stay somewhere else that night.

He asks if there’s somewhere else, she’d like to stay. Maybe with her boyfriend. Then he tells her what Brandon said. She laughs. It was a client of hers and she says she’s not dating anyone. She asks can she stay at his house. If it’s going to be a problem with his woman. He says he doesn’t have one and if he did, she’d have no say in who he invited to *his* house. Plus, he was going to ask her anyway. She realizes Winston really doesn’t know who she is and that she’ll have to tell him. Craig advises him when he calls be cool and don’t get into a situation with her, he can’t get out of. He says he might not want to. Arnelle asks him to stay with her that night (in her room) and hoping to jar his memory starts to kiss him. But he pulls away and tells her he doesn’t want to do something she regrets in the morning.

We learn that when Arnelle was in high school, she and her friends got stopped by the police for having drugs in their car. She got a friend (Cyrus) who was an NBA hopeful to come to their defense. Now, he wants her to help him blackmail someone and has sent her a check that she never cashed. She’s not trying to get involved with Cyrus tho she knows she owes him because her father is running for mayor. The next morning, Arnelle surprises him by making him breakfast. He brings up her not talking to him but she says she can’t. Arnelle’s parents talk about Cyrus being involved in a money-laundering case and are glad that Arnelle isn’t mixed up in it. They think it’s a shame because he’s such a great player and “a good kid”. They discus whether they think Cyrus is MahLeah’s father.

Her mother says no she looks like her mother except for her eyes. Either her father or brother say they should have made her tell them. Her mother says she’ll tell them when she’s ready. Winston and Arnelle spend the day playing pool and bowling. Three years earlier, she decided to help Cyrus. He found out Winston was the prosecutor and decided to dig up dirt on him. Arnelle sat at the bar and waited for him. A drunken man won’t get the hint that she’s waiting on someone and tries to kiss her. She slaps him and a man grabs him before he retaliates. She tells him her name is Giselle. He tells her his name is Winston and invites her to join him for dinner. He walks her to her room and asks her to breakfast the next morning.

After spending endless time together the two fall in love. The night before they have to part, they both confess how they feel. Robin (an associate of Cyrus’s) posed as a waiter slips Arnelle an envelope and gets Winston’s finger prints. The two end up making love and Winston ends up putting his seed inside her. After they shower and eat, Winston gets a migraine and passes out. Robin calls and tells her to get out of there. So, Arnelle packs and leaves but sends a call to the front desk for Winston. After this she cries from her heart being broken. She takes the note Robin slipped her to give to Winston and sticks it in her purse, but Robin knows she’ll back down and comes in and switches the note back to Winston’s briefcase. After this Arnelle finds out she’s pregnant and that Winston is being accused of drug use.

The envelope had drugs in it. The one she switched it for had powdered sugar. She now realizes what Robin put in his drink must have affected his memory. She tells Venice she has to try to get him to fall in love with her again and when he finds out the truth she hopes he doesn’t walk away. Venice says she should just tell him the truth but she says not yet. Keaton pays Arnelle a surprise visit (her brother). It’s on the night, she’s supposed to be going to a wedding with Winston. (It’s one of Craig’s partners). There’s tension between the man at first. Keaton tells Arnelle in private he has MaLeah’s eyes and asks if that her father. She says yes and makes him promise not to say anything because he doesn’t know that or who she is.

At the wedding, Winston proves that he’s fallen hard for Arnelle when he breaks up her dancing with one of the other guests. He pulls her away and she blast him out for trying to get too protective. But Arnelle suddenly understands. She would have felt the same and she says she would have danced with him if only he’d asked her. During the dance, he starts to feel de ja vu. Then they get out of there and go clubbing. During a Luther song, he kisses her. Then they leave. On the way home, she thinks about his upcoming trip to California (She surprised him with a picnic at his office and he told her he’d be gone for a while and invited her to come with him). She thinks about how Cyrus is getting even more anxious to get his hands on the package in her possession. Also, about how Maleah needs her daddy and how she needs the love of her life. She hopes it won’t be long before she can make him fall for her.

He kisses and rubs up against her a little before he tells her he has to leave. Venice gives Arnelle a two-week vacation. Winston prepares to go to California-a place that holds bad memories for him-. There wasn’t sufficient evidence and he’d been able to keep it out of the papers. He hoped the assailants will come out because he never found out why he was targeted. Especially since the doctors told him his memory was affected. He’s headed to Cali to try the case of Cyrus McDaniel. Before going to dinner with Winston before he leaves, Arnelle gets a call from Cyrus pleading with her to give him the package. She asks him if he’s guilty but he says he isn’t. He just can’t take any chances. She asks again and he says he can’t talk about it over the phone. She tells him don’t do something he’ll regret. He says he already has letting her get away. After making love, Arnelle tells him she loves him. He says he also has feelings for her that are hard to explain.

He invites her to come with him (again). She says she’ll think about it. Arnelle and Winston eat at Craig and Venice. While washing dishes, Craig asks if Winston is ok with going back to Cali. He says he’s surprised that he didn’t bring back the woman he phoned him about while he was there. He says he can’t believe he doesn’t remember what she looked like. Then has a thought. Was it Arnelle? He decides to quiz her later. Arnelle spends the night with Winston later and they make love again. This time he says he loves her back.

