Hot Girlz: Hot Boyz Sequel (3 page)

She walked toward the custom brick
mailbox they had built at the curb, hurrying to the strip of cool grass.

Skyy had let go of her hand, running
back and forth along the front lawn. “Mommy, catch me.” Her voice was playful.

 “Hold on, let Mommy get the
mail.” Venus reached into the mailbox and shuffled through the few pieces of
mail: a power bill, a credit card bill, and a letter that was addressed to her
maiden name, Venus Ortiz. The return address was the California Men’s Colony in
San Luis Obispo.

Curiously, she opened the letter and
unfolded a long white sheet of notebook paper. Her mind held its breath. The
words were scribbled, small letters, with the sentences all running together
without benefit of much punctuation.

Hey
sexy I miss you I can’t wait to be with you again the way I turned your girl
out and blew her mind with my mouth How’s my son Soon it will be the three of
us cutie pie Soon enough

By
the way does your husband know you wanted me the whole time when I was with
Fatima Does he know you and I had sex and Fatima never knew Does he know you’ve
always liked what Fatima had How you stole her college boyfriend years ago How
you’d sneak and call me back when I first met her I hope your husband doesn’t
have a close friend because you can’t be trusted Now that Fatima is dead and
you already have what she had I’m thinking that won’t be enough You’ll go buck
wild soon enough So I say you and me should just correspond and maybe you can
even come and see me Wouldn’t that be sneaky Right up your alley Tell my son I
said he can come and see me too Oh that’s right I’m willing to bet he doesn’t
know I’m his father yet right Your husband’s ego wouldn’t allow that Maybe I’ll
just have to find a way to tell him myself I guess I’ll chat with him on the
Bureau of Prison’s Corrlinks I’m sure I can find his email address I sent a
link request to your job but it bounced back Oh well Till next time Love Owen

Venus fought to close her mouth. She
darted her eyes over toward Skyy, who was still playing on the front lawn.
Venus began to sweat. She swallowed hard and her heart shifted with fright.

“Skyy, let’s go inside. Now.” Venus ran
to Skyy and picked her up, hugging her tight, looking all around, and heading
back into the house, closing and locking the door, fast.

Venus set the alarm and stood in the
entryway and took a deep breath, putting Skyy down.

Skyy asked, “Can we read now?”

 Venus shook her head and made
herself focus on her young daughter’s question. “Sure. Go and get a book.”

Skyy skipped to the staircase and
headed up to her room.

Venus went straight to her cell and
called Claude. He still did not answer. She then called her sister-in-law,
Mercedes, and tried her best to simply focus on having as normal a voice as
possible. She placed the mail atop the island. “Hey, there.” To her, from
inside her convoluted head, it sounded like her own voice was cracking.

“Hi, Venus. How are you?”

She fought harder to stay calm. “I’m
okay. Yep, I’m okay. So, how’s Mattie?” She leaned against the island, hoping
her small talk didn’t sound fake.

“Mamma’s about the same. I made an
appointment for her to go and get a check up next week. How are you? And how’s
Skyy? I still can’t believe you and Sequoia now have the young ones, when my
Star and Rashaad are all grown up and out of the house.”

Venus tried to force a smile but
couldn’t. “We’re fine.” She inhaled and exhaled huge. “Mercedes, I need to talk
to you.” Her hands shook.

“Sure.”

She thought twice, and switched
problem-gears. “Something’s going on with Cam. I mean, he called, and I guess
they’re talking about kicking him out of school. I have no idea what happened.
I think he talked to Claude after he called me, but I haven’t heard from either
one.”

“Venus, I’m coming right over.”

Venus spoke quickly. “No. I want
Claude to tell you and Mason about this himself. I haven’t even talked to him
yet. You know how private he is.”

“I do. Okay. Still, I can’t imagine
what the deal is. Cameron’s a good student. I’m sure it’ll all be ironed out.”

Skyy came downstairs. “Here, Mom.” She
handed Venus a thick book of fairy tales.

