The Lies: The Lies We Tell About Love, Life, and Everything in Between

by Christina C Jones

  She shrugged. “The truth is the truth. And it’s not like you spent Valentine’s Day alone. What poor, lonely soul fell for that trap you set on social media last night?”

  “Nobody set a damn trap,” I chuckled. “I said what was on my mind.”

  “I notice you didn’t deny you found yourself some prey though. Somebody from your roster?”

  I laughed again. “I don’t have a “roster” like you.”

  “Oh please, whatever you call it then. The women you keep in your pocket to play with when you get ready.”

  “You really still believe that, don’t you?”

  She shrugged. “You claim to have changed, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  “I was trying to—nevermind.”

  “Uh-uh, you were trying to… what?”

  I shook my head. I’d caught myself from, once again, saying some shit I intended to take to the grave once I found out she was sleeping with the doctor. Especially since I really didn’t need to be saying the shit anyway. She was right. We’d agreed to stop doing this back and forth, to stop dipping in the pot with each other. But the thing was… just like always… just like I’d told my homeboy Rob not that long ago – we weren’t really through with each other yet, so we kept going back.

  Only… maybe we were through this time.

  “See? This is how we end up right back in that cycle,” she whined, then turned away from me with a frustrated sigh.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about this little game you’re playing, acting like you’re ready to settle down and be worth a damn!”

  I scoffed. “Man, get on somewhere with that Audrey. I’ve been… you know what… nevermind.”

  “You just can’t help digging the knife deeper, can you?” she asked, and I shook my head.

  “Ain’t nobody digging a knife in, or whatever you’re talking about, woman. Damn! You just say whatever pops up in your head, don’t you?”

  She sucked her teeth. “Guess who I learned it from?”

  “Ya mama.” Her mouth dropped open, and when she went to swat me on the arm, I grabbed her wrist, hauling her against me. “How long were you gonna be messing around with both of us, huh?”

  Audrey let out a sigh. “Kyle, you’re making it more of a big deal than it is.”

  “I’m just asking a question. Cause I’m saying… if this shit was the other way around, you would have burned my whole life down by now. All my business would be all over social media, the works. But you do this, and it’s cool?”

  She shook her head, but didn’t pull back. “We weren’t exclusive. We agreed to that, and I thought we were on the same page… but apparently not.”

  Nope.

  Apparently not.

  Cause as bad as I’d wanted Brandi, way before last night… I’d never taken it beyond flirting. Out of misplaced fidelity, I guess.

  Shit.

  Maybe that’s why I was so pissed off. I wasn’t slinging dick to anybody else, but she was damn sure taking it.

  “Why were you even still kicking it with me like that if it’s “getting serious” with ole boy like you say? Sex must be wack if you still need to get it from me.”

  Audrey sighed. “It’s not… wack, per se, it’s just… we aren’t quite close enough yet for me to be fully comfortable telling him exactly what I want.”

  “And he hasn’t figured it out, so he’s wack, like I said.”

  “He’s not wack. He’s just… too gentlemanly. He won’t…”

  “Tear your ass up like you need it. I can tell. Wack ass Poindexter mothe—”

  “Kyle!”

  “Man, what?”

  “Matt is good to me and he’s good to our son. Can you just be happy for me? Please?”

  I shrugged. “That nigga better be good to our son. That’s bare minimum, and I’m not giving out cookies for it. I’ll respect him when his woman isn’t in my face putting off pheromones like she wants me to bend her over this table.”

  She opened her mouth, and wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t. Her nipples were showing plainly through her sweater, and she was close enough that I could feel the heat coming from her pussy. She made a frustrated sound in her throat, just before her eyes came to mine, darker than usual, eyelashes hanging low as she chewed her lip… I knew that look well.

  “Now see, there you go,” I said, turning back to my sketch. “Damn hypocrite. In here talking about “we said we weren’t gonna do this,” yet you’re giving me the “tear this pussy up” face. And don’t act like you weren’t happily climbing up on it three days a week before all this, like it was your part time job.”

