The Johnson Sisters (20 page)

 

I did something I'd never done before. I went to a bar by myself to get some drinks and relax a bit. I'd always wanted to do this but felt like I should never come without a man on my arm or at least one of my sisters. Tonight I didn't care. I needed a drink or two, or five at this point. I wasn't happy with the way things had turned out with my sisters tonight. The fact that Dawn didn't show up only made things worse in my eyes and made it look like she wasn't interested in trying to work things out with us. After all I did to make this happen, she betrayed me by not showing up and made me look stupid in front of my sisters. I was offended.

“What can I get for you?” the blond, blue-eyed bartender asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I would like a Painkiller, please.”

The bartender's eyebrows rose and he said, “You don't look like you should have any pain to kill.”

Was he flirting with me? The smirk on his face made me think so.
How flattering,
I thought. He was cute, too. Probably too young for me, but I could look at his nice physique

I smiled and responded by saying, “You would be surprised.”

“Too bad. A woman as attractive as you shouldn't have any pain to kill,” the cutie pie said.

“Thank you.”

“I will get that to you in just a bit, okay?”

I smiled back at him and watched as the cutie pie walked away to take other drink orders. I looked around to see the place was crowded. Everybody was talking and smiling, and some men were watching the basketball game that was on the televisions above the bar. I looked up to see who was playing, but as I did that, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and rolled my eyes when I saw him. As if my night could get any worse, I was staring into the eyes of Eric.

“What are you doing here?” he asked with a grin.

“Minding my own business,” I said coldly, pushing his hand off of me.

“Aren't we in a bad mood?”

I ignored him and looked up at the television to see two college basketball teams playing.

He pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, saying, “I hope you don't mind if I join you.”

My eyes were slits as I said, “Don't do me any favors. I don't want you slumming tonight.”

“Okay, I deserve that, but come on, Vivian. You can't still be mad at me.”

“Oh, I'm not mad,” I said, sitting back on the tall stool and crossing my arms.

“You see. You got your guard up already.”

“When it comes to you, Eric, I have to. You never do anything unless it's going to benefit you, so what is it tonight? Do you think I'm going to fall for your whack-ass charm and jump into bed with you again?” I asked heatedly.

“No, Vivian. Look, I'm sorry for saying the things I said to you the last time I saw you. I was having a bad night,” he tried to explain.

“So you decided since your night was bad, you would make mine bad also, just like you are doing right now,” I said, watching the bartender set my drink in front of me.

“Are you good?” cutie pie asked me, giving Eric a look that wasn't really nice.

I started to say, “Hell no, can you please ask security to remove this man from me?” Instead I said, “I'm okay.”

Cutie pie winked his eye and walked away.

“Dude better watch himself,” Eric said.

I ignored him, picked up my drink, and took a sip. The drink was really strong. I wasn't expecting it to be, but it was still good.

“I'm celebrating tonight,” he said, waiting on a response from me, which I wasn't about to give him. I took another sip of my drink.

“You are not going to ask me what I'm celebrating?”

“Nope,” I said curtly.

“I know you don't care, but I got a promotion today,” he said excitedly.

“Great,” I said uncaringly, hoping he would leave. Again he was making this about himself, and I didn't need this.

“Do you want me to leave you alone?” he asked.

“I sure do.”

“So you are not going to give me any conversation. Just short answers?”

“I just agreed with you that I want you to leave,” I said, glaring at him.

“Viv.”

“Don't call me that. Only people who love me call me that,” I snapped, instantly thinking about Sheldon.

He held his hands up, saying, “Okay, Vivian.”

“You know what, Eric? I would appreciate if you would leave me alone. We have nothing more to say to each other. We said our hellos, so now can you excuse yourself so I can say good-bye?”

“You don't mean that. Not to the man you love.”

“
Loved
. Get it right.”

“I love you. You have to know you still have some feelings for me too,” he said, fishing for compliments.

“Disgust comes to mind when I think about you. Regret, loathing, selfish, heartless, and even hate comes to mind when I think about you. Yeah, I think I may hate you, too. But the love is gone. Now, go celebrate your little promotion with someone who cares,” I said, using my hand to shoo him away like an aggravating fly.

