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  DESPERATE

  I’ll Do Anything for Love

  B.M. Hardin

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright©2016

  Savvily Published LLC

  ISBN-13: 978-1532889189

  ISBN-10: 1532889186

  This book is a work of fiction. All persons, events, places and locales are a product of the others imagination. The story is fictitious and any thoughts of similarities are merely coincidental.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to all of my loyal and dedicated readers!

  Thank you all for your support and for following me on my writing journey. It is truly a blessing to have supporters like you in my corner. Thank you!

  Acknowledgements

  First and foremost, I want to thank my Heavenly Father for my talents and my gifts and each and every story that he has placed in me.

  It is an honor and a privilege to be living my dream and walking in my purpose and for that I am forever thankful.

  Also to all of my family, friends, critiques, supporters, readers and everyone else, thank you for believing in me and allowing me to share my gifts with you.

  Your support truly means the world to me!

  B.M. Hardin

  Author B.M. Hardin’s contact info:

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  Twitter: @BMHardin1

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  Email:[email protected]

  TEXT BMBOOKS to 22828 for Release updates!

  Desperate: I’ll Do Anything for Love

  CHAPTER I

  “Serenity? Serenity, what are you thinking about?” Elroy asked, snapping his fingers.

  “Oh, nothing much. I was just thinking about killing you,” I said to him with a straight face. He didn’t respond and looked at me confused. I started laughing. “Duh, I’m just kidding,” I confessed and Elroy shook his head.

  “Silly. Girl, you’re crazy,” he laughed.

  “Woman,” I corrected him and laughed along with him.

  Um huh. Crazy alright. Tell me something that I don’t know already.

  ~***~

  “Look, I want your job. I deserve that position. So, either you’re going to give it to me or I’m going to take it. Simply put, you can quit voluntarily, or I can make you wish that you never stepped a foot in this building. The choice is yours. And don’t bother trying to rat me out because not only will it piss me off, and you don’t want to piss me off, but also he won’t believe you. I’ll deny it and he will believe me. I’m Daddy’s little girl and I’ve always been his favorite. So, the way that I see it, you simply don’t have a choice now do you? Don’t worry. You’re good at what you do. I’m sure you’ll find another job. For your sake, I sure hope so,” I said to her and I walked out of the building like a boss. I didn’t even glance back at her. I was sure that I’d made my point. My position was fine, but hers was better. In three years, I’d proven myself, and I deserved to be in the position right under my father. I was working hard, and he needed to see that I could handle the big stuff. If I was going to be in charge one day, I needed for him to be able to see me shine. I needed bigger cases. Those of more importance. But he’d said that she, Sarah, was good at her job and that he couldn’t just fire her. So, I was just going to have to make her quit.

  Glancing around, I made sure that no one was watching me as I walked up close to her car. I looked around, watching my surroundings, as I unscrewed her gas cap and dropped the two candy bars that I was holding inside of her gas tank. I didn’t bother to even screw the gas cap back on. I just took it with me. I knew that she would probably guess that I was responsible for it all, but I had to show her that I wasn’t playing around. I was making a point; a statement. She needed to know that I was serious about making her life a living hell if she didn’t do what I’d told her to do. And the sad part was that I actually liked her. She was just in my way.

  Placing my sunglasses on, I put the candy bar wrappers and her gas cap in a bag full of trash and pulled off without a care in the world.

  I hurried home to my man and left all of my work worries behind me. I had to put on my good girl face and put my mean girl personality in my back pocket. I knew that I wouldn’t need her for the rest of the day because Elroy only brought out the best in me. Well, 90% of the time anyway.

  “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” Elroy said, once we were in bed later on that night. I beamed at him and lit up like the stars that’d led the slaves to freedom. Awe! He was just as sweet as can be.

  “I better be.” I don’t know about anyone else but being in love and actually having someone in your life that loves you back was the best feeling in the world! It really was! Nothing could ever compare to finding true love. Nothing was sweeter than a love that takes your breath away. And after many, many years, I finally had that. Despite some of my ways, and some of the things that I’d done, I finally had someone who really loved me. And boy, did I love him too! I observed Elroy until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and before I knew it, I was fast asleep…

  I listened to him scream my name, but I pretended as though I couldn’t hear him. But I heard him; loud and clear. Yet, his screams weren’t enough to make me help him. His cries weren’t enough to make me save him.

  I was still, and as quiet as a mouse, as I laid on the ground and watched the flames that surrounded the car grow higher and higher. My body was in pain, but I didn’t seem to mind it. The only thing that I cared about at the moment, were the screams coming from inside of the burning car. I wondered, and waited almost impatiently, for them to come to an end. I just wanted him to stop screaming. I knew that he couldn’t get out of the seatbelt. I knew that his legs were stuck and I knew that his door was jammed. But I’d left him there. I’d left him there to die. But he wasn’t dead yet because I could still hear him. I could still hear him begging, pleading, crying and screaming. But I didn’t answer him. I didn’t say a word.

  He continuously bawled out in agony and I continued to do nothing. His shouts were filled with so much pain that is pierced my soul and I almost changed my mind and crawled in his direction. But still, I did nothing.

