Emotions were lodged in my throat, so I only nodded a response. She left, and I was finally alone and able to retreat into my thoughts.
The board was trying to get rid of me. They never wanted me there to begin with, so I wasn’t shocked that my connection to Ink was being used to start conversations around making me a silent member who had no real power or connection to the company. Their argument would be that I was bad for business.
Right then, there was a woman’s group protesting outside, WAH... Women Against Homewreckers or Women Against Hoes—one of the two, depending on who you asked. The group was led by a woman who had made it her personal mission to destroy me. She said she was a friend of Tami’s and wouldn’t let her killer go free without a fight, so she’d made it her business to terrorize both Ink and me. She did protests, called for people to strike our businesses, and had arranged for her supporters to yell and shout at me from outside my home. It was driving my neighbors crazy and the homeowners association was trying to file claims to force me to move. In a matter of a week, my whole life had completely changed.
My cell phone began to vibrate and I grabbed it quickly. It was almost noon so I knew exactly who it was.
Wish I could take you to lunch.
I smiled—the first of the day—and then replied back.
So do I.
It had only been two days since I’d last seen Ink, but I was missing him a lot. I could understand why he had to keep his distance, but it was hard always being home alone. Besides work, I couldn’t go anywhere without being harassed.
How are things at the office?
I rolled my eyes. “You want the long version or the short version?” I muttered, picking the phone up into my hands.
* * *
Me: Not too good. Protestors outside and the board is having secret meetings.
Ink: Damn. I can’t stand that humpback bitch.
Me: That’s not nice!
* * *
I stifled a laugh. She did have a hump in her back. Actually, she kinda reminded me of a penguin in the way she was built. She was heavyset and hobbled over when she walked. The fact that she looked like that and had all those stories about how nice the beautiful Tami was to her only made them love Tami even more. Thanks to Cindy, people were acting like Tami was Mother Theresa.
The phone in my hands began to ring and I answered it after seeing that it was Ink.
“Now you know that wasn’t nice,” I said as soon as I got on the line.
“Yeah, and I don’t care. I can’t stand the bitch. She asked Tamiyah this morning if she felt like she was safe living with me.”
“What?” I almost shouted. “She’s trying to strike a nerve. She wants you to act violent or upset so that she can catch your reaction.”
“And she almost got that shit. I don’t mind what she says to me but my daughter is off-limits.”
“Did she get to Chicago safely?” I asked.
“Yeah, she called me about an hour ago, having the time of her life at Kale’s mom’s house...”
His voice died and a few seconds of silence passed. I assumed he was probably thinking of Tamiyah. He hadn’t wanted to send her away but keeping her around the craziness in Atlanta didn’t seem like a good idea, especially with it looking like he would be charged with murder at any moment.
“It’s the right thing to do,” I assured him. “I know you probably feel like she’s losing both parents, with Tami gone and you having to deal with this, but it’s only for a moment. Plus, it’s not bad for her to get away from this. Being around other kids and away from things that remind her of Tami will be good for a little while.”
“These motherfuckas wanna lock me up for this... what if it’s longer than just a little while?”
I swallowed hard. The way he said it let me know that he was believing it could be a real possibility.
“You didn’t do this so you won’t go down for it, Ink. You’ll see.”
He didn’t respond and every second that passed increased my anxiety even further.
“I hope you’re right,” he finally said. His voice was so low that I wasn’t even sure I’d heard it.
I could hear the doubt.
“Do you need me to come over?” I asked. “I mean, I can slip in through the garage around back so I’m not seen. I’ll drive one of my other cars.”
He hesitated for a moment. “You still want to be around me?”
“Yeah.” My brows bent. “Why wouldn’t I want to be?”
The sound of him sighing gave me the answer.
“Because of the stuff in the news? Ink, if you don’t want me to come, I won’t but I don’t care about if I’m seen. There isn’t much more they can say about me than they have already.”
“That’s not what I mean.” He paused. “I mean, there is a lot of shit being said and—I just thought you would be cutting ties with me soon.”
“Ink, there isn’t much that I’m sure of right now but one thing I do know is that you did not kill Tami, nor did you have anything to do with it. And I’m not saying that because I’m your friend. I’m saying it because I know. You can trust me.”
Holding the phone to my ear, I stood up from my desk when I heard voices from outside my office.
“Damn, that’s what’s up,” Ink said. I could practically hear him smiling through the other end. “You don’t know how good it is to hear that from you. A lot of people been acting weird around me lately.”
Taking a glimpse outside my office, I saw Sherelle talking with another assistant who worked for Charles. She was most likely filling her in on their meeting.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said, turning back to my desk. “I haven’t heard from Lola in a little while and that’s not like her.”
“She still been fucking with Kale? That nigga been acting funny, too.”
“Not too much, from the last I spoke to her. Classes started and she doesn’t have a lot of time.”
