by RM Johnson
The knocking came again.
“All right! I’m coming!” Monica yelled. “Damn.”
Tying her robe and opening the front door, Monica was surprised to see Daphanie standing in front of her. She looked like she had been up all night.
“What are you doing here?”
“It’s early, I know. I’m sorry,” Daphanie said, “but I need to talk to you.”
“I said, what are you doing here? I did what I said I would, now I’m done.”
“Your ex-husband … he …” Daphanie said, looking lost and victimized. “Can I come in?”
Monica looked pitifully at Daphanie, then reluctantly stepped aside.
Daphanie walked in and fell down onto the living room sofa.
“What happened?”
“I picked Nathaniel up from day care without Nate knowing about it. I wanted to teach him a lesson, scare him. I only kept Nathaniel for part of the day, then I called Nate and took Nathaniel back to him. The next morning, Nate had me arrested, then he had all my credit cards maxed out and stole all of my money from my account.”
Monica gasped. She thought of asking Daphanie if she was sure he was behind it, but she knew Nate’s vengeful spirit, and Daphanie did play games with Nate’s son.
“I have nothing,” Daphanie said. “I won’t be able to live, and I won’t get my baby back.”
“How do you know that?”
“I called the lawyer this morning on his cell, asked him what my chances are. I told him to be blunt with me.”
“And?” Monica asked, even though she remembered that Austin told her last night Daphanie’s options would be few if any.
“He said the contract is binding. I can’t get my baby back. I can’t even see him.”
“There’s nothing that can be done?”
“The lawyer said no. Now I have to focus on living. I’m going to try to get my money back from Nate, but I’m sure it’s gone for good. The man’s a millionaire, yet he takes my twenty grand.” Daphanie sighed, stood up, took three steps, then shook her head. “Mr. Harris suggested I go back with Trevor. He said he still loves me, that he’ll take me back.”
“With the father?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you still love him? Have you ever?”
“No. We were fucking, and that’s it. And now, in order to see my own child, to be with my baby, I have to submit to a man I don’t even have feelings for? Because of Nate?” Daphanie said, her eyes starting to tear. “I think … I sometimes think … I want to kill him,” Daphanie sobbed.
Monica walked over to Daphanie, put an arm around her, and comforted her as much as the circumstances would allow. That moment, she couldn’t help but think of Tori Thomas, the other woman who wanted Nate dead. But she hadn’t just wanted, she’d acted. Nate’s old secretary and mistress, Tori, had been done as terribly wrong by Nate as Daphanie and Monica had been, but Tori showed up at his office with a gun, pointed it at him, then, at the last minute, turned it on herself and pulled the trigger. Thankfully she had not died. Last Monica heard, she was in California somewhere.
“You don’t want to kill Nate,” Monica said, pulling her arm from around Daphanie.
“But I do. He took away my child and everything else from me. He needs to pay. You of all people should agree. The things he’s done to you, how he treated you. He almost got you killed. You were in a coma, for Christ’s sake, and you don’t want him to feel any pain for that?”
Monica thought about the horrible ways he had treated her. Yes, if there was anyone who wanted revenge against Nate, it was herself. “No,” Monica lied. “What’s done is done.”
“Bullshit,” Daphanie said, staring Monica in the face. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“You don’t see anything,” Monica said, trying her best to disguise her pain. “I have millions of dollars because of him.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re a millionaire, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t hurting. We could do something,” Daphanie said, desperately. “Think of a plan to get him back. He’s not the only one that can scheme.”
“No. I told you, it wouldn’t work.”
“But—”
“It wouldn’t work. You’ve tried it once and look where it’s gotten you! You’ve lost your child, for God’s sake!”
Daphanie was silent. “So I should just go back to Trevor, submit to a man I don’t love in order to be with my baby?”
“Is there any other way for you to be with your child?”
Daphanie sighed heavily and lowered her head. “No.”
“Then I think you’ve answered your own question,” Monica said.
55
Standing in front of his school wall locker, Jahlil kept thinking that he really hadn’t wanted to break down in front of his father, but he couldn’t help himself. Everything had just become too much. After work, his father had driven him back home, grilled him all the way there. At one point, he even started yelling.
Jahlil didn’t say another word, just climbed out of the car, once they reached home.
“We aren’t done with this,” Caleb had said.
Still in front of his open locker, Jahlil jumped at the hand that was pressed on his shoulder. He turned to see Shaun standing behind him, her round belly jutting out in front of her. “Hey, baby,” she said, giving Jahlil a quick kiss on the lips. “You okay?”
Jahlil took her hand. “Can you cut this period? I really need to talk to you.”
Two blocks away from school, in a quiet public park, Jahlil sat on a bench with Shaun.
“Jahlil, what’s going on? You starting to scare me.”
“I did something bad, something really bad, but you have to promise not to tell nobody.”
“What? I won’t tell, I promise.”
Jahlil tilted his head toward the sky, blinking tears away. “Toomey’s dead.”
“What!”
“He’s dead.”
“How?”
“Me, him, and Bug broke into this dude’s place.”
