Dark Waters, page 7
Mia crosses her arms over her chest and looks away from Keenan Sr. in tears. After silence fills the room, he slowly brings her face back to his and looks into her crying eyes. “Mia, like I said . . . when the time is right . . .”
When Keenan Sr. gets up, Mia watches him walk out of her bedroom and into their son’s room.
“Hey, squirt! . . .”
12
Lillian
It’s almost noon, and Lillian is still in bed with the covers over her head. Although the fiscal at the anniversary party was the night before last, she is still in bed crying. She didn’t understand why the divorce was hitting her so hard this time. All the other times, she sailed through waiting for Judge Waters to beg her back before he returned home. But this time, he was not even answering her calls, so she knew he wouldn’t be begging anytime soon.
When Lillian finally gets up and opens the drapes, she realizes it is a beautiful Sunday morning without a cloud in the sky. It is the kind of Sunday morning when back in the day, she and Keenan Sr. would pack the kids up in their luxury car and go to breakfast before heading down to their mega-church where Judge Waters got special parking. Right in the front. Probably because his tithes alone paid the church’s mortgage. Lillian thinks, Fucking showoff, thinking about how proud he was over that stupid-ass parking spot.
Lillian opens the medicine cabinet after using the restroom and washing her hands. She pulls out two bottles, both filled with barbiturates. She pops one pill in her mouth from the first bottle and two pills from the second bottle. Her doctor prescribed her meds to help her cope with what Lillian described as a hard life.
She then drags her feet across the hardwood floor and back to the bed. She picks up her water bottle and takes a big gulp to wash down the three red tablets in her mouth.
Almost an hour later, she wanted to say she was starting to feel better, but she isn’t. Instead, Lillian is still cranky and wants to cry again.
After a few minutes of sitting there, she can hear Naomi talking from her bedroom, so she gets up and heads her way. She just stands there watching her daughter when she gets to Naomi’s door. She knew she was talking to that boy from the other night; she heard Naomi say his name on her way to her room. Jayceon.
As Naomi sits on her bed with her legs crossed, Lillian taps on her door to get her attention. Naomi smiles at her mother, but Lillian doesn’t smile back. Instead, she mouths, “Get off the phone.”
“Okay, Ma.”
Lillian frowns when Naomi says, “Jace, call me back. Okay. Bye.”
After she hangs up, Naomi looks at Lillian, who is standing there riding the wave of the pills she just took.
Naomi could see that look in her eyes, so she knows what time it was. She was smiley and calm with Lillian but was on guard because she knows how her mother gets when she’s mad and high off her meds. “What’s going on, Ma? Saint Kenny called while you were sleeping. He said you didn’t answer your phone. I told him you would call him back once—”
“Are you pregnant?” Lillian came right out with what she went to her daughter’s room to ask, throwing Naomi completely off guard. When she doesn’t answer, Lillian asks again. “Naomi, are you pregnant?”
“No.”
“So, now you’re going to lie to me?”
“Mama, I haven’t shared that with anyone, so why—”
“Because I heard you out there talking to him the other night.”
“What?! So you were snooping?”
“You call it what you want, as long as you get your ass up and take care of it ASAP!”
Naomi’s eyes got large as baseballs in disbelief at the words coming out of her mother’s mouth. She knew she was on one, but damn. “Sorry, I haven’t decided what I want to do with my body, and you don’t get to decide that for me. But you already know that, so it’s cool.”
“Who is he?”
Naomi is forthcoming. “His name is Jayceon McCall. He moved from Chicago not too long ago, and—”
“And he’s married! I told you, I heard you out there.”
“Okay, and?”
“Honey, let me be crystal clear with you. I am not letting any more scandals come near this family or me. Your brothers and father do enough of that, but you are a direct reflection of me, and I will not have you having a baby with a man that walks around wearing a white T-shirt.”
