“Will you try it on?”
I wanted this to be right. I wanted to wear this in her honor in a true wedding, walking towards a real love. Right then, I wanted to tell her the truth. I couldn’t be a fraud in her and my father’s legacy.
“Sure, mom.” But looking at those wide, excited, doe eyes, I just couldn’t tell her no.
She helped me out of the jumpsuit. As I undressed, I fought to keep my composure. That day had been full of so many emotions since the moment I had woken up. I just wanted to crawl into my bed, curl into a ball and sleep the stress and despair away.
Once down to my bra and panties, I slipped into the fitted sheath gown. Softly holding my arms, my mom guided me towards the full-length mirror on the wall in her bedroom. Admittedly, I looked stunning.
“It fits perfectly,” she cried.
The long sleeves were lace while the bodice was sequin. It was figure flattering and classic. The boat neck style was the icing on the cake.
I teared up, saddened that my father never got to see her in it, nor would he ever get the chance to see me in mine.
I broke down, the emotions of the day finally spilling out in my tears. I covered my face with my hands and sobbed.
“Oh, baby!” I heard my mother exclaim as I felt her throw her arms around me. “You don’t have to wear it if it's that ugly,” she joked.
I rested my head on her shoulder, saying, “It's beautiful, mama.”
“Then what's wrong?”
“I just wish Daddy was here.” I also wished that this moment was real, that Dame was really in love with me and that I could make my mother this happy righteously.
“I do, too, baby.”
We held each other, crying in my father's memory for a minute or so before I took a deep breath and stood upright, leaving her shoulder and smiling into her eyes. “C’mon. Help me out of this before I ruin your party with all my crying.”
She sucked her teeth, waving dismissively at the idea. “Nothing about your father will ever ruin anything.”
She turned me around and started to unzip the dress.
As I stepped out of it, she said, “I know it's pretty plain. That’s why I said you can just wear it at the reception if you want.”
“Whatever you want, mama,” I assured as I peeled the gown off.
“No, it's your day,” she insisted.
“But I want you to be happy, too.”
“Then wear it at the reception.” She smiled as she began to put the dress back on the hanger.
I began to step back into the jumpsuit, saying, “Okay—”
I froze, as well did she, as we heard footsteps approach the bedroom door.
“Tempest?” Hearing Dame’s voice, I freaked. The bedroom doorknob began to turn, and I panicked.
“Tempest? You in here?”
With the jumpsuit halfway up my legs, I ran towards it just as it opened, tripping along the way. I fell to my knees, screaming, “Don’t come in here!”
“What’s wro—”
“Don’t come in here!!” I shouted.
The door slammed shut. However, I could hear Dame timidly asking on the other side of it, “You okay?”
I could feel my mother eyeing me suspiciously, so I took a deep breath, feverishly trying to gather myself. “I’m fine, Dame. I’m just trying to get redressed.”
I avoided my mother’s eyes as I stood to my feet and quickly pulled the jumpsuit completely up.
“O-okay. Well, is Nina in there with you?”
“Yes, I’m here,” my mother asked, going towards the door.
“They are ready to cut the cake.”
My mother cracked the door and peeked her head out. “Okay. I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Okay.” I could hear the confusion in Dame’s voice as his footsteps walked away from the door.
My mother closed the door back and leaned against it. “Tempest? What’s wrong?”
“I… Uh… I—”
She gasped, throwing her hand over her mouth. “He hasn’t seen—”
“Of course, he has,” I lied. “I just didn't want him to see the dress. Tradition, ya know?”
She looked towards the bed, realizing that the dress was still sprawled across her bed on the hanger. “Oh.”
Then she began to stare at me like mothers do when they are figuring you out. “Why haven’t you posted anything about your engagement on social media?”
“Why do I have to?”
My mother shrugged. “Usually women do that sort of thing. Are you having second thoughts?”
“No. Of course not, mama. I just wanted to wait until I was sure it was real. Dame is such a dream come true. It just still feels unreal at times.” At least that was mostly true.
Her smile had sympathy in it as she assured me, “You are a beautiful woman. He loves you for you. You don’t have to be scared that—”
“Mama,” I warned. I was not in the mood for one of her pep talks. “Can we just go back downstairs?”
She raised her hand in submission. “Okay.”
She went towards the dress, and when she took it back into the closet, I bolted towards the bedroom door and left out. I needed privacy to gather myself. I scurried down the hall, completely embarrassed and feeling foolish. However, a large, dark figure was standing at the top of the staircase, leaning against the wall as if he were waiting.
When he heard me coming towards him, he turned, concern all over his handsome face. “You okay?”
“Yea,” I tried to assure him while walking past him briskly.
Yet, he lightly grabbed my elbow, pulling me into his space. The concern etched all over his brow was almost as powerful as his domination in that moment. “What was that about?”
DAMIEN COLEMAN
Something was up with Tempest. We had been distant since she told me we were strictly business. There had been no more getting-to-know-you conversations that lasted hours. Honestly, I had been distant too because her rejection had made me tuck my tail and give her space.
