Who Do I Run To? (13 page)

“She doesn
’t love you. She’s just some gold-digging tramp that wants to get out of the ghetto. She’ll never love you the way I do,” she cried. “She’s a home wrecker and she must not have children because if she did, she would stop and check herself!” Kimberly barked.

K.P.
knew that every word she spoke was out of anger and pain so he let her vent. After she spent the next few minutes saying all the negative things she could possibly say about Janiece she was exhausted. She sobbed, and he held her to let her cry. He didn’t bother to defend Janiece anymore, because even if he told her that Janiece had no clue about his money and she never opened her mouth to ask him to leave her and the kids, Kimberly wouldn’t believe him.

He just held her and let her sle
ep in his arms that night. He stayed awake wondering what was going on down on 95th Street. Once he settled with the situation being out of his control, he prayed for God to help Kimberly and give her the strength to move on. He prayed for direction and asked God to forgive him for leaving his wife. He asked God to allow him the chance to be a good husband to Janiece. Better than how he had been to Kimberly. He prayed for God to send Kimberly a good man and let him be a good husband and love her double the amount he loved Janiece.

Over the years he had with Kimberly
, he knew she could be a good person when she wanted to be, and she deserved true happiness. His thoughts wandered, and he decided to get up early to go to the jewelers. He had to make a statement when he saw Janiece again and he had to come with it if he wanted to keep her.

Chapter
Fifteen

Saturday was an eventful day for Janiece. She was now finding herself thinking less of K.P. and more of Isaiah. The night before they stayed up all night getting closer to Isaiah. After they got back to the south side of Chicago, they went to a park not far from Janiece’s condo. They sat in the truck and ate their beef sandwiches and decided to climb in the backseat to cuddle.

The moon was bright
, and they enjoyed the breeze that came in through the cracked window. The more they talked, the more she realized she hadn’t done much of anything in the past five years because she and K.P. had been homebound.

She just grew accustom
ed to the circumstances with K.P. and dealt with it. Every once in a blue moon, he’d get brave and take her to dinner, but it’s like they’d drive forever before he would actually pull into a restaurant parking lot. She remembered one year for her birthday, he took her to Las Vegas and that was the first and last time he had done something big for her. It was awesome because she got to be with him on the streets with no worries of running into a colleague or a client.

He was responsible for a lot of home
s and business owners’ properties, and although Chicago is a huge city, he never wanted to risk being seen out with Janiece. He had his reasons, and Janiece always understood. When they went to Las Vegas, she had the time of her life with him. They kissed in public, held hands, and walked arm and arm. She felt like he was her king, and she didn’t want the trip to come to an end.

Once they were in the air
, they starting acting like newlyweds. When the plane landed, they stood in the aisle waiting for the people in front of them to exit, damn near glued to each other. Just to walk through the airport hand in hand felt good to Janiece. She smiled the entire trip and not once did they argue. Even when he had to step off to the side to call home and fill his wife with the business-trip-related lies, she didn’t get an attitude. She had such a good time; she asked K.P. if they could just move and run away to live in Las Vegas. She remembered him saying, “Baby, Vegas is not Chicago. There is no city in the world that can compare to our Chicago.”

“In Chicago
, we’re not free. In Chicago, our love only exists in my condo,” she said not wanting to cry. She loved Vegas so much because she could love K.P. all over that city with no worries.

“Baby
, our love is way bigger than Chicago, and if you want me to move you to Vegas, I will if that’s what you want,” he said sincerely, because at that moment, K.P. wanted Janiece to have everything she wanted, but Janiece sometimes felt like he was just saying what she wanted to hear, like telling her if she wanted him to take her to Vegas he would.

S
he knew then that it was all his game to keep her hanging on. That Saturday was different, though. She wasn’t going to keep hanging on. She was going to allow Isaiah to do all the things K.P. couldn’t do. He was her mind’s escape from the beguiling K.P.. After spending just a little time with Isaiah and being able to go freely, she felt that she turned into K.P.’s ass on the side—his booty call, because the last couple years there weren’t any dates, just him coming through and having his way with her.

Janiece
got up and looked around her room for Isaiah. They had lain in her bed about five
a.m
. to get some sleep. He was no longer there in bed with her, and the smell of food hit her nose. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It read 1:30
p.m
. She couldn’t believe she had slept so long. She got up and went to the bathroom because it was her bladder that woke her up.

