Who Do I Run To? (8 page)

“What do you mean
, Jai? I don’t mistreat you.”

“Yes
, you do, K.P.. You come and go as you please, and I have restrictions. You call and expect me to answer. If I don’t, all hell breaks loose, but if you don’t pick up, I’m just supposed to ‘understand.’ You get mad or upset and go away for a few days and just leave me out there, and then when you feel good and when it’s convenient for you, you come around.

“I’m getting fed up with that. Like last week
, even though you knew I was out with Janelle, still you got pissed off. Went off, didn’t say nothing to me for a week. Damn how Janiece felt all week. Now you’re calm and can stand to be around me again.”

“I’m sorry
, Jai, and I know that was messed up. I am sorry for being an asshole to you, Jai. My temper gets in the way, and I’m sorry. Just know I love you, and I’m not perfect. I fucked up, okay? That wasn’t cool, and, yes, I was the one who promised to take care of your hair, and I should have done what I was supposed to do,” he said pulling out his wallet. He took three hundred dollars from it. “Here, baby, here’s the money for your hair and stuff and for whatever else you need,” he said. She didn’t take it so he put it on the coffee table.

She was touched by his attempt to make things right, and she stood there and let him charm her
, and before long, he was kissing her passionately and touching her body. She allowed him to take her body again. They ended up in bed, and she gave him what he wanted, and he gave her what she thought she needed. She wished that she and K.P. could have been that perfect couple, but there was nothing perfect about their relationship. Now there was no way she could get up the courage to ask for her key.

After their session of lovemaking he was sleeping while she la
y awake in the dark. She thought about her food on the counter and got up to go fix herself a plate. She put the plate in the microwave and peeped out of the window and saw the Avalanche parked on the street. That made her stomach jump. How long had he been next door—she wondered. Damn, she knew he saw K.P.’s truck and must have figured out that she was seeing someone.

She opened the fridge and thought about how she was going to tell
K.P. to leave so she could at least call Isaiah, but she didn’t have to, because he walked in the kitchen fully dressed. Although she wanted to kick him out, she instantly got an attitude because reality kicked in. Sex and then he had to bounce, and that was what she hated.

“I see you gotta go
,” she said while rinsing a wineglass. She didn’t look at him, because she knew it would cause her to address the hit-and-run routine again, and she simply didn’t want to go there.

“Yeah, I wasn’t supposed to be out this long,” he said and walked over to embrace her from behind.

“Jai, things are going to be different—”

“Different
? How?” she interrupted him with attitude. She had heard it all before, and that was the last thing she wanted him to say.

“Things are going to change
—”

“Change when?” she snapped
, cutting him off again. She knew that change was coming soon for her. She knew she was going to have to leave him alone soon; that was a change she was sure was going to happen.

“Look
, baby, I love you. Please don’t do this, Jai. I don’t want to leave you upset,” he said and turned her to face him. “Please, baby, give me a smile.”

She gave him a fake smile and thought to herself that she was
definitely going to have to move on. At least if she was with Isaiah right now, he wouldn’t have to run off and go home to his wife. “Do you love me, Jai?” he asked. She hesitated.

“Yes,” she
finally whispered.

“Don’t worry
, babe, things are gonna be different soon. I promise you. You won’t have to be fighting for my time anymore,” he said, and she looked puzzled. What did he mean? What was he trying to say? Were he and Kimberly having problems—she wondered?

“Just give me some time
, babe, and you’ll see. Please don’t go and start trying to replace me. You’re a beautiful woman Jai, and I want you for me, and if I have to give everything up to have you—I will,” he said and kissed her passionately. She was so mesmerized by his words she didn’t ask another question.

She just let him leave. She stood and watched him
from the window get into his truck. Once he closed the door and pulled out of the stall, she bounced back to reality and realized he was jealous. He knew she was getting some attention elsewhere; he wasn’t slick, she thought and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

She was getting ready to get in
when her cell phone went off. It was a text from K.P., saying I love you. She tossed her phone on the bed and went to shower. When she came out she tried once again to call Isaiah, but he didn’t pick up. She left him a message finally, asking him to call her. After that, she heated up her food and by ten thirty he still hadn’t called back so she went to bed.

