Twisted (7 page)

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Authors: Tracy Brown

BOOK: Twisted
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“So you almost finished with school?” he asked.
She smiled broader now. “Yup. A few more weeks and I'll have my bachelor's degree. It feels good because I did it on my own. Financial aid helped, but I did all the hard work on my own. All those late nights sitting up writing papers and early mornings in the library paid off.” She finished her salad and sat back. “I remember when I never thought I'd make it to this point,” she confided. “When Hezzy was little and his father passed away, I thought my whole life had ended. I thought I could never raise a child all by myself. Everything was so fucked up. I didn't even want to live anymore, because I thought that was the end for me.” She shook her head at the thought of what she would have missed out on had she given up back then. “But it was just the beginning,” she said. “You ever felt like giving up?”
Before he could answer, his cell phone rang and the caller ID revealed Rah-lo's phone number. Ishmael held his hand up, excusing himself, as he answered the phone. “Yeah.”
Robin listened to Ishmael's part of the conversation. True to form, he revealed little as he spoke. Most of his end of the discussion consisted of a series of “yeahs” and “uh-huhs.” He hung up and summoned the waitress for the check. “I gotta go,” he explained to Robin as he fumbled in his pockets for some cash. “Gotta go handle some business for Rah-lo.”
Robin nodded and reached for her purse. Ishmael stopped her, insisting that she let him handle it. He paid the waitress and left a nice tip. As Robin rose to leave, he held her hand, stopping her.
“I want to see you, but I can't keep coming to the shop. If Nina sees me there, it's gonna be some bullshit. Plus Charly is about to have a fit seeing me with you.”
Robin laughed, knowing that he was right. At least about Charly.
Ishmael continued, “Let me get your number and maybe I can stop by. You know, when your son is asleep.” The last time they'd been together physically, Robin had gotten caught up. It seemed to Ishmael that she had wanted more than the sex, and that was all that he had been willing to give. All he had wanted was some sexual gratification. He didn't want to get to know her son or to lead her to believe that his attraction to her was on any level other than a physical one.
Robin smirked. She knew he wanted another taste. And so did she. “All right,” she said. “It'll be our little secret.” She gave Ishmael her number and they headed out to the parking lot. Once he dropped her back off at Charly's, Ishmael peeled out and headed for Staten Island.
 
 
All or Nothing
R
ah-lo couldn't believe his eyes. He sat in his car outside of his house and watched as Asia snuck Neo out of the house's side entrance. Rah-lo had been away from home for three days. He had been staying at the house he had once shared with Celeste. That house held a lot of memories for Rah-lo, and it helped him come to a difficult decision. Celeste was long gone and he hadn't been truly happy since she left. He decided that he would try to talk to his wife one last time, try to honestly explain to her what was making him unhappy. Rah-lo felt that he owed it to his daughters—and to himself—to try to get Asia to change.
But now it was close to two thirty in the afternoon, and his daughters would be returning home from school at any
moment. Rah-lo had hoped to surprise his daughters by being home to greet them when they got back. Instead, he was the one surprised. He was shocked to see Asia and his archrival slipping out of the side door of Rah-lo's house. His instinct was to rush across the street and kill both of them for having the balls to rendezvous in the house he owned. But rather than go ballistic Rah-lo calmly walked across the street. Outwardly, he was cool, but inside, Rah-lo was enraged.
He walked toward Asia and Neo, now standing in the side yard. Asia spotted Rah-lo as he approached them, and she panicked. “Oh, shit!” She turned to run back inside the house as Neo looked on. Rah-lo caught her by the collar of her shirt and snatched her backward, yanking her back into the yard. Asia stumbled and Rah-lo jerked her upright again, pulling her face to within inches of his.
“You got this muthafucka in my house, Asia?
In my muthafuckin' house?
” Rah-lo's voice boomed, and Neo instinctively stepped back. Rah-lo kept a tight grip on Asia's collar and turned his glare toward Neo. “I should kill your punk ass for being bold enough to set foot in my house!”
Neo shook his head. “She said it was over between y'all, so I don't know what's going on here.”
“You're fucking my wife in my house; that's what the fuck is going on.” The bad blood between Rah-lo and Neo dated back years prior, when Rah-lo, Ishmael, and their crew had slain one of Neo's workers—Jack—in a bloodbath on
Staten Island. Ever since then, the beef between them had simmered. So Neo knew that Rah-lo was even more pissed off to find him of all people digging Asia's back out.
