“No.”
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“Vera, believe me, I don’t mean to be rude, but given the last few days that I’ve had, the last thing I want to do is stand here and answer a million questions. So what you can do is call Milan tomorrow.”
“Look, I don’t want to be here either, trust. But I really don’t need to speak to Milan. I really need to speak to you.”
“Me? About what?”
“Can we step inside for a moment?”
Kendu hesitated.
“It won’t take long,” Vera said, looking into the camera.
“Can you please turn that damn thing off and give us a minute. Damn.”
The crew, who were trained not to respond to the cast, didn’t say a word. They simply kept recording.
Aggravated, Kendu said, “Vera, would you just say what you have to say?”
This motherfucker here . . .
“Look here.” Vera handed Kendu the picture of him that Rowanda gave her.
Kendu’s gaze sank down into the picture and Vera could see the reflection in his eyes of the red Transformers’ sweatshirt he’d had on in the photo. He looked back at Vera, confused. “Where’d you get this from?”
“Our mother gave it to me.”
Kendu stared at Vera and she could see a million emotions running through his eyes. She wondered if he noticed that, with the exception of their complexions, they had the same face. He walked up close to Vera and said, “Our mother? What are you talking about . . . our mother?”
Unwanted tears streamed down Vera’s face. “You’re my brother. Rowanda Wright is our mother. She left you in the hospital at birth.”
“Rowanda Wright, the woman you brought with you to my birthday party?”
“Yes. She didn’t know you were her son until after she came here, heard your story, and saw pictures of you as a child. She knew then.”
“What? She’s not my mother. My mother abandoned me when I was born. She was a junkie, a fiend, and she’s probably dead somewhere in the damn street.”
“She’s not dead, Kendu. Look at me. We have the same mother. You are my baby brother. I was nine and living with my Aunt Cookie. I had no idea that Rowanda had a baby until last night.” She wiped tears. “And, no, she’s not perfect. She’s not. But she’s all we have. She couldn’t take care of you or me. And I know it’s hard and it’s hurtful, but it is what it is.”
“After all of these years? Man, please. Fuck that. I’m good and I don’t want shit to do with her.”
“She’s in the hospital dying!”
“From what? AIDS or an overdose?”
“That’s fucked up!”
“No. What’s fucked up is leaving your newborn in the damn hospital so you can get high, and instead of getting your ass together you continue to get high, and now you want to come and dump this shit on me? Hell no. I was never her damn priority and she damn sure isn’t one of mine. So if she dies, then oh well.” He shrugged. “Shit, she’s already been dead to me.”
“You know what? Let me leave here before I mess your big ass up!”
Kendu’s eyes dropped down nine inches. “Yeah, okay.”
“I didn’t want to come here in the first damn place. If you don’t want to accept her or come see her before she dies, then don’t. You have to live with that! Not my damn problem. All I know is that she gave us what she could, which wasn’t much. Now either you stay here and pout like some mad-ass little boy or you be a damn man and get your ass to the hospital and see your mother!”
“I don’t have a mother!”
“And maybe you don’t!”
CHAPTER 43
BRIDGET
This is going to be the best season yet,” I said to a boardroom full of executives. “All of the women are on top of their game. Which is why I called this meeting. I think now would be the perfect time to add Millionaire Wives Club LA to the lineup. I can see it now. We’ll have an entire franchise sweeping the nation. And if I may toot my own horn, I believe I deserve—”
WHAP! WHAP! WHAP- WHAP!
Suddenly my face was on fire and all I could see were stars. For a moment, I thought I was back in the convent and had gotten caught by Mother Superior giving the Father a blow job.
I was wrong. Because when the stars floated away, there was Milan being held back by security.
“Oh, baby!” I grinned, stepping out of my heels. “You have slapped the right one now! I’ve been wanting to kick your ass. Bad. I swear I can taste your blood in my mouth!”
“Bring it, bitch!” Milan invited Bridget. “You hired some actress to play my husband’s mistress.”
As the executives looked on in shock, I chuckled and said, “Oh, you found out about that, did you?”
“You ruined my marriage!”
“Trick, you need to thank me! Thank me for revamping your career and making you the star you are! You were a raggedy-ass mess and I turned things around for you!” Bridget took a quick peek in the mirror. “Dear God, you have ruined my makeup!”
“I’m going to ruin more than that!”
“You are incredibly ungrateful! Here I’ve made you a star and this is how you repay me! You’d better find your damn self, mind your manners, and kiss the screen instead of trying to fight me!”
“I didn’t sign up for you to ruin my life!”
“You’re on reality TV! Your life belongs to me!”
“My marriage is off the table!”
“Please! Spare me!”
“I quit.”
“Quit. But you’ll be back. You’re a fame whore, and as much as you hate them, you need the cameras in your face because you don’t have any talents. You have a degree you don’t use and a life you aren’t happy with—unless there’s a camera around. And if all it took was for me to hire an actress to get your ass goin’ then I would do it again! Now go!” Bridget pointed toward the door. “Before I order the guards to ax your head off!”
