Who Do I Run To? (23 page)

“Yeah
, bitch, you betta do what Kerry said and get your fat ass back in the truck.”

“Kim
, shut up!” K.P. yelled. “When I let you go, you carry your ass in the house,” he said as he watched Janiece begin to get back in the truck. When she touched the door handle, he released Kimberly, and she immediately ran and tried to hit Janiece from the behind, but Janiece was no fool. As soon as she ran up on her, Janiece turned and punched her dead square in her nose. Blood immediately gushed from her face. Kimberly grabbed her nose. She was holding her bleeding nose in disbelief.

Janiece didn’t budge
. She waited to see what Kimberly’s next move was going to be. She hated it had come to that, but Kimberly asked for it.

“You bitch, you fucking bitch
!” Kimberly screamed, realizing that her nose was busted. K.P. grabbed Janiece to keep her from hitting Kimberly again and forced Janiece into the truck. Then he took Kimberly in the house and went into a kitchen drawer to get a towel. He ran cold water over it and tried to clean her face.

“Let me see,” he said trying to help her.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, snatching the towel from his hand.

“Look
, Kim, let me see if you’re okay,” he said grabbing the towel from her. He ran some more cold water on it and started to wipe her face for her.

“Stop it
, I’m fine,” she said getting up and not letting him see how bad it was. “You get out and get your ho outta my driveway and away from my house,” she spat.

“Kimberly
, you should not have gone out there in the first place trying to be all bad and shit, fucking with her.”

“No
, K.P., you should not have brought that bitch to my house. Why would you bring her here, K.P.?” she asked with tears in her eyes. He felt bad, and he knew now that it was a bad idea, but she had guys coming over and he couldn’t tell her who to have and not have at the house, so he felt like he could bring Janiece if he chose to. It’s not like he invited her in.

“Kim
, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was a big deal for her to ride out here with me. You got cats like Rodney picking you up here, so why can’t I bring her with me?”

“So this is what this is about? You moved out
. This is where I live, K.P.. If I have a man pick me up here, it’s not your damn business. You’re the one who moved out. If you think it’s okay to bring yo' ho over here, keep bringing her. Its gon’ be some shit every time that bitch comes around my house.”

“Yeah
, if you want Janiece to whip yo’ ass, you keep fucking with her. She’s my woman, and she’s going to be around for a long time. She’s going to be around my kids, and you may see her again, and I don’t want this bullshit to keep going on, Kim. You’ll have to control yourself and act like an adult. She didn’t want to come, Kim, but I convinced her that it would be okay, and then you come out clowning and showing your ass. And look, you got your nose all busted up for what, Kim? I’m sorry for bringing her out here and disrespecting you, but you have to accept that’s who I’m going to be with.”

“I
accept, now get the hell out and stay outta my business. I have who I want in this house, because you don’t want to be here anymore. So if that is your decree, stay outta my life, you got it?”

“Yep, I
’ll call you tomorrow about seeing the kids,” he said and walked out.

“Fine
!” she yelled behind him. He hated that things escalated to that level. He walked to the truck thinking now he had to hear it from Janiece.

Chapter Twenty
-Six

“K.P., I told you that this was a bad idea,” Janiece said, looking in the visor mirror at her face. She was dark skinned, but the slap left an ugly burgundy bruise on her face. “That crazy-ass woman is outta control. Then she hit me, and you thought I was just gon’ get back in the truck? Look at my face,” she spat, and K.P. glanced over and saw the bruise on her left cheek. He was sorry for taking Janiece out there, putting her in a bad situation. He had never seen Janiece that angry before.

“Jai
, baby, I’m sorry. I didn’t want her to even know you were in the truck. One of the kids must have said something when I walked out. I just wanted to drop them off and roll. I didn’t intend for her to know you were outside, Jai, I promise you.”

“Regardless of who said what
, K.P., that nut hit me, and I would have beat the snot outta her ass if you wasn’t holding her. You should have let her go,” she said still examining her face.

“I didn’t because I didn’t want y’all scrapping in the driveway. The kids were in the house
, Jai. I didn’t want them coming out seeing y’all fighting and shit.”

“Yeah
, I know that, K.P., but do you think she cared? Do you think she was thinking about her children being in the house when she slapped the shit outta me?”

“That
’s exactly why I’m suing her for custody, Jai.”

“
K.P., you are not innocent in all this,” she said as she finally closed the visor. “I shoulda stayed my black ass at home, but no … ‘it’s cool, Jai. I’m not gon’ let you get hurt,’” she said mocking him. “Then this little midget-ass woman weighing five pounds and two ounces jumps bad and smacks the shit outta me, K.P..”

