I smiled at the man with silver hair. “Thank you. I’m proud to be of service.” I nodded then continued to walk down the long hall already regretting my decision not stopping long enough to change first. That was the problem with wearing my battle uniform. People always wanted to stop to thank me or shake my hand. I should feel proud but some days it could be quite annoying.
Straight ahead was a pair of double-glass doors, leading to the Dean’s office. I walked through and as soon as I turned the corner toward Rock’s office I stopped in my tracks. There was no way in hell I was seeing what I thought I saw.
Rock holding hands with his skinny-ass wife.
I stood there witnessing the intimate exchange between them before I decided to make my presence known.
“Hello, may I help you?”
I stopped staring long enough to glance over my shoulder at the young girl sitting behind the reception desk. “No, you may not,” I snapped and swung back around to find him staring dead in my face. I walked over to the couple and watched as Rock bit his lip nervously as I approached. “What the—”
“Master Sergeant Dawson,” he blurted, cutting me off. “I thought our meeting was tomorrow.” There was no mistaking the desperation in his voice for me to play along.
“Well, you thought wrong,” I said, trying to smile.
Mrs. Size 4 placed a hand to her husband’s chest and I noticed the huge diamond sparkling on her ring finger. “Sweetheart, am I interrupting something?” she asked the way women do when we know something smells funny. She was right to be alarmed. She smelled straight bullshit.
Rock stepped back, trying to regain some of his personal space. “No dear. Not at all. Master Sergeant Dawson is coordinating a recruitment fair at the school.” No he wasn’t trying to play me!
“It’s nice to meet you.” Regina fake-smiled me. She obviously didn’t recognize me from the wedding. The uniform did have a way of making a woman look like a man.
I decided to play dumb. “I’m sorry, Rock. I didn’t know you were married.”
“Ten years.” Regina beamed with pride, then gripped her man’s arm possessively. “Actually, we’re renewing our vows this weekend in Vegas.”
“You’re what?” I couldn’t believe his ass.
Suddenly, Regina was looking at me cross-eyed. “Have we met before?”
I wasted no time busting her bubble. “No, but you’ve probably tasted my pussy on your husband’s lips.”
His jaw dropped and her lips began to quiver. Priceless.
“What the fuck?” she stared at me for several seconds before returning her attention to him. “Rock, what is she talking about?”
You should have seen the panic on his face. “Sweetheart, I have no idea.” He cleared his throat and tried to act confused.
Couldn’t she tell her husband was lying? Apparently not because Regina just stood there like an idiot, nibbling on her bottom lip. Some women are so stupid. Although after this incident, I wasn’t one to talk.
“Where did you think your husband’s been laying his head this last week?” I asked while staring his lying ass dead in the eyes.
Regina blinked her eyes. “I thought you were away at a conference?”
Rock turned up his nose like I was a stanky diaper. “Regina, can we talk about this at home?” he urged and drew his wife in close, and I noticed the way she melted in his arms.
My neck was rolling now. “Regina, he might wanna talk about this at home, but I think you’d rather hear it coming from me first.”
She closed her eyes as if she was afraid of what I was about to say. “Hear what?”
“Regina, honey, your husband talks a good game… I’ll give it to him.” I was talking with my hands the way I always did when I was pissed. “But I’ve wasted six months fucking his tired ass. Hell, his dick ain’t even circumcised.” You shoulda seen her eyes. Now that I’ve rattled off the appearance of her husband’s Johnson there was no way she thought I was lying. “All those months he said he was leaving you was a bunch of bullshit.” I quickly pointed my finger in Rock’s face. “Don’t you ever fucking call my phone again!”
I felt the tears surfacing, but I held them back and headed toward the door. There was no way in hell I was going to let either of them see the tears now streaming down my face.
Damn was I really that desperate to be loved?
6
JANELLE
I made a left onto Banks Road and slowed my car to a crawl. There were no cars parked out front so that was a sign Mommy was home alone. I would have preferred someone else had been there. That way I could have dipped in and out in a matter of minutes.
I parked, turned off the car, but sat there staring at that small ranch style house. Last year I’d had siding installed and had a dude build a brand new porch, hoping the face-lift would bring some life to that house.
Yeah, whatever.
There were so many memories and dark secrets behind that door. Things the neighbors would have found hard to believe because to them the Foxes were the perfect family.
Oh, if those walls could talk.
Shaking the thought from my mind, I climbed out and smoothed down the front of my dress. Trust and believe, there was nothing insecure about me, yet, there was something about the house that no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t shake a feeling of uneasiness. Lord knows how many times I have dreamed of that bitch burning to the ground. Hell, I had even tried once or twice back in the day but failed.
“Hey Janelle!” Ms. Gina’s voice seemed to come out of nowhere.
I waved at the gray-haired woman sitting on the porch across the street. Her face was hidden by the overgrown bushes. “Hey Ms. Gina!” I sang. For years that nosy heifer spent hours watching the neighborhood so she could be in everyone’s business. I found it funny because she had no idea what had gone on right across the street.
