Moments of Clarity (24 page)

Chapter 20

Sasha had been home for days without talking to anyone. Upon her return from Las Vegas, she had placed a block on her telephone for Tiara's home and cell number. She hadn't done the same for Sexton, but she wasn't surprised when he didn't call. What could you say when caught with your hand in the cookie jar?

She hadn't been able to sleep and she'd had plenty of time to think of the clues that she should have seen a long time ago. From Sexton wanting her to drop Tiara as a friend to his silence when she had tossed him the wig at his apartment, not to mention Tiara's sudden pretended dislike for Sexton.

Yes, they had certainly played her for a fool, and she was afraid of what she would do to Tiara if she saw her. She decided that her best course of action was to pretend that Tiara didn't exist, and maybe that avenue would keep her out of jail for assault.

The sudden sound of the telephone ringing startled her out of her dark thoughts. Cocking her head to listen for the caller, she gave a sigh when she heard the name Dominique James. She picked up the telephone receiver.

“Hello,” she said dully.

“What's the matter with you? Are you sick or something? You sound terrible,” Dominique fired off the minute she heard Sasha's voice.

Without hesitation Sasha poured out her heart. “Sexton and I broke up. He's been sleeping with Tiara behind my back.” For the first time since she had seen the pictures and read the letter, Sasha began to cry. At first she made small gulping sounds. Then letting go, a deluge of tears coursed down her face. She began to cough, making choking sounds as she gasped for air.

“Don't cry!” Dominique ordered sharply.

“Let her cry if she wants to. She certainly has a right,” Desiree said sharply.

Her sisters were silent as they listened to her sob uncontrollably.

Finally, when the tormented sounds stopped, Dominique said roughly, “I'm coming over.”

“Please don't!” Sasha begged. “I just want to be alone.”

“You should be with family, not alone.”

“Let her be!” Desiree cautioned Dominique. “Sometimes people need alone time to adjust without people staring at them.”

“We're not people, we're family,” Dominique argued.

“And if Sasha wanted us there, she would have called us, not the other way around,” Desiree countered.

“How did you find out?” Dominique asked.

“While Sexton and I were in Vegas, Tiara sent me pictures of the two of them in bed with a letter stating that she thought I should know the truth before I made the mistake that she had.”

“Damn! She knew that you were in Vegas and she just had to go and ruin it. She probably was scared to death that the two of you were going to get married and had to find a way to stop it. That's why I don't have any girlfriends,” Dominique stated with firmness. “They're like crabs in a jar. When they think one is going to get out they pull them back in.”

Sasha kept silent. Dominique always had a knack for hitting the nail on the head. She didn't want to tell her sisters the humiliating fact that she had indeed made that colossal mistake while in Vegas.

“If she gave a crap about you she wouldn't have told you the way she did. They say that there's a right way and a wrong way to do things. I don't know if in this situation there is a right way, but if there is she certainly didn't choose it. How cowardly is that? Sending her best friend a letter. That's so tacky. Tiara has too much time on her hands. That chick needs a hobby.”

“I must say that I'm surprised at Sexton. He didn't strike me at all as a run-around. Go figure.” Dominique mulled over these revelations.

“What did he say when you confronted him?” Desiree queried.

“I didn't confront him. I just took off. I couldn't stand to see him.” Her voice was hoarse from crying.

“Are you telling me that you didn't have it out with him?” Dominique sounded appalled.

“What could he say? There's no explanation for that.”

Desiree rejoined the conversation, and she also sounded stunned that Sasha hadn't given Sexton the chance to explain. “Sasha, you don't know when those pictures were taken. It could have been before the two of you got together.”

“Still,” Sasha exclaimed weakly, “he gave her thirty thousand dollars after we were together.”

“So what? From what you told us, she's been going around begging since her husband left her. Thirty thousand dollars isn't over the top if he views her as a charitable donation,” Desiree retorted sarcastically.

“I never thought of that,” Sasha answered weakly. “But still, it's disgusting, Sexton having slept with my best friend.”

