Authors: Fiona Knightingale
I could tell that he was looking me up and down and even though he was subtle, his eye movements were quite clear. “I’m just worried that he’s not going to take no for an answer. I know these guys and I know how they work when somebody decides to walk away clean from all of this. There really is no way to do that. Once you’re in, you never have a way out. I did get rid of the tattoos that I got when I was in the gang. I didn’t so much as get rid of them, as I did cover them up with tribal markings that I found quite appealing when I was in behind bars. I don’t know why I’m burdening you with any of this. I guess I just find it easy to talk to you.”
“I know that it must be difficult, but you have to realize that anything that is worth doing is never easy. Just continue doing what you are doing and hopefully they will realize that you have moved on. You don’t need the hassle and the drama of what they bring to the table.” I was treating his problem like it was a business transaction. It was the only way that I could truly help him see the truth right in front of his eyes.
“I don’t even know your name, but I would like to thank you for your kind words. If you have the time, there’s a coffee shop down the way that serves the best cappuccino that I’ve ever had. I didn’t even know that I liked cappuccino, until my ex girlfriend introduced me to them upon my release.” I’m not one to get caught up in lame come ons. I usually am able to shrug them aside, but for whatever reason I didn’t feel like I could do that with him.
“Jerome, I would love to have a cup of coffee with you. Give me about 15 minutes to clear my calendar and I’ll meet you down there.
I’d seen his name on his name tag and I was just hoping that I didn’t get caught up in the fact that he was a bad boy. I didn’t want to be the kind of girl that would think that she could save him from himself.
Chapter two
I stood there and waited in line, until I felt a warm presence behind me. I turned my head slightly to see Jerome standing behind me, so close that I could almost feel something that gave me a moment of pause. I’d not been this close to a man in quite some time and I guess I was starting to realize that waking up in a cold bed by myself is a bit lonely. I never had time to truly think about it and I was always on the go.
“I hope that you didn’t feel that it was presumptuous of me to ask you out to coffee. I just thought that it would be a nice gesture. After all, you did listen without judgment and that is more than I can say for most people. They hear that I’m an ex con and they want to turn around and go the other way. I’ve even had some new friends walk away, because they can’t deal with the fact that I have a checkered past. They think that just because I used to live by a different code that I would go back to it with not so much, as a thought about the consequences.”
“Jerome, I think that most people get caught up with stereotypes. They think that just because you’ve gone to jail that you can’t be rehabilitated. It’s true for some, but that ruins it for the rest of you that are truly trying your best to pick yourself up after going down a disastrous road.” We got our coffee and we went to a nearby table by the window. It was a beautiful day, but in here you could not feel the humidity that was seeping through my clothing with each step that I made on the sidewalk.
“I knew from the moment that I got involved with them that I was making a very bad mistake. It’s just that when you live in my neighborhood, there is really only one way to go to avoid getting beaten up by the gang. You become one of them, go through the initiation and then do what you have to to survive. I was glad that I was able to shield my little brother James from that kind of life. I saved a lot of money to send him to college, where he is right now doing his midterm. He wants to be a marine biologist, whatever the hell that is. I’m just happy that he wants to do something with his life.” I wanted to ask him about his mother, but I could tell from his faraway gaze that she was no longer in the picture.
“It has to be very hard for you to raise your little brother on your own. No wonder, you felt like you had no other choice.” I was now moving my hand across the table, until I was touching his. He didn’t try to pull away and the heat of his fingers on mine only made me well aware of the fact that life was nothing without a man in it.
We told each other about our childhoods and where he was more in the line of fire, I was sheltered, as an only child in a household that looked more like a business meeting than a family atmosphere. My father would barely speak and I would always find him head deep in the stock exchange. My mother was always cooking and owning her own catering shop had made her a very busy lady. I soon realized that they were both burying themselves in their work to avoid talking about their feelings.
“I think that we all know that there are skeletons in everybody’s closets. Those skeletons could be minor like wearing women’s clothing or something else that could land them in jail. He had scars, which were physical and emotional.” I found myself leaning in for a kiss, when I noticed out of my peripheral vision a black car with tinted windows coming down the block very slowly.
He had his eyes closed, but I was well aware of my surroundings and this was sending off all sorts of alarms in my head. I saw the window roll down and then the projection of a weapon that wasn’t meant to say hello. On instinct alone, I pulled Jerome from his seat and down onto the floor. The glass shattered and a young man with a courier jacket on got caught in the crossfire. He danced to his own tune and landed not more than a few feet away from us. He was bleeding profusely and I acted quickly and grabbed a tablecloth and placed it tightly against his wound.
While I was doing this, I noticed that Jerome had raced out the doorway. He wasn’t even thinking about his own safety and he was following an instinct that was ingrained into him. I heard metal striking metal. Outside the window on the other side of the coffee shop, I saw him lift the post office mailbox and heave it with everything he had. It landed heavily on top of the car. It careened to the side and smashed into a nearby truck that was parked across the street.
I didn’t dare move, or this man was going to die, but I was fascinated by his ability to compartmentalize his own safety. He wasn’t even concerned and he was now stalking the car. He wasn’t running or showing any kind of emotion whatsoever. He was walking in a straight line towards the vehicle that was now smoking from the hood.
“Somebody call an ambulance.” People were now scrambling out of their seats with their cell phones to mark this moment for posterity. One guy that had a flip phone dialed 911 and then came over to render aid.
