Drunk in Love 3: An Original Love Story (8 page)

“Hello,” she softly answered in between sniffs.

“Hey,” Mark said. “You never called me back. Did you find out anything?”

Felisha sighed from even being involved in any of this. “I called O’s phone.”

Mark’s eyes widened, expecting the worse. “And, what happened?” he asked.

“She answered.”

He let out a deep breath. “She answered? What’d she say? Was she hurt?” He questioned quickly.

Felisha just shook her head. No matter how much she tried to show him that she loved him, it always seemed that his heart belonged with only one person and that was Olivia.

“Well,” he said waiting for a response.

“Well, she wasn’t hit that’s for sure or she wouldn’t have been talking shit to me like she was.”

Mark let out a relieved breath. Hearing those words took tons of pressure off of his chest. “What about that nigga?”

“She didn’t give me any information on him, but she did say that for me to tell you to not worry about him or her, for that matter.”

“She said that?” He asked. “So, you don’t know nothing about him?”

“Nope, but I don’t believe you killed him. Her demeanor would’ve been a lot different when she was talking to me. Hell, I don’t believe that you shot him, either. You were to out of it to know anything. You probably just pulled the trigger during a blackout state of being then fled the scene. No telling what you saw or didn’t see.”

Mark didn’t say a word. He was just taking it all in and feeling thankful that he hadn’t done anything to jeopardize his freedom. However, just because he didn’t hit anyone didn’t mean that they weren’t pressing charges.

“Are you okay?” Felisha asked still feeling the blame for even telling him about Olivia’s affair. In her heart, she knew that she should’ve just left it alone.

“I am and then I’m not. What I did to them wasn’t me. I don’t know what had gotten into me, but I’d changed in just that split second. Anger and rage came over me and it was a part of me that wanted them to pay for hurting me, but I never intended for any of this to happen.” He explained still feeling bad that he’d pulled the trigger on them. “They could still press charges against me and everything. No telling how this thing is going to play out.”

“Well, if they’ve not pressed charges yet, then I don’t believe that they will.”

“How do you know they haven’t already?” Mark pondered.

“Because, my uncle works at the police department and I called in a favor. He had someone check the system for me and there is no warrant out for your arrest.” Felisha informed him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, believe me I’m sure.” She responded then she thought back to her and Olivia’s conversation earlier. “Maybe that’s why she said that she was going to handle things accordingly through y’all’s divorce.”

“Huh, what do you mean by that?”

“In so many words, and of course she was angry I could tell. But, she said that you and I better get good lawyers, because we were going to need them.”

Mark sat quiet for a moment. He did have part ownership in her hair salon, as well as, stake in Felisha’s nail shop. Olivia also had part ownership in his dump truck business. He had other side gigs pulling in a couple of thousand a month, but that was on his own business affairs.

“Are you okay? You’ve gotten quiet on me.” She softly asked.

“I’m better. I think now she’s going to request a few demands of her own and I’ll have to comply or she’ll press charges against me. That’s the only thing that I can think of at the moment.”

“It was pretty much the same thing that I thought of, as well. My shop is tied up in whatever demands or decisions that she comes up with.” Felisha worriedly said as the tears started falling down her cheeks. “This is all my fault. I’ve fucked up things for all of us. If I would’ve moved on and let you go then I would be good right now. I’d still have my bestie, my son would still have his God mother, and you wouldn’t be losing your wife or out of state on the run.” She sniffed. “I’m sorry. I never should’ve said anything about nothing. Now, what am I going to do? I have no other income besides the money I make from my nail shop.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Mark softly said to calm her down. “Don’t worry. From the day that you had Lil Romeo I’ve always said that I’d take care of him and make sure that you were good. That isn’t going to change.”

“She’s gonna drain you, Mark. That is going to change things for me and you.” Felisha said, feeling like her very comfortable lifestyle was about to be snatched right from underneath her.

“Look, don’t panic.” He said, feeling bad for her. “I’ll figure something out to keep us afloat, but right now you’re jumping the gun. We don’t know how this is going to play out.”

