by Stacy-Deanne
Sonjay inhaled.
“I saw it years ago,” Klein spoke low. “When you and I got engaged, I saw it more and more.”
Sonjay looked at Dex who looked away, shaking his head.
“A blind man could see it.” Klein tightened his lips. “How Dex looks at you. The way the tone changes in his voice when he says your name.”
Sonjay’s heart pounded.
“I always had suspicions but the mayor’s birthday party proved it. When I saw you two in the elevator, I knew you’d just had sex.”
Anderson and Channing dropped their heads, blushing.
“It was all over your face, Sonny.” Klein chuckled. “So yes, I know you want Dex but guess what? You’re marrying me.”
Anderson and Channing jerked up their heads.
Sonjay batted her eyes, questioning if she’d heard him right.
“I don’t give a damn about anything you guys had going.” Klein faced Dex. “But, if you think I’ll let you walk out of here with the woman I love you’re crazy.”
Dex rolled his shoulders, muscles moving in his jaws. “She loves me.”
“She’s marrying me.” Klein thrust his finger in Dex’s face. “All my life I’ve had to compete with guys like you. The good-looking jocks in school, and the suave, skinny GQ types with money falling out their asses.” His eyes turned red. “Men like you get whatever the hell you want with the snap of a finger but I’m disregarded immediately.”
“That’s not true.”
“Shut up.” Klein huffed and puffed, shoulders rising and falling. “How does it feel to walk around, owning the world?”
“I’ve worked for everything I’ve accomplished.”
“Please.” Klein laughed. “If it weren’t for your daddy being district attorney for decades, do you think your ass would be where you are? You’ve had things handed to you your whole life.”
“That’s not true.”
“It is,” Klein screamed in Dex’s face. “You’ve never had to work for anything.”
“I had to work for her.” Dex pointed to Sonjay, spit flying. “I had to work my ass off for her. I’ve loved no one like I do, Sonjay. I’m jealous of you, Klein. You have the woman I’ve always wanted.”
Klein titled his head back.
“I’d trade everything I have for a life of happiness with Sonjay.”
“I don’t care,” Klein said. “I’ve finally got the life I want and the woman I want. No way in hell you’re taking her away from me.”
“Don’t do this, Klein.” Sonjay touched his arm. “You deserve better than me.”
“I want you.” He grabbed her. “I’ve given you everything. We live in a beautiful home, you got the key to the city, never have to want for nothing.”
She touched his white blazer. “You’re too good of a man to settle. We don’t belong together.”
“We do because I say we do.”
“Klein—”
“Stay out of this, Anderson.” Klein snatched the ring out of his pocket. “We came to get married.” He gestured to Leto. “Marry us.”
She shifted, glancing at Sonjay. “It might be best to take time—”
“Marry us, damn it!”
“Klein.” Anderson grabbed his shoulders. “Don’t do this, man.”
“He’s not getting her.” He stomped his foot, sobbing. “Dex is not getting my girl as long as I’m breathing. Sonjay’s marrying me because I’ve worked hard for this. I deserve this.” His voice cracked. “Damn it, I deserve this.”
“You deserve better.” Sonjay touched his face. “I’m the fool, Klein.”
“How about we give Sonjay and Klein time alone?” Leto suggested.
The others followed her out the gazebo.
“How could you do this, Sonny?” Klein held his head, squealing. “Why do you have to ruin what we’ve worked for?”
“Because I’m an idiot. If I could control my heart, I would choose you without question.”
“What is it, huh?” He sniffled, scowling. “I can change. I’ll lose weight and pay more attention to what you need.”
“I’m the issue not you.”
“Is it because he’s white?”
She sighed, squinting. “This isn’t about looks, race or that you didn’t do enough for me.”
“He’ll never love you the way I do.”
“We need to stop lying to each other, Klein. I don’t think you love me either.”
“What? How can you say that?”
