Soul Dancing

by Arlene Brathwaite

  “Last night, I caught someone trying to rape my ex fiancée in the women’s bathroom.”

  Detective Harris crossed his arms, and leaned on his desk.

  “I walked in on it, and I stopped it.”

  “You stopped it?”

  Wayne held up his bruised knuckles. “Yeah, I stopped it. He managed to get away from me, but he didn’t get past my friend.”

  “So, what do you want me to do?”

  “I was wondering if you could make a call, and somehow clear this up, because the guy’s trying to say that my friend just beat him up for no reason.”

  “Did your ex fiancée tell the officers at the scene what happened?”

  “I don’t believe she’s going to come forth.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, Wayne, but how am I supposed to believe anything you’re saying if she won’t come forth?”

  “I have no reason to lie to you. I came into your office, and implicated myself in an assault, and I’m willing to accept the consequences, but one thing I can’t accept is allowing this guy to not only get away with what he tried to do to Liana, but then he’s going to trap off a good friend of mine in some bullshit.”

  “Liana? Liana Thompson?” Harris asked, more so to jog his memory.

  “Yeah,” Wayne said suspiciously.

  “Her fiancé was murdered at a stoplight last year… so how’s she your ex fiancée?”

  “We were engaged before she was engaged to Ron.”

  “Right, Ronald Banks,” Harris said, remembering the case more clearly. “That poor girl lost her mother at an early age, and her father is still in jail, because of it. Then her husband-to-be is murdered at a stoplight, and now you’re telling me she was almost raped last night?” Harris shook his head. “Give me your friend’s name, and I’ll make a couple of calls.”

  “Jamal Henderson,” Wayne said, and then held his breath.

  “Taz?” Harris raked his hand through his hair. “How in the world is Taz a friend of yours?”

  “We grew up together.”

  “Grew up together, huh? So that means you two must be into the same things.”

  “Hardly, you know what I do for a living.”

  Harris stared at him for a second. “I’m going to tell you like it is. If the fella that you beat up last night doesn’t confess that he, in fact, did try to rape Liana, or if he doesn’t admit that Jamal didn’t just assault him out of the blue, Jamal is going away for a long time.”

  “I know if you put pressure on that dude, he’s going to crack, trust me.”

  “I’m not promising you anything.”

  “I appreciate whatever you can do. The next time I do your yard, it’s on the house.”

  “Let’s get something straight,” Harris said, pushing himself off the desk. “The only reason why I’m going to look into this, and not lock you up for assault is because my mother likes you. She’s always talking about you and how nice you are to her.”

  Wayne swallowed the lump in his throat. If Harris only knew how much his mother liked him.

  “So, don’t think I’m doing you a favor. You got that?”

  Wayne, nodded.

  “I have to go, so if you don’t mind…” Wayne opened the door. “Thanks Harris.”

  “Detective Harris,” Harris said, correcting him.

  “Yes, Detective Harris.” When Wayne climbed into his truck, he exhaled. Now, he can only pray that Vince fessed up or at least admitted that he lied about the reason why Taz attacked him.

  ***

  Last night’s scrap shook Liana up, but it didn’t stop her from getting on the road, and speed balling it all the way back to Queens.

  As she sat behind the register at work the next morning, her thoughts were a collage of images that had her bouncing between happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and confusion. Vince had seemed so… sweet. She replayed the night in her head, as painful as it was, but even in hindsight, she couldn’t pick out any clues that should’ve told her that he was a piece of shit. She shuttered when thinking of all the women he must’ve had his way with. It was probably the only way he could get off. Liana always considered herself a strong woman, who could thump with the best of them, but last night showed her just how weak she was. Not only couldn’t she fight Vince off her, but she had given up. She was going to let him have his way with her just to get it over with. She remembered turning her head and going to a place where she only knew love. She mentally walked into Wayne’s arms. Vince would have her body, but he would never get her soul. When Wayne busted into the bathroom, she didn’t know if he was really standing there, or if it was an image of her wishful thinking. When she blinked and he was still standing there, her heart almost flew out of her chest. Then she saw the animalistic side of him. The fury he unleashed on Vince would’ve had most people backing away in fear, but it pulled her to him.

