Chapter 29
“What's up, my nigga, how you going to come back to town and not look me up?”
I stared at Calhoun and couldn't help but crack into a smile. He reached over the counter and hugged me. I hugged him back, happy to see him.
Once I broke the hug, I saw Toi also enter the store.
My smile dropped at her presence. Then I ignored her.
“Why didn't you come into the Springdales? You know that's where I always be!”
“A part of my parole is to stay away from known felons,” I joked.
“Nigga, fuck you!”
“Nigga, fuck you! I'm not trying to go back to jail.”
We both broke into laughter. I wondered how they found out that I worked here.
“Seriously, though. When I got out I went to your parents' house, you weren't there.”
“Why didn't you come to the Springdales? You know that's where I always be.”
“I ain't going in there for shit.”
“Awwnigga! Yeah, Toi swung through the Springdales one day and told me a nigga was fresh out.”
“How did you know I worked here?” I asked him.
“Shit, I didn't.” He pointed to her. “She did. So I had to see the shit for myself.”
“Chance, you know Long Beach is a small city,” was all she said.
I frowned and figured she probably saw me in the company car. For the past month I was doing home visits for Zalman on my day off. I didn't mind because the extra money I made I was using to pay the private investigator. He didn't mind 'cause it gave him the opportunity to trick and ho more than he was already doing. And he made extra money off of my labor.
“Aye. My nigga, when you get off work we gotta go and celebrate.”
I shook my head. “Naw.”
“Have you got some pussy yet?”
Toi hit him on his shoulder.
“What? Y'all not together no more. It's been seven years!”
She rolled her eyes.
“I mean, what you expect after the way you did him?”
Her eyes locked with his and the both stared each other down. When Calhoun wouldn't back down, Toi put her head down.
“Like I said, dude. You had some pussy yet?”
“Chance know how to take care of Chance,” I said, even though I hadn't been with another woman. Yes, I was on full. But I wasn't fucking with Toi again and I wasn't about to get a prostitute. So I would have to wait on that and keep doing what I been doing: jacking off.
“Well, look, nigga call me tonight. I'll borrow my baby mama's car and we can go to the strip club over on El Segundo called the
Boom Boom Room
.”
I took his number down and slid the paper in my pocket.
“Calhoun. Go outside,” Toi ordered.
“I'm catching up with my nigga.”
“Go or you going to be on the bus.”
“Man.” He sucked his teeth and said, “Call me tonight, Chance.”
I chuckled.
Once he left she said, “Chance, can we talk?”
I looked at the clock. It was ten minutes until I had to close the store.
I shut down the computer and pulled the bars on the two front doors and the walls adjacent to them. Then I stood in front of her. I didn't know what the fuck she wanted to talk about, but I asked, “Are you following me, Toi?”
She looked embarrassed.
“I saw you in that little car and it had a sign on it with the address and phone number to this place. If you call that following, then I guess that's what I did.”
“Well, it is a little difficult to believe anything that comes out of your mouth,” I said dryly.
“Why are you being so cold to me?”
“Bitch. Did you forget what the fuck you did?”
Her eyes got wide. I guess she really thought I was going to look at her and get all softy like I used to be. No. Times were different now. Much different. Now I saw no need to be kind and gentle to her. She used to be my baby. My sweetie. My boo. But she wasn't none of that no more. She betrayed me. She broke my heart.
“I know I deserve that. I did you wrong, baby. I'm sorry for that.” Her eyes got watery. “But I still love you, Chance. And whatever I gotta do to get you back and to get our life back to the way it used to be, baby, I will!”
“My life back to the way it used to be.” I smirked. “Toi. I was an innocent man locked up. I needed you. I needed your love and your support just like I always gave you my love and support. And you didn't just turn your back on me. You stole from me, left my mama without a home. And if that wasn't enough. you killed my baby and brought another man to see me! That's enough for a man to kill you.”
She nodded her head and pulled her bottom lip in.
It had no effect on me.
“I know, baby, and I'm so sorry. That's why I want to make this right. We can put the pieces back together. Buy another house. I know it won't be the same with your motherâ”
“No.”
She started crying. “I know you hate me, Chance. I'm so sorry. But I was just so scared. I didn't want to have to move back to the Springdales. I wanted to have the life you gave me. And with you in prison I didn't think I could maintain that on my own. I was just scared.”
I shook my head at her selfish ass.
I took in her trembling lips and watery eyes.
“We can try again.”
“Toi, I understand your fears about thinking that the man you love was going to be locked inside of a cage for good. It's not about that. It's the way you did it. You did me and my mama dirty. And I can't forget that. I loved you for years, Toi. But I don't love you anymore. I can't love a person who did what you did. I just can't. And the fact that you were able to move on so quickly makes me doubt that you were ever faithful to me. It takes a woman far longer to move on from a man. I'm a man and I couldn't have moved on from you that fast. Not when I loved you.”
