Kiss Me on the Inside (16 page)

“Hi, honey! I can't wait to see you.”

“I'm actually leaving the airport right now. I'll be there in a few.”

Nikki did a little dance.

“I'll talk to you later.” Mark was about to dismiss her.

“Mark! Mark! Before you go, I'm going to need you to pick me up from Emmanuel Apostolic Church; the one around the corner from my job.”

“Why?”

Nikki cleared her throat and prepared to sell her lie. “I'm attending a fundraiser and by the time you get here it should be wrapping up. So I figure we can go get something to eat and talk after.”

“No problem. I have to go.”

“I love you, baby.”

Nikki opened the bedroom door and the house was filled with excitement. Concerned bridesmaids questioned if they could still fit in their dresses. “Oh my God!” Nikki ran to the kitchen where Tina was getting her makeup done. “He's on his way!”

“And what's the problem?” Tina questioned.

“He can't get to the church before me, the wedding will be ruined.”

Tina got up out of the chair and she sat down. “Can you go get dressed and tell Lashawn and Genie to hurry up please?” Nikki's phone beeped, indicating she had a text message. She looked at her phone and the message was from Mark. Her heart started to pound as she anxiously read it.

She read the message a second time, skeptical of what Mark was saying.
He's probably going to confess to a lie that he told me, but today is our wedding day. I will just have to forgive him.

“He loves me and that's all that really matters.” She inhaled and exhaled, dismissing her jitters.

It didn't take long to do her makeup because she wanted it simple. But Bryanna, her makeup artist, managed to convince her to try some fake lashes. A light foundation and mascara to pop her eyes was enough for her. The pink lip gloss made her lips full.

“We have to cut this right now. I have to go get dressed.” She got up off the chair and hurried to her bedroom, where her bridesmaids were looking themselves over in the mirror. They all looked elegant in their fuchsia strapless dresses that were complemented by silver high-heel pumps. Nikki fanned her face with her hand because she was delighted to see how spectacular they looked.

Nikki all of a sudden looked flustered. But she didn't want to embarrass herself so she proceeded in pretence.

Nikki adorned herself in the perfect wedding dress. It wasn't too fancy; it was simple but elegant. The drapery was done beautifully and hid any sign of her pregnancy. Her stylist zipped the back of her dress and it stopped in the gape of her back.

“This can't be happening.”

“Just inhale deeply. It's just a little baby fat.”

She took a deep breath and the zipper went up without a hitch. She stepped into her heels then viewed herself in the mirror and her eyes became glassy with tears.

“Oh no you don't!” Bryanna grabbed a piece of tissue from the box and dabbed her eyes. “Save the tears until after you say I do. I will not allow you to ruin your makeup.”

“Okay. Okay,” Nikki agreed, sniffling.

“Your bridesmaids are waiting to see the blushing bride.” Bryanna opened the door and her anxious bridesmaids let out gasps. Nikki looked radiant as her smile stretched from ear to ear.

A horn sounded outside and Genie looked through the peephole and saw the limousine. They hurriedly added their final touches and Bryanna helped Nikki with her veil.

“Wait! Something borrowed, something blue, something old, and something new,” Nikki said anxiously.

Three things from the list were checked off but there was nothing blue in sight. Nikki panicked but was reassured when they convinced her that the list was nothing more than an old wives' tale.

“All that nonsense about stepping over a crack will break your mother's back is nonsense. Honestly I think someone came up with that scheme to get more handouts on her wedding day. Something borrowed, old, new my ass.” They all laughed at Genie's statement.

The day was perfect, not a cloud in sight. The temperature was just right. Summer was coming to a close so the sun wasn't beaming. Nikki reminisced on her past, present, and her hopes for the future with Mark. She pictured her house in the suburbs with a well-manicured lawn and also a big backyard for her baby to run around in. Thoughts of Keisha ran across her mind.

“Are you ready to go walk down the aisle and finally become Mrs. Shavelle Nicolette Gray?”

“Come on, girl, we have to go,” Lashawn said.

Genie picked up the train of Nikki's dress. “Lashawn, get the door,” Genie ordered.

“Here comes the bride, here come the bride.” Lashawn sang, turning the lock on the door. “Here comes the bri . . .” Her mouth remained open when she saw Mark at the door.

“What's going on?” Mark asked.

Lashawn stepped back so Mark could see his blushing bride. It was as if Nikki's feet were glued to the ground.

“Why are you wearing a wedding dress?” Mark stood at the door without taking a step.

“What are you doing here? You were supposed to meet me at the church.”

Everyone was frozen in time. All her bridesmaids were speechless. Nikki wanted to run into his arms but her legs wouldn't let her.

