The Available Wife (17 page)

“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked through sniffles.

“Don’t wanna go wit’ you.”

A knife instantly drove through my heart after hearing those words. After that, I had to let them go. The only ones who were able to give me unconditional love were being taken away from me. Besides, I knew it wasn’t right to drag them into my mess. I didn’t bother to look back at them as I walked to the door.

“Nikki, you know this is for the best. These kids need stability,” my mother said.

“Y’all turned my boys against me.”

“No, you turned your boys against yourself.”

“Before this shit is all said and done, you or Germaine’s parents will have custody of my boys. I’m gonna make sure that Germaine doesn’t stand a fucking chance. While he was telling you about my faults, he should’ve been telling you about his.”

When she gave me a curious look, I decided to let the shit hit the fan on its own time because I was positive that it would all be unfolding soon.

CHAPTER 27

Twenty minutes after leaving my mother’s house, I turned in the Westin’s parking lot. After slowly walking to my room, I took a deep breath and fell back on the bed thinking about what my mother had told me about Jalisa as well as the disappearance of my money. How could she keep such a secret from me? The bitch who’d tried to kill my man was my sister. Damn! Even worse, we’d kissed in high school. I couldn’t help but laugh. The whole situation was a bit hilarious and damn near unbelievable.

However, the Jalisa situation was the least of my worries at the moment. I was more so pissed off about my money if anything. I needed my
money.
The more pissed off I got, the more I realized that I had to find a way to get at least some of it back from Germaine. There was no way his ass was just gonna walk away with my shit without me putting up a fight. Then it hit me. I’d even let Meagan’s ass get away with blackmailing me for the money and still hadn’t done anything about it.

“That bitch!” I yelled after jumping off the bed.

It was finally time for her to feel my size seven up her ass or pressed across her throat. She’d definitely fucked with the wrong one. Rushing out of the room and down to the lobby, I power walked to my car and peeled out of the parking lot with thoughts of Meagan’s whereabouts on my mind. The first place I wanted to look was her house, but as long as she’d worked for me, I’d never been there, so I didn’t have an address. Thinking about her employee file, I made a quick right and headed to my label.

During the drive, I kept calling her, but of course she wouldn’t answer. I’m sure she knew I wasn’t calling to see how her day went. Again, she played me, but she wasn’t getting away with it this time. Even though Kingston had told me she’d spent all the cash, I still needed to see for myself.

I arrived at my label a few minutes later. After unlocking the door, I ran straight to my office and turned on the light. Ignoring Kingston’s blood on the floor, I hurried to my desk and turned on my desktop. I needed that bitch’s address…and fast. Luckily, I’d stored all of my employees’ information in a secured spot. As soon as I typed in my password and allowed the computer to boot up, I skimmed through the list of names until my eyes landed on hers.

“See you in a minute, bitch,” I said jotting down her information and dashing back outside.

I drove like a maniac trying to get to Camden Park Apartments on Woodland Drive. I was determined that her ass was going to give me my fucking money back.

Once I arrived at the garden style apartment complex, I hurried up the stairs taking two at a time to the second floor. Soon, I was standing in front of her door. I stood there for a few seconds as I listened to the sounds of Joss Stone coming from inside. If she was having a party, I was about to crash it.

I knocked as hard as I could to make sure she heard me. As soon as she opened the door, you would’ve thought she’d seen a ghost from her facial expression. But a few seconds later, she gave me a smug and drunken smile. That’s when I noticed the wine bottle in her hand. To make matters worse, Meagan’s blond hair was all over her head, her eyes looked like a raccoon from running mascara and her lipstick was smeared.

“You have a lot of fucking nerves showing up here,” she slurred before walking back inside.

I took that as an invitation to enter. I stared around her apartment and noticed a few empty pill bottles tossed on the floor. By the way she looked and the evidence all around me, I wondered how in the hell she was even able to stand.

I wasted no time. “Where the fuck is my money, Meagan?”

She looked at me and turned up the bottle. After taking a long swig, she laughed. “What money?”

“Bitch, don’t insult me! The money you blackmailed from me! I want my shit now!”

Meagan laughed again as if the situation amused her. “Ask Kingston,” she slurred before drinking from the bottle again.