“You don’t know, but I do.” Felisha responded.

Mark sat quiet for a moment. He was feeling a lot of heat coming from all angles. Whether or not he had a warrant out for his arrest, he wasn’t going to head back to Augusta, GA for a couple of weeks. He needed to get his mind right and figure out his next move; if there was a move that he could make. He cleared his throat after thinking this next suggestion out a few times over and over in his head.

“I think you should come where I’m at. Bring Lil Romeo with you.” He said.

Felisha sat silently for a moment. Not long before he’d called, she wanted nothing more than to get out of her feelings for a man that she knew didn’t love her. However, if nothing else, being a fool in love was her specialty and Mark was definitely her weakness.

“I don’t know,” she whispered, not exactly knowing what to do. She was somewhat torn in wanting to move on, but now a golden opportunity was being presented her way. Still she sat unsure as she contemplated. “I have to work. I need to be making as much money as I can. I have to get a lawyer and see what I can salvage from my nail salon, because I know that O’ is coming for it. Can you believe that she came at me that hard and still she doesn’t know about Lil Romeo, yet? Just imagine how much tougher it’s gonna get for me when Zoe breaks that news to her.”

“I think coming out here to the cabin with me will give us both time to think things through. I know you have concerns about money, but I wouldn’t worry about that so much if I was you. I even have a lawyer that can go over our contracts and help us figure some things out. Plus, you don’t know when Zoe is going to tell Olivia about Lil Romeo. She will come looking for you; I’m almost guaranteed and it ain’t gonna be pretty.” He reminded her. He knew that Olivia could be a wild card.

Felisha sat quiet for a good minute, mulling it over. She definitely didn’t want to be working and have Olivia come show off on her like Zoe had already done. Luckily, the shop was closed by the time she got there and nobody was around but one of her uncle’s helping her clean up. Finally, she decided to respond.

“Well, I personally don’t think it’s a good idea for Lil Romeo to come. I mean, what is he supposed to think with O’ not being there? We haven’t spoken to him yet about any of this and I’m not sure how I’ll even explain it, yet. However, I think I will take you up on that offer. Only to get out of town myself and get some clarity on what I need to do next. Do I feel that coming there with you is a great idea? Actually I don’t, but under the circumstances I will.” She explained.

“Okay, well I’m at Steven’s cabin and I’ll send you the address so you can GPS it.”

“I’ll leave tomorrow once I’ve gotten Rome situated,” Felisha said.

“Cool,” Mark responded. “I’ll see you then.” He ended the call with thoughts of Olivia. He wanted to desperately know what she had up her sleeve. If she thought that he was going down without a fight then she was absolutely wrong. He had an ace in the hole that would get her to back off if she tried to play dirty. He was just going to wait for the right time to lay it on the table. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but if it did then he would be ready.

****

Olivia was sitting in a comfortable chair next to Zay while he lay in a peaceful sleep. She was flipping through an Essence magazine, reading an article about Oprah Winfrey then flipped the page. On the next page her mouth dropped open as she read the headline aloud, “Why do spouses cheat?” She disappointedly shook her head. “Hmm, let me see what their excuses are, because I know my reasons.” As she read through the article her mind kept reflecting on Mark. Even though she’d been fucking around on him, it didn’t give him any rights to be fucking around on her. She was beyond shocked and pissed that the woman was her best friend. It could’ve been anybody else, but not somebody that she was clearly very close with. How long had they been fucking around? Could she have been sleeping and they fucked right under her nose? Were they fucking when she’d be at work or out of town? Just thinking about it was only making Olivia more upset that she didn’t catch the signs.It was clear that Felisha had feelings for him, because of the way they’d had their last fall out. She was upset about a life she wanted, but couldn’t have. That life, Olivia now believed was hers.

“Damn,” she said just above a whisper. The whole situation was fucked up and there was no way that any of them could ever go back to the way it was.

