Suspicions

by Sasha Campbell

  Whitney just stood there looking from me to Gina. When I was about to repeat the question, she finally sucked her teeth and spoke.

  “Yes, and I’m carrying his baby.”

  35

  Tiffany

  “Make a right at the corner.”

  Candace had scooped me up for lunch and asked where Kimbel worked so she could run by his job and cuss his ass out. I felt guilty as hell for even mentioning the dude had herpes. If I had kept my mouth closed and hadn’t tried to confront him at the strip club, maybe none of this would have happened.

  “Candace, I am so sorry.” And I was. “I had to confront Kimbel about his little issue, but the last thing I wanted was for you to lose your job because of me.”

  “It ain’t your fault,” she said, and I signaled for her to make a left at the next corner. “Hell, I would have done the same thing if I was you. Besides, I think everybody receiving that office-wide e-mail was what really did it.”

  I still couldn’t believe Chauncey was a registered sex offender. He didn’t at all seem the type. But then again, what should one look like?

  We were just pulling up in front of the university’s athletic department when I saw Kimbel coming out of the building. “Candace, look, there he is.”

  She slowed the car to a crawl and waited to see which direction he was heading. Kimbel crossed the street and hopped into a candy apple red BMW.

  “Who’s that?” Candace asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.” But I was ready to find out. “Follow his ass.”

  As soon as the car took off, Candace pulled a few yards behind them. I know it sounds crazy to be stalking this dude, but we were on a mission. Candace had lost her job and her health benefits because of Kimbel, and I was willing to do whatever it took for her to feel vindicated. I tried not to think about who could be driving that car. It had to be a female, considering the car was definitely feminine. It also meant he had found him someone else.

  “I hope it’s not that chick I called over the phone.”

  “I doubt that anyone would be that stupid. I guarantee you it’s someone else.”

  It was lunchtime and they pulled into Applebee’s parking lot. A light-brown woman with long black hair climbed out the car. I ain’t gonna hate; she was gorgeous and she looked at Kimbel like he was her knight in shining armor.

  “Who’s that?” Candace asked. She was starting to sound like a broken record. The last thing I wanted was to think about Kimbel being with another woman.

  “I said I didn’t know.” I didn’t mean to snap, but the fact he felt no remorse, hadn’t tried once to call and beg me to take his ass back hurt. Did I ever mean anything to him? As far as I was concerned, he had no business getting on with his life that quickly because I still hadn’t.

  Candace parked the car and we sat there watching them go inside.

  “You hungry?”

  She was already opening the door. “Yep, you ain’t said nothing but the word.”

  We walked in just at the hostess escorted the happy couple to a table to the far left. Kimbel sat down so that his back was to the door.

  “Welcome, where would you like to sit?” she asked us when she returned to her podium.

  “Over near the window.” I wanted to be close but not too close. I didn’t want Kimbel to know we were there until I was ready for him to know. I slid onto the booth so I wasn’t facing them. “What are they doing?”

  “Girl, she all up in his grill, smiling like he’s the shit.”

  I tried to act like it didn’t matter and reached for my menu and focused on deciding what I was eating for lunch.

  “Ooh! Tiffany! She just got up and went to the bathroom.”

  “It’s showtime,” I mumbled, then finger-combed my hair. While Candace moved over to Kimbel’s table to give him a piece of her mind, I went into the bathroom. Ms. Beauty Queen was at the sink washing her hands. I washed mine and glanced up into the mirror until I made eye contact. “That is a pretty shirt you’re wearing.”

  She smiled down at her breasts. “Thank you. My boyfriend bought it for me.”

  I guess so since he bought me one just like it. “Your boyfriend? You wouldn’t by chance be here with that guy in the black suit?”

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact I am.” She rolled her neck and had the nerve to have attitude.

  I planned on taking it easy on her, but since she wanted to act all nasty about it. “You know Kimbel got herpes, right?”

  Her jaw dropped. ‘What?”

