Beauty Beheld, page 28
From the moment she had charged her sexy little body right into the center of my life, I knew she was exactly what I’d been waiting for. I’d chosen to abstain from having sex with her because I sensed something was broken in her from jump. I didn’t want to complicate things between us any further, so I decided to focus on getting to know her better instead.
I understood how hard it was for her to abstain, but I just wished she had understood that sex has a deeper meaning and substance for me than most people. It symbolizes the level of our love we have for one another. Even through our little tiffs, she remained on my mind and in my heart. But after witnessing the turn of events of my parents’ marriage, I knew I had to be sure before making a permanent play with Patience. After our trip to New York, I felt reassured, but it was what happened at the diner for me. Seeing her crumble and wanting nothing short of stopping the world on its axis before letting a single tear escape her eye was a life-changing experience for me. I’d never felt that level of conviction for protecting a woman before, other than my moms. That shit was unnerving . . . and scary as hell.
When Mom and Pops were visiting me in Atlanta a few weeks ago, Mom let me know how she really felt about Patience. Not only did she adore her, but she had brought my paternal grandmother’s ring with her. The one Pops had given her. Said she’d be proud for Patience to rock our family jewels. We all had a long talk, and they believed my choice to relocate to Cleveland was certainly the move.
That was why after grabbing the keys for my new apartment downtown, I stopped by a wine cellar and copped a bottle of their finest champagne. Then I spent several hours at the mall purchasing a suitcase, lingerie, bath salts, seductive body wash, massage and body oil, and vegan bath and body items for an amazing evening. I made dinner reservations and couldn’t wait to break the news to Patience over our meal that we were only ten minutes away from my new home. And I’d only be a twenty-minute drive away from her. No more flights, FaceTiming, or falling asleep holding the phone each night.
I was finally prepared to let Patience know that I loved her. While that would normally be a momentous occasion in any given relationship, a woman like Patience didn’t find security in words. So I was ready to let my actions prove my commitment to her and also do the talking for me.
But she hadn’t responded to my morning text like she usually did. I stopped by her job to catch her when she walked out, but her car wasn’t in the parking lot. Figuring she had worked from home that day, I headed to her house. When I didn’t see her car parked in the driveway, I assumed she had just pulled it into the garage. I was nervous and excited while waiting on her doorstep, but she never answered the door. I parked on the street and waited while calling and texting her with no answer. I figured she may be teaching line dancing at the church or visiting her grandfather.
Almost an hour passed before a white Lincoln Navigator with a license plate that said DNP4ME passed by and pulled into her driveway. Confused, I watched my girlfriend jump out of the passenger seat and run into her house. She looked upset, so I hopped out of the car. I crossed the street and made my way across her tree-strewn lawn before I stopped dead in my tracks.
Daniel’s face was in the side mirror of the idling SUV, scoping my every move. I called for him to step out of the vehicle, but he didn’t budge. Instead, he cracked the window, emphatically suggesting that I check my Instagram messages. I wanted to yank him out of his truck and wipe that smug smirk clean off his face, but curiosity got the better of me. I patted my pockets and realized I didn’t have my phone. I turned around to head back to my car, ready to settle things with Emo Ernie once and for all. My head was swimming in a sea of random thoughts.
Why was ol’ boy telling me to check social media like he knew something I didn’t? I hopped inside my rental car to grab my phone, leaving the car door ajar. When I pulled up the app, I immediately went to Patience’s profile. Her last post was three days ago, which I liked. Then I noticed several direct message requests from Daniel from almost a month prior. I opened them.
What’s up, my man?
I know trying to move in on my woman has kept you rather busy, so I’ll get right to the point. Since you didn’t have any respect for my relationship, I thought I’d be kind enough to let you know some things about our girl, Patience, that you may not have learned yet during your brief little encounter. I bet you’re thinking everything y’all have going on between you is real special, right? Yeah, that’s cute. It’s probably because she led you to believe that shit. But I know for a fact without even being there with y’all that everything you’ve experienced with her is old news. She’s been doing the same shit for years.
She probably took you to the vacant lot overlooking Valley View. Did y’all watch the sunset in the valley and talk all night in the car during your time up here? Did she take you to the Pancake House for brunch? I bet she drove you by the house where she grew up and told you all about her childhood memories before her father left. Did she show you the private school she attended as a little girl?
How do I know all these things, you ask? Because she did the same shit with me and the guy before me and probably the guy before him. So, we’ll see how long it’ll be before she loses interest in her little rebound relationship with you. Before long, you’ll be tossed out like yesterday’s trash, my G. Remember, I had five long years with her. She’s just getting her little rebellion out of her system right now. Soon enough, she’ll be right back home where she belongs.
When she leaves your pretty-boy ass hurting, don’t hold it against her. We all know she’s just damaged goods, doing the toxic shit damaged goods do. Besides, the apple never falls far from the tree. And even if it tries, that shit can’t roll but so far.
Peace,
DF
I reread the messages, trying to figure out who the hell he thought he was. It was difficult to sort the facts from the bullshit.
Fact: He knew all the places Patience had taken me during my trips to Cleveland, which was weird.
