Lust and Lies (The Jamie Reynolds Chronicles #1) (14 page)

Twenty minutes later, I called David as I began my afternoon lunchtime walk. I used this time to break away from the crazy production atmosphere and try to find some balance. I usually called Toni during this time, but I wanted to finish up my conversation with David.

“Hey, man, what’s up? Sorry for the delay in my return call.”

“I know, you was busy,” David said as if he was mocking me.

“Yes, I was busy. Remember, this is what you was feeling about me?” I mocked him back.

“Ha, ha, very funny. I’m on my lunch break, so good timing on the call, what’s up?” he said with excitement.

“Man, I’m good, can’t complain.”

“You sounded pretty down an hour or so ago, you alright? You know you can talk to me.”

I wished it was that easy, David and I went way back and I didn’t think it was right to talk to him about Toni even though I needed someone to talk to without judgment. I hadn’t even spoken to Angela as yet. She wouldn’t judge me, but I was just so afraid to call and talk to anyone because this was not like me. I didn’t even let guys I date come to my home let alone move in with me.

“Yo, J,” David yelled. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“So what is the answer?” he asked.

“Answer?” I asked, sounding very confused.

“The answer to my question.”

“I’m sorry, what was the question?”

“When you coming back down to the A? You came last time and didn’t even look a nig up.”

“I feel you and I am sorry again; that was an unexpected and personal trip.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, cutting me off. “You came into town not to see me. I remember.”

“Don’t start, David. But I promise you, my next trip in town you’ll be the first one in the A to know.”

“I better,” he said, laughing.

“Alright, I got to go. Holla at you later.”

“You know you didn’t answer my other questions, but I’ll get some answers from you when you’re ready. I just want you to be happy, so call me anytime if you want to chat.”

“Thanks, I will one of these days. I’m still trying to sort some things out,” I said, and I hung up the phone and continued on my last lap around the block.

I really wished it had worked out with me and David, but some people were better off friends than lovers. David was a great guy and I still had feelings for him, but it was very hard being number two in his life to his son. Don’t get me wrong, his son was cool, but the baby-momma drama was not for me. His son’s mother was all over the place, she was so angry and bitter, and I could never understand why. They never got married and he never wanted to marry her. Maybe that was why she was bitter, but then she went and got married two years ago and still gave David heartache. I remember when he got a raise at work, she demanded more money for child support. I felt bad because David was a great dad and bought his son a lot of stuff and had him two times a month and every other holiday. I wasn’t a mother, nor did I have the desire to be one, so I guess I would never understand. This statement also never sat well with David, as he wanted more kids and I didn’t. He always said I would change my mind, but in the end, I didn’t think so. I also just didn’t like being number two to his son since he was always on standby, this is why he always said he was on daddy day care because he sometimes felt like a day care service the way his son’s mother treated him.

“Hey, babe, I’m on the turnpike and I believe I’m about an hour away from you.” I got a text from Toni.

My heart started beating fast; thank goodness I got off work fifteen minutes ago. I was heading home and just tried to calm down and stay positive. It would be all good, I kept reminding myself. Toni must have sensed my nerves and he called me fifteen minutes later.

“Hey, it’s nine p.m. What time you getting off work? I’m a hundred and twenty miles from Newark.”

“Wait, a hundred and twenty miles? I thought you said you were an hour away like twenty minutes ago. You’re still like two hours away.”

“Not the way I’m driving,” Toni joked.

“You be careful; those state troopers be all over the turnpike.”

“I’m trying to make it home in time to have dinner with my favorite person.”

“Babe, it’s already after nine and you may not be here until after ten maybe even eleven. I won’t be up for dinner around that time. Can we schedule breakfast, lunch and dinner for us tomorrow?”

“And for the rest of our lives,” Toni added.

If he’d said this very statement when he was in Atlanta, I would have been flattered, but when it was send via phone when he was less than two hours away, it freaked me out.

“I can’t wait to see you,” was all I could say.

“You okay, babe?” Toni asked.

“I’m good, just a little sleepy, I guess.”

“Oh, okay, I understand.”

“And my mom’s tripping because I haven’t yet been over to the new house to see how she’s doing.”

