His son was his pride and joy and would always hold a special place in his heart because he was his firstborn. With the sixty million he could get him the best care money could provide. But having sixty million also meant that Sharmaine would be gunning for more money in child support. And while Joe had no problem giving money for his son to enjoy, he did have a problem knowing that Sharmaine would take part in the pleasure, too. Without the sex and drugs, Joe and Sharmaine were like two rams going head to head. While he lived for his wife and all three of his boys, Sharmaine lived for Sharmaine. That was why she had sought more money after his promotion and that was why Joe knew she’d try to take him to the cleaners after she found out about his winnings. Of course the joy and pain he would experience was all dependent on DeVante being in Jimmy G’s as he thought he would be.
He turned and looked at Lisa. He didn’t know much about her. He’d dealt with her on a professional level at school, but that was it. It was nothing personal against her. Joe just didn’t like to get to know people. That was a habit from his drug years that stuck with him. The less you knew about people, the less chance there was for you to hurt or care when they were no longer around. She didn’t know that he knew, but DeVante had told him about the pregnancy, and how she thought the baby was his. That was why Joe decided to bring her with him. Because as low-key as DeVante tried to play it, Joe knew that DeVante had feelings for her, because his body language would change whenever she was around or brought up in a conversation. Joe also knew that DeVante cared for her more than he probably even realized or was willing to admit. But DeVante wasn’t the only one who was smitten. He could tell by the look and concern in Lisa’s eyes when they were back in the apartment that she had deeper feelings for his friend.
Joe figured the only thing that was probably keeping them from becoming anything was DeVante’s work position and financial status. Just by the way she carried herself alone, Joe could tell Lisa had high standards. The fact that she ended up with DeVante wasn’t a surprise to Joe, because DeVante was a good-looking guy with a decent head on his shoulders. He’d just chosen a few bad cards from the deck he was living by. As his own wife had shown him, a good woman could do wonders for a man. Maybe the woman for DeVante was Lisa. But he was going to take her share of the money.
“Before we go in, I just want to warn you that it ain’t a pretty sight in there.”
Lisa raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not a little girl, Joe.”
“I understand that, but this ain’t no regular run-of-the-mill dive. Shit goes on in there that your eyes probably ain’t seen firsthand.”
“How do you know? You don’t know me or where I come from.”
“You’re right. I don’t know you. But it don’t take a genius to figure out where you’re from. I can look in your eyes and figure that out.”
“My eyes?”
“Yeah. They’re innocent. They still have a wide-eyed quality that the people you’ll see don’t have. You came up in a different world, probably with good family and friends to love and care for you. The people inside Jimmy’s didn’t have any of that. Most of the men probably don’t know who their fathers are, and the only man some of the women in there call daddy is their pimp. These people don’t know anything about friendships or good times. They’re all more familiar with abandonment, heartache, despair, and pain.”
“So what are you, the expert?”
“Nah. I’m not an expert. I’m just a guy who’s been through what all those people in there are going through. I’ve suffered with alcohol and I’ve endured through the heroin. I know what it is to want to give up because the days are too hard, too long, too bleak, and the nights are just too damned short.”
“So if you’re out here, why are they still in there?”
“I was lucky. I wasn’t so far gone that I wasn’t able to find something to live for.”
“And what’s that?”
“My wife and kids. They keep me going.”
There was silence for a few seconds after Joe’s last comment. Lisa thought about the things he’d said. He had been right; she did come up in a different world. She did have the family and friends to rely on. Her world hadn’t been filled with struggle and pain. She lived what her friends often called the Cosby lifestyle. Her father was a gynecologist, her mother a lawyer.
Lisa’s parents had provided nothing but the best for their only child. She went to the best schools, lived in the best neighborhoods, and wore the best clothes. They worked hard for Lisa to have the things they never had, and when she went away to law school, it was under the notion that she would give back what her parents had given her. She did that by completing the program with a 4.0 average. After passing the bar exam, Lisa was supposed to join her mother in the courtroom, but somewhere in between school and living for her parents, she woke up one morning and decided that she didn’t want to take the path that her parents had lain out for her since her birth. She wanted to do something for once that didn’t have her parents’ seal on it. Because she’d always been fascinated by the teachers she’d had in high school, she decided that she wanted to teach. So despite her parent’s protests, she went back to school and got a degree in secondary education.
She applied at inner-city schools because she wanted to work with students who didn’t have things easy, and help them realize their potential to become lawyers, doctors, or business tycoons, and not just performers, sports stars, or drug dealers. In teaching, she finally achieved the feeling that money and status couldn’t provide—self-satisfaction. She believed her day-to-day work was an important part of the world’s struggle to become a better place. Her goal to influence at least one young student to aspire to bigger and better things was accomplished within her first two years at the school, as she became one of the most respected and well-liked teachers. The students all felt comfortable talking to her and going to her for advice on their problems and decisions for after graduation. When the school’s assistant principal was fired after making advances on a female student, Lisa was asked to take over the position. No one objected.
