Betrayed by Love (4 page)

Eva
convinced Brenda that she would be okay if she took a few hours for herself. After watching the security monitor to make sure she was off the premises, she rushed to get ready for Trevor. She sprayed on his favorite perfume on her pressure points. She put on a pair of hip-hugging Baby Phat jeans and short shirt to show off her toned stomach.

The buzzer sounded indicating to her that someone was outside her gate. She pressed the button after confirming it was
Trevor. A few minutes later Trevor was knocking at her door. “Thank you for coming,” she said, as she gave him a quick hug.

“No kiss.”

“Maybe later,” she responded.

“
Garth told me he upgraded your system.” He followed her to the living room.

“Why didn’t you suggest the change?”

“Like anyone can tell you anything,” Trevor responded.

“When it comes to my safety, I would have listened.”

She sat down on the couch and he sat on the opposite end. “It’s a mute point now. Garth’s taken care of it.”

“But the point is, you should have.”

Trevor moved closer to her. He picked up her leg and removed her slippers. He massaged her foot. “I must admit when I come over, I lose all my senses. You have a way of doing it to me.” He planted kisses on her toes.

Eva
began to squirm. Her plan was backfiring. With each touch of his lips, her body betrayed her and reacted. She jerked her foot away. “Ouch,” she said, when it bumped the coffee table.

“Baby, you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped.

“What was so important that you needed to see me?” he asked smugly.

Eva crossed her legs and looked Trevor straight in the eyes. “I’m really concerned about my safety.”

“That’s why we have Brenda with you and if you like we can hire a few more people to watch the outside of the gates.”

No dummy, I want you to say you won’t leave my side until they find out who’s sending me these letters.
“She can’t be with me twenty-four hours a day.”

Trevor
pulled out his cell phone. “Let me get Garth on it right away.”

Eva
reached up and took the phone away from him. “That won’t be necessary. You being here makes me feel secure.” Eva moved closer to him so that her ample chest was at his eye-level.

He cleared his throat a few times. “Uh…what are you doing?”

“Isn’t this what you came over here for,” Eva said, as she pushed him backwards on the couch and planted kisses on his lips as her body covered his.

Trevor
wrapped his arms around her and they did the tango with their tongues for several minutes. He sounded out of breath when he said, “If you don’t stop, I won’t be able to.”

“Then don’t.”
Eva took off her shirt and Trevor was in the process of removing her bra, when the buzzer from the gate sounded.

“Darn it,”
Eva blurted out. She left Trevor on the couch as she went to see who was at her gate. She yelled, “It’s Garth. Bring me my shirt.”

“What is he doing here?” he asked.

Eva pulled her shirt on. “How am I supposed to know? He’s your buddy and business partner.” She looked in the nearby  mirror to make sure her hair wasn’t all over her head and before Garth could ring the doorbell, she had the door open.

***

“Strange meeting you here partner,” Garth said, after hugging Eva.

Trevor
responded, “I was in the neighborhood.”

“Yeah right.”

“Gentlemen, there’s enough of me to go around,” Eva teased. “Let’s go to the kitchen. I could use a drink.”

“I am a little thirsty,”
Garth responded.

Trevor
followed behind them. Eva looked in the refrigerator. “All I have is soda and iced-tea.”

“I’ll take tea,”
Trevor responded.

Garth
said, “Give me a can of soda.”

Eva
got a few glasses and put some crushed ice into each. She handed each a glass and a can of their desired drink.

She stood while the men took a seat on the bar stools. “Did Brenda tell you about the pictures?”

“That’s what I came over here to talk to you about. I wasn’t aware you had company.”

“I didn’t know I was going to have company either,” she responded.

Garth looked between the two. “Regardless, we were able to eliminate your employees finger prints but whoever this person is isn’t in any of our databases.”

“And how is that helping my situation?” she said, in between sips.

“At least we know this person doesn’t make it a habit of breaking the law,” Trevor answered.

Eva
’s house phone rang. She looked at the caller ID display. “Fellows, I have to take this. Make yourselves at home.” She walked out and left them in the kitchen by themselves.

“Your girl called for you at the office. I lied and told her you were on assignment,”
Garth said.

“I am.”

“Eva’s not your case or did you forget?”

Trevor
’s eyebrow raised. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you wanted my girl for yourself.”

Garth
laughed. Little did he know he already had his girl, but he knew he wasn’t talking about Shereeka. “Man, first of all, Eva’s not your girl and if I did have a thing for her; it would be between her and I.”

