You're the One I Want (18 page)

“Hey, boy, I'm glad you're home.” Uncle Ray-Ray wore a big, white apron that was soiled with barbecue sauce like he had been slaving over the grill all day. “You hungry?”

“Starving. I smelled your barbecue down the street.”

“That's the idea,” Uncle Ray-Ray said, laughing.

Kashawn barely looked at me, and he didn't utter a word about the dress I wore exclusively for him. There was no way I was going to walk around, looking this good for him to ignore a bitch.

“All right, y'all, the meat is done. Come and get it,” Uncle Ray-Ray announced. Everyone cheered, ready to quench their appetites with barbecue ribs, chicken and hot dogs.

Tangela crept up behind me, wearing a tight white dress with the usual plunging neckline that exposed her larger-than-life breasts. “Hey, girl, my bad if I worried everybody. I thought it would be a nice surprise to bring him home. Sorry I didn't call to let you know what was up.”

“Girl, it's all good. I mean, look at Mama Liz. We're just glad to have him home.”

“How are you doin'?”

“Other than the fact that Kashawn looks at me like I'm the Anti-Christ, and Mama Liz has been a tick on my ass about everything under God's blue sky, I'm holding it down.”

“She still giving you shit?”

“She hasn't said anything to me directly, but I know she still blames me for what happened to Kashawn.”

“You got to do what I do. Kick dirt over that bullshit and move on.”

“Did you see how Kashawn treated me when he walked up in here? And he's been throwing shade at Deanthony, too. I know Deanthony noticed it. Did he say anything to you in the car?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. He seemed like he was okay. Honestly, he was quiet the whole way here.”

“Well, what's up with this cold shoulder stuff? Look at me. I'm giving Kashawn video vixen glamour, and he's acting like that?”

“Bree, he just got out of the hospital. He's tired, that's all.”

I let loose a sigh. “True. Listen to me overreacting.”

“There will be plenty of time to talk to Kashawn. Then when you done talking, throw some sexual healing down on his ass. He'll pep right up.”

“True that.” I laughed. “Let me go see how he's doing.”

As I walked out toward the deck, I was headed off by Mama Liz. “Listen, this is Kashawn's homecoming. I don't want you and Deanthony starting nothing.”

“No disrespect, Mama Liz, but Kashawn is my husband. I know what's best for him.”

“Maybe so, but he was my son before he
ever
became your husband. We'll see how long
that
lasts when he comes to his senses and divorces you.”

Oh, my God. This woman was seriously about to make me lose my shit. And up in my own home, at that. Who in the hell did she
think she was talking to? What I did know was that she was overdue for an old-fashioned cursing out, but out of respect for my home, Kashawn, and my guests, I held my tongue, something I wasn't accustomed to doing. I had plenty of beef with Mama Liz, and not the slabs that Uncle Ray-Ray was slathering with barbecue sauce, either. I kindly pushed this overprotective woman out of my way.

“Excuse me. I'm going to go see how
my
man is doing.”

I needed to get away from Mama Liz as far as I could before I forgot she was my mother-in-law. People lined up at one of the tables that were set up with heaps of meat and bowls of cole slaw and potato salad. They were armed with paper plates, waiting to savor Uncle Ray-Ray's infamous barbecue. Deanthony sat at the patio table, swigging down his fifth beer, gawking at me like I was one of Uncle Ray-Ray's baby back ribs. Kashawn was standing in the backyard, under an oak tree, nursing on a Heineken, talking to Tyrique.

“Hey, baby, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Kashawn gave me a kind of side glance as he took a swig from his beer.

“Let me go before all the barbecue's gone,” Tyrique said. “Welcome home, man. Glad you're okay.”

They gave each other dap, coming together in a warm hug. “Thanks, T. I appreciate that.”

“What's going on with you?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You've been ice-cold to me all afternoon and you've been mean-mugging on Deanthony since you got here.”

“Oh, so now all of a sudden, you give a damn about how Deanthony's feelings?”

