In Love with Ezra (Love Unaccounted Book 2) (9 page)

I wasn’t too far behind her when Thaddeus leaped from his phone outside the door.

“Sir, there’s an issue at
RSfALC
.” His eyes were cagey.

“And that is?”

“Chris and Ahmed are at it again. This time they came to blows in the pulpit.”

“What?” I shrieked in disbelief.

Chris and Ahmed were two of our musicians at the church. Chris played the keys, Ahmed played several instruments, and acted as the musical director. Chris was an egotistical musician my father installed ten years ago. He’s extremely talented, but didn’t have a heart to serve. I’d never believed musicians should be paid by the church. Their roles are vital, but so are the ushers and nurses who keep a watchful eye on the sanctuary during service, being sure all comfort needs are met. And other roles that kept the house of God functioning, like the greeters, crossing guards, parking lot attendants, Sunday school teachers and aides, choir members, and general security. We had a tight and all-encompassing operation at
RSfALC
, commissioning volunteers to aid us in serving. If all these vital roles were on an unpaid assistance agreement, why should those with gifts provided by God, who only perform several hours a week be paid? And Chris and a few of the tenured band members were paid well for just ten hours of service.

“Yes, Pastor. I just got the call a few minutes ago,” Thaddeus murmured for discretion.

“Ask them to stay put. We’re on our way,” I requested before walking off toward the entrance.

My day was longer than anticipated. It started off hopeful with my dear friend, Trent Bailey, and was thrown askew soon after. Between Thaddeus and his wayward quest for a fairytale institution, my abrupt run-in with Marva Graham, and then having to referee two grown men in the house of God, I was wound up pretty tightly. Chris threatened to leave, alerting me to initiate a plan I’d had in the back of my mind for some time now.

Tension filled my body from my throbbing skull to the aching pads of my feet. My mood tightly coiled to the point of popping. The day was touching on the evening when I pulled into my driveway. One of the garage doors were open revealing the rear of a gray metallic
F-Type
. I parked in front of the house and sauntered in with heavy feet. I smelled food in the rear.

She cooked
…      

Alexis was at the island, hovered over her laptop just as I’d found her this morning. She held a book open with her palm pressing into the pages as she went from it to her computer screen. Her wooly hair loosely swept up into a ponytail, exposing her off the shoulder sweat shirt. Her sienna skin glistening in contrast to the black top. Then my eyes roved down to her spread hips in small boy shorts, revealing those long legs and thick thighs that I loved to wrap around my waist…and neck.

Christ… This can’t be normal.

My body responded to this woman like no one else before her. She was slowly becoming my addiction. My new and sole succor. My reprieve. Just the mere scent of her loosened tautness in my extremities.

On its own accord, my finger traced the lining of her sweat shirt at the shoulder, teasing the silkiness of her dark skin. Alexis gasped, startled. Had she been that engaged in what she’d been doing?

I lifted the book from under her hand and saw the “Resume for Dummies” title then looked to her screen and saw her CV in a word processing system.

Another bad day.

Right away I understood the reason for the slump in her shoulders and the heaviness of her countenance. My beloved endured yet another unsuccessful interview. While I was relieved she hadn’t settled on a job yet, it wasn’t my usual level of satisfaction, and possibly because I was preoccupied with my own morose day.

“How was your day, beloved?” I fought for an even tone.

It was difficult while inhaling her jasmine scent.   

She sighed the introduction to her response.
Awwww… Kitten!
“Another day of rejection to add to the book of “
Nobody wants Lex Grier
.” And just to think, I have another one in the morning before I pick up Ms. Remah from the airport. She may have to wait on me, though.” She rolled her neck, further enticing me, unknowingly. “How was yours, sir?” She froze.

And so did I, unbeknownst to her. My mind spun, a rush of desire engulfed me instantly.

“Down in the sandbox. Now. And wait for me,” I commanded, resuming my air of authority, control, and dominance.

When I turned to leave the kitchen, Alexis had begun packing up her tools in rapid speed, for which I would reward her. After I made her wait for it on the purple pillow.

~Lex~

“So you remember the night of your wedding when you and Pastor Carmichael left for your honeymoon?” Lillian asked.

I clutched the phone closer to my ear while getting out of the car. Pushing my fist into the loop handle of my bag, I went to my popped trunk to make sure it was clear, or at least had enough room to fit Ms. Remah’s luggage.

“Yeah,” I answered, not knowing where she was going with this. She’d been trying to call me for a few days now and I’d just felt ‘balanced’ enough to reach out to anyone outside of Ezra’s home. “Like after we said our goodbyes?”

I slammed the trunk closed and clacked across the pavement, towards the walkway to the airport. I didn’t think to bring flats for after my interview this morning, but had no time for regrets. I had to get to Ms. Remah before she got her luggage. I wanted to surprise her.

“Yeah, well, Aunt Remah went back inside to get her things. She was ready to get back to her place to pack the rest of her things for the moving company and her trip the next morning. When I followed her to go back in the main hall, Thaddeus asked to speak to me.”

