by Edwina Fort
I quit!
I was tired of caring for everybody and nobody caring for me. To hell with that clinic.
Rachel and Oaklee showed up that night. I didn’t even get up to open the door for them, the heffas broke in.
“What the hell is going on here?” Rachel said, turning on my bedroom light.
“Turn it back off!” I yelled from the pile of covers I was under.
“Oh hell! She in here watching the Color Purple,” Oaklee said, plopping her butt down on my bed. I started to kick her off but didn’t want to be mean.
“Only one thing makes a girl curl up in her bed watching the Color Purple, eating—” Rachel picked up the empty container of ice cream from my nightstand so that she could read what kind it was.
“Chocolate obsession…” Her gaze came to mine.
“Chocolate obsession!” I cried as a fresh wave of tears came to my eyes. I missed my chocolate obsession…
She and Oaklee met eyes over my head. “Heartbreak,” they said at the same time.
Rachel exhaled, climbing into bed next to me. “Go ahead, scooch over… and tell us what happened.”
Oaklee climbed up the bed on my other side, sandwiching me between them. I didn’t even have the will to lift my head from Rachel’s shoulder as I told them what happened. And to give them both credit, neither of them said a thing until I was finished. But as soon as I finished, they let me have it.
“Girl, are you a f*cking fool?! If you don’t get yo’ ass up out of this bed, take a shower, and go get yo’ man, I will kick you smack dab in the center of your forehead.”
Both Oaklee and I looked at Rachel. “In the center of her forehead, Rach? That’s a little aggressive, don’t you think?” Oaklee asked her.
Rach shrugged. “It may be, but it pisses me off every time she allows that witch to rob her happiness! I swear, one of these days, I’m going to take a bat and beat her brains out.”
I put my hand on my friends arm. “You are very dark and angry. Has anybody ever told you that?”
She chuckled. "As a matter of fact, yes, the sheriff told me that just yesterday when he showed up at my house and I threatened to cut his balls off and feed them to him.”
“Jackson came to your house?” I asked.
She shook her finger at me. “Naw, we not changing the subject. We talking about you and the fact that you ain’t all that bright. Yeah, I know you got a PHD and whatever…” She waved her hand.
“But you ain’t bright. You gon’ sit here and get in yo’ feelings ‘cause he didn’t tell you, yo’ hood rat ass sister took his virginity. So the f*ck what, Free? She’s a soul-sucker. I’m sure there ain’t many boys in Aldshore who’s virginity that viper hasn’t snatched. Big deal…”
“That’s the same thing Tucker said,” I mumbled.
“And he was right.”
"But now he's mad at me." Tears came to my eyes again. "He practically threw me out his truck and he hasn't even tried to call me today."
“I would be mad too!” Rachel began, but Oaklee signaled for her to let her talk.
“What Rachel is trying to say is, men show their affection differently from women. He loves you, Free… Just think about it. Have you ever seen him do anything like he’s done for you for someone else?”
Dang it! Now that I think about it… Tucker can be a real big jerk. In high school, he barely acknowledged the girls he was with. He treated them so badly I often wondered why the hell they put up with it.
But he has been doing nothing but showering me with attention and affection, not to mention the fact that his generosity toward the clinic did not end that day of the job fair. He’s gotten his father to use his pull to secure our lunch program. He and one of his buddies partnered up to sponsor our job grooming services. He’d even helped me get housing for a few patients that were trying to get their lives in order.
I put my hand to my mouth. “Oh my God! I made a huge mistake!”
Rachel nodded. “Yeah, you did. But it’s one you can fix. Get up out of this bed and go to your man…”
I threw the covers back and bolted up from the bed.
“Thank you, guys so much! I love y’all!” I yelled as I ran into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me.
Rachel was right! I can fix this… I will just go to his place and talk to him. Let him know that I got a little scared. Although I didn’t love Dillion like I did Tucker, it still hurt to see him with my sister. It would kill me to see Tucker with Layla. So quite naturally, I had a little case of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome and panicked.
That’s understandable…right?
