Another Woman's Man

by Shelly Ellis

  “I told you that Constance has nothing to do with this!”

  “Yeah, right,” she snarled, feeling tears of anger and humiliation well in her eyes.

  She had never been fired before—never! Even Percy hadn’t given her the pink slip despite all their drama, and yet Xavier—the man she had fallen for—could be so callous to do this to her now.

  She wiped at her eyes, strode across the room, and grabbed her wool coat and purse—her cleaning efforts now forgotten.

  “Fuck Princess Constance and fuck you, Xavier! I’ll stay on until Margaret can take over the class next month. I’ll do it so the kids won’t be left high and dry, but that’s the only reason. You, on the other hand,” she said, tossing her purse strap over her shoulder, “can kiss my ass, you ungrateful, pussy-whipped son of a bitch!”

  She strode toward the classroom door, but stopped when she suddenly remembered something. Dawn turned on her heel and stomped back toward Xavier. She opened her desk drawer and pulled out the gift bag she had meant to give to him earlier.

  “Oh, before I forget . . . Here’s your damn birthday gift! You don’t deserve it, but I’ve got no use for it.”

  “Dawn . . .” For the first time, he looked and sounded contrite, but she didn’t want to hear it.

  She tossed the gift bag at him, startling him. She had aimed for his head, but instead it landed against his chest and fell to the floor. She turned again to leave.

  “Dawn, don’t storm out like this! Don’t put this shit on me like I did something wrong!”

  She ignored him and reached for the door handle. She only stopped when he grabbed her. Dawn angrily whipped around and shoved him away—or at least she tried to. Despite her efforts, she was still locked firmly in his grasp.

  “Don’t act like I did something wrong!” he shouted again, clutching her shoulders, looking desperate. “I’m trying to do the right thing, God damn it! I’m trying to . . . to . . .”

  “I get it! You’re trying to be a good little boy and make your fiancée happy!” The tears she had been holding back were spilling onto her cheeks now. “Fine! You get your wish! I’m leaving! Just let go of me so I can get the hell out of here!”

  But he didn’t let go of her. Instead, he lowered his mouth to hers and knocked the bluster right out of her.

  “What . . . what the hell are you doing?” she sputtered against his lips. They were the last words she uttered.

  She wasn’t prepared for the sensuous kiss or what it would do to her. All her anger and indignation were instantly forgotten. She even forgot about Constance.

  His lips weren’t full, but there was more than enough strength behind them to rival the fullest of lips. He worked against hers, taunting her, toying with her mouth until she gave in with a whimper. Her lips finally parted and she kissed him back. When she did, he seized the opportunity and licked inside her mouth, tasting her. Dawn tasted him too. Their tongues met. He released his hold long enough for her to drop her coat to the classroom floor, then her purse. She looped her arms around his neck. His hands went from her back to her ass and he tugged her closer.

  They were panting now and tilting their heads so that the kiss could deepen. Dawn’s heart was thudding wildly in her chest. A surge of heat crested over her body. She rubbed her pelvis enticingly against his and felt a bulge in his jeans urgently pressing back against her.

  He shifted her back toward her desk and eased between her thighs so that he stood between her legs. He shifted his kisses from her mouth to her neck, nibbling at her skin along the way.

  They had to stop this soon. She could feel herself getting hotter and wetter by the second. If one of them didn’t end this kiss, he could have her right here on the tiled classroom floor if he wanted to.

  Lucky for her, Xavier regained his senses first. He suddenly pulled away and took several ragged breaths.

  “Shit,” he murmured. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He shoved his hand into his hair. “God damn it . . . God . . . damn it! I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have done that!”

  “You shouldn’t . . . but you did,” she said softly. “Why did you?”

  “Because I’ve wanted to kiss you since the moment I saw you standing in the hallway this morning.” He licked his lips. “Hell, I wanted to do it since the first night I met you at your gallery back in December. But I’ve been fighting it this whole time.” He slowly shook his head. “Shit, I’ve been fighting it without even realizing it.”

  She stared at him, dumbstruck. He suddenly glared at her.

