"Since Tyrone wasn't giving you the information, you so desperately needed, who else did you get it from?" Huey asked.
"I simply went off of Tyrone's words about Jazmine," James lied.
Huey just laughed a little cause he knew James was lying. Huey shook his head and just looked at James.
"Anderson, don't lie to me...I know for a fact if Tyrone wasn't giving you what you needed you would have to have A: Got it from someone else, B: Spied on Jazmine, or C: Both!" Huey named.
"So, which one was it?" Huey sternly asked.
James started to think about Huey's question, and he sighed. "It was a little bit of both," James unsurely admitted.
"Both?" Huey exclaimed.
"Yes! I, of course, got the information about Jazmine's health from other sources, but spying on her went one to two ways," James admitted.
"Who were the other sources?" Huey asked.
When I realized that I wasn't going to get much out of Tyrone I decided to ask an old friend of mine in the healthcare system. He was in the same state Jazmine was living in, which made matters easier on my part.
I took the weekend off and decided to visit him out of state. We decided to meet at Starbucks and have a drink. Well, he did, I just was there to see and talk to him, and finally get down to business.
I was sitting at a table waiting on him. I bought a book with me to keep myself busy while I waited. I honestly had to get my mind off a couple of things. And by a couple of things, I meant Jazmine.
I didn't know why I was so deadset on getting information about her. She was gone and out of my life for good. I knew she wasn't going to come back to me because of what I'd done.
I gave her AIDS, prevented her from marrying Huey, and gave her and her unborn child an outlook on death. Yeah...she's definitely not gonna come back.
I highly doubt she'll ever come back to Washington or Maryland. It seems as though she wants to avoid everybody, such as me, her parents, Huey, her friends, and their families. Everybody knows Jazmine is missing and if she comes back then they're going to call Huey.
And if Huey finds Jazmine, then he's going to see one of the reasons why she's been avoiding him. I don't think he would be too mad about her pregnancy but more about her disease if she were to tell him.
Hell, why do I care?!
I got what I wanted and that was for Jazmine to be dead. That's most likely gonna happen in less than a year. Her having a baby can make her system low if she actually goes through with this. It's too late for an abortion because she's most likely passed her first trimester if I'm correct. There's a possibility her baby won't survive.
Again, why do I care?
It's not like this baby is mine! I already found out years ago that I can't have kids. So, I don't even know why I'm worried in the first place. It is 100% Huey's baby. That was her fiance at the time and I highly doubt they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
Look at the banquet as a great example. She and Huey were fucking in one of the beds at the hospital and she didn't show any shame in being all over him in front of me. That being said, Jazmine's unborn child has to be Freeman's.
I felt someone kick my foot and I broke my attention away from my book to see who did it. When I did look, I found it to be my good friend, William Charles.
"Hello, old friend!" William said smiling at me.
"Will," I said smiling and putting my book down.
"Jamie," he said calling me by my government name which irritated me a bit. He sat down at the table, and I started forcing a fake smile.
"Please don't call me Jamie," I said still forcing my fake smile.
Will started to laugh a little cause he knew calling me 'Jamie' would irritate me.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you don't like the name," he said still laughing about it. I just waited until he calmed down and regained himself.
"So, how's life been?" he asked.
"Life's been bearable," I said a little exhausted at the thought of what's been happening.
"So terrible!" he assumed.
"I guess you can say that...I have just been going through a lot lately," I sighed.
"Really? I never thought you'd be stressed from work," William said a little surprised.
"It's not exactly work, I'm stressed about," I denied.
"Then what are you stressed about?" he asked crossing his arms.
I started to look a little uneasy at William because I was unsure if I wanted to tell him the real reason why I was stressed. Or the real reason why I was here in the first place.
I will admit it's nice to see him again, but rarely see each other throughout the years. It has to be a special occasion for us to visit each other. I talk with him on the phone and send emails during my free time, but we have our own lives to worry about.
We're so constantly busy with our jobs we barely have time to make an actual visit to see each other. The reason I was able to take off this weekend is that Ms. Grace and some of my coworkers thought I needed a break because I've been off from work. I haven't been acting the same it started to make Ms. Grace and the others worry about me.