Chapter
Ten

The next day she went to work and hadn’t heard anything from Isaiah, but K.P. certainly made it clear that he wasn’t going to let Isaiah have an easy win. He sent Janiece flowers and made a surprise visit to her office to take her to lunch. After getting at least five calls from him that afternoon, he went that extra mile and picked her up from work. This was madness, Janiece thought to herself, when he told her he was downstairs waiting for her. She was floored when she got off the elevator and he was standing there at the information desk like a model fresh outta Jet magazine.

He didn’t have on his wedding ring, and she smiled because it would have embarrassed her in front of her coworkers
who had heard the name K.P. a million times but never had the pleasure of meeting him in five years. They had no clue she was seeing a married man. So taking off his ring was a brilliant decision, Janiece thought to herself when she approached him with three young ladies that she worked with on her floor.

They had
ridden down on the elevator at the same time and were anxious to meet what they thought of as the imaginary boyfriend. He was the office joke when they whispered rumors about Janiece and K.P. behind her back. Now he was standing in the lobby looking fine as hell. He had on a suit that hung on him like a tailor-made masterpiece. It was name brand, Janiece was sure, but she had no clue who the designer was.

The closer they got to him, the finer he looked. She was proud that he was tall and dark and
, as always, well groomed. No matter if he was in sweats, jeans, or a sharp suit, he looked good. She was anxious to introduce her nosy-ass coworkers, who always want to think a sister lying about her fine-ass man. The mortgage broker that she had bragged about finally was real, and her face was glowing when she introduced him to everyone.

She had asked him to company picnics and parties, and he’d always declined in fear that one of his clients or someone that knew him or Kimberly would be there, so this was the first time that she had an opportunity to let anyone from her office meet him. They chatted and made small talk while the ladies checked him out. They all flirted
, and it didn’t bother Janiece because she knew that K.P. was a stud. She was flattered that he was getting the type of attention that they were giving him.

Two of the ladies knew how far to go
, and they said their nice-to-meet-yous and bounced, but Shawnee Williams acted like she didn’t know how to stop running her big mouth. All the eye batting and fake giggles made Janiece want to slap the taste right out of her mouth. She was flinging her fake-ass weave and batting her flake-ass lashes like she was Beyoncé or somebody. Janiece kept her cool though, and when Shawnee asked K.P. for a business card, he politely told her that he didn’t have any on hand, and if she wanted to get in contact with him, to go through Janiece.

Then h
e grabbed Janiece by the hand, and after taking one last peep at Shawnee’s big tits, he told her that they had to run because of a dinner reservation. Shawnee’s jaw almost dropped. He kissed Janiece on the cheek and asked if she was all set, and then they walked out of the revolving doors.

Shawnee was standing in disbelief, thinking to herself,
how did fat-ass Janiece Hawkins catch such a big fish? She readjusted herself and ran to the ladies’ room just to make sure she didn’t have a monster in her nose, because it wasn’t often a man didn’t notice her. Even if he was with his woman, she knew that she could turn heads.

Janiece walked hand
in hand with K.P. up the block to his truck. She was glowing and felt more special that day than any day ever. She had pictures of her and K.P. on her desk, but still the girls on floor thought she was making him up. They would always say, “Damn, girl, who is this fine-ass brotha?” while they examined one of the photos on her desk, and when she’d say her man, of course she’d get the look of disbelief. Now she knew tomorrow she would be the topic of the office chatter, that the guy in the pictures was a real guy and looked as good in real life as he did in the photos.

They got in his truck and went to Lawry’s Prime
Rib restaurant for dinner. K.P. was outdoing himself, because going out to dinner, let alone to a nice restaurant, was something that never happened. Not only a lunch date, but dinner too. She was in awe. Although she was having a good time, the thoughts of Isaiah still invaded her mind. She had her cell phone on vibrate to keep the peace between her and K.P., but she checked it every five minutes to see if he called.

By the time they made it back to her condo
, there still hadn’t been one call from Isaiah and that disappointed her. All the while she was with K.P. she was hoping Isaiah would at least call, so that she would know that he was thinking of her, but he failed to do that. It was getting late that Monday evening, and she was wondering how K.P. was managing to still be out. She didn’t ask; she just went along with it and tried to enjoy him, because she knew that it was not going to happen again, not real soon anyway.