  “Do you get it now? Do you get why I can’t do this again? I’m not a cheater!”

  “Why are you acting like it’s my fault?” she asked, pointing at her chest. “I haven’t done anything to you! I wasn’t trying to make you cheat! All I’ve done is—”

  “You don’t have to try! That’s my point! You’re way too tempting.” He shook his head ruefully. “And if you keep working here, if I keep being around you, I know this shit is gonna happen again and I can’t afford that. I can’t let that happen!”

  He was shoving her away, both emotionally and mentally. Part of her understood why he was doing it, but the knowledge still hurt. “So is that why you want me to leave? That’s why you’re replacing me?”

  “I have to. I’m marrying Constance in less than three months. I don’t need any complications.”

  “I’m a ‘complication’?” She chuckled and crossed her arms over her chest. Her lips still tingled from his kiss, depressing her even more. “Well, I’ve been called many things, but that’s a first.”

  “Yeah, go ahead and laugh,” he spat. “This all may be fun and games to you, but this is my life! Constance is important to me. Herb and the respect he has for me is important to me! I’m not going to toss that aside because—”

  “Xavier, you kissed me! It wasn’t the other way around! I’m not playing games with you! I’ve tried my best to respect your relationship with Constance! I haven’t . . .”

  Enough, she thought. Enough! I’m so tired of this shit.

  She threw up her hands in surrender. “Don’t worry. I won’t ‘complicate’ things for you any longer. I quit.”

  In more ways than one, she wanted to add, but didn’t.

  She leaned down and grabbed her coat and purse. She turned around, walked across the room, opened the classroom door, and let it slam shut behind her.

  Chapter 20

  Xavier was out of sorts as he sat at Herb’s bedside. He felt odd in a business suit, looking so formal, while his mentor lay in a navy blue bathrobe and striped pajamas, being held up by several down pillows. A nurse stood at Herb’s side, checking his IV bag before checking his vitals with a pressure cuff and thermometer, catering to him like he was an infant with a fever.

  Lying there in bed, Herb seemed so vulnerable. It didn’t seem right to see him this way.

  “Can I get you anything, Mr. Allen?” his nurse asked in a too-loud voice in her heavy Caribbean accent.

  “No. No, I’m fine. Thank you,” Herb answered, looking uncomfortable at being hovered over.

  He was a proud man. Knowing what he knew about Herb, Xavier figured it had to be demoralizing for Herb to be babied this way. But Herb had suffered a major health setback that would mean having to suffer being babied for a while.

  Xavier had gotten a call yesterday that Herb had to be rushed to the hospital. Xavier had known for months that Herb’s cancer treatments weren’t going well and that the older man’s body was growing weaker and weaker, but Xavier hadn’t been prepared for the emotional punch he suffered when he heard that Herb had fallen seriously ill. It was similar to the punch he endured a few days ago when he had to shut the door on his feelings for Dawn.

  He could still recall the yearning he felt when he watched her walk out the classroom door. That feeling would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. He had wanted to run after her. He had wanted to kiss her again, and it took Herculean strength to fight those im
pulses.

  I made the right decision, he silently reminded himself as Herb’s nurse shifted to the end of the bed to adjust the sheets. I made Constance a promise. It was the honorable thing to do.

  “And if there’s anything Xavier Hughes is, it’s honorable,” a voice in his head mocked, but he quickly shut it out.

  Mock all you want, but I did what I had to do.

  “Thank you so much for visiting me today, Xavier,” Herb said, snapping Xavier out of his heavy thoughts. “I know things are busy for you at the office. You have better things to do than to check on an old man.”

  Xavier slowly shook her head. “You know damn well that isn’t true, Herb. Things are never so busy that I couldn’t come here to see how you’re doing. I heard that you had a real scare yesterday.”

  Herb waved his hand dismissively. “I have scares every day. That’s part of the fun of being terminally ill,” he said with a smirk. “Compared to everything else, it wasn’t quite that bad. My doctor merely overreacted to my last lab results.”