“You treat me like a project. Like an item that fits into your plans. You parade me around and you’re so glad to call me your fiancée but you ignore me at home.” She clutched her necklace. “I feel like a burden sometimes.”
He took her hands. “I love you too much.”
“You want to love me but you’re possessive of me. You keep me around because I’m a part of this perfect world you’ve created. I did the same thing. I stayed with you because it was supposed to be right, but it’s not and we can’t force it to be.”
“If Dex wasn’t successful, gorgeous, and had money, would you be leaving me now?”
“Yes.” She looked at the sleek, wood flooring. “It’s not about what Dex gives me but what I give him. True love. I can never give that to you.”
“You’re making a big mistake, Sonny.”
“Maybe.”
“No, you are.” He nodded. “You and Dex have no prayer of lasting. He goes through women like I go through underwear and he’ll get bored. He only wants you now because you’re a challenge. Wait until it sinks in that he’s stuck with you and the kid, which I’m guessing is his since you hardly let me touch you.”
She closed her eyes.
“What’s a relationship without trust?” He put his hands together in front of his face. “If Dex can have an affair with his best friend’s fiancée, what the hell do you think he’d do to you, Sonny? He’ll leave the minute someone more exciting comes along.”
“He won’t.” She shook her head, wiping tears. “Dex has loved me since school. He’s not a man who’d have put up with what I put him through if he didn’t love me. He could’ve had any woman he wanted.”
“Trying to convince yourself?” He held a sarcastic smile. “Women. You step over men who treat you right for womanizers like Dex.”
“He’s not a womanizer.”
“I know him way better than you do, Sonny.”
She shrugged. “I love him. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it. But he’s the man I want today.”
“Fine.” Klein opened the door and kept his back to her. “I’ll be home later tonight and I don’t wanna see you.”
Her lip quivered. “I understand.”
“As soon as you can, get your shit out my house and get the hell out my life.”
He marched from the gazebo, throwing the ring in the grass.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Channing and Anderson walked through the crowd in front of the church.
Instead of shouting and fighting, people held hands and waved lit lighters as the pastor quoted scriptures into a microphone on the church steps.
Channing studied various expressions, heartfelt emotions dripped from the gatherers’ faces.
“You all right?” Anderson squeezed her hand.
She nodded, hiding her tears.
“Then why are you crying?”
People sang along with the choir.
“It’s so touching.” The gleam from lighters hit Channing’s eyes everywhere she turned. “Looks like the entire town is here, and it’s all for Presley.”
People wore pictures and caps with Presley’s picture on them.
“They love her,” Channing whispered. “I can feel it, can’t you?”
Anderson nodded, tears in his eyes. “Yeah.”
Khadija waltzed toward them wearing a Presley T-shirt and red skechers. “Channing.” She gave Anderson a slight smile. “Mr. Abraham.”
He nodded. “Khadija, it’s always lovely to see you.”<
br />
She held her hands behind her back. “Some turnout, huh?”
“Yeah.” Channing checked out the crowd but there were so many people she couldn’t see past the immediate faces behind her. “Thank you, Khadija.” Channing took her hand. “I never said I appreciated all you’ve done.”
“It’s my pleasure, sista.” Khadija patted Channing’s hand. “I don’t do this for thanks. I promised to fight for Presley and I’ll do that until she gets what she deserves. It’s bigger than Nate. That little girl symbolizes all our people have been through.”
“I know.” Channing swallowed. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Channing.” Anderson pointed to Reverend Sharston who’d squeezed his lumpy body into a crisp, gray suit.
“It’s Reverend Hal.” She gasped. “He came.”
“He’s just one of millions with a voice that cares,” Khadija said. “We all do.”
“Channing?” The hipster-looking white guy behind her patted her shoulder. “I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through.” He gave her a rose. “We’re selling these for donations for Presley.”
“That’s so sweet. I can’t explain what your kindness means to me.”
