“I see.”
She became even more relaxed and I did, too, for some reason. I guess it was because neither of us wanted anything to do with Brent anymore.
“Might I add, Ms. Mitchell, that it is to your credit that you are just as unapologetic about sleeping with my husband now as you were on the telephone.”
This was getting too weird. “I think you’ve had your say, Mrs. Davis. I’m going to leave now.” I stood up and grabbed my coat.
“You may leave now if you want to but I think you should know about Lula Karapachoo first.”
“Who the hell is that?”
“My husband’s other mistress, the Hawaiian that you met at Jade Crown.”
“How did you know about the incident at the restaurant? Are you following me?” I asked, getting more and more angry.
She laughed and tossed her long hair behind her shoulder. “Of course not, I have better things to do. But I did hire a private investigator to follow Brent.”
At that moment I pictured her producing shiny black-and-white photos of me giving her husband a blow job to show in court. “Oh, for Chrissakes,” I said.
The waiter returned with the steaming hot tea. “May I have a Bacardi and Coke instead? I need a drink.”
Annoyed, the waiter nodded crisply and removed the beverage.
“I don’t know what to say, Mrs. Davis.” I laughed at the sheer complexity of the situation. “So the note was a joke, then?”
She tilted her head in confusion. “What note?”
“When they left the restaurant, the hostess gave me a really weird note. It was rather threatening.”
She shook her head as she sipped daintily from the teacup. “I certainly didn’t tell her to write it but I’m not surprised.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lula used to be my private eye. She dropped the case and refunded my money because she fell in love with Brent.”
“You’ve gotta be joking.”
A painful gaze transformed her beautiful face. “I wish I were.”
“So how did she know I was going to be there with my sister?”
She shrugged. “That, I believe, was chance.”
“I can’t believe this. You hired her to watch Brent and she ended up sleeping with him?”
“That appears to be the situation. I suggest you be careful.”
I drank two huge gulps from the Bacardi and Coke that had appeared in front of me.
“Sounds like we got a real live one here.” I said.
“Pretty much.”
“Well, I appreciate your warning me. I don’t know if I would have done the same in your situation.”
She didn’t answer when I said good-bye.
The streets were slick and cars splashed water as they whizzed by but I didn’t care. A man’s wife just told one of her husband’s mistresses to beware of the other mistress. That meant Lula must be pretty nutty. I clicked along in my heels for about ten blocks before I realized I might be in danger walking the streets, so I hailed a cab.
Saundra was already asleep on the sofa when I got home. I’ve told her a million time not to ruin my leather couch. Was she tired of sharing the bed with me? Well, that was just too bad.
It took me a while to get to sleep and, when I did, I still didn’t rest. It was that right-below-the-surface sleep that might as well not be sleep at all because when you wake up you still feel tired.
Someone was knocking on my door. Frustated and groggy, I glanced toward the clock. Three o’clock in the morning!
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s me. Saundra. The doorman just called. Brent wants to come up.”
I thought about that Lula woman and I became suspicious.
“How do I know it’s really him?”
“Asha, what are you talking about?”
I shook my head to clear it. There was no way I was going to add my drama to her already troubled mind. “Nothing. Let him come up.”
I was surprised at how disheveled he looked when I opened the door. “What do you want, Brent?”
“I really need to talk to you. Please let me in.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Please, Asha. I know about what happened at the Four Seasons. Amanda told me everything.”
Saundra was staring at us both. She looked scared.
“Don’t say another word, Brent, until we’re in my room.”
Once we were away from Saundra’s distressed gaze, I faced him. “Why are you here?”
“I just had to clear things up after what happened between you and Amanda.”
I sighed and flopped back. “Brent, none of that matters now. I’m through.”
“No, Asha, please don’t say that. I don’t know what she told you but I’m sure it’s not the truth.”
I began to laugh but it wasn’t as hearty as it would have been if I was well-rested and functioning. “Now why should I believe you that she lied to me?”
“She’s not the one who filed for divorce, Asha. I’m the one who asked for it.”
I felt my lips part in surprise. “Why?”
“I told her a few weeks ago that I wanted out because I fell in love with someone else.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Okay, whatever, but what does this all have to do with me?”
He reached in his pocket, pulled out a box and placed it on the bed between us. I opened it and a huge diamond ring sat nestled between the velvet slits. “I told Amanda that I’m leaving her so that I could marry you.”
I looked at the glimmering diamond and back at Brent. Even if I did love him, which I didn’t, I’d be a damn fool to marry a shameless adulterer.
“You’ve got to be joking.”
Brent shook his head and got down on one knee. “Asha . . .”
“Brent get up off the damn floor, take this ring and go home,” I said.
“I know what you’re thinking . . . that I’d cheat on you like I did with Amanda.”
I sat looking at him in utter disbelief. “Brent, I don’t love you and I have never loved you. When we first hooked up, I told you that I had plans never to commit to anybody. I thought we were cool because you were married. And now that you’re getting a divorce you think you love me?”
