by RM Johnson
Part of it was that he was introduced to what a wonderful woman Monica was, and then to know that the man she was going back to, the man that she thought loved her, really didn’t.
Mr. Kenny didn’t deserve a woman like that. After everything he did to try to rid himself of her, it just didn’t seem right that she would end up with him.
And then there was the undeniable fact that he had feelings for her. Was it love? Lewis wasn’t certain, but he thought about the woman damn near every moment of the day, missed her when she wasn’t around, felt like a better man when she was, and couldn’t imagine her not being in his life in the days ahead. Something just told him that they were supposed to be together, and that’s what had Lewis glancing at the phone yet again.
He picked it up, but this time dialed Selena’s number instead of Monica’s. There was no answer.
Lewis had stopped by there the other day, banged on the door, but she wasn’t home. He had planned to go back, but there were things that he had to take care of to prepare for the repercussions he was sure he was going to face since Mr. Kenny walked in the house and saw him with his wife.
Lewis was surprised that the man hadn’t called him yet, cursing him out about the fact that Lewis hadn’t informed him that he was now screwing Monica.
The man was outraged, and as Lewis continued pounding his wife, he could see that in his face, in his eyes, as Mr. Kenny stared at him through the patio glass door.
It was all quite funny to Lewis. The man never liked him, Lewis knew, treated him like a child, like he was some brainless idiot off the street. But he gave Lewis instructions and the tools to have sex with his wife, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when it was actually happening.
The next morning, Lewis went to the bank, withdrew all the money that was there, before Mr. Kenny decided to do something like close the account. There was a little more than $13,000 there, and Lewis had it given to him all in hundred-dollar bills.
He didn’t know if Mr. Kenny would try to take back the money he had paid him, but that just seemed like the type of man he was.
Lewis wondered if he even knew what was going on, whether he was aware that his wife had ended things with him or not.
Lewis looked down at the phone again, and decided he might as well find out.
He grabbed the phone and dialed Mr. Kenny’s cell phone number.
When the phone was answered, Lewis said, as if he had just made the discovery, “Mr. Kenny, something’s happened. Things aren’t going well. Your wife—”
“I realize something has happened,” Nate said, his voice surprisingly calm.
“She told me that she didn’t want to see me again,” Lewis said.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
There was a long pause before Nate said, “How long have you been fucking her?”
“What did you say?”
“You heard what I said, and don’t tell me that was the first time, because I have photos. I have proof that it was before then. How long?”
“I don’t know,” Lewis said, his voice low. “Something like a week, maybe a couple of days more. But Mr. Kenny—”
“No. There’s nothing more you have to say. I need to speak with you, face-to-face, discuss these matters. I’ll call you back with the time and the place.”
48
It was 10 P.M., later that night, and Nate pulled his Mercedes onto an empty lot surrounded by abandoned buildings. There he saw a pair of illuminated headlights. He drove over.
He parked some ten feet from the truck the headlights glared from, got out, and started walking toward it.
Almost at the same time, the driver of the truck stepped out and started in Nate’s direction.
Nate had called Lewis back an hour after he had spoken to him, and said, “Meet me on the empty Sixty-third Street lot, three blocks west of Stony, at ten o’clock.”
“But Mr. Kenny—”
“Just meet me there, and we’ll talk about everything then,” Nate said, hanging up the phone.
Now Nate, with a briefcase in his hand, stood face-to-face with Lewis in the center of the lot, both their cars still running, their headlamps directed at them.
“Mr. Kenny, I don’t know what happened,” Lewis said, speaking first. “I haven’t spoken to Monica in days, and I was just trying to find out what was going on.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Lewis,” Nate said, opening his briefcase, pulling out a plain brown envelope, packed tight, and handing it to Lewis.
“What’s this?”
“It’s your last week’s pay. But because you’ve done such a good job, I’ve doubled it. There’s ten thousand dollars in there. Thank you for your help.”
“What do you mean, my last week’s?” Lewis said, looking bewildered.
“It’s over, Lewis. I have what I need. We’ve accomplished what we’ve set out to.”
“Mr. Kenny, I don’t think we’re done yet. You were supposed to get pictures taken, weren’t you? You never told me that was done.”
“That’s nothing that you need to worry about. Your business now is to start packing your things and vacating my property in the next three days. Leave the Cadillac in the garage, the keys to it and the house on the living room table. The cell phone you can keep if you like, I will just have it transferred over to your name. Good night, Mr. Waters,” Nate said, turning and starting to walk away. “And have a nice life.”
“No!” Lewis said, loudly.
Nate stopped abruptly on the graveled pavement beneath him. He slowly turned around to face Lewis again. “No, what?”
“No, the job is not over,” Lewis said.
“I just told you it was.”
“Then I’m not ready for it to be. You might not want to hear this, but I’ve developed feelings for your wife,” Lewis said.
Nate took a moment to reply, then simply said, “So?”
“So, I know she has feelings for me too, and I’ve decided that I’m going to continue seeing her whether you like it or not.”
