“I’m so glad you are fine,” he said, stepping onto the threshold and handing the flowers to me. When I didn’t budge to take the flowers or let him in, he asked, “Can I come in?”
I thought Jacob had better sense than to show back up and act like nothing was wrong. Like he could just walk in with a bouquet of flowers and charm his way back through my doors…into my spirit…and into my heart.
I knew what I needed to do. The hurt was still fresh in my mind, so it made it easier. “Stay right here,” I said, leaving him standing in the doorway.
“Where you going, baby?” he asked behind me.
I was seething after hearing him call me baby. “You just wait right there! You’ll see,” I called from the hallway.
I grabbed his ring from my dresser and came back up the hall passing the living room. I saw Montie standing by my desk holding Montana in his arms. I knew he felt some type of way about Jacob returning; I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I kept walking past him into the foyer where Jacob had placed the flowers on the table.
“Given what’s transpired, I don’t feel it’s right for me to accept this." I opened up Jacob’s palm and put the box in it.
His eyes got big as he stared at the ring. “I am not taking this ring back, Destiny! You can’t be serious.”
“You gave me a lot of time to think, so I thought about it all week and I am dead serious!” I said with my hand on the door, prepared to close it behind him. “You can take your ring and leave now.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s the right thing to do, until we have a chance to talk." He tried to force the box back into my hand, but I pulled away. “Destiny, listen to me.”
“No, you listen to me. I get it. You’re torn between your feelings for Justine and me, so I’m making this easy for you.”
“It’s true that I still cared for her, but not the way you think,” he spoke softly after noticing Junior peeking around the corner.
“It’s not what I think, it’s what I know,” I told him.
“What you should know is that I love you, Destiny.”
“I love you too, Jacob, but love is not enough in this situation. If you thought I was hurt by the way you left me when you thought Justine was in trouble, the fact that you’re just showing back up today is far worse. As you can see, Justine is not who you think she is,” I said, pointing to the bruises on my forehead that were not hidden by makeup.
“Oh baby,” he said starting toward me.
“Don’t come near me.” I looked back to see if my kids were listening. Sure enough, Junior was standing near the foyer.
“Go back and sit with your father, Junior,” I told my son, who took off in the other direction. “We’re done, Jacob. I have to think about my children. I could have been killed.”
He froze in place and looked down at the box. “Now you hear me out. I will hire you your own personal security team and have them here before the end of the night. I won’t let anything happen to you or your children, from this day forward. That’s a promise.”
“I can’t take that chance, Jacob.”
“There is no chance to take! I’m going to protect you, Destiny.”
“Jacob, I just can’t.”
“So you’re saying this is it?”
“Yes,” I grabbed onto his hands. “I have to get back to the place where I don’t constantly worry about suddenly being dropped for another woman. I don’t like feeling insecure." He opened his mouth to argue again and I put up a hand to halt him. “After spending a week in the hospital and you not showing up, I’m convinced that when I need you, you will not hop a plane for me like you did for Justine.”
“I most definitely would have been there for you, if it was possible! You have to hear me out about this. It wasn’t my fault!”
I shrugged. “But yet you didn’t let anything I said stop you from going to her. You chose sides.”
“Destiny, listen to me woman,” he urged.
“It’s the best for both of us,” I said as I put my hand on the door and motioned for him to leave.
“Hell no! It’s not what’s best for us. I’m not going to let us end like this,” Jacob said.
“This is your last goodbye,” Montie said stepping up beside me. He’d obviously grown tired of our exchange. “She’s good without you, man. I got this covered,” Montie said as he began to push the door closed.
Jacob’s mood did a one eighty upon hearing Montie. He pushed the door open and stepped all the way inside the house pushing Montie backwards.
“The hell you mean she’s good? Man, if you don’t get out of my face there are going to be problems for you. You have gotten in the way enough, Montie.”
“Get out of here, Jacob!” Montie said, stepping closer to Jacob and pushing him back over the threshold.
“I told ya’ it was Acob!” I heard Montana shout to Junior.
“Yeah, I saw him,” Junior responded in shock over the commotion.
I turned to the stunned children. “Come on kids. Let’s take the movie back to Junior’s room and you can finish watching it there. The grownups have to talk for a second.”
“I wanna see Acob,” Montana said, her eyes growing in size as she looked in Jacob’s direction.
“Hi Montana. I’ll see you in a little while, sweetie,” Jacob said blowing her a kiss. I was certain he was only trying to do more to rub Montie the wrong way.
“You will do no such thing!” Montie said, as I walked the kids back to their room.
“Junior, I’ll be back to check on you two in a little while. Watch your sister,” I said, once I hooked up the movie.
“Yes ma’am,” Junior said, giving me a suspicious look. “But what’s happening with Daddy and Jacob?”
“Don’t worry about it, Junior. Watch your sister,” I said as I left out the room and walked up the hall.
“Why don’t you go ahead and just leave,” I heard Montie telling a defiant Jacob when I walked into the foyer.
