Loving True (17 page)

Folded her arms over her chest True responded, “Yes, I’m his girlfriend.”
Who in the
hell is this?

“God, he has lost his mind,” she sneered. “He wouldn’t have given you a second glance if Brooke and Tyler were still here.” She muttered, “I still blame him for my daughter and grandson leaving.”

True massaged her throbbing temple with one hand. “Listen lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who in the world are Brooke and Tyler?”
  

The woman smirked at her. “Do you mean
Hayward
has never mentioned his wife and child?”
 

The bright lights in the kitchen dimmed, as the room started to spin out of control. Reaching out, True grabbed the side of the marble counter, so she wouldn’t fall face-first on the tile floor. She gasped for air to keep from fainting. No, this woman didn’t know what she was talking about.
Hayward
wasn’t married. She regained her composure and faced the strange woman.

“Lady, I’m sorry but you don’t know what you’re talking about. My boyfriend doesn’t have a wife and child,” True whispered trying to stay calm.

A smile spread over the woman’s face making her look sinister. “Yes, he does.” She snickered opening her purse and dug out a photo. “Here’s a picture of them together.” The woman taunted waving the picture in front of her. “Maybe you should ask questions next time before you start dating a man you barely know.”

True snatched the photograph from the woman’s fingers and stared at it. A younger version of the woman in front of her stood next to
Hayward
holding a dark haired little boy.
 
“
Hayward
has a wife and child,” she choked out. The photo slipped from her hand and floated to the floor in front of her.
 
The ringing in her ears blocked out any other sounds in the room.
 
Her breath caught in the back of her throat as her heart pounded against her ribs.
Hayward
had lied to her for months.

She didn’t flinched when the woman moved closer to her face and the strong odor of liquor hit her in the face. “I hope you don’t think
Hayward
is really serious about you,” she taunted. “He needed something to get over Brooke and when he gets tired of you. He’ll toss you away.” The woman laughed at her one last time, then turned and hurried from the room.
 

* * * *

True swallowed hard.
Hayward
had a wife and child.
The ache shooting through her heart made it almost impossible to breathe. She had to get out of here before she ran into
Hayward
.

She rushed toward the door and ran straight into
Clinton
. “Please move out of my way so I can leave,” she hissed shoving at his hard chest.

“True, where are you going,” he asked grabbing her by the arms. “What did Samantha say to you?”

“Does
Hayward
have a wife and child?” True practically shouted her question at
Clinton
, but she really didn’t need an answer from him, in her heart she already knew the truth.

Clinton
stared at her. She could already see the answer on his face without him saying one word, but she wanted to hear the words. “Answer me,” she screamed in his face.

“Yes, he does, but you don’t know the whole story,”
Clinton
sighed.

“Let go of me,” True hissed pulling at
Clinton
’s hands. “I’ve been used once by a lying selfish bastard and I won’t be used again.” She twisted out of his grip and ran through the kitchen door. Grabbing her purse, she ran out the front door, slamming it behind her.

* * * *

“
Hayward
, you need to find
True
right now!”
Clinton
yelled, bursting through the den’s doors.

“Why? What’s wrong with her?”
Hayward
asked, jumping up from the couch, he left her less than twenty minutes ago and everything was fine. What happened in that short period of time that he didn’t know about?

“True got cornered in the kitchen by Samantha. Samantha told her about Brooke and Tyler.”
Clinton
paused as he caught his breath; then continued. “She made it seem like they were still alive and you were using True as some form of amusement.”
  

“Damn it!”
Hayward
yelled. “Where is that bitch now?” He didn’t care about Samantha’s lies, but he wouldn’t let her poison
True’s
mind against him.

“She bolted out the front door right after her conversation with True,”
Clinton
answered. “True ran out of the house two minutes ago. You should have seen the look on her face.”

“Shit.”
Hayward
snapped. He wouldn’t let
True
believe Samantha’s lies. “I’ve got to find her and explain everything.”
 