I went to pick up my drink again, but Eric grabbed my wrist. I looked at him like he was crazy, but he was giving me the same expression back. It was the same look he had on his face the night I kicked him out of my place.

“Who are you to ignore me?” he asked furiously.

“Here's the Eric I'm familiar with,” I said, not being afraid of his reaction.

“I'm trying to be nice to you and you are dissing me?” he asked like he couldn't believe it.

“Dissed and dismissed, as a matter of fact, so let me go,” I demanded.

“You should be happy I'm even talking to you. I mean, look at you. No one wants a woman like you,” he told me.

“If that's the case, then why are you upset, yet again? Hear you tell it, I'm not worthy. So why you mad?” I asked him inquisitively.

“You will not get away with disrespecting me in front of all these people like you are somebody, because you are nothing.”

“Eric, I'm not going to tell you again. Let me go before I have security drag your sorry ass out of here,” I said, trying to pull away from him, but he had too tight a grip on my wrist.

“Oh, you don't need security.”

I looked back to see Sheldon standing behind me.

“I would be happy to do the honors of kicking this fool out of here for you, Viv.”

Sheldon gave Eric a look that told him if he didn't get his hands off of me immediately, he wouldn't have hands to enjoy the promotion he just got. Eric let go of me and adjusted his blazer as he sat back in his stool.

“Just like I thought,” Sheldon said in a threatening tone. “You okay, Viv?”

“I am now,” I said, rubbing my wrist. I could tell Eric caught that Sheldon called me Viv. As he glared at me, I said, “Only the people I love.” Eric was ticked but didn't dare say anything with Sheldon standing here.

“Is this seat taken?” Sheldon asked, pointing at the seat Eric was sitting in.

“It's available. He was just about to leave,” I said, glowering at Eric.

Eric hesitated for a moment. I think he wanted Sheldon to remove him from the seat, but I guess his better judgment kicked in knowing Sheldon was the type of guy who would do just that if need be. He stepped down from the stool without saying anything. He grimaced at me and then Sheldon before walking away. Sheldon took his place next to me, looking at Eric making his way to the other side of the bar.

“Thanks for that,” I said.

“Anytime. You know I'm here for you.”

His words touched me. And they were true. Sheldon was always here for me.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I'm trying to relax.”

“Oh, really, with dude here with you?”

“He just showed up. He was the last person I expected to see here,” I said, picking up my drink and taking a sip.

“It's weird seeing you here, Viv. This isn't you. You don't do this,” he said, looking at my drink and the bartender, who was waiting on two women sitting three stools down from me. When I looked their way, I saw them checking Sheldon out.

“You have admirers,” I told him.

He looked at the women and smiled but turned his attention back to me, saying, “Those skeezers. They are here all the time. Probably thinking those eyes are going to make me send them a free drink. That's not going to happen.”

I laughed louder than I expected to. I put my hand over my mouth to contain the giggles, but I couldn't stop.

“How many of these have you had?” he asked, picking up my drink.

“This is my first, Sheldon.”

“And it's your last one for tonight.”

“Dag. Can a girl unwind?” I asked, frowning at him and pulling my drink back to me to take another sip.

“Not here and not by yourself,” he said.

“I'm a grown woman, boy. My daddy is . . .” I paused.

Sheldon must have seen my sadness creep in. He tossed a twenty on the bar and stood. He held his hand out to take mine.

“What?”

“I'm taking you home.”

“But I'm not ready to go. I haven't finished my drink.”

“Let's go, Viv.”

I hesitated. I picked up my drink and finished what I could. Sheldon smirked but still had his hand out for me to take. I really wasn't ready to go, but I knew he would drag me out of there kicking and screaming, so I reached out, took his hand into mine, and got down from the stool. As soon as I stood, I felt my legs tingle from the drink I had just consumed.

“You good?” he asked, grinning.

“I'm fine,” I said convincingly.

