Forever His Desire

by Valerie Lynne

  “I have something to tell you,” Rosalyn shrieked, paying no heed to Andre’s threat.

  With Jennifer at work during the day, Andre had nothing but time to replay the events of the assault at Rosalyn’s home. Something didn’t add up. Of that, he was sure. It was as if an entire block of time was completely erased from his mind. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t remember how Rosalyn had been able to get him flat on his back. There was no way she was strong enough to wrestle him onto the floor. How could he possibly explain what happened to Jennifer when he couldn’t figure it out himself. “I don’t care,” Andre shouted back.

  “I’m pregnant,” Rosalyn screamed. “I thought you might want to know that you’re going to be a father.”

  Andre rubbed the base of his neck. Lies. His head was in a knot, a whirlwind of remembrance competing for his attention. I didn’t come. Panic gripped him as sweat dripped down his forehead. She’s lying. I’m getting married. This is a last-ditch effort to break up Jenn and me. “Be careful what you accuse me of, Rosalyn. I’ve put up with way too much of your bullshit already. In fact, I ought to have you arrested for what you’ve done.”

  “You? Andre Jenkins one of Newport’s finest. Son of a police hero.” Bone-chilling, sinister laughter echoed through the speaker. “You don’t have the balls. You’d be laughed right out of town if you tried to arrest me.”

  Andre closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath. She’s right. Nobody would believe a woman half my size raped me. What the hell kind of cop—fuck that, what kind of man allows that to happen? “Look,” Andre threatened, his jaw clenched. “You know damn well I didn’t come.”

  “You really should’ve paid more attention in health class instead of mooning over that slutty bitch of yours. Then you’d understand that all it takes to make a baby is a droplet of precum.”

  He lowered his forehead against the wall next to the intercom, his heart plummeting as the reality of Rosalyn’s accusation sank in. This can’t be happening. Fingers knotted into a tight fist, Andre punched the wall one...two...three times. His knuckles smarted, the skin cracking as he pressed a shaky fingertip once more against the speaker button. “Listen to me, Rosalyn. Keep your fucking mouth shut or I promise you, I’ll shut it for you. Breathe one word of this bullshit and it will be your last. I’m not fucking around here. Until there is a DNA test which confirms this lunacy, you bloody well stay the hell away from me and Jennifer.”

  Jennifer

  Jennifer squinted through her sunglasses, her eyes narrowing in on the figure standing on her doorstep. Rosalyn Spears, Jennifer realized as she drove closer, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel as she pressed her foot down harder onto the gas pedal. What the hell does she want now? As if she were a driver in the Indy 500, Jennifer cruised past her neighbor’s house, made a sharp turn into the driveway, and slammed her foot onto the brake, the Hyundai coming to a screeching halt inches away from colliding with the three-car garage. With record speed, Jennifer unclicked the seat belt, thrust the keys from the ignition, and shoved the door open, abandoning the overflowing brown paper bag positioned on the passenger side floor to bound as fast as she could over the fallen leaves, crackling beneath her footsteps.

  “I never pegged you for a deadbeat. Don’t you think a child should know their own father?” Rosalyn’s shrewish voice carried across along with the crisp breeze.

  Why was she bugging Andre about kids for? “Hey,” Jennifer yelled out, triggering her neighbor’s German Shephard to charge to the picket fence, barking ferociously behind the barrier that separated each yard. “Get the hell off my front steps. You’re not welc—”

  Almost unrecognizable, Andre’s voice drifted down through the intercom, his muffled threats halting Jennifer mid-demand as her stomach lurched to her throat.

  “Jenn was right about you. You’re nothing but a low-down, conniving bitch who will stop at nothing to get what you want. Well, you can’t have me,” Andre raged through the speaker. “Take your pathetic pack of lies and shove them. There’s no way in hell that I’m that baby’s father. Do you hear me? No. Fucking. Way.”

  A horrified gasp escaped from Jennifer’s lips. Repulsed by what she’d overheard, she threw her hand over her mouth.

  “Well,” Rosalyn said smugly, a cunning grin lifting at the corners of her mouth. “Let’s ask Jennifer if she agrees.”

