Jaylin

by Brenda Hampton

  He moved his head from side-to-side. “No, Daddy. I don’t want to be a sugar monster.”

  “Cool. Then drink one more soda and that’s it. Okay?”

  He nodded, and when I reached for the cup to give it to him, he rejected it. “Juice, Daddy. I want juice.”

  I winked at Nanny B who sat with a smirk on her face. “See how simple that was,” I said. “We’re going to the kitchen to go get us some juice.”

  I carried Justin to the kitchen, got his juice and then we returned to Nanny B’s bedroom. She took Justin, before giving me the key to Nokea’s place. I wouldn’t dare tell anybody I already had my own key. Nokea gave it to me a while back. I guess she forgot to take it back, after she made a decision to break it off with me.

  “Thanks, Jaylin,” Nanny B said. “I’ll make sure the kids go to sleep, but when you get back, you can tackle that messy kitchen.”

  I surely didn’t mind. And only because I hated to see things left in such a mess, I cleaned the kitchen before I left. It was spotless. I could have made a fortune being a maid.

  I arrived at Nokea’s place nearly thirty minutes later. Her condo was pitch black. I was surprised that she didn’t leave any lights on. I flicked the light switch in the living room, and then hit up a few lights as I made my way down the hallway. I glanced in her bedroom, it was empty. All I saw were a few magazines sprawled on the bed, an empty glass on the nightstand and what looked to be a journal on the other. I made my way into the room, and as I picked up the journal, I flipped through it, noticing her unique penmanship. I didn’t really want to read what she had written, but just for the hell of it I sat on the bed and indulged myself. Starting from several weeks ago, the majority of what she wrote about was her excitement about the fashion show, her amazing time with the kids, and sex between her and Travis. How good he made her feel, how passionate he was, how she was so in love with him, and how God had finally blessed her with the man of her dreams.

  I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM. SO KIND AND GENTLE. SEX IS THE BOMB AND MY PERSONAL DOCTOR HAS SKILLS. NEVER HAD A MAN WHO UTILIZES HIS PENIS IN SUCH A UNIQUE WAY. I WANT MORE AND I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH! CAN’T WAIT UNTIL LATER SO I CAN SERVE HIM MORE OF MY SWEETNESS.

  My blood boiled while reading this bullshit. How in the fuck was he utilizing his penis, better than I was? I thought. And what kind of skills was she referring to? She also mentioned his drinking habit and had written about an argument they’d had. Right after that, she expressed her anger with me. I was the bad guy for sure. I was the one who had broken her heart, but she was over that now. That was until she saw me and Scorpio together. She hated me; she hated Scorpio. I wasn’t shit, but why, she asked, did she even care? She hated that she still cared for me, and she questioned, time and time again, her level of love for me.

  I KEEP TELLING MYSELF NO. NO I DO NOT LOVE HIM ANYMORE. HOW COULD I LOVE A MAN WHO HAS CAUSED ME SO MUCH PAIN? I CAN’T AND I WON’T. SCREW HIM. I NEED TO THANK HIM. THANK HIM FOR FREEING ME SO I CAN BE WITH THE ONE I LOVE.

  She went on and on about the baby—it was all my fault for putting her in this predicament. Her words left me very confused. I didn’t know that Nokea still harbored this much anger toward me. It was so crazy because I thought, after all this time, things were good between us. Well, as good as it could get, considering all that had happened. Maybe it was wise for me to listen to her, instead of hanging up the phone. She seriously needed to get certain things about our past off her chest.