  She crossed her arms, and huffed. “You enjoyed yourself just like I did.”

  “You’re goddamn right, I did. But look… if we say we’re gonna stop the shit, then… let’s stop it. You go be with Matt’s nerdy ass, and we’ll just focus on raising our kid. That’s it.”

  “Why are you saying it like I’m the problem?”

  “You just want to argue, don’t you?”

  Her face pulled into a scowl. “Why the hell would I want that?”

  “Excuse to spend more time with me is my best guess,” I told her, earning myself another eye roll.

  “Nobody is trying to spend any extra time with you, so you can hang that up. As a matter of fact, I need to get out of here and grab something to eat so I can get back to work. Don’t forget to pick KJ up from daycare this afternoon.”

  I picked up my pencil again, not even bothering to look at her. “Have I ever forgotten? Your new boyfriend got you questioning whether or not I can take care of my kid now or something?”

  I doubted that was true, but honestly, I was just saying anything at that point, to get under her damn skin, because the whole conversation – the whole situation, period – had gotten under mine.

  “Let me know when you’re off your period,” she jabbed, from far enough away I could tell she was by the door. “KJ wants us to take him to the Discovery Center.”

  I grunted my response. Obviously, if my son wanted us to go to the Discovery Center, we were going to the damn Discovery Center, and we would smile and have a good ass time if it killed us, but I didn’t have to be pleasant about the shit now.

  Now, I was feeling a lot like somebody had taken my damn bike… from the spot at the store, cause I hadn’t bought it yet and really made it mine, and wasn’t even sure that was the bike I wanted, but still.

  I didn’t like this shit.

  “We’ll talk about it for this weekend,” I told her, but she didn’t respond. When I glanced back, she’d left, but I knew she’d heard what I said.

  &

  I finished up my sketching once Audrey left, but her little drop in had my mood – and concentration – blown. I’d already planned to call it a day early, but it was necessary now. I went ahead and did the primer coat, and all the other prep work so that I could start the base – half sand, half ocean – tomorrow, and then packed up to go.

  First order of business, grabbing KJ from school before that afternoon nap. I wasn’t trying to have to carry his big ass around the city to get back home. The school he went to was only a couple of blocks away from Ballistic, so I was there in no time. I scanned my parent badge to get inside, waving at the head administrator through the big glass window of the front office as I headed to his classroom. Instead of taking the main hall, I went down the side one to loop around, hoping to avoid—

  “Mr. Everett… haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Shit.

  As soon as I turned the corner, I damn near walked right into Kari Willis – or as Audrey referred to her, “the hoe from my baby’s school”.

  “Ms. Willis… what’s up?” I asked, offering her a smile. She had a stack of papers in her hands, but she shuffled them to one side to extend her arm, obviously expecting a hug. When I obliged her, she did exactly what I expected – titties right in my chest.

  She was cute as hel
l, with her perky bob, and flats, and leggings, and simple cotton dress that all contributed to this innocent appearance that fit her profession. She worked with toddlers all day, so her sweet demeanor was appropriate, and for me and Audrey at the time, held a high value. KJ loved her, so it made it easy to drop him off with her every day, and he was always happy when we picked him up. To us, this school was the perfect place for him.

  Audrey was pissed when she found out I was getting… private lessons from the teacher. Kari Willis was a certified damn freak.

  “Not too much,” she said, slowly peeling herself away from my hold. “I’ve heard KJ is enjoying himself in Mrs. Bell’s class.”

  I nodded, pushing my hands into the pockets of my hoodie. “Yeah, he is. Making good progress, all of that.”

  “Good to hear. How have you been? You look… well taken care of.”

  A little smirk pulled at my mouth. She was obvious as hell. “You could say that,” I shrugged. “What about you? You’re looking a bit different.”

