Saint And Sinners (37 page)

“Oh no…where is he?” She looked out the kitchen towards the steps, her body already
in motion to take off in flight and find her baby boy.

Saint raised his hand and nodded. “Just give him a minute, baby. He wants to be alone.
He’s in his bedroom. Basically, two little fuc…I mean,” he looked down at Isis and
caught himself, “two little
knuckleheads
tried to shake him down for his mooga.”

“Huh?” A look of disgust covered Xenia’s face, but it was actually bewilderment.

“Money, his
money
…sorry, it’s a New York thing. They didn’t get much, but he didn’t get to eat lunch.
Anyway, this morning I had him hide it in a side flap of his shirt. It’s an old trick.
I remembered that shit—”

“…Saint.”

“Stuff, my bad…” He looked down at Isis who was smiling up in his face, seemingly
enjoying the curse words that rolled out of his mouth. “So as I was saying, Bomb had
taught me how to keep my money on me because I used to get jumped in school and would
come running to him complaining one time too many. Only difference was, Bomb taught
me to fight back, too, but we can’t have Hassani swingin’ on people.”

At least not just yet…

“The good news is they didn’t find anything of value and he only has a little bruise
on his lower back.” He thought surely, that would ease her concerns, but instead,
just the opposite occurred.

“What tha hell?! No uh, I’m going to go check on my baby! They better not have hurt
my child!” Xenia ignored Saint’s warnings, tossed down a bunch of carrots, and marched
out of the kitchen as if riding a large flame, ignited by the words that tumbled out
of her husband’s mouth.

“Xenia!” Saint rose from his seat, holding Isis a bit tighter. “Baby, don’t!” He shook
his head and gave her a stern expression. “I know you want to mother on him, protect
him, but he needs a minute alone… Please, just trust me on this.”

She paused, her back towards him. He could see the woman wanted to ignore him, to
keep on her way to comfort her baby and hold him tight in her arms. At last, though,
she turned back towards him, shoulders slumped, her face wrought with worry. She more
than likely felt a bit defeated. Hassani was growing up, and these were
growing
pains. It came with the territory.

“Come ’ere, baby,” he motioned.

He hurt for their son as much as she did, knew this deep within him. But that still
didn’t matter to the Queen that birthed that baby, felt him moving inside of her,
growing bigger day by day until finally, he left her body and clung to her breasts
for nourishment. He didn’t try to compare the two, but he was Hassani’s father, and
he loved him long and hard, too. It killed him to have to leave the boy alone, but
it was obvious from the little guy’s face that he needed precious time to sort his
thoughts, and not for Daddy or Mommy to make it all right.

Xenia walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He kissed the top of
her head while Isis clung to him a bit tighter and giggled, as if some funny scene
from a Pixar movie had played out before her eyes.

“Where’s Dakarai?” he asked after a few moments. “Shouldn’t he be in the house by
now?”

“He’s sorting out some bins in the garage. There’s some color game they’re doing in
school and he asked to use those canisters I had in storage, you know, the ones in
all the different colors that we used to keep Isis’ little toy parts in. Can you believe
they already have homework? He’s in kindergarten for goodness’ sake.”

“Yeah, remember how they did Hassani, Xenia? Things are different from when we were
kids. I didn’t start getting homework until like the fourth grade, and that was nothing
major. Now it takes kids hours just to do one assignment. I don’t agree with it, not
to mention, their overall standardized test scores haven’t improved from all this
extra stuff. I wish kids could just be kids, not scholastic achievements for these
damn schools to hang their hats on.” He exhaled and kissed Isis’ cheek.

Xenia nodded in agreement.

“Isn’t that the truth?” She shook her head. “Anyway, he’ll be up in a minute… Let
me get dinner on.” She sighed and went to the stove, but not before throwing another
glance at the hallway, towards the steps. Her heart was breaking. But what could she
do? What could they both do?

