Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Four

Even though perplexity ran through her system for a second, Jennifer soon found herself returning his kiss with greater intensity. She had always wondered on certain days that she could not help but stare at his gorgeous almost stoic face, how it would feel to have his lips on hers, his large hands arching her back towards him. She had always never liked it on days her mind went astray but now that it was happening, she knew why she couldn’t help but go astray with her thoughts.

She shuddered as he ran his hand smoothly through her lap and she clutched the hem of his shirt, eager to raise it up and feel his skin that he exposed her eyes to a lot of times. As her hand came in contact with his skin, his breath became heavy, breaking the pace of the already heated kiss.

“You are right.” He started talking in between the kissing, his hands movement already causing a bit of wetness in her center. “I was speaking bullshit.”

Jennifer chuckled and recaptured his lips, repositioning to have their bodies closer but their almost progressed intimacy got interrupted by a noise from the kitchen entrance.

“I knew he had a thing for her.” Ben said as the making out duo separated a bit embarrassed since they all had their eyes on them, a smirk dominant on their faces. Not Charlie though. Jennifer noticed he was trying to hide something that looked like pain or disappointment, or both. Her mind immediately travelling to their moment early in the week, Jennifer felt a bit guilty.

Here she was making out fully with someone that wanted to get rid of her so bad when just days ago, a man who has done nothing but make her happy wanted to get intimate and she stopped him. Of course Charlie would feel bad.

Her eyes followed him as he came into the living room to have a seat. She tried gaining a second of eye contact but he had his head down, away from her.

“Mike, we need to go see the sergeant, update him about everything.” Ben said, putting the puppy down.

“Oh yes. Hmm… Jennifer where are you going to stay tonight? Here or at Charlie’s?”

“Uh…”

“She can stay here.” Charlie said, Jennifer looking at him a bit confused. “I will bring her stuff here tomorrow.”

“Oh that’s good. Now, Mark, make sure you don’t chase her away this time.” Ben said, grabbing his things.

“And you both should take good care of the puppy. Give him a name too.” Mike added as they both walked towards the door.

“Whatever man. See you.” Mark replied, getting up to the kitchen.

“I thought you didn’t like him?” Charlie faced her squarely.

“I… I don’t know how it happened. It just… it just happened. I don’t even know why I let him…” Jennifer tried explaining, gesticulating furiously to get her message across.

“I get it Jennifer, you don’t like me in that manner. You know, every intimate moment we had, I noticed it was always stopped by the thought of someone or something. I thought it was Francis, he was your husband after all. But now, I am more than certain it is not Francis.” Jennifer made to interrupt him but he stopped her, raising a finger as he continued.

“ Apart from the fact that it is genuinely a good sign that you are moving on from your husband, I am hoping your choice of person in moving on is right. I like you Jennifer. The little time we have spent together, I have grown to have this genuine concern for you. So I want to make sure you will be okay, no matter who you choose to be with next.”

A pregnant silence accompanied his last words and Jennifer felt her heart grow heavy. He sounded hurt yet he was still trying to make sure she would be fine. She did not want to compare Charlie and Mark and she wouldn’t. In fairness, she didn’t think of Charlie the way he wishes her to. And Mark… Mark found a way to creep up into her head even though he wasn’t the best of a person to her. She found herself thinking about him at the oddest times and what had just happened between them, was just crazy in her definition.

“I… Honestly Charlie, I appreciate you a lot. For everything you have done for me, I am so grateful. And you are right and I am sorry, I can’t return what you feel about me. At the same time I don’t know what is going on with Mark and this might sound crazy…” She let out light chuckle.

“I want you around to help me analyze whatever it is. Oh my God, that is crazy.” She rubbed her temple nervously.

Charlie left where he was to sit beside her, taking her hand in his. “No, it is not. I definitely wouldn’t refuse to help you just because you can’t like me back. you will always be my friend no matter what.”

She smiled gratefully. He sure was one of a kind.

“Now, give me that hug.” He opened his arms wide and she leaned in laughing softly. She definitely was happy to have him in her life.

“I have to get home soon, drink some water…” He winked at her.

“And get some decent sleep.”

“Alright. Taxi?”

“I am definitely not walking home.” He got up, she did the same to walk him to the door.

“I will see you tomorrow dudess.”

“That name is going nowhere is it?”

“Nope. See you.” He kissed her forehead before heading out.

