Drunk in Love 3: An Original Love Story (12 page)

Nothing... It seemed as if she'd disappeared off the face of the earth.

****

Somewhere in Asheville, North Carolina, Mark was at the kitchen table with his laptop open. He was on the Augusta Chronicle’s website reading over every article in the past couple of days. To his surprise, his name neither his face was anywhere to be found in an article that covered the shooting. The article read:

Richmond County Sheriffs are looking for a black male in his mid-twenties to mid-thirties, around six-feet tall for the shooting of an Atlanta man outside of an Augusta nightclub. He’s wanted for the charges of attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault. If you know anything about this incident please come forward. We’d appreciate your cooperation.

Mark couldn't understand why Olivia hadn’t or wouldn’t press charges against him. Surely, she had something up her sleeve. Finding out that Lil Romeo was his and that he’d been cheating with Felisha could’ve been part of the reason why she didn’t press charges. In reality, she didn’t have to if she wanted to just get out of the divorce with no issues. However, he wasn’t planning on giving up on the things that he’d worked so hard to gain just for her to snatch it from under him.

He took in a deep sigh then closed the laptop down. He didn’t know what to think or where Olivia’s head could be after Zoe told her about Lil Romeo. Even though he felt bad, Felisha making it there to cook for him somewhat lightened his load. He looked up just as she was coming from around the island stove with his plate. She'd cooked fried fish and steamed broccoli with cheese. She was dressed in a small pair of denim jean shorts and an Old Navy T-shirt. She sat the plate down in front of him.

“You may as well cheer up a little. Eat this and hopefully you’ll feel a lil better.” She said. The aroma smelled good coming from the Tilapia fish. “Olivia can’t be pissed at you forever.” She said then leaned down and kissed his cheek. Regardless of what they had gone through, she had a genuine love for Mark and he knew it. She then walked over to the stainless steel Smart Fridge and opened it up. She fixed him a glass of extra sweet lemonade poured over ice and took that to him as well.

Mark was already chomping into a piece of fish and looking at her as she came back into view. She sat down across from him and looked straight at him. “So did you find anything saying you did it?” She asked him.

Mark’s eyes went down to the plate then back up to her. He shook his head and said, “Nothing.” He was still kind of unsure, but for the most part he allowed a smile to spread across his lips.

 That caused Felisha to return a smile back as she brushed her hair away from her forehead while raking it with her freshly manicured fingernails. She looked at him with empathy, and then said, “So now what? I mean are we gonna stay up here in North Carolina; if so, how long? I have a business to run back home.”

 Mark sipped his lemonade from the glass, washing down his fish and broccoli. His eyes went somewhere else and his mind flashed to yet another scene just that fast as his thoughts were taking over.

Mark was standing at the altar in a triple white tuxedo; the church was crowded from the front to the back. Cameras were flashing all around him. Just behind him people were gasping and ladies were wiping tears from their eyes at the beautiful sight of Olivia coming down the center aisle, with her arm looped around her father’s. She had on a white wedding gown made by Christian Dior that was so beautiful it couldn't be explained. She and her father were casually walking while the cameras were aimed at them still flashing. Mark couldn't help but to recognize how lovely and pretty she was coming down the aisle.

Felisha just watched him as he’d drifted off into lala land. “Mark, you heard me?” she asked him, snapping him back to reality.

He looked at her as his eyes fixated dead on her. “What was that?”

Felisha just shook her head at him like she was truly disgusted with how ‘in love’ he was with a woman that wasn’t in love with him anymore. The thoughts reminded her that she was also playing that same role with him. It seemed that Karma was coming back to bite him in the ass, yet she was still there to support him.

“Why are you shaking your head, Felisha? What did I do?” He asked her.

Felisha stood up from the table, turned and walked back to the fridge, opening the door of it. Mark then got up and walked over and stood behind her while she was looking inside the refrigerator. He put his hands on the sides of her hips.

