He chuckled. “You’re still in the hotel room. It’s almost eleven o’clock and we have to vacate the premises. So up and at ’em. Come on, sleeping head. Let’s get moving.”
She grabbed the white duvet and pulled it up to her chin. “How did I get here?”
“You stumbled most of the way. But some of it, I suppose we can say you walked.”
“Oh. Last night. I was drinking. Heavily. That’s right.”
“And I told you it was a bad idea that you would most assuredly regret in the morning.” Darius smirked. “Good thing you and I are such a great team.”
“You brought me here.”
“Yep.”
“And you left me here to sleep it off, and now you’ve come back to get me.”
Darius laughed. “Not quite. So I guess you don’t remember?”
“It’s a bit hazy, but it’s starting to come back. I was upset with Andrew.”
“That’s an understatement. You called him after you came in here—”
“I called him? And you let me?”
“Like I could have stopped you from doing whatever you pleased. At least, that’s what you told me last night when I was trying to get you to stop a lot of things.” Darius got up and went to the closet. He took the hotel-provided white robe off the hanger and laid it on the bed. “Your clothes are over there on the chair. Not that I would see anything now that I haven’t already seen, compliments of last night.”
“You didn’t? Please tell me that you didn’t . . . we didn’t.”
“Let’s just say that if you had bet me like I proposed, I’d be oh so much richer this morning than when I started last night.”
“Tell me you did not take advantage of me while I was drunk. Please tell me you didn’t.” She cringed.
“Paris, don’t even try it. I brought you up to this room with good and honorable intentions. You, on the other hand, were like an animal in heat. I’m only human.” Darius pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
She looked at it without opening it. “What’s this?”
“Something you insisted on writing and giving to me. To sum it up: It says you were of a sound mind and doing what you were doing of your own free will.”
“I was drunk. And you knew that I was drunk.” She grabbed her head.
“Shhh. Not so loud. When I said pretty much those same words to you, you tried to fight me—literally. That’s when you got the notepad they put in these rooms, wrote that note there—see, it has the hotel’s logo up top—and you signed it. You said you were ‘legally protecting and exonerating’ me. Then you proceeded to tell me how long you’ve wanted me and how incredibly fine and hot you find me and my body.”
“You’re making that up.”
“Okay. The part about me being hot, I did make up. But all the other stuff is true.”
She scooted to the edge of the bed, holding the duvet up to her neck, and placed her feet on the floor. She reached over and retrieved the robe. “Turn around please.”
Darius giggled. “No problem.” He turned his back to her.
She put on the robe, got up, and walked briskly to the chair that held her clothes. “Okay, so I got drunk. You brought me up here. But instead of doing the honorable and decent thing and leaving me, you stayed the night with me?”
“You got drunk. I made sure you were okay. I didn’t dare want to leave you alone because if something were to have happened to you, like say you had died or something, then who do you think is the person they’d come looking for?”
“But you didn’t have to sleep with me.”
“You’re right. I didn’t. And if I was prayed up a bit more and you weren’t so doggone fine and irresistible, I might have been able to turn you down. But . . . I’m only human. Believe me though: My original intentions were purely honorable.”
She stopped next to him. “You say I called Andrew?”
“Yep. And you let him have it. Pow! Right between the kisser. I mean you gave him the what for. You read that man like a page-turner book a friend had loaned you and wanted back now before you were finished.”
“Did I tell him what all I knew?”
“No. Fortunately for you, I was here. I took the phone from you. The way you were going off on him, I just knew you were also about to tell him I was here with you.”
“Then he’s undoubtedly worried about me?” Paris looked around the room.
“What are you looking for?”
“My cell phone.”
Darius went and got it off the nightstand and handed it to her. “You can calm down. I fixed it with Andrew for you.”
“How? What did you do?”
“I texted him and told him, well, actually he thought it was you texting him, but you told him that you’d had too much to drink and you’d checked into a hotel.”
Paris shook her head. “That wouldn’t work for Andrew. He would have come looking for me. I know him. He would have come and gotten me.”
“I handled that as well. I texted him that Doris was here with you . . . that you were fine, but that you were going to turn off your phone and get some much-needed rest and for him not to bother calling or texting you back.”
Paris hurriedly powered up her phone. After it was functional, she read the unread text message and listened to a voice mail message Andrew also left.
“Is everything okay?” Darius asked.
“Yeah. Andrew said he was glad ‘Doris’ was here with me, and for me to call him as soon as I got his message.”
“See, everything worked out, then.”
“It looks that way. But I do have one question,” Paris said.
“Give it to me.”
“Who is Doris?”
He laughed. “Beats me. But I supposed you’d better have an answer for Andrew when you talk to him and he asks.”
Paris went to the bathroom, got dressed, and Darius drove her home.
Chapter 35
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
—1 Corinthians 6:1
Andrew called Gabrielle. “I need to see you.”
“Today?” Gabrielle said.
“If possible. I’m not sure what’s going on, but something seems to be.”
