Twisted

by Imari Jade

  Shanna came out dressed in a short blue skirt and a white short-sleeved sweater. She was a lot thinner when he’d first met her, but eating out every night not only had her hips spreading, but her stomach how more rolls than a bakery.

  “You’re getting fat,” he said rising, from the sofa and following her to the door.

  “More of me to love,” she answered. She opened the door and he followed her out.

  They were halfway to the restaurant and had stopped at a red light when he saw Tina’s car approaching the opposite side of the street. She stopped for the red light. She didn’t even bother to look his way.

  “Who is that?” Shanna asked.

  “Ballentina,” he answered.

  “Your old lady?” she asked. “Do you think she saw me?”

  “I don’t think it matters if she sees you riding in a car with me or not. She saw me screwing you in her bed and it didn’t even faze her.” He started driving again.

  “Yeah, well she’s a better woman that I am. I would have kicked her ass if I was in her shoes.”

  “That’s where the two of you differ. Tina is too classy to street brawl.”

  Shanna pouted. “What do you mean by that? You think she’s better than I am?”

  “I’m not saying that,” Erik replied. “The two of you are just different.”

  “Well, I must be better in bed. Why else would you mess with me when she’s rich?”

  Why indeed? He wondered.

  “Anyway, I’d like to see the look on her face when she hears the good news.”

  “What good news?” Erik asked.

  “That we’re expecting a baby.”

  “What?” Erik nearly wrecked the car.

  “Surprise!” she told him. “And you thought I was just getting fat.”

  Chapter Seven

  Tina and Alexis entered the beauty salon and the owner walked them over to two chairs and got the water ready for their pedicures.

  Tina eased out of her sandals and placed her feet into the warm water.

  Alexis relaxed in the chair next to her on her left.

  The door opened and two young black women entered. One was a chubby blonde and the other, a thin young woman with braids. Ordinarily, Tina wouldn’t have paid them any attention but the blonde wore a designer sweater that looked remarkably like the one she owned, right down to the color and monogram.

  “Is something wrong?” Alexis asked.

  Tina nodded toward the door.

  Alexis looked at the door and frowned, apparently recognizing the sweater too since she had given it to her as a present a couple of months ago and had it especially designed just for her.

  “A pedicure and a complete set of nails for both of us,” the blonde told the manicurist, who’d come to the door to greet them.

  Tina recognized the woman’s voice as Erik’s girlfriend, the one he’d been in bed with at her house.

  Alexis looked at her, nodded, then put her finger to her lips to silence her and then to her ear, indicating she wanted her to pay attention and listen.

  Tina nodded that she understood. It also gave her time to check the other woman out. She smirked. Erik could have at least gone up the food chain. Why did men cheat with women like these? The woman had the fashion sense of a circus clown. The expensive turquoise designer sweater did not go with pink dollar store Capris. And when was the last time she’d gotten her tracks done? For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why African American women wanted blonde hair.

  The young woman had light brown skin, but she couldn’t pass for a Caucasian female by any stretch of the imagination. Her nose was too broad and her lips were too big. She ran her eyes over the young woman, taking in every detail, trying to make some sense of the situation. She was short and dumpy with big breasts and a wide ass. That must be why, Tina thought as she walked past her and climbed up into the chair next to her. Maybe Erik liked women with more junk in their trunks. Maybe he didn’t find her attractive anymore since she had slimmed down with Kung Fun exercises. She sighed. If that is what he wanted, then more power to him.

  “So what did he say when you dropped your little surprise on him?” the one with the braids asked the blonde.

  “Girl, he nearly wrecked the BMW.”

  The other woman laughed. “Shanna, you’re so crazy.”

  Shanna? Now she had a name.

  “He didn’t say much on the way to the restaurant and then he had the gall to ask me if he was the father. I could have strangled the shit out of Erik for asking me that. What does he take me for?”

  “Sounds like he thinks you’ve been messing around on him.”

  “Why would I do a foolish thing like that? The man buys me anything I want and pays my bills.”

  “Did you find out where his wife works? I still could use a job.”

  “They’re not really married. They’ve just been shacking up for many years. She owns this place called The Design Factory. It’s just one of her businesses.”

  It could be possible that there were two companies with that name, but Tina knew very well that this wasn’t the case.

  “Erik works at that business. He’s some type of sales manager.”

  Nope, not a coincidence.

  “He won’t work for her long if she ever finds out about the two of you,” the one with braids told Shanna.

  A manicurist arrived and began working on Tina’s feet.

  “Girl, she already knows about me. She came home one night and caught Erik and me screwing in her bed and get this, she didn’t do a thing,” Shanna told the other woman.

  “What? She didn’t try to kick your ass?”

  “No, she didn’t even raise her voice. Sister just left.”

  “Strange. Maybe she thought you weren’t worth the effort.”

  Tina nodded self-consciously.

  “What do you mean by that?” Shanna asked. “I must be better than her in bed. Why else would Erik spend her money on me?”

  “So she didn’t say a word to you?”

