Captured
by Love
Take
a peek at Book 3 in the A Second Chance series as we look at
Katrina Louise Bowers, chef and restaurant owner, meets Paul
Summers, a corporate account executive, at black tie affair. They experience love at first sight but soon
discover that love must be tested and tried.
Will they survive and find their second chance at love?
Settle in, grab a blanket and a glass of wine. Find if they are captured by love.
Katrina
Chapter
1
Chlamydia!
Katrina stared at her gynecologist as if she had two heads. She heard
her, but could not comprehend that she was sitting in the doctor’s office being
told that she had an STD.
A few days
ago, she had developed a sharp cramp on the right side of her lower abdomen
that had her call off from her classes. The pain quickly spread causing her to
limp as she walked. She took pain
medication and drank a lot of water, which seemed to ease the pain. She considered that she could be ovulating
early even though that didn’t make sense to her since her menstrual had just
gone off the week before. Thinking it
might be nothing major, she took a nap.
She woke suddenly with worsening pain, diarrhea and vomiting. She finally had to admit that something was
clearly wrong. As she sat in the
examination room of the women’s medical facility, it was worse that she thought. I have
a damn STD!
At twenty-four
years old, Katrina Louise Bowers was on her way to the top in her
profession. She had huge dreams of
becoming a master chef and restaurant owner and was on the fast track in
accomplishing her goals. Born into a
family of chefs who worked in some of the finest restaurants, she received her
skills honestly. At the tender age of
ten years old, her parents recognized early signs of her skills and cultivated
them by instructing her themselves as well as sending her to the most
prestigious schools. Katrina had the
opportunity to travel and experience cuisine from other cultures and meet some
renowned chefs through college-sponsored trips.
Though she had enough training under her belt, she wanted more. She learned French, Italian, Indian and
Chinese cuisine. She spent time kneading
dough to bake delicious breads and mixing to create delectable desserts. Ironically, her favorite pastime was soul
food, and that was the type of restaurant she wanted to open. Fried chicken, fried fish, macaroni and
cheese, candied yams and greens were the type of dishes that brought the family
together. Family events were a huge part
of her childhood and always filled her with wonderful memories. She wanted to create the same feelings in the
customers for whom she cooked.
With a huge
cooking exam in front of her, she was very irritated with this interruption in
her day and sighed. “What did you just
say?” She heard the gynecologist loud
and clear but still hoped that there was a mistake. The doctor rubbed her shoulder and repeated
what she said, then went on to tell her that she needed to let her partner or
partners know that they needed to be tested and treated.
Katrina hadn’t
thought that far ahead and reeled from the realization that she had to tell her
partner, who happened to be her husband, that he might have an STD.
Embarrassment came first as she had to admit to the doctor that she did not
sleep around and her only partner was her husband. Anger replaced embarrassment as she processed
that her “so called” loving husband was cheating on her and had the audacity to
raw-dog and give her an STD. How could he do this to me? Tears threatened to spill, but she kept
control of her emotions and asked her doctor about treatment. She was informed of the prescription she
would take and how often she needed to take it.
The doctor then instructed her to set up a follow up examination to make
sure all was clear. With script in hand,
she quickly dressed, made a follow up appointment and left the women’s medical
facility to make her first stop at the pharmacist she regularly used. Her second stop would be to her home where
she could crawl up in her bed and weep without anyone seeing. Her husband would be home later from work so
she didn’t have to face him yet.
Katrina met Devon
Phillips in her first year of college, fell head over heels and married him a
year later to her mother’s and father’s chagrin. They did not approve of him. When Katrina asked why, her mother exclaimed
that there was something about him she didn’t like. Her father just said he flat out didn’t care
for him and offered no further comment.
After three years of marriage, her family only tolerated Devon and
Katrina did her best to get them to like him but to no avail. She wouldn’t admit it to them, but she felt
her marriage was just a sham. Devon said
all the right things and seemed to care about her, but something did not ring
true. Now she knew why. Ugggggg.
After taking the
Market/Frankford El from Center City Philadelphia to where her car was parked
on forty-six street, she jumped in her car and let the tears spill. Large sobs filled with pain and anguish shook
her body. She cried until she had no
tears left, but the despair did not leave.
She finally pulled out of the parking space and headed home. She drove in total silence. Normally, she would play one of her CD’s or
listen to her favorite gospel station, but she needed the quietness to
think. Some hard decisions had to be
made. Should she leave her husband or
try to work it out? That question
plagued her the entire drive. She knew
she definitely had to speak with him first before she made any decisions. She dreaded the conversation.
Katrina parked in
front of the twin home she shared with her husband in the Overbrook Park
section of Philadelphia. Before she got
out, she surveyed the home. The house
was beautiful, but she didn’t like the house and it never felt like home to
her. For a moment she pondered why, then
dismissed the thought she didn’t want to deal with the answers that flooded her
mind.
