White Lines III

by Tracy Brown

  Gillian frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “First of all, I haven’t bailed out Baron because he needs to sit in jail for a few days. His whole life, whenever something went wrong, his father would swoop in and fix it. Well, his father is gone now. And it’s time that Baron learns to take responsibility for his own decisions.”

  “I understand that, Miss Celia. And I’m all for Baron taking responsibility. But it just seems kinda cruel to leave him in there like that.”

  “So why don’t you bail him out?” Celia asked. She knew the answer, of course. But, she asked anyway.

  Gillian sidestepped the question. “I came to offer my financial help if it’s needed. Baron is my brother. I’m happy to help.”

  Celia nodded. “Okay. So will you personally go down there and bail him out? Sign your name on the paperwork?”

  Gillian didn’t respond.

  Celia scoffed. “Of course you won’t! You’re not really worried about Baron at all. You’re only worried about yourself.”

  “That’s not true. I love my brother. And I don’t like the idea of him sitting in jail when there’s no reason why—”

  “So, go get him out!” Celia yelled, her voice echoing off the walls. She shook her head. “That won’t happen, will it? Because you can’t figure out why no one has arrested you yet. And you’re scared to go to court, and sign your assets over to the government, and affiliate yourself with the case. So it’s not about Baron at all. It’s about the fact that his is a high-profile case, and your ass is at stake. Right?”

  Gillian blinked a few times. Her stepmother had never spoken to her this way before. Even though she was an adult, and the family queenpin, Gillian felt like a kid being scolded by a parent who has seen right through her bullshit.

  Celia pointed her finger, inches from Gillian’s face. “I never wanted my son to be a criminal. I begged your father for years to keep Baron out of it, but he didn’t listen to me. Now, your father is dead. Baron was shot, and has just begun to recover physically, and you have the top position in the crew. And try as I might, I could not convince my son to keep his hands clean. I warned him not to keep working with you. And now here you are standing free as a bird in my foyer. Meanwhile, Baron is up on Rikers Island where his life is in danger every second.”

  “So why would you leave him there?” Gillian demanded. “That doesn’t sound like motherly love. You leave him in that type of environment so that you can prove a point?” Truthfully, Gillian worried with each passing day that Baron would break. He wasn’t strong like she was. True, he was the firstborn son and she was the baby girl. But their actual roles in the family could not have been more opposite. The longer Baron stayed behind the cold stone walls of Rikers Island, the more likely he was to turn state’s evidence.

  Celia shook her head and closed her eyes. “Gillian, you should go now, before I say some things to you that can never be unsaid.” Celia was well aware of the sibling rivalry between Baron and Gillian. She knew that this show of concern was actually a thinly veiled attempt for Gillian to cover her own ass. Celia opened her eyes again. “I will bail my son out of jail when I get the time to do it. If I’m not moving fast enough for you, then you do something. Something besides sitting at home and letting everybody else go down while you get away scot-free.”

  “That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

  “Good. I’ll be sure to tell Baron to contact you when he gets home.” Celia walked to the front door and held it open for Gillian.

  Without any protest, Gillian nodded her head and walked out the door. “Thanks.”

  * * *

  Zion walked into the visiting room, trying hard not to put too much weight on his right ankle. The cops had beaten him so badly that he twisted his right foot the wrong way and now he was in incredible pain whenever he placed too much pressure on it. Most of the swelling in his face had gone down, although his lip was still swollen. Several bruises were still visible on his skin. He walked slowly, deliberately toward Olivia. She sat at the visiting table looking radiant on this hot July day. She wore a jade green T-shirt and a pair of dark denim skinny jeans. Zion thought the color of her shirt made her smooth, chocolate brown skin glow. She wore her hair up in a neat ponytail. He smiled, thinking that she looked as gorgeous as the day they met. But as he drew closer, her beauty was overshadowed by the menacing scowl on her face. She was livid, and it showed.

