“Nanna loves you too, baby, and I know why you’re giving me all of these sweet kisses. You want a soda, don’t you?”
Jaylin’s head snapped up. “Please don’t tell me he’s drinking soda again.”
“No, he’s not. I just said that to mess with you. I want you to cheer up. Don’t let this thing with Travis get you all worked up. You’re getting too involved again. I keep telling you to just be still and let everything work itself out.”
Jaylin wiped down his face then sat back on the couch, resting his arms on top of it. A few buttons on his shirt were undone, and the bottom of his shirt had been pulled from his slacks that had cuffs at the bottom. Diamonds glistened on his cufflinks, as well as from his watch. Looking slouchy, he was still picture perfect. Sexiness defined him, even when he wasn’t trying. With one leg bent and the other leg stretched far out, the hump between his legs was quite noticeable. I wasn’t trying to go there, but this was one of those moments where I would have loved to prance into the room, straddle his lap and ride the shit out of him. Thankfully, I was married now.
“I feel what you’re saying,” he said to Nanny B. “But I just love her so much. I hate to see her going through this, and to see that muthafucka sitting there while she was going through like that, I couldn’t believe it. He sat like a fucking zombie or something.”
Shane added his two cents. “I know, and since he was right in front of me, I wanted to tap his shoulder and tell him to get the fuck up and help. The whole scene was unfortunate, and I don’t care what anybody says. If that was considered a home-going celebration, count me out.”
Jaylin turned to give Shane dap. “Count me out, too. That was ridiculous.”
“Well,” Nanny B said. “That’s how we do it, and it’s what Mr. Brooks wanted. As for Travis, most people don’t like to deal with funerals. Being there could have caused him to shut down. This is a tough time, not only for Nokea, but for all of us. He cares for her too, so I’m sure he’s feeling some kind of way about all of this as well.”
I nodded, silently agreeing with Nanny B. Seconds later, I stepped into the room, causing all heads to turn toward me. My black dress was nothing special, but with my hour-glass figure, I always managed to bring attention to myself. I wasn’t sure about my short hair, though. It would take some time for me to get used to for sure.
“Damn,” Jaylin teased. “What’s up, Halle? Where’s Scorpio at?”
“Right,” Shane said. “Or more like that, uh, Anika chick from Empire. She is fine.”
“No doubt,” Jaylin added and tossed me a compliment too. “So is Mrs. Pezzano.”
I playfully cut my eyes, but thanked him for the compliment. I guess it took a few seconds for Justin to notice who I was, but when he did, he rushed off Nanny B’s lap.
“Mommy,” he said, rushing up to me. I picked him up and gave him several kisses on his cheek. When I stopped by earlier, he was asleep so he didn’t get a chance to see me.
“Muah, muah, muah! Don’t you look adorable, and where is my picture at? I came all the way here to get that picture you’ve been telling me about.”
Nanny B stood and tightened the string on her apron. She was such a jewel, and not only was she the matriarch of our family, she was a blessing to all of us. The only reason all of this worked out was because of her. Our situation seemed awkward at times, but without her, none of this would’ve been possible.
She reached out to tickle Justin’s feet. He giggled and went right back to her. “Let’s go see what your brother and sisters are up to. Then, we’ll give your mama those pictures you painted.”
“Where my picture at?” Jaylin asked, sounding jealous. “I don’t get a picture?”
“No,” I said. “You gets nothing but a blank piece of paper with your little name scribbled on the top.”
Nanny B laughed, and as I turned to follow behind her, I could only imagine the expressions on Shane’s and Jaylin’s faces. I quickly turned my head, just to catch them in action. Both of their eyes were focused on one thing—my ass. They tried to divert their attention elsewhere, but it was too late. I shook my head, before leaving the room.
“What you shaking your head for?” Jaylin asked.
I didn’t bother to reply. He already knew how the minds of many men operated.
