by King, Deja
“Damn Dior, can you stop being so dramatic all the fuckin’ time. What’s up with the tears!”
“Do you think I want to cry right now! I don’t understand you. Earlier today you were telling your mother I was going to be your wife and the mother of your child now you’re telling me I’m fuckin’ upyour life. I’m trying so hard for you but I can’t get it right. It’s like you hate that you love me.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“That’s how you act.”
“Dior, I’m not in the mood to pacify you right now.”
“That’s fine. I guess we won’t be going out to celebrate our engagement after all, so I’m going to bed.”
Lorenzo’s cold demeanor towards me put a chill through my body. So after throwing off my clothes to take a shower my feet welcomed the heated floors in the bathroom. It was a warmth that Lorenzo seemed to be able to turn on and off at his convenience. I had never tried so hard to please one man who always made me feel like I would never measure up. I turned off all the lights in the bathroom because I didn’t even want to look at myself anymore. The one person who I needed to love me instead constantly rejected me.
I stayed in the hot shower so long by the time I got out when I hit the bed my eyes closed shut. When I felt warm, strong hands rubbing up my body at first I thought I was dreaming but then a voice said, “Don’t ever think I don’t love you because I do.” His soft lips kissed my earlobes and I instantly got wet. I turned over and my body was his without him even asking. He lifted me up so I would be on top. At first I screamed out as I shifted my hips to take all of him inside of me. But as my back arched and his hands and tongue played with my nipples I kept riding Lorenzo harder welcoming the pain. We both wanted more and we gave it to each other because soon our pleasures hit the ultimate high as we climaxed together. That night Lorenzo fell asleep inside me and never moved. It seemed we became one and for the first time I truly believed he did love me.
“Baby, what’s that noise?” I asked not wanting to wake up but unable to ignore the loud banging.
“I think somebody’s at the door.”
“Oh shit. That’s probably Abby. I forgot we’re supposed to meet this morning. Can you go get it, baby? I need a few more minutes before I have to go deal with her.”
“No problem.” When Lorenzo got up to put on his boxer shorts I wanted to pull him back in bed with me because I was getting wet all over again. Instead I closed my eyes so I could try to get five more minutes of sleep. But loud commotion was coming from the living room and I had to see what the hell was going on. I put on my bathrobe and when I walked out there were more than a dozen law enforcement officers. I couldn’t tell if it was the DEA, The Feds or what, all I saw was black clothes, badges and guns.
“Lorenzo Taylor, you’re under arrest for money laundering, running a continuing criminal enterprise, murder of Darnell Hobbs…,” after the word murder I couldn’t hear anything after that. My mind began drifting to a million different places all the while my eyes remained locked with Lorenzo’s. I was waiting for him to tell me what I was supposed to do but he never said a word. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Baby, what am I supposed to do?”
“It’ll be okay. I’ll call you,” he said calmly as if he wasn’t about to go to jail. They let him put on some clothes and I stood there watching feeling helpless. As they were taking him out some woman stopped him in his tracks.
“Before you left, I wanted you to see the face of the woman responsible for bringing you down.”
“Why would you do this, Lala?”
“Alexus told me everything. You murdered the father of my child and then took me to bed and played daddy to his daughter. You’re a cold hearted bastard and I can’t wait for you to spend the rest of your life behind bars.”
“Lorenzo, what is she talking about? Lorenzo, answer me,” but he never looked in my direction as they escorted him out in handcuffs.
“Don’t shed a tear for him, Dior.”
“Excuse me? I don’t even know you so don’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t do.”
“Why would you want to cry over a man that was cheating on you the entire time you all were together?”
“You’re a liar!”
“The other night when he didn’t come home because he found out you were high on drugs, he was with me. He told me how pathetic you are and the only reason he stayed with you was because he felt sorry for you. He bought a big beautiful home for me and my daughter because he wanted us to be a family. You were nothing more than a charity case to him. So don’t waste your tears on that sonofabitch, he’ll be spending the rest of his life behind bars anyway.
When she left and the door closed, I completely lost it. I felt sick like I wanted to die. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I continued to vomit until all I was coughing up was air. I leaned over the side of the toilet and just cried. I didn’t realize I had so many tears in me. It felt like that moment was the end of my life.
Lorenzo
Who Will Survive
“Dior, I can’t describe how good it feels to see your face. I’ve missed you, baby.”
“I’ve missed you too. But I hate seeing you in a place like this. You don’t belong in jail.”
“And I won’t be for long. I have the best attorney’s working to get me out. I’m not worried about me I’m concerned about you. How are you holding up?”
“Not good. I don’t have anybody to talk to. I mean Courtney she listens and she tries to be there for me but it’s so hard.”
“Baby, please don’t start crying. We’re gonna get through this together.”
“Do you love me, Lorenzo?”
“Of course, why would you even ask me that?”
“Then why, why were you seeing her?”
“Seeing who, Lala?”
“Yes.”
