What's His Is Mine

  “Zakiya, calm down. Let me see—I’ll pull it up on my phone.”

  “The pictures are at the bottom of the page. You have to scroll down.”

  Adrienne didn’t say anything for a few moments, then she said, “Zakiya, these are just club pictures. They don’t mean anything. He just took a picture—no big deal. People always want to take pictures with famous people. He is not cheating on you, okay? You are pregnant and have to relax and don’t let your emotions get the best of you.”

  “You think so?” I asked.

  “Yes. Now relax, Zakiya. Don’t get yourself all upset over nothing, okay? Don’t bring these petty pictures to Jabril. It is not worth it. You have to pick your battles, Zakiya. This is not one worth fighting, okay? It’s only pictures.”

  “I guess you’re right. Thanks, Adrienne. I’m not going to say anything.”

  Chapter 57

  Cherise

  Michelle Hartley was out on maternity leave and I was at the news desk for the morning and weekend news. The weekend news stories were light and breezy. It was fun, and since I took over, the ratings had been great. I was just so happy not to be covering sports anymore. They hired this real energetic guy, Pete Seleciak, and he was a sports head. So life was going well, but I didn’t have anyone to celebrate my promotion with. I guess, whether I liked it or not, I was on my way to becoming another Mrs. Ellerbe—a beautiful, successful woman with a great career but no man or children. I wanted to at least call Gavin back and talk to him. I felt like a man: I slept with him, used him, and now won’t return his calls. I’m actually embarrassed about everything and I don’t know if we can ever just be friends, so I’m avoiding him.

  I couldn’t decide what was worse—staying in my empty, lifeless condo or going out with someone I know I will never be with. Toni said I would never get over DeCarious if I continued to sulk and not move on. She was right, but I went out on a blind date she set up last week. It was awful. I looked at him across the table at the restaurant, aggravated. I wasn’t even going to waste his time. Before he ordered dinner, I asked him to take me home. There was no need pretending. I wanted what I wanted, and that was DeCarious. I missed him so much it hurt. I wanted to hear his voice. I wanted to feel his touch. I thought as time went by it would get easier, but it didn’t. I still felt like the biggest fool. I kept wondering what I did wrong to make him run and leave me and marry his daughter’s mother. I don’t know if I worked too much or was too independent. I should have stopped trying to fight him and let him treat me like a lady. I wanted to be Miss Independent and now look—I was single again.

  Chapter 58

  Adrienne

  A woman knows when she is losing control. We might not want to admit it, but we know. But there are all kinds of signs that your relationship is going downhill. It is the way he looks at you; it’s the way he doesn’t look at you. It is the way he calls you; it is the way he doesn’t call you. It’s the way when you call him he doesn’t answer the phone, or when you’re trying to be nice and he still tries to pick a fight with you.

  Basically, I knew I was losing DeCarious. If I had him under a spell it seemed to be deteriorating. I was doing everything in my power to make things work. I hadn’t been to the mall and I even cooked dinner last night. But DeCarious’s bitch shit didn’t stop. I was hoping that after his surprise party everything would go back to being normal. I rented a hall a few miles from our house. Miss Anne invited everyone and the hall was going to decorate and prepare the food. The only thing I had to do was buy the cake.

  I arrived at the hall and the decorations were set up nicely. The food looked delicious. I got him a big football-shaped cake that read “Happy Birthday, DeCarious.”

  Everything was fine, but I was still nervous. Miss Anne and Mr. Joe invited a lot of DeCarious’s cousins and relatives from Louisiana that I’ve never met. When I spoke to them, they gave me dead faces and didn’t speak back. I got the impression DeCarious’s entire family hated me, but that was okay. They didn’t matter. The only people that I cared about were DeCarious and Asia. I took a deep breath and approached my mother-in-law.

  “Miss Anne, do you think DeCarious is going to be surprised?” I asked.

  “He should be. Everything looks nice. Good job. When are you going to call him?”

