The Joneses (15 page)

“Lovie, that's enough,” Lexi said.

“Son, didn't you have a big announcement to make?” I asked, looking in Lovie's direction.

“Yes, but…,” He looked at Tyler. “I think I'll wait and tell you later.”

Tyler said, “Don't mind me. If things go right, you never know, I might become part of the family.”

Charity spat out her drink.

“Son, if you're getting that serious with my daughter, you and I need to have a talk.” I stood up. “Follow me.”

“Dad, be nice,” Hope pled.

I led Tyler into the living room. I turned to make sure we were alone. “Have a seat.” I went to the bar and poured myself a drink. I didn't bother to ask him if he wanted one.

“You have a beautiful home.” Tyler looked around the room. “I didn't expect anything less.”

“Tyler, let me get straight to the point. What the hell are you doing with Hope?”

A smug look crossed his face. “Do you really want to know the answer to that?”

I bent down and got in his face. “I'm going to say this once, and please don't have me repeat myself. You need to leave my daughter alone. This fight you claim you have with me is with me. Leave her and my family out of it.”

Tyler laughed. “You don't dictate what I do. It's in your best interest to do what I tell you to do or…,” Tyler held his hand up and looked around. “You could risk losing all of this.”

“Your threats are no good here. I suggest you go back in there, tell Hope you had an emergency or something, and get the hell out of my house.”

Tyler stood up. “I have no problem going back in there with your family and exposing you for the liar and cheater that you are.”

“What happened between your mother and I was our business, and I will not be blackmailed by her ungrateful son.”

“You've never done anything for me. Because of you, I lost my mom.”

“You keep saying that, but your mom made her own choices. If you knew your mom as well as you said you did, then you would know didn't nobody control Ruth Ann, but her.”

Tyler seemed to be thinking about what I was saying. “It doesn't matter. You broke her heart and now I'm going to break yours. Do you want to lose your daughter or your wife? I'll let you decide.”

“I'm losing neither.” I refused to back down, or give in to a blackmailer.

“You're going to lose something alright. But I'll decide when and who.” Tyler stood up.

“I need to speak with my family in private. I'll escort you out and tell Hope you'll call her.” This was my house, and nobody controlled anything here but me. I went and opened up the front door and escorted him out.

“Don't think this is over,” Tyler said, as he walked down the driveway toward his car.

I slammed the door shut.

Hope came up behind me. “Dad, did you kick him out?”

“No, he had to leave. He'll call you later. Follow me back to the dining room so we can hear Lovie's big announcement.”

Hope paused. “But, he could have at least said good-bye.”

“He's very rude. I don't like him.”

“But I do and that's all that matters.” Hope walked ahead of me and took a seat.

I rubbed the top of my head and took a seat back at the head of the table. I looked at Lovie. “Tyler had an emergency.”

“I'm sure he did,” Charity responded.

I looked in Lovie's direction. “Son, I understand you had some news you wanted to share with the family.”

Lovie stood up. “Tonight's a night of celebration. Mom, the champagne.”

Lexi popped open the cork on the champagne and we all poured glasses. Lovie held his glass up. “Tonight, the Joneses' financial portfolio has been restored.” Lovie looked at me. “Tonight, Dad,
I'm happy to announce that not only is the original amount of money you invested back in your bank out, but you're twenty-five percent richer.”

Tears of joy fell down my cheeks. I got up and pulled him into a bear hug. “Son, I don't know what to say. I didn't expect to get this emotional. You have made me so happy. Y'all don't know how many sleepless nights I've had due to this fiasco.”

I returned to my seat.

“I can imagine because I've worked day and night to figure out what happened.” Lovie looked around the room. “I hope y'all don't mind, but I need to talk to Mom and Dad alone.”

Charity stood up. “No, I don't mind. I need to make a quick run somewhere anyway. Hope, if you want, I can drop you off at home.”

“Sure, since my ride abandoned me.”

Lovie's news meant one thing. My best friend betrayed me.

