by Jade Jones
It actually felt good to be alone though. I finally had some peace of mind to think and reflect on all the crazy shit that had taken place in less than a month’s span. I had to talk to Jude and tell him everything, including his funds and his crazy ass ex-girlfriend’s antics last night.
Scrolling through my contacts, I suddenly came across my father’s sister’s name. I had yet to call my Aunt Linda, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I felt a little awkward. Raised in orphanages and foster homes, I was never able to establish that familial bond with anyone including my own relatives.
Sighing dejectedly, I locked my phone and tossed it on the bed a few inches from me…only to retrieve it two minutes later.
“What the hell?” I asked myself before dialing Linda’s number.
After the fourth ring I figured she had to be at work. Just as I was about to disconnect the call, her raspy voice filled the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hey…um…”I cleared my throat. “This is Cameron. You told me to...um…”
“Hey, Cameron! I was wondering when you were going to call me,” she said cheerfully. “What are you up to?”
“Oh, nothing actually. I was just…”
“Nothing? Well why don’t you come over?” Linda asked. “I can make us lunch and we can talk and catch up with one another.”
“Um…well…,” I hesitated. “Alright,” I finally agreed. What the hell, it wasn’t like I was doing much of anything else today and I did still have Tiffany’s car.
After rattling off her address, I took a quick shower and dressed. Linda stayed off Madison Avenue, so it wouldn’t take too long to get to her house.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the driveway of a quaint, little yellow brick home. After killing the engine, I made my way to the front porch. Linda opened the door for me before I could even knock and pulled me into a bear hug like we’d been close all my life. After awkwardly returning her affection, she led me inside.
“Don’t you look cute,” she complimented taking in my appearance.
I was dressed casually today wearing a floral halter sundress and brown gladiator sandals.
“Thank you,” I said.
“You must get your keen fashion sense from this side of the family,” Linda beamed.
I slowly took in her attire from head to toe. She wore a powder blue wool sweater—even though it was damn near ninety degrees outside—and a pair of chocolate flare corduroys.
Ha! I think not, is what I wanted to say, but instead I replied, “You never know, Aunt Linda. I probably did.”
“Well, don’t just stand there. Come and have a seat,” she beckoned for me to follow her into her small den.
I took a seat on the aqua colored loveseat and she sat in the matching reclining chair adjacent to me.
“How old are you now?” she asked.
I twiddled my fingers nervously. “Um…nineteen. I’ll be twenty in a couple weeks.” It felt so weird to me sitting here talking to an aunt I didn’t even know had existed until a few days ago.
Linda covered her mouth with her plump hand. “Oh my goodness. You’re still a baby, Cameron,” she said. “I thought you would’ve been a little older. How old is your brother now?” she asked.
My eyebrows furrowed. “What?” I laughed. “Brother? I don’t have a brother,” I told her.
Linda looked just as confused as I felt right now.
“What do you mean you don’t have a brother…what’s his name…? Um…” She began snapping her fingers as she tried to recall the name of my nonexistent brother.
“Uh…my mother didn’t have a son,” I politely spoke up. “Just me. I’m an only child,” I explained.
Linda smiled and waved me off. “Yeah, I know you are Barbara’s only child but Kenny had a son—”
“My father?!” I asked in disbelief. This woman didn’t know what the hell she was talking about. I was my father’s only child…or so I thought.
“Yes.” Linda nodded. “You have a half-brother. Kenny had a child with a woman he met during his stint in the military. This was before he even met your mother.” Linda stared at me in confusion. “Cameron, I can’t believe you didn’t know this.”
My mouth was slightly agape as I digested everything that Linda had just said.
“You’re telling me I’ve had a brother out here all this time and I never knew it?” I asked in disbelief. “I think you’re mistaking me for someone else—”
“Cameron, I don’t know what reason your father had for not telling you this. Maybe he felt you were too young to understand then. You were just a kid…Maybe Barbara might have not wanted you to know. I’m not sure. But as sure as the sky is blue, I’m telling you, Kenny has a son,” she said. “You have a brother.”
