Revenge of the Mistress

by Cydney Rax

  Ajalon just stared at his ex. Somehow it seemed she’d really changed. Back in the day, she was feisty and fun-loving. But now he saw her in a different light. He still loved Nicole, but he was beginning to lose heart.

  “Anyway, I feel pretty good right now, but I still have a few concerns.”

  “Such as?” he said.

  “I wonder how well I did when those two homicide detectives questioned me. They grilled me so much I was scared I’d slip up. But they ended up letting me go. That has to prove I’m not a suspect. But oh, how I wanted to die in that room. I tried my best to play off my nervousness. And these guys study body language. I had to make sure I didn’t look like I was lying.”

  “Are you getting better at lying, Nicole?”

  “I don’t know. Why?”

  “Did you lie about anything?”

  “Well, of course. I had to. How the hell could I tell the complete truth? If I did, I wouldn’t be with you right now. Plus, I have a daughter to think about. I practically don’t have anyone else.”

  “You have me, Bella.” He hoped she believed him.

  “I know I have you, and I am going to need you more than ever. But we have to be careful. No one can know that we are old acquaintances.”

  “Old acquaintances?”

  “Look, once everything clears, I’m hoping you and I can really be together, Ajalon. But I must lie low for a minute. I have a funeral to plan. I’m in mourning. And I have to check on the life insurance and see how much I’m getting.”

  “Sounds like your hands are full.”

  “Yeah, they are. But I know for a fact that once I get financially situated, I plan to move again. I don’t want to be in Houston anymore. I need a vacation.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. For a minute she looked like the woman he used to know. The one who was game to do something fun and adventurous.

  “Ajalon, you and I have never really been on a real vacation together. Let’s go away somewhere nice once this is all over. Hawaii, Saint Kitts. Someplace romantic.”

  There she was. The dreamer had returned. He liked this side of Nicole.

  “Ahh, you want us to get away. Make love on a beach.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  “That means you finally want to be with me? Perhaps as my wife one day?”

  “I don’t know about all that just yet. I just know I don’t feel comfortable in Texas anymore. At first I loved being here, but now?”

  “You’re sorry you ever left me, not once but twice?”

  She was becoming good at lying. “I’m so very sorry for doing that, Ajalon.”

  “Tell you what. You continue to act normal and do the things that a mourning widow would do.”

  “I can do it. No problem.”

  “Then it should be easy to show sorrow upon your face. Get through the funeral, and then we will leave town together. And one day soon, we can really be together the way you wanted to years ago.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise,” he told her and then she kissed him and said good-bye.

  * * *

  The time had come. And Kiara felt stranger than she ever had in her life. With Adina holding her up, she entered the church. Dressed in black from head to toe, she just wanted to get through the wake. Get through it with dignity and calmness. She and Adina went and sat in the middle of a large section on the right side of the sanctuary. The viewing of the body would soon begin. They sat down. Myles said “excuse me” to Adina and planted himself on the other side of his mother.

  She squeezed his hand tight. Myles’s face appeared thoughtful. It was his first time ever attending this type of ceremony.

  “Are you alright, son?” Kiara asked.

  “I’m fine. I think.”

  “Good.”

  “I-I’m a little bit scared. I’m afraid of dead people.”

  “Your dad isn’t going to hurt you. He loved you. Always remember that.”

  It hurt so much for Kiara to speak those words to Myles. It all seemed surreal. He was so young and loved his daddy to death. Would the boy grow up and remember the good times he’d had with Rashad? Would he ever feel the same about playing ball or flying the toy helicopters that he dearly loved?

  Kiara tried to hush the awful taunting that plagued her mind.

  You should have let Rashad spend more time with Myles, instead of acting so evil and selfish and denying a father a right to his own son.

  She nodded as if answering the voice in her head. She knew in some ways she had done Rashad wrong. She felt regretful. But it was too little, too late.

  As they continued to wait, Adina talked her ears off.

  “You know I hated that son of a bitch, but he was alright at the same time.”

  “Adina, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

  “Now, girl, ain’t no use in me acting like Rashad and I was thick as thieves. He was my boy years ago, but the past couple of years, hell to the no. I didn’t like how he was treating you.”

  “I didn’t like it either, but that’s beside the point. At the end of the day, he wasn’t as wicked as I made him out to be.”

  “Ha. Now I know you’re lying. You used to complain about his ass day and night. ‘Adina, he’s hiding babies. And he’s fucking everything that moves’.”

  Kiara burst out laughing and couldn’t stop. It felt strange to cackle like she was at the comedy club.

  “Would you shut up, Adina? I’m not in the mood to hear all those memories.”

  “Too bad, because I’m just warming up.”

  “Can you please crack your jokes after the casket is closed?”

  “How about I wait till the casket is six feet under and after the ghosts have come to visit him?”

  “You wrong for that, girl.”

  “He was my boy, though, Kiara.” The large grin on Adina’s face turned upside down. Her voice broke. “All jokes aside, Rashad was my boy. I’m sure gonna miss him.”

