One Toe Out (A Complicated Love Story) (14 page)

Simone nodded. “I do. You were right Mom. I should’ve listened to you.”

Divorcing J.T. was on the top of her agenda, especially after he had found out about her and Kirk. She drifted off to a couple of weeks ago. J.T. had gone ballistic. He had slammed the door shut, pulled Kirk up by his neck then punched him so hard that Simone was afraid that he had broken his neck. They found out later at the hospital that J.T. had actually broken Kirk’s nose.

She had learned from Aleesha that after they left, J.T. had trashed the hotel room. Lamps were smashed, the TV was cracked and the bathroom mirrors were shattered. Marcella had smoothed everything over by overpaying the hotel for repairs to the room.

While he didn’t kick her out, he refused to acknowledge her presence whenever they come across each other’s path. But once in public, he turned on the switch and he’d be the loving doting husband, especially now that she was showing. He hadn’t fired Kirk yet, but now there is a chilliness where there used to be the warmth of decades long friendship.

Lillian was silent while she sipped her drink. She nervously bit her lip. “Maybe you should stay with J.T. the situation isn’t that bad. You can stay married to J.T. and see Kirk whenever you want.”

“
Mom, you’re encouraging me to cheat!”

“
Come on,” Lillian scoffed. “It’s not like you two are really married.”

She doesn’t want to lose this gravy train
, the truth hit Simone so hard that she felt a headache coming on. But she couldn’t voice it to her mother…not someone who she loved and admired and who had sacrificed so much for her. She spoke softly, “But I don’t love him,” she said instead.

Her mother picked up an éclair and bit into it. She slowly chewed her treat, as though chewing on her next words. “You knew that when you agreed to marry him,” she finally said.

“
I know that,” Simone said glumly, wishing for her old mom to reappear. “But I’m pregnant Mom, don’t you think Kirk should be the father to his son?”

Lillian hesitated, then said, “But he will be taken care of. J.T. can give him the life that Kirk can’t. J.T. can expose him to a whole another world.”

“
Kirk isn’t poor Mom, he’s a multi-millionaire.”

“
But he’s not on tract to being a billionaire is he?”

Aggravated, Simone wanted to shake her mother. “Let’s just pretend that J.T. and Kirk are just your average blue collar working brothers. I know that you wouldn’t have a problem with me divorcing J.T. and marrying Kirk. So why is it different now?”

“
You really have to ask me that? I told you already. The money. And don’t you forget about what J.T. did for your brother. That new lawyer that J.T. got for him is looking to get an appeal or maybe have Lawrence’s case thrown out. He said that the arresting officers didn’t do everything by the book. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“
Yep,” Simone muttered. “Yippee to J.T.”

Chapter
21

J.T. signed another autograph and Simone looked on in ill-disguised annoyance. She wanted to talk to J.T., in private, but he had wanted to go out and act like a proud Daddy and show off her baby bump.

Simone picked at her food while J.T. hungrily ate his. “Not hungry?” J.T. asked.

“
Not really.”

“
Don’t you think you should eat…for the baby?”

Simone patted her stomach. “It gets enough food, I pigged out earlier today.”

“
Okay,” he said.

Simone sighed, ever since she had announced her desire for a divorce, their relationship had strained.

“
Have you changed your mind about the divorce?” she asked.

“
Nope.”

“
Come on J.T. that’s not fair, I’m trying to be nice about this. I want to end this as amicably as possible. I won’t talk about you or your lifestyle,” she said and J.T. jerked his head up and nervously looked around the restaurant.

“
Stop talking about that,” he hissed. “We can talk when we get home.”

“
I’ll stop as long as we talk like you promised.”

“
We will,” he promised and they spent the rest of their dinner in silence. The next day, a picture of them showed up on the Internet with the caption: Is there trouble in paradise or is the bread just stale? Marcella saw it and immediately called J.T.

“
What the hell is going on with you J.T.,” she yelled. She caught J.T. just as he had finished practice and was on his way into the shower. He had been expecting the call, Christian had seen the picture and had warned him.

“
Nothing, everything is cool. She’s just tired that’s all. Hey, I’m about to get into the shower, let me hit you back later,” he said then hung up before Marcella could reply. J.T. stepped into the shower and held his face up, letting the water wash over his face. This way, he reasoned with himself, if anybody peeked in, they couldn’t tell the difference between his tears and the water.

J.T. was in his workout room when Simone and Kirk approached him. “What are you doing in my house? I told you I don’t want to see you and that if you should need anything from me, you can go through Aleesha.”

“
I’m here to support my lady. That’s it.”

J.T. looked from Simone to Kirk. “What are you talking about?”

“
I want a divorce,” Simone said firmly. “Now we can do this the nice way or the fucked up way.”

J.T. sat down on his bench. “Fuck y’all.” He ignored them and began lifting weights.

“
I have pictures,” Simone said quietly.

J.T. froze. “What?”

“
While you were traveling, Kirk had a friend of his set up a camera in your bedroom. I have pictures of you and Christian, and they’re good quality.”

J.T. looked as though he wanted to throw up. He thought about the things he and Christian had done in his bedroom, things that two men in love do, things that people do when they think they are free to express their love, things that people do when they don’t have to worry about cameras. He sat up then dropped his head in his hands. “You motherfuckers!” he roared, then he bum rushed Kirk, knocking him on the floor and began pummeling him. Kirk tried to fight back but he was no match for the angry quarterback. He screamed for J.T. to get off him.

“
Get off!” Simone shouted. When J.T. continued punching, Simone jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to pull him off her boyfriend. “Get off, or I’ll call the police!” she warned.

