A Rich Man's Baby (14 page)

M
ark rarely called me, and he didn't have a girlfriend, so he didn't have any excuses. That shit was so annoying. I could tell Mark liked me, but he was holding back. I met up with him a couple of times and he was just so standoffish; it drove me crazy. You couldn't tell what he was thinking. I really liked him, and it was not just about the money. I was just feeling him. I not only wanted to have his baby, I wanted to be a part of his life. Right now I just wanted to hear his voice.

Once again, he was MIA. We had been playing this little game of fade-in, fade-out. I was becoming a little tired of always calling him first. I wanted him to ring my phone so I could be with him right now.

Call me, Mark,
I thought. I wish I could send him a telepathic message. He would get the message and dial my number. I hated this feeling of caring. I hadn't been like this in a long-ass time. I liked it better when I wasn't feeling anyone. It was better that way. There was so much peace with being alone. There were no questions to ask like, “What you doing? Where you at?”

I didn't know what I should do about Mark. I couldn't take him calling me when he wanted to. I had to take my mind off all this with a massage and pedicure. And possibly, by the time I returned, he would call me.

Mark must have received the transmission, because he called me and told me to meet him in Chicago, and I was on it. I couldn't wait to see him. I met him at the Palmer House Hotel, this historic, classy hotel in downtown Chicago on Monroe Street. There was a key waiting for me at the desk.

He was in the shower.
Yes.
I didn't make a lot of noise. I tiptoed through the room and found his condoms. I pulled my safety pin out of my bag and stabbed inconspicuous holes all through them. Then I hurried and took off all my clothes. I walked into the bathroom. I opened up the curtain. He jumped, and I laughed and gave him a big kiss; then I unclothed myself. I stepped into the shower. I attacked him with my tongue and hands. Warm water spilled down my back. Mark's hands glided up my thighs and legs. I kissed him furiously with my tongue. I let my mouth sweep up against his abdomen and pelvis. He seemed so excited to see me. My mind was churning. I placed my body up against his and let our warm bodies glide against each other. The warm water splattered all over us, making my hair go from curly to straight and wet. I pressed my butt to his erectness and finally saw my opportunity to take him raw. As Mark grabbed my breasts and bit my neck, I slid his body into mine. He didn't stop me, and I pumped as hard as I could. I held my pussy walls together as I tried to choke his dick. I was still shocked he let me do it. I pounded against him in ecstasy until the shower water turned cold.

Last night was great. We hung out and had fun. This morning, all I could hear was shower water running and Mark getting ready to leave me again.

“Where you going?” I asked.

“I have to go,” he said as he dressed.

“You leaving me? How am I going to get to the airport?”

“Your ticket is open, just catch a cab to the airport.” He was about to leave me at this hotel by myself, and it didn't feel good. I was trying to keep up with him. I couldn't let him leave me there—not like this. As he put his pants on, I snapped my bra and twisted it around my body.

“Why are you rushing? You don't have to leave yet,” he said as he zipped his pants and sat on his bed to put on his socks and shoes.

“Don't you have to check out?” I asked as I slipped on my panties.

“Yeah, but you can stay until noon.”

“No, that's okay. I need to get home.” I had to get out of there before he left me. I put my jeans on and threw my blouse over my head, and then brushed my teeth and washed my face. I heard the hotel room door shut. I knew he wouldn't walk out without saying good-bye. But he did. I heard the dinging of the elevator door down the hall.
He didn't even say good-bye,
I thought. Instead of pretending like I had somewhere to go, I went and got back into bed. Then I noticed two thousand dollars on the nightstand. What the fuck was I supposed to do with this? Mark was so fucking disrespectful. I was so mad at him. Why was he leaving money on the nightstand like I was his whore? I knew I was more than that to him. I got my phone out of my purse and called him.

“Mark.”

“Did I leave something?” he asked.

“No, I just needed to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I feel like you treating me like I'm just a piece of ass. And I don't feel that way about you. So if that's all we going to be, then I want out of this situation.”

He was quiet.

“Hello, did you hear that?” I said.

“Yeah, I heard you.”

“So say something!”

“I don't have anything to say, Adrienne. It is not like that, but if that's the way you feel, that's the way you feel.”

“Well, I think that if you feeling somebody, you wouldn't leave them alone in a hotel room, in a city they don't know. Right?” There was silence again.

“Right?” I shouted into the phone, but I didn't get a response. I then took the phone away from my ear and all I saw was the time and date. Mark had hung up on me without saying good-bye.

W
hen I told Adrienne what Kevin did over in Europe, she was so proud like I was her star student. She said something dumb like I was spotting money even when I wasn't trying.

“You talk to your International Six-Footer?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I lied to him.”

“About what?”

“About everything, girl. I told him I was a nurse, I only had one child, and I was twenty-nine.”

“Oh no. Why did you do that?”

“I couldn't help it. Because he kept saying I didn't look like I had a daughter who was four. And he couldn't believe I was twenty-nine.”

“You are thirty-two.”

“I know.”

“So, how was his conversation?” Adrienne asked.

“It was good. He is nice. What's going on with Mark?”

“He is okay. I like him, but he doesn't really try to put no time in with me. But that's okay. I'm about to give up on him. He calls me when he wants to, and I don't like that. I just want to get pregnant, and he is making it so hard.”

I told her I had to go. I heard Alexis screaming my name. I told these children a million times to please stop screaming my name.

“Yes? Stop yelling, Alexis. What is it?” I asked as I came down the steps.

“Mom, I need your tax return from last year. I have to fill out these college and financial aid package forms,” Alexis yelled.

