by Imani Banks
As Tamara went to the side of the bed to pick up some clean towels to wipe her mouth clean, the phone rang and after a short while, there was a message from a woman.
“Hey baby… I tried calling you but I bet you're busy. I really love and miss you so much, Kevin. I really miss your incredible ass and I can’t wait for us to fuck the next time you come to visit.”
Chapter 5
-The dinner aftermath-
Tamara didn’t even bother putting on some clothes; she just put the duvet around her and took off. Kevin tried his best to explain things but it wasn’t really going his way so he decided to give up. He knew the kinds of games that his ex-girlfriend used to play and didn’t really see any need to keep up playing with her so he ignored the message.
But Jane wasn’t done with Kevin. She was always rumored to have some informants in the ranch who told her of each and every move that Kevin made. And as soon as the message went off, Kevin knew that it was her and it ruined the moment. Kevin knew that Tamara had a fragile heart and the fact that she had taken a risk to be with him after such a short while showed that she trusted him very much.
Now winning her back was going to be an uphill task that Kevin was sure going to have a hard time working on. His first instinct was to hold Tamara as she tried to make it to the door and explain everything. But she didn’t really seem interested in listening to anything he had to say. And after warning him for a third time, Kevin had to let her go knowing that holding her further was going to make matters worse.
Kevin sat at the edge of the bed naked and thought for a moment. He wasn’t really the kind of person who was good at handling stress considering the fact that he employed people who handled all his stressful situations. The problem in this case was that you couldn’t employ a person to handle your feelings on your behalf. That was just impossible. But from the look of things, he had lost it.
The window was ajar and Kevin was starting to feel a little bit cold especially after that sex escapade had been cut short. The moonlight was cutting through an opening in the curtains and lit up a section of the large room. Kevin went ahead and closed the window and opted to go into the kitchen to have a drink and actually think.
He was too frustrated to put on any clothes and so he opted to throw a gown over his naked body and walked slowly towards the kitchen. The house had become awfully quiet since he had ordered all the servants to leave as soon as Tamara arrived. If Nancy was around he would have asked her for some advice but too bad, she wasn’t.
Kevin finally found the bottle of whisky and opened it right before fetching a glass and pouring it in. He went ahead and gulped it down and poured another drink in the glass. They say whisky helps a man to think, but this time round, Kevin was looking forward to forgetting each and every single thing that had happened during that night.
Jane had made him look like some monster without any feelings and now he didn’t know what the hell he was going to tell Tamara to make her believe him. Kevin finished that drink and poured himself another. From the look of things, it was going to be one hell of a night… and a long one too. After emptying the third glass in a row, Kevin thought it would be a good idea for him to call his ex-girlfriend and get this all finished up once and for all.
He picked up his phone and dialed the number that got him wondering why he kept it in his phone. Jane was the daughter of the ranch owner next door and their relationship didn’t really last long since Jane was the kind of girl who always wanted the money, fun and power while Kevin wanted something real.
So after a couple of weeks of dating and getting to know each other, Kevin decided that it was time to move on and look for someone who was worth his time and so he did. Apparently it didn’t really go down well with Rita and she swore that if she wasn’t going to be with him then no other woman was going to have that privilege.
This was the third time that she was meddling in Kevin’s affairs and he thought it was about time he stopped her once and for all. Rita was always sly and knew just how to tie up the loose ends and look like the most innocent woman in the world.
The last time she did this and Kevin confronted her, Jane started crying and Kevin was forced to apologize since there were very important business partners in the vicinity and he didn’t want to taint his father’s image. And that was the reason why he decided to move away from the ranch. Besides, Kevin thought that he was getting a little bit too old to be hanging around his old man’s house at the time.
So he changed his number, took a little money for upkeep and Kevin vanished into thin air. It had been a couple of months before Kevin had to come back home when his father passed away. It was then that he saw Jane once again at the funeral. But it seemed as though Jane had grown up a little and left him alone.
Even he once heard the gossip that Jane had found a man, Kevin thought that he finally was free to live his life until that fateful night.
The phone went unanswered for the third time running. And this really pissed Kevin off. His intention was to go out and ride to the next ranch and face Rita. But then he thought maybe she might not be around. Rita was the kind of girl who had the powers of screwing your life from the other end of the world and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it.
That was what made her a very dangerous nemesis. Kevin shook his head as he poured another drink into his empty glass and wondered what the heck his next move was going to be.
Just a couple hundred yards away from the mansion, Tamara just reached her cottage door and she pushed it open. Her entire body was trembling from both pain and disappointment from everything that had happened to her. She banged the door behind her so loudly that she stopped for a moment, regretting that she might have woken up a couple of kids from the neighboring cottage.
