by Zi'ere
“Jai . . . Ryan was a man of power. His pockets were deep but you never had a worry about him cheating on you.”
“I trusted my man. I didn’t trust the female soldiers on the front lines with him. I didn’t trust his secretary when he started the business either. You remember how I clowned about that.”
“We are not saying for you to take offense and make Pain pay for all these thots out here that are dreaming to be in your position. A hoe is going to be just that. It is nothing against you personally….it just comes with the territory. Watch the company that Pain keeps, just as much as you watch him,” NaNa co-signs.
“Okay, I’m glad that you said that. Because at the wedding, Stymy and his girl Sanye threw me shade all damn day. I can’t even get the looks that they had on their faces out of my head,” I admit, as I accept the martini that the waitress places in front of me.
“It’s all in the eyes,” Jai points her finger at me.
“Just because those women are paired up with those men that they have been with for a minute and you are taught to love them like family….Well even family doesn’t want to always see you doing better than them.”
“Stymy is number two on the pole, ole girl might be ready for an upgrade and you don’t even know.”
NaNa and Jai give each other high fives.
“So . . . I’m supposed to know that my man is gonna fuck up and then all the while be strong enough to take it? Just because it comes with the lifestyle?”
“Yes Hunty!” Comes from Jai’s mouth.
“Don’t be Elin Woods, Juanita Jordan, Evelyn Lozada, or Ms. Jackson’s stupid asses! Live well and forget the temps!”
“You might as well put my damn name on the list too, because if I find out that mufu been that busy, I’m subject to kill his ass!”
I sit back and cross my arms over my chest.
“See that right there is what makes me truly believe that you will stick it out, just like Hilary did!”
“What?”
NaNa is on one and she is starting to rattle me.
“If you’re gonna kill him, then that means that you care too much about him. Instead of you just sending his ass on his way, without stooping to his level of stupidity.”
“You get revenge because you still care.”
Jai winks her eye at me.
I can’t lie and say that I’m not grateful for the knowledge that they are handing down to me. I appreciate it but it seems like a lot of work to put on my plate that is already running over. I have clients, school, Pain, the bank, and I have to watch out for family who is waiting for me to be sleeping on my job.
Sanye has always presented herself as an ally but I have no idea how many of the ladies are still rocking heavy with Tiffani and her cause to get Pain back. I know that the women don’t take kindly to strangers but enough time has passed. Pain and I are married. Despite the shade that they throw my way, I am one of the few who has a legal husband.
Chilling with my girls for the night is just what the doctor ordered. There is no more Kam posted up at the table and watching purses. I have things to do. What can be seen is Kam on the dance floor, tearing it up. I danced and drank, drank and danced. The chauffeur is definitely needed by all three of us.
I collapse on a sofa in the sitting room, just inside the foyer. There is no way that I can walk up a flight of stairs to get in the bed. When Gavin makes his way downstairs making all kinds of noise, I can tell that he is upset. He pokes me with his cane in order to wake me up.
If my head wasn’t spinning I would laugh at his jealous ass. I am face down on the couch and there is no way that he is going to see me with raccoon eyes and the imprint from the sofa design on my cheek. I am thankful that my long hair hides my face, as I still pretend to be sleep until he walks away.
Checkmate Mr. Brown!
65
Sunday, I nurse a nice hangover. I might still be drunk but I can swear that there is a change in Gavin’s attitude. The thoughtful man that used to take care of me is now back. He is there to hand me aspirin to get rid of my headache. He runs a bath that is exactly how I like the water, so hot that it burns the top of my butt.
He can’t get on his knees to lean over into the tub, but he does sit on a stool and bathes me thoroughly. He washes my hair and scratches my scalp at the same time. I don’t see him on his phone not one time the entire day.
I feel bad that I have to go to work the next day. I feel like I need to soak up all of the treatment that my husband is giving me. There is no telling what kind of mood that he is going to be in when I come home from a job that he doesn’t want for me to have. Or if the sight of me doing homework is going to set him off.
Going out to a working lunch with the rest of the clinicians is a welcome distraction from the office. When I make it back to my car, I realize that I have left my cell phone in the cup holder. I have several missed calls, voice mails, and text messages. I listen to the voicemails first. One message is from my OB/GYN’s office.
“Ms. Foster, this is Shianne from Dr. Porter’s office. The results of your Pap smear came back from after the D&C procedure. You are positive for chlamydia. I have called in antibiotics and a cream for you at your regular pharmacist. If you have a reaction to the medications or any other questions, please feel free to give me a call in the office. I will be here until five today but I will only be in after one on tomorrow. Thank you.”
Gavin Brown has now given me a sexually transmitted disease.
It is the end of my first semester of school and this man is completely turning my world upside down, yet once again.
How many times can the rug be snatched from up under me?
I can’t understand how I am missing all of the signs of people being no good for me. Keeping my focus on my patients, school, work, and Gavin is a full time job with very little paid time off.