  “Don’t let the smooth taste fool you. He plans to infect everyone he can. So just make sure you use a condom. See ya!” I turned and left her standing there. When I got back to the table, Kimbel and Candace were going at it. The manager was trying to quiet them down.

  “Look, I’m out as soon as my date gets back,” he reassured her, then gave an angry look when he saw me move up beside Candace.

  Smiling, I brought a hand to my waist. “Your date? Isn’t that her peeling out the parking lot?” Sure enough she was burning rubber. “I wonder why?” I then swung around and addressed the customers. “Hey everybody! We got herpes in the house!”

  Candace took my hand and we raced out the restaurant, laughing our asses off.

  36

  Chauncey

  “Dad invited Tommy and I over for dinner Friday night.”

  I looked over at my sister’s smiling face. I wanted so badly to be happy for Linda, but it was hard when my own life had fallen apart.

  Ever since Candace stormed down to the salon and called me a liar and a rapist, I had been trying to do everything that I could to get her to listen to me. But so far nothing seemed to be working. She wouldn’t take my calls and when I appeared on her doorstep two evenings in a row unannounced, she refused to come to the door. I would have stood out there all night if her neighbor across the hall hadn’t threatened to call the police. That was one thing I didn’t need. Tiffany told me Candace had gotten fired from her job. I felt so bad. She reassured me that her boss finding out she was dating a registered sex offender was only a small part of it. Something else had triggered her termination. I wanted to be there to comfort her and listen to what was on her mind. It bothered me that I couldn’t.

  “Good for you. I guess that means Dad’s okay with you dating a white man.”

  She nodded, “I think so. He always said don’t bring no white man to this house; but the other night, Daddy told me after almost losing his son, he doesn’t want to risk losing his daughter as well.”

  “I’m happy for you.” My father and I had been talking off and on, but after losing Candace, I wasn’t in the mood for conversating. I know he was trying to reach out to me and I needed to give the man a chance since it wasn’t completely his fault; but right now having Candace back in my life was more important.

  As soon as I left from having dinner with my sister, I drove over to the salon. It was almost nine, so I knew Tiffany was still there doing hair trying to make that money. Sure enough her car was in the parking lot. I pulled in beside hers and waited for her to come out. I pulled out a cigarette, something I hadn’t done in months, lit it, and smoked three by the time Tiffany came out the building.

  “Hey, Chauncey,” she said, and looked glad to see me.

  “Whassup?”

  “Noelle ain’t here.”

  After that outburst in the salon, Noelle had insisted I take some time off for an undetermined amount of time. “I didn’t come to see her. I came to see you.”

  Tiffany unlocked her car and stuck her purse inside, then moved around and leaned on the hood. “Everybody’s been asking about you.”

  “Noelle, still mad?”

  She shrugged. “You know it’s hard to read her at times. She’ll get over it. One thing I can say about her is she’s fair.”

  That was yet to be seen, but I didn’t say that. “How’s Candace?”

  “Miserable. Mad. Depressed.”

  “I know how she feels.” I took anot
her puff. “Listen . . . I need you to help me out.”

  Tiffany immediately started shaking her head. “I don’t know. She’s pretty mad right now. Maybe you should wait a couple of weeks.” She looked nervous as she spoke.

  “I can’t.” As far as I was concerned, I had waited long enough.

  “Chauncey, she feels betrayed.” She paused and gave me a weird look. “By the way . . . who’s Tameka?”

  A nerve at my jaw twitched. “My worst nightmare apparently. Why you ask that?”

  “Because she’s the one who sent her the e-mail.”

  I knew that scandalous chick was somehow involved. I guess that string-bean chick who worked with Candace had gone back and told Tameka she had seen me at the company picnic.

  I dropped the cigarette bud on the ground and smashed it with my shoe. The entire situation had gotten way outta hand. “Serious, Tiffany, I need your help. All I need is for Candace to just listen to what I got to say.”

  She didn’t look so sure. “You should have been honest.”