  A series of thumps and thuds resounded from the opposite side of the door getting louder as they seemed to get closer. Suddenly, the front door burst open, smashing loudly against the wall as Andre stomped through the archway and onto the front stoop. “Jenn, don’t listen to anything she says. I can explain. Okay?”

  Her breathing labored, Jennifer could barely think, let alone speak.

  “What’s to explain?” Rosalyn remarked flippantly. “Men like Andre have needs, Jennifer. It’s your job, as a good fiancée, to keep him satisfied. Seeing that I’m carrying his unborn child and you’re not, it appears to me that you’ve failed. But everyone knew it was only a matter of time before he’d seek out a real woman.”

  “Shut your lying mouth before I do it for you.” Andre’s nostrils flared as he grasped Rosalyn roughly by the forearm and shoved her forward, her shoulder banging hard against Jennifer’s arm as he whisked her onto the grass. “Go inside. I’ll be right back,” he deadpanned over his shoulder and proceeded to drag Rosalyn across the lawn toward her car.

  Chapter 16

  Jennifer

  Jennifer blinked rapidly, regarding the scene unfolding before her eyes. Her brows drawn together tight, she sucked in a deep breath, as if the mere act of breathing would hinder her from overhearing each and every word that was shouted between Andre and Rosalyn.

  “I’m so fucking sick of your shit,” Andre bellowed, the veins in his neck protruding from beneath the skin looking as if they might pop. “How many times do I have to tell you to get the hell out of our lives?”

  “You’re hurting me,” Rosalyn shrieked. “How dare you manhandle the mother of your child!” Rosalyn swung her arm out, Andre’s neck snapping backwards as she broadsided him with the back of her hand, her ring scraping down his cheek.

  Jennifer pressed her hand against her breastbone, her heart hammering beneath her palm as she fought for breath. Dear God! It was happening? Her worst nightmare had come true. She clasped her other hand to her mouth, swallowing back the bile that had formed at the base of her throat.

  “Fucking cunt.” Andre seethed, his fingertips whipping up to his cheek to cover the droplets of crimson bubbling to the surface. He quickened his pace, Rosalyn tripping over her own feet and nearly losing her footing as he dragged her unwillingly across the lawn. He stopped before the shiny BMW parked along the side of the road and flung the driver’s side door open, practically tearing it off its hinges. Then forced an unwilling Rosalyn to get inside.

  Jennifer’s entire body quaked. She’d never seen Andre so angry. Didn’t believe him capable of speaking so crassly to another woman. Her sweat-soaked blouse clung to her skin. I’m going to puke. She twisted around, anxious to get inside her home, but her legs were too weak. She doubled over, crumbling to her knees, and vomited into the manicured bushes along the front of the house.

  Andre

  From the corner of his eye, Andre saw Jennifer collapse onto the grass. “Jenn?” Andre called out from the street. Panic seized him as he sprinted across the front lawn, dropping to his knees beside her. He lifted her silky auburn locks off the back of her shoulders and away from her face, worry lines etching over his forehead as Jennifer’s body convulsed while she vomited.

  “Leave me alone,” Jennifer demanded, her voice quivering. She attempted to rise, her legs shaking beneath her.

  Andre wrapped a burley arm around her waist to steady her. “Like hell I will,” he said, tightening his grip around her waist and hoisting Jennifer off the ground and over his shoulders. He strode forward, carrying her through the condo’s front doors and up the staircase as if she were a r
agdoll.

  “No.” Jennifer swatted at his shoulder blades, her tears doing way more damage to him than the small, tight fists whacking furiously down his back. “Leave me alone.”

  Determined to make her understand, he ignored her expletives and protests to be let down. In his haste to get to Jennifer before Rosalyn could do any further damage, he’d left the condo door open wide when he’d gone downstairs. He stepped through the threshold, kicking the door closed behind him, and then strode to the couch, depositing the woman he loved onto a plush cushion.

  “Please listen to me. It’s not what you think,” Andre said, his wide shoulders braced back. “I can explain. You don’t know the whole story.”

