"Excuse me, what exactly did you see?!" Vivian demanded, she was starting to get pissed off, his taunting at her expense.
Ignoring her and her question, Jake asked Lydia, "Ms Martin let me ask you something?" Jake started, "Let's say you as a young woman was interested in, snagging, trapping, har-pooning some hapless male, and he had his eye on you. Just 'cause he's not around, would you be baiting your hook if you knew your catch was no where in sight? You'd be saving that bait for that special catch wouldn't you? I mean to bait your hook just cause you've got your boat in the water, means - why - you're willing to catch anything that will take a nibble... wouldn't you say so?"
"I suppose you got'ah point there, depending on the type of bait you use."
"My point exactly ma'am... what you think Dennis? You ever been fishing?"
Dennis was laughing, Vivian sat back glaring at Jake as he subtly made her out to be wrong in what happened. Of course while they all heard him going on about it, they didn't know what he did to her. Vivian closed her eyes and looked away from them. She knew what he did, her body was responding even now to what he did. Responding to his presence; his cologne still filled her nostrils.
"Man yeah, but you know - men fish different from women. Men bait up for one in particularly, women throw out nets, pull in as much as they can, look'em over and throw what they don't like back."
Lydia laughed shaking her head at them, Vivian gasped, saying, "Excuse me! Men do the same thing!"
"AH! So you admit that's what you were doing? Trying to pull in as many as you can get - that right?" Jake asked leaning forward pass Lydia, his eyes narrowed on Vivian.
"Man you see that dress she wore tonight? That thing a mighty big net! She was pullin' them in man!" Dennis was on Jake's side, and was playing it to the hilt.
"My point exactly!" Jake agreed.
"Dennis you aught'ah be ashamed of yourself! You wasn't sayin' all that when we left and she ask how she look?!"
"Woman don't you sit there and tell me what I said! I know what I said... I tried to warn her!"
"WHAT?!" Vivian blasted from the back seat, Sheila joined her.
"Dennis you sittin' over there lyin' and you know it!"
"Woman who you callin' a lie!? Don't show out! Don't sit yo' butt up here and let Jake and Ms Martin see me set you straight! You know me - I ain't gone take no shit! 'cuse me Ms Martin."
"Don't mind me none, ya'll carry on."
"What I say when I see ha'? Huh? What I say?"
"You didn't warn her!" Sheila shot back.
"Vivian - Vivian did I not say to you, you gone be gettin' into some shit - wit' that on? Did I not say that? Gone tell me what I said! I told her Jake! I told her she must be trying to get herself another man on that hook! Cause wearing that dress ... she was about to! Now say I'm lyin'?! Just - just say I'm lyin'!" He challenged both the women.
"Well I can tell you now, from where I was sitting, she did just that. How many you figure took to the bait Dennis... how many you count?" Jake leaned forward in his seat behind Dennis to ask.
"Man I lost count, I ain't bring my calculator along."
"Dennis what's wrong with you?! You wrong! You wrong and you know you wrong! How you gone be on his side all of a sudden now! 'Fore we left the house, you was on Vivian side!"
"What sides? I wasn't on no body side! Both of ya'll bes' leave me alone! Don't make me repeat the conversation verbatim! Don't make me do that! I know you don't want that!"
"Sheila leave'em alone! That's okay ... I see how he gone be." Vivian broke in, the last thing she wanted was for Dennis to be repeating her declaration of love for Jake, when they all knew it. It was one humiliation she could not withstand. He already felt he had the upper hand on her. Making her out to be the one wrong, like she was out to harpoon him, while not trustworthy to be faithful in their - 'friendship' - this coming from the very one who went out and screwed one of her now, ex-associates.
Jake was enjoying himself, as well Lydia whom he looked down and winked at. She shook her head chuckling at him, sitting back and taking it all in.
"So Dennis - come on man, what all was in this conversation?!"
Before Dennis could open his mouth to say anything, Sheila shouted, "Don't you say nothing else, just sit there, shut up and drive!"
Vivian sat praying for a miracle, those were fighting words. Sheila should have known better. Dennis wouldn't take that, and she knew it. Vivian had sat through some whopper fights between them, she knew - here another one was coming.
