Twisted Vows of Seduction (7 page)

“Wait here, sweetie. Daddy will be right back,” Jeff called out to Deandra without really looking at her.

“But you promised we would go see Mommy,” Deandra said. He could hear how upset she was at the sudden change of schedule. Her voice seemed to trail off as Jeff picked up his pace. He followed the woman closely as she moved hastily across the street and in the direction of the valet attendants. As she fished through her
purse for her ticket, Jeff reached out and touched her on the shoulder. She turned around to face him.

A cold feeling immediately swept over him as he stood there in both shock and amazement. He couldn't even translate his thoughts, let alone speak.

“I'm sorry,” Jeff apologized, staring into her bright brown eyes.

“May I help you with something?” she asked, exposing the most beautiful smile.

Jeff's eyes were lit with suspense and self-doubt.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking as perplexed as he was.

“No…I mean, yes,” Jeff said finally. He took a second to gather his thoughts. “You resemble…” His thought fell short. “You're going to think this is crazy. But I thought you were my ex-wife.” He chuckled loosely, leaving out the fact that she was dead. His stomach seemed to knot up the longer he stood there.

She smiled softly. “It's okay. Mistaken identity. Happens all the time,” she replied coolly.

Jeff squeezed out another chuckle to conceal his true thoughts. “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

The valet attendant pulled up with her vehicle. A black Chrysler 300. The same make and model of Denise's car. Jeff nearly shit himself. He watched her tip the man.

“Nice meeting you, Jeff.”

Jeff came to. “It was nice meet…ing you…too.” She smiled at him once more before waving goodbye and driving off. When he turned around, Deandra was standing right there, her eyes following the woman in the black car.

“I thought I told you to wait for me.”

As if in a daze, Deandra's brows furrowed and her eyes fell to a soft squint. “That woman looked just like Mommy,” she said, making the same observations he had.

Mistaken identity
, Jeff thought. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that crept over him. He wondered if this woman had been Greg's wife. If she had been in the picture all along.

“Come on, let's go,” he told Deandra. He was so deep in thought he couldn't remember where he had parked. Those eyes, that nose, those lips. He went back through every physical feature of that woman's. He couldn't shake the feeling that swept over him and as he passed others on the crowded narrow streets, his thoughts racing from one new discovery to the next, he mumbled something aloud that caused Deandra and the guy walking his Great Dane to eye him in a strange way. “How the hell did she know my name?” he repeated.

N
adine stood directly under a stream of warm water, allowing it to slap her in the face over and over again. The shower jets were on full stream so the water shot out from every direction. The water pressure was perfect but as much as she tried to relax and release, the tension in her body wouldn't relent. The heavy feeling floating inside of her chest was emotionally paralyzing. Nadine had always believed deep down that Jeff was seeing someone else. Call it a woman's intuition, a hunch, or a sixth sense. Whatever that special feeling was that she got whenever he left her place was the instinct she should have been listening to. It would have saved her the exhaustion from guessing games, the paranoia of catching a sexually transmitted disease, and it damn sure would have saved her from the pity party she would have to schedule in time to throw herself later. Damn it, had she really taken the time to trust and oblige her own feelings, she wouldn't be in this predicament, again!

Last night confirmed Nadine's wildest suspicions. Not only had she heard Jeff having sex with another woman, she had received harassing phone calls shortly thereafter. The woman had called Nadine a total of nine times asking for Jeff. Had Nadine not finally turned off the ringer, she was sure it would have continued. The bags under her eyes and the pounding headache were testaments of sleep deprivation. She was like a ticking time bomb. Ludicrous
thoughts plagued her and the longer she entertained them, the more she wanted to hurt the person behind them.

Nadine poured more conditioner into her hands and worked it into her hair. Even this felt like a major task to her and in her current mind state, she felt like cutting it all off, simply to expedite the process. Jeff had her so perturbed she couldn't focus at home or at work anymore without him ambushing her concentration. Now to add some inconsiderate immature tramp to the mix who actually thought it was acceptable to call her house and play on the damn phone all times of the hour, fumed Nadine even more. Who in the hell did she think she was? Nadine mused. She had considered blocking the number but there wasn't a number to block. The name had registered on her caller display as
PRIVATE
each time. She had lost mounts of sleep over it, but she knew that as soon as daylight came, she would put an end to it all as she should have done a long damn time ago.

Then again, why should she allow some strange woman to rile her up like this? This was all Jeff's doing. Yes, she admitted finally to that feeling in her gut. The prime source responsible for her drama and distress was Jeff Jackson!

After washing her hair, Nadine finally opened her eyes once she felt the water rise past her ankles. She looked down and as she figured, a clump of her hair had clogged the drain. She turned off the water, bent down, and attempted to pull out all the hair that she had combed out during her shampoo. She had lost a few strands from a handful. An increase from last week.

She stepped out of the walk-in shower and walked over to the counter. She leaned over into the mirror and examined her scalp, noting how much thinner her hair had gotten. She then allowed herself a quick analysis of her body. She cringed at the sight. She looked worse than she felt. Her long-running stretch marks were
dark and noticeable. The scar from her C-section was barely visible, but her once flat tight stomach was now pudgy. She had expected to have lost all the baby weight by now, but it hadn't been as easy as she had hoped it would be.