Lillian hit a nerve. “So, him being married is not the main issue; it’s his clothes? Okay. No wonder Daddy treats you the way that he does. You’re a foolish woman to come in here on me about a nigga in a white T when you cannot, by any means, control the man you’ve been married to for damn near four decades.” Naomi looks at her mother, who glares at her. “And don’t look at me like that. You know how this works with your kids, Ma. You ask for it, and you will get it, especially from me. Period! I let you slide at dinner the other night, but not today. So, call Daddy if you want to fight, and leave me alone.”
The third pill has kicked in, and Lillian is as cool as a cucumber with her daughter, that was about to throw her out of her room. “No, I don’t want to fight, hon. Not today.” Lillian turns around to leave but stops before she gets too far. “Oh, Naomi.” She turns around to her. “I was giving you time this week to take care of your little problem, but now you have about twenty-four hours.”
“Mama, stop. You can’t make me do anything that—”
“I can, and I will! Now, you either have an abortion, or lose everything, and I do mean everything this time. Your father will kick you out of here with nothing. Flat on your ass.” Lillian walks closer to Naomi when she opens her mouth to speak. “Shut up! I don’t want to hear it! You standing out there talking to a man that could be full of AIDS! And how would you know since don’t you don’t know him! All you know is he’s married, and I won’t have that kind of shit around me.”
Naomi jumps up. “AIDS?! You trippin’ now. Mama, what the hell are you talking about?”
“Planned Parenthood tomorrow morning, or you find out exactly what I’m talking about. You want to try us again?”
As Lillian scolds Naomi, all she could think about is her nasty words because she is right; she is married to a man of thirty-five years that she couldn’t control. That’s mainly why Lillian is being so extra this morning. She’s pissed about Naomi being pregnant, but her true source of anger is her husband.
Before Lillian leaves Naomi’s room, she looked at her. “You don’t have to say anything, but I know you heard me.” Then, she says, “Take care of it, or else . . .” before she storms away.
13
Naomi
The Next Morning
Naomi is standing at a small sliding window, writing on the clipboard the lady asked her to fill out. All that’s needed right now is the generic info such as Name and Time You Arrived. Naomi thought that part was easy; the waiting part gave her anxiety.
Sitting there, she looks at an Asian woman flipping through an old issue of Italian Vogue. Naomi then looks at the woman’s stomach . . . she doesn’t appear pregnant, but then again, neither does Naomi.
She thought about flipping through a magazine as the woman did, but she isn’t about to touch any of those dated, germ-ridden publications. Besides, a magazine isn’t going to help her right now. Scrolling through social media wasn’t helping either. She needs to do something before the silence drives her crazy!
“Akira Cho.”
Naomi jumps up when she hears her name called but stops in her tracks when she realizes her name is not Akira. The nurse is calling the Asian lady, not her, she thinks, damn.
When Naomi sits back down, she calls her brother. “Please come now . . . I’ll send you the address.”
She couldn’t sit there any longer alone. She is scared, and the silence is even louder than before. Naomi wants to leave so badly but is more afraid of sleeping in a woman’s shelter because that almost happened the last time she took it too far with her parents. They took everything they paid for and things they didn’t, like her car. Naomi has plenty of money, but it all comes from her parents, so when she pisses them off, that’s the first thing they take away. Just like when her father found out she bought a handbag with the money that was to go to her law tutor, he threatened to disown her. He didn’t. Instead, he cut off all her lifelines, including her brothers. Naomi wasn’t going through that again, so she obeyed her mother before she got her father involved.
Fifteen minutes later, Saint Kenny is coming through the door. When he sees Naomi sitting there, he goes over to her. “Naomi.”
She looks up from her phone, stands up, and hugs Saint. “Thank you for coming.”
“It’s cool; I was right down the street.” He asks, “Why didn’t you tell me where you were?” when they sit down. “I didn’t know where the GPS was taking me until I saw the protesters out front.” He looks around at the pale sky-blue walls. “What are you doing here?”
“Mama.”
