Confessions (18 page)

“Daaayum! Who did this?”

“That's what I want to know.” I just had my car towed over to Michael's dealership because I had come out at lunch to discover someone had thrown a brick through my windshield.

“Do you have any enemies?” he asked.

“What beautiful woman doesn't?” People either loved Netta or hated her. That's just the way it had always been for me.

“I'll take care of it. Don't worry about it.” Michael signaled for me to follow him to his office, and as soon as the door was shut he was all over me. Hell, I know how the game is played. He take care of me. I take care of him. “Damn, I missed you,” he murmured between kisses.

I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling. I just saw his ass yesterday. He stuck his thick tongue inside my mouth and slobbered me down, but when his hand cupped my breast, I pulled away from his grasp.

“Michael, come on. This is a place of business. Anyone can walk in.”

He shrugged. “No, they won't…. I'm the boss.”

I wasn't the least bit impressed and moved out of his reach. “I need to ask a question,” I said as I took a seat on a leather couch he kept in the corner of his plush office.

“Sure, baby, what's on your mind, because I definitely know what's on mine.” For the first time I felt naked under his lustful gaze.

“This is serious,” I snapped. That was a man for you. Always got coochie on the brain.

“Okay…whassup?”

Okay, now that I had his attention I wasn't sure how to start. One thing I needed to do was to choose my words carefully. “Does Maureen have access to the cars on your lot?”

“No, why?”

“Because someone has been following me. Once in an Altima and just yesterday it was a Jeep. Never the same car, but it always has dealer plates.”

Michael gave me a weird look. “Why in the world would my wife be following you?”

Men can be so stupid sometimes. “Why do you think? Maybe she found out we're messing around.” He started laughing as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. All that did was piss me off more. I then went on to tell him about the slashed tires and the lipstick on my windshield.

“So, let me get this straight…you think my wife slashed your tires, wrote on your windshield and borrowed cars from my lot just so she can follow you around without you knowing it her?”

“People have done worse things before.”

“Trinette, my wife is clueless. She knows nothing about you and me. I've told you before…my game is tight.” Just like a man to think he's smarter than a woman. I gave him a look that said I wasn't convinced. “Serious, if Maureen knew, I would be the first person she would confront.”

I crossed my legs and didn't bother to respond.

“What did you decide about the condo?” he asked, changing the subject. Apparently, he didn't like me accusing his wife of harassing me. “You want to make it our little home for the next year?”

For what? So Maureen and Chuck could use it while I'm at work? “What would Maureen say about you ‘renting' the place to me?”

“She could care less about that place. It's mine. Not hers.”

Yeah, like I said, he didn't know his wife as well as he thought he did. “I'll pass, but thanks for the offer.”

“Just think about it, okay? Trinette, baby, you wouldn't have to want for anything.”

Probably not, but I would have to be at his beck and call. Available and willing each and every time he was ready. I wasn't having any of that. “My condo is still on the market. If and when it's sold, then I will think about it.”

“Sounds good to me. Now come and give your man some love.”

I slowly rose from the couch and swayed my hips over to where he was standing. He captured my lips against his, then reached for the buttons of my blouse and unfastened them. “Damn, you got some pretty titties,” he moaned. He unfastened the front clasps, and my breasts sprung free. While he suckled and played, I reached for his belt buckle. Michael knew how to work his magic on my nipples. They were hard, and my body was dying for what he had to offer, although I don't know why, since he wasn't working with much.

As soon as his pants were down, he reached under my skirt and ripped the tights from around my waist.

“Hey, those cost me fifty dollars!”

“I'll buy you another pair,” he murmured against my neck, and slipped my panties down around my ankles. The second I kicked them away, he lay me back against his desk. “Wrap your legs around my waist.”

Michael slid inside and rocked his hips against me. I looked up at the ceiling, anxious for him to get done, and for some reason my mind wandered to Leon. The last several days I wondered what he was doing. More than anything I wanted him to be happy. Why hadn't his happiness ever mattered to me before?

“I'm almost there!” Michael moaned, and then he howled long and hard, and I cried out on cue.

“Oh, yes, big daddy! That's it!”

