* * * *
Gunnar had wanted to get on a plane the day he got discharged from the hospital. A couple of things kept him from doing that. He needed to pack up his belongings, and he really didn’t want to leave town without resolving issues between him and his mother, and with Eboni. Especially with Eboni.
Gunnar rubbed his pocket and felt the ring box again.
“Are you decent?”
Gunnar turned around and saw Gideon standing in the doorway of the sewing room that used to be Gideon’s old room. With Shay still in the apartment over the garage, Gunnar had to find another spot to sleep. Since his mother had a futon in her sewing room, she thought Gunnar would be more comfortable in there than sleeping on the living-room couch.
Gunnar could barely fit on the futon. His feet hung off the edge unless he slept at an angle. He at least had privacy. He could close the door when his mother refused to leave him alone.
Queen Elizabeth had even recruited help. Shay had no problems arguing on behalf of his mother. Gunnar suspected that Gideon had been sent to him to do the same thing.
“What’s up?” Gunnar continued packing…slowly.
The stitches in his side had him moving at a rate that snails could pass him. As long as he kept moving, it meant progress.
“I came up to see how you were doing.” Gideon sat on the futon. “Can’t believe you let Mom see that.”
Gunnar turned to see what Gideon meant. When his brother motioned to the back of his head, he understood.
“I thought it was time. I went to get it removed. I had one session but the guy says I need about two, maybe three more before it’s all gone.” Gunnar rubbed the back of his head.
“You don’t have to leave town. I have that huge house down at the Oceanfront. Come stay with me. I could use some company.” Gideon braced his elbows on his knees.
“Thanks for the offer. I think I need to split.” This trip had Gunnar’s head spinning.
“Why don’t you sit down and talk to me? We haven’t really talked since I got into town.”
As he scanned his brother, Gunnar remembered what Gideon had looked like growing up, not the grown man in front of him. He kept his dirty-blond hair almost as long as Gunnar’s hair had been before he’d shaved his head. His blue eyes always looked crystal clear, like the man had nothing to hide. Bruises covered his neck and arms, showing the results of his recent victory.
“You’re not here to tell me what an asshole I am because I’m not talking to Mom, are you?” Gunnar eased down in a chair across from his brother.
“No. I’m going to tell you what a model son you’ve been and how forgiveness has always been your strength.”
“Fuck you.”
“Oh, and your eloquent way with words.” Gideon laughed. “You know what your problem is? You’ve had this issue since we were kids.”
“Please, enlighten me.”
“You’ve always wanted to be treated older than your age, but essentially you want to be a kid. Mom told me why you’re pissed at her.”
“Wow. So she can tell my brother that my former girlfriend miscarried as soon as you walk in the door, but she couldn’t open her mouth to say a thing to me.”
Gideon’s face froze. “Eboni was pregnant? She didn’t tell me that. She said that you and someone were going through a situation that she knew a little bit about and had expected two grown folks to handle their own business.”
Gunnar snorted. “Whatever. She’s my mother. She should have been looking out for me.”
“She did. She raised you to think on your own and to be a man about your business. Do you think ignoring her or Eboni is going to fix anything? Is that being a man?”
Gunnar remained quiet. He held his side that had now started throbbing in pain. His brother’s verbal jab hurt him deep.
Gideon continued when Gunnar remained quiet. “Mom loves you. It’s killing her that you’ve shut her out. Before she goes under the knife, which will be soon, make it right, man.” He stood and held his hand out to Gunnar so he could help him to his feet.
Gunnar accepted the offer. “You’re younger than me. How did you get so wise?”
“What can I say? I’m the middle kid. I’ve been made a mediator all my life.” Gideon put his hand on Gunnar’s shoulder as he led him to the door. “By the way, I saw Eboni again. When did she chop off all her hair?”
“About a week or so ago, same time I did mine.” The reminder had Gunnar turning back in his room to grab his hat. He couldn’t see his mother with that symbol on the back of his head.
