Teach Me (The Gems & Gents Series)

by Bolling, Iris

  The request caught him off guard and sent him off balance again, just like the statement she made in his office about him being handsome. “Why?” he asked abruptly.

  “I’d like to see how you release yourself,” she replied as she placed her blazer across the seat at the table that was close to the stage.

  He’d never shared his music with a woman before. It was what he did to release the pain of his mother leaving him and X-man and his father’s premature death. That pain he did not share with anyone. Here she was asking to share his pain. He wondered for a moment if she knew what she was asking.

  “Let her stay Zack,” Lee egged him on. “It would be nice to have a beautiful woman in the audience just for us.”

  Raising an eyebrow he turned to look at his friend, “Us?”

  “Well you. I mean she’s your lady.”

  “She is not my lady.”

  “She’s not?” His friend Doc walked up behind him and hit him on the back. “You could have fooled the hell out of me. I thought for sure she was your lady from the way you been all lovey dovey eyes all night long.”

  Diamond took a seat and enjoyed the friendly banter going back and forth between the seemingly close friends.

  “What kind of eyes Doc?” Lee asked laughing

  “Lovey, dovey ones. You know when you don’t see anything else going on around you.”

  You could feel the steam radiating from Zack, which was a telling sign that he was not enjoying the conversation. “I don’t have loving eyes for any woman, especially not her,” he angrily declared.

  That declaration let her know it was time to go. She really did want to hear him play, if for no other reason than to be in his presence a little longer. But it seemed she had worn out her welcome. Diamond stood and weakly smiled, “I better go. Have a good set guys.” She walked towards the door.

  The three men watched as she walked out. “Well if she ain’t your lady, do you mind if I get her number?” A man sitting at another table asked. The look the man received from Zack caused him to throw his hands up in a surrender sign and turn away.

  Zack exhaled then stomped out the door behind her. “I’ll be back.”

  Diamond unlocked her car door and was about to get in when Zack called out to her from the door of the restaurant. She put her hand up, “I get it,” she said and got into the car.

  His long strides had him at the driver side of her car before she could close the door. “Look, I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.”

  Why not, she thought to herself. That’s all he had been since the first day they met. Turning the key in the ignition she replied, “Don’t worry about it Mr. Davenport. You said several times it was time for me to go. I was the one that forced you to show me. I enjoyed dinner. You have a good evening.”

  “Hello Zackary.”

  They both turned to a woman’s voice.

  Diamond tried to look around Zack to see the woman, it was dark and he blocked her view.

  “What in hell are you doing here?”

  “I thought it was time for us to talk.” The woman replied. “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?

  Without turning around Zack growled through clenched teeth. “It’s time for you to go Diamond.”

  The tension generating from Zack’s body was so intense Diamond did not consider questioning him. She put the key in the ignition and pulled off.

  Zack stood there and watched until her car was out of sight. She never looked back at him, but he knew he had hurt her feelings. He saw the deflation in her spirit just as he saw at the conference room table a month ago. He exhaled, why did he treat her like that? Why did she seem to bring out the worst in him? Turning back to the woman, he knew the answer. He sighed. “Hello mother. How much do you need?”

  “Why do you always assume I want money from you?”

  “History.” He replied as he pulled his wallet out of his back jean pocket.

  “I want to see Xavier.” She said as she dropped the cigarette to the ground and doused it with her foot.

  Zack looked at the woman who still looked to be in her late twenties body wise, but the street life clearly showed on her face. “No.”

  “He is my child, not yours!”

  “Really,” Zack angrily took a step towards her. “Where were you when he needed his mother? You were too busy with your life to be bothered with him or me.” Zack threw five twenties on the ground. “Go back to your life.” He growled then walked away.

  “He can make his own decisions you know.” She shouted to his back.

  Turning around abruptly, he stalked back towards her, seething. “Go anywhere near him and your funding will stop.” He stopped directly in front, towering over her. “Do I make myself clear?”

