“It’s for your troubles,” he muttered. Part of me wanted to take it. I stepped forward to grab it, because I could use the money. Hell, my right hand was already stretched out before I knew it. Zach could apologize all damn day, but it wouldn’t give me back the time I lost. It wouldn’t make us close to even, but it could pay the bills. My hand touched the envelope and then for some unknown reason I pushed the money back at him. Fuck, what was I doing? I needed it, but it occurred to me that I wouldn’t be bought. This was a great time for my morals to kick in. Shit, I’m too honest for my own good. I slowly backed away. I was mad at him and even more pissed off at myself now.
“Get the hell out of my bar,” Mike yelled, “And take that drug money with you.”
Both Mike and I just stood there glaring at Zach. He looked surprised as he stuffed the envelope back into his jacket. He shrugged and then dusted off his jacket as he left the room.
I turned to Mike. “I’m so sorry about this,” I said, as I rubbed my knuckles.
“Sorry for what?” Mike laughed. “That kid needed a good ass whooping. I heard enough through the door. I’m surprised you didn’t deck him a lot sooner.”
“I was trying to avoid resorting to violence, but I let my emotions take over.”
“Those damn feelings will getcha every time.” Mike chuckled again. “Why don’t you get out of here too? It’s dead tonight anyways. I can hold the place down.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Get out of here. You deserve some time off after dealing with that dickhead. Get your mind right, and I’ll see you again on Monday.”
“Thank you, Mike,” I said, before I turned to leave.
“Stay away from Zach,” he yelled from behind me. “That guy reeks of trouble.”
I nodded and threw my hand up. Mike was right though. I thought the next time I saw Zach, it would indeed be trouble for both of us. I couldn’t believe that he had the nerve to show up. Did he really try to buy me off right now? This was the typical thing in the world of the wealthy. If you broke it or damaged it, just buy it off. That included people too. Son of a bitch should know better with me.
I walked out to see a taxi waiting, which surprised me. I usually called about thirty minutes ahead before my shift ended and had one pick me up after work. I didn’t expect to get off so early so I never called for one tonight, but this was cool. The driver waved as he saw me coming. The same guy picked me up every night these past few days. I smiled as I climbed into his cab.
“I came early. Not too many calls tonight.” He paused. “James King, how do you do, my friend?” he asked, with a thick Indian accent.
“I don’t know anymore, Mahesh. I guess I’m okay. How are you tonight?”
“Very good. Thank you,” he answered with an ear to ear grin.
“That’s good.”
“Do you have plans tonight? Hot date?” he asked. His accent made me smile.
“No. No hot date.”
“What? A big manly man like you doesn’t have a date. What world is this that I live in? I’m ugly. I have a big belly and I drive a taxi for a living. If you can’t get a date, what hope does a guy like me have?” He released a hardy laugh that made me burst out into laughter.
“Keep the faith, Mahesh. There is a girl out there for each and every one of us.”
“Yes there is my friend.”
As we pulled to a stop at my mother’s house, I handed Mahesh money and told him to keep the tip.
“Same time tomorrow, Mr. James?”
“No. I’m actually off tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he said and smiled.
I watched the yellow cab drive away before I walked up to the entry gate. I was just about to enter the gate code when I heard footsteps behind me.
“Excuse me, Mr. King. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions off the record about your mother.”
“No,” I said, brushing him off.
“It will just take a minute,” he pleaded.
“Dude, it’s late. No questions,” I replied.
I turned toward the gate and punched the code in.
“Have you ever heard of tax evasion, Mr. King?”
I turned to look at him. “What are you saying?”
“Your mother is being investigated for tax evasion. Do you have any information? I’m writing an article called, ‘The wealthy wives and the lies that destroy them’, and I wanted to know if you would be willing to give an interview in her defense or otherwise. I could make it worth your while.”
“Please leave,” I replied in shock. Tax evasion. Freaking tax evasion. What the hell did she get herself into now? I walked toward the driveway in disbelief.
“The truth will come out. It always does,” yelled the man from behind me.
I ignored him and kept walking. As I approached the house I could hear yelling going on back and forth. I quickly pulled out my keys and unlocked the door. I hurried inside to see my mother just letting loose on Emily.
“You’re gone for several days and you have the nerve to come back and ask me for two more days off. Are you kidding me? I should fire you now for even thinking such a silly thing.”
“Mom?” I busted in the kitchen breathless.
Emily looked at me and then back to my mother. My mother stared at me hard and then back to Emily.
“Her mother has been sick. Give her a break.”
“There are no breaks in life, James. You know that all too well.”
“James, you don’t need to defend me,” Emily tossed one hand up.
“No, I do. Its two damn days, Victoria. She went out of the country to see her dying mom,” I said, as I turned to my mother.
“She is staff, James. Not family. I pay her to be here.”
“How cold hearted are you to say that?”
“Not as cold hearted as this.” She turned to Emily. “You’re fired. Get out.”
My mouth dropped open. I had to remind myself to breathe. I stared at Emily, who had turned as white as a sheet. I switched my attention back to my mother. Anger filled my eyes.
“You heartless bitch,” I yelled.
