“Come on, Stephanie. Admit it, my shit is bigger than his, isn’t it?” He laughed and lifted his eyebrows suggestively. I couldn’t help it. I smirked a little, waving my hand. Malek was bigger than Travis. Hell, he was bigger than anyone I’d ever seen.
“You are so stupid, Malek.”
“But I got a big dick, don’t I?” he teased. I couldn’t help but laugh a little this time.
“I knew I could make you laugh. It was just a matter of time.” He looked proud. “Remember how it used to be back in the day? You’d braid my hair while I cracked jokes and rolled a blunt.” He leaned back against my knees and I started greasing his scalp again.
“Yeah, I remember.” I smiled. “We’d smoke it then go to Ryan’s Steakhouse. I used to love me some Ryan’s.”
“Oh, hell, yeah. Ryan’s was the bomb.” He shook his head. “Damn, I ain’t been to Ryan’s since we broke up.”
“Neither have I,” I said quietly. There were still certain things I avoided doing since Malek left me, and going to Ryan’s was one of them. Our nights there had been part of a happier time between us. Malek obviously shared some of my memories.
“Hey, do you remember how much fun we’d have when we came home from Ryan’s? You used to do some freaky shit when you were high.” He gave me a devilish grin.
“Don’t go there, Malek.”
“Don’t go where? I don’t know what you”ne talking about.”
“Like hell, you don’t. You trying to take me on your little trip down freaky-memory lane.” And doing a good job, I might add.
“No, I’m not,” he protested weakly.
“Yes you are. And if you keep it up, you gonna be walking around here with half a braided head, ’cause I’m gonna be out.”
“Okay, okay. Sorry,” he said casually. “Can I say one thing, though?”
“As long as it don’t have to do with sex.”
“It doesn’t.”
“What is it?”
“We should go to Ryan’s again, after you finish my braids. My treat”
“Your treat? Where you getting all this money from? You selling drugs?” Better to change the subject than think about how tempting his offer really was.
“Hell, no. I got a real job. I been working over at Home Depot for almost two months. Yesterday was payday.” He looked at me and smiled. “Never thought I’d get a real job, did you?”
“No, I never did” I was impressed, even though it looked like he was still spending his money as soon as he got it. “It’s too bad you couldn’t have got a real job four years ago. We might still be together.”
“I can’t do anything right without you bringing up the past?” He sounded genuinely offended, and I remembered my promise to Nana. This was not the way to make her grandson feel better.
“I’m sorry, Malek,” I offered as an apology. “Congratulations on your new job. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks. So what’s up? You wanna go to Ryan’s, or what?”
“Yeah, we can go.” I tried to ignore the little voice that told me to run.
“Well ah’ight! Maybe we should stop and get a bag of weed on the way.”
That little voice was screaming at me now, but I just turned it off and agreed. I had just put myself on the fast track to trouble, and I wasn’t turning back now.
12
Travis
You ever have that feeling that something was wrong, but you didn’t quite know what it was? Like your life was about to be turned upside down and there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it? That’s how I felt as I searched the city for Stephanie. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was starting to believe that she was cheating on me. Why would I think that? It was mostly a gut feeling. That and a whole lot of circumstantial evidence. You see, it all started earlier this afternoon. I’d just returned to my post from a meeting with my lieutenant when my buddy Matt, the duty sergeant, called me over.
“Yo, Teel Phone line one.” I walked over to an unoccupied desk and picked up the phone.
“Sergeant Thomas. How can I help you?”
“Well, hello, Sergeant Thomas. How you doin’, handsome?” It was Stephanie and she was using that sexy voice that always turned me on.
“I’m fine, and you?” I tried to look professional for the benefit of the other soldiers in the room.
“I’m doin’ all right, but I need a favor. Can you pick up the kids? They want me to do overtime tonight.”
“No problem. I’ll have them fed, bathed, and in bed by the time you get home.” I was proud of her for getting back to work so quickly after the baby’s birth, without one complaint. She really was a trooper, trying to pull her own weight to help out with the bills.
“Thanks, sweetie. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Ah’ight, but don’t forget we have a little unfinished business to take care of tonight.”
“We do? What unfinished business?” she asked.
I glanced around the office to see if anyone was close enough to hear, before I whispered seductively into the phone. “Come on, Steph. You know we’re supposed to get our groove on tonight. Mr. Happy hasn’t been to the amusement park in months and he wants to ride the roller coaster.”
“Well don’t you worry, handsome, ’cause the amusement park was checked out by the engineers this morning and we’re open for business tonight. All you gotta do is show me your ticket and I’ll let you ride all night long.” Her teasing was turning me on and I could feel myself getting aroused.
“Damn” I reached in my pocket and felt the pack of condoms I’d bought earlier. “I got my tickets right here. You sure you gotta do overtime? Cause we could hook up for a quickie right before the kids get outta day care.”
“I wish I could, boo, but I already told my boss I’d work. Don’t worry, though. I’ll make it up to you tonight.”
“You know I’m gonna hold you to that.”
“You do that, sweetie. I’ll see you tonight, okay? I love you, Travis.”
“I love you too, babe. Bye.”
At the same time I hung up the phone, I remembered that today was the first day of my classes at Virginia State University. I’d been going to night school, working on my degree in business administration, and was supposed to be taking a computer class at the university. I could still have time to pick up the kids. The only problem was that I was gonna have to drop them off at Stephanie’s mom’s and have Stephanie pick them up on her way home. It was a small change of plans, but I still had to run it by Stephanie. I picked up the phone and dialed Wal-Mart, hoping I could catch her before she went back to her register.
