White Lines III

by Tracy Brown

  “I don’t want to leave, Dad. I feel better when you’re home with us.”

  Jada listened closely. Us?

  “I’m gonna be home soon,” Born said. “Trust me.”

  “Can I come back tomorrow?” Ethan asked.

  “I’ll bring you back tomorrow, baby. Don’t worry.” Anisa knew that Jada was listening and she didn’t care. She couldn’t just run in and out of Born’s life as she pleased. As far as Anisa was concerned, you snooze you lose. And Jada had fallen asleep on the job.

  Jada was livid. She looked at Miss Ingrid and was met with an expression of understanding. Ingrid shook her head and Jada understood that she was not to play into Anisa’s hands. Jada was fed up though.

  “Good night, you all,” she said. “I’m going to stay and talk to Born for just a little longer.”

  Anisa seemed to want to say something, but Miss Ingrid took her by the elbow and led her and Ethan to the door. “Good night, Marquis. Good night, Jada,” she called over her shoulder as she left. Jada was so grateful for her.

  DJ lingered behind. “I’m gonna stay for a while until Tremaine gets here. I’ll be in the lounge right by the elevators.”

  Born thanked him, and DJ followed everyone out.

  Once they were gone, Jada turned to Born. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  “Don’t act dumb. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Anisa. What’s up with you two?”

  “Jada, what do you want me to say?” Born was tired. He was dazed. He didn’t want to do this right now. “She’s Ethan’s mother. I’m not gonna stop her from coming around.”

  Jada stared at him for a while in silence. Her gut told her that there was more to the story than just that. But her concern for him took over.

  “Who would want to hurt you?” she asked. “Who do you think it was?”

  Born shook his head. “I have no idea. Far as I know, I’m a pretty nice guy.”

  Jada was really worried. “Is anything going on with the crew?”

  “That’s none of my business. I don’t deal with that,” he reminded her. “I haven’t for years. You know that.”

  Jada nodded. She did know that, but felt she had to ask. Suddenly explosives were going off and the crew was being called to stand guard. She didn’t like this.

  “Listen, Born,” she said. “I love you. I know I haven’t been around like I should be. I just don’t know how to deal with everything. Sheldon is my son. He didn’t ask to be here. But now that he is, I owe it to him to do whatever I can to make him … okay. I’m not trying to push you away, baby. I swear.”

  Born nodded his head, his eyes lowering from a mixture of exhaustion and medication.

  Jada watched him with her heart so full of words to say. She didn’t know why she felt like this was her last chance to say what was on her mind. But as she watched him drift off, she knew that it would have to wait another day.

  “I’ll be here in the morning,” she said. She leaned over and kissed his forehead, and then left him alone.

  * * *

  Jada arrived home and parked her car outside her condo. She stopped at her mailbox and used her key to open it, removing a small stack of mail. She flipped through it as she walked back to her door. One piece stood out among the rest. It was a blue envelope. Fancy stationery with her first name only, and no address. She wondered how the mailman had known to place it in her locked mailbox with no address and only her first name. As Jada unlocked her door, a chill ran down her spine, and for no real reason, she rushed inside and quickly locked the door behind her. She called out to her sister.

  “We’re in here!” Ava yelled from the living room.

  Jada walked in and found them sitting together watching The Pursuit of Happyness. She breathed a sigh of relief that they were okay, and told herself to relax. Seeing Born laid up in the hospital, and hearing talk of explosions and black suitcases … it had all left her feeling ill at ease. The nightmares she had been having didn’t help matters at all.

  Ava made eye contact with her. “How’s everything?” She didn’t mention Born by name since she was aware that Sheldon didn’t know where Jada had gone.

  “Okay. I’ll fill you in later on.” Jada took off her sweater, and sat down on the ottoman to open her mail. She started with the mysterious envelope. She opened it and froze in her seat. Inside the small envelope, she found a single crack vial and a small note card that read, “For old time’s sake.”

