by Zi'ere
Ant sits back in his chair with a concerned look on his face. I don’t feel comfortable. He knows something. He is definitely keeping information from me.
As the doctor suggested, I remain in the hospital for another day before he discharges me with strict instructions. I am on my way back to the airport to get my car by way of Ant. I know that I have to call Jai. The last thing that I need is for her to see my car in traffic first before she knows that I am back and then cuss me out. I have no plans to see her . . . I just don’t want her looking for me.
“Hi hunni!”
“Well if it isn’t the ghost of Kamille’s past?”
“Girl hush!”
“I’m so glad you called me! You sound so relaxed, I know that you’ve got to be living it up on the island?”
“I did that and some more. I’m home now though.”
“What? When did you get back?”
“I just touched down a few minutes ago.”
I hate to lie.
Ant moans and groans.
There is no way that I am going to get into everything that has happened to make me come back and then the ambulance being called at the hotel. If she gets a story, it won’t be from me. But none of those things can hold a match to the final say so that I will have on her life.
“Okay, glad that you are home safe and sound.”
“What are you up to today?”
I cross my fingers in hopes that she is busy.
“I’ve got a football scrimmage game to get to in an hour and then I have a birthday party invite after that. I’m swamped.”
I mouth, ‘Thank you Lord.’
Ant coughs.
“Okay, well we will catch up another day. I have some loose ends to take care of, some errands and I need to go and get some food.”
“That’s good; I will talk to you later, Honey.”
“Okay, I love you cousin.”
“Love you too.”
Ant does his best to make sure that I am back in my car safe and sound. I am now being lectured on what I can and cannot do without him knowing about it. Now that I know that I am pregnant, it is like things about me have changed.
As a psychologist, I know that it is perfectly normal. Inside of my car, I sit waiting to get the air going good and then I call the realtor. The entire plan that I did have for an apartment or condo is now out of the door. I am going to need a home with a backyard now.
Whether I am having a boy or girl either is going to get the best . . . Everything that money can buy. Not to mention the space that they will need to live for generations to come. I decide in this moment that I want a little boy. The possibility puts a smile on my face.
I am totally happy. My situation isn’t normal and it is going to kill some hearts but I am happy. In my head, that is all that matters in my world.
90
“Boss Lady, your last patient for the day has cancelled. You are all done.” Taniha speaks into the intercom of my office.
“Okay, that’s great. I think that I’m going to spend that time charting and still leave at five.”
“You sure?”
She has understandable confusion in her voice.
“Yeah.”
“Okay then, let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
Of course Taniha knows that I don’t have any charting to do. Unlike the other counselors in the office, she knows that Kamille is always caught up to date on client charts. Fact of the matter is that I am not ready to go home to that huge ass house alone.
I think about putting the house on the market probably a million times a day. The realtor sent me some properties to look at via virtual tour. I am having one issue after another with each home. I no longer have a husband but I will be having a child in six months.
I need to make a final decisions and soon. I decide to contact a home builder to make some modifications to the house. I refuse to live in it as is. In a few weeks, it is going to be harder to hide my swelling belly. I am doing the most with loose fitting maxi dresses and long flowing skirts.
I’ve also made it a point to stay in touch with Jai and NaNa as much as possible on the phone, so that they won’t feel the need to bomb rush me. Jai will be in need of me before the weekend is out, I am told. Only problem is, I’m not coming.
I make a point to stay out of the public eye, even though it is impossible for me to live a normal life. That isn’t possible no matter what I do. Phone- house and cell, emails, text messages, and inboxes on Face Book are starting to get on my nerves. I am a licensed clinician now and to turn my phones off is never an option, ever.
Even though Tiff got Pain to sign the papers, he is still trying his best to get the papers back from my attorney. There is even a hearing because he says he has signed the papers under the duress of his girlfriend. The judge is irritated with him wasting her time.
It isn’t smart to tell a domestic and divorce judge that your girlfriend plays a part in the decision making concerning your wife. The judge only asks me one question before she hands down her ruling:
“Ms. Brown, are you done with Mr. Brown?”
My answer is ‘yes your honor’ and it is suitable for her to settle our divorce case. She advises Gavin that he does not have to sign the decree. She will sign it for him. I look over at him at the other table and I see an empty shell of a man. No matter how many times that I change my home and cell numbers, he always gets them.
I even switched carriers altogether three times. Pain still gets those numbers too. He calls the office every single day Monday thru Friday. I am baffled to understand how in the world he has so much free time on his hands to continue to stalk me. When he isn’t smashing in my house he is at Tiff’s. He wants to be there so bad and it is all good with me but upsetting to him. The entire situation makes me cry with laughter.
