In The Company of My Sistahs (17 page)

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Authors: Angie Daniels

BOOK: In The Company of My Sistahs
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Chapter 28
RENEE
I
rushed into the room. I couldn't get away from Everton fast enough. I could have strangled Nadine and Lisa as they sat in the bar, cracking up laughing. Everton was definitely going to be a problem, and to think I was trying to be nice to his ass. I mean, after all, it wasn't his fault his dick was small. Well, regardless of the problem, Everton needed to stay out of my space, which reminded me: I still needed to get in his ass for running his mouth to Sylvester, telling everyone we were an item. I was not about to let Everton sabotage my vacation.
Tossing my bags on the table, I grumbled, “Everton is getting on my damn nerves.”
I heard a strangled laugh and glancing over my shoulder. Kayla was sitting on the bed, shoulders sagged and head down. She looked like she could use a friend. I sighed. All I wanted to do was take a quick shower and sleep for the next couple of hours. But now was not the time to think of myself. Kayla needed a shoulder to cry on, and as much as I wanted to run and go get Lisa, it was my turn to give her one of mine.
I moved and took a seat beside her on the bed. “Hey, girl, what's wrong?”
She turned and looked at me. Her nose was running and her eye makeup was smudged across her cheek. “Nothing.”
“Nothing? Girl, you look like shit. I hope you're not crying over Leroy's ass.”
She shook her head, then looked down at her hands. “No. Just feeling a little homesick.”
“Homesick for what? Leroy's lying ass?”
She started crying again and I felt like shit because, like I said before, I am not the most sensitive person on the planet. Damn. Okay, I'll try harder.
I put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Kayla. Come on, now. You're not the first woman to get played. Shit, look at me. I've been played lots of times.”
She wiped her eyes and glanced over at me with her nose running. “When were you played?”
Damn. She would have to ask that. You know a sistah like me tries to block that kinda stuff from her memory bank. “Let me see, uh ... oh! Shit! How in the world can you forget my second husband?”
She started laughing. “Yeah, how could I forget him.”
Okay, I was sharing shit so I could be the subject of her laughter. Although the way Leroy had played her and the way Troy had played me were two different things. I didn't know he already had a wife, while everyone at Mt. Carmel knows Leroy's married. Shit, my ex was military and he had a wife in another state, only I didn't find that shit out until after we had been married six months. So, yeah, my ass got played, but that was nothing compared to what I did to his ass. However, like I said before, I'm gonna save that experience for another time. It would take too much time to share and right now I'm trying to enjoy my vacation. Well, at least I would after I got done dealing with Kayla's ass.
“Before Troy remember that Nigerian I was fucking with the big dick?”
She wiped her nose with a Kleenex and nodded. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, I walked into K-Mart one afternoon and ran into him, his wife, and their six kids.”
Her red-rimmed eyes had grown large. “Oh my God, you never told me that.”
“Shit, would you?” One thing I don't like is to look bad in front of my friends, so I am selective as to what I share with them and what I don't. Damn, I don't have to tell them everything.
“So, as you can see, you ain't the only one to get played. We've all gone through it. Look at Nadine and her husband. Even Lisa's ass was played before she met Michael.”
She sniffled. “I guess you right.”
Of course I'm right.
She balled the snot rag in her hand. “It's just that it has happened to me too many times.”
“Girl, you're gonna have to develop thicker skin. You know how I am. I hate to say it, but sometimes you've got to treat a man like shit. When you give them everything they want, when they want it, they take yo ass for granted. Why you think I act the way I act?” She gave me a look that said she was giving what I said some serious thought. “You got to start breaking a brotha down. Let them know that it's gonna take a lot to get with a sistah like you.”
She gave a timid smile. “Yeah, right.”
“Girl, you better recognize. That negro is not worth wasting tears over. You're letting him ruin the first vacation you've had in five years. I guarantee he ain't giving your ass a second thought since you left.”
There was an awkward moment of silence, then she sighed and finally reached over and hugged me.
“Thanks, Renee, what would I do without you?”
Not much, that's for damn sure. I took a deep breath. My work was done. Now I could take my ass to sleep.
Chapter 29
NADINE
T
hey walked down the driveway toward the main gate. The sun was already scorching. The temperatures had to be close to ninety degrees. Nadine fell into step beside Kayla. She moved at a relatively slower pace, so she adjusted her normally rapid steps to stay with her friend. Today however, Kayla was moving even more slowly. Her shoulders were slumped forward and she stared off in front of her. It was obvious to Nadine, she was still thinking about Leroy.
Nadine felt like she needed to say something. “I want to apologize for what happened the other day. If I had known you were kicking it with the reverend, I wouldn't have said anything.”
Kayla snapped out of her trance. “So you're saying you wouldn't have told me he was playing me?”
Nadine shook her head, realizing how what she had said must have sounded. “No. What I mean is I would have told you in private. I wouldn't have busted you out like that in front of everyone.”
Kayla chuckled. “I know what you meant. I just wanted to get you started.”
“So, has he called you back yet?”
She gave her a long gloomy look. “No, and probably won't.”
Nadine hesitated before she spoke again. “If he does are you going to forgive him and take him back?”
She took longer than any scorned woman would have needed to answer, which made the answer quite obvious. So she was surprised when Kayla finally said, “I don't know. I don't think so.”
“Think? Girl, don't think, know. We've been friends for years. You deserve better.”
“So why ain't I getting it?”
“Because you're always settling for less.”
Kayla released an audible sigh. “I just want to be happy.”
“Happiness is what you make it.”
