Married Men (43 page)
Authors: Carl Weber
“So am I, Cinnamon. So am I. But if you think that’s something, listen to this. My wife’s taken off to Philly for a week and I can’t even get in touch with her.”
“What? You’ve gotta be kiddin’.”
“I wish I was.” I explained everything that had gone on the past few days to Cinnamon and she was floored.
“So what you gonna do?”
“About what?”
“About your wife? About your son?”
“As far as Jonathan’s concerned, I’m gonna do whatever it takes to help him lead a normal life. But as far as Rose is concerned, I don’t even wanna think about it.”
“I know the feeling. That’s how I felt before I got divorced. Look, Allen, they have a great gene therapy study going on at the hospital here. They’re really doing some great things. I can probably get you into it.”
“I don’t know. Long Island Jewish has a pretty good program too.”
“I know that, but this is a research study. It’s only for a few days each month and being a part of studies like this is gonna help find a cure. I know you wanna find a cure, don’t you?”
“Hell, yeah. But what about LIJ? They’re not going to be mad if we do this, are they?”
“No, most of the hospitals share information,” she hesitated. “Plus I’m not gonna lie. It’ll give me a chance to see you and meet your son ... Oh, and your wife too.”
“Okay. Why don’t you set it up, and I’ll give you a call tomorrow night to find out what’s up.”
“Sure,” she agreed. We talked a little longer, then hung up. I had to get back to the hospital and she had to get some sleep for work in the morning. But I’m sure we could have talked all night long if given the chance. For some reason we just had chemistry like that.
It was five days later around midnight when I heard Rose’s key turn the lock to the front door. So I said good night to Cinnamon and hung up the phone nervously. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I was feeling guilty about talking to Cinnamon the last few nights. All we’d done was talk about Jonathan and his treatment, but somehow it felt like I was cheating. Like I was doing something wrong, and I hated myself for feeling that way, especially since Rose was the one who’d been missing in action for six days while our son was in the hospital. The way she walked into the house, I don’t think she felt a bit of remorse.
“Hey, baby, did you miss me?” She was standing in the bedroom doorway like everything was fine. Like she’d just gone to the grocery store and came home with dinner or something. Instead of taking off to who knows where for six days. She set her bags down before she walked over to kiss me.
“Where’ve you been, Rose? I thought you were coming home three days ago.” I sat up on the bed and propped a pillow behind me. She kissed my cheek, then walked back over to her bags.
“I was coming home, but I was having such a good time I decided to stay a few more days.” She reached into one of the bags and pulled out what looked like an expensive man’s shirt.
“Look what I got you.” I couldn’t take it anymore. She’s out shopping while I’m worried about what type of antibiotics Jonathan’s going to be on.
“Rose, what is wrong with you?” I screamed, jumping out of the bed. She looked at me like she was amazed that I was angry. “Do you give a shit about your son? He was in the hospital for two days and you never even called to check on him.”
She waved her hand like she was blowing me off.
“Please, Allen. Don’t start with me, okay? I’m here now, and like I told you before, that baby’s going to have sickle-cell all his life. I’m not going to have many chances to party like that.”
I couldn’t believe her reasoning. I grabbed her arm, pulling her out of our bedroom into the nursery.
“Look at him. Look at him, Goddammit!” Rose peeked into the crib, very unenthusiastic. “That’s your son. Do you see how perfect he is? How beautiful he is? His only flaw is that he has sickle-cell anemia, and he can’t help that. You know why?” I took hold of her face and made her look at me. “Because we gave that to him, you and me, Rose. We gave it to him. So as far as I am concerned, the party’s over. You understand me? The party’s over.”
“I know that, Allen. I just needed to get away.” She rolled her eyes and tried to pull out of my grasp, but I surprised her by tightening my grip on her face and not letting go.
“Well, the next time you need to get away, don’t come home. You got it? Now, give your son a kiss.” Rose’s eyes widened with surprise as she nodded, reaching for the baby. I let go of her face with a wicked smile. We’d just come to an unspoken understanding. I may be weak in a lot of ways, but when it came to my son, she was not to fuck with me.
