Synergy (22 page)

Dee
mocked her sister behind her back jokingly, looking at Jason to
join in the joke, but though he smiled back, he didn’t seem to
share the same jest.

It
wasn’t too long a walk back to Monique’s, and while Monique, Tip
and Kiki went inside, Dee held back outside the house and hugged
everybody good night. Sometimes, she would stay at Monique’s for
ease and sometimes, just so it wasn’t so lonely. Tonight however,
she had Jason with her, and since he’d never seen the inside of her
house, she figured it was probably about time. Plus, she didn’t
want Jason spending any more time with her embarrassing family than
he had to. Once they’d said their goodbyes, they headed in the
direction of the end of the street, walking a few streets away to
her own home. Jason had picked her up from outside her home before,
so he knew where it was, but he’d never actually been
inside.

As they
entered the house, he took a look at his surroundings. There was a
small living area to his left with a sofa and TV, a staircase in
front of him, and what he assumed was a kitchen just behind the
staircase. Dee could tell the house was being examined, but she
tried to ignore it. She knew it wasn’t the best house, but it was
hers, despite its faults. She’d done her best to hide the faults,
to make the rest of the house look better. For example, the patch
of damp that covered some of the living room wall, she’d placed the
sofa in front of it. There were still some faults that she couldn’t
hide too well, like the crack in the ceiling in her bedroom, and
the leaking faucet in the kitchen. She’d reported the leaking
faucet to her landlord plenty of times, but nothing ever got done.
Unfortunately, it meant water was being wasted every day that it
dripped, and as a result, she paid more in water rates.

“
You want a drink?
Don’t think I’ve got much in
...” Dee said,
moving to the kitchen, as Jason followed closely behind. He watched
as she opened the fridge and stuck her head in, listing what she
could see.

“
I’ve got milk,
and that’s pretty much it in there
” she
said, as she shut the fridge door behind her. “
Or there’s tap water, or cocoa and marshmallows. I make that
for Tushaun on a night
.”

Jason
smiled. He liked to hear her talk about her son.

“
When’s he back
from his dads
?” he
asked.

“
Tomorrow dinner
time
” she smiled. “
I’m missing him already.”

Remembering why she’d come into the kitchen in the first
place, she asked Jason again if he wanted a drink, and he told her
water would be fine. If anything, he hoped it would stop a hangover
greeting him tomorrow morning. While he’d sobered up on the journey
home, he had drank a lot during the night, even before they’d
arrived at the party.

Following Dee back into the living area with his glass of
water, which he was chugging mid-walk, he watched as she flung
herself down onto the sofa sighing dramatically.
“
My feet
!” she
announced, before she slipped off her heels, throwing them onto the
floor.

Jason
watched her as she closed her eyes for a minute, not speaking or
moving. After finishing off his glass of water, he set the glass
down on the floor before joining her on the sofa. He picked up her
outstretched legs from his side, and placed them gently onto his
knee, before he started to rub her left foot. The touch made her
open her eyes, looking at him with surprise before she closed them
again and relaxed.

“
You my best
friend now for rubbing my feet
” she said
through closed eyes.

Jason
smiled, and listened to her sighs and moans as he massaged her feet
one by one. He couldn’t lie that the noises were turning him on a
little bit; after all, he was only a man, but he tried to ignore it
as he saw how relaxed she was. Suddenly, in the midst of the foot
rub, in their silence, there was a shooting noise from outside, the
sound of a gun being discharged from far away. The noise echoed
before it was heard again. While Jason stopped mid-rub and listened
to the noise slightly concerned, Dee didn’t move from her position.
She opened her eyes when she realised he had stopped rubbing, and
noticed his face.

“
Oh. That’s pretty
normal round here, you’ll  get used to it
.”

“
You don’t even
react anymore
?”

“
Nah. It’s like
most nights you hear it, so you learn to ignore
it
.”

“
That’s
crazy
”

“
That’s the
hood
”

Once the
two of them had gone upstairs to bed, they lay cuddled up talking
quietly before they slept. Jason still couldn’t get over the sound
of the gun, and how relaxed Dee had been about it. He knew for her
to be so relaxed, she couldn’t be exaggerating about it happening
‘most nights.’ The thought frightened him, when he thought about
how often she seemed to be walking the streets at night, and the
fact she had a small child made the thought even more
harrowing.

“
Does Tushaun
notice the gunshots
?” Jason asked, a
random thought turning to an out of context
question.

“
Yeah. He’s asked
before but I just tell him not to worry and he gets on with
whatever he’s doing
.”

“
I just can’t get over that
.”

Dee scoffed, almost laughing slightly. “
Trust me, that’s nothing
.”

“
So what is
something
?”

Dee
shrugged. He thought she probably did have an answer, but maybe she
didn’t want to go into it.

The both
of them were silent for a minute before Jason piped up
again.

