In The Company of My Sistahs (34 page)

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Authors: Angie Daniels

BOOK: In The Company of My Sistahs
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Chapter 71
KAYLA
K
ayla rose the next morning with the sun beaming down on her face. She rolled onto her back and smiled as memories of the night before came flooding back.
She could still feel Clayton's warm breath against her cheek. Every time he held her in his arms against his wide solid chest, her heart did crazy things. And when he kissed her and she felt him become aroused, it fascinated her to know that she had that kind of effect on him.
He's fine and he's mine
. Even with that said it was still hard to believe that Kansas City Chiefs' Clayton O'Neal wanted her.
Kayla hated to get up but she had to pee. She slid from under his arm and dashed to the bathroom. While on the toilet, the phone rang. She figured it was probably Renee calling to say, “Put that nigga out, so I can get my shit.”
“Clayton, can you get that for me?” she called from the bathroom.
“No problem, baby.” She heard the bed shift as he moved to reach for the phone. “Hello ... yeah, just a minute. Yo, boo, telephone.”
“Here I come.” She flushed, quickly washed her hands, moved into the room, and lowered beside him onto the bed.
“Hello?”
“Kayla, baby.” It was Leroy.
She gasped. “Leroy! What ... I mean, how are you?”
“I'm good. Who was that answering the phone?”
She was silent. She didn't know what to say. Besides, Clayton was kissing her behind her ear and she couldn't think straight. “Um, a friend.”
“Friend. What kind of friend? Are you messing around on me? Because if you are you better tell me now,” he demanded.
How dare he question her? “Considering the fact you're married, I'm not going to answer that.”
He was stunned by her bold retort. “Why are you talking to me this way?”
“I've accepted the fact it is over between us.”
“Kayla, baby, don't talk like that. I've got so much to tell you. I've been asked to take over the congregation at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga.”
She felt her heart break in two. He had gotten on with his life. “That's wonderful news. I'm sure Darlene is so happy.”
“Kayla, please, listen to me,” he pleaded. “I told Darlene about us.”
She gasped. “What did she say?”
“She's giving me a divorce.”
She couldn't believe her ears. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to quiet her heart. She had waited too long to hear those words.
“Baby, we can finally be together.”
Tears fell from her eyes. She sat up on the bed and moved away from Clayton's reach.
“I love you, Kayla. I promise to make it all up to you.”
She had so many things she wanted to ask him. “When are you leaving for Tennessee?”
There was a pregnant pause. “Not until after the baby is born.”
Her heart stilled. “And when is that?”
He cleared his throat. “In about six months. Legally a judge won't grant me a divorce until the baby is born.”
Six months and Reverend Leroy Brown would finally be hers. If only he had called her yesterday. “Why haven't you returned any of my calls?”
“I've been trying to call you all week. I left a message with your crazy roommate. You know, she threatened me never to call you again.”
“She did?”
“Yes, she did, when all I wanted to do was to tell you I'd take care of everything. I love you, Kayla. I want to spend my life with you.”
“Oh.”
Clayton shifted on the bed and was staring down at her. “Baby, what's up?” She tried to cover the mouthpiece but didn't do it in time.
“Kayla, who the hell is that with you in your hotel room?”
She flinched. It was the first time she'd ever heard Leroy use profanity. “N-nobody.”
“Nobody?” Clayton mocked.
Damn, he had obviously heard Leroy's loud voice. She pleaded with her eyes for him to understand.
“You know what? I'm out!” Clayton slid from underneath the covers and rose.
“Um, Leroy, I got to go. I'll call you back.” She hung up before he had a chance to talk her out of it.
Kayla was so confused. She needed to do or say something, she just didn't know what. “Clayton, where are you going?”
“That was that preacher dude, right?” She nodded. “So, I'm nobody?”
“I didn't mean that. I ... I just didn't know how to say ...”
“How to say what?”
“What is going on right now in my life is confusing.”
“So is it over with this guy or what?”
She stared at him blankly, knowing she had hurt his feelings. Hopefully he'd understand why she did what she did. “I don't know.”
