What's His Is Mine

  DAMN, I GUESS YOU TOLD ME. SORRY, BABE. CAN I MAKE IT UP TO YOU?

  I smiled down at my phone and texted him back.

  SURE.

  I smiled.

  TONIGHT. YOUR PLACE AT 7PM, he texted.

  OKAY, I typed back

  Promptly at 7 p.m. DeCarious was at the door. He had two bags with him.

  “What’s in all the bags?”

  “Dinner. My baby is working hard, and I have to understand. She can’t take off to go on a trip with me to the islands. I have to bring the islands to her.” He started putting out tropical drinks and food all over the table. Then he put his iPod in my dock and began playing reggae tunes. I had a seat and he served me dinner and drinks. He poured a coconut drink and made me a plate of red beans, curry, and jerk chicken.

  The food was good and DeCarious had really thought the evening out. He served me like a queen, then made a cute toast.

  “To us for you being the perfect woman. I wish I would have met you years ago. Maybe this is the beginning to our forever,” he said.

  “Our forever,” I repeated. I looked into DeCarious’s eyes. It scared me how serious he was at times. We hadn’t been together that long, but I believed him.

  “I know, Cherise, but I’ve never fallen for anyone this fast. I really feel like you are the one. To meeting the one.”

  “I am the one what?” I asked.

  “You know—the one for me.”

  “What are you talking about, DeCarious?”

  “I just like everything about you. I like how independent you are. Cherise, you are perfect. I love everything on you, from your gorgeous face to your pretty pink toes.” I smiled. I was blushing. “I don’t know, we are going to have to go ring shopping.”

  “We will see about that, but right now, thank you for the earrings. They are beautiful.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Our night was perfect. It wasn’t because he was talking about marriage or because he bought me earrings. It was perfect because DeCarious was just the sweetest man I had ever met. I was really falling for him, and fast. So when he held my hand and walked me into my bedroom and laid me on my back, I didn’t stop him. We both quickly undressed. His body was so warm and firm. I wanted to attack him and could not get undressed fast enough. I was undressed and he still had his boxers on. He climbed on top of me and began kissing my navel and letting his tongue follow an invisible path up to my breasts. He unhooked my bra as I lay still. I wanted to relax and just enjoy every moment. Then he followed that invisible line back down past my pelvis. Just from his kisses alone, I felt a flash flood about to emerge from my body. It all felt so good I didn’t know if I wanted to hold it in or release everything. We then switched positions. He lay flat and I got on top of him and placed his body inside of me. Our flesh connected and again I almost exploded. DeCarious made my entire body tingle. I felt every jerk of his body from my spine to my toes. It was an incredible, indescribable feeling. I felt like I wanted him to stop but keep going at the same time.

  There was more pleasure than pain as we pleasured each other for hours straight. Two years of waiting was worth it for this moment.

  Chapter 26

  Tanisha

  “We need to discuss what address you’ll be using for your house arrest, Tanisha. I need to fax the information over.”

  “Here at my house. The Tioga Street address.”

  “Okay, Mr. Wallace gave another address. Let me give him a call and then I will call you back.”

  A few moments later Kevin called me, screaming and really upset. “Tanisha, did you just get a call about where you’re going to stay for your house arrest?”

  “Yes,” I answered, confused.

  “Okay, I was willing to pay for an apartment so you could get yourself together. I already discussed this with Tyrone.” It was the first time he had showed any emotion toward me in months. But it was crazy because he was arguing with me about something we hadn’t discussed.

  “Yeah, Kevin, Tyrone told me about that. Thank you, that’s very nice of you, but I’m going to stay here, where I’m at. My children are here.”

  “Your children are there. Do you know you have a son over here, too? I tried to make it easy for you. I can’t believe you—so now you are worried about your children? I don’t get you.”

  “What do you mean by that, Kevin?”

