Raging Blue (4 page)

Chapter
6

Mia

Mia used shopping as therapy to take her mind off of the
fact she was having difficulty finding the right man to trap into being father to her child and pay her what she deserved. She found herself being drawn to the children’s stores inside the mall. The French-inspired designs at Jacadi, along with the colorful and whimsical selections at Gymboree, sparked a little excitement. Mia touched her stomach while fingering the small items. She decided most of her baby’s clothing would come from these two stores since they were more upscale and unique than Baby Gap or the department stores.

“Damn!”
she said out loud when her phone rang. Then she looked around to see if anyone had noticed she was talking to herself.

She dug into her designer bag in search of her cell phone. It had been at least a week since she'd spoken to her mother. Just the other day,
she’d seen her mother’s number appear on her phone several times, but she hadn’t bothered to answer. Mrs. Reynolds’ meekness annoyed Mia. Times had changed drastically; there was no need for her mother to seem so feeble and domestic, and act like the world revolved around her unaccomplished husband.

Mia patted her stomach. This baby was a
sacrifice Mia had to make. Of course, she would have to slow down a little, but the child support payments would allow her to maintain her lifestyle. She anticipated being able to get at least a few thousand a month to secure her finances and help start her decorating business. As stylish as she was, she knew she could be a dynamic interior designer, despite the fact she had no experience or formal training.

Still searching, Mia finally retrieved the phone from the bottom of her large bag, rolled her eyes toward the ceiling, and sighed. Red stars indicated she had messages on her Blackberry. Mia checked her emails, replied to a few text messages, and started to go through her Facebook notifications. None of the messages were of any importance, so she stopped procrastinating and dialed her mother’s number.

“Hey, baby,” her mother answered with excitement.

“Hey.”

“I called you the other day. I know you’re a busy woman, but you can’t tell me you don’t have time to at least call your mother back.”

Can we just cut to the chase?
Mia thought. “I’ve been very busy lately,” she lied.

Mia couldn’t care less if she only spoke to her mother once a month, but she made a point to call her once a week so she wouldn’t have to hear her rant about her lack of communication.

“Are you coming up for Clarence’s retirement party? He’d love to see you. It’s been so long since you’ve been home.”

“I’m not sure. I’ve got a lot on my plate.” Truthfully, she didn’t give a damn about Clarence or his retirement.

“You need to stop being so selfish, Mia. He may not be your biological father, but that man gave you his name, raised you, and kept a roof over your head and food on the table. You should appreciate him a little more. He cared for you, your sister, and your brother like you were his own children,” Mrs. Reynolds said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

The comment made Mia wonder for the hundredth time if her mother was a mind reader. Psychic or not, she still wasn’t making a trip all the way to New York just for Clarence.

Mia thought about telling her about the pregnancy, but then decided she wasn’t ready to share the news with her family.

“Okay, Ma. I've got to go. I’ll call you later. Love you.” Her weekly obligation had been fulfilled.

A slight strand of guilt came over her, but quickly dissipated like a thin spiral of cigarette smoke. She had to admit, Clarence was a decent stepfather and provider for her family, but he was cheap as hell. His frugality had always incensed her as a teen. Growing up, they were never allowed anything exciting. Everything they had or did was basic, and never exceeded the bare minimum. Excitement for Clarence translated “special” into spending unnecessary money. She couldn’t fathom how her mother was able to put up with his stingy ass for all of these years! If she had learned anything from their union, she knew she didn’t want any part of a relationship with a penny-pincher like her cheap stepfather.

Getting stuck with a man of meager means wasn’t in the cards. With that in mind, she needed to figure out how she was going to break the news
to the real daddy. Each of her options failed. The remaining possibilities weren’t solid enough to act on them. Mia didn’t think her targeted athletes were stupid, but she knew most of them would pay to keep her quiet for the next eighteen years. Either way, silence came with a price.

Chapter
7

Blue

Blue longed for her own space again. The hotel served its purpose, but it was time to go home. She hadn’t heard from Jay since she’d hung up on him a few days before, but she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. As her Blackberry danced a muffled jig across the hotel’s desk, she wondered if it was Jay.
She let the phone ring. Since she’d been working from her hotel room—the only calls she took were from the office. Her bruises hadn’t completely healed, and she didn’t want to deal with the scrutiny of curious stares from her coworkers.

Trepidation slowed Blue’s pace as she gathered her things to head home. That same apprehension encouraged her to take her time getting in and out of the taxi. She moved like she was trudging through cement.

