Lust and Lies (The Jamie Reynolds Chronicles #1)

by Casandra Charles

  “I am done talking to you,” I yelled as I ran up the stairs and into Angela’s house without looking back.

  “Angela, Angela, are you up?” I called out her name as I walked into her apartment, wiping my tears away.

  “JR, you okay? I see you finally got out of the car.”

  “Hey, I’m jumping in the shower; we’ll talk later.”

  As I began to get undressed, I couldn’t help but think about what really happened in those four hours I was passed out. Could Terry have tried me like this? “He couldn’t,” I said to myself. The thought of Terry taking advantage of me was unreal. I finally got all my clothes off and looked at my naked body in the mirror and began to examine myself. If something did happen between Terry and me, then maybe I would have some kind of mark or bruise. But then again if I was passed out, then I didn’t know what was going on, so I may not have fought back. I realized I might be overreacting since there was no bruising and I jumped into the shower. As the cool water hit my body, waking me up, I was frozen for a second. Nothing could have happened, I hadn’t had sex in months, and when I waited a long time, everything got tight like it was my first time and I would be sore. I didn’t feel sore, so I didn’t think we had sex, I prayed. As I finally got out of the shower and began to get ready for bed, it was seven in the morning. I said my prayers and fell fast asleep.

  “JR, wake up,” Angela said, shaking me to get up.

  “Damn, Angela, I just went to bed like ten minutes ago. It’s too early.”

  “Too early? You must be still drunk. It’s almost three o’clock.”

  “In the afternoon?”

  “Yes, in the afternoon. I was letting you sleep after your night last night. Chris asked about you in spin class today. He said I give him a half-assed job when you’re not there working out with me.”

  Angela kept talking and talking. I wasn’t even listening. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to me early this morning.

  “JR, JR,” Angela called my name, snapping me out of my daydream. “Did you hear me?”

  “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “I said how much did you have to drink?”

  “Girl, I don’t even know. Last night is such a blur, maybe you can fill me in on what happened?”

  “Girl, all I know is your drunk ass missed a great party.”

  “Did everyone in the club know I was drunk? Did I embarrass myself like drunk people do? You know I hate that.”

  “No, actually, you didn’t, but I would have paid money to see Miss Perfect act like an ass,” Angela said, laughing. “Girl, I’m just kidding. All I know is you were in the VIP with True and them while I was on the dance floor with True’s friend Alan. He is too cute, by the way.”

  “Girl, stay focused, and besides, I told you to stay away from Alan and True’s friends. They’re nothing but drama.”

  “First of all, I am a grown woman, and second of all, they’re your friends too.”

  “They are associates, there’s a difference, and this is why I can tell you to stay away from them… anyway, I was in VIP and?”

  “Yeah, you were in VIP, you came up to the dance floor every now and then when your jam was on, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I didn’t even know you were drunk until True came and got me and said you were passed out in his car in the parking lot. Girl, at first I didn’t believe him; then I remembered you said you were drinking tonight. It was around 3:30 or so when True was hurrying me up to leave and take you home.”

  “So, you took me home?”

  “Yeah, I took you home; you bail my ass out all the time when I have too much to drink.”

  “Did you?”

  “Did I what?”

  “Did you also have too much to drink?”

  Angela became silent; she knew she couldn’t lie to me especially at my best friend’s party. Word would have gotten back to me so fast if she was drunk or either one of us acted the fool. “I had a few drinks. Besides, Terry drove behind me and followed me to my apartment. He was crazy; he asked me if I needed gas in the car… I live five minutes away from the club, but I still took the twenty he was offering,” Angela said as she began to laugh. “You got a good brother; he really cares about you. He was driving me crazy.”

  “What was he doing?”

  “He couldn’t even enjoy himself once you got sick in the car. He was harassing me to take you home and stuff. He wanted to take you to the hospital. Girl, would you believe that? What am I supposed to tell the doctor? He was tripping. Then when we finally got home, he didn’t even want to move you. He told me to go upstairs and get a blanket. When I finally came back downstairs, he was yelling at me for taking too long. Girl, you know what alcohol do to me, I had to use the bathroom so bad. Anyway, when I told him I was going to bed, he said he was going to stay out there until you got up. He even asked me, me of all people, if I had food in the house. Now I knew he was losing it. I am a chef on the side; I always have food in my house.”

  I tried to force a smile on my face, but it couldn’t show through my eyes. Everyone could always see if something was bothering me through my eyes.

  “JR, don’t worry, you didn’t do anything to embarrass yourself, I promise.”

  I smiled but still couldn’t understand what really happened between Terry and me, and I guess I would never know.

  ***

  “And last but not least, I would like to thank my best friend, Jamie Reynolds.” That last sentence of Terry’s acceptance speech snapped me back into reality. “JR, this is for you,” Terry said as he pretended to be all choked up from crying.

  “Terry, you stupid as hell… but great speech, but why you have to speak about me like I was dead and not like I was sitting in the audience with a badass Chanel dress on with a fine-ass man next to me.”

  “You crazy, J, I got to go, I’ll hit you later.”

