Basketball Jones (26 page)

“So what did you ask for?”

“Nothing. The bitch just started giving me shit. Giving me huge tips, tickets, and even some of her jewelry. She told me if I kept this to myself there would be a little reward for me after the baby was born. I don’t know who she thinks I’m going to tell. As far as I’m concerned her husband deserves to get a cheating bitch for messing with those white girls in the first
place,” Jade said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “He doesn’t mean shit to me.”

“Can I ask you something?” I asked. My stomach began to rumble with nervous energy.

“Sure.”

“What color is your client’s hair?”

“Blonde, but I’m sure that it came out of a bottle.”

“Does she have any kids now?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“I was just wondering.” My mind was racing a mile a minute. “So you still give her facials and stuff?”

“Yeah, matter of fact I’m going out to her place tomorrow at three for a facial. I wonder what she’s going to give me this time,” Jade said, tearing a small piece of a dinner roll from the breadbasket.

I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to know if she was talking about Dray’s wife.

“Jade, what’s her name?”

“Judi. Why, do you know her? I hope she’s no friend of yours! That girl is wack for sure.”

“No, I don’t know her.” But I did know how her mind worked. I flashed back to Judi in the park, with her air of absolute confidence that she’d taken care of me. I flashed back to all the months of fighting back tears at the thought of losing Dray. That gold digger was the cause of all the heartbreak and depression I’d gone through. And now this valuable information had landed on the table at Willie Mae’s Scotch House wrapped more beautifully than a huge box in Tiffany blue. I sank back in my chair, rendered speechless but concocting a plan of my own, and thought about bringing Maurice in to help me. He lived for shit like this.

Before I called Cisco, I checked on the Hornets Web site to see where they were playing. If Dray was in town, I couldn’t have my revenge just yet. I was still lying low and didn’t want to jeopardize my plan. I was relieved to see that they were playing in Charlotte that night and had a game in Atlanta two days later, which meant they would most likely head to Atlanta after the game rather than coming back to New Orleans.

Cisco showed up at my hotel a little after two, dressed in white warm-ups, a crisp white T-shirt, and a gray-and-black windbreaker. The weather was unseasonably warm, and when I reached for my leather jacket Cisco advised me that my long-sleeved shirt would be more than enough.

“I’m going to take this jacket off as soon as we get to the car,” Cisco said. “Now where is it you need me to take you?”

“I need to go out to Kenner. Have you ever heard of a housing subdivision called Crescent Estates?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s pretty ritzy out there. Matter of fact a lot of ballplayers live there. Is that where we’re going?”

“Yep.”

“Who we going to see?”

“I just need to take care of some business,” I said mysteriously. I knew Dray and Judi lived in a gated community with a security guard but wagered that the guard might think the name Jade belonged to either a woman or a man. If Judi was expecting Jade, then I needed to get there before three o’clock. I was going to confront this bitch, make her give me back my money, and give me some of hers for charity. I had decided against trying to reach out to Dray to tell him what I knew because of how much it would hurt him. Besides, telling him his wife had been unfaithful to him with one of his friends wasn’t going to get us back together.

As we drove down Interstate 10, I tried to picture Judi’s face when I showed up on her doorstep. I smiled at the thought of justice being served.

“Looks like our boy might be getting out of jail sooner than everybody expected,” Cisco said, playing with the button to his navigation system.

“Who is getting out of jail?”

“Mike Vick.”

“How is that?” I asked. I smiled to myself at what Maurice had said about throwing a brick just to get put in prison. I thought how much he would enjoy this misadventure I was going through, and couldn’t wait to sit down over some good brandy and tell him all about it.

“I hear he’s entering some drug program, which will take some of his time off.”

“Smart move and good for him,” I said.

“You think the Falcons will take him back?”

“I doubt it. Atlanta is pretty conservative.”

“Is it?”

“I think so,” I said.

“That’s surprising.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Everybody calls it ‘Black Hollywood.’ And a lot of rappers and hip-hop people live there. I think if all the black people got together and said they wanted him back, they might let him come back.”

“I don’t think it matters what black people want. It’s a white man that owns the team and he’s going to be listening to what his friends say, and I don’t think they want Mike back.”

“You right,” Cisco said in a low voice.

A sign on the freeway said it was five miles to Kenner, and my nervous stomach began to growl so loudly that you would have never known that I’d had fruit and cereal for breakfast a few hours before. I knew Cisco heard it when he looked over at me with a puzzled expression on his face. I gave him a small smile and was reminded how handsome he was. If I didn’t get back with Dray, then maybe I could bring him out. But just as soon as the thought crept into my mind, I heard Maurice’s voice chastising me for even thinking about getting into another relationship with a guy not willing to admit that he was sexually attracted to men. I wasn’t about to make the mistake of taking Cisco’s kindness as a sign that he was interested in dealing with me or his issues about men.

But damn, he was fine, with those big arms and honey-colored skin. He was a little boy and a thug all rolled into one. A nice thug boy.

Cisco interrupted my naughty thoughts. “I think this is our exit.”

I noticed a sign for Crescent Estates. “Looks like the navigation system brought us to the right place.”

He stared admiringly at the system on the console. “Man, this thing is the bomb. Even though I get sick of that bitch’s voice when she trying to take me the long or wrong way. I find myself yelling at her to shut the fuck up because I know where I’m going.” Cisco laughed.

We pulled up to a brick security hut, which had a half door on the entrance side. A middle-aged white man in a white shirt and black tie and holding a clipboard greeted us.

“May I help you, gentlemen?” he asked.

