“I’m glad you understand. Feel free to call me on Friday. If I’m not doing anything, I would love to meet you at the park. It sounds like fun, and jazz music is my favorite.”
Justin started to tell me about some of the artists he loved. I enjoyed his company, but as it was nearing seven o’clock, I tried to rush him out the door before Cedric got there. My attempt, however, was too late. Cedric knocked on the door, and when Jacoby opened it, he came inside. I could see him from where I was sitting, and he could see me. The person he couldn’t see was Justin, until he came closer to the French doors and opened them. His eyes shifted to Justin, who had stood right along with me.
“Justin, this is my ex-husband, Cedric. Cedric, this is a friend of mine,” I said.
Justin politely extended his hand, but all Cedric did was look at it. “Friend of yours?” he said. “Since when did you start having friends that I don’t know about?”
I was taken aback by his tone and his comment. And his poor treatment of Justin really disturbed me. “I’m not required to tell you about any of my friends. How dare you come in here like you live here or something?”
He pointed his finger right at the tip of my nose. “Don’t disrespect me. I may not live here, but you’d better believe that it was my fucking money that bought everything up in here. I paid for that sofa he’s been sitting his ass on, and I got a problem with you inviting muthafuckas up in here who don’t help to pay the bills.”
To say I was in shock would be putting it mildly. I didn’t know where all of this was coming from. He needed to correct himself quickly or else. Justin just stood there, as if he didn’t know what to say or do. He appeared even more shocked than I was.
“You need to apologize to my guest. If you don’t, you need to leave and try this again at another time. I don’t understand how you think you pay all the bills around here, and just in case you don’t know, my bank account has my name on it, not yours.”
“Excuse me,” Justin said. “I—I think it’ll be best if I just go. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble, and, Kayla, I will see you at the park this weekend.”
“Yeah, it is best that you go,” Cedric said. “And don’t you ever bring yo’ ass back here again.”
This was too much to swallow. I stopped Justin from exiting, then stood face-to-face with Cedric. “He’s staying right here. And you’re the one who needs to go. I don’t know what has gotten into you, Cedric, but you will not come over here and try to run anything.”
Jacoby stood by the door, trying to calm the situation, which was minutes from boiling over. “Dad, why don’t you just go? I’ll call you tomorrow, and we’ll talk then.”
“I’m not going no damn where!” Cedric yelled. “This sucker got one minute to get the fuck out of here, or else he’s going to find my foot in his ass.”
“And you’re going to find mine in yours,” I fired back. “Stop this madness and get out! Now, Cedric, before I call the police on you.”
Justin didn’t want any part of this. He took a few steps forward to leave, and I got the shock of my life when Cedric lifted his foot and punted Justin in his ass. I gasped as Justin turned around and swung at Cedric. He ducked, and before I knew it, the two of them were going at it. This was unbelievable to me. I yelled for them to stop, but my screams fell on deaf ears. Cedric held on tight to Justin’s neck as he was bent over, and then he rammed Justin’s head into my French doors. Glass shattered, and one of the doors fell off its hinges.
Justin kept punching Cedric in his legs to weaken him, but he was no match for Cedric. He lifted Justin up high, then slammed him down in the foyer. As Cedric punched him in the face, I saw blood splatter everywhere. Jacoby and I tried to pull Cedric off Justin, but Cedric was in a rage. He shoved me back so hard that I fell and almost bumped my head on the table. Justin attempted to get away from him, and that was when Cedric and Jacoby started to argue.
“Stop it, Dad! Now!”
“Back the fuck up, Jacoby. You don’t want none of this, trust me!”
Cedric refused to let Justin get out the door. He punched him in his chest, then lit up his stomach with several hard blows. As Justin dropped to one knee, Cedric punched him so hard in the face that I thought I heard something crack. I cried hard as I jumped on his back to stop him. That was when I saw Jacoby lift his shirt and remove a gun from the inside of his jeans.