  * * *

  They got through the wake and returned to Kiara’s home. She saw the kids off to bed and sat around in her family room sipping on a cup of hot tea mixed with honey.

  “Is that enough for starters?” Adina asked. “Let me know and I can make another cup.” She sat next to her friend on the couch. Adina picked up the clicker and started speeding through television shows: TBS, BET, OWN, prime-time news; she rapidly clicked past the ESPN channels and kept going till she found the movie channels.

  “It’s a damn shame that people pay an arm and a leg to have these fucking so-called premium stations, yet there’s nothing ‘premium’ about watching ten-year-old movies on a Friday night.”

  “I know, girl. Cable is a luxury. Definitely not a necessity,” Kiara answered.

  Finally, Adina stopped clicking when she saw actor Eddie Murphy’s face light up the screen.

  “We will watch Mr. Murphy. He’s old as dirt but is funny and fine. Plus, we could use a good laugh.”

  “Say that again.”

  They watched in silence for several minutes, laughing here and there.

  Adina frowned. “Look, Kiara, you might want to drink tea, but I am thirsty for something much stronger. I think I’ll start by opening up a bottle of wine I saw in your fridge.”

  “Girl, I don’t care. Do you.”

  Adina left and soon she was back, holding two glasses filled with wine.

  “Thanks, Adina.” Kiara reached for one glass.

  Adina slapped her hand. “Excuse me, but these are for me. You go on and have yourself a good time drinking that tea, girl.”

  Kiara smiled. “This is insane. I can’t believe we’re here. Doing this. The day before Rashad’s funeral.”

  “Life’s a bitch, Kiara. And right now I feel like pure trash. I mean, hell, he and I rarely saw eye to eye, and our heads bumped more than once. But damn, shit, and fuck. I’d never wish what happened to Rashad on my worst enemy. He did not deserve that. Rashad wasn’t so bad. He was a great father.”

  “But he could h
ave been a much better daddy, if I would have let him. Oh well.” Kiara picked up a wineglass and took a long swallow of her drink. She ignored Adina’s protests.

  “If you need a drink, how much more do I need one?” Kiara wiped her top lip. “Honestly, I’ve beat myself up about everything, and it’s time for the self-condemnation to stop. I apologized to his corpse. I couldn’t leave his casket till I felt that he had forgiven me. I felt peace. And it’s given me the strength to move on.”

  “What are your plans, sweetie? I hate to say this, but now that Rashad is forever out of the picture, you can completely concentrate on being with Eddison. Being his wife. Y’all two can truly build a new family. Jazzy is young enough to be raised by this man and never miss a beat. Myles, on the other hand . . .”

  As if on cue, Myles was standing before them. Kiara sat up in her chair and set down the wine.

  “Are you alright, baby? I thought you were asleep.”

  “I couldn’t sleep, Mommy.”

  She patted the couch next to her. “Come sit next to me. You want to talk?”

  Myles came and sat by Kiara. “I was thinking. I have an idea.”

  “What is it, son?”

  “Can we get some homing pigeons, please, Mommy?”

  “Homing pigeons?”

  “Yes. My daddy is gone. And I miss him already. I wish he could take me to the zoo, actually to an African safari, but that will never happen.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Myles. We can still go—”

  “Mommy, if you let me buy the pigeons, I can release them in the sky. Because that’s where Daddy is, right? In heaven, up in the sky?”

  Kiara’s lip trembled. She nodded. “I sure hope so.”

  “So when those pigeons are released, they’ll find my daddy. They’ll keep him company. And when they get ready, they might come back to me. And if they do, I’ll be happy. I’ll know that they went to see him and make sure he’s all right. That would be great. Wouldn’t it?”

  “That’s the best idea I’ve ever heard. Yes, we’ll make sure and do that. Thanks, son.”

  He gave his mother a kiss good night and disappeared from the room.

  “I must say,” Adina replied, “that is one good thing that your ex did. He gave you that incredible human being.”

  “Didn’t he, though? Myles is amazing.” Kiara nodded and smiled. “He’s gonna be alright. And I will, too.”

  * * *

  The day following the funeral, Nicole headed over to Ajalon’s. She nearly fell into his arms when he opened his door.

  “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”

  “Why is that?” he asked with a serious look on his face.

  “I had to write his obituary. I haven’t had to write an obituary since college, and back then it was just to earn a grade. This time it was for real.”

  “How do you think you did?”

  “His mother told me she hated it. She hated the photo that I used for the program. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right.”

  “Get over it. It’s over. You can put all of this behind you and start again.”

  “You’re right. Right now I just want to leave. I’ll go crazy if I stay here one more day.”

  They began packing their personal belongings. Nicole just wanted to put the entire nightmare behind her.

  Ajalon watched her as she stuffed some of her designer pumps in a duffel bag.

  “What would I ever do without you?” Nicole said. “I made a big mistake in not standing by you when you were locked up. I had no idea that you’d be this down for me. You came back to look for me, to regain my love and acceptance. It took a while for everything to come together, but now we can do this. No more distractions.” She reached over to hug Ajalon.

  “Yeah,” he said as he hugged her back. He resumed packing. “So you gonna end up with all your ex’s money? If so, how will you get ahold of it if we’re leaving town?”