“
How are you doing
for money now you’re not working
?” he
asked. It was something that had been playing on his mind, knowing
she couldn’t continue to work in a strip club while she was
pregnant, and now the two of them were together, it was a thought
that upset him a little bit. He thought she was worth so much more
than dancing for men, and he didn’t even like the thought that she
might go back to it in the future. Still, with no income from her
only job, he wondered how she was getting by, and had never
broached the subject with her before. He often felt awkward talking
about money since he became wealthy. It was something that was hard
to broach with people on a lower income because people didn’t take
well to charity, or you discussing financial hardship when they
know you don’t have any of that.

Dee
pondered the question for a moment, knowing there was no way to
sugar coat her answer, so she just came out with it.

“
I get money from
my other job
.”

“
You have another
job
?”

“
It’s not exactly
legal
”

“
Elaborate...”

“
Just weed. I been
doing it for years
.”

Jason
let out an exhale of breath. He didn’t quite know how to respond to
that.

“
Dee. I’m not
telling you what to do but, you gotta be careful now, you know?
People are gonna know about us, you’re gonna be watched and
followed, you can’t be getting yourself into
trouble
.”

“
Well what the
fuck else am I supposed to do
?” Dee asked,
her voice defensive. “
I got bills to pay,
a house to keep and a kid to feed. I can’t just sit and do
nothing
.”

“
Let me help
you
.” Jason responded, bracing himself for
her reply.

At that
moment, Dee flipped around in the bed to face him.

“
Help me? What,
like give me money? I’m not a charity case
.”

“
I know you’re
not, but you’re my girlfriend, you’re the mother of my child, I
can’t just see you struggle.
”

While
the both of them were aware that the word ‘girlfriend’ had just
been used for the first time, the conversation had suddenly turned
dark, and from Dee’s perspective, there was more important issues
to talk about.

“
Struggle? Bitch
what do you know about struggle?
” Dee
spat, suddenly looking at Jason like he had committed a
crime.

“
You don’t know
nothing about what it means to struggle, so don’t come up in here
thinking you can throw some money at me to keep me sweet. I’m not
this perfect bitch you probably used to, I’m not gonna let you
change me or tell me what I can and can’t do
.”

“
Dee, I’m not
trying to do that
.”

“You 
not? So you didn’t just
offer to give me money to stop me selling dope
?”

“
Well yeah,
but
...”

“
But yeah, you
did. So get off your high horse, we can’t all be rich and famous
you know. I do what I gotta do to look after my
family.
”

“
I know that. Dee,
I’m not telling you what to do, I just want to
help
.”

Suddenly, the conversation turned to red for Dee, and she
jumped up out of the bed with energy, pacing up and down the room,
not able to keep still. Jason watched her pace as she spoke, and as
he listened to her next sentence, he jumped up out of the bed
himself, ready to bring her back down, realising her anger had
gotten to another level.

“
I’m not some
broke ass bitch you can use as your next project, why the fuck do
you want to help?
” Dee shouted. At that
moment, Jason stood in front of her, causing her to stop in her
tracks. He took her by the arms, his blue eyes staring into hers in
the darkness of the room; still, he could see her features
perfectly. He saw her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowing on her
brow, her thick lips which he had always loved were pursed into
what he now called her ‘angry face’ and her body was almost
quivering with anger, still, he stood his ground, and looking into
her eyes, he told her exactly why he wanted to
help.

“
Because I’m
falling in love with you
.”

They
looked at each other in the darkness, and suddenly Dee was quiet,
before she managed a ‘what?’

“
I’m falling in love with you.” Jason repeated, not moving
from his position in front of her.

All of a
sudden, Dee had regained her fight.

“
Shut
up
” she said, as she tried to move away
from him, blowing off what he had just said. However, despite her
movement, Jason held on to her arms, making it so she stayed
exactly where she was. “
Deleisha Thompson,
I am falling in love with you, whether you believe it or not. Shut
up isn’t exactly the answer that I was hoping
for
.”

Dee was
dumbfounded once again, surprised that he used her full name, and
surprised because she realised he was serious. It hit her the same
way his words hit her at his hotel. Suddenly, even without the use
of her arms, she had leaned up on her tip toes to kiss him, though
he met her halfway. He let her arms go, and she used them to wrap
them around his shoulders, her fingers entwining around his hair as
she kissed him with the same sense of urgency she had used
previously.

As they kissed, Jason took hold of her legs and picked her
up, her legs wrapping around his waist. He carried her to the bed
and gently laid her down, before he undressed her and kissed down
her body, starting at her neck. He was starting to think the fiery
arguments he had with her may not always be bad, as the passion
they shared could often be manipulated into better things. Though
she may not have said it back to him, he couldn’t deny she felt
something for him, as her passion was clear to see. He just hoped
she would come to her senses about him helping her. He wanted to
take her away from everything bad in her life, but for some reason,
she was too proud to accept.

Chapter 20 – Lucky Charms

The next morning, the two of them woke to a phone ringing
loudly beside them. As Dee felt around blindly next to her bed for
the phone she knew was hers, she eventually had to open her eyes to
discover it. “
Hello
?” she answered, seeing her sisters name flash up on the
caller ID.