“Push her again, and I’ll shoot.” Jacoby held the gun near Cedric’s temple. “Now, do like she said, and get the hell out of here. You ain’t got no business coming here and doing all of this. In case you didn’t get the memo, the damn marriage is over!”
There Jacoby was, trying to defend me again. I removed myself from Cedric’s back, and he stood up straight with caution and ease.
“Put it away, Jacoby,” I said, looking at Justin, who seemed to be in a lot of pain as he swayed back and forth on the floor. “Put the gun away. This is ridiculous, and I’m calling the police.”
“Call them,” Cedric said, with calm in his voice. “I can’t wait for them to get here. Ain’t no telling who will go to jail, though, and it very well may not be only me.”
His eyes shifted to Jacoby. The look in Cedric’s eyes told me that he knew what Jacoby had done. Cedric reached for the gun, demanding that Jacoby give it to him. “You shouldn’t be carrying anything around like that. Guns are dangerous, and people can get hurt by them. Trust me, I know. I have the scars to prove it, and you wouldn’t want to be put in a position where you have proof too.”
I rushed up to Jacoby and snatched the gun from his hand. It was better if it was in my hands than in his or Cedric’s.
“Go, Cedric. Please go,” I pleaded. “You’ve done enough tonight. You should be ashamed of yourself for carrying on like this in front of your son.”
“Trust me, I’m not. I’m no more ashamed than you should be for fucking this young punk and allowing him to come to a place where I pay the bills at. You can do better than this, Kayla, and before you bring any motherfucker up in here again, in front of my son, you need to seek my approval. If not, I will kick ass again, just like I did his.”
Before he walked out the door, Cedric lifted his foot and kicked Justin in his face. I was crushed, and even though I wanted to call the police, I couldn’t. I rushed over to Justin to comfort him.
“Jacoby, go get me a wet towel and some ice. Hurry.”
I helped Justin up off the floor and held him up as I he limped over to the sofa.
“Hey,” he strained to say while holding his side, “it’s not as bad as it looks.”
To me, it looked pretty bad. His face was bruised. Right eye was almost shut, and blood ran from his nose. I saw bruises on his neck, and I could only imagine what the rest of his body looked like.
“If you want, I can drive you to the hospital and take you to the police station so you can press charges against him. I am so sorry about this, and I feel horrible that this has happened to you.”
Jacoby came into the room with two wet towels and a bucket of ice. He also offered to take Justin to the hospital.
“No,” Justin said while squeezing his head with his fingertips. “I’m okay. I just need to get cleaned up. That’s all.”
I did my best to clear the blood from his face. I also put ice on it. When I helped him remove his shirt, I saw that his chest and his side were bruised.
“I can’t let you sit there like this. Let me take you to the hospital. Please.”
He refused. Said he didn’t want to go, but he did go to my bathroom to clean himself up better than I had. While looking in the mirror, he touched his swollen face.
“Damn. He’s good,” Justin said, then released a chuckle. “He banged me up pretty bad, didn’t he?”
“I don’t see how you can find humor in all of this. I can’t, Justin, and I want you to press charges against him.”
Justin ignored my request. I didn’t know if he had warrants out or not, but he refused to go to the police station. He als
o refused once more to go to the hospital, and it was almost two hours later when he decided to leave and go home.
“Thanks for taking care of me,” he said. “I still hope to see you on Saturday, but if not, I won’t be mad at you.”
I refused to put him in a situation like this again. Lord knows, I was hurt, and yet I had to admit that this was on me.
“I may or may not see you at the park, but please go home and take care of yourself. If you change your mind about going to the hospital, call me. I’ll take you, and I will do anything else that you need me to do.”
Justin reached out and gave me a hug. He squeezed me tight, then gave me a kiss on the cheek. I took that as a sign that I would never see him again.
After he left, I went to Jacoby’s room to talk to him. He was on the phone and acted as if he didn’t want to be interrupted.
