It's Always The Pretty Ones Read online

  “Hell no. I don’t have anything to say to her. I said all I needed to when she was showing her ass.”

  “Well, maybe once you guys let things calm down you can talk things out?” She said trying to be supportive and helpful even though deep down she wanted him to break up with her.

  Anton shook his head. “No sir. I have had it. I will continue to be there and be a good father to my daughter, but Dazzy and I are through. Period.”

  “Still, I know it had to be hard for you. I mean you guys were engaged.”

  “I know, but I would rather her crazy side come out now then later after we said the ‘I do’s’”.

  “That’s true. I just don’t like seeing you hurt.”

  Anton smiled and reached across the table touching her hand.

  “Well, ain’t this sweet.” Dazzy’s voice came from behind Anton.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” He stood up in front of her.

  “Well, that is the same thing I could ask you? You would rather be here with this ho, than at home with your fiancée and daughter?”

  “I think I’ll just go.” Colbey tried to get up.

  “No Colbey. You stay. She is leaving.”

  Dazzy’s eyes welled. “How could you do this to us? How could you do this to Angel?”

  “Do what? You destroyed the family with your insanity! Like I said before. I will always be there for Angel.”

  “I am your fiancée!” She shouted.

  “Not anymore, Dazzy. I told you that we are through.”

  Tears streamed down her face. “All because of this bitch!” She walked around him and stood over Colbey. “What’s wrong, you couldn’t hold on to him before, so now you decided to come back and try again? How pathetic.”

  Colbey stood up smiling, trying to mask the annoyance in her tone. “Look, this is between you and Anton. Maybe if you calmed down and stopped acting so psychotic…”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Dazzy open hand slapped her so hard she fell on the table.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Anton rushed over to help Colbey up.

  “This bitch needs to learn her place!” Dazzy shouted.

  “What’s going on?” Romeo rushed over.

  “Mind your business, Romeo!” Dazzy shouted.

  “All you are doing is proving me right! You are psycho!” Anton was furious.

  Romeo grabbed Dazzy’s arm and started to pull her away towards the door. “Dazzy, I think you need to go. This isn’t the place for all this.”

  She yanked her arm away. “Get off me!”

  “You folks are going to have to take this outside.” Said the owner of the bar.

  “I’m sorry. We were here minding our own business and she came in causing trouble.” Anton said tending to Colbey holding her stinging face.

  “You need to go before I call the police.” The owner turned and looked at Dazzy pointing towards the door.

  “Me? He is in here hanging all over another bitch and I am the one that’s wrong?” She started backing up towards the door.

  “It’s either you get out of my bar right now, or I will have the police come and do it.”

  “She looked around the owner to Anton sitting holding Colbey’s hand. “Your daughter and I will be waiting for you at home.”

  The owner backed Dazzy all the way out the door and walked back over to Anton. “Do you want some ice?”

  Colbey nodded ‘yes’ still holding her swelling cheek.

  “I am so sorry you got caught up in this.” Anton said feeling responsible.

  “Are you kidding?” She said as she took the bag of ice from the owner. “How is this your fault? She was crazy long before she met you.”

  “Man, you really know how to pick ’em. I know you told me she was crazy, but DAMN!”

  “Thank you Romeo.” Anton replied.

  “I’m just saying. You can get at least $50.00 from St. Andrews Asylum for dropping her ass off.”

  Colbey laughed gently as not to disturb her cheek. “You are crazy, Romeo.”

  “Why don’t you let me take you home?” Anton said with real concern in his eyes.

  “No, I’m fine. I can make it on my own.” Colbey smiled as she stood up from the table.

  “Come on. I don’t mind. At least let me do this.” Anton insisted.

  “Ok. I guess it would be kinda hard to drive and squeal in pain at the same time.” She joked.

  “Great. Let’s go.” He grabbed her purse off the back of the chair. “Romeo, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Ok…wait. Tomorrow is Saturday. We have plans?”

  Anton smiled. “No, I’ll be over with my stuff.”

  “And when did we agree to this?”

  “Just now.” He patted him on the shoulder as he headed towards the exit with Colbey. “See you tomorrow, roomie!”

  Dazzy knocked on Mrs. Wallace’s door trying her best to conceal her tears.

  “Hey Dazzy. Oh my God. Are you, okay sweetie? What happened?” She stepped back to let her inside.

  “I can’t believe he would do this to me.” She sobbed as she sat down on the doily-covered couch.

  Mrs. Wallace handed her a tissue. “What honey? What happened?”

  “I went to meet Anton at work, you know, to surprise him. We had had a pretty big blow out earlier and I wanted to try and apologize. I get there and he is holed up with some little trinket from his office - and she even slapped me!”

  “What? I can’t believe it! He always seemed like such a good boy!”

  “I know. Everybody thinks that. He puts on such a good front.”

  Mrs. Wallace sat down beside her on the couch. “Honey, I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She rubbed Dazzy’s back.

  “He even called off our wedding.” Dazzy spoke through her tears. “I just don’t know what to do. It was awful!”

