My Own Terms 2: Never Settle
T. Nicole
Published by Pink Star Publications at Smashwords
© Copyright 2009 T. Nicole
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Places and businesses used are strictly used for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance of actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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ISBN-978-1-4505227-2-4
Cover Design by Tiffany Robinson
Photo provided by Dreamstime
Surprise
My phone beeped several times and I paid it no mind. It continued to beep and I figured it could be no one by Africa; Shawn and Aiden were still there with me. We were sprawled out on the living room floor and I didn’t want to move.
“Babe, ya phone,” Aiden told me as if I didn’t hear it.
“I know, but I don’t wanna move. I wanna just lay here with yall.”
“It might be Africa tryin’ to check on you.” Shawn logically pointed out.
“True,” I paused and grinned, “I’m good.”
“She gonna keep callin’ or textin’ if you don’t answer. You know how she is.”
Shawn was right; I was already tired of hearing the beeping. I got up off the floor, barely able to stand.
“Ohhh…” I jumped as I felt a smack on my ass. I didn’t know which one did it, they both smiled. Who ever it was, it made me want to turn right back around and give it to them again. “Wait ‘til I get back from checkin’ my phone, it’s gonna be on.”
“Don’t tease me!” Shawn played.
“Oh, I’m not”
“I’m game for that!” Aiden replied as he cut his eyes and licked his lips.
They had licked, sucked, caressed, poked, and everything else possible to me and my body. They didn’t seem to mind having to share; in fact Shawn performed better. I couldn’t believe they were so open about that shit. I mean most guys want a threesome, but with two chicks. The fact that they didn’t know each other was even stranger.
“Was it Africa?” Shawn yelled.
I didn’t respond, I just looked at the phone in utter shock.
I’m in San Diego. Told you I was coming for ya ass!!
The phone fell out of my hand onto the floor. I was in disbelief.
“Shana, what’s up?” Aiden stood up putting his boxers on. He walked up behind me nudging his hardness into my back. I couldn’t move, not an inch. How was he in San Diego? That couldn’t be possible, it just wasn’t possible.
Shawn jumped up off the floor, bent down and picked up the phone. He read the text and couldn’t hold himself together.
“What the fuck?! Is this who I think it is?!”
“Yeah,” I could barely speak. I walked away from Aiden, grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom. I threw clothes on my bare bathroom floor and sat on the cold toilet. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. He had threatened to come out to San Diego, but I didn’t think he had the balls to do it. I didn’t think he had the funds to do it. The farthest he had ever gone out of Philly was to New York and that was only because his cousin begged him to.
“What?!” I heard him yell from the living room, “Her husband?!”
I assumed Shawn was filling Aiden in on my situation. I quickly jumped up off the toilet seat, washed minimally, and threw my clothes on. I opened the bathroom door.
“What the fuck is goin’ on Shana?!” Aiden was standing in the doorway of my bathroom fully dressed.
“Aiden,” I sighed as I walked passed him,“ I have been trying to tell you all day. You wouldn’t let me, you wouldn’t let me explain anything.”
“This shit is major! You got your husband Shana, your husband, comin’ for ya ass all the way from Philly. What kind of shit is that?!”
“Aye,” Shawn interrupted, “calm the fuck down! She’s already stressed the fuck out and you sittin’ here yellin’ at her is not helpin’!”
“Whateva nigga! I’m out!”
“Aiden…wait. Please!”
“Naw, this shit is for the birds!” Aiden flagged me.
“Let him go Shana, let him go,” Shawn pushed his arms forward as if he was fleeing Aiden. “Now you know who is really here for you and about you.”
Aiden turned around and flagged Shawn back, “Nigga, shut the fuck up. That nigga gonna come the fuck up in here and fuck both yall up and I ain’t tryin’ to be around for none of that shit!”
Shawn began to walk toward Aiden with the grizzly look on his face. I jumped in front of him redirecting him to the kitchen area.
“Get the fuck out!” Shawn yelled across the apartment, “You a nut!”
