Reverend Feelgood (11 page)

Jennifer became quiet as she and Nate neared the elevator of their plush hotel in Santa Monica. She’d learned that Nate liked to be the aggressor where their “spiritual relationship” was concerned, so she waited, and hoped, that he would want to be with her.

“More messages came in while we were at Carla’s,” she said, pressing the elevator button. “I know you’re tired though. You’ll probably want to wait till morning to hear about them.”

“Yeah, you’re a slave-driver, woman. That schedule was brutal.”

“But you were amazing. I can’t believe how well you’re doing. I mean, I’m not surprised, but it’s just that you handle this whole Hollywood TV thing like you’ve been doing it forever.”

The elevator doors opened and the two stepped inside. Once again, conversation waned. Jennifer tried not to think about what she wanted, and how much she wanted it. It had been two weeks since she and Nate had been sexual, but it felt more like two years. Nate was like a drug; the more you had of him, the more you wanted. It didn’t help knowing that he’d been spending the time he wasn’t with her with other women. She tried not to think about that now, just like she tried not to think about Destiny. Nate’s reaction had been interesting though, she remembered, when she’d casually mentioned her a week after returning from New Orleans.

“I was visiting my sister in New Orleans last week and guess who I saw?”

“Who?” Nate had asked, nonchalantly, as he watched the football network.

“Destiny Noble.”

Silence had filled the room.

“Did you hear me, Nate?”

“Hmm?”

Jennifer had walked to the couch then. “I saw Simone’s daughter, Destiny, in New Orleans. Did you know she was pregnant?”

“Destiny?” Nate asked, still watching TV.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“She was either pregnant or sporting a beach ball under her top. I wonder who the father is.”

Nate had remained quiet a long moment. Finally he said, “I thought Simone told me her daughter was in New York, checking out some modeling agencies. I doubt it was Destiny you saw. No, I’m sure it wasn’t her. Bring me some ice tea, please?”

And just like that, Jennifer’s theory had been dissed and dismissed. While Jennifer had been certain the woman was Destiny, Nate’s reaction raised doubt. Some days Jennifer believed what her eyes saw, other days she believed what Nate told her. Tonight, she chose to believe the latter.

“Well, I guess it’s good night, then,” Jennifer said, when they reached her room. Nate’s suite was at the end of the hall. “Call me if you need anything.”

“All right, Jennifer. Good night.”

Jennifer’s heart plummeted, but she kept the smile plastered on while Nate scanned the card for her and opened the door to her room. Such gentlemanly acts, done without thinking, were why women swooned over him. “Congratulations,” she whispered just before she allowed the door to close.

She walked over to the bed and plopped down on it. Not a woman prone to crying, she was surprised to feel her eyes water. She didn’t want to feel sorry for herself. She was in LA, with the man of her dreams, living life like it was golden. Jennifer decided to take a nice, hot shower, and maybe go downstairs and listen to the jazz group she’d heard playing when they entered the lobby.

Moments after stepping out of the shower, her phone rang. “You said call if I needed anything, right?” a sultry voice asked.

“Yes,” Jennifer whispered.

“Well, I need it. Get down here.”

Jennifer put down the receiver, squealed, and, donning a sundress, sandals, and nothing else, hurried down the hall.

Nate finished his last in a round of calls, this one with Deacon Robinson, and then stretched out on the king-sized bed and waited for Jennifer. He had sensed how bad she wanted him, could feel her desire as they rode up the elevator. And even though he’d enjoyed a morning quickie with one of Derrick’s members whom he often phoned when he was in town, he had more than enough stamina to handle his very capable manager. She’d done an excellent job, after all…and deserved a thank you.

Jennifer tapped once before using the card she had to Nate’s room. She walked straight to the bed and climbed in, not even trying to perpetrate a fraud. “I’m so glad you called me,” she said, before plunging her tongue inside Nate’s hot mouth.

He immediately slid his hands up her dress, placed them on her bare, ample rump, and began kneading it slowly as he ground himself against her.
Oh, yeah, this sistah’s hot. It’s going to be good tonight!

Jennifer stopped long enough to pull the sundress over her head, then lay down next to Nate. She placed her hand inside his boxers and was rewarded with the feel of his massive weapon, ready to aim and fire. She massaged it and his balls as their tongues dueled. Nate found a nipple, the suckling of which rocked Jennifer’s core. She opened her legs to give him access. He reached over for a condom that was on the nightstand. And then the phone rang.

