by K'wan
Keith had let his friends talk him into going to a party in a neighborhood that Keith’s older brother had warned him to stay out of because of mounting tensions between two rival gangs in the area. War was imminent, and everybody on the streets knew to steer clear. This didn’t stop Keith from following his friends into the hot zone in search of a good time. Sure enough, halfway into the party, an altercation broke out, and during it a young man was shot and Keith was left holding the smoking gun. The gunshot victim’s crew wanted Keith dead, and it didn’t matter who his family was. The only thing that foiled the execution was Mrs. Winston calling in a favor on Keith’s behalf.
It came as a surprise to Keith when he found out Mrs. Winston was the one who had got the contract on his life canceled, but it was more of a shock to find out how she’d pulled it off. As it turned out, Keith wasn’t the only one living in his family’s shadow. He would find out later that Mrs. Winston was the granddaughter of a man known around the city as Father Time. Time was an old-school gangster whose résumé stretched as far back as the 1960s. He’d been retired for decades, but his name still carried more weight than even that of the mayor in the city of New Orleans. With one phone call, Father Time had given Keith his life back, but the favor would come at a price.
In exchange for Father Time’s pass, Keith found himself the property of Mrs. Winston. She continued to stay on him during school hours, and she forced him to stay after school three days per week to work as her teacher’s assistant. Eventually, Keith stopped looking at the extra time spent with Mrs. Winston as a punishment and recognized it for the blessing that it was. Keith would gradually put distance between himself and the streets and would focus more on finishing school. Removing himself from the madness allowed him to reevaluate his life with fresh eyes, and he finally started to believe that life had more to offer him than being a gangster from the Lower Ninth. Not only had Mrs. Winston saved Keith’s life, but she had also changed it.
After graduating from high school, Keith left New Orleans, and the sins of his family, behind him, in search of a fresh start. It was a bold move on his part, as he had never been out of New Orleans or away from his family, but putting distance between himself and his past was the only way to truly make a clean break. His travels carried him first to Texas, where Mrs. Winston helped him get into Texas A&M. Halfway through his sophomore year, his past caught up with him, and he was forced to leave school. He next found himself enrolled in the army, where he would spend the next few years, before settling in New York City. Once again Mrs. Winston came through for him, pulling a few strings to help him get into NYU, where he was able to finish his undergraduate education and then get his law degree. Shortly before graduation, Keith received a devastating piece of news: Mrs. Winston had been killed.
The murder was committed by two high school students that Mrs. Winston had been trying to help the same way as she had done with Keith. Mrs. Winston would have students over to her home for study groups. After one of the sessions, the boys killed her and burglarized her home. She died for a couple of hundred dollars and her 1999 Saturn. The police managed to capture one of the boys who was involved, but the second one wasn’t so lucky. The rats who lived in the abandoned house on Conti Street, where the boy was found, didn’t leave much of him to identify. He was severely beaten before having his throat slit and his hands chopped off. To this day, the police hadn’t found his hands or his killer. There was quiet talk on the streets about who was behind the deed, but the authorities could never prove it, nor did they really care to. Mrs. Winston was a saint, and one of her killers got just what he deserved . . . street justice.
Two people went into the ground when they laid Mrs. Winston to rest: his guardian angel and the monster that he had once been, the one she had spent years trying to help him exorcise. That day was the last time he had set foot on Louisiana soil. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing left there for him but a ghost and the memories of what he had once been.
CHAPTER 2
Bacchanalia was a restaurant located in downtown Atlanta. It was an exclusive spot where power players often gathered to talk business over high-priced meals and aged wine. Keith was supposed to meet his fiancée, Bernie, there at noon, and it was now twenty minutes past the hour.