“Butâ”
The office phone rang. I snatched it up quickly. “Speedy Computer Repair,” I said in a brisk voice.
“Hi, this is Deyja. Deyja Sims.”
I stared at Toi.
Before I could respond, she said, “Listen, I know that you guys are going to be closing soon. But the same issue that happened to my computer happened to my secretary's computer. And I never got around to getting that stuff. And although it seems simple, I'm so scared I will end up making her computer worse. Is there any way you can stop by? I'll pay extra if I need to.”
“Sure, no problem.” I knew Zalman didn't care if I did it after-hours because it was more money for him.
“I will be there in about ten minutes.”
“Wait. Don't you want the address?”
I had already known it from when I came there before and got discouraged and left. But I played it off like I didn't.
“Right. What's your address?”
She gave it to me quickly.
“I'll be there shortly,” I said before hanging up.
“Who is that?”
I looked at Toi like she was crazy for even thinking that she had the nerve to question me on who the fuck I talk to.
“Why?”
“No reason. It's just that your face sparked all up the moment you found out who the caller was.” She lowered her gaze and said, “The way it used to spark up for me. Whoever she is, she must be somebody special.”
I didn't reply.
“Well, I'll let you go.”
With that, she walked out.
I locked up and went to the beat-up car Zalman let me use to do service calls. He never let me take it home so I always dropped it right back off and hopped on the bus to go home.
As I walked to the car, Calhoun yelled, “Where you staying at?”
“I'm at the Grace Hotel on Redondo in room seven.” I thought it would be good to catch up with him. He might be a lot of bad things but he was still my friend and he had my back when I was locked down.
When I remembered that Toi was out there, I wished that I hadn't yelled out where I was staying. I knew she was ear hustling.
Â
Â
When I got to Deyja's office, the same nerves that had kicked in the last time I had come there had managed to come right back. But I swallowed hard and opened the door.
The secretary, an older woman, was seated behind the desk.
“How are you doing, ma'am. I'm Isaiah from Speedy Computer Repair and I'm here to repair your computer.”
“Oh, it's not mine that needs to be fixed. It's Deyja's.”
I was confused. Deyja said her secretary's computer needed to be fixed.
She rose from behind her desk.“I'll show you to her office.”
We walked down a long corridor where there were men and women behind several cubicles.
Once we got to the end, the secretary stopped behind a closed door.
“Just knock and she will let you in.” With that she walked away.
I knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
I took a deep breath and walked into her office.
She was seated behind a desk.
“Hi.” She gave me a bright smile. “I'm sorry. What was your name again?”
“Isaiah.”
She stood from behind her desk and said in a perky voice that sounded so sweet, “Well, Isaiah. This is the problem. See, I fibbed a little on the phone. My laptop didn't overheat. See, I bought a new one. And let's just say that I'm not very savvy on the computer. So I have no software installed and I needed my other documents on the new computer.” She bit her bottom lip. “And I was hoping you could fix it.”
“That's not a problem. Why didn't you just ask me?”
“I was embarrassed that I couldn't figure it out on my own.”
I smiled. “Naw. That's nothing to be embarrassed about. I'm sure you're good at a lot of other things.”
She looked at her high-heeled feet and blushed.
She was too adorable.
“Okay. I'll let you get to work on it.”
She walked past me and her scent filled my nostrils. This time she smelled like strawberries. I wished she would stay in the room. But I played it off and got to work. By the time I was done I had two more other women come to her door and say something was wrong with their computers.
So I walked over to the cubicles to see what the problem is. Then I had a crowd of women standing around me.
That's when Deyja came over. “Well, it looks like you're very popular here, Isaiah. I hope they're not working you too hard.” She eyed her staff as she said this.
But honestly, there was nothing wrong with their computers. They were checking me out. Because once I was in Deyja's office I had taken off my T-shirt and had on a wife beater. Prison had made me bigger than I already was so I figured they were checking out my physique.
“Everything seems to be fine,” I told the older woman from the group of women that claimed their computers needed repairs.
“Just making sure,” she said, giving Deyja a guilty smile.
The rest of the women scurried back to their cubicles, while the men watched and shook their heads at them.
“I'll meet you up front. Just let me go to my office and get my checkbook.” She walked away. I watched her as she walked. She had a sexy walk. Not one of them where a woman was doing too much by poking her butt out or excessively switching hips. She just moved in a naturally sexy way.
When she disappeared around the corner, I grabbed all my equipment and went up front.
Once there, I stood near the secretary. She looked at me and gestured for me to come closer with one of her hands.
“Isn't Deyja pretty?” she whispered, looking around to make sure no one was near to hear what she was asking me.
I smiled. “She's beautiful.”
“And single,” she added. “Why don't you ask her out?”
“Iâ”
Deyja walked toward us with the check.
“Thank you so much,” she said, handing it to me.
I nodded and slipped the check into my back pocket.
I made a step to walk away but stopped and faced her. By the secretary suggesting what she did, it gave me a little more confidence to do something.