I lowered my head in Cisco’s direction and said, “We’re here to see Drayton and Judi Jones.”

“Who shall I say is here?”

“Just tell her Jade,” I said. Cisco looked at me like I was crazy. I guess he realized for the first time that I was up to something that might not be strictly legit. But then I didn’t expect that would be a big problem for him.

“May I ask the nature of your business? I’m not being nosy—we’re required to ask.”

“Damn, this place is like trying to get in the White House,” Cisco said.

“I’m the interior designer,” I said quickly.

“They must be doing some big changes up there, because another designer just came about thirty minutes ago,” the guard said with a laugh.

“They’re taking bids,” I suggested.

“Must be. Do you have their address?”

“2001 Creston Terrace,” I said. I remembered the address from the time Dray showed me his new driver’s license. He wanted to make me laugh by showing me the picture he’d taken with his tongue stuck out. I always had a good memory for simple shit like that.

“That’s right. You just go down to the first stop sign, which is Jacobs Terrace, and make a right and then a quick left. The Jones house is at the end of the cul-de-sac.”

“Thanks,” I said, waving as we pulled away. As we neared their house, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. In my mad rush I hadn’t really thought the situation through. What if she had a maid or somebody else who answered her door? Would I even get inside? It was too late to worry about all that. We pulled into the steep driveway of their two-story mansion. The house was made of cranberry bricks and had two beautiful glass doors. There was a candy-red Mercedes SL sports car with dealer plates from Buckhead Mercedes. I don’t know why, but my eyes went to the expiration date on the tags, which read January 28. Somebody had gotten a real nice Christmas gift, I thought.

Cisco switched off the ignition and turned to me. “Now why are we here? Don’t tell me it’s some friendly visit.”

My attention was on the house. “I need to take care of something, but looks like she might have company.”

“You want me to go up and knock on the door and find out?”

“Not yet. Maybe we should pull out and wait and see if whoever is driving this car is leaving soon.”

“I can do that,” Cisco said, starting the engine and putting the car in reverse.

We pulled up in front of the house right next door to Dray’s. Cisco and I sat in silence as we watched the house like we were some kind of undercover drug agents waiting for a deal to go down. After about ten minutes, I looked at my watch and saw that it was a quarter to three. The real Jade would be arriving any minute. It was time to make my move.

Just as I was getting ready to tell Cisco to pull back into the driveway, one of the doors to the house opened and a tall and
slender light-skinned black man walked out the door. Was this Judi’s lover? Jade had said that she thought it was a basketball player, and this person was too short to be playing in the NBA, unless he was a three-point shoot guard. He was wearing sunglasses and a brown warm-up jacket with a hood on his head. He looked carefully in all directions like he was making sure no one had seen him leave the house.

“What do you think dude is up to?” Cisco asked, nodding to the man with his chin.

“I don’t know, but he definitely looks like he’s up to something.”

He jumped quickly into the Mercedes. I thought it was odd that on a day when you could ride around with your top down, this fool was covered up in a hood like a burglar who had just pulled a heist.

Suddenly I had cold feet. I couldn’t stoop as low as Judi. Something about the way I was raised prevented me. My plans didn’t seem like such a good idea. This was stupid and I needed to just carry my ass back to Atlanta and start over. If this was the person Dray chose to start a family with, maybe I really didn’t need him in my life after all. Could be I would give a regular gay guy a chance at my love, find myself a job, and try to live a normal life finally.

We watched as the car slipped out of the driveway. The top started to rise, covering up the driver.

“So what are you going to do?” Cisco asked, almost as much out of impatience as curiosity. “Follow him?”

I looked down the street and saw a pink Volkswagen just like Jade’s headed our way.

“Let’s get out of here, man. I’m sorry I wasted your time.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Let’s see if we can follow the Mercedes and find out more.”

As Jade pulled into the driveway, Cisco sped off. Moments later we were right behind the Mercedes but at a safe distance, so as not to make ourselves look suspicious. It occurred to me that the driver couldn’t be Dalton because he would be with Dray and the rest of the team. But I still wanted to know who had just left Dray’s house.

“Why are we following this slow-driving S.O.B. in that nice ride?” Cisco asked out loud to himself.

“We won’t follow him for long. Just to the freeway,” I said.

“Just tell me what to do, dude.”

“Just keep driving like you’re doing now. You’re doing fine, Cisco.”

We followed the Mercedes as it came to the security station. The guard came out and talked to him for a few seconds. The car pulled off, and it was our turn to deal with security.

“That was quick,” the guard joked. “I see you didn’t stay as long as your competition,” he said, indicating the Mercedes.

Cisco gave the security guard a smirk without responding, and then looked over at me. I just looked straight ahead.

When we pulled out of the crossway and headed back to the freeway, the Mercedes was right in front of us. Thank God we were now on a two-lane highway. Cisco sped past. A few blocks later, we came to a traffic light that went from yellow to red so quickly that Cisco had to slam on his brakes.

Looking left and then right, he wisecracked, “A brotha don’t want to get caught out here doing nothing wrong.” I looked at him and smiled from a release of tension and nerves; I was happy that I hadn’t lowered myself into doing something that would embarrass my mother.

The Mercedes was now idling alongside us, just to my right. I hadn’t yet looked over. I was curious to get a better look at the driver but didn’t want to be too obvious about it.

Just as the light turned green, I leaned forward casually a few inches and took a look at the driver of the Mercedes. He flipped down the vanity mirror and dramatically brushed his face without looking in our direction, and then sped through the intersection. I was flabbergasted.