by Jaye McCloud
Derrick cuts in, his voice rising. “She hasn’t mentioned that she’s seeing you.”
“Whether she’s mentioned it or not, the fact remains, she and I are dating and we have been for a while now. So, I’m sure you’ll understand that I don’t appreciate your repeatedly throwing yourself at her.”
“With all due respect, Antonio, I don’t recall that I’ve ever thrown myself at Tiressa.”
“Apparently, we disagree. Not that it matters much. She’s with me and there’s no room in our relationship for a third wheel. You need to step out of the picture.”
“What exactly does that mean, step out of the picture?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like. Sever your friendship with Tiressa.”
“I don’t believe that’s a decision for you to make. Tiressa is—”
“My woman and I have zero intentions of sharing any part of her with you or any other man.”
“Look, Antonio, I’m fully aware of the power you wield here at B&S, but my friendship with Tiressa is a personal matter. I don’t—”
“What you don’t want to do, Derrick, is continue down this path because you’re not going to like where it leads you.”
Shaking his head, Derrick lashes out. “It’s never going to work; everyone knows how Mrs. Bentini feels about…” His voice suddenly trails off as if he just realizes what he’s saying; but he doesn’t back down, matching Antonio glare for glare, before finally saying what’s on his mind. “Are you serious about Tiressa or are you just looking for a good time?”
“That’s none of your damn business. Tiressa is no longer your concern. Stay away from her.” After throwing out that command, he stands up, giving Derrick no choice but to stand up as well; it is an obvious signal that the discussion has ended. As Derrick is walking to the door, Antonio stops him.
“Derrick. Consider yourself warned. You only get this one.”
***
“What the hell was that Derrick?!” Jason demands sharply as they finish their racquetball match and head towards the locker room.
“Sorry, I guess I was taking it out on you.”
“Hell, I figured that much out for myself. What I want to know is -what’s got you so pissed?”
“Your brother!” Derrick responds heatedly.
“What are you talking about? Which brother? I have six of them, you know.”
“Antonio!” Derrick fumes recalling his conversation with the arrogant powerful brother of his friend.
“Okay, we make progress…what did Tony do that has you so livid?”
“He had the audacity to order me to stay away from Tiressa!”
“What do you mean, stay away from her?” When Derrick hesitates and it appears he’s not going to answer, Jason continues. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to date her again?”
“What if I am?” Derrick demands.
Shrugging his shoulders, Jason responds. “Why would Antonio care if you’re interested in Ti?”
“Because he’s dating her!”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“Are you saying you didn’t know?”
“They aren’t involved like that! Are they?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying. He’s seeing her and today he had the balls to order me to stay away from her.”
After letting out a low whistle, Jason ask, “Damn. What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to give up my friendship with Tiressa.”
“You know you want to be more than just her friend, Derrick.”
“Even if I do, he doesn’t have the right to demand that I completely stop seeing her.”
“Maybe not, but you have to admit that no man wants his woman to have a close male friend, with the hots for her, buzzing around trying to get at her honey.” Jason laughs at his own wit.
“Come on man, this isn’t funny. Your brother is acting like a damn Neanderthal, he thinks he owns her.”
“That may be, but as your friend, I feel I should warn you that of all my brothers, Antonio is the most possessive when it comes to what he considers his. If he told you to step off, it’s probably in your best interest to stay away from her. You don’t want to cross him Derrick.”
***
“So what did you find out?” The gruff voice asks with reluctant resignation. Letting out a heavy sigh, Antonio gives his report. “I followed her to her parents’ home a couple counties away. I found out that she’s been visiting her parents a lot more over the past two years –since that time she went to help nurse her grandmother and stayed for an extended period, remember?”
When he receives a brief distracted nod, he continues. “During the times that she’s there, she basically keeps the same routine; which is to visit with close family members and sometimes she hangs out with a few friends. Lately, however, she’s been seeing an old boyfriend.” At this point Antonio pauses before continuing hesitantly. “They appear to be pretty serious. He shows up at her parents’ home every day that she’s there.”
“Do you have any information on him?” William Bentini grates out between clenched teeth.
“Yes I do. But I’ll ask again, big brother –why does it matter when you have a fiancée?”
Holding Antonio’s sardonic stare, William responds. “It’s complicated. You should understand how convoluted things can get Antonio, seeing as how you’re now seeing Tiressa.”
Gray eyes clash with blue in a contest of strength before Antonio swings his gaze to the window and then just as quickly fix his eyes back on his irritatingly overbearing brother. “I’m not giving her up Will, so save your breath.”
“In case you have failed to notice little brother, I have enough lady problems of my own.” They look at each other in unspoken agreement. Antonio will keep William’s confidence in regards to Katherine, and William will keep Antonio’s secret in regards to Tiressa.
***
Kathy and I are walking towards our offices, when William Bentini stops us. “Good morning ladies, Ms. Hawkins do you mind if I have a word with Ms. Walters?” Kathy and I exchange quick uneasy glances. “Sure, no problem, Mr. Bentini”, I say in a rush. Swinging my gaze back to Kathy I ask her to call me when she’s ready, then watch as he walks Kathy in the direction of his office.