  Jada’s adrenaline rushed. She stood up and marched to the bathroom and flushed the crack vial down the drain. She hadn’t held one in her hands in years, and they shook now as she watched it disappear. The note was still in her left hand, and she stared at it now. Trembling, she held it up to the light. The lettering was bold and etched in black Sharpie. All of the words were written in capital letters. Jada jumped when she heard a noise behind her, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Ava had followed her into the bathroom.

  The words came flooding forth like a river. “This is crazy, Ava. Somebody’s playing games.”

  “Wait, what are you talking about?” Ava held up her hands in an effort to calm her sister.

  Jada shook her head in frustration. “Born got hurt. Somebody rang his doorbell and left a suitcase at his doorstep. The suitcase exploded, and thankfully he survived. But he’s bandaged up, cracked ribs, a concussion, hurt his collar bone.”

  “My God!” Ava exclaimed.

  “Just now I came home and found this in the mailbox.” Jada shoved the cryptic note and the envelope into Ava’s hand. “It had a crack vial inside.”

  Ava’s eyes widened. “Where is it?” she asked, looking around for the drugs.

  “I flushed it.”

  “Why, Jada? That’s evidence.” Ava held the envelope by its edges.

  “It was just a reaction. I wanted it gone. Ava, I haven’t held a crack vial in my hand in over ten years.” Jada couldn’t control the trembling. “Plus, I can’t go to the police,” Jada said.

  Ava frowned. “Why not? You didn’t do anything wrong. This all sounds crazy.”

  Jada shook her head. Though she had nothing to hide, she still didn’t trust the police. Old feelings from her days behind bars resurfaced. It had never occurred to her to contact the cops.

  “I just have to think,” she said. She thought about the nightmares she’d had about Jamari. She could hear his voice now, laughing at her. Jada shivered, and her sister noticed.

  “You okay?” Ava asked.

  Jada nodded, though it wasn’t true. She was far from okay. “Where was Sheldon all afternoon?” she asked. “Did he leave the house?” Jada wondered if her son was crafty enough to pull this off. Could he have gotten his hands on a vial of crack and met the mailman when he made his delivery? And would he be cruel enough to do something so heartless?

  “No, he was in here with me the whole time. He hasn’t left my side.” Ava glanced at the note again. “This is scary, Jada. Who would do something like this? And who would do that to Born?”

  Jada shrugged. “I just can’t stop thinking about Jamari.” He had been on her mind ever since she awoke from that dream.

  Ava looked at her sister like she might be losing it a little. “Jamari is dead. I don’t think you need to be worried about him anymore.”

  Jada knew it sounded bizarre. “I’ve been having crazy nightmares about him. I could hear his voice so clearly.” She shook her head. “It’s like he’s haunting me.”

  Ava knew all that Jada had endured at Jamari’s hands. She listened sympathetically. “What was he saying in these dreams?”

  “He just kept laughing. Like he was teasing me, mocking me. It was pitch-black, and I couldn’t see him. But I could hear him. I could feel him.” She shuddered again. “I’m scared, girl. I feel like something ain’t right.”

  Ava nodded. She understood why she felt that way. The whole thing was eerie. She felt her cell phone vi
brate, and pulled it out of her suit pocket. She saw a text from Zion: “Come over tonight. Adiva’s asleep, and I’m lonely.”

  Ava smiled. They had been living dangerously, she and Zion. On plenty of occasions over the past few weeks, Ava hung out with Zion and his daughter at the park, over dinner, even playing board games after school at Zion’s place. So far, Adiva hadn’t told her mother. But Ava knew that if Olivia ever got wind of the fact that she was not only sleeping with Zion, but interacting with their child, all hell would break loose. But she couldn’t help it. There was something so sexy about Zion; something so intoxicatingly erotic about sneaking around with him this way. She texted him back: “Just leaving Jada’s house. I should be there in about forty minutes.”

  “Well, just keep the doors locked, and the phone charged,” she advised Jada. “I’m gonna leave soon because I have a court appearance tomorrow.” She was lying. “I was supposed to be preparing for it today, but I got caught up with Sunny and Malcolm and all of their drama.”

