Cheaters (34 page)

and tried to jump on me. She was mad ‘cause I hit him. I shoved her to the side, and I had to fumble around in the dark, ‘cause when I broke that lamp, the lights went out. I managed to grab my c-phone and my wallet before he got up, but everything else is still in there.”

After we circled a few minutes, Jake directed Stephan to the parking lot that was in front of the tennis courts and had him stop.

Jake asked Stephan, “This the bag?”

“Yeah.”

Jake grabbed the grocery sack and jumped out. He raced into the underground part of the parking lot, ran real low like he was a soldier in a war movie.

I asked, “What in the hell is he doing now? He’s running like he’s trying to save Private Ryan.”

“Making a cake.” Stephan frowned. “Making a stupid cake.”

My eyes widened. That fool had lost his mind. Jake was vicious, slamming all the eggs into a green Jaguar. He splattered eggs into the paint, used the sack to spread the gunk around, then opened the jug of Crisco and poured it all over the car.

I gasped. “Men do shit like that?”

Stephan replied, “In college he caught this girl he was seeing messing around. He used acid on the guy’s car.”

“Damn. Like in
Fatal Attraction
?”

Stephan nodded. “Broke all his windows out.”

“Damn. You do shit like that?”

Stephan shook his head.

This was pathetic. My hands were over my mouth, all the time I shook my head. Jake dashed back to Stephan’s car.

Jake shouted, “Bitch’ll trip tomorrow.”

Stephan sped away, sighed. “That was jacked up, Jake.”

Jake snapped, “Damn. I left my keys in my pants.”

Stephan shook his head. “I know you don’t think I’m driving an hour to L.A. this time of morning, then drive another hour all the way back down to Orange County.”

Jake was slapping himself in the forehead, smacking himself silly. “I’ll crash at your crib and regroup. Get my head straight. You can take me by Charlotte’s and get my extra set in the morning, then you can take me to my ride.”

Stephan shook his head. “Chanté’s staying over.”

“What that mean?”

“That means Chanté is staying over.”

The way Stephan said that made me feel good. Important.

Jake paused, wiped the dampness from his forehead, and made a pissed-off noise that was aimed at me.

Again Stephan asked, “So, what you gonna do?”

“Hold on.” Jake yanked out the antenna on his cellular phone and jabbed in a number. His tone changed; he began sweet-talking somebody, asking if she was asleep, said he was still kicking it with Stephan, too bad she had to work and he missed her being with him all day, that he had lost his car keys in the club, he thought some Mexicans stole them off his table and Stephan was going to drop him off, then he hung up.

Jake said, “Drop me off at my fiancée’s house.”

“Fiancée?” I repeated. “This is messed up.”

“Chanté,” Stephan said, probably to slow me down.

“I’m learning, boy, am I learning. Men are easily lured away,” I chastised. “And, Stephan, don’t you say a damn thing because you’re a coconspirator.”

“Shut your mouth,” Jake spat out. “Nobody was talking to you.”

“Don’t get stupid with me,” I snapped, then turned around. “I’ll make Stephan go back and drop your foul mouth off right in front of that psycho Richard Ramirez.”

I let my window all the way down. Cold air rushed in.

“Chanté,” Stephan said softly and took my hand.

I moved away from him. “Get your hand off me.”

Jake snarled, “Stephan, don’t let her punk you. If a woman punked me like that in
my
car, she’d be walking.”

I frowned at Jake. “If you were so bad, partner, you wouldn’t have been butt naked in the bushes. So who’s the punk?”

That shut him up.

“You should’ve left his butt in the bushes,” I huffed. “He ain’t got a damn thing to say as long as I’m in this car.”

Jake rustled around and groaned, “
No, no, no.
”

Stephan slowed down. “What’s wrong?”

“This ain’t my wallet. This ain’t my goddamn wallet.”

Stephan’s face froze with concern. “What?”

“I grabbed the wrong wallet. This is that Mexican’s wallet.”

I shook my head and laughed quietly. “You left your keys
and
your wallet. Well, good for you, funky man with the foul mouth.”

Stephan asked, “How much money was in your wallet?”

It sounded like Jake fell back into his seat. “I ain’t worried about the money. Now that fool has my address.”

I mumbled, “That’s what your black ass gets.”

