by M. Skye
With a devious smirk, Tyree held his hands up and stepped back. “Look, you got this all wrong, Mia. I never promised you anything. We had what we had. It was damn good but, now, it’s a wrap. Consider yourself played, sweetheart.”
“What?” Milan sounded shocked. “You’re really gonna play her like that, Tyree?”
Completely ignoring Milan’s inquiries, Tyree walked to Mia, running his hand down her cheek. “You know, I had fun this past week, but we don’t work. Renee, she’s my ride or die. When you packed up and hauled ass, she was here giving me what I needed, and now it’s time I did the same for her. What kind of man would I be to just leave her and my baby alone?”
“Baby?” Mia uttered softly. “When were you going to tell me about this? And what about our son? What are you going to tell him?”
Tyree chuckled and looked over to Jackson, who was just watching quietly. “I’ll tell my son to stay away from women like you.” In a mockingly sarcastic tone, he stated, “These hoes ain’t loyal,” and Mia tried to go upside his head.
“Hoe? Have you lost your mind?” Mia had anger lacing every word.
“I said what I meant, and now it’s time for me to go.” He walked over, lacing his fingers through Renee’s. The whole room watched in amazement as he walked her over to the door. Before stepping out, he turned to Mia. “Feel free to pack up and leave again. It’s what you do best. The only thing is, this time, I won’t be missing you. This time, I’m in control.”
Mia raced to pick up one of the vases on display, and she flung it at his head, missing by a few inches. “You stupid son of a bitch, you’re going to regret this. You’ll never see our son again.”
“Somehow, I doubt that matters.” He shrugged. “I’ll have another one. I’m sure of it.” He ran his hand over Renee’s stomach. “Let’s get you checked out, baby, because if she hurt you in any way, she’ll regret it.”
“I’m fine,” Renee smirked, running her hand down to rest at the base of his neck.
“Even so, I would feel much better if you did.”
“Okay, fine. You’re already beginning with the spoiling.”
“You know it.” He pulled her out of the house.
Undoubtedly witnessing the devastation in Mia’s eyes, Milan pulled her close, swallowing her in a strong embrace.
Mia had yet to let a tear fall, but when she felt Milan’s arms, she broke down. “What is going on? He came back to me; he wanted us to be a family. He made love to me last night.”
“He’s an ass, Mia. You deserve better, and you’ll find that.”
“He is,” Jackson chimed in, walking over to wrap his arms around his wife. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we have to leave, today. There is an emergency with Envision, love. We have to be there to handle it.”
“Can’t you go without me?” Milan huffed. “I need to be here for Mia. I don’t want to leave her like this.”
Mia looked over and saw the hesitation on Jackson’s face and spoke up. “Mills, just go. I’ll be fine. This time, I won’t let him take me there. I have to hold it together for my son. He needs at least one of his parents acting like an adult.”
“Mia, I don’t like this. I don’t want to . . . Hey.” She looked to Jackson, and he nodded in agreement, crossing his arms over his chest. “Mia, don’t shoot me down, but I thought since you don’t have work anymore, why don’t you come with us? It could be a nice getaway, and we could still hang out. Whenever we settle whatever crisis is going on at work, I’ll be free again.”
Mia looked at both Milan and Jackson, trying to come up with a response, when Cassandra stepped up, voicing her opinion. “Go ahead, Mia. You and Kyan could go out and soak up some of that California sun. It will be fun.”
“Actually, it’s on one of the shoots. They’re on location.” Jackson grabbed Milan’s attention. When she turned to look at him with confusion dancing in her gray eyes, he shook his head subtly, and Mia knew something was up.
“So, what do you say, Mia? Somewhere exotic may be exactly what you need to escape this mess.”
“Why do I feel like you are all trying to get me out of here?” Mia scanned the room.
“Because we are,” Milan answered confidently. “You need space.”
After a brief deliberation, Mia reached her hand to Milan and nodded. “Okay, you twisted my arm. I’ll go.”
Before anyone could say anything else, Cassandra offered up their family jet, and Milan accepted, running her hand through Mia’s hair. “Come with me, Mia. Let’s get packed. I promise you, a little fresh air and you’ll be saying, ‘Tyree who?’”
Mia smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was just trying to put on a brave face when Milan pulled her toward the stairs. She knew Milan hated seeing her like this. Only one man could sink her to such depths. Only Tyree could take her dreams and smash them in the matter of one morning. Now, as much as she needed it, she was dreading this trip. She was going to have to spend the majority of it putting up a front for her cousin.
Chapter Twenty-five
Hours had passed since the big blowup at the house, and Tyree was sitting in the bedroom, watching SportsCenter when Renee entered, flopping down next to him. Smiling at her, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She relaxed into his embrace and sat quietly gazing at the TV for a few minutes. She ran her hand down his face, and he rolled her over, looking down into her eyes.
“What are you doing, crazy man?” She let out a small giggle.
“Playing with my babies. How are you feeling?”
“Like I told you at the hospital and in the car, I’m fine. Our baby is great, and the heartbeat is strong. You heard it for yourself.”
“Yes, our little man has a strong heartbeat.” He grinned.
