Falling For Rome

by Edwina Fort

See what I mean?

  “How have you been enjoying my sista, chump?”

  “Just fine, thanks for asking.”

  I balled up my fists. It took everything I had in me not to jump over that desk on his big RoboCop a**. And here I was without my pistol. Yeah, he was some kind of super soldier, but I bet his a** can’t dodge bullets.

  I told him that I was aware he sent a mole in to spy on me just to see his response. The chump put on a poker face. So I upped the ante and thanked him for giving her to me. While at the same time letting him know just like he’d f***ing taken my sista out of my house, I’ve taken his little spy.

  And the mutha ****** wasn’t getting her back.

  By that point, my little burrower bot was inside his system laying eggs everywhere. If his tech team was any good, they will find the bot before the week’s out. But the eggs they will never find. They are encoded to clone themselves to resemble other programs already in his system.

  His tech team will look right past them, although they’ll assure him everything is okay and that they’ve safeguarded everything with impenetrable firewalls. I chuckled to myself. Got to love those tech guys.

  Before I left, I decided to see how much Jo knew about what I’d found. I was curious to see if he knew the senator was not his real father.

  “You have bigger issues to deal with…Like James Bennet Law.” I’d told him when he got to asking questions about my house guest.

  He frowned. “Never heard of him.”

  Wow! He wasn’t lying, which meant Jo had no idea he was adopted. Or at least I think he was adopted.

  That was the grey area. I couldn’t find any adoption records for him anywhere. Birth records either for that matter.

  Hmmmm…

  The old senator had some serious skeletons in his closet. Skeletons that I had a feeling were going to do a lot of damage when they surfaced.

  If my sister wasn’t involved with this dude and fancied herself in love with him, I would walk away from this sh*t. This well went deeper than I wanted to go, but I couldn’t walk away from this.

  My mom thinks Jo was going to try and marry Journey. I needed to get to the bottom of this sh*t before that happens. The problem was, this information was constantly on the move, and I could use a little help.

  “It appears as if you, my not so good friend have a homework assignment. Let’s see if those imbeciles the FBI call their tech team can figure it out.” While me and my bots come along for the ride.

  As soon as I got in my rental, I opened my laptop and began my tour of Jo’s system. By the time I made it to the airport, I’d found my house guest’s file. And oh, what a file it was.

  Her name is Nakhti Thomas. She’d enlisted in the Navy in ‘01 after 911. Two years later, she’d graduated from BUD school and became one of two female SEALs that year. She had quite a few medals…but even more disciplinary reports.

  Jo became her sergeant in ‘05, and it was his signature on most of the reports. On several of them, he wrote that she was and I quote, Bat sh*t crazy.

  After I settled down in first class and was handed a Hennessy on the rocks, I put in my ear piece and clicked play on the first of many videos in her file.

  The video opened up with a clearly angry Nakhti being roughly shoved down on a stool in front of the camera. She was dressed in a tan tank top and black cargo pants similar to the ones she wore yesterday.

  Her curly hair framed her face from where it had escaped her pony tail. She was sweaty and there were smudges of dirt on her beautiful face. It looked like they were in some kind of cave or something.

  She rolled her eyes at the camera. Jo, dressed in similar gear paced behind her. There were others in the cave, but they weren’t standing where their faces could be seen.

  “Speak, soldier!” Jo demanded.

  “My name is Nakhti Thomas and I’m bat sh*t—” She stopped talking and turned to look at him.

  “I don’t see how this is helping anything, sarge!”

  He glared at her and I frowned. There was something off about him. I paused the footage to see if I could put my finger on it, but the picture was too grainy for me to get a good look at him. I pressed play.

  “In the famous words of Judge Mathis,” He told her. “Sometimes, you have to call a crackhead a crackhead, now confess to the damn camera.”

  What the hell was this corny bastard talking about?