She looked over at Zay feeling thankful that it wasn’t worse as he lay there still sleeping. She’d already put him through so much.
How could I get mad at him for fucking somebody else? I have no rights knowing what I’d been doing.
She knew that for months of them dating that he’d been faithful. Her behavior was the reason why he’d gone to another woman. If she had made up her mind, then none of it would’ve happened. As she sat there watching him with a forgiving smile on her face his whole body jumped like he'd been hit with a bolt of lightning. His eyes popped open in fear.

Olivia jumped up from her chair and dropped the magazine to the floor. His eyes widened with panic as he looked at her feeling helpless. Zay's body jumped again and this time he yelled out in pain. Olivia reached for the emergency button on the bed and pressed it.

Oh no
. She said to herself as she quickly spun mid circle then ran towards the room door. When she went out into the hallway there were three nurses and a doctor already heading her way in a hurry.

“Something is wrong with him!” she shouted out. “Please help him! Something is wrong!”

The nurses and the doctor rushed past her and went into the room where Zay lay. His body was shaking like he was having a seizure. The first nurse, a short middle-aged woman, went straight for the electrocardiograph monitor. As she looked at the heart monitor trying to mentally diagnose his problem, the doctor and the other nurse were checking Zay’s vitals while opening his eyes and shining a light in them. Olivia was standing to the side, one hand over her mouth and the other just lingering in the air, not knowing what to do with it. Her eyes were red and teary, yet again, as her heart pounded at fast speeds inside of her chest.

She couldn't believe it. He probably was going through this because she and Angel showed off so bad that Zay had to get up to stop them from fighting. She hated that she’d gone there, because it shouldn’t have ever gotten that bad to make him have to get up in his condition. However, things had happened so fast that she just wasn’t thinking clearly. The next words she heard almost made her have a heart attack.

“We're losing him!” The doctor said, needing as much assistance as he could get.

The doctor responded to the call by inserting his fingers into a pair of latex gloves. Olivia was looking around in a frantic shock. She didn't know what to do so she walked up quickly to the hospital bed with tears streaming down her face.

“Don't leave me. Please, don’t leave me,” she cried like a baby as her hands shook from being high strung on emotions. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”

One of the nurses then grabbed her and pulled her back from the bed. “Please don’t let him die! Save him! Please God, SAVE HIM!!!” She yelled out as the doctor walked up to Zay with his hands inside of a set of defibrillator paddles. The heart monitor was now showing that he’d flat lined and the sound from the machine was eerie within itself. Olivia was in the corner, crying her heart out as she was being restrained by one of the nurses. She watched in horror as the doctor prepped the paddles by rubbing them together while one of the nurses was doing something to his chest.

 The next thing Olivia could distinctly hear the doctor say was, “CLEAR!!”

The doctor sat the flatiron side of the paddle on his chest and Zay's body lunged upwards from the explosion of electric current surging through him. At that time, Olivia's legs went weak as she took in a deep breath and fell to her knees.

“Noooo! Please, that can’t be happening!” she shouted out while taking in a deep breath.

“CLEAR!!” The doctor said again as he shocked Zay again in hopes that life would return back to his body.

The doctor again touched Zay with another surge of current, this time the doctor held it there for a few milliseconds longer. His body lunged violently and then fell back to the hospital bed.

Olivia could see his eyes wide open staring straight into oblivion. Then the heart monitor delivered a blast of sound that was unbearable to take.

 '
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...'

“He's gone.” The doctor said just above a whisper, and then he handed the nurse the paddles and sadly shook his head. He didn’t know what had gone wrong in so little time. He turned around to face Olivia, but all he could do was shake his head from side to side. The nurse comforted her as much as she could. Olivia was in pure disbelief that this had actually happened.

“Oh my God, this can’t be real.” She sobbed. Her whole body felt numb as she stared at him from afar. Her feet were glued to the floor like she couldn’t move as her heart raced almost outside of her chest. The whole room seemed gloomy like everything was a blur. She felt faint as she whimpered like a kid. Her world was being turned inside out in just a matter of seconds.

She looked at the nurse as she tried her best to console her. “Y’all said that he was alright.” Her words were turning into whispers as she continued to cry.