“I don’t know who the hell you think you’re screaming at,” I snapped. “I’m not one of those skank-ass project bitches off the street.”
“There you go again acting just like those project bitches that the fools on your label rap about!”
“What the fuck ever! I pay the mortgage on this damn house! I pay your car note! Do you think you would be driving an Escalade if it wasn’t for me? I can do or say whatever the hell I want to in it!”
Germaine lowered his voice. “You need to give up Johnathan’s bedroom, Nikki. The boys don’t need to be in the same room anymore. Nathan wakes Johnathan up in the middle of the night and that’s not good.”
“And move back into the bedroom with you? Please,” I laughed before sipping my wine again. “I’d rather sleep in the garage before I climb back into bed with your ass.”
He had lost his mind. There was no way I was going to give up my privacy. Besides, I turned Johnathan’s room into an office just to be close to the master bedroom. During the nights Kingston and I had phone sex, I needed to hear Germaine’s every move so he couldn’t sneak up on me.
I began to stare at Germaine’s green colored eyes that I once thought were sexy. He definitely reminded me of the actor, Michael Ely…minus the money. I’d lost all trust in him ever since he’d pulled the okedoke on me. If he hadn’t been tampering with my birth control pills, Nathan wouldn’t even be here and Johnathan would still have his own room. Nathan was an accident. The unexpected pregnancy was another reason why I resented my husband. I wasn’t ready for another child and he deceived me into having one. Months were lost that could’ve been spent toward the label, and I blamed his ass for it all.
I took another sip of the Moscato and flipped my shoulder length hair before replying smartly. “I’m not giving up my office. If it’s getting too crowded in their room, why don’t you clean out the den, move into it and give Johnathan your room,” I suggested sassily. “Better yet, build another room. Oh, that’s right. You can’t do that because you don’t have a fucking job.”
“Well, if you’d hire me on your label then I’d have one.”
“You’re in my pocket enough. I don’t think you want to go even deeper, do you? But if I did offer you a job, how much do you think I’d pay you to clean the bathrooms?”
His nose flared instantly. I could tell that I’d stuck a knife through his heart, but I didn’t care. There was no way I was going to have him moseying around my damn office finding out all of my secrets and shit. Besides, I saw enough of him at home. I didn’t need him around me 24/7.
After my little smart remarks, Germaine started toward the door. He knew that walking away would piss me off.
“Where are you going?” I demanded. “You started this shit.”
“Started what?” he barked. “I asked you a simple ass question and you blew it all out of proportion. I can’t talk to you. I never can when you come home from these trips.”
“Well, maybe you should stop talking then,” I sassed.
“Nikki…”
“Will you please stop calling me Nikki?” I barked. “My name is Niquole!”
“It never seemed to bother you before,” Germaine responded as if I’d crushed his heart yet again. “You used to like it when I called you Nikki.”
“Well, it bothers me now. I’m not your fucking pet so drop the name.”
“Whatever, Niquole Wright.” He always had an issue that I didn’t take his last name when we got married. My name meant the world to me and it eventually was gonna be household, so it was only wise that I kept my own last name.
“Don’t get made because I didn’t want Evans as my last name. Every time I think of that shit it reminds me of Good Times.”
His chest rose and fell as he heaved his anger, but nothing that Germaine did would make his five-foot-eleven, well toned frame scare me. I watched his thick, eyebrows connect and his nose flare once again. His golden, honey skin darkened as if someone had lit a match under it. I knew that my words infuriated him, but as usual his bitch ass said nothing.
Instead, he gave me a furious look, stormed out of the kitchen like a spoiled child, stomped up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door. Displaying an evil grin, I finished off the glass of wine and glanced at my purse that was lying on the counter. It took everything in me not to pull out my cell phone and call Kingston. I decided against it as I thought about Germaine’s accusations.
