More Lies and Alibis (Using Lies as Alibis #2)

by Tiffany L. Warren

  “She’s a pretty little girl, and I know you picked out that outfit.”

  “I did. Let’s change the subject, though. Where’s your boo?”

  Sydney tightens her lips. “At the hospital. Doing a surgery. With Fatima.”

  “Are you serious? Now he knows that’s a violation. It’s New Year’s Eve. I hope he doesn’t plan on kissing her when the clock strikes midnight.”

  Now, Sydney’s nose flares in addition to her tight lips. “He better not. If he does, I’ll know.”

  “How will you know?”

  “I have a spy watching him.”

  I burst into laughter. I knew I would feel better once my sisters got here. Now, all I need is Camille to tell me that God’s going to fix everything that’s broken and that I’m the head and not the tail. Every now and then her scripture quoting serves a purpose. I sure could use it tonight.

  “Have you talked to Camille?” I ask.

  “Not today. I talked to her yesterday. She didn’t sound right. She said she was looking for her happy place.”

  Now this really makes me laugh. “When she finds it, tell her to let me borrow her map.”

  “I thought you and Rod were okay.”

  “We’re not. But let’s talk about it later. Now it’s time to open the push gifts!”

  I grab Sydney’s hand and pull her into the ballroom, and leave her next to Hailey. They can keep each other company while I pretend to like my husband while we open all these presents.

  The D.J. stops playing and I pick up a microphone. “Rod and I want to thank each and every one of y’all for celebrating our new addition. We’re about to open all of these wonderful gifts now!”

  I open the first gift and it’s a custom Mercedes Benz stroller from Rod’s business partner in Knight Time music. I like him, but his wife is a whole other story. They didn’t even show up at the party, though.

  Rod hands me another package and it’s a Hermes birkin diaper bag! This had to cost about forty thousand dollars. I hope Rod gets his act together, because I definitely don’t want to have to give up friends with deep pockets like these.

  The next package is huge, so I’m excited to open it. Once I get the wrapping paper off, I’m confused. It’s a gigantic, custom made doll house.

  “This is beautiful,” I say. “We’re having a boy, but sometimes boys play with dolls too, right?”

  “Not my son!” Rod says. He looks for the card to say who the gift is from, but there isn’t one.

  Maybe it’s from a business or a vendor that wants Rod’s endorsement. I shake my head and take the next gift. I open it and bite my lip. It is a collection of designer toddler dresses and pretty shoes to match.

  “Um…okay, so I don’t know…”

  I don’t get a chance to finish my uncomfortable sentence, because there is a commotion in the back of the room.

  “Let me by!” a woman’s voice says.

  I look at Rod and he closes his eyes and throws his head back. Wait a minute. I know that ratchet voice.

  Peach!

  This heffa has somehow gotten past the security that wouldn’t even let my sister in, but he was probably mesmerized by the amount of breasts and behind that is on display. I guess the outfit is technically white, but you see more of her brown flesh. She looks like she’s on her way to work. And she has the audacity to have a sidekick with her.

  I stare at Rod, because he needs to handle this. His sideline hoe walking up in my party is a violation that I won’t accept.

  “I’m so glad y’all bought some gifts for my baby!” Peach says. “Keke look!”

  She walks up and snatches the dresses right out of my hands.

  “These will fit Rodeisha perfectly! And look at this dollhouse. Keke, she’s gonna love this!”

  “She shole is,” Keke says.

  Rod takes the gift from Peach. “I guess you think this is funny,” he says. “Escort her out of here, please.”

  “You keep trying to erase me, Rod! You got that picture over there with my child and your wife, like I don’t exist. Unfortunately, I do.”

  “Man, get out of here,” Rod says. “This ain’t no episode of Love and Hip Hop.”

  The security guard tries to remove Peach, but she slips loose from his grasp. “Don’t do this Rod! We were supposed to be a family!”

  I am not going to stand here and watch this meltdown. Very calmly, I walk out of the room, with Sydney on my heels. We head straight for the serenity room.

