What's His Is Mine (12 page)

I
hit my goal weight and I was making progress with DeCarious. Last week after the game I massaged his shoulders and gave his side a deep massage until he fell asleep. When he awoke, me and Asia were in the bed with him like a happy family. I poked out my butt slightly, just so, so he could get a little feel of what he was missing. I thought I got a rise out of him. He didn't say anything—he just positioned his body to the other side.

I was always happy, docile, smiling, and very attentive to DeCarious and Asia. I sent him pictures of us all the time and let Asia talk baby talk to him. I tried to laugh at all his jokes and I was very complimentary. I knew DeCarious was on his way back—he was calling me all the time like he used to. He deposited money in my account
just because,
he said. I like
just because
money, especially when it is a couple of thousand dollars. He was definitely coming back, and I just had to let him think it was his idea. If he thought that I was manipulating him even a little bit, he would run away.

And hopefully DeCarious came to his senses soon, because I was tired of being Miss Anne's praise pal. She had me going to other churches now, and she was even calling me too much. But I thought—no, I knew—all my hard work was eventually going to pay off. It had to, because I couldn't wait to quit my job and move back down to Atlanta. Then my life would be one big vacation again.

D
eCarious was on his way back from a West Coast game against the San Francisco 49ers. I couldn't wait to see him. Tuesday had become DeCarious's and my unofficial day to be together. We both had very busy schedules, so we had to make time for one another. We did everything together, from doing nothing to watching episodes of
The First 48
on television. It was strange that we were so close and we hadn't had sex yet. We hadn't done anything more than hug and kiss. However, I felt an emotional connection to him like I just can't explain. We cuddled, hugged, and kissed a lot. He said several times that he had never felt so strong about someone so fast. I felt the same way. He was definitely what was missing from my life and we were making our way to the next level. He was everything I ever wanted. DeCarious had looks, personality, and intelligence. Plus, we had so much in common it was like I'd met the male version of me.

I wanted to be with him. He kept jokingly calling me a prude, but he had no idea. I am anything but. I didn't tell him about my two years of celibacy, because it was really none of his business. I was just scared that when I finally had sex I might go crazy on him. Before I had a man around I was good—never thought about sex. But now I felt myself always thinking about it. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out too much longer. And I knew it was going to be so good.

DeCarious asked me to go to a few parties and I wouldn't go. To me, our relationship was just too new to put on display. He said this was the first time in his life he had to be a secret—people usually wanted to show him off. It was not that at all. I actually really liked him and couldn't wait to have sex with him, but I was a little scared. Then he kept offering me money. I told him I didn't need his money. If I needed it I would gladly accept, but I was happy with him just picking up the tab when we went to dinner.

I was at work and I got a text from DeCarious—lyrics from a Jamie Foxx song, “She Got Her Own.”

 

I texted back,

He texted me,

I texted him,

The next day DeCarious called right before I went into my meeting. I remembered that I forgot to check the front desk as he had instructed me, and I hadn't called him back even though he had left several messages.

“Cherise, did you get your gift?” DeCarious asked.

“No, babe, I'm sorry. I forgot, but listen—I will get to it as soon as I get home.”

“Okay, I miss you. Am I going to see you later on?”

“Probably.”

“Cherise, I need to see your face. Send me a picture or something. Something sexy.”

“DeCarious, I'm at work. Plus, I don't take those kinds of pics. I can't, not right now. I'll call you later,” I said and turned my cell phone off.

When I came out of my meeting, I turned on my phone and was about to call DeCarious back when I got several crazy text messages from him.

I reread the text several times. I didn't have time to have a text war with him. Gary and I were on our way to do a pregame shoot around interviews with the Hawks. I didn't know how to handle DeCarious's stupid long text. At first I wasn't going to respond, but then I found myself sending him a bunch of texts. I must have sent about five.

He didn't respond to my text. I was thinking maybe I had said too much. I wasn't sure if I should call him or not. I was scared of his reaction. However he shouldn't have sent me all those crazy, insensitive texts. Whatever I thought, once I was home I retrieved the box he left at the front desk.

I opened it as soon as I entered my house. It was just a teddy bear. A stupid teddy bear. I couldn't believe DeCarious was so upset until I looked down at the teddy bear's ears. Both ears had beautiful marquise diamond earrings.
Wow,
I thought. The earrings were nice, but they still didn't excuse DeCarious's behavior. I was about to text him back, but before I could call, he texted me.

 

DAMN, I GUESS YOU TOLD ME. SORRY, BABE. CAN I MAKE IT UP TO YOU?

I smiled down at my phone and texted him back.

I smiled.

Promptly at 7 p.m. DeCarious was at the door. He had two bags with him.

“What's in all the bags?”

“Dinner. My baby is working hard, and I have to understand. She can't take off to go on a trip with me to the islands. I have to bring the islands to her.” He started putting out tropical drinks and food all over the table. Then he put his iPod in my dock and began playing reggae tunes. I had a seat and he served me dinner and drinks. He poured a coconut drink and made me a plate of red beans, curry, and jerk chicken.

The food was good and DeCarious had really thought the evening out. He served me like a queen, then made a cute toast.

“To us for you being the perfect woman. I wish I would have met you years ago. Maybe this is the beginning to our forever,” he said.

“Our forever,” I repeated. I looked into DeCarious's eyes. It scared me how serious he was at times. We hadn't been together that long, but I believed him.