“Yes, our daughter does, but that’s not why I came in here. I just wanted to talk. You said you wanted to talk earlier, but I kinda just feel like you brought me there to stick it to Mia. Not that I mind because she was sleeping with my man, but why?”
“Look,” he sighed. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, but I needed her to feel like she made me feel. The only way I could do that was to give her false hope and snatch it away.”
“The things you said, though.” She paused. “It was like you were a completely different person, not my sweet and loving Tyree.”
“Having someone take your kid and abandon you the way she did to me would make you do crazy things, but I never meant for you to get hurt.”
“I’m not hurt. Well, I’ll admit, coming home to find out that you’ve been sleeping with her wasn’t fun, but as long as you promise to never let it happen again, I’m okay.”
“Just like that, you forgive me?”
“Just like that.” She grinned. “With me, you don’t have to jump through hoops. You just have to be you.”
“Good, because that’s all I can be. But I wanted to ask you something.”
“Yeah?” She gave him her undivided attention. “What do you want to know? I’m an open book.”
“When you were gone, where were you, really?”
Stuttering, she sat up slowly. “I was at my mom’s, you know that.”
Running his hand up and down her back, he held his gorgeous smile. “Yeah, well, I wanted to surprise you, so I called down there to talk to your mom about popping in, but she said you hadn’t been there in over a year. So where were you?”
Obviously not knowing what to say, Renee stared at him blankly until the ringing of his cell phone broke the silence.
“Hang on, I need to get this.”
He sat up as Renee watched until he ended the call. Turning back to her, he placed his hands on either side of her neck. “I have to go. Miguel is awake and asking for Asha and me. We’ll finish this later.”
Springing up and leaving the room, Tyree left Renee, and he knew her head was spinning. Things were not going as she planned, he knew, and now that he knew she was lying, she was going to have to come up with a story
, and fast. He couldn’t wait to see what lie she came up with next.
Without pause, just as he thought, Renee jumped up, grabbing for her cell phone. She hit the speed dial, and it began to dial while he just looked on, trying to listen in. While he could only hear her end of the conversation, he heard the relief in her voice when the person she was trying to reach answered. “I need you to get over here now,” he heard her say. “Tyree knows something. I don’t know how much, but he knows.”
Just waiting patiently, he heard her continue. “That’s beside the point. Get over here now. I’m alone.”
She hung up, sighing into the air, not knowing that Tyree was sitting outside the door listening in. He shook his head and eased toward the stairs and out the back door. Once in the car, Tyree replayed in his head the conversation with her and the one with Kyan, and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. There was definitely something to Kyan’s uneasiness, and he knew for sure Renee was lying about something. Feeling stupid for ever trusting her, he sped off to the hospital, wishing he had never brought her into his son’s life. He was determined to get to the bottom of whatever she was hiding to make sure he hadn’t done all this in vain. He had given up the woman of his dreams to nail the lying bitch carrying his baby.
Chapter Twenty-six
Running her hand over the wedding band she kept on a necklace, Mia ripped it from her neck, sending it flying into the wall of her bedroom. She had come down to the old house to pack her and Kyan’s things to get ready for her trip. Milan and Jackson were waiting up at the house with the kids, and she just needed time to clear her head while gathering what she needed. She had the radio playing, loudly, and she was singing along.
While she shuffled through what to leave and what to take, Mia was oblivious to the fact that she was being watched until a person cleared her throat. Jumping and dropping everything in her hands, she turned to find Milan standing behind her. Reaching over to turn the music down, Milan took a seat on the bed, picking up the fallen items and tossing them in a bag.
“Mia, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m sure I will be. I just need some time,” she replied quietly.
“Well, this here won’t help.” She giggled. “You’re doing this listening to depressing music thing again. You know this ‘Un-Break My Heart,’ ‘Breathe Again,’ ‘Another Sad Love Song’ madness is not the answer. You’ll get even more depressed. I remember the last time I had to pry you out of this mood. Me and Asha were cursing Toni Braxton for life.” She laughed, patting her hand.
“This time is different. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hurt, but for different reasons. This time, he didn’t turn only on me; he basically said he didn’t care about ever seeing our son again.”
“Yeah, after you yelled out that he was never going to see him. I’m sure he only said it to set you off. You know how you both hate to lose face.”
“Whatever.” She flipped her hand up in the air. “I just need to get away from him before I murder him and that dust witch he’s engaged to.”
“Dust witch?” Milan laughed.
“Yes, dry-faced whore. I just wanted to mutilate her.”
Milan shook her head, looking amused by the serious expression on Mia’s face. “You wouldn’t. You might get mad enough to smack her around, but you wouldn’t do anything to seriously hurt her.”
Mia nodded in agreement. “Maybe not, but a girl can have dreams.”
“You can think whatever you want as long as you don’t act on it. I need you around, and so does your son. I just wanted to check on you and see where your head was and make sure you weren’t going to do anything so drastic as move back to Paris. I know this place has its reminders, but it also holds all of our good times. I just don’t want to go two years without seeing you again.”
