Anika was seething. Did he have sex with all of South Carolina? Okay, she knew he had a past of his own. She knew he had been a ladies’ man, a career bachelor, Mr. Lover Lover. But it was one thing to know your man had a baker’s dozen of ex-lovers and quite another to meet most of them in the space of one hour.
To Deshawn’s credit, he showed Anika the utmost respect and introduced her as his girlfriend, which seemed to surprise most of the women. Not once was he rude to any of them and she didn’t sniff out any underlying flirtation either. He was just being his usual friendly, outgoing self.
So why did she feel so utterly furious?
She envisioned her lover with all of them. Sexing them the way he sexed her. Saying the things to them that he said to her. That angered her. It was petty, childish, and small minded: all of the things she didn’t want to be.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
Anika’s eyes shot across to him in the booth. His face was concerned, but definitely wary. “Nothing,” she muttered darkly, which was such an obvious lie. She sat stiff as a board in the seat, her shapely legs crossed, her arms folded, and her back straight. And there was enough space between her and the table that another person could fit in between.
Deshawn was no fool. He knew what was wrong with her, the temperature in the air between them went down another notch for every woman that greeted him. He definitely didn’t want their dinner ruined, but if Anika couldn’t understand that he had had a life before her, albeit a very active one, then he wasn’t going to baby her about it. He was in love with her now and that was all that should matter.
He had to admit that although she was obviously upset, she still handled her anger better than Poochie ever had. His ex would’ve flung around enough crude words that he would’ve been refereeing a catfight.
Anika closed her menu, setting it in on the table as she reached for her glass of ice water. She sipped it, letting the liquid wet her throat and hopefully cool her fiery temper. “So what are you having, Mr. Popularity?” she asked him, sarcasm dripping in her voice like spilt water flowing over the side of a table.
Deshawn just smiled. She was even more beautiful when she was angry. Before he could answer her, their waiter stopped at their table, his pad and pen poised in his hands. They placed their orders.
“Okay, Anika, what’s the problem?” he asked, leaning forward to reach for her hand when the waiter left. “We’ve had a nice week and we’ve only got one more before you head home. What happened to bring out the old Anika again tonight?”
She deflected his touch and Deshawn’s own shoulders stiffened. “Oh, so now I can’t touch you, Anika?” he asked, his voice tight with anger.
Her silence continued.
Deshawn snatched his napkin from his lap and threw it on the table. “Damn it, Nika. What are you mad for?”
Anika saw the fiery anger in his coal-black depths and was surprised by it, but she still clutched to her own fury. “I haven’t seen every man I ever slept with tonight.”
“Look, I had a life—”
“A very active life,” she interrupted dryly, meeting his eyes.
“Before I met you,” he finished, leaning forward. “I’ve hurt you in the past, I’ll admit that, but I don’t want it thrown in my face every time I speak to a woman I know. And I damn sure don’t want to be accused of sleeping with any and every one either.”
“Deshawn—”
“No, Anika, let me finish,” he said. “You give me too much credit. I mean, I’m good but I ain’t that good to have slept with every woman in this and the neighboring town.”
Anika crossed her arms over her chest even tighter.
“Stop acting like a silly, jealous female,” he finished sternly. “Save all this drama for when and if I ever do something wrong.”
“Save the drama?” Anika asked in true “say what?” fashion.
It was Deshawn’s turn to remain silent. He said all he had to say.
Anika leaned back in her chair, studying him with steady eyes. If she was honest with herself, she would admit to her fear of not being enough woman for him. Would she offer him plenty of everything so that he didn’t long for his wandering days? Was she the only woman for him?
She was overreacting, but she would not admit that to him. He’d put her in her place. “Oh, relax your nerves, Deshawn, and stop playing Mr. Big and Bad ’cause I’m not paying you any attention,” Anika told him in lieu of an apology.
Deshawn puffed with fake pride. “You know I’m not playing,” he told her gruffly with false male bravado.
