“Here? What the fuck? Is he stalking you or some shit?!”
My blood was boiling over!
“I don’t think so. He’s with your friend, Cyn.”
“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.”
I was shocked at the fact that Cyn would bring him to my house knowing that Kassidi and I were friends, and that Kassidi and him used to be involved. Cyn, even knew the story behind the breakup and all of that. Why bring any type of drama? It showed me, loud and clear, that this dude not only had her heart, but a large piece of her fucking brain! The way shit was playing out in my mind, I was trying my best to stay of the mind that she wouldn’t do suspect shit, like bringing this dude to my house to start shit. I was trying really hard.
“So, Cyn is here with a guy you used to be in a relationship with?” Zo asked. “How the fuck does that even happen?”
“He’s a bitch!” Kandice shouted.
Kandice made it abundantly clear how upset she was by what had transpired. And as over the top as Kandice was, Kassidi remained silent.
“First things first, Kassidi,” I said to her. “You’re not leaving. You’re my guest so that’s not an option. Second, I’ll deal with this dude. If he came for trouble then he’s got it.”
She reached out to grab my wrist, holding it tightly. “No, Marco. Please. This isn’t the place for a confrontation. This is your birthday celebration. Your time to celebrate, you.” She shook her head and looked down toward the ground. “I don’t—”
“You’re staying.” I pulled her close to me and kissed her on the cheek. “If anybody’s leaving, it’ll be him,” I shot, tossing my head in the direction behind her. It was where I spotted Cyn, and who I presumed to be Jamie, approaching.
-91-
MARCO
Kassidi turned around and saw what I was referring to, then turned back to me with worry in her eyes. “Marco—”
“Babe . . . step to the side. I got this.”
Even over the music, I heard Cyn yell out, “Jamie!” as she nervously trailed alongside him. “Don’t,” she pleaded.”
She appeared to be talking her friend down off a ledge—unsuccessfully—because he kept coming. I could believe that Cyn didn’t intend for a shit-show to unravel. But it didn’t completely let her off the hook. I had my eye on him the whole way, studying him. He was tensed-up. He had some shit that he wanted to say, and he was going to make every attempt to do that. It was clear, by his focus, that his and Kassidi’s past was still very much his present.
He called out Kassidi’s name as soon as he was close enough to know she could hear him. “Why’d you leave?” he asked, looking directly at her when he said the words. The look on his face was smug as fuck. “Did I say something wrong?”
That was my cue to jump in. “She left because you don’t have any business to conduct with her. Not any at all. You want something with her, you can go through me, for that shit.”
“Jamie, we’re not here for this. Please,” Cyn begged. She looked up at me, with remorseful eyes. “Marc . . . I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not trying to hear that right now, Cyn. Let me deal with your uninvited guest.”
With his glare trained on Kassidi, he pressed further, “I had to come and see this shit for myself. So, is this your boyfriend now, Kass? One night wasn’t enough, huh?”
“Jamie!” Cyn shouted once again. Please do—!”
“Cyn, let it go!” he snapped, before readdressing Kassidi. “Kassidi, he seems to think that he’s gonna punk me into not saying anything to you. Tell his ass we got history.”
“She doesn’t need to tell me shit,” I said, stepping directly in front of him so that he was forced to look at me, and not her. “What’s not gonna happen is you walking into my fucking home, on my fucking property, and disrespecting any of my guests.” I pointed my thumb behind my shoulder. “Especially, that guest. Unless you want problems, that is.”
He took a few steps back, looked to his left at Cyn, then back at me. He folded his arms across his chest and chuckled. “I just had questions for her; that’s all.”
“Jamie, we have nothing to talk about,” Kassidi said from a space behind me. “Marco, I’m going to go ahead and leave.”
I hated hearing defeat and sadness in her voice. It did something to me. The only way I had seen her, was happy. This person that was right there with me, sounded anything but.