At that point, I couldn’t take anymore. I ran up to her drunk ass, knocked the bottle out of her hand then slapped the shit out of her pale white skin. Deciding that I wasn’t done, I shook Meagan uncontrollably before pushing her onto the floor.

I stood over that bitch and gave her a questionable look. “What are you talking about? Ask him what?”

“He just left here with your money.”

“Now, bitch, I know you’re lying. That’s fucking impossible. Kingston’s at the hospital. He was shot earlier.”

“I know. I watched the ambulance take him away from across the street.” She smiled deviously. “But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t take your money.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He has your money. When I couldn’t get more, he took what I had.”

“What the hell are you talking about Meagan? Besides, Kingston told me you spent it all.”

She smiled. “You don’t know Kingston very well, do you? He fucked me just like he fucked you.”

“How could he have my money when he’s lying in a hospital bed?”

“Let’s just say, he checked himself out earlier,” she replied. “Look around you, Niquole. Look at me. He’s been here.”

When I glanced around the apartment, it did look as though it had been ransacked. “There’s one thing that has bothered me about the rape.”

Meagan chuckled. “Which one? Yours or my friend’s?”

“Bitch, you know which one I’m talking about. Where did it happen? Houston or Dallas?”

“Right here in good oleeee Houston,” she slurred. “I’ll let you in on another little secret, too,” she continued. “Kingston doesn’t live in Dallas. He lives right in the heart of Houston.”

Before I could respond, the bitch passed out. Her ass went down like she’d just been knocked out by a professional boxer. I stared at her for a few seconds in disbelief before rummaging through her apartment to see if she was lying. She wasn’t. My money was nowhere to be found.

Walking back into the living room, I stood over her body. For some reason, I didn’t feel sorry for her ass, and wasn’t inclined to get her some help. “Bitch, I hope you fucking die!” I said, right before walking out the front door. I’d let someone else find her corpse.

CHAPTER 28

Confused about the entire situation, I drove around the city for at least two hours before I found myself turning onto my street. Against Germaine’s threats I decided to go back to my house anyway. Since my goal was to see if he was crazy enough to hide some of my stolen money or maybe even the check, I hoped and prayed that he wouldn’t be there. Besides, what else did I have to lose at this point? He wasn’t known to park in the garage, so once I coasted into my driveway and didn’t see his truck, for once my prayers were answered.

I hurried out of the car and to the front door, fumbling through my keys. I had no idea why I was so damn nervous since the money was mine anyway, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. After finding the right key, I only managed to get it halfway in, before realizing that it didn’t work. He’d obviously changed the locks.

“Fuck!” I yelled.

Not knowing what to do, I began to pace back and forth until suddenly thinking about the garage. Running to the side of the house, I quickly punched in Nathan’s birthday and smiled once I saw the door slowly begin to rise.

His dumb ass forgot to change the garage door code
, I thought before running inside.

However, as soon as I reached the door leading into the house, and tried to turn the knob, it wouldn’t bulge.

“Shit! We never lock that door,” I said to myself.

I scoured the garage looking for something to help me break in. Soon, my eyes landed on the hand saw that Germaine used to cut wood for the fireplace. I grabbed the Black & Decker cordless machine and quickly started it up. Despite being unaware of what I was doing, I managed to cut the door knob off and gain entry within a few minutes.

Realizing that the house alarm didn’t go off, I raced upstairs to his bedroom and looked in every drawer hoping I would stumble upon something. Next, I went into his closet and even checked his shoe boxes, but still couldn’t find anything. Rushing back downstairs, I stopped when I saw the door leading to the basement open. Wondering if it was open when I first came inside the house, I was just about to go down there, when someone grabbed my shoulder.

As soon as I turned around, my eyes bulged when I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. “Kingston?” I gasped. “What are you doing here?”

I could tell that he was still in pain from the way he clinched his face every few seconds.

He forced a sinister smile. “Your bitch ass husband sent his flunkie after me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“At the hospital. I was taking a piss when I heard my room door open. I thought it was a nurse or doctor checking up on me. When I opened the bathroom door, I saw that thick ass nigga holding a syringe. You finally did something right, Niquole. You warned me about them.”

I knew he was talking about Tyrell. “What did you do?”

“I rushed his ass. He dropped the syringe during the tussle, but I put his ass to sleep. He’s probably waking up now in my hospital gown.”

