Craving Temptation

by Deborah Fletcher Mello

  He stood back up and moved into the other room, returning with his cell phone.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m calling the police and you’re going to file a complaint against your brother.”

  “I can’t, Troy. Please don’t do that!” She reached for the phone in his hand and powered it down.

  His expression was incredulous. “What do you mean you can’t? You have to, Amina!”

  “I can’t. It would affect my father. I can’t be responsible for the headlines reading that candidate Nasser Salman’s son was charged with assault. It would destroy any chance he has in this campaign. And I can’t have the record show that the victim is involved with his opponent. Your name can’t be tied to this either.”

  Troy heaved a deep sigh. “And what does your father say about this?”

  “I haven’t spoken to him. After it happened I came right here.”

  “And this guy Fayed didn’t do anything to help you?”

  She shook her head no.

  Troy paced the floor, his hands clutching his hips. “Well, I don’t care about my campaign. You have to call the police.”

  She shook her head. “I care, Troy. I care and I need you to support my decision. Please!”

  He met her stare, her eyes pleading. His head waved from side to side, something in his gut uneasy with what she was asking of him. Troy wanted nothing more than to wrap his own hands around Basil Salman’s neck. Amina’s pressing charges against him would be the least of Basil’s worries. Doing nothing felt all kinds of wrong.

  He sat back down. “So what do you want to do?”

  An uneasy silence shifted between them. Since she’d pulled out of the restaurant’s parking garage that was all she had thought of. What she should do. What she wanted to do. The questions had played over and over again in her mind until they’d blurred into a raging migraine that had her head feeling like it was about to explode off her shoulders. But even in the midst of all the pain there was only one thing she was certain of.

  “Amina?”

  She lifted her eyes back to Troy’s, easing into the embrace of his loving gaze. She shifted forward in her seat. “The only thing I want to do right now is marry you. I just want to be your wife.”

  “Enough,” Nasser snapped as he slammed his hand against the top of his mahogany desk.

  “But Father . . .”

  “I said enough, Basil!”

  Basil had been pleading his case to his father for over an hour, the patriarch eyeing him with disdain. Nasser had nothing to say as his son blamed his own bad behavior on something Amina had done. Without knowing any details about their confrontation he knew Basil would have lied by omission or he would have just lied outright, embellishing the story in his own favor. If Nasser knew nothing else he knew his son’s many flaws and faults. He reached his last level of tolerance when his efforts to contact his eldest daughter failed, Amina not answering his calls. She’d not been seen or heard from and he was past the point of being worried.

  Nasser turned his attention to his youngest child. “Rasheeda, have you spoken to your sister?”

  Rasheeda shook her head. “No, sir.”

  “Do you know where she might have gone?”

  “No, sir.”

  Nasser stared at the girl, her eyes focused on the floor beneath her feet. He moved to her side and leaned to kiss her forehead. “Do not worry yourself, Rasheeda. I’m sure that your sister is fine. She is very street savvy. Now, if Amina calls you, you tell her I want her to come home. Tell her everything is going to be fine. Is that understood?”

  Rasheeda lifted her eyes to stare at her father. She tossed Basil a look, her brother eyeing her with a narrowed gaze. Shifting her focus back to Nasser she nodded. “Yes, Father.”

  As Nasser walked out of the room he gestured for Basil to follow him. Before doing so Basil moved to Rasheeda’s side. “If she calls you, you tell me where she is first. Do you understand me?” he hissed, his hot breath blowing against her face.

  Rasheeda looked him in the eye but said nothing. Basil clenched his fists, his jawline tight. He repeated himself. “Do you understand me, Rasheeda?”

  Before she could respond their father called from the other room. “Basil! Now!”

  Basil tossed her one last look as he made his way out of the room. Rasheeda blew the breath she’d been holding past her lips. She took an inhalation of air, filling her lungs before releasing it slowly. Moving out of the living space, she headed to her bedroom and closed the door. Changing out of her clothes, she slid beneath the covers and engaged her reader. She had only read two chapters when she heard her father’s bedroom door close. She was finished with the fifth chapter when she heard Basil exit the home, his pretty sports car pulling out of the driveway. It wasn’t until she finished the ninth chapter, when she was certain her father was asleep and Basil was long gone, that she dialed Amina’s cell phone number and waited for her sister to answer.

  Amina was sound asleep in Troy’s bed. He looked in on her for the umpteenth time, needing to assure himself that she was safe and well. They had talked for a good while and despite his finally agreeing to handle things her way he found himself second-guessing his decision.

  Early in his legal career he’d done some pro bono work for a women’s shelter located in downtown Memphis. Too many of their clients had been women who’d been abused by a man they had trusted to protect them. Husbands, fathers, even a son or two had been guilty of some sort of physical assault and in too many cases the women had refused to prosecute.

  Troy had grown weary of the excuses, many of them founded in fear. His last case had been the hardest. The young woman had barely been twenty-four, pregnant with her third child. Her boyfriend had only slapped her the first time. Dragged her by the hair the second. Troy first met her after she’d been burned with a hot iron, the scar a reminder every time she looked in the mirror.

