by RM Johnson
After a second, his eyes looked up, only to see another one of Wade’s fists flying at him. This punch hit Carlos on the side of the face, on his cheekbone, knocking him off balance. He stumbled sideways, then fell to the porch floor.
He rolled over once, quickly spun to his stomach and looked up at Wade again, a sickly, frightened look on his face.
“Who the fuck are you, and why you doin’ this!” Carlos yelled, half crazed.
Wade walked toward him as if nothing registered, as if he hadn’t heard a word Carlos said.
He came down on Carlos with an overhand right, hitting him squarely in the left eye.
Carlos fell flat to the porch again, flailing around blindly, reaching out, trying to get ahold of Wade. Wade sidestepped one of the weak attempts, then hauled himself back, and kicked Carlos in the gut, flipping him to his back.
“Who are you!” Carlos yelled again between coughing fits.
Wade kicked him again in the ribs, two more times, then stepped over him, grabbed him by his shirt with one hand, and punched him in his left eye as hard as he could, hoping his eye would swell up and shut too, so he could see how Livvy felt.
Three more hard blows, and Carlos didn’t even cry out in pain after the last shot, couldn’t even hold up his arms to try to defend against any more blows. His body was limp, and Wade let him go, allowed his body to flop down on the porch.
Wade continued to stand over him, looking down, the anger still coursing through him, but starting to ebb some now.
“Why did you do this?” Wade heard Carlos say, his voice weak.
Wade kneeled, so he could look into Carlos’s eyes, allow Carlos to look into his.
“You want to know?”
Carlos nodded his head.
Wade looked out toward his car, saw Livvy looking worriedly up at him.
“Look up, out there,” Wade said, pointing toward the car, but Carlos didn’t seem as if he wanted to put forth the effort it would take to raise his head. Wade reached down, grabbed the man’s face, and raised his head for him. Carlos moaned in agony, but through his quickly swelling eyes, he saw Livvy sitting there in the car, her face still a mess from the beating he had given her.
“You see her there?” Wade said.
Carlos didn’t respond.
“I said, do you see her?” Wade asked again, more forcefully, squeezing Carlos’s face.
“Yeah!” Carlos yelled from behind clenched teeth.
“That’s why I did this to you, and if I ever hear word of you touching my woman again, if I hear that you’ve even been near her, you can bet your little sun-tanned ass that I’ll be back, and what just happened will seem pleasurable compared to the beating I’ll have for you then.” Wade dropped Carlos’s face from his hand, his head slamming against the porch surface.
Wade stood and was prepared to return to the car when he heard a final question seep out of Carlos’s mouth. “Who are you?”
Wade turned. “I’m Livvy’s new man,” he said, then turned back around and walked away.
* * *
“HE DESERVED IT, Livvy,” Wade said, pouring Livvy and himself a drink. He had taken them back to his room, telling Livvy that he wanted her with him and also wanted her to see him for what he really was, find out if this relationship could be salvaged.
“He laid his hands on you, and he deserved to have it done back to him,” Wade said.
“I know, but I just wish that I didn’t have to bring you into this.”
“You didn’t bring me into this,” Wade said, setting down his glass, moving closer to Livvy. “I came because I care for you, and believe it or not, that’s why I told you those lies.”
“Let’s just forget about that, Wade. Okay?”
“No. I want to explain first. I’m not a lying man, Livvy. Please believe that. I don’t have a lot, nothing that I can really be proud of, but I’m not ashamed. I’m doing the best I can. I have very little debt, and I work very hard, putting money away. By this time next year, I’m going to have a house of my own. Like I said, I guess I was just lonely, tired of being by myself, and I was willing to say whatever I needed to keep you with me. I hope you’ll forgive me for that.”
Livvy reached out and caressed his face. “If you forgive me for saying that a man with a lot of money was the only kind I wanted, and for making you think that I couldn’t love and appreciate you for all the good things that you truly are.”
“I can forgive you for that,” Wade said, placing his hand over the hand that touched his face.
“Then I forgive you, too.”
FORTY-FOUR
ALLY closed the book, unable to read any longer. Earlier when she came in from apartment shopping, she sat down in front of the TV and scanned the immediate area for the remote. It wasn’t on the sofa with her, and she didn’t see it atop all the junk that lay on the coffee table. She sank her hands in between the cushions of the couch, blindly feeling around for it, but when she felt nothing, she shuffled the magazines, paper plates, and other crap that was before her and finally found it.
She pointed the thing at the TV and was just about to click it on when she thought about everything she’d just had to do to locate it. She thought about what her mother said—how she comes in the house, sees Ally sitting around a pile of junk just watching TV, and Ally knew she was right.
Ally put the remote down beside her, telling herself the least she could do was clean off the coffee table, and then she could watch TV. If nothing else, this would give her a clean space to kick her feet up.
She did that, then stepped back and saw that there were crumbs and lint on the rug, so she brought out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed—not only the living room but the dining area as well.
