Beautiful Liar (8 page)

“How come you never told me that? I’m
supposed to be your best friend.”

No sooner than those words came out of
Wendy’s mouth, she inwardly answered her own question. Although
they were best friends, their friendship was premature compared to
the bond she had with Tywan. Her grandmother hand once told her
there was no bond stronger than the one a man and a woman form. Her
grandparents had been together for sixty-five years, hardly leaving
each other’s sight. Their bond had enabled them to finish each
other’s sentences, and predict each other’s next move. It was so
strong that it took her grandmother’s will to live. Because two
weeks after her husband passed, she fell terminally ill and passed,
also.

Wendy sat down beside her friend and put an
arm around her. “Whatever you decide to do with your book, I’m
going to support you. My main concern is for you to quit
stressing."

“I’m trying. I just miss him so much; I don’t
know what to do.”

“I know you’re not trying to hear this right
now, but if you continue at this rate you’ll be deranged in a
year.” A strange expression came across Misty’s face. “I just have
to find some inner peace.”

“Remember what I said; I’m here for you.”

“Thank you.”

The women embraced, and Wendy stood up
afterwards. “I have to go; I have a date.”

“Someone new?”

“Yes! He’s gorgeous, too.”

“You better tell me all the details when you
get back tonight.”

Wendy smiled mischievously. “If I make it
back.”

Misty sat in front of her laptop for an hour
after Wendy had left, staring at the screen. She concluded that she
was too depressed to do anything, so she closed the file and turned
the computer off.

Her eyes wandered around the room until they
fell upon the walk-in closet door that stored most of Tywan’s
belongings.

It was the only door in the house that she
hadn’t opened since he had been gone. Wendy had always encouraged
her to explore it, claiming it would help put her on the road to
recovery. But she never did.

She knew the only thing that could put her on
the road to recovery was to have Tywan back home. He was the only
thing that mattered to her because he had always felt the same way
about her. He showed her this in everything he did.

Misty approached the door against her better
judgment. She felt drawn to it in a way that she couldn’t explain;
especially if she wanted to put this incident in her book. Nothing
could be left out. The more she put in her book, the less she had
tugging at her heart.

She opened the door, and the familiar scent
of her soul mate engulfed her. This caused her heart to sink in the
pit of her stomach. Breathe, Misty, she told herself.

Misty grabbed a Nike shoe box off the shelf
and peered inside. It contained photos Tywan had accumulated over
the seven years of his first prison term. When she rummaged through
the second stack of photos, something fell out and hit her
foot.

She retrieved it and a million thoughts
started racing through her head, causing her to shiver. The pain
she began to experience was so excruciating, she knew she had to do
something to make it go away.

Misty dropped the shoe box and walked over to
the dresser. She dry swallowed all the sleeping pills she could
manage, before blackness surrounded her…

Ray looked at his
watch and shook his
head. “I got to start taking my lunch breaks alone, because you are
going to get me fired one day. We’re late coming back, again.”

“Man, loosen up,” Cairo scolded. “Pops don’t
be stressing that. He’s probably in his office asleep, so chill
out.”

“Still. I feel like I’m taking advantage of
his kindness.”

“I don’t know how, you work like a slave. I
even heard pops tell you once to loosen up. So you know that’s
bad.”

“I am loose,” he said, rotating his
shoulders.”

“I know what’ll do the trick. Let’s go get a
massage when we get off. I know this nice spot.”

“I’m good. I …” he trailed off when he saw a
familiar car pull up. “Oh, shit. Let me hurry up and get in this
building. There go crazy ass Lindsey.”

Ray disappeared inside the building, while
Cairo approached the car, smiling broadly. “Hey, pretty. What
brings you on this side of town?”

“I was on my lunch break and decided to stop
here for a bite to eat.”

“I don’t see any restaurants around here,” he
said, looking to his right then left.

“I’m looking at a walking buffet now. Get
in.”

Cairo was so caught up in the possibilities
of what he was about to receive, that he never noticed the other
familiar car pulling in the parking lot.

