by B. M. Hardin
Or was she? She should’ve told me! I don’t care what her reasons were, she should have said something! All of this time, she knew that my husband felt something for her. She knew that he was hurting me and she didn’t say a word!
I was hurt. And I mean I was broken.
Screwing Chanel behind my back and getting her pregnant was bad, but being in love with my best friend was worse. He was my husband! And he wasn’t supposed to love any woman but me!
This had to be punishment. Or karma. It just had to be. Back in the day, I’d dealt with a married man, but in my defense, I didn’t know---at least not at first.
And by the time that I found out that he was married, it was too late. I was already in love with him. So, letting go of him wasn’t the easiest to do. I was young, and stupid. He was older and established. I was only a Senior in high school, even though he didn’t know it, and I would believe everything that he told me, even with the truth staring at me in my face. I would see his wife calling his phone. I would know that he was going home to her. But I would crave for him to stay with me. He would tell me that they weren’t together, that they were just in the same house. He would tell me that they didn’t have sex, and that she didn’t make him happy, and I would believe him. And then one night, while he was asleep at the hotel, I answered his cell phone. His wife told me that they were happy. She told me that they were expecting their first baby. And everything that he’d said to me had been a lie.
Still, letting go of him, was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. But finally, I woke up. I snapped out of it and I told him the next time he wanted some pussy, he’d better go home and get it from the woman that he’d married. And after being turned down a few times, finally, he left me alone and never called me again.
Yeah. This was definitely my punishment, because if his wife felt just a piece of what I was feeling right now, it was enough to make someone go insane!
I cried so loud, that I didn’t hear my phone ringing until the final buzz, before popping up Missed Call.
It was Dakota.
He called again and then Chevey called right after he did. A few minutes later, he sent a text message.
“Ma said that you went to the store. Can you pick me up another case of beer?”
His mother had covered for me.
In that moment, I thought about what she’d told me. I wasn’t sure if she’d really had something to do with his father’s death, but as mad and as hurt as I was, I could see how a wife could kill her unfaithful husband. I would shoot the shit out of him, right now!
And to hear him say that he loved Chevey.
To hear my husband, say that he was in love with my best friend, was just the words that would push me to do it!
I was so lost in thought and my eyes were so blurred with tears, that I didn’t realize that I was running a red-light until it was too late.
And just my luck, the sirens started to wail behind me and I slowed down to pull over.
I tried to stop crying, but I couldn’t. I rolled the window down as I looked for my license.
“Ma’am you ran a red-light.”
I cried and cried and finally I tried to speak.
“I know. I’m---I’m---sorry. I---.”
“Ma’am are you okay? What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t seem to get the words out fast enough, so he spoke again.
“Do you want step out of the vehicle and talk to me about it?”
I continued to cry, but after grabbing my license and registration, I opened my car door. It wasn’t until I was out of the car that I realized that it was Jerome…Chanel’s husband.
He was a cop?
He was driving a police car but he was dressed in slacks and a button up, like always. I’d watched them plenty of times before, and he’d never left or come home in a police car, but there he was, with a badge and an unmarked car flashing big, bold, blue lights.
Maybe he was some kind of detective or something.
“Ma’am are you okay?”
I looked at him with tears in my eyes. “No. I’m not okay. Your wife is sleeping with my husband,” I blurted out. I was done playing games and keeping quiet. I was done.
He looked confused. “Excuse me?”
I sniffled. “You’re Chanel’s husband, right? I’ve seen pictures of you. I’m Yaya. Chevey’s best---best friend.”
He nodded as if a light bulb popped on in his head.
“She’s cheating on you.”
He nodded and rested his back up against my car. “I know.”
I exhaled and relaxed beside of him.
I cried for a little while longer, and he just stood there, beside me, silently. He didn’t try to comfort me. He didn’t tell me that everything was going to be okay. He just stood there. Finally, I was able to speak again.
“I saw you that day. At the abortion clinic. I was following her. The baby was my husband’s. I’m sure of it.”
He exhaled. “We’ve been trying to get pregnant for two years. Nothing was happening. And then, she started getting sick every other morning. I kept asking her if she was pregnant, she said no. But I knew that something was up. And I knew there was a reason that she was denying it. So, I followed her.”
“She doesn’t know that you know? About the affair or the baby?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Neither does mine. It doesn’t really matter how I found out. And then, today, I overheard him confessing everything to Chevey. But he doesn’t know that I know either.”
“So, she’s been cheating on me, with a married man?”
I nodded. “Yes. With my husband.”
“Do you know how long?”
“A few months, if I had to guess. She was using her sales job as cover up. One time, I caught them at a house. They’d been there together for three days.”
“I remember that. We got in a big argument before she left because I didn’t want her to leave. And then we argued again because she wasn’t picking up her phone. She kept telling me that she was in meetings.”
“I only found out because I tracked his phone,” I admitted.
I stared at him. I could see the anger in his eyes and all over his face. He had veins in his neck and his fists were balled up. I wasn’t crying anymore and I could tell that he had something on his mind, that he wasn’t saying.
