“I’m just glad that you’re allowing me into your heart. For real. I know things with us are moving fast, but when something feels this good, I don’t see a reason to slow down,” he said sincerely. “I mean what I say, so I hope that you don’t think I’m gassing you up.”
She laughed. “No, I don’t believe that. You haven’t lied to me. Well, I haven’t caught you in a lie, so I can only trust that what you are saying is the truth.”
“Caught me?” He laughed. “I’m as real as they come, you can believe that.”
He leaned in to kiss her, satisfied with the conversation and where the relationship was going. She met his lips without the slightest bit of resistance. The two locked lips for a full two minutes before his cell phone began blaring, rudely interrupting their moment of passion. Reed ignored the annoying ring tone and slowly forced his tongue through her lips and began massaging her tongue. The phone continued to ring, forcing them to break their connection.
“You might as well just see who it is. Doesn’t look like they are planning to stop calling,” Lucky said, hoping that answering the call would give them whatever it was they were calling for.
Without looking at the caller ID, Reed answered the phone with an attitude. “Hello,” he yelled.
“Is this Reed?” A deep male voice boomed through the receiver.
Reed pulled the phone away from his ear to glance at the caller ID, which conveniently read, “Unknown.” Returning the phone to his ear he added extra bass to voice before responding, “Who wants to know?” His face was balled in a knot.
“Damn, it’s been that long?” The caller laughed. “Well, this is Brook and, believe me, I’m not calling to reminisce. I need to find out what’s holding up your signature on those divorce papers.” He finished with an even tone.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He removed the phone from his ear once more and looked at it with anger written all across his face. “I can’t believe that you have the fucking balls to call me with this bullshit!” He shook his head. “I didn’t even have beef with you about her ’cause I don’t give a fuck about that trifling-ass bitch. That shit doesn’t have anything to do with you so you need to stay in your fucking place!” he yelled, furious, as spit flew from the sides of his mouth. He stood up from the bed and began pacing the floor.
“My place? Yeah, all right, muthafucker. This ain’t back when you got booked. You don’t run shit, nigga. I’m tryin’a let you breathe but if you want to make shit difficult I can make it so she’ll be filing for a death certificate instead.”
Reed was screaming and pointing at the phone. He was practically foaming at the mouth by this point. “Try it then, muthafucker. You know where to find me.” He ended the call and slammed the phone down on the bed.
Lucky sat up, almost afraid to speak.
“This nigga wants to fuck with me? I will kill that muthafucker and that bitch,” he yelled, pacing. He walked back over to the bed and grabbed his cell phone and immediately dialed Romeo on the phone.
“Yo, I need some niggas to take care of this muthafucker, Brook. This nigga had the fucking balls to call my phone threatening me and shit.”
“What?” Romeo yelled back.
“Yo, I’m so fucking pissed right now, I want this nigga buried. You hear me, man? Six fucking feet under,” he yelled.
“All right, calm down. Where you at?”
“I’m home.”
“I’ll be over there in a half-hour. Just sit tight, all right? I don’t wanna talk too much on this phone,” Romeo replied as he grabbed his jeans from the back of his chair and began to put them on.
“All right,” Reed replied before putting the phone back down.
Lucky was still sitting up at the top of the bed, quiet as a mouse. She was afraid to speak for fear that she’d say the wrong thing and piss him off even more.
Reed turned to look at her and immediately noticed the fear in her eyes. He walked over to her and sat down beside her on the bed. “I’m sorry about that, okay, baby? I don’t want you to worry about that or me. Everything’s gonna be okay.” He softly rubbed her right thigh.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she spoke softly, holding back the tears that were forming in the wells of her eyes.
“Nothing is going to happen to me. Come here,” he said, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her.
She breathed in his scent and felt secure in his arms. Things were going too good for everything to be snatched away. She was just getting used to life with him.
“Do you have somewhere that I can take you while I go take care of this? I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here alone right now.”
“Yes, you can take me to my aunt’s house.”
“Okay, get dressed and I’ll be downstairs,” he said before kissing her and getting up from the bed. He grabbed a pair of jeans from his closet and quickly threw them on with a pair of sneakers and headed downstairs to wait for Romeo.
Romeo arrived twenty minutes later along with Mike, one of their closest friends. They drove in silence until Lucky was dropped off and safely inside. Reed returned to the car stone-faced.
“So what do you want to do?” Romeo asked. He already felt like Brook would be a problem once Reed was home. He expected things to happen exactly the way that they were. After Reed was arrested, a lot in the street changed. Jealously and egos quickly turned things upside down, forcing a separation in the crew. Brook was always known as a hothead but his attitude was always controllable with Reed around. Now that he could stand on his own financially and he had his trusty followers, he felt like he was untouchable. Dealing with Reed’s wife was a slap in the face but Reed wasn’t too concerned with that. The fact that she’d be out of his life was a good thing and it would give him great pleasure to watch her suffer when Brook was taken care of.
“You know what needs to be done. I can’t have a fucking loose cannon running around while I’m trying to get shit back in order. I need this nigga to be officially wiped out. All the way off the fucking map! Whatever you have to do to handle that, handle it,” he spoke, pounding his fist into his hand.