Stephan squeezed my hand, ran his hot fingers over my cool and sweaty palm. I knew that was his polite way of telling me to leave it alone. His touch subdued me. Five minutes later, I was in a safe place, relaxed with my head on his shoulder.

Then I was asleep.

I’m not sure if their words were creeping into my dreams, or if I was imagining things, but I thought I heard somebody whispering about nightmares that had a bunch of furious rugrats chasing somebody all round in a hospital and trying to shove a vacuum cleaner up his butt.

I jerked awake when Stephan ran over a speed bump at the entrance of his complex. We were back on Town and Country Road. 4:20
A.M
. I stretched and glanced in the backseat. No Jake. Damn. I didn’t know when we had stopped.

After I mustered the energy to get out, Stephan bent over and let me hop on him piggy-back style. My arms went around his neck, and he held my legs and carried me the way my daddy used to. Only this was different. I liked the way my legs molded around Stephan’s back. He felt so strong. So much like a man.

But that rendezvous we’d just gone on had left him smelling like a dog. They run in packs.

When we were at the bottom of the stairs, I asked, “Can you carry me all the way up or you want me to get down?”

“I’ll carry you.”

“I’m not too heavy?”

“Not at all.”

“Good answer.” I held on tighter. “Don’t drop me.”

He said, “I found out something about you.”

“What?”

“You get grumpy as hell when you’re sleepy.”

“Like you don’t.”

Rebecca’s door made an abbreviated creak, then opened all the way. Juan backed out of the darkness inside her condo. Rebecca was all over Juan, kissing and groping him like you wouldn’t believe. Juan had on the same clothes he was wearing when I saw him earlier. Only now that plaid shirt was wrinkled. Rebecca peeped out and saw us. Homegirl pulled her housecoat tight—part of her gigantic boobs were showing big-time. She gasped and shoved Juan outside. She closed her door.

Juan stared down at us, a nervous grin on his face, his shoes in his hand, shifting from bare foot to bare foot.

“Oooo-weee,” I snickered in Stephan’s ear. “Looks like she got more than her VCR hooked up.”

Stephan waited for Juan to come down so there would be enough room for us to walk up. With each step Juan grinned a little more and gave away his secret. As Stephan piggy-backed me up the stairs, I whispered, “Rebecca’ll have a better ‘tude tomorrow.”

“I hope that makes two of you.”

I tightened my legs around him and bit at his ear.

Once inside I crawled into bed. Started kissing on Stephan Mitchell. He helped me pull my clothes off, but before Stephan could strip to his skin, I was sound asleep.

Then his phone rang again.

It wasn’t over. Not yet.

Charlotte had kicked Jake out of her house. He was sitting on the front steps, slouching, barefoot, rubbing his fist into the side of his leg while he stared off into the golden skies brought on by the impending sunrise. Watching yesterday turn into a day of repentance. He turned in my

direction when I cruised down Garden Court toward Charlotte’s driveway.

This was one of those neighborhoods with strict community planning. You paid all that money and you couldn’t paint your house the color you wanted, just what they allowed. And the choices were between beige and beige. So, with very slight variations, every house was a clone of the one next to it.

Dawn’s truck was parked across the street. If she was awake and on this side of town before the sun met the sky, something was definitely wrong.

I didn’t want to get out of my car.

When I’d dropped him off earlier, the yellow porch light had been on, as well as a couple of the inside lights. Charlotte had been up and waiting. I hadn’t wanted to wake up Chanté, so Jake kept his lips tight and slid out on my side. I was back on Chino Hills Parkway speeding home before he made it to the front porch.

My stomach was in knots, insides bubbling like they were coated with acid. I parked behind Charlotte’s Saturn. I killed my engine and called Jake’s name. Jake stood up.

Before he could take a step, the locks on the wrought-iron front door clicked open and Charlotte came out with a serious stride. Her five-foot-five frame rushed across the morning-dewed grass. She was dressed in house shoes and pink sweats with a green sorority insignia on the front.

“Hello, Stephan,” Charlotte said, her face strict.

I stepped out of my car and replied, “Morning.”

“Sorry that I had to disturb you at the crack of dawn.”

“No problem.” I exaggerated a yawn, and let my nervous eyes go to my buddy. “Jake, ready to go get your car?”

She cut me off, stepped up to my face in a determined way. “What club did you and Jake go to last night?”