Katrina got out of
the car and treaded to the front door.
She felt as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders and she
slumped as she fumbled for her keys.
Maybe they could work it out, she thought. There may be a possibility that she had this
all wrong and admonished herself for coming to conclusions before she had
facts. With that resolve, she opened the
door and walked in. What she saw
immobilized her and left her speechless.
Two Black couples
were engaged in sexual acts and occupied a huge couch that sat against one side
of the living room. Another couple of
European decent utilized a loveseat on the other side. A dark-skinned muscular man was standing in a
corner while being expertly serviced, according to the expressions of ecstasy
on his face, by a light-skinned red head woman and three other couples, a
mixture of men and women darted the dining room area engaged in various sexual
acts. In the middle of all of that her
husband laid stretched on the floor with two women engaged in a
three-some. None of them acknowledged
her presence.
An orgy? Is he
frickin kidding me? Katrina screamed, “What the hell is going on!” She was stunned for the second time that day.
Paul
Chapter
2
Paul Summers
cuddled with his wife, Francine, on the couch as they watched a chick flick
movie she had picked out. This was one
of their rare moments when things were peaceful and calm. Paul silently prayed for more nights like
this, but he was not sure how long the peace would last. As long as Francine took her medicine, all
was well. If she didn’t, all hell would
break lose and life would become unbearable for Paul.
For the past few
days, signs of her not taking her medication started to show. Paul noticed that the bottle of medicine was
still somewhat full. He didn’t mention
this as it would set her off and he wanted and needed to keep the peace.
With the time
getting late, Paul suggested they go to bed and finish the movie tomorrow
night. He had an early meeting and
wanted to make sure he was alert and prepared.
Paul was a corporate accountant of a large financial company in
Philadelphia, and it was his responsibility to have all of the financial data
in order for a possible order. No
mistakes could be made.
When his wife said
that she would finish the movie and come up later, Paul kissed her goodnight,
“Ok, baby,” then headed up the stairs of their single home to a large master
bedroom. He quickly undressed, freshened
up in the huge master bath, put on shorts and a tee shirt and slid under warm
covers on a king-sized bed. He turned on
the television for background noise, but the television was watching him as
exhaustion won over and he slipped into a deep sleep.
He snapped awake a
couple of hours later feeling disoriented and uneasy. When the fog in his brain cleared, he padded
to the bathroom to relieve himself. He
returned to the room and let out a small gasp when he noticed his wife sitting
on the floor in a corner with a knife in her hand. Confused, he went to reach for her to take
the knife away but jumped back when she calmly pointed it at him. He raised his head to the ceiling and took a
deep breath. And so it begins.
“I thought you
were going to bed,” she stated, “but you had the television on. What were you looking at without me? You couldn’t finish the movie with me, but
you turned on something else up here. I
thought you were tired.” She stared at
him wide-eyed demanding an answer.
Even knowing that
it wouldn’t work, Paul still tried to reason with her. “Baby, I turned the television on for
background noise. Nothing more. I wasn’t even looking at it. I fell asleep almost immediately after I
turned it on.
“Liar! I know you were watching a movie,” she
screeched. “They told me.”
“Baby, who told
you?”
“Stop it. Don’t play dumb with me. You know who.” She dugged the knife into the carpet as she
stood up and approached him. “I’ve tried
over and over again with you, but you don’t listen. You use me and don’t even care and I’m tired
of it.” With each word she stepped
closer and closer to him.
Paul moved slowly
back to not agitate her further. “Baby,
I love you and would never take advantage of you. Put the knife down and let’s talk this out.”
“Talk what out?”
she looked at him incredulously. “I’ve
tried to talk to you. I’m tired of
talking.” She looked up at the ceiling,
shook her head then laughed. “I knew
it. They always let me know how much you
lie. You filthy, stinky liar.” As she approached further lashing at him with
the knife, Paul continued to shuffle back slowly and cautiously. This was worse than he thought. She had used weapons against him before, but
never to really harm him. There was
something different in her eyes this time, and for the first time, Paul feared
for his life. He gauged how far his cell
phone was from the room door and how long it would take to grab it and dodge
out the door before she could catch him.
There was no other way he could get out of this, so he took his chances.
Paul ran to his
phone then charged for the bedroom door.
Francine darted after him and slashed the knife down his back.
Blood dripped as
Paul made a dash for the front door. He
made it just in time before she try to stab him again. Stumbling to a neighbor’s house, he called
911 and waited on his neighbor’s step.
From where he stood, he could see her clearly in the living room.
She waved the
knife at him and smiled. Raising the
knife, she taunted him. Mouthing the
words ‘good-bye’ and before he could stop her, she placed the knife across her
throat and slid it across. Blood
splattered as she dropped to the floor.
The gut-wrenching
scream came from Paul and he ran to the house.
“No, no, no, baby no.”
Capture
by Love coming soon
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