Out of Control (15 page)

Black stood up when he saw Bobby at the customs desk. He walked over there and waited until Bobby was done. “Welcome to Nassau,” Black said and the two men, who had been more like brothers than friends, embraced.
 
“Good to see you, Mike.”

“I was shocked when Pam called and said you were on your way down here.”

“It least she talks to you,” Bobby said as they got his luggage.

“Pam don’t talk to you?” Black asked.

“Pam only got three words to say to me,” Bobby said and laughed a little.

“What’s that?”

“Fuck you, Bobby.”

Black laughed. “That’s it?”

“Anything I say to her, that’s Pam’s answer; fuck you, Bobby. I try to be nice to her, you know, ‘Pam can I talk to you’. She just sticks her hand out like, go ahead, the floor is yours. I say what I gotta say and when I’m done all she says is, fuck you, Bobby.”

“That all she says?”

“No, she speaks to everybody else like she got some sense, but me, fuck you, Bobby. And it don’t matter if the kids or her grandmother is around, it’s always fuck you, Bobby.”

Mike laughed.

“Her grandmother says, ‘Pam, not in front of the children’.”

“What Pam say?”

“They done heard me curse at him worse than this,” Bobby said.
 
They got to the car and put his luggage in the trunk. “Where’s your driver?”

“I’m driving.”

“I can’t remember the last time you drove us anywhere.”

“You wanna drive?”

“Hell no. I don’t like that right hand drivin’ shit.”

Black looked at Bobby. “Looks like you picked up some weight.”

“Pam’s grandmother was glad to have a man to cook for, and she can cook her ass off. When I go over there in the morning to take the kids to school, she got pancakes or waffles ready, eggs, grits with butter and bacon or sausage or steak or chicken. She cooks enough to feed an army. Then she’ll call me during the day and tell me what she’s cooking for dinner and says that she got this and that left over from dinner last night so come on by and have lunch.”

“Looks like you ain’t missed a meal.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Black paused. “While we on the subject, I want to warn you, Cee has gained a lot of weight with the baby. She afraid she won’t be able to lose it.”

“CeCe used to be fine,” Bobby said and got in the car.

“Well she ain’t exactly fine no more and she’s real sensitive about it. I know you got fat jokes for years, so go easy on her, okay.”

“We’ll just bump big bellies and move on from there,” Bobby said and Black drove off. He took Bobby to The Grill and had dinner with Jamaica. Then the three old friends went around to all their spots, while Black and Jamaica brought Bobby up to speed on all they had going on the island. They ended the evening at Paraíso.

“Who is that?” Bobby asked.

“That is Jada West,” Black replied as Jada sauntered toward them, elegantly dressed in a Ralph Lauren Black Label Silk Halter Gown, Jabine ankle-strap suede sandals, citrine, whiskey quartz, diamond and 18k yellow gold earrings.”

“Good Evening, Mr. Black,” Jada said “And who is this handsome gentleman?”

“Jada West, this is Bobby Ray.”

“So this is the famous Bobby Ray,” Jada said when Black introduced them. “Mr. Black speaks very highly of you. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time,” she looped her arm in his. “Come, let me show you around and you can tell me if you like what we’ve done here and we can get better acquainted. Would you gentlemen excuse us?” Jada said to Black and Jamaica.

As Bobby went off with Jada, Jamaica turned to Black. “What you wanna do about Harry Walker?”

“Tell him to be at The Grill tomorrow night at nine,” Black said and headed for Jada’s office to wait for Bobby. He was standing on the balcony, looking out at the ocean when Jada came in laughing with Bobby. The three sat and talked for a while over drinks. “Will you gentlemen excuse me?” Jada said and went in her dressing room.

“What you think?” Black asked.

“You down here doin’ it,” Bobby replied. “Proud of you boy.”

“I told you we were doin’ big things down here.”

“What she doin’ in there?” Bobby asked.

“She’s changin’ her outfit,” Black told Bobby.

“Oh.”

