Who Do I Run To? (18 page)

“I’ll be by tomorrow to talk to my kids myself about what’s going on. So I suggest
that you not to put any more of your foolish and evil ideas of what I’m doing to you and them in their heads,” he said firmly, and she then threw herself in front of the driver-side door, not allowing him to open it.

“Okay
, Kerry, I get it. I’m a spoil, controlling bitch. I don’t deserve half the shit I have, but without you, I’ll die, K.P..”

“No
, you won’t. You are just putting on another show, and it’s not entertaining anymore, so move.”

“
K.P., I swear if you give me a chance I can change. I can make you love me.”

“Kim
, I’m asking you to move.” He spoke firmly to her, letting her know he meant what he was saying. Nothing she could do or say would change his leaving her. His harshness and tone infuriated her, and she couldn’t believe that something was happening to her beyond her control, and that angered her. Never did she not have or get what she wanted. How he could refuse her and go with someone like Janiece disturbed her unbelievably.

“
K.P., if you leave me, I swear to God, I will kill that bitch,” she spat at him. She was so mad she could have snatched Janiece’s head off with her bare hands at that moment. The words cut K.P. deeply and before he knew it, he grabbed her little ass and pinned her to the truck.

“You stay away
from Janiece, do you hear me? This is between you and me. Don’t even entertain the thought of hurting her, you hear me? If you go near her or even try anything, Kimberly, you’ll be sorry. Now, get your crazy ass outta my way,” he said coldly and let her down gently. That scared the shit out of her for a moment because she had never seen K.P. turn on her like that before.

The look in his eyes made her realize that it was truly over between them
, and there wasn’t shit she could do about it. No money in the world could make him love her and not Janiece. She couldn’t run to Daddy on this one. She moved and let him leave. Her mind was working overtime on what she was going to do to make them pay for ruining her life.

“I’m gon’ get
you Ms. Janiece, just watch. You done fucked with the wrong bitch. And you will regret crossing Kimberly Renee Paxton, this I promise you,” she said out loud as she watched her husband back out of their driveway.

Chapter Twenty

K.P.
drove downtown to Marcus’s office to get the key to his loft. He called Janiece at her office but couldn’t get her. However, he was determined to see her that day. He went by Marcus’s place to shower and change. It was almost four, and since Janiece was getting off at five, he decided to meet her in the lobby at her job. He hurried out because he wanted to stop and get her some flowers before meeting her. He looked at the clock in the dash, and he was losing his mind because it was twenty ’til five and traffic was a monster.

He grabbed his cell phone and realized he had fifteen missed calls. He had forgotten to turn the ringer volume up after he had left his house a few hours earlier. When he saw that they were all from Kimberly he was relieved. He called his mailbox to get his messages
. He had ten waiting on him. He hadn’t checked his messages at all over the weekend, so he didn’t know that Janiece had returned any of his calls. When he heard the numbers that were from his home, he automatically deleted them without listening to any of them.

When he got to the ones from Janiece
, he listened carefully. He was happy to hear her voice and happy to know that she was concerned about him and his kids’ well-being. He smiled because that gave him some relief. At least she was thinking about him.

He got to her building three minutes before five and parked and waited for her in the lobby by the information desk. When he saw Shawnee get off the elevator he knew that Janiece wouldn’t be too much longer. Shawnee saw him and licked her lips
, walking over to where he was standing.

He hoped she would speak
quickly and keep going, because she was the last person he wanted to be caught talking to when Janiece came down, but, of course, that wasn’t what happened.

“Hey
, good looking, how are you?” she asked, giving him seductive eyes.

“Things are fine
. How are you?” he asked being polite. He wanted to tell her that he didn’t have time to be flirted with today, but he figured he’d stay on the friendly note and not satisfy her efforts to make him say or do anything to disrespect Janiece.

“I’m good, real good,” she said like she was describing her pussy.

“That’s good to know. Do you know if Janiece is on her way down?”

“I’m not sure,” she said
, then changed her mind and went the evil route. “As a matter of fact, I think she may have already left,” she said with a straight face, but he knew she was lying through her teeth. He just went along with her.

“Well
, I’ve been down here for a few minutes and I didn’t see her. I’ll give her a few more minutes. I’m sure she’ll be down soon.”