  “He not gone stay with you!” Peach yells.

  Her voice echoes through the mansion, but I don’t respond. I’m nearly ready to give birth, and my child is not about to pay the price for Rod’s and Peach’s foolishness. Not tonight.

  Sydney closes the door to the serenity room while I slowly lower myself onto the couch.

  “Are you okay?” Sydney asks. “Do I need to do anything?”

  I shake my head. “No, and no.”

  “Well, don’t worry, ‘cause I called the police as soon as they walked in the room.”

  “What? Why did you do that?”

  “Because that girl Keke is a wanted woman. She killed one of my patients with butt injections. The police are looking for her now.”

  I put one hand on my forehead and close my eyes. The police are going to be at my party. My classy, all-white, push party. It’s eleven o’clock. I can’t take all of this drama into the New Year. I won’t!

  There’s a knock on the door.

  “Go away!” I bark.

  “It’s Hailey! Let me in!”

  I nod to Sydney and she opens the door.

  “Are we sure Peach is even a woman, cause it took a massive pair of balls to show up here tonight,” Hailey says.

  “I know right!” Sydney says. “Looking like she left residue on the stripper pole. Just nasty looking.”

  “Are those police sirens?” Hailey asks. “I thought Rod was going to let his security handle this.”

  My baby boy is kicking the heck out of me right now. He must feel the stress that I’m feeling. Rod is going to flip out when the police come to our door. If he wouldn’t call them when Rodeisha was in a possibly dangerous situation, I know he wouldn’t call them for this.

  “Do you want to go out there and see what’s happening?” Sydney asks.

  I shake my head. “No. I’m staying in here. You two go.”

  Sydney’s phone buzzes and she pulls it out. Her face immediately forms a frown.

  “What is it? Is it Camille?” I ask.

  “No. I have to go back to the hospital. Are you okay here?”

  I nod. “Yes, I’m okay for now, but please come back later if you can. Or see if you can get a hold of Camille and send her over.”

  “Okay.”

  Sydney gives me a hug and kisses my forehead. “It’s going to be all right. I don’t see what Rod saw in that piece of trash. Thank God he got amnesia.”

  I let out a huge sigh. “Yeah. Thank God for that.”

  Sydney leaves so quickly that I want to ask her what the text was. Knowing her, it’s some patient she left hanging on to life by a thread.

  “Do you want to go see Peach and her friend dragged out of the party by the police?” Hailey asks.

  “No. You go ahead. I’m staying in here. This is too stressful.”

  “Okay, but you’ll see the pictures in the blogs anyway, you might as well see it up close and in person.”

  I wave a hand at Hailey. She shrugs and leaves the room with the camera on her phone set to record.

  I lean back on the couch and close my eyes. Since Rod’s whore decided to ruin my party, he owes me an exceptional push gift. I was just going to ask for a car, but now I think I need a month long sabbatical on a Greek isle, or maybe the Amalfi Coast. Just me, the baby and a nanny. He can stay here and throw dollars at fix-a-flat booty for all I care. My deep breathing is helping, because my little man is calming down too. He was way too excited and my contractions were coming fast and furious.
>
  “Dionne!”

  I hear Hailey scream my name, but before I can pull myself up from the couch, she bursts back inside.

  “What, girl?” I ask.

  “They takin’ Rod too! Said they have a warrant for his arrest in connection with some murders that happened at Club Hurricane.”

  My heart drops. A murder? What has Rod done now? He told me that his nose wasn’t clean, but a murder?

  Do you have to have a gunshot wound to fake amnesia? Because I think it’s my turn to put on a show.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sydney

  I knew I shouldn’t have left my man at the hospital with Fatima. I knew it! I was almost expecting the text that I got from Jillian. Every time I stop at a red light, I glance at it again, and get furious all over again!

  You better get down here, Dr. Baker. Dr. Graham and Dr. Jeffries just went into the on-call room. The door is locked.

