by Linda Verji
The moment the woman’s eyes settled on Zain, they widened. However, the panic there was almost instantly wiped away and her gaze took on a measuring look. She looked Zain up and down before she finally said, “I’d like to see Lucky.”
Lucky? His name rolled off her tongue like she was familiar with it - like she knew him. Zain didn’t need a genius to tell her what was going on. One pregnant woman, one measuring gaze, plus an uncanny familiarity with her husband only equaled one thing.
Zain shouldn’t have let the woman in.
CHAPTER 3
The woman was beautiful. There was no denying it. Her waist length hair, small heart-shaped face, flawless complexion, slightly pouted lips, and long lashed eyes made her look like she’d just walked off of a Spanish soap opera and straight into the Ford’s living room.
“I’d like to see Lucky.” Her tone was polite, but the small tilt of her mouth as she spoke and her arched eyebrow told another story.
Zain was speechless. Again? Again? The word kept running around in her mind as she stared at the woman. Zain was tired of these whores trying to pin a baby on her husband. Just a month ago another had threatened to sell her story to the media unless they paid her five million to go away. She’d gotten rid of that one fast enough and she’d do the same with this one’s pregnant ass too.
Calm down. Take a deep breath in, Zain. You might be wrong. She took another deep breath. “I’m his wife. I’m sure whatever you want to tell him, you can tell me.”
“If he’s not around I’ll just come back later.” The woman’s eyes darted to the door.
Oh no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere! Zain shifted in front of her, blocking the exit. “It’s cold out there. You can wait for him here.”
“I don’t think…”
“Have a seat!” Smiling, Zain gestured to the brown leather couch. Her tone was hard as she added, “Please.”
The woman hesitated for a second or two but, as Zain expected, she surrendered. Wincing slightly, she lowered herself gingerly to the couch, rubbing her tummy as she went. If it had been anyone else, Zain would’ve rushed to help her, but she wasn’t feeling very generous at the moment. However, the smile on her face would’ve fooled anyone, especially when it was followed by a pleasant, “Would you like something to drink?”
The woman shook her head.
“You must be cold,” Zain declared, ignoring her refusal. “I’ll get you some tea.”
Oh, she was calm; calm as she waited for the water in the kettle to boil and calm as poured it into a cup. Calm she stirred in sugar and cream with the tea. Women like that one were the reason she didn’t have arsenic in the house. One never knew when temptation would strike.
Zain delivered the poison-free tea to the woman. The woman on her part gave her a measuring gaze as if she didn’t quite trust Zain before accepting the full cup that sat atop a saucer. Instead of drinking it she put it on the coffee table in front of her. Zain reached for the remote control, put on the large TV that sat over the mantelpiece and settled beside the woman. The woman shifted slightly away.
There was silence between the two as a comedy played on the screen in front of them. Not even the on-screen laughter could ease the thick invisible thread of tension in the room. If anything the noose only tightened. That’s right. Squirm.
Contrary this woman’s straight-backed and stiff sitting, Zain slouched on the couch pretending a relaxation she didn’t feel. She even laughed at some of jokes on TV. Once the credits began to run, she turned to the woman with a pleasant smile. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“That’s ‘cause I didn’t say it,” the woman returned.
Oh Lord! Please give me strength! Zain was tempted to smack the words back into the woman’s mouth, but the sound of a car purring outside interrupted her violent thoughts. Zain stood. “There’s Lucky. Let me get him so you two can talk.”
She met Lucky at the door. Gone were the swim-trunks. They’d now been replaced by a grey overcoat, jungle green sweater, and grey chinos.
“Hey.” He dipped down for a kiss as he shrugged out of his coat. Their lips touched briefly before Zain pulled back.
“Baby, hold my earrings.” Zain pulled off the silver hoops and placed them in his open palm.
“What’s going on?”
“We got another one.” Zain wound her shoulder length jet black hair into a tight band, kicked off her house shoes and tugged him by the hand to the den.
