Before I could answer, the hostess walked in with the girls behind her. Silver Dress was first, Perfect Rack was next, Red Dress came after her, and then, there she was. J, that’s what they called her earlier. The girls walked in, scanning the room. They checked all of us out and started relaxing a bit; everyone but J. She seemed on edge. Sheen and Kanoke waved them in, and they walked over slowly.
“Ladies, welcome. I’m Sheen; this baby-faced kid next to me is Kanoke. Loon is the uptight business man over there, and this is our pride and joy, Lil Samson.”
The girls scanned us one by one, but they all seemed to stop on me. I finally understood the phrase, all eyes on me.
“He doesn’t look all that little to me,” Red Dress said.
“Well, you’ll have to talk to him about that. But anyway…what are your names?” Sheen asked.
“I’m Ashley,” Red Dress said.
“Rachel,” Perfect Rack said.
“Anya,” Silver Dress said.
We all looked over at the J in her fitting jumper. She was on her phone texting a fierce message. Her fingers were moving fast.
“Oh that’s J,” Red Dress told us.
J threw a hand up; not really paying us any attention. The girls started chatting it up with the guys, but I stayed focused on J. The hostess took more drink orders and then everyone settled in on the black leather couches.
“So, I see you like the eye candy?” Loon asked. I turned, and he was standing right next to me.
“What?” I asked.
“Eye candy…the looker of the bunch. You like the showstopper?”
“I guess.”
“Yeah, you do,” he laughed. She looked up at us then, still texting nonstop. She focused in on Loon and frowned a bit. Her eyes landed on me and then she stopped texting. She put her phone in her little purse, came over, and sat right in front of where we stood. She stared up at me and then crossed her legs slowly. She leaned over and got a drink from the table in between the two couches.
“Alright, I’m going to let you tame this lion on your own,” Loon chuckled. He gave me a hard squeeze on my shoulder then walked away. I pulled up the seat of my pants and sat down across from J on the couch. Her eyes widened and then her mouth popped open. I opened and crossed my legs, trying to cover up the beast who had just apparently made his appearance through my jeans.
“Shit,” she laughed loudly over the music. I closed my eyes and took in a long breath. When I opened them again, J was staring at me with a serious face.
“I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. I gave her a small smile and she took another sip of her drink while looking out at the dance floor. The room was buzzing with conversation and laughter. J looked bored and I knew I had to say something.
“So J, what do you do?” I asked. She whipped her head back to me when I said her name. She had dangly earrings that draped her shoulders. Her slit that went from her neck to her naval never moved. She must have had some strong tape on the top.
“I’m a rep at a call center; very exciting stuff,” she said sarcastically and raised her eyebrows. I could tell she was still bored and I had to dig deep.
“What kind of music do you like?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Everything,” she said breathlessly as she rolled her eyes.
“Name a song,” I told her while uncrossing my legs. She looked me over and grinned.
“Why?” she asked in a giggle.
“Because, if I know it…I’ll sing it to you.”
She was intrigued and thought long and hard. She had an idea and it was almost like I could see it moving around in her head. I knew I had her. I looked out over the crowd grinning, waiting for her selection. The club was playing a song by Usher, a song I’d heard a hundred times, but it had to have been a remix version because the words were all choppy.
“You Remind Me,” she said.
I looked back at J. “I remind you of what?” I asked.
“No, ‘U Remind Me’ by Usher,” she laughed.
“Oh,” I replied. I pulled my hand up to my face and started twisting at my imaginary beard.
“Ha ha, I knew you wouldn’t know it,” she laughed and leaned back, putting both of her elbows on the back of the couch.
“So, you think because I’m a Native and I’m from the reservation that I don’t know hip hop? You think I’m a stupid fisherman and all we listen to is string and woodwind music?”
J shrugged with a smile and continued looking out at the crowd.
