Coveted (21 page)

“
She probably is, and I can’t say that I don’t deserve it if she is, because I do.” He looks across the table at me with cultivating green eyes and says “It doesn’t matter to me either way. I love her, and somehow I’ll make her see that we belong together.”

Damn, what is Naima doing to these men that they can not think straight if they are not with her? What kind of power does she have? I can see I will not make headway with Kaden. His heart is set on Naima. He really does love her. It is not anything he said in particular, it is the look in his eyes when he mentions her name. I want a man that loves me like that one day. I wonder if she knows how genuinely he really loves her.

Kaden was stands up to leave.

“
Kendall, thank you for the coffee, and the pleasant company. If you ever need someone to show you around D.C., I have plenty of friends, so please don’t hesitate to look me up.” He hands me his business card. “Take care.” Just like that, he walks out of Starbucks and is gone.

Naima has it all - two good-looking men in love with her, two beautiful children who adore her, two parents who would lay down their life for her. What the hell do I have? I have a deceased mother, no children, no friends, no man. However, I do have a new family that I am getting to know. Who did I piss off in a previous life? Geez. I finish my coffee and head back to Damir’s building. I still have business to attend to. Glimpsing over the directory, I see that his office is located on the seventh floor. Goodie! I am in the mood for some afternoon excitement. He has not answered any of my calls since we first spoke on the phone. I have not even seen him since our encounter at the house. I cannot wait to see what his reaction will be to me surprising him at his job.

Catching the elevator with anticipation mounting, I practically sprint when the doors open on the seventh floor.

I walk through the door as if I own the place. The receptionist is gazing at me in disdain. I don’t care she don’t know me. Screw her. I walk up to her desk with as if I’m a queen.

“
Damir Collins please.” She looks me up and down slowly. What a hater! She’s probably mad because she will be stuck behind that desk for the rest of her life, being a human switchboard. I can’t believe Naima wanted me to reduce myself to this. Please.

“
Mr. Collins is unavailable at the moment.” I look at her in contempt.

“
You get him for me right now, or I will make you so sorry you crossed me, you won’t be able to answer phones ever again in your pathetic, little life. Now think about that long and hard before you make a decision.” I tell her with a smile. She appears taken aback by my tone. That serves her right. Who does this four-eyed, smart-talking bitch think she is?

“
I’m sorry ma’am I didn’t realize the urgency of the matter. Mr. Collins does have a free moment. I must have had my times me- messed up. His office is four doors down the hall on the left. You can go right i- in,” she stutters.

I had the bitch scared. That’s on her. She should have done what she was told the first time.

I check the handle and it is unlocked. I don’t bother to knock. For what? So he can turn me away. When I enter, he has his back to me and is on a phone call. I quietly close and lock the door behind me. I then step out of the dress I am wearing. I do not have on anything underneath. I figured it would be easier to get on his good side if I was completely nude. He is engrossed in his conversation because he has yet to notice that he is no longer in his office alone. I go over and sit on the edge of his desk. He turns and glances at me.

“
Oh, shit! I have to go,” he says to whoever is on the other end of the line. Slamming down the phone, he turns to me.

“
How the hell did you get in here? I never told you where I work. How did you find me? Where the fuck are your clothes?” He shouts in a rage.

“
Baby,” I say scooting across his desk and rubbing my hands on his chest. “What does it matter how I got in or found you? All that matters is that I am here, ready and willing.” I lie back on his desk and open my legs to give him a better look. I can see the pulse in his neck thumping away.

“
You know you want me, why fight it?”

“
Emeri, you are crazy. What is wrong with you?”

“
D, don’t be that way. We shared a moment at the house. Come get it baby, its here for you.” I hold up a pierced nipple for him, showing that I had added a little something extra since the last time he saw me.

“
Stop calling me fucking D. You are not entitled to call me that
ever
. I’m not your baby either.” He moves to the other side of the office.

“
I mean it Emeri, put your shit on and get out of my office before I have to put you out, and you will not like the way I handle it either.”

My nice demeanor immediately shut down. “Don’t you
ever
threaten me,” I tell him in a menacing voice. I get up and walk over to him. When I reach him, I put my hand to his throat, pressing the blade between my fingers against his Adam’s apple.

“
Let me explain to you how this is going to go. You are going to fuck me the way I want to be fucked. Do you understand?” I can feel his heart beat faster.

“
Good I see we understand each other.” Still pressing the blade to his throat, I use my other hand to cuff his hands together. “You like that don’t you?” Silence follows. “Answer me damnit!” I press the blade harder until I see a thin line of blood drip down his neck.

“
Yes, I like it.” He obliges, with anger.

“
Good baby. I knew you would. That was just a little taste of what is to come. You got off the hook today but do not worry I will be in touch.” I put my dress back on and head out the door, and blow him a kiss before I exit.

Damir 21

My life was getting way out of control. How does a man go from one woman and having no drama, to having three women with nothing but drama? I was supposed to be the good guy. How did all of this happen? Where did I go wrong? I felt trapped. There was no way that I could tell Naima how crazy Emeri was acting. The first thing she would want to know is why she was acting that way and what was I supposed to tell her, that I let Emeri suck me off in the sunroom while she was tending to her hurt child. That was a disaster waiting to happen. I cannot believe I did something so stupid. Who could have known that Emeri would turn out to be a bonified class “A” psycho, the type of woman that I was trying very hard to avoid. Now the question was how was I going to deal with it.

