Married Men (26 page)
Authors: Carl Weber
I started the car and was about to leave when Wil banged on my window, damn near scaring the shit outta me. He was still in his boxers and a T-shirt, barely covered up by what looked like Diane’s robe. Let me tell you, that’s one time I wished I had a camera, ’cause he looked funny as shit. I was laughing as I rolled down my window.
“What’s up?” I was praying he’d changed his mind and wanted me to wait while he changed.
“Here.” He handed me an ATM card. “The pin number’s my birthday.”
I took the card. “You ain’t coming?”
“Hell no. If Diane knew I was out here giving you my ATM card, she’d kick my ass.”
“I knew you still had love for Jay,” I smiled.
“It ain’t about love. I just don’t wanna see him in jail. And don’t tell him I gave you the money.”
“Aw’ight, man. Let me go get this brother out.”
“Drive safely, Al.”
“You got it, Wil.”
I’d been waiting almost an hour before Jay walked through the heavy steel doors into the waiting area of the BCI precinct. Once he spotted me, he nonchalantly glanced around the room, probably expecting to see Kyle and Wil too. He looked bad when he walked over to me. I guess what I’d heard in the past was true. No matter how short a stay you have, being in jail was truly a humbling experience.
“Hi, Allen,” he said weakly, instead of his customary, “What’s up, dawg?”
“You aw’ight?” I asked, hugging him.
“Yeah, let’s just get out of here. My car’s still over on Tonnelle Avenue.” I pointed to the exit, and we walked out to my car without another word. When we got in the car. Jay turned to me humbly and said, “Thanks, Allen.”
“Don’t mention it, Jay. You woulda done the same thing for me.” I started the car. His eyes were watery, and I have to admit I was surprised when tears began to roll down his face. I can’t ever remember seeing him cry, and I didn’t ever wanna see it again. Tears just didn’t fit him. He looked so pitiful I handed him a small pack of tissues.
“Where are the fellas?” he asked.
“Wil refused to come,” I frowned, pulling the car out of the police parking lot.
“I figured that would happen,” he said sadly. “What about Kyle?”
“I have no idea, I couldn’t find him.”
“I bet I know where he is.”
“Where?”
“I think he and Val got something going.”
“Val, the fine-ass bartender?” My eyes got wide.
“Yep, can you believe it? Kyle’s fuckin’ with that big-thigh cutie pie,” he nodded. Jay had always wanted to get with Val.
“Ain’t she messin’ with that crazy ex-football player, Terrance?”
“That’s what I heard. But she was all over Kyle tonight like a condom on a—” Jay cut his sentence short when I turned onto Tonnelle Avenue and we saw the prostitutes waving from in between parked cars. I have to admit, some of them were fine as hell, but I still couldn’t understand how Jay could have even considered picking one up.
“They tell you why I was arrested?” Jay asked weakly.
“Yeah,” I nodded, hesitating before I repeated his charges. “Soliciting a prostitute.”
Jay rubbed his hand over his face. “I fucked up, Allen.”
“No, you fucked up again,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, you’re right.” He pointed at his car down the block and I pulled in behind it.
“What the hell were you thinking about?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“You damn right you weren’t thinking!” I almost slammed my hand into the steering wheel but caught myself. I was starting to act like Wil, and that really wasn’t me. “Look, Jay, you got more women every week tryin’a get with you than most brothers have in a lifetime. What the fuck you trying to get with a prostitute for?”
“She reminded me of somebody. Somebody special. Somebody I care about a lot. Somebody I’m probably never gonna see again.” He had tears in his eyes again. I wanted to, but I didn’t ask him who it was she reminded him of ’cause I didn’t wanna see him cry again.
“I’ve gotta get you to promise me something, Allen,” he sniffled. It was so hard for me to watch him like this.
“What’s that?”
“That you’ll never tell anyone about this. Not even Wil or Kyle. And if it ever comes up, I got arrested for DWI.”
“Aw’ight, Jay, but you’ve got to stop this shit, man.” I don’t know why I agreed to keep his little secret. If the roles were reversed and I had been the one arrested instead of him, he would’ve never let me live it down.
“You hungry?” he asked, opening the car door.
“Yeah, I could use a bite.” I looked up. and the sun was coming up over the horizon.
“Why don’t you follow me over to the house? I’ll make you some breakfast.” I knew that his real reason for wanting me at his house was to run interference with Kenya. With me there, he had a perfect alibi. She’d never have to know he’d spent the night in jail if he walked in the door with me.
It was nine o’clock when I pulled into Ma’s driveway. I figured I’d stop by and check on her before heading back over to Rose’s for the rest of the weekend. What I hadn’t figured on was that Rose would be at Ma’s house waiting for me. In fact, when I walked in, she and Ma were sitting on the living room sofa like they’d been best friends for twenty years. Now that was sure a sight I thought I’d never see in my lifetime. Still, I wasn’t too sure I liked this scene. It was a little too sudden for them to be so friendly.
“Hey, baby,” Ma smiled. “We was just talkin’ ’bout you.”
“You were?”
I looked at Ma, then at Rose suspiciously. I didn’t know what was going on, but something was definitely up. There hadn’t been any love between these two since Rose and I got engaged and she had rejected Granny’s ring. No way was I gonna believe that everything got patched up this quickly without a good reason.
Ma got up with tears in her eyes and wrapped her arms around me tight. “Congratulations, son.”
“Thanks, Ma.” I hugged her back weakly. I had no idea what she was talking about and that scared me. When she sat back down, she placed her hand on Rose’s knee, patting it gently. That scared me even more. A lot more.
“What are you congratulating me for? Don’t tell me my numbers came up on Lotto last night?” If that was the case, I was gonna die ’cause I forgot to play Lotto this week.
