The Sapphire Pendant (30 page)

“What are you going to do?” Eddie mocked. “Take her away from me?” “Is the man who has everything going to take the one thing
him bredda
has to claim in this world, take the one thing that is of any importance? Is Mr. Perfect going to take
him brother
to court and risk him pristine image by admitting the truth about me, maybe even about him mother? Does he think he could do better?” Eddie laughed. “Both of us know that isn’t true. If you wanted, you could drop your seed and get one of your own. But you’re too afraid of your secret.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“How’s Leticia? Are you still paying for a little nightly comfort? Afraid that regular women will be too disgusted by your...breathe Kenneth.”

He did.

“I love my daughter,” Eddie said. “She can be a pain in the ass and I need a break sometimes, but she’s still mine.” He tapped his chest. “
My
child, not yours! Mr. Preston was good to us, but he wasn’t our true father. Blood means something. Remember that.”

Kenneth shook his head. “After all that bastard put us through, how can you think of him as a true anything? Did the liquor wash away your memories?”

He shrugged. “It helps.”

“Do you remember what he did to us? Don’t you remember what his drinking did to him?”

“I’m not going to fight what we are or who we are.”

Kenneth tossed the wine bottle in the bin. “I’m not this.”

Eddie smiled cruelly. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“Then why don’t you take a drink right now?” He retrieved a beer can from a lower drawer and popped open the top. “Go on. Take just one sip. See what happens. See if it doesn’t find a home in your veins. See if it doesn’t fill the hollowness inside. You can only keep up the charade for so long before you snap. Before your true nature sneaks up behind you and chokes you...that’s when this,” he lifted the can, “will be there for you. To help you cope with it all. You can’t run from fate, Kenny.”

“This isn’t my fate.”

Eddie smiled again, bringing the beer to his lips.

Kenneth brushed aside the memory and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He felt an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. He hated seeing a young man so brilliant, fight such a cunning demon—a demon so clever it appeared to be a solace. He couldn’t send Syrah back there. He rubbed his hands against the steering wheel until his palms burned. He’d failed his brother and Syrah...and his mother. Eddie was her favorite.
 

Jasmine would be sickened by the man his brother had become; the man for whom she had altered her future. He felt guilty he had even suggested the scheme in passing. No matter her reasons, she’d listened to him and lost the pendant for what? Eddie didn’t even care about his future. Kenneth tapped the steering wheel, thoughtful. He would get the pendant back for her. Maybe it would give her the courage to live life the way she wished. It would let her realize she had a freedom of choice, something he’d never had.
 

He had expected to hate her after she left him that night. He had raged a bit and thought of going to Leticia, but couldn’t. Jasmine’s honesty stopped him. She was afraid because she cared about him. He knew the fear. He felt it too. He admired her honesty. Nobody challenged him the way she did. No one sought to shatter the mirror image he showed to the world. It was dangerous for a man with secrets, but it made him feel alive—if only for awhile.

When he reached town, Kenneth went to the office instead of returning home. It would be too much of a strain to show a happiness he didn’t feel.

“Hello, Mr. Preston,” Mrs. Mathew greeted.
 

He affected a casual smile. “Hello.”

“I should warn you about your office.”

“At this moment nothing could shock me,” he said, opening his door. His emotions had become numb. Nothing could bother him.

He was wrong. His office had been turned into a flower shop. Bouquets, plants, and single roses lay everywhere. Their perfume soaked the air like an overzealous sales clerk with a new fragrance.

He stood stunned in the doorway. “What is this?”
 

Mrs. Mathew stood behind him, peeking into the room. “They started arriving late Thursday then early Friday.”

Kenneth picked up a bouquet of chrysanthemums. “Why?”

“I think it has a lot to do with the fact that you have yet to choose a date for the Hampton Charity Ball.” She went to her desk to retrieve the messages.

He put the bouquet down and glanced up when he heard a light knock on the door. “Come in.”

Stephanie walked into the room. “I spoke with Draxton.”

“We’re not selling.”

“That’s for the board to decide. They’ve sweetened the deal. ” When he didn’t reply, she took a seat and glanced around the room. “I see that the annual hunt has begun.” She crossed her ankles. “Who will you take this year?”

