Up Pops the Devil

by Angela Benson

  Maylene dropped her hand from his arm. “You’re no good for those boys. Can’t you see that? Do you want them to end up the way you did?”

  “That’s exactly what I don’t want, Ms. Maylene. That’s one reason I changed my life. I know the way I was living was leading me to prison or a coffin. I thank God it was prison. I don’t care whether you believe me or not, but I’m going to get my boys and I’m taking them home. I need them and they need me.”

  “Don’t be selfish, Wilford,” Maylene said. “Leave the boys here. I’ve taken care of them most of their lives, even before you went to prison. Neither you nor Tanya ever had time for them.”

  “That was then,” Preacher said. “Things are different now. They’re my boys. I love them and I want them with me.”

  “But—”

  “There’s nothing you can say. I’m taking them home.”

  Ms. Maylene moved aside, out of his way. “Go ahead, then. You’re going to do what you want anyway, you always have.”

  Preacher stepped into the house and called to his boys. He heard the patter of their feet before he saw them. “Daddy! Daddy!” they said, and then both of them launched themselves into his arms. Preacher fell back on the floor on his behind and held them in his arms. Nobody was going to keep him from his kids. Nobody.

  Preacher wasn’t surprised that the Porsche was no longer in the garage when he and the boys returned home. Tanya was out but he doubted she was at work. She was probably with one of her girlfriends, spending more money that she didn’t have. Well, he was going to deal with one of her expenditures this morning. He turned to his boys. “How’d you two like to help Daddy wash Mommy’s car?”

  “Yeah,” they said. Preacher grinned and they went to work. When they finished, the vehicle was clean and the boys were soaked. To extend their fun, he turned the hose on them and let them play in the water. When they were good and soaked as well as good and tired, he tossed big towels to both of them and had them dry off a bit. Then he took them upstairs and dumped them both in the bathtub. While they continued their play in the bath, he went looking for the title to the SUV. He found it on the top shelf of Tanya’s closet, in the metal box where she kept most of her important papers. Keeping track of important paperwork was a habit he had forced upon her, and to his relief, she’d kept at it. Title in hand, he went to the computer and printed out two copies of the used vehicle price sheets he’d found yesterday. He stacked the printouts on Tanya’s dresser and went to get his boys out of the tub.

  Once the boys were clean and dressed, Preacher took them back outside and let them tape the price sheets to the passenger-side windows. “Good job, men,” he told them when they finished, giving each a pat on the head. “Now we’ve got to go sell this baby.”

  With the boys in car seats in back, Preacher drove to Circle Autos. He entered the dealership, the boys trailing after him. “I’m Preacher Winters,” he said to the well-groomed salesman who greeted them at the door. No doubt the guy had gotten a glance at the Benz and saw Preacher as a good prospect. “I’m here to see Dante Griggs. He’s expecting me.”

  The salesman looked disappointed as he turned and led them to the bullpen in the middle of the floor, where he had the man sitting there page Dante. Preacher and the boys roamed the showroom while they waited. “Which car do you like best, boys?”

  The boys scrambled from one car to the next.

  “That one,” Mack said, pointing at a Ford Escort.

  “Not that one.” Jake pointed to a Ford Expedition. “This one. I want this truck.”

  Before Preacher could pick sides, Dante joined them. He extended his hand. “Good to see you again.” He looked down at the boys. “And who are these little men?”

  Preacher introduced the boys. Mack, a little shy, hid behind Preacher’s legs, but Jake imitated his father and extended his hand for a shake. Dante chuckled and shook Jake’s hand. Preacher knew then that Dante had sold a lot of cars in his day. He had no doubt the man could sell about anything he wanted to sell. Making nice with the kids was straight out of Car Sales 101.

  Finished with the kids, Dante looked back up at Preacher. “What can I do for you three men today?”

  “I brought in the car I told you about yesterday,” he said. “Thought you’d give me an estimate on it.”

  “Let’s see it,” Dante said.