  “You leave for an entire year, without thinking about anyone but yourself. Then you come back. I paid your bail. I paid for your attorney. I tried to provide somewhere for you to live, all the while I have my own career and I’m raising our son.”

  I interrupted him and said, “I did say thank you, and one day I will be able to pay you back. I appreciate everything you did, Kevin, but I just want to stay here. This is my home.”

  “Before you left, your home was with me. I guess you forgot about that. Maybe you want to stay there so you can play house with your ex-husband.”

  “No, that’s not true. He is just helping me through all this and we are not getting back together.”

  “You think I believe that, Tanisha? You’re nothing but a liar. I thought you were dead, Tanisha. You let me think that for a year. All the emotions I went through, and now you are going to walk back into my life like nothing ever happened. No explanation. After all I’ve done for you. You haven’t even had a one-on-one conversation with me. I figured it was because you had so much going on, but now there is no excuse. How about this? Why don’t you go on the run again? This time make it seventeen years, so our son won’t ever have to know you. And you know what? Just stay out of my life, Tanisha. You hear me? Just stay out of our lives.” I was speechless. I knew Kevin was too damn calm. I didn’t know how to respond. He had so many things wrong.

  “And you still are not going to say anything?” Kevin asked.

  “Kevin, it is not like that at all. Let me explain,” I said, confused.

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me. You don’t know how much you hurt me by leaving, and then you come back in town like nothing.”

  “I’m sorry! Kevin, I’m so sorry,” I said as tears streamed down my face and I paced back and forth in the living room.

  “You’re sorry! All of this, and that’s all you have to say is you’re sorry. You fucking ran away! How pathetic is that? You ran away!”

  “Well, maybe if I didn’t have your crazy, stalking ex-girlfriend chasing me, I wouldn’t have run away, Kevin.”

  “So every time something crazy happens, you’re just going to run. If that’s the case, I don’t want you in my son’s life, Tanisha,” he said and disconnected our call. I tried to call him back several times and he didn’t answer.

  All I could do was pray on all of this. I just wanted my life to go back to normal. I just wanted to redeem myself, be a good mom, and get a job.

  I went upstairs to take a shower. I needed to destress. I took my clothes off, and got in the shower. No sooner did the hot water hit my body than my phone rang. I knew it had to be Kevin, so I grabbed a towel and raced to retrieve my cell phone from my bedroom.

  “Hello,” I said frantically.

  “Hey, Tanisha, it’s Adrienne.”

  “Hey.”

  “I was just checking in on you, making sure that everything was okay.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just got in the shower—can I call you back?”

  “Sure.” I wasn’t going to call Adrienne back. I didn’t really want to talk to her. Her voice was irritating and she just seemed like she still didn’t get it. She didn’t get that she gave me bad advice, I took it, and now my life was in shambles. All I wanted was a hot shower, a long nap, and a regular, drama-free life.

  Chapter 27

  Cherise

  I was covering the Falcons game, sitting in the press box with all the other reporters. Every time I saw number 65 run down the field, I held in my excitement. I couldn’t exactly scream, Go baby, but I wished I could. They were playing the Buccaneers and had just won. I wante
d to hurry up and go say, Good game to DeCarious. As I was coming out of the press box, I saw Tim’s wife, Mari. I went up to her and spoke. She looked very pretty and was speaking with two other beautiful women. They all had big designer-monogrammed bags.

  “Hey, Cherise. I didn’t know you covered the games, too! Wow, look at you,” Mari said.

  “Yeah, let me hurry and get to the locker room. I’ll see you later.”

  I spotted DeCarious coming off the field. I could tell he wanted me to hug him or do something like couples would do, but I couldn’t. I just said, Good game and told him I would be at his house after I got off work.

  I was meeting DeCarious to go meet his family. I hadn’t met anyone’s family since college, and hadn’t been that serious about anyone. I had had offers, but I said no. That to me was a very important step. He was everything I ever wanted. I tried to hold back a little. I don’t know, I’d never fallen for someone so fast, so quick, in my life. It was scary. I didn’t want to think too hard about it or overanalyze. Everything was going so well. I was just trying to make sure I didn’t mess it up. I called Toni to get a pep talk.