The vehicles that I had when I went on vacation . . . I trade them all in for new cars in different colors. No more family of all black vehicles for me. When I leave the office in the evenings it is common for a note, flowers, or a CD to be stuck under the windshield wiper of my car. I have not set eyes on Pain in months and he is getting creepy to me.
Aside from the constant calling, he has not done anything else to force me into seeing him or talking to him. I send him to voicemail many times but he only leaves voicemail messages every now and then. The situation is unusual but then again I have to remember I am dealing with Pain.
The same man that lied about how many kids that he has, having a legal job, and being completely done with his kid’s mother. Nothing Pain ever does is predictable. It’s just like him showing up in Hawaii with Tiffani, Sanye, and Neka to stop Stymy and I from being together.
I’m guessing that he’s forgotten that he has already told me man to woman that he is going to make things work with Tiffani. The next day he reneges on those claims. He swears he is ready to fight a battle he knows that he can’t win with a wife that he no longer has.
What hurts my heart more than anything else, more than I am willing to admit to anyone is that I have not seen Stymy since the last night that he was with me in Hawaii. I don’t know if Pain had soldiers with him, just like he knew that his old best friend would do or what.
I will never give Pain the satisfaction of knowing that I haven’t been in contact with Stymy. I know in my core that Broderick is somewhere preparing for a major comeback. Now Ant brings the duffle bags to my house on Fridays and he picks up the envelopes on Sunday. Broderick hasn’t contacted me once about getting into his safe to retrieve money for work or anything else. I still have all of his money in my cellar.
The instructions are still the same though. I am to get my percentage off of the top from every bag. When I log into the online account to pay my mortgage every month, it is always already paid. Pain’s name isn’t on any of the ledgers in the bags, which leads me to believe that he has been terminated from what I once thought was his empire.
Pain doesn’t have the mo
ney to support two homes, since he’s lost his jackpot of a job so I know that it is not him paying my bills. I decide to open up a trust fund for my kid with my cut from the business. It is never too early to prepare for the future. I put half of the money that I have into my savings account and into my child’s future as well.
Sitting in my office looking at my finances is the time that an idea hits me upside the head. The ultimate get back for Jai needs to happen soon. I know in my heart that Stymy is dealing with the rest. Jai is especially my problem that he doesn’t know anything about. I flip through the contacts on my phone and then I land at the desired person to call, Dr. Montrez Robinson.
After a quick exchange with his secretary, it’s promised to me that he will call me back as soon as he finishes with his patient. I sit back in my chair. When I put this order in, there is no taking it back. Just as she can never give me an excuse or take back fucking my husband for months, I am convinced that we will be even . . . Eye for an eye at the end of the day.
91
Always on time, Montrez calls me back from an unknown number.
“Hello Mrs. Foster, how are you doing today?”
“I’m not doing so good right now.”
“Well, that’s no way for a woman to live.”
“It’s a problem but as soon as this call ends, I am sure that I will feel better.”
“I’m already interested.”
“From me to you.”
“Ok, so this is concerning a personal issue?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Do you remember my cousin Jai?”
“Of course.”
“She fucked my husband in several rooms of my brand new home. I have just found out that she was cheating on Ryan as well.”
“How far do you want this to go?”
“On the brink of death.”
“There is only one problem that arises from that situation.”
“Well, make it like one blow away from being erased.”
“Kamille, you don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Jai is already on my list.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“All of that isn’t really important. But what you need to know right now, NaNa had an identical issue with her.”
“Oh my God!”
“Then there is the matter of a lot of money being handed over. Truthfully, had you not upped and went to Hawaii this conversation would have been over a while ago. We know that you get custody of the kids. We know that you get control of their trust funds and stocks that Ryan left. I know that because all of her entire insurance policy total has been signed over to me.”
“Wait a minute…So what you are saying is that I am too late?”
“You have bumped her up to the top of my list. Only thing is, she cannot walk and breathe.”
“I’m going to double the contract, I can’t take care of those kids knowing what I know. So, what is that going to be, like two mil?”
“You know that we go back. I think the world of you. You were one of the brightest students that I ever had, your mind is extraordinary. But, believe me when I say that this is going to be done and no monetary payments are obligated to you, at all. This has to happen, I’ve just been busy.”
“Montrez, are you listening to me, I can’t take care of her kids. I will be having my own baby soon! She has stabbed me in the heart and the back.”
“Okay, then kids won’t go to you. That’s perfectly fine and I do understand.”
“What do you mean you ‘understand’? What exactly are you saying?”
“You can’t take the kids, so you won’t get the kids.”
“Are you going to…?” My hand covers my mouth.
I can’t even utter the words.
“I’m going to let that slide just on the account of your mental status right now. Don’t come at me like that again. Who do you think I am? I work with grown folk who have a chance to turn their lives around.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m on the job. Have a great day Ms. Foster and send me an invite to the shower, so that I can send a gift.”
