Can You Deal With Betrayal in Love? (Forbidden Fruit, Pt. 4)

WORDS BY KAYE MICHELE

PT. 1 /// PT. 2 /// PT. 3

Her cries grew higher and higher as she begged him to let her release.

"Vance, please," she whispered in his ear as her pelvis thrust against his, gently moving fingers.

He tickled her clit with feathery movements, prolonging the pleasure until he felt her gasp and shudder. Her hips rolling frantically, the echo of her moans dancing around the humid room, the towels that covered their bodies not long ago strewn on the floor, the distressed glass of the shower door foggier than when they began.

His fingers strummed her, quietly, yet surely darted in and out of her, teasing her...

Pleasing her...

The memory of the night before played in my mind in real time. As if it were happening again.

"Still not my name... say my name and say it right this time..."

"Jackson..."

VANCE

You ever hear your heart breaking before? Like, physically hear the pieces cracking and hitting the floor, one at a time?

That would be my heart breaking.

Kyeina was the love of my life. With blurry eyes, I glanced over at the kitchen counter, where the 2.5 carat princess cut diamond lay in its soft navy blue cushioning. The dinner plans were all set for tomorrow. Four course meal, candlelit at the premiere 4 star restaurant in the heart of the city, followed by dessert in a horse-drawn carriage by the waterside. The jazz quartet would be waiting there to play as I would have gotten down on one knee and asked her to be my wife...

My wife!

The phone lay not far from me as I tried to comprehend what had just happened.

What was moments ago seemed like ages.

Kyeina, my girlfriend of two years, the woman I was set to propose to tomorrow, was cheating on me. Not just with anyone but with...

Jackson!

My frat brother. As far as I was concerned he was was my brother. My best friend and he was fuckin' my girl.

And there was no denying it, either.

I got to hear the play-by-play, live and direct through the phone.

"Why the hell didn't I just hang up?" I wondered to myself as I sat with my head down at the kitchen counter, tears rolling down my face. If any of my boys could see me now...

Wiping my eyes, I played back in my head the last words I said to Jackson, words I had said soon before I called Ky and asked her what she was doing tomorrow. Right before I heard my best friend fucking the shit out of my girlfriend.

"Dawg, she's it. I got it all set up for tomorrow night. I'ma make her my wife, man".

"Shawty got you like that? Man, you sure?"

"I've never been so sure about anything in my life."

"Well...I'm on the road right now and forget my Bluetooth at the crib and don't wanna get caught for no ticket. Call her now and set it up, let's see what happens."

Reaching for the first thing in my grasp, I flung the phone as far across the room as I could muster. I wiped my eyes again and slowly rose to my feet. It was time to get some answers.

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

I grabbed my keys from the key fob on the wall and stormed out the front door, ignoring the spiderweb-like crack the shattered phone had made in my dining room window. I hopped in my SUV and sped off, oblivious to the speed limit or the cars on the other side of the road honking at me.

NAILAH

Nailah watched as Vance's Rav4 sped out of his driveway and past all of the cars on the narrow two lane road. Glancing out her living room window at the sight, she furrowed her eyebrows. Vance was not the type to drive so recklessly.

Hell, Vance wasn't the reckless type, period. In the time that he's been her neighbor she's only known him to be one of the sweetest, most mild mannered men she'd ever met.

He would ring the doorbell sometimes, hand her a covered dish, and walk away, leaving her to herself to try the meal he prepared for her in quiet. He would always joke that if any of his boys knew he was baking and cooking and whatnot, they'd never let him hear the end of it.

Nailah would always laugh and tease him. She found it endearing how he was so in touch with those sorts of things.

A sexy man that cooks was a godsend.

She always thought that Vance secretly had a thing for her...but why would he?

Of average height, Nailah's claim to fame was her crystal clear green eyes, direct contrast to her cocoa complexion. Some may have considered her button nose a cute match with her eyes, but she never saw it.

She closed the blinds and walked away from the window, shaking her head. Vance was too busy chasing Ky to want her. She just hoped everything was okay with him.

It really wasn't like him to seem so...upset.

VANCE

I made it to Kyeina's co-op in record time. As I entered the parking circle outside her duplex, I immediately noticed Jackson's car was still there, hastily parked between two spaces, adjacent from Kyeina's two-door coupe.

