Seduced By The General

by India T. Norfleet

  Seduced By The General

  India T. Norfleet

  Seduced By The General

  Copyright © 2013 by India T. Norfleet

  All rights reserved.

  www.indiatnorfleet.com

  No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior written consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

  Dedication

  To all of the hopeless romantics all over the world, this one’s for you!

  -1-

  “Where in the hell is my shoooooe?!”

  Brandie ran around her house searching like a madwoman for the mate to her black Coach pump with the cute burgundy buckle on the side. She loved those shoes and had built her entire outfit around them. She’d searched all four closets and the basement of her ranch-style home and still, no shoe.

  Think, Brandie…

  She dropped down to her knees for the third time and threw her arm under the couch for her Hail Mary, making sure she swept the floor with her hand. Nothing.

  She stood quickly, squinting her eyes to get a glance at the green neon clock on the stove.

  “Shit! Lord, please don’t let me be late.”

  It was 7:15. If she didn’t leave the house by 7:45, she would be late for her company’s biggest benefit dinner since the graphics company opened its doors twelve years ago.

  After checking the hall closet once more for the shoe, Brandie gave up and grabbed her all black with gold trim spiked heels from the pile of shoes that now almost completely blanketed the hallway, then scuttled to the bathroom to finish getting dressed. She stood in front of the full length mirror, making sure she was sassy but classy as she admired the burgundy cocktail dress waiting for her in the dry cleaner’s plastic, hanging on the bathroom door.

  She nodded, pleased with her last minute change in wardrobe before carefully removing the plastic and sliding her curvaceous frame into the snug fitting, knee-length dress.

  “Very nice Brandie,” she purred, turning to her side and admiring her perfectly shaped backside. The fight with the Spanx was definitely worth it.

  She applied a deep burgundy tinted lipstick to the full lips of her lightly made up face and made sure that her pinned curls were still in place before finally exhaling into a smile.

  “7:40. Perfect timing,” she whispered as she put on her black pea coat. She grabbed her keys from the coffee table by the door when she noticed something sticking out from underneath the other end of her coffee table. Sending up a silent prayer, Brandie walked over to the table and grabbed her pump, snatching it so quickly that she knocked some dusty magazines onto the floor.

  “Ugh,” she grunted. She knelt carefully, picking up the magazine and tossing it back on the table when a picture slid out onto the floor.

  “Perfect.” Kneeling down a third time to pick up the photo, she glanced at it and then took a seat in disbelief.

  “This can’t be—how did this get in here?” She thought she’d burned everything she owned with her ex’s face on it years ago. She couldn’t help the small smile that tickled the corners of her lips at the irony of Kahlil finally being the scum under her feet for a change.

  Brandie took one last look at the photo. Kahlil was washing her car, no shirt on. They had been together for three years and he’d lost a bet. The car was only the first thing he had to do for her. That was one unforgettable Indian summer, she thought. Shaking her head at the memory, Brandie crumbled the faded photo into the palm of her hand and tossed it in the kitchen trash can.

  After making a quick switch into her Coach pumps, she grabbed her small clutch purse from the closet and ran out the door.

  She revved up the Cherry Red Cherokee and pushed play on R. Kelly’s “Chocolate Factory”. She had butterflies of excitement at the thought of being a part of such a special night, but it was still a bittersweet celebration for her since Kahlil wasn’t there to witness her joy and see how far she’d come in the company in such a short time.

  “Wow,” she whispered. “Seven years to the day.”

  He’d left her seven years ago on this very day. She’d accepted the job offer from Sweet Cheeks Graphics and was so proud of herself. The suppressed memories came roaring back as she relived that horrible day.

  “Kahlil, Kahlil baby I got the job! I can't believe it. I got the freaking job! I am now the new marketing V.P. for Sweet Cheeks graphics!!” Brandie was beside herself with excitement. Her long, naturally curly hair was bouncing over her shoulders as she slammed the front door, threw her purse and briefcase on couch and took the spiral staircase two at a time until she reached the second floor landing and headed for Kahlil's bedroom.

  “Baby, did you hear me, I got—”

  “Congratulations Bran, I knew you would get the job.” Kahlil said as he smiled a half smile that never quite reached his eyes before he went back to packing the two extra large black suitcases sitting on the edge of his bed.

  “Uh baby, what's going on? Why are you packing?” Brandie asked a very troubled looking Kahlil before glancing around the damn near empty room.

  In the three years that they had been a couple, Brandie had never seen him or his personal space like this. His usual classically handsome pretty boy features were now gloomy and painfully sad. Her brows furrowed as an uneasy feeling settled over her while she waited for some sort of explanation.

  “I...I uh, have to go away for a while.” He mumbled while shoving his undergarments into the netted pocket inside of one of his bags.

  “Go away where, Kahlil? And why the hell am I just now finding out about this? Were you even going to tell me if I hadn't come home early?” Brandie asked. She was pissed but tried to control her anger as best she could.

  “Brandie trust me, now is really not a good time to come at me like this with all of these damn questions.”

  “You can't possibly be serious right now Kahlil?” A frustrated Brandie asked.