An hour and a half later, I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled. I’d like to see him resist me in this outfit. It was one of my racier pieces. The only reason I bought this little cocktail dress is because Rachel called me a prude when we were out shopping one day. And to prove that I wasn’t, I purchased this little demo. Now I’m glad I did.
Grabbing my keys off the mail stand I opened the door, but came up short at the sight of Angie standing there with her hand raised as if she was getting ready to knock.
“Angie!” I cried, startled.
“Free…hey!” She was just as surprised to see me suddenly standing there, but then her eyes ran down my body, taking in my outfit and her judgment was clear as day on her face.
“Are you on your way to the stroll?”
“Wow! That was insulting.”
“Well, dear, if you dress like a whore, don’t be surprised if you‘re treated like one,” she said as she glided past me into my house.
I clutched the doorknob, wanting so badly to tell her to get out. Instead, I exhaled and shut it behind her.
“Angie, can this visit wait?! I have to be somewhere.”
She didn’t answer me, she just took her time strolling around the living room looking at all the books on the bookshelves.
“You know…I remember when Dorothy bought this house. She’d been so sure of her little investment.”
I didn’t know my grandmother, so there was no love lost between us. However, I didn’t like Angie talking about her like that, I don’t care that she was her daughter-in-law.
“Outside of the house being a little old and in need of a few repairs, it’s not a bad investment,” I told her dryly.
Her gaze came to mine. “Oh! I wasn’t talking about the house, dear.”
I frowned. “What were you talking about?”
She smiled. “You.”
“Me?”
She continued her perusal of the bookshelves. “She was so confident that she would pluck you down and you would be the perfect bait to capture the heart of the prince.”
“Angie…what are you talking about?”
She laughed, confusing me more. “She was close… But I was quicker.”
I exhaled. Her rambling was beginning to give me a headache. I wanted her out of here so that I could go back to my chocolate obsession.
“She was so sure, she convinced Gilbert to agree with her diabolical plan.”
“What does my dad have to do with this?”
She threw her manicured hand in the air. “Free, keep up, will you? Gilbert is not your father.”
“What?!” That is it! I’ve had enough of her sh*t!
“You’ve gone too far! You need to stop, Angie. My father is dead and gone, and you’re standing here slandering him like this.”
“Girl, Gilbert couldn’t have children. His little swimmers didn’t work.”
“Liar!”
As casual as if she was flicking a piece of lint off her sleeve, she reached down in her purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“This is the report from the last test we took. He and I had tried to get him treatment so that we could have a child.”
With hands that shook, I snatched the paper from her. Tears that would never drop filled my eyes as I read.
“I take it being a doctor and all, you can comprehend what all those x’s and o’s
mean on that paper?”
My gaze came back to hers. “I don’t understand. How can this be?”
She laughed bitterly. “Your grandmother was a conniving snake, that’s how. She would do anything it took to get where she wanted to go. She didn’t care who she used or who she abused. She ruined many lives.” Holding her hands up, she stepped back.
“But don’t feel bad. She fooled me too. Her goal was to get her precious, sappy, half of a man son to marry into money. And it happened just as she planned it. She chose our town, she chose me…” her gaze hardened. “And evidently, she chose you too.”
“But why?” My voice quivered so badly my words were barely recognizable.
She shook her head. "Honey, I can't get inside the head of a madwoman. I just thought it was time for you to know the truth." And then she headed for the door.
“Oh, here is your plane ticket. Our flight leaves Thursday at six. Make sure you get there at least an hour early. We all will have a day to get settled in and then the wedding will be Saturday evening.” She handed me the ticket and opened the door.
“I have to go; I still need to run Tucker’s ticket to his place.”
“Wait!” I cried, grabbing her arm.
“Free?” She gasped, looking down where I clutched her in shock. Getting a hold of myself I let her go.
“Sorry about that,” I muttered. “But did you say you had a ticket for Tucker?”
“Yes, he’s Layla’s date, dear.”
To Be Continued…
Wow!!! It is some mess going on here. Free just found out that her father is not her father. And her grandmother somehow masterminded him being married to Angie and Free being in Aldhsore…Wow! Just wow! And to top it all off, Tucker is going to the wedding with that viper Layla!
Mmm mmm mmm, y’all stay tuned. Let’s see how this thang play out, chile!
