by Tiana Laveen
“You weren’t there, you have no right to speak about what went on in my household and try to judge me as a mother.”
“And you weren’t there during my childhood, or when I was in prison, or anytime during my past or present, and yet you sit there and judge me as a man like you know my whole life story.” She snatched her cigarette from the ashtray and took a puff. “Yeah… I can play the same game you can, only better. As if you were mother of the year.”
“I’m a damn good mother, and you don’t have children of your own to say a damn thing about me, boy.”
“Damn good mother? You told Majesty she wasn’t going to be anything.”
“I never said that to her! Did Majesty tell you that?”
“You said it. I could see it in her eyes when she told me about it. She wasn’t making that shit up. Majesty isn’t a big liar, like some people who lie about diamonds that are actually no better than some crap from a bubblegum machine…” The woman’s nostrils flared. “You told her that she would amount to nothing even before she got pregnant, so don’t sit there and act like you’re all about the fuckin’ kids. Like Troy’s safety and happiness are your main priority. Like you got an A+ in child rearing. And who the hell are you to judge me,” he pointed to himself, “or Majesty, when you have three baby fathers and a reputation as one of the biggest gold diggers in Miami in the ’90s? Fuck outta here.” He snarled. “And Majesty will tell you, I don’t even have a problem with gold diggers and whores; I knock nobody’s hustle. But what you’re not going to do is sit here and turn your nose up at me when your house is made of glass, just like the rest of ours.”
Not once did he raise his voice or let her take him off his center. There was no need for yelling and carrying on. The woman was out of order. She could do this the easy way or the hard way, and he knew how to handle broken people who tried to break others. You beat them at their own fucked-up game.
“How dare you come into my home and speak to me this way?!” Her voice shook.
“You don’t respect people who let you walk all over them, Mrs. Gerald.” He licked his lips and shrugged. “I knew when I walked in the door what I needed to do if you decided to come at me like this. Majesty didn’t have to tell me a thing about you for me to see what and who you really are. Just like most if not all of what you said about me is true, the same applies to what I said about you. I am a gangbanger. I didn’t graduate from college. I have a history of violence against fellow men. I have stolen things. I have hurt people. I have robbed. I have killed. You, Mrs. Gerald, have destroyed. You have deceived. You have alienated. You have broken hearts. You have cheated. You have fucked your way to the top, using the beauty you once had and your gift of gab, and faking class, to reach men of means. You can’t treat me how you treat your kids, talk to me how you to talk to them and expect it to fly. To think that shit is going to roll. I’m not Majesty. I don’t know you. I didn’t come out of you. I don’t give a fuck.” He shrugged. “I don’t care if you like me. Yeah, it would be nice, but I won’t lose a wink of sleep over it. The show must go on.”
“I want you outta my house, and out of my daughter’s life. You’re trash! Why can’t you just leave my daughter alone, huh? Money? You want me to pay you off or something?” He laughed and shook his head. The woman was unbelievable. “I’m sure you can get someone else, Mr. Martinez! Despite you using your body as some human etch-a-sketch, I can see under all of that… art… that you’re actually a nice-looking man. Get another woman! Geesh! It’s not that hard! Yes, Majesty will hurt for a short time, but she’ll be okay eventually. She’s strong.”
“She is. But are you? You’re fighting awfully hard for something you have no say in.”
The woman leaned forward. Her eyes turned to slits as she pointed her finger at him, menace in her expression.
“I would be wrong to not fight for my daughter and grandson. I don’t want you for my daughter, and neither does God. And yes, motherfucker, I’m strong as they come!”
“Strong people don’t usually have to announce their strength. They just show and prove. You’re really something.” He laughed, and she seemed at that moment as if she wanted to choke the life out of him. “I never tested to see just how true your words are… you know, Majesty’s strength levels. I don’t have to bend Majesty in all sorts of crazy ways, break her down, hurt her, to feel powerful.” He smirked. “Unlike her mother, who needs others to suffer to feel mighty. As far as moving on to another lady, well, I don’t want another woman, Mrs. Gerald.”
“You may not want another woman, but she needs a different man.”
“Let me paint a picture for you.” He grinned and raised his hands in the air. “Picture it. There’s a bunch of cereal in the breakfast aisle, right? Rows and rows of boxes. Ya got Cheerios, Frosted Flakes, Fruit Loops… those are Troy’s favorite, the classics. You’ve also got hot cereal like oatmeal, and all these new ones poppin’ up like Oreo, and coffee flavored, shit like that, right? And lo and behold… in the midst of all of this is your daughter. Majesty Rings, something like that. She’s the only box that looks the way she does, and boy does she taste good. She’s expensive though, and there aren’t any coupons, Bogo, store specials, nothing like that, but you know you’re getting your money’s worth if you grab her while she’s there.