“Fuck you, Bridget!”
“You already said that! Now get out!”
CHAPTER 44
MILAN
Milan walked into the living room and immediately noticed Kendu sitting on the sofa with his head tilted back, his eyes closed, and the camera zoomed in on him.
The room was silent. She knew him well enough to recognize that he was in deep thought and whatever thought he’d settled in on was one that rocked him to the core.
I know I pushed him away, but please . . .
Milan walked over to Kendu and sat beside him. “Knott . . .”
“Milan, let me tell you something right fuckin’ now,” he said sternly, never once holding his head up or opening his eyes. “If you want to leave me, then pack your shit and go. I’m done with this. Fuckin’ finished. I’m sick of trying to convince you that I don’t know that trick and that I love you. Because obviously you never trusted me to begin with.”
“Knott . . .”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” He held his head up and the moment he opened his eyes, tears rolled down his cheeks. “Stop cutting me off.”
Milan’s heart sank. She’d never seen her man in tears. Not even when he was a little boy with nowhere to go.
Kendu continued, “I have loved you too fuckin’ long for you to let some strange-ass chick step to you and tell you anything about me. You—”
“Knott, she was an actress.”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop cuttin’ me off—what did you just say to me?”
“You’ve been telling me the truth the whole time. Bridget hired her for a goddamn story line!”
“What?”
“Yes. When we first started taping, she said I was boring and needed to spice things up. Well, she took it upon herself to hire this actress to pretend to be your mistress!”
Kendu shook his head in disbelief. “An actress? She hired an actress? What the hell?!”
“Yes. Can you believe it?”
“Yeah, I can believe that. Because Bridget is
grimy as hell. But what I can’t believe is that you, my wife, the woman I love more than anyone and anything, took my ass through hell. Cussing me out publicly. Humiliating me. Feeding me rabbits and shit.”
“I didn’t cook the rabbit.”
“I know you didn’t, because the damn nanny found his ass hopping around in the garden. But that’s not the point! The point is that you would let anyone come between us and make these last few months hell!”
“Knott, I’m so, so sorry. I am. Please believe me. I’ll never doubt you again. Whatever you want and whatever you need, I’m here. Nothing and no one will ever get between us. I’m done with reality TV. Things have gone too far. I’m finished.”
“This shit is crazy.”
“I know, but I beat that damn actress’s and Bridget’s ass in the same damn day!”
Kendu looked at Milan like she was insane. “Fuck them.” Tears glimmered in his eyes.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “It’s something, and whatever it is doesn’t have a damn thing to do with reality TV.”
He handed Milan the picture Vera left behind and Milan smiled. “Look at you looking like our son. How old were you? You look like you were about three. I thought you didn’t have any pictures of yourself before the age of ten. Where are you? In a playground somewhere?”
“I didn’t have any photos. I got this from my sister.”
Milan blinked. “What? Your sister? What sister?”
“The one who came over here today.”
“Wait, wait—start from the beginning. Who is this person and how do you know she is really your sister? For all we know, Bridget could’ve hired her.”
“Bridget did hire her.”
“I’m confused.”
“Milan, Vera is my sister.”
Milan blinked. “What do you mean?”
“She came over here a little while ago in tears and she told me that we had the same mother.”
“Vera’s mother. The lady who came with her to your birthday party?”
“Yeah. Oh, my God . . .” He shook his head. “My mother.”
“Which makes Vera your sister.”
“My sister.” Tears streamed from his eyes. “And I’m so fuckin’ mad!” He pounded his fist on the glass coffee table, sending a crack straight through it. “I’m pissed. I’m angry. I’m hurt.” His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “I used to dream that my mother would come and get me when I was in foster care. And I used to wait and pray and shit, that my mother would come, and she never did. ’Cause she was too busy in the damn streets getting high.”
“She’s not anymore though, Knott.”
“Milan, Vera told me that she’s in the hospital right now on her deathbed from an overdose. So now I finally know who my mother is and she’s getting ready to fuckin’ die on me!”
Milan’s eyes popped open wide. “Don’t let her die. Let’s go to the hospital now and you walk into her room and you tell her, “Don’t fuckin’ die on me! I’ve been waiting all of my life to be loved by you and you’d better not fuckin’ die on me! I need you.’ ”
“I can’t do that.”
“I tried.” Vera sat at Rowanda’s bedside and held her hand. “I told him and that’s all I could do. I couldn’t make him come. Okay. I kept my part of the bargain and now I need you to keep yours and don’t fuckin’ die on me. Get your shit together and fight.” Vera pushed her head into the side of her mother’s hip. “Please . . .” She cried. “Please.”
“I need you, too,” Kendu said as he walked slowly into the hospital room.
Vera raised her head in surprise as Kendu walked around Rowanda’s hospital bed and squeezed her hand. “I don’t know what to say or what to do. All I know is that I have loved you all of my life and I’ve waited for the day when you would love me back. Now don’t take that shit from me.” He cried. “Don’t!”
Beep . . . beep . . . beep . . .. ..
