by B. M. Hardin
The next few days I stayed close to home to get Devon off of my back. I had finally broken down and changed my number to keep the stalker woman from calling so business seemed to be a little slower than usual.
So with more than enough time on my hands, I decided it was time to get Devon occupied with something other than me. Maybe then he would back off a little. Since Devon was previously in the world of trying to hustle, he had no high school diploma, no real job experience, so what else does that leave?
Start him his own business.
He had mentioned previously that he was very good with his hands. He had said that he had always wanted to either have his own car shop or towing business, so I decided to make his dreams a reality. I had done all of the foot work, paperwork, legal work and networking for his own towing business.
Devon’s Towing.
He had a custom painted and high quality tow truck, he had contracts with major car companies for repo jobs and I was working on getting his contract finalized as an additional service for AAA. I had forged his signature on a few of the legal documents but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. I wanted the business to be 100% his. I had pulled all the strings that I could to make this mission successful and I really hoped that Devon appreciated it.
He smiled when he walked in to find me waiting for him with candles, music and dinner. It was roughly seven o’clock in the evening but the end of August sun was still gracing the earth with a awkwardly bright light.
“You cooked? Okay, something must be wrong,” Devon joked.
“Now, you know I didn’t…I just put it all on this nice dinnerware for you. You still feel special,” I laughed.
Devon took his seat. He immediately began to eat. My guess was that he had been so caught up helping his uncle out at the car shop that hadn’t bother to eat. He loved cars. I was starting to think that maybe his own mechanic shop might have been a better idea. But I didn’t know what skills or education was associated with it so I had decided against it.
“Devon, I have a surprise for you,” I said, removing a big white envelope from under my seat and reaching it in his direction. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and proceeded to open his package. After reading a while he looked at me and smile.
“What? You didn’t do dis’ shit fo’ real did you??” he asked. I smiled and nodded my head yes. He reached back inside the envelope and retrieved the noisy set of keys from the bottom. I stood up and took him by the hand and led him to the front window. I was sure that he had passed his tow truck on the way in that was parked across the street, and failed to notice that it said his name o the side of it.
“Oh Shit!” he yelled at the sight of the black and gold tow truck. I watched the amazement and appreciation spread across his face.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said in a low voice.
“Just say thank you,” I said and I grabbed his hand.
~~~
I found myself thinking about Devon in a whole new way. Maybe it’s seeing him actually taking the towing business serious, somewhat made him all the more appealing. Whatever the case was, I was thinking about maybe doing away with the whole dirty bonds thing. I figured maybe I should have an open and honest conversation with Devon about my wants and needs and see what happened from there.
I headed out to find something sexy to perform in for Devon later on that night. I spent all day in the mall, shopping, for me, and for him. I had come to the conclusion.
I was going to continue Lucky You bail bonds; but I would do it the right way. Though the guy, Eric that was currently under contract wasn’t married or even in a relationship, once his was up…I was done.
Feeling excited, and accomplished, I headed to the parking lot. I put on my shades and walked briskly to my car. After putting my bags in my trunk, something told me that something just wasn’t right. Looking down, I saw the rim of one of my tires on the pavement. Walking around my precious Bentley, I found that all four of my tires were flat.
What the fuck?
Furious, I sat got in the car and slammed the door! This stalker bitch, whoever she was, was starting to piss me off! Whoever her man was, I wasn’t fucking him now so why wouldn’t she just leave me the hell alone! Hell…after all, I had given him back! This only proved that she was following me, which meant she probably knew where I lived too. Which also meant it was time for me to invest in some protection; or at least keep a little something for her ass in my purse.
I threw my Louis Vuitton shades against my dashboard and retrieved my phone from my purse. Thankfully, I had Devon. He could come and get me with his tow truck. I called his phone but to my surprise he didn’t answer. He always answered. I tried again, nothing, so I left a voicemail and hung up to send him a text message. I waited impatiently for his response and when it didn’t come I called again. Just after calling him for about the tenth time, something in the distance caught my eye; it was Devon’s tow truck. And you wanna know what else? Devon and some chick were standing in front of it, blabbering away. From the distance she didn’t look familiar. I had never seen her before. I didn’t know if she was family or not since I had never met any of his relatives. Even that night at the romantic picnic, his grandparents never showed their faces.
From what I could see, she was fairly short, brown skinned and her weave hung long down to the middle of her back. I couldn’t see many of her facial features but as far as I could see, that bitch didn’t have a thing on me. From the looks of it and the way she threw her head back with laughter, they didn’t appear to be having any kind of disagreement. There wasn’t a car on the back of his truck, so he wasn’t helping her out or towing her car.
What in the hell was going on?
I called his phone again and watched him look at it in his hand, and then place it in his pocket. Jealously and as upset as a lion trapped inside of a cage, I called him over and over again. Just as I had made up my mind to approach him, he hugged her, and they went their separate ways. A minute later once he had driven in the opposite direction, my phone began to ring.
“What’s up,” he asked.
At first I sat quietly. I was struggling to calm down. I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to say.