I shook my head still in disbelief. “No this…this isn’t…no…” I was in denial.
Linda quickly stood to her feet. “Wait a minute. I think I have a picture of him and his mother. It might be a few years old. Kenny gave—”
“My brother?” I asked incredulously. “Does he know about me?”
Linda’s expression was one of utter pity. “I assumed you both knew of each other. I’ve never spoken to him a day in my life so I can’t say if he knows about you or not. Your father gave me the picture about a year or so before he died,” she explained. “But what I don’t understand is why Kenny never told you all this himself.”
“Maybe he was planning to but then he got killed…”
There was suddenly an awkward silence between us. We avoided eye contact for a minute before Linda spoke again.
After clearing her throat, she said, “I’m going to see if I can find that picture.”
“Alright,” I muttered.
I still didn’t fully believe Linda. All my life I had believed I was an only child and then here she came, out of nowhere, telling me that I had a half-brother out here somewhere that probably didn’t even know I existed. This shit couldn’t be happening.
Linda quietly left the room as she went to retrieve the picture of my so-called brother. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. After checking the caller ID, I noticed Jude was calling me from his hospital room.
“What’s up, babe?” I answered exasperatedly.
“What’s up, boo?” he asked. “You sound a lil’ aggravated.”
“No…um…,” I cleared my throat. “I’m all good. What’s up with you?” I asked. “How are you feeling today?”
“A little sore but they gave me some medication for it. I’m calling to let you know that I’m on my way to therapy.”
“Really?” I asked. “Aww, I want to see you before you go in. You’re on your way there right now?”
“As soon as the nurse gets here, yeah.”
I quickly stood to my feet. “I’m on my way up there now,” I told him before quickly disconnecting the call. “Um…Aunt Linda?” I called out.
“Yes?!” she hollered from a nearby room.
“I actually gotta get going,” I told her. “I gotta go take care of something. It’s important.”
“Oh…well…okay. Just lock the bottom lock behind you.”
“Alright, it was nice talking to you,” I told her.
“I’ll let you know when I find the picture. Okay?”
“Okay,” I replied halfheartedly. Apart of me still didn’t or couldn’t believe I had a brother. I still thought she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.
After leaving Linda’s house, I sped to the Cleveland Clinic in order to see Jude before he went off to therapy…unfortunately when I made it up to his room he wasn’t even there. A passing nurse saw me standing in his room and informed me that he had already left for therapy. Chalking my visit up as a loss, I decided to go on back home.
When I made it back to the car, I was shocked to find Tiffany’s car wouldn’t even start up. The gas needle read that the tank was half full so I didn’t know what was going on. The engine turned over a few times but it wouldn’t start up.<
br />
“What the fuck?!” I cursed aloud.
After trying to start the car up a few more times, I decided to call Tiffany. Unfortunately, I was sent straight to her voicemail.
“Ain’t this a bitch?” I asked myself. There were no buses that I could catch that would take me back to my condo and it would cost a grip catching the taxi. Realizing that my options were limited, I figured I would go ahead and call the cab.
I barely pressed a digit before my phone suddenly began ringing the set ring tone, “Cashin’ Out”.
I didn’t recognize the unfamiliar number but I decided to answer anyway. “Hello?”
“Hey, what’s up?” A deep voice filled the receiver.
I didn’t recognize the voice right away. “Hey, who’s this?” I asked.
“Marcus.”
My eyebrows furrowed. “Marcus?” I asked in confusion.
“Klimaxxx,” he simply said.
“Ohhh. Okay. I have to get used to calling you Marcus,” I told him. “But anyway, look, now’s really not a good time—”
“Everything good?” Marcus asked in a concerned tone.
“Yeah…well…no,” I hesitated. “I’m actually stranded up here at the Cleveland Clinic in Lakewood.”
