Ruthless

by Shelia M. Goss

  Nathan berated David. “I told you to stay away from that married woman. Now look what you’ve done. God is not pleased with your actions.”

  David hung his head low. “I did everything I could to stay away from her, but I couldn’t. You know how I am when I get an idea in my head. I have to see it through.”

  “Something tells me you didn’t try hard enough.”

  “For those few hours I felt loved. I’ve never felt like that with any other woman.”

  “I would be clapping and cheering you on if she was single, but she isn’t. You need to find a woman of your own. End of story.”

  David tuned out his friend as he went on and on about how wrong David was. David welcomed the sight of the funeral home. After they pulled in front of the building, the driver opened their car doors, and they went to pay their respects to Jonathan’s family. Neither David nor Nathan brought up Sheba on the ride back. Instead, they exchanged stories about their time with Jonathan.

  “He was only forty-one,” David said. “He had so much more to live for.”

  “When God is ready to call you home, it’s time to go,” Nathan said. “It was his time. Time waits on no man.”

  “That’s for sure,” David said. That was why he wanted to enjoy whatever time he had left, and he wanted to do it with the woman that he loved—Sheba.

  The next day wails were heard throughout the sanctuary as Jonathan’s home going took place. Nathan wasn’t Jonathan’s pastor, but he had been asked to preach the sermon since they were close friends. Nathan stood behind the podium and spoke with the fire of his Sunday sermons.

  “Our brother Jonathan wouldn’t want us down here, crying for him. In fact, if he was here today, I would hear him say, ‘Dry those weeping eyes, for I’m in the presence of my Father.’ So, children of God, dry those eyes and let’s rejoice, because the angels of heaven are rejoicing because another saint has been called home.”

  David held back his tears and listened to Nathan. Two hours later David decided to skip the repast. It had been an emotional week. He needed time to decompress. He called his pilot and hopped on a plane to Miami. He would check on his office there but also planned on spending time on his yacht. Just him, the ocean, and God.

  Chapter 25

  Sheba and Delilah were enjoying a quiet evening at home. Sheba had just finished her shift at work. Delilah had surprised her with a home-cooked meal.

  “Girl, these greens are good.” Sheba poured more hot sauce on the greens.

  “Us Baker women can cook inside and outside of the bedroom.” Delilah laughed.

  Sheba didn’t find it funny. She still felt some guilt over what had transpired between her and David. “Did Uriah call the house? We’ve been playing phone tag on my cell phone.”

  “He did, but I didn’t answer. I didn’t want to cause any more problems.”

  “He knows you’re here now.”

  “Well, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about, what if he had asked me questions about the other night?”

  Sheba stopped eating. “Why would he be questioning you about my whereabouts? I’m a grown woman. I can come and go as I please.”

  “I know that, but you know men. If I had answered when he called, he would have interrogated me with one hundred and one questions.”

  “For all he knew, I could have been at work. You could have told him that.”

  “So, you want me to lie for you, in other words?” Delilah had a smirk on her face.

  “No, not lie, just stretch the truth.”

  “Well, I think God would look at stretching the truth the same as a lie, but then again, I could be wrong.”

  “Delilah, sometimes you make it hard for me to like you.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be getting mad at me because you almost got busted for getting your groove on with another man.”

  “David and I were not getting our groove on.”

  Delilah’s hands moved back and forth while she talked. “Knocking boots, or whatever you want to call it. Y’all were doing something, because you left at seven in the evening but didn’t come back until ten o’clock the next morning.”

  Sheba tried to think of how she could lie her way out of this, but she couldn’t come up with anything. She decided to face her dilemma head-on. “So what? What if I did spend the night with David? It’s no big deal. Men do it all the time. The wife’s out of town. He goes out, gets himself a little something, and pretends like it never happened.”

  “Do your thing. David’s fine with a capital F. If you weren’t my sister, I would have made my move on him a long time ago.”

  “You can have him. In fact, I can give you his private number so you can call him.”

  Delilah laughed. “Sheba, please. I don’t do leftovers. He’s too smitten with you to pay me any attention. If any man can overlook these double Ds, then I know he’s really in love with his woman. David has eyes for one woman, and that’s you.”

  “But I’m married. He can’t have me.”

  Delilah snickered. “Sis, he’s had you, and I bet you it won’t be the last time.”

  That was a one-time thing. It’ll never happen again. I guarantee it, Sheba thought to herself, rather than addressing Delilah’s concerns.

  Delilah went back to eating her food. Sheba went back to eating hers, but her mind wandered to the night she and David crossed the line. She could not forget how he made her feel, no matter how hard she tried. The sound of the house phone interrupted her daydream. She picked up the cordless phone. It was Uriah.

  Delilah listened to her as she stammered during her conversation with Uriah. Once she had hung up, Delilah said, “Remind me not to do a crime with you, because you would have given us both up to the po-pos.”

  “Po-pos?” Sheba said.

  “The police. Girl, you were stuttering so much, I thought you were Elmer Fudd. Look, what Uriah doesn’t know won’t hurt him. You said you don’t plan on sleeping with David again, so woman up.”