“Dior, that was before you. When we got serious, I cut it off. Tania is my Goddaughter so I did take care of them but after we became serious I cut it off with her—I promise you.”
“What about that night you didn’t come home after we got into that huge argument, did you stay with her?”
“Yes, I stayed at her house.”
“Did you have sex with her?” I looked away because it was killing me that I was literally watching myself break Dior’s heart.
“Why are you doing this, Dior? I love you, I’ve always loved you. I swear on everything, you are the only woman besides my mother that I’ve ever loved. You have my heart. That’s all that matters.”
“Did you have sex with her that night, Lorenzo?”
“Yes, but it was a mistake. I was pissed at you because of that whole situation with Sway but it meant nothing. I came back home to you.”
“Yeah, because you felt sorry for me. You think I’m pathetic.”
“What are you talkin’ about? I don’t feel sorry for you. I came back home because I love you and I wanted to be with you. I still do.”
“I want to believe you but you have this whole life that you kept from me. You didn’t even trust me enough to tell me what was going on. And now you’re in jail because some woman you were having sex with turned on you. Everybody seems to know everything but me.”
“Dior, it’s not like that. You know I can’t go into details but trust it’s me and you. When I get out we will be together. We will have that wedding and make that baby like we said we would—believe that. I know my time is about to be up but I’ma call you tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Dior, be strong. I love you don’t ever doubt that.”
“I love you too, baby.”
That night I dreamed about getting out and being with Dior again. I promised myself that I would never take her for granted or make her feel that my love for her wasn’t real. Going through this bullshit made me realize what was truly important. I had so much and was this close to losing it all because of bad decisions. But I had no doubt I would beat the case and be back home
to Dior.
The next day, the first opportunity I got I called Dior. I told her I would and I knew she was already feeling insecure about our relationship. I didn’t want to put anymore doubt in her head.
“Hi, Lorenzo, I was hoping you would call.”
“Who is this?” the woman’s voice sounded so muzzled I couldn’t recognize it.
“Courtney.”
“Oh hey, Courtney. Can I speak to Dior?”
“Dior isn’t here.”
“She stepped out, when will she be back?”
“She’s not coming back. Dior died last night.”
“What did you just say?”
“Dior died of a drug overdose last night. When I came over early this morning, I found her body.” There was a long pause and I could hear Courtney crying. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to hold it together. I’ve been crying off and on for hours and I thought I was done. But telling you…” her voice trailed off and I heard more sobbing. While she was crying it was hard for me to process what I was hearing. I had just seen Dior’s beautiful face yesterday and now she was gone. What Courtney was saying seemed surreal to me. “Lorenzo, are you still there?”
“Yes.” Was the only word I was able to say.
“I’m so sorry you had to find out like this. I know you loved her and so did I. She was everything I wanted to be. But now I don’t want this anymore. I’m going back to school because I want a regular life. Fame killed her, Lorenzo. Without you being here she couldn’t handle it.”
I couldn’t listen anymore to what Courtney was saying. My mind was blown and my heart felt like it stopped beating and I had died. I fell to the floor and just cried. I remembered as a child, when my mother left me I’d promised myself, I would never cry over another woman again. I guess that’s why they tell you, never say never because I knew for the rest of my life I would shed many more tears over losing Dior.
The End
Dear Readers:
What’s up everybody! I’m super excited about the release of Bitch A New Beginning which will officially drop in July. I know some of my readers might’ve been confused with how all of my books intertwine. In Trife Life To Lavish part 2, I brought all the characters together to prepare you for the new chapter of my Bitch Series. So in case you haven’t read everything, I’ve put the first chapter of Trife Life To Lavish part 2 in here with the Epilogue for Aaliyah. Hopefully this will allow readers to somewhat get caught up as we prepare for Bitch A New Beginning! If it doesn’t help, you still have time to go out and read all the books. I hope you enjoy and I can’t wait for you to find out what Aaliyah has gotten herself into. Until then,
SMOOCHES!!
IN STORES NOW
Trife Life To Lavish
Eye On The Prize
Chapter 1
Arnez stood in the impressive penthouse suite, gazing out the 34th floor view of Times Square. He extracted a Zino Platinum Crown Series Rocket from the sleek metal tube, and then trimmed the end before firing it up with a palm-sized blowtorch lighter covered in silver reptile skin. He exhaled a cloud of smoke as a smile crept across his face.
“It is so lovely to see you again Genevieve,” Arnez smirked, admiring the massive billboard she graced in the heart of Times Square. “We have so much catching up to do, since the last time I saw you.”
Arnez walked over to the plush white couch in the center of the exotic wood floor and sat down before lifting up his glass of Sassicaia, the great Italian wine off the coffee table and taking a sip. He let out a deep sigh placing his wine glass down and then picked up the manila folder off the table. He opened it up and stared at the pictures of Genevieve that the private investigator he hired had given him earlier in the week. For the first time in months Arnez had a tangible lead on his prized target and he had no intentions of letting her slip through his fingers.