So, I got excused to have a couple of days to myself. Since Jazmine was one of the main things on my mind, I had to start there.
"Relationship and pregnancy issues," I admitted.
"Excuse me?" he said taken back.
"What?" I asked a little irritated.
"Nothing, it's just you caught me by surprise because I didn't expect you to be having these types of problems, especially since you can't have kids," he admitted.
Wait, what?
"Wait, no, you got it all wrong," I said trying to correct him.
"Who's the lucky woman?" he asked forcing a smile.
"There's no lucky woman...I have just been messing around with this girl at my job," I corrected.
I wasn't trying to be harsh about it, but it was the truth. I had been messing around with Jazmine, and it's not like she was lucky to be in this type of situation. She has AIDS and she's pregnant, doesn't sound very lucky to me.
"At your job?" he asked a little surprised and bothered. William is kind of like Ms. Grace and the others. They don't find work relationships very pleasing. I know he's a little disappointed to hear about this.
"Yeah, I know it's wrong," I said trying to shake it off.
"You think! That can cause serious problems," William sternly spoke.
"It already has," I said.
"I can tell, giving that you said pregnancy, I'm assuming she's pregnant with your baby," William assumed.
"Not exactly!" I corrected.
"Excuse me?" he said looking at me funny.
"I might have messed around with her but that baby she is pregnant with it is not mine," I immediately denied.
"Are you sure?" William questioned again.
"I'm positive...William you know I can't have kids," I reminded.
"That may be true, but who says it isn't possible? I still have male patients till this day that somehow get their significant other's pregnant even if there is less chance of it ever happening," he added.
He's not wrong but I highly doubt it is mine. She and Huey seemed like they were going all the way and couldn't keep their hands off each other so I wouldn't be surprised if that is his baby. It would have to be his baby!
"I have a low sperm count though," I said.
"Doesn't mean you have no sperm," he said shrugging it off. I rolled my eyes and just shook my head.
"She messed around with this other guy. He has more sperm than I do," I said still in denial.
"Okay, that doesn't mean there isn't a chance it could be yours is all I'm saying. If you don't mind me asking who is this girl? Do you have any record of her or her pregnancy?" he asked as I sighed.
"That's why I came here this weekend. The girl I'm talking about moved out of state and it's hard not to watch her nor keep track of her records," I admitted.
"Is she in this state or something?" William asked.
"Yes, she indeed is. I was wondering if I could talk to you about that because I had a recent patient come from this state and he happened to know her," I answered.
"So, if you have a patient that knows her from here then why you can't ask him or her to watch her for you if you're worried that much?" he asked as I rolled my eyes.
"Uh, I already asked, but he's not giving me the information I need, so I need another source," I exclaimed.
"That's why I came here this weekend. Since you work in the state and you can pull up the patient's records, I was wondering if you could keep track of her health?" I asked as he looked at me funny.
"James, number one, that's illegal, I can't give you a patient's records especially without them knowing. Number two, if she's not at the hospital I work, I don't have any type of records on her or her pregnancy. Number three, that is one; creepy, and two unnecessary, if you're so worried about this girl and you know where she's at then why don't you go check up on her yourself? Plus if she has cheated on you with other men and has left with her baby and isn't bothering you then why to tamper with that?" he exclaimed.
He's not wrong, it is wrong and creepy of me to do all of that.
"Look I know that, but there is a chance she goes to the hospital you work at to get her checkups," I argued.
"If that's true, then what's her name and what does she look like?" William rhetorically asked uninterestedly.
"Her name is Jazmine DuBois, she is 19 years old, has strawberry blond hair, green eyes, bi-racial, and she works as a school nurse," I said describing Jazmine. When I laid out the description for William, he just looked shocked.
"DuBois?" he questioned.
"Yes, Jazmine DuBois," I repeated.
"You're talking about Tom and Sarah's daughter, right? Cause I don't ever hear that last name unless it belongs to them and she's been the only little girl I've seen throughout my entire life that has unique colored hair like that," William asked trying to be sure as I confirmed by nodding.
