Slow Seduction (26 page)

“Yes, you are worried about how our children will look. If they would be the dark deep brown I find so sexy on you, or will they be a caramel color?” Clinton kept talking, oblivious to the sound of Jenisha’s heart breaking beside him. “Sweetie, you don’t have to worry. I’ll love our children no matter what they look like because they will be ours and conceived with the love we share.”

“Baby, right now we don’t have to worry about you getting pregnant because we are using protection. But I have to be honest. I can’t wait until the day we don’t have to.”

Fear shot into Jenisha’s heart, making her decide then and there that Clinton couldn’t find out about her tonight. She didn’t want to take the risk of losing him. “Darling, you have put my heart at ease,” she whispered, hating the lie coming from her lips.

Clinton placed his arm around her. “T
hank
you for having the courage to ask me that question. I don’t want you to ever fear anything from me. You can tell me anything, and I mean anything. We better go to sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow and I need the extra sleep.”

Turning off the light, Clinton snuggled Jenisha’s long body against his, kissing the back of her head and murmuring quietly, “Just be patient and I’ll show you how much you mean to me.”

Turning the corner the next day, Dave saw Jenisha coming toward him, carrying a box of classroom supplies. “Hey can I speak to you for a few moments?” he asked, stopping by a window that over looked the playground.

“Sure,” Jenisha answered.

“When do you think you can give me another lesson on the computer?” He asked, excited by the possibility of another computer lesson. “I tried some of the lessons in the books you gave me and I have questions about them.”

Jenisha paused for a moment and thought about her work schedule for the rest of the week. “I don’t have any plans for today after school which is usually my planning time. I can use it to help you instead.”

Dave didn’t like the thought of interrupting her planning time to teach him computer skills. “No, I don’t want you to do that.”

“It’s not a problem, Dave,” Jenisha insisted, smiling at him. “I want to help you. How about we meet in my room around three thirty?”

He got off from work around three fifteen so that would work into his day perfectly. “Okay, sounds like a good time to me,” Dave said, placing his hand on Jenisha’s arm and flashing a crocked smile. “T
hank
s again for doing this for me. You don’t know how much it means.”

Shifting the box of crayons to her other hip, Jenisha placed her hand on top of Dave’s. “I told you that I don’t mind at all. If I can I’ll be there any time you might need some help.”

“Hmmm…I don’t know how Clinton would feel about that,” Dave laughed.

Jenisha’s face broke into a wide, open smile. “He knows better than to think that anything is going on between us.” She giggled, taking her hand off Dave’s arm.

“You’re right,” Dave agreed. He spoke to Jenisha a few more minutes about how the reconstruction was coming along then went on down the hallway.

Bringing the box back in front of her, Jenisha watched Dave walking down the hallway. She couldn’t get over how cute he looked with Charisma. Her best friend might not want to admit, but Dave Turner was going to be a temptation she couldn’t resist. She took one last look at Dave so she could tell Charisma what he was wearing later. She went on to her classroom.

However, to the man standing by the steps, it look like his girlfriend was taking a long lingering look at his employee, and it didn’t sit well with him at all. He wondered why she and Dave were in a hushed conversation, but he would find out tonight.

“Sweetheart, why were you talking to Dave in the hallway this afternoon?” Clinton asked, taking a sip of his wine.

Biting into the shrimp cocktail, Jenisha looked at him stunned. Chewing and swallowing the tasty meat, she took her time answering him question. “Clinton, why were you spying on me?”

“No, I had something for Dave to look at and I saw the two of you huddled by the window. I want to know why.” He didn’t forget how she couldn’t take her eyes off Dave when he walked away from her.

“Honey, can’t I have a conversation with one of your friends and you not jump to conclusions?” She eyed him with a wary expression.

“Jump to conclusions. Why would you say that unless you might be hiding something for me? Are you and Dave keeping secrets from me?” He asked in a calm voice, which meant he was more upset than he wanted to let on.

