“No, because you’ve got my wife thinking you’re her friend, yet here you are standing in her bedroom, butt-naked, trying to seduce her husband.”

Carmen smirked at him. “I guess I don’t see what the problem is.”

“You know exactly what I mean, and I want you out of here.”

“But your wife wants me to stay, remember? She told me I can stay for as long as I want, and before she left to go get me something to eat, she told me to come right on up to that gorgeous guest bedroom I’ll be sleeping in…but I decided to come satisfy my man instead.”

“Carmen, I’m only going to say this one more time. Get your crazy behind out of here.”

“Geez. You’re so testy these days,” she said, stroking the side of his face.

JT slapped her hand away as hard as he could.

“And violent, too,” she said, laughing at him. “But I forgive you.”

Now JT wanted to laugh himself, because this whole travesty seemed more like a bad joke. It certainly didn’t seem real, but what he worried about most was how he was going to bully Carmen back to that room Alicia had set up for her.

“You know, baby,” she said, laying across JT and Alicia’s bed and resting her head against two pillows, “you really should answer my calls or at least have the decency to call me back. We’ve had this very conversation before, but you still don’t seem to understand.”

“I understand perfectly. But in case you forgot, Carmen, I’m a very busy man with a lot of important responsibilities, and it’s not like I can drop everything I’m doing just because you want me to.”

“You drop what you’re doing whenever that little tramp calls you.”

“What tramp?”

“Your wife, of course.”

“Oh, so now you’re back to calling her names again.”

“I’ve never stopped. I mean, maybe for a little while, but she’ll always be a tramp-trick in my book.”

“Look, Carmen,” he said, “Alicia could walk in at any time, so do you really want her to catch you lying in our bed like this?”

“Do you want her to catch me?”

“Of course I don’t.”

“Well, then I suggest you drop that towel and make love to your real woman.”

“Yeah, right. You must be crazy.”

“Make love to me or else I’m telling her the truth about this baby I’m carrying.”

JT took two steps backward. “What baby?”

“The baby I told her about this afternoon. The baby that belongs to her loving, faithful husband, Pastor JT Valentine. Right now, she has no idea who the father is, but if you don’t give me what I want, I’m telling her everything.”

JT glared at Carmen and wanted to choke the life out of her. He wanted to end her existence, dump her body, and read that she’d been classified as a missing person.

But he knew his thoughts were nothing more than wishful thinking and that he had to do what Carmen wanted. He wouldn’t have sex with her in his and his wife’s bed, and he would instead insist they go back to her guest room, but he would do whatever else she wanted just to keep her quiet. He would play all her ruthless games until Minister Payne took care of things. JT would sit back, waiting patiently, until his gracious protégé brought this nutcase to her knees.

Chapter 32

It was just after seven, but Alicia lay quietly with her back toward JT and couldn’t stop thinking about that FedEx delivery. She’d thought about it on and off quite a bit yesterday, but with Carmen’s mom passing, she hadn’t focused on it nearly in the manner she was now. Then, last night when she’d returned with Carmen’s pizza, sat, eaten a couple of slices with her, and had finally gone upstairs to bed, she’d come into the room and found JT sound asleep. For a moment, she’d considered waking him up but had decided she just didn’t have the energy or desire to talk about Donna and the terrible things she’d said about him.

Alicia sighed and turned onto her back. She looked over at JT and surprisingly, he smiled at her. Still, all she did was look up at the ceiling, refusing to say anything.

“What’s that about?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“C’mon,” he said, reaching over and caressing her stomach. “Tell me.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Don’t wanna talk about what?”

Alicia pretended she didn’t hear him.

“Wait. I know you’re not still upset about this whole Carmen thing and the fact that I don’t want her staying here.”

“No. Well, yes, I’m still not happy about that, but right now that’s the least of my worries.”

“Baby, please don’t do this.”

“Okay, fine. I’m upset because, for the life of me, I don’t get why this Donna woman sent me that package.”

JT moved his arm away from her. “But, baby, we already went over all that when you called me yesterday.”

“Maybe so, but I’m still bothered by the whole thing. I mean, who does this kind of crap for no reason?”

“Someone who is simply trying to cause problems for us, and as far as I’m concerned, this Donna person is nothing more than some raving lunatic.”

“But, JT, why is she continuing to make all these accusations if there’s no truth to what she’s saying?”

“Honey, pastors and their wives have to deal with this kind of madness all the time. I’ve told you that before, and at some point, you’re just going to have to get used to it.”

“Maybe, but just to be safe, I want to file a report with the police.”

“No,” JT said abruptly, and Alicia looked at him. He seemed dead set against the whole idea of pressing any charges, and that made no sense to her.

“Why not?”

“Because this really isn’t all that serious. I know it has you upset, but I don’t think it’s necessary to involve the authorities.”

“I disagree, JT, because this woman told me flat-out that when it comes to you, I should definitely watch my back. So, to me, this is beyond serious.”

“I understand how you feel, and if for some reason this woman contacts you again, I promise we’ll call the police. We’ll report everything.”

“Good,” Alicia said but had a feeling JT was hiding something. She wasn’t sure what exactly, but she knew that whenever her father would lie to her mother, he would either become defensive or would become angry and would blame everything on someone else-people who were crazy or who were simply just trying to make trouble for them. He would respond almost precisely the way JT was.

JT pulled his wife closer to him and hugged her. “I know this whole pastor, first lady, church situation can be a little trying at times, but please know that I am completely in love with you and only you, and that I would never do anything to hurt you. Sweetheart, you are my world, and I’ll do whatever necessary to protect you at all costs. You hear me?”

Alicia gazed into his eyes, wishing she could believe him. But her intuition insisted there was more to the story and that it was only a matter of time before Donna exposed it. Then, without warning, Alicia thought about Phillip and how he never would have caused her this kind of worry. He never would have caused her any kind of pain or suffering, and she was sorry she hadn’t appreciated how wonderful he was when she’d been married to him. She was sorry she’d acted like a spoiled brat, the kind who had to have everything she wanted or else, and that she hadn’t realized what it truly meant to have a caring, compassionate, and honest husband. She hadn’t taken the time to notice just how perfect Phillip had really been for her. She hadn’t valued his strong character or his obvious desire to do the right thing-she hadn’t cherished the man any woman in her right mind would long to be with. She’d made a huge mistake in terms of the way she’d betrayed him, and now this, these accusations and suspicions about JT, was the result of it. She finally had all the material possessions she could want and the ability to buy even more if she so chose, but sadly, she no longer had the most important thing of all: true happiness.