Never Keeping Secrets (22 page)

 

GIRL TALK

 

 

“Y'all gone make me lose my mind up in here, up in here . . .”

Xavier was tall and thin. The oversized clothing he had on looked more like he was wearing someone else's clothes than trying to be in style. He was an okay-looking boy but his square fade that resembled the father's on the TV show
Moesha
and his acne just messed his entire game up.

 

“I
cannot believe that my entire relationship might be fucked over something we did in high school?” Monica said, breaking the silence as they all sat at one of the tables of the hotel's restaurant.

“My marriage too,” Latoya admitted.

Keesha said nothing and just nervously bit at the acrylic tips of her nails.

Danielle turned to signal for the waiter. “Another glass of red wine, please,” she said as soon as he appeared at her elbow.

Monica leveled her eyes on her. It was Danielle's third glass in just the minutes since they left the ballroom and the now annoying refrains of Babyface's “Never Keeping Secrets” behind. “Is it okay for you to be drinking, Danielle?” she asked.

Danielle leaned a bit out of the waiter's way as he sat the glass of wine before her. “Yes, I'm fine,” she said, picking up the goblet and taking a deep sip.

Monica opened her mouth to protest but then she pressed her lips closed. They hadn't been friends in five years and Cristal had walked away from it, ignoring their calls and putting plenty of the distance she obviously wanted between them. Monica wasn't holding a grudge, she just had her own problems to worry about.

They all did.

She took a sip of her own glass of wine and glanced at Latoya. She couldn't believe after watching Keesha struggle to get clean from dope that Latoya the church mouse was popping pills.
She had God more than any of us. So why get high?

Monica's eyes dipped down to Keesha's stomach. She was not at all surprised that she was fucking two men—and cousins at that. Although she'd forgiven Keesha for sleeping with Rah behind her back she had never really forgotten it. Her lips were as loose as her pussy. Running back and telling Rah during the sex and drug haze that Monica was cheating on him led to him beating her and breaking her leg in two.

She picked up her iPhone from where it sat on the table next to her glass. No calls from Cameron.
Was that good or bad
?

“Am I the only one scared to go home?” she asked.

No one answered her as they all shifted in their seats. Their silence was telling though.

“It's weird that we let our friendship go and forgot all about our history together since high school and this vindictive asshole swoops right in and exploits our separation to destroy us,” Monica said with a sarcastic half-laugh.

“That's for sure,” Keesha agreed, pushing yet another piece of gum into her mouth to chew. “I thought he was my gay next-door neighbor but come to think of it I never even been inside that motherfucker's house.”

Latoya shook her head. “Well now I know why he never came to church every week, he was off playing dress-up with the three of you,” she said bitterly.

“And plotting to take us the fuck out,” Keesha added around the wad of gum.

“And the big dick son-of-a-bitch pulled no shots because I've known him as the manager for Kelson Hunter,” she said. “Oh shit, I forgot about Kelson.”

“The actor?” one of them asked.

Monica barely heard them as she snatched up her phone and walked outside the restaurant located just off the hotel's lobby away from the table. She dialed Kelson's cell number, pacing as it rang.

“Hello,” he said.

She paused at the coolness in his voice. “Kelson, hey this Monica—”

“Look, Monica, I'm not going to change my mind.”

She frowned in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“Look I appreciate the work you've done for me already but I shouldn't be harassed for deciding to have my investments handled by another firm.”

“What?” Monica snapped, drawing the many eyes of people in the lobby.

She held the phone away from her face and bent over to grip her knees as she forced herself to breathe. “Kelson,” she said, pressing the phone back to her face. “Are you saying you fired me?”

“Are you saying you didn't get the certified letter I sent?” he asked. “It was signed for today.”

She massaged her forehead. “I wasn't in the office all week. My assistant must've signed for it.”

“It's just business, Monica,” he said.

“No, that's more than fine,” she assured him. “I'll get the letter when I go in Monday.”

“And this is not because you picked Usain over me either.”

That bastard told Kelson
. She shook her head and punched the air. “Kelson, where did you meet Usain?” she asked, coming to a stop.

