Guarding Secrets

by Pat Tucker

  The shit was so pathetic, it was funny.

  “So, you with DaQuan now?” Edwards looked me in the eyes and boldly asked. Her question took my mind off the drama that had unfolded inside the sex closet.

  I wasn’t sure what Edwards was up to with her bold question, but I didn’t trust none of ’em. I allowed my gaze to travel up and down her body, then stop at her face. She seemed like she was being real with me, so I reluctantly answered with a question of my own.

  “Who wants to know?”

  “I’m just trying to understand the chain of command around here now. I really don’t give a damn who he’s screwing. As long as I’m getting my money and nobody is making a bunch of careless mistakes, I’m straight.”

  “Is that so?”

  Edwards threw her hands up in mock surrender. “Listen, I’m always on my grind. If my paper keeps flowing, then I ain’t got beef with nobody.”

  “So your girl know you over here making nice with me?”

  “I’m my own damn woman. KenyaTaye is all up in her feelings, talking about putting in for a transfer, so to me that says she’s looking out for herself. I just wanna be part of a winning team.”

  I nodded.

  Edwards popped her collar that was already upright. “So, if you the hot chick in charge now, I just need to know. I’ma keep working my jelly, no doubt, and as long as I keep getting paid, it’s all good. I just like to know all the players on the team and everybody’s position. I’ma play mine.”

  “Hmm. Well, that’s good to know, Edwards. I never took you for the logical type. I guess I had you wrong.”

  “Well, whatever you took me as, you need to know, I’m always rolling with she who keeps my paper flowing.”

  There was no way for me to tell if she had told the truth.

  She could’ve been trying to play me, but something told me I needed to keep her close. Having someone who could give insight to KenyaTaye and the way she worked couldn’t hurt.

  “So, how much you willing to do for that paper you want to keep flowing?”

  An eyebrow went up.

  “You tryna say I can do more?” Edwards moved closer to me. She looked around. “I mean, KenyaTaye never let us do anything more than bring in the goods. You sayin’ you’re willing to let us, um, I mean, me, do more?”

  “Listen, things are kind of strained with what happened to Sanchez, and it’s hard trying to figure out who’s doing what. It would be nice if I had someone to kinda help me out; things might run more smoothly, you know, to get us back on track.”

  “KenyaTaye didn’t trust nobody. She was the only connection to DaQuan, R.J. and his inner circle and she wanted to keep it that way.”

  Instantly, that told me that KenyaTaye was truly out for herself. The more Edwards talked, the more I realized things might work out better for us all if I opened up a bit.

  The only reason I didn’t ask her about Sheppard was because I still needed to feel her out, but I wanted to.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  KENYATAYE

  When DaQuan’s baby mama got pregnant again, the same time as me, I was devastated. But I looked past it. When he replaced me with Charisma, repossessed my car and gave it to Charisma, I didn’t want to get out of bed for days, but I pulled myself up anyway. When he stopped paying my bills without any warning, I cursed myself for putting all of my trust in one man.

  But when he invited me to meet him in the closet, only minutes after he screwed her and all but laughed in my face, that was it.

  I thought about all of that as I sat outside in the yard and waited on her. To some, it might have seemed desperate, but I had finally had enough. I was about to show him and his fat bitch that I was not to be fucked with.

  After a wait that was too long under the Texas sun, C.O. Clarkson waddled in my direction and I immediately felt like this would be another waste of time. But I told myself this was all part of the process.

  “What now?”

  She seemed miserable. She rubbed her big belly and breathed hard like everything was a struggle.

  “You talked to DaQuan lately?” I asked.

  “Why?”

  “You know he’s screwing C.O. Jones, right?” Her expression didn’t change and she never flinched. Again, she rubbed her belly.

  “Don’t you get sick of him doing this? It’s like he’s gonna knock up every willing chick in TDCJ.”

  Clarkson seemed as if she couldn’t care less about what I had said. I needed her to get angry.