“You didn’t tell me about this one.”
“I know,” Jahlil said, lowering his head. “I didn’t want you all stressed with the baby coming.”
“Did you make sure the guy was gone?”
“He was gone. We saw him leave, but there was somebody else there. When we tried to leave, Toomey …” Jahlil tried to choke back his emotion. A tear fell from his eye, which he quickly brushed away. “Toomey got hit. He was killed right then.”
Shaun reached out for Jahlil. He threw himself into her, held her tight, and cried. Shaun rubbed his back, kissed the side of his face.
“I … I just … Toomey’s gone, and I just can’t … I can’t do it anymore.”
Shaun continued to hold him but stopped smoothing her hand across his back. “What do you mean?”
Jahlil looked up. “I mean, I can’t do it anymore. It’s not worth it.”
“I understand that you scared, but how else you gonna make money? I thought you was doing this so we can someday live together like a family. What about the place you gave me the pamphlet to? I thought you was doing this for the baby. You saying our baby ain’t worth it?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Shaun,” Jahlil said, pulling away from her.
“Then what are you saying?”
“That could’ve been me in there. If on the next job I get killed, there won’t be no new place to live, and there sure as hell won’t be no family, because I’ll be dead.” He stood up angrily from the bench. “You all right with that?” He turned, took a couple of steps away.
Shaun walked up behind Jahlil, hugged him from behind. “You know I ain’t saying that, and you know I love you. But you been robbing for almost a year now, and this is the first time something bad happened. Somebody slipped last night, and you just gotta make sure it don’t happen again. But we gotta keep making money. You don’t, and where am I gonna stay? Mama gonna either put me on the street with our baby or force me to put it up for ado
ption. You want either of those things to happen?”
Jahlil was silent.
Shaun released Jahlil, walked around so she could look into his eyes. “Baby, you want either of those things to happen?”
“No,” Jahlil said, feeling anger that he must continue what he knew might one day get him killed.
“Then you gotta do what you gotta do for your family.”
56
Austin sat in his office, the phone pressed to his ear.
“She thinks she’s going to go back to Trevor.”
Austin listened, hearing anger in Monica’s voice. “I know. I recommended that,” Austin said.
“That makes no sense to me.”
“She has no other recourse. It was either that or never see her baby again.”
“You don’t know how angry that makes me. I mean, really angry.”
“I’m sorry. But there was really nothing else that could’ve happened.”
Monica was silent. “It’s not right.”
“I know.”
“I’m mad at you for even suggesting it.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” Austin said.
“I don’t know. What are you suggesting?”
“Take off work tomorrow, spend the day with me downtown. We can do breakfast, a carriage ride, a museum or two, and top it off with a couple of waffle cones. What do you say?”
“I didn’t hear anything about sex. The way you handled yourself last time, I thought I’d give you another go at it.”
“You enjoyed yourself?”
“I guess you can say that,” Monica said.
“Which means, the idea of a relationship is something that you’ll consider now.”
“Just pick me up at the store tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, see you then,” Austin said, even though he realized Monica had avoided answering his question. He hung up the phone, smiled, and leaned back in his chair. He had been thinking about this woman much more than he knew he should’ve, especially considering she told him from the beginning that she wanted nothing more than a sexual deal with him. He told himself not to worry. Besides, he figured, once he threw enough of the old Austin charm on her, she would start to develop feelings for him, just as he knew he would for her. Everything would be fine.
A knock came at the door.
“Come in,” Austin said, sitting up at his desk.
Marcus stepped in, looking perturbed. He closed the door, then sat in the chair in front of Austin’s desk.
“How’s the job search? Find anything yet?”
“Are you kidding me? Do you know what it’s like out there? A guy just served me coffee at a bookstore. He has a freaking PhD in economics.”
“I’m sorry, man.”
“It’ll pass. The important thing is now I have the right mind-set, and at least I’m trying.”
“True.”
“But unfortunately that’s more than I can say for your office manager out there,” Marcus said.
“What’s up with you and Reecie now?”
Marcus scooted his chair closer to Austin’s desk, leaned in, lowering his voice. “The other day, I told her I was really out there, searching for jobs. I told her I missed her and Sophie and I wanted to come home. She said no, that I laid around the house for two years, and she didn’t think I learned my lesson after just a few days.”
“Ouch.”
“I know. I think there’s something going on. Like, maybe another guy.”
“What?” Austin said. “Don’t be ridiculous. Reecie loves—”
“I’ve been doing some investigating.”
“Investigating, Marcus. Really?”
“Yeah. I got a source.”
“A source. A source? C’mon. Who is it?”
“Our babysitter, Kendra.”
Austin stood up from his chair. “Okay, you know what, Marcus? I really have better things to do than to—”
“No, no! Sit down,” Marcus urged.
Austin did.
“Reecie has been asking Kendra to babysit for the last three nights in a row. She’s going out every night. I followed her last—”
“You followed her! Marcus, enough!”
“I lost her at a red light. But I’m going again tonight, and I want you to come with me.”