Bernadette, known as Bernie to her loved ones, wasn’t hard to spot. She was the most beautiful girl in the room, at least to Keith. She was sitting at her favorite table near the window. It gave her a clear view of the street. She and Keith would sometimes sit there and people watch. Trying to guess the life stories of the different people that walked by was their game. Bernie was far better at it than Keith. She had a wild imagination, and Keith often joked that she should give up her job in marketing to become a writer. On this day, she was dressed in a peach-colored skirt suit with a low-cut white blouse that showed just a hint of cleavage. The sun shone brightly through the window, framing her caramel-colored face and giving her an angelic look. Every time Keith saw her, his heart skipped a beat, and this day was no different.
She wasn’t wearing much jewelry, nothing but the two crystal-clear diamonds in her ears and the canary stone on the fourth finger of her left hand. The ring had been a gift from Keith on the night when he got on one knee and asked her to be his for forever and a day. From the first time Keith had seen Bernie, at a social gathering hosted by the firm he worked for, he knew she had to be his. Keith had slept with scores of women since moving to Atlanta, but none of them moved him both physically and emotionally the way Bernie did. She stood five-eight and had deep brown eyes and a curvaceous body. In addition to being physically attractive, Bernie had a beautiful mind. She had a quick wit and a personality that allowed her to thrive in most social circles. Keith had never known true love until the moment he met Bernie.
“Late as usual, Mr. Davis,” Bernie said, looking up from the glass of wine she had been sipping. From the slight flush on her caramel-colored cheeks, Keith knew it wasn’t her first.
“Sorry, baby. I got tied up in court a little longer than I expected to.” Keith planted an apologetic kiss on her rose-colored lips.
“I’ll let you make it up to me later.” She reached up and used her thumb to wipe away a smug of her lipstick from Keith’s lip. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ordered for you already.”
“That’s fine, because I’m starving.” Keith sat in the chair opposite Bernie and slipped his suit jacket off, then hung it on the back of the chair. “I hope you ordered me some real food, and not that rabbit bait you love so much.”
“Keith, just because it’s not that heart attack food that you’re constantly shoving into your body doesn’t make it nasty. I’m a firm believer in a clean diet equaling a clean life. If you ate a little cleaner, then maybe you’d be able to win a game against me without wheezing like an old man.” She was referring to their Sunday pickup basketball games at the park.
“So says the all-American starting point guard of the Ole Miss Rebels,” Keith retorted, reminding her of her college athletic career.
Bernie had been an outstanding athlete in college, improving her team’s record in each of the four years she played for Ole Miss. She could’ve had a career in sports, but she’d opted to enter the field of advertising. Just as she had been a star on the basketball court, Bernie was fast becoming a star in the corporate world, having been named one of the youngest elected vice presidents at the firm she worked for.
“I’ll bet there are NBA players who’d be hard pressed to win a game against you without working up a good sweat,” Keith added.
“Cut it out, Keith. I haven’t played organized sports in years. Besides, skill is only part of the game. You’ve got to have the stamina to outlast your opponent,” Bernie told him.
“I go like a champion when it counts.” Keith ran his finger across the top of her hand seductively.
Bernie snatched her hand away playfully. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Keith. Though after your day in court, you do deser
ve a little something.”
Keith leaned back in his chair. “News travels fast in the ATL.”
“You know I’ve got the inside track. Even Daddy was impressed.”
In addition to being Keith’s fiancée, Bernie was also Theodore Hunt’s daughter. This sometimes made things awkward for Keith at the office. Though he had never come out and said it, Theodore had never really warmed to the idea of Bernie dating Keith. Keith was a promising young attorney and had never treated Bernie with anything but respect, but he didn’t quite fit the mold that Theodore had envisioned for the princess of the Hunt clan. From the time they were little girls, he had been adamant about his daughters marrying men from families just as prestigious as theirs. Keith, a street rat from the bottom of the map, didn’t meet the criteria.
Keith snorted. “I could tell. He actually gave me a nod, but then he barely spared me a second look when he walked out of the courtroom.”