I went blank. Her sharp words caught me off guard. I’d never seen her incensed.

In the same adamant tone she added, “Tell the truth. I’ve feasted on enough falsehoods to last a lifetime. It would hurt me so much if you stood out here and lied to me, Stephan.”

I blinked twice because I couldn’t remember if we’d discussed a club, so I backed off a foot or two.

Jake hurried over. “Charlotte, I already told you what—”

“I thought you said if I didn’t believe you, to just ask Stephan.” Charlotte turned back to me. “Stephan?”

My expression told Jake that I didn’t appreciate him yanking me out at this time of the morning, for the second time, to cover his back when I didn’t know what the hell was up.

Charlotte looked at me for an answer.

My mouth opened, but not a word could be found.

Jake jumped in, “I told you we were in Newport.”

She glared at her fiancé and shook her head. Her eyes broadcast a level of knowing. Charlotte took my hand and led me past Jake toward the house. That was her divide-and-conquer move, I suppose.

“Charlotte…” Jake’s voice was crammed with desperation.

I should’ve worn my boots ‘cause it was getting deep. It was a good thing I didn’t drag Chanté out here for this.

“Excuse us for a couple of minutes.” Charlotte said that to Jake, then motioned for me to follow. “I need to have a word with you, Stephan.”

“Wait, hold on, now.” Jake tried to slow her stroll.

“Please refrain from touching me, Jake.”

He backed away. “This ain’t that serious, a’right?”

“Jake,” Charlotte said, “we’ll be back in a minute. At least Stephan will. Feel free to leave or make yourself comfortable on the porch until he comes to get you. Do not disturb my neighbors, or I will have you removed.”

“Removed?”

“Did I stutter?”

Charlotte gently closed the wrought-iron outer door, then double-locked the wooden front door. She locked me in with the aroma of coffee and confections. Women were walking around. I heard them moving. Heard them chattering in low, hostile tones. Buzzing like bees and ready to sting.

A voice called out, “Charlotte?”

“Yeah, Dawn. Stephan is with me.”

Dawn walked into the room from the kitchen, dressed in jeans, a yellow and red scarf around her head. Valerie, Charlotte’s next-door neighbor, came into the room. So did

Valerie’s dark-skinned sister. They stormed across the floor like a SWAT team. All quieted down when they laid their eyes on me. None of the women had on makeup; all of them, except Valerie, looked like they’d been dragged out of bed.

I was scared. I was on a simple recon mission. I didn’t come prepared for battle. My mouth dried up.

Charlotte spoke to them. “Let me have a few moments with Stephan. Valerie, you go ahead and get your morning run in.”

Her support group gave her hugs. They went out the front door and ignored Jake in unison.

“Coffee?” Charlotte asked me. She walked past, motioning for me to follow her into the kitchen.

“Yeah.”

She put a fresh box of miniature powdered doughnuts on the table. I ate one, hoping she wouldn’t expect me to talk with my mouth full. Two cups of coffee were on the table. The red and white cup had Jake’s name engraved in the side. It rested next to his cellular phone.

Her engagement ring rested next to her cup.

I couldn’t help staring at the ring.

Charlotte moved both cups, rinsed her cup out before she dropped the red and white one into the trash.

She said, “You know, Jake is going to be in serious trouble for what he did to that man. And for what he did to that car. Did he think he could get away with something like that?”

I didn’t say anything. I felt like a second-grader who was sitting in the principal’s office.

Charlotte shook her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his job behind this. I pray that you didn’t have any part of that. The ripples of this will reach far and wide.”

A tall stack of unlabeled audio cassette tapes were on my side of the table, next to a cassette player and some other hardware, so I pushed them away to make room for whatever.

“Cream and sugar?” she asked.

“Sure.”

Then she was so quiet. I didn’t know what was worse, somebody who got mad and flew off the handle like Toyomi,

or someone like Charlotte who kept all of her inner voices to herself.

She sent out a shallow smile and put her hand on top of mine and patted it a few times.

Charlotte said, “Jake left his billfold and his clothes at that married woman’s house. Her husband called here and asked if I knew him. He couldn’t read English, but he could read the phone numbers. He described Jake. Told me what happened. About Jake and his wife. Told me that Jake violated his wife, then attacked him. He thought I was Jake’s wife.”