Breaking All My Rules (31 page)

Chapter 48

E
rica's eyes bucked wide when she saw Kelisha staring at her with a smile as she strolled out of Jerome's building. At first she wondered why the heifer was there and who else she knew besides Jerome who lived in the building. But that thought quickly faded because the bounce in Kelisha's step and the satisfied look on her face practically shouted the name of the person she'd been there to see.

How can this be?
Erica thought. Her mind quickly went to work imagining possible scenarios, and she determined that this hadn't been just a quick drop-in to say hello. For one, even though they'd met only once, Erica knew that Kelisha wasn't the type of person who walked around with a smile on her face, especially the kind of schoolgirl grin she was now sporting. And second, it was only 9:00 a.m., and the only logical reason she'd have for leaving his apartment at this time of morning was that she'd spent the night.

Erica stood in front of her car, which was parked just a few spaces behind Kelisha's, and tried to stop her emotions from building. The clouds above were threatening rain, looking as though they were about to burst open just like her anger. She locked eyes with Kelisha, who was casually strutting up to her, looking happier than a kid who'd just been given a slice of cake.

“You should get back in your fancy car and leave,” Kelisha commanded with a sly smile. “I took care of him real good last night, so your services are no longer needed.”

“What's wrong with you? Why can't you leave us alone and let us be happy?”

“Hey, he's the one who called me over here last night.”

“I don't believe you.”

“You just need to go,” Kelisha said, keeping her voice low as she looked over her shoulder.

Erica didn't want to be one of those stereotypical women who fought over a man or, worse still, who fought over a man who was in the wrong! When she was in college, she remembered shaking her head more than once at girls who'd squabble over a cheating boyfriend while the dog in question sat back and went on to eat the meat off another bone. Erica had too much pride to be one of those women.

She looked Kelisha in her eyes. “The only place I'm going is straight upstairs to Jerome's apartment to hear what he has to say.”

“He just gon' lie to you.”

“You're the one who's lying.”

“Bitch, I know you didn't just call me a liar,” Kelisha snarled, taking an aggressive step toward Erica.

Erica surprised Kelisha, as well as herself, by making her own equally threatening advance as she spoke. “Don't let the degrees and the smile fool you. I'm not gonna get into a crazy catfight with you, but I'm not gonna stand here and let you call me out of my name, either.”

“What you gon' do?” Kelisha smirked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I'm going to call Jerome so he can come down here and we can settle this. I want the truth.” Erica reached into her large handbag, pulled out her phone, and hit Jerome's number.

Kelisha huffed as she started walking at a fast pace around to her car. “Bitch, I already told yo stupid ass what happened. He asked me to come over, and we slept together. That's all you need to know.”

“That's a damn lie,” Jerome said, startling both Erica and Kelisha as he walked toward them. “Erica, baby, she's lying.”

Small raindrops had begun to fall, making the chilly air feel even colder. Erica looked at Jerome and didn't know what to believe. He was standing in front of her in a pair of loose-fitting pajama bottoms and the sweater he'd worn yesterday. The faint smell of alcohol wafted up to Erica's nose, causing her to take an inventory of his bloodshot eyes and the uncharacteristically ashen color of his skin.

Erica folded her arms across her chest. “Jerome, what in the hell is going on?”

“I'm outta here!” Kelisha said, hurrying to open her driver's side door.

Jerome walked up to her. “What's your rush? You were talkin' all that shit just a minute ago, and now all of a sudden you ready to go?”

“I don't have to take this,” Kelisha yelled.

“First, you didn't want to leave my apartment, because you were tryin' to start trouble, and now you want to go 'cause you're lyin'. Tell the truth,” Jerome demanded in an angry voice.

“I already told her what happened. You and me slept together, and you know it!”

“Nothing happened between us last night. That's what I know. Why the hell are you doin' this, Kelisha?” he said.

“Because you told Sasha you wanted me back!”

“What?”

Jerome and Erica both looked at Kelisha with surprise. He'd known that he hadn't heard the last of Sasha after her departing threat in front of the courthouse, and now this explained why Kelisha had been acting so strangely. This had
crazy
written all over it, and the one thing he knew was that Sasha was definitely crazy.

“She told me everything,” Kelisha said with a smug look on her face.

“What exactly did she tell you?” he quizzed.

“That while y'all were in court on that trial, all you could talk about was me, and how bad you wanted to get back wit me. But you had to be careful 'cause of that bitch right there,” she spat out, looking at Erica. “She crazy just like Tawanna was, and you didn't want her to go off. But you know what? I ain't scared of her!”

