Turned Out Saga (20 page)

DaNeen was sitting in Zyair's office, listening to him apologize for the night before.

“Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong.”

“I'm not apologizing for the sex. I'm apologizing for the circumstances in which the sex occurred. DaNeen, I've known for quite some time that you've had feelings for me and I have to be honest with you. I've looked forward to coming to work and feeling your energy. It boosted my ego. I shouldn't have let the other night go as far as it did, but it happened, and we have to move on.”

“What the hell do you mean, we have to move on? I thought we were going to take this to the next level. Your girl and your best friend deceived you.”

“Yes, they may have but that's not a reason to start a new relationship.”

DaNeen was real quiet, which made Zyair nervous. He didn't know if she was plotting something or accepting what he was saying to her.

She stood up. “You know what, Zyair, you're right. I wouldn't want you under these circumstances anyway. If there was going to be an us, I would need a whole you. I'm a big girl, and I took you any way I could have gotten you the other night and I too could have stopped it.”

Zyair was impressed with the way DaNeen was handling the whole thing. “Under different circumstances, I know we could have been together.”

DaNeen knew that the words coming out of his mouth were true because Zyair didn't speak nonsense and untruths. He was a stand-up kind of guy. She couldn't leave the room without telling him something she'd been keeping from him, especially if it meant there was a possibility of them getting together ever.

“Zyair, I need to tell you this. I saw Thomas and Champagne leaving the swingers club.”

“What?”

“Let me finish. My brother is a bouncer there, and he told me that Champagne and Thomas were put out because they caused a disturbance. It appeared as if they were busting in and out of rooms.”

Zyair just shook his head. “Thanks for telling me.”

Then DaNeen added, “I'm giving you a verbal two weeks notice.”

“I understand.”

As DaNeen was leaving Zyair's office, she spotted Champagne “ear hustling.”

Stopping in front of her, she told Champagne, “Don't fuck up. I'm watching you.”

Champagne didn't respond. She'd caught an earlier flight home to make a new start. Before she left Zyair's office a wedding date would be set, and no one was going to impede her plan.

Although she'd overheard Zyair and DaNeen's entire conversation, she chose not to address it or make an issue of it. She'd created this situation, and she'd realized that in order for them to go forward, she had to leave the past in the past.

Champagne startled Zyair when she entered his office. His phone was in his hand.

He immediately hung up. “I was just going to call you. What are you doing home so soon?”

“I needed to see you. There's something I have to tell you.”

“Is it about you and Thomas going to the swingers club?”

Champagne was all ready to plead her case when Zyair stopped her.

“I know what happened, and I know why. I know how crazy you are about your girl and that you would do anything to look after her, and that includes enlisting Thomas.”

Champagne looked down at the floor, feeling guilty. “I manipulated Thomas. I used the fact that he's in love, or thinks he's in love, with Alexis to confirm my suspicions about Khalil.”

“Why are you so against this Khalil fellow?”

“I don't know, Zyair. I wish I could explain it. Maybe, it's woman's intuition.”

“Well, your intuition was right.”

“Huh?”

“I did a background check.”

“Huh?”

“Not only is he a porno star, but he's been arrested numerous times for operating a prostitution ring.”

“What?”

“He's a pimp.”

“I knew it! I knew he was sheisty. That muthafucka. We need to call her right now. Oh my God, we can't.”

“Why not?”

“She's in Cancun with him. They won't be back until tomorrow.”

“Well, I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow.”

Champagne sat down and told him, “Have a seat. Zyair, I apologize for all I've been putting you through. I hope it's not too late for us.”

“It's never too late but you need to know we can't continue this way. Our relationship has been damaged, and I need to know that in our darkest hour we will fight, that you will fight for us.”

“I will, Zyair. I will fight for us, and to prove it to you.” Champagne reached inside her purse and pulled out a small box.

“What the hell is that?” Zyair asked, jumping up. “Sit down. You're ruining my moment.”

“Uh-uh, you will not do this.” Zyair went over to his desk, opened the top drawer, and pulled out a small box. “I'm the man. It's my duty to wax that booty.”

They both laughed.

“Seriously though,” Zyair said as he got down on one knee, “will you marry me?”

Champagne kissed him on the lips. “Yes, Zyair, I will.”