  “A bit?” she shook her head, grinning as her hand went down to caress her bulging stomach. “That’s an understatement. Not wearing my ring today because my hands are swollen, but… I’m actually engaged now.”

  My eyes went wide. “Word?”

  “Yep. Remember that club we went to?”

  How could I forget?

  I nodded. “Yeah…”

  “He owns it. And he’s very… visual… so, if you and Audrey ever want to come by… the three of us could put on a little show. Or maybe just me and you.”

  I blew out a low breath. “Kari, I don’t know about—”

  “Just let me know,” she said, putting a hand on my bicep, and squeezing. “You’ve got my number.” She patted my arm once more, then went ahead about her business. I shook my head. She and I had done some wild stuff, but that was too wild for me.

  Besides, there was a good chance Audrey might choke her.

  Kari was, however, part of the reason the shit between Audrey and the pediatrician pissed me off. She’d just stopped making slick comments about me “creampie-ing her baby’s teacher” and that shit was two years ago. Yet, here she was with our son’s doctor – screwing both of us.

  Maybe it was payback.

  I laughed to myself as I headed to Mrs. Bell’s classroom. Paying me back for sleeping with KJ’s teacher years ago by dating his pediatrician while she was screwing me, was exactly the type of shit a woman would do. They never played softball with it, it was always go big or go home. If I wasn’t pissed about it, I’d honestly be kinda proud.

  It was lowkey masterful.

  I pressed the button beside the door that would alert Mrs. Bell I was coming in before I scanned my badge to open the door. She waved at me as I closed the door behind me, then went to KJ, who was sitting with two other kids at a table, drawing. She tapped him on his shoulder, then pointed to me, and a big smile spread across his mouth when he looked up. He dropped his crayons, and held up his hand sideways in front of his face, fingers spread out, and tapped his forehead with his thumb.

  Daddy.

  I spread my fingers on both hands, bending my middle fingers as I brought them to my chest. “What’s up?” I asked, verbalizing the words as well as I made the motion with them, raising my hands so that fingers and palms were pointed up.

  He grinned even harder as I bent to meet him on his level, and he ran into my arms. I ruffled my hand through his little fro, then caught his wrists as he signed excitedly to me. “Slow down,” I said, and signed to him, and he shook his head, laughing at me. I accepted his backpack and jacket from Mrs. Bell, and we headed out, with me watching him intently as he used his hands to tell me about his day. We stopped by the front office to sign him out, and then, we were back out on the street.

  Out there, I had to hold one of his hands while we walked, so he couldn’t sign anymore. I talked to him anyway, knowing he could hear me thanks to the cochlear implants in his ears, but he ignored me in favor of looking around at the world as we passed it. We encouraged him to be verbal with us, since we knew he could, but he’d made it clear that he preferred signing.

  I wasn’t about to argue with a four year old who was gonna do what he wanted in the end anyway, so I let him be.

  People grinned at us as we walked together – women grinned at us as we walked together. When she was with us, Audrey hated that shit, but I couldn’t help it if me and my son were a handsome duo. Instead of going straight home, we stopped and got something to eat, and then he asked if we could go to the indoor basketball court he liked.

  Of course we could.

  When we got there, it was mostly empty, so we had the stretch of a full court to ourselves. We’d only been there for about twenty minutes before school let out though, and the gym slowly started to fill with other kids.

  We condensed our space to half court to make room for others, and I cheered my boy as he passed, dribbled, and shot better than grown ass men I’d played with before.

  “Wow,” I heard an older kid say, from the sideline. “He’s got handles.”

  I grinned. “Got it from his daddy,” I shot back, rebounding the ball.

  “How old is he?”

  “Four and a half,” I answered, setting of a series of skeptical responses that I shrugged off. KJ was a tall kid, and I’d had a basketball in his hands since he was a baby, was teaching him how to dribble as soon as he could walk. He was already good, and if he ever wanted to play on a team at school, he’d be a problem for the competition. I didn’t mind the disbelieving responses, at all.