"AH HELL NAW WOMAN! I know you done loss yo'goddamn min'! Shut up and drive?! Ain't this some shit! Shet up and drive! Ms Martin, Ms Martin - cover your ears, its 'bout to get ugly!" Dennis warned.
"Come on man, calm down... no big deal. I'm just messin' around, I don't want you two fightin' over my business." Jake tried to intervene, while he joked like the next person, he really liked Sheila, the last thing he wanted was to cause an argument between her and Dennis.
Not wanting it to get much further Sheila tried to make a correction, "I didn't mean to say, shut up - I just meant drop the subject."
"But you said, shet up! And if I don't wanna drop the subject - I ain't got to drop the goddamn subject! I done tol' you about tryin' to run all over me! Just 'cause this black man by yo'side, don't mean I'm gone take no shit! I ain't yo' lil'girl friends! You been married to me long enough to know... gone tell me shut up. And you stay out they goddamn business too!"
"I'm not in they business!" Sheila finally fired back.
"Yes you is! Yes you is! On the phone late at night! On the phone early in the morning! I leave for work, you on the phone! I come home you on the phone! Sometime I come home, you gone instead of on the phone! Why?! Why?! 'Cause you in somebody business! Goddammit!" He fussed, Sheila in a huff crossed her arms and turned looking out of her widow deciding to ignore him.
"Jake man... I'mo tell you now. Black women! You give a inch, they snatch the ruler out yo' hand!"
Jake started laughing. He couldn't help himself. He wasn't laughing at Sheila... but at Dennis.
"I'm tellin' you the truth man! Ms Martin... I don't mean no harm ma'am."
"Chile I ain't studdin' ya'll! What you talkin' bout - I been there and bought the shirt!"
"Am I lyin' Ms Martin? I know you a woman, but I need to hear from you, am I lyin' or tellin' the truth?"
"I suppose in some cases you 'bout tellin' the truth. I know I was somethin'. An' lots of time, I look back... I wish mine was man enough to keep me to that inch."
"Ms Martin!" Both Vivian and Sheila gasped that she would agree with Dennis.
"Look here both o'yah. Sheila, you got a good husband, least I hope he is, you two been married this long, somethin' must be right. Don't matter what's going on, or who around, or what he say... don't disrespect your man, tell him shut up in front of other folks... that ain't nice."
"Thank you ma'am!" Dennis sat taller in his seat.
"I'm just speaking from where I am now. Wasn't no body to tell me about myself, and even if there was, I might not a listened. I was something else, lord! But look at me now - I'm alone. Ain't nothing worse than being by yourself, because of - yourself. And Vivian... chile, you don't need to dress like that to shine! All you gone attract baby, is all that you don't want. 'Cause the man you want, don't see the woman he want, dressed like that. I'm just bein' truthful."
Jake grinned and reached over and tugged at her hair again.
She didn't respond. She was staring out her window, remaining quiet as tears dropped. To reach up and wipe them away, would mean to let them know she was crying. She didn't want them to know. Especially not Jake. She was at the height of frustration because she had done nothing wrong, but came out looking a harlot. When he'd gone off and screwed a friend. No one was going on at him. Yet she sat feeling as if she couldn't do anything right. To him, this was just a game. Maybe she shouldn't care what he thought or what Ms Martin said. She was a self-sufficient woman who paid her own way
- why the hell should it matter what other people thought of how she dressed and carried herself. She knew why it mattered, because people dressed and acted a certain way because of the people around them, if they didn't matter, there would be no need to dress or act a certain way. Ms Martin was trying to tell her, how you dressed, and the way you acted, determined what you drew. The bait, the lure, would determine what you pulled into the boat.
What was being said drowned out around Vivian. She was looking back over her life, over what had brought her to tonight. To this point where she possibly lost the respect of the one man she wanted more than any other. While he, was he even worth it? She must present herself worthy, moral and clean, wholesome, while he was nothing of the sort. She knew him, she knew him perhaps as his own mother. Because they were similar types. Difference being, she was female, he was male. She had not slept all over the place, and he had - she knew that without having been told. He'd come into her life like a whirlwind and had shaken her up. She was no longer sure about anything, including herself.