Champagne and Thomas were waiting at the airport for Alexis and Khalil to arrive. Zyair had already told them he wouldn't be far behind them, something he needed to check up on.

“I'm telling you,” Thomas said to Champagne, “you should let me handle this.”

Champagne nudged him. “Man, we ain't trying to go to jail.”

Thomas poked his chest out. “I'll go to jail for my woman.”

Champagne started laughing. “Calm your ass down. This is your opportunity to be there for her.”

Thirty minutes later, Alexis and Khalil were walking down the vestibule. Both parties spotted each other at the same time.

Alexis hugged Champagne. “What are you doing here?”

“Don't I get a hug?” Thomas asked.

Alexis smiled and gave him a “church hug.”

“It's like that?” Thomas put his hands on his chest, feigning heartache.

“You're lucky you got that,” Khalil said.

It took everything in Thomas' power not to lash out.

Champagne pulled Alexis to the side. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Well, can't it wait?”

“No, it can't.”

“Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of Khalil.”

Growing impatient, Thomas exploded, “Your man is a pimp! And we got proof.”

Alexis looked at Thomas and then Champagne. “You think I don't know that? That's in his past. He's saved now.”

Khalil had a smug look on his face. “We ain't got no secrets. I tell my baby everything.” He grabbed Alexis' hand.

“But did you tell her this?” Zyair asked as he approached with a white woman and stood behind Khalil.

Khalil turned around, and when he saw the woman, he dropped Alexis' hand.

The woman said, “I thought you were on a business trip?”

Alexis asked Khalil, “Who is this?”

“I'm his wife and the mother of his two children.”

“What is she talking about, Khalil?”

Khalil ignored the question.

“Are you going to answer me?”

Busted, Khalil said, “What is there to say?”

Right then Thomas punched him in the face and sent him staggering back.

Devastated, Alexis turned to walk away, and Thomas followed close behind.

Champagne looked at Zyair. “Should I go with them?”

Zyair said, “Thomas got it.”

As Alexis Olivia walked through West North National Airport to her car, so many thoughts were running through her head. How could she not have known Khalil was married? When she really thought about it, the signs that he wasn't all he pretended to be were there. She should have seen them because they were what every television, every book, and every woman that's probably been burned say to look out for.

There were times when he didn't answer the phone or call her back until hours later with half-ass excuses about what he was doing. There was the smell of a lady's perfume in his car, which she ignored. There was him coming to her house all the time and her never going to his. All these signs and more she ignored because when they were together he made her feel like a queen. He made her feel like she was all that mattered. He made her feel safe and he made her feel desired in a way that no other man had.

“Alexis . . . Alexis, wait!” Thomas yelled.

Alexis kept walking; she didn't want to wait. She was embarrassed because she felt like she had been played yet again and one would think that after receiving a master's degree in Psychology and being a therapist at West Park High, she would know better. She thought about her college days and how she was in love with Brother. She thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. He was saved, studying to be a minister and even had her turning her back against her friends because they weren't Christian enough. Only to find out he was cheating on her with a woman from the church; a woman who counseled her and had Bible study with her. She thought about her high school sweetheart John and how he cheated, and now here she was in her early thirties and being made a fool of by another man. She'd already made up her mind that this would be the last time it happened and if there was anything she meant, anything she was going to keep her word on–this was it.

No one would ever use her again. No one would ever make her feel like she didn't matter.

Alexis would not give her soul, spirit, her love or body to another living being without getting something in return.

At this point and with the way she was feeling, the something she wanted would have to be material and substantial. If she became dubbed as a gold digger and as a user, she could care less. Alexis was going to be a woman on a mission.

If people considered her new plan as one that would make her a whore, she didn't care about that either. There was a time when that's all she cared about, her reputation and what people thought of her. Well, no more.

The only thing she cared about from this point on was getting what was hers and what she felt was owed by all the men out there that had wronged a sister, namely her. Alexis was not taking the bullshit anymore. She would accept nothing less than the best. She was going to start looking out for number one; herself.

It was time for her to become someone else. No more Miss Goody Two Shoes, as she was known from middle school, high school, and college. She tried her best to live according to the Bible. She tried her best not to stray, not to fornicate, although sometimes she fell short. She didn't swear, she rarely drank and she tried her best to submit when it came to her relationships. Well, change had come and it was time for her man, or should she say men, because she planned on having more than one, to do whatever it took to please her.