  Refusing to read more, I closed the journal. I headed to Jaylene’s room to get her backpack. Barbie dolls and books were on her bed, so I put her dolls in a toy box then put her books back on the shelf. I went into her closet and saw her backpack on the top shelf. As soon as I grabbed it, I heard a door slam. It startled me because Nokea was supposed to be on a business trip. The first thing I thought was somebody was breaking in. My gun was in the car, so I tiptoed down the hallway, trying to see who had entered her apartment. The closer I inched my way to the living room, I heard laughter. I heard whispering and a whole lot of giggling. I could officially say the laughter was Nokea’s. And by the time I peeked into the living room, I saw that it was her. Travis was with her. A bottle of Hennessy was in his hand; he appeared drunk. Nokea was giddy too, but there was nothing in her hand. Her clothes, however, were disheveled and her wrinkled shirt had been ripped away from her chest. Her left breast was exposed, and as she plopped back in the chair, her skirt was gathered at her waist, displaying her goodies. With her legs opened, Travis had a clear view—so did I. He appeared mesmerized and turned the Hennessy bottle up to his mouth. He took a deep swallow, before dropping to his knees in front of Nokea and placing the bottle on the floor. He wiped his hand across his mouth, and within seconds, he and Nokea started to vigorously go at it. She ripped his shirt off, while he took passionate bites at her neck that made her moan. They laughed as she rushed to unhook his belt buckle.

  “Naaaah, you don’t want none of this,” he slurred. “You can’t hang, and the last time I tore into your pussy, you was begging me to stop and go.”

  Really? I thought. She was begging for it, huh?

  “No, I was begging you to fuck me, like I am now,” she said aggressively as she yanked down his pants, shoving him back on the floor.

  Her ass ain’t ever begged me to fuck her. She knew better.

  She crawled on top of him, and with her pretty bare ass now in my view, I watched her reach for his dick, readying herself to take it all in. My stomach rumbled, was queasy as fuck. There was no way in hell I was about to watch it go down like this. With Travis packing very close to the same size as me, I knew Nokea would put on an interesting performance. I had never, ever witnessed her have sex with another man. Even though I knew she had, I refused to stand there and be a witness to this. I charged into the room, snatching Nokea off of him. I shoved her on the sofa, laying over her while holding myself up. She was so shocked that her eyes were wide, body appeared frozen. The sweet aroma of her pussy slapped me in the face, and with her breasts so close, I was so tempted to go there. Travis, however, had a grip on my arm, trying to pull me away from Nokea.

  “What in the fuck are you doing?” he shouted. “Have you lost your gotdamn mind? Get off of her, now!”

  I ignored him while searching deep into Nokea’s eyes. My heart was beating fast, a sheen of sweat covered my forehead, words were stern. “I’m putting it all on the line today, and I’m asking you to help make me whole again. I can help you get there too, but you first have to put an end to this. If you want to have sex, I prefer that you think about making love to me. I’ve already said, time and time again, that I was sorry for hurting you. With everything there is in me, I truly am. I love you, baby, I will never stop loving you. I can’t, I tried, but I can’t.”

  “Well, you fucking need to,” Travis barked. “And you need to get the hell up before I—”

  He snatched the Hennessy bottle from the floor. That was when Nokea placed her hands on my heaving chest to push me back. By then, he threw the bottle, causing it to shatter against the wall. Brown liquor splattered and rained down the wall. He stood like a madman with his chest rising and falling.

  “Leave, Jaylin,” Nokea said as I stood up. She knew I was about to deal with this fool, so she hurried off the couch, trying to push me away. I looked over her shoulder, staring at Travis without a blink. His twitching eyes were locked on me too.

  “Did you not hear what she said?” Spit sprayed from his mouth as he yelled. “She said get out!”

  I fought hard to remain calm and ignore his pitiful ass. My eyes shifted to Nokea who stood in front of me so I wouldn’t move. “As I was saying,” I continued. “No man will ever love you like I do. We share too much history to let go. Please think about what I’m saying to you, and if you still have an ounce of love left for me, allow me to make you fully love and trust me again. I can do it, Nokea. Just give me the opportunity to do it, baby, alright?”

  She stood gazing at me with
her big and beautiful doe eyes. Her tongue appeared tied. She didn’t snap out of her inner thoughts until Travis started to make noise again.

  “Will you please speak up and put this shit to rest! Damn! Tell him who you love, Nokea! For God’s sake tell him it is over! Geesh!”

  Nokea swallowed while keeping her eyes locked on me. She slowly moved her head from side-to-side. “I . . . I’m not going there again with you, Jaylin. I’ve given you too many chances to do right by me, and you failed me every time. How can you stand there and think that I’m supposed to drop everything and come running back to you? I’m in love with—”

  “No,” I quickly cut her off. My stomach was in knots—it hurt, but I needed to say what was on my mind. “I don’t want to hear that. What I need is for you to help take away my lonely nights. I’m having too many of them, and your relationship with him is too much for me to handle.”