“Don’t get it, Nate,” Jennifer whispered frantically. “I can’t wait for it, baby. I’ve got to have you now!”

“Hold on a minute, baby, I need to get this one.” It was Nate’s private phone, of which only a handful of people had the number. He had a feeling who might be calling. He was right.

Katherine started talking before Nate finished saying hello. “You’ve got to get to New Orleans, quick! Destiny’s in labor. She’s about to have your baby.”

Benjamin Nathaniel Eli Thicke was a perfect child, from the top of his full head of thick, silky hair to the tip of his long, thin toes. Weighing eight pounds, seven ounces at birth and measuring twenty-two inches long, the child seemed to have inherited the best features of both parents. There was still time for them to change, but right now his eyes were a dazzling hazel green, a nod to Destiny’s Creole roots. But after taking one look at his balls and the skin around his fingers, Nettie declared that the child would more than likely be dark, like his dad.

“Wow, he’s growing so fast,” Nate whispered, after Destiny had changed the baby and placed him in his father’s arms.

“That’s because it’s been almost a month since you’ve seen him, back in January,” Destiny replied, with just a hint of the whine that drove Nate wild. She’d tried to be understanding and take her grandmother’s advice and not nag, but she was a new, young, teenage mother. She didn’t care that everyone in the world wanted a piece of Nate Thicke, the rising star author. She wanted her man by her side.

“Dang,” Nate said as his cell phone rang for the umpteenth time. He didn’t even have to look at it to know it was Jennifer. She’d been acting funny ever since he left her hot and horny in his LA hotel suite. And he was sure she wasn’t the only one who’d noted his increased absence from the church during the month of December, when he’d spent as much time as he could with Destiny and their son. But once the holidays were over, it was back to work with a schedule that was insane. Not only was he receiving constant invites from the broadcasting industry, but the offers to preach across the country had tripled. Carla had been right when she said the life he once knew was over. And she was also right when she’d later said that sometimes he’d want the old life back.

“Here, take him, baby,” Nate said after his phone had rung three more times, followed by text message beeps. “This must be important.”

“I know you’re busy, but you need to carve out some family time, Nate, when you cannot be disturbed.”

“You’re right,” he said over his shoulder as he walked into the bedroom and closed the door. He didn’t want to take a chance that the baby would cry while he was talking to the wrong person.

Destiny shifted her hungry son to her other arm, pulled aside her top, and began to nurse him. All the while she thought about Nate—what was happening and with whom back in Texas while she continued to live in Louisiana. She’d checked Nate’s phone earlier, when he was in the shower. As she suspected, most calls were from women—most she knew, some she didn’t. She paid particular attention to names that showed up often. Katherine, Jennifer, Patricia, Anne, her mother, were all names she recognized. But one of them, Verniece, was new. Destiny suspected Nate was covering all of them. And for the first time since she fell in love with him at the age of twelve, she had a problem with that.

“Sorry about that, baby,” Nate said as he exited the bedroom. “I’m glad I took it, though. It was Jennifer. They’re having some type of faith-based function at the White House where ministers from various denominations are getting together to discuss pressing problems facing the nation. I’ve been invited!”

“Really? That’s great, baby.”

“You don’t sound too excited.”

“I’m happy for you, but I just wish I could be with you. I miss you, Nate. I miss us. I want you with me all the time. I wish we could go somewhere together, just the three of us, and be alone. I hate that the baby and me are here in Louisiana while you continue to live in Texas.” Destiny’s eyes filled with tears as she continued. “I just love you so much that when you’re not here…”

“Shh, baby, don’t cry. Shh.” Nate picked up Destiny, who was still holding Benjamin, and headed to the bedroom. “I miss you too, baby, more than I can say. But we have to do it like this right now, just for a little while.”

He reached the bedroom and took a now sleeping Benjamin out of Destiny’s arms. He kissed his son on the cheek before lowering him into the bassinet. Then he walked over to the bed and joined Destiny. “You know you’re my heart, right?” he asked her, as he slowly stroked her body until it flamed. “You know that I’m counting down the days until I can announce you to the world, let everybody know you’re mine. No one else’s, just mine.” Nate ran his hand over Destiny’s stomach, already flat again, barely three months after giving birth. “This belongs to me alone. Remember that.”

“But you’re not,” Destiny whispered.

