New Title 1 (22 page)

“
Well, there wasn't much after that. He packed up some stuff and left. I guess going to the new house...
his
new house.” Jordin had to laugh painfully at that. Here she was still stuck at her best friend's home, a place they had went to get back on their feet. And now, they were back alright, but he was moving on without her. It just didn't seem fair. Julez could read the hurt all on her face.

“
You know you gonna be okay, right?” He had to let her know that. She looked at him and his stare was sincere. “You do know that, right Jordin?”

She lowered her eyes to the ground in response and Julez took a deep breath, putting down the dumbbell. He stood up off of the bench and looked down at her, lifting her chin with his forefinger.

“
I wanna hear you say it, ma. For me.”

Jordin swallowed hard, her heart racing a million beats a minute.

“
I'm gonna be alright,” she whispered, her eyes hooked on his. Electricity shot through them, sparks were evident. If there was something there before, this experience Julez had gone through and the time they had recently been able to spend together had only intensified the emotions. She wasn't half as hurt as she should be with Slim leaving her. And Julez wasn't half as upset as he should be, with Noelle playing disappearing acts. There was something else going on here, two people were enjoying each other's company a little too much. Jordin knew she had to stop it, she made up her mind she would not visit Julez tomorrow.

“
Um,” she moved her head from his hand and took a step back. An uneasy giggle escaped her lips. Julez nodded and diverted his eyes.

“
Yeah...exactly,” was all he could say. He knew what she was saying without words.
Let's cool out. This aint right. We bugging.

“
Something to talk about, or water under the bridge?” Julez asked. Jordin just looked at him, he was putting the ball in her court. Either discuss the issue or keep pretending nothing was going on. Jordin punked out.

“
Water,” she responded, barely audible. Just then, McKenzie came into the room.

“
Jordin! Daddy! I been looking for you, everywhere!” Ever since Julez had gotten shot, McKenzie had become so attached to him. They were always close but now she insisted on calling him daddy, and often woke up at night crying and asking Jordin when he was coming back home. Jordin figured the incident had scared her.

“
The doctor said you were exercising. Does that mean you're better? Does that mean you can come home today?”

She was speaking rapidly and excitedly, and Julez leaned down and hugged her as Jordin looked on. The sight reminded Jordin that he, Noelle, and McKenzie were a family, and she could never destroy that, or risk jeopardizing she and Noelle's friendship. Julez and McKenzie’s conversation snapped her out of her thoughts.

“
Soon baby girl, soon. Where ya mommy at?” He asked, his voice sounding like he was in thought. McKenzie pointed at the door.

“
She coming.”

Meanwhile outside of the door, Noelle had run into Kira, who was dressed in tight jeans and a tiny blouse over-pouring her cleavage. Noelle never one to bite her tongue, questioned her presence.

“
I just don't understand why this shit can't wait. Why are you coming up here to see Julez?”

“
Noelle, please. I just had to drop off this paperwork,” she said with a chuckle. “Julez asked me on Wednesday to bring the contracts up here, remember? Oh my bad, I forgot, you weren't here.”

Noelle raised an eyebrow.

“
Don't get cute, Kira.” She snatched the folder out of Kira's hand and grimaced at her. “I'll give these to
my
husband, thank you. You can run along now.”

Kira rolled her eyes.

“
Gladly. Give Julez my best.” She took her Marc Jacob's sunglasses off of her head and placed them on her eyes, turning to walk away. Noelle wasn't letting her off that easy.

“
You can give your own man your best. Julez already has my best, and that's all he needs.”

Kira stopped in her tracks and laughed to herself. Noelle was a trip with her slick talk and insecurities. And Kira thought she was a downright fool if she didn't see what was developing before her very eyes. Instead of worrying about her, she should have been worrying about Jordin who was up here damn near everyday. But she was so preoccupied and thinking she was getting over, her nice friend Jordin was keeping Julez off her back and giving her and Slim their quality time. She couldn't see what was staring her right in the face.

“
You know what Noelle, I do have a man.” She walked up close to Noelle and smirked before speaking slowly. “He actually works down at the construction site. You know, on Exit 9. I know
you
know where I'm talking about.” The way she said it caused Noelle to pay attention. Her heart beat faster and her throat went dry. Kira enjoyed the silent Noelle for once as she proceeded. “I saw you there once. I think you were visiting a friend.” Noelle's mind went blank and sweat began to form on her brow. “Julez didn't tell you? I told him to let you know I had seen you one day on my lunch break. You know, that boy is so forgetful. Maybe I should go remind him.” Kira started for the door leading to the gym and Noelle stopped her.

“
Kira, wait!” She walked up close to her, still wanting to control the situation, and deny, deny, deny, just like the niggas do. “First of all, you don't even know what the fuck you talking about. And if you go in there saying
anything
to my husband, I'm gonna fucking-”

“
Excuse me Noelle, but you are in no position to make threats,” Kira cut her off.

There was a brief silence and Noelle came to her senses. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes momentarily. This was it, she was about to lose Julez, the shit was about to hit the fan. Unless...

“
What the fuck do you want?” She asked Kira slowly.

Kira half smiled and shook her head in pity. Noelle was stupid, cheating on a man like Julez. She had to let her know that.