Anika eyed him. “Don’t go overboard.”
Deshawn laughed, his coal eyes bright and clear. “Don’t be so jealous. Big Daddy ain’t going nowhere, baby,” he teased, patting his solid chest.
Anika looked at his face, boyishly handsome with his dimpled smile. She couldn’t help but laugh. “You crazy, boy.”
“Boy?” He balked. “No, this is all man right here.”
Her eyes glazed over. “Oh ... I know, and when we get back to your house I’m going to show you just how much of a woman I am.”
Deshawn felt himself harden. “Oh, really?”
Anika licked the fullness of her bottom lip. “Are you doubting me?” she asked softly.
Deshawn could only shake his head.
∞
Ms. Little watched the tall figure from her living room window until he was out of her line of vision. She waited a full minute, confident that he wouldn’t return, before raising her robust figure from the worn recliner and bustling over to the stairs. “If it wasn’t for the money I’d toss his no-good sorry self out of here.”
Her once fluffy slippers made a slapping noise against the dull wooden floor. “I’m going to see just what’s in that damned trunk of his,” she said aloud.
∞
“Good reading?”
Ms. Little looked up, surprised by his sudden reappearance. The worn and tattered papers she held fell from her trembling hands. The look on his face as he loomed over her was murderous.
She was scared for her life.
“You know I have no choice now, don’t you?” he asked darkly, his crazed eyes glazing over as he quickly placed his hand over her mouth just as she took a breath to scream for help.
“Please no, Vincent,” she mumbled futilely against his hand, her eyes wild and terrified as his other hand surrounded her fleshy neck.
“My name’s Hakeem,” he growled, his face stern and menacing like the very devil himself as he squeezed the life from her body. “But you know that now, don’t you?”
Her plump body convulsed for long minutes before it became slack with death. Hakeem let her body fall unceremoniously to the floor. His blood raced from adrenaline, his heart pumped furiously. Murdering her hadn’t been in his plans, but what choice did she give him? She’d broken into his locked trunk and she knew his real identity. He did not want his presence in the state known since he planned on killing Anika. He knew he’d become a suspect if anyone knew he was nearby.
With disgust, he looked at her, her eyes still wide and filled with fear even in death. Soon Anika would be the one lying dead at his feet.
He found rubber gloves in the kitchen and for the next hour, he worked methodically to remove all of his fingerprints and any other remnants from his room and the bathroom. At times, he stepped over Ms. Little’s lifeless body or kicked her hand or foot out of the way like errant trash.
In her bedroom, he rummaged through her belongings. “She don’t need this now,” he told himself before laughing, as he found a stash of money under her mattress. He counted out four hundred dollars in cash, deciding to leave the jewelry. Pawning required ID, something he didn’t have under his false name of Vincent Williams.
He dragged her body down the stairs by her feet, leaving her in a heap in the living room. Next he chopped up the wooden trunk and burned it in her fireplace piece by piece as he waited for darkness to fall.
“Tell me I can’t
watch your TV now,” he said to her dead body with a hate-filled laugh.
He was grateful for being her only tenant. He planned to bury her in the backyard and then high- tail it out of there. He hoped to have at least a month or so before anyone noticed she was missing. By then Anika would be dead and he’d be long gone.
In the meantime he turned the TV to a game show while he cleaned his gun.
∞
Later that night, Anika felt herself swamped by the dark, cloaking fears of her nightmares. She had horrid thoughts of being chased into a wild forest with trees so tall and all-encompassing that the moon’s light was blocked by their leaves. The low branches swept painfully against her body. She forged on, unsure of what she would run into ahead of her, but afraid of the echoing heavy footsteps she heard behind her.
Her clothes were muddy and torn from falling and then quickly scrambling to her feet to continue running. Her pulse pounded deafeningly loud in her ears but not loud enough to drown out the eerie sounds of the woods and its inhabitants.
Suddenly a gunshot rang out.
