“Why are you calling my man’s phone?!?!?!”
After all the drama that just happened and seeing Derrick being driven away to the hospital, to have to deal with Stacy again was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
This bitch was gonna get it, pregnant or not.
“Look, I don’t have time for you to play jealous secretary or some shit like that, okay? Where is Derrick, I need to—“
“What you need to do is do what your fucking lawyer told you to do, and that was to stay away from Derrick, that’s what you need to do.” I yelled into the phone, completely tired of being a nice girl. “Why the fuck you still have his number I’ll never understand.”
“Maybe because while you and your freak of a girlfriend are busy out and about, being all superstar and shit, that maybe he calls me to get an earful of my voice before he goes to sleep.” Stacy retorted, intent on really getting me into a nuclear meltdown.
This bitch had another thing coming.
“I’m sorry, darling, but you must have me confused with one of them insecure bitches that checks the phone every ten minutes or something, but I ain’t the one.” I snapped back. “In case you forgot, my freak of a girlfriend and I are both fucking the man that you’re trying so damn hard to have back in your life with some bullshit paternity case.”
“Oh, I’ll show you how bullshit of a case it is, trick.” Stacy yelled back through the phone. “And when he’s broke from having to pay child support, I hope you’re still there to help keep things afloat until he can do better.”
“As far as we’re concerned, you’re old news, bitch.”
“Just put your sorry excuse for a man on the phone so we can talk business, little girl.” Stacy demanded again. “He’s still a man, and I’m sure he’s not going to want anyone fighting his battles for him.”
“Well, I hate to have to do it, but you’re not talking to him, especially when he’s in the hospital recovering from injuries right now.” I declared as I hung up the phone before she could speak another word.
Toni got to me as I put Derrick’s phone in my purse. “Are you ready to go? The officers don’t need us anymore, and the party’s been cleared out.”
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I replied, heading for Derrick’s truck since we knew he wouldn’t want it left at Mr. Parker’s house overnight. “I can’t wait for this shit with Stacy to be over. I’ll kill her if she keeps this mess up.”
“What happened?” Toni asked as we got in the truck.
“She just called. We had it out because she wants to talk to D. But according to Kelli, the RP lawyer that Mr. Richton assigned to help Derrick, she wasn’t supposed to have any contact with him.” I said as we made our way to the interstate. “She wanted to get in my head, telling me that she still has a hold on Derrick.”
“She has a way of getting under your skin, Cori,” Toni reassured me. “When she and Derrick were dating, she wasn’t exactly thrilled that he had other women in the picture, including me, and that he was bold enough to tell her about all of them.
“Don’t let her get in your head, baby. I know this whole thing that we’re in with him is new to you, it’s new to me, too, but that bitch will not come between what we have begun to build, okay?”
“I hear you, baby, and she won’t get to me, promise.”I finally took it down a notch, but I couldn’t help wondering if there was some truth behind the brazenness that Stacy showed during the yelling match we had.
The truth would come to light in the next couple of days; I had to believe in that.
It still didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
~Derrick~
I was still sore from the incident at the release party.
I think my pride was still hurting more than my body was.
After piecing together the details from that night from the RP security staff and some of the other guests at the party, it turned out that Brian had been looking all over for Tracie for a good fifteen minutes. His anger over not being able to find her began to intensify, and a few of the guests overheard him talking to himself and threatening to beat down the dude that she was with.
Someone did try to alert the security staff, but they lost track of where Brian had gone, and by the time they could locate him again, he was already on top of me trying to rearrange the bones in my ribcage.
I got a call from one of the Gwinnett County detectives assigned to the case involving the incident, letting me know that he would be arraigned at noon. The paternity hearing with Stacy was set for four o’clock.
Yeah, this was shaping up to be a helluva day already.
Cori had a slew of signings going on all day today, and because I was recovering and on leave from work until the end of the week, I had to assign, begrudgingly, one of the other photographers to handle the PR photos at the different locations.
Toni had to head out of town on another photo shoot on Monday with one of the perfume campaigns.
Neither one of them wanted me to deal with Stacy and the paternity case on my own. I reassured them that I would be okay and I would let them know all the gory details, regardless of the outcome.
With the added court case up in Lawrenceville at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, I was in for a more emotional day than I had planned for.
I called Kelli, my RP counsel, to let her know where I would be before texting the girls to give them the change in plans.
I got a message back from Toni letting me know that she was contacted also, since she was a witness, and that she wouldn’t be able to go, either. She then got one of the other models to take a picture of the outfit that she was wearing for the perfume shoot to put a smile on my face.
The way she looked in the “little black dress” that she had on, it was safe to say her mission yielded the results she wanted.
Cori texted back, worried that I didn’t have anyone with me for support, and upset that she was stuck on the PR tour and couldn’t get to me. She was contacted about testifying at Brian’s trial also, but she couldn’t break her commitment to do so.
