My Brother's Wife 2: What The Heart Wants

by Mona

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Desmond asked with a confused look on his face.

  “Okay you two, that’s enough,” Rolonda ordered as she entered the room. “I think it’s time Mal and I have a long talk. So, if the three of you don’t mind.” Rolonda looked at Malachi with sad and sympathetic eyes. Desmond, Angeline and Edward each greeted her with a hug as they gave Malachi one last glance before exiting the room. Folding her arms across her chest, she slowly made her way to Malachi’s side and simply stared at him for what seemed like an eternity. She then cleared her throat before she spoke. “You know what I really wanted to talk about is what Andre said happened to you when you were eight. I thought you told me everything but it seems there’s a lot about you that I don’t know. But before I get into that, I want you to know that I understand, and that I’m not going to lecture or tell you I told you so. I know all about loving someone so deeply that eventually it consumes you. It consumes you up to the point nothing else matters. Nothing else but that. I get that, Mal, trust me, I do. Right now one of the main things that’s going on with you is what your heart wants. That’s Arianna, Right?”

  Malachi rubbed his hands over his face before he glanced at Rolonda. “Mom, I still love her. I tried to fight it. I tried to pretend my true feelings don’t exist but I can’t do that anymore. I still love her and it’s not just some teenage shit. She became the woman I always knew she would become. I still very much love her so I followed her to the beach house and I just sat in my car for a while. Torn between pursuing my feelings for her or trying to salvage my relationship with Dre. After three hours of just sitting there, I finally said the hell with it, it’s now or never. I found the door unlocked so I went in there and found her listening to the first song her and I danced and kissed to. She looked so beautiful and at peace. Like she was thinking about me the way I’ve been thinking about her, so I did what came natural to me. I went up to her and I kissed her and she didn’t resist. She openly gave herself to me and one thing is for sure; from what happened tonight, I know she still loves me too. After all these years, mom, she still loves me,” Malachi confessed and Rolonda just stared at him.

  “But she loves Dre too,” Rolonda enlightened him.

  Malachi closed his eyes and then reopened them. “Look, Dre pissed me off the night of his party bringing up something I didn’t want anyone to know and I know you want to talk about that but I’m not ready to talk about that, okay? I’ll be the first to admit there’s some shit going on with me and I will conquer it. I can also admit I handled everything all wrong, but I can’t help how I feel anymore. I’m still in love with her. I want to be with her and right now I can’t fight that feeling even if I tried. That’s on some real shit.”

  Chapter One

  Marlboro, N.J.

  Andre & Arianna’s Home

  Arianna felt as if she hadn’t been in her home for a lifetime as she slowly entered the doorway, when in all actuality it had only been about two weeks. She immediately made her way towards the staircase as Andre closed the door behind him. “I know you want to talk and I do also, but if you don’t mind, first I need to go call my mom, speak to A.J. and take a quick shower,” she said with her back to him. She began to slowly make her way up the stairs when Andre’s words stopped her.

  “Do you know what I noticed back at the beach house?” He asked.

  Arianna stopped in her track and slowly turned to look at him. An uneasiness came over her as she prepared herself for the worse. Something in his tone told her what he was about to say was nothing nice. She was truly hoping they would have a mature conversation in reference to what took place earlier; without having a screaming match like they did at the hospital. Although they left the hospital together, the tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

  “What did you notice?” Arianna asked him while scared shitless to hear his answer.

  “I noticed when I pulled that nigga off of you, he wasn’t wearing a condom,” Andre replied. His fist was now balled up and his jaw was clenched, something he did to keep his temper in check when he felt his anger was going to fly off the handle.

  Arianna momentarily felt as if the air slowly left her body as she looked at the floor. Yes, it was bad enough that she committed adultery, but doing so without using protection was by far the most foolish thing she had ever done in her life. Honestly, she was so caught up in the moment with Malachi that she never once thought about asking him to wear a condom. Their encounter felt so real and so right at the time. She was now ashamed of herself as she thought about why she didn’t think of asking him to wear one. She was curious about him. His size, what he felt like and how he worked it. Yes, she was curious in the worse way, so when the opportunity presented itself, a condom was the furthest thing from her mind at the time.

  Arianna cleared her throat as she raised her head and her eyes finally met Andre’s. “I’m sorry,” was all she could muster. Hell, what else could she say?

  “I’m sorry?” Andre questioned in a mocking and sarcastic tone. Shaking his head, he looked at her in disbelief as he decided to get away from her before he did something he would later regret.

  ________

  It was approximately two hours later as Andre sat in his favorite loveseat in their bedroom, nursing a glass of Hennessey. Taking a sip, he glanced across the room at a sleeping Arianna. Even in the state of anger he was in, he couldn’t deny how beautiful she was. Staring at her as she was asleep was always his favorite thing to do, even as a kid. Smirking to himself, he sipped on his drink again as he thought of the few times he snuck in Candace’s bedroom and watched Arianna sleep when he knew no one was looking or the countless times he would just stare at her without anyone noticing. Well one person noticed he thought to himself as he smirked again. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back on the chair, stretched his legs out and let his mind wander down memory lane to a revelation.