After
washing her hands and brushing her teeth, she washed her face and brushed her hair a bit. It wasn’t too bad, but she didn’t want to go into the kitchen looking crazy. Satisfied, she walked into the kitchen and saw her new potential man preparing a meal. Now that was something K.P. had never done. He was a terrible cook, so she prepared all of their meals.

“Good afternoon,” he said when she walked into the kitchen.

“Good afternoon, to you. It smells good,” she said getting a glass from the cabinet.

“No, no have a seat
, Ms. Lady,” Isaiah said, taking the flute from her hand. He led her back into the dining area and pulled out a chair. She didn’t fight; she just allowed him to cater to her.

Her purse and keys were on the table so she grabbed them to put them on the love seat that sat behind her, near her table.
But first, she pulled her cell phone out to check it. There were nine missed calls, and all but two were from K.P.. She remembered she needed to call Sprint to change her cell phone number, but she stuffed her phone into her purse then Isaiah came with a champagne flute of orange juice.

“Thank you,” she said
beaming.

“My
pleasure ... how did you sleep?” he asked and leaned over to kiss her. She smiled back at him and was pleased to see him cooking in her kitchen and serving her.

“I slept so
well,” she said. “Why didn’t you wake me? It’s after one.”

“Well, you were sleeping so peacefully, so I ran out to the store
and got some stuff to cook for you. And I remembered the pork situation, so I got turkey bacon and turkey sausage. I think it’s criminal to pass turkey off as sausage and bacon, but I’m gonna try it,” he said chuckling.

“You didn’t have to go through all that trouble.”

“It was no trouble at all, so get comfortable and I’ll be right back.” He returned to the kitchen and fixed their plates. He had found his way around the kitchen, and Janiece was duly impressed. Since she was a good cook, she had all the right appliances, like a griddle, waffle iron, rice cooker, deep fryer, and he managed to locate the griddle, turning out hot cakes that were perfect.

He
served fresh strawberries and cantaloupe. Janiece said grace and dug in. She enjoyed her breakfast although it was almost two in the afternoon. Once they were done he insisted she sit while he cleared the table. Now, Janiece, being meticulous about her house and cleanliness, couldn’t control herself. She had to get her own kitchen back into her working condition.

By the time she finished cleaning the kitchen her way,
Isaiah had dozed off on the sofa. Janiece watched him for a moment, and all of a sudden, he started jumping. Her smile faded when she saw him jerking. She wondered if she should wake him. The windows were open allowing a nice fall breeze to come in so she wondered why he was sweating. She walked closer to him and could hear him mumbling something, but she couldn’t make out the language he was speaking. She was scared to wake him, but she shook his shoulder anyway. Instantly, Isaiah jumped and grabbed her arm like he was getting ready to rip it out of the socket. His eyes were red and strange when he looked at her.

“Isaiah, let go
! You’re hurting me,” she said for the third time, and he finally realized what she was saying and who she was and he let go. She backed away quickly once she was released.

“Janiece, I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said immediately apologizing. She just looked at him trying to understand what had happened. “Janiece
, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She was still standing on the other side of the room. “It’s just the dreams ... ever since I got back. I ... I ... I—just sometimes have these dreams ...” he said, and she started to relax. She walked over to him and sat beside him on the sofa.

“What dreams
? What’s going on?”

“Iraq
... that place ... that place was…some of the things…I know this will pass,” he said trying to brush it off.

“Like what? What…
tell me,” she asked curiously.

“No
, baby no. It’s too much. You don’t wanna know what went on in that place. The horrible things that I’ve seen—I couldn’t tell you about that place. It’s—” he said not finishing, and she knew it may have been too much for her to handle.

“You were saying something that sounded funny, like another language.”

“Yeah, I know how to speak the language, not a lot, but that’s probably what you heard. My sister told me that too.”

“Have you talked to somebody?”

“Yes, the army gives us this standard post war exam and debriefing, but stuff like this just has to pass,” he said wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“But what if it doesn’t
?” she asked with concern.

“Don’t worry
, Janiece, it will,” he tried to assure her, but the look in his eyes frightened her.

