Who Do I Run To? (26 page)

She called him again on Janiece’s house phone
, and when she got the answering machine she said, “I’m on my way with your damn kids, and you better not leave.” Then she called the kids downstairs and hopped in her Jaguar and drove to 95th Street.

Chapter Thirty
-One

As bold and brave as Kimberly was, she was feeling a little nervous as she pulled onto Janiece’s street. She saw K.P.’s truck and Janiece’s old, raggedy Honda parked outside. She parked and called K.P.’s cell phone again, and then Janiece’s house phone before she opened the door and got out. She told the kids to hold on a moment while she walked up the steps.

She knocked
, but no one answered. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Janiece’s home again and she could hear the phone ringing, but no one moved around in the condo. She stood there and listened, but there were no sounds coming from the inside.

She looked out at the parking lot and wondered what was going on. Before she walked away
, Isaiah came out of his sister’s condo and said hello and proceeded down the steps. When Kimberly started knocking again he stopped. “They’re not there.”

“How do you know?” she asked
, like, why are you in my business?

“They
’re in Florida,” he said giving her information on their whereabouts.

“When did they leave to go to Florida
?” she asked, now wanting to hear what he had to say.

“I believe they left on Tuesday.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah, who are you anyway
? Maybe I could tell Janiece you were looking for her ...”

“I
’m Kimberly, her man’s wife,” she said smartly.

“Ooookay, I guess I won
’t be telling her you stopped by,” he said fretfully.

“And why not
…? You didn’t have a problem telling me that they were out of town. So you can tell them I stopped by; I don’t care,” she said and walked down the steps. She was mad as hell and wanted to scream. She got into her car and watched Isaiah get into his car. She waited until he pulled off, and then got back out of her vehicle. Determined, she walked over to Janiece’s car and keyed the word “bitch” on the trunk. When she got back into the car, her daughter asked her what she was doing and was promptly told to “stay outta grown folks’ business.”

She pulled out her cell phone and called her sitter and asked her
to come by in twenty minutes so she could dress in peace without the kids asking her a million-and-one questions. Seething, she drove back to her house feeling like she wanted to kill K.P. and Janiece. She was thinking of ways to actually kill them both and get away with it. Her kids were the reason why K.P. stayed as long as he did, so she was grateful to be blessed with them. Even though her motivation was to have a house full, he didn’t go for that. She wasn’t supposed to get pregnant with Kayla as soon as she did or KJ as soon as she did after Kayla was born.

K.P.
didn’t believe she was taking her pills, because she had lied to him about taking them when she had gotten pregnant with KJ, so he would use condoms with her. She thought it was absolutely ridiculous for her husband to be using condoms.

Truthfully
, since she had been seeing Rodney, she didn’t miss a day of taking her pills, because that was a definite no-no, to get pregnant by your lover. Rodney was so nasty and so good in bed he had her going home performing better with K.P. when they did connect. Although she and K.P. rarely made love, when they did, she showed him how she could get down.

Rodney had her turned out sexually, but
K.P. had her heart, and she knew loving a man was stronger than just fucking a man. She knew that two wrongs didn’t make it right, but what was she supposed to do all the lonely nights her husband was lying to her and not coming home?

He would come home sometimes five or six hours later
after work. The times she used to come in and K.P. was already home, he didn’t bother to ask her where she had been or what she was out doing, so she knew he didn’t care if she was out doing her thing, because any concerned man would raise hell if he wife came in after three in the morning, saying she was at Chelsea’s or her parents’ house.

The week he was supposed to be out of town on business when she knew he was in Las Vegas with Janiece she loved it because she got to spend every night with Rodney. Rodney showed her a wonderful time that week, with shopping, good eating
, and awesome sex. When K.P. came home after being gone for a week, neither one of them made a move for each other. A normal married couple would be tearing each other apart after being away for a whole week, but not K.P. and Kimberly.

She didn
’t know why she wasn’t able to let K.P. go, because he was right; they were miserable, but that selfish pride and the fact that her parents had been married for thirty-six years and her grandparents for over fifty years before her granny passed meant something to her. She didn’t want to be the first Grayson to have a failed marriage. No one in the Grayson family divorced.

What went on in their house stayed in their house
, and if they had parties or went anywhere, no one would have looked at them to be less than perfect, and that is how she wanted her and K.P. to be.

She still hadn
’t told her father that K.P. wasn’t going to be returning to work. She had her parents thinking that they were just taking time off for themselves, and she had threatened her children’s behinds if they told Grandma or Grandpa that Daddy moved out. They lived by the same rule: “What goes on in our house stays in our house.” Why was she so embarrassed about K.P. leaving her she couldn’t understand, and she didn’t want to be that way.

She pulled into her driveway and
they all went inside. Going upstairs, she entered her walk-in closet and picked out a nice pair of slacks and a cassimere sweater. After a long, relaxing bath, she dressed slowly while she waited for Kami. She was trying not to think of K.P. while she rubbed lotion on her calves, but she couldn’t help but think back to when he used to massage her feet when she was pregnant with her babies.