“Hold all my calls for the next ten minutes, Mrs. Bradley.” William Bentini tosses over his shoulder to his administrative assistant, as he ushers Kathy into his office with a firm hand at the small of her back.
As soon as the door closes, Kathy rounds on him. “You have no right herding me in here like this! You’re going to cause people to talk!”
“I wouldn’t have to herd you if you would stop avoiding me and answer my damn calls,” he snarls right back, meeting her heated glare for heated glare.
“We have nothing to discuss William! I am employed by your mother not you, so you can go find someone else to boss around.” She flings over her shoulder as she turns to leave.
“Contrary to what you seem to think, we have a lot to fucking talk about! Like, where do you go when you leave town?”
That stops Kathy in her tracks, sending a chill down her spine. She pivots looking up at William with frightened eyes. Oh my gawd, he knows! “Wh…What do you mean?” She stammers, stalling as she desperately tries to think of the best way to respond.
“Who the fuck is Todd Whitman?!” William barely gets the hated name past his stiff lips before he grabs Kathy by the arms.
“What? How do you know about Todd?” She asks completely perplexed.
“Never mind how I know about Todd!” William brings her toe-to-toe with him. Then it suddenly occurs to her. “Oh my gawd! You had me followed! Are you having me followed Will!” When he stubbornly refuses to answer, she breaks away from him. “How dare you! How dare you invade my privacy that way—”
“I dare anything I damn well please!” He attempts to grab Kathy again, but she darts out of his reach. “William, you threw me away for a
woman your family—no, correction—your mother approves of and you have the utter audacity to interrogate me about another man in my life!” Kathy didn’t know which emotion was prevailing more –hurt or anger. Or relief.
“Kathy, I didn’t throw you away, you know I love you!”
“No! No, William! You don’t have the right to say those words to me!” Kathy shouts, angrily swiping tears from her cheeks.
“Kathy. Listen to me—”
“What are you going to tell me that you haven’t already said before? You want me to switch roles from gullible invisible girlfriend to stupid invisible mistress! I’m not going to do it Will! I deserve better than that! And if you can’t give me what I need…what I deserve… then don’t you dare stand in the way of the man who will!” With those parting words, Kathy storms out of William Bentini’s office before he can stop her.
***
I love have my office right next door to Kathy, it’s very reassuring knowing that if I need her, she’s close by. After giving two quick wraps on her door and hearing her faint “enter”, I do so with a smile and take a seat in my favorite chair in front of her desk. Getting my first look at her face, it’s clear to see that something is wrong. I bet William Bentini is involved somehow –the way that he practically manhandled her earlier in the corridor, it wasn’t hard to predict that their conversation probably wasn’t going to end happily. Leaning forward on the edge of my chair, I ask, “Kathy, what’s the matter?”
She shrugs likes it’s no big deal. “The usual. William…” Her voice chokes and she drops her eyes to her desk. “Come on girl, to hell with it. Let’s leave work early and go have a drink. We have our cells in case we’re needed.” Kathy thinks about it for all of one second before readily agreeing.
***
“Where the hell have you been? It’s damn near one in the morning.”
“Antonio! What are you doing here?”
“You haven’t answered my question. I’ve been sitting here for hours, calling you, waiting for you to get home. Where the hell have you been?”
“At Kathy’s. We had a couple of drinks and I ended up crashing on her sofa.” His eyes immediately darts to my stomach, just before he asks, “Are you sure you should be drinking?”
I know exactly what he’s thinking. “Yes, there is absolutely no reason for me not to have a drink or two.” A look of disappointment crosses his stern features before he takes my elbow. “Let’s continue this conversation inside please.” Without saying another word, we walk to my apartment where he takes the keys out of my hands and unlock the door, ushering me inside. Neither of us says a word until he turns from securing the door and steps into my living room.
Walking over, he takes a seat on the sofa next to me, and my body immediately warms from the heat radiating from his big frame. This time when he speaks, his voice is low, calm. “It’s been over a week and you haven’t called. You’ve been avoiding me. Should I assume that we are no longer seeing each other?” His elbows are resting on his thighs, hands dangling between his open legs. Instead of looking at me, his head is kind of bowed and he’s addressing his question to the floor. I’ve never seen him act like this before.
“Yes, I have been avoiding you.” I admit. Then leaning into his side, I hug his bulging biceps to my breast as I trail my fingers down his long muscular arm. Holding one of his big hands in both of mine, I go on. “But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t missed you Antonio.” He raises his head and looks at me intently. “Then why haven’t you called?”
“I don’t know…I started to at least a hundred times. But then, I would think that maybe it’s better if we don’t see each other—”
“How the hell can you think that”, he practically snarls just before he bends his head and takes my lips in a passionate, hungry kiss. I enjoy the feel of him sucking on my tongue before breaking the sensual contact.
