Who Do I Run To? (11 page)

“I love you.”

“I know, bye K.P.,” she said and hung up. Janiece sat on the bed and blew out a deep breath. She grabbed a Kleenex from the nightstand and went over to the mirror to dry her face. She was nervous about going back out to the living room. She fluffed her hair and got her lip gloss from her purse and applied a fresh coat. She smiled when she realized she was in her bra. She put the phone down on the charger and went back into the living room.

“Sorry about that
,” she said with a smile and sat down next to Isaiah on the sofa. She felt awkward at first, but he started to massage her shoulders.

“It’s gonna be okay
, Janiece.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah…take it one day at a time. I’m not pressuring you. Take your time, handle your business. As long as you want me around I’ll be around,” he said rubbing her back. He grabbed her shirt from the floor. “Here, put this on,” he said handing it to her, and she looked at him with a look of confusion. She had hoped to pick up where they had left off.

“Janiece
, I’m not here to complicate things. We don’t have to move too fast. I’m a patient guy,” he said and gave her a warm smile.

“Isaiah
, what did I get myself into?” she asked thinking about how hard it was going to be to end her relationship with K.P..

“Yeah
, you have a lot to work out that’s fo’sho, but you have to do what makes you happy, not what makes other people happy. If you give in just to satisfy the other person’s needs, you’re not doing them a favor. People need to be loved and cared for by someone who wants to love and care for them. If we do it because of what they want, we only make matters worse because you make yourself miserable in the process. Eventually you’ll start to make them miserable. It’s impossible to make someone happy when you’re not happy,” he told her, and she understood exactly what he meant.

She honest
ly didn’t desire to be K.P.’s chick on the side any longer, and his sudden move to leave Kimberly to be with her wasn’t what she wanted anymore. She wasn’t sure if she could even trust him. Walking in Kimberly’s shoes and going through what he was putting Kimberly through for five years made her feel sick to the stomach. She didn’t want all the things she thought she did, and she was so happy that God was giving her the strength she had prayed for. She put her shirt back on and rested on Isaiah’s arm.

“Look
, I’ll be here for you. If you need to talk, I’m here,” he said to her.

“Okay.” They sat there in silence for a moment
, and Janiece felt sad for K.P.. If only he had come around before she met Isaiah, maybe things would have been different.

“Hey
, have you eaten?” he asked breaking their brief silence.

“Yeah—way earlier.”

“How about we go downtown to Portillo’s and grab a couple Italian beef sandwiches?”

“Ooh, those use
d to be my favorite,” she said thinking back to when beef was in her everyday lifestyle.

“Then how about it?”

“Isaiah, you know I don’t eat beef.”

“Janiece
, don’t even trip…this booty and these hips ain’t gon’ get no bigger with one sandwich,” he said wrapping his arm around her waist, grabbing hold of her hip.

“Isaiah no, it’s late. We shouldn’t be eating that kinda stuff this late.”

“Says who? Who came up with that idea?”

“All right, all right,” she said getting up from
the sofa. “Let me get my gym shoes.”

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he said and slapped her on her bottom. She liked that and hoped he do it again.

“All right now,” she said smiling at him.

“What?”

“Don’t start up in here,” she said and walked away. She made sure she gave him a view of her bottom as she did her sexy walk to the hall closet. He smiled and thought about smacking her ass without her clothes and knew he had to shake it off. As bad as he wanted her, he knew that he had to relax. He wasn’t afraid of K.P., but the added drama wasn’t something he was too enthused about. He just knew that he was going to spend his last three weeks romancing Janiece. He planned to make her his woman before he went back to Fort Hood, Texas.

Chapter
Thirteen

K.P. rode back to his house wondering what was going on in Janiece’s condo with her “guest.” He was having a difficult time focusing on the road because his mind was on Janiece. He’d planned a perfect life for them, because she was the one he truly loved. She was the one he was struggling the last two years of his life preparing for. Kimberly was just his wife legally.

He didn
’t love her, and Kimberly knew that. She had known that even before they got married. He thought he’d fall in love with her over time, but that never happened. It was impossible for it to have happened since he had been in love with Janiece for the last five years. He was taken by her since the very first day he met her. He worked for her sister Janelle and her husband Greg on their loan package when they purchased their home. After they closed on their home, they invited him to their housewarming. He hardly ever wore his wedding ring, so there wasn’t a question of whether he was married because he didn’t bother to take Kimberly. He hardly invited her out with him to any social events.

When Greg introduced him to Janiece, he couldn
’t resist her smile. She barely wore makeup that day and she looked so beautiful. She had on a pair of blue jeans that hugged her everything in the right way he thought to himself when he watched her walk away. The red halter she had on exposed her cleavage, and her breasts sat perfectly in position without a bra for support. He admired her naturalness. Her skin was clear; free of blemishes. Her cocoa brown complexion had a soft glow and he was mesmerized by her.