  “Brandie, I'm sorry but I have to do this for me.”

  “Do what? And where are you going that you need to pack like this? Is this about another woman? Am I the other woman, Kahlil?” Brandie yelled.

  “I'm going to the military. I enlisted.” He said as he walked over to his closet. He grabbed the remainder of his clothes from the practically deserted walk-in and stuffed them in the suitcase.

  “You're what? Wait, no. You know what, just tell me the truth. Just tell me that you’re leaving me because you’ve been living a double life and that you’re married with a wife and kids because I don’t believe that military bullshit for one minute. Cause I know that you wouldn’t dare make a life altering decision without us talking first.”

  “Cut out the drama, Brandie. You heard me. I’m serious and you know it.” His jaw twitched in anger as he zipped up the overstuffed bags.

  “Kahlil, why would you enlist in the army and not tell me until the day you're leaving? What in the hell did I do to deserve to be treated so harshly that you would make this kind of decision without any regard for my feelings?”

  “Brandie—I—don’t know. It slipped my mind.”

  “It slipped your muthafuckin’ mind?”

  “Brandie watch yo’ mouth.”

  “Watch my mouth?”

  “Bran you my damn echo now?”

  “You're lucky that that's all that's come out of my damn mouth right now.” Brandie said ignoring his smart ass remark.

  “Did you forget that we are or—excuse me—we were in a committed relationship? I mean, you could be killed in combat or an amb
ush attack!” Brandie shrieked through the aching knot of anger and despair trapped in her throat. Her eyes began to cloud over but she forced the heavy tears to stay behind her eyelids.

  “Yeah I thought about it but none of that is relevant right now. I don’t care about none of that.”

  “Kahlil everything I just asked you is-wait, I'm not relevant?” Brandie asked.

  “Brandie—no. You are not relevant to me right now. And I can be killed walking out the door or at a party or leaving work, or a muthafuckin’ gas station just like Dewayne did one month, two weeks, five days, four hours and thirty two fuckin’ seconds ago by some shady bastard who decided that they wanted to fuckin’ play God and take my life for fifty dollars and a gold chain!” Kahlil yelled as he yanked the empty top drawer from the dresser and threw it so hard across the room, it slammed into the wall and shattered into pieces.

  “And that's all the fuck that's relevant to me right now!” he yelled, his deep voice shaking.

  “Baby I know you're hurting right now about losing your cousin but enlisting in the army is not the answer. Leaving me is not the answer!” Brandie cried. She wanted to go to him, console him and whisper in his ear that everything would be okay but she didn’t know if she could handle Kahlil pushing her away anymore than he’d already done. She was still stunned at the open suitcases on the bed they shared many nights in.

  “Brandie it’s the only answer for me. I got to go. Take care, and congrats again. Oh and don't forget to lock up after I'm gone.” Kahlil grabbed up his suitcases and headed for the door.

  Not once did he look back over his shoulder. Not once did he say I love you. Not once did he say goodbye.

  The sounds of honking horns in the distance quickly jolted Brandie back to the present as she checked her make-up in the drop down mirror one last time. While adjusting her side mirrors, Brandie decided that she was done reliving the past and looking behind her. She was ready to give light to the possibility of finding new love.

  “Kahlil Young, wherever you are, I am so over you. If I never see you again, it’ll be too soon.” Brandie pulled onto the road, driving right past Kahlil as he pulled up in front of her house on the other side of the tree-lined street.

  -2-

  When Brandie walked into the ballroom, she looked on in awe at the transformation into a cream, chocolate and black themed affair. There were a diamonds and pearls accenting the room’s beauty inside of the Bronze convention center. It was almost packed to capacity with people from all walks of life. It brought so much joy to her heart to see so many people genuinely concerned with ceasing the all of the senseless violence in her community. Taking a seat at one of the round tables by the stage, Brandie pulled the participation form for tonight’s event and a pen out of her purse while glancing around the room looking for her friend and co-worker Erika. When she was done filing out the paper and noticed that there was no sign of her friend, so she began to survey the room more carefully and suddenly became more nervous than the night she’d lost her virginity.

  All the men in attendance were potential bidders for her and fifteen other women who volunteered to participate in tonight’s bachelorette charity auction sponsored by her job. It worried her to no end that the man she’d end up with would be a complete and utter jerk. Since she hadn’t been on a real date since Kahlil, she felt was overdue for a gentleman’s touch. Someone she could run away with—at least for the night.

  James, the lukewarm guy she was “kind of” seeing for almost a month now, stopped calling as much since she’d refused every intimate date he’d suggested. She knew she didn’t want things to get serious and get hurt. She shook the heavy thoughts away and smiled, straightened up her posture and walked over to the bar and hoped that a cocktail or two would calm her tattered nerves.

  “Good evening miss, what can I prepare or suggest for you tonight?” The handsome bartender with neat shoulder length dreads and piercing brown eyes asked.

  “Yes, I’ll—”

  “She’ll have a sex on the beach with extra cherries and if you don’t have that—a Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.”