  Nak’s thoughts must have been identical to mine because she looked straight at the camera and said underneath her voice. “He’s quoting Judge Mathis.”

  She exhaled like she’d done at the breakfast table earlier and spoke louder. “My name is Nakhti Thomas and I’m bat sh*t crazy. My actions today almost got my whole team killed, although it was my actions that saved—”

  “Nak!” Jo warned from behind her.

  She glared back at the camera. “My actions today almost got my whole team killed. It was wrong of me to run over the suspect with the Humvee. I should have followed my sarge’s instructions and waited for the sniper to eliminate the threat.”

  The footage went off. I clicked on the next one.

  Several men ran into a tent where it looked like a meeting was going on. “Sarge, come quick, Nak has lost her f***ing mind.”

  The camera was a bit choppy as everyone rushed out the tent, when it cleared again, it was to show Nak on the back of a big giant of a man punching him in the head, screaming like she was crazy.

  Someone went to grab her off his back, but she hauled off and kicked the sh*t out of them before going after the giant that was now running from her. There was real fear on his face. When she caught up with him, she picked up a chair and smashed it across his back, he went down and she went down on top of him, continuing to pummel him.

  Jo crossed the yard with angry strides and snatched the wild cat off the man. He threw her to the ground, hard.

  I balled up my fists. That mutha f****!

  The screen went blank for a moment before it showed an angry Nak back sitting on her confession stool.

  “My name is Nakhti Thomas and I’m bat sh*t crazy. It was not alright to beat the sh*t out of Bear because he’s dumb. He can’t help the fact that his brain is not as swift as others and he thought it was okay to dispose of a live grenade just feet away from me. Next time I will show patience and gently explain to Bear’s dumb a** the right way to dispose of a live grenade.”

  The next footage was of Jo. He was being questioned by a small group of men who were higher ranking than him about his decision to keep Nakhti on as a part of his team.

  “I know she’s a bit wild, but she suffers from Impulse Control Disorder.”

  One of the older men frowned at him. “Is that even a real thing?” He asked in a deep southern drawl.

  “Yes sir, she’s met with the Department of Psychology who has noted improvement in her behavior, sir.” He paused for just a moment.

  “I can’t afford to get rid of her. She’s one of the best soldiers we have in the field.” Then he began to list off all the things that she’s accomplished. After he testified, the other soldiers on their team came behind him one at a time with a different story about how Nakhti had saved their lives.

  The end result was them all agreeing not to discharge her, but for Jo to make sure she continued to meet with the psychologist.

  The next footage was of Jo yelling at Nak. He was so angry the veins were bulging in his throat and head. She stood at attention with her arms by her side looking straight ahead. Her clothes were dripping wet. The other men on their team all stood around watching him berate her.

  “Why are you so f***ing crazy?!” He yelled. “Who the f*** jumps out of a plane without a chute?!”

  “Sir, there was no other choice, sir!” She yelled back.

  “There is always a choice! Only someone who is bat sh*t crazy would make the choice you made.”

  “Permission to speak freely, sir!”

 
; He waved as he turned away. “Yeah, go ahead.” He muttered sounding tired. Poor bastard, Nak was wearing him out.

  What she did next had me hollering with laughter on the plane. She drew a deep breath and then yelled…

  “Call me crazy one more mutha f***** time! I dare you!”

  Jo whipped back around and there was death in his eyes. He walked back to her until their noses were nearly touching. The men that were standing around watched with surprised eyes.

  Even Nak’s eyes widened…And it was then I saw that she truly did have Impulse Control Disorder. She was now very clearly regretting her outburst.

  I ain’t gon’ lie. Jo is a big mutha f****, and he looked pissed.

  “Crazy!” He growled. “What you gon’ do about it?”

  She grinned and threw her arms around his shoulders. Not in a hug way, but more in a holding-his-arms-down-so-that-he-doesn’t-swing kind of way.

  “Nothing, boss, violence never solves anything!” she yelled before she stepped back to attention.

