This Can't be Life (46 page)

I called Stacey’s sister, Joy, and gave her an update on my talk with the detective. Between her and me, we were in constant contact with the detectives working Stacey’s murder case and would continue to be until it was solved.

Deon

When we walked into the party, people were everywhere. The Post and Beam home was at the top of the hill, overlooking
Hollywood
, and was filled with beautiful people. The barely dressed women lounging around added to the overall ambiance. The first two women that caught my attention were twin sisters. Tall, beautiful, and chocolate with little dresses on that showed their long legs. They were amazingly gorgeous. They walked up to me and kissed me on both cheeks like they had been waiting for me to arrive, but I kept it moving. It was too soon to make a choice. I just might choose them both before the night was over, but until then, I wanted to see what I could see.

I grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter that was walking by and sipped as I took in the crowd. There were many athletes—football players, baseball players, basketball players—an assortment of men at the top of their game. I noticed a woman dancing in a bikini, rubbing up against one of my teammates. When he noticed me, he gave me the thumbs up and smiled. I could see the surprise in his eyes. They hardly ever saw me out.

There were about three games of strip poker going on and women were walking around topless. This shit was wild! I was excited to be doing something different. I knew there was no turning back. I was ready to jump into my new lifestyle headfirst.

Darryl’s crew went their own way as he and I explored the mansion. We went upstairs and passed by rooms with glass doors that showed all types of sex acts going on. This shit was beyond anything that I had ever seen. We stopped at one door and watched three women sexing each other like crazy. That shit was sexy. My dick immediately got hard. Watching them rub and kiss all over each other was very sensual. Something about being a voyeur was exciting. We watched for a good 10 minutes before Darryl opened the room door and went inside. My eyes were wide with surprise as I watched from my post outside. They welcomed him like they had been expecting him to enter the room. The
Latina
chick immediately unzipped his pants and started sucking his dick. He looked at me and started laughing. I couldn’t believe my eyes! This shit was beyond wild! As long as I’ve been in the league, I’d only heard about shit like this. I noticed the white girl, who had her head between the black girl’s legs since the moment we walked up, beckoning me to come in. When I didn’t move, the beautiful, caramel hued black girl and the heavily tanned white chick came up to the door and began to dance for me. They were rubbing up against each other, feeling on breasts and rubbing each other between the legs. The shit was hot as hell, but I declined and walked away. I wasn’t down for fucking in a room with a glass door. Plus, there was one man too many in there.

I decided to sit down at one of the non strip poker tables to try my luck. I was playing with a professional heavyweight boxer, his date, and a couple of other people I didn’t recognize. More than halfway through the game, I saw Darryl coming down the stairs with a smile on his face cloaked by the three women who were still naked. The twins from earlier were draped around my seat giving me more attention and affection than I could ask for. They wanted to get it and I decided I was going to give it to them. I left the game the victor and was led by the twins to an enclosed cabana outside by the pool. We walked behind the curtains to find a fireplace and a large custom-made chaise patio bed with tall-lit candles around it. The warm glow from the fireplace and the candles set the mood.

I sat on the bed and was immediately accosted by the twins kissing and feeling all over my body, and rubbing my dick through my jeans. Shit was getting pretty heated when in walked a five foot ten
Latina
with double Ds and long legs. She walked up behind the twins and began rubbing and grinding on them. I was surprised as hell, but thrilled. I wanted to see some kissing and licking between the ladies, and I would have been highly turned off to see two sisters in the act.

I didn’t know any of their names and didn’t care to ever find out. One of the sisters pulled my dick out and they began taking turns sucking it. They were like a swarm of animals surrounding me. They were in heat and I was bound to put out the fire. I had a pocket full of condoms and a big dick that could handle all three of them for a long while. One thing was for sure, three to one was a foolproof way to bury the old Deon for good. This is definitely the life!

Talise

Sitting in the fifth pew of
Los Angeles
’ famed First AME church with Malachi by my side, I was looking forward to hearing the Word. I already felt the spirit flowing through me, and the pastor had just begun his sermon. Last night, as we were lying in bed, I felt better than I had in days. I was pleasantly surprised when Malachi suggested we go to church the next morning. I was happy that Malachi was opening his heart and letting God have his way with him. I needed to feel as close to God as possible with everything that had been going on in my life. Having Malachi on the same page spiritually was my goal, and I was getting closer and closer to reaching that goal as each day passed.

It seemed that every time I went to church, the Lord would speak to me through the pastor. The sermons always hit home, but this time it was as if the Lord was sending his message directly to Malachi. I couldn’t stop the tears that were flowing down my cheeks. The sermon was about finding your way back to Jesus and letting him in your heart. He preached about how, when hard times and tragedy strikes in life and things go wrong, people may question and doubt God. This confirmed for me that God was everywhere. He was there during the conversation Malachi and I had on our first date, and he had been there with Malachi throughout all the hard times he’d faced. The Lord was definitely speaking, and the whole congregation was on their feet praising.