  Speechless, Brandie closed her eyes and prayed to the high heavens that her hearing had somehow deceived her and that the man beside her was anyone but Kahlil Young. The same Kahlil that had slam dunked her heart into the trash compactor right before switching it on and grinding into tiny pieces of nothing. It took her a few minutes before she was able to gather her bodily functions to work together to turn to her left and face her past.

  “Kahlil?”

  “Hello Brandie.” Kahlil smiled as he accepted Brandie’s drink from the bartender and held the glass out to her.

  Slowly, Brandie backed away until she could feel a chair brushing up against the back of her legs halting any further movement. Utter shocked consumed her as she covered her mouth and almost toppled over the chair as she turned and shoved her way through throngs of dancing people and ran out of the room.

  Kahlil sat the glass on the bar and took a long, deep breath as he watched his former lover almost break her neck trying to get away from him.

  *****

  “Brandie! Girl, you didn’t hear me calling you when you took off out of there like a bat out of hell?” Erika asked, gasping for breath when she finally caught up to her friend on the outdoor patio.

  “Erika girl, I’m sorry. I was so focused on trying to get the hell out of there, that I didn’t hear anything but the beat of my own heart.”

  “Why, what’s going on?”

  “I just ran into Kahlil or should I say ran away from him.”

  “Damn Brandie, I’m so sorry but you know what? You’re going to have to go back in there, sooner or later and face the music honey.” Erika said gently rubbing her back.

  “I know but controlling my emotions was so much easier when I thought that I would never see the bastard again.” She sighed.

  “I understand but if I remember correctly, you said that you were over him. What happened to all that tough talkin’?”

  “Leave it to you to remember that but yo’ ass can’t remember to bring me back my damn purple sweater.”

  “Hey, focus on the task at hand.” Erika snapped her fingers in front of Brandie’s face. “This is not about me. This is about you and your emotional behind, so get it together. Because if it was me, I’d be in there strutting, flirting and doing everything short of showing my ass. I would’ve reminded him of what he lost out on when he walked out on me. Shit!”

  “Erika it’s not that I’m not over him, it’s— ”

  “Sweetie whatever it is, it shouldn’t matter if you’re over him. Now you are over this man, right?”

  “I, uh—I”

  “Brandie, there you are baby. I’ve been looking all over for you. Hey Erika.”

  Neither Brandie nor Erika missed a beat as they both swirled around at the same time and saw Brandie’s man heading right toward them.

  “Aww hell! Trick I don’t know how in the hell you ‘bout to get out of this one.” Erika whispered just as James closed in on them. “But good luck.”

  “Ericka, Erika! Please don’t you leave— H—hey baby! I thought you had to work late tonight. Did you come all the way over here to surprise me?” Brandie asked, trying to hide her suspicious inquiry by leaning into his embrace.

  “I did beautiful, but I can't stay. I only came to wish you good luck. I know how much tonight means to you. And while I really wish I could stay, I got to get back to the office.” He smiled as he took in her sultry appearance.

  Thank you Jesus.

  “Awww, do you really have to go? Brandie frowned while running her hand down his arm.

  “Yeah babe. Darnell wanted to come all the way over to the west side to grab some ribs from Auntie Betty's place. We got to get back to the office and finish prepping for this murder case by morning.”

  “Okay well I guess I understand.” Her fake pout was perfect.

  Erika stood off to the side taking in the gorgeo
us Michigan skyline. As soon as Brandie grinned at her, she mouthed, “Your ass is so lucky.”

  “Baby, don't be like that. I promise that I'll make it up to you.” James said as he hugged her again.

  “Well alright. I understand.”

  Okay, I better get out of here. Call me when you leave and let me know you made it home safe. Have fun.”

  “I’ll try. Brandie called after him. She shook her head just as James walked right pass Kahlil on his way to the exit.”

  “Girl, you better thank the Lord for that one.” Erika laughed.

  “Girl, I already did. That was un-fucking real.” Brandie said as they headed back inside.

  “Well, I guess your whole night is about to go out with a big ass bang cause Kahlil is headed this way. I really wouldn't want to be you right now. I won't be far if you need me.” Erika grinned walked over toward a group of her co-workers.

  ****

  “Brandie, can we please step outside and talk for a minute? I need—”

  “Kahlil, your chance to speak to me about anything was seven years ago before you walked out of my life. Now if you will excuse me, I have better things that I could be doing with my time.”

  “But Brandie, I still love you.”

  “Good, now you finally get to experience what it feels like to have some you love turn their back on you.” She turned and began to walk away.

  “Tell me something. Who was that dude I just saw you talking to?”

  “Why, what’s it to you?” Brandie stopped and turned to face him, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “I just want to know what type of man I’m up against.”

  She rolled her eyes. “This isn’t a competition, but since you are so damn nosy—yes that was my man.”

  “You’re lying, he wants to be, but dude ain’t yo’ man.”

  “Kahlil, how in the hell are you going to tell me who I’m dating?”

  “Just like I did and l’ll tell you something else, you belong to me. So whatever dude you are screwing, you better tell him it’s over. Or I will.”