“Your mother asked me to come get you. All the guest are here, waiting for you to join them for dinner.”
Whatever you do, don’t stare at her cleavage, I kept repeating in my head. Her eyes met mine and I forgot what she even said. Something about my mother. Damn, look at those lips of hers. I just want to—
“Ugh, what?” I responded. I was pretty sure at this point my body had taken over and I was seducing her involuntarily, not that I would put up a fight. My body knew what I needed, and it was her. It was definitely her. Shit, my eyes just dropped to her breast. Look up. Don’t be a pervert.
“Your mother…she asked me to…” she cleared her throat, “Come get you for dinner. There are guests and food. People are waiting.” She appeared nervous as she spoke, which kind of set off the predatory side in me. I wanted her, and I wanted her now. I played it off cool. She probably had a boyfriend, or husband anyway.
“What’s your name?” I asked grinning. I couldn’t have cared less about the guests downstairs, or the food, or my mother. There was something about this girl that made my head stop spinning, and I liked that. How do I casually ask her if she is single without coming on too strong?
“I’m sorry?” she replied. Her face was filled with a look of surprise, almost bordering shock. Had no man asked her name before? It seemed that way by the peculiar way she was acting.
“I want to know your name. You do have a name, don’t you?”
“Emily Rose Monroe.” She chuckled. Damn, even her laugh was sexy.
“I have one question for you, Emily Rose Monroe. What are you doing working here? You can’t be older than twenty one.” I leaned in closer to her. She backed up a step, clearly keeping space, making distance. All that shit girls do.
“Twenty four and I’m just working here to—”
“James, please do not keep our guests waiting any longer. It’s rude,” a familiar voice cut off Emily and from the ashes of hell, she arose. Almost out of thin air. Diabla, my mother, tapped her foot behind me.
Thank you so very much for cock blocking, I thought. I rolled my eyes, and turned to my mother who was now looking at the poor girl in such a way it made her uncomfortable. Emily put her head down and walked away.
“What are you doing?” My mother said, as she approached me with her usual look of disapproval.
“What do you mean?”
“A maid? Really? You can do so much better.”
“Oh, you mean someone like you. Wealthy, obnoxious, judgmental and pretentious. That sounds exactly like my kind of woman.”
“Listen here, you little shit. I worked hard to get to where I’m at, and no one is going to take it away. If you want to decline a life of luxury and live amongst the poor that is your deal, but don’t come in my house and start pointing fingers. I hope you remember who paid for all the court costs and lawyer fees. If it wasn’t for me, you would have served a longer sentence and you know it. I expect every dime of that money paid back too. So while you sit under my roof, eating my food and wearing the clothes I bought for you, I would appreciate a little appreciation, James.”
My mouth was clenched now. I crossed my arms and stared her down. She lifted up her chin.
“My father earned everything you have, so don’t feed me that garbage. You had nothing before him. He gave it all to you and how did you repay him, by taking his partner to bed.”
Again I felt the palm of her hand fall hard across my face. I collected myself and looked up.
“You’re going to stop smacking me. I’m not a little boy anymore, and the next time you lay your hands on me it will be your last.”
We stood in the hallway just eyeing each other. I heard the shuffle of feet and looked back to see Emily standing there. There was a sadness in her eyes that pissed me off. She probably felt some type of fucked way about all of this. Shit, I know I did.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mrs. King, but the guests are becoming impatient.”
“Let’s not keep them waiting then, mother.” I turned and walked passed Emily making no eye contact. My mother and her loud ass heels followed behind me. I walked to the table ready for war. My brother spotted me and instantly stood up and walked around the table to get to me. Chad stood a little shorter than me, with not a brown hair out of place. He was wearing something my mother would have picked out, and it just pissed me off even more. Chad always tried to please her. He was scared of her. If it was up to him, he would be wearing shorts and sandals instead of this tucked in preppy look that I knew she just loved. He pulled me in for a tight bear hug and sadly I was filled with so much anger I couldn’t even smile.
