His Betrayal Her Lies

by Angel de'Amor

“So you kept cheating ’cause the sex was good? Unbelievable, man. Unbelievable.”

  “Yeah, man. Tay never wanted to have sex when she got home from the office. She was always talking about how tired she was. Maci was just …” he searched for the word, “convenient. She always made me feel wanted. Tay was trying to run her own business and never had time for me when I came home from my trips.”

  “Well you knew this shit was going to come out one day.”

  Ari sat up straight on the couch. “Yeah, man. But that’s not the worst part.”

  “Do I need to get a drink for this?”

  “Yeah, and pour me one.”

  Jay went to his mini bar and poured them both a shot of Remy. He handed Ari his drink. “Okay, what’s the bad part?”

  The entire shot his brother gave him was downed in one swallow. Ari hissed at the slow burn going down his throat. “Tay and I were heading to get something to eat this morning and Maci followed us.”

  Jay bucked his eyes. “How the hell does Maci know where you stay?”

  Ari raised his hands up in defeat. “Man I don’t even know. It seems I underestimated how resourceful she is. I didn’t even know she cared so much.”

  His brother took a sip of his drink and sat forward. “Bro, you are stupid. I thought I schooled you on women. You’re the father of Maci’s daughter. There isn’t a woman in the universe who doesn’t want to try to have a relationship with their child’s father.”

  “Man, I don’t give a fuck what she wants.” Ari’s arm sliced through the air with his angry words. “She knew the deal; that I didn’t want to be with her.”

  Jay started to laugh. “You thought she knew the deal but you two were clearly on a different page.”

  Fed up with his brother’s smart comments, Jay said, “Yeah man, whatever. Can I finish?”

  Jay nodded.

  “Tay was driving and I didn’t even notice Maci was tailing us. I was talking about something and the next thing I knew, Tay pulled into a Wendy’s and the back window was being smashed. Maci was out there swinging a bat.” He told Jay the rest of the story. When he was done, Jay shook his head back and forth.

  “So Taylor put your ass out?”

  “Yep, she did. But I think after she calms down, I can get her back.”

  “You are a fool. Man, it’s not going to be that easy. Tay is hurt over all this.” Jay asked Ari if he wanted a refill. When Ari declined, he asked Ari to give him a second to get himself another drink. Returning to the living room, he picked his brother’s brain. “I’m kind of confused on why she didn’t tell you she knew about Maci in the first place.”

  “That’s easy,” Ari replied. “She said something about hoping it wasn’t true and she was waiting on me to come clean.” He looked at his brother’s skeptical face. “I’m in deep shit, huh?”

  “Well, you can use the spare room as long as you need to. I’m sure it will be a while before Tay listens to anything that comes out your mouth.”

  Ari lay back down on the couch and stared into space. Jay left the room to go to bed.

  The one tear that escaped from Ari’s eye didn’t stand a chance; he quickly wiped it away. Two women had busted him. The player had gotten played.

  ***

  Maci sat in her living room licking the back of the manila envelope that contained the sex tape of Ari and her. American flag stamps littered the envelope’s top right corner. She smiled to herself. The contents of this envelope were about to give her all she ever wanted. She had dreamed of the three of them being a happy family. Ari just couldn’t see the future she saw but she had enough faith for the both of them and deep down in her heart she knew Ari loved her. She was the mother of his daughter; how could he not?

  One obstacle stood in her way and it was about to be moved permanently. This was the final nail in Taylor’s coffin. Maci had already made herself known and she was sure Taylor would never take him back after the little fight that went down earlier that day. Rehashing her thoughts she had staked out Ari’s residence that morning after dropping Adrianne off at her play date.

  Her plan was just to trail them for a few hours and plot her next move but when she saw Taylor and Ari come out the house giggling, hugging, and kissing like two love-struck teenagers she felt her stomach twist in knots and a sharp pain pulsate in the middle of her chest. She started to hyperventilate.

