A Rich Man's Baby (15 page)

S
ome people are blessed with good looks, others money. Then sometimes you get both, and I think that it is so unfair. Kevin had all three: good looks, money, and intelligence. What a combination. Is it impossible to fall for someone over the telephone and through e-mails? Ask me a month ago, and I wouldn't have thought it was possible. I used to think people who met online were a little weird, but now I disagreed totally. I had just opened another e-card from Kevin that he sent me for my birthday. He was showing me so much attention sending me flowers and calling.

The main desk called me and said I had something at the desk waiting for me. I was becoming embarrassed, because security and all the women in the hospital were making comments like “Someone really loves you.” This time it was an edible fruit flower arrangement. It was so pretty I didn't want to eat it. It had cantaloupe and pineapples in the shape of sunflowers and hearts. The berries, grapes, and strawberries were covered with a light coating of chocolate. I brought the arrangement back to my desk.

“What are you smiling about over there?” Miss Alberta asked.

She wanted to know what was going on. Miss Alberta had been saying smart shit like, “He must be married. Don't no man put that much thought into a woman.” She wanted to know so bad what I was doing. I refused to tell her nosy ass anything.

“Who gave you this?” Jeremy asked as he picked a strawberry off my arrangement on my desk.

“Don't worry about that.”

“Is it that sweet?” he asked as he stepped back, looked at my legs, and gave a sly grin.

“Jeremy, be quiet,” I said as I tried to punch him and he backed away.

“I'm just asking. Somebody got a boyfriend.”

“No, I don't.”

“You know he is married,” Miss Alberta repeated in case I didn't hear her the first time.

I just ignored her and smiled as I opened my card.

“Tanisha, did you hear me? No man spends this type of money and attention if he is not married,” Miss Alberta said for the third time.

Now, I could put her in her place, but I was going to respectfully ignore her.

“That's not true,” I said, still smiling as I sat back at my desk. I went online to send Kevin a thank-you e-mail.

“What, your husband trying to get you back?” Reginald asked.

“No. Why are y'all up in my business?”

“Tell us who is it. What's going on?” Miss Alberta begged.

I looked over at her and said, “I'll tell you later.”

I wanted to tell somebody. I was so happy to have someone so special in my life. When Reginald and Jeremy went to lunch, I pulled up Kevin's basketball team's Web site and pointed to his picture.

Miss Alberta looked down at the picture and said, “That's him? Wow, he is so handsome. Where does he live?”

“In Rome.”

“In Italy?” she asked, shocked.

“Yes.”

“Oh my, this is so exciting,” she said, clapping her hands fast. “Where did you meet him? Have you told your children about him yet?”

I told her everything that had happened so far, and she thought he was so nice.

“When are you going to see him again?”

“I don't know. Right now we just talk on the telephone a lot and we e-mail, and that's about it. Probably when he has a break. He is very busy with practice and playing.”

“I knew he had to have a lot of money because I went online and saw your bag, and it was like two thousand dollars. I tell my granddaughter all the time, ‘If you going to date someone, make sure they treat you well and have some money. Not a bum.' Because back in my day, whoever was around me had money.”

I smiled but was thinking,
No, she didn't price my bag
. I couldn't worry about her. I had to prepare to go on my weekend trip to Vegas. I was loving my new life.

 

Adrienne paid for the whole trip, and we were staying in this suite at the Bellagio. It was a hotel with all these lights and waterfalls in front. We had a living-room area, a kitchenette, a big double closet, a Jacuzzi, and a walk-in shower. It was nice. You could look out the window and see the entire Strip lit up. There were lights sparkling like Christmas trees for miles.

Vegas was so nice. The weather was good, and it was so lively. When we checked in, it was wall-to-wall men and people dressed up like pimps. I couldn't let her pay for this by herself.

“Adrienne, I'm going to pay you back as soon as I get paid. Okay?”

“Don't worry about paying me back. Just help me with finding my man,” she said as she stood in the mirror, trying to decide what dress she wanted to wear.

“No, I get paid this coming Friday.”

“It's okay. I'm not worried about it. Let's get dressed. We need to be cute all day. I want to go catch Mark. He is staying at the MGM.”

We were dressed and ready to have fun. There was a lot going on. A lot of people were repping different parts of the country, and you could tell where they were from by what they had on. Adrienne wore this low-cut teal dress and gold charm necklace and bracelet, gold sandals, and these police-officer–looking sunglasses. I finally was able to carry my Prada bag that Kevin had sent me with green sandals and dress. Adrienne said it was cute.

