I stared into her eyes and thought that other than her being a cheater, I really had respect for Paige as a woman. “Thanks. But I don’t know if she and I would ever be more than friends and co-parents.”
“That’s fine, too. Just as long as you can be decent to one another. But you do seem to be getting attached to little Heaven.” She smiled. “The daddy bug has bitten you hard.”
“You think?”
“Brother, you light up when you talk about that little girl.” I smiled at the mention of her. “See, I told you.”
We kissed and then she climbed out of the bed stating she had to run. She put on her gym clothes. She’d been working out for the past few hours if anyone, meaning her husband, asked. This gave her the perfect excuse for her hair being a mess and for jumping in the shower as soon as she came through the door.
We had our little thing down to a science and it was working for me. It wasn’t too heavy and it was just enough to keep me occupied.
The real shocker had been the conversation that I’d had with Jacob as we ate dinner at Fridays in Greenbelt. He confessed a bundle of confessions that had me reeling. After the cover-up of Anna’s rape, I didn’t think he could do any worse. But that had died down. Instead of playing it safe and being thankful, he gets involved with one of his students. I was a man and I could understand him lusting after a high-school senior, but he’d taken it to the limit.
“Pregnant?” I asked, stunned.
“Yeah, that’s what I heard.” He told me his sources and how he’d been trying to track Elise down for the last two months to no avail.
It didn’t end there, though. When I asked him how he felt about it he responded with, “I love her. I want to be with her.”
“Jacob. Man, you’re almost thirty. She’s almost eighteen,” I said in a concerned voice.
“Well, it’s a little late for me to be thinking about all that. Plus, I just turned twenty-nine, thank you.”
I shook my head. “Well, what you gonna do?”
“As soon as the school year is over I’m going to Indianapolis to find her. I’m going to bring her back. Wherever I go, she’s going with me.”
“But she broke it off with you,” I said, wondering if he had considered the possibility that she no longer wanted to be with him.
“She was upset and it just didn’t seem right. I think her aunt really pressured her. I know she loves me, too, and I’m going to her.”
“You don’t think that anything will come out of it…you know, legally? You’re not scared of this getting out?”
He paused, and after a second he said, “Hell yeah, but what can I do? What can I do?”
“You could leave well enough alone,” I said, and took a sip of my Corona. “You can slip out of Dodge with no one the wiser about any of the shit you’ve done this whole year. That’s what I would do. Go for the clean getaway.”
He stared into my eyes and then laughed. Then he abruptly switched tones and said, “There’s no such thing as a clean getaway. Remember that.”
I would.
A week later, Jacob and I left the Land Rover dealership and headed down the Pike. We had both taken off on a Friday. We had sick days that we would never get a chance to use again. No looking back.
I had just purchased the vehicle of my dreams and was ecstatic about it. I’d gotten Jacob to ride with me. After leaving the dealership, we were going to go get haircuts, do some shopping, and hang out like we hadn’t done in a while. I’d bought some clothes for the baby and Jacob some things for Elise. He was still bent on finding her.
My brother, Lee, and I had made up after the incident with his wife and he was supposed to meet up with us after he got off work. I was sure Nicole was still beating his ass, but I had decided that there was nothing I could do about it. She had actually talked about pressing charges against me for causing her to go deaf in her left ear, but Lee had told her that he would leave her if she did. After all, she had been the one trespassing. I was hoping that Lee would get the chance to talk some sense into Jacob, even though taking advice from a brother in Lee’s predicament seemed a little crazy. Lee always managed to play the religion card and that would get Jacob’s attention.
It was an extremely warm day and I was anxious to slide the roof back on my brand-new Range. Jacob, for his part, was obsessing with the stereo. He immediately tuned in to Natalie Case’s show on 102.3. A second later both our heads were bobbing as Patrice Rushen’s “You Remind Me” blared through the premium sound system. As far as I was concerned, I’d made it. My show was going to be a hit and I had convinced myself that I might as well enjoy the fruits of my labor. It was a Friday afternoon and we were going to hang out for a while until the sun went down, then we planned to paint the town red, even if we never climbed out of the truck.
Jacob had signed his deal and was preparing to head up to New York to do some work on his CD in less than a month. He was going to work in Electric Lady, the same studio Jimi Hendrix had made famous more than thirty years earlier. The school year was winding down. There was less than a month left and we had both turned in our resignations and were looking forward to moving on to new lives.
We ended up going to Takoma Station, where Jacob’s old band was performing along with Eric Roberson. Jacob felt a little uneasy, since only one member of the old band was still speaking with him. Freddie, the backup singer, had not only been happy for Jacob, he’d been happy for himself. He was now the lead singer. He wasn’t doing too bad either. He was no Jacob, but he was definitely holding his own.
I’d found a spot right across the street from the club, which had been the only way I would have parked my truck there. We went in and quickly ordered a plate of wings and a couple of drinks before the show started.
“Jacob, what’s popping, bruh?” Freddie said the second he’d realized that we’d come through the door. “What’s up, Diego?”
