Forever Ain't Enough

by Shelia E. Bell

  Dray took Bethany home, but she refused to let him come inside. “Thanks, I’ll talk to you later,” she said dryly.

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay with you for a while?”

  “I’m sure. Bye, Dray.” She got out of his car, slammed the door, and briskly rushed up to her front door.

  Dray watched as she unlocked the door to her apartment and disappeared inside. “Dang, Chynna why can’t you just be like any other normal female? Why do you have to act so hood?” he said aloud in the car.

  A few weeks after the bakery incident, a still furious and not to be outdone Chynna, drove to Dray’s job and parked her car in an inconspicuous space and scrolled social media while she waited. After an hour she was ready to say forget it. She was getting hungry and the cloudy sky opened and released a heavy stream of showers. She turned the ignition, and put the car in Drive. Just as she was about to pull out of her parking space, she saw him. She smiled but her smile turned into a frown when a woman walked out of the office building and joined him underneath his umbrella. He placed his hand around her waist, looked down at her and even from where she was parked, she could see the huge smile form on his face seconds before he planted a kiss on Bethany’s lips. Like something out of a movie, they walked in the rain, hand in hand.

  Chynna mashed the gas pedal at full strength. Her beautiful, flawless, melanin skin changed to a deep dark purple and her eyes filled with blinding rage. She sped toward the couple as they crossed the street and headed for the parking lot. By the time Dray and Bethany saw the car speeding toward them, it was too late. A loud thud sent Dray flying in the air as he pushed Bethany out of harm’s way.

  “How you like me now, Dray? I told you not to mess with me.”

  As soon as the deed had been done, Chynna momentarily regretted it…. before a feeling of satisfaction took its place. She looked through her rearview mirror and saw Bethany half sitting up on the pavement, one hand up in the air, frantically screaming for help and holding her side with the other hand. Flooring the accelerator again, she sped off, up the street, and made several turns until she was on the interstate. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief in not seeing anyone trailing her.

  Hot tears blinded her but she continued to drive, blending in with the mid-day traffic that was not unusual for a Wednesday. Pushing the button on the console, she told Alexa, “Call Kee at work.” The robotic voice followed her command.

  “Hello, you’ve reached the voicemail….”

  Chynna hit the End button on the console and drove in the direction of the office building where she worked. Arriving at the security gate, she flashed her ID badge at the guard who opened the gate to allow her entrance. Finding a parking space, she turned off the ignition, and gripped the steering wheel with every ounce of strength in her until her hands began to sweat. Her head rested on the steering wheel and she sobbed until someone startled her by tapping on her window.

  “Chynna, are you okay?” the male voice asked.

  Chynna lifted her head but looked away, swiftly wiped her eyes, and then turned to face Nathaniel, her co-worker, who was really into her. He’d been asking her to go out with him for months and each time she refused.

  “Uh, hi, Nathaniel. Yea, I’m good,” she answered as she looked away again, grabbed her purse, and proceeded to open the car door.

  Nathaniel grabbed the door handle and opened it all the way, giving her full access to get out of the car. She looked down and wiped the remainder of her tears.

  “You sure? You look like you’ve been crying.”

  “No, it’s just my allergies mixed with a dry eye socket. People always think I’m crying. Tears come when I yawn, when I laugh…you name it, but this time the allergies are kicking my butt and wreaking havoc,” she easily lied as she began walking toward the entrance to Building A where she and Nathaniel worked.

  He walked alongside her. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, I went to Walgreens and got some Zyrtec. I’ll be fine.”

  “Hey, I was wondering if you’d like to go to the Delta Fair this weekend. We can go Saturday or Sunday—your pick.”

  They arrived at the entrance. Nathaniel pushed the door open and stood to the side, allowing Chynna access into the building. She walked through the doors, took a few steps until she cleared the entrance, went into the lobby, and then stopped and looked at Nathaniel.

