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Authors: Tresser Henderson

My Mans Best Friend (9781622860241) (22 page)

BOOK: My Mans Best Friend (9781622860241)

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Derrick

Three days had passed, and today was going to be the day I would find out whether Kea was my sister. I lay across my bed thinking back to us going to the facility to have the test done.

When the technician swabbed my inner jaw, and then did the same to Kea, my heart was about to jump out of my chest. The all-white walls in the room, with the technician wearing a white jacket with lettering engraved with the name Susan, and her white gloved hands seemed to be too much for me to handle. Mama was by my side as was Kea's dad by hers during the process. No one said anything. The only one who did any talking was the technician explaining about the test. I had to admit I was staring the woman down. Her name kept catching my eye, and I hoped she didn't think I was looking at her breast because I wasn't. I felt like I knew her from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before. I gave up trying to recall and figured it would come to me sooner or later.

“It's going to take two weeks,” she said when I asked her how long it was going to take to get the results.

“Two weeks?” I repeated.

“Yes. That's the average time for our facility to get this information to you.”

“Is there any way we can get those results sooner?”

“There is but ...”

“But what?” I asked eagerly.

“There is an additional cost involved in wanting results quickly,” the technician said.

“How soon can I get it?”

“Within three business days,” she said smiling. Her demeanor was so calm it put me at ease more than I would have been if I had someone who was uptight.

“Okay, I'm willing to pay,” I told her. I needed to know as soon as possible.

Now we were here to get the results. I sat up thinking how I wanted everything to be all right. I wished my life would go back to normal. My state of mind lately was not good. I wasn't sleeping or eating. I didn't go out. I was becoming lax in my grooming, which was something I never allowed to happen. I did manage to work, but I had to push myself to do that. I couldn't bring myself to admit this fiasco ever occurred, but when I thought about Kea, she was a reminder that it did. Every time I thought about the get-together where the news was revealed which ripped our world apart, my stomach churned. I began to throw up often.

Mom's words resonated in my mind as she told me, “Baby, the only way to get through anything is to turn it over to God. The Bible says, âBe still, and know that I am God.'” She smiled as she quoted Psalms forty-six, verse ten.

“Don't let the devil win this. You may have lost someone you loved dearly, baby, but you can possibly gain a sister. I know you didn't want it to happen like this, and I know it's hard to get through what the two of you have done, but both of you will get past this. If she is your sister, it was God's will. Everything happens for a reason, son, and regardless of anything that happens in your life, know that I am here for you always.”

I smiled, and for an inkling of a moment, I did have some peace.

When the pleasant technician called us to the back, I tried to stand, but my legs were shaking uncontrollably. Mama grabbed me by the hand, then patting it, said, “Regardless of the results, baby, you're going to be fine.”

I nodded in agreement, hoping she was right. Kea and her father followed closely behind. I hadn't made eye contact since I arrived, but entering the room which would determine our destiny, I finally got the courage to look back at her. Our eyes met immediately. She looked just as nervous as I was, but her smile eased me. I smiled back, hoping mine did the same for her.

“This is it,” she said.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“Yes. No,” she giggled nervously. “But it's something we have to know. And, Derrick, regardless of the results, I'm going to still love you. Whether it's in the partner form or family form, we'll always have a connection.”

I nodded, taking her hand into mine, and we both entered the room to hear the results.

Kea

The ringing of her words were deafening as I looked around at the stunned faces. Derrick stood, allowing his shock to be visible to us all. Then his shock turned into rage. He started punching the wall over and over again. My head fell into my daddy's open arms as he whispered, “I'm sorry, baby girl.”

Ms. Shirley ran over to Derrick to stop him.

“I can't believe this is happening!” Derrick roared.

Ms. Shirley turned back to the doctor and asked, “Are you sure these results are correct?”

“The test proved by an average of 99.9 percent that Kea and Derrick are brother and sister.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” Daddy asked again, hugging me as he tried to absorb some of my pain.

“Yes.”

“I don't believe this. I don't believe this. I cannot believe this,” Derrick kept repeating as he held his head like a child, not wanting to hear any more scary stories. He was hurt. He was angry. He was traumatized just like I was.

“Can they take the test again?” Ms. Shirley asked.

“Of course, they can. If that's what they want, we will run the test again.”

“I can't do this today, Mama. I just can't do this,” Derrick uttered.

“Okay, baby. We can come back and do it another time,” she said rubbing his back.

“I got to get out of here,” Derrick said, holding back the tears that wanted to fall. I watched him, thinking this man I loved so much was now my brother.

“We'll leave,” Ms. Shirley said looking at the doctor and the nurse.

“It's okay. Just contact us when you're ready to have another test done,” the doctor said.