“Are you happy?”
Nadine gave a forced chuckle. “My husband left me for a white woman, but I've gotten on with my life. Actually started a better one.” Even as she said it she knew she wasn't being completely truthful. Her life and future was still uncertain.
Kayla stared down at the pavement as she spoke. “What bothers me the most is that I can't understand how a man of the church could lie like that. He never had any intentions of leaving his wife. It was all just a game to him. He intentionally set out to hurt me. I can't understand how someone, a messenger of God, could do something like that to another person without feeling any remorse.”
“Girlfriend, even a minister can be a dog, 'cause he's still a man.”
“But I thought this man was going to be different.”
“We always do.”
Kayla had to laugh at that. “I know that's right.” After a few minutes she added. “I don't need another man.”
“What if it was someone like that fine Clayton O'Neal?”
“What in the world would he want with me? Renee is more his type.”
Nadine had thought the same thing last night after seeing the two of them together, but Renee would have kissed and told, and today she hadn't said a damn thing. So either he had a little dick or she wasn't interested in him. Or maybe Renee wasn't Clayton's type. She smirked. Wouldn't that be something if someone had finally rejected Renee's horny ass?
“What's so funny?” Kayla asked, breaking into her thoughts.
She giggled. “Nothing important. All I have to say is that the next time a pro football player asks your crazy ass out to dinner, do not turn the brotha down. I still can't believe you did that.”
Kayla increased her speed. “I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Clayton was just being nice. I looked so pitiful sitting there thinking about Leroy that he felt sorry for me.”
“I doubt that. Just next time, say yes.” Just in case he did decide to ask Kayla to dinner again, she wouldn't mention Renee leaving with Clayton last night. Because if Kayla knew, she wouldn't even give Clayton a chance.
They waved to the guard at the end of the driveway. He waved back and told them they would need to show their room keys in order to get back into the resort.
They moved out to the curb and Nadine frowned. “Now we've got to figure out how to get across the street.” Cars were racing down the road, going in both directions.
“Girl, we are going to have to haul ass if we're gonna make it.” Kayla said as a car whizzed by. “I don't know if I can move my wide ass that fast. If anything I can use it to stop traffic long enough to get you across.”
Nadine cackled. “You are crazy.”
“Shoot, girl. I'm serious.”
They looked both ways and as soon as the last car raced around the corner, Nadine screamed, “Now!” They flew across the wide highway and Kayla moved faster than she had before. They reached the other side and stopped to catch their breath. “Damn, girl, you left my ass in the dust.”
Kayla laughed between breaths. “You didn't think I could move like that, did you?”
“No, I didn't.”
A car whizzed passed them and blew its horn. Then another.
Nadine glanced over at Kayla. “Kayla, girl, you're showing all ass.” She was bent so far over trying to catch her breath, she was showing all ass from the back of her skirt.
She quickly stood up again and grabbed Nadine's hand. “Let's go, girl, before I cause a twenty-car pileup.” They moved up the path to Holiday Village, a small craft market directly across the street from the hotel, which would have been a much better choice than the one they had made this morning.
“Kayla, look.”
Kayla followed the direction of her eyes to where Clayton and another player were coming out of a small t-shirt shop.
Nadine noticed Kayla start to shy away, so she grabbed her arm and pulled her up the path toward the two.
“Hey, Clayton,” Nadine said as they passed.
“Ladies.” He winked and smiled at Nadine, then glanced at Kayla. “How are you?”
Nadine pinched her in the side. “Ow! I'm fine.” She mumbled, then grabbed Nadine by the arm and dragged her up the path.
Nadine wiggled her arm free. “That was rude.”
“No, it wasn't. I just didn't know what else to say.”
“He definitely likes you.”
Kayla's eyes narrowed curiously. “Why you say that?”
“It's the way he looks at you. He looked right past me and gazed directly at you.”
Kayla grinned as they moved toward the shops.
“Now his boy, he was ugly.”
Kayla choked on her gum, coughed it up, and spit it out on the path. “You need to quit making me laugh.”
Nadine draped an arm around her waist. “I'll do whatever it takes to take your mind off that no-good reverend.”
Just as they prepared to step into the t-shirt shop, she spotted Clayton and his boy heading their way. He politely looked at Nadine, then turned to face Kayla. He cleared his throat. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
“Sure.” She glanced over at Nadine, who wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as Clayton took Kayla's hand and led her away from the building. Nadine noticed that the one with the big bubble eyes was staring at her.
“Whassup, Shorty? My name is RD.”
Ugh. She hated when a man called her shorty. She simply rolled her eyes and glanced over at Kayla, who was nervously shifting her weight from side to side.
“Damn, baby, you are hard. I just wanted to ask you out to dinner tonight.”
He was the last person she wanted to spend the evening with. How could she possibly spend a meal sitting across from someone who looked like a toad? She was ready to tell him no when Kayla came dancing over and grabbed her arm.
“Nadine, I need a big favor,” she whispered.
As Kayla dragged her into the store, Nadine noticed her eyes looked panicky.
“Whassup, girl?”
“Clayton asked me to dinner and”—she hesitated a minute—“and he wants RD to come.”
“Hell, no!” Nadine frowned. “Girl, I don't want to go out with him. He looks like Kermit the Frog.”
Kayla was laughing and pleading at the same time. “Please, Nadine, please. I promise not to think about Leroy once all night. Come on, you owe me from the last double date.”
She pursed her lips. She was right, she did owe her. Kayla knew there was no way she would say no to that. But asking her to spend an evening with a Muppet was a bit much.
“You're going to owe me big-time for this,” she whispered.
Kayla's face lit up like a lamp had been switched on beneath her beige face. “Thank you.”
Nadine turned around. “All right, I'll go out with you.”

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