"Are you fucking kidding me James?" he asked getting a little upset. I feel like he would have yelled at me if we weren't in a public area.
"What?" I stupidly asked.
"You fucked Sarah Dubois's daughter?!" he asked a little disgusted.
"It wasn't intentional," I mumbled.
"Not intentional...James has a unique appearance, she's not hard to forget. I have seen her at the hospital a couple of times when she came for her checkups. Heck, throughout the years when I still came to visit some friends from Woodcrest, I still remembered her. I practically watched her grow up," William fussed.
"You watched her grow up...James that screams pedophile when you really think about it," he said calling me a pervert.
"I never really paid attention to her," I said as he glared at me.
"But you were still self-aware of her and her age," William said repeating the same exact thing Sarah told me.
"I can't believe out of all the girls you messed around with you got her pregnant," William spoke with his tone filled with disappointment.
"It's not my baby, she was sleeping with the other guy as well. There's a 99% chance that's his baby and not mine," I said.
"And there is still a 1% chance that it could end up being your baby. Just because you have a low sperm count doesn't mean you can't produce some that will actually go through," William argued.
"If it didn't happen with Jane then I highly doubt it'll happen with Jazmine," I argued back.
"I disagree because if Jazmine is 19 years old which makes it easy for her to get fertile and you most likely had unprotected sex with her, there is indeed a 50% chance that it could be yours," he explained.
"Right, but it seems you know who Jazmine is and you made it quite obvious she is a patient at your hospital," I pointed out.
"She is but I can't just tell you undisclosed information about her," he admitted.
"William, can you please drop the whole guideline shit when it comes to someone's health? I'm concerned about her and the baby, especially if it could be mine. I know this whole situation with her age and her leaving is wrong, but I just need to know. I deserve to know why she left," I said acting all innocent.
"James, if I tell you what I know it's going to break you," William said a little unsure.
"Please William!" I pleaded.
"Fine...Jazmine has AIDS, so that means she's been sleeping around with other men or possibly women," William exposed as I wasn't fazed by it. I knew Jazmine had AIDS; I was the one who gave it to her.
"Are you serious?" I asked trying to act shocked and hurt.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the reason she left you," William said.
No shit Sherlock!
"Oh, that makes sense, it's all starting to come together now," I said acting a little hurt.
"Yeah, I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he apologized.
"No, you're good, I kept pressuring you to tell me," I said.
"How is she doing?" I asked as he sighed.
"I don't know if she's on medication or not but according to what the nurses are giving me, they keep saying she is healthy," he said a little unsure.
"Is she really healthy though?" I asked to be sure because there is no possible way Jazmine is healthy if she's not on medication.
"I highly doubt it...most of the information the nurses give me is inaccurate. So, them telling me she's healthy doesn't make any sense to me. Then on top of that, they missed how many babies were in the womb," he exclaimed as I choked at his last words.
"Babies?" I requestioned.
"Yes, babies, she's pregnant with two kids," William said holding up two figures.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me," I said in disbelief.
"I'm not kidding," William sternly spoke.
"The nurses didn't give her an accurate result, so she came back, and I personally checked her myself. I told her, the two lesbians that are with her all the time, and even her boyfriend that'll come with her from time to time," William stated as I looked at him funny on that last part.
"Excuse what now? Boyfriend?" I questioned upset.
"Yeah, it's some black guy that comes with her to her appointments at times," he said as I felt my blood boil.
Tyrone knew about her having twins the whole time and he didn't even think to inform me about that. I believe that is something I should be self-aware of!
"Okay," I said brushing it off.
"So she's having twins, great," I said disappointed.
"Yes, but I wouldn't bail on her. One or two of those twins could be yours especially if you conceived around her conception date," William pointed out.
"Right!" I sighed. I love how he keeps reminding me that the baby or babies could be mine, but we all know that's a lie. I wouldn't get my hopes up about actually having one. One because I can't produce sperm like that and two those babies might not even survive the pregnancy due to her disease.