I glanced at his attire. I could tell that he was wearing Tyrell’s clothes because they were way too big for him.

“I have a job to finish with your husband and since I’m here, I may as well kill two birds with one stone.”

“Kingston, please don’t do this!” I begged.

“You leave me no other choice. You’ve become too much of a fucking liability. I have to make sure that your mistakes don’t catch up to me. I’m not going back to jail, Niquole.

“Back to jail?” I questioned.

“Just a few assaults,” he replied.

I gasped again. Who in the hell had I fallen in love with? “Kingston, Germaine isn’t here,” I tried to prolong my death.

“I’ll just have to catch up with him another time, but believe me. I will get to him.”

I had to think of something. “Let me help you find him. We can get rid of him and still be together. I have some money left, so it won’t be hard for us to leave the country.”

“Oh,
I
am leaving the country but not with you,” he chuckled.

I slowly closed my eyes when I saw him cock the gun. Memories of my dad taking me to the park, movies, Chuck-E-Cheese and the beach clouded my mind. I wished I could go back to those days. I wished I could turn back the hands of time and be with my boys.

“Drop the fucking gun, nigga!”

I opened my eyes when I heard Germaine’s voice.

“Guess that nigga woke up and called you, huh?” Kingston asked.

Germaine waved his own gun. “He didn’t have to. I was waiting in the parking lot the entire time. I saw when you came out of the hospital and jumped in a cab. I followed you here.”

“Germaine, what are you doing?” I asked. “Put the gun down!”

“Yeah, put the gun down because I’m not putting my shit down!” Kingston yelled.

Germaine smiled. “No, I’m gonna get rid of this problem.”

“Germaine, this isn’t you. Don’t do this,” I pleaded.

The vicious glare he gave me sent chills up and down my spine. “You’re right. This isn’t me,” Germaine said.

I blew a sigh of relief.

“Punk ass,” Kingston huffed.

“Niquole, I think you should do the honors,” Germaine smiled wickedly.

I freaked out. “What?”

“Come here,” he ordered.

I slowly walked over to him never unlocking my eyes from Kingston’s.

“Do you love this man?” Germaine asked me when I reached him.

I stared at him. I was afraid to answer.

“Answer the fucking question. Do you love him?”

“Yes,” I answered with tears in my eyes. “Please don’t kill him.” I could tell that Germaine’s heart crumbled.

“Then I’m not gonna kill him. You are.”

Kingston tensed and so did I. I jumped when I saw the side door open and almost flatlined when Jalisa entered.

“How’d you get out?” I addressed her.

“Didn’t Germaine tell you that Tyrell would get me off?”

I gave her a curious yet frightened look as I watched her walk over to the kitchen utensil drawer, pull out a butcher knife then walk toward me. Were they about to double team us?

“All y’all muthafuckas crazy!” Kingston spoke loudly.

“Nigga, shut up!” Germaine barked.

At that moment, Germaine grabbed me then placed my body in front of his. Once Jalisa stood behind me, I could feel the tip of the butcher knife in my back.

“What are you doing, Jalisa?” I panicked.

“You’re about to find out,” she answered.

I wanted to pass out when Germaine grabbed my hand and placed the gun inside it.

“Germaine, what are you doing?” I cried.

“It’s either you or him,” he spoke. “Either you die or he dies.”

“I…I can’t kill him!” I cried harder.

“Niquole, baby, just turn the gun around and shoot that nigga,” Kingston addressed me.

Jalisa pressed the knife harder into my back to make sure that I didn’t listen to Kingston.

“Nigga, I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!” Germaine barked after grabbing my hand again and forcing me to pull the trigger.

I watched as Kingston’s body and his gun hit the floor at the same time. I was stunned and most of all speechless once I saw blood oozing from Kingston’s chest.

“That’s how much I loved you,” Germaine addressed me before placing his gun beside me then walking out of the house.

I couldn’t move, but Jalisa made me. I watched her snatch Kingston’s gun from the floor and stand in front of me so that Kingston’s lifeless body was out of my sight.

“You have been a thorn in my ass for far too long,” she spoke after pointing the gun at me.

It was time for me to save my own life.

“Come on now, Jalisa. Can we just talk about this?”

“What’s there to talk about? You sent me to jail!” she barked.

