Patrice crossed the room to him. Kareem smiled when he caught her eye, and despite her discomfort his smile scattered her insides and made her heart flip.
“We need to talk,” she said when she reached him.
“Now?” he asked, glancing around. “We’re almost done here then we’ve got the party at your parents’. We can talk on the way home.”
“No, we need to talk now.” She snapped the last word.
His smile turned into a hard-pressed line of his lips. Months ago she would have backed down at the look, but not today.
“Let’s talk.”
He placed a hand on her lower back and gently pushed her toward the back. They didn’t talk on the way down the hall to his office.
“What wrong with you?” Kareem asked when they passed the cigar lounge and stood outside of his office.
Patrice whipped around to face him. “Paul asked me about additional services.”
“What services?”
“He said you informed him he could hook up with the women working here. Then he went over to you and asked about being set up with Candace.”
A murderous look clouded his expression. “I would never tell him something like that.”
“What did he say about Candace?”
“That he wanted her to cut his hair next time.”
“That’s it?”
His gaze flicked away and back. “That’s all.”
“I don’t believe you. Kareem, please tell me that this isn’t true.”
His dark eyes blazed with disbelief. “How could you even think I’d do that? I’ve never met Paul before today, and I wouldn’t use my people. Not after what happened to me.”
“Then who would?”
Kareem’s eyes narrowed, and he crossed thick arms over his chest. “Roland brought him, maybe he told him.”
“Roland wouldn’t dare.”
“Yes, the hell he would. He’s trying to get back into your pants, Neecie. And this bullshit is letting him.”
“He is not. Roland knows we’re only friends.”
“Then why sabotage my business?” he asked.
“He’s not sabotaging you.” She ran a hand through her hair, straightened for the soft opening. “Based on what Paul said you’re sabotaging yourself.”
“I can’t believe you would say that.” Kareem pushed her aside and opened the door to his office. He took two steps in and froze. “What the hell is this?”
Patrice rushed in behind him. Roland and Felicia were wrapped in an embrace on Kareem’s desk. They broke apart. Roland shielded Felicia’s bared breasts and hastily zipped his pants. “I’m sorry, Kareem. We needed a second.”
“Get the hell out of my office.” Kareem didn’t yell, but his rage vibrated with every word.
Felicia jumped off the desk and ran out of the room. Roland avoided eye contact and followed.
Patrice pointed after them. “Does that look like a man who’s trying to get back in my pants?”
Kareem slammed the door after them. “It looks like a man who doesn’t know his boundaries when it comes to women.” He glared at her. “Especially women that belong to me.”
“I don’t belong to you.”
Kareem knocked a stack of papers off his desk. He spun toward her, his eyes flat and hard. “And you don’t trust me, either.”
The hurt in his voice made Patrice flinch. “I do trust you.”
“I didn’t tell Paul he could sleep with the women working here.”
“Then who did?”
He slammed his hand on the desk with enough force to shake everything on the surface. Patrice backed into the wall. Kareem stepped toward her, and she shrank away.
Kareem’s body stiffened, his lips pressed tightly together. Slowly, he took two steps back. “You think I’d hurt you?”
Patrice shook her head but didn’t meet his eye. “No, I know you wouldn’t.”
“But I scared you.” He scoffed and ran a hand over his brow. “This is crazy. If you could even think I’d hurt you, or that I’d do what Paul accused me of, you don’t know me at all.” He dropped his hands. Cold, flat eyes stared at her. “Thank you for letting me know where we really stand.”
Kareem jerked the door opened. Patrice tried to grab his arm, but he pulled out of her reach and marched out the door.
CHAPTER 28
The ride back to the Baldwin home in a car with Neecie, Beth, and Lad didn’t do a thing to improve Kareem’s sour mood or give time to reduce the pain of discovering the first person he’d decided to trust completely could so easily turn her back on him. He answered questions thrown his way during the car ride but didn’t share in the joy over the success of the soft opening. Kareem clenched his teeth. He should be celebrating a major milestone, not feeling as if someone had squeezed out his insides like toothpaste in a cheap tube.
