Catt Chasing

by Shana Burton

  “She doesn’t let me forget that for a second,” said Jamal.

  “We’ve actually been getting a lot accomplished,” Oni explained. “Jamal was just showing me the latest figures for the promo. It looks like the two of you have been creating quite the buzz around here. I’m impressed. I think pairing the two of you together was an excellent idea.”

  Catt begged to differ but kept that thought to herself. “Jamal and I don’t always see eye-to-eye on everything, but we’re both professional. If you give us a job to do, we’re gonna do it.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. I know you were worried initially, Catt, but I always had a good feeling about the two of you.”

  Jamal still hadn’t taken his arm from around Oni, a move that didn’t sit too well with Catt. “Since the two of you are over here working, I might as well join in and shorten the load. I don’t mind pulling up a chair,” she offered.

  “Oh, no,” insisted Oni, shooing her away. “We’ve got this. You go and enjoy your date.”

  Catt was reluctant to leave. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, we don’t mind working all night if we have to,” said Jamal. He and Oni exchanged snickers between each other. The sight made Catt cringe. Jamal nodded toward Eldon. “Besides, I think the minister is getting a little lonely over there by himself.”

  She glanced back at Eldon, who was still on the phone. “I guess I better get back to my date then, huh?”

  “I guess you better,” he added, gazing at her.

  Catt plastered another polite smile across her face and sulked back to her table.

  “All right, it’ll be on your desk first thing Monday morning. Good-bye.” With that, Eldon clasped his phone shut and turned his attention to Catt. “I promise—no more interruptions.”

  She halfheartedly returned his eager smile. At this point, his yammering on the phone would have been a welcomed relief. It would have left her free to ignore him and to focus all of her attention on Oni and Jamal.

  “If you don’t mind, I want to continue the conversation we started before the phone rang,” said Eldon.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot what we were talking about.”

  “We were talking about how for some couples, it doesn’t take months and years of dating to decide you want a future together. Sometimes, the Holy Spirit prompts us to act quicker than that, and I believe that if the Lord has shown you your husband or wife, you shouldn’t be afraid to receive that person.”

  Jamal whispered something in Oni’s ear that made her giggle and made Catt wince. “I wonder what they’re talking about,” she expressed aloud.

  “Wonder what who’s talking about?”

  “Those two.” She pointed at Oni and Jamal. She narrowed her eyes to see if she really saw what she thought she was seeing. “Is his hand on her thigh?”

  “I can’t tell from here. If it is, it’ll be a relief to me, though.”

  She turned around. “Why?”

  “I mean, you’re out here on the road alone with this guy. I figured he may try to hit on you. It’s a relief to know that he’s interested in her.”

  Catt took a sip from her glass. “I can handle my own against Jamal Ford.” She looked back at his and Oni’s table.

  “I know. I just don’t like the thought of—”

  “His hand is definitely on her thigh!” blurted out Catt. “They might as well have sex right there on the table!” Embarrassed by the outburst, which was heard by more than a few people, she excused herself to go to the restroom.

  She scolded herself in the mirror. “Catt Cason, get it together!” She shook off the feelings of jealousy that had been eating away at her all night long, and refreshed her lipstick. The least she should do for Eldon is return to the table looking flawless.

  “Aha, I caught you!” ribbed Oni, joining her in the mirror. “I see you trying to get all sexy for that tall drink of water you came in here with.”

  Catt was less-than-thrilled by Oni’s presence. “Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  “I’m not surprised. You were a million miles away just now. I hope you’re not in here thinking about work when your date clearly has other things on his mind. Jamal told me that he came up from Charlotte just to see you. He must be very special or must think you are.”

  “Seeing me was pretty much an after-thought. Eldon really came to town for his parents’ anniversary.”

  Oni set her purse down near the sink to reapply her makeup. “So do the two of you have big plans for tonight?”

  “We’re sort of playing it by ear.” She paused. “What about you and Jamal?”