“Felisha, you know I'm stressing.” He whispered, she turned and faced him, her eyes were already teary. Her bottom lip began trembling as if she was about to break all the way down. Mark immediately pulled her into his arms. She was hurt and he knew it. She rested her head on his chest and just cried for all the wrong she’d done in her relationship with Olivia. She cried for having feelings for a man that would never love her the way that she wanted and needed him to. She cried because she desperately wanted Lil Romeo to know his father and not by just a man in his life that he called Mark.

“Calm down,” Mark whispered in her ear. “You’re going to be alright. We’re both going to be alright.”

“I don’t know about that. We’ve really dug ourselves in a hole that may be too hard to come up out of.” She sniffed, feeling bad about it. “Even though you’re in Lil Romeo’s life, he’s not aware of the fact that you’re his father. How do I even explain that to him? That’s not going to be an easy conversation.”

“I’ll help you. I won’t let you do this alone.” Mark assured her.

“It’s still not that simple, Mark. How do we tell a four year old that you’re his father when he knows that you’re his tee-tee’s husband? It makes mommy look bad.”

“You could never look bad in his eyes.”

“That’s easier for you to say.” She said feeling even worse.

“If that’s the case then knowing that I’m his father instead of just ol’ Mark is going to make me look bad. The kid is definitely too smart for that.”

“Yes he is,” Felisha agreed. “No matter how we try to spin this, we’re still going to look bad in his eyes.”

“He’s four and he’ll get over it.”

“I hope so,” Felisha responded. “I love him so much and loving him is the only reason why I’ve held out hope for us.” She disappointedly shook her head. “I know I sound like a terrible person. I’ve prayed for this day and now that it’s here I’m stuck. I don’t know how to feel. I’ve lost my best friend forever and when she finds out about Lil Romeo no telling what else I’m going to lose.”

“She knows about him.” Mark informed her.

Felisha looked at him with a frown on her face, almost speechless then she let out, “She what?! When? How do you know? Oh my God, she called you? She confronted you didn’t she!?”

“She did and I didn’t deny it. However, I did try to explain to her that it wasn’t like that.”

Felisha paced back and forth in front of Mark with her hand on her forehead. She knew that Olivia would find out, because Zoe was definitely going to tell her; it was just hearing that she knows had her fucked up. She rushed over to the island countertop where her phone was sitting next to the stove. She didn’t have a signal, so she didn’t get service in that particular spot.

“Damn, I bet she has called me too. I don’t even want to face her right now.” She said, picking up the phone and turning it off just to make sure that none of her calls came through. The thought of it made her cringe inside. “What am I going to do? We need to go through these contracts and figure something out, because she is going to be out for blood.”

“There is no doubt that she’s going to try something slick. That’s why she hasn’t pressed charges, yet. I will have a backup plan though if she does.” He said thinking that he’d have to get just as down and dirty if she wanted to play hardball.

****

Meanwhile back in Augusta, GA, Olivia and Zoe sat inside of Applebee’s having a drink during Happy Hour. Olivia was upset and definitely hurt. She couldn’t believe how naïve she’d been over the years.

Zoe looked over at her sister, who was sitting across the booth table from her while sipping on her gin and tonic. She took the straw out of her mouth after taking a few more sips from it then started. “Sis, things happen for a reason. No telling how long Mark and Felisha had been messing around. Maybe it was meant for you to meet Zay when you had or this shit would be even harder on you than it is now.”

“That could be true, but it still hurts the same.” Olivia said, looking over at her phone as it rang. It was a call from Felisha’s mom’s house. “I know this bitch ain’t calling me.”

“Who?” Zoe curiously pondered.

“Felisha,” she responded. “Maybe that’s why she didn’t answer her phone. I’m about to answer mine though, and tell her ass just how I feel,” she said.

“Please do,” Zoe stated with an attitude.

“Yeah,” Olivia quickly answered waiting to get on her ass.

“Tee-tee,” Lil Romeo called out.

Olivia’s whole facial expression changed. “Heyyyy,” she said with a much lighter tone in her voice.

“Who is that?” Zoe whispered across the table, already feeling about three sheets in the wind.

“Lil Romeo, what are doing calling me from your Nana’s house? Where is your mom?”

“She’s gone on a business trip, so I have to stay with Nana till she come back.”

“Oh so she’s gone, huh?”

