“Did you look for Reina’s mother?”
There was silence on the line.
“Alex!”
“Yes, Ras.”
“I said did you look for Reina’s mother?”
“I . . . I wasn’t gonna . . . I just . . .”
“It’s okay, Alex. Please tell me. Did you find Reina’s parents?”
“They live in Saint James Parish now. Her name is Amelia. His name is David.”
“What’s the address?” Ras said, digging in his bag for a pad of paper.
“I don’t know. I didn’t write it down. I went to this part of town where some people knew her. And I asked around and they led me to her house. I know it when I see it. But I don’t know the—”
“I’m booking a flight for you,” said Ras. “Right now. I need you to come to JFK. You have to take me to her.”
“I can’t do that! Not right now. I’m—”
“Josephine just called me. Something’s wrong with the baby. She needs a transfusion.”
Ras heard Alex take in a sharp breath.
“I’m on my way.”
Jake kept his eyes glued to the therapist. At every appointment, there was usually a few moments of dead space. She would just stare at him until it was uncomfortable. Jake would usually say something—anything—to break the silence. This time he was determined to see how long she would go without saying anything.
“So it only happened once with this young lady Bunny . . .” the doctor said.
Jake smiled, amused that he’d gotten her to speak first.
“Yes. And it will never happen again.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
Jake looked up at the ceiling. How did he feel about that? He still felt guilty, first of all. If Kipenzi knew that he’d messed with Bunny, of all people, she’d be crushed. Bunny was trying hard to be Kipenzi’s major competitor when she was alive. And now in death, of all the people in the world he could have, he let himself get mixed up in someone like Bunny.
“I’m fine with it,” said Jake. “Now that it’s over.”
“How are you doing with the drinking?”
Jake held up his water bottle.
“Same.”
“Do you think this is something you should deal with?”
Jake stood up. “I’m done.”
“With our session? We still have twenty minutes to—”
“Nah, I’m out. For good. There’s nothing else you can help me with.”
“Do you feel like you’ve worked through your—”
“No,” said Jake, his teeth clenched. “I haven’t worked through shit. My wife is still dead. I’m an alcoholic, and I’m about to be the oldest rapper in recorded history.”
“I’m here if you ever want to schedule an appointment,” said the doctor. She stood up and put her notebook on her chair.
Before he could think twice about it, Jake squeezed his water bottle, hoisted it up, and threw it across the wall opposite where the doctor stood. It exploded and the smell of alcohol quickly filled the air.
The doctor jumped and then moved to stand behind her chair.
“I’m calling the police,” she said.
Jake realized he was breathing heavily and still felt he needed to throw something else. He needed to release. He needed to turn that sofa over and hurl it out of the window and onto the street. He needed something to make him feel. He was suddenly the person from the Brevoort projects who never missed an opportunity to lose his temper and destroy anything in his path. But he’d left that man behind long ago. Until that moment.
The therapist reached behind her to pick up the phone without taking her eyes off Jake.
“You can leave now,” said the doctor. “Or you can be escorted out. And I will press charges if you’re here when the cops get here.”
Jake moved to the wall where he’d thrown the bottle and picked it up.
“I’m sorry.”
The doctor’s face softened and she hung up the phone.
“Please leave,” she said, pointing to the door.
“Back to the house?” said his driver when Jake climbed into the back seat.
“Yeah.”
His driver turned onto Seventh Avenue toward the Holland Tunnel while Jake stared at the skateboarders zipping down the street, twisting their bodies from left to right. Jake was used to things moving fast. That was the main reason why he couldn’t see the therapist anymore. He wanted her to just cure him in a session or two and be done with it. None of this drawn-out conversing with no real solutions.
Jake dug his phone out of his pocket and checked for messages. There was one. From Z.
“Me and Zander are on our way.”
Jake took a deep breath, put his chin in his hands, and watched the city speed by.
Jake remained standing as the door creaked open and the young man he considered his nephew walked in with his father, Jake’s best friend.
Jake sat on the sofa and Zander and Z sat in chairs positioned on either side of him.
“What’s up?” Z asked. “You dropping both of us from the label or something?”
Jake grimaced.
“Never that.”
“So?” Z asked. “What’s going on?”
“I had a situation,” he said. He looked from Zander to Z and back again. “With Bunny. It’s over now. But I needed y’all to know about it. I was out of line and it got completely out of control before I could—”
Zander took a few steps toward where Jake sat on the sofa.
“For real, Uncle Jake? Word? That’s how you get down?”
“There’s a lot of things you don’t understand,” Jake said, standing up but making sure to keep his voice low and even.
“What is there to understand?” Zander screamed. “You fucked my girl?! What else is there to understand?”
Z didn’t speak. He just sat in his chair, his eyes darting back and forth between Jake and Zander.
Jake looked down at the floor for just a second. And that was all the time it took for Zander to catch him off guard and punch him squarely in the face.
