Zane's the Other Side of the Pillow (14 page)

“I'm grilling some fish, making some jasmine rice, some baby bok choy with sweet peppers, and garlic sourdough bread. Then I'm finishing it with a crème brûlée.”

“Jemistry wasn't joking. You can really cook.”

“I'm a master in the kitchen. You're welcome to a plate when it's done. There's plenty.”

“Even if there wasn't plenty, I was going to get some. I've been known to eat off Jemistry's plate. There's no shame in my game.”

I chuckled as I turned to face her. “Can you hand me that fresh rosemary over there?”

Winsome picked up the bunch of rosemary and brought it to me.

“Thanks,” I said as she handed it to me.

“You're welcome.”

She sat down at the kitchen table. “I guess you and Jemistry will be spending a lot more time together since she's out for the summer.”

“She'll definitely have more free time, but hospitals never shut down. I do plan to take a couple of weeks' vacation time so we can get away. She wants to go to Italy to take cooking lessons.” I started breaking up the rosemary and sticking sprigs into the fish. “As you can imagine, I'm as excited as she is about that.”

“Well, Jemistry definitely could benefit from cooking lessons, but don't tell her I said that. She's sensitive about her cooking.”

“Don't I know it!” I paused for a few seconds and then went and sat across from Winsome at the table. “Since you brought up the topic, I do want to spend as much time with Jemistry as possible. It would be perfect if she could move in with me.”

It was like all of the air was suddenly sucked out of the room, like a scene from the movie
Backdraft.
The look on Winsome's face told me that it was about to come back in and combust into flames.

“Move in with you?!” Winsome practically shouted. “But what about me?”

“Winsome, did you honestly think that you and Jemistry would be roommates until the end of days? We're in love and she's over my place at least four nights a week as it is.”

“And she's here three nights a week,” Winsome said in defiance. “Ya'll haven't been dating long enough to move in together. And when did she say she loved you? She never told me that.”

Those words stung. She realized that if Jemistry was ready to admit to being in love, she would have told her about it. I refused to pay homage to her negative thoughts, though.

“Says who? You? You can't determine a timeline for our relationship.” I crossed my arms in front of me. This was not going to be easy. “If the two of us feel like we're ready to take that step, no one has the right to judge us . . . even you. We're in love,” I embellished by speaking for both of us, “and once we get married, she's going to have to move out any—”

“Get married? Jemistry hasn't said anything to me about a damn wedding, and trust, I'd be the first to know!”

“Actually, you'd be at least the third to know because the two people in the actual relationship, the two people who will be in the actual marriage, would have to know first.”

I was hoping my point was delivered. When she rolled her eyes, I decided to clarify further.

“Winsome, Jemistry adores you. She talks about you all the time. She respects and admires a lot of your qualities, but there are some things that make her . . . uneasy.”

“What things?” Winsome spat out the words. “Oh, let me guess. You have a problem with my sexuality.”

“I don't, and don't even go there. What I do have a problem with is you bringing a bunch of strangers up in here while my baby
is around. If you want to risk your life over casual sex with the masses, that's on you. But it only takes one person to be certifiably crazy before a tragedy happens. I don't want Jemistry to end up on
The First 48
or one of those other shows because you can't control your behavior.”

“How dare you?!” Winsome jumped up from the table and placed her palms on the surface. “If you weren't a fucking rosewood tree, I'd smack the shit out of you!”

“If it makes you feel better, smack me, but I'm not taking back what I said. And I'm definitely not going to hit you back. Not in my nature.” I stood up to check on the fish. “I haven't officially asked my baby to marry me yet, but I'm sure she is anticipating it. I've been waiting for the right moment. Who knows? That right moment might come tonight.”

Winsome stormed out of the kitchen, went into her bedroom, and slammed the door closed behind her.

I made sure the fish wasn't burning, flipped it over, and then reached into my pocket to retrieve the velvet ring box. I opened it and peeped the six-carat De Beers Signature collection platinum-banded ring that I'd purchased while we were in the Caymans. It was tricky trying to declare it at customs without Jemistry seeing it.

Yeah, tonight is the night! I hope she says yes!

Jemistry had called to tell me that she was running even later. Dinner was done so I decided to go into her room and watch the evening news until she got there. Somehow I dozed off. I must have been more tired than I'd thought and the newscaster's voice might as well have been singing a lullaby. I was out like a light.

I was still completely out of it when I felt Jemistry unzipping my pants and pulling my dick out.

“Ooh, baby,” I whispered. “You're home.”

I loved it when Jemistry woke me up with her amazing head game.

“So now you want to have an end-of-the-year party with me? Do your thing, baby.”

She didn't respond. She just took the tip of my dick into her mouth and went to work.

It didn't take me long to snap out of it, open my eyes, and push Winsome off of me, and completely off the bed.

I jumped up as she climbed up off the floor. “What the fuck?!”

Winsome laughed. “I was only trying to give you what you wanted.”

“I don't want you!” I stared at her in disgust as I tried frantically to put my dick back in my pants. “You're fucking crazy!”

“That's a big-ass dick you've got there.” Winsome bit her bottom lip. “Now I see why Jemistry's so sprung. I should've known when she gave up both of her fuck buddies so fast. They'd been taking turns banging her pussy out for years.”

“You're a dirty bitch!”

“It's the truth. I bet you thought she was some kind of innocent and virginal chick when you met her, didn't you? She had your ass fooled and she has your ass fooled now.”

“She told me about her past and what she was doing when we met. There's nothing you can say or do that will keep me from loving her.”

We both heard the key in the lock at the same time. I tried desperately to beat Winsome to the door but, by the time I got there, Jemistry was standing in the hallway and saw both of us come out of her room. There was no way that we could hide the expressions on our faces.