“James, it’s good to see you, brother. I am so glad you’re home. I missed your face. I didn’t even know until I got here, that today was your release day. I’ve been so busy with school. I haven’t even looked at my calendar. I feel really bad. I would have brought you a gift or something.” I shook my head. He looked me up and down. “Let me introduce you to my friend, Gary.”
I stared at Gary and back to my brother. There was some type of odd body language between the two that set off all kinds of flags. It was the way they smiled and looked at each other. It was the way when Gary stood, Chad pulled his chair back farther like a gentleman. It was definitely the way my brother kept his hand on the back of Gary as he spoke. I know this, no straight man is that attentive to another guy. I always suspected Chad might be gay, but this here just confirmed my suspicion. I didn’t really care either way, but I wished he would just come out already. I reached over and shook Gary’s hand. Gary reminded me of those guys who fix your computer at Best Buy. The Geek squad. He had a certain nerd thing going for him, with the white shirt, black glasses and blond hair slicked over to the one side.
I looked down the table to see another couple who I didn’t know and I didn’t care enough to get to know. I quickly waved at them before my mother introduced them. I didn’t even bother to listen to their name. I’ll just call them Mr. and Mrs. I don’t give a shit, because I didn’t. I could already tell what type of people they were, by the way they both arched their eyebrow and whispered to one another when I entered. I caught a quick snort from the Mrs. They didn’t know that I noticed, but I did.
I plopped down with disgust, as my eyes connected with my mother’s. She sat there in her red dress looking like a she devil. I wouldn’t be surprised if flames shot out of her ass tonight. I just kept staring at her, imagining how different my life would have been if I had actually had a real mom. I mean, look at her smiling, and acting like the world is her own personal stage. Look at this shit here. Inhale and exhale.
“So, James. Is it true that you were just released from prison today?” asked Mr. I don’t give a shit. He swirled his wine around, sniffed at his glass and stared at me waiting, just waiting like the prick he was.
Inhale and exhale. It’s just a dinner. We don’t need to go to war, right? Breathe.
“Yup, sure is,” I replied and stared down at my empty plate and then across the table at all of the food.
“I told you,” the guy said to his wife and chuckled.
I jerked my neck up. “Excuse me. Did I miss something?” I asked the wine drinking asshole.
“Harold, we shouldn’t talk about that at dinner. Let’s discuss how your Step Up magazine is doing instead. James has had a trying day. He doesn’t want to discuss his personal business right now, right, James?” My mother turned to me and smiled.
I looked at her dead in her eyes, and smiled right back. She shifted in her seat. Oh, I know this guy, Harold. I remember him. Now, I know why I didn’t like him. This asshole ran a tabloid called Step Up News. I remembered, because he wrote a story on me, and how I was a childhood addict and how I was the reason why our family tore apart, and that the stress from it all killed my father. He was the biggest douche bag ever. No good person made up blatant lies like that. I couldn’t believe my mother had him sitting here. I guess she wanted a story redo, and she would definitely get one after wha
t I was about to say.
“There’s no better time than now, mom. Honestly let’s air all of our dirty laundry out. Let’s give your guest something to talk about.” I turned my attention from my mother to the guy who was whispering to his wife again. He looked up and now I had his full attention. Hell, I had the whole table’s attention. Here goes. “Since you asked, yes, I was busted on cocaine charges. I just served over a year, and today was my release day. Nobody gave a shit about picking me up today, so I took a cab home and had to deal with nosy ass neighbors, was followed by a maid who tried to stab me, because my mother has no pictures of me in the house therefore the maid thought I was a robber. But just like she wasn’t there for me today, I notice one thing. Carl, her husband is not here tonight. That’s because he’s been banging his secretary since he hired her four years ago. He’s probably busy tapping that as we speak.” I paused and looked around the table. My mother was clenching her wine glass so hard, I figured broken glass would be on this table any minute now.