“What you mean you don't know?”
She tried to explain something that she didn't even understand. “I mean I don't know. I've got time invested in that relationship. It's not going to be that easy to just walk away.”
“Now I see why you're always getting played, because you are too stupid to recognize a good man when you see him.”
She was floored by his harsh tone. “Clayton, I—”
He cut her off with a frown. “You know what? You are all messed up in the head. I'm out.”
After he was gone, she sat on the bed for the longest time unable to move. Had she made a mistake? She just wasn't sure. She and Leroy had been together for almost two years and during that time he had promised to spend the rest of his life with her. The problem was she didn't know how to be patient. She had prayed to the Lord on several occasions to give her strength. Yet it never came. Now after months of hoping and praying he was finally hers. So why wasn't she jumping up and down and praising the Lord?
Chapter 72
RENEE
A
s soon as the sun rose I took a quick shower and headed to breakfast. I didn't want anyone to know that I had spent the night with Pierre, so I made sure the coast was clear, then swung my bag over my arm and headed around to the front of the building. I wanted to walk across the lobby as if I had just returned from spending the night with Solomon.
Casey was behind the counter. I waved, then moved to the restaurant and took a seat.
Lisa and Nadine arrived shortly after. We fixed our plates and I listened to Nadine talk about how much fun she'd had snorkeling. I was thankful they didn't ask me about Solomon.
As soon as Kayla made it to the table, I could see the excitement dancing behind her eyes.
“What's up, girl? Did Clayton get them drawers?”
Nadine cracked up laughing with a mouthful of eggs. “I know that's right. Girlfriend, we want details.”
Kayla lowered into the seat across from me. She didn't look like a woman who spent a night with a fine-ass brotha. Instead, she looked like she had just found out she was pregnant.
“Yo, Kayla, whassup?” I probed.
She took a deep breath and finally said, “Leroy asked his wife for a divorce.”
I choked on a slice of bacon. I thought I told his faggot ass not to call back. “What the fuck are you talking about? I thought you spent the night with Clayton.”
“I did. Leroy called this morning.”
I couldn't believe this shit. I know this girl didn't fuck over a fine mothafucka like Clayton for Leroy's no-neck ass.
Lisa was the only one who seemed concerned. “Kayla, I thought you had decided to walk away from that relationship.”
She wasn't hearing anything we had to say. “How can I walk away when I love someone as much as I love Leroy?”
Nadine snorted. “Easily, with one foot in front of the other.”
I was about to be sick. This bitch was one french fry short of a Happy Meal. “Girl, that mothafucka ain't doing anything but using you.”
She glared at me from across the table. “I don't appreciate you telling him not to call me anymore.”
“I told him that because I'm tired of seeing the nigga using you.”
“Well, he's not using me. Leroy is leaving his wife,” she stated avidly.
I couldn't do anything but laugh at her stupid ass. “Don't tell me you believe that sorry-ass mothafucka!”
“It's none of your business. All I want to know is how come you didn't tell me he called?”
Lisa gave me a look that said “shut up.” She knew that shit wasn't gonna happen.
“For what? So you could sit in your room tripping about your life with his little-dick ass?”
“How do you know his dick is small? You fucked him too?”
“Girl, puhleeze. It ain't shit I can do with his dick but use it to scratch my ass.”
Lisa groaned. “Can we all just get along?”
Kayla leaned forward, gripping the table. “You know what? I'm so sick and tired of your sister. All week I've been listening to your mouth and watching you pop into one bed after another.”
“Bitch, don't hate, 'cause you can't.” Kayla was picking my last nerve, forcing me to act a damn fool. “That nigga doesn't love you.”
“You've had three husbands and a different man in your bed every fifty-two weeks of the year and you want to tell me something about love. Ho, puhleeze.”
I tried to keep myself under control but I was starting to get a little attitude. “And what have you done for the last two years? I'll tell you what you've done. Sat around waiting for the reverend to find five minutes in his week to break your fat ass off a piece. That's why your ass is always getting used, 'cause you are so damn stupid.”
There was total silence around the table. I sat there staring, daring her to make a move. By now I was spoiling for a good fight.
