“You’re gonna think I’m a dog for what I’m about to say, but I want to try and fix things with Ashley. If for no other reason but the kids.”
“You think there’s a chance?”
“I gotta keep telling myself that. Is that crazy?”
“Not at all.”
“You think you can patch things up with Kenny?”
“After that son of a…,” Sabathany caught herself. “No, too much has happened to ever go back.” Sabathany got up from the sofa before she lost control of her emotions. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready. After that we can head on out. I think you’ll like what I have in store for you.”
TWENTY-SIX
Lenox was quiet most of the drive to his house. Sabathany questioned whether he was capable of going through with what they discussed.
“Have you ever had something you ain’t thought about in years suddenly hit you out of the blue?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“I was at the Smiling Moose bar in Uptown. I had to be twenty-three or twenty-four at the time. Anyway, I was talking to this dude from Bosnia. Ever met anyone from Bosnia?”
“No,” Sabathany said.
“Yeah, he told me a couple of guys forced him to watch as they killed his wife and kids. Shot each of ‘em in the head, execution-style.”
“He just up and volunteered that story to you?”
“We’d been talking for a while, but I remember at one point he got up to go to the bathroom. When he came back his mood was different. He started talking about all kinds of messed-up stuff.”
“I see.”
“He told me that he’d pay me whatever I wanted to kill him.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him to move around with that. I mean, I tried to be nice at first. I couldn’t imagine someone killing my family like that. He said he wanted to join them in Heaven. And he kept pushing and pushing, to the point where we could no longer have a decent conversation. I finally cussed his ass out and told him to stop bothering me with that.”
Lenox’s eyes were distant. “Anyway, that just came back to me. Ain’t thought about it in a long time.”
“How much longer until we get to your house?”
“We’re here.” Lenox pulled into a parking space directly in front of the house.
“Now, remember what we talked about.”
Sabathany got out of the car. Lenox trailed behind her as they headed up the walkway. For all of his command between the sheets, he seemed unsure of himself and how this might play out.
While Sabathany knocked at the door, Lenox said a silent prayer that Ashley would have a change of heart, though he knew she probably would not. When Ashley opened the door, her face was expressionless.
“Hello, Ashley,” Sabathany said.
Ashley looked over Sabathany’s shoulder. Lenox remained steps behind her, hands in pockets, shifting from foot to foot.
“And who are you supposed to be?” Ashley asked as flatly as her face expressed. “Oh, let me guess, you’re his latest piece?”
“No, my name is Sabathany Morris. I’m the girlfriend of Kendrick Black…you know, the actor.”
“And? What do you want?”
“I’m here because I know for a fact that Paris and Lenox have not been in a relationship.”
“Oh? And how would you know that?”
“Paris is mentally ill. She has it in her head that she’s in a relationship with your husband. The only reason Lenox was even civil to her was out of respect for his friendship with Kenny.”
Ashley came outside. “Is that true?” she asked Lenox.
“Baby, you know how I feel about you and my kids. I don’t know what kind of craziness Paris is on. But Kenny’s my boy. He’s the only reason I would even speak to her.”
“Listen, I’m not gonna sugar-coat this. Woman to woman, I think you have every right to feel angry with Paris trying to make a play on your man. Believe me when I tell you, if Lenox was doing what you think he was, I’d offer my help in whoopin’ his ass. But, I’ve seen Paris’s craziness for myself.”
“Mama, can we have cookies?” the twins called from the house.
Hearing his children’s voices made Lenox perk up.
“Wait here,” Ashley ordered before disappearing into the house. Lenox had seconds to see his children before watching them being led from view. Soon, Ashley returned holding Lenox’s phone. She smiled. “You know, I might’ve believed all of that, except, you forgot this last night.”
The guilt on Lenox’s face was immediate.
Ashley grinned. “If you’re dealings with Paris were so casual, then perhaps you can explain to me why the bitch sent you pictures of herself spreading her ass open?” She held the phone up to show the picture, which had a caption that read, “Waiting on you to put something in it, Daddy.”
“Oh, and there’s more where that one came from.” Ashley kept smiling as though she were enjoying herself. She scrolled through the pictures, all capturing Paris in all levels of undress. “Now, this one here is real cute,” she said, holding up another, this time showing a picture of Paris tugging at her nipples with a look of ecstasy on her face. It read, “Want milk?”
“And you want me to believe that you weren’t sleeping with her?”
Lenox turned to Sabathany for needed support, but received a blank stare. He moved bashfully from behind her and said, “Yeah, she sent those to me. But only because she thought she could use them to seduce me. “
“Uh huh. There were texts, too. But of course, you knew that, right?” Ashley again scrolled. “Here we go, ‘Thanks for laying it on me tonight, Daddy. I can’t believe your wife can’t handle all that meat. Oh well, more beef for me! LOL!’ Does that sound like someone merely fantasizing about being with you?”
Lenox looked sheepishly at his wife, unsure of what else he could say that she would believe.