  Oni fiddled with her hair. “There’s no telling what that man has up his sleeves, but I’m sure going to enjoy finding out!”

  “So it is more than just work between you two,” insinuated Catt.

  Oni took note of Catt’s curt tone. “You wouldn’t have a problem with that, would you, Catt?”

  Catt shrugged off the question dismissively. “Why would I? You’re both consenting adults.”

  “I don’t know, it’s just a vibe I picked up.”

  Catt feigned indifference. “What you and Jamal do outside of the office is none of my business.”

  Oni reached for her purse. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your evening.” She headed toward the door.

  “It’s just weird, that’s all,” spoke up Catt.

  Oni turned and faced her. “What’s weird?”

  “You dating Jamal. He doesn’t really seem like your type.”

  “Let me see . . . attractive, smart, driven—that’s exactly my type.”

  Catt inched toward her. “Yeah, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind who’s looking to settle down.”

  “Even better—neither am I.”

  “And he’s a notorious flirt,” she added. “I mean, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen him hitting on women around the office.”

  “He’s assertive and knows what he wants. I like that.” Oni raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, I didn’t know you cared so much about who I dated. You’ve never been this vocal about it before.”

  “Well, we’re friends, right?” covered Catt with a saccharine smile.

  Oni nodded but wasn’t buying. “I hope that’s all it is.”

  “Of course, it is. I just don’t want to see my friend get hurt.”

  “I appreciate your concern, Catt.” Oni crossed her arms in front of her. “But if I didn’t know better, I might think you were a little jealous.”

  “Me? Jealous of you and Jamal?” She forced a laugh. “I just find it odd that he’s seeing you at nights and spending his days kissing me.”

  Oni blinked. “He kissed you?”

  “He tried to, but I pushed him off,” revealed Catt. She hadn’t planned on telling her what happened, but her jealousy had taken on a voice and a life of its own.

  “Next time you ought to go for it,” urged Oni. “He’s a great kisser.” She looked down at her watch. “I better get out of here. Don’t keep Eldon waiting.”

  “I won’t,” she said unenthusiastically. “Have fun.”

  Oni looked back at her as she sauntered out. “We intend to.”

  Catt quickly called on the Lord to forgive her for all of the unspeakable names she was lacerating Oni with in her mind. She took a deep breath and walked out to meet Eldon.

  “I thought you fell in,” joked Eldon, standing up to pull out Catt’s chair for her. “You were gone a long time.”

  She sat down. “I ran into my boss. We exchanged a little girl talk.”

  “Did you get the lowdown on her and your lab partner?”

  “Not really, we mostly talked about work.” She asked God for forgiveness again for lying.

  “Those two looked kind of cozy,” Eldon observed, diving into his grilled salmon. Catt glanced at the two of them over her shoulder just as Jamal took Oni’s hand into his to lift her out of her seat.

  Stewing inside, Catt watched them walk away. “That’s Jamal Ford
for you—always on the prowl. He’s so arrogant and pretentious. I don’t know what Oni sees in him. He is so smug and full of himself!” she spewed.

  “Whoa, you don’t have to get so worked up. You don’t like the guy—I get it.” Eldon shook his head and continued eating.

  But you don’t get it, thought Catt. Not only did she not hate Jamal, but it was becoming clear to her she was incredibly attracted to him. It was an emotion that was better off remaining repressed.

  “Let’s order some drinks!” suggested Catt, suddenly enthused and very willing to numb her emotions with alcohol.

  “We have tea right here.”

  “I don’t want that kind of tea. I’m thinking the Long Island variety.”

  “Sister Cason, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” voiced Eldon, reverting back to his ministerial mode. “In fact, I didn’t even know you drank.”

  She raised a finger to summon their waiter’s attention. “I usually don’t, but tonight, I don’t feel like doing the usual.”

  “I think it’s important we keep a clear head. You never know when we may be called upon to minister for the Lord.”

