Second Thoughts (24 page)

“Look, bitch,” Taylor snapped, “I don’t think you want to cross that line,” she warned.

“Is that what this is about, Dillon? I don’t spend enough time with you?”

“Look, Nessa,” he responded as he gathered his suit jacket he had thrown over the chair that sat under the desk beside the window, “I tried to hang in this marriage, but I’m tired of just hanging. How long am I going to have to wait to start that family I’ve been asking you for? Every year you give me the same answer: next year, next year. I told you before we got married that I wanted a family. I’m still waiting. We talked about this with Isis. You knew how important having my own family is to me, but what mattered to me never mattered to you.”

“And was Shelby going to give you that family?”

“Oh, so you did know about Shelby.”

“And I married you anyway.” Through my tears, I laughed. “Stupid me, right? I guess I’m the only one who kept that promise to forsake all others.”

“And I guess I made a promise I couldn’t keep. At least everything is in the open now, right? I don’t have to pretend I was still happy with you. You can continue being married to your career, ‘cause you haven’t been acting as if you were married to me. Making love to me two days some weeks when you weren’t tired, or when losing a patient didn’t have you emotionally spent is no longer enough.”

“You insensitive bastard.”

Dillon acted as if he didn’t know what he was in for when he’d asked for my hand in marriage. He knew how important my career and my patients were, and that giving up either of them wasn’t a part of my future with him. I had legitimate reasons for not starting a family. He deserved an academy award for brilliantly acting as if he understood or gave a fuck. I watched as my husband grabbed his fiancé’s hand and got ready to walk out of my life.

Chapter
27

DaMarcus…

Unbelievable

At exactly 10:15 a.m., the cab turned right onto
South 17
th
street and pulled up to the front of the Radisson Plaza hotel. Although I really wasn’t interested, I was forced to listen to this driver’s rage about the economy’s effect on his transports to and from the airport. He spoke with a very heavy British accent. He looked like he had just closed the door on his forties. His beard was fully gray, but the gray in his curly hair was just starting to set in. I paid attention to these features not because I wanted to, but because, as he spoke, he glanced in the rearview mirror, checking if I were listening. When my eyes met his, and that wasn’t too often, I did what my grandmother told me.  I nodded and said “hmm hmm” as if he had my attention all along. I tried to become sympathetic to his woes, but the thoughts of Taylor getting exactly what she deserved, kept my mind occupied.

I’d stayed at this particular Radisson a few times after an Eagles’ game when I knew the team would have a few days off before practicing again. Belinda has stayed here a few days with me, too, enjoying the Philadelphia sights before winter and its cold would blow in. Philadelphia was a quick drive or flight from D.C., but she’d rather do the latter than the first, weather permitting.

I had called ahead a few days ago and had reserved a suite under my name and Mr. Collin Aldridge’s name. I knew after I’d dropped my name, the receptionists would be willing to do almost anything I asked. I was definitely counting on that. I knew how much Philly fans loved their McCoy and D. Jackson, but a few of them have shouted for me: the tall, sexy, chocolate player. I knew my request would be given a wide-eyed stare, but at that point, I didn’t give two fucks about what anyone thought. My mind was set on destruction.

I smiled as I approached the receptionist’s desk, the one farthest to the right, just in case.

“Reservations for Mr. DaMarcus Nealon and Collin Aldridge.”

The receptionist was a bright-eyed, brown-skinned woman, with perfectly painted lips. Her eyebrows had been neatly arched. Her brown hair, with even lighter highlights, flowed down the sides of her face in layers, and stopped just above her breasts. I paid more attention to the few strands of hairs that sat just above the corner of her lips. I avoided looking into her eyes, but at first glance, they were mesmerizing. I handed her my I.D. and stood quietly, watching her work.

“Will Mr. Aldridge be joining you shortly?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the screen.

“Oh, I hope so,” I smiled. My smile always worked. “I have quite a surprise for him, but I need your help in order for the surprise to work.”

She looked up smiled back.

“Sure.”