“Another what?” he asked as he obediently followed her.
Zain was in her zone, awaiting Lucky’s go ahead. The moment he gave the sign that pregnant heifer would be out on her ass faster than lightening striking metal. The woman in questions turned the moment Lucky and Zain entered the room, her wide eyes shifted between the husband and wife team.
Making a whole production of it, Zain gestured with flourish towards her. “Baby, there she is.”
She turned to Lucky, expecting him to start yelling, expecting his eyes to narrow, and the muscle in his jaw to start ticking as it usually did when he was angry. She expected him to yell at the woman, tell her to get the hell out of his house and threaten to haul her off to jail himself. Instead, he took a step back and his eyes widened.
It was then that she knew. This nigga got this girl pregnant!
Lucky turned to Zain, an excuse ready at the tip of his tongue. “Baby I-”
“Mm mm, don’t speak.” Zain raised a palm to stop his words as she fought the idea of this really happening to her – to them. “Don’t speak!”
She paced the room, to and fro, with her eyes on the floor as she took deep breaths. Just calm down, Zain. From the corner of her eye, she saw the woman stand up from the seat, edging to the other side of the room. Lucky, however, remained glued in front of her. Zain took a deep breath. “Lucky, do you know that woman?”
“Baby, I swear Sonia is just—”
He knew the woman’s name? Fuck calming down!
She didn’t even know how it happened. One minute she was staring at him and the next she had a vase in her hands. She flung it at him with all her strength. He was lucky he had good reflexes or else the ceramic would’ve shattered on his face and not the floor.
“Shit!” he hollered, but Zain had already lifted another piece of their expensive junk and aimed for his head. “Zain, stop!”
Zain wasn’t about to stop. Not with the heated rage that’d just exploded in her system. There was not enough space for reminders that their children were upstairs because all she wanted was to hurt him.
Figurines, pillows, flower vases, decorative mugs and anything she could lift was thrown at him. Lucky bobbed up and down the den as if he was on the field. Before she could launch a stool at him, he tackled and lifted her into the air with her back to his front.
“Baby, let me explain!” he panted in her ear as he carried her out of the den and up the stairs. She struggled to get herself out of his arms, throwing her legs around and kicking at his knees, but her strength was no match for his and he kept walking.
“I’m going to kill you.” Her tone was icy, her words precise as she dug her fingernails into his forearms. If it weren’t for the sweater, she’d have drawn blood by now. He winced in pain but didn’t release her. She repeated, “I’m going to kill you.”
“No, you’re going to cool off.” He kicked open the door to their room. “Then we’re going to talk.”
He threw her on the bed and before she could scramble off and get another weapon, he was out of the room. There was an audible click as he locked the door behind him.
* * *
“Fuck!” Lucky cussed as he paced in front of their room, running his hand over his close shaven head in panic. “Fuck!”
“Halake, let me out.” Zain didn’t shout but she might as well have. He jumped at the loud thump that immediately followed the low growl of her words. He stared at the door, half afraid that she was going to cut into it with one of her heels and come after him.<
br />
Fuck! He’d royally screwed up this time and Zain was going to kill him.
The door to the twin’s room opened and Marilynn peeked out. “Is everything okay, sir?”
“Yes!” Lucky snapped. He’d forgotten the kids were here, as had Zain. It took a lot to get Zain to that point, but Sonia had caused her to snap. What the hell was Sonia doing here?
Taking them two at a time, he descended the stairs and headed for the den. She wasn’t there. Maybe she’d left. Maybe not. Needing to make sure, he yanked the front door open and – without bothering to put on his coat – stepped out. The cold air bit into his body but Lucky was a man on a mission. He peered towards the gates, his eyes searching the consuming darkness to see if she was walking in that direction.
“I’m here.” Sonia was leaning against the wall of the house, burrowed into the large coat. It was eerie to see her face after so many nights of having nightmares about her. Every morning for weeks he’d woken up in a panic, expecting once again to see her lying beside him in bed instead of Zain. That panic was nothing compared to what he felt now.
