In Love with Ezra (Love Unaccounted Book 2)

by Belvin, Love

  Then it clicked.

  “In tongues?”

  She nodded with batting lashes. This was just as awkward for her as it was for me. I combed through and yanked at my beard in deep thought. My mind raced with so much, namely, ‘Where did this request come from?’

  “Beloved, speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit. You’d have to petition Him for it. It’s not something I could teach or bestow. But if you want to be guided into prayer I would suggest two elements,”—Christ! Why was this difficult for me?—“one being revealing those things heavy on your heart, and the second being praise. You must always present to God in praise. He’s thrilled by that. It’s required of your worship. Do you understand, Alexis?”

  With pinched brows she nodded. “I think so.”

  “What do you want to start with?”

  “Maybe my prayer requests?” she offered, unsure.

  “Okay. And what might they be?” The question sounded so intrusive the moment it spilled from my lips.

  But I desperately wanted to know, that quickly surmising it would be the answer to her strange behavior over the past few months. It was still baffling.

  “Ummmm…” she swallowed hard, eyes diverted to the floor. “I don’t think I want to share that.”

  “That’s fine,” I lied, not feeling any guilt over the sin because it was what I was supposed to say. “Just don’t forget to end with praise; it waters the planted seeds of your prayer requests.”

  “Do I have to speak them out loud?” she asked, panicky.

  I cracked an amused smile. This may have proven to be a pleasant surprise after all… perhaps not. My kitten’s chastity in any manner was a major turn on for me. I thoroughly enjoyed playing coach with her.

  “No, Alexis. Not if you don’t wish to. Your prayers, and how they’re carried out, are purely between you and God. Just keep them sincere and consistent.”

  “Okay,” she muttered before facing forward and bowing her head.

  Instantly, I saw her full lips making infinitesimal movements. That lewd sight snapped me into motion to continue my own supplication. It took a few seconds to catch my groove, but eventually I returned to the deepest realm of divine communication.

  I shook my head, perplexed by that encounter. Alexis had been struggling with something and it troubled me how I could sense and feel the weights of a stranger, but not be able to identify a problem concerning my wife. I forced my thoughts away from it all, I had to get on with my extremely busy day.

  Today, I was scheduled to spend the entire day at the lab. I needed it. Though I worked distantly, from home, my presence here was needed. Being here also took me out of the shepherd’s role, which helped balance me. Being an engineer always balanced the worshiper in me. Christians tend to believe things as they’re fed to them. How was the Earth formed? What’s this hotdog made out of? How safe is the plastic bottles we drink out of? We tend to be content with God looking over us. And if no one has effectively disputed the first chapter of Genesis, has not dropped dead from eating the anonymous meat or from the aged technology of the plastic water bottles, all is well. Well, not for me. While I believed with all my heart, mind, and soul that God is the supreme being of the universe and He sent His son, Jesus, to save human kind, I still needed to test the efficacy of theories presented to society. Hence my profession in science.

  I’ve had a staff meeting, a lab drill, and an interview since beginning work this morning, now seated in my office, I awaited my next appointment with—I checked my Outlook calendar on my desktop—a N. Scott. I keyed my phone.

  “Yes, Mr. Carmichael?” my assistant, Geoffrey answered.

  “I see I’m waiting on a “N. Scott’ for an hour-long meeting. Any idea what this is in reference to?”

  “Hmmmm,” Geoffrey keyed his board. “No idea, sir. Looks like this was made while I was out on jury duty last week. But,” I heard the amusement in his voice. “When I see this initial next to that last name, you know the first person that comes to mind.”

  I chuckled after a few seconds of deliberation. “There is nothing I’d have to meet with your future cousin’s woman about, Geoffrey.”

  Geoffrey Griffin had been my assistant for five years. He’d come from a line of law professionals. Before his father passed away a few years ago, before I met him, he was on his way to being a family court judge. This was a different system than his brother’s, who was a criminal court judge. That brother was also, Taylor Griffin’s, Nyree’s fiancé’s, father. I thought it was a small world when I discovered Geoffrey was one of those Griffins. My father had been loose associates with his family and would perform many religious functions at their family’s events.

