Ivy's Twisted Vine Redux (31 page)

Hearing the doorbell, Sadie walked into the foyer, where she found Ivy and Grey with several bags of clothes.

“What a surprise,” Sadie said kissing her soon-to-be son-in-law on the cheek.

“We’ve been out at the malls shopping,” Ivy said setting her bags down. “The bigger I get the more I need.”

“Well you only have a few months to go, and then you’ll be back to your regular size,” Sadie said kissing her on the cheek.

“Where are you going looking like GQ Smooth?” Grey asked noticing Emerald as he came out of the back room.

“I’ve got a little job interview in an hour. I need to get moving now that I’m back home.” Emerald looked over at his mother.

“Well, we’ve got always got a position open if you’re interested.” Grey knew that Emerald would appreciate the offer, plus this would give him the opportunity to win him over again. He saw how Emerald had warmed up to Nicola the other day at Ivy’s place. And the last thing he needed was her family thinking good of
the Italian.

“I’d be more than interested,” Emerald said setting his briefcase down. Maybe he needed to look no further. “When are you available to talk?
“How about tomorrow afternoon? We can meet for lunch?

“Sounds good to me,” Emerald said knowing what Grey had in mind. He had been around the block more than enough times to see that Grey was trying to win him over, but he wasn’t about to stop him.

“Alright, I’ll call you later with the specifics,” Grey said grinning to himself as he caught a glimpse of the proud look on Sadie’s face.
Nicola didn’t have a chance.

“Thanks, baby,” Ivy said impressed with Grey’s kind gesture.

* *

Down at City Hall in the Mayor’s office, Nicola and Brooks sat with their team quietly as Mayor Henderson reviewed their report. Looking around the oval table, Nicola was extremely relieved to see that his nemesis, Grey, had not been invited or declined the invitation to attend.

Focusing back on the meeting, Nicola squirmed in his seat as Mayor Henderson put down the report and buzzed the secretary for more coffee. There had been a dramatic increase of gang-related and drug-related arrests since the new Special Forces team had been developed. Under the team’s constant watching eye, the streets of Memphis were starting to rest easier at night. But Nicola questioned whether or not his team would be fairly judged considering his relationship with Ivy.

“Well, men…” Mayor Henderson said nodding at the Director of the Police Department and old time friend. “These are the kind of results that I am looking for in our police department.” He smiled reassuringly at Brooks and Nicola.

Relieved the men exhaled. “Thank you, sir,” Nicola said trying to keep his composure.

“So, my biggest question is are we ready for the next step?” Mayor Henderson asked pulling his seat away from oval table.

“Absolutely,” Director Billings said looking at Brooks and Nicola. “We have the most capable men and women this department has to offer working on phase two as we speak.”

“Well, then, I look forward to seeing the results on my next report and all over the news,” Mayor Henderson said standing up to take his leave. “Gentlemen, well done.” Shaking the director’s hand, Mayor Henderson looked over at Nicola for a brief moment. “As professionals, I’m glad to see that all of you are maintaining control of this situation. We must remember that we are first servants of the City of Memphis. All other things come second, as far as I’m concerned.”

Nicola was glad that Mayor Henderson had given him some kind of indication of where he stood. If the mayor stayed impartial to the department and more importantly to his team, then the growing animosity between he and Grey would controllable. He simply could not afford for this thing with Ivy to affect his men or his ability to do his job.

**

After dropping Ivy off at her mother’s house, Grey headed to his four o’clock appointment on the other side of town. He hadn’t seen his old flame Tracy in nearly a year. After the pregnancy scare he had with her, she had become quite distant in their communication or maybe he was the distant one. It didn’t matter to him one way or the other.