“This is fucked up,” he said finally.
My thoughts were all over place, but they kept ending up in the same place.
Payback Avenue.
Finally, I took a deep breath and I turned to look at him directly in his eyes.
“Yeah. It is. So…what do you want to do about it?” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited on him to respond.
~***~
“Damn it,” Dakota said. I just looked at him with a blank stare. “I lost my watch. It kept coming undone all day, and I’m just noticing that it’s gone. And it’s the one that you gave me for my anniversary last year,” he complained.
I shrugged. “Maybe it fell off at work.”
“I hope so. Speaking of, our anniversary isn’t too far away. What do you say, about us getting away this year? Just me and you? I’m thinking a whole week, somewhere sunny. A beach, blue water, sand in between my toes. Me in between your legs. You know, the usual? What do you say?”
I shrugged.
Dakota backed away from me. “Okay Yaya, what’s going on? You’ve been acting strange lately. Your attitude. Not wanting to have sex with me. Calling out that lame ass Jimmy, from high school, in your sleep. I mean, what is it?”
“I think I’m pregnant,” I lied. I wasn’t pregnant. I just needed an excuse for my behavior.
“Really? But I thought you just had a period.”
“I cramped, but it never came on. And now I just feel horrible. Always tired. I’m irritable. My coochie always has an attitude and I’ve been feeling cranky. I just feel sick.” Well that part was true. I did feel sick. I was sick of his bullshit!
>
Jerome and I both wanted payback, but neither of us had any ideas on how to do it. The little things that I’d done were minor and divorcing them just wasn’t enough. Hell, I was down for running both of them over with my car, but I didn’t want to sound crazy, so I’d kept that suggestion to myself.
Of course, he hadn’t given me a ticket that day, and I even pondered the thought of trying to sleep with him, recording us, and then sending the sex tape to both Chanel and Dakota. But then we would be just like them. And unlike Dakota, when I said my vows, I’d meant them.
So, Jerome and I agreed to keep playing fools for a little while longer, until we came up with something that would break them, the same way that they’d broken us.
Dakota’s face softened. “Okay baby. So, when are you going to take a pregnancy test? You know, I’ve always wanted to have a house full of kids, being that I was an only child and all. Maybe we will get a girl this time.”
I closed my eyes and I exhaled loudly. “Maybe. I’m just going to go to sleep,” I said to him, before he could even think about asking for sex.
“Okay baby,” he said.
Dakota got into bed behind me.
I felt like I hadn’t slept in days. I’d taken two sleeping pills and I was waiting for them to kick in. Dakota breathed on my neck and I thought about how it was going to feel not lying next to him at night or seeing his face first thing in the morning. I was positive that I was leaving him. I just didn’t know when.
Thankfully, soon, sleep found me and the next time I opened my eyes, it was to the light shining in through the blinds, from the morning sun.
I woke up to find breakfast and a note from Dakota.
Hey baby,
I took the kids out so that you can rest. We won’t be home to bother you for most of the day. Relax. Stay in bed. I love you Yaya.
No, you don’t. You love my best friend.
I tore the note into tiny pieces and dropped it into the glass of orange juice on the breakfast tray. I didn’t bother to eat any of the food, and after trashing it, I headed to take a shower and started my day. I was glad the he and the kids were gone. Silence and a day out of the house was just what I needed to get my mind together.
Fully dressed, I headed out. Spotting a ball on the side of my car, I headed to kick it.
“Ouch!”
I checked my toe and looked at the ground.
It was Dakota’s anniversary watch. I picked it up and once I was in the car, I flipped it over to read the inscription: Dakota, I’ll love you to the end of Time.
I rolled my eyes and threw it in the passenger seat. That’s when I noticed the phone. It was a random phone with a note on it that said:
“Call this number.”
I stared at the note and then I looked around. I didn’t see anyone. I was sure that I’d locked my car doors the night before, so I wondered how it had gotten inside. But out of curiosity, I picked up the phone and dialed the number.
“Hello.”
I recognized his voice immediately.
It was Chanel’s husband Jerome.
“You left a phone in my car?”
“Yes. It’s a burner phone. It won’t trace back to us.”
“A burner phone? I’m confused. Why do we need it?”
“I’m texting you an address. Meet me there.”
He hung up. I waited on the text message, and then I followed my GPS to the address.
I spotted him sitting in his car. And then I spotted Dakota’s and Chanel’s car too.
I thought he was with the kids?
Considering that we’d pulled up at a hotel, I could only assume that he’d dropped the kids off with his mother or something.
Fuck this shit! I’m sick of it! And I’m sick of them!
I opened my car door. Immediately, Jerome beeped his car horn, and then the burner phone started to ring.
“The other day, when you said that you wanted to make them pay for what they’ve done to us. Did you really mean it?” He said as soon as I answered.
“Yes! I’m done playing this game! I’m going in there!”
“No. Wait.” Jerome exhaled. “She didn’t have the abortion.”