“Daddy has never been good at expressing his emotions. Take it from someone who knows,” Bernie said.
“Well, he expresses them pretty well when he’s chewing us out in the office. I swear, it seems like he hates everybody except that two-legged pet rat of his, Sands,” Keith spat.
“Cut it out, Keith. Julian isn’t that bad. Why is it that you seem to hate him so much?”
“Because he’s a snake,” Keith said plainly. “He’s always slithering around, spying on people and reporting back to your father. He seems to be especially fond of trying to dig up dirt on me. Julian has never been able to get over the fact that I stole you from him.”
“Keith, you did not steal me from Julian. He and I went on one date. We were never in a relationship,” Bernie said, correcting him.
“That’s still one date too many.” Keith was unflappable in court, but he could be crazy and inexplicably jealous when it came to Bernie.
The waitress finally arrived with their food. She was a cute young woman, with light skin and twinkling brown eyes. “A salmon plate for the lady, and fried chicken for the gentleman,” she announced as she placed the meals in front of them. Bernie noticed her eyes lingering on Keith a little longer than she was comfortable with.
“So, how is your day going so far?” he asked, drawing Bernie’s attention from the waitress.
“Great actually. We were finally able to get a commitment from NYAK.” Bernie beamed. Her firm had been trying to secure a deal with the pharmaceutical company for months. NYAK was a relatively new company, but it was making waves and money faster than anyone had expected. When Bernie wanted something, she was like a bulldog on a bone, and she wanted that NYAK deal before one of the other firms snatched it up.
“Good! Over the past few weeks, that negotiation has been getting more of your time than me,” Keith said, thinking of the long nights she had spent on her laptop, working on the NYAK deal, instead of lounging in his bed.
“Baby, when you see my commission for the work I put in on this deal, I think you’ll agree those few nights you suffered through blue balls were worth it,” Bernie teased.
“So now that you balling and stuff, what we getting? New Benz? Bentley maybe?” Keith joked.
“Actually, I was looking at a property over in Boulder-crest.” She pulled a printout from her purse and handed it to Keith. On it was a picture of a house. It was huge but falling apart. “They’re selling it for next to nothing.”
“I’ll bet. You do know what goes on in Zone Six, right?” Keith asked. The Eastside of Atlanta boasted one of the city’s higher crime rates.
“I was born and raised here. Of course I know what goes down on the Eastside, which is all the more reason I want to make the investment. That place is a mess, but only because the people currently living over there don’t have the money to bring it up. At the rate Atlanta is being gentrified, I doubt it’ll be like that for long. This property might not look like much now, but in about five years, it’ll be worth triple what they’re asking.”
“Sounds like you’ve given this some thought already.”
“You know I don’t do anything without a plan, Keith.” She gave him a wink. “Speaking of plans, what are yours for tomorrow night? Your presence has been requested.”
“By who?” Keith asked suspiciously.
“My father. He wants us all to get together at Sasha’s house for dinner. She wants to introduce us to her new suitor.” Sasha was one of Bernie’s older sisters.
“Another one? Man, y’all been trying to get that girl married off since the Bush administration!” He laughed.
“Stop trying to act like my sister is loose. I know she’s had quite a few guy friends since you’ve known her, but she seems serious about this one. She’s making a big production of it and wants everyone to see it.”
“Do I have a choice?” he asked unenthusiastically.
Bernie gave him a look.
“I’d love to, but I kind of have plans with the fellas. Carl has tickets to the Hawks game.”
“You can play with your friends any night, Keith. This is important.”
“So is the game. It’s the play-offs! Do you know the last time the Hawks made the play-offs?”
“Go to your stupid game, then, I guess.” Bernie folded her arms and glared at Keith from across the table. Keith was smart enough to read between the lines.
“Don’t act like that, sweetie. For as hyped as I am about going to the game, I also wanna be there for my friend.” He paused for a moment. “You know Carl always gets in a funk around this time of year,” Keith reminded her. His friend Carl had lost his mother two years prior and still hadn’t quite come to grips with it.