“She won’t be on that shelf long. She’s most wanted, and one of the last boxes of her type, not just the store, but the entire country. So, you see, your daughter is the only flavor and brand that calls to me. She’s top shelf. I’ve had many types of cereal, Mrs. Gerald, but Majesty Rings are bar none the best. To top all that, she’s got a prize inside, one that’s just for me…”
He winked and chuckled. Majesty’s mother grimaced and sucked her teeth. “I’ve got my spoon and bowl ready. I was born ready for your daughter, Mrs. Gerald. So, I did what any man in my position would do. I put on a bib and brought her home, and I must say, Trix are for kids, but I don’t play games. I know that I’m Troy-tested but apparently not his-grandmother-approved. The only approval I need, though, is Majesty’s, and she’s greeeeeaaaaaat! Little Tony the Tiger for ya! She’s magically delicious, too.” He cackled.
“You’re crude. Rude. Disgusting.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He laughed all the harder. “I’m just giving you an analogy about why I won’t walk away from your daughter. You know what’s crude, rude, and disgusting? The fact that if I did what you asked, you don’t care how that would affect her and Troy. It’s all about you. What you want. You’re broken. We’re alike. You hate me because I’m you, only I don’t lie about my ugliness. I embrace it.”
The woman’s chest rose and fell, and she looked like she was about to have a fit.
“I’ve got a business. As you know, I train dogs. I train people, in my own way, too. And what you’re not going to do is mindfuck me, like you do everyone else, and hurt Majesty anymore. This ain’t about you. It was never about you. This is about your eldest child who has fallen in love with someone who can do all of the things for her that you claim I can’t. You have no damn idea what’s in my bank account. You don’t know how much money I make, or anything about my mental health. You don’t know my beliefs, and you don’t know what I do for your daughter and how she feels about me, down to her bones—because you never asked. You looked at me, heard something or other about my past, and you ran with it.”
Her eyes narrowed on him, obviously sickened by his words. “Only God can judge me, and speaking of God, don’t tell me what God thinks of Majesty and me.”
“I know the God I serve wouldn’t approve of you.”
“You honestly think that when we both die,” he wagged his finger between the two of them, “God is going to look at you, with all of your fancy clothes, and say, ‘You’ve been amazing, in spite of the way you treated your children, friends, and family, and all the sleeping around you did, and the lying, manipulating and hurt you’ve caused, but THIS motherfucker,’ talking about
me of course, ‘is going straight to hell because even though he told the truth, and he treats his girl, his mother and father well, and loves his fiancée’s son, and helps animals, he’s still Cuban, has tattoos, and used to gang-bang.’”
The woman’s face turned a deep shade. She picked up her cigarette once again and smoked.
“This isn’t going anywhere. I’m no longer sure why you’re here, Dominic. Majesty told me that you wanted to meet me, introduce yourself, and have a civil conversation, but all you’ve done is devalue, argue, and try to convince me that I should accept what’s going on. I don’t accept it.”
“I never tried to get you to accept what’s going on. I told you that if you didn’t accept it, then that was on you, that it wouldn’t stop anything. I’m speaking candidly. If you do right, shit won’t go left.” He shrugged. “That’s all there is to it. You can either be treated like a queen from me, because that’s exactly what I’d do for the mother of my wife-to-be, or you can lose all communication with Majesty. Because we both know she’ll choose happiness over deceit. The viper over the mother hen… She’s at her wits end with you. You don’t have the right to talk about anyone’s marriages, either. When she asked you about your own marriage, you looked her dead in the face and lied.”
The woman swallowed, and her eyes bucked. She clutched her blouse.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t lie. My husband is away on business.”
“Your husband fucking left you. Stop the bullshit. Majesty knows. Allison knows. Michael knows. You’ve been pretending to be someone you’re not since before Majesty was even a glint in her father’s eye. You can’t con a retired con-artist. The very first time Majesty even said anything to me about you, just a few short words, I had your number. There’s nothin’ original about you. Faking the funk has been going on since Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. You can fool the gullible, but you can’t fool the King.”
Her face turned ashen now, as if she were about to pass out, and she visibly trembled.
“How long has she known?”
“She just found out for sure last night, but she’s suspected it for weeks. Majesty is smart. You raised a very intelligent woman, so you really shouldn’t be surprised.” She turned away and gave a half nod. They sat quietly until Majesty entered the room. After surveying the situation, she turned and walked back up the steps, without so much as a word.
The older woman sighed, then got to her feet. She picked up her iced tea and took a dainty taste, her baby finger extended.
“It’s apparent you’ll be marrying my daughter against my wishes.”
“Yup.”
She casually nodded and continued to drink while the ice clinked and clanked in the glass.
“I do appreciate how you stand up for my daughter.” And that was all she said before leaving the living room.
He ran his hand along the side of his neck, closed his eyes, then yawned.
You train people how to treat you. What you accept or not accept shows someone what you’re willing to accept them doing to you. Humans aren’t so different from dogs. There are always those who wish to follow, be a part of the group. We want to eat well. We want to fuck and mate. We want to have fun, play, and run around. We want to be held and loved. We want to belong to something greater than us. But there can be only one leader. One alpha. A gold and black Viper leads the pack…
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Passing the Collection Plate
He couldn’t recall the last time he’d been to church.
His abuela was Roman Catholic, as was most of his family, but this was different from what he recalled as a child. Much different.
