Authors: Deneice Tarbox
***
Oklahoma City Present Day…
Evy was snatched back to the present by warm arms encircling her from behind. She leaned back into his solid physic as Tyler’s lips came down to kiss the side of her neck. He was showered and fully dressed in casual clothing for the Sunday he planned to spend at the office. He noticed that she no longer stiffened when he touched her.
“Morning babe. I can’t for the life of me figure out how you manage to get up so early, and get so much done,” he teased.
“I guess I’m just a morning person.” She turned her face to him, anticipating the sweet kiss he planted on her lips. “I hope you’re hungry.”
“Always.” Pulling away from her, he took a seat at the bar where a glass of orange juice, a cup of black coffee and fresh fruit awaited him. Evy placed a plate of eggs over easy as he preferred them, toast and bacon in front of him. She then joined him at the bar opting for a lighter breakfast of fruit and Greek yogurt.
“All this for me? You shouldn’t have. I would have been fine with what you’re eating.”
“You’re worth it,” she replied smiling, prompting another kiss from him. Their eyes locked lovingly for a moment before they continued eating their breakfast.
“Thought of something. You want to hear it?” he asked.
“Of course I do.” She turned toward him giving him her undivided attention.
“Why don’t you come with me to Europe? It’ll give me a chance to show you some of my hotels. I can take you to see the sites, and you’d finally get to meet my daughter, Cecile. I’ve told her about you. I’m sure Nita will give you…the…time…off...” he trailed off. “What’s wrong?”
Evy seemed anything but enthusiastic about his proposal. Tyler didn’t understand why she was reacting this way. He thought she’d be thrilled at the opportunity to visit other countries and be wined and dined by him. He assumed that she had never been able to afford such luxuries and desperately wanted to show her what it was really like to date a millionaire.
“I can’t just up and leave the country for a month. I have work and school to consider.”
“Evy, you know Professor Cane would let you test out of the class, just as he was willing to let me. Aaannd, I’m more than sure Nita would give you the time off if you asked her for it. For goodness sakes, you don’t even work for her full time. I’m sure she can spare you.”
“Don’t under estimate the importance of what I do there, Tyler,” she stated a tad too defensively.
“I’m not under estimating your importance,” he defended. “I just think that what you do could be done by someone else while you’re gone,” he stated matter of fact.
This time Evy was the one trying to control her temper. “Tyler, I can’t go okay! Thanks for offering but I just can’t do it.” She was beginning to lose patience with him.
“No Evy, we’re not going to end it this way! That’s a cop out and you know it. There’s more to this than the reasons you’re giving me. If we’re going to make this work then we need to start being completely honest with each other. No more secrets.” He had turned on his stool to face her fully. His nostrils flared indicating he meant business.
Evy sighed, allowing her anger to diminish. He was right. She had no reason to hide anything from the one man that was truly in love with her. She felt the same about him but wasn’t ready to confess this fact. She took both his hands into hers and began her explanation.
“This may be difficult for you to understand, please bear with me. I don’t just work odd jobs for Healing Inc. I’m the primary share holder.” As the words fell from her mouth she searched his features for a reaction.
She wasn’t disappointed. Tyler’s eyes methodically began to grow wide with the words of her admission setting in. The apartment and SUV told him she was getting money from somewhere. He figured maybe Nita was taking care of her or over paying her because she was her friend. But primary shareholder! Owner of a multimillion dollar corporation was not what he had imagined Evy being.
“I purposely withhold that information from the public for safety reasons and so I may continue living a normal life. You have to keep this between us. Only Nita and her brothers know about it.” She patiently waited for him to continue absorbing this new information, knowing she had just thrown a lot at him.
“Fearing for your safety is more reason you should come with me.” He knew she was safe because his uncle made arrangements to have one of his goons keep tabs on her at Tyler’s request. He didn’t ask for much from the mafia king but after Miguel had clued him in on the potential danger he wasn’t going to take any chances. His uncle had been happy to oblige.
“And have the tabloids throwing my face around for everyone to see! You forget Tyler, you’re a rock star in these here parts!” she shot back.
“Evy, you can’t hide forever. You really think that what you do is living a normal life? You should be enjoying life instead of spending all your time helping and doing for others. As selfish as it sounds, I want you for myself sometimes and not just at night after everyone else has had you. I’ve enjoyed the time I’ve spent doing charity work with you but I want to experience a different world with you… My world.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for your world,” she replied. Her voice was low, almost apologetic.
Tyler felt the wind being taken from his sails. How could this be happening to him? He had waited all his life to find this woman only to have her unwilling to live in his world. Fact was, he knew his world would never be complete without her in it.
