Slow Seduction (32 page)

Taking a deep breath, Jenisha rushed back over and yanked Mark back down off the crate by the back of his shirt. When he stumbled and tried to regain his footing, she shoved him hard in the middle of the chest. Tripping over a tool laying on the floor, Mark fell into the flames surrounding them.

Transfixed by the sight of Mark’s screams and the sight of his body in the fire, Jenisha couldn’t move for a few seconds. Shaking herself out of the daze, she ran back over to the crate and climbed on it as the flames quickly spread toward her.

Jenisha lifted herself up and, standing on tiptoes, she was able to push herself out the window. She fell to the ground, knocking herself unconscious.

Robin saw the crowd and fire trucks before they reached the school. “Don’t let us be too late,” Clinton prayed beside her as he stopped his car in the middle of the street.

They both jumped out and ran into the crowd. Robin stopped, allowing Clinton to move ahead of her. “I’m sorry for any pain I’ve caused you, Clinton,” she whispered. Turning around, she disappeared into the night.

Clinton pushed his way through until he was at the front. He was about to go under the rope, but a cop stopped him. “Sir, you can’t go in there.”

“My wife is in there,” he yelled, shoving at the officer.

“I’m sorry, but the three bodies we found are all dead along with one being badly burned.

“No,” Clinton bellowed. He wouldn’t believe his Jenisha was dead. “Do you think anyone escaped?” He started having flashbacks of the pain Hayward went through when he lost Brooke and Tyler in that car accident. He wasn’t about to have a repeat performance with his wife. She was okay. He could feel it in his body. He would know if she were dead.

“Right now the paramedics are checking around the building and that’s all I can tell you.”

“We found someone,” another cop yelled, coming around the building. “It’s an African American woman in her early thirties.”

“That’s my wife,” Clinton screamed, happy that his Jenisha wasn’t one of the three bodies they found dead.

The new officer looked at him. “What’s your name?”

“Clinton Campbell. And her name is Jenisha.”

He didn’t like how the new officer was looking at him. What did he know about Jenisha that he wasn’t telling him? “Sir, she took a pretty hard fall along with inhaling a lot of smoke.”

“But, she’s going to be okay?” Clinton questioned.

“I’m sorry, but she isn’t breathing. The paramedics are working on her and about to transport her to the hospital. If you wait near the ambulance, you can ride with her. Also, if you give me your car keys, an officer will drive your car to the hospital.”

Clinton was handing the officer his keys when the paramedics brought Jenisha past him. The sight of her almost made his heart stop. She looked half-dead with her torn clothes and one shoe missing.

He shoved his way past the officer and went to her. He couldn’t let her go on thinking that he didn’t love her. Clinton stopped the paramedics from moving by placing his body at the side of the stretcher.

“Baby, can you hear me? Don’t you dare die on me! I love you. It doesn’t matter. Do you understand me? It doesn’t matter. We can’t have children. I can’t lose you. Please be able to hear me.”

“Sir, you must move out of the way,” the medical attendant said, shoving at him. “She barely has a pulse and if we don’t get to the hospital she will die. So, if you are coming, you need to do so now,” he yelled over his shoulder on the way to the ambulance.

Riding in the ambulance beside Jenisha’s unmoving body was one of the hardest things Clinton ever had to do. As soon as they arrived, the doctors had wheeled her into an exam room, and he hadn’t heard anything since. He had been sitting in the same damn chair for the past two and half-hours. He had finally decided to call Hayward, True, Dave, Charisma, and Becky twenty minutes ago.

“Hayward, how is she going?” Dave asked, sitting beside him.

“I don’t know because these damn doctors won’t tell me anything,” he snapped, dropping his head.

“I can’t believe Mark did this,” Charisma cried, pacing in front of him. “I’m glad he died.” Clinton noticed how Dave’s eyes followed Charisma’s every move, but he was too caught up in his own drama to say anything about it. However, in passing, he had heard that their date didn’t go well.