  Mrs. Wallace wrapped her arm around Dazzy as she cried into the tissue. “Look, why don’t you and Angel stay over here tonight. Mr. Wallace is working the late shift, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind anyway. You shouldn’t be alone.”

  Dazzy stood up and grabbed Angel’s bag off the floor. “No, we’ll be fine. I think I just need to be alone, to figure things out.” She released the locks on the wheels of the bassinet and started to push it towards the door.

  “Well, okay. Just remember that I am right next door if you need me okay?” Mrs. Wallace gave her a tight hug before she opened the door for her to exit.

  “I sure will. Thanks again, Mrs. Wallace.” She smiled deceitfully as she walked out and towards her apartment.

  Chapter 12

  Anton placed Colbey’s purse on her couch once they entered her apartment.

  “Thanks again for bringing me home, Anton.”

  “It was the least I could do. I still cannot believe she flipped out like that!”

  “You know, in the past, she and I would have been on the floor going at it after she hit me, but I just realized she wasn’t worth it.” She stepped out of her shoes and went to her closet to find a towel so she could put ice on her face.

  “Well, you’re bigger than I am. I would have had her in a head lock.” He laughed.

  “Trust me, I was close.” She laughed as she went to the freezer. “One question, though.”

  “Shoot.” He walked over near her in the kitchen.

  “What are you going to do about the baby? Someone that unstable should not be around children.”

  “I know.” He sighed. “The one thing I am sure of about Dazzy is she loves Angel and would never hurt her.”

  “Well, that’s good to know.” She flinched when she put the ice against her cheek.

  “Here.” Anton grabbed the ice pack from her. “This brings up a funny memory.” He chuckled.

  “What?”

  “Remember when we were playing softball and you mistook my face for the ball?”

  She squinted. “Oh my God, yes! Do you still have the tooth you lost?”

&
nbsp; “I actually do.” He laughed. “I still have a lot of things from our time together.”

  “Do you?” She asked looking into his eyes like she was hypnotized. She had forgotten how deep and brown his eyes were.

  “I always keep things that are important to me.” His mouth curved into a sexy, flirtatious smile as he used his other hand to push her hair behind her ear. “Have I told you how glad I am that you’re back?” Softly his breath fanned her face.

  She smiled, but didn’t answer.

  Slowly, he pulled her face closer to his until their lips met. His kiss was one that she always remembered; soft, moist, and hot. He put the ice pack down on the counter and wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her body tight against his.

  “Wait.” She said reluctantly pulling her lips away from his.

  “What?” His lips brushed against her as he spoke.

  “We can’t do this.”

  “Yes we can.” He said planting kisses between each word.

  She pushed his body back away from hers. “No, we can’t.”

  “What’s wrong? I could tell you wanted it.” He tried to get close to her again, but she put her hand up on his chest to stop him.

  “Although it would be so good to get that close to you like that again, the timing is all wrong.”

  “How is that? I’m single.” He smiled and tried to get close to her again, only to be held back again.

  “Yes, newly single. You just broke up with Dazzy today. Your emotions are all over the place. If we ever get together like that again, I want it to be Dazzy-free, okay?” She smiled at him and gave him a small peck.

  “Are you serious?” He said as she began to shovel him towards the door.

  “Very.” She smiled as she opened the door and gently pushed him into the hallway. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

  “Colbey.”

  “Bye.” She playfully smiled at him as she slowly shut the door.

  Colbey.” He whined as he touched the door. “Damn.”

  Romeo walked into the auditorium where he was planning on picking Krystal up from her rehearsal. He waved to her standing on the stage talking to the director. He smiled at how beautiful she was under the lights.

  “Hey Romeo.” Reina said from behind him.

  “Oh, hey Reina, what’s up?”

  “Nothing much.” He hand slowly glided along his backside as she came around in front of him.

  He quickly batted her hand away. “What are you doing?” He whispered. “Do you want Krystal to see you?”

  She smiled flirtatiously. “Oh, she’s too busy being the star of the show.”

  “Wow, you sound jealous.” He smiled.

  “Oh, never that. She’s my best friend. I couldn’t be happier for her.”

  “Riiiight.”

  “Really. She has always been good at this. While I have always been good at other things.” She took a step closer to him.

  “Look Reina. You are sexy as hell, but I really like Krystal. I’m not trying to mess it up. Now if you had caught me a few months ago, I would be tearing your ass up.”

  “Whatever. Once a freak, always a freak. When you’re ready to get real, give me a call.” She slid her phone number in his front pocket, making sure to graze his dick.

  He tried not to watch her ass as she walked away, but his eyes were locked on the word, “Juicy” that swayed side-to-side as she walked away from him.

  “Hey sweetie, you ready to go?” Krystal asked as she walked up to him.

  “Yes, let’s go.” He said pulling her out of the auditorium.

  “Whoa! Why the rush? Is everything okay?” She said as she tried to hold on to her bag.

  He cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I’m fine.”

  She raised her eyebrow. “You sure? You seem a little rattled. I saw you and Reina talking. Did she say something to you?”

  Before he could answer his phone rang. He exhaled as he answered it. “Hello?”

  “Hey Romeo. I’m on my way over to your place. Where are you?”