I
t took every ounce I had not to slap the crap out of Tyler when he walked in the dining room with Hope. I glanced at Hope sitting in the passenger seat. She was clueless that her so-called boyfriend was my lover and had been for months. I tuned her out as she whined on and on about him.

I headed to our place to drop her off, but made a quick U-turn. Hope's body shifted to the right hitting the passenger door. “Slow down. You're going to kill us both,” she yelled.

“Somebody might die today, but it's not going to be me.”

“What's your problem?” Hope looked at me. “You've had an attitude all night. Oh. I know what it is. You're jealous aren't you? Jealous that I'm happy.”

I gripped the steering wheel. “Hope, you have no clue, but you're about to find out.”

I jumped on the interstate and got off on the exit that would take me straight to Tyler's place.

“Wait, how do you know where Tyler lives?” Hope asked.

I parked the car and exited the door without saying anything else to Hope. She jumped out and rushed behind me.

“Charity, talk to me.”

“No. I'm jealous of your happiness, remember.”

By now, we'd reached Tyler's door. I knocked on the door. Tyler opened it. I didn't wait to be asked in. I walked right past him. Hope stood in the doorway.

Tyler said, “You might as well come in. This might take a while.”

I crossed my arms and tapped my feet. “Tell her.”

Hope looked at Tyler. “Yes, Tyler, tell me because this whole scenario is making me feel uneasy.”

Tyler walked up to Charity. “Listen, baby, we can talk about this. Alone.”

“Baby? Did you just call my sister,
baby?”
Hope ran up to Tyler and started hitting him. “I can't believe you've been cheating on me with my sister!”

Tyler yelled, “Get your sister!”

I didn't move. Tyler deserved every punch, and I dared him to raise up and try to hit her. I grabbed Hope's arm. “That's enough. This joker owes us some answers.”

Tyler rubbed his arm. “Feisty, aren't we?”

“Somebody tell me what the hell is going on here.” Hope looked at both of us.

I poked Tyler with my finger. “It looks like your man has been playing the both of us. This is the guy I've been having my sexual escapades with.”

It broke my heart to see the tears flowing down Hope's face. “Everybody told me not to trust you. This whole time you've been sleeping with Charity.”

“How long did you think you would be able to get away with it?” I asked.

“As long as I could.” He sounded like he had no remorse.

“Why, Tyler? Why?” I asked.

“If y'all stop badgering me, I'll tell you. You might want to sit down for this.”

“I'll stand,” I responded.

“Me, too,” Hope said.

“Suit yourselves.” Tyler sat down and looked up at us.

“I didn't mean for things to get out of hand, but there's something you both should know.”

“Just get to the point, because you've already wasted enough of our time.” I shifted from side to side.

“Your dad killed my mom.”

Hope blurted out, “Liar. My dad's not a murderer.”

“He might as well be. He broke her heart.”

“Don't tell me you think you're our brother. Aw man, this is some sick psycho type stuff here.” My hand flew up to my forehead.

“No, he's not my daddy.”

I exhaled. “Whew. You had me scared for a minute.”

“Your dad had an affair with my mom.”

“I don't believe you,” Hope said.

I added, “Our dad loves our mom. He would never do something like that.”

Tyler picked up a photo album on a nearby table and handed it to me. “See for yourself.”

Hope, with clenched teeth, remained standing in the same spot and stared at Tyler. I turned the pages, and for once it didn't appear Tyler was lying. The evidence stared me straight in the face. The man I'd trusted all of my life was in intimate pictures with Tyler's mom. “How do I know these weren't taken before my parents were married?”

“Back then, dates were imprinted on the photos. Take a look.”

I removed several of the photos, and the dates coincided with a time where it was clear my parents were married. Lovie would have been about one or two years old. It was possible that my mom could even have been pregnant with me.

I held the photos out toward Hope. “Seems like this is the only thing Tyler isn't lying about.”