Blue slipped her keycard into the slot inside the elevator and headed up to her home. Walking through the door wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be. The apartment was spotless. No broken sculptures, strewn golf clubs, or overturned furniture. Jay had obviously gotten out of jail and called up the cleaning lady. She closed the door, took a deep breath, and contemplated leaving. She stepped further in the penthouse as she fought against the desire to turn away and run. If he was there, she at least hoped he was sober.

Blue slipped through the house like a cat burglar, praying for his absence. She checked for signs of him as she walked toward the master bedroom at the back of the house. She heard a bang, flinched, and then froze. Jay grunted.
She held her breath. Mentally, she saw herself retreat, but her body remained motionless. Her heart thrashed against her chest, and her palms grew moist. Her mind told her to stay, while her heart urged her to go.

“Deal with this now,” she whispered.

Blue still loved him and wanted things to be different. She wished she could flip those feelings off with a switch. For days, she'd tried to understand the rationale behind his actions, find some kind of justification. What did she do to provoke him? He'd seriously violated their union, yet she still loved him. Being away made leaving him possible. Contemplating her departure from her life with Jay at a distance was one thing. Facing him would be her test.

“Stay and deal with this,” she chastised herself.

Blue heard another bang and almost took off running, but instead, she stood still. She drew her chest up, lifted her chin, and stood board straight, prepping her will for the encounter with Jay. Just as she started toward the bedroom, the phone rang. So, Blue tiptoed over to the cordless in the kitchen. The phone stopped, but after a moment, it rang again. She wondered why Jay didn’t answer. Blue peered at the ID display and saw a Georgia area code. The number looked familiar. As she peered at the phone, her memory snapped into place. Mia was calling. She hadn’t spoken to her in the past few days.

“WHAT do you want now?” Jay yelled from the bedroom.

His prickly tone startled Blue. She stood quietly, straining to hear him through the walls. He was obviously irritated. Whenever Jay was angry, his rancor extended to everyone who crossed his path.

Quietly, Blue picked up the phone. She was shocked when she heard Mia’s distressed, tearful voice.

“Why are you treating me like this? You know I haven’t been with anyone else.”

Blue’s heart dropped along with her jaw. Did she just hear Mia right? She stood paralyzed by her outrage.

“Mia, I don’t have time for this shit. How am I supposed to just believe that baby is mine, huh? Be honest! Who else have you been with? I know how you love men with lucrative contracts.”

Mia’s gasp allowed Blue’s to go unnoticed.

“Stop it! This baby
is
yours and you know it!” Mia yelled.

“I don’t want kids!” Jay shouted back.

“All you think about is yourself. I should hang up and call Blue right now and tell her everything.”

“Do it and I’ll come to Atlanta on the next flight and kick your ass. Without a contract, Blue is all I have.”

“Enough!” Mia yelled. “I didn’t intend to get pregnant, but now that I am, what are we going to do about this?”

“Figure that out on your own!”

Blue’s jaw dropped. “I’ve heard enough,” she croaked through the cotton clump lodged in her throat.

“Hello?” Jay and Mia said in unison.

Jay spent a lot of time on the road as a ball player. Blue didn’t exactly keep track of all his trips, but clearly recalled the times she'd offered to travel with him and he'd found reasons for her to stay home.

A rhythmic pounding drummed at her temples as she wondered just how long the affair between her husband and best friend had been going on. Blue threw the phone down and ran to the door. As Jay dashed out of the bedroom and chased after her, she slammed the front door in his face and ran as fast as she could.

Blue raced down the hall, leaving her purse and keys behind. Just as she approached the elevator, the doors opened and she collided with a gentleman from her floor. He grabbed her by both arms to keep her from falling and stared into Blue’s wet eyes. She tried to pull away, but the man held his grip. She glared at him.

“Mrs. Holiday, are you okay?”

Blue’s glare softened. For a man, his face was a work of art. Jay was tall, dark, and handsome, but this man was beautiful. The deep olive tone of his skin appeared to glow. A wisp of straight jet-black hair fell over one of his steel-gray eyes. His lips were slightly fuller than that of any white man she could ever recall. He looked exotic. Blue realized why she felt like her neck was going to break as she stared up at him. He had to be as tall as Jay, standing around six feet, five inches.

His grip on her was firm, but not harsh. He still hadn’t looked away from Blue’s eyes. Nor had she responded to his question.

“Are you okay?”

Blue wondered how he knew her name since she didn’t remember ever speaking to him before. She pulled away and nervously straightened her clothes. While wiping her eyes, she saw concern in her neighbor’s face.

“I’m fine. Thanks!”

“Do you need help, Mrs. Holiday?”

She wished he would stop calling her that.