  A moment later, Zion texted back: “Okay.”

  Jada hated to see her sister go. She didn’t want to admit that she was afraid to be alone in the house with only Sheldon as company. But she understood that work came first. “I’m going back to the hospital in the morning. I’ll tell Born about the note. Maybe it’s all connected. I’ll let you know if anything else happens.” Jada looked at her sister, thoughtfully. “Be careful please.”

  Ava smiled weakly. “I will.”

  They returned to the living room where Sheldon was watching the end of the movie. Ava called a car service for a ride to Tribeca. She didn’t even ask the cost. After the day she’d had, all she cared about was getting back into Zion’s arms again.

  12

  SLIPPING

  Sunny was on the phone with her PR people, while Marisol cleaned up after dinner. Sunny had agreed to check into rehab in the morning. First, she would make an appearance on The Mindy Milford Show to answer a series of preapproved questions. This interview would be her attempt at spinning the scandal with the Mexican authorities in her favor. If they could convince America that the arrest had spurred Sunny to get the help she needed, it could work to her benefit. After the interview with Mindy, Sunny would check into Crossroads, a drug rehabilitation facility in Pennsylvania.

  The family had shared dinner and more discussion about Sunny’s future. She seemed serene, quieter, and more resigned to the fact that she needed help. She had called Abe Childs and gotten a referral from him for the rehab center, which he described as discreet and effective. She, Mercedes, and Marisol had spent some time talking privately as well. The three generations of women had a lot of healing to do, and it began that day. After the intervention at Jada’s house, Sunny had donned a hat, sunglasses, and an oversized hoodie in order to gain access to her apartment building. Along with Jenny G, Marisol, and Mercedes, Sunny had gone home and gathered as much of her things as she would need for the next several weeks. Her driver, Raul, had met them in the underground garage and helped them load up the car with four suitcases worth of Sunny and Mercedes’ belongings. Sunny had bid a tearful farewell to Jenny G. The woman was like a second mother to her, and it touched Sunny’s heart when Jenny promised to pick her up from rehab on the day she was discharged. Sunny had cried watching Jenny go.

  Now it was getting late, and Marisol wanted to get some sleep in anticipation of the next day. She and Sunny had finally discussed the elephant in the room—Sunny’s family prospering as a result of her relationship with Dorian. Marisol had tried not to think about it over the years. But today it had been brought to the forefront. She admitted that she had allowed Dorian’s money, power, and status to cloud her judgment years ago.

  “At the time you brought Dorian home, the family was struggling. We didn’t tell you about it. We didn’t tell your brothers about it. But Dale and I were praying every night for a miracle. We were about to lose the house, the car payments were behind. It was so bad that the gas company was threatening to come and take our meter. I’m not saying that’s an excuse. But it definitely felt like an answer to our prayers when Dorian showed up with all of his generosity toward the family. And it was obvious that he loved you. And you loved him, too.”

  Sunny had listened to her mother, thinking back to those days.

  “When we drove to the restaurant that first night you brought him home, he rode in the car with your father, remember?”

  Sunny nodded. She did remember it like it was yesterday.

  “Well, Dale told me later on that Dorian knew about our problems with money. How he knew, I’m not sure. But being a powerful man like he was, I guess he used his resources and he found out that we were struggling. He told your father that he wanted to help. He offered to pay off the mortgage and give us a monthly stipend if we didn’t stand in the way of him getting to know you.”

  Sunny had shaken her head, sadly. “That sounds like you sold me off to the highest bidder.”

  “It does sound like that,” Marisol admitted. “But that’s not what it was. You loved him. And he swore to your father that he would not touch you in any way until you turned eighteen. We had our reservations about him because of his age and because we were not dumb. We knew the life that he was living. But it was obvious that you cared about him. It seemed like a win-win thing at the time because we were in a bind. Your father figured that if things didn’t work out, he could always pay Dorian back somewhere down the line. But it turned out that you fell in love and stayed together until he passed away.” Marisol had dabbed at her eyes. “I won’t make any excuses for what we did. We threw you into a life that you were not ready for, and we didn’t realize that you were getting in over your head. Over the years, I cannot tell you how many times I have hated myself for letting you get caught up in this craziness.”

