After showing Trey around the club, I led him to my office, where we could discuss the deal. He was incredibly impressed with the crowd and the level of service I offered club goers. He left his crew and his lackey, Rochelle, in the VIP lounge while we sat down to discuss numbers.
“Alright, let’s get on down to it, Jeb. I’m pretty sure you already know that I like what I see. You’re a respected businessman in this town, and I’ve been dying to work with someone who understands making this money as much as me, man.”
“I appreciate that, Trey. I’ve put my heart into this place, and I wouldn’t bring anything less to the club and my future clubs.”
“And I see that. I like that. So, what I wanna do is to have Rochelle come in and work with you for a week or two while we’re deciding how to proceed. Let’s get to work on making club numero dos in Atlanta,” he held up his two fingers which were laden with gold rings, “a reality.”
I was beyond disturbed that he had to have his girl doing his work and with me at that. But it was all for a bigger cause, I had to keep telling myself. It was time to suck it up and just deal.
He stood up and reached his hand out to me. “Do we have a deal?”
I stood and shook his hand with a firm shake. “Of course, we have a deal.”
“Alright, let’s get to making this paper, man. Rochelle will be here bright and early in the AM. I’ll be in touch,” Trey said as he walked out of my office.
I stood there and took a deep breath, wondering how this week would go with my ex acting as espionage for my new investor who I was certain didn’t know I used to date her. Fuck!
***
Tameka
I finished cleaning the kitchen, getting ready for bed, and finally climbed underneath the covers to read a little while I waited on Jeb to get home from the club. He had that big investor meeting with Trey Cox, and I was patiently waiting to hear how it went.
Trey was the kind of man I avoided, and my entire life that’s what I did. We grew up on the same block, and I knew the type of work he was into back in the day. But he was now a well-respected businessman with stakes in a lot of successful businesses in town. It made sense to work with Trey, but I had my reservations, and I let Jeb know about them.
Nonetheless, I was excited for Jeb. The club was his heart, and he lit up like a Christmas tree whenever he revealed his new ideas to me. Jeb’s ambition was the turn-on of all turn-ons. He was always inspired to do more and do better, and that inspired me too. I trusted him, and if he thought working with Trey would help him unfold his dreams of expansion, then I was all on board too.
I put down the book I had been reading and turned on the TV. And there, blasting through the speakers, was a commercial for a Baby Expo that was coming to town next month.
For all expectant and wanna-be expectant mamas! Get your hind tail up here, next month for our annual Baby Expo! Come see all the best products and services that you need for your new bundle of joy!
The commercial screamed at me. And then my uterus started to throb, syncing with my heartbeat. The commercial then proceeded to show insanely cute, tiny, teeny, weensy babies, all round and chubby with cheeks as big as boulders and as kissable as ever.
Ugh! I miss when the kids were so little, I thought, and that’s when I felt it. I felt the baby bug give me a soft bite. Baby fever was beginning to settle in. It didn’t help that my new baby nephew, Bryce, was the cutest little thing that ever blessed this Earth, and seeing Kemara be mommy to her little one was making me miss the days when the kids needed me just as much as Bryce needed my sister.
I was knee deep in thoughts of having a third child when I heard Jeb’s car pull into the driveway. My ears perked up as if I was a dog waiting for his owner to get home, and I sat up in bed and waited for him to bless me with his presence. His keys rattled against the lock, and his ginormous footsteps could be heard as he slowly trekked up the stairs as if he was beat.
“Babyyy!” I exclaimed when his face finally appeared in the doorway. I leapt from under the covers and into his arms.
The Baby Expo announcer was still going at it when I noticed Jeb tilt his head toward the television. A smile cracked through the worn expression he wore. He leaned down to peck my lips and asked, “What’s up with this baby expo stuff? Are you planning to go to it with Kemara?”
“I saw it and started watching it. Then, I just kind of went down the rabbit hole of what it may be like to have a third baby,” I responded as he held me in an embrace.
“A baby, huh?”