“You don’t need to leave your man’s party, Kassidi. You moved to Vegas to be with him, right? Don’t leave now. I didn’t come to cock block at all. I came to enjoy myself with this beautiful woman right here.” He put his arm around Cyn, who had succumbed to silence, by that time. “I knew you’d moved to Vegas, but putting two and two together took me a minute. Shit, I guess I ain’t as smart as I thought I was. Clearly, you had so much . . . uhhh . . . fun here, you decided to make—”
For about two seconds, I regretted swinging on dude. But only because I had done it without taking into account, that his arm was draped around Cyn. When I hit him, she stumbled slightly at his arm dropping from around her. Within seconds he rebounded. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood that was coming from his busted lip.
After that, we both squared up and the battle ensued. I didn’t give a fuck that it was my party and that people were probably mortified by the behavior. As far as I was concerned, this man had trespassed in more ways than one, and needed to be dealt with.
We both landed punches and that was cool with me because I never backed down from a fight, and had only ever lost one. That was the year before I went to high school. I didn’t go around fighting all the time, but when the situation called for it, I happily answered. This situation called for it, and I fully intended to answer.
He stood about an inch taller than me which meant he would take longer to fall, but it was all good. Whether he fell or not, he would know, without a doubt, not to roll up into my space ever again.
“Marco! No!” I heard Kassidi crying from somewhere near. “It’s not worth it! Y’all stoppp!”
But hearing the distress in her voice only fueled my anger even more. It drove me to want to hurt this man. I didn’t notice at exactly what point Zo came and tried to get in the middle to separate me and the guy, but right when he did, the dude went back on one leg and lifted the other to kick me. Zo stepped back, and at the same time that he did, I blocked the dude’s effort, and drove a swift kick into his gut, that sent him stumbling backwards.
As I was about to go in for the kill, Cyn stepped in the way, halting everything. “Stop! Just stop!” she cried, before turning on the guy. “Why did you do this?! Why?! You fucking promised me!”
“Fuck a promise!” he yelled at her. “Fuck you! Fuck her! Fuck this!”
“What?!” Cyn screamed.
“You heard me!” he spat. “Neither one of y’all bitches is worth my damn energy!”
I started toward him again, but Zo grabbed my arm. “Let it go, man.”
“Get the fuck off my property,” I told him, trying my best to keep my voice calm. “Now. Or I’ll drag you the fuck off.”
“I’d like to see you try it,” he goaded, motioning for me to come here. “You look real good defending the honor of a hoe. She was desperate for a ring because she felt old. But the minute she got one, her hoe tendencies kicked into high gear.”
“Jamie!”
“What, Kassidi? You don’t want the people here, to know about you fuckin’ a dude . . . the weekend of your bachelorette party? A week away from your wedding!”
I moved toward him to finish what was interrupted, but just as I did, Kassidi burst past me and ran across the lawn and into my house. Visions of her crying hysterically, caused me to black out. I knew that this time, there was no way I was coming off this dude until I was dragged off of him.
-92-
KASSIDI
I ran across that lawn as fast as I could in the shoes I had on. I didn’t think about the heels or the grass, c
oncrete, people watching or anything else. All I knew was that I had to get out of there. I had never been so humiliated in all my life. None of what Jamie did was called for. None of it! And had he come to Vegas just to taunt me? How long had he been here?! Of all the places he could’ve been in the damn world, he wound up in Vegas . . . in my neighborhood . . . at a party I was attending.
I hated him with everything in me. Yeah, the way we ended wasn’t under the best of circumstances. But, I moved past that. I forgave myself and I moved past it! Who the fuck was he, to think he could bring that shit back to my life?! In front of the world!
“You don’t get that power over me!”
“Aarrrgh! Son of a bitch!” I screamed as I made the short drive to my house.