In Grey’s quest to find dirt on Nicola, however, he and Tracy had crossed paths again. It seemed that a nurse at Dr. Tracy’s abortion clinic could help him out tremendously. The doc had set up a cloak and dagger meeting at her house as a favor to him. And to his surprise, the woman wanted nothing in return for her cooperation. It seemed that her animosity for Nicola grew out of his inability to call the morning after. He laughed at the circumstances. Nothing was worse than a woman’s scorn, which is why he sought to keep his women happy at all times.

Grey pulled up to her home with minutes to spare and was led to her office by the maid. He entered with a smile on his face. The two women sat on the couch drinking wine and talking under their breath. Tracy turned to him and smiled. She was a beautiful woman. Tall and statuesque. She bore a great resemblance to Ivy. Since the last time that he’d seen her, she had cut her hair off and sported a chic little do that brought out her prominent cheekbones and long swanlike neck. He liked that on her and planned to tell her later. But for now there was business to handle.

Tracy stood up and leisurely went to him. He hugged her amicably and looked over at the nurse, who sat nervously awaiting his arrival.

“So good to see you again, Grey,” Tracy said putting down her glass. “This is Amber. She’s the nurse in my office I spoke with you about over the phone.”

“Yes. Amber, it is nice to meet you,” Grey said offering his hand.

“Nice to meet you too,” she said in a soft, whispery voice.

“Before we begin, let’s just make this clear that you never heard any of this information from us,” Tracy said with her hands on her hips.

“You have my word on it,” Grey said crossing his heart. “And I think you’ve got enough on me to know that I’m good for my word.”

Chapter Sixteen: Cornered

Chapter 16

CORNERED

“
So we’ve finally got enough on Caesar to bust his ass,”
Brooks said grinning as he raised his arm weight. He had been dreaming of getting Caesar off of the streets and placing him under a jail cell since they began their campaign, but every time they got something they thought was solid, Caesar got away clean. This time, however, they had gone to extreme lengths to ensure that there would be no one to save him.

“Yep, as soon as we get the information about the shipment,” Nicola said rejoicing in the thought as well.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Brooks watched his muscles bulge as he lifted the sixty-five pound free weights. His wide long physique narrowed at the waist and expanded at the hips like a professional weight lifter. His dark brown skin seemed shinny and unblemished and his baldhead and coal black facial hair made him look strong and invincible.
At least, he thought he was sexy
. He smiled vainly at himself as he caught Nicola smirking at him.

“What?” Brooks asked defensively.

“You’re doing it again,” Nicola said gulping down his creatine shake.

“Doing what?” Brooks already knew.

“Gloating.” Nicola belched and laughed. He always caught Brooks staring at himself in the mirrors or doing “mirror checks” to make sure every stitch of clothing was in place. For him to be a cop, he was always very well dressed. It was the main reason that Nicola started to be more aware of the way he looked. Being best friends with a runway model was heavy on the ego.

“Look, I’m a Psi man. We are pretty.” His confidence gleamed like the sweat on his forehead. “It wouldn’t matter if I was the garbage man, I would still look good.”

Nicola laughed. “Well, you are full of shit.”

“But I can back it up,” Brooks said turning his attention back to his workout.

“I just don’t get what kind of man would want to call himself
pretty
.” Nicola had argued the point a hundred times before, but each time seemed valid.

“A confident man. Someone, who knows that
he
is irresistible, but don’t worry. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Let me guess. It’s because I’m not pretty.” Nicola had heard this before.

“Exactly.”

“But the ladies like me. I believe the word they use is “sexy”.

“Sexy is not the same thing as pretty. Cigarette smoke in a dark candlelit room can be sexy. Are you going to compare yourself to cigarette smoke?”

“You know what I mean. Sexy is more masculine than
pretty
. I mean, when I think of a pretty man…”

“I just think that you’re hatin’,” Brooks interjected returning to his weights. “But looking at me, who wouldn’t?” He grunted.

“I need to check and see what type of paperwork I need to put in for the twins to be put on my insurance once they’re born.” Nicola said staring into space.

“Whoa, where did that come from?” Brooks asked confused by the sudden change of conversation.