“Word? I could come swoop you up if you need me to,” he offered.
“Thank you,” I said. “I would really appreciate it.”
“Aight. Gimme about fifteen minutes, ma.”
Chapter 12
My arms were folded across my chest and my expression was one of pure disdain. Hell no, I thought.
Marcus pulled alongside me on his Suzuki Hayabusa bumping French Montana’s “Everything’s A Go”. I had forgotten just that quick that he rode a bike when I actually expected him to pull up in a car. Nevertheless, he did look kind of cute in a blue and white varsity jacket, a pair of khaki short and the latest Jordans.
Don’t do that, Cameron, you got a man, I told myself.
“I’ve never gotten on a motorcycle before,” I told Marcus after he pulled off the royal blue helmet.
“For real?” Marcus laughed. “You good. I promise you ain’t got nothin’ to worry about, ma,” Marcus said. He handed me the helmet. “I wouldn’t let nothin’ happen to you. Come on.”
I unfolded my arms and stared at the Suzuki Hayabusa for several more seconds. Swallowing my fear, I reluctantly made my way over towards the bike and straddled it before pulling the helmet over my head. Slipping my arms around his waist, I held on tight for dear life much like I had the night he had spun me around on stage.
I would be lying to myself if I said his toned midsection didn’t feel good holding on to. Stop it Cam, you got a man, I chastised myself for the second time.
“Alright, just hold on tight,” Marcus said. “Don’t be nervous.”
Marcus revved the motorcycle up, and my grip around his waist instantly tightened.
He peeled out the driveway and zoomed up Madison Avenue, swerving in and out of lanes. My sundress ruffled in the wind.
This isn’t so bad, I thought.
“You good?!´Marcus shouted over his shoulder.
“Yeah!” I hollered.
Marcus increased speed as he flew up the street. He even took a few shortcuts in order to get to my house quicker. Ten minutes later he pulled right in front of my condo and killed the engine to his bike. He helped me climb off the bike and I quickly patted my sundress in place.
“Let me get that for you,” he offered, carefully removing the helmet from my head.
“Thank you,” I told him before finger combing through my bob.
“No problem,” he said. “What you finna get into?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“You ain’t workin’ today?” he asked me.
Marcus knew that I was an exotic dancer. He just didn’t know that I was supposed to have been a retired one. “No. I actually sprained my arm at work,” I lied.
“Damn. That sucks,” he said. “So what you got planned for today?”
“Shit. Nothing. I’ll probably just chill all day,” I told him.
He chuckled. “On a Saturday, Cameron?” he asked. “It’s too nice to be sitting in the house all day. Why don’t you let me take me take you to get a bite to eat or something,” he offered.
Turn around and go into the house was what my conscience was telling me to do but instead I blurted out, “Um…sure.”
Without hesitation, I climbed back onto the bike and pulled the helmet over my head.
***
“You ever been here before?” Marcus asked once we were seated at a table.
“No,” I answered. “But I heard this place being advertised on the radio.”
Marcus and I were at the Luxe Kitchen and Lounge on the west side of Cleveland. There was a pretty decent crowd inside during lunch time.
“I hit this spot up on the regular sometimes. It’s straight,” he said. “I’m surprised you haven’t been here though.”
“This is a pretty nice restaurant,” I said admiring the scenery.
“You’re pretty,” Marcus suddenly admitted.
I looked over at Marcus seated across the table from me. I know he is not hitting on me, I thought. Needless to say, I felt a tad bit awkward. Yes, Marcus was definitely sexy and he seemed like a great guy but I couldn’t see myself talking to him because he was once cool with Silk.
Besides that, I had already talked to two male dancers. I didn’t plan on dating anymore in the near future. And thirdly, I already had a damn man, I reminded myself for the third and final time.
Marcus gazed at me for a few seconds before he cracked a smirk and shook his head.
“What?” I smiled.
