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me?”
    “No. I hired you because you had the skills
for the position. And just to be clear, Carter called me after
you’d already had the job. Before then, I didn’t know you had any
affiliation with him.”
    “Wow…all the lies…”
    “I never lied to you, Shayla. I just didn’t
tell you.”
    “Yeah, and strangely enough, that’s exactly
what Carter said when he finally confessed that Jacob was his
brother.”
    Shayla stood up, frantically scanning the
floor for her shoes. She was ready to get out of there and
fast.
    “Shayla, look,” Donovan said standing,
walking near her. “I’m sorry. It started as me doing Carter a favor
but it evolved into more than that because I like you. I like you a
lot and I wanted to make sure you were okay…not for him, but for
me.”
    “Yeah, okay. What did you do with my shoes?”
she asked.
    “Wait,” Donovan told her. He walked up to
her, invading her immediate space and said pleadingly, “I’m sorry
if I mislead you. I would never do anything to hurt you, Shayla.
You should know that by now.”
    Her lips quivered as she tried with all her
might to make sense of all this new information she was learning. Carter had Donovan watching her. He and Donovan went to college
together. Donovan knew Jacob . What else was she not being
told?
    “Look at me,” Donovan requested, gently
touching her face with his hands.
    The moment he did, Shayla cringed. There was
nothing like a little shock therapy to snap her out of her funk and
make her realize what she was doing. Carter was the only man who
touched her this way and feeling Donovan’s hands on her face was
indeed a shock.
    While standing there in front of him, she
thought about Carter, remembering how his strong hands melted into
her face as love emanated from his longing eyes. Everything Carter
did for her was for her own benefit. Her protection. The man had
saved her life. Stayed days with her at the hospital. Made sure she
was well taken care of and he’d fallen in love. Even after their
fight that resulted in her moving to Norfolk, Carter still had
enough love for her to call Donovan and have him look after her.
She had no doubt in her mind of Carter’s love for her, but all the
secrets had to stop.
    “Um, I gotta go,” she said, breathless.
    “Shayla, why not stay until its daylight
outside?” Donovan asked.
    “No. I gotta now,” she said, noticing her
shoes were near a small trash can close to the dresser where the TV
sat.
    “All right, but what about your father? You
want to meet him, right?”
    “Yes, of course. Text me the details when
you can.”
    Donovan grimaced and let out a frustrated
breath. She didn’t even say call…she only wanted him to text her.
“All right,” he said.
    With that, Shayla rushed to her car,
wondering if Terrance would be upset if she showed up at his
apartment four in the morning, ringing the doorbell like a woman
gone mad, desperate to see Carter. Anger, frustration and all the
madness that came with being with a man like Carter Williams, she
was still very much in love with him. Would she still feel this
level of passion when she laid eyes on him? Or would seeing him
face-to-face evoke those same feelings of betrayal and heartache as
when he told her about Jacob? She didn’t know and she realized she
wouldn’t know until she went ahead and faced him, maybe even called
him.
    But her sudden desire to see him was put on
hold when she thought about Jacob. Poor Jacob , she thought
as she rode down the street, her vision blurred with tears. Jacob
might not have been the man Carter is, but he loved her, as evident
by asking Carter to take care of her via his letter. And the
thought of Carter being in love with her, only because of Jacob’s
request made her angry. She wanted him to love her because he loved
her, not because his brother asked him to take care of her.

Chapter 7
     
    Shayla regretted the fact that she didn’t
call Carter in the wee hours of the morning while she