Khadija smiled. “Say something.”
“You mean a speech?” Channing backed up, bumping into the Asian man behind her. “I can’t.”
“Yeah you can.” Anderson pinched her cheek. “It’s for Presley, remember?”
“Come on.” Khadija grabbed Channing’s hand and pulled her up the church steps while Anderson remained in the crowd.
The people erupted in cheers and claps when they saw Channing.
“Here.” Khadija passed Channing a microphone and Reverend Hal presented a sincere smile.
“What do I say?” Knots formed in Channing’s stomach
“Just say something.” Khadija hyped up the crowd.
“Channing,” the crowd chanted. “Channing!”
She stood behind the podium, setting her gaze on Anderson who nodded in support.
Channing cleared her throat, her hands shaking. “I’d like to say thank you all.”
Odelia and Boyd emerged wearing Presley T-shirts.
“I’ve been absent from a lot you’re doing,” Channing said. “But, what you’ve done for my daughter means everything.”
People snapped pictures and recorded her on their phones.
“I haven’t agreed with the methods used to get the message across.” Channing looked at Khadija. “But, what’s important is that you’ve all done everything from the heart.”
Sonjay and Dex squeezed through the crowd and Channing’s heart warmed as she made eye contact with her sister.
“We love that little girl.” A black man raised his lighter.
A woman waved a sign. “God bless, Presley!”
“We’ll never stop fighting for her!” An old Jewish man with a crooked cap declared. “Justice for Presley!”
The audience chanted along with him.
“God bless you.” Channing blew the crowd kisses. “God bless you all.”
They roared with praise.
Anderson smiled at Channing as she approached Khadija. “Thank you.”
“We’re here for you.” Khadija hugged her. “We always will be.”
“Justice for Nate!” A swarm of people marched toward the crowd with signs covered with Nate’s picture. “Justice for Nate!”
“We want justice!” Jolene Lancaster led the mob, their eyes fuming with hatred. “I lost my son. Justice for my son!”
“Justice for Nate!” The rag-tag group pushed through Presley’s supporters.
“Watch it,” a woman hit a guy who bumped into her.
“Look at them crackers,” Corn rolls shouted. “This is our space! We paid to be here. They’re crashing the ceremony.”
“They ain’t crashing nothing,” Khadija said. “We came here to pay our respects to Presley and pray.”
Each group shouted, trying to drown out the other’s words.
“They better stay over there,” a Presley protestor warned. “They come over here they’ll be in the ground with Nate.”
“Settle down,” Dex told the man.
“Settle nothing,” a white woman said. “We have every right to protect ourselves if they start trouble.”
“Ignore them, everyone.” Khadija held up her lighter as Nate’s supporters yelled louder over her. “Hold up your lighters. Hold them up for Presley!”
“Fat, black bitch.” A young, pregnant woman from Nate’s group wearing hip hugger jeans and a floral halter top, threw a soda can at Presley’s crowd.
“Hey, bitch!” Corn rolls ran toward her but others held him back. “You wanna throw shit?”
An old, squinting man in dingy overalls spit at Presley’s protestors. “Niggers!”
“Oh hell no.” A black woman threw her sign. “Let’s get their asses.”
“No.” Channing ran down the steps. “Wait!”
“Yeah,” a white Presley follower screamed. “Fuckin’ racist trash!”
“Get out of here!”
Presley’s protestors charged Nate’s supporters.
“Oh, god.” Channing joined her family.
Reverend Hal, the church’s pastor and the choir shouted to intervene; but no one paid them any attention.
The crowds intertwined, men and women throwing punches and tossing signs.
“No!” Khadija jumped in the street. “This is not what we came here for today! We came for peace!”
“Fuck, peace!” A Presley follower grabbed one of Nate’s guys by the neck.
“Jesus.” Odelia covered her mouth. “It’s a mess.”
“I’m calling the police.” Khadija got out her phone. “Lord, I never thought I’d say that.”