Tamara couldn’t stop kicking herself for allowing Kevin to break her heart the way he did. So he was rich, handsome and very, very seductive. That wasn’t enough to make her lower her guard at any given point. That wasn’t such a smart thing for her to do especially when she was dealing with a billionaire.
Her dad used to tell Tamara just how cruel these rich people were but she didn’t listen. Now she gave one of these rich bastards her heart which was broken into pieces and handed back to her. Tamara choked and sniffed as she looked for nearest glass to use. As soon as she got one, Tamara went to the fridge and took a whole bottle of vodka and opened it.
Her entire plan was to drink herself to sleep and drown all of her sorrows with the hope that she was going to wake up the following day without a shred of stress. She rubbed her eyes dry using the piece of rag that she had in her hands and poured another drink in her empty glass.
Tamara remembered just how she had been way before all the drama and thought it was such an incredible way for her to just kick back and stay focused. She didn’t worry about her heart getting broken by anyone since she kept it to herself. But now she was feeling stupid and didn’t even know how she was going to pick herself up and get on with her life. It just seemed close to impossible.
She could feel her pussy still wet and that just reminded her of how she had been duped. So she took the same rag that she was using to wipe her tears away and dried her pussy with a single swipe. This wasn’t really happening, Tamara thought. And not for once did she consider that maybe it wasn’t Kevin’s fault. All she did was blame herself for giving her heart away and getting it broken to pieces.
Tamara thought about going for a walk. She glanced at the wall clock and changed her mind. It was almost eleven o’clock and it was already cold outside. Going out wouldn't be a good idea. She felt a little bit tipsy and checked the bottle of vodka that was sitting on the table right in front of her. It was already halfway empty and Tamara was surprised.
She wasn’t that much of a drinker but now she had been turned into some kind of drunk without even knowing it. Tamara then carried the bottle into the bedroom with the intention of getting it finished but that didn’t really happen. The moment she go
t to her bed, Tamara collapsed on the bed and passed out. The vodka had finally managed to catch up with her.
According to the schedule, Tamara was supposed to always wake up by 6 to prepare Kevin some breakfast. But this time around she didn’t even hear the alarm go off. The only thing that woke her up was her rumbling stomach. At first, Tamara couldn’t even tell where the heck she was.
“Kennedy? Honey?”
And as she got wind of just where she was, Tamara decided to keep quiet. And on remembering where she was and what just happened, Tamara opted to go to the kitchen and continue with her drinking binge. But first, she had to fix herself something to eat or else she was going to drop and faint out of hunger.
Tamara had some leftovers in the fridge and as she heated the bacon in the microwave, she sipped on some juice. Shit always happened to her. But if there was one person in this world who knew how to make a comeback, it was Tamara Johnson.
She always thought it was one of the finest traits that she ever got from her mother and she smiled at herself for a moment.
I am going to beat this, Tamara said to herself. She needed the money and so she couldn’t quit. Besides, it would have been a very immature move for her to move out just because her boss played her. She was grown and it was part of the game. She took another sip and glanced at the clock.
It was close to two in the afternoon and Tamara thought of how she was going to get back into the routine without having to be affected by the awkward moment. After the shower and having her meal, Tamara dressed in her uniform and walked out into the hot, unforgiving Texas sunlight. Thanks to the drinking, her eyes were extra sensitive and she had to block them from the light using the palm of her hands.
It was just way too much for her to endure the pain at that moment. But after a while, her eyes adjusted and Tamara finally removed her hands over her forehead and got into the mansion via the backdoor. The backdoor always led straight to the kitchen and so Tamara didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her.
“Hello, Rita.”
“Hey, Tamara, I thought you weren’t going to show up today. Kevin told us that you had a little too much to drink so you weren’t going to be around.”
“And where is the boss?” Tamara asked while she was still sniffing around for anything that smelled good so that she could get to a taste.
“He said he was going to the neighboring ranch to talk to some Jane or something like that.”
“There is a rich girl from the next ranch called Jane. I hear Kevin and Jane used to be childhood friends and she was back in town.”
Tamara thought about it for a minute. The girl who called the other day might have been the Jane that her friend was talking about. And if it’s true, then they were more than friends. But that was all behind her and Tamara thought it wasn’t healthy to keep on talking about that. So she wiped her long face and replaced it with a smile.
“I see you have everything under control… are you sure you don’t want my assistance?”
“You know I always do. But I need some company. I need you to tell me everything that happened between you and Kevin. He seemed happy and he didn’t want to keep us around as soon as you came around. I think he really likes you.”
“He just wanted to know all about my family and how I was doing. That’s all.”