Nadine reluctantly stepped on the digital scale behind her. She let out a stricken gasp and reached for her heart once her final weight was revealed. She had gained an additional four pounds since the last time she weighed herself, bringing her to 167 pounds. That was a thirty-six-pound gain prior to her pregnancy. The realization of that was downright depressing. Nadine hated the woman she had become. She didn't recognize this person at all. Not even stripped down naked. She took one long hard look at herself and decided to forgo work today. She had neglected herself long enough.

The time Nadine had taken out to go see the doctor and then treat herself to a full makeover and shopping spree had done her plenty of good. Well almost. While her new pixie cut made her appear young and stunning on the outside, she still felt miserable, broken, and just as torn on the inside. Her doctor had prescribed her blood pressure medication and also suggested she try to do something to alleviate the stress in her life, like work out.
“Stress can kill you
,” he had told her. The saddest part to Nadine was that it all had derived from a man. A man who she thought loved her.

In addition to the medicine she now had to take, her doctor had switched her birth control pills. He had informed her that the old pills may have contributed to some of her weight gain and hair shedding, adding to the reasons why Nadine hated taking pills. But now she really didn't have a choice.

“All right, Ms. Collins, I think I got you all covered.”

Nadine's eyes had been transfixed on the man's swollen biceps and triceps. He was so ripped that she could practically see every vein running through his body. He could have easily been the poster board for Borden milk with a physique like that, and she was sure there were many women who would have loved to lap that milk right off of him. She could see the advertisement now.

“This here is your temporary membership card. You should receive the original in the mail in the next two weeks.”

Before finally settling her eyes back on his face, she sighed. “Well, that wasn't so painful.” Nadine accepted the paper and briefly looked it over. She began to fold it in half and then slipped it into her purse.

“Did you have any more questions for me?”

Nadine took a glimpse at his nametag. He didn't really look like a Jeremiah in her eyes, but exactly what did a Jeremiah look like? “No, I think you covered them all.” She smiled softly.

“So I'll be seeing you again later, right?” Jeremiah inquired.

“I was thinking about starting tomorrow,” Nadine said.

“Tomorrow?” Jeremiah echoed. He drew his neck back and lifted his right brow the same exact way The Rock did it. “I smeeeellll an excuse cooking.” He leaned back in the chair, crossed his arms and twisted his lips. “Why not today?”

“I still have so much to do. I don't have time…”

Jeremiah made a disapproving face. He interrupted her before she could say anything more. “Agh huh! Excuses,” he murmured.

“Pardon me,” Nadine said.

Jeremiah sat further back in his chair and placed his hands firmly on the edge of his desk. “I said you're already coming up with an excuse,” he implied half-jokingly.

Nadine's face was transfixed into a half-grin. “I promise you it's not an excuse.” She chuckled lightly.

“All right.” Jeremiah smiled, lifting his hands in the air as if he were surrendering. “I have no choice but to take your word for it.” He began shaking his finger at her. “But if I don't see you in this gym tomorrow, I might have to come looking for you.” He laughed.

It was only then that Nadine noticed his deep-set dimples. She tried to keep her eyes from wandering but failed terribly. “You have a deal.” She held up her right hand. “Scouts honor,” she added. Her smile faded into a blush, but she convinced herself she wasn't flirting. Perhaps it was him that was flirting and she happened to enjoy the attention. She pulled her keys from her purse. “Thanks again for getting me all set up.”

“Hey, that's what I'm here for,” he said, never losing that customer-friendly smile.

She stood. “So when will I get to meet my personal trainer?” she inquired out of curiosity.

Jeremiah stood as well and outstretched his hand to her. “My clients call me Jay,” he said matter-of-factly.

Nadine returned the gesture, noticing his strength, even in his handshake. “Well then, Jay, I'll see you eleven a.m. sharp.”

“I look forward to it.”

“This should be interesting,” she mumbled, turning the corner to leave the gym.

It was exactly 4:59 p.m. when Nadine pulled into the busy retail shopping strip. She had completely lost track of time. She took a chance and parked illegally along the fire lane.

Walking briskly toward Herald Star Cleaners, Nadine prayed that they weren't already closed for the day. When she reached the door, the owner's daughter, a short and petite teenager who always seemed annoyed to be there with her mother at work, was flipping the sign from “open” to “closed.”

“Pleeeease,” Nadine mouthed through the thick glass, holding her hand in a prayer fold. The girl turned her head and yelled something that Nadine couldn't quite discern. Shortly after she allowed her inside, Nadine apologized profusely as she followed the girl to the pick-up counter.

“May I have your ticket, please?”

Nadine began fishing through her purse for the pink ticket they had given her the previous day. “I'm sure I put it right in here,” she said, looking in the pocket. She sighed heavily as she continued to search. “Oh gosh! I swapped purses earlier and I must have—”

“It's okay, I'll look it up by your phone number.” She smiled.