"So you were under the impression that Jazmine wasn't doing good?" Huey asked to be sure.
"Yes, but that was only because William said most of the information that the nurses at the hospital gave to him and other doctors were never correct. Because the nurses said Jazmine was having only one baby until she had to come back and actually get checked by a doctor who said Jazmine was having twins. So, with them having inaccurate results about how many babies she was having, William also thought they were wrong about how she was healthy with this disease," James explained.
"Okay, but if Tyrone knew about Jazmine having twins, why didn't he tell you instead of you finding out from Dr. Charles?" Huey asked.
"At one point Tyrone didn't want to tell me anything because he didn't exactly know my deal with Jazmine, so he stopped filling me in on everything I needed to know about her," James said.
"And in return, you stopped giving him the pills?" Huey guessed.
"No, I didn't stop giving it to him, I just confronted him about it," James simply answered.
That same weekend I came to visit William, I also paid another visit to Tyrone who had no idea I was in town. I thought about just dropping it and leaving to go back home, but I couldn't.
I was pissed off that I had to find out from another source that Jazmine was unhealthy, and she was expecting twins. I should have received all of this information from Tyrone instead of William.
Don't get me wrong, William would have been the best source to ask all of these questions about Jazmine because he had so much data on her from her visits, but Tyrone hung around Jazmine and most likely knew stuff the doctors didn't know.
But, as I stated before, it made me furious that Tyrone somewhat knew about this stuff, and he didn't think to tell me.
I went to the house in the evening to look for him. I was going to greet him outside in the appropriate matter, but he never showed. I waited hours outside of his house and he just wasn't showing up.
What could someone be doing on a Friday night to not show up?
I decided to do something I never thought I would ever have to do. Break in!
Maybe I could find some stuff and do a little research of my own.
I made my way to Tyrone's front door and started to look around the area to see if I could find a spare key. I looked up the mat to see it wasn't there. I honestly don't blame him for not putting the spare key there because anybody would look there first before anywhere else.
I started looking around the lights and I couldn't find it there and then the most obvious popped into my head then. He could have hidden it under those animals in the front of his bushes for decorations.
I don't know what they're called but it's a little creepy.
I looked under one of them and I was able to find the spare key.
I approached the door and checked to see if the key worked.
It indeed did...I entered his house and looked around to find the light switch. When I turned on what I believe to be his living room light I was taken aback by its appearance.
It's so basic and small!
This is entirely different from the way my place looks. My space is a little more open and bigger. Tyrone's place looks like the stereotypical black house. I see it only a couple of times in person and on tv, but this just gave me flashbacks.
I don't want to seem entitled, but this isn't exactly somewhere I would like to grow up. Heck, even the neighborhood makes me a little uncomfortable.
I feel like somebody is going to steal something out of my car. I had a bunch of people look at my car while I was watching Tyrone's house from across the street.
Speaking of the car, I need to lock my door, maybe that'll keep them out. I pulled out my keys and pushed the lock button multiple times to make sure my car was locked.
Then I went over to the windows to see if anybody was near my car. After checking for a couple of minutes I decided to go look around Tyrone's house. There wasn't really much on him.
He was a very simple guy, he loved sports, was into his black history as they would call it, and liked the action, romantic, and very old movies, surprisingly didn't have any of his films unless he kept that somewhere else. I looked in the guy's fridge and he seemed as if he had the natural ingredients to make a homecooked meal instead of eating out. He had a lot of meat in his refrigerator, too much for Jazmine's liking.
Then I looked around his room to not see much except for his bed that was made and other accessories. There wasn't much to find in the bedroom. I highly doubt Jazmine kept any of her things here at his place. She shouldn't be making any moves with her condition.
I decided to head to the bathroom and go look around there. The only thing I found was his body was products, facial hair products, and oddly a couple of things for women such as pads, tampons, plan-b, and the morning pill.
Normally, I would expect a man who's in a relationship to have all of this, but Tyrone isn't in a relationship. Jazmine's pregnant and she isn't going to be needing any of these products. I'm pretty sure he had this in her way before he met Jazmine.
