Jaded: The First Cut is the Deepest

by Shawn C. Thompson

“I know.”

  I shook my head at her common observation.

  “The ladies are gonna fall all over him.”

  “Just like I did for his father.”

  Denise breathed a deep sigh and tapped her pen on the desk.

  “Don’t we all? Fall for men that is. Mind if my assistant takes your Junior to the kiddie corner in our store?”

  Before I could respond, she pressed a button hidden behind her yellow blouse and a Hispanic gentleman greeted us to whisk my son to play with the other children who were waiting for their parents to finish their health food shopping.

  Once he was gone and the door closed, Denise continued our conversation.

  “I would love to hear how you guys met.” She ran her fingers through her slicked back mane. “Every love story has a beginning.”

  “Well it’s not anything spectacular.” I said, unsure of whether or not to spill my guts to her.

  “I’d still love to hear it.” Denise prodded, leaning forward as she offered me a bottled water.

  I took a swallow from it and began.

  “Junior's father and I met at Seattle University when I was finishing my master’s. We had the same communications 101 class because of his marketing degree. I remember when we first laid eyes on each other.”

  Denise followed my eyes to the floor and back up at her.

  “Every day he would write me notes in class that I would refuse to read.”

  “And why was that?”

  I chucked and rolled my eyes.

  “Because he had a girlfriend at the time.”

  “Ah I see. You know what they say, how you get em is how you lose em.”

  “I know that now.” I took a deep breath. “I did my best to ignore his advances until one day he told me that he would do anything to have me in his life, including leaving his girl. Now me being twenty, I thought this was a sign and allowed him to carry me away, impregnate me, and then leave me high and dry with nothing but the clothes on my back.”

  I could feel my tears returning.

  Stay strong Ivory. You can’t let this woman see you like this.

  “Now when you say that, is it being said figuratively or literally?”

  The contempt on Denise's face was so strong; it looked as if she herself had been through it.

  “Literally.” I sniffled “Mine and my son's. It wasn’t until the next morning that I discovered he had also frozen our joined credit cards and accounts.”

  “What a prick.” Denise scoffed.

  “Tell me about it.”

  As we sat together reveling about the many dysfunctions of marriage and divorce, I began to feel slightly better.

  “Well in any event, I’m glad you changed your mind about my proposition.” She rummaged through her desk and retrieved a manila folder. “I can assure you that what I have to offer will be enough to buy you three times the amount of clothes and whatever else your husband took from you and your kiddo.”

  I sat in silence and waited for her to elaborate.

  “But as with any deal or arrangement, I have taken the liberty of drawing up a contract.”

  Denise motioned for me to move closer while she reached for her highlighter.

  “This is my husband.”

  My eyes damn near popped out of their sockets the moment I laid eyes on her man. HE WAS ONE OF THE FINEST MEN I HAD EVER SEEN.

  And here I was thinking I’d have to court Hugh Hefner.

  I shook my head and laughed to myself.

  “Something wrong Ivory?”

  “No, not at all.” I took another swig of water to keep from burning alive in my lust. “I just wasn’t expecting your husband to look so…”

  “Thank you.” She smiled, obviously accustomed to the reaction. “Unfortunately it’s his looks that have caused the most turmoil between us. What good is an attractive man if every woman can have him?”

  I agreed while she flipped the page.

  “His name is Delano Gathers. He is an anesthesiologist for Plastic Surgery Seattle. Thirty-eight years old and makes about 400k a year, not to mention his countless stocks and bonds.”

  Denise continued to show me his resume and I was highly impressed.

  “I can definitely see why you have your problems.”

  “You haven’t seen my problems.” Denise said through clenched teeth.

  I could feel the climate of the conversation change as she sprawled additional images of women on the desk.

  “Tiffany, Danielle, Rachel, and Vicki are my problems. This man can’t seem to keep his hands to himself and his dick in his pants.”