When she emerged from her dressing room, Jada was wearing a purple sleeveless Dolce & Gabbana Stretch Silk Sheath and black Dolce & Gabbana Lace Peep-Toe Pumps. She walked in front of Black and he nodded. “You look very nice, Ms. West,” Black said.

“Why, thank you, Mr. Black. I’m glad you like it.” Despite what she told herself about it only being that one time, Jada looked at Bobby and wished he would leave so she could sit on Black’s face. “I’ll leave you gentlemen alone so you can talk. Mr. Ray, if I don’t see you before you leave,” Jada began.

“Oh you’ll see me,” Bobby promised.

“I don’t know, Mr. Black has a habit of slipping out without saying goodnight to me,” Jada smiled. “Anyway, it was a pleasure to finally meet you,” she said.

“Pleasure to meet you too,” Bobby said.

“Goodnight Ms. West,” Black said. Which let Jada know that he wouldn’t be there much longer and she left the room.

“Now, what about Ms. West there.”

“What about her?”

“Can I fuck her?”

“Did you ask her?”

“Yes.”

“What did she say?”

“She just giggled and said ‘oh Mr. Ray, Mr. Black said you were a very funny man.’ Then she changed the subject real smooth like I hadn’t even asked the question.”

“That sounds like Ms. West. Come on, let’s get outta here,” Black said and took Bobby to his house. CeCe laughed when she saw how much weight he had gained. “What? You havin’ a baby too?” CeCe asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t know who the daddy is,” Bobby joked with her.

Michelle was glad to see her uncle Bobby and she sat in his lap while they sat and talked until CeCe said that she wasn’t feeling too good and went upstairs to bed. Black promised he’d be up to join her soon. After a while, Black put Michelle to bed and he and Bobby talked. “I’m gonna go and call Pam and let her know I made it, so I can hear her say fuck you, Bobby, then I’m going to bed.”

Early the next morning, Black eased out of bed with CeCe and got dressed quietly so he wouldn’t wake her. When he got downstairs, Bobby was sitting in the living room waiting for him. “What took you so long?”

“How long you been up?”

“About an hour. I’m ready to go,” Bobby said and headed for the back door. They went down to the dock to take the boat out fishing. The captain had everything ready for them to leave. Bait, tackle, and a cooler full of beer. Once they reached their spot, Bobby got a rod and cast his line. Black sat down next to him and they talked. He told him about Meka and Jada. “You know I never have been the one to talk about women and what I do with them. I leave that to you. But, Bobby, Ms. West—”

“What about her?”

“Talk about just pure quality of pussy and her level of skill—the woman is extraordinary.”

“That’s that professional pussy there,” Bobby said.

“But you wanna hear something funny?”

“Go ahead.”

“After Meka nutted up and ran in the bathroom, for the first time in my life I felt bad about gettin’ some pussy,” Black said and Bobby looked at him.

“You been down here in the sun too long, Mike. You ain’t never supposed to feel bad about pussy.”

“I know, but I did. Not because I fucked her, because I fucked up the business relationship we had. Fuckin’ made it too complicated for her.” Black got up, leaned over the rail and hoped that he hadn’t made the same mistake with Jada West. “Felt like I’d done something wrong.”

“Gettin’ pussy ain’t ever wrong,” Bobby said. “You’re down here in the land of half naked women, you’re supposed to be gettin’ all the pussy you can handle.”

“That’s just it, Bobby, I haven’t been. The whole time I’ve been here, it’s just been me and Cee. And if Cee wasn’t pregnant I probably wouldn’t have fucked either of them.”

“Do you love CeCe?”

Black looked at Bobby and thought before he answered. “I like Cee, she’s a good woman. I like everything about her. Cee is smart, she’s funny, I like being with her, and her and Michelle are great together, but I don’t love her. Not like I should, Bobby not like I should love the woman who is the mother to my children.”

Bobby got up and stood next to him. “Why you think that is?”

“I love somebody else.”

“Who?”

