Real Love 7 (Love Knows No Bounds)

by H. H. Fowler

  Chapter Three

  Kevin hadn’t planned on spending the night at his mother’s house. But Suanne was so dead set on having her son not waste money on a hotel room that it was useless for Kevin to protest. By the time she was through making her case of a mother having been abandoned by her sons, Kevin had already taken off his shoes and socks and made a beeline to the old bedroom he’d once shared with Drake – just to make peace. Actually, with him moving back home to Devin’s Cay and not having decided on where he and Hunter would live once they were married, staying in his old room was his most sensible option at the moment. So really, his mother’s suggestion was a good idea after all.

  But apart from finding somewhere to live, Kevin had a list of other things he needed to do before the wedding, beginning with brainstorming where he was going to set up his new accounting practice. He didn’t intend on working for someone else’s vision ever again – though he generally wasn’t against it. He’d given Brier and Sydney seven years of loyal service, with five of those years enjoying the perks that came with being a partner. However, Kevin felt all of his hard work had vanished into thin air when he walked in on Brier and Shiloh making out on a conference table.

  It confirmed what Shiloh had been harping to Kevin all along – that she was the one who’d ‘twisted’ Brier’s arm and forced him to offer Kevin a seat at the partnership table. So really, Kevin’s rise to power had been sadly manipulated by a flirtatious succubus who hadn’t any regard for Kevin’s business acumen. And for that reason, and the fact that he and Shiloh had shared a distasteful past, Kevin didn’t regret dissolving his partnership in the least. In fact, he was excited about the change in his life, especially because it afforded him the opportunity to make new memories with Hunter Rose. His love for her was so deep that it had inspired him to become at best a faithful and supportive husband to this beautiful woman. There was no going back to ‘corporate’ America or to the risky thrills of one night flings.

  “Ma, I’ll be right back,” Kevin yelled from the kitchen as he exited. “I’m going to take out the garbage. “

  Suanne flushed the toilet and yelled back, “I’ll be right out to fix you somethin’ to eat…because I know you miss my good cooking.”

  “I do, but don’t bother. Hunter will be here in a short while. We will be having breakfast at the Shoal this morning.”

  “Not on my watch,” Suanne grinned heartily. “You know I have no problem fixin’ an extra plate for my white daughter-in-law. I bet she will love my deviled eggs and honey-baked ham with buttered toast. Seem like somethin’ a white girl would eat.”

  Kevin shook his head and smirked as he continued through the kitchen exit. If he allowed his mother to have her way, he and Hunter would end up living out of his old room and taking orders from sunrise to sunset. Suanne went above and beyond in her love for her sons, but her sons would have it no other way. The path that led to the garbage was spoiled by weeds and particles of debris that made the yard seem as if it wasn’t cleaned in months. Kevin took a mental note to hire a cleaning crew to ornament the yard before his and Hunter’s engagement party next week.

  He tossed the sealed garbage bag into a large green barrel and was about to turn to go back into the house. But something moved in his peripheral vision. He turned his head to the right and noticed a man across the street, walking hastily toward a black Cadillac sedan. Kevin couldn’t tell which direction he’d come from. But it was certainly strange seeing such a car in a low-scale neighborhood, and even stranger to take in the appearance of the man, who was sharply attired in a black tuxedo. With his olive complexion and slick dark hair, he looked to be of Middle Eastern descent. There was an open satchel slung over his shoulder and it appeared as if some form of weapon was partially showing through the slit.

  The man didn’t seem lost at all. No doubt he was up to mischief and because Kevin’s presence had caught him off guard, he took flight. The neighborhood wasn’t one of the safest. Kevin knew that. But he was not going to let some Middle Eastern stranger stride by and create problems, especially when his mother’s safety could be compromised.

  “Hey!” Kevin yelled. “The hell you doing in this part of the town?”

  The man quickly slid behind the steering wheel and screeched out into the street with Kevin running behind the vehicle.

  “Hey! You had better not show your face back here!”