  Liana spun around on her stool and looked out the store window. Last night, among the melee, she fell in love with Wayne all over again. She hugged herself and rubbed her arms. She knew from the feral glare that Tammy was shooting her with last night that there was no chance of her ever getting back with Wayne.

  In the deepest recesses of her soul, she always knew that Wayne was her safety net. Whenever the world threw her for a loop, she knew he would always be there to break her fall, even if he got his heart broken in the process. Wayne had played the part of so many men in her life: Brother, boyfriend, best friend, lover, and fiancé. She realized that she truly didn’t know how much she loved him, until she saw how much someone else did.

  Liana flinched and knocked Rasheem’s hand off her shoulder when he touched her from behind. “What’s wrong with you?” she said, screwing her face up at him.

  “Whoa,” Rasheem said, backing up. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I was calling you for about a minute, and you were in another world. You’ve been looking spaced out all afternoon. Everything okay?”

  Liana allowed her shoulders to slump, and softened the lines in her face. “I’m fine. I just got a lot on my mind.”

  “Anything you want to talk about?”

  “Not right now.”

  “Yo, JD!” Rasheem called out, waving him over. “Take the register.”

  “I’m okay,” Liana said weakly.

  “No, you’re not. You look like you drove from Albany straight here and just started working. Go home, please, and get some rest.”

  “Home is the last place I need to be right now.”

  Rasheem looked at his watch, and then grabbed her by the hand. “Watch the store, JD; we’ll be back in a few.”

  “Where are we going?” Liana asked, trailing behind him.

  “I have to pick my sons up at the after school program, and bring them to my mother’s.”

  “Rasheem I—”

  “Shhh.” Rasheem quieted her. “The fresh air will do you some good.”

  Five minutes into the ride, Rasheem glanced over at Liana, and watched her as she gazed out the window. “Hey!” he called out, startling her. “You’ve been in the same position for five minutes. You sure you’re all right?”

  “Maybe you should take me home.”

  “I thought you said home was the last place you needed to be.”

  Liana didn’t respond; she just kept staring out the window.

  “Take me to where you’re at right now,” Rasheem said, placing his hand on hers.

  “Huh?”

  Rasheem looked over at her. “I said take me to where you’re at right now.”

  “You don’t want to go there.”

  “Why? You already there with someone?”

  Liana didn’t respond.

  “I got a question for you,” Rasheem said. “If you had the chance to be anywhere in the world right now, besides the place you’re at in your mind, where would it be?”

  Liana actually gave the question some thought. “Bermuda.”

  Rasheem chuckled. “You serious?”

  “Yes… I’m serious
.”

  Rasheem nodded. “Why Bermuda?”

  “I don’t know. It was a place I always used to hear about. The white sands, clear water, breath-taking scenery—”

  “The Triangle,” Rasheem threw in.

  “Oh, please. You don’t believe that crap, do you?” Liana said, cutting her eyes at him.

  “Ask the people who disappeared if they believe it.”

  “Those people disappeared because they wanted to. They just got fed up with life and wanted to be left alone.”

  Rasheem turned serious. “Is that why you want to go there?”

  Again, Liana didn’t respond.

  Rasheem removed his hand from hers.

  “What?” Liana looked at him challengingly.

  “You are one complicated woman.”

  “Shut up,” Liana said, punching him in the arm. “Don’t be trying to dis me.”

  “Chill,” Rasheem said, as they pulled up to the school. “I don’t want my boys to see you hitting me like that. They may think I’m a sucker.”

  “You are a sucker.” Liana punched him in the arm again.

  “Only for you.”