“Jesus, I’m sorry, Keith. I completely forgot. Go to the game with your friend. I know that’s important to you.”
“What you want is important to me too,” Keith countered. “Tell you what, how about a compromise? I’ll hit the game with Carl and them, but I’ll leave during halftime so I can still catch dinner with your people.”
Bernie’s eyes lit up. “You’d do that for me?”
“That and then some. Never underestimate a man in love.” Keith gave her a wink.
“You know, this situation with Carl has got me thinking. Mother’s Day is coming up in a few weeks, and I’ve got some vacation days to burn. Maybe we should take a trip down to New Orleans to visit with your mom.”
“I don’t think that’d be a good idea,” Keith said flatly.
“And why not? You said yourself that it’s been ages since she’s seen you, and it’d be a nice surprise.”
“My mother isn’t big on surprises. Besides that, I’ve got that big case coming up around that time. I’ll need to be here to prepare.”
It was a bullshit excuse, and Bernie wasn’t buying it. “Keith, why do I get the feeling you’re stalling when it comes to introducing me to your mother?”
“You’re bugging, Bernie. Why would you think that?” he said innocently.
“Because we’ve been together over two years and I have yet to meet anyone in your family besides your sister, Maxine. You even tried to avoid that meeting, waiting until the day before she was supposed to leave to even tell me she was here. We hardly got to spend any time getting to know each other. What is it? Are you embarrassed of me or something?”
“No, it’s not like that, baby . . . it’s just . . .”
“Just what, Keith? Give me one good reason why I haven’t met your mother.”
He searched for the proper words. “I don’t know, Bernie. My family is just a bit . . . different.”
A silence inserted itself between them. Bernie had questions etched across her face, while Keith sported answers across his . . . answers that he wasn’t sure he was ready to give her yet. They’d had this discussion several times in the past, but Keith had always avoided total disclosure. He loved Bernie and wanted to share everything in his life with her, including his secrets, but how would she respond?
“Bernie, I’m sorry that you don’t understand—” he began, but sh
e cut him off.
“I’m even sorrier that you aren’t trying to help me to understand,” she said. “We’re supposed to be a team, but there’s always a line drawn in the sand when it comes to your family.”
Just then the waitress came back. “Can I get you guys anything else?”
Keith opened his mouth to speak, but Bernie beat him to the punch. “Just the check, please.”
“No coffee or dessert?” the waitress asked politely. Again, her eyes were on Keith.
“What part of ‘just the check’ didn’t you understand?” Bernie snarled.
The waitress took the hint. She firmly placed the bill on the table and scurried off, but not before giving Bernie a dirty look.
Keith spoke up. “You were kind of nasty to that girl.”
“I’m in a nasty mood,” Bernie replied.
“And that’s my fault, right?”
For an answer, Bernie rolled her eyes.
“I see where this is going,” Keith snorted. Bernie was in one of her moods. Much like her father and her sisters, she could get real pissy when things didn’t go her way. It was a Hunt family trait.
“I wish I did. I guess I’m just a fool in love, huh?”
“So, being in this relationship makes you a fool?” Keith asked.
“Nope. Flying blind does. But it’s fine, Keith. Keep your secrets.”
“I’m not keeping secrets,” Keith assured her.
“You’re not being truthful, either, but it’s cool.” She stood to leave.
“I don’t like open-ended discussions.”
“Neither do I, so give me a call when you’re ready to close it.” Bernie slapped two hundred-dollar bills on the table. “Lunch is on me today, Counselor.”
Keith sat there watching Bernie storm out of the restaurant. He wanted to chase her down, but it would do him no good if he wasn’t ready for total disclosure, which he wasn’t. Bernie was pissed and likely would be for a long time. But what could he do to soothe her fears outside of opening a box that was best left closed?