  Ann Davenport stared at her son, not backing down. She bent to pick up the bills from the ground and stuffed them inside her bra. “Has your friend seen this side of you? Somebody should warn her about your temper.”

  “Stay the hell away from her!” He angrily warned with his fist clenched at his side.

  Ann wasn’t a fool, she took a step back and smirked. “Like that one do you?” She turned to walk away. “You’ll push her away with your anger for me just like you do the others.” She continued walking with her hands in the pockets of the short jacket she wore over her jeans. “One day that righteous attitude of yours will backfire.” She turned back, facing him as she walked backwards. “Like it or not, I will see Xavier.”

  That’s what drugs will do, turn son against mother and mother against son. Zack learned the lesson the hard way. He knew exactly what the problem was. He remembered the caring mother. The one that tucked him into bed at night, taught him to read, kissed his knees when he scraped them. But that mother slowly disappeared before his eyes. He knew what was happening to her before his father did. The memories were ingrained in the forefront of his mind, as deep as the memory of his good mother was buried in the back of his mind. The drugs meant more to her than her own sons. Xavier was only six when she took off for good. But he was eleven the day his father found him on the corner waiting for his mother to come out of the drug dealer’s house, paying him for the drugs the only way a woman without money could. That was after the third rehab center had failed. King Arthur took his son’s hand and told his wife, not to ever come near his children again. Just like his father, Zack turned his back and walked away from his mother—again.

  Chapter 8

  It was well after midnight when Diamond entered her apartment. She closed the door quietly, not wanting to wake her sister Pearl, whom she assumed was asleep. Walking into the kitchen she reached into the cabinet and pulled out the box of Frosted Flakes. Not bothering to get the milk, she opened the box and began eating the dry cereal. How I am going to save him from himself, she thought. It was so clear to her that that man needs her, but he is too bull headed to see it. Laying her head back she reclined in her favorite chair and began to rock. Apparently some woman had damaged him so deeply in the past he wasn’t willing to give her a chance. In order to face the future, he had to deal with the past. Was the woman that approached him tonight a part of his past? She continued to weave the situation through her mind. How do I get him to open up? Well, first I need to know about the past, who the woman was, and what happened. While doing that I have to keep him close. I’ve already gotten under his skin, she smiled. There was no way he could deny his reaction to her, she felt it and knew he did too. If he was honest with himself, he felt it that first day when their hands touched. How do I find out about the woman? She asked while looking to the ceiling. I could ask Xavier, but I don’t want to put him in an awkward position of discussing his brother’s old ladies with his soon to be future wife. She thought a little more. A knowing smile crept onto her face. She walked back into the kitchen and placed the closed cereal box in the cabinet. Walking into her bedroom, she quickly took her shower and put on a Jordan t-shirt that was about three sizes too big and slid under her covers. She had a plan in
mind. This is what she should have done in the first place. Some problems can’t be solved alone. Satisfied with her next steps, she closed her eyes and waited for the dream of the man she was going to marry to invade her sleep.

  Sundays in the Lassiter house were always the same. Breakfast, church, dinner and whatever game it was for the season. Today, March madness. The top sixteen basketball college teams around the country were competing for the final four elusive top spots. All the Lassiter men, including Joshua, who was usually on a secretive assignment for the government somewhere, were home on this particular weekend and Diamond could not be happier. With everyone home, they could call a council meeting to help solve her dilemma. During a council meeting everyone gets to voice their solution, then the person who calls it selects the top two. The family then votes between the two. If there was a tie, mommy and daddy would deliberate and break the tie.

  Sally marched into the family room where her men were seated and announced, “Diamond has called for a council meeting. It is taking place in the dining room now.”

  “Now?” Matthew yelled.

  “Yes now,” Sally replied looking at her son as if he had lost his mind.

  “Can it wait until after the game?” Luke pleaded.

  Joe turned to his wife, “The game will be over in ten minutes. What’s happening with Diamond can wait.”

