Eternally Yours - Brenda Jackson [74]
Clayton picked up the phone and dialed Alex’s number. At the age of twenty-six, Alexander was a top-notch private investigator. It was almost two in the morning, but he knew Alex was used to receiving calls at all times of night.
“Hello, Alex? I need your help. There’s someone I want you to find for me.”
Syneda woke slowly, and the first thing she did was listen for the sounds she had grown accustomed to hearing whenever Clayton visited. Things like the sound of him in the shower, or the sound of him moving around her kitchen while he prepared breakfast.
But there was no noise. All she heard was silence.
She rolled her head on the pillow so she could look at the gift Clayton had given her this visit, a huge stuffed teddy bear. He’d said it had reminded him of her, all warm and cuddly.
She slowly sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stood and the first thing she noticed was that she had slept in Clayton’s shirt. She had been so upset after he’d left that she’d cried herself to sleep and didn’t undress. His scent was all over her and lingered in the bed where they had made love last night.
“I’ll get over him,” she said to herself as she went into the bathroom. She stopped and looked around. Clayton’s presence was everywhere, even in her bathroom. A bottle of his favorite cologne was sitting next to her perfume, as well as a number of other toiletries he kept at her apartment.
She walked back into her bedroom and went to her closet and pulled out an empty shoe box. Returning to the bathroom she began placing Clayton’s items in the box to mail to him.
I can do this, she kept thinking over and over. No man, other than my father, has made me cry after him. I have to keep my mind focused on what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.
After packing the items, she squared her shoulders and returned to the bedroom where she placed the box on her dresser. She opened the drawer and took out the key he’d given her; the one to his apartment that she had never used. She placed it inside the box with the other items. With that completed, she turned her attention to another task. She wanted to strip her bed and replace the linens. There was no way she could sleep in that bed again tonight where Clayton’s scent lingered on everything.
A few minutes later, after taking her shower, she walked into the kitchen. The day was just beginning and already she was feeling tired. She was sure the cause was more emotional than physical.
She opened the dishwasher to get a bowl for her cereal and found it empty. As usual Clayton had placed her dishes nice and neat in the cabinets instead of leaving them in the dishwasher.
He’s done nothing but disrupt my life, she thought. Before taking up with Clayton, I kept things just the way I wanted them. I used to sleep late on Saturdays and I used to spend a quiet weekend alone doing the things I enjoyed doing.
She slammed the dishwasher shut, suddenly no longer hungry.
She walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Clenching her hands together in her lap she tried pulling herself together. No man had ever made her lose her appetite.
Syneda looked down at her entwined fingers. There was no way she could deny the fact that during the past five months she and Clayton had bonded in a way she had never bonded with a man before. And deep down she knew she would never bond that way with another man.
She smoothed a hand back and forth across her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Her apartment held too many memories of the times she and Clayton had spent together. She needed to get away. She didn’t want to stay in the apartment all weekend alone.
Syneda stood and went into the bedroom to pack.
Braxter rose from the chair he had slept in all night. How could he have been so stupid? It had been nothing more than a setup. He had meant nothing to Celeste but a tool to gather the information she needed. But for whom?
He