Anika awakened with a high-pitched scream, kicking wildly at the cover over her legs until it floated to the foot of the bed. Sweat soaked her nightgown, making it cling to her body. She reached for Deshawn, but he was gone, having left around 4:00 A.M. to get an early start on a project. How she yearned for him, longed for him to hold her and make her feel secure the way he had that night in New York.
But she was alone.
She couldn’t go on like this. Something had to change.
∞
As the time neared for her to go home, Anika began to seriously contemplate moving to Holtsville. She loved Deshawn and it was true they were just two weeks into a real relationship, but she was deliriously happy. But of course she had doubts. What about The Haven, and her family? And should she give up her life in Jersey when she had no promise of forever from the man she loved? Sure, he said the words, but actions spoke much louder, and a proposal would scream it out.
She walked into Nia’s powder blue, pink, and silver nursery. Standing by the crib, she looked down at her godchild sleeping. With a soft smile, she stroked her back lightly with her hand. She was such a precious and good-natured baby. Anika was glad that she came to Holtsville for her birth.
She would love a son herself. Someone she could raise to be a strong black man, who would never strike or disrespect a woman. A son who would one day be more than a sperm donor, but a true father to his child. A little pint-sized version of Deshawn. Yes, she would love a family with Deshawn. He was a good and solid man. She loved him and cherished him. She didn’t want to leave him. She couldn’t.
Chloe walked into the room with a baby bottle filled with water. She looked surprised to see Anika. “She’s still sleeping?”
“Yes,” Anika whispered. “You know, I was just about to come look for you.”
Chloe picked up her daughter easily. “Oh yeah? What’s up?”
“Is there a domestic violence shelter in this area?”
Chloe instantly knew that Anika was thinking of moving to Holtsville and she got the biggest Kool-Aid grin on her face.
∞
Cyrus felt anger like he never had before. He wished he was thirty years younger so that he could seek Deshawn out and fight him. He felt pain because he knew that the latest bit of Holtsville gossip would hurt Anika dearly.
The news was all over town that Poochie had been spotted in the Walterboro OB/GYN clinic for a prenatal exam. She made it quite clear that Deshawn was the father from a little one-night liaison they had had three months ago.
“I told Anika to stay away from the boy,” he mumbled, reaching for his bandana, only to fling it to the floor in disgust.
∞
Anika’s stomach growled at the delicious aroma wafting from the pizza boxes on the backseat of the SUV. Anxious for a tempting slice, she accelerated up Highway 17 toward Holtsville. She volunteered to zip to town to pick up the ready-made supper, since neither she, nor Chloe, felt like cooking. Besides, the sooner supper was over, the sooner they could head to Devon’s place and she could fill him in on her plans.
Leaving The Haven would not be easy, but if she could continue her work in Holtsville, then the transition from Irvington, New Jersey, to South Carolina would be much easier. She would return home, put out a search for a new CEO for the agency, and prepare herself for the move. That included looking for her own home to purchase. Her dealings with Hakeem had broken her of the bad habit of letting a man carry her financially. Moving in with Deshawn was not an option. If he wanted the milk he’d have to buy the cow first. The price: one wedding. And as much as she loved Chloe and Devon, she wanted her own place.
She had just turned the SUV on the curving road when she saw a vehicle that was parked in the middle of the road. As she neared it, her lights shadowed the two figures inside: one male and the other female. The driver’s arm swung out and hit the passenger several times.
Anika gasped in horror, her eyes widening at the violence being inflicted before her very eyes. “Oh my God,” she moaned, slamming on the brakes and literally leaning on the horn.
Her distraction worked and the vehicle suddenly sped forward down the road and around the next turn. Reacting instinctively, Anika sped behind it. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel as she sat on the edge of the leather seat. When she hit the turn the black ribbon of road ahead of her was completely empty.
She continued forward and neared the next intersection. Anika slowed, not knowing which of the dark country roads the car had turned down. “Damn it,” she swore in frustration, tapping her hand against the steering wheel.