That was the only time he
was ever sweet, considerate, and patient with her. He treated her like a queen, and that is why she wanted to have a house full for him. When she first came home from the hospital with Kayla, K.P. was so attentive. She didn’t have to move a muscle. He probably would have nursed the baby for her if it were possible. That is how good he was.

Once he met that damn Janiece he changed. He stopped asking her how her day
was, and he stopped standing by his words. He would tell Kimberly he’d be home by nine and wouldn’t show his face ’til after one or two in the morning. He would take the kids out on Sunday for family day, but that was more daddy and kids day because he never took Kimberly along. He’d say he wanted to spend Sunday with his kids, and Kimberly used to ask, “What about me? What about taking time out for me?” but he’d brush her off or he’d take her to dinner and talk about work, movies, and current events; never anything romantic about them and their relationship.

That
’s why Kimberly didn’t feel bad when she was giving her goods to Rodney. She had it down pat. She’d come home on Friday nights by two, because K.P. always walked in about two thirty or two forty-five. On Saturday nights, it was the same thing. She had a trusted babysitter named Carmen that she hated to see move away because she kept her mouth shut. Rodney paid her well to watch the kids, and she’d get a couple hundred for her few hours of service and pull away before K.P. made it onto his street.

There were a few instances
K.P. had come home before Kimberly, and Carmen would tell him that she was out with Chelsea and would text Kimberly with a code 34 letting her know K.P. was home. Shit was perfect for Kimberly back then, she thought to herself because she had a good sitter who knew how to keep her dirt concealed, with a man that was spoiling her and giving her the best dick she had ever had, and still had the perfect family appearance. Nothing could have been better until Carmen told her that she was moving to Detroit and K.P. decided he wanted to leave.

Why did he have to leave? He had everything
—a ho giving him all the ass and blow jobs he wanted and a wife who learned to turn the other cheek. What else could a man ask for? He was making lots of paper because of her, and he was the son-in-law to Mr. Eric T. Grayson. It couldn’t get any better than that, Kimberly thought, but she found out she was wrong.

She wished she could leave it alone and not be vengeful and want to hurt Janiece, but she couldn
’t. Now that K.P. had filed for divorce, she was going to have to come to terms with being without him, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to make it without causing Janiece any bodily harm for taking her husband away. She didn’t know how or what she was going to do, but she was going to do something to destroy her.

Chapter Thirty
-Two

Janiece was on a plane on her way to Texas. Instead of going to Las Vegas with K.P. for his grand opening of his new company, she decided to take the trip to Texas to see Isaiah. When they got back from their trip to Florida, she didn’t get a chance to see Isaiah one-on-one at all, only in passing because since K.P. was no longer working, he was home all the time, and when they got back to Chicago, he didn’t allow her one moment alone without him. One reason was that her car was vandalized, and he thought he had to protect her from whomever it was that thought it was cool to mess up her car.

Janiece lived in a safe and quiet neighborhood
, so she could not understand how her car ended up being keyed and having all her tires flattened. Not only was the word “bitch” keyed on the trunk of her car, but the windows were smashed and the paint job was ruined with spray paint. K.P. told her he would just get her a new car, but she was so mad because her daddy had bought that car for her before he passed away and that car had a lot of sentimental value to her. She knew deep down inside that Kimberly was the one behind it, but she didn’t go there with K.P. to accuse her.

K.P. was so nonchalant about it and his solution, like to all things— just get another one. He
didn’t understand why Janiece wanted to have her car fixed, and Janiece was worn out with trying to explain it to him. The insurance company totaled it because the damage was more than it was worth. She knew it was because of the paint that was splattered all over the interior.

They had decided to wait until they moved to Vegas to look for another one and since he chauffeured Janiece to wherever she wanted to go, she didn’t complain. She continued to ride the metro back and
forth to work, and everywhere else she went she drove the Escalade or he took her.

Three weeks had gone by and she
managed to sneak around talking to Isaiah on the phone. Now she finally found an opportunity to go visit him. She had told K.P. that that her company was sending her to Texas for some type of training for four days and that is why she couldn’t go with him to Las Vegas.

Of course
, he tried to convince her that it was pointless for her to go to the training considering she was leaving the company anyway, but she insisted that she wanted to go. He didn’t argue anymore, but he was very disappointed that she was going to a training class with a company she was leaving instead of going to share the most important day of his life in Las Vegas.

She was not happy with not sharing the grand opening of her man’s company with him, but she just had to see Isaiah. She missed him
, and she couldn’t wait to see him. She was anxious from the moment she agreed to go.

When she landed in Killeen
, Isaiah was waiting for her outside of her gate with a bouquet of roses. They were red roses, and she blushed when he handed them to her. To keep K.P. from being so suspicious, she got a room at the Hampton Inn to be able to allow him to have another way of reaching her besides her cell phone.