After that, Ally clicked on the stereo and found herself dancing around to WGCI as she washed all the dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. When she was finished with that, she took out some more cleaning supplies, products like Pledge, Windex, and Fantastic. Ally used them all, cleaning the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom from top to bottom. She took out all the garbage, pulled out all the old stuff that they didn’t use anymore that was just cluttering up the place, and dumped it.
When she was done, she felt good. She settled back down on the couch, grabbed the remote, pointed it at the TV again, and found herself hesitating once more. She didn’t know why, but after all that work she’d done, she didn’t even feel like watching TV anymore.
She set the remote down on the coffee table, sat there a moment, looking up at the ceiling, thinking. All of a sudden, she got up from the sofa and walked down the hallway toward her room that she shared with Henny.
When she returned, she sat down with one of Henny’s big African history books, opened it, and started reading. She couldn’t wait ’til her mother got home to see what she had done, especially after what had happened the other night. She needed to be able to relax, not worry about anything, and Ally understood that. She also understood now why her mother had treated Ally the way she always did. But things would change, Livvy told her. She would treat her better now. And at that moment, Ally made the same promise to herself. From now on, she would treat her mother with more respect, do what she was expected to do, and it was all starting with her cleaning up the house.
After ten pages of the book, which Ally surprisingly enjoyed, she closed it, looked at the clock, and seeing that it was after eleven, wondered where her mother was. Just then, Ally heard a key slip into the lock, and instantly got excited. Her mother would walk in the door, see how clean the place was, and would be so proud of Ally.
She stood from the sofa, then looked down at the book, quickly picked it up, cracked it open, and held it in both her hands, as if she was just in the middle of studying a thought-provoking sentence.
When the door opened, Ally looked up and was disappointed to find that it wasn’t her mother but Henny.
Well, Henny would be surprised at the clean house too. She hadn’t seen her in a
couple of days, thought her sister was avoiding her for some reason, but now she would have no choice but to say something nice to her for a change.
Henny closed the door and turned to look at Ally with an angry glare. She quickly covered the room with her eyes, seeming to dismiss how clean it was, then focused on her sister.
“What are you doing with my book?” was all Henny had to say.
“Ain’t you gonna say something about the house? I cleaned it up.”
“Fuck the house,” Henny said, walking toward her sister, extending her hand. “Give me my book.”
“Fine,” Ally said, handing it over. “What’s your damn problem?”
“Rafe dumped me. Have any ideas why, Alizé?”
Ally looked at Henny as if she had just been asked a trick question. “No.”
“Because Mama went to his house and told him he needed to. You want to tell me just how she got his address?”
Ally hesitated to answer, quickly trying to work out a response that would suit her sister, but when nothing came, she simply said, “I tried not to tell her, but Mama knew I was lyin’.”
“Dammit, Ally!” Henny slammed the book to the floor. “She knew you were lying. So what? You lied to her a million times before, and when she caught you, did that mean you turned around and told her the truth?”
Ally didn’t say a word.
“Well did it?” Henny demanded.
“No.”
“Then why did you do it this time? Because you wanted her to know,” Henny answered before Ally could. “You told her because you wanted him to dump me, because this was the one time that someone wanted me instead of you.”
“It wasn’t like that, Henny,” Ally said, reaching out to her sister.
Henny waved her off. “I don’t believe you, Ally. Every time I got a boyfriend, you would come around swishin’ your big ass in front of his face, trying to lure him away, and you always did. All those times I didn’t mind, because I always had an excuse to dismiss that. They weren’t worth it anyway. I didn’t really like that boy. I’d rather be studying than be with him. But, Ally this was different!” Henny said, her entire face trembling, her lip quivering, a tear quickly streaming down her cheek. “I love him!”
Ally grabbed her sister. “Henny, look. We can fix this.”
“How? He won’t listen to me, so he sure as hell won’t listen to you. And Mama won’t allow it because she knows he’s been in prison. How did she find that out, when you and I were the only ones who knew about it, Ally?”
“I don’t know,” Ally said, but Henny didn’t believe her.
“I always knew that there was a certain amount of dislike you had for me, and I never really knew why. You promised that you wouldn’t tell Mama about Rafe being in jail, but you did anyway,” Henny said, dropping her face in her hand. “I know now that I just don’t mean shit to you.”
“Henny, what are you talking about? You’re my sister. I love you,” Ally cried.
“I’m tired of always trying to be the one to make things right between us. You don’t care about me, don’t care about us,” Henny said, wiping tears from her face. “So from now on, I don’t care about us either. I don’t even consider you my sister anymore.” And she headed for the door.
Ally ran over to her, grabbing her and throwing her arms around her.
“Henny, please don’t go. I’m sorry about all the bad things I did to you, but I only did those things because I was jealous of you. Because you were perfect and I couldn’t compare to that. Because you got all Mama’s attention and she never cared about me. But everything’s cool now, Henny,” Ally said, still holding tight to her sister, looking up into her eyes, hoping that some of what Ally was saying reached her. “I had a talk with Mama, and I understand, and things are gonna be better for everybody. I promise, Henny. I promise.”
