What She Needs

by Danyiel Nicole

  I continue my conversation with Chauncey, who I also offered a summer internship, until Ada and Heath come back to the table and take their seats. “I don’t know why mother made me dance with August when she knows that I came here with Chauncey,” Ada says sounding upset.

  “You handled yourself well, darling,” Chauncey says to her, grabbing her hand and kissing it in an attempt to calm her down.

  “That woman has no respect for who we’ve chosen to love,” Ada says to Heath.

  “I know,” Heath responds, also wanting Ada to calm down, “but that’s how mother is. I’ve told you time and time again to just continue to do what makes you happy.”

  “I don’t know how you can be so calm about this; she is equally disrespectful to Alicia. I mean, what is her fucking problem?” Ada asks.

  “I’ve learned to just let her live in her own little fantasy. What she wants from us is never going to happen. She knows it, she just won’t accept it. Alicia and I have a very strong bond and so do you and Chauncey, so if mum wants to waste her life on things that will never happen, then let her.” Heath’s response is cool and calm because his sister is fired up at their mother’s actions.

  “Alicia’s giving me an internship this summer,” Chauncey says in an attempt to change the subject.

  “She is? That’s awesome honey,” Ada says giving Chauncey a happy hug and mouthing the words, “Thank you,” to me.

  I give her a half smile and wink back.

  A few moments later the music stops and Raymond is at the microphone. “May I have everyone’s attention please?” Raymond says quieting the crowd. “I’d like to thank everyone for coming out to celebrate thirty-five years of marriage to this wonderful woman. It feels like only yesterday that we met and fell in love despite anyone’s disapproval. Our love for one another was strong enough to withstand even the toughest times and I just want you to know that I love and I appreciate you for sticking by me through everything. I love you very much Himaya, and I hope to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  He hands the microphone to Himaya. “Raymond, you’ve always known how to say enough to make a young lady swoon.” She says getting teary eyed. “I love you so much, and you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere because we are not just in love, we are life partners.” She looks over at our table. “Let’s not forget the people who made me love you even more as the years have gone by. Heath and Ada can you two come up here please?” Heath and Ada get up and walk reluctantly to the stage and hug both of their parents. “I know that I’m not the easiest person in the world to deal with sometimes, but I only want what’s best for you both. Your father and I love you very much.” Heath and Ada look at their parents and smile. “Now, I’d like to introduce the people in my children’s lives whom they are in love with and will hopefully find the happiness their father and I have found.”

  I look over at Chauncey and smile because maybe, just maybe, Himaya has come to her senses and realized that her children are in love with us.

  “August and Nadia,” Himaya continues. “Can you two please come to the stage?”

  chapter 13

  Everything starts to move in slow motion. I can’t believe my fucking ears. I look over at Chauncey who looks just as disappointed as I am feeling, then I look at the stage to where Ada and Heath are doing their very best to keep their composure as Nadia and the young man that Ada was dancing with earlier walk up to the stage.

  I can’t believe it. I’ve been disrespected and betrayed once again by Himaya St. James. That bitch is never going to accept that Heath and I are in a relationship. I can’t compete with the admiration that she has for Nadia, and I’m done trying. I can’t do this anymore. I won’t do this anymore. I will not allow this woman to continue to disrespect me and treat me like trash.

  I can’t be here . . . I’m not wanted here . . . I have to get out of here!

  I stand up from where I am sitting and walk out of the tent to the front of the house looking for Benjamin so that he can take me home. When I make it to the front, I hear footsteps behind me and I’m surprised to see that it’s Albert.

  “Alicia are you alright?” He seems worried.

  “Yeah . . . yes I’m fine.” I’m almost in tears. “Have you seen your father? I need to leave now.”

  “No, not since earlier, but if you want to go home, he won’t be able to get out anyway, the car is blocked in. He was complaining about that. I can take you home if you’d like.”

  I think about it for a moment, and then ask him to lead the way. We walk to the front of the yard where his car is parked then head back to The Vue.

  I stare out of the car window letting my mind wander. I hope I didn’t make a mistake getting in the car with Albert, but I can handle myself. I have to get used to doing things on my own because I don’t have any family and I’m pretty sure that Heath and I are about to break up.

