by Toya Wright
“Stop being so…so…so damn controlling. You said I could take my time with my career. Shit! I had no plans of retiring myself before 30!”
“Did you ever think about the sense of pride it gives me to take care of you?”
“Ty, don’t you get it? It’s about being constructive with my time, doing something I enjoy doing.
“Face it Bae, I make way more money than you ever could.”
Kennedi’s eyes filled with tears. She scooped up her car keys and ran out to her car. She left so fast, she left her phone and he knew there would be no way of reaching her. He wouldn’t know where she was or what she was doing, he would just have to wait on her to come back.
The sun was rising when she came back home. She was gone almost a full twelve hours. She really needed to clear her head and get away from him. Kennedi wanted to see if she was being unrealistic or not. After replaying several of the conversations in her head, nothing led her to believe that she was being unrealistic.
She decided it was time to have a baby. She wanted to start trying immediately. Ty was spending more time away on set. His last two films were blockbusters! Ty was becoming so busy that his agent had to drop his other clients. Going from speaking engagements to movies to endorsement spots, Ty had arrived!
They made the best of the time when he was home. He was tired from basically living on set, spending 12 to 16 hour days filming. Kennedi still pounced on him and they fucked like rabbits until he had to leave again. If he made quick trips for auditions or premiers, she accompanied him.
Kennedi felt overwhelmed. She didn’t know anybody who was trying to have a baby and couldn’t. Starting a family was something they both grew to desperate want. She wouldn’t feel like a woman unless she could give her husband a child.
She took a long, hot shower. The enormity of trying completely stressed her out. She wanted to wash her cares right down the drain. The bathroom mirror was completely covered in steam. That didn’t stop her from singing to an imaginary audience. Wrapped in a soft, terry cloth towel, she picked up her brush and sang her heart out. Kennedi swiped the mirror and looked at herself as she sang her heart out. She couldn’t even recognize herself looking through a wall of tears. She was hurting so desperately and wanted the tide to turn in her life.
Through it all, she maintained that she wanted to hop back in the studio. But not getting pregnant was weighing heavily on her mind. Kennedi went to the doctor to get checked out and see what she could do naturally to conceive.
Ty suggested that they find a girl to fuck. He told her it would ease her mind. They started the night at a strip club. It had been a while since the two of them had done anything fun. Kennedi planned on enjoying the night with her husband. Once they arrived, they were immediately escorted to a VIP area.
Before they could even get seated, a girl was checking on them to get their drinks ordered. Four girls crowded the area and began practically fighting their way into the booth. They knew with celebrities like Kennedi and Ty, some real money was going to be spent.
The couple took it all in, the vibe was great and the energy was high. The building was practically shaking from the low, hard-hitting bass blasting out of the speakers. Girls were giving lap dances, others were walking around trying to find willing patrons. Stacks and British came over, hugged and said hi. They all shot the shit for a few songs, then British and Stacks headed back to their booth.
“Look at her,” Ty said into his wife’s ear. He nodded to a girl with a hot pink bikini bottom and beautiful round breasts. Kennedi had been thinking about her.
“Mmmm,” Kennedi could barely hear Ty. He didn’t mean for her to hear, but she was in tune with her man. “I want her,” he nodded to the stage. There was a girl in a blue one piece. Her outfit looked like strings with small patches over the nipples and vagina. She moved so slowly, it was almost painful to watch, but it was so seductive. Ty couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Her hair was long and wavy with a chunk of blue in the bang. She had a tattoo of flowers that wrapped from under one breast around to the top of her ass crack.
“Make some change! Make some change!” The DJ blasted overhead. “Sapphire comin’ to da stage and y’all know how she do! I want e’erybody in the building to come show muh girl some love! Leggo!”
Without warning, Sapphire fell into a split as soon as the beat dropped. The DJ really liked her, so he gave her one of the hottest songs in the game. She bounced up and down effortlessly while rolling her torso at the same time. One of the other dancers walked onto the stage with a chair, opened it, then sat down in it.
“Oh shit! Y’all know it’s about to go down. When Sapphire brang out a chair, ya know she ‘bout to get down to bidness! C’mon with dem ones!” The DJ blasted.
As Sapphire did the stripper stroll around the girl on the chair, more strippers and patrons crowded around the stage. Ty sat up on the couch to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Sapphire climbed up the pole on stage, swung her legs up over her head and started pussy popping in a hand stand, while holding on to the pole! Instead of just coming back down, she flipped her whole body and landed in the lap of the girl on the chair. The place went bananas! While dollars rained on the stage, the girl slapped Sapphire’s ass and it wobbled as if it sounded like thunder rolling.
By the time she finished her routine, the stage was completely covered in money. You couldn’t even see the stage. The bouncers brought her big black trash bags and a broom to get it all. She walked away with three bags.
“Her.” Ty said. Kennedi told the girl who was grinding on her to go get Sapphire. When Sapphire came out, she was in leggings a cute top, totally not work appropriate. Sapphire explained that she had only planned to work one set that night. She was past the point of giving lap dances, unless they were at private parties.
