Beautiful Liar (19 page)

“Misty, just—” he paused when she attempted
to slap him again.

“You fucked her, didn’t you? Don’t lie, be a
man and tell the truth.”

Cairo sighed and looked up at the roof. He
knew things weren’t going the way he had planned them. He had been
caught in the act, and now his hands were tied. “Open the glove
box.”

“Fuck the glove box! Answer my question! You
fucked her, didn’t you?”

“Just open the glove box and you’ll see!”

She opened the glove box--more out of
frustration than curiosity. A black velvet box sat on a small stack
of papers like it has been methodically planned.

“What is that, Cairo?”

“Open it.”

Misty complied and discovered her engagement
ring, a brilliant pink solitaire diamond in platinum setting,
sparkling at her. It was her favorite color.

“I asked Wendy to go with me to pick it out.
I was going to surprise you at dinner tonight at Justin’s.”

She was speechless.

“I would never do anything to lose you,
Misty. I love you with all my heart, and I couldn’t imagine life
without you.”

“What is this for?”

“I know we’ve only known each other for some
months, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know we are soul
mates. I need to know you’ll always be a part of my life. So, I
would like to know if you would marry me.”

Tears still flowed down her face, but these
were ones of joy. Her hands were shaking so badly she had troubling
holding onto the box. “I want to…but…what about Ty?”

“Ty is gone, Misty. I’m right here. It’s
important to cherish what y’all had, but don’t let it stagnate your
progress towards being happy.”

“What about this lady?” she asked, pulling
out the phone and letter from her back pocket. “How could I ever
plan on getting married, knowing there’s someone lurking in the
shadows, waiting to kill me?”

He finished reading the letter and observed
the photo of Tywan’s vandalized headstone. The woman had
spray-painted the word “Murderer” on it.

He turned back to Misty. “I promise you that
I’m going to find out who this woman is. My pops has an old buddy
who’s a private investigator. He specializes in shit like this.
We’ll find that bitch and take it from there.”

“I don’t kn—”

“Please, Misty. Don’t let anything else keep
you from being happy. We’re meant to be together, and we can’t let
anything get in our way. Remember that night when you asked me
which was more important to me: money or love?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I hesitated before I said ‘love,’ because I
wasn’t being truthful. I realize now that all the money in the
world can’t buy me what we have built. All my life, I so-called
protected my inheritance by pushing away every woman I came into
contact with. It was a cold and childish thing to do, and all the
pain I caused those women, I got back ten times when my son died.
That’s why I took it so hard, because I knew that it was nothing
but karma. I done it to myself. So to prove to you and to myself
that I’m serious about changing, I’m going to give the company and
all my money back to my pops. I don’t want it anymore.”

“Oh, Cairo!” she said, placing a hand on his
face. “I would love you for rich or poor, but I can’t let you do
that.”

He dropped his head in defeat.

“But,” she continued. “I will accept your
hand in marriage."

“For real?"

She laughed. “Yes.”

He put the ring on her finger and kissed her
deeply. “Thank you, baby. I swear you’re not going to regret
this.”

They spent the next ten minutes apologizing
and making promises before they got out of the car to share the
news with Ray.

Ray stood in the doorway of the building,
looking outwards, as if the glass would protect him from any
dangers that their argument might impose.

They laughed and waved for him to step
outside.

He stepped out, waving his index finger from
side to side. “Don’t put me in that shit, because I don’t know
nothing! That’s on y’all; know what I’m talking about?

“Are you going to be my best man?”

“I’ll always be your best man, but I still
ain’t got nothing to do with that.”

Cairo held Misty’s left hand up. “I’m talking
about for our wedding, crazy!”

Ray stared at both of them with a baffled
expression. “Y’all got some crazy shit going on.”

Cairo explained the misunderstanding when a
car pulled up. Neither one of them paid any attention to it,
because it was just one of the many cars that came and went during
business hours.

“Yeah, man, that’s real cool! Know what I’m
talking about?”