  “I’m going to call him now and tell him that I have a flat,” I said as I stepped out of the hall, but before I did that I was going to the bar to get a drink. I needed one to relax my nerves. I looked around to see if anyone was looking. I ordered a vodka and cranberry. Right after I set my drink on the bar, Mr. Joe tapped my shoulder and asked where the bathroom was. I wasn’t sure if he could smell the liquor on my breath, but I spoke with my lips closed anyway.

  “Over there, Mr. Joe. I’m about to call DeCarious now,” I said as I pulled out my phone and dialed him up.

  “DeCarious, I have a flat. I pulled into the parking lot near that hall on Old Mercer Road.”

  “Here I come.” He sighed.

  I went outside and put my hazard lights on and parked in front of the hall. Ten minutes later he pulled up and I forgot I hadn’t figured out how I was going to get him inside without looking at my tire. He walked up to the car and inspected the tires.

  “Adrienne, your tire is not flat. What kind of game are you playing?”

  “It’s not? I thought it was flat. The car was shaking and wobbling to the side. Well, that’s a relief, but walk me inside real quick.”

  “For what, Adrienne? What are you thinking about? And what do you have on? Where were you on your way to, and where is my daughter? Something’s not right. I’m leaving. I have something to do,” he said as he walked back toward his car.

  “No, DeCarious, I need you to come with me. I have something for you,” I said as I ran and grabbed his arm. “I thought it was flat. Can you walk me inside? I just want to go to the restroom and I want you to ride behind me when we leave.”

  He finally followed me and I led him inside. He still had no idea what was going on until we walked into the hall and everyone shouted “Happy Birthday” to him. He was really shocked. He put his face down for a moment and then brought it back up and said, “Y’all got me.” He smiled and thanked everyone and gave me a kiss on the cheek and said thank you.

  The food was good; we danced and took a lot of pictures. I didn’t spend a lot of money, but we all had a great time. Everyone came up and said how nice and beautiful everything was. I did it. DeCarious was very happy, or at least I thought so.

  On the way home, I was so excited—I did it. I pulled it off. The party was wonderful and DeCarious was no longer angry with me. To top the night off, I was going to meet him at home and hopefully get a baby in my womb tonight.

  I came in the door and DeCarious was downstairs sitting at the dining room table. I walked up to him and kissed him and said, “Baby, did you enjoy your party?”

  “Yes, thank you. It was wonderful,” he said as he thanked me again and gave me a hug and kiss. I had him, I thought. I gave him another kiss and then began to unzip his pants.

  “Hold up, Adrienne. I need to ask you something,” he said, backing away.

  “Yes, baby?” I said looking up at him.

  “Are you pregnant?”

  “Yeah, I’m pregnant,” I said, shocked.

  “How many months?”

  “Almost four months.”

  “If you’re pregnant, why were you at the Key Club with bottles of champagne? And my dad saw you drinking tonight.”

  Shit, I didn’t know what to tell him. Should I tell him I lost the baby? I couldn’t tell him the truth.

  “I was not drinking tonight, DeCarious.”

  “You weren’t? Okay, but you’re pregnant, right?”

  “Yeah, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Okay, we are going to see,” he said as he went into the living room and came back with a pregnancy test.

  “Are you serious? You want me to take a pregnancy test?” I said, looking
over at him. I didn’t know what to think or say. This shit was crazy.

  “I do, right now. If you are pregnant, then we move on. If you are not, then we have a big problem.”

  “I can’t believe you would actually doubt me,” I said, shaking my head.

  “That’s what the test is for—to get rid of all the doubt.”

  “You are crazy. I can’t believe your family got you thinking all crazy. This is madness,” I said as I walked out of the dining room into the living room.

  He followed me, grabbed my arm, and said, “Take this test, Adrienne. Our whole marriage rests on this. Are you going to take the test or not?”

  “No, I’m not taking any stupid test. What does that test prove?”