“Oh don’t feel bad for her. It takes a cheater to know a cheater. My mother was banging my father’s business partner long before my dad died to further her career. How do you think she met Carl? Carl was my father’s business partner. Not enough yet? Let’s drop some more hidden secrets. The King family has plenty. Victoria planned this nice welcome home party for my gay brother Chad, not for me on my release day, but just for him. That’s right, mom. Your baby boy over there is gay. That’s not his friend with him. That’s his lover. I hope that doesn’t put a damper on your perfect life.”
I kept my eyes directly off of my brother Chad, but I saw him drop his napkin and put his head down.
“James!” my mother yelled.
“No, enough with all the secrets. Why does our family have all these damn secrets? Now it’s all out in the open. I think Chad should know you’re the reason dad is dead. Your affair killed him. You gave him a heart attack.”
“Get the fuck out of my house, now!” she screamed and stood up.
“Gladly,” I said, as I pushed back my chair with so much force the whole table shook, causing a few glasses to fall over.
I was already down the hall and headed straight for my room with plans to pack a bag, and get the hell out of dodge. I had a little money left over from what my mother gave me earlier. I’d get a hotel for the night and figure out what to do tomorrow. I marched into my room, straight toward the closet. I grabbed a duffle bag from the top rack, and started shoving whatever clothes I could inside.
“Those stay here. I bought them,” she barked from behind me. I swung around to see her huffing and puffing.
“Fine,” I dropped the bag. “Where’s my stuff? My old clothes, furniture and my car? Where is it?”
“Your stuff? Your car? Everything was sold. You didn’t think I was going to use all of my money trying to fix your mistakes, did you?” She laughed.
“You sold my car?” I pinched the bridge of my nose seeking some small piece of tension relief. “You know what? I don’t need any of it. I’m gone.”
“Good luck out there. I guarantee you in less than a week, you’ll be begging to come back, basically down on hands and knees. Nobody wants you, James. Your reputation is tarnished beyond repair.”
I looked at her and shook my head, before storming out of the room. I was worked up and headed toward any door that could blast me out of this nightmare. My brother was leaning against the entry door. He tried to grab my arm and stop me. I pulled away, purely out of anger. My heart was beating fast, and my mind was spinning out of control.
“James, don’t do this.”
“Do what?” I yelled.
“Don’t handle the situation like this?”
“What other choice do I have? To be quiet, to sit back and be a good boy. I’m not you, Chad. I’m sorry, but I’m not. She’s not a good person. When are you going to see that? When are you going to open your eyes?” I exhaled so hard it caused my chest to hurt.
“She’s not perfect, but she didn’t deserve that thing you pulled at the table, and frankly neither did I. Is it that obvious? Being gay,” he asked calmly.
I nodded.
“Look, I’m not apologizing. It’s time you stop being so scared of her. What are you afraid of, that she might cut you off too, or that she may disown you because you’re gay? This is your life, start taking charge or she’s going to run it forever.”
He looked at me and opened his mouth, but just as he was going to speak my mother entered the room. She stared at me with a look that I will never forget.
“I have to go, man. Take charge,” I said, and put my hand on his shoulder before exiting the house.
I walked down the driveway empty handed with whatever money was in my pocket. At least I had a job. I started working at the bar tomorrow, but it would be a while before I could afford an apartment. I became depressed thinking about all the nights I may have to stay at shitty ass motels until I rebuilt my life. Riches to prison to rags. Classic fairy tale story. Me and my big mouth. I couldn’t help it though. My mother drove me crazy. It was too late now, so I kept on walking forward. After a while it felt as though I had been walking for miles and miles toward the wrong side of town. I didn’t even know how long it took me to get there, but my feet stopped in front of a strip club called Kitty Kats. I looked up at the neon sign and had one thought. What the hell was I doing here? I didn’t need to spend money I didn’t have on these chicks. I didn’t need girls teasing me for ass I wasn’t going to get. I convinced myself one drink and then it was off to the motel to bed down for the night. I walked in to see a brunette on stage shaking her ass to some hip hop song. She was pretty, but I wasn’t here for her. She smiled as I walked by. I quickly looked away. You would not be getting my money sweetheart. Stop trying.
