Real Love 4 (If Loving You is Wrong)

by H. H. Fowler

  “Is this your idea of a marriage proposal?” she asked as a way to buy herself some time.

  “Yes, Hunter. I’m asking you to marry me.”

  “Can I call you back? I need some time to process this.”

  “Take all the time you need, because I can’t imagine being without you in my life. I love you…”

  Kevin heard a click sound in his ear, which meant Hunter had disconnected from the line. He couldn’t determine if that was a good sign or not. However, he was deadly certain about one thing: If Hunter didn’t agree to marry him, it wouldn’t be because Shiloh Bethune had tossed a monkey wrench into Hunter’s decision, ruining the best thing that had ever happened to him. Kevin would simply work harder at wooing Hunter until she hadn’t any other desire but to make him her devoted husband.

  ****

  Devin’s Cay Armory Gun Shop

  After about fifteen minutes of browsing the sealed glass casings, Rena pointed to a chrome Smith & Wesson revolver and gave the store clerk a tight smile. She knew a little about guns by having edited tons of action movies. It was so stupid of Lewis to think that all she did all day was watch porn and get off on it. Even that after a period of time got mundane and tiring to the human body. She’d known porn stars, who’d been in the sex industry for years, who suddenly quit to live a less complicated life, so to speak. Because that was exactly what sex did – it complicated things.

  “How much?” Rena asked the clerk.

  “The 357 Magnum?” the clerk wanted to confirm. “Such a powerful weapon for a short little lady. Why on earth do you want to purchase such a gun?”

  Rena despised the clerk nosing around in her business, but she could tell he would make things difficult for her if she hardened her words. “It is strictly to be used for home defense,” she said, adding a little chortle. “Why else would I want to buy a gun?”

  “Well,” the store clerk said, giving Rena a wary eye before he jumped into the pros and cons of owning a revolver. “If you’re gonna go with the revolver, you’ve chosen well. Because I don’t fancy you to have good handling skills when it comes to clearing a malfunction.”

  That was presumptuous of you, considering you don’t even know me. “What do you mean?”

  “You see, ma’am, unlike a semi-automatic, a revolver is much more reliable. It has no moving barrels and it’s hard to incorrectly insert a magazine. On top of that, a revolver has no feeding malfunction. It has fewer moving parts and fewer springs to become loose. Good for storage and care. You could hide it for twenty years under a mattress. Then if an intruder comes up on you, you just pull it out and shoot. These are important features for someone who is not trained to handle the high capacity of a semi-auto.”

  “Wow,” Rena said, smiling. “Sounds like exactly what I need. But you still haven’t told me the cost.”

  “It’s on sale for a little less than sixteen hundred dollars…see?” the clerk said, giving the weapon to Rena for her to inspect. “The price tag is right beneath here…you have that kind of change?”

  Rena laughed. “Are you serious? I don’t like people wasting my time, which I’m certain I’m not about to do to you.”

  “Well, that’s certainly good to know. And while you’re at it, I’m gonna need to see two forms of identification, one preferably being an up-to-date visa – just to make sure you’re not a felon on the run. Also, you are required to take a thirty-question handgun safety test. It’s thirty dollars. If you fail it, you can take it as many times as you want until you pass it…”

  Rena did not care what she needed to do to purchase the weapon of her choice. One thing she did care about was her father’s millions and no one was going to inherit more of it than she was. She’d known Drake since he was a little boy and had always despised the way her father had taken a liking to him. She still could not believe that her father had inducted Drake into the will at the age of fifteen, leaving Drake to inherit the bulk of his estate. And to think that Drake would get everything by default if she contested the will, maddened the devil out of her.

  Lewis was in for a rude awakening if he thought she was going to let him execute that sham of a will. And she would be damned if she allowed Drake to glide on the winds of her wealth. Sorry, daddy, but someone has got to put an end to this foolishness, because you were clearly out of your mind when you made that will.