“I’m going to asked him to marry me,” I lied. 

“Congratulations. I hope he says yes.”

This was too easy.

I asked the receptionist to go through the motions of checking in Dillon when he arrived. I told her not to tell him I was already here. To sell my fairytale, I asked her to send up a bottle of her finest wine. 

“No problem, Mr. Nealon.”

She handed me a keycard after writing the number 1248 on the envelope.  I accepted the card and headed towards the elevator. I sent a text with the room number to Vanessa. I sent the same message to Taylor from a 215 number. I’d introduced myself as Dillon, telling her I was using my company phone because I couldn’t locate my personal phone. I thought I had some convincing to do, but she accepted my request without asking one question. She didn’t worry about Vanessa.  I was counting on Vanessa to get Dillon there, but her hesitation that morning meant I was on my own. I’d elicit the help of my friend and trainer Ebony Braxton. Her voice was eerily similar to Taylor’s, and I was surprised when it worked. She’d called Dillon at his office telling him she had to see him. She gave him the address and told him the reservation would be made in his name only just in case Vanessa decides to play detective. Before she hung up, she told him if he didn’t show, then she would know exactly how he felt about her. She threw that in there based on what I’d told her about Dillon and Taylor.

I needed the perfect backdrop for this performance that was about to take place, and that’s exactly what I was given when I opened the door to the king suite. To the right of the room, two Victorian style chairs sat on either side of a small table with an antique lamp. In the middle of the room in front of an oval coffee table, sat an oversized couch facing a large flat-screen T.V. The bedroom was also to the right just past the two chairs and table. That’s where I stood when a soft knock disturbed my silence. Before I could look through the peephole, there was the knock again, followed by an announcement.

“Room service,” the male voice declared.

I opened the door, taking the two wine glasses and the bottle of wine. I didn’t bother to look at the label. I placed the deliveries on the coffee table on my way back to the bedroom. That’s where I stayed and waited for my guests to arrive.

“Are you here yet?” Dillon asked when he walked into the living room.

I waited for him to search the entire suite, but he was content when there wasn’t a response. He popped the wine, poured his glass full, and then stood in front of the large window. I had the bedroom door slightly cracked, watching this fool. I couldn’t believe him. He had bigger balls than I thought. I couldn’t wait to hear the explanation he was going to pull out of his ass when his wife got there.

A few moments later, Taylor walked in. She was obviously elated to see Dillon standing across the room. She was ready to give herself to him, but his question stopped her advance towards him.

“What are you we doing here?” he asked, looking at her with confused eyes.

He denied it when Taylor told him she had received a message asking her to meet him. I stood listening to the confusion between Dillon and Taylor. Then, I decided to put both their minds at ease. I opened the door and stood in the doorway. If looks could kill, I was already a dead man walking, but I would have paid money to see that look on Taylor’s face again. I watched Taylor and Dillon sweat, but neither of them sweated as hard as I expected them to. In the middle of Taylor’s rant that she didn’t have to explain her presence, Vanessa appeared in the middle of the front door. She waited for an explanation from them. I stood in the corner, satisfied with what was unfolding before me. But there was one revelation that neither Vanessa nor I had prepared for. Her name was Torrie Davenport.  She dangled her engagement ring to Vanessa; the one Dillon had placed on her finger.

“See, Taylor,” Dillon explained. “I only showed up to tell you that you were nothing but a mistake. That night I only wanted to show you I could still have you.”

He turned to Vanessa.

“I want a divorce.”

There was more going on in this marriage between Vanessa and Dillon than just Taylor.  Vanessa didn’t put up much of a fight. She stood close to the couch with her face covered in tears. If I didn’t know better, Vanessa probably wouldn’t have been so easily defeated if she were losing Dillon to her sister. So Taylor was just a test for this married man to prove that he still had it.

Taylor sat in the chair to the right of the door, waiting for Dillon to finish. She had that look on her face that she was about to add wind and watch this shit spread like wildfire.