“Let me guess. I was supposed to show up at the church to our wedding?” Mark finally came inside and stood in front of her. “Is that right, Nikki?” She took Mark's hands and he released her grip and Nikki knew instantly that it was not good. Inside she was praying that Mark wouldn't embarrass her. But the look on Mark face said it all. There wouldn't be a wedding.

“Have you lost your damn mind?”

“I know you are a little surprised but you can't do this to me,” Nikki pleaded.

“You lied to me!” Mark yelled. Nikki held his arm and he pulled away his arm. “Don't touch me!”

“Mark, we have a baby on the way. Please make me your wife.”

“You are trying to use this damn baby to trap me! I told you I didn't want this damn child!” He turned to walk away and Nikki grabbed on to him.

“Mark, I love you.” She fell to her knees. Genie ran to her. She held on to Genie for support.
Dear God, please don't let him walk out on me. Dear God, please don't let him humiliate me like this.
She squeezed on to Genie's hand. “What do you want me to do?”

Tina looked intently at Mark, pointing her index finger at him. “It is only a cowardly man who breaks the heart of a woman and guards his own. But it's also selfish of a woman to live in denial being ignorant to the truth.” She finished her speech, looking down at Nikki.

Mark walked out the door and Nikki ran after him. “Mark, I love you. We can be a family. Let me be your wife.”

“We can't get married, not now, not ever!”

“What about the text you sent me? You said you wanted to make thing right.”

“I shouldn't have let this situation between us go so far. It wasn't my intention to hurt you but I allowed myself to get caught up in this nonsense.”

“Nonsense!” Nikki was confused.

The expression on Mark's face said it all. This wasn't the man she knew; this man who stood before her was a stranger. There was no love in his eyes or warmth in his voice. He couldn't look her in the eye because he knew what he was about to say would hurt her.

“Mark, please, you can't do this to us. What's going on? I know you, Mark. Please tell me what wrong,” Nikki pleaded with him.

“You don't know me! If you did you would know my damn name isn't Mark!”

You could hear the gasps from the girls. Nikki couldn't believe what she was hearing. “What did you say?”

“The truth is, I don't work for a cable company, and—”

“What?” Nikki questioned. “That day you came here to fix the cable . . . you were wearing . . . and you were driving . . .” Nikki sentences were incomplete.

“Allan at the cable company is a friend and he was in on it. That day when you went looking for me at my so-called job . . . That's why they didn't know who I was.”

“Okay, you lied about your job. We can still get married.” Nikki walked closer to him. “The pastor is at the church is waiting for us.”

“I'm already married!”

Keisha sat at the Jamaican restaurant, enjoying some oxtail and rice, waiting for Bling to join her. He was at the studio working on a collaboration with a few artists including Hype. She was facing the door when she saw Mark enter looking miserable and she called him over. Mark rushed over to her and from a closer look she could tell his blood was boiling.

“We have to talk!” Mark's voice was loud enough for all heads to turn.

“Are you Mark, or is it Damien? Which is it today? I think I'll call you Mark. Is there trouble in paradise?”

“I'm done with this shit! You win.”

Her phone was on the table and it was now ringing and it was Bling calling. “Hold that thought.” A big smile appeared. “Hello!” she answered, but Bling didn't respond. “Let me guess, you just called to hear my voice.” The call ended. “What the hell was that about? He probably butt dialed me.” She could barely finish her sentence when Mark grabbed the phone out of her hand.

“What the fuck is your problem?” She grabbed her phone back.

“It's done. It's over!”

The phone started to ring and it was Bling calling back. Mark was trying talk to her but she was self-consumed at the moment. “If this is your butt calling me again I have a few thinks to say. I miss your touch. I miss your lips all over my body.”

Mark walked out of the restaurant frustrated and upset.

“I need you, baby. Say something. Tell me how much you miss me too.” She spoke in a seductive tone.

“You fucking bitch!” Hype yelled in her ear.

Instantly her whole body felt paralyzed. This was one controversy she couldn't slide her way out of.
Why is he using Bling's phone? Did Bling set me up?
A thousand questions ran through her mind. She remembered entering her name as Your Little Freak in Bling's phone and she knew he had to see it if he in fact was the one who dialed her number. She held the phone to her ear frozen, speechless, thoughtless, and in fear because she knew she would have to pay for her betrayal and her penalty could be death. With the phone still glued to her ear she heard the chaos in the studio.

“I guess we have something in common besides music.” Hype had confronted Bling with his gun.

“What the hell is he talking about?” She could hear the panic in Bling's voice. She heard Bling's friend telling him to put the gun down. Everybody was trying to figure out what had Hype so upset that he wanted to take Bling's life.

