by E. N. Joy
“I got friends on the street who I can go stay with,” Eugene told her. “I needed the space to get my mind right before I jump back in the game.”
Lorain was all ears. If he planned on getting back into the game, that meant there was a chance this was a one-time thing, that if she gave him what he wanted, he would go on with life as usual and leave her be . . . her and the girls.
“So, anyway . . .” He threw the crust from the pizza slice he’d eaten back into the box, closed the lid, and brushed his hands together. “Let’s get down to business. Just to reiterate from our first meeting . . .”
Eugene went on to repeat the terms he’d given Lorain at their first meeting at Captain Souls, where he had eaten everything on the menu and had stuck Lorain with the bill. Thank goodness she’d had her credit card on her, because she hadn’t had the cash to cover all that he’d eaten, as well as all he had ordered to go. He’d requested that she give him twenty-five thousand dollars, and he’d agreed to sign any paper she wanted him to sign that stated that he was giving up his paternal rights to the girls forever.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars!” Lorain had shouted so loudly that every head in the restaurant had turned in her direction. She’d leaned in and told Eugene, “I don’t have that kind of money. I’m a stay-at-home mom.”
“Yeah, with a husband who goes to work every day, as a doctor. I’m sure he wouldn’t miss a few thousand here and a few thousand there. Besides, I’ve seen that reality show about doctors’ wives. My moms watched it. Y’all spend that much money throwing parties to show off all the money y’all do have.”
Lorain had cringed. He was right to some degree. The most she’d ever spent at once was ten thousand, but Tabby had peaked at twenty-five thousand with her winter wonderland theme last year. No wife would ever be able to outdo that all-white affair.
“So, in the meantime, while you think about it,” Eugene had said after guzzling down the last of his Sprite and before signaling the waitress to get him a refill, “I’ma need a place to stay. Nothing fancy. A little hotel room or something. Oh yeah, and a few dollars to buy me some food until I can get on my feet, which will be real soon, depending on how soon you can get me that loot.”
After their so-called meeting, Eugene had even had the nerve to ask Lorain for a ride to his mama’s house. She’d obliged him, thinking the entire drive that she should take his black tail straight to the police station. Instead, she’d decided to play this thing out, having absolutely no idea how she would manage to take twenty-five thousand dollars from her and Nicholas’s savings without him noticing.
Two days after that Lorain had gone to an extended-stay hotel and had booked Eugene a room for a week. She’d figured that was plenty of time for her to decide what she was going to do about Eugene and for her to gather the money, if that was what she decided to do.
This whole situation had been eating her up inside. This past week had certainly drained a decade of her life, at least it felt that way, anyhow. And having Nicholas on her back didn’t make things any better. There had been so many times when Lorain wanted to tell him what was going on. But she didn’t want to drag him into this ghetto mess of hers, which had started long before he ever said “I do” to her. He’d once asked about the twins’ biological father. She’d simply told him it was some guy Unique had had a one-night stand with it. That wasn’t the complete truth, but it wasn’t a complete lie, either. She didn’t want to get into all of that and have to explain herself if she didn’t have to. She wanted everything to be done and over with, and she felt she could handle the situation.
Even at this moment, sitting in this hotel room with this thuggish blackmailer, she still felt confident that she could handle things alone. Telling Nicholas about her situation with Eugene would mean she’d have to tell him that she’d known who the twins’ biological father was all along. Their marriage was already on shaky ground. She couldn’t risk the ground crumbling completely. Besides that, Nicholas had a private practice to tend to. Taking time away from his work meant taking money from their bank accounts. She wanted everything to remain as normal as possible with her family and their lifestyle. She would not allow her family to suffer the consequences of her lies and mistakes. She had got into this mess by herself and she would fix it by herself, saving herself the embarrassment of being such a fool.
“I’ve got some money for you,” Lorain said.
A gap-toothed grin spread across Eugene’s face. He held out his hand. Lorain pulled a manila envelope out of her purse and placed it in Eugene’s hand. He gave her a peculiar look and then looked at the envelope. He began to fondle the envelope.
“This don’t feel like no twenty-five grand.” He opened the envelope and looked through its contents. “Lady, what you trying to pull here?” He stood up angrily.
Lorain backed away. “Wait!” She put her hands up. “It’s not twenty-five thousand. All I could get was ten.”
“Ten?” Eugene spat. “Is that all those pretty little girls are worth to you? Ten thousand dollars? And all that money you and dude over there sitting on? Witch, you better go on with that mess.”
“I told you, I don’t work. You think my husband won’t miss twenty-five thousand dollars? That’s the best I can do.”
“Then, trick, I’ma need you to go back and do all that you can do,” Eugene said with authority as he stood. “I’m supposed to meet up with some people to get something from them today. I had business to handle.” Eugene was furious, and spittle flung out of his mouth. “Them cats gon’ think I’m playing games with them. Lady, I swear to God.” He walked up on Lorain and used his hand to make the shape of a gun and put it to Lorain’s head.
Lorain began to sweat when she felt Eugene’s index finger press against her temple. “I’ll get the rest. I promise. It’s going to take a little more time.”
