Читать книгу Delilah - Shelia M. Goss - Страница 16

“Samson, you haven’t heard a word I said,” Julia said. She might as well have been talking to herself because Samson’s mind was on Delilah and the countless number of text messages she had sent him since Monday morning.

He had avoided her all week, but he was sure his luck would be changing soon since it was now Wednesday night and Delilah rarely missed Wednesday night Bible Study. He looked at his beautiful bride-to-be. His insides fluttered as he thought about how much he loved her. He recalled the first time he realized he was in love with Julia.

They had known each other since childhood because both of their fathers were prominent men of the cloth; however, it wasn’t until after they both graduated from college and they ran into each other at a church conference that his feelings changed from admiration to love. That was more than two years ago. Julia was soon to be his queen, and he couldn’t let anyone stand in the way of making it happen. Delilah had to be dealt with, but there was no one he could trust, or was there?

“I don’t know where your head is tonight, but I hope you get it together before you go in there trying to teach your congregation,” Julia said.

“Michael’s teaching tonight.”

“Good, because you are not yourself.”

Samson took Julia’s hand in his. “Come on, let’s go before we’re late.”

“Aww, how sweet,” Delilah said when she ran into them in the hallway.

“Just keep moving,” Samson told Julia.

“Is something going on I should know about?” Julia looked back and forth between Samson and Delilah.

Samson was caught off guard with her question. “No,” he lied.

“That’s all I needed to know.”

Samson sighed as they walked into the sanctuary and took their seats on the front pew.

He could feel someone watching him, and when he turned around, Delilah’s smiling face was staring back at him. He jerked his body back around and did his best to concentrate on Michael’s discussion on the eighteenth chapter of Matthew.

“Pastor Judges, would you like to add anything to what I said about leading others to sin,” Michael said, staring at him from the podium.

“Uh, no. Minister Monroe, you’ve done an excellent job explaining.” Samson wiped his sweaty hands on his pants leg. He heard Delilah snicker. He glanced at Julia from the corner of his eyes. His attempt to reach for her hand resulted in her crossing her arms. The rest of the time, Samson blocked out everything else and looked directly at Michael.

“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot earlier,” Michael said later in the pastor’s study.

“Man, I’m just nervous about Saturday.”

“I’m surprised you’re here tonight. I was a nervous wreck when I was about to get married.”

“Julia and I are going to be gone all next week, so we wanted to be here.”

“Well, if there’s anything you want me to do, let me know.”

“My mom and Julia have it all covered. All I need to do is show up.”

Michael looked over Samson’s shoulder. “Looks like you got company,” Michael said as Delilah walked into his office.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Pastor, I wanted to ask you something.” Delilah batted her eyes.

“Pastor, I’ll catch you later,” Michael said.

“No, don’t go. There’s something else I wanted to discuss with you,” Samson said.

Michael didn’t read in between the lines that Samson didn’t want to be left alone with Delilah. “Call me on my cell when you finish.” He smiled in Delilah’s direction. “Delilah, nice seeing you.”

Delilah licked her lips. “Same here. Tell that wife of yours she’s a lucky woman.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her that.”

Once Michael was gone, Delilah closed the door.

“What are you doing?” Samson rushed to the door to open it.

Delilah jumped in front of it. They were now face-to-face. He could smell the cherry blossom lip gloss on her lips. “Your fiancée is in the restroom. Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

“I’m beginning to sound like a broken record—because I’m busy. I am getting married in a few days.”

“I know. That’s all anybody is talking about.”

Samson moved and left Delilah standing with her back to the door. “I hate to rush you, but I need to go.”

“Okay, but I wanted to drop off something with you.” Delilah reached into her purse and pulled out a disk. She handed it to him but wouldn’t let go of the case. “If I were you, I would watch this in private.”

Samson needed Delilah gone before Julia came to his office, but he was curious to know what was on the disk. He looked at both sides of the disk, but there was no writing. Before he could ask Delilah any questions, the doorknob turned and Julia walked in. “What’s going on here?” she asked.

Samson thought to himself that a closed door meant nothing because it seemed as if people still just burst into his office without knocking. He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Delilah’s voice.

Delilah smiled. “Nothing. I just dropped off something to the pastor. You two make such a cute couple.”

Julia responded, “Well, now that you’ve dropped it off, you can be going.”

Delilah turned to face Samson. “Remember what I said.” She winked at him, turned, and twisted out of the room.

“I know it’s wrong, but I can’t stand that woman,” Julia said.

Samson threw the disk Delilah had given him in his briefcase. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

Samson and Julia were in separate vehicles, so instead of leaving one at the church, they each decided to drive. He followed Julia home to spend a little time with her before heading home.

It wasn’t until later that night, while lying in his bed, that he remembered the disk Delilah had given him earlier. He retrieved it from his briefcase and placed it in the DVD player. For some reason the disk didn’t immediately start playing like it normally would, so he played around with the remote. The screen remained fuzzy, but when he turned the sound up, he realized that what he was watching was no ordinary video. Within seconds, the visuals became clear and he saw his naked bottom staring at him on the screen.

There was no misunderstanding what was going on. The video showed him and Delilah in the heat of passion. He watched the video, wishing he could turn back the hands of time. He had been celibate for years, and Delilah had him breaking vows to his fiancée and, more importantly, to God. He could try to lie his way out of it, but the proof of his sin was not only a vision in his head, it was recorded for anyone to see.