Player Haters (22 page)

“Maybe not, but our friendship is.”

I walked out the Queens courthouse doors in need of a cigarette and some fresh air. I was greeted by my brother, Wil; my sister, Melanie; and Prince, who’d been back in my sister’s life ever since she kicked Desiree out. I was glad they were gonna try to make it work for the sake of their child.

No one spoke as I approached, but their faces told me everything I needed to know. They’d been talking about me. They’d been talking about this whole damn fiasco. I musta looked like a real loser right about then. And the last thing I wanted to do was look like a loser in front of Wil. Not after everything he’d gone through and still come out smelling like roses. I still don’t believe he wasn’t fucking that chick Mimi.

“Momma okay?” Wil asked.

“Yeah, she fine. She’s in there talking to Diane. She just wants to know what’s going on.”

“She ain’t the only one,” Melanie replied, rolling her eyes.

“Y’all seen her?” I asked, although I knew the answer. I took out my pack of cigarettes and nervously lit the last one.

“Nope. I don’t think she’s coming, Trent,” Prince replied honestly.

“Ain’t no think, Prince. She ain’t coming,” Melanie stated, checking her cell phone for the time. “It’s quarter to five. Now I know a bride’s supposed to be fashionably late but damn, this shit is ridiculous. She should have been here two hours ago.”

“She’s coming, Mel,” I snapped, looking her in the eyes. “Indigo loves me. She wouldn’t stand me up.” I’m not sure if I was trying to convince them or myself. Not that it mattered. I don’t think any of us was convinced.

“Have you tried to call her?” Wil encouraged.

“Yeah, three times. Maybe she was in the shower or something.” I pulled out my cell and dialed the house again. No answer.

“It’s time to face facts, Trent. I know it’s hard to believe, but you’ve been stood up.” Wil placed a big hand on my back and rubbed my shoulder. He was trying to be nice, but to me it was like torture.

I took a drag of my cigarette, then dropped it to the ground and stomped it out. I didn’t wanna believe it, but the truth was the truth. Indigo had made a fool out of me. I’d invited a small group of friends and family, including my mom, to see us get married at the courthouse. Only I’d been left looking like a fool at the altar. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Women didn’t do things like this to me. Not to me. I’m Trent Duncan.

“Aw’ight,” I told them. “Let’s go inside so I can tell Momma.”

I walked with my head down back into the courthouse to room 203 where they performed all the weddings. Wil, Melanie and Prince followed me. When I stepped in the room all eyes were upon me, and I had a hard time looking anyone in the face. I walked over to my mother and sat down next to her and placed my arm around her.

“What’s going on, son? Isn’t she coming?”

“Well, Mom.” I took one look in my mother’s face and I just couldn’t tell her the truth. I could not tell her that her son had been left at the altar. “Hold on, Momma, my phone is vibrating. Maybe it’s her.” I slid my phone off its belt holster and flicked it open as I stood up.

“Hello,” I said into the phone, then made a nasty face as I pretended to listen to someone. “Where have you been? Do you realize my entire family is here waiting for you?” I faked a look of concern as I pretended to listen. “Oh, is he all right?” I pretended to listen some more. “Okay, I’ll be right there. I love you too, baby.” I closed the phone slowly and looked sadly at my mother. She reached out and grabbed my hand.

“Is everything all right, son?”

“No, Momma, it’s not.” I furrowed my brow to show her how grim the fake situation was. “Everybody, can I have your attention?” All eyes were upon me. “I wanna thank you all for coming, but unfortunately we have to postpone the wedding.”

“Why, what happened?” my mother’s brother, Uncle Roy, asked.

“Indigo’s father had a car accident on his way up here from Maryland. He’s in critical condition.” From the expression on everyone’s faces, my performance must have been stellar. “Now there’s food and drink, which my brother, Wil, was so kind to provide, over at Momma’s house, so I hope you’ll stop by.”

My mother stood and kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry to hear about that girl’s father, son. But God works in mysterious ways. Maybe this was His way of telling you that next time you should get married in a church.” I never did tell Momma that I was the one who insisted on getting married in the courthouse. Indigo really wanted a big church wedding. I just figured that if we didn’t make a big production out of our wedding, maybe I could keep it a secret from Michelle and still get with her once she cooled down a bit.

“Come on, Momma. Let’s get you home.” Wil offered her a hand.

“Just a minute, Wil.” She turned toward me. “Trent, I know you say you love this girl, but maybe this is your chance to get back with Michelle so I can see my grandbaby.”

I didn’t reply. I just nodded. It wasn’t that Momma disliked Indigo so much. She just really missed being able to spend time with my son. Michelle had been true to her word since our fight. She’d kept Marcus not only from me, but my family, too. I hated to see how much it hurt my mother.

Ten minutes later, everyone had left except for Big Mike, who hadn’t said a word to me since he and Beverly arrived over three hours ago. He looked a little pissed off himself. Not that I could blame him. After the reception we were all supposed to go back to his place and meet with the people from Aggressive Records so Indigo could sign her contract and get her signing bonus. Mike’s cut was fifteen percent, plus whatever he was gonna make as producer.

“I gotta give it to you,” Mike told me, clapping his hands. “You really made the best outta a bad situation.”

“What are you talking about, Mike?”

“You know what I’m talking about. I’ve been working pretty close to Indigo these last few weeks. She told me her father died last year in a car accident.”