He stalked her the entire evening
until she finally agreed to go out with him. He was so interested in her he was one of the last guests to leave and he begged her to have a cup of coffee with him because he didn’t want the night to end. Things were going smooth until the subject of why can’t we ever go over to your place, kept coming up. He put her off for about nine weeks until he couldn’t hide it anymore. When he told her he was married, she was so upset, she broke it off. He hated telling her, because he had such strong feelings for her in that short period of a time and hurting her wasn’t his intent.

Neither was it his intent to fall in love with her. After she put him out and told him to get lost, he went into romance mode, proving to her that he couldn
’t stand not being with her. He wore her down by promising her he would leave Kimberly if their relationship lasted more than a year. Then one year turned into two, than two turned into three, and three turned into four and then five, and five into where they were now.

She didn
’t believe him, but he hated going home to Kimberly. He was always so horny for Janiece because he wasn’t touching Kimberly. He and Kimberly hadn’t made love in almost a year. He knew she had some type of dick on the side, but she was too busy making him out to be the bad guy; she would never admit her dirt.

All she would do is threaten him and remind him
that if it had not been for her he’d still be on the bottom, trying to claw his way up to the top. In all truth she was right, but at the same time, she knew what she was getting herself into. She wasn’t innocent to the game. She was just too perfect in the eyes of others that she didn’t want to look bad under any circumstances. So, for the sake of both of them, they pretended to be the most blissful couple in the state of Illinois.

She had her image
, and he had his career to worry about. When they first met, they were at an office party. She noticed him talking to a group of men from the company, and she made her way over to introduce herself because he was an unfamiliar face. Not only a new face, but a new fine face she thought as she strutted across the room to meet him. He thought she was an attractive woman, yes, but she wasn’t his type.

Although she was fair complexioned with gorgeous gray eyes, she had on
loads of makeup. Kimberly had a head full of beautiful wavy hair, but she was addicted to wearing hair extensions. She looked expensive, and he was not in a position to maintain a woman of her stature. She was high class, and since he had just graduated and only been with the company two months, he was on the very bottom. K.P. was brilliant and had a promising career, but he knew that he wouldn’t be an overnight success.

After chatting with her for a little while he realized that the tailor
-made look was on the outside, and she was down-to-earth. She was like a closet freak kind of chick, so they ended up back at his place. He had just moved there from the dorms so things were not impressive, but what the hell. She was the one who volunteered to come tuck him in. Not sure why he didn’t just say no and not go there was beyond him. He already knew that it would be a one-night stand, because no way could he afford her. He knew that when she followed his Toyota in her Mercedes two-seater Benz.

Little did he know she wanted what she wanted and
regardless of how poor, broke, or penniless he was, she was going to get him. The morning after, she got up and asked him if he’d like to go to breakfast. It would be her treat, and he declined. The sex was cool, and he had no complaints except she was a bit shift and robotic, but he had no intentions of hitting it again so that didn’t matter. When she asked him to go to dinner later, and he gave a lame excuse about not being free, she got the hint.

When he walked her to the door and didn
’t ask for her number she didn’t say anything. She just clicked her heels and bounced. After a few days of being off for the holidays, he returned to work, not even thinking about the chick from the office he had hit a few nights before. When he got to his office, there was a note on his door to see Mr. Grayson as soon as he arrived.

Aw
, shit, was his first thought. “What happened? Did she get salty and try to come up with some sexual harassment story?”

He went into his office
first to get himself together. He tried to relax and come up with what he would say, but just decided to tell the truth. He didn’t do anything wrong. The sex was consensual, so no worries. He headed for the elevator and started to get more nervous each floor that the elevator climbed. For this to go all the way to the top, it had to be bad. No one in the building has ever met with Mr. Grayson; he was the HNIC of the company. Some of his coworkers said that they barely ever knew when he was in the building—that’s how often they’d seen him.

Once the elevators opened
, he stepped out and a receptionist at the desk called him by name. He wondered how she knew his name since he’d never seen that woman before. He said hello.

“Come follow me. Mr. Grayson is anxiously waiting for you
,” she said as she led him down a marbled floor corridor. They arrived at the largest, most beautiful mahogany doors that he’d ever seen. She knocked and walked in. The office was lavishly decorated with leather and wood furniture. Mr. Grayson was on the phone, and the evil liar was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Mr. Grayson’s desk.

“Have a seat,” the receptionist told him
. He sat in the chair on the right, less than three feet from Kimberly. He had no idea what she had gotten him into, but he knew that he would be jobless before the ten
a.m
. hour. The receptionist, who was dressed very professionally, with nice legs, short hair, and dimples, went over to pour a glass of OJ. K.P. tried not to look at her, but she was a dime and definitely someone he would have given his number to if she had been the one that went home with him after the office party.

