Crossing over to the door, Cindy paused to turn around with her phony smile. "Just keep performing well and everything will be back to normal in no time. You're one of our best employees. We would not know what to do without ya."
With that, the woman left the room, leaving the scent of her stankin ass perfume to clog Davonte's nostrils.
"God damn it," Davonte muttered, filled with worry about the future of his family.
Keisha did not know it, since Davonte handled all their finances, but they were barely getting by as it was. Most of their credit cards were damn near maxed out and it was a struggle to stay current with their monthly mortgage payments.
Davonte quickly got up and went over to lock his office door, returning to his seat a moment later.
Leaning back into his chair, he brought up the porn site he was looking at before the woman had interrupted and then grabbed some lube out of his desk drawer.
The stressful news had him needing a release.
As he began his business, watching the two white lesbians go at it on his laptop screen, his mind continued to race. All he could do was hope that Cindy had been telling the truth about his work hours being temporarily cut, otherwise, the Johnsons might be looking for a new address soon.
Chapter 7
The sound of water filled Zack's ears as he swam just beneath the surface of his large swimming pool. Practicing for an upcoming swimming match on a Saturday afternoon, he had been at it for hours, striving for perfection.
He was currently on the last stretch of a grueling lap cycle. Pushing himself to his ultimate limits, his arms burned with exhaustion as he shouldered himself through the water.
He was concentrating not coming up for air, his lungs feeling like they were going to burst. Glancing at the end of the pool, he saw that he was almost there...only a few more yards.
One, two, three, four...
He gasped as he broke the surface, choking on air, his hands firmly grabbing hold of the concrete edge of the pool.
Glancing at his water-proof stopwatch, he felt relief surge through his tortured lungs. He had beaten his previous record by ten seconds. At this rate, Zack would be more than prepared for his upcoming swimming match.
"Zack."
He groaned at the sound of his mother's voice.
"Zack get out of there," Patricia called from the front of the pool. "There is someone here to see you."
His golden-haired mother was garbed in a red dress, barefoot, with a wine glass in her hand.
Whoever the visitor was had to be someone that his mother was comfortable drinking around. Usually one to keep up of appearances because of his father's position, Patricia always made sure to keep up a facade for the public and any guests that came over to their house.
Wiping the water out of his eyes, he pulled his toned body out of the pool and made his way to his towel that was draped over the side of a pool chair. Quickly wiping himself off, he wrapped it around his slender waist, and shook his blonde hair around like a wet dog while making his way to his waiting mother.
"Who is it?" he asked Patricia as he walked beside her across their neatly-groomed backyard, her favorite fragrance she wore everyday wafting to his nose.
"You'll see," she responded coyly with a mysterious smile.
"Oh come on mom, don't play games with me," Zack growled. "Just tell me who it is."
Pausing as they came upon the back patio, his mother replied, "It's Mandy."
Zack froze in his tracks, glancing at their large house. "I'm not going in there mom."
Sighing, his mother turned to him and asked, "Why not Zack? The girl is beside herself about your guys' break up."
"Mom, this is bullshit," Zack snapped, mightily irritated. "Why the hell would you let her in the house, knowing we aren't going together anymore?"
"Hey!" Patricia half yelled, raising her arm as if to smack her son, nearly spilling some of her wine onto the grass. "Watch your mouth Zachery!" Glancing through the kitchen window, she quickly lowered her voice. "I was not going to turn her away Zack...not when your car was sitting directly in the drive way." She gently tapped him on the shoulder. "Just go in there and see what the girl wants," she urged him. "It can't be that bad."
There was no point in arguing. If he didn't go inside his mother was bold enough to bring the girl out into the back to see him.
Sighing in defeat, he said, "Alright."
Inside the Palmer residence, a palatial-type estate, Zack found Mandy sitting calmly on the lush guest couch, her eyes on the flat screen TV in the middle of the living room.