  Sheba thought, Delilah’s right. I need to forget David and pretend like nothing happened. Sheba knew that was easier said than done.

  To reiterate how much she loved Uriah, Sheba took a few sexy poses with her cell phone camera and sent the images to him. She wanted Uriah to see what he had been missing while he was over in Afghanistan. A negative thought crossed her mind. What if one of the women overseas was servicing Uriah the way she had serviced David the other night?

  She got livid. She called Uriah back after she sent him the photographs. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Thinking about you,” he responded.

  “You haven’t been sleeping with any of those women over there, have you?” she asked.

  “Of course not. Baby, where is all this coming from?” he asked.

  “Well, people have told me what goes on when their husbands go overseas.”

  “Baby, if I wanted to cheat, there are plenty of women in Shreveport who I could cheat with. I wouldn’t have to go to a foreign country to do so,” Uriah responded.

  “I know. I just wanted to hear from you that you weren’t.” Sheba felt bad for accusing him now.

  “What about you? You haven’t been letting anyone dip into my pudding, have you?” he asked.

  “Uh, of course not,” Sheba lied.

  “Better not. Big daddy will be home soon enough to take care of you, so don’t be dipping out on a brother.”

  Sheba laughed. “Baby, you know you’re the only man for me.”

  How had this become about her? Sheba hated that she had called Uriah back now. Now he would suspect that she had cheated on him. What was she going to do? Whatever it was, she had to do it.

  “Did you get those pictures I just sent to your cell phone?” she asked.

  “Hold on. Let me see.”

  She waited as he pulled up the pictures on his phone. He came back on the line. “My, my, my. I can’t wait to get stateside so I can tap that.”

  “Uriah, watch your mouth
.”

  “I miss you so much, and these pictures are not helping me.”

  “Well, you remember that when one of those floozies tries to throw herself at the rich American.”

  “Believe me, there’s not a woman here that can rival you, babe. We got something special, and I’m not going to mess it up for a few moments of pleasure.”

  “Aw, that’s so sweet. That’s why I love you,” Sheba said. She was smiling on the outside, but on the inside guilt was tearing her apart.

  Chapter 26

  Six weeks later ...

  Wade walked into the conference room. He was not his normal confident self.

  David sensed the news he was about to hear was not good. He sighed, said a quick prayer, and offered Wade a seat. “Give it to me straight,” David said as Wade sat down in the chair across from him.

  Wade handed him a manila folder. “It took longer than I had anticipated to get this information, but I’ve confirmed it. It’s Bo Shet that’s buying up those shares.”

  David’s fist hit the table. “I knew it. I knew I should have wiped his bank account clean when I had the chance, but out of respect for his father, Saul, I didn’t.”

  “You didn’t want Saul’s heirs to be left with nothing,” Wade reminded him.

  “Exactly. Saul was a good man at one time. He just let greed get to him, and he ended up losing his businesses. Him selling me his companies helped ensure his heirs would have money.”

  “I wouldn’t take this sitting down if I were you,” Wade said.

  “Oh, Bo has messed with me for the last time. I want you to get our attorney on this and pronto. There’s no way I’m going to let him take what I’ve built into an international empire.”

  Wade rushed out of the room to do as requested. David opened up the folder and read each document one by one. With each page, his bright skin turned a shade of red. When he was done, he slammed the folder on the table, and one of his hands flew up to his forehead as his head pounded.

  Saul Shet had been a broadcasting pioneer and had taken David under his wing when he first graduated from college. Over time Saul trusted him with more and more and taught David everything he should know about business and the world of broadcasting.

  Bo was Saul’s son, but he never had any interest in learning. He couldn’t understand his father’s interest in the young black man from Louisiana. David never let his skin color deter him from reaching his goals. When David got enough money to start acquiring newspapers, he left his position with Saul, and they became competitors.

  David never disrespected Saul and would back away from a deal if it meant doing something that would make Saul look bad. When Saul’s gambling habits became overwhelming, and he was on the brink of losing it all to creditors, Saul got word to David.

  They arranged a secret meeting, and David walked out of it the owner of one of the largest media conglomerates in the Southern region of the United States. That was the beginning of David’s rise to the top. After that acquisition, people started calling him King David. He gained respect from many in the business world, not only nationally, but abroad.

  Shortly after David took the reins of Saul’s company, Saul’s two-seater plane crashed, with Saul at the controls. Many believed he crashed the plane on purpose. Bo accused David of stealing Saul’s company and sending him into a deep depression, which resulted in him crashing his plane.

  David had ignored Bo, but now he realized that maybe he had underestimated him. Bo needed to be dealt with. Although he was Saul’s child, David would have to deal with him like he did the rest of his competitors: cut them off at the knees and let them fend for themselves.

  David’s personal cell phone rang, and he saw Sheba’s number displayed on the screen. A smile swept across his face. “I’m surprised to hear from you,” David said upon answering.

  “It’s me,” Delilah said.

  David was disappointed that it was Delilah, instead of Sheba. “How are you?”

  “Doing fine. Wanted you to know that my sister has conflicting emotions. You must have put it on her.”

  “What we did is our business,” David snapped.