“Yeah, we know what you’re talking about!”
They said in unison, laughing.

“Wait ‘til I tell Deb y’all are getting
married. She ain’t going to believe this shit."

“I hope that I’m invited,” a voice said
behind Cairo.

Cairo wasn’t a hundred percent sure who the
voice belonged to, but the expression on Ray’s face confirmed his
suspicions. He spun around slowly and saw Vicky’s burning eyes
boring into him.

“Why are you here?”

She ignored him and focused on Misty. “I
can’t let you marry him, girl. He’s nothing but a dog, so I’m about
to do you a favor.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I don’t need
it.”

“I see that Cairo’s got you trained
well.”

“Don’t nobody have me nothing!”

Cairo prevented Misty from advancing on
Vicky. “No, baby, she’s not worth the trouble.”

“Don’t hold her back. Please, don’t,” Vicky
begged. “Let her step up to me.”

“I need for you to leave, Vicky. We don’t
want any trouble.”

“I see she’s ready to fight over you, but
does she know how you killed my niece and nephew? Your own
son?”

Cairo stared at her with hatred.

“You can’t tell me anything that he hasn’t
already told me,” Misty spat. “And whatever happened before me,
happened before I started caring, Ms. Old News!”

“You’re so stupid, you ugly-ass bitch!”

Cairo had heard enough, so he advanced
towards Vicky.

Vicky didn’t want to lose her ground; she
drew the .32 automatic from her pocket prepared to shoot.

The color drained from Ray’s face when he saw
Vicky pull out the gun. “Put it down, Vicky!”

“I’m not putting shit down! This shit ends
today!”

“Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

“He killed my niece and nephew; he has to pay
for it.”

“Come on, Vicky. You can’t blame him for an
accident. Know what I’m talking about?”

“That wasn’t no goddamn accident! He drove
her to kill herself. That’s the same as killing her. Now it’s my
turn to do the killing!”

Ray looked at Cairo. “You better say
something to this girl! She ain't playing, man!”

At the first sight of the gun, the words
‘déjà vu’ popped into his mind. His legs became rubbery, and his
mouth went dry. He knew he was really in trouble when tears began
to pour from Vicky’s eyes.

Beads of perspiration formed on his brow at
the thought of the burning sensation the bullet would cause. He
knew this wasn’t the time for cowardice. Cairo dropped to one knee
and spoke from his heart.

“I can’t blame you for wanting to kill me,
because I’ve thought about killing myself over a million times
since they died. They didn’t deserve their fate. It wasn’t fair. I
don’t know if you got it in your heart, but I need for you to
forgive me. I need for you to know that I’m a changed man today,
and there’s not a trace of the old Cairo in my body. You have to
believe that. If you’ve noticed, I have turned the other cheek
every time you have retaliated against me. I’ve changed, Vicky. I’m
not the same, self-centered person anymore. I have God in my life
now, and He has given me new beginning and a beautiful wife.” He
turned to Misty momentarily. “So I beg you to find it in your heart
to forgive me. If God can, they you surely can.”

Vicky stood there, holding the gun steadily.
She heard and understood perfectly what he had said, but she
couldn’t bear doing anything other than what she came for. “You
took something from me that all the sorry’s in the world can’t
replace. And for you to kneel there and ask for forgiveness really
lets me know that you could never feel my pain! I thank you though,
because you have just made me realize now that death is too easy
for you. I have to make you feel what I feel every day! That’s the
only way we’d ever be even.”

Ray knew exactly where Vicky was going with
the conversation. Too bad he was too far away to prevent her from
turning to Misty and firing!

Cairo stared into the barrel of the gun, feeling
the vibe that the situation had only intensified. Everything in his
being told him to run for his life, but he disregarded the thought.
He couldn’t consciously leave his future wife behind at Vicky’s
mercy.

The fear of being shot again rattled his soul
so badly; he couldn’t understand one world that was coming from
Vicky’s mouth. But when her eyes shifted to Misty a split second
before her gun did, he acted on impulse and lunged for it.