Ink and I continued speaking for a short while but the conversation was strained. It was hard to talk about anything that didn’t involve the case because everything about it weighed so heavily on our minds, but we definitely couldn’t discuss it over the phone.
I was sure that he thought I was supporting him because it was the right thing to do but he was wrong. No matter what the circumstances looked like, I knew in my heart that Ink didn’t murder Tami. He wasn’t a killer and, even though he had problems with her, the love he had for his daughter was to the point that he could’ve never harmed her mother. In Ink’s mind, even with all of her faults, Tamiyah was better off with Tami in her life than not at all. He understood how much a young girl needed her mother and I could tell that by the things he said when I spoke about being abandoned by mine.
“You’re right. They are trying to invoke a special vote for your removal on the basis that your involvement with the company is greatly impacting revenue negatively.”
I looked up at Sherelle as she burst into my office, holding a paper in her hand. She then held it out to me.
“These are the minutes from the meeting they had. I’m friends with someone who got them for me.”
She stood over me as I briefly read it over.
“They want me to make a public statement, distancing myself from any and everything concerned with Ink,” I said aloud. “I can’t do that. He’s a friend.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “A friend that they are going to use against you. You might want to think on if he’s worth it.”
Why did everyone keep saying that?
25
Sage
* * *
“Hello?”
“Damn, stranger! Med school got you to the point where you can’t return phone calls anymore?”
“Of course not, Sage,” Lola replied before releasing a long sigh. “It’s just... crazy these days.”
I snorted. “That’s definitely an understatement.”
Lola and I hadn’t spoken much in the past few days and it wa
sn’t normal for us at all.
“Yeah, my parents called me about it a few times.”
My gut twisted. Now I was thinking that there was another reason why I hadn’t heard from Lola recently.
“What did they say?”
“They don’t believe anything the news is saying about you.” She put extra emphasis on the ‘you.’
“But they think Ink is guilty.”
Her hesitation was a dead giveaway. “They just think you’re making a mistake by still hanging with him.”
“He says he’s innocent and I believe him.”
“Of course he did, Sage. Do you expect him to say, ‘hey, I killed my wife,’ right to your face?”
My teeth ground together and the muscles in my body tensed as I sped through a red light and made a left hand turn, narrowly escaping oncoming traffic. I was on my way to Ink’s house after having a terrible day and only called Lola because I needed a friend, but the conversation wasn’t going the way I thought it would be.
“Lola, what if it were you? What if everyone believed you did something bad just because coincidence made it look that way? Wouldn’t you want me to be there for you?”
“Yeah, but you’ve got to admit, it looks really bad.”
“Don’t you remember when Erica thought you slept with her boyfriend because she found some panties in his apartment and he said they belonged to you?”
“Yeah, with his lying ass. He was sleeping with her sister and we both had the same Gucci cheerleading bags. When she found the bag at his apartment, he didn’t want to tell her that he was fuckin’ her own sister so he said it was me. You were the only one who didn’t betray me.”
I nodded as I turned into Ink’s neighborhood, driving slowly. I didn’t want to bring any attention to myself.
“Right. Erica was your best friend at the time. She turned against you and everyone else did too until she later on found them fucking in her bed. Sometimes things look one way but it’s not the truth. Ink didn’t do this.”
I pulled slowly past Ink’s house, hiding behind my illegally tinted windows as they chanted with signs in their hands. With any luck, I could ease behind, pretending I was going to someone else’s house and then slide around to the back.
“But that’s the thing, Sage. In my case, I was innocent but when it comes to Ink, I don’t think it’s true.”
Sucking my teeth, I groaned.
“But how can you know that, Lola? You don’t even know him—”
“Kale told me. He thinks he did it, too. He won’t tell me exactly how but he said he has proof.”
My heart stalled. Thankfully, I had already made it to the back and was in front of Ink’s garage. I jammed my finger against a button to kill the engine and sighed.
“What proof?”
“He said that he was talking on the phone with Tami that night. She got off the phone around a quarter to four, after telling him that Ink was outside. Then the next thing he knew, she was dead.”
My breaths were elevated as I stared ahead at the closed garage door with the phone in my hands.
“I’m sure there is an explanation for that.”
“Sage, don’t be crazy.”
“Lola, I have to go. I have another call coming in.”
I ended the call before she could call me out on my lies.
People would say that I was crazy but isn’t that how they describe all the best loves ever known? In the moment, right when tragedy strikes, people always pass judgment, but once it was all over, I would be the epitome of what it meant to be a ride or die chick; the kind who loves a man enough to stay by his side.
The garage door suddenly began to open and I felt my body go warm when I saw Ink staring back at me. The excitement in his eyes was almost boyish. Like how a child looks when they run to the door and see that Mama is back home.
“I heard a car pull up,” he explained. “You made it.”
I smiled and grabbed my duffle bag from the passenger seat before stepping out the car.