Jennifer exhaled heavily as she went inside. Seeing neither Mark nor the puppy in sight, she went to his sister’s room to get some rest, the earlier make out creeping into her mind, making her sub consciously smile.

---------------------------------------------

“What do mean by you can’t help us?” Ben asked, facing Mark.

“What does he mean by he can’t help us?”

Mark manageably moved forward, since the room they were all in would classify perfectly as tiny.

“Silvanus. Why can’t you help us?”

“The ‘ex’ preceding the word spy should pass a good message to all of you.” He grabbed the bottle of beer on the table in front of him and downed it, looking at them with an unreadable expression.

“Silvanus, I get it. You are retired. You need your rest. But please, just this once, do this job for us. For my sake. I need to get my life back. Are you worried about payment?” Jennifer’s last statement got the man interested. Jennifer couldn’t help but wonder how he was still fit despite the number of empty beer bottles just behind him

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.”

Silvanus sat properly, ran a hand through his black wet hair. The wet part got the other four people in the room a bit curious when they had entered his ‘retirement office’ as it was called.

" Say I decide to do this little task you ask me to do, how much would I get?"

Mark gave  the others a knowing look before turning to the guy.

"We are going to pay you well."

"How much?" Silvanus asked intently.

"A million."

The man smirked bringing a bit of shine to his face that had been stoic since they got to his office. He chuckled, his whole body vibrating.

"Deal. "

"Good." Mark's serious tone interrupted Jennifer who wanted to say something.

"We need to give run you through some things and Ben here…” He looked around for Ben, but he was nowhere in sight.

"Where on earth did he decide to walk to during a very important meeting as this?"

Jennifer raised her brow. Why was he being so official, calling the meet a meeting?

“Anyway, thanks for doing this for us. We will leave you now to prepare for the journey and you can join us later at my house so we can discuss the plan.

“Can you just let a man drink in peace? I’ll meet you all later.”

Everyone said their thank you’s, Ben still nowhere in sight.

They all walked out of the warehouse, meeting Ben by the car an ice cream cone in his hand . Everyone stared at him, probably the same thought of why he had gone to get an ice cream, on their minds.

"What? Can't a man enjoy a bit of ice cream? Besides that guy was having this attitude and I didn’t like it."

They all shrugged and entered the car, Ben chattering away about something g that how to do with spies and ego.

Jennifer was getting bored with the way he kept talking like it was some sort of contract speech. She tapped Charlie.

"Can I please turn on the radio?”

“Go ahead.” As she reached for the radio from the back, Mark did too, making their hands brush. They both looked at each other for a second before looking away. They still hadn’t spoken about what happened the previous day.

“You both should just bang already.” Ben said as he reached for the radio.

“Anyway, while I was at the ice cream place, I got a call from my lawyer friend and I updated him on the situation. He advises that Jennifer and whoever will be with her should travel immediately to Bahama as soon as our plan is set. And I agree with him. According to him, it is better we file a complaint at the

police station before the week ends so that the high court can come into the picture earlier. Which means, by tomorrow evening, Jennifer, Silvanus and whoever else that would be going with her should be in the plane.”

“We should book the flights soon then.” Charlie said.

“And also get our evidences ready and our plans straight.” Ben replied.

“I propose we make more copies of our evidences, to be safe.” Mark added.

“Good thinking. Good thinking. You are smart after all.” Mark looked back at Ben with a questioning look and Ben shrugged.

‘I am finally going home, tomorrow evening.’ Jennifer thought.

“I am so grateful to each and every one of you for helping me so far. You all have been so helpful and I am sure if I did not meet you guys, I would be somewhere in this city tucked in a corner, hopeless. I really am grateful.” And she meant every word because since they left Silvanus place, she had just been wondering why exactly they were helping her. She was basically a stranger who just showed up miraculously alive on the shore of their ocean.

“Are you really giving your departure speech now? Come on girl, let us go and celebrate in advance, your victory. Oh, and I think Mark should be the one to follow you to Bahama, the poor boy needs to breath a different air for a change.” Ben said excitedly.

“I… I don’t know.”

“Mark should follow you, I agree.” Charlie gave her a wink when their eyes met via the front mirror and she looked away trying to hide her smile.

“Well, we can leave all that talk about travelling till tomorrow. We should go celebrate.”

“Yes girl, that is what I am talking about. Hey Charlie, let’s get some pizza, Mark call Mike to join us. There is a party tonight.”

Jennifer beamed at his display of excitement, her mind soon wandering home.

She was indeed going home and she couldn’t wait.