I grabbed the bottle of wine from my LG, stainless steel, refrigerator, pulled one of the Venetian chairs from the round table and took a seat. I then poured myself another glass. Germaine was right. I always had an attitude when I came home from seeing Kingston. I guess I just didn’t know how to control my emotions. I was always upset that I couldn’t be with my lover and had to leave. I definitely needed to get my shit together.
After I finished my second glass, I walked upstairs to Germaine’s bedroom when I heard him rustling around. Being nosey, I placed my ear against the door when I heard soft whispers. Pressing harder to see who he was talking to at this time of night, I quickly learned that he wasn’t on the phone. He was praying. I listened to him begging and pleading to God to fix things between us. Stepping away from the door, I shook my head because his prayers were a lost especially now that Kingston had entered the picture.
I retreated back into my office to check my emails and messages on my phone again before I called it a night. I swallowed hard when I came across an email that I dreaded opening. I clicked on the unknown sender and blew a long-winded sigh when I read it.
“I’m getting sick of this shit,” I mumbled softly.
Two months after my affair began with Kingston, I started receiving emails from an unknown source threatening to expose my affair to Germaine. If I wasn’t afraid that Germaine would take half if not all of my money, I wouldn’t give a damn. I tabbed down to the end of the message and braced myself for the monetary amount the bastard would be asking for this time.
“Ten grand,” I huffed. “That’s the most they’ve ever asked for at one time.”
I closed the laptop and set a reminder on my Blackberry to wire the money the next day. The shit you have to do to keep secrets, I thought.
CHAPTER 3
I hadn’t spoken to Kingston in a little over a week. I was getting extremely pissed, irritated and agitated as each of my calls to him went straight to voicemail. Not hearing his voice and feeling his touch was driving me insane.
After pulling into an available parking space at my sons’ daycare, Kingston must’ve been telepathically connected to me and felt what was going through my mind because he called. At this point, I was ready to use more of my frequent flyer miles to get to him.
“I need to see you,” were the first words I heard when I answered.
I eased my silver, 2010 Lexus LS 460 in park, placed my hand between my legs and squeezed the inside of my thigh. I was hoping the pressure would control the urge for me to release all of those juices that had been stored since our last encounter.
“Niquole, are you there?”
“I’m here,” I breathed. “I can be on a plane in the morning. Just tell me where I’m going.” All my feelings about being pissed at him had quickly faded away.
“Meet me halfway…today.”
“What are you talking about?” I giggled like an immature schoolgirl. “I can’t meet you today.”
“Yes, you can. It’s a two and a half hour drive from Houston and a two and a half hour drive from Dallas.”
“What are you talking about, Kingston?” I giggled again eager to learn what was on his mind.
“Meet me in Waco?”
“You want me to drive to Waco?”
“Yeah. I’ve checked all the flights from Houston. Because of the nasty weather out here in Dallas, the next one isn’t until later this evening. I just figured the drive to a halfway point would be easier and quicker. That’s if you want to see me.”
More than anything, I thought.
Instantly, I
began to think back to when Kingston and I first met. I was eight months pregnant with Nathan and blown away at how much interest he showed me although I was carrying another man’s child. I also didn’t expect the affair to go that far, but it did. In my ninth month, I allowed Kingston between my legs. I knew I shouldn’t have been on a plane so far along in my pregnancy, but Kingston was very convincing. I was happy that I thumped the angel of reason off my shoulder and joined Kingston in Miami. He rocked my world like no man had ever done before and at that moment, I knew I wanted him in my life forever. Whoever said pregnant sex was the bomb didn’t lie because my orgasms were indescribable. He was the type of man that I needed on my team. Germaine’s duration was over, but I had no other choice but to keep him around because I wasn’t capable of juggling my career and a forced motherhood.
“Niquole, don’t think too hard,” Kingston said breaking my thoughts.
I glanced up at my sons’ daycare center then looked at the numbers displayed on my car’s dashboard clock. I was an hour early picking Johnathan and Nathan up for their doctor appointments. “I need to call Germaine to pick up the boys.”
