The Available Wife (15 page)

CHAPTER 23

The next afternoon, I found myself sitting in a king-sized bed at the Westin Galleria staring at the black television screen. I’d been sitting that way for hours as my mind raced a million miles per minute. The last thing I remembered was Jalisa cursing me out for breaking her phone and denting her dashboard. It wouldn’t have shocked me if the airbag had deployed because that’s how hard I’d hit it. It felt like I had the strength of a three-hundred pound man.

When Jalisa drove me to the hotel, she didn’t even bother to wait until I was safe in my room. Instead, her ass sped away as soon as my feet were no longer inside the car. I don’t know why she took
my
business so fucking personal in the first place.

When I received my key, I went straight to my room for a much needed shower. Even though I also needed some fresh clothes to change into, that task would just have to wait until I got myself together. Besides, there was no way I would be going to anybody’s mall looking like this. If I needed anything in the meantime, the hotel gift shop would just have to do for now.

As soon as I closed the door to my room, I began to strip and headed straight for the bathroom. Turning on the water and almost immediately hopping inside, all I could think about was wringing Meagan’s neck. That bitch needed to pay for her involvement. After slaughtering her in my thoughts, Germaine and Hummer entered.

Why in the hell would they rape someone,
I wondered. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew it was true. I couldn’t help but speculate if the two of them had ever raped anyone else and if that’s what Hummer meant by
sharing
. The thought turned my stomach.
Who in the hell did I marry
? As thoughts about Germaine continued to disgust me, soon it wasn’t going to matter anyway because Kingston was going to get rid of him. Actually, Germaine deserved whatever was coming his way for what he’d done to my man’s sister. Now, I knew why he didn’t beat Hummer’s ass when he assaulted me that night. Maybe Germaine’s sick ass got off on that shit, too. He surely seemed to get off while forcing himself on me.

Giving myself a thorough cleaning, I turned off the shower and climbed out. I didn’t bother to dry off after seeing my face in the mirror. No wonder people were staring at me. Not only was my eye swollen, but my lip was busted and cheek appeared severely bruised. Kingston had really done a number on me.

I walked out of the bathroom then to the bed, dripping water on the floor. Then I laid across the plush, white comforter thinking about Kingston. What other woman in her right mind would still be in love with a man who’d raped her? What other woman would still want him?
Me
, I thought. I was crazy for still loving and wanting him, but couldn’t help myself. I was in love with him and was going get him no matter the costs.

I reached for the phone on the nightstand and dialed my mother’s number. At this point, I didn’t know where my boys were, but they should’ve been with her. While the phone rang, I started tripping about the fact that she hadn’t even bothered to call or come by the hospital to check on me. That was the type of relationship that she and I had; a fucked up one. She finally answered. I’m sure it took her a while since she didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?”

“Do you still have my boys?” I asked, wasting no time. There was a long pause like she was trying to figure out what to say. “Don’t get quiet on me now. You think I’m pissed off because you didn’t come by or call?” I asked with a slight laugh. “Don’t worry about it. I neither expected you to nor did I want you to,” I continued.

“Are you okay?” she asked in what seemed to me like a forced, sympathetic tone.

“Don’t act like you give a shit about me. Do you have my boys?”

“No,” she answered bluntly. That concern disappeared quickly. “Germaine picked them up last night.”

“I specifically told you not to answer your phone when he called.”

“He left me a message about what happened to you. I had no other choice but to call him. I’m not gonna be in the middle of this bullshit that you more than likely started. Those boys need their father and he needs them.”

“Are you still at the hotel?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Well, you may wanna leave because I’m about to call the front desk and tell them that you’re checking out. Your ass is no longer needed right now. Go back home.”

Click
.

There was no need for me to argue with my mother, especially when her ass was always on Germaine’s side. I took a deep breath as I contemplated calling him. I knew it was gonna be hard to control myself and keep what I knew at bay, but I had to talk to him to find out about my boys. I dialed his cell. No answer. When I dialed the house phone, he picked up on the first ring.