Keep scrolling for a preview of Redemption: Beyond the Looking Glass by Edwina Fort
Redemption: Beyond the Looking Glass
The Prologue
Serenity
My hands felt almost too heavy to lift. I blinked, trying to clear my vision enough to focus on them.
Blood.
My hands were covered in blood. Was it mine? Is that why I felt so weak? There was a loud explosion before a roaring cheer went up to blend into the night with the sultry sound of Reggaetón.
El Carnaval de la Vega.
How did I get to La Vega? I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt strange. I lifted my head to try and see what was wrong with me.
“Don’t look at it, baht!”
The deep voice came from over me. Blinking, I tried to focus on the owner of such a powerful voice. It wasn’t just that it was deep, it felt as if there was someone else speaking to me through his voice. I was being carried by a dark man in a cowboy hat. My eyes widened, over his head appeared a large mask of—
“El Diablo,” I whispered. My voice was hoarse and strained as if I had been screaming. Fragmented memories of my screaming came back to mind. I looked at my blood covered hands again.
“Am I dying?” I asked the stranger in the cowboy hat.
“I pray not. Just hold on, we’re almost there.”
“Did the monsters get me?” He looked down at me then. Because of the darkness of the night and the shadow his hat cast, I could not see his face. But right then, somebody blew a huge ball of fire in the air, and for a moment, his dark gaze lit up. I sucked in my breath, his eyes were ancient.
“They tried, child, they tried.” He continued to carry me through the street. I didn’t recognize the feel of my own body. Something bad had happened to me. They had cut me open. They tried to feed me to the monsters.
My heart accelerated to the point where I thought that maybe I was going to die. I tried to lift my head so that I could see where I was cut.
“Don’t look. Just listen to my voice.” I relaxed back in his strong arms. “Are you listening?” he asked, sounding as if he was fighting tears. Was this stranger crying for me?
Although my throat felt raw and my tongue swollen, I swallowed before nodding my head.
“In the beginning there was a garden with many trees,” he began to speak; his deep voice was like honey, soothing to my soul. My eyes drifted shut.
“Serenity!” My eyes snapped back open because of the urgent way he called my name. “Listen, don’t close your eyes. Just listen to my voice. Are you listening?” I nodded again, but I felt so tired.
“Those trees were all very powerful, but none as powerful as the two trees in the center of the garden. One of the two also possessed extreme beauty. It was so beautiful that it caused the other trees to marvel. The fruit it bore was pleasing to the eye, but poisonous to the soul.” He turned down a dark alley, leaving the carnival celebration behind. The sounds of the merriment got weaker the farther he walked, or maybe I was dying. My eyes drifted shut.
“Across from that beautiful tree sat another with no outer allure. The fruit it bore was simple to look upon, but one bite of it granted to him who partook eternal life. The water that flowed from its roots was so pure that one sip can renew one’s being as if young again.”
We were walking toward a bright light. It was so bright that it hurt my eyes.
“Every man will have to make a choice of which of these two trees fruit he will eat. All those that follow the wide path and eat of the tree that is pleasing to the eye will die. All those that travel down the narrow road and partake of the tree that at first glance seems unadorned, shall have eternal life. Brace yourself, baht, this will hurt.”
He walked into the light and the last thing I remembered before I gave into the blackness was screaming through my raw throat, because it felt as if the light had split me apart, only to put me back together again.
Also by Edwina Fort
The Redemption Series
Redemption
Redemption: Earth’s Cry
Hitta’s Tea Maker
The Law Boys Series
Coming For What's Mine
Coming For What's Mine 2
Falling For Rome
Falling For Rome 2
About the Author
Author Edwina Fort is a writer who writes with a passion and purpose. She was born and raised in Chicago, but now resides in the South. Although she is new to many, this author has been writing for many years and has given her unique style of writing away freely at no cost to those who would receive. Her passion for writing came about at an early age and developed into what it is today based on her experience and life lessons. With her stories, she wants to redefine all that we’ve been taught to believe and shed light on our truths and potential. Writing is her calling and she wants to share that gift with you through the pages of her work. Each book will take you on a memorable journey you will find hard to forget.