Lying Lips (15 page)

Chapter 14

Early the next morning I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. When I sat up it was then that I noticed Ashton wasn’t there. And the ringing continued. Still groggy from the meds I managed to get out of bed and over to my bag where the phone was.

It was Asanti.

“Hello,” I whispered groggily.

“Where have you been?” My husband, the other one, asked me.

“I was sleeping. Took the meds and was—“

He interrupted me. “Good. You’re taking the meds. I thought I would have to force you to take them. How are you feeling today?”

“I don’t know yet. Just woke up,” I said as I scratched my head and sat on the edge of the bed. I still wasn’t feeling well.”

“Well, I have something that will perk you up, a small surprise for you.”

“Awwwww, you didn’t have to do that,” I said as I cradled the phone with a smile.

“Yes I did,” was all he said. “So tell me where you are and I can bring your surprise to you.”

“I’m at home,” I was so out of it, that I laid back down and did my best to stop the room from spinning.

“Where’s home?”

It was then that I sat up with a start. And the room spun out of control. Did he just say that he was going to bring the surprise to me?
Bring
it. As in deliver it himself? I was dizzy and the nausea was kicking in. How can he bring me anything if he’s in Los Angeles? My heart rate tripled. Because I knew that my husband, Asanti, wasn’t in New Orleans.

Everything in me knew it.

“Baby, I don’t feel so good,” I said to him. The room is spinning and—”

It was truth but it was also a stall tactic.

“Legaci, where are you?” he asked calmly, but there was the beginnings of panic in his voice.

“I’m at—” then I started to breathe funny. To tremble. “I’m…”

“Legaci, baby, please! Just breathe slowly and tell me where you are,” he said with more anxiety in his voice.

“Okay,” I breathed deeply. Deeper still. “Okay baby, I’m—”

Then I hung up the phone.

There was no way in hell I could tell him where I was. No way. But I needed to get it together because he was going to tear the city down to find me. I needed to act fast.

Slowly I stood and gripped the side of the bed. I needed to get dressed and get moving. I had a house to find and I needed to get there yesterday.

Rinnnggggggg
!

No way was I going to answer that.

Rinnngggggg
!

Damn.

How the hell did I get myself into this mess?

Rinnnnnggggg
!

This was getting out of hand.

“Baby, what are you doing?” Ashton asked me when he stepped into the room and grabbed me around the waist, laid me back on the bed. “You know you’re on bed rest.”

Duhhhhh!

“I know I’m on bed rest, but I don’t have time to rest now. I have things to do. A house to get.”

He held me down a little roughly when I started fighting to get back up.

“What is so important that you have to get a house now? I thought you had a few days.”

Rinnnnggggggg
!

Ashton looked over to the phone that was ringing. The phone that Asanti gave me. Then he looked up at me. And in a heartbeat I knew that he knew. Or at least he thought he knew. The tension in the room was so thick it could only be cut with a high powered chainsaw. I needed to do some fast talking.

Rinnnggggg
!

“I just talked to the man I’m trying to get the information on. He’s in New Orleans. And he wants to have a meeting at my house.
My house
. And I don’t have one.” I started to panic. Hyperventilate. Tremble. “I really need you to help me get that house,” I said as I closed my eyes.

I was too dizzy to keep them open.

Too ashamed to look at him.

Rinnnggggg
!

I was using my husband, the first one, and I was using him as I betrayed him. What kind of woman had I become?

“I already did,” he said to me as he gently removed the hair from my forehead. “I was out taking care of that this morning.”

Rinnnggggg
!

“This morning?” I wanted to open my eyes and look at him so bad, but I feared that if I did I would throw up. “What time is it?” The nausea was overwhelming.

“It’s a little after one.”

It took me a moment to adjust to the time. I had been sure it was morning and realizing that it wasn’t threw me off. Those damn pills threw me off. I needed to stop taking them, but at the same time I needed the rest.

And why the hell did I need rest?

Rinnnggggg
!

Because I was betraying those I loved, getting them to help me betray them, and trying to behave like normal when my world was tilting on its axis.

Damn!

Rinnnggggg
!

“Okay,” I said as I tried to gather myself, to get my head and my body on the same page. “I really need to get to that house today. Like as soon as possible.”

“London, I really think you need to be in bed. You’re still sick and you need more rest.”

Rinnnggggg
!

“I just don’t have time for that now,” I told him with urgency as I tried to ignore the constantly ringing phone and hoped he was ignoring it too. “I’ll rest after the meeting.”

“Okay,” he said as he wrapped his head around what he obviously didn’t want to hear. “Will you be back home after the meeting?”

The phone stopped ringing.

Then started up again.

Rinnnggggg
!

For some reason Ashton’s question floored me. I mean it knocked the wind I barely had out of my gut. And I had no idea how I would answer him. I knew that I would not be home. I knew there was no way that if Asanti was in New Orleans he would let me sleep anywhere other than with him.

So what would I say?

Rinnnggggg
!

How would I answer that simple question?

“I don’t know, Ashton. If something smells funny or if I think I’m about to get a lead I’m going with it. Even if that means staying there and not coming home.” Then I opened my eyes. Looked at him. He looked pissed. And even though being pissed was a rarity for him, it seemed to be a prerequisite lately.