  “Ton—nee,” I sang.

  “Why are you all happy this afternoon?”

  “I’m about to go meet DeCarious’s parents and daughter. And I am so confused and scared.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it is so soon. We’ve been dating what, six weeks?”

  “Yeah, this is fast.”

  “Can you believe it? Who would have seen all of this coming?”

  “I don’t know—this is fast. But stop being silly. This is happening because you deserve it. You are right.”

  “But I’m still nervous a little bit.”

  “Don’t be nervous. You will be fine.”

  “I know, Toni. He makes me so happy. Oh my God, I said it. I am so happy.”

  “This is so wonderful. You are going to get your hyphenated name after all.” I thought about what Toni said and then told her she was silly and I would let her know how everything went.

  It took me a while, but I finally found DeCarious’s house. It was a big mansion and the next house was down the road. He greeted me at the door and gave me a kiss on my cheek and held my hand and led me inside his home. His mom was sitting on the sofa with his daughter. DeCarious said, “Mom, this is my girlfriend, Cherise.”

  She stood up and said, “Nice to meet you, Cherise.”

  “You look so familiar, like I’ve seen you before,” Mr. Joe said.

  “Because she is on the news, Dad,” DeCarious said.

  “You are? What channel?”

  “Channel 7.”

  “I love FOX 5, but since I know you now, I’m going to have to change my station.”

  Then a woman entered the room. She was holding a precious little baby girl. DeCarious took the baby out of the woman’s hands and then introduced his daughter, Malaysia, to me.

  “Cherise, this is my daughter’s mom, Adrienne.”

  “Adrienne, this is my girlfriend, Cherise.” The woman looked a little shocked. We shook hands and I told her it was nice to meet her, but she just rolled her eyes and retreated upstairs.

  Chapter 28

  Adrienne

  It was loud and festive at the Georgia Dome. Everyone had their red, black, and white Falcon colors on. DeCarious invited me, Asia, and his parents to his game. This was a major step for us. Being at the game was wives’ and girlfriends’ territory. Every now and then jumpoffs get tickets, too, but if DeCarious had anyone he liked she would be sitting in section 117, row 3, seat 2, instead of me.

  And I was happy to be here. My plan was working. One step at a time, I was reeling him back in. And I don’t know why, but DeCarious looked extra sexy and powerful in his uniform. I dressed Asia up real pretty in cute jeans and she had her red, black, and white Falcons colors on like everyone in the stadium. We were playing the Buccaneers and we were winning. I hadn’t realized how passionate Mr. Joe was about football. He was screaming at the plays and calls. It was the most I had ever heard him speak.

  Mr. Joe stood up and said, “Get them down! Take them down, son,” every time DeCarious took down one of the Buccaneers players.

  After the game was over, I had to show a special pass to get on the elevator and get into the family room. And with all the security they made us go through, there were still groupies galore in the room. They must have paid security to get down here without a pass. And I could tell they were groupies because of the hunger they had in their eyes. They looked so desperate and you could just tell they were on the prowl. Every time someone with a duffel bag walked through the doors, they tried to make eye contact and get their attention. Then I saw one groupie trying to make conversation with a player’s parents, I guess with the hope that they could introduce her when the player came out of the locker room. They were disrespectful, but hey, every girl has to eat and get hers. They just better stay away from DeCarious or I’m going to kick someone’s ass.

  After the game we had a beautiful dinner at Nakatos, this hibachi-style Japanese restaurant. There was me, Asia, DeCarious, Miss Anne, Mr. Joe, and even Rock and his girlfriend, Shaundra. Asia didn’t like the high flames and noise, but we all had a good time.

  I told DeCarious what a great game he’d had and he said thanks and I thought we were all happy, but then when we got back home DeCarious invited some woman over and introduced her to me as his girlfriend. What the hell is really going on?

