Vows of Deception: Something old, new, borrowed, and BLUE... (20 page)

“Well damn. Not that I would abuse a hook up but that is one fine choice. I have seen that thing you were married to and Mr. Jones is a way better catch. That man is sex walking and so kind hearted.”

“That he is. But we are only good friends.”

“Whatever honey who am I to judge?”

“Like I was trying to say. I have the perfect guy for you if you aren’t attached.” Danni said with Beejay in mind. They would be perfect together.

“Girl, hook a brother up. If not a love connection, I still enjoy meeting new people.” He said with glee.

“Great now let’s get down to business with these hookups you have. I want all of this crap out of here. Operation let’s get my life back starts now.” Danni said with conviction.

“I like that operation.” Lena said.

“Consider it done but if I may make one other suggestion.”

“What’s that?”

“Let’s take a look at the condo Mr. Jones sent you to see. Once you see this place you will fall in love, this I know. I am sure he won’t have a problem bending the rules on switching the lease from this place to that one. That way I still have an opening for an outsider. A stranger can get this place that needs to be cleaned by a priest to get rid of the negative energy in here.”

“That is a wonderful idea Sebastian.” Lena clapped with glee. Danni didn’t even get a chance to say anything before she was drug out of the place and onto the elevator. The idea sounded good to her as well. Things were starting to look up for her after so much turmoil threatened to leave her permanently paralyzed.

****

Danni had spent the day with Sebastian and her mother going over details of the move. The switch over from one condo to the other was easier than she thought it would be. Mark approved the move of her name over from one place to the other when they explained what had occurred. He was initially incensed that something of that magnitude had been done but agreed to let Danni handle it her way for now. Danni could tell when he said the fatal words ‘for now’ she knew he wasn’t letting it go completely. There were going to be consequences for certain individuals eventually.

Sebastian held true to his word with putting her in touch with certain people to get the new place furnished. Mark had an account with a high end furniture store where he purchased all of his model furniture for his show condos. Lena offered to charge everything for the place as a housewarming gift, so Danni couldn’t refuse. Because Danni had to go to work, her mother and Sebastian took over the project so that it would get done. They assured her it would be all that she ever wanted it to be. Putting full trust in them to get it done was her first test in lending her trust to others again. Some would say that didn’t really count considering it was just decorations and furnishings. In truth, Danni felt trust was trust no matter how big or small.

The day had come for her to meet with the acquaintance of Mark’s about the behavioral clinic. Danni was both excited and nervous. What if the person didn’t see favor in Danni enough to start a business? She was licensed and proficient in her field but this could run deeper than that. There was a personal feel professionals had to have in order to be comfortable in doing business. Would they clash personality wise? Would they clash professional wise? So many factors could work against her chance at growth. What she always wanted do was to own a clinic and the opportunity was finally within her grasp. The time had presented itself to her, now it was up to her to sell herself.

“Good afternoon Ms. Hunter.” Mark greeted Danni as she approached the table.

“Good afternoon Mr. Jones.” She returned the greeting.

“Mr. James I would like to introduce you to Ms. Hunter.” He tried to make introductions but the two folks already knew one another.

“Well. Well. Well. Always trying to one up me.” Danni smirked with her hands crossed in front of her.

“Good to know you are still alive.”

“Still kicking.”

“I am very upset at you young lady.”

“And why is that?”

“No phone calls, emails, text message, pigeon message, or anything remotely close to it.”

“I am assuming you two already know one another.” Mark jumped into their back and forth.

“I believe so. You could call us friends. Distant friends as of late.”

“Aww Beejay, don’t be like that. I have just been so dang busy. Don’t be mad at me.” Danni pouted.

“Luckily I can’t stay mad at you young lady but it wouldn’t hurt for you to pick up the phone every once in a while.” He fussed.

“I know. I apologize. It was my intentions on calling you a last weekend but something came up.” Danni subtly looked towards Mark and he instantly recognized what she meant.