She was forced to sniff, crying made your nose run; the sound could not be missed in the van.
Sheila turned around to look back at her. Vivian stayed still. Without a word, Sheila handed her some Kleenex.
The men suddenly stopped talking, and Jake looked over at Vivian seeing only the back of her head and her gentle attempts to wipe her nose.
He realized then that she was crying.
All humor left him.
"Hey - you crying?" He asked, not at all concerned about the others in the van.
"Leave her alone Jake." Sheila asked quietly.
He couldn't.
"Pull over Dennis." He requested.
"No you don't... don't pull over Dennis!" Vivian cried out, sniffing.
"Why are you crying?!" Jake asked, and then, "Pull into that grocery store parking lot Dennis."
"Nooo, don't Dennis. I just wanna go home, if you pull over, I'm gettin' on a bus."
"Oh no you're not!" Jake objected.
Chapter 123
"Wait Shawn, I dropped something!" Sylvia tugged back from her husband's grasp, her bra was laying on the ground, she tried to pull herself loose to go back for it.
"LEAVE IT!" He barked.
"I am not! Let go o'me! I just wanna pick it up Shawn!"
Shawn stopped and let her go so she could retrieve the dropped item. After snatching the article from the ground, she turned and stood there, holding her clothes to breasts and facing him in the alley, not running back to him as he expected.
"Let's go!" He ordered.
Sylvia gulped. "Shawn I'm not ready to go home yet, I have one more thing I need to do."
"Bullshit! Times up! You're coming home - now lets go!"
"No! Shawn listen to me."
"SYLVIA! I'm not about to stand in this fucking alley discussing anything! Listening to anything! Now let's go!"
"YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO-... No Shawn!"
He ran up to her, making her cry out as he grabbed hold of her and swung her up into his arms. Turning back towards the parking area, he made quick strides down the alley towards his motorcycle and where her car was parked. The sudden move stole her breath away. To feel him carrying her, granted out of frustration, did nothing to calm the shock to her system. Sylvia's heart was beating madly in her chest, part of her wanted to struggle, but she wasn't about to go too far with him.
"I can walk! Put me down!"
"You are so close to getting your first real slap on the ass from me! I kid you not!" He growled.
"I'm pregnant Shawn!"
"Jesse James is in your womb, not in the cheeks of your ass! You're pushin' it!" He warned, sitting her down by the passenger side of her car. "Keys - now." He held out his hand, pumping his folded fingers for emphasis wanting them. Sylvia stood stubborn a moment looking up at him with the light from the over head lamp shining down on him. If he would have shown up just a bit later, after she found her father. "I'm waiting." He announced, trying not to look into her eyes. "
Shawn give me just a couple more days, and I promise-..."
"Lady - wife! Time - is - up! Keys!"
"No!"
Shawn snatched her purse from her, "Shawn - gimme my purse! Give it here!" She tried to take it back, but he'd turned his back to her and was in it to retrieve her keys, angry, Sylvia slapped him on the back twice, pushing him as she whimpered, "Shawn - you're such a freakin' bully!" while trying to reach around him for them. Through the leather, those slaps to the back meant nothing, he turned, moving her aside and clicked the alarm off on the car, then opened her passenger side door, moving her over enough so she could get in.
"Get in... now." He ground out through clenched teeth.
"Would you listen to me?" She pleaded.
"Not here, not now... in the car... IN THE CAR!"
"DON'T YOU YELL AT ME SHAWN! YOU DON'T SCARE ME! If I don't wanna get in that car, I don't have to! And there's nothing you can do to make me!"
"Okay... you're right. I can't make you." He brought his tone down, he wiped his hand over his face, trying to breath deeply, grappling with his tightly reigned in control, speaking through clamped teeth. "Will you - pleeease, get in - the car - so that we can talk - someplace other - than this back alley? Pleeease?" He enunciated each word with extreme and deliberate patience.
"Promise me you'll listen, you'll hear me out? Give me a little more time."
He smiled, and lied through his teeth, "Promise."