Ms. Shirley nodded, and Derrick walked out of the room without saying a word. Ms. Shirley came over to Daddy looking at him with sadness in her eyes.

“Take good care of her, Joseph,” she said.

“I will. And you do the same for Derrick.”

When Daddy got me home, he took me as far as my couch. All I could do was lie down. This had been the worst day of my life. Mother treating me like dirt for years was better than what happened today. I'd rather get a thousand whips across my back than to deal with the realization that the man I cared for and have been sleeping with was my brother.

Daddy sat down in the chair and stared at me.

“Baby girl, I'm going to stay here with you tonight.”

“No, Daddy, I want you to go home. I'll be okay,” I said with a weak voice.

“You don't look okay.”

When he said those words, pressure pushed up from the pit of my soul, and my eyes reflected the pain threatening to get out. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks.

“I'm here for you,” Daddy said.

“I know, Daddy, but I'll be okay. I promise,” I said sitting up to absorb his loving gaze as I wiped the wetness from my cheeks.

“I can cook your favorite tonight,” he said smiling.

“Jambalaya,” I said like I was a kid again. In this moment, I almost wished I was. Then I wouldn't have to deal with the hardships of everyday living in my now-grown-up world.

Daddy said, “I'll even put some extra shrimp in it for you.”

“Another time, okay? I just need some time to myself.”

Defeated breaths escaped his lips, and he stood to his feet.

“I wish you would let me stay to comfort you, but I understand.”

I stood, walking over to him and wrapping my arms around his waist, burying my face in his chest.

“I love you so much, baby girl,” he said softly. “I don't like seeing you like this. You've been through so much lately. I don't understand why all of these bad things keep happening to you. You deserve so much better.”

I looked up at him saying, “I can't explain it either, Daddy, but what I want you to remember about me is that I'm a fighter. And I have you to fight with me too.”

He kissed me on the forehead saying, “I'm going to be calling to check up on you.”

“Okay.”

“And I want to take you out for your birthday this week. I haven't forgotten,” he said walking to the door.

“Okay, Daddy.”

“I love you, Kea.”

“I love you too.”

I watched as Daddy walked out the door. Breathing deeply, I stood looking around the empty space. Derrick was my brother, and there was nothing I could do about it. For some reason I could not convince myself that those results were correct. I knew I could be in denial. This could be my way of finding a reason to be with him. I missed him so much. I missed his touch. I missed his kisses. I missed his body being next to mine, and then the image of him being my brother shattered those imageries because now, my thoughts were considered to be incest.

Something had to change. I didn't know what that was yet, but our situation had to get better than this. Taking another test was a good idea. I needed another one to believe he was my brother. I had to convince Derrick we should do this, just to make sure it was right. We had to do something because I knew the love Derrick and I had for each other couldn't be wrong. Our world couldn't be this cruel to make me fall in love with my very own brother ... could it?

Coming Soon

My Man's Best Friend 2:

Damaged Relations

Jaquon

My world came crumbling down in front of a yard full of people when I got flashbacks of Zacariah's rapid decent down the road of destroying as many lives as she could. She annihilated everybody tonight and stepped beyond the line of merely tampering with my life. Not only my life, but she destroyed Kea, Derrick, and possibly their families' lives. All because she wanted revenge. All because her world wasn't going according to the way she wanted it to go. So the beat down Kea gave her was well deserved. She deserved a hell of a lot more done to her as well. I wish I would have got a kick or swing in during the altercation.

I knew when I saw Zacariah there was going to be a problem. I knew I had to do everything in my power to stay as far away from her as possible. The woman came stepping up in the cookout with a gray tank top, black skinny jeans, and gray stilettos. Who comes to a cookout in stilettos? Regardless, she looked nice. I might not like her, but Zacariah always had it together wherever she went. I think tonight she was dressed to impress to get Derrick back, but I don't think he even noticed her. Why would he when he had his eyes on my woman?

When I was sitting at the game table pulling my money with Essence by my side seeing Kea walk my way, I knew things were about to be on and poppin'. I wanted to snap my fingers and be somewhere else. I wanted Essence to disappear into another realm while my life with Kea remained intact. But that was all wishful thinking as Kea approached me and the woman I had been sleeping with for weeks. Kea didn't know this, but she knew my past history in our relationship. I wasn't the most trustworthy companion to her. So like I expected, Kea went the hell off. One for disrespecting her, and two for having the audacity to have my fling there to flaunt in her face. Of course, I denied it, but after Kea kept pushing, I confessed my involvement with Essence.

Kea finding out through others about my adulterous behavior was one thing, but to see me chilling with the woman I had been sleeping with behind her back was another. It was innocent enough because Essence and I were basically done at that point. I was ready to try to make it work with Kea, especially since it seemed like I was losing her to my best friend. But as fate would have it, as soon as I was ready to turn my life around, I got hit with a cataclysm that ended everything for me.

