Fairplay, Denver Cereal Volume 6 (48 page)

“
Your wife?” Nelson asked.
“But you’re…”

“
You know, this
conversation never ends very well,” Blane said. “Here are the
facts, nosey man, I’m married to a woman and we have a child. I’m
also gay. She’s straight. She knows I’m gay. I don’t date. She
doesn’t date. Not because we can’t, but because we’re both looking
for the right thing. As you can imagine, that’s hard to find. In
the meantime, we’re very happy.”

Nelson nodded. Blane pointed to a man
standing at the counter. Nelson poured him a beer and took his
money. He walked Blane through the register. He gave the man the
beer and even received a tip. Nelson smiled.

“
I can do this,” Nelson
said.

“
Yes, you can,” Blane
said. “Good job.”

Blane made a few drinks and Nelson continued
to pour beer. They had worked steadily for a half hour when
Nelson’s cell phone vibrated.

“
Ok, his people are here,”
Nelson said. “Do you see them?”

“
Got it.”

Blane filled a large order for Jeraine’s
former agent. Nodding, he stepped back when the agent left the bar
and bumped into Nelson.

“
For what it’s worth, I
think what you have is kind of neat. I mean, it’s not normal, but
it suits you,” Nelson said. “When you were talking I remembered
that we’ve met before. Ava and I, our team, we were tested to see
if we could help you out with a liver.”

“
Thanks,” Blane
said.

“
Do you still need one?”
Nelson asked.

Blane nodded.

“
Sucks,” Nelson
said.

“
Just life,” Blane
said.

“
HIV too?”

Blane nodded.

“
Me too,” Nelson
said.

For the first time, Blane actually looked at
Nelson. He was about Blane’s age, muscular, with an air of being
nerdy smart. He looked familiar but something was missing.

“
Glasses?”

“
Lasik,” Nelson
smiled.

“
You’re a friend of
Enrique’s.”

“
Enrique doesn’t have
friends,” Nelson said. “You know that better than
anyone.”

Blane nodded.

“
I always liked you,”
Nelson said. “What he did was horrible. I didn’t know what to do
and…”

“
It’s over and for the
best,” Blane said. “I’ve never been happier than I am right
now.”

Nelson nodded. A woman came to the small bar
and asked for a beer. Nelson went to help her. He could feel Blane
watching him. Suddenly, the bar was crowded with people calling
drinks. When Blane stepped forward to help the customers, the
tension between them eased. When Nelson looked up, Blane smiled at
him. They heard a cheer in the club at the same time Nelson’s phone
vibrated.

“
They’re here,” Nelson
said.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday night—9:25 P.M. MDT

“
I don’t know, Rodney,”
Tanesha said. “I think you should take me home.”

Nodding, Rodney Smith watched the entrance
of the Church. Tanesha knew him well enough to know that he was
slow to respond. She waited. He sighed.

“
I think you have to take
a chance,” Rodney said. “You’re not fragile or weak. You’re the
strongest and smartest person I’ve ever met.”

“
Besides you?” Tanesha
smiled.

“
You’re tougher than me,”
Rodney said.

They watched in silence as the people went
in and out of the night club.

“
You should take me home,”
Tanesha said.

“
I will,” Rodney said. “If
you answer me one question.”

“
What?”

“
Are you going to be a
slave to the past? Or take a chance today?”

Tanesha watched all the people milling
around the night club. There were black people and white people,
fat people and skinny people, young people and old people.
Certainly, the line around the block wasn’t getting any shorter.
Tanesha looked down at her hands. Minutes passed into a half an
hour of silence. Tanesha sighed. Leaning over, she kissed Rodney’s
cheek.

“
Thanks Dad,” Tanesha said
and stepped out of the car.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and EIGHTY-SIX

Nightclub

Saturday night—9:35 P.M. MDT

Tanesha stood just inside the entryway of
The Church nightclub. Her ticket and VIP pass had given her entry
to the club, but not directions to where she was supposed to meet
Jeraine or her girls. Her eyes scanned the crowded dance floor and
the bars. She didn’t see her girls or Jeraine anywhere. She was
turning to leave when she noticed a tall, muscular dark-skinned man
walking toward her. Dressed as a bouncer, she recognized him as a
Denver Police Officer and a friend of Seth’s.

