MOTY (The Lady Kingpin Series Book 1)

by J Hoffman

  As soon as they finished their plates, Natalee washed up the dishes and put away any food that had been left behind. She noticed Judah and Jonah still sitting at the table, so she tried not to make too much of a fuss about it and headed toward her master bathroom. She turned on the hot water and let it fill the bottom of her garden tub before she turned on the cold water, just a touch. Once the water was a couple inches deep, she poured in some Epsom salts, and a little bit of her favorite bubble bath. She waited for the tub to be roughly half full before she lowered herself into it. Even though every part of her wanted to listen in on their conversation, she told herself it would be worth it to wait, that her husband was right, and that her son just needed his dad for right now, and that was entirely okay.

  She let her body relax in the hot, scented water. She laid her head on the edge of the tub and took slow, deep breaths to inhale all the benefits of the aromas. Natalee didn’t realize she fell asleep until Judah stepped into the bathroom. The sound of his footsteps jolted her awake, and the now freezing water replaced her relaxed muscles with rigid temperature. She immediately pulled the drain plug and stood up as she wrapped herself in a towel.

  “I was wondering where you wandered off to.” He smirked, “Boy, are you beautiful.”

  She blushed as she fastened the towel around her. “What time is it? How long was I in there?”

  “It’s about eight thirty, you were missing for approximately two hours.”

  “Oh, good,” she thought aloud. “Did you talk to Jonah?”

  He nodded and crossed his arms as he leaned against the counter behind him. “I did.”

  “And…?” she trailed and grabbed a hand towel. She wrapped it around the tips of her hair and began wringing the water out.

  “He didn’t have much to say. Just that he doesn’t have any friends anymore, including Tyler, and he’s not at all interested in explaining why, or how, he got the black eye, but it was from someone in his robotics club. He didn’t say who, and I didn’t pry, but that would explain why he wanted to skip the competition so bad this evening.”

  She nodded and considered his words for a moment. “So, basically, you didn’t get anywhere?”

  He shrugged, “I wouldn’t say that necessarily, but I definitely didn’t get anywhere with substance.”

  She sighed and hung the hand towel back up. “Do you think he needs to talk to someone? Like a professional?”

  She watched Judah’s expression change from one of confusion to utter disdain, “Absolutely not. He just needs some time to mull things over a bit, I think. I don’t foresee him losing his mind over it. I think he’ll tell someone eventually, maybe after he figures it out on his own.”

  She groaned as she stepped into their oversized closet. “I’m just worried, ya know? I’ve seen like a hundred of those suicide warning posts online, and he has at least three red flags right now.”

  He leaned against the doorframe, “I think we all had at least three red flags at this age. And probably for the next ten years after this age, but there’s only so much we can do without pushing him over the edge. I feel like that’s the last thing we want to do.”

  She pulled on her silk nightgown and sighed at her husband, “It just isn’t fair. It feels like he turned into a completely different kid overnight. What happened to the boy who couldn’t wait to get home and tell us everything? How much isn’t he telling us now?”

  Judah frowned. “Unfortunately, we can’t force him to talk. We will absolutely keep an eye on him, but there’s nothing else we can do beyond that.”

  She watched him as she crossed and uncrossed her arms uncomfortably.

  “Just promise me you’ll let him tell us on his own terms, whatever it is.”

  She nodded and forced down a sob she didn’t want to escape. “Yeah, I’ll just wait it out, I guess.”

  Six

  Saturday morning was an exciting one. Judah rarely had a Saturday off, but somehow managed to squeeze this one in. He had to be to work late that night, so they didn’t have the whole day together, but enough of it for it to count as a day off to Natalee.

  The three of them agreed on Git’R’Grub for breakfast, the all you can eat omelets were a family favorite, and they could eat some omelets. Judah and Jonah had the same favorite, sausage, and bacon with green peppers and onions. Natalee went for the sweeter side, with maple syrup, pancake chunks, and the eggs whipped extra fluffy. They had taken the pancake omelet off the menu a few months before, but since they were long-time customers, Natalee was still able to enjoy them frequently. As they were all finishing their second omelets, Natalee got an alert from Svetlana. Excitedly, she opened the message.

  Svetlana: Call when you’re on WiFi.

  Natalee stared at the message before looking up to Judah, “She told me to call her.”

  “That’s weird,” he acknowledged, while he stacked the plates on the edge of the table.

  “Yeah, really weird,” Natalee responded.

  “Who are you talking about?” Jonah asked.

  “Aunt Svetty.”

  “But she never calls.”

  “Right, exactly.”

  Natalee typed out a response and told her she would call in the next hour or so, just to give them time to get home and get comfortable. They continued their breakfast happily, indulging in many plates of eggs, cups of coffee, and for Jonah, copious amounts of orange juice.

  Back home, Natalee closed herself in the bedroom, sat on the bed, and stared at the call button while her hands shook lightly from anxiety. Speaking to Svetlana on the phone had become a scarce action, and they only ever spoke when there was serious, life-changing information to be exchanged. Natalee always felt their relationship wasn’t defined by the number of conversations they had, but by the depth of each word spoken to one another. She took a few deep breaths before she pressed the call button and swallowed hard as she listened to the ringtone play. A breath caught in her throat the moment Svetlana answered.