  “Fine, you can be the designated witness. I’m having a drink!”

  Three Long Island Iced Teas later, Catt’s head was spinning and she was drunk.

  “Catt, we should really get out of here. You need to sleep this off. Your father would kill me if he knew I watched you sit here and down three drinks.”

  It was becoming difficult for her to fully process what Eldon was saying, partially from the alcohol but mostly from being bombarded with thoughts of Oni and Jamal.

  “Maybe you’re right, Eldon,” she agreed, then belched loudly. “I’ve been a very, very bad girl. Daddy wouldn’t like that.”

  “No, he wouldn’t!” Eldon was tense and nervous as he signed the receipt for their dinner bill. He slipped his credit card back into his wallet.

  She giggled. “But I bet I know who does like bad girls.”

  Eldon shook his head and helped her out of her chair and out of the restaurant.

  “Hey, wake up,” said Eldon, rousing Catt from a near-stupor as the cab dropped them off in front of Catt’s hotel.

  Catt slumped down in the seat. “Just let me rest five more minutes.”

  “Here, lean on my arm,” instructed Eldon as she staggered out of the car. He dragged her to the elevator and onto the floor of her hotel room, as she was too inebriated to walk unassisted.

  “Eldon, you’re such a great guy, you know that?” she slurred, rubbing his face.

  “And you’re a very drunk girl, did you know that?” Eldon was right: she was drunk but not drunk enough to erase the memory of her body clinging to Jamal’s or the thrill of having his lips, soft and moist, brushing across her skin that day in the lab.

  Eldon finagled the key card out of her hand and unlocked the door. “Watch your step.” He flipped the light switch and ushered her inside.

  Catt smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Let’s do something crazy! Let’s make love right here, right now.”

  He disengaged himself from her. “Catt, you’re drunk. Once I get you settled in, I’m going back to my parents’ house alone.”

  “But why?” she whined, nearly toppling over.

  Eldon sighed. “Catt, this isn’t like you. You’re one of the most levelheaded and responsible women I know. What’s gotten into you?”

  “I want you to get into me,” she purred, seizing him by the waist. “Come on, Eldon. I know I’m a big girl, but don’t you think I’m sexy?”

  He rebuffed her again. “I think you’re very sexy . . . when you’re sober!”

  She pulled out her cell phone. “You wanna see sexy? Let me show you some of my pictures . . .”

  Eldon snatched the phone out of her hand and set it down. “Catt, you don’t know what you’re saying. No doubt you’re going to burst an appendix when you wake up in the morning and realize that you were in this hotel room, drunk and making a fool of yourself.”

  She stumbled back a few steps. “Making a fool of myself,” she echoed bitterly. “What you mean by that?”

  “The woman you are right now is not the kind of woman I need at my side, helping me build our ministry and the Faith Temple name. I thought that we were two-of-a-kind, you know—driven, ambitious, passionate about the Lord’s work. That’s what attracted me to you. But this isn’t you, not the you I thought I knew anyway.”

  She kicked off her shoes. “Yeah, you like boring me. Boring scripture-quoting, Sunday dinner-eating, always-doing-the-right-thing me. That’s the only Catt you and my father want me to be.”

  Eldon sat her down on the bed. “We want you to be the virtuous woman of God that you are, not . . . this. I can’t help but think that it’s Jamal Ford’s negative influence that’s got you acting this way.”

  “Jamal’s been showing me how to live. There’s more to life than Faith Temple, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Eldon pulled back the duvet for Catt to crawl underneath. “You’re going to be my first lady one day. I can’t have you getting drunk and taking phone pictures when that time comes, you got it?”

  Catt nodded and lay down, already half asleep. “I got it—no drinking, no pictures.”

  “And no Jamal Ford either!” stipulated Eldon and switched off her light. He waited for Catt to reply, but she had drifted off to sleep.

