Blind Date (Venture, Georgia Book 3) Read online

  Blind Date

  Olivia Gaines

  Davonshire House Publishing

  PO Box 9716

  Augusta, GA 30916

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s vivid imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, are entirely a coincidence.

  © 2014 Olivia Gaines, Cheryl Aaron Corbin

  Editor: Teresa Thompson Blackwell

  Cover: koougraphics

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever. For information address, Davonshire House Publishing, PO Box 9716, Augusta, GA 30916.

  ISBN-13: 978-1543213027

  ISBN-10: 1543213022

  Printed in the United States of America

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10 9 8

  First Davonshire House Publishing February 2017

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Blind Date

  Chapter 1- Romeo, Romeo...What the Hell Romeo?

  Chapter 2- I am the man.

  Chapter 3- And #Nope

  Chapter 4- Goodnight Roger

  Chapter 5- Dinner and a Show

  Chapter 6- Oh My Damn!

  Chapter 7- Oh what a beautiful morning

  Chapter 8- Well, Look at You

  Chapter 9- Say What Now?

  Chapter 10- And away we go!

  Chapter 11- A Morning of Possibility

  Chapter 12- Don’t Leave Me!

  Chapter 13- Clowning Around

  Chapter 14- Do you take this man...who?

  Chapter 15- Welcome Home

  Chapter 16- Settling In

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Also by Olivia Gaines

  The Slice of Life Series

  The Perfect Man

  Friends with Benefits

  A Letter to My Mother

  The Basement of Mr. McGee

  A New Mommy for Christmas

  The Slivers of Love Series

  The Cost to Play

  Thursday in Savannah

  Girl's Weekend

  Beneath the Well of Dawn

  Santa’s Big Helper

  The Davonshire Series

  Courting Guinevere

  Loving Words

  Vanity's Pleasure

  The Blakemore Files

  Being Mrs. Blakemore

  Shopping with Mrs. Blakemore

  Dancing with Mr. Blakemore

  Cruising with the Blakemores

  Dinner with the Blakemores

  Loving the Czar

  Being Mr. Blakemore

  The Value of a Man Series

  My Mail Order Wife

  A Weekend with the Cromwell’s

  Other Novellas

  North to Alaska

  The Brute & The Blogger

  A Better Night in Vegas ( Betas Do It Better Anthology)

  Other Novels

  A Menu for Loving

  Turning the Page

  An Untitled Love

  DEDICATION

  For My Friend...Corey

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A special thank you to my son, who works really hard to bring my vision to life.

  Thank you Lady Hawke, for being the Wonder Woman that you are, our luncheons and chats, they really help.

  And to my bibliophile nation. Thank you.

  Blind Date

  Olivia Gaines

  Chapter 1- Romeo, Romeo...What the Hell Romeo?

  2011 Charleston, South Carolina

  Eric Guilfoyle could easily be the man of her dreams. Tall, dark, handsome, and successful business man. It was difficult to imagine that a catch like him was utilizing a dating app to meet eligible women. Of course, considering how much he worked, it was easy to see why he wouldn’t have time for the traditional dating path. Well, that is what he told her. She had no reason to disbelieve his words.

  Eric’s profile on the dating site chronicled an interesting life of everything centering on the love of the outdoors with fishing, hiking, skiing, and the one thing that drew her to him, butterflies. Lepidopterology ranked up there as one of the traits a man in her life would have to love. Eric was such an enthusiast that when she finally agreed to go on a date with him, he brought along his favorite butterfly, the rare Purple Emperor.

  Obviously, her new date assumed the poor mounted, caged beauty would be the switch to operate the panty drop function for the night. Instead, it sparked a conversation that left Eric Guilfoyle intrigued by the little lady. He even said so.

  “Shanice, you intrigue me,” he said with a crooked grin.

  “I have been called many things in my life Eric, but intriguing is not one of them,” Shanice Olleh answered.

  Intriguing wasn’t the word people used to describe her. Weird was a closer label. Shanice liked to own the word interesting. It made her feel taller than her five-foot five athletic build. Almond-shaped, brown eyes often intimidated others with her direct stare, which some labeled as unsettling. Her stare did not unsettle Eric. That was the second thing she liked about him.

  The conversation started with the butterfly and ended three hours later on the benefits of entrepreneurs in small town America. Eric was so pleased with his evening with Shanice that he didn’t even try to get in her pants. That was the third thing she liked about the man. Couple those three things with an award-winning smile and a five o’clock stubbled jawline, which added character to his handsome face, she through her trifecta was the start of something worthwhile. She agreed to a second date with him.

  He didn't try on either their second or third date to get into her pants. By the fifth date, the two had become comfortable enough to share the first kiss. Later, Shanice insisted that her relationship with Eric progressed so quickly because the man kissed like unicorns surrounded him with butterflies, which had shown him the path to lip enlightenment. Shanice never rushed into any situation without fully understanding what she was dealing with. Eric had to meet her mother before she would even consent to allow him to get to third base. He was on the pitching mound, wielding a nice ball, which she wanted desperately to yell, “batter up!” However, caution and good sense told her to wait. He had to meet her mother first.