She met DeVante two years after her promotion. Both DeVante and Joe had just completed rehab, and through their second-chance program had gotten jobs as janitors in the school. Initially, she was completely turned off by DeVante’s rough appearance and his dark, don’t-fuck-with-me-and-I-won’t-have-to-kill-you attitude. For months they never exchanged anything more than a few idle glances. He walked through the school silently mopping and sweeping and doing whatever else was needed. They bumped into one another one night as Lisa was hurrying to get home after working late. After apologizing for the mishap and helping her to her feet, DeVante finally did something he’d wanted to do since laying his eyes on her—he introduced himself.
The two talked for an hour or so, and for the first time Lisa realized that despite his bad-boy stance and all of his toughness, DeVante was actually one of the sexiest men she’d ever laid her eyes on. His eyes were dark and mysterious, his lips full and tantalizing, his body thin but powerfully built. Even the cornrows that he wore appealed to her. There was something about his total package that brought a tingle to her spine.
DeVante had always been attracted to her. She’d seen him staring at her, his eyes often stopping to admire her Angela Bassett-like body. He never talked to her like she hoped he would. She couldn’t help but wonder if her position as the assistant principal had anything to do with his reluctance to talk. Thanks to their moment of clumsiness, Lisa knew that he had no choice but to speak.
After the conversation, DeVante walked her to her car and the next day when they saw one another, their idle glances were replaced with long stares. DeVante was so much the opposite of every man she’d ever been involved with, and the more she saw him and exchanged light conversation, the more she wanted him. She finally gave in to her urge a few weeks later. She’d stayed behind to catch up on some work. But that wasn’t her only reason. She’d gotten to know DeVante
’s schedule and she knew that he would be the only one working late that evening. When the coast was clear and she was sure no one else was in the building, Lisa sought him out.
He was in the boy’s locker room, sweeping up when she entered. He looked up and saw her standing with her back to the door. Her eyes locked with his, her tongue running seductively over her lips. DeVante didn’t say a word as he stepped to her and planted his lips on hers. With passionate fury the excited couple kissed. Lisa opened her mouth to welcome his tongue, which he eagerly gave her. As they kissed, Lisa wrapped her leg around his calf, while he pressed his hardened crotch against her.
“Fuck me,” Lisa whispered, nibbling on his ear. “Fuck me now DeVante.”
Sliding his hands under her black skirt, DeVante ripped off her thong underwear and toyed with her clit while she undid his belt and pushed down his pants and underwear with her feet. She listened to him moan as she stroked his manhood, tugging on it greedily, letting him know how much she wanted it. Lifting her in his arms, and with her back still against the door, DeVante entered her wetness slowly. Both gasped as their bodies became one. Lisa gnawed on her bottom lip to try and keep her voice down, for fear of being heard by any faculty member who could have come into the school, but it was impossible to remain quiet. The way DeVante slid in and out of her made her moist with fever, and she too began to moan, quietly at first, but with each thrusting penetration, her moans became louder until she no longer cared. She took in every inch of Devante that she could, enjoying the pleasurable pain of his girth. He palmed her behind, squeezing on it as he breathed heavily into her ear, exciting her even more. She wrapped her arms around his neck, ran her hands through his cornrows and ordered him to go deeper, faster, harder.
Lisa could tell by the way he moved that he’d been with many women before. But she was willing to bet that none were as intense as she was. She pushed herself down on him almost as hard as he thrusted upwards. Against the door, his pants sitting around his ankles, her underwear ripped and strewn to the side, DeVante and Lisa released together in a chorus of carnal love.
They continued to meet like that, coupling in the teacher’s lounge, her office across her desk, the gymnasium floor, and even the auditorium, acting as though they were actors in a play of lust and eroticism. Eventually they began to meet at Lisa’s home, where on her bed they took the fire to another level with toys, food and whatever else they could find. As time passed, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she was beginning to feel something other than just a sexual attraction toward DeVante. His past, which he’d explained to her, didn’t bother her because she was getting to know the man underneath the rough exterior everyone else saw. He’d made mistakes and fallen into the wrong things, but like everyone else, he deserved a second chance and she wouldn’t condemn him for a past she wasn’t a part of. And even though he was heavily into drinking, Lisa couldn’t keep herself from falling in love with him.
When she found out she was pregnant, she was both elated and frightened. She’d always wanted a child to love and care for, and raise the way her parents had raised her. But what frightened her was that her child’s father was a drunk and former drug addict, which made him an addict still. When she delivered the news to him, he stayed relatively quiet. “Are you sure?” he’d asked her.
“I’m sure, DeVante. And it’s yours, so don’t go there with the next question.”
“Wasn’t going anywhere. I trust you.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“What do you want to do?”
Lisa looked at him and answered honestly. “I want this baby.”
“Then I guess that answers your question.”
“But what about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes. This baby is yours too. I hope you don’t plan on leaving this child without a father?”
“I’ll take care of mine.”
“Good. And what about us?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? I thought by this point we were more than just fucking partners.”