  Nathaniel wasn’t a bad looking guy. As a matter of fact, he was rather handsome in his own way. He was about an inch taller than her with a nice physique. His manicured beard and mustache made him look distinguished, and he dressed like he was already a top executive. She could count the times he wasn’t dressed in a nice suit. His voice was inviting, something she hadn’t noticed before because she was too busy avoiding him like the plague, being in love with Dray and all.

  Ohmygosh, Dray. God, I hope I didn’t kill him. I can be charged with murder if that wench he was with can describe me or if she got my license plate number. Ughhh, but if she describes my car, then the police will probably be knocking at my door. Oh, well, you should realize buddy, you reap what you sow.

  “So whaddaya say? Would you like to go with me? I want to get to know you, Chynna. I promise I won’t bite.”

  “Do I look like the kind of girl that’s afraid of a man with a big appetite?” Chynna gave him a hypnotic smile and swished off, leaving Nathaniel standing behind her in awe.

  5

  “In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.” Mignon McLaughlin

  “Hey, Chynna. I’m sorry I missed your call. You sounded like something had gone down. I was in a meeting when you called. That she-devil I work for had me running behind her like a slave. Uggh, I can’t stand her. She makes my blood boil. Anyway, what’s up? You straight?”

  “KeeKee, you should be used to her by now. Ever since they hired her you’ve been saying the same thing, that she’s a witch.”

  “That’s ‘cause she is. She’s fired at least seven people since she came here. I believe that’s the reason they brought her here.”

  “What? To clean house and get rid of folks?”

  “Exactly. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m on the short list myself. I think the only reason she hasn’t given me my termination papers is because she knows I know my stuff. I was the senior administrative assistant in that department for five years so Darcie knows I know the ends and outs of that company. She’d be a fool to get rid of me now, but I’m still scouting for a position in another department. I’ll even consider leaving the company altogether if I can find a stable company with as good of a salary and benefits as this one.”

  “I heard that.”

  “Anyway, enough about my job. I guess you’ve got your butt off your shoulders, huh?”

  “You know I can’t stay mad at you, Kee. You’re my bestie. It’s just that you can make me so mad sometimes.”

  “It’s only ‘cause I tell you the truth, which isn’t always what you wanna hear. So tell me, what’s up?”

  “I need to talk to you about something but you need to promise you won’t say a word to any one, not a single, solitary word.”

  “You know I wouldn’t do that.”

  “I mean, not even to Cameron. I know he’s your man and all, but what I need to talk to you about is serious. And I need to do it face-to-face. Can you come over here?”

  “Yeah, I can be there around seven. I need to go home and check in with my honey first.”

  “Girl, please that joka isn't going anywhere, except to work and home. He loves your stanky drawers too much.”

  “True…true,” KeeKee laughed into the phone. “I’ll see you later. I already know it’s got something to do with Dray. I just hope you haven’t busted all the windows out of his car again or bleached all of his clothes.”

  “I wish it was simple as that. See you at seven.”

  While waiting on KeeKee to arrive, Chynna turned on the television. She ra
rely watched TV and never watched the news, but this evening she did both. She flipped through the channels until she came to the six o’clock news. It was the usual stuff, crime in Memphis. Somebody got shot, a carjacking, and then there it was. She listened to the reporter.

  “An unidentified man was transported to Regional One with life threatening injuries after a hit and run in downtown Memphis. A woman, who was also hit, is in stable condition.”

  “Humph, how did she get hurt? I didn’t run over her behind,” Chynna mumbled. “Guess it was when Dray was playing Mr. Knight in Shiny Armor and pushed her out of the way. Serves him and her right.” She turned off the television when the news went to another story, went into the kitchen, warmed up some leftovers from Sunday, and proceeded to sit down at the small two-seated kitchen table to eat. As she enjoyed her food, she scrolled through Google searching for a good lawyer.