“I’ll take care of it for sure. I was waiting for this day anyway. I already knew this nigga would start some shit. I was just waiting for your word,” Romeo said while heading on to I-95.
“I can’t believe that he really called you with that bullshit, man. This nigga really grew King Kong balls,” Mike blurted as he shook his head. “I kinda wish I would’ve rocked that nigga to sleep years ago. Punk-ass muthafucker.”
“It’s all good though. I was having a nice night and shit wit’ my baby and this bitch-ass nigga calls me.” Reed spoke with a smile when thinking about Lucky.
“Sounds like shit’s working out with her.” Romeo laughed. “Your ass is really falling in love wit’ a stripper.” He chuckled.
“I guess I am.” Reed smiled.
The car was now pulling up in front of one of their drop spots. All three men exited the car in sync and began to walk toward the entrance of the building. Without speaking, each of them nodded and gave dap to the two men guarding the door. Walking inside they headed toward the back of the building to the meeting room. Reed and Romeo entered the building alone while Mike remained outside in front of the bolted door. Reed and Romeo sat down at opposite sides of the table.
“You know I never thought shit would turn out the way that is has, man. It’s crazy how your life can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye,” Reed said, shaking his head.
“That’s real shit, man, but you don’t have to worry about this shit. I’m going to make sure that I take care of it.” Romeo spoke with seriousness written across his face. He loved Reed like they were brothers and sisters and he vowed to always have his back. Most people looked at Romeo as if he was a servant of Black’s, but the reality of the situation was that he’d never be his subordinate; he’d always been a partner. He was comfortable with his position and there wasn’t a time t
hat he felt the need to defend it.
“I should’ve listened to you, man, and never married that bitch. She is the true definition of hell on wheels.” He laughed to mask his anger. He felt like screaming he was so pissed.
“Can’t say I know how you feel but I know how it feels to want to kill a nigga,” he responded.
“Well, I’m gonna jet so I can clear my mind. I just need to mentally put some shit in prospective.” He stood from the table and walked around to the side of the table where Romeo was sitting. Romeo stood up from his seat to give him dap before tapping on the back of the door to let them know that they were about to come out.
“I’ll get up with you in a few hours, all right?”
“Cool,” Reed responded before walking out of the door and into the hallway.
Quietly, Reed headed out of the building and to the car, making sure to check his surroundings before pulling out of the parking spot. His mind was racing a mile a minute, thinking about everything that had led up to this very moment. Naturally, he regretted a lot of his decisions. He couldn’t totally regret his decision to deal with Raquel since he’d gained a beautiful daughter he loved with all of his heart. He wasn’t about to let her ruin his life and he’d do whatever he had to do to make it known.
Chapter Eleven
A Dose of Reality
Diamond sat on her sofa, looking out of the window. Her heart was filled with so much worry as the family she’d worked so hard to maintain was slowly slipping away. For the first time in her life she didn’t know what to do. She felt like she was completely alone. Though she and Kiki were talking again, things still weren’t the same. She figured that the time that they spent away from each other was the reason for the obvious distance. She thought back to some of her other friendships and as much as Kiki had bashed Mica’s actions when it pertained to her, she was becoming a mirror image of her. She didn’t even feel comfortable talking to Kiki, or any of her other friends for that matter, about her relationship with Black. She never wanted anyone to see it as an opportunity to slide in between, especially when things weren’t at their best. The only person she’d been able to talk to was her mother, Pam.
Since meeting her a couple of years back, the two had actually become really good friends. When she first learned of her father’s relationship with Pam and how she was the product of their affair, she didn’t think that she would be able to truly embrace her as a mother. Learning of how her mother had stepped up and taken care of her husband’s lovechild only made her respect and love her even more. When Nila, the only mother she’d known before meeting Pam, was ripped out of her life when she died of a drug overdose, she was bitter at the world. She was still angry that she hadn’t been there to say good-bye. Eventually, she was able to forgive her grandmother for not telling her about her Nila’s death until after the funeral, as she didn’t have a callous bone in her body; she could never forgive her Aunt Cicely because every ounce of pain that she ever caused was intentional. She was positive that Cicely was the one who made it so that she wouldn’t know about her death. Because of her jealousy, she showed nothing but hate for Diamond. This was her chance to see Diamond in pain and not only did she not tell her about the death and the funeral, she eliminated her from the obituary and brought her a copy just to rub it in her face. Pam had stepped in and been the shoulder that she could cry on and the person she could confide in when she need someone to talk to.
As she continued to stare off in thought she saw Pam’s white BMW pull up in front of her house. She got up from the sofa to open the door and let her in. As soon as she saw Pam’s face she began to cry. Without saying a word Pam reached out and hugged Diamond. After closing the door the two women walked into the living room where Diamond returned to her seat on the sofa.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” Diamond asked, trying to look past her mental state and play the perfect hostess.
“No, I’m fine, baby. When you called I came right over. What’s going on? You know I hate to see you cry, makes me want to cry and I absolutely hate messing up my makeup.” She laughed, trying to lighten up Diamond’s mood.