Emily stormed out of the kitchen. I just stood there and glared at my mother. I shook my head in disgust, before finally turning to run after Emily. By the time I caught up with her she was out the door and half way down the driveway. I was breathless as I reached out to grab her arm.
“Stop,” I said, and grabbed my chest. Anger and worry had stolen my breath.
She turned around with tears in her eyes. My heart felt rattled to see her in so much pain. I tried to pull her in, but I could feel her weight. She was resisting. I was aware of what fragile ice that I stood on and certain actions I wanted to make could land me upside down. I was cautious as I looked at her.
“Screw Victoria. We can find you another job.” I kept my hand wrapped around her arm.
“It doesn’t even matter anymore. Nothing does.”
“What do you mean? What doesn’t matter anymore?”
She took a moment and tried to gather herself. She slowed down her breathing. She wiped her eyes. She licked her lips as she tried to speak, but couldn’t. No words came out. No matter how hard she tried the tears kept streaming down her face. It wasn’t that hard sob. It wasn’t that choked up cry. It was the type of tears that fell like raindrops sliding off of a rooftop to the ground.
“When I left to go see my mother in Mexico, it was too late by the time I got down there…” She briefly covered her mouth with one hand.
“Oh god. I’m so sorry.” I briefly closed my eyes. Suddenly nothing in my life mattered at the moment. This heavy weight fell upon me. Her pain was my pain. “Come here.” I pulled her into me again, and this time she let me give her a hug. I wrapped my arms around her for as long as she let me, which wasn’t very long. She continued to cry with her face smashed into my chest for a few seconds. I tightened my grip on her to where she had to peel herself away. She took a step back and crossed her arms, clearl
y guarding herself.
“She died. She died an hour before I got there. Everybody had already said goodbye. They all got to hold her hand and whisper ‘I love you’ to her.” She paused. “Do you know what I saw when I arrived? A lifeless body. That’s it. She’s gone just like that. I spent so much time working for people like your mother, so that I could make money to save her life and it was all for nothing. Everything I did was for nothing.” She dropped her head.
“You did it for something.” I stepped closer to her and grazed my thumb over her cheek, wiping the tears away. “You did it for her.” I placed my other hand on her hip. All I could see were big watery eyes as she stared up at me. She looked exhausted. The stress of her mother’s death sat like a portrait across her face. She was trembling in my grasp.
“I’m going back…to Mexico. I have to leave tonight. The funeral is in a few days. I shouldn’t have come back here. It was stupid. I don’t know what I expected from Mrs. King.”
“Why didn’t you just call Victoria, instead of showing up here? There is the convenience of the phone, you know. It would have saved you from having to deal with her face to face.” I took my hand off of her hip and tossed my thumb over my shoulder.
“I had to come back to get my brothers things, and a few legal papers for the hospital. My mother’s will was at the apartment and I wanted to...”
“To what?” I asked, replacing my hand on her hip.
“It’s stupid,” she said, and looked away.
“Emily?” I lightly shook her hip.
“I just needed to see you, even if it was for a minute. You make me feel unlost if that even makes sense.” She paused. “Wow. That sounded lame just hearing it come out of my mouth.” Her hands were shaking even more now. “Do you think I’m stupid for saying that? Of course you do. I don’t even know why I asked.”
I shook my head. I didn’t even know what to say. I was speechless. If I really said what I was feeling she would run. Hey Emily. I kind have been thinking about you for days and I like you in this weird way that I can’t explain. Even though I don’t know shit about you, but honestly I don’t care. This is crazy, but I want to kiss you every time I see you. I’ve been holding out for just you, when I could have banged about twenty different women already. To be straight up I’ve had a hard on for you since the first day we met and I want you. I want you to be mine. Yeah. Now, that would sound lame. I shook my head again at her. I contemplated grabbing her and kissing her, but I held back in fear she would definitely run. She stepped closer to me and placed her hand on my chest and leaned in gently placing a kiss on my cheek.
“Thank you, James King.” She wiped the tears from her eye.
“I didn’t do anything,” I whispered into her ear as she pulled back.
“You stand up for things. You stood up to your mother and you tried to defend me. That takes heart. There is nothing more beautiful than a man who defends his woman. I…I mean a woman,” she wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her red shirt, “I’m making a fool out of myself. I’m just going to go now.”
She quickly spun around to walk away, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into me. I didn’t know if I would ever see her again after today. What if she decided to stay in Mexico? I mean, she told me she basically came back to see me. Was it to say goodbye? I might as well make it count. I wrapped her in my arms and kissed her like it was the last kiss. She crumbled her body against me. Her tongue danced against mine and again her pain came through well received. Her passion, her pain and her electricity were running ramped up inside of me. I could feel it in my core. If I could take it all from her I would. I wish a kiss worked that way. I wish I could steal her misery from her, but I couldn’t. She pulled back.
“I…have to go,” she said breathlessly. She slowly backed away, keeping her eyes on me.