“Yes, Genevieve, I believe our reunion is long overdue,” Arnez said, before depositing his ashes across her face.
“Genesis, if we don’t leave shortly we’re going to miss our flight.”
“I understand that, but I have to wait here for this delivery. Maybe it’s best you go ahead without me. I can take a flight out tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t want to take the flight without you. We’ll wait together.” Coco turned away from Genesis as she huffed, not wanting him to see her disdain.
“Finally!” Genesis said when he heard the doorbell. He anxiously made his way to the front door. The FedEx carrier greeted him with a smile and a pen as Genesis signed for the priority overnight envelope. He had practically ripped open the package before the door had completely closed.
“What is that?” CoCo was beyond curious to know what had Genesis’ attention so occupied. And for that very reason he either ignored CoCo’s question or just didn’t hear it because whatever papers he was looking over had his interest on lock.
“This is it! I was expecting so much more…fuck!” Genesis roared, tossing the papers to the floor.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” CoCo asked, trying to quickly pick up the papers just in case Genesis decided he immediately wanted them back.
“This private investigator I hired to find my sister and mother said he came across some great information for me. I’m thinking he was close to finding their whereabouts but all this information is from over ten years ago, when they were living in Charlotte, North Carolina. This ain’t no recent shit!”
“Wait, Genesis, did you see this?”
“See what?”
“Look,” CoCo reached her hand out to Genesis. “When I was putting the papers back in the envelope I noticed this picture, it was kinda stuck in the corner.”
“A picture, I was pulling the papers out so fast I must’ve overlooked it.” Genesis took the picture out of CoCo’s hand and was silent for a few minutes. He examined every inch of the picture and then turned it over and the names, ‘Kevon, Genevieve and Teresa’ were written on the back.
“Genesis are you okay?”
“This is my mother and sister. It’s an old picture but it’s them. Genevieve can’t be no more than six or seven, and my mother,” Genesis said with a slight whisper to his voice as his finger traced over her face. This must be the man she married,” he reasoned, sizing up Kevon.
Genesis sat down on the sofa, clutching the picture. It was the first image he had seen of his family since the last time his mother came to see him at the juvenile facility when Genevieve was only a baby. Having something concrete in his hands once again brought Genesis hope that one day soon he would be reunited with his family and he wouldn’t
give up until that happened.
“Supreme, we really need to go.”
“What…we’re gonna miss the flight,” he sulked sarcastically. “It’s a private jet, they leave when we get there, we ain’t on nobodies time but ours.”
“They’ve been waiting for over two hours.”
“A little longer isn’t gonna hurt.”
“Do you not want to go, is that it?”
“Precious, if I didn’t want to go, I wouldn’t fuckin’ go.”
“Well that’s how you’re acting.”
“Do you really think I’ma miss Aaliyah’s birthday party? Get the fuck outta here!”
“You making it hard to tell by delaying the time we’re supposed to be leaving.”
“Whatever, I have some shit I need to take care of.”
“Fine, you take care of your shit and let me know when you’re ready,” Precious barked back, walking out their bedroom. She was tempted to pick up the crystal vase off the dresser and throw it at Supreme, on her way out but decided against it. Those sorts of volatile feelings had become the norm for Precious in recent months.
Ever since Aaliyah needed a blood transfusion and DNA test proved Nico was her father, it seemed to be war of the roses between her and Supreme. Precious knew that Supreme still loved Aaliyah like she was his own, the problem was she wasn’t and Nico made that
very clear. When Aaliyah was recovering from her surgery, Nico never left her side. He demanded to play a full-time role in her life and damn near seemed like he wanted to move into the Mills’ home or at the very least be their next door neighbor. So Precious had no choice but to come up with a fair and reasonable visitation arrangement that would bring some sort of peace in what had turned into a beyond chaotic environment. With them living on the West Coast and Nico residing on the East Coast it wasn’t an easy task but somehow they made it work. Well, Precious and Nico made it work, Supreme was an entirely different story. Precious couldn’t fault Nico for wanting to play an active role in his daughter’s life but she could also understand Supreme’s pain and anger over the entire situation. So she went out of her way to try and appease him. But no matter how hard Precious tried, Supreme seemed determined not to forgive her.
“I still can’t believe it’s me on that billboard.” Nichelle stared in awe.
“Well it is. I said it would happen. I never make a promise I can’t keep.”
“I’ll never doubt you again, that’s for sure,” Nichelle smiled. Akil walked up behind her and gently massaged Nichelle’s shoulders as they both looked out the massive window from his loft apartment.
“I’m so proud of you. I knew I saw something special in you, but I wasn’t sure you would allow me to help you bring it out for the world to see but you have.”
“I think you’re giving me way too much credit.”
“I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. And trust me, this is only the beginning. You’re a star, Nichelle. If seeing your billboard plastered in the middle of Times Square doesn’t make you a believer then I think what I’m about to tell you now will.”
Nichelle turned around and faced Akil with a puzzled look across her face.