“
My, how polite we are all of a sudden, Noelle. You know, Julez is a good man, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“
What do you want?” Noelle hissed through clenched teeth. She was not trying to hear all that shit. She just wanted the problem to go away.

Kira looked Noelle up and down in disgust and then her eyes fell on something shiny.

“
Ooh. You know, I love that watch Noelle. Audemars?”

Noelle rolled her eyes.

“
Rolex,” she answered blandly. She sucked her teeth and slipped the custom pink diamond and gold faced Rolex off of her pretty wrist and tossed it at her nemesis. A small price to pay for her larger than life marriage staying in tact.

Kira caught the watch swiftly and nestled it across her own hand and fastened it.

“
Gee, thanks!” She admired her new piece of jewelry and shot a wide smile in Noelle's direction. “Nice seeing you again Noelle, and please, like I said. Give Julez my best.” She placed her shades on once again and strutted off, her new watch glistening as Noelle seethed. Kira didn't mind the nice exchange for not being the one to tell Julez about his wife, she knew it would come out eventually.

Either that, or Noelle would get hers when Julez finally gave into his hidden lust for Jordin. Either way, Kira knew the dark would come to light, and in the meantime, she had a fly new Rolex to count the time until it did.

Noelle took her time heading into the gym. All she could think of was how reckless she had been, coming up to Slim's job, and now being spotted. Her mind was in full works because no matter how much Kira enjoyed her new fine ass watch, Noelle knew that she still could and most likely would, eventually tell Julez about her creeping.

I gotta do something, fast...I can't lose my family...my home...my stability...

She tried to wash the worry off of her face as she stepped into the room. The sight of Julez bench-pressing McKenzie and Jordin laughing and counting on the sidelines made Noelle feel like an outsider. For the first time since the whole incident had occurred, Noelle briefly wondered why her best friend was spending so much time at the hospital.

She knew that Slim had recently left her, he actually had told Noelle that night that he would before he even spoke to Jordin. And Noelle felt bad for her, she truly did, because she knew that it had come out of left field in her eyes. But this was
her
family here, and Jordin seemed to be just a little too comfortable in it. She cleared her throat lightly, causing everyone to look up at her, putting a halt on their fun.

'Oh...hey Noe. What's up?” Jordin asked first. Smiling. Innocent. For some reason her sweet gestures today sickened Noelle's already pregnant and queasy stomach.

“
Nothing, I thought you were working.” Noelle's words were like rapid fire, too fast, like she couldn't wait to say them. She had never shown any sign of weakness before, but that question, and the way she had asked it caused Jordin and Julez to make the quickest eye contact with each other, sharing the same thought. The thought was 'yeah, this isn't right. And now Noelle can see that, and she's uncomfortable with it'. Jordin took her time answering.

“
I uh, got out a little early. I haven't been here long...I figured I could catch you up here.” That was a lie. Noelle hardly frequented the hospital and she knew it, that's why Noelle just cut her eyes from Jordin to Julez with her next question.

“
Weights?”

Julez laid back down casually on the bench and picked up the weight bar before responding.

“
Yeah. Doctor's orders.” His voice was so dry. Noelle's paranoid mind wondered if he knew something already. Was he done with her? Was he being cold? Was he moving onto Jordin? Deep down she knew it was her guilty conscious producing these thoughts, but she couldn't help it.

“
That's good. That means you're getting better, right? You'll be home soon?” She tried to add an extra dose of hopefulness into her voice, to sound more like the caring wife that she should have been playing. Julez just nodded as he continued his set.

“
Yeah.”

Noelle felt a strange feeling as she stood there and she wondered what was going on in Julez's mind. She was so scared that he knew something, he was being so distant. But she kept rationalizing that a man like Julez would have probably smacked the shit out of her as soon as she walked through the door if he knew what she was doing. Maybe he was just mad because she hadn't been visiting him a lot, she reasoned.

If Noelle were a mind reader, she would know the thoughts that Julez was really entertaining. He briefly played with the idea of being honest, with everyone. Telling Noelle that she was a fucked up wife and letting her know that in the time she had been vacant in his recovery, he had grown really close to her best friend. Maybe even telling Jordin that she should stop being so scared, and should just admit to whatever she was or wasn't feeling. Shit, being honest with himself, and finally admitting out loud that he may have made a mistake when he put a ring on Noelle's finger. These were the things that ran through his head as he pumped the iron, but he remained silent.

The room was quiet, all you could hear was the sound of the weights moving up and down and Julez's grunts. Jordin picked dirt out of her fingernails, McKenzie stood watching Julez , feeling the off energy, and Noelle racked her brain deep in thought. She wanted to continue to feel Julez out.

“
Oh, Kira gave me these to give you...” She walked up to him, holding out the folder.

Kira,
Julez thought. Kira had sucked him off in his office, he had deceived Noelle. That thought reminded him that he wasn't perfect either.

Maybe he should just try talking to his wife one on one and see what was up, why she wasn't playing her part, instead of holding a grudge with her.

Julez sat up, placing the weights down and taking the folder from Noelle.

“
Jordin...can you take Kenzie outside for a minute. I wanna holla at Noe.”

Noelle's heart began to race, she just knew this was it. He was about to confront her. As soon as she had brought up Kira, his whole demeanor had changed, now he wanted to talk to her. She was petrified.