“A bullshitter will always be a bullshitter. What in the hell brought all this about, anyway?”
“When I got back from out of town, there was a note on my door from Felicia. Last night, she stopped by and told me that he jumped on her and possibly drugged her. Now, I know how you feel about her, but I had a hard time turning my back on her. She’s afraid of him and afraid to go home. She asked if she could stay with me last night, or until things cool down.”
Jaylin was quiet, and then he spoke up. “What is wrong with you, Shane? Sometimes, I have a hard-ass time figuring you out. Felicia and Stephon are bad, bad news. Are you just plain ole stupid, or do you pretend to be that way quite often? I—”
“A man such as you, Jaylin, wouldn’t understand. As for being stupid, I’m far from it. What is stupid is a man who has just about everything in life he’s ever dreamed of, but when the time comes for him to give back a little bit of himself, he falls short. Forgiving people is something that you should’ve learned by now, but your arrogance won’t let you. It has cost you time, money, and almost your wife and kids, but you still don’t get it. That, in itself, sounds stupid to me, and the next time you call me stupid, you need to take a look in the mirror at your own self.”
“Fuck you, Shane,” he said calmly. “I’ve been giving handouts to broke-back motherfuckas for years. The only thing it’s gotten me is a swift kick in my ass. You talk about forgiveness, and I’ve been forgiving people for their mishaps all my life. I forgave Stephon for lying to me about my child, and fucking not one, but two of the women I loved. I forgave Felicia for all the backstabbing she did and still gave you and her money to start a business. I forgave Scorpio for lying, cheating, and manipulating me throughout our relationship.
“And just recently ...” His voice rose. “I forgave you for calling yourself my slap happy-ass friend, but putting your tongue inside of my wife’s mouth! How much forgiveness do you want from a nigga, Shane? Please! Don’t piss me the fuck off this morning! I’m tired, and I’m not in the mood! If you want to be a hero, then go ahead and be one! Don’t expect me to be one, too!”
The phone went dead. I wanted to call his ass back, but instead, I closed my phone and placed it in my pocket. I tried to look at it from his point of view, but I couldn’t. Now I was even more than ready to confront Stephon, so I finished my breakfast and left.
By the time I made it to Stephon’s shop, he was already there. From the outside, I could see him raising the blinds. I parked my car, and he saw me coming from a short distance. He pulled the door open to let me in.
“What a pleasure,” he said sarcastically. “You trust me to start cutting your hair again?”
I stood by the door with my hands in my pockets. “Stephon, you know I’m not here to get my hair cut. I came here to correct you about what you did to Felicia.”
“Correct me? What in the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you fucking over everybody that’s been there for you, man. When does it stop? It’s like you intentionally hurt those who want to reach out and help you.”
Stephon walked away from the door and sat in one of the styling chairs. He slowly moved from side to side, massaging his chin.
“I’m curious. Exactly what did Felicia tell you happened between us the other night?”
“You already know what happened. She’s afraid for her life, and you should be ashamed of yourself for putting fear like that in a woman.”
“Felicia ain’t afraid of nothing. She’s playing you, Shane. She got mad because I was with another female earlier that day and left with her. Later that night, Felicia broke into my house. She started swinging on me and shit, and I let the bitch have it. We started fucking, and I put a hurting on that ass. When I woke up, she was gone.”
“So you’re telling me she’s lying about you drugging her? And about you threatening to kill her?”
“I ain’t threatened no damn body. And as for drugging her, I don’t associate myself with drugs anymore. I’ve been clean for over a year, and I’m trying to get myself back together. I come to work on time to make decent money, and thanks to my pussy-driven-ass cousin, my second mortgage on the shop is paid for, in full.”
“Speaking of Jaylin, why you be dissing him after all he’s done for you? I don’t understand your hatred for him, but I do understand his hatred for you. You were wrong, Stephon. Dead wrong and you really missed out on having a dear friend and cousin for life.”