“Okay
, suit yourself, but you’re probably too late. She may have left with her friend Isaiah.”

“Excuse me?” he asked to make sure he heard her say that his woman may have left with another man.

“You know, her friend Isaiah, the one she was out with at Houston’s the other night. She didn’t tell you that I’d be calling you soon about some business for my brother?”

“No
, she didn’t tell me. I was out of town for a couple days, and my cousin Isaiah came into town. I’m sure she was just hanging out with him for a little bit. And I know he didn’t pick her up because I’d have known that,” he said playing it off. He didn’t have a clue about Isaiah or Houston’s, but he wasn’t about to let her know that he didn’t know what his woman was doing.

“Oh
, so you know she was out with Isaiah,” Shawnee asked him, not able to distinguish if he was serious or not.

“Of course, why would you think otherwise?”
“Well, because she said he was her date.”

“Oh yeah,” he said and smiled. “She was just messing with you
, I guess. I don’t know what to tell you—oh, there she is now,” he said when he saw her getting off the elevator. Shawnee wanted to disappear when she saw Janiece, because she knew that Janiece would have read her ass if she knew what she had told K.P..

She turned and walked out of the revolving door. Janiece was smiling and talking to one of her coworkers
, and she almost froze when she saw him. She was so surprised and she was happy to see that he was okay.

He walked over to her and greeted her with a kiss and gave her the flowers. She took them
, and they walked toward the door. “What are you doing, K.P.? What’s going on?” she asked him when they got on the street.

“Nothing
, baby, I can’t show up to your job? Were you expecting someone else?” he asked as he opened the door and helped her in.

“No
, I was just asking. I didn’t expect to see you, that’s all.”

“Well
, I’m going to take you out to dinner and show you how much I’ve missed you,” he said, then walked over to the other side of his truck and got in. He leaned over to give her a kiss. She smiled and looked over at him because she was actually glad to see him. She couldn’t help herself. She loved him so deeply she couldn’t leave him alone.

“I’ve missed you too
, baby. I was worried about you, K.P.. What happened to Kimberly? What’s going on? I called you all weekend.”

“I’ll tell you when we get to Nick’s; it is a long story
, trust me.”

He took the ticket from the valet
, and they went inside and were seated at a table. Janiece excused herself to the restroom to freshen up her face and wash her hands. She counted to ten and looked at herself in the mirror, and she felt like shit for sleeping with Isaiah. She knew if K.P. found out, he’d be devastated and she felt like the words “I fucked Isaiah” were written all over her face.

She straightened her clothes and went back to the table and took her seat. She felt sorry for what had happened
, and she wished she hadn’t gone as far as she had with Isaiah. She wanted to take it back so bad, but she couldn’t. She sat down with a nervous look on her face.

“So
, baby, how was your day?” he asked.

“It was fine, a little hectic
, but I made it through.”

“That’s why you
’re looking so stressed?”

“Am I? That’s not good,” she said and picked up
the glass of wine he had ordered for her and took a swallow.

“And how was your weekend?”

“My weekend was okay, nothing big,” she said nervously. “How was yours? I was concerned with the hospital thing,” she said and took another swallow of her wine, hoping the conversation would turn to his weekend and not hers.

“Well
, mine was interesting, actually. I moved out, and Kimberly tried to kill herself. I also found out you were at Houston’s with another man,” he said, and she almost choked on her wine. She was coughing, trying to catch her breath and the waiter offered her some water.

She shook her head and tried to say
, “No, I’m fine,” but her pipes were blocked with the wine. She hurried to the bathroom to clear her throat and get some air and grabbed a Kleenex and wiped the tears from her face that formed from her near-death episode.

Then s
he looked at herself again and said, “Shawnee that bitch” and she tossed the Kleenex into the trash. A few moments later, she went back to the table. After she sat down, K.P. looked at her with curious eyes before he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said trying to sound calm.

“Are you sure, Jai?”

“Yes, and I know that hot
-ass Shawnee is the one who told you about my date.”

“Oh
? So it was a date?” he asked, and she wished she would have not used that word.

“Well
, if that’s what you call a guy and a girl having dinner.”

“Yea, I guess that’s what we can call it
, then,” he commented, and the waiter came over for their dinner order. Janiece was relieved because that took the focus off of her. She took awhile to order, trying to get her story straight. As soon as the waiter took the menus and walked away, she jumped in to change the subject.