  Taking control over her breathing, she whipped her car out in traffic behind them and trailed closely until Taylor pulled over. Grabbing the first thing her hand landed on in the backseat was a bat. She jumped out of the car with vengeance in her heart and death on her mind. Rubbing her swollen left cheek Maci begin to daydream about Ari’s and her wedding

  * * *

  Taylor sat at the sizeable oval table in her office’s conference room and watched the PowerPoint slide presentation Pam was giving on behalf of the advertising department. Taylor saw each slide that appeared on the screen but she had no idea what Pam was saying about them. Her mind was on two men: William and Kalon Knight. She had contacted William a week ago and given him the name of Ari’s lover. He assured Taylor he was coming close to uncovering some vital news. Meanwhile, Kalon was still invading her dreams every night, and she knew something had to be done about that.

  Someone at the table cleared their throat loudly, and Taylor looked up from her paper. Everyone was looking in her direction.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” Taylor asked tapping her pen on the table.

  Pam locked an intense stare on Taylor. “I asked if you have any questions about the presentation.”

  Taylor looked down at her notes. The only thing on the paper was William and Kalon scribbled across the page, then crossed out. “Umm no, everything sounds good.”

  When the hour-long meeting finally ended, the colleagues of Dynasty Magazine left the room engaged in small conversations among themselves.

  Taylor was the last person to leave. Gathering her note pad, she heard, “Hey, Tay, can we talk?” It was Pam, by the projection screen gathering the last of her belongings.

  “Sure, wazup?”

  Pam stepped toward Taylor and grilled her. “I noticed that your attention was elsewhere today. You haven’t been your normal self in a while. Are you good?”

  Taylor began to worry until she saw the corners of Taylor’s mouth turn into a slight smile. Then she let down her guard a bit. “Yeah, I’m good, just a lot on my mind.”

  Stepping closer to look into Taylor’s face, Pam added, “Are you sure?”

  Taylor slipped her note pad under her arm and headed for the door. “Yep.” She walked briskly to her office and closed the door. With no one around, she thought how close she had come to spilling everything to Pam. She picked up her office phone, started to dial, then hung up. She tried to place the call again, only to hang up again when her hands began to shake badly. She was over-thinking this whole Kalon thing.

  “Just place the call. There’s nothing wrong with having a friend,” she said out loud to herself. The anticipation was killing her. She needed to have one date to clear this infatuation she had with him.

  His cell number was etched in her memory from the many cards he’d given her. She decided against calling him on her office phone. She took her cell phone out her purse and dialed his number. She immediately remembered she forgot to push star 67 to block her number. Damn.

  After four rings, his voicemail picked up. “Hi. You have reached Kalon Knight. Please leave a detailed message and I will return your call at my earliest convenience.” Beep.

  Taylor instantly hung up. She was not going to leave a message out of fear of someone intercepting that call. It was probably for the best that he didn’t answer.

  As she pondered her next move, her Blackberry started vibrating in her hand. She looked down at the number and it was him. Oh my gosh, what should I say? She gained her composure before answering. “Hello, this is Taylor.”

  “Hello, beautiful. Glad you finally called.�
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  She felt herself becoming lightheaded at the sound of his sexy baritone voice. “Oh, so you were looking forward to my call?” she said through a deep smile.

  “Taylor, I’ve been looking forward to your call since the first day I met you.”

  Taylor shivered. “Well,” she said tentatively, “I thought we should go out to dinner or something if you are free tonight. If not, I understand. I want to learn more about your company.” Maybe she didn’t need a cover to feel less guilty but she did.

  “Sure. I did have a meeting but I can move some things around to have a date with you.”

  Taylor interrupted him. “Oh, this is not a date, Kalon. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression.”

  Kalon started to laugh arrogantly. “Beautiful, why would I get the wrong impression? You just told me you want to talk about the company. I’m pretty clear on your agenda tonight.”

