Darius Jones (24 page)

“D
arius, wait,” Officer Austin said. “Where are you headed next?”

Fancy asked, “Why?”

I looked at Lawrence. “Dropping in on my friend Christopher Henderson at Grande Lux Café at the Beverly Center. Why?”

Officer Austin said, “I've got a feeling Bambi will show up wherever you are. When the officers searched her house, she had every news article on you since high school, a life-size body pillow, posters…you name it, she had it. All you.”

I shook my head. “I still don't remember her.”

“Yes, you do,” Ashlee said, handing him a photo of Bambi from kindergarten.

I frowned. “Man, that's her? The chubby chick? Damn! What a difference a few years make. I still don't remember her.”

Ashlee stood nose to nose with Fancy. “I know you got my son. I came to get him. Where is he?”

I put my hand between Ashlee and Fancy, stood in front of my wife, then said to Ashlee, “Leave my wife alone. You have DJ.”

Fancy tapped on, then spoke into her cell phone. “Ma, send DJ downstairs.”

My lips curved high, I took Fancy's phone. “Ladycat, what's going on?”

DJ came dashing down the stairs. Ashlee opened her arms. “Baby, come to Mommy.”

DJ ran straight to Fancy. “Hi, Fancy. Hey, Mommy. Daddy! Daddy! I miss you!”

I kissed DJ on the forehead long and hard. “Daddy misses you too, my man. I love you.” I kissed my wife. “I need you. Don't ever leave me. I love you.”

Ashlee reached for DJ. He leapt into my arms. “No, Daddy. Mommy doesn't feed me and she puts me on time-out. I stand in the corner all day. Please don't make me go.”

Ashlee's eyes turned red. “This isn't the end of this, Darius! I won't stop until I get you back.” She stared at Fancy. “Have your own baby, bitch! And next time
you
suck your husband's dick! Bet he didn't tell you he fucked me when he came to D.C. And I'm pregnant with his next child.”

Fancy took DJ from me, then said, “You handle her, so I don't have to,” then went upstairs.

DJ gave me an upward nod. I smiled, then said, “My man. My man.”

Ashlee stormed out of my house. What the hell? Now I understood why my wife didn't want Ashlee to have custody. I remained calm. I didn't go after Fancy or Ashlee.

“Seems like you're quite the man,” Officer Austin told Darius. “I want to plan a stakeout. If Bambi shows up at Grand Lux Café, we'll catch her. Hopefully we can get one of these females off your back.”

“W
hy did Grant have to lie to me?”

He hadn't said a word since we'd left Jada's house, walked into Velvet's house. He took the boys in the bedroom, then closed the door. I wasn't following him. He'd fucked up, not me.

I sat in Velvet's living room talking with Sapphire. “After you dropped in, gave me this outfit, then left, Grant asked me to marry him. I asked him repeatedly about that Bambi woman. He stared in my face and lied to me. Said nothing happened with that woman. I knew he was lying.” I cried in Sapphire's arms. “I'm not marrying him. I'd have to be a damn fool to go through this shit with him again.”

“Hush, Honey. You're upset. You are going to marry Grant.”

Who's side was she on? I'd forgotten she'd fucked Grant too. Tried to take him away from me. Velvet had fucked Grant too. The memories I'd buried about Grant resurfaced. I tried rationalizing his promiscuity but only became madder. He was a male whore.

“I'm not staying with him. Would you marry him?” I asked her.

Drying my tears, Sapphire said, “Here's why you're going to marry him.”

I placed my hands in my lap and listened. I had to hear what ridiculous reasons she had floating in her brain. Just because she was married and happy didn't mean I could have the same. Not with a man who was a liar and a cheat.

She smiled, then asked, “Do you remember when we first met?”

I nodded. It was at the hotel New York New York in Vegas. Sunny Day was my number-one escort. And Sunny was also Sapphire's friend. Sapphire wanted Sunny to get out of the prostitution game. I was close to but wasn't ready to let Sunny go. Maybe if I had let Sunny go with Sapphire, she'd still be alive.

It was hard for me to say, “Yeah, I do remember.” My throat ached.

“Do you remember when I took Valentino's hundred million and gave you half?” she asked.

Where was she going with all these questions? Of course I remembered that too. But I'd made my own millions before she gave me fifty. I smiled without parting my lips. We were some bad and bold bitches. I'd bought all twelve of my escorts one-way tickets to Atlanta. Eleven of them came right away. I bought us a big house. Helped each of them start their own business. I never wanted them to compromise themselves for anyone else. And I wasn't compromising myself for Grant or any man.