“You’re starting the radio show soon. Are you excited, baby?” he asked, deciding to
change the topic to help ease her worry. He sat back down and opened up a bag of dried
fruit sitting on the table for Isis to snack on. The little girl grabbed the piece
of pineapple from his grip and popped it into her mouth with fine-tuned dexterity,
as well as a big, proud smile on her face. He kissed her nose.

“Yes.” Saint could hear the smile in his wife’s voice even though her back was turned
towards him. “I’m definitely looking forward to it, but the nanny hunt is still not
going well.”

“It’s the great Nanny-Gate!” he joked, causing her to chuckle.

“Nanny-Gate!” Isis repeated, giggling too, even though she didn’t have a clue as to
what they were discussing.

“I think it’s me, Saint. No one is good enough for some reason. I’m being perverse.
It’s almost like I’m stalling, but, I really do want to do this.”

“You’ll find someone soon, I can feel it.” He handed Isis a dried blueberry and decided
to snack on one himself. “You need help with anything?” he asked between chews as
he switched the girl to his other knee.

Xenia reached for a large silver pot from a lower cabinet and looked at him from over
her shoulder before rising back up and placing it on the stove.

“No…just for everyone here to be happy.” She grabbed the big bottle of olive oil.
“I guess that’s too much to ask, huh?” She chuckled woefully.

“Nah, not really, but everyone has got to pay their dues, I suppose.”

“Yeah well,” She opened the refrigerator door and retrieved an unopened bag of fresh
spinach. “It seems some people’s dues are a lot cheaper for more bull they’ve caused,
while the rest of us have to work five and six jobs just to keep up with a bill we
don’t even recall receiving, let alone owing. No one ever said life was fair…but damn,
sometimes I wish it could
pretend
to be…”

*

Saint puffed on
his cigar like an angry chimney. Thick smoke curled out the side of his mouth in
thick folds, fogging up the car despite the rolled down window.

“What the fuck is goin’ on?” he questioned, a raspy tone coating his vocal chords.
He gave a small smile and glanced at Xenia from the corner of his eye. “Fuuuuck! Ohhh
yeeeeah! I don’t know what station this is, but they’ve been jammin’ all day.” He
chortled as the Jones Girls sang, ‘You Gone Make Me Love Somebody Else.’ He turned
it up a bit, causing his wife to bob about in her seat as if she were some Soul Train
dancer.

“What? No rap music? Who are you trying to charm this evening?” Xenia giggled like
a schoolgirl. She leaned back on the leather car seat, her fingers snapping to the
old school beat.

“Yeah, yeah, make fun, but I’m trying to get you in the mood.”

“For what? Some hole in the wall pizza place?” She placed her hand on her hip, trying
to send him an attitude wrapped up tightly in a Xenia package.

He turned the corner onto Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn, approaching their destination.

“Look,
you
asked me where I liked to get my pizza from, and there are a lot of places, but Paulie
Gee’s is fuckin’ delicious. I was here a couple times on my last visit. You want some
Brooklyn Pizza, this is a good place to go…and it
isn’t
a hole in the wall. You L.A. women are so snobby, little snooty ass,” he teased.

Xenia grimaced, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, pretending to be offended.

“You asked me out on a date…”

“I did.”

“And you take me to a pizza joint.” She smirked, trying to get him going again.

“I can’t win for losing!” He laughed, then took another puff of his cigar and let
his arm hang leisurely out the window, dropping ashes along the way. “You said you
wanted pizza. I got us a babysitter since Nanny-Gate is still—”

“Don’t make fun of me! I better not hear that ‘Nanny-Gate’ comment again.” She chuckled,
her bottom lip quivering just so.