“I am not leaving here until Destiny tells me what you are doing here,” I heard Jacob say. He barged past Montie, looking to me for an answer as to why Montie was defending my honor in my home. “Is there something else you should tell me, Destiny? Is he the real reason you gave back my ring?”
“Get out of this house,” Montie said, pushing Jacob back toward the door.
“I’m warning you to keep your hands off me, Montie,” Jacob said, as his eyes traveled to mine. “She’s not unconscious anymore, so she can speak for herself.”
“She sure can. Tell him to take his ring and get out of here, Destiny! He’s clearly hard of hearing,” Montie said, stepping up beside me. He turned to face me, pleading with his eyes when I didn’t respond. “Tell him, Destiny.”
“Montie, I can handle it!” I said, moving away from him.
“No, you can’t,” Montie said. He turned to Jacob and positioned his body in a martial arts stance, while raising his hands as if he were going to Kung-Fu chop Jacob. He went into a full demonstration of swinging his arms and making waves with his hands.
“What are you doing, man?” Jacob said as he looked at Montie in bemusement.
“You think I’m funny, huh?” Montie said, as he propelled a chop in Jacob’s direction. Jacob deflected the chop and retaliated by hitting Montie in the chest with his fist. An all-out chop versus fist fight was in motion within seconds, with more chops than fists making the connection.
I begged both of them to stop as they tussled around in the doorway until they fell backwards onto the front porch with Montie landing on top. Montie proceeded to administer chop after chop to Jacob’s upper body, until Jacob flipped him over and landed on top. Montie’s jaw was no match for Jacob’s hard punches that landed at lightning speed. I ran to them and attempted to break them up.
“Stop Jacob! Get off him.”
“You’re defending him?” Jacob yelled. He continued to be relentless in his attack until Montana shrieked out a holler.
"Acob, you hitting my daddy!" she said followed by a squealing cry.
Jacob stopped punching Montie when he turned to see Junior holding Montana close trying to console her. When Jacob stood up, he fixed his clothes and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t need this shit,” he said through clenched teeth. He kicked his leg free of Montie, who was trying to pull him down.
Junior ran over to help his dad up. “You okay, Daddy?”
“I’m fine, son,” Montie said to reassure Junior. “Take your sister back into your room.”
Jacob looked in Montana’s direction. “I’m sorry, Montana,” he said.
Montana didn’t dare respond as she stood there looking confused. Junior had a flash of confusion in his eyes as well. However, it was clear both children had chosen sides, when Junior looked at Jacob angrily and Montana ran over to help her father.
“Come here,” Jacob said as he pulled me by my arm and toward his car. “Why is Montie over here acting like you belong to him?”
“Jacob, I don’t owe you any explanation,” I said pulling away. “I already gave your ring back. If it wasn’t over before, it’s definitely over now!”
“Like hell it is!” He was so close to me that his warm breath hit me in the face. “You better start talking fast!”
“Jacob, you have some nerve to come over here starting fights and asking questions,” I said through clasped teeth. “You have your own mess to explain before you try to control what I do.”
“Me and my wife are back together. Leave our house before I call the police," Montie was saying as he limped over to the car holding his stomach.
Jacob had the most evil look when he balled his fists and said, “Montie, take your weak ass somewhere and sit down! One more step toward me and the police will not get here fast enough for you, buddy. If you want another ass whipping, I got one reserved with your name on it.”
“Do your best to me,” Montie said. “Just know Destiny is mine.”
“Is that what you think, Montie?” Jacob asked, accusing me with his glare.
“I’m not with Montie, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said, looking from Jacob to Montie, who shot me a telling look. “I mean, we did...” I looked back to Jacob and finally said, “I’m not with Montie and, as of this moment, I'm not with you either Jacob."
"So the other night meant nothing?" Montie asked with wrinkle lines stretched across his handsome brown face.
"Don't go there, Montie," I said, looking into his eyes briefly before walking away from both men.
"You slept with this fool?" Jacob asked. He pulled me to face him, while Montie stood there with a vindicated expression. “Look at me. I want to see your face. You slept with him?” Jacob asked again.
I protectively folded my arms across my chest and dropped my head. My silence was loud and clear.
“What do you think?” Montie was mumbling along with talking about how no good Jacob was and claiming he was the better man for me.
“Destiny, answer me!” Jacob said, ignoring Montie. “I've been calling you, worrying about you nonstop, and you were over here fucking Montie?"
"Don't act like you were concerned about me. I was in the hospital an entire week and you didn't come see me, didn’t even send a postcard. I've been home for over a week and you haven't called, come to see me…nothing. All things considered, I can sleep with who I want to, when I want to!”
“No, you can’t,” Jacob said, taking me by the hand and damn near dragging me into the house.
“Jacob, don’t pull me like that,” I said. I was glad he was holding my uninjured arm. However, I knew a headache would be coming on if all of this arguing didn’t stop. I suddenly felt tired, like I needed to lay down.
“Montie’s been scheming the whole time, trying to make it look like I don’t care about you,” Jacob said once we were alone in my bedroom. He’d closed the door and locked it in Montie’s face as he was trying to enter behind us.
