by Skye, Lena
“Deal. Now, would you like some more of your fruit water?”
“It’s not fruit water, it’s infused water and yes I would like another glass.”
He grabbed my oversized wine glass and headed to the fridge, “It’s water with fruit in it. It’s fruit water. All you have to do is add vodka and sugar and you’ll have a damned martini.”
She laughed. He had a lot to say about her “fruit water,” but he was the one that made it for the past few weeks. He ensured that she had all of her nutrients she required; he even cut them up and kept the fridge filled. It was great to have his company at that pitiful time in her life. However, there was something that didn’t sit quite right about it all. He’d always been a sweetheart, but never this sweet. Maybe he was making up for lost time, but she knew him pretty well. She scolded herself for overthinking everything. Some people were nice to her simply because it’s what they wanted to do.
He carefully placed her fruit water filled wine glass in front of her and sat back down. “Okay, so I have to ask,” he began. “Do you think that things could ever go back to the way that they once were between us?”
She took another bite of her burger and chewed slowly to give her more time to think of what to say. He’d been so good to her and the last thing that she ever wanted to do was hurt his feelings. He didn’t deserve it.
She swallowed the last remnants of the burger and took a sip of water. “Honestly, I just don’t have romantic feelings about you anymore. You’re an amazing person and I’m blessed to have you back in my life, but friends will all we’ll ever be. I’m so sorry, I just want to make sure that I don’t string you along. You deserve to have a wonderful life with someone that can return your affections.”
Christian nodded quickly and wiped his mouth with his napkin. He tried to hide the hurt that he was feeling. “Okay, I understand.”
“Do you?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” he asked.
She cringed on the inside, his entire disposition changed. He was no longer the sweet Christian she’d experienced. Now, he was sullen. “I’m sorry.”
He looked at his phone and shrugged, “I’ve gotta get out of here anyway. I have some business to handle.”
“Oh, I guess I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Christian pushed away from the table and made his exit.
Now, she truly felt alone.
***
Jamie needed someone to talk to and her sane friends Nadia and Tara weren’t available. So she had to have lunch with Camilla. Even if Camilla gave her horrible advice, she would make her laugh, and that’s exactly what she needed. They sat in the restaurant, drank their martinis, and ignored their food. Jamie needed to hear someone’s opinion other than her own. She needed to talk to someone that she could trust. Camilla was a nutjob but she wasn’t the type to spread business.
“Whoa,” Camilla said after Jaime explained the scenario to her. “You can’t make this shit up. That is absolutely insane. Do you really think that white girl is trying to kill you?”
Jamie thought about it. “I’m not sure. I mean, I don’t take threats lightly and she seemed really serious. The look in her eye told me that she wasn’t playing. I mean this woman got pregnant to keep her man away from me. I’m sure that it’s not a coincidence. She was waiting for the perfect time to get knocked up. I don’t see her as the type of woman that would want children. She’s going to use that poor baby as a pawn and she’ll be holding it over Nathan’s head.”
“Okay, I get that the drama is through the roof on this one and I even agree that she had the baby to trap him,” Camilla shared. “But I don’t think that the woman is trying to kill you. I mean come on, that’s just crazy. She’s crazy but she’s not that crazy.”
“Have you listened to anything that I told you? Or is everything going in one ear and out of the other? The woman is a downright psycho. Anybody that would hire the woman that her husband slept with is crazy. Why would she bring him back into my life, knowing what was most likely going to happen? I’ve seen one of the women that he had an affair with – we look so much alike that it’s scary. The chick could be my long lost sister.”
“Oh, so he has a type huh?” Camilla asked.
“Definitely, and he loves chocolate apparently.”
Camilla snickered. “It’s always the ones that you least expect. One day I’m gonna find me one that’s worth a damn.”
“What happened to the one that you were dating?”
“Girl, he has a baby on the way! His baby mama called me and cursed me out. She told me to stay away from her man. I confronted him about it and he apologized and told me that it was over between the two of them. Now, I do believe him regarding that, but he kept a pretty important piece of information from me. The woman is about seven months along. I can’t tie myself to him if he’s going to be tied to her.”
Jamie hated that her friend’s woes amused her, ”Was the woman black?”
“Nope, she was white. See, white people can be ratchet too.”
Jamie laughed loudly. “I can’t deal with you.”
“But anyway,” Camilla said, bringing things back around to the topic, “you’re paranoid girl. I don’t know what you’ve been drinking or smoking lately but you’re tripping. Enjoy your life because as you already know, it can be cut short. I’m so happy that you’re here with us in the land of the living and let’s keep it that way. If Nathan wants to stick around with his Kim K. Stepford wife, then let him. Karma will deal with his ass.”
“I just feel so stupid. I had no business hoping that he would be with me anyway. He’s married. I would hope that if I were married, a woman would respect that. It seems like karma is dealing with me,” Jamie said honestly.
“We all have our days,” Camilla agreed. “However, we don’t have to stick around and wait for other people’s shit to fall on our head. Deal with your shit and let him deal with his. It’s as simple as that.”