  But before she turned, she shared a look with one of the other men that clearly said…Damn! I almost died!

  The screen went blank for a minute before it came back up with Nak sitting on her confession stool.

  “My name is Nakhti Thomas and I’m bat sh*t crazy. It is not alright to yell at my commanding officer and dare him to say anything to me. Also, it is not alright to jump out of a plane without a chute, even if someone was threatening to shoot you and the ocean was there to break your fall.

  By the time my plane landed in California for my meeting with Chadwick the crazy a** white boy, the other passengers in first class were staring at me as if something was wrong with me. Nak had me laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes.

  I don’t know how God knew, but he sent me the perfect woman. She was just my type. It had been so long sense I noticed anything about a woman outside of her body.

  Apparently, I liked bat sh*t crazy!

  I liked it a whole lot…

  Chapter 9

  Falling…

  Nakhti

  To my credit, I didn’t go searching for the key to these ankle cuffs right away. I waited for at least an hour. I know that he was probably watching me, but I didn’t care. I planned on being long gone before he got back.

  I started in the closet, carefully looking in the places I would stash a key. He was so organized that even his jewelry was placed on his dresser in order of size. Everything was gold. He had a few golden chains and a few watches.

  I picked up one of the watches and looked closely at it, like my ankle bracelets, it had a very complex design. I couldn’t tell what each golden gadget did, but there was no doubt in my mind that it was very expensive. Carefully, I laid it back on the cloth it rested on.

  Next, I searched the antique bureau that seemed a little out of place it the state-of-the-art closet. I was pleasantly surprised to find my jacket hanging neatly on a hanger and my boots stacked perfectly underneath it. I looked inside my jacket pocket for my jump drive and was not surprised to find it missing.

  Closing the bureau, I continued my search until there was nowhere else to look.

  Damn it! I hope he didn’t have the key on him.

  As I made my way out the closet I ran into Happy. She nearly jumped out her skin. Instantly she tilted her head so that her hair fell to cover the right side of her face before she gave a nervous smile.

  “There you are. I thought you’d left.”

  “No, just finishing up in the bathroom. How are you?”

  She sighed. “I’m here, so a guess I’m doing better than most.”

  Her answer spoke volumes… I wanted to come right out and ask her did he hit her last night, but I know she would stiffen up at such a direct question, so I settled into going the around about way.

  “Was everything alright last night? It looked like your boyfriend was angry with you.”

  She shook her head as she grabbed a garbage bag and began to pick up all the things the caterer missed.

  “He just got on me for bugging you. He said Rome’s lady didn’t have time to talk to nobody like me.”

  “That’s not true though. After you left, I missed you.”

  She looked up at me surprised. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” I told her grabbing another garbage bag to help her. “It got really lonely and I didn’t have anybody to talk to.”

  When she saw me grab the garbage bag she began to fret. “No, that’s alright. I don’t need any help. Please girl, I need this job.”

  “Relax, Happy…I don’t have anything else to do. Romeo left me here to just stare at these walls.”

  “You sure you don’t mind?”

  “Not at all…so, why would your boyfriend tell you I didn’t have time for you?”

  She exhaled as she went back to throwing red cups in the bag. “He does stuff like that all the time. He don’t really like me having friends.”

  I just bet he doesn’t. Don’t want nobody in her ear telling her to leave his sorry butt. She stopped and looked at me.

  “But I really want to be your friend.”

  “Why?” I asked smiling kindly at her. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want to be her friend, but I was curious as to her reasoning.

  “Because you’re brave and you don’t take nothing from no one. Everybody in the neighborhood is talking about you. They’re calling you and Rome King and Queen of the ghetto.”

  “You know…You can be brave too.”

  She turned around laughing. “Naw…not like you. I’m scared of everything.”

  I was going to ask her to explain, but right then Rob walked in holding a brown bag in his arm that had grease stains on the outside and my stomach immediately started to growl.