“Sure. I’ll see if I can get someone to keep Jasmine, and I’ll be there sometime today.”
“If I’m busy, please wait. Just tell my secretary that I’m expecting you so she’ll be sure to announce when you’ve arrived.”
“Okay. You have me worried now.”
He didn’t say anything else to calm her worries. She knew whatever it was, it was either important or serious.
Gabrielle called a few people to see if one of them could keep Jasmine. The list of people she trusted enough to leave Jasmine with was short. She was just about to call Zachary as a last resort when Tiffany called her.
“Hi, Gabrielle. I know this is short notice, but I was wondering if it would be okay for Jasmine to come over to play with Jade today.”
“You’re off work today?”
“Yes. Darius worked late last night and Junior woke up this morning with a fever. I was trying to wait on Darius to arrive so he could take him to the doctor. I tried calling him, but his phone was off. At first I called in and told them I would be a little late, thinking Darius would be home soon. But after nine o’clock, I called and told them I needed to take the whole day off and I took Junior to the doctor myself.”
“Is Junior all right?” Gabrielle asked.
“It was an ear infection. The doctor gave him some medicine. His temperature is back to normal now, so he’s fine. But I was home and Jade asked if Jasmine could come over. I told her I’d call you and ask.”
“You know . . . this is nobody but God,” Gabrielle said. “Would you believe I need to go see my lawyer, and I was trying to find someone to watch Jasmine until I got back?”
“Wow, God is awesome, isn’t He?”
/>
“You haven’t said nothing but a word. ‘Awesome’ doesn’t even come close to describing our God.”
“I know that’s right. Well, you just bring Jasmine right on over. I’m here for as long as you need me to keep her.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you. I owe you.”
“No, you don’t. That’s what friends are for,” Tiffany said. “Besides, you’re doing me a favor by letting Jasmine come. Jade’s been moping around for the past few days, talking about how she doesn’t have anyone to play with. A street of houses with girls all around her age, and she doesn’t get along with any of them the way she does with Jasmine.”
“Well, we’ll be there shortly.”
Gabrielle called Jasmine downstairs and told her she was going over to visit with Jade. Jasmine began jumping up and down with joy. She wanted to change clothes though before they went. Gabrielle shook her head as she smiled, telling her to hurry up because she had somewhere she had to be before it got too late.
Now, if only Andrew would have some positive news for her for a change. “Please, God. I know You’re able. Let Andrew have some good news. Please.”
The doorbell rang. Gabrielle wondered who that could be. It couldn’t be Tiffany, even though it would be just the sort of thing Tiffany would do to help her out. But there hadn’t been enough time for her to have gotten there that quickly.
Gabrielle looked out to see who it was. With her back turned, all Gabrielle could tell was that it was a woman with a lot of height on her.
Gabrielle opened the door. “Yes?”
The woman turned around.
“Paris? What are you doing here?”
Paris took her shades off. “We need to talk.”
“How did you find out where I live?”
“May I come in?” Paris said, ignoring Gabrielle’s questions.
“Well, actually, I was on my way out.”
Paris stepped inside anyway. “This shouldn’t take long.”
“All right,” Gabrielle said, closing the door. “Let’s go into the den. This way.” She led her to the den.
Paris sat down in a wingback chair without being asked and crossed her legs. Gabrielle sat on the sofa.
“I’ll get right to the point,” Paris said. “What’s the deal with you and my husband?”
“Who? Andrew?”
“Don’t try to play dumb with me. That’s the only husband I have. I know everything. So let’s put the whole shebang on the table so we can resolve this between us, once and for all.”
Gabrielle scooted back a little. “Fine. But don’t you think you should be talking to your husband about this, instead of here harassing me?”
“Who’s harassing you? I came here so you and I can solve our issues, woman to woman . . . Christian to Christian. The Bible tells us that if we have a matter against one another, we should work it out amongst ourselves.”
“And yet, the first thing you did was take our matter to the court system,” Gabrielle said.
“That’s because that’s where that should have gone. It was a legal matter. You wanted to adopt a child and I didn’t believe that was in the child’s best interest,” Paris said.
“But why? What have I ever done that would cause you to believe I’d do anything to harm a child?”
Paris chuckled. “You took my boyfriend from me. After I opened up my home to you, you stabbed me in my back, and you slept with my boyfriend.”
“I did not,” Gabrielle said. “I never slept with Cedric. I’m telling you the truth. I never slept with him. How many times do I have to say that before you believe me? But you, on the other hand, betrayed Cedric and got with his best friend.”
“Oh, okay. So you want to go there, huh? Well, tell me, Miss Gabrielle. How would you happen to know that? If you and Andrew never met, then how would you happen to know that Cedric and Andrew were even friends, let alone best friends?”
“Fine,” Gabrielle said, scooting closer to the edge of the sofa. “I told Andrew he should tell you everything.”
Paris stood up and walked over to Gabrielle, towering over her. Gabrielle immediately stood to her feet.
