“Let’s get out of here,” she said walking me out of Nordstrom toward the mall hallway with my head on her shoulder.
“No, I don’t want to leave the mall,” I said digging in my purse to find a tissue.
“No we are not leaving. Let’s just go to another store. That sales woman was all on our backs,” she said letting me off her shoulder as we walked through the mall and I wiped my face.
“Look Lisa, if you need some money…”
“No, no, no I can’t accept that from you. I’ll be fine,” I pleaded with her.
“Stop being so stubborn; this is me you’re talking to.”
“Yeah, but I won’t hear the end of it if I take some money from you. No thanks. I’ve made it this far, I’ll make it the rest of the way.”
“Okaaay, so I can be a bitch about money sometimes. That may be true, but you know me though…I love you. Just ignore me if I start bitching.”
I started giggling through my tears. Naomi was so serious she was speaking with a straight face. She knew she could be a bitch, but I guess someone had to be the bitch. It didn’t make them a bad person. I wasn’t considered a bitch, but I had definitely done some things that I was not proud of; things I was sure Naomi would never do. Still, I couldn’t accept money from her.
“I can’t take money from you, Naomi. It wouldn’t feel right.”
“Okay, so let me give you a job then,” she said smiling again like she did when we had first gotten to the mall.
“What’s the catch?” I inquired.
“No catch…you can start tomorrow. Just show up and I’ll find something for you to do.”
“Find something for me to do? Like what? Clean the bathroom?” I needed a clear understanding of what my job duties were going to be before I accepted because with Naomi, she would have my ass up a creek without a paddle, knowing I couldn’t swim.
“I don’t know! File some papers or something!” she said smiling and talking all excited.
I looked at her sideways. The smile on her face was creeping me out. I never saw her act that way before.
“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly and she gave me a big hug.
“Perfect!”
“How is Marcus going to feel about this?” I asked, but she waved me off like Marcus opinion was irrelevant.
“Oh, let’s go into Victoria Secret!” Naomi yelled at me excitedly and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me down the mall towards Vicki Secrets. We walked in and Naomi floated over to the lingerie section and started eyeing a sexy red teddy. She took it off the rack and held it up to her thin, curvy body.
“What ya think?” she said doing a little shimmy dance while giving me duck lips.
“That’s HOT,” I said shaking my head in agreement.
“I’m a get it,” she said draping it over her arm.
“Wow…you and Marcus must be doing really good!”
Naomi looked at me sideways and gave that GIRL BYE look that she did when she wanted me to change subjects. She dug into her purse and pulled out a crisp one hundred dollar bill and stuffed it in my hand.
“Here, go find you something cute,” she said waving me off like she was the Queen of England and I was her servant.
I stuffed the crisp bill in my purse and walked away as Naomi carried on shopping without a care in the world. I wasn’t about to buy shit in the store with that money. I was going to put some gas in my car and get me a Happy Meal from McDonalds so I could be smiling like Naomi’s weird acting, happy ass.
Whitney
Thursday Morning
I was on my way to Jerome’s job. He didn’t know it yet, but he was about to get a clear understanding about how the fuck I was feeling regarding the way he threw me out of his house like I was an animal. Why he was being so cold hearted to me? I had not a clue, but if I knew Jerome like I know I did then I was sure that there was another woman in the picture. He could tell me all the bullshit lies he wanted, but I knew him and I knew that he loved me; I was sure of it. I was down to do what I had to do to get rid of whatever little skinny bitch that may have momentarily jeopardized his good judgement; but first I had some Jerome ass kicking to do.
I pulled up at the army recruitment office where Jerome worked, that was inside of a small strip mall next to other stores. I had never been the type of wife that was about showing up at her husband’s job with drama because I didn’t believe in messing up our income, but this fool had crossed the line when he dragged me out of his house like a rag doll. It was a sunny day outside, but it was going to be a rainy day for Jerome with the way he had me feeling. I got out of my blue Ford Escape SUV with my metal baseball bat in hand. I didn’t waste one moment walking toward his new red Camaro that I was still trying to figure out where his broke ass got the money to buy it.
I walked over to the hood of the car, centered myself, raised my bat high in the air and drove it down as hard as I could down the front of his car. BAM! The hood of the car bent without little resistance and gave me the energy I needed to keep going.
BANG! BANG! BOOM! SMASH!
I was lighting the hood of his car up like it was the Fourth of July. An older white lady coming out one of the nearby stores looked at me with the most terrified facial expression I had ever witnessed.
“YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND IF YOUR HUSBAND LEFT YOU!!” I yelled at her as I gave another vengeful hit to the headlight of his car. The terrified, white lady’s facial expression changed to a more understanding face, and she gave me a ‘thumbs up’ as she scurried off to her car.
BOOM! BANG! CRACK!
I had just taken off the side mirror and was working my way around to the driver window, when Jerome came bolting out of the office with his army fatigue pants unbuttoned like he had just got done pulling them up.
