Chapter 33
Zalman was missing in action and he wasn't at the other store either because his wife was calling like crazy, looking for him.
The thing was, ever since he hired me he was always in and out anyway. When the wife wasn't at the other store, he was supposed to be working on orders over there, but instead he would go and bring the work orders from that store over to me. And while I was doing them he would be out doing his thing or in the back room doing his thing. I wondered if his wife would ever find out.
So I never had any real downtime at the store. It didn't bother me, though. Keeping busy always made the time go by faster.
Today was no exception to that shit either.
I reached for the phone before I started on a work order. I called Deyja again for the fifth time. Her secretary was still on some, “Deyja is unavailable but I can send you to her voice mail.”
I wanted to stop by there but I didn't want to press. I figured maybe if I gave her a little time she could get past the fact that we had sex so quick. The last thing I wanted her to feel like was that I used her for sex. And I can't remember ever enjoying making love to a woman the way I enjoyed making love to her.
I hung up the phone and worked on my last work order of the day. When I was finished, I went into the back to wash up at the sink in the restroom. I was covered with dust from the last computer I had just repaired.
I grabbed a wash towel and pressed it against my face to dry the water I had just splashed on it.
Then suddenly before I could remove the face towel my head was slammed against the mirror. I could feel steel pressed against my temple.
“Yeah muthafucka. You bet not do shit. I will put a slug through you. And you won't see daylight no more.”
I kept silent and listened to see what he wanted. I figured I was being robbed.
“Listen up and listen well. You need to be careful where you look, feel me? Or you just might find out some shit you better off not knowing.”
He slammed the gun on the back of my skull and the hit knocked me out.
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“Chance, wake up!”
My eyes fluttered open and I blinked a couple times to see Calhoun standing over me, peering down into my face.
I shook my head and sat up quickly.
“What the fuck happened to you, man?”
The back of my head was throbbing. I rubbed it and felt a knot.
Dude's words came back to me.
You need to be careful where you look, feel me? Or you just might find out some shit you better off not knowing.
I turned back to Calhoun. “When did you get here?”
“Less than a minute ago. I came in and didn't see you up front. I walked further and seen you laid out on the bathroom floor. What the fuck happened?”
I stood to my feet with some difficulty, then I walked out of the bathroom. Calhoun followed.
I glanced at the clock; it said five-twenty. If Calhoun just got there then that meant he probably didn't catch sight of anybody. But I asked him anyway, “Was anybody leaving when you came in?”
“Naw. Why?”
I quickly told him what happened.
“Damn man.” He dug in his back pocket. “Here.”
He handed me a small gun. “Keep that in case he tries to come around again.”
“Thanks.” I tucked it into my back pocket. Then I stood to my feet and walked toward the front of the store. I didn't see anyone. Damn. I wondered who the fuck that was. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“It's Friday, nigga. We supposed to be going to see the strippers.” He took some flyers off of the counter and tossed them in the air, giving the effect of making it rain.
I laughed. “Pick that shit up.”
The ache in my head was serious. I needed a Motrin to get rid of it. It was crazy. Who in the fuck would need to threaten me? I thought of one person: Ron Jasper.
“We going or what?”
“I don't know about that.”
“Naw. Fuck that, you going!”
I looked Calhoun up and down. He wasn't playing. He was already dressed. I wasn't, so we would have to stop by my hotel so I could shower, shave, and throw something on. I didn't want to go, especially after the shit that just happened to me.
But once I had promised him, I had to stick to my word. I would have preferred not to go. Strippers were never my thing. I understood men going for their bachelor parties and shit. But why get a complete stranger to get ass-buck naked for you when you had a woman at home? And most of the men who went to strip clubs were married or had women. I didn't have a woman but there was only one woman at this time who I wanted to see in the nude. And she wasn't at a strip club.
I locked up the store and hopped in Calhoun's ride. Or should I say, some chick's ride. As he drove in the direction of my hotel, we passed the street that Deyja's office was on.
“Wait. Turn down this street,” I told him quickly. “Where, nigga?”
I directed him to the shopping center her office was located in.
I hopped out the car and jogged to the door. Once I got inside, I walked over to the secretary.
“Well, hello!” she exclaimed like she was really excited to see me.
“How you doing? Is Deyja here?”
“She is.” She pressed an intercom button. “Deyja. Isaiah is here to see you.”
There was a pause before she said, “Send him in.”
“Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”
I walked down the hall, past the cubicles, to her office.
I heard a few flirtatious
“hi's.”
I chuckled and spoke back before making it to her office door.
“Come in,” she said after I knocked.
I didn't know what to say or do. But I went in anyway.
She had her hair flat-ironed and it had cut layers that framed the edges of her face; not too much makeup, except for red lipstick. This time she was wearing pink and it really looked nice on her. She was standing by her office window with her back to me. The dress clung to her curves. I admired her feminine shape, where her waist dipped in and where her hips flared out, the curve of her butt. Memories of the day we made love flashed before me. I still couldn't remember having it that good before.