  Taylor let out a sigh. “Okay, great. How about eight o’clock?”

  The sound of papers being shuffled came over the line, followed by Kalon’s voice. “Yes, that sounds fine.”

  “I was thinking we could go to Ohio Street,” she ventured.

  “I love that restaurant. That’s a plan.”

  “See you tonight then,” Taylor said.

  “Until tonight,” he said.

  Taylor hung up with a grin on her face. She had an alibi if anyone saw her with him. She would just say she was on a business meeting. She rapidly returned the phone calls she had missed while she was in the advertising department meeting and signed the documents Mrs. Tab had given her earlier.

  She was focused on hurrying home to get ready for the evening; it would be a good distraction from the chaos that was going on in her marriage.

  * * *

  Kalon was excited. He had waited two weeks for her to call and had begun to give up hope. Now that they had a date—or meeting, as she wanted to call it—he was over the moon. It was very clear that Taylor wasn’t interested in his company but he didn’t care what her reason was, just as long he got to see this stunning beauty that had invaded his dreams and thoughts since the first day he saw her at that magazine conference.

  He had meetings lined up until nine o’clock that night so he called Ephraim into his office. He would throw his work load in his partner’s lap. He couldn’t miss the opportunity to go out with Taylor.

  Ephraim came strutting into Kalon’s corner office. “Wazup, bro. You summoned me?” He chuckled.

  I hope he’ll still be laughing when I finish. Kalon stood up and started firing off commands. “I need you to take my six o’clock appointment with the Daley Brothers’ Corporation and my nine o’clock dinner date appointment with Livingstone Magazine. I sent the gist of what the meetings are about and a little bit about the companies to your email.”

  Ephraim put his hands into his tan Docker pants and narrowed his eyes to slits. “Kalon, in the ten years I’ve worked with you and knew you, you have never asked me or anyone to handle your work. What’s going on with you? Are you in trouble?”

  It was Kalon’s turn to laugh. “Naw, man. Something just came up and I can’t do all of this myself. You’re second in command and I know you’re able to handle this. I’ve already emailed them and told them that my business partner will be handling their accounts going forward.”

  Ephraim gaped at Kalon. His expression said that he knew something was going on but he just couldn’t pinpoint it. He gave Kalon the benefit of the doubt with, “A’ight, bro, I got you. I hope you can confide in me about what’s going on with you.”

  Kalon smiled at Ephraim as he grabbed his briefcase. Patting Ephraim’s back as he walk by him, Kalon promised, “In due time my friend, in due time.”

  Chapter 11

  Taylor was thirty minutes late. Kalon rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his Gucci watch again. He wondered if she stood him up. He decided to give her another twenty minutes.

  The table he was seated at was close enough to the door to hear someone asking for him. He glanced at the entrance. Taylor was a striking beauty in a purple dress. It didn’t show too much cleavage or too much leg but it fit her like a glove and made his mouth water. Black pumps added another four inches to her five-nine frame. She had decided to wear her hair down around her shoulders, letting the soft curls lay against her skin. She had the most beautiful silky hair. He almost didn’t recognize her with her hair down. Every time he saw her, it was pinned up into a tight bun. She looked good enough to eat, with her cocoa brown eyes, legs that seemed to go on forever, and skin the color of a smooth Milky Way candy bar.

  The hostess pointed her in his direction. Kalon felt his legs becoming weak. Legs don’t fail me now. He stood and walked around the table to pull Taylor’s chair out.

  She glided up and embraced him in a hug. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating for those three seconds. “Hello, Kalon. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”

  Kalon couldn’t speak. She waited for him to take his seat before she spoke again. “You look nice tonight.”

  Kalon still said nothing. He snapped out of his trance when he noticed Taylor was looking at him with a curious stare. “I’m sorry; it’s just that you’re stunning tonight,” he said.

  Taylor blushed. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure if you weren’t talking because you were mad at me for being late or if you were just being rude.” They shared an easy laugh. She picked up her menu.