“What does that mean?”

Kashawn leaned against the tree, cocking his foot up against its trunk. “Why didn't you come pick me up from the hospital?”

“I wanted to, but your mama insisted on going instead. She said when she got there, a nurse told her that you had already been picked up by Tangela. I was going to call you to see what was going on, and that's when you and Tangela walked in.”

“How convenient for you.”

The ghetto Bree was about to cut loose. “What is up with this passive-aggressive shit?”

“Mama's been telling me about what's been going on around here with you and Deanthony.”

“What? What kind of lies has she been feeding you about me now?” I noticed Mama Liz standing at the foot of the deck steps with her arms folded across her chest, giving us one of her matter-of-fact glances as she watched what was slowly becoming a fight.

“So that girl that poisoned me, you saying you don't know her? Ma told me that y'all used to dance at Risqué together.”

“It's true. I've never lied to you about my past, Kashawn. I told the cop that when he questioned me about her, but since we are on the subject of Katiesha, what were you doing in bed with that bitch?”

“I was in the study working when I heard the doorbell. This woman is standing there and said she was having car trouble and asked to use my phone to call someone.”

“And then what happened?”

“She used my phone, said someone was coming to pick her up and . . . that's all I remember. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the damn hospital.”

“Are you serious? Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“It's true, Bree. Why would I lie about something like that?”

“Do you know how you sound right now?”

“I know how it sounds, but I'm telling you that's what happened.”

I was pissed to the tenth degree. My head was swimming, not knowing what to believe.

Kashawn pushed himself away from the trunk of the oak tree. “So who is she?”

“It doesn't matter. The cops couldn't charge her with anything.”

“Answer my question,” he said. “Who is this girl?”

“When I started dancing at Risqué, I came on the heels of Katiesha, who, at the time, was the queen bitch on the scene. She got the nickname Green-Eyed Diva because she was always jealous of every new bitch that Blue hired.”

“Who is that?”

“He's the owner of Risqué. Katiesha couldn't stand me from the word
go
when I came up and liked me even less when I started pulling more coins than her. Nakeema and Latrice schooled me on the fact that she was the one getting all the lap dances, but all that changed when Blue hired me. I came to work one day to find my locker broken open with all of my clothes cut up. I asked who did it, and no one said shit, but I knew Katiesha had fucked with my stuff. She and this old-ass bitch Ursula were the only two bitches who didn't like me. From that day on, I kept both eyes open.”

“The owner, this Blue person, didn't do anything?”

“Hell no. He didn't give a damn as long as we didn't fuck with his money. Things only got worse as weeks went on. One night when I got off work, I found that my car had been keyed. That night was the final straw. Katiesha was out on stage when I ran out and started beating her ass. Chet, one of the bouncers, rushed in and pulled me off of her. Good thing, too, because I probably would have put that bitch in a coma. That was my last night there. Blue had fired me, but I didn't care because I left her spitting blood and teeth. I got enough money saved up and was done with Risqué.
That's why I went ape-shit when I saw Katiesha in bed with you.”

“This is just…”

“Just what, Kashawn?”

“I don't know if I can deal with this kind of behavior. Do you know Jayson told me that I needed to get an STD work-up, that this…Katiesha might have given me something?”

“What!”

“Yeah. On top of all this shit with finding out about my dad, I have to deal with this.”

“Kashawn, I'm so sorry.”

“I just don't know if I can deal with any more surprises from your past, Bree.”

“Do you blame me for what happened?”

“That's not what I'm saying.”

“You know, while you were laid up, somebody had to run the house and Deanthony was the only one who stepped up when all your mama did was point fingers and treat me like I was some kind of she-demon. Between her and Yvonne keeping me under a microscope, I'm surprised that I've been able to keep it together.”

“Why do you always have to blame my family for everything? Mama hasn't been nothing but supportive. You have to understand that all this is a lot for her to swallow.”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Kashawn usually had my back when it came down to Mama Liz's criticisms and shady glances. “What the hell has she done to you?”