And that was all my fault.

Rinnnggggg
!

“So are you telling me that my sick wife is about to leave her family again? After only seeing us for a little over twenty-four hours? And she’s about to do this knowing that her children haven’t spent more than twenty four hours with her in just under two months?” He stared at me hard as he stood and walked toward the bedroom door. “You’re really pushing it, London.”

Rinnnggg
gg!

Then he stepped out of the room.

“Ashton, I’m—“

He cut me off as if he didn’t give a damn what I was about to say, but turned to face me.

“I’ll take you to your new house as soon as you’re ready.”

Rinnnggggg
!

“And you might want to answer
that
.”

Then he walked off.

Less than an hour later I was standing inside of a small and comfortable house. It was fully furnished and in a part of town that wasn’t rich, but was far from poor. It looked like where I should be living as a freelance writer with no husband and no kids. Like where a working person with a good income should be living. And the neighborhood was quintessential New Orleans.

It was perfect.

“Where did you find this?”

“It’s something my company owns and I rent it out on a seasonal basis,” he explained. “Mardi Gras season, the summer, Essence Festival weekend, Bayou Classic, things like that. People pay good money to stay in a house and not a hotel when they’re here.”

“Yeah,” I said as I looked around and acquainted myself with the place, “I guess they would want the full New Orleans experience and not the tourist’s experience.” Ashton said nothing, just handed me the key. “You know I’m really sorr—“

“The code for the alarm is written on the pad in the office which is fully equipped with everything you will need,” he spoke as if he didn’t want to hear me speak. “I’ve taken the liberty of bringing some of your clothes and filling the drawers and closet with them. I put a little food in the pantry and the fridge, but you’ll have to get more when you have time. I’ve even taken the liberty of doctoring a few records and ensuring that no traces of your family exist.” On that note I tried to speak and at least defend myself, but he left me no room to do so. “Other than that you have all of the essentials. Take your medicine and get some rest. I love you, London.” He grabbed my face and kissed me on the lips gently. “I’ll talk to you when you get home.”

Then just like that he was gone.

I felt like the biggest fool on earth.

Until the phone started ringing.

Again.

Rinnnnnggggg
!

“Hello,” I answered in a weak, sickly voice. That was one time I wasn’t faking or lying.

“Baby, please tell me that you’re alright.
Please
.” That was all Asanti said.

“I’m better, at least I think I am.” That was sort of the truth. I was still feeling ill and the ride over to the house didn’t do me any good. But knowing what I was doing to those who loved me, to those I loved, was making me ill.

“Legaci, where the hell are you?” He rushed the question out as if he couldn’t speak it fast enough.

“I’m at home baby. I’m at the house like you wanted me to be and I’m in bed trying to rest.” Half truth, half lie. “Starting to feel sick again.” That was all truth.

Then suddenly my breathing was too deep. My heart was too fast. My body began to shake. I needed to lie down. The room was spinning again. I was sweating bricks. I guess I was sicker than I realized.

Intense lying could do that to a person.

“Legaci? Baby?” Asanti spoke slowly, calmly, cautiously, “Where is home?” I heard him take a deep breath to keep down the panic that was trying to fill him again. He had no idea where his wife was and yet he could hear her becoming ill again. He knew he needed to get to me fast, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn’t get that damn address out of me before I blacked out again. “I. Don’t. Know. Where. Home. Is.” He spoke slowly, patiently.

I heard the concern in his voice. Heard the fear. This was a man who wanted to take care of his sick wife and couldn’t because that wife was deliberately throwing stumbling blocks in his way. Deliberately keeping him at a disadvantage so she could always be one step ahead of the game she was playing with his life.

I felt like the devil for torturing him like that.

So I rattled off the address.

Finally.

Asanti could now come to my home.

My fake home.

And be with his wife.

His fake wife.

In the house that her real husband provided.

By the time the doorbell rang, no more than fifteen minutes had gone by. I had somehow managed to crawl my way to the bedroom, which I barely noticed, and lay down. I felt like a wreck. Frail. Fragile. Feeble. I really needed to focus on getting myself together so that I could take care of the mess that was my life. And that meant that I needed to get rest. Serious rest. So I determined to do it.

With as much strength as I could muster, I made my way down a long hall and to the door. Slowly, weakly I opened it. And when I did there stood my husband, the second one.

“
Baby
!” Asanti said as he scooped me up into his arms and hugged me tight. “Baby, are you alright?”

In that hug I could feel his love. Feel his raw emotion. The fear that something bad had happened to me when I wasn’t answering his calls. The thought of maybe living without me if something had actually happened. The gratitude in knowing that I was okay and safe in his arms. Finally. Then he sighed, and it seemed as if the weight of the world lifted off of his shoulder.

I was so ashamed for doing that to him.

“Barely,” I said as he held me tightly. Kissed my forehead. My lips. The he started to walk, but had no idea where to walk to. He stood in the living room for a second looking around and when he couldn’t find what he was looking for he spoke. “Where is the bedroom?”

“Through there,” I said as I pointed toward the hall just past the den.

In a heartbeat he had me back in the bed. But still he held me as if I would break if he released me. “Legaci Styles I am not letting you out of this bed for the next week. You’ll get better if it’s the last thing you do.” His voice was hoarse, choked with emotion.