There was some teen drama on display, something about vampires. The main characters were in the middle of a fierce embrace, passionately kissing each other. Mandy was so engrossed with the action, that she didn't see Zack standing beside the couch, watching her.
Dressed in tight blue jeans and a pink blouse, her honey-brown hair was pulled back into a tight pony-tail. She had on very little makeup, but she was still pretty to Zack.
"You wanted to see me?"
Mandy let out a startled shriek, nearly falling off the couch.
"Gosh," she gasped, pressing her palm to her chest. "I did not see nor hear you."
Zack chuckled, nodding at the screen. "You were in the zone watching that vampire shit."
She giggled nervously, tossing her brown mane. "I was, wasn't I?" A second later, her big, brown eyes seemed to focus and she stared at his hard stomach and rippling abs for a moment. Then she quickly averted her eyes, and asked, "I was not interrupting anything, was I?"
Zack shook his head. "No," he lied. "I was just getting done with my swimming practice."
Mandy looked pretty lonely all by herself on the couch, but Zack was loathe to sit beside her. His mother had some nerve letting the girl in when all Zack had been trying to do is put distance between them so she would forget about him.
Mandy patted the spot beside of her as if reading his mind. "Come sit beside me Zack. I have something I have to ask you."
Damn it.
Hesitating for a half second, Zack walked over and sank down beside the girl, feeling uneasy.
"What's up?" he asked awkwardly, feeling self conscious about being half naked next to his ex.
"I've been sending you a bunch of texts," she said softly, looking at his wet hair as if she wanted to touch it. "I assume you've been ignoring them all."
"Mandy I can explain—" Zack began.
Raising a hand to silence him, Mandy said, "I figured you wanted to make me hate you...and for a while, I did. But I soon realized that's such a waste of time." She paused as if gathering her thoughts. "All I want to know is...is why Zachery? Why did you break up with me?"
They sat in strained silence for a while before Zack could say, "I don't know Mandy. I just did not feel the same anymore."
"What's wrong with me?" she asked, her eyes tearing up. This was exactly what Zack had feared would happen when he agreed to come inside to talk to the girl. "Was I that awful?"
"There was and is nothing wrong with you," Zack was quick to say. "It's just me."
"Well what is it that's making you feel this way?" she asked with desperate emotion.
Zack had to look away from those big, teary eyes. "I don't know Mandy. I can't explain it, and I'm sorry."
She drew in a shaky breath, "I guess that means you are going to say no to what I came here to ask you."
God mom, why did you have to let her in?
Mandy was going to ask him to get back together with her, the last thing Zack wanted.
Zack leaned forward, wresting his elbows on his thighs. "Look Mandy, we can't get back together because—"
"I was going to ask you to the Sadie Hawkins dance," Mandy sniffed.
Zack paused.
Sadie Hawkins was a school dance where the girls asked the guys to the dance. Held annually at different times every year, Zack had forgotten all about it, and he certainly had no real intentions to go. It was bad form for a guy to turn
a girl down from the dance.
Ugh, he thought.
"I don't know—"
"Please," Mandy begged. "It doesn't have to be about us getting back together. It will be just for fun." She gently touched his bare arm. "Besides, I can't think of any other guy I would rather go with."
Zack groaned.
Mandy was really busting his balls with her request. There was no real reason to tell her no besides the fact that he wanted to create distance between the two.
"What harm would it be?" she pressed, looking at him imploringly with her big brown eyes.
For some reason the brown reminded him of his beautiful math teacher Keisha.
"Alright," Zack agreed after a long held in breath. "I'll go."
Mandy's eyes glowed with delight. "Thank you Zack!"
She gave him a quick, awkward hug, and then they worked out the details about what time she'd pick him up on the day of the dance and what they would be wearing before she happily left the house.
After she was gone, Zack sat back into the plush leather with a giant sigh.
I should have just told her no.