  “Humph,” the nurse grunted as she fluffed his pillow, looking incredulous.

  Herb narrowed his eyes at her. “That’s quite enough pillow-adjusting, don’t you think, Hortense?”

  She stood back and grunted again in response.

  “You know, you don’t have to stay here,” Herb said to her. “I am perfectly—”

  “I’m supposed to stay with you at all times, Mr. Allen. Those were my orders,” she insisted. “I’m fine right here. I’ll just read my book.”

  She then pulled out a raunchy paperback romance and a pack of Oreos from her pocket, sat down in a chair on the other side of the bedroom, and flipped to one of the book’s pages.

  Herb let out a beleaguered sigh, making Xavier chuckle.

  “She’s right,” Xavier whispered. “You need someone to watch over you until you feel a little better. I’m sure Constance and Raquel would agree.”

  “Feel a little better?” Herb glanced at the nurse again. “I’m afraid we both have to accept the truth, Xavier, that it’s only going to go downhill from here.”

  Xavier felt his throat tighten at those words. His eyes got a little misty. But he quickly pulled himself back together. His congenial expression stayed locked in place.

  “Either way, you need a nurse,” he said.

  “Which is why I agreed to let Raquel hire one. She wanted to make sure I was taken care of while she and Constance take their trip to St. Thomas. I said, ‘So be it. If that’s what you want, darling.’ ”

  Xavier did a double take, wondering if he had heard Herb correctly. “What do you mean while they take their trip to St. Thomas? They’re canceling it, of course.”

  Herb shook his head. “No, they aren’t.”

  “But . . . but how could they still go? I mean . . . with you being so sick. They can’t go to the Caribbean now!”

  “I doubt having them here will make much of a difference. I’m not going to miraculously get better. And Constance has had her heart set on this trip forever. You know that. She and her mother have been planning this for months. I told them that unfortunately, the cancer is really starting to take its toll now and I would no longer be able to go with them, but they shouldn’t let me hold them back. Have a good time.”

  Xavier frowned. “But you’re on your sickbed, Herb. You’re . . . you’re . . .”

  His voice faded as he let Herb’s words sink into him. Constance and her mother planned to take a trip to St. Thomas while Herb was hooked up to an IV bag and lying in bed? The idea sounded so absurd and so selfish that there was no way it could possibly be true. Or was it? He had to talk to his fiancée about this.

  “Where is Constance?” Xavier asked.

  Xavier found his fiancée ten minutes later in one of the workout rooms. She was running on one of the treadmills with earplugs in her ears and her ponytail flopping wildly behind her. Her back glistened with sweat, and her rear end and breasts bounced with each stride. The digital screen in front of her showed a mountain trail. She seemed to be making her way up a steep hill at the moment.

  “Constance?” Xavier called as he walked into the brightly lit room, tripping over pink hand weights that littered the floor. He mumbled under his breath as he made his way toward her. “Constance!”

  She glanced over her shoulder, saw him, and smiled. She held up her finger, motioning for him to wait as she quickly pressed a few buttons on the treadmill screen. The tread belt gradually lowered and decelerated to a slower pace. She went from a jog to a power walk.

  “Hi, pumpkin!” she said, taking out one of her earplugs. She wiped her damp forehead with a white hand towel that hung off the treadmill’s guardrail. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to see what’s going on with your dad.”

  “Oh?” She turned back toward the screen. “That was nice of you. He had a little scare yesterday, but he says it’s no big deal.”

  “Your dad always says it’s no big deal. But obviously it is a big deal if he’s on bed rest!”

  “But he’s only on bed rest until, you know . . . he regains his strength. No big deal!”

  Xavier closed his eyes and took a calming breath. How could Constance not see how serious this was?

  “He told me that you and your mother are still taking that yacht trip to St. Thomas in a few days.”

  “Yeah!” Her smile broadened into a grin. “Mommy said we already made plans. Even though Daddy can’t come with us, we might as well go. Plus, it’ll be the last vacation Mom and I can take together before the wedding. You know . . . girl time. It’ll be a great stress reliever!”

  “But what about your father?”