Kennedi thought that was interesting, but she could easily see how. Sapphire made more money in her three or four song set than most of the girls made all night. Kennedi told her to meet them at a hotel and Sapphire agreed. Even though Ty and Kennedi had been tipping the girls for the last hour, he gave them all three hundreds as he grabbed Kennedi’s hand and they left.
Once in the room, Ty ordered champagne and strawberries from room service. Kennedi walked Sapphire to the bathroom where the glass shower was. They dropped their clothes on the marble floor and hopped in. He sat there and watched them fondle each other and bathe. It was a beautiful sight. Ty was so excited, he couldn’t wait to stick his piece inside of Sapphire.
“I can’t wait to make that ass clap,” Ty said to Sapphire when they stepped out. She was still dripping wet, he slowly rubbed his hand down the curve of her hips. She blushed and Kennedi put her hand on his back. The three of them got busy right there in the bathroom. The room service arrived after round one. They laid in the bed feeding each other and drinking the champagne. Ty slipped under the covers and began eating Sapphire out. Round two.
What Kennedi began to notice over time, between threesomes with strippers or women they came across in public, was her husband had stopped being attracted to her sexually. In her mind it was because she could not bear him any children and he felt like she wasn’t really a woman.
He got off on her letting him have sex with other women. Even though it was more for his enjoyment than hers, the agreement was that they had to do it together. Initially, Kennedi was into it. She loved having threesomes. They turned her on as much as they did Ty. Seeing that Ty preferred to have sex together with other women took some of the thrill away from her. She wasn’t enough for him anymore. He barely looked at her and when he did, she had to work to excite him.
He complimented the other women, he salivated over them, he fantasized about them when he was with Kennedi. When they had sex, he fucked Kennedi while talking about past ménages they had, claiming that he was trying to turn her on more. It was all too much. She continued having threesomes to please him.
Kennedi started to feel uncomfortable about it. When other girls we
re in the room, he forgot about her. It seemed like she was only there so she couldn’t come back and say he had done it without her.
She told him that she did not want to do them anymore. Ty looked at her like she had three heads. He came at her with some bullshit.
“Bae,” Ty started, “that kind of fantasy will help relieve some of the stress you deal with on a regular basis. You need a break from reality. All you worry about is trying to get pregnant and get in the studio, neither of which is working for you.”
“I am the one who initiated this. I’m telling you I don’t want to do that anymore. That should be good enough for you.”
“You don’t mean it.”
“I absolutely do.”
“Would you feel more comfortable if we had a steady girl? I’ll even let you choose.” He was proud that in his mind, he had come up with a solution. Kennedi was insulted that he said he would let her choose.
“I need a career. I need that release.”
“You release every time we fuck somebody,” he laughed hard, clearly amusing himself. Kennedi stared at him.
“I have been doing this for years to make you happy. I have done whatever you needed or wanted me to do. You are not supporting the one thing that I ask of you to make me happy.”
“Nobody wants to hear your washed up ass trying to hop on a mic. You are a has been…a Where Are They Now special.”
“It’s not all about me being in the studio. I want to find talent. I can be a manager. I can write songs, there are so many areas of the music industry.”
“You better find fulfillment picking out some drapes because the only jobs you are going to have are wife and mother.”
“I…AM…NOT…A…MOTHER!” she yelled in frustration.
“Let’s make it happen, Kennedi. We have all the money in the world, it shouldn’t be a problem. We can get a surrogate or do that in vitro shit.”
“I don’t want a damn surrogate.”
“Make an appointment for in vitro. Let’s get this show on the road!”
Kennedi made the appointment and they spoke to the doctor. For the mere…absurd…cost of $20,000 they could try in vitro. The doctor explained the whole process and they were excited to give it a try.
It didn’t work. They tried again. Kennedi’s heart was still filled with tremendous hope and promise. She was excited that modern technology would allow her to get to this point. She was going to be a mother after all. She was very nervous about it, but told The Divas.
We were all crunk about it too. We went out for a celebratory dinner to help lift her spirits. We knew how much it meant to Kennedi to have mini Kennedi’s and mini Ty’s. She was a good person, with a good heart. We encouraged her the best way we could.
The second attempt failed. So did the third. Kennedi was starting to swirl deeper and deeper into disappointment. The doctor said there seemed to be nothing wrong with either of them, it just wasn’t happening naturally and the in vitro wasn’t sticking. She was starting to feel her life spiral in the wrong direction.
She got the call about the last in vitro try as she was getting ready to meet Ty at a premier. The call could not have come at a worse time. Kennedi knew she couldn’t not show up for the premier. People expected her to be on the red carpet. She finished getting ready and got into the car service.
Kennedi was so beside herself, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She was able to catch them fast and thank God for waterproof mascara, but seeing herself try and fail to become pregnant over and over was becoming too much. As they rounded the corner for the red carpet, she dabbed her eyes again. She looked up at the roof of the car, blinking the tears back so she could refresh her face. “Time to put this mask back on, Kennedi. You have to be a happy, supportive wife tonight. Your life is together. You have it all. Other people would kill to be where you are,” she said to hype herself up.
