Lust and Lies (The Jamie Reynolds Chronicles #1) (7 page)

“I know, I know, your birthday party is on Wednesday.”

“I know how you get.”

“I’m not going to forget my best friend’s birthday party, you know that. Don’t look at me like that,” I said as Terry was giving me a sarcastic look.

“I am not that bad, am I?”

“Yo, J, you work like seven days a week. You don’t even call me anymore.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy, flying home and all, looking for houses, dealing with my dad, but I promise I am coming.”

“Who are you coming with?”

“Angela, she gets off work at ten, so we’ll probably be there around twelve or so.”

“Okay, J, see you on Wednesday.”

***

“Hey, Angela, is the key under the mat? I’m heading to your place now and will be getting dressed while you’re at work, so when you get off, all I have to do is my makeup and we’re out the door. I don’t feel like hearing Terry’s mouth tonight; I told him I’ll be there around twelve.”

“Oh, girl, don’t front, we have plenty of time. What are you wearing?”

“You know all my brother’s friends will be there, they’re like family, so I have to come correct. I’m wearing some brown and pink Guess caper pants that I got in New York last week and a cream cami with a pink sweater and brown heels.”

“That sounds cute. I wish you would have told me you were really getting dressed, I would have went out and bought something new too.”

“I told you Terry was having a birthday party; you should have known better.”

“All right now, you drinking tonight?”

“Yes, girl, I am. You know I don’t drink and drive, not after what happened to Jason, Kevin or even Terry himself.”

“Oh, you’re spending the night, then?”

“Yes, girl, you know my motto: I came with you and I’m leaving with you.”

“Well, let me get back to work. I’ll see you when I get home.”

***

“Yo, JR, you ready?” Angela shouted as she sprayed herself with perfume.

“I’m ready.”

“Okay, let’s go. You drive because I don’t know where I’m going.”

“You live off Lenox and you still don’t know your way to Buckhead?”

“I didn’t know it was in Buckhead.”

“I said Club Shadows.”

“Girl, I can’t keep up with these clubs and their names. They change names like every month or so.”

“Girl, you crazy, give me the keys,” I said to Angela as I took her keys and started her car.

Within eight minutes we were at the club and it was packed.

“Damn, do you see Terry anywhere?” Angela said as she closed the car door of her 2001 Nissan Sentra.

“Girl, it’s midnight on the eve of his birthday; he’s inside getting drunk, at least that’s what I would be doing if I was him.”

“Yo, JR, what’s up?” a guy shouted, running up to me and Angela as we were crossing the street.

“Hey, love, what’s up?”

“How have you been? You’re looking good tonight. Yo, you good, right?” he said, making sure I had a way inside the club without any issues.

“Yeah, we good.”

“Yo, I got to run to the car for a sec, I catch you inside, a’right?”

“You good, I see you inside.”

“Yo, who was that?” Angela asked before we made it to the front door.

“Girl, I don’t know, probably one of Terry’s friends. Girl, I told you if I call any guy love, dude, babe, sweetie, honey, pumpkin or anything crazy like that, that means I don’t know or can’t remember their real name. You know my memory is bad,” I said as Angela busted out laughing.

“Girl, you crazy.”

“Yeah, but you still love me.”

“Excuse me, everyone needs to make one line and leave the sidewalk clear before anyone is getting in,” the bouncer shouted.

“Hey, Cassie, what’s up?”

“Yo, JR, what’s up, girl? She’s good.” Cassie flagged the bouncer that I was good to get in.

“She is with me,” I said to the bouncer, letting him know that Angela was also good.

“Yo, Cass, Terry upstairs, right?”

“Hey, girl, he’s upstairs.”

“How much longer you at the door?”

“I’ll be here until one; then I’ll be partying with you guys,” Cassie said as she placed neon green wristbands on Angela’s and my wrists.

“Thanks, I’ll see you upstairs.”

As we began to walk upstairs to locate my play-brother, I double-checked with Angela to make sure she had her cell phone just in case anything happened, or if we lost each other in the club, she could call me.

“I got it,” she said, squeezing her purse to prove it was in there.

“Terry, happy birthday, baby,” I said as I ran over to say hi to my brother.

“It’s about time.”

