All I Want... Is You (25 page)

That quieted the courtroom quickly.

Mrs. Peyton turned and headed back to the audience section of the courtroom, doing her best to keep still, but I could tell she was stewing where she sat.

Right now, I was right there with her.

This was the third bad thing to happen to me.

My best friend took my girlfriend, without remorse or hesitation.

I felt like I’d been shot all over again, and I couldn’t get any measure of revenge against Omar for this, either.

I could have Stacy’s head on a platter, however. That much was clear to me.

But not before I awaited the judge reveal the results of this God-forsaken test.

Kelli had this look as if she’d just become an unwilling guest of the
Maury Povich Show
, and I didn’t blame her for feeling that way. I put my hand on her shoulder and said, “Please understand that my life is nowhere near this chaotic. You’ve been around me at RP functions and retreats to know me.”

Kelli replied, shaking her head, “What really had me tripping was when the parents came in out of the blue. Oh my God, this one is going to top a lot of stories in legal for a good little while!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that one, but it was okay, because this was the last time that I would get caught up in some mess like this again.

The judge asked us to stand, and then read the report. “In the paternity issue regarding baby John or Jane Doe, Mr. Morrow, you have been excluded as the father.”

Inside I wanted to run around the courtroom and act a absolute fool like they do on the talk show when they find out that they’re not the father, but outside, I kept my head because I didn’t want the judge to find me in contempt out of spite.

Stacy put her head in her hands and silently wept as Tammy put a hand on her shoulder.

Stacy got in my face the moment the judge left the courtroom. “I bet you’re happy now. That’s okay because you weren’t worth the trouble anyway.”

Was she kidding? She’s the one that cheated on me with my childhood friend, tried to put the baby off on me, and didn’t even bat an eyelash when her “fiancé” committed suicide. She probably found out that he was coked out of his mind and probably left him.

In my mind, I secretly pondered if she was the reason he decided to take himself out.

The fucked up part is that we’ll never know the real reason since he never left a farewell note or anything like that.

That still didn’t stop Mrs. Peyton from trying to rub it in, thinking that she had gotten the best of me. “I told you, you no good son of a gun, now you can leave us alone once and for all.”

Stacy looked up and realized that Mrs. Peyton was serious about trying to take care of the baby. “Oh my God, what have I done? I gotta deal with her from now on?”

Mrs. Peyton’s face turned pale as a sheet when she heard Stacy’s knee-jerk reaction to being included in the family. “Heifer, you better get your head screwed on right, if you know what’s good for you, or I’ll make sure that the minute you birth that precious baby, I’ll have you back in court to remove your rights. You are not gonna take the only good thing left of my baby from me, I swear to God you won’t!”

I was heated from the words that Mrs. Peyton had just spoken to me, and I wasn’t about to let her get away with it again. “I don’t have to take another cross word from you any more, Mrs. Peyton. It’s amazing how I was the best friend that your son ever had when things were good, but now I’m the devil or a sonofabitch because you think I killed your son.

“I was the one that tried to keep his ass alive when he saw fit to shoot me! He had nothing but contempt for me, wanted badly to take me out, and yet, I stayed with him until the paramedics arrived.”

I felt the words flowing out of me like the damn had broken and a great flood began to wash away all of the hurt that she tried to cause, all of the hatred that she tried to focus and place on me for her son’s shortcomings.

Forget a twelve gauge… I had a weapon that wouldn’t be running out of ammunition anytime soon, and I used it with the aggression of a Rottweiler.

“This no good son of a gun, as you put it, didn’t even know that the woman that you tried to protect that’s carrying your grandchild, was sleeping with my so-called best friend behind my fucking back; a man that forced another woman into a miscarriage the year before because he didn’t want her baby.” I continued to let fly all of the secrets that I swore I would go to the grave protecting because Omar didn’t want his mother to get upset about his misdeeds.

Fuck that, he beat me to the grave and left me with a mess of epic proportions to clean up.

