Authors: Shelia M. Goss

Ruthless (9 page)

BOOK: Ruthless

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Chapter 17

It had been almost a week since Sheba moved Delilah temporarily into her and Uriah's home. Now she was beginning to think Uriah was right. Delilah wasn't the easiest person to get along with. In fact, she could be quite demanding. Sheba ended up having to do another round of grocery shopping, because Delilah was picky about the things she ate.

“You would think someone opening up their home and refrigerator to you would make you a little more grateful,” Sheba blurted out.

“Well, you're the one who invited me here. Remember?” Delilah snapped back.

Sheba rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, “I'm not going to let you get under my skin today. I promised myself that.”

“Well, I can just call Keisha and have her take me home, since I'm such a bother.” Delilah reached for her purse to look for her cell phone.

Sheba picked up the cell phone on the counter and waved it around in the air. “Is this what you're looking for?”

“Yes. Now, if you'll pass it to me, I'll be out of your hair shortly.”

Sheba disobeyed. “Look. I'm sorry. I'm missing Uriah. You're quite demanding, and my nerves are just shot, okay?”

“Well, don't take it out on me. I'm just an innocent victim of your wrath.”

Sheba raised her eyebrows. “Innocent, you are not.”

“Okay, I admit, I can be a little demanding.” Delilah held her fingers inches away from each other.

“You can lie to me, but you can't lie to God,” Sheba said as she handed Delilah her phone and then took a seat on the couch, next to her.

“Lord, forgive me for lying. I know my little sister is doing all she can to make me comfortable.”

“Thanks. Sometimes all a person needs is to feel appreciated.” Sheba thought about the scant attention she felt her husband was giving her. He had missed their last two chat sessions due to work.

“How long is your husband supposed to be gone?” Delilah asked.

“Five more months. I don't know if I can take this. We've never been apart more than a few days.”

“What are you going to do when you get that itch?” Delilah asked.

“Itch? If I'm itching, I better be taking my behind to the doctor.”

Delilah laughed. “No, silly. I'm talking about the urge. The urge to do what grown folks do.”

“Pray. Read my Bible. Bug you. Something to get my mind off it.”

“David seems to be interested in you. It wouldn't hurt to see what he's about. Maybe Uriah's not here because you're supposed to be with another man,” Delilah said without blinking.

“The only reason why David is interested in me is because I'm off-limits. If I was single, he wouldn't look at me twice. I don't have time to be a pawn in a rich man's games. Besides, I love my husband too much.”

Delilah pouted. “Well, who said anything about you falling in love with him? I'm talking about getting your groove on. I'm sure with a body like his, he can work it.”

Sheba laughed. “If you're that interested in David, maybe you should make a move on him yourself.”

Delilah looked away. “He's not my type. Only one of us can be the center of attention, and he's too arrogant for me.”

Sheba swung around to face Delilah. She placed one of her legs under the other. “I said I wasn't going to say anything, but since you're all up in my business, I'm curious. Is it true you had an affair with that preacher and that's why you were shot?”

“Li'l sis, don't believe everything you hear. I know none of those Holy Rollers would risk spending the rest of their lives in jail for shooting me.”

“But that's not the question I asked you.”

“Would you look at me differently if I told you that yes, I did?” Delilah bit her bottom lip. “Samson Judges tried to convince the church that it was my fault that he and I had an affair. I didn't make Samson do anything. He slept with me because he wanted to. I made a mistake. I was foolish enough to think he cared for me. I thought he loved me. He led me to believe that he did, anyway.”

“Something tells me you're not as innocent as you would like for me to believe, but if that's the story you want to go with, then so be it.” Sheba tilted her head to the side.

Delilah batted her eyes. “Surely, you're not calling me a liar.”

“Well, if the shoe fits.”

“None of my shoes fit anymore. My feet are still swollen up.” Delilah glanced down at her feet and laughed.

“How I wished our mother was here to see the two of us.”

“She would be proud of one and not so proud of the other.” A sad expression crossed Delilah's face.

Sheba patted Delilah on the leg. “You're a beautiful woman. Yes, you made some mistakes. Who hasn't? Lord knows, I've made plenty. I used to envy you because you were her first.”

“Really?” Delilah looked at Sheba in disbelief.

“Yes, really. Mom talked about you so much that sometimes I was jealous.”