Stephon punched his chest. “You’re forgetting one thing—he’s the one who turned his back on me. I tried to reach out to the brotha and apologize, but he wasn’t hearing it. Now, after all is said and done, you’re fucking his ex and he’s best friends with you. It doesn’t make sense, Shane, and I don’t give a damn who’s in my corner these days. I have an agenda, and I’m not gon’ let Jaylin, you, or Felicia’s mental illness stand in my way. That bitch is crazy.”
Honestly, I didn’t know what the hell to believe. Feeling as if I’d wasted my time, I reached for the doorknob and wished Stephon well.
“You be easy, too, Shane,” he said, getting out of the chair and walking up to the door.
He reached out for my hand, and even though I hesitated, I reached out to shake his. He gripped it tight, and we both let go. As soon as I got ready to walk out, he called my name.
“What’s up?” I said, turning to face him.
“I thought you were coming in here to correct me? Since you didn’t, I think that maybe I should correct you.”
Stephon caught me off guard and butted his head with mine. When I tightened my eyes to fight back the pain, I felt his fist slam into the side of my face. Another powerful blow hit me in the mouth, and the punch to my stomach sent me staggering to one knee. Then came the uppercut. I fell back in slow motion and landed on my back. In pain, I squirmed around on the floor and tried with the little strength I had to get up. Stephon stood over me and placed his foot hard on my stomach.
“You don’t want to fuck with me, Shane. And don’t forget to tell that bitch Felicia I’m coming to get her. My advice for you would be to mind your own fucking business. Unless you want to die.”
He gathered spit in his mouth and spat in my face. As he was getting ready to walk away, I grabbed his ankle. I held on to it tight and wanted so badly to get up and kick his ass. Instead, he brought his other foot around, swinging it in the direction of my face. I blocked it with my other hand and yanked his ass to floor. Because I was so weak, he slipped from my embrace like butter. All I had was one of his tennis shoes in my hand, and he broke out, running to the back of his shop. I wasn’t sure where he was headed, but when I heard a car skid off, I knew he had left.
I maneuvered myself from the floor and slowly made my way to my car. I didn’t have time to check for scars, but I certainly knew they were there. I opened the door to my car and squatted to reach underneath my seat. I pulled out my gun, placing it down inside my pants. I felt underneath the seat again for my bullets and put a handful of them in my pocket. I limped back into Stephon’s shop, loaded my gun, and thought hard before pulling the trigger.
“Mama wouldn’t like this. But, sometimes a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”
I pulled the trigger and filled Stephon’s barbershop with bullet holes. Once the gun was empty, I reloaded and emptied it again. I could hear the screams from the residents who lived above the shop, but I made sure not to aim the bullets in their direction. Once I walked out, I fired into the huge glass front windows and quickly jetted.
Needing no sympathy at all, when I got back to my place, Felicia was all over me. She saw the blood on my shirt from the small cut underneath my eye and the gash on my chin. She hysterically cried, following me to my room. I ignored her questions.
“Shane, please tell me what happened! Let me take you to the doctor to get some stitches!”
I walked into the bathroom, ripped my shirt from my chest, and reached for a towel in the closet. I ran warm wat
er on it and pressed the towel against the cut on my chin. It appeared to be the most damaging one, so I worked on trying to get the bleeding to stop.
“Let me see it,” Felicia said, pulling on the towel.
I yanked it away from her. “Would you please go some damn where and sit down! Damn!”
“I’m just trying to help,” she said. “Can I take you to the emergency room?”
I lowered the bloody towel on the sink and gave her a look that could kill. She got the message and left the bathroom. She sat on the edge of my bed, placed her hands over her eyes, and sobbed.
I wasn’t up for hearing it. I cleaned my face as best as I could, made sure my keys were in my pocket, and went into my bedroom.
“I’ll be back. Don’t answer my phone or my door. And for your own safety, don’t leave here until I get back.”
She nodded, and I put on a clean button-down shirt from the closet and left.