Aiden didn’t even respond; he just slammed the door behind him. I could understand his frustration but he didn’t allow me to explain anything. I’ll call him tomorrow; he’ll be over it by then, I thought to myself trying to get my bearings together.
“You think that nigga really here for you? He want those drawls and that’s it, like every other nigga out here but me. I know you and I know what you need, these other niggas don’t!” Shawn bluntly explained interrupting my train of thought.
“I don’t know what he really wants, but right now it don’t even matter.”
“You think he’s really here? You think he would come all the way to Cali to find you?”
“Don’t know…I mean he told me the other day when he called talkin’ shit that he was gonna find me. I thought he was bullshitin’. The number the text came from, I don’t recognize it. It’s not his cell phone number, at least not the one he’s been callin’ me from all week long. What are some other area codes out here?” I paused thinking about the situation. “But I guess that don’t even matter 'cause he coulda got a cell phone from anywhere. DAMN!”
“So if you don’t recognize the number, how do you know it’s him?”
“Who the fuck else would send me a text like that. Plus, the text said ‘told you I was comin for ya ass’,” I pointed out with a little attitude.
“So what are you gonna do?”
“I gotta get dressed,” I looked toward my bedroom, “I got some things I gotta handle.”
“I’m in, let’s do it,” Shawn replied with his game face on.
I ran into my bedroom to find something else to put on. I needed to be dressed and ready for whatever. I found my pink and brown Baby Phat sweat suit and threw it on. I still had to look cute because you never know who you might run into when you’re out and about.
“Let’s go.”
“Where? I mean you actin’ like we bout to go on a manhunt for this nigga,” Shawn pointed out as if he had a problem with that scenario.
“What you ain’t down now?! All that shit you was talkin’ a few minutes ago and now you actin’ like you got a problem with somethin’!”
“Shana, don’t try to play me. You know I’m down for whateva. But you have to realize that you got a crazy ass nigga claimin’ to be here in San Diego and he has every intention on causin’ havoc in ya life.” he paused staring at me like I did something wrong. “And that means he is gonna 'cause havoc in my life too.”
Shawn was right. I was acting like he owed me something when he didn’t. How could I expect him walk into a situation that he really had no clue about?
“Shawn,” I sighed, “you’re right. I don’t know why I thought that you should go along with me on the suicide mission. My fault babe, my fault.”
I began to gather my keys and my purse to make my way out the door. To where I didn’t know; I just needed to get out of that apartment and be mobile. I was about to get my walk on.
“Where are you going? What are you gonna do?”
“Don’t know and don’t care.”
“Girl get ya shit and let’s go! To where I don’t know, but walkin’ around this apartment ain’t gonna do either one of us any good.”
I knew Shawn was a rider and that he would be down for whatever; I just had to make him see it. He and I both knew I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without him. I didn’t have a car nor did I know anyone in San Diego that could help me as much as Shawn could.
“Wait, don’t you have to go to work or somethin’? I mean it is the middle of week.”
“You know I will take off for you.” he smiled “I already had off, I was suppose to take Deja to the doctor.”
“Oh hell no! I don’t want her drama filled mama comin’ at me bout nothin’.”
“It’s cool, she rescheduled the appointment ‘cause Deja had somethin’ goin’ on at school that she didn’t wanna miss. I just neva told my boss that. So…I’m all yours.”
Shawn always had a story to back up his actions. I didn’t care if he was lying or not, he was there to chauffeur me around and that’s all I was worried about.
~~~~~~
We had been driving around for about an hour and I had got at least three more texts letting me know how much closer he was getting to me. Aamir must had been the dumbest person I had ever met in my life. Who stalks someone and tells them their every move? Isn’t stalking suppose to be one of those ‘quiet as it’s kept’ type of things? Idiot!
I started to think about what I did to deserve all the bullshit I had been through for the past week. I had allowed myself to sleep with three different men, two at one time for that matter. It was so out of character for me and I wondered if Aamir had caused this change. I had never really been with anyone else; the few relationships I had in high school I didn’t even count them. What I was involved in now was completely new for me and I was loving it and regretting it at the same time.