  How could I have trusted her? How could I have trusted him? Is it my fault for not giving him some? He clearly doesn’t deserve it. Who knows? He may have given me some kind of disease anyway with his nasty self.

  I floor the gas pedal as the light changes. Did he have to do it at the hospital, though? It wasn’t bad enough to humiliate me on our college campus. He has to embarrass me at work too!

  So many thoughts running through my head. Why did I bring Jillian into this? Now, I’m sure half the hospital knows that my boyfriend is a low down dirty cheater. I mean, everyone knew about how he and Ming-Nah didn’t last, but now he’s got a new notch on his belt. I hate him so much right now.

  When I get to the hospital, I don’t even bother to park straight, or put on my coat. It’s frigid outside, but my blood is on boil, so I’m gonna be all right.

  I storm through the emergency room, ignoring all of the typical New Year’s Eve folk. Jillian sees me, actually I think she was waiting for me, because she pounces as soon as I get to the hallway where the on-call room is.

  “Dr. Baker, before you go in there, I want you to think long and hard about it. Remember, you’re a professional.”

  “Girl, if you don’t get your hands off of me, I’m going to hurt you. For real.”

  Jillian’s eyes widen at my threat and she promptly unhands me. There is no way I’m not going in here and wrecking shop. The last time I walked in on Lucas and Fatima I didn’t do anything. This time, someone is going to feel my wrath.

  I take a deep breath, ball one of my fists and open the door to the on-call room with the other. I gasp at the sight.

  Fatima and Lucas are not having sex. As a matter of fact, Fatima is nowhere to be found. Instead, Lucas is straddled across a bench wearing all white and holding a bouquet of flowers. There lights are dimmed, but the room is brightened by about fifty candles that are lit all over the room.

  “You can close your mouth and come in,” Lucas says with a chuckle. “Close the door behind you.”

  “What is this?” I ask.

  “What were you expecting? You came in here ready for war.”

  “Well…I thought…”

  “You thought I was betraying you with Fatima didn’t you?”

  I hold up my phone. “I got a text…”

  “You did. I told Jillian to send it, after she informed me about her mission.”

  That snitch! Oh, I definitely owe her. I owe her good.

  “Don’t be mad at her,” Lucas says. “I already had her assigned to another mission. Who do you think helped me light all these candles?”

  “It wasn’t Fatima?”

  He laughs. “No, baby. Not her. I don’t want anything from her but a professional relationship. I don’t even want to be her friend. I love you.”

  I swallow as he rises from the bench and brings me the flowers. “I love you too,” I say.

  I feel so relieved that this isn’t what I thought it was, but I also feel completely horrible that I didn’t have faith in my man.

  I take the flowers from him and inhale. My favorites. He always remembers my favorite things.

  Then, Lucas shocks me by getting down on one knee. “What are you doing?” I ask.

  He smiles, reaches in his pocket and pulls out a jewelry box. “What do you think?”

  I drop the flowers and cover my face with my hands. Lucas is proposing to me.

  “I didn’t want to start another year without knowing that you’d be mine for every New Year, for the rest of our lives.”

  I burst into tears as he puts the ring on my finger. “Will you marry me?” Lucas asks.

  I can’t speak for the crying, but I nod and nod!

  “That’s a yes?” Lucas asks.

  I nod some more. He stands to his feet and squeezes me in his arms. I can’t believe I doubted this man. Dionne is so wrong. Once a cheater just means that he made a mistake once. That’s all. I’m not going to make the mistake of not loving him forever.

  Starting. Right. Now.

  Chapter Twenty

  Camille

  “Do you feel safe at home?”

  I blink at the doctor’s question. My face is swollen, painful and bloody. One of my eyes is puffed so badly that I can’t see. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. I think the answer to the question is obvious.

  “No. I don’t.”

  “Do you have anywhere to go?”

  I think about my sisters, and how I don’t want them to see me like this. “No,” I whisper.

  “I will send a social worker in here to give you some information on battered women’s shelters, but if I were you, I would try to make a connection with a family member or a friend. It can sometimes take a bit of time to get into one of the better shelters.”