Once we were in the parking lot, Sheldon tried to get me to give him my keys. He wanted to drive me home, but I wouldn't let him. I wasn't drunk, so I could drive myself. After arguing in the parking lot for a bit, Sheldon finally conceded and told me he was going to follow me closely and to not speed. He knew I had a heavy foot, and tonight was not the night to get a speeding ticket along with a DUI.

I made it home without any mishaps. Sheldon pulled in to the driveway beside me. He got out of his ride and came around to my driver's side door and opened it.

“I think I got it from here,” I told him.

“I'm making sure you get in the house first before I leave.”

Getting out of my car, I said, “I haven't heard from you in days, and you show up treating me like a kid. Who do you think you are?”

“I'm your friend,” he countered.

“Are you? My friend used to check in every day if it was just to say hey. My friend would drop in sometimes just to chill. I haven't heard or seen that friend in quite a while. Not since he fucked me.”

Sheldon's jaws tightened at my words. He took two steps back, looking at me.

“What? You can't say anything.”

“Look, you are tipsy.”

“I'm not tipsy off of one damn drink, Sheldon,” I lied.

“Let me take you in the house so I can go.”

“You can go now. You don't have to wait until I'm safe. I can get myself in the house just fine, thank you,” I said, slamming my car door shut and walking down my sidewalk. As I put my keys into the lock to open the door, I heard Sheldon cranking his ride to leave. I opened the door and looked back to see him backing out of my driveway.

Shaking my head, I went into my house slamming the door with tears in my eyes, wishing he would have stayed with me. I knew I pushed him away, but it was easier than accepting the fact that our relationship might never be the same again.

 

I wasn't ready to go home yet. I didn't feel like dealing with the issue of Tyree's cheating ass sleeping with his crazy baby mama. We had yet to talk about it since I walked out that day. Each time we were around each other, there was silence. The only one in our home who was making any noise was Nevaeh.

I drove up to a stoplight wondering where in the hell I could go, because I really couldn't afford to ride around like this since gas was so high. Nowadays when you put gas in your car, you only drive it when you have a destination to go to. Riding around was not an option. While I was waiting on the light to change, my cell phone rang. I saw it was Tyree calling me. As much as I didn't want to answer, I did, just in case it had something to do with Nevaeh.

“Hello.”

“Babe, where are you?”

“I'm out. Why?”

“I need you to come home. It's important,” he said urgently.

“Is Nevaeh okay? Did something happen?” I asked nervously.

“Nevaeh is fine.”

“So what's so important?” I asked.

“I'd rather not discuss this over the phone, so can you please come home? You know I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't important, Serena.”

“I hope you are not going to tell me some more bad news about you and Juanita,” I said, hoping this was not the case. I didn't think my heart could take another blow right now.

“No. This has nothing to do with her. Baby, please, come home,” he begged.

“Okay. I'll be there in a bit.”

When I walked through the door, I saw Tyree sitting on the sofa watching television. To me it didn't look like anything crucial as he screamed at the television about some basketball player missing a three-point shot. When he saw me, he instantly cut the television off and stood to greet me.

“Hey, babe,” he spoke, looking uneasy.

“So what's so important that you needed me to come home?” I asked nonchalantly.

“It's about your sister.”

“Which one?” I asked, thinking maybe this had something to do with Shauna or even Phoenix.

“Dawn.”

“Did something happen to her?” I asked apprehensively.

“Nothing bad. Well, you might think it's bad.”

“Tyree, spit it out already, because you are starting to scare me,” I said with a raised voice.

“Come here,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me into the bedroom.

“What?” I asked irritably, hoping this wasn't his way of getting me to sleep with him, because I wouldn't. Not after finding out his dick was in nasty-ass Juanita.

Tyree led me to our bedroom and over to the computer, which was in the corner by our window. We had to put it in here since we didn't have an office. It used to be in Nevaeh's room, but once she was born, we had to make the office into a nursery for her.

“Sit down,” Tyree told me, and I did. Standing behind me, he leaned over and moved the mouse around. He began clicking on some things. He brought up the video player, and instantly the images of an African American woman popped up on the screen. She was lying on the bed, playing with herself.

“It's not bad enough you cheated on me. Now I find out you have a porn addiction too.”

“Serena, I don't have a porn addiction,” he countered.