  He noticed other inmates in the room eyeing Olivia. She had always had that effect on men. Olivia would walk into a room full of models and shut it down. She had style and flair that was unmistakable. But beneath that stunning exterior existed a bitterness that he was all too familiar with.

  Zion made it to the table and maneuvered himself into the seat. Bending down hurt him, but he did his best not to show it. “Hello, beautiful,” he managed, with a weak smile. He dared not reach for a hug or a kiss. The effort would be painful, and it might not be worth it if she shut him down.

  Olivia watched him through piercing eyes. “They hurt you,” she said softly.

  Zion saw no sense in denying it. “They tried to. But I’m the bionic man. They can’t kill me.” He sat back in his seat. “Where’s Adiva?”

  “She’s with Grandma,” Olivia said. “I thought it was best for me to come by myself this time.”

  Zion nodded. He understood. Above all of the voices in the courtroom during his arraignment, he had heard Olivia’s loud and clear. He knew that she loved him, but also that she knew about Ava. He had called once he got to Rikers, but Olivia had refused to speak to him. Instead, he had spoken to Lamin, who told him that Adiva was with them, and that they had been in touch with Maury Pendelstein, his attorney. There wasn’t much more to say beyond that. They couldn’t talk about the particulars of the case because everyone knew that jail conversations are recorded. There was no resolution in sight, since he was being held without bail. Lamin had asked about Zion’s recovery, and about his safety in the zoo that is Riker’s Island. Once Zion assured him that he was fine, Lamin had put Adiva on the phone, and she had talked to her daddy until the phone clicked off.

  So until this moment, Zion had not been able to speak with Olivia. He wondered if she planned to add to the bruises he already had. He wasted no time finding out. Zion put his elbows on the table and made eye contact with Olivia.

  “So let’s have it out. I know you came here with some things to say to me.”

  “I bet you have some things to say to me, too.”

  “I do. But ladies first.”

  Olivia was unsettlingly calm. She sat back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest. “The police did this to you?” She analyzed all of the scars and bruises on Zion’s face and the parts of his body that were visible.

  “Yeah. They ran up in my place in the middle of the night. They snatched up Adiva without even giving me a minute to talk to her and explain what was happening. The poor baby was scared to death. When they were taking me out, I wanted to know where she was, to find out if I could talk to her. One of the guards said something disrespectful, and I just lost it.” He motioned toward his face. “They didn’t like that too much.” He shrugged it off. He left out the part about how that same cop had watched Ava put on a pair of Zion’s sweatpants, and gotten a peek at Ava’s thong. Zion had caught him leering, and the cop had laughed in Zion’s face. Told him, “Don’t worry. While you’re in jail, somebody else will handle things around here for you.” The remark was enough to send him over the edge. In fact, the whole arrest had come at a terrible time. Zion had relaxed, and had things in the house that he normally wouldn’t. Adiva and Ava had been there. His nosy neighbors, who already gave the urban-looking man in apartment 3B the side eye, had the pleasure of watching him led out in handcuffs, beaten, and hauled off to jail. His fight with those cops had been about the disrespectful remark made about his lady. But it was also his final attempt at fighting for freedom. Zion knew that he was going down.

  Olivia stared at him, l
ooking him up and down.

  “Speak your mind,” he urged.

  “How long have you been fucking Ava?”

  He sighed. “Me and Ava got close around New Year’s. You were in Paris with Adiva. I ran into her at Born and Jada’s engagement party.”

  Olivia hated even the idea of Zion with another woman. Any other woman. But knowing that it was a so-called friend of hers made it far worse. “You in love?” she asked through clenched teeth.

  Zion stared back at her. He wasn’t sure how to answer that. But, having love for Olivia the way that he did, he decided to tell her the truth. Even if it hurt.

  He took a deep breath, and sat back in his seat. Fuck it, he thought. He had nothing to lose. If Olivia wilded out, she would be escorted out by the mean-mugging COs that dotted the room.

