I stepped back when he slowly opened the door. I already knew the look on his face. It was one I was very familiar with, one that I’d seen before, when he found out about me sleeping with Jamie.
“I came to pick up AJ,” I said to him.
He lifted a brow. “Not going to happen,” he said.
It was time for my brows to furrow. “What do you mean, not going to happen?”
“You heard what I said,” he said, then shook his head. “Not going to happen. I told you that if I ever found out my son was in a domestic violence situation, I would take him.”
“Aric, what in hell are you talking about?” I yelled at him.
I was surprised when he pulled his phone from his back pocket. He held it up so that it faced me. I watched as pictures of what Jamie had done to the living room flashed before me. My heart sank further. He turned the phone so that it faced him, scrolled through, and then held it back up. I listened in shock to the fight between me and Jamie. When Aric stopped by to get AJ, he must have taken those pictures and recorded us.
“I told you,” he said after the recording stopped.
There was no emotion on his face, only hardness. Evil stared at me from behind the glasses he wore.
“Aric, you are not taking my son away from me.”
I was prepared to fight him if I had too. He pulled a piece of paper from his other back pocket and handed it to me. At first it confused me, until I felt a raised seal on the paper. I opened it and slowly read in total disbelief that a judge had granted Aric temporary custody of AJ.
“What is this?” I asked.
Complete shock and terror were displayed on my features. My hands shook as I looked up at him. I felt like it had to be some kind of sick joke. Where would he get a judge to sign anything that late at night?
“You can see what it is. I have friends in high places, Chyanne. I used to be best friends with a man whose father had friends in high places as well. All I had to do was donate a little money to a campaign, and it was just that simple”—he snapped his fingers—“to get what I needed. Those photos and that recording, I’m going to take them into court with me in two weeks and allow my attorneys to work magic in getting me custody of my son.” His eyes darkened. “I told your ass not to fucking cross me.”
I couldn’t believe it. He was going to use my son, our son, to hurt me. He would actually stoop so low as to do such a thing. I felt my anger getting the best of me. How dare he act all self-righteous when he’d done much worse to me than I’d done to him? I was so beside myself with rage that when he turned to casually stroll back inside his house, I went after him. I yanked the back of his shirt, then swung around to slap him in the face as many times as I could. Screw him. He wasn’t taking my son away from me. I had no idea what hitting him would solve, but I was caged, backed into a corner. My back was against the wall. Violence was all I had left.
But as usual, I’d forgotten who I was dealing with. It was Aric McHale, and he was not your average man. He turned around, wrapped both his hands around my throat, lifted me from the ground, then slammed me down on top of the hood of my car.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” he asked me. His face was so close to mine, I could see the sheen of sweat forming on his forehead. “I fucking told you,” he snarled as he slammed my head against the car. My legs were open, and he was between my thighs, but there was nothing sexual about what was happening. “I told you not to ever fucking go there, told you not to cross that line, and the only fucking reason you’re still breathing is that you’re AJ’s mother. Chyanne, I will fucking kill you,” he raged on. “Do you understand me?”
Aric’s anger frightened me more than Jamie’s at that moment, because I knew without a doubt that what he was declaring was the truth. His glasses had fallen to ground when I slapped him, so I was eye to eye with him. My throat burned, because twice in one night two men had choked me.
AJ’s little voice rang out. “Daddy.”
Aric shoved my face back, then backed away from me. It was the finishing touch to his ultimate disrespect. After he bent down to pick up his broken glasses, he left me there and walked over to our son. I watched as he picked AJ up.
“Mommy,” AJ called out to me.
I wanted to hold him or at least kiss him, but Aric didn’t care. Fresh tears cascaded down my face.
“AJ, I love you,” I said quickly.
I watched him reach out for me as Aric slammed the door in my face.
Chyanne
“Chyanne, you have to get up. You can’t keep lying here like this.”