“Yeah?” He sounded pissed.

“Why did you take Johnathan and Nathan from my mom?”

“Nikki?” Germaine asked like he wanted to make sure it was me.

“Yeah. Where are the boys?”

“Who in the hell is Kingston?” he blasted and flipped the script.

I didn’t expect that question and I damn sure wasn’t prepared to answer. “Wh…Who?” I stammered, trying to buy some time. I needed to figure out how in the hell he knew about my man.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Nikki!” he yelled. “Jalisa told me about him!”

What? That bitch,
I thought
.
“I don’t know what Jalisa told you, but…”

“She told me everything! You’ve been fucking with that nigga since you were pregnant with Nathan! That’s why you stopped fucking me!”

I was floored and couldn’t believe that bitch had sold me out.

“And he’s the same nigga who raped you!” Germaine continued. “What the fuck is that all about?”

I couldn’t take it any longer. “If you must know, I stopped fucking you because you fucked with my pills! You caused me to get pregnant when your ass knew that I didn’t want any more damn kids! And as far as Kingston raping me goes, it’s your damn fault he did it! He raped me because you raped his fucking sister!”

Germaine paused for a few seconds. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Like you just told me…don’t play dumb. You and Hummer raped his fucking sister and she killed herself because of it.” Germaine was silent as I kept going. “While you’re thinking back to it, throw this in your thoughts as well. I want out of this fucked- up-ass marriage! You ain’t about shit! I hate you! There’s no telling how many girls you and Hummer have raped!”

“I didn’t rape anybody, Nikki!”

“There’s no need for you to lie. Meagan was there and….Oh my God! Now, it all makes sense why you were always nervous around her. You saw her! That’s why you didn’t want me to hire her!”

If a pin had dropped, it would’ve been heard.

“I didn’t rape her, Hummer did,” Germaine finally said. “Besides, I never really knew if Meagan was the girl from that night. She looked familiar, but I wasn’t a hundred percent sure. Because of that, I didn’t like being around her.”

“So, what did you do just watch like a fucking pervert?”

“This isn’t about me. This is about you!”

“Seems to me that it’s about the both of us!”

“Let me remind you that I know you had something to do with Hummer’s murder. If any of this shit gets out, I can go to the cops, Nikki.”

Was he really playing that card? I had one to play, too. “So can I, asshole! I’m sure that girl’s case is still open since neither you nor Hummer got locked up.”

“I didn’t rape her. I…I just held her down.”

“And that makes you a fucking saint?” I asked sarcastically. “You assisted in her rape. I can go to the cops!”

“You can go to the cops on me all you want. Did you forget that Tyrell and a few of my other frat brothers are cops? Any evidence would be destroyed just like it was then.”

Wow. I couldn’t believe that all this time, I’d been married to the devil. Germaine was right. As long as he had friends on the force, he’d probably never be prosecuted.

“I’m not living like this with you anymore, Germaine. I don’t want you. I want to be with Kingston. You’ll never get a chance to turn me in for Hummer’s murder because Kingston is going to kill you just like he did Hummer.” I knew it was dumb to let Germaine know that I was somewhat involved in Hummer’s murder, but I didn’t give a damn anymore. His ass needed to know that his days were numbered.

That comment didn’t sit well with him. “You trifling bitch! That nigga killed my friend and you knew about it?”

“Hummer had to pay for his sins against me as well as Kingston’s sister and you’re next,” I spoke boldly.

“You think you got this shit all figured out, don’t you?” he laughed. “Let me make you this promise. You won’t get the chance to be happy with that nigga because I’ll get Tyrell to handle him. And if you get in my fucking way, you’ll be handled as well!”

Click.

Did he just threaten me? My fingers went numb as the phone traveled down my chest to the bed. If there was truly such a thing as the perfect storm, I was sitting right in the middle of it.

CHAPTER 24

After picking up a few outfits from the mall the next day, I called Jalisa and asked her to take me to the label. Not only had I been neglecting my business, but more importantly, I wanted to see that bitch so I could give her an earful about snitching on me to Germaine. She tried to get out of picking me up, but when I ended up begging her, she eventually caved in. I made sure not to let on that I knew she’d sold me out. I wanted to drop that bombshell on her when we were face to face.