  Kevin knew the man hadn’t heard him, but he was dead serious with what he’d said. That man knew what good for him, he would leave Devin’s Cay and go back to Palestine or wherever the hell he came from. Evil always seemed to be lurking in the shadows and it upset Kevin that the peace of a quiet afternoon had been disturbed. So rattled was he by the experience that he barely heard when Hunter pulled her Jaguar behind him. She immediately hopped out of her vehicle at the sight of Kevin pacing the street.

  “It’s dangerous to be walking back and forth in the road like that,” she said. “Is everything alright?”

  Kevin spun around and moved hastily toward Hunter. He placed an arm around her waist and began to goad her toward the front door.

  Hunter planted her feet to prevent movement. “Wait…you look ashen. What’s going on?”

  “I’ll explain once you’re inside. Please, just trust me and do as I ask.”

  Hunter gave Kevin a puzzled stare before she turned away and allowed Kevin to open the front door for her to enter. Unbeknownst to them, tiny red lights, almost invisible to the naked eye, flickered on Suanne’s windows.

  ****

  Ten Minutes Later

  “The listening devices have been installed.” It was the voice of the man in the black tuxedo. He’d pulled the Cadillac into a discreet cul-de-sac, about three miles away from his target’s house. “What are the next steps?”

  “Raffie, aren’t you in a bit of a rush?” a female voice rejoined, which was none other than the flirtatious Shiloh Bethune. “I’m not in Devin’s Cay to fully test your integrity. We haven’t spoken in three years, remember?”

  And whose fault is that? “How could I forget,” Raffie said dryly. “But unlike some folks I know, I’m as real as they come.”

  Shiloh laughed. “Is that so?”

  “Of course, my dear lady. Give me a sec and I will prove it to you.” Raffie took hold of a boxy-looking device and adjusted several buttons until he heard the static give way to a clear audio feed – one of highest quality in the business. “Listen carefully. I promise that you will be satisfied with my work.”

  “…you’ve made me a happy mother-in-law. Can you imagine how beautiful my grandchildren will look, half white, half black?”

  “Ma, behave!”

  “It’s okay, Kevin. I’m enjoying your mother, actually. She’s quite funny.”

  “Thank you, my lovely daughter-in-law…we’re gonna make such good friends.”

  “Well, we’re not married yet, Ma. And we shouldn’t get too happy just yet until we solve who this mystery guy is, lurking in your neighborhood –”

  Raffie quickly pulled the device away from his cell phone. If Shiloh found out that he’d almost been caught planting those bugs, she would think that he was an amateur and probably even go as far as hiring someone else to carry out this surveillance gig. However, that wasn’t happening, because Raffie desperately needed the money to pay off his drug debts. Indeed, this gig couldn’t have come at a better time.

  “So, what do you think?” he questioned.

  “It’s undoubtedly Kevin’s voice,” Shiloh said. “How did you find him so quickly?”

  “I asked around,” Raffie answered. “The island isn’t all that big, you know.”

  “Well, I will save my compliments until you give me something more significant.”

  “Like what?”

  Shiloh laughed and then disconnected from the line. Raffie knew exactly what Shiloh wanted, which was a threefold package he had the burden of delivering: Control of Hunter’s jewelry business or rather parts of it, another r
oll in the hay with Kevin, and ultimately the dissolution of Kevin’s and Hunter’s relationship. Raffie wasn’t sure he could fulfil all of Shiloh’s wishes, but with the amount of money she’d promised him, he would certainly try.

  He stared at his vibrating phone and saw a call coming in from Waldo St. John – the very man he’d successfully avoided for roughly two months. It must have been a dozen times he’d called Raffie throughout the week and Raffie had ignored each one. Soon, a text from Waldo came through, containing direct threats on everything that Raffie loved:

  “You had better meet me at the Blue Marlin tomorrow night or else I will track down your estranged wife and children and put bullets in their heads. Then I’m coming after you. I want my bloody money you owe me!”