A few short strokes and he was crying out my name and collapsed on top of me. Michael rained kisses along my neck and shoulder. “Oooh-weee…you got some good shit!”

I gave a weak smirk. All I wanted was for him to get up so I could clean off and go home. I opened my eyes and looked over at the window in time to see two of his sales team peering in the window, grinning.

“What the hell…?” I pushed Michael off of me.

“What's wrong?” he asked as he rose.

Sitting up, I pulled my shirt closed. “Your employees are in the window watching us!”

He chuckled and reached for his pants. “So…let them look.”

He might as well have slapped me in the face because his words stung just as hard. I pushed him aside. “I gotta go.”

“Where are you going? You can't drive your car.”

“Don't worry about it. I'll catch a cab.”

He reached for his wallet. “I guess you can afford it.”

I looked over at the window to see if the two men were still watching when Michael handed me several bills. They weren't, but just knowing they had been watching had cheapened the encounter. I couldn't even look Michael in the eyes. All I wanted was to go home. After stuffing the money in my purse, I quickly fixed my clothes.

“Baby, I should have a new windshield for you tomorrow,” he reassured me with a kiss.

Nodding, I walked out his office and headed straight for the bathroom to clean myself up and repair my makeup. When I looked into the mirror, I didn't at all like what I saw.

I didn't even bother calling a cab. Instead I started walking and thinking about my life and all the mistakes I had made. Men loved me, but all they ever wanted was sex, and I gave it to them. Most of the time I didn't even know their last names. As I thought about it, it made me so sick to my stomach I barely made it to a bush before I vomited the contents of my stomach. What in the world had I done? I had taken a gamble, and in the process I had lost the best thing that had ever happened to me.

I rang the doorbell again, then peeked through the window and frowned. I knew she was at home because her Mercedes was in the driveway.

I was worried about Trinette. I'd been calling her for the previous three days with no answer. Her job said she had been calling in sick. Said she had some kind of flu bug. I wasn't buying it. If Trinette was sick, she would have called me whining like a baby until I agreed to bring her spoiled ass some soup. Tristan said he spotted Trinette in the mall last weekend shopping her tail off, but as far as I knew no one else had seen her since.

“Trinette, I'm not leaving, so you might as well open this door!” I screamed and banged on the door at the same time. If she was asleep, then her ass needed to wake up. Knowing her, she probably had some man in there, but I didn't care. Dammit! A couple of years ago, she had given me a key, but for the life of me I didn't know where it was.

I knocked again and hoped she hadn't done anything stupid. As quickly as I thought about it, I pushed that ridiculous thought aside. Trinette loved herself too much to try anything stupid, but that didn't mean she wasn't thinking about it.

For the last couple of weeks, she had been trying to act like her breakup with Leon didn't bother her, but I knew better. That girl was hurting, and I don't care how much dick she tried to ride, that wasn't going to change the fact that Leon walked out on her. Trinette had this hard exterior wall she had put around her heart years ago to keep from getting hurt, but like I told her, money and sex didn't make up for what her life was missing. At some point, she was going to have to face her demon and let her guard down in order to love and be loved.

I was preparing to walk around back and break a window or something when I finally heard the lock turn. I flinched when I saw her. Trinette was standing there with her weave matted to her head.

“Damn, bitch! Quit ringing my doorbell,” she barked, then turned and walked back through the house. I followed.

“If you'd answer my phone calls I wouldn't have to be ringing your damn doorbell.” I followed her inside. Eeew! It was funky. It stunk like old food. I glanced around the house, which was a complete mess. Photo albums and pictures were all over the living room floor. I moved into the kitchen and discovered the smell. A package of catfish nuggets was in the sink thawed out. On touch the package was warm; there was no telling how many days it had been sitting there, stinking. I turned my nose up and went up the stairs to Trinette's bedroom. At the door, I had to take a step back. Her room was also a disaster. Clothes were everywhere. Dresser drawers sitting open. Closet doors as well.

“Girl, what's up with you? Why haven't you been answering my calls?”

Trinette climbed back in bed and curled into a fetal position, staring off in the opposite direction. “I don't want to talk to anyone.”

