The unlikely pair sat facing each other and Giselle’s chair was strategically positioned between Trent’s outstretched legs.
From her vantage point, Bailee attempted to read every nuance of their body language and facial expressions. It seemed to her that Trent was sulking. Bailee recognized the woebegone, puppy dog face that he’d successfully used on her too many times to count. It was amazing how he could still look so incredibly handsome with the stupid, slack-jawed look on his face.
She also recognized Giselle’s expression as she attempted to crinkle her Botoxed brow. Her head was tilted to one side, which was her patent, “I feel your pain” move.
What the hell is going on? Is my mother comforting Trent?
Before the shock of that possibility could fully register, Bailee was nearly rendered unconscious by the sudden visceral blow she received.
In what seemed like agonizingly slow motion, she watched as her mother lifted a hand and pressed it against Trent’s face tenderly. The purported sworn enemies locked eyes as Trent covered Giselle’s hand with his own.
Speechless and doubling over as if she’d been punched in the gut, Bailee backed out of the ballroom. She quickly made her way back to her suite before she became a crumbled heap on the floor.
There was no doubt that she still loved Trent and she realized that getting over him and eventually healing from the loss would be a process, but she hadn’t expected to be betrayed by her own mother.
Oh, God, please let this be my imagination. My eyes were deceiving me and I didn’t see my mother and Trent flagrantly flirting. She was only being maternal. No, who am I kidding? My mother doesn’t know the meaning of the word, maternal. Jesus, I don’t need this kind of drama in my life.
Needing to discuss her dilemma, Bailee climbed to her feet and began pacing while blowing up Jayla’s phone—to no avail.
Unable to reach Jayla, Bailee’s racing thoughts returned to Trent and Giselle.
Did Trent have Giselle in his crosshairs now that he’d lost Bailee? For an opportunist like Trent, the mother was a much better catch than the daughter. Giselle’s bank account was unlimited. And despite the age gap, she and Trent—two beautiful people—looked more suitable together than Trent and Bailee. No one would be whispering, “What’s he doing with her?” when he squired Giselle around town.
Oh, dear God! Her stomach knotted painfully. The idea of Trent and Giselle involved in a relationship was too much to bear.
Giselle was such a hypocrite, always complaining that Trent was too rough around the edges to make an appropriate spouse for her daughter, but at the first signs of trouble, she was ready to snatch him up.
Where was Jayla? She tried her number again. No answer. Bailee gnawed at her lower lip.
Without a doubt, she was going to confront Giselle, and if she thought there was even an inkling of truth to her suspicion, it was possible that she might lose her mind.
Chapter 14
Jayla drove as slowly as possible to the Pine Street precinct. She’d never been involved in any criminal matters and had never been inside a police station. She hoped she hadn’t broken the law by allowing Sadeeq to drive off the lot in a car that was rented in her name.
And if she had broken the law, was she walking into a trap?
Images of being cuffed and tossed inside a jail cell scared her so badly she had to pull over to the side of the road to try and calm down.
Maybe she needed a lawyer. Although he wasn’t a criminal attorney, Trent came to mind. But she couldn’t call him; he was still celebrating at his party. Besides, Trent would never go out of his way to help her.
All the love she’d felt for Sadeeq had turned to pure hatred after reading his text. What had she been thinking when she got involved with such a lowlife? Not only should she have run the other way when she found out he was married, she should have run in the opposite direction the moment she learned that his wife’s name was Radiance and his daughter’s name was Luxurious. Those names alone should have warned her that he was nothing but trouble.
But instead of following her instincts, her dumbass had stuck around because the dick was superb and the outer packaging was appealing. She’d thought she could elevate him, but instead, he’d pulled her right down into the gutter with him.
As the engine idled, she glanced in the mirror to apply lipstick, hoping a pleasing appearance would persuade the police to go easy on her, if she was in trouble. But no amount of lipstick could steady her shaky hands or disguise the pure terror in her eyes.
