Slow Seduction (31 page)

He shoved the glass out of his face, spilling some of the contents on the glass table. “I don’t need anything to drink. I want to understand why she lied to me.”

Hayward stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Well, Jenisha didn’t lie to you. She just withheld something.”

Dark green eyes narrowed across the table at Hayward. “She was dishonest with me,” Clinton growled.

“I understand how pissed off you are, but don’t let this come between you two.”

“I’m not the one who has anything to worry about,” Clinton stated. “I have thought about it, and I can’t stay married to her.”

His brother shot up out of the chair, knocking it backwards. “Have you lost your mind? Tell me I didn’t hear what I thought I did. You aren’t going to lose Jenisha over her inability to have children?”

“Hayward, you have two handsome sons, so you don’t have a clue what I’m feeling or thinking,” Clinton shouted.

Placing his hands on the table, Hayward leaned down to stare into at his brother’s in the eyes. “Listen, you’re a damn fool. Jenisha is too wonderful to let go. You can always adopt a baby. You don’t have to produce a child to be a parent.”

Pushing the chair back from the table, Clinton rose to his full height. “Hayward, you’re my brother and I love you, but my mind isn’t going to change. As soon as I get back home I’m filing for a divorce.” Clinton turned, stalking from the bar.

Hayward paid the waitress and followed his brother out the door mumbling, “Clinton, don’t do something you’ll regret later.”

“Okay, what room do I get to sleep in,” True asked, staring at up the huge house.

Jenisha unlocked the front door, shoving it open with her hip. “I don’t care,” she whispered, going inside and heading straight into the family room off at the side.

She collapsed on the couch and buried in her head in her hands. Fresh tears slid through her fingers and hit the knees of her white jeans.

Taking the key out of the door, True closed it, tossing the key on the table. “Why don’t I fix you a cup of tea?” she suggested, coming into the room. Jenisha kept weeping softly and didn’t answer her. “Okay, how about I fix you something to eat instead?”

Raising her head, Jenisha wiped at her tears. “I don’t want anything to eat or drink. The only thing I want is my husband back.” Hot tears came to her eyes at the thought of Clinton never being in her life again. “True, I wouldn’t be able to go on without him.”

True rushed over to her side. “Don’t you even think about doing something stupid! Clinton isn’t worth it. You have to give him more time to come around. He’ll be back before you know it.”

She loved True for trying to cheer her up, but she had a horrible feeling Clinton hated her now.

“Sweetie, why don’t you take a shower and go to bed?” True helped her up off the couch. Jenisha dragged her sluggish body up the stairs toward the bathroom.

When True heard the door shut, she called Hayward back in Montana and prayed that he had some good news.

“How’s Clinton?”

“Not good,” Hayward answered. “He’s going to file for divorce.”

“No, he can’t do that,” True yelled, then lowered her voice. “That will kill Jenisha.”

“I tried to talk him out of it, but couldn’t,” Hayward replied.

“God, what am I going to tell Jenisha?”

“I don’t know,” Hayward muttered. “But it needs to be quick because you need to come back home. Did you forget that you promised the boys you’ll be here when they got home on Saturday?”

“Darn it. I did forget about that. Let me tell Jenisha and I’ll leave on the next flight I can get back.”

“Okay…let me know and I’ll pick you up at the airport.” Hayward ended the phone call with a click.

True hung up Jenisha’s phone and laid it back on the table. What in the world was she going to do now?

Jenisha came back into the room wearing shorts and one of Clinton’s T-shirts, “Who was on the phone?” she asked, curling up by the bay window.

“Hayward.”

“Did Clinton say anything about me?” she asked hopefully.

“No, Hayward said Clinton is still pretty upset over the news,” True replied. “Clinton’s so aggravated that he’s going back to Stamford to stay for a couple of days.”

Jenisha’s heart dropped even further after hearing those words. “He isn’t coming back to me, is he? Don’t lie to me,” she snapped when True opened her mouth to lie to her. She knew her husband too well for lies. “He’s filing for divorce and doesn’t want to see my lying face again. Isn’t that what you’re trying to keep from me?”

“Jenisha, I still say give him more time and things will work out,” True answered.