  “Natty!”

  She grinned, she couldn’t remember the last time they had talked over the phone, but she knew it had been much longer than the last time she had heard her Svetlana-coined nickname. “Hey, Svet, what’s up? Why the phone call?”

  Svetlana laughed, loudly. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t hacked, and you were actually going to pick me up from the airport.”

  Natalee gaped, “Seriously? I’ve been worried about this phone call all morning!”

  “I knew you were!” Svetlana laughed again.

  “You’re fucked up. Yes, I’ll be there. Why didn’t you get a flight at a better time? And why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  Svetlana rolled her eyes, “I didn’t book the flight, my assistant did. And she is… Still learning. She does not understand the time difference, she does not understand the way that it works. The flight leaves Russia at a good time. I accept that.”

  Natalee could sense Svetlana was fighting slipping back into her native tongue. “Your… Assistant?” Natalee questioned. “Since when do you need an assistant? Is she coming too?”

  “Yes, she will be coming, but she can sleep at a hotel, I don’t need her half as much as she needs me. You do not need to accommodate her. You do not need to accommodate me, but I know that you will not let me stay anywhere else.”

  “You’re right,” Natalee giggled. “But she can stay here if she’d like. I can put Jonah in the living room on the pull-out couch and she can stay in his room.”

  “No, that will not be necessary. I pay her enough, she can stay in a hotel.”

  She chuckled, “Well I hope you know you have a lot of explaining to do. I feel like you’ve been hiding so much from me.”

  “I hide nothing from you, I just don’t show you everything.”

  Natalee rolled her eyes, “Yeah, whatever the hell that means.”

  “I will see you in your morning, I am excited to see you.”

  “Have a safe flight, I love you!”

  �
�I love you too, Natty!”

  They disconnected their call and Natalee sat for a moment, feeling both curious and confused.

  Judah opened the door and stepped in, smirking at Natalee, “Well that didn’t sound near as bad as we were making it out to be.”

  Natalee giggled. “Were you eavesdropping, Mr. Denver?”

  He stepped up to her and reached up to brush a strand of hair out of her face. “No, not eavesdropping, just listening without your knowledge.” He paused for a moment, “Okay, maybe I was eavesdropping, but I obviously intended on you becoming aware of it.”

  She smiled up at him, “I’ll let it slide... This time.”

  He ran his finger along her jawline, smirking at her. “So, what did she say?”

  Natalee scrunched her eyebrows together, “She has an assistant!”

  Judah scrunched his eyebrows in communal curiosity, “An assistant?”

  “Yes! An assistant! Isn’t that odd?”

  “I thought her parents owned a vodka distillery.”

  “That’s what I thought!” Natalee exclaimed.

  “What would she need an assistant for?”

  She shrugged, “No idea, but we’re going to find out. She’s sending the assistant to stay at a hotel and she’s staying here.”

  “She’s staying here?” Judah raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, I thought I told you that?”

  He thought for a moment. “Maybe you did, but I don’t recall.”

  “Oh, well maybe I should set up a test for you, then.” She giggled.

  He smirked, shaking his head, “You’re too much. But you’re my wife.”

  “And the luckiest woman in the world, can’t forget about that.”

  “And the luckiest man in the world, I am.”

  Her smile brimmed as she gazed into his eyes, “What did I do to deserve you?”

  “Exist,” Judah shrugged.

  “What time does your flight leave tonight?”

  “Nine forty-five, so I should be back around that time in the morning. Are you sure you’ll be able to pick me up? I don’t want you to be tired or interrupt your time with Svetlana.”

  She shook her head. “Absolutely not, nothing interferes with our time together directly before and after work.”

  He nodded and smiled, “That’s what I love about you.”

  The rest of the afternoon was filled with reruns and snacks. They passed on lunch because everyone really ate all the omelets they could possibly eat. As dinnertime approached, they agreed on take-out. Natalee thumbed through the coupons and settled on the family dinner from the Mediterranean restaurant a few blocks away. Judah tipped the delivery driver twenty dollars, paperclipped to his business card and told him to apply to flight school, using him as a reference.

  By the time Judah was ready to head back to the airport, Natalee felt like she had fallen in love with him all over again. She got this feeling frequently, and it was usually after spending some quality time with him. Regardless of the amount of money he brought into their home and their family, he was the husband women dreamed of and Natalee never could understand why it was her that he chose.

  Once Natalee had left Judah at the airport for the evening, she found herself not even wanting to leave due to needing to come back within a few hours to pick up Svetlana. Jonah was already asleep in the backseat, and she had nothing to do but entertain herself until her best friends’ arrival.

  She decided to take the long country roads home to take her time, enjoy the air, the silence, and the stars above them. She found a small dirt patch on the side of the road and parked the car. After a few moments, she stepped outside and climbed onto the hood of the car, leaned against the windshield, and let the cool air hit her while her back was warmed by the engine. She wasn’t sure how long she had sat there, but her mind was in a million different places. After a while, Jonah stirred and noticed they were no longer moving.