It occurred to her to turn the car around. Go back home and start packing her shit. She could relocate to a remote island and live off the land. She’d lose weight for sure if she had to forage for her meals.
Realistically, she wasn’t built for living in a hut in a foreign land. But she wasn’t built for jail, either. Her hands trembled as she gripped the gear shift and pushed it into drive.
Get a grip. You’re overreacting. You did nothing wrong, she tried to convince herself as she drove at a snail’s pace.
About a block away from the precinct, a dark SUV pulled up behind her and the horn began to blare. She didn’t have to squint to recognize Sadeeq’s SUV that supposedly had been booted. What a fucking liar.
He gestured for Jayla to pull into a narrow street.
Cursing and rolling her eyes, she followed his instruction. She stopped at the curb, threw the gear into park, and with fire in her eyes, she stomped over to Sadeeq’s SUV. He was sitting in the warm vehicle, listening to Big Sean, and smoking an L.
He lowered the window. “Where’s my suit?” His words were accompanied by a cloud of weed smoke.
“Fuck your suit; I threw that piece of shit in the trash. Now, what in the hell is going on, Sadeeq? What happened with the rental?” The idea of Radiance wheeling around in the rental while she was alone at the party made her seethe. She was so furious she didn’t feel the bitter cold air—all she felt was heat.
“Yo, that suit wasn’t cheap. It cost—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck how much it cost,” she spat.
“Look, I know you mad,” Sadeeq said in an appeasing tone. “You got every reason to be pissed, but I’ll explain everything later. Right now, we got to get our stories straight. I plan to tell the cops that you were showing me some houses today, and when my ride ran out of gas, you let me hold yours. I’ll say I didn’t know it was a rental and when my wife wanted to go to the club with her girlfriends, I told her it was okay to drive it.”
Jayla shot him a look of astonishment. “You allowed your wife to drive off with the rental when you knew I was at the party waiting for you?” She searched his face and didn’t see a glimmer of remorse.
“Man, that’s beside the point. Right now, we gotta make sure that our statements match,” he said with his face contorted in annoyance.
“I’m not lying for you! Do you realize the kind of trouble I could be in? How much damage did she do to the rental?”
He made an inarticulate, frustrated sound, as if having to explain anything to her was a wearisome chore. “I don’t know, man. I wasn’t there. She hit another car and the driver is in the hospital. That’s all the information I have.” He shrugged, nonchalant.
“Oh, my God—someone’s in the hospital? Can this shit get any worse?” Jayla covered her face in horror. She was going to have to find a new occupation because there was no doubt that she was going to be fired, sued, imprisoned, and blackballed in the real estate industry.
“Man, fuck the other driver! I’m worried about my wife!” Sadeeq’s voice rose to a pitch that was almost shrill. “They got Radiance locked up for car theft, vehicular assault, and a bunch of bullshit charges. I need you to talk to the cops and tell them that you loaned her the whip.”
“Fuck Radiance,” Jayla fired back. “I used the company credit card for the rental that you allowed your ’hood rat wife to tear up. I can’t believe this shit, Sadeeq. What were you thinking?”
“Fi
rst of all, who you calling a ’hood rat? And don’t be coming at me with this sucka shit.”
“I’ll come at you any way I want. I’m in debt over your dumbass.”
“Dumbass, huh?” Sadeeq gave her a deadly smile. “Okay. Well, let’s keep it one hundred, you fat-ass, dusty dick licker—”
Jayla gasped.
“You put your profile up on that fat chick’s website because you wanted a buff dude to fuck you and pretend like your elephant ass looked sexy. It wasn’t nothing but a game and I played my part. But don’t get it twisted, bitch. I ain’t do all that heavy lifting in bed out of the kindness of my muthafuckin’ heart. That kind of hard labor comes at a cost. You didn’t give me a damn thing that I didn’t earn.”
Jayla was stunned into silence. The words that had shot out of his mouth were swift and deadly, like bullets entering her heart.