“I need you to come and get me. Someone flattened all four of my tires,” I said slowly.
“What da’ fuck you mean huh? Who would flatten your tires and why Trina?” he asked as if he truly gave a damn. But I wasn’t buying it.
“I have no idea. Come and get me. Where are you?” I questioned him, though I already knew the answer.
“I was on my way to do a call but I’ll come get you first. Where are you?”
“At the mall,” I said chillingly.
He was silent for only a brief moment.
“I’m on my way,” he said.
So explain to me why it took him all of thirty minutes to come back to the same damn mall that he had just left!
Seriously?
Let’s just say he sure as hell didn’t get to see me wear that sexy lingerie. I never even spoke a word of what I saw and I never even had the little conversation about us with him. Whoever she was, he could have her. And I was going to continue to allow my clients to have me.
Chapter Eight
Things between Devon and I had been somewhat strange. He acted normal, as if the day at the mall had never happened. As if he had nothing at all to hide but yet he never bothered to mention it either. I had asked him to show me a picture of his ex-wife. I was starting to think that it was in fact her that was giving me such a hard time. But his wife wasn’t the woman that I saw talking to him at the mall that day. Hell, she wasn’t even fully black, which he had never mentioned. She was mixed; black and white. She of course was really light skinned and very pretty in her own way.
So who was she then?
I had even asked him if he was seeing someone else. It was funny how the tables had turned. Now I was questioning him. But of course, he stated that there was no one else
but me and that he owed me his life from everything I had down for him and how I had turned it around. But I didn’t believe him. I had been staying out late and sometimes not even coming home at all. I had been screwing the brains out of my new client, Eric, and I didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He was nowhere near as good as Devon, but that was besides the point. I hadn’t even mentioned or initiated sex with Devon in two weeks and I was determined not to give in to him until he came clean about whatever it was that he was hiding. He wasn’t going to play me, and that’s for damn sure.
“Hey,” Devon said, stepping out of the shower.
I had to force myself to turn away. No matter how good he looked and no matter how much I wanted it…he wasn’t getting it.
Knowing Devon, he wouldn’t initiate anything anyway, so I was in the clear as long as I could keep my hormones under control.
“Hey,” I said bluntly and pretended to barely notice him standing behind me. He moved closer and closer to me.
“Move,” I said. And proceeded to walk away but he grabbed the back of my shirt. Lord knows I wanted him. But it was no longer about what I wanted. He had started a war and didn’t even know it.
“No, I don’t want to,” I said again. Devon remained silent.
I had yet to turn to face him but I could tell that he was staring a hole in my ass.
“If you ain’t fuckin’ me, you must be fuckin’ somebody,” he said harshly.
My head spun around so fast that you would have thought I was a part of an exorcism.
“Me? I know you are not accusing me…what about you?” I said and folded my arms.
“Da’ fuck you talkin’ bout? It is you. I ain’t fuckin’ nobody but you,” Devon screamed.
It was funny how clearly I understood his form of speaking these days.
“Devon whatever! I saw you. At the mall that day. I saw you talking to her,” I blurted out.
“Who?” he said as if he was confused.
“Whoever she was. I saw you,” I said as if I had won the war.
Devon didn’t say anything for awhile. I assumed he was trying to come up with a convincing explanation but personally I didn’t want to hear it. Yes, I did my dirt…but he couldn’t and would never catch me.
“The only one fuckin’ around in this room is you. To be honest, I used to fuck her. That’s used to; now, we’re just really good friends. Before you come at me wit’ some shit, make sure you know what da’ fuck you talkin’ ‘bout first,” Devon said. I heard his phone begin to ring once he placed it on speaker.
“Diamond, ay’, I forgot to thank you for bringing me the stuff to the mall that day. Tell yo’ boy good lookin’ out,” Devon said keeping his eyes on me the entire time.
“No, problem, you know he got the hook up. So, did she like it?” she asked.
“She hasn’t seen it. But I changed my mind,” Devon said walking over to the dresser to retrieve a ring box. He opened it and then threw the ring in the trashcan beside the bedroom door.
~~~
Today seemed to go by pretty slow. Devon and I were barely speaking. We were walking around the house like strangers. Not because I wanted to…but because he did. I felt bad for being kind of wrong about the woman at the mall. Hell, they were being a little too close for comfort but he had seen her on the account of me. I couldn’t believe that he was going to propose. I guessed he was as serious about us that I thought he was. I’m still not sure what I would have said. He had become a better man; I had made him a better man. And I was considering simply settling down with him. He seemed to genuinely care for me and I had come to accept it. But I was sure that things were no longer the same. Of course he wasn’t touching me; he was barely even speaking to me. He seemed to be waiting for a confession that he would never get from me. I would surely loose him if I told him about Eric or any of the others in the past for that matter. And now being honest with myself, I didn’t want him to go. Devon was sure that there was someone else but he never presented any proof and until he did…deny deny…deny, was just what I was going to do.
To be honest, it seemed as if he didn’t even want me anymore. As if he didn’t want to be in the house, but didn’t want to make a decision that he wasn’t quite prepared for.