  “Okay, holla at me.”

  “Okay, one.” The phone went dead. I guess whatever happened on Terry’s birthday would be a mystery to me, and I wanted it to stay like that. It was great to have my best friend back.

  Two Months, Ten Days, and a Whole Lot of Hours…

  “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

  “Dear heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for waking me up this morning. Lord, I thank you for the many blessings in my life. I thank you for the many positive people in my life. Please continue to keep them safe and always be with them in their time of need. I ask you, Lord, to continue to look over me and my life and help me to walk in the path of righteousness. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

  “Good night, Toni,” I said as I closed my eyes, wishing him good night as if he was with me in the room. That night I laid my head, closed my eyes, and thought how good it would feel to have Toni in my bed next to me. Tears slowly came out of my eyes. Were they tears of joy or sadness?

  “Good morning, baby…” I typed, sending Toni my daily morning text.

  “GM, honey… how did you sleep?”

  “I slept good.”

  “I had a dream about you.”

  “Really, what was it ’bout this time? U always have dreams ’bout me. I wish I could remember my dreams as while as you do,” I said, sounding a little jealous.

  “It was a crazy dream. I dreamed that I was heading to this party and I was being chased by the chain-saw massacre guy. I was trying to call you to get directions to the party because you were already there and he kept on showing up with his saw.”

  “Wow, baby. That dream was a bit crazy.”

  “What is crazy is my mind and how I feel about you. Every minute, moment of each day… you are my morning flower deeply rooted, stirring the nutrients of love always. Bloomi
ng with encouragement, and exhaling oxygen…”

  My eyes filled with water as I finished reading the text. “That was beautiful, baby.”

  “Well, that is enough sweet-talk, my sweet, for the day. Have a gd and I will talk to you later. Don’t work too hard.”

  “You also have a gd… I am running late for my meeting.”

  ***

  “And that is what the layout looks like. By the end of the week, we should have the budget complete, right, JR?” Mark turned to me, waiting for me to agree to his promise to our newest client, Morning Birds Entertainment.

  “Right, JR?” Mark said again as he cleared his throat.

  “I’m sorry, Mark, you were saying?”

  “How do you function with two cell phones? If one is not ringing off the hook, the other is beeping from a text,” Tory Webster from Morning Birds Entertainment said.

  “Yeah, how do you?” Mark said, trying to be sarcastic.

  “You get used to it,” I said, sending my final text and closing my phone. “Anyway, according to these layouts, we will have everything completed, including the budget, before the week is over.”

  With the look on Tory’s face, I knew he was pleased with this meeting.

  “Okay, Mr. Webster,” Mark said as he attempted to shake his hand.

  “Please, call me Tory.” He turned his back on Mark and gave me a hug and small kiss on the cheek.

  “Jamie, everything sounds wonderful,” Tory said.

  “Please, please call me JR,” I interrupted him as we both started laughing. I gazed quickly at Mark, and he didn’t look too pleased with our joke.

  “I look forward to working with you. I’ve heard a lot of good things about your work.”

  Before Tory even left the room, Mark grabbed my arm, pulling me back down into my chair. “Jamie, what is going on with you?”

  “What?”

  “You almost blew the deal, playing with your phone.”

  “What are you talking about? I didn’t almost blow the deal. Tory was happy with our work.”

  “Our work, he didn’t even acknowledge me.”

  “Oh, is that what this is about?”

  “No, JR, I’m just saying.”

  “What, Mark? What! Morning Birds Entertainment found me.”

  “I know this, JR, I’m just saying what is up with you lately?” He grabbed my hand to sit me back down in my chair. “I didn’t mean to sound mean.”

  “Don’t worry ’bout it. I have a lot of work to do before the week is over.”

  “Don’t you mean we?” Mark said with a confused look on his face.

  “I guess? I’ll call you later.”

  As I began walking away, I couldn’t help thinking about what just happened. I was a freelance worker, and Mark was cool and all, but we worked for ourselves. Yes, occasionally he found work and hooked me up, and I do the same, but he pissed me off.

  Wait, what was I saying? Mark was a great production coordinator. Where were these crazy thoughts coming from? I really had to ask myself these questions.

  “Jamie, Jamie,” Mark called my name as I got midway down the block.

  “Yeah?” I said to him as I stopped and turned to face him.

  “Thanks,” was all he yelled as he turned around and began to walk in the other direction. I just smiled to myself and kept on walking. After about five blocks of walking away from the restaurant, I was mad but didn’t really know what I was mad about. Everything was going good, I was on a new project, I guess you could say I found love. What was wrong?

  ***

  It’d been a long-awaited meeting, I thought as I called Toni but got no answer, so I started to leave a message.

  “Hey, babe, it’s me. I was just calling to let you know that I’m on the road. I can’t wait to see you. I can’t believe I’m ditching work for the weekend to drive to Virginia. This is so exciting.” Beep, beep… “Okay, gotta go, this is you on the next line.”

  “Hey, babe,” Toni said.

  “Hey, honey, where are you at? I’m right outside of Pennsylvania.”