I nodded, understanding that she still had to bury her mother. I wanted to go with her. I wondered if she wanted me to ask. I opened my mouth to say something, but like an idiot I couldn’t push the words out. She mustered up a smile and waved. I watched her turn and walk down the driveway to her car parked across the street. I told myself she might be back even though a part of me had thought differently. This hurt to watch her walk away. I hurt knowing she was hurting, and the fact that I couldn’t do shit about it killed me. I turned around and looked back at the house. I adjusted my shirt and all of a sudden I was filled with an intense hate once again at just the thought of my mother. I marched back up to the front of the house and pushed open the door. I could see into the living room and my mother was sitting there, cocktail in hand. I made quick steps toward her as I entered the room.
“Do you get some type of sick pleasure from messing with people’s lives?”
“I did you a favor, James,” she said, as she took a sip from her glass. “You’ll thank me later.”
“Thank you? She just lost her mother and today she lost her job. Why the hell would I thank you for firing her?”
“Do you really think she is suitable for this lifestyle? Look at her. Cleaning houses. Sending money down to Mexico to pay for medical bills that no one can afford.”
‘Wait. You knew?” I twisted my face at her.
“She tried to tell me her sob story once. Blah, blah, blah is all I heard really.”
I couldn’t even speak I was so mad. I just stared at her in shock. My heart was racing and my neck was hot again. I could feel my ears burning. Is this what it feels like to go postal? Because I am about to freak the hell out. I imagined myself just going ape shit and tearing up the place, but I didn’t.
“You can’t paint a cat and call it a tiger, dear.” She took another sip of her drink. “It will never be a tiger no matter how much paint you use.” She stared off into the distance.
Emily is supposed to be the cat, right? Fuck her. Fuck this place. Fuck that fucking drink in her hand, and oh, did I say fuck her?
“Forget this. I’m out. I’m done with you. Don’t reach out to me again. Don’t show up to anything I am involved with or so help me, I will start talking to those hungry journalists stalking around outside. I heard you’re being investigated for tax evasion. I wonder if a full blown interview with me regarding your character would help or hurt your case.”
She froze for a second. Her body language showed that she was uncomfortable. She stared straight ahead as I walked closer. I squatted down next to her chair and rested my arm up against hers.
“Do you think your status in the outside world will help you once you’re behind bars?” I started to chuckle. “Stay the hell away from me. I mean it. I want absolutely nothing to do with you, your money or your bullshit lifestyle.” I stood up and turned to leave.
“Jonathan’s Self Storage on Wildflower Avenue,” she shouted from behind me.
“Excuse me,” I said, as I spun around.
“Your car…and belongings are there. I signed a form. Just show I.D.”
I balled up my fist, took a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
“You had my stuff this whole time, just sitting there. You told me you sold it.”
“Your old condo is open too. I had renters in it for a while. They moved out three months ago. It’s been empty since. I’ve kept up the rent on the place. I pre-paid it for the next two months. Not my money of course. I overcharged the renters and just put it back into the place when they split.”
“What the—”
“I didn’t know how else to keep you here, James. I thought if I took everything away, we could make it work. You’d come work for me. We’d be a family again.”
“I can’t believe this. Why even keep all my stuff then?”
“I don’t know. Backup plan, I suppose. I’ll admit, it wasn’t the best idea, but I had no other choice, James.”
“You always had a choice. Don’t feed me that bullshit. What’s the real reason? I know you. You work every angle that benefits you.” I paused. “What is the real reason?” I yelled out.
She swallowed th
e lump in her throat, but as always, tried to appear un-phased by the issue at hand. “I messed up. I did some things that weren’t good, but I did them for this family. I did them for us. I did these things to secure a life for you and your future kids. Can’t you see?”
“What are you saying? What. Did. You. Do? What things?” I shouted.
She ignored my question and focused the conversation back on herself as I stared dumbfounded.
“This is where you come in. I can’t go to prison, there is too much at stake here.”
What the hell does any of this have to do with me? I thought. I walked in circles as she stood up and placed her glass down on the table.
“Somebody has to go to prison, baby.”
Wait. Is she talking about me? She can’t be talking about me. This is ridiculous. Somebody get her some medication, because this woman is off her rocker.
“Are you insane?” I twirled my finger next to my head. “Let me just repeat what you said. Your bright idea was to pretend you sold all of my stuff, so that when I got out of prison I would have nothing. Therefore I would have to stay with you, and come work with you under King Hotels. Eventually you were going to pin all this tax evasion shit on me somehow. Just pin it on James, he’s been in jail before. No biggie.” I laughed at it all. “That’s funny. Did I cook your books for you too? How did you pull this one off in your head?”
She shrugged as if I were asking her what she wanted for dinner. Is this even happening right now?
“How much money are we talking about, mother?”
“It’s not important. The numbers are hear-say anyways.”
My mouth gaped open as I started to massage the back of my neck. I cleared my throat.
“I’ve been locked up for the past year. I’m good. I’m clean. It wouldn’t make sense.”
“This little issue was from a few years ago. I fudged some paperwork. It looks like you did my accounting.” She lifted her chin to me.
“For fuck’s sake.” I pushed my hands into my pants pockets. “I’m not taking this fall.”
“First of all, watch your mouth. Second, you’ve already been in there. You know the system. You know how it works.”
The Silver Lining Page 7