  “Serenity! Serenity! Please! Help Me! I’m so sorry. Please. Serenity!” He yelled. He cried. He cursed. But there was nothing that I could do. I’d already made my decision. My mind was made up. He was going to die and it was all his fault. All he had to do was love me. That was it. That was all I’d ever asked of him. That was all that he had to do. He was supposed to love me. But he hurt me instead.

  The sound of screeching tires behind me stole my attention for only a second. I didn’t look back, but I listened to the sound of the shoes against the pavement as they ran in my direction.

  “Ma’am! Ma’am? Are you okay?” I heard a man ask from behind me moments later but my eyes were set on the blaze.

  “Is there anyone else in the car?”

  I waited to see if Rodney would scream again but suddenly, he was quiet. Nothing could be heard but the sizzling pieces of the burning steel, plastic and whatever else cars were made from these days. I waited, and waited, but Rodney said nothing. The man repeated his question and this time I answered him.

  “Uh, yes. Yes. My boyfriend is stuck inside,” I said as he called for help and walked towards the car. But he was too late. Rodney was dead. And there was nothing that he could do about it, unless he wanted to die too.

  The crackling sound from the fire seemed to soothe me as though it was a lullaby. Suddenly, the depression that I’d been feeling lately was gone. The worry about my future and of being accepted had vanished. The sadness and frustration that I’d felt only mom
ents before, had disappeared. Revenge was a dish best served cold; or in his case, revenge was best if it was hot, hot, hot!

  “Opps,” I mumbled to myself, almost sarcastically as though I was taunting Rodney’s spirit, just in case it happened to be close by.

  I win.

  As the man talked on the phone and walked around the car over and over again, I closed my eyes and for the first time in weeks, I smiled…

  I jumped up, clutching my chest.

  “Whoa baby. Are you okay? It was just a bad dream.”

  I looked back at Elroy; my honey, my boo, my main thang. He was truly the love of my life and I knew that he felt the same way about me too. I’d had to kiss a few frogs, to get to my prince, but now that I’d found him, I wasn’t letting him go.

  But little did he know that it wasn’t just a dream; it was also a memory. What happened to Rodney was real and it had been my reality a long, long time ago. It was just one of the few things that I’d conveniently forgotten to tell him.

  Elroy looked at me as I steadied my breath.

  “I’m okay,” I said. He smiled at me sleepily, and laid his head on the pillow. He closed his eyes as I made myself comfortable, and snuggled up next to him.

  “What were you dreaming about anyway?” Elroy mumbled.

  “Huh? Oh. I don’t remember,” I lied and turned my back to him. He didn’t need to know everything about me. Not until we were married, for at least ten years, and had a house full of kids. And even then I might still keep a few things from him. But the good thing was that I never had to worry about anything like that again. Elroy would never hurt me like Rodney had. I was sure of it.

  ~***~

  “Am I good or what? You’re a free man,” I said to one of my client’s Nathan; but he was known by the streets as Big Nate. He was an older man; early fifties, but he didn’t look a day older than thirty. And he was dangerous. Feared even by most. But I sort of liked him. He had been guilty of so many things. Apart of almost everything illegal. I mean they had a list on him from robbery, to grand larceny, and everything else in between. But I’d gotten him off. He was free and it was all because of me. I’d made a little deal with the prosecutor and I wasn’t talking about some legal agreement. No. It was all dirty. And, just like that, she conveniently lost a few things, charges were thrown out by a sudden lack of evidence, and my client was free.

  I was trying to make a name for myself, and she was so dirty and had been cutting so many corners, that she needed a loss to make things look legit on her end. She’d been locking people up, sometimes falsely, and I called her bluff on it, and she fell for it. And not to mention that I’d recorded her having sex with the judge that was handling the trial. I’d gone by late night to discuss a few of my concerns on some of her previous cases and caught them doing things that I didn’t even know could be done, to each other, on her desk. I recorded them for a while and then I made my presence known. Of course neither of them wanted their spouses, nor the courts to know about their little rendezvous and wah-lah! I walked away with a victory.

  To date, winning Big Nate’s case was one of my biggest victories yet. But I was just getting started.

  “I don’t know how you did it, but thank you. I mean, I’m supposed to be dying in a prison cell, but because of you, I got a second chance. You and I both know I shouldn’t be here right now, so you don’t ever have to worry about me making bad on this. I’m done. I think its past time that I try to make up for lost time with my wife and kids, or travel and see the world, for pleasure and not any of my other business, this time around. But if you ever need me, and I mean ever, for anything, legal or illegal, you know where to find me. I owe you everything. I owe you my life. And that’s for real. My word is bond. You know where to find me,” he said, smiled at me and walked out of my office. I smiled.

  I’d done small things before to get sentences reduced but he was the first that I’d gotten off from a life prison sentence. So he was right. Basically he did owe me his life. And it was good to have someone like him in my corner, and that owed me a few favors. You just never know when someone like him might come in handy.