Hope looked at the pictures and then threw them at Tyler. “I hate you.”

Tyler reached for Hope. Hope jerked away. “Don't you ever touch me again.”

“Hope, I'm sorry. But you're just a casualty of your dad's affair. If he hadn't hurt my mom, I never would have hurt you.”

“You are a piece of work.” I threw the photo album at him. It missed his hand and fell on the floor. I grabbed Hope by the arm. “Come on, Hope, let's go.”

“I'll be there in a minute. I need to talk to Tyler.”

I released her arm. “Fine, I'll be in the car.”

This revelation was a lot to digest. I wondered if my mom knew. My dad had a lot of explaining to do. No wonder he didn't like Tyler. He didn't want him to spill his little secret. Well, the secret was out.

I
stood there and stared at Tyler for a minute. My emotions were all over the place. I closed my fists and held them by my side. I wanted to hit him again. I'd just introduced him to my family as the man I loved. I'd never felt so humiliated.

I could feel the tears about to fall from my eyes, but I willed them to stop. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry again.

“I hate you. I hate the fact that I let you get in here.” I patted myself on the chest near my heart. “You're evil, and as sure as my name is Hope Jones, you will pay for hurting me.”

“Hope, now that things are out in the open, it doesn't have to mean the end of us.”

“Are you delusional? There's no way in the world I can be with you now.”

I turned to walk away. Tyler came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Don't leave like this. Come on. We can get through this.”

I wiggled my way out of his grip. “There will never be a
we
. In fact,
we
never existed. You've been playing me this entire time.” I waved my hand back and forth in front of him. “Silly me, making the mistake of falling in love with your ass.”

“Baby, I'm sorry you got caught up in all of this. You're really a nice girl. This here—it was just collateral damage,” Tyler said, without blinking an eye.

“Screw you, Tyler. I hate you. Please lose my number because I don't want to talk to you ever again.”

I stormed out of the door. Tyler stood in the doorway. “Hope!” he called out several times.

I ignored him. I hopped in the passenger side of Charity's car. Without exchanging words, she drove us home.

When we got home, I went straight to my bedroom. Charity was fast on my heels. She sat on the edge of my bed.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“I don't feel like talking,” I responded. I picked up one of my fluffy pillows and squeezed it.

“I know you're hurting right now. Truth be told, I am too. Although I'm not in love with Tyler, I did care about him a little. I mean, we've been kicking it these past few months, and I thought at the very least we were friends.”

“No, you two were fuck buddies. Get it right.”

“He fucked me royally, too.”

I looked at Charity. “I don't know if I should be pissed at him, you, or myself.”

“I tried to warn you, but I'm not the one to say ‘I told you so.' ”

“You just did.” I hit the pillow to let out some steam.

“At least we both know the truth and we can move on from here.”

“Easy for you to say. How does one heal a broken heart?” I fell down on the bed.

“One day at a time.” Charity rubbed my back to comfort me.

I couldn't give in to the pity party I wanted to have for myself. I needed to pull it together. I wiped the tears from my face and sat up in the bed. “I can't believe Dad had an affair. There's no telling what Mom is going to do when she finds out,” I said, in between sniffles.

“I'm hoping she doesn't find out,” Charity responded.

“Somebody has to tell her. If it was me, I would want to know.”

“I'm going to talk to Dad and get his side of the story. Tyler's lied to us so much I don't know what to believe.”

“But pictures don't lie. You saw them. We both did. They were more than just friends.” I couldn't get the image of my dad with this other woman out of my head.

“Well, let's talk to Dad first. Then again, maybe we should just let it go, and pretend like we don't know.”

“I don't know if I can do that,” I admitted.

Charity pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Lovie don't ever answer his phone when I need him.” She placed the phone on the bed.

My phone rang. I didn't have to look at the caller ID because I knew the ringtone. It was Tyler, and he could go to hell as far as I was concerned. When he should have been calling, he wasn't. Now that I don't want to talk to him, he's blowing my phone up.