The threat cut through J.T.’s anger and he stopped. Simone rolled off and looked at Kirk. His face looked like it had gone through a meat grinder. “Oh baby,” she murmured.

J.T. jumped up. “I’m calling Marcella.”

Simone was sitting in her bedroom when J.T. banged on her door. She had washed Kirk’s face and put ointment on. She had a feeling that J.T. had re-injured his already broken nose. “Come out here, Marcella wants to talk to you.”

“
Come on,” Simone said to Kirk. They had stayed instead of leaving because they wanted this solved, today.

They walked down to the great room where Marcella and J.T. were waiting for them.

“
How are you two?” Marcella asked kindly.

“
We’re cool,” Kirk answered. Simone simply looked at her and didn’t respond.

“
I heard there was a disagreement.”

“
I want a divorce,” Simone said, she jutted her chin at J.T. “And he doesn’t.”

“
I see,” Marcella answered. “Can you wait for a couple of years?” she asked.

“
No. I told J.T. that I want to marry the father of my child and the man that I love. I don’t want to wait.”

“
She got several pictures of me and Christian,” J.T. said angrily. “She won’t give them to me.”

“
Do these pictures really exist?” Marcella asked, still uncommonly calm.

“
Yeah,” Simone answered. “Go get them,” she instructed Kirk. He ran out to his car and returned five minutes later carry a brown envelope. He handed it to Marcella. She opened it and pulled out the eight by ten photos. She blanched when she thumbed through, she silently passed them to J.T. J.T. grayed.

“
I’ll give you all the copies and the video feed,
everything
as soon as you agree to a divorce and sign the divorce papers,” she said, sounding braver than she actually felt.

Marcella inched towards her. “That’s not going to happen Simone. You and J.T. are going to remain married.”

“
No, we’re not.”

Marcella reached into her Hermès Birkin bag and pulled out a small handgun. “Yes you are.”

“
Put that away Marcella,” J.T. shouted.

“
You’re not going to ruin J.T. You’re going to stay married to him.”

“
No, I’m not,” Simone argued.

Marcella pointed the gun at Simone, and shot.

Simone shouted and that was the last thing she remembered.

Chapter
22

Simone stared up at the white ceiling, the TV was on but she wasn’t watching it.

“
I’m sorry,” Lillian said. “I should’ve let you go.”

Simone smiled weakly. “That’s okay, money is so addictive. I understand.”

“
But you told me so many times that you wanted to leave. But I wouldn’t let you go.”

“
I’m a big girl Mom. I could’ve left whenever I felt like it. I guess part of me really wanted J.T.’s blessing. He’s a good guy…and he’s another one being seduced by the money. He could easily quit football and become a coach.”

“
I guess,” Lillian said. “Would you like some water or something to eat?”

“
Yeah. Some pudding would be nice.” Her mom had been fussing over her ever since the ambulance had brought her into the hospital.

Lillian eyes widened with surprise.

“
I’m serious their pudding is good.”

“
Okay, I’ll run down to the cafeteria and get some for you.”

As soon as her mother left, Simone closed her eyes. It had been an exhausting last couple of days. Fortunately the bullet didn’t hit any organs or artery. She had lost a lot of blood, enough for a transfusion. Lillian had provided her with the blood. It was her way of apologizing again for not listening to her daughter. And the best thing of all was that the baby had survived.

“
Hey baby.”

Simone opened her eyes, Kirk was looking down at her.

“
Hey.”

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead before sitting in the seat her mother just left. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, Simone had felt better.

She hesitated, then said, “J.T. called.”

His grip tightened on her hand, but his voice didn’t give anything away. “What did he want?” he asked easily.

She told him about the deal that was made so that Marcella wouldn’t have to go to trail.

“
Are you surprised?”

“
Naw. Then everything would come out about J.T. she couldn’t do that, it made sense for her to avoid all that. She got five years and more than likely she’ll be out in two. It’s funny how they spun it. That she was always in love with J.T. and she couldn’t take our marriage any more. And she just wanted to talk to me, the gun was an accident. And it worked. Don’t forget about the money J.T. had given her.”

He whistled softly. “Yeah, I set up the account. Twenty-five million, that’s a lot of hush money. At least you don’t sound bitter.”

“
I’ve had time to think about everything and to recognize my part in this all. I’m not saying that she was right for shooting me…but I never should’ve married him. Anyway J.T. has been really generous with me. He agreed to a divorce, and fifteen million was deposited in my account.” She had accumulated almost twenty million dollars over the course of her short marriage.

“
But he gave Marcella more than you.”

Simone rolled her eyes. “Yeah, first of all she has a lot more dirt on him than I do and he knows that you and I are going to get married. So he knows that I’m going to be taken care of. He was pretty calm when you told him that you can’t work for him anymore.”

“
He knew that he and I can’t go back, sometimes people can, but not this time,” he said wisely.

“
I hate that I was involved in such a shitty situation.”

“
It wasn’t your fault. If the situation was offered to anybody else, they would’ve accepted it too. And it might’ve gone down differently.”

“
He’s going to keep playing,” she said. “He figures that his secret is safe and nothing’s changed.”

“
Except you’re getting a divorce. Do you think he’ll ever remarry?”

“
I don’t know. I just wish that he’d be honest. Tell everybody that he’s gay. He’ll be an inspiration to other people struggling with their sexuality. And if the NFL makes it difficult for him, he should sue their asses off. He has a right to play just like everyone else.”

Kirk shrugged. “Everything you said is true. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

There was a knock on the door. J.T. stuck his head in her room. “May I come in?”

“
Come on in.”