“Jalisa, I’m sorry for what I did to you, but this won’t help it.”

“Yes, it will. It’ll help me anyway.”

“No, it won’t, Jalisa. Please don’t do this,” I begged.

“How do you know what will and won’t help me? Huh?” she said still dangling the gun in my face.

I could tell that something else was bothering her. “Jalisa…”

“Shut up!” she screamed. “All these years, you’ve been a selfish, inconsiderate, greedy, conniving bitch.”

I knew it was a long shot, but I decided to use the sister card. “Jalisa, don’t do this. We’re sisters! You’re my sister!”

She laughed. “Bitch, I know.”

“What? You know? How long have you known?”

“Since we were sixteen.”

“Sixteen?” I gasped thinking that she knew we were sisters when we had the threesome with Mr. Hughes. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“No, No, I’m not. I heard our dad and my mom discussing it one day.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, Jalisa?”

“You don’t get it, do you? I don’t like you. Actually, I hate the ground you fucking walk on. I was planning to get rid of you when you had me drive you to your label that day, but this son-of-a-bitch fucked up that idea.” She kicked Kingston.

“Don’t kick him. He may still be alive,” I pleaded.

“Naw, he’s dead,” she assured after kicking him again. “I can’t believe how crazy you were for him.”

“I love him.”

“Bitch, you loved everybody that showed you a piece of attention. It’s called obsessed, Nikki. You don’t know what love is.”

“What does it fucking matter to you?” I lashed out at her.

“It matters a lot. Everything I wanted, you always had to have,” she continued. “You knew that I wanted Mr. Hughes, but you had to get in my way. You got in my way when you introduced me to Germaine. You told me that he seemed like a nice catch and that I should go for it, but I never got a chance because you fucked him first.”

“You knew we were sisters when we seduced Mr. Hughes,” I spoke. I was grossed out at the thought. “Germaine wasn’t in to you. He told me.”

“But you knew that I was into him so he still should’ve been off limits. And as far as Mr. Hughes goes, you threw yourself at him to get the attention off of me. You knew he wanted me!”

“Jalisa, we’re sisters,” I said again.

“Then you should know the lengths that
I
will go through to get what
I
want. The difference between you and I is that I’m patient and you’re not. You don’t deserve Germaine. I did and I still do. Unlike you bitch, I’ll make sure he’s happy.”

“I don’t fucking want him!” I blasted at her.

“That’s good. Then this should be easy with you out of the way.”

“So, let me get this straight. You’ve been waiting patiently to find that curve ball that would get you in the game.”

“Yep,” she answered bluntly. “If you hadn’t gotten in my way all those years ago then it wouldn’t be like this. I’d have him.”

“He didn’t want you then so what makes you so sure that he’ll want you now?”

“I’m your sister, remember? I’m gonna make sure that I’m always around.”

Before I could respond, Germaine reappeared.

“Jalisa, the cops are on the way.”

“Germaine?” I addressed him.

“We’re done,” he spoke bluntly with a fierce look then walked out.

Jalisa smiled deviously. “You see, dear sister, the tables have turned. It’s finally time for you to pay for all your wrong doings. By the way, your prints are on that gun and residue is on your hands so now
you’re
going down for Kingston’s murder. I wonder what you’ll look like in a prison jumpsuit,” she said with a wink.

All I could think about after her last statement was how karma was truly a bitch.

“I also wonder how it’s gonna feel to finally fuck Germaine after all my fantasizing,” Jalisa continued.

“You bitch! Germaine will never love you like he loved me!” I screamed then patted my chest to let her know that it was
always
all about me. “You remember that while you’re
trying
to make him love you!”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black.”

“You’ll never be me!”

“I don’t wanna be you,” she smiled wickedly after placing Kingston’s gun back on the floor.

Suddenly, I snatched Germaine’s gun up, pointed it at her and pressed the trigger over and over again. Nothing happened.

Jalisa smiled. “There was only one bullet in there.”

I had no reply for her after realizing that it all was planned. All I could do was stare at Jalisa and wonder what I’d gotten myself into. I was in a twilight zone, but her next words quickly brought me back to reality.

“Oh! I forgot. There’s no need for you to worry, dear sister.”

“Worry about what, bitch?”

“I’m gonna take good care of your sons…well my son’s now.”

Available Wife- pt 2- Available now

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