  All five feet three inches, one hundred and ten pounds of Sally Lassiter stood in front of her husband with hands on hips and stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

  Joe, whose attention had gone back to the game, looked up at his wife. Without a word being said he understood her meaning. He picked up the remote and turned off the television. “Boys, you heard your mother.” His six foot eleven frame stood and smiled at his wife, “I don’t want you to think you’re in control, I run this house.”

  Sally walked away as Samuel, the oldest, standing at least six five, walked by and hit his father on the back, “Keep thinking that Dad.”

  “Yeah, it’s going to be true one day,” Joshua, standing six three, laughed as he walked out the door. “I don’t know why you’re laughing,” he said to Samuel. “Cynthia controls you too.” He walked by Samuel and laughed.

  Samuel nodded, “I love every minute of it. And one day you will too.”

  Joshua froze. Samuel and his father laughed at the look on his face.

  Once everyone was seated at the table Joe had built to handle his large family, Sally placed the voting box on the table as Ruby gave out the pens and index cards. “The meeting is now called to order. You know the rules, no telephone calls or interruptions until a decision is made.” Joe stated. “Diamond you now have the floor.”

  “Thank you daddy and I’m sorry guys, but this is important.” She hesitated then smiled, “I’m interested in a man.”

  “No!’ Joshua shouted, “My vote is no!”

  “You haven’t heard the problem yet Joshua, you can’t vote no,” Sapphire the baby girl stated.

  “I can and if it involves a man my vote is no,” Joshua stated.

  “Hear her out Joshua,” Samuel quietly ordered.

  There were only two men in the world and one woman that would speak to Joshua in that tone and get away without bodily harm-his father, his mother and Samuel, his older brother. Joshua looked at Diamond. This was the sensible sister, who never had issues with men. He wasn’t sure he was ready for this conversation. “Sorry Diamond, go ahead.”

  She exhaled and looked around the table. Ruby’s smile encouraged her to continue. “Like I was saying, I’m interested in this man and everything in me screams he is just as attracted to me, but he won’t let down his guard. Now, in thinking this through I need to know about his past and what I can do to get him to open up to me.”

  Joe and Sally looked at each other, they knew who she was referring to and were concerned how the older boys would take the news. “You can’t make a man interested in you if he is not,” Mathew stated as he sat back in his seat.

  “Oh, please, of course you can,” Jade smirked. “Any woman can.”

  “I know that’s right,” Sapphire agreed with a huff. Everyone at the table turned and stared at her. “So I heard,” she quickly added.

  “At sixteen that better be all you heard,” Joshua scowled.

  Diamond smiled at her little sister, trying to smooth over the scowl from Joshua then continued. “The man is interested, he just doesn’t know it or want to admit it,” she explained.

  “How do you know he is interested Diamond?” Samuel asked hoping his question came out more calmly than he felt inside. After all this was one of his little sisters and he was not thrilled at the thought of her being with a man, it didn’t matter how old she was.

  With a gleam in her eyes, Diamond told her family about the times she had been in Zackary’s presence and how he had reacted. After listening, Samuel, Joshua and Luke looked at each other with knowing stares. Matt, Timothy and Adam were lost in the conversation, neither of them had experienced those feelings and did not understand Diamond’s dilemma. Ruby, Opal, Jade and Sapphire all smiled the “awe” look at her.

  However Pearl had a question. “Why would you want to be with a man that spoke to you publicly in a disrespectful manner, not once, but twice?” She sat forward to emphasize her point. “See that’s where we go wrong as women. The man shows you up front that he is disrespectful, but we think we can step in and change them. There’s no changing him, Diamond, move on.”

  Most of the occupants rolled their eyes upward. They had all been privy to Pearl’s opinion on men. “That may have been your experience Pearl. It may not be the situation for Diamond,” Sally surmised.

  “Who is he?” Joshua questioned in a harsh tone.

  Diamond looked to her father for help. “Joshua,” Joe cautioned.

  “I’m just asking a question, who in the hell is he?”