  Preacher and the boys led Dante to the car. Dante whistled. “This is a beaut. How old?”

  “Less than two years,” Preacher said. “Less than ten thousand miles.”

  Dante strolled around the car. When he came back to Preacher, he said, “You’d better be glad it’s a Benz or you’d lose a lot of money on this. You’re in luck though because the Benz SUV is on our ‘most wanted’ list. You may get that asking price you have on the price sheet.”

  “You really think so?”

  Dante nodded. “We have a used lot a couple of miles down the road.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card. After scribbling on it, he handed it to Preacher. “Show them this card and they’ll give you their best deal.”

  “Just like that?” Preacher asked.

  Dante nodded. “It’s a Benz, man, and this is Atlanta. It’ll probably be sold before you get back home.”

  Preacher laughed. “Maybe I should have put a sign on it and parked it in my front yard.”

  “Not a good idea,” Dante said. “Just because a lot of people want it doesn’t mean they can pay for it. You’d get a lot of people stopping by your house who were nothing but lookers.” He clapped Preacher on the back. “No, your best bet is to leave the sales to the professionals. Don’t worry. We’ll give you a good deal, better than you’ll get anywhere.”

  Preacher wasn’t sure he believed Dante. Why would this guy give him such a good deal? He didn’t even know him.

  “Hey,” Dante said, “you’re good friends with Natalie’s brother and I’m trying to make a good impression on Natalie. I’m going to see that you’re treated right. Trust me.”

  Preacher grinned. “I’ll trust you,” he said. “Do me wrong and I’ll tell Natalie.”

  Dante chuckled. “I sorta expected that.”

  Tanya sat in the restaurant that housed Loretta’s office and grinned at Maurice even though she wasn’t interested in him. She just wanted to get back at Preacher. When she’d arrived home from work, her Benz had been missing from the garage along with the title that she stored in her closet. Preacher had made good on his word and sold her Benz. That was bad enough, but he’d gone through her personal papers to get what he needed. For her, this was the beginning of the end.

  “I can’t believe Preacher lets you out all by yourself,” Maurice said. “If you were my woman, looking like you do, I don’t think I’d let you go anywhere without me.”

  Maurice was fooling himself if he entertained any notions of having a woman like her, but Tanya let him dream. “With a man like you,” she teased, “maybe a woman wouldn’t want to go out by herself.”

  Maurice grinned, flashing his gold grill. “So, Preacher lost a step when he was in the joint?”

  There was a bit too much satisfaction in Maurice’s voice. While Tanya gave herself permission to talk about Preacher, she didn’t appreciate other people doing it. When they put him down, they were putting her down, since she was still technically his woman. “Nothing wrong with my man’s steps,” she said. “A man like Preacher doesn’t have to track a woman to make her come home. She wants to go.” With a flip of her hair, she blew Maurice off and headed to the back of the restaurant to Loretta’s office.

  She remembered a time when a thug like Maurice wouldn’t have had the nerve to speak to her, Preacher’s woman, but word of Preacher’s conversion had spread fast and far. At the smell of weakness, the sharks had come out in full force, ready to take Preacher’s woman and his business. Loretta had kept both safe for him. Tanya couldn’t help but admire her longtime combatant for the way she’d handled everything. She’d quickly shown that she intend
ed to keep what she and Preacher had built, even if Preacher no longer wanted it. Word on the street had always been that she was the brawn of the team, while Preacher was the brains. Loretta had proven she was both.

  “It’s about time you made it back here,” Loretta said, when Tanya entered her office. “You’re really going low if you’re flirting with Maurice.”

  “Every man needs a dream,” Tanya said, sitting in the leather chair in front of the desk from which Loretta ruled her empire. Some people might think she was a simple bookkeeper who rented a back office in this restaurant, but her real work was managing the books, and now the business, of the drug enterprise she and her brother had run together.

  “And some end up with a nightmare,” Loretta retorted. “Speaking of which, what’s up with you and Preacher?”