  “Babe, I am so sorry to do this, but I’m still in Atlanta.”

  “What??” I said as I almost got into an accident as I came to an abrupt stop off the road and parked in the emergency lane. “What happened?”

  “We’ve been talking on the phone for a little over two months now. This will be our first time seeing each other since the day you left Atlanta. I’m nervous.”

  “Babe, I know, I’m a little nervous too, but it’s going to be okay. Babe, we both have dreamed about this day for a long time now.”

  “Aw, aw, aw, baby. I can’t do this no more, I’m just kidding, I’m outside of Alabama.”

  “What? That is not funny. I’ve already turned around.”

  “Babe, did you really turn around?”

  “No, I’m just kidding.”

  “Now that wasn’t funny. I guess we must be even.”

  “Oh no, my friend, we are not even. Payback’s a bitch,” I said, laughing. “Can you believe in less than four hours we will be in each other’s arms for the very first time?”

  “Yeah, JR. I can’t wait, but according to these directions, I’ll be there in about five hours. You’ll get there before me.”

  “Not a problem, I can finish up my budget that’s due on Monday. That will help me get my mind off this man I think I’m head over heels for.”

  “I wonder who that could be.”

  “He’s a cool guy, you might like him. Maybe you can meet him in Virginia. He’s driving up and will meet me at the hotel in a few hours.”

  “As long as he makes you happy, then I’m happy for you.”

  “Toni, you crazy. Let me save my battery. I don’t know what happened to my charger. It stopped working when I was driving. I just bought this new dual cigarette lighter and I had my laptop and my phone charging, and now it doesn’t work.”

  “Why did you have your laptop charging in the car with you?”

  “Do you really want to know?” I continued speaking without allowing Toni to reply. “Good thing you’re going to be late, I can get some work done.”

  “I wonder about you sometimes,” Toni said as he laughed at me.

  “Alright, babe, I’ll call you in a bit. Drive safe.”

  “Love you, no, love us,” Toni said.

  “Ditto,” I said as I hung up the phone.

  John Legend was playing on the radio. “This is my boy,” I said as I raised the volume. As I just began getting into the song, my phone rang. I looked at the caller ID and noticed it was David. “David, what does he want? I haven’t spoken to that boy since I left Atlanta.”

  “Hello, this is JR.”

  “What up, nig?” David said, sounding extra excited.

  “Whad up, Mr. Walker, how are we?”

  “I good, man, I was just calling to see what’s up. I haven’t spoken to you in a minute. You can’t call a brother no more or what?”

  “David, you know my schedule is crazy.”

  “I know, I know. How is your dad?”

  “He’s doing good. The week before I moved back to New York he just walked right out of the hospital. It was crazy.”

  “I guess he just missed his daughter.”

  “I know, that’s what he said when—”

  “He ain’t the only one,” David said softly.

  There was an awkward pause on the phone. Did I hear him right? I thought to myself.

  “So, how’s the kid?” I quickly jumped up and said, referring to David’s eight-year-old son.

  “Oh, you know, he’s good.”

  “That is good.”

  “So, man, what have you been up to?”

  “Man, doing what I do best, work.”

  “Hey, man, did I catch you at a bad time? Are you working now?”

  “Naw, you good, I’m just taking a break from work and heading to get something to eat.”

  What the hell am I doing? Why am I lying?

  “
What do you have a taste for?”

  “I don’t know, why, would you like to join me?” I said, trying to be funny.

  “You know I would if I could.”

  “You stupid.”

  “Well, man, I was just calling to see how everything was doing. Hey, man, don’t be a stranger, hit a brother up.”

  “I’ll do that, enjoy the rest of your day; tell the family I said hello.”

  “Alright, JR, talk to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  As I hung up the phone, I noticed a sign: 175 miles to Virginia. “Damn, I still have, like, two and a half hours and I can’t believe David called.”

  I still couldn’t understand why I was so shocked that David called. He was a cool dude, not to mention cute. Damn, I could still remember the first day we met at the Havana Club. He was cool and he made me laugh. Any other guy would have never even approached me after I tried to leave Angela at the door of a club for collateral. I even remembered the next night when we went out on our first date. Angela was so mad at us for going out together on our own before we went on our double date.

  ***

  Ring, ring… “Who is this calling me?” I said to myself after looking at the unrecognizable number on my cell’s caller ID.

  “Hello, this is JR.”

  “Hello, JR?”

  “Yes, this is her,” I said with an attitude.

  “Damn, girl. Why you sound so mean? You New York girls are all alike,” David said, trying to sound funny.

  Oh my god, this was the dude David that I met last night. Damn, he did say he was going to call me today. Who would have thought he would really call.

  “Excuse me, don’t start with your country ass.”

  “Oh, so now I’m country.”

  “No, boo, you were also country last night.”

  “You say it like it’s a bad thing,” David said, sounding concerned.

  “It couldn’t be so bad, I gave you my number, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what’s up, nig?”

  “Nig?” I said back to him, pretending not to understand him. “I’m sorry, I don’t speak country.”