Cold (3 page)

I’m lying in bed and I’m tossing and turning.
I couldn’t get over the fact that someone was following us. ‘
Was he dangerous? Was our life in danger?’
I wondered to myself. I turned the light on and stared at Michael while he was asleep. I guess he could feel my eyes beaming down on him because he slowly opened his eyes.

“Tiff, what’s wrong?” he asked in a sleepy voice.

“Michael I’m scared. I’ve been getting private calls and some guy was basically stalking us. Do you think there’s some type of connection?” I asked.

Michael looked at me as if he was in a daze. I could tell he was irritated with me for waking him up in the middle of the night but I didn’t care. I needed some damn answers. If someone was playing with us, I wanted their asses behind bars.
Michael sat up and tried once again reassuring me that everything was fine.

“Sweetheart, I think you are being paranoid. I told you it was my client. They are trying to put him behind bars for a crime that can get you put away for a long time. The guy is just desperate right now
, that’s all,” Michael explained.

I didn’t care how desperate he was. He still had no right to stalk my husband at no damn 11:00 at night.

Looking at
Michael with my eyes wide open I asked, “Ok so what did he do that was so bad that he had to follow you?”

Michael paused and turned his head away from me and in a cold tone he replied
, “Rape.”

I wasn’t really shocked because I’ve handled the most heinous
crimes. I just looked at him and shook my head.

“Ok grea
t! We have a rapist following us and he probably knows where we live!”

Before Michael could respond his phone buzze
d.

“Hello
,” he answered.

He paused and said
, “What’s up Melanie?”

I jumped
up like I had fire under my ass and yelled, “Melanie, why the fuck is she calling you this late?!”

Michael put his hand up as if he was trying to silence me. I was pissed off all over again. He puts his hand over the phone’s speaker and
whispered to me, “Look, it’s not like that. We’re just trying to handle some work related business.”

If looks could kill, his ass would be laying on the fl
oor with his tongue hanging out right now. It’s like I lost my mind because before me or him knew it, I snatched his phone from his ear. I had to keep in mind that Melanie and I worked together and there was no bitch worth my career so in a calm voice, I spoke into the phone.

“Melanie, whatever you need to t
alk to my husband about, can wait until the morning,” and hung up in her face.

I then turned to Michael and gave him the coldest stare.

“Are you sleeping with her? Are you fucking her?!”

He walked over to me and trying to explain. He reached for my hand and sighed
, “Tiff.”

I pulled my hand back and repeated
, “Are you fucking her? Yes of no?”

He shook his head at me and grabbed a pillow of
f the bed and went downstairs. ‘
Here we go again,’
I thought to myself.  Sleep wasn’t even in my plans and all I kept thinking about was going to work and confronting Melanie’s ass. The next morning, I pull into the parking garage. I made sure to get to work 30 minutes early so I can catch Melanie as she pulled up. I didn’t want to slap the shit out of her in the office building, so I decided to confront her outside. While waiting in my car, I pull my tennis shoes out of my duffle bag just in case she tried to start some shit with me. She’s been trying to get with Michael since we were in law school. She always liked him but he ended up marrying me. While I’m lacing up my shoes, I see Melanie’s jaguar pull into the parking garage. I start my engine and follow her to her parking spot. As soon as she stepped out of her car, I approached her. She looked a little surprised.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a puzzled look on her face.

I stood there with my arms folded and glared at her.

“No, can I help you? You’re calling my man at 2:00 in the morning so what did you need help with? What c
ould you have possibly needed at that moment that you couldn’t wait until the sun came up?” I asked with an attitude.

She steps back to examine me and just stared at me like she didn’t recognize me.

“Tiffany what is all of this?” she asked as she looked down at my tennis shoes.

I guess since I was standing there wearing a blouse and a pencil skirt with Nikes on my feet, she knew she was facing a possible ass whooping
.

Loo
king at her and rolling my neck I responded, “What do you think it is Melanie?”

I could tell she was
nervous. With a devious grin on her face she said, “Tiffany, what me and Michael talk about doesn’t concern you. Instead of checking me, you need to check your man. I’m not the one that you need to worry about stealing your man. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get to work. I wouldn’t want to stay at work all night working on cases.”

I knew she was
being sarcastic. She then walked past me and lightly flipped her hair out of her face. All the animosity I had for her was on pause because I was now confused. For one, how the hell does she know that Michael was coming home late and who else was trying to steal my man? I rush to work and call Draya into my office. I was visibly upset and I felt like I was out of touch with reality. There were too many weird things happening around me. I wanted to know what the hell Melanie was talking about. Draya comes into my office and hands me a cup of coffee.