“I’m just so stressed right now. Nothing is going right for me. I thought that Black and me had a relationship that was unbreakable but now I’m realizing that what we have isn’t much different than any other relationship,” Diamond replied.
“What’s the problem though? I mean is there anything that you can think of that may have caused a distance?”
“No. I mean a month ago we were fine then all of a sudden things changed. I know in my heart that he’s cheating one me. I stood outside the room and heard him talking to a woman on the phone. Then he hasn’t been coming home every night.”
“So you know for a fact that he was talking to a woman?” Pam asked, trying to figure out where things went wrong.
“I mean no, I don’t have concrete proof. I wasn’t on the line but I can tell by the way that he was talking that he wasn’t talking to a man. I just don’t know what it is that I did to make him feel like he needs to cheat. It makes me think about the time that he cheated with Trice. You know I had to intentionally get pregnant to keep him?” Diamond blurted by mistake. Besides Kiki, she’d never told anyone that she purposely got pregnant.
“So in other words you trapped him? Did you ever think that he might have found out?”
“No, I don’t think that he’s found out and even if he did I don’t thinks that would be a reason to cheat.” She paused.
“Well, men don’t always have the best reasons to cheat but they don’t think with their brains at those times either.”
“I just need to figure out what’s going on because right now I’m so lost. At least if I knew what he was upset about I could work on fixing it but right now he won’t tell me anything.”
“Sometimes men will shut you out, but if you truly want to be with him and keep your family together you can’t give up. There were times that I thought my family was being torn apart. You know I’ve been on both sides of the fence, the mistress and the wife, so I know how it feels. I never expected my relationship with your father to be all peaches and cream because of the way that it started. Nothing that starts out that way goes on without a few bumps in the road. It all takes work whether good or bad,” Pam said, rubbing Diamond’s arm, trying to console her.
“So do you think I should approach her?”
“No, I think that you should approach him,” Pam quickly replied.
“I’ve tried to confront him but all he does is push me away.”
“Well, you have to keep trying. I know I didn’t raise you, Diamond, but I didn’t birth any children who are wimps. I have fighter genes and I know that you have it in you.”
“You’re right, I am a fighter. I’m not going to give up on my family just yet. I worked too hard to have it to just let someone come in and steal it all away. Thanks for being here for me. I truly appreciate all that you’ve done for me.”
“You don’t have to thank me, you’re my daughter and I love you too much to just allow you to cry without a shoulder to lean on. You can always call me when you need me,” Pam said with a smile.
Diamond extended her arms to hug Pam. The conversation with Pam was just the push that she needed. Pam stayed for a few more moments before leaving. Diamond immediately picked up her phone and called Black.
After the phone rang a few times, Black answered, immediately letting out a sigh before speaking. “Yeah.”
“Are you coming home today? I really want to sit down and talk. I don’t like the way that we are right now. Black, it’s killing me.”
“Yeah, I will be home later, Diamond,” he replied in a lighter tone.
“Okay, I will see you then.”
“All right,” he said before ending the call.
She smiled, as he didn’t give her the usual brush-off response that she was expecting. His reaction made her feel as if things weren’t done and there was a strong chance for reconciliation. Sh
e headed upstairs to her room and took a shower before patiently waiting for Black to arrive. She’d fallen asleep waiting for the time to pass and was awakened by a tap on her foot and a whisper of her name.
“Hey, I fell asleep waiting,” she said as she rubbed her eyes to get a clear view of him. He was standing at the bottom of the bed.
“Did you still want to talk?” he asked before sitting down on the edge of the bed.
“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on with us. I feel like we’re falling apart, Black, and I don’t want to lose you,” she said as she scooted to the edge of the bed to sit next to him. “Is it something that I did? I mean if so, let me know and I will fix it.”
“It’s not you, Diamond. I just have a lot of shit on my mind. I’m trying to straighten out all of this shit that’s going on in the street and keep you happy at the same time. It’s hard, Diamond, because you have a tendency to over think things and push when it isn’t necessary.”
“I only act that way because I care, Black. I love you too much to lose you.”
“You just gotta give me a little breathing room, Diamond. I don’t need you on my back all the time like my mother. I need a wife. I need the wife I fell in love with.”
“So what are you asking me to do, Black?”
“I don’t know, Diamond. I’m just tired of the bickering and arguing for nothing. It used to be fun coming home, now I almost dread it.” He spoke sharply.
Diamond sat silent for a few minutes, thinking about what he’d just said to her. She never wanted him to dread coming home and it was never her intention to make him unhappy. She wanted to ask him about the phone call but she was afraid he’d cut the conversation short. “Black, I understand how you feel completely and I’m sorry, okay? I just want things to go back to the way that they were,” she pleaded as she placed her hand on top of his right hand, which was resting on his thigh. “Please, Black, I need you,” she said softly as she grabbed his chin to turn his face toward her. Without allowing him to respond she kissed him.
Black Diamond 3: Lucky Chance (Urban Books) Page 8