  My son was fucking amazing. They should be in shock.

  I finally turned around, laying eyes on the kid who’d asked the question. He was immediately familiar to me – me and Rob had shot around with him and his friends before. He was in Rob’s class… Brandi’s son, Zion.

  I moved to the sideline to dap him up, then caught another rebound for KJ before I came back to where he and his friends were standing, waiting for a court to open up.

  “Hey man,” I asked, trying not to be too obvious. “Where’s your mom? She lets you come down here by yourself?”

  He looked at me like I was crazy, as he should’ve. It was a community center, and he was damn near a teenager. He was old enough to be here alone, but especially old enough to meet up with his friends, which was obviously the case. I was just trying to provide a valid reason to be asking the question.

  “My friend’s mom is here,” he said, pointing to someone in the stands. “My mom is coming to pick me up when she leaves the shop though.”

  I nodded. “Aiight. Y’all stay out of trouble out here, okay?” I called for KJ to come off the court, so they could have it, but to my surprise, they asked if he wanted to play. I bent down to his level, and signed their request to him. His eyes got so big I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing.

  “The big boys want to play with me?” he asked, actually verbalizing the question, and I smiled at him.

  “You’re dope. Why wouldn’t they?” I leaned in, whispering to him. “You’re probably better than half of them anyway.”

  That made him show me all his little teeth, and then he sobered, giving me a deep, solemn nod. He wanted to play. I made sure to let the other boys know to be gentle with him physically, but not to take it easy, and I pounded fists with Zion when he assured me he would look out for him – and insisted that KJ be on his team.

  I shook my head, laughing as I backed off the court and took a seat on a bench on the sidelines. It was entertaining as hell watching KJ play with kids that were three times his age, and twice (or more) his height. But he was hanging with them, and they were giving him a good workout – a better one than I could give him. Watching him interact made me think it would have been nice to give him a sibling. But then I thought about having another Audrey in my life, and I changed my mind.

  Before I saw Brandi, I felt her approach, and looked up. I watched her as she passed without acknowledging
me, noticing the little bit of a limp in her walk. I smirked as she sat down, one bench over from me.

  She kept her eyes glued to the court, even as I moved to her bench, sitting down right beside her. “I thought we weren’t going to be acting different with each other?”

  “I’m not,” she answered, eyes ahead. “I’ve never purposely found myself beside you. You always come to me.”

  I opened my mouth to refute that claim, but I couldn’t. I sat back, clamping my lips together as I tried to think of a time in the seven or so months that I’d known her, that what she said hadn’t been the case.

  She was right though.

  I was always the one who gravitated to her first, and even if she flirted back, flirted just as hard, or even harder… I was usually the initiator.

  In my defense, she was fine. I couldn’t help it.

  Aside from that little limp, she definitely didn’t look like what we’d spent the night doing. Perfectly messy hair, glowing skin, jeans and a sweater. Understated, and fine. She turned to me, eyebrow cocked, and stared for a second before she tipped her head to the side. “What is it? Why are you looking upside my head like that?”

  I smiled. “If you really want to know… I’m thinking about last night.”

  “Write it in your diary, so you don’t forget how I turned you out,” she said with a grin, then turned back to the game. “KJ is out there giving those boys the business.”

  “Like father, like son,” I told her, then scooted a little closer. “And I already think I might need a little refresher. You down?”

  “Absolutely not. I told you… just that one night. Anything more, the shit will get complicated. And we know how you handle complicated.”

  I chuckled. “You think you know. And it doesn’t have to be anything we don’t make it. And stop fronting. You know it was good.”

  “Nobody is fronting. You’re right. It was good – great, actually. But I don’t need to get involved in a “thing”. Not right now.”

  “Who’s making it a “thing”? Am I?”

  She shook her head. “No, but a “thing” is what it could easily turn into. We’re around each other too much. Not enough degrees of separation.”