But it wasn’t a quick kill.
She teetered on her feet, grasping at the door handle before making a slow and anguished descent to the ground.
In a show of frustration, Sadeeq made a loud groan. “Come on, man, get up off the ground and stop bullshitting. Ain’t nobody got time for this.”
But Jayla couldn’t move. The knowledge that their relationship had never been real was devastating. Sadeeq had been using her from the very start. How could she have been so stupid?
Ashamed and distraught, tears spilled from her eyes and she prayed the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
Sadeeq got out the SUV and roughly yanked Jayla by the arm, trying to pull her to her feet. “Come on, bitch. Damn! Get the fuck up before five-o rolls up, thinking I’m out here whipping your ass.”
The man she had catered to at the expense of her credit rating, her livelihood, and her pride, had callously called her bitch one too many times. Rage prevented her from thinking rationally and she came up from the ground, swinging and clawing. When Sadeeq tried to grab her, she bit into his hand like a wild, ravenous animal. Insane with fury, she bit into flesh and muscle and wouldn’t let go, not even when her teeth began to scrape against bone.
Howling in pain, Sadeeq punched her in the head, but she felt nothing. She yearned for retribution, and the taste of his blood and his anguished screams incited her to shake her head like a pit bull, trying to bite off a chunk of his hand.
He flung her around, punched, and kicked her, but Jayla wouldn’t let go. Grimy, lowlife muthafucka was all she could think of while her teeth were latched on to his hand.
And she was still holding on when a squad car screeched to a stop. She didn’t come to her senses and release Sadeeq’s mangled hand until the police threatened to blast her with pepper spray.
Mouth covered with Sadeeq’s blood, Jayla was handcuffed and shoved into the back of the squad car. Despite her dreadful circumstances, it was thoroughly satisfying to look through the window and witness Sadeeq’s face contorted in agony as he repeatedly yelled that he needed an ambulance to take him to the hospital.
* * *
She hadn’t expected Bailee to respond to her phone call from jail while in the midst of celebrating, but Bailee had come through with a lawyer in tow, and Jayla was released on the spot. No charges were brought against her after the high-priced attorney made it clear that his client, an upstanding citizen, had been brutalized in the street by a common thug, whom she’d bitten in self-defense.
Jayla’s swollen face and the knot on her head that was sustained from Sadeeq’s punches were proof that she’d been assaulted.
Although it was determined that Jayla had allowed Sadeeq to drive the rental, Radiance was not authorized to drive it, and for her crimes, she was left sitting in jail. Sadeeq was charged with assault and battery and was also behind bars.
It was a great relief to learn from the lawyer that Jayla’s insurance was responsible for the repairs to the vehicle, which turned out to be minor. Sadeeq and Radiance, on the other hand, were responsible for the personal injury liability as well as medical expenses incurred by the other driver. The other driver, it turned out, hadn’t sustained a scratch, but had insisted on going to the hospital, complaining of whiplash.
Sitting in her living room with a bag of frozen corn pressed against the knot on her head, Jayla sat on the couch and Bailee sat next to her. Jayla sniffled through a summarized version of how badly Sadeeq had used her. When she finished, she waited for Bailee to give her a scathing lecture, but Bailee was uncharacteristically compassionate as she rubbed Jayla’s back and told her everything would be all right.
“I can’t thank you enough, Bailee. I’m shocked that you’re not getting on my case for being such a dumbass,” Jayla said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.
“I can’t judge you, girl,” Bailee said morosely.
Jayla gave Bailee a sidelong glance. “You can’t judge…since when? A few weeks ago, you tried to preach a sermon about my alleged bad behavior, but this time, I really deserve it. So, go ahead, let me have it.”
“I’m serious, Jayla. I’ve had an awakening.”
“What kind of awakening?”
Bailee drew in a long breath. “For starters, my marriage is over,” she admitted with lowered eyes and a tremor in her voice.
