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  The Golden Lie

  B.M. Hardin.

  ISBN-13:

  978-1548666743

  All rights reserved.

  Copyrighted Material

  2017©B.M. Hardin

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities of people, places, instances, and locals, are coincidental and solely a work of the authors imagination.

  Acknowledgements

  I truly thank the Man above for my gift and for the opportunity to live in my purpose and the courage to chase after my dreams. I thank my readers for following my work and allowing me to entertain them time and time again. I appreciate their continuous support and their interaction with me daily in my book club: “It’s A Book Thing”

  I appreciate you ladies more than you know!

  This book is dedicated to all of my readers, family and friends, that continuously listen to my book ideas and share their opinions, good or bad. I am who I am, because of ALL OF YOU! THANK YOU!

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to one of my closest friends LaQuasha Massey, a.k.a. Bail Diva! She’s an amazing bail-bondsman, but an even better friend. She listens to all of my ideas and I appreciate you more than you know!

  Love you always girlie!

  XOXO,

  B.M. Hardin

  The Golden Lie

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Thou Shall Not Lie…And Get Caught!”

  “Well, I’ll be damned! I knew it,” I mumbled in disappointment, as I stared at my husband’s car.

  It was parked in the driveway of the little house on the corner, but for that reason alone, I was confused. He was supposed to be out of town on business, but he wasn’t. He was here, at this house, only twenty-minutes away from the house that we shared.

  He’d lied to me. And since he’d been at the same house, for the past three days, I was pretty sure that he was cheating on me too. That much was obvious.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat. Feeling sad, and sorry for myself, would have to wait, because at that moment, all I wanted to feel was rage!

  Glancing at the brick in my passenger seat, I smirked as I picked it up. Big Mama Banks always said that a brick and one hell of a right arm was a woman’s best friend in a time of trouble. So, I always kept a Nigga-Be-Cool brick, within my reach. You just never know when it might come in handy. And though I wasn’t exactly in trouble, in this case, I sure as hell was looking to start some.

  From the outside looking in, most would think that I was lucky to be married to a man like Dakota Ramsey.

  He was sexy, charming, and smarter than most. He dominated in the world of computers, the best of the best at his job, and yet somehow, he remained so humble, and gentle. So, mellow and kind. But truth be told, I wasn’t the lucky one; he was. I was the glue that kept it all together. I was his backbone. His rib. I was his wife and his best friend. I was the reason that he was who he was, but obviously, he’d forgotten that.

  For years, no matter how many late nights at the office, or business trips he went on, it never even crossed my mind that he could be doing something else. I never thought that he would be lying to me. He just wasn’t that type of guy. He’d been raised by a mother who taught him how to talk to and how to treat a woman. He was my green-eyed, curly-haired gentleman and he had never even raised his voice at me. He was different. At least I thought he was. I thought that I’d married the exception, but I guess I was wrong.

  I confirmed that the license plate on the car was his, though I already knew that it was. I exhaled loudly. It was one hell of a pill to swallow, especially because it just didn’t make sense. Dakota didn’t have a reason to lie and cheat on me. He didn’t have a reason to be unhappy. I gave him everything that he could possibly require of a wife. I always had.

  Ten long years of marriage, kinky-suspect sex, and two big-headed ass kids that I didn’t even want! Well, at least not at first. I didn’t nag or complain. I didn’t try to consume all of his free time. I liked sports and I was his drinking buddy at the end of a long week.

  I’m a good damn wife! And quite frankly, he didn’t have the fucking right to do this to me!

  Hurriedly, I rolled down my driver’s side window, and inched closer to the house. I wondered why his car was the only car parked in the driveway.

  Whose house is this and who is he in there with?

  I mean, he had to be in there with somebody---right?

  He had to be in there with another woman.

  Unless it was another man.

  I shivered at the thought. I mean, he does like that one thing; the thing where my tongue always ends up in the crack of his ass. I would start out sucking his wood and once I made my way down to his balls, somehow, he always did this little “ass-lift” thing and my tongue would slip into his crack. The first time it happened, I thought it was a mistake. But when he kept doing it, I knew that it wasn’t. I knew that he liked it. Over the years, he’d even given it a name. He called it his “secret spot” and he whined like a hit dog whenever I licked it.

  Some might call that suspect. To me, it was just nasty and weird as hell, but still, I did it just to please him. I always did exactly what he wanted me to do.

  I shook my head. No. Dakota wasn’t gay.

  I was sure of it.

  Silencing my thoughts, I turned my attention back to the house. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who he was in there with, he wasn’t supposed to be there at all!

  I frowned as I prepared to throw the brick at his $75,000 car, but just as the brick was about to leave my hand, loudly, my cell phone started to ring, causing me to drop the brick.

  “Shit!”

  Hurriedly, I glanced at my phone.

  It was him---Dakota.

  If only he knew that I was parked right outside. As smart as he was, I bet he would’ve never guessed that while he was sleeping, I would download a location app and confirm the e-mails from his phone, giving me permission to locate him anytime that I wanted to.