Jamie mulled the advice over in her head and was surprised when it seemed pretty sound.
“You know, you’re smart sometimes when you want to be.”
“It’s the liquor, girl.”
Chapter12
Jamie spent the next couple of weeks Nathan and Christian-free. Her eyes were on the prize when it came to work, and she had a lot of goals that she and her company needed to hit. Once again, she was at the office later than usual. Her eyes were bloodshot and she needed some rest, but rest would have to wait until after she looked over some PR plans from her staff.
Her staff was sharp and she loved bringing on new talent. However, new talent had to be reined in from time to time. There was a delicate balance between fresh ideas and bat shit crazy ideas. Sometimes, her staff went off of the deep end and they couldn’t afford to do that when millionaires trusted them with their image. One terrible move could take only a few seconds but it would be immortalized forever on social media.
Her phone rang and she answered it without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Nathan, do you mind if I come inside?”
“You know I mind. I don’t need you or your wife at my office anymore. How do you know where I’m at anyway? Go away,” Jame spat. She was enjoying her peace and she didn’t want him to ruin it.
“Jamie, please. I’m right outside of your office door, please come open it.”
“Who let you on this floor?” Jamie asked.
“Security, of course. Money talks.”
She rolled her eyes. “One minute. I’m coming out to get you.”
Jamie walked out of her office, past her receptionist desk, and through the maze of desks on the office floor. So many emotions hit her when she saw Nathan standing outside of the glass double doors. She loved seeing him but couldn’t resist the urge to sock him in his beautiful face.
She opened the doors and he quickly came in. “What do you want? Make it quick because I don’t plan on being here all night.”
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Nathan’s eyes reflected her weariness but there was something more there, he also looked pathetic. “Thank you for letting me in. You didn’t have to.”
“I know that. Now what do you want? Does your wife know that you’re here?”
“No, Stephanie doesn’t know I’m here.”
“More secrets? Look, I’m not going to do this anymore with you, stop showing up here unannounced. If we need to speak to each other, we can do it through our personal assistants and it will be strictly business.”
“It’s killing me to be away from you but that’s not just why I’m here. I need your help and I need it badly.”
The desperation in his tone caught her attention. “What is it?”
“I think that Stephanie is up to something. She’s been acting so damned strange lately. Usually she’s predictable but something is different.”
“She’s pregnant,” Jamie said flatly.
“But that’s the problem. I wonder if she’s truly pregnant at all. The other day I caught her drinking wine. When I confronted her about it, she gave me some bullshit stats that I’m pretty sure she made up.”
“Wow,” Jamie replied. She was in shock, instead of holding a conversation with Nathan, she continued to let him talk.
“I know that you have some amazing private detectives on your payroll and that discretion is their specialty. I need you to get someone to look into everything that my wife is into.”
Jamie wondered if she should get involved. His shit was tumbling onto her head. He made his choice regarding what he wanted, and now he wanted to drag her down with him. It wasn’t fair. Besides, his wife was potentially dangerous. Wasn’t it best to let a grown man fight his own battles?
As if hearing her thoughts, Nathan spoke again. “I just need rock solid evidence. I need evidence that will show that she’s up to no good. When I confirm that with records, I can be free of her forever. Then we can be together; we can finally be together without any outside distractions. If we can just prove that she’s shady, then we can be free.”
Nathan was running game on her! At least that’s what it felt like. He was smooth with his words and he took a step towards her each minute that passed. The closer he got into her space, the less able to focus she was. She didn’t need him clouding her judgment dammit!
Then he placed his lips on hers and all of her reasoning went out of the window. He was worth it right? How could she be worthy of love if she wasn’t willing to fight for it? If Stephanie wasn’t pregnant at all, she wanted to get to the bottom of it. Nathan belonged with her and the sooner she could free him, the better. No one deserved to be lied to in the way that Stephanie lied to Nathan.
“So is that a yes?” Nathan asked as he withdrew his lips.
“It’s a yes, but you better not screw me over. I can’t take it anymore. If you screw me over with this, they’re going to find your body floating in the river. Stephanie will be the least of your worries,” Jamie told him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Nathan smiled. “I meant every word that I said to you.”
“We’ll see.”
***
Jamie sat in her office with Hawk; it was her nickname for her favorite private investigator. There was nothing the man couldn’t find. He was on her staff because he was a crown jewel. Whenever she needed him to get the impossible, he made it happen. The key was to never ask questions about where he got his information. That was none of her concern as long as he brought her the goods. He could be trusted and he flew under the radar. Only extremely high-end clientele that could afford his services knew he existed. Now, he was all hers because she paid him the big bucks.
So when she asked Hawk to step in and do some digging on Stephanie, he didn’t bat an eyelash. He simply asked for the details that he needed and he went ghost for a week. Now, it was time for the short and bald man to relay the details of his investigation.
“So did you find anything of value?” Jamie asked.
He smirked, “I’m insulted. I thought we knew one another better than that. There is always something to be found. We all have skeletons in our closets; some of us just have better locks than others.