Chapter
28

Taylor…

She Needs to Know

I’d sat in the chair and watched Dillon flaunt this
woman in my sister’s face. He was getting ready to walk out of the room, and I couldn’t believe Nessa was going to let him go without a fight. I stood in front of the door.

“Aren’t you going to tell this,” I paused.

I knew what I was about to say was going to hurt Vanessa even more than she was already hurting. She stood leaning against the back of the sofa in the middle of the room.

“Aren’t you going to tell her exactly what you come with?”

“Let him go, Taylor,” Nessa suggested.

“No, I can’t. I mean, since all these truths are coming to the surface, there’s something else you need to know, Nessa. You, too, Torrie.”

“What are you talking about, Taylor?”

Vanessa stood erect and folded her arms across her chest.

“Earlier, you called my son a bastard,” I said to Torrie.

“Why now, Taylor?” Dillon interfered.

His eyes pleaded with me to keep quiet, but I’d kept quiet long enough. DaMarcus deserved the truth, so did Nessa, and this woman needed to know the man she was about to marry.

“Is later a more appropriate time for you? She doesn’t know, does she?”

“What else could you possibly say?” Vanessa asked.

“I’m sorry, Nessa. I know this is going to hurt you, but I have to tell you this.” I took a deep breath and then spoke. “Dillon is Quinton’s father. So you see, Torrie, my son isn’t a bastard. You are engaged to his father.”

“But you never meant to hurt me, right?!”  Nessa shouted.

I could tell by her bark and the tears on her face I’d done exactly that.

“Thanks. You need to check your idea of what it means not to hurt someone, because this isn’t it.”

She looked at DaMarcus and then started towards the door.

“By the way, Taylor, you and your bastard have forty-eight hours to get the fuck out my house. And, it would be a good idea to try your best to avoid bumping into me between now and then.”

“I’m sorry, sis.”

“Fuck you and your sorry!” she shouted without looking back at me.

She stopped in the doorway just as she walked past Dillon and his other woman. Nessa turned.

“And you, Dillon. Gasoline fires burn fast.”

A few minutes after Vanessa left, Dillon and Torrie followed, leaving DaMarcus and me standing on opposite sides of the room. He looked furious, but I didn’t care. I was furious, too.

“So you lied in your letter to Belinda?”

DaMarcus had stood in the corner of the room, quietly for the most part, and watched everything unfold.

“Belinda dissolved our marriage because of that lie you told her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Look at me. Tell me if I look like I care. I don’t. Just like you didn’t care what I felt serenading you and your wife as you renewed vows I knew your ass didn’t believe anyway.”

“How could you?”

“How could I? After how you hurt me, I would have done anything to hurt you back. You asked me to think about your feelings at a time when you weren’t thinking about me. You thought a new gown and diamonds were enough to shut me up while you continued to live your lie with Belinda, but I had to show you differently. I had to sit there and watch you profess your love for her. I had to listen to you call her your ‘gift from God’ a few months after you were telling me how much you loved me. So, which one of us were you lying to, DaMarcus?”

“You honestly thought I loved you?” he laughed.

“And you actually thought I was dumb enough to believe you. I played the same game you played. But the difference between you and me is that I understood the rules better. I played to win. Everything I lost, I didn’t mind losing, including my sister. But can you say the same? I know it kills you that a few months from now, the former Mrs. DaMarcus Nealon will become Mrs. Shedrick Wise. She looked at you and the lies you told and simply gave you your name back with a ‘fuck you very much’ attached to it. I wish I could say I feel bad for you, but I actually don’t. So this was your plan to get back at me because Belinda divorced you, as if you had absolutely nothing to do with it. Tell me this, DaMarcus. Did it go according to your plan? I came to you about that night that almost happened with Dillon because I trusted you.  And what did you do? You used that admission to try and rip my sister and me apart. But you should know this. When my sister goes to sleep tonight, she will be thinking about the woman her husband is about to marry. She’ll be satisfied she didn’t lose him to me. But when you close your eyes tonight, DaMarcus, what will you be thinking about, and will she be thinking about you?”