Last Bitch Standing (21 page)

Chantal thought back to how her mother read the
bible every morning at the breakfast table. Up until
the very end, Mrs. Morgan continued to try and instill
morals into her willful daughter. She would bribe
Chantal to go to church every Sunday by promising
her a new outfit or buying her something that she
knew they couldn't afford. But one day that was no
longer enough for Chantal and she ended that abruptly.
Mrs. Morgan knocked on Chantal's bedroom door and
she was just lying in bed staring at the wall. First her
mother thought she wasn't feeling well until Chantal
said, "Why should I waste my time and best clothes
to go to a place where I'll never meet my husband.
Plus people that go to church are the biggest sinners
anyway." With that, Chantal put the covers over her
face and waited for her mother to close the door. From
that day on Chantal went into full-blown rebellion.

Chantal had made it clear to her parents that her sole goal in life was to marry a rich powerful man who
would spoil her like the star she was supposed to be. She
was tired of seeing her parents struggle all their lives
barely making ends meet. It seemed like yesterday that
she was sitting on the school bus admiring a picture of
a very wealthy mogul whose face was splashed across
the front cover of a magazine with the headline KING
OF NEW YORK. That photo and inside story was her
motivation to leave the hood behind and seek the jet-set
life she craved.

The road Chantal traveled to get here definitely
wasn't an easy one. When she arrived in New York with
the $7,000 she stole from her mother, she soon realized
that would only get her so far. After renting a hole
in the wall room on a weekly basis she immediately
started hitting the club scene in the heart of the city.
One night while seductively gyrating in the middle of
the dance floor she caught the eye of a well-known
video music director. He promised that if she listened
to his advice he would make her a music video queen.
Even then Chantal thought prancing around in videos
was beneath her, but she knew it would get her within
touching distance of all the music bigwigs. In her mind
she felt that was all she needed; once the music industry
honchos got an eyeful of her, one of them was bound to
put a huge rock on her finger. The next day she called
the director and he kept his word. Now seven years
later she was about to marry the most powerful man in
the music industry. Who said that dreams never come true?

"Chantal, I can't believe today is the big day! Girl
I'm about to start crying like I'm getting married,"
Shari said under sniffles, bringing Chantal out of her
deep thoughts of the past.

"Shari, this has to be the happiest day of my life.
All my dreams are about to come true. If someone
would have told me ten years ago that I would be
getting married at a church on Rodeo Drive in Beverly
Hills I would've burst out laughing, but look at me.
Today that is exactly what is about to happen. I have
my best friend by my side, my beautiful little girl, and
the man I love. My parents might have thought I was a
major screw-up but I've made them proud. I've landed
the biggest catch of them all."

"Yeah you have," Shari nodded in agreement. Both
women looked around at the thousands of flowers and
the beautifully decorated church. It was of the caliber
to make even Star Jones second-guess her wedding
planner. "Listen, Cinderella, it's time for us to get you
dressed and ready for the momentous occasion. In a
couple of hours this church will be filled to capacity
and it will be your moment to shine.

Kenny entered Andre's house close to ten o'clock in
the morning still replaying his late-night rendezvous
with two buxom twins. Although they wanted to keep
the party going, and so did he, Kenny was determined
to be at his best friend's side for his wedding day. Right when he was about to skip up the stairs and take a quick
shower he was startled when he saw what looked like
two bodies wrapped around each other in the living
room. As he walked closer, trying to focus on the image,
he felt an arousal at the outline of a woman's glistening
body peeking from the blanket. He still couldn't see
her face but soon realized that the well-defined man's
body was no other than Andre's. Kenny couldn't help
but say out loud, "That's my man. You decided to get
some before taking the plunge." Kenny's thunderous
mouth instantly woke up Andre and he saw that Tyler
was still sleep.

"Man, keep it down!" Andre demanded, while
making sure the blanket covered Tyler's naked body,
and he grabbed his boxer shorts.

"Who is that?" Kenny asked, trying to get a better
view of the sleeping woman. Andre grabbed Kenny's
arm and led him into his study. Andre didn't say another
word until they reached the destination and he closed
the door behind them. "Man, you still didn't answer my
question. Who is that fine piece of ass lying on your
living room floor?" Andre gave Kenny an intense glare
that sent chills down his spine. "Did I say something
wrong?" Kenny said, feeling uncomfortable with the
look Andre was giving him.

"That woman you're talking about is my future
wife."

"What? I know the pussy might have been good
but damn, man. Your future wife is waiting for you at the church." Andre wanted to punch Kenny in his
mouth because he felt as if he was disrespecting Tyler
in some way, but then he also knew that Kenny thought
the woman in his living room was just some random
chick.

"Listen, Kenny, that woman in the living room is
Tyler."

"Tyler Blake the movie star? Stop playing, man."
Kenny made a gesture as if he was about to leave the
study and go back to the living room to drool over the
sleeping starlet.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?"
Andre asked, stunned by Kenny's actions.

"I have to go see for myself. There is no way that
Tyler Blake is lying on your living room floor buttass naked." Andre grabbed Kenny's arm with serious
intent.

"Man, if you don't stop saying her name in the
same sentence as some disrespectable shit we gon
have a problem. No my fault, you're going to have a
problem," he warned.

"My bad-I didn't realize. I'm just so amped right
now. I know you said you dated her but I must have
never told you that I have a crush on her." Andre rolled
his eyes and started shaking his head, not believing that
his childhood best friend was acting like a straight up
groupie right now.

"I more than dated her, Kenny. If you get your
head out your ass you'll remember that just last night I told you I had asked her to marry me."