“Don’t worry. As soon as Jenisha knows you’re here she’ll ask for you. She knows how much you love her,” Dave told him.

“Yeah, I love her so much I almost got her killed,” he groaned, miserable he hadn’t been there to protect her.

Dave patted his friend on the back. “None of this was your fault.”

“No matter how many times people say it I won’t accept it. Jenisha is in there fighting for her life because of me.” He moved away from Dave to stare out the window.

Clinton got so lost in his pain that he didn’t know how long he stood there waiting to hear something. Plus, he didn’t even notice when his brother and True arrived at the hospital.

“Mr. Campbell?”

Clinton turned around. “Yes?” He stared at a tall man in his mid-fifties with dark brown hair with silver at the sides. He wore a pair of thin-framed, black glasses over light blue eyes. If he had any idea Jenisha’s doctor was this attractive, he would have made her get another one, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

“I’m Doctor Garrett Evans, Jenisha’s doctor.”

“She has mentioned you.” He moved forward and shook the hand he was offered. “How is my wife?” he asked as he left go of the doctor’s hand.

“Jenisha is doing well for a woman with a head injury that inhaled the amount of smoke she did. We checked her out and her tests have come back with excellent results.” Dr. Evans informed him after checking with the chart in his hands. “I’m only waiting for a few more tests to come back.”

“Is she alert now and can I see her?” He had to make sure Jenisha understood that he no longer wanted a divorce.

“No, I want to check her out one last time before I allow any visitors,” Dr. Evans answered with a small shake of his head. “When I finish I’ll come back and tell you.”

“T
hank
you, Doctor,” Clinton responded, happy his wife wasn’t going to die. Now he needed to start down that road of rebuilding her trust in him and their marriage.

“You’ve one amazing wife there. She’s a real fighter.”

“I know.” He had always known that even when he had his momentarily lapse in judgment. Clinton watched Doctor Evans walk away and counted the minutes until he would be able to hold his stunning wife in his arms.

Dr. Evans left Clinton standing in the hall and headed straight for Jenisha’s room. Knocking, opened the door and spotted Jenisha sitting up in the bed a little worse for wear, but still gorgeous. “How are you doing?”

“Not so good, doctor,” she mumbled, her voice raspy from the smoke she inhaled.

“Understandable. Tonight would have been a rough night for anyone.” He smiled gently and pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. “Jenisha, I know the reason for the dizziness and nausea.”

“What?” Jenisha whispered, ready to hear the worst. After the night she had, she was prepared for anything.

“You’re pregnant.”

“That’s impossible,” Jenisha shouted at him. “I had tests done and both came back, saying I would never get pregnant.” She stared at him with her eyes wide with shock and hope.

Dr. Evans placed the clipboard in his lap. Leaning forward, he touched the back of Jenisha’s hand. “I don’t know who ran those, but you’re going to have a baby. If I calculated right, I think you’re about three months.”

He smiled at how Jenisha’s hands trembled when she laid them on her stomach. “Is my baby okay?”

“Yes, I did some test and the baby is perfectly healthy,” he answered, trying to get rid of some of the worry he heard in her voice.

Leaning over, she hugged him. “Do you know you have given me the best news in the world?” she asked as her tears fell on his shoulders. “I’m finally going to be a mother,” she kept whispering.

Dr. Evans laid Jenisha back down on the bed and covered her with the light sheet. “I’m going to prescribe some prenatal vitamins which you have to start taking immediately. Also, I want to recommend a wonderful obstetrician to help with the rest of your pregnancy. He’s really good,” he informed her.

“Okay,” Jenisha replied, still in shock over the news.

“Now, you have several visitors outside who want to see you. Are you up for any of it?” he asked.

“Doctor, you didn’t tell anyone about the baby,” Jenisha asked, worried Clinton may know and would want to stay with her.

“No, I thought maybe you wanted to tell your husband first.”