Still, she had been occupying my mind for months. I couldn’t shake the thought of her, even though I had tried desperately too.
But, even with our distance, I could tell something was off with her.
“Nothing,” she tried to tell me, but I could still hear the same panic in her voice.
“You’re lying. You’ve been acting weird all day. Then you just freaked out on me.”
We both paused when we heard her mother coming down the hall.
“C’mon, you guys!” she smiled. “Let’s go cut this cake before Amaechi has a fit.”
“Okay, mama. Be down there in a minute.”
“Okay.” She hurried by, completely oblivious to the tension between me and her daughter.
“You gonna talk to me?” Dame urged.
“Nothing is wrong.”
I couldn’t hide my frustration. I already felt some type of way being around her because she made it evident that I was only good enough to be the hired help to her. “You got me out here playing this role for you, but you can’t even keep it real with me?”
She couldn’t look at me, and she had been that way all night.
“You don’t wanna do this no more?” I asked.
She looked up at me with the same fear that had been in her eyes all night. “Huh?”
“Just tell me,” I urged.
“No, Dame, it has nothing to do with that. I just… I…” She sighed, leaning against the banister. “This morning, I saw a picture of Derrick and his new girlfriend. It's been bothering me all day. He’s moved on already, which means that he was obviously cheating on me. I've just been in my feelings about it all day… I’m sorry.”
I hated how hurt she looked. “That nigga was obviously an idiot. Bet she ain’t got shit on you.”
“She does, actually.” Tempest seemed to be cringing as she replied, “She’s perfect.”
“How, when you are the most perfect woman in the world?”
We were only able to lock eyes for a brief moment before she must have reminded herself that I was just for hire. She stepped back with a deep breath and started to descend the stairs. “Let’s go before we miss them cutting the cake.”
Shaking my head, I followed her, wondering if this quarter million was worth my dignity.
“Oh.” She paused on the staircase and looked back at me. “It's time that I announce our engagement on social media so that this really looks legit to my family. I’ll just post it on Facebook. Is it okay if I tag you?”
I shrugged. “Yea.”
“You sure? I don’t want to freak your ex out and cause any problems with you and your kids.”
“You can tag me without it being on my page.”
She smiled. “Cool.”
She was happy with that, but I admittedly wasn’t. I wasn’t sure if my ego was hurt because she had rejected me or because she was making it so obvious that I was being used. I had let my guard down and told her that I was feeling her. That was the first time that I had done that in fifteen years. Her rejection had stung. I knew that she was at least attracted to me. I could tell by the way she was so nervous around me. Still, she was treating our attraction like it shouldn’t be. She was only interested in the money. I needed to be cool with that because that should have been my focus as well. However, I couldn’t shake the need to be more than a game to her. As long as I wasn’t around her, I could stay away. However, the moment we were near one another, I felt drawn to her, and that chemistry was becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Chapter 10
Damien Coleman
The next morning, my phone was yanking me out of a drunken coma. To ignore Tempest’s constant rejection, I had taken full advantage of her mother’s open bar and drank all night.
I felt around my bed for my phone with my eyes still closed.
Finding it, I answered with my face still in the pillow.
“What up?” I croaked.
“Nigga, you engaged?” I heard Meek spit.
My eyes popped wide open then. I tore the phone from my ear as if I hadn’t recognized Meek’s voice loud and clear. I looked at the caller ID, and indeed, it was my homie.
“What you just say?” I asked him.
“You engaged?” he asked with a bit of a chuckle.
“What are you talking about?”
“Some chick named Tempest tagged you in a picture on Facebook, saying you all were engaged. Who the fuck is Tempest?”
“Shit!” I spat, sitting straight up.
Putting my phone on speaker, I then scrolled through my apps to Facebook and went to my notifications. I found the one Tempest had tagged me in.
“Nigga, what the fuck is goin’ on? Is that the chick you was caking with in VIP that night Maya was in the club?”
Ignoring his twenty-one questions, I quickly went to my settings and hid the post from my friends list. Tempest had just posted it thirty minutes prior, so I prayed to God that none of my family had seen it.
“Hello?” Meek pressed.
“Yea.”
“Yea? Nigga, say something.”
I looked up at the ceiling, wondering how I would even explain this. “Yea, that's the chick from that night.”
“You done put a ring on it already? And how you got engaged and didn’t tell your boy?!”
I was too hungover to come up with answers quick enough. Ignoring his twenty-one questions, I asked, “Aye, ain’t we supposed to be making a move this morning?”
“Yea, I was calling you about that too, but then I saw that shit on Facebook.”
“Ah ight. Then come pick me up. I’ll explain everything when you get here.”
“So, tell me what the fuck is going on,” Meek insisted as soon as he pulled away from my building. “How you engaged when you just broke up with your baby mama? Maya gonna kick your ass,” he laughed.
“It's not real,” I admitted.
Meek sucked his teeth as he lit the blunt that was between the corner of his lips. “Clearly. That's obvious. You just met that chick. Hell nah y’all love ain’t real, but you still put a ring on it.”