“I’m not what?”

“You’re not just for me. You’re with a lot of different women.”

“Baby, you already know what that’s about. As the shepherd of the flock—”

“You’re their spiritual covering. I know, I know, Nate, but it doesn’t feel good. I can’t be with anyone else, but you can.”

A surge of jealousy and anger ripped through Nate, so powerful it shocked him. Just the thought of Destiny being with anybody else rocked him to the core. He stopped touching her and sat up. “What, are you interested in somebody?”

“No, Nate, but—”

“But what? Where’s this coming from all of a sudden? This is how it’s been since you’ve known me. I know Katherine talked to you about it, and probably your mother too. If I find out there’s somebody else, Destiny, whoever it is will pay a steep price.”

“There is nobody else, Nate, and I don’t want anybody else. I only want you. I don’t know where these feelings are coming from. I just know I want you to myself. What about other preachers? Do they cover their flocks too?”

“Look, don’t worry about other preachers. And don’t worry about who else I’m with.” Nate’s voice softened as Destiny’s declaration of singular love for him calmed his ire. “Just know that you’re number one, baby,” he said, spreading her legs gently and easing a finger inside her. “And that nobody else can compare to this right here. Okay?”

“Okay,” Destiny whispered, spreading her legs farther and wrapping her arms around Nate’s broad shoulders. Within minutes, Nate was inside her, driving deep as if to brand her, deeper than she thought possible, making her cry with the pain and pleasure of it all. But before the night was over he was gone, back to Palestine and the whirlwind of activity that was now his life.

He promised them a vacation soon, just the three of them. That’s what Destiny held on to as, after feeding Benjamin and putting him down for the final time that night, she walked over to the television and pulled out the DVD series she’d been watching for the past month. She’d gotten them from Melody one day, after spotting them in her room.

“What’s this?” she’d asked after seeing a DVD entitled
An Uncommon Woman—You!

“Girl, please, that ain’t nothing. Just some religious mess my mom keeps sending me.”

Destiny scanned the copy on the front, and then turned it over to read the back cover. “Who is it?”

“She’s Pastor Montgomery’s wife, Vivian. Most people really like her, but I can’t stand her ass.”

“Why not?”

Melody told Destiny about a dance troupe that she joined at Kingdom Citizens, and then quit when Vivian insisted the girls take “spiritual etiquette” classes first. “She thinks she’s all that, but she ain’t.”

“Do you mind if I watch them?” Destiny had asked.

“What? For real?”

“Might help me get extra credit in my morals class,” Destiny had teased. But what had captured her attention was the title. Something about being “uncommon” had sounded pretty cool.

Destiny watched intently as on the DVD, Vivian encouraged the women in the audience to set themselves apart, to respect each other, to treat their bodies as sacred, and to live their lives by their own truth instead of following the actions of others.

That’s it,
Destiny thought, as she continued watching. That’s what had changed since she had the baby. She no longer wanted to do what all the other women in Nate’s life were doing, what her mother and grandmother were doing, what his manager and his choir director were doing. Destiny wanted to be uncommon. After Vivian ended her talk and the applause had died down, she asked the women present to join her in the Sanctity of Sisterhood motto, the SOS creed. Destiny listened, pressed
REPLAY
and listened again. She pressed
REPLAY
one more time, until she had it, and the next time she pressed it, she joined the ladies from the privacy of her living room:

Destiny felt something happen as she said those words, and she said them again and again. She wanted to talk to someone about what she was feeling, about whether it was possible to be Nate’s uncommon woman. She thought about her mother and grandmother.

Kiki won’t understand,
she thought.
She’ll just tell me about the man of God and his needs.

“Maybe Mama,” Destiny said. She quickly called the home number and, when it went to voice mail, decided not to call the cell. Obviously, she and Mark were out.

Destiny paced the floor, continuing to bask in the light of this new truth, about being uncommon and original. She went to her computer and looked up the word uncommon.
Rare, unusual, special, exceptional
were some of the definitions. The more she read, the more excited she became. Destiny wished she could talk to Vivian Montgomery directly. Nate could probably arrange it, but Destiny needed advice right now.

Suddenly, Destiny stopped dead in her tracks. “That’s who I’ll call!” She went to her computer, clicked open the address book, and minutes later was dialing the number.

“Hello?”

“Miss Nettie? This is Destiny. I need to talk to you.”