I started whistling then; it was off beat a bit but I was trying to remember the words to the song. I didn’t know the verses, but I knew the beat and I knew the chorus. When the whistling started sounding like the song, J turned slowly and her eyes were glued to me.
“You remind me of a girl that I once knew. See her face whenever I look at you. You wouldn’t believe all the things she put me through. This is why I just can’t get with you.”
I belted out on beat and in tune. I knew I could sing; never wanted to, but I’ve always had the gift to hold a tune. J’s eyes had surprise written all over them and her mouth was wide open.
“Oh my God,” she laughed out loud.
“Okay, okay, wait. Thought that she was the one for me. Till I found out she was on her creep. Ooh, she was sexing everyone but me. This is why we could never be,” J sang back to me.
Everyone else in the room started singing the chorus then, but I fell silent. Those lyrics J just sung hit me like a brick. Elle was on her creep and she did sex someone else. All Usher was missing in this song was the baby. The room was loud and everyone was having a good time. I stared back out at the dance floor. I felt someone touch my leg. I turned, and J was sitting on the table in front of me. She leaned into me and rested her hand on my leg.
“So she cheated, huh?”
I nodded.
“Was he a problem?” she asked, looking down at the beast.
I nodded again.
“Was she white?” she asked.
I shook my head then. “She’s Native,” I told her.
“Shit, you need a black girl. Nope…scratch that. You need a thick black girl,” she told me, leaning back on the table.
“What?”
“Yeah, we’ve been slinging daddy long dicks all our life. He wouldn’t scare a black girl,” she told me looking down at the seat of my pants. I had always heard that black men did have big dicks. I guess the black women were used to it.
We hung out with the girls for the rest of the night. We drank and danced until the club was closing.
“IHOP, anyone?” Kanoke asked on our way out the club.
“Yuck. How about the Hurricane Café on 7th?” Anya asked. We all nodded and then my attention went to J. She was looking down at her phone and then she looked at the street.
“Do you need to go?” I asked. She looked at me and gave me a small smile.
“See I have this problem. I keep forgetting to forget my ex,” she explained.
“I get it. Go if you need to,” I told her. She smiled and then she looked over at her friends.
“They don’t approve of him and I really don’t want to hear their mouths,” she whispered to me. I nodded, and then I had an idea. I walked over to Kanoke, said a few quick words, and he dropped his truck keys in my hand.
“Guess we’re riding with you, ladies,” he told the girls. Anya gave J a stern look and J nodded at her. Anya glared at me then gave me a smile. They walked across the street toward a parking lot. J and I walked around the club to the side street that Kanoke parked on.
“Thank you,” she told me.
“No problem.”
We walked quietly to the truck. I opened the door for her and helped her in. I jumped in and started the truck.
“Where to?”
“Toward the needle,” she told me. J pulled out her phone and started texting again.
“So, what’s his story?” I asked. She sent her text and put her phone back in her purse.
“He’s married,” she adm
itted.
“Oh.”
“I didn’t know at first, but then when I found out, I had already fallen for him,” she said while she watched the traffic go by.
“Where’d you meet him?”
“Shopping for shoes,” she laughed.
“Okay,” I laughed back.
“He owns a shoe store downtown in Olympia. I was shoe shopping with the girls and he brought a shoe over and told me they were screaming for my feet. I tried them on and they were perfect.”
“I bet they were.”
We drove a little and then J asked for me to stop at a Walgreens on a corner. I let her out right in front of the door and waited on her to come back. The streets were almost empty. Five minutes later, J came back with a small Walgreens bag. She got back in and flopped down the sun visor and opened the mirror. The light beamed down on her. She pulled out a small package from her bag. She used the moist towel on her face, scrubbing all of her makeup off. She dug into her purse and she used a curly brush on her eyes. She dipped her finger in a small tin can, and then she dabbed the substance on her lips. She rubbed her lips together, patting them at the end.
