“The baby wasn’t even mine.”
He was right. Months after our divorce was finalized, Darryl had a DNA test done on the baby of the woman who’d shown up on our doorstep. Turns out, the baby wasn’t his. But that definitely didn’t erase his many other transgressions.
“You got lucky with that one. But the baby that I was pregnant with was yours, and now it’s dead because of syphilis that I contracted from you and your filthy di—” I stopped short, closing my eyes to prevent myself from lashing out. I wouldn’t give him the rise he was looking for. I peeled my eyes open and they landed on the pictures he had sitting on the far corner of his desk. There were two children in them, one was about three and other about five.
They were his.
I inhaled.
I’d known Darryl had had children over the years. Try as I might, not hearing about him in any capacity was impossible. A friend or two would accidentally drop some information about him in a conversation.
“At least, you got to make up for what was lost.” I looked back at his guilty gaze before turning and pulling the door open and shutting it behind me. I didn’t even feel the need to slam it. Darryl couldn’t piss me off anymore, and I’d shed all of the tears I’d needed to.
With the information that I was looking for in hand, I strolled down the hallway and out the door without another thought of Darryl Wright. He could rot in hell for all I cared.
I didn’t stop moving until I exited the building. I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs to their capacity before releasing my breath. I decided to walk from Darryl’s office to my own, though it was over ten city blocks. While walking, I pulled out my phone to see I had two missed calls from Resha.
My heart rate sped up as I pressed the button to call her back.
“I’m so sorry.”
“What? What happened?”
“Shit! You haven’t heard.”
“Heard what? Is it Mama? Did the home call you? Why wouldn’t they ca—”
“No, D, it’s not about auntie. Where are you?”
I glanced around the street, looking at the passersby. “I’m leaving Darryl’s office. We had that meeting today, remember?”
Another curse came from Resha’s mouth.
“Resha, what aren’t you telling me?!” I demanded.
“It’s Tyler.”
I scrunched up my face before my eyes ballooned. “Is he hurt? Was there an accident or something?” I picked up the pace to get back to my office. I figured the sports channel or website would have some information regarding a possible accident having to do with Tyler or his team.
“No, he’s not hurt but his ass might be soon,” Resha angrily responded.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
I stopped short in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Look, I’m going to tell you, but I want to do it while you’re in your office. Away from people. Ju—”
I hung up the phone on Resha. She was pissing me off. I pulled open one of the social media apps I had on my phone and typed in Tyler’s name, knowing any news headlines he was making would be posted on this app. My heart plummeted when the posts finally loaded. I saw why Resha wanted to wait until I was no longer in public to tell me this shit.
The first headline read ‘Guess which famous quarterback was caught with his pants down!’Against my better judgement, I clicked on the post, opening it up, and there it was, picture after picture of some woman half naked in Tyler’s bed. His head was cut out of some of the pictures. But by the time I scrolled to the fourth picture, the hope that had blossomed in my chest was doused when Tyler’s face was front and center as he laid there, with eyes closed next to the brunette bimbo, who was holding the camera.
I didn’t need to see anymore. I closed out of the app, chest pounding as I began heading back to my office again. My heart thudded as anger filled every cell in my body. Then I began feeling stupid as all hell for even being angry. Tyler and I weren’t a couple. He should be allowed to do whatever he wanted.I just thought that—
My thoughts were interrupted when my phone began ringing in my hand. I damn near threw the damn thing across the street when Tyler’s name popped up on my screen. I wasn’t going to answer it. Of course, I wasn’t. So when my thumb pressed the button to answer the call, I had no idea why.
“What!” I fumed into the phone, loud and angry enough that a few passersby on the street looked on in concern. I gave them the stink eye and kept walking.
“I’m guessing you saw …”