“You scared me
, Isaiah. It’s like you didn’t know who I was for a moment.”

“Baby
, I’m sorry. That won’t happen again. I promise ... I promise. Believe me when I tell you. I will never hurt you, okay? I’ve been there four times in my career and this will pass, I promise, it always does,” he told her and gave her a smile. Janiece smiled back at him, but she was concerned. She advised him to go in her bedroom and lie down and get some more sleep, but he said he had to go over to his dad’s lot for a while and he would call her later. He asked her out again and, of course she agreed. He left, and she took a shower.

Afterward, s
he put on her comfy SpongeBob pants and a wife beater, and then went downstairs in the front to get her mail. She had a few bills and a card with no return address. She walked upstairs and went through a few of her bills first, and then she ripped open the card and almost died when she read it.

She grabbed the phone and called Janelle. The card was too unbelievable to read over the phone
, so Janelle came over. When she walked in, Janiece handed her the card that read “Congratulations” on the front. Janelle didn’t see what the big deal was until she opened it and read.

You funky
, fat bitch. All the hummers in the world won’t make you the first lady of his life. I told you once, and I’m not telling you again. Stay the fuck away from my husband. Don’t think because I live out in the burbs that I can’t get grimy. Now you broke-ass desperate piece of shit ho, stay away from Kerry Paxton. Your dick-sucking days with my man are over. Tell him to leave you alone, and you stay away from him.

You ain’t shit and he doesn’t want your
two-cent ass. I shouldn’t have to mention that I’m the one with the five-karat piece of art on my finger. I’m the one that made him who he is today, and if you think for one minute that I’m going to let a fat-ass, low-budget, cubicle-sharing, pencil-pushing, broke-ass, underpaid, man-stealing bitch like you take him away, guess again.

I knew about that trip you and Kerry took to Las Vegas. Yea
, didn’t think I knew, huh? So y’all can’t play me. Kerry is the one who’s going to get played. This is like a game of blackjack. I’m sure you know how that game goes. I’m sure you played it when you were off in Las Vegas sucking my husband’s dick unauthorized. I hope you realize when it’s time to leave the table. You’ve played for five years, and it’s time for you to get your fat ass up from the table and cut your losses, because I’ll be damn if you going to take my husband.

Take
care and have a marvelous day, ho.

“Naw
, niggah, naw … where does this ho live? It’s time to teach this bitch a lesson. She fucking with the wrong one,” Janelle said acting like she was hard in her Anne Taylor outfit, looking like she just stepped out of a Home and Garden magazine, all the while trying to act ghetto.

“No
, Janelle, it ain’t that serious. She ain’t even worth the headache.”

“Well call
K.P.; he gon’ have to do something about this psychotic bitch. This woman done sent a card to your house Jai, meaning she knows where you live. You may walk outside and catch a bullet one day.”

“Chile please
, all she got is threats. You’re right, she knows where I live. If she wanted some, she’d come get some instead of sending this garbage in the mail,” she said, taking the card and tossing it on the coffee table.

“Jai
, you gon’ tell me that you are not the least bit worried about this fool?”

“Nellie, if some woman was fucking Greg and you knew where she lived, what would you do?”

“Go and beat the snot outta that bitch.”

“Exactly
… If Kimberly was so tough, I’da ran into her. I have been with K.P. for five years, and trust me, she knew. She wrote it right here,” she said pointing it out in the card. “For five years her ass ain’t ever wanted to ring my bell and open up a can. Now, all of a sudden when K.P. says he’s leaving she wanna act up. She doesn’t care about me fucking him. She just doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s leaving her snobbish ass for another woman. That woman is scared of being embarrassed, not of me.”

“Well
, I suppose that makes sense, but still, little sister, you have to watch out.”

“I hear you, but I’m not afraid of her. If she was so tough, she would have been in my mailbox and not that card.” They both fell out laughing. Janiece wasn’t worried so much, but she was a little concerned about her sanity.

She didn’t know how far a woman like Kimberly would go to keep her man. She had to call K.P. to see what she was dealing with. He knew Kimberly better than she did. Her sister left, but not before Janiece promised to change her locks immediately, because that crazy ho could have gotten her key from K.P.’s ring, made a copy—who knows.