Game On (21 page)

35

SAMANTHA

 

S
amantha, Xavier, and Dexter were chilling at the food court inside Twelve Oaks Mall. The place was brightly lit, enormous, and housed a hundred and eighty retail stores. Over the holiday Xavier and Samantha had started spending time with each other. No boyfriend or girlfriend stuff, just friends who loved one another. And to Samantha it really felt good being around him. Felt good to laugh and joke with his crazy butt. For the first time in a long time she felt safe. Xavier's father was really nice too. Samantha seemed to fit right in with his family, with the exception of Roxanne Hudson. The chick was an amazing piece of insanity. She had Noah wrapped around her little finger.

Being at the mall, Xavier and Samantha were breaking all of their rules. With the danger they faced, both had pinky sworn to limit their public activities. To stay indoors until their problems had been resolved. It was scary because she hadn't heard from Sean since that day in Xavier's basement when the two had gotten after each other over the phone. Sean was a maniac who got whatever he went after. The boy didn't give up that easily, and that's what was worrying her.

But the biggest problem was her doggone daddy. When his BFF had stopped showing, her father had become difficult, drilling her with question after question about Sean's whereabouts. The old man wouldn't let up. He was grilling her right now on the phone. She had to get up and walk away so that Dexter and Xavier wouldn't hear him trippin'.

“I can't believe you're going to let that boy slip away from you,” Mr. Fox said.

Samantha was beyond frustrated with his line of questioning. “Daddy, when are you going to let me handle my own business? I'm seventeen, and I believe I'm old enough to make decisions for myself. I'm sure you think that Sean is a great guy, but he doesn't work for me.”

Her father wouldn't give up. “Don't you want a man who can take care of you? Give you the world, like I have done? You are my little girl and I only want what's best.”

Her dad would be kicking down Sean's door and trying to go upside his head if he knew what the creep had done to his “little girl.” Samantha still couldn't bring herself to tell her father that his BFF was a complete fraud, a lunatic who wasn't fit to wear a Detroit Tigers uniform.

Samantha looked at the foot traffic in the mall. People were coming and going, some carrying bags and others window-shopping. Dexter was going to town on some McDonald's grub. Xavier was too busy scanning the crowd to be focused on the Chinese food in front of him.

“All I'm saying, sweetheart,” her father said sincerely, “is Sean Desmond is good for you.”

“Daddy, please. You mean he's good for you.”

“And what does that mean, young lady?”

“Skybox at Ford Field, courtside tickets to watch the Detroit Pistons play, need I go on.”

“You know your daddy can buy his own skybox. Matter of fact, I get company tickets to see the Pistons play, but I give them to the rest of my partners. Sean is a cool guy and I like hanging out with my son-in-law.”

No, he didn't just go there,
she thought. “The son you always wanted?”

“I didn't mean it like that, pumpkin. Your daddy loves you and wants the best.”

“You've already said that. Daddy, I have to go.”

“If you're not with Sean, who is it that you seem in a rush to get back to?”

“Friends, Daddy.”

“I don't like it, pumpkin. Don't mess anything up with Sean.”

“Bye, Daddy.” Samantha ended the call. She didn't know what she was going to do with him. Despite the immense pressure he was applying, Samantha had to continue playing the part. Not letting him in on the truth about Sean. Her father held resources. His prominent status around town had earned him friends in very high places. Sean Desmond wouldn't have a chance with him in a legal battle. What would be the endgame, though? Sean would surely retaliate with his goons, and they were twenty times deadlier than any business suit her father had on his team. Ozzie and Cash's courtroom was the street, and muscle like that would turn this thing real ugly.

Before she walked back over to the table, Samantha made sure to chase away any emotion in her face left over from the conversation.

“Sam,” Xavier said, suspiciously scanning those seated around them and others walking past the food court. “You good?”

Samantha said to Xavier, “Just my dad. I'm fine.”

Xavier relaxed and smiled. “Your dad? Shoot, no, you're not
fine
. That man will worry the shine off a bowling ball. What his tight-cheeks self want anyway?”

Samantha sat down and pursed her lips. “My father thinks he knows what's best for me.”

Dexter said to Xavier with a mouthful of food, spitting all over the place, “Dude, you gonna finish that shrimp fried rice and boneless chicken?”

Xavier screwed up his face. “I was, homeboy, but your spit just took care of that,” he said, pushing his food over to Dexter.

“Two Big Macs, a double cheeseburger, a ten-piece Mc-Nuggets, a supersized fries, and chocolate milkshake,” said Samantha, “Dexter, you can't still be hungry?”

Xavier wiped his fingers with a napkin. “If I was his dad I'd rather clothe than feed him. I swear the boy has the appetite of an escaped circus gorilla.”

“Whatever,” said Dexter, packing his mouth with shrimp fried rice, “y'all just haters. Some people just can't accept the fact that I'm a growing boy.”

“You're growing something all right,” said Xavier.