  I even took the time to spam any e-mail alerts just to make sure that he wasn’t notified whenever I was looking for him. I know, some may say that I’d gone through a lot just to see what he was up to, but in this moment, I was glad that I had.

  For the past few months, things had been a little off between us. I just had this feeling. Something about him was different. He’d tried to hide it, but I could see straight through him. I’d asked him time and time again if everything was okay, and like most men, he’d lied right to my face. It had taken me three whole days to get up the nerve to type the address from the location app into my GPS, and follow it to this house. But now that I was here, the only way I was leaving was with my husband or in handcuffs.

  The phone stopped ringing and immediately he called again. Still, I didn’t answer. I waited for the voicemail icon to pop up and when it did, I pressed it.

  “Hey baby, it’s me. I was just calling to check-in. I missed my flight. So, I won’t be home tonight as planned. I guess I get to enjoy a night off in Florida after all. Anyway, I’ll call you with my new flight details. I love you. And I can’t wait to see you. Bye.”

  And another lie! He wasn’t in Florida, he was right here, in Lake Wylie, South Carolina; but he can bet his sweet ass, that he was about to wish that he was anywhere but here!

  At that very moment, I decided that shattering his car window with a brick, was just a waste of time. Fuck that brick! I was going to knock on the door!

  With my mind made up, hurriedly, I parked in the neighbor’s driveway and got out of the car. I didn’t exactly have a plan, except to start swinging on sight---whether it was on Dakota or on whoever opened up the door.

  I hadn’t fought in years, but I figured that whooping ass was just like riding a b
ike; you never really forget how to do it.

  Feeling a combination of anger and uncertainty, I headed towards the house, but just as I reached the front steps, the porch light flickered on and for a moment, I stopped dead in my tracks. My heart dropped, and at the sound of chatter, instead of continuing towards the front door, I ran to hide on the side of the house.

  “Um, um, um. You are wearing the hell out of that dress,” I heard my husband compliment her.

  “Thank you, baby,” she giggled.

  Baby? Did she just call my husband baby?

  They continued to chat and just as I was about to step around the corner, it dawned on me that not only was that Dakota’s voice---but I recognized her voice too.

  I know that’s not who I think it is!

  Slowly, I peeked around the side of the house to confirm what I already knew. She caressed the side of Dakota’s face and then I watched my husband open his car door for her.

  It was her. Chanel…my best friend’s, twin sister.

  ~***~

  “Daddy!” The boys screamed in unison and ran towards him. He embraced them. I just stood there with a blank expression on my face. I’d prayed that he’d been hit by a bus on his way home. And quite frankly, I was a little disappointed that my prayer hadn’t been answered.

  “I missed you guys, did you miss me?” Both of our sons nodded and reached for the gift bags that he had in his hand. I knew that he’d just gone somewhere and picked up a few things for them, since he hadn’t really gone anywhere at all. He’d even gotten a little treat for our dog Lu Lu. “Okay, go play. Daddy needs some time to play with Mommy,” he said to them and they hurriedly ran away. Dakota sat the rest of his bags down and then he looked at me as though I was the apple of his eye. If only I had a fork to stab him in it. “I missed you,” he said to me and headed in my direction.

  Like hell you did!

  I was angry, but I kept it all together.

  After seeing him at that house with Chanel, my reaction to the whole situation wasn’t like I’d planned it to be. Initially, I’d told myself that if I caught him cheating, that I was going to kick his ass and then leave him, but…

  Out of all of the women in the world that he could’ve had an affair with, why in the hell did he pick Chanel?

  Let me explain.

  I was best friends with Chanel’s identical twin sister, Chevey, and I had been for about twenty years.

  I met Chevey when I was thirteen; well, let’s just say she’d had a hell of a way of introducing herself. I was getting jumped on by three girls and out of nowhere, Chevey came to my rescue. She didn’t know me, and I didn’t know her, but she jumped in on the fight and two against three, we beat the shit out of the Burrell Sisters; together.

  After it was all said and done, she said that they’d had it coming, and then she told me her name. And from that point on, we’ve been stuck together like glue. We’re so close, but of course, she was just as close with her twin. And for that reason alone, I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew about the affair.

  You see, though Chevey and I were close, my relationship with her sister Chanel had always been sour. We were something like enemies. We hated each other. Even before I’d caught her with my husband. I mean things between us were so bad that if the bitch was on fire, I wouldn’t even spit on her to help her out. It’s just the way that it was. It’s the way that it has always been. And it was Chanel who had made things that way.

  I don’t know why, but for some crazy reason, she’d always been jealous of our friendship, and she made sure that I knew it too. She’d caused problems between Chevey and I in the past, and we’d even been in a fist fight back in the day.

  That day, their Mama forced us to bring her along with us to the mall. Chevey and I had just gotten our first paychecks from working that summer and while we were shopping; Chanel was stealing.

