Betrayed by Love (15 page)

Trevor looked through the items. “No man. Cheryl may do some wild stuff but nothing like that man.”

“All the evidence is here.”
Garth watched Trevor to see if maybe he knew something more and was taking up for Cheryl.

“She probably found some of this stuff at my place and called herself hiding it from me. You know I’ve bought practically every magazine
Eva has been in.”

“Stop making excuses for her.”
Garth was getting agitated. He was on the verge of telling Trevor some things he may not want to hear.

“I’m just saying. It’s obvious she can’t stand
Eva. But to do this. No. You’re on the wrong trail. I think you’re too close to this to figure things out. Let me assign someone who doesn’t know Eva personally.”

“I brought you in here since she’s your fiancé to see how you wanted to handle it.”

“There has to be some explanation for this. Let me call Cheryl and get to the bottom of this.” Trevor pulled out his cell phone.

“There’s more,”
Garth said. He could not let him make that phone call.

“We can talk about this later,”
Trevor said, as he dialed Cheryl’s number.

“
Cheryl’s been cheating on you,” Garth blurted out.

Trevor
hit the disconnect button on his phone without speaking to Cheryl. In a low voice, he responded, “And how do you know this? Did you find that out too when you weaseled your way into her house?”

“Wake up man. How do you think I had access to her personal belongings if she didn’t let me in?”

“I know you’re not telling me what I think you’re telling me.” Trevor stared straight ahead. By now, he was almost on the edge of his seat.

Garth
felt like he had no other choice but to spell it out. “I met Cheryl about a year before you did. We’ve had this on again off again sexual relationship.”

Trevor
’s hands started shaking. “When did it end?”

“It doesn’t matter. It happened and I just thought you should be aware of it.”

Trevor’s eyes turned a dark brown. “Why now?”

“Because I’m tired of her making a fool out of you.”

“So when did you say it ended?” Trevor asked, barely above a whisper.

“Just drop it.”

“No, you owe me that much.” Trevor’s voice escalated.

Garth
dropped his head. “A few weeks ago.”

Trevor
jumped up and pushed all of the stuff on the desk to the floor and reached over and grabbed Garth by the collar. Garth could feel Trevor’s breath in his face. He didn’t flinch. This time Garth let Trevor get his anger out of his system. “Bastard. Man you’re just as scandalous as the hoes out on the street. I knew you liked to be someone’s clean up man; but I never thought you were cleaning up behind me.”

Trevor
released the grip he had on Garth’s collar and he fell back in the chair. Garth rubbed his neck and said, “Man, I’m sorry. I would have told you sooner but I didn’t want our friendship to end over a woman.”

Trevor
started laughing uncontrollably. “Have Cheryl arrested because if the cops don’t get to her first, there might be a homicide tonight.”

“Calm down.
Cheryl’s not worth you ruining your life over.”

“You have to have it all don’t you.
Eva. Cheryl. Who else I’ve talked to have you messed with?”

Garth
understood Trevor’s anger, so that’s why he was patient with him. “Look, let’s get something clear. I knew Cheryl before you two got together. Eva was single when she and I got together.”

Trevor
clapped his hands. “So you finally admit it. You and Eva have been messing around. How long has it been going on?”

“I didn’t go after
Eva until you made it perfectly clear to her that she was not going to be a part of your life.”

“You know how I feel about
Eva. I told you I loved her but it would never work because she’s just too much of a drama queen.”

Garth
didn’t want to hear his lies. “You want to talk about me, but you’re not all innocent in all of this. You don’t know what it means to be faithful.”

“That’s my business.”

“It would be if you didn’t come back and brag about it.”

“You should have told me about
Cheryl man.”

“Maybe I should have, but I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Garth knew Trevor was telling the truth. As he thought back on it, he should have told Trevor as soon as he realized they were both doing the same woman.

“Do you know how embarrassing it is? We’ve sent out invitations. We just had that party. I want to punch you out so bad but it wouldn’t do any good.”
Trevor looked like a man defeated.

“You had your opportunity a few minutes ago but I suggest you don’t try it again.”
Garth was no longer in a generous mode.