Fifteen minutes later, Jalisa called to tell me that she was downstairs, but I was already in the lobby waiting for her. I walked outside and stepped slowly toward her car. I could tell she was worried. After getting inside, I decided to torture her a little while longer.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

I forced back the evil stare that I was prepared to give her. “I’m good.” I shifted my body and stared out the window. If she wanted to talk, she was gonna have to speak to the back of my head because I had no words for her. Not right now anyway.

After trying to talk to me for the entire twenty-five minute trip and only receiving one word answers, Jalisa never gave up. Even when we arrived at the label, she walked with me inside. It was almost as if she was determined to see what I had on my mind. However, at that point, I had to put my issues with her to the side, because I was stunned to find the office totally vacant. Looking around the deserted hallways, there was no one in sight. Even the studios were empty, which was rare because someone was always working on music. Shaking my head, I figured Meagan’s bitch ass had something to do with everyone being MIA.

“Damn, did you give everyone the day off?” Jalisa asked. “I’ll be right back. I need to use the restroom.”

I didn’t bother to reply since I was still shocked and confused as to why no one was working. I walked to Meagan’s desk and frowned when I saw that it was completely bare; almost as if it was never occupied. No phone, no files, no pens…nothing. The bitch had cleared everything out even the laptop that didn’t belong to her.

I was just about to open one of the drawers to see if it was empty as well, when a noise from my office startled me. I wondered who in the hell could’ve be in there. Even though I hadn’t been to the label in days, my office was always off limits…period.

I tiptoed to the door so whoever was inside wouldn’t hear me. After opening it slightly, I gasped when I saw Meagan vigorously tapping on my Mac keyboard and Kingston opening and closing desk drawers.

“What the hell are y’all doing here?” I glared mostly at Meagan because I desperately wanted to beat that bitches ass.

They both stopped abruptly.

“What the fuck are y’all doing here?” I asked again after scouring the room.

Meagan’s face had turned fire engine red and her eyes went back and forth from me to Kingston as if she were waiting for one of us to make the first move. Mine however locked on my computer that she was standing in front of. Not only did I have confidential employee information stored on there, but I also had my company bank records as well as all my credit card information just in case I lost one of my cards. Is that what they wanted? Even though I trusted Meagan at one point, nobody had the password to my Mac. I’m sure she thought it was KINGSTON like on my home computer, and other important stuff, but at the label I always used BISHOP…my beloved father’s nick name.

With every step I made toward her, Meagan made two steps back. “Why the fuck are you at my computer?” I addressed her. When I finally reached my desk and looked at the screen, there was an error message stating that the password was incorrect.

I looked up at Meagan who’d backed up against the wall by now. “So what bitch, all that money I gave you wasn’t good enough? You looking for more?”

Meagan stared back and forth from me to Kingston. That bitch had a mouth on her at the hospital and even over the phone, but now all that shit had changed. She seemed afraid. She needed to be.

“Answer me, bitch!” I demanded.

“You deal with this shit, Kingston,” Meagan addressed him with a hint of fear in her voice. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Shut the fuck up!” he scowled at her. “Go wait in the fucking car.”

Meagan immediately gave him a look to show that she didn’t appreciate the way he was talking to her, but obeyed anyway. She kept a far distance from me as she glided toward the door. I kept a death stare on her until she was gone. I slowly turned back to Kingston as he stood there in his dark wash Rock & Republic jeans. The look on his face made me feel as though I’d invaded his office instead of the other way around.

“What are you doing here, Kingston?” I said in a soft voice.

He stood before me with a stern look on his face. “Since you’ve been out of the office for a while I thought I’d try and get Meagan to see what you had on your computer. You know something we could cash in on. Maybe write a company check,” he blurted out. “Do you know that dumb bitch has blown all the money she got from you? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted her to keep it.”