“What secrets could we possible have?” Jenisha asked, her own voice rising up a notch.

“I don’t know, but the two of you have grown awful close since I was gone,” he spoke with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Are you accusing us of something?” she said softly, her eyes narrowing.

“No, I’m not,” he answered, growing angrier by the minute.

“It sure sounds like you are to me,” she returned in a heated tone.

“Jenisha, I just asked a simple question and you won’t give me a straight answer.” Clinton’s deep voice simmered with barely checked anger. “Are you and Dave hiding something from me and Charisma?”

“Uh…how did Charisma get involved in this conversation?” Jenisha asked, glaring at him. “She doesn’t need to hear any of this nonsense you’re tossing out.”

“She needs to know if Dave is playing with her emotions.”
Charisma wouldn’t think that now if she saw what I saw,
Clinton thought.

“Dave isn’t doing anything of the sort with her. He honestly likes Charisma,” Jenisha sighed, shaking her head at him.

“Fine… I believe Dave likes Charisma. I only want to know why he was talking to you.”

She didn’t want to tell Clinton about something that Dave needed to do by himself. “Clinton, we weren’t talking about anything important. We were just having a conversation,” Jenisha stressed, her eyes holding his and pleading with him to understand.

Clinton knew Jenisha wasn’t being honest and he was saddened by it. “Are you ready,” he asked, rising from the table and tossing a handful of bills on the top.

Jenisha didn’t want their evening to end like this. They seldom got a chance to go out and she was having a wonderful time with him. “Baby, we don’t have to leave,” she said from her seat.

“I think we do,” he answered, waiting for her to get up.

Jenisha took one last bite of the appetizing shrimp and followed Clinton to the car. Lost deep in thought, he didn’t say anything on the way to her house. Jenisha kept trying to talk to him, but he didn’t speak until he pulled into her driveway.

“Are you coming in?” Jenisha asked.

“No, I’m gong for a drive,” Clinton muttered, still stinging from Jenisha’s secret with Dave.

“Clinton, don’t be like this. Dave and I honestly aren’t keep anything from you,” she insisted.

“You are doing something with him and you won’t tell me. I don’t like being in the dark, so I need time alone, okay?” His cool, impersonal tone made the tension in the car even thicker.

Jenisha out of the car and hurried inside her house without looking back at Clinton. She heard Clinton’s car drive way as the door shut behind her. Throwing her jacket and purse on the couch, Jenisha cried in the dark empty house.

Over in his hotel room, Dave was about to take a shower when a knock at the door stopped him. He opened the door to a very angry Clinton. “What in the hell do you have going on with Jenisha?” he yelled, storming into the room.

Dave shut the door, laughing at his friend’s jealousy. “I guess you asked her and she didn’t tell you. Well, I did make her promise not to and she kept it. I’m very impressed. Jenisha is really a good friend.”

“Why are you making her promise to do anything for you?” Clinton snapped, charging up to Dave despite the fact that he outweighed him by eighty pounds. “She doesn’t know you all that well.”

“God, man, you are so in love you can’t see your hand in front of your face,” Dave muttered, standing next to the laptop Jenisha let him borrow. “Jenisha has been helping me learn how to work the computer two days each week after school.”

“What?” Clinton muttered, taking a step back from Dave’s muscular build. “Why wouldn’t she tell me?”

“I asked her not to because I’m trying to take night classes to get a business and computer degree so I can move up at Campbell Construction and Design.” Dave sighed, upset that his lessons caused problems for Jenisha. “Did you think I wanted to be a construction worker forever?” He frowned.

“Dave, I didn’t even give it a thought,” Clinton admitted, more than a little embarrassed by the way he jumped to the wrong conclusions.

“I started to give it more thought when I met Charisma. How can I compete with the men around her for her attention and win her over with the job I have?” Dave knew Charisma was out of his league, but he wanted to see if he could have a chance with the ebony goddess.

“Hey, you are one of the best men I have besides Jim and you have done an excellent job since he has been gone,” Clinton praised.