  “Joshua, don’t speak that way in this house,” Sally chastised.

  “Sorry Mom.”

  “I have to second Joshua on this.” Samuel, who sat at one end of the table while both his parents were at the other, spoke calmly. “In order for us to advise you wisely, we need to know who we are talking about Diamond.”

  “Will you guys promise not to confront him?”

  “No,” Joshua replied.

  Samuel touched Joshua on the shoulder, “I’m not going to say we will not speak with him Diamond. You are our baby sister. It’s our responsibility to protect you. But we won’t confront him in a negative way. I take it he is someone we know.”

  “You guys do,” she pointed to her older brothers and sisters at the head of the table. Samuel, Joshua, Ruby, and Pearl sat up.

  “Who?” Ruby asked.

  “Zackary Lassiter.”

  “You mean Xavier. He is so fine with his dreads,” Opal said with a “you go girl” look as her sisters Jade and Ruby agreed with her.

  Diamond inhaled nervously and looked at her mother. Sally smiled and encouraged her on.

  “No, not Xavier. I’m talking about his brother Zackary.”

  “Zack?” Joshua asked, “Huh, you better mean X-man.”

  “Diamond,” Ruby sat up concerned, “Zack is handsome, but honey, he is a full grown man, with manly needs that he satisfies regularly, from what I understand,” Ruby explained, hoping her baby sister would not be one of his next conquests.

  “He screws them and leaves them, Diamond.” Pearl emphasized the words as she spoke. “He is not a forever kind of man. Like I said before, little sis, move on.”

  “Who is he?” Sapphire, who everyone called Phire and Adam, asked.

  “He owns Davenport Industries,” said Timothy, the brother in school for business. “He has a success story for the books. He was at Virginia Union on a football scholarship, a shoo in for the NFL when he ups and quit school. He then started working construction, now he owns one of the top construction companies in Virginia. I mean multi-million dollar company.”

  “Whoa…You go D
iamond,” Phire laughed.

  Samuel looked in Diamond’s eyes. He could see she was serious about this man. “Everybody quiet down,” Samuel ordered. “Before we start giving Diamond options, you all need to know the entire story on Zack.”

  The tone in his voice alerted his younger siblings that he was serious. They immediately quieted down, sat up and listened. “Here’s what I know. Zack has every reason to be guarded with his feelings.” Diamond stood next to her mother and listened intently to Samuel. “When we were in junior high Zack’s mother left his father with two young children to raise, for her drug dealer. His father had to take a second job, leaving Zack to care for his little brother. He became X-man’s mother and father. After football practice, we came home to a hot meal and a family. Zack went home to cook a meal for him and his little brother. After the games, we got to hang out with the girls, but he had to go home. When Zack got the full ride scholarship, his father refused to allow what he believed to be his responsibility to stop Zack from going to school. That’s when his father quit the second job to be with X-man. Things were good for a few years and Zack was tearing up the yards as a receiver. The scouts were at every game, anxiously waiting until they could get their hands on him. Unfortunately, his dream was derailed when his father died from a massive heart attack. I think he was nineteen, maybe twenty, when he had to leave school to take care of X-man. His girlfriend at the time, Celeste Crenshaw, saw the NFL disappear and so did she. Not only did his mother walk out of his life, but so did the woman he loved.”

  Diamond had tears in her eyes as she listened to her brother. She knew a woman had hurt Zack, but his own mother? “What happened to his mother?,” she asked.

  “Hmm, that’s the interesting part,” Joshua chimed in. “His mother is still on drugs. Every now and then when she is in need Zack will give her a few dollars to keep her away from X-man.”

  “How do you know that?” she asked.

  “Every now and then he would ask me to try to locate her, just to make sure she was still alive and okay.” Joshua sat up and sighed, “Diamond, Zack is a good brother, and a damn decent man,” he looked at his mother. “Sorry Mom. However, he is not going to willingly open up his heart to any woman. He may use your body, but he will not give you his heart.”