Chuckling, I shook my head, “No, it's literally not real. She basically hired me to marry her.”
He slowly looked at me as he took a pull of the weed. “Huh?”
“Don’t tell nobody,” I warned him.
“On gang, I won’t say shit.”
“Ah ight.” Sighing, I rested back in the passenger seat as Meek sped east on 94. “Well, Tempest inherits some money once she gets married. She got tired of waiting, so she asked me to marry her. She said she’d give me some of the inheritance. I went along with it because I could use the bread.”
Meek looked over at me as haze poured from his nostrils. “Woooow.”
“Right.”
Putting his eyes back on the expressway, he replied, “She ain’t a bad woman to get fake married to. I’d do that shit for free.”
I chuckled, agreeing, “Dead ass.”
“You ain’t hit that yet?”
The hairs on the back on my neck stood up. Irritation and embarrassment hit the surface of my skin. If I was a light-skinned dude, I would have turned red.
“Nah, things just strictly business with us.”
“Didn’t look like that the night y’all met.”
“That was before two hundred thousand was on the line.”
Meek’s eyes bucked as he nearly swerved out of his lane. “Gawd damn!” he choked as he nearly choked on the weed smoke. “A quarter mil?!”
I started laughing as I nodded.
Minutes later, we pulled up in front of the warehouse where we always met our connect, Javier, when it was time to reup. Even though I had only been working for JP Construction for a month, I already felt some sense of change, like I shouldn’t have been there making that dope transaction. After only a few weeks of working legitimately, I already felt like a new, honorable man that my kids could be proud of.
A month ago, I finally agreed to start working with Jeffrey. The money wasn’t as fast as the dope game, but it was great money, and it was stress-free. It felt good and responsible getting honest money. I had benefits for the first time in my life, and finally, my kids were no longer using public aid for medical care. I was more than ready to retire from the dope game now, but I had to continue making these moves until my bread stacked up.
Many OGs had told me that the only way out of the game was jail or death. I had seen many hustlers fall victim to that old wise tale. I just hoped that I was able to retire before I fell victim, too.
Damien Coleman
Three days later, I had met Tempest at The Black Tux to try on a few tuxedos. Our big day was approaching fast. Her and her mother were making most of the arrangements. All I had to do was show up when she beckoned for a nigga.
“You like it?”
When I looked at her through the mirror that I was standing in front of, she lowered her eyes and put them into her phone.
I quietly grimaced. “I don’t have to like it. This is all about you.”
“Still, I want you to be comfortable.”
And, still, she wouldn’t even look at me.
“I ain’t never wore a tuxedo before, baby girl,” I told her. “Ain’t shit gon’ be comfortable about this.”
Tempest shook her head at my ignorance, chuckling dryly.
Tempest had been more quiet than normal since her mother’s birthday party. Something had been telling me that the way she had freaked out inside of her mother’s room had more to do with just her dumb ass ex.
Admiring myself in the midnight blue fitted tuxedo, I broke the ice. “Can I ask you a question?”
Her eyes remained in her phone as she replied, “Sure.”
“What was really wrong with you at your mom’s birthday party?”
Through the mirror, I watched as her shoulders sank. She slowly looked up at me, and, for the first time that day, she kept eye contact with me.
“I
told you. Seeing Derrick with his new woman bothered me.”
“You already admitted that you weren't in love with him, so I’m not buying that that would have made you freak out like that.”
When her eyes lowered back to her phone, I walked away from the mirror and joined her on the small couch that she was sitting on. I sat next to her, placing my large hand on her thigh. I then felt her body stiffen.
I reached and took the phone out of her hand. She reacted by reaching to take it back from me, but when my eyes dared her to, she submitted.
“Talk to me. I’m your fiancé, right? Aren’t I supposed to know everything about you?”
She looked emotionally drained. She wanted to fight me, the way that I was breaking down her walls, but she no longer had the strength to.
“I…” She inhaled deeply and exhaled long and sadly. “I was in a fire when I was ten years old.”
“The fire that you father died in?”
Sadly, Tempest nodded. “And… and I was severely burned…”
Confusion covered my eyes as I looked her over. She was wearing a long-sleeved maxi dress. The turned-down collar was buttoned all the way up to her neck.
Tempest answered the questions that my eyes were asking. “On my face, but even worse on my arms and chest. That day…” My heart went out to the despair lacing her beautiful orbs. “I just…” She sighed again but forced herself to go on. “At my mom’s party, I was getting dressed when you almost walked in on me. I didn’t want you to see it. They are hideous and hard to look at, even for me. I really enjoyed just being a normal girl with you. Even though we were pretending the night that I met you, it felt so good not being a victim or having to explain my scars. I just… I didn’t want it to end.”
Grabbing the back of her head softly, I brought her closer and kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry, baby girl.”
Her smile was weak as she reached up and held the wrist that was holding the back of her head. “For what?”
“For the sadness I see in your eyes.” Just then, I could hear my cell ringing inside the dressing room, but I ignored it and kept my eyes on her.
Property of a Savage Page 10
