Man at Work by Chanta Jefferson Rand Page A

know
what I expect. I messed up, I know that.” Her gray eyes were a
stormy sky, glossy and full of unshed tears.
    Candace had learned a powerful lesson in
life—if she didn’t say what was on her mind when the opportunity
presented itself, it would haunt her forever. But at the same time,
she didn’t want to say something she would regret later.
    “ I’ve been screwed over by
a few people in my life, Toye. But I never thought it would be a
member of my own family. I never thought it would be you. All that
bullshit you fed me about him just wanting me for sex, when you
were screwing him the whole time.”
    “ No!” Her mouth dropped in
shock. “Nothing happened. I swear. He turned me down, Candace. It’s
you he wants.”
    “ He has a funny way of
showing it. He never called after he got what he
wanted.”
    “ Um, about that…” Toye
stared at her shoes for a few moments before meeting Candace’s
eyes. “I told him you knew his true identity and you were only
using him for his money. That’s why he stopped calling
you.”
    Candace choked back the anger and sadness
lodged in her throat.
    Please Lord, don’t let me kill her. Don’t
let me scratch her eyes out. Let me maintain my dignity.
    “ I’ve treated you with
love and affection, Toye. My sisters and I took you in when your
mother overdosed, and you could barely look after yourself. I never
said an unkind word to you. Now, you’ve got me wondering, what did
I ever do to you to make you turn on me?”
    A single tear fell from Toye’s right eye and
trickled down her carefully made-up face. “You didn’t do anything,
Candace. It was me. All me. I saw you so happy with Gabe, and I
wanted some of that happiness. I wanted to be made love to the way
you described. I wanted to be wanted that way, just once in my
life.” She sniffed. Her lip trembled. “I was selfish. I was evil. I
was…envious. I knew you were going to be at Area 31 with Roland
last night. I invited Gabe there hoping you two would run into each
other and make up. I was trying to fix things.”
    “ Well, you made it
worse!”
    “ I know. I hope you can
find it in your heart to forgive me. Please don’t hate me,
Candace.”
    Candace didn’t hate Toye. She felt sorry for
her cousin. What she’d done was pathetic. This was what happened
when jealousy reared its ugly head.
    Maybe this is my fault. I should have never
told anyone how good Gabe made me feel. I should have never shared
the fact that he made my toes curl.
    No, she had the right to share her
happiness. If she hadn’t, she’d never have known the lengths Toye
would go to in order to get what she wanted. Well, it hardly
mattered now. She didn’t have Gabe anymore. For whatever reason,
he’d walked out. She had to learn to move on with her life and
forget about him, no matter how hard it was. And she had to try to
forgive her cousin. If she didn’t, this incident would no doubt eat
her alive.
    “ I need time to think,
Toye. I’m not ready to talk to you right now.”
    Candace closed the door, but not before
glancing at the morning sky. Storm clouds sprouted against an eerie
patchwork of blues and grays. The weather matched her mood
perfectly. It seemed there was a storm brewing everywhere.
    Her cell phone chimed, and she rushed to
retrieve it. The caller ID showed Zion Realty. Her heart leapt.
Good! They were probably calling to tell her to pick up her copy of
the contract.
    “ Hello,” she answered. Her
heart kicked. Her palms were sweating.
    “ Miss Jones?” a feminine
voice on the other end of the line confirmed.
    “ Speaking.”
    “ This is Vonda Smith. I’m
the Director of Operations for Zion Realty.”
    This was even better than talking to Roland.
Finally, one thing was going right in her life. “Thank you for
calling, Ms. Smith. As you probably know, I signed the contract
last night.”
    “ Yes, Roland informed me.
Uh, he also relayed what happened in the restaurant. As a result,
Leap of Faith Industries has