“Sounds like she’s been a good influence on you.”
“She lied, man.”
“No, she didn’t. She spared you some misery. Sounds like she cares about you.”
Gunnar stopped at the top of the stairs. He looked at his brother. “I would have been a good dad, right?”
Gideon smiled. “The best. You’re a nerd. You’re always sticking your nose in other people’s business. And your pants are already starting to creep up to your chest.”
Gunnar jabbed his elbow into Gideon’s stomach. “Remind me again why I missed you.”
“I’m the only brother who will talk to you.”
Gunnar looked up the stairs. “Low blow.”
He strolled into the living room, where he found his mother sitting on the couch doing some knitting. Gunnar didn’t know how to approach the woman who had done more for him than any mother or any woman he’d been with, with the exception of Eboni.
Gunnar stood behind the couch, trying to come up with a way to break the ice.
“Will you pour me some tea, darling?” his mother asked without turning around.
“Yes, ma’am.” Gunnar went to the kitchen and found a kettle already hot on the stove.
He poured the hot water over a tea bag in his mother’s favorite mug. Even though she hadn’t asked for any, he placed some of her own chocolate chip cookies on a saucer and brought the duo into the living room. He placed them on a table by the couch next to her. Then he continued to stand.
“Ma, uh, Mom?”
She broke her stare from the TV to regard him.
“I’m sorry for what I said.”
“No, you’re not.”
Gunnar’s stomach dropped to the floor. His mother didn’t want to forgive him.
“You apologize. But there’s absolutely nothing sorry about you. I’m sorry.”
Gunnar shook his head. “You’re not--”
“No, this time, son, I really mean what I said. I’m sorry. I’m a sorry mother who should have told the news that would have affected your life. Even if Eboni had told you, I should have said something to make sure you were okay. I should have known something was wrong. Good or bad, you tell me everything. Had Eboni said something to you, you would have talked to me, right?”
Gunnar knew his mother had him pegged. If he hadn’t come home after hearing about Eboni’s pregnancy, he would have called Queen to talk about it.
Queen Elizabeth continued talking. “I would be worried about you if you heard Eboni was pregnant, lost the baby, and you were relieved because you wouldn’t have any responsibilities. But you weren’t. You’re very passionate about family. You love truth and honesty. I love that about you. For that, I owe you an apology.”
Gunnar sat next to his mother.
“You’re right. Even though you and Eboni are adults, sometimes even adults need guidance. I should have said something to you as your mother. I don’t want you to ever feel like you can’t tell me anything or that you can’t trust me.” She held Gunnar’s hand. “I hated that you wouldn’t talk to me. That was a bad punishment for me.”
“I was feeling a bit raw.”
Queen nodded. “I get it. I promise you that I will never keep anything from you. So some truth time. I’ve been dating a man for a while. His name is Fred and he’s a lovely man I met when I took that Cruise to Nowhere out of Norfolk.”
/> Gunnar felt heat traveling up his body. The last man his mother had been with had hurt her. “I want to meet this guy.”
She patted his hand. “Calm down, Gunnar. He’s a good man. You’ll meet him soon. I promise. They have rescheduled my surgery for next Monday. When are you leaving out for Las Vegas?”
Gunnar regretted making arrangements to leave now. “I was supposed to go tomorrow. But I’ll cancel. I can’t leave you.”
Elizabeth squeezed his hand. “I’m so glad to have my boys around me. But there is something you need to do.”
“Name it.”
“Call Eboni. Better yet, go see her. She’s been so down since you stopped talking to her. I truly believe her when she said she didn’t tell you because she cared about you. Think about it. When you first got back in town, she could have told you the news then, when she didn’t really like you. But she didn’t. She loves you. You know this.”
Yes, Gunnar knew it. He knew he loved her, too.
“You wouldn’t have bought her a ring if you didn’t love her.”