“I’m not going to fight you,” Paris said. “I have more class than to get down in the gutter to your level. So do you want to inform me when you’ve had the opportunity to tell my husband anything he should be doing with his wife?”
“Sit down,” Gabrielle said in a soft voice.
“You don’t tell me what to do.”
“Please,” Gabrielle said nicely. “Will you have a seat?”
“You didn’t offer me a seat when I came in here.” Paris sat down in the wingback chair and crossed her legs again. “In fact, you didn’t even have enough manners to ask me to come in when I rang your doorbell. That’s why I didn’t think you needed to get that child.”
“Can we just please stay on one subject at a time?” Gabrielle said as she eased back down on the sofa.
Paris began to swing her top crossed leg. “So when did you and my husband have an occasion to speak about what he should be telling me?”
“I asked Andrew to tell you that we did, in fact, know each other.”
“Well, I already know that now. Why he couldn’t tell me the truth in the beginning when I first asked him, I’ll never know. But that’s beside the point. What I want to know is why you felt the need to go out and hire my husband to work against me?”
“I didn’t seek your husband out.”
Paris stopped swinging her leg and uncrossed them. She leaned forward. “So you really want me to believe that he came looking for you to represent you against my challenge of you getting to adopt Jasmine.”
“If you don’t mind, will you please keep your voice down,” Gabrielle said as she looked toward the door opening of the den. “Jasmine’s here. I don’t want her to overhear us.”
“If you don’t want me to talk loud, then I would suggest you answer my questions so you don’t get me upset. You probably recall: I tend to get loud when I’m upset.”
“My original attorney, Robert Shaw, put in a request for a lawyer versed in the problems your challenge was posing.”
“And he just happened to contact the firm where my husband works. And they just happened to send out the husband of the woman who was doing the challenging? How convenient. Forget about the ethics and conflicts of interest screaming all over the place.” Paris sat back hard against the chair and crossed her arms.
“Would you mind if we pray before we proceed? I just feel you and I should pray together.”
“You can pray all you want. I didn’t come here to have church with you. I came here for answers. I came here to get to the other side of the lies I’ve been fed.”
“I’ve not fed you any lies, Paris.”
Paris unfolded her arms. “You’re a Christian, right?”
“Yes.”
“And Christians aren’t supposed to lie, right?”
“Correct.”
“Okay, Gabrielle. Let’s see how much of the Christian talk you actually walk. Did you know Andrew prior to us meeting in the hospital cafeteria that day? Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“Did you meet him prior to me kicking you out of my apartment back when you and I lived together? Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
Paris tightened her mouth as though she’d just eaten something sour. “Did you sleep with Andrew while you were living in my apartment?”
“No.”
“When I put you out, did you see him at all after that?”
“Yes.”
Paris stared hard at Gabrielle. “When?”
“When he picked me up . . . as I was walking down the street from your apartment with nowhere to go.”
“Andrew picked you up? My Andrew?”
“He wasn’t your Andrew at the time. You were with Cedric, remember?” Gabrielle’s house phone started ringing. “I need to get that. It’s probably the person where I was headed, before you barged in, cal
ling to see where I am.”
Paris shrugged. “Let your answering machine or voice mail get it. We’re busy, and it would be rude for you to just up and answer the phone when you’re entertaining company.”
“Not if it’s important. And not if my ‘company’ was an understanding person.”
“But it’s not likely that important. And I’m not the understanding type. So let’s carry on. This shouldn’t be too much longer, especially if you keep answering my questions the way you’ve been doing.” Paris flashed Gabrielle a short, snarky smile. “When Andrew picked you up that day, where did you get him to take you?”
“I didn’t get him to take me anywhere,” Gabrielle said.
“Excuse me? So what did you do? Live in his beat-up old car?”
“He took me home with him.”
Paris stood up and held her hand up like a person directing traffic. “Hold up. Did I just hear you correctly? Did you just say that Andrew took you home with him?”
Gabrielle stood up, too. “Yes.”
Paris scratched the top of her head. “So you were living with my husband?”
“Again, he wasn’t your husband at the time. In fact, he wasn’t even your boyfriend at the time. The way I understand it to have happened, that came later . . . much later, after you dumped Cedric for him.”
Paris frowned. “Did Andrew tell you that?”
“Look, Paris. I don’t want to rehash every bit of the past that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.” Gabrielle put her hand on her hip. “What’s important is: I met him. I knew him back when I lived with you. And he and I never . . . ever slept together.”
Paris nodded. “So you didn’t sleep with my boyfriend Cedric, according to your truth. And you didn’t sleep with Andrew, my soon-to-be boyfriend who eventually became my husband?”
“Right. So if your question is why Andrew has stepped up to help me against what you were doing, the answer is: He’s a really good man with a really good heart who believes in really doing the right thing. He knows it’s wrong for you to try and take Jasmine from me.”
Paris nodded again as she smirked. “Okay. I have just one more question and I promise then that I’m done.”
“All right.”
The Other Side of Dare Page 19