“I’m tired of running; fuck that nigga, I deserve to be happy and he needs to accept that!” I commented breaking the long silence that had taken over the car.
Shawn looked at me not saying a word; he just grinned. I knew he wanted to laugh at me, but didn’t want to make me mad. Before we decided to go back to my apartment, Shawn talked me into going to the police station. I didn’t see the point in it. What were they going to do, serve an order of protection to someone who I didn’t even know where they were?
“Come on…” Shawn demanded as he turned the car off.
“For what Shawn? What am I gonna tell them? They ain’t even gonna believe that some nigga from Philly done came all the way out here to get my ass! It’s a little far fetched don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed with a smirk on his face, “but what are we, you, gonna do? What, you just wanna wait for this nigga to show up and do something to you?”
“No, but I don’t even know where to start without really knowing if he is really here.” All this time I thought Aamir was doing stupid shit by telling me things. But it seems like I’m the stupid one because I have all this so called evidence, but no one to really attach it to.
“I think we should start with changing ya phone number. I mean I don’t even understand why you ain’t done that shit already.”
“I know too many people and it was just too inconvenient for me to change my number. Especially for some nut ass nigga!” I paused looking at him with a serious look on my face “Plus if I change my number I won’t know dumb asses next move. He tells me his general whereabouts, so if I change my number I won’t know anything.”
“That makes sense, but that’s a lot to go through.”
“It’s worth it…I guess.”
We sat in the parking lot of the police station for a while watching the officers going in and out. I decided to go in and see if I could get some type of protection from Aamir’s crazy ass. Shawn talked me into it; I wasn’t about to go in there and embarrass myself in front of a bunch of officers that may be my next potential rendezvous.
I walked up to the front desk and informed the female officer what was going on. She told me to take a seat and that someone would be right with me. She was cool and it seemed like she believed me. She didn’t give me any weird looks or cut her eyes at me like I was crazy.
“See, I told you,” Shawn smiled as he sat down on the bench next to me.
“Whateva. She’s just the one to direct me to someone else. It’s not her job to decide whether or not my story is legit,” I commented as I glared at him.
We sat on that bench for an hour before I decided to get ghetto on their asses. I sashayed my self back past the front desk right up to an officer’s desk.
“Shana…” Shawn tried to grab my arm before I left the bench.
“Ma’am, I said someone would be with you shortly!” the female officer yelled at me as I walked right by her.
“Officer…Mack,” I slowly read from his badge “I have been sitting over there, right over there, for over an hour waiting to be seen. I don’t know if you’re the right person to help me with my situation or not, but I can’t sit there any longer.”
I tried to remain as calm as possible because this man was fine. His uniform fit to my liking, exposing enough of his arms to make me have questions about other parts of his body. He had a neck that could hold all of Mr. T’s gold without even causing him any discomfort.
“Have a seat ma’am and I will be right with you,” he said as he pointed to the chair in front of his desk, directly to my left.
I turned around and looked at Shawn and all he could do was shake his head. I turned back around giving Officer Mack my full attention, even though he wasn’t giving me his at the moment. He finally finished up with whatever it was that he was doing and turned to me with his undivided attention.
“So, Ms….”
“Call me Shana,” I insisted as I leaned in, putting my forearm on his desk.
He leaned himself to his right, my left, to see past me. He was looking at Shawn. It was obvious he was trying to check out the whole scenario.
“Oh, that’s my best friend’s brother. He’s just here for support.” I quickly interrupted whatever thought he may have been wrapped up in.
“What can I help you with, Shana?” he interestingly asked as he sat back up straight.
“I need an order of protection against my husband, I mean my x-husband, I’m separated, but just not divorced yet. I moved all the way from Philly to get away from him. I have been getting harassing phone calls and texts from him. Now he is texting me telling me that he is here, in San Diego.”
I pulled out my cell phone and began showing him all the texts from Aamir. He didn’t comment. He just kept looking at the texts. After a couple of minutes he looked at me in the strangest way.
“Why haven’t you changed your number yet?