“
I’ve been waiting for
you,” the man’s gruff tone made her look more closely at him. “Your
party is in the VIP lounge. But…”

He leaned in close to her.

“
You sure you want to see
that?”

Tanesha smiled. He wasn’t angry. He was
worried.

“
I’ve seen him worse,”
Tanesha said. “This is a show.”

“
You’re braver than me,”
he said.

He held out his arm and she put her hand on
his forearm. He led her through the dancing crowd on the first
floor and up the stairs to the second floor. From the second floor,
she could feel the entire building vibrate with the beat of
Jeraine’s dance music. He led her through the second floor to a
secluded section. She smiled when she noticed Blane behind the bar.
He nodded his head to the left and her eyes wandered in that
direction.

Sitting with Heather on his lap, Jeraine had
one hand down Sandy’s top while Ava clung onto him from the left.
His head lolled in Ava’s direction and his eyes were half closed.
Even though she knew it was for show, Tanesha’s heart skipped a
beat. She lost her footing in the stilettos that she’d borrowed
from Valerie. Her police escort kept her from falling.

“
Say the word and I’ll get
you out of here,” he said in her ear. “Your papa gave my gangster
of a baby brother his first real job. Got through to him and got
him off the streets. He hasn’t been high or in prison for two
years.
Two
years
. No way, I’m going to let you
down.”

Nodding, Tanesha smiled. When she looked
back, she saw Jeraine’s eyes scanning the crowd. Still hooded, his
eyes moved in practiced motions. He was used to the noise, lights,
and fuss of this kind of crowd. She continued toward him. Catching
her movement, he looked in her direction and smiled. It was just a
flash of a smile, something automatic, but Tanesha knew in that
moment that he saw her. She smiled.

“
You can leave me here,”
Tanesha pointed to a free table. “My friend Tres will be here in a
moment.”

“
I’m not supposed to leave
you alone,” the police officer said.

“
I’ll stay with her,” Aden
said. “She can join us.”

Aden pointed to a table just behind Jeraine
and his posse. Jacob and Tres sat waiting for her.

“
That okay with you?” the
police officer asked.

“
Yes sir.” Tanesha kissed
the police officer’s cheek. “Thank you. I couldn’t have done this
without you.”

“
You need anything, you
come find me,” he said. “I can’t take you home. My wife wouldn’t
like that very much. But I won’t let you down.”

The man gave her a slight nod and
disappeared into the crowd. Feeling someone watching her, she
looked over to see Jeraine’s eyes. He gave her a quick smile before
returning to his charade. Tanesha followed Aden to the table and
settled in.

“
Do you think he’ll ever
remove his hand from Sandy’s breast?” Aden said in her
ear.

“
Probably not,” Tanesha
said. “Would you?”

Aden laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday night—10:12 P.M. MDT

Heather stood up from Jeraine’s lap.

“
Ok, here we go,” Blane
said. “You ready?”

Nelson nodded. Heather said a few words to
Jeraine and pointed toward the bathroom. Jeraine said something
sexy and she shook her head. He laughed. Sandy got up and Ava
followed them. They made a thigh bearing, tight skirted, stiletto
walk to the bathroom. Jeraine turned around to talk to his former
manager and the other men at the table. They said something about
the women and Jeraine gave them a sly smile.

Blane glanced at Tanesha. She looked like
she was going to be sick. Aden got up from the table to meet the
women outside the bathroom. Jacob nodded at Blane. Tres leaned over
to say something to Tanesha. She nodded.

Jeraine stretched. His former agent said
something and Jeraine looked annoyed. He sneered at the man. The
agent nodded to the larger man at the table. He got up and walked
to the bar.