She smiled
, handed him the glass of OJ, and excused herself. He was so nervous and not sure what was going on. He didn’t even look over at Kimberly, afraid he’d make matters worse. He sipped his orange juice and decided to remain silent until Mr. Grayson finished his call. He tried so hard not to look at Kimberly, but he could feel her gaze on him. He couldn’t help but look back at her, and she smiled. Not an evil smile but a bright smile, and that made him more terrified. He gave her a smile back and turned away fast. Finally, Mr. Grayson got off the phone. K.P. tried to stay calm although he was nervous as hell.

“Well
, Kerry Paxton,” he said opening up a file. He looked over a couple of things. “Yes, good, good,” he said nodding and reviewing what K.P. figured was his HR package. “So, you’ve been here with us two months now?” he asked looking at K.P..

“Yes sir, a little over two months now,” he
replied nervously.

“Two months
, and you are stirring up the place already I see,” he said. K.P. didn’t respond. He didn’t exactly know what to say without incriminating himself.

“I
’m not sure exactly what you mean by that, sir,” he said, thinking he needed to definitely choose his words wisely.

“Well, I
’m going to get right to the point of business. I spoke to Kimberly, and she brought to my attention some very interesting things. I’m glad we recognized it early or you would have been looked over, and we certainly wouldn’t have wanted someone like you looked over,” he said. K.P.’s heart was pounding so hard he thought it would jump through his shirt. “Do you like working for this company so far?” Mr. Grayson asked him.

“Yes sir
, I do,” he replied, and Mr. Grayson put on his glasses and looked over a couple more papers in K.P.’s file.

By n
ow, K.P. just wanted to come out with it and say, “Whatever she told you were all lies. I am not that type of person to risk my career or my life on a one-night stand,” but he was glad he decided not to say that when he heard what he thought at the time was music to his ears.

“Well
, that is good to know, son. My daughter Kimberly told me that you are very bright and ambitious and you got the vision that we are looking for to make our company one of the largest companies in the industry.”

His daughter
! K.P. thought to himself. They were screwing more than talking about his career goals and ideas. Although he had plenty of them, he hadn’t shared them with her. All they shared was a night of hot, butt-naked sex.

“Well
, yes sir, I have plenty of ideas that I think will bring a lot more revenue in, and I don’t know what this means, but if you would like to hear some of my ideas, I’ll be happy to present them to you.”

“I
’d love to, but first things first, Paxton. We’ve created a position here for you, and I want to make you an offer. Gail drew up this contract for you. You can look it over and get back with us by Wednesday,” he said, handing him the contract.

K.P.
’s eyes almost popped out of his head because of the amount of zeros that were on the contract. He knew eventually he would be making that amount of money, but never did he believe he would the first year of his career. He didn’t want to seem anxious so he took the contract and agreed to let them know his answer in a couple of days. He left early that afternoon and called his friend Marcus who was an attorney to meet him at Nick’s to look over the contract. He read over everything, and it was too good to be true.

“You know this woman is about to stalk you
, right?” Marcus said and took a drink of his beer.

“No man
, she is too, too high class for a cat like me. As much money as she and her family have, she doesn’t want shit with me,” K.P. said and took his shot of scotch.

“Shiiiddd—okay dawg.
If she is all that and you’re just nobody, you wouldn’t have this offer here,” he said pointing at the contract. “Now if you sign it, you best believe you and that gal gon’ be married.”

And why did he say that? Once
K.P. signed the contract and moved up to a higher floor, shit changed. Kimberly started coming by, bringing him lunch. She made sure every woman in the building knew he was not on the market. They started dating, and the next thing you know, they were picking out china for the wedding of the century.

The night before they exchanged vows
K.P. took her to the lake and told her that he cared for her and wanted her to be happy, but he didn’t want to go through with it. He wasn’t ready. She told him then that she knew that he didn’t love her the way she loved him, but she said in time he’d learn to love her. He tried to make her understand that he cared for her, because he did, but she convinced him to go through with the wedding anyway.

That wasn
’t the greatest mistake of his life, but the first. The second mistake was when she got pregnant. They had both agreed to wait a year before having a baby, but after the first month of marriage, she was pregnant. She swore to him that she had been taking her pills, but he knew she had lied. When their daughter was born, K.P. changed and decided that he wanted to be loyal and true to his family, and he started to see Kimberly as his wife and the mother of his child. He worked hard and tried to learn to love her. The following year she got pregnant again, and his son made him feel like a man that needed to be an example.

He didn
’t want his son going through what he had gone through growing up with his mom without his dad, so he was living up to the responsibility as husband—until that day when he had to handle a mortgage package for a friend that was out on bereavement leave. That was the package for Gregory and Janelle Peoples. If he would have never been invited to the housewarming, he wouldn’t be sitting in his three-car garage dreading going inside of his six-bedroom home.