“I’m sorry, I have a late business-related social function tonight, but even if I didn’t, I would’ve lied and said that I did. You’re crazy.”
“I’m not crazy,” Marcus said, standing, leaning over Austin’s desk, pointing a finger down at his brother. “She’s out there doing something. Something that’s stopping her from letting me back into our family, and I’m gonna find out what it is. Tomorrow night. Come with me then?”
“I got a date tomorrow afternoon, Marcus.”
“Good. Kendra said she’s not babysitting till nine p.m. I’ll pick you up at your place at eight thirty. Okay?”
Tired of trying to talk sense into his brother, Austin said, “Fine, Marcus. Eight thirty it is.”
57
Jahlil sat down at a table in the back of the crowded high school cafeteria. Bug looked sheepishly left and right, as though afraid they were being watched, then set his tray of food down. They were alone at their table, even though all the other tables were filled with loud, talking and laughing students.
Bug was about to speak when Jahlil interrupted and said, “We need to set up another job. Maybe at another ATM, maybe outside the mall.”
Bug looked both shocked and angry. “You crazy!” He whispered harshly, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “Toomey just got killed.”
“It happens.”
“It happens? What the hell is with you? He was our best friend. That don’t mean nothing to you?”
Of course it did. Inside, Jahlil’s heart was still torn to shreds because of the death of his friend, but he had responsibilities. Shaun made sure he knew that, and he wasn’t about to shirk those, like his father so easily had done. “It means something. But he’s dead, and we gotta keep on living. It takes money to live, Bug. I thought you would’ve learned that by now.”
“And what if we get caught on the next one? We ain’t even clear of the last one yet.”
“Nobody knows.”
Bug shook his head and pulled his phone from his pocket. He punched a number of keys on the device to get online. He pulled up video from this morning’s news. “You haven’t seen this,” Bug said, handing the phone over to Jahlil.
The volume turned way down, Jahlil listened to the faint newscaster’s voice as he watched the video of the house they robbed last night.
“… a robbery at a South Side home. One of the intruders, Toomey Peters, was killed by the homeowner’s vacationing friend. There is an ongoing investigation and search for the other assailants. Linda Perez reporting for—”
Jahlil handed the phone back to Bug, slapped an angry palm to his skull. “Fuck!” he hissed. “What do we do?”
“Don’t panic,” Bug said. “I already called my boy, Mike. He said we can say we was chilling at his house last night if the police come asking questions,” Bug said. “You know they might come, right?”
Jahlil looked over his shoulder as if expecting police officers to walk in and start blocking the exits to the lunchroom. “I gotta do another job and that’s all there is to it.”
“No. We can’t do this no more,” Bug said. “You know that. I know you gotta do for your girl and your baby, but this ain’t the way. It’s gonna catch up to us, and I don’t wanna be in prison or dead. I ain’t really realize that till last night.”
“So what you saying?”
“I gotta be out, Jahlil. But I need for you to say that you done too.”
“I can’t just—”
Bug came around the table, sat down next to Jahlil, and grabbed him by the arm. “Do you wanna be dead? Do you wanna get locked up?”
“No. Hell no! But you gonna feed my kid when it comes? You gonna take care of my girl, find
us a place to stay?” Jahlil said, raising his voice. He drew momentary looks from students at other tables.
Bug waited for them to turn away before he said, “Jahlil, we can find help, okay?” Bug pleaded, “You don’t even have to say you’ll never do it again, just think about it, till after we find you some help.”
Jahlil stood up from the table, shook his head as he stared down at his friend, and said, “Yeah, I’ll think about it.”
58
Monica walked slowly up and stood in front of Nate’s office, raised her hand to knock, but did not do it.
She had told herself to forget this man, put him out of her thoughts for good. Even considering the abuse and mistreatment she had suffered from him, she made out okay—the millions of dollars she now had, her stores.
But there was the evil thing he’d just done, taking Daphanie’s baby. For Monica, it wasn’t really even about Daphanie. She could give less than a damn about that woman after she tried stealing Nate from her. It was about Nate’s doing something so god-awful as swindling the woman out of her child, then simply thinking nothing more of how he had just ruined her life, as he had done so many times with Monica. The trend had to stop.
Monica prepared herself again to knock when the door opened up in front of her. Nate stood behind it.
“My receptionist called and said you were coming back. I was going to find out what was taking you so long,” Nate said, like they were good friends, like he had never cheated her, cheated on her, and left her for not being able to give him a child.
Monica walked past Nate and stood in the center of his office, shaking her head. “It just doesn’t stop with you.”
“What are you talking about, Monica?” Nate said, closing the door.
“You were fucking her, were going to marry her, left me for her—didn’t that mean you cared the slightest bit?”
“Not you too,” Nate said, walking across his office to his liquor bar. He poured himself a quick drink. “Want one?” he said, looking back at Monica.
“No.”
Nate took a sip from his glass. “She came by here like there was something I could do, even had some pompous, arrogant attorney asking questions. And now you? Like I told both of them, I can’t get the child back. What’s done is done.”