“T
hank
s, but I do want more now,” Dave voiced. However, it didn’t realize what that meant until he meant Charisma.

Clinton touched his friend on the shoulder, embarrassed by the way he treated him. “If you need any help just let me know.” He opened the door and stood inside of it. “Good luck with Charisma. She seems like a handful.”

“She is and I love it.” Dave chuckled, shutting the door.

Sitting in the dark in her big comfortable chair by the window, Jenisha watched the car drive down her street. She couldn’t believe Clinton thought she was cheating on him with Dave. Sure, she noticed how attractive Dave was. She would have to be dead not see what Charisma saw, but she was in love with Clinton. She didn’t know when it happened, but it did. Now he was off somewhere demanding answers to questions he didn’t need to worry about.

When was he going to learn that she only had eyes for him and no other man? True told her how possessive the Campbell men could be, but she just laughed it off. Now, she knew first hand how it felt.

A car door slamming drew her attention to her driveway. Her eyes filled up with fresh tears at the sight of Clinton coming up her driveway with a dozen roses in his hand. Where in the world did he get a dozen roses at ten o’clock at night? She waited for him to ring the doorbell, but he didn’t. He set the flowers on the porch and walked back to his car and drove off.

Getting out of the chair, Jenisha rushed to the door and opened it, picking up the flowers. Bringing them back into the house, she closed the door behind her. She quickly took the card out and read it.

I’m sorry for being jealous.

Can you forgive me?

I love you.

Clinton

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Jenisha went over to the phone and dialed Clinton’s number. She waited until she heard the deep voice and whispered, “I love you too, handsome.”

“Robin, why have you been hiding from me?” Mark asked, cornering her in the empty, new teacher’s lounge. Robin grabbed her chips from the machine, whirling to find him standing behind her. “You come to work and leave soon as the last bell rings. I might be hurt if I cared about what you thought of me. Now, tell me what happened to your end of the plan, and don’t lie. You know I can tell quite easily when someone is lying to me.”

Resting her back on the machine, Robin said, “Jenisha did find the earring and accused Clinton of cheating on her with me, but something happened and they made up the same day. He threw the earring back at me and warned me to stay away from him and Jenisha, or else. I don’t think I should try seducing him again. He won’t let me in ten feet of him now.”

“Shit, why couldn’t you do this one simple thing for me?” Mark growled. “Now, I have to think of another way to lure Jenisha to the destination point.”

“What destination point are you talking about?” Robin asked, opening her bag of chips.

Mark didn’t want to tell Robin anything else since she ruined the last assignment he trusted her with, but he thought he might need her help to pull this off. He quickly told her everything that the Griffins already knew and when it would happen.

“Have you lost your mind?” Robin gasped, “Do you know what could happen if you pulled this off? Jenisha may die.” She didn’t want any part of this now. Sure she hated Jenisha to a point, but not enough to go to prison for killing her.

“Robin, that’s the point. I want that bitch dead more than anything in the world, and with your help, it will happen,” Mark ranted in a harsh tone. “She doesn’t deserve to live for what she did.”

Robin realized Mark’s hate came from more than Jenisha turning him down for a date. “What else has Jenisha done to make you despise her so much?”

Mark’s vacant eyes bore a hole into Robin, causing her to move back from the machine and around the table closer to the door. “Remember that curiosity killed the cat, and, unless you want to join Jenisha, you won’t ask me that question again,” he snapped.

Turning away from her shaking body, Mark calmly walked out off the lounge. Just as quickly as the door closed, it reopened with Mark standing there. “Oh don’t think about telling anyone about my plan or I’ll make sure you really have a spot beside Jenisha,” he stated, closing the door with a snap.

Robin collapsed at the table, needing a drink. This was going way further than she ever wanted it to, but there was nothing she could do. Sure, she still wanted Clinton, but she wanted to live more. Whatever Mark wanted her to do, she would do it without question.