“I know, Cherise, but I've never fallen for anyone this fast. I really feel like you are the one. To meeting the one.”

“I am the one what?” I asked.

“You know—the one for me.”

“What are you talking about, DeCarious?”

“I just like everything about you. I like how independent you are. Cherise, you are perfect. I love everything on you, from your gorgeous face to your pretty pink toes.” I smiled. I was blushing. “I don't know, we are going to have to go ring shopping.”

“We will see about that, but right now, thank you for the earrings. They are beautiful.”

“You're welcome.”

Our night was perfect. It wasn't because he was talking about marriage or because he bought me earrings. It was perfect because DeCarious was just the sweetest man I had ever met. I was really falling for him, and fast. So when he held my hand and walked me into my bedroom and laid me on my back, I didn't stop him. We both quickly undressed. His body was so warm and firm. I wanted to attack him and could not get undressed fast enough. I was undressed and he still had his boxers on. He climbed on top of me and began kissing my navel and letting his tongue follow an invisible path up to my breasts. He unhooked my bra as I lay still. I wanted to relax and just enjoy every moment. Then he followed that invisible line back down past my pelvis. Just from his kisses alone, I felt a flash flood about to emerge from my body. It all felt so good I didn't know if I wanted to hold it in or release everything. We then switched positions. He lay flat and I got on top of him and placed his body inside of me. Our flesh connected and again I almost exploded. DeCarious made my entire body tingle. I felt every jerk of his body from my spine to my toes. It was an incredible, indescribable feeling. I felt like I wanted him to stop but keep going at the same time.

There was more pleasure than pain as we pleasured each other for hours straight. Two years of waiting was worth it for this moment.

“W
e need to discuss what address you'll be using for your house arrest, Tanisha. I need to fax the information over.”

“Here at my house. The Tioga Street address.”

“Okay, Mr. Wallace gave another address. Let me give him a call and then I will call you back.”

A few moments later Kevin called me, screaming and really upset. “Tanisha, did you just get a call about where you're going to stay for your house arrest?”

“Yes,” I answered, confused.

“Okay, I was willing to pay for an apartment so you could get yourself together. I already discussed this with Tyrone.” It was the first time he had showed any emotion toward me in months. But it was crazy because he was arguing with me about something we hadn't discussed.

“Yeah, Kevin, Tyrone told me about that. Thank you, that's very nice of you, but I'm going to stay here, where I'm at. My children are here.”

“Your children are there. Do you know you have a son over here, too? I tried to make it easy for you. I can't believe you—so now you are worried about your children? I don't get you.”

“What do you mean by that, Kevin?”

“You leave for an entire year, without thinking about anyone but yourself. Then you come back. I paid your bail. I paid for your attorney. I tried to provide somewhere for you to live, all the while I have my own career and I'm raising our son.”

I interrupted him and said, “I did say thank you, and one day I will be able to pay you back. I appreciate everything you did, Kevin, but I just want to stay here. This is my home.”

“Before you left, your home was with me. I guess you forgot about that. Maybe you want to stay there so you can play house with your ex-husband.”

“No, that's not true. He is just helping me through all this and we are not getting back together.”

“You think I believe that, Tanisha? You're nothing but a liar. I thought you were dead, Tanisha. You let me think that for a year. All the emotions I went through, and now you are going to walk back into my life like nothing ever happened. No explanation. After all I've done for you. You haven't even had a one-on-one conversation with me. I figured it was because you had so much going on, but now there is no excuse. How about this? Why don't you go on the run again? This time make it seventeen years, so our son won't ever have to know you. And you know what? Just stay out of my life, Tanisha. You hear me? Just stay out of our lives.” I was speechless. I knew Kevin was too damn calm. I didn't know how to respond. He had so many things wrong.

“And you still are not going to say anything?” Kevin asked.

“Kevin, it is not like that at all. Let me explain,” I said, confused.

“You don't have to explain anything to me. You don't know how much you hurt me by leaving, and then you come back in town like nothing.”

“I'm sorry! Kevin, I'm so sorry,” I said as tears streamed down my face and I paced back and forth in the living room.

“You're sorry! All of this, and that's all you have to say is you're sorry. You fucking ran away! How pathetic is that? You ran away!”

“Well, maybe if I didn't have your crazy, stalking ex-girlfriend chasing me, I wouldn't have run away, Kevin.”

“So every time something crazy happens, you're just going to run. If that's the case, I don't want you in my son's life, Tanisha,” he said and disconnected our call. I tried to call him back several times and he didn't answer.

All I could do was pray on all of this. I just wanted my life to go back to normal. I just wanted to redeem myself, be a good mom, and get a job.

I went upstairs to take a shower. I needed to destress. I took my clothes off, and got in the shower. No sooner did the hot water hit my body than my phone rang. I knew it had to be Kevin, so I grabbed a towel and raced to retrieve my cell phone from my bedroom.

“Hello,” I said frantically.

“Hey, Tanisha, it's Adrienne.”

“Hey.”

“I was just checking in on you, making sure that everything was okay.”

“Yeah, I'm fine. I just got in the shower—can I call you back?”

“Sure.” I wasn't going to call Adrienne back. I didn't really want to talk to her. Her voice was irritating and she just seemed like she still didn't get it. She didn't get that she gave me bad advice, I took it, and now my life was in shambles. All I wanted was a hot shower, a long nap, and a regular, drama-free life.