The Man in 3B (26 page)

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said with a sigh. “But this isn’t the last time we’re gonna talk about this.”

I didn’t waste my breath on a reply. We could go around in circles discussing it forever, but one thing would never change: I wasn’t going anywhere.

“There is, however, one thing I need before I go.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I need that money I gave you.”

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows.

“The money I gave you last week. I need it back. Otherwise I can’t leave the country.”

“Uh, Avery, I would give it to you if I could, but…”

“But what?” he said, his voice a mixture of fear and anger.

“But I…” My words trailed off. I didn’t want to tell him the truth.

“Don’t tell me the cops found it. If—”

“No.” I knew I had to tell him the truth because I could see how on edge he was, pacing and sweating. “I gave it to Daryl to hold.” I said it so quietly I was practically whispering.

“What? You gave my money to that chump?” He exploded. “What is he, your pimp? I didn’t give you that money for you to give to some nig—”

“Don’t call him that!” I yelled. “And I gave it to him to hold. I got freaked out when the police came. I mean, I thought I knew you, and I didn’t want to believe them, but they were talking robbery, and you were dropping thousands like it wasn’t nothing. I was scared. I didn’t want them coming back with another search warrant and finding that money. Then I’d be an accomplice or something.”

I thought my argument made sense, but Avery was so far gone at this point that he had no sympathy for me. He didn’t care about what I’d been through with the police. All he could think about was that I had no money to give him.

“So you gave my muthafuckin’ money to that clown?” He shook his head in disgust. “You didn’t even let my side of the bed get cold before you probably had his ass up in here, huh?”

I wasn’t going to acknowledge Avery’s question. The way he was acting, he didn’t deserve to know anything about my relationship. I just folded my arms and looked at him like I was unfazed.

“You do know he’s fucking my daughter, don’t you? Do you have any idea how ridiculous that makes you look?”

If Avery wanted to cut deep, he had. Yeah, I knew about Daryl and Krystal—after the fact—but hearing it was still like a knife in my heart. I couldn’t let Avery know he was getting to me, so I struggled hard to keep my game face on.

He shook his head. “And obviously you don’t care. Well, I don’t either. I don’t care who the bastard is fucking. All I care about right now is him having what’s mine.”

Something inside of me wished that Avery was talking about me, but I knew he wasn’t. “Where are you going?” I asked Avery as he stormed to the door and opened it.

“I’m going to see Casanova. I need that money!”

That’s when I saw him remove a gun from his waistband. I could finally see what Daryl had seen. It was clear to me he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted, no matter the consequences.

“Good morning, Benny,” I said warmly. I was surprised to see him, because ever since it came out that he was gay, he’d been keeping a very low profile. I hadn’t seen him in at least a week.

He barely acknowledged me with a grunt as he stumbled up the stoop carrying a paper bag. He looked like crap, but then again, that’s what staying out all night drinking will do to you, which was what I was sure he’d done.

“Hey, Benny, tell your daddy I said hi.”

My words weren’t meant to be sarcastic. In fact, they were meant to be just the opposite. I didn’t want Benny telling his father I was acting all stink, especially since I was hoping to reconcile our relationship, which had gone south ever since he found out his son was gay. Ben wasn’t even talking to me these days, and boy, did I miss him. Since we’d been apart, I was starting to realize just how much I cared about Ben. He was more than just a side piece for me, and it was really starting to bother me that we weren’t on speaking terms. I was hoping that if I could help him and his son mend their fences, it would put me and Ben back on the right track.

Judging from the smirks on the faces of the women sitting around the stoop, me trying to make nice with Benny was a lost cause. Nonetheless, I tried one more time.

“Tell him I said don’t be a stranger and that I might bring him by some pie.” I was sure his father would know exactly what type of pie I was talking about—sweet, creamy Nancy pie.

Benny stopped and turned, wagging his finger as if he wanted
to say something. Instead of speaking whatever was on his mind, though, he just rolled his eyes and then continued into the building.

“Humph. I guess someone has a problem with you ’cause that boy is usually polite,” Bertha, the stoop’s elder stateswoman, stated from her perch on the top step. The other ladies sitting and standing around the stoop laughed.

