Jaylin

by Brenda Hampton

  I closed my eyes, relaxing and attempting to enjoy my bath. Mario stepped away from the door, but when he returned, he dumped the tray of food in the tub with me, causing me to jump up and hop out of the water. I damn near slipped on the wet floor, especially when he grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him.

  “Fuck breakfast, you eat that shit. You didn’t prepare it any way, but you have very little time to prepare an explanation for what happened that night. I’ll wait, but I won’t wait long.”

  Mario let go of my arm, but catching me completely off guard, he shoved me so hard that I fell back into the tub, causing water to splash all over the floor. I hit my elbow on the tub, my ankle bumped the column, and my head jerked back. I wiped my hand down my wet face, looking at Mario as he went into his walk-in closet.

  “Is this how you treat me, because I don’t want to argue with you?” I shouted and tried to hurry out of the tub, without slipping on the floor. Once I was out, I grabbed a towel from the heated rack, covering myself with it. This time, Mario ignored me as I stood in the doorway to his closet, watching him get dressed.

  “Don’t you ever do that crap again! If you’re that angry, just leave. This is so ridiculous. I don’t know what else you expect me to say.”

  He zipped his jeans and tossed a shirt over his shoulder. He walked by me, as if I wasn’t even standing there. I followed him into the bedroom, and after he picked up his wallet from the nightstand, he headed toward the door.

  “Mario,” I shouted. “I said no! No to all of your questions. No, no, no, so why won’t you listen?”

  He halted his steps while at the door and turned around. “Because, you’re a gotdamn liar.”

  He walked out, leaving me speechless.

  Nearly an hour later, I stood in Jaylin’s kitchen, watching him eat from a fruit cup and appearing unfazed by my comments.

  “You didn’t have to say anything to him,” I said in a snippy tone. “All you had to say was what I asked you to say. It couldn’t have been that difficult for you to do, Jaylin. Instead, you just had to tell him some crap about how you could fuck me whenever you wanted to. And why mention how many orgasms you made me have? So what? Why say that to him, when you knew it would piss him off and stir up an argument between us!”

  Appearing real calm, he just stared at me and continued to eat his fruit. “Scorpio, don’t make me disrespect you. If you don’t mind, I’m enjoying an afternoon snack. I would also like to get some more work done today, so forgive me if I don’t react to your drama.”

  He pissed me off so bad that I reached out and smacked the fruit cup from his hand. Juice splashed on his face, the fruit and cup hit the floor. He jumped from the chair, and I sprinted toward the front door, hoping he wouldn’t catch me. Unfortunately, he did. In a matter of seconds, he pinned me against the wall with his hand gripped around my neck. I couldn’t even breathe; I scratched at his hands, trying to get him to release me.

  “You’re never fucking satisfied unless there is drama in your life. I don’t have time for it, so don’t bring that shit over here, Scorpio! Keep that shit in your own household. If you didn’t want any of this to happen, you should have thought carefully about the consequences when you brought yo hot ass over here, begging me to fuck you!”

  He released his grip, and as a tear ran from my eye, I reached out, slapping the shit out of him. His head stayed still, face tightened even more. When I saw his eyes narrow and fist clench, I turned toward the door. He reached for the back of my neck, squeezing it and pulling it toward him. His lips were right at my ear as he spoke sternly in it.

  “You are dead to me,” he said. “To me and to our kids. Until you and your man get y’all shit together, they will not be staying over there. Don’t like it? Talk to my attorney about it. Talk to your husband about it, too, because when I get done bringing up all the illegal shit going on behind the scenes, it will be a cold day in hell before you ever see your kids again.”

  My neck was in a lot of pain, and the more I tried to pull away from him, the tighter his grip got. “You won’t win this battle, Jaylin. How dare you bring our kids—”

  “I’ve already won, so go home, tell your husband the truth about how good I was to you that night, and use all that good pussy you got to win him over again. He’s weak, so that shouldn’t be difficult for you to do.” Jaylin opened the door, inching me to it. “One, two, three, go!”

  He shoved me forward, and as I quickly pivoted, I was face-to-face with the door. Maybe, just maybe, a battle with Mario would have been much easier.

  NOKEA

  For the past few days, Travis hadn’t been speaking to me. He felt as if I hadn’t done enough to stop Jaylin from interfering. Said I laid there on the couch without saying a word, and when I refused to call the cops and press charges against Jaylin, Travis left again. Ever since I’d told him I was pregnant, things had been going downhill. We hadn’t argued this much since we’d been together; it was as if Travis was changing right before my eyes. It very well could have been the issue with me not wanting to marry him, too. I wasn’t sure, but we needed to get back on track fast.

  As for pressing charges against Jaylin, I honestly didn’t think that was necessary. But I understood Travis’ concerns about Jaylin’s actions. I was totally shocked, and all this time, I thought he was okay with the way things were. Not overjoyed, but I figured he understood my decision, pertaining to us being together again. I’d heard every word he’d said that day, but the truth was, it was too late for us. Too much damage, on both of our parts, led me to believe that we had no business trying to rekindle our relationship and go there again. More than anything, Jaylin knew I was in love with Travis. This was no game. And unlike my past relationships, I wasn’t trying to use Travis to get over my hurt. I’d made my decision, and I regretted that Travis felt caught in the middle.