When I am at work, he is running the streets. He’d come home for dinner, only to find a reason to leave again if I pull out a textbook. I begin to feel conflicted. I have the feeling that he is threatened by my independence.
He has to be turned off, being with a woman who is putting something else besides him at the top of her priority list. Why he can’t be understanding and supportive of me wanting to be the best woman that I can be is lost on me.
“What’s good, Kam?”
“Nothing much. Where have you been?”
“I was over at Tiff’s, chopping it up with the kids.”
“How’s the crew?
“They are still being the same spoiled Brown brats, nothing new.”
He chuckles, as he kicks his shoes off of his feet.
Gavin sits down on his side of the bed and I push the laptop off of me and then I move the notebooks out of his way. When I turn back to him, that’s when I see it. On my man . . . The man that proposed marriage to me . . . The man that took it personally when I re-enrolled in school, has been out messing around on me.
“So . . . Where was she when you were hanging out with the kids?”
“Out running the streets, you know how she does.”
“And was she gone the entire time that you were there? Did you sit her down and talk to her about the trip that we’re planning to do with the kids?”
“Nah, I didn’t even have time to talk to her. I forgot about that. She left as soon as I got there and when she came back, Stymy was already there waiting, so we rolled out.”
He looks as if he is telling the gospel truth but he is lying like a rug.
“So tell me this…”
“What’s up, Babe?”
“Why is Tiffani’s name written on your neck with a marker?”
“Get the fuck outta here! You’re a damn lie.”
Even though he hopes that I am lying and have not caught him lying, he hops up from the bed and goes to the mirror.
“That muthafucking rat!”
“So you were spending enough time with her…you were that close in her space for her to write her name o
n you? Damn, I’ve got all of these degrees, yet ya’ll think that I’m stupid as hell!”
I pick up my cell phone and then I politely call Stymy.
“Come and get your boy up out of my house right now, before I fuck him up!”
“Damn! Here we go again! I’m sick of this shit!”
Stymy is pissed.
I don’t give two shits about him being ready to get home to his beautiful family. Gavin can’t drive himself but he is being put out of my house on this night. Dressed only in a tank top and boy shorts, I run into the closet and I begin to finish packing up his belongings.
“Kam, wait a minute. I will tell you what happened! Please just hear me out.”
“Oh . . . I’m listening to your cheating, nasty, trifling ass, don’t worry Boo-Boo!”
I am telling the truth.
I am going to listen to everything that he has to say, but he is still getting his ass the hell out of my house!
“We were sitting down talking and she was saying how sorry that she is about how things ended and all of that same bullshit that I’ve heard all before. Well, she got the marker to show me how her tattoo of my name is going to be designed on her.
So then she was like: When I get mines, then you can get my name tatted on you right here. I’m thinking all the time that she is drawing out the name with the tip on the marker. But I can see now that she set my ass up.”
When he finishes his story, I have three suitcases filled to maximum capacity. I only have one more and a duffel bag to go. The same way that he’d moved in will be the same way that his ass leaves. Even though I feel strong enough to do this without the water works, the tears begin to roll.
“So you’re gonna put me out for some stunt that Tiff pulled? Ain’t this bout a bitch!?” Gavin is playing clueless.
“Naw Sweetheart, you are the bitch! I’m putting your ass out because you are married to me but still fucking Tiff! And you wanna know what gives me the mindset to let your ass and this marriage go? Chlamydia . . . That’s what! Now that’s why I’m putting your ass out!”
“WHAT?”
I sprint back into the bedroom. It only takes one button to be pushed for my voicemails to start playing. I put the phone on speaker. Gavin is pissed but he is about to fly into a fit of rage. I replay the saved voice mail. He has a look of utter disappointment and hurt on his face.
He knows in his heart that the entire time he has been away, that he’s gotten some young boys to sit on me around the clock. He also knows that I have not been with another man. He knows all of my routines during the week and on the weekends.
The report back every week is that his sweet Kamille isn’t messing around, she is legit. Stuck on hush mouth, he slips his feet into his house slippers before I can grab them to force them into a bag. He shuffles his way on back down the stairs.
66
In my foyer there is a round marble topped table, with an oversized arrangement of fresh flowers sitting in the center. Careful not to break my vase, I throw every suitcase further out from the top of the stairwell. Pretty soon, there are three complete sets of Luis Vuitton luggage on the floor, sitting right at the front door.
I make a point to slam the bedroom door before I lock it. I hop onto the bed and then I change the input on the TV to the security cameras. I am still crying when I see the familiar Yukon pull up. There is no mistaking Stymy’s anger with his boss for fucking up once again with a good woman like me.
I laugh when he starts slanging suitcases into the back of the truck. No one else has the balls to stand up to Pain but Stymy. They both are about the same height but the bodyguard can paralyze Pain and he knows it. When the men pull off, I start to search for my cell phone and I find it in the closet.
No revenge. I am done. I call Jai.
“Hey Cuzzo, what’s up?”
“I’m coming over to stay for a few days. Do you need for me to stop by the store to pick up anything before I get there?”
