Chapter 29
"I'm calling the police." Shayla went to grab the phone.
"Byron, what are you doing here?" I asked him. Now I'm pissed. He's stalked my wife. He's expressed his love to her. He disrespects our union. And now he's on my porch? I'm about two seconds from beating his ass right now.
"Michael, I'm sorry. I can explain." He looked at me with pleading eyes.
"You better make it quick because Shayla is on the phone with the police as we speak."
"Please make her stop. Please! I'll explain everything if you stop her." I pondered his request. What could he possibly have to explain? And how the hell did he get past security? Someone is getting fired.
"Explain what?"
"I'll explain everything, if you-"
"The police are on their way, Byron. I suggest you make a run for it now." Shayla stood close behind me.
"Shayla, I'll explain everything. Can I please come in?" He asked her.
"What? No! How did you even get this far?"
"I will explain everything. Just please let me in. Please!" He begged again. This man looks scared. What on earth does he have to explain so bad? I looked at Shayla. She looked back at me.
"Babe, call gate security and have them come up here."
"Gladly." She went back to the phone.
"What?! Seriously?" Byron cried.
"It's for our safety, Byron." I assured him.
"Aw man..." He paced the porch. "I'm going to prison. Federal prison. I'm dead. It's over. I'm done for. Everything I've worked for, gone! Because I'm an idiot. A stupid, selfish, ugly idiot." I was witnessing a man having a mental breakdown on my porch of all places. I'm glad Shayla chose me over him. Sheesh. I looked past Byron to see security speeding towards the house. Once they stopped, they ran up the steps. John grabbed hold of Byron to restrain him as Darnell questioned him. Shayla came back to the front.
"Darnell, come here." I told him.
"Yes, Mr. Jackson? I am so sorry. I don't know how he got past us."
"One of you may be without a job before today is out, because not only did you put my wife in danger, but somehow you've managed to put my entire business out there. Do you see them?" I pointed to the paparazzi who were still snapping photos. "All of this will be in the news because of you."
"I apologize, Mr. Jackson. Especially to you, Mrs. Jackson." His head hung low in shame.
"John, pat Byron down." John did as he was told. I wanted to make sure Byron was free of anything that may put me and my wife in danger.
"He's clear, Mr. Jackson." John told me as he finished patting Byron down. I looked at Byron who looked at me.
"John, I need you to accompany Byron as I let him into our home. Darnell, you're supposed to be my head of security. I'll deal with you later."
"Michael?" Shayla looked up at me, confused.
"I've got it all under control, babe. Let's go into the living room." I assured her.
She looked at Byron, "the police are still on their way." She said as she made her way back into the house. I shut the door after Byron and John came in and lead them to the living room. I sat beside Shayla as Byron sat across from us. John stood close beside him. "What is going on, Michael? Why would you let this creep in our home?" She looked at me.
I stared at Byron, "he said he needed to explain something, babe. May as well let him explain, right?" Byron nodded.
"You better make it quick. The police don't take an hour to get here as they do anywhere else. It's ten minutes or less. So, I suggest you make it fast."
"Okay, Shayla." I understand her anger, but she needs to calm down. "Byron, what is so important that you felt the need to invade the privacy of my home?"
"Michael... It goes without saying, I am in love with your wife and I've done more than you can ever imagine to be near her." He stared at the floor.
"You've got to be kidding me, Michael. We're letting a stalker into our home to explain how he stalked me?!"
"Shayla..." I looked at her. As much as this is making my blood boil, he's got to have a reason to be over here. I redirected my attention to Byron, "now I know you came here with the intention of saying more than that, right?"
"Before you, Michael. It was me. I was the one who was there for Shayla when you broke her heart. I was the one who took my time to get to know her. I was there when she had no other friends in Sacramento. And out of nowhere, you just swooped right in. She never talked about you until I asked her if she had a man. She never uttered your name once. She had been in Sacramento for a while and never mentioned you. Then all of a sudden, she's in love, you swoop in, marry her and carry her off to La La Land and I'm left with a broken heart. But no, it doesn't end there." He tore his gaze from me to Shayla. "Because remember, I was friends with her brother David before I was ever friends with her. He told me she had a job at a school down here. So, what do I do? I decided to get a job at the same school she worked at. They were hiring anyway, so was I really stalking her? Or was I just finding a job to make ends meet?" He looked back at me. "Yeah, I and your wife stayed in contact. She even told me about that weird trip you took with your brothers which come to find out is actually the Victory Tour! Isn't that some shit?"
"Watch your mouth, Byron. You start using harsh words and I'll get harsh right with you." I warned him.
He rolled his eyes at me, "While you left Shayla alone for months, I was there for Shayla checking in on her. You weren't! You didn't even want to talk to her! You never made time to talk to her. You didn't even try to contact her. But I made time to talk to her. I made sure she was alright..." He looked back at Shayla and smiled a little bit. "I even got her coffee every morning because she would always come into work tired because she was too busy worrying about you. You remember that, Shayla?" She ignored him. He looked back to the floor. "Then you come back and got her drinking tea, so now all of a sudden she doesn't want the coffee I was bringing her anymore."
