How to Lose a Husband Page 3

  The gifts and money were to pay British for keeping things discreet and save that snappy nappy dugout for him. Stacks was well aware of her reputation, but was not going to be caking her for the next nigga. He wanted her all to himself.

  As with any ‘sexship’, a pseudo relationship where you meet primarily for sex and little else, British started to grow feelings. In her haze, she convinced herself that Stacks actually cared for her. Or maybe, during pillow talk he told her he did. She went from, fucking this nigga, to spending time with my baby. All the while, he was still, very publicly with his wife. I guess, I should give you her name. Kenya, her name is Kenya.

  Stacks and Kenya were straight. He kept taking her on the red carpet and she moved around the country with him, sometimes with the kids, others without. It was very clear that he was not going anywhere.

  The first time British told Stacks she loved him was a momentous occasion in her mind. That was not a word she ever threw around, but it was the only way to describe how he made her feel. I think it was just because she didn’t have any other dudes to kick it with. Stacks made it clear that he wanted her to himself and she obliged. With no one else occupying her time, her mind developed a dependence on him, an affection.

  “I got you,” that was his response. That’s all. British did a good job of barely being seen, not heard and hardly remembered. After bringing her around Kenya a few more times and British maintaining her role, Stacks got real comfortable. The rubbers went away, he would spend the night, they started actually hanging together instead of just fucking and meeting up to shop or club. He started taking her with him to the strip club, like showing up with her, being with her and leaving with her. Like I said earlier, strip clubs are the foundation of the Atlanta music scene, but also a breeding ground for rumors because you never know who will be there.

  Stacks was smart enough to know that people would see them together in the strip clubs and start rumors. Kenya would probably trip about it at first, but she’d ask him, not find any truth to it. After that, she’d be irritated that people kept talking about it. So if anyone saw them together after Kenya had heard the rumors, Stacks could easily say, people were keeping up the story. He was having his cake and sho’ nuff eating it too.

  British was caught up. She knew it, he knew and The Divas knew it, too. Her design business was falling behind and she was not out trying to get new clients or extend contracts like before. At some points she barely had money coming in. As long as she had her Stacks, she didn’t seem to care about much else.

  I tried to get her to see that while her career was falling through the cracks, he certainly was not losing any money spending time with her. She shouldn’t either. She wasted her precious design time trolling through gossip websites to see how often Stacks’ name came up and what people were saying. Not only was she reading the articles, she was reading the comments also. She never let him know she was stalking his every move. She also wanted to see what the fans thought about his wife. It cracked her up to see that some people were not fans of Kenya’s.

  Stacks called British from the studio. They were supposed to be going to dinner, but he needed to stop by his makeshift office, which was really another apartment he had in the city that his wife didn’t know about, then he would be on his way. British decided she would meet him there. Even though she had a spare key, British had been trained not to stop by without asking. She had no reason to go by, he was rarely there anyway.

  She got there before he did and walked right up to the door, turned the lock and went inside. There was nothing office about it, Stacks had the spot completely laid out. It was a wonder he was able to keep it from Kenya the whole time. His stuff was all over the place. She saw a Rolex with diamonds on the bezel and a huge wad of cash lying on the table. His platinum chain was hanging off of the end table by the couch where some random bitch was laying. His shoes…SKURRRR…British tapped the girl on the shoulder waking her up.

  “Who are you?” British asked. The girl instantly looked annoyed.

  “Who are you?” She asked with an attitude.

  “Bitch, this my shit!” British lied and held up the keys. She felt entitled to anything that was his.

  “Oh, shit!” The girl snatched up her phone and ran into the bathroom, barricading herself inside. British went crazy.

  “Who the fuck are you, Bitch?” British beat on the door. “Who…HIT…the…HIT…fuck…HIT…are…HIT…you…HIT? Come out! Don’t be scared now! You weren’t scared when you were sleeping on my man’s couch! Come out!” Meanwhile, the girl was inside on the phone calling Stacks. When he didn’t answer, she called his friend.

  “Mane, this is Monique!” She screamed into the phone to one of Stacks’s friends who was only a few minutes away. “You gotta come over here! This crazy bitch just walked in and she’s going…SHIT!” British stabbed a knife through the door.

  “BRANG YO’ NAPPY HEADED ASS HERE NOW!”

  By that time, Stacks was parking outside. When he saw British’s car, he knew he was about to walk into some drama. The door to the apartment was wide open and he could hear British yelling from where he stood. His heart instantly dropped to the pit of his stomach as he ran inside.

  “British, stop stabbing the door!”

  “You don’t have the right to say shit to me!”

  “Put the knife down!”

  “Who the fuck is this bitch, Stacks?”

  “She’s here for Mane!”

  “Bullshit!” Mane and another friend, Pat ran into the opened apartment. British was still standing next to the locked bathroom door riddled with holes from the knife. Stacks was standing closer to the door in a fight or flight stance with his arms outstretched.

  “Mane, tell British Monique is here for you!” Stacks coaxed. His homeboys knew British and what time it was.

  “British, you are trippin’ gul, Monique is one of my bitches!” Mane laughed. He tried to lighten the atmosphere.