  “Mom?” He sat up and found her, though he had no idea where they were. He climbed out of the backseat and met her on the hood of the car. “Where are we? What are you doing out here?”

  “Shh,” she hushed. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

  He sat next to her and peered into the blackness surrounding them. “I can’t see anything.”

  “Look up,” she whispered.

  He tilted his head back to look into the sky with her, “Oh. I see.”

  She smiled and pulled him close to her. She wrapped her arms around him to keep him warm. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Yes, Mom.”

  “No, I’m serious Jonah, you are the most important thing in my life.”

  “I know.” He whispered quietly. She thought she heard something catch in his throat, but she couldn’t be sure.

  “I just want to make sure you know that, and that you never forget it.”

  Jonah pulled away from her to look her in the eye, “I heard you and Dad talking.”

  She tilted her head to the side, “About what?”

  “I’m not going to kill myself and I don’t want you to think that I am.”

  Natalee gaped, “Jonah, we never-”

  He cut her off, “I know that if I don’t tell you guys, you really might start to think that, and I don’t want you to.”

  She sat quietly for a moment and wondered how to keep the conversation going without prying. Jonah managed to decide that for her, “It was Tyler.” He paused for a moment, brought his thumb to his lips and bit off the excess skin around his nail. “Who punched me.”

  Natalee nodded slowly, immediately thinking of a million and one ways to punch a middle schooler. Before she could ask anything else, Jonah continued.

  “Because Dillon told him that I said he was cute.”

  Natalee moved her eyes from her hands to Jonah’s face, which was expressionless. “Oh?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, “Did you say anything like that?”

  “Yeah, I said his sister was cute.”

  She nodded slowly, “Well why would Dillon tell him that you said he was cute?”

  “Because Dillon like… Like-likes Tyler and Tyler does not like-like him back. Tyler likes girls.”

  Natalee nodded again slowly, “So, Dillon likes boys, and more specifically, he likes Tyler, you like Tyler’s sister, and Dillon told Tyler that you like Tyler and Tyler punched you for it?”

  Jonah nodded, “Yeah, it didn’t make sense to me either.”

  She stared into the blackness around them and let out a deep sigh. “So, what happened to robotics?”

  “Dillon asked everyone to have a sleepover after we won, and I didn’t want to go, but everyone else went, and I guess Dillon tried to kiss David.”

  She nodded once again, “Does Dillon’s mom know about this?”

  Jonah shrugged, “I don’t know. I don’t even know if that’s true but that’s what I was told. And I don’t even really like Tyler’s sister. I just think she’s cute.”

  Natalee smirked, “And that’s okay. It doesn’t matter who you think is cute, you can think anyone is cute. And Dillon can think anyone is cute. And Tyler isn’t going to be able to punch every person in the face who thinks his sister is cute.”

  “He sure thinks he can.”

  “The world is full of Tyler’s who think they can make it through life with nothing but anger and violence.”

  “Now you’re going to tell me those are the guys who go on to flip burgers and mop floors, right?”

  She paused, then shook her head. “No, those are the guys who go on to get paid millions to play professional sports, or sometimes they even go on to run the whole damn country.”

  Jonah laughed, and Natalee laughed with him. It felt good to have him talking to her, especially when she was so convinced that she was completely incapable of getting him to tell her these sorts of things.

  As if he could read her mind, Jonah spoke up, “I was afraid to tell Dad because
I want to be friends with Tyler again and I don’t think Dad would like that.”

  “Oh, Jonah, that should really be the least of your worries about Dad.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Natalee sighed and thought about her words before she continued, “Your dad obviously wants what’s best for you. He doesn’t want to be overbearing, but he doesn’t want to be understimulating either. He wants to know that you’re happy in everything that you do, no matter what it is.”

  “I know that, but I don’t want him to think I’m a giant pushover because I let Tyler punch me in the face and didn’t stand up for myself, and then also asked Tyler to be my friend again after all that.”

  Natalee nodded as she contemplated the situation at hand. She really wished Judah was there, and that they had this conversation as a family, but instead, it was just her and her son, in the middle of nowhere, encompassed by a million stars and a million reasons for Natalee to feel incompetent. “I don’t think that’s what your father would think. I think your father would see that as you knowing that if you fought back, it’d ruin your friendship with Tyler forever, and for absolutely no reason at all. Getting punched in the face doesn’t make you a pushover. There’s no reason for this to define who you are, nor is it a reason to define who Tyler is. You can both come back from this. However, this Dillon kid, I’m sure he’s going through a lot right now, but I think someone needs to talk to him because his behavior is a little irrational. I have no idea who should talk to him, but I know it’s going to start with you. I think you should talk to him.”

  “What?!” Jonah yelled. “Why me?”

  “Because he brought you into this. Unless he has done something like this to anyone else since he lied to Tyler, then you should be the last person he hurts before someone else gets to be on the wrong side of a fist because of something he said.”

  “No, there’s no way. I barely even want to talk to Tyler right now. There’s no way I’m talking to Dillon.”

  “But this is where you break the chain.”

  “I’m sure someone else will do that.”