  My phone rings for about the tenth time and I reject the call. I don’t want to hear Heath’s apology for his mother’s actions; I’m getting tired of that shit. We are almost to The Vue when Albert breaks our uncomfortable silence. “Alicia, I want to apologize for the things I said to you when we met, I was wrong and I’m sorry.”

  “Oh that’s okay, don’t mention it. I told Heath that it’s not right for you two to pass along women to one another, but if they are okay with it then who am I to judge,” I say. My phone rings again and of course it’s Heath. I just let the call go to voicemail. We pull up into the front parking lot and I get out and so does Albert.

  “Thanks for the ride Albert. I appreciate it,” I say with a smile.

  “You’re most welcome Alicia. If it’s alright, I’d like to walk you up to make sure you make it in safely,” he says.

  “I’m okay, really, but if you feel the need to make sure, come on.”

  We walk into the foyer and Georgette’s nosey ass is sitting behind her desk. I still haven’t forgiven her for telling Heath that David was here, like that was her business to tell. Her eyes are big when she notices that I’ve walked in with Albert, and I’m sure she’s going to get on the phone and call Heath, but I don’t give a damn. We take the elevator to my floor. I walk off and Albert is on my heel making me feel uncomfortable.

  “I . . . I’m good here Albert, thanks for the ride home,” I say doing my best to mask the nervousness in my voice.

  “Alicia, I might as well tell you the truth,” he says. I’m standing with my hand on my doorknob trying to devise a plan to get into the house without giving him access. “Nadia and I are not together. She hired me to get rid of you so that she can have a better chance with Heath.” My heart is beating so hard and so fast that I can feel it in my throat.

  “W . . . why would you do that?” I stutter. “I thought Heath was your friend.”

  “He’s no friend of mine. He’s a high and mighty celebrity who gets all of the best women and tosses them to the side like wet rags, and I’m his little wing man that picks them up.”

  “But he didn’t toss me to the side. He loves me.”

  “He loves my friend Nadia.”

  “Albert, Nadia is not your friend, especially if she’s asking you to commit a crime,” I say just above a whisper. I’m so nervous I can feel it in my stomach.

  “I thought about it that way, but hurting you will get to Heath, so I’m all for it,” he says nonchalantly.

  I open my door as fast as I can and close it behind me, but Albert pushes against it knocking me to the ground. I stand to my feet not taking my eyes off of him. I’m scared for my life right now.

  “Why are you trying to get away Alicia?” He asks as if he’s disappointed in me for not letting him harm me.

  “Albert, I haven’t done anything to you, why would you want to hurt me?” I ask frantically.

  “I told you why,” he says walking toward me. I back away as quickly as I can and trip over my rug and then fall to the ground. He reaches down to grab me and I start to move my legs as fast as I can, kic
king him as hard as I can to keep him from getting close enough to pick me up. I mistakenly but happily kick him in his crotch and he falls hard holding himself. “You’ve fucked up now you stupid bitch,” he screams, but I can hear the pain in his voice.

  I scramble up to my feet and run to the kitchen to grab a skillet and then run back into the kitchen and hit him square in the stomach with it. When he screams in pain, I start to kick him. He reaches out and grabs my ankle, pulling me down to the ground and taking my pan out of my hand tossing it to the side.

  “No wonder Heath is so in love with you. You’re a feisty little thing. Maybe I should fuck you before I kill you, just to make it worth my time.” He has my hands pinned over my head and he is sitting across my stomach so that I can’t move.

  “Heath is going to find you and kill you,” I say in disgust.

  “I doubt that. I have an airline ticket to anywhere in the world I’d like to go courtesy of Nadia.” Pinning my wrist with one hand, he rips the strap of my dress so that my bra is showing. “My god your breasts are lovely. I’m going to suck them hard.” I close my eyes and pray that this doesn’t hurt too badly. No sooner than I do, I hear a loud whack but I don’t feel anything. I open my eyes to see Albert falling to the ground and Heath standing in front of me.

