Fault

Chapter 55

"What's good?" I said cooly to Jada.

    "Heyyyy! How are you? How's everything?"

    "Everything is going great! Thank you for asking," I responded, leaving some mystery in the air. A brief awkward silence followed.

    "Oh, okay...well...that's good to hear! Anywho, I'm calling because earlier you asked about whether Jeremy was still in jail. I guess it got me to thinking...what are you going to do about court?

    "What do you mean?" I asked, entirely confused.

    "I mean are you gonna show up...or since you already have a restraining order, do you instead just plan on dropping the charges?"

    "I don't know what's gonna happen. I've never been to court for anything a day in my life..."

    "Right...understood. I also wanted to talk to you about today, since you were supposed to...you know..."

    "I think, Jada what you're trying to find out is if I went through with the ABORTION..." I said attitudinally, adding some tension to the conversation.

    "...Well...yeah..."

    "Have you been talking to Jeremy lately?" I asked, changing the subject.

    "I mean, umm...well, he's called my phone a few times, but for the most part I've been missing his calls," Jada stuttered. "...but just in case you're wondering, I didn't tell him that you and I have spoken. It's not like that. I actually only answered to let him know that I got the car back. The money situation also came up too. So, I guess you could say we had unfinished business, ya know."

    "I see..."

    "Is there a problem? You seem...a little irritated."

    "Ha, irritated? Absolutely! I wouldn't say we had a problem though. I don't have beef with anyone as far as I'm concerned. But for the record, I know you've been talking to Jeremy, and it's all good! Just don't lie about it cause, truth be told, you don't owe me ANY loyalty, Jada! Alright? In fact, what happens between you two is not even my business at this point. I just don't know why YOU feel comfortable enough asking me personal questions about whether or not I ended my pregnancy, knowing damn well you still speak to him! You're coming off as a f***in' informant!" I accused. "To be perfectly clear, you shouldn't even be putting yourself in the middle of what I plan to do about court or IF I chose to end my pregnancy. I mean let's keep it real, HE would know first before I told YOU. Don't you think that's fair?" I pressed?

    "I'm sorry for getting into your business. I just thought we were cool..."

    "We can be cool, but how did you think we were close when you're still cool with him?"

    "Again, I'm sorry. I REALLY don't want you to think that I'm running back and telling him anything. It just seems like that's what you think is happening," she urged. "I don't really have a lot of female friends so I'm hoping we can...wait, hold on...I have an important call coming in. I'm going to call you back so we can fix this, okay?"

    "The nerve of that b***h!" I thought to myself, once she clicked over.

    After gathering my thoughts, calling Mone' was my first move. She was excited to hear from me and raved about how much she loved spoiling her already spoiled Godson. On the flip side, the moment I brought up the conversation with Jada, her mood completely changed.

    "Don't make me come over there, sis!" she warned, only half serious.

    "Chill out, man. I'm happy to report that you were right...she can't be trusted."

    "Reallyyyy!" She replied sarcastically.

    "Oh, hush! I'm not saying anything specific happened. I'm just picking up a strong vibe that she's not over Jeremy like she claimed. I'm 80% sure she's playing the middle man or the informant role. I mean, if only you heard the type of questions she was asking me...In my mind, I'm thinkin'...b***h, we briefly shared a crazy ass man. Other than that, I really don't know you!"

    "Girl!" Mone' exclaimed. "I am NOT surprised!

    A beep from my phone suddenly indicated a call was coming through on the other line. The foreign number made me think it was probably the call I had been waiting for.

    "Sis, hang on for a sec..." I announced before clicking over.

    "Hello?"

    "Shauna!" Jeremy called out, with a hint of excitement in his voice.

    "Whose number is this you're calling me from?" I asked.

    "Oh, a friend of mine put us on 3-way."

    "So, basically they're listening to us talk right now?"

    "Not really, they probably put the phone down for a minute to give us some privacy."

    "Whatever...either way it doesn't matter," I said dismissively. "I'm still gonna say what I have to say. I've actually been waiting on this call from you..."

    "Well, before you get into anything serious, how are you and my son doing?"

    "You're joking right?" I laughed. "First of all, Jamal is MY son! Please don't ever refer to him as your in any way, ever again. Secondly, I love how you called Tionna to tell her my business..."

    "Don't you think she should've known?" He asked with a strong degree of amusement in his voice.

    "There's nothing to tell, actually. Just know that I would never in life have your baby...not in THIS lifetime or any thereafter. Don't ever call her again!"

    "I figured you would kill my child," Jeremy responded nonchalantly. "But, just know you're going to live to regret that decision!"

    "Are you threatening me?"

    "Not at all..."

    "Sure sounded like it."

    "I'm just meant you're going to live with that regret because you'll always wonder if we were having a boy or girl...what he or she would have looked like, or grown up to be. I'm saying it's gonna stay on your conscious for the rest of your life. Now when it pops into your mind, just remember how I begged you not to do it," he threw in my face. "At the end of the day, I love you, Shauna...I always have and no matter how much you try to hurt me...I'll still want you for the rest of my life..."

    "WHAT THE F**K DID YOU JUST SAY?" the familiar woman's voice blared on the line. "DID I JUST HEAR YOU SAY YOU STILL LOVED THIS B***H, JEREMY?

    "Wait! Calm down," Jeremy pleaded.

    I nearly died when I heard the exchange. No sooner than it had started, the line went dead...