The Cocktail Club (33 page)

Ivee sighed hard.

“Girl, that sounds like the lifesaver I need.”

DARBY

A
s I sat in the room alone, I couldn't help but think about the last twenty-four hours. I had no idea how I had allowed my life to spin so far out of control, but that was exactly what had happened. My first mistake was I had taken Kevin's nonchalant behavior as weakness for far too long. Little did I know, he was smarter than I thought.

Hours after the freak show that unfolded on my front lawn, all I was concerned about was the fact that Kevin hadn't said another word about Chandler. I should've become suspicious right away, but he left to go to the store, then came back home without another word about it. I was relieved.

“I put some air in your back tire,” he said when he came back. That was it. One second he was there, and then the next he went and locked himself in his office. With him out of the way, I went on to fix dinner like nothing had changed.

“Kevin Jr., Taylor, dinner's ready!” I yelled from the kitchen nearly three hours later.

When the boys came bursting in, I leaned against the counter. “Where's Dad?”

“Oh, I'll get him,” Kevin Jr. offered.

“No, let me!” his younger brother yelled.

The two took off and ran toward the hallway. A few minutes later, my husband followed them into the kitchen.

“Smells good,” he said.

Again, he did behave a little standoffish, but nothing that I thought was outside of the norm. My mind stayed on thoughts of how I could escape for a couple of hours.

“Thanks. Sorry it's so late,” I said.

“You not eating with us?” he asked as he took his seat.

“Not really hungry. Maybe I'll have a bite later,” I said.

“Worried about your mother, huh?” he asked.

Before I could answer his question, my cell phone rang. I picked it up and swiped my finger across the screen to answer.

“What's up, Roger?” I was still so very angry at my brother. I wondered why he couldn't simply leave well enough alone. Maybe it wasn't meant for me to have a close relationship with my mother. I had grown to accept that. I didn't understand why he refused to do the same.

“Ma suffered a mild heart attack,” he said.

“Yeah, well, Roger, you shouldn't do things that you know will send her over the edge,” I said.

I also repeated my brother's name on purpose so that Kevin would know who was on the phone. Once I made sure he and the boys were occupied with their dinner, I motioned toward the ceiling to let Kevin know I was going upstairs.

He nodded, and I continued in on my brother.

“It makes no sense to me that you keep doing this. Why would you bring her over here unannounced?” I asked as I walked up the stairs.

“Are you serious right now, Darby? I call to tell you that your mother had a heart attack because we caught you with your forbidden fruit of a boyfriend, and that's all you have to say? Wow! You really are a piece of work, aren't you?”

Roger had never talked to me like that before. He made me feel
bad, but not so bad that my mind didn't stray to thoughts of Chandler.

“Well, is she okay or not?” I finally asked. But just to say the words left a sour taste in my mouth. It wasn't that I didn't love my mother; I didn't love how we had become.

“Why don't you come and find out for your damn self!”

Suddenly, the call ended. I preferred to say it ended since the obvious would've hurt too much. My younger brother, the peacemaker who had always looked up to me, screamed and cursed at me, and then finally hung up in my face.

I threw on some clothes and grabbed my purse.

“Kevin, can you get the boys tucked in? I need to go see about my mother,” I said.

My husband caught me at the front door. I purposely averted my eyes as he stood close to me.

“Is everything okay? You need us to come with you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, I'm gonna be late. I don't want to keep the boys out that long. I'll call you after I get there.”

Kevin grabbed my arm, and stopped me. I looked down at his hand, then up into his eyes. An odd feeling passed between us momentarily, but I was in a hurry to get out the door.

“Hey, it's gonna be okay,” he said.

His words may have been meant to put me at ease, but they made me feel a little out of sorts.

I sighed and closed my eyes with relief.

“Seriously, regardless of what happens, it's gonna be okay,” he repeated.

I licked my dry lips, and my nostrils flared a bit. I turned and walked out into the night.

When I got into the car, I could hardly keep my hands steady.
It nearly killed me to have to wait to turn the corner before I could call Chandler. I was desperate to get next to him and make sure that everything was going to be okay with us.

Hours later, one o'clock in the morning felt a lot later when I had to creep quietly back into my house. This time, I hadn't made the same mistake of falling asleep with Chandler.

My heart was still racing as I locked the front door behind me and put my purse down on the table in the foyer. I may have smelled like fresh soap, but I felt like hot shit.

I nearly died of cardiac arrest when a small light suddenly flicked on. It was just enough for me to see what Kevin had meticulously lain out across the coffee table and the sofa.

I brought a trembling hand up to my quivering lips as my eyes widened in horror.

“Some bitches never learn,” Kevin said calmly.

All of those times he left the house, he had been setting me up all along. I bought his excuses, helping a friend, going to the store, since I was busy doing my own thing. My life literally flashed right before my eyes. Too bad for me. Pictures of me being fucked against a hotel's windows, getting it on in Chandler's car, selfies that included images of me playing with myself, and much more, lay sprawled out right there for me to see. The old baby monitor confused me, but I wasn't about to ask any questions.

“Your own son found nasty, naked pictures that you sent to some other man, and even that shit wasn't enough to stop your dumb ass.” Kevin shook his head. “Then you fucked him in our bed! But I was on to your low-down ass well before that,” he said.