Before deciding to come out to Cali, Arnelle makes calls to Winston and Cyrus. She tells him about the position she’s in and he apologizes to her. She says she’ll meet with him when she gets there. When they’re together in Cali, Winston proposes and Arnelle accepts. Arnelle is awakened by a nightmare and after Winston comes to check on her admits she’s been there before. But while she was there she hurt someone she loved and has been trying to think of how to make it right ever since. (All through the book its been mentioned MaLeah has a nasty cough that’s getting serious).

When Arnelle meets up with Cyrus he tells her he was seeing his accountant. He found out she was laundering money for her drug dealing brother through his accounts. When he confronted her, she reminded him that he had signed every paper showing a transaction, and if he took her brother down he’d go down too. The attorney says its her word against his. Arnelle takes Winston to meet Cyrus and they tell him the whole story. He tells Arnelle he never wants to see her again and walks out before she can tell him about MaLeah. Keaton calls and tells Arnelle MaLeah is in the hospital from pneumonia. Cyrus goes to Winston and tells him about MaLeah and that he was the one that pushed Arnelle to do what she did. Winston in return tells him he has some people looking into his story. Winston shows up at the hospital and meets MahLeah for the first time. There’s no question she’s his. She has his eyes. He says he’s staying there until she gets better but declines staying at Anelle’s parents’ house.

MaLeah gets out the hospital. Before Winston goes back home, he tells Arnelle he can’t be with her right now but he wants to help her take care of MaLeah-tho she doesn’t want him to feel he has to provide for her-. Arnelle gives the engagement ring back. Arenelle decides to date a guy named Damion and brings him to the Benett’s dinner party. This makes Winston instantely jealous and even tho he’s brought someone too. He shows up at her house later and tells her he wants MaLeah to come there. He also starts to see Victoria again. Arnelle tells Damion the truth about her history with Winston and he says he’ll always be there for her and invites her to a (game in Miami). No strings attached.

Venice talks Arnelle into going to pick up Craig’s truck with Winston. Winston gets Arnelle to take his truck and she almost gets hit by a drunk driver (and it’s slowing). Winston gives the guy a repeated slamming. He makes her stay at house because its snowing too hard. She’s about to leave but hears a message from Victoria. They get into a fight over her staying or leaving. This leads to them having sex. The next morning, she’s gone when he wakes up. Winston shows up in Miami and tells Arnelle he wants her and his family back. He burns his black book in front of her. She calls his bluff -when he says he’ll marry her right then- and says lets do it. He proposes again -with a different ring-. All her family has now shown up. Her dad marries them (on the beach). Arnelle announces she’s pregnant again with a son. They call him “Fredrick”.

My Thoughts:
This was another book in the past that I thought was HOT and STEAMY but it didn’t quite do for me now what it did then. Although it was still good on 2nd read. I still became impatient with Arnelle dragging things out as long as she did. I just don’t think that women-unless they feel like the child will be in potential danger- should keep the knowledge of having a child from the father. That’s the main thing. But as much as I don’t care for love stories, this was a pretty STRONG one! It showed that even the hardest player can change. It also showed that forgiveness is possible. It showed that despite bad situations and circumstances if two people are meant to be together it can happen. I like that no matter how hurt and angry this author always makes her male characters their love for the woman always overcomes whatever the woman may have done to cause it.
Rating: 8

[Shannan Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I'm just finding out about this author, and found several of her book at our local library, so I wanted to give them a try. this book had a lot of funny moments, where I was so glad no one was near by because they would have truly given me the side eye or thought I was mental. The characters were heartfelt and truly made my day. Although I did read the books a little out of order, I enjoyed reading about these characters and the flow of the story. The author did a good job all around with the book.

[KeKe Simming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book three of Five in the "All That" Series. We're now on the story of Winston, Craig's best friend. Who is an exceptional attorney. He finds himself falling for a woman who works in the medical sports field, Arnelle. Because he's bedded so many women over the years, he doesn't remember they've been together before, and they have a child. In this spell binding story, I found myself rooting for Winston and Arnelle to really find genuine love in each other when you stop letting fear lead you.

[Cayce Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Defiantly Will have you turning every page. You will not want to put it down it is such a beautiful book.

[JeaNida Luckie-Weatherall · Rating 5 out of 5]

really enjoyed this follow-up to the authors previous books. You got introduced to young Winston (Skeeter) Carter III, when he attended college with his best friend Craig in "All That and a Bag of Chips." You like him, but he kind of rubs you the wrong way! You got to know him a little more in "Been There, Done That" and you begin to respect him. Now in his own story, you will love him!

This is the story of Winston Carter III and Arnelle Lapahie. While others say that this book is the same as the others I find it different. Each page capitivates you and leaves you wanting to find out what the next page holds! Kudos to Darrien Lee! Continue to bring us the love! Relationship love, and love of family!

Being that I LOVE the two previous books. Now my mind will be nice and ready for the sequel "When Hell Freezes Over"! I suggest that you read the previous two before you dive into "What Goes Around, Comes Around", it's not required, but I think that it will bring you closer to the characters. ENJOY!!

[A'kialah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's the only book I've read twice!

You can learn from this book to appreciate & love uncoditionally.

[Najwa]

Great

[Christiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story...I felt as if the ebook was a little expensive...but it was a nice read...

[Bertha Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good book

[Elaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! I enjoyed the love story of the main couple. I couldn't put the book down.

[Alicia Cosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it

The whole series is wonderful. Read them over and over.I would like double cross on kindle ebook. Job well done.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part 3 of been there done that! once again Superb

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book from start to finish. It is one that I've read more than once just because.