Jayla stared at her in disbelief. “Stop playing, Bailee.”
“I’m serious. It’s over between Trent and me. I plan to sit down with a divorce attorney in a few days.”
A look of confusion appeared on Jayla’s face. “What are you talking about? You celebrated your tenth anniversary last night. I watched you and Trent greeting guests, laughing and smiling for the cameras, and looking like the happiest couple in the world.”
“It was a front. We were both pretending to be a devoted couple. I figured all the guests saw past the façade when I slapped Trent in the face.”
Jayla gawked at Bailee. “You did what?”
“Didn’t you see the scene I made on the dance floor?”
Jayla shook her head. “Sorry, Bailee, I was so consumed with self-pity, I rushed out of the ballroom while you and Trent were dancing. I was so hurt that Sadeeq had stood me up, I couldn’t enjoy your happiness. In fact, I was jealous of you two,” Jayla confessed in a whisper.
“There was nothing to be jealous of,” Bailee admitted.
“How long have you and Trent been pretending to be happily married?”
“I thought we were happy, but apparently, Trent had a hidden agenda. He was after my money.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Bailee shook her head. “I never suspected. When my mom forced me to present him with a prenup, he didn’t hesitate to sign it. He made it clear that he could make his own money, and didn’t need mine. Since my mother had arranged for the condo to be in my name only, it was my secret plan to sell it as soon as I received my inheritance and buy a big, fancy house that would be in both our names. I was looking forward to us jointly owning our next home—something in the million-dollar price range.
Jayla whistled at the amount Bailee had planned to spend.
“Of course, you were going to be our realtor.”
“Stop torturing me. The commission from that sale would have made a big difference in my life. My boss and my arrogant coworkers would have been forced to show me some respect.”
“Don’t worry, girl, I got you. Now that my marriage is over, I’m going to sell the condo and get something nice, just for me.”
“What’s your price range?”
“A million…a million-point-five,” Bailee said nonchalantly.
“I’ll be on the lookout, but I hate profiting from your unhappiness.”
“It’s okay,” Bailee said, wearing a sad smile. “It’s amazing that I was married to that man for so long and never really knew him. For that matter, I suppose I don’t think I know myself, either.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The confidence I had in my body was based on the belief that Trent thought I was beautiful.”
“Didn’t he?” Jayla aske
d, looking puzzled.
Bailee shook her head. “About a month before the party, Trent and I got into an argument. He said things that left me speechless and he looked at me in a way that made it obvious that he despised me.”
“Oh, no,” Jayla uttered, recalling how Sadeeq had made it clear that he had never cared for her. But never in a million years would she have suspected that Trent didn’t truly love Bailee.
Bailee pressed a hand against her forehead. “I feel like my entire adult life has been a lie. My identity has been deconstructed, dismantled, and destroyed. I need help, and I’m thinking about taking some time off work. Perhaps I’ll take a trip to somewhere quiet and peaceful. A place where I can do some intense soul-searching.”
“Are you talking about a Buddhist retreat where you sit around meditating all day?” Jayla asked with a frown on her face.
Bailee shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I’m definitely going to a retreat that allows for intense self-analysis.” She shook her head sadly. “What I know for sure is that I need to reexamine my feelings about my weight. I need to be able to stand in my own truth and honestly say that I love myself for who I am—with or without the approval of a man. If I can’t do that, then I’m going to have to admit that my weight is a burden, and then do something about it.”
“I know exactly how you feel. When do you think you’ll be leaving?” Jayla inquired.
“I have no idea, but you’ll be the first to know.” Bailee rose from the couch and Jayla stood as well. After they hugged, Jayla walked Bailee to the door.
Jayla didn’t have to decide whether or not she loved her extra pounds before she took some kind of action. She knew for a fact that she hated her flab, despised her cellulite, and loathed the outrageous numbers that flashed on her scale. And she didn’t have to go away to a retreat to figure herself out.
Sharp Curves Ahead Page 11