“Why are you here?”
Trevor asked. His chest seemed to stick out further.

“I’m here on business. I can’t say the same about you.”

“What else did Shereeka say when she called?” he whispered.

“Oh don’t be asking about your fiancé now. I think its best you ask her yourself. As you keep telling me, I need to stay out of your business.”

Trevor reached in his pocket for his cell phone. “I forgot it’s in the living room.”

“Use mine.”
Garth handed Trevor the phone. “Better hurry up though. You don’t want your jump off to hear you.”

The expression on
Trevor’s face was priceless. Garth laughed as Trevor took the phone and walked out on the back patio.

“What’s so funny?”
Eva asked.

Garth
turned around. “Oh Nothing. Just sitting here thinking about old times.”

Eva
sat on the bar stool next to him. “I know you don’t agree with me seeing Trevor.”

Garth
twirled ice on his tongue. “You’re a big girl. You’ll get tired of playing second fiddle sooner or later.”

“I’m not second.”

“Really now. What if I told you that Trevor is outside right now talking to his fiancé?”

“He wouldn’t.”

Garth could see the back of Trevor’s head from where he sat. “I’m not saying that he is, but what if he was?”

“I would tell him to leave. Doing something like that is not only disrespectful to me, but to her too.”

“Wow. You do have a conscious.”

Eva
squirmed in her chair. “I don’t believe in messing around with another woman’s man, but Trevor was mine first.”

“That’s the problem right there. You treat people as objects. Ones to be bought or pushed aside at your whim.”

Eva stood up and came face to face with Garth. “You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”

“I know enough to know that beneath that diva attitude of yours is a woman who wants to be; correction, needs to be loved.” He paused. “A man like
Trevor. He’s not capable of loving you the way you need to be.”

Eva
opened her mouth to say something, but didn’t when Trevor walked in looking at them strangely.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

“Just waiting on you to finish your business call,” Garth responded, stressing the word “business.”

“Well, all is well. I think I better get going though,” he responded.

“I’ll be going too,” Garth said. He whispered, “Remember what I said.”

Eva
walked them to the door without telling either one of them good-bye. She made sure the door was secure and thought about Garth’s last words.

“Man, you know you was wrong,” Trevor said, as he threw Garth the basketball.

Garth
bounced the ball, blocking Trevor’s attempts to steal it. He took a shot and missed. “I’m trying to save you. Have you ever thought about what would happen if those two met?”

Trevor
bounced the ball and made a shot. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Playa, you’re not a player. If you were, you never would have asked
Cheryl to marry you.”

“Man, you don’t know what that girl can do in between the sheets. I would give up my right kidney as long as she was in my life.”

“See that’s the problem there. You’re thinking with your little head instead of your big one.”

“You got me mixed up with you. My women are thoroughly satisfied,”
Trevor said, as he bounced the ball.

Garth
stole the ball from him and made a shot. The ball bounced off the backboard. Trevor took it out of bounds and they continued their match.

“All I know is a true player doesn’t get caught at the altar.”
Garth stole the ball away from Trevor and dunked the ball. “In your face. I’m tired of playing with you.”

Garth
picked up a towel and his bottled water. He didn’t wait for Trevor to respond. He headed to the locker room to shower and dress for work. While he was getting things out of his locker, Trevor walked in.

“What do you think I should do about
Eva? I can’t keep doing this with her. If you wouldn’t have stopped by the other day, her and I would have.”

Garth
interrupted. “I don’t want to know about your sexcapades.” He took a seat on the bench as Trevor talked.

“You know I’ve always had a thing for
Eva but that’s what it is a thing. I know she’s not the one that I want to marry.”

“Then tell her that.”

“I can’t. If I told her it would break her heart. I care about her too much to do that.”

Garth
threw his towel over his shoulder. “So you would rather keep screwing with her and giving her false hope.”

“Man come on now. You know
Eva can take care of herself.”

“This must be the twilight zone. You’ve loved
Eva as long as I can remember,” Garth said.

“I did love her once, but I realized that she and I are too different. Maybe if she wasn’t in the spotlight, I could deal with her better.”

“Deal. Man you got it twisted. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.” Garth stood up and picked up his soap.

“My priorities have changed. My feelings for
Eva have changed.”

“Then man up and tell her.”

“Did you notice how big her melons were? I would be a fool to turn that down.”

