Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
E than waited anxiously for Amina to get in contact with him when he’d learned she was entering the restaurant. He should have waited in the restaurant parking lot instead of a hotel bar, a couple miles away. As the minutes passed, he grew uneasy.
Amina’s ex was unstable and there was no telling what his reaction would be, once Jasmine showed up, even in a roomful of people.
After tossing back one drink he left the bar to hang out in his car.
The second he received her 911 text, Ethan sped to the restaurant.
Just as he pulled up, he saw a man and a woman standing in front of the building. As he got closer, he recognized Amina and Mark.
Mark yelled at Amina with his fist raised as if he was going to hit her.
Ethan slammed on the breaks, placed his car in park and rushed toward them.
“You think you can fucking embarrass me and walk away like you’ve done nothing wrong?” Mark screamed.
By now a handful of people had come out of the restaurant to observe.
“I don’t care what you think anymore, Mark, you are no longer my problem!” Amina countered. “Stay away from me!”
She turned away from him but Mark grabbed her by the hair and cocked his fist back.
Ethan made it to them just in time to catch Mark’s fist.
With his free arm, he delivered an uppercut to Mark’s jaw. Mark released Amina’s hair as he stumbled backward and collapsed on the ground.
“Keep your fucking hands off her. You’re the only one who’s lost his mind around here. What kind of man puts his hands on a woman? You piece of shit!”
Ethan had never been so angry in his life. When Amina had told him of her past abuse at the hands of her ex in their previous life, it pissed him off. But witnessing it first-hand sent his rage meter off the charts.
“You son of a bitch, if you ever touch her again, I’ll make you wish you were never born,” he snarled.
Mark held his face, with wide-eyed terror. He curled himself into a ball, making himself smaller against another potential attack. Just like Ethan thought, Mark was the epitome of a coward. He could pick on those he thought were weaker than him but when it came to a fair fight, he was a little bitch.
This pissed Ethan off even more.
His heart raced and his lungs worked overtime from the angry heaving of his chest. He leaned over Mark and grabbed him by the collar prepared to deliver another blow but Amina wrapped her arms around his waist. “Don’t! He’s not worth it. Let’s just get out of here.”
He was tempted to ignore her words but when she placed her head against his back, he was instantly soothed. He released Mark and let him fall to the ground.
By now several people surrounded them, serving as witnesses. A matronly woman with gray-streaked hair came charging toward Ethan with her purse.
“You hoodlum! What did you do to my baby?” she screamed.
She hit Ethan with her purse, but Amina pushed her away.
“Mrs. Caldwell, calm yourself. Your so called baby assaulted me and this man assisted me.”
The woman Ethan assumed was Mark’s mother turned her fiery gaze on Amina. “My Mark would do no such thing. Haven’t you caused enough trouble for our family tonight as it is?”
“I saw it, lady. He grabbed her hair!” A random man in the crowd shouted.
“Stay out of it!” the angry woman yelled before focusing on Amina again. “You’re going to burn in hell for what you did. God is always watching. Hallelujah!”
Ethan attempted to shield Amina from this unhinged woman’s vitriol but Amina gently placed her hand on his arm and shook her head. “I can handle this.”
“Mrs. Caldwell,” she addressed the other woman. “Maybe you should stop worrying about my salvation and focus on your own. Your family is in shambles. Your son is an abusive mama’s boy who can’t take care of himself. The only reason he wanted to marry me in the first place was to have someone he could mooch off of for the rest of his life.”
“In the meantime, your husband is sticking it in any available hole he can and taking advantage of impressionable young women. But you’re probably aware of that but pretend not to notice because you want everyone to see you as some great pillar of society. We both know that isn’t the case, Katherine.”
“You’re a petty, judgmental, vindictive woman. No one really likes you. They just like your title and deep down you know that, and that’s why you’re trying to desperately hold on to it. Because without it, you’re hollow inside and there’s isn’t enough Jesus in the world to fill that empty void. I pity you because one day you’re going to wake up and see yourself for who you really are and wonder where you went wrong.”
Amina then turned to Ethan. “Come on, we can go now.”
“Damn!” a random person in the crowd shouted.
Mark’s mother literally clutched her pearls. If she wasn’t as rotten as her son, Ethan might have felt sorry for her.
He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and guided her to his car. “You’re riding with me.”
“What about my car? I can’t just leave it here. I’m sure the restaurant will have it towed after a certain amount of time has passed.”
“I can pay for a tow service to have it delivered to your house. There’s no way I’m letting you go back to your place tonight. It wouldn’t be a good idea, while tensions are high. That psychopath may show up there.”