“I
will
make fun…of you…all…night…long!” He flicked his tongue at her nastily, causing her
to blush in a becoming way. “Anyway, here it is.” He put his cigar again to his lips,
inhaled and extinguished it in the car ashtray before taking a deep breath. He opened
the Lamborghini suicide door; it flew up like a bird wing, leaving room for him to
step out like a head mothafucka in charge. Adjusting his jacket, he shrugged his shoulders
like a gangster and took in the cool night air, inhaling deeply. So invigorating,
it seized his body with an icy kiss. The chill got even sharper when he rounded his
car and helped Xenia step away from the door. He pulled his black leather coat tighter
around his body, then, like a perfect gentleman, he took her by the elbow and helped
her out. Her glass heel sparkled against the concrete as the street lights grabbed
hold of it, making it look as if it were made of crushed diamonds.

“You got some change?” He grinned sheepishly as he stared at the meter, patting his
jacket pocket as if his wallet had grown wings and flown the fuck away.

“I don’t believe this shit…” Laughing, she dug into her purse. “You are never prepared
for stuff like this.”

“Baby, I’m just playing with you, damn! So uptight.” He grinned and popped a series
of quarters in the thing.

“I’m not in the mood to be played with.” She pouted, a reluctant smile on her face.

He put his arm around her, and a bit of his weight, too, forcing her to slump down
as their feet hit the pavement in unison.

“…You sure about that? I’ve been exercising my tongue and fingers all morning and
afternoon, just for this evening,” he whispered in her ear.

She rewarded him with a full-on grin. “Okay, something smells
really
good!” She turned her head to the right as they approached the place, her sensory
awareness apparently now fully awakened.

“Yeah, wait until you taste it.”

…Wait until I taste you, too…

Saint opened the door, allowing her to pass in front of him, swimming in sordid thoughts
as he focused on Xenia’s ass bouncing in her dark pink sailor bottom pants. She’d
paired it with a frilly white shirt and camel jacket. The place was so crowded, she
had to speak loudly over the carrying voices to secure them a table. Hands on hips,
legs spread, he discreetly pressed himself into her ass, causing her to stir, but
she kept focused. He slicked his tongue over his bottom lip, grinning as he glared
down at her butt, drawing dreams in his mind of fucking her proper. So he pushed his
groin against her ass once more, this time with more force. She rocked on her heels
and almost lost her damn balance.

“AND! Yes…just the two of us.”

Saint looked away, covered his face to keep from laughing loudly in her ear. He didn’t
miss the hostess’ eyes when Xenia kept trying to communicate, like someone suffering
from Tourette Syndrome.

He did it again, for good measure…

Mmmm, fat, soft ass against my cock. I want to fuck you, baby…

“Okay, it will be about fifteen minutes.”

“OKAY! I mean, okay, sorry for yelling.” Xenia smiled goofily at the hostess, turned
on a dime towards Saint who’d escaped in the nick of time. He was safe, now a few
feet away from her, clapping his hands to the low music that played, pretending to
be oblivious to what she could possibly be angry about.

“Booooy!” She marched up to him and playfully swung her puffy pink purse in his direction.
He delighted in the sight of her—hair pulled back in an elegant, thick bun, exposing
two shimmery pink dangling earrings.

Grabbing her around the waist, he brought her to him and pressed his chest into her
back, hugging her protectively.

“There’s nowhere to sit yet, baby, so we’ll have to just stand here and wait.” She
playfully pushed her ass into his groin.

He tightened his hold of her. “Not a problem…”

She did it again…

“Now see, you are playing with the snake and might get bit… going to keep messing
around and make me make love to you in front of all of these people. Then the police
will come and get me, charge me with a lewd act.” He bent low and kissed her shoulder
as she laughed lightly. After a short while, they were seated and ordered their dinner.
He stared at her glossy lips, overdosing on her smile.

“You look amazing tonight, Xenia,” he complimented as he grabbed his iced tea and
took a sip from the glass.

“Thank you, baby!” she said gleefully, as if hungry for his approval.

Reaching for her hand, he observed the perfectly manicured fingers intertwine with
his own. And then, he just went back to staring at her. That’s all he could do, for
at that moment, her beauty left him speechless. She looked away bashfully, and that
turned him on even more.