Blind Date

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

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For My Friend...Corey

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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

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

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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 the 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.