Fact: He had touched on her tendency to self-sabotage which was a known pattern for her. But Patience and I had already discussed that.
Fact: She’d just pulled up with this dude after falling off the grid all day.
Fact: She’d told me she had broken things off with this guy, but she also wasn’t aware that I was in town.
Fact: Her father did set a precedent of abandoning relationships for her, regardless of having his reasons for doing so.
Fact: I really had no way of knowing how the hell she passed her time while I wasn’t here.
As the facts continued to stack against us, my fists clenched. I closed the car door, leaned back on the headrest, and closed my eyes, taking a few moments to even my breathing to keep from going apeshit on Daniel’s ass. Thankfully, I gained a little clarity after a few moments.
Despite how factual parts of his message were, I wasn’t trying to hear any of that noise. I clicked on Daniel’s profile page, and thankfully, it was public. His most recent post caught my eye. It was a picture of him with his back to the camera. My eyebrows rose as I tapped on the post for a closer look. This fool had a fresh tattoo of Patience’s face and name etched across the top of his back. The caption read, Happy birthday to my queen. It was posted the night before Patience’s birthday party. There was a clear adhesive bandage over it, indicating it was brand new. That was probably why he had shown up at the party all sauced up. He was probably self-medicating because that shit looked like it had taken several hours . . . or possibly days. Thirsty ass.
I shook my head. I needed to get to the bottom of things with Patience. I still didn’t understand why she hadn’t returned my calls or texts all day, only to pull up out of nowhere with this dude. Before I could calculate my next move, I glanced up to see her rushing back out of the house. She hopped into his truck, carrying the same overnight bag she had brought with her to New York. I frowned, my confusion momentarily paralyzing me. An overnight bag? The fuck? They peeled off together seconds later, headed back out of the development.
As much as I didn’t want to believe what this dude was saying to me, I couldn’t help but trust what my own eyes were showing me. Patience didn’t even look up as they passed right by my rental car. But Emo Ernie made it a point to lean over, making direct eye contact and flashing that corny-ass grin of his as they passed by. That same one from all those now-deleted, booed-up pics with Patience I had seen on her social media profile a few months back. I hit him with the hardest Ice Cube mean mug I could muster in return. As they turned the corner and merged with traffic on the main road, my sneer melted, and hot rage singed my veins.
I had gone through hell and high water to uproot my life and move up here to be with her, only to watch her pull off with him, going God knows where. Is that what went down when I wasn’t in Cleveland? She was still dealing with this guy while I was busting my whole ass just to be closer to her? No, that couldn’t be it. Not Patience. She could never be capable of no foul shit like that. It was apparent that this dude was manipulative and undermining. His slick little message said it all. I knew something serious must be at stake for her to be rushing to get back into his truck. I saw the worry etched on her face and the way she ran in and out of the house. The question was, what was this dude, Daniel, up to?
I pulled off, busting a U-turn in the middle of the street. There was no way I was letting Patience ride off anywhere with this lunatic. As I navigated the twists and turns of the development at high speed, I thought to myself, And here I was planning to spend the evening breaking in my new digs by making love to my woman in every single room. This can’t be life.
I shook my head.
After being a Clevelander for less than three hours, I was already taking massive Ls.
22
Daniel Francois
My heart goes out to her as she speaks on the phone with Chelsea’s dude. Patience is a good-hearted woman and could always be counted on to drop what she was doing to help someone else—especially her little sister. As unfortunate as the circumstances were, it was good to lay eyes on her up close again. I loved this woman with everything I had, and I’d stop at nothing to prove it to her.
That was why I had agreed to her little sex-only agreement after our breakup. Having any part of her was better than having none of her. Besides, I knew it would only be temporary, and I’d eventually win her back. I wasn’t even mad when she’d had me escorted out of her little party. I gave her that one. I was being an asshole when she came to my job and by refusing to take her phone calls. I was just pissed since she had ol’ lover boy at her house. When I had stopped by with a bottle of blackberry merlot and gourmet popcorn, I saw her letting him inside. And, come to find out, it was the same dude I’d spotted at her party—the one I wasn’t invited to. If I hadn’t caught Pop-Pop’s Instagram live and a 360-degree video he’d posted with the tagged location, I wouldn’t have even known anything about it.
Anyway, new dude stood out like a sore thumb because he was the only face I didn’t recognize at first. After dating her for five years, I personally knew everyone in her life. So, when I saw him smirking at me like he knew something I didn’t, I knew what it was . . . old clown-ass dude. When I’d seen him walking out of her house a few days prior, I was so hot, I didn’t even trust myself enough to ring her doorbell. I knew I would end up hurting him. But when I’d started blowing up Patience’s phone afterward, she wouldn’t even pick up for me. Probably figured she didn’t need my ass anymore.