“Okay
, I know that was wild, and I’m sorry, but you did hit her ass pretty hard.”

“She deserved it. I had to defend myself,” she said looking at her clothes to make sure she didn’t get blood on them.

“True, but damn, girl, her nose is fucked up,” he said shaking his head. ‘Kimberly thought she was prettier than Halle Berry, and that nose is going to be jack for a little while,’ he thought to himself.

“I don’t give a damn about her nose. Look at my face
! She shoulda kept her hands to herself.” Janiece was on fire. She was so mad she could have beat K.P.’s ass. She was happy though to have finally seen the evil one that was behind all the harassing calls and evil letters. She smiled because she knew there was nothing to fear with that lightweight. She was tough, true, but Janiece wasn’t worried about her pint-size ass anymore.

They rode the rest of the way in silence. When they got to her condo
, Janiece was still on fire and mad as hell at K.P..They walked up, and there was a note on her door. At least Jai knew it wasn’t from Kimberly because she was at home with a busted nose, but knowing it was from Isaiah made it much worse.

“Who is that from?”
K.P. asked.

“Well
, K.P., I don’t know. I haven’t opened it yet,” she replied with attitude. She was still mad at him for taking her out to the evil one’s house and getting her slapped across the face.

“Ha
-ha, don’t be a smart ass.” He walked in and went into the living room, but Janiece stayed in the kitchen to open the note. It was from Isaiah, and she got sad as she read it.

Hey
, Janiece, how are you? I’m doing okay, just missing you. I know it’s been a brief moment for us, and I know you have other things going on in your life, but I want you to know that I care for you and hope that you haven’t decided to stop talking to me. I have been trying to keep my cool for the last couple of days, but it’s super hard to maintain when you can’t stop thinking of someone. I know you feel like you still love him, but if you want to start fresh and try something new, you ought to do that. Don’t continue to sell yourself short because you are worth so much more. You are beautiful, and I really miss spending time with you, and I hope that we can get together soon.

She folded the note
, and K.P. walked into the kitchen. “So, when you gon’ handle that?” he asked.

“Handle what?” she
responded, acting like she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Isaiah
. When are you going to tell him that we’re back together?”
“K.P., don’t start.”

“Don’t start what?” he asked
, confused. All he did was ask a simple question.

“Don’t start drilling m
e about when I’m gonna take care of my business. I’ll handle him and my situation soon.” She wasn’t in any kind of mood to explain nothing to K.P.. She was just attacked by his crazy wife, and that was making her feel a little different about the K.P. situation. She didn’t want to face all the drama with K.P. and moving to Las Vegas. She did love K.P., and she didn’t want to tell him no, but the bullshit that she was going through was pissing her off.

“Jai, I’m not trying to drill you
. I just want you to tell this cat that we’re back together and he needs to back off.”

“
K.P., you and I still have things to iron out.”

“Okay, but what does that have to do with telling him to back off
, Janiece? Either you want to be with me and work it out or you don’t!” he yelled.

“I do wanna be with you
, K.P., and I do want things to work out for us, but right now, our shit is not tight, and I don’t want you concerned or worrying about when and how I’m gon’ deal with Isaiah. All you should be concerned about right now is your shit with Kimberly.”

“Janiece
, I got my situation with my wife under control. It’s you that I’m worried about now, because the look on your face tells me that this guy is a little more than you are leading me to believe. It’s not hard to tell him that you can’t see him anymore if you truly don’t want to see him anymore, Jai,” he said, and she was quiet. She turned away and didn’t look at him because part of what he was saying was true. She didn’t know how she had gotten to that point where she thought about a man other than K.P..

“Jai, look at me,” he said
, turning her to face him. “Tell me what’s going on in your head, babe. I know we have our problems, Janiece, but things are going to be better and different, I promise,” he said. He was true and honest with her, and he knew that he was ready to make a life for her and treat her the way she deserved, but if she had doubts, she needed to tell him.

“Do you care about this dude
, Jai?” he asked looking her in the eyes. She turned her head. She didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either.

“
K.P., that’s absurd. I haven’t known him that long. I just don’t want to hurt anybody. He’s a nice person, and he doesn’t deserve to get hurt behind me. I’m not the one to play with people’s heart.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem with telling him the truth,” he said
, waiting for her to confirm.

“I guess it won’t.”