“If you’re coming, then NaNa just called and said that she was coming by too. So we need liquor, beer, and wine.”
“I’m on it.”
I hang up and then I pick up my duffle bag, which I’ve already packed when I got back from the movies. I need to swing by CVS to pick up my prescriptions and there is an ABC store on the same block. I am behind the wheel, when I realize that I will tell the girls about Gavin cheating on me, the STD part will never leave my lips though.
I let up the garage door on the opposite side of the house. Jai has long ago given me an opener for my own parking spot in her multi-car holding garage. I see the black on black Cadillac following me since I turned off of my street.
It doesn’t matter that Gavin knows where I am, he isn’t going to step up to this front door with the information that I have on him. Luckily, I get here before NaNa. I need to get my stuff situated and then change my clothes.
Jai sits on the bed and listens to me vent, as I move around the large room that she has decorated just for me. She is more of a fan of Pain’s than I ever expected, but she has no solutions for his current situation.
“But do you think that he will go to Tiff’s house now, since you’ve put him out?”
“I don’t know and at this point, I really don’t care.”
Suddenly the doorbell rings.
“That must be NaNa. You might as well come on out of this room, or we are all gonna be in here on your bed. And I already know how much that you hate that.”
She is dead right. I kick my shoes off and then pad off into the den to wait for the ladies to join me. I am behind the bar, fixing myself an Incredible Hulk that starts off strong as hell . . . But I take it. I need something in my system to slow me down before I decide to go through with my plan to murder Gavin.
Even though I am hurting, I know in my heart that he is hurting worse. Not only has he lost me, there is no way that Tiffani can explain away the gift that she’s been handing out all over town. He can’t be Pain in the streets while burning.
I turn on the TV. I would love to see the first hand coverage of the war that is going down at Tiffani’s house. My thoughts are put on pause, when NaNa struts into the room. My girl is having problems and situations that appear to be even worse than mines.
Her head full of weave is matted down on her head. It is obvious that she hasn’t run a comb or paddle brush through it in a minute. She has on BCBG signature black sweat pants with a tan tank top, up under the gold shimmery jacket on her top half. She also has on mismatched Jordan’s on her feet. Her eyes are puffy and swollen, which is the only reason that I’m not rolling on the floor in laughter at her ass.
“What in the hell happened to you?”
She blows her nose and Jai fixes herself a martini.
“Cleophis died, ya’ll!”
NaNa speaks in between sobs.
Jai and I look at each other. Laughter is on the tip of my tongue but I somehow recover unnoticed. Jai rolls her eyes. I suck my lips in to keep me from saying something to upset NaNa even more. Jai then turns her back to the rest of the room to conceal her emotions. Even though I know in my soul, that she is only an inch away from being unable to keep a giggle from escaping her mouth.
“Aww, Girl . . . I’m so sorry. What happened to him?”
“The coroner’s office said that he had an accidental overdose. He separated his medications into those pill dividers for seniors. The ones that allow them to separate what meds to take, on what day and the choice of morning or night. He got the pills confused instead. His daughter found him this morning and she called me.”
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry for your loss, I know that he meant so much to you.”
NaNa is still carrying on, as if she is completely devastated. I don’t know how long that I am going to be able to keep a straight face.
“Well what I wanna know is why you’re in my house carrying on as if this was one of your baby daddies or even that fine ass Dre, who is at home with your kids! You know damn well
what part Cleophis played on your team- The finance leader! When do you resort to being distraught over the loss of a dick that you got paid to sit on?”
Jai doesn’t give zero fucks about Cleophis or NaNa’s feelings.
“Damn . . . So you just gone cut me like that, right now?”
The regular NaNa is back.
“That is cold blooded, Cousin!”
I have to shake my head in shame.
“The hell ya’ll talking about? Are you crying because you didn’t make it to the will, like he promised? Let’s keep it all the way real!”
Jai is still on a roll.
“Oh you can bet our left foot and the right one too that I’m in the white papers with black letters and his valid signature. Me and the kids!”
“So what is your ass carrying on for?”
I realize that Jai has a point.
“In my house looking like you need another hit off that pipe!”
Jai is in a foul mood.
I have never seen her so inconsiderate and disrespectful.
“I am the one who gave him the medicine ya’ll…damn!” NaNa confesses.
“You lying!”
“Before I left last night, he told me that he needed to take his medicine before he forgot. I fixed him a glass of grape juice, took the pills out of the dispenser and then I handed them to him. I killed my man and the only best male friend that I had!”
More tears.
This heifer is really carrying on! Thank God for the distraction from my problems. Only NaNa could end up in this situation that I have to admit is very funny aside from the part about Cleophis losing his life. He was good people. I hope he is resting in peace.
“If the pills were already separated, then why are you putting this guilt on yourself? You have children that you need to be strong for. And there is no way that you can explain to Dre the reason that you walked out of the house looking like a clown, so you need to get out of your feelings.”
Jai is dry and emotionless with her words.
“I know that you are right . . . But do you know how long that I have been kicking it with him though?”
She looks between the two of us.