Lovely Lies

by Lashanta Charles

  Chapter 23

  Makynzee

  We checked out of the hotel before going to see my uncle, so we head home when we leave. Kalil is quiet. I wonder if he’s mad I took him there. He doesn’t seem mad, just deep in thought. I wish he’d think out loud. I wonder what my uncle said to him when I left them alone. My uncle has been in prison serving a life sentence for conspiracy and drug trafficking since I was 11 years old. The day he was arrested was the day he was supposed to take me to meet with the sponsors for Nike. I never made it to that meeting. I refused to let my mom or dad take me. Riley called me stupid. My uncle was the most important person in my life before he went to jail. More important than my parents. More important than Riley. I was devastated when my mom told me why he never showed up. I hated him for it. I wouldn’t visit him, accept his phone calls, or read any of his letters. Eventually he stopped trying. Or so I’d thought. He told me today he called or wrote at least once a week. My mom never told me that. He hid what he did from me. My mom and dad knew. I think Riley knew. None of them told me until they had to. They all lied to keep his secret. Kalil kept it a secret. He hasn’t confirmed or denied if that’s exactly what he does, but the passports that I saw had several trips to Honduras and Belize. That’s drug trafficking central. How is my Kalil even associated with anything like this?

  “You wanna eat?” he asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

  Food is the last thing on my mind, but the fact that he’s asking means he’s probably hungry. I tell him yeah. It dawns on me that he doesn’t speak Spanish. Really? “Isn’t speaking Spanish an unofficial job requirement for you?”

  He glances over at me then returns his attention to ordering food. I’m not going to get an answer. When he’s done ordering our food he asks, “What does ‘daria mi vida’ mean?”

  He’s such a dumb smart person. If he really wanted to know he could just download a translator app. I shrug my shoulders.

  “So just like that, you gone lie to my face?”

  Is he really coming at me about lying? I angle my body to face him and ask, “You sure you wanna go down that road, Kalil?”

  He stares at me for a while without speaking. He’s thinking about it. Trying to decide if this is a battle he could actually win.

  “How’s your foot?”

  I guess that means he doesn’t see himself winning that one. “You gotta have a lot of enemies. How do you deal with that?”

  He frowns and says, “I ask God to protect me from my friends, I can handle my enemies.”

  I take a deep breath and sit back in my seat. After he pays for our food I ask, “So with that being said, have you ever killed anyone?”

  “What kind of question is that, Mak?! Who asks somebody that?!”

  He looks surprised and irritated at the same time. Did he reallythink I wouldn’t have questions? I leave him alone for now.

  It’s Monday morning. I told Jay I was staying home today, but I’m pretty sure Kalil is going to be mad at what I’m about to tell him so I called her and told her to come and pick me up. He’s still in bed. I think he’s awake, but I’m not sure. I had the TV on Morning Express, but it’s on ESPN now, so I’ll take that as him being awake. I sit beside him on the bed and he rolls onto his back. His eyes are still on the TV. I give him a kiss on his forehead. I’m not going to say anything until he looks at me. It doesn’t take him long to realize this.

  When he looks at me I say, “I’m moving out.” I don’t miss the fact that he waited for a commercial to come on before acknowledging me. His expression doesn’t change and he doesn’t say anything. I expected an outburst, but since I’m not getting one I’m not sure how to proceed. I think he’s about to say something, but he gets up and goes in the bathroom instead. Jay sends a text telling me she’s outside.

  “Jay’s here, we’ll talk later.” It’s more of a question than a statement, but I get no answer. I wonder how long this will last.

  I haven’t seen or heard from Kalil all day. It’s almost ten PM. He didn’t call or come by the studio. Jay’s calling my phone now. Lately she’s asleep by eight, so something must be wrong. I rush to answer.

  “I’m headed your way, get dressed. We’re going to the club.”

  She hangs up before I can protest. I’m tired and don’t want to go anywhere, but ten minutes after I hang up I hear her blowing her horn. Was I really supposed to be dressed that quick? A few seconds later she calls. I answer and say, “I’m not ready yet.”

  “You don’t need to get cute, Mak. This won’t take long.”

  “Step out the car, let me see you.” I peep out the window. Her outfit suggests dinner, not a club. “Okay, I’m coming.” I quickly throw on an outfit similar to hers and run down the stairs.

  When she said we were going to the club I automatically assumed she meant Sirens, but we go to Capers instead. I know it’s his club, but why is Kalil here? Donte has been an angel since he found out Jay was pregnant, so that means Kalil is the culprit. As we go inside I ask, “What’s up?”

  “Donte just needs you to get Kalil.”

  Donte needs me to get Kalil? Donte who’s bigger and stronger than I am, needs me to get Kalil? This should be interesting. I follow her to the second floor and she stops at the stairs that lead to the dance floor. She points into the middle of the crowded dance floor and says, “Look.”