“Thank you for calling Wal-Mart. This is John speaking. How can I help you?”
“What’s up, John? This is Travis, Stephanie’s boyfriend.” John was one of the nicer managers they had at the store.
“Hey, Travis. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. Listen, Steph just called me a minute ago. Can you grab her before she gets to her register?”
“I’m sorry, Travis, but Stephanie left for the day about an hour ago. She said something about a family emergency. Is everything okay?”
“What? What do you mean, she left for the day? She just called and told me she’s doing overtime.”
“Overtime?” he laughed. “We haven’t had any overtime since Christmas.”
He had to be wrong. Why would Stephanie lie about something like this?
“Are you sure she left? Maybe she’s working in another department with another manager?”
“If she is, it’s a mystery to me. But I’ll check her time card for you.”
“Thanks, John. I’d appreciate that.”
“Okay, hold on ...” The line went silent as I waited for John to return.
“Travis, you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Stephanie clocked out at two-thirty.” He said it matter-of-factly, but it made my stomach queasy.
“You sure about that?”
“Positive. I’ve got her time card right in front of me.”
“Okay, John. Thanks.”
“No problem. Anything I can do?”
“No. I just wanted to tell her where I was dropping off the kids. Talk to you later.” I hung up the phone and slowly lowered myself into a chair. My mind began to absorb what had just happened. Where the hell was Stephanie, and why did she lie to me? I slammed my hand down on the desk as my suspicion grew. This was not supposed to happen. Not to us.
“You okay, Tee?” Matt walked over and patted me on the back.
“Hell, no, I’m not okay,” I told him angrily. “I think my old lady’s stepping out on me.”
“Stephanie? No way. She wouldn’t do that.” He hesitated as he saw the pained look on my face. “Would she?”
“I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s been acting awfully strange ever since that pain in the ass Malek came back to town. And she just lied to me about doing overtime. I can’t believe this shit is happening to me.”
Matt lowered his voice. “Look, man, you wanna go somewhere and talk about it?”
“Nah, not right now.” I shook my head. “I need to go drop the kids with her mom and then go look for her. Think you can cover for me?”
“Yeah, I’ll cover for you. But you sure you don’t want me to go with you? I don’t want you to do anything stupid, Tee.”
“I’m cool,” I insisted. “Just pray I don’t find her with another man.”
13
Dylan
Jasmine and I left my store and drove to Ryan’s Steak House in Chesterfield. We both ordered steaks and fries then sat down at a quiet table in a corner where no one would disturb us. Something about her voice in the store made me sure she had some pretty heavy stuff to share with me, and I didn’t think she’d want to do it surrounded by other diners.
As I settled into my seat, I smiled at how good it felt just having her next to me. I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind since that night we spent together at Joe’s. That’s why I told her that lie about me dating someone. I figured she’d feel more comfortable being around me if she thought I was involved. After she changed her number, I thought I’d never see her again. It was a welcome second chance when I saw her walk into my store, and I wanted to do whatever it took to keep her from bolting again.
I thought I actually saw a look of jealousy cross her face when I said I was seeing someone. She tried to hide it pretty well, but it gave me a glimmer of hope. Yeah, I knew she had a boyfriend, but I was still holding out hope that we might someday be involved. As long as her man was locked up, I was going to do whatever it took to make her mine. Besides, with her being so eager to talk to me, maybe they’d already broken up.
“What’s going on, Jasmine? What’d you need to talk to me about?”
She frowned and hesitated before sliding her sunglasses off. I grimaced at the sight of her blackened eye.
“Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to your eye?” I didn’t mean to sound so freaked out, but her eye really did look fucked up. “Who did this to you?”
“I don’t even know where to start, Dylan.” She covered her eye again with the sunglasses. I scooted my chair closer and rubbed her back and shoulders.
“It’s okay, Jazz. Just take your time and start from the beginning.”
“All right,” she sighed, stabbing one of her fries with a fork as she started to explain. It took her about thirty minutes to tell me the whole story. I tried to hide my emotions and just listen, but the more she told me, the more pissed off I got. No woman deserves to get hit by a man.
“That’s one hell of a story. You’ve really been through a lot the last few days, haven’t you?” I know she had come to me just looking for a sympathetic ear, but it was hard to sit still and keep my emotions in check. I wanted to be the knight in shining armor coming to her rescue. I wanted to kill that son of a bitch up in that prison.
“Yeah, it’s been pretty rough,” she agreed. I still wasn’t sure if I should speak my true opinion of the situation, so I just rubbed her back to let her know I was there for whatever she needed.
“Hey, you okay?”
“No,” she said softly as tears ran down her face. I wiped them away with my napkin.
“You’re still in love with this guy, aren’t you?”
She nodded her head slowly with half a frown. She looked into my eyes and could probably read my thoughts. “I know you don’t understand why I would stay with him, but he’s a good man, Dylan. And he’s all I got. He’s just a little confused.”
As far as I was concerned, she was the one who was confused if she thought this brother was a good man.
“You willing to take that chance on going to jail for him? ’Cause that’s where you gonna end up if you start bringing him drugs.” It wasn’t like I was telling her something she didn’t already know, but she actually looked like she had to think about it. What was there to think about? She wouldn’t go to jail for him, would she?
“I’m not sure. I might still bring them.” She ran her fingers through her hair and stared at me nervously. “You expected me to say, ‘Hell, no, I won’t go to jail for him!’ Didn’t you?”