  Thinking about him, I called his cell phone, again, but he kept saying he was busy. He threw himself into work, so did I. I worked long hours at the shop, and I had only been by Jaylin’s house three times this week to hang out with the kids. Both times, he wasn’t there. Nanny B said he was in Detroit. Thank God for that. The kids and I were going to a water park this weekend, but I wasn’t so sure if Travis was still going with us. Even if he wasn’t, our plans remained intact.

  One of my customers needed help with a dress, and when I looked up, I saw Scorpio come in. There was no smile on her face. I could tell something was on her mind. I called my assistant/designer, Jazz, to help the customer. Scorpio came up to me, looking stressed.

  “Do you have a minute,” she said. “I really need to discuss a few things with you about Jaylin.”

  “Sure,” I said. “Let’s go to my office.”

  She followed me to my office. Once we were seated, she removed her sunglasses and started to tell me about an unfortunate situation between her and Jaylin.

  “He’s trying to stop the kids from coming to my house,” she said. “We got into an argument, and he doesn’t want the kids with me on the weekends anymore. He also said I’m not welcome at his house, so I don’t know how he thinks that’s going to work. I just wanted to let you know that he’s not getting his way this time. He doesn’t control when I get to see my children, so there very well could be a legal battle coming soon. I wanted to make you aware of it.”

  I sighed. There was always something. I could only imagine what started this argument. “What was the argument about?”

  Scorpio started to give me details about what had been transpiring. She had the audacity to lie to me about why she was at Jaylin’s house the morning of her wedding. I had already known the truth, but I let her continue on with her lie, until she was finished.

  “This sounds horrible,” I said. “But in my opinion, if you don’t mind me saying, Mario has every right to be upset. I know why you were at Jaylin’s house and it had nothing to do with Mackenzie. You spent the night with him and the two of you had sex. Jaylin already admitted it. When I came
over that morning, I saw you and him in bed together. The two of you were naked, so I’m pretty sure that Mackenzie hadn’t been discussed.”

  Scorpio swallowed hard, before trying to clean up her lies. “I did have sex with him, but the whole world doesn’t have to know about it. I just wanted to hook up with him before I walked down the aisle and married Mario. Since then, I haven’t even thought about going there again with Jaylin. I’m trying to work through this little problem in my marriage, and I don’t want the kids involved.”

  I refused to bite my tongue on this matter. Scorpio needed to hear what I had to say, whether she liked it or not.

  “You can get over the hump by telling Mario the truth. If you say you haven’t thought about Jaylin, fine. I don’t believe you, but you don’t have to convince me. Convince your husband, and after all he’s done for you, and for our kids, he deserves better. I really don’t know him that well, but from what I can see, the two of you have a pretty decent life together. I don’t know why you would allow Jaylin to mess that up. Was sex with him worth it?”

  Scorpio was silent. She nibbled at her nails, looking away as if she was in deep thought. “No, it wasn’t, but it was something I needed to do. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to blame it all on Jaylin, because I participated too. But he said some things to Mario that he shouldn’t have said. That’s why we got into an argument. That’s what led to all of this.”

  “Well, I’ll try to talk to him about the situation with the kids. He really has no say-so about the weekends, because we’ve already worked that out. If he wants to stop you from coming to his house during the week, ask Nanny B to meet you somewhere. That’s what I would do, because there is no way he would stop me from being with the kids either. The only reason things are the way they are now is because the kids love it at his house. Their happiness is more important to me than mine.”

  Scorpio agreed. She hung around to do some shopping, and after she spent almost two grand in my shop, she left. I thanked her for the purchase and invited her to go to the water park with us. She told me to count her in.

  After Scorpio left, I returned to my office so I could reach out to Jaylin. The first two times I called, he didn’t answer. When I called him a third time, he did.

  “I’m in a meeting,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “I wanted to speak to you about this little problem between you, Scorpio and the kids.”

  “You and I don’t need to discuss that. Are you still pregnant?”

  I didn’t appreciate his question. “Of course I’m still pregnant. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because it’s not my baby.”

  “Soooo, what does that mean?”

  “Nothing, I guess. Have you thought about what I said?”

  “Yes and no. I already told you how I felt, Jaylin. I think its best that we remain friends and leave it at that.”

  There was silence, before he spoke up. “Alright. Is there anything else?”

  “Yes. Please don’t put the kids in the middle of your so-called battle with Scorpio. We always tend to work things out, and I think it’s so unfair to the kids, especially when you make threats about them not being able to spend time with their own mother.”

  “Are you done?”

  “Not really, but I have a feeling that you’re not listening to me.”

  “That’s because I’m not. When you want to talk about us, let me know.”

  The phone call ended there. Since I didn’t have time to deal with Scorpio’s and Jaylin’s problems, I left the shop to go to the hospital and see Travis.