I waved my hand at the door to let them know his little attitude didn’t faze me. “Don’t pay him no mind. He’s probably drunk. I bet that bag he’s carrying has a fifth of vodka in it. Besides, he’s just mad ’cause he thinks I had something to do with his daddy finding out he’s gay.”

Bertha gave me a knowing glance that made me want to recant my statement. “Um, Nancy, if I’m not mistaken, you did have something to do with his daddy finding out he was gay.”

I glanced around at all the eyes accusing me. “Well, yeah, maybe I did,” I admitted sheepishly, “but he don’t know that for sure. Far as he’s concerned, his friend from 3B outed him.” I folded my arms, hoping that would be the end of it.

“Speaking of 3B,” one of the women chimed in, looking at her watch. “Where the hell is he? Shouldn’t he be out here by now? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t fed my kids yet, sitting around waiting on him.”

Truth is, none of us had done much of anything. It was almost eight thirty in the morning on a Saturday, and we were all doing what had become a habit ever since Daryl Graham moved in: we were waiting for the 3B show. Usually he was right on schedule, coming out for his morning run every Saturday at eight on the dot. Lately, Connie had been following behind him like she was a tail growing out of his ass, but that didn’t stop the rest of us from sitting around every weekend to get a look at the hottest man ever to grace the stoop.

Thank goodness we weren’t disappointed, because a few moments later Daryl strolled out of the building. Even better, he was alone for the first time in weeks. Apparently the rumors about him and Connie being on the outs were true. If she was out of the picture, that made him available and fair game. That’s why the stoop was even more
crowded than usual this morning. Every able-bodied woman within a two-block radius was itching to take Connie’s spot. You could put me at the top of that list, despite the fact that I had a husband—and a fireman that I’d been sexing for the past three years. Shoot, just because Ben was giving me the silent treatment didn’t mean my hormones were on vacation.

Mmm-mmm-mmm, that man is so fine,
I thought, admiring the way he looked in his tight white wife beater and New York Knicks jogging suit. It seemed like the sun got a little brighter as soon as he appeared.

“What’s up, ladies?” Daryl flashed a smile as he stood on the sidewalk and began stretching.

“Morning,” we all replied like a love-struck chorus.

Daryl always did warm-ups before his morning run, but this time something seemed different about his jumping jacks, deep knee bends, and squats. It was like he was putting on a special show just for us. Well, actually, like it was just for me. I swear he was smiling directly at me. I couldn’t remember him ever making eye contact with me the way he was this time. He bent over to touch his toes and looked right at me to make sure I was watching. Maybe it was just because Ben hadn’t been sexing me lately, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away!

“Whew, it’s hot out here already,” he said, wiping his forehead.

I’m feeling the same way,
I thought,
but it’s not the weather that’s making me hot.

I watched him remove his Knicks jacket, and then to my surprise—and probably the disappointment of every other woman on the stoop—he tossed his jacket in my direction. “Hey, Nancy, can you hold onto this until I get back?”

“Uh, sure,” I said, clutching it to my chest. Everything in me wanted to hold it up to my nose and sniff it. If I could have, I would have thrown him my panties in exchange.

“Thanks.” He flashed me another million-dollar smile before taking off down the block. I watched him, my eyes glued on his ass, until he disappeared into the park entrance. When I came out of my
trance, I felt the stares of the other women on the stoop. I quickly surveyed their faces, seeing the same thing in each: pure jealousy.

“What?” I said, barely able to contain a smile. I glanced down at the jacket like it was a well-deserved trophy. I wanted to hold it up and scream, “Victory!”

“Ummm, don’t you have a husband?” one of the women asked with annoyance in her tone.

“A husband and a
his
tress,” Bertha added, sitting back and crossing her arms indignantly over her huge chest. “I guess she wants every decent man for herself.”

I gave Bertha a fleeting glance. I couldn’t believe that of all the women on the stoop, she was hating on me. I thought we were friends.