“Hey girl, what’s so important that I had to stop what I was doing?” she asked sarcastic
ally.

“Melanie called M
ichael’s phone at 2:00 in the morning.”

Looking at me with her mouth open, she said
, “Girl, you lying. What did she want?”

I just shook my head.

“I don’t know. I confronted her in the parking lot and she was saying some crap about how I shouldn’t be concerned about her wanting Michael almost like she was hinting to me that it was someone else.”

Draya
walks to my desk and sits down in one of my chairs. She then leaned forward and whispered, “Do you think he’s fucking her?”

The question was so blunt, it
took me by surprise.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I just don’t want to think about that.”

Draya looked at me like I was dumb.

“Tiff
don’t be naïve. If the bitch is calling him at 2:00 in the morning then something isn’t right.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. I know she thought I was dumb
, but I really had no proof of what was really going on. I and Michael have been married for 7 years. I couldn’t just walk away from my marriage because of a suspicion. As Draya gets up and walk away, she stopped in her tracks and turned to me and with a serious look in her eyes she said, “Tiff, you need to be careful. I don’t trust Melanie,” and walked out of my office.

I had to go to court in a few minutes so I needed to
gather my thoughts quickly. After my trial was over, I gathered all of my belongings and left work. When I entered the parking garage, it looked deserted. With each step I took, my head pounded harder. The click of my heels on the concrete only intensified the pain. As I’m getting closer to my car, I see a black shadow run from the passenger side of my car. It stopped me in my tracks. I started walking slowly towards my car.

“He
llo?” I asked with hesitation but there was this dead silence.

When I finally made it to my car, t
he shadow jumped in front of me and I screamed, dropping my phone, purse and paperwork. Once I realized what it was, I felt silly.

“Damn cat!” I yelled as I reached down to pick up my things.

I gathered everything in one pile and unlocked my car door. I immediately started my car up and drove off. As soon as I got home, I sat my purse on the counter and walked upstairs. I walk in my room and something dawned on me. I look down at my phone and noticed that the mystery caller didn’t call today. That was the best feeling of relief that I had today. I smiled to myself and grabbed a towel and walked to the bathroom. After my shower, I decide to call Carl.

“Hello
,” he answered.

“Hey are you alright? Why are you breathing so heavy?” I asked in a panicky voice.

Still breathing hard he responded, “Yea, I’m just finished working out.”

“
I really need to vent Carl. Do you have time?” I asked.

“Of course Tiff. I’ll always make time for you
. Now tell me what’s wrong,” he replied.

“Well the night of our dinner
, a man followed me and Michael all the way to the gas station. Michael said it was a client and to make the night even worse, one of my colleagues called him. She’s been having a thing for Michael since law school.”

I can tell he was a little surprised by what I was telling him.

“Oh. Do you think it’s something sexual going on between them?” he asked.

Shaking my head
I replied, “You know, I keep getting asked that same question. I honestly don’t know Carl. I don’t have the proof. It was just a damn phone call.”

Carl paused for a minute as if he was thinking.

Finally speaking he said, “You know what Tiff, you could just be over thinking. Think about it. Why would Michael answer the phone for another woman late at night right in front of you if he was sleeping with her? He wouldn’t disrespect you like that. We men are dumb but we’re not that dumb,” he said jokingly.

When I thought about it, he made a lot of sense.
With relief I sighed, “Thanks. You always know how to put things in perspective. Well I’m about to try to relax so I will talk to you later.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

After my phone call with Carl, I
got in my bed and laid down. It felt like my eyes were only closed for 5 minutes because when I opened my eyes, the whole room was dark. I checked my phone and it was 10:30. I had slept the whole day. Michael comes into the room. I don’t know what time he got here but at the moment, I didn’t even care to ask. He took off his clothes and headed towards the shower without even speaking to me. I guess he was still upset about the other night. I checked my phone again and had a few missed calls. Draya called but I didn’t feel like talking because the only thing I would talk about is Michael’s strange behavior, and I didn’t want to relive the past few days.

I noticed that the mystery caller still hasn’t called. Strange
ly, I was curious to know why. Michael comes out of the bathroom and still doesn’t look at me. He grabs a pillow and I look at him confused.

“Where are you going
?” I asked with my head tilted to the side.

He looked at me and sighed,
“I just want some space tonight, that’s all,” he responded without making eye contact.

I didn’t say anything else to his ass. I slumped back in the bed and turned my back to him. I didn’t have the energy to argue with him. It was just going to push him further away. Melanie’s words then began to resurface in my thoughts. She could’ve just been saying something to get under my skin. If there was anybody that wanted my husband, I would know. The bitch was just trying to
confuse me.