“So what is this?” I said, pointing at the screen.

“Please watch.”

“I don't feel like watching porn right now, Tyree.”

“Serena, will you be quiet and watch this,” he said, raising his voice. He clicked on the button, and all of a sudden a bedroom showed up on the screen. In this bedroom were the bodies and faces of Dawn and her soon-to-be husband, Corey.

“What is this?” I asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“One of my boys called me and told me he had something for me to check out, that I wouldn't believe who was performing in this new video he just burned. He dropped it by today and told me to watch it. When I put the CD in, this is what came up,” he said, pointing at the computer screen.

“This looks like their bedroom,” I said, figuring out the space was my sister's private sanctum.

“I figured that.”

“I can't believe this. Why would Dawn do something like this?”

“I don't know. And it gets worse,” Tyree said.

As much as I wanted to turn away, my nosiness got the best of me. I had to see how far this would go, but I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

“What the . . . ?” I said in shock as my hand covered my mouth.

“I know. Can you believe it?”

“When did this happen?”

“My boy didn't go into details. He just recorded it to this disc and brought it to me,” Tyree explained.

“Who else has seen this?” I asked angrily. “Has he been showing all your friends?”

“Serena, I don't know. I guess he brought me a copy to let us know what was going on, since he knew Dawn was basically like a sister-in-law to me.”

“He could have just told you. He didn't have to record it,” I yelled.

“Do you think you would have believed him, or me for that matter, if I told you without proof?” Tyree said.

He was right. I wouldn't have believed him. Not after he lied to me about sleeping with Juanita. Plus, it was something degrading regarding my sister. This couldn't be the Dawn who fell out with us over her no-good man. Not Ms. Goody Two-shoes. Seeing this made me question her sanity.

“I can't believe this,” was all I kept saying. “She's having sex with someone else and posting it on the Internet.”

“But that's not it,” he said, reaching over me to eject the disc of my sister and her sexual escapades. He placed another one in, and I watched as the disc booted up. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see anything else, not after seeing my sister butt-ass naked getting screwed by some strange guy, while good-for-nothing Corey watched in the background with some floozy sucking on his manhood.

An image came up on the screen, and it appeared to be someone else's bedroom that I was not familiar with. A woman walking backward to the bed came into view as she gave the come-here finger to someone else in the room. Then a man appeared, walking up to her and holding the woman in his arms. They kissed deeply.

“What is this, Tyree? This doesn't look like Dawn,” I said.

“But pay attention to who the man is.”

At first I didn't pay attention because the man's back was to the camera. The woman crawled up on the bed, again backward, scooting to the middle, and the man climbed on top of her. He kissed her again before making his way down her body until his face rested between her thighs. And then he looked at the camera with a smirk.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I said.

“This CD has several different women on it, with Corey being the main actor on this disc.”

“So Corey is a porn star. I don't even want to call him a star or actor, because this man isn't acting. He's doing what he loves.”

“And it's one more thing, babe.”

“You know I'm getting tired of you saying that,” I said, not wanting to see another thing, but if Tyree was telling me this, then it had to be important.

He reached over me and clicked the mouse, going from chapter to chapter through the different women Corey was playing hide-the-salami with, until Tyree came to chapter eight.

“Prepare yourself,” Tyree said, but what came up on the screen was nothing I could prepare myself for.

“What?” was all I could say as water filled my eyes. I turned to Tyree, who looked at me lovingly. “Is this real?”

“It has to be, babe,” he said sincerely.

“Why would my sister do this?”

“I don't know.”

“Turn it off,” I spat. “Please turn it off,” I said, getting up from the chair and walking to the other side of our bedroom to catch my breath. Tyree did as I asked, closing the video player down.

He then turned to me and asked, “Babe, are you okay?”

“No, I'm not okay. Would you be okay if you saw that?”

Tyree didn't say anything. He sat down in the office chair and ejected the disc from the computer tower. “I'm sorry, Serena,” Tyree said genuinely. “I didn't want you to find out this way, but I felt like you needed to know.”

“What is happening in my life?” I said, sitting down on the bed and beginning to cry. “What is she thinking?” I asked.