Those days were over.

I looked at the shocked expression on Mrs. Peyton’s face, and for a second, it appeared that she was putting some of the puzzle pieces together to get the whole picture. Her expression changed to sadness as she tried to find a way to get in the middle of my rant.

“Derrick—“

“
I’m not done, dammit!
” I felt the rage beginning to seep from my pores I was so irate. “I have never… and I repeat, never… touched a drug of any kind in my life, and I even tried to help him get clean after he got kicked off the team… with money that I didn’t even have at the time because I was still in school… only for him to lie to me and everyone else around him that he was getting sober. Meanwhile, he wasn’t just lying, he was upgrading to drugs that I never would have guessed he would be into because he was still trying to compete with some unrealistic image of me that I never placed in his head…
you did!
”

I saw the tears flow from her eyes. She looked at me, completely dejected, finally realizing that whatever she tried to do to “motivate” her son by using me this whole time might have finally been too much for him to bear.

If I wasn’t so heated, I might have felt it in my heart to feel sorry for her. But she brought all of this on herself.

“Derrick… I’m… I’m so sorry.” Mrs. Peyton finally whispered, exhausted from hearing the words that I spat with a ferocity that I didn’t think she was prepared for.

“Apology not accepted.” I stared angrily at her. “I hope to God you meant what you said about helping her take care of that child, because that might be the only thing that you have left on this planet that’s left of a son that only lived to try to make you proud of him. Too bad he’ll never know if you ever were.”

Kelli patted me on the back as we got ready to leave and continued to shake her head at the madness that was occurring. “I feel sorry for that baby. That’s one fucked up family that he – or she – is being born into.”

I couldn’t have agreed more, but thankfully it wasn’t my problem anymore.

I needed away from all of this, and with my new-found wealth, I knew just where I wanted to go.

Monaco.

Nothing like some time in the sun and away from anything and everything that could have possibly reminded me of Stacy – or Omar – or anything bad that had happened since all of these new revelations came to light.

“Derrick! Derrick!”

I heard my name being called, but I ignored the cries. I could have cared less who it was, unless they called out my name formally, I wasn’t turning around for anything.

Tammy caught up with me as I made my way to the front of the building, calling my name the whole time.

What the fuck did she want, after everything that just went down in the courtroom?

“Okay, so you got my attention, Tammy, what do you plan to do with it?” I asked flatly.

“Look, D, I know the last time we saw each other, I said some things that, looking back on it now, I shouldn’t have said.” she tried to catch her breath as she spoke. “I shouldn’t have lied to you about my separation from my husband—“

“You said you were married, not separated, Tammy. Get it together, which one is it?”

Tammy brushed my comment off, trying to get whatever she wanted off her chest. “Okay, but the point is, I’m divorced now, and despite the looks that I gave you in the courtroom, the truth is, I want some more of you.”

You have got to be kidding me today! I took my hands to check my forehead to see if it had the word “Gigolo” written on it or something, because I knew that I really wasn’t GQ at all after the day that I just had.

“Look, Tammy, I’m gonna say it again like I said that night; you were damn good that night, but there are two things that I couldn’t do then, and I can’t do now, and that’s help a woman commit adultery, which I helped you do that night, and have a side piece when I’m in a relationship.”

Tammy’s eyes began to mist, and her body language drastically changed. “I’m sorry, I promise I’m divorced. Here, you can view the decree for yourself,” she frantically sifted through her case to give me the divorce decree.

Sure enough, she got divorced back in March.

Like that was going to change my mind. I have two women that keep my attention and I’m more than happy with.

“I’m sorry that you’re divorced now, Tammy, and I hope you find someone that makes you happy.” I said as I pushed the door open to head out. “Do me a favor and lose my number, because I won’t be answering.”

I blew air as I felt the sunshine on my face.

Too much has happened today… too much.

I really needed to hear my girls’ voices. Maybe they would help balance the rage and anger that was inside of me, because Lord knows I was in a dark place, and I didn’t want to be anymore.