  “He sold the Benz today.”

  “You can’t be surprised by that. You know as well as I do that he never would have allowed you to buy that Benz if he’d been there.” She lifted a brow. “That Porsche is gonna be next.”

  Tanya pouted. “Over my dead body. He’d better not even think about it.”

  Loretta just stared at Tanya. “You’re a piece of work,” she said. “Other than selling your Benz what else is Preacher doing?”

  “He went to church on Sunday.”

  She frowned. “That figures. He’s determined to see this God thing through. I think he’s being stubborn. I could strangle him.”

  Tanya grinned. “Well, he wasn’t thinking about God or church Sunday night.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Tanya cooed at Loretta. “What do you think I mean?”

  “Preacher slept with you?”

  “Please,” Tanya said. “Don’t sound so surprised. It was only a matter of time. I knew it and Preacher knew it. Preacher has never been able to resist me and no religious conversion was going to lessen his desire for what I have to offer.” She looked up at Loretta. “You should have known that.”

  “What I know is that Preacher is a fool when it comes to you. So that’s it? Preacher slept with you.”

  “That’s a lot. Preacher was making all these speeches about how he wanted to honor God and be celibate until we got married. Well, we see who got honored and I don’t think it was God. Girl, Preacher’s not going to be able to stick with this religious goo-goo. He’s a passionate man—about everything.”

  “You may be right,” Loretta reluctantly agreed.

  “There’s no maybe in it. You know I’m right. Little by little, Preacher will turn around. He probably doesn’t realize it but he’s already falling away from his newly found faith.”

  “By sleeping with you, you mean?”

  “That, and him selling the Benz, too.”

  Loretta folded her arms across her chest. “Yeah, right, Tanya, I must have missed that commandment about not selling thy girlfriend’s car.”

  Tanya smiled. “What about ‘Thou shalt not steal’ and ‘Thou shalt not lie?’ Well, Preacher either lied or stole or both when he sold my car.”

  “And how do you figure that, Ms. Moses?”

  Tanya laughed. “I don’t have to be Moses to figure out that Preacher had to forge my name on the title in order to sell the Benz.” At the light of understanding that dawned in Loretta’s eyes, Tanya added, “What? You thought I signed it over to him? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Loretta dropped her folded arms. “Forgive me, Tanya, I forgot for a moment who I was dealing with.”

  “I’m not exactly stupid, you know,” Tanya said. “Preacher is going to realize the straight-and-narrow life is not for him and I’m going to help him by pointing out how big a hypocrite he is. It won’t be long before he sees the light, as the church folks say. We just have to put up with him until he does.” She cast a wary glance at Loretta. “It’s going to be hard to do, though, with our limited income and all.”

  Loretta rolled her eyes. “How much do you want?” she asked.

  “I need to put those kids in day care,” Tanya said, hating that Loretta could read her so well. She brushed off her pique. Loretta was paying her for a service—reining Preacher back in—and she was providing that service.

  “I thought your mother was keeping them.”

  “Preacher was up first thing this morning to go get them. He was angry last night when I told him I’d left them with Momma.”

  “I can’t believe you were surprised.”

  “Look, Preacher can’t expect me to sit at home all day.”

  “You used to.”

  “That was when we had money. Now I have to work. I can’t stay at home and take care of those kids.”

  “You’re going to put them in camp and day care,” Loretta said. “You’re not going to be taking care of anybody but yourself.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, that’s the sad part. I do.” She opened her checkbook. “How much do you need?”

  Tanya gave a figure that caused Loretta to lift a brow in her direction. “Now who’s dreaming?” She scribbled a figure on the check, signed it, and handed it to Tanya. “That’s all you get. You bring Preacher back into the fold and you may get more.”

  Tanya took the check, frowned a bit at the amount. “Do I get a bonus if I get him back within the next six months?”

  Loretta couldn’t believe the gall of Tanya. “No, you don’t get a bonus. What do you think this is—the NBA?”