  She fired back, expressing anger. “Listen, I know all about those lonely nights, Jaylin. I had them too, and I cried plenty of nights over you. Soft music is therapeutic, so go try it. Hopefully, it’ll be able to get you through some of those painful nights like I had, time and time again.”

  I shook my head, realizing that I wasn’t getting through to her. “Yes, I failed you, but baby you made some mistakes too. Regardless—”

  “Mistakes,” Travis roared from behind her. “Having an affair and a child during a marriage is not a mistake! It’s called having your freaking cake and eating it too! The only mistake she made was trusting you! And if she has any damn sense, she’ll tell you right now to go fuck yourself!”

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t let this drunk-ass, slick-mouth fool slide. I rushed around Nokea, and lit his ass up with a hard punch to his gut. More spit and alcohol sprayed from his mouth. He doubled over, grabbing his stomach. As he coughed and staggered back to the wall, Nokea rushed to his side. Fury was trapped in her eyes, daggers were flying fast.

  “I’m so sick of you doing this,” she said tearfully. “Why can’t you just—”

  “Because I can’t,” I shouted. “Have you not heard any fucking thing I’ve said to you? I guess not, but you know what, Nokea? If this is what you want, and he is who you truly want to be with, then stop calling me, stop asking me to be there for you, stop making me a part of your world and leave me the hell alone. That’s all I ask, so you’d better be sure this is the route you want to take.”

  With gritted teeth, she rushed toward me to respond. I stopped her dead in her tracks, when I grabbed her face, bringing it close to mine. I put my mouth over hers, and as I sucked her lips, they trembled. I could feel her body slowly melting, but she didn’t reciprocate the kiss.

  “This is crazy!” Travis yanked at Nokea’s arm, pulling her in his direction. She nearly lost her balance, he pulled her so hard. He secured his arms around her waist, evil-eyeing me. “This, motherfucker, is how you kiss the woman you truly love!” He hugged Nokea’s lips with his, while rubbing his hands all over her body. She rejected his moves and slightly pushed him back. I spoke up before she did and unhooked my belt buckle.

  “That was a weak ass kiss, but if you want me to show you how to make love to her, I can do that very well. Been doing it for years, and I intend to do it for many more years to come.”

  Nokea had seen and heard enough. She pointed to the door and spoke sternly. “Go home, Jaylin. Don’t come here again, unless I invite you. And just so you know, I am with the man I want to be with.”

  “No you’re not,” I countered. “When you’re ready to wake the fuck up, you know where I’ll be.”

  I walked out with Jaylene’s backpack in my hand, thinking. Call it karma, payback . . . whatever. I called it bullshit.

  SCORPIO

  The house was finally coming together, but Mario had been walking around acting real strange. He didn’t seem like his perky self, and his ongoing questions about my bachelorette party were starting to annoy me. No, I didn’t tell him the truth. I wholeheartedly believed that only Jaylin and I knew what the truth was. Therefore, I was sticking to my lie. I would never tell Mario what actually happened, only because I didn’t want him to know that I’d betrayed him.

  Did I think he would divorce me, if he knew the truth? Absolutely not. He would be upset for sure, but I didn’t want to upset him. We were still in the honeymoon stage right now. This was our time to enjoy our new life together, in addition to our new home. Instead, I found myself watching my back and being a little fake with my husband, just to help him take his mind off things. Usually, sex would do the trick, but for the past two nights, he’d gone to bed without even holding me. It was up to me to turn this situation around, so when we woke up the next morning, I asked Loretta to cook him breakfast so I could feed him in bed. I also ran some soothing bath water, so we could take a warm bath together. He was still sleeping, and when Loretta lightly knocked on the door, I opened it. I removed the tray of food from her hand, thanking her for hooking us up.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered. “If you need anything else, let me know. I’ll be in my room.”

  I closed the door, and with my turquoise silk robe on, I laid the tray on the nightstand then got in bed. Mario stretched his arms and yawned. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. I removed the tray from the nightstand and placed it on my lap.