I didn’t know exactly what to do, so I did nothing.
I decided to pay a visit to Resse and my nephew Jonah. It had been quite some time since the death of the Judge’s wife and she and the Judge were now openly seeing each other. Someone else was portraying to be the father of her child…at least for the next year or so. They had paid him an enormous amount to play Jonah’s fake daddy, just to ensure that their asses were covered. In the next year or so, they planned to marry and live happily ever after.
I no longer had an opinion on the situation so I tried my best to stay out of it.
“Hi Auntie’s baby,” I said to Jonah. He was getting so big, too fast. He looked so much like my sister that it was sad; but I guess that was kind of a good thing considering the situation.
“Did Shanay call you?” Reese said. Our relationship for the most part was back to normal. Basically we all pretended as if nothing had happened. It was better that way.
“No---,” I said and just as I did, my phone began to ring.
“Hey!” she screamed in my ear.
“Hey, what---“
“I’m getting married!” she screamed. “I called to tell you the other day but your phone kept going to voicemail. I know you aren’t married anymore, but of course I want you to still be the matron, and Reese will be the maid of honor,” she said.
My baby sister was getting married….I truly didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t say that I was happy for her because the bum she dated didn’t deserve her. I never asked about him, or mentioned him, so of course I wasn’t too fond of him. Boris was as lame as them came. Shanay and he had been dating off and on since they were kids. You never knew if they were together or not. One week they were together; they next week they were both seeing other people. He was what you called a lazy ass nigga. He couldn’t keep a job to save his life…and he had had two kids in between their break ups---so he said. And my sister defended him, but Reese and I both knew the truth. Long story short, he was good for nothing. The bible said a man that doesn’t work; don’t eat, so he should definitely be along the lines of starving. But of course, Shanay wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Congratulations,” was all I managed to say.
At this point it was her life. I had my own problems.
~~~
My phone was ringing non-stop. It was 3 o’clock in the morning. I was tired as hell, but duty calls.
“Lucky You Bail Bonds,” I said in a sleepy voice. I looked over at Devon who was now wide awake and looking right at me.
“I’m looking for Trina,” the voice said.
“This is she,” I answered.
“Hi, I’m Kareem, I got your number off of a list here in the jail with available bondsmen…and women. I was arrested earlier tonight for a DWI and assaulting a police officer, and I’m looking to post bail. This is my first time in trouble and money isn’t an issue. Can you help me?”
Entering the jail house, I had had Kareem contact a family member to get me a few things that I needed. I almost attempted to leave my dirty bonds contract at home, but I brought it just in case. I had no real plans to use it…and that’s the truth but when I saw him, I just had to have him.
He wasn’t a thug at all, which should have turned me off, but he had my future husband, written all over him.
His black and red tie was hung loosely around his neck. His white button up shirt had the first three buttons undone, showing his wife beater and traces of tattoos on his chest. His black Stacy Adam’s dress pants were cuffed neatly over his black and red gators. His suit jacket was on his lap. He was a light, almond brown with an unexpectedly good grade of hair. His jet black curls were neat and led the way to his neatly groomed facial hair. He was stocky, definitely must hav
e played football back in the day and his eyes were a surprising mixture of green and hazel brown.
Yummy.
“Kareem Fairview, hey I’m Trina Thomas---I meant Trina Jackson,” I said. I had no idea why I had just used my ex-husband’s last name---hell I was trying to make him my new husband.
He was quiet at first, a little timid than most.
“Hey, hey---Trina, thanks for coming through for me,” he said.
I even loved the way he talked. I was mesmerized; hypnotized. I must have been quiet for a minute too long so he spoke again.
“I don’t really know how this works. When do I pay you? I didn’t know that it was this simple,” he said.
I was debating whether I wanted to present him with the contract or not. Of course I had paid the bail and since he was new to this, I was sure he would find my connections helpful to help with the DWI and assaulting a police officer, so I was sure he would agree. But if I went that route, I just may miss out on my chances to make him something more.
What was a girl to do?
I decided that I would simply take my chances. I just had to have him. Hell, when all else fails and at the end of the day…I still had Devon; for right now anyway.
“I actually posted the bail for you. I paid for everything. Things are looking a little bad for you on the charge though. Apparently they take assaulting a police officer a little serious these days. So, you’re looking at maybe community service or maybe a driving class, a fine and maybe more. You look pretty professional, and you may not want that following you around…am I correct?” I asked hopeful.
He leaned back in the chair. He placed the Rolex back on his wrist that was handed back to him by the official along with his other items.
“Right, I don’t need nothing like that on my record,” he said shaking his head.
“I can help. Instead of paying me back, I can guarantee that I can get you off on all of your charges, like it never even happened…under on condition,” I said pulling the papers from my purse. He looked at me confused and reached for the pen and paper. He read for a while and I grew nervous. He cleared his throat a few dozen times, and I was sure that he wasn’t going to go for it. I could tell that the wheels in his head were spinning, and that he was pondering the idea with true evaluation. After what seemed like forever, he placed the paper on the table and signed his name on the dotted line.