  That conversation had taken place hours ago. Still, Mercedes was enthralled by it. As she prepared to go to bed, she approached her grandmother.

  “Bella,” she said, softly. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Mercedes.”

  “Tomorrow, after Mommy checks herself in, I want to go and stay with Grandma Gladys.”

  Marisol’s face betrayed her emotions. She felt hurt that Mercedes did not want to stay with her and Dale. “Why?”

  Mercedes knew that her grandmother was disappointed. But her mind was made up. “I just want to get away from all of the stuff going on with Mommy. I don’t want to sleep in her old room, and see all of the reminders of her. I think spending the summer with Grandma Gladys and my uncles will be better for me.” Satisfied with her answer, she waited for Marisol’s response. The truth was that Mercedes had a lot of emotions to sort through. Since hearing about her grandparents’ prospering from Sunny’s relationship with her father, Mercedes had a lot to think about. She understood her mother’s story a little more, and why she might have felt like no one really loved her. No one except Mercedes. It wasn’t that Mercedes resented Marisol and Dale, and her uncles Reuben and Ronnie. But she was beginning to see them through new eyes. She thought it would be a good idea to wait out Sunny’s rehab stint in the company of her father’s side of the family, for once.

  Marisol reluctantly agreed. “If that’s what you want to do, Mercedes, okay.” She was too tired to argue. She kissed her granddaughter on the cheek and headed up for bed. Sunny came in and stopped her when she was halfway up the stairs.

  Sunny looked at her mother and her daughter and offered them a sad smile. “I love you guys. I want to thank you for hanging in there with me. And I want to apologize for the ways I embarrassed you. The ways that I embarrassed myself.”

  Marisol descended the stairs and stood face-to-face with her daughter. Sunny looked so defeated, and yet so determined. She hugged her for a long time, stroking her back reassuringly. “You’re not going through this alone. We’re all with you.” She held Sunny tightly, then pulled back and held her face in her hands, smiling at her. “I’m proud of you, Sunny.” Marisol turne
d and walked slowly upstairs to bed.

  Mercedes looked at her mother. “I’m proud of you, too, Mommy. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re gonna turn things around in no time.”

  Sunny looked into her daughter’s eyes. She saw Dorian in there. She saw herself, her young and impressionable self. There were so many things she wanted to say to Mercedes. But there were more pressing matters at hand.

  Sunny sighed, heavily. “Thank you, sweetie.” She hugged Mercedes and smothered her with kisses. “Get some sleep. Tomorrow is my big day.”

  Mercedes squeezed her mother tight, and inhaled her warm, powdery scent. She wanted to cling to her forever, and keep her all for herself. No more paparazzi, fashion shows, and photographers. Mercedes just wanted her Mama back. “I love you,” she said. Then she went upstairs to say a prayer that God would make it all better.

  Sunny stood in the solitude of her mother’s kitchen, and toyed with the baggie of cocaine she had retrieved from her bureau at home that afternoon. Tucked in the corner of her panty drawer, the coke was exactly where she’d left it prior to her trip to Mexico. She had stuck it in her pocket hours ago, and had been waiting with bated breath for the chance to be alone. It had been the longest day of her life waiting for this moment. Now that everyone had gone to bed, Sunny willed her hands to stop shaking as she walked out of the kitchen. Mercedes voice lingered in her head. “I love you.” She whispered, “I love you, too.” Then she locked herself in the first-floor bathroom with the bag of white powder. Just one more high before she gave it all up for good.

  * * *

  Born lay awake in his hospital bed that night, unable to sleep. So much was going on at once, and his sixth sense was telling him that something big was about to go down. Dorian had always taught him to be aware of subtle changes, the ripples caused by even the smallest pebbles hitting the water. So much was changing in his life at that moment. Instead of ripples in the water, the explosion that had injured him was more like a great wave sweeping through and leaving catastrophe in its wake. He wondered who was out there.