gossip. What she did in the privacy of her bedroom was between her and her man.
One day, she called Jonathan after he said he wouldn’t be able to make it to their usual Friday…meeting. He had never missed a…meeting in the four months they had been together.
On their special Fridays they spent the entire night together, not just having amazing sex—which was a given—but sometimes he flew her to his favorite restaurants, beaches, or homes. Sometimes they snuggled and talked most of the night about all the things that both she and he had seen in their remarkable lives.
Jordan felt so close to him that sometimes she forgot that although she was in his favor, she didn’t own him or his time.
So, on Friday she called his number and left a message expressing how much she missed him. She received no response, and it worried her for the remainder of the evening. She didn’t call again, as there was no reason to believe that he hadn’t received the message. But it stayed on her mind, wondering that he didn’t miss her the way she missed him.
On Saturday he called to check in on her, to ask how she had occupied her Friday, but did not tell her that he’d missed her.
When it happened for the third time in as many months, she asked him what he did on Fridays when he wasn’t with her. After all, it was supposed to be their day.
‘I’m with my wife,’ he’d replied nonchalantly.
Her heart felt as if it dropped to her feet. She couldn’t believe how easily he had said those words.
‘But I thought that…you and I…?’
‘What?’ He had actually waited for an answer before continuing. ‘Jordan, there is no need for you to be concerned with her, as she has no reason to be concerned with you,’ he replied while giving her a cold, hard stare. Jordan had seen the look before, but never directed at her. She’d seen this cold side when he talked to someone that had lost his respect.
Jordan tried to understand what had changed. Had she just been the flavor of the last few months?
Suddenly, her shame and confusion changed to anger. ‘If you want to get back with her, then don’t let me get in the way—’
His eyes flashed in annoyance when he smacked her in the mouth.
‘Don’t ever talk to me like that.’ His voice had been calm, but his eyes remained alit with fire. ‘When I’m through with you, you’ll know.’
Shock had frozen her to the spot. She could not believe he had just hit her. It hadn’t been a hard strike, but he’d done it as if he’d had a right to. She would have never thought she would have seen this side of the loving man that he’d always been with her.
He sighed and briefly closed his eyes. ‘Forgive me, my love,’ he said once his eyes opened. Back was his normal expression of adoration. ‘She’s my wife, but you’re my woman. I had to go back and make sure she understood that.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘She won’t make any more trouble for me.’
Jordan said nothing. She was pragmatic, not stupid. Once a man so easily hit you, she knew that he would continue doing so. Besides, those words were telling…she won’t make any more trouble for me…
It was time for her to bounce. She loved him. She really did. But she loved herself more.
He would fire her; that was a given. So she put out feelers for another job and got one easily before she went into his office and bravely announced that she was ending their relationship and quitting.
His eyes narrowed as he silently watched her leave. Later that evening while she was in her condo, one that he had purchased for her, she heard the front door open. She was surprised and a little scared, because she had changed the locks a few days ago…
When she hurried into the living room, she saw him stroll in carrying a long gift box topped with a huge, red bow.
‘What are you doing here?’ she yelled. Eying the gift, she had become even more outraged. ‘It’s not going to be that easy!’
‘I know.’ He placed the box on the couch and then removed his jacket. She was annoyed until she saw him remove his rings and set them in the small, expensive crystal dish on her side table.
Jonathan Hightower, the star of the prestigious investment company Pembroke, Lacey, and Hightower, beat her for