“Yo, are you crazy?” Jake said, grabbing Zander by his shirt and shaking him. Jake threw Zander to the floor and held him down with his forearm bearing down on his chest. Z jumped up and grabbed Jake from behind, trying to peel him off Zander. Even though Jake had Zander completely pinned from the waist up, Zander still struggled to get up, kicking his legs in the air.
“Calm down, Zander,” Jake said, pressing his arm harder on Zander’s chest. “Let me talk to you for a second.”
“Jake, get off him,” said Z. “Y’all gotta talk this shit out.”
Jake felt Zander’s body go limp underneath his arm. He let go of Zander and gave him a look. Nephew or no nephew, he would hurt him if he hit him again.
Zander sat up but stayed seated on the floor.
“I’ve known you all my life,” Zander said. “You were the only person I trusted when my dad was—” Zander stopped and glanced at his father and then back at Jake. “And you do this?”
“Zander, what I did was foul,” said Jake. “I’m man enough to admit that. But I want you to think about who you’re trying to fight. We’re bigger than this.”
“Oh, so because you’re family, I’m supposed to let this go? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yeah,” said Jake. “I know it’s gonna take some time. But you’re going to get over this.”
“Stay away from Bunny,” Zander said.
Z spoke up.
“Don’t tell me you’re gonna stay with this broad,” said Z. “You heard what Jake just told you and you’re going to keep messing with this chick? If she’ll do this to you, she’ll do anything. Anything.”
Zander stood up and brushed himself off.
“Don’t worry about what I’m doing with Bunny. I just want Jake to leave her alone.”
Jake sighed.
“Fine, Zander. Whatever.”
“And I want to ge
t released from my contract,” said Zander, making direct eye contact with Jake.
“Now that’s something we gotta talk about at another time.”
“You can get the lawyers on it today,” Zander said. “I don’t want anything to do with you or your label.”
Jake rubbed his face.
“You want off the label? I’ll let you off the label. What else?”
Zander’s response was to storm out the front door and slam it behind him. Z and Jake stared at each other.
“I’m going to go talk to Zander,” said Z. “You need to get your shit together.”
“Look, I came clean with this shit,” said Jake. “Bunny is toxic. He shouldn’t be messing with her anyway.”
“So what are you saying? You think you did him a favor?” asked Z.
“I’m not saying that,” said Jake. “But he needs to know the type of chick she is.”
“The only thing you did was show Zander who you are,” said Z.
An hour later, Jake was at the W Hotel, sitting at the bar. He watched Lily out of the corner of his eye. She was just coming on duty, chatting with a friend. He turned his head slightly and watched her walk into the kitchen. She came out and took her place behind the bar, then looked up and saw Jake staring directly at her.
“Hey,” Jake said.
Lily moved back a step, her eyes darting back and forth.
“Hey, Jake,” Lily said. “I’m actually on my way out. Just finishing up for the night.”
“You’re lying,” said Jake. “You just got here.”
“No, I was coming off break. Now I’m off.”
“Why do you keep lying to me?” Jake asked. “What did I ever do to you?”
“Nothing,” Lily said. “I’m just really busy.”
“A while back . . . you took care of me.”
“You needed someone to take care of you. I happened to be here.”
“I need someone to take care of me right now.”
“I can’t help you.”
Jake picked up his drink and watched Lily carefully while he drank it. He set the empty glass down and Lily took it away and came back with a refill.
“What time do you get off? And don’t lie.”
“Jake,” Lily pleaded. “Can you please just leave me alone?”
“What do you think I’m going to do to you?”
Lily leaned over the bar and wiped down the surface in front of Jake.
“Look,” she whispered. “I made a mistake by coming to your house that day. I should not have done that. Totally inappropriate. Now please. Go.”
Jake stared at Lily. Lily sighed and came around the bar and led Jake to a seat in the back of the bar area.
“What do you want?” Lily said.
“I just want to talk,” said Jake, his words beginning to slur.
“So talk, then.”
“I messed around with Bunny,” Jake said.
Lily’s eyebrows creased.
“Bunny who? The singer?”
“Yeah.”
Lily nodded.
“Okay.”
“Not okay. She’s dating Zander, who is signed to my label. And he’s my best friend’s son. They’re pissed.”
“As well they should be.”
“I’m closer to Z than anyone else in this world. And Zander is like my son,” said Jake.
“So why would you do it?” Lily asked.
“That’s what I was hoping you could tell me.”
Lily shook her head slowly.
“I can’t help you with this one, Jake.”
Lily stood up and Jake stepped close to her. A few people in the bar craned their necks to see what Jake was doing. Lily slipped away and began to walk back toward the bar, with Jake right behind her.
“Come to my spot when you get off,” said Jake. “I’ll send a car to get you.”
“No.”
“I’m not accepting no.”
Lily looked up at the ceiling.
“Fine. I get off at midnight.”
“Perfect. A car will be here for you.”
“Fine,” said Lily. She went back behind the bar and kept her back to Jake.
“I’ll see you later.”