Unable to get the cut on my chin to stop bleeding, I drove to the hospital. In less than two hours, I was all stitched up and ready to go. The doctor put a small healing pad on the cut underneath my eye, and it took several stitches to close the gash on my chin. I was glad the bleeding had stopped, but my body was still in so much pain. Before I left, I asked the doctor for a few pain pills, to hold me over until I made it to the pharmacy to fill the prescription he’d given me. He gave me three aspirins and I downed them in the car. Afterward, I made my way to Jay’s to see Scorpio.
As usual, the place was packed. I found a parking spot down the street and tried to wipe off the several drops of blood on my shirt that had dripped on it before I made it to the hospital. I didn’t want Scorpio to panic, but the napkin I used did nothing.
Normally, whenever I walked into the shop, everyone got real quiet. Today the same thing happened, but Jamaica stopped me on the way back to Scorpio’s office.
“You can’t speak?” she said.
“What’s up, everybody?” I said.
“What happened to your face? Did you fall off your bike or something?”
“Nope,” I said, irritated by her questions. “Is Scorpio in her office?”
“Uh, I ... I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her for a few hours.”
“Then I’ll just wait for her until she comes back.”
Jamaica looked at another stylist as if something was going on. I walked back to Scorpio’s office, and it was obvious. She was sharing lunch and laughter with a young man in a post office uniform. When she saw me, she quickly stood up from the couch and so did he.
“Shane,” she said dryly, “this is my new mailman, Wesley. Wesley, this is Shane. Wesley’s been delivering my mail for about three weeks, and he asked if he could take a break and eat lunch with me today.” Once she got her lie together, she looked at my face and then at my shirt. “What happened to you?”
“Wesley, if you don’t mind,” I said.
“Oh, no,” he said. “My bad. I must get going, anyway.” He smiled. “Scorpio, I’ll see you tomorrow. Next time we do lunch, it’ll be on me.”
“I’ll hold you to it, Wesley. Be careful and stay safe.”
She watched as the youngster gathered his mailbag and left. Then her eyes followed me as I walked over to the couch and took a seat.
“You babysitting now?” I asked.
She ignored my question. “Again, what happened to your face? Your girlfriend Felicia jacked you up?”
“I didn’t come here to argue with you, Scorpio. My day hasn’t been going well, and I came here to lean on my woman’s shoulder.”
She appeared to be stunned by my words, and her brows rose. She leaned back on the couch, crossed her legs, and folded her arms. “So, now you need a shoulder to lean on? Last night, my shoulder wasn’t good enough.”
“I never said your shoulder wasn’t good enough. Last night was a reminder to you that I will not be ordered around by anybody, Scorpio. All you had to do—”
“I can’t believe you,” she said, standing up. “First, you damn near curse me out for calling Jaylin’s house to speak to you, and then you never called back to apologize for your tone. The whole weekend, you kept your cell phone off, and the only time I heard from you was when you came back in town yesterday. You had been home for hours, Shane, and finally called me when you wanted to get your dick wet. To make matters worse, you allowed somebody like Felicia to come before me. There are no words to express how hurt I am, and that is something you promised me you’d never do.”
“I told you that we don’t have to communicate every single day. Sometimes, I require my space. My purpose for going out of town was to relax and clear my head. I do not owe you an apology for anything I’ve said or done. If I’ve hurt your feelings in any way, that’s because of your own weakness.”
Scorpio shook her head and walked over by the door. She leaned against it. “You know what your problem is, Shane? Your problem is j-a-y-l-i-n. You believe everything he tells you, and you are so afraid I’m going to become the woman that I was when I was with him. But you know what? It takes two to tango. I gave him what he gave me. And that was a bunch of headaches between both of us. Since then, you’ve provided me with a better relationship. Finally, I know what it means to truly love somebody, but you’ve been banking on me to fuck up.
“You haven’t given me the chance I deserve, because you don’t want to. That way, you and your buddy can sit around and talk about what I did or didn’t do. Mr. Shane Ricardo Alexander, I’ve given you all that I can give. I can’t give you anymore and I have nothing else to prove to no one. There is a price that you’ll have to pay for last night, and for how you’ve been disrespecting me. So, I’m asking you to get off my couch, get out of my place of business, and stay the hell out of my life.”