  A mournful gasp echoed off the walls. “Oh my God,” Jennifer wailed. “It’s true. You really did have sex with her.” All the color had drained from Jennifer’s face, leaving her with a ghostly white pallor.

  “It wasn’t my fault.” Having a knife pierced through his heart would have been preferable to the sheer agony Andre felt watching Jennifer fall apart before him. A lump formed in his throat; Jennifer’s sorrow was more than he could bear.

  Slouched against the back of the couch, Jennifer wrapped her arms around her stomach. “I keep wishing that I was wrong. That maybe Rosalyn had made it up. But I’m not blind, Andre, nor am I deaf. I heard everything—saw everything.”

  Andre averted his gaze; seeing Jennifer suffer tore him apart. “You have no fucking idea what happened. What Rosalyn has done.”

  Jennifer cupped her head between her palms, the tears streaming uncontrollably down her cheeks. “How long have you been screwing her behind my back?”

  “I didn’t know it was her!” Andre clamped his eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.” Voice lowered, he chastised himself for losing his cool. He cleared his throat, his mouth having gone dry as he attempted to explain. “I didn’t know it was Rosalyn. Besides, I didn’t come.” He moved to the couch, sitting down beside her. “There was no ejaculation. You have to believe me, I didn’t climax.”

  Watery blue eyes glared at him through red-swollen lids. “And that’s supposed to make it better? You didn’t fucking come.” Jennifer seethed. “You fucked another woman. Oh, and not just any woman, let me point out.” Jennifer leapt from the couch and began to pace. “No, you picked Rosalyn Spears—a woman I loathe—to cheat on me with. But it’s okay because you didn’t come. So no big deal?” She threw her hands about her head, waving them spastically in the air. “That is the most fucked-up shit I’ve ever heard. You must take me for a real fool.”

  “If you’d just calm down,” Andre blurted, interrupting Jennifer’s rant.

  “Fuck you.” Jennifer ground her fingertip against her chest. “I just stood outside in plain view of our neighbors and watched, along with them, as you tried to silence your pregnant whore. You made me look like some kind of pathetic fool.” She pointed at him. “You have a hell of a nerve, Andre Jenkins, telling me to calm down.”

  “I’m sorry. Please, let me explain.” Andre ground his fist against his thigh. “If you’d listen to me, you’d know that I’m innocent and then you’d understand.”

  “Understand? You want me to understand? Understand?!” Jennifer slapped her hands to the sides of her hips. “I understand. Oh, believe me. I fucking understand!”

  “You have to listen to me,” Andre ordered, his voice once again involuntarily rising in his desperation to get her to hear him out.

  “No! I don’t have to do a damn thing,” Jennifer hollered. “Who the fuck do you think you are? Don’t you ever tell me what to do.”

  “I’m the man that loves you. I’m the man who would die for you,” Andre’s voice cracked as he thrust his finger against his chest. “I’m the same man that has adored you since we were kids.”

  “You love me? You’d die for me?” Jennifer repeated hysterically. “That bullshit is supposed to comfort me and make up for the fact that you fucked Rosalyn Spears?”

  Andre sat like a statue, his eyes roaming over every inch of her, watching her every move.

  “You stuck your dick into that cunt!” Jennifer shouted. “And I’m supposed to be fine with it because you didn’t ejaculate?”

  “Jenn, it wasn’t—”

  “How long? How many times?” she questioned. “Did you fuck her in our bed?”

  “God, no,” Andre bellowed.

  Abruptly, Jennifer halted, her aqua-blue eyes boring into him. “That’s it! That’s why you rejected me,” she said under her breath, clutching a hand over her mouth.

  Andre jolted upright and rushed to stand before her. He reached to capture her, his hand stinging as Jennifer slapped away his outstretched arms.

  “Are you stupid? How many times do I have to warn you not to touch me?”

  In an act of surrender, he folded his hands into a prayer-like position and fell onto his knees. “I was unconscious. Otherwise, I’d never...I thought she was you.”

  “Rosalyn Spears? Seriously, you mistook Rosalyn Spears for me?” Jennifer shook her head. “Isn’t that the ultimate insult.”