“She's not your best friend,” Desiree stated emphatically. “In fact, she's not your friend at all.”

“Grow up, Sasha!” Dominique instructed sharply. “Women sling that thang at men all the time and they don't always turn it down. More times than not, sex is simply a physical release for them.” She paused. “So what if Sexton slept with Tiara. If it was before you and he wasn't sleeping with the two of you at the same time, it doesn't matter. Everyone has a history. Obviously it didn't mean anything to him or he wouldn't have pursued you the way that he did.”

“Sasha, you need to talk to Sexton and find out the truth,” Desiree advised.

“Yes, you need to check with your man!” Dominique ordered.

* * *

Sasha sat in her darkened living room thinking about the telephone conversation she'd had with her sisters. She hadn't been to work in days and had gotten used to being a recluse, so when her doorbell rang, she jumped with surprise. Looking at the clock, she realized that it was late evening; fearful as to who would be coming to her place at that time of night, she tiptoed down the hall to peer through the peephole. Spying Calvin, she held her breath and had turned to tiptoe away when she heard his voice through the door.

“Sasha, Desiree called me. Let me in so we can talk.”

Sasha stood holding her breath, waiting for him to leave.

“I know that you're in there. I'm just trying to help.”

“I don't ever want to see you or your sister again,” she shouted back at him.

“That's not fair, Sasha,” he scolded. “I am not my sister's keeper.”

Upon hearing this, Sasha unlocked her door and threw it open. It hit the back wall.

Calvin stood staring.

Sasha's hair was sticking out on top of her head and she looked as if she had been through the wringer. Because her skin was so fair, it was easy to detect the beginning of dark circles forming under her eyes. Those eyes looked accusatory as they met his.

Her stance was defiant. “Are you trying to tell me that you didn't know about the affair that Sexton and your sister were having and that you didn't help engineer a cover-up by pretending that you and he were good friends so that Tiara could have the inside track to make herself available to him?”

“I did no such thing.” Calvin walked past her into the loft. He tapped the light switch on the wall and it flooded the area with light. Then he turned and gave her a stern look. “I am Sexton's friend, which is one of the reasons I'm here. The other reason I'm here is because I also thought that I was one of your friends.”

Sasha shrugged her shoulders and replied sarcastically, “If I were you, I wouldn't put too much stock in friendship anymore. I know that I don't.”

“Where are the photos that my sister sent you? I want to see them,” he demanded in a tone that brooked no argument.

Sasha stood in front of Calvin with her hands planted firmly on her hips. “Why don't you go and get them from Tiara? I'm sure she has copies.”

“I've tried to reach Tiara, but she hasn't returned my calls and she wasn't at home when I went over there to talk to her.”

“How convenient. Maybe she's gone into seclusion. I know that I would have, if I was her.”

Calvin didn't respond to that. He only reiterated, “Go and get the pictures Desiree told me about. I want to see them.”

Sasha walked over to the couch in the den and lifted the cushion. She withdrew the manila envelope and handed it to Calvin, who'd followed her into the room. “Your sister's disgustingly naked. I don't know if you're prepared for that,” she added sarcastically.

“In my line of work, I see naked people all the time. I'll just pretend that she's not my sister. Under the circumstances that's quite easy to do,” he returned, not at all put off by Sasha's attitude.

He sat down on the couch and Sasha sat on the cushion farthest away from him with her arms folded and head turned in the opposite direction as Calvin solemnly scrutinized the pictures. Not being able to hold the question that had been plaguing her since Calvin had entered her loft she asked, “Has Sexton said anything to you about this?”

Calvin momentarily took his eyes from the photos. “I knew something was wrong the minute that I saw his face at the gym. I asked him what was wrong and he refused to answer me. I had no idea it was this serious until Desiree called me.” He gave her a quick look, “Sasha, do you have a magnifying glass?”

“I have that gadget that helps you read prescription labels, why?”

Looking up from the picture he was holding he said brusquely, “Go get it.”

Mutely, Sasha walked down the hall to the bedroom, returning with a small magnifying card in her hand.

