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“Ex-girlfriend,” Justine corrected.
Every ounce of cool left me. No. She couldn’t be. “The one who put Destiny in the hospital?” I asked and turned to face Justine.
“Yes, this is Justine.”
“What kind of game have you been playing with me?” I yelled.
“Montie, I haven’t been playing with you. This was never about you.” She looked at Ja
cob, but reached for me.
“To hell, you haven’t been playing? You told me your name was Tracye and I was stupid enough to believe you!” I pushed her arm away and shoved her when she tried to touch me. I didn’t have a record of hitting women, but she deserved a special kind of beat down for hurting Destiny.
“I didn’t tell you my real name because I was afraid you would judge me before you got to know me. What happened between us, as oddly as it sounds, was real as far as our connection.”
“You know what; I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. I would never knowingly bring anyone around the mother of my kids who tried to hurt her,” I said and turned to Jacob. “Jacob, I meant no disrespect bringing her here. She’s crazy,” I said somberly.
“Montie, man, I know you didn’t mean any harm. Justine is a cold piece of work. Now, get out of here, right now, Justine!” Jacob said, looking her icily in the eye.
“You would know better than anyone, Jacob,” Justine insinuated more than she said.
“What I know is that you better get out of this reception hall.” Jacob wringed his anxious hands together.
“Montie, are you going to let him talk to me like that? I’m still your invited guest.”
“You should call a cab and get out of here, Justine.” I waved my hand and walked off leaving Justine standing with Jacob. “I’m done with this!” I stormed away from the rehearsal dinner having had a moment of affection with Destiny that I would forever treasure and a hate-filled revelation about Tracye, well Justine’s, deception.
“Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!” I flung my car in reverse and skidded backwards into the dark parking lot. I yanked the car into drive and sped through the neighborhood. “I’m done with it all!” I yelled to the empty compartment of my car.
Justine had caught me up in her trap. Jacob’s ex girl had seduced me and came along as my guest to their rehearsal dinner. Was she still trying to hurt Destiny?
I rode a few more blocks, my mind reeling through the whole Miami trip: my plane touching down. Me arriving at Jacob’s house. Us having a beer. Me going to Lapidus. Sleeping with Justine. Inviting her to the rehearsal diner. The birthday party. And then tonight. That’s when it hit me. Justine said she slept with her ex who was rich and who was having his rehearsal dinner tonight. She made sure to tell me before we entered the building that she had slept with him recently.
My stomach fell into my groin. Jacob had taken Destiny from me and was still banging the woman who damn near killed her. Justine couldn’t be trusted, especially since she tricked the hell out of me, but what gives? What if she was telling the truth about sleeping with Jacob?
“No wonder he wanted to move my family to Miami. It’s a threefold win for him. He’s close to his business, close to his mistress, and Destiny is far away from me,” my thoughts flowed through my lips as I drove down the highway going ninety to nothing.
I headed back to my hotel room. I got all my things jam packed into my suitcase, checked out and sped off to the airport. I was hopping on the first thing smoking back to Atlanta. Forget the wedding and reception and double dog fuck Miami. I needed distance between me and all the foolishness going on there. After checking my rental in, I boarded my plane.
When we finally started rolling down the tarmac and the engine roared and lifted us into the sky, I felt my first moment of peace. I laid my head back on the head rest and blew out a long gush of air from my lungs. No more Jacob, Destiny or Tracye—or Justine—whatever her name is, at least for a while. I desired to clear my head, and clear my head I did as I drank one bottle, two bottles, three…of the miniature vodkas provided on the plane. Once I was nicely zooted out of reality, I kicked back and put on some music. What kind of person did Justine think I was? What kind of person was she? How did I get caught up? I bet she sought me out…
Justine sat at the edge of that bar begging for attention. I offered it to her to receive the much-needed affection I needed in return. We had a damn good time. When I invited her to the rehearsal dinner the next morning, she nearly flipped over to the piece of paper to write down her name and number. Now that I played that back a second time, I realized just how cold the setup was. When we pulled up to the banquet hall, she didn’t have to mention sleeping with her ex, but she wanted to make sure I knew about her and Jacob.
“Wow! I believe her. She screwed Jacob since he’s been engaged to Destiny,” I stated, convinced.
“Who screwed Jacob?” the 40-something man sitting next to me asked, with a sincerely alarmed look on his face, alerting me that I was talking aloud.
“My bad. I didn’t mean to talk out like that,” I said as I sat back in my seat.
The man humped his shoulders and went back to reading his newspaper.
I rode the rest of the ride home quietly.
When I got home, I immediately called up my closest homeboy to run the events of the past twenty-four hours by someone outside of the situation. Mario would keep it one hundred with me.
“Mario man. What’s up?”
“Shoot, man you got it. I’m just sitting around here thinking of something to get into. What’s up with you, Mont?”