“Yeah.”
He laughed and pulled my chin up so that I was looking in his eyes.
“My baby has baby fever.” He chuckled. “This second club location is about to be our third baby. That’s the newest addition to our family, and I’m claiming it.” Jeb started unbuttoning his shirt, and I watched as he peeled his dress shirt off and walked into the bathroom to turn on the shower without saying anything else about actually having a baby.
My eyes furrowed. I wanted to say something else but decided this just wasn’t the time to have the baby discussion. The baby bug had sprung on me out of nowhere, but this club deal was something Jeb had been working toward since I met him. Everything he’d done in business led up to this moment, and yet I realized he hadn’t walked in particularly enthused after his meeting today.
“Anyways,” I said, ready to change the direction of the conversation when Jeb walked out of the bathroom shower and into our room with a towel around his waist, “how was the meeting? Tell me how he is in love with all of your plans for the new location. Tell me!”
Jeb’s back tensed as he dug in his drawer looking for some boxers. He turned around with an unreadable expression, sat on the bed, and looked over at me. He stalled as he searched for the right words.
“He loved all of my plans. It’s happening, the second location is indeed happening,” he said with no emotion as if the idea had suddenly become exhausting.
“I knew you would do it!” I exclaimed as I kissed him all over his face, but I simmered down when he didn’t match my excitement. “Am I missing something? Why aren’t you happy?” I asked.
“I’m happy about the deal,” he said flatly.
He stood up and walked back into the bathroom. I was becoming more confused by the moment. I went to the bathroom door and watched him carefully apply toothpaste to his toothbrush.
“Okay, so what’s the deal? Why are you talking about the deal as if it’s some chore you don’t want to do now, as if your hand is forced and you’re not feeling it?”
He finished brushing his teeth and looked at me. “I’m excited about this move, but I’m just drained..and, well,—” Jeb stumbled over his words. “I put so much energy in wanting this to be right that it has to be right. Me and Trey talked some things over, and for the most part, we’re seeing eye to eye. But there’s some things we’re not quite on the same page with yet.”
“I’ve seen the way you work. You’re extremely ambitious and meticulous about making Club Elite the club of the city. I’m sure Trey appreciates that. But you can’t do everything, Jeb. I can help with some things, you know. If you want me to come in and work with you for the next few weeks, I can do that.”
“No! I have an entire team in place. We should be good,” Jeb responded so quickly that it startled me.
I dropped the idea, saying, “Okay. I just want you to know that I’m here for you, in every way. Anyone who has eyes can see you’re putting your heart into the club. That’s enough to make anyone excited and committed about working with you.”
“Thanks, babe. It means the world to me to know that I have you by my side,” Jeb said as he walked over to the bed and got in. “Now, come. Let’s get some sleep.” He patted the spot on the bed beside him.
I got in bed and scooted as close to him as possible. As his arms enveloped me, I couldn’t help but think about how quickly he brushed off having a baby with me and the uneasy way he looked when I suggested coming to his club to help
out. I might have been reading too much into it, but this wasn’t my first rodeo with being engaged to a man and living the dream, only to wake up a year later living a nightmare.
Chapter 7
Tameka
I sat in the crowded gynecologist’s office with my sister Kemara, while she held Bryce in her lap, cradling him as if she was holding on for dear life. I was there for support while she attended her overdue post-partum appointment. Mothering had seized her life, and I was there to try to help her navigate it the best way I could. I loved seeing Kemara in her mother-mode. She was a great mom, and I saw so much of myself in her. I gripped the baby bag tight as I watched other pregnant women waddle to and from the back of the office while their partners dragged along behind them. My mind flashed back to when I would come to my doctor appointments while pregnant with Kevin, with a toddler-sized Eva scrambling to keep up by my side.
I didn’t have the tight grip on the baby bag back then like I did today. I fumbled with that thing during my baby days with diapers and zip-locked bags of snacks falling out while Eva roamed the office taking magazines off shelves just to throw them to the floor. It was quite the scene. Rodney wasn’t there to help me because of work or any of the many supposedly important commitments he had. He would straight-up ignore my requests and invitations to come to those appointments. I was ashamed at the memory and hurried to bury it back in my mind.
