by Love Belvin
Keisha and I laughed at his assessment.
“You damn sure were,” Jules asserted. “I remember that time I crashed at Ellis’ high-rise after my brother-in-law’s birthday party.” He pointed to his wife. “Remember that, Key?” Keisha hummed while nodding her head. “And it was at this spot closer to the high-rise than Paterson. I couldn’t drive back, so I had his friend drop me off at like…four in the morning. I woke up around eight to reggaeton blasting. I jumped the fuck up, still drunk, and wobbled my ass toward his room.” We laughed as acted it out in his chair. “I was about to cuss your Prince of Bel Air ass clean the fuck out! When I stepped into your room, I see this bean pole of a caramel stick whipping her head back and forth. I thought the big ass thing was gonna roll off that little frame.”
“Whatever!” Sofia laughed, blushing like crazy.
“You only had on a towel, Soph!” He sat up in his chair. “I remember blinking like…” He demonstrated. “Who the fuck is this Ellis got up in here! You know he’s never been known to have women in his home like that.”
My humor slowed; Keisha’s continued. We’d all had a couple of glasses of Mauve I had brought here to City Hall, where we debriefed after the successful townhall meeting. Now, at close to midnight, we were going the long route at saying goodnight. The Richards had to relieve their sitter, and I had to do the same for mine—or, at least, that should have been the plan.
“But we all know I wasn’t just any woman,” Sofia announced in her Cardi B. impersonation. “And I was like a buck fifty back then!”
She issued a fake smile that had the three of us cracking the fuck up. Even Sofia had to laugh.
“How much did she weigh?” Keisha asked.
“It wasn’t no damn one-fifty!” Julius shot back the last of his brandy.
My eyes met Sofia’s low lidded ones. She was definitely nice off the Mauve. I just hoped she hadn’t overdone it. With her, you never knew when she’d tip over to the total inebriation side of the line.
“She was well over one hundred pounds,” I snickered good-heartedly. “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have seen the high-rise—exterior or interior.” My brows lifted.
“Man, those were the good days,” Jules breathed out. “When I decided to grow some balls and run for councilman. I had the right people around me, the resources, the hype…” He scratched his head. “Now that I’m doing the math, I had all that because of you, Ellis. You helped form the team for that, too. We strategized, ate well, rubbed elbows with key constituents to get my name out there. Had Sofia, here, writing compelling speeches and proposals. I had a dope ass cabinet even for that role.”
Keisha and I nodded, taken by the memory.
“Yup,” his wife agreed while taking from her chair. “And now that you made it here, we have to practice balance.” She placed her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s do that by getting home to our babies.” Keisha rolled her neck, expressing exhaustion.
Jules stood. “The wife has spoken, guys. I’m gonna go shut down my office and get home to these snot-nosed babies of mine.”
Keisha smacked his arm. “Richards!”
“What? It ain’t like I’m gonna get that good-good when I get there,” he whined like a damn baby.
Keisha sucked her teeth as she turned for the door. “Boy, if you don’t get your narrow tail ass on!”
He grumbled behind her out the door.
Sofia turned to me and giggled. “Is that what married life is like?” She pointed behind them.
Amused, I asked, “Which part?”
Her eyes fell and smile broadened as she swept her head away. “I’m sure you have nannies.”
“One.”
She faced me again. “She’s okay with that?”
I shrugged with my mouth. “She’s a busy woman with a demanding life.”
Her eyes danced and smile dimmed. “What does she do?”
I considered her question for a few moments then placed my chin on my fist as my elbow rested on the table. Taking a deep breath from my own tiredness, I answered, “She has me, for one. I’m a full-time job alone.”
She spat a laughter. “Oh, I can only imagine.” I nodded with humility as she cackled. “Go on.”
“She also has a key role at Ellis Academy, maintaining the funding.”
“Is that her field?”
My brows lifted again. “I’m her field. Found out she had a master’s in S.Q.E.”
“Stop!” She laughed again, throwing popcorn at me this time. “Really. What’s her field?”