Why didn’t he think Brooke’s mother would seek him out when he came back home? She never liked him in the first place; it would be so easy for her to try to ruin his relationship with True?

“Do you have any clue where she might have gone?”

“No, but I won’t stop looking for her until I find her.”
Hayward
swore heading for the front. “I’ll let you know what’s happening as soon as I can.”
 
He declared as he hurried out the door.

* * * *

Hayward
searched for True for two hours. He checked the park by
Clinton
’s house that
True
liked, but he didn’t have any luck there. He also checked several of the shops two blocks away, and she wasn’t there either.

“Where in the hell is she?” He whispered out loud, standing in the middle of the busy sidewalk. People walked around him and glanced at him, but he ignored the stares. He needed to keep his mind focused on finding
True
.

“True, where in the hell are you,” he groaned underneath his breath. “I know she didn’t go back to the hotel, it’s too far for her to walk.”
Hayward
noticed a couple of the streetlight coming on around him. He had searched all the places he took her to in the last couple of days and she wasn’t at any of them. He was running out of ideas.

“Maybe she went back to
Clinton
’s.”
Hayward
pulled out his cell phone and pushed
Clinton
’s number. “Did
True
come back there?” He asked the second he heard his brother’s voice.
Please let her be
there.
He waited while
Clinton
answered his question.
 
“Shit,” he cursed flipping the phone shut.

He thought about taking another look in the park, but he headed back to his car instead and prayed True had found a way back to the hotel.

Fifteen minutes later,
Hayward
opened the hotel room door. He tossed the room key on the table by the couch, and then raced across the carpet to
True’s
bedroom. “Kitten, are you here? We need to talk.”

Going inside her bedroom, he saw the room was empty, “Damn it, she isn’t here either.”
 
On the way out,
Hayward
noticed the closet door ajar and pushed it open. His eyes widened from shock at empty hangers swinging back and forth in the closet, all of
True’s
clothes were missing.

“True, I can’t lose you.” He shouted in the empty room.

Chapter Nine

At
ten o’clock
in the morning the charter flight to
Los Angeles
,
California
landed at the
Los Angeles
Airport
. The sun shone high in the sky, without a cloud in sight. It was the perfect day for surfing, hanging out at the beach or making new friends. Today was the kind of day that wasn’t meant to be spent alone.

When
True
stepped off the crowded airplane, she felt cold and alone. Her first and only thought was to find Stephen. She needed his guidance right now. He would help her work through this devastating news about
Hayward
.

Taking a deep breath, she raised her face to the sky and exhaled slowly, tiredness crept over her. She had finally returned home after two long
years,
however it wasn’t under the circumstances of her choosing. “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to him.” True muttered
,
fighting back tears that threatened to spill over.
Why did I believe him?
 
Angry tears burned the back of her eyes, but she blinked them away. She was tired of crying over men who didn’t deserve her love.

Raising her hand, she hailed a cab outside the airport and got inside “Please take me to
4572 Hamilton Blvd.
” She instructed the bushy-haired cab driver and closed the door.

The driver waited for a truck to past and then shot out into the traffic. Warm ocean air blew through the open window and dried the wet tears on her face. She was too upset to care if the driver was or wasn’t driving above the speed limit.

California
hadn’t changed much since she had been gone. Everything was just as she remembered it. The white sandy beach called to her, with its clear water. Bleached blond surfers were trying to catch the next wave.
 
Mustangs, Jaguars and Lexus’ were still parked in front of the highest priced shops.
 

“Here we are ma’am.” The cab driver said turning back to look at her. “It will be nine dollars and fifty cents.”

Handing the driver a few bills, she got out of the cab and carried her luggage to the front porch. Sitting the bags down on the step, True punched the doorbell and she hoped that Stephen would be happy to see her.

* * * *

Tossing the financial statements down on the table, Stephen got up from the sofa to answer the door. Opening the door, the shock of discovering his best friend standing on his front step left him momentarily, speechless. She stood there, blank, dazed and shaken. “True, what’s wrong?” He enquired.