We went to Mark's hotel, and he wasn't in. Adrienne called him three times and his phone kept going to voice mail. She left him a note at the front desk, and then to make sure he knew she stopped past, we went to his room and knocked on the door. Adrienne held her ear up to the door, then got on her knees and looked under the door. “They're not here,” she announced.

“How many rooms does he have?” I asked.

“Just this one. His friends have their own rooms,” she said as she wrote another note to leave for him.

We went downstairs to the bar and then hit up a club called Tao. I honestly could say this was the first time both of our attention were not focused on all the men who were walking around. My mind was on Kevin, and Adrienne was in search of the elusive Mark. She was on the dance floor dancing, but really looking all around like she was going to spot him. I knew he had to get one of Adrienne's messages. She kept calling him. He might have been avoiding her. She told him she was coming out here, and he hadn't called her back yet. That was fucked up. She was so smart, so pretty, and yet she didn't understand good sex does not equate to a man treating you good. He was treating Adrienne like shit. But she was allowing it.

Kevin knew I was in Vegas, but he still kept calling me like every hour. And I didn't mind. When we were in the club last night, he texted me to say he missed me. I was in the bathroom texting instead of being out on the dance floor with Adrienne. I was telling him how nice everything was. He kept saying he was so jealous and he wished he was there. I wished he was there too. I wished he was close to me. I was tired of just hugging the phone.

The next morning Adrienne yelled loud enough for Kevin to hear on the other end, “I wish you would hang up.”

I thought she was still asleep, but I guess she wasn't. I gave her a look like “don't be rude.” She did pay for this trip, though, so I told Kevin I had to call him back.

“You think you might be wasting time with all these e-mails and late-night phone calls?”

“No, I feel like I'm really getting to know him. Why do you think Mark hasn't called you yet?” I said, changing the subject back to her.

“I don't know, but he is acting funny, and I don't like it. I know he got my messages,” she said as she sighed and fell into her pillow.

 

It was fight night, but we didn't even make it to the fight. Who even cared about it? I didn't want her to spend any more money. She had paid for all my meals, my flight, and gambling. Enough was enough. I prayed that she found what she was looking for. We were just waiting until after the fight to go and party. Adrienne was getting so much attention in the lobby of the hotel, but she was ignoring them all. And they were the kind she liked with big jewelry and lots of money. She just rejected every man that approached her. She had it so bad it was almost funny. She kept picking up her phone to see if he called and then kept calling his hotel room and leaving more messages. But still no Mark Owens.

I
was not going to get pregnant with Mark's baby and he was not going to be my man. He was a rude bastard, and that's just life. You win some, and you lose some. And I had unfortunately lost this battle. I took a gamble and lost big.

As soon as I got home I was going to go and find me a job before my money ran out completely. I didn't know how much money I'd spent this weekend. I just felt so stupid. I just wanted to get on the plane right now and go to sleep. I thought we would be partying with Mark all weekend, having fun. I didn't think I would be spending all my own money. “Fuck it,” I said as I kicked off my heels. I would rather go to sleep than go to another stupid-ass party and spend more money. I was not taking out another cash advance off my credit card, and I'd take Tanisha up on her paying me back for this trip. I was fed up and mad until I saw a 216 area code roll across my screen. I jumped up and down. I knew it was Mark. I tried not to breathe heavy like my heart wasn't racing and sang, “Hello?”

“Adrienne. You out here?” he yelled over loud music.

“Yeah, for the last two days I've been trying to get in touch with you.”

“Sorry, there was something wrong with my phone and I been on that craps table like crazy.”

“You winning?” I asked.

“No, not even. I had to get money back. I'm almost even. I spent so much money I don't even want to talk about it. I had to use Carlos's phone. I can't even check my voice mail. We on our way to the party at Blush. Meet me there.”

Without hesitation we dressed and took a taxi over to the nightclub. The line was at the end of the block. I called Mark and he sent one of his friends out to get us. His friend Carlos pulled us into the club past all the people waiting in line. I saw Mark, gave him a hug, and introduced him to Tanisha. I said what's up to all his friends, but they were already tore up and could barely stand. Tanisha and I had a seat, and Mark told me he had ordered a few more bottles of champagne. Mark told me my dress looked good and grabbed my hand and kissed it. I knew I looked good, and I was so happy he noticed. All this prepping was not in vain. A woman came to the table and brought us over gold bottles of Ace of Spades champagne with lit gold sparklers coming out of them. He filled our glasses and we all began dancing and partying hard.