“Alexis, wait up,” Thomas yelled.

Alexis turned to see him jogging toward her. All she wanted to do was get to her car. She turned back around and sped up. She wondered if everyone in the airport was looking her way. Did they know that she'd been bombarded by people she cared about? Her best friend, Champagne, Champagne's husband, Zyair, and his best friend who she knew had been lusting after her for years, Thomas Hughes. Did they know that they had destroyed her reality?

All she wanted to do was return from Cancun with her man and get on with their life together. They were supposed to be gone for four days and ended up extending their vacation to six days and seven nights because they were so into each other. When they arrived at the airport, the last thing she expected to see was Thomas and Champagne standing there.

Initially, Alexis was irritated that they were in the airport waiting on her like she was a child and aggravated when Champagne told her they needed to talk. She thought about the pleasure on Champagne's face when Thomas revealed that Khalil was a pimp. Why would her best friend take pleasure in hurting her?

Then Zyair appears out of nowhere with Khalil's wife. Initially she didn't believe him, but when Alexis looked at him and saw the look on Khalil's face, she knew it was true.

To keep from breaking down, Alexis walked away, leaving Khalil, who Thomas punched in the face; Khalil's so-called wife cursing him out; Champagne, who looked smug and Zyair who looked like he was wondering what he got himself into.

“Please Alexis, wait up,” she heard Thomas say again.

Alexis decided that she would stop and see what he could possibly have to say to her. “What, Thomas? What do you want?” She knew she sounded like a bitch but you would sound like one too, if you'd just found out the man you just got engaged to already had a wife. Again, Alexis wondered how was it that she allowed Khalil to play her.

Thomas stopped a few inches from Alexis. He was standing so close to her that she could almost reach out and touch him. She could see that he wanted to by the way he was rubbing his hands together. But the look on her face must have said, keep your distance because he just stood there and said, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Alexis started laughing and it wasn't a laugh where one found something funny. It was a laugh of a person who had been through it, a laugh of someone that was mentally drained and a laugh of someone who was almost to the point of not giving a damn anymore.

“Do I look okay to you, Thomas?”

Before he could respond, Alexis placed her palm on the side of his face, looked him straight in the eyes and caressed his cheek. “I know you're concerned about me, but I just need to be alone right now. Can you respect that?” She dropped her hand and started to walk away, but something stopped her. Perhaps it was the new person she'd decided to be. The more aggressive person.
Maybe I'll start the new me right now.

“If you need–”

Before Thomas could finish what he wanted to say, Alexis turned back around and stepped to him. She placed her lips on his. She kept her eyes open so she could see what his response would be, which was to part his lips and let her do whatever she wanted to.

Alexis let her tongue slide into his mouth. She ran her tongue around his slowly, then pulled his tongue into her mouth and slowly sucked on it as though it were a flavor. She put her body a little closer to his and could feel Thomas' dick getting hard. She wanted with every fiber in her being for him to pull her close. She wondered what she was doing to him, what she was making him feel on the inside and not just on the outside physically. She moved her body even closer and pressed into him, to the point where they could have been one. She gave him a look that said,
don't hold back.
She could tell that he got the message because he grabbed her ass and pressed his dick into her and moved his hips slightly.

Alexis couldn't believe she was letting Thomas rub up against her in plain view of people. This was so out of character but she couldn't help herself. She was hoping Khalil was watching because she wanted him to be as hurt as she was. Maybe he'd even wonder if something was going on with Thomas the whole time they were together. That thought alone made Alexis wrap her arms around Thomas' neck. She continued to dip her tongue in and out his mouth. She kissed him with such passion she wasn't giving Thomas a chance to think about or comprehend what it meant, if anything.

This is not me
Alexis said to herself. She knew she should pull away because here she was playing with this man's attraction to her.

“Wow,” Thomas said when she stepped back.

Alexis looked down at his dick and could still see the imprint. He followed her eyes and told her, “I apologize. I just got carried away by the kiss.”

Alexis shut him up and placed two fingers on his lips. “Don't apologize. I'm the one that initiated it.”

Thomas started to say something else but Alexis shushed him. “I have to go. I need to be alone.”

Thomas grabbed her hands and asked her not to leave.