Mia dropped the items in her hand and sat down, laying her head on Milan’s shoulder. “Honestly, I have nothing to go back to there. All I did was throw myself into work and since I don’t have that anymore, what else is there?”
“What about Jake? I know you said he wasn’t the one, but are you sure you couldn’t be happy with him?”
Smiling subtly, Mia ran her hand through her hair. “With Jake, it’s uncomplicated, easy, but I still don’t see it working out. Right now, I need to focus on my son and finding what makes me happy. I can’t focus on a man.”
“Understandable,” Milan agreed. “Well, should we get back up to the main house? Cassie wants to do a quick lunch before we get out of here.”
“Yeah, let’s go. I think I have all I need.” Standing and looking back at her room, Mia let out a sigh, knowing she would never be able to stay there again without thinking about the times she shared with Tyree. Growling and slamming the door, she hissed into the air, “That bastard.”
Walking into the main house was bittersweet for Mia. She had been so happy there the night before, only to wake up to the nightmare that Tyree was only using her. He had been so gentle in his touches the night before, and it was almost impossible to believe it was all a lie.
Tyree had given her false hope of happiness and a life together only to snatch it away. He said it was his intention, but she was finding it hard to believe he would be so cold, especially to her. They hadn’t had the best few years, but he had always made it clear that the love was still there. Could he have been faking everything?
While she thought about all the broken promises Tyree had whispered to her in the heat of the moment, the frustrations building inside her started to win and, before she knew it, her arms swung out and connected with one of the flower vases in the foyer. Cassandra came running out to find Mia with a blank expression. She ran her hand over Mia’s cheek and forced her to look her in the eyes. Mia just stared blankly until Cassandra’s voice snapped her out of the trance.
“Mia, don’t do this.”
Mia felt bad for startling her beautiful sister-in-law.
“We can get through this. It’s not over, and you know it.”
Mia looked at her in confusion and shook her head, trying to think rationally. “He left me, Cassie. I don’t know how you think we can get through this. I’m just tired. I’m tired of my heart hurting. I know I’ve made mistakes, but I can’t keep paying for them this way.”
“Sweet girl, I know that young man, and he loves you. This story isn’t over for you two. It’s just one fine mess you’re in. You’ve been through worse.”
“Never like this,” she whispered with tears streaming down her face. “No matter what, there has never been the possibility of either of us having a child with someone else. That was always something special. He said he would never share that with anyone else.”
“You can’t dwell on this, darling. It was before you came back, and I’m sure it wasn’t his intention. This all just screams setup to me. Tyree was conflicted before you got back here, which is why I called you. He was stuck somewhere between trying to move on and still holding on. He couldn’t let go of you then, and I don’t think he ever will.”
“He let me go,” she hissed angrily. “He let me go and humiliated me in front of my family. I felt so stupid. I just want to make him hurt like I do.”
Cassandra scanned the room, looking at the broken glass, and let out a chuckle. “I hate that my decorations had to pay the price, but I understand.”
“Oh, God,” Mia gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make a mess of things.”
“Don’t you worry. I’ll have one of the staff clean this up.”
Mia nodded and walked away with her hand latched on to Cassandra’s. Just as they made it to the dining area, Mia’s cell phone rang. She stopped, nodding for Cassandra to go ahead, and she took the call. As she listened to what was being said, her hand found its way to her chest, and she felt the wind leaving her. She was gasping for air and had to ease into one of the vacant chairs. She was trying to regain her senses as her mind was flooded with so much information, way too much to process.
Mia held the phone in her p
alm for a little while before hanging it up. She had been so quiet that Cassandra came back out to find her. Cassandra was talking, but Mia wasn’t able to process any of the words. Everything was a blur until she jumped up and walked into the dining area. Taking her seat, Mia smiled at her family and ran her hand down to grab her son’s. She could tell he was confused as he turned from Sydney, but he just gave her a squeeze for support. She knew he was wondering what was going on and why they were leaving when he had been promised they would be a family, but she couldn’t speak the words, so she just sat there.
Her thoughts were broken by the sweetest words: the words of redemption, the words of acceptance, the words of love. “Mama, you’re the best. I love you.”
She looked down at his innocent face and smiled her first real smile all day. She knew he felt her tension and she cursed herself for letting it show. He didn’t need this. He was the innocent one in it all. “I love you too.”
She studied him as he looked away and went back to his playful banter with Sydney; and she made a decision, one that would shape their future. Now that her mind was made up, there was no turning back. She had to push forward no matter what the costs were.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Tyree walked into Miguel’s hospital room with a heavy heart. He had seen him the previous night, but it was still weird seeing him with all the machines around. The hospital room was quiet and smelled of alcohol. Tyree laughed as he made his way farther into the room and a thought came to him. He always knew Miguel was a neat freak, and he probably demanded they douse his room with antiseptic. It was refreshing; it let him know that his brother was truly awake.
Reaching the side of the bed, he placed his hand on top of Miguel’s and patted it slowly. Reacting to Tyree’s touch, Miguel eased up in the bed.
“Quite a scare you gave us, little brother,” Tyree said softly.
“You know me. I have to keep you on your toes.”
“So, I guess I’ll ask you the question of the year. Who did this to you?”