“I love you, Jai, and, baby, you will not regret this. I’m going to give you all that I got and better than I was with Kimberly,” he said and she did believe him, but at the same time, she was not happy. It was just too much drama, and the mess with Kimberly made her stomach ache. She knew she didn’t have the appetite for the bullshit that was ahead, and although she wanted not to, she cared about Isaiah.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he said and kissed her on the forehead. He headed for the bathroom
, and Janiece went into her bedroom and took off her clothes. She walked around in her underwear, waiting for K.P. to be done with the shower so she could get in.

She peeped out her kitchen window
. Isaiah’s car wasn’t there. She poured herself a drink because the eventful day had her stressed. Then she went back into her bedroom and was looking in her top drawer for a set of pj’s and she caught a glimpse of the bruise on her face. She was definitely not going to work the next day with that bruise on her cheek. She would have to take a couple days off until it healed.

She went back into the living room and pressed
play
on her machine so she could listen to her messages. One was from her sister, and the other was from her girlfriend Tia. There was a third message, but whoever it was just held the phone and didn’t say anything.

She got chills and thought about crazy
-ass Kimberly, so she hit
stop
and went to get her drink that was on the counter. She dialed her sister back, but Greg said that she was already asleep. Finally K.P. came out of the shower and found her in the kitchen pouring herself another drink.

“You wanna a drink
?” she asked him as he walked up behind her.

“Yea
, a scotch will be fine,” he said. She went over to the bar and grabbed the Chivas and fixed him a scotch on the rocks. After handing it to him, she went on to take her shower. With the water cascading over her, she thought about Isaiah and how he felt to her body. She closed her eyes and thought about how he sucked on her nipples so soft and good. She washed her body, imagining his hands gliding over it. Then she took the showerhead and let the water massage her clit, imagining it was Isaiah’s tongue.

Since she
still had her monthly visitor, she knew she and K.P. wouldn’t be able to get any action that night, but she’d be straight the next day. Since she was on the pill, her period only lasted two days, if that. She touched her nipples and let the water vibrate on her clit ’til she was near her orgasm. Suddenly, she was interrupted before she could get what she was working for by the tapping on the bathroom door.

“Baby
, Tia’s on the phone. She said it’s an emergency.”

“Tell her I’m in the shower
, K.P.,” she said.

“I did, but she said it’s urgent,” he told her
. Quickly, she turned off the water, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around her body. She stepped out of the shower and opened the bathroom door, took the phone from K.P.’s hand, and gave him a look.

“Hello,” she said.

“We broke up,” Tia said, crying in the phone.

“What
! What happened?” Janiece asked with concern. Tia was crying so bad she couldn’t understand her explanation of why they broke up. She went on to tell Janiece how her boyfriend said he wanted some space and that they needed to slow down. Janiece could tell she was devastated. She had a feeling that Tia was probably smothering him, because ever since she and Rick got together, she saw and heard from Tia less and less.

“Can you come over
? I can’t be alone tonight,” she begged.

“Tia
, K.P. is here right now.”

“Well
, when he leaves will you come over, or can I come by there?”

“He won’t be leaving
. I can come by for a little while, but K.P. will be here for the night.”

“On a Sunday?” she asked shocked.

“Yes. I’ll slip on some clothes and come by, but I won’t stay long, okay?” she said, and K.P. was looking at her strangely. She slipped on a pair of jeans and sweatshirt. K.P. was looking at her like she was up to something. When she was putting on her tennis shoes, he finally said what was on his mind.

“Are you sure you’re going to Tia’s?” he asked suspiciously.

“K.P., please don’t even go there. I am not going to wait ’til now to start lying to you. She and Rick broke up, and I’m just going over for a couple of hours,” she said and went into the bathroom. She combed her hair and put some gloss on her lips.

“If you are going to Tia’s
, why are you getting all prettied up?”

“
K.P., stop it,” she said, squeezing by him. He was standing in front of the bathroom door. She went to the closet and grabbed a jacket.

“You want me to drive you?”

“No, I can drive myself,” she said and headed for the door.

“Here
, take the truck. I think your rear left tire looks a little low,” he said handing her the keys.

“You gon’ let me drive the Escalade?” she asked him in disbelief.

“Sure, why not?”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon,” she said and took the keys and kissed him. She went down the stairs and got in the truck. She still didn’t believe she was driving his Escalade, but it felt good. She jumped on the expressway and headed over to 87
th and Torrence. Tia lived in her mom’s house. Her mom had died two months after Janiece’s dad past away, so she inherited the three-bedroom house and she lived there alone. Before she could park, her cell phone was going off. It was K.P..