  But love is blind and lovers cannot see the pretty follies that themselves commit; for if they could, Cupid himself would blush to see me thus transformed to a boy.

  William Shakespeare

  Chapter Eleven

  Thursday Morning – 7:43 a.m.

  Sasha purposely arrived to work early and sat in the teacher’s lounge. She needed both the time and the quietude to clear her head, especially after that major argument she’d had with Drake the night before. They couldn’t come to an agreement about several things: Their living arrangement, their shouldering the responsibilities of the church and more recently, Drake’s injurious logic to reconnecting with Levi—the same man who’d almost ruined their marriage.

  But what Sasha failed to mention in her lively discourse with her husband was the reason she didn’t want Levi anywhere near her was because maybe she was fighting against a strong attraction for the man, as Hunter had so ably outlined. However, Sasha was never going to admit that to anyone, not even to herself. As far as she was concerned, such attraction was of the devil and it had come to pull her and Drake apart for good.

  She sat with her bible apps open to 2 Corinthians 10, highlighting verses 4 and 5 and reacquainting herself with words to empower her mind. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…

  Such scriptures were exactly what she needed to memorize, Sasha thought, to fight against these ungodly temptations. Where did they come from all of a sudden anyway? It wasn’t as if she was actively pursuing Levi. She had been successfully avoiding him. In fact, she was basking in her and Drake’s second chance at building a stronger marriage. It had to be the work of the devil – to incite such feelings for a man who was not her husband. And although in the back of Sasha’s mind, something was telling her that her attraction to Levi had always been there, lying dormant beneath the surface of her heart, she refused to give it credence.

  Drake was her first love and would always be her first love. How could she throw away years of deep affection and years of commitment she’d built with Drake? She married him, didn’t she? And intended to stay married to him. These feelings for Levi, whatever they were, had better fade out or find some other woman to terrorize, because Sasha vowed to herself that she would not be one to give in to the dangers of infidelity.

  The song by Millie Jackson, If Loving You is Wrong, suddenly began to play softly in the speakers above her head. It let Sasha know that Wally, who was in charge of the school’s radio and television broadcasting department had just entered into his office. He was old school and would serenade the morning with such nostalgic tunes until school began promptly at 8:30 a.m. Those teachers who arrived early never complained about it. In fact, they welcomed the atmosphere Wally created, citing that it prepared the mind for a hard day’s work.

  However, Millie Jackson’s brazen lyrics were not doing anything for Sasha except disturbing her time with the Lord. How could a woman sing about falling in love with a married man, who has a wife and two children and felt comfortable doing so? There was no future in that. That song was so wrong on so many levels. Sasha had never liked the song and she hated it even more now. She could not sit any longer and be entertained by the devil’s subtle vibes. She grabbed her belongings and exited the teacher’s lounge.

  Her heels clicked and echoed against the floors as she banked the long halls with her classroom in view. About thirty feet away, she saw a tall, well-built man step
out ahead of her. He seemed to have just exited her classroom, or maybe the utility closet that was next to it. In any event, he seemed out of place being there so early in the morning. Their eyes met briefly and even though they were some distance apart, Sasha recognized it to be Levi. She slowed her steps, not certain of her next move, while Levi, on the other hand knew exactly what his next move would be. Without a word, he turned away and continued through the main exit as if he hadn’t seen her.

  That action, although she was somewhat relieved that Levi hadn’t openly approached her, left a huge dent in Sasha’s heart. If anything, she was more confused over the reason why it appeared as if Levi was coming out of her classroom at ten to eight in the morning. She picked up her steps, whisked by her classroom and walked out of the main exit behind Levi. His long strides had already taken him halfway to the basketball court, but Sasha was determined to keep up with him.

  Levi’s walk was considered sexy by many women, a slightly bowlegged glide that was all masculine. Sasha was geared to give him a piece of her mind, but she couldn’t help but appreciate this sexiness and how powerfully his muscular frame moved across the basketball court.

  “Levi!” she called out to him.