  “Excuse me. I thought you would want to know.”

  “Delilah, I appreciate it, but your sister has made it clear to me that she doesn’t want to be bothered with me.”

  “Well, she doesn’t know what she’s saying. I think she likes you more than she’s letting on.”

  David entertained the thought for a moment but then stopped. “Bathsheba has my number. If she wants to talk to me, she can call me anytime.”

  “You know Bathsheba’s stubborn, so if you want her, you better put your game face on and make your move. You got Sheba to sleep with you, so everything else should be easy.”

  Was Delilah right? Did he really stand a chance with Sheba? What could he do to convince her to cut her ties with Uriah? David said, “I got a lot of stuff going on right now. I will have to call you back.”

  “Don’t bother.” Delilah disconnected their phone call.

  Wade returned to the room. “Things are in motion. By this time tomorrow, he should be served papers.”

  “Bo, you think you’re slick. Well, let me see you squirm your way out of this legal battle,” David muttered.

  Chapter 27

  Sheba assisted Delilah with her suitcases and took them inside Delilah’s house. “Sis, I’m going to miss you.”

  “Well, I could move back in with you if you want me to.”

  “I’m going to miss you, but every grown person that’s not married should have their own space.” Sheba laughed.

  “Gotcha.” Delilah hugged her.

  Sheba’s heart warmed. She was glad that she and Delilah were able to form a bond. “If you get scared or just want to talk, I’m here,” Sheba assured her.

  “Oh, you’re not going to get rid of me that easy.”

  “I better go so I won’t be late for work,” Sheba said.

  An hour later Sheba was sitting at the nurses’ station. Annette slid in the chair next to Sheba. “Boo.”

  Sheba jumped. “Girl, don’t be sneaking up on me like that.”

  “What’s going on? You’ve been so busy with your sister lately that we haven’t had a chance to really talk.”

  “It’s all good. Delilah’s back home now.”

  “Well, I heard they think they know who shot her.”

  “Really? I know a lot of her church members didn’t like her, so I hope it wasn’t one of them.” Sheba looked around to make sure none of the other nurses could hear their conversation.

  “This dude from the neighborhood named Luther supposedly. Something about some money she owed him.”

  “Wow. It’s never that serious. I just dropped her off at home. Let me call and check on her.” Sheba dialed Delilah’s number while Annette looked on.

  “Hey, li’l sis,” Delilah said.

  “Did you hear anything about them making an arrest?” Sheba asked.

  “Yes. I was going to call you when I thought your shift ended. This joker I went out with once did it. According to the detective, his trifling behind shot me because, he claimed, I owed him some money.”

  “Well, do you?” Sheba asked.

  “No, I don’t owe him nothing but a good butt whupping for putting me out of commission for these last few months.”

  Delilah told Sheba about their one date and how he had insisted she pay $18.57 for her half of the meal. Sheba tried to refrain from laughing. Delilah was making it hard as she mimicked him as she described the parking lot scene in which he ran behind her car, trying to get her to fork over the money.

  In between laughs, Sheba asked, “So how did they find out it was him? It’s been three months since you were shot.”

  “That fool went around bragging about it. He had been drinking, and one of the people he told needed the money from Crime Stoppers, and they turned him in.”

  “Wow,” was all Sheba could say. After a moment of silence, she
added, “Sis, if you need anything, let me know.”

  “I’m good. Well, let me go check on my bathwater. I’ve missed my sunken tub.”

  When Sheba got off the phone, she filled Annette in on what Delilah had told her. Annette seemed fidgety. Sheba knew she couldn’t wait to leave so she could go spread the gossip to anyone else who would listen.

  The light flashed on the switchboard. All the LPNs were busy seeing about patients. Sheba grabbed her nurse’s gear and headed to the patient’s room. After making sure her patient was fine, she headed back to the nurses’station to sit back down.

  “Oh my goodness,” she said as she felt herself get dizzy. She leaned on the wall until she could gather her bearings.

  “Are you okay?” a passing coworker asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I need to eat something. I think I’m going to take my break early. Can you handle things around here?”

  “Sure. I’ll call you if we need you.”

  Sheba went to the cafeteria and grabbed a salad and juice. Her stomach was a little queasy, so she didn’t want anything heavy. She still felt a little dizzy even after eating the salad. She ran into Annette on her way back to her station.

  “Girl, you look bad. You must be coming down with something,” Annette said.

  “I hope not. I hate being sick.” Sheba grabbed her stomach. “Excuse me, Annette. I need to find a bathroom.”

  Instead of getting on the elevator, Sheba rushed to the nearest restroom and found an open stall. She released the food she had just eaten into the toilet. Sheba felt like her insides were being torn out.

  Annette handed her a wet paper towel to wipe her face and mouth. Sheba wasn’t aware that Annette had followed her into the restroom. “Dear, I hate to tell you this, but you might not be coming down with anything, after all.”

  “It must be food poisoning,” Sheba said.

  “When was the last time you had a period?” Annette asked.

  Sheba looked dumbfounded. “I just had one.” Then again, she hadn’t had one in over six weeks. “I can’t be,” she said out loud.