  So here I am, thinking I’m making progress with DeCarious and we are a few steps away from being a couple and a family again, and he has the audacity to bring a chick home—what the hell? She spoke to me and I spoke back to her, but as soon as she turned her back, I wanted to kick my foot in her ass. I couldn’t show how upset I was, so I left and went upstairs until they left.

  I thought Miss Anne was my friend. I went to church with that bitch, and she knew about a real girlfriend, and didn’t tell me. I said aloud to Miss Anne, “I didn’t know DeCarious had a girlfriend.”

  “Me neither. I honestly thought you two were getting back together, because you’ve been spending so much time here. But anyway, she seems like a nice woman. And she is on the news on Channel 7,” Miss Anne said.

  “Oh, that’s nice.”

  “Yeah, that’s what DeCarious needs—a nice girl.”

  I knew I had to take action immediately. I didn’t know what I should do. This slow and steady was not going to work. Tonight I was going to take matters into my own hands. I would have to turn up my pace on getting DeCarious back.

  I was waiting for DeCarious to come home. He showed his girlfriend, now I had something to show him. I had it all planned out. I was going to walk out of the shower with my towel on. I then was going to knock on DeCarious’s door, drop my towel, and show him all the sex tricks I knew. He was not going to be able to resist me. He was going to forget about whatever her name was, and life would be great.

  Seducing DeCarious into obedience would have worked. I know it would have, but I didn’t get a chance because he never came home. I even texted him first thing this morning to tell him we had an early flight, so he could see us before we left. But he didn’t call or text back. This was mind-boggling and crazy. I couldn’t believe I missed the fact that this dummy had someone. I hate DeCarious’s sucker-for-love ass. I just wanted to get on my flight and go home. I needed to just go home, find a babysitter, and go to work every day, because it didn’t look like I was going to get DeCarious back. I didn’t know what my next step was going to be. I needed some rest so I could come up with a plan B.

  At the airport it took forever to get through security. I was lucky enough to make the machine go off, even though I had my shoes off, belt off, and everything out of my pockets.

  Asia and I arrived at gate A 27 with just forty-five minutes to spare. It was crowded and there was nowhere to sit. I was surprised they weren’t boarding yet. I walked around, trying to find a seat when I heard that my flight was going to be
delayed. Great, I thought.

  Chapter 29

  Zakiya

  Elena was dropping me off at the airport. It was bittersweet. I wanted to go home, but I wanted to stay and do more in LA. I’d lived so much life in such a short amount of time, and wanted to stay, but I couldn’t.

  As Elena pulled up to the terminal, we both began to tear up.

  “I can’t believe you are leaving. I’m going to miss you. I feel like we’ve known each other for years. I don’t know what I am going to do without you,” Elena said.

  “Girl, I’ll be back. I need to check on my sister, make sure everything is okay with her and my nephews. And she doesn’t charge me any rent, so I can definitely come back with enough money to get our apartment and buy a car.”

  “You promise? You think you can come back by January?”

  “I’m going to try,” I said as I exited the car and retrieved my bag from the backseat of the car.

  “Thank your brother Enrique for me, for this ticket. I’m so glad I’m not taking the damn bus back home.”

  “He thanks you. He gets buddy passes all the time. He needed that hundred dollars for his cell phone bill.”

  “Well, still tell him I’m so thankful.” I laughed. I gave Elena another quick hug and then said good-bye again.

  The airport was empty. I got through security with ease and went to my gate and waited for my flight. The gate agent began calling sections to board the plane. My ticket was standby so I had to wait for everyone to be seated. When she called my name I walked up and asked her if she called my name.

  “Yes, Zakiya Lee, we have one seat open. Give me a moment—step to the side, please, and I’ll check you in,” she said. I stepped over to the side and waited as she multitasked, tearing the tickets of all the other passengers and typing into her computer.