 

My conversations with Kevin were always so long and deep. I hadn't talked on the phone like this ever. We talked about anything and everything. Like he was talking to me about old-school rap songs that we liked. I almost gave my age away by telling him I was a big fan of NWA. Kevin was so smart, and I told him that all the time; he knew about the politics in other countries, and he had been so many places. We were talking about current events like the war in Iraq and then flipped it back to why he didn't like reality television. We discussed how his mother raised him and his sister on her own, and I shared that I left home at seventeen. But even though we shared so much, I still didn't have the heart to tell him about Alexis and Jamil and not really being a nurse. It felt so good to talk to someone. With Kevin, the money was just a bonus. The next day I went online and looked up his team. I read his bio and then clicked out of his information. I didn't want to slip up and reveal information that I already knew about him. I wanted to wait for him to tell me, because I really liked him for him.

I sent Kevin a care package of his favorite candies: Twizzlers, Peanut Chews, and Laffy Taffy. I also sent him DVDs and a few magazines. He called me a few days later so excited. You would have thought I mailed him money. He was saying how sweet and considerate I was. He said he never had anybody doing anything like that for him. It was no big deal to send him the basket. A few days later, he began sending me all types of gifts. The first gift was a green Prada bag. The next day, he sent me six arrangements of flowers. After that, it was something different almost every day.

A
fter narrowly missing getting caught again coming from Rome, I knew it was time to stop my cheating. I took a long hard look at Terrance and grasped that he was a great man and I was very lucky to be about to become his wife. I'd cut off all communication with Kevin. He was acting funny anyway. I loved Terrance and I was going to marry him and live happily ever after. I was about to have a big spectacular wedding and we were buying a house.

Terrance and I looked at a few houses in Delaware and New Jersey. Terrance wanted to move to Delaware because the real estate taxes were cheaper and he would be closer to Maryland so he could find a job there and have a shorter commute. I just wanted a study so I could have a big office to do my work in.

We looked at several properties; we could either buy a house that was ten years old for three hundred and fifty thousand or put out a little more money and buy a house brand-new for thirty thousand more. I wanted the brand-new house.

Our house should be ready three months after our wedding. I couldn't wait to furnish it and have children and just live a wonderful life with the man of my dreams. I had to meet with my wedding planner, Bethany. She was trying to convince me that I should do a dance at the ceremony and that it was the new thing.

“What type of dance should I do?” I asked.

“Like you can learn the tango or do a little salsa. It makes the wedding festive and different.”

“No, I'm not really interested in that.”

“I've been to a lot of weddings where it was done.”

This was my wedding, not hers, so I told her no once again and we moved on to tasting the cake and finalizing the other arrangements. I couldn't wait to marry Terrance, but was tired of planning this wedding.

T
rying to date a guy, trying to get pregnant on purpose, without him knowing was hard as hell. I know for sure if I were some chick with five kids living in a two-bedroom house, I would have been carrying twins by now. I wanted a baby and I wanted it now. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be with Mark. I had to be real with myself. He was a multimillionaire and had other girls that he got with, but I had to make sure I was able to get in that number-one position. So I changed my stance. No more “Where you been, why didn't you call me?” I fell back and it was working. I didn't even answer his calls the first time anymore. I was trying to be wifey, or baby mother, in either order. I didn't care as long as Mark and I ended up together. And we had to get together soon, because all my credit cards were almost maxed out.

I dialed him. I had to apply the right amount of full-court pressure—not too much, though. If I did, in the very end I would have him. One of my plays was calling him and not leaving a message. He did that shit to me all the time. See, if I left a message and he didn't call me back, I would be upset. But with no message left, there was no definitive way for me to know that he knew I called. So then I could call him again.

It was Wednesday and I wanted to see Mark that weekend. I wanted him to ask me. I couldn't ask him; then I would seem desperate. So once again, I had to let him think it was his idea.

I just picked up the phone and dialed him. I heard his voice and I let out a sexy “Mark.”

“Hey, Adrienne,” he said, less than enthused. But that was okay, he was always so blah, but in a good way. We talked a little bit, and I heard a few of his friends in the background. I thought I heard female voices. I was becoming a little jealous.

“What are you doing? Where you at?”

“I'm in Vegas for the fight.”

“The fight? What fight? When is it?”

“This weekend. So let me handle this, and I'll give you a call a little later.”

“I should come out there,” I said before he hung up.

“If you do, let me know. Call me. I want to see you.”

He wanted to see me. That's all I needed to hear. As soon as I hung up with him, I priced the flights to Vegas. He didn't exactly ask me to come out, but he did want to see me. That was enough to make me go. Damn, the cheapest tickets were six hundred dollars. I didn't have any money in the bank and only had four hundred on my credit card. I was about to call my credit card company to get an increase in my spending limit. I had to do it. It was a business investment. The more time I spent with Mark, the more he was feeling me, and the more chances I had to get pregnant. It would only take a little more time to wear him down. I knew it.

I called my credit card company and they approved me for a five-thousand-dollar increase. I was so happy I called Tanisha and said, “Pack your bags. We're meeting Mark in Vegas. He is going to be at the fight this weekend. We need to be there.”

“I don't have any money for Vegas, girl.”

“I have it, don't worry about it. I'm about to charge our tickets right now. I'm on Expedia looking for tickets.”

“No, I can't let you do that.”

“It is already done,” I said as I reserved the last two tickets on American Airlines leaving Friday morning.

After a little more convincing, Tanisha agreed to go. I purchased our flight before I found our hotel room. Most of the rooms were already booked. The only thing I could find was a suite that was seven hundred a night.

“Mark Owens, you are mine, and I'm going to be yours one way or another,” I said as I pulled out my hot-pink suitcase and began to pack.