On reflex, Gunnar touched the ring box in his pocket.
“If you still want this woman in your life, go after her.”
Gunnar stood and started to walk out the room. He stopped, turned back to his mother and kissed her cheek. “May I be excused?”
She swatted his backside. “Go. I want to see that ring when it’s on her finger.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Gunnar hoped he still had a chance with her.
Would Eboni want to be with a pigheaded man? He could only hope.
Gunnar first went to Eboni’s apartment. He tried keeping a straight face when her cousin answered the door. Not interested in having any trouble with him, Gunnar tried to talk to him like a reasonable adult.
“Hey, Craig. Is Eboni home? I’d like to talk to her.” Gunnar even completed his query with a smile.
“I’m sure you would like to do a lot of things with my cousin. You can knock her up again. This family could use some of that championship money of yours.” Craig laughed as he leaned on the open door.
“Don’t talk about your cousin that way.” Gunnar balled his hands into fists and hoped Craig didn’t notice.
“Or what?”
Gunnar almost went into a tirade about what he could do to him but stopped. He didn’t want to be a man that solved all of his problems with violence. “I didn’t see her car outside, so I’ll assume she’s not here. I’ll just find her on my own.”
“You do that, loser.”
At that insult, Gunnar turned and faced Eboni’s cousin. “I love Eboni. Had I known she was pregnant, I would have been right back here for her. I’m a man. I don’t depend on a woman to provide me my living. I don’t lay up on someone’s couch and make judgments. I work. I’m going to work hard to get Eboni to forgive me. I suggest you do the same thing.”
He turned on his heel and headed back to his vehicle. With it being Monday, he knew the salon would be closed. He went to the community center, Eboni’s other home away from home.
Gunnar walked into the front of the building. As soon as he spotted Drew, he went directly to the man.
“Oh, hey, Gunnar. I saw on the news about you getting shot around here. That’s crazy.” Drew shook his head.
“I’m okay. I’m looking for Eboni. Is she here today?”
“Yeah. Last I saw her, she was in the activity room.” Drew pointed in the direction of the room.
Who Gunnar saw at the opposite end of the room almost had him dropping to his knees. “Excuse me, Drew.”
Gunnar headed toward the basketball-court area, then ducked into the locker room. He walked down the aisle scanning both sides to look for the person he caught. At the last aisle sitting on a bench sat T-Lite. With his head down, he didn’t look like the braggart he had presented himself as in the salon.
“Hey!” Gunnar approached him.
The young man’s eyes widened as he stood and tried to run. Luckily, Gunnar managed to grab the back of the boy’s shirt and coat and drag him to a wall. Stabbing pains filled his side, but Gunnar wouldn’t let it stop him.
“Oh, no. You’re not running anywhere. You’re going to tell me why you shot me.”
T-Lite swallowed hard. It looked like tears crested his lower lids. The longer he stared at him, the more the boy reminded him of himself. Damn. Had he really been that lost? The symbol on the back of his head should be enough proof.
“Dude, I heard you were shot.” T-Lite fidgeted in his spot.
“Don’t give me that. You may have been wearing a hood, but I saw your face.” Gunnar lifted T-Lite’s hand. “I also recognize this crappy homemade tattoo on your hand.”
T-Lite snatched his hand away. “What? Plenty of guys have this symbol on the exact same spot on their hands. I ain’t the only one. Hell, you have it on your head. You’re one of us.”
“I told you before, I’m nothing like you or any of the hoodlums you hang out with.” Not falling for T-Lite’s excuses, he continued asking questions. “Did you do it as some sort of gang initiation? Was that it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.”
Gunnar pounded his fist into the wall next to T-Lite’s head. The boy jumped and got quiet quickly. “Don’t play with me. You could have killed me, or is that what you were trying to do?”
“I wasn’t trying to.”
Gunnar stood up straighter when T-Lite started telling the truth. The throbbing on his side started to subside.