  The hospital floor Travis worked on was extremely busy. Doctors and nurses were moving at a speedy pace through the hallways, phones were blaring, visitors were everywhere, and an old man in a wheelchair was sitting in the middle of the floor, asking for help. A nurse quickly attended to him. I wasn’t sure if Travis would have time for me, but the minute I saw him coming down the hallway with two other doctors and a nurse by his side, all I could do was smile. He smiled too. He excused himself from the others and walked up to me.

  “Why haven’t you been responding to my calls?” I asked.

  “I’ve been busy, but I’m responding now.”

  He wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight. A delicate kiss was planted on my forehead, then he clenched my hand together with his. We made our way to the elevator.

  “Let’s go to the cafeteria,” he said. “I need to grab a quick bite to eat.”

  We went to the cafeteria, and nearly everyone in the area said hello or stopped to chat with Travis. His personality was the best. Every time I saw him in action, I loved him even more.

  “I’m settling for chips and a sandwich,” he said. “Would you like anything?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll get something later.”

  “What about the baby? The baby needs to eat too, you know.”

  “The baby does eat. Every day, at four in the morning when I’m craving something sweet. I can’t believe I’m having food cravings already.”

  “That happens. By the way, when is your next appointment? I want to go with you.”

  “Not for another two weeks. I’ll let you know ahead of time, so you can schedule a few hours off work.”

  Travis nodded. I followed him to a two-seated booth in the far corner. It felt so good to share a pleasant conversation with him.

  “So, is everything okay between us?” I asked. “I hope so. I don’t like how upset you were the other day.”

  “Yeah, I was pretty darn upset. More so with Jaylin. It’s like he thinks he can come and go as he pleases. I mean, what kind of man lays on top of my woman, kisses her and talks crap to her in front of me? He’s pretty bold, and he truly fits the definitions of a control freak, an egotistical manic and a narcissist. His pompous behavior is unsettling, and it took everything I had not to crack that bottle upside his head. That’s why I threw it at the wall instead. I apologize for that.”

  Travis barely used curse words, so I knew he had to be upset. “You don’t have to apologize. What Jaylin did was wrong on so many different levels. I regret that happened. It will never happen again.”

  “You can’t promise me that, because your ex is out of control. He may catch a bullet one day from doing crap like that. I’m just saying.”

  I didn’t like that kind of talk, so I reached over to touch Travis’ hand. “I know it will never come to that. To make sure it doesn’t, I will continue to let Jaylin know where things stand between us.”

  “Have you spoken to him since then?”

  “It was brief. But long enough for me to tell him that I’m with you and only you. I’m not going back to that relationship, Travis. So whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

  He smacked on his chips and smiled. “I’ll be stuck with you any day, any time and any where. And since I’m stuck with you, I assume you’re referring to the rest of our lives together. Any update on us getting married?”

  “No updates, but I’m getting there. I’m almost there.”

  “Get there, especially before the baby comes. We need to be a family. All of us, including Jaylene and LJ.”

  I don’t know why the fact that he didn’t include Justin and Mackenzie bothered me a little. They were my kids too; it was like a package deal that included them all. And even though I wasn’t getting closer to the marriage thing, I had to say that in order to stop the bleeding in our relationship. Hopefully, this madness was now behind us.

  JAYLIN

  For the first time, in a long time, I could honestly say I was fed up with Nokea’s and Scorpio’s shit. All the phone calls, all the text messages, all the pop-up visits, and the ongoing finger pointing had started to work me. I was dead smack in the middle of their relationships—it was time for me to remove myself in a major way. Since Scorpio and I weren’t necessarily on good terms, I picked up the phone in my office to call her first. I leaned back in the chair, waiting for her to answer the phone.

  “Wh
at?” She spoke in a nasty tone.

  My voice was mellow. “I need to see you tonight. Can you come over?”

  There was dead silence, before she answered. “Come over for what, Jaylin? I hope this doesn’t have anything to do with sex because I’m not interested.”

  “Yes you are. You’re always interested in sex with me, but don’t get excited because that’s not the purpose for my call.”

  “Go to hell,” she said then hung up.

  With a smirk on my face, I called right back. She answered, but didn’t say anything. I cleared my throat, trying not to sink to the level her heart often desired.

  “On a serious note, I thought we didn’t hold grudges anymore. What I want to discuss is important.”

  “Yeah, well, probably not important to me. Besides, the last time I was there, you said I was dead to you. Remember?”

  “I do, and you still may be dead. Wake up for a few hours and come see me. Seven o’clock, if you can make it.”

  “Whatever. I’ll try to make it, but the truth is, after how you treated me, we shouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

  “No, the truth is, whenever I call to say that I need you, you need to be here, no questions asked. Don’t be late. See you at seven.”

  I hung up on her then called Nokea. She answered, but I heard people talking in the background. I assumed she was at work.

  “Hey, Jaylin. Can I call you back in a few minutes? The shop is really busy right now.”

  “I’ll make it quick then. I need you to come over around seven tonight. It’s real important. Can you make it?”

  “If you say it’s important then I’ll be there. Besides, we do need to clear the air about a few things.”