Several cars lined the driveway of the Baldwin residence. Milton and Janice had insisted on holding a small party to further celebrate and promote the soft opening of Henderson’s Gentlemen’s Lounge. Milton more than Janice. Kareem’s appreciation was the only reason he’d come back. Otherwise, he would have said goodbye to Neecie right after the opening and found somewhere else to go.
The car stopped, and Kareem jumped out before the wheels finished turning.
“Kareem, wait,” Neecie’s voice came from behind, wavering as she ran. Her hand grabbed his elbow. Kareem stopped and faced her but didn’t look at her. “Can we talk about what happened?”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Her mouth fell open, and Kareem turned back to the house.
He didn’t want to talk and hear some excuse about why she would believe what Paul said. Her lack of faith hardened his heart against any guilt for brushing her off.
“I had to bring it up,” she continued, following him. “He said you told him that. What was I supposed to do?”
He spun so fast she stumbled back. “You should have called him on the lie. You should have known I would never say or do something like that. You should have had my back.”
Beth and Lad walked up. Beth came up and placed a protective hand on Neecie’s arm. “Hey, what’s going on?”
Kareem took a step back. “Nothing.” He narrowed his eyes at Neecie, blocking the discomfort that came from the anguish in her eyes. She needed to feel anguish. Her anguish couldn’t possibly hurt as much as his pain after realizing she could doubt him so easily. “Nothing at all.”
Kareem slowly turned away and made his way into the house. The sounds of music, laughter, and conversation greeted him along with Fran holding a tray with steaming mugs.
“Hot chocolate?” Rush asked in her normal disdainful tone.
“Only if you put Kahlua in it,” he bit out. Ignoring her raised eyebrows, he marched past her further into the house. He passed the full seating area and dining room and went straight for the stairs to the wine cellar.
Footsteps chased him. “Kareem, a second.”
Kareem bristled at the sound of Roland’s voice. He faced the guy and clenched his teeth. Roland took a few hesitant steps forward. Good, because Kareem wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep from decking the guy if he approached with his normal smug attitude.
“What.”
“I want to apologize about what you saw earlier. Felicia is always telling me to be spontaneous.” Roland shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. “I thought I’d take a lesson from you.”
Kareem scowled. “What?”
“You know, the way you dragged Patrice off at her parents’ party. That seemed to work with her, so I thought I’d try something similar with Felicia. After losing Patrice, I didn’t want to mess things up.”
“Next time find another office.” Kareem didn’t care about Roland’s copycat attempt at being sexy.
“Wait a second.”
Kareem suppressed a sigh and faced Roland again. “What.” The word cracked like a whip.
“I’m glad you’ve made Patrice happy. Not once has she … y
ou know, since she’s been back.”
Kareem didn’t know, and he didn’t like that. “What are you talking about?”
Roland’s eyebrows rose. Remorse transformed into a shifty, calculated gleam. “You don’t know? I thought she would have told you the reason she left.”
Roland’s reminder that the woman he trusted hadn’t trusted him with that bit of information rubbed Kareem’s insides like glass-covered sandpaper. “She didn’t.”
“Oh, well, you have a right to know.” The smug look returned to Roland’s face. “She was bulimic. Threw up after every meal. I knew, and didn’t say anything. Not saying, and losing her, is one of the biggest regrets in my life.”
Kareem’s shock rocked him. Neecie, bulimic? He couldn’t picture that. She was so confident, so sure of herself. What could possibly lead her to do that? The questions popped in his brain, giving him a headache. The biggest: why hadn’t she trusted him with that? Further proof she hadn’t felt for him what he’d opened himself up to for her.
He didn’t give Roland’s self-satisfied self the benefit of a response. Kareem swiveled around and stomped the rest of the way to the wine cellar.