“You didn’t tell him yet?” Ma turned to Rose.
“Tell me what? Damn, my numbers did come up, didn’t they?” I stomped my foot in frustration.
Rose looked up and smiled. “I know you wanted to tell your mother yourself, Allen, but I couldn’t help myself. When she called this morning, I just had to tell her I was pregnant.”
My expression went blank. I’d completely forgotten about Rose’s supposed pregnancy. “Ah, hun, I thought we were going to keep that little bit of news to ourselves ’til we had it confirmed.” It had only been about two weeks since the first time we had sex without a condom.
Rose grinned. “I took a home pregnancy test this morning. Look for yourself. It’s positive.” She picked up a three-inch plastic object and handed it to me. She wasn’t lying. The damn thing had a pink plus in the middle.
“Oh, Allen, I’m so proud of you.” Ma smiled. “Now why don’t you come over here and have a seat? I was just about to sign these papers Rose brought over.”
“What papers?” I looked over on the coffee table and there was the manila envelope I’d seen at our apartment. I looked at Rose and she wouldn’t make eye contact, but she did push the papers closer to Ma. She looked like she wanted Ma to hurry up and sign. Damn, what the hell was she up to? I walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Ma, nonchalantly picking up the pen before she could.
“What exactly does Rose have you signing, Ma?” I gave her a nervous smile. Rose’s lack of eye contact gave me that same uneasy feeling I had the night before.
“A life insurance policy. Rose has one for all of us. Isn’t that right, Rose?” Ma turned to Rose. “Gotta make sure we look out for my grandbaby’s security. Isn’t that right, Rose?”
Rose smiled, nodding her head. She still hadn’t made eye contact with me. Probably because “security” was a word right out of her mouth. And she seemed to have Ma wrapped around her little finger all of a sudden.
Ma picked up a stack of papers that had my name on them and handed them to me. I got a little chill when I saw the policy was for $500,000 and Rose was the beneficiary. I picked up the stack with Ma’s name on them. It was a cheaper policy, only $200,000, probably because she was older and would be more expensive to insure, but once again Rose was the beneficiary. How the hell could she make herself the beneficiary of my mother’s life insurance policy? That was damn sure gonna change.
“Where’s your policy, Rose?” I asked with an edge to my voice.
“Why?” she asked, reaching for the stack of papers in front of her. I reached across Ma and grabbed the stack of papers at the same time she did, winning a tug of war. When I looked down at the papers, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Although I was her beneficiary, Rose’s policy was only for $25,000.
“I thought these policies were for the baby’s security? Why’s your policy so cheap?”
Rose glared at me as if she could will my mouth shut. “Why don’t we talk about this at home, Allen?” She tried to sound sweet, but I could tell she was on the verge of screaming.
“No, I wanna know now!”
Rose jumped at my unexpected outburst.
“Allen,” Ma said sternly, “don’t you upset this girl.”
“But Ma ...” I couldn’t believe Rose had brainwashed my own mother so quickly.
“Look, I said leave her alone. She’s at an early stage of her pregnancy. Anything could cause her to have a miscarriage. Now you know how much I wanna have a grandbaby. Leave her alone!”
Ma grabbed the pen and signed the papers, then handed the pen to me.
“Sign the papers, Allen,” she demanded.
I glared at her in stunned silence.
“Allen, do you remember when your father died?”
“Yes,” I nodded.
“You remember what kept us above water?”
I didn’t say a word. I knew the answer, I just didn’t wanna say it. Neither Ma nor I had to work for almost five years after my dad died ’cause he took out two large life insurance policies. Ma’s policy was so large she was able to retire and pay off the house.
“Allen, I asked you a question. Do you remember what kept us above water?” She was sterner this time, talking to me like I was eight years old again.
“Yes, Ma.” I hung my head like a scolded kid.
“I don’t know about you, but I want the same security for my grandbaby and your new wife that your daddy left us. Don’t you?” Ma patted Rose’s knee again.
“Of course I do, Ma. But ...” I stopped myself before finishing that sentence ’cause what I was about to say was cruel. Not to mention the fact that it would probably make Rose call off the wedding and have Ma kick me out of the house for upsetting poor, pregnant Rose. I figured I’d better not tell Ma that the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of Rose and a life insurance policy was her hiring someone to bump the two of us off. I knew it wasn’t probable but it was definitely possible.
I looked past Ma into my fiancee’s eyes. “I hope you appreciate what Ma and I are doing here, Rose.”
“I do, Allen,” she said humbly, rubbing her still-flat belly. “I just want what’s best for Junior.”
“Sure you do,” I said, signing the paper without another word. Once again Rose had won and gotten her way, but what she didn’t know was that I’d be watching her very closely from now on. She’d crossed a line that no one should ever cross A bond between a mother and son.
20
Kyle
It had been a long time since I’d kissed someone other than Lisa, and Val’s perfume took over my senses as her lips parted from mine. We’d just gone out for a late dinner at the Soul Café in Manhattan, after I’d finally convinced Jay to take his butt home, that is. Val had really surprised me with the sudden kiss when we walked up to her door. I was still savoring the taste of her lip gloss when she pressed her lips against mine again. This time I parted her lips with my tongue and kissed her back passionately. Moving my hands from my side to her hips, I slowly caressed the softness of her curved behind. For the first time in recent memory I felt my manhood spring to life. It had been a long time since I’d felt true desire for a woman and it felt good.
“I thought we were just going to be friends,” I whispered as I kissed her neck.
“I was just trying to show you how friendly I could be,” she giggled, rolling her neck around so I could kiss the other side. I knew I’d found her spot when her breathing became heavy and she pulled me into her apartment. As we kissed again, my nervousness had disappeared and the only thing I could think of was how wonderful it would be to make love to her.
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