Jerome would have laughed if the scene wasn't so messed up, and now he actually felt a little sorry for Kelisha, but only a little. The fact that she'd tried to take advantage of him when he was drunk and then make it seem as if he had called her over and had sex with her quickly riled him back up again.

“You should know by now that if I don't want to be with someone, crazy or not, I know how to cut them loose. Erica is my heart. Plain and simple, and she ain't goin' nowhere.”

Kelisha rolled her eyes and shook her head, pointing her acrylic-filled fingernail at Jerome. “That don't change the fact that you and me had sex last night.” She breathed hard and then glared at Erica. “And I gave it to him real good.” And with that, Kelisha hopped into her car, started the engine, and sped off down the street.

Erica stood in the rain, drenched from head to toe as the heavy drops pounded everything in their path. She looked at Jerome as he stood just a few feet away from her. “What really happened last night?” she asked.

Jerome slowly walked up to her. “Let's go inside.”

Chapter 49

E
rica sat on the edge of Jerome's small couch, shivering and numb. The startling scene that had unfolded in her living room yesterday had been bad, but now here she was, sitting in the middle of another shit storm. She felt as though she was trapped in a bad reality TV show.

She watched as Jerome went over to the thermostat and adjusted the heat. “You need to get out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold.”

“I'm fine. Tell me what Kelisha was doing here.”

“Baby, you need to change out of those clothes. You're soaked.”

“Your baby mama just said you called her over here and you two had sex. You smell like liquor, and I'm pissed. I want to know what happened.”

Jerome came over to the couch and sat beside her. “After everything that went down at your place yesterday, I came home and got drunk. Kelisha showed up last night, bangin' on my door, so I let her in, 'cause I wasn't in the mood to argue.”

“She just showed up here for no reason?”

Jerome shook his head. “She talked to Jamel, and he told her that I didn't sound good, which I probably didn't, so she came over to check on me.”

Erica took a deep breath, looked down at her feet and then at Jerome. “Did you sleep with her? Wait, let me correct that.... Did you have sex with her?”

“Uh, yes and no. We slept in the same bed, but nothing happened.”

“You really expect me to believe that?”

“Baby, it's the truth! She helped me back to my bedroom, and I guess I passed out, because the next thing I knew, I was in the shower this morning.”

Erica cut her eyes at him and held up both her hands. “What? How the hell did you end up in the shower with her?”

“She wasn't in there with me. When I came to, I remember standing in the tub with the water coming down on me. She was standing to the side, and when I realized what was happening, I asked her to leave.”

“You expect me to believe that your ex-girlfriend tucked you into bed all nice and neat last night and then served as your personal bath butler this morning . . . all without anything happening? Really, Jerome?
Really
?”

“When I walked outside, I heard you tell Kelisha that you didn't believe her lies. So why can't you accept what I'm telling you now?”

“I told her that because I wasn't going to stand there and let her shake me up. But she did, and now I don't know what's true and what isn't.”

“Baby, I know it sounds hard to believe, but nothing happened. I can't deny I made a big mistake by letting her in, especially because of my condition last night. But I love you too much to do anything that would hurt you like that. I didn't have sex with her.”

Jerome went on to explain in detail all the events that had led up to Kelisha's bald-faced lie. “Erica, I promise you that's all that went on. I know it sounds suspicious, but believe me when I say that you're the only woman I want. Kelisha knows that, and she's trying to drive a wedge between us. You see how fast she left when I came out there. She wanted to get away so she wouldn't get busted, because she knew she was lyin'.”

Erica sat in silence, trying to wrap her brain around Jerome's story.

“You believe me, don't you?”

“I received flowers and a phone call from my ex, and you hit the roof, questioning me like I had something to hide. But this . . .” She sighed and paused. “I just don't know what to make of it. I came over here to talk to you about your dad and my mom and all the craziness that ties us together. I wanted to get it all hashed out so we could move forward. But I wasn't expecting to find even more drama. How do you think I felt when I saw Kelisha bouncing out of your building, disrespecting me, calling me a bitch, and saying she slept with you? Do you know how humiliated I felt?”

Jerome eased his body close to Erica's and took her hand in his. “I'm sorry you went through that. But don't worry. I'm gonna get Kelisha straight about the shit she tried to pull.”

“Is this what it's going to always be like? Drama every other month? Dysfunction and chaos at every turn? I can't operate like this, Jerome.”

“No, it's not gonna always be this way. Sometimes relationships go through bumps and tests. We're just getting ours out of the way early. From here on down the road it's gonna be smooth sailing.”

Erica looked into Jerome's eyes. She believed what he'd said about Kelisha because in her heart she knew that he loved her and that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. But she wasn't completely convinced about his prediction of smooth sailing. They were from different worlds, which had collided even before they met.