  “Listen, I wanted to talk to you to see if you wanted in on a plan to get back at him.”

  “Get back at him?” She looked at me like I was crazy. “Girl, DaQuan takes real good care of me and our kids. Why would I help you do anything to hurt him just because you mad?”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. Her question made me feel more stupid than smart.

  “You come to me like we’re sorority sisters, or even friends.” She laughed a little. I wasn’t sure whether she was laughing at me, or because she thought she had said something funny.

  “You’re real special. I can’t believe you came to me thinking I’d help you get back at my kids’ father. You hurt him, you hurting my family! It’s not fun when you’re the one being replaced, huh?”

  I had no words.

  It didn’t really matter because C.O. Clarkson said what she had to say; then she turned and waddled back in the direction she came.

  Once back inside the building, I had to look around to make sure I was on the right shift. From where I stood, I watched, damn near speechless, as I saw Bishop and Edwards chatting it up with Jones inside the guards’ booth. They were the ones who looked like they were part of a sorority.

  Had those bitches gone and lost their ever-loving minds? Didn’t they remember we didn’t like Jones? I couldn’t believe what I saw. How had everything fallen apart right before my eyes?

  It was hard to tell whether they had seen me as I walked up to the booth. If they didn’t see me coming, it was because they didn’t want to. The booth was made mostly of glass.

  “What the hell is going on in here?”

  They got quiet and turned their focus on me, but no one said anything.

  “Since when did y’all become besties?” I said to no one in particular.

  Jones moved in her chair, and kept her eyes on me. I was still pissed about that stunt she had pulled inside the closet, and I was sure she had probably put all my business out in the streets since now all of a sudden, she had friends on the job. I wish she knew how close she had come to a bullet.

  “If you wasn’t all caught up in your own feelings and thinking the world fell off its axis because you was having a bad day, you might’ve noticed,” Edwards said. She shrugged as if it was no big deal.

  “I thought we was better than this,” I said.

  “KenyaTaye, go on with that bullshit. You ain’t cared about nobody but your damn self for a very long time. The minute DaQuan dropped your ass, all you’ve been obsessed with was how to get back at him. I don’t wanna be part of that petty bull!”

  I couldn’t believe she had put me out there like that, and in front of Jones too. I didn’t expect much from Bishop because she had been a follower from day one. I knew that if Edwards switched teams, Bishop’s weak ass would follow.

  The way Jones sat there with that smirk on her face made me want to go over there and slap it off of her, but it was clear that I was now outnumbered, so there was little I could do.

  It was now official. Jones had taken everything from me. It was crazy that they thought I would just fall back and leave the game without a fight.

  “So you’ve taken sides; is what you’re telling me?” I said to Edwards.

  “You knew what I was doing since I told you earlier; don’t try and play that loyalty bull with me. KenyaTaye, you only look out for you. I gotta look out for me.”

  I was itching for Jones to say something, but she sat quietly and watched Edwards and me go back and forth
like she was at the French Open.

  There was only one thing left to do and I needed to do it fast. These bitches and DaQuan would be the death of me if I allowed it to go down that way.

  I stepped into the booth, opened the drawer, removed what I needed and left. As I walked out, they carried on like friends who chatted over drinks. Where did they even get common topics to talk about?

  It was hard not to think about whether Edwards and Bishop had told Jones all of my business. But then, after a while, I didn’t care anymore. I knew that once I left there, I needed to get a transfer.

  DaQuan didn’t give a damn about me or my baby. He acted like he didn’t care what I had to say about the business, so that told me I needed to get ahead of what was to come. I walked over to the bathroom and waited for the three people to leave.

  Once they were gone, I walked into the last stall and stood on top of the toilet.

  “Fuck this, and fuck them all! I’m tired.”

  I moved the ceiling panel and felt around for the gun.

  It was gone!