“Hey, did you tell your mom the good news?”

“Good news?” I said.

“Yeah, that I’m moving up to New Jersey so we can be together.”

“No, I didn’t get a chance to tell my mother. It’s late, so I may just tell her later.”

“That’s odd, I would think you would be telling everyone. Did you tell Angela?”

I wanted to lie and say I did, but I couldn’t. “No, I haven’t told her either. Babe, everything happened so fast, so I didn’t really have time to tell anyone yet. Jonathan has been calling me and I haven’t even had the time to call him back.”

“Yeah, everything did move fast,” he said, sounding disappointed. My guess was he told everyone he was moving to New Jersey. What’s not to tell? You have a career-driven girlfriend who owns her own home in New Jersey and you’re moving in with her with no job, no nothing besides the clothes in your car.

“Oh no,” I said as the thoughts got me scared again.

“You okay?” Toni asked with concern.

“I’m good, I have to run, but call me when you’re exiting the turnpike so I can give you directions to my house.”

“Okay, babe, see you soon.”

I just hung up. “What did I just get myself into?” I nervously asked myself. “Who just picks up their life with no job, no nothing and moves to a new state?” I figured a shower and a drink would help calm my nerves until he got here. One hour passed and I called Toni to check on him.

“Hey, what’s up? How is everything going?” I said, trying not to sound nervous.

“I’m good, I’m about one hour away. Wait, there’s a sign now. It says ninety miles to Newark.”

“Wait, ninety miles? You was just at one hundred and twenty miles over an hour ago.”

“I figured since we wasn’t going to dinner, I stopped and grabbed something to eat.”

“Oh, okay.”
That makes sense
, I said to myself. “You better than me, I’m bad at driving at night.”

“I’m just listening to some Jack Johnson and cruising on this turnpike. You was right, I passed like ten state troopers so far; they don’t play.”

“Yeah, I know, welcome to New Jersey,” I jokingly said.

“So, what are you doing now? What are you wearing?”

“Believe it or not, I’m wearing some sweats and a kid’s wifebeater. Sorry, nothing exciting.”

“You look sexy in anything. I can’t wait to lie next to you in your sweats tonight.”

It also dawned on me, Toni and I never had sex before. We never really had the right moment. When we first met in Virginia, I wasn’t ready because we kind of just met. Then when I visited him in Atlanta, Jonathan was pretty much home the whole time and his messy room grossed me out so that it just wasn’t right. He never pressed me about it and he respected me since I like to move slow, never wanting to waste a number on a new guy if the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. But now that he was moving in, it would happen, which I was excited about. It’d been almost a year since David and I had sex, which was the last time I had sex.

“Thanks, babe,” I said.

“Babe, it’s going to be okay, I promise.” Again, Toni must have been reading my mind.

“I know, babe, but it’s still a little scary, you know?”

“At least we can be scared together.”

Those words calmed my nerves and Toni and I talked until he got to my doorstep.

“I’m here, where do I park?”

“Welcome to New Jersey, you’ll need to find street parking, and since it’s so late, ain’t no telling where you can park.”

“Okay, let me go and find a place to park. See you soon. I’m so glad to be home,” Toni said.

As the phone went dead, there went my nerves again. “Glad to be home?” I nervously repeated to myself. “I can do this, I can do this, I have been talking and texting with Toni for months and I do love him. This is a good thing,” I kept telling myself over and over again.

My home was on a corner and I kept looking out of the window, hoping to pinpoint exactly when Toni was coming to the door. I finally saw him and he came walking up with one small duffle bag. “I guess I should go and help him with his bags because it’s really not safe to leave your items visible in a car on the streets.”

I looked in the mirror, and as tears began to run down my cheeks, I smiled at myself and embraced this new relationship. I had prayed for guidance and a clear direction for my life and maybe this was what God had planned for me. These were my last thoughts before I heard Toni walking up the stairs.