  Tanya stood. “I’m following your lead, Loretta. You’ve got a reputation for being a tough businesswoman. I want to build my own reputation.”

  Loretta leaned across the desk toward Tanya. “Don’t mock me, Tanya.”

  Tanya lifted her hands in defense. “I’m not mocking you,” she said. “I’m complimenting you. You’re doing business in a man’s world and holding your own. If what you did were legal, you’d be businesswoman of the year, an example to young black women everywhere.”

  Loretta laughed. “You know you’re full of it, Tanya.”

  CHAPTER 9

  After Preacher put his boys to bed, he went back downstairs to wait for Tanya. He needed to talk to her again about selling the cars and whatever else she’d bought when he’d been away. He’d thought that sleeping with her was his low point, but when he found himself about to forge her name on the title to the Benz so he could sell it, he knew he was headed down the wrong road. “Forgive me, Lord,” he said, his eyes closed. “And please help me to be an example to Tanya and the boys. I’ve gone so wrong in such a short while, but please don’t let my mistakes keep them, especially Tanya, from seeing that You’ve changed my life.”

  “Is that all you do?”

  Preacher snapped his eyes open at the sound of Tanya’s words. “I should be doing more of it,” he said. He wanted to ask where she’d been, but knowing the question would lead to a fight, he asked instead, “How are you?”

  Tanya stepped out of her heels and walked toward him. “Tense,” she said. When she stood directly in front of him, she asked, “Want to help me relax?”

  Preacher stood and moved away from her. Though his heart knew what she was offering was not his to take, his body didn’t seem to care. “That’s not going to happen again, Tanya, not until we’re married.”

  She dropped down in the chair, a smug grin on her face. “If you say so.”

  He could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn’t believe him. She thought she had him. “We need to talk,” he said, reminding himself why he’d waited up for her.

  “So talk.”

  “About the Benz and Porsche.”

  She stared up at him. “What about them?”

  “I need you to sign the title to the Benz so I can sell it.”

  She laughed. “Why didn’t you sign my name yourself? That’s what I thought you’d done when I came home earlier this afternoon. I was surprised but pleased to see the Benz back in the garage tonight.”

  “I thought about forging your name,” he admitted, “but then the Holy Spirit
stopped me.”

  “Right,” Tanya muttered.

  Preacher pretended he didn’t hear her. “The vehicles are in your name, which makes them yours to sell or not sell. So it’s your decision, Tanya. You either want to contribute to making this relationship and this family work or you don’t.”

  “Don’t put this on me, Preacher,” she said. “You’re the one who’s not upholding his end of the bargain.”

  He shook his head. “That’s not true. If I hadn’t been in prison, you never would have bought either of those vehicles. It was wrong for you to buy them and you know it.”

  “I don’t know any such thing. You weren’t here and I needed something.”

  He walked over and knelt down in front of her. “Well, I’m here now, and I want to be here for you and the boys. I want that more than anything, but I need you to work with me, not against me.”

  She looked directly into his eyes. “I’m not going to become some religious fanatic and I’m not going to live like a pauper.”

  “I don’t expect you to do either, but I do expect you to be rational.” When she looked away, he lifted his hand to her chin and turned her face to his. “This is not about me, and it’s not about you. It’s about us as a family. I want to marry you, Tanya. I want you, me, and the boys to be a family. You used to want that, too.”

  “Times change and so do people,” Tanya murmured.

  “Change can be good,” he said. “All I’m asking is that you give me a chance.”

  “I can’t make you any promises, Preacher,” she said. “You knew the kind of woman I was when you met me. You can’t expect me to change now.”

  Though Tanya’s words hurt, Preacher accepted them. He wanted her to change, knew she could change, but she didn’t know it. At least not yet. He wasn’t ready to give up on her, though. If God could change him, then He could change Tanya. “Are you going to sign the title?” he asked.

  “If I do, will you stay out of my personal papers? I don’t like that you went though my files, Preacher. I don’t think that was very Christian of you.”