It would only make it worse seeing each other like this, but he could not bring himself to be a total dick and deny her when she was sitting right in front of him in total distress.
"Make sure no one sees you at the drop-off location."
His father, Mike Palmer, came walking into the room dressed in his usual attire, dark, dress slacks and white dress shirt, followed by several Mexicans.
"Yes sir," one of the men replied. "You got it."
His father led the men to the door and then came back into the room, pausing when he saw his son sitting there despondently at the TV.
"What's the matter with you son?" asked Mike. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Nothing," Zack replied after a moment. He nodded at the door as he heard the sound of several car engines roaring to life outside. "Who were those men?"
His father ran fingers through his graying, blonde hair, replying, "Nobody. Just some minor business associates."
But Zack knew his father was lying. There was a dark side to politics that Zack did not like. How his father had raised cash on the side for his elections was a forbidden topic. But Zack Knew. Knew the dirty shit his dad did, even though he never openly discussed it. None of them did.
Mike adjusted the collar of his dress shirt. "I'm going to head upstairs and take a shower and get ready for bed. I have a council meeting to attend in the morning. The city wants to vote on a multi-million dollar contract and I'll be damned if I'm letting wasteful spending be included."
Zack had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. He could think of several programs that had been implemented under his father that were deplorable and wasted an excess amount of money.
After one nasty argument with his father when he had dared show him the error of some of the programs' wasteful spending with his math skills, Zack knew better than to say anything.
"Meanwhile, cheer up kiddo and stop looking so down," his father chided him. "We're on top of the world."
"Yeah okay," Zack muttered when his father had left the room.
Zack sat watching the vamp drama for several minutes before turning the TV off and heading up to his bedroom.
Chapter 8
"Is those honkies mistreating you?" Joy asked.
"Momma!" gasped Keisha, scandalized.
"What baby? I'm being for real. Don't act like them white folks love us now."
Keisha let out chuckle, using her shoulder to press her cell to her ear while she clipped her toenails, sitting on the edge of her bathtub in her silk gown. She was going to need to visit the salon with a quickness.
"I'm surprised actually, Momma," Keisha said. "Things have been wonderful. She paused to brush off some of the clippings onto the bathroom floor. "Now, I ain't gone lie. I was really afraid of my reception and I was absolutely sure within first day to week, someone would show their ignorant ass, causing me to have to quit. But that never happened. In fact," Keisha giggled, "I'm treated like some sort of celebrity. They be asking me all sorts of crazy shit about black people, like I'm some damn dictionary. Why do black people do this? Why do black people do that? I'm like hell I don't fucking know, shit. I just do what I do and niggas do what they do."
"Girl, watch yo damn mouth!" Joy reprimanded.
Keisha coughed, her face burning with shame. "Sorry momma."
"So everything is peaches and cream?" Joy asked.
Keisha nodded. "Yep. The kids respect and like me...it ain't nothing like the mess I had to put up with at Hawthorne, let me tell you. And even the teachers and faculty treat me with fascination." Smiling, Keisha added, "I never thought I would say this momma, but I ain't never been so happy to be around so many white folks in my entire life."
"Ain't that some shit," Joy murmured with awe.
"So yeah," Keisha continued, "I'm really happy right now. I get my first paycheck in a couple of days."
"Well, I'm happy for you baby girl," Joy said. "You deserve it." After a slight pause she asked, "And how is things with Davonte?"
A dark expression came over Keisha's face and she sighed. "I don't know momma. He should be absolutely joyful for me after how he acted when he found out I had quit my job, but he has been acting strange for weeks now."
"Nigga probably can't take it cause you happy," Joy was quick to say. "Can't stand to see you doing good."
Now that did not make sense to Keisha one bit. If she was doing good, Davonte was doing good. Why would he be mad that she was now happy working at a stress free job? Money was money.
Keisha had no clue how much they had because Davonte had been adamant when they got together that he would be the one running the finances, but if he wasn't complaining about it, it could only mean everything was fine.