“Clinton’s out there?” Her heart started to pound before she got it back to a normal heart beat. She forgot that he hated her. He was probably out there only to give True a report on her condition.

Dr. Evans grinned. The whole staff knew Clinton Campbell was out there in the waiting room. “He has been giving our staff hell. Should I send him in?”

“No, I can’t see him,” she said, shaking her head. “Will you send in True and Charisma if they are out there?”

“I’ll check,” he said, standing up.

“Jenisha wanted to know if Charisma and True are out here,” Dr. Evans asked.

Both women stood up. “Yes, we are,” they answered in unison.

“She wants to see the both of you,” he said. The two women rushed past him and ran into Jenisha’s room.

“Did you tell her I was here?” Clinton asked.

“Yes, and she didn’t want to see you, Mr. Campbell.” Dr. Evans saw the pain that came in the younger man’s eyes. He didn’t know what to say, so he walked away to go check on another patient further down the hall.

“She hates me.”

“Clinton, don’t go reading something into nothing,” Hayward advised.

“I have to agree,” Dave added.

“My wife almost got burnt alive and she doesn’t want to see her husband. What else would you say then?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm that he didn’t mean, but Clinton was crushed that Jenisha didn’t want him anywhere near her.

“You’re about to divorce her. Why would she want to see you?” Hayward questioned.

“How can she know if you’re here out of love or obligation?” Dave questioned, adding his deep voice to the conversation.

Both men looked at Dave. “Hell, I never thought of it like that,” Clinton admitted.

“Neither did I,” Hayward threw in.

“Guys, do you think I’ll have any chance of getting her back?” he asked, defeated.

“Jenisha is a very complicated woman, so I don’t know,” Hayward answered, totally lost for a way to help his brother.

Dave just shrugged his huge shoulders because he couldn’t even get the woman he wanted to even look at him. How could be have any good advice for Clinton about winning his wife’s love back?

“Girlfriend, you gave us such a scare and you can’t ever do that again,” True cried, running over to hug Jenisha with Charisma behind her.

“When can you get out of here?” Charisma asked, sniffing. She didn’t want Jenisha to see her crying.

“Charisma, I don’t know,” Jenisha replied, running her hands over the sheet covering her bruised body. I don’t want to stay in here that long anyway. I need to get back to work.”

True sat down on the edge of the bed and let Charisma have the chair. “Sweetie, you need to rest and not worry about your job. I know Bryant can call in a substitute. Can you tell us what happened?”

Jenisha retold the whole story and watched True when she got to the part about the relationship between Mark and Dalton. She didn’t want her best friend to shoulder any of the burden about this.

“I caused this,” True cried.

“No, you didn’t, True. Mark was very sick and took it in his own hands to get revenge.” Jenisha laid her hand on top of True and made her looked into her eyes. “Don’t think about it ever again, okay?”

“Fine,” True answered, but she still thought she was to blame for Jenisha being in that hospital bed.

“Jenisha, Clinton is out in the hall waiting to see you,” Charisma chimed in. “When are you going to let him in?” True asked.

Jenisha closed her eyes and thought about the last conversation that she had on the phone with Clinton. He made it clear he didn’t want to be bothered with her, so why was he out there acting like a concerned husband? She had her baby to think about now.

Clinton only wanted to make sure he made an appearance or people would ask questions. Never in her life did she want anyone’s pity, and it wouldn’t start now with him. The baby would add so much to their struggling relationship if she called him in and let him back in.
How long would it be until he tired of her and only wanted the baby?
She intended to tell him about their child, just not at that moment. She still needed time to grasp it herself.

“I’m not going to let him back in my life,” Jenisha answered. “We have already said it all. He doesn’t want me and has filed for divorce. When I get the papers I will sign them and move on with my life.”

“You honestly can walk away from a man like Clinton and not look back?” Charisma asked.

“He walked away from me, Charisma,” Jenisha sighed. Feeling the dizziness coming, Jenisha laid back down and closed her eyes.