He tackled her just as the gun went off, and
they began to tussle for it. Her struggle was childlike compared to
his strength, but she evened things up by sinking her teeth into
his arm.

Cairo responded immediately by abandoning his
efforts and striking her in the temple with all of his
strength.

Vicky let out a sharp cry and slipped into
blackness.

“Alice in Wonderland” popped into Misty’s mind
once she saw how serious things had become. Home seemed to be the
ideal place to be, where she could be alone and out of harm’s way.
But no shoes in the world could take her there, unless she used
them to walk…or run…or at least get to her car and allow it to put
miles between her and the crazed woman.

Misty wanted more than ever to take that
first step to serenity, but the fear of drawing attention to
herself prevented her from doing so.

It seemed to her that Vicky sensed her
dilemma, because she swung the gun at her and fired. The slug
knocked her to the ground, and she found herself staring up at the
sky.

The clouds reminded her of the fluffy pillows
that sat at the head of her bed, where she longed to be. But her
shoes had failed to take her there, so the gravel substituted for
her bed, and she drifted off into blackness.

Cairo sat on the ground
next to the
headstone, staring maliciously at the sky. Every time he visited
this site, he found himself questioning and trying to understand
God’s will. And although he never got a response or any clarity, he
felt that he owed it to his deceased beloved to keep searching for
an answer.

The road was a very painful route that
drained energy; it was threatening his future. But he didn’t want
to abandon his mission, because he felt it would be like abandoning
his loved one.

He also came to the bitter conclusion that everything
he had ever done in the past was a conscious decision of his own
that led him to this place. And regardless of what he did tomorrow,
yesterday would always be the pebble in his shoe.

His train of thought was broken when a shadow
cast over him.

He turned towards it and saw Ray towering
over him with a look of concern. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he responded, wiping his tears away.
“What are you doing here?”

“I came to have a word with you.”

“Everything’s cool, right?”

“Yeah, everything’s great. Know what I’m
talking about?”

Cairo gave him a strange look. “How did you
know to find me here?”

“I never forget important days…good or bad,”
he said, referring to the death’s anniversary.

“You remembered!”

“You seem surprised.”

“I guess I am, since you never really said
much about…the subject.”

Ray sat down beside him, making a grunting
sound in the process. “I’m getting old.”

“We both are.”

“That’s why we have to make necessary
decisions that are in our best interests. Even if it’s a
self-centered one.”

Cairo nodded. “I agree, to an extent.”

“Look, man. I never talked about the
situation because I couldn’t bear to see the pain in your eyes.
Before you got shot, I used to think you were the most fortunate
dude I knew: handsome, wealthy, and had your choice of women.”

“None of that is important now…none of it.
Because in the end, my sunny days were what fueled the storm.”

Ray ignored the comment and changed the
subject. “You know how there’s people who are content because
someone they fuck with is well off?”

“Like how Spliff is with Busta?”

“Exactly! See, I was never that dude. Know
what I’m talking about? I never sat around and counted yours like I
was due any of it.”

“But you know I got you if you ever need
it.”

“That’s just the thing,” he said, sounding
agitated. “I’m not comfortable with anybody spoon-feeding me.
Nobody but a lame or a gold digger would be comfortable with
that.”

Cairo found himself becoming agitated now.
“Where are you going with this?”

“I came to tell you goodbye.”

“Goodbye? Where are you going?”

“I’m moving to Detroit with my uncle. His
landscaping business is booming, and he needs someone to help him
manage it.”

“You don’t know nothing about no
landscaping.”

“Starting at twenty five dollars an hour,
I’ll learn quick. Know what I’m talking about?”

“What if I offered you the same thing? Would
you stay?”

Ray shook his head. “Nah, my mind is made up
already. I’m ready for a change.”

“What about Deb? Is she moving, too?”

He laughed bitterly. “You’ve been so caught
up in your thing I didn’t bother telling you that we broke up a
couple of months ago.”

“For what?”