“We’re going to Maryland in two weeks to be part of a sickle-cell gene therapy study. Don’t make any plans.” I walked into the bedroom feeling pretty good about myself. That was the first time since Rose and I had started seeing each other that I walked out of a room feeling like I’d won the argument and had the upper hand.
35
Jay
“Jay?” Tracy whispered, her hand gently rubbing my back. I was sitting at the edge of the bed, about to put on my shirt. She was lying next to me, completely naked.
“What, baby?” I leaned back and kissed her full, soft lips. God, it was incredible how much I loved that woman.
“Can’t you stay another hour? At least until I fall asleep.” She batted her eyelashes and smiled. I smiled back and kissed her again.
“That’s what you said an hour ago.” I touched her naked flesh.
“I know, but then I wanted a quickie. Now I wanna be held.” She wrapped her arms around me tightly, like she never wanted to let me go. Her request was tempting, but Kenya had called my cell phone three times in the last half hour. I hadn’t answered the calls, but I knew she’d be calling again soon. I’d been with her long enough to know her patterns.
“Tracy, I gotta go. I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” She frowned, and I felt like shit. I didn’t wanna leave. It was getting hard to leave Tracy’s warm bed every night. The more I stayed with her, the more I didn’t wanna go home at all.
After I cashed Kyle’s check, I rented a small, one-bedroom furnished apartment in Jersey City, about five minutes from my house. I know what you’re thinking. Five minutes away is a little too close for comfort. But the section of town I moved Tracy into was so rundown that Kenya wouldn’t have been caught dead around there. Still, it was affordable, and after I paid the first month’s rent and gave the landlord two months’ security, I’d spent half of what Kyle had given me. I wish I could’ve done better, but I was having a hard enough time running one household, and now I was running two.
But other than the money, it was a pretty nice situation for me. I could drive by every morning, have breakfast with Tracy, then drive her to summer school on my way to work. I’d pick her up on the way home, get in a quickie, and then go home to pacify Kenya for a few hours before slipping back over to Tracy’s.
“This is getting really old,” Tracy pouted, folding her arms as I pulled out of her grasp. “I’ve had my own place for almost a month and my man hasn’t stayed past one A.M. once. I think I liked things the old way better. At least you’d spend the night when we stayed in a hotel.”
“Come on, baby. You know I gotta go home.”
“Yeah, go home to your wife and leave your pregnant girlfriend alone. I hate this shit, Jay.” She looked like she was about to cry. Our little arrangement was getting on her nerves.
“I’ll tell you what. It’s your birthday Saturday, right?” She nodded eagerly as I told her my plan. “How’d you like me to spend the entire weekend with you? Matter of fact, why don’t we go down to Atlantic City Friday night and celebrate?”
“Oh, Jay, for real?” She stopped pouting and was grinning from ear to ear.
“Yeah, for real.” I buttoned my shirt and kissed her goodbye. Then I headed for the door.
“Jay?” Tracy stopped me.
“Yeah?”
“I love you.” She rubbed her small belly. “And the baby does too.”
“I love you, too. Both of you.” I smiled back at her and realized that after two kids with Kenya I had never felt what I felt for Tracy right now.
I pulled into my driveway less than ten minutes after I walked out of Tracy’s door. Suddenly I got a chill, but shook it off. It was probably because I knew I was gonna hear it for sure. Kenya had every light in the house on and I could see her peeking through the living room window. I checked my watch. It was twenty minutes after midnight. Not too late, but it was getting harder and harder to come up with alibis she would accept.
“Ahh shit,” I mumbled to myself.
