Excerpt from ‘The Improbable’/ David - Ch. 6 ‘Difficult Tasks’
“What do you have to do?” Chris asked.
“Trying to take down Chicago’s Trioxytin producer,” I shrugged. “I’ll be undercover so from now on I’m not David O’Neil…I’m David Finley. And I’m not a cop and my father isn’t the chief.” It was imperative that I let them know in case anyone asked them about me.
“So what do you do…?” Chris eyed me.
“Can we tell whoever asks that you’re a male prostitute?” Timmy asked, looking at me expectantly.
It went silent as Chris and I stared him down with questioning looks followed by our laughter. It was a great feeling taking a break away from the seriousness of the station. “Just say I’m a law student,” I shrugged.
“David Finley, attorney at law!” Chris said in a voice that made me sound like a superhero.
“He said law student you goof,” Timmy shook his head.
“It’s the same thing you idiot.” Chris argued.
“Do you not hear yourself?” Timmy looked at Chris and rolled his eyes.
While they bickered back and forth, a couple eating on the porch outside caught my eye. How long had they been out there? The female was partially facing me; I could only see her lower profile with her sun hat covering the rest. At least seven shopping bags surrounded her feet and a black man who I had recognized from the party sat across from her – Ray. Instantly, I knew it was Eva-Marie. I wanted to see her; I actually felt…bad for being so rude to her.
After she had blown up on me in the elevator, I was mad at myself for being such a big prick to gorgeous woman. She had looked stressed as it was and it was clear that I had only made it worse that day. Everything she had said to me made sense, she’d set me straight like no one ever had. It was…a bit of a turn on. Something inside of me that I couldn’t quite put my finger on just desperately wanted apologize to her. I had no plan of action and I didn’t even think she’d listen to me after the way I acted towards her.
Without thinking about it for too much longer, I rose from my seat and made my way outside. My palms broke out in a cold sweat and I had no clue what I was going to say. Not even a hint at what I was going to say. It felt like my throat had gone dry but at that point it was do or die since I was already standing at their table, behind Ray.
“Eva?” I wasn’t sure if I had meant to say her name as a question or statement. I wanted to go back inside. What was I doing? Usually I had no soft spot for anyone in my heart.
She slowly set down her iced tea. The brim of her sun hat covered one eye but her dark eye was still as intense as if both were uncovered. My God, those eyes! Her brown skin looked radiant against the navy blue and floral print of her thin, short-sleeved dress. Not a curl was out of place and her lips were colored perfectly red once again. She was every bit as stunning as I remembered.
“Yes, that’s me.” She said. Eva lifted her head and her dark eyes focused on me. She raised her eyebrows, probably wondering what I could possibly have to say to her.
The man she was with rose from his seat and turned to see me. “That’s Eva-Marie to you, do you know her?”
“I’m David. David Finley.” I answered and offered him my hand to shake.
Ray shook my hand while he stared at me with squinted eyes. I didn’t like him already with the way he was staring. “Do you know her, Mr. Finley?”
“I do, actually. We met–” I began but Eva cut me off.
“Ray, honey, this is the man that saved me from drowning the night of the party.” She stood. “Now I never got to thank you Mr. Finley,” Eva-Marie took a step closer to me with her arms crossed across her chest, staring at the ground. “As we’ve discussed before.” Her eyes bore into mine and by that I knew she was referring to the elevator incident. “And judging by your attitude in the previous times we’ve ran into each other, I don’t see why I should.” She looked at me expectantly with Ray behind her appearing as if he was ready to jump between us at any moment.
I was in a tough place because I had come to apologize and Eva-Marie didn’t seem like she was willing to accept anything I had to say. Well if she didn’t want it she was going to get it and that was going to be the end of it. I didn’t need her annoying attitude. “Well if you must know that’s why I came out here. Not for a ‘thank you’ but I, myself, wanted to apologize to you. In the incidents that occurred between us, I was out of line. I had no right to yell at you in such a way and for that, I’m sorry. But it seems like you’re not willing to let it go so I’ll just leave it at that then.” I heard her gasp as I turned to walk away. I tried to do something nice and she didn’t want to accept it, I knew I never should’ve walked out there in the first place!
“Hey!” Ray called. He caught up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
I turned around immediately and swiped it away forcefully. “You get your goddamn hands off of me.” My anger began to boil.
“What in God’s name possessed you to come out here and speak to my woman like that?” He demanded.
“Maybe if you could control your bitch and her attitude I wouldn’t be talking crazy to her!” I hissed, getting in his face. Eva-Marie’s attitude had lit the fuse and he was going to make me explode. At that point, I was ready to take him out.
“Okay fellas, okay, c’mon break it up!” Timmy’s voice came from behind me and Chris appeared in front of me, pushing me back away from Ray.
Ray chuckled haughtily. “You keep that dog on a leash.”
“Whatever he says doesn’t matter, man.” Chris said trying to get me to make eye contact with him.
“As long as you keep yours on one,” I spat and reluctantly followed Chris and Timmy back inside.
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‘The Improbable’ by Tiara James tells the story of how Eva-Marie, the daughter of Chicago’s biggest drug producer, falls for David O’Neil, the son of and the next Chief of Police. It’s a 1950s romance novel and told from both Eva and David’s points of view. Check it out HERE
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