As usual, the front door was unlocked. I walked inside and immediately felt like I had stepped through a time warp. Plastic on the furniture, shag carpet, and a big floor model television with a record player on top. I ignored that eerie feeling and headed straight back to the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table with a cigarette dangling from her bottom lip.
“Hey, Mommy,” I said and forced a smile.
“Hello, Jae,” she replied. Her entire face lit up the way it always did when she received visitors. Usually because she was feeling lonely. It also meant it was going to be hard as hell to leave.
She pointed to the chair across from her. “Have a seat.”
Obediently, I lowered onto the chair. The pleather seat cushion was cracked and biting my ass. I waited while she puffed away at the cigarette, drawing in a breath so deep her dark cheeks looked sunken in.
“Katherine wants me to go with her to the casino in Boonville on Friday.”
“That’s good Mommy. You need to get out the house more.”
“Yeah, yeah, Katherine said the same thing.” She rolled her eyes and tried to act annoyed but Mommy loved the way we all fussed over her.
“I agree so go.” I reached inside my purse and peeled off two hundred dollars and set it on the table. “Make sure you enjoy yourself.”
“We’ll see how I’m feeling tomorrow.”
A small television was on the counter and one of those stupid soap operas was playing. Dishes were piled high in the sink and the floor hadn’t been swept or mopped in days. I glanced around the tiny room with limited preparation space and remembered when I could barely look over the counter. “Has your housekeeper been by this week?”
She scowled, and waved the cigarette in her hand. “She’ll be here tomorrow.”
I nodded and as usual was at a loss for words. “I’ll call Brice and have him come over and cut your grass. You need me to pick you up anything from the store?”
“Yeah. Bring me some more cigarettes,” She replied and blew a puff of smoke in my face, which pissed me off.
“Mommy, I really wish you’d give u
p them cigarettes. What did your doctor tell you?”
“What else am I going to do all day?” she argued.
“Where’s the crossword puzzles I bought you?”
“On the coffee table. I can only do so many of those.”
“Then read a book.” I’d brought her over a boxful.
She gave me a knowing look and frowned. “All they talk about is sex!”
I smiled back at her. “Hey, sex sells Mommy.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m too old for all that. Just get me a good mystery to read.”
“I’ll bring you one this weekend.”
“Has anyone been over today to check on you?”
She nodded. “My nurse was here and then Uncle Todd.”
I smiled at the mention of my godfather. “How’s he doing?”
“You know him. Always complaining about something,” she commented then gave a sad smile. Todd Malcolm had been my father’s best friend and like an uncle to me and Brice.
“Have you eaten?”
“Why all the questions?” Mommy snapped, but I didn’t take it personal. In the last year she had become increasingly irritated.
I leaned forward before answering, “Because you’re my mother and it’s my job to make sure you’re okay over here by yourself. I don’t know why you won’t just move in with me.” So I could sell this bitch.
She looked frustrated. “I don’t know why we keep having this conversation. You know I’m not leaving my house.” She took a final draw on the cigarette, then put it out in the ashtray. “My nurse will be back after Meals on Wheels delivers my lunch.” Avoiding eye contact, she looked over at the television.
“I’ll have April bring you over something from the restaurant tonight.”
“Have her bring me some of those biscuits. Those are good.”
I smirked. “They’re rolls not biscuits and that’s Granby’s recipe.”
“It is?” she said and her expression softened. “No wonder they tasted so good. My mama sho did know how to throw down in the kitchen. “
I nodded. “Yes, she did.”
I felt myself looking down at my manicured hands. Uh-uh. I wasn’t about to started tearing up.
My grandmother had meant the world to me. Growing up she only lived a few blocks away, so I was always able to go over and spend hours watching her cook in the kitchen. When she passed away my entire world crumbled.
I glanced down impatiently, at my watch. The sooner I got out of there the better. “I better get going,” I said and rose.
“Before you leave can you go in my room and get that big blue picture album off the shelf in my closet?”
I was slow to answer. “What for?”
There was that frustrated look again. “Because I can’t reach it, that’s why.”
I looked down at her small frail body in the chair, with the blanket draped over the stump that was once her left leg. Diabetes. Years of not listening to her doctor had cost her half her leg.
I hated seeing her that way—incapable of taking care of herself and needing the help of others. Judith Fox had always been quiet and weak with self-esteem issues, now she was subjected to a life at the mercy of others.
I walked back through the living room and down the short narrow hall. The closer I got to her bedroom the harder my heart thumped. The old peeling wallpaper, and the squeaky wood floors didn’t help the situation none.
It took everything not to look at the closed door to my right. The room had once been my own personal hell.
I pushed open my parent’s bedroom door--because there was no doorknob. There never was any privacy. Not even the bathroom. The only lock had been on the basement door.
I brushed an eerie feeling aside and moved around my mother’s unmade bed toward the closet. The sooner I got the album the sooner I could get the fuck out of there.
I opened the closet door and fumbled around on the top shelf and somehow the old wood shelving collapsed and everything came tumbling down.
“Jae! You okay?” my mother cried from the kitchen.
“Yes Mommy! I’m fine.” The last thing I wanted was to worry her.