Nate looked at the man as though he had lost his mind, and then could do nothing but start laughing boisterously.
“And just what makes you think she’d want to continue seeing you? You have no money.”
“I have the money you gave me,” Lewis said, holding up the envelope.
“You’re a nobody.”
“You wife didn’t think that when she was screaming my name, yelling out how much she loved what I was doing to her. You remember that. You heard her, didn’t you…Nate?”
This was the first time the boy had dared to call him by his first name, and Nate couldn’t determine which angered him more, the disrespectful talk of his wife, or him addressing Nate in that manner.
“You can do what you want, but you’ll be doing it from the street, because you’re no longer able to go back to that house. As of this moment, I’m evicting you.”
Now Lewis was laughing. “Sorry, Nate. I’ve been kicked out of too many places to know that I have rights. I need at least ten days’ notice, and without that, I’m not going any damn place.”
“Fine,” Nate said. “Then you’ll walk back there. Give me the keys to the truck,” he said, holding his palm open.
“Take them from me.”
Nate sized the big man up again. He looked around them, and there was nothing but empty lot, and vacant buildings surrounding them. There was no way he was going to stand out there and fistfight this guy, even though Nate felt confident that he had a chance at taking him. He would not stoop to his level. He didn’t have to. Nate had everything going for him, and this character had nothing. The best thing Nate could do at that moment was just get rid of him. Give him something that would make him go away forever, and then Nate could go on living his life with his wife without interference.
“So, this is how you want to play it. Taking the gloves off, hunh?” Nate said. “Then I’ll play. What do you want?”
“I told you
what I wanted. Your wife.”
“Besides her. You hold ten thousand dollars in your hand. Add that to the fifteen I’ve already paid you, that makes twenty-five. I’ll equal that, giving you an even fifty, if you just forget about all of this and disappear.”
“I can’t do that.”
“If it’s a woman that you want, I know of one that you’d love. Her name is Tori, and she used to work for me. She’s very attractive, and—”
“Nate, Nate, Nate,” Lewis said, pacing in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head. “You aren’t getting me. What I want is Monica, and you don’t have enough money to give me to make me change my mind.”
At that point, Nate had had enough. He quickly placed himself in front of Lewis, their faces inches apart.
“Now you get something straight. I stood here and tried to play your little game, but understand, you do not want to fuck with me! I have more power, and know more people, than your high school diploma could ever allow you to understand. So if you like the wonderful feeling of standing erect on two good legs, and want to continue to enjoy it, you’ll do as I say, and leave.”
“Is that a threat, Nate?” Lewis said.
“Take it however it best serves you.”
“Come after me, and I’ll tell Monica everything,” Lewis threatened.
“That would hurt you as much as me, if not more. Do you think she’d want to be with someone who took money to try to fuck her? Good luck, but I think you know better than that. Lewis, be a smart kid, take the offer and run. Otherwise, you’re going to find out that you were nothing but a toy that my wife played with, until her real man came back.”
“We’ll just see about that,” Lewis said, turning and walking casually back to Nate’s truck with Nate’s ten grand.
49
When Lewis woke up the next morning, he reached for the phone and dialed Selena’s number because he needed to see his daughter.
The phone rang, then the call was sent to voice mail.
Lewis angrily left a message.
“Selena, where in the hell are you? I’m coming to see Layla. If you get this within a half hour, call me back.”
Lewis slammed the phone down, then jumped out of bed, pulled some clothes out of his drawers to wear today, then went into the bathroom to clean up.
When he stepped into the shower, he found that the water was freezing, and regardless of how many times he fidgeted with the knobs, it didn’t get any warmer, prompting Lewis to run downstairs and turn all the burners on his stove on.
Nothing happened. The gas was off.
Maybe the pilot, Lewis thought, walking to the door that led to the basement, opening it, and clicking on the stairway lights, but no light came on. He clicked it on and off a number of times, but still nothing happened.
He thought about changing the bulb, but then something else came to mind.
Lewis walked over to the kitchen light switch, tried that. Nothing. He yanked open the refrigerator door. No light, no cool air, no power.
He ran through the house trying every light switch, appliance, and TV set. There was no power.
It had to have been Mr. Kenny behind this all, Lewis thought, angrily. And if the gas and electricity was off, he knew it would only be a matter of time before his phones were turned off as well.
Then all of a sudden, something even more disturbing came to his mind. He abandoned the idea of showering and ran upstairs, slid into his jeans, socks, and shoes as quickly as possible. He grabbed his shirt, threw it on as he raced down the stairs, out the house, and to the garage.
Mr. Kenny was going to shut everything down, Lewis now knew, and take everything from him, and he just prayed that he wasn’t working so fast that he had already gotten around to taking the truck.
Once at the garage, he quickly slipped the key into the lock, and threw the door open.
To his relief, the truck was still there.
Lewis went to the house, locked it up, took off in the direction of Selena’s place.
When he arrived, he jumped out of the truck and almost ran to the door, he was so eager to see Layla.