  “A whole lot,” he said as he threw the test down and started to walk out of the house. “You don’t love me. I tried—I really tried, and all you want to do is play games. You keep making me look like a fool and I’m tired of it.”

  I followed him outside as he got in the car and began pulling off. I jumped in the car with him. He stopped the car, pulled out the keys, got out, and yanked me out of the car. Then he got in and locked the doors before I could get up off the ground. He slowly began driving away as I banged on the window and yelled, “Okay, okay. I’ll take the test!” I screamed.

  He stopped the car and came back in the house and picked up the test off the floor. I knew the test was about to read “not pregnant” so I had to come clean. I walked over to DeCarious and said, “I lost the baby. I didn’t know how to tell you, because you were so excited. And I was just hoping I would get pregnant again. Then I was going to tell you.” I began holding him and hugging him, hoping he would hug me back.

  “Adrienne, get off of me before I hurt you. We are over.”

  “I told you the truth, DeCarious.”

  “You’ve been lying all along,” he said as he went to leave the house.

  “No, I haven’t,” I said, blocking the door as he tried to leave.

  “Move out of my way, Adrienne.”

  “No, we need to talk,” I said as he pushed me out of his way and went to get in his car. I jumped in with him.

  “Adrienne, I’m not playing. On my mama, I’m going to hurt you if you don’t get out of my car.”

  “I’m not getting out of anywhere.”

  “Yes, you are. I’m going to ask you again—please get out of my car.” I was not getting out of the car. He snatched the keys out of the ignition and came around to the passenger side and started yelling, “I married your ass for nothing. You haven’t changed. All you want to do is lie and spend my money.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is. You ain’t shit, Adrienne. You not. I fell for your stupid lies and tricks, but it is over now. I’m leaving you.” He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me out. I was getting tired of him talking about me and I was mad that he knew I wasn’t pregnant. He kept trying to get me out of the car so I just attacked him. I began kicking, scratching, and swinging on him. I wanted him to hit me back, but he wouldn’t. He just went to the driver side and opened the door and pushed me out of the seat and I fell to the ground and he pulled off.

  When DeCarious left, I called Miss Anne to tell her that her son just pushed me out of his car. She didn’t sound like she was that interested in hearing my side of the story. So I just hung up on her. I couldn’t believe DeCarious was acting this irrational. I kept calling his telephone, but he would not pick up. I decided I would stop calling him and let him relax and calm down. He loved me and his daughter, and I knew he didn’t really want us to leave. I wasn’t going to worry about it. I went upstairs, took a shower, and got in the bed. When DeCarious came home I’d be ready to talk and forgive him.

  I heard DeCarious come in the house at five a.m. It sounded like he was not alone. I didn’t feel like dealing with anyone, so I stayed in the bed. But then I heard multiple footsteps coming toward the door and then the bedroom light came on. I looked up and I saw two police officers.

  “Ma’am, we have an order for protection from abuse.”

  What? I must have still been asleep. I tried to wake up. I knew DeCarious’s bitch ass got a protection from abuse on me. “So, what do you want me to do?”

  “Ma’am, I need you to get all your belongings and leave.”

  “Huh?” I questioned the police officer who was putting me out. “Are you serious?” I asked.

  “Very serious, and I need you to get out of bed and move quicker.”

  “What? This is bullshit. He put me out of his car. Arrest him for pushing me out of the car.”

  “Miss, your husband filed this paperwork on you. He has bruises and scratches. If he hit you, you can go file a complaint against him. But right now, I need you to get dressed and leave.” I was ready to hit them for even believing that I could abuse DeCarious’s big, okeydoke ass.

  I packed a few things and the police told me I was not to return or have any contact with DeCarious and gave me a court date.

  I had nowhere to go. I checked into a hotel and tried to figure things out. I couldn’t believe how foul DeCarious was being. I called Miss Anne and told her I was coming to get Asia. I didn’t know if they would try to keep my baby.

