She glided her hands over his smooth skin and tasted the salt of his sweat on her lips. The movement of his hips, thrusting against hers, drove her to ecstasy. She lost her breath a little with each stroke, but the feeling was worth it. Aphtan felt like she was an addict, and she was getting her drug of choice in the midst of an overdose.
Scooter stroked faster with each cry that left Aphtan’s mouth. She couldn’t imagine anywhere else she would rather be at that moment. Inside of her was home to him, and she loved every second of it.
His body tensed up as she tightened the grip on his dick with her pussy muscles. She couldn’t resist; she would climax any second. He kissed her as her nails dug in his back like a lion ripping open a gazelle after a hunt. Their bodies shook in unison as they shared their happy endings together. They gasped to catch their breath as sweat fell from their bodies onto the top of the island.
“I needed that.” Scooter took his manhood out of her.
“We both did.” Aphtan bit his neck gently.
“I’m about to go shower and handle some business.” He put his clothes on as she hopped off the island.
“That’s fine, love.” Aphtan kissed him as she slid her pants up her legs.
The butterflies almost flew out of her stomach as she watched Scooter walk out of the kitchen. She was still madly in love with him. The way she had an urge to write his name on any piece of paper nearby like she was a little girl assured her of it. She couldn’t imagine life without him in it.
She collected the rest of her clothes and walked out of the kitchen as she played with her wedding ring with her thumb. Forgiving him for murdering her mother was going to take some time. There was no way that he could change it. As she walked up the beautiful staircase, she prayed that she would be able to fully forgive him one day.
* * *
Cole stood in total awe outside the main offices of Epps Enterprises. It made him feel so tiny and insignificant. The base of the building occupied an entire city block. Looking up, he saw it went on and on; the top literally vanishing in the distance. He didn’t falter, although it was his first time going to see Boss where he worked. He walked through the double doors as if he had been there countless times before.
“How may I help you?” the cheerful blond receptionist asked him as he approached the large, circular wooden desk in the middle of the floor.
“I’m here to see Lester Epps.” Cole looked around the first floor as people scurried by.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked as she fixed the headset on her head.
“Yes.” Cole leaned against the desk.
“What is your name?”
“Cole Dixon.”
“One moment.” She turned around and spoke into the microphone at her mouth. She turned back around. “Go all the way up to the top floor. He’s expecting you.”
Cole pushed the metal button outside the steel elevator door, waiting for the digital reader to display the floor. Anxiety began to build in his stomach as he waited. He didn’t enjoy being inside of an enclosed space.
Ding! The elevator arrived. He wiped his sweaty palms on his slacks, took a deep breath, and dug his loafers against the threshold. Thankfully, other people joined in his elevator ride.
“What floor?” a voice asked through the intercom inside of the elevator. His mouth opened but words couldn’t find their way out. The pounding of his heart over took his reality. He looked left. Then right. Beads of sweet began falling down his forehead. He didn’t care. He was frozen. Unable to speak or move, he put his back against the back of the moving box.
Both hands gripped the rails inside the elevator car. White-knuckling his way past twenty floors, he wished he had taken the stairs, but he was running late for his appointment. As he began fearing the worst, the elevator stopped. It was his floor. At the topmost floor, the city became a mere map beneath Cole.
In his uncomfortable moment, he must have uttered the floor he desired to go to. He collected himself. He tightened his polo button up, ran his hands over the waves in his head, and walked out of the elevator smoothly.
He found himself in a large lobby. The floors were made of colored tiles arranged in beautiful patterns, and the walls were made of glass, revealing additional views of the city. A frosted glass partition separated the lobby from a large, private office. Silk banners hung from the ceiling. Polished stone pedestals held golden and silver statues portraying nude men and women. Everything in the room was rich and lavish.
“Mr. Dixon?” the woman at the desk directly in front of the elevator asked as he stepped off.
“Yes.” Cole wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Right this way, sir.” The woman got up as she directed him to follow her.
Cole admired the paintings along the hallway as they made their way down the trail. Small statues aligned the tile they walked on. Golden lights hung vertically from the ceiling, showing any and every imperfection on the visitors’ faces.
They stopped at a large oak door as the lady knocked softly against it. She hit the button for the intercom on the side of the door before crossing her arms into each other. She looked back at Cole and smiled as the red button on the intercom lit up.
“I have a Mr. Dixon here for you, Mr. Epps,” she said cheerfully into the microphone.
The door opened as the lady signaled for him to go inside. Cole walked into the room, the large exotic-fish tank by the entrance catching his attention. He watched wild fish swim freely as he walked deeper into the office. A strong smell of a man’s cologne filled the room like a potent candle.
Cole approached the large desk as Boss sat behind it, draped in a business suit. He took a seat in one of the large chairs in front of the desk as large windows on the wall allowed him to see the city from a view he hadn’t before. Boss held his finger up to let him know it would be a minute as he held the receiver of the phone to his ear.
Cole continued to observe the office. A flat-screen television took up the wall directly behind him with a picture showed so crisp that it felt like you were a part of whatever program being watched. Directly in front of the television were off-white Italian leather sofas with burnt orange pillows. A table with every popular magazine on top of it separated the two.