  “Oh, trust me, sir. I know. But as I’ve told Taylor, she’s a wild one with too much time on her hands.” I halfway wondered what that meant. “That’s an incoming call, sir. I have to go.”

  As soon as I hung up with Geoffrey, my line buzzed.

  “Mr. Carmichael, you have a visitor here to see you,” Karl, our security informed from the lobby.

  “Please send them up,” I requested then grabbed my phone to send a quick inspirational tweet out; a message that had been burning on my chest since my ride in this morning.

  When a timely word hits your spirit, it usually repeats until delivered. At least that’s how it worked with me. Just as I finished the last of my allotted 140 characters, my door was pushed opened. I scrambled to my feet to gain purchase of self-possession.

  She strutted in with enough ounces of confidence to fill her from head to toe. Immediately she released the buttons of her elegant cape to expose the knee-length little black dress that fit as though it was painted on. Her cleavage filled the room, and not because she was heavily busty, but because she’d selected the right undergarment to push them together for the perfect effect.

  “Oh! So you are normal!” she squealed with revelation. Her eyes went from me to her cleavage. “Had I known that, I would’ve worn something better for that type of hook.”

  She’d caught my reaction to her provocative appearance. Nyree was beautiful by most standards, but she would never suit me. Though her body was appealing, she could not tempt me. Her insecurities led her into the room. She hung her coat on my coat rack and took a seat in front of my desk.

  “Nyree, I am a busy man.” I moved to the coat rack to exchange my lab coat for a suit jacket, deciding to use this wasted hour blocked off to go grab a bite. “What brings you to Kaiser Laboratories?”

  “Well, back to what I was saying…” She rolled her almond shaped eyes. “All this time, I could see seducing you didn’t work. You being a very fashionable man, I thought I could appeal to your ego. That didn’t happen, so I pegged you for being a preaching weirdo.” She twisted her bright pink lips on her golden amber face. “But I still didn’t get it. I couldn’t understand your draw to Lex. She’s not bad looking, but let’s keep it real, she’s not on your level. Her father is one blowup away from killing someone, and Lex pathetically runs behind him, cleaning up his mess like a pitiful maid. I don’t even understand how you have that mean ass Ms. Remah living on your property. Ughhhh!” she shivered. “So then I Google’d you and, man, I knew you had some cash because of the sleek F-Type you gave Lex and that chic ass wedding—that mine didn’t top, by the way.” She held up her left finger displaying her wedding rings. I’d forgotten all about her impending nuptials; Alexis hadn’t spoken of Nyree in months.

  “Anyway,” she continued, her tone dry. “I knew you had some money, but didn’t realize you came from it. And more than that, you come from power—real power. It only took a few clicks for me to learn about the history of the church and how it’s being passed down to you. Your family is worth millions.” She raised her hands while shaking her down-turned head. “And before you try to refute it, know I’m a hound and I know how to hunt wealth.”

  I sat back at my desk and hand-combed my beard. Nyree’s visit had come with great deliberation. I remained quiet.<
br />
  “After I saw your house in the woods I knew there was a story behind you. But what I can’t figure out is why you want Lex. She isn’t cut from your cloth—nowhere near it! She doesn’t come from the world of affluence like you and me. She knows nothing about affiliations or how to play in elite social realms. If you were just fucking her I’d understand a man of your caliber wanting around-the-way pussy. I mean, yeah, Lex is smart and all. She just graduated with two degrees, but let’s make no mistake about it, she’s from the streets. She was homeless when I met her. I let her stay at my house until my parents caught on and kicked her out.” Nyree tilted her head, side to side, toward each shoulder. “Well, some shit went down before that, which is how they got wind of her situation. And that’s what brought me here today.” She plucked imaginary lint from her dress. “I know something about your wife that could ruin your family legacy.”