“That makes sense. But where will I stay?”
“You’ll stay with me. I have an extra toothbrush for you.”
“But wouldn’t it make more sense if you follow me back to my house? I’ll pack an overnight bag and then you can take me back to your place.”
“I don’t want you out of my sight for a second. Besides, I can find you something to wear. I bet you’ll look sexy in one of my t-shirts.” He winked at her.
She merely smiled in return.
Once they were in his car and driving off the premises, some of the tension in his body slowly eased.
“How did things go tonight?”
Amina shrugged. “About how I expected. I didn’t get to interact with my cousin as much as I did with my first engagement party. The set up was different this time around, probably because there was less time to prepare. It’s okay because I think they both got the message.”
“I’m really proud of you for being able to stand up for yourself. So, is that chapter closed then, between you and your family?”
“I don’t know. They caused me so much trauma even before Mark entered the picture. But honestly tonight I recognized just how pathetic they are. I’ll leave them alone as long as they don’t bother me. As for Mark’s parents, it went about as well as I expected. They put on a big show like the clowns they are and denied everything even when Jasmine pulled out proof. She had recordings of their phone calls and copies of the checks he’d wrote from the church bank account.”
Ethan laughed in disbelief. “That’s really stupid of him. He must have wanted to get caught.”
“I don’t think so. I believe some people are so arrogant they believe they’re above the rules.”
“Maybe so but depending on how he logged those checks, he could get in a lot of trouble with the IRS. It would be a shame if someone were to report them and there’s a surprise audit.”
“Hmm, maybe someone might. But anyway, I felt really bad for Jasmine. I misjudged her in the beginning. I thought she was just one of those girls who wanted a sugar daddy to fund her lifestyle no matter the cost, but that’s not the case at all. Pastor Caldwell, used her naiveté to his advantage. She trusted in him but he’s nothing but a predator. I wouldn’t be shocked if more women come out of the woodwork to expose him for the conman he is.”
“That pastor is a predator so I wouldn’t be surprised either. My mom used to belong to a church that had the same type of scandal. It was almost cult like how the congregation worshiped that Reverend like the second coming of the messiah.”
“And since you said used to, I assume your mother left?”
“Funny enough, she was kicked out for asking too many questions. But it was for the best. She was much happier when she stopped going there. She still attends church but she prefers the ones that actually does real outreach work.”
“That sounds lovely.” Amina sighed and went silent.
Ethan turned the music on
When they were at a stop light he looked over to Amina who was staring out the window. Though he’d already seen her in the restaurant parking lot, he finally got a proper look at her.
“Damn, you look delicious.” Ethan bit his bottom lip as he remembered how she tasted the last time they were together.
His balls tightened and his dick hardened from being in such close proximity to her. He had to adjust his junk in order to keep driving comfortably.
She turned her head to look at him with her big brown eyes. His breath caught in his throat. Ethan had always found Amina attractive but tonight she was another level of stunning.
“You think so?”
Ethan returned his attention to the road so they wouldn’t get into an accident, but he placed his hand on her bare thigh. Her skin was silky smooth. “Absolutely. I know you turned heads when you walked into the restaurant.”
“All the attention wasn’t positive.”
“Anyone who didn’t think you looked short of drop dead gorgeous was just a hater. I can barely keep my hands off you now.”
Amina put her hand over his. “It’s been a rough night. I’d like to get to your place in one piece,” she laughed.
He returned his hand to the wheel, not trusting himself to behave. Ethan had been seconds away from slipping his fingers inside her panties and fingering her until she creamed her panties.
“You’re right. I need to focus until we get back to my place, even though it’ll be difficult when you look so good. That outfit is chef’s kiss.”
“Thank you.”
“I miss the braids, but that hairstyle really looks good on you as well.”
She threaded her fingers through her hair. “Thank you. Don’t worry, the braids will return in a month or so. I’m a low maintenance kind of girl, but the ones I had in before were looking really raggedy. Besides, it’s good to give the scalp a rest every so often.”
“Well, I think you look good no matter how you wear your hair. It’s just going to get messed up when we’re in bed anyway.”
She tapped him lightly on the arm. “Pervert!”
“I can’t help it. You bring it out of me.”
Silence fell between them and Ethan was content just enjoy the sounds of the road. When he glanced in her direction, he noticed the far-off look had once again, entered her eyes.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking about the trajectory of my life without Mark in it. For so long, all I did was live and breathe him. And now I feel like a string has been cut and I’m finally free.”
“It means, you get to make your own decisions from here on out. But circling back to my previous declaration, it means you’re free to be mine.”