I'd Rather Be Single 2 (21 page)

I limped my way into the restaurant.
I felt my knees stinging and the scratches on my face burning.

Now that there was physical evidence of the shit that Michael’s ex-mistress Rosslyn
’s wrath, it was time for him to come clean about this shit. He could convince me till he was blue in the face that he wasn’t fuckin’ with Rosslyn, but she went too hard for him. How could she keep coming at me for a man that no longer had anything to do with her? I know she was crazy, but this wasn’t making any sense.

I entered the
section of the restaurant where Michael was seated, waiting for me. My knees were bloody and my hair was in all different directions.

"What the fuck! Are you okay? What happened?"
He rushed to my side and sat me down.

"
I was just attacked."

"By
who?" he asked with a face full of concern.

Before I could answer,
two of the restaurant managers ambushed our table to check on me.

"Excuse me ma
’am, are you okay? I have one of my staff members coming out with the first aid kit to assist you." The persistent manager snapped his fingers, rushing the staff to come to my aid.

"Ouch." I flinched. T
he Puerto Rican waitress rubbed an alcohol pad over my knee and it stung my scrapes.

"I'm sorry
, ma’am." she blew over the wounds.

"She lost the baby
, Tyra." Michael revealed.

"What?" My heart
instantly broke for him. His eyes were sad and he sunk his head into his lap.

“What happened?” I asked.

"She fell down the stairs and can't even remember anything. The baby was to term so we are having a funeral for her and everything."

"Her?" I
repeated. I knew how much Michael wanted a girl. We used to always talk about having a baby girl when we were together.

"Yes, she was a girl." He fought his tears back
and tucked in his lips.

"Michael, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything, I just want you here with me." He picked up my hand and kissed it.

"
Remember when I was with you and I kept getting those calls? It was her family calling me from the hospital. She was bed bound for weeks, until finally, the baby passed and she had to deliver it. I keep trying to comfort her, but she doesn't even want to speak to me ever since I told her that I wasn't in love with her. I feel like an asshole for telling her that I wasn't in love with her while she was pregnant, she didn't deserve that, and I had no idea this would happen. I'm human, I had to be honest. you know I've always been an honest man. Her and I don't even connect on a level for us to be long term. I really think I proposed because I just wanted someone around. But it's never too late to right my wrongs."

"So what's going on with y
’all now?" I asked.

"My mind is all over the place
, really. I just had a successful meeting with an endorsement company and I'm trying to keep my mind on the season. Work is going to be the only thing to help me through this loss. Work and you."

He
locked his eyes with mine.

"I can't let you escape this time
, Tyra. You are stubborn, just like me, but I’m going to fight for you."

I
squeezed his hand. I really felt bad for him and for his fiancé.

“I’m here for you.” I told him.

"The funeral is going to fuck me up. I actually saw my daughter, too. She was beautiful, Tyra.” His eyes were moist. It seemed as if he was picturing seeing his daughter for the last time. “We are going to give her a princess burial and then I'm going to get my ex her own place."

"Your ex?
I don’t believe that it’s really over, Michael."

"Yes, it is
over. I'm where I'm supposed to be right now." He kissed my hand.

“
She packed her things and moved into her mom's house. She said she didn't want to be with a man that didn't love her. She probably expects me to chase her and apologize, but I had to follow my heart."

"
Michael, my heart is aching for her. I can’t imagine what she is going through right now. Are you sure you are making the right decision?"

"
I know what I want, and it’s you. Have I ever lied to you about anything?"

“No you haven’t
, but—”

He grabbed my face and
kissed me passionately. I closed my eyes and went with it. This kiss felt so right, I loved him so much. But there was a huge elephant in the room and I had to address it.

“Michael,
I was attacked by your ex-mistress.”

“Huh?” he looked confused.

“She’s been harassing me ever since I saw you at the charity event.”

“Reese is crazy
, but she wouldn’t go as far as attacking you.” He said.

“Wait, who is Reese?”

“Reese is the girl that I was seeing.”

“You mean Rosslyn?
”

“Rosslyn, who is that?” he asked.

My heart dropped. This had to be some sort of mistake. Rosslyn was definitely crazy enough to be obsessed with a man that wasn’t hers. I mean, that’s what caused our beef. But to have his name on her license plate, fake an engagement and attack me every time I was around him and he didn’t even know who she was seemed extreme.

“Are you sure you don’t know a girl named Rosslyn?” I asked
, just to be sure.

“I’m positive. Besides, Reese is stationed overseas, there is no way she could have attacked you.”

"Look Michael, I gotta go. This is serious. I’ll call you to explain everything later. I'm sorry about your loss. If there is anything I can do, I’m here for you, I promise." I told him.

I
rushed out to my car. I sped through every green light to make it home. I had some shit to sort out. This shit had to end. I was no longer going to be entangled in Rosslyn’s web of crazy. I concocted a plan to get her out of my life for good.

After the funeral, Michael hit me up to meet up frequently
. But before I could agree, I purchased a new phone and made him do the same, just in case Rosslyn had us tapped. And we only met on the outskirts of Boston. When I explained all of my encounters with Rosslyn over him, he was in utter shock and disbelief but agreed to take pre-cautions.