As soon as they check
ed into her room, they were all over each other, like they had been apart for years. He kissed her hungrily as if he was trying to consume her. After they had incredible sex, they showered and he took her to his apartment where they were going to spend most of their time anyway. Although the hotel was $110, plus tax, a night, Isaiah didn’t care. He was going to pay it just so she could be in Texas with him.

When they got to his apartment
, Janiece felt a little more comfortable. Her nerves had been bad since K.P. had taken her to the airport. His flight was scheduled to leave the next morning, so he was still trying to convince Janiece to go with him instead. He even called her cell phone right before she boarded to make sure she wasn’t going to change her mind about going to Vegas with him.

Isaiah’s apartment was neat and clean
, and Janiece was relieved because she had to be in a clean environment or else she wouldn’t have been able to stay. He poured her a glass of Merlot, and she sat on the sofa with the remote while he prepared lunch for her. They sat and ate and talked for a while before he took her out to the base for a tour of Fort Hood. There were so many men and women walking around in uniform, and it was strange because you didn’t see that in Chicago.

She had never been in a military town before
, and to see so many soldiers was a new and exciting experience for her. He took her to his battalion to let her see his office and where he worked. He introduced her to everyone as his lady, and she felt special, but she knew deep down that she wasn’t his woman and probably never would be, but she decided to go with the flow. She did wish, just a little bit, that she was, and instead of going to Las Vegas to start a new life with K.P., she was moving to Texas to start a new life with Isaiah.

They left the base and headed to the mall because Janiece packed the wrong clothes. Although it was November, it was extremely warm in Texas
, and she had packed her warmest winter items. She found and picked out a couple cute little knit tops and a couple skirts at Old Navy and Dillard’s. Dillard’s was a store similar to Carson’s in Chicago, so she found some cute stuff in there, and Isaiah, again, paid the bill. She felt special and what he did for her was generous. Just like K.P., generous.

The
debit card that K.P. had given her to go and get her hair and nails done had a balance on it that made her blink four times. She did three inquiries just to make sure that balance was really twenty-six thousand dollars. She wondered how K.P. had that kind of money just sitting in an account when she could barely keep a balance of one hundred in her account after she paid all of her bills and bought groceries.

She knew if
she had to, she could have used the card that K.P. had given her to make her purchases, but she decided to let Isaiah be the man and do his thing. After they left the mall, he took her to a steak house called Texas Land and Cattle. It wasn’t a Ruth’s Chris Isaiah said, but their steaks were decent.

They stopped by the hotel to get some things from Janiece’s room and
found her message light was blinking. She paused to listen to it, and it was K.P.. He was telling her that he was just making sure she had made it safely and to give him a call. She realized then that she hadn’t powered her cell phone back on since she had landed in Killeen earlier that day.

She asked Isaiah to excuse her
, and then she went down to the lobby and called K.P. from her cell phone. He answered, and he was half-asleep. She talked to him for over forty minutes ’til her battery started to beep. He decided to let her go since he had to get up to make an early flight. He was so trusting and so loving, she felt bad for lying to him. He said all the right things and treated her like she was the honest Janiece he fell in love with.

She went over to the counter and asked the
Ieshia the front-desk person if there was a way to check her voice mail from a different location. Ieshia explained to her how she could check it without being in the hotel. Janiece had to make sure she didn’t miss any messages from K.P., and if he called, she could get back to him promptly.

They made it back to Isaiah’s apartment
, and Janiece was feeling good. She couldn’t help but smile every time he looked at her. After they showered and made love again, they were lying in his bed just enjoying each other.

“I’m glad you finally agreed to come,” he said
, stroking her hair.

“So am I,” she said and smiled back at him.

“So when are you coming down again?” he asked, and she thought he was insane for asking her that.

“Coming again
? Hell, it was like breaking outta Fort Knox just getting K.P. to agree to let me come this time.”

“So then
, when are you gon’ tell him that it’s over?”

“Isaiah
, come on, now, we talked about this a million times,” she said changing positions. She couldn’t understand why he insisted on pushing her to break it off with K.P..

“I know
, Janiece, but I know myself. I’m not going to be able to share you too much longer. I hate it when you are with him, and you know you don’t wanna be with him anymore.”

“I know
, Isaiah, and I’m trying, but I just can’t leave him like that.”

“Why not
, Janiece? Do you still love him?”

“Yes and no
… I thought we weren’t gonna discuss K.P.. You said that we didn’t have to have this discussion, Isaiah.”

“I know what I said
, Janiece, and I’m sorry, but when I picked you up from the airport, I was so happy to see you, and after spending today with you and making love to you, I want you and me to be just you and me,” he said earnestly, and she knew where he was coming from. She remembered having those same thoughts about K.P. way back in the day when she was lonely and wanted him for herself.

“I know
, but please, Isaiah, don’t push, okay? Let’s just enjoy ourselves and have fun with the time we have together. I’m gonna tell him soon. I’m just not ready right now, okay?” she said and her cell phone rang. She made a mad dash to get it, and it was K.P.. She looked at Isaiah, and he knew what the deal was so he didn’t trip out when she went into the living room to talk to him.