Saint Kenny knows how their mother can be, so he got defensive and ready to defend Naomi. “Mama? What does she have to do with this?” She didn’t answer him. “And who’s the—”
Naomi quickly said, “Jayceon.”
“Wait . . . didn’t he just get—”
She cut him off again. “Married? Yes, last Friday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I just found out.”
“Okay, so, are you going to tell me what Mama has to do with this and whether I’m going to have to jump in or not?”
As they talked, the nurse who took the petite Asian lady to the back was at the door, now calling for “Naomi Waters.”
“I’ll tell you later.” Naomi looks at Saint and then back at the nurse.
***
With Naomi scared out of her mind in Planned Parenthood, Tia is at her and Jace’s townhouse, finally removing that now infamous dining room table. She and Jace fight about what Naomi said they did on that table at least once a day, so she thinks the only logical thing to do is get rid of it. Does she believe Naomi? No. At least she doesn’t want to. Jace said Naomi was just trying to make her mad because it never happened is his version. However, Naomi’s version of him eating her out on their dining room table is true, and deep down . . . Tia knows it.
Tia’s mother, Sherry, approaches her daughter’s front door. She looks surprised when she’s greeted by guys in coveralls moving furniture in and out of the townhouse. As the U-shaped dining room table she gifted to Tia and Jace when they first moved in is now being carried out, Sherry rushes into the house.
“Tia? . . . Tia, where are you?”
Tia calls out from the den. “I’m in here, Mom.”
When Sherry makes it back to where Tia is, she can’t believe how different everything looks. “Hey, baby.” She looks around. “I didn’t know you guys were getting all new furniture. And I wish you would have told me you were getting rid of the dining room table I gave y’all.”
“Please do not mention that table. Besides, when you gave it to Jayceon and me, it became our property to do with as we please.”
“Is this about what that girl said at the wedding?”
“Of course it is! I’m not going to lie about it. But, since I can’t get a clear answer from Jayceon about what she said they did on that table, instead of getting rid of him, I’ll just get rid of all the furniture that Beast may have had her ass on.” Tia pauses for a minute. “ . . . I don’t see what he would want with someone like her. He said she’s just like his ex-wife, loud and ratchet, so why would he ever want another woman like that and . . . why doesn’t he want me?” Tia’s watery eyes look at her mother. “When we first hooked up, I didn’t think it would last longer than a weekend since we met at a club, but he ended up being so sweet to me. He would call me on his lunch breaks. Then, he would text me the rest of the time we weren’t together. I would make him breakfast, lunch, and dinner when we were . . . I’m still doing that, trying to be perfect for him, but he doesn’t want me. He wants to live happily ever after with Naomi. That’s what he wants, but I’m not going anywhere!”
Her mother tries to soothe her. “And you shouldn’t, baby. You just have to give it time, okay?”
“Time? Mom, we’re already married; the time is now.” Tia starts to cry. “This has to work with him . . . I’ll be thirty-seven in October, so I can’t start over. I don’t want to. I don’t want to be somewhere forty years old, in the club, talking about, Hi, I’m Tia. No! I want Jace . . . Mom, I want my husband, and I don’t want to lose him.”
Sherry smooths a strain of Tia’s bangs out of her face. “Tia, Jace married you, right?”
Sniffles. “Yes.”
“So, you’re not going to lose him. He loves you, baby; that’s why he chose you.”
Tia quickly inhales a breath of confidence. “You’re damn right! I’m smart, not some college dropout wanna-be video girl with ghetto long nails and braids hanging down my back. I’m better than that, and so is my life with Jace.”
“You’re right, baby. I agree with you.” Then, Sherry asks, “Have you or your attorney heard anything about the charges we put on Naomi Waters?”
“Not yet. But, I’m sure her father will make it all go away, but not before he offers me a settlement to pay for everything new in this house for his daughter ruining my wedding day!”
Sherry doesn’t take her eyes off Tia as she asks question after question. “Has that Naomi been a problem since the wedding?”