“To think I was about to marry the woman.”
Trevor shook his head back in forth in disbelief.

“Truth be told, you don’t truly love
Cheryl either.”

“How you going to tell me how I feel?”
Trevor was slumped over in his chair.

Garth
felt sorry for him. “Then again, maybe you did. She was your problem, but now that I see she’s been harassing Eva, she’s mine.”

“I don’t care what happens to the trick. Like I said call the police because she’s going to pay one way or another for what she did.”

Garth stood up from behind the desk and walked to look out his window. “Maybe we should both calm down so we can handle this the best way possible. For now, I need to get back to the studio.”

“I’m calm.”
Trevor held out his hand. He tried his best to steady it, but Garth noticed it shaking.

“Take the rest of the day off. We have enough people here to take care of stuff.”

Trevor looked like a man defeated. Garth didn’t know what else to say to his friend at this point. Yes, he was wrong for continuing his affair with Cheryl once he realized she was involved with Trevor. Could he change the past? No, but he sure wished he could.

“Where is Garth?” Eva asked out loud. She had been at the studio all day and hadn’t seen him since he dropped her off. She wanted to speak with him, but refused to call him. She wanted to be sure he wanted her as much as she wanted him. She would not be the aggressor in the relationship. Eva reminisced about their love making sessions. She smiled as she recalled how close she now felt to Garth. He professed his love to her and showed her in so many ways. The smile faded however when she thought about the rock and note. Her nerves were frazzled. She slid into Mo’s chair with a heavy load.

“Diva, you look a hot mess. You would think with a fine man like that
Garth Morgan protecting you, you would be all smiles.”

“Mo, there’s more going on than you know about.”
Eva couldn’t hide her feelings even if she wanted to from Mo. He always seemed to know when something was wrong with her.

Mo twirled her chair around. “Now you know there’s not much that goes on here that I don’t know about.”

Eva couldn’t help but laugh. Mo was always a filter for information—whether he was on the giving in or receiving in of it. “What I’m about to tell you must stay between us?”

“Scout’s honor,” Mo said, as he crossed his heart.

“Uncross your fingers,” Eva joked.

“Okay. Pinky swear.” Mo held out his pinky to
Eva’s.

“
Garth and I are officially a couple.” Eva decided to concentrate on the positive news.

“It’s about time you forgot about that zero Troy.”

“You mean Trevor.”

“Whatever. I’m just glad you no longer tripping over him.  It took you long enough.”

“Tre’s a thing of the past.” The sparkle in Eva’s eyes disappeared.

While doing her hair, Mo asked, “What’s with the sour face if things are so great with you then?”

“Whoever this fan is has gotten on my nerves. I’m used to the hate mail but Mo the stuff they’ve said in those letters. I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.”

“I’m sure
Garth won’t let anything happen to you,” he assured her.

“He can’t be around twenty-four seven,”
Eva said, although she wished he could be. Eva had her eyes closed as she waited for Mo to finish.

“Speak of the devil,” Mo whispered in her ear.

“No need to mess with perfection,” Garth said, as he stood near the doorway watching Mo put the finishing touches on Eva’s hair.

“Flattery will keep you in my good graces,”
Eva flirted.

“I just wanted to let you know I was back on site. I’ll be backstage scanning the audience while you tape.”

“What did you find out about the stationery?” Mo asked.

Garth
hesitated responding, so Eva said, “Mo’s cool. You can talk in front of him.”

“I’ll prefer to wait until we can go somewhere and talk privately.”
Garth placed his hands in his pockets as he waited on Mo to finish with Eva.

Mo said, “Don’t mind me. I’m almost through with her and you can have her all to yourself.”

Eva laughed because as strong of a man as Garth was he seemed to be uncomfortable with some of the comments Mo made. She was confident that once Garth got to know Mo, he would love him just like she did. He could be a little over dramatic, but underneath the drama, he was a good friend.

After Mo finished, she and
Garth walked down the hallway to the stage entrance. Garth said, “You’re well loved. You should be proud of yourself.”

Eva
scanned the audience and said, “I’m blessed. I thank God for this every day. Sometimes it’s hard to believe a little old girl from Shreveport, Louisiana could have all of this.”