  Even though I hadn’t been through nearly as much as Denise had with suffering through infidelities, I could only imagine how disrespected she felt. Hell, I was down and out over ONE instance.

  “Not only has he lied to me, cheated, and given me an STD over these women but one of them had the nerve to blow up my phone claiming that she needed a thousand dollars for abortion money.”

  She cut her eyes.

  “Who the hell needs a thousand dollars for an abortion? Are they cleaning the sin out of your pussy as well?”

  We laughed together to lighten the mood.

  “It’s a shame that women can be so trifling to their own kind.” I added, reaching over to grasp her trembling hand. “That’s one of the reasons why I changed my mind. Us women need to stick together.”

  “And what’s the other reason?”

  I could feel the anger as I recalled the way I felt the day I realized I was living a lie.

  “Pierce.” I paused “The way he acted outside the club and then coming home to nothing. What better way to heal than to help another woman with the same issues? The added money could definitely help too.”

  “Precisely.” Denise winked, flipping through more pages. “Women helping women, I like the sound of that.”

  We spent the next fifteen minutes going over our life stories and her notes regarding what she asked of me. It was apparent that Denise’s story was a prime indicator that what glitters isn’t always gold.

  I came across the end of her documents and the signature line.

  “If you sign here, you agree to seduce my husband into a sexual act on camera in exchange for forty thousand. Twenty now and twenty after the deed is done.”

  I looked at the line and furrowed my brow.

  “Do I have to sleep with him?” I questioned.

  Despite the fact that I prepared myself to have to do something minimally scandalous, if I didn’t have to sleep with him to walk away with 40k and a redeemed ego, I wouldn’t.

  “You make the call. As long as I have his ass on Blu-ray.”

  Denise smirked while I signed the dotted line.

  A sudden banging at the door broke our concentration.

  “Mrs. Gathers, you are needed in isle twelve!”

  “Dammit” She remarked, jumping up from her seat “It’s probably a customer issue.”

  I glanced at the clock.

  “Handle it, I’ll go grab my son and chat with you later.”

  “Great, I’ll take you to him and call you for updates.”

  I followed Denise to the kiddie section where Junior was happily playing with the other children and grabbed him so that we could leave.

  “Mommy, I had so much fun!” He said, talking my ear off until we were in the car and on our way home.

  As we drove home to his idle chatter, I thought about the events to come and smiled.

  CHAPTER 5

  “Wow girl, I can’t believe you are actually gonna do this.” Myla said, staring at the twenty thousand dollar check Denise had written for me. “You better make sure this thing is legit before you start sucking fools off and what not.”

  She and I were sitting in my empty ass living while my son ran circles around the house with his Hot Wheel toys.

  After meeting with Denise yesterday and having twenty thousand dollars to spend with twenty more on the way, my mind began to contemplate the things I
could do with this extra money.

  Maybe I could buy another house to rent out or finally open my own counseling center.

  “Ivory? Hello?!” Denise shouted, waving her hand in my face to get my attention. “This could be a really dangerous situation you are getting into.”

  “Wait a minute, wasn’t it YOU who was encouraging me to do this.” I said, chuckling at her. “You can’t encourage someone to do something and then renege.”

  “Yeah I know but I honestly thought she was joking. All I’m saying is to be careful.”

  I looked into Myla’s eyes and could see the worry in them.

  “I will be. Besides, this should be easy. All I have to do is catch Delano off his game.”

  She looked up from her phone and smirked.

  “Mm Delano, sounds like he’d be sexy.”

  “He is.” I responded giddily.

  Myla typed his name into her phone.

  “What are you doing?” I questioned, pausing for a moment to get my son to settle down.

  “What do you think I’m doing? I need some visuals bitch!”

  She thoroughly searched the web for his name and once she found his Facebook page, her mouth dropped open.

  “You hit the jackpot with this one, maybe these coins she wrote for you are legit.”