“He's an associate with XXL Entertainment,” he said. “Why?”

“You're still with XXL?” she asked. “I assumed you left them to work with Usain.”

“Nope, they sent him to me, wanted someone to work more closely with me, like a liaison between the company and me,” he said.

“Did you ever meet with him at his office?” she asked.

“Nah, we usually did lunch or dinner meetings and he always paid so I was like cool, you know.”

Monica nodded even though she knew he couldn't see her.

“I hope the next one is as cool as Usain.”

Monica arched her brow. “What's that?”

“He resigned this morning.”

“All right, Kelson, I'll see about the transfer of funds and a full accounting report of your investments first thing Monday,” she said, switching into business mode. “You have a good weekend, okay?”

“Seriously, this is not about—”

“Bye-bye,” Monica said, sounding robotic as she ended the call.

She pulled up her contacts and her thumb floated over Cameron's name. She just wanted to know what she was going up against when she went home.
No, not yet.

When she got back to their table Danielle was already halfway through another glass.

“Well, at least you didn't fuck him,” Danielle said, her voice sounding tired and slightly slurred as she sat with her chin in her hand on the tabletop.

Monica slid back into her seat. “Or let him eat you out,” she added as she slid in on the end of their conversation.

“Do you think we can press charges?” Latoya asked.

“For what, being stupid?” Keesha snapped, picking up her vibrating cell phone to check the caller ID before setting it back down.

Monica glanced at the screen and saw Corey's face. “Congratulations on your books,” she said, seeing how Keesha looked worried as hell. She was going to bite straight through one of her acrylic tips.

Keesha actually smiled a little. “Thank you.”

“You got your book published?” Danielle asked.

“Actually my third one comes out next year,” Keesha said.

They all looked surprised at seeing Keesha's bashfulness.

“I have to buy a box and see if I can get it on the show some way or at least tweet something,” Danielle said, her eyes a mix of sadness and happiness all at once.

“And congrats on your TV show,” Keesha said. “Kimani told me about it. She is so proud and went to school and told all her friends.”

“You're on TV?” Latoya asked, reaching over with the hand not clutching her purse to squeeze Danielle's hand. “What show? What are you doing on it? That's great, Dani.”

She smiled and took another sip of her wine. “Doesn't really matter now does it?” she asked, looking down in the depths of wine left in her glass.

Keesha bit at her bottom lip. “I could seriously hurt Xavier for this shit he did to all of us. I cannot go through this pregnancy—my life—without Corey. I know I fucked up but damn like . . . like what the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“You go home and you talk to him and you beg him for his forgiveness,” Monica said, leaning forward to lock her eyes with Keesha's. “It's hard but people do have the capacity to forgive. Trust me.”

“Xavier didn't,” Latoya said, taking a sip of her water as she kept one hand resting atop her purse on the end of the table.

“If he's this fucked up in the head about it, thank God he didn't have a small dick,” Danielle said with attitude.

“Chile please,” Keesha said, releasing a heavy sigh before she went back to chewing on her nail.

“I am not done with Xavier Lofton,” Monica said, her eyes glinting with just as much anger as Xavier had held in his own when he glared at them.

They all fell silent. All were lost in their thoughts. In imagining the worst and hoping for the best. In dreading going home to face the havoc wreaked on their lives.

Latoya stood up suddenly. “Excuse me,” she said, walking away from the table.

Xavier Lofton had played with them all like pawns on a chessboard, sitting back plotting every move and laughing at every turn. For years his hatred and need for revenge had festered until he had nothing but darkness and evil to put back out into the world. Nothing good had come from it. His revenge—his hatred—of them had tarnished his life for well over a decade.

Monica wondered just how the effects of his game would overshadow their lives as well.

She closed her eyes as she tapped her finger against the screen of her phone. Sitting there and not knowing if the man she loved had been delivered a bomb that would completely tear down the foundation of their relationship? Not easy. Not easy at all.

And if Xavier Lofton thought he got to piss over their lives and walk away to enjoy his without a care in the world then he was sadly mistaken.