“
I need another round,”
the man said to Blane.

“
Yes sir,” Blane
said.

“
Hey, can you add a couple
Red Bulls?” he said. “They’re for Jeraine.”

Blane moved to pour the Red Bull into
glasses.

“
Nah,” the man said. “He
only drinks out of cans. Thinks they’re safer.”

The man sniffed his disapproval. Blane
pointed to Nelson and the man went over to order the Red Bull.
Nelson bent down and took out two Red Bull cans from the marked
section of the refrigerator. He opened the cans and set them on the
counter. The man gave Nelson an assessing look, then reached in his
pocket and took out four glass ampoules filled with a light gold
liquid. He broke off the top of two of them at a time and carefully
poured them into the Red Bull.

“
What you looking at?” the
man sneered at Nelson.

Nelson shook his head.

“
Here,” the man gave
Nelson the broken glass ampoules. “Put dat in yo garbage and go
about yo bidiness. This ain’t got nothin’ to do wit’ you, gay
boy.”

Nodding, Nelson took the broken glass from
the man and made a show of putting it in his trash.

“
Here’s the rest of your
order,” Blane held up a tray of drinks.

Nelson slipped the ampoules into an evidence
bag tucked next to his trash bin. The man set the Red Bull cans
down on the tray.

“
It’s on the house,” the
man said.

“
Of course, sir,” Blane
gave him his most effeminate smile.

Shaking his head, the man looked disgusted.
He picked up the tray, and walked back to the table. He was halfway
to the table when Blane began to laugh.

“
How can you laugh?”
Nelson asked under his breath.

“
I don’t need to take on
his hate,” Blane said. “Look at the man? He’s intentionally giving
someone illegal drugs without their knowledge and he thinks
I’m
disgusting?”

Blane laughed. Nelson shook his head at
Blane. His phone vibrated.

“
They got that on video,”
Nelson said.

“
Good,” Blane
said.

Blane and Nelson watched the man return to
the table. He passed out the drinks to the posse and the former
agent, and then gave Jeraine a Red Bull can. As if to make sure he
drank it, the man stood over Jeraine. He made a joke as if the man
was going to sit on his lap but he didn’t back away. Jeraine looked
at Blane and put the Red Bull to his lips. For some reason,
everyone at the table looked away at the same moment and Jeraine
set the Red Bull can down next to his left ankle.

Blane chuckled.

“
What was that?” Nelson
asked.

“
My cousin Jake has a way
of… catching people’s attention,” Blane said.

Dressed as a cocktail waitress, Fran from
Ava’s lab swooped by the table to pick up empty glasses. Jeraine
set the Red Bull can on her tray. She chatted with the men for a
moment before checking on another table. Jeraine picked up the
other Red Bull can.

Heather waved from over by the bathroom.
Jeraine gestured toward the women, got up, and walked away from the
table.

As he passed the bar, the Denver Police
swooped in. After all the fuss and worry of the last few hours, the
arrests were over very quickly. Heather went to Blane and they
hugged. Aden lifted Sandy from the ground in a hug and kiss. And
Seth led Ava away from the mess.

After depositing the Red Bull can with
Nelson, Jeraine ran across the VIP lounge to Tanesha. He held his
hands out and pulled her from her chair. After a brief hug, Bumpy
whistled and waved for Jeraine to come up. They began a slow
journey through the watching crowd toward the stage. They ran into
Jeraine’s handcuffed former agent on the way.

“
How could you do this to
me?” the former agent said to Jeraine. “I gave you
everything!”

“
I didn’t do nothing,”
Jeraine said. “I was too drugged to plan something like
this.”

“
I did it to you,”
Tanesha’s finger poked his chest. “You fucked with the wrong girl.
You better think again before you come after me and the ones I love
again.”

“
Jeraine!
She’s…”

“
I told you over and over
again, you don’t fuck with Miss T,” Jeraine said.

“
Misty?” the former agent
shook his head. “There is no Misty!”

“
I’m Miss T,” Tanesha
said.