“Education. It’s what her degree is in, and the one she’s currently pursuing.”
With poked lips, Sofia shook her head. “I remember those days.” Her eyes hit me as she giggled. “Me coming home late nights from class and study groups at Columbia. You coming in around the same time from your gazillion jobs, and Kimmy having something for us to eat although she’d be gone for the day.” I nodded. “Damn, she hated me!” Sofia chuckled.
I knew that was coming. Kimmy never verbalized it, but she didn’t like Sofia. Kimmy believed she was too bossy and territorial—and messy. Sofia was very disorganized and left chaos in whichever room she was in, even though she didn’t live with me.
“I remember fantasizing about living with you when you’d be out of town and okayed me to stay at your place so I could have privacy and quiet to study and work.” She winked my way, elbows to the table as she leaned over it. That position pushed her breasts out, making them appear incitingly ample.
Sofia must have caught my line of sight because her face dropped down to her chest. Then only her eyes returned to me and she bit her lip. Her next move was predictable. She stood and catwalked mere feet over to me and planted her ass on the table. Sofia turned to me, her fingertips brushed against the back of my hand.
“Are you in love?”
My eyes raked from her caressing hand to her face. “Every hour of the day.” I returned my attention to our point of touch. “Obsessively.”
“I’m familiar with the preoccupation.” She nodded.
My head reared. “Really?”
She hummed her affirmation then giggled. I knew this Sofia. She was the precursor to a long night of erotic acts. Visions of her sweaty torso between my legs until my spine shivered circled in my mind.
She moved even closer to me. “And sex?”
“What are you asking, Sofia?” Slowly, my eyes climbed to meet hers.
“You’re demanding in bed,” her voice breathy. “Does she please you? What does she know that we didn’t?”
“She knows only what I’ve taught her, and what I taught her—”
“More than satisfies you at your age,” she surmised in a low murmur. “It drives you wild.” I didn’t respond to confirm what she’d already known to be true. There was a time where Sofia was under my tutelage also, but I hadn’t been her first teacher. The culmination of a list of experiences was hers. Sofia came to me with a tenured past, but it had been an erogenous benefit to our chemistry.
“What makes her different from the rest of us?” she breathed. “I mean…I know you’ve always had side relationships when we were together. I couldn’t expect for you to be faithful.” But I was faithful to Sofia. After the third time I’d fucked her, I saw something satisfying in her for some time. It was enough to only give her that part of me. “But what did you see in her to choose her over the rest?” The sadness in her voice was affective.
“My mother.”
Her eyes fell away. “It’s because of my race, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t deny that. Irene would have never made nice with Sofia’s political views. But it was more.
“My mother is my axis; she centers me. She’s always been the gatherer, the server of encouragement, correction, discernment, and navigation. Irene has held the banner of ‘family.’ When I encountered my wife, I saw a long-sufferer, a sharp mind, a blinding resilience, and a legacy-bearer.” I nodded, decidedly firm on my summary. It was my weakness. My truth. “I saw my future w
hen I encountered my wife—I see my future, and it becomes my reality each morning I awake with her in my bed.”
“And if you want to continue to have that bed, you’d tell your little drunken mamacita goodnight, and to have a nice life.” I leaned my head to the right with casual speed and found Bilan in the doorway with a terrified Julius to the right of her. A troubled Keisha stood to her left, and Rory and Johnson were behind her. A segment of my family postured as though I’d been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. It was so comical, I struggled to not laugh.
Standing straight, Sofia turned to face the door. “Now, now, Bilan. We don’t have to play nasty to clear this up. Sadik was just telling me how you—”
“We don’t have to play at all.” Bilan’s head cocked to the side. “And that’s ‘Mrs. Ellis’ to you, Ms. Cruz.”
I stood to my feet internally amused, collected my devices, and grabbed my jacket. Then I sauntered over to my perturbed wife and kissed her sweetly on the cheek, an act of affection she didn’t respond to. Bilan’s eyes remained locked to a flummoxed Sofia.