Once Shay saw that it was time for her lunch
hour break, she went to Lindsey’s cubicle so they could eat
together.

“Time to eat, girl. Where you want to
go?”

“Uhh, I’mma pass. I got something to do.”

“What you got to do?”

“Damn!” Lindsey exclaimed. “Nosy is what they
call you.”

“Excuse the fuck out of me, Ms. G-14
Classified. Bye!”

Shay walked to her car, wondering what had
gotten into her friend lately. She began noticing the change about
two months ago when Lindsey began to insist on driving her own car
to work. They usually would alternate riding with each other to
save gas. But now, Lindsey avoided her at all costs. She had even
stopped coming to her house.

Shay didn’t like wondering and guessing, it
was nerve racking. She decided to get to the bottom of Lindsey’s
strangeness. So when she pulled off to her top secret destination,
Shay surreptitiously followed her.

The further she drove, the more confident she
felt that she knew where Lindsey was heading. Lindsey confirmed her
suspicions when she turned into the parking lot of Cairo’s place of
business.

Shay pulled in thirty seconds later and
watched Cairo get in her friend’s car. It didn’t immediately dawn
on her what they were doing, but when she saw Lindsey’s head duck
out of view, it was a no-brainer.

She sat there for as long as she could,
before marching over to the car and snatching Lindsey out. “You
nasty ass bitch! I’mma kick your fucking ass!”

Cairo calmly put his clothes back in order
before he intervened.

“Y’all need to respect my pop’s place of
business!” Cairo said, holding Shay and Lindsey apart. “If y’all
want to fight, the take that dumb shit somewhere else.”

Shay glared at her ex-best friend with pure
hatred. “If I would’ve known you were going to fuck my man, I
would've never let your whorish ass move down here!”

“You ain’t let me do shit, bitch! I moved
down here because I wanted to! I really don’t know why you’re mad
at me. Your man came to me. It ain’t my fault you don’t know how to
please him!”

“What the fuck ever!” She turned to Cairo.
“Tell that bitch she wasn’t nothing but a test drive. Tell her she
don’t mean shit to you.”

“First of all,” Cairo began. “I don’t need
you to be telling me to tell anybody nothing. You here acting like
you got some kind of claim over me. Be for real, Shay. You gave it
up to me on the first night. How could I ever take you
seriously?”

“But that was only because you filled my head
up with all that bullshit about destiny and us being soul mates!”
she explained, desperately.

“And because you believed that shit, you made
my case for me. You’re not my type. It’s over!” He heard Lindsey
laugh and spun to her. “And you!”

She suddenly sobered up and gave him a look
that would soften a suicide bomber.

“I told you I wasn’t looking for anything
serious, and for you to be here acting out tells me you’re worse
off than Shay!”

“Don’t front, Cairo. You did tell me it was a
possibility that we could be together.”

“With you?” he asked, frowning massively.
“Come on, Lindsey! What am I supposed to think of you? You’ve known
Shay forever, and you crossed her. I can only imagine what you’d do
to me if given the chance.”

She reached for him, but he batted her hands
down. “Don’t touch me!”

“Don’t act like that.”

“Get the fuck off my pop’s property before I
call the pound, you dog bitch! You’ve served your purpose.”

“What?”

“Ah-ha, bitch!” Shay teased. “All he wanted
to do was stick his dick in your big ass mouth. You got played,
too.”

Lindsey looked from the man, who she thought
she loved, to her worst enemy with disdain. “Oh no, Cairo! I know
you ain’t trying to play me to the left.”

“I don’t have to. You played yourself to the
left.”

Lindsey seemed to be in shock and totally
disoriented. She didn’t understand how things became so disarrayed.
But when she saw Ray come out of the building, none of that
mattered. She marched to her car, babbling. “Oh! Now I see what it
is. Y’all trying to play me on that ATL pimp shit. I’mma show both
of you Niggas how we do in VA. I’m trained to go.”

“What in the world is she talking about now?”
asked Ray.

Cairo shrugged and turned to Shay. “You might
as well follow her, because it’s over.”