My screams were almost foreign to my own ears as they left my mouth. Immediately, after Jamie got the words out that he knew would humiliate me, I froze. But right as I froze, I panicked. I was traumatized. I was devastated. Nothing like that had ever happened to me. I wished that I had kicked him in his nuts! Kicked him until he buckled the fuck over! I hated his goddamn guts!
When the tears began to flow and my sight was impaired because of the pools forming in my eyes, I released my foot from the gas pedal and pulled over to the side of the road to dry my eyes. The last thing I needed was to run over one of the neighborhood kids, a dog, or run up onto the sidewalk and end up in somebody’s living room. I needed to give myself a minute.
I popped open my glove box and rummaged through for Kleenex. I finally found a small pack, and quickly grabbed as many as I could, smashing them against my face to catch the flow. I rubbed my face roughly to get the remnants of hurt away. I just needed the tears gone long enough for me to drive the rest of the way home.
The moment my eyes were dry, I pulled away from the curb and drove until I reached my driveway. But a funny thing happened just as I was about to open the door to get out. I decided not to. I knew that if I went into the house, Kandice and maybe Marco would come to my door and insist on coming in. I wasn’t ready to be forced to talk to anyone. I didn’t want the sympathetic eyes and the dry tones trying to pry my feelings out of hiding. I just didn’t want that. I knew that it would all be coming from a place of caring, but I . . . just didn’t . . .
The spicy Thai chicken salad sitting in front of me, was normally my favorite. Not to mention the green tea that I’d ordered with it; but today, not so much. I had really only ordered so that I wouldn’t be sitting there looking like some crazy booth lady. Although I still managed to look crazy. I’d powered my phone down so that it wouldn’t ring. So, the only thing there with me, was the food.
As I watched the Panera employees move about exercising excellent customer service, I wondered how many of them were really happy to smile on cue, ask if there was anything more they could do. Just how natural was it? Or how much of it was driven by the expectations of the franchise. Expectations of the customers. I also paid attention to the patrons sprinkled throughout the restaurant. Some were leaned in and engaged in deep conversation. Some on laptops tapping away at their keyboards, while others were having playful conversations with one another.
Who were they, really? Where were they from? How many of them were there to ‘escape’ like me? I should’ve just taken my ass to the movies. I originally thought to go there to be in the dark. Where I couldn’t be seen at all.
I leaned my head back for a brief moment and sighed aloud, not caring whether anybody noticed.
Shit was falling apart. Vegas was too close to home. I should’ve gone further. Because now, I stood the great chance of being ridiculed. By everyone. I shook my head and pushed my food to the center of the table. I flashed back on all the people at Marco’s place that heard the venom that spewed from Jamie’s mouth. I’d be known as the woman that cheated on the man she was about to marry. A hoe, as he had so eloquently put it. A tramp. To make matters worse, I moved to the town where I cheated and ended up back in bed with the man that I cheated with. In what world of sanity does that shit even happen?
The uncomfortable situation that happened with Clyde, was the first thing that made me feel as though coming to Vegas, was a bad idea. Having to work with . . . no, work under . . . someone whose advances you rejected, had made me feel slightly uncomfortable. To the point that I had been on Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter again to see what was out there. I had changed my profile on both to read, “Willing to relocate.”
Fuck.
I felt tears welling up again and I didn’t want to cry; especially, in public. I started to gather my salad and tea so that I could throw everything away. But my hands were shaking, so I decided to wait a few minutes. I leaned my head into the booth seat and looked to the ceiling. My eyes closed again briefly, as I felt myself semi-relax.
“Ma’am, can I take this for you?”
I snapped out of my trance at the sound of the voice.
“Uhh, sure. Thank you.”
“No worries at all.”
After the server walked off with all the items from my table and wiped it down, I buried my face in my hands contemplating my next move. I didn’t know exactly how long I’d taken up booth space, but since my table was clear, I was sure at some point they’d be giving me the periodic, ‘When are you leaving?’ glance. That, or calling the police like Starbucks did the two brothas in Philadelphia.
“I’ll just wait patiently,” I heard a voice say.