“WHOA! WHOA! WHITNEY, WHAT THE FUCK IS YOU DOING!?” he yelled sounding like a scared, defeated man.
“IS THIS HOW YOU WANT IT!?” I lit up his windshield, BANG... BANG… BOOM!...CRACK!
“Huh!? IS THIS HOW YOU WANT IT, JEROME? BECAUSE THIS HOW I’M GONNA GIVE IT TO YOU!” I unleashed on his windshield a furry of swings,
BAM!... BAM! …BANG! …BANG!
CLANK!... CLUNK!... BANG!
I was sending a clear message to Jerome and any bitch around that I was done playing with his ass. If he thought he was going to disrespect me after all of the blood sweat and tears I gave to him and some other chick was going to come in and get treated like a queen, Jerome had another thing coming. I would BURN HIS SHIT DOWN TO THE GROUND if he thought he was gonna get away with playing me!
“YOU BACK THERE FUCKING JEROME!! I KNOW YOU’RE CHEATING ON ME!!” I screamed as I took my metal bat and swung like I was a home run record holder at his driver window, sending the glass to the ground in a million, billion tiny pieces.
“WHITNEY, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!!” Jerome screamed with wide eyes like he couldn’t believe what was happening. He held onto his waste area to keep his unbuttoned pants from falling down. He tried to walk over toward me, but I swung the bat wild and crazy in front of myself letting him know I would hit his tired ass if he attempted to stop my rage.
“Why is your pants unbuttoned? The bitch you left me for works with you? IS THAT WHO YOU’RE BACK THERE FUCKING?” I yelled as I realized that we had a full audience.
Onlookers from the surrounding stores had come to the windows and out of the doors to get a clear view of the smack down I was about to give to Jerome, if he so much as looked at me the wrong way.
Jerome fumbled with his zipper trying to button his pants back up. “I was back there taking a piss,” he pleaded with me, but I didn’t believe him. He was so full of shit I could smell him from where I was standing.
“You dragged me out of your house like I was nothing to you!” My tears were flowing now. Just speaking it out into the air about how he treated me broke me down in ways I was unable to express. He was my everything and he was treating me like I was a used up piece of garbage.
Jerome o
utstretched his hands like he wanted me to put the bat down. “Whitney I’m sorry! Baby, I apologize! I didn’t mean for things to go down like that last night, you gotta believe me!”
"I BELIEVE YOU’RE A LIAR!! That's what I believe!”
“Just put the bat down so we can talk, please!”
“FUCK YOU JEROME!! FUCK YOOOOU!!!!!!” I was screaming hysterically with more tears than Niagara Falls running down my face.
My head was throbbing from yelling
My arms were hurting from swinging the bat
And my heart was aching from Jerome lying to me
I just wanted to break down right there and call it quits. I wanted to just give up on life just so the pain could stop; just so my heart would not have to go through the impossible task of trying to heal itself. Before I knew it I had broken down, crying. I was crying so loud that my own ear drums were ringing from the noises I was making. Jerome took a chance at my weak moment to come over and grab the bat out of my hand and hug me. He held me in his arms as I cried and cried… just because he had not been holding me every night the way he used to.
I snuggled my face into his army fatigue jacket and cried my eyes out as his hug grew tighter to try and keep me calm. I really wanted to smack the shit out of him, but his embrace that he had me entrapped in was everything that I had been needing, and I wasn’t going to trade it for the world.
“Damn Whit…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to hurt you like that,” he said stroking my hair.
Sounds of a police car filled the air as a cop car pulled up in the parking lot beside us. The Latino police officer quickly got out of his car with his hand on his gun that was secured in his waistband. He looked around at the crowd of people that had gathered outside at the funeral that I had given to Jerome’s car.
“I got a call that there was a domestic dispute. What’s going on here?” the officer asked.
“Nothing, officer; we worked everything out,” Jerome said still holding me tightly in his arms.
“Doesn’t look like everything is alright. What happened here?” The officer walked over to the busted out driver window to see the damage.
“Just a little accident, but everything is alright,” Jerome said.
“Is everything alright ma’am? I got a call that a woman was out here swinging a baseball bat,” the officer said looking at my tearful eyes and then down at my baseball bat in Jerome’s hand.
“Everything is fine sir,” I mumbled with a cracked voice that was strained from shouting.
“Well I still have to write a report and give you a ticket for disturbing the peace,” the officer said pulling out his pad. “I really should be taking you in, but something is telling me to let you two work it out. Am I right ma’am? If I don’t take you in can you work things out civilly?”
“Yes sir,” I mumbled, half embarrassed, half exhausted.
“Alright,” the officer said after taking down both our names and information and issuing us both tickets. The crowd had gone back in doors, but I was still holding onto Jerome like my life depended on it. We took our tickets and the officer started to walk back toward his squad car. “Whatever you did to upset her you need to fix it, because next time someone is going to jail,” the officer said before looking at the mess of Jerome’s car one last time and shaking his head in disbelief.