“Not now, Mama. Please. I just need to chill.”
“Where in the hell did you get that gun? I don’t like you carrying that thing around, and I had no idea that you had it.”
“I got it to protect myself.”
“Protect yourself from who?”
“From whoever.”
“Well, you won’t have it to protect yourself from whomever it is that you’re protecting yourself from. I have it now, and you won’t be getting it back.”
“Fine. Now, is there anything else you’d like to get off your chest?”
“Plenty of stuff, but I’m not going there with you tonight.”
I left his room, upset with him for having the gun, furious with Cedric for clowning as he had tonight, and livid with Evelyn for telling Cedric my secret. I was anxious to speak to Cedric again, but I intended to wait a few more days to let things cool down. I grabbed a bottle of Hennessy Black and took it to my bedroom with me so I, too, could chill.
10
Evelyn
I was starting to get bored with shopping. Over the past several weeks, I had spent at least two hundred thousand dollars on material bullshit that didn’t make me feel better. The car I had purchased was included, and after driving my new Mercedes for one week, it felt like any other car to me.
The only thing I was excited about was moving . . . and the time I’d spent with Charles. I couldn’t stop thinking about that man. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this attached to someone. With Cedric, it was all about the money. I put up with that fool because I wanted his money, and I was trying to secure a future with a man who had it. Charles being wealthy was a plus, but it didn’t matter to me either way. There was something about him that moved me big-time.
That was too bad for me, because I wasn’t supposed to reach out to him again. I had promised him, as well as myself, that all I needed was one day. One day to do exactly what we’d done, but I was to the point where I wanted more. I hadn’t heard from him, but that didn’t surprise me. He didn’t have my number to reach me, but I was 100 percent sure that if he wanted to get in touch, he would.
For now, I went into chill mode and turned my thoughts to moving. First of all, I wanted a bigger place, but more than anything, I wanted to get the hell away from Cedric. My apartment had too many bad memories. Memories of Cedric, of Bryson, and of some of the other useless men I’d brought there from time to time. I needed a fresh start, and the new town house I had found was in a peaceful neighborhood, and only twenty minutes away from my BFF Kayla.
I was a little perturbed because I hadn’t heard from her. I had called to check on her several times, but she hadn’t replied. When I’d reached out to Trina, she hadn’t called me back, either. I wondered what was up with them, especially Kayla and her little drinking problem. A huge part of me felt terrible for her. My original plan had been to tell Cedric everything, but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to keep hurting Kayla and Jacoby, and I had realized that they had been hurt enough not only by me, but by Cedric, as well. Together, we had caused enough damage.
He just couldn’t stop, and he got carried away. He had started talking slick and taking advantage of me again. Treating me like shit and putting his hands on me wasn’t the route to go. I had an idea about how I was going to deal with him, but the one thing that I wasn’t going to do was tell him anything about Jacoby trying to kill him. The truth was, something inside of me felt as if he already knew. In my heart, I believed that Cedric had put this little scheme together to cause more chaos between me and my BFF’s. He was too much of a wise man to sit back and wait on me for information. That just didn’t seem right, and whenever I saw him again, I intended to share my thoughts.
The movers were at my place, boxing up everything for me. I was so ready to get out of here, and I had already taken some of my things over to the new place. I called Trina and Evelyn to see if they wanted to come see my new town house, but the only person I got in touch with was Trina.
“Of course I want to see it, but you and I have some things that we need to discuss. If I come over there, will I be in the way?”
“No. The movers are almost done, and the majority of my things won’t be moved out of here until tomorrow. Come on over. I’ll be here.”
Trina told me she was on her way. While waiting for her to come, I went into my bedroom and started to put some of my shoes in a box.
“I’ll get those,” one of the movers said. “I’m just working on your other closet right now.”
“That’s fine. You work on that one, and I’ll work on this one. I don’t mind helping.”