“Well you two just made my job that much easier.” Mark said getting comfortable in his seat. Loosening his tie and removing his jacket. “I hate business meetings but love doing business. What a combination.” Mark said smoothly.

“You are a mess.” Danni said sitting down in her seat. Mark only shrugged his shoulders.

“I have a question though. How do you two know one another?”

“Uh… Remember I was telling you about the job at the club and everything. Well I kind of left out that he was Niecee’s dad.”

“Oh so this is…”

“Beejay.” Danni called out. Mark chuckled seeing it was obviously some inside joke that she didn’t want him to be privy too.

“I was just going to say the one who fired you but offered you an apartment.” Beejay smirked. That was obviously payment for not keeping in touch. She had successfully embarrassed herself insinuating there was something else. Well there was but he wasn’t going to say anything.

“Was there something else he could have said Danni?” Mark asked with a smirk.

“No of course not.” Danni blushed.

“Blushing? Always your give away.” He joked taking a sip of his drink. “Now this business lunch can be a little informal since everyone is pretty familiar with the other.”

“Since I have been formally introduced to your friend, I would love to proceed with the plans as previously stated. As soon as Regina gets here we can get started.”

“You know Regina is always late.” Mark waved off. “Oh here she comes now.”

“Sorry, I’m late. Court ran over.” Danni glanced up seeing none other than her divorce attorney. “Hey baby.” A twinge of jealousy stung as Mark embraced her smaller frame.

“Hey yourself.” Mark smiled. “Where’s that knuckle head cousin of mine?” He asked pulling back.

“My dear hubby is parking the car.” She giggled. “Hey honeybun.” She turned to Beejay giving him love as well.

“Cousin…” She sighed. Danni didn’t realize she had said it out loud until everyone looked at her in amusement.

“Well hello to you too Ms. Hunter. It’s nice to see you. I assume you are the friend of my dear cousin. I really must thank you for looking after Miss Niecee. I love that child. Can’t wait to have one just like her.” She rambled.

“Regina honey breathe.” A very attractive man similar to Mark’s stature approached the table with a chuckle. “Hello, I’m Randal Jones. You must be Danielle.” He shook Danni’s hand.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s funny you just walked up on this table and didn’t speak to anyone but Danni.” Mark said with humor written all over his face.

“Whatever clown, I see you still hate wearing suits.”

“Only when it absolutely calls for it.”

“What’s up cousin?” They greeted one another in a brotherly hug.

“Nothing much man.”

“Beejay, what’s up boy? I only see you now when we are discussing business.” Randal and Beejay did the whole brother greeting as well. “We need to get up on that court soon, it’s been too long.” He added.

“I’m down whenever.” Beejay responded. “Now that everyone is here, shall we get down to business?”

“Let’s order and get to it.” Regina said and everyone nodded. After everyone placed their orders they got down to it.

“Run down the terms, conditions, and details of this arrangement. I will just fill in my portion. Agreed.” Mark said gesturing to everyone.

“Works for me.” Beejay continued to unfold everything.

By the end of the meeting, they were as carefree as they were in the beginning. The business portion was ironed out within thirty minutes. Danni didn’t have to be further tempted into signing on the dotted line to formally be an active partner in the private clinic. Mark was one of the investors in the clinic along with Regina. Randal was the developer or in other words the contractor. His company is the one that owns the actual building and periodically he offers rental properties for extra income. The rent would be reasonable but that was also where the investors came in.

The business plan was ironclad with all the bells and whistles. Along with a sizable return for those who put the startup funds on the table. Beejay had begun the client search as well as sought out proper advertisement to give them a quick gust of work. Beejay confessed to wanting to bring her in as his partner rather attending this meeting. But agreed to the meeting that was suggested by Mark as a favor. Also he wasn’t sure she would want something of that magnitude going through what she was.