I’d fucked up big time. I’d just had sex with Tracy and hadn’t taken a shower. Kenya was gonna be at the door waiting for me, and lately she was good for giving me the sniff test. I rubbed my hand over my face and took a deep breath. Fuck it, if she wanted to act stupid, I’d just leave. It wasn’t like I didn’t have a place to go. I wasn’t gonna let anyone intimidate me in my own house, including my wife. I walked up to the door and put my key in the lock. I tensed up, surprised when Kenya didn’t pop out of nowhere, trying to get all close to me to see if I smelled like sex.
“Jay?” She walked out of the living room with a smile. “I’ve been trying to call you for almost two hours. One of your college buddies is here to see you from Virginia.”
“Get the fuck outta here,” I grinned. “Who?” I walked toward the living room entrance past Kenya, wondering which one of my college buddies would have shown up at my house so late.
“I never met him before. His name is Jim Williams. He said he’s a DC detective now.” As I walked into the living room, Kenya’s words finally registered what my eyes were seeing. My stomach lurched when I saw the man on my couch. Staring me in the face was Tracy’s father.
“Hey, Jay, what’s up, my brother?” He stood up, smiling as he grabbed my hand. “It’s been a long time. How you been?” Now I’m a strong guy, but Tracy’s pops had one hell of a grip. I felt like my hand was in a vise grip and he wouldn’t let go.
“Nice little family you got here, Jay. Beautiful wife and two wonderful kids.” He smiled at me. “Wait till I tell my wife that good old Jay has a wife and two kids. I tell ya, she’s gonna flip.” He raised his eyebrows and smirked.
I swear to God he was either the best actor I’ve ever met or a fucking psycho, because if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn he was actually glad when he found out I was married. I glanced at Kenya, who was leaning against the living room entrance smiling. Can you believe she was absolutely oblivious to what was happening? But me, I was scared to death.
“Well, I’m gonna leave you boys to talk old times.” Kenya yawned. “I’m going to bed. I’ve gotta go to work in the morning.” She smiled at me, then waved at Tracy’s father. “Nice to meet you, Jim. Good night.”
“The pleasure was all mine, Kenya. And thanks so much for your hospitality and for letting me wait for Jay. Someday I’m going to have to bring my wife and daughter by to meet you.”
Jim smiled at my wife. He was still holding on to my hand as he waved good night, but the second Kenya walked out of the room his smile became a sinister sneer and he tightened his grip on my hand so I couldn’t get away. I’m not gonna lie. I hadn’t been that scared of anyone since I got caught in bed with this married chick a few years back. The only difference was that instead of being a martial arts instructor like her husband, Tracy’s pops was a cop, and at any moment I was expecting him to pull out his gun. Thank God he didn’t, and that’s when I made the decision that whether he was Tracy’s father or not I wasn’t gonna let anyone whip my ass in my house. I just wish someone woulda told him that, ’cause he definitely wasn’t a believer.
He tightened his grip on my hand, faked like he was gonna punch me in the face with his free hand, then stomped down on my big toe like he was killing roaches. I jumped in the air, about to scream from the pain when he hit me between the legs so hard I couldn’t do anything but buckle over in pain. I couldn’t even fall to the floor until he let go of my hand. I was in so much pain I almost passed out. I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t yell, I couldn’t even beg for my life, I was too preoccupied with trying to breathe.
When I finally got myself to the point where I was only grimacing on the floor, he looked down at me and laughed. “You probably thought you were gonna kick my ass, didn’t you? Now, where the fuck is my daughter?”
“Look, Mr. Williams, I can explain everything,” I whimpered through my agony.
“Shut up, nigger.” He lifted his foot like he was going to stomp me. “I asked you a question. Where the fuck is my daughter?” When I didn’t answer quick enough, his foot came down on my ribs.
“Arrrhhh!”
I yelled, trying my best to protect myself from another attack.
I yelled, trying my best to protect myself from another attack.
“Shut the fuck up. You want your wife to hear? Then I’d have to tell her all about my pregnant daughter. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
I looked up at him and shook my head.
“Now I wanna know. Where is my daughter? It’s been over a month since we came up here and she hasn’t called home once since then. Her poor mother’s worried sick.”
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