He knocked on the door, and realized he was feeling strangely about everything that was happening now. Yes, he had the money that he had gotten paid, but $25,000 wasn’t buying him a home. He was jobless now, would have to go back to cutting hair, and he knew that wouldn’t be enough to get his daughter away from Selena. At this point, he had no idea what was going to happen.
Lewis was about to knock again when the door opened up a crack, Selena peering out at him.
“What you doing here? You ain’t call,” Selena said.
Lewis noticed that something seemed strange about her.
“I did call, but you ain’t pick up the phone.”
“I was busy,” Selena said, her words slurring together.
Lewis looked closer at her, and he realized something wasn’t right. She looked odd, her eyes barely open, looking as though she hadn’t even had enough strength to hold her own self up.
“Where’s Layla?”
“She in here. She sleep.”
“I want to see her. Open the door,” Lewis said.
“Why?”
“Because I said I want to see my daughter!”
“I told you she sleep!” Selena said, practically screaming.
Lewis gave her another long, hard look, definitely not liking what he was seeing, then all of a sudden he was pushing himself in the door.
Selena tried to close it before he could force his way in, but he was far too strong, and Selena ended up almost falling, stumbling backward away from the door as it opened.
Lewis stood just inside the apartment, was about to head toward the bedroom, when his attention was caught by what was spread out across the coffee table.
A belt, a cigarette lighter, a hypodermic needle, and the bent, burned tablespoon.
He raced over there, grabbed one of the items, and held it up.
“What the fuck is this?” Lewis yelled, holding a tiny plastic vial in his hand, a white stone in it. “I said, what the fuck is this!” He stormed over to Selena, grabbing her arm, shaking her, as he held the vial up just before her eyes.
“You gonna wake the baby,” Selena said, almost oblivious to what was happening right in front of her, her entire body covered in sweat.
“You fucking doing drugs again!” Lewis yelled. “This where all that money went?”
Selena didn’t answer him, just tried to look in his direction, her head rolling about limply on her neck.
“Answer me!”
“I needed something,” Selena said, her words sounding just above a whisper. “I needed something to help me do what I had to do to get my money.”
“I told you you should’ve never started fucking those men!” Lewis said, saddened, almost feeling sorry for what Selena had reverted to.
But he couldn’t let that get in his way. She had done what she said she never would again, and Lewis knew that he could no longer deal with the woman, and definitely not let her continue to raise his daughter.
Lewis pushed Selena away from him, and ran into the bedroom.
Lewis grabbed Layla out of her crib, carried her back into the living room, preparing to take her.
“Do what the fuck you want, but you ain’t doing it to her,” Lewis said, heading for the door.
Before he could reach it, Lewis heard a shrill cry from behind him, and then felt Selena on his back, clawing, grabbing for their child.
He quickly spun, swung his arm out, managed to push her off him. She fell to the floor, but immediately got back to her feet, started running toward him again.
“Give me my baby! You ain’t taking my baby!” Selena cried, as she swung wildly at Lewis, clawing at his arms as he tried to protect Layla from her wild swipes.
“You going to hurt her!”
“Give her to me. I’ll call the police, throw your ass in jail! Give her to me!” Selena screamed, continuing t
o fight for the baby, no matter how much Lewis tried to push her away. Then she managed to get her arm around Layla’s leg, started pulling at her.
“All right! All right,” Lewis said, giving the baby to Selena, so the child wouldn’t get hurt.
Immediately, Selena calmed down some, taking Layla in her arms, kissing her all over her face and head.
Lewis looked on painfully. “I’m coming back to get her,” he said. “I swear. I’m coming back.”
“Now! I need for you to go get her now!” Lewis said to the social worker at the Department of Children and Family Services.
After leaving Selena’s, he ran back to the truck, called information, got the address, and sped over there as fast as he could.
Lewis followed behind a portly woman, holding a stack of folders, walking quickly down a hallway filled with young mothers and their children of all ages and ethnicities.
“Mr. Waters, I wish we could help you right away, but you’ll have to speak to a social worker,” the woman said, over her shoulder.
“I’m speaking to you. This is an emergency.”
The woman stopped, turned to Lewis. Only then could he tell just how haggard she was. “You see all these women, and their children around you. All of them have emergencies. But first they had to see a social worker.”
Lewis waited three hours, but finally he was seen. He answered every question they asked.
Yes, the child was his. Yes, his name was on the birth certificate. No, he did not beat the mother, nor the child. It went on and on for almost an hour.
“Will you go out and get my daughter?” Lewis finally asked, after the social worker had completed the questions and the paperwork.
“We should be able to get someone out there tomorrow, the next day the latest.”
“My daughter can’t wait that long.”
“Mr. Waters, there’s nothing more that we can do. We will get out there as soon as we can.”
50
It was half an hour till the end of Monica’s shift, and she had gotten her purse, set it under the store’s counter, preparing to go. She pulled her cell phone out to check what calls she may have missed, and when she looked at it, she immediately called Tabatha.