I wanted to roll over and get out of bed. Honestly, I did, but for the life of me I couldn’t. I was too weak . . . too depressed. I couldn’t eat. I barely slept. All I wanted to do was lie in bed. I had taken a leave of absence from work. It was a good thing that Shelley and I had a good working relationship, because she’d understood why I needed the time off. I listened to Kay as she moved around the bedroom.
“I don’t want to get up.”
My voice was barely above a whisper. It had been four weeks, a month to the day when Jamie had walked out of what used to be our home and out of my life. The days were long; the nights were cold. The pain of not having him there with me hurt so bad that my body had started to ache.
Stephanie had finally got her sentence. One to three years in a maximum-security mental-health facility. That news was bittersweet. I’d found that I didn’t even care anymore at this point.
“Chyanne, girl, this isn’t good. You’re pregnant, and the baby needs you to be in good mental and physical health,” Kay fussed as she walked around my bedroom, cleaning.
She and my mother had become my anchors. Kay had kind of figured out that I was doing something because of the way I’d pulled away from her. She had just never thought I would cheat with Gabe. Just like Jamie, she had thought I was cheating with Aric. She had asked me flat out what in the unholy hell was wrong with me. She wanted to know why I would step out on a man as good as Jamie. I had no answer. She told me that she had found out what was going on when she called my phone and Jamie answered. He’d told her he wasn’t with me and that she should call me at home. That was how he had found out about me and Gabe. I had left my cell phone at home, hadn’t had a chance to erase those last text messages between Gabe and me.
“I’m fine, Kay,” I lied.
“Yeah, okay,” she responded.
She walked over to the bay window and snatched the curtains open. Then she raised the blinds and opened the windows. A cool, soft breeze floated into the room. It caressed my skin like a lover would, like Jamie would have. I pulled the covers over my head. I could smell fried chicken cooking downstairs. My mother had to be in the kitchen. I threw my arm over my face.
“I’m fine. Just leave me.”
“No, ma’am. I won’t. I’ve let you stay up here in this room long enough. Aric is bringing AJ today, remember? Do you want him to see you looking a mess?” she asked, then snatched the covers from my bed. “Get up, Chyanne. You’ve done the pity party long enough.”
I groaned. Aric had done exactly what he’d threatened to do. He’d walked into court and walked out with full custody of AJ. I’d bawled like a baby. I could see my son only on weekends, and that was totally up to Aric’s discretion. Even after I told the judge that Jamie was no longer in the home, he wouldn’t hear of it. I guess he had been bought and paid for.
Kay spanked my thighs in a motherly fashion. “Come on. Go shower and prepare for AJ. His birthday is coming up, and you wanted to take him shopping today.”
Just to get her to be quiet, I got up and slowly trekked to the bathroom. I hated going in there now. There were days when I would look around for those little notes and roses that Jamie used to leave me. There weren’t any, and there wouldn’t be any more. Images of us making love in the shower, on the bathroom floor assaulted me. I missed him like crazy. I hadn’t seen him in three weeks. He would call my mother, talk to her, but he wouldn’t say
a word to me. Nothing. My mom had gone to the doctor with me for my checkup. The baby was doing just fine. I knew she was reporting back to him. I still tried to call him. I’d just gone out to buy a new cell phone altogether. My mind went to thoughts of Gabe. For a while I was angry at him. I blamed him for all of this, and as crazy as I knew it was, I just felt better blaming him.
“So this is my fault?” he’d asked, then given a sarcastic chuckle. “Okay, Chy. Tell yourself whatever you want to make yourself sleep better at night.”
After that phone call he and I hadn’t talked much. We didn’t speak about what had happened between us. Just as quickly as it had begun, it ended. He told me he had to leave the country on business. He and Aric were taking on overseas clients. It hurt to hear that Aric was still talking to him but wouldn’t say two words to me. Aric had walked out of that courtroom with a smug look that said “I told you so” written on his face. He wouldn’t even look at me. I’d played the game and lost. I’d lost Jamie. I’d lost my son. . . . I’d lost me. . . .