“She said y'all were finished. I thought you moved out and shit was all good, you know what I'm saying?” Neo figured fucking Asia was payback for all the times he and Rah-lo had bumped heads in the streets. He had flirted with Asia for years on the low. Every time he got a wink from Rah-lo's wife or a seductive smile, Neo had felt victorious. The previous day he ran into Asia and she invited him over. And now here was her man flipping out in the middle of the afternoon. Neo knew that he should have known better than to come to another man's house to fuck his wife. But the temptation to disrespect Rah-lo on that level had been too sweet to resist.
Rah-lo wanted to crack this bastard's skull open. “So why sneak out the side entrance then? That's what you do when shit is all good?”
“She said her kids were coming home from school. I was just trying to be respectful.”
Rah-lo looked at Asia and then back at Neo. He really wanted to hurt both of them for disrespecting his house so boldly. Rah-lo felt like a fool.
He punched Neo hard in the face, knocking him backward. Neo regained his footing and ran toward Rah-lo. But Rah-lo was too quick. He caught Neo again, this time with an uppercut. As Neo crouched defensively, Rah-lo pulled
out his gun. Neo saw it and took off running toward his car parked on the corner. Rah-lo started to chase him and then changed his mind. Instead he shoved Asia aside and walked into the house. Asia followed him inside.
Rah-lo looked into Asia's eyes and smiled. “You know what, Asia?” he said. “I feel like fucking you up right now.”
“Why? 'Cuz I cheated on you? Well, that's how the fuck I felt when you were out with Celeste all them years. Now you see how it feels. Get over it.”
Rah-lo stared at his wife. He knew that he now had a bigger beef with Neo. Rah-lo shook his head. “Your stupid ass ain't worth me getting mad.” As pissed as he was that some clown was fucking his wife in his house—and most likely in his bed—Rah-lo reasoned that this was the final straw. Asia had finally given him the last reason he needed to walk away from her for good.
“So this is how it is, Asia?” Rah-lo looked at his wife, disgusted. “You fucking niggas in our house now?”
Asia shook her head and laughed softly. “This is
our
house now, Rah-lo? You walked out of here, remember?”
Rah-lo turned to her, wanting to wring her neck. “Nah, it's
my muthafuckin' house!”
he yelled in her face. “Nothing is yours!”
“Please, Rah-lo!” Asia walked away from him. “Save that shit! Don't be mad 'cuz I called your bluff. You thought you was gonna hurt me by walking out of here the other day. But I don't give a fuck!”
“Good. Remember you said that.” Rah-lo took out his cell phone and called Ishmael. “Ish, I need a favor. Come to my house and help me get my shit out of here before I hurt this girl.” Rah-lo briefly explained about finding Neo exiting his house. Rah-lo needed Ishmael to hold him down and keep watch for an ambush while he moved his stuff.
Asia sucked her teeth and walked away, leaving him standing in the middle of the living room. She wasn't buying it. In her mind, Rah-lo would never leave her. She stormed off toward the kitchen, muttering under her breath while Rah-lo headed upstairs. He took his luggage out of the closet and started to pack his things. Piece by piece he filled up his luggage, listening to Asia downstairs on the phone talking shit about him to her friends. As he zipped up his last piece of luggage, he noticed his daughter Rasheeda standing in the doorway of his bedroom. He hadn't even heard her come in from school.
Rasheeda watched her father preparing to leave, and was surprised by the sense of relief she felt. Finally, her father was standing up to her mother. For years Rasheeda had heard her mother talk shit and put Rah-lo down. Rasheeda had watched her father swallow his pride and bite his tongue while Asia ranted and raved. Rasheeda looked into her daddy's eyes and smiled a sad little grin. “Daddy, I just wanted to tell you that I'm not mad at you for leaving,” she said. “I don't blame you for wanting to get away from her. You deserve to be happy.”
Rah-lo was stunned to hear his daughter speaking this way. She sounded so mature for her age. She had a poor relationship with her mother; that much he knew. Rasheeda was going through her teenage rebellion and she had chosen Asia as the target of it. But what Rah-lo didn't know was that it wasn't just teenage angst that made Rasheeda so mean toward her mother. It was Asia's ways that Rasheeda despised. She hated that her mother did so little and her dad did so much. Rasheeda had noticed long ago that her mother had no interest in the things that were important to her. If Rasheeda came home eager to talk about something that had happened at school, Asia often snapped at her, telling her that she didn't care about that silly shit. All Asia cared about was herself. At times, Rasheeda felt that her dad was the mother
and
the father in their household. Other times, Rasheeda felt like she herself was a single parent, always having to pick up her sisters, cook for her sisters, babysit them, and help with their homework when her dad was out making money. It was always her or Rah-lo doing their part, never Asia doing hers. So Rasheeda understood her father's decision to leave. She couldn't wait until the day when she could leave, too.