  I took a deep, apathetic breath. “Something like what, Nyree?”

  “Something like how she used to make a living that would roll heads in your world.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Oh, yeah? Try a strip club. How would your daddy feel once he learns his holy daughter-in-law worked at Rusty’s years ago?”

  I snorted. “Again, Nyree, I doubt you can tell me anything I don’t already know about my wife.” My brows furrowed. “Except for one question: what attracted you to her? What had you ever seen in her that made you want to be friends?” I sat up in my chair, resting my elbows on the desk. “As you pointed out, she doesn’t come from money and has no relatives of influence. So why, after all these years of knowing a second-class citizen have you remained friends with her to the point of asking her to stand with you in your wedding? It’s truly perplexing.” I pulled at the fine hairs of my beard. “Unless, it’s that, like me, you don’t see poor. You don’t see ghetto and legacy-less when you experience Alexis. You see pride, survival instincts, intelligence surpassing street smarts, compassion, and a beautiful heart. Those attributes could be your only draw to her dismal world.”

  Nyree’s face wrinkled in confusion, mostly deep thought.

  “Nyree, you may, after all these years, be confounded as to why you’ve remained connected to my beloved, but I am not—for you or me. For you, it’s because she possesses all of those qualities you should have, given all the resources you’ve been afforded coming up as a child of affluence. And for me, it’s simply that I find her incredibly attractive and accomplished considering the raw hand she was dealt as a child. I admire the decisions she’s made to create a better life for herself, considering what she wasn’t given. She didn’t look at your snobbish, narcissistic, and bitter persona and get defeated. Alexis fought against the odds and wound up a professional, who could hold an impressive job for almost a decade, an educated woman from a broken home with dual degrees, married to a man who provides her a security that the money the vicious hound in you can’t buy. She has a home, property, a job in leadership, and a man she doesn’t have to sleep next to with one eye open. That’s pretty impressive for a girl from Harlem, who lost a mother with mental health issues and a father, who has been more committed to the penal system than he ever has to her.”

  I rubbed my mustache. “It’s hard not understanding how someone that came from less than you have could garner a more impressive life than you’re capable of building. That must be tough. It’s unfortunate that you choose to antagonize her bitterly instead of congratulating her and pulling from that bountiful source inside her, springing with ambition. But you’ll never do that. I don’t believe you possess the wisdom to put aside your envy to do this, something that could actually benefit the narcissist in you. Instead, you’d rather show up to my place of business unannounced, attempting to wreak havoc on my marriage, something you hold no power over. She’s mine forever, in spite of her working at a strip club, being parentless, fighting to survive. What was your excuse?”

  Nyree sat motionless with her hands glued to her lap. I thought she’d come suited with armor and ammunition only to find she had no fight in her. I again questioned Alexis’ attraction to her. She had no heart and a blackened soul. My spirit was offended by her arrogance and camouflaged weakness.

  I hit a few keys on my phone before politely requesting, “Nyree, please leave my office and never return.”

  Suddenly, she sat up, bringing her elbows to her knees, a suggestive posture considering her ample bosom. “Are you sure you don’t want to hear what I have to say about her?” she purred seductively in more ways than one. “I’m sure I can crawl over there on my knees and convince you to listen.

  “I can assure you, I am well satisfied. And it would do you well to never ask again.”

  Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the sight of her. Her fragrance threatened the gravity of my stomach. Her eyelashes batted in an unsavory manner.

  Seconds later, my door swung open. Geoffrey entered, his expression impassive, his presence dutiful.

  “Ms. Scott,” he called out to her unfamiliarly. Nyree turned to find him and gasped her shock. “I’m sure you crawling on your knees would not deem you any more unwelcome than you already are.

  Quickly and shaken, she took to her feet, grabbing her things before meeting him at the door. She turned to me with heated eyes. She hadn’t been expecting to be overheard, much less caught by an in-law.

  I held a tight smile and bright eyes until she turned from me and out the door, rolling her eyes.

  Lex

  I heard two knocks.