“Jules,” shot from Bilan’s gut.
“Yeah?” His scary eyes reached me, almost asking for help.
“Sadik or Ms. Cruz: choose one. My husband will no longer work in tandem with her.” She turned to face him, finally releasing Sofia from her deathly glare. “I won’t ask you to make this call right here or right now, but what I will share is if my husband decides to carry on with your current arrangement, it will be without me as his future and/or the reality he awakes to in his bed each morning. I hope I’m clear.” In response, Jules hung his head. “Goodnight, Keisha.” She bade before taking me by the hand and leaving the conference room.
∞25∞
The ride home was a game of quieted patience. Bilan’s manufactured steely veneer had been melting from the time we got into the car. She didn’t emit a word the entire ride and I hadn’t cared to either, afraid of losing my cool. I felt my tolerance fading the moment we crossed the security barrack.
Once we were at a stop in front of Elliswoods Palace, I hopped out of the car and messaged Rory to not open Bilan’s door. With long lunges, I made it there and did it myself. She barely looked my way when she stepped out. Bilan continued up the stairs toward the entrance. The doors were opened for her by a staff member, and I was on her heels. When greeted, Bilan mumbled something in response, yet maintained her speed.
When the foyer opened in my peripheral, people began to move into our pathway. Bilan and I slowed at the sight of Daz, my father’s deputy. Then came a red-faced and nosed Taaliba. Monica and my mother were behind her.
“You’re home?” my mother noted with thick emotional cords. “Thank God.”
“Yo, Deek, man,” Daz began. “We got some shit poppin’ off.”
“We’re under attack!” Taaliba cried, getting straight to the point.
“By whom?” I was finally able to speak.
Taaliba shrugged. “You know who. Those damn Russians!”
My eyes shot over to Daz, who confirmed with a slight nod. How does she know? That answer came to mind quickly. “Where’s Lopez?”
“He’s at the hospital. Their estate was bombed, Sadik.” Taaliba began to sob. “His home! So far, possibly eleven people dead, and five injured.”
“And the rehabilitation facility where Iban is was seized,” Monica’s voice was shaky as she shared, her arms protectively crossed over her small frame. “Their electrical system went out of whack with alarms going off, doors opening and closing…sprinklers going off.”
That stirred a panic in me immediately. “Where’s Iban?”
“That security team you assigned to him was able to get him out of there after the first two minutes of it. The nurses thought it was premature and fought for him to go to a secluded place in the building instead of leaving, but the security guards took no chances and slipped him out.” Monica began to tremble. “Sadik, the nurse said minutes after that, white masked men descended on his room with machine guns. They shot his bed up! The nurse would have died if she didn’t dive into the bathroom. She said they shot first then searched the room for him!”
That’s when I knew we were at the end of Popov’s grace. He’d been laying low, entertaining Danny Lopez’s war. Tonight was when he decided to strike, and hard. He was looking to kill, not just rattle like he did when he infiltrated my father’s hospital nonviolently.
I turned to Rory. “Amp up the security around here and add another layer at a ten-mile radius.” She nodded, pulling out her phone. Then I asked Monica, “Where’s Iban now?”
“They’re on their way to the warehouse,” she supplied.
I shook my head, annoyed at that prospect. The warehouse would be an easier target than Elliswoods Palace. It was in an inner city. I turned to Daz. “Call Jamil and fill him in. Tell him to have the “IB” team bring Iban here. Tell him they may have a trail, so send another armed vehicle.” He took off after a gesture of understanding. Then I asked Taaliba, “What’s the status on Lopez himself?”
She shrugged dismissively, more out of frustration. “I haven’t spoken to him, but he’s unharmed. He was coming in from Atlantic City when it all happened.”
I nodded. “Offer an invitation for him and no more than five of his men to come here to regroup for a few days. I need to speak with him anyway.” I needed to find out if any of the men I loaned to him were injured. I moved closer to my sister, leveling her with an intentional glare. “But make no mistake: you are not to step a goddamn toe off this estate. Is that understood?”