He noticed the wrinkled black dress that covered her body. True brushed past him and went straight to the couch. “I thought you were spending time with
Hayward
” He questioned, closing the front door. Stephen walked over to the sofa,
then
took a seat next to her.
 

“I can’t believe I fell for his lies.” True sobbed.

. “I told him everything about me, yet I never knew the real him.

Stephen was lost, he still didn’t understand why True was even here. He thought everything was perfect with
Hayward
. She sounded so happy yesterday. What in the hell did he do to her? “Honey, start from the beginning, because I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he encouraged.

In a broken whisper, True told him word for word every nasty comment the woman told her. After True finished her story, Stephen didn’t know what to say.
 
How in the hell did her new boyfriend have a wife and child?

“I’m such a fool,” she wailed. Her soft voice tore at his heart. “How could I be such damn fool and fall for another man who doesn’t care about me?

“Did this woman ever say who she was?”
 
He watched True struggle with her emotions. He wanted more than anything to wrap her in his arms and take away the pain, but he couldn’t, she needed to work this out on her own.

“No, but she had to be a relative because she resembled the woman in the picture,” True said. “I think I almost told him I was in love with him.” She hissed, disgusted with her gullibility.
     
 

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry,” he whispered tugging her into his arms. Something wasn’t right. When True spoke about
Hayward
on the phone, he didn’t act like a man leading a double life. “Sweetheart, look at me,” he said. Brushing her hair back from her face, he stared down into her rich brown eyes.

“I haven’t met
Hayward
, but I don’t think he was lying to you.”

“You can’t be serious.” She gasped leaning away from him.

He nodded his head. “I’m very serious,” he replied, touching the tip of her nose with his finger. “I believe he’s really in love with you. Now, I don’t know the reason why this woman would tell you about this mystery wife and child.
but
you need to ask him.”

True slammed down her hand on the empty couch seat between them. “I’m finished with him!”

“Listen to me. You’ve got to stop running from your problems and face them head on.” He suggested gently. “What if this woman was lying?”

“But what if she was telling me the truth about him,” True replied.

“Then you confront him about his lies,” Stephen sighed.

He gathered all his paperwork up from the table, and then stood up. “Whatever his answer turns out to be, it will make you a stronger person.” He kissed
True
on the cheek and left the room. She needed time to think about what he said.

* * * *

Sitting on the sofa, True replayed the conversation with Stephen in her mind. He was right she needed to confront
Hayward
, but not now her body wasn’t up to it. She wanted more time to regroup. Hopefully, Stephen would let her stay with him until after his birthday party next week. After that, she would go back home and find out the truth.

Rising from the couch, she grabbed her purse off the seat and yelled to Stephen in the kitchen. “I’m going for a walk.”
 
She turned on her heel and walked out the front door.

The light wind blew
True’s
hair around her shoulders, as she walked toward one of her favorite shops on
Rodeo Drive
. The best thing about her shopping trips back then was going with best friend
Jenisha
Roman. She had met
Jenisha
at the
Beverly
Center
while shopping for a black dress.

Her best friend was a knockout, and could have been a runway model quite easily, but each time she mentioned it,
Jenisha
that she would laugh it off and
divert
their conversation.
Jenisha
always said being a second-grade teacher gave her a sense of purpose. She was so glad
Jenisha
had taken the teaching job in
Texas
two months before she met
Dalton
and got involved in all the horrible mess that followed. The memory brought a feeling of dejection. Maybe, something inside the vintage clothing shop at the corner could help ease the pain.

A strapless red dress in a shop’s window caught her attention as she walked past. She stopped in front of the window for a better look. “I hope they have it in my size,” True muttered going to the front door.
 

“Why don’t you leave that dress alone and let someone buy it. I know your closet is packed with cute outfits. You don’t need another one,” a feminine voice joked behind her.