Unless some of this is recent and he has a couple of girls on the side. But no because he has AIDS, and he can't have sex with anybody. So why does he have women's aftercare products in his cabinets?
I just shook my head and closed the doors. I then left the bathroom and thought, 'I need a drink!'
I headed to the kitchen to see if I could find any alcohol that could just get rid of some of my nerves. This was too much I was taking in today.
I really did need a drink!
As I looked around Tyrone's kitchen, I couldn't find any of the good stuff. All the alcohol he had was either meant for decoration, to light, or didn't have a name brand. I refused to drink any alcohol that doesn't have a name brand, so I decided to go with one of the bottles that was light.
I looked around for some glass cups in his cabinet, but I was met with disappointment when I found all types of cups in his cabinet.
They were different sizes and colors, and they didn't come from the same place. There were cups that looked like they were taken from events where they give you the cups.
Disgusting!
It got to the point I didn't even want to use a cup. I'll just drink out of the bottle and just call it a day. I closed his cabinet and grabbed the drink on my way out of the kitchen.
I started to open it up and go sit down on one of the couches that were in the living room. Its view was toward the tv, another seat in the living room, and the door. I could see who comes through the door without changing directions.
I sat down in the seat and just started drinking the liquor from the bottle. Straight-chugging it down!
As I was doing this it had me thinking, why am I doing this?
This is crossing the line at this point. I literally broke into someone's house, did an illegal exchange of drugs, and then had a doctor go against the code of conduct and expose information on a patient, all in the name of whatever you call this.
I don't even recognize myself at this point!
What has Jazmine done to me to make me do all of this because of her? She hurt me and I hurt her back...we're even...I should be done with this. She's gonna die soon along with those babies so why should I care?
She wouldn't care if I was dying, right? She would do the same exact thing I'm doing, right?
Jazmine left me, she's not messing with me or demanding any more money, she's out of my life. So, I shouldn't be coming around or wondering how she's doing.
For some odd reason, I don't feel complete. Even though Jazmine left it doesn't feel right without her.
Am I making this worse on myself to go so low as to spy on her and ruin any chance of her returning back to Huey?
I already set the guy up with a couple of girls to keep him busy. It wasn't hard since he was either drunk or high. At this point in time, he's really doing the work on his own. He's going back to his old ways which is fucking anything that walks.
If Jazmine even decides to come back and tell Huey about the babies she's not going to want to get back together when she finds out the number of women, he slept with. It bothered her then and it's going to bother her now.
I just started to laugh at picturing her heartbroken and depressed. Something she fully deserves since she likes to do it to someone like me without no regret.
Karma's a bitch!
I started to hear the door unlocking which let me know Tyrone made it home. I stopped drinking the liquor and put it down on the table beside me. I corrected my posture and then just stared at the door out of the zone and a little upset.
Tyrone opens his door with his bag and a binder in his hand. He puts it down and hangs his keys a little exhausted.
I guess he was late because he was dealing with work.
As a habit of his, he intends to flick on the living room light that has already been turned on. Then he starts to feel confused because the living room light is already turned on.
I wonder when he's going to notice my presence.
Tyrone looks around the living room lights to see they're turned on and then he looks towards where I'm sitting and jumps up in fear: "AHHH"
Okay, he finally took notice of me.
"Hello there!" I casually spoke with an unpleasing face.
"MAN, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he asked obviously upset.
He starts to look around and touch his pockets as if he was trying to grab something.
"You better be lucky I ain't got my gun on me or your fucking head would have been blown off," he cursed. I didn't know to take that as a threat or not!
"Calm down Johnson," I said not being fazed by him being dramatic.
"Calm down, why should I calm down when you broke into my house? This shit is illegal, someone could call the cops, and have you arrested for what you just did," he rhetorically asked.
"Yada yada yada!" I said ignoring what he just told me.
"I waited for you for hours, but you never showed so I decided to invite myself in," I explained a little irritated.
"Why didn't you just call or email me?" he asked as I looked at him funny. As if I didn't try to do that.
"I did, you didn't answer, but anyways I'm here to discuss to you some serious matters," I said glaring at him.
