"Yeah, you are. You know her, by the time she turned you loose, you'd be sorry you didn't keep your mouth shut. Besides that, you'd lose her as your friend, and we both know, it's better to keep Crystal as a friend, you don't want her hating you, do you? So cease with the threats okay, get dressed and I'll take you home."
Omiyah stood with her curls standing wild about her head, her breathing became deep, her face crumbled crying out, "Why her and not me?" Tears began rolling as she stared at him, "I'm in love with you, you know I love you Victor! Why do you think I came here with you - even after you claimed to love her?"
Victor rolled his eyes heavenward, clearly wanting nothing to do with this scene.
"WH-H-HY!?"
"What the fuck man! Why do you think? You've practically fucked every guy that's tried it on with you!"
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!"
"Bullshit! It is true! Why would any guy choose you - over someone like Crystal? No fuckin' way I'd be with someone like you!"
"You are so cold! You may not realize this or care, but I'm human! I have feelings too Victor! And I haven't been to bed with as many guys as you think!"
"I - don't - give a shit! Okay? Does it look like I fuckin' care? All I want you to do, all I care about - is that you put your clothes on, so I can take you home!"
Omiyah stood, tears still rolling down her face. Shaking her head, she looked away from him to the floor, searching for her clothes, snatching them up as she found them. With all in hand she charged passed him and went into the bathroom, slamming the door and locking it.
He stood there breathing hard, looking around the room to make sure she had everything. He searched on the far side of the bed, underneath, standing he pulled the covers free and threw them on the floor searching. Satisfied that nothing was left, he grabbed his used condoms with a Kleenex and discarded them in the garbage in the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came out of the bathroom, her face ravaged clearly showing she'd been crying and hard. She couldn't look at him, she walked to the door. He picked up his keys following behind her, she stopped there, in the doorway, unable to help herself saying, "You don't deserve her - and I hope she breaks your heart, the way you've broken mine."
"I don't wanna hear it okay? Don't lay this guilt trip on me, because you're so screwed up!"
"Oh and you don't think you are?"
"Whatever, let's go!" He herded her out of the door, shutting and locking it behind him.
In the car, as he was driving, "I love you Victor." She said it again softly, hoping to reach him.
"Stop - saying that."
"I can't help it - I do."
"Hey, that's your problem, not mine. I'm married, I love Crystal."
"When you love someone, you don't sleep with someone else! You were just in bed with me - don't tell me you didn't like it! Don't tell me it wasn't good! You enjoyed that!"
"Fuckin' right I did, when it comes to screwing there are few guys who don't like it! Don't enjoy it! Doesn't mean they're in love!"
"I don't get you, why did you marry Crystal in the first place?"
"Because I wanted to, obviously!"
"Because you got her pregnant? That's no reason to get married."
"No shit, She'lock!"
"You married her because she was a virgin, because no one else had her? So you could have her all to yourself, maybe brag that she was a virgin? Some twisted shit like that?"
"When are you gonna get it, Miyah? She's my wife, I married her because I love her, we have two little boys - end of discussion."
"You don't know the meaning of the word love. You just don't cheat on someone you love, you just don't." She shook her head as if convincing herself of that.
"I wish you would stop saying that, we're not together right now, so it's not cheating. She's off - doing her thing, the hell if I'm going to be sitting around waiting on her."
"I happen to know, that she sat around waiting on you, crying over you! Wishing you to come back!"
"Well she should have been, it was her fault we split up. I was good to her! Treated her better than I have anyone. I was a good father to my sons, she's the one who didn't appreciate me, hitting me!"
Omiyah stared laughing through her tears, "She was kicking your ass! You're just as much afraid of her as I am!"
"I'm not afraid of her, I just don't like hitting women!"
"You get her back, she'll be back to knocking the hell out of you again." She teased.
"Not this time. Besides, things will be different, I'll be different."
"Whatever, say what you will. Frankly speaking, she's an idiot - just like me! Because here we are, in love with a complete asshole - you have the nerve to feel that you've been put out, inconvenienced because you have to wait. The one time you had to, you couldn't do it."