Tia says, “You can put that right there,” as the men bring in the new dining room table. She then looked back at her mother. “Not at all. She knows better. Jayceon is my husband.” When Jace’s little girl starts to cry lying on the loveseat, Tia picks her up. “And this is his child that I’m helping him to raise. He has no use for Naomi Waters anymore. I’m his wife. He chose me.” Tia looks worried when she says, “He married me . . . She could never compete with our family or the woman and mother that I am. What she and Jayceon had is finished.” She pats the toddler’s back as she lightly bounces up and down. “It’s over between them, and there is nothing she can do to change that. She is out of his life for good . . .”
14
Keenan Jr.
She whips her hair around as he hits her from the back. “Yes . . . Oh, yes . . . fuck me! You’re gonna make me . . .” Taylor throws her ass back at him as her tits bounce each time he comes in for more. “That’s my spot . . . Oh my god, I’m going to cum! . . .”
Taylor moans and groans as he shakes and quivers behind her. “Damn, Taylor . . . that was so good.” When he’s finished, he eases his long dick out of her. They both shudder from the sensation. He then lies beside her. When she cuddles up on his beefy chest, he says, “I love this spot.”
“Oh yeah? . . . what do you love so much about The Marriott?”
“It’s what we do in The Marriott.” They both laugh as their lips mash together.
“I bet you do.” Taylor reaches over and picks up her phone after it buzzes on the nightstand. Then, when she sees her notifications, she gets up.
He asks, “Is everything okay?”
Taylor clicks her phone off. “It’s my husband.”
Ross gets up and sits on the bed next to her. “Is he calling?”
“No-uh, no, I was supposed to call him as I do every morning after dropping our daughter off at school.” She bites her bottom lip looking at her phone. “Shit . . . I better call him.”
Ross starts kissing her neck. “Are you sure you want to call him now? . . . I’m not finished with you.”
Taylor stammers as Ross gets on his knees. “I know-it’s just-well . . . I . . .” She lies flat on her back with her feet resting on his shoulders. He’s between her legs, eating her out. His head flicks. So does hers. They’re both enjoying it . . . probably a little too much. “I-I need to . . . I have to call my . . . husband . . . oh, what the hell.” Taylor looks at her phone long enough to power it off before she throws it on the other side of the bed.
“Come here, baby . . .” Ross pulls her closer to him as he tries to suck her pussy lips right off her body.
“Ross . . . that’s it, that’s it, THAT’S IT! OH, GOD!”
Now, Taylor knows she knows better than this. This . . . as in an affair, is completely out of character for her. Taylor is a loving, respectable woman. Not a cheat, but here she is, letting another man, who’s not her husband, have his way with her. And she loves the shit. Her eyes roll back, and she grabs her nipples and everything. Taylor is in sheer ecstasy with a man she hardly knows.
Taylor and Ross only met about three months ago at the DMV. Taylor headed out with her new driver’s license in her hand, pissed that it took so long to get it. Then, staring at the new photo she just took for her license, she hits the guy—SMACK—with the door as he is coming in. He said it was okay though she apologized profusely. “Oh my God, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you with the door. Are you okay?”
They talked right there in front of the DMV for half an hour. In that short time, Taylor learned his name is Ross McKnight; he’s single, with three kids, and has a full-time job as a sanitation worker. And Ross quickly learned the rock Taylor is wearing on her left ring finger means she has a husband. But that didn’t stop him from still trying to get with her. “You should let me get your number . . . I know you’re married, but texting a new friend from time to time can’t be all that bad, right?” WRONG! But Taylor, and her bad choices, led her right into the arms of another man.
Lying on the bed, flat on her back, after her fourth orgasm, Ross scales up Taylor’s dewy body. “You taste good.”
“You know we can’t keep doing this, right? I have a husband, Ross. And I-I’ve never done anything like this before. My God, if Keenan ever found out, it would be all bad for us.”
