by Tina Martin
CHAPTER 30
After reluctantly leaving Myrtle Beach Sunday morning, Desmond returned home to Asheville in the early part of the afternoon. Then he did what he did best – he got down to business. He had lunch delivered, sat at the table in the kitchen and ate alone, flipping through the newest edition of Business World Magazine, reading an article Dante had texted him. It was an entire write-up on Victor Westwood – how he had started from humble beginnings and ended up a billionaire. He highlighted points he could use, gathering some much needed inspiration for marketing ideas. Then he began writing a list of tasks – things he needed to accomplish for the upcoming week.
Later in the evening, he’d spent a couple of hours working out – lifting weights and running on the treadmill. He did what he had to do to keep his mind off of Sherita. He hadn’t spoken to her all day. He had a decision to make about her – to leave her alone or love her. Both options struck fear within him because he did care for her, and he, for sure, didn’t want another man stepping in and doing for her what he couldn’t do. Still, it wasn’t fair to lead her on to think their relationship would be anything more if that wasn’t his intention.
* * *
On Monday, Desmond sat at his desk, fully committing himself to phase two of the marketing plan for Service Swap. He’d just dismissed key members of the team he put together for this project when Dimitrius had come by his office to leave Sherita’s bank statements – the ones he had requested. Dimitrius didn’t even bother asking him why he wanted them. He just dropped the manila folder on Desmond’s desk and walked away.
Desmond looked at the folder. He was on a roll with the marketing plan, and he didn’t want to stop, but the statements left him curious. So, taking the folder in his hand, he set the marketing plan off to the side and began going through Sherita’s bank statements. Line-by-line he browsed her purchases, paying more attention to the bigger transactions like the withdrawal she made every month for fifteen-hundred dollars. Then there was another transaction for seven-hundred dollars. Her ending balance last month was close to eight-hundred dollars.
Desmond leaned back in his chair. He had no clue where the fifteen-hundred was going since it was a cash withdrawal, but the seven-hundred had been paid directly to a leasing company – the rent for her apartment, well when she had an apartment.
Desmond scratched his head. Why was he going through her bank statements anyway? Initially, he wanted to see her statements so he could determine how she was doing financially since she had jokingly made a comment about how she had been struggling. He looked at her account again. She hadn’t paid rent for two months, so shouldn’t her ending balance have been more than eight-hundred dollars? And where was this fifteen-hundred dollars going?
He thought back to the note she scribbled in her planner, the one that said, M/D Mortgage. She didn’t own a home, so why did she have something about a mortgage in her planner. Then it hit him. M/D was Mom and Dad. She was paying her parent’s mortgage. He frowned. According to her bank statements, she couldn’t afford to support herself and pay her parent’s mortgage, but she was doing it anyway. She was struggling.
Desmond looked up when he heard taps at the door. He watched Dante enter.
“What’s up, Des? Thought I’d come in here to catch up with you for a second.” Dante made himself comfortable in a chair in front of Desmond’s desk.
“How was the zoo on Saturday?” Desmond asked.
“It was nice. The kids enjoyed it. You should’ve seen how Ezra was looking at all the animals. And little Grace went nuts in the aquarium. That little girl loves water. Dimitrius is already talking about swimming lessons when she’s old enough.”
Desmond cracked a smile. “That’s a good idea.”
“Yes it is. So let’s talk phase two…Service Swap…where are we on that?”
“It’s a work in progress,” Desmond told him. “In phase one, I laid out the target audience—”
“Speaking of the target audience,” Dante interrupted, “Just wanted to mention this to you while it’s on my mind. Victor doesn’t think we should only market this concept to middle-class families. He thinks it would be a major benefit to the upper and lower class.”
“As long as he’s okay with increasing his budget, I’m good with taking that approach.”
Dante nodded.
“Which leads me to phase two,” Desmond continued. “During this implementation stage, I’ve met with my team this morning to lay out who’s doing what. Everybody has their assignment, and the team knows how important this account is to us.”
“Sounds like we’re moving right along then.”
“We are. After reading that article on Victor, I knew just where to take phase two. Thanks for texting me about it.”
“No problem, bro.”
Desmond glanced down at Sherita’s bank statements again. “Hey, Dante, I meant to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
“Back when we were discussing what it would take to secure this deal with Victor and you proposed Sherita and I get married, I told you she wouldn’t go for it, but you were confident you could get her on board, which you did. How did you do it?”
“I told her what was at stake and how much the deal would mean to the corporation.”
Desmond lifted a brow. “And it was that easy?”
“Well, she didn’t want to do it initially, but using my persuasive powers—” Dante paused. Laughed. “I’m kidding. She agreed to do it after I begged. She hated the idea. No offense.”
Desmond smirked. “None taken. I figure she didn’t want to do it. I just assumed you’d offered her money.”