"Why should I have to wait?! She's the one who couldn't take a little pressure, if she didn't trip so hard, we would still be together!" He defended his actions, forgetting all of his prior remorse and convictions towards his part in what went wrong with them.
"I don't wanna hear it. I'm done with it." She returned, looking out of her window.
"No more talk about you telling her, right? I mean, you're the one who'll end up on the bad end of the stick, because we're separated, so me, she'll forgive, but you - no way!"
Omiyah turned to him, "No worries, I've lowered myself enough on account of you - no sense in making it worse."
They lapsed into silence for the rest of the way to her apartment that she shared with two other friends, pulling up in front of it, Victor turned to her, put his hand behind her neck to stroke it, "Can we at least remain friends?" He asked, a different tone now.
She turned glaring at him, "You must be kidding me."
"I'm serious. I mean, there's no reason we can't be. What happened tonight - was just one of those things right? It's not like we haven't done it before, come on, you know me, I know you - it's crazy for us not to just move on and forget it."
Omiyah stared into his pale blue eyes and thought she must be out of her mind, after all he said to her previous to this, she felt herself melting, "I suppose that's true."
"See, it's not so hard is it? I mean, you got just as much out of tonight as I did, so no hard feelings okay?"
Omiyah shook her head, laughing at herself saying, "He asks as I'm dropped off like a common whore at the crack of dawn." She returned sarcastically.
He leaned towards her, pulling her close, "Come on Omiyah, we've known each other too long to let this come between us. Don't forget, you offered it to me, and I said yes because, truth is, when you give it up, it's worth getting."
He kissed her cheek, "Thanks, now get inside, I'll watch until you're in safe and sound."
She gave a sad smile, stepped from the vehicle and ran to the stairs and up them. Taking out her keys, she let herself in, turned and waved to him.
Victor drove home, with Crystal on his mind once again - Omiyah completely forgotten.
"I can't wait for you to get back, get you back home. Things will be better this time, I promise." He muttered to himself. He thought sometimes that he was crazy. He'd gone to bed with Jeanine, which had really hurt Crystal finding out about that. He didn't mean to hurt her, he was glad that he left off with Jeanine, that he left home. No one meant to him what Crystal did. Had she been there, he would have never slept with Omiyah, but - then, he knew Omiyah. Knew that she would never tell what happened. Once he had Crystal back, he would do things different for them, he meant that. Now that he knew he loved his wife, and they were back together again, they would work out everything else. All the time they'd been together, he'd never cheated on her, didn't have to, no one pleasured him the way she did. He thought about the night before with Omiyah again, feeling guilty for taking her to the house, for having her in the bed he would share with Crystal. He thought about his dad. He would have never done anything so stupid. Victor shook his head, "Never do that again."
He would never cheat on Crystal w
hen they were together, he respected her too much. His father, he didn't even respect his mother that much. He didn't understand him at all. He was miserable with her, yet he wouldn't leave. Instead, he ran around on her. Had someone on the other side of town. He knew because he'd been on the other side of town with some friends and saw him with her. Nothing incredibly special about her, the other woman in his father's life, other than, maybe she gave him the little bit of joy he knew. She was not much taller than him, a bit on the plump side, smiling and happy to be with him. His father, to his surprise, smiled with her as well. He never saw his father smile. And his father, never saw him, watching them. But he knew that it was a regular thing, because he'd gone to the, "meeting place" on the same day and time that he'd seen them before and sure enough, they met again, with a kiss, a hug and off they went together. Unlike his father, he wasn't going to spend his life unhappy with someone he couldn't love. He would love Crystal, he would change, and make things work between them.
He'd show his father and he'd show his mother as well.