  “I’m almost 100% sure they are.” I said as I took the check from her. “You should have seen the way Denise was pouring her heart out to me. There was no way she was lying to me about the things he’s done to her.”

  “Well as long as you are careful. Make sure you use a condom too. Men these days can be walking around with Salmonella poising and not let a bitch know if that means they are risking losing out on pussy.”

  We laughed together.

  “I got it Myla. Who said I was gonna sleep with him anyway?”

  “I assumed that was apart of the plot. I mean, who pays someone 40k just to act like they are interested in a man. Especially, THAT one.”

  She continued to sift through pictures of Delano Gathers while I went to the kitchen and pulled out some chicken to season.

  “Denise said whatever it takes to catch him in the act.”

  Myla followed me.

  “So like I said, you’re gonna have to put out. This ain’t the 1950’s, be prepared to dish out the nookie.”

  I clicked my tongue at her trivial ass as I put the chicken in the oven and prepared a salad.

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.”

  “Mm hmm” she mumbled, folding her arms across her chest.

  “Why is this such a big deal for you anyway? You know the man chasing lifestyle better than I know Junior.” I said jokingly.

  “I do and you remember what happened to me.”

  She cast her eyes away as if she were remembering the event.

  “Actually, I don’t. You never told me.” I frowned.

  “I never plan on it.”

  Even though I wanted to press her for the ump-teenth time about what happened that night, I let it go and continued making our baked chicken meal.

  “When are you supposed to meet Mr. Delano?” Myla crooned as she poked at my stomach.

  I slapped her hands away playfully.

  “This Friday. Apparently, she’s done the liberty of setting up a fake consultation at his job with Seattle Plastic Surgery. He’s the anesthesiologist so I’m sure we’ll bump noses there.”

  “More like bump uglies.” Myla snickered while we prepped the plates. “And what the hell do you look like going into a Plastic Surgery place? You are damn near flawless.”

  I looked at my reflection using the knife I was cutting with.

  “People these days get surgery for the hell of it so I’m sure I won’t look suspicious and it’s just a consultation, I’m not really gonna do it.”

  “I was about to say, you might wanna reconsider that idea. Wake up looking like Lil Kim.”

  “Hey, don't talk about my girl!” I said defensively. “Real nose or not she still spits fire.”

  “Not like Nicki Minaj!”

  Just before we could get into the infamous Kim and Nicki debate, there was a knock at the door.

  Who could that be?

  Myla and I looked at each other suspiciously before I went to answer it.

  As I walked over to the door, I could hear the knocks getting more hurried.

  “Damn, you are a hot commodity in the streets these days!” Myla joked.

  I pressed my eye against the peephole to prepare myself for who stood on the other side but couldn’t make out the face.

  “Myla, come here.” I whispered.

  She tiptoed to my aid as I pressed my ear against the door.

  Someone sounded like they were crying.

  “Open the door!” a woman's voice pled through sniffles. “I just want to talk!”

  “I don’t have time for this shit.” I groaned to Myla.

  “Oh yes you do! Last time I checked, you live for emotional problems. You're a therapist.”

  “Not today, I’m on leave.” I snapped back.

  The knocking continued, only this time the voice on the other end got louder and more hysterical.

  “Girl, you better answer that unless you want the neighbors in your business.”

  I knew Myla was right so I took a chance and swung the door open. Standing in front of me was the same woman who came to my job a few weeks ago.

  “Oh hell no!” I shouted, attempting to slam the door in her face.

  The woman stuck her foot in between the door to keep it from closing and struggled to get inside.

  “Please, I just want to talk. You can have Pierce. I just need to know where he is.”

  “What?” I questioned as I pushed to close it anyway. “I don't want Pierce.”

  “Can you please just let me in. I’m worried about him and haven’t seen him. Please.” She begged, balling her eyes out.

  I motioned for Myla to check on Junior while I fought rationale and let the woman in.