"What is your point, Byron? Because at this point anything else you have to say regarding you stalking my wife and disrespecting me is subject to giving you the beat down of your life." I warned.
"Wow. Michael Jackson is threatening me. When do I sue? Before or after you beat my ass?"
"Get to the point."
"I did it."
"You did what?" Shayla asked.
"Everything. I'm the reason you're all over the magazines, on television, and have paparazzi at your gate as we speak. It was me."
"What?!" Shayla and I asked in unison.
"It's not cheap living here in Los Angeles, okay? Plus, we all know teachers don't get paid squat. You try living on only a teacher's salary in Los Angeles. It just doesn't work. You have to have multiple streams of income if you're going to teach. I had to make ends meet somehow. Do you know how much it costs to get a photo of a celebrity? Of course, what I get paid is like nickels and dimes to what you all have, so you don't care. I work as paparazzi. I've gotten photos of Madonna, Janet Jackson, New Edition, anyone you can name of."
"So, you're a professional stalker?" Shayla asked.
He looked at Shayla and nodded, "but I didn't know you were married to Michael Jackson. I had no idea... Then out of nowhere, you went off on me and I snapped. I was so pissed. You didn't consider anything I had ever done for you... So, I followed you one day. And I saw you kissing him and hugging him... And..." He paused. "Then I took my camera out and snapped pictures. You're lucky I chose not to sell those. You know how much money I could have made?" He asked us. After not getting a response he shrugged. "I know you all don't care. Then I followed you home. And surprise, surprise, I hit the gold mine when you all led me to the Jackson family lair. It wasn't hard getting through the gates since I knew the security there. You may want to have Lionel fired now if you want to keep your family safe from paparazzi." Byron looked at me.
"Is a threat?" I stood up.
"Michael..." Shayla held me back.
"Not a threat... Just a suggestion." Byron sat back as if he wanted me to do something. I'm crazy for letting this lunatic into my house. "You may want to get rid of Darnell too. He's the reason I'm in here now." He shrugged. My jaws tensed up. At first, I was going to give Darnell a warning, now I'm really going to have to fire him. "And you know what? I got paid a pretty penny for those photos I got of the two of you and the leads I gave to people about you and Shayla. But after all the money I made and everything I've done, I'm beginning to question if all of it was worth it. And the answer is no. It wasn't worth it at all..." Again, he looked at Shayla, "because after all that, now we don't even work together anymore. Mrs. Walker fired you and now I don't even get to see you anymore." He started to cry. "None of it was worth it. Because ultimately, he married you, all of this happened, and he's still got you and I have nothing to gain from anything I did..." Shayla and I stared at him in disgust. John was prepared if Byron did anything stupid. "I guess... I just came over here to apologize to the both of you. I'm sorry for disrespecting your union. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable, Shayla. I'm sorry for the paparazzi. I'm sorry you got fired. And most of all, I'm sorry I'll never be able to see you again. Michael, you are truly a lucky man. Shayla is an angel." He smiled. His smile didn't even come off as friendly. It came off as creepy. "That's all I came over here for." He stood up. "I'm sorry. I just hope you all find it in your hearts to forgive me." He made his way to the front door. John and I followed to make sure he would leave. As soon as he opened the door, the police were preparing to knock.
"Is everything alright here?" One of the officers asked.
"Everything is under control, officer. You don't have to arrest me. I'm going home." Byron tried waving them off.
"Wait right here, sir." The other officer instructed Byron. "May I ask for the owner of the house?"
"That would be me," I mentioned.
"What seems to be the problem, Mr. Jackson?"
"Byron has been stalking my wife. The reason she called was that he was on our porch unbeknownst to us. We've gotten to the bottom of it though."
"Stalking? That's a serious crime here, Byron."
"Any way we can help?"
"Shayla, come here, baby," I called for her. She hurried beside me. "The officers arrived, and they were wondering if they could help in regard to Byron." I turned the situation over to her. She stared at Byron pondering his fate as he stared back at her with pleading eyes. To be honest, I want this man gone. I just need him off my porch. I don't want this man to have anything else to do with my family. I'd be happy if he were locked up after all he's admitted to us.
"Byron," Shayla began. "You have followed me from Sacramento to my job to my home to my in-laws home. You've caused me to lose my job. I don't know what else you can possibly be capable of since you've put me through so much distress and disrespected my husband along the way. Officers, I just want to feel safe in my own home. Nothing can be reversed because of all the damage he has caused. I don't know if a restraining order would be effective enough or not... I just want Byron to move on with his life as I've moved on with mine and hopefully not cause the same pain, he's inflicted on me on anyone else."
"Do you hear that, Byron?" One of the officers asked.
"Yes, sir. I've apologized to them both." Byron said as he looked both officers in the eye.
"I don't know if an apology is enough since you've caused her to lose her job. Normally, we would put in for a restraining order, but Mrs. Jackson says that won't be effective enough, which I understand. Come with us, son. We're going to figure something out." They put handcuffs on him and led him away. At the gates, paparazzi still took pictures. Since all this happened, I'm sure we'll be seeing this in the news somewhere. I need a new security team. Since Darnell was in on it, I'm sure John had to be in on it too. Now that we've got that idiot thrown away, hopefully, we can finally move on with our lives, but this time in the spotlight.