“Everything’s good,” Jacob said.
“I’m chillin’, how about you?”
“Just try’na make shit happen.”
“Indeed.”
The show started and we sat at the bar drinking shots of Petrone, talking and listening to the band. The place was packed, plenty of women walking around trying to look cute, and brothers looking for women.
Lee never showed up, so instead of a bunch of talking, we really had a chance to listen to the performance and judge how badly the band was missing Jacob’s voice.
The liquor had my boy acting really animated. “Damn, he murdered that note,” Jacob said. Subsequently, he cringed every time Freddie didn’t hit a note that was up to his standards. Before someone overheard him, I had to remind him that everyone wasn’t blessed with his voice.
We barely left our seats the whole night. I asked him if he missed performing with his group. “Of course,” he said as we walked out the door.
“But are you ready for the big time? No more small clubs like this.”
He nodded. “I always planned on making it there. Everything was a stepping-stone to get where I planned to go.”
“I hear that.” I laughed as he pimped in front of me.
It was almost midnight and my phone rang as I’d thought it would. “What’s up?”
“Where you at, boy?”
“On the way to the house.”
“How far away?”
“I have to drop Jacob off first. So about twenty minutes.”
“So, did you pick up the truck?” Paige knew that today was the day I’d planned to get it. I hadn’t stopped talking about it for the last three weeks.
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Mmmmmm, I can’t wait to see it. Well, drop him off, then meet me at Jasper’s over in Largo. I want you to fuck me in that new truck, in the parking lot. That’s if you’re down.”
“Oh, I’m down.”
“Well, hurry. I only have about an hour before I have to be in.”
I pressed on the gas just a little harder.
Jacob entered
his house and headed straight for his refrigerator to get some water and then he grabbed a couple of aspirin. He hadn’t drunk in a while and his head was spinning from the tequila. He was also hot and decided to open the windows. He turned off all the lights and headed upstairs.
He was in his bedroom getting ready to take a shower when the doorbell rang. He was startled and went to the window to look out. Since he’d already lifted the window, he looked out and yelled, “Who is it?”
They didn’t answer but instead hit the bell once again. “Stop fucking playing. Who is it?” he asked again.
After a brief silence Jacob heard the vaguely familiar voice say, “Mocha2munch.”
Jacob made his way down the steps and headed for the door. He pulled it open, and standing there with a slick smile on her face, she said, “Surprise, surprise.”
“Alicia?”
She stood in front of him in a white linen sundress. Her nipples were plainly visible through the material, and when he looked her up and down he saw that she was even more voluptuous than when he’d last taken a real look. Without asking, she walked right inside of his door. “You weren’t going to leave me standing out there all night, were you?”
Jacob was confused and it showed on his face. “I’m not really understanding. You’ve been sending those e-mails?”
“I think you understand quite well,” she said, pointing down to his underwear. His dick was semierect. Then she smiled. “It took a lot for me to actually knock on the door this time. I’ve come so close so many times, but I just got scared at the last minute.”
“You’ve been to my house before?”
“Of course. I’ve been here with Diego a few times.”
“No, I mean since you’ve been sending the e-mails…I’m confused. Where is all this coming from? You know that Diego is my best friend.”
“To hell with him. Diego can kiss my ass. He doesn’t love anyone except himself. After what he did to me, do you think I care? You know he doesn’t deserve me. He never did.”
“Well, Alicia. I understand why you would feel this way, but I can’t do that to him.” His mind was reeling. The whole time, deep down, he’d believed it was Anna who’d sent the e-mails, and then maybe even Elise. Not in a million years had he imagined that it was Alicia. “If it makes you feel any better, he was really sorry about what happened between you two. In fact, I think he still loves you.”
“Jacob, I couldn’t care less. I don’t want to talk about him. I want you to sing to me, the way you did at my wedding and the way you do at your shows. Did you know I come to all your shows?”
“I’ve never seen you at one.”
“I always stay in the back and out of sight. Especially when Diego is there.”
Something about her didn’t seem right. She wasn’t the Alicia that Jacob remembered. “So, Alicia, I think we should just forget this whole thing happened and…”
“What?” She raised her voice and asked, “Are you kidding? I put it all on the line and finally tell you how I feel, and this is what I get?”
“Alicia, I can’t get involved with you. Diego is my—”
At the top of her lungs she yelled, “Fuck him. He ruined my life.”
Jacob was shocked. He feared that she was having a breakdown. “It’s okay. I understand that you’re angry with him.”
“No, I’m not angry. I hate him. But he’s going to get his.”
“Don’t be like that. He has suffered…” Jacob leaned in and touched her arm.
Alicia jerked away and said, “Jacob, are you going to fuck me or not? I want you. I need you and you need me, too.”
Jacob shook his head no. “Alicia, that’s not true.”
“Oh yeah? Then why are you fucking your students?” Jacob was stunned and his face showed it. “That’s right. I know all about you and the little girl I saw you with at Starbucks. All about it.”