  After reading Waldo’s text, Raffie felt an even greater compulsion to carry out Shiloh’s demands. He released his foot off the brakes and allowed the Cadillac to roll forward. He then made a sudden U-turn and headed back to Suanne’s house to glean as much information as he could about Kevin and Hunter.

  Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination, full of hope.

  Maya Angelou

  Chapter Four

  Tuesday – 10:10 a.m.

  Levi didn’t normally eat breakfast at his dining table, much less with anyone else. But that morning, he did, sitting across from Yasmine, trying to convince her in subtle ways that he was ‘husband’ material. A man who loved and valued his family spent quality time with them and did his best to appease his family’s distresses. And one potential distress that Levi had to deal with was the fact that Yasmine did not want to marry him anymore. Despite his pleadings and his promises to be there for her and the baby, she held on to her argument that she was not the right woman for him. She could never contend with Levi’s love for Sasha. Furthermore, she didn’t want Levi to burden himself by raising another man’s seed.

  In an effort to break the stiff silence between them, Levi intentionally ‘clanked’ his plate with a fork. “Would you be so kind and pass me the butter, please?” he asked.

  Without a word, Yasmine pushed a small glass tube toward Levi. She didn’t even attempt to look at him, knowing Levi’s intentions. Consequently, her actions made Levi reach over and grab her hand.

  “If there’s nothing else I’ve gleaned about you in these short four months,” he said, “I’ve discovered that you’re a world class specialist in the art of silent treatment.”

  Irrespective of her morose mood, those words caused Yasmine’s lips to twitch at the sides. She wasn’t expecting him to use humor to soften her heart. But she dare not laugh, because Levi would not take her seriously about her reasons for not wanting marry him.

  “I can see that you want to laugh,” he teased.

  Yasmine turned her head away and mumbled, “You’re so crazy.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I said you’re crazy,” she said, turning her gaze back to him.

  “I’m crazy over you,” Levi rejoined, “if that’s what you mean. Why won’t you believe that?”

  “Because you and I both know that isn’t the truth. You’re crazy over Sasha, not me.”

  “Yasmine…”

  “So now you wanna call my name like you really care. I told you that you would ask for your old job back at the school and you did.”

  “Be fair, babe,” Levi tried. “You know why I did it. Those boys on the basketball team were depending on me –”

  “I was depending on you to completely cut ties with Sasha,” Yasmine fired. “How convenient your excuses appear to be all of a sudden.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  She squinted her eyes, pointing at him with a table knife. “As if you don’t know…you only took your old job back so that you could run into Sasha as often as you please and then come home complaining to me about it.”

  Levi dropped his fork in his plate, pushing it away. The creases in his forehead showed the first signs of his annoyance. “It isn’t even like that,” he said. “Contrary to what you believe, my reasons for returning to Xavier High have nothing to do with Sasha. In fact, Sasha doesn’t even work there anymore.”

  Yasmine shot Levi an incredulous look. “Since when?”

  “Since yesterday…”

  “And how were you made privy to such information?”

  “Mrs. O’Grady called and told me about the drama that went down in her office. She said Sasha suddenly went ballistic and attacked her.”

  “Even if that was true,” Yasmine said, “I bet they were fighting over you. A woman like Sasha rarely attacks another woman over a trivial matter. Most times it’s about a man.”

  “You’re not making sense.”

  “I have a pretty good idea what happened –”

  “No, you don’t and neither do I.”

  “Aren’t I allowed to assume?”

  “Yes, but it’s stupid reasoning.”

  “So, you’re calling me stupid?”

  “No –”

  “Save it, Levi, because you’re not listening to me about this entire business between you and Sasha. And it’s beginning to get under my skin.”

  An intense moment of silence passed before Levi said in a solemn tone, “These allegations of yours are entirely unfair. And I believe you’re only using this as a buffer to avoid the topic of marrying me anyway.”