Lily grunted. Jake went back to the penthouse and showered. At midnight, he came out of his bedroom and went into the living room to wait for security to let him know Lily was on her way up. An hour later, his driver called his cell phone.
“I went inside to find her, but they said she was gone for the night,” he said to Jake.
“No problem. Thanks.”
Jake took out his cell phone and sent Lily a text message.
“I’ll leave you alone.”
Then he deleted her number from his phone and tossed the phone on to his couch. He actually convinced himself, for an hour or so at least, that he was never going to contact her again.
Z waited patiently for Beth to start snoring softly. It seemed as if it had taken forever for her to drift into a deep sleep. But he knew it only felt that way because of the task at hand. Z stayed on his back, breathing in and out. He practiced his corpse pose from yoga to pass the time before he had to act.
This was going to test his sobriety and his faith, two things he’d worked on considerably since he got clean. He’d known there would be obstacles. He was expecting the boys to hate him. He was expecting Zander to behave like a fatherless child. He expected his boys not to understand the new him and just stay away. He even expected his music to suffer, which it had.
Zander turned to face his wife. Not her. He never thought she would betray him. But he had every reason to believe she had. Her demeanor for the past few months had not just been about adjusting to Z’s life—it was guilt. Z knew it when he saw it.
Z leaned in close to his wife’s face. Her eyes were moving back and forth quickly. She was in as deep a sleep as she was going to get. Zander got up, went into the master bathroom, and dug out a box underneath the sink. He quickly skimmed the instructions and took out a cotton swab.
It was easier than he thought to get Beth’s mouth open. He turned her over slowly onto her back and her mouth fell open. He swabbed the inside of her cheek, pulling away and sinking down to the floor as soon as Beth moaned and turned over to her other side. Z stayed put on the floor, holding the swab carefully in the air. When he was sure she was asleep, he crept back into the bedroom and sealed the swab. He quickly swabbed his own cheek and placed it in the container. He took the last swab and went out into the hallway. He was reading the label on the box and didn’t see Zakee until he ran right into him.
“What are you doing up?” he whispered.
“Getting something to drink. What’s that?” said Zakee, pointing to the box in Z’s hand.
“Nothing. Go back to bed.”
Zakee glared at his father. Z thought there was going to be a showdown and he was ready. His son had had more than enough chances to be disrespectful. Now it was time to start disciplining his ass when he got out of line. He could continue to hate his father if he wanted to. But he was going to have to respect him.
“I said go back to bed,” said Z.
“I’m getting something to—”
“Don’t talk back to me,” Z spat. “Get your ass back in the bed and go to sleep.”
Zakee skulked away and slipped into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. As soon as his father walked past his room, he opened the door a crack and watched him. As Zakee watched, trying to see where his father was going, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Right in front of his door was a folded sheet of paper. It looked like something that came out of the box his father had been carrying.
Zakee crept out into the hallway, snatched the pamphlet, and went back into his room, closing the door extra softly and not exhaling until he heard the click. Zakee scanned the paper and his heart started to pound. He went back to his door and flung it open, not caring about making noise. Which bedroom had his father gone into? He didn’t know and he wouldn
’t be able to figure it out without getting caught.
Zakee went back to his bed and sat down. He slowly ripped the paper into tiny bits and then dropped them into the wastebasket next to his bed. He stayed in bed but didn’t fall asleep.
Back in his bedroom, Z gathered all three cotton swabs and placed them in the envelope. Z put the envelope into the minisafe that he kept under his bed and locked it. He wanted to read the directions once more but couldn’t find the sheet of paper that had come inside the box.
Three days and he’d have an answer. He’d know if his wife had committed the ultimate betrayal. If his instincts were right, what would he do? Z had no idea. Part of him thought he might lose control and attack her, physically and mentally. Part of him thought he’d drop to his knees and cry. He had three days to prepare either way.
The next morning, Z got a text from Jake. “Let’s meet up at the studio. 3PM.” Z sighed. He knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid the tension with Jake forever. After the dustup with Zander over Bunny, they’d avoided each other. But Z knew that the man who’d had his back since he was a teenager wasn’t going to just disappear.
A part of Z wished that he’d been the one to reach out first. The whole situation with Jake and Bunny was ridiculous, and he really didn’t know how to deal with it. He wasn’t sure he could look Jake in the eye after this one. And he couldn’t help but think of Kipenzi and how she would have felt about the whole thing.
“I’m going to the studio,” Z told Beth over breakfast.
Beth just nodded and got up from the table, not looking at Z.
“And after that I’m going to the moon.”
“Okay,” Beth said.
Z shook his head, threw on his coat, and walked out.
At the studio, Z was buzzed in and headed down to the basement where Jake always recorded. And there he was, decked out in a sweatsuit from his own line, brand-new Air Force 1s on his feet.
They slapped palms three times and Z sat down hard in a nearby chair.
“What’s going on?”
“That’s what I was about to ask you.”
A silence hung in the air as they each waited for the other to speak.
Diamond Life Page 28