On this particular day, Michael walked in the restaurant looking
nervous. I hugged him and then explained my plan. He had no objections, he agreed with the plan I devised, and at the end of dinner, I found out why he was acting so nervous. He knelt down on one knee. Love was oozing from his eyes and he pulled out a colossal diamond ring from his back pocket.

“Tyra, there isn’t anyone else in this world who could take your place. You are everything to me. I need you in my life
. You are my best friend, my true love, my soul mate. When I'm with you, hours feel like seconds. When we're apart, days feel like years.”

Butterflies were floating in my stomach and
a single tear drew down my face. I placed my hands over the pearls on my chest. I wasn’t expecting this. I was totally caught off guard.

“Michael, you just lost your baby not too long ago
, and you just split up with your fiancé.”

“
Don’t worry about that. This right here is right. I’ve never felt right about anything in my whole life.”

“But what about the media?”

"Fuck the media. I don’t want to be your whole world, Tyra, I just want to be your favorite part. I owe you this, the way I ended things with you was fucked up. I don't care what you did in your past. I don't care if you fucked my daddy and my granddaddy, I wanna marry you. Tyra baby, I’m asking you, will you be Mrs. Slinks."

I
completely broken down. This was everything that I’ve ever wanted. I pushed my left hand toward him and whispered. “Yes.”

He slipped
the ring on my finger and then gave me the most loving hug.

“I love you
, baby.”

“I love you too
, Michael. I love you so much!”

This time
, it felt right. Every other time we tried to be together, something was tearing us apart, but I was no longer letting that happen. The engagement felt so surreal; it was crazy how things were coming full circle. I had the man of my dreams back into my life, and we were getting married.

Within days, we eloped at the justice of the peace. Michael’s mom was the only one in attendance. Michael said that he didn’t want to waste another moment without me being his wife. We weren’t able to go on a honeymoon, because we had to abide by Michael’s basketball schedule. He continued to prove his love for me by taking all the harsh and cruel interviews from the media, addressing the fact that he left his fiancé who had just lost his baby, for this other woman. He told them that only GOD could judge him and that their most important concern should be the fact that he puts in work on the court, and that he is 100% happy with his true love, me.

His first day off, we spent it making
love in our suite. We made reservations at a local hotel, and since we couldn’t travel to go on a honeymoon until off-season, we made the best of it. We took a shower together, made love one more time and then gathered our bags to leave. In the midst of packing, someone knocked on the door and I went to answer it. I opened it without asking who it was and…BOOM!!!! Rosslyn came dashing in with a large butcher knife, but the bitch wasn’t alone. When I recognized the woman she was with, my mouth fell open, I was in total shock.

"Breal? What are you doing he
re?" I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was also holding a large blade in her hand, telling me and Michael to back up to the wall.

She flashed a devious smile. "Surprise BITCH!
You wasn’t expecting to see me here, huh? Rosslyn is my cousin. You didn’t put two and two together when I told you what neighborhood I was from in Brooklyn? We used to live together back home.” She smirked and walked closer to my face. “Rosslyn told me all about what you’ve been doing, trying to be with Michael every chance you got. We knew your relationship with Courtney was all an act, look who you just married. This entire time, all you really wanted was
her
man.”

"
What? Are out of your mind!
Her
man? So she brainwashed you too?” I was confused. “Wait. So this whole time, you were playing me and Dalia close for Rosslyn?" I grew dizzy, I was more heartbroken than shocked. How dare this bitch play us like this!

"Ha!
Sure was. Blood is thicker than water, my family comes first, period! Rather wrong or right. Trust me we did way worse shit together.

Rosslyn laughed. “We sure did.”

“And playing fragile ass Dalia close was too easy. She harped on the idea of being in love so much that it was easy to play her like a guitar. She would believe anything when it came to Seary."

"You shady
ass bitch!" Michael held me back because I was ready to attack her.

Breal
smirked. "I'll take that title. Who’s gun do you think she used to kill herself? And who do you think swapped out her medication?"

Rosslyn flashed a wicked smile and chimed in.
"We switched Dalia’s medication with some of my pills, and we all know I'm a crazy bitch." she said, using the knife to scratch her scalp.

Breal laughed
hysterically.

“Mavis and Seary are
not
gay, Tyra! I knew who faggot ass Rodney was. Rosslyn told me all about his fruity ass and I know that he was no stylist. Rosslyn purposely flirted with him and his boyfriend at a gay club. She told Rodney that she had a job offer for him. She faked a flat tire and paid Mavis to pick him up the day you and I saw him getting into the car with Mavis. We staged the whole thing. And when I made up the whole shit about catching them booty fucking, I knew you would believe it. Both you and Dalia’s dumb ass bought right into it. The day Dalia told me that she was bi-polar, I knew that playing her would be too easy. All she needed was a situation to stress her out and it was on from there. I got a hold of her medication bottle and gave it to Rosslyn to do her thing with it.”