Unfaithful Ties (10 page)

As Malik sat there, he wondered was there an ounce of hope for his marriage. Could two people that were clearly not in love manage to stick it out for the sake of their child? They’d manage to hold things together so far. But could they keep portraying the image of a happy family with prospering love until Mackenzie had graduated from high school? Which was another seven years. The time would fly by but seven years can feel like a million when you’re not happy.

When the bell sounded, he said a silent prayer amongst himself that God would somehow bless his struggling marriage with the miracle of two miserable people somehow falling in love and rebuilding the structure of their crumbling marriage.

****

When Malik’s co-worker strolled into the classroom he was in a deep daze as he sat behind his desk, with both of his hands behind his head.

“Coach…Coach….Coach Shaw”, Todd Kirkland said repeatedly attempting to get Malik’s attention.

Malik snapped out of a daze “What’s up”

“You okay? You look like you were in another world when I walked in”

“I wish I could be”

“I know what you mean sometimes.” Todd said and sat on top of a student desk. He twisted the top off a bottled water and took a swig. “I just stopped by to tell you that I’m not going to be at practice today. Just found out that Dr. Schmitz is going to induce Melissa’s labor in a few hours”

Todd was
tall, with dark spiked hair, and blue eyes.  After coaching the Cambleton high Hurricanes side by side with Malik for the last seven years he often joked that he was Malik’s white brother.

Malik stood up from the desk and stretched his long legs and arms. “Congratulations on the new little one” He pulled up his sleeves and glanced at the time on his watch.

3:45

The bell that ended his last class had rung
an half hour ago.  He grabbed all the loose papers from the top of his desk and put them into his duffel bag. “I’m about to head home, and get me a little shut eye before practice starts”

“Well I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be off for the rest of the week so I will see you next Monday”

“Tell Melissa I said congratulations” He retrieved his car keys that were hidden inside the desk drawer and he and Todd both walked out of the classroom.

****

Malik was surprised that he didn’t see Jennifer’s car parked in the driveway when he pulled up in front of his home. He hopped out of the car, unlocked the side door and walked into the kitchen. The kitchen cabinets were open, the kitchen drawers were pulled out, and the telephone that was mounted onto the kitchen wall was off the hook. His first instinct was that his home had been burglarized but as he furiously walked towards the front of the house, he realized something worse had happened.  His house was completely empty. Someone had taken the sofa, the chase, the coffee table, the pictures, the curtains, the lamps,  and the eighty inch television. He stumped hurriedly back into the kitchen. It was then that he noticed that in addition to the family room furniture the dinette table, the refrigerator, the food, the dishes, and everything was gone. When he jogged into Mackenzie’s room all of the accessories that she loved were gone as well. The linen closet door was open when he walked by as he headed to his bedroom and even the linens and cleaning supplies were no longer there.  He slung the door shut and yelled. “I can’t believe this shit” he pulled out his cellular and dialed Jennifer, tapping the numbers so hard the numbers froze. “She actually had the nerve to do something like this” He shouted. Most of his clothing had been tossed to the floor; some of them were on the bed, which happened to be the only piece of furniture that she didn’t take with her.

The time was flying by and practice was set to start at 5:00 PM it was already 4:35. He’d called Jennifer countless times but he couldn’t reach her. A mixture of antsy jitters and betrayal swept through him. And he had a right to feel betrayed. Hell, he deserved an explanation from her. Here he was standing in
an hollow kitchen after a long exasperating day at work. What was she thinking? So, he waited about 15 more minutes before he dialed her again. Just as he was about to hit the TALK button he heard the front door open and McKenzie’s voice.

“Queen McKenzie is home
” She said.

“Hey Mac
”  Malik smiled, patting her on the head. “Where is your mother?”

“She’s outside in the car”

“Why don’t you go out back and make sure Roxxy has some water” Roxxy was the family pet, a Rottweiler that the couple bought for McKenzie last Christmas.

“Okay daddy” McKenzie said and headed towards the back porch.

Jennifer’s vehicle was parked across the grass a few inches away from the steps that led to the front porch. She was looking gorgeous like she always did sporting a pair of Chanel sunglasses. Her hair was wrapped in a bun and she was puffing on a cigarette as she sat in her vehicle bobbing her head. “What kind of stunt is this that you are trying to pull?” Malik asked once he’d gotten close enough to Jennifer’s Toyota Lexus.

Jennifer rolled down her window
Cherish the day
by
Sade
blared through the crack before she turned down the volume. “I couldn’t hear you. What did you say?”

“I said, what kind of stunt is this that you are trying to pull?”

“Don’t act like you’re shocked” Jennifer snapped. She blew out the smoke and dumped the remaining ashes into the ashtray.

“Don’t act like I’m shocked? Is that your answer? I come home from work and find my home, the same exact home that was completely furnished when I left this morning, completely empty when I walk through the door. And you’re explanation is that I shouldn’t be shocked?”

“Malik I haven’t been happy in years. A divorce is what’s best for me.”  She was fishing around in her glove compartment. “I made a copy for you” she said to Malik as she handed him a piece of folded paper.

“What’s this?” He unfolded the paper. “Final divorce” He puzzled. “I haven’t signed any divorce papers.”

“You didn’t have too. You see, in the state of Florida you can divorce your spouse if you can prove that your spouse has abandoned you. Being that I know that you don’t read the newspaper it was very easy. All I had to do was say that you left me over a year ago and I hadn’t seen or heard from you since. That information is then placed in an ad in the daily newspaper and if the person does not respond the other spouse is granted a divorce.  Well, you didn’t respond”

“I didn’t respond because I had no knowledge of the fact that you would stoop so low. You know that I don’t read the paper. What about Mac? Have you given any thought as to how this is going to affect
her. You are one selfish ass woman.  When we got married decisions were supposed to be made by the both of us not you by your damn self.”