Girls kept coming up to our booth, and Mark was shooing them away. That made me feel so important. I had another glass of champagne and was swaying to the music. Then Mark pulled me to the dance floor. We danced and drank all night long. He kissed me and ground on me like we were all alone on the dance floor. I couldn't wait to get back to his room.

By 4 a.m. the club became empty and we were the last drunk people on the floor. I couldn't wait to get back to the room with Mark. I was all over him, tongue in his ear and kisses on his neck. We held hands as we left the club. We began kissing again and feeling each other up as we got in the taxi line. I whispered to Tanisha I would see her in the morning. A yellow minivan taxi pulled up; Tanisha got in and I followed. The one taxi could drop her off, then us. Once I entered the cab, Mark shut the door and told me he was going to call me.

“Where are you going, Mark?”

“They going to gamble a little more. I'm going with them,” he said as he turned to his drunk friends. My intoxication wore off instantly. I had to go with him and be with him, and now he was trying to tell me he would call me. I got back out of the taxi. “I'll go wait in the room for you.”

“No, I don't know what time I'm getting back.”

“Mark, it don't matter because I just want to wait for you.” I was trying not to get too loud or seem too anxious. I told the cabdriver to start running the meter. I didn't want to go back to the room with Tanisha. I already had our night planned out. We were going to go back to his room, fuck all night, and get up and go to breakfast.

“No, I'll call you when we finish up, or I'll just come to your room,” he said as he shut the cab door. I said okay. The taxicab driver was getting impatient, and I knew it was four in the morning and he wasn't going to call me. What was the likelihood of that happening? Then I asked him for some money; he said he had to go to the bank in the morning. All he had on him were credit cards, but he gave me one orange and a few purple and black chips.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Cash it in. If you don't want it, give it back. I've been gambling. I'm tapped out.”

I wanted him to get out of my face. I didn't know why, but right then and there I knew it was over. Something just told me.

I wasn't chasing Mark's ass no more. I came all the way out here and he was still frontin'. I didn't have time for him sending mixed signals anymore. Tanisha wasn't saying anything to me. She could tell I was upset. I spent all this money and he was gonna say, “I'ma call you.” He would probably have laughed if he knew everything I went through just to come out there just for the chance to meet up with him. I fell back on the bed. My head was a little dizzy from all the champagne.

That's it. I'm through if he doesn't call me by six. He has until six in the morning; then I'm over him.

When I finally was awakened by Tanisha pulling the drapes apart and letting the sun in, I turned to the alarm clock and it read eleven o'clock. I looked down at my phone and saw I didn't have any missed calls. I let out a little frustrated scream.

“What's wrong with you, Adrienne?”

She was still talking on her cell phone. Her fucking ear was going to burn off.

“Nothing is wrong with me. You are going to get brain cancer and your cell phone bill is going to be seven hundred dollars again.”

She shushed me, then told Kevin she had to call him back.

“Kevin just paid my cell phone bill this month, thank you very much, and he is sending me a tri-band phone. I'm about to be global. What's really wrong? I'm not paying you enough attention, Adrienne? I thought I left my children home,” she joked.

I threw my pillow at her. I wasn't laughing anymore; I was on the verge of crying. “I've been trying to crack him, and I just can't. It is like he is brick hard. I'm ready to just give up.”

“I think you should just…”

“Go 'head and say it. Leave him alone, I know, but why do he give me money and take me out, then nothing?”

“His money don't really mean anything to him,” Tanisha said.

“I've been taking my time with him and everything. I've been trying to do everything in my power to hold on and stay around, so when I do get pregnant it wouldn't be suspicious, but I just can't take any more. I really can't.”

“Take a shower and let's go get breakfast,” Tanisha said.

“I might as well. I'm not going to be with who I want to be with. So I might as well eat my troubles away.” She laughed but I was serious.

I wasn't trying to be cute for anyone. I checked to see what time our flight was leaving. It was leaving at seven at night. That gave me enough time to gamble a little, then take a nap and pack.

We went downstairs to the restaurant and were seated. Every other table was coupled up from the night before. Our waiter came over and poured water into our glasses and asked us what we were having. I was hungry from all that drinking. I was going to order everything.
Who cares?
I thought.

“We're ready to order,” Tanisha said.