Danni assured him it was just what the doctor ordered to gain more of her independence. Neither partner came to the table with anything besides their education and experience so the line was an even split down the middle. New condo, check. New job, check. Freedom, on the way. Love life? Well an occasional hook up with her good friend was good enough for now. Maybe in another lifetime under different circumstances it would have been ideal. After this terrible divorce is final, there was no telling how she will act to her freedom. Random flings may be all she ever desires. Only time will tell.

It had officially been a month since things started to get back on track for Danni. Her and Mark zoned into a good friend relationship with no sex play. Though she didn’t know really how to feel about that, mainly because she actually started to miss the intimacy they once shared. Mark had a way of making her feel so needed, wanted in more ways than just sexual, and the fact that he claimed he loved her was another plus. They had officially moved into the friend zone and that wasn’t even mutually decided on. It was just something that happened. With both of their busy schedules they barely found time to spend with just the three of them. Now that she didn’t live with them anymore they would make plans to eat out or share the responsibility of fixing dinner either at her place or theirs.

Moving into her newly furnished and decorated condo was everything she envisioned it to be. Lena and Sebastian had decked the place out better than she could have ever dreamed. There was a spacious updated modern style kitchen. There was an open floor plan concept. Having the living room, dining area and kitchen in view from the large patio overlooking the city was euphoric. Her bedroom was equipped with a large platform king sized bed and sleek furnishings. One thing she absolutely enjoyed in her master bathroom was the fully closed steam shower and soaking tub that she loved so much at Mark’s place. Everything about her place screamed independence. Since the official moving into her own spot, she has also started working at the new practice. Things were going pretty good. The clientele picked up almost immediately.

Even some patients they once saw at the Helping Hands facility moved their treatment over to ‘Just the Beginning’ outpatient clinic. By no fault of Beejay’s or Danni’s but who were they to turn down patients. Loads of people had complained about not getting the proper treatment from the facility. Niecee was still doing so well with her own behavioral battles. No setbacks were visible. She and Danni still spent a great deal of time together so that could have been the case. The court date to determine who Niecee will reside with permanently had finally been set with no more stalling. Danni was not looking forward to her part in the testimony but she was prepared to do what she had to do. It came with the job.

“Well, what do we have here?” Danni saw a woman approaching them with a sneaky grin on her face but she didn’t know who she was. Some of her characteristics looked familiar but she still didn’t know her.

“Mama?” Niecee questioned stiff as a board. Danni stopped all movement and stared the woman down.

“In the flesh. Aren’t you happy to see me? Come give mama some love.” The woman broadly smiled only looking at Danni. A couple of other people walked near them behind the woman. They were currently at the mall doing a little retail therapy and were on their way to lunch when they were approached. Danni couldn’t lie and say she was feeling quite unsafe being they were in the underground garage. Sadly no one was around but them at the moment. Niecee timidly walked into her mother’s embrace.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was just picking up a few things for you and look at who I run into. Small world. My baby girl. Haven’t you missed me?”

“Sure.” Niecee said pulling away to cling to Danni’s side.

“Hello, I’m Theresa, Niecee’s mother.”

“Danielle.” She stuck her hand out to shake but the other woman only glanced at it. “Well we should be going.”

“I wasn’t done speaking with my daughter. Why don’t you run along and give us some privacy.” Danni only cocked her eyebrow at the smugness of the ignorant woman.

“Excuse you? Why don’t you run along and continue with whatever you were doing before disrupting our peaceful day. If you have something to say or want to speak with Niecee, I suggest you contact her father.”

“Protective aren’t we? I heard there was some bitch playing house with my child. Just never thought he would stoop so low. Never knew De was a chubby chaser. All that money he is sitting on, I knew for sure he would end up with a model type chick. Or maybe a white woman.” She cackled. “Don’t get too comfortable, he isn’t the settling down type. I’m pretty sure he has plenty of others just waiting to replace you.”

“Nah, just a fat chick.” Another woman that resembled Niecee and Theresa. “Her replacement is waiting, I’m sure.”