"And that would be? I already told you that Jazmine was doing fine so I don't know why you're here," he said which didn't sit right with me.
"The reason I'm here is because of Jazmine...Tyrone, you haven't been filling me in on everything I need to know about Jazmine," I started.
"What, yes, I have, Jazmine is perfectly healthy," he said sounding like he was lying.
"You see, those four words aren't going to cut it anymore, especially if I'm paying you to do this," I said getting up from the chair and walking towards him.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" he asked sounding worried.
"It's exactly what I mean, I'm going to need more of Jazmine doing fine. I need you to be attending her doctor appointments, and ultrasounds, watching what she eats if she's taking any medication, and if she tells you about anybody in her past; that all need to be reported back to me. At this point in whatever type of relationship you got going on with her, you should be more involved," I sternly spoke.
"Okay, but I'm not too sure if I want to keep doing this," he said trying to back out of the deal.
"Not sure, you do realize if you stop, I won't be providing you with the medication anymore, right?" I reminded him.
"I know but I don't want to be part of what you have going on with Jazmine, plus I find it kind of creepy that you're spying on her. She's 19 and pregnant and you look like you're pushing 40," he pointed out.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked crossing my arms.
"It's exactly what I said it means. It looks like you're being a little creepy because Jazmine doesn't talk to you or talk of you, given that you knew her and she's now here, she moved to another state, and started a job she works best in. She probably did all of this to get away from you," he said figuring it out.
"No, you got it all wrong," I denied.
"What exactly is wrong with what I just said? You're obsessed with her!" he exclaimed.
"I'm more concerned than obsessed," I corrected.
"If you are so concerned about her then why don't you go up to her like a man and make things right between the two of you instead of bringing everybody else into your mess," he exclaimed.
"There's no mess being done, and it's best I don't approach because I pushed her away. She's having my babies, but I got upset with her because she was sleeping with another man behind my back," I partially lied.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that but that's not my problem. If you want to be in your kid's life then you need to get things straight with Jazmine, not with me or anybody else," Tyrone sternly spoke.
"Well, since it's not your problem then I guess you're not gonna be needing my medicine anymore," I threatened.
Tyrone smirked and just started to shake his head, "You know what, you can stop sending me the medicine, I don't care at this point. I thought I needed you more in this but it seems you need me more and that's a problem because you're crossing the line here."
"Tyrone, you do realize if you stop taking my medicine your immune system is going to go down right?" I reminded.
"Look man, I don't fucking care, I rather be sick and die than be involved with whatever you have going on with Jazmine. If you're so worried about Jazmine and you still love her and want to be in her and the baby's life then I suggest you suck it up and be a man about the situation rather than a coward who has other's do his dirty work for him," Tyrone scold which took me by surprise.
"You know what, I don't even know why I'm even standing here and entertaining you, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE BEFORE I CALL THE COPS," he threatened. Tyrone even turned towards the door and started to unlock it.
He opened the door for me to exit his house. I looked at him to see he was glaring at me and I just glared back and shook my head before I left.
What a waste of time!
I got in my car and left his shitty neighborhood and decided to head to the hotel. I'll see my way out of this state tomorrow, today has been mentally and physically draining for my own good.
"I can't believe you broke into his house," Huey mumbled.
"I can't either...Freeman around that time I felt as if I was losing myself as a human being, I wasn't even acting like my true self. Hatred just kept absorbing me day by day until my last encounter with Jazmine," James said zoned out.
Part of Huey wanted to believe that James was lying but the other part knew he was telling the truth. James didn't have anything to hide about his affair with Jazmine and what it lead to. He showed deep hatred for her but deep down it felt as if he was still in love with her, but he couldn't have it come out in the right way.
"Why were you still giving Tyrone the medicine if he didn't want to keep informing you about Jazmine?" Huey asked.
"I don't know if it was the little kindness I had left in me during this or it's cause he was doing everything I asked, or if it was because he was making Jazmine happy," James said a little zoned out still.
"I swear to you not this woman was driving me crazy without even trying," James tiredly sighed.
Thank you for reading!