“Everybody out of the room!” a doctor yelled as a team of doctors and nurses rushed in. “Everybody out!”
A nurse screamed, “We’re losing her!”
CHAPTER 45
CHAUNCI
Just act normal . . .
No guilt.
Damn. I keep smelling Grant’s cologne.
Relax.
And I keep feeling his touch.
Chaunci closed her eyes as a vision danced before her of Grant lifting her breasts and slipping first one nipple into his mouth and then the other.
“Chaunci, do you hear me?” Emory said, waving his hand in her face.
“Huh? What? What did you say, baby?”
“I was asking you if you wanted white or red wine with your pizza.”
“Red, sweetie.”
“You’ve got it.”
You’d better get it together. It happened once.... No. It happened five times over a weekend. You can shake this. Emory is the man you need to marry.
Yes, he is.
Chaunci smiled at Emory as he placed two glasses of wine on the table.
“How was the party, babe?” Emory asked, taking a bite of his slice.
Chaunci hesitated. What party? “Umm . . .”
“Kendu’s party.”
Chaunci’s eyes grew bright. “Right. Kendu’s party. It was really nice.”
“Why didn’t you come home that night?”
Think. “Now you know I was with Milan and whenever we get together we have a little too much to drink. I tell you. I’m going to hate to see that footage.” She gulped her wine in one shot.
“Yeah, me too. So why didn’t you come home the next night?”
Think. “Same thing. Got carried away with Milan.”
“You couldn’t call?”
“Umm . . . You know what? I should’ve called. I’m really sorry about that. Anyway, honey, let’s talk about this movie you have planned for us to watch. We haven’t had a pizza and movie night in a long time.” She placed her left hand on his knee and squeezed.
Emory’s eyes dropped to Chaunci’s hand. “Where’s your ring?”
Chaunci looked down at her finger. Where’s my fuckin’ ring? Think. Think. Think. I don’t know. “I took it off this morning when I was oiling my skin. I must’ve left it on the vanity.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Should it mean something?”
“You tell me.”
“Chaunci, relax. I didn’t mean anything by it. Like you said, we haven’t had a pizza and movie night in a while and I think you’ll especially like this movie. So let’s just sit back and enjoy, okay?”
“All right.” Relax. “What’s the name of the movie, baby?”
“Whores.”
“What kind of movie is that? A documentary?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Chaunci refreshed her glass of wine. “Put the movie in and let’s see what this is about.”
“Let’s.”
The movie lit up the television screen with a view of the ocean. Crystal clear water sparkled under the moonlight. The camera panned to a yacht’s upper deck as two bodies, one chocolate and one cream, made love on a massive white sofa.
What the hell . . . ?
I can’t breathe....
Chaunci’s fantasy weekend came to life as Grant sucked her breasts and his scrotum smacked her pussy lips.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!” Chaunci screamed, jumping up and spilling her wine everywhere. “What kind of sick shit are you on!”
“Me? You’re the sick bitch!”
“Bitch! Don’t you ever call me a bitch!”
“A bitch! A whore! An unfaithful ass-lying slut! Up there fuckin’ some white ass punk! What? Was I too black for you?!”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“No, what’s ridiculous is that the same motherfucker who stole your company you laying up there fuckin’! Lying about Kendu’s party! You weren’t even there!”
“I was there!�
�
“Why the hell are you still lying?! You weren’t there because I was there and your ass was nowhere to be found!”
“Let me explain.”
“You can’t explain a damn thing to me! But what you can do is get your shit and get the fuck outta here before I beat your ass! God knows I’m a good man, but I’m not a saint, so you’d better get the hell away from me! Oh, and your goddamn ring is not on your vanity! It’s right here!” Emory pulled it from his pocket. “ ’Cause along with the video, that motherfucker sent it back to me!”
“Emory.” Chaunci reached for his hand.
“Chaunci, I swear to God if you don’t leave I may kill you.”
Say something.
I can’t.
Chaunci picked up her purse and took one last glance at Emory. “Emory.”
He grabbed her by the arm and roughly walked her to the door. “I’m done with you! And I don’t ever want to see you again! Whore!”
CHAPTER 46
VERA
The Next Day
The sidewalk leading to the courthouse was filled with news reporters, bloggers, and photographers all looking for a quick interview, a word or two, or to snap a quick picture to sell to the highest bidder.
Vera stood next to her attorney doing her best not to make eye contact with any of the news cameras.
“No comment. No comment,” Vera heard repeated again and again as her attorney waved off the reporters’ questions. The sheriff led Vera and her attorney into the courtroom, where Taj and his attorney sat in the back waiting.
Taj looked Vera over from her hair draping over her shoulders to her red bottoms. She wore a black pencil skirt, starched white Chanel blouse, and around her neck a three-strand pearl necklace. She wondered what his thoughts were and started to ask, but quickly changed her mind.
After all, considering today would be the last day they would share last names, she no longer had a right to ask him what his thoughts were.
Vera sat down on the opposite side of the courtroom, as her attorney walked over to Taj’s attorney and asked to see him in the hallway.
Don’t think.
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