Beautiful Liar

Chapter 9

After she left, I sat down on the couch and cried. I bawled like a baby, because my husband, who I've given so much of my life for, was cheating on me and I just met the proof. How could he do this to me? What did I do that was so wrong that would cause him to do this to me? Did I not love him enough? Wasn't I submissive enough? What could possibly cause him to turn on me like this? What did she have that I didn't? I'll admit, that sometimes I get wrapped up in our home life and sometimes don't have the time, or energy for that matter, to run off and do whatever he wants to do when he's back in Atlanta for a couple of days. I think that taking care of the kids and driving them to their dance recital or football practice is a little bit more important than hanging out at Prince's and watching those two play video games.

Somewhere along the way, my priorities changed and I wasn't able to indulge Zoey in all the stuff he liked to do on his time off. We have responsibilities now, we can't just be so impulsive like we used to. I understood this and accepted it, but did he? I knew he loved our kids, and would do anything for them, but he must understand that we can't live the way we used to? It was easier to bring them with everywhere with us when they were babies, they could sleep through anything; but now they're four and seven and they're starting to explore their own interests and they need a stable parent to be there for them.

I couldn't analyze this anymore right now; I had to make a decision. Was I really going to meet Bahja for coffee and listen to her tell me all about her and Zoey's secret relationship? Or was I going to bury my head in the sand and pretend like my husband's mistress never showed up on our doorstep?

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"Mommy! Look what I made in school today!" Brielle screeched at me when she came in the door with her brother and Zoey a few minutes later.

I smiled and oohed and aahed over a picture she had drawn in preschool. Today was the kids' last day of school before summer vacation started. Zoey had made a lot of promises to the kids about this summer; would he be able to keep them? More importantly, knowing what I know now, am I going to be able to enjoy his plans for our family?

"It's beautiful, Bre, just beautiful. Why don't you take your backpack upstairs and unpack all of your stuff?" she nodded her little black head at me and gave her daddy a big hug before she bounded up the stairs.

"Mom? Can we go see a movie tonight?" asked as he emptied his backpack on the couch. I frowned at the big mess my son was making right now. I waited for Zoey to say something, but he was too busy texting on his phone.

I nodded. "I guess so....Andrew, can you bring your stuff upstairs?" I asked as I resisted the urge to clean up his mess for him. He started to pick up his mess and shoved everything back into his bag before he ran up the stairs, leaving me and Punk alone for a few minutes. Was I going to do this? Was I going to meet Bahja tonight and hear all of the horrible details of my husband's affair?

"Zoey...what do you have planned tonight?" I asked quietly as I watched him focus intently on his phone. He finished was he was doing and slipped the phone back into this pocket.

"I don't know. Jay said he wanted to go to a movie...." he responded quietly. I felt my heart ache just a little bit more when I heard him call our son by his nickname. When Jayden was born, I begged him to let me name him after my best friend who was killed when I was in high school. Zoey reluctantly agreed, but made me swore we would never call him JJ; if we were going to give him a nickname, it had to be something like 'J', which is what Zoey calls him.

"Is there something playing that Brielle would be able to see also?" I asked, concerned that he would bring our kids to some gory horror movie that would cause them to have nightmares for weeks.

"Yeah, I guess so...." he trailed off as he stared me down. We hadn't talked much in the last two days; I knew he was trying to figure out right now if I was still mad, and suspicious, at him right now.

"Would you mind taking Brielle with tonight? Maybe Princeton could come with and help you out?" I asked tentatively. Zoey taking the kids out of the house for two or three hours would give me plenty of time to think and to meet up with Bahja.

"Don't you want to come with?" he asked as he got off his chair and came over to sit next to me on the couch, pushing a lock of hair out of my face before he placed a gentle kiss near my ear. "Please don't be mad at me, Nique. I swear, I'm not doing anything with anyone else. You're the only one, baby...."

I fought like hell to keep the tears that were stinging my eyes from falling. I nodded, "I know, Zo....."

"What are you going to do tonight?" he asked as he took my hand in his and sat back on the couch; his brown eyes still taking me all in, looking for a sign of any lingering anger in my face.

"I think I'm going to go to the library and do some research for my lesson plan," I quietly lied to him. It felt weird lying to Zoey; I never did this. I was always very honest with him.

"All right, don't stay there all night, though. I got some plans for me and you after the kids go to bed," he whispered in my ear before he winked at me and walked over to the stairs and hollered up at the kids. "Hey! Who wants to go to a movie with daddy and Uncle Prince?"

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I waited a few minutes after they left before I got in my car and headed towards the coffee shop that Bahja was waiting at for me. To say that I was nervous was an understatement; was I really go to do this? Did I really want to know all the details of Zoey's affair?

The meeting between myself and Bahja could be described as tense and uncomfortable at best. She swore up and down again that she had no idea that he was married. I responded right away that she needed to stay the hell away from him. He was my husband; he had promised to love me forever, not her.

She went on to suggest that since he had lied to both of us, and hurt both of us in the process, that we should seek revenge and ruin him. Did I really want to do this? The anger in me said 'yes'; make the bastard pay. She asked me what his most prized possessions were, because we start there.

"His mix tapes and his bike," I responded automatically, thinking about how one of the first things he would do when he was home was take off and ride through the streets of Atlanta with Prince. And his first mix tapes? Those are what keep him amused on long flights and his insomniac nights spent in a different hotel room every night. What did she have in mind about those though?

Then she mentioned his bank account. "What about his bank account?" I asked her.

"Drain it," she said simply. "He must have a separate account from yours?" she asked.

I nodded. Once a month a statement came from a bank out east; he said that a portion of his huge paycheck went into that account for 'savings'. Why do I get the feeling that this 'savings' account was being used to finance his affair? "Has...has he been paying for your rent..." I whispered.

She hesitated for a minute before she nodded. "My rent, my utilities, my car payment....my cell phone, everything," she whispered.

I thought about everything that was happening right now; this was too fast. How could my perfect life crumble so quickly like this? I finally agreed to help her destroy him. I loved him, I honestly did, but what he did, and has been doing, deserves some payback on my behalf. "Let's do it," I finally said.

She smiled a surprised smile, obviously surprised that I would agree to do this with her. We made plans to meet at her hotel room later tonight. I glanced at my watch; Zoey and the kids were going to the five o'clock movie; they would be back by seven tonight. Maybe I could convince him to take the kids over to Prince's apartment for a couple of hours tonight while I planned his demise....