"Nah momma," Keisha said finally. "He is just depressed."
Probably cause his wife can't give him head without wanting to throw up on his dick.
"Well I don't believe it," said Joy, unconvinced. "But if you say so."
There was an odd silence over the cell line before her mother said, "Keisha baby."
Oh lord.
When her mother said those words, Keisha knew she wanted something from her.
"Yeah momma?"
"I need a favor from you, honey child."
Holding back a sigh, Keisha asked, "What is it?"
"Well you know me and yo Auntie Linda speak every day. Well gurl, let me tell you, she ain't been answering her phone for days now. At first I thought she was just mad at my ass, but as time went on I began to realize something may be wrong. The last time I talked to her, her and big Willy was getting into a nasty fight. So now I'm real worried."
"Well, what you want me to do about it?" Keisha asked, concerned. "Call the cops to go check on her?"
"Hell nah, girl!" Joy snapped with alarm. "You know what yo crazy auntie be doin!" After a moment, she said, "Nah. What I need you to do is go over there and make sure she is alright."
Oh Jesus, Keisha thought.
Her aunt Linda lived in the heart of the projects on the south side. Though Keisha had commuted to the bad side of the city every day, the area Hawthorne was situated in was considered Elysium compared to where Linda stayed at.
"Lord, I hope big Willy ain't done nothin to that girl," her momma whispered with worry.
With a great sigh, Keisha said, "Okay momma. I'm leaving right now to go check on her."
"Thank you baby."
"Shit!" Keisha cursed after she hung up the phone.
Racing into her bedroom she slipped out of her gown into some jeans and t-shirt, grabbed her purse and keys off the bedroom dresser and headed downstairs.
Davonte was sitting on the couch, dressed casually in some grey sweats and a black t-shirt, playing the Playstation with their two babies. He looked up when Keisha came into the room, eyeing her purse with curiosity.
"Where the hell you think you going?"
"I got to go check on my aunt Linda," Keisha explained. "Momma said she ain't been answering her phone and the last time she talked to her she was getting into a fight with Big Willy."
"Shit!" Davonte cursed, dropping the game controller on the floor and standing up. "Let me call Maria to come watch these kids."
"Daddy, you just lost us the game!" whined Jamal, snatching up the controller from off the floor.
"Ain't nobody got time for that Davonte," Keisha said, crossing over to the door, worry pressing down on her heart. "Something bad could have already happened to her."
"Keisha I ain't comfortable with you going over there by yourself," Davonte protested.
"Too damn bad!" Keisha snapped, her hand on the doorknob. "Have you forgotten I've driven to the south side nearly every day these past several years all by myself? Don't forget that you were raised there."
"Keisha, just let me call this girl right quick," Davonte said holding up his hands to keep his wife from walking out the door. "She'll be here in less than twenty minutes."
"Bye Davonte," Keisha said, turning, "Love you babies."
"Keisha!"
Keisha opened the door and rushed down the driveway, jumped into her Lexus and pulled off. A moment later, Davonte came running out onto the walkway, calling her name while barefoot, but was accosted by the nosy neighbor Holly who just so happened to be standing at the edge of her lawn for no apparent reason.
The bitch probably thought they were having an argument.
Her mind was filled with worry while she raced across town. Her aunt Linda was the oldest sister of her mother's three sisters. She also happened to be the only sister her mother could tolerate.
Always in a perpetual state of quarreling, the sisters rarely talked to each other, except Linda and her mother.
Linda had helped Keisha when she was just starting out, studying to become a teacher, so she owed her aunt a lot. The only problem was, her aunt could be ignorant as hell.
An educated woman that had worked as a secretary for the sheriff's office for many years, you would never guess it with how the woman could act when she was in her own house deep within the hood.
Scandal: Crossing Boundaries (Scandal Series #1 INTERRACIAL ROMANCE) Page 5