“Okay. Just give Mommy one minute.”
She gave the book back to Skyy and held up one finger. “Go take this and sit on
the couch. I’ll be right there, I promise.”

Skyy walked away, hugging her book,
looking sad. “Okay.”

“Mercedes, I just wanna know what’s up
with him. Not knowing is worse than knowing.”

“Listen. How about if I come over
anyway? Claude doesn’t even have to know why I’m there.”

“Mercedes, I don’t want to interrupt
your evening. Is Lucinda there to stay with Mattie?”

“Yes. Both she and Mason are here.
She’s basically a live-in now though she does go home every now and then. I’ll
be right over in a few. You know I’m just a few blocks away.”

“Okay. See you in a minute. Thanks.”

“That’s what family’s for.”

Venus and Mercedes hung up.

“Here I come, Skyy,” Venus said to her
pouty-faced, awaiting daughter.

Skyy had quickly changed focus. She
rubbed her eyes. “Mommy. Can I have pancakes?”

“Oh, Skyy. Daddy’s on his way with
food. Chicken and veggies, okay?” Venus sat down next to Skyy and placed
another call to Claude. No answer. And then she called Cameron. No answer.

“You said my brother was okay.” Skyy
flashed her eyes toward her mom.

Venus prepared herself to reply when
she heard the garage door open and the sound of Claude’s sports car pull in.
She stood and headed to the kitchen.

“Daddy,” yelled Skyy, with an
instantly perky tone while she ran toward the kitchen door that led to the
garage.

“Wait, sweetie.” Venus heard the
garage door close, and the car door open and close.

Bluetooth to his ear, baldheaded
Claude opened the door frowning and talking fast, cradling two bags against his
NBA-type body frame. Two seconds after he stepped inside, the security alarm
went off with a major screech.

Skyy jumped and held her ears. It was
piercing.

“Hold on, sorry,” he told the caller.
He said to Venus loudly, “Why’d you set the alarm so early?”

“No reason.” She hurried to the keypad
and disarmed it.

He placed the bags on the breakfast
nook table and kept talking. He wore a white shirt with obvious sweat stains
under his arms. He walked to the island and set down his keys. “So, look Sampson,
we need to talk to the school administrators right away. There’s no way my son
violated any school policies about cheating, or student Internet policy, or
plagiarism, let alone this crap about him having someone to write his essay.
What’s all that mess about? I need to know how they reached these bogus
conclusions. My son does not lie. Plus, he’s just about to graduate. It’s taken
him more than five years, but he’s ready. I will sue the school and the whole
damn city if I have to. Say what? . . . Leave school in the meantime? Oh, no,
he won’t unless we make a decision like that on our own. I’ll head out to
Berkley tonight if necessary. My brother Torino is an alumni there. He made
that school a lot of money playing football . . . Oh, you know it. Look, like
you said, go ahead get on this and call me right back. In the meantime, I’ll
talk to Cameron again . . . Okay. Thanks.” Even his forehead was sweaty.

Venus walked over to him as he stared
only at his black Porsche mobile.

He took a step back. “Not right now.”
He walked past her, touching the screen of his phone while holding a red
folder.

“Claude, it’ll all work out.”

He said nothing.

“Daddy!” Skyy called out, standing
behind Venus.

Claude smiled at his daughter. “Hey,
Skyy. Daddy will be right back.” And he told Venus, “I’ll be in my office for a
while.”

“Okay. Thanks for getting dinner,
honey.” Venus began taking the containers from the bags. The soulful smell of
Claude’s rib dinner, greens, and rice hit her nostrils. “Smells good, huh,
Skyy?”

Skyy nodded.

“Here. Sit down. It’s time to eat.”

“My stomach hurts, Mommy.” Skyy now
moved like molasses.

Claude said with volume as he walked
toward his office, “She should’ve eaten already. And you wonder why I want you
to stay home.” He shut the door firmly behind himself.

Venus sat down at the kitchen table
next to Skyy in deep thought.
It’s only six-thirty
. “Say your blessings,
sweetie.”