It took me thirty minutes to shower. It felt like weights had been attached to my wrists and ankles, but I had to get moving. AJ was coming today. I’d promised him that we would go shopping at Toys“R”Us. When he’d asked for Jamie, it hurt to tell him that Jamie wouldn’t be coming along. My son didn’t understand why he couldn’t sleep at home with me anymore. I still cried most nights, when I walked into his room to see he wasn’t there. Jamie and I’d had fun decorating and painting that room for AJ.
Once I was done showering, I got myself dressed. I didn’t feel like going through the hassle of putting an outfit together, so I just threw on a long black dress that accentuated my hips and breasts. It also showed the roundness of my stomach. I was beginning to show. After my mom finished cooking and I picked over my food, Aric showed up with AJ. I went to the door to get him.
“Mommy!” AJ squealed when I opened the door.
“AJ!”
I was just as happy to see him as he was to see me. I glanced at Aric as I held my arms out for AJ. The tight hug AJ gave me around my neck comforted me. For some reason I didn’t even want to look at Aric. I felt as if looking at him would cause me to reach out and slap him again.
“I’ll be back to get him Sunday, at six in the evening,” Aric said to me.
He said it with a tone of authority. It grated my nerves. I didn’t say anything, just took AJ’s bag when he handed it to me. I was still pissed at him. I couldn’t believe he would take my son away from me. This was the first time AJ had been back with me since Aric had taken him. I didn’t have much to say to Aric because of that. I had started to resent him. I hated him for taking AJ and placing him in our madness. How dare he use our son to make a point? I would never in a million years have done that to him. I let AJ say good-bye to his father, and then it was my turn to shut the door in his face.
I allowed AJ to play around with me, my mom, and Kay for a while before we all left for the store. I swear, it felt as if we stayed in Toys“R”Us forever. I let AJ get whatever he wanted. It was like a mini shopping spree. Once we left the toy conglomerate, we headed over to the Publix on Mount Zion. My mom wanted seafood, and since we couldn’t get to the seafood market, Publix was my next choice.
Kay and I were walking down the aisle with the crackers and cookies when she said to me, “I still can’t believe Aric pulled a move like that and took AJ away from you.”
I looked over at her. “I know, but now a part of me feels I deserve it.”
“What?” she asked with a frown. “I know you did some things that you aren’t proud of, but Aric using AJ like that was low.”
“What I did to Jamie was low.”
“Yeah, but that had nothing to do with AJ. Aric was just pissed it was Gabe’s dick you were wetting and not his.”
I stopped pushing the cart and just looked at the woman who’d become my best friend. Her beautiful auburn mane sat back in a ponytail. Rosy cheeks brought out the coffee color of her eyes, and she looked just like the schoolmarm she was. Before I knew it, I laughed so loudly. I couldn’t believe Kay had said that. She was more of a prude than I was. It felt good to laugh. I hadn’t laughed in weeks. Kay broke out in a smile; then she laughed.
“I can’t believe you said that out loud,” I told her, then started pushing the cart again.
“Well, it’s true. If it had been him you were cheating on Jamie with, he wouldn’t have even cared. He’s an ass, Chy. Your child’s father is an ass.”
I laughed again as we came to the end of the aisle. I could hear my mom ordering her lobster claws and king crab legs. I looked at the woman who’d birthed me. She had a yellow banana clip in her head, which was holding all her hair back. Her smile was bright. She had on a pair of formfitting jeans, which caused men of all ages to stop and openly admire her hourglass shape.
She had been back in my life for only a couple of months, and in that time she had taught me more than she had when she was in the home with me. I respected her more for who she was then and who she had become. She had placed a mirror in front of me and had made me face the harsh realities of what I had done. She had sugarcoated nothing for me. Although at times I hated to hear the lessons she taught me, I would take them and store them away for the times when I was about to screw up again.