“No! And my name is Blue.”

The man smiled, exposing a perfect row of pearly whites.

“No, thank you. I’ll be fine,” she answered again.

“You look quite upset. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?” His words carried an accent, but Blue couldn’t place its origin.

She wondered if the beautiful man was just trying to pick her up. As she studied him, he tilted his head and offered another smile. She noticed the innocence. Blue looked down the hall towards her apartment. Jay hadn’t even come after her. She looked back at him. For as long as she and Jay lived in that building, it was a shame that she still didn’t know her neighbors’ names, especially since there were only three units on the entire floor.

“Thank you, but I’ll be fine,” she repeated, then pressed the elevator call button.

“Okay, but if you need me—ever—I’m right down the hall.”

“Sure. Thanks,” Blue said, turning away. She didn’t miss the implication in his tone
.

He smiled at her again before walking off.

“Oh, by the way…,” he turned back and stretched his hand towards her, “…my name is Kalisto Diodorus.”

“Oh. Okay. Nice to meet you.” She halfway shook his hand while casting her eyes down the hall. She returned to thinking about the fact that her husband and best friend were going to be parents of the same child. A crushing feeling settled in her chest. Her world was spinning out of control. The elevator doors opened, and she stepped in as Kalisto waved goodbye.
She pressed the button for the lobby but by the time she made it half way down, she decided to go back to her floor. She couldn’t run from the situation. As the elevator ascended back towards her floor she grew angrier. Jay had to know their relationship was over and it was time for him to go—not her.

Blue breezed down the hall, charging towards the penthouse, and banged on the door. When Jay snatched the door open, she charged to the storage closet, pulled out Jay’s large Tumi luggage, and began filling it with all his clothing from the room-sized walk-in closet. Jay took his time getting to the bedroom.

“We need to talk.”

“There’s nothing left to talk about,”
she said, breathing heavily as she snatched clothes from the closet and threw them into the suitcase.

“Well, at least tell me where you’re going,” She stopped abruptly, tilted her head to the side, and looked at him.

“I’m not going anywhere. You are,” she replied, then continued jamming his clothes into the bag.

“Damn you!” Jay yelled and punched the wall.

Blue flinched and glared at him for a moment before resuming the packing. She kept a sideways watch of his movements.

“I don’t want to leave, Blue. I didn’t mean for this to happen!”

“You didn’t mean to get my friend pregnant? You didn’t mean to violate me? You didn’t mean to cheat on me with God knows who else? Just what didn’t you mean?”

Jay looked surprised and then held his head on both sides as Blue continued stuffing his clothes in the bag. She remained watchful, but refused to allow him to rattle her.

“I love you, Blue. I’m sorry.”

Blue stopped, and despite her fight to hold them back, unwanted tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn’t want to be affected by words. It was hard enough dealing with the lies and betrayal. She’d rather him run around yelling and cursing instead of declaring his love for her. Blue also wasn’t going to let his pleas weaken her. She paused. She couldn’t recall the last time he'd said those words and actually meant it.

“You sure have a funny way of showing it,” she said, standing still.

“We can work this out, baby. People go through stuff and work it out all the time,” Jay pleaded.

After a long pause, Blue said, “So, how do you propose we fix this? I hit you upside your head, then have sex with Gavin, become his baby’s mama, and call it even?”

Jay bit his bottom lip and glared at her.

She was proud of herself for standing up to him. Blue felt fearless for a moment, hoping her words stung.

“That’s not funny, Blue. I’m serious. We need to work something out. I can’t leave; I have no place to go and I need you,” Jay said.

“Need me? For what? Money?” Blue smarted.

Jay looked aggravated and turned away. “Baby Blue?”

“Don’t call me that!” Blue screamed, referring to his pet name for her. That was reserved for good times. “Leave! Get out!” she cried as she pushed Jay in the chest, backing him towards the door. She ran back to the bed, closed the suitcase, and tried to toss it at Jay, but it fell to the floor and cracked open. She kicked the luggage and then ran back to the walk-in closet, grabbed another pile of clothes, and tossed those directly at Jay. He stayed calm while she cried as she flung his belongings across the room.

“Get out! Now! Don’t bother leaving the key because I’m changing the locks. Call your baby’s mama and tell her to make room for you down there in Atlanta. I’ll even pay for your one-way ticket!”

As Jay stepped toward Blue, she closed her eyes and held her hand up to let him know not to come any closer. He picked up the suitcase after closing it and walked out the door. She felt the urge to jump on his back as he exited. Blue wanted to see him hurt, even if it was just to experience a small taste of her pain.