“So
, Kimberly tried to kill herself?”

“Yep, I’m afraid she is crazier than I gave her credit for. I know it was just a stunt
, so I’m not sweating it.”

“And you moved out?” she asked and took another sip of her wine. She wanted to talk about anything other than
her and Isaiah.

“Yes
, I moved out, and I’m not going back. I told you that I was going forward with my divorce, and I see you didn’t believe me.”

“Why do you think I didn’t believe you
, K.P.?”

“Well
, I’m not sure. Maybe if you hadda believe me, you would have not gone out with ole boy Saturday night.”

“Well
, K.P., you are not my man, and I have a right to go out with whomever I choose,” Janiece said with attitude and sipped her drink like she was in charge, and K.P. looked at her like she had lost her mind.

“Oh
, so it’s like that now? You can go out with whomever now? Although you promised me that you’d never date another guy as long as we were together?”

“Well
, things have changed. I’m getting tired of coming in second.”

“Janiece, don’t even go there with me. You have known the circumstance with us for a long time. Now that things are going to be different and we have a chance to be together
, you’re ready to see other men? Did you sleep with him, Janiece?” he asked, and she didn’t want to answer that question. Not then, not there in the restaurant, but he asked again. “Janiece, did you sleep with him?”

“Why
, K.P.? What difference does it make? Do you sleep with Kimberly?”

“Don’t play games with me
, Jai.” He leaned in closer trying to remain calm, and Janiece knew that that situation would only get ugly.

“I’m not playing games with you
, K.P.. I’ve loved you for all of these years, and I’m stuck on hold, and for what? You don’t love me, K.P..”

“Jai
, how could you say that? You know damn well I love you. I’ve been going through hell at home because of how much I love you. Do you think that I go home and just forget about you? Do you think for one minute I would’ve stayed with you if I didn’t love you? I traded everything because of how much I love you.”

“Traded what? Your crazy
-ass wife knows about us, and she has known forever, so you are not giving up nothing, because she would rather me convince you to stay with her and continue to be your mistress, and then we’ll all be happy.”

“W
hoa, whoa, whoa. You talked to Kimberly? Did Kimberly threaten you? Is that why you all of a sudden want to move on and just forget about us? Are you worried about Kimberly?”

“No
, I’m not worried about her crazy ass, and, yes, we talked. She’s gone as far as sending me a back-off card. That crazy bitch knows where I live, K.P., and I told you before I didn’t want to be in no drama. I ain’t ever fucked with her, and as long as you and I don’t take our relationship too far, she’s cool with it. Imagine that,” she said and took a sip of her wine.

“And you have it so damn hard? Two women that love you and both want you so much
’til they sacrifice their morals and beliefs to be with you, and I don’t want to sacrifice myself anymore. I’m tired of playing myself.”

“I hear you
, Janiece, and, baby, I’m sorry that you feel like I got it so good because I don’t. Yes, there are two women involved, but I only love one of them. You don’t have to worry about Kimberly. I’ve filed for my divorce, and she can’t keep me away from you no matter how many suicide attempts she takes. I only love you, and all the changes I’m making in my life are for you and me to be together.”

“Don’t make any life changes for me
, K.P.. Do it for you, not me,” Janiece said looking at him. She wanted to believe that they had a future, but it was hard to think that things were going to be better now that he had actually left. It seemed like it was about to get worse, especially with Isaiah being across the hall and crazy-ass Kimberly on the loose.

“Well
, it’s too late. Even if you and I are no longer going to be together, Jai, I’m not going back to Kimberly. I’m moving on, and if you don’t want to be a part of my future, you need to tell me now.” He wanted to know what Janiece intended to do, because whatever she decided, he was still moving to Las Vegas, with or without her.

“I need some time,” she said
, and that didn’t make him happy. He wanted to hear her say that she still loved him and was anxious for them to get started on making a life with each other.

“What? Time
, Janiece? Are you digging this dude that much you are saying no to me?” he asked furiously because he thought that she’d be overjoyed that he had finally handled his business and made an honest effort to make her number one in his life. He was prepared to propose to her, and now she needed time? All he needed time for was the divorce to be finalized, and now she wanted time.

“Right now
, K.P., I need time to figure things out, okay?”