  “Thank you” She said, brushing off her green floral maternity dress and walking inside.

  I nodded and motioned for her to sit on the couch, making sure to keep an eye on her every move.

  As she made herself comfortable and wiped her tears with tissue from her purse, I took a good hard look at her. She was iight in the looks department but definitely not worth the hell Pierce was going to catch.

  The young woman looked to be about twenty-four, caramel tone, with bulging Diana Ross eyes and thin lips. Hopefully she kept some of the added weight post pregnancy because I could tell that before this she had zero tits and zero ass.

  “So what’s this all about?” I asked rudely.

  Under normal circumstances I would have been kind but her presence in my life was beginning to irritate my soul.

  “I have no clue where Pierce is and I’ve been calling him non-stop for the past few days. I figured you would know.”

  “And why is that?” I asked, taking a seat on the far end of the couch with my arms crossed.

  “Because he's well…he’s.” The woman stammered unable to finish.

  “Because he's my husband.”

  “Yes.”

  She looked down and continued to sob.

  Part of me enjoyed seeing her in misery but another part felt for her situation but only because she was pregnant and emotional.

  “Well I haven’t seen him.” I said plainly. “Anything else I can help you with.”

  Shauntae reached over to shake my hand.

  I simply eyed her awaiting gesture.

  “I apologize for the other day. I just felt like you should know about what was going on. You know, I was unaware that he was married until I told him I was pregnant.”

  I squinted my eyes as if it would help me discern the truth.

  “Honestly, I didn’t know.”

  After realizing that I wasn’t shaking her hand, she finally put it down.

  “He hid it so well. He never had h
is ring on and always seemed to be available. There was one time where I caught him with it on but he said he was getting a divorce or something so I let it slide.”

  I gave her an incredulous look.

  “Please don't ask where my mind was. I guess I was a woman in love.”

  “A woman in love with another woman's man? Girl please!” Myla spat as she sat in the recliner across from us.

  I could hear Junior eating at the kitchen table so I made sure to watch my words.

  “Look.” I began, trembling as I spoke “Whether you did or didn’t know, the man you fell in love with was my husband. We had a child and I thought we were in love until YOU came in the picture.”

  Before she could apologize any further I continued.

  “I don’t want an apology or a sorry because I feel more sorry for you than anything. Here you are at his wife's house crying on her sofa about the same man that neither of us know the whereabouts of. Now if I was you, I would take what little dignity I had and leave. Oh and you better start saving up for the baby because after I’m done with him, I doubt he'll have any money left to spare.”

  I could see Myla’s eyes bulging from my peripheral.

  The tension in the room grew thick as Shauntae wiped her eyes once more and collected her things.

  “Well I guess there’s nothing left to say.” she stammered as she rose from the couch “I truly am sorry for what happened.”

  “You don’t know what sorry feels like just yet. Goodbye.” I said bitterly.

  Myla escorted an inconsolable Shauntae out of my home. Once she did, she took a seat beside me.

  “You know that was cold-blooded of you right?” She said, using her thumbs to wipe away the tears of anger that were forming from my eyes.

  “I’m aware. Let’s just call it Karma.”

  I flipped my hair and smirked sinisterly.

  “Now, how about we go on a shopping spree? The three of us could all go for some retail therapy.”

  “I’m down with that” Myla said, smiling. “But what about Pierce? He’s missing Ivory. Don’t you wanna know where he is?”

  “Was he worried about me when he was fucking her?”

  Myla shook her head no.

  “Exactly.”

  CHAPTER 6

  It was Friday Morning and I was looking elegant in a black Gucci outfit and three inch heels that were bought compliments of Denise's check. Since her husband liked girls with long flowing locks, I had Myla give my hair some added volume and a few extensions to make sure I would catch his eye. I removed my Ray Bans as I stepped out of my car and took a moment to look at the entrance of Seattle Plastic Surgery. My girl was definitely right, this man had to have some serious coin.