IT WAS ALL A DREAM (1) (15 page)

“Yeah, I heard about all that. I’ve been through a lot with Mattie.
Enough to know that I can expect literally anything from her.
She’ll chew this T guy up and spit him out so fast his head will spin. She’ll try to come back to me again, but I’m done with the drama.”

“K, I’ve been around you long enough that I’ve gotten to know you pretty well. I consider myself to be a pretty good judge of character. So tell me why you’ve tolerated the kind of person she is when I know you could do so much better.”

“Maybe I’m a fool, but sometimes you just hope the person you love, changes.”

They had an awkward silence after that, like that was the response she wanted to hear or expected. Then he changed the conversation.

“So what did you have in mind for these flyers?”

She described what she wanted to do, and K left her to do her thing as he checked his cell phone messages. There were a couple of cuties trying to get some attention. Dark had left a hit me back, and Mattie left a message saying we need to talk. Once he returned to the office Liza
had asked him if he would make her another drink, only a little stronger. K asked her if she wanted something to eat if she was gonna be drinking. His specialty was chicken parmesan that his moms had taught him how to make. He told her he c
ould throw it together so she w
ould have something on her stomach to counter the alcohol.

She said if it wasn’t too much trouble she would love to try it. K made her another drink and told her he was going to run to the grocery store around the corner in the plaza. He needed to grab some fresh chicken fillets, lettuce, and tomatoes for a salad. Then he was out the door. As he was walking around the grocery store he decided to call and ask Liza if she wanted anything special and realized that he had left his cell phone lying next to the computer in the office when he’d gone to make Liza that drink.

K finished grabbing the items he’d come for, paid for them at the check-out, and left the grocery store. On his drive back they were playing a song by Mint Condition titled Pretty Brown Eyes. That was one of the songs that reminded him of Mattie when their relationship had been at its best. But now the words seemed to have a different meaning as he listened and thought about how they ended up like they were. There was a particular line in the song that hit home with him.

When they sang
,
quit
breakin
my
heeaaarrttt
-
breakin
my
heaaar
rr
rt
, he reminisced.

As K pulled into his parking space, he had to remind himself that Liza was a  business associate, as well as someone he had come to respect as a friend – be nice! He entered the condo and went to the kitchen to unpack the groceries he’d brought. When he called out to Liza to see if she was ok, he didn’t get a response.

K walked out the kitchen and down the hall saying,
“ I
hope you haven’t passed out on me after two drinks,” and froze when he entered his home office and saw tears streaming down her face, as she sat at the computer.

“Dam ma-ma what’s the matter?” he asked.

She just sat there staring at a piece of paper that had the letter M and a phone number on it. He asked her what was wrong again, but she only said, “Mattie called your cell phone, but I didn’t answer it.”

K picked up his phone and looked at it. He still had Mattie under wifey because he had never brought himself to change it. The screen said missed calls 1, wifey, with Mattie’s phone number.

The phone number on the piece of paper with the M on it matched Mattie’s cell phone. K was confused.

“What’s going on here?” He asked.

“I got
it
out of Deondre’s cell phone a week ago. It had been the most frequent number called going out on his call log, with another number I called to check out, which was the CRAZY KAT.
The strip club that your ex works at.”

“Aw shit.
Word?
I’m sorry Liza,” he said feeling bad for her.

“Oh don’t be silly, what are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.

Even though it wasn’t his fault, he felt bad for her. Watching her as she sat there, K could see the hurt in her eyes as she smiled blinking away tears.

“Why? Why would he do this to me again? The last time it was a bartender at Applebee’s, now this.”

K stayed quiet and let her vent her frustrations. Once he saw she’d relaxed a little he said, “If you want I can save what you’ve done so far on the computer and you can always come back and finish another time.”

Her demeanor quickly changed as he watched her wipe the tears away and regain her composure.