As I left the courthouse, I called Toni and Cori and put them on a three way conference as I headed for the truck to head home.

“Hey you two, I left the courthouse, and—“

“D, don’t put us in suspense any longer, please. Just tell us if we have to help worry about a baby and a crazy ass baby mama or not?” Cori tried to say as quickly as possible in between photo ops with fans that were snatching up the CDs as quickly as they could.

“Yeah, baby, can we get on with our lives without that bitch being in the picture?” Toni chimed

in right behind Cori, giving me no room to say anything edgewise.

Hearing them scream and squeal at the same time as I told them that Stacy was out of our lives forever was the cherry on my day.

I also told them about what went down with Brian, which caught Cori’s attention enough to give Tracie the head’s up. To a degree, they understood why I did it, but I know they felt that I should have let him sweat it out in jail.

Some things women will never understand.

By the time I got around to explaining what Omar had done and that the baby belonged to him, Toni was fit to be tied and Cori was ready to spit nails.

“I should be home after this crazy ass PR thing is done around 9, baby.” Cori told me as I turned on to Peachtree Street to ride in traffic to the condo. “After that, I’m all yours.”

“Just make sure you save some for me, baby.” Toni said towards Cori, which cracked me up for a moment. “I might need to release some frustration from being such a good girl while I’m up here in NYC with all these fine ass men and women on this shoot. All I want is both of you when I get home.”

I let them chatter back and forth to do their girl talk thang as I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic, looking forward to whatever the future held for us.

~Epilogue~

Derrick

Club Kaya.

What better place to celebrate the success of the now Platinum-selling group,
Cazhe
?

The videos of congratulations from all the heavy-hitters were nice to watch; it was almost as nice as when I had to fly around to the different locales to do the actual videotaping.

Destiny’s Child.

TLC.

Aaliyah.

Mary J. Blige.

The list went on and on.

Even the fellas got in on the videos, although those weren’t as fun to do because they tended to be a bit more flirtatious with their congratulations to the group, doing special shouts to the girls individually. I wasn’t particularly fond of Sisqo and D’Angelo when they singled Cori out, but I knew I needed to keep my own jealousy in check.

After all, it’s a part of the industry, and it comes with the territory, so I had to get used to it.

It was amazing to me to see how much the music community tends to be so tight-knit and positive for one another’s successes.

Maybe this music thing wasn’t so bad after all.

Naw, I’ll stick to my photography, especially when the digital age was just beginning. I’ll always love film, but this was way easier, that much I knew.

Considering it was the beginning of the summer, I was ready to enjoy the hot weather, and the hotter women, particularly my women, as the clothing became less and less necessary because the heat dictated the skin being shown.

I was also ready to put some distance between now and what had occurred nearly three months ago.

There was some good news that came out of all of that mess, though.

Brian did have to serve some time for the assault charges, but thanks to the talk that I had with the assistant D.A. and the charges being his first offense, the judge agreed to lessen the charges down to time served and dropped a year off his probation, provided that he doesn’t do anything else to end up in her court again.

It caused him some problems with his DJ gigs for a minute, and the entertainment outlets in Atlanta were a little harsh on him, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast.

Seeing him in the DJ booth for this special occasion did my heart good because I knew this would be just what he needed to get his name back on the map. He even got a chance to patch things up with Tracie; that surprised us all because she was so eager to let him rot in jail when everything went down.

I guess I’ll never understand women completely.

Things with me, Cori, and Toni couldn’t have been better. It was interesting to see the glances any time that we went out to a restaurant or to the clubs, but interestingly enough, all we received were champagne or wine gifts from the people who saw us overseas.

Funny how that works out, huh?

Of course, being out with women that had more star-power than you did was an adjustment at first, but I enjoy the spotlight just as much as they do, and it got us tickets to all of the A-list events in the music and fashion industries. Going as a guest and not as a photographer was