Folding her legs yoga style, Jenisha faced True with a clear head. “True, I had the best time of my life with Clinton. A gorgeous, sexy, talented and rich man fell in love with me and wanted to share his life. Clinton wasn’t the one who destroyed our commitment. It was me and I’m the only to condemn,” she whispered softly.

“I think you need to go back home to your husband. You shouldn’t be in the middle of my mistake. It took such a long time for you and Hayward to work through your problems and I’m so delighted you did,” she said with a smile.

“However, what I did is inexcusable. Clinton has the right to leave me and I won’t fight it. So, tell Hayward when you get back to have Clinton send me the papers. True, please go home to your husband and love him more each day,” Jenisha requested with a half smile.

“Jenisha, I don’t want to leave you, and I just got here with you. I think I should stay.”

“No, I have already called you a cab on my cell phone upstairs, and it should be on the way. Please do this for me.”

“Alright, I will,” True said, although she didn’t want to.

The cab pulled in front of Jenisha’s house twenty minutes later. Jenisha stood at the window waving at True as the cab pulled away. “I almost had a committed relationship like hers,” she said a loud. “Now I’ll be alone for the rest of my life. Clinton will never forgive me for deceiving him all these months.”

“Jenisha, are you feeling okay,” Becky asked from the doorway.

Lifting her dizzy head off the desk, she focused on her friend. “Yeah, I’ve a got case of the flu. I’ll be fine,” she answered, sitting up straight. “How’s college going?”

“I’m so happy,” Becky grinned. “It was so much harder than I thought it would be. I went back to school too late.”

“Girl, you went back at twenty-six,” Jenisha scolded.

“Do you realize most teachers are teaching at that age?” Becky remarked, watching Jenisha take a sip of water. “Are you positive you’re okay?”

“Umm…Mmmm… with everything that has been going on this last month, it’s wearing me down a little,” Jenisha sighed brushing her hair back off her forehead.

“I’m sorry to hear about the divorce.”

“We aren’t divorced yet, but we will be soon.” She still had the papers sitting at home on her kitchen table waiting for her signature.

“How are you taking it?” Becky asked.

“I adore my husband, so of course I want to stay married. However, Clinton doesn’t feel the same,” Jenisha admitted, hurt that Clinton still wasn’t taking any of her phone calls. He hung up on her just this morning.

“Can things be worked out?” Becky questioned with hope in her voice.

“No.” She had killed any possibility of that with her lies. “Do you mind waiting for me?”

“No, I don’t.” Becky said, coming into the room and sitting down at one of the empty desks. “Take your time. How long have you been sick?” she asked, watching the way Jenisha kept sipping at the water.

“I wasn’t feeling too good when I went to Montana last month and it has gotten worse, so made an appointment for the doctor,” Jenisha muttered, trying to calm down the nerves in her stomach. She got up from her desk and shoved all the papers off the top into her briefcase. “It’s tomorrow right after school.” Going all around the room, she checked the room a final time then left with Becky, totally oblivious that someone was watching her.

Mark came out of his office and hurried past Robin’s desk to watch Jenisha’s departing figure as she went out the door with Becky. “Tomorrow will be a day you’ll never forget,” he gloated. “Are you happy that Jenisha will finally be out of your hair Robin?”

Robin sat at her desk, scared out of her mind because she no longer wanted to be involved with his disturbed plan. Furthermore, she needed to warn Clinton. Rumors of a divorce were all over the school, yet she didn’t believe it. A couple that in love didn’t get a divorce after only few months of marriage.

“You are going to keep up your end of plan, aren’t you?” Mark asked, coming back into the office.

“Yes, I will, Mark,” she answered, avoiding direct eye contact.

“Very good. I’ll see you’re here around six o’clock tomorrow night.”

“How will you make Jenisha come back to the school so late at night?” She had to find out to warn Clinton, and she prayed that he listened to her.

“Don’t worry about things that aren’t any of your business,” he said in a nasty tone.

Robin truly looked at her father for the first time, finally seeing the monster everyone else did.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” he asked.

She hurried from the office without looking back.

Traipsing to her red PT Cruiser, Robin slid behind the wheel, hoping Jenisha wouldn’t come back here tomorrow. Mark was going to murder another human being without feeling a thing.
How could she have allowed herself to want love from a man like him?