“Don’t start with me, I’m here, ain’t I?”

“Alright, alright, oh, my bad, what’s up, Angela?” He turned to me and said, “Why you always bring her?” trying to whisper but was talking loud enough that I knew Angela heard him.

“Stop it,” I said as I grabbed his hand and we all began walking into the back of the club to his VIP section.

“I was waiting for you before we toast. Yo, Al, E, Mo, T, bring everyone over so we can finally toast my birthday, nigga,” Terry said after calling, like, every letter of the alphabet and not calling anyone by their government names.

“Yo, JR, whad up?” After kissing and hugging all my brother’s friends, we finally began the toast.

“Yo, raise your glasses, motherfuckers, and let’s give it up to my man True,” Sam said.

I was really happy to be by my brother’s side that night. He was still using a cane, but he was looking pretty good. After the car accident he just wasn’t the same. But I was glad everyone came out tonight to help him celebrate another year on earth.

“To my man T, I hope you see another year,” Al said.

“Thanks for just being there for me; you a good dude,” Mo said.

“Yo, True, I hope your crazy ass live long enough so we can do this again next year.”

“True, True, True, what to say.” E paused for a second and said, “That’s all I got… naw, nig, good looking out in the past and you know I always got your back.”

After about five minutes of sarcasm and joking around, it was finally my turn.

“Okay, you guys, I am going to get serious,” I said as I grabbed and held my brother’s hand.

“Terry,” I said as everyone began to laugh because I was one of the few people who called True by his real name, Terry. “Don’t laugh, Michael, Shawn, Montrell and Anthony.” I began calling everyone by their government name one by one.

“JR.”

“Okay, JR.”

“Okay, J, my bad,” everyone said as they began to shut up so I could speak.

“Thank you, I am going to make this nice, quick and simple. Trrruuueeee,” I said, dragging his nickname out, “you are like a brother I never had and I love you for that. You have always been there for me when I needed you and even when I didn’t need you.” Everyone let out a little laugh. “I’m just kidding, but seriously, I love you, T, and I am so glad you made it through the wire to celebrate with us today.” As we raised our glasses, the Kanye West song “Through the Wire” came on and I looked up at the DJ and he also raised his glass in our honor.

Terry went through a nasty car accident and he made it out alive like Kanye did. I still can’t believe it was only three months ago.

***

“Yo, J, you coming out tonight?” Terry asked.

“Naw, man,I have to be at work in the morning, so I’ll set this party out tonight.”

“Come on, J, you can’t be serious, you can’t miss tonight.”

“You say this every night.”

“C’mon, JR, you know you’re like my road dog. Or should I say road-club dog,” Terry said, trying to make a really bad joke.

“No, seriously. It’s Wednesday, and either I come out tonight or I lay low tonight and come out Friday night. It’s your call, because I can’t be going out four and five times a week like before. I have no idea how you do it. I’ll just stick to the weekend, so leave my weekdays alone.”

“Fine, you get a pass tonight, but we riding out on Friday.”

“Bet,” I said to Terry.

“Okay, holla, I’ll hit you up after lunch tomorrow.”

But that phone call didn’t come after lunch, it came much sooner. I got a call at like four a.m. from Terry’s wife, Monica, saying Terry got in a car accident and he was at Grady Hospital.

“What? Wait, what happened?” I tried to ask.

“Jamie, I can’t talk now, I’m heading to the hospital. Terry got in a car accident,” Monica just repeated with her voice about to crack as she began to cry.

“Okay, I’m heading down to Grady now.” I tried to get off the phone, as I didn’t like to hear anyone cry because I never knew what to say when someone cries around me.

I never moved so fast as I jumped out of bed, got dressed and raced down to Grady Hospital. My heart was racing as I drove down I-20, trying to figure out what happened. How bad was he hurt? Was he going to make it? I swear I got there in fifteen minutes and it’s at least a twenty-five-minute drive. Before any more crazy thoughts went through my head, I was getting off the elevator and saw Monica and the kids.

Terry’s kids, Kevin and Keisha, ran up to me. “Hey, sweethearts, how are you doing?” I could see it in Monica’s face she didn’t want the kids around this mess. I still didn’t know what happened, but I noticed the doctor walking towards us, so I asked the kids if they were hungry.