  Panic flushed through my entire body. I felt around some more. It had to be Bishop or Edwards. Who else would take something from the spot? Just to be sure, I pulled out my flashlight and felt around again.

  The gun was gone! I hopped down and leaned against the stall’s door. Now what?

  “Fuck it!”

  I made up my mind. Going out in a hail of gunfire wasn’t gonna happen, but I knew what would be just as effective.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHARISMA

  My eyes barely wanted to stay open, I was so tired. But I double-checked my paperwork and made sure it was error-free. Edwards had told me about some drama that had broken out between inmates over those Green Dot cards. I hardly listened, as I tried to focus on my paperwork. When I was wrapping up, a loud voice boomed through the air and disrupted our conversation.

  “Yo! Where Dunbar at?”

  Edwards and I stopped talking and looked toward the doorway where C.O. Sheppard stood loud-talking as usual. I simply rolled my eyes. I was in no mood for her antics. I had been looking for her ass for more than a minute. There was something about her that I didn’t like nor trust. I needed to talk to DaQuan about her.

  “She’s making her rounds,” I said. It would’ve caused too much confusion to tell her simple butt the truth. Knowing her, she’d sound the alarm by shouting information like she was on a megaphone.

  Edwards got up and started to move toward the door.

  “What’s up? You got something for us?” she asked as she approached Sheppard. It was funny how everyone who talked to Sheppard tried to speak in a low tone. Everyone wanted it to rub off on her, but it never did.

  “I got some good stuff, but I need to give it to Dunbar. She hooks me up all the time. I ain’t got time for nobody tryna low-ball me!” Sheppard yelled.

  Edwards looked around, and I did too. That chick was crazy. Why would she talk so loud about doing illegal shit? It was like she wanted to get busted.

  Having Edwards on the team was cool. She acted as a buffer and intercepted lots of bullshit. When I told DaQuan about how she had stepped up, he told me that if I trusted her, we could give her a few extra dollars for her efforts.

  Things had been going smoothly for the past week. The only thing was that KenyaTaye was MIA and I didn’t have a good feeling about that. She didn’t strike me as the type who would calmly accept defeat and go away.

  “Maybe she got that transfer after all,” Edwards said when we had talked about it earlier.

  “Would it happen that fast? I thought it would take weeks for a transfer to go through.”

  Edwards shrugged. And we probably would’ve talked about it some more if Sheppard hadn’t come up with her foolishness. My shift was coming to an end and I was ready to get off. So much had happened lately that the job had become more stressful, without the extra pressure of smuggling in pills.

  To help alleviate some of the stress, DaQuan would send flowers and he’d even sent a masseuse to the house for me. He was so thoughtful.

  As I walked out to my car, I thought about how great things had gone with DaQuan since KenyaTaye had disappeared.

  “Hey, Cuzzo!”

  “Whoa, girl!” I had to clutch my chest to calm my heart. “What the hell are you doing here?” I looked around, spooked.

  Lena nearly scared me into an early grave.

  “My friend told me about this Facebook page and I met a friend. Girl, he works here, so I’m here for a visit.”

  I was too tired to grill Lena on her story. I couldn’t imagine Lena going for a man who worked as a correctional officer, considering the low pay, but whomever she was visiting would find out soon enough that her bourgeois ass wasn’t worth the headache she’d cause.

  “So, this is where you work, huh?”

  Lena looked around like she was waiting for me to offer her a tour.

  “Look, I’m tired and I need to get home. Good luck with your friend, and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Charisma, what’s up with you? Where’s your manners? You’re not gonna tell me anything about this place and all the hot men that are probably locked up?”

  Her mouth hung open like a trap door.

  “Lena, why you worrying about inmates. I thought you said your new dude worked here.”

  She blinked fast.

  “Um, he does. But I’m just saying, I’ll bet there are a bunch of hot, horny men in here, huh?”

  I wondered whether she knew what was up with DaQuan and me; then I told myself, she couldn’t.