Jennifer pulled the door handle and angrily opened the door. With one leg out of the car she
said “I didn’t come over here to argue. I came by here so that you can see your daughter before we head to Chicago” She stumped by Malik and walked up the steps. He walked up the steps behind her tripping over the first two because it had rained earlier and the bottom of his dress shoes were wet. 

“Chicago…What in the hell do you mean Chicago?”

“We’re moving Malik. I have been offered a job there and I found an affordable house not that long ago.”

“A job”

“Yes, a job. You do know that I have a degree right, or did you forget?”

“I didn’t forget. You haven’t worked this entire marriage, and now that you have been offered a job you’re just going to up and take my daughter to Chicago?”

“Yes my fiancé and I are going to be moving in together soon.”

T
he tone of Malik’s voice changed, sounding like an echoing baritone. “ Fiancé?”

“Yes.
fiancé.”

“Your fiancé should have bought the two of you some damn furniture.  Have you had this man around my daughter?”
             

“Yes”

“I don’t believe this shit. What do you know about this man? Do you even know him well enough to move in with him? Outside of screwing him, what else do you know about him?  How well do you know him to have him around our daughter? You can’t be serious about getting married”             

“Mac…
.Mac.” Jennifer yelled purposely ignoring Malik as she moved through the house. “It’s time to go”

Malik grabbed her by her arm, pulling her to him.  His voice was now raspy. “Please don’t do this. Don’t do this. Please don’t take Mac. I can raise her. Please don’t take her away from me. You can go, but Mac, Mac should stay” He was nearly in tears.

“My mind was made up months ago Malik.” She snatched her arm away and stepped onto the screened back porch. “The moving company has already headed to Chicago with the furniture. I’m sorry but what’s done is done. Mackenzie come on let’s go”

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Queens like to take their time”

“Girl hush and give your daddy a hug. We have to get on the road.”             

“When are we coming back?”

“Baby we’ve already had this conversation. I told you that we’re moving to Chicago.”

“Well I’m a queen and queens don’t have to do something if they don’t want to. And I’m not going. I want to stay here with daddy” She pouted and crossed her arms across her chest.

“Look you’re going with me to Chicago, now hush” She said jerking Mackenzie closer “Now go and get in the car”

“Daddy I don’t want to go. Can I please stay here with you?”

“Who in the hell do you think that you are? You see she doesn’t’ want to go” Malik said.

“Mackenzie
do as I said and go get in the goddam car.”

Mackenzie jerked away, pouted all the way towards the fence and angrily push
ed open the door. Assuring her parents just how displeased she was as she stomped through the yard.

“How dare you try to make me look like an ass in front of our daughter?”
Jennifer spat.

“You make
your own self look like an ass. And frankly I don’t give a damn how you look. You’re not taking my daughter to Chicago”

“This is not about me taking our daughter. This is about
me moving on and hurting your little ego. You hate the fact that I’ve been screwing another man right up under your nose. And you’re using Mackenzie as bait to get back at me”

“I couldn’t care less about what you’ve been doing, my only concern is Mackenzie. Who is this man? How well do you know him to move in with him and have him around our daughter? I’m telling you Jen I’m not going to go for this.”

“You don’t have a choice. This is my life”

“Jen I swear that I will go broke and hire the best lawyer in town until Mackenzie is back in Jacksonville before I let you have my daughter around a man that I haven’t met.”

“I am Mackenzie’s mother. I carried her. So I am the person that will make the final decision on what’s best for her”

“This isn’t about you. Will you take a second and realize how ridiculous you sound? Mackenzie is also my daughter. She doesn’t want to move away from her friends she’s going to be miserable. Think about how this is going to affect her”

“You don’t think that I’ve thought about Mackenzie?”

“Apparently not”

“Mackenzie is the only reason I’ve been hanging on to this disastrous marriage in the first place. But not anymore, I’m done with you and this pitiful marriage.”

“Look forward to hearing from my attorney.”

“Fine you do what you need to do” Jen said and rushed out of the fence. Her mind was set on a new life.  Life without Malik. She crank up her vehicle, and drove away. She and Mackenzie had a long drive ahead.

When they left Malik must’ve called a million different law firms. They were all closed so he made a mental note to call around the next day. If she thinks that I’m not going to fight her on this, she has another thing coming” He mumbled, and hopped into his truck. “What a hell of a Monday” He sighed.

He knew on that exact day that he’d never commit to another woman again, unless, destiny allowed him to have another chance with Stacy. With the exception of her, the only thing that a woman could do for him from now on was fuck him and feed him, nothing more
.
He was going to screw as many women as he wanted too. Two at a time if he could
.

****

Later that week, Malik was sitting in a wingback chair in a suite at the Crown plaza appreciating the arousing view in front him. The throbbing erection between his legs was sprouting out through his unzipped pants. He raised the Heineken bottle to his mouth never pulling his eyes away from the two women ripping off of each other’s clothes cravingly. This was a live wet dream.  His wet dream.  Every man’s wet dream.  For Malik he no longer had to yearn his secret desire. It was about to happen.

A
ménage a tois.

              Two beautiful women were pretending that they were casting for a role in an X-rated movie on top of a queen-sized bed just inches away from where he was sitting.
 
Soon he’d be joining them but for now he just wanted to watch.