I nodded, thinking,
What's next?

“Do you remember when Valentino and Benito kidnapped you from your home in Atlanta?”

That was some wild shit. I was scared to death and brave as hell at the same time. I escaped, not unscathed though. My ass was sore, feet worn out from hiking to I–75 South in my stilettos. I'd forgotten about Ken, the man dressed like a woman who'd offered me a ride, then drove me to a cemetery and tried to make me suck his dick. The bullet I put in his balls said he'd never do that retarded shit again.

“I do. What else?” I asked Sapphire. I was no longer sad or angry. Strange how I'd forgotten the number of people I'd trampled on since Rita had kicked me out.

“One more thing,” she said. “Even if Grant did fuck Bambi or Bambi fucked Grant, however you want to look at it. My point is, nobody's perfect. And all the men that you fucked when you were a prostitute, not one of them…Look at me,” she insisted. “Not one of them gave a damn about you. None of them loved you. You have a man in that bedroom who loves you. And you love him. All the things he's done that hurt you, he's done with someone else. Grant has never put his hands on you. You go in there, forgive him for whatever happened in that hotel room, and you tell him you want to be his wife. If you let him walk away, you're going to be the miserable one, and don't call me crying. I'm done.” Sapphire got up, extended her arms, hugged me, then left.

I let go of my ego, tucked away my pride, and opened the bedroom door. Grant was in the bed playing with the boys, gently rolling them around. “Can we talk?”

“If you don't want me, let me have a relationship with my boys,” he said.

I sat on the bed, then said, “There's nothing I want more than to be your wife and for us to be a family.”

Grant hugged me. He cried. We cried.

“Honey, you complete me. I'll never lie to you again,” Grant said, kissing me.

Did I believe him? No, I didn't.

Did I love him? Absolutely.

I
parked in section 3B, headed toward the elevator for Bloomingdale's at the Beverly Center. I bypassed the parking pay machine, trotted down two sets of moving escalators, and hooked a right into the bar area of Grand Lux Café.

I was about a half hour early. The bar was crowded, so I asked a young man sitting alone at a table for two in the corner, “Mind if I sit here?”

“Hey, Darius. Not at all, man. May I have your autograph?”

I smiled, signed the back of his yellow receipt. “What's your name? What are you doing with your life?”

He smiled. “I'm Christopher Watson.”

Three Christophers in two days. That was wild. I scribbled, “To ‘My Man Chris,'” above my signature.

“I work here but I'm going to become a dancer,” he said.

“That's what's up. Stay in the arts. Just remember, to get and stay on top, you must do what others are not willing to do. Never get comfortable. Become the master of your craft. Work hard every day. You can do it,” I reassured him. The book Lori gave me helped me understand people looked up to me. My words were powerful. I saw Christopher Henderson's mom, dad, and his dad's new wife walk in.

“Thanks, Chris,” I said, leaving the bar, heading into the dining area.

I scanned the room. Officer Austin and a few of what I assumed to be his counterparts were dining at a table for four. I nodded.

“What's up, Darius? Glad you made it, man. You have no idea how much your being here means. Thanks,” Christopher said. “This is my man Richard C. Montgomery. Anything you need tonight, you see Richard.”

I held Richard's hand; we bumped shoulders.

“Be my guest of honor,” Christopher said. “Sit next to me.”

At first I started to decline sitting next to him because he was seated on the booth side of the table. Chris was five-eleven. I was six-eleven. But it was his day. He was the Grammy nominated honoree.

“Congrats, man. ‘Blame It' is going to win. No doubt,” I told him. I sat with my back against the booth. Tried to stretch my legs. Couldn't. “I'ma have to take a chair across from you, man.”

When I stood, she walked in. I'd seen enough pictures of her to recognize her dark deep-set eyes and bangin' body. The jet-black hair flowing down to her ass didn't fool me. She strutted to Chris's table. She sure as hell didn't look anything like the chubby girl in kindergarten. She was all woman. I understood how Grant fucked her. I wouldn't have fucked her but I sure would've let her give me brain. I stayed cool, pretended I didn't recognize her.

“Hi, Christopher. Congratulations.” Bambi slid between the opening of the table. Sat next to Christopher, faced me. “Darius? Oh, my God! What have you done with your hair! I'ma get that two-headed bitch. She made you do this, didn't she?”

Christopher stood. “She with you? I don't know her.”