“Well, the time is coming quickly. They’ll be here in less than three months. Just in case they are mine, they’re going to need insurance.”

“You’re kidding right?” Brooks was fed up with Ivy being the most popular topic of conversation.

“Kidding about what?” Before Nicola could even ask, he could look in his partner’s eyes and see that he was about to correct him for his concern. More and more lately Brooks had shown signs of jealousy for all of the time that he spent with Ivy and preparing for the twins.

“Look man, we’ve been friends for a long time, and you know that I wouldn’t ever tell you anything wrong on purpose. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’ve got to tell you. You’re setting your self up for a big fall with Ivy and these kids. First of all, you don’t know if there yours or not. Second of all, she’s still engaged to another man. Third, she is not your wife. You better move on and discover life after conception, or you’re not going to be able to handle it when she does the same.”

“I’m not worried about Ivy. I was just thinking aloud.”

“You think that because they’re twins, they could be yours?” Brooks looked concerned.

“Don’t you think that’s a little too coincidental?”

“I’ve seen something in you lately, man. You’re all wrapped up in this girl. Thank God it hasn’t affected your work, but your personal life is totally screwed over. You’ve been celibate for over a month now, every since you took that stupid vow on the track field. You’re becoming a hermit, never going anywhere.” Brooks sighed. “What if Ivy really wants Grey? How are you going to recoup from that?”

“I didn’t stop having sex because of Ivy. I stopped because of what happened with Ivy, and.” Nicola sat down on the bench. “And I needed more clarification in my life.”

“Clarification my ass…you sound sprung to me; something I thought that you would never live to be.”

“I’m not sprung,” Nicola said offended. “You wouldn’t understand though. You’ve been running like hell from responsibility. Look, as much as Trina does for you, you still fuck off on her.”

“You of all people understand why.”

“No, man. I don’t understand why. If I had a woman that cared as much for me as that girl cares for you, I’d be a lot more careful with her.”

“You mean like you were careful with Ivy? Don’t fool yourself. You and I both know that before this one, you didn’t give a damn about woman. Shit. Just six months ago you weren’t ducking and dodging a serious relationship, too. Now you want to act like some kind of saint, because you think you have a chance with the one girl in the Memphis who sees straight through your ass.”

“No one can see straight through me.”

“You really want to believe that don’t you.” Brooks sighed. “You’re my boy, but I have to tell you that this is one race you aren’t going to win. She’s faster and stronger than you’ll ever be, and right now she’s just leading you two around on the same leash until she figures out which one of you she’s going to put to sleep. I just hate that I can’t save you, man. I’m telling you this isn’t going to turn out good for you.”

“Don’t think that you’re going to get a rise out of me, Brooks. You’re not. Ivy and I have an understanding. I’m not there for her; I’m there for them. Nicola looked Brooks in the eye. “Believe me I know what I’m doing.”
“So do I.” Brooks put down his weights and grabbed the towel. “You’re falling in love.”

**

Relaxing out on the balcony of his riverfront condo, Nicola sipped on a now nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels and stared blankly out at the sun setting over Mud Island as it reflected off the Mississippi. When life was supposed to be most peaceful, it was always chaotic for him. He could have been just taking in the beauty of the scenery and enjoying his life as a bachelor. Instead, he was pondering madly over Brooks’ advice and dissecting his actions over the last six months with Ivy.

Sprung
as Brooks had put it, was a bad choice of words, but right on the money. As absurd as it sounded, Nicola had fallen in love with a square. He laughed a little at the thought of it all and shifted uncomfortably in his hammock.

So what was he going to do about it? There were two obvious choices. He could pursue Ivy full force and possibly end up making a fool of himself, or he could stick to the business of being
Nicola
. The second choice was much less complex and required little or no new effort. But if he was actually able to pull off the first choice, the reward could be bliss and maybe he could find some comfort in his hectic life.