“You have nothing to be jealous about,” Delilah said.

“Tell a teenage girl that.”

“I must say us Baker girls are some bad mama jamas.”

“No, you didn't say âBad mama jamas.' You're only three years older than me, and you sound soâ”

“Old school,” Delilah interrupted.

“Yes, old school.” They both burst out laughing. Sheba's phone vibrated in her pocket. She looked at the caller ID display. There was a message from Uriah. “Look, I need to go chat with Uriah, but we'll finish this sister session later.”

“Tell my brother-in-law I said hello,” Delilah said.

“Okay.” Sheba knew she had no intentions of delivering the message. Uriah still didn't know Delilah was staying at their home, and she planned to keep it that way.

She went into their home office and turned on the laptop. While it was booting up, she checked the mirror on the desk to make sure her hair was in place. She had put on some light makeup earlier. She logged on to Skype. It took a few minutes for their connection to be established.

The first thing out of Uriah's mouth was, “I'm sorry I had to cancel the last two times.”

Sheba didn't like how Uriah looked. He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days. “What's going on?” she asked.

“I can't disclose everything going on over here, but let me just say that it's different than what I thought it was going to be.”

“Meaning?” Sheba asked.

“The people are eager to learn, but going out of the compound can get a little dangerous. One of my coworkers got injured because the truck in front of him blew up. I was supposed to be in that truck, so that sort of freaked me out.”

“And you're just now telling me this? Uriah, I don't care what you do, but you see about getting transferred back here. That job is not worth you losing your life.”

“Calm down, Sheba. See, that's why I didn't want to tell you. Only reason I'm telling you now is because it'll probably be on the news, and I didn't want you to hear about it from someone else.”

All Sheba saw was red. “Uriah, either you talk to David King or I will. I need you home with me.”

“I'm not going to do it, and you promise me, you won't, either.”

Sheba wouldn't promise. As soon as they disconnected their Skype call, she would find David's number and call him. No amount of money was worth Uriah risking his life. She would give up getting another house if it meant having her husband back with her safe and sound.

Chapter 18

David went straight home. He had planned on working some before going to bed, but he drifted off to sleep. His was a light sleep, and his eyes popped open when he felt his personal cell phone vibrate. He answered it without looking at the number on the phone display. “This better be good.”

“Is that how you answer all your calls, Mr. King?” Sheba said.

“Who is this?” David was now fully awake.

“I'm your worst nightmare if you don't bring my husband home.”

“Sheba, is that you?”

“You know who it is. Stop playing games with me. I told Uriah that if he didn't ask to be transferred back here, I would call you myself, and since he's too chicken to call you, I did.”

David laughed. He loved her spunk. Knowing she was upset made him want her more. “Sheba, Uriah's there because he wants to be there. He could have turned down my offer.”

“Nobody defies King David. Whatever you ask, they do,” she said mockingly.

“Let's put an end to this. I'll call him on the three-way, and you can see for yourself. Hold on.” Before she could protest, David clicked over to his other line. He dialed the number he had saved for Uriah. “Uriah, how are things going?”

“Fine, Mr. King,” Uriah responded.

“I have your wife on the phone. It looks like we have a slight problem,” David said, then clicked a button on the phone. “Sheba, are you there? I have Uriah on the phone with us.”

“Baby, what did you say to Mr. King?” Uriah quickly questioned his wife.

“Don't âbaby' me. I told you if you didn't call him, I would. Now, David, tell him he can come home.”

“Uriah, it's your option, and it's not going to affect your job,” David told him. “If you want to come back and run the Shreveport office, come home and I will send Richard or someone else out there with Simon.”

Uriah didn't hesitate to say, “Mr. King, there will be no need for that. You sent me out here to do this job, and I will. I will not leave until your plans have been implemented.”

“But, baby,” Sheba said.

“Sheba, I hate that you got Mr. King involved in our little issue, and, dear, I will have to ask you to lose his number. If you have a problem with my job, call me. Let me deal with it. Okay?”

“Yes, dear,” Sheba said, barely above a whisper.

“Now that you two lovebirds are straight, I'm going to end this call and get back to sleeping.”