  “Oh, he’ll be fine, pumpkin!” She pressed a few buttons. The thump-thump-thump of her feet picked up the pace again. “We have a . . . nurse sticking around . . . to watch him. No reason . . . for all of us to be . . . stuck at home,” she said between huffs of breath as she jogged.

  She then put the earplug back into her ear and started to hum to the music. The treadmill let out a few beeps. Her jog suddenly increased to a run.

  Xavier stared at her like he was looking at a stranger. He couldn’t fathom how his fiancée could be so oblivious. Her father was seriously ill and here she was more concerned about enjoying “girl time” with her mother and relieving stress in St. Thomas. Who the hell was this woman?

  “The same woman who refused to reschedule her wedding to make sure her ailing father was present because it would interfere with her ‘vision,’ ” a voice in his head chided. But Constance’s vision was obviously more than just a little skewed. As her fiancé, Xavier had to set her straight.

  He walked around the treadmill, reached over and pressed the red button underneath the digital screen, bringing the tread to an abrupt stop. Constance had to grab the handrails to keep from flying off the back.

  “Hey!” she shouted, ripping out her earplugs. She jumped down and glared up at him. “Why’d you do that? I could have hurt myself!”

  “I did it because I need you to listen to me and stop fucking running for five goddamn seconds!”

  Her mouth fell open in shock. “How . . . how dare you curse at me?” she sputtered. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “No, what’s gotten into you? Your father is dying, Constance! How do you not get that?”

  “He’s not dying!” she yelled. “Don’t say that!”

  “It’s true! And he needs you and your mother here,” Xavier said, pointing down at the floor, “with him! Not on some deck putting on sunscreen or on a fucking beach drinking margaritas!”

  She slowly shook her head in astonishment. “I cannot believe you’re talking to me like this, Xavier!”

  “And I can’t believe that I have to! Don’t you realize how selfish you’re being? How callous this is? He’s your father, God damn it!” he exploded. “You were pissed at your dad when he lectured you about being more self-reliant and responsible, but he was right!”

  Inste
ad of being chastened by his words, she seemed to get angrier. Constance crossed her arms over her sweaty chest.

  “Xavier Hughes, you either apologize to me right now for speaking to me like this, or you can get out of my house! I mean it!”

  His jaw clenched. His father had been ripped away from him in a matter of minutes! He hadn’t had time to prepare. Constance had days, maybe weeks to spend with her father and treasure these last precious moments, and she didn’t care enough to stay. She cared more about her vacation.

  “Fine,” Xavier said as he turned. “I’ll leave, because I’m sure as hell not apologizing.”

  He walked toward the workout room’s entrance, leaving his fiancée gaping.

  Maybe his mother and Dawn had been right about Constance after all. All these years he thought Constance was oblivious to things and other people because she was overprotected and innocently naïve. Now he realized it was just because she was hopelessly self-involved. In fact, she was so self-involved that she took him and even her dying father for granted.

  And he had pushed Dawn away because he thought it was the right thing to do. He had fallen in love with her and had sacrificed those emotions for his loyalty to Constance, for a woman he now doubted deserved that loyalty.

  Chapter 21

  “Mama, are you ready?” Cynthia called as one of the maids shut the door behind her.

  She stepped through the richly decorated entryway, with its mahogany furniture and lush velvet curtains. She was immediately hit with the overwhelming fragrance of hyacinth bouquets in the glass vases that dotted the side tables inside the foyer and along the echoing corridor. Cynthia glanced at her gold watch and then into one of the sitting rooms. Her mother wasn’t there, making Cynthia mumble loudly to herself.

  Where the hell is she?

  Again, Cynthia would be going alone with her mother to one of Yolanda’s wedding appointments. Lauren was busy at work. Stephanie was now too exhausted from her pregnancy to climb out of bed—except to go to the bathroom or grab a carton of her favorite Fudge Ripple ice cream from the downstairs freezer. And Dawn had called at the last minute to say she couldn’t make it because her father had taken a turn for the worse, was now on bed rest, and she had to visit him.