From what the detective explained to me, there were enough witnesses to the incident that they wouldn’t be needed anyway, which was a relief to me.
I sat down on my bed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment or two, trying to figure out how in the hell I managed to be in the position I was in.
First, losing Omar a month ago, and now possibly losing Brian to a bid in jail because he couldn’t keep his emotions in check.
Maybe Omar’s mother was right. Maybe this was my karma coming back to take the people that I cared about most away from me to teach me a lesson.
I really began to worry about the paternity case at that point. My grandfather always told me that good things and bad things always come in threes.
Omar dying was the first bad thing to happen to me.
Brian’s crazy ass jealous rage and trying to take me out was the second thing to happen.
I prayed to God that the paternity hearing would not be the third thing. That would cause complications on a slew of levels.
I got ready to make the drive up to Lawrenceville, steeling myself against wherever my emotions would lead me when Brian came into the courtroom wearing prison orange.
It might be the last time I see him for a while, unless the judge decides to be merciful.
“Your honor, I have no excuse for my actions.”
The judge looked at Brian and then down at her legal pad to scribble some notes. “Begin your allocution, Mr. Hardmon.”
I sat in the courtroom and listened as Brian, with his lawyer standing next to him, began to recount the events that led up to him trying to beat me into a pulp.
“I was looking for my girlfriend because she wasn’t in my immediate eyesight. When I couldn’t find her… I don’t know… I kinda lost it.” Brian’s voice cracked as he spoke, no longer the confidence I was used to out of my friend.
Yeah… he was still my friend, regardless.
Blood in, blood out…
I kept my eyes fixed on him, studying his emotions as he re-lived the incident all over again.
“I finally saw my boy walking from around the front of the house with her… I saw the smile on her face, and her hair was messed up a little bit. I mean… I refused to believe that he would betray me like that, but I saw what I wanted to see because I was already pissed that she disappeared to do God knows what.” he continued, tears in his eyes as his body language broke down with his emotions.
It was too much for me to handle. I didn’t want him to suffer any more than he had already done so. I guess that’s why I asked the assistant district attorney for leniency in sentencing, since I couldn’t convince him to drop the charges.
“I saw red at that point, your honor. I punched him first, and when he hit the ground, I just… he had to pay for what I thought he did to me.” He finished speaking, then abruptly turned toward me. “D… God, man, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, bruh. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I’ll take whatever punishment the judge gives out without issue.”
I couldn’t speak. I knew that he wasn’t himself when all that went down, and I wasn’t about to punish him for something like this, when I could have easily made the same mistake.
I stood in the courtroom and tapped my fist over my heart three times; that was the way we communicated on the court whenever one of us made a mistake and the other forgave that mistake.
Forgiven, brother…
Even in the chains that weighed down his wrists and connected to his leg chains, Brian smiled through his tears and tapped his fist over his heart three times.
As I heard the judge render her decision and sentence Brian to 90 days in jail and three years’ probation, I nodded and headed out to the next stop on my emotional gauntlet.
He already knew that I would check on him while he was up there.
I don’t leave my boys when they’re at their lowest. That’s not how my father raised me.
Loyal to a fault, I know.
But it’s the way I am.
“It took you long enough.”
I was ten minutes late to the hearing thanks to the usual Atlanta traffic. Coming out of Lawrenceville, I knew I would be pushing it coming out at two in the afternoon.
“Let’s just get this over with. I have nothing more to say to you, Stacy.” I coldly stated as I walked past her to assume my spot at the defendant’s table.
“Suit yourself, Derrick.” Stacy replied as she sat with her attorney. “It’s your funeral.”
I took a good, long look at her attorney, and I couldn’t quite place where I knew her from before, but the more I focused on her, the more she tried not to stare at me.
The hair was cut differently, and she looked like she got an island tan recently, but the eyes were unmistakable.
Kelli whispered to me, “Are there any surprises that I need to be aware of?”
I answered back, “My gut tells me that she’s trying to pull a fast one, but I have no way of proving it. The other thing is, and I don’t think that Stacy knows it, but I had a one night stand with her attorney New Year’s Eve.”
Kelli shook her head and stared at Tammy, whose demeanor changed quickly when she realized that Kelli had been told about our connection to each other.
Oh yeah, this day was getting better and better.
Tammy cut her eyes at me, looking like she wanted desperately to rip me a new asshole, remembering how badly I treated her when she left my condo nearly five months ago.
I couldn’t dwell on that right now, I had to focus on the more important issue at hand.
Figuring out if I was going to be a father or not was the reason I was here in the first damn place.
Before Tammy could utter a word in my direction, the bailiff asked for us to rise and await the arrival of the judge hearing the case.
I guess she was going to have to try and read me the riot act when the case was adjourned.
The judge took his seat and adjourned court, asking Stacy’s attorney if they had any other information to submit to the court before the results were revealed.