  Always be prepared, and never, ever let anybody see you sweat. Never miss the chance to get back at anybody who hurts you. Revenge is sweet. Remember that, she heard the voice of her foster mom say in her mind. Through the years, the words became part of her to the point Chynna took every opportunity to make her foster parents’ lives a living hell as she grew older. She always disobeyed them, ran away as often as she could, and reported them for beating her more times than she could remember. She finally succeeded and the foster parents were sentenced to jail for a year for child abuse and neglect. One year was not long enough for Chynna. They deserved to be locked behind bars for a lifetime if you asked Chynna, but then again she told herself some jail time was better than nothing.

  After she saved the numbers of a couple lawyers, she finished eating and went in her bedroom to take a shower when her text notifier sounded. She looked at it as she stepped out the last of her clothes.

  “Hey. WYD? Busy?”

  “bout to get into the shower.”

  She smiled, knowing this more than likely would turn him on.

  “is that right?”

  “Yep.”

  “Want company?”

  “Ummm. Well…”

  “Well what?

  He texted after she didn’t say anything else.

  “Think I’ll pass…for now. See you Saturday. Gnite, Nathaniel. I’ll think about you while I’m in the shower,”

  she teased and laid the phone down on the bed.

  6

  “Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.” Joan Crawford

  Bethany Thompson cried buckets of tears as she lay in the hospital bed reliving the horrible accident. Police detectives questioned her, using as much sensitivity as possible, considering her injuries and upset state of mind.

  “Ma’am, you say it was a white car?”

  “I don’t know. Yes, I think so. Or it could have been gray. I just can’t be sure,” Bethany answered barely above a whisper. Her body ached, so did her left arm, which was fractured at the elbow when Dray pushed her out of the path of the speeding vehicle.

  “Can you tell us anything else about the car, or if you saw who you saw driving it? Was it a late model car? Do you know if it was a two door? Four door? Compact? Full size? Anything? Was it a woman or man driving?”

  “No, I…I don’t remember. It was so fast I didn’t see it until it was too late. I’m sorry.”

  Dray and Bethany had just gotten off work for the afternoon and had plans to have dinner together at church before going to mid-week Bible Study. Things between her and Dray had escalated quickly. He was God’s answer to her prayers. She thought about the Bible verse “He who findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtains favor from God.” She wanted to be married, had prayed for a husband, and God had sent her Dray. They hit it off immediately, but Bethany was cautious. She was not the kind of woman who pursued men. She truly believed in the Bible and that God would send the right man into her life.

  Initially, when she and Dray started talking, Bethany was somewhat apprehensive after spending time with Dray and listening to him explain about a long time relationship he’d recently ended. He said he and the woman had dated for seven years and lived together for two of those years. He ended it because the woman was abusive and had an explosive temper. He admitted that he was once deeply in love with the woman, had even thought they would get married one day, but instead of things getting better between them, things increasingly worsened to the point he realized she was not the woman for him after all. The woman Dray had been telling her about was none other than Chynna.

  She prayed about the relationship. It was only after she felt she’d received God’s blessing that Bethany began to allow herself to fall in love with Dray, something she found easy to do.

  It wasn’t until after Bethany and Dray got engaged that Chynna started her tirade of threatening and insulting text messages, calling Bethany, and appearing at places like she did that day at the bakery. Dray told her to ignore Chynna, that she was harmless so Bethany blocked her from calling.

  As for the bakery incident that never happened, Bethany’s case was still pending, but her lawyer felt it wouldn’t be long before they could appear before the judge and the whole thing would be squashed.

  Bethany told the detectives everything she could remember, which wasn’t much of anything. For a moment, she wondered if it was Chynna who had run down Dray, but she quickly dismissed that thought. Chynna acted foolishly and like a high school kid, but Bethany didn’t believe she would intentionally do something as wild and crazy as run him down.

  “Ma’am, are you sure you couldn’t tell if it was a male or female driving the car?”

