My Best Friend (3 page)

She grabbed her face, and then looked at her hands, realizing
she was bleeding
from her nose
. He was in shock when he saw her fa
ce. It was starting to swell up.
She looked up and screamed, “
Get the fuck out
, get out of my house now
. I
f
you don’t leave right now, I’m going call the cops. G
et the fuck out of my house now.”

He started through the door but turned back. “I told you, I don’t want any more kids. I don’t love you and never did.” After those words he turned and left.

She ran
up to the door and locked it. She had tears rolling down her face,
going up the stairs when she felt a sharp pain in her
lower
back and stomach
. R
ight there at that moment
,
looking around at her living room
,
she realized the mess she had made of her life
. A
t that moment
,
she wished she’d had an abortion
.
I still have time
, she thought
.

***

It was seven-thirty, and Jason was at Columbian Cuisine waiting for Kay. It wasn’t like her not to call if she was running late. He
’d
cal
led her cell and home phone, and
left a bunch of messages. She was supposed to meet him at six, and by seven, he was starting to get worried. When he’d talked to her earlier she had mentioned that she was meeting someone before she headed out. It
wasn’t like her.
I’m going to call her one more time. If she doesn’t answer, I’m going over to h
er house to make sure she’s ok.

He drove up to her townhouse
. H
er
I
nfinit
i
QX
was parked in the drive
way
,
but
the house was dark from what he could see
. H
e had a bad fee
ling as he got out of the car,
went up the
stairs to her house, and knocked. T
here was no answer
.
H
e knew
walking in on her
months ago
had been
wrong
,
but he really didn’t know she was fucking Tommy
.  He’d never liked him. H
e wasn’t good enough for her
. No one was
.
He
remembered
how mad she was w
hen she had to explain to Tommy
why he had a key.
But he also remembered that she’d said the key was for emergencies, and this felt like one.
He turned the door
knob. T
he house was dark
. H
e hoped she wasn’
t having sex with that dirt bag,
but if she
were
,
he would just turn around and leave.

When he made his way through the door, he heard crackling sounds. He thought he was stepping on glass. He turned around and
turned the lights on. There
were
broken glass
on the floor. He ran up the stairs. He couldn’t bear the thought of someone hurting her, but when he opened the door to Kay’s room, he was relieved. She was sleeping on her bed with her hands on her belly. She was wearing a red sundress, and she was facing away from him. He sat next to her on the bed trying not to wake her.

Maybe she had a bad day and trashed her place
. She does
have a bit of a temper
.
He we
nt to pull the blanket over her, and he noticed blood on her sheets.
M
aybe she cut herself with some of the glass
.  He got up to use the bathroom
, and
that’s
when he saw blood on the sink and towels
. H
e
ran out of the bathroom
,
over to her and turned on the light. He gasped when he saw her face.  H
er left eye
and nose were
swollen
, and she had blood
and
tears on her beautiful brown face. His
heart sank
into his
chest.
The woman he was looking at was one of the most important people in his life.
What happened?
W
as she robbed, raped
?
 

He starte
d to get angry, balling
up his fist thinking about calling the cops,
but he needed to know what
had
happened first
. H
e decided to wait
.
S
he went through something traumatic
,
he thought. He had to get himself together before he woke her up
. H
e didn’t want her to see him angry.

He sat on the bed facing her
,
thinking of how beautiful she still looked. He stared at her lips and rubbed o
ne of his fingers against them, s
o soft
.  He remembered all of the times she was there for him
,
and he always wanted to be there for her. He
removed his fingers from her lips and placed it
on her belly
,
hoping the baby was ok.

He remembered when she
’d
told him
she was pregnant
how he
’d
reacted
. He’d been
furious with her
. H
e couldn’t believe that she would be so care
less and get herself knocked up by a jerk. H
e didn’t talk to her for days
. H
e
’d
just wanted the best for h
er and knew it wasn’t that Tommy.
  When she called him to go with her to her first doctor’s app
ointment, he was reluctant to go,
but
she needed him because Tommy
had
bailed out on her. After all the appointments, hearing and seeing the baby
, he loved
being a part of it. “I’ve started to love this baby because it’s yours
,
Kay,
” he whispered. His phone rang. H
e pulled
it
out of his pock
et,
look
ed at the screen and saw that Kimberly was calling; he
ignore
d the call
and turned it off
his phone
.

Kay opened her eyes as far as she could. As soon as she realized Jason was there, she jumped up, hugged him, and started crying. He pulled
her in tighter to him,
“It’s ok; I’m here sweetie.” He didn’t understand why but he felt possessive of her.
Whoever did this is going to pay.