“How you doing?” I asked, standing behind her.
“I'm good,” she said in a low voice. Her back was still turned to me.
I still didn't know what to say to her. Hell, to be honest, she still had not returned any of my calls, so maybe that was a sign that I should back the hell up and move on. But still, I couldn't even if I wanted to.
“I miss you.”
She turned and faced me. She stared at me for a moment, then her lips parted. “And I can't stop thinking about you, Isaiah.”
I smiled. “Baby. I can't either.” I walked closer to her and placed my arms around her waist. “Then why won't you return my calls?”
She looked away. “I thought what we did would be the end of anything else.”
She had me confused now. “Why would you think that?”
“The way I threw myself at you. I did it because I just I felt that I needed to push you away. I didn't know if I was ready to get involved. So on one hand I felt that if I pushed myself on you, I could see if I was really ready to move on. If I couldn't, I would have given you what you wanted. And we could have left it at that.”
“But I want you.”
She blushed and looked away, then her expression suddenly turned serious.
“Listen. You see me where I work, what I drive. And where I live ain't much better. I don't have a lot of money. But I have a whole lot of love to give a woman.” I stared into her eyes. “I will be so good to you if you just give me the chance.”
“Isaiah, it's not about what you have or don't have. There's a lot about me you just don't know.” She looked down.
I wanted to tell her the same thing. But I was scared and I was sure that what she didn't know about me would push her away. I was, after all, still lying about the fact that I was the guy she was writing when I was in prison.
I pulled her face back up by placing two fingers below her chin. “I don't want to stop seeing you. I don't know. It's like you are giving me something to look forward to. I sit and pray that I get a call from you. That I can get the opportunity to be around you.”
“Isaiah. I don't knowâ”
Before she could finish I stepped closer to her and kissed her on her lips. She parted her mouth and gave me a chance to invade it again with my tongue. Her mouth tasted fresh. She played with my tongue. I pulled it out of her mouth and planted kisses in the corners of her mouth. I walked her backward toward the wall so I could do more, kiss her some more.
But her intercom stopped any of that. “Deyja, you have Mr. Harris here to see you.”
She broke away from me and went to her phone. “Give me about five minutes,” she said quickly to her secretary.
She turned back to me. “You are going to have to go, Isaiah. You are interrupting me from working. Can't have that.”
I chuckled. “Nope, can't have that.”
She looked at me and smiled before shaking her head.
“So can I see you again tonight?” I knew it was wrong to dis a friend for a girl but I would do it in a heartbeat for her.
“I have Bible study tonight. When I get home I will give you a call.”
That was enough for me. But still I walked back up to her, causing her to back up a little and kissed her. I had to taste those lips again.
I turned my back on her before she could get the chance to see a grown-ass man blush.
When I made it back out to the car Calhoun said, “Damn, nigga. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Why?”
“You look all happy and shit.”
“I am,” was my only reply as I hopped in the front passenger seat and buckled up.
“Now let's get into these strippers so I can be happy!”
I shook my head at him. “Man, don't you think it's time you either pick one of your baby mamas to settle down with or get you another woman?”
“Shiiiit. Like Mike Epps said, â
Fuck these bitches! Fuck these bitches
!' he sang.
“You ain't shit.”
“Fuck you, nigga.
And fuck these bitches!
I ain't never settling down, too much pussy to be fucked. Too many hoes to keep in check out here. They get on my damn nerves.” He drove down the street toward the freeway. “Just like the hoe that owns this car. I damn near cursed her ass out earlier today.”
“What did she do?”
“Man, we were watching TV and do you know what she had the nerve to ask me?”
“What?”
“If I would get her a glass of water.”
I laughed, thinking it would be some worse shit than that.
“I looked at the bitch like she was crazy and asked her if she was into that sadomasochism shit.”
“What?”
“You know, them dominatrix bitches.”
“Because she asked you for some water?”
“Yeah.” He hopped on the freeway.
“Well, not me. I'm a one-woman type of dude. Before I went to prison I felt like Toi was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with. It's crazy how things change.” I shook my head. “Now I don't want any sight of her.”
“Well, she sure wants you back.”
“Too bad. She should have been down for me when I went to prison.”
“But you was looking at a lot of time.”
“Fuck that. I get that. But the way she did it was flat-out wrong. I don't care what you or anybody else say. I'm off her ass.”
“Well, be off her ass and move on to some stripper ass!”
I laughed.
“Real talk: She did you dirty, taking your money and shit, aborting your baby. Then she disappeared like a ghost. I wanted to kill her ass. But as time went by I had to let that go. Just like you need to let it go.”
Truthfully, I did. The shit was over now and I didn't want to think about it anymore so I didn't respond. I had other shit to worry about.
I touched the back on my head and felt the knot. It reminded me that first thing in the morning I was going to go see Mateo and tell him about this shit.