“Tell your slew footed mama, it’s not nice to throw insults when flaws are evident.” Danni threw back only gaining chuckles from the men that were with them. The gasp that left the old bat was enough to know she cut deep.

“Bitch, don’t get stomped in this garage. There is no one here to help you. By the time security gets here, you will be nothing but a memory. You can’t hide behind De. He can’t save you.” Theresa threatened taking a step forward. Danni said to hell with the rest of the people with her and smirked. Pushing Niecee behind her, she was not backing down.

“Bitch? I got your bitch. Please believe I can show you better than I can tell you. This is not what you want.”

“What the hell are you going to do? Your prim and proper ass don’t stand a chance. You don’t have to be brave. All I want is my daughter.”

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged.” One of the guys threatened showing he was packing.

“Hold up. Niecee come here.” Theresa held her hand up and then demanded Niecee to come to her. “Let me talk to you for a minute.”

“Danni, can we just go?” Niecee was now pleading to leave.

“Yeah baby, I’m sorry. We can.”

“Baby? You really think playing mama would ever compare to actually being one. Pathetic women like you are so disrespectful. As a woman you should never try and take another woman’s child. A judge will never side with a man that is a drug dealer. So unless you want your dirty laundry brought up in this, I suggest you steer clear.”

“I don’t have any dirty laundry sweetheart so if I were you, I would back off. You are fighting a losing battle.”

“We will see about that. I will see you later sweetheart. I can’t wait until you come home where you belong. We are going to have a long talk about you being so disobedient.” Theresa backed up until she was even with her little family posse. Danni wasn’t turning her back on them though. When they turned to leave she let out a sigh of relief. That situation could have gone another way all together.

It wasn’t until they got into the car that Niecee started to bawl her eyes out. Every fiber of Danni’s being tore up at the sounds of her sobs. She couldn’t fight her own tears as she embraced a very distraught Niecee. They sat in that parking garage locked tightly together rocking back and forth until her sobs calmed down. Luckily her condo wasn’t too far from where they were so she was able to get them there without wrecking. One hand held Niecee’s while she drove with the other one. Upon walking off the elevator she was surprised to see Mark leaning against the wall by her door. The stern face he had when he noticed the puffy eyes of Danni and Niecee he was on full alert. And if looks could kill, Danni was sure they would die on the spot hopefully by accident. For it wasn’t clear just who he was mad at.

“What happened?” Mark boomed.

“Let’s take this inside Mark.” Danni unlocked the door pushing it open to allow Niecee in first who was still holding her hand until they were in. Mark brought up the rear closing and locking the door. “How did you know something was wrong?”

“Niecee texted me but it was very vague.”

“You need anything baby?” Danni asked Niecee and she just shook her head. “Anything for you?” She turned her attention to Mark.

“An explanation.”

“Calm down Mark, I handled it for now. Just have a seat and we will tell you what’s going on.”

“Nah, I’m cool standing right here. But I need for you to quit stalling.” He crossed his massive arms over one another with his jaw ticking. Clearly from feeling agitated.

“We were walking to the car when we were approached by who I now know as Theresa. Niecee’s mom. And she wasn’t alone.” His eyes snapped from Danni to a nervous Niecee.

“What else happened?”

“Well words were exchanged. As well as threats passed around.”

“She threatened Danni daddy. Junior even showed his gun. I was so scared.”

“WHAT?!”

“Look I apologize for my own words. I didn’t make it any better by talking about her mother and bucking back. Maybe some of that could have been avoided. I was completely out of character. And I shouldn’t have gone there in front of Niecee.”

“Danni it wasn’t your fault. She called you out of your name.”

“I know honey but I shouldn’t have stooped to her level. I should have just walked away. That was not the best role model type of behavior.”

“But what if one of them would have attacked you when you turned your back?”

“She’s right Danni. Those type of folks you don’t back down from. That only fuels there need to seem bigger than they are. Show out for company.” Mark said. “Are you two alright? I wish I was there.” He plopped down between the two making them move over to allow him room. Wrapping one arm around each of them.