God, even Brenda his wife had gotten enough sense to leave him last week. Her father’s grip with reality was slowly slipping away. If he went through his plan, all would be lost. Sitting in the running car, Robin tried to remember when she no longer wanted Clinton and it didn’t come to her.

Truthfully, she never wanted him in the first place. Clinton was a pawn in her game to get back at Jenisha, which failed miserably. Clinton’s eyes never gazed at her with passion or tenderness. He didn’t lean in closer to listen to her talk or brush a strand of hair off her cheek. All those things were reserved for Jenisha, as it should have been. She was the woman who captured his heart long ago. She couldn’t allow her father to destroy a love that unadulterated.

Switching the gears to drive, Robin left the school and headed home because she needed more time to think. It did bother her to turn on the last living parent she had left in the world. However, she didn’t want to be an accomplice to a murder. Jenisha still wasn’t her favorite person in the world, but she didn’t deserve to die. At that moment, she knew she would do anything to make sure it didn’t happen.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Campbell, how are you doing today? Feeling any better, or has the nausea and dizziness gotten worse?” Dr. Garrett Evans questioned Jenisha the next day at the doctor’s office.

“Well, yesterday the dizziness was worse than the nausea feeling. Today, I had to leave class several times because the nausea was two times worse,” Jenisha replied.

“Let me check you over and take some blood,” Dr. Evans said. “Then I’ll call you back if anything odd shows up. How about that?” he asked, touching her shoulder.

“It sounds wonderful because I’m really worried,” Jenisha answered. “I have never been sick like this before. I hope it isn’t serious. I don’t have time to get sick.” She didn’t have much time to do anything but go to work and then cry in her bed at night.

Dr. Evans looked at his patient with understanding. “Let’s not worry about the unknown. It’s probably just the flu, but, until I do know, don’t take any medications.”

“Alright, I won’t,” she replied.

“I’ll take some blood and you’ll be out of here,” Dr. Evans said, writing down some information in her chart. “I should get the results back tomorrow or the next day at the latest.”

Jenisha sat on the exam table and hoped it wasn’t anything more serious than the flu. “Could you call me at my home and not work?”

“Sure, I’ll let my nurses know,” Dr. Evans said, getting up moving toward the door. Pausing, he said,” Jenisha, don’t get upset. Whatever it is, we’ll work it out, okay?”

She looked back at her kind doctor. “T
hank
you, Dr. Evans.”

Nodding at her, he exited out of the room.

After the nurse came in and took her blood for the test, Jenisha was picking up her purse and her cell phone rung. Answering it, she heard Mark’s voice on the other end requesting she come back to the school. He had papers she needed to sign tonight about the additions Clinton had done. Rolling her eyes, she told Mark she would be there in forty-five minutes.

“Clinton, you have to listen to me,” Robin screamed. “Mark is going to kill her tonight at the school. You need to stop her from going there.”

Clinton stood in the middle of the hotel room not believing a word coming out of Robin’s mouth. He had only arrived back in town two days ago to finish up some last minute paperwork and get Principal Kimball’s signature on some papers. Then he was headed back to Stamford for a while.

He still didn’t want to see or hear from Jenisha, so he was trying to leave fast as he could. “Robin, have you been drinking?”

“NO!” She yelled at him. “God, why won’t you listen to me? Mark wants Jenisha dead.”

“Why does he want her dead?” Robin was talking out of her mind. He didn’t know why he was standing here wasting time with her. “I know she turned him down for a date, but that isn’t any reason to kill her.”

“Do you not love your wife anymore?” Robin accused hotly. “Is that why we are standing here wasting all this time? All you need to know is Mark and The Griffins are going to kill her!”

Clinton ran over to Robin and grabbed her shoulders roughly. “How do you know The Griffins?”

“They are friends of Mark’s brother Dalton Blake,” she whimpered, struggling in his tight hold. “I heard Mark talking to them one day in his office when he thought I had left.

“Oh my god, I didn’t know Dalton had a brother,” Clinton uttered as heaviness settled in the middle of his chest. What in the hell had he done?