“Lisa, I don’t know what we are, okay. I mean, I’m a janitor and you’re an assistant principal.”
“So?”
“So…I don’t know what the hell we are or can be.”
DeVante left after that, not giving her a chance to reply. That was the last conversation they’d had. She’d given her share of the lottery money to Joe, who passed on all the money to DeVante.
“I hope DeVante’s in there,” she said, opening her car door. “We have a lot of talking to do.”
Joe nodded and stepped out of the car. He could tell by her comment and the tone of her voice that there was more than the lottery money at stake.
9
Marcus, Nydia and Sheila stepped back into DeVante’s apartment. Just as Marcus had suspected, he told the others, “Joe and Lisa aren’t here.”
“Where could they be?” Sheila asked softly. She was getting more and more paranoid about being out on the streets. It was nearing 1 A.M.
“Where the fuck do you think they could be?” Nydia snapped, turning to face her. She was getting tired of Sheila’s whining voice and timid demeanor. Thirty million dollars was at stake. “Joe and DeVante are friends and Lisa is sleeping with DeVante. Did it ever occur to you that the three of them could be trying to keep our money?”
Shelia shook her head. “No, Lisa wouldn’t do that. Neither would Joe. They’re good people. They wouldn’t try to cheat us.”
Marcus spoke out this time. “Will you wake the fuck up, you pathetic bitch! That’s sixty million dollars apiece for them if they keep our share. How the hell can you say that they wouldn’t try to cheat us? You don’t know them. Neither do I, and neither does Nydia. We’re all coworkers. That’s it. Good people? Are you that damn naïve?”
“I’m not naïve, Marcus. I just don’t think they would do that to us. We all need the money.”
Nydia shook her head. “Will you shut the fuck up, Sheila! Just listening to you is making me sick. We all need the money. Sheila, you live in the goddamned suburbs, and you’re white. What the hell do you need the money for?”
“Nydia, we all have problems, okay. Just because I’m white doesn’t mean I don’t need money, too.”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Nydia raged. She was one click away from attacking Sheila. “Don’t say another fucking word about needing any money.”
Nydia glared at Sheila, causing her to take a step back in fear. She didn’t say another word as Nydia sat down. Marcus walked to the window and looked down to the fire escape where DeVante had made his escape. They’d scoured the shadows within the alleys as they searched the empty streets for him and the ticket. Thirty million dollars, that’s what it was supposed to be. Now they were in danger of getting nothing.
He turned and looked at his partners. Nydia sat on the couch, her gaze fixed on Sheila. She may not have had a drug dealer out for her blood the way Marcus did, but she was as hungry for the money as he was, and she acted like it. Sheila, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be nearly as desperate for the financial security the thirty million dollars could provide. Nydia had been right, Marcus surmised; Sheila was white and lived in the suburbs. She didn’t need the money like they did. One hundred and eighty million split two ways was ninety million dollars apiece. Two ways, of course, was minus Sheila, DeVante, Joe, and Lisa.
“Nydia, we never checked the staircase,” Marcus said. “Come with me. Sheila, you stay here in case they come in while we’re gone.”
Nydia looked at Marcus with raised eyebrows. “And who appointed you group leader?” she asked angrily.
“Look, just come with me. There are two staircases. I can’t cover them by myself.”
Nydia frowned and then stood up. “Whatever,” she said. She walked toward the door and as she passed by Sheila, nudged her with her shoulder. Sheila was too afraid to complain. When they got in the hallway, Marcus motioned for Nydia to foll
ow him. When they rounded the corner, Nydia said, “I thought you wanted to split up.”
Marcus shook his head. “I just said that to get you out. I want to talk to you about something.”
Nydia looked at him suspiciously. “What?”
“Listen, both you and I obviously need that money a hell of a lot more than Sheila does.”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I know I need that money more than her white ass does. Damn, she makes me sick. I’m tired of hearing her voice. Talking about Joe and Lisa not being in on this with DeVante—stupid, naïve bitch. Didn’t she realize that Lisa’s car wasn’t downstairs? How stupid can she be?”
“I saw that the car was missing, too.”
“I wish we didn’t have to split that money with her.” Nydia folded her arms and took a peek back down the hall towards DeVante’s apartment. Sheila was still in there, unwilling to move until Marcus and Nydia came back.
Marcus gave Nydia a long, hard stare. He was glad she mentioned not splitting the money with Sheila first, because now he could mention it without feeling guilty.
“Listen, we don’t have to split the money with her, you know. As a matter of fact, we don’t have to split the money with anyone other than you and me.”
“First of all, how the hell can we not split the money with her? Second of all, we don’t know where the others are, and they have the ticket.”
“Look, both you and I agree that Sheila’s a pain in the ass and neither one of us wants her around, so I say we get rid of her. As far as the others go, I think I have an idea as to where they could be. First things first, we get rid of Sheila.”
“And how do we do that? It’s not like we can just up and walk away and she won’t follow, you know.”
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