“I know too many people and plus if I change my number I won’t know what his next move may be,” I explained as I did to Shawn.
“I see,” he commented as he shook his head, “but that leads me to wonder why you are here.”
“Excuse me?” I paused looking at him as if he was speaking Spanish “I just told you that he was threatenin’ me and other kinds of shit! I mean what don’t you get?!”
“I need for you to calm down,” Officer Mack demanded as he became frustrated with the situation.
Shawn never moved from his seat. He sat there observing the scene and waiting for his cue to intervene.
“Officer Mack, I don’t know what I am ‘spose to do? I mean I got this crazy ass man stalking me, telling me he came all the way from Philly to San Diego to get me. I am being driven around by my best friend’s cousin like I’m some kind of fool. I mean what?”
“Ok, the only option we have here is for you to get an order of protection. The only issue is, he won’t be able to be served because it is not definite that he is here. We have no address for him and you can’t even tell me his exact whereabouts. So, Ms. Shana, I suggest you get the order of protection to protect yourself and as soon as you know his whereabouts you let us know so we can serve him immediately. Oh, and change your damn phone number. As long as he has your number he can track you. I don’t care how inconvenient it is for you, change it. ”
“I don’t know about that, but what do I need to fill out for the order of protection?” I asked feeling like it was really a waste of time.
“Officer Miller will get you the paperwork. When you are finished bring it back to me so I can process it.”
“Ok.”
I got up from Officer Mack’s desk and went to sit back down by Shawn. He just looked at me with such concern in his eyes. It was such a turn on, but there was nothing I could do about it; we were at a police station and it was beyond inappropriate. I didn’t want to get arrest for indecent exposure.
Officer Miller finally brought over the necessary paperwork for me to fill out. It was only two sheets of paper and most of the questions I couldn’t answer. It was going to be almost impossible to have this order be effective.
“This shit is for the birds!”
“What’s up?”
“It’s just,” I paused “this shit ain’t gonna work. Half these questions I don’t have the answer to ‘cause I don’t know where he is. This shit is gettin’ real frustrating.”
“Just do whatcha can,” he encouraged me. “It doesn’t matter any way.”
“And why is that?” I questioned feeling kind of confused.
“’Cause you know I’m all the protection that you need,” he smiled.
I finished up what I could, smiling and shaking my head at Shawn the whole time. I jumped up and walked back over to Officer Mack’s desk. He looked up at me and smiled. He had the prettiest teeth to go along with his one dimple on the left side of his face.
“You all done?”
“All that I could do,” I sat down.
He glanced over the forms and told me if that was the best I could do it was fine, but if I came up with more information to come back and let them know.
“That’s it then?”
“Yup, that’ll do it,” he paused looking me dead in my eyes “Unless you got something else.”
I thought about his offer long and hard. I already had too much going on in my life at that point, but it damn sure was tempting. Damn! I thought to myself as I tried to come up with one good reason why I shouldn’t give Officer Mack my number besides all the bullshit I had going on. I couldn’t think of anything; I guess Aamir and his shit, Shawn and his shit, and Aiden and his fucked up attitude was enough for one person to handle at one time.
“So,” I smirked “I guess that’s it.”
Officer Mack made his muscles flex, winked his eye at me and proceeded to write his number down on a post-it. “Use is as often as you like,” he told me with the most serious look on his face.
“I can’t…”
“Just in case you need some extra protection.”
I stood up and thanked him for his services and turned around to walk away. As I walked away I provided a little extra twist to my waist. I could see Shawn looking right passed me, right in the direction of Officer Mack.
“You ready?”
“Yup, let’s go,” he demanded as he never looked at me. He continued to stare at Officer Mack until we hit the door. Officer Mack didn’t seem phased at all. So sexy.
Take Cover
We circled the parking lot several times looking for an unusual cars. The problem with that was I didn’t live there long enough to know what an unusual car looked like. After getting dizzy from burning donuts in the parking lot for fifteen minutes, Shawn suggested I run up to my apartment and grab some clothes. He thought it would be better for me to stay at his place for a while. It figures right?!