The spirit was flowing through the church, and Malachi’s face was as tear stained as mine. We were on our feet praising God and shouting. When the preacher opened the altar for sinners to come and dedicate their lives to God, the choir began to sing Donnie McClurkin’s “We Fall Down” in a low hum as the preacher cajoled us sinners to the front of the church. Malachi was the first one up there and I was right behind him. This was the start to our new beginning. I knew we couldn’t go wrong with God on our side.

After church, we met my parents for Sunday Brunch at I.Cugini in
Santa Monica
. I’d gone and visited my parents a few times since we never made it to their house the day we found out about Stacey. When I told them that I was pregnant, they couldn’t have been happier. I was blessed to have such supportive, non-judgmental parents.

Brunch was delicious as it always is at I.Cugini. Being pregnant magnified every flavor 10 times. I was very grateful that not once had I experienced the morning sickness that I’d heard so much about. My stomach was still flat — not as flat as it used to be, but no one would be able to tell that I was pregnant. I was only three and a half months along and everyday was looking better than the previous. Malachi rubbed my knee under the table. He was so affectionate and loving that I couldn’t ask for anything more. He made me feel like I was the only woman in the room. I felt beyond special knowing that he loved me. I couldn’t think of spending my life with anyone other than him. It was as if we had a whirlwind romance. Things were taking off so fast, but I felt as if I’d known him forever, like we had done this all before.

Malachi welcomed me into his world, his heart, and his soul. When I look at him, I can see straight through him. He is an open book to me, and I’m honored that he trusts me enough to be so emotionally open. He doesn’t hold back. When he looks at me, I see home in his eyes, I see security and love. It is the most amazing thing. My mother saw it when she first met him. Simone and Stacey saw it. It’s as if when he looks at me, the sun is shining directly on me. I glow under his stare.

“So have you guys set a date yet?” my mother asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“No, not yet, I haven’t even thought about it with all that’s been going on,” I said honestly.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about it, actually,” Malachi began. “I wanted to talk to you about this, Talise, but since your parents are here, there’s no better time than now.” He took a sip of his water and continued with his focus on my parents.

“I couldn’t be happier having Talise in my life. You’ve raised an amazing woman, an amazing person. My life has been great in some aspects and awful in others, but when I first laid my eyes on Talise, I loved her. I know it’s a hard thing to understand, I don’t really understand it myself and that’s the thing, I’m not trying to understand it. I just knew I loved her the minute I saw her. From the first moment I looked into her eyes, she has not left my thoughts. I know things have moved very fast for us, but I would’ve married Talise last month, last week, today!” turning to me he said.

“I want you to be my wife when you have my child. You deserve that and so does our child. I want to get married as soon as possible. We don’t need a big wedding. I say, let’s just do it! We can go up to
Santa Barbara
or wherever you want to go, just your parents and Simone and the both of us. That is all we need. I just dedicated my life to the Lord. We have to do this right.” Before he even finished, my mother and I were crying full-blown tears, and my father’s eyes were filled with pride.

By the time we’d parted with my parents, we had set a plan for our wedding. Of course, my mother wasn’t having it and wanted to invite at least 50 of our closest family and friends. We decided to have the ceremony and small reception at Shutters on the Beach, a hotel in
Santa Monica
. If, by chance, we couldn’t get in within a month and a half, we would have it at Malachi’s house in
Santa Barbara
. I’d always wanted to get married on the beach, so either location was just fine with me. My mother was so excited. I could see it in her eyes. They insisted on paying for everything, although Malachi tried to protest, my father wasn’t having it. He said it was tradition for the bride’s family to pay for the wedding. I knew there was no talking my dad out of that one. I was so excited to finally be getting married. But more than that, I was excited to have found the man of my dreams and to be starting my life with him. I was filled with a mixture of happiness and sadness all at once. One of my best friends was no longer alive to share in my happiness, and that was a very bitter pill to swallow daily, along with my prenatal vitamins.

Simone

I arrived at the
Charlotte
,
North Carolina
Ritz
Carlton
Hotel, Friday at
1:30
in the afternoon. I was happy to see
Carlton
waiting in the hotel suite for me with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne and strawberries. I was excited to see him and more than happy to be out of LA. As soon as I got into the room, he was all over me. I couldn’t wait to feel him inside of me again. We spent the rest of the afternoon inside, ordering room service, drinking champagne, and pleasing each other.

“Let’s make a toast,”
Carlton
said, holding up his champagne glass.

“Okay, what are we toasting to?” I asked, raising my glass with the plump strawberry resting at the bottom.

“To your surprise,” he said. I had forgotten all about the surprise. I was too excited to see him.