Scandals

by Sasha Campbell

  “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” Marty said as he pulled off his clothes. I looked down at his dick standing straight up and found myself comparing it to Trey’s. Marty’s looked like a hot dog that had been left in the microwave too long.

  “I plan to make it worth your wait,” I replied and forced a smile that I wasn’t feeling. The sooner I got this shit over with, the better.

  A stack of crisp twenties was already on the side table. Eagerly Marty leaped his skinny behind in the bed and rolled onto his back. What the hell? Some men were so pathetic.

  I made a show of peeling off my clothes, and under his lustful stares I felt so violated. Why in hell was I doing this when I really didn’t want to? I knew why: because I had never allowed a relationship with a man to stand in the way of me and my money no matter how much I was feelin’ him.

  I straddled his waist, slid on a condom, and rode Marty. He was moaning and panting like a wild animal until he finally cried out my name. It felt like forever, but one look at the clock confirmed that it had taken less than ten minutes. I usually lingered and worked to double my money, but not this time. I climbed off, went into the bathroom, and showered.

  “Where you going?” he asked when I stepped back into the room.

  “I gotta go.” I couldn’t even look him in the face. Just the thought disgusted me because I was disgusted with myself.

  “But you always stay at least an hour,” he pouted, then had the nerve to slide off the bed and walk over to me.

  I quickly moved out of his way and reached for my clothes. “Not today. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

  “But I paid for an hour.”

  I gave him an evil look. “No ... you paid for a nut. You got it. Now I’m gone.”

  He stood there speechless as I got dressed, and by the time I had put on my shoes, I knew this was going to be the last time I ever slept with a man for money. It didn’t matter to me anymore. I had found something—correction—someone who’d brought meaning to my pathetic life, and guess what? I wanted him back.

  “Consider this your lucky day. For once you’ll leave here with money still in your wallet.” Because any other time I would have taken him for everything he had.

  I was in love. Can you believe that shit? I swore I would never feel that way about a man again, yet I did, and now I had to make things right between us.

  I snatched the money off the nightstand and made my way out into the parking lot, and as soon as I reached my car, Halo pulled up beside me.

  “Yo, what the fuck you doin’ here?” he barked at me, then sniffed the air like he caught a whiff of another’s dude dick lingering around me.

  I had to come up with a lie quick. “Hollering at a friend in housekeeping, why?”

  “What friend? You know all I gotta do is go to the front desk and ask which room you was in.” He gave me this look like he was daring me to lie. You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to catch my ass in action.

  I shrugged. “Go ask and they’ll tell you none.” Hell, I wasn’t stupid. I never put a room in my own name. “Why you following me anyway?”

  “Just keeping track of what’s mine.”

  Let me just say being back with Halo was taking its toll on me. He needed to know my whereabouts every hour on the hour and was constantly popping up on me. I was starting to think he had planted a tracking device that I had yet to find. “I’m not yours.”

  “See ... why you even have to go there? I thought we were letting it do what it do?”

  “Yes, but on my terms. Your way doesn’t work for me, remember? And if you keep following my ass we’re never gonna get back together.” My head and neck were twisting with straight attitude. I wasn’t about to be on no short leash.

  “A’ight. But you know a nigga like me ain’t tryna rent or lease it, I’m tryna own it. You feel me? I don’t have a problem doing things on yo terms, but if I find out you’re fuckin’ around on me, I’ll kill you,” he said with a grin that said he meant what he said, then peeled out of the lot with Lil Wayne bumping from his stereo.

  My hands were shaking by the time I had put my key in the ignition. This situation was getting so out of hand. But nothing was going to stop me from talking to Trey. I had to try to make him understand.

  I drove over to the Southpark Mall, dipped into Dillard’s, and called a cab. While I waited, I bought a large T-shirt and a new pair of shades, then pulled my hair back into a ponytail. It was a damn shame the changes I had to go through to dodge Halo, but I had to talk to Trey and there was no way I could get within twenty feet of him with Halo sniffing behind me.