Jacob was silent.
“Jacob, you don’t need a little girl. You need a woman.” With that, she reached behind her neck and pulled the string that held up her dress. She then stepped out of her dress and stood before him naked, except for the small bit of material that composed her panties. “Please, Jacob. Give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want.”
25
Might Be the One
Dear Dr. C.,
Let me keep it real. My name is Enid Pinner and I don’t care who knows. Maybe a few of the brothers I’m talking about will read your column. I just had to write in to say I’m tired of dealing with broke-ass men. Why are you in the club but you don’t have a car? If you have a car, why do you have rims on it, but you have a roommate and you’re over thirty? Why were you in the strip club buying twenty-dollar lap dances but can’t take a sistah out to a decent restaurant once in a while? I don’t even care about the college degree anymore, but I do care about your financial sense. I’m sick of brothers who wear Air Jordans and put them on their kids, but don’t have health insurance. I’m tired of men asking me if I can cosign for them to buy a plasma television. What the f*&% is that? Why is that when sistahs decide we want to raise our standards, and date only men who can afford to do a little something for us, we are considered gold diggers? Got brothers making songs and whatnot.
If that’s the case, then we need to start calling women who don’t do this cattle keepers because all they are doing is dealing with bullshit.
I Don’t Care If You Call Me a Gold Digger in Charlotte
Dear EP,
I hear you loud and clear. I printed your letter because it was sad, funny, and most of all true. And believe me…I ain’t saying you a gold digger…
Yours truly,
Dr. C.
It had been four months almost, since he’d seen her last. It didn’t matter; he still felt the same way about her. So many times he’d seen her face, until the dreams were starting to seem real. The moment the students had left for the day, he began to gather up the last of his things. There were only three days of school left in the year, and because he wasn’t returning, Jacob had packed all of his belongings. He was donating most of what he’d acquired over the years to other teachers, but he was still responsible for gathering it.
When Jacob saw her emerge from behind the boxes and storage bins that were stacked near the door of his classroom, he didn’t believe his eyes. But this time it was no dream. “Hello,” she said as she walked in and closed the door behind her.
Jacob’s eyes filled with water and he nearly broke down in tears. He couldn’t move. Elise walked toward him. He reached out for her. He couldn’t believe she was there in front of him. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
He looked down at her stomach and she was bulging. “So…we’re having a baby?” he asked.
She looked into his eyes and tried to read him. “Is that okay?”
Jacob nodded. “It will be if you marry me.”
The tears then belonged to Elise as she nodded. “I missed you so much.” They hugged. “I always loved you. I just didn’t want you to get into trouble. She was going to get you locked up,” she said over the tears.
“I know. I know. It’s okay. You’re here now.”
“Can we leave? Can we go to your place?” she asked.
“Yeah, of course.”
Jacob grabbed his things and they left the building. “Where’s your car?”
“Indianapolis. I flew out here.”
They got into Jacob’s car unnoticed and drove off. Elise recounted the whole situation from the day Alicia had come to her job and questioned her about her involvement with Jacob up to where she’d begun fishing for information about Diego. Elise hadn’t known much other than that he was writing a column for Girl Talk. Soon came the threats as Alicia claimed to want Jacob for herself.
As they cruised along Elise turned to Jacob and asked, “So what did you do to get her to change her mind? She seemed to want you so bad. She was like a psycho.”
“She didn’t want m
e so much as she wanted to hurt Diego.”
“So what did you do?”
Jacob’s face twisted. “Will you accept the answer that I give and leave it at that? Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can.”
They drove farther and she asked again, “So what did you do?”
“I did what I had to do. I’m not happy about it, but she had me in a bad position. It was one that I couldn’t get out of, and Diego had done her wrong.”
Elise nodded and said, “Okay.”
Two days later, on the last day of school, I stepped out of my classroom and heard a huge commotion in the hallway. Then I saw Lisa come bolting down the hallway. Huffing and puffing, she said, “Diego, there’s like twenty police down that motherfucker.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but they have your boy on the ground out in front. They said something about a robbery nearby. Ms. Knight wants everyone to keep the kids that are here inside the rooms.”
“What?” I said, in shock. “Hold up. Watch my kids for a second.” The sixth graders had graduated the week before, leaving Lisa with nothing to do. I left her there and headed up the hall. At the end of the walkway I looked out the window and saw all the police cars. It looked like a drug-zone raid.
I walked down the steps and out the door. I was stopped by an officer and forced to identify myself. I looked over and saw that the exterior door to the boiler room was being guarded by two officers.
Ms. Knight was now standing next to me. She looked as if she was about to have a heart attack. “Diego, I don’t believe this. How could this happen? How could he do this and involve our school, put our students at risk in such a way?”
She was talking so fast I had to slow her down. “What’s going on—”
Before I could even get the question out she blurted, “He’s the one who’s been robbing all the stores and banks around here, during lunch hour. He was going out robbing places and running back here. Right under our noses.”
Ladies Listen Up Page 23