“Oh, yeah! How is the
Women Learn Now!
effort coming? I’ve been meaning to ask you about that,” I interjected, believing that’s where she was going.

If she needed more support from the ministerial staff, I could certainly put pressure on Ezra to do so. I’d take on the beast head first for Lilly.

“It’s fine, Lex!” she sighed into the phone, clearly frustrated by that question. I didn’t understand why. I knew it had been a priority of hers for a while now.
What the hell?
“I just need you to listen, okay, Lexi?”

“Okay.” I returned defensively.

Her short attitude reminded me of the cranky woman I’d be seeing in minutes.

“Thaddeus asked to speak with me. I told Aunt Remah I’d be right in. And Thaddeus said a few things that…surprised me.”

My neck jerked as I stepped onto the sidewalk, nearing the building. “Like…foul? Did he disrespect you?”

I found myself getting upset. Thaddeus had always seemed cool, pretty mild mannered, but I would either cuss him the fuck out for getting out of line or have Ezra check him. I knew Ezra was capable based on his blunt reaction to Thaddeus when he offered to have Miranda come ‘sit’ with me that night after the club with Anushka.

“No!” she whined. “Lex, just give me a minute. This is kind of hard to explain.” I could see her pushing her frames up to her face while in despair on the other line.

“Well, you don’t have long,” I warned as I walked through the sliding doors of the airport. “I’m in the airport looking for your aunt.” I glanced around for the gate signs.

“Lexi, we kissed that night.”
What?
“At my place.”

I tripped over my damn feet.

“Come the fuck again!” My mouth hung wide open.

She groaned again. “It’s hard to explain, Lex.”

“Well, start some damn where! Did you…” I couldn’t finish my question.

“Lex, I care about Thaddeus very deeply, but he’d have to make me his wife before I give him my virginity. I value my soul more than I do his teddy bear persona and infectious sense of humor.”

“Okay, but since when did you check for ole boy, and most importantly, when did you start kissing engaged men?”

That question hiked my heart rate.
Ezra!
He’d never go for scandal like that. I knew this without a doubt. He wouldn’t fuck me until we married!

“Lex, I’ve known Thaddeus for years. I met him as a patient at a diabetes clinic I used to work for right after getting my RN license. Lex,” the mention of my name for the second time in consecutive sentences reminded me of her Caribbean roots. Lills could be just as dramatic as her aunt. “I’ve never met a man who made me feel like he does. We connected instantly. I remember taking his vitals and feeling weak by just touching him.”
What the hell?
“Anyway, he came in for weeks and I knew he was too shy to ask me for my number, even though I wanted him to sooooo badly. I mean, look at him: big, tall, dark chocolate, and those glasses make me weak in the knees, girl!” she exclaimed with so much passion.

Shit!
Lil’ Lillian was fucking in love with Big Thaddeus!

He was definitely big, not so tall for someone my height; a few inches shorter than Ezra. However, I understood Thaddeus was an amazon to little Lillian. He was darker than me: I mean, almost blue, but his skin held a healthy sheen and his teeth were beautiful against that rich complexion. And his glasses… Let’s say that was a quality that Lillian held alone as a fellow spectacles wearer.

“So, what happened?” I asked, my voice heavy with doubt, my neck retracted and chin almost into my chest.

“I got in trouble for showing him special treatment. I was threatened with an inappropriate conduct infraction and was replaced for his care. We didn’t even do anything. I just…” she paused for a moment. “I guess I just spent too much time with him during his visits with his check up and education. They pissed me off—I was so young and hot-headed that I quit and started at The Presb.”

When I realized nothing more would come, I decided to go back to my former and most pressing question.

“Lills?”

“Yeah?” she squeaked.

“What about Miranda?” I didn’t care for her, but she was still his fiancée.

“He broke it off with her the next day. I know it was wrong for me to kiss an engaged man, but something about Thaddeus never seemed to have belonged to her. They’d been engaged since the beginning of the year, and I always respected that. I’d been seeing him at
RSfALC
for the past three years since he came from a sister church to become Pastor Carmichael’s armor-bearer. He seemed so wrapped up in his role that I didn’t think he remembered me, much less wanted anything to do with me. And can you believe he dated her for only six months before he proposed to her. Darn church rules!”

Really?
I didn’t get six months with Ezra…  

That piece of information jolted me out of the cutesy love bubble Lillian had me in.

I rubbed the inner corners of my eyes, deciding to move past that revelation.

“So, what now, Lilly?” I asked.

This was a mess…for church people. For people around the way it would just be a matter of when Miranda would catch Lil’ Lills out on the streets and attempt to beat her ass.
I wish that bitch would!
I’d drag her ass out of
RSfALC
and whoop the living shit out of her if she even breathed on Lillian!

“Now I wait for him to receive guidance from his spiritual leader,” she answered.

“Which is who?” I couldn’t hide the snarl in my tone.