She went into her kitchen and peeped through her window curtains to see if
Isaiah’s truck was outside, but the Avalanche was nowhere in sight. Finally, she went into the bedroom. K.P. was sleeping peacefully, so she got her cell phone from her bag. It was after ten and she wanted to call Isaiah while K.P. was sleeping. She went into the bathroom and sat on the side of the tub. After scrolling through the numbers in her phonebook, she hit the
talk
button when she landed on Isaiah’s name, but the phone didn’t ring. It went straight to his voice mail.

She wanted so bad
ly to grab her sweats and go across the hall and ask Iyeshia where he was, but she realized it was too late, plus she had Mr. K.P. lying in her bed. She sat there for a moment and thought about him and the date they went out on. She missed him and desperately wanted to hear his voice. “What did I do?” she asked herself thinking back to that night when she told him that his going back to Texas was a problem for her. “Isaiah, please call me,” she said to herself and got up to go back to her bedroom. It was close to eleven, and she was wondering, has this fool lost his damn mind? He must not know what time it is, so she shook him.

“
K.P., baby, wake up. It’s almost eleven,” she told him shaking his arm.

“Come here
, beautiful,” he whispered. He was looking at her with so much love and Janiece knew something was different, but what? Why now? She thought to herself.

“
K.P., it’s late. Shouldn’t you be heading home?”

“No, this night is for you
, and our time is important to me. Come here close to me,” he said and pulled her closer. He moved his hands down her back, caressing her skin so tenderly. He kissed her passionately and held her close. His kisses were seducing, and she couldn’t control herself. She led his hand down to her breast and encouraged him to massage them. Her nipples were hard, and her clit was starting to throb. She wanted to resist him, but she had loved him for so long, she couldn’t bring herself to stop him.

He removed her robe and took one of her hard nipples into his mouth. The heat of his breath and the wetness of his tongue made her
spot tingle. She wanted his tongue all over her body. She lay back and allowed him to wander around her bare skin. He found his way to her special area and blew on her trimmed hairs.

The sensation drove her insane
, and she didn’t know whether to enjoy him or push him away. K.P. no longer deserved her body, she thought to herself as he licked her like he was in love.

His tongue felt so good—
she was getting ready to climax, but the ringing of K.P.’s cell phone knocked her out of her trance. K.P. jumped up like a grasshopper and made a mad dash to his cell phone. He looked at the caller ID and walked out of the room to take the call. That was definitely a first, because he never was unable to talk in front of Janiece before.

She sat up in the bed and concentrated really hard on his voice. She made out some of what he was saying, but not all. She listened carefully and heard him say
, “I’m going to be here for a while,” and she continued to listen. “Look, I’ll call you tomorrow. Kiss the kids for me and don’t call me anymore with any nonsense, Kimberly.” Then he hung up. Janiece wondered what the deal was, but she and K.P. never, ever discussed his home business and to ask him would cause a problem, and she wasn’t in any type of mood to argue.

“I’m sorry
, baby,” he said when he came back into the room. He crawled back into bed with her and started kissing her, like there was no pause in their moment.

She looked at him, but his eyes were shut while he went back to licking on her soft nipples. They were no longer erect, but it didn’t take them long to wake up. They made love
, and then K.P. rolled over to sleep. Janiece looked over at the clock. It was after midnight. Maybe he’s going to make one of his two
a.m
. exits, she thought. She grabbed her pillow and didn’t bother to set the alarm for him.

She wasn’t concerned about whether he got up. She
stood up to blow out the scented candles that were burning. When she climbed back in bed, he cuddled up close to her and held her tight. It was too much for her, so she had to ask, “K.P., do you need me to set the alarm?”

“No
, baby, I’m staying,” he said and she thought her ears were deceiving her.

“Staying
? Staying what?” she asked like he was speaking French.

“I’m staying
. I wanted it to be a surprise, baby. I’m staying all night tonight, tomorrow night, and the next night, and we’ll see after that,” he said.

Jan
iece was in a state of shock. She was exhausted and didn’t even want to ask. She settled back into his arms and decided she’d wait until morning to ask questions. She closed her eyes and reminisced on her and Isaiah’s first date again.

How he fed her at Ruth
’s Chris, and how they held hands in the truck. She thought about beautiful his smile and wondered—how was she going to get rid of K.P.?