The 'N' Word, Book 1 (7 page)

Chapter Two

D
ONNA
H
OOKS WAS
a slippery fish that had gotten away. There she sat before Aaron with her auburn hair pulled back in a tousled ponytail. Wisps of curls that reminded him of illustrious, tawny smoke framed the sides of her face. Her mane particularly mesmerized him this particular day. Perhaps it was to assist in dulling his temperament, a focal point of sorts to calm his rising irritation. The ceiling lights of the small office area made the strands of her slightly crimped tresses glimmer just so, but the illumination appeared to miss her eyes. The damn things looked empty, swampy and evergreen, versus their usual vibrancy that he was accustomed to. Her feminine ways, kitten-like sighs and sweet perfume no longer lured him into a state of tranquility. This was business, and business and pleasure could no longer stand shoulder to shoulder, despite the fact that the woman had been side eyeing him from the moment he’d hired her.

“So.” She turned away from him and looked down at her phone yet again. “We are looking at around six months, and then we can petition the court.”

“Unacceptable.” He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “You are dragging this out.”

“I am not!” she protested, her brows dipping as her expression grew tight with angst.

“Yes, you are. You’re making things harder for me. Donna, you’re indolent and greedy. You want more money, right?”

Her lips parted, but no words came out. Instead, a new display of astonishment washed over her face.

“Close your goddamn mouth,” he stated dryly as he reached over the table, causing the woman to jump in her dusky gray pantsuit. Her onyx beaded necklace swayed against her collarbone as she pulled back and away into a false sense of safety. Removing the burning butt from the ashtray, he placed the damn thing to his lips and narrowed his eyes on the lady. “I’ve let you get away with too much, made excuses for you. That’s over with. You’re fired.”

“Aaron!” She popped up from her seat, causing her papers to move about the table as if a calm breeze had touched them and agreed with all that was written. “You’re being emotional, childish.”

“Am I?” He laughed lightly as he blew out smoke and leisurely crossed one leg over the other. “That’s easy for you to say when you’re sittin’ over there,” he pointed at her, “and I’m sittin’ over here.”

“Aaron, your case is complicated, okay? It is your word against Clarence’s friends and the witnesses. Not to mention, you don’t have an exactly squeaky clean reputation.” She leaned forward, exposing milky white cleavage that gave him brief pause.

“…And neither does he. I didn’t attack that nigger for no goddamn reason at all. When have I
ever
had an incident of just beating the fuck out of someone unprovoked, huh? I got better shit to do and better control over myself than that, counselor.” He winked at her. “I control
everything
…”

“Yes, I heard.” She grimaced as she began to gather her papers. “
Whatever
you are doing in here, stop it. You’re making it so much worse.”

“What are you talking about?” His smile quickly faded. “Wait, don’t tell me you believe that shit, too?”

“You’ve been busy.” She shoved a folder into her briefcase. “Two uprisings in the last week and a half, a racial assault, and a number of other incidents, all pointing right back to
you
.”

“I’m tellin’ you I didn’t do anything.”

“Now.” She ignored him as she placed her phone in the front pocket of her purse. “I will be back in a couple of weeks and then—”

“No, honey… look here, baby.” He shook his head as he tapped his fingers anxiously against the table. “I meant what I said. Now you run along, hear?” He took another puff of his cigarette.

“What?! Are you serious?! All because I told you to cool it?! I’m the best goddamn attorney here, one of the
few
that were willing to take your case with no fear of backlash!” she shrilled as she pointed to her chest. “I’ve done
more
for you than almost any other client, Aaron. You owe me at the very least an apology.” She shuddered a bit as she attempted to look him square in the eye, but she blinked one too many times, her obvious discomfort making him feel good and tingly inside.

“
Now
who’s emotional?” he sniped. “Look, no hard feelings, Mrs. Hook. If you’d like some parting gifts though, we can duck out somewhere and you can suck my dick.” He reached low and grabbed his balls; gave them a gentle twist paired with a slanted smile. “Depending on how well you do, maybe
then
I’ll consider keeping you on.”

A blush deepened her complexion as she clutched her suitcase to her breasts with both hands and gasped. No librettos were expressed…no words at all as she was rendered speechless.

You keep opening your mouth… so weak, so dramatic. I got something I can stuff in there, you crooked, lying bitch…

“You son of a bitch!” She started to walk away, her sling back high heels clicking against the hard, glossy white floor. “I’m not fired, I quit! Guard!” she called out, looking over her shoulder a time or two.

Aaron slowly rose to his feet while the door unlocked then swung open. On the other side of the damn thing stood Bill, a pathetic smirk stamped across his broad face as the woman flew past him like seconds on a clock. He chuckled as she rounded the bend, almost losing her footing along the way. Aaron sighed as the man grabbed hold of his wrists, securing them once again with the steel prison bracelets that now left slight reddened indentations in his flesh.

Shoulder to shoulder, the men made their way through the halls, then Bill suddenly made a sharp right, missing his cell block altogether.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Aaron questioned. “I’m supposed to go back to my cell now.” Had the obtuse, silly son of a bitch forgotten his way?

“Nope, not today.” The man’s disconcerting smirk grew a bit bigger, lifting at the right end of his crooked mouth as if he harbored some seedy, little secret.

Fucker has a real weak chin. I could knock him out cold right now with a mean ass head butt…

His chest tightened as he walked on. He was being carted towards the administrative wing and that was no damn place to be. That zone meant one thing and one thing only.

Big. Fucking. Trouble.

The only man in that goddamn place who didn’t bat an eye at him was Warden Huckleberry and he had no doubt that that was
exactly
where he was going—like a sacrificial lamb off to slaughter. He and Huckleberry had a long history of pissing games and veiled and clear threats. They spent their time going in circles in dizzying conversations that reminded him of carnival Ferris wheels… going around and around but getting no-goddamn-where at all.