“What?”
“Chanel is still pregnant. She told me this morning. We both know that she went to the clinic. I guess she just didn’t go through with it.”
“So, who’s the father?”
“I don’t know. But she looked me in my face this morning and told me that “we” are having a baby. But I know in my heart that it isn’t mine. She’s lying. Or maybe she just doesn’t know who the father is.”
My heart was beating so fast that I touched my chest as if my hand could make it slow down.
Chanel was still pregnant.
If she the baby and it was Dakota’s, I couldn’t be sure what I would do. It was a pain that I was scared to feel. It was something that I couldn’t even imagine.
My husband having a baby with my enemy?
I would never forgive him. I would never accept it. And honestly, divorced or not, I don’t think I would ever get over it.
“I don’t think I can handle her having Dakota’s baby,” I mumbled.
“And neither can I. To think about another man touching my way…” Jerome took a deep breath. “She told me that she was pregnant and then not even an hour later, she lies to me, and tells me that she was going to meet Chevey, but she comes here to be with him. They’ve been in there for a while.”
I could hear the anger in his voice. It sounded so much like my own.
“I think she might love him.” Jerome admitted.
His words caused me to cringe, but I remained silent.
I didn’t know what to say. All I knew was that I was tired. I was tired of the lies and of the cheating. I was tired of doing nothing to stop it. But most importantly, I was tired of pretending. And even if I had to stomp that baby out of her, I refused to let her have Dakota’s child.
“Let’s just go in there. Confront them and then go from there.”
“And then what? What happens if she refuses to get rid of the baby?”
“No, you should be worried about what happens to her if she doesn’t,” I said seriously.
Jerome exhaled. I could tell that he had something else in mind.
“What do you want to do?” I asked him as he breathed hard on the other end of the phone.
“You tell me.”
I thought long and hard before I spoke. After all, he was a cop, or something like that. I didn’t know how far he was willing to go.
“What do you want to do?” Jerome asked.
I took a deep breath. “Kill her,” I answered him and with all my heart, I meant it.
***********************
CHAPTER FOUR
“Thou shall not kill…even when they deserve it!”
“It can’t be you. Make sure you send someone else.”
“I know. I got this,” my brother, Nick, said. He took the gift bag from my hand, just before getting into his car.
“You sure about this?”
“No. But what else can I do?”
“Beat her ass. Push her down a flight of stairs. I’m sure there’s other ways to make her lose the baby. Hell, I can send someone in just to jump on her.”
I’d thought about that. I’d even mentioned that to Jerome. But he liked the initial idea better. It was as though, he’d been thinking about getting rid of her, for good, all along. He’d just waited on me to say it.
“And then what? If I do it, I’m sure the bitch will press charges. And what about the few that I already have from the past? Remember what that judge told me after I’d tried to set that girl, Trinity, on fire that time? He told me if I got into any more trouble, that was it for me. Remember? I know it’s been years, but I can’t take any chances. And if you send someone in to attack her, what if she still doesn’t lose the baby? Then what? You send somebody in to whoop her ass again? This is the only way. This takes care of the pr
oblem for sure. Unless you fuck up. Unless we all get caught.”
“Ain’t nobody getting caught. I got this. And okay,” He shrugged. He’d never been too fond of Chanel anyway, considering all that she and I had been through.
“The fewer people that know…the better. Understood?”
“Understood. Yaya, we both know that this isn’t my first time at the rodeo. Love you sis,” Nicolas yelled as he drove away.
I let out a deep breath.
It was official.
I’d just set up to have Chanel killed.
I thought that I would feel guilty. I thought that I would feel bad because I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but I didn’t. I was nervous, maybe even worried about something going wrong, but guilt was nowhere in sight. Maybe it was because the world could use a few less women like Chanel.
I knew from experience what a horrible person Chanel was, but some of the things that Chevey had told me about her were unspeakable.
Like when she’d lied on her mother’s husband because she didn’t like him. She’d lied and told their mother that he’d touched her, which caused their divorce. Chevey said that she asked her if it was true, and said that Chanel told her that it didn’t matter whether it was the truth or not, it worked. He was gone and that was all that mattered. I’d been a victim, and that wasn’t something to play with, but Chevey was sure that Chanel had lied on him.
Their mother never married again either, and she died, all alone, all because of Chanel.
And Chevey even told me about the things that Chanel used to do to the mean old lady that lived next door to them. She was blind, and Chanel would pop the lock on her back door and steal from her. She would even do mean things, like piss in the middle of her living room floor, or mess with her food. Chevey would always try to stop her, but Chanel would say that she was just having a little fun.
Chanel had always been the bad twin. Always evil and a pain in the ass. Yeah. It was just time for her to go.
I drove away, trying to drown out my thoughts about the process with music, but it was impossible.
Before we’d gotten this far with the plan, I’d convinced Jerome to talk to Chanel and try to get her to have the abortion. But she refused and she questioned why he’d had a change of heart about having a child.