  I had the driver meet me over near the food court. I jumped into the back, slid down low in the seat, and gave him directions to the restaurant. The dinner hour was getting started, so this was as good a time as any to talk to Trey before he would be too busy for me to get even five minutes of his time. And with what I needed to say, I didn’t need any distractions.

  “Ma’am, that’ll be twenty-two fifty.”

  I noticed the driver gazing at me all hungry and shit through the rearview mirror. Whatever. I tossed three ten-dollar bills in the front seat and hopped out of the cab and into the restaurant. As soon as I stepped through the door I could smell Ms. Ethel’s sour cream pound cake.

  “Chile, come on over here!” she cried the second she spotted me coming through the door. I slipped off the designer frames, grinned, and moved toward the register. “I almost didn’t recognize you. Where you been hiding?”

  I really liked his mother. She was a short, round woman with long dark hair and the biggest smile. She kinda reminded me of Loretta Devine with a little voice packed with power.

  “Hi, Ms. Ethel, I’ve been busy.” Since that mess with Halo, Trey and I had been avoiding each other as much as possible. With Kyle being at day care all day, it made that easy because one of us dropped him off and the other would pick him up. The weekends, he just stayed at Trey’s.

  “Go on back and help yourself to some food. I just turned off a pot of black-eyed peas.”

  I didn’t have much of an appetite. I was too nervous. “That sounds delicious. Uh ... is Trey around?”

  She nodded. “Yes, he’s in his office.”

  I turned and walked away before I lost the nerve. I waved at everyone in the kitchen, then moved down the hall, knocked, and without waiting for a response, I stepped into his office. Trey was sitting behind his desk in a shirt and tie, looking so delicious. I missed him being in my life.

  “What do you want?” he said the second he spotted me coming through the door.

  “Just hear me out,” I begged. Seeing the anger in his eyes made me want to just say fuck it and move on. But I refused to react like I typically would, especially since that man made me feel something I had yet to discover with any other. “Trey, listen. . . I’m really sorry about how things went down.”

  “Is that all you came in here to say?” He glared at me like I had a lot of nerve showing up at his job, giving him some lame-ass apology. I’ll give him that. I deserved it.

  I stepped boldly into the room. “No ... I also came to explain.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, this I gotta hear because I still haven’t been able to figure that one out.” Leaning back in his chair, he folded his arms, across his chest and gave me a hard look that said he didn’t have all day. I stepped farther into his office, expecting him to stop me at any time, and was glad when he didn’t. “How about I get this conversation moving ... are you and that muthafucka back together or what?”

  From the tone of his voice, it was obvious he was still hurt about it. I looked down at the black mules on my feet, trying to figure out how to answer that question. “No.”

  “Okay, if you’re not together, then why were you with him? Because the way that dude was grinning, there’s a lot more going on than you’re admitting.”

  I moved closer to his desk and tried to make eye contact with him, but it’s hard when someone avoids looking at you.
“I think he’s the reason Deena’s in jail.”

  Hazel eyes snapped in my direction. “What?” I finally had his attention.

  “The dude she was kicking it with worked for Halo.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Trey, I lived with Halo for two years. Trust me. I would know.” He didn’t look too happy at my answer. “Anyway, Dee told me Halo thought Mannie was skimming his product, and knowing Halo the way that I do, if he really believed that, then he woulda had him smoked.”

  I stared at Trey waiting for him to say something. He was quiet, thinking about what I said before he shook his head with disbelief. “How you know he ain’t just talk? I’m mean ... I’ve threatened to kill someone before, but that didn’t mean I was serious.”

  “You don’t know Halo like I do. He doesn’t just say something unless he means it,” I tried to explain. I had enough bruises upside my head to prove Halo didn’t play. “I remember this one dude used to work for him, right, and he wasn’t nothing but a dime-store hustler, but it didn’t matter to Halo what level you were at. Anyway, dude came up short with his money. One minute he was hopping in the car with Halo, and an hour later he was found in a Dumpster a few blocks away, dead. Nobody had to tell me Halo killed him because I already knew the answer to that.”