  “What’s that, little bro?” I asked walking toward him. It smelt delicious. I could smell something fried smothered in barbeque sauce.

  He grinned at me, his bloodshot eyes sparkling in the sunlight that was streaming through the window. This kid was full of mischief. But he was quickly becoming one of my favorite people!

  “Naw, sis! Get away from me. My brother told me you had to eat carrots and sh*t.”

  Happy hit him with her trash bag. “Why would you even come up here with that if you knew she’s on a diet?”

  “Wait! What? I’m not on a diet. I don’t know what your brother said, but he was mistaken.” I continued to stalk him. There was no way he was leaving with that bag. If I had to result to violence I was partaking one way or the other.

  Sensing my desperation, he laughed as he walked a large circle around me to the kitchen table. “I just came up here to have a little lunch. Don’t mind me, carry on. Pretend I’m not even here.”

  He put the bag on the table and carefully tore it open with flourish. And I swear the heavens opened and the birds began to sing a new song.

  “Wow! Rob, it’s so beautiful.” I whispered close to tears. Nestled in a red and white paper basket were beautifully fried golden chicken wings…

  “I know…” He whispered back.

  “What is that wonderfully smelling sauce on them?”

  He looked down at the chicken as if he was a proud father. “That, my wild sista is mild sauce.”

  “Mild Sauce,” I repeated, loving the way the words rolled of my tongue. “And where did you get these beauties clothed in mild sauce from?”

  “Uncle Remo’s…the King of fried chicken.”

  Happy burst out laughing. “Oh my goodness! You should see the two of you. Y’all both staring at that chicken like it’s a gift from God.”

  “Rob?” I said completely ignoring Happy. I still hadn’t looked away from the prettiest sight I’ve seen in days…

  “Mmmhhhmmm…” He didn’t look away from it either. Knowing him, he probably had the munchies.

  “Brotha?”

  “Mmmmhhhmmm…”

  “Can I break bread with you?”


  “Mmmmhhhmmm…”

  And that was all she wrote. The three of us sat down and devoured that chicken. Nossa! Rob is the man. He had the foresight to order extra. The wings sat on a bed of fries that were also drenched in this blessed mild sauce.

  I ain’t never tasted nothing so good. When we were done we all sat around the table stuffed like fat cats. But I had to know something.

  “Why did you bring me food?” I asked him.

  He sat up in his chair and shook his head a bit. “Because I feel sorry for you, sis.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Rome eats like a f***ing gerbil. And now he’s going to make you eat like it too.” He frowned his face as if he smelled something rotten. “When the man is in the mood to eat dangerous, he eats chicken fried cauliflower.”

  I put my hand on my chest horrified. “Is that even chicken?”

  His frown grew as he shook his head. “Naw maaan…It’s cauliflower made to look like chicken strips.”

  “How the hell is that eating dangerous?”

  “It’s fried.”

  Dear God! This situation was worse than I thought.

  He nodded… “I’ll do what I can for you sis. But I can’t make no promises. My mama say you like Kool-Aid.”

  “I love Kool-Aid! The red kind!” I told him getting excited.

  “I’ll make you a picture for dinner. You better get it in while Rome’s gone, ‘cause he hate Kool-Aid with a passion. He say it was created by the devil to kill black people.”

  “What?!”

  Rob nodded. “He always saying crazy sh*t like that. Just wait, you’ll see.”

  Unbeknownst to me, this would be the beginning of a very long relationship between Rob and I, because at the time, I still thought I was going to find that key and be gone by the time Rome came back. I didn’t know that Rob was going to become my pusherman.

  And the product he was pushing was junk food and Kool-Aid...the red kind.

  After we finished eating, we both helped Happy clean up the loft. And then she hurried back home, saying she had been gone too long.

  “Derrick gon’ beat that head in when she get home.” Rob said plopping down on the couch with a game controller in his hand.