  “Um…okay.”

  “I’m going to release you, because we’ve treated you as best we can, but a police officer will be here shortly to take a statement from you.”

  “A police officer? I don’t want the police involved.”

  The doctor sighs. “Unfortunately, we have to contact law enforcement in the case of apparent domestic battery. Have you looked in the mirror? You need to press charges, and you don’t need to go home.”

  “Wait. I do have someone I can call.”

  I reach for my purse on the nightstand. I hope Dr. King doesn’t mind getting a call on New Year’s Eve. I take out her card and flip it over in my hand. I know that she’s going to make me think long and hard about this, and that’s exactly what I need.

  ***

  Dr. King arrives at my bedside and she’s wearing dress clothes. Church clothes to be exact.

  “Did you leave Watch Night service, Dr. King?” I ask.

  “Yes, and I’m glad I did. What has happened to you? Did Bryan do this?”

  “Yes. We got into an argument. He was showing my home to a realtor, and I just lost it.”

  “He lost it too, from the looks of things.”

  I swallow and close my eyes. I know it must be hard to hold a conversation with my face looking like this. Dr. King is doing a good job of not letting on how grotesque I look, but I know, so it doesn’t matter.

  “Have you told anyone besides me?” Dr. King asks.

  “No. Not even my sisters. I don’t want them to see me like this.”

  For a long moment, Dr. King is quiet. She sits down in the chair next to my bed. She bows her head and whispers what I know to be a prayer. I know, because I can feel the Holy Spirit in the atmosphere.

  When she’s done she looks up at me. “Would you like to come and stay in my guest room for a while until you’re ready to see your family?”

  “Is that allowed? I mean, are you okay with that?”

  She chuckles. “Is it allowed where? I have my own practice, and I make my own rules. But right now, I feel God leading me to do this. You need a safe place to begin your healing process.”

  “I can’t stay with Bryan. I know the Lord hates a divorcing, but I’m divorcing him.”

  Dr. King nods. “God knows exactly what you’re feeling right now. I do bel
ieve that you won’t be able to address your other poor choices in that environment. We’ve barely scratched the surface with your gambling. But we will.”

  Dr. King’s voice calms my spirit. I believe every word she says. Something about her just feels authentic and wise. Maybe it’s the fact that she knows my flaws and my deepest secrets and she still sees a better me on the horizon.

  I’m glad she does, because I am full of doubt. Lord, Jesus. Help my unbelief.

  Epilogue

  Dionne

  Rod asked me to be here for the sentencing, and so at nine months pregnant, I am. Not because I feel that he’s without fault. I’m here because that’s what wives do. They hold it down regardless of the circumstances.

  And the circumstances of Rod’s arrest are crazy. He, as one of the owners of Club Hurricane was charged with Accessory to Murder over the death of a stripper that got butt shots on the club’s premises. Rod was able to plead out to Reckless Endangerment – still a felony – because he was never onsite when any of the butt shots took place.

  Some ratchet stripper named Keke is doing twenty-five years to live for administering the shots and another woman got fifteen years for procuring the materials and accepting cash from the women. Even though Peach was implicated as well, she got off because there was no evidence of the charges against her.

  I listen to the judge read Rod’s sentence. One year imprisonment with the chance of early release. Everyone is clapping like this is a great outcome. Even my sisters are hugging me and squeezing my hand as if I am supposed to be happy about the father of my son going away right before he’s born.

  Even if I decide to leave Rod, he should still be able to see all of our baby’s firsts. He saw all of Rodeisha’s. These strippers with their silicone body parts have intruded into my life.

  Fortunately, I’ve got a lot of money at my disposal. Rod’s accountant did a great job of separating his music income from whatever came from the club.

  As Rod’s wife, the money in our joint accounts is mine to do with as I please. And what pleases me is to go on a few shopping sprees and learn as much about Rod’s business as possible.

  Camille squeezes my hand, and whispers, “Don’t look, but Bryan is here.”