“Yes, he does. Mark Kimball. Dalton wanted to get back at everyone who sent him to prison, so Mark decided to begin with Jenisha since she talked True into testifying in court,” Robin rushed on, filling him in on everything. “William Griffin met Dalton in jail, and, realizing they both knew the same people, a plan was set-up to hurt you and what better way than to….”

“Kill Jenisha,” Clinton finished. His hands dropped away from Robin’s shoulders in shock.
Would his stubbornness cost him his wife?
Why didn’t he talk to her
any
longer when she called all those times?
She had even called him today and he didn’t pick up the cell phone.
Would his indifference shove her to her own murder
?

“Clinton, we need to go now,” Robin stressed, bringing him back to the conversation. “Mark is planning to do it at exactly six o’clock and it’s already ten minutes ‘til.”

Clinton snatched his car keys off the table and dashed out the door with Robin at his heels. “Please God don’t let me be too late,” he begged.

Tearing off the note on Mark’s office door, Jenisha read it and rolled her eyes. Why did she even bother coming here tonight when she wasn’t feeling well? She didn’t have time to deal with Principal Kimball on an empty stomach. Taking a deep breath, she read the note again.

I’m back in the storage shed.

Please come on back.

Mark

Tossing the note on the desk behind her, she went toward the back door, wondering why he wanted to meet outside in the shed this late. Only Mark would do something this bizarre. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Mark opened the door wearing all black which she found strange.

“Come on in and join us,” he said, moving back.

Jenisha eased into the room and stopped dead in her tracks. Not five feet in front of her was a couple tied to two chairs with bullet holes in their chest. Screaming, she tried to run from the room, but Mark jerked her back in and slammed the door shut locking it at the very top.

“Oh no, you can’t leave, Mrs. Campbell,” he laughed. “You have to stay for the grand prize.”

Walking over to the couple, Mark poured gasoline over their dead bodies. “Do you want to say goodbye to the Griffins,” he asked. “They actually thought I would let them live and they were the only connection to my brother Dalton Blake.”

Jenisha moved away from him, stammering out, “Dalton Blake is your brother?” How she could get herself out of this without it being in a body bag? She always knew Mark was crazy.

“Yes, he’s my baby brother and you had him sent to prison. Do you know what happens to him on a daily basis?” Mark’s eyes stared back at her with hate and revenge.

“I’m going to leave you here and allow your beautiful body to burn with theirs,” he said, pointing to the couple.

Making a dash for the door, Jenisha tried to open it again, but it wouldn’t bulge. She looked back at Mark and he was shaking his head at her and waving a box of matches. Swinging her head back around, she gave the door another hard tug, but it didn’t move.

“Oh, you won’t be able to open it,” he taunted. “I fixed it so it would stay sealed.”

Turning around she laid her back against the cold metal. “So you are going to die in here with me?”

Mark shook his head. “You always ask so many questions. I think that’s the one thing I hate most about you.”

“Are you going to shoot me like you did them?” Jenisha pointed toward the dead bodies of the Griffins.

“No, I only had two bullets and I have already used them. I want you to feel the flames burning at your tender flesh, and the moment before you die you’ll understand the agony my brother does.”

“You won’t get away with this,” she cried out. “Someone will know about this,” she hollered, rushing to him.

Mark threw Jenisha down on the floor, causing her head to bounce off the table’s edge. Walking back over to the gasoline can, he threw it against walls and the floor. Striking a match, he tossed it on the floor watching it ignite instantly. Laughing, he said, “Welcome to your private hell.”

Edging around the fire, he went to the back of the shed where he left a window open for his escape. Standing on a crate, he pushed it open and he was climbing out when Jenisha’s voice rung out behind him. “I won’t let you do this.”

“Shit,” he yelled. Jumping down, he turned and shoved her back toward the flames, crouching as the smoke filled his lungs. “I though your ass was dead.”

“If I’m gong to die, I want you with me,” Jenisha said, lunging for him.

Mark shoved her away and hurried back over to the crate. “I’ve got other plans, and dying isn’t one of them, sweetheart.” Thick black smoke burned at his eyes as it filled the shed. The extra wood that filled the space was burning out of control around his body.

Jenisha didn’t want to die inside this place without anyone knowing where she was.
How could she have been so dumb to let Mark trap her? He has totally lost his mind. Please don’t let me die
.