“Do what you need to do. I’m leaving in ten minutes and you need to be doing the same.” I loved Kingston’s take charge attitude. It turned me on deeply. “Homewood Suites on Legend Lake Parkway in three hours. Call me when you get there.”
When he hung up the phone, I stared at the smiling faces of all the Disney characters on the daycare’s front door. I wanted to bat my eyes like Minnie Mouse was doing to Mickey. I wanted to feel the happiness those characters were expressing and I knew Kingston could give me that feeling.
I pressed and held the number three button on my Blackberry until Germaine’s throwback ring back tune Love and Happiness by Al Greene played. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey,” I responded dryly. “Something came up and I need you to pick up the boys from daycare and take them for their doctor’s appointment.”
“Niquole, you told me you were getting them to do that,” he spoke irritably.
“I know what I told you Germaine, but I need you to get them. Something came up.”
“Something like what?”
“Look,” I breathed heavily. “Can you stop asking so many damn questions? I just need you to get them. They don’t need to miss this appointment.”
“Niquole, I was on my way to the gym to get a few sets in before my interview today.”
“So, is the fucking gym more important than you taking your sons for their checkups?” I asked harshly while pulling out of the parking lot knowing he wouldn’t defy me.
“Don’t do that. I’m not like you.”
“Don’t do what? If it wasn’t for me, your membership to that bullshit ass gym would’ve been canceled months ago. And as far as that bullshit ass job you’re trying to get, that’s a fucking joke. A furniture salesman? Please.” I laughed.
“Stop that shit, Nikki! I’m sick of you throwing your money in my damn face. I’m trying to do the best I can to provide for my family.”
“Then you need to get off your ass and get a real job so that I can stop wearing the pants in this family.”
I heard the tires on his truck screech and horns in the background blowing. He obviously had slammed on brakes. “Damn it, Nikki! You’re about to make me have a fucking accident! I’d have a fucking job if you’d bring me on with you!”
“Blah! Blah! Blah! Cry me a fucking river! Are you gonna get the boys or what?”
“I’ll pick them up!” he screamed into the phone. “Your kids should be your priority not the damn label,” he continued before ending the call.
Who says it’s the label? I laughed internally.
I stared at the phone for a brief moment thinking about what Germaine said, but quickly threw his words out of my mind. Especially when thoughts of me being with Kingston appeared. If I didn’t need Germaine to tend to our kids while I focused on my career, I would’ve left his ass a long time ago.
I pressed the number two button on my cell and listened for Lil’ Wayne’s Drop The World to ring in my ear. I would’ve given Kingston the number one spot, but it was voicemail use only.
“I’ll be on the interstate in five minutes,” I said when he answered.
“I’m already on it.”
After we hung up, I called my assistant, Meagan and informed her that I wouldn’t be in the office. I also told her to inform anyone who called that I would be in meetings all day. After that was done, I gassed up my car and hit the highway. I hadn’t even been on the road five minutes before my cell phone rang again.
“Forget something?” I smiled into the phone, assuming it was Kingston.
“Hey, girl, what’s up?”
I knew I should’ve looked at the caller ID before answering. “Nothing,” I answered quickly hoping my friend, Jalisa, would pick up on the hint that I didn’t have time to talk.
Jalisa and I had been friends since our middle school days back in New Orleans. She was the model and I was the singer. She stood five-feet-eleven-inches with legs for miles, size two waist, light brown eyes, silky black hair and a smile that would make you fall in love. She was beautiful and she knew it. When she told her parents that she wanted to be model, they immediately tossed her into the modeling world. She landed gig after gig while I sat back and sulked because my sorry ass mother wouldn’t take me seriously when I told her I wanted to sing. I realized if I wanted it, I was going to have to get it myself and I did.
Jalisa and I parted ways when she landed a modeling contract in New York and I was getting my feet wet in the music business. However, when she learned that I and most of her family members had moved to Houston, she did the same. I thought that was a stupid move on her part. With the way her career was taking off, she should’ve stayed in New York or moved to L.A. We kept in touch, but it didn’t matter to me if we did or didn’t. I was always out for self and didn’t need anyone hanging with me especially since she was a little pest. She was always trying to tell me right from wrong like I knew she was going to do if I engaged in a conversation with her.