  Liana made the mistake of gazing into Rasheem’s eyes a second too long. She felt herself being pulled deeper and deeper into his ink-black pupils. She snapped out of it when the back doors opened and Rasheem’s boys jumped in. She quickly drew back from Rasheem, not knowing how she had gotten into kissing distance.

  “Who’s that, Daddy?” Lionel, who was five, asked.

  “This is Liana; she works at the store with me.”

  “Look at my drawing,” Donelle said to Liana from the backseat, as he held it out for her to grab.

  “This is beautiful,” Liana said, turning half way around to look at it.

  “That’s me,” he said, pointing to the shortest stick figure. “And that’s Lionel, and that’s daddy and mommy holding hands.”

  Liana noticed how Donelle drew a heart around all of them. “You guys are one, big, happy family.” Liana could see Lionel, through her peripheral, shooting daggers at her. “And how was your day?” she asked him.

  “Dad, can you take us to mom’s house?” Lionel totally ignored Liana.

  “You’re going to your mother’s on the weekend.”

  “Why we can’t go today?”

  “I want to go to mommy’s house,” Donelle chirped in.

  “I’m going to drop you off at grandma’s, and come pick you up after work.”

  “Aw, c’mon, Dad,” Lionel whined.

  “That’s the end of it,” Rasheem said, ending the conversation.

  Lionel glared at Liana as if it was her fault.

  Rasheem dropped them off and introduced Liana to his mother before pulling off.

  “I don’t think Lionel digs me much,” Liana said, resting her head on the headrest.

  “But Donelle spoke to you. He doesn’t speak to anybody; and just like that.” Rasheem snapped his fingers, “He just opened up to you.”

  “Well, I guess one out of two ain’t bad.”

  “Well, if you want to get with me, it’s going to have to be two out of two.”

  “I'm not trying to get with you, so I don’t have to worry about winning anybody over.”

  “I love that about you. About us.”

  “What’s that?” Liana asked.

  “Our relationship. This may sound corny, but…”

  “But what?” Liana asked pointedly.

  “We’re just friends. Nothing’s ever going to happen between us, right?”

  “Right.”

  “I just wanted to establish that before I put my cards on the table.”

  Liana shrugged. “Whatever.”

  “You’re the only woman who’s been able to resist me.”

  “It’s not hard to do.” Liana flashed back to thirty minutes ago when she was staring into his eyes and almost buckled.

  “I’m serious. I don’t want to come off as being conceited, but every woman I’ve ever gone out with gave me the booty.”

  “And you said you’re not trying to sound conceited?”

  “I’m just saying—”

  Liana held her hand up. “Save it for the women giving up the booty.”

  “All you’re doing is just making me want you more, you know that, right?” Rasheem locked eyes with her.

  “Keep your eyes off of me and on the road.”

  ***

  The next morning, Wayne awoke to Tammy hustling between the bathroom and the bedroom, getting ready for work. Tammy was heavy-footed, so when she walked in any part of the house, it vibrated. Wayne wiped the sleep out of his eyes and looked at the clock. It was five-thirty. Tammy stood in front of the full-length mirror, staring at her stomach.

  “Damn, baby, I’ve never seen a girl with washboard abs,” Wayne said with a wink.

  She rolled her eyes and walked back to the bathroom. Wayne rolled over and threw the pillow over his head, to get an hour and a half more worth of sleep before his father started ringing his phone off the hook.

  “That whole situation with Liana in the club Saturday night still doesn’t sit right with me,” Tammy said, as she walked back into the room putting in her nose ring. She looked at Wayne’s inert body and kicked the bed. “I know you hear me.”

  “Let it go, Tammy,” Wayne whined from under the pillow.

  “I can’t let it go. There’s a pervert out there raping women and getting away with it.” She was referring to yesterday morning when Wayne told her that Vince had been released after he admitted that the story he told the cops wasn’t entirely true. He admitted to having a little too much to drink, and coming on a little too strong to Liana, but that was it. He emphatically denied that he got violent with her. He said they exchanged heated words, and he walked away from her. And then that’s when he said Taz hit him with the bottle. Of course, the story wasn’t entirely true, but it was enough for the police to release him and Taz on their own recognizance.