  I picked up Asia and strapped her in her car seat. I drove back to Philadelphia and didn’t know what I was going to do next.

  Chapter 59

  Zakiya

  Jabril had the NTX Sports Network coming to the house to interview him. It was Claudette’s job to make sure everything was organized and together, but she missed her flight. So I had to do everything. The house needed a quick clean and all the cars needed to get detailed. I was tired, but I got everything done.

  The interviewer and his camera crew came to the house at exactly 3 p.m. I wore a white T-shirt, gray sweat pants, and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail. I didn’t care, because I wasn’t being interviewed. I had been rushing around the house making sure everything was right. I didn’t have time to get dressed.

  I welcomed the crew. I pulled out the fruit and sandwich trays. The interviewer was a young white guy with a blue-collared shirt on and brown khakis. Jabril took them out to the basketball court and they did the majority of the interview out there.

  “So how is life in the NBA so far?”

  “It’s cool. I’m on the road a lot and I miss my home town. Camden.”

  “You miss Camden. Aren’t you happy you left and got away from the rough streets?”

  “No, Camden is a place that’s my family. I love that city. I wouldn’t trade it for everything in the world.”

  Jabril was handling the interviewer well. I didn’t want to be on camera, so I stood on the sideline staying out of the camera’s lens. Every time the camera turned in my direction I moved out of the way, until the interviewer asked about the baby and the camera zoomed in on me and my stomach. They asked me to come over and join them. I said no.

  Jabril finished the interview, then it was back on the road. It was very hard to see him go. I felt like he was always leaving me. Claudette said I was emotional because I was pregnant.

  A few weeks later I went back to that Web site that Jade told me about, just to check to see if Jabril had any new pictures up there. He wasn’t in any pictures, but the Web site did have a clip of Jabril’s interview with NTX and they had a big caption that read: Jabril Smith—Is That Your Baby Mama? I played the video and saw the clip of me when they zoomed in on me.

  There were all these comments about how could I be on television with a rag on my head and not dressed.

  The _#1 _Chick

  That bitch is fugly

  212Eyesdontlie

  They are cute couple she is so pretty and he loves her

  The _#1 _Chick

  Who ever say they are a cute couple must be her friend LMAO

  I logged on and made an account. I decided to post a couple of things myself. I stayed on the computer for three hours. I went back and forth with haters. Fuck these stupid bitc
hes.

  I read two hundred comments on how cute Jabril was and how I was one lucky ugly bitch. There were comments from people who went to school with him who said he left his high school sweetheart when he got signed. I typed in his name and did a search, and the first page was all basketball stuff, but I kept clicking and then I started seeing all these pics. He had two girls on each side of him biting his bottom lip. He looked like he had been drinking. I didn’t know what to think. I looked to see when the pictures were from. There were all these Web sites with girls on there saying they met him in every city and what hotel they stayed in. I went back to check the dates and they matched Jabril’s schedule.

  This time I didn’t listen to Adrienne. I was so mad I called Jabril. “When were you in Miami, Jabril? Did you meet some girl in New Orleans?”

  “No, what are you talking about?”

  “Or how about last month, when y’all played the Wizards?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “There are pictures of you with all these girls. They are talking about where you have your tattoos. First it was girls in Miami, then other girls in New Orleans.”

  “Man, I just took pictures when girls asked me. They have pictures with my tattoos everywhere.”

  “What about your high school sweetheart? You left her.”

  “What? Where are you getting this stuff from? She broke up with me in eleventh grade. Now she keeps calling me.”

  “All these girls are saying they mess with you.”

  “Who? Where? I don’t mess with anybody. They are lying, Kiya. I don’t want anyone else. What are you talking about?”

  “You got me pregnant, fat, and ugly. You trapped me so I can’t leave. But I’m still leaving. I don’t need you, Jabril. I’m not going to be my sister. I’m not going to have a man cheat on me and keep getting me pregnant. When you get here, I won’t be here. Jabril, you’re not going to ruin my life.” I ended the call.