Joshua’s voice greeted him. “Do you think we’ll get away with it?”
Kareem stopped at the top of the stairs. What the hell was the kid up to?
“Of course we will. This is crazy easy.” Kareem recognized the voice of the blond kid he’d met at Milton and Janice’s anniversary party. “All we’ve got to do is meet them in the Panera Bread parking lot, and when they show us the tablet, take it, jump in the car, and haul ass.”
“Yeah, but we can get tablets anywhere,” Joshua said without any enthusiasm.
“True, but those would cost. If we take one it’s free. Then we turn around and sell it. It’s perfect.”
“I don’t know about that.” Joshua had enough sense to say that.
Kareem had never heard of a stupider idea.
“Don’t be scared,” the other kid said. “We start with tablets then move on to other stuff. Besides, I’m bored as hell. This will be more fun that hanging out at your grandparents’ party.”
Kareem heard enough. He re-opened the door and slammed it before stomping down the stairs. Both boys stood straight and watched him warily as he entered the wine cellar. The smell of marijuana hung in the air. Kareem eyed them. Young and dumb—that’s how they looked with their bloodshot eyes and rumpled country club attire.
“What are you two doing down here?” Kareem strolled over to one of the rows of wine and looked at the labels. Expensive and in French. Of course they’d have complicated wine.
“Just talking.” Joshua’s voice was filled with guilt.
“Talking, huh?” Kareem turned and leaned against one of the shelves. Joshua broke eye contact, but the other kid met his stare head on. “What you talking about?”
“Nothing,” Blondie said.
“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”
Josh’s eyes jumped to his. “Were you listening in?”
“Depends, did I hear you planning to do something stupid, or are you going back upstairs to the party?”
After exchanging glances with Blondie, Joshua turned back to Kareem. “We’re going upstairs.”
“Good.” Kareem turned back to the bottles in the shelves. Their footsteps shuffled up the stairs before the door closed behind them.
“Dumb kids,” he mumbled. He’d been that dumb once. Bored at parties and looking for an outlet. Anything seemed better than hanging out listening to his parents tell jokes that weren’t funny while showing him off as if he were the prodigal son. Even if he would’ve been overheard, Kareem still would have snuck out and snatched a tablet from an unsuspecting person in the parking lot just for fun.
Kareem’s hand squeezed the bottle. He looked at the stairs, and an unsettled feeling washed over him. He shouldn’t care. Shouldn’t get involved in a family that obviously didn’t want him. If Joshua went through with it and ended up in jail it was his own fault.
A vision of Cide, or someone like him, grinning when Joshua and his friend were thrown into his cell flashed in Kareem’s mind. Kareem dropped the bottle. Ignoring the sound of broken glass, he sprinted up the stairs. He hurried down the hall and rushed into the crowded sitting room. Scanning the room, his unease grew when he didn’t see Joshua or Blondie.
“There you are,” Neecie’s voice said from the side. “Please, Kareem, can we talk about this?”
He turned to her. “Where’s Joshua?”
She frowned and pointed over her shoulder. “He and his friend just left, but—”
“Damn!” He pushed past her and ran for the door. That boy was just dumb and bored enough to do something stupid.
• • •
Kareem would’ve liked to believe Joshua and his friend wouldn’t try their little stunt in a shopping center close to the Baldwin residence. But considering their ridiculous plan, he headed to the closest Panera. He drove his motorcycle into the parking lot and immediately spotted the boy’s Acura in one of the outer parking spaces. Nearby, Joshua and Blondie spoke to a man who had an arm wrapped around a woman. Two kids stood behind them.
Come on, Joshua, don’t be that stupid!
The parking spaces near the ill-fated transaction were full, so Kareem swerved his bike into a space several spots over. He jumped off the bike just as the man handed over a tablet to Joshua. Josh and his friend exchanged glances before Blondie nodded.
Joshua was that stupid.