“Our past was rocky before we ever laid eyes on each other,” Erica said, almost in a whisper. “All last night I kept wondering whether what happened twenty-five years ago was a sign that we were destined to be together, or if it meant the universe is telling me that I need to stay the hell away from you.”

Jerome rubbed his hand across the light stubble on his otherwise smooth chin. He shook his head and chuckled lightly. “While I was drinking last night, I was thinking the same thing. I said to myself, ‘I finally found a woman who I'm completely in love with, so why is there always some shit tryin' to pull us apart?' But that's when I remembered what my mom always used to say. ‘Nothing worth having comes easy.' ”

Erica looked at Jerome's strong hands entwined with her own. His words were what she needed to hear. “I've forgiven your father.”

Jerome let out a deep breath. “Thank you for saying that. I don't know if he's ever forgiven himself, though. I'm so sorry about all this. But I know through it all, you and me, we're supposed to be together.”

Erica wondered what had happened to her always bright optimism. She'd forgiven Parnell for his past aggression because she believed in the power of redemption. So she couldn't understand why her mind was sending her into such a state of doubt when it came to Jerome, a man who made her feel as though nothing was impossible. Yet all she could see was pitfalls.

“Think about all the good times we've had over the past few months,” Jerome said as he smiled and squeezed her hand.

Erica smiled with a gleam of love in her eyes. “We've had some amazing times.”

“Even right now, with all the shit that happened yesterday and the scene that Kelisha caused this morning, we're still together, sitting here on my couch, soaked to the bone, getting ready to go back to my bedroom and get our freak on.”

Erica laughed as Jerome lifted her up from the couch and into his arms. They stood and kissed, their tongues embracing in heated passion. They began to remove each other's clothes, leaving a trail of wet garments on their way to his bedroom. Jerome was about to lay Erica across the bed when she stopped him.

“We need to change these sheets,” she said with seriousness. “Just the thought of that woman being in here, in your bed . . .”

Jerome paused and looked at Erica with an undeterminable expression. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Without another word he went to the small closet in the hall and came back, holding a fresh pair of sheets.

“Are you okay?” Erica asked with concern.

“Yeah, I'm cool.”

But she could see that he clearly wasn't. His brow was scrunched, as if he was deep in thought, and his eyes darted across the room. Erica wondered if she'd offended him with her request, which she thought was well within reason given the circumstances. She watched as he stripped the mattress of its brown sheets and replaced them with green ones. He still hadn't said a word, and now a look of worry shadowed his face.

Damn. What kind of drama is getting ready to happen now?
she thought.

“Jerome, what's wrong? Why are you so quiet, and why do you look so worried?”

“I'm not worried. I'm just thinking.”

She was standing next to his bed, wearing nothing more than an aqua-blue thong and a frustrated look on her face. The romantic mood she'd felt when they first entered the room was gone, and she could tell he felt the same way. He was standing shirtless in his wet pajama bottoms, looking as though he was in a debate with himself. The tension was starting to unsettle Erica.

“I know something's wrong, so whatever it is, just tell me so we can deal with it.”

Without warning, Jerome dropped to his knees and reached for Erica's left hand. “I never believed in love at first sight until I met you. I didn't even think real love was possible, 'cause I've been through so much. But you changed all that. I love you with everything I have. You are my world,” Jerome said, looking into Erica's big brown eyes. “I don't want another second to go by without you knowing how much I want to make you my wife.”

Erica was so stunned that it took a minute for her to fully dial into the moment. Jerome was proposing to her! She took a deep breath and looked back into the eyes that were staring into hers, eyes that held truth, honesty, love, and hope.

“You want to marry me?”

“Yes, baby.”

Erica knelt down and hugged him tightly. “Yes! I will marry you, Jerome Kimbrough!”

They hugged and kissed and hugged and kissed some more until they found their way to the surface of his freshly laundered bedsheets.

“I love you so much,” Jerome said between soft kisses.

Erica beamed and smiled as she held out her left hand. “I said yes, but as the song says, you're gonna have to put a ring on it!” she said with a playful laugh.

“Oh, I got so carried away, I forgot.” Jerome reached behind his nightstand, looked on the floor, pulled out a small black box, and smiled.

All Erica could do was smile back through happy tears, which had begun to trickle from her eyes. Just a few months ago she'd awakened on a bright sunny day to nightmares and fears. And now her cold, gloomy morning was filled with rainbows and shooting stars. She felt blessed beyond measure, and her heart was filled with love that she'd only dreamed about. She smiled as Jerome slipped the beautiful diamond solitaire onto her finger, removing her from the 42.4 percent and leading her into the happily-ever-after she'd always dreamed of.