  “No, to be fair, I don’t think she saw anything except my ass. We were right in the middle of getting busy and he was on top of me when Ballentina walked in?”

  “Ballentina? Is that her name?”

  “Yes, Ballentina Ferrari, but they call her Tina.”

  “Classy name,” the one with the braids replied.

  “Well, I don’t know about that, but I bet she’s homely-looking, and probably fat.”

  “Maybe,” the other woman replied.

  “I don’t care about her anyway. I’m about to get paid. I’m going to have Erik giving me mad money to help raise this baby.”

  “Do you think he is going to tell Tina about the baby?”

  “What do I care? What is she going to do except give him money to buy my silence?”

  Tina frowned. The fact that she’d been blind to the deception for so long pissed her off. It was bad enough that Erik used her, but now a baby was involved.

  “Girl, no woman is going to knowingly take care of some other woman’s baby.”

  Shanna better listen to her friend, Tina thought.

  “This one will,” Shanna bragged. “She loves Erik and will do anything he tells her to do. Hell, I might even tell him to move me into their home. He’s been complaining about being in my cramped apartment.”

  Tina smirked. Apparently, Erik neglected to tell her that he didn’t reside with her anymore.

  “Yeah, she really would be stupid if she did something like that. I wouldn’t put up with such foolishness.”

  The manicurist finished with Tina’s feet and another approached. “We have a spot ready for you, Ms. Ferrari,” the woman told her.

  “Thank you,” Tina said in Vietnamese to her.

  Shanna looked over at her as she rose. The surprised look on Shanna’s face was enough to satisfy Tina.

  Tina stared back at her, turned her nose up, and followed the manicurist over to another chair. Her cell phone rang as soon as she sat
down. “Oh, hello Erik,” she said. “You want to meet with me tonight?” She giggled. “Sorry, I’m not interested in doing that with you ever again. And while I have you on the phone, go to hell.” She disconnected the call and slid her cell phone back into her purse.

  Alexis got out of her chair laughing and joined her at the nail table. “What did that snake want?”

  “He wanted me to take him back. Do I have fool written all over me? Did I tell you that he has a baby coming in a couple of months?”

  “How is his poor ass going to take care of a baby?” Alexis asked, making sure she said it loud enough for Shanna to hear.

  “I really don’t care. He’s not getting another dime out of me.”

  ****

  Erik pitched his cell phone aside. What was wrong with Tina refusing his offer? He thought he was being generous. It had been a couple of months since they’d slept together. She must be climbing the walls by now. It had also been a couple of days since she’d learned about him and Shanna. She was just taking this jealousy thing too far. So what if he’d slept with another woman and lied about it to her again? It was time for her to get over it and let him back into the house.

  He accessed the Internet and did a search for hotels near work. He selected one and tried to make a two week reservation. That was the amount of time he’d give Tina to come to her senses and for Shanna to get an abortion. He could take a joke as well as the next person, but enough was enough. Erik selected a room and put in his charge card information. It came back declined.

  Erik pulled out another company card. It came back declined too. “What the fuck?” He’d bet anything that Tina had turned them off. He tossed the cards aside. He reached for his desk phone and dialed Tina again. The call just went to voice mail. He pulled out the calendar. He had to find her and get her to turn his cards back on. He leafed through the calendar until he came to the date. She usually had her nails done and then she went off to exercise class. He strummed through the calendar until he found the name of the place. Maybe I’ll pay her a visit there and ask her to take me back. There’s no way she is going to make a scene in front of strangers.

  ****

  Later that evening, Erik arrived at the dojo. He looked outside the window. What kind of exercise could Tina be doing at a place like this? He spotted her a moment later. Luckily, he’d parked a couple of businesses away and other cars blocked him from her sight. She was speaking to some other female. They both entered the building and he was just about to get out of his car when Alexis walked past him and entered the building. What are they doing here? He watched others entered. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. No, he needed money and a place to stay. Tina was his only prospect.

  Erik got out of the car, straightened his jacket, and walked toward the front door of the dojo. He entered the main foyer of the building, annoyed by how esoterically clean the place appeared. He passed several martial arts posters and posters with rules on behavior while inside. He approached a desk and caught the attention of a young man.

  “May I help you?” the young man asked.

  “I’m looking for my girlfriend,” Erik told him.

  “What is her name?”

  “Ballentina Ferrari. She takes some kind of exercise class here.”

  The young man looked him over. “You’re Ms. Tina’s boyfriend?”

  “Yes,” Erik answered. “Her fiancé, actually.”

  The young man gave him the once-over again. “Funny, she never mentioned being engaged.”

  “Is she here?” Erik asked, irritated by having to entertain this kid with conversation.

  “She’s changing for class,” he told him. “You can go in and watch, but please don’t disturb the class.”

  Young punk, Erik thought as he walked away.

  The class had already begun when he entered. He walked over to a set of bleachers and found a seat with some other spectators. The students were all dressed in white karate outfits and they stood in uniformed rows at attention. He spotted Alexis and Clarice in the front row, and Tina in back with taller students. He never knew she was taking a martial arts class. All these years he thought she took aerobics or something girly like that.