Brent sat back down. “I don’t believe you don’t want to be with me.”
This pompous bastard. He thinks he is such a catch that it’s impossible that I wouldn’t want him.
It was definitely time for him to go. “Why do you want a black wife now, anyway?”
“I was young and ambitious. Amanda just went along with the package.”
I respected him even less. “So you never loved her?”
He got up. “I just liked how she looked on my arm but I never stopped loving the sisters.”
I folded my arms. “No, you mean you never stopped fucking the sisters.”
Brent smiled and slipped on his coat. “You are one tough nut to crack, girl, you know that?”
“Yup.”
Brent snapped the ring box shut. “I got someone else anyway who’ll appreciate this ring a whole lot more.”
“Lula? Good. You and that psycho bitch deserve each other.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lula is a private investigator. Amanda hired her to keep tabs on you and then she fell in love.”
His eyes were practically popping out of his head. “What?”
“Yup! She fell in love with you and refunded Amanda’s money.”
He just sat there, frozen with shock.
“Get out, Brent, and please make sure you tell Lula that we broke up tonight. I don’t want her harassing me.”
He looked like he was going to say something else but then he just smiled. “Good-bye, Asha Mitchell.”
“Good-bye, Brent.”
He stood in front of me with his arms outstretched. “Aren’t you gonna give me a hug?”
I shook my head. “Nah, that’s all right.”
&n
bsp; His smile faded and I walked him to the door.
As soon as Brent was gone, it hit me. I was now responsible for my own rent and other basic bills. On top of that, I was feeding and housing my sister.
Something had to give.
Chapter 42
SAUNDRA
I’m going to pieces. My fiancée doesn’t try to contact me anymore. My father is a closet homosexual. Evelyn will never be my stepmother. Asha and I are going to be murdered one of these days by one of the men or women that she is playing games with. I can’t go back to Queens and I have no money of my own to escape Asha’s dangerous crazy house. I feel like I have no foundation, no anchor. I’m just free floating from day to day and it will be at least another month before school starts again. What do I do in the meantime?
I felt like calling Yero. Maybe he could help me figure out what my next step should be.
But I can’t talk to Yero because he will only have one thing on his mind: Getting back together. And I’m in no shape to be in a relationship.
I’m on my own. A solitary figure walking the streets of downtown Manhattan in the frigid weather with my hat pulled low on my forehead, my gloved hands shoved deep into my coat pockets.
I ambled on. Up one street and down another.
I peered from beneath the hat and saw homeless men and women shivering on the sidewalk, a piece of cardboard their only defense against the icy wind. I saw the drug dealers, their eyes shifting from side to side because they had to make on-the-spot decisions—a prospective buyer was either a junkie or a cop. The wrong decision could cost them twenty years of freedom under New York State’s stiff drug laws.
I saw fear in the eyes of the working poor and anger in the pupils of the unemployed.
In the beginning I believed that walking would release some precious endorphins that would act as a balm on my wounds but that didn’t happen.
Who was this new Saundra and what were her new goals now that Yero was gone?
Chapter 43
ASHA
The shower was running and I heard Nick singing that old song “Give It To Me Baby” by Rick James. It was funny hearing him imitate Rick’s voice and the bass line a capella, but then it hit me. Someone he called Baby Girl was in love with him back in Houston and he was here with me without guilt or shame. She was probably somewhere in her bedroom thinking about him with little hearts dancing around her head.
Between Saundra and Yero and Brent and Amanda and Lula, my deceit cup had runneth over.
“Give It To Me Baby” morphed into “Ghetto Life” in Nick’s shower medley.
I opened the bathroom door. A cloud of hot steam was the only air. Nick peeked out of the shower curtain and smiled when he saw me.
“You wanna lather me up?” He began moving his body from side to side so his dick slapped both thighs. It was hilarious.
“No.”
He frowned. “So why did you let that cold air in?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“It couldn’t wait until I finished washing?”
I watched him lather up with just a bar of soap and wondered why he didn’t use a washcloth.
“No, it can’t wait.”
“Well?”
I was about to change my mind because Baby Girl was an adult and should handle her own business but I was emotionally exhausted. “Tell Baby Girl that you date other people.”
Nick stopped washing. “Say what?”
“You heard me.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Whoa. Don’t tell me that you have grown a conscience?”
I laughed and went to the kitchen to order some coconut rice and basil shrimp from the Thai restaurant.
Nick came out with my white Ralph Lauren towel wrapped around his waist. He looked damn good. “Now, what’s this nonsense all about?”
“Do you want Thai food?”
“I don’t want no Chinese food.”
“It’s Thai not Chinese, Nick.”
He sucked his teeth. “All of it is the same. I’d rather have a tortilla.” He started snapping his fingers and saying, “Olé!”
I cancelled the Thai food and ordered Mexican takeout for both of us.