I was mortified. Tears burned a trail down my cheeks.

“Shit, don't cry now. I can smell dick on your breath from way over here. Where'd you meet him tonight, at the Omni again?”

He gave a little chuckle, but his mouth stayed closed.

“You were good, but not good enough. See, Bruce had to help me figure out how to spy on my own damn wife after I saw text messages from you and that dude. At first, I was like, I take good care of her; she wouldn't dare cheat on me. Boy, guess you fooled me, huh?”

If I weren't scared he might slap me across the room, I would've hung my head in shame.

“The bike move was classic. You thought my boy wouldn't tell me about your naked shots? You're dumber than I thought. And you think I didn't know who ol' boy was yesterday? The only thing worse than a ho is a drunk, tired ho,” he said. “You two deserve each other!”

•  •  •

There was a soft knock on the door before it swung open. “You're gonna stay here while I work?” Carla asked.

Her question brought me back from the miserable trip down Memory Lane. When I was alone, I had replayed the night before in my head, like a bad horror flick stuck on repeat.

“Oh, no. I don't know. You know what, I'll call one of my girls to come get me,” I said.

“Hey, it's up to you. You can stay here, but I get pretty loud, and I didn't think you'd want to hear me getting it on with my clients. I have two today,” she said.

Carla's wouldn't have been my first choice of a temporary place to stay, but I was such an emotional wreck after Kevin confronted me, I needed to go to a place that was within walking distance. Kevin would come to his senses, and we'd talk and work things out. I knew, deep in my gut, that he meant it when he said he'd keep me from the boys.

I grabbed my cell phone and tried to make a call.

“What's up with my damned phone?” I turned it off, then back on again. “Damn, he turned my service off! Oh, wow!”

“It's just beginning. Trust me,” Carla said.

“I don't know a single phone number. What am I gonna do?” I sobbed.

Carla walked into the room. “Did you set the account up online by any chance?” she asked.

“You know what? I did.”

We hopped on her computer, and I retrieved my contact list from my cell phone. I printed it out and used Carla's phone to call Ivee.

“Hey, girl! I almost didn't answer,” she said. “What's up with your phone? We've been trying to call you.”

“It's a mess. I was wondering if you could come and pick me up. I'll tell you all about it. Oh, and I'm not at my house. Kevin put me out. I'm at Carla's. She lives four houses down, across the street.”

“He
what?
What the hell is happening to us all? What do you mean, your husband put you out?” Ivee screamed.

“Please, come get me. We can talk about it when I see you. I need to call Peta. How long 'til you get here?” I asked.

“Give me an hour.”

“Okay, thanks.”

When I finally got her off the phone, Peta was next on my list. I dialed her number and listened to a similar greeting.

“Hey, what's up with your phone? We've been trying to call you,” she said.

“I know, I know. Kevin had it turned off. Trust me this has not been fun. I had to get online to find your numbers. Isn't it crazy how I don't have a single number memorized?”

By now, I had my flask and was sipping.

“Don't feel bad about that. You're not alone. It's like these smart-phones have made us all dumber,” she joked. “But seriously, why did Kevin cut off the phones? Don't tell me. He's trying to save money, right?”

“Peta. Kevin's not trying to save money. We got into it after he found out about Chandler and me,” I admitted.

“What the…”

I took another swig from my flask.

“You mean the guy who, ummm,” she stammered.

“Yes, the one I told you guys about. I've been screwing the man who was responsible for killing my very own sister,” I said. Before she could fully absorb that, I continued, “Yeah, apparently Kevin put some spy devices in the house, in my car, and laid out all the evidence he had been stockpiling.”

“You have got to be kidding me!”

“Oh, and did you know that a baby monitor can be used to spy on you? Trust, I learned the hard way,” I said.

“I'm at Carla's, my neighbor's, house now. I've been staying here. Ivee is on her way to pick me up. The car was in his name, so he took that, turned off my phone, and changed the locks on the doors.”

“This is too damn much!”

“Yeah, tell me about it. He won't let me see the boys and he barely let me get any of my clothes. Told me that he had bought the drawers on my behind and the shirt on my back, and I needed to leave it all there!”

“Please! Stop! I can't,” Peta managed.

“Girl, it has been a complete nightmare.”

“But you're, I mean you sound like it's really no big deal. I am stunned. Like my mouth is over here on the ground,” Peta said.

“Yeah, this isn't the best thing, but the experience is teaching me a very valuable lesson. I put everything into that man. I have no credit cards in my own name, no car. I have absolutely nothing in my name. What kind of dumb-ass have I been over the last several years?”

“Oh my God, Darby, I'm so sorry,” she said.

“Oh, don't be. There's no need for you to be sorry. Maybe this was the wake-up call I needed. Good grief, it's 2014! I've been living in the damn fifties, kinda like my own personal
Twilight Zone!”

The doorbell rang.

“Oh, wait. That's Ivee. You know what? Let me call you back,” I said.

“Wait, where are y'all going? Tell Ivee to bring you over here. You know you can stay with us for as long as you need.”

“Thank you, honey, and I may really have to take you up on that offer.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.”

I hung up with Peta, walked out of the room, and found Carla talking to Ivee. A thought ran through my mind at the sight of them.
What the hell would I do without my girls?