  “Oh, don’t even worry about that. I have the user names and passwords to Rashad’s personal banking accounts. I may still have some of his business checks floating around, too.”

  “Smart woman. You think of everything.”

  “I have to.”

  Once they collected their suitcases and duffel bags and a laptop, Nicole went and bundled up her daughter, Emmy.

  “I can’t believe she’s going to grow up without a father. That’s one thing I didn’t think through.” Nicole felt terrible. “So you’re wrong, Ajalon. I don’t think of everything. Because if I’d really been using my head, how could I want her father to die? But he hurt me so bad that I wanted him to feel my pain.”

  “A lot of us do bad things when we get hurt.”

  “Yeah, but I shouldn’t have went to the extreme. I should have just cussed his ass out and went on one hell of a shopping spree. You know what I mean? Nothing as drastic as hiring a hit man to kill him. Because I did love him.”

  Ajalon stopped what he was doing. “You are telling me that you actually loved that man who tried to break up with you and ruin you and humiliate you by divorcing you after a month of marriage? You could still love a man who does you like that?”

  “True love endures all kinds of things.”

  “I see.”

  “True love causes you to forgive a person who treated you so bad that you hated his guts. You wished he was dead. But you only wish it for a minute. You don’t really mean it.”

  “You don’t mean it, because true love makes you change your mind? Makes you remember the good things he did instead of all the bad things he did to harm you? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. What time is it?” She was eager to get away. Nicole did not plan to go too far, but she reasoned that if they went on a brief road trip, it would help her get her head together. “Well, I’m done packing. Let’s go.”

  Nicole gathered her belongings and let Ajalon carry Emmy out to the Jeep.

  “Having my dreams come true might have not lasted that long, but at least I got to experience them even for a short time.” She locked up the house and closed the door behind her.

  Then she let Ajalon whisk away her luggage and stuff it in the back of her Jeep. She got in the passenger seat and buckled in. She lay back and closed her eyes. She was so drained and mentally exhausted that all she could do was fall asleep. She practically passed out the minute Ajalon hit I-10 going east. She dreamt of nothing while she was asleep. Only darkness filled her mind as she tried to block out all the bad things that had happened in the past few weeks.

  An hour later they reached the outskirts of Beaumont. She looked at her surroundings.

  “Good. Houston is far behind us. I’m glad. I hated that place.”

  “Did you quit your job?”

  “No, not yet. I have to keep working until I get my hands on that insurance money.”

  They continued driving until they reached Baton Rouge. Ajalon checked them into a hotel.

  Nicole entered the room and set her things on top of a chair. She dropped down to her knees and looked under the bed. She got up and searched behind the curtains. She went into the bathroom and checked for hidden recorders. She opened all the drawers and made sure nothing odd was in them.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  “I heard all about how you gotta check your hotel room when you check in.”

  “You are paranoid as fuck.”

  “I won’t be forever.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Nicole asked Ajalon to order a pizza. “Don’t use this hotel phone. They have operators who listen to all your conversations.”

  “Nicole, I thought you wanted to get away so you could relax.”

  “That’s the thing. I’m far away from Houston but I still feel like shit, Ajalon.”

  “Well, pull yourself together.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Once the pizza arrived, Nicole toyed with her food. She sat at the round business table and complained
that she was bored. Ajalon told her, “Let’s watch movies.” He turned on the television and began scrolling through channels.

  Nothing caught their interest. But then he flipped past a news channel. And there on the screen was a photo of Nicole.

  “What the fuck?” she said.

  “Why are you on TV?”

  “Turn up the volume.”

  The reporter told how a suspect had been arrested for the murder of Rashad Eason, who was the husband of Nicole Greene, the woman who’d received previous notoriety when a deadly fire happened in Houston.

  The photo switched to video footage of Eddison Osborne. His head was hung and he was being led away from his home by the police.

  “Wait. What?” Nicole said. “Why in the hell is Eddison in handcuffs?”

  “You know him?”

  “He works at the university. That’s Kiara’s man.”

  “Word?”

  “Shhh.” She turned up the volume and caught the tail end of the news story.

  “They arrested Eddison for murdering Rashad?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make any sense. They’re wrong.”

  “Maybe they’re questioning everyone who had a motive.”

  “Then arrest his employees. Go find Alexis McNeil.”

  “And both of his wives, eh?”

  She wanted to lash out at him, but the words Ajalon spoke made her feel grave with anxiety.

  “We should go back,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t want anything to do with this mess, but they need to learn that Eddison would never do anything like that.”

  “For all you know, Kiara’s new man had a reason to smoke Rashad.”

  “No, it’s impossible. And it’s not true anyway. It’s my fault that he’s dead.”

  “Is that a confession, Nicole?”

  She said nothing.

  “This so-called road trip is cut short. We got to go back to Houston. Now.”

  Chapter 19

  In the complicated drama that immediately ensued after Rashad’s death, Alexis felt that she had been left out and forgotten. People extended condolences to Nicole, and even to Kiara, but barely anyone acknowledged Alexis.