“What does he want?” Aaron asked, not in the mood to argue with Huckleberry for old times’ sake.

“I don’t know.” The man’s voice cracked, his lie watered down and drowning in its own feeble, lackluster juices.

“You
do
know you bread-box-built son of a bitch.” He sucked his teeth real hard as he eyeballed him and contemplated that head butt once more. “What the fuck is goin’ on?” He snatched himself away from the guard, causing the man’s eyes to buck as if his short neck were being squeezed. “You got some shit to prove, to show these fuckers you’re no wuss, tryna save face, right? I’ll bust every bone in your body wide open, now TELL me!”

“I don’t know!” The man gulped and stared at him, his eyes moist with a wave of freshly flung fear.

“You fucking sicken me, you know that? Goddamn turd with a badge… they hire any fuckin’ body now.” Aaron began to walk again, deciding to cut the weakling a break. After all, it really didn’t matter what was in store for him; knowing in advance wouldn’t shake the apple tree any sooner or make the inevitable less applicable. On a deep breath, he waited in front of the warden’s door until the damn thing creaked open, exposing the tall, wide giant with dark sunglasses atop his shiny, baldhead.

“Hello, Mr. Pike.” Huckleberry grinned ever so slightly. “Please.” He pointed to a chair in front of his antiquated desk. “Have a damn seat. We have some important matters to discuss…”

“
Y
OU GOT ME
fucked up!” Trudy blurted as they rounded the glistening green pond, its surface rippling with the movement of tiny coral fish.

“Shhhh!” Mia smiled, her face undoubtedly reddening. “You’re too loud!” Her arms swung back and fourth as they power walked their asses off, getting in a good workout before the sun set and left them in the pitch black that only the deepest thicket of the country forest could provide.

“Shhh, nothin’! I can’t believe it’s been over five months since you’ve gotten off! Look, you and Rodney are over.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Mia rolled her eyes as she continued to move like a bat out of the depths of Hell. “
I’m
the one that called it off.”

“I know, but it’s like you’re still living in the past.”

“What? How so? Because I’m not trying to screw anyone right now?” Mia rolled her eyes at the woman, contemplated putting her ear buds in and blocking out her cousin altogether.

“Yeah, it’s deeper than that and we both know it. It is time to move on, girl.” Trudy rolled her big, dark brown eyes as her tapered coffee-brown bob swayed with each of her rapid movements. “I moved me and my kids out here to be closer to
you, my best friend…
get a fresh start.”

“I know, and I love the time we spend together,” she shot her a look of disdain out the corner of her eye. “Usually…”

“Usually?” Trudy halted her steps abruptly and her face scrunched up as if she’d been forced to suck a slice of lemon dipped in pickle juice. “Well, let me tell
you
something, Ms. Thang. You ain’t been doin’ nothin’ but being pinned up in that house of yours, ignoring the entire world.”

“I do not! I have a job and I—”

“You said we’d go out, do stuff together!”

“I’ve been busy, Trudy!” A soft spring breeze almost caused her damn near distraction as it carried sweetness from the recently sprouted French mulberry flowers. “You act as if I’m just sitting on my thumbs, bored and depressed. One of the sick and shut in.” Her laugh made a tinkling sound in the silence surrounding them. “I teach, volunteer, provide tutoring, work at the prison and—”

“Sit around daydreamin’ like you did when we was kids, writing poetry and reciting it at that weird spoken word place you like to go to.” The woman scoffed as they got moving once again, her honey brown limbs flapping about as she turned even their walking exercises into a competition.

“You need some damn dick.”

Mia rolled her eyes but kept her stride, determined to get her 10k steps in for the day.

“And Auntie and me don’t like you working over there at that Holman prison, Mia. It’s dangerous. The damn place has been on television!”

“So have A-Team re-runs and Sesame Street. Does that mean I’m supposed to fear Mr. T and Bert and Ernie, too?”

“Can’t you do adult teaching somewhere else?” She winced, ignoring her sarcastic jab.

“You know what, Trudy?”

“No, I don’t know anyone named ‘What’,” Trudy bit out, her pettiness climbing high upon the proverbial monkey bars.

“I am tired of you and my mama having discussions behind my back about what I need to be doing.” Her irritation simmered as they made their way past an elderly couple, arm in arm.

How sweet…

“I’ve said the same exact thing to your face. It did not a fraction of good.” Trudy glanced down at her phone adhered to her arm via a silver and black shoulder band. “Holman is no joke! Some of the most hardcore criminals are there, Mia. A lot of ’em on Death Row… What does a man on Death Row need to read for? He already done for; a USA Today article ain’t gonna help him. It’s over.”

“Most of the men I tutor and help teach to read Trudy have not been given life sentences. Holman is overly crowded, actually. Many times guys are sent there because there is nowhere else to put them. That means you have a man that was busted smoking some weed holed up with a man that killed fifteen people during one hour. There is a serious disparity.”

“I told you about using those big words on me,” Trudy teased, marrying her smile to a wink.

“It’s true.”

“What’s
also
true is that it is called the ‘Slaughter Pen of the South.’” She made the announcement as if that declaration would somehow turn the tide, put everything in a brand new light.

“Look.” Mia took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips as she beheld the slowly rippling water once more. Peace swarmed around her, kissed her gently on the cheek, and promised her good times. “I appreciate you and Mama worrying about me. I do. That means you love me.”

Trudy nodded in agreement as she crossed her arms over her chest and held her chin high, ready to no doubt engage in argumentative battle.

“But just know that I watch what I do and say around there, okay? I don’t do anything to mislead any of the men, I know some of them are lonely, and yes, some are chancy, so I’m careful.”