“Of course I did.”
26
Ink
* * *
Spending time with Sage had me living the best moments that I’d experienced in a long time. With Tamiyah gone, I had fallen back on old habits and started drinking more than I normally did. Being that I knew how it was for me as a child the brief time when I had my father around, it was a habit I’d fought to shake loose when I became a parent. However, with everything going on, I was more stressed than I’d ever been and couldn’t do anything but sit home alone. The pressure of it all was killing me.
“I’m going to head out to work. I got a schedule full of clients today.”
Leaning over, I kissed Sage lightly on her forehead. She groaned and snuggled in close to me with her eyes closed.
“No, I don’t want you to leave,” she said. “We need to stay here and avoid everything outside. It’s perfect here.”
“Yeah, it is perfect,” I had to agree. “But the one upside to all this shit is that my work schedule has been packed. The few people who still believe in my innocence have been going hard to show their support. I’ve got clients back to back.”
“I’ve always believed in your innocence. Can I have a time-slot reserved for me on your full schedule?”
She wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my chest.
“You can have all the time you want for however long you want it.”
“How about forever?” she questioned back.
I dropped my head and buried my nose in her hair, loving the way that her presence made me feel so content; a sharp change from how I’d felt all the days before.
The timing couldn’t be worse but I’d thought about marriage more than a couple times since the moment she had shown up. Having her around felt so natural, like it was supposed to be that way. Even when Tamiyah was home, that’s how it had been. We both made space for Sage in our lives without even knowing that’s what we were doing. She fit like the perfect piece to our puzzle.
“Forever sounds nice,” I told her, speaking honestly.
Lifting her hand to my lips, I placed a kiss on top of the finger where I would slide an engagement ring, when it was time. In some crazy way, Tami’s death had made me want to move faster with my intentions with Sage. If anything, it had taught me how quickly life could change for the worse.
There was so much that I regretted when it came to how I’d handled my relationship with Tami. There was so much that I wished I had done to help her have a happy life while she was alive, things that could have changed her fate, but there was nothing I could do about that then.
“Stay here until I get back. Spend the night with me again,” I said to Sage as I moved to slide out of the bed. “I want to talk to you about something when I get home.”
“Ohhh, sounds serious.”
She lifted up, holding the covers around her naked body to cover her chest as if I hadn’t been sucking all over her nipples all night long. There was a devilish smirk on her lips that said she had a few suspicions regarding what I had in mind to discuss.
“Maybe. But it’s a much needed talk.”
She fell back onto the bed and I left to take a shower and get ready to leave. By the time I was all dressed and ready to go, she was sleeping again. Before leaving, I kissed her once more on her forehead and then made my way to the garage to leave. For the first time in my life, I had a woman in my bed that made me hate having to go to work. Going to the shop had always been my reprieve away from dealing with Tami but when it came to Sage, it felt more like punishment being away from her.
“El, what’s up?” I said as I jumped on the interstate. Atlanta traffic was notoriously terrible but it was the perfect time for me to speak with Elshire about my case.
“Not too much. Everything is quiet but that’s a little what I’m afraid of. When things are like this, it makes me feel like Louis and his crew are cooking up something. You know he used to be at sergeant level, slated to be capt
ain, but he fucked up big on a case. So, he has a personal reason for going so hard with this. He’s trying to capitalize off of all the attention.”
“I was wondering why he was working overtime like they were paying him time-and-a-half,” I mumbled. “He’s been coming for me since the first time I saw him. Did you get any word on the restraining order?”
“Yeah, about that. I have a source that says Tami never actually filed for one. She walked in and put her information down but, by the time Louis got to her, she’d left. There is no telling who she was getting a restraining order for. It could have been anyone. Louis is trying to use it to scare you.”
I snorted air through my nostrils and shook my head.
“That’s bullshit.”
“Well, hopefully, this quiet time is for good reason and not because he’s about to try to come at you from another angle.”
I pulled into the parking garage of my building, thankful that I’d at least dropped the extra couple stacks to make sure that I had a private way into the building and a designated parking space. Kale had been telling me to use it for months and I was finally listening. It made it easy to slip in and out unnoticed. I decided to lock my shop down and close it to the public, meaning that the only ones who could come in were the people who had made an appointment in advance.
“He can’t come at me from no angle because I haven’t done shit.”
“I understand,” he replied, but I wasn’t sure if he did. The whole situation was stressful as hell and I didn’t like the fact that it seemed like all I was doing was reacting to what was happening to me instead of taking some kind of action.
“I’m about to head into work, man,” I said, feeling exasperated. After only being away from Sage for a few moments, I was already back to being stressed out.
“Work? Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Aren’t you the one who told me to continue to live my life as normally as possible?”
“Yes, but I meant at home, out of the public’s eye. You need to be grieving about how you lost a wife, not looking like you’re perfectly fine with her gone.”
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