  She knew he heard her, but he did not turn around; instead, he continued walking until he disappeared into the gymnasium and into the section where the boys showered and kept their personal lockers. Sasha curbed her steps, almost careening into Levi, who was slouching against a basin with his arms folded. His eyes were flooded with unspoken sentiments; however, Sasha mistook it for anger and it set her off even more.

  “What the devil is wrong with you, walking away like that?” she lashed out at him. “Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why didn’t you stop?”

  “Because I don’t want to be around you.”

  “Good to know. Now tell me why you were in my classroom at this time of the morning?”

  “No matter what I say to you, you won’t buy it anyhow.”

  “Don’t play games with me, Levi. My classroom is locked until I arrive in the morning to unlock it. I will report you to Mrs. O’Grady, if I have to.”

  Levi was putting back the mop into the utility closet after cleaning up a water spill near Sasha’s classroom door. But he decided not to explain that to her, but rather looked away to gather his thoughts. Vacillating between the uncertainty of Yasmine’s affection and the fight to keep his heart from being wrapped around Sasha’s little finger had left Levi discouraged about the prospects of a happy ending. He was just thirty years old and this love thing had him feeling like he’d lived three lives and had nothing to show for it.

  He especially identified with the classical refrain by Frankie Lymon, Why Do Fools Fall in Love? Because he certainly felt like a fool, wasting his years on two beautiful women who, it seemed he wanted more than they wanted him. Was he fighting a losing battle in trying to find someone who would love him the way that he deserved to be loved?

  “I hate what you’ve done to me,” he said, turning back to face Sasha. “And what upsets me the most is that you haven’t a clue about what you’ve done, or what you are continuing to do. So let me say this to you, Sasha and please make sure you hear me well: if I don’t completely disengage myself from this vicious cycle, I am literally going to die from a heartbreak.”

  He continued steadily. “After today you don’t ever have to worry about seeing me, hearing about me or me messing with you. I’ve had enough of this island and frankly, I’ve had enough of being perceived as an idiot by you and by everyone else. You should be relieved to know that I won’t be a threat to your sweet little marriage anymore. I’m leaving Devin’s Cay for good. Be happy with Drake and enjoy your life.”

  Sasha stared at Levi, as if his words hadn’t any effect on her. “Why were you in my classroom this morning?”

  “And hopefully, you might also find consolation in this: I am moving on with someone else,” he continued spitefully, knowing full well that Yasmine may have gotten cold feet about being in a relationship with him. Despite this, Levi was not going to let Sasha get away with playing the I-don’t-care card. She cared, because he could see it in her eyes. But did it really matter anymore? If he couldn’t be with Sasha, it was not good for his heart to hang around.

  “Now this girl, she’s a little rough around the edges, but she’s a beautiful person, both inside and out. She understands me. With her, I can be myself and I can talk to her about anything. She doesn’t judge me or make me feel less than who I am. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t live here and I’m working on moving to where she is.”

  The first sign of tears began to settle at the bottom of Sasha’s eyelids, but she kept her tone firm, repeating her question. “Why were you in my classroom this morning?”

  “I can’t say that I love her, but I sure do care a lot about her,” Levi said, looking past Sasha as his thoughts suddenly became affixed to those late night texts Yasmine was famous for. “She makes me laugh. She makes me have hope for tomorrow. And she certainly makes me forget about you.” This time, Levi turned completely away from Sasha’s penetrable gaze. “If I can’t have you, Sasha, at least allow me to love someone else.”

  “I am not stopping you from loving anyone else,” she spat. “Do you think I care about what you do with your life? After everything you did to me and Drake, you had every reason to suffer and to drown in your pity. It does my heart good that some poor girl is able to put up with your mess. Go to her, Levi, if that’s what you want. Go! Because it’s the best thing that could have ever happened for the both of us.”

  “Then why does it sound as if you’re crying?”

  “I am not crying!”

  Levi spun to face Sasha. “Then walk away and leave me the hell alone!”

  “You leave!” she countered. “Who do you think you’re talking to like that?”