  Regaining his nerve, Kalon revealed, “There’s something I’ve being dying to ask you from the first time I met you.”

  She put the menu down and looked into his eyes. “And what’s that?”

  “What is your nationality?”

  Taylor smiled. “Well, my father is half Irish and black and my mother is Cherokee Indian,” she said, taking a sip of her water.

  “Oh wow, I was way off. That does explain your red hair and high cheek bones though.”

  “What race did you think I was?”

  Kalon braced his elbows on the table. “I thought you were from Barbados.”

  Taylor let out a loud laugh, then immediately covered her mouth, looking around to make sure no one heard her outburst. “That’s funny. I’ve heard Hawaiian, half-White, but never Barbados before. And since my hair used to be fire red in grade school, all the kids used to call me Pippi Longstocking.”

  This time it was Kalon who let out a hearty laugh. He laughed so loud that other people started to look at them. Taylor chuckled along with him.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to laugh this hard, but that was funny.” He caressed her hand. “They should see you now. They would retract that statement.”

  She pulled her hand from under his and waved him off.

  Kalon took another sip of his rum and coke and cleared his throat. “So, Ms. Taylor, what’s the deal with you? Because I know this is more than just a business dinner.”

  “I should be asking you the same thing. You’ve been so persistent to get me to go out.”

  “I’ve told you my agenda. I want to get to know you better and see where this goes. Tell me something about yourself I don’t know.”

  A baby cried at a table nearby. Kalon noticed Taylor watching as the mother picked the infant up and cooed to him. The baby quieted down, and Taylor returned her attention to Kalon. “As you guessed, there’s a lot about me you don’t know. But in time, I might be more open about things.”

  Assessing Taylor closely, Kalon inquired, “What do you mean there’s a lot about you I don’t know? I want to get to know everything about you. And I want to hear it from you; I don’t go for that he-says, she-says stuff.”

  “Let’s just take this slow, Kalon. You don’t expect a girl to spill everything about herself on the first date.”

  He smiled and wondered if she realized that she had said date. Not wanting to pressure her, he said, “I’ll let it go for now. But I’m a man who likes to know what I’m dealing with.”

  Their appetizers came. The rest of their conversati
on flowed effortlessly. Kalon got the feeling that Taylor liked his sense of humor and she felt comfortable around him.

  “So Kalon, tell me about your last girlfriend.”

  Buttering his bread, Kalon answered, “To be honest with you, Taylor, my last real girlfriend was in high school.”

  “Stop lying,” Taylor said playfully.

  “I’m not lying. I would never lie to you.” He prided himself on always telling women the truth, even if it hurt their feelings. He figured if he was honest up front, then there would be no room for speculations. “I would like to have a girlfriend one day; I just haven’t met her yet.”

  Sprinkling salt on her garlic potatoes, Taylor looked at him suspiciously. “You sure it’s not because you’re so picky?”

  “I prefer to say that I’m selective.”

  Two tall slender women walked up to their table before Taylor could get out her next question. “Kalon, you’re going to sit there and not come over and speak?”

  Kalon could feel his face turn red. “Hello, Patricia. If I would’ve seen you, then I would have spoken.”

  Taylor snapped her finger when he said the woman’s name. Patricia turned in Taylor’s direction, smacking her lips and rolling her eyes. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

  “Maybe you remember me from the night when you were here with Kalon and I was here with my two friends.”

  “I remember you from that night but there’s something else.” Patricia tapped her index finger on her lips like she was trying to figure out a mystery. “It’s like I’ve seen you somewhere before that.”

  “I assure you that you don’t know me.” Taylor nervously shifted in her seat.

  In a voice that almost sounded like a veiled threat, Patricia said, “I never forget a face; it’ll come back to me.”

  Taylor gave her a half smile.

  Kalon interrupted their conversation. “It was nice seeing you, Patricia.”