With a mulish expression on her face, Sylvia sat in the passenger side, crossing her arms over her breasts, with her clothing in her lap. Shawn reached down and tossed the train of her gown in by her feet, then locked and closed her door, fighting the urge to slam it. Walking around to the drivers side, he pulled out his cell phone, dialling Paul.
"Yeah? Shawn? Where are you?"
"Coming around to the front of the club in just a moment, I need you to get my motorcycle for me, its parked in the back alley lot down from the club. Be ready to catch my keys." Shawn asked opening the drivers side of the Mustang to get in and like to have dislocated his hip, while bumping his head and catching the steering wheel at his groin trying to fit into the seat that was adjusted for Sylvia in the small car.
"WHAT THE - dammit!" He exclaimed having to get back out.
Sylvia looked out of her window fighting back laughter as he struggled to put the seat back to fit into the car. With her elbow in one hand, her head tilted towards the other while her fingers played through the longer strands along the sides and top, nonchalantly waiting for him to get in and them to get going. Growling angrier at it because he couldn't find anything that felt like an adjustment lever or button, he shook the seat.
"Shawn man I hope you know the problem this has caused with my brother."
"He'll get over it. Will you get my bike or not?" He grouched, trying to figure the seat out and hold the phone too, growing frustrated, he looked over at his wife, who was doing a good job of ignoring him.
"Yeah Shawn." Paul blew exasperated, "Anything else?"
"Only what I called you about yesterday, I'll be out of your hair then." He growled, looking at Sylvia as he ended the call. "Can I get some help here please?!" He barked, leaning into the car trying to figure out how to fit it to him. Sylvia bit down hard on the inside of her mouth to keep control and not laugh, with a droll expression turned and said, "Key in ignition, switch power on, locate power seat switches, adjust - seat. Then - sit." She used a tone reminiscent of the general white female voice that came with modern gadgets, giving voice command instructions, then turned back to looking out her window, hiding the tears that came to her eyes from fighting back laughter at him. He was cursing her car out because he had to angle in to get the key in the ignition, but couldn't find the key hole, "WHERE THE FUCK IS THE KEY HOLE!!!" He shouted.
Sylvia turned back, still calm, cool and collected, pointing, "Right - there."
He angled in trying to find it, but from where he w
as, it was dark, in an unfamiliar vehicle, he could not get the end of the key in the hole.
"Will you put - the key in there please! I can't find the fuckin' hole." He growled.
"Hmmm? Can't find the hole? You - and to think you've had so much practice, finding holes in the dark." She chirped nastily.
"Put some hair around it, I'll find it then." He shot, getting her back.
"ACH! Shawn - you're disgusting!"
"You think so? And the night is still young. We haven't had our honeymoon yet... wife!" The key finally slipped in, he turned it and the power came on with the dash clicking, he felt down the side of the chair locating the seat adjustment switches and moved it back so he could climb in. Now seated, he started the car.
With wide eyes, Sylvia wailed, "Oh no you don't Shawn... you promised! We're gonna talk!"
"Yeah, sure we are." He mumbled adjusting the mirrors, roaring her engine, kind of liking the feel of it. He looked for the gear, moved it back into reverse, and backed out. "Buckle your seat belt." He ordered calmly.
"You buckle yours!" Sylvia snapped, doing as he told her, "How did you find me anyway? Who told you where I was? My mother? Sheila? Who?"
"That dear wife, is privileged information. In other words, I'm not telling you. Point is, I found you. Games up. Time over."
"I wish you would stop saying that! You promised to listen to me Shawn."
"I'm gonna be married to you, for the rest of my goddamn life, there'll be plenty of time, to listen to you."
"Not necessarily; if you're complaining, that can be remedied you know!" She snapped because he was already putting her in a mood.
"Ah here we go! HA! Forget it! Vows been said baby, all has been tied up save the consummation."
"Oh I wondered how long it would be before that came up! Well I can tell you now, ain't gonna be no consummatin' nothing - until I have my say!"
"Em hm." Shawn mumbled giving the mustang a burst of power and speed as he came out of the alley, blowing for pedestrians, then flying out into the street, heading down the one way street to go around the block and back up in front of the club.
BOMAW 4-6 Page 66