“You need to get the fuck out of here!” Anxiety fueling his actions, Lucky grabbed her arm to march her to the gate.
“Excuse me boo.” Sonia snatched her arm from his hold. “Who do you think you’re grabbing like that?”
“You need to get the fuck out of here,” Lucky insisted.
“You wasn’t saying that when you were fucking me.” Sonia cut her eyes at him as she settled against the wall again, her arms folded over chest.
“Here.” Hands shaking, he reached into his back pocket to come up with a wallet full of bank notes. Taking a few hundreds out, he held them out to her. “Take this and get out of here.”
“I don’t want your money.” She sneered at the money in his hands.
“Then what the fuck are you here for?”
“As you can see…” She popped open her overcoat to reveal her midsection. Lucky was stunned into silence. He’d been so focused on her face and diffusing the situation with Zain that he hadn’t even noticed a pregnant Sonia. “…we need to talk.”
Inside the house, Zain paced the bedroom with a wine bottle in her hand. Lucky didn’t come. She arranged thirteen pairs of his shoes on the bed in readiness to aim the moment he unlocked the bedroom door. He didn’t come. She practiced her right hook: one, two, three. He still didn’t come.
Almost two hours later, the steam fizzled from of her body. She began to digest exactly what had happened. He’d cheated on her. Lucky, the man who had sworn to love and protect only her had cheated on her. She slid down onto the carpeted floors, her back against the bed and her head in her hands.
He got another woman pregnant.
He’d given the baby he’d promised to give her to another woman.
She began to cry.
Sobs racked her body and tears streamed down her cheeks as she laid curled in the fetal position on the floor. How could he do this to me? After all we’ve been through? Eleven years? Eleven years and this is what he does! She didn’t know how long the tears came, but the pain inside wouldn’t let them stop. When her tear ducts were finally exhausted, she slept.
She awoke in darkness with a heavy arm draped around her waist and his whisper-soft breath dancing against her hair. She was momentarily disoriented, wondering why she was still dressed. As the memories flooded her mind, so did the anger.
She took great care not to wake him as she lifted his heavy arm off her body. Once out of bed, she walked towards the bathroom and closed the door behind her to mask the rush of water as she filled the bin they kept beneath the sink with the ice cold liquid. When it was full, she shut off the tap, opened the door, and walked toward the bed with the heavy bin cradled in her hands.
He was so calm in his sleep. So comfortable!
Zain dumped the bin over his head, water and all.
Waking in a rush, Lucky spluttered and cursed as he sat up. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“You wanted to talk.”
CHAPTER 4
Though her voice didn’t rise, Lucky couldn’t mistake the anger in Zain’s tone. It had shifted from inferno to freezing.
“Did you have to pour cold water on me?” Lucky stammered as he jerked off the bed, his upper body soaked.
“Oh!” Her eyes widened in mock surprise. “You’re complaining that it’s cold?”
She picked up the bin to return to the bathroom, planning to come back with hot water instead. However, her husband knew her all too well and grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.
“Uh uh! Halake, don’t touch me! You are this close…” She placed the thumb and index finger of her free hand close together to show him just how close to the edge he was. “…this close to a body bag.”
Zain tried to tug her hand away but he refused to let her go. The bin fell to the carpeted floor with a loud thump but neither noticed.
“Baby, can we please talk about this like grown ass folks?” he asked, still clad in only navy blue boxers as he stood to his feet. Usually the sight of his naked body towering over her would’ve turned her on. Now, all she could think of was how easy it’d be to rip into the naked expanse of his skin with a sharp blade.
“Yes, Halake, Sir…” Zain curled her lips derisively. “…lie to me.”
“Baby, it was just a one night thing,” he pleaded, “five months ago.”
“Mm hm!”
“I was drunk out of my mind!”
“Mm hm!” She wasn’t even trying to listen to the pile of rubbish he continued to spoon-feed her. She could only think of the fact that he’d actually done this to her. Where there were tears before, her anger slowly simmered into rage at every excuse he attempted to make.