I headed for the bar and ordered a beer, which eventually turned into six beers, two shots, and a margarita. My stomach was turning by the last drink. Why in the hell did I drink all that? During this depressing solo drinking festival, I think I was propositioned for a lap dance from just about every girl in here, and with each passing hour it got harder to say no. I still watched them though. I watched them with hungry eyes. Passing up on titties and ass grinding on me, after being locked up was hard, but most of these girls were a mess. Not my thing. I finally decided it was time to leave. I got up and walked, or should I rather say stumbled outside. The cold breeze hit my face and suddenly I didn’t feel like puking anymore. The lights were blurry and I couldn’t read any signs for shit. I should call a cab, but I didn’t want to waste any more money. Screw it. I didn’t need a cab. I could do this. There was a motel just down the road. I saw it walking up here. All I needed to do was to walk as straight as I could down the street. If any cops picked me up like this I was seriously fucked. I was supposed to go see my parole officer tomorrow. I didn’t need a public intoxication issue causing a problem. This could set me back, way back.
I was half way down the street when I heard my name being called out. I looked over to see a beat up, old, blue Camry slowly driving next to me. I squinted my eyes to see in. It was useless.
“Mr. King, are you okay?” a female voice asked.
I stopped for a moment and then walked closer to the vehicle. I leaned down and stared inside.
“It’s you. Are you stalking me Ms. Emily Rose Monroe?” I asked jokingly.
“No. I was on my way home and recognized you. You do stand out, ya know.”
“How so?” I asked now leaning my elbows on her car door.
“You’re shirtless for one, and your walk is a little questionable at the moment.”
I looked down. What the hell happened to my shirt? Did those girls take it off in there? Did I take it off in there? I chuckled and then looked back to her.
“I plead the fifth on the whereabouts of my shirt.” I smirked. “Am I really walking that bad?”
“Yeah. Get in. I’ll take you wherever you want to go. Unless you have a ride?”
“Is this car even safe to travel in?” I tapped the roof of her car expecting it to crumble.
“You can get in and find out, or you can walk your drunk ass to your destination.”
“Good point,” I said, as I climbed in and sat down.
“Damn, how much did you have to drink?” she asked, as she rolled her window down.
“Too much, obviously. I haven’t drank like that for a while. My tolerance is pretty low after being in…” I stopped short of saying the word prison.
She stared forward. “Did you just come out of that strip club back there?”
Shit. This makes me look like a douche bag, and a pervert and desperate. All I could do was nod.
“Typical man. Gets out of jail and finds a strip club and liquor.”
“It’s not like. I just wanted to…” Wait. I didn’t need to explain myself. “Never mind.”
“Where am I taking you?”
“The Palm Inn. It’s straight down this street on your right side.”
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t look at me. She just drove. Phase two of being drunk was kicking in. It was the part where you could barely keep your eyes open. I started to drift off a few times, but the jerkiness of her driving would snap me out of it. We finally arrived at the motel. She cut the engine and jumped out of the car. I climbed out of my side, falling hard against the car. I steadied myself.
“You good?” she asked. There was concern in her eyes.
“I’m good,” I responded. “Thank you for driving me here. I appreciate it.”
“Can I ask you something personal, Mr. King?”
“It’s James.”
“Okay, James.”
“Yup.”
“I overheard your mother and brother talking. You have access to all this money, but you choose to walk away. Tell me what makes somebody do that?”
“I don’t know, Emily. What makes a girl drive a guy she barely knows to a motel in the middle of the night?”
“It felt like the right thing to do, I guess.”
“Exactly,” I slurred.
The Silver Lining Page 3