Just as I was about to turn and say something else to Kay, I looked up and saw Jamie walking toward us. My heart stopped at the sight of him. He saw me, was looking directly at me. He was still as drop-dead gorgeous as he was when I first met him. I’d never forget that night at Club Miami, when Jamie made a grand entrance into my life, just like I’d never forget what caused him to walk out of it. His locks were braided back into six neatly done cornrows. My heart danced with jealousy, wondering who had done them for him. I was the one who had always taken care of his hair. You used to be the one, my conscience whispered to me, bringing me back to reality.
He was wearing dark denim jeans and a black turtleneck, and black Tims covered his big feet. He had on another leather jacket. Had to be new. The old one he’d had was still at the house, hanging in the closet. My eyes traveled to his lips. Those lips would never kiss me again; those arms would never hold me again. There was a green shopping basket in his hand as he walked closer to me. His eyes stopped at my stomach; then he looked back up at me. The closer he got to me, the louder my heart beat. For a moment . . . a brief moment I hoped he wouldn’t be mad enough to ignore me. And he didn’t. He didn’t ignore me. He walked right up to me, looked down at me, and spit in my face. He damn near knocked my shoulder off as he brushed past me afterward.
“Oh my God . . .”
“Oh, shit. Dude just spit in shorty’s face. . . .”
“Ew. Now, that was nasty as fuck. . . .”
“Girl, he wouldn’t have spit on me like that. I would have whopped that nigga. . . .”
“She must’a fucked that nigga’s friend or some shit. . . .”
“I don’t give a shit. You don’t spit on nobody like that. . . .”
“That’s grounds to kill a ma’fucker right there. . . .”
The saliva that hit my face, right in the corner of my eye, started to slide slowly down my face. Kay turned to fuss at Jamie. She told him that what he’d done was uncalled for. I heard the gasps and the murmurs of the people around me. I was visibly shaken to the core. I was so shocked by the affront that for a moment all I could do was stand there. Someone handed me a paper towel to clean the spit off my face. I took the offering, but I was so embarrassed that I left Kay and my mother standing in the store. I rushed for the exit, trying to get away from my shame and the humiliation of the moment. Life had a way of teaching you a lesson, whether it was by force or by choice.
“Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you are stupid and make bad decisions,” my mother had said to me earlier. I found that each day I was learning another lesson.
I rushed out to my car, snatched the door open, and just sat ther
e. I didn’t even have any more tears to shed. Once my mother and Kay came out of the store, I didn’t hesitate to crank the car and drive away. It was quiet in the car; not even music played. Neither my mom nor Kay said a word about what had happened in the store. My mother just grabbed my hand, then gave it a gentle squeeze. After I dropped them and AJ back at the house, I decided to just drive around for a while. I didn’t want to be in that house, not after what Jamie had just done to me. The memories of us there would start to haunt me for sure.
I didn’t know what made me drive toward my old neighborhood. It could be that I needed to go tell April she had to leave, because the couple interested in my house was ready to buy, or it could be that I just didn’t know what else to do. Since Jamie had left me, I’d found that was the case a lot. What I didn’t expect was to pull into my old neighborhood and see Aric in my driveway, talking to April. My eyes narrowed. He was casually leaning against the driver’s side of his truck, while April was skinning and grinning in his face. She was standing so close to him that I knew that there was nothing friendly being talked about, unless it was a friendly conversation about when they could have sex.
I shook my head as I stopped my car just a short distance away. How can this wench do this to me again? I thought as I silently fumed. I knew I had no real right to be angry, but because of the history between me, Aric, and April, I couldn’t help it. To think that I had actually gone out of my way to help her again, and again she’d made me regret it. I really had too much other mess going on to let April get to me as she had, but I just felt like life had been unkind to me of late. Yes, it had. No matter what you thought or how you felt, it had. I didn’t have Jamie in my life anymore, and Aric had taken my son. Then to have Jamie spit in my face like I wasn’t even worthy of an insulting word?
Tell Me No Lies Page 29