“I used to be a medic in the army. Let me see what we’re dealing with.” I lifted my hand and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t gushing out like a dam that had burst from its seams. “I would say that this man will survive. He’s going to need surgery, but I can see that at least two of the bullets went clean through and didn’t do much more than superficial damage. It’s the one in his stomach that concerns me, but with the right attention and the right surgeon, he should come out of it.” I wasn’t even sure if I was listening, as I got on my feet with blood on my hands and walked in what felt like a trance over to the window.
I saw Jerome reach into the window and pull out a man with a black doo rag on his head. He slammed him down onto the pavement, knocking him completely out cold, before turning his attention to the other one that was coming around from the other side with gun in hand. He slapped it out of his hand, punched him square in the nose and then drove his knee into his stomach, so hard that he was actually lifted off the ground.
It was fascinating to watch him work. It was like he had a way to think without worrying about what would happen if things went terribly awry.
I went outside and I heard him say “I told you, but apparently you don’t listen. Ramon doesn’t have any hold on me and for him to think otherwise only makes him look like a fool. Take your friend and go before the police get here. If I see your face again, trust me things are not going to go, so easily.” The man was holding his nose with blood pooling between his fingers. The gun was in the middle of the street and then a truck rolled over it and crushed it beyond repair.
As he walked away, the one that was bleeding from the nose grabbed the other guy with his other hand and they began to make a run for it. I could hear the sirens in the distance and there was no doubt in my mind that the police would want to have a very detailed conversation with everybody in the coffee shop. There wasn’t much that anybody could say, but they would be able to confirm that Jerome had acted in the best interest of everybody. They would see him as their savior, having no idea that he was the cause of their misfortune in the first place.
“I’m sorry that you had to see that, Natalie. These guys really are a piece of work. I don’t think they would have come here, unless they were under the marching orders of Ramon. It might be that I will have to have a very discrete conversation with Ramon. I really don’t want to do that, but I don’t think he’s giving me much of a choice.”
Chapter three
I didn’t tell the police anything about Jerome’s past, but he decided that it was probably best that he lay all of his cards on the table. They took them down to the station and I arrived an hour later to see that he was walking down the steps a free man.
“You really didn’t have to come here, Natalie. If you never want to see me again, I think that I would understand.” He really didn’t know me well enough to presume anything. I suppose in retrospect, it wasn’t a really good idea to get involved with a man like him. “They talked to me for some time and I gave them everything I could on the driver and the passenger. You can imagine that they weren’t very sympathetic to my cause. For the most part, they told me to keep my head down low and not to be in contact with anyone from my past.”
“I would say that’s easier said than done. Jerome. Perhaps you need some kind a mediator. Somebody that’s unbiased to try to negotiate some sort of peace treaty.
“I know that you’re trying to help, but the only thing that they understand is either violence or cold hard cash. I can try to pay them off, but I don’t think that I have that kind of money lying around. I guess I’m just going to have to wait and see if my message was received and what kind of reception it’s going to get.” That wasn’t any way to live and I felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“I could help, but I’ve really never done anything like this in the past.” I brought him down to my black eclipse. He got in and I gunned it away from the city and away from his problems. I had this secrets spot on the outskirts of town that not a lot of people knew about. Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy and I found myself getting into enough trouble. One day, I was out and I’d gotten a little lost. I’d found this spot with a waterfall and I sat there and looked at it and knew that I was just a small cog in a bigger machine.
“Where exactly are you taking me, Natalie? Should I be afraid that you’re kidnapping me and going to ravage my body, until I have nothing left to give?” I knew that he was only teasing, but in the back of my mind that was exactly what I was thinking. He was a work in progress, but with enough patience and time, he could be the man of my dreams.
“I just want to get you away from your problems. You need time to reflect and I have this spot that will allow you to think clearly without the chaos in your head.” I still couldn’t get over the image of him pulling that man from the car like it was nothing. If that wasn’t bad enough, then him slapping the gun out of the other guy’s hand was almost like he was some kind of superhero. “You have to think about what you’re going to do next.” Even though I did have air conditioning, it wasn’t like I was going to use it. I always found that opening up a window and letting the breeze in was sufficient enough to keep me from roasting like a Turkey.
“You really don’t have to do this, Natalie. We hardly know each other, even though I feel like I’ve known you forever.” It’s like you have a piece of me and I think from the moment that I met you that we were destined to be friends.” I wanted more than just friendship and the way that I was ogling him should’ve been enough for him to know that I had ulterior motives.
“You should feel honored. I don’t normally take anybody up here. It’s very rare that I even reveal this secret spot to anybody. I can count on my hands how many people know about it.” I was trying to make him see just how poignant this gesture really was. It’s not every day that I find a man and it’s even rarer that I allow him to step into my oasis from the real world.
“Natalie, you are something else. Being a headhunter must be very demanding and rewarding work.” He didn’t know the half of it. Most times my day starts at 5:00 AM in the morning and doesn’t end until I go to bed at 10:00 PM. I don’t work for just one time zone. I have several clients that are overseas and the difference can sometimes be taxing on my sleep pattern.
“I think I serve a purpose. I do something that not a lot of people can do. I make sure that the best candidate is right for the job. They don’t have to choose who I send them, but most often than not that is the case. It’s the reason why they keep coming back and asking me for more candidates. I know that being freelance does make it a little bit difficult to have that kind of stability that most people have with 9-5 jobs. I like it this way and I thrive on not knowing where my next paycheck is going to come from. I love the freedom of making my own hours, even though it sometimes appears that I don’t really have much of a choice one way or the other.