  “Call the police and tell them to send a paramedic.” Heath snarls. I scramble to my feet and grab my phone to make the call. As I do, Heath picks Albert up from the floor and stands him to his feet. “Why?” Heath asks looking at Albert, who looks like he’s been hit by a bulldozer in the eye. “Why would you try to have sex with the one woman I love?” I hang up the phone and rush to Heath’s side.

  “She tried to give it up to me, all of your women want me, Heath. Don’t you understand that?” Albert slurs as if he’s drunk.

  “He said he was going to rape me and then get rid of me for Nadia. She’s behind all of this Heath,” I say crying.

  Heath looks at the scared expression in my eyes and he knows I’m not lying.

  “Are you going to believe this bitch over me?” Albert asks. Something about that question made Heath snap. He reaches back and punches Albert square in the face and I watch as he falls back in slow motion knocking over my laptop and breaking my end table on the way down.

  “Darling are you ok?” Heath asks pulling me into his embrace and holding me tight. Before I could answer, there are three police officers at my door with their guns drawn.

  “Mr. St. James, is everything alright?” One of the officers asks. For the first time I notice that my front door is off the hinges and my place looks like someone ransacked it.

  “Officers, I want this man arrested for attempting to rape and murder my girlfriend,” Heath says. The other two officers walk over and pick Albert up off of the floor and handcuff him.

  “I didn’t try to rape her,” Albert groans. “She was going to give it up to me, it’s my word against hers.”

  “Then why is her door hanging from the hinge and why does her place look like it’s been robbed?” Another one of the officers asks.

  “Albert, you know damn well that isn’t true,” I say charging toward him. I could slap him in the face right now. Heath grabs me before I can make it to him.

  “I swear I didn’t try to rape her. That woman has been flirting with me since the day we met, and tonight she invited me up here to have sex with her. She told me she would leave Heath if I left Nadia so that we can be together.”

  Oh he’s good.

  “He’s right.” One of the police officers says. “Unless we can find proof, it is her word against his.” He looks at the officer holding onto Albert’s arm, “You can go ahead and release him.”

  My heart starts thumping so hard that I can feel it beating out of my chest. There has to be something that can be done. If they release him, he’s going to come after me again, and he might kill me if he gets another chance. I look at Heath and silently plead with him to find a way to stop them from letting Albert go. “Wait, I think I can provide some proof,” Heath says before the officer can get the last handcuff off. “I turned on the security cameras to test them out before we left. Thank God I did it. Officers, if you give me a second I can pull up the footage.” He walks to my room to get his laptop and comes back out. After a moment he pulls up the security video of Albert forcing himself into the house and everything that happened afterward. As we all watch, I start to cry and Heath pulls me closer to him, consoling me. “I want him charged for the attempted rape and attempted murder of my girlfriend, and I want Nadia arrested for hiring him to do it,” Heath says to the officers. He sounds a little choked up.

  As the officers tighten the handcuffs, Albert looks at Heath, “We are supposed to be friends. How could you send me to jail like this?”

  “How could you say you’re my friend when you tried to rape my girlfriend knowing how much she means to me? You’re no friend of mine, and if you somehow get out of jail, don’t bother showing up to work because you no longer have a job,” Heath says looking Albert square in the eyes. “Get him out of here,” Heath says to the officers. Albert yells in protest as the officers take him away but Heath doesn’t pay any attention to him.

  Heath grabs my hand and leads me over to the sofa. I take a seat on his lap and no sooner than I do my adrenaline comes crashing down and I begin to cry; a gut-wrenching-headache-worthy cry. He pulls me in so that I am resting on his chest and he rubs my hair while my tears wet his shirt. I cry until I can’t cry anymore.

  ***

  I wake up and immediately notice that I’m not in my bed.

  I’m at Heath’s house. I’m safe.

  The alarm clock on the side table says that it’s two-thirty in the morning. I scramble out of bed to go into the bathroom, this is when I notice that I’m wearing only panties and one of Heath’s Bridgecam Racing t-shirts. I look at myself in the mirror trying to remember how I got here, and after recounting everything that happened in the last six hours, I start to cry. I run back into the room and get into bed wanting Heath to just hold me, but he’s not here. I turn on the light to see if he’s asleep on the sofa, but he isn’t. Tears from fear start to well up in my eyes and I’m starting to get hysterical.