I moved over to the side of her bed and took a seat. “Why not? What's going on with you?”

She wouldn't look at me. “I miss him.”

“Who? Leon?”

Pinning me with a hard look, she spat, “Who else?”

“Shit, I don't know. You said you were seeing someone else.”

Trinette looked away, and I could tell she was trying to fight tears. “I fucked up, Nikki. I really fucked up. How could I have been so stupid?”

I placed a comforting hand at her back. “Have you talked to him since you took all his money?”

She shook her head.

“Well, why don't you start with a phone call?”

“I can't call him, because if I hear the rejection in his voice, I-I'm gonna lose it.” She practically choked on a sob.

It was nothing worse than seeing my best friend behaving as if she had no reason to live. Some people could handle the pressure. Unfortunately, Trinette wasn't one of them. “How about sending an e-mail and telling him how you feel?” I suggested. The sooner she talked to Leon, the sooner she would get back to her normal vain and self-centered self, because I couldn't stand the pitiful Netta.

Trinette rolled onto her back. “I don't want to put myself out there so I can be rejected.”

“That's your problem. You're always worried about looking bad. You've got to let your guard down and quit trying to be so hard.”

“Nikki, I don't know how to be anything other than the way I am.”

“I'm not saying change who you are. Hell, for some reason Leon fell in love with your crazy ass just the way you are.”

“Forget you,” she mumbled.

I laughed, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Seriously, though…you've got to start understanding that marriage requires hard work and dedication. You've got to quit taking Leon for granted.”

She blinked but didn't comment because she knew good and well I was telling the truth. “You can't think
me;
in a marriage it's
we
. Marriage is a partnership and a commitment to each other. I'm definitely not one to talk, because after Mimi was killed I gave up caring about my marriage and all I thought about was how I felt. I didn't even consider what Donovan was feeling. And because of it, we disconnected and our marriage was hanging by a thread, but I have woken up, and I know I love Donovan and there's no other man I would rather be with.”

“Not even Kenyon,” Trinette teased as she brushed tears from her eyes.

“
Especially
not him. Donovan is my soul mate just like Leon is yours, but I gotta be honest with you….” I purposely allowed my voice to trail off.

She rolled her eyes and groaned, “Oh, Lord, what else is new?”

“Whatever…. I wouldn't be a real friend if I wasn't. If you're gonna make your relationship with your husband work, you've got to stop fucking around.”

Trinette blew out a long breath. Hey, as I say all the time on my show, the truth hurts. She finally nodded her head and said, “I know.”

“I'm serious. Are you ready to give up your other life in order to save your marriage?” I looked her dead in the eyes because I wanted to make sure she really understood what I was saying.

She started bawling again. That was not at all the reaction I was expecting. “Yes, I-I want m-m-my husband back. I-I didn't know it then, b-but I know it now.” She sniffled and reached for a tissue from the nightstand. “I guess it took Leon dumping me for me to finally realize I don't want to live without him.”

“Praise the Lord!” I murmured, and glanced up at the ceiling. It was definitely a miracle if Trinette was talking about realizing and not wanting to live without someone other than “me, myself and I.” I leaned over and hugged my best friend. She had a traumatic childhood that she somehow allowed to dictate her life.

“I'm not gonna beg him to take me back. Part of me feels it's too late, and I can't blame anyone but myself for that. But I would like for him to know how I feel.”

I stared down into her sad eyes and tried to reassure her. “You can do it.”

“I don't know…. Where do I start?”

“Girl, you can start by doing something about your breath, 'cause you're killing me,” I replied, frowning.

“Forget you.” Playfully, she punched me in the leg.

I struggled to keep a straight face. “I'm serious. You also smell as bad as your kitchen. Get your butt in the shower while I go put out your trash.”

Trinette gave me a big hug. “Nikki, I don't know what I would do without you, girl.”

I held my nose. “Smell like that again and you're gonna find out.”

She laughed for the first time, and I smiled and left the room, heading for the kitchen.

I didn't know what to think about that girl. If she didn't get it together, she was going to lose Leon for good. Not that I was one to talk. Kenyon was still blowing up my phone and popping up at the bookstore. I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get the hint.