  “Bitches?” Monique yelled.

  “SHUT UP!” everybody screamed in unison. Feeling bold knowing there were three men in the apartment who wouldn’t let a fight break out, Monique opened the door. She strolled out and just stared at British.

  “Yes, I am here for Stacks, what ‘chu gon’ do? You ain’t even his wife?”

  “Bring your ass over here, bitch. I’ll show you what I’ll do.” The ladies ran at each other, Stacks cornered British to take her into the room so Monique could get her stuff and get out.

  British was all upset after it happened. She got in the car and peaced out. She refused to answer his calls or texts for a few days. Then, one day he popped up over her house. When she looked through the peep hole to see who was ringing the door bell, she saw a huge brown box. Just like that, they were right back at it. Stacks had her pegged. All he had to do was leave her alone for a few days to let her cool down and show back up bearing gifts.

  Each time she took him back, British was devaluing herself. Basically, he was buying her. She was too stupid or too gone to care. He told her he loved and missed her. It made her feel good until he said he wasn’t leaving his wife. He let British know he was comfortable with their relationship the way it was. She knew he was married when they met and she decided to play this part. Anytime British brought up the topic of him possibly leaving Kenya, he laughed.

  Months and months went by without event until British told him, “I’m pregnant.”

  “I bet you are,” he leaned over to her and began kissing her neck. British had decided to tell him just as they were about to get busy. He teased her with kisses down between her breasts and back up on either side of her neck. He sucked on her nipples using his tongue to flick them until they got hard again. He positioned himself between her legs, placing his head at her belly button. His lips touched her ever so gently. Low…lower…even lower.

  “I’m serious Stacks.”

  “How are you pregnant, huh?” he asked softly in between kisses. He was ready to get back down to bus
iness. The stench of sex still lingered in the air from the first round.

  “What do you mean, how? We have sex don’t we? We haven’t used rubbers in years!”

  “You said you were on birth control!” His tone changed when he saw the conversation was not a joke.

  “I never said I was on birth control.”

  “My pull out game is strong. Whose baby is that?”

  “Nigga! How the fuck is the first thing out of your mouth, whose baby is this? You know damn well whose baby this is…It’s yours fool!”

  “Nah, British!” He sat all the way up. She stared at him, her eyes burning a hole through his face. Even though she was butt naked, he looked past the thick hips and full breasts right into her eyes. They were having an old school staring contest. Who was going to blink first?

  “What the fuck does nah mean?”

  “You can’t have it.”

  “Stacks!”

  “No, man! I was with Kenya when we met, British. We have a family.” The words hit her like a dagger in the heart.

  “So you just throw her up in my fucking face? Is that what this is?”

  “Ain’t nobody throwing shit! You have to go get rid of it. It ain’t even a baby yet.”

  “Oh, oh, oh,” she laughed loudly, “you talk shit about cumming in me when you fuck me raw. Now that there is a baby in there, it’s a problem? I thought you cared about me.” He could see in that moment, she was vulnerable. If he spoke to her gently, he may just get his way.

  “I do care about you, Baby. There is a lot of love between us. This just really complicates things.”

  “I love you, Stacks. This baby was conceived in love.”

  “We will have to figure out something.”

  “I am…well, I was ok with playing the backfield. This changes things. I want this child to have a relationship with you.” Stacks sat all the way up on the bed, he knew where this conversation was headed. British wanted more than this sexship. She wanted a real relationship. There was just a teeny, tiny problem, he was already in one.

  The Divas were not excited about where this was headed. They had seen and heard about this happening so many times before with different chicks along the way. British had never considered having a child before, well, she thought about it only enough to know motherhood was not on her list of things to do. She was far too busy doing her. With Stacks, it was something different. No other guys demanded her full attention. His taking the lead turned her on. To her it signified that he really wanted her. He was right, this baby was going to be a game changer.

  British envisioned her future with Stacks, like a real future. She saw them being together as an official couple and raising their child. When she spoke about it, I would ask her, “What about his family?” She would shrug her shoulders and continue on. My girl showed no regard at all for the lady in his life or the children he was already raising. It’s like she didn’t care about them at all.

  It made me sick to see her carrying on like that. Especially with me being a wife thinking some trick like her could be plotting to end my marriage. The picture perfect view she had envisioned for her life escalated from only wanting to snag a baller all the way to becoming his wife. Even if she had to push someone else out of the way to do it.

  One morning, British woke up having excruciating pain. She had never felt pain like that before. Her immediate first thought was the pregnancy. Was this normal? This couldn’t be normal, she thought. She needed to get to the hospital. She got up and waddled to the bathroom, in her heart she knew something wasn’t right. Looking down at her legs, she saw blood and her stomach got upset.

  “No! No!” she spoke out loud to nobody but herself. She cleaned herself up and went to the emergency room. On the way there, she called me crying. She was half whispering, half crying so the only thing I could make out was the name of the hospital. I was frantic, honestly her pregnancy wasn’t even on my mind. She had recently told us, but when you can’t see a pregger belly and it’s only the beginning, a fetus is the last thing on your mind.