He got back to work, and so did I. But the whole time I packed, I couldn’t shake my thoughts of Charles. It still felt like his dick was inside me, only because every time I thought about it, there was a throb that came from deep within. I wanted so badly not to think about him, but something strange was happening to me. Something that I knew I wasn’t ready for. Something that felt kind of scary.
I finished up in the closet, then thanked the movers who had been there to help me.
“We’ll be back around eight in the morning,” one of them said. “Is that too early for you?”
“No, that’s perfect. How long do you think it will take?”
“Probably about three or four hours, drive time included. But keep in mind that if you’re not happy with our services, you don’t have to pay.”
“So far, so good. I’ll see you guys in the morning. And thanks again.”
As they were leaving, Trina was on her way in. She looked really cute in her soft pink sweats and a crop top that showed her tight abs. Out of all of us, she was the one who kept herself real fit. She had muscles, but not the ones that made a woman look manly. Her short, layered hair swerved to one side, and her bangs rested on her forehead. As she passed by me, I smacked her big ass, which looked to be growing.
“No wonder Keith is in love,” I said playfully. “And it looks to me like he’s been working that thing out.”
“All day, every day,” she said, then made her way into the living room and took a seat on the sofa. “And while he’s been working me out, I hope like hell you aren’t still working Cedric out.”
Her comment stunned me. I had thought that my secret was safe with Cedric. Did Trina know something that I didn’t?
I sat down on the sofa. “What do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is, you have some explaining to do. Kayla stopped by your place the other night and saw Cedric’s car over here. If you expect me or her to believe that y’all were in here building blocks, then I’ll have to ask you to come again.”
I wanted to lie to Trina, but I decided to come clean. I told her about him visiting me at the hospital, and about him asking me to give him information about Kayla and Jacoby. I also admitted to having sex with him again.
“After we left Bryson’s parents’ house, I went there with him again. I also had sex with him a few more times after that, but that’s because he keeps coming over here and making demands. He is out of control, and I fear that he may do something to me or Kayla.”
Trina’s lip
s were pursed the whole time I spoke. “You don’t expect me to believe you, do you? I mean, come on, Evelyn. Cedric can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do. And why would you agree to tell him anything about Jacoby and Kayla? So what you’re telling me is you were being fake with her. You were around only to pump information from her?”
“No. I’ve been hanging out with y’all because we’re friends, and that’s what friends do. At first I was on the fence, only because I felt as if I owed Cedric. Then, after seeing Kayla break down like that the other day, I just couldn’t do it. I haven’t told Cedric one single thing, even though I know what Jacoby did.”
“Please forgive me, but I’m having a hard time believing you. Yet again, Kayla is so upset with you, and I can’t say that I blame her. You need to stop this, Evelyn. I don’t know what you’re trying to gain by your constant betrayals, but when will enough be enough?”
Trina was starting to upset me. I didn’t know what else to say to her, especially since I was speaking the truth.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to have to pay for my mistakes. Yes, I’ve done some dirty things, and as you can see, I’m trying to make up for those things. I have no reason to sit here and lie to you. It was difficult for me to admit that I’ve still been screwing Cedric, but I told you that because I want to be clear about how I feel about him. I do not love him, I have never loved him, and the only reason I messed around with him was that I needed his money. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.”
“And you’re still messing around with him because you need his money, right? How could that be the case when you’re supposed to be over here, sitting pretty with the money Mr. and Mrs. Washington gave you? All I’m saying is, something doesn’t add up.”
I just shook my head. I swore I needed some new friends. What was so difficult to understand about this?
“It may not add up to you, but it adds up to me. I just said that the only reason I started fucking with Cedric again was that he helped me out of a situation that I had no way out of. You know darn well that I didn’t have a dime to defend myself in court. Bryson’s parents were about to eat me alive, until Cedric reached out to them. He turned that whole situation around, and I had to promise him something in return.”
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