I quickly wiped my tears away and opened the door. The rest was all a blur as I embraced my love and invited him in. I did remember asking him if he needed help with the rest of his bags, and he said, “This is all I have.” I was lost because it was a very small duffle bag. I believed he said he gave the rest of his clothes to Jonathan, which I found very strange because Jonathan was five eleven and at most 150 when wet, and Toni was a little stockier at five seven and 180 lbs. So I didn’t think Jonathan could fit into Toni’s clothes, but I planned on calling Jonathan back to catch up because he’d called at least two to three times and I kept telling him I would call him back.

Toni and I spent an hour of our first official night together talking and chatting. I gave him a tour of my simple three-bedroom home and he seemed pleased. It was after midnight and we went to bed. I could imagine how tired Toni was after the drive.

Round Two Was Much More Enjoyable…

My natural body clock woke me up at 7:30 a.m. and I eased out of bed to check my phone while Toni slept. I know he was tired, so I didn’t want to bother him. I figured this was a good time to call Jonathan, at least to let him know Toni made it safely to my home.

“Hey, J, sorry for the delay in my call. What’s up?”

“Nothing, man, did Tone make it safely to you?”

“Yeah, he got in after eleven p.m. last night.”

“Have him call me ASAP,” Jonathan demanded.

“Oh, okay, he’s sleeping, but I’ll have him call you. Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Not really.” Then Jonathan gave me an earful. “Man, JR, this man just up and left Atlanta. He told me he was thinking of moving in with you, and I was trying to call you because I found out he lost his job last week and was looking for another job, but then he said he was considering moving in with you.”

“Wait, what? He lost his job? He told me he quit his job like three days ago.”

“Naw, man, he lost his job because they said he wasn’t productive. I think he lost his job because he was always on the phone and stuff. He did that security monitoring thing, so he should be monitoring security not texting or calling everyone. I found out he wasn’t even supposed to be on his phone at all at work. He just got that job six months ago and was on probation and shit.”

“Wait, how do you know all of this?”

“My cousin Billy works with him; he was the one who got him the job trying to look out. I told Toni not to mess this up because my cousin put his name as a referral and I didn’t want my cousin to look bad if something goes down. Anyway, my cousin just gave me an earful when Tone got fired. I was clueless up until that point. Not to mention, he was supposed to pay this month’s rent before he left since he promised to pay, and when I got up this morning, that nigga was gone and he left his room in a mess with shit, there was clothes and crap everywhere.”

“Oh no, I am so sorry, Jonathan. I knew nothing about this.”

“I figured,” Jonathan said. “Well, he’s your problem now.”

“Wait, what did you say?” I asked.

“Man, never mind, anyway, Tawana is happy he moved out because she wants to move in and she never really liked him. She says he’s an asshole.” He started to laugh.

“Come on, Jonathan, be serious. Toni is sleeping, but I’m a little lost on everything. I’ll have him call you, and I hope this was just an oversight.”

“Yeah, an oversight,” Jonathan repeated with sarcasm in his voice.

I was starting to get upset, but was I more upset with Jonathan or Antonio? “Okay, Jonathan, thanks for the update. I’ll tell Toni to hit you up.”

As I hung up the phone, all kinds of thoughts went running through my head. First, Toni said he quit, then he told me he gave Jonathan most of his clothes (which I guess leaving clothes in his home must mean he gave them to him), and now he skipped out on paying Jonathan rent like he promised. Should I say something to Toni when he woke up? Naturally I would tell him I spoke to Jonathan and he needed to call him. Maybe he would come clean on everything.

Moments later, I heard Toni walking down the stairs.

“Hey, babe,” he called.

“I’m in the kitchen,” I yelled back.

He came towards me and gave me a big kiss and said good morning.

“Hey, Mr. No-brush-your-teeth, good morning,” I jokingly said.

“I haven’t had breakfast yet, so I don’t brush my teeth until I eat,” he said.

“Really?” I said with a confused look on my face.

“It’s cool. What’s for breakfast?”

“I just had some cereal.”

“You ate already?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “I try to eat as soon as I get up, after I brush my teeth, of course,” I said with a smirk on my face. “Besides, it’s almost nine a.m. and I usually can’t wait to break the fast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I can’t survive without it first thing in the morning. Hey, I spoke to Jonathan this morning, and we caught up since he has been calling me for a minute now.”