Who Do I Run To? (20 page)

Chapter Twenty
-Two

Friday rolled around, and still, there was no word from K.P.. She hadn’t seen or heard from Isaiah either. She decided to go out to Janelle’s house for a while after work because she was in no mood to be at her condo alone. First, she stopped by her place to change clothes and get her car, and then went to her mailbox to pick up her mail. A letter with no return address on it awaited her. Quickly, a knot formed in the pit of her stomach. She sat down and opened it anyway. It was from the one and only Kimberly Paxton. She braced herself and read the evilness that Kimberly had sent to her. It read:

Are you satisfied? He has left me and my two kids for you, you dick
-sucking tramp. You will not get away with this, and you will not live happily ever after. You will pay for destroying my marriage. How can you sleep at night knowing you have ruined someone’s marriage? But don’t worry, Ms. Dick-Sucker Janiece, payback is a mother, and you are going to get yours, you fat, gold-digging greedy ho.

You think you are better than me? Maybe because you give him head on a regular or let him fuck you in the ass
. I don’t know what nasty hoes like you do to steal a woman’s husband. Maybe those are the reason why he wants you. Enjoy him for now because I assure you, he will leave you too for the next nasty bitch that comes along. I actually feel sorry for your broke ass. You couldn’t find a man of your own, so you schemed and plotted to get mine, but you will see how I get down. Nobody takes nothing from Kimberly Renee Paxton and gets away with it. There will be consequences, Janiece Hawkins, believe that. If I were you, I’d watch my back from now on.

Yours truly,

Mrs. Kimberly R. Paxton

Janiece stuffed the letter back into the envelope and shook her head. This bitch i
s outta her damn mind, she said to herself and grabbed her keys to leave. Who in the hell did Kimberly think she was trying to scare, because all the threats in the world wouldn’t keep her from K.P. if she wanted to be with him? She could call her all the names she could come up with and K.P. still wouldn’t want to be with her. Janiece was not worried about that little twisted woman. She put the letter into her purse to take with her to Janelle’s so she could get her laugh on too.

Jan
iece headed out the door and walked down the steps, and just for the sake of being careful she looked out at the parking lot and up the street before reaching the bottom of the steps. Everything looked safe, so she proceeded to her car. She got into the car and when she pulled out of the parking lot, she noticed a car off to the left with a woman sitting in the driver’s seat. She had on dark shades even though the sun had gone down, and Janiece could see she had on black gloves.

The woman
looked in Janiece’s direction for a moment, and Janiece returned the look. After a brief moment, Janice decided to go on her way and not even give thought to crazy-ass Kimberly and her threats. She had to definitely talk to K.P. about his nutty-ass wife, because he was going to have to do something about her. She was obviously mad at the wrong person. It wasn’t her fault K.P. was leaving. She never asked him to do that, or even thought he would, so all the anger was being directed at the wrong person.

Janiece thought about the idea of him and her being together exclusively
, and it made her smile. To actually have him all to herself wasn’t such a bad idea.

When she got to Janelle
’s and showed her the letter, Janelle was furious and took the threats more seriously than Janiece. She insisted that Janiece go to the authorities and put a restraining order out on Kimberly, but Janiece wouldn’t hear of it.

“Nellie
, ain’t nobody afraid of her,” she said and went into the fridge to get a bottle of water.

“You being afraid of her is not the issue
, sis. She’s crazy and unpredictable. She’s an evil, bold bitch to send shit to your house, and then go as far as signing it. She ain’t afraid of shit either. She’s a bad ass to send you this shit to your house,” she said looking at Janiece like she was the one who was crazy.

“I know
. Do you really think I need to get a restraining order, Nellie? I mean, she can’t be serious,” Janiece said, making it out to be no big deal.

Janelle grabbed the letter from the counter and read
“Payback is a mother, and you are going to get yours. If I were you, I’d watch my back from now on.” “Duh, hell, yeah, you need a restraining order;” she said and dipped her banana into a bowl of chocolate syrup.

“What the hell are you eating?”

“Girl, this baby got me craving shit already. I can eat bananas and chocolate all day long. That’s all he or she wants.”

“That ain
’t my niece craving that mess. That’s you being a pig,” Janiece joked.

“But for real
, little sissy, you’re staying here tonight, and we’re getting you an alarm system, got that?” Janelle said standing up to get another banana. “And you are changing your damn locks tomorrow too.”

“Okay, okay
, now get off my back,” Janiece said agreeing and giving in. Janelle was too, too much like their mom, and Janiece knew she wasn’t going to let up.

“So how is Mr. Isaiah?”

“Mad,” Janiece said trying some of the bananas and chocolate.

“Mad for what?”

“Because I fucked him and put him out.”

“Why
? I thought you said his dick was good,” Janelle asked making sure she got a hefty amount of chocolate on her piece of banana.

“It is, but that wasn
’t why I put him out.”

“Then why did you?”

“Because things are not done with K.P. and me, and to be honest, I hate I got involved with him in the first place.”

“Jai
, what do you really want to do? Be honest. Either you like Isaiah and wanna move on or you are in love with K.P. and want to give him a chance. How much time do you need to be honest with yourself?”

“You know
, that’s a good question, Sherlock, and if it was just that simple, I wouldn’t be over here looking crazy watching you eat bananas and chocolate. I’d be with K.P. or Isaiah enjoying myself on this Friday night.”

“Oh
, so you are not enjoying yourself with me?” Janelle asked because she was always so sensitive, and since she had become pregnant, it was like sensitive to the tenth power.

“No
, Nellie, I didn’t mean it like that; I just meant if I was sure of what to do, I’d be doing it with one of them.”