  “That’s some bullshit,” Tammy said. “That man should be in prison.”

  “The only way he’s going to prison is if Liana steps up, and tells what really happened. I know her. She’s not going to do that. The last thing she wants is to be in somebody’s newspaper.”

  “Well, if it was me—” Tammy started to say.

  “But it’s not you. Not everyone is as strong-willed as you are. So, let’s just stop talking about this situation once and for all.”

  Tammy stared at him for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

  When Wayne didn’t respond, she sat on the bed next to him, and rubbed his neck. She removed the pillow off his head, and lay on top of him, allowing her nipples to brush across his back. Her lips hovered over his ear.

  “What do I have to do to make you love me the way that you love her?”

  Tammy’s words and tears on his cheek took him by surprise. He lifted his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. I saw the way both of you looked at each other that night when she came out of the club.”

  “I was just seeing if she was okay.”

  “You wanted to do more than just see.”

  “You bugging.” Wayne tried to sound nonchalant.

  “Am I?” Tammy got off him and started walking away.

  Wayne sat up and grabbed her by the hand. He tapped his thigh for her to sit. “I would be lying to you if I told you that I didn’t have feelings for her. I will always have feelings for her, but don’t ever think I don’t love you, or that I will ever put her before us.”

  Tammy put her arms around his neck and hugged him.

  Wayne stood up and wrapped her legs around his waist. “You are so beautiful,” he said, making her blush. “I know what I’m going to do.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to get you pregnant. That way you’ll never leave me.”

  “Put me down,” Tammy said, trying to wiggle out of his grip.

  “As a matter of fact,” W
ayne said, falling on top of her on the bed, “I’m going to get you pregnant right now.”

  “Stop, Wayne,” Tammy said, as she put her hands on his chest. “You didn’t even brush your teeth, yet.” She turned from side to side as he tried to kiss her.

  “Okay, you got a choice. Let me kiss you or you’re going to be late for work.”

  “C’mon, Wayne, stop playing.”

  “You know how those soccer moms be wanting to jump on you when you have them in that gym waiting for you to show up.”

  “Okay, okay,” Tammy said. “A small kiss.”

  “That’s all I want.” Wayne kissed her and knew by Tammy’s moan that she was going to be late for her kickboxing class.

  ***

  Taz took a long pull on the blunt before offering it to Wayne. Wayne just stared at him.

  “Damn, you don’t have to look at me like that.” Taz took another pull and held his breath for a minute. “Motherfucker,” Taz said, as he exhaled. “I almost died in county lockup. I went a whole day without smoking. You know what that shit can do to a motherfucker?”

  “No,” Wayne said. “I don’t.”

  “Of course you don’t. The only weed you touch is the ones you pull up out of people’s yards. You don’t know how close I was to crushing up some apple seeds and rolling them in some bible paper.”

  Wayne frowned at him. “Isn’t that some crazy shit you used to do in DFY?”

  “No doubt.”

  “You’re a grown ass man,” Wayne said. “Weed isn’t addictive. It’s all in your head.”

  “Spoken like a true non-weed smoker.” Taz took another pull and let it rush out his nose. “I’m like a vampire; and weed is my blood supply.” Taz took another pull and closed his eyes as if the weed actually possessed some regenerative qualities. Taz’s eyes were demon-red when he opened them. “So, what are we going to do about this rapo?”

  “We ain’t doing a motherfucking thing,” Wayne said with authority.

  “That piece of shit tried to rape your girl.”

  “Liana’s not my girl.”

  “Man… who you think you talking to? She’s always going to be your girl. No matter who she’s with or who you’re with.”

  “Tammy’s my girl; and from what Elizabeth tells me, Liana’s messing with some cat in the city named Rasheem.”