“Earth to Tameka,” I heard Kemara say. I snapped out of my flashback and looked over to see her finally relieve one of her arms to wave her new-baby-smelling hand in my face. “Come back to us!” my dramatic sister said mockingly.
“Yea, yea, whateva, whateva,” I brushed off her cute but poor acting skills. “I’m here, I’ve just been in…deep thought.”
“You don’t say!” Kemara rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair as if she had already proven that point.
“No, but seriously. I think I have just a pinch of baby fever,” I shared with Kemara, holding up my fingers to show that my baby fever diagnosis was slight, and nothing to be alarmed about. It was totally normal. Especially when I had both a new addition in the family and a wedding date coming soon.
“You’re seriously delusional, sis,” Kemara went on to say.
I gasped and turned to Kemara. “Is it that obvious?” I pretended as if I really cared about her slight although I truly didn’t.
Kemara rolled those infamous eyes and proceeded to say, “Tameka, I know you. I’ve sat here and watched the way you get all bug-eyed about these babies in here, and I’ve seen the way you take care of your nephew. You’ve been bit with the bug, my dear sis, and there’s no downplaying it.”
I sighed. I wasn’t in a relationship with myself though. In order to get excited about potentially having another baby, Jeb would have to be just as excited. He didn’t seem the least bit interested in discussing babies unless he was calling his new club expansion his baby.
“Jeb made a comment last night,” I blurted out. “…baby expo on TV…baby fever…he’s not feeling it,” I said, in my attempt to reveal last night’s events to Kemara.
Kemara laughed. “What? Slow down and tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”
I took a deep breath. “I was home last night waiting for Jeb to come back from his meeting with an investor when I had caught this Baby Expo infomercial on TV, which I was meaning to tell you about, by the way. But anyways, he walks in right when that infomercial was on, he notices the baby magazines on the bed, and he straight up tells me in so many words that his club’s second location is about to be his baby…yadi yah.”
I looked at my sister for her response, but all I got was a blank stare and a brief, but awkward pause.
“He totally shut me down, Kemara! I didn’t even get a chance to express to him that, yes, yes, yes! I want another baby! And with him! The man I love,” I exaggerated to my sis.
“Oh shit,” she said as her face read something along the lines of Yikes.
“I know right! He came home last night pretty stressed, I get that. He wouldn’t even tell me much about how the meeting went. You know he usually gives me the play by play, but last night he wasn’t having it. He even shut me down when I told him I’d be willing to come to the club to help out, so all I could do was tell him I would always be a listening ear,” I said all in one breath as I exhaled all that happened to Kemara.
Just as my eruption came to a close, I finally settled into the realization that Kemara’s Oh, shit, didn’t have a damn thing to do with what I was vomiting up to her. I watched her look behind me at the door and shake her head. Her face unraveled into a snarl right before my eyes. She patted my leg, and quietly instructed me.
“Look, look. Look who’s here,” she murmured.
I turned to see Melody promenade in pushing a stroller while accompanied by an attractive young couple. I instantly whipped my head back around towards Kemara, though I was about a good millisecond late.
Shit! She had definitely recognized me staring at her from across the gynecologist’s office like a mad woman.
“Oh heavens! Is she coming this way?” I whispered as I tried to capture Kemara’s attention. She was still gazing at the lady, while completely neglecting her job as my intel.
Kemara continued to pat my legs. “She’s coming; she’s walking this way. She definitely saw you, sis,” she hissed indiscreetly.
“Tameka!” I heard Melody say. I stood up and smiled and greeted my ex’s ex who always stepped to me in the fakest way she knew how.
“Hello, Melody,” I said rather lukewarmly. “I see you go to the same ob/gyn as my sis. What a small town.”
“A small town it is!” Melody replied.