  “So what you’re saying, you think he killed dude and framed Dee?” he said with this incredulous look on his face.

  “I don’t think ... I know. I just need to prove it.”

  “And how the hell you gonna do that?”

  I took his chin in my hand and lifted it so he could see my eyes. I wanted to make sure he knew I was sincere and not spitting game. “Trey, the only reason I went out with Halo was because I know the only way I can help Dee is to find out what really happened that night.”

  “So fucking that nigga is the answer.” It wasn’t a question because being a man, he already knew the answer. That was a cheap blow and he knew it, but I didn’t even try to deny it. Trey started cussing, then pushed my hand away and sprang from his chair. “Dammit, did our relationship mean anything to you?”

  “Oh course it did ... does. I miss being with you.” Probably more than I even realized until I walked in and saw the hurt in his eyes. “Please understand ... I gotta help Dee.”

  He shrugged. “I want to help her too, but I’m not about to be fucking around for the answer.”

  “That’s not fair!”

  “No, what’s not fair is making me think we had something that we really didn’t. I’m crazy about you and I respected you for keeping it real with me, but playing me with that nigga, that shit was foul.”

  “I know and I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you what I was tryna to do, but I didn’t know how.” I was practically pleading with him to understand, and begging was just not something Robin Douglas did, but for Trey I was willing to make an exception to the rules.

  “Secrets are a muthafucka. You being wit that nigga, I just can’t stomach that shit.” He stared pacing around his office. I didn’t come here to piss him off, but it seemed that was exactly what I had done.

  “So where does that leave us?” I asked, waiting for him to say something or to give me some kind of sign we still had a chance.

  There was silence for a good thirty seconds before he finally shook his head and replied, “I don’t know. You tell me. You still wit him or what?”

  “I told you ... I’m trying to find out what happened that night.” Was he not listening?

  “So in other words, you plan to keep fucking the nigga until you get some answers?” By his tone he was clearly annoyed. Why was it men always have to be so damn territorial?

  “Please, Trey ... try to understand I’m doin’ it to make everything right in my life. I finally got my sister back and I want a chance for us to try and fix our relationship. I also don’t want to see Kyle go through what we went through. Growing up without my mama was hard.”

  “I understand all that and I’m willing to do whatever it takes, but if you want to be with me, you need to leave dude alone.”

  “I can’t do that. At least not yet.” I saw the frown on his face. “Damn, Trey, don’t make me choose between you and my sister.”

  “I’m not ... you are.” He sat back down at his desk and reached for a pen, putting an end to the conversation. “Go ahead and handle yo business.”

  I headed to the door feeling worse than I had before I arrived. Before I exited the room, I heard him call after me. “Yo ... Robin?”

  I swung around and met his eyes.

  “Be careful.”

  All I could do was nod and walk out the door.

  40

  Monica

  “What are you doing at my house?” Although he was whispering, his voice was cold and serious.

  “Why the hell you think!” I retorted. “How dare you tell Anthony? We had a deal.”

  Nervously Greg closed the front door and stepped out onto the wide front porch. “Please lower your voice before my wife hears you.”

  I didn’t give a fuck about his wife. “We had a deal!”

  “I didn’t say anything, Monica. I swear,” he pleaded. His eyes kept darting over his shoulder. I didn’t give a fuck who heard us. I had tried to do everything I could to keep Anthony from finding out I was stripping. I was too close to graduating for some fool to ruin everything.

  “I don’t believe you!” My finger was in his face, stabbing at his chest.

  “Please, I swear on my mother’s grave I didn’t tell Anthony a thing.”

  Something in his eyes said he might be telling the truth, but a man could lie through his teeth and I’d never know.