Garth
tried his best to control his anger. Trevor was his friend but the way he was talking now, didn’t sound like the friend he grew up with. Maybe working so close together, they lost sight of their friendship. He didn’t have room to say much because he had been sleeping with his fiancé; but he thought Trevor was one of the good guys. Now he didn’t know for sure. What bothered him the most is the fact that he cared whether or not Eva got hurt; lately he had been thinking about Eva more than he should.

“I’m through playing referee between you two. If this is the end for you two, let it be the end. Set her free.”

“I’m trying, but she won’t let me go.”

“You’re not trying hard enough,”
Garth said, as he left Trevor standing by his locker.

***

“Garth, I need you. Please come right away,” Eva pouted.

“You’re not my only client,” he responded.

“I know, but Brenda had a doctor’s appointment and I just don’t feel safe with everything that’s been going on.”

“I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

Eva wiped the smile off her face as she hung up the phone. Although her charm never seemed to work on Garth, she would do whatever she had to, to convince him to help her stop Trevor’s upcoming nuptials.

Eva
spent the next hour preparing breakfast meant for a king. It had been ages since she had cooked Garth breakfast. In college, she would sometimes surprise him and Trevor with breakfast. Of course during that time, she was trying to impress Trevor with her culinary skills. Many assumed that because she was a super model that her skills stopped on the runway.

She was buttering her homemade biscuits when the buzzer sounded indicating she had a visitor. She tightened the apron she had on and met
Garth at the door.

“The great
Eva Ward dressed in an apron,” Garth said, right before entering the house.

Eva
didn’t know if she should smile or be offended that Garth found her attire funny.

“Don’t frown sweetie. The look is becoming.”

“Just for that, I want let you taste some of my freshly baked biscuits.” Eva led Garth to the kitchen.

Garth
sniffed out loud. “I’m only teasing. You know I could never resist your biscuits.”

Eva
mumbled to herself, “I know.”

Eva
made sure she made Garth a healthy plate filled with creamy buttered grits, several home made biscuits and almost a whole slab of crisp bacon and she topped it off with a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

She made herself a plate of a small helping of each. A strange feeling went through her as she watched
Garth devour the food placed in front of him.

In between bites, he said, “I almost forgot how good your breakfast is.”

“Eat up. There’s more if you like.”

“And mess up this manly figure,”
Garth joked.

Eva
couldn’t resist smiling. When he wasn’t being a jerk, Garth had a good sense of humor. Now was the time. Either she’d spring her idea on him now, or else she would lose her opportunity to catch him with his guards down. .

She took a sip of her orange juice before clearing her throat. “We’ve been friends for how long now?”
Eva asked.

Garth
placed his fork down and stopped eating. “I should have known. Eva doesn’t do anything without wanting something in return.”

“I’m offended.”

“If I’m lying, tell me I am. If not, just spit out what you want.”

She stuttered, “I…well. Doggone it
Garth, why do you make things so difficult?”

He leaned back in his chair and let out a hearty laugh. “You’re a trip. You put on this damsel in distress act one minute and the next minute you’re showing how manipulative you can be. Now who is the one being difficult?”

Eva looked Garth directly in the eyes. “Okay.  I admit you’ve been right from the start. I do want Trevor back.”

“You two are a trip and deserve each other.”
Garth pulled away from the table.

“Wait. I need you.”

He plopped back down in his chair and looked directly at her. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, the answer is n-o, no.”

“Please.  Just hear me out.”

Garth looked at the untouched food on his plate. “No need in letting good food go to waste.” He began to eat again.

Eva
sighed in relief. “I need you to pretend like you’re interested in me. One way to get a man back is to make him jealous.”

Garth
almost choked. “No can do. That’s playing with fire.”

She batted her eyes and licked her lips. “I like it hot.”

She saw Garth squirm. Jackpot. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“So you’re telling me, that you’re happy about Tre marrying this
Cheryl woman.”

Garth
took the last sip of his orange juice. “I’m telling you I don’t want to get involved with you and Tre’s mess.”

“Aha. So you agree with me. She’s not the best woman for him. I knew it.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” he responded.

“It’s not what you say; it’s what you didn’t say.”
Eva felt confident in her assessment.

The buzzer to the security system sounded. “That’s probably Brenda. I’ll go check.”

Eva started cleaning up the kitchen. She heard a noise indicating the front door opening. She was disappointed to see Brenda walking into the kitchen by herself. “Where’s Garth?”

“He told me to tell you good-bye and that he’ll call you later.”

Eva called Garth a bunch of names in her head and not one of them was nice.