  The young woman had blamed herself, believing that things would have been different had she not been the woman she was. Thinking that her love had not been enough to calm the beast that claimed her man’s soul. Excuses for every bruise and broken bone had rained from her mouth like water from a faucet. The last time her boyfriend had hit her, also flinging her eight-year-old son down a flight of stairs, had been her moment of reckoning. Troy was pleased to say the boyfriend was doing a twenty-plus-year sentence for his many crimes and the young woman and her children were thriving.

  As he looked down on Amina, her body curled into the fetal position around one of his pillows, he found himself second-guessing himself and her. He blew a deep sigh as he pulled a cashmere blanket up and over her shoulders and leaned to press a light kiss to her cheek.

  Moving out of the room Troy eased himself into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He didn’t imagine that he would be able to get any sleep so he saw no reason to try. As he waited for the Keurig coffeemaker to brew him a hot cup of brew, Amina’s cell phone vibrated against the countertop where she had left it. Earlier, it had rung nonstop and she had refused to answer it. Then there’d been silence. Despite his insistence, Amina had adamantly refused to call home. As it rang again Troy fathomed someone might be worried about her. So he answered the call, pulling the device to his ear.

  “Hello?”

  Silence greeted him on the other end.

  “Hello?”

  There was a long pause, a loud moment of quiet trolling across the phone line. Behind the quiet came the sound of someone breathing, a hint of curiosity in each breath.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?” Troy asked for the third time.

  Rasheeda cleared her throat, her voice a low whisper into the receiver. “Yes, hello. I’m trying to reach Amina Salman. Have I dialed the right number?”

  “You did. Is this her sister?”

  “Yes, I’m Rasheeda Salman. Is this Troy?”

  He smiled ever so slightly, mildly surprised that Amina’s sister knew his name. “Yes, it is!”

  �
��Is my sister okay? Basil didn’t hurt her badly, did he? I was worried about her.”

  “She’s fine. She’s a little shaken up but she’s going to be okay. She’s sound asleep right now. Do you want me to wake her?”

  Rasheeda blew a sigh of relief. “No, let her rest. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I know she’s safe with you.”

  Troy nodded, then remembered she couldn’t see him through the phone. “You don’t have to worry. I promise you I’ll make sure Amina is okay.”

  “Thank you.”

  “How about you?” Troy asked. “Are you okay? We don’t need to be concerned about your safety, do we?”

  There was a moment’s hesitation before Rasheeda responded. “I’ll be fine. Don’t let her worry about me.”

  Reflecting on her tone, Troy wasn’t altogether sure that he believed her. “Okay, but if you need anything from either one of us, you just call. Take my cell number,” he said as the seven digits rolled off his tongue. “Anything, Rasheeda, and I mean it. Or, if for any reason you can’t call, just find your way back to the bakery. You’ll be safe there.”

  “Okay,” Rasheeda answered.

  “Promise me,” Troy intoned.

  “I promise.”

  There was another moment of hesitation between them. Troy broke the silence. “I’ll tell Amina to call you as soon as she wakes up.”

  “Thank you. And Troy?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please, tell my sister I love her.”

  13

  Amina finally made her way to her father’s office. For two days straight she’d hidden out at Troy’s home, pondering her next move. And despite his best efforts Troy had been unable to help her with the decisions she needed to make. Amina had kept him at arm’s length knowing that it would not have served either of them well had she not been able to resolve her problems by her lonesome.

  That first day had been the hardest as she’d assessed the pros and cons of their situation. The second day had been easier as she’d paused, thinking she might second-guess her decisions. When she hadn’t, knowing wholeheartedly that she was doing the right thing, she’d put on her favorite Anne Klein suit and headed to campaign headquarters. As she walked into her father’s office, her convictions firm, Amina knew nothing and no one was going to change her mind about what she wanted.

  “Amina!”

  She moved to her father’s side and kissed his cheek. “Good morning, Father.”

  “Where have you been? I have been worried about you.”

  “I needed time to think. I’ve been staying with a friend. I apologize for not letting you know where I was.”

  Nasser nodded. “I understand that there was a situation between you and your brother?”

  “Basil attacked me and if he were not my brother I would be pressing charges against him.”

  Nasser tensed his jaw tight as he clenched his back teeth together.

  Amina continued. “But he is my brother and because the negative publicity would not serve your campaign well I can’t do that to you.”

  Nasser took a deep breath. “I don’t know the details of what happened, Amina, but I don’t think it was Basil’s intent to do you harm.”

  “Father, you don’t know Basil and you don’t know half the things he’s done. Basil will hurt anyone who is in his way. If you hope to win this election and have a successful term as mayor, I would strongly advise you to distance yourself as far from Basil as you can.”

  Nasser came to his feet, moving around his desk to stand in front of her. “Basil is my son, Amina.”

  “And I am your daughter. As well as your campaign manager. And as a licensed attorney and officer of the court I would not steer you wrong.”

  “Daughter, I wish you had a better understanding of how things should be with family; between a father and his children, men and women. Your mother did not serve you well to turn you away from Islam. I forgive your behavior, Amina, because I know you have not been taught better.”