  A door opened from the side and a man dress in similar garb as the students, but in black, walked out and stood facing the class. The students bowed to him and he bowed back. Erik couldn’t get a good look at the man from where he sat, just the back of his head. He had a long ponytail and broad shoulders. And he was tall with a decent build.

  “Good evening,” the man said to the class. “Welcome.”

  He had an accent that sounded familiar. Erik sat back and watched as the class went through several drills before pairing off into couples to perform other routines. Tina walked to the front of the class and bowed to the teacher. The man bowed back to her and they paired off. That caught his attention. The teacher tossed Tina to the mat and she landed on her back with a resounding thud. She hopped back to her feet quickly and bowed to the teacher again. They sized each other up, but this time Tina managed to toss the teacher down to the mat.

  Erik chuckled. The teacher probably let Tina toss him because there was no way she could physically be that strong.

  The class ended about an hour later. The teacher sent most of the students to the showers, but for some reason, Tina, Alexis and Clarice remained behind. He thought it was the perfect opportunity to let his presence be known. Erik walked down from the bleachers and over toward them.

  Tina spotted him first. She gasped, alerting the others. They stopped talking and looked in his direction. It wasn't until he was upon them that he realized that the teacher was Kevin Chen, Tina’s new business partner.

  “What are you doing here?” Tina asked him.

  “We need to talk,” Erik told her.

  “We have nothing to talk about,” Tina said.

  “I think we do. I need you to turn my cards back on.”

  “Fat chance of that happening,” Tina replied, wiping the sweat from her face with a white towel.

  “Can we go somewhere? There are too many ears listening in on our conversation.”

  Both Clarice and Alexis rolled their eyes at him.

  “Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of them,” Tina replied. “They already know everything.”

  “Everything?” Erik asked.

  “Yes, everything, including you screwing some bitch in my bed.”

  “Don’t call her that,” Erik said, defending Shanna.

  “I can call her anything I please. Nasty, dirty skank. You could have chosen someone with a little more self-respect. No real woman would feel comfortable in another woman’s bed.” She walked away from him.

  “Don’t walk away from me while I’m talking to you.” Erik reached out and grabbed Tina’s arm. The next thing he knew, she jerked away from him, spun around, and kicked his legs out from under him. He landed on his back, luckily on a mat.

  Erik groaned and sat up. “I am so going to kick your ass for this,” he told her. He struggled to his feet and grabbed at Tina. This time, she grabbed his hand and threw him back down on the floor. When he looked up, she was standing over him in an attack pose.

  “Get up,” she told him. “And whose ass are you going to kick?”

  Erik got up. Several people had come over to see what was going on. Most of them were men. His macho came out. He couldn’t let other men see him beaten up by a woman, especially one who normally wouldn’t hurt a fly. “Fun’s over,” he told Tina. He grabbed her from behind and wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t move them. He pressed his body into her back. “You’re no match for me, bitch. I can break both your arms with one snap.” He laughed. “I don’t need to take martial arts to handle you.”

  He never saw her head move until she used it to butt him in the face.

  Erik screamed and released her. He touched his nose. It was bleeding. What is wrong with Tina? “Have you gone crazy?”

  “No, I’m just defe
nding myself. Why don’t you leave while you can still walk away on your own?”

  Erik pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his nose. He turned to Kevin. “What have you been teaching her?”

  Kevin just shrugged.

  He reached for Tina, grabbed her by her uniform, and dragged her over to him. Then he back slapped her.

  “Ouch,” Tina cried out.

  Kevin took a step toward him.

  “What are you going to do pretty boy?”

  He was answered by a pair of hands grabbing his jacket and tossing him to the mat roughly. He looked up and found Tina standing over him again.

  “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again,” she warned him. Her feet came down on his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

  “Don’t move,” Kevin told him. “She can destroy your larynx just by applying pressure with her foot.”

  Erik chuckled, not believing him.

  “I’m serious,” Kevin told him. “She knows what she’s doing.”

  Erik stopped laughing and looked down at Tina’s foot. She had it placed right over his Adam’s apple now.

  “Move your foot, Tina, honey,” Kevin said tenderly to her. “He’s not worth it.”

  Tina lifted her foot.

  Erik crawled to his knees. Tina was in Kevin’s arms with her face buried in his chest. Kevin’s arms held her protectively.

  “I’d leave now if I were you,” Kevin told him.

  “What’s this shit?” Erik asked, pointing to Kevin and Tina.

  “Exactly what it looks like,” Alexis answered. “Her man is embracing her.”

  “Her man? When did this happen?”

  “Does it matter?” Clarice asked. “You’re out and he’s in.”

  “This isn’t over, Tina,” Erik shouted.

  “Yes it is,” Tina told him. “I got about a hundred witnesses here to prove that you came here and attacked me. So why don’t you leave here, go back to your little pregnant slut, and never let me see you again.”

  Erik laughed. “Yeah, see you at work tomorrow.”

  “What work?” Tina asked. “Brother, you’re fired, and if I catch you anywhere near my house our any of my businesses, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”