A few hours later, Nokea and her mother returned. I wasn’t sure where Travis was, but Nokea mentioned that he was at the hotel and had planned on leaving this evening. I was leaving as well. I hadn’t even spoken to Mario, and I was sure he was wondering, by now, where I’d gone. So after I spent time with the kids, ate a little something and chatted with Nokea and her mom who were on their way to Nokea’s mom’s house, I was ready to leave. Jaylin and Shane were standing near the pool area talking, so I walked up to say goodbye. I also needed to ask Jaylin for a favor, but I wasn’t sure if this was the appropriate time. Since his mood had been all over the place today, I decided not to go into details.
“I’m getting ready to leave,” I said, standing in front of him. “But please give me a call when you get home. I need you to do something very important for me, and after this, I promise to never bug you again.”
He sucked his teeth while staring at me. “No more favors, Scorpio. I told you that I’m done.”
“I know, but like I said, this is important. I’ll tell you more about it later. Just don’t forget to call me, and be careful on your way back to Florida.”
He tossed his head back. I waved at Shane, and after getting in my car, I left.
Later that day, I returned home. The house was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Loretta wasn’t even there. She’d told me earlier that she had a few errands to run, and she mentioned something about staying the weekend with a male companion, since the kids weren’t here. After all that had happened, I was glad that they weren’t here. Mario and I needed to deal with our messy marriage.
The second I reached for my phone to call him, I heard the front doors close. I rushed to the stairs, and when I looked down in the foyer, Mario stood with a Louis Vuitton suitcase next to him. He glanced at me, before cutting his eyes, ignoring me.
“What’s that suitcase for?” I asked.
“It’s for me, my dear. I’m leaving you. Today. Just so I don’t have to kill you.”
He whistled as he marched forward, making his way to our bedroom. I hurried down the stairs, preparing myself to talk some sense into him. By the time I reached our bedroom, he was already in his walk-in closet that was thick with brand-named clothes, shoes, jackets . . . Mario had it all. My closet, however, was double the size of his. He removed several pieces of his clothing from hangers. I stood in the doorway with my arms crossed, pouting.
“I can’t believe our marriage has come to this,” I said. “There has to be more to this, and I refuse to believe that me, having sex with my ex, prior to us getting married, has caused all of this.”
Mario shook his head while standing with one of his expensive silk shirts in his hand. “Your lies caused this. Then you run off and go to St. Louis to fuck him again. Do you think I don’t know where you’ve been? You must think I’m freaking stupid. I need to get the fuck away from you before I do something I’ll regret.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions, before having all the facts. I went to St. Louis to attend Nokea’s father’s funeral. Everyone was at Jaylin’s house, so that’s where I was for a few hours. My trip had nothing to do with me going to St. Louis to screw him. I rushed back here because I would love for us to just chill for a while and talk about this. If you still want to leave, fine, Mario, do whatever. But the bottom line is, I do love you. I don’t want to lose you. I made a horrible mistake by having sex with Jaylin. I apologize, and when I talked to him about it, he wants to apologize to you, too. He said that when he comes back, he would like to have dinner with us and do whatever he can to help us get back on track. Like me, he didn’t intend for things to turn out like this. He wants you to know that what’s in the past is in the
past. It was one night of sex that, honestly, shouldn’t have happened.”
Mario darted his finger at me. “But it did, and you lied to me about it. Aside from that, Jaylin’s bombastic behavior is overboard. I did some fucked up things the night before our wedding, too. But if you asked me about it, I wouldn’t have lied to you. I would’ve told you the truth, regardless.”
This was breaking news that caused me to cock my head back. “Fucked up things like what? What did you do the night before our wedding?”
He waved me off. “It’s doesn’t matter now. No matter what I did, it doesn’t come close to what you did. You fucked him all night. Exhausted yourself and you left nothing for me.”