Chapter 247
L. A. ... Night of the ball... continued
All things considered and with little choice in the matter, Crystal and Ben ended up having to go to the police station due mainly to a squad car following them from the ball. They'd been pulled over and directed by the officers to follow them to the nearest station. A bit panicked over things getting out of control, they both decided before they said anything, they needed to speak to Deidre, that she would be the wiser course in the entire mess. The last thing they wanted, was to bring Shawn in on it or let him know what took place. They both knew that his reaction to it would blow everything out of the water. Ben phoned her immediately using Crystal's mobile where her number had been stored.
After explaining what took place, letting her speak to Crystal as well, she agreed with them, Shawn of all persons did not need to know about this. Reacting without delay, Deidre agreed to meet them at the station. Concluding the call, Crystal lowered the phone and worked to calm herself, pleading with Ben, "What do I say Ben? How am I gonna to explain to the police what happened in there?"
A gesture so much like his father and uncle, Ben ran his hand over his hair and then over his face, thinking, he gazed at Crystal, sighing and decided, "For now, you use partial truth. You heard the kitten crying out, you went in looking for it, you got lost, you panicked, suddenly you felt something hit you, and realized that it was the kitten. That someone had killed it and tossed it on you. It frightened you, you didn't see anyone, just started screaming, they must have run off. How is that?" He pressed as the limo followed the police to the station.
"I can't believe I did something so stupid as to send them into the midst of them! Is he insane!?!" Deidre blasted; her anxiety levels rising by the moment. She had Angela over and her friends and thank goodness, they were all having a good time. They'd settled in for the night in her room, all on the floor chattering quietly as girls do when they should be sleeping. For that tiny gift, Deidre was glad.
She quickly explained what took place with Charlie, "We're going out, we have to meet them! I need to know what happened tonight! If I don't handle this, and it gets back to Shawn, or worse, "Mr. Wherrington" does what he's threatened, it could impact everything we need to do to protect my daughter!" She vented, her mind in a spin.
"I'll get Samuel going, the girls'll be fine, we have plenty enough security here." Charlie assured Deidre.
"Yes, thank you - get the car ready, I have to at least let her know I'm going out and I'll be back." Deidre requested, running up the stairs to her daughter's room. She tapped on the door and then peaked in, giggles and laughter met her as she gazed over the several filled sleeping bags lying zig-zag across the floor to see heads popping up looking her way, one of them, her daughter.
"You girls having a good time?"
Along with nodding heads, came low calls of, "Yes, Ms Wherrington!" -or- "Yes thank you, Ms McPherson." - some making the error of what to call her even though she and Shawn had been divorced for some time. With more pressing things on her mind, she disregarded their error speaking to her daughter. "Angela, I have to go out - something important has come up, you guys continue on having fun, I'll be back in no time. Okay?"
Angela knelt in the midst of her friends, gazing at her mother, "Everything okay?"
"Everything is fine - nothing for you to worry about. You just keep having fun." Deidre assured her from the door, "I won't be long."
Angela shrugged, looked at her friends, grinning and flopped back down in her sleeping bag as they whispered about her new life and the things happening since she'd been away.
Satisfied with her daughter's contentment, Deidre closed the door and made her way quickly back down the hall. Meeting her at the kitchen door was Charlie escorting her to the car, "I swear before god, ain't nobody more insane than rich ass power hungry white men, they think they can do any goddamn thing!" Charlie fussed alongside Deidre.
"Sad to say Charlie, you're right, and for that reason alone, God help us all." Deidre murmured as Samuel held the door open for them both to step in, they were on their way to the police station.
Ben couldn't believe his eyes, nothing yet in his life had prepared him for such audacity. He and Crystal had arrived at the police station, out of the limo and inside with the officers who had been at the ball and followed them. Just as the officers were questioning Crystal with her replying; who comes strolling in? Oscar T. Wherrington.
Still intoxicated of course, but pretending concern for one of his branch invitees.