He kissed me on the cheek. “I’m gonna go get dressed.”
Gonzalez and Gonzalez came fast.
“Nick your food is here.”
“I’ll be done in a second.”
He took longer to get dressed than any woman I know. Everything had to be perfect.
But he sure looked good when he stepped out of that room. It made me want to go back to bed but Saundra had discreetly left us alone to go to the movies. That meant two hours. She would be home any second.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you were gay,” I teased him.
“Watch it, Asha. Just ’cause a man likes to take care of himself and wear nice clothes doesn’t mean he has sugar in his tank.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Besides, gay men are cool.”
“Why are gay men cool, Nick?”
“Don’t you get it? In the jungle the key to survival is less competition among predators. Gay men are cool because there’s more pussy for me. That’s why I don’t understand cats that be hatin’ on them, dumb muthafuckas don’t know that gays make it easier for us!”
I couldn’t believe I was in some kind of zone and actually listening to his ridiculous little ghetto philosophy. “Are you still mentoring that kid?”
“No. He dropped out of the program. I’m getting another one in the spring, though.”
“Well, could you please stop the thug talk? It is truly tired.”
He looked down in the Mexican food bag. “You’re absolutely right, Asha. Do you believe they didn’t send any sour cream?”
I opened the greasy bag and emptied its contents on the coffee table. “Nope, all they put in here is salt, pepper, and ketchup.”
“I can’t eat a tortilla without sour cream.”
“I think there might be some in the fridge.”
Nick dumped almost the whole cup of sour cream on that tortilla.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Don’t worry about my food.”
I put my food on my black Crate and Barrel plate and sat down next to Nick.
“So why you want me to take a bullet from Baby Girl?” he asked.
“I just don’t feel comfortable knowing she is pinning her hopes on an illusion. If she still wants to roll with you after the talk, then that’s on her.”
He shook his head. “Saundra’s rubbing off on you, girl. Meditation isn’t far behind.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Yes it is, and that’s a good thing.”
“Stop it.”
“I’ll drop Baby Girl and all the rest of my women if you’ll give me a real chance.”
I resisted the smile tugging at my lips. “What is a real chance?”
Nick stopped moving around and his expression became very serious. He spoke slowly and distinctly. “We both stop seeing other people.”
“Maybe.”
“Wow! Are you serious?”
“Maybe.”
“Then maybe I’ll talk to Baby Girl and maybe I won’t.”
“I really need to think about it, Nick.”
“We’ve known each other for four years and been hitting the sheets for the past twelve months and you still need more thinking time?” He stopped eating and pushed the food away. “I don’t want any more of this.”
He was getting mad and I needed to chill him out. “Just twenty-four more hours.”
Nick’s eyes were cold. “Why?”
The truth was I’m just plain commitment phobic but he was in no mood to hear anything like that so I shifted the blame to my sister. “I need to give you 100 percent, Nick. After all this time you don’t deserve any less, but most of the time I’m wondering what really happened to Saundra or how to get her back with Yero
or should I give up the apartment. Stuff like that.”
“And how are you going to solve all that in twenty-four hours?”
I massaged his shoulders and kissed his neck. “I don’t want to lose you. I just said that to buy some time.”
He started kissing me back. “Just say you’re my woman and we’ll solve your problems together.”
It was the moment of truth and I knew that if he walked out that door, we were over.
“I’m your woman,” I whispered softly.
Nick grinned like he’d hit the Lotto and it made me feel better than I had in weeks.
Chapter 44
SAUNDRA
Asha had been humming and singing to herself for the past two days and that could only mean one thing. She had a new man in her life. Ever since the situation with Brent and his wife, I had been living in fear that Asha’s lifestyle was going to get me killed. The fear made me realize that I wanted to live and worked to give me new energy. Who was this new guy? Was he married? Did he make a living doing something legal? I had to know. So, one morning after Asha left for work, I violated her right to privacy.
There was nothing noteworthy in her bathroom cabinet—cold cream, Midol, aspirin, diet pills, rubbing alcohol and throat lozenges.
In the bedroom, I sorted through her desk drawers. The cancelled checks told me that Asha paid her rent, cable, electricity and phone bills on time, which was surprising. Her bank statements showed electronic deposits of her paycheck plus a regular sum of money that made me gasp. Where on earth did Asha get $10,000 on the first of every month to put in her bank account? I riffled through those papers, my heart beating fast. Was she a mule for some drug dealer? I learned that she had started receiving the money exactly twelve months before which meant that she had somehow gotten her hands on $120,000 and it wasn’t through her work as an accessories buyer. Why? How? I would just have to confront her about it and take my punishment for snooping. If I could somehow stop Asha from doing whatever it was and possibly save her life, the anger that she would unleash on me for snooping would be a small price to pay.
I shut the drawer and shifted my attention to the boxes on the top shelf of her closet.
The Other Side Of the Game Page 16