“We were in a strip club. Polo decided to play me. He hired one of their girls.”
“Mm hm!”
“I woke up with that girl next to me…” Lucky’s words drifted off as he realized that his words weren’t getting past the barrier Zain had erected. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Are you finished?” she returned. Taking his silence to mean that he was done with his empty excuses, she pointed to the door. “Good! Now get out of my house.”
Releasing her wrist, he ran his palm over his close cut head, frustration evident in his furrowed brow. “Can you just stop being crazy for a minute and let me…”
“Are you calling me crazy?” Her voice rose with every word. “Are you calling me crazy? You think you know crazy!”
With determined strides, she walked to the vanity and pulled open the top drawer. The scissors lay right where she’d left them when she’d helped the twins with their art project. Lucky’s eyes widened when she began to walk towards him, twirling the scissors like a gun. Her lips twisted into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes before she rushed him, aiming straight for his heart.
His reflexes were faster than hers. With lightning precision Lucky dislodged the weapon in her hand and pinned her to the wall, using one hand to hold her wrists above her head and his other against her throat. Any other woman would’ve been scared to have this giant of a man breathing over her. Not Zain.
She was crazy, but even crazy she knew that Lucky would never hurt her – at least not physically.
“I’m sorry baby.” He kept his brown eyes locked on hers, their depths reflecting deep sorrow as his body kept her pinned against the wall. “So, so sorry!”
“Halake…” She drew out his name so it’d get through his thick skull. “…get out of this house or I will kill you.”
“I’m not going anywhere because I love you,” he declared. “I’m going to stay right here, in this house – with you – until you’re ready to talk this shit out.”
They stared at each other, taking deep gasping breaths, each unrelenting in their determination to win this battle of wills.
* * *
“Man, you fucked me up.” Lucky ran a hand over his head in frustration as he stared at Polo. “
Zain is pissed.”
“My bad, my bad.” Polo didn’t even bother looking at Lucky as he ‘apologized’. His attention was on the woman seated in his lap, a skinny, pale blonde with legs that stopped at her neck. Running a finger over her upper thigh, he added, “I was just helping a brother out.”
They were seated in one of the plush corner lounges at Nox. Nox was a popular celebrity hangout because of its strict no-press policy and the ridiculous price-lists that kept out folks without deep pockets. Lucky had come here to get away from the tension with Zain for just a couple of hours, but being around Polo was just pissing him off more.
It wasn’t the fact that he was blatantly disrespecting Tasha that had Lucky so angry. Tasha was a grown woman who already knew that her man was a dog. If she wasn’t checking her man that was her business, not his. What had Lucky irritated was the fact that Polo had the nerve to was show absolutely no remorse for shoving Sonia into his life and messing up his marriage.
“Exactly how did you think getting me drunk and putting a hooker in my bed was helping me out?” Lucky asked.
“You were whining about Zain this… Zain that. All the damn time! Acting like a little bitch!” Polo sneered as he cupped ‘his’ woman’s right breast. She giggled as she nuzzled her face into his neck. Polo grinned. “You were making the team look bad out there. Tell him Vic.”
“Nope.” Victor shook his head. He was seated on the opposite end of the couch, flunked by two women of his own, both wearing dresses that barely covered their crotches. “I’m staying out of this one.”
The presence of the three women didn’t bother Lucky. He’d seen these two do far worse. It came with the territory. Women were always throwing themselves at them. Over the years he’d managed to resist the attention and taught himself how to look and not touch, but five months ago in Atlantic City he’d slipped – courtesy of Polo.
“The team didn’t hire her,” Lucky insisted, “you did.”
“Ey, don’t put this all on me.” Polo finally looked away from his girl. “Sure I asked the bartender to give you two extra fingers every time you ordered and I paid for that girl to do more than just dance for you. But I didn’t pour the Jack Daniels down your throat and I sure as hell didn’t put your dick into her pussy so...”