Viper looked around, hands on knees. Today, he’d dressed in all black slacks, shirt, and Givenchy dress shoes, along with a large diamond crucifix around his neck. He and Mr. Earl sat in the second pew of the place of worship, his head bowed while Reverend Miller cradled his bright red Bible and spoke of duplicity and disobedience.
“Genesis 3:1 says, ‘Now the serpent was craftier than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’”
Sweat gathered at Viper’s temple. It was hot inside the sanctuary, yet he was at peace. Just like when he’d entered Mr. Earl’s home the day prior. Just yesterday, the old man had been trying to get his mail into the house, and as he’d ridden past him on his motorcycle, he’d paused to help him gather his letters and packages. The older man had invited him inside where he’d immediately caught the distinct aroma of sautéing beans and onions, cornbread, and that ‘old people’ scent that transcended time. There was comfort in that, reminding him of his abuela, gone so long ago…
What began as a common courtesy ended up with the two of them talking at a long dining room table adorned with a white lace runner, and surrounded by gaudy gilded frame art, mostly of a White Jesus and his disciples. Mr. Earl asked if he was religious. Viper said, ‘Sometimes.’ And that was the honest answer. He believed in God. He believed what his abuela had taught him as a child when she’d take him, Diego, and his cousins to her church, but he was not convinced that everything occurred in the manner it was written. Regardless, he respected the older man’s views, but what he really clung to was this old man’s love for a woman who no longer walked the Earth. He still had faith in what he could not see or hear.
Mr. Earl believed his wife, Arnette, was still in that house. Perhaps she was. He’d met her once. She’d brought him a delicious homemade pie, and then, just like that, she was gone.
Now here Viper sat, in a church. The minister went on, and he listened to the gifted orator with the silver tongue speak, even as he slipped his phone from his pocket to read the new text from Jaguar…
I need to speak to you privately. There’s something we need to discuss…
Jag had been out and back in Miami for two weeks. In that time, Viper had greeted the man with cigars, coffee, and alcohol. As the others had done, he’d placed money in his palm and embraced him. He attended a huge party in Jag’s honor and made no moves to engage in heavy discussions. But the time had come for deeper interaction. A High Crown King meeting.
Viper placed the phone back in his pocket as the church members kept on humming and encouraging the minister to continue speaking with head nods, utterances of understanding, and affirmation. Black churches intrigued him. He’d been to two in the last year, for funerals of his homeboys. Yes, though not the norm, there were Black Latin Kings as well, and some of them had passed on, just like most gangsters in the world.
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil…’”
He looked over at Mr. Earl, who was nodding in agreement, his eyes closed as he rocked back and forth to a song only he could hear. Dark brown, heavily veined hands clenched one another as he prayed. Yesterday, they’d been surrounded by ghosts. In that old man’s house, while sitting at the dining room table with the dim lights, and the paintings of the Savior, he’d said to him while they drank beer, “My son used to come with me to church. He grown. Moved on now. Doin’ his own thang… don’t come no more. I go by myself.”
Viper had taken a sip of ice-cold beer from his bottle. All was quiet around them, with only the rattle of an old icebox in the garage interrupting their conversation. And in that moment of silence, he’d said, “I’ll go with you.”
So this morning he drove to the old man’s house in his Bugatti, and Mr. Earl’s eyes lit up like headlights. He helped him inside, and they rode in style to that overpacked church full of Black and brown faces, surrounded by so many crowns: kinky curls, ebony braids, silky black, red, and blond tresses, oversized hats adorned wi
th feathers and fruit, and shiny twists. The place was alive with the flavor of heaven and the warnings of hell. Viper could feel strange yet soothing vibrations throughout his entire body as the choir sang about better days to come, and how God would never turn their back on them. The organ player, the pianist, the guitar players, and drummers were covered in the blood of Christ as their talented fingers helped usher the soulful melodies from the mouths of faithful women and men draped in thick robes. All for promises of eternal life and walking streets paved in gold. Back and forth the choir swayed, a series of bodies in sync. The place was on fire with spirits. A fast seduction of epic, poignant proportions. Swaying… Swaying… Swaying…
And he sat there, remembering the rosary swinging back and forth in that little room while he was cowered in the corner, full of fear and regret. Soaked to the bone from the rain and told by his big brother to be a man, to never cry. Jesus was his big brother, too. Perhaps, God had been waving that rosary to get his attention? Maybe it had been a visit from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Maybe God himself had been trying to hypnotize him before it was too late…
“…So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate…”
Golden apples. Where was Adam? Hiding in the darkness of the bush, while I was coiled on the branch, trying to talk her out of it. This can’t be true…
His mind began to torture him with the dream he couldn’t let go. It had felt so real. An Eve of his own, with the face of the woman he loved. The Viper and his Majesty. Then, the human man, a mere mortal, who hadn’t earned her love or her keep, stole her away…
He was dragged out of his deliberations by an uproar of applause, so he joined in the clapping. When service was over, and Mr. Earl had introduced him to several people, during which time he had to shake hands and hug people he didn’t know much to his dismay, they finally left.