“Yes ma’am, but I want to stay with you. I had a bad dream, tee-tee. I thought you was hurt.”

Olivia’s eyes filled in the corners as she fought back the tears. She did love this little boy like he was her own. “Aww, tee-tee is just fine.”

“Can you come get me?” he softly asked.

“Well, uh… Look boo, tee-tee thinks it’s best for you stay there with your Nana, but I’ll bring you some goodies if that’s okay.”

Lil Romeo was quiet for a moment before saying something. “Tee-tee, you mad at me?”

Olivia frowned then softly said, “Noooo, tee-tee could never be mad with you. I love you, okay.”

Lil Romeo smiled. “I love you, too.” He responded. “You coming?”

“Yes, I’m coming with those goodies. I’ll be over later today.”

“Okay tee-tee,” Lil Romeo responded. “Bye.”

“Bye boo,” Olivia said as they ended their call. She looked over towards Zoe. The situation was definitely complicated at best. There was no way she could turn her back on a child that had nothing to do with any of this, but there was no way she could ever be civil with his mom again, either. She sat there sipping on her top shelf margarita while contemplating how this ugly situation was going to turn out for all of them. At that point, there was no way of knowing.

Chapter 10

It was now early Sunday morning and Zay lay in bed ready to get the hell out of that hospital room. He’d been feeling tense and anxious since he’d been there. His doctor had already given him the green light so at some point, he’d be leaving that day. He looked around the room at the 'Get Well Soon' balloons, fruits and assorted chocolates sent by just his brother, Olivia, Zoe, and his mom and dad. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson had even sent a card, with a vase of flowers, along with a few balloons.

It was crazy how he’d only come to Augusta to see his woman, but ended up staying longer due to the foolishness that occurred. Just the day before, a couple more detectives came by and asked a few more questions concerning the incident at the club. To their avail it did them no good. Zay didn't want his business in the media or the streets like that so everything was cool for them to just leave things as they were. Plus, it could definitely be used as leverage in hopes that Mark would respectfully bow out of the divorce without putting up a mean fight.

He looked over at Olivia who was sitting in the lounge chair next to him and smiled at her as she flipped through a Sister 2 Sister magazine. She’d been by his side the entire time, making sure that he was good. If she left for more than an hour, she called just to check on him. For the past two nights she’d been right there with him, and he appreciated the way she supported him throughout this whole ordeal.

“Hey baby,” he called out as she sat there pretending to be caught up in the magazine.

“Hm,” she answered only glancing up at him and then back down to the pages of the magazine.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m good,” she said, still pretending to be engaged.

“You can talk to me, you know that right?” He said, knowing that she had some heavy shit on her mind.

“I know,” she responded.

“Babe,” he called out again to get her attention. “Look at me. Just look at me.” Olivia’s eyes slowly glanced up from the magazine as she looked him directly in the face. “I know you’re hurting.” He said as she dropped her head back down. “But, I’m here for you. You don’t have to pretend like this is not bothering you.”

“I’m not. I don’t care.” Olivia softly lied, still shying away from the truthful eye contact that Zay was giving her.

“I know you and you know that’s not true. You do care. I think that because you care, you’ll feel like I’m going to look at you differently or maybe even have feelings that we’re not meant to be. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.” Olivia glanced back up to look at him. Her eyes filled with water, but she batted them to keep the tears from falling. “See babe, this is what makes me love you. You are a very caring person. Just because you’ve not been in love with Mark for years, doesn’t mean that his betrayal hasn’t or isn’t affecting you. Felisha was your best friend. Of course this hurts.” He sat up on the side of the bed as she sat there with her head dropped back down to the magazine. “Come here.”

“Babe,” she whispered.

“Come here,” he said leaning over and grabbing her by the hand. “Put the magazine down and come here.” Olivia slowly got up from her seat and stood in between Zay’s legs. “Cry if you want to. Let it go so you can start to put it behind you. I’m not going to leave you. I promise I’m not.”

Finally, Olivia broke down. “She was my best friend, babe.” She cried. “How could she have a son by my husband? How could I have been so naïve not to see it all?”