“I’m glad you could make it.” Boss put the phone on the hook. “How do you like my corporation?”
“Kind of hard to believe a man like you would run a company this big.” Cole sat back in the plush seat. “I guess doing that bid made you smarter.”
“I’ve always been smart.” He stood up, hit a button on a small white remote, and the blinds started to cover the window. “See, I went to jail, that is true. However, while I was in there, I had businesses all over that no one knew about. Of course I had to let other people run them because Aphtan’s mother was strung out. Nonetheless, my bank account ain’t never looked so good.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t ask me to come all the way here to tell me your life story.”
“Of course not.” Boss sat back down. “You know it’s strictly business.”
“Then what do you need?”
“Are you thirsty?”
“Somewhat.” Cole swiveled a little in his seat.
Boss hit the intercom on his desk. “Rachel, bring me two glasses of anything brown.”
“I don’t drink.”
“It’s a first time for everything.”
The woman from the front desk scurried inside of the office with a glass in each hand. She set one in front of Boss and then one in front of Cole. She asked them if they needed anything else before she paced out of the office and closed the door behind her. Boss took a sip from the glass as Cole watched his drink.
“You should taste it.” He nodded toward the drink.
“I don’t drink.” Cole slid the drink from in front of him. “Nothing has changed in the matter of minutes it took your secretary to pour it and bring it.”
“I see.” Boss sat his glass down. “I’ve as
ked you here today, Cole, because I need a problem eliminated.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Your brother.” Boss waited for Cole’s facial expression to change, but it didn’t. “I need him to disappear. He’s the brains of the operation. That is a fact. Whatever your father is planning will just be a plan that Scooter comes up with that he will take credit for. Scooter is the thinker between those two.”
“When do you need this done by?” Cole stood up.
“I’ll let you decide that.” Boss grinned as Cole started to walk toward the door. “You have nothing to say about this?”
Cole stopped, never looking back. “There’s nothing to say.”
Cole’s body language didn’t make it clear whether he would be able to go along with the order he was just given. It was an order even Scooter couldn’t follow, and he was more ruthless than Cole. His life was based upon whether he could do something like this. It was sink or swim for Cole, and sinking meant death.
CHAPTER 21
Aphtan’s hands jumped wildly as she tugged at the pale blue hospital gown. The parceling paper underneath her crumbled with every movement that she made. The sound of little drips of water falling from the head of the faucet next to her drove her insane as her stomach whimpered with emotion.
She looked down at the Band-aid on her arm that the nurse had put on after taking her blood. She had been there so many times that the excitement she used to feel turned into fear. Every time she had thought she was pregnant in the past, it always turned out to be just a thought. She wanted to give Scooter a baby more than anything in the world.
She made a beat with her hand against the metal of the bed as she waited for the doctor to come and give her a yes or no. Her heart fluttered. She couldn’t move. She wanted to get up and put her clothes back on, but her body wouldn’t allow her that luxury.
Her throat became dryer than it already was as the eggshell-white door opened. Her physician, Verna Coffee, came into the room and sat down in the chair in front of the bed. She watched her look through her folder as she crossed her legs. Minutes passed as Aphtan sat there about to faint. The anticipation was too much.
“Just give it to me.” Aphtan blew air out of her mouth.
“Well,”—Verna put her hand on Aphtan’s leg—“you’re not pregnant.”
“Are you sure?” She squelched across the paper underneath her. “I thought I was this time for sure. Why do I keep missing my period like this?”
“Are you stressing?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Aphtan.” Verna stood up and put her arm around her. “Whatever it is you’re stressing about, you have to let go. Stress isn’t good. Especially for us black women.”
“I know, Verna,” she agreed, addressing her by her first name. “It’s hard not to stress.”
“That’s for everybody,” Verna said as she sat on the teal bed next to her. “We all stress, that’s life. But what separates some from others is the ability to dissect the stress and cope with whatever’s wrong.”
“I think you’re right.” Aphtan wiped her eyes and eased off of the bed. “Let me get my clothes on and get out of here.”
“Hey,” Verna called out after she walked to the door, “you’ll get pregnant when God says it’s time. Remember that.” She left the room.
Aphtan put on her clothes with a heavy heart. The only good thing about the news was that she hadn’t gotten Scooter’s hopes up. She walked into the waiting area to leave. She was happy she hadn’t told him this time.
“What happened?” Mila stood up to greet her.
“I’m not pregnant.” Aphtan shook her head as she fought back tears.
“I’m sorry, best friend.” Mila hugged her tightly. “It will happen. When you least expect it, that’s when it’ll happen.”
“I’m tired of waiting.”
“Anything worth having is worth waiting on.” Mila hugged her as they walked out of the doctor’s office. “Let’s go get some food, my treat.”
A cold breeze brushed against the tree that hung over the parking lot, making the leaves shiver under the too bright sun as they got inside the car. Aphtan laid her head on the window as if it were a pillow and enjoyed the ride.
Aphtan had weighed her options before the appointment. She understood the chances, yet she couldn’t help but to feel down. She felt like she was failing as a wife. Scooter wanted a child. It was all he had talked about for years. It was the one thing that she couldn’t give him.