Crystal couldn't believe her eyes, it also served to frighten her, while she gripped Ben's hand to keep him from blowing her story that she'd already begun. Even so, he stood to face Oscar T. It was awkward as well difficult to maintain a front before the police having to face him and pretend that he wasn't the reason for her screams. All of it, to protect Shawn, as well to keep it from getting back to him. Feeling his irritation grow, Ben's response to his presence was immediate, "We thank you, Mr. Wherrington - for your concern, however, I'm here with Crystal - she's fine. We don't need your assistance." He bit out, barely civil, wanting nothing more than to knock the man out.
Oscar T. glared with narrowed eyes at him and then down at Crystal, he smiled, "Just - checkin' - right? Just wantin' t'make sure, yer'okay? Right darlin'?" He went to touch her shoulder, seeing his intent, Ben stepped into his view, blocking him from being able to touch her. "As I said, I'm with her - she's okay. You can go." Ben felt any second now, he was going to blow it by punching him in the face, especially if he reached to touch Crystal again.
The officer who was trying to question them looked to Oscar T. as well, "Unless you have something specifically to do with this, I'm going to have to ask you to leave sir."
Ben answered for him, "No..." He turned from the officer back to Oscar T. giving him what he most urgently wanted to know, "... he has nothing to do with this. So he can go."
Oscar T. staggered a bit, eyed Ben up and down, then looked at the officer, nodding his head, "Fine - jus' wantin' to see'bout'er..." He hiccupped and turned away, stepping by Ben, he glanced at Crystal once more, smiling, nodding, his eyes filled with lust and indecency, the very things to make her flesh crawl. He made his unsteady way back towards the door. His man beside him, leading him away. As they made their exit, he found himself facing his daughter, on her way in. His eyes widened, and next narrowed at her, slurring, "What'a'ya doin' here?"
"With the misfortune of you - for a father, I had little choice but be here!"
He harrumphed, "Knowin' what a rich, whorin', bitch yer mother, not likely! Th'-th'misfortune's - all - mine." He hiccupped trying to snarl, turning away from her, making his way to his waiting car, too drunk to stand much longer, on the verge of passing out as he wobbled at the door, waiting for it to be opened for him.
Making her way into the police station, Charlie by her side, Deidre's eyes went straight to Ben and Crystal. However, just as
her father was directed back, so was she. They waited within by the door. Crystal gave the account Ben supplied, keeping Oscar T. out of it. After a report was filed on the matter they were free to go. They gathered in Deidre's car to talk.
"My God! I am so sorry! So embarrassed by this, I truly did not think they would bother you two. All I wanted was for you to have a good time."
"I don't blame you, you're not responsible for what they do." Crystal tried to comfort her.
"I know, but still - you wouldn't have gone there, or gone through what you have if I hadn't given you the tickets."
"Excuse me, Ms Wherrington, all of that aside, I'm pissed because by rights, she should have brought charges against him! She didn't, because of what he said about Shawn. He said, that he's done porn and if we tell, he would tell about that, is it true or not?"
Charlie's eyes got big as she shifted in her seat to look at Deidre, stunned of course.
Sighing, Deidre nodded, "I'm sorry to have to be the one to confirm that, but - yes - it's true."
"No way!" Crystal gasped, clearly stunned.
"Please, hear me out here. You two, I need you to know, that he was really young when he did that, younger even than you Ben. Long before I met him. I'm thinking, he may have done it when he first arrived here in California. It happens to many. Young people get here with hopes, dreams, ideas of fame - and unfortunately, they end up - for whatever reasons, doing porn. I don't for a moment believe it's something he's proud of. I was married to him, I know him - that is not the man he is now. Please, do not use that, his past, to judge him - please - do not hold that against him."
Crystal looked down, trying to come to grips with it - trying to see Shawn that way; she felt as Deidre did, he wasn't that person, whoever he had been back then.
"Is that why you two divorced?" Ben asked.
"No! Not at all. My parents, my mother is the reason we divorced. Wrong, wrong -I am the reason we divorced, I let my family, come between us. All Shawn has ever wanted, was to have a big family and live back in Wisconsin with his family and raise our children away from this place. Had I made the choice to put that first and follow him, I would still be with him now."
BOMAW 10-12 Page 61