I raised my hand in the air, looked over the booth, behind her back, made eye contact with Officer Austin, then pointed. Lawrence and his friends pushed their chairs from underneath them and ran in my direction. Guess they didn't want to scare the patrons because none of the officers drew their guns.

Bambi slid under the table, slid between my legs. I grabbed her leg, then let go when her ass hit me with a stun gun. She ran toward the bar area.

“Oh, this here shit is superpersonal now.” I ran after her. Martini glasses crashed to the floor. Somebody's Long Island iced tea fell on my foot.

We chased Bambi out the door. Two of the officers ran across La Cienega Boulevard, got in separate police cars. One ran to the right. Officer Austin and I ran up the escalators behind Bambi. I was on his heels. In five-inch heels, Bambi sprinted three steps at a time to the third level. Turned around, sprayed Mace in the air, then disappeared.

Officer Austin and I coughed. I stopped at the top of the second escalator, closed my eyes.
Damn, that girl is good.

Officer Austin said, “Get in your car. She has to come out of the garage. If she follows you, I'll follow her.”

I hadn't been in the garage long enough to have to pay so I headed out the exit. I turned right onto La Cienega, kept straight. At the light, I saw Bambi in a black Dodge Charger at the cross light. I stayed on La Cienega.

Officer Austin's car sped in the lane to my left, zoomed toward oncoming traffic, swerved between cars, avoided collisions. He stopped in front of Bambi's car.

She backed into another police officer's car that was behind her, dented the door. She slammed into Officer Austin's car, backed up, hit the car behind her again. Four police cars now surrounded her car on each side. Bambi opened her car door, ran between two cars.

She was not getting away. I got out of my car, blasted off like I was doing a suicide run. In seconds I passed the officers, was closing in on her ass. She looked over her shoulder, saw me.

“Damn.” Just when I reached out to grab her, she tripped and fell into a baby stroller.

The baby's mother pushed Bambi to the ground and started beating Bambi's ass. I was cheering on the baby's mother. I'd never seen four guns in a chick's face but if one of the officers would accidentally shoot Bambi, I didn't see a thing.

I
fucking hate kids.

I stood in a fucking lineup at the precinct like those bitches on the other side didn't know who the fuck I was. I knew Darius was on the opposite side of that window with all the rest of those bitches.

“Talk to me face to face. Stop being bitches,” I yelled. Got me over here turning side to side like I was a criminal. Crimes of passion didn't count. Darius made me fall in love with him. And that two-headed bitch pulled a three-card molly on my ass. I was never going to win Darius's heart and she knew it.

An officer pulled me out of the lineup. “Your accusers demand to see you face to face,” he said. “They're glad you asked.”

He escorted me into a large cold room with no windows. I hated the orange jumpsuit. This fruity color orange never was my color. My ankles were chained. I had to take small steps. My wrists were handcuffed behind my back. I knew what they didn't. I had the best attorneys on my team.

I sat at the rectangular table, in the only chair in the room. Darius, Fancy, Jada, Honey, Grant, Rita, Sapphire, and Ashlee stood against the wall as though they had traded places with me. They were my lineup. If I had my automatic, I'd eliminate all of them execution style.

“When I get out of this bitch, I'm coming after every last one of y'all including those twins. I'll be out by morning. And I'm pregnant with your baby.” I watched Darius's and Grant's faces. “That's right, yours. You heard me.”

Darius shook his head. “Not mine.”

Grant remained silent.

Honey stared at Grant. The she walked up to the table.
Slap!

Get that bitch's hands from around my neck. Arrest her! Arrest her!

None of those bastards stopped her. She let go.
Slap!
The bitch hit me again.

I had something for her ass. “Go on, Grant. Tell Honey how you gave me those babies. How you set this whole thing up for me to take the twins so you could win her back and be her hero. Tell her how you called Rita and asked her to help me out.”

Rita's country ass said, “You keep Rita's name out yo' mouth.”

“Or what? You gon' slam your truck into the back of Fancy's car again?” I said. I had something on all their asses. “Y'all making Grant's baby inside my stomach kick.”

Calmly Ashlee said, “Stop lying, Bambi.”

“I'm not lying. I am pregnant with Grant's baby.”

“No, you're not,” Ashlee said. “You're not pregnant at all. I can see straight through you. You've been following Darius since we were kids. You come to all of his games. You were the one who tried to kill Fancy. You stole Honey and Grant's babies, now you're trying to save your ass from prison. You're not the only one with evidence. If you don't leave Darius alone, I will personally bury you alive in a coffin.”