I watched as J untied her top from around the back of her neck. The ties fell going forward and I snapped my head back with my eyes focused on the road. She shifted and twisted in her seat readjusting her clothes. We made it over by the needle and J had me making a ton of turns.
“Right here on the left,” she told me. We pulled up to an apartment building.
“He lives here? I asked.
“This is his apartment in the city. The family lives in Olympia and he stays here on the weekends.”
I got out of the truck and walked over to her side, holding the door open for her. She reached for my hand and jumped out. J had changed her shirt around. Her top was now a halter, and her slits were gone. Her face looked fresh and the lip gloss was a nice touch. She looked younger; barely twenty-one now.
“It was very nice meeting you, Lil Samson.”
“You too, J.”
“Kajavia,” J told me.
“Jyme,” I replied.
“What’s your number?” she asked, pulling out her cell phone. “I mean…I may need a ride again someday.”
I gave her my number and she dialed my phone. I felt the phone buzzing in my pocket.
“I got it,” I told her.
“Thanks again.”
“No problem.”
Kajavia walked away from me and went through the rounding doors. She looked back at me once she was inside and waved at me. I waved and got into the truck. When I reached the café, the guys and girls were standing on the corner. The guys climbed in and we said our goodbyes to the girls and Loon.
“Well, we’ve missed the ferry,” Sheen said drunkenly.
“You guys want to crash at Loon’s?” Kanoke asked, yawning.
“Nah, I’ll drive,” I was the only one sober enough anyway. While they had been drinking mixed drinks, I drank ginger ale and Sprite. By the time I got on the interstate, the guys were snoring. I pulled out my phone and typed in Usher on my Rhapsody search box. I blue toothed my phone to Kanoke’s truck and listened to Usher for the long trip home.
Chapter 4
It took me almost two months to get everything back up and running as usual. I had to purchase three brand new boats and all the equipment. Mom suggested the company get a revamp; so that’s what we did. I brought a brand-new, swanky Zephyr; one of the biggest RVs out there. I got two new business trucks and had a new Ford Expedition on order for me. I had it custom made, and it was taking two months to be built just for me. We had almost tripled the business, and our inventory was in high demand. I had to hire six more fisherman and three more guys to help with the show. We now had a day shift and a night shift. The morning shift was five to twelve, and the night shift was twelve to seven. We stepped up our routine and were practicing three times a week. The crowds were huge now and we had to keep them entertained. I had to get us a killer sound system, a DJ, and a hype man. It was like a concert every weekend.
Patty’s birthday was coming up this weekend and I was going all out for my baby sister. Patty was the best person I knew and I loved her dearly. She never asked for anything, and that just made me want to give her more of the world. She thought we were having a small family dinner, but I had something big in store for her. I bought her a little Mini Cooper a couple of Christmases ago. She told me she loved her car and didn’t need a new one anytime soon. So a new car was out of the question.
Patty moved into her very own place in Port Angeles a month ago. I furnished everything for her. Now she’s within walking distance of the boutique where she works. She’s dating a guy named Brad who works at the pier in Port Angeles. She keeps him away from us as much as she can. I can totally respect her for wanting to keep our twisted family away from him. I’ve had people check on him, and he turns out to be a stand-up guy. He comes from a decent family and he’s attending business school at night.
Thursday afternoon, I was on my way to pick up the last of the party supplies and Patty’s birthday cake. I had Mom go all out. We had a party tent in the back and everything. The food was being catered, and the festivities would start at 8:00 p.m. sharp. We had twinkly lights all over the place like the port in Seattle. I had just gotten to the last stop and was loading the cake into the truck when my phone rang.
“Yeah, Mom.”
“Are you still in Port Angeles?”
“Yeah.”
“Listen, I wouldn’t even ask you this, but I’m swamped here and no one else can get there in time before the party.”
“What is it?”
“Could you possibly pick up Elle and the baby before you leave Port Angeles?”