Jerome let me out of our embrace and threw the bat inside his car through the broken driver window.
“I’m keeping the bat,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.
“Sure,” I replied, looking at my feet because I was too embarrassed to look at him in his eyes.
“Go home, Whit,” he said, grabbing me by the chin to lift my head up, planting a single wet kiss on my lips. “I’ll call you.” He walked away from me like nothing happened.
I walked over to my car and got in. I watched as Jerome stood at the hood of his car with his arms folded across his chest inspecting the damage. He stood there like he was in a trance; spaced out. I drove out of the parking lot to go home, arms sore, hands shaking, dried tears and a sore throat, thinking about my next plan of action to get my husband back.
Naomi
Thursday Afternoon
“I’m sorry ma’am, your card has been declined,” the voice of the customer service woman came through my phone.
“What the hell do you mean my card is declined?” I said in a low voice trying to not draw any attention to myself. I had just gotten back to the office after my shopping session with Lisa and was trying to order some building supplies for one of our construction sites with the business credit card.
“I ran the card twice. It declined both times,” the customer service woman said in a nonchalant voice.
“Okay, try a different card,” I said reaching into my desk file cabinet and pulling out one of the business debit cards that we used sometimes for purchases. I gave the woman the card number and waited anxiously for her to tell me that my order went through.
“I am sorry ma’am, that card declined also.”
“WHAT!?” I snapped. I was livid. My blood pressure shot through the roof.
“You can just try again after you speak with your bank. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
I didn’t even respond. I just slammed the office phone receiver down so hard that the phone popped up in the air and fell off my desk. The office manager Sandra came into my office.
“Is everything alright?” she asked sounding genuinely concerned.
“Where is Marcus?” I asked standing up abruptly from my desk.
“He…he just pulled up,” Sandra said as she looked out of the window.
I hurried past her and out the front door. I was steaming mad that two credit cards declined. Marcus had begged me to let him take over the business bank accounts months ago because he said that he was tired of asking for my permission when they needed more supplies and I was not available to authorize the purchase. After many heated arguments, I gave in because I was tired of my phone ringing off the hook with I need this, I need that conversations. However, if Marcus was not paying the bills and overspending, I was going to need to take back control over the bank accounts ASAP.
“Marcus!” I confronted him in a full-speed power walk to his Toyota Tundra driver door. He couldn’t even step out of the truck because I was right up on him like white on rice.
“Marcus!” I said again. He was holding a greasy brown paper bag full of Chinese food. He was dressed nicer than his usual cargo pants and work boots; instead he was wearing a polo shirt and jeans and his cologne was competing with the smell of the Chinese food.
“What?” he snapped back at me with an agitated expression across his chocolate face.
“The cards declined. What kind of shit you running?”
“What do you mean the cards declined?”
“I just tried to use two of the business cards and both declined.”
“Well how much were you trying to use?”
“That’s irrelevant, Marcus. There should be enough on the cards to cover buying supplies! I need the bank account information,” I demanded.
“I’ll take a look at it and find out what’s going on,” Marcus said, getting out of the truck and brushing past me.
“No, I’ll take care of it,” I said walking behind him.
Marcus turned around
Stared me down and pushed me up against his truck.
“Naomi, don’t start this bullshit with me, alright? I said I would handle it!” he said through gritted teeth.
“Did you just touch me?” I asked both shocked and offended. He must’ve lost his mind getting aggressive with me.
“I got shit handled, alright? Don’t start getting on my back again about shit. That’s why we on bad terms now. You always trying to be in control. LET ME BE THE MAN.”
“Oh, so you want to be the man? The man would make sure the bills are paid,” I said giving him much attitude, as I put my hand on my hip and gave him a neck roll that was sop
histicated yet hood.
Marcus sucked his teeth to try and calm down as some of our employees walked past us to take a smoke break.
“We’ll talk about this later,” he said only loud enough for me to hear.
“Yeah, we will; just remember who you sleep next to at night the next time you think about putting your hands on me,” I also spoke in a voice only loud enough for him to hear. I gave him a stare down just as he had given me. If he thought he was going to start pulling that rough me up so I will learn to listen game, he would be sleeping with one eye open.
He stared me down for a moment as well and then finally turned to go into the office with his greasy ass food. I exhaled and relaxed the tenseness that had formed in my body once he was out of my presence. I need a vacation, I thought looking up at the sunny sky.
My cellphone started ringing and I answered it only because it was Jerome and I wanted to hear his voice to calm me down.
“Hey sweetie,” I answered.
“Aye, I need you to come pick me up from work,” Jerome said not wasting any time.
“For what? I’m at the office right now.”
“My car fucked up. They towing it right now,” he said and I could hear the beeping noise in the background like a tow truck was backing up.
“You got into a car accident?” I asked.
“Nah…worse. Whitney came by and banged my shit up.”
“What do you mean banged?”
Never Should Have Loved You Page 3