  Sugar Bear Olleh wasn’t a woman a man wanted to tangle with on any issue. Shanice had inherited her interesting, but even in her eyes, her mother leaned more towards the weird. It was a weird that kept them safe, off the street and eating well from day to day. If Sugar Bear said it was going to rain, it would be smart to bring an umbrella. Her opinion meant everything to Shanice.

  Eric was introduced to her mother on a Friday evening after work right before their date. Shanice perceived that tonight would be the night to be intimate with Eric. Well, that’s if Sugar Bear gave her approval.

  She didn’t.

  “I don’t trust that ninja. He is hiding something,” Sugar Bear informed her daughter.

  “It took you six years before you trusted the mailman Mama, and he is a deacon in your church,” Shanice said to her mother.

  “Yes, and what did we find out about Deacon Sticky Fingers? He was cashing Janice Lewis’ social security checks, and the woman had been gone to glory for six months. He was also cheating on his wife with his cousin-in-law. I can spot a snake. That butterfly catching bastard is a snake,” Sugar bear declared. “I can smell married all over him.”

  Lord, she should have listened to her mother. Eric was the worst kind of snake. He was the kind that laid in the grass blending in with everything around him. When he did strike, the blow wasn’t deadly, but the sort of strike which seeped into the skin, eased its way in th
e blood stream, and slowly rotted a soul from the inside out. He rotted everything in Shanice’s life. Her soul was only the start of his decimation of her world.

  The whirlwind romance ended as a puff of stinky air as Shanice found out that her dream guy was a horrible human being. In the same day, she discovered that she was pregnant, Eric was married, and he was a crook. Six months into the love fest, little clues began to pop up as she asked several times to come to his place. He only came to her place on Wednesday and Sunday mornings.

  On the morning of the downward spiral, she went to tell her dream lover they were going to be parents, and she found his briefcase opened. Inside were detailed plans to raise taxes in lower income neighborhoods and to saturate them with gangs, drugs, and prostitution to drive out the homeowners. It was a three to five-year plan to destroy a community so that he could buy the properties dirt cheap and build condos and gated communities by the waterfront. Using her phone, she snapped photos of the plans and emailed them to a private account.

  Thankfully, her lease was up at the end of the month and she would be able to get away from Eric. Saying nothing to hunky, but sinking dreamboat, she swiftly packed her bags and moved in with her mother.

  “I told you so,” Sugar Bear announced as she poured herself a cup of Irish whiskey that she claimed helped with her sore throat.

  “Mama, that’s the last thing I need to hear considering I just found out I am carrying that bastard’s child,” Shanice confessed to her mother with a side of irritation in her voice.

  “Lord child! When you screw up, you just sit your smelly little ass over in the pot don’t you?”

  “Well, you get to be a grandmother,” Shanice teased with a wry smile.

  “Oh, lucky fucking me!” Sugar Bear said with as much sarcasm she could muster. “What did he say when you told him?”

  “I haven’t,” she said lowering her head. “I can do this. With your help. You did it with me. We survived. I can do it as well,” she told Sugar Bear.

  “How the hell did I get to be in the middle of this? That is your baby with Satan. It has nothing to do with me,” Sugar Bear refuted.

  Shanice gave Sugar Bear that same sad face she used when she needed a cookie, a hug, or her laundry done.

  “Oh, shut up! Not only have you moved back in with me, you are bringing a little package of poop, germ spreading, crying all night tiny person,” she told her daughter.

  “It will be okay Mom,” she said confidently.

  “I hope so. You are more optimistic than I am. That man has something dangerous about him that I don’t trust,” Sugar Bear earnestly said.

  Again, Shanice should have listened to her mother. The next day and the following days, all hell broke loose. It started with the threatening phone calls. Eric constantly showed up at her job every day until her boss was forced to let her go. When he showed up at her house, Sugar Bear met him on the front porch with a sawed off shot gun and threatened to tell his wife.

  “Better yet, I am going to get video of your ass out here acting a damned fool and upload it on the internet so that it can go viral, and your wife and everyone can see the real you,” Sugar Bear warned him.

  Before she could finish with her warning, Eric moved with lightning speed, took the weapon from her hand, and bashed Sugar Bear in the head with it. Dragging her by her hair, he pulled her into the house, tied her to a chair, sat in another chair, and waited for Shanice to come home.

  Several minutes later, Shanice arrived home and discovered the horrid scene occurring in her home. She began screaming as she tried to get through to Eric.

  “Eric, stop this! This is crazy,” she begged.

  “Crazy is you leaving me. I see your belly. You are carrying my child,” he scolded her.

  “Please don’t make me do something I will never forgive myself for, in order to be rid of you,” she pleaded with him, trying to sound brave.

  The man was fast. Within seconds, he was on his feet and holding her by the throat. “I will kill everything around you that you love including your beloved plants if you harm my child,” he promised, spraying bits of spittle into her face.

  “And if you do, I will release your five-year plan for Mount Pleasant,” she croaked out.