“How long have you been sleeping with my woman?”

Keisha picked up her pocketbook and left a fifty dollar bill on the table. She was making a mad dash out the door when Mark grabbed her arm, causing the phone to fall on the ground.

“I said we need to talk!”

“Get off me!” She pulled away from him. She was on the ground like a crackhead searching for a hit. Luckily her phone was still intact and the commotion in the studio was still going. She ran to her car and reversed out of the parking lot with one hand on the steering wheel and the other held the phone at her ear.

“How long have you been sleeping with Keisha?” Bling neither denied nor confirmed the allegation. “I should end your life right now.”

Keisha tried pleading with him, not knowing if they could hear her. “Hype, I'm sorry that you find out this way. But please don't do anything you might regret. I know that I was wrong. I can't undo what I've done but two wrongs don't make a right.”

Her pleading fell on deaf ears because the commotion got even louder. “Put the gun down, Hype! Don't do this, man!” She could hear them pleading with him.

“Pull the trigger or I'm giving you one second to get the gun out my face.” She finally heard Bling's voice but he wasn't saying what she wanted to hear.

“I'll spare your life so you can live to see me fucking your wife because she is just a cheap whore wearing expensive clothes.”

Keisha heard the commotion get louder. Bling didn't take the statement lightly. She knew they were fighting. She heard the guys trying to restrain them. She heard the gun fire and the room was in complete silence as the bullet penetrated someone's body.

“Nooo. Oh my God, no.” Keisha stepped on the brake in the middle of the road, causing a chain reaction.

The microphone fell and hit the floor, making a loud sound that broke the silence. She knew something was wrong, terribly wrong. Someone has been shot. Thinking it was Bling she called out his name repetitively. “Bling, Bling! Say something!” Tears ran out of her eyes because she knew she was also at fault for someone's senseless death. “He's going to come looking for me. I have to leave this place.”

It was like a parade of honking horns trying to get Keisha to get out of the road. She finally drove off when the car behind her intentionally bumped into her rear, not hard enough to leave a dent but enough to bring her back to reality. She made it home safe but she was weak in her knees. She parked her car and as fast as her legs could move she hurried to the door. She was going to run inside and pack as many clothes as she could fit in her suitcase. Her brain wasn't sending the signals to her hands or fingers because she was fumbling with her keys. She couldn't open the door and she was in tears.

“I said we need to talk!” She heard Mark's voice yelling from the sidewalk.

Keisha ignored him. She finally got the key in the keyhole but before she could get inside Mark ran up the steps and grabbed her by her neck.

“You think you run shit don't you?”

“Are you all right, young lady?” an elderly man stopped to ask.

Mark released Keisha and turned to address the man. “If you want to live to see another day, I suggest that you mind your damn business.”

The old man stood his ground and addressed Keisha again. “Do you want me to call the police?

“I'm fine!” she barked at the old man.

“I'm still calling the police.”

Mark went down the steps and Keisha hurried inside and closed the door behind her.

Mark banged on the door. “Open this damn door!”

Keisha ran to her bedroom, taking her Louis Vuitton luggage set from under the bed, and tossed her clothes inside.

“This isn't over. I'll be back.” Mark kicked the door.

Keisha didn't have time to organize; she just tossed clothes, shoes, and perfume in the suitcase until it was overflowing. She sat on the top and closed it. She dragged it to the door and looked out to see if Mark was still outside. She saw no sign of him and she dragged the suitcase to her car. She ran back in the house, leaving the door open behind her. She grabbed the duffle bag and stuffed more clothes inside. Keisha zipped the duffle bag and turned to the door and Mark was standing there. “So you were just going to leave town. And expect me to take the heat.”

Keisha dropped her bag. “Mark, this isn't what it looks like.” Mark walked closer to her and she took a step back. “Hype is coming after me and I have to leave.”

“Well, Houston, we have a problem.” He walked closer to her.

“Mark, I have to go. Figure out your shit with Nikki.”

“Did you know that your friend planned a secret wedding for us? Where did she get that bright idea?”

“Mark, I didn't know anything about it.”

“You expect me to believe you?”

“Believe whatever you want. But I have to leave town for a while. I can't worry about your shit right now.”

“Shit is about to hit the fan and you are leaving town.”

“Right now my life is in danger. I have to go, so you better handle that mess you created.”

“The mess I created? This was your big plan to destroy her.”

“You were supposed to take her to the movies and distract her from her studying that's all. Don't come here blaming me. You took it as far as it went.”

“But I did it for you!”

“So are you expecting a pat on your back?”