Before the judge read the results, Mr. and Mrs. Peyton walked into the courtroom, which put me into shock. They were the last people I expected to show up to this hearing.
She shot a look at me, still as icy and contemptuous as ever, and spoke out toward me, “I’ll be damned if you take my grandbaby from me, too, Derrick!”
“Order in the court!” the judge exclaimed, looking directly at Mrs. Peyton. “Ma’am, why are you in this courtroom? Are you the parent of either the plaintiff or the defendant?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stacy try to hide in her seat, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, including her attorney. Tammy sat completely confused as to what Mrs. Peyton’s role in this whole scenario was.
Mrs. Peyton was undeterred by the judge’s question and approached the bench where he sat. “Your honor, that young lady right there was my son’s fiancée before his death last month, and I’m here to protect the interests of that baby that she’s carrying because that’s the only thing that’s left of my son.”
The only three words that I could muster were what… the… fuck.
His fiancée?
I felt my blood boiling from that second going forward.
My mind quickly went back to that horrible night, and the last words that he spoke before he pulled the trigger:
I can at least take some comfort in the fact that before it was all said and done that I was able to take one thing from you, something that was important to you for a change.
I cursed out loud, forgetting I was in court as I shouted at Stacy, “You left me for my best friend?!?!?! Are you kidding me?!?!?!”
The judge banged his gavel again, forcefully warning, “One more outburst from anyone else in this courtroom and I will hold you in contempt of court.”
That quieted the courtroom quickly.
Mrs. Peyton turned and headed back to the audience section of the courtroom, doing her best to keep still, but I could tell she was stewing where she sat.
Right now, I was right there with her.
This was the third bad thing to happen to me.
My best friend took my girlfriend, without remorse or hesitation.
I felt like I’d been shot all over again, and I couldn’t get any measure of revenge against Omar for this, either.
I could have Stacy’s head on a platter, however. That much was clear to me.
But not before I awaited the judge reveal the results of this God-forsaken test.
Kelli had this look as if she’d just become an unwilling guest of the Maury Povich Show, and I didn’t blame her for feeling that way. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Please understand that my life is nowhere near this chaotic. You’ve been around me at RP functions and retreats to know me.”
Kelli replied, shaking her head, “What really had me tripping was when the parents came in out of the blue. Oh my God, this one is going to top a lot of stories in legal for a good little while!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that one, but it was okay, because this was the last time that I would get caught up in some mess like this again.
The judge asked us to stand, and then read the report. “In the paternity issue regarding baby John or Jane Doe, Mr. Morrow, you have been excluded as the father.”
Inside I wanted to run around the courtroom and act a absolute fool like they do on the talk show when they find out that they’re not the father, but outside, I kept my head because I didn’t want the judge to find me in contempt out of spite.
Stacy put her head in her hands and silently wept as Tammy put a hand on her shoulder.
Stacy got in my face the moment the judge left the courtroom. “I bet you’re happy now. That’s okay because you weren’t worth the trouble anyway.”
Was she kidding? She’s the one that cheated on me with my childhood friend, tried to put the baby
off on me, and didn’t even bat an eyelash when her “fiancé” committed suicide. She probably found out that he was coked out of his mind and probably left him.
In my mind, I secretly pondered if she was the reason he decided to take himself out.
The fucked up part is that we’ll never know the real reason since he never left a farewell note or anything like that.
That still didn’t stop Mrs. Peyton from trying to rub it in, thinking that she had gotten the best of me. “I told you, you no good son of a gun, now you can leave us alone once and for all.”
Stacy looked up and realized that Mrs. Peyton was serious about trying to take care of the baby. “Oh my God, what have I done? I gotta deal with her from now on?”
Mrs. Peyton’s face turned pale as a sheet when she heard Stacy’s knee-jerk reaction to being included in the family. “Heifer, you better get your head screwed on right, if you know what’s good for you, or I’ll make sure that the minute you birth that precious baby, I’ll have you back in court to remove your rights. You are not gonna take the only good thing left of my baby from me, I swear to God you won’t!”
I was heated from the words that Mrs. Peyton had just spoken to me, and I wasn’t about to let her get away with it again. “I don’t have to take another cross word from you any more, Mrs. Peyton. It’s amazing how I was the best friend that your son ever had when things were good, but now I’m the devil or a sonofabitch because you think I killed your son.
“I was the one that tried to keep his ass alive when he saw fit to shoot me! He had nothing but contempt for me, wanted badly to take me out, and yet, I stayed with him until the paramedics arrived.”
I felt the words flowing out of me like the damn had broken and a great flood began to wash away all of the hurt that she tried to cause, all of the hatred that she tried to focus and place on me for her son’s shortcomings.
Forget a twelve gauge… I had a weapon that wouldn’t be running out of ammunition anytime soon, and I used it with the aggression of a Rottweiler.
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