  “Here, take some money ... just go!” he said, then reached inside his wallet and pulled out everything he had. He was handing me almost $200 when the door swung open.

  “What is going on out here?” I glanced up at the woman with long brown hair and blue eyes who was standing at the door, a hand at her hip. She looked from her husband to me, then down at the money in his hands. “What’s going on?”

  He hesitated. “Nothing, my sweet.”

  “Nothing.” She put a hand on his arm, drawing his attention. “It sure doesn’t look like nothing. Why are you giving this woman money?”

  I folded my arms defiantly against my chest, waiting to see what lie he’d come up with. He’d ruined my life, so I was going to ruin his.

  “Listen, Monica ...” he said and dragged a frustrated hand across his face. “I haven’t been at the firm in two weeks! You wanna know why? My youngest daughter has just been diagnosed with leukemia.”

  “Leukemia?” I felt my face crack.

  “My wife and I have been at the hospital with her waiting for them to find a bone marrow donor. So the last thing I’m worrying about is Anthony finding out his ex-wife’s a stripper.”

  I heard his wife gasp. “Stripper? How the hell do you know she’s a stripper?” She pivoted on her heel with a hand still planted at her hip. She expected an answer right away and was pissed when she didn’t get it. “Oh, okay ... I get it now. You’ve been hanging out at the strip clubs again, and she’s here for payment.”

  He didn’t even bother to deny it.

  “You bastard! Pack your shit and get out of my house!” she snapped, then stormed into the house, leaving him standing there.

  “I’m so sorry.” And I meant it.

  Greg stared at me silently for a few seconds before he replied in a chilly voice, “It’s too late for sorries. You’re gonna to regret coming to my house. I swear to you ... if you ruined my marriage, I’ll ... I’ll kill you.” He then walked back into the house, slamming the door in my face.

  I left his house feeling that maybe I had made a mistake. I rode around for a while crying and feeling sorry for myself until I thought about one other person who might have wanted revenge. I pulled into the parking lot, then took the elevator up to the seventh floor and stormed down the hall and past his secretary.

  “Wait, he has s
omeone in his office!”

  Ignoring her protests, I pushed the door open and stepped into the office. Everyone at the table looked up.

  “Did you do it?” I demanded, looking him dead in the eyes.

  Tremayne rose from the small conference table. “Monica,” he said and had the nerve to look surprised to see me.

  “I need to know if you told Anthony.” I looked around and everyone at the table was staring up at me.

  Instead of answering me, he turned to the other three sitting at the table across from him. “Will you excuse me?”

  I put a hand to my hips and waited as he walked them to the door and closed it behind them before he turned around and faced me.

  “I asked you a question,” I snapped, growing angrier by the second. “Did you tell Anthony what I did for a living?”

  “I can’t believe you would even ask me that question.”

  Why not? He was a man. “After lying to you, I could see you trying to get back at me by telling him,” I said, folding my arms and staring angrily over at him.

  “I’m sorry you think so little of me.”

  “Just answer the question, dammit!” I ordered. I felt like I was about to lose my mind. Someone had told Anthony, and I was going to ask anyone who had reason to get back at me.

  “No ... no Monica, I did not,” he finally replied, and I didn’t miss the look of disappointment on his face. The second the words came out of his mouth I believed him.

  I unfolded my arms and felt ashamed for even accusing him. But if he didn’t do it, then who did?

  I started crying because I didn’t know where to go. I no longer had my best friend’s shoulder to cry on I had even texted Reyna to see if she knew anything about Anthony finding out and she said of course not, but she was there if I wanted to talk. I just couldn’t bring myself to talk to her on the phone, let alone see her again. My life was a mess. What in the word was I thinking, working at a strip club? I couldn’t hold on to my emotions and I started bawling right there in the middle of his office. Tremayne came over and put a soothing arm around me, but when he held me it was nothing like the way he used to hold me in the past. “Why don’t you have a seat and tell me what happened.”