“But the real doozy is this one. ‘Hey, Baby! Can’t wait to get my pussy! And I bet when you try it out for the first time, you’re gonna leave that bitch you got at home! Say goodbye to this monstrosity between my legs, because I’m getting ready to become 100% realness!’ “
“You mean to tell me you’ve been messing around with some transsexual?” Sabathany asked.
“He sure was. I sure hope it was worth it, because he’ll never see Keyshawn or Toya again.”
Lenox could feel heat radiating from the glares of both women. “Wait! You can’t take the kids. I’ll do anything, but please, let me see my kids,” Lenox begged.
“I already know you’ll do anything. You made that abundantly clear by carrying on with whatever that is. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you expose our children to your choices.”
“Can I have my phone back, please?” Lenox asked.
“Absolutely not! I need evidence for when I take your black ass to court!” Ashley marched into the house and closed the door, leaving a dejected Lenox and a confused and angry Sabathany standing in the cold. Seconds later, the door opened once more. “Oh, and your friend, the movie star, called. He’d like to know why you lied to him about needing money for a surgery I never had. Thought you’d like to know.” Then, the door closed.
“You’re into transsexuals?”
“No! I mean—not really!”
“Does Paris have a penis?”
Lenox did not answer.
“All right, then. That means she’s a transsexual, idiot! Hell, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have bothered with any of this! That was a complete waste of time!”
“I didn’t know she had my phone,” Lenox said, keeping an eye on the house, hoping Ashley would reemerge at the door ready to forgive him.
“And what money is she talking about?”
Lenox followed Sabathany to the car, but offered no answer to the question. Instead, he watched his children cry and bang on the living room window as they reached for him. The demonstration of their love brought tears to his eyes. But suddenly, the
window curtain was yanked shut.
Lenox started the car. “Boy, this just ain’t my day,” he muttered before driving away.
“I want to go home,” she said, making sure it sounded more like a command than a request. “I don’t know why I even wasted my time on your stupid, lightweight ass!
Again, Lenox did not respond. He was still embarrassed from Ashley having seen the pictures of Paris. Squeezing the steering wheel, he slammed his foot onto the gas pedal, making the car lunge forward into reckless speed.
“Will you please slow down?” Sabathany clutched the dashboard.
Lenox eased on the break, but soon his adrenaline kicked in and he sped again. He was a man on a mission. Sabathany braced herself for an inevitable impact.
“I said I want to go home!” she shrieked, though she may as well have been commanding the air.
After some time, Lenox slowed down to normal speed. Sabathany removed her hands from the dashboard.
“I’m gonna take you home. But there’s something I gotta do first.” Lenox parked behind a low-rise apartment building. “I’ll be right back,” he said, leaving the car running.
Lenox stormed up the stairs to the fourth floor, prepared to pound on Paris’s door. Upon finding the door cracked open, his eyes narrowed at the odd occurrence.
“Yo, Paris,” he called out, while rapping his knuckles against the door. But there was no answer. He pushed the door in further, not knowing who or what awaited him on the other side.
There was a stillness in the air despite the living room being in disarray. Thousands of beads and rhinestones bedazzled the hardwood floor. Her fabrics had been ripped from the shelves. And some of the dress forms were knocked over.
Lenox passed the small lit kitchen. He noticed the piled dishes in the sink in need of washing.
Lenox entered the dark bedroom. An eerie chill blew over his face. He turned on the light, unprepared…
Paris was lying on her bed, her nightgown raised to her waist. She was saturated in blood from being stabbed repeatedly—mostly in the chest and stomach. There were also deep slices along the arms and hands. The most grotesque of the mutilation was Paris’s hacked male genitalia stuffed in her mouth.
On the wall in bloody smudged letters read: “The nigger wanted a cunt, so I gave it one.”
Lenox shook his head, keeping clenched fists at his side. His anger was belied by memories of good times between the two of them. Slumping to one knee he took one of Paris’s blood streaked hands in his.
“Oh my God!” Lenox’s head bobbed listlessly, the shock of it all taking much out of him. “Feels like I was just talking to you,” he sobbed.
When Lenox emerged from the apartment, he adjusted his coat. His face was sorrowful. Sabathany got out of the car.
“What’s wrong?”
Lenox became still. Staring at the pavement he said, “I think you should drive.”
“Okay, but I don’t know where I’m going.” She looked very intently at Lenox’s expression—that of someone who had just witnessed something unspeakable. “Why do you look funny?” she asked, leaving the passenger door open. She walked to the driver’s side and got back in. Lenox got into her vacated spot and stared ahead.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
Lenox continued to stare forward, tears glistened the rims of his eyes. Sabathany shrugged, put the car into drive, and pulled out of the parking lot. He waited until she came to the first stop light to turn and face her.
“Paris is dead,” he said with an eerie calmness.
“What?”
“Please don’t make me say it again.”
“What do you mean she’s dead? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. She was like that when I found her.”
“What happened to her?”
“Somebody stabbed her—a lot.” Lenox placed his bloody hands on the dashboard.
Sabathany did a double take when she saw his hands. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?”
“I’m just saying. I kinda find it hard to believe you even care that much. I mean, unless I’m mistaken, didn’t you go over there to do the same thing?”
