When Kennedy got into her car, she retrieved her Treo from the glove compartment. She had missed more than eighty calls. All of them were from either Chaz or Yatta, although the majority of them were from Chaz. Knowing that Jordan was secure with her aunt Karen, Kennedy powered the phone off and tossed it onto the backseat.

Kennedy drove straight to the Parker Meridien hotel and got a suite. She took two Vicodin and fell into a deep comatose-like sleep. Kennedy slept all day and night, waking only to take the medication. She woke up the next morning, feeling hazy. A long, piping-hot shower cleared her mind a little. After lying around dozing for most of the day, she made the crucial decision to go home that evening.

Exhausted from searching the city for Kennedy, Chaz lay across the couch watching SportsCenter, one hand stuck down in his pants and the other dangling over the edge of the couch holding the remote. He was just about to reach for his phone to try Kennedy’s cell once more when he heard the locks on the front door turning.

Knowing it could only be Kennedy, he sat up promptly. When she strolled through the living room, he asked, “Where you been?”

Totally ignoring him, with her lips pursed and nose in the air, Kennedy walked on toward their bedroom.

Oh, she trippin’ hard, like she didn’t hear me. Chaz jumped up and followed her. “Yo, I know you vexed wit’ me, but you still my wife. Answer me when I’m talking to you.”

“You can’t be serious.” Kennedy rolled her eyes.

“I’m dead serious! Where da fuck you been, Kennedy? I mean, you could’ve at least answered your phone, if just to say, I’m aight, but I’m not fucking with you.”

Kennedy stared at him coldly as she undressed but didn’t mutter a word.

“So you just gon’ ignore me?”

Kennedy remained silent as she pulled out a pair of pajamas from her dresser drawer and slipped them on.

Chaz understood fully where she was coming from, so he said, “I know you’re hating me right now … but you at least owe me the right to know you’re okay, especially when you’re carrying our child.”

“If the baby is all you’re worried about, then worry no more, my man.” Kennedy smirked evilly as she climbed up into the middle of the king-sized bed.

“What you mean by that?”

“It means you don’t have to worry ’bout our baby anymore, ’cause our baby no longer exists.”

“No longer exists?” Chaz questioned, confounded by her statement. “What the fuck does that mean, Kennedy?”

“It means I had an abortion, Chaz.”

“I know you playing with me.” He almost laughed.

“Nah, I ain’t playing. I’m dead ass, my man.”