Wyatt St. James was an integral part of Sims, Simms, and Chappell. She was the first point of contact. She thoroughly vetted every potential client before bringing them on board. Over the years, her presence, her impeccable style, and her intimate relationships with the clients had made her the face of the firm. The firm did a great deal of high-profile divorces and prenups. Wyatt couldn’t believe what many of the wives tolerated and fell for. “It couldn’t be me”, she used to say to herself. She never looked down on them or judged their complaints, but she always wondered why they took so much crap from their husbands. It wasn’t for Wyatt to question their reasons for staying in an endless cycle of abuse.
Osiris, once a charming and trusting person became unusually fixated with Wyatt’s whereabouts and no number of explanations would satisfy his insecurities. Never once had she given him reason to distrust her. Osiris had taken a gig as a bouncer at a club in Queens Village. He regularly had to throw out jealous boyfriends. He often saw cheating wives get confronted by suspicious husbands. He saw and studied deceptive women up close and personal. Despite Wyatt being different, separating these two worlds would prove difficult. Wyatt’s friends saw this long before Wyatt did.
Giiirrl Let Me Tell You
“He ain’t who she thinks he is!” Jamilla said while stirring her drink. She was the closest to Wyatt and she witnessed firsthand how jealous, manipulative, insecure and protective he’d become. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the three of them to hang out. Jamilla felt this was a good way for her to keep her eyes on Osiris. Wyatt was an only child and at times naive to men’s toxic behavior. Jamilla on the other hand grew up with older brothers and she learned a great deal about men from observing them. Jamilla decided to share an episode she witnessed during one of her dinners with Wyatt and Osiris.
As Wyatt was about to order desert, Osiris obnoxiously mentioned he wasn’t attracted to big women! When Wyatt insisted on ordering it anyway, Osiris accused her of flirting with the server. “Oh, you like waiters now? Do you want him to sit with us and feed you Cheesecake?” Jamilla, seeing how awkward the situation was for Wyatt and the waiter, reached for her purse. She had seen enough. She said goodbye to Wyatt and caught a cab home.
The girls sat aghast, stunned at Jamilla’s story. As they sat at the bar waiting for Wyatt’s arrival, they were able to catch their breath, order another round of drinks and discuss men and life.
“Rule #1…never tell a man you don’t have brothers.” They raised their glasses to drink to that…!! As they went around the table thinking of reasons to take a shot…the one with the most to hide, Lyndon, raised her glass,” rule #2…never tell a man how the other men treated you, we don’t want them getting any ideas!” They took another shot and starred at one another, who got the next one? Three out of five were single, one still lived in denial about her man’s infidelities and the other, oh please! She was more in love with herself than with her husband. Room to talk, none, but they managed to find the time anyway. “Okay, I’ll give one more rule, not all men are dogs,..don’t judge. I know y’all think I hate all men”, Lisa paused to see who actually believed her, but I don’t! Their suspicions of Osiris were not far from the truth. He had been deceiving, manipulative and controlling towards Wyatt. Making her see it, however, was different story. Wyatt once shared a story with them about Osiris surprising her at work late one evening. His favorability rating had been on the decline ever since.
Favorability Rating Down
Osiris liked to visit Wyatt at her job. Wyatt enjoyed these visits, but it was agreed upon that Osiris wouldn’t show up unannounced. One evening Wyatt was working late, and Osiris decided to pay her a surprise visit. “Good evening Mr. Osiris”, said the night guard. He was use to seeing Osiris over the last year and gave him the ok to go on up. He signed him in and sat back down to read his newspaper, totally unaware of what was about to take place. Osiris was familiar with the layout of the office. After checking the lunchroom, he heard laughter coming from her office. He pushed the door open. Wyatt immediately stood to her feet and her boss, well he just stood there unbothered! He was a calm man of few words, with the police chief’s direct line. Mr Simms’ affluence and connections gave him unshakable confidence. Osiris’ abrupt interruption didn’t bother him at all. Osiris aggressively asked, “What are you doing?” She cleared her throat, “we were just finishing up some work.” Wyatt’s fixing her skirt and shuffling papers back and forth, made Osiris believe something was going on. It was apparent, by his demeanor she needed to get him out of the office. She thought to herself the scene could become disastrous for everyone involved. She said goodnight to Mr. Simss and left. The ride on the elevator to the lobby was tense. She signed out gave her “see you later,” to security and Osiris, who moments before spoke jokingly to security, said nothing.
“What should we get for dinner”, asked Wyatt. As they shared an Uber ride home. He calculated his response because he wanted to have that argument, this was his way in. He had some stuff to get off his chest. “You hungry now, huh?” Speaking in a condescending tone. Wyatt, knowing full well what he was trying to do, ignored him. The Uber driver should not be privy to our craziness, she thought. “Yes I’ll take an order of vegetarian ravaoli, and a tiramisu she told the man on the phone, she didn’t bother to ask Osiris, she knew what he loved. Italian was his favorite. “And a cheese calzone.” Yes, Osiris was a husky build of a man but he also was a disciplined vegetarian. He put Wyatt on to that lifestyle and as time passed, she grew to love it. Annoyed, she turned and looked at him. “For goodness sakes, Osiris, do you really think I would lower my standards and jeopardize my job to mess with my boss?” And besides he’s not the partner with the money anyway. Osiris went straight to the apartment while Wyatt stopped at the corner restaurant to pick up her order. She figured giving him a few minutes to cool off would make the night better, but that was far from the truth. When she got home , he was unwinding…to keep the peace, she did everything kinda quiet. She ate kinda quiet, she watched tv kinda quiet, she even laughed kinda quiet. But he was not about to let it go. Somewhere between the quietness and the relentless accusations, this entire evening felt wrong to Wyatt. For the first time, Wyatt thought, “These are definitely not the signs of a healthy relationship.”
“So, what’s going on with you and your boss, Wyatt?” she sat there not willing to engage any more in such a stupid conversation, there was nothing going on, it was all in his head. “I’m not going to get into this with you Osiris.” She started putting away the leftovers to avoid him, but he dug in even more. “She sighed! “Go to hell! The words came out before she could stop it…she turned her head and the sting of his hands to her cheek dropped her to her knees. The man she loved managed to do the unthinkable…he’d cross the line once he put his hands on her…and no couple’s therapy would be enough. She was furious…with her lip bleeding, her cheek aching, and her ego bruised she managed to fight back the tears. “I’m sorry baby”, he cried. Trying to clean up his guilt by wiping her bloody lips didn’t stop Wyatt from throwing him out. “GET OUT”! She yelled! She couldn’t even look at him. Soon the door slammed and he was gone. Being with the man she loved was cool but being “careful” in her own home was not.
Who’s the Fairest of them all?
She stared at herself in the mirror yet the person she saw looking back was unrecognizable to her. A bloody lip, a bruised face and a torn ego. Wyatt fell to her knees in a fetal position there she cried the rest of the night until she fell asleep. This sort of thing was not supposed to happen to her. She wasn’t one of those clinging wives or girlfriends in those depositions …so she thought but how did she find her way here? The next day after the incident she went to the office trying to work through the shame. Wondering if her co-workers would see the invisible handprint left by Osiris, she stayed in her office most of the day to avoid any signs of trauma. The tears rolled down her cheeks and the incident replayed in her head like an old 45 skipping on a dusty record player. “Maybe”, she thought to herself, he was a little close!” Justifying his reason for hitting her. “I never thought of him being a jealous person,” she said. And soon she would come to realize not only was he jealous, but he was dangerous!