Alexis finally looked around and noticed that people were looking their way. She didn't see Khalil, but she did see Champagne and Zyair staring at them with a look of bewilderment.

“Am I supposed to stand here in the airport?” she asked him.

“How are you going to get home?”

“My car is in long-term parking.”

Still holding onto her hand Thomas said, “Alexis, I'm really sorry it came out like this. It's just that–”

Alexis pulled her hand away and told him, “Don't say another word. I need time and space.” And on that note, she turned and walked away. She knew he was watching her walk, so she not only added a sway to her hips, but she turned and told him, “Call me.”

Standing not too far behind, watching the whole episode, was Champagne who felt a little guilty about what transpired. She knew she could have and should have addressed it in another way, but she couldn't help it.

Zyair looked at her. “What the hell was that about?”

Champagne knew he was talking about the kiss. She was wondering the same thing, so all she had to offer by way of explanation was a shrug of her shoulders and a “your guess is as good as mine but believe me, I will find out.”

Zyair couldn't let it go at that. “I thought she couldn't stand Thomas.” He'd heard Alexis say it numerous times. She had called Thomas every possible adjective that could describe a male whore.

“Well, maybe she changed her mind.”

Zyair didn't say a word. He just watched Thomas watch Alexis and hoped some shit wasn't about to go down. His gut instinct told him it was and he wondered if there was anything he would be able to do about it. From the look on Thomas' face, he doubted it very seriously. He knew Khalil's type. He wasn't about to let this go without repercussions. They all would have to watch their backs.

* * *

That evening alone in her bedroom Alexis lay in her bed and stared at the walls. She looked at the paintings she'd collected that depicted black love. A painting of a man and woman embracing; a painting of the man carrying the woman in what looked like a garden; and her favorite, the one of man, woman, and child being embraced by a black Jesus. Normally when she glanced at them, she would feel warmth. This time she felt disgusted, with herself that is. Was she really that desperate to have love in her life that she hung paintings up in her bedroom? She knew she would be taking those down tomorrow. Her eyes then fell on the picture of Khalil that was on her dresser, in a frame no less. She got up out the bed, walked over to the dresser, snatched the picture off it, walked into the adjoining bathroom, took the picture out of the frame, ripped it up and threw it in the small waste basket under the sink. She placed the frame on the sink, looked in the mirror and wondered why she couldn't bring herself to tears.
Maybe once I cry I'll feel better
.

She so desperately wanted to cry, to have some sort of release. She was confused in her emotions. A part of her wanted to call Khalil and ask him how he could do this to her, how could he declare his love and be married.
I should have known better, we were only together for a couple of months.
But Alexis wanted to believe in him. She wanted to believe that someone could fall for her so quickly, someone who appeared to have it all together, someone that said they wanted a monogamous relationship.
What a joke; all he wanted was my pussy.

She walked back into her bedroom and opened her armoire. Inside were movies that she liked to watch over and over. Since the tears she wanted to fall never did, she pulled out one of her old-time favorite films,
She's Gotta Have It
. She put in the DVD, grabbed her remote, laid back on the bed, and pressed play.

After the movie was over, Alexis felt so empowered she declared out loud, “Fuck it, I'm going to be like Nola Darling. Men will be for my pleasure only and any type of relationship I have with them will be on my terms.”

Later that night Alexis lay in her bed with her eyes closed. For a moment her thoughts kept drifting to Khalil and all the promises he made to her. What he would do for her and what they would mean to each other. She thought about the way he made her body feel so alive. She thought about the first time they met at the Laundromat. She thought it must be fate that her dryer stopped working that day. She recalled how when he walked in, she couldn't help, but notice how strong he looked. His muscular physique was evident in the T-shirt and jeans he wore. He was definitely her physical type.

That day Alexis did something that was out of character for her. She approached him and asked him was he from the area. He told her he was new in town and that his name was Khalil Simmons. It wasn't until they went out to dinner that she learned he was in construction. Well, that's what he told her but by then she was smitten. Heck, he even claimed to be a Christian. How could she not have known the truth? Alexis opened her eyes and tried to get him out of her head.

Think of something else, think of someone else,
she told herself. Her thoughts started drifting to Thomas.
Imagine him making love to you
. . .
let your body take over your mind.