I still couldn’t believe she would betray me like this. She was the one who’d set the rule that we would be exclusive in our physical relationship, but clearly, that rule hadn’t applied to her. For some reason, she had it bad for this dude. In a matter of months, he’d managed to penetrate those same walls that took me years to break down. Even fresh off of our breakup, she was carefree with this guy, like they’d been kickin’ it for years. At first, I figured it was a classic rebound situation and planned to wait until she got it out of her system, especially with him living out of state. But this dude was actually serious about her. If I waited too much longer, I might mess around and lose Patience for good. Nah, that wasn’t happening. After all the time I’d spent molding her the way I wanted her, I’d be damned if I would let him swoop in and claim what was mine.
Now he was back up here, visiting her again when he was just here two weeks ago. Shit was getting really hot and heavy between them, and I had to admit, I was a little shook. I couldn’t sleep or eat, and I was messing up at work. To top it all off, it was looking like I may really be losing her. But dude had better be ready to fight for her because I had nothing left to lose at this point.
She hung up from a second phone call; it sounded like it was with my sister. Then she turned to look at me. I recognized that look in her eyes. I had pushed her too far this time.
“Daniel, what the hell is wrong with you? Why in the world have you been using a tracking device on me?”
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel while remembering all the interactions I’d witnessed firsthand between her and ol’ boy. How she’d made love to him at our favorite spot in the park, how she’d taken him to our favorite restaurant, and most importantly, how she’d driven him around her old stomping grounds, sharing special childhood memories with him—ones she hadn’t shared with me until years into our relationship. I’d put in real work to get where I was. Honestly. I mean, what grown man actually wants to spend his Saturday night doing jigsaw puzzles and drinking wine? On a college campus? Certainly not me. Especially not while I was patiently waiting to hit that. She made me wait almost three months. I doubt that was the case for Pretty Ricky’s ass.
So, what was it about this pretty boy that had her forgetting who’d held her down for all these years? Tolerating her mood swings, daddy issues, and meddling family, all while juggling a rigorous graduate program and a hectic work schedule, had been emotionally and mentally exhausting. Although she was definitely worth any and all sacrifices, I could admit that I’d had moments when I didn’t appreciate her fully. But now that we’d spent this time apart, she was all I could think about. There was nothing I wanted more than to hold her and make love to her again. But I had to spend my time watching her all hugged up with this guy instead.
And all for what? My controlling mama screwed things up for me once again. Right when we were at the finish line. I was almost done with my doctorate, and I had a good position lined up at the Cleveland Clinic. Life was just about to start for us. Then, instead of leaving bad enough alone, my meddling mama called Patience after shit had blown up and tried to smooth things over. In what universe could that possibly have worked?
Princessa kept telling me to leave it alone and let Patience return on her own. But I couldn’t do that. Too much time had already been wasted. Precious time with her that I couldn’t get back. I’d trained her to become a perfect, supportive potential wife. Our plan was for her to remain at home—maybe grow her voice-acting side hustle, have our children, and hold me down so I could provide for all of us. As little as six months ago, Patience was perfectly fine with all that. Now, this new dude was dropping all types of crazy ideas in her head. She’d updated her LinkedIn profile to a Talent Manager position, and she had a college bumper sticker on her car. Where in the world had all of this come from?
She shoved my shoulder, and I blinked.
“Huh?”
“Huh?” She mocked me and said, “You heard me ask you a question!”
“Pae, it’s for your own good. You’re running around with this random dude I’ve never seen before. He’s coming into your house with luggage. Staying the night and taking my place. Whatever happened to us against the world? You forgot about me already?”
She stared at me for a long moment, and I realized I’d let it slip that I’d been watching her house.
“What the fuck, Daniel? Really?”
It was time to pivot. “What do you really know about this guy? You’re moving way too fast, and it really ain’t safe out here. You know you can’t possibly have anything real with him this fast. Leave this little rebound relationship alone and come back to what you know.”
She shook her head. “Daniel, you have no idea how crazy you sound right now. If we didn’t need to get to the girls—” Her phone buzzed, and she looked down at it. “Hold on. I need to take this.”
“Hello,” she answered. She stiffened, then listened for a few moments before responding. “Hey! Yes, I just called. Princessa said you were in the bathroom. How are you feeling?” She nodded, paused, and nodded again. “Yes, I’m on my way . . . no, don’t worry about the car. We’ll handle that later. Yes, Tavares knows, and he’s right behind us. No, I promise I haven’t called Pop-Pop or Mom.”
They talked for a few more minutes before she ended the call. She tapped at her screen for a few minutes, and I was tempted to ask her who she was texting. Before I could, she glared at me. Just like that, I was back in the hot seat.
“So, you’ve been sitting outside of my house. Do I need to serve your ass with a restraining order?”
“Pae, you know good and well that I would never hurt you. I’m just trying to figure out how you’ve moved on so quickly. After all we’ve been through together, you’re really willing to walk away like this?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Daniel, we’ve had some really great times, and I honestly value some of the things you’ve brought to my life. But there’s no future for us because we’re each heading down different paths.”
I scoffed. “Since when?”
“Since I’ve actually spent some time thinking about what I want.”
“You mean since you’ve spent time letting him brainwash you.”
She sat back in her seat and stared at me. I stared at the road ahead and pretended not to notice. “No, Daniel. That’s just what support looks like. Get into it.”