I want him to understand what I’m feeling so I try to explain. “Antonio, you are so sure of what you want, that you make it all seem so simple. While I on the other hand, I’m busy trying to keep up and sort out my emotions. I have to work hard at pushing back against my fears.”
“If you believed in me, believed in us, those fears would be nothing. I love you. Why can’t you believe in that?”
Although we haven’t really discussed our past relationships, I need for him to understand why I feel the way I do. “Probably because the last time I believed those words, the man who said them left me for another woman, even though we were married and he was supposed to be committed to me.” I pause to wipe at a lone tear and notice that Antonio’s jaws are clenched tight as he’s working to control his emotions.
“Do you still love him?”
“No. Absolutely not.” I say without hesitation and with complete honesty.
“Then why this?” He says as his thumb gently wipes away another tear.
“Believe me it’s not for him. I stopped shedding tears over him a long time ago.”
“Then why Tiressa?”
“Because I remember how devastated I was. His betrayal hurt me in ways I can’t explain. I don’t want to ever experience that kind of pain again.”
Jaws still clenched, he asks, “And you think I will do that to you?”
“I trusted him and he almost destroyed me.”
“That’s not an answer.” Holding his penetrating stare, I answer truthfully. “I don’t know.”
“Well, I guess I asked for that.”
Caressing the side of his face, I try again to convince him to see my point of view. “Antonio, you want it all and you want it right now. Beyond wanting you, I’m not sure of a lot of things. But I know that I’m not ready for a baby. And even though you’ve given me all that money, I want to keep my job…at least for now. I need for our relationship to remain between us—”
“Hell No! Do you really think I’m going to continue sneaking around, dating you in secret?! What the fuck, Tiressa?”
I stand up from the sofa and take a few steps away. “Antonio—”
“No, Tiressa. You’re my lady and I’m proud to be with you.” He moves so fast that I don’t have time to jump out of his reach. Leaping up off the sofa, Antonio gently takes me down to the carpet in some fancy wrestling move he must have practiced a gazillion times, it was executed so smoothly.
Catching my breath, I admonish him. “Damnit Anto— ” I get no further before he takes my mouth in a dominating clash of tongues and teeth and lips.
Now that we are both quietly panting, he admits, “I love when you get feisty. I want to take you to bed.” There’s no mistaking that, not with how hard the bulge of his shaft is nudging into me. “I’m going to strip our clothes off and sink into you.” He growls deep in his throat as he begins to unbutton my blouse.
“No Antonio, wait. I wasn’t completely honest with you when I said I didn’t know why I hadn’t called you.” When I see his irritation, I rush to continue. “Since you refuse to wear a condom, I’m going on the pill. One of the reasons I hadn’t called is because I need time for my birth control medication to take effect. It could throw things off if I have unprotected sex right now.”
He looks quietly into my eyes for a long intense minute. “I’m sorry Baby, I don’t agree with that. I want to give you time, I really do, but I don’t think I can. I love you, I want to be with you.” He leans over, capturing my lips in a brief kiss before rolling to his feet and helping me up off the floor. Looking up at him, I know that I should be upset with his stubbornness, his single-mindedness, but I’m not because he loves me, and I’m so turned on by that. But as much as I want him—and I do want him—now that I know he has no qualms about getting me pregnant, I will have to resist his seductive charm. At least until I’m safely on the pill, which isn’t going to be easy since my body is yearning for the feel of his.
“So, does this mean that we can’t make love tonight?” He asks with a hopeful lift of his eyebrows.
I don’t have the nerve to tell hi
m about the morning after pill that I took, and how there were longer lasting side effects that has made it impossible for me to start my birth control pills right now. Damn, we just made up and I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m going to have to put him off until I can start taking my birth control pills.
“No, Tony, we can’t.”
“Then when?” He asks kissing the side of my neck.
“About two weeks.” I answer with a wince.
“Damn!” He mumbles as he releases me. “I can’t stay here and not make love to you. I’m going home, straight to a cold shower… maybe that will cure this raging hard on.” He says with a frustrated scowl.
Holding his hand, I walk with him to the door. “Good night, Tony.” Our lips meet in a gentle kiss. “Good night Baby.” Not until I’m in my lonely bed do I realize that I didn’t get Antonio to agree to keeping our relationship a secret. In fact, I don’t think he changed his mind about anything.
Chapter 16
Kathy and I are meeting with Mrs. Bentini today in her office at B&S. I smile my usual greeting at Terrance as I clear reception a.k.a. security and head to the elevators in the lobby on the first floor.
“Good morning pretty lady.” Allen
I almost lose my balance as I spin around in complete surprise. “Allen.” I breath, unable to do anything more. “When did you get back?”
“Yesterday. You’ll never know how hard it was not to call you.”
Allen moves as if to embrace me, but I take a quick step back. “Allen, we need to talk—”
“Good. Because I want to show you proof that I’m no longer married.”
Seeing that people in the lobby are paying attention to us, I try to stop him from having this conversation in such an inappropriate public place. “Allen, we need to talk, but not here, not at work.”