“You deserve this and so much more,”
Garth responded.

She was so caught up in talking to
Garth, she didn’t pay attention to her intro music. John yelled into her earpiece, “You’re due on stage.”

Eva
kissed Garth and rushed out on the walkway. She waved at her audience as they cheered her name, “Eva, Eva.”

“Good day America. Today it’s my pleasure to bring you one of my favorite comedians Ms. Sherri Shepherd.”

The crowd cheered as Sherri walked out on the stage. Eva enjoyed interviewing Sherri as they talked about her sitcom and her day gig as also a talk show host. By the time her interview with Sherri was over, Eva felt as if they were old friends. “Sherri, I want to thank you again for coming on the show. I hope this won’t be your last time.”

Sherri assured her she would be back on.
Eva addressed the audience, “Our time together has come to an end. Until next time, do something nice for yourself.”

Eva
and Sherri both signed some of the audience autographs. Eva made sure her assistant Jackie presented Sherri and the rest of her guests with a gift bag before going to her office. Garth was right behind her. “You move a mile a minute,” he said.

Now that the show was over,
Eva could now concentrate on her problems. Once she was seated, she said, “Okay, give it to me straight. What did you find out about the pad?”

“You don’t waste time do you?”
Garth sat on top of her desk near her.

She was extremely hot and it wasn’t because of the temperature in the room. In fact, the air conditioner was on full blast. Having
Garth in such close proximity reminded her how he felt inside of her when they made love over the weekend. She picked up a tissue out of the box on her desk and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Was it your trifling friend Trevor playing a practical joke?”

“I wish it was that simple. Promise me you won’t go off.”
Garth stared her straight in the eyes.

Eva
didn’t flinch. “I don’t make promises I might not be able to keep.”

Garth
reached for her hand and caressed it. “I found some incriminating evidence at Cheryl’s. I think she’s the one behind the hate mail.”

Eva
was livid. She jerked her hand away. “That skank. Oh she wants to play dirty. I can play dirty. Wait until I get my hands on her.”

“Hold on. If she is the one behind it.”

“If, you just said, you found some evidence proving she is.”

“I have to make sure before I go accusing her. Otherwise, she’ll bulk and we’ll never find out if it was her.”
Garth didn’t sound too convincing.

“What did you do with the stuff you found?”
Eva asked.

“It’s in a safe place for now.”

Eva’s desk phone rang. She saw Jackie’s number displayed across the screen so she answered. “I thought I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed,” Eva snapped.

Jackie responded, “
Trevor is on the line. He says it’s urgent.”

“Okay, put him through.” She looked at
Garth. “That’s your partner.” She hit the speaker button. “What’s up Tre?”

“
Eva I’m sorry.”

Eva
looked at Garth and then back at the phone. “Okay. I knew that, but why are you calling?”

“I just called to apologize on how I treated you. I should have let you go years ago. Don’t tell
Garth I admitted this but he was right. You and I were never meant to be. You deserve better than me.”

“The first thing you’ve said that I can agree with.” By now
Eva was leaning back in her chair.

“When you see
Garth tell him I want to talk with him.”

“You can tell him yourself.”

Garth spoke up for the first time. “What do you want Tre?”

“I don’t think
Cheryl is behind it. As much as I can’t stand her guts right now, I did some cross checking and some of the times that Eva was threatened, I know for a fact Cheryl was out of town.”

Garth
forehead tensed. “That can’t be. All evidence points to her.”

“Well, I’ll be seeing her tonight so I’ll let you know what happens.”

“Are you going to confront her?” Garth asked.

Trevor
responded, “Yes, about everything.”

“Maybe you should do it over the phone. You don’t need an assault charge.”

“Oh, I’m calm. She’s not worth me going to jail for. Believe that.”

“I’ll meet you there.”
Garth stood up.

“No man, I got this.”

“Call me if things get out of hand.”

Eva
watched in amazement. Only two men could get along after finding out that the other had been messing around with their mate. Let that be one of her female friends and World War III would have broken out. There would be no making up. The friendship would be over.