  Andre’s House

  (A deeper look at Andre’s love)

  1985

  “Andre, sweetie, where are you?” Justine called out as she made her way down the hall way towards her living room.

  “I’m in here mom!” Andre quickly closed the window curtains and sat down in the off white leather chair just as Justine entered the room.

  “Uhh, what were you just doing?” Justine asked as she eyed him suspiciously.

  “Nothing!” He answered quickly as he picked up his comic book, pretending to read it.

  “Uuhuh” Justin walked to the window and opened the curtains. She immediately wore a knowing smile on her pretty face as she glanced through the window. Shaking her head, she closed the curtains and made her way to the couch and sat next to Andre. “So, I see what you were doing. Don’t think I didn’t notice you were at the window when I came in the room. Candace and Arianna are two of the prettiest girls around the way. I don’t blame you for staring,” Justine said with a sly grin.

  Andre looked at her wide eyed. “Ilk! I wasn’t staring at Candy! Mom, she’s like my sister.”

  “Aha! Gotcha. So that means Arianna was the one you were staring at,” Justine expressed to him as she busted out laughing. Andre simply shook his head as he tried not to smile.

  “Not funny, mom,” he said as he folded his arms. “Aww, I’m sorry baby. I couldn’t resist. Well, I don’t blame you for liking her. She’s pretty, smart and such a sweetheart,” Justine expressed as she smiled at Andre. He smiled back at her.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Andre admitted as he began to blush.

  “Aww… Look at my baby experiencing his first crush,” Justine cooed as she rubbed Andre’s head.

  “Mom, stop. You messing up my hair,” he whined as he gently pushed her hand away.

  Justine laughed as she struggled to lift herself up from the couch. “Andre, sweetie, I’m going to go take a little nap because this baby is kicking like crazy. No one in the house unless it’s Mal, Des, Candy and of course Arianna,” Justine instructed as she wink
ed at him.

  Two weeks later...

  “Uuhmm, your aunt told me to bring this to you. She said you should try to eat something,” Arianna said in a voice above a whisper. Walking closer with a plate of food in her hand, which consisted of baked macaroni and cheese, baked chicken, collard greens and corn bread, she stopped directly in front of Andre. Sitting in a chair on the back patio of his house, his eyes were puffy and blood shot red reflecting pain no kid should ever experience. Never did he imagine that when he left for school earlier, that it would be the last time he would see his mom, Justine. Justine passed away at approximately one p.m. in the afternoon after giving birth to a pretty little girl, who Andre’s step dad, Romero decided to name Ava Justine Aeikan. According to doctors, Justine passed from hypovolemic shock, which was caused by blood loss.

  “I don’t wanna eat nothing,” Andre mumbled as he continued staring into space.

  “You should try to eat something,” Arianna insisted as she stood there in front of him.

  “I said I don’t wanna eat nothing!” He yelled in which he suddenly smacked the plate of food out of Arianna’s hand, causing a mess on the floor. Andre remained unmoved as he continued staring into space. Sighing out of frustration, Arianna remained calm as she simply kneeled down and began retrieving the food from the floor and put it back onto the plate. Andre then slowly looked down and watched her for a brief second, in which a small amount of guilt set in, causing him to kneel down across from her. As they placed the wasted food on the plate, their hands briefly touched and they stared at each other. After a brief second, Arianna stood up with the plate and slowly stepped back.

  “I, uuhm.. will be back with a broom to finish cleaning this up. I’ll tell your aunt you didn’t want to eat anything,” She said softly as she made her way towards the door.

  “I’ll eat something,” Andre called out to her.

  “Okay,” She replied with a smile.

  1987

  “Man, I can’t wait till my thirteenth birthday! My party is going to be fresh, yo!”Andre said excitedly.

  “Boy, calm your ass down,” Desmond demanded as they sat on the porch in front of Andre’s house.

  Man, shut up! Yo, Mal! Hurry up in the bathroom! I need to tell you something!” Andre yelled through the screen door.

  “What you trying to tell him?” Desmond asked.

  Andre turned to Desmond grinning. “Guess who I’m asking to the Back to School dance in September?

  “Who?” Desmond asked with curiosity.

  “Arianna,” Andre admitted.

  Desmond dramatically began choking on the soda he was drinking causing Andre to bust out laughing. “You stupid,” Andre said as he shook his head.

  “Arianna who?” Desmond inquired with wide eyed.

  “Stop playing, man. Our Arianna. I like her. Yeah, I said it. I like her and I’m asking her to the dance,” Andre admitted once again.

  “Yeah, boy. That’s cool. I figured between you and Mal, one of ya’ll liked her but I wasn’t sure who,” Desmond replied as he stood up. “Just make sure your mean ass don’t be rude to her and treat her good. Now come with me real quick to the corner store cause Mal taking forever in the bathroom.”

  Thirty minutes later:

  Andre and Desmond made their way back to Andre’s house once they left the store. As they approached the front porch, Malachi was sitting in the chair listening to his boom box.

  “Where ya’ll went?” He asked as he sipped on a can of soda.

  “To the corner store,” Andre replied as he and Desmond took a seat on the porch.