The next morning at work, I stayed busy. I had Draya going over contracts while I analyzed my cases. When I went down the hall to get some coffee, I couldn’t help but notice that Melanie’s door was closed. I looked through the side window to see if she was at her desk, but there was no trace of her and none of her personal belongings was on her desk. ‘
That’s odd,’
I thought to myself. As soon as I got back to my office, I called Draya in.

With this puzzled look on my face, I looked at her and said
, “Melanie’s door is locked and she isn’t in her office.”

Draya
didn’t say anything. She just shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t care and walked away. Maybe she was sick or something. I really didn’t care, but I found it strange that she called my husband and after I confronted her yesterday, she didn’t show up for work today. I didn’t know what was going on but I was sure as hell going to ask Michael when I got home. I pull into the driveway and seen Michael’s car parked. I walked in the house and Michael is sitting at the table reading over some mail. I look at him and waited to see if he would make eye contact with me.

“You know Melanie didn’t show up for work today
,” I said hoping his body language would tell me something but he didn’t even budge.

Making sure he heard me
I repeated, “Melanie didn’t show up for work.”

He finally looked at me and shook his head.

“So what do you expect me to say or do about it Tiff?” he asked with an attitude.

“I just thought you
would like to know that piece of information since y’all talk on the phone,” I said sarcastically.

He
rolled his eyes and dismissed himself from the kitchen table.                                                                                                                                                   

Although I was having trouble sleeping, I decided to go to bed early. Michael was still sleeping on the couch. Maybe if I hadn’t pissed him off earlier, he would’ve slept in the bed with me tonight. As I’m getting ready to close my eyes, my phone buzzed. I grab my phone from the night stand and it says unknown caller. I knew that it would be a matter of time before this shit started happening to me again. I didn’t even answer or reject the call. I figured if I let it ring through, then maybe they’ll think I’m sleep. I put my phone back on the night stand and it buzzed again and I still didn’t answer. I wasn’t going to give this
person the satisfaction of hearing my voice anymore. I put my phone on silent and turned over.

The sun was beaming so loud through my window curtains that it woke me up.
I reach for my phone and I had 27 missed calls. ‘
You gotta be kidding me,’
I thought to myself. All of those calls were unknown. I took a deep breath and tried not to get pissed off. This shit was ridiculous. Why me? Who the hell would dislike me this much to play on my phone, and who the hell had that much time on their hands I wondered as I got dressed for work. I went downstairs to make coffee and there was no sight of Michael. I grabbed my keys and purse and headed out the door.  As I’m walking towards my car, it looks a little different. I get closer and my jaw dropped.

“OH HELL NO,
” I yelled.

Somebody
key my damn Mercedes. I immediately called Draya.

“Hello
Draya. I’m going to be running late for work. I need you to type up a few of my contracts until I get there,” I hung up and jumped in my car and drove to the police station.

I’m driving full speed
, almost running every stop light. My head started pounding and my heart was beating twice as fast. I finally pull into the police station leaving my phone and purse in the car. I walked to the front desk damn near in tears. The Clerk could tell I was distraught.

She looked at me with concern and asked
, “Can I help you ma’am?”

With a tremble in my voice
I responded, “Yes, my name is Tiffany Moore and I would like to file a complaint. Someone keyed my car.”

She looked at me with no expression and asked
, “Well do you know who keyed your car?”

I was starting to get frustrated all over again.

“If I knew who keyed my car, they would be in jail already,” I replied sarcastically.

She looked at me and rolled her eyes.

“Ma’am it’s not much that can be done. You don’t know who keyed your car and I’m sure you have no witnesses.”

I was so
pissed; I gave her the coldest look and stormed out of the police station. When I got to my car, I sat in the parking lot and broke down. It seemed like bad things were happening back to back.
‘Who the fuck could it be,’
I thought to myself. I started thinking about anybody that I’ve ever had any problems with and only one name popped into my head.

“
Melanie,” I mumbled under my breath.

That bitch had every motive in the book. She wanted my life, my career and my husband.
I started my car and swerved so hard that I left tire prints in the road. I walked into work and went straight to Melanie’s office but she wasn’t in it. I found it strange that as soon as she disappears, my car gets keyed. I decide to go back to my car and I see everybody standing around in a huddle. Draya and my other colleagues were standing there like zombies. I walked up to them with caution.

“What’s going?” I asked
.

Draya
looked at me like she saw a ghost. The words that came out of her mouth seemed to blow me back. My heart sank and I could feel the blood from my body getting cold. The words seemed to echo. Melanie was dead.