The true cost of success isn’t just financial–it can be spiritual.
What price would you be willing to pay?
Blessings of Purpose, A Novel
Excerpt
Copyright 2007, Alicia Hill Jones
The sun hid behind the mountains and clouds in the gray sky. It smelled like rain in the air coming through her bedroom windows. Lia dragged herself downstairs to the kitchen for a glass of juice; she didn’t have much of an appetite. Nigel had already left at the crack of dawn. The movie business kept him away from home a lot. Their time together was limited; unlike Lia’s cash flow. However, once her closets were packed enough to open her own boutique with a shoe department, the shopping sprees became less exciting. That day the house seemed emptier than ever, despite its elaborate furnishings. Lia made her way to the theater room where she planned to watch a few movies and lounge around all day.
Many of Nigel’s movies were still in boxes. Lia murmured as she dug through them, scratching up her manicured hands and chipping her nails. One box she came across was full of video tapes and DVDs. She searched through them hoping to find a classic movie—something to lift her spirit. Some of the videos were unlabeled or had abbreviations on them. She figured they were Nigel’s documentary work, but there was one with her name on it. Curious to see if he had picked out something special for her to watch, Lia went into the media room and put the disc in the DVD player. She grabbed the remote and sunk into the oversized theater chair.
A dimly lit scene of what seemed to be a bedroom appeared on the screen. Taking a closer look, Lia recognized that it was Nigel’s bedroom at the condo. The pace of her heart quickened in anticipation of what was coming up next. The bedroom door opened, letting two naked intertwined bodies enter. Lia’s stomach twisted into knots watching her and Nigel’s first sexual encounter on the 78x72 movie screen. She grabbed the remote and hit the power button before the foreplay ended. Anger boiled inside of her. She couldn’t believe what Nigel had done. Her immediate thoughts were to call him and work and let him have it. Then curiosity struck again. What was on those other videos? One after one, Lia sat in the room viewing Nigel’s intimate and sometimes, erotic sex acts with different women. Nausea sent her running to the bathroom. After a few minutes, she stormed to their bedroom to get dressed. She felt dirty and in the shower, scrubbed herself as she did that night the video was made. Within 30 minutes, she hopped into the Range Rover and headed to Dionne’s house in Brentwood.
“Hey, I just wanted to make sure you were at home,” she greeted Dionne from her cell phone.
“Yeah, I’m here. You sound pissed off. What’s up?”
“Nigel. I could kill that bast—, oooh, I could hurt him right now!”
“Oh Lord, what did he do?”
“Look, I’ll tell you about it when I get to your house. I’m driving right now and trying to make it there in one piece.”
“Why don’t I just meet you somewhere, halfway? I don’t want you to end up in Compton somewhere.”
“No, I don’t want to talk about this in public. I’ll be okay finding your place once I figure out this navigation system.”
Lia pulled over and stared at the intimidating feature for a minute. Then she punched in Dionne’s address and a sequence of other buttons. Soon, the navigation system set forth her path and she screech away from the curb.
Fifteen minutes later, Lia pulled into the cobblestone driveway of Dionne and Sam’s $3 million Tuscan Villa mansion. She laid her head on the steering wheel feeling just as angry as when she left home. Her hands were trembling, so she took a deep breath trying to calm down. Just as she burst into tears, Dionne appeared outside of the car door.
Inside the house, they sat embracing in the living room underneath the vaulted ceiling and sun shining through the skylights. Dionne rubbed Lia’s back, waiting patiently, but eagerly to hear what Nigel had done.
“Do you have something to drink?” Lia looked up and spoke between her sobs.
“Girl, you know I do and I got something else I think you’ll like.”
Dionne left and returned with a bottle of Cristal and two glasses. There was also a platinum compact case in her hand.
“So what’s going on Lia?” she asked pouring the champagne.
Lia took a few gulps, emptying her glass. “Girl, I was going through a box of Nigel’s movies trying to find something to watch. I saw a whole bunch of videos with letters and stuff on them. Then I ran across one with my name on it. I put the disc in thinking I’m gonna see some movie he thought I would like. Come to find out I was the star of the show…that damn boy filmed us having sex!”
Dionne frowned at her, “You mean to tell me that you are all upset over that? Girl, you would be surprise at how many married people get down like that.”
“Dionne, I didn’t know he was filming it and we weren’t–-
“Y’all weren’t what?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m just not into that—married or not.”
“Well, I can’t lie to you and say that I’m shocked.” Dionne took a sip of champagne and sat the compact case on the table, “That’s Nigel’s thing. He produced porn movies looking at other people do it all day. I guess he wanted to see himself in action too.”
Every muscle in Lia’s body tightened, “He did what?”
Dionne stopped fumbling with the case and looked up. “You didn’t know that?”
“Hell no! When was he producing porn?”
“Look, I’m not trying to get in the middle of this. I thought he would have told you.”
“Well he didn’t.”