She stared back at me, then when she finally dropped her eyes I smirked and looked down at my plate. Big mistake.
Kayla tossed Nadine's orange juice in my face.
“Oh, now you've done it!” I dropped my fork and sprang out of my chair and jumped across the table so fast, she fell backwards in her chair. I landed on top of her and tried to choke the shit out of her.
“Stop it!” Lisa screamed.
She and Nadine had to pull me off of her.
“Kayla, pack your shit, because you're getting the fuck out of my room.”
I stepped over the mess we made and reached for my bag, then headed back to the room.
Chapter 73
KAYLA
W
hile Renee went across the street to find a dress, Kayla moved all of her things across the hall to Nadine's room and Lisa moved in with Renee.
She still could not believe what had happened at breakfast. Renee had been only seconds away from choking her to death. She knew Renee had a temper but she had never expected her to turn on her like that. All the years she had stood by and been a good friend and this is what she got in return?
She was so pissed with Renee interfering in her life that she could scream. If Renee had told her Leroy had called she would have never spent the night with Clayton. She would have never experienced a night of unforgettable foreplay. He had made her feel things she had never felt before and it had been a big mistake, because Leroy loved her, and finally, after months of hoping and praying, he was soon going to be hers.
Suddenly, she was dying to hear Leroy's voice and was glad she had the excuse to call him to tell him she had moved across the hall. If she didn't, Renee might answer the phone and there was no telling what she might say to him. As angry as she was there was a great possibility she might even mention Clayton.
Reaching for the phone, she dialed the front desk and asked them to connect her call. As soon as she got a dial tone she punched in Leroy's number. She didn't bother paging him first. Since his wife already knew about them, what was the point?
“Hello?”
Her breath stalled. A woman had answered the phone. Her first thought was she had dialed the wrong number.
“Who is this?”
At the icy tone, she realized it was Darlene.
“Can I speak to Leroy?”
“Leroy?” She sounded stunned that someone had referred to him as something other than Reverend Brown. “Who's calling?”
“Kayla,” she heard herself say. “Kayla Sparks.”
“Sister Sparks, what you need to talk to my Leroy about?”
Kayla had noticed she had put an emphasis on
my
. “We have business to discuss.”
“What kind of business?” Kayla noticed there was a hint of an attitude in her voice.
“None of your business.” She couldn't believe what she was saying, since she was shaking inside.
Darlene started laughing. “Good Lord, don't tell me he got to your ass too.”
She was floored. Never in all the years she'd known her, had she ever heard Darlene cuss. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. My husband ain't nothing but a ho. Has been and always will be. He beds a different woman every week.”
“So why are you with him?”
“Because he's the father of my children and I love him.”
“He's divorcing you.”
She cackled. “Is that what he told you? My husband will never leave me because he can't afford to. Besides, how many women do you know that allow their husbands to fuck around on them?” When Kayla didn't answer, she continued. “Not too many. I don't give a damn who he fucks as long as he doesn't bring home anything, 'cause then I would have to cut his dick off.”
There was no way she was telling the truth. “You're wrong. Leroy and I are going to be married. He and I are leaving town together.”
“Kayla, you are dumb as you look. My husband ain't going nowhere with anyone but me and his kids.”
“I don't believe it.”
“Well, believe it. You think you're the only one. Well, you're not. He been fucking Tisha Carroll for the last four months. Even brought her home for a ménage à trios.” She chuckled. “Shit, I like to get my freak on too.”
She couldn't believe her ears. He was messing with Brother Carroll's twenty-two-year-old daughter. “Let me speak to Leroy.”
“He isn't home. He forgot to take his cell phone with him. More than likely he is over to Jessica Lawson's, letting her suck his dick.”
Kayla felt sick to her stomach. Jessica was the church secretary.
“Listen. I got better things to be doing than wasting time on the phone with you. Leroy is never going anywhere because I allow him to do whatever the fuck he wants. With that little dick he has, better you than me.” She gave a hearty laugh, then hung up the phone.
Dear God! Had she made a mistake?

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