With an agape mouth, Taaliba nodded, a new light in her eyes I could only assume the nature of. She turned while pulling out her phone, too.
“Oh, Sadik!” my mother cried, falling into me. I caught her with my arms and held her to my chest.
“It’s going to be okay, queen,” I assured without the benefit of a solution, but with strong confidence. “I swear, you can sleep restfully tonight once Iban arrives.”
“This is happening too fast!” she cried. “We heard all the news at the same time it seemed, just a few minutes ago. I told Daz not to worry Earl about this until you said so. He’s been doing so well at recovering. I can’t afford for a setback. He could’ve died, Sadik! This business is killing him year by year!”
Taaliba returned, calmer but her face was still swollen as she watched me console our mother, along with Monica.
In my peripheral, I could sense Bilan taking off toward the kitchen.
“Where are you going, Nalib?”
She turned on her heel to face me; the levy of tears had broken in her eyes. “To get my child for the night.”
“No the fuck you aren’t.” Her body tensed visibly. “You’re going upstairs and will see Sadik in the morning.”
Her chest lifted. “I think after the night we’ve had, you can understand my need of—”
“I don’t give a fuck about understanding shit!” I shouted, at the end of my fucking patience.
“Sadik!” My mother trembled against me.
“Sadik, please!” Taaliba cried simultaneously.
Monica went to comfort her, but Bilan shot her palm in the air, turned, and made a beeline for the grand staircase. We watched as she ran the first level and turned for the next.
“What is going on?” my mother demanded.
I kissed her head. “Nothing that won’t be resolved momentarily.” I motioned for Taaliba to take our mother’s side.
Monica faced the staircase, apparently tempted to follow my wife.
“Don’t worry about her, Monica. Stay here and wait on Iban. Make sure he’s comfortable and relaxing.” I dipped my chin, fighting for humility. “Please.”
Once Taaliba was paired with my mother, I raised an index finger to Rory, who was awaiting my next move. Swiftly, I traveled to the staircase, leaping up two steps at a time until I made it to the second level. Once there, I did it all over again until I made it to the third. From there, I took powerful lu
nges, hearing a door-slam reverberating on the floor. I knew it was Bilan having made it to the suite. Moments later, I was there, pushing through the door.
“Don’t you ever speak to me like that in front of anyone, much less your family and staff!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, one index finger toward me. “If I want my baby, I can have him anytime I damn well please, Sadik!”
My head fell to the side. “Does the same apply to Jason?”
Her eyes blossomed into big saucers. “Oh, your watchdogs ran and told you that fast?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I knew it the moment you booked a suite and a room at the fuckin’ hotel!”
She sucked in a breath. “How did you—”
I was on her ass in one spring. “I’M A FUCKIN’ ELLIS! THIS GODDAMN STATE BELONGS TO MY FAMILY!” Eyes still wild, now with necessary fear, Bilan’s chest heaved beneath me. “When are you going to fuckin’ learn who I am and the power at my goddamn hand, Bilan?”
“The power to what?” Her lips quivered. “Woo women into some helpless web of fascination with you, only for you to dispose of their hearts the way you do your son’s soiled diapers? If so, I’ve got news for you: I’m not Irene or Monica. I’ve got the power!”
“You’ve got my protection. And I’ve got the goddamn serried rope to bind your control. You’re a hypocrite, Nalib.” It pained me to say. “You can’t call me an infidel of troth when you’re sneaking out to meet a man who, by all measures, wants to fuck you.”
“And what did Sofia want to do with you tonight?”
“I’ve already fucked her. I’ve moved on and married!”
“Moved on from her and Tiffany, huhn?”
“Where’s the fuckin’ lie?”
“It was in your claims when you told me you were en route to Atlanta, omitting you were making a pit stop at Pulse to encourage that woman’s obsession of you!”
I took a deep breath, stepping back. She had it all wrong. “I didn’t go to Pulse to be a support to Tiff.”
“But you sure took lots of happy flicks with her on the red carpet. I’m sure she would argue different.”