“Time? Witch, I ain’t got time. I got moves to make.” Eugene began pacing.
“Then do what you need to do, then.” Lorain had the nerve to get bold.
“No! You do what you need to do in order to have the rest of that money for me,” Eugene snapped. “Look, you got two days.”
“But—”
“Or you can kiss your little girls good-bye. You understand me?”
Lorain’s lips tightened. She looked over at the lamp on the nightstand and wanted to take it and bash his head in with it and kill him dead. That was how much anger she felt rising up inside of her. That would only land her in jail, away from the girls. What good would that do her? It would defeat the entire purpose of even dealing with this joker in the first place.
“Okay, okay,” Lorain grumbled, relenting. “I’ll get you the money, and I swear to God that better be the last I hear from you, or—”
“Or what?”
Lorain had no words, to say, anyway. But in her head a voice was speaking loud and clear. If you ever try to show your face and threaten to take my girls again, I will have to take the chance of being away from my girls for ten to fifteen years for manslaughter. Because I will kill you and bury you myself.
“Thought so,” Eugene said. Then he went and sat back down on the bed in anger. “Get on out of here and go get my money. Two days! Two days!” He held up his index finger and middle finger, not giving Lorain the peace sign, but indicating the number of days she had to get him his money.
Sweat poured from Lorain’s face and ran down her neck as she backed up toward the door.
“And stop at the front desk and extend my stay.”
Lorain reached behind her and put her trembling hand on the doorknob, not turning her back to Eugene for one second. She fumbled with the knob before opening the door. She backed out of the room and then closed the door behind her.
She leaned up against the door and exhaled. Her chest rose up and down as she breathed heavily. She went into her purse and pulled out a tissue. She began wiping away the perspiration. She ran her fingers through her hair. The roots were a little matted, and some of the
edges were sticking straight up as a result of the perspiration. After a few seconds Lorain was able to gain her composure enough to walk over to the registration desk in the lobby and extend Eugene’s stay by two more days.
Two days. That was all the time she had to come up with fifteen thousand dollars.
She climbed back into her car and sat there for a moment. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly in an attempt to keep the tears inside. Where was she going to get another fifteen thousand dollars? If only she’d taken Mary’s advice a long time ago and kept her own bank account with her own money in it, this wouldn’t be a problem. She would have easily made a withdrawal and paid Eugene off without a fuss. But now she was in a position where she was practically stealing from her husband in order to get Eugene the money he was demanding from her, practically stealing from her. Lorain was a liar turned thief.
She started the car. She looked in the rearview mirror to see if anything or anyone was behind her before she backed out. She locked eyes on herself in the mirror. “I’m going to hell for sure now,” Lorain told herself as she pulled out of the parking spot. She left the parking lot and headed back home to try to figure out how she would come up with the money. As she drove, she looked down at her hands as they gripped the steering wheel, and that act alone gave her a good idea about just where she would start.
Chapter 25
An hour later Lorain pulled into her driveway. She got out of the car and headed straight into her house. When she opened the door and walked inside, she almost fell over all the suitcases that were sitting in the foyer, right inside the door.
“What the . . . ?” she said, looking down at her Louis Vuitton luggage set. She looked up to see Nicholas leaning against the fountain, legs crossed and arms folded. “Nicholas, baby? What’s going on? What are you doing home? And are we going somewhere?”
Lorain thought for a moment, and then her eyes lit up. She knew exactly what was going on. Her man was sending her on a surprise vacation. He had probably seen how stressed out she’d been these past couple of months or so, and wanted to do something nice for her. This wouldn’t be the first time, either. Once he’d sent her and Eleanor on a trip to Vegas for four days, while he actually cut his hours at work to tend to the girls . . . he and the nanny they got from a temp service.
“Oh, Nicholas, honey. You have no idea how much I need this.” Lord knows, after these next two days were over with and she’d rid her life of Eugene, a vacation and time away would be well deserved. Lorain ran over and embraced her husband. “I can’t go today, though, but I—”
“Yes, you are. You have to go today.” Nicholas’s voice was solemn.
Not only was her husband not hugging her back, but he also sounded very bitter, not like a husband who was sending his wife off on a surprise trip to the Bahamas, to stay at the Atlantis or something.
Lorain pulled back. “Excuse me?” She didn’t even look Nicholas in the face. She was staring down at his chest. Lorain did not want to see the look in her husband’s eyes. She could feel that something was wrong. She didn’t want to see it. She’d already heard it.
“Lorain, you have to get out of this house today.”
“What are you talking about?” Lorain could not have been more confused. She had to look up. She had to see for herself if this man was serious. Her eyes darted from one of his eyes to the other. After a few seconds of Nicholas just standing there, staring over Lorain’s shoulder, she began to nod. A smile crept onto her face as she slipped her hands around his neck. “Oh, I get it. This is Leon talking.” Lorain leaned up against him. “Well, listen here, Leon—”
“Lorain, I’ma need you to get your stuff and go . . . now . . . before I lose it. I’m trying to be calm, so just go.” Nicholas pointed to the door.