“I will do.”
“I just have one more question…do you want to know where this part is coming from?”
“I damn sure do! I want for her to know it I am one of many. I want for her to know what I wanted first and then why that couldn’t be.”
“I’m on it.”
“Right.”
When I hang up the phone, I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Damn right, I want Jai’s ass beat to a pulp. She has to live because I’m not going to take care of her kids because of the way she’d violated. I have to call the hit man back.
“Hello?”
“But what about the kids though. Explain that part to me.”
“I don’t want to be the one to tell you the real.”
“Well…now, there is no getting around it.”
“When you married Pain, Jai had her will changed. The children now go to her mother for sole custody and shared custody with a cousin by the name of Stephanie Monroe.”
“Wow! Well okay then! Let me know when it’s done.”
I can’t tell anyone that the wind has just been knocked out of my sails. Her deception and snake like behavior are new to me. At the same time, when your best friends are scandalous, you can’t help but start acting that way as well.
The Stephanie Monroe she is now giving shared custody of her kids to is the tell-tale sign that Jai is a liar and master manipulator. Good thing that I have experience dealing with her kind here lately. At one point, Jai was beyond sure that Ryan was cheating on her. Well at least that is what she led me to believe.
When I brought up the story to NaNa, she has no idea what I am talking about. She flat out says that Jai has never brought that conversation up and that they talk at least three times a day. Then there are the times that she would pair up with Neka and leave NaNa and I out. I had an excuse for her back then and our friend might have been entertaining a new catch then.
Jai knows how much Neka doesn’t like me and vice versa, yet she is very close with her. The more the wheels turn in my head, the more certain situations, actions, and conversations all make perfect sense.
92
I sit behind my desk and look directly out of the window of my home office. The leaves are starting to change colors and it is going be the holiday season in a few weeks. I thought that my days of spending the holidays alone were over. I rub my tummy. Technically, I won’t be all alone and that is more than enough for me.
I lean over to look at the vibrating phone which is sitting on my desk. My phone has been ringing back to back for hours. It has been messing with my attention span this last hour. I give up on getting any work done.
I have been keeping a few movies on my DVR for this precise occasion. After I grab a snack and a juice I then waddle on into my room, which is designed for complete laziness and comfort. Downstairs in the media room, I’m swallowed up by the space.
The room is huge and I am all alone. Ant is out tending to official family business with the promise that I won’t leave the house. He doesn’t think that I know it but I am certain that he is watching me via his cell phone on the security cameras. I wonder if he knows why my phone is on stalker status when he is away, like now.
The vibrating is driving me crazy, when I finally decide that I need to at least know who is having a life or death situation that demands my attention. Of course, it is none other than the infamous Pain on the line.
“Why is it that you can’t understand the concept of being broken up, divorced- I am your past who has no desire to be your present or future?”
“Damn! So you just gone go in without saying hello first?”
He sounds weak.
“Damn! Does your girl know that you calling me still?”
I am strong and full of attitude.
“I messed u
p, Kam. Everything that you told me was true. I have to cut that cancer out of my body and I know that now.”
I am unsure if he is trying to sound the way that he is coming across to me.
“What are you talking about, Pain?”
“Those females have almost cost me my life again, Kam. I need you. Just for a minute, can you come see me?”
“I don’t think that is a good idea. You need to learn how to live your life without me as a crutch.”
“I understand that, I respect that. Just come see me for five minutes. Please. No playing around, no games, no bullshit- just come to see me so that I can lay eyes on you.”
The sigh that comes out of my mouth can start a tornado.
“Please Kam. You gone have me beg and shit?”
“Hold up! Did you call me or did I call you?”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. For real though, just stop thru.”
“If I come, will you promise not to call me for the rest of the month?”
“That’s fucked up, Kam!”
“I’m waiting! You know damn well that I don’t leave my house after a certain time at night.”
“Yes, yes- a mufu promise not to call.”
93
With no reply, I hang up the phone. After all, the time that has passed between us, there isn’t even a thought or an attempt to get cute. I put on a wrap that matches the comfortable tank and leisure two piece set that I have on. I slip my feet into a pair of J’s and I am in the truck within thirty minutes.
I feel guilty about not telling Ant where I am going for some reason. I close the door. I have my protection and I won’t allow myself to be caught in a situation that will jeopardize my life or my unborn child’s life. I’d heard through the grapevine that Pain has moved out of Tiffani’s house and is in his new place.
The last time that he sent me flowers; he also included his new address. The minute that Stymy and I are on a break, Pain moves up in line. I am honestly sick of the both of them.
It is only a little after seven at night when I leave the house but according to the navigation system it will take me a little over forty-five minutes to get to Pain’s home. I stop off at Taco Bell and get me a frozen Baja Blast to enjoy on my ride.