“The guy paid me to mess up the salon. He gave me a gun in case someone showed up to stop me. But I didn’t know you were going to be there. I held up the gun to scare you. Then it went off.”
“Who paid you?”
“I don’t know his real name. He saw the video I uploaded of you yelling at that guy in the salon from a couple of weeks ago. He contacted me and said that he had a job for me. So I met him at a McDonald’s. He gave me five thousand dollars and the gun.”
Gunnar racked his brain to try and figure out who would want to ruin the salon or hurt him. “What did the guy look like? Was it the guy I was yelling at?”
T-Lite shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before. He had a shaved head, kind of a crooked smile and a little taller than me.”
Shit. Chuck. Gunnar knew his manager wanted him back to work. He hadn’t known what lengths Chuck would go to achieve that.
Gunnar stared into T-Lite’s eyes. “You are going down a bad path. If someone else had come into the salon instead of me, that person could have shot and killed you. If the police had been there, they could have shot you. You are going to have to change.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re rich.”
Gunnar shook his head. “I started out just like you.” To punctuate his claim, he pointed to the back of his head. “I made a lot of bad mistakes. Having great role models around me helped steer me on the right path. That’s what you need. I’d be willing to mentor you.”
T-Lite looked at him suspiciously. “Serious, man? For real?”
Gunnar nodded. “Boxing classes would give you confidence and discipline. I could teach you.”
T-Lite smiled. “All right!”
“That is after I turn you over to the police.”
The young man jerked like he wanted to run. Gunnar pulled him back and pressed him against the wall harder.
“You would rat me out?” T-Lite asked.
“Yes. You vandalized my mother’s business. You had an illegal firearm. And you shot at me. You can’t be rewarded for that. However, I will speak on your behalf. I’m sure as long as you testify against the guy who gave you the money and gun, the judge will go light on you.”
The young man snickered. “Great. I’ll tell them I have no idea who the guy is or where I can find him.”
“But if you saw him again, you could identify him, right?”
T-Lite nodded.
“Good. That’s all I nee
d to know. Now let’s find Drew and get you to the office.”
“Damn.”
“Watch your language.”
Gunnar led the boy to the Drew, who quickly ushered them both to the office. After hearing what had happened, Drew wasted no time contacting the police.
The next call Gunnar made went to his manager. “Hey, Chuck. Are you still in town or did you already go back to Vegas?”
“Of course I’m in town. I plan to fly back on the same flight with you tomorrow.”
Relief and anger washed over Gunnar. “Good. I’m here with the police and they need to question you about possible suspects. Can I meet you in your hotel lobby or something?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Chuck gave Gunnar the name of his hotel.
Gunnar gave that information to the police. The police managed to keep T-Lite, or Terry, as his parents had named him, hidden until Chuck came out to meet Gunnar.
“How are you feeling, champ?” Chuck asked him.
“Sore, but hopefully better soon.” Gunnar peered over at the front desk where they had Terry hidden. He saw the boy nodding his head emphatically. “Yeah, I’m going to be feeling great in a minute.”
Two uniformed officers approached Chuck.
“Hey, gentlemen. I understand you wanted to question me.”
“More like get a confession. You’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder for hire.” One of the officers pulled Chuck’s arm behind his back to put the handcuffs on him.
“I can’t believe the lengths you went to just to get me back into the ring,” Gunnar said to his former manager. “That child you gave a loaded gun to could have killed me.”
“You don’t understand what your little sabbatical is doing to the business. Every day you’re out of the ring is costing me money. I had to do something.”
If the officers hadn’t been there, Gunnar would have decked Chuck.
“I’ll be happy to give you all a statement and testify when it comes time.” Gunnar shook the detectives’ hands and watched them take away a part of his life he wanted to forget.
One part of his life remained broken. He had to find Eboni.
Chapter 20
The Look of Love Page 25