  “Eh, guess what?” Malachi questioned as he glanced their way.

  “What?”Andre asked as he and Desmond looked at Malachi with curiosity.

  “Aight, I know I never told ya’ll before but I like Riri and I just asked her to the dance,” Malachi confessed, grinning.

  “What?” Andre asked as he glanced at Desmond.

  “Yeah, I like her. Man Dre, I was scared as hell to tell her, that’s why I ain’t tell you, but I just saw her coming out of her building and I just went up to her and I told her I liked her and I asked her to the Back to School dance and she said yes! Can you believe that shit! Man, I can’t wait!” Malachi explained excitedly. He was so caught up in excitement that he was completely oblivious to the facial expressions between Andre and Desmond.

  ****

  Andre’s jaw clenched as he shook his head at the memory. Still sipping on his drink, he glanced at Arianna who was now awake from her brief sleep.

  “How long have I been asleep?” Arianna asked as she slowly sat up in the bed and leaned against the headboard.

  “After an hour went by and you never came back downstairs, I came up here and found you knocked out,” Andre replied.

  “Yes, once I showered I decided to lay down for a minute to basically put some space between us before we talked,” Arianna admitted as she glanced at him sipping on his drink. “Is that helping?” She asked him as she eyed his glass of Hennessey.

  Andre once again sipped as he smirked. “It’s definitely preventing me from committing a homicide,” He replied as he stared at her. Arianna cleared her throat as she slightly fidgeted. In all the years Andre and Arianna spent in a relationship and have been married, he never once put a hand on her. Although there was a hidden dark side of Andre she had partially seen growing up together, she never once feared him or feared that he would ever bring harm to her, that is until earlier.

  The rage in his eyes she seen back at the beach house caused the hair on her skin to stand up. Although she still felt he would never hurt her, which was partially the reason she came home with him, she still felt slightly uncomfortable.

  A chill went up her spine as they stared at each other. “So, what happened?” Andre asked her as he eyed her slowly.

  Arianna cleared her throat once more before she spoke. “I was hurt and angry. I was so emotional and I wasn’t thinking straight. I was questioning everything we stood for including your love for me. My head was messed up when he just showed up at the beach house. He kissed me and I didn’t stop him. One thing led to another, and we just…” Arianna explained as she lowered her head unable to continue looking Andre in the eyes.

  “Why can’t you look at me?” Andre asked her as he sat up in the love seat and leaned forward. Arianna slowly looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “You was curious about him, huh?” Andre questioned her as he took another sip of his drink. “You wanted to fuck him and you enjoyed the shit, right? You enjoyed the shit so much you forgot about me. You enjoyed the shit so much you forgot about asking him to wear a condom, right?”

  “Dre—” Arianna started to speak but was interrupted by Andre.

  “You know what. If we going to have this talk, I’m going to need you to be all the way honest with me. I need you to keep it all the way fucking real with me. I didn’t ask you to come home with me so you can sugar coat shit for me or fucking lie to me. So, I’m going to ask you one more time, what the fuck happened?” Andre asked once more in an aggressive tone.

  Arianna closed her eyes for a brief moment and then reopened them.

  Suddenly, a stream of emotions took over as she slowly moved to the edge of the bed and crossed her legs. Looking him directly in the eyes, she decided to give him the raw truth he demanded. “When I went to go see him when he was first incarcerated and we had that falling out, I was beyond crushed. I loved him. He was my heart back then. When my cousin started doing those terrible things to me, thoughts of Malachi use to keep me from going crazy. I use to close my eyes and imagine that my cousin’s hands all over my body were Malachi’s hands. I know it may sound weird to some people, but in a strange, twisted way, it worked for me. That’s how I coped with what was happening to me. That is what kept me from going crazy. My cousin would finish fondling parts of my body and I would see Malachi or I would call him to hear his voice and feel less dirty. I needed him like a drug addict needs a drug or a quick fix. Be
ing around him made it easy for me to pretend I was a normal girl and that I was not being violated at home. I never told Malachi what was happening to me, the same reason Candy didn’t. I didn’t want him doing anything crazy that would result in him going away or even getting killed,” she continued. “So I put on a facade until I couldn’t bear the idea of Frantz actually raping me. When I found out Malachi saved my life and killed Frantz, my love for him deepened. I was prepared to be there for him no matter what the outcome was. But after he cursed me out that day and refused to see me after that, I had no choice but to move on.” Arianna exhaled as she made her confession.

  Besides Angeline, she never confessed these feelings to another soul. Confessing them to Andre now felt strange because he was now her husband and she really did love him. Andre stared at her for what seemed like an eternity before he finally spoke.

  “So, on prom night when I told you he wanted you to move on with your life and I confessed to you that I liked you, you agreed because I was the next best thing, huh? And once again I’m a ask you to keep real with me.”

  In that moment, Arianna’s heart skipped a beat. As she lowered her head, contemplating her answer, Andre slowly stood to his feet and made his way to her. Afraid of what he was about to do, she stood up as well.

  Noticing the fear in her eyes for the first time, he reached over and touched her face. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never put my hands on you. Now I’m asking you again. Was I the next best thing?”