  Yasmine grew quiet to process Levi’s words, mostly wary over the reason why Levi had decided to keep quiet about Sasha’s resignation until now. And she was prepared to drill the truth out of him, hadn’t there been a knock at the front door to disrupt her. She gave Levi a sassy look as he pushed out his chair and stood to his feet.

  “We’re not done,” she told him before he walked off.

  Levi pulled the door open when he saw that it was Drake. He was taken aback by an acute suspicion in Drake’s eyes, disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared. Levi immediately thought, Oh man, that kiss that happened between me and your wife in the boys’ locker room…please let that not be the reason why you’re here. Because God knows, I’ve had enough of this crazy situation…it’s now coming between me and Yasmine. Regardless of the reason why Drake showed up, Levi wisely took a few steps back, just in case Drake wanted to pummel him in the face.

  “Wow…it is certainly a surprise to see you here, man,” he grinned. “To what do I owe such a special visit?”

  Instead of answering Levi’s question right away, Drake offered his hand for a handshake. “I was hoping to catch you before you left,” he said. “Do you have a few minutes?”

  “I don’t have to be at the school for another hour, so, of course…come in.”

  Drake stepped inside and allowed Levi to close the door behind him before he spoke again.

  “Well, that is part of the reason why I’ve come. Sasha told me that you’ve resigned. And now strangely, she’s resigned. Someone needs to tell me what in the world is going on over there at Xavier High.”

  “Didn’t he tell you?” Yasmine shouted from the dining room. “He asked for his old job back – so he really didn’t resign, per se.”

  Drake mouthed, “Who’s that?”

  Levi yelled back, “My hard-to-please fiancée who’s refusing to marry me on a technicality.”

  “There’s nothing technical about true love! Either it exists or it doesn’t.”

  “Maybe in your world,” Levi quipped. “Nothing is ever that simple!”

  “You’re refusing to see the truth for what it is.”

  “The only truth is that you’re afraid to let go and trust my decision to make us a family.”

  “Oh really? Get your head checked, Levi, because it’s not me with the problem…”

  Drake was amused by the back and forth, though he hadn’t the slightest clue that Levi and Yasmine were covertly griping about Sasha. He opened his mouth to interrupt, but closed it back when he saw Yasmine had made an appearance, sporting a feisty expre
ssion with her hand stuck next to her protruding belly. Drake gave her a calculated onceover and was thrown back in time at the Smithson hotel. How come he didn’t recognize that velvety voice of hers when she’d used it in a futile attempt to seduce him? She’d almost ruined his godly reputation, going so far as to falsely accuse him of rape.

  It was a miracle in itself that he’d been able to get past the experience, but then again, Drake was a strong advocate of trusting in the all-encompassing plans of God. He understood – although not right away – that the devil meant to destroy his marriage, but God turned those adversities around, maybe for the good of everyone involved. He and Sasha were a much stronger couple than they were ten months ago as it was a positive sign to see Levi and Yasmine trying to get on with their lives.

  “Clearly, I’ve come in a bad time,” Drake said, but was unable to control the next set of words that came out of his mouth. “But I hadn’t any idea that you two were in a serious relationship. And seems as if you have plans to marry – if I’ve heard correctly. Congratulations!”

  Yasmine stared at Drake and tried to block out the guilt over what she’d done to this decent man. In her book, he was the most forgiving out of all the Beckford brothers – even though her past infatuation with Kevin would have blinded her to the fact.

  “We were in a relationship,” she said, folding her arms above her stomach. “I can’t marry Levi and he knows why. So you can take back your congratulations.”

  “Do you want to air our dirty laundry in public?” Levi asked her, “because we could, right here in front of Drake.”

  Drake provided an additional option. “Or we could always pick this conversation up later, man. I don’t want to be in the middle of your private business. And if it’s true that you’ve gotten your old job back, then I would assume things have settled between you and the school.”

  “Technically, I have resigned,” Levi said, glancing briefly in Yasmine’s direction. “The minute the school finds someone else to replace me, I’ll be out of there for good.”