“Oh no mister, you promised me chicken parmesan, and we really need to get these flyers done. The first talent show is only a month away.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

She said she would be fine after another drink and asked if she could help him cook, because all she really knew
how to make were Spanish dishes
. He could see she was hurting and didn’t want to be around Deondre or alone. So, over a couple more drinks they listened to music while she helped him cook. K could see she was also feeling the alcohol because her eyes were getting glassy and she’d started to dance slow and sexy to the music that was playing.

“K will you dance with me?
I really, really need to be held right now,” emotions clearly exposed.

They went into the living room where the stereo system was, he took her hand led her to the middle of the room, and she came into his arms. She put her head on his chest and they moved slowly in time with the music. The smell of her perfume and the softness of her body caused a natural reaction in his and she pressed against him tighter. Dam she feels good in my arms, he thought. But he knew that she was vulnerable and didn’t want to take advantage of her. He also didn’t want to let her do something that she might come to regret. Even if Deondre and Mattie were fuckin
g around on the side, he had
maa
d
respect for Liza and really didn’t want to see her h
urt. So again K had to remind him
self… be nice!

                                            CHAPTER 16
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             
             

While they waited for the food to finish cooking, they danced some more, talked some more, and had another drink or two. By the time the food was done, she’d really needed it because although she wasn’t shit faced drunk, she was too far past tipsy to be driving. She set the table and he fixed the plates and salads. They sat down, said grace, and started eating.

“This is delicious. You really have to write down this recipe for me K.” He didn’t know if she was really hungry or if it was the alcohol, but gorgeous was fuckin some shit up! After they finished eating, he wrapped up the leftovers, and put the dishes in the dishwasher. He then slid in a video and sat on the couch watching a flick while their food digested.

He could tell the liquor and the food was taking a toll on Liza, along with realization that her boyfriend had been creeping with his ex, and probably had been for a while. K told her to make herself comfortable and without saying a word, she took off her slides and laid her head on a pillow that he had set on his lap. They watched The Body Guard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner as K massaged Liza’s scalp trying to help her relax. About a half hour into the movie she was sound asleep. He was feeling a little nice too, and had probably dozed off momentarily, because he hadn’t realized the 22 missed calls on his phone. It was on
vibrate
and most of them were from Skulls.

“Yo K,
Dark
had
an accident on the 1100! He was coming up Seventh Street and
a
drunk d
river ran the light on 7th and L
iberty blind siding him!” came the excited voice on the other end of the phone.

“What? “ K said jumping up and scared poor Liza to death.

“Is he alright? Where is he now?
“K asked getting up and putting on his shoes.

“He’s at the hospital on 17th, I’m on my way there now,” said Skulls

“I’m out the door right now!
” K said
ending
the
call.

“What happened, what’s wrong?” Liza asked wiping sleep from her eyes.

“Dante had an accident on one of the bikes. We have to go to the hospital.
Now!”

K grabbed his keys while she slipped her shoes on and they headed towards the door. When he opened the door to leave, Mattie was standing with her hand in the knocking position, about to knock. Liza’s eyes shot poisonous darts at Mattie as they all stood at the door looking crazy at each other. Mattie had a Quick Service taxi cab parked out front.

“Reebie called me and told me Dante had a bad accident, and Skulls had been calling your cell and didn’t get an answer. So I caught a cab from the club to see if you were here, while I was on my way to the hospital.”

Then she turned her nose up at Liza and said with an attitude, “But I can see why now. I guess you two were busy.”

“Nah, I just cooked her dinner and we had some drinks and –“

Liza cut K off.

”And we were just about to fuck before he found out about Darkside.”

To say he was shocked by what Liza said would be the understatement of the century. Mattie’s eye’s registered the anger of a mad woman.

“I know you’ve been creeping with Deondre and you can have his sorry ass!” Liza added with fury.

She grabbed K’s hand and pulled
him towards the
Vette
said, “come on K, we have to go to the hospital to check on your friend.”

He just closed the front door, and shrugged his shoulders at Mattie. K unlocked the doors on his car with the remote, hopped in the whip and bounced. Mattie just stood speechless while the tires of the brand new Corvette ate up the asphalt as they exited the parking lot.