  “Have it your way, Sasha. I’m done…I’m. Done. With. You!”

  Levi pushed off from the basin, attempting to brush Sasha out of his way. But she forcibly held onto his shirt. “Where do you think you’re going?” she cried. “I’m not done talking to you!”

  As badly as Levi wanted to escape, he did not want to cause Sasha any physical harm. He was 6 feet 4, 260 lbs of solid muscle. There was no way that Sasha could detain him. He spun around so swiftly that Sasha lost her balance and fell against his washboard abs. Levi’s hands accidentally gripped her hips for support. The sensation of how their bodies pressed against each other took them by surprise.

  The walls suddenly began to close in around them, trapping them in a world of raw desire. Levi swooped down and devoured Sasha’s waiting lips. He kissed her with passion, with his full strength, with pain and regret, cognizant of the fact that this woman would never be his. Sasha felt Levi’s power, and his want of her soul. But she dare not give herself completely over to him. She dare not. If Loving You is Wrong…

  The soulful timbre of Millie Jackson’s voice filled the space between her and Levi. The song was in Sasha’s head and despite the damage those lyrics could inflict upon her marriage, Sasha could not let go of Levi. Even when he pushed her up against the wall and the tears began to crawl down his jaws as he explored the insides of her mouth; she should have come to her senses. She was destroying this man and destroying her trust with Drake. Instead, she held on to Levi for dear life.

  Levi’s cell phone rang unexpectedly, creating a loud echo in the gymnasium. As inconvenient as it may have appeared in that moment, it was the way of escape that Sasha needed – the both of them needed. She pulled out of Levi’s embrace, forcing him to lower her feet to the floor.

  “Answer your phone,” she said, visibly humiliated over her actions. “And forget what just happened here, because we both know you are only wasting your time. I love my husband.”

  Levi didn’t protest, because deep down he knew Sasha was right. However, he was upset that he’d allowed himself to be carried away by t
he moment only to be struck in the gut by Sasha’s cold response to it all. He moved away from her and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He thought he was hallucinating when he saw that it was Yasmine’s number. But he was in no way prepared for the drama which was about to unfold.

  “Oh God, Levi, I’m so happy to hear your voice! Ronnie’s men are here in Tampa…they killed Albert…and they are threatening to kill you…you have to go to the police…”

  Levi tightened his grip around his cell phone “Wait, wait, wait….slow down, Yasmine. I don’t understand what you’re saying…I’ve been trying to reach you for several days…”

  “Listen to me, Levi. Your life is in danger…contact Officer Mitchell and let him know that I was tricked into that phone call…Ronnie is behind it and he is planning to come after you!”

  “You were supposed to be in a witness protection program. How the hell did Ronnie’s men get to you? Tell me where you are and I will come to you.”

  “Please, Levi, go to the police…I called you because I’m not certain if I will get the chance to speak to you again…this might be the last time you hear from me…”

  “I’m going to book the next flight out to Tampa,” Levi spat. “To hell with Ronnie and his men –”

  “No, Levi! You don’t have time…I don’t have time…”

  There was suddenly a lot of static in the line and it sounded as if Yasmine had disconnected. A few seconds later she spoke, sobbing to the point that her words were almost incoherent. “Contact Officer Mitchell and tell him that Albert has been killed…they shot him…three days ago….I have to go…I have to go…he’s coming to check on me…I love you, Levi –”

  “What the hell is going on, girl? Yasmine? Yasmine!”

  The connection was brutally cut and Levi lost it. He had forgotten that Sasha was behind him the entire time. He could see shock registering in her eyes and he knew it was because she realized Yasmine was the “other” woman that Levi had been referring to. The same woman who had falsely accused Sasha’s husband of rape. But Levi couldn’t care less what Sasha thought at that moment. She didn’t really mean him any good anyway, playing with his heart like that. He hastened his steps toward the exit, knowing his best bet was to get to the Devin’s Cay Police Station as quickly as he could.