Gasping True twirled around and screamed when she locked eyes with her best friend. “
Jenisha
,
Omigod
what are you doing here?”

* * * *

Jenisha
Roman was a striking woman. She stood about five foot nine inches tall, with a knock out body that most women would kill for. Black spiral curls brushed her shoulders in tiny little waves. Her rich ebony skin color made her clothes look unbelievable on her body.
 
Her best feature were her eyes, which were a mixture of dark cinnamon brown with chestnut hazel flecks.
 

Jenisha
hugged True. She was overjoyed to see her best friend after three and a half years.

“How did you know I was here?” True asked

“I was leaving the coffee shop across the street and saw you.”
 
She replied grinning. To
Jenisha
, True always looked like she stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine, but no one would ever know how sweet the woman in front of her truly was. When she needed a friend True was the person she always called. “Are you here for a visit or did you move back like me?” She asked moving to the side to let a group of teenagers walk by.

“I came to visit Stephen for a few weeks,” True replied. “Why did you come back to
Los Angeles
? I thought the job in
Texas
was everything you were looking for? What went wrong?”

“Hey, I want to know about you,”
Jenisha
said avoiding her question. “My life was never exciting as yours. I rushed back home and when I get here I find out you had moved.”

“You didn’t hear about the reason I left?”

Jenisha
crossed her arms and glared down at True. “I don’t believe any of those lies. Let any of them cross my path again and I’ll give them a piece of my mind,” she hissed.

“Don’t say anything to anyone,” True begged “Everyone has a right to their own opinion.”

“Not if their opinion is filled with lies.”

“Let’s talk about something else okay.” True suggested

“Fine, we can talk about something else,”
Jenisha
sighed. “How does it feel to be back in LA?”
 

“Strange, because I’ve been living in rural
Montana
, plus so many things are going on in my life right now.”

“Let’s go back to my house and you can tell me everything from the beginning,”
Jenisha
suggested.

“Works for me,” True exclaimed.

* * * *

Back at her house,
Jenisha
got them a glass of sweetened ice tea. True took a sip of her tea; she tasted a hint of lemon in the tea and it tasted wonderful to her parched throat. “You still make the best tea.” She praised taking another sip before sitting the glass on the table.
 

She took a quick glance around the room. Colorful paintings hung from the walls and rugs covered the hardwood floors. The house had a slight hint of a Mexican feel to it. All the multicolored designs in the room fit
Jenisha’s
lively personality, an eighties pop station played on
Jenisha’s
entertainment center.
 

“Stop praising my ice tea. I want to know about this man,”
Jenisha
grinned.

“What makes you think I’m in a relationship?” True asked taking a bite of the peanut butter cookie,
Jenisha
had brought in the same time as the ice tea.
 
“Damn this is a good cookie,” she said as she took another bite. It was better to avoid any conversation that involved
Hayward
, or she might lose her cool.

“Stop playing around with me,”
Jenisha
snorted, leaning forward on the couch. “Guys fall all over themselves when they see you coming down the street. Are you honesty saying there isn’t some sexy man in your life? Remember I’ve a psychology degree too, so I’m use to scratching beneath the surface for answers Ms. Williams.”

Sighing
True
tossed the half-eaten peanut butter cookie back on her plate. “Fine, I was dating someone, but I might not be much longer.”

“First, tell me how he looks and then move on to the problems.”
Jenisha
reached for the bowl of popcorn on the table. Placing it between her legs in the chair, she got more comfortable and listened quietly as True told her about
Hayward
.

“Wow, he sounds very sexy.”
 
She stated after
True
finished with her story. “I agree with Stephen. You should go back home and find out the truth.

“He such a complicated man,” True sighed. “One minute he’s very distant, and then in the next breath he becomes flirtatious.” She was caught between the need to protect her heart and throw caution to the wind.

“Does he know you’re here? Did you at least leave him a note, so he wouldn’t worry about you?”

Controlling a nasty retort, True declared, “No, it didn’t cross my mind to do anything of the sort.”