  Amina shook her head. Her tone was terse. “This is not about my mother or how I was raised. There is nothing my mother could have done differently or that the Nation of Islam can do now to change any of that. This is all about Basil, his illegal activities and his destructive behavior. It has nothing to do with your religion or my beliefs. You don’t know half of what you son has been up to and you need to.”

  Nasser moved back to his leather chair and sat down. “I don’t want to discuss this further, Amina. I expect your obedience. I will deal with your brother and his behavior. Now we have work to do,” he said. He looked back down to the papers on his desk and Amina knew she had been dismissed.

  She stood quietly for a few minutes, then rounded the desk to her father’s side. There were tears in her eyes as she leaned to kiss his cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck. She allowed her lips to linger against his skin as she wished a quick prayer skyward. As she stood straight she met his gaze and smiled, a sweet bend to her lips. She loved her father with everything in her. In that moment she knew that he would never know how much.

  “I’m sorry, Father,” she said. “I can’t continue on as your campaign manager. I wish you much success and pray that Basil will be able to serve you well. But I’m handing in my resignation.”

  Nasser stared at her for a brief moment, then nodded. “That is probably for the best, Daughter. This will allow you more time to focus on your commitment to Kareem; to prepare yourself to be a good wife and mother.”

  Amina shook her head. “No, sir. Kareem is not the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. He’s self-centered, egotistical, and a coward. He will never have my heart. I know that I would never be safe with Kareem and I don’t trust that he would protect me if the need arose. I refuse to marry him.”

  “That is totally unacceptable!” Nasser exclaimed. His eyes were wide and his nostrils flared in anger.

  “I’m sorry that upsets you, Father, but I want better for myself. I would hope that you would want better for me as well.”

  “How can you think that I do not have your best interests at heart, Amina?”

  Amina’s tears finally rained down her cheeks. “If you want what’s best for me, then accept that Kareem is not it. Support my decision.”

  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell her father about her relationship with Troy but as he stood staring at her, Amina knew that her father would never be accepting of her choices. She felt a sliver of her heart crack in two. She took a deep breath and held it.

  “We can discuss this further at home,” Nasser said, his tone dismissive.

  “I won’t be coming home,” Amina said, blowing warm air past her lips. “I leave for Atlanta tonight and I’ll be gone for the weekend. If you want to talk more on Monday I would love to meet with you but I won’t be moving back into your home when I return.”

  Nasser shook his head. “You disappoint me, Amina.”

  She forced another smile to her face. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Father,” she said. As she moved out the door, she tossed him one last look. “I’m disappointed in you, too.”

  Rasheeda had never flown in an airplane before. The flight from Memphis to Atlanta was one new experience after another. For most of the one-and-a-half-hour flight she felt like a deer caught in the headlights. If it were not for Amina in the first-class seat beside her she imagined she’d have been completely lost.

  Amina seemed to read her mind as she smiled in her sister’s direction. The woman’s excitement was infectious and Rasheeda smiled with her, feeling slightly vulnerable without her veil.

  “Mother is going to be so surprised,” Amina chimed. “I can’t wait to see her face. I can’t wait for her to see you,” she said as she pressed a hand to her sister’s cheek.

  “It’s been so long,” Rasheeda gushed. “Do you think she’ll like me?”

  Amina laughed. “Mother loves you. And yes, I think she’s going to like everything about you.”

  “I’m really happy
that you asked me to be your maid of honor, Amina.”

  “I’m really happy that you agreed to come and stand up with me.”

  “I like Troy. I think he’s perfect for you. And I wouldn’t miss your wedding for anything in the world.”

  Amina grinned. “Troy is perfect!”

  She paused for a brief moment, excited by the prospect of becoming Troy’s wife. Saying yes to Troy had been the easiest decision she had to make. And although she had hoped to be of help to her father in his campaign she knew she had to step aside. She knew that eliminating that conflict of interest was necessary for her and Troy to move forward.

  And they were moving forward. Troy had one last political commitment that afternoon before he and his family would be on their own plane to Atlanta. A quick phone call to her mother had gotten the wheels rolling, a wedding ceremony planned for the following day. They’d only have a day and a half to honeymoon before they would have to fly home and have Troy back on the campaign trail Monday morning.

  Amina had done much soul-searching to get to this point. She had never been foolhardy, rushing into anything without some serious thought first. When Troy had first asked her to marry him, she hadn’t wanted to give it any consideration. It was too soon. There were too many challenges. It couldn’t possibly work. Questions and doubts had been like fodder, the wealth of it fueling every fear she ever had. But with all her reservations and concerns what kept leaping to the forefront of her mind was how much she loved Troy.

  She loved him with every ounce of breath in her. She loved him more than she had ever thought possible. Loving Troy had made her final decision easy. And loving Troy would have taken her down the aisle days earlier if such a thing had been possible.

  Despite the rush of it, Amina had only one regret. Not having her father or even her brother to share in her joy broke her heart. Her sister didn’t miss the look of sadness that crossed her face.