“I don't know, but you really need to talk to your sister. Something is definitely up with her.”

“I appreciate you telling me this, or should I say showing me this,” I said with a nervous giggle, even though nothing about this situation was funny.

“You know I love your sisters like they are my own. I have three sisters myself, and I hope if you heard or saw something like this you would tell me,” he said honestly.

“You know I would,” I said, loving this man even more, despite him betraying me.

Tyree put both discs in a plastic case and set them on the desk. He then came over to the bed and sat down beside me. “You sure you are okay?” he asked with concern, rubbing my back.

“It's too much going on. First it was Juanita threatening me and Nevaeh. Then it was my sisters falling out. Now you've told me you cheated on me and could have a child on the way, and now this. The problems keep stacking up.”

“But our relationship does not have to be one of those problems.”

“Your cheating on me is a problem,” I yelled.

“I know I was wrong, but I swear I was only with her one time,” he pleaded.

“How do I know that? Far as I knew, you weren't with her or anybody else. I trusted that you were faithful to me, and you broke that trust.”

He nodded, saying, “Serena, on everything I love, my mother, my sisters, and my own daughter, I only cheated on you that one time. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life.”

“No, your biggest was ever getting involved with that woman.”

“I can say that, but then I wouldn't have my son,” he retorted, and I understood. “I hope this mistake doesn't cause me to lose you,” he said compassionately. He got up and kneeled down in front of me, positioning himself between my thighs so we were face to face.

“Serena, I love you with everything in me. Baby, I don't want you to leave me. I promise as long as I live, I will never cheat on you again.”

His words were gentle, loving, and felt genuine. Tears ran down my cheeks as I looked down, fiddling around with the hem of my orange sundress. As much as I wanted to believe him, I was afraid to. Tyree reached up and wiped my tears away, but more tears replaced them when he touched me. His hands were so warm.

“You really hurt me, Tyree,” I said through tears.

“I know, baby, and I'm so sorry.”

“I'm worried you will do this again.”

“Look at me, Serena,” he said with a comforting voice.

I looked into his sincere eyes.

“Don't leave me. Please don't leave me. Give us another chance. I'll do anything you want me to do to make this work.”

“I wish you didn't have to deal with Juanita,” I said. “But I know that will never happen since you two have a child together, and you may be having another one with her,” I said overwhelmed by this realization.

Tyree dropped his head in defeat. He said, “I would never wish any ill will toward Juanita and this unborn child, but I do wish she weren't pregnant.”

“Me too.”

“This child didn't ask for the turmoil it will be born into. And you know if it is my child . . .”

“You have to take care of it,” I said, finishing his sentence.

“And you best believe I'm going to find out whether this child is mine.”

“Well, I hope it's not. It's bad enough you had one with that crazy woman,” I said.

“True, but it did give me my beautiful son, who's my world along with Nevaeh.”

“They are beautiful children, aren't they?” I said, smiling. “Despite the unstableness of Juanita, Zamir is a good boy.”

Tyree nodded. There was a silence between us as we stared at one another.

I broke the silence by saying, “As much as I would love to leave you, I love you too much to do so.”

Tyree leaned in and kissed me tenderly on the lips. Nothing lustful, just a kiss of admiration.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Don't thank me yet, because I still haven't forgiven you.”

“I understand.”

“It's going to take some time for me to get over this, Tyree.”

“I wouldn't expect any less,” he said. “I'm glad we had this talk.”

“And it was all due to my sister's sex acts,” I said, giggling.

“Make sure you thank her for me,” he said jokingly.

“I'm not sure I like the way you said that. I mean, you did just see my sister naked,” I said, smiling.

“And it sickened me,” he said, smirking.

“Sure,” I said.

“I'm serious. I told you your sisters are my sisters. Who wants to see their sisters getting it on with any dude?”

“I get that,” I said, looking down at my hands in his.

“I love you, Serena.”

I looked into his loving eyes and leaned forward, wrapping my arms around Tyree, who returned the embrace. It felt good to have one problem resolved somewhat. Now I had to figure out how I was going to handle Dawn's situation. Would this be something else that would drive another wedge between us?