The expression on Kea's face was seared into my heart forever. The anger and hurt that consumed her delicate features stared back at me with a vengeance I knew was getting ready to be rectified. So her smacking the hell out of me was only the beginning of what I knew was the end of our relationship.

I was busted plain and simple. There was nothing I could do at this point but deal with the repercussions. You would think I would have learned my lesson when she threw that brick through the window of the other woman she caught me with, but the dog in me kept humpin' around.

“Would you like another drink?” the bartender asked me, and I nodded. Minutes later, another rum and Coke was placed before me. It was my sixth drink, and I still didn't have so much as a buzz. I guess sadness fought against intoxication.

I don't know what I was thinking when I invited Essence to that cookout. Was I smoking something that clouded my judgment to think it would be okay to have my girlfriend and the girl I was sleeping with in the same vicinity? I mean, I have dabbled with weed in the past but this time, I hated to say, this decision was done with a sober mind. Essence not being there would not only eliminate my own breakup, but it would have also eliminated Zacariah from coming, thus preventing her destructive behavior that she put into our lives.

I wanted so much to blame that selfish, conniving tramp Zacariah for everything that happened tonight, but I knew she couldn't take all the blame. Yes, she put everybody's business on front street, but I played a part of this debacle too. If I would have stayed faithful, this incident never would have happened.

Sipping on my drink, I watched the bartender mix a blue liquid into two tall glasses. He then put a slice of orange on the rim and set the glasses in front of two attractive women at the other end of the bar. One was a redbone with long, curly, auburn hair, and the other was a deep mocha chick with a short cut. The mocha chick was more attractive than her acquaintance. She must've felt me staring because she made eye contact with me. A smile crept across her face, but I just looked with not so much as a smirk on mine. Women and cheating was what had me sitting here drinking alone with my girlfriend ready to leave me. Yeah, I could accept Kea and I were over and go holla at mocha, but I really wasn't in the mood. It was time to go pay the piper and face Kea like a man. I needed to go home, but I think I needed another drink first just to deal with what was to come.

Gulping down the last of my drink, I gestured for the bartender to bring me another. Scanning the room, my eyes fell upon someone I was not expecting to see. It was Essence. It didn't take her long to jump back into another man's arms. She was just with me hours ago, and now she was sitting with some punk grinning all up in her face. Seeing this guy with her actually ticked me off. I stood to my feet to go over and ask her what the hell she was doing. I was going to snatch her up and try my best not to shake the hell out of her. Then I halted. She was not my woman. How could I flip out when she was not the one I had a commitment with? Kea was my main priority.

Essence looked my way. The look she gave me wounded my already sunken spirit. She gritted hard on me, but why? What did I do to her? Our little fling was just that, a fling. She knew my situation and didn't care, and now she was looking at me like I better leave her the hell alone. I guess she knew what she wanted, and I was not it. I was not about to stand in the way of her getting her game on. So I bucked the fresh drink the bartender placed before me, tossed three twenty-dollar bills on the bar, and left.

Driving around for a while, I finally decided to go home and face my demons. I didn't know what I was going to hear once I got there, and I guess driving around was helping me avoid the inevitable. I considered buying flowers, candy, and even a diamond ring, but I knew that wouldn't work right now. It was sort of like buying my way back into her heart instead of being a man and facing my mistakes. But still, anything to make Kea forgive me I was willing to do.

When I pulled up into a parking space in front of our apartment building, Kea's madness was evident. I pulled up to find all my belongings scattered about. I got out of my car looking at how Kea made it rain with my clothes, shoes, CDs, and game systems. She flung all of it over the balcony. To make matters worse, Kea had sliced and bleached some of my clothes. When I saw my new Jordan's I had just purchased days ago soaked in the destructive liquid with slashes all over them I really became angry. I knew I had broken Kea's heart, and, yes, tonight was the straw that broke the camel's back, but come on. She didn't have to stoop to the level of destroying my property. I'd expect something like this from Zacariah because she was trifling, but Kea? I knew Zacariah was down and dirty. When she came swinging, her blows felt like gut-wrenching punches being thrown by cement-filled gloves knocking everybody out, and now Kea had adapted to this same method of revenge.

Scooping up what wasn't destroyed, I tossed what I could salvage into my car. I then headed upstairs, putting my key in the lock to enter. Before I could turn the key, however, the door behind me opened. I turned to see Sheila standing there half-naked in a two-piece black lace nightie. Now was not the time.

“Hey, Jaquon,” she said seductively as I thought about Sheila's attempts that did work on me in the past and landed me in her bed.