“Man, that day I pulled you on stage…I was thinkin’ to myself, ‘please don’t let this dude come out here and see me dancin’ on his chick’. I saw firsthand how crazy that nigga used to act over you—not that I can blame him though.”
I began nervously fidgeting with the bundled utensil set. “Yeah…Silk would’ve been mad if he came out and saw me on stage with you,” I muttered.
Marcus chuckled. “He would’ve been even madder if he knew I was diggin’ you ever since I first saw you.”
I cleared my throat and looked away apprehensively.
“My bad,” he quickly said. “I shouldn’t have said that knowing everything you’ve been through lately.” He hesitated. “So um…you wanna get a drink or something while we’re waitin’?”
“Alright.” Indeed, I could use one. Marcus had definitely created some tension after letting me know that he was feeling me.
I followed Marcus to the bar where we placed our orders. I decided to keep it light and ordered a raspberry Bomb Pop. Marcus ordered a Corona. The minute I turned around to head back to our table, I nearly collided with a female who was damn near standing right behind me. I accidentally sloshed my drink on her lace tunic.
“Oh, my bad—Tiff?! Girl, what are you doing here?” I asked surprised to see her at the exact same spot as me.
Tiffany wiped away the splattered beverage on her shirt. “Girl, I told you I was going out to kick it with my new lil’ friend,” she smiled.
My gaze then traveled to the tall, chubby guy standing beside her—my mouth instantly fell open. The wine glass slipped from my fingers and crashed into the carpeted floor, shattering upon impact.
Wallace stood proudly beside Tiffany with a stupid ass smirk pasted to his face. My jaw hardened and my nostrils flared at the very sight of him. The images were forever painted clearly in my mind from when Wallace had brutally raped me several months ago. I was still emotionally scarred from that night and just the sight of his ass made me sick.
Why the fuck is he here with Tiffany, I thought.
“I got it,” Wallace spoke up reaching down to pick up the broken glass.
“No, I got it,” I quickly said.
Wallace and I reached down at the same time. His hand brushed against mine as we both went to retrieve
the same piece of glass. Suddenly, I just snapped! “I said I got it! Get the fuck away from me!” I yelled, tempted to stab his ass with a shard of glass if he got any closer.
“Damn, Cameron,” Tiffany said in disbelief. “What the hell is up with you?” she asked.
Wallace and I both stood to our feet, never breaking gazes with each other.
He even had the nerve to smirk. “Yeah, what I do?” he asked mockingly.
“Nigga, you know what you did,” I answered through gritted teeth.
Tiffany looked over at Wallace in confusion.
Wallace sucked his teeth and waved me off. “Bitch, ain’t nobody do shit to yo’ ass,” he said. He was obviously still in denial about what he’d done to me that night. Evidently, he didn’t understand the difference between rape and consensual sex.
Marcus quickly stepped in. “Aye, my dude. Ain’t no need for all that,” he told him.
Wallace looked Marcus up and down in disgust. “Nigga, fuck you!” he spat.
“Fuck me?” Marcus suddenly shoved Wallace. “Fuck you!”
As expected, Wallace didn’t back down from an altercation. He shoved Marcus back, and Marcus retaliated by shoving Wallace even harder and further.
Wallace accidentally fell into a passing guy and his friend. They both grabbed Wallace before he could get at Marcus again.
“Get off me!” Wallace yelled thrashing in the two white men’s embrace. “Bitch nigga, I’ll see yo’ punk ass out here!” Wallace threatened.
Marcus held his arms out. “It’s whatever, my nigga!”
“Marcus? Marcus?!” I spoke up.
He quickly turned to face me and I let him know that I was ready to leave right now.
“Man, alright,” he answered in an irritated tone.
I didn’t even look in Tiffany’s direction as Marcus and I headed towards the exit door.
Chapter 13
“My fault about all that shit at the Luxe,” Marcus apologized after I climbed off his bike. “I just been fuckin’ up all tonight, huh?” he asked. “I hope I ain’t ruin any chances I had with you.”