The laugh that escaped my throat sounded hoarse and frantic to my own ears.

I sat outside for a minute.

Did I really want to storm in there? What would that do? I knew Jackson. He was trying to "prove a point" by doing what he did. He was trying to prove that Kyeina was a waste of my time. I had heard stories of his methods of "brotherly support" from some of my other frat brothers.

I just never thought I'd be on the receiving end of his bullshit.

I wasn't so sure about Kyeina and her motives, though.

What I knew was that I just needed to know why.

I climbed out of my SUV and slowly headed for the sliding door of her place. As I approached, I could see Jackson's profile through the glass. A smirk filled the corners of his lips, as Kyeina was telling him something, her hands on her hips... Until she looked up and saw me standing outside her door.

"That's right, Ky," I thought. "Try and work your way out of this one."

JACKSON

...He whispered on her lip, “Neither of those are my name. I want you to say my name and say it right this time.”

The outrage from the phone came through loud and clear this time.

Jackson almost laughed aloud, but the anger in Vance’s voice only seemed to enhance his stroke. Ky gasped before submitting softly, “Jackson.”

I was still chuckling at Kyeina's indignance at the "way I had treated Vance" when I watched her face register fear.

"What's the problem, Ky? I got your tongue again?," I said, with a smirk as I followed her line of vision. Turning halfway around, my smirk quickly faded when I realized that she was staring at Vance outside the glass door. His face was like stone. His 6'4" frame tense and ready.

He stood there, his eyes red and slightly watery, his mouth set in anger.

Without missing a beat I approached the door and opened it. "I suppose you want to punch me now," I said, looking Vance directly in the eye. "That's why you came, right?"

Vance stared at me, seemingly looking through me.

He let out a resigned sigh.

"I came," he said with a pause, glaring at me, then turning to Kyeina, "to find out what I did to deserve that..." His voice trailed off as he set his eyes on Kyeina.

"Why, Ky?"

I looked at Kyeina, who shrank back as if she were slapped. "Vance...I didn't me...I really didn't mean..."

I couldn't help but to laugh.

"Oh, you can't be serious," I interjected. "My boy heard..."

"Shut up, Jackson," Kyeina warned, her eyes turning on him like daggers.

"Nah, fuck that! My boy HEARD you! I told him you were a slut from the moment I met you, and he didn't listen! He was all set to propose to your stinking ass..."

My words were cut off mid-sentence as Kyeina slapped me across my face.

I shrank back, first in shock, then in anger. Did this bitch just slap me?

Kyeina turned to Vance. "Baby, I'm sorry...you don't know how sorry...I don't even know what to say..."

Vance looked sick to his stomach.

I turned to Ky, eyes afire. "Yo, did you just slap me?? Like I started this whole thing? Like you didn't text me to say how lame of a fuck your dude was, and that you needed to get fucked properly for once??? Bitch, please and then you gonna try to flip it on me? Like you didn't just come all over my hand? Get the fuck out of her with that bullshit."

I'm not a nice guy.

I know this.

I don't even deny anything that just happened. But the way this broad is trying to play the innocent role, Nah, it ain't going down like that.

Not that it mattered.

Vance's sandy complexion was now a pale shade of green. Shaking his head sorrowfully, he quietly turned around, ignoring Kyeina's calls to him. He brushed past me as if I weren't there, hopped back in his truck and peeled off.

Kyeina turned to me, tears in her eyes, fire on the tip of her tongue. "Do not fuck this up for me," she seethed. "I have to fix this."

This bitch is crazy.

"Fix what? You got caught fuckin' the man's best friend, there ain't enough crazy glue to fix that shit, sweetheart. You're just lucky I'm not one of them dudes that be smacking women, 'cause right now, shorty, you'd be at the top of the list...Don't you ever hit me again."

I walked out the still-open door and hopped into my car, leaving Kyeina standing in the doorway stunned.

To be continued...

What would you do if you caught your best friend sleeping with your partner? Have you ever been betrayed by a lover or someone close to you? What did you do when you found out? Have you ever betrayed a friend? Is there anything someone can do to "fix" something like this? Would you want closure in this type of scenario? Have you ever had a friend who was dating someone you just didn't trust? Would you ever try to break them up? How do you think this saga between Vance, Ky, and Jackson will end? Can you wait for next week's continuation?

Speak your piece...