I looked down at Kemara who was still sitting with the baby. I was trying to make eye contact with her so she could get the hint to stand on up and jump in this conversation too. I wasn’t a fan of small talk, so I required someone who could diffuse the situation should things have gone haywire. But, of course, my sister sat idle as if she were aloof to the message behind my eye contact.
Melody leaned down and took a look at Bryce and managed to squeeze out an “Aw, how cute.”
“Really, Melody?” I asked curiously. I couldn’t help but to question her sincerity. She never even attempted to mask her dislike of children, and yet we were at a gynecology office with her cooing over my nephew, and she was pushing Rodney’s child around in a stroller.
“Nope, still not getting what all the baby hype is about,” she quickly acknowledged.
“So I’m interested. Why get pregnant by Rodney?” I felt Kemara tug at my shirt from behind. I shooed her hand away and waited for Melody to respond.
“To be honest, having a baby by Rodney meant padding my pockets with his money for the next eighteen years,” Melody said coldly.
I don’t know why her apathy startled me. I should have been used to her by then, but before I knew it, I was ready to go off on this chick who broke up my family just because she wanted a paycheck.
Kemara caught my arm before I did something I regretted, which was smack her.
“You fucking whore,” was what I proceeded to say right as Kemara stood up with the baby and pinched me. I rushed to the aid of my arm which was now throbbing with pain that my own sister had caused. She then turned to us both and reminded us this wasn’t the place.
“We’re in a doctor’s office filled with new moms and their babies, ladies. I actually worked really hard to find an obstetrician I like, so simmer down please,” said Kemara.
I backed down and shook it off, but that didn’t stop Melody from trying to get the last word. “You can have him back!” she said. “He’s useless since that accident he had chasing your man. He doesn’t even remember me, so I know he doesn’t remember how to make any money. That’s why I needed a backup plan.” Melody turned and gestured at the couple she brought with her. “By being a good Samaritan for this lovely couple who can’t have their own child. Once I hand this baby to them, it’s pay
day, bitches.”
“Bitch—” I advanced towards the heartless woman when I felt Kemara tug at my shirt.
“She’s not worth it,” Kemara growled through clenched teeth. “Plus you wouldn’t want me to beat you down if I were to lose my spot here at this office, now would you?”
Sometimes, I wished Kemara would just shut up. But at that moment, I sucked it up, flopped back onto the seat, and just shut the hell up myself. I watched as Melody flipped her long, flat, straight hair and switched back to her seat to sit beside her impending payday. My mind then raced to how that couple was going to treat my kids’ little sibling, and I started to panic while thinking about my kids living a life of not knowing their little brother or sister.
I thought about Rodney and how disillusioned he was. He didn’t believe he had been engaged to Melody, let alone that she had given birth to his baby. And she wasn’t much of a fiancée to stick around and try to convince him otherwise.
Someone needed to let Rodney know that he was about to have a child in the world without either of its’ parents. He needed to know, and I was going to get him to see that he needed to act and act fast.
Chapter 8
Jeb
I woke up this morning feeling like complete shit. Tameka was gone to Kemara’s doctor’s appointment, and my mind was still reeling over not telling her about Rochelle’s presence in the club over the next few weeks. I saw the hurt in her eyes when I told her I didn’t need her help. And the talk about babies seemed to strike a chord with her too. Of course, I wanted us to have children, but I wanted to get everything settled with this deal first. I especially couldn’t think about our future children as long as Rochelle was lurking in the shadows.
For the first time ever, I wasn’t excited to go into the club knowing she would be there. I didn’t need this added drama in my life, but I’d be damned if I let someone like Rochelle come in between me making my dream come true.
I pulled into the empty parking lot with a lot less enthusiasm for the day. I unhurriedly found it in me to pull myself out of the car and made my way across the lot and into the club doors. Rochelle was already there with a couple of staff members going through pre-business prep. My mood was flat as I said a dry “hello” to everyone and walked to the hallway leading to my office.
Safe Place Series Page 19