Skyy started to pray, with Venus
joining in, “Bless us O Lord, for these thy gifts, which we are about to
receive, from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

“Good girl.” They both began to eat.
“So, how was school today?” Venus asked, just as the doorbell rang. Venus got
up. “Just a second, Skyy.”

“Who’s that?” Claude yelled from
behind his office door.

Venus yelled back. “I’m sure it’s
Mercedes. She said she was coming over.”

“Does she know about this?”

“No,” Venus yelled again, opening the
door. Mercedes stepped in and they hugged. She toned down her voice. “Hey,
girl.”

“Hey, Sis.” Wearing faded denim,
Mercedes put her powder blue Coach bag down on the entryway table and headed
toward the kitchen. “Is Claude here?” she asked quietly.

Venus nodded in reply. “Did you
drive?”

“Yes. You know I’m lazy.” She grinned
Skyy’s way. “Hi, Skyy, girl.”

“Hi, Auntie.” Skyy swallowed her food
and grinned back as Mercedes kissed her on her cheek.

“Don’t you look cute? Looks like
you’re getting a tan.” Mercedes brushed her hand along Skyy’s forehead.

“I went swimming.”

“You did? You’re just a little fish,
huh?”

“Yep. I love to swim.”

Venus just stood over the table, arms
crossed, looking blank.

Mercedes took a seat across from Skyy.
“Relax, Venus. Finish eating. You know how it is. This is the world of the
Wilson brothers. Enough drama for your momma. But, I’ll tell you one thing.
Things are gonna have to start slowing down a little. Mason’s thinking about
running for office.”

“What?” Venus walked toward the
double-sink when she stepped on her earring that had fallen on the floor.
“Ouch.” She picked it up and placed it back on the island next to the other
earring, noticing that her stack of mail that was atop the island was now gone,
including the letter from Owen.

Venus was white as a ghost, and she
was completely speechless.

Though Mercedes chatted using some
words that were suddenly inaudible, sounding like blah, blah, blah, all Venus’s
ears zoomed in on were Claude’s words coming from the other side of his office
door, talking extra-loud to Cameron.

3

Sequoia

“. . . there’s only one Torino Jr. . . .”

It was all about the eyes.

After all these years, Sequoia Wilson couldn’t get it out
of her head that Colette Berry, crazy former girlfriend of Sequoia’s husband
Torino Wilson, had a son named Kyle Jr. who looked just like Torino, and not a
bit like his hazel-eyed father, Kyle Brewer.

Actually, to Sequoia, little Kyle Jr. looked like he
could be the big brother to her and Torino’s five year-old son, Torino Jr.

And that had nagged the hell out of Sequoia for years.

Colette was light-skinned with light eyes herself, and
Kyle was the spitting image of Derek Jeter, yet Kyle Jr. was chocolate brown
with dark brown eyes.

Kyle had been Torino’s best friend, until Torino, who
owns the nightclub called Foreplay, fired Kyle for pocketing door money. That
was right around the same time Torino’s then girlfriend, Colette, got kicked
out of the club for acting psycho after catching a case of her usual jealousy
fever. When Torino got off work at three in the morning, he drove by Colette’s
apartment and saw Kyle’s car parked outside.

Revenge sex was something Colette told him she believed
in. And it was clear to Torino that it was on.

Months later, pregnant Colette tried to pin the paternity
on Torino. Once she found out Torino was dating Mercedes’s best friend,
Sequoia, Colette showed up at Mason’s house during a family dinner, holding a
knife to her belly, threatening to end her life and her unborn child’s life if
Torino didn’t stop seeing Sequoia.

Claude and Torino talked her out of it, she seemed to
move on with Kyle, and for the most part she had been quiet. But when the child
was nineteen months old, Sequoia saw Colette, Kyle and Kyle Jr. at Magic
Johnson’s Fridays in the Ladera Center. It was just a feeling. Maybe instinct.
But Sequoia became convinced that Kyle Jr. was her husband’s son, though Torino
still denied it.