Lorain could hear the beating of her heart, and it sounded like someone had taken a stick and was hitting something, such as a drum, with it right next to her ear. That was the way her heart felt too. The pain was piercing.
“There you are,” Eleanor said as she came around the corner from the dining room. “I was trying to flag you down before you left earlier, but you drove off like a bat out of hell. Anyway . . .” Eleanor was about to continue before she realized that husband and wife were standing there, staring at one another, with serious looks on their faces. Neither had even turned in her direction. It was as if she hadn’t even entered the foyer. “Did I interrupt something?”
Lorain didn’t speak right away, and neither did Nicholas.
Eleanor spotted the luggage. “Is somebody going somewhere?”
Lorain cleared her throat. “Well, Ma, from the looks of it, I am.” She gave Nicholas a questioning look. “Isn’t that right, Nick?”
“Lorain, I’d rather not do this in front of your mother,” Nicholas said.
“Oh, you don’t want her to see the good doctor put her daughter and granddaughters out on the street like trash?”
“Whoa! What’s really going on here?” Eleanor walked closer to them, now clearly concerned. “You putting my girls out?” Eleanor asked Nicholas. “Why? What is it?” Eleanor’s mouth dropped open. “You got a new woman, huh, don’t you?” Eleanor turned angrily to Lorain, pointing an accusing finger. “I told you not to let him hire that Helen. What man could resist that ba-dunka-dunk? Heck, I be wanting to reach out and squeeze it when she be walking down the aisle at church.” Eleanor made a squeezing motion with her hands.
“Ma Eleanor, it’s not that,” Nicholas said.
Eleanor looked at Nicholas, trying to figure out what else it could be. She snapped a finger once another thought entered her head. “Uh-huh, I knew it.” She turned to Lorain. “I told you what you should be doing with that mouth besides running it. Now look. You done run yourself right out of your own marriage.” Eleanor shook her head. “I don’t know what it is with you black women and not wanting to—”
“Ma Eleanor, please.” Nicholas put his hand up. This was the most attitude he’d ever shown his mother-in-law. Usually, he was amused by her antics, but today wasn’t a day he would be entertained by them.
Eleanor backed down. “Well, I’m sorry. I was trying to—”
“I know, I know,” Nicholas told her in a more calming tone. “It’s just that I really don’t want to have this conversation in front of you.”
“I get that, but you ’bout to put my child and grandchildren out on the streets. I think I deserve to know why.”
“That’s not true. I’m not putting your child and your grandchildren out on the streets,” Nicholas said. Both women looked relieved. But that vanished within seconds, when Nicholas said, “Just your daughter.”
Now Lorain was mad. What the heck was going on here to make her husband want to put her out of the house, and not only that, but keep the girls there with him . . . away from her? “You are talking crazy right now. I don’t know what’s going on, but I do know one thing. Wherever I go, my daughters go with me.”
“Well, not this time, because I don’t want my daughters staying in some motel with you and that lowlife you’ve been seeing behind my back.”
Lorain’s eyes bucked. “What are you talking about? What motel? What low—” Her words had no other choice but to trail off, as she realized what Nicholas was talking about. “Eugene,” she said under her breath.
“And you’ve even got the nerve to say your lover’s name in our house,” Nicholas spat. “Go.” Nicholas pointed at the door again.
Lorain put her hand over her face in relief. If Eugene was the reason Nicholas was putting her out, this was a mix-up. She could explain. She’d wanted to take care of the matter on her own and not drag Nicholas into it, but her hand was being forced. She was not about to lose her husband because he thought she was cheating on him with Unique’s babies’ daddy. “Honey, I can explain.” She smiled, ready to come clean and clear her name.
“You don’t need to explain. I have all the explanation I need right here.” He pulled a paper out of his back pocket. “
And right here.” He held up his cell phone.
“What is that?” Eleanor couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity.
Lorain shot her a look to silence her. She then turned back to Nicholas. “What is that?”
“Oh, just where you’ve been paying for the hotel room, buying food, taking out large sums of cash and a credit card advance. What? Is he making you pay for it?” He snickered. “Got you a real live gigolo. Guess Leon wasn’t enough for you.”
“Leon?” Eleanor said. “Not enough? What the heck you two freaks be doing over here?”
Eleanor was ignored once again as Nicholas stood there, hurt filling his eyes. “Guess I wasn’t enough.”
“Baby, if you’ll let me explain,” Lorain said, “you’ll see that it’s not what it looks like.”
“You know, wife, I thought the same thing too, but then this right here is exactly what it looks like.” He pushed a button on his phone, then held it up to display some pictures.
Lorain stepped in closer to get a good look at the pictures. As Nicholas scrolled through, she saw pictures of herself and Eugene. The worst was a picture that was taken just this morning, of her standing in the doorway of the hotel room with a shirtless man. The pictures of her standing in the threshold of the hotel room and closing the door behind her looked quite incriminating. But the most telling pictures were the ones of Lorain after she’d come back out of the hotel room. In one of them she was standing outside of the hotel room, all sweaty. And in another she was wiping the sweat away.
Lorain looked up at Nicholas with her mouth wide open. No words came out. After all, what could she say? The pictures said it all.