  “So, this is where you spend your waking hours.” Lilly glared at me.

  I slumped in my seat after hitting send on an email reply to Precious. “Yesss…” I sighed. “There are other places I’d rather spend my waking hours.” I thought out loud, thinking about my bed, with Ezra buried between my thighs. But lil’ Lilly wasn’t ready for that.

  I hadn’t seen Ezra since he left for Atlanta on Monday night after dinner. He wasn’t due back until the morning, and I’d been counting down the hours. I’d started resenting his time away. I understood it was in the name of ministry, but didn’t. Why did I have to be so lonely as his wife while he was away bringing joy and hope to others at my expense. Wasn’t I the priority?

  “Come.” I waved her over. “Have a seat.” Lilly quickly sauntered over and pulled a metal cushioned chair to my desk. “Now, what were you saying this morning? I couldn’t understand you, your Patwa was so damn strong.”

  She’d called me this morning while we were both en route to work, fussing my husband out.

  She glanced suspiciously over her shoulder. “Is he here? You can save me the energy of repeating this to his face,” she threatened, and I tried not to laugh my ass off. Lils going up against Ezra would be comical to say the least. But she’d do it. “I could kick your husband, Lex! He’s being so bullheaded. I’ve never known him to be so…”

  “…much of an asshole?” I asked, saying what she couldn’t. Lilly didn’t use profanity.

  “Yes,” she dropped her chin to her chest on a sigh. “We’re so close. We know what type of ceremony we want and everything, but Thaddy won’t do it without Pastor’s blessing. He even wants him to perform the ceremony.”

  I ducked my head to summon her eyes. She glanced up. “Why do you guys need Ezra? Just do what you have to do. He’ll live…he’ll be salty as hell, but let me be concerned about that.” I winked.

  “I said that, too, at one time, and Thaddy went off,” she gasped, pushing her frames up her face. And I fought from laughing at her moniker for Thaddeus. “He went off on some tangent about loyalty and commitment to the Kingdom. He said Pastor Ezra saw something in him when no one else did, and if it weren’t for him, Bishop Carmichael would have dismissed him and he would’ve never made it into the ministry at RSfALC.”

  Hmmmm…

  Thaddeus was nothing if not dedicated to Ezra. They were away together right now although Ezra would not grant him the one thing Thaddeus really wanted: Lils. That boiled my blood. The hypocr
isy. So what Thaddeus got it wrong the first engagement? He had a compelling love story this time around. They hadn’t even announced it to their friends and families. Lillian wore the engagement ring on a necklace around her neck where she kept it hidden beneath her clothes. This was fucked up. That quickly my mood turned dark.

  “I’ve spoken to him a few times, Lils. I guess I’ll have to keep trying. He just doesn’t get it.” Lilly’s brows met in confusion. “The love thing,” I tried to clarify. Her face squeezed even more, not understanding. That’s when I realized what I’d let slip. I shook my head, angry with myself. I could never share with her our covenant. She would never understand and I couldn’t blame her. Trying to correct my slip up, I tried, “What I mean is—”

  There was a hard knock at my open door, making me jump in my seat. I glanced across the room to find Precious with crossed arms and a tapping foot.

  The hell is wrong with her?

  Before I could ask, she spoke with full on authority and flared nostrils. “I told you I needed to speak to you over thirty minutes ago before I left for the day.”

  Princess has a lil bark in her.

  I turned my head to the side, but kept my hard eyes on her. “Okay. My bad. I got caught up in a conversation with an unexpected visitor.”

  I gestured to Lilly, who waved to Precious. Precious gave a flash wry smile before returning her daggers to me. I didn’t get her balls to confront me. Precious had been laying low for months now. I still didn’t know what Ezra said to her about that Nurses Ministry meeting, but I hadn’t been harassed by Precious or her Jezebel of a momma since. The only time I spoke with her was before their monthly board meetings, and Ezra was usually present.

  “I have to get over to the church to greet the guest speaker, but instead I’m still here, waiting on you.”