I turned to my supposed friend. “First of all, Bertha, what I do is none of your business,” I said with a sister-girl roll of my neck. “But even if you could have him, what would you do with someone as young as Daryl?” Bertha had to be pushing seventy.

Bertha stood up, running her hand through her gray hair and shaking her ample hips. “Honey, just because there’s snow on the roof doesn’t mean there ain’t fire in the furnace. You wanna know what I’d do with a young buck like him? What you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna fuck his ass just like you—only better. That’s what I’m gonna do.” Bertha gave us all a good thrust with her hips, and the entire stoop burst out laughing. I loosened up and laughed right along with them. And why shouldn’t I laugh? I was still the one holding Daryl’s jacket.

“Girl, I heard that,” I said. “But for the record, I didn’t know he was gonna give me his jacket to hold.”

“Mm-hmm, sure you didn’t,” another woman mumbled as she dragged herself off the stoop like a loser walking away from the racetrack. “Guess I can go feed my kids now… Right before I take a cold shower.”

The rest of the women and I chatted it up for a while longer as we waited for Daryl to return. We talked about some of the characters passing by, as well as the characters we had living right in our
apartment building. I tried to avoid the subject, but Benny and his father kept coming up.

“I kind of feel sorry for him,” one of the women said in reference to Benny.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “That boy’s been drinking away his sorrows ever since he came out the closet.”

Bertha had to get her two cents in again. “He didn’t come out the closet. His daddy pushed him out—along with your help—right in front of your boy Daryl.” For some reason, Bertha was really on my case today.

“He is not my boy, Bertha.”
Not yet anyway,
I thought.

“Shh. Here he comes,” someone whispered in warning.

“I can see.” I turned, picking my fingers through my hair in an attempt to give it some style. All of our back and forth banter came to a halt as he walked up.

Sexy, sexy, sexy
. That was the only word to describe this hunk of perfection as he stood there drenched in perspiration. Hell, I would have worn his funky sweat like perfume if I could have. How in the hell did Connie ever give him up?

“Good workout?” I asked.

“It was. You should join me sometime,” he replied.

I thought he was just making polite conversation until he leaned in closer and added, “Come up to my place sometime so we can discuss it.”

When he pulled back, I searched his eyes in an attempt to determine if his invitation was serious.

“You want me to come up to your place?” I asked to confirm for myself and to make sure the rest of the stoop heard it.

“You heard me. Come check me out sometime so we can discuss a workout schedule.” He took his jacket and headed up the steps.

“You want me to come up to your place?” I repeated.

“Why do I feel like I’m talking to a parrot all of a sudden?” he joked.

I couldn’t help but ask, “But what about Connie?” I was not trying
to have an issue with her. Even though she’d lost weight, she still had me by a few pounds.

“Don’t you worry about Connie. You let me worry about her fat ass,” he said with a wink. The entire stoop went silent.

Okay, so maybe it was a little offensive to hear him calling her a fat ass, but hell, let’s keep it real. When a man as fine as Daryl asks you to meet him upstairs, you’re willing to overlook a few minor character flaws.

“Then I guess I’ll see you in a few,” I announced, wishing I could fast-forward time and go upstairs at that moment.

He was barely out of sight before the old hens started pecking.

“For a woman who prides herself on discretion, that was not discreet at all,” Bertha said.

“What are you trying to say? We’re just gonna talk about working out,” I insisted, but the women erupted in laughter. I wasn’t fooling anyone, including myself.

“Girl, do you even hear yourself?”

“Yeah, what do we look, stupid? We all know what you’re going up there for,” Bertha said. “But like y’all say, I ain’t mad at ya. I’m just mad it ain’t me.”

“I heard that!” another woman agreed and gave Bertha a high five.

I spent the next fifteen minutes trying to convince them that I was not going up to his place for any hanky-panky, but it was useless. They weren’t going to believe it any more than I was. We all knew damn well what I intended to do when I was alone with Daryl. Maybe Ben had done me a favor after all by cutting me off.

Our good-natured joking was interrupted when Slim and Krystal came barreling out the door and busted through our group like there was only half an hour left to cash in the winning Powerball ticket.