5. Big Bad Mess #3
I didn’t answer her question. Mark seemed to think she was unstable and I was starting to give his opinion some credibility since here she was, staking out his house at the crack of dawn.
She chuckled, “Oh don’t be nervous. I show up early here all the time.”
“Maybe I should get Mark if you’d like to talk to him,” I said.
Her eyes went wide, “Oh no no no. I can talk to you. It’s just a matter about the kids. Maybe you could pass on a message?”
Her eyes softened and I caught a glimpse of a woman who was really a caring mother deep down inside. And she said it was just a simple message. Perhaps it was an emergency from school. I didn’t want to be rude — though I was still hesitant.
“What’s the message?”
She sighed and then reached her arm out towards me. I shifted my weight away from her in the nick of time so she couldn’t touch me.
“I’m sorry sweetie, it’s just hard to see another woman in my position,” She said morosely.
“In what position?”
She shrugged, “About to get their heart broken by a cheating bastard like Mark.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I retorted.
“Sweet heart please… I’m trying to help you.”
“If you have a message about the kids, I’d be happy to help you.”
She grinned, “Alright fine. It’s Poppy. I got a call from her teacher saying she’s been writing disturbing things about her home life.”
“Oh?”
I wasn’t sure if Rose was telling the truth or not but I didn’t trust her. There was nothing about her that put me at ease. Least of which, the fact that she’d apparently emerged from the bushes outside of Mark’s home.
“Poppy’s traumatized by our broken home,” She continued, “I’ve tried to get Mark to see the truth but he refuses.”
“And what is the truth?” I asked.
She sighed, “Mark is a neglectful father. It’s affecting her.”
Hearing her use the word “neglectful” to describe Mark went against everything I knew about him. I knew now she was lying.
“You know what,” I sighed, “I’m starting to think that I should just go get Mark.”
I turned away from her and started walking towards the door. She put some pep in her step and started to follow me.
“Wait! Wait!” She called after me.
I didn’t want to turn around but I could feel her running behind me.
Rose gripped my arm and whipped me around with force that surprised me.
She was a slim woman — almost like a rail.
Her bones jut out of her collar and her elbows were pointy.
Her face had a sallowness to it and the bags under her eyes were a deep, dark purple.
“Don’t go get Mark.”
Her voice was cold, void of emotion, unlike before when she was trying to convince me of what a horrible person Mark was. I could see that Rose didn’t appreciate the fact that I wasn’t buying into her story. I stayed calm and tried to pull my arm away from her. She held tightly onto me.
“I’m serious. You don’t know what kind of man you’re dealing with,” She hissed.
“Let go of me,” I commanded, thrusting my arm away from her again.
This time she let go.
“Please,” She started, “I know I seem crazy but don’t you wonder what kind of man could make a woman end up this way? Mark isn’t what he seems.”
I knew from my experiences with Darius that there was some truth to that.
Hell, at some point, I must have seemed crazy for all the ways I’d tried to play detective with him and figure out his secrets.
I didn’t want to give Rose a chance, but I got the sense that she had no intention of letting me leave her sight.
I figured if I spoke to her for a while, Mark would eventually get up and handle her.
She was persistent though. While I was used to dealing with persistent big guns in finance, none of them had quite the same power over me as Rose did in that instant.
“Fine. What is it you want to tell me about Mark. What could be so important that it would drive you here before the crack of dawn?”
My impatience wasn’t disguised by my tone of voice.
“Mark hurt me. Mark cheated on me. He promised me a life of wealth traveling the world with him but all he cared about was medicine. The only way I could get him to pay me any mind was by having his babies.”
“I’m sorry you feel this way Rose.”
She pouted, “It’s not the way I feel. It’s the truth. Mark fed me a pack of lies and I wasted my youth with him. I don’t want another woman to do the same.”
I was starting to get annoyed with this woman. Her only interest was stirring up trouble and I wanted to get on with my day.
“Listen, I think I’m going to head inside now. It was nice to see you.”
I turned around and this time, Lola didn’t grab my arm. I heard a blood-curdling shriek of rage and then she used both her hands to grab me by the shoulders. I was taken by surprise but when I whipped around, I was ready to fight.
“What is wrong with you?!”
Her face turned red and she screamed, “This is my house. Mark is bringing whores into my house! I’m his wife! I’ll always be his wife!”
“Please can you let me go inside!” I huffed.
“No!”
Lola bounded up to me and slapped me across the face. I watched it happen in slow motion yet it happened too quickly for me to dodge it. My head turned to the right as she hit me and I felt the sting reverberating through my jaw. I clutched my face, too stunned to fight back.
She just stood there, watching me cry out in pain. I moved my hands from my face and as I got ready to throw a punch that would knock the lights out of that frail white girl, I heard Mark’s voice behind me.
“Rose? What the hell are you doing here?”
Thank goodness. The last thing I wanted was for the cops to get called out to suburbia because I decided to deck a crazy white woman. This was Mark’s turf and I wanted him to handle his business. He began to descend into the backyard with a defensive look of anger on his face.
“What the hell are you doing here so early in the morning?” He growled.
“I’m here to see what kind of tramps you’re bringing into our home.”
“WE. ARE. DIVORCED.” He roared.
And then Rose did exactly what you would expect a woman like her to do in that position.
She looked at Mark as if he’d slapped her and then she started to cry.
I was still clutching my face, reeling from the sting of her slap.
As she started to turn on the crocodile tears, Mark came up to me and clutched me from behind.
“Are you okay?”
“She hit me…”
“What?!”
“My face.”
Mark turned my cheek and saw the reddish undertones on my sable complexion. I could see a thick vein pop out of his forehead as he became angrier than I’d seen him in the span of a few seconds.
“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER ROSE?!” He screamed.
Rose began to wail louder. She started to blubber through her cries.
“You did this to me Mark! You’re making me crazy! I just want things to go back to the way they were…”
Mark was coldly unsympathetic.
“Get off my property. If you touch either one of us again, I swear to God Rose, you’ll make me get my gun.”
My heart stopped when I heard Mark suggest that. And so did Rose’s. She looked at him like a wounded animal and then shot him a glare.
“I’m still the mother of your children. That will never change.”
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Mark roared.
I shuddered as his booming voice carried across the lawn. A few neighbors peered out of their windows, trying to conceal the fact that they were amassing as much information as possible.
Rose decided to take the wrong route. Mark had warned her, but instead of heeding his warning, she pounced. She leapt at Mark and began to swing her fists at him, taking him by surprise. It was insane the way she leapt at him, like she didn't realize that Mark was far bigger than she was.
Still, with the element of surprise by her side, she landed a few good punches before Mark held her arms down and pushed her away from him. Rose let out a bloodcurdling shriek and then lunged at me instead. I screamed as my legs whipped out from underneath me and I landed flat on my back.