“Cassandra. I still love her, Bobby. I feel like every minute I spend with Cee, that I’m being unfaithful to my wife. Unfaithful to her memory. And if you say I need to let that go and get over it, I’ll throw you in the water.”

“I wasn’t gonna say that. And just what do you think I was gonna be doin’ while you were
tryin’
to throw me in the water?” Bobby asked and they laughed. “Anyway what I was gonna say is that I understand that you feel that way.”

“I never loved a woman the way I love her.”

“And the reality is that you never will. So you are just gonna have to find a way to live with it.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Black said and got another beer.

“What you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna get drunk and watch you fish. Then I’m gonna go home and let Cee get on my nerves.”

“I know what it’s like livin’ with a pregnant woman,” Bobby said.

“Half the time, Cee can’t stand the sight of me. Says I make her feel sick to her stomach.”

Bobby laughed and sat down. “So what’s going on in the city?” he asked.

“I haven’t been to the city in four months.”

“Been down here hidin’ from Carmen Taylor,” Bobby said and got another beer from the cooler. Carmen was Black’s first love and she had recently returned to New York from Europe and was working as a television reporter.

“I wouldn’t put it in those words, but yeah.”

“You doin’ the right thing.”

“I know.”

“Carmen is kind of a Girl Scout.”

“I know.”

 
“You broke that woman’s heart once already.”

“I know.”

“And with CeCe gettin’ ready to drop a baby, and you down here fuckin’ everybody, you’d just end up doing it again.”

“Bobby! I know.”

“So what’s Wanda talkin’ about?”

“Wanda really don’t talk to me. I mean if I call her and ask a question she’ll answer me. But if she has something to say to me, she calls Meka. Which is gettin’ inconvenient since Meka is in Europe.”

“What’s she doing in Europe?”

“Putting together a communication deal in the old soviet block countries. And she’s trying to stay away from me. She likes Cee and she feels guilty about what we did.”

“Best place for her,” Bobby said and held up his bottle.

Black tapped his bottle against Bobby’s. “I’m sayin’. Anyway, when I talked to Nick last week he said everything’s fine and I got nothing to worry about.”

“We should go up there.”

“Naa. Cee is getting ready to drop and she been sick a lot. I need to stay close to her.”

“Does she wanna get married?” Bobby asked.

“The M word hasn’t crossed her lips. And why should it? Everybody calls her Mrs. Black anyway.”

“What you gonna do if she does?”

“I’m gonna get drunk and watch you fish.”

The following evening, Black sat alone in the office at The Grill, waiting for his meeting with Harry Walker. He was thinking about what he said to Bobby about his feelings for Cee and what he had done with Jada West when there was a knock at the door.

“Come.”

Vonetta stuck in head in the door. “Sorry to bother you, Mr. Black, but there is a woman out here that would like to speak to you.”

“Thank you, Vonetta. I’ll be right out.”

Black got up and came out on the floor expecting to see Deidra Walker waiting for him with Harry. Instead he saw Jacara Delbridge seated at a table. He wasn’t all that surprised to see her there. When CeCe told him that she was on the island he knew that eventually Jacara would find her way to The Grill to see him in spite of CeCe’s warning to stay away from her man.

“Hello, Jacara,” Black said as he sat down and signaled for a waitress.

“Hello, Mike. How have you been?”

“I’m doin’ great, Jacara. Can I get you something?” Black asked as the waitress arrived at the table.

“I’ll have a Sea Breeze with a twist of lime,” Jacara said and the waitress departed.

“So, what brings you to Nassau?”

Jacara looked at Black thinking that was the same question, asked in the same tone as CeCe. When she heard it from CeCe, Jacara knew that she wasn’t welcome on the island. Now she wondered if Black felt the same way. “Oscar hired a new singer to open for me a couple of months back. She was young, younger than me anyway, had a nice voice, nothing that would blow you away but nice. Then a couple of weeks ago, five minutes before the show starts, he tells me that she was going to close the show.”