  “Oh, hey Anton. I’m with Krystal right now. “There’s a key under the mat. I’ll be home later.”

  “Okay. I need a cold shower quick.”

  Romeo laughed. “Colbey wouldn’t give you any, huh?”

  “Man, shut up.” Anton chuckled. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Everything okay?” Krystal asked as they walked to Romeo’s car.

  “Yeah. Anton is just going to be staying with me for a minute.”

  “So, my place then?” She flirted.

  “Lead the way, baby!”

  Chapter 13

  Anton woke up bright and early the next morning so he could get over to the apartment and get his things. He just wanted his ordeal with Dazzy to be over. He hated the fact that he wouldn’t see Angel every night like he used to, but felt that her not being exposed to violence daily was better. He knew that Dazzy always went to the gym on Saturday mornings, so figured he could get in, get his stuff, and get out while she was gone. He arrived outside the building the same time Mrs. Wallace was coming out.

  He smiled big when he saw her. “Hey Mrs. Wallace? How are you this morning?”

  She just shot him an angry gaze.

  “Umm…is everything okay?” He asked confused by her reaction to him.

  “You should be ashamed of yourself, Anton. I really thought differently of you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Dazzy told me last night about what you did to her. What is wrong with you?”

  “What I did to her?”

  “Don’t play dumb with me! She told me about you cheating on her.”

  “What! Mrs. Wallace, you have got this all wrong.”

  “No, I think you do, son. You may think you are having a good time with this ‘woman’, but you are destroying your family! You have a beautiful baby girl who is depending on you!

  “Mrs. Wallace.” Romeo tried to interject. “Dazzy has totally distorted what has been going on…”

  “I don’t want to hear it, Anton! You better get your act together and start to think about Angel! That little girl deserves peace in her home!” She turned and walked away.

  Shocked and disappointed that Mrs. Wallace actually fell for Dazzy’s lies, he turned and headed up to the front door of the apartment. He stood in front of the door and took a deep breath before he put his key in the lock. He opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he walked in and saw that no one was home. “Thank God.” He sighed. He hurried into the bedroom to pack up his clothes before she could get back from wherever she was.

  As he stepped into his bedroom, he saw that all his clothes were not only tossed all around the room, but they were ripped and torn as well. “That crazy bitch.” He murmured as he picked up his destroyed clothes. He walked over to the dresser and opened his drawer where he had family pictures of him, Jamelah, and most importantly, his mom. He almost fell to his knees when he saw that Dazzy had cut up all his pictures. Amongst all the shreds of his memories was a small note that said, “Don’t fuck with me.”

  As he stood looking at his mom’s mangled face in the photos, the phone rang. He wasn’t going to answer it until he heard Jamelah’s voice over the speaker leaving a message.

  “Hey Jamelah, I’m here.”

  “Oh my God, I am so glad to hear from you! I have been searching all over for you! Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  She could hear the slight quiver in his voice that he always got when he was upset. “Yes there is. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just wished I had listened to you, that’s all.”

  “Why? What happened? Are you okay? Where’s Angel?” She said with slight panic in her voice.

  “We are both fine. I’m just here getting my stuff so I can leave. Why are you so worked up?”

  “So, you’re leaving her?” She asked sounding relieved.

  “Yes. What’s wrong? Are you okay?”


  No, I’m fine. Just job-less, now.”

  “What? What happened?”

  Jamelah snickered. “Dazzy happened. That’s what.”

  “Dazzy.” He scrunched his brow. “How did she get you fired.”

  “Well, remember a while back when I told you about my ‘late night encounters’ with one of the executives?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well Dazzy, being the exquisite person she is, somehow called my boss and told her every hot and steamy detail.”

  “Oh my God.” He held his face in his hands. “I can understand you getting yelled at or written up, but fired?”

  “Well, I failed to mention that my boss is his wife!”

  “Oh shit! Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I wish I had just listened to you and everybody else when you said something was off about her.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “I’ll call you from Romeo’s. That’s where I’m staying for right now. I’ll give you all the details.”

  “Okay big bro. Just please be safe. This woman is insane.”

  “I will. I love you.” He smiled.

  “I love you too. Call me later.”

  He hung up the phone, grabbed his favorite picture of Angel off the table and left.

  Colbey stumbled to the door half-asleep to answer the pounding. “Who the hell is this?” She mumbled putting on her robe. She opened the door and saw it was Dazzy and Angel. “Oh shit.” She tried to close it back, but Dazzy put out her hand to stop it. “I’m about to call the police.”

  Dazzy smiled as she stood holding sleeping Angel. “Oh, no need. I, well, Angel and I just wanted to tell you to stay the hell away from Anton or you will live, or not live, to regret it.”

  Colbey looked at her as if she was crazy. “You know what Dazzy? Yes, you did get me good last night, but know this, it won’t happen again. So, you can take your little threats somewhere that they may work. Not here.”

  Dazzy threw back her head and let out a loud peal of laughter. “Look at this! The bitch got some heart! That’s good. I’m glad you got some courage.” She took a step closer to Colbey. “Because, I would want you to look me straight in the eyes when I rip it out. Don’t fuck with me or my family, bitch.”