“Hey!” Kareem yelled and broke into a jog.
Joshua and Blondie took one look at Kareem, and Blondie took off running. The man held out his hand for the tablet, while the woman ushered the children closer to the mid-sized SUV. Kareem reached Joshua and snatched the tablet from him. He turned to apologize to the man, when Josh ran in the same direction as Blondie.
No the hell he didn’t!
Kareem sprinted after the boy.
“Stop, thief!” the man yelled.
“Shit!” Kareem said, tossing the tablet in the general direction of the man and then ran after Joshua. He dodged between cars toward the back of the shopping center where both Joshua and Blondie had gone. Behind the building he found a row of hedges that separated the back lot from another, dumpsters next to the building but no stupid teenagers. Kareem scanned the area, ran to the other side of the building and back, checking behind each dumpster. The hedges shook. Kareem ran over, his hands itching to snatch up Joshua and knock some sense into him. He shoved the hedges aside and a cat jetted out past him.
Kareem punched the bushes and grunted. That damn kid. They would have to come back to the car, and when he did, Kareem would take immense pleasure in dragging the boy home by his expensive shoes.
He jogged back around the building to wait and stopped in his tracks. Blue lights flashed on the top of a cop car next to the man Joshua tried to rob and his family. They spoke to a police officer and pointed toward the building. The man spotted Kareem and grew frantic with his pointing.
Just fucking great. Now I have to deal with this.
Kareem crossed the parking lot, the tension in his shoulders growing tighter with every step.
“That’s one of the guys that tried to rob me,” the man said.
Kareem held up his hands. “I didn’t try to rob you.”
The officer placed his hand on his gun and faced Kareem. “Hands behind your head and face the vehicle.”
“Are you serious?” Kareem said. “I didn’t—”
The woman ran forward and wrapped her arms around her husband. “The two kids distracted us, and he ran over and snatched the tablet. Then the three of them ran behind the building.”
“Why would I come back if I tried to rob you?” Kareem said.
“Against the vehicle,” the officer said, stepping forward. He snapped open the clip on his gun holster.
Kareem put his hands behind his head. “Fine. But can I explain.”
The cop jerked one of
Kareem’s arms behind his back. Pain shot up Kareem’s arm.
“You can explain at the station,” the cop said, his hard voice daring Kareem to continue his argument.
For the next few minutes the family cried about the attempted robbery before their children, while Kareem was handcuffed and put in the back of the cop car. With every throb of pain in his shoulders he wanted to scream. He never thought he’d find himself in the back of a police car ever again. Tonight was supposed to be the start of his success, his new life, not this.
Through the cracked front window he heard the officer tell the family, “I believe our guy has a record. I’ll take him down to the station and book him, and put a patrol out for the two other perps. If you’ll come down and complete your statements.”
“Gladly,” the man said, glaring into the car.
Kareem closed his eyes and shook his head. Fucked up wasn’t a strong enough phrase to describe this situation.
CHAPTER 29
When the doorbell rang, Patrice abruptly turned away from the group of people she was barely listening to and hurried to the door. Kareem wasn’t likely to ring the bell, but since he disappeared three hours ago she couldn’t help but hope he’d come back. She couldn’t blame him if he didn’t. She never should have questioned him about Paul’s accusations. Kareem wouldn’t prostitute out the women working in his lounge.
Fran gave a reproachful look as Patrice reached the door and gently pushed Patrice to the side. As if it were crazy for her to relinquish her duties.
“Sorry,” Patrice mumbled.
“Expecting someone?” Fran asked as she unlocked the door.
“Just hopeful,” Patrice said.
Fran raised a brow but didn’t say anything before opening the door. A tall thin man wearing a Charlotte Mecklenburg police uniform stood on the other side. Patrice’s heart scrambled into her throat.
“Excuse me, but I need to speak with the police chief. I was told he’s at this party,” the officer said. “It’s important.”
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