Page 37 of Heartless
We became an item, but it took an entire year before she had sex with me. Learning that she was a virgin gave me a new level of respect for her. By the end of our junior year, I was head over heels in love, following her around like a lovesick puppy to my father’s dismay.
My father said that she wasn’t suitable company to pursue, but she was good for “fucking.” That statement angered me and made me even more determined to marry her after college.
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” I say, finally responding to her statement.
“Then you shouldn’t be surprised that I disappeared.”
Irritation burns inside of me, and that has me scowling at her. “Sharla, you weren’t supposed to take what he offered,” I say in disappointment, shaking my head.
“What was I supposed to do?”
“I would have hoped that you would have made a stand for us the same way that I would have if the roles were reversed.”
“That would have been much easier for you. You had the comfort of your wealth to fall back on, Onyx. You always bragged about how you could never be denied anything. Me? What did I have? The opportunity to be out on the streets? Cast aside by my mother who was determined to get her hands on that money one way or the other?
“I didn’t have the options you did. I was told that I could either sign that NDA or get the hell out of her house. No trust funds were waiting for me or full scholarships to fall back on. There was no family that I could stay with since most of my family lived in crowded public housing anyway and could barely feed the mouths under their roofs.”
“You could have called me. I would have been there.”
“I did call you, Onyx. You never returned my calls that weekend. Your father gave me until Sunday night. Once I signed it and accepted it, he had me on a flight the very next day although school didn’t start until two weeks later. He made special arrangements for me to move in early.”
“I called you when I returned. Your phone was disconnected.”
She nods. “I know. Mama changed our phone number. If only we’d had cellphones back then. Either way, you never came to see me.”
“I did. Your mother said that you’d packed up and moved out West with Keyshawn,” I say of her ex-boyfriend.
Surprisingly, there’s no bitterness on her face. She laughs. “Onyx, we can’t change the past, and it’s unfortunate for both of us. I knew that you loved me, and I knew that I loved you, but love wasn’t enough. We were played and manipulated by the adults in our lives. My only prayer is that you don’t prevent me from having the job of a lifetime because of what some adults did in our lives.”
9 – MEADOW
“What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re lying. You haven’t been to any of our usual brunches or lunches. You’re always too busy to talk on the phone, and when you do, the conversations are brief and sometimes terse if you sense that I’m prying,” Kaia says.
She popped up at my dance studio unannounced today. I’m surprised that she found me because lately, I’ve been spending less time here. It took two weeks for me to return, but I finally did. Before that, I’d been having the other instructors to cover my classes.
I had no one to do that today so I had no choice but to show up.
The staff knew what happened because it was all anyone in our little business complex could talk about for days. Besides, they needed to know what had happened since they worked here. I needed everyone on alert for safety purposes, but I still haven’t told my family or Kaia.
A part of me wonders if Kaia has been conversing with my staff about me.
“What?” she asks, staring at me.
“What? I didn’t say anything,” I say, planting my foot up on the barre to stretch my calf muscle.
“Yes, you did. Why would I need to converse with your staff about you, Meadow?”
“Damn, did I say that aloud?”
“You most certainly did. Now, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on, Meadow Janae Maxwell. We’ve known each other since we were knee-high to a grasshopper running around in diapers. Don’t lie to me. If you can’t talk to me, then I don’t know what to say.”