Hennesey continued to let herself be held, looked down at her sister as if thinking about what she’d just told her, then said, “Just like you promised not to tell about Rafe.” Henny wrestled to free herself from Ally’s embrace, turned, then left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
Ally stood there, crying. She’d never really understood just how much her sister meant to her until that very moment. Ally was thinking about what to do next when the phone rang. She walked over to it, picked it up. “Hello?”
“Get your stuff, and come out to the Hyatt by the airport,” Lisa said.
“What are you talkin’ about? That’s forty minutes away, it’s almost midnight, and it’s starting to rain. Besides, something just happened and I don’t feel like do in’ anything.”
“Ally, this is it, girl. The last two. Got these two niggas in the hotel right now, and they loaded. Drove me over here in a Bentley. Puffy drive a Bentley, and you know how much money he got! Get over here!”
“I told you, I don’t feel like it. Besides I ain’t spendin’ all that money for a cab.”
“They said they got you. They just want me to have one of my girls come out here.”
Ally paused, thinking about it. She looked over at the door her sister just walked out of, wondering if she could catch her. But what would she tell Hennesey to make her forgive her?
“Ally, this one last hit, baby, and we’re done,” Lisa said, desperation in her voice. “I need this, and I know you do too. Let’s put in this one last night, all right. We came this damn far. Let’s finish it off so you don’t have to be sleeping on nobody’s couch.”
A frown covered Ally’s face at the thought of Lisa’s reference. She gave it another moment of thought, then said, “This is the last time, Lisa, and then it’s over. I got changes to make.”
“Fine. Just leave out now, okay.”
“That’s what I’m doin’. See you in forty.”
Ally hung up the phone, grabbed her cell phone, and scrolled down through the directory for a number. She pressed Send and waited for someone to pick up.
“Hello,” a voice answered.
“Rafe, this is Ally, Hennesey’s sister.”
There was silence for a brief moment. Then he said, “Yeah, so?”
“I think Henny’s on her way over there. When she comes, let her in, will you?”
“Me and Henny dont got nothing to talk about.” He paused again. “I’m done with her.”
“C’mon, Rafe. You might be able to play her, but don’t try to play me. You ain’t the only one know the game. I know you in love with my sister, saw it when you came over here, and can hear it in your voice right now. I know my moms come over there talkin’ a lot of trash, but that’s not her place. If you love my sister, like I know she loves you, then forget what my mother said. As much as she wants to, she can’t decide who my sister is with, and you shouldn’t let her. You hear me?”
Rafe was silent.
“Rafe, you got that?”
“Yeah, Ally. I got it. I appreciate this,” he said. Then asked, “How you been? You ain’t still hanging around them bailers are you? That’s bad news. You need to stop that before something happens.”
Ally heard the question and Rafe’s warning, but hung up the phone. I’m doing what I got to do, Ally told herself, grabbing her keys off the table, her jacket from off the back of the chair. She walked out the door, her sister still heavy on her mind.
FORTY-FIVE
ALLY must’ve been right, Rafe thought, as he quickly headed downstairs to answer his doorbell. He stood there at the door for a moment without opening it, trying to get himself emotionally straight. How would he look at her? What would he say?
From the moment he took his first step down the stairs and toward the door, he told himself he would be strong. What he had said had to stand. They were over. There was no way they could be together, no way that it would work, and the sooner they both accepted this, the sooner they could get on with their own lives, go down their own paths, see other people.
But Rafe knew it wasn’t that easy as he wrapped a hand around the doorknob, preparing to open the d
oor. Henny had too much of a hold on him. He had found that out the other night in the hotel room with those girls. They were all over him, writhing about, practically naked on that bed. They were wanting him, or maybe it was Smoke’s money that made it appear as though they wanted him. Either way, he could’ve had them.
But he didn’t go through with it. He wanted to, wanted to so badly, because he knew it would’ve helped him rid himself of the thought of Hennesey. But he just couldn’t. He felt the kisses of one of the girls down his neck, the other pecking him around the torso, slowing moving south. He looked across to the other bed, saw Smoke working on the other two girls like some professional porn star, and he knew he couldn’t be a part of that. Whether they were together or not, Henny meant too much to Rafe for him to go out like that.
Rafe turned the deadbolt on the door and told himself a number of times, silently in his head, he would not take her back. He would not take her back. It was for her own good.
When he finally opened the door, Henny stood outside, her body drenched from the rain, her long hair flattened against her head and face. She was not looking up at him but down at the ground, as if ashamed at the fact that she was standing there.
“What do you want?” Rafe asked, trying to sound firm, even though all he wanted to do was grab the girl, take her in his arms, and never let her go.
Henny slowly raised her head, rain and tears sliding down her face. “It’s what Mama thinks, but it’s not how I feel,” Henny said, trying to be heard over the rain that was crashing down around her.
“Why did you come? We already talked about this. How did you even get here?”
Henny looked out toward the street. A cab sat there waiting, smoke streaming from the exhaust, windshield wipers moving back and forth, sloshing the rain away.
“Henny, get back in the cab. Go home, please.” Rafe tried as hard as he could to sound convincing and get her out of there as fast as he could, because he knew his willpower would last only so long. “Just go.”
“But we can make it, Raphiel,” Henny said, stepping forward, grabbing him with a rain-soaked hand.