Calvin took it and held it to the picture, turning the card in several directions. Then he handed her the photo of Sexton sitting in a chair with Tiara at his feet. “That isn't Sexton.”

“Unfortunately, it is.” Sasha tried to hand it back to him.

“Sasha, look closely and pay attention.” His tone was abrupt. “That person has a scar across the base of his neck. Sexton doesn't have a scar there.”

Sasha slid closer to Calvin and slowly took the picture from his hand. She stared at it with the magnifying glass. “The cut is so small. How can you be sure?”

“The cut is small but long. I'm the team's trainer. I've seen every inch of every player's body. I don't know who that man is, but it isn't Sexton,” he confirmed with authority.

Hope began to flicker inside her, then died just as quickly. “How about the money and the other pictures?”

“I can't really say with certainty how those other pictures came to be, but I do know that one morning, I got an early morning visit from Sexton and he asked me if I knew where my spare key was. Once I showed it to him, he left with a very strange look on his face and no explanation.

“As to the money, Sexton gives money to people and helps out a lot of causes. He just doesn't talk about it.” A hard look settled on his face. “I know how manipulative Tiara can be. My eyes have been opened to my sister for some time now.”

“How could she have done this to me? I've been a good friend to her for years. To sleep with my man and send me a letter on my honeymoon…”

“Tiara is not the person you met years ago, though it pains me to say that. I love her, but I can't defend what she's done or even come up with a explanation.”

“You are not your sister's keeper.” Sasha echoed the words he had used to her less than an hour earlier.

Calvin gave her a slight smile, feeling grateful that she understood his dilemma. “I don't get it. I've tried to introduce her to men of means since her divorce, but she's always brushed my attempts aside.”

“She didn't have time for that!” Sasha replied caustically. “She's been too busy trying to mess up my relationship with Sexton.”

“I don't understand her fascination with Sexton.”

“I do,” Sasha answered emphatically. “Only a woman could though.”

They sat together on the couch, neither talking, each lost in thought, and then Sasha broke the silence. “I want to thank you, Calvin.” She took his hand in hers. “I know it must have been hard to come here and out your sister. She's family and I'm not.”

“I think I owe it to Desiree. After all, she never broke the trust that I gave her the night we met at Tiara's party.”

Sasha lifted an eyebrow at Calvin's words. “What do you mean?”

“The fact that I'm gay,” he said without preamble. “Desiree confided in me that she had been hiding the fact that she was involved in an interracial relationship. And I confided in her that Tiara was having a hard time coming to terms with my sexuality.”

An incredulous look crossed Sasha's face. “Tiara has been trying to hook us up ever since I got with Sexton.”

Now it was Calvin who looked shocked and then resigned. “She's still trying that? She thinks that because I'm divorced, my chosen lifestyle is a phase which, with the right woman, I can recover from.” Calvin captured Sasha's eyes with his. “In fact, I told her that if I was to ever love and marry another woman, it would be someone like you.”

Sasha blushed at the unexpected compliment. Time seemed to stand still as Sasha had an epiphany as to why Tiara had been so hell bent on sabotaging her life with Sexton.

“But I know,” he said, finishing gently, “that solution would be like putting a Band-Aid on an open sore and only a temporary fix.”

After Calvin left, Sasha's blood boiled at the thought of what Tiara had done to her. Because of her, she had done the unforgivable. She had run out on her husband on their honeymoon. She had made a horrible mistake by taking off and not giving Sexton a chance to explain.

Sasha held the small magnifying card to the remaining unexplained picture. And then a moment of clarity came to her. Tiara had stolen stole Calvin's key to Sexton's apartment and taken pictures of him while he slept. He hadn't been aware that he was being photographed. Somehow, somewhere, Tiara had had those photos doctored and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
For months I've been trying to fool myself into thinking that Tiara's changed because of what Peter did to her. But she's always been like this. She's always had to be on top. The minute she lost her man, the real Tiara came out and she has been instrumental in ruining the best thing that has ever happened to me.