  Where is Heath? I want Heath!

  I open the bedroom door screaming his name through my tears. “HEATH! . . . HEATH!” I sob. When I run down the stairs, I see Heath, Benjamin, and Raymond running toward me. Heath meets me halfway up the staircase and scoops me up into his arms.

  “Darling . . . darling I’m here. I’m here. I’m here.” He says in attempt to calm me down. Benjamin and Raymond are standing at the end of the staircase, both of them are wearing a concerned expression on their faces. “We’ll be right down,”

  Heath says to them, finally noticing that I’m only wearing a t-shirt and thong. He takes me back into his room and finds me a bra, one of my shirts and a pair of jogging pants and helps me put them on. My tears are slowly drying up but I’m still crying.

  Once I’m fully dressed, we go back downstairs into the living room. I hear voices as we are approaching. “I don’t think for one moment that Albert tried to rape her.” It sounds like Himaya.

  “I know Alicia well enough to know that she’s madly in love with Heath and she wouldn’t do such a thing to him.” Ada’s says.

  When we make it to the living room, Benjamin, Himaya, Ada, Raymond, and Chauncey are having a discussion. Heath takes what I am assuming is his original seat and then pulls me onto his lap. I say hello to everyone in the room and everyone is courteous except Himaya.

  “Alicia are you okay . . . well, given everything that has happened to you tonight,” Raymond asks.

  “I’m getting there Mr. St. James. Thanks for asking,” I say.

  “Everyone came here for support,” Heath says rubbing my arm.

  “Thank you . . . all of you. I appreciate this. I’ve never had to experience anything so horrible in my entire life. Well, aside from my parents’ death.” I say putting my
head down as I think about how my dad isn’t here to kill that motherfucker.

  “There is no need to be ashamed of what happened to you, Alicia,” Benjamin says. “My son is a jerk, but he wasn’t raised that way. He had no right to attack you.”

  “That’s right! And I hope he goes away for a long time,” Ada says sounding beyond pissed.

  Then everyone starts talking at the same time except me and Himaya who is looking at me as if she wants to attack me, too. Then over everyone’s voice, she says, “I don’t see why anyone isn’t defending Albert.” Everyone suddenly gets quiet and stares at Himaya. “Benjamin, you’re his father and you won’t even offer him any support. She hasn’t been entirely truthful with you Heath. Wasn’t her ex-husband here to visit, and as I recall, it wasn’t until last night that you found out her net worth. You’ve been taking care of her; you bought her a seventy thousand pound car because she led you to believe she was some divorced woman left with nothing. Has anyone taken the time to ask her why? Why did you get into the car with Albert anyway?”

  Every pair of eyes in the room are focused on me. “You don’t owe anyone any explanation darling,” Heath says.

  “Oh Heath, don’t be so naïve. The sex can’t be that good,” Himaya scoffs.

  “Mother, if you’re going to act this way you can leave. You will not disrespect Alicia in my house,” Heath says. I can’t see his face but he sounds furious.

  “I am your mother, you will not speak to me that way!”

  “And you will not speak to my girlfriend that way. Not in my house.”

  “Stop it you two!” I yell over them. “That’s why I left with Albert, to get away from all of this.” I look Himaya square in the face, “I’m tired of you disrespecting me.” Tears are starting to roll down my cheeks again. “Yes, my ex-husband came here when I first moved, but it was against my wishes. Heath and I weren’t together at the time, but I explained everything to him, even though I didn’t owe him one ounce of an explanation; I don’t owe you one, either, but if it makes you happy I will give it to you. I’ve never lied about my net worth, and it was never my intention to make Heath feel like I needed him for anything, but for the record, I have my own money and I can take care of myself. I offered to pay for my own car, but Heath went out and bought me one anyway. I thanked him and I offered to pay him back. He told me not to worry about it. You see Mrs. St. James, I don’t live my life for the “limelight,” I work very hard for what I have and I’m proud of who I’ve become, and I’m tired of trying to get you to accept me.”