  Now, I was about to leave for the day so that I could go home and get dressed, since Elroy was taking me to my favorite restaurant for dinner to celebrate. And I for one, was looking forward to some good food, good laughs, and some good sex with one of my favorite people in the world.

  An hour or so later, we were both dressed to impress and we headed out to dinner. After finally getting a table, Elroy pulled out my chair and I took a seat.

  “What can I get you guys to drink?” She asked.

  Elroy asked about a few of the new drink options that they’d gotten since the last time we’d been there. I watched the waitress as she smiled at him and stuck out her chest. She was covered up, but even a blind man could see those big, oversized melons that she called breasts and that other person that she was carrying around behind her…her ass.

  It was so big that you could see it from the front. Just from her form and the size of her hips, you knew that when she passed you, you were going to get an eye full.

  She talked on and on about drinks and even touched Elroy’s shoulder and leaned in a little too close to take a look at the menu with him. Oh really? Please don’t do it. I am not the one to be played with sweetie! Especially when it comes to my man!

  I cleared my throat.

  “Um, I’ll have a water and one of those frozen strawberry daiquiris,” I said. She didn’t even look at me. She seemed to jot it down and then she kept right on talking to Elroy.

  So, she was just going to continue to flirt with him? Right in front of me?

  Humph. Okay. Fine.

  Finally Elroy made up his mind. He didn’t seem to notice that she was being a little too friendly, but I noticed, and I didn’t like it or appreciate it one bit. And I planned on letting her know it too. After taking his order, she walked away, flaunting and sashaying that big booty of hers like she knew that all eyes were on her. I caught her glance behind back, twice, to see if Elroy was watching her walk away. He wasn’t. He knew better. But I was.

  Elroy started talking, but I didn’t hear a word that he’d said. My eyes were still on her. She stopped at the bar, handed them the orders and then I watched her power walk to the ladies bathroom.

  “I’ll be right back Elroy. I have to go to the bathroom.”

  I got up and entered the bathroom a minute or so after her. I’d caught a glimpse of her shoes while taking our order, so I looked underneath the bathroom stalls to see which one she was in. No one else was in any of the others anyway. Good. I had her disrespectful ass all to myself.

  As soon as I heard her flush the toilet, I walked towards the door. She opened it but I pushed her back inside and locked the door behind me.

  “What are you doing? Are you crazy?”

  I walked really close to her and just as she started to talk again, I grabbed her by the jaws.

  “Yeah. I am. Do you want to see how crazy I am? Do you think that it’s cute to flirt with a man right in front of his woman?”

  She swarmed but I tightened my grip.

  “It’s part of my job. It’s how I get my tips.”

  “Well here’s a tip for you: Being disrespectful will get you pimp slapped and punched in the throat. Tip that,” I said letting go of her. She grabbed her face and stood there. She knew that I meant business and even though I got the feeling that she wanted to rumble, she could tell that I wasn’t playing and that I might not be the one to mess with.

  I unlocked the door.

  “Oh, and we are going to need a new waiter; add a dick, minus the ass and tits. You get my drift?” Without allowing her to respond I walked out of the bathroom, and smiled as I approached the table.

  Elroy smiled at me and I took a seat as though nothing had ever happened. Elroy and I talked for a while and finally our drinks arrived. Our new waiter, Phillip, sat the drinks down and I grinned at him. Much better.

>   “Thank you Phillip. I’m ready to order.”

  ********************************************

  Chapter II

  “Where were you last night Elroy?”

  “I was at home last night Serenity.”

  “No you weren’t. I rode by on my way back from the store,” I lied. I purposely went by his house, once he didn’t return my calls, and he wasn’t there. He’d told me that he was just going to stay home and relax that night, but he wasn’t there for at least two hours or so because I didn’t ride by just once. It was more like twenty. But after five I lost count. He wasn’t there. And furthermore, after three years of being in a relationship, I didn’t know why we still had two separate places in the first place!

  Elroy looked stumped.

  “Where were you? I must have called you a hundred times. And you weren’t at your sister’s either. When I couldn’t reach you, I went by there too.”

  “Since when did you become the C.I.A?”

  Oh, he had no idea! We’d been together for a while, but he still only knew what I wanted him to know about me. He still only knew my good side. But he had no idea who I really was at heart. Or well, who I could be I guess I should say.

  “I was at home. I had a few errands to run and then I went home. My phone died while I was out and while I was waiting for it to charge, I fell asleep.”

  “Where?”

  “Where what?”

  “Where did you go?”

  “I just had a few things to do. Nothing really important. And then I went back home.” I had a bad feeling that he was lying right through those pearly white teeth of his. And I couldn’t stand to be lied to!

  No, he’d never lied to me before, but this definitely felt and sounded like a lie. And I lied for a living, so I was sure that I was right. For the most part, trust issues were non-existent in our relationship. Elroy had been nothing but good to me. And I mean he had been real good to me, since the very beginning. I loved that man with my soul because all he’d ever given me was love, respect and loyalty. He was one of the best things that had ever happened to me. And for the most part, I was so thankful for the chance to get to know and love him.