“Yeah, I'll take a short stack of pancakes, a western omelet, and bacon,” I said as I eyed the menu to see if there was anything else my stomach longed for.

“You got an admirer over there,” Tanisha joked after the waiter brought out our food. I turned around to see a real husky, big-baby kind of guy smiling at me.

“I see him. I'm not in the mood,” I said, cutting my eye at the guy.

The young guy kept staring at me. When my food came I made sure I picked up the entire pancake and put in my mouth after I saturated it with syrup. And I let the syrup drip down on my chin like “yum-yum.” You would think that would have turned him off, but it didn't. He had the audacity to come over to our table and pull up a seat.

“How are you just going to invite yourself to our table?” Tanisha asked as the husky young guy pulled his chair in closer.

“I don't know; y'all look lonely,” he said as he scratched his dark, curly, coal-black hair that shone.

“We look lonely? No, we are fine. What can we do for you?” I asked with a mouthful of food.

“I was just saying hello.”

“How old are you, little boy?” I questioned him as I chewed my food with my mouth wide open. I was not in the mood to play with his young ass. He wasn't a bad-looking guy. His face just had marks where pimples used to reside, and he looked like he was lost in the wrong hotel.

“Twenty-two,” he said proudly.

Tanisha and I looked at each other and laughed.

“Well, I'm twenty-five and she is thirty-three.” Tanisha kicked me for saying her real age.

“Okay, age ain't nothing but a number. How long y'all going to be here? I want to take you out. When you leaving?” he said in a country drawl.

“Tonight. Where you want to take me to, huh? Listen, thank you, but no, thank you.”

“I'll take you wherever you want to go,” he said confidently.

He didn't get it; he was out of his league. I wiped my mouth and looked him dead in his eyes. “What's your name?”

“DeCarious Simmons.”

“DeCarious, I want to go shopping and my girlfriend wants to go shopping too! There is a mall right down the street. You want to deal with me, I'm a bill.”

“Yeah, I got lots of bills. I can handle another one.”

I was getting a kick out of talking dirty to him and being disrespectful. I was acting like I was joking, but I was saying things that I knew I meant.

“Okay, eat your breakfast. I'll come back and take you shopping,” he said.

“Why were you so mean to him?” Tanisha asked as he walked away.

“Because I'm tired of being nice. What do you get when you are nice? Nothing. He is not coming the fuck back, fuck him.”

I finished eating my food, and to my surprise, he came back and he had these other two guys with him and asked, “You ready?” When we got to the mall, he told us to get what we wanted.

He walked out of the store to take a call and I thought:
how convenient
. I looked at Tanisha like I know he's trying to play games, but I went along with it anyway. We went into Neiman Marcus, and I bought three pairs of shoes and two pairs of jeans. Tanisha bought two dresses. She said she wasn't trying to take advantage. But I was. He went to the register and pulled out his credit card. Then I thought it probably was stolen and he was into scams until it went through. He handed me our bags and then took us back to our hotel. He asked me what time my flight left and then asked for my phone number.

I'm not changing my position. So what, you spent some money?
I thought.

“No,” I said, smiling. I didn't want him to think I was impressed, because I was. If his goal was to blow my mind, he did. I gave him my number after he asked for it for like the fifth time. And then he asked us if we had a car to the airport.

“We were going to catch a cab,” I said.

“I'll call car service for you.”

By the time the Lincoln Town Car took us to the airport, I was hoping he was going to call me.

At the airport, I pulled out my phone and did a Google search on my iPhone. DeCarious Simmons, first-round draft pick out of the University of Florida. He was a defensive tackle, signing bonus: two million dollars. Signed with the Seattle Seahawks. I fell back in my seat.

“What?” Tanisha asked.

“Look at this shit,” I said as I covered my wide-open mouth with my hand.

“Damn.”

“I treated him real bad. Was I nasty? Was I being rude?”

“Were you nasty? Yes, you were so rude. I never seen you treat somebody so mean. You took all your anger from Mark out on him.”

“Damn, I don't know how I'm going to redeem myself. Shit, you think he is going to call me?”

“He might if he likes to be punished.”

When we landed, I had three messages and two text messages. My luck had just changed. Mark was on my phone saying, “I came to your hotel and they said you checked out, call me.”

I wasn't calling him. I was there for three days. He had his chance. It was now time to see what was up with Mr. DeCarious Simmons. It was amazing how shopping and a signing bonus could make you forget about the love of your life.