  Eldon hadn’t anticipated opposition from another man in his quest to win Catt’s affections and his rightful place as Faith Temple’s senior pastor, but Jamal Ford was proving to be someone to be watched and, if necessary, eliminated.

  Chapter 18

  “Hold up—I’m coming!” called Jamal, racing to catch the elevator. Catt begrudgingly held the door open for him. She studied his face, searching for something that would give her a clue as to what happened between him and Oni the night before.

  “Did you get Oni’s text about meeting her across the street for breakfast this morning?” she asked him.

  “She told me about it last night.”

  “I bet she did,” mumbled Catt.

  “Why do you look so mad this morning?”

  “Who said anything about being mad?”

  Jamal smiled. “Cheer up. The birds are singing, it’s a beautiful day . . .”

  “I guess I don’t have to ask what you did last night,” she grumbled as they entered the hotel’s lobby.

  “No thanks to you. Oni told me about your little outburst in the ladies’ room yesterday.”

  “I just thought she should know what she was getting into.”

  “Funny—I kind of thought you were blocking.”

  “Why would I need to do that? Didn’t you notice that I had a date too?”

  He chuckled. “You mean that simp you were with last night?”

  “Watch it—that simp is an anointed man of God.”

  Jamal moved in closer. “Yeah, I watched you last night. You seemed to have a great time watching him yapping on the phone all night.”

  “You mean you stopped drooling over Oni long enough to look at me?”

  A smile creased his face. “So, that’s what this is about? You’re jealous.”

  “No, I’m not!” she insisted. “I just think that it’s in very poor taste to be hitting on your boss. We’re supposed to be professionals.”

  “It drives you crazy, doesn’t it? You probably spent the whole night visualizing me kissing her, putting that tingle in her spine.”

  “You’re a pig,” she shot back. “I really thought Oni had better taste than this.”

  “Will you chill out? The only ride I gave Oni last night was the one back to her hotel room after dinner, so you can put your claws back in.”

  “What you and Oni do or don’t do is of no interest to me.”

  “I’m glad to hear it because we’re going out again next time she meets up with us.”

  Catt was stunned. “Oni agreed to a go out with you again? I suppose we’
re all entitled to mistakes every now and then.”

  “Obviously, I’m one mistake she doesn’t mind repeating.”

  “Are the two of you an official couple now?”

  “No.” He grazed her with his eyes. “I’m interested in someone else.”

  “How do you keep track of them all?” She shook her head. “I suppose that little things like AIDS and unwanted pregnancies mean absolutely nothing to you.”

  “I always handle my business when it comes to that.”

  “Says you!” challenged Catt. “You probably have babies and baby mamas running all over the country and don’t even know it.”

  He was quiet for a moment, almost somber. “I don’t have any children in the United States or anywhere else in the world.”

  “How can you be so sure with the way you slide in and out of anything in a skirt?”

  “I don’t have any children,” he repeated. “Life is precious to me, especially a child’s life. Don’t ever say that again.” He charged ahead of her, letting the hotel’s front door close behind him and in her face.

  “What was that about?” she demanded, following closely behind him.

  “You talk too much, and most of the time, you don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about,” barked Jamal.

  “Since when have you been unable to take a joke?”

  “Just drop it, Catt.”

  “Jamal, if I struck a nerve with something I said, I’m sorry,” she added with sincerity.

  “I thought I told you to drop it.”

  “I didn’t mean to say anything to hurt you.”

  He stopped and turned around. “You didn’t hurt me, Catt. In order to hurt me, I’d have to care about you, and, frankly, you’re just not that important to me.” Jamal darted across the street without so much as looking back to see her reaction.

  Catt didn’t have any delusions about his feelings for her, nor did she take his flirting as anything more than just his way with women. But having it confirmed hurt Catt more than she ever expected it would.

  Chapter 19

  As Catt was setting up her workstation following their meeting with Oni, Jamal sneaked up from behind her, grabbing her at the waist, and kissed her on the cheek.