  “What do you know about that?” He questioned, looking her in the eye.

  “I took a picture of your grand plans and emailed it to three of my closest friends. If anything happens to me or my mother, they will release the information to the press,” Shanice disclosed.

  “Is that all you got little girl?” He asked her laughing.

  “It will ruin you,” she said boldly.

  “No, you silly twat, it will only make me richer. Now, this is what we are going to do. I am going to get you an apartment closer to me. We will keep our, hmm, visiting schedule on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. You make me happy, I let you and your trashy mom live. How about that?”

  He cocked the gun, pointing at Sugar Bear’s knee.

  “Do we have a deal?” Eric wanted to know.

  Shanice took too long to answer him. Before she knew it, Eric punched her hard across the face, knocking her to the floor. As he watched her lay on the cold, hard floor, Eric rubbed his length, unbuttoned and dropped his pants, and pulled down her panties. Sugar Bear watched, helpless to aid in protecting her only child. She closed her eyes as hot tears ran down her face when Eric proceeded to have sex with her daughter on the floor right beside her tied up feet.

  He finished with Shanice then stood to fasten his pants as if it was something he did every day.

  “I will be here in the morning with a key to your new place,” he declared. “Be ready to move when I arrive.”

  Shanice said nothing as he closed the door. The click was the loudest sound she’d ever heard. Slowly, she untied her mother, laying her face onto her lap.

  “I’m so sorry Mama, I should have listened to you,” she cried.

  “It’s okay baby. Sugar Bear always has a plan. My cousin Hester, lives in a little small town at the bottom of Georgia called Venture. Her husband is the pastor there, and her son owns a bookstore. They are catching heck hiring good help. Pack a bag right now! I will call Charlie and have him come drive you to Augusta. You take a bus over to Atlanta. Stay a few days with my other cousin Milton, who will drive you down to Venture. You lay low. Get rid of that phone. Don’t call me, but let me call you,” Sugar Bear instructed as she rubbed Shanice’s shoulder to console and comfort her daughter.

  Charlie, Sugar’s Bear’s man, was allowed to come over to perform scheduled maintenance on the plumbing, but he had never been allowed to spend the night. Even after Shanice moved out into a place of her own, Mr. Charlie wasn’t allowed to stay all night. Sugar Bear said, “When a man is allowed to pay the bills, he thinks he owns you. Then you find yourself on the run in the middle of the night with a small child in your arms.” It all sounded so practiced as if her mother had run before from an abusive man.

  “Mama?” she asked.

  “Wrong time for questions, get a move on girl,” Sugar Bear firmly stated. “You can’t trust these internet sites. All of these men posting pics of their peckers as if a wiener is going to be the deal sealer. I tell you what, not even half of them are who they post to be and the other half doesn’t have any clue how to properly use those tools given to them by God!”

  Shanice didn’t ask any questions. She followed her mother’s instructions and a week later, she was starting a new life in Venture, Georgia. She had escaped Eric’s reach. For five years, she lived a quiet unassuming life with her son Rocky working at the bookstore.

  It was quiet until Eric found out where she lived and sent someone to clean up his mistakes.

  Chapter 2- I am the man.

  2016 Blairsville, Georgia

  The fax hummed, clicked, and spit out a new order for service. The sound of the old machine used to give him a shimmer of joy as new orders were placed, which equated to more revenue to pay off his land. He loved l
iving in the northeast mountain region of Georgia, away from nosey neighbors, prying eyes, and mainly people.

  People got on his nerves.

  As of late, so did the sound of the fax machine. Ten years had come and gone with his land, which held his four-bedroom house, his vehicles, and everything else he claimed taking contract work would buy, was paid for to give him a good life. Growing up poor, hungry, and fighting for every scrap on the table changed the way a man saw life. So, did his occupation.

  The white piece of paper printed with colorful images and two lines of text meant work had to be done. Somewhere out there, a body needed to be dealt with because some person with too much money felt God was taking too long to call home an issue causing them inconvenience. He handled inconveniences of varying degrees, whether the permanent removal of pests or shifting the perspective of a body that was facing east. A bit of friendly persuasion could always make the same body see the benefit of a westward viewpoint.

  Initially, when he signed on with The Company, he took any job as long as it paid him well. Three years later, he became more discerning. A soft spot was held in his heart for kids, especially the ones without a father. Women? He could take ‘em or leave ‘em. For few of the contracts he accepted, he almost understood why someone was paying to have one or two of those evil witches exterminated. Others, not so much.

  Never talk to the package.

  It was his unwritten rule. Do the job Man and go home. Nothing more. Nothing less.

  The white piece of paper stared at him like a long-lost lover beckoning him back to bed. He agreed to accept only ten jobs a year when he signed on with The Company. This one, he could take or refuse. The year was almost over, and his pockets were set for the next six months. He would work if he felt like it. He didn’t feel like working but that piece of paper called to him.

  It was her eyes that made him catch his breath. An interesting face also caught his eye, but she wasn’t pretty. She also didn’t look dumb.