I gave him a look of disapproval and shock. I appreciated his honesty, but never thought he was a thief on top of a rapist.

“So, did you all tell my staff not to come to work?” I questioned.

“Meagan did. How else were we gonna be in your office without anyone knowing? We’ve been trying to crack your computer code for two days now.”

When I walked toward him, Kingston put his hands up like he wanted me to stop, but I kept going. Instead, I got right up in his face. “You don’t have to steal from me Kingston. I would’ve given you money if you’d just asked.”

He smiled. “You can’t be this fucking crazy. You really don’t get this shit do you?”

“I do get it, baby,” I whined. “You love me just like I love you.”

At that point, Kingston pushed me away. “You’re sick, Niquole.”

“You told me that you didn’t expect to be involved with me for this long. Well, that was because you fell in love with me. I don’t understand why you keep denying it.”

“I’m not denying it. Don’t you get it? Bitch, how many times do we have to go through this shit? I never loved you. I was only with you to get back at your punk ass husband. Hell, your pussy wasn’t even that good, if you want me to be real honest right now. I’ve had better.”

It felt like someone had ripped my heart out and stomped on it. I couldn’t believe Kingston was saying such horrible things to me.

“How dare you talk to me like that? After what you just put me through, I at least deserve to be shown some respect. I could’ve had you locked up! Hell, you could’ve been locked up ever since the Hummer incident. Don’t you see how much I care about you?”

Kingston seemed furious. “Shut the fuck up! Your dumb ass is always talking nonsense. Maybe I should’ve got rid of your ass, too.”

“Niquole, what’s going on?”

Kingston and I turned toward the door to find Jalisa standing there with a perturbed look on her face.

“Jalisa, this is none of your business. I can handle this,” I tried to convince.

“Who is this?” she asked while sizing Kingston up.

I didn’t answer, but the look on her face was assurance that she knew. “I’m calling the cops,” she warned while pulling her cell phone from her purse.

“That’s not a good idea,” Kingston threatened as he slowly approached her with a menacing look on his face.

To my and Kingston’s surprise, Jalisa quickly pulled her chrome plated nine millimeter out of her purse and pointed it at him.

“Whoa!” Kingston gasped after throwing his hands up in defeat and backing away.

“Jalisa, what the fuck are you doing?” I panicked while glancing back and forth from my friend to my lover.

“Call the fucking police, Nikki!” she screamed at me. “I know who the fuck this is. You need to tell them that this son-of-a-bitch raped you!”

“Jalisa, calm down! Put that fucking gun away!” I yelled.

As soon as Jalisa took her eyes off of Kingston for one brief second, he made his move and charged her. I watched the two of them tussle back and forth for a few seconds until suddenly I heard a loud pop. My eyes were fixated on the smoke oozing from the barrel as Jalisa quickly threw the gun on the floor like she didn’t have anything to do with it. By that time, Kingston was bent over in pain.

I panicked. “Oh my God. What did you do?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jalisa asked like she was appalled by my actions. “He probably would’ve killed us if he’d gotten his hands on the gun!”

I didn’t have time to respond because my attention soon turned to Kingston when I heard him moan. “Kingston, baby don’t worry, I’m gonna get you help!”

As far as I could tell, he’d been shot in the shoulder. The right side of his orange, polo shirt was filled with blood. As I went to see if he was okay, suddenly Kingston pushed me out of the way, grabbed the gun and pointed it directly at Jalisa.

“You stupid bitch. Never put the gun down,” Kingston taunted.

“Kingston, noooooooo!” I shouted.

“Fuck that, this bitch shot me,” he replied.

“You know it was self-defense, Nikki.” Jalisa’s voice trembled. “Can’t you see what kind of man he is? Don’t let this asshole get away with what he did to you,” she scolded.

“You got a lot of mouth for a bitch who has a gun pointed at her,” Kingston threatened.

Jalisa stood her ground. “If you were gonna shoot me, you would’ve done it already.”

“Call the cops, Niquole,” Kingston addressed me with a sinister smile. “We’ll see who they believe.”