She was always good for coming to the door in something skanky, but I ignored her attempts until one day I was too weak to resist. I went over and did what I did best. I tore that ass up and not just one time, several different times until my cockiness almost got me caught by Kea. This particular day I was bangin' Sheila down from the back when someone knocked on her door. I snatched my Johnson from her and went to the bathroom while she got rid of whoever it was at the door. To my dismay, it was Kea, asking Sheila to turn down the music which was blasting to mask the moans and groans we both were making.

“I know you and your men like to have sex with the music blasting, but do you think you can turn it down please? Some of us are getting ready to go to sleep.”

“Okay. My bad. I'll turn it down,” Sheila said. As soon as that door closed I came from the bathroom knowing this could never happen again. I was playing with fire for sure cheating so close to my home with Kea sometimes sitting in our apartment while I screwed Sheila. In the beginning, it never occurred to me that the neighbors would talk if they saw me constantly coming from Sheila's place, but the dog in me didn't care because my Johnson overpowered my common sense.

I eventually put a stop to it. I hated to because Sheila was gifted in the bedroom. Hell, she was gifted wherever we decided to do it. She was the type of chick that sucked toes and licked balls. She even did this thing with pop rocks one night that made me consider leaving Kea for good. But she was a straight up whore. You couldn't turn a whore into a housewife, and Kea was housewife material so Shelia had to go.

Seeing Shelia standing in her doorway half-naked scared the hell out of me because I was afraid Kea was looking through the peephole watching this freak attempt to lure me back into her corrupted lair.

“You can't speak?” she said smiling at me, posing like she was doing a shoot for
Playboy
magazine.

“What's up?” I said turning back to the door I was about to walk through.

“You look a little stressed.”

“I have some things going on right now.”

“You need some help with relieving some pressure?” she said sucking on her index finger.

“No. I'm good,” I replied turning the knob opening the door to enter.

“Holla at me later, boo. I'm here if you need me.”

I turned to look at her before shutting the door in her face. I hoped Kea didn't hear what she said because she damn sure said it loud enough for the people on the basement floor to hear. If I didn't know any better, I'd think Shelia was attempting to break me and Kea up. I was surprised her trifling behind hadn't told Kea already. Maybe I should tell her before Sheila does, but right now that would only add gasoline to this inferno.

The apartment was dark and quiet. I clicked the light only to find it didn't work. With the light from the moon giving me enough illumination to maneuver, I made my way to the bedroom. I clicked the light on in there and it too didn't come on. Did Kea pay the electric bill I wondered. I looked at the DVD player in our room to see the time showing 2:19, which meant we had electricity. I walked over to the television and turned it on. Finally something worked. The TV lit the room and once it did, I saw Kea standing beside me. I jumped halfway across the room.

“Damn, Kea, you scared the hell out of me,” I said with my heart beating rapidly. I wasn't expecting her to be all up on me like she was. I could tell she had been crying from her swollen eyes. She looked disheveled but through her madness, I couldn't help but to bask in her beauty. I looked her up and down until my eyes fell upon what she was holding.

“What are you going to do with that?” I asked cautiously.

“I'm getting ready to whoop your ...” she said not even finishing her sentence as she swung the bat at me.

“You bastard. I'm sick and tired,” she swung again, “of you cheating”
another swing
, “on me. I want you to pay,”
swinging
, “for hurting me.”

I jumped back with the bat barely missing me a few times. She swung again hitting the lamp this time, smashing it into pieces.

“Put the bat down before you hurt somebody,” I yelled, trying to escape the path of the bat.

She swung again, but this time, I didn't get out of the way quick enough. The bat smacked in my lower back causing pain to shoot through my body. Again she swung, hitting me on my upper bicep this time. Her next swing was aimed for my head, but I turned quick enough to put my arm up to block the bat from making contact. Pain shot through my arm. Thinking quickly, I grabbed the bat before she could take it back to swing at me again. I made sure not to let go of it as Kea struggled to try to gain control of the weapon.

“Let go!” she screamed.

“Not until you calm down.”

We played tug-of-war before I jerked it hard, snatching it from her grip. This made her angrier. She charged at me and began kicking and punching me. It was hard to block with one hand since I was holding the bat with the other. The beast in her was unleashing its rage which had been festering for years. Finally, I threw the bat across the room. Kea never noticed, still trying to beat me to no end. I went low scooping her off her feet and throwing her over my shoulders.

“Let me go,” she said punching my back. I took her over to the bed slamming her down on her back. Before she had a chance to get up, I straddled her, pinning her arms down, making it impossible for her to move or swing at me again.

“Calm down, Kea!” I yelled.

“Let me go! Get off me!” she screamed.

BOOK: My Mans Best Friend (9781622860241)

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