Mario slapped his chest as he walked up to me. He reached underneath my dress, cuffing his hand over my pussy. “You gave me ten fucking minutes of this, on our wedding day. I could feel that it wasn’t the same. It didn’t even taste the same, and you willingly put into my mouth, what he put into to you.” He turned his head, releasing a gob of spit from his mouth. “Nasty, filthy shit that I refuse to taste, especially since you keep fucking him.”
I reached for his hand, moving it away from my coochie. “That’s not true. You’re so upset that you keep reaching for something that isn’t there. I can’t blame you for this; after all, I did lie. But never in a million years did I think you would treat me like this. I know, deep down, that you’re not the kind of man who would kill me. You’re doing all of this because you’re hurting, but allow me to help us put this to rest. I don’t even care if you were with someone the night before our wedding. Let’s call it even and be done with this. Can we, at least, try to do that?”
Mario responded by walking out of the closet. Since there were no clothes in his hands, I figured he’d changed his mind about leaving. He sat on the bed, searching me from head to toe.
“You let me know when Jaylin wants to talk. I want a fucking apology from him, and that shit better be sincere.”
I wasn’t sure how sincere it would be, and I damn sure didn’t think Jaylin would apologize. I needed him to come through for me. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the only way for me to save my marriage—something I really wanted to do. Maybe Mario would listen to Jaylin because, thus far, he definitely wasn’t listening to me.
Several days later, Jaylin came back to Florida with the kids. His birthday had come and gone, and this time, there was no celebration because of Mr. Brooks’ death. It was a good thing that it didn’t occur on Jaylin’s birthday, but I wasn’t so sure that five days later made a difference. Nokea hadn’t returned. Mackenzie mentioned some unfinished business Nokea had to take care of regarding her father. Mario and I had been speaking to each other more often, but it was clear that we still had work to do. He kept asking when Jaylin wanted to meet, so I had to hurry up and make our gathering happen fast. I went to Jaylin’s house on Thursday afternoon while the kids were at school. That was with the exception of Justin who was the only one being homeschooled right now. He was in the playroom with Mrs. Mahoney and Nanny B. I figured Jaylin was probably in his office, and sure enough, when I made my way to it, the door was open. I saw him inside, leaning back in his chair. His hands were behind his head while he was speaking to someone through speakerphone. I entered the room; the first thing he did was move his head from side-to-side, implying no.
“Man, see what you can do,” he said to Shane. “I really want this deal to happen, because a casino would be huge. I’m not prepared to dish out more than thirty-or-so million, and I think we should be able to find some other investors who can get us to that magic number. What do you think?”
“I think we don’t mention what we’re willing to put up, until we find out how much the investors are willing to pony up first. Thirty is my limit. I’m almost to the point where I think that may be too much for a casino. Just think about how we can utilize that kind of money elsewhere.”
“Maybe so. Let’s sit on this for a minute. Hit me back later today to convey your final thoughts about this and whatever else you have in mind.”
“Will do. Holla later.”
After Jaylin hit the end button, he closed his eyes and lowered his head on the desk. “What do you want?” he mumbled, as if seeing me was discouraging. “Didn’t I tell you you were dead to me?”
“I’m never dead to you, until you bury me six-feet under. That hasn’t happened yet, so I need you to listen to me without barking like a Pitbull.”
Jaylin’s head remained on the desk. I scooted a chair in front of it. I tapped the back of his head, and when he wouldn’t lift it, I rubbed my fingers through his curls.
“Oh, my, God,” I shouted. “Look at this! Is this a strand of gray hair?”
He quickly lifted his head and fell back against his seat. “Stop lying,” he said. “You did not see any gray in my hair, but now that you have my attention, what do you want?”
“You do have a strand of gray in your hair. If you would like for me to get a mirror so you can see it, I will.”
“What I would like for you to do is leave. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.”
“No it’s not, but before I ask you for a huge favor, how’s Nokea?”
“I assume she’s doing okay. Before I left, she told me Travis was upset and the two of them needed some alone time.”
“Well, I hope she’ll be okay. Travis seemed pretty pissed. I’m sure he wasn’t pleased with your actions at the funeral.”