“But it was self-defense, Kingston,” I said. “You were…”

“I said call the damn cops!” he yelled.

I picked up the phone on my desk, dialed 911 and frantically explained what happened before requesting an ambulance be sent as quickly as possible.

“Who the fuck are you anyway? I don’t know many bitches who walk around with guns in their purse,” Kingston said to Jalisa as I hung up the phone.

I didn’t even allow her to answer before I interrupted. “The operator said to apply pressure to your wound to try and control the bleeding.”

“Niquole, you’re one stupid ass bitch.” Jalisa spoke through gritted teeth. “This man has caused so much havoc in your life and you’re sitting here giving him advice like a concerned parent. He raped you!”

“He wouldn’t have done it if Germaine hadn’t raped his sister.”

“What?” she asked surprised.

“Yes, Germaine raped his sister so Kingston decided to retaliate.”

Jalisa shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Germaine would never do something like that.”

“Well, you need to believe me because it’s true. Germaine is not a fucking saint,” I replied.

When Jalisa took a few steps forward, Kingston waved the gun. “Back the fuck up!” he yelled.

“How can you wanna be with somebody like him?” Jalisa screamed.

“Because I love him and I know he loves me. We just need to get back on track once all of this shit blows over,” I responded.

“Nikki, you need some help. Serious help. Can’t you see that he doesn’t want you? You can’t keep doing this. Your father isn’t coming back and you’re not gonna find the love that you got from him by trying to manipulate all these men.”

I scowled at her. “Shut up, Jalisa!”

“It’s true and you know it!”

Kingston looked back and forth at us like he was enjoying the show.

I wanted to grab the gun and shoot her ass my damn self for bringing up my father. It was my mother’s fault that he’d left in the first place. She ran him away and ‘til this day, I still didn’t know why. That’s why I resented her. I began looking for that father figure when she would bring her boyfriends around, but my motives soon steered in another direction. I hated her for making my father leave, so I needed her to pay. I started sleeping with her men, but the pattern was always the same. They’d love me then leave me and I wasn’t having that anymore. I had to make them realize that they did actually love me…starting with Kingston.

“How the fuck could you sell me out to Germaine? Why in the fuck did you tell him about Kingston?”

“Because this shit needed to stop,” Jalisa replied in a bold tone. “You gotta stop hurting people Nikki.”

At that moment I finally gave her an assuring expression. “Yeah, I know.”

I was happy when the sirens outside ended our conversation. When Kingston finally put the gun down, I made my way over to Jalisa and hugged her. I wanted my friend to know that everything would be okay.

Soon, my office was filled with two female officers and two EMTs rolling a gurney and carrying medical bags. They didn’t waste any time hurrying over to Kingston.

“Can someone tell me what happened here?” one of the female officers asked.

I faced Jalisa and smiled wickedly. It was time for her to pay for what she did to me. “She shot him,” I pointed at my friend. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

The officer glanced at Jalisa then turned to Kingston who was now lying on the gurney. “Is that true, sir?’ she asked him.

“Yeah, that bitch shot me,” he replied.

When the officer walked over to Jalisa, I smiled after hearing the next set of words. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

“Nikki, tell them! Tell them that it was self-defense!” Jalisa ranted. “He was going to attack me! Tell them, Nikki…tell them!”

I watched as the officer placed Jalisa’s hands behind her back and slapped the handcuffs around her wrists. My attention soon turned to Kingston. When I noticed the EMTs preparing to wheel him out, I rushed to his side. I passed Jalisa on my way and before walking out, I whispered to her. “That’s what you get for trying to sell me out, bitch.”

She tussled with the officer trying to get at me as I gave her one final sinister grin. When we made it to the ambulance, I waited for the EMTs to secure Kingston inside before I hopped in. Little did I know, Kingston had other ideas.

“No!” he yelled when I tried to climb inside. The chubby EMT looked at him. “I don’t want her here,” Kingston addressed.

My heart sank. The EMT looked at me then shook his head and apologized with his eyes.