Tears welled up in her throat and threatened to fall from her eyes as she thought of the pain inflicted upon that woman. Needing air, she lowered the windows of the vehicle.
“Get out, you stupid bitch!”
Anika heard the words echo into the still night. That was followed by the sound of a woman screaming out. She continued forward to the next intersection, just in time to see the woman pushed violently out of the passenger door to the ground. Uncaring of her own safety, Anika turned the vehicle down the road toward them.
The slamming of the car door echoed into the inky night, followed by the squeal of tires against asphalt as the vehicle sped away again. She heard the soul-wrenching cries even before she stopped the vehicle and raced over to the figure balled into a knot on the grass. “Are you okay?” Anika asked with concern, kneeling beside the woman as her tears echoed around them.
It was then that she looked up to meet Anika’s concerned stare. Her bottom lip was swollen twice its size and split. “I’m sure you can’t wait to run and tell your friend,” Alicia spat with false bravado, wincing from some other unseen injury inflicted upon her.
Yes, this woman was Chloe’s enemy. Alicia had done some vile things to people that Anika loved. But no, Anika would not get in the SUV and drive away. No woman deserved to be beaten.
“This isn’t about Chloe and you. It’s not even about that man and you.” Anika’s face was filled with conviction. “Right now you need help and I’m going to help you.”
∞
Chloe checked her watch as she walked out of Nia’s nursery. She headed straight for the living room and went to one of the wide bay windows. No approaching car. No sign of Anika. It had been well over two hours since she’d left.
“Where are you, girl?” she asked, her reflection in the glass worried as her breath fanned out and then evaporated.
Chloe picked up the phone, dialing her best friend’s cell phone for the tenth time.
No answer.
A million and one horrible thoughts flitted in and out of her mind, all involving some harm befalling her friend. Why else wouldn’t she answer her cell phone? She was just contemplating calling the local hospital’s emergency room when twin beams of lights flashed in her eyes. “Thank you, Jesus.” She sighed, the phone still clutched in her hands as she raced to the fron
t door to fling it open.
Disappointment clouded her face. “Oh, it’s just you two.”
Devon made a face, before leaning in to kiss her pouted lips. “Good to see you too,” he said dryly.
“Where’s Anika?” Deshawn asked, moving past them to the living room with long strides. “She in her room?”
“No, she went to town about two hours ago for pizza.”
Deshawn halted and then turned in his tracks. “Two hours?” he asked, becoming instantly concerned. Anika didn’t know anyone but them and Cyrus and she wasn’t there when they passed the storefront a few minutes ago. “I’m going to town,” he said, striding past them to leave the house.
Chloe watched Deshawn climb into his truck. Just then the phone in her hand rang. She jumped from the sudden sound of it. “Hello?” she said excitedly. “Anika?”
Relief flooded her body. “Deshawn,” she called out to stop him just as he cranked up his truck.
Devon took the phone from Chloe. “Anika? Where are you?”
His face filled with confusion.
Deshawn took the steps up the porch two at a time. ‘Where is she?”
“At the hospital—” Devon began.
Chloe swooned. “Oh, Lord.”
Chapter 23
My Life
When Anika turned into the yard, the front door immediately swung open and Deshawn, Devon, and Chloe stepped out onto the porch to meet her. It was only then that she wondered how Chloe would take to the news of her letting Alicia ride in the SUV.
I did what I had to do.
“What’s going on, baby?” Deshawn asked, pulling her into a quick embrace when she reached him.
Anika clung to him, savoring him, glad that the violence she witnessed was no longer a part of her daily life. “I love you,” she told him fiercely, burying her face into his neck as they all walked back into the house together.
“Why were you with Alicia at the hospital?” Chloe asked, unable to contain herself. She was perturbed that her best friend was in that troublemaker’s company after all the mean and spiteful things she’d pulled to separate her from Devon.
Heavenly Match Page 24