“I’m scared daddy.”

“Why baby, I won’t let anything happen to you?”

“But what if they take me away from you.”

“I’m doing everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Just have faith baby girl.” Danni added her two cents.

“Daddy you don’t understand. I can’t go back there. It will be ten times worse.” Niecee exclaimed all of sudden. “She said we would have a talk about me being disobedient. I didn’t even say anything. Danni you didn’t tell did you?”

“I’m so sorry Niecee. By law I was required to report it to authorities.”

“Wait what are we talking about here? Didn’t say anything about what?”

“Oh no.” Niecee cried further crushing Danni. A day that started off pretty good was now full of drama all because of a money grubbing supposed mother.

“Niecee, baby I need you to calm down and tell daddy what’s wrong.” Mark pulled his daughter over into his lap pleading with her to tell him what happened to her. “Danni?”

“I can’t Mark. It’s bad enough I was forced to break my silence because if my records were audited by my superiors, I would have been fired. Possibly lost my license. So much more. When you confided in me about going before the judge demanding custody, only then did I make my report.” Danni was now pacing back and forth trying to explain herself. “I’m so sorry Niecee.” After a few minutes of sniffling, Niecee finally pulled away from Mark to go to Danni who had sat down on the other couch.

“Daddy, I was threatened that if I told you what they were doing to me that you would go to jail because you were doing illegal stuff. All I ever knew was that it wasn’t safe to live with you. Every time I got to spend time with you, I never wanted to go back there. Only when you came and got me did I get to wear my good clothes as they call them. They would tell me I wasn’t good for nothing other than the fat check you were made to send.”

“Mama was never around much. My grandma would make me sleep in the room with no bed. I made the mistake of saying something to one of my friends and she told her mom. That alone caused me to get a whooping and when the teachers called a conference with the counselors at the school, I got worst one. Grandma was so embarrassed and made up all types of excuses as to why that happened. Later that day she made me take off all of my clothes in the living room and whooped me with a cord. Everybody watched it happen and nobody did anything. They just laughed.”

“Then she made me go to school with a turtle neck, pants, and a sweater on to hide the bruises for two weeks. It was so hot but I knew not to ever tell anybody else again. Whenever somebody asked about my clothes I just said I was sick. Kids started to tease me for my clothes so I started to fight. School was terrible and home was worst. That’s how I ended up at the hospital.” The whole time Niecee was talking Mark was fuming. Danni figured out that he wasn’t just mad at the details of what those people did to Niecee it was also that he wasn’t there to do anything about it. He had no clue. Even though he was there for the most part, he felt like the biggest deadbeat daddy in the world.

“I’m so sorry baby girl. I had no clue.”

“I know daddy, I just didn’t want them to take you away from me.”

“They couldn’t have done that baby. I haven’t done anything wrong to go to jail. They lied to you.”

“…” She just nodded her head.

An hour after all the much needed information was laid on the table, Danni had convinced Niecee to go lay down in the guest room that was pretty much hers. Checking on her one final time to be sure she was resting, Danni went back into the living room only to find it empty. Going into her bedroom she thought about taking a nap herself. Too much had happened in only a short period of time. Hopefully Mark had snagged her keys when he left so he could let himself back in. Fearing that sleep was going to take her to some place unknown.

First she removed her bottoms, leaving her in nothing but her undies and her button down shirt. Walking over to the patio door it just seemed like an open invitation to wind down. It was always so calming to look out over the city. Another thing she loved so much about her condo was the long patio that stretched from the front room to her bedroom. Sliding the blinds back enough to crack the door slightly to allow the breeze through, hoping the fresh air would help ease the tension she felt. What she didn’t expect was to be scared shitless seeing Mark sitting in one of the chairs. Where he was sitting she wouldn’t have seen him from the living room and would have to be against the door in her room to see him. He looked to be battling with some inner demons so she decided not to disturb him.