“You can’t blame what you didn’t do on Montie.”
“Destiny, recognize who you are talking to. When I asked you to marry me and you accepted, did you know who I was?”
I looked into his eyes and I was furious. “You are not the man I fell in love with. You are a stranger.”
“I’m the very same man. After we’ve had a chance to talk, and you still feel the same way, I will take the ring and walk out without another word.”
“Fine. Come back tomorrow and we’ll talk,” I said, crawling into the bed. “I’m not feeling too hot.”
“Do you have something to take?” he said as he rummaged through the different medicine bottles on my dresser.
“Yeah, give me two of the pills out of the small bottle.” A sharp pain shot through my head and I couldn’t resist his help. He handed me the pills and the bottle of water that as on my nightstand. “Thank you,” I said before throwing the pills into my mouth and gulping down the water.
“I will wait until you feel better, but we are going to talk tonight. Either you’re going with me to my hotel or we’re going to sit here and talk,” Jacob said as he stood beside my bed. I closed my eyes and wished he would leave, but I also knew after seeing Montie step up to defend my honor, Jacob was hell bent on outlasting Montie.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jacob
I’ll Wait
At Destiny’s insistence, I sat in her room waiting for her to get things squared away with Montie. I could hear him arguing about her decision to let me stay so we could talk. I didn’t expect him to give up easy, but he was a pain in my ass.
I was seething when I heard Destiny say, “Montie, I just need about an hour to talk to Jacob. I need to close one door before I open another one.”
“So that’s how you’re going to play me? Everything has been alright until he shows up with flowers and an attitude, and now you’re kicking me out?”
“I’m not kicking you out. I’m asking you to give me some space for a while.”
“It’s the same thing, Destiny. Hell, if I knew that’s all it took to wow you, I would have sent you flowers every day when we were married,” I heard Montie say, as he stalked up the hall. I got up and went to stand in the doorway to watch their exchange.
“Montie, don’t make this harder than it has to be,” Destiny said touching his shoulder.
“You’re the one making it hard. I ain’t leaving, so you might as well go on back there and talk to him now. Me and the kids will be up here until you finish.”
“This is my house and I am asking you to give me some space,” Destiny stood firm.
“Dang Destiny, what could you possibly have to say to him? Where he stands should be blatantly obvious to you.”
“I have to get closure, Montie. You should understand that.”
“Closure? The only closure you need is to kick him outside and close the door,” he said, looking into her eyes. I knew from the look he gave her that he’d been satisfied in more ways than one by her touch. It was a look she’d left on me more than once.
“All I know is the kids don’t need to witness anymore fighting. I need to talk to Jacob civilly, so we’ll be on the same page when I close that door,” Destiny said.
I was tired of their back and forth and furious about all this talk about closing doors. I began walking up the hall, ready to throw Montie out on his face, but I stopped in my tracks. Destiny was right about the kids not needing to see us fighting again, but she was wrong about closing the door to our relationship.
I reluctantly stayed positioned against the wall instead of approaching Montie, but I wasn’t going to give him much longer to pack and leave. I watched as Destiny went into Junior’s room and come back out with Montana in her arms. Junior wasn’t far behind, but he wouldn’t dare look my way.
“Everything was perfect until he got here,” Montie said, glaring down the hall at me.
“Yeah, for you, but I’ve been waiting for Jacob to call or come by. This was inevitable. We need this time to talk.
Do you understand?” Destiny said, as Montana reached over and rubbed her father’s face.
I loathed the way the three of them looked standing there together, and I surely didn’t like the way Destiny’s gaze lingered with Montie’s when she asked for his understanding.
“I don’t understand anything that’s happening,” Montie said, sounding deflated. “I shouldn’t have to take our kids away from their home because he comes over here acting a fool,” Montie added as he took Montana from Destiny’s arms.
“You okay, Daddy?” Montana said inspecting his cheeks before giving him a kiss. She looked at me and there was so much sadness in her little eyes. “Acob hurt you,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to Montana and she dropped her head into her daddy’s arms.
Junior had his overnight bag packed and in his hand. He went to stand beside his father, as well. “Come on, Dad. Let’s go to your house,” he said, scolding me with his intense glare.
Montie looked at his children and then back to Destiny. “So this is how you’re going to handle this?”
“Montie…” Destiny said, stepping closer to him.
He walked away from her and into the living room. “Just remember that a man who leaves his bed to go to another woman is not that in to you. That’s not me trying to win you back. That’s just a real fact.”
He grabbed his briefcase and keys and walked out the front door, with Montana on his hip and Junior by his side, neither of them looking back. I knew he was upset, as he should be. He was fighting a losing battle. My name was imprinted deeply within the woman he loved. Any temporary tattoo he placed on her was about to be washed away, now that we were alone.
I would more than make up for my rowdy behavior to the kids, when the time was right. For the time being, I had to get Destiny back in the right place first – mind, body, and soul.
“He’s wrong, you know?” I asked once the door closed.
“Don’t Jacob.”
Breathless 2: In Love With An Alpha Billionaire Page 7