  “Jenn. Please believe me. Rosalyn tricked me. Remember, I had a concussion when I went to confront her. Somehow, I blacked out and as soon as I realized what I was happening, I put an end to it.” Andre’s admission came out on a single rushed breath.

  “You could at least respect me enough to tell me the truth.” Jennifer released a disgruntled snort. “Act like a fucking man, you pathetic coward. You’ve got exactly thirty minutes to pack your shit and get out.”

  “You don’t mean that,” Andre said.

  “Unlike you, I never say anything I don’t mean,” Jennifer said, her lips trembling. Viciously, she swiped the back of her hand over her tearstained cheek. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re dead to me.”

  Chapter 17

  Jennifer

  With her head resting on her hand, Jennifer was seated on the couch, staring blankly at a framed picture of the two of them taken at their senior prom. Above her loud footsteps thumped quickly back and forth followed by the bang of several slammed drawers as Andre packed his belongings. Moments later, he lumbered down the staircase, a black duffle bag thrown over his shoulder. “I’ll come back tomorrow to get the rest of my things,” he said, reaching the bottom.

  Her heart thrummed wildly. Can’t breathe. She could hear Andre speaking, but the words were muffled. She jolted off the couch, her vision suddenly blurred as she walked stiffly as if through a vortex as she made her way to the window. Air. I need air. Her throat felt like it was closing, as if huge hands were squeezing the very life from her lungs. Frantically, she unlatched the lock and threw it open. She sucked in deeply, thankful for the stream of damp air instantly flooding the room. Her lungs burned, painfully seeking oxygen.

  From behind her, the floorboard creaked. The sound of Andre’s heavy footsteps stopping directly behind her. Slowly, she turned. Light-headed, she craned her neck, refusing to cower. At 5'1" she felt small and vulnerable as she stood dwarfed by his presence. “Leaving now?” she managed to say, her pulse racing and her anxiety mounting as she prayed for the room to stop spinning.

  “You really want me to?” Andre questioned, placing his duffle bag onto the floor.

  “How the hell did you think I’d have changed my mind?” She braced her body against solidness of the wall, desperate for some sense of being grounded. Her entire life just fell apart. The only man she’d ever loved, ever had been intimate with and trusted with her very life, had betrayed her. He’d lied to her—kept a secret that made her question their entire relationship. “You had sex with another woman. That didn’t change in the last thirty minutes.”

  Andre shook his head. “There’s nothing I can say,” he mumbled, his dark sorrowful gaze meeting hers.

  “Nope. Nothing.” Jennifer sucked in a deep breath, her arms behind her back and her palms flat to the surface of the wall. Tell me you love me. Tell me this is all a huge mist
ake.

  “Just like that?” His shoulder slumped. “There is so much you don’t know.”

  Rage welled within her. “You cheated! Our entire relationship was a lie. And I don’t understand?” Jennifer averted her gaze; she couldn’t look at him. She’d trusted him and he’d gone behind her back. “Get out,” she said, despising the sound of her voice cracking.

  “This is bullshit. Absolutely fucking ridiculous,” Andre answered, his voice rising. “You know damn well that I love you. I’ve never wanted to have sex with anyone else but you. One hiccup and you’re going to call it quits. You haven’t even let me explain.”

  “Get out!” Jennifer seethed, her hands cupping over her ears. “Stop lying to me! I don’t want to hear any more of your lies.” She lashed out at him, her arms flailing at his chest. “Get out! Get out! Get out! How does it make you feel to know you’ve destroyed everything?”

  He stepped back and stooped to pick up his bag. A distressingly long breath escaped his lips. “Like a fucking prick,” he answered, sounding defeated. “I love you, Jenn. Always have. Always will. All I’ve ever wanted is you. All I’ve ever cared about was being your husband, building a life with you, and taking care of you.”

  “Well, obviously not all you wanted. I mean you threw it all away when you decided to fuck her!” Tears burned her eyes as she blinked rapidly up at him. “All I want is for you to get the hell out of this house because I hate you.”

  Chapter 18

  Andre