Jamie nodded, “Okay, then what’s going on?”
“Well, there are some huge red flags in her bank statements.” Hawk pulled out some papers from his letter sized envelopes. There were yellow highlights in random places on the document.
“Okay,” Jamie said as she scooted to the edge of her seat to see what Hawk was pushing her way on her massive desk.
“Well, your girl withdrew $100k in cash from the bank in person. She spread it out over five days in $20k increments. That tells me that she’s paying someone but trying not to alert a system. I’m guessing she doesn’t want her husband to know.”
Jamie nodded. “That’s definitely suspicious, but is it enough?”
“Trust me,” Hawk replied, “You only make cash payments to someone if it’s something you don’t want a paper trail for. If she wasn’t up to no good then she would have taken it out in one lump sum. The increments call her intentions into question. That’s hitman money.” Hawk looked at her plainly and shrugged.
“Ugh,” Jamie said before she sat back in her chair. “That’s too hard to prove to the police and the cops wouldn’t be able to use these records as evidence anyway. So basically I have nothing. I don’t even know if this is what’s really going on or not.”
“It’s too large of a coincidence, the timing is right. Don’t worry about it because I will get more evidence soon, I’m working on a couple of more leads,” Hawk replied.
“Great, because I’m going to need more than this to convince people that she’s a shady character. This isn’t anywhere near enough.” Jamie didn’t do a very good job at hiding her disappointment.
Hawk was usually better at his job and she hated it when people brought her half-baked ideas. It wasn’t his fault. Usually she wasn’t so emotionally invested in the outcome of his work and that was most likely why his work felt unfinished. She just needed to exercise more patience and trust him to do his job. He hadn’t steered her wrong so far right?
“All right, Hawk. Thank you for coming through. I appreciate it. I guess I just need to go home and process all of this information.” Jamie rubbed at her burning eyes and yawned. “It’s time for me to hit the bed.”
“I don’t believe that you know what sleep is,” he laughed.
“Very funny. I think you’re one of the few people who works harder than me. You have some very odd hours my friend.”
Hawk stood up, “That’s because it’s easier to spy when people are sleeping. I’m also an insomniac so I don’t have much use for sleep.”
“That’s why you’re so crazy. You’re tired all the time.”
“I’ve gotten used to it. Now I use the time to take on odd jobs and to read.”
“You’re a reader huh?” Jamie asked.
“Oh yeah, it’s the only way to learn. I love books. I don’t have to pay for expensive classes, I just pick up the book and learn it myself.”
“So what are you reading now?” Jamie rose and prepared herself to leave.
“A book on hacking.” He grinned.
“Are you learning anything?”
“Most of the stuff I already know but there are some good tidbits in there that have helped me speed up a few of my processes. All in all, it’s been worth the read.”
“Just make sure that you don’t hack into my shit, and we’re good.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Liar,” she laughed.
***
Jamie felt extremely uneasy when she arrived home. It looked like there was a real possibility that Stephanie paid for what happened to her. The crazy bitch tried to kill her. She paced the floor a few times and picked up the phone. She needed to talk to Nathan as soon as she could. She couldn’t hold it back.
An hour later Nathan arrived at her home. This time, the both of them paced.
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br /> “So yes, it looks like your wife may have ordered the hit on me and disguised it as a hit and run. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this information and it’s incredibly difficult to believe. I understand why she would be upset, but this is taking things to an entirely new level. Has she exhibited this kind of behavior before?” Jamie asked.
Nathan tried to give his wife the benefit of the doubt but it was difficult. “I wasn’t aware of any of these payments. I don’t want to believe it but I wouldn’t put anything past her anymore. She seems so unstable that I don’t know what to do with her. But we can’t just go on this. I need more evidence before I can act on anything. Moving forward and accusing her before I have real proof isn’t a good idea.”
“What kind of real proof do you need?” Jamie snapped. “My body lying dead in a ditch, will that be proof enough that your psycho wife tried to kill me? She could have killed me, Nathan. Instead of waking up in a hospital, I could have been dead in a morgue. Would you have believed it then? Would you have cared or would things just be business as usual?”
Nathan softened, for the first time he saw how scared Jamie was. It hurt him because he was the cause of it. It was his wife and his lack of making a definitive decision that put her in such a position. He had to do better. He couldn’t allow it to continue to go on.
He took a step towards Jamie and pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry and of course I care. I’m going to protect you; no one is going to hurt you. I’m staying with you tonight.”
“How in the hell are you going to pull that off?” Jamie asked as she relaxed in his arms.
“I’ll tell her that I’m out on business and not to expect me back. It will be fine.”
Jamie cheered up. She didn’t want to be alone and now she had the perfect company. “I have wine.”
“Well, let’s drink it all up.”
She laughed, pulled herself from his embrace and headed to the kitchen. She needed alcohol. Her life was insane and there were some things that working out just couldn’t fix. They sat curled up on her couch, downing her wine collection and talking. Jamie lay comfortably in between Nathan’s legs, with her back to his chest.