It took me a few seconds to process that the person was actually talking to me. It took the same amount of time for me to recognize the voice. Although, at the time, it seemed far-fetched. I quickly yanked my hands away from my face; sure enough, it was him sitting right in the booth across from me, giving me the shock of my life.
“Marco . . .”
-93-
KASSIDI
After speaking his name, I couldn’t find new words to say. Instead, my mouth hung open in disbelief. I was sure my lips moved in some kind of attempt to initiate dialogue, but I fell short. All I could think of was everything that happened back at his home. I wore humiliation like I wore the clothes I had on. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as my body reached temperatures I was sure could register, as a high-grade fever on any thermometer.
“How did you . . .? What are you . . .?”
Marco leaned forward his hands together, fingers intertwined atop the table. He stared at me, his eyes searching mine for answers that I didn’t have enough of. I couldn’t look directly at him, and instead chose an area off to the side of him to focus on.
“Talk to me, Kassidi,” he said.
There was so much compassion in his voice that, surprisingly, it soothed me immediately.
“I honestly don’t know what to say, Marco,” I commented, finally summoning enough courage to look at him.
“Try . . .”
I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. “Okay,” I whispered. I took a pregnant pause to gather myself. “I’m mortified. I’m humiliated.” I inhaled a deep breath and then released it before concluding with, “Just extremely embarrassed.”
Marco separated his hands and then opened them, palms-up as an invitation for me to put my hands inside his. It was an intimate gesture that had butterflies circling all up in my stomach, my chest . . . everywhere. I’d felt his touch on many occasions, but never with so much meaning behind it. I almost sighed out loud when I laid my hands inside of his. It felt like home.
“Mortified. Humiliated. Embarrassed. That’s what you said?”
I nodded in affirmation. “Yes.”
“They’re emotions that you have full control over. I can understand you being mortified because you came to have a good time and never considered that somebody would show up to disturb your peace. Don’t give that prick that power. As far as you being humiliated, fuck that. You have no reason to be humiliated. If any fucking body should feel that, it’s him. He couldn’t hold your attention and it led you to . . . me.” He shrugged. “It’s the only way to put it.”
I blushed slightly when he said the words because as he did, he ran his thumb across the top of my hand and sent chills down the back of my neck and to my spine.
“Trust me when I tell you that he’s the one embarrassed now. The one thing a person should never do is invite themselves to their own ass-kicking. It’s not a good look. I finished him off after you left.”
“Oh my God, Marco . . .”
“Not like that, Kassidi. He’s in one piece—but his ego isn’t.”
“Okay,” I whispered obediently, not even sure why.
“And for the record, I had a heavy conversation with Cyn too. And now I want to tell you pieces of that because I should’ve a long time ago. The only reason I didn’t was because it wasn’t really important on any level.”
“I already figured it out. She’s his ex.”
“Yeah, she is. I’ve always known that. Before Alonzo got into the relationship with your friend, him and Cyn had something goin’ on. I didn’t like it because that’s my boy and I knew that she was still carrying a torch for that psycho. But it is what it is. Long story, short . . . Cyn put together the pieces the night you and your friends came to my show. She wanted me to tell the dude what happened.”
“What?!”
“Yeah, but I told her then, it wasn’t gonna happen.”
“I appreciate you telling her ‘no’. I really do.”
“It wasn’t my place to do that. I’m disappointed in Cyn. It’s gonna take a whole lot for her and me to get back to where we were. I looked at her like a sister. But for her to bring that man around, wasn’t cool. I saw a side of her that I didn’t know, which tells me that he brings out the worst in her. I don’t like it. But I let her know that.”
I pulled my hands from Marco’s and covered my eyes.
“I hate that this shit affected more than just me. I don’t agree at all with what Cyn did, and I did plan to have a separate conversation with her to let her know that. But, I didn’t want to impact your relationship with her.”
The Graffiti Effect Page 32