“I did everything you asked me to do but you are never going to forgive me. You lied to me. You were never going to take me back. You are a selfish bitch!” Mark punched the wall with his fist.

“I wasn't selfish when I helped you keep your damn restaurant. That was the deal, don't you remember?”

“Why did you sleep with me at the restaurant?”

“Just to torture you so you can see what you missed out on.”

“You are still my wife!”

“Stop calling me your damn wife. We never got divorced because it wasn't a priority for me at the time and I forgot about it just like I forgot about you; until you pop up in my life like a damn wounded dog, begging me to help save your damn restaurant because your woman left you broke. I felt sorry for you, Mark, and I helped you with the cash. But I had to knock Nikki off her high horse and you fell into place. Our relationship ended years ago. And get this through your thick skull: I will never be your woman again. I'm not a naïve teenager anymore. I have men eating out of the palm of my hand.”

“You are a damn whore!” he shouted from his gut.

“Fuck you, Mark! Oops, I mean Damien!”

“I did everything you asked me to do. I messed up Nikki's life to make you happy. Keisha, we could be happy again.”

“There will be no us. You damn loser.” Her words hit him where it hurt. His hands were around her neck. Keisha was trying to loosen his grip but he wanted to kill her. But he suddenly released his grip and she fell to the floor, gasping for air.

“By the way Nikki is a better lay than you any day.” He walked out of the room.

“I hate you!” She ran after him but the two of them stopped suddenly when they saw Nikki.

“Why?” Nikki roared like a lion.

They were both speechless. If they could have disappeared they would have.

Nikki stood at the door with her phone in her hand. “You can hang up your phone now. Your phone called me and I answered, thinking you were coming back. Ha-ha. What a joke.”

Mark took his phone out of his pocket, and in fact he did call her.

“I heard everything.” She was still wearing her wedding dress; it was now soiled from her collapsing outside after hearing Mark's confession. Her makeup was ruined from crying. “I should have known. That day when I came home and you gave me that excuse about you spilling the wine. The day when I came home and you were in my damn house. Oh my God! No wonder you were so upset and barged into my bedroom that night when you found out that he was making love to me. I was so stupid.”

“That you are. I told you that you would regret choosing him over me. You got what you deserve,” Keisha said, laughing.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean—” Mark said with his head down.

“Shut your damn mouth!” Nikki slapped him hard before he could say another word.

“You need to give yourself some credit. You reeled him in all by yourself.” Keisha was laughing her wicked laugh again.

“You psycho bitch!” Nikki ran toward Keisha like a line back on a football field playing defense. Mark separated them but that was the wrong thing for him to do. “Don't you ever touch me again,” Nikki yelled at Mark. “What about the baby?”

“Pregnant!” Keisha repeated, stunned at the news. “Even better than I had planned.”

Nikki wanted to rip her apart but she had to think about her unborn child. Her baby meant more to her than kicking Keisha's ass.

“I knew you were a whore hiding behind your books.”

“You are a shameless bitch!” Nikki yelled.

“You are still on your high horse even though you're pregnant with a married man's child?”

“You're a bitch with no self-esteem who has to break down your own friend to make yourself feel good. Both of you deserve each other.”

“Friend!” Keisha laughed. “You were never my friend. I just let you stay here because I felt sorry for you. I gave you my clothes that were out off season that I didn't want anymore. You were a charity case after your mother died.”

“What did I ever do to you for you to want to hurt me like this?”

“It's a simple fact that you fail to remember. No one outshines me! So your college stunt is now null and void.”

“You are screwed up in the head. You need to see a psychiatrist. I feel sorry for you.”

“Listen to that speech.” Keisha clapped. “You deserve an award. Did you write about my life for your final exam?”

Nikki wanted to claw her eyes out. She was the reason for all this. She had messed up her life for her own selfish pleasure.

“What about my baby?” Mark questioned.

Nikki slapped his face in the same spot again and Mark rubbed his cheek clenching his jaw. “You are a sorry excuse for a man. My child will never know you as a father.”

Nikki stormed out the door and shots rang out like she was in the middle of a war zone. Nikki's lifeless body descended the steps. Hype was shooting like a madman. Her body lay lifeless on the ground. Her white dress had turn to red. Hype sped off when he realized that he shot the wrong person. Mark rushed to Nikki, checking her pulse, and Nikki was barely breathing.

“Keisha, call 911, call 911!”

Keisha rushed out of the house and tossed her suitcase and duffle bag in the trunk of the car without acknowledging that Nikki had been shot. She drove away.

“How can you be so heartless? She's dying!” Mark called out to her as he held Nikki in his arms.