She made it up in her mind that she would show Ty that she was about her business. What hurt was how he always instantly went to degrading her, never supporting her dreams. She complimented him on his films and great directing ability, practiced scenes for him, went to auditions and award shows. She was there for him, yet he did not offer the same support. She knew he was afraid that she would come back into the spotlight and be bigger than he was. She just didn’t have the balls to tell him that.
Sadly, she realized that the only thing that really validated her was the public. She had a near flawless body, but she worked out relentlessly, and ate healthy foods. She compared herself to the images of other singers and actors even though she knew in their day to day lives, they didn’t even look the same as they did on film and in pictures. Everything was smoke and mirrors.
Kennedi started telling Ty she was hanging with The Divas, but instead, she was booking studio time. Thinking about the career she wanted to have, she wrote a pop club banger. She studied the hot songs that were out, then infused a little of that old Kennedi flavor. She was good to go! Being a pro, my girl got it down in a few sessions. Interested to see if she could conjure up some of the old buzz, she took the single to radio stations in Atlanta and asked them to add it to their rotation. In less than seven days, her single was in the top three songs requested on every station.
Ty got word that his wife had a new, hot single on the airwaves. People were calling and texting him saying they were glad she was back. Angry, he ran to the stations to get the DJ’s to take it out of their rotation. Cold hard cash makes it easy for people to change their minds. He paid the DJ’s not to play it.
Sade was the one who heard Ty was paying the stations off. Sade called Kennedi to let her know, friend to friend, that’s what the streets were saying. Sadly, one of the DJ’s leaked the info to the blogs, which got national spotlight and the story took off. Ty Revels Pays Atlanta Radio Stations Not To Play His Wife Kennedi’s New Single!
The press had a field day with it. Neither Kennedi nor Ty responded to the article. Kennedi tweeted a thank you to the public for still believing in her.
Coming home from a good workout, Kennedi was surprised to see Ty sitting in the living room. He sat there with a tumbler glass, no ice just cognac. It was the middle of the day.
“Hey, Bae.”
“See how you got me out here looking in these streets?”
“What ‘chu mean?”
“I told you not to go to the studio. I told you to leave that music shit alone. But you…had to go do what you wanted anyway. I’m big enough for the both of us!”
“Ty, we have been trying to conceive for four years. Three naturally and one with in vitro. That shit is wearing me out.” She walked closer and saw him sitting in front of her notebook full of lyrics. “What are you doing with that?”
“This…bullshit that nobody wants to hear? I’m going to get rid of it.”
“What is your problem?!” The tears fell easily. She was a walking emotional basket case.
“I’m just taking out the trash.” Ty lit the pages in the book with a lighter. Kennedi ran over to him scrambling to snatch it away. He jumped up with his back to her moving swiftly to keep her from getting it until the pages were burned too badly.
“Fuck you, Ty! Fuck you!” she shouted as he laughed and walked away.
Reeling from the fact that one of the DJ’s took the story to a blog, Ty was livid and unrelenting. He saw how positive the public’s outcry was about his wife having new music. His punk ass didn’t care. Kennedi realized just how afraid he was that her career would eclipse his. What she thought was only a need to be able to provide for his family and show his father that he could, was really a lack of confidence bordering on jealousy. It was totally unfounded because the fickle public loved him and thought he was talented as well.
Now, there was a refreshed interest in Kennedi. She was able to land a lucrative endorsement deal with a major national makeup powerhouse, as well as be featured on the covers of magazines.
Not really being into the whole Kennedi craze, Ty went behind K
ennedi’s back and began seeing Sapphire. They were sleeping together on a regular basis, which was easy to do with his hectic acting schedule and her equally as hectic ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude. With Kennedi’s deeply rooted feelings of alienation, she wasn’t exactly trying to keep tabs on him. She was too busy sneaking back into the studio to record another hit.
Drastically, she saw a lawyer and had divorce papers drawn up. She had no intention on getting a divorce, she wanted to scare him straight. She had spent too many years being miserable living under him. She was not his property and had to reclaim her life before she looked back and 20 years had passed her by in a dark haze.
Ty did not give her the reaction she wanted. When she presented him with the papers, this fool moved out of the house! If she wanted a divorce, he was going to give her one. He took Sapphire on a widely publicized trip, making sure they both took pictures practically every hour to post. Ty made sure that pictures of the two of them were seen everywhere. Kennedi was devastated. She was not worried about the lifestyle or the money she had grown accustomed to since he became a top film dynamo, she wanted her husband back. She missed their love and their friendship.
Maybe the trip Ty went on was a cry for help. He could have been trying to use that as a scare tactic for Kennedi to come back to him. She was hurt, but somewhat relieved. It felt good not to have to tip toe around to do what she felt she was born to do. For the first time in years, she was invited to the music awards and was even asked to present.
Her confidence was rekindled. Ty had her feeling like nobody was checking for her. He never gave her compliments, instead he relished on the girls they slept with. He got so free with it that they could be just walking in the store and he’d walk up to a complete stranger and tell her how pretty she was. Kennedi would have to contain her feelings, like it didn’t bother her. She didn’t want the other women to see her insecurities. She was so sweet and hated the thought of confrontation to the point that she barely said anything about it.