“Hey, guys, you want a snack? We can head down to the vending machine and you guys can pick out whatever you like.”

Monica mouthed the words
thank you
, but Terry’s oldest son, Kevin, who was only seven, knew something was up.

“No, I want to stay here with Mommy.”

I’d known this kid for a minute now, so I knew he couldn’t resist a bag of Doritos. I said to Keisha, “I bet the vending machines have Doritos.”

“Doritos,” Kevin repeated. “Mommy, are you going to be okay?”

Monica said, “Go with Jamie, I’m fine.”

I could see in her face she wasn’t fine. She was just as worried as I was, but both of us tried to hold up a good front in front of the kids.

After about fifteen minutes, we made our way back to Monica and she was crying. My heart almost broke because naturally I thought the worst. Terry was gone, I thought to myself, and as the tears started building up in my eyes, Keisha ran over to her grandmother.

“Grandma,” both kids yelled and ran over to greet their grandmother. Monica must have called her mom because Terry doesn’t talk to his mother much and I knew she couldn’t just fly down from NY this fast.

Monica walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I was a little surprised because I was Terry’s best friend not Monica’s. But Terry trusted me, so she did too, I guess.

Now that the kids were away, I asked Monica what happened.

“I don’t know. All I know is the car is totaled. The police say he ran into the back of a semi-truck and he got stuck underneath the back of the truck. The doctor says he broke his thigh bone in his right leg and both of his shins are broken,” Monica said as she began to cry.

“Oh my goodness,” was the only thing I could say.

“The doctor was just telling me he just got out of surgery and he’ll be able to talk in a few hours. But the police are still hanging around because they feel he was drunk.”

“It’s going to be okay; Terry is strong.” I was not the best motivational speaker at times, but this was the best I had.

Hours passed, and by this point, the kids went home and the lobby was now filled with all of Terry’s closest friends. I guess word traveled fast, because I didn’t call anyone and I knew Monica wouldn’t call his friends.

Finally, the doctor said we could see Terry, but of course, not everyone was allowed to go to his room. I didn’t think anything of it, but Monica allowed me and Al to go back to see him. Al and Terry went way back, so I understood why she was cool with Al, but I was new to his circle but totally honored.

“Hey, Terry, how are you feeling?” I said, again not the best sentence to say at this time, but that was all I could get out. Terry looked bad, his face was all black and blue and swelling. He seemed so out of it, he barely said two words. I didn’t feel it was the right time to see Terry, but I pulled myself together and just grabbed his hand. We all just sat there in silence. I believed in God, but it’d been a minute since I’d been to church even though I catch myself trying to go to church about every other month, which was really good for my lifestyle and age. I silently said a prayer because this mess was out of our control but in control of God only.

Days went by and Terry was getting better and better. I naturally went to work and then went to visit him after work. After about a week or so, Terry finally started to speak about what happened. I managed to go to his room one afternoon when Monica wasn’t there and I asked him what happened.

“Yo, J, it was crazy, I don’t really remember.”

“What do you remember?” I asked.

“All I remember was leaving the club around two a.m. and driving home.”

Now Terry knows I don’t play with drinking and driving, and I remembered the cops wanting to talk to him because they thought he was drunk. “So did you have too much to drink?” I finally asked.

Terry looked at me like I offended him. “Come on, man, I only had like three shots that night, but real talk, I was just tired and I must have just fell asleep at the wheel. According to what the police said, I just ran my car into the back of a moving semi-truck. Did you see the car, J?”

“Yeah, man, I seen the pictures, and it looks like the whole car went underneath the semi and the complete top of the car was ripped off.”

“Yo, I’ve had a lot of time being in this bed, thinking about it all, and even though I don’t remember much, I know you bailed on me. At first I was mad, but now I’m so happy you didn’t come along that night. You know your ass falls asleep at night in the car, and you sleep with your head back against the headrest. According to the EMS, my head fell forward onto the steering wheel before hitting the truck, because if my head fell back onto the headrest like you sleep, my head would have been cut off.”

I grew silent because that could have been me and my life. Naturally, I played my emotions off like I was cool. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay. How long did the doctor say you have in this bed?”