“Yeah, I know, but I didn’t know what else to say.”

“She skipped out on you, didn’t she?”

“I don’t know what happened, Mike. I left her at my house at 1:30 and she was fine. She was taking a shower and getting ready to put on her dress. She couldn’t wait to get down here. I don’t know what the hell happened.”

“Well you better find out and get her over to my house, ’cause those brothers over at Aggressive are bringing a check for seven hundred and fifty grand tonight.”

“Seven hundred grand!” I could hear the cash registers going off in my head. “Don’t worry, Mike. I’ll find her.” Any embarrassment I felt over being stood up vanished as I remembered my ultimate goal, the almighty dollar.

After two hours of driving around searching for Indigo, I finally just said, “fuck it,” and brought my ass on home. I must have sat in front of my apartment in my car for about twenty minutes, feeling sorry for myself. It’s not every day you get left at the altar and humiliated in front of your family, and then lose three quarters of a million dollars all in a five-hour period. So to say I was mad was an understatement. I was pissed the fuck off. And not only about the money. Hell, I could always get more money. What hurt the most was that I was such a bad judge of character. I really thought Indigo cared about me. The funny thing was, now that she seemed to be gone, I had to admit I kinda cared about her, too.

I got out the car and walked over to my door. When I stepped into my apartment and turned on the light I couldn’t believe my eyes. It looked like a war zone. Everything I owned, from my big screen TV to my brand new leather sofa, had been either broken to bits or shredded to pieces.

“Indigo!” I roared, but got no response. I was so pissed off that tears were coming out my eyes.

I walked down the hallway where I saw the light shining from my office. It was just as bad in there as in the living room. Maybe a little worse. She had smashed everything in the room, including the gold records that had been hanging on the walls. Then I saw the worst part of all. On top of my desk was a six-inch-high pile of ripped up business cards, which meant she had found my stash. I opened the closet door nervously, knowing what I would probably find. I was right, too. Every single fake plaque and degree I had was missing. If I hadn’t been sure before, now I was positive that I’d lost the money I was looking to get out of Indigo’s record deal. Even if I could find her, there wasn’t much chance I’d be able to convince her I really was a record exec. But damn, I still wanted my plaques and degrees back. I glanced at my ruined things. If she was out of the picture, I was gonna have to go on the hunt for a new sugar momma.

Damn, what the fuck did she do with those things?
I was determined to find my shit, but I didn’t even know where to start. I walked back out my office and across the hall to my bedroom. The door was locked, which meant Indigo was probably in there.

“Indigo!” I banged on the door. “Indigo! Open this goddamned door!” I started pounding on the door even harder. “Open this fucking door!” I was so aggravated that I went back into my office, got a head of steam and ran into the bedroom door. The lock snapped with a loud crack and I fell to the floor onto a pile of shredded up clothes. I was ready to kill when I saw that the lapel to my favorite Armani suit had been cut off. Now she had gone too damn far.

“Indigo, you bitch, where the fuck are you?” I pushed myself to a standing position as fast as I could. But what my eyes saw next humbled me beyond belief. Indigo was lying on my bed, dressed in the gown she was supposed to be wearing to our wedding. She looked lifeless, lying there surrounded by my plaques and degrees. On the night table were five pill bottles, all of them empty.

“Oh, my God, Indigo. No!” I cried as I ran over to the bed. I touched her and she was cold. “God, please, please don’t let her be dead.” I shook her. “Come on, Indigo, get up. Get up, baby,” I pleaded. All my anger had disappeared. I wiped the tears from my eyes and rested my head on her chest, praying I might hear a heartbeat. I did, however faint it was. I let out a sigh of relief as I reached for my cell phone and dialed 911.

As soon as the 911 operator said the paramedics were on their way I hung up my phone and cradled her in my arms. “Hang in there, baby,” I kept repeating as I rocked her. “Hang in there. They’re on the way.” As I rocked her, I glanced toward my dresser and noticed some lavender stationery on top. I reached for it and unfolded it. The paper shook in my hands as I read what she’d written.

“No! You’re not gonna die. You’re not gonna pin this on me!” I yelled at her lifeless body. I laid her flat on her back so I could listen to her heartbeat again. “I am not gonna have your death on my hands. Do you hear me, Indigo? I’m not gonna have it! So get up, baby, please get up. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant for this to happen. Now wake up!”

The warm sun peeked over the ocean, shining into my living room through the holes of my shredded curtains and onto my depressed face. I’d been sitting on what was left of my leather couch reading Indigo’s letter repeatedly since the paramedics had carried her outta my house last night. I know I should have gone to the hospital with her but I just couldn’t after I overheard the paramedics tell a cop that she was probably not gonna make it. I’d done a lot of shitty things to a lot of people in my life, but being responsible for Indigo’s suicide had to be the worst. I still couldn’t believe she actually went through with it.

A knock at the door startled me from the daze I was in, and before I could react the knocking had become a loud banging. “Trent! You in there?”

“Come in! The door’s open!” I yelled at whoever was at the door. When I looked up, Wil and Melanie were coming in. As they surveyed the damage Indigo had done to my place, their expressions changed from mild concern about their brother who got stood up at the altar, to confusion, then to shock.

“Oh, my God!” Melanie gasped as she looked around.

“Jesus! What the hell happened in here?” Wil demanded. “This place looks like a cyclone hit it.”