“I’m a little busy, Jalisa. I’ll have to talk to you later.”
“Well, I was just letting you know that I should be home in…”
I cut her off. “Look, I’m going to meet Kingston. I’ll call you later.”
“I can’t believe you’re still seeing him,” Jalisa chastised as she usually did. “You can’t keep fooling around with…”
I hung up. I didn’t have time for that nagging shit right now. Instead, I turned up my KEM CD to prepare myself for my man. I should’ve been ashamed of myself for driving nearly three hours to be with a man who wasn’t my husband, but then again...I didn’t care. If he’d asked me to drive five, just to be with him for thirty minutes, I would’ve done so. He was worth it.
I drove eighty miles per hour the whole way there with the wipers on full blast at times to deflect the bugs splashing against my window. I knew that the front bumper would be full of them when I stopped, so I made a mental note to run the car through a carwash when I made it back to Houston. The only reason I would use the gas station carwash was because I knew Bebo’s or any other car detail shop would be closed by the time I made it back. Other than that, I wouldn’t put my precious Lex through the carwash torture. Besides the bugs, I made sure to pay careful attention to the road and hidden, side pockets for any state troopers. I had loaned Meagan my radar detector when she decided to take a road trip a few weeks back and her ass hadn’t bothered to return it. I was happy that there were no state troopers around because I could do without a ticket and the questions that Germaine would ask if he found out about it.
*****
Exactly three hours later, I finally pulled up to the hotel. As I cruised the lot for an available space, it wasn’t long before I spotted a jet black Navigator. I knew that it belonged to Kingston because those were the only SUVs he would rent.
&
nbsp; “Baby, I’m here,” I informed Kingston after parking and calling him on his cell.
After he gave me the room number, I stepped out of my car in my rainbow colored Juicy Couture tunic-dress and Marc Jacobs sunglasses hoping no one would recognize me or vice versa. Even though this was a low budget hotel, and most of my friends only stayed in five star establishments, I couldn’t afford to be identified.
After sashaying through the lot and into the well-lit lobby, I smiled at the guests who spoke cordially. Luckily, no one recognized me. I was grateful because I didn’t need anyone tweeting or updating their Facebook statuses, informing the world of my whereabouts. Basically, I didn’t need Germaine finding out. On the other hand, I was pissed because of all the attention I used to receive during my singing years. Boy I would do anything to get those times back.
I walked past the lobby desk, returned the smile that the bubbly brunette gave me and headed for the elevators. The elevator wasn’t going fast enough and all the people getting off on every floor made it even harder for me to get to my man. I was so anxious, I wanted to push them all off at one time. When the elevator finally stopped on the fourth floor, I quickly got off.
Left or right, I thought as I stared at the arrows pointing in the east and west directions of the rooms. Making a quick left, I skipped toward the room like a five year old. I even held back a laugh when walking past the snack machine. Thoughts of our last encounter crept through my mind and I wondered if we’d have the opportunity to christen that particular area.
When I made it to the room, the door was slightly ajar and I figured that Kingston had left it that way. I started to push it open, but stopped when I heard two male voices. My first thought was that he wanted us to do some kinky shit that I would quickly shut down and slap his ass for even suggesting it, but the conversation wasn’t going in that direction. I jumped when the dark skinned, buff stranger stepped out. He smiled at me with his crooked teeth and walked away.
“What took you so long?” Kingston asked when I stepped inside the room.
I didn’t say a word. I was too busy staring at his chest that bulged through his crisp, white Hanes t-shirt. I ignored his question when I felt a Kingston induced fever coming on. I sucked on my bottom lip and rubbed my foot on the back of my left calf. When Kingston noticed, he began to smile. He knew that I was getting hot and wasn’t in the mood to waste any time with small talk. But I had to ask.
The Available Wife Page 3