“I don’t believe this,” Boyd said. “They’re like animals.”
The punches were so deep they vibrated in Channing’s ears. A group of men stomped one of Nate’s followers on the sidewalk.
“My children,” Reverend Hal tottered onto the sidewalk. “Please don’t let the devil steal this moment. It’s for Presley!”
Purses, hats and even a few people, flew into the street.
“Sweet Jesus.” Khadija stabbed at her phone with her finger. “Damn Sheriff’s office isn’t even answering. I’m tired of this small-ass, little ass town.” She stomped off, still on the phone.
“What do we do?” Channing asked.
“Stay out of the way.” Anderson put his arm around her.
“This is ridiculous,” Dex said.
“Oh!” A man flew out the crowd, landing face first in the street.
“Stop it.” Reverend Hal waved his arms. “Brothers and sisters!”
“There’s only person who can stop this.” Boyd held his wife close. “Mayor Bordeaux has to take a stand tonight. It’s gone too far.”
A woman’s wig flew over Channing’s head. “Why would he do anything now?”
Sonjay picked up the ratty wig. “Whoever lost this should be glad. This wig is horrible.”
“Bordeaux’s checked out,” Odelia said. “He doesn’t care.”
“He’d better,” Anderson said. “Or he won’t have a town left.”
CHAPTER FORTY
“Yo, Jimmy Lou, hurry up.” Zayden honked his truck horn while watching the church riot on his phone. “This shit is unreal.”
Jimmy Lou walked from his house, his plaid shirt wide open, revealing the white t-shirt. “I ain’t going,” he said into the passenger’s window. “And neither are you.”
“Man, this is crazy. They’re live streaming the riot.” Zayden laughed. “The more the police try to break it up, the more they fight. See? Get in so we can go.”
“You didn’t hear me? I’m not setting nothing on fire.”
“Come on, man.” Zayden laid his head on the rest. “Don’t pull this. You said you was coming.”
“Think, Zayden. This is crazy.”
“Your cousin killed himself because
the Mills family dragged his name into the mud. That’s crazy.”
“Morris and Tilly are right. You don’t give a damn about Nate. You use this so you have an excuse to go up against the blacks well that’s your fight and not mine.”
“What kind of cousin are you?”
“There’s a lot of things I let you get away with.” Jimmy Lou’s cheeks swelled with air. “But questioning my love for Nate is not one. All you do is use people.”
Zayden sighed, looking ahead at the empty road.
“You used your pop for a place to stay and treat him like shit. Morris and Tilly for your dirty work, and Nate because you thought he’d be an NFL star and you’d be in the lap of luxury, well it’s over tonight, Zayden.” He walked toward the house.
Zayden started his engine. “Fuck you too.”
****
“Jesus.” Klein stood in Mayor Bordeaux’s living room watching the church riot on the giant flat-screen. “Enough is enough.” He slammed the remote on Bordeaux’s slate coffee table. “Do something.”
“What do you expect me to do?” Bordeaux read Klein’s firefighter proposal at his computer desk. “They hate me. They won’t listen to a thing I say.”
“Make them listen.” Klein marched across the lavender, vinyl tile. “Give me this.” He snatched the laptop off the table. “Now get your ass up and do what voters elected you to do.”
“What’s gotten into you?” Bordeaux jumped from his chair. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Because I’m tired.” Klein threw the computer on the floor.
“My computer!” Bordeaux gripped his head. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Yes, I’ve lost my mind. I’m sick of this. Look, I lost the woman I love tonight. She’s gone.”
“Sonjay? What happened?”
“She’s in love with another man.”
“Who?”
“Doesn’t matter. I lost her because I wasn’t handling my business, but I’m handling it from now on and you should handle yours too.” Klein waltzed back to the TV, pointing at it. “Is this what you want? You’re proud of this?”
The police threw tear gas while the crowd became more violent.