Rita stopped cutting the onions and stood still while staring at Tamara. Each and every single time that Tamara was telling a lie, she always avoided eye contact. And even though Rita had known her a short while, she knew that was one of her many tells.
Rita was a good judge of character and she also could tell that Tamara wasn’t in the mood for talking about what happened. So she decided to change the topic and not keep up with the inquest. Tamara on the other hand had always known that her new found friend always did her best to respect other people’s privacy and she appreciated it.
If Kevin was happy with his little ex-girlfriend, it was a good thing and Tamara wished him well. But as far as she was concerned, Tamara was done with him. The only kind of relationship that was going to continue with them was going to be that of a cook and a boss. Tamara wasn’t going to condone anything other than that.
In a couple of minutes, they were laughing at Rita’s jokes while Tamara helped with the dishes. That alone helped her to get over the kind of feelings that she was having and eased her heartache a little.
Within a couple of minutes, Tamara had already forgotten about the entire ordeal and now the aftermath of the dinner with her boss wasn’t really affecting her any longer. The only thing that Tamara wished was that she would feel the same when Kevin was around.
Chapter 6
“So what the heck did you expect me to do?”
“I expected you to do what any other normal human being would do after a breakup… to freaking move on with your life! You know you can’t be doing this to me all the time and expect me to just walk away from everything.”
“I didn’t really know you had company.”
“Oh really? Why do I find it hard to believe you? I still don’t understand why you keep on doing this to me and to yourself. What's really wrong with you?”
Jane stared at her diamond studded watch and smiled. It was as though she was trying to bore Kevin so that he could go away and leave her alone. But that wasn’t going to happen that easy. Kevin didn’t drive all the way with a hangover just to see her walk away. Jane tried to stand up but Kevin held her hand and pulled her down to the chair. Jane was surprised.
It was as though she wasn’t expecting this kind of treatment from him.
“Jane, I need you to leave me the fuck alone! Do you fucking understand?”
“Do you really have to yell? You are really scaring me,” Jane said, with a sarcastic smile on her face.
Kevin felt the rage going through his face and the first thing that came through his head was to slap the taste out of her mouth. But before he could stoop that low, he remembered that if he did such a thing, it would hurt his reputation more than it would hurt her. But this needed to stop one way or the other. Kevin managed to calm himself down and resumed his questioning.
“Jane, I asked you a damn question… why the fuck can’t you just leave me alone?”
“I can’t leave you alone because you broke my heart. You weren’t supposed to leave me but you did anyway.”
“It didn’t work out. Trust me, leaving was the best thing I could have ever done for the both of us. And I had the decency of telling you that right before we had to break up. I don’t really understand why you have to behave like this. I didn’t do anything to deserve this from you.”
“Can’t you see I’m doing this because I still love you?”
“Well I don’t love you… at least not any more. So do me a favor and stop interfering with my personal life. I left the ranch because of you. And I’m not doing that again. And I will find that person you are paying to spy on me and when I do, I will fire them. Call me or try to pull all these stunts on me again and I will have you arrested. I don’t care what your father says.”
“You don’t care about what her father says about what?”
Both Kevin and Jane looked over in the direction the baritone voice came from. It was Mr. Howard, Rita’s dad and an old friend of the Powell family. Kevin felt a little embarrassed but wasn’t more embarrassed than Jane was. She didn’t want her dad to know just how desperate she had become but now the cat was already out of the bag.
“Mr. Howard… I was just…”
“I already overheard everything you were conversing about. And I assure you that you won’t be hearing from my daughter anymore. And if you do then it would be a sincere apology from her.”
Kevin didn’t want things to go out of hand. So he asked if he could leave.
“No chance am I letting you out of that gate without catching up. Do you have a meeting?”
“Not at the moment. But I would…”
“Nonsense! Sit with me. When I saw you driving int
o my property I told the servant to get me a fine bottle of vintage wine. We are going to enjoy ourselves.”
Kevin didn’t really have any other choice but to give the old man a couple of hours of his time. Besides, he promised to end the Jane nightmare for him and Kevin felt that was the least he could do to show his appreciation to the old man.
Back at the Powell ranch, Tamara was done for the day and was back in her cottage trying to read a book. It had been a while since she had a good read. And now that she finally had some of the workload lifted from her shoulders, Tamara felt as though she was going to read all the books she could.
The conversation that she had earlier with her friend had made things much easier and Tamara was already past the hurt she had experienced just the day before. But the good thing was that she had absolutely nothing to worry about since it was just one night, at least that was what she kept on telling herself. Deep down, she knew that it would only take seeing Kevin to evoke all those emotions inside her again.