“What’s wrong with her car?”
“It won’t start and she has a guy coming to look at it tomorrow.”
“Alright,” I sighed into the phone.
“Thank you.”
“Yeah,” I told her with annoyance and hung up.
I pulled up at Elle’s townhouse fifteen minutes later. I moved the party stuff and cake to the back seat of the double cab. I walked up to the front door and knocked twice. She opened the door wearing a flowery dress, sandals, and a blue jean jacket.
“Hey,” she said with a big smile.
“Mom called and said you needed a ride.”
“Yes, the stupid car won’t start,” she said, rolling her eyes over at the two-year-old Ford parked in the drive. I bought Elle the car and made sure she had an extended warranty on it. Mom said some guy was coming to look at it, but the car was still under the warranty; it hadn’t even begun the extended warranty yet. Elle never went anywhere, so the mileage was extremely low.
She handed me the car seat with the baby in it. I looked down at the small car seat. It wasn’t the same size as the normal car seats were. Elle’s baby was extremely premature and was a very sickly little boy. He wore an oxygen mask on his face at all times. He was a tiny, little thing. Elle went back into the house and brought two big bags with her. She set them down on the porch and I heard the clacking of oxygen tanks in them. She went back into the house, and I grabbed the bags of tanks in one hand and the baby in the other. I put the tanks on the floor board in the back seat and then set the baby car seat on top of the seat, not knowing what the hell to do with him. He was sound asleep. Elle shut her front door and locked it, carrying a gift bag in one hand and big baby bag in the other.
She set her stuff down in the front seat and then climbed in the back to get the baby settled in. She looped the seat belt securely around all the crooks and crannies of the car seat. I would have never figured that shit out. When she finished, I help her out of the back seat. Elle was still light as feather. I don’t think the baby gave her a pound of weight. Well, I take that back…her breasts were something to admire now. She wore her dress low cut, and it crisscrossed around her perky tits.
We buckled up and headed out of town.
“I bet Patty
’s super excited,” Elle said.
“I guess.”
“I haven’t seen her in so long, being busy with the baby and all.”
I looked at her then. She was looking straight ahead. Elle knew damn well my sister did not feel the same about her now. Patty had adored Elle and looked up to her like a big sister. Elle had tarnished that relationship beyond repair.
We rode in silence for a long time, and then she started in. “How’s everything with you?” she asked cheerfully.
“Good.”
“Well, I’m starting nursing school in January.”
I nodded.
“It will help a ton with Axle.”
“Axle?”
“Yeah, his name is Axle.”
“Axle Albertson, now that’s a name,” I laughed.
“I didn’t want to call him Junior.”
“You named him after that fucker that doesn’t give a shit about you or him?” Elle looked out the window. “Elle, you’re kidding me right?” I asked. She didn’t respond and I knew it was true. “Has he even seen him?” She didn’t answer and just kept looking out the window.
“Whenever you get tired of helping us just let me know. I never wanted this, Lil Samson. Axle should be yours. I know that, and I know I fucked up royally. I know that. I can’t fix this. I’ve tried, but you don’t want me anymore and I can’t blame you; but I still love you, every single inch of you, and I will continue to try my very best to get you back.”
“Like today?”
“What?”
“Your car.”
She stared at me for a minute and then turned around to check on the baby.
I knew there was nothing wrong with Elle’s car. This was her and my mom’s doing. The whole damsel in distress act was getting tiresome. Mom had me always dropping shit off over there whenever I went to Port Angeles. Cookies, pies, clothes, blankets, and whatever else she could think of. I knew Mom didn’t have to get that shit to Elle. She just did it so I could see her and she could see me. Every time I went to Elle’s, she would always be all dolled up like some pin-up whore. Mom asked me one time how Elle looked and I said, “Like a whore.” The next few times that I saw Elle, she looked like her old self.
The Enclave of Jyme (G Street Chronicles Presents) Page 5