“Well
, my gut tells me you wanna be with K.P., but you’re afraid.” That one actually took Janiece by total surprise, because she didn’t expect her sister to say anything that was in favor of K.P..

“Why would you say that?”

“Well, for one, you’ve love him forever and he is your first love, Janiece, and I think you are a little afraid because he is a man that cheated on his wife with you and you are a little concerned that same thing will happen to you.”

“Yeah
, I do wonder that a lot and it makes me a little scared.”

“Jai
, he is taking a huge step by leaving his wife and family. If a man leaves his home and gives up everything that should let you know that he cares and wants to make you a priority.”

“Yeah
, but what if I get with K.P. and he starts cheating on me with another woman?”

“Well
, li’l sis, we can’t worry about that, can we? All we can do is hope for the best and keep going. Even if you hadda meet K.P. before he married Kimberly and he would have been with you the entire time, we would never know if he would or wouldn’t cheat on you, Janiece. Just because of the situation with K.P. and Kimberly doesn’t mean he’s going to cheat on you. Chile, people are unpredictable, even Greg. I love and trust him, but at the same time, I’m not naïve.

“We are all capable of being unfaithful, so if you truly love
K.P., Janiece, that is who you should be with. Don’t waste time on love. Let him know it and start fresh with the man you love. Think about it, there was a time when you couldn’t see yourself sharing your bed with another man, and now what? You just slept with Isaiah so never say never. We got to just roll with it,” Janelle said and got up to go get herself something from the fridge.

Janiece couldn
’t believe her eyes when her sister came back to the table loaded with cheese and crackers. Janelle never ate stuff like that before. Janiece just looked at it and didn’t say a word. She thought to herself that her sister was going to be a big pregnant cow if she kept on eating like she was.

“So
, you telling me after all these years you’ve been hating on K.P., you are suggesting I get with him?”

“Well
, I’m not okay with him completely; that part is going to take some time. But if it makes you happy, Janiece, I don’t mind it one bit.” She smiled at her sister, and Janiece thought that baby was making her sister crazy, because she would have never given K.P. credit before, not even if he had found the cure for cancer.

“Oh
, Nellie,” she said and got up to hug her sister. She was so happy to have her support she didn't know what to say. She stayed over at Janelle’s house that night, and the next day, they met the locksmith at her condo. The alarm system couldn’t be installed until the following week, so she was concerned about having to take off a day of work to wait for them to come, but Janelle agreed to come over for her so she wouldn’t have to take off.

Afterward, t
hey went shopping and looked at baby clothes and furniture. Janiece was glad to be out; in fact, she was feeling better than she had felt in the last few days. She thought about K.P. and Isaiah a little but not enough to spoil her day out with Janelle.

She got in around seven
, and Janelle went home because she was exhausted from the day in the mall. She got sick for the first time, and it was so funny to Janiece, but Janelle didn’t see the humor in her getting sick from the smell of gourmet popcorn. That was one of her favorite things to eat before the pregnancy. Now, she couldn’t be in the same room with the smell.

No way did Janiece want to think of having a baby after watching Janelle blow chunks in a nearby trash can because she couldn
’t make it to the bathroom in time. She was happy at the moment that K.P. already had two kids. That way, there wouldn’t be any pressure on her. She looked at the clock. It was only ten after seven.

She wasn
’t tired, and she wanted to go out. She called her girlfriend Tia, and they caught up for a few minutes, and Tia made it clear that if they were going out, Rick would be going too, and Janiece was not in the mood to be a third wheel so she told her that was okay. She called K.P. before attempting to call Isaiah to see if there was a chance they could get together and at least talk, but he didn’t answer his phone.

She didn
’t leave a message; she just figured he’d see the miss call and call her back. She hoped he’d call because she wanted to tell him that he was the one, and she was sure that she wanted to be with him and nobody else.

She put some of her things away to try to keep from calling Isaiah. She knew that she would be doing a bad thing by calling him, but she didn
’t want to be alone on a Saturday night with nothing to do. She wished she still had Marcus’s number to call him so he could have gotten a hold of K.P. for her, to tell him to call her because it was important.

A few moments
later, her phone rang and when she saw K&K Paxton on the ID, she got excited but sad, because if it was K.P., he calling from home, meaning he may have decided to go back to Kimberly.

“Hello,” Janiece said.

“Is Kerry there?” Kimberly asked.

“You have the wrong number,” Janiece said and hung up. Why Kimberly
was playing on the phone she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to go there with her. Before she walked away, the phone rang again. It was from K.P.’s house.

“Hello,” Janiece said irritated.

“May I speak with Kerry please?”

“Again
, Kerry doesn’t live here. You have the wrong number.”

“Is this 773-555-0648?”

“Yes, it is, but Kerry doesn’t live here.”

“Cut the shit
, Janiece, and put him on the damn phone,” the evil one said.

“Look
, Kimberly, Kerry doesn’t live here, okay? And don’t call my house again.” She hung up, and that crazy trick called back. Janiece yanked the phone from the base and pressed the
talk
button. This time she wasn’t going to be so nice.

“Hello,” she said frustrated.

“Look, bitch, don’t hang up on me again. I know Kerry is over there, now put that Negro on the phone, because he needs to come and pick up his kids. I got somewhere to go, and he needs to keep them.”

“Look
, Kimberly, he’s not here, okay? If he was, I’d be more than happy to let you speak to him concerning the kids, but I’m telling you for the last time, he is not here and he doesn’t live here and don’t call my motherfucking house again.”

“I don
’t want to call your apartment, Janiece; I’m just looking for him. I cannot reach him; that’s the only reason why I’m calling.”