  I found her quickly. The nurses and doctor did the normal song and dance around the E.R. Upon doing an exam, they saw that she had suffered a miscarriage. The tears began to roll. I could tell she was hurt and embarrassed. Since I was not Stacks’ biggest fan, British probably regretted calling me. She turned her face away from me so I couldn’t see her tears.

  Girl, please! We were in a tiny hospital room! Of course I saw the tears. I couldn’t express condolences for something I didn’t support. I got her back home and had one of the other girls go get her car. I called in some take-out from Cheesecake Factory to lighten her mood.

  Food was the last thing she wanted, but it was there if she got hungry. I hung out with her for a while, in silence. The TV was on, but I could see her mind was in a different place. She was thinking about the child that she lost. The shot at having a family that was now gone. She never really wanted children…until she was about to have one. That left a burning desire in her heart to have a child between Stacks and herself. She dismissed herself from the living room and called Stacks.

  “I just got back from the hospital.”

  “What’s wrong?” Stacks asked genuinely concerned. I know that fool had his fingers crossed that she was calling to say she had a miscarriage or an abortion.

  “Our baby’s gone.” Silence. She could not tell if he was doing the running man, flipping cartwheels or unmoved. One thing she was sure of, was that he wasn’t upset.

  “I’m sorry, I know it’s something you really wanted.”

  Emphasis was on ‘you’. Yeah, it was easy to be sympathetic since the thorn had been removed from his side. His mind told him he had to be more careful, her mind was already thinking about getting pregnant again. This time, on purpose.

  Even though only her Divas knew about the pregnancy, she still felt like a change of scenery would do her good. Truth was, she had only known she was pregnant for about a month. In those four weeks, she managed to conjure up a whole new fantasy life for herself.

  She and Stacks had a number of heart-to-heart conversations about their relationship. During the healing process, she could not have sex, but he made sure to spend quality time with her. He told her that after she told him about the pregnancy, he was thinking things over and had toyed around with the idea of leaving Kenya to be with her, he just had not had the conversation with either of them yet.

  British began doing research on natural ways to increase fertility, what types of foods to eat, different positions to have sex in and even buying an African fertility statue for her place. The crazy part was how excited she got when she talked about eating healthier, taking prenatal vitamins and exercising. She was going all out trying to get pregnant for a man who only mentioned he may leave his wife. Never once did he put actions behind those words.

  The whole time, we were fussing at her trying to get her to understand that she deserved better. Stacks was going to drag her as long as she allowed him to. Why would he go anywhere else when she gave all the goods she had? He got sex anytime he even thought about it. She wasn’t seeing anyone else, nor was she making a public fuss of their relationship. His pull out game was strong, according to him. And going forward, he would be more careful.

  He just asked for time. Damn, how much time did he need? British had been a faithful side chick for going on four years. His words may have said, “I’m going to leave Kenya,” but his actions showed differently. Her nose was so wide open, that she couldn’t see his actions, because the words painted the picture she so desperately wanted to see.

  With a system chock-full of natural foods to get herself knocked up, British wanted to get away with Stacks to get him relaxed enough for things to “just happen.” He wasn’t letting his guard down enough for her to move forward with this planned pregnancy…planned only in her head.

  “I really don’t want to be here. I want to get away for a few days.”

  “I’m going to Houston for a while
. Why don’t you come to my house out there?”

  Over the next few days, Stacks bought her a first class ticket to Houston on his flight. British was overjoyed. He asked for a little time in getting his affairs in order financially to figure out what he could offer Kenya in the divorce. He wanted Kenya and his kids to be comfortable. British obliged and knew it was only a matter of time before Stacks was parading her around as his lady.

  She made the house feel like a home. Being there was just the change she needed. It had been a while since she had visited Houston and playing house with Stacks was something she had only dreamt of. Whatever time she rolled out of bed, if he was home, she cooked breakfast. They could let their guards down and relax around each other. Her cooking for a dude wasn’t strange, but cooking nude for her man, her man was new territory.

  British could feel Stacks come into the kitchen as she stood at the stove, scrambling eggs. His presence was welcomed, although she wanted him to think she didn’t sense him there. She never looked behind her, but she could feel him there. She began winding her hips and clapping her ass. She knew it was a sight to see. Her body was still amazing. Wap! Wap! Wap!

  “So it is true!” British heard a female voice say. Then she heard someone running up…or down the stairs. She couldn’t even turn around quick enough. Wap! Wap! Wap! British picked up the frying pan and threw the eggs in the direction of the female voice. In a split second, she saw Kenya holding a pink Hermes using it to go up-side her head.

  British started stumbling backwards and Kenya was lunging forward. British was ducking the hits, but searching for some shit to throw. Something, anything. The damn kitchen was so big and clean, everything was out of reach. “They told me Stacks was out here held up with a bitch. I told them my man wouldn’t do that to me! And it’s you! I’ve seen you! What’s your name, hoe? Brittany…Brandy…?”

  British was in complete shock. She was not prepared for this. Who told Kenya they were out there? How did she get all the way to Houston without Stacks knowing? This time, the shoe was on the other foot. Instead of her claiming Stacks and being mad at some random chick, his wife was about to whoop her ass!