“Let’s go so Jenisha can get some sleep,” True said, touching Charisma on the wrist.

“T
hank
s so much for coming,” Jenisha whispered with her eyes still closed. “You’re welcome,” they whispered in unison then went out the door.

“Did she ask for me?” Clinton asked, jumping up out of his chair the second True and Charisma got back.

“No,” True replied.

He staggered back into the chair. “I’ve lost her. She doesn’t want me anymore and it’s my entire fault.”

Hayward pulled True to the side while Dave and Charisma told Clinton goodbye and left separately.

“What happened in there?” Hayward asked.

“Jenisha didn’t really want to talk about Clinton,” True answered, touching her husband on the arm. She wasn’t about to tell them about the lost look that came into Jenisha’s eyes when Clinton’s name was brought up.

“Hayward, she’s bruised, tired, and hurt. Maybe after a goodnight’s sleep things will look better in the morning for the both of them. We need to leave, honey, if we are going to catch the red eye,” True told her husband.

Hayward hugged his brother and whispered in his ear, “Don’t give up.” Then he left with True.

After everyone had left, Clinton eased into Jenisha’s room and stood over her sleeping figure. He lightly brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I was a fool to leave you. You were always there for me time after time, and, when you needed me the most, I let you down.”

Jenisha mumbled in her sleep at hearing his voice. Bending down near her ear he said, “Jenisha Campbell, I love you.” Standing back up, he touched her one last time before leaving the room.

“You need to take these pills everyday,” Dr. Evans told Jenisha, handing her the prenatal vitamins a few days later in her hospital room.

“I will, Dr. Evans,” she said, shoving the pills into her purse.

“I’m so happy for you,” he said.

“T
hank
you,” she grinned.

“Is anyone coming to pick you up?”

Jenisha shook her head, sliding her purse on her shoulder. “I’m going to take a cab.”

“I thought your husband would come and get you,” Dr. Evans asked, remembering how Clinton didn’t want to leave her side while she was in the hospital. He could read people, and that man was heads over heels in love with Jenisha.

“No, he isn’t.”

Dr. Evans knew when to leave things alone. After giving her a few more instructions, he excused himself from the room.

Jenisha followed Dr. Evans since she had already signed the release papers. On her way to the elevators, she heard, “Need a ride?”

Spinning around, she found Clinton leaned against the wall looking mouth-watering gorgeous in a dark blue suit. “Why are you here?” she asked, continuing to the elevators.

“Wouldn’t I be a world-class jerk if I didn’t pick up my sick wife from the hospital. And, by the way, where is your wheelchair?” Clinton asked, sounding like every bit the husband she wanted him to be.

“I left before it came.” Pushing the down button, Jenisha kept her back to him.

“I forgot how stubborn you can be sometimes,” he laughed softly, coming to stand behind her.

The heat from his strong, warm body slipped through the thin blue dress she was wearing, making her more aware of him than she wanted to be. “Do you have something going on in Los Angeles and that’s the real reason you happen to be here?”

The elevator doors open and she hurried in with Clinton behind her. Clinton’s tanned fingers brushed her arm when he punched the down number. The heat from the brief contact caused Jenisha to flinch and move further away.

“To answer your question, I have been here since your attack and I’m not about to leave.”

“You have to go back to Stamford,” she stressed.

Green eyes studied her nervously pulling at the sleeve of her dress; Jenisha only did that when she felt trapped. “Jenisha, why don’t you want me here,” he asked, hurt.

“How can you ask me a dumb question like that?” she questioned without looking into the eyes she knew were watching her. “You are divorcing me. I have the papers at home on my kitchen table.”

Grunting, Clinton threw his head back on the elevator’s wall. “We need to talk about those.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll sign them when I get home. I know how much you want to be rid of me,” she choked out.

Clinton was reaching out to touch her when the doors opened and several people got on. Knowing this was her only opportunity to shake him, Jenisha eased off just before the doors closed, leaving a pissed Clinton on.