  “I’ll tell you what I love and what I don’t love. I love feeling like a lady wants to be around me. Like getting a text or a phone call from me lights up her whole day. I like being able to call her and even if she’s busy, she makes time to talk to me for a minute. I like being spoken to like a man.”

  “I don’t speak to you like a man?” Olivia challenged.

  “You speak to me like you’re a man,” Zion corrected. “And that’s one of the things I don’t like.”

  “So Ava addressees you with ‘yes, sir’ and ‘no, sir’?” Olivia asked, sarcastically.

  “No, but she’s not cussing at me constantly, stirring up problems. I don’t like arguing all the time, Olivia. I’ve been telling you that for years. I don’t like being yelled at like a little kid and being embarrassed out in the street.”

  “What did we argue about?” She waited for him to answer, but he did not. “This!” she exclaimed, gesturing at their surroundings. “I kept warning you that this would happen.”

  He didn’t reply. Instead, he watched her growing angrier by the second.

  “You don’t like me having a successful career, either,” she said, leaning forward as if to ensure that he words were effectively hurled across the table.

  Zion shook his head. “That’s a lie.”

  “All I was trying to do was build us an empire so that you could stop hustling. And now look what happened.”

  Zion didn’t argue. After all, he knew that she had been waiting to say that to him—I told you so.

  “Everything is messed up now, Zion. They’re really trying to put you away this time.”

  “I know.”

  “And you had Adiva with you.” Olivia shook her head. Her eyes welled with tears. The thought of her daughter crying and afraid while her father was arrested just broke her heart.

  Zion felt her pain. He squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head in shame. He lowered his head and stared down at his hands on the table for several moments. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I swear I’m sorry.”

  She looked away, watched a couple at the next table playing with their little boy.

  Zion reached across the table and touched her hand. “Nah, listen to me.” Only when Olivia turned back to face him did he continue. “Olivia, I’m sorry. I should have listened to you. You’re right.” He threw up his hands, conceding defeat. “But the game is all I’ve ever known. Think about that.” Zion tapped the side of his head for emphasis. His facial expression implored her to feel his pain “It’s all that I’ve ever known. I was a kid when I found myself on my own. No parents, no family whatsoever. Group homes, foster homes, juvenile detention. All that shit did was prepare me for this right here.”

  Olivia was disgusted at what she was hearing. “So why feed into it then? If you know that … if you know that’s what the system is designed for, why would you keep playing with fire?”

  He laughed a little because he knew it didn’t make sense, but he couldn’t help it. “’Cause the thought of doing something regular scares me to death.” He shuddered at the thought. “Get up every day and go … do what? What could I do, Olivia? What am I cut out to do?”

  “I have a business, Zion. You could’ve helped me run it.”

  “That’s your business,” he clarified. “How do I look working in fashion?”

  “Lamin has a production company. He’s been begging you for years to get on board with it.” Olivia wasn’t going to let him off the hook. “You could have talked to Born and worked with him and DJ. You could’ve started your own business, Zion. It’s not like you would be the first person to ever go legit. Lots of people we know have done exactly that. You’re just so damn stubborn!”

  Zion waved his hand. “Come on,” he said, as if none of the prospects she had listed were realistic.

  “There’s no excuse,” Olivia insisted. “You hustled because that’s what you wanted to do. What I wanted didn’t matter. And Adiva got caught up in your bullshit. And now what? What’s the plan now, Zion? Huh?”

  He shook his head. When he spoke, he sounded weary. “Maury has to get me out of here,” he said. “For now, they’re holding me without bail. But once we go to trial, he has to win. It’s just that simple.” He cracked his knuckles. “Maury has money for you and Adiva put away for times like this. So if you need anything, if money runs low, go to him.”

  Olivia wished she was the soft and gentle type. If she was, she’d tell Zion that no amount of money could ever make up for his absence in their lives. But being as hard and tough as she was, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. She stared at him, thinking of all that had brought them here to this moment in time. She remembered seeing Zion for the first time and falling in love instantly. The two of them had been quite a pair. They were fiery together, electric. They had each other’s back. Together they had built a family. And it had all come falling down with his arrest and his betrayal of her love for him.

  Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve known Ava for years. Years! Her and her sister. So it wasn’t bad enough for you to cheat on me with just any old ho. Of all the women you come into contact with on a day-to-day basis, you had to pick my friend?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, sincerely. “It wasn’t planned. It just happened.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “It’s not bullshit!” Zion licked his lips and frowned slightly. “Olivia, I moved out last year during the holidays. It’s been more than six months that me and you have been living apart. We don’t live together. We don’t sleep together. Okay, so we never officially broke up. But don’t make it sound like I’ve been cheating on you. Cuz that’s not the truth.”

  He was right, but Olivia ignored him. “You had her around my daughter.”

  Zion had no defense. Olivia stared at him hard and unrelenting. At the risk of getting her mad again, he kept it real. “It’s not like she never met Ava before. Adiva and Mercedes are friends. Sunny, Jada, Ava—they were all in the same little circle.”

  “With me.” Olivia wanted to punch him in his face.

  Zion looked away.

  “How would you feel if I went and fucked one of your boys? Maybe somebody you’re not that close with. Somebody like … I don’t know, Frankie?”

  Zion felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. The very thought of that caused bile to rise up in his throat. He glared at her. “Where did that name come from?”

  Olivia fanned her hand at him, dismissively. “Don’t try to twist this around. The point is, how would you feel, Zion?”

  He had to admit that she was right. He understood how she must feel. “If that happened, there’s no telling what I would do.”

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why?”

  “Why would there be no telling what you would do?”

  He took a deep breath. “Because I care about you, Olivia. We’ve been together for years. Through all kinds of ups and downs. You know I’m always gonna love you.”

  Olivia’s heart broke. It sounded like this was leading up to good-bye. Even though she had known for months, maybe even years, that their relationship had run its course, she couldn’t believe that this was really it. That they were going th
eir separate ways for good, and that Zion might actually find happiness in the arms of someone else. That is, if he didn’t go to jail for the rest of his life instead.

  “I hate imagining you with some other dude,” he said, honestly. “For real. I guess that’s a double standard or whatever, but it’s how I feel.” He wiped his face with his hand. “The problem has never been about me not loving you or nothing like that. You’re still sexy, still got that hustler’s spirit that I love. I guess I just stopped liking you over the years.”

  “Fuck you, Zion.”

  He shrugged. “Okay. Fuck me, then. But that’s how I feel. You got too much mouth.” He opened and shut his hand rapidly in a quacking motion, demonstratively. “You stopped having my back, and I can understand that you grew up and didn’t want me hustling no more. Fine. I can handle that. But sometimes it’s not about what you say, it’s how you say it. And instead of hearing you say, ‘I love you. I’m scared. Maybe it’s time to step out the game,’ you came at me crazy. Snapping at me like I’m your son instead of your man. Starting fights with me in front of your family. And it turned me off.” Again, he shrugged. “I probably shouldn’t have got caught up with Ava. I understand why that pisses you off. But it wasn’t planned. She just came around at the right time.”

  “Okay,” Olivia said. She had heard enough. “Fine. So you go your way, and I’ll go mine.” She wished it was as easy as she made it sound. “You think Ava’s gonna go the distance with you? Miss Corporate Attorney? You believe she’s cut out for this life you got her thrown into? She’s not built like us. She’s from Brooklyn. She got Jada as her sister. But, she’s not Jada. So I hope you know that you’re stuck with that.” Olivia wiped her hands together. “It’s a wrap for us. Even if she lets you down. Don’t come running back to me, Zion.”

  He knew her well enough to tell that she wanted to cry, but was fighting it with all she had. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her that he was sorry. But he knew she wasn’t that type of chick. Olivia was too tough for her own good sometimes. “I deserve that,” he said honestly. “I let you down. Not just with Ava. But this, too.” He spread his arms and looked around at his abysmal surroundings. “You tried to tell me that it was time to move on. I just was too stubborn to listen.”