Rah-lo sighed. He hated that Rasheeda had witnessed their fight the other day. He especially hated that she had heard about his infidelity. He had been his daughters' untainted hero for all of their lives. All they knew was that he took care of them, he seldom raised his voice, he paid attention to them, and he loved them more than anything in the world.
“Come here,” he said. He sat down on his king-sized bed and Rasheeda came and sat beside him. “I never claimed to be perfect. I don't want your mother to ever tell you anything about me that will make you see me differently. Don't let her change the way you see me. I need you to always see ‘Daddy' when you look at me, no matter what she says to try and change your mind about me. Know that I always got you and I won't let nothing hurt you. But I'm not perfect.”
“You didn't have to tell me that,” Rasheeda said. “I know how she is.”
Rah-lo hated that his daughter felt this way about her mother. But he was glad that Rasheeda understood that he was unhappy. “Your mother has some foul ways, Rasheeda. But she does love you. So do I. But we just don't make each other happy anymore. That happens sometimes. You start out loving each other and understanding each other's faults. And then sometimes it gets to the point where you don't love each other the same way you used to. And then all the things you used to be able to tolerate start to get on your nerves. Neither one of us is happy being together anymore. Maybe if I go, your mother can be happy on her own. Maybe I can, too. We'll both be better parents, maybe even better friends, when we're apart. But it has nothing to do with you or your sisters. I will always be here for y'all. I swear. Nothing will ever change that.”
Rasheeda nodded. “Can I come with you?” she asked.
Rah-lo felt his heart break. He wanted to tell her that
she could, but he knew that Asia would fight him tooth and nail, if only to make his life miserable. “Not tonight. You should stay here with your mother and explain to your sisters that I'll be by to see them soon. I need to go get my place set up and all that, and then if you want to, you can come and stay with me for as long as you want. I promise.”
Rasheeda threw her arms around her father's neck and hugged him tight. He held her in his arms, thinking how it seemed like only yesterday that she was a little girl in love with her daddy. Now she was a teenager approaching adulthood. But he was happy to see that in her heart she was still that same little girl who adored her father. He kissed her forehead and held her face in his hand. “Call me if you need me,” he said. “Anytime, day or night. You let me know what's going on around here. Let me know if you and your sisters are okay. Nothing is changing, except that I won't be sleeping here anymore. I'm always just a phone call away.”
Rasheeda nodded and took a deep breath. Rah-lo reached in his pocket and dug out a few twenties. “Go pick your sisters up from dance class and take 'em to Papa John's and get pizza on your way home.” He kissed her, hugged her, and waited until she left the house and he heard the door close behind her. He grabbed his belongings. He could hear Asia downstairs on the phone with one of her ghetto girlfriends.
“That muthafucka ain't going nowhere!” Asia was saying.
Rah-lo came out of the room with his bags packed, and his facial expression warned that he was not to be fucked with. Asia immediately hung up the phone and blocked his exit. He stared her down and said, “Move.”
Asia stood her ground and held her husband's gaze. “So this is how you leave me?” Deep inside she wanted to cry. But her pride and stubbornness stood in the way of her heart. She wouldn't give him the benefit of seeing tears rolling down her face. “You gonna act like you were always innocent and none of this shit is your fault?”
“Nothing is ever just your fault, right?” Rah-lo asked rhetorically. “It doesn't matter what you say. You told me to leave, right? So that's what I'm doing.”
“So what, you gonna run off and find Celeste now?” Asia stepped closer to him.
“Maybe.” He was antagonizing her on purpose.
Asia looked at him without flinching. “You thought that was gonna hurt me?”
Rah-lo shook his head. “I'm not trying to hurt you. I just wanna walk away. This shit was over years ago.”
“So then why did you keep getting me pregnant?” Asia's pain was apparent as she stood, hearing Rah-lo verbalize what they had both known long ago. True, she had known that the thrill was gone years before this moment. But even when she had acted like she didn't care, truthfully Asia would've never left Rah-lo. And here he was leaving her.
Her heart was broken, but her foolish pride said,
FUCK YOU!
“No, why did you keep
getting
pregnant? We don't even have sex that often and yet you kept getting knocked up.”
“So what are you accusing me of, planning the shit that way?” Asia yelled. In her mind, none of the children had been planned. Well, except their first daughter, Rasheeda. Asia
had
set out to have Rah-lo's baby then. But that didn't count.
“Nah. But you never tried to prevent it, either. All that complaining about being a mother wasn't getting any better with you not using protection.”
Asia laughed. “So why didn't
you
use some damn protection then? Stupid, it takes two to make a baby!” Asia got in Rah-lo's face and mushed him hard. “I'm the one that needs the fucking protection! All those years you were fucking that nasty bitch!”

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