  My eyes follow the direction of her finger and I see Kalil. Hulk – freaking - smash. That’s all I can think of to describe how I feel right now. Kalil’s shirt off, but it’s draped around his neck. Really? This lets me know he’s been drinking, but I doubt he’s actually drunk. I’ve never even seen him drunk. He’s surrounded by Kaeden, Donte, and a few other guys whose names I’m too upset to recall. There are two girls in front of them. One is trying to dance with him, but he keeps moving away from her. She refuses to stop and every time he moves away she follows him. This would be a good thing if you didn’t count the fact that he’s watching her the entire time. Let me clarify that. He’s watching her ass. Not to mention the fact that he’s being entirely too gentle in his efforts to get her away from him. So all day I’ve been stressing about him being upset and not calling me and this is what he’s doing? My practicality goes into overdrive. I have the urge to punch him in his face right now, but the last thing I would want to do is embarrass him in front of his boys by testing his manhood. That only leaves the chick that’s still refusing to get out of his face. There’re two of them. If I jump, Jay’s definitely going to follow. She’s finally visibly pregnant though and I don’t want her putting herself or the baby in harm’s way. I watch as the girl makes her way back to Kalil again. He’s still watching her. It’s too dark for me to try to figure out the look in his eyes, but it’s enough to make my feet start moving in their direction. As I head their way the girl takes her hand and brushes it across his cheek. He slaps her hand away. I think I only intended to make my presence known, but she just earned an ass whipping. Kaeden sees me before the rest of them do. I can’t hear him, but his lips say “fuck.” By the time he gets Kalil’s attention I’m right in front of them. Our eyes lock briefly. He’s sober. I look away from him just as the girl says something to me. I don’t even try to figure out what it is, I just hit her. She grabs her face. I grab her hair and hit her twice before her friend grabs me from behind by my waist.

  Kalil

  I fucked up. I fucked up real bad. If I had anything to say to try and argue my case Mak’s not even giving me a chance to say it. I should probably stop her from beating on this chick, but if I try to stop her she’ll just take it out on me. Besides that, she’s winning. Things change when the other chick jumps in. I can’t tell if she’s trying to break them up or if she’s trying to help her girl out. It doesn’t matter; I’ll willingly put my hands on a female if it’s to help her. I don’t move fast enough though. Jaida’s already there. She catches the girl’s friend with a quick two piece then throws her hands up in defeat and backs away as Donte moves to grab her. T
he girl’s friend is in shock and lets Mak go. Mak is obviously releasing some pent up anger because even though she still has the other girl by her hair she turns to her friend and kicks her in her stomach. That had to hurt. Her boots have heels that look like spikes. Who fights when they’re wearing shoes like that?! I thought this would be the end of the fight, but she turns her attention back to the girl she has by the hair. She hits her again and one of the security guards grabs her. I don’t know him, so Donte must have hired him. I’m pretty sure all he’s doing is trying to pull Mak away from the girl, but she’s refusing to let her hair go. In some messed up part of my brain it looks like he’s hurting her. He’s squeezing her too tight as he tries to separate them and she’s yelling for me to help her, so I hit him and tell him to let her go. The confused looks on both their faces remind me that I just made that whole scene up in my head. He lets her go and she pushes me away from her and leaves.

  When I get home the light in the living room is on. That means she’s up and waiting for me to come in. I take my time. I wonder if that’s a smart move since she’s already heated. When I walk in she’s standing by the door. I don’t even have time to react. She slaps the shit out of me. I should have seen that coming. Why didn’t I see that coming? When and where did she learn to slap so damn hard? This is the second time she’s seriously hit me and I’m still trying to figure out if I’ve ever been slapped that hard and why it makes my eyes teary. I’ve been punched harder than this and that never happens. I almost say ouch, but I realize she’s swinging again. This time it’s with her left hand and she’s not as quick. I jump back to dodge it and she comes towards me. I think she wants to swing again. She’s not going to stop which means I’ll have to stop her. I can’t put my hands on her though, even if it’s just to hold her back. What if I accidentally hurt her? Next best thing in my mind, go back into the garage and hold the door so she can’t open it. Does this count as me running from her? She bangs on the door and yells for me to open it. I tell her to calm down first. A mad Mak is a very strong Mak. I actually have to put some effort into holding the door closed. I tell her to calm down again. She tells me to kiss her ass and open the door. I think she even tells me to stop being a pussy. Really, Mak? I hold the door and don’t say anything until she gets quiet.

  “Can we talk without using our hands now?”

  She doesn’t respond. I yell her name, but she still doesn’t respond. What the hell is she doing? I crack the door open and peep inside. She’s standing there with her hands on her hips and watching me.

  “That’s disrespectful, Kalil. I’ll deal with a lot of crap, but disrespect ain’t on the list. You get mad, you take time to cool off and then you talk about it, not go out and be a damn child having a temper tantrum.”

  I didn’t have a temper tantrum. I’m a grown ass man. Okay wait, I get her point. I stay quiet.

  “I’m sitting at home waiting for you and wondering where you are, stressed out because I don’t know how you’re reacting to what I said this morning and you’re at the club watching some chick shake her ass for you. If I hadn’t shown up would you have left with her?”

  “Why in the hell would I leave with her and I wasn’t watching her shake her ass, I was watching her to keep my distance from her.” She has all the ass in the world. Why would I wanna watch anybody else and does she seriously think I would cheat on her? She stares at me in silence. She looks like she wants to say more, but turns and goes upstairs instead. I follow her, but I’m not moving fast enough. She locks me out the bedroom. I should have seen that coming, too. Why didn’t I see that coming? I’m so off point right now.

  “I thought we were supposed to be talking?”

  “You had all day to talk, you chose to do otherwise.”

  “Can you open the door and let me in?”

  “I could.”

  I wait, but the door doesn’t open and the sliver of light beneath it disappears. “Baby, come on. Open the door.”

  “Go sleep it off, Kalil.”

  “Sleep what off? I’m not drunk.”

  “Well you’re something. Whatever it is you need to sleep it off and it won’t be in here.”

  If she wants to move out why is she dictating who sleeps where in this house? I want to say this out loud, but I think better of it. I shake my head and go to the guest room down the hall.