Dante checked his watch. He had a meeting in a few minutes and wanted to make sure he was back to his office in time. “I did offer her money…offered her a million dollars.”
Desmond glanced down at her bank statements, then with a look of disbelief, he asked, “You offered her a million dollars?”
“I did.”
Desmond grimaced. Sherita had come down hard on him about using her for the million dollar contract with Victor when she was paid a million dollars to go through with it. She was no better than him. And since she took the money, did she really love him like she claimed?
He looked at her bank statements again. Confused. Something wasn’t making sense. Surely that kind of money would’ve been deposited in her bank account. So where was it? Another bank perhaps?
He looked up at Dante again and saw a smirk on his face. Dante was studying him. Reading him. “Are you telling me the truth, Dante?”
Dante crossed his legs and brushed a finger across his mustache. “I am. I offered her a million dollars.”
“Did you give her a check, or did you wire the money to her account?” Desmond asked.
“Neither.”
“How’s that possible?” Desmond questioned, growing irritated.
“Easy. She turned it down.”
His face went blank. “She turned it down?”
“Sure did. She said she wouldn’t take any money from me…said Emily and I were like family…said I was like a brother to her.”
Desmond slumped forward, leaning over his desk, burying his face in his hands. She didn’t take the money. She was struggling to pay her parent’s mortgage, had dreams of owning a portrait studio, and before he bought her a laptop, she had to use Emily’s computer, but she declined a million dollars.
“Is there a problem?” Dante asked. He wouldn’t force Desmond to talk to him, just like he couldn’t force him to see Sherita was a good woman. He had to figure it out all on his own.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Desmond responded.
“Well, I guess I’ll get back to my office.” Dante stood up.
“Wait, before you leave, I need to talk to you about something.”
“What is it, Des?”
Desmond sighed then said, “I’ve never been in love, Dante, and I’m not sure if I’m…I don’t know if…I—” Desmond shook hi
s head. “Never mind.”
Dante sat down again. Desmond wanted to talk about love. That was a good thing. It must’ve meant he was referring to Sherita. So, to answer what he think his brother was trying to ask, Dante said, “Could you imagine this woman making love to another man? Seeing her holding hands with another man? Sharing a life with someone else? Can you honestly say that if you never spoke to this woman again, never saw her face again you would be okay?”
Desmond dropped his head. No, he couldn’t imagine those things. He couldn’t bring himself to think about Sherita having a life with someone else.
Dante stood up and said, “Think about it. I’ll chat with you later.”
“Yeah. Later.”
* * *
At home, sitting on the sofa in the same position that he’d remembered holding Sherita there once, Desmond dialed her number. He hadn’t talked to her since Saturday and now that Dante clarified a few things with him, he knew he had to talk to her. He didn’t like how things had ended when he’d left the beach without even saying goodbye. He just left, didn’t give a thought to how she may have felt when she got up in the morning and saw that he was missing.
He listened as the phone rang, waiting to hear her voice. Needing to hear her voice.
“Hello,” she said unenthused.
“Hi, Sherita.”
After a brief pause, she responded, “Hi.”
“How are you?”
She sighed. “I’m okay. Been busy. How are you?”
“Been busy, too.” He sighed heavily. “I haven’t spoken with you since Saturday, so I thought I’d call. I didn’t like the way we ended things.”
“We?”
“Yes,” he said.
“You weren’t even supposed to be here. You were upset because I wouldn’t agree to call you every thirty minutes, and you flew here just to confront me about it.”
“I flew there because I was worried about you…because I kept having these visions in my head of something bad happening to you, and I needed to make sure you were okay.”
“Let’s not rehash that again.”
“Agreed,” he said.
“I am glad you called, though, because I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and this madness between us has to stop,” Sherita said. “It’s not like we’re going to end up together.”
This from the woman who said she loved him. Why was she ready to give up so easily?
“Umm…so,” Sherita stammered. “We can remain living together if it’s required for you and your brothers to secure this deal, or I can check with Dante to see if I can go ahead and move out. That’s probably the better option.”
Desmond felt a tightness in his throat. This isn’t how he imagined the conversation would go. “You want to move out?”
“At this point, I think it’s the best thing to do…for the both of us.”
“This point? What point is that?”
“You’re a very intelligent man, Desmond. You know what I mean. I’m…” She stopped herself from saying what was on the tip of her tongue because she didn’t want to offend him in any way, but then something came over her that didn’t care if he was offended or not. It was time to put her feelings first. “I’m done with falling in love with men who can’t love me in return. So I’m moving out. That way, I can come and go as I please without disturbing you, and you can entertain your guests without worrying about me.”
Entertain your guests. He already knew she was referring to women. He had told her before she was the only woman who had ever been inside of his house. So why was she alluding to something she knew wasn’t true?
Desmond closed his eyes and pulled in a breath. “Sherita, first of all, I told you I don’t invite women over to my house.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. Why would I lie about that?”