  “I know and I regret that I wasn’t, but it’s not at all the way it sounds.” I knew I sounded desperate, but at this point what did I have to lose?

  Tiffany glared at me with her arms crossed. “Okay . . . so make me a believer.”

  I took a deep breath, rocked back on the heels of my fresh white sneakers, and tried to explain. I knew if Tiffany didn’t believe me, then neither would Candace.

  “I didn’t know she was sixteen until after I slept with her. I swear. She told me she was twenty-one and she looked every bit old enough to know better. I didn’t find out the truth until it was too late. By then the police was waiting for me and her father was pressing charges.”

  “What did the chick have to say about that?” Tiffany asked, and I could tell she really wanted to believe I was telling the truth.

  “She was so scared of her father, she cried rape. The rest is history,” I said, and shrugged. My word was all I had left in the world.

  She shook her head. “Damn, Chauncey.”

  “Tell me about it.” Six years later, that night still burned in my head. I could still hear her screaming and crying and pretending I had forced myself on her. Even her friends who had left her alone at the club tried to act like I had kidnapped her. The second I stepped into the courtroom with a public defender, I knew I hadn’t a chance in hell.

  I leaned against the door of her car and told Tiffany everything. It was so easy talking to her. I don’t know why I hadn’t done the same with Candace, especially since we had spent so many evenings talking about everything. She knew about my relationship with my father and that my mother and I hadn’t spoken in years, yet I hadn’t the guts to tell her about being locked up.

  When my phone rang, Tiffany looked at her watch, then slid off the hood. “I better go. I’ll try talking to Candace, but I’ma warn you . . . she isn’t the most forgiving person I know.”

  I pretty much figured that part out. “I appreciate any help I can get.”

  I watched her drive off, then looked down at my phone and frowned. It was time to handle that situation once and for all.

  “It was you, wasn’t it?”

  Tameka answered the door in a skimpy green robe as if she had known I was coming over. “What are you talking about?” she said, and had the nerve to bat her eyes innocently.

  I climbed her stairs and mean-mugged her ass. “Don’t play dumb! Your girl, Gloria . . . you told her about me and she went back and ran her mouth.”

  She tried to fake like she was shocked and even cupped her mouth with her palm. “For real! Yeah, I told Gloria, but I never thought she would go back and say something to your girl.” She was really trying to play the innocent role, but I had something for her ass.

  “Yeah right. You knew exactly what was going to happen. She lost her job because of you.”

  Tameka gave me a silly smirk. “That’s not what I heard.”

  “Oh, so you know more than you want to admit?”

  She shrugged. “Gloria told me what happened. I bet Candace went off on you.” Her eyes were sparkling with laughter.

  “It’s over,” I mumbled.

  “That’s too bad,” she said, then started smiling. “Why don’t you come in so we can talk in private?”

  I shook my head. I just couldn’t figure out what would make this chick think I would still be interested in her. “Tameka, I don’t have shit else to say to you.”

  “Chauncey, I can see that you’re hurting, but I got something for that.” She then loosened the belt on her robe and it gaped open. I stared down at her beautifully toned body in nothing more than a mint green bra and panties. Tameka was an aerobics instructor and had the abs and legs to prove it.

  It took everything I had to turn and look away. “There is nothing you got that I want.”

  “Quit lying to yourself,” she spat with a laugh. “I’m everything you could ever want and more. You might as well face it, with all the bad publicity sex offenders have been getting in the media in the last year, women just don’t want to take the chance of coming up dead and buried in somebody’s backyard. Me, on the other hand . . . I love a challenge,” she purred.

  “Whatever. Look . . . I don’t want you no more. The thought of being with you makes me sick to my stomach. So do me a favor and leave me the hell alone.” I gave her a dismissive wave and turned away.

  “Don’t turn your back on me! I already told you you would regret messing with me. Revenge can be so sweet.” She started laughing hysterically. “When you change your mind, I’ll be waiting.”