David disconnected the call and threw his phone on the bed beside him. He closed his eyes, and Sheba's face invaded his thoughts. He drifted off into a deep sleep. In his dreams he and Sheba had met under different circumstances. In his dreams Sheba became his wife. In his dreams Sheba bore his first child. It all seemed so real in his dreams that when his alarm buzzed and woke him up the next morning, he wanted to go back to sleep and back to his dreams. David started his day off by praying and reading scriptures. He had gotten out of the routine and needed to feel close to God, so after praying, he picked up his Bible and turned to Psalm 3.
I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

David felt that the scripture spoke volumes in his life. Wade had given him some bad news over the weekend. Someone was secretly buying up some of his stock. They had not been able to discover who the culprit was as of yet, but David was sure they would soon find out. He would always have the majority of the stock shares, but he didn't want anyone else to have enough shares to be able to veto any of his decisions.

David's phone rang the next morning, waking him up. The song he had preset on his phone indicated it was Nathan calling. Whenever the ring tone of Marvin Sapp's song “He Saw the Best in Me” played, David knew it was his friend Nathan. “Nathan, I'm surprised you're calling me on a Sunday morning.”

“I need you, man.”

David could hear the desperation in his voice. “What's wrong?”

“I need you to sing a solo.”

“What? No. Now, you know I don't sing anymore.”

“You should. Please. Just one. It's by special request. Remember Jonathan Heard? Well, he's dying of cancer, man, and he's in town. He asked me if I could get you to sing. Please. He might not make it to another service.”

Nathan really knew how to lay the guilt on David. After thinking about it, David responded, “I'll be there. But I'm not staying for the entire service.”

“Now, David, you have to stay and hear the Word. God has a word for you today.”

David sat up in bed, ignoring Nathan's comment. “Since it's after nine, I better get dressed so I can find me a seat.”

“Don't worry about that. I'll make sure a seat is saved for you. The ushers will direct you to the front.”

“You've thought of everything, haven't you?”

“Almost everything.”

David could imagine Nathan wearing a smirk on his face. He ended their call, got up, took a shower, and then put on one of his tailor-made suits. He opted for a black and gray pin-striped one and his gold, wing-tipped, matching shoes.

He decided to give his driver the day off. He jumped in his silver Jaguar and headed to Church On the Way, where Nathan was the senior pastor. David had always wanted to ask Nathan why the church's name was Church On the Way, but never had.

David eased his car into the first available parking spot he could find. Several people seemed to recognize him as he entered the church, but they wouldn't approach him. Instead, he heard people murmuring about him.

“Sir, this part of the sanctuary is full. We're asking everyone else to go to the balcony,” the slim usher said to David as he searched for a seat.

“My name's David King, and I'm here as a special guest of Pastor McDaniel,” David said in a calm voice.

“Oh my goodness. I can't believe I'm actually talking to
the
David King. Why didn't you say something? We have a seat saved for you up front. I'll personally escort you.”

“No need to. Just point me in the right direction, and I'll find it.”

The usher pointed to the right side of the sanctuary. “Just tell Ms. Simmons, the usher up front, who you are, and she'll show you exactly where your seat is.”

David walked down the aisle. It had been months since he had actually taken the time to attend anyone's church. He was usually either in another city or flying in from another city. Although he didn't attend church on a regular basis, he felt like he had a close relationship with God.

Ms. Simmons showed him to his seat. When he looked up toward the pulpit, Nathan acknowledged him with a huge smile. David was glad he'd come. It was the least he could do for their dying classmate.

Nathan introduced them both. The congregation clapped. When Nathan asked David to render a solo, the congregation was shocked. Few people knew that David could sing. They knew David only as the king of media.

The pianist rose from the piano bench, and David sat down on it. He took a few seconds to get reacquainted with the piano keys and then looked in Jonathan's direction. “This is dedicated to my friend Jonathan and anyone else who may be going through the storms of life,” he told the congregation.

From the moment David started playing and opened up his voice, the congregation was mesmerized. There was not a dry eye in the church after David sang his rendition of the Twenty-third Psalm.

David felt the presence of God, and it took him a while to remember he was in the presence of others. Once his song was over, he graciously went back to his seat.

Nathan said, “It's going to be hard to preach after that heartfelt selection.”

“Amen,” was heard around the room.

“But the Lord has a word for you today. A word that will hopefully make some of you change your wicked ways.” Nathan looked directly at David.

BOOK: Ruthless

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