I sat quietly, shifted my eyes around the room for a moment, and then looked at her.
“Is that what you really want?”
“I don’t ask for things I don’t want.”
I sat for another moment or two and then stood up. I walked over by the door and stood in front of her. I looked her pretty self up and down and then leaned into her soft lips for a kiss. She backed up.
“Save it for somebody else.”
“I don’t want anybody else,” I whispered and wrapped my arms around her waist. She tried to pull away, and when my grip got tighter, she reached up and smacked my face. I closed my eyes and loosened my embrace. When I opened them, Scorpio stood with a tear rolling down her cheek. I reached up, attempting to wipe her tear away, but she pushed my hand away.
“Have it your way, baby,” I said. “I hope this is what you want.”
I walked out and made my way through the shop. One of the stylists, Bernie, stopped to ask me something, but I paid her no attention. I kept on walking, until I reached my car. Scorpio was making a big mistake, but possibly, so was I.
SCORPIO
23
Just who did Shane think he was, coming up in here, trying to butter me up? Last night, my feelings were so hurt that I couldn’t even sleep. I wanted to wipe that smirk off Felicia’s face, but there was no way I was going to let her see how much she’d gotten underneath my skin. I’d thought hard about Shane’s major mistreatment, and I had no problem stepping away from him until he got it together.
After he left, I went up front with the stylists and chilled with them.
“What was wrong with Shane?” Bernie asked. “He jetted so fast, and the only thing he left us with was a whiff of his cologne.”
“Girl, for the moment, Shane and me are over. Last night, he played me like a stepchild and allowed his ex to stay the night with him.”
Jamaica’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Stop lying! Are you serious?”
Jamaica was ready to play around, and I wasn’t in the mood. Ignoring her for the moment, I took a seat in one of the empty chairs. “Jamaica, please don’t get started. I’m not feeling too good today, all right?”
“You ain’t been feeling good all week. We
sholl know how to tell when your little happy home has crumbled down, because you be one moody-ass person. In a few days, it’ll be okay. You and Shane will be screwing again, and we’ll soon see your happy and bright smile.”
“You mean the same smile you used to have when your man knocked you upside your head one day and was able to sex you only moments later? Is that the kind of smile you’re referring to?”
“No, hoochie. It’s the smile that I had when Jaylin brought his fine ass in here and allowed me to put my lips on his. I have dreams about that day—I mean, night—as he carried me in his arms and caressed my beautiful black body later that night.” She held her throat. “He might have fractured my throat with his big dick, but the memories I have of him will last forever.”
I grinned. “So, you gave yourself to him later that night and he hurt your mouth, huh?”
“Yes, honey. I must applaud you for being able to deep throat such a thing, but he damaged me. Afterward, he left my place, shaken up by what I put on him, and when I mentioned your name, he couldn’t even remember who the hell you were.”
“Damn, you were that good to him? I’ve never known any woman so good to Jaylin that it caused him to forget about me.”
“Well, trust me, he forgot it. You know I wouldn’t lie to you, right?”
“Oh, you’ll lie to me. And I know you’re a liar, Jamaica, because Jaylin was at Shane’s place that night. So sorry, but once again, you’ve been busted out, Miss ‘I’ve fallen on the floor and can’t get up.’ You should have been ashamed of yourself. And whether you face it or not, Jaylin would never give his dick to a woman like you. You don’t have what it takes to get a piece of him.”
Jamaica laughed out loudly. “I’m glad you think so. And now I see why his wife had to step up in here and smack you back in place. She must have smacked you real hard, because—”
Bernie interrupted and dropped the curling irons by her side. “Must we sit up here and listen to the two of you go back and forth about Jaylin? We all know Jaylin and his ... his goodness got it going on, but don’t y’all know of some other men who got it going on, too?”
Too Naughty Page 17