“Ain’t no way in the world I would do something like that! Yeah, I was gonna rough her up a little bit, but what I saw…that shit there was evil!”
“What else was there?”
“Somebody cut off the things that once made her male. Stuffed dick and balls in her mouth! Seemed like they stabbed her everywhere they could. Then, they wrote some sick shit on the wall.”
“What did they write?”
“Something about the nigger wanting a cunt and giving her one.”
Sabathany grimaced. “Yeah, that’s frickin’ overkill. They didn’t have to do all that to her,” Sabathany said. Her face brightened. “Say, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s somebody out there killing the women he meets online and through those dating apps. Maybe that’s who’s responsible. Maybe they met up and he found out she had the same business going on below that he did.”
“I know one thing, whoever did this is gonna pay! I’m calling the police when we get back to the penthouse. In fact, give me your phone.”
“I don’t think we should get involved.”
Lenox turned sharply. “What do you mean we shouldn’t get involved?”
“I’m just saying…”
“Well, I sure as hell ain’t gonna just leave her in there to rot! I think I have to call Kenny and let him know what happened!”
“Are you stupid? After he fired you and told you he wants nothing else to do with you? You do that and Kenny’s going to start asking all sorts of questions. No, I think he needs to find out another way…from someone else.”
Sabathany backed off, deciding to focus on the drive back to the penthouse. She sensed the complexity of Lenox’s emotions which were a medley of anger, disgust, and sadness.
“Sorry for your loss,” she said, pulling up to a stop sign. “I’m sure you cared about her in your own way.” She squeezed his arm in support before driving away.
By the time they arrived back at the penthouse, Lenox’s tears had stopped, but the mood was still melancholy. Sabathany reached under the kitchen island for the whiskey and a couple glasses which was like Déjà vu. Considering the heinous thing they both knew, a drink seemed appropriate, if only to squelch the shock of it all.
“Where are you going to live?” Sabathany asked, bringing focus back to Lenox’s original dilemma.
“I dunno. I was thinking about hanging out here until Kenny changes the locks. You won’t tell him, will you?”
“Get serious. What do I look like?”
“Do you need me to take you to the airport?
“I was thinking about staying on a few more days. I’m not in any hurry to get back to L.A.”
“Looks like we’re gonna be roomies.”
Sabathany shot back the whiskey, then poured herself another. Shifting uncomfortably, she said, “Look, I think there’s something I should tell you.”
“What?”
“I lied about where I was last night.”
Lenox’s eyes narrowed. “Okay…so if you didn’t go for a jog in Loring Park, where’d you go?”
Sabathany dug her fingers into the kitchen island. She knew once she began there was no turning back. “After you fell asleep, I called Paris and asked if I could come over. I took a cab to her place.”
Lenox’s body stiffened. “Why?”
“I wanted to convince her to change Kenny’s mind about everything. I wanted her to get him to give me another chance.”
“What did she say?”
Sabathany could not bring herself to look at Lenox.
“What did you do?”
Still looking away, and with a hint of regret dangling in her voice, she said, “I’ll say this much…things got a little out of hand.”<
br />
TWENTY-SEVEN
“Did you kill Paris?” Lenox asked. Part of him wanted to punch Sabathany in the mouth before she had the opportunity to lie.
“Of course not! When I left, she was very much alive.”
“Then what did you mean by ‘things got a little out of hand’?”
“She became belligerent.” Sabathany raised her index and thumb, showing a slight distance between the two. “I was this close from kicking her ass.”
Lenox loomed over Sabathany. “You look me in my eyes and tell me you had nothing to do with what happened to her.”
“I swear I didn’t.” She began to fume. “Wait a damn minute! All this talk about me, how do I know you didn’t kill her?”
“I already told you, I was gonna beat her up, but I wouldn’t have killed her.”
Sabathany quieted down. “Anyway, she was in a bad mood when I got there. I was finally able to get her to calm down a little, and that’s when she told me to leave because she’d been talking to a guy all evening before I got there.”
“What guy?”
“I don’t know, some guy from one of those dating apps. She said since you obviously moved on, she didn’t think it was fair that she be lonely. If she hooked up with him, maybe he’s the one who killed her.”
Lenox became agitated, shaking his head. “Exactly! All the more reason why we should’ve called the police, so they don’t come suspecting us,” he said, stomping off. “I’m gonna take a shower. I need to wash that scene off my body.”
Sabathany watched him disappear down the hallway.
As Lenox took his shower, Paris came to mind. He remembered the first time they had sex, the first time he made her cry, and the first time he told her he loved her.
After his shower, Lenox went to the kitchen to sit in solitude and make finishing the whiskey his goal. Memories from two disparate halves of his life began to overlap as the last of the booze took effect. The memories were precious, evoking both tears and smiles. However, those memories carried certain truths he was not ready to face.
Despite the previous and dramatic thirty-six hours, Sabathany managed to fall into a hard sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She had nothing to worry about—nothing some deep thought and faith in herself would not fix.
The Best Possible Angle Page 16