Winsome walked past Jemistry and said, “I was keeping that dick warm for you until you got home. He's like a fucking python.”

Jemistry glared at Winsome as she disappeared out of sight and then turned her look of utter disappointment toward me.

“Baby, I promise you, this is not what you think.”

“Not what I think?” She pointed in the direction that Winsome had gone. “I come home, catch the two of you rushing out of my bedroom, your belt unbuckled and your pants unzipped, and it's not what I think? It's exactly what the fuck I think!”

I tried to move toward her and take her into my arms. She pushed me away.

“Don't even
think
about touching me! I trusted you. It took me years to let the walls of my fortress come down, and you do this to me. You're like all the rest of them.”

“No, I'm not. I promise you that—”

“Stop saying
promise
!” Jemistry screamed. “It's a lie! Everything you ever told me was a lie!”

“Baby, when you said you were running late, I went to lie down.” I pointed to her bedroom. “I woke up with my dick in your roommate's mouth and
immediately
pushed her off me.”

“You are so full of shit! How did she manage to get your dick out of your pants and into her mouth without you noticing?”

“I thought it was you. My eyes were closed, but the second she started . . . when she put it in her mouth, I could tell the difference.”

“I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth. You need to get the fuck out.”

“I'm not leaving until we get this straight . . . until you understand what happened. Ask her what happened. Can you at least do that?”

“I don't even want to look at that bitch in this moment! She's—”

Winsome must have been hanging on to every word. She yelled, “Don't call me a damn bitch because your man wanted some of this!”

I couldn't believe that things were going down like that. I couldn't believe that the love of my life was about to reject me for something that I didn't do. How could a life already so fucked-up and plagued with disappointment take another fucking blow?

Jemistry went around the corner and I followed her. Before I knew it, she was on top of Winsome on the floor, pounding her fists into her face. Winsome was screaming for dear life and trying to protect her head.

I pulled Jemistry off her. “Baby, stop! It's not worth going to jail!”

“You filthy bitch!” Jemistry screamed, and started trying to kick Winsome as she got up off the floor. “It's not enough for you to fuck every Tom, Thomasina, Dick, Daisy, Harry, and Henrietta! Now you want to fuck my man!”

Winsome wiped the blood coming out of the right side of her lip. “Actually, your man came onto me.”

“That's a fucking lie!” I said. “You came in there when I was asleep and tricked me. Admit it.”

“I ain't admitting shit because it didn't go down that way!”

I was still holding on to Jemistry from behind. She grabbed at my wrists to try to free herself. “Let me go, Tevin!”

“Only if you promise you won't attack her again. I don't give a fuck about her, but I won't let anything happen to you.”

Jemistry started breathing heavily; she was in a blind rage.

“No, I'm not letting you go. I'm taking you out of here before you end up hurt, or in jail. You're a principal. Think about it.”

Jemistry started to calm down some. One thing was for sure: She didn't want to jeopardize her career. She had worked too hard for it.

“Let me go. I'm going to leave, and so are you.”

I released. “Good, we can go back to my place. You don't ever have to come back here. I'll get all of your things by tomorrow and—”

“I'm not leaving any of my shit here, and I'm not going to your place.” She glared at Winsome. “As a matter of fact, you get the fuck out.”

“I'm not going anywhere!” Winsome proclaimed. “Ain't no man coming between us! He needs to get the fuck out so we can talk!”

“Winsome, I swear on every grave of every dead relative that I have, if you don't get the fuck out of here within the next two minutes, I'm going to beat the living daylights out of you.”

“Jemistry, this is silly. Where am I supposed to go?”

“I don't give a damn. Out of all the people you're fucking, at least one of them should have a sofa for you to crash on. Or you can just get in their bed and spread your legs like you always do. Tell them that you'll fuck for three hots and a cot.”

“Are you really going to put me out of here?” Winsome asked.

“Are you really going to wait around and find out if I'll maim you?”

Winsome went into her bedroom.

I tried to reason with Jemistry. “All of this started because I discussed moving in together earlier and she flipped.”

Jemistry turned and looked me in the eyes. “I can't deal with this right now. I need time.”

“But—”

“I'll be back tomorrow morning.” Winsome had put on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her purse. “By then, everything should be back to normal.”

“Back to normal? How about you kiss my entire ass? Let's get something straight right now. We're no longer going to be roommates. I decided to share a home with a friend, not a backstabbing whore.”

Winsome stood there, tapping her right foot, and staring up at the ceiling.

“I'm not sure what happened between the two of you, but it's clear as a damn bell that it shouldn't have ever happened. You're so hurt and lonely that you want me to wallow in the shit pool of pity with you. Well, I'm not doing it another day.”

“You do realize that I could call the police because you assaulted me, right?” Winsome asked and then smirked. “My face tells the story.”

“Yeah, you can call the police and by the time they get here, there'll be bruises all over your body. If I'm getting locked up, I'm going to make it worth my time.”

The smirk quickly disappeared from Winsome's face. Both she and I realized that what Jemistry had said made a lot of sense. That damn Virgo was analyzing and plotting. If she was going to get arrested, she was going to cause more damage on her way there. I couldn't argue with that logic.

Winsome didn't say another word. She left out and slammed the front door.

Jemistry turned toward me. “Your turn.”

“I love you. You know that I love you.”

She went over and opened the door. “Please leave.”

“Not until we talk.”

“Look, Tevin, I'm not going to be the typical scorned woman, call the police, lie about you doing something to me, and then put you into the system with a restraining order. So many women do that, that when women really are in danger, people tend not to believe them.

“But I'm also not prepared to listen to any more of your lies tonight. It's too painful. If you truly give even an inkling of a damn about me, you'll leave. You'll leave right now and let me start to begin healing.