Irritated, I popped the shelf back in place then looked to see what had fallen onto the floor. I reached for a blanket and jumped at what I found underneath.
My father’s hat.
The Columbia Police Department. Even after all these years the big brass CPD emblem on front still shined like a new quarter.
I remembered Pops coming through the front door with that hat on his head and the gun holster around his waist.
That had been worse than any nightmare.
Quickly I tossed everything back onto the shelf, then grabbed the album, closed the closet, and hurried into the kitchen.
“Here you go.” I was out of breath as I put the book on the table.
Mommy looked pleased. “Thanks. Felicia wants some baby pictures of Brice.”
I nodded. My brother’s wife had been talking about putting together a collage for their wall.
“Mama, I gotta go.” Leaning over, I kissed her cheek and moved toward the door.
“Jae?” she called after me and I stopped in the doorway, and turned around. “Thanks for everything.”
I nodded and without another word, rushed out the door and down the sidewalk to the car. Ms. Gina was saying something, but I ignored her nosy ass. All I wanted to do was get inside my car before I fell apart. I climbed in, shut the door and realized my hands were shaking and my heart was beating fast. All because of that damn hat. “You bastard!” I screamed and punched the dashboard.
I will no longer allow you to control me!
I sat there for the longest time, fighting back tears when my cellphone started ringing. Oh shit! I had to take this call. No time for crying. It was Kaleb.
“Hey you,” I purred.
“What’s going on beautiful?” There was that deep mesmerizing voice of his.
I wiped my eyes and gazed in the rearview mirror as I spoke. “Nothing much. What are you doing?”
“Thinking about you.” His words were just what I needed to hear. “My son and I are heading to Applebee’s near the mall. You wanna join us?”
I tilted the rearview mirror, took in my appearance while hesitating like I was giving his question some thought. “Sure. I can stop through.” Lord knows I needed something else to be thinking about.
I pulled into the parking lot, and made sure my face and hair were perfect. They were. I then climbed out my car, gracefully, and sauntered through the door of the restaurant. I spotted Kaleb immediately, over in the corner, but I played dumb until he started waving to get my attention.
I can be such a bitch.
Smiling, I strutted over to the table where he was sitting across from a lanky kid with glasses.
“You made it.” Kaleb rose and planted a kiss to my cheek then whispered, “You look sexy.”
Of course I do.
“Jae, this is my son, Christopher John Kerrington, but we call him CJ.”
As I sat down next to Kaleb onto the bench, I grinned at the kid who looked really uncomfortable. “Hi CJ.”
“Hi,” he said and pushed his glasses up onto his face.
I liked kids, just as long as they weren’t my own.
Kaleb shifted on the bench. “We just ordered. You want something?”
I turned up my nose. “No, the food here is horrible.”
He shrugged. “True, but it’s CJ’s favorite.”
I could tell the kid had self-esteem issues. His shoulders were hunched and he was staring down at his napkin. Goodness, this was why I didn’t want kids.
He was dark chocolate unlike his father, with a round face dotted with acne. His hair was cut too low for the fine grade, so you could practically see his scalp, and the long sleeve t-shirt he was wearing had seen better days. For someone with money, Kaleb definitely wasn’t spending it on his son’s appearance.
I decided to order a diet soda and some potato t
wisters. They were hell on my hips, but I planned on burning them off soon and I didn’t mean in the damn gym. Kaleb was rubbing my knee under the table, and I was caressing the part of him I had yet to be introduced. After three dates, numerous kisses, and me rubbing on his dick, I was certain Kaleb was probably getting tired of me teasing him. Personally I didn’t see it as playing hard to get. A man needed to earn the right to fuck me. Pussy this good didn’t come cheap.
Besides it served him right for trying to play me all day. He wanted to play games. Then bring it out. I was the queen of bullshit.
CJ was tapping his finger, annoyingly, on the table. I had to grit my teeth to keep from demanding he stop. “So how’s school?” I asked.
“It’s good.” Tap. Tap. Tap.
Okay, so much for a conversation.
“He’s a straight A student,” Kaleb offered and was grinning like a proud father.
“Really?” I was impressed. Since he was intelligent maybe being his stepmother wouldn’t be that bad. “That’s excellent. What’s your favorite subject?”
“Science.”
“That’s impressive. You ever attend any science fairs?”
He shook his head.
“We’ll have to look into that.” I nodded my head. “As a matter of fact, I have a friend who runs a summer minority enrichment program and if you have good math and science I might be able to get you in this summer.”
While I talked to him about living in a dorm on the university campus, his eyes grew big. He kept looking over at his dad, who was leaned back on the seat still grinning. Other than their round faces the two didn’t look anything alike. And if CJ looked like his mom then it was no wonder Kaleb thought he had won the lottery with me.
The waitress returned with my diet soda.
“What have you been doing today?” Kaleb asked as she moved to the next table.
I took a sip then looked in those big pretty eyes of his. “I just left from visiting my mother.”
Intrigue was written all over his face. “Both your parents still around?”
It took everything I had to keep a straight face as I said softly even though I was certain CJ was listening, “My father passed away.”
Talk a Good Game Page 4