I walked over to the mirror so I could examine my neck for about the fifteenth time today. Staring at the thin scratch on my throat, I wanted to kill that bitch. I had wanted to do her bodily harm in my office yesterday when she held the blade to my throat but I knew that she wanted me to retaliate so she could do something even more drastic. Who knows if that psychotic bitch had a gun in her purse or not? This whole situation was my fault. I should never put anything past a woman. But this was new to me. I am not one that is used to dealing with drama. I have no idea what to do. The one thing I did know was that yesterday would not be the end. Crazy was crazy and one thing that I definitely knew is that Emeri is crazy and that she would not stop until she was stopped. This would continue until I found a way to end it and since I had no way of knowing how I was going to do that, I think the best thing to do is to cool my relationship with Naima for awhile. I did not know exactly what Emeri’s psycho ass was capable of doing and I did not want Naima caught up in the middle of something she had nothing to do with. What could I say; her sister was definitely a loony chick.

I went down to the basement to get a drink from my bar. Picking up the glass I made of vodka and tonic on the rocks, I stared at the ice. I was in love with Naima. I had been looking for a woman like her all my life, a woman with class, beauty, a brain, ambition, a good mother, sincere personality and eyes that could seize your soul. I finally find her and I ruin the whole damn thing. All it took was an exotic woman, a turned back, a weak moment, a little persuasion and I threw it all away. Just like that. I was disappointed in myself. I thought I was stronger than most men were. When presented with an opportunity like that one, I should have had the common sense and the strength to walk away, too late for regrets now. Either way you look at it, I knew I had to let Naima go.

Tossing the glass up, I downed my drink in one swallow. Putting the glass back on the bar, I reached for the phone, might as well call her and get this whole ordeal over and done. The sooner I could cut her off, the sooner I could find a way to deal with Emeri and the sooner I could see if there was a way to get Naima to understand why I had to put us on hold for a minute.

Dialing her number I leaned on the bar stool waiting for her to pick up. She answered on the forth ring. For a second there I thought I would be off the hook and could leave her a voicemail.

“Hi Baby, I was just thinking about you.”

“Good things I hope.”

“Very good things.” I could hear the smile in her voice. It made what I was about to say that much harder. I had to clear my throat twice.

“There is something I need to talk to you about.”

“Better not be any more pregnant ex-girlfriends, ok,” she laughed, “I’ve given you your one gimmie. Anything outside of that are grounds for a fight.” I couldn’t seem to get the words to come out.

“No, it’s not another pregnant woman, shoot; the one that is pregnant was an accident. But it has nothing to do with that.” I cleared my throat again.

“Baby, you’re starting to scare me, it can’t be that bad. Just spit it out.”

“Ok,” I paused for a moment and then continued slowly “I can’t see you anymore.”

There was silence on her end. It was almost as if I could hear her heart breaking on the other side of the phone. I hated myself at that moment. She was going through a separation with her husband and I was supposed to be helping her forget all about him. Instead, here I was, another man that was hurting her, however unintentional it may be, I was hurting her nevertheless.

“Naima? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here. I was just coming to grips with reality. My reality seems to be a shallow well that I keep falling down and there does not seem to be a bottom. I mean, I just keep falling. There is no end in sight and nothing for me to grab onto to break my fall.”

I could hear the pain in her voice.

“Naim-”

“Damir just forget it ok. You had your fun. You got what you wanted let’s just let it go, alright.”

She hung up the phone. I sat on the stool holding the phone up to my head. Damn, my life was fucked the hell up. My ex was pregnant, I had to let my current boo go and I was stuck with the spawn of Satan. I finally hung up the phone and did something that I should have done long ago. I got on my knees and prayed.

“Lord, please forgive me for all the wrongs that I have committed. I know that I deserve punishment for the things that I have done but I pray that you will show me mercy and save me from myself. I don’t know where my life is headed but I pray that you will guide me in the direction that I need to go and make me more aware of the choices I make. Amen”

Lying in bed, watching my favorite episode of Martin that night, I thought I heard a knock at my front door. Looking at the clock it was eleven o’clock. I wasn’t expecting any company, so who would be stopping by
.
I got up, walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back to see if I could see anyone at the door but there was no one there. I went back and got in the bed. My mind must be playing tricks on me, or maybe I was stressed out, it had been a long day. Not even a minute later, I heard another knock. This time I got up and went to the door to see what was going on.

I opened the front door and there on the step was a single white rose with a note. Stepping out, I looked around to see if I saw anyone lurking in the shadows. But there was nothing. Everything looked calm and in place. Picking up the rose and the note, I went back in and closed the door.

I opened the note and right there in bold red ink it read, “I will be the one and only.” That’s it. I turned the note over to see if I could find any indication of who may have left this at my door. It was probably Emeri’s psychopath ass. I would not put it past her. The woman was just plum crazy.

Naima 22

Sitting at my desk, watching the rain drops that are coinciding with my mood, I cannot believe the emotional rollercoaster that is my life. Men just could not be trusted with women’s most valuable asset, our heart. I thought Damir was such a nice guy, and I believe he still is, but how could he just call me up and end things like that. I mean, I accepted the pregnant ex-girlfriend with no problems. How many women would have done that?

Lightning illuminated the sky and I could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. Something has to be wrong with me. I’m staring down the barrel of a failed marriage, a failed new relationship, a corrupted best friend and a half sister that I think is a little on edge. Will the silver lining elude me forever? Resting my chin in the palm of my hand, I twirl the ends of my hair with the other one, when I hear a knock on the door.