  On our way out of the store, we were stopped by mall security and they asked to check our bags. I freely gave them mine, only to find out that Chanel had slipped a few items into it. I knew that she’d done it because I’d saw her holding the stolen items only moments before. She’d even had the audacity to smirk as they surrounded me and led me to the office.

  Luckily, the manager was either having a good day, or she somewhat believed me when I told her that I hadn’t put the merchandise in my bag, because instead of calling the police, she let me go, and simply told me to never come back in that store again. By the time I’d gotten outside, the twins were gone. I’d handed Chevey my purse, so with no money for the bus, and because my Mama could have cared less about where I was, I had to walk all the way home, but not before stopping by their house first.

  Mama Gill worked evenings, and I knew that she would already be gone. And that day, I knocked right on the door and Chanel happened to be the one to answer it. And I went straight to her ass!

  We fought like cats and dogs, for what seemed like forever and Chevey didn’t bother to break it up, until she saw blood. I figured that Chevey felt like her sister deserved it for what she’d done, and to this day, I think that’s the day that Chanel officially started to hate me. I think that was the day that she realized that just maybe her sister loved me just as much as she loved her. And from that moment on, for years she’d tried to come between us. She would do anything that she could to draw a wedge between Chevey and I. But it never worked. And then finally, she just stopped. And as we got older, we just learned to stay out of each other’s way.

  Until now.

  Now, the bitch had crossed the line! She was sleeping with my husband! Even I hadn’t seen that coming. I’d heard her call him baby. I’d seen how she’d touched the side of his face, so I was sure that they were having an affair, and there was no way that they could deny it.

  And Dakota? He knew our history. He knew that I hated Chanel. And he slept with her anyway? He’d lied to me for three and a half days to be with her?

  My blood started to boil as Dakota finally reached me, and pulled me close to him. He breathed hard as he started to rub all over me, as though he was fresh out of the pen.

  I could smell the fresh scent of cologne on his skin. I guess he’d sprayed it, hoping to mask the scent of her. I’d wished that he’d sprayed a little something in his mouth too, because his breath smelled like ten cans of “bounce that ass”, and I was finding it hard to keep a straight face.

  “I couldn’t wait to get home to you. I missed your smile. Your scent. And of course, I missed your good stuff. I swear, next time I have to go away, I’m taking you with me,” he lied, just as his phone started to ring. He glanced at it, making sure that I couldn’t see it, and then he placed it back in his pocket and simply looked at me, as though he was awaiting my response.

  Was that Chanel?

  It wasn’t until that very moment that I decided not to say a word to Dakota about the affair; at least not yet. I’d be damned if Chanel took my husband away from me! I would never give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d ruined my marriage. Never!

  I just couldn’t do it.

  “You better,” I said to him, finally, just as he kissed my lips. I felt like a complete fool. I should be doing something---anything other than biting my tongue. I should be punching him, screaming at him, or burning up his shit! Yet, all I could do was stand there and pretend as if nothing was wrong.

  I was so confused. Half of me wanted to set it off, and expose him for the lying, cheating bastard that he was. But the other half of me was focused on all of the “what if’s” that could come from the situation.

  What if I exposed him, and he tried to leave me with nothing?

  What if he left me and ran off with Chanel?

  What if…

  “Did you miss me?” Dakota whispered in my ear, interrupting my thoughts.

  I would never let Chanel have him! They would have to kill me first! And even then, I would haunt and harass her ass, until she had no choice but to leave him alone.

  I convince
d myself that silence and playing dumb was the smarter move---at least for now.

  “Yes, I missed you. Let me show you how much,” I answered him, leading him to our bedroom. We entered our bedroom and I closed the door behind me. I started to unfasten his belt and I could see that his manhood was already standing at attention.

  I just didn’t get.

  I’d always pleased him; anywhere, anytime, anything. I made it my business to keep our sex life filthy, freaky and fun and he never had to beg for what was rightfully his. I never had excuses. Whenever he wanted it---he got it.

  So, what was the problem?

  Why would he cheat on me?

  Why would he even want to?

  I mean, no woman deserved to be cheated on, but there are women out there who don’t do what they are supposed to do, as a wife, and as a result, the husband finds a mistress to do it. But I wasn’t one of those women. I did my part. And damn it, I did it well!

  So, what was Dakota’s excuse?

  My thoughts started to get the best of me, and the fact that I couldn’t find a valid reason for his infidelity, made me question why I was trying to prove my worth to him in the first place. Was it even worth it?

  I paused, suddenly, and started to back away from him.

  “What’s wrong baby? Come on baby. I missed you. He missed you too.” Dakota squeezed me. I looked deep into his eyes. He smiled, briefly, and started to tug at my clothes. I knew that if I refused to have sex with him, he would know that something was wrong.

  And I just didn’t want him to.

  So, I turned my back to him, headed to the bed, and got on my knees. Dakota didn’t hesitate to go deep inside of me and just as he started to stroke, silently…I started to cry.

  ~***~

  “Girl, it seems like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Chevey, my best friend, blurted out, before taking her seat.

  For the past two weeks, I’d canceled our weekly lunch dates, just to get my thoughts together.