“I haven’t decided,” he said absently, retrieving papers from his box. It wasn’t like Stephanie to chat on frivolous subjects.

“I hope it won’t be Jessie Clifton.”

His head shot up. “Why not?”

She pulled lint off her trousers. “Because of the bet.”

“What bet?”

Her eyes clashed with his. “The bet she made with Deborah.”

He loosened his tie. “Bull. Jasmine isn’t like that.”

“Oh no?” She raised a brow. “You didn’t find it odd that after all these years she suddenly wanted to work for
you
of all people? That she suddenly wanted to be your friend? Has she stroked your ego so much that you’ve forgotten to be cautious? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but to her you’re just part of the game. Rumor has it some sort of pendant is at stake. I heard Deborah say so herself.”
 

His heart raced. “I don’t believe you.”

She stood. “Suit yourself,” she said as she left.

Kenneth stood paralyzed as everything came into focus. Why Jasmine had strangely become cordial. Why he had seen her conversing with Deborah as if they were old buddies. Why she had been so eager to be his friend. Why he had felt she was up to something. Why she had suddenly changed her mind about sleeping with him. He grimaced. Of course. Sleeping with him wasn’t part of the deal: no witnesses.
 

But she had sounded so sincere. So honest. He’d thought her feeling had been for real. How she must have silently laughed at him as he stood vulnerable before her. Kenneth threw his briefcase on the couch. He was more annoyed than angry. He glanced down when pain shot up his arms and saw his hands clenched, his nails biting into his palms.
 

No. He was angry—furious, really—that he had fallen for her ploy. He had really wanted her as a friend—no, more than that—but he should have known better. He’d never meant anything to her. Perhaps Eddie was right about some aspects of fate. He and Jasmine were meant to be enemies. He slowly relaxed his hands and adjusted his tie.

Mrs. Mathew entered the room. “You have your regular hints of course,” she said, placing the messages on his desk.
 

“Thank you.” He opened his window. “Could you take some of these flowers and deliver them somewhere?”

“I tried, but more kept coming.”

He sat behind his desk and glanced around the room with a scowl. “Call someone from the adult day care program to pick these up.”

“Okay.” She hesitated. “I take it that you didn’t have a good weekend?”

He rubbed his chin. “The worst.”

“How would you like me to order you a large breakfast?”
 

“Thanks.”

Mrs. Mathew nodded then nearly bumped into Nathan as he entered the room.

Nathan took a stunned look around the room then burst into laughter.

“Shut up or get out,” Kenneth growled.

Unaffected by Kenneth’s mood, he picked up a flower and stuck it to the lapel of his jacket with a pin. He sat down. “I had to see it to believe it.”

Kenneth checked his email.
 

“I would love to have women fighting over me like that.”

He didn’t reply. He knew being a trophy had its downside too.

That evening, Kenneth sat in his car and stared at his house before he got out of the car. This was his home, but the word made him feel empty. He had accomplished so much in his life, yet he felt he had accomplished nothing. Ace had no father and Jasmine only wanted him as a trophy, just like the other women. Funny, he hadn’t expected betrayal to hurt so much. He should have known better than to trust her. All day her deception hung on him like a virus, causing his mind and body to ache.

When he opened the door, a familiar scene greeted him. Ace sat on the ground working on a puzzle and Jasmine sat curled up on the sofa engrossed in a book with an image of a bloody dagger on the cover. In a perfect world this homey scene would be a pleasure, instead it was a burden—another game to play. To think he’d been foolish enough to consider getting the pendant for her when that had been her plan all along.

Syrah jumped up when she spotted him. “Hi, Uncle. How was your trip?”
 

“It was fine.” Kenneth took off his jacket and rested it on the back of the sofa. “Come over here.” He sat down next to Jessie, deliberately crowding her space. He wondered how much she would hate him when he made her lose. He said, “You don’t look happy to see me.”

Jessie closed her book. “Probably because you don’t look happy to be here.”

Syrah sat down next to him. “Okay.”

He sent Jessie a curious look then turned to Syrah. “I bought you something.”