"Yeah, you did tell me that. I guess I had selected
amnesia. Now I can't even fantasize about her no more.
So what now, you guys are back together? When did all
this happen?"

"It's a long complicated story, but the point is
we're in love and we're getting married."

"What about Chantal? You know I'm not a big fan
of hers but man she is going to be devastated."

"I know, and Melanie she's going to take it really
hard. But I have the chance to be with the woman I truly
love. This is the rest of my life we're talking about."
Andre sat on top of his cherry wood desk and stared
at the picture of him with Chantal and Melanie. They
did look picture-perfect but his heart wasn't there; it
belonged to Tyler. Deep down inside, Andre believed
in the future he could make Melanie understand that
she would always be his angel but things just didn't
work out between her parents.

"I totally understand. I didn't think you should've
gotten engaged to Chantal in the first place. The timing
is just so bad. You actually are going to leave that girl
at the altar?"

"I'm so torn right now, Kenny, but I do know I
won't be marrying Chantal today or any other day. I
need to ask you to do me a favor and step up to the
plate."

"Hell no! Don't even ask me to do what I know
your about to say." Kenny had his hands up in defensive mode, waving them, saying, "No."

"Don't make me beg, but I will. Kenny there is
no way I can go to that church and confront Chantal.
It would hurt her more coming from me. All her
friends and family will see me leave and wonder what
happened. All the paparazzi that are surrounding the
church, it will turn into a circus out there. Please, man,
do this for me. I'm going to write a letter that will be
here waiting for her when she returns."

"Where are you going?"

"Tyler was supposed to leave for the island of
Mystique this morning. I'm going to go with her and
we'll take a later flight. By the time Chantal gets here
we'll be gone. My letter will fully explain everything.
She and Shari can take the trip to Fiji, and hopefully by
the time they return, Chantal won't be so angry."

"Andre I don't know, this is the same chick that
slit her wrists trying to win you back. She may wig out
on me and beat me with her shoe or something."

"Kenny, stop playing," Andre said annoyed by his
comment.

"I'm not playing. Something ain't quite right with
that chick."

"Listen, go to the church and ask to speak to
Chantal in private. Tell her that I sent you because it
would hurt too bad to see the disappointment on her
face but that I'm not ready to get married. Let her know
that I have explained everything in a letter that I left on
the nightstand in the bedroom. If she asks where I am, tell her that I got on a flight this morning and would call
her later to see how she is doing. But no matter how
angry she gets or even if she curses you out, Kenny, do
not be cruel to her." Kenny stood in the middle of the
study, speechless. He was the same defense attorney
who cut prosecution witnesses to shreds on the witness
stand, but to have to break the heart of a would-be
blushing bride was more than he could stomach.

Chantal stood in the mirror, admiring what a vision of
perfection she was. She had never seen a more gorgeous
bride. With her full spread layout in InStyle magazine
she would be the envy of all grown women and little
girls everywhere. Chantal's chic chignon hairstyle and
super-sized diamond earrings perfectly complemented
her white strapless gown that clasped every curve in
her hour-glass figure. Chantal's stylist came over and
made the final touches to her makeup and it was show
time.

"Chantal, are you ready?" Shari asked, as she
grabbed her best friend's delicate hand.

"Definitely," Chantal said with pure confidence.

"Before we go out there and you face all those
people I want to tell you something. Chantal, I truly
love you. You're the sister I never had. To see you
standing here looking like a princess is unbelievable.
We've been through so much together and I know you
truly love Andre and that you're going to make him a wonderful wife. We joke a lot about landing that one
sponsor who will change our life forever, but I know
you and I know your heart. Andre is the only man
that you've ever given your heart to and one day he'll
realize just how lucky he is to have a gem like you."
The two women held each other in a deep embrace, not
noticing that Kenny was standing in the entrance of the
door.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt but can I speak
to Chantal alone for a minute."

"What's up, Kenny? Don't tell me that Andre is
running late. Everyone is waiting for us."

"Can I speak to you alone, Chantal?" he repeated,
not cracking a smile. Shari could sense that something
was wrong but remained unruffled for Chantal.

"Whatever you have to tell me you can say it in
front of Shari. She's family."

"I'd much rather tell you in private."

"Chantal, it's not a problem, I'll be right outside,"
Shari said, making her way to the door.

"No, you stay right here, Shari. I want you to hear
what Kenny has to say." Kenny glanced at Shari and
then back at Chantal. He so wanted to get the whole
thing over with that he wasn't about to go back and
forth about if Shari was staying or not. Plus, he figured
she would need her girlfriend to console her after the
news he was about to break.

"I'm going to come right out with it, Chantal:
Andre won't be showing up here today. He can't go through with the wedding," Kenny stated matter-of-
factly.

"There must be some mistake. You never liked
me, Kenny, and now you're trying to ruin my wedding
day. But this isn't funny. There are hundreds of people
waiting for me to walk down the isle. Andre would
never leave me standing at the altar." The shivering
of Chantal's lips and the twitching of what seemed to
be her entire face made Shari and Kenny stand there
frozen.

"Chantal, calm down. Andre sent me because he
didn't' want to see the pain in your face when he broke
your heart. He explained everything in a letter that is
waiting at home for you."

"A letter, a fucking letter! This isn't happening to
me! Andre loves me, he really does. We belong together.
No one will ever love Andre the way that I do. He has
to marry me. What will I tell Melanie?" Chantal was
now sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth. Shari
ran to her side and laid her head on Chantal's shoulder,
trying to carry some of her pain. At that moment Kenny
had not only broken Chantal's heart but Shari's too.