  “Good morning.” I leaned closer to peck his lips. “You slept kind of late today.”

  He raked his hair away from his face, but a long curly part of it fell in front of his eye. “I’ve been tired. Haven’t been getting much sleep because there’s too much on my mind.”

  I pecked his lips again. “I don’t know why you’ve been stressing so much, especially with this thing about my bachelorette party and me being at Jaylin’s house. Why is it so hard to believe that I went there to discuss an ongoing issue with Mackenzie? I always go to Jaylin’s house. You act as if I’ve done something differently and I haven’t.”

  Mario tossed the covers aside and got out of bed naked. Not an ounce of fat was on his body. I took a quick glance at his tight ass, before he opened the doors to the bathroom and went inside. I heard him take a leak and wash his hands. He also took a while longer; I assumed he was brushing his teeth. When he came back, he didn’t return to the bed with me. He sat on the chaise with his elbows resting on his knees.

  “Just so you know.” He paused to rub the minimal, silky hair on his chest. “I spoke to Jaylin a few days ago. It didn’t go well. He said some shit that got underneath my skin. I thought he was cool, but I don’t wanna fuck with him anymore. I don’t want you fucking with him either, and if you screw me, Scorpio, you will pay a costly price.”

  My brows shot up. I was surprised by his threat. He had never spoken to me like that, nor had he ever threatened me.

  “I don’t know what Jaylin said to you, but whatever it was, you have no right to speak to me like that. I’ve done nothing wrong, Mario. It really hurts that you don’t believe me. I have everything that I need and want right here, and I’m not trying to complicate things in any way.”

  Mario reached for a cigar that was on the table next to him. He lit it and lay back on the chaise, taking a puff of the cigar. His eyes were focused on me.

  “I don’t know why I don’t believe you. Something doesn’t add up. I called you early that morning, and you never answered your phone. I called you three fucking times.” He held up three fingers. “Yet there was no answer. You’ve always answered your phone when I called. Why didn’t you answer it then?”

  I released a deep sigh. This was becoming ridiculous. We couldn’t even enjoy ourselves, and day by day, there was one question after another. I started to wonder what in the hell Jaylin had said to him.

  “I don’t know what I will have to do to make you believe me, but—”

  “But my naked ass, Scorpio.” He removed the cigar from his mouth, and while holding it between his fingers, he pointed at me. “What you can do is tell the fucking truth. That’s what you need to do, espec
ially since Jaylin said he could have you. Said he could screw you when he wanted to. Said he did and he would continue to do it, because you, my sweet little beautiful fucking wife, would allow him to do it. Is that true? Tell me if what he spoke was the truth?”

  I couldn’t believe Jaylin had told him that. Maybe Mario was exaggerating. “No, it’s not true and I know for a fact that he didn’t say that to you.”

  Mario got up from the chaise and walked to where I was. He laid the cigar in an ashtray, before grabbing my face and squeezing my jawline with his strong hand. “Are you calling me a liar? I hope not, sweetheart, because you’re not going to like me when I’m angry. I ask you again . . . did you fuck him? Did you come for him five times and put his filthy balls in your mouth?”

  Mario’s tight grip on my face hurt, so I smacked his hand away. Now knowing that Jaylin had said something foul to Mario, especially since he knew about the number of orgasms, I didn’t have much else to say. I placed the tray on the nightstand, and instead of responding to him, I moved to the other side of the bed and got out of it.

  “Answer me.” Mario raised his voice as I walked into the bathroom. The Jacuzzi tub with four thick columns surrounding it was still filled with bubbles and water. I dropped my robe to the floor and stepped inside of it. As I lay back on the contoured pillow, I closed my eyes, ignoring Mario as he stood in the doorway, awaiting an answer.

  “Your little silent treatment won’t work. And if you won’t speak, many others will.”

  I opened my eyes and shrugged. “You can talk to anyone you’d like to, but my words still stand, even though you’re ignoring them. I said no. No I did not have sex with Jaylin, it never happened. So if all you want to do is argue, put your hands on me and make threats, I’m going to ignore you. I’m trying to avoid going down this road with you, and maybe after breakfast you’ll feel much better. For now, I’m done talking.”