  “No, I can’t. I told you; it happened so fast. That’s why I can’t tell you the make or model of the car either. Plus, I’m not good at identifying types of cars. I’m just grateful to God that Dray and I are alive. All I could see when I realized the car wasn’t going to stop was my life and Dray’s life coming to an end. I don’t know if it was intentional. Maybe their brakes went out. I don’t know.” Bethany continued crying.

  “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave,” a nurse who entered the hospital room told the detectives. “I have to give her some pain medication and check her vitals.”

  “I think that’s all for now anyway,” the older detective stated. “Thank you, Miss Thompson.”

  “If you remember anything else, no matter how insignificant you might think it is, please contact us. We hope you have a speedy and full recovery,” the second detective said, as he placed one of his business cards on the table next to her bed.

  The two black suited detectives turned and left.

  “How is my fiancé?” Bethany asked the nurse.

  “Don’t you worry about him. He’s being well taken care of. You need to rest.” She gave Bethany two pills to take along with a small cup of water.

  “Please, tell me. Is he okay? Is he alive?” she pleaded.

  “Yes. He’s alive. He’s in the trauma bay. If I hear anything else or if I see any of his family members, I’ll be sure to let you know and let them know you want to know how he is. Okay?”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  “Now you try to relax. You’ve had a traumatic day.” The kind nurse patted Bethany on the arm, finished taking her vitals, and exited the hospital room.

  Bethany closed her eyes and began to pray. “God, please let Dray be okay. And God, let them find out who did this terrible, terrible thing.”

  The pain medicine began to quickly take effect and soon Bethany was fast asleep.

  Dray lay in the Critical Care trauma bay in a medically induced coma, having sustained massive injuries and fractures including a compound fracture to the right ankle, a fractured femur, pelvis, jawbone, and right arm, collapsed lungs, and a brain injury. He was on a ventilator to help him breathe and had a chest tube inserted to help drain air, blood, and fluid from the space surrounding his lungs.

  Two of his siblings arrived with his parents from Hernando, Mississippi. His other two
siblings lived much farther away, one in Seattle and the other in Las Vegas. When they heard the dreadful news, they made plans to get a flight so they could be by their little brother’s side.

  The first thought his mother had was to accuse Chynna. Although Dray didn’t talk much about his personal life, his parents and the two siblings who lived in Mississippi, had witnessed firsthand Chynna’s explosive temper. Dray always made excuses for her, blaming it on her highly dysfunctional childhood. They tried to understand and trusted Dray to handle his personal affairs. When he told them he had finally broken it off for good with Chynna, they were relieved. He’d called it quits numerous times before, but when he met Bethany and started attending church with her, Dray was a different person. He didn’t seem so uptight and frustrated like he was when he was involved with Chynna.

  His family met Bethany and although things progressed rather swiftly between them, they supported him and were elated, but a little shocked, when he told them Beth proposed to him. Bethany’s side of the family adored him just as much as Dray’s parents liked Bethany. After what was a short courtship of just a few months, Dray secretly facetimed Bethany’s father and asked for her hand in marriage so that he wouldn’t know it was Beth who proposed. Her family were conservative Christians and Bethany had told Dray her parents would pitch a fit if they found out she’d asked Dray for his hand in marriage. Mr. Thompson readily gave Dray his blessing.

  Dray told himself he loved Bethany. It wasn’t because she said she was a virgin either, but knowing she was saving herself until marriage endeared him to her just that much more. He couldn’t wait to start a new life with a woman like Bethany.

  He began to think that all the years he was with Chynna he possibly didn’t know what true love meant. After meeting Bethany, he saw how different a relationship could be. Why couldn’t it have been this way between him and Chynna?

  When she invited him to attend church with her, initially he balked at the idea. It wasn’t that he had anything against going to church—he was raised in the church. It was because he had gotten out of the habit of going, even praying, because that was not Chynna’s cup of tea. That was one of the issues his parents and siblings had with Chynna but because Dray loved her, they accepted her, flaws and all.