“Too damn bad. Now, get to your favor that, most likely, will be rejected.”
I sighed and cut my eyes at him. “Okay. I know what you said about the ‘end’ thingy, but I kind of need you to help me get through to Mario.”
“Scorpio, you may as well leave right now. I’m not doing anything that revolves around your marriage. The only things up for discussion between us are issues with the kids. I have too much going on, and . . .”
“Can you please silence yourself for a few minutes? Just hear me out, Jaylin, and if your answer is still no, so be it, okay?”
He didn’t respond, so I started to tell him about what had been transpiring between me and Mario. I told him about Mario’s aggressiveness toward me, about my hair being cut off . . . to the toy gun he used to force the truth out of me. I even told him about Mario pushing me in the tub, and about him possibly having sex with someone else the day before our wedding. Jaylin sat in silence, studying me, sucking his teeth and releasing deep breaths. I could see the anger and frustration building in his eyes, but I didn’t know if it was directed toward me or Mario.
“So, with that being said,” I continued. “I am begging you to have dinner with us. Tell him we are done. That it was sex that meant nothing to us. That you’re now in love with someone else. That you want him and me to stay together and that you are deeply sorry for encouraging me to have sex with you.”
That prompted a quick response from Jaylin. “Get the hell out of here. Sorry my ass. Are you fucking serious?”
“I’m dead serious. I truly believe that hearing something like that from you will help Mario get it together. Whatever you told him that day angered him so much. You have to reverse those words and tell him that you didn’t mean what you said. Please. Will you please do it for me?”
Jaylin sat perplexed with his index finger pressed against his temple. “I’m in total disbelief that you came here today, asking me to help you stay married to someone who is already showing you how reckless he can be. I did some fucked up shit, too, but Mario ain’t wasting no time. I don’t know what you’re going to do with all of those extra rooms over there, because our kids won’t be coming there any time soon. I mean, what’s next, Scorpio? And what are you going to do when the real guns show up?”
“I understand your concerns, but there is a lot of good in Mario. He’s hurting, and this is how he’s choosing to deal with it. In addition to that, sometimes, you have to give a little to gain a lot. If things don’t work out, there is no way I can lose, if you know what I mean.”
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Jaylin sat up straight, now giving me his full attention. “I do know what you mean, and you’re finally talking what I want to hear. So, I’ll tell you what. I’ll meet you and Mario for dinner and tell him whatever you need me to say. But when you divorce him, I want half of what you’re entitled to.”
This time, I sat up straight and let his ass have it. “First of all, if I can stop the bleeding, there will be no divorce. Second, how dare you make this all about money, when I’m sitting here pouring my heart out to you, asking you to do a simple favor for me? That’s cold, Jaylin, and shame on you for even coming to me like that. You sound like a serious hustler.”
I could see that he was becoming annoyed with my presence. “Cut the damn act, Scorpio, and just so you know, I am a hustler. But your ass the one who is cold. You may like Mario, a lot, but you are not in love with him. I recall you saying the same shit about Bruce, but we both know how that turned out. You’re down with Mario’s money, more than you are anything else. You ain’t even down with the sex, because the way that pussy yelled at me, I knew it had been deprived. If there will be no divorce, then you have no worries. But if there is, like I suspect there will be, I want half.”
I thought he was kidding, but Jaylin was serious as ever. No way would I agree to anything like that. I was so mad at him that I jumped from my seat and snatched my purse off his desk.
“Bruce doesn’t have anything on Mario, and yes, marrying him was a big mistake. But for half of what I’m entitled to, you’d better be down on your knees, kissing Mario’s feet, crying and begging for him to accept your apology. I don’t think you’re willing to do all of that, so let’s forget this stupid conversation ever happened.”
“I’m willing to do whatever you want me to do, provided that if you divorce Mario, or he divorces you, within the next two years, I get half. I even cut the agreement to two years, instead of a lifetime.”
Jaylin Page 17