“Why do you do half the things you do, Desmond? I don’t know, and I don’t care. I just know this back-and-forth between us is over. I’ve already been checking out a few places, and I think I found a nice apartment. It’s only a studio, but that’s all I need short term.”
“And you’d rather move out of my house to go back to a studio apartment?”
“Definitely. You have a massive, five-bedroom house with all the trimmings, but’s it’s just as cold and shallow as your heart. I know I can do better.”
Desmond forced himself to breathe, feeling like his heart was slowing to a steady stop.
“Are you done talking?” Sherita asked. “I’m not feeling well and was just about to lie down.”
“How did we get here, Sherita?” Desmond heard himself asking when he couldn’t find any other words to say.
“Easy. I fell in love with a man who doesn’t want me.”
“I do want you. I’ve always wanted you, Sherita.”
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…if it wasn’t for this deal, you wouldn’t be the least bit interested in me. Desmond Champion doesn’t settle down. Desmond Champion doesn’t want a wife and kids. Desmond Champion is Asheville’s most eligible bachelor. He has all the women thinking that, like his brothers, he’d settle down too, but not Desmond Champion. He doesn’t marry for love. He marries for money. For the sake of a company. He could care less about the women he damaged along the way. And I know there were plenty of fools before me…plenty of women who thought they found a winner when all you are is a cold-hearted, womanizing, self-gratifying, narcissistic jerk with a fancy house and a big bank account. Yeah, I can do better.”
Desmond forced her words down. He didn’t want to, but he did, simply because she was right about him. She described the man he’d become. Hearing her say it made him realize just how long he’d lived this life, and how much he didn’t want it anymore.
“I’ll have your car back safe and sound on Friday,” she told him. “And don’t worry…I’m not coming to anymore of your family functions so you don’t have to feel awkward about my presence. I know how important it is to you to make sure they never find out about us, so I’ll stay away for good. And do me a favor, Desmond…don’t call me anymore. I just got this cell phone. I would hate to turn around and get another one.”
Sherita ended the call, leaving Desmond sitting alone, listening to the dial tone after the verbal beating she’d just given him. She’d never spoken to him this way before which let him know just how angry she was. Now he had to work twice as hard to convince Sherita he loved her or risk losing her forever.
CHAPTER 31
“I must say this is a surprise, Sherita,” Dante said as he leaned back in his chair at the office. “I wasn’t expecting a phone call from you.”
“I know. I was going to call Emily instead, but I didn’t make this deal with Emily. I made it with you, so I decided to call you personally.”
“What’s going on? Are you still at Myrtle Beach?”
“I am, and that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I’m not trying to hurt the business you and your brothers have worked so hard to build, and I hope this deal can go through without me, Dante, because I’m not coming back.”
Dante frowned and threw his head back. After absorbing the initial shock of it all, he asked, “Why are you not coming back?”
“Because I can’t live with him anymore.”
“With Desmond?”
“Yes. With him.”
Dante shook his head. She didn’t even want to say his name. What have you done, Desmond? “Well it seems like you already have your mind made up and so does Victor.”
“Good. Then I guess this means I’m free and clear.”
Dante shook his head again. The first call he answers on Thursday morning was a call to let him know his plan to get Sherita and Desmond together had failed. “Sherita, I may need you to attend another dinner if Victor calls for one. Do you think you could do that for me?”
“As long as I don’t have a job booked that day.”
“Fair enough.”
“Oh, and Dante, I have another
problem. I drove Desmond’s car here. Is there any way you can help me get it back to him and get my car down here to me?”
“Uh…” He couldn’t believe it was happening, and the sad part about it for him was, he liked Sherita. She was one of Emily’s best friends, and Emily didn’t know any of this was going on. “Yes, I can have it arranged. Did you leave your keys with Desmond?”
“I did.”
“Then you know when I ask him for the keys to your car, he’s going to want to know why.”
“I know. I just need my car back.”
Dante sighed. “All right. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks, Dante.”
“Thank you, Sherita. I’m sorry about all of this.”
Dante placed his phone back on the receiver then rubbed his eyes. This was partially his fault. He shouldn’t have been playing matchmaker with his brother anyway. He knew Desmond wasn’t ready to settle down. He’d been saying it for years. Desmond had a lot of issues he hadn’t been dealing with, and they were consuming him, ruining his life.
Dante picked up the phone again and dialed Emily. She was at the boutique this morning.
“Hey, you,” she answered. “What are you doing calling me so early?”
“Baby, I just got a phone call from Sherita.”
“Okay. Is she all right?”
“She’s not coming back, Emily.”
“What do you mean she’s not coming back?”
“I mean, she’s not coming back. She called to notify me of that and to arrange to have Desmond’s jeep picked up.”
“Wait…don’t do anything yet. Let me talk to her. This doesn’t sound like Sherita.”
“She was upset…seemed like she had her mind made up.”