“That’s how you get down? Get what you want
and never mind somebody?”

“I just got you before you got me.”

“What are you talking about, Cairo?”

“I don’t know. Figure it out on your way to
your car.”

“Please don’t do me like this.” She turned to
Ray for support. “Ray, talk to him.”

This made Cairo tremble with laughter.
“That’s the first.”

Ray wasn’t paying attention to neither one of
them. His eyes were on Lindsey marching back to them with something
in her hand. He tugged Cairo’s shirt and took off running. “Watch
out!”

Terry came around his office desk with a thick
envelope in his hand. “I want you to take this, Tracey. Start
buying things the baby will need.”

“I appreciate your generosity, but I can’t
accept your money. Especially since your son thinks that’s all I’m
after.”

He grabbed her hand and stuffed the envelope
into it. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Cairo. I’ve been
around long enough to recognize sincerity when I see it. It’s just
unfortunate that Cairo can’t yet.”

Tears poured down her face, and she wiped
them away. “I just don’t understand why he doesn’t believe the baby
is his. He knew how much I needed him in my world; I could barely
breathe without him.”

“Tracey, I love my son with all of my heart,
but don’t you shed another tear for him. Okay?”

She nodded reluctantly.

“Because regardless,” he continued, “that
baby isn’t going to want for anything. I promise you that.”

She stood up and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thank you very much.”

“Now, don’t let me see you worrying about him
anymore. Stress isn’t good for the baby.”

“I know.”

“I’ve learned from experience that you can’t
make a person do right. You just have to move on.”

“I know it’s just going to take some
time.”

“Of course it is. And the best thing about
the whole situation is that you have learned what to look for in a
man.”

“I sure have. And thanks again,” she said,
hugging him.

“Keep me updated, and don’t hesitate to call
if you need something.”

“Okay, see ya."

Tracey exited the office just as Ray walked
in the front entrance. She surveyed the building, hoping that Cairo
hadn’t arrived yet. His presence wouldn’t do her any good right
now, because her heart still yearned for him. Since he was being an
unwilling participant, his appearance would only cause her
self-induced stress.

She exited the building and paused when she
saw Cairo arguing. She immediately recognized the women from the
hotel incident and briefly felt a deep sense of gratification,
because the tables had turned on them.

But the gratification turned into horror when
she saw what happened next!

“…trying that pimp shit on me! I’m the wrong
bitch.” Lindsey pulled the gun from under the driver’s seat and
made a beeline back to Cairo.

She was fed up with men mistaking her
kindness for weakness. This was one of the reasons she had made the
transition from VA to Georgia. Her ex-boyfriend had three babies on
her in the course of two years. And she had forgiven him each
time.

She knew that she was more to blame than
anybody else. Ray had proven what type he was from day one, so she
was foolish to think Cairo was any different.

Lindsey put a bullet in the chamber of her .25,
praying that the six bullets were enough for the both of them.

Cairo refused to run from a female like Ray. He
almost laughed aloud when he saw Lindsey run towards him with her
small pistol. It was slightly larger than his black card and no
louder than the champagne corks that he popped. He never realized
the true threat until he tasted the gun powder and felt the burn.
It was then that he tried to emulate Ray by running, but it was too
late. Lindsey was already upon him with her small, barely audible,
deadly gun.

“
You’re not going to believe
what
happened, Ra!” Vicky reported excitedly over the phone.

“What?”

“Tracey just called me. She was
hysterical.”

“I know she’s still not wilding out over the
sorry ass little boy.”

“Yeah, but check it. Some chick just blew his
ass away!”

“Get the fuck out of here!”

“No lie. I’m on my way to the hospital to
meet Tracey.”

“Whoa! Who was the chick?”

“I really didn’t get a lot of details yet.
All I know, whoever it was, she wasn’t playing with his ass. She
shot him three times.”

“Damn! Where at?”

“At work.”

“Nah, I’m talking about on his body. Did
Tracey say?”

“Oh, yeah. She said ‘all over.’”

“What did I tell you? I told you that he was
going to dog the wrong woman one day.”