“Please don’t say that, Evy.” Moisture filled his deep blue eyes, tugging at Evy’s heart strings. “You need to tell me what it is in your past that keeps interfering with your happiness, our happiness so that I can help you get beyond it. Call me when you’re ready to share.” With that said, he stood from his stool giving her hands a gentle squeeze. He kissed her forehead, retrieved his coat from the foyer closet and left.
Evy remained seated on her bar stool, not sure of what else she should do. Should she run after him? He didn’t understand the full impact of what he was asking of her. She had spent years putting the whole ugly affair behind her. Not even Nita knew all the details of that dreadful incident. Was she being unreasonable or was Tyler being his old pushy self again? She needed time to think about it, more than the couple of days leading to his departure. The food that had tasted so good had suddenly lost its flavor.
***
Meanwhile Just Outside of New York City…
Harry pulled up to the front door of the massive estate in his Mercedes convertible class SLK. He was a tall muscular black man with a perfectly shaped shaven head. Some found his dark eyes and broad nose intimidating, while others thought him overtly handsome. His goatee tastefully framed his large kissable lips. Black leather was his preference all year round while two karat diamonds adored each earlobe.
Making his way to the front entry, he instructed the butler who received him not to allow anyone to touch the vehicle. He ascended the left side of the double grand staircase two treads at a time. Walking down the massive hallway, he finally stopped in front of the door of his destination, knocking once. A servant opened the door immediately escorting him in.
“This had better be important,” barked the woman lying on the massage table with only a sheet covering her derriere. “I won’t tolerate my quality time being disturbed!”
“Does Mindy Johnson sound important enough?” he said with a sly smile.
This got the woman’s full attention. “Leave!” she ordered.
The masseur and servant quickly left the room, granting them total privacy. The woman rose from the table, allowing the sheet to fall from her as though she were in the room alone. Completely naked, she walked over to a wing back chair, grabbed a cigarette from the package on the table and sat down. Harry gazed at her the whole time, trying with all his might to control the chubby growing in his trousers that would undoubtedly get him in trouble.
“What does a girl have to do to get a light around here?” Her voice was provocative baiting him to come nearer, while her eyes teased him with a chance of things to come.
With sweat collecting on his eyebrow, he removed the lighter from his pocket and coolly stepped toward her. He tried not to gawk at her large bare breast or her nipples’ reaction to their sudden exposure while he lit the cigarette for her. It took all he had to keep his hand steady during the process.
“So, what about our little Miss Mindy or should I say Rachel?” she asked dragging on her cigarette and releasing its toxin into the room.
“Word in Chicago is she’s been residing in Oklahoma City all this time.”
“Who in their right mind would want to live in Oklahoma City? I guess that would make it a great hiding place, wouldn’t it?”
“I suppose you’re correct, as usual. What do you want me to do?”
“Verify this information; we’ve done enough chasing our tails for the last fourteen years. For now, we’ll keep an eye on her since Chicago is already on to us. We’ll act only if she becomes a threat. Now leave me so that I may enjoy my day off from playing nicey wifey. Oh, and send my masseur back in please.”
“Should we continue to keep tabs on Marcus Cole as well?” he inquired.
“Most certainly. Perhaps he’ll lead us right to her. That is all.” She rose and returned to the table, dismissing him.
Requiring no further instruction, Harry turned and left the room. He was disappointed that she had dismissed him so quickly, not taking the opportunity to ride him like she had the last few times.
Oh well, maybe next time
he thought as he made his way back to his car.
A cold rain fell on Oklahoma City the Friday after Tyler left. Nita walked into her office to find a moping Evy waiting for her. She had been that way all week and Nita had had enough of it.
“Okay, Miss Evy. Out with it!” She stood with her arms crossed glaring at her.
“Out with what?” Evy pretended not to know what she was talking about.
“Nut- uh mama, I know all this sulking and shit ain’t all because Tyler’s gone. It’s only been two days and you were like this before he left. What happened?” she demanded.
Evy shifted in her chair, uncomfortable with being called out. She filled Nita in on what had happened last Sunday morning in her apartment. She didn’t have to go over the last few weeks because Nita had already gotten those particulars out of her. Nita listened without interruption, while Evy grew more and more animated reciting her tale.
“Do you believe him, Nita? He wanted me to just up and leave with him like I had nothing better to do! And for him to turn around and blame it on me like that… Some nerve!” The thought of it made her angry all over again.
“I see. So, he just threw that ultimatum at you then just jumped on a plane and left?” Nita was sitting on the opposite side of the desk now, calculating every word.
“No. He didn’t just leave.” She felt a slight pang of guilt from leaving out that he had kissed her first.
“He didn’t, huh? So what did he do after he left your apartment on Sunday?” Nita probed knowingly.