“Answer your phone,” he told me as I got out of the car “I wanna make sure everything is cool while you gettin’ ya stuff.”
I quickly scurried to the stairwell of my apartment, being very cautious as I approached. Aamir’s crazy ass could have been hiding anywhere.
“You okay?” Shawn questioned as he watched me from the car.
“If you’re so damn concerned, why the hell you ain’t get out the damn car and walk me up here?!”
“Somebody gotta be the getaway driver, right?”
“Whatever,” I replied as I stuck my key in the door.
I ran threw the apartment as fast as possible and grabbed everything I thought I would need for the next couple of days. Luckily for me, everything was still separated accordingly from when I packed. I really didn’t want to stay with Shawn, because that meant he would be watching my every move. No creeping around for me in the next couple of days; what if I wanted to get away for a minute?
“Aight, I’m comin’ out.”
“You got everything you need ‘cause we ain’t comin’ back for a couple of days,” he warned “Grab enough for at least a week.”
“Yeah, everything I can think of.”
I walked out the apartment, hands full of all my shit. I struggled to lock the door; trying not to drop my phone from my ear and any of the things I was carrying.
“Here I come Shawn,” I told him right before I hung up the phone. I locked the door, gathered my things and walked down the stairwell. Now out in the open, I noticed a silver Dodge Ram sitting in the parking lot about four cars away from Shawn. The inside of the car was too dark for me to see who it was or what was going on. My walk slowed down and my guard went up. I didn’t know whether to walk or run back to Shawn’s car. As I neared his car, I noticed the door of that pick-up truck opening. My heart began to race like a horse galloping at full speed in an open field. A tall man stepped out, wearing a black hoody over his head. He had dark sun glasses on, so his identity was almost impossible to make out. I froze; I couldn’t take one more step. I looked back and forth between the hooded man and Shawn sitting in the car. My eyes began to water as my left eye started to twitch. The tall man got completely out of the car, slamming the door behind him. He began to walk toward the pathway and I panicked more than I ever have. I dropped everything I was holding; cell phone and all. Shawn read my reactions and jumped out of the car. He ran up to me before the man actually made it to the walkway. As the man approached he began to remove his sunglasses and the hood from his head. He began to become increasing more familiar to me as he approached. I recognized that face anywhere.
“Jay?” I questioned as I started to breathe again.
“What’s up, babe” he asked.
“Boy, you scared the shit outta me. What the fuck you doin’ sittin’ in ya truck like that?”
“I was gettin’ my shit together; what’s up with you?”
“Nothin’,” I lied not wanting to tell my life story “I’m just goin’ through a little bit right now.”
“What’s up Jay?” Shawn interrupted.
I didn’t even know they knew each other, but I guess they should have since Africa had lived there for a while.
“I’ll be in the car; see you later Jay.” I announced as I left the two of them standing and talking. I grabbed all of my things and walked to the car.
They stood out there for a little longer discussing who knows what. I beeped the horn, getting Shawn’s attention so he would come on. He turned, looked at the car, looked back at Jay, said something and walked away. He hopped in the car, started it, threw it in reverse, and drove off. Jay turned around and walked off.
“So, how is this gonna work?” I questioned Shawn wondering if he thought that this whole arrangement meant that we were together.
“What do ya mean? You gonna stay with me until this is whole thing blows over or until we figure out where your husband really is.”
“X-husband, he’s my x-husband,” I snapped back.
“Sweetie, he’s ya husband. Y’all ain’t got a divorce yet and ya not even legally separated. Just because you moved across the country does not mean you are not still legally tied to him,” Shawn conveniently reminded me.
“Shut the hell up Shawn, DAMN!”
He was acting like I didn’t know that I was still married. If I wanted to call him my x-husband, I can call him that. This was going to be a long couple of days.
~~~~~
“Girl, where you at? I been knockin’ on ya door for the last couple of minutes; I wanna see ya new place,” Africa said sounding out of breath. “I took a half day at work and came right home so I could help you set up your place.”