“Which is your husband.”

My shoulders shrank and my eyes rolled.
Good luck with that
. Ezra wouldn’t get caught up in the unrequited love story I was now in. He didn’t believe in romantic love.

“I don’t know about that one, Lilly. Ezra’s…different.”

“How?”

My eyes perused the airport, jotting around faces looking for a familiar one.

“As in he is unbelievably orderly. He’s probably not going to like the broken engagement part of your love story—or the damn love story. Ezra doesn’t get that type of thing.”

And neither did I…exactly.

“But he’s newly married! He’s still in that idealistic honeymoon phase where nothing is above what the heart wants and…needs,” she emphasized on a whine. My heart ached for her. Ezra would be her obstacle. She didn’t understand that he and I were not in love. That we’d only made a covenant. 

“I understand, but you’re going to have to trust me on this,” I found myself whining. “Has he even told Ezra?”

“I don’t know. He said he would, but that was the day after your wedding and he hasn’t said anything to confirm it since then. And when I ask during our dates”—
Wait! You’re dating?!
—“he’ll only say to trust him and it’s being taken care of. What does that mean? I was hoping you’d know.”

Why did she think I’d know? Because maybe Ezra had confided this thing between Lillian and Thaddeus in me? Or because I was married and could understand having enough faith in your husband to take him at his word? Either way, shorty was screwed. I met neither of the criterion.

“I can feel him out for you, even vouch for you. But in the meantime, do you know of any scriptures that say it’s okay to switch up on women before marriage?” I asked sincerely.

Every damn time I turned around Ezra was using some Bible verse to validate his arguments.

“I don’t think so, Lex. I doubt it, but I can always ask Thaddeus. He’s a minister.”

Just then, I saw a round frame, wobbling toward me unseeing. She moved at an unhurried pace, not expecting me so soon. My heart leaped at the prospect of surprising her.

“Listen, Lilly. I have to go. I just spotted your aunt,” I informed, my heart suddenly elated at the sight of her. “I’ll be in touch about that.”

“Okay. Give Aunt Remah my best. I heard she cussed my mom out over there. I hope all is well.”

Really?

“Shit. I’m sorry. I’ll talk to her,” I offered as if I had any influence. It just felt like the right thing to say. Not everyone understood this ornery woman like I did. “I’ll call you later.”

“Okay. Later.”

I slipped my phone in my purse and made my way over to her.

“Hey, baby girl!” I offered, wanting to wrap my arms around her, but recalling her preference for me not to.

Her eyes mushroomed wild upon recognizing me. Abruptly, she took me at the arm and turned me around, my tall frame towering her. Nonetheless, I complied. It made me self-conscious in my tan dress pants, ivory blouse and nude heels. Not the reaction I was going for, but…

“Yuh got sum up in yuh, yuhnuh?” Her eyes were wide as she asked with amazement. I didn’t know if she was expressing anger or what?

“What?”

“Yuh hips, gyal!” she damn near shouted, belly leaping with each syllable. “Dem spread wide, yuhnuh. What de man put up in yuh? Must be de size of de elephant’s tusk!”

I definitely caught that. She had no idea what Ezra had been pumping into me… Or maybe she did. Could she sense the way he had my wrists tied in purple bondage tape while I kneeled on the carpet and pounded into my mouth before he ate then fucked me into oblivion? Was she able to detect how my freakish husband bestowed more orgasms than I’d ever had in the course of two hours before we enjoyed a quiet candlelit dinner together? Had she picked up that each time I allowed Ezra to take me in some of the most barbaric ways, I’d oddly feel more empowered and feminine? She couldn’t; I didn’t understand it myself. Either way, I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to talk about her and how her trip went.

I rolled my eyes. “Let’s claim your luggage. We have lots to catch up on.”

Two minutes away from her new home—our new home—she was still cussing her sisters out, especially Lillian’s mother.

“She tink she better than me because I got no children? Tuh!” she spoke at the top of her lungs and then rolled her eyes. “She no better than me, yuhnuh! I got my education. Meh had a career here! Whut she got? A man who treats her like a princess. Wait on her every cry. She still on a tit, yuhnuh? She dun’t nuh nottin’ ‘bout me.” She tutted again.

As she continued crying out her point about cussing out her sister, my curiosity about the root of their issue ran rampant. They hadn’t been on good terms in decades and I never understood why. She never mentioned a legitimate reason to disconnect from her sister and cousin, who lived just minutes away from her since migrating to the U.S. I never asked because, as Ezra accurately noted, Ms. Remah was a private and prideful woman. I knew how far to push her.

I just didn’t understand beefing with family. I wished I had cousins and sisters to fight with. I’d make sure we remained a unit. But there seemed to be some deep-rooted ugliness between them. I just didn’t know how to approach it.

“We’re here!” I chimed.

We pulled into the burnt orange and polished concrete circular driveway. I noticed right away a pewter Mercedes truck, possibly a
GS33
, parked in front of the house.