“What?”

He handed her a small box.

Syrah looked down at the purple high-tech looking object, one of the latest electronic games. “Oh, Uncle, it’s beautiful!” Syrah started hitting buttons.

“Turn the sound off,” Kenneth said.

“I will in a second.”

He snatched it from her. “Now!”

The echo of his voice hung in the room. She stared at him with wide eyes, her hands paralyzed.

Regret assailed him. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no,” she said quickly, backing away. “I’m sorry. It was my fault.” She ran upstairs.

He stood to run after her, but fell back on the couch instead. He held his head.

“Your talk with Eddie didn’t go well?” Jessie asked.

He desperately wanted to share. He wanted to share how helpless he felt and how angry, but he couldn’t trust her. He couldn’t trust anyone. He let his hands fall in his lap. “No, it didn’t.” He looked at her and raised a brow. “Surprised? Kenneth Preston failed at something.”

“About the other night—”

“It’s over.” He reached in his bag and placed a box of colored pencils on her lap.

“What is this for?”

“To color your jewelry designs.” He rose and picked up his bag. He didn’t want to make an issue of it. He didn’t want to think of the half hour he’d spent searching for the perfect selection.

“Kenneth, I have something to tell you,” Jessie said in an urgent tone.

“Forget it,” he said and disappeared upstairs.

He owed Ace an apology. Never in his life had he spoken like that to a child. The graying darkness of evening filled her room as he entered. He heard the violent rush of sheets being rearranged as he approached the bed. He shook his head and sat down next to the hiding form.

“Ace, I’m sorry.”

“It was my fault,” a small muffled voice said. “I should have listened the first time.”

He pulled the sheets down. “I didn’t mean to shout.”

She nodded then turned to the window where a bee was banging against the glass.

“Dove, please don’t be scared of me.”

She turned to him and her face dissolved into tears. “You were so angry.”

He pulled her onto his lap and held her. “Not at you. Don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

He wiped her tears. “Do you forgive me?”

She nodded.

He looked around the room. He could give her everything, but she didn’t belong to him and with his temper he wasn’t good for her. “You know your father loves you.”

She stiffened alarmed. “You want to send me back, don’t you? I didn’t mean to make you mad. It won’t happen again,” she said with growing panic. “Please, Uncle Kenneth. I—”

He framed the side of her face as her eyes filled with tears. “Shh, dove. You’re not going anywhere right now. I’m just telling you that your father loves you.”

Her bottom lip trembled. “You love me too, right?”

“Yes, very much.” He sighed as her little arms wrapped around his neck.

* * *

Kenneth surveyed the elaborate layout of the room: the Moroccan red damask window drapery, plush dark carpeting, and black iron bed covered in a maroon bed sheet. His eyes fell on the woman whose warm, dusty brown body stretched out on the pillows with an easy seductive grace, her black hair cascading about her mature face. Her dark brown eyes regarded him with concern. She pitied him, he knew that much. She knew she was the only type of woman he could get. This was the only place he could be himself and it cost him three hundred a night. “You’re still tense, Kenneth. Do you want to do it again?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? You know I always make it worth your while.”

He drummed his fingers on the glass table and studied her. “Yes, and you did. I just don’t feel like going home yet.”

She rolled on her stomach and kicked up her legs. “That’s fine, sugar. It’s your money.”

He turned to the window.

Leticia watched him. Kenneth was one of her favorite clients. The most gentle and sweetest one she’d ever had. She’d never been able to figure him out though, even after all these years. It was strange. In her profession she’d gotten to know men pretty well. Some had sexual problems and wanted a boost. Some wanted to do kinky things they couldn’t imagine doing with their wives and others were either deformed or lacked the social skills to get a woman. Kenneth didn’t fit any of these categories.
 

Okay, so his body was a shock to see at first. Even she had to control a grimace when she’d seen them, but he had the face and the money to make up for them. His scars were something most women would overlook. So why did he pay for it when he could get it for free? She gathered a pillow underneath her chin. There was something sad about him—something guarded. Even though he had shared some things about himself, she still felt as if she didn’t know him at all.