  “Look, girl, I’m tired. I had to pull a double when someone called out, so I’m sorry, you caught me on a bad day.”

  Lena looked like she wasn’t sure she believed my explanation, but I didn’t care. I was literally running on my last bit of energy and I didn’t feel like wasting any of it on my nosy-ass cousin.

  I got into my car and pulled out of the parking lot. From the rearview mirror, I waited as she stood there looking lost, but that was her problem, not mine.

  It must’ve been family night because seconds after I pulled into my driveway, Lance jumped from the bushes. I nearly peed myself.

  “Damn! What’s with the people in this family?!”

  “Hey, Charisma. What’s going on? I know you not expecting me ‘til tomorrow, but I’m going out of town to the casino, so I thought we could settle up tonight.”

  Again, my energy level was near the bottom. I looked at him and asked, “Okay, how much I owe you?”

  My pulse returned to its normal rate of speed.

  “Three bricks.”

  “Okay, hold up. Let me go inside and get your money. I’ll be right back.”

  I unlocked the door, dropped my things on the sofa and went to the safe. I plucked three stacks and rushed back outside.

  “Damn! You couldn’t grab a bag for a brother?” Lance said.

  He was right. I was so tired, and I knew he was waiting, so I figured the faster I got him his money, the faster he’d leave. I gave him the cash, he gave me the pills and I turned to go back inside, until he stopped me with a question.

  “Lena catch you up at the prison today?”

  My ears started to burn. I turned to Lance and thought back to what Lena had told me.

  “What do you mean? She was at my job, but I thought she said she was there to meet someone she’s dating or something like that. I was tired and ready to come home.”

  “That girl,” Lance said. “She’s always up to something. She’s been riding me for more than a minute about some mystery dude. She claims you won’t tell her who he is.”

  Lance gave me a knowing look, but I ignored it and what he tried to imply about my and Lena’s troubled past when it came to men—my men.

  Lance and I stopped talking when a floral truck pulled up. Another car pulled in front of us and stopped. We both looked on with puzzled expressions.

  A white guy jumped out of the truck with a clip
board. He walked to the back of the truck and emerged with twenty-four long-stemmed roses. I was instantly excited.

  “Delivery for Charisma Jones.”

  “Oh, wow!” I said.

  When I finished signing for that, a woman who wore yoga pants and carried a large black contraption under her arm, walked up and asked, “Are you Ms. Jones?”

  “Yeah,” I said and looked at Lance.

  “Oh, I’m here for a sixty-minute full body massage,” she said.

  “Daaayum!” Lance covered his mouth and chuckled.

  I moved closer to Lance.

  Despite all that was going on, my mind was still on what we’d discussed before the flowers and masseuse had arrived. What he had told me didn’t make sense. Why would Lena be at my job looking for anyone?

  “Ma’am, can I have a few minutes?” I asked the masseuse.

  “Sure. I need to grab some stuff from my car.”

  When she was out of earshot, I leaned over to Lance. “Lena ain’t got no business up at that prison.”

  Lance shrugged. “She said you’re the one who told her about the dude. It didn’t sound right. I couldn’t believe you’d try to hook her up with somebody who’s in jail. You know how Lena is with her highfalutin’ self.”

  “So, she told you that I was trying to hook her up with a mystery man?”

  “I think that’s what she said. It all sounded kind of off to me, but when she told me about your new car and the shopping spree, I told her that had to be the ‘ol boy we work for.”

  And here I thought KenyaTaye was the only threat to my relationship with DaQuan. Now, my jealous-ass cousin was snooping around too?

  My stomach dropped.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  KENYATAYE

  I went straight to the administration building and asked if I could see Mr. Richards. I planned to take my shit straight to the top.

  “Is he expecting you?” the meek, pudgy receptionist asked.

  “No. But I think he would want to talk to me.”

  She looked at me, then picked up the phone. I stood there and waited.

  “Yes, Mr. Richards. There’s a correctional officer here to see you.”