  I glared over my shoulder.“Get a life and stay out of mine.”

  Tameka struck a pose in the doorway. That crazy chick didn’t give a damn who saw her half dressed. “Chauncey, I already told you, it ain’t over until I say it’s over.”

  “It’s over.” I was walking toward my car when I noticed the tow truck pulling out her neighbor’s driveway. Right on time. “Yo!” I said and swung around. “Speaking of revenge . . . are you still hiding your Lexus in your neighbor’s garage so the repo man doesn’t find it?”

  She gave me a suspicious look. “Yeah, why?”

  “After that shit you did with my girl, I called Wholesale Connection and told them where they could find it.” I pointed toward the tow truck as it drove past the house with her S300 on back. Tameka had been hiding that vehicle for over eight months. “Revenge can be so sweet.”

  “She’s never taking you back!” she screamed after me.

  For the first time in days, I smiled. “We’ll see about that.”

  37

  Noelle

  I sat behind my desk going over the monthly expenses and couldn’t help but grin. Although the economy was bad, Situations was continuing to make a profit. Not too many independent businesses could say that these days. In no way was I taking my good fortune for granted. I was definitely blessed for someone whose life was a mess.

  “Can I come in?”

  My head snapped up and I had to do a double take. No she didn’t bring her ass in my salon.

  “I don’t have anything else to say to you.” We both knew the only reason why I hadn’t jumped across the desk and snatched them braids out her head was because she was pregnant.

  “Fine, don’t talk, just listen.”

  I cut my eyes at her. Whitney was trying to look scared and confused, but I wasn’t buying that shit for a second. There was nothing naïve about her decisions. She knew what she had been doing and played my ass in the process.

  It had been a week since I found out my best friend seduced my son. The only thing that stopped me from whooping her ass was that baby growing inside her stomach. For twenty years, twenty long years, I had loved Whitney like a sister, and yet she stabbed me in my back.

  Fine, she wanted to talk, then let’s talk. “If you want to tell me anything, then tell me why? How could you seduce your godson?”

  She gave me this solemn expression that made her look more p
athetic than she really was. “It wasn’t like that. If anything, Scott seduced me. He’s been hitting on me for years. It’s just that he finally got to me and I couldn’t resist.”

  “I guess next you’re going to tell me that the two of you fell in love?”

  She paused and I could tell she was trying to choose her words carefully. “I’ve always loved Scott like he was a son. It wasn’t until he started coming on to me that I noticed that he was a man, and a handsome one at that; but even then I was able to resist his advances. But after Landon and I split up and I was hurting, Scott came by to see me and when I told him about it, he comforted me, and one thing led to another and before I realized what was happening, we were seriously involved.”

  I glared across the desk, wanting desperately to claw her eyes out. “You just don’t know how sick that shit sounds. I can do the math, and Scott wasn’t even eighteen yet. You’re nothing more than a pedophile!”

  Grant had called last night and after talking nonstop about his job, I told him about Whitney and Scott. I didn’t at all get the reaction I expected. It’s amazing how if a man sleeps with a teenage girl, it’s rape; but if a teenager sleeps with a grown woman, it symbolizes he’s a man.

  She held up her hands in surrender. “Noelle, I’m sorry that you see me that way, but I didn’t initiate the relationship, he did, and once I was in it, I couldn’t walk away from it.”

  Whitney is a prime example of a woman with low selfesteem. How else could she have allowed herself to be seduced by Scott? I’m clearly aware of my son’s charm with women, but you would think a grown-ass woman with money and looks would be mature and confident enough to know game when it was being fed to her.

  “All Scott did was use you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a fact. I knew how my son thinks. If I didn’t give it to him, then he went and found someone else who would get it for him.

  Whitney nodded in agreement, and if it had been anybody else’s son but mine, I might have felt sorry for her. “You’re right. To him I was an older woman, and after I bought him anything he wanted and made sure he never went without, he got tired of me.”