He gently pulled away. “Are you ok?” She began to tremble in his arms, “What happened?” She could barely talk. She was choked with emotions, and all he could do was hold her. After she calmed down a bit, he asked her, “Do you want me to call the police?”

She pulled away. “No, no, please don’t call them. I don’t want anyone to see me this way,” she pleaded.

“But, Kay...”

“I said
no.”
She pushed back from him.

He took her hands in his.
“What happened?”

At first she hesitated, but the look he gave her let her know he wasn’t going to back down. She asked him to promise not to say anything or do anything when she did. She tried never to lie to Jason.

“Please promise me you won’t blo
w up and you will remain calm,” s
he pleaded.

He stared at her. “I can’t. I promise not to call the cops, but I can’t promise not to get angry.”

She paused,
“It was Tommy.” She could see the fury in his eyes.

His breathing began getting heavy. He closed his fist and tried to control his anger in front of her
,
I’m going to kill him
. She re-lived everything, telling Jason what had happened and how ashamed she would be if anyone found out.

He took her face in
both his hands and caressed her.
“Why are you ashamed? It wasn’t you
r fault.
No man has a right to put his hands on a woman, especially on you. I’m going to fucking kill him,” he said, getting up.

“Please, Jason, don’t do anything. Let it be. Please don’t leave me,” she whispered. She knew if he were there with her he wouldn’t get in trouble.

He saw the fear in her eyes. “I won’t leave you. I will stay as long as you need me to. Did he rape you?” he asked.

“No.”

“
Is the baby ok?”
he asked,
the look on her face worried him.

“At firs
t I thought something was wrong.
I had a sharp pain in my stomach, but when I made it to bed, it went away.”

“Do you want to go to the hospital?” he asked.

“No,
I just want you here with me.”

“H
as he hit you before?”

“No, I don’t know what came over him.”

He got up, walked to the bathroom, and started the bath water for her. He came back with a rag and began to clean her bloody face. She stared at him and wondered why he cared so much. He was always there, and he never judged her. He never treated her as nothing less than his equal, and for a split second, she thought.
Why didn’t we ever...No.
He has never been attracted to black women, and she wasn’t interested.

He looked
at her and kissed her forehead.
“The water is ready. Take your time and relax, and I will be here if you need me. I’m going go out to the car to call Kimberly. I might be a while. When you’re done, I’ll take care of you.”

He waited until he was sure she was in the bathtub before he left. He had one thing on his mind—Tommy. She wouldn’t miss him. She loved taking long Hollywood baths.

Chapter
Three

Twenty minutes later, Jason headed up the stair
s, looking at his knuckles. His hands
were b
loody and swollen. He’
d almost killed Tommy. He drove by his house, and by luck, he was just getting out of his car with a woman. Jason jumped out of his own car. “This is for Kay, you asshole
,
” and started punching him nonstop. Tommy managed to land one on Jason’s jaw, but that didn’t stop him. The woman started screaming for Jason to stop and tried to pull him off. He would never hit a woman, so he backed off, but before he left, he turned and said, “If you ever put a finger on her again, I promise next time I’ll kill you.”

He
got in his car and
left. Jason wondered what he would
tell Kay
. He’d
promised her.  He opened the door and ran up the stairs
. H
e ran in the guest bathroom
and
cleaned up his kn
uckles and face. He looked in the mirror at his
lip
, it
wasn’t that swollen.

She’d heard him come into the house. “What took you so long? Is she mad at you?”

He couldn’t hide what he’d done. “Coming! I’m using the bathroom.”

When he walked into the room, she took one look at him and ran over to him.

She yelled at him.
“You promised me you weren’t going to do anything, Jason. Let me see.” She turned his face. “Why?”

He grabbed her cheeks, caressing his thumb over her nose. “No one, I mean no one touches you and gets away with it.” He’d started to draw her face in for a kiss when his cell phone rang.

She pulled away. “Answer it, I bet its Kimberly. She might be wondering where you are.”

“Hello,” he
answered, and she heard him say.
“I have to take a rain check. Something came up. I’ll call you tomorrow. Bye.” He couldn’t tell her he was with Kay because Kimberly was jealous of their friendship.

When he got off the phone, she said, “If you h
ave to leave, I’ll understand.”

He turned her
around. “I’m staying with you.”

“We need to get ice packs, one for my eye and one for your lip,” she said, staring at his lips.