“Bree, stop. I think we need to take responsibility for our own actions here.”

“I don't know what you want me to say. I've tried to be nothing but a good wife to you.”

Kashawn looked at me like he was trying to see through my soul. “I need to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me.”

“What? Ask it. What?”

“Is anything going on with you and my brother?”

It was the question I hoped he would never ask for fear of having to tell Kashawn the truth. “What are you talking about?”

“I see how you get when Deanthony is in the room, like you can't be still. You only get like that with him. I noticed it at my birthday party. Be honest with me. Is anything going on between the two of you?”

“You know what, fuck you. Here I am, trying to hold our life together, and you want to accuse me of fucking Deanthony. Fuck you!” I yelled, shoving Kashawn in his chest, forcing him to land back on the heel of his right foot. I hauled back and slapped him across his face. When I attempted to hit him again, he grabbed me by my wrist, locking his hand hard around it like an iron brace.

“Did you fuck him?”

I paused, feeling tears come up. “Yes. Yes, I fucked him. Is that what you want to hear? I fucked Deanthony. It didn't mean anything.”

“It must have meant something.”

All eyes were on us when I came clean about my adulterous confession.

“Mama is right about you. I should have left you at that club where I found you. You're nothing but a damn gold digger.”

“You've been waiting to find the bad in me. Any excuse to quit me. Well, congratulations, mama's boy. I guess I'm a gold-digging slut. I'm not the perfect woman you said ‘I do' to, and you are not a perfect man. You want me to sit at home and bake cookies and plant tomatoes in the backyard like your meddling mama, but I'm not her, Kashawn. I'm your wife, and if you don't like it, then maybe we should stop being married.”

“I have a reputation in this community and I'm not going to
have my wife make a fool out of me. I see how these men look at you, like they want to fuck you, walking around here in those tight clothes like some slut.”

I had heard enough and stormed back toward the house.

“It just goes to show that you can take the girl out of the strip club, but you can't take the strip club out of the girl. What the fuck am I doing with you?”

I turned around with rage and tears in my eyes. “I thought it was because you loved me.”

Tangela rushed to my defense as I sauntered toward the deck, but I wasn't trying to hear what she or anyone else had to say. Everyone played it off like they weren't witness to our fussing and fighting. Mama Liz looked off like she couldn't stomach me.

“Congratulations, you got your son back.” I jumped in my car and hauled ass. The last place I wanted to be was around Kashawn.

M
y heart raced. My blood surged through my veins like white fire as images of Bree and Deanthony fucking danced in my head, his hands on her breasts, his face planted between her thighs. I thought of how often they were doing this behind my back, fucking in my bed. How could I not see it? I knew something was up when I caught them together in my old room at Mama's the night I brought Bree to meet everyone. I saw how Deanthony was looking at her at the birthday party like she was a slab of fucking beef.

I wanted the earth to open up and swallow them. I couldn't shake the image of her sucking his dick or Deanthony eating her out.

“Kashawn, baby, are you all right?” Ma asked. She tried to ease my hurt.

“Mama, not now.”

She couldn't make this go away. Hell no, not this. I broke past her, past a cluster of family, friends, and hospital coworkers. “Where the fuck is he?” I entered the living room. Bree was gone. Good. Fuck her. Ma and Yvonne were right about her. She's a whore.

I fucked Deanthony. I fucked Deanthony. I fucked Deanthony.

Her words were razor-sharp barbs ripping through my mind. I was so stupid. How the fuck could I have been so naïve? I should have left that slut where I found her. I should have married a white woman.

I had Deanthony in my sights. Our eyes met past the house full of people.
Yeah, bitch, your secret is out.

“You had to do it, didn't you?” I yelled. All eyes were on me. “You just had to fuck her. Is she why you came back? You two thought, what, that you could take up where you left off?”

“Kashawn, let's go outside and talk about this.”