Dionne opened up the case that contained a mirror, three small glass valves, and a razor blade. She gently tapped fine white powder onto the mirror. Lia couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what this is?”
“Yeah, I know what it is, but do you have to do it right here…right now?”
Dionne looked around the room, “I’m in the comfort of my own home. Here why don’t you try some–-it will relax you.”
“No thanks. I’m gonna leave now.” Lia grabbed her keys and rushed towards the front door.
“Hey Lia, how much did you know about Nigel before you married him?”
Lia stopped in her tracks and turned to Dionne, “Obviously not enough.”
She stormed out of the door leaving with the image of Dionne’s evil grin in her mind. It was the same conniving Dionne she first met.
Lia had no choice. She wanted answers, so she drove to a park not too far from Dionne’s house and called Nigel. It took a second call for him to answer.
“Hey baby, I’m in the middle of a shoot. Is everything alright?”
“Hell no, everything is not alright! You are a damn liar–-
“Wait, wait, wait, a minute. What are you talkin’ about? What’s going on?”
“Nigel, I found a damn sex video you made of us when I first came to L.A. What the hell were you thinking? Then on top of that, I saw tapes of you with other women—
“Lia, Lia, just let me explain, okay? But this is not the right time. Give me about two hours and I can be home. Where are you now?”
“I don’t know. Some park near Sam and Dionne’s house.”
“You’ve been to Dionne’s house…man.”
“Yeah, that’s right ‘man’. Is that all you can say? You didn’t tell me that she is a crackhead!”
Nigel burst into laughter. “I’m sorry, babe. I know you are upset right now, but does Dionne look like a crackhead to you?”
“Crack…coke, whatever. I just can’t believe she was gonna do it right there in front of me. You know what…all of this is just unbelievable! I knew you were too good to be true.”
“Come on, don’t say that. You haven’t heard me out.”
“Just have your ass at home in an hour.” She hung up the phone, too numb to scream or cry.
***************************************************
Lia sat in the bay window of the master bedroom. It was raining. She felt Nigel standing in the doorway and acknowledged him by rolling her eyes. He walked over slowly and sat on the edge of the bed across from her. They sat in silence for a few minutes: his head hung low, while she took sips of wine.
“Lia, I’m so, so sorry about the video. I was wrong and don’t know what I was thinking. But I can tell you at the time I didn’t know I was gonna fall in love with you and make you my wife.”
Lia continued to look out of the window.
“Those other tapes are from college. I know I should have thrown that stuff out, but I just hadn’t got around to it.”
“Dionne told me about the porn movies, Nigel.”
“You are supposed to be a Christian man! What kind of mess are you into?”
“Don’t judge me, Lia! We all fall short along this walk. I was doing the porn movies for money. It costs to live out here in L.A. and when I finished school, I was broke. Fast food, department stores, all those dead end jobs weren’t gonna cut it. So when the opportunity came to make some real money and get my foot in the film industry, I took it.”
“Sure. Porn Producer would look real good on your resume.”
“It got me the work experience I needed.”
“Huh, you can say that again. Now I know where all your creativity in our bed comes from. No telling what or who is going through your mind when we make love. Did you sleep with Dionne too?”
“Okay, that wine got you trippin’.” Nigel reached to take the glass from her.
“Don’t touch me!” She pushed him away. “Answer me. Did you sleep with her?”
“No, I’ve never slept with Dionne. I’ve seen her with too many other guys. Did she tell you she was in some of those movies I produced?”
“Oh my God! This is getting nastier and nastier. What have you brought me out here to…some kind of freak show?”
Nigel kneeled down in front of her. “Lia, that porn stuff is behind me now. I’ve repented for it and I know God has forgiven me. He’s blessed me with this new job and you, my wife. Now can you forgive me too?”
“Nigel how can you expect me to trust you now?”
“I haven’t done anything to lose your trust nor have I lied to you. You never asked me about this until now.”
“No, but you deceived me by not telling. You had no problem talking about the other movies you made. Putting on a righteous act.”
“There you go again—judging me. Christians are humans and humans are not perfect; I shouldn’t have to tell you that.”
Lia rolled her eyes back to the window finding that raindrops had blurred her mountain view.
“Come on, I have something I want to show you.” Nigel reached out for her hand and to his relief she didn’t pull away. He led her down to the garage and flicked on the light revealing a brand new black Lexus GS400 sedan, glistening with raindrops.
Lia crossed her arms and a smirk came across her face. “Humph, is this what you’re gonna do to try and clean up when you mess up?”
“No, it’s not. I was gonna surprise you with this when I got home tonight anyway. But I hope it at least helps get me out of the dog house,” his voice lowered as he embraced her from behind. His breath, then lips, teased her neck. Not sure whether it was the wine, the car, or his touch, but suddenly, Lia was turned on.
- Did Lia and Nigel ride off into the sunset in the brand new Lexus and live happily ever after?
- Did Dionne become Lia's new best friend?
- Did Lia stay true to her faith, packed her bags and left the Hollywood scene?
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