They parked at a restaurant and got out of the car. As they walked through the doors, the smell of soul food made their stomachs thump. They waited in the long line in silence. Aphtan wasn’t in a talking mood, and Mila knew how she had acted last time, so she let her be.
“Tsunami?” Mila turned her head to the side so she could see the front of the line. “Is that you?” she asked as Aphtan looked with her.
Tsunami pretended she didn’t hear Mila as she grabbed her bags off the counter. A look of worry took over her face as she turned around, her hand in her son’s. There was no other way to leave. She had to walk by them.
Tsunami walked slowly to the door, changing her expression to a happy one. The pearl necklace around her neck felt as if it was going to choke her the closer she got to them. Her nerves were getting the best of her, and she hadn’t even reached them yet.
“Black? Lotus? It’s been years. How are y’all?” Tsunami stood in front of her son to block him.
Aphtan looked down at the little boy and smiled. He reminded her of someone, but she could not put her finger on it. His eyes were familiar. The shape of his head, the way he stood, and his dimples seemed so familiar. Everything about the little boy reminded her of her husband.
Aphtan had always heard rumors about Tsunami and Scooter, but she never entertained them. She even went as far as to ask Scooter if he had ever had a fling with Tsunami, and he denied it. The way that her stomach grew sour, she realized that he had lied all those years ago. Her woman’s intuition was telling her that she was looking at Scooter’s son.
She opened her eyes and gave Tsunami a death stare. She was waiting for an explanation. If Tsunami said anything out of the way to her in that second, she would have slapped the eyelashes off of her face. Aphtan was furious. Another betrayal at the hands of her husband.
“Girl, we just been living.” Mila looked at Aphtan’s face, wondering if she had the same thought as her. “You had a baby, too?”
“Girl, yes I did.” Tsunami tried to stop the little boy from moving around so much. “That’s why I haven’t been around. I’m just a full-time mom now.”
“I see.” Mila looked at Aphtan, whose eyes remained on the little boy’s.
“Well, it was good seeing you two. Y’all take care.” Tsunami tried to make an exit before Aphtan grabbed her arm. “Let me go.” She tried to pull away.
Aphtan got close enough to her so the child couldn’t hear. “I know that’s my husband’s child, bitch. I’m not going to cause a scene, because I know that fact already. What I want you to know is that I think you’re dumb as fuck. Obviously this was a mistake, because I haven’t heard shit about this. He won’t even mention either of you.”
“You’re the dumb one, bitch,” Tsunami snarled. “I gave him something you are having such a hard time giving him. He loves our son. Take a good look at what caused you to never catch up to me. I will always have Scooter. That’s the fact you should be worrying about.” She pulled her arm away from Aphtan’s grip.
“See you around,” Aphtan called out the door as she pulled out her phone and dialed Scooter’s number.
“Tell me she didn’t just say that.” Mila shook her head as she watched the door close behind Tsunami.
“Scooter, get the fuck home, now,” Aphtan screamed into the phone as she walked out of the building with tears in the eyes.
She was broken. There was nothing Scooter could say to save them. She could forgive him for a lot of thing
s, but getting a woman pregnant and not telling her was a betrayal that she could never come back from. She didn’t know how she was going to look at him. As the tears fell, she knew that she could never lie next to him again. She could never kiss him again. She could never make love to him again. Their marriage was over.
CHAPTER 22
“Aphtan, calm down.” Scooter spoke calmly into the phone as he sat in his parked car on the street directly across from the private lake.
Watching Boss for the majority of the morning, he was finally ready to make his move. Today was the day he was going to kill Boss. The last thing he needed to hear was Aphtan finding out about his son with Tsunami. It was a distraction to him. It was something he would have to address, but now wasn’t the time. He needed to remain focused to be as sharp as a knife.
“Baby,” he blew out of his mouth in aggravation. “Let’s talk about this face-to-face. Let’s talk about this when I make it home.”
“You don’t have a fucking home,” Aphtan screamed through the phone.
“You don’t mean that, love.” His attention remained on Boss.
“Get here now,” she screamed again before hanging up the phone.
A plopping sound echoed as a fish broke the surface of the water and ripples widened out. Boss was at the edge of the lake now, the pebbles under foot. A moorhen was disturbed and ran off along the bank, distracting him from its nest. A kestrel, attracted by the disturbance, hovered above the next field. The smell of water was calming. Ever since he was little, being around water took his mind off whatever it was stuck on.
Boss lay down on the edge of the water and peered into its depths as a bottle of Hennessey rested in his hand. Pondweed and small insects were the first thing to be seen. As he remained still, layers of water somehow became apparent: the open light layer with minnows darting about; the next, darker layer, where a large carp was sitting, watching him as he watched it. Then the dark bottom of the pond, where the brown silt moved with life.
The dragonflies caught his attention, landing on a bulrush nearby. Boss lifted his gaze for a moment to see them in their metallic blue finery. From the corner of his eye, he saw a shape move in the water. He looked back and realized there were loads of fish he never noticed before. He saw their black shapes, but did not recognize them as fish.
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