Samantha just sat there, smiling.

Dexter chased his food with a swallow of milkshake. “Homegirl, if you smile any harder, your lips gonna crack and bleed.”

Xavier said, “Why are you smiling like that, Sam?”

Samantha giggled. “I miss you guys. The camaraderie we used to share. I'm glad y'all are back in my life.”

“You trying to make my eyes leak, heffa,” said Xavier. He leaned over and kissed Samantha on the jaw.

Dexter shoved a forkful of boneless chicken into his mouth, swallowed, and slurped some shake. “See, that's what you two miss—that nasty stuff right there. Don't nobody want to see that hideous display of infection—I mean affection, especially while I'm eating Chinese.”

Xavier ignored Dexter. “You didn't tell your old man that you were hanging out with me, did you?”

“And give him high blood pressure, no. As far as he knows, I'm out with friends.”

Dexter said to Samantha, “You're slick.”

Samantha said, “I told the truth. I am out with friends.”

Xavier added, “Call Mr. Tight Cheeks back and let him know who you're hanging out with and see if the medics don't be over there trying to revive him.”

Dexter cracked up. “ ‘Mr. Tight Cheeks'—you're a fool, X.”

“I know you're not talking, Xavier,” Samantha said sarcastically, “with all the drama that your stepmama is causing in your house. Aside from the fact that your mama Ne Ne tried to kidnap me, Roxanne makes her look like one of Jesus's disciples.”

Everybody laughed.

Dexter said, “Xavier has been telling me about his new mama. Why don't y'all show her a crucifix and if she backs away, stake her ass through the heart.”

“Punk, she's not my mama, frogboy,” Xavier said. He looked at Samantha. “Sam, where is your driver, the big black Lurch,” Xavier wanted to know.

“I told him that I was fine and that I didn't need him to come in.”

“I'm surprised he went for it.” Xavier looked at the two of them. “Y'all ready to go?”

They cleared off the table and left. It was time for Samantha to get her shop on.

36

XAVIER

 

T
he two boys walked behind Samantha, playfully talking junk to one another, as she nosed around in front of different store window displays.

“Anyway,” said Dexter. “X, have you started the research for your paper yet?”

“You're late, homeboy. Started in December.”

“What's your topic?”

The mall was crowded. People were everywhere, but Xavier made sure to keep his eyes on Samantha. That coward Sean Desmond had taken her through a terrifying ordeal. Cats like him didn't go away easily. Not when the worm's ego was involved.

Xavier said to Dexter, “I'm doing my research paper on black comedians from the seventies and the eighties. What are you doing yours on?”

“MJ, fool.”

“Which MJ?”

“There's only one,” said Dexter with a goofy look on his face.

Xavier just shook his head and laughed. “Jackson or Jordan?”

“Jordan, of course. Ain't much into the other guy.”

“What? Your head get rolled over by a car tire as a baby? Michael Jackson was the truth.”

“Well, not in my world. I don't do Jackson, so there is only one MJ, and in my opinion Jordan is the one.”

Xavier noticed that Samantha was getting too far ahead. He yelled to her, “Sam, not too far, knucklehead.”

Samantha was too much of a lady to scream back. So she just pointed to bebe and mouthed to Xavier that she was going inside.

Xavier continued to survey the sea of faces.

Dexter said, “Dog, what's up with yo' situation?”

Xavier looked down at his right shoulder. “All I can say, homeboy, is that I'm gonna continue to go to school. Hopefully I live to graduate. But I can't stay in the crib and be scared. They can try to holler at me there.”

“True, true,” said Dexter, “you think they're gonna try again?”

Xavier had no idea if the creep who'd blasted him in the shoulder would come back for seconds. It didn't matter because Xavier wasn't ducking, nor was he hiding. He was a straight-up soldier and nobody walking on two legs struck fear in his heart.

“I'm more concerned about Sam.”

Dexter asked, “What you mean?”

Xavier swore Dexter to secrecy. Told him everything that had gone down that night Samantha called him to pick her up.

“Straight up,” said Dexter, unbelieving. “That busta needs his head whupped on for that.”

“Yeah, but don't say anything. Sam's already been through enough.”

“Come on, guy. Y'all family. What I look like telling the business to some ninja in the street.”

They finally stepped up to bebe. Samantha was toward the back of the store with the phone up to her ear and looking through a rack of jeans. Foot Locker was right next door.

“X,” Dexter said, pointing at Foot Locker, “they got those gray and red Jordan 13s joints.”

“You got a raffle ticket?”

“Skip that. My homeboy works in there. We probably can get da hookup. Let's go in.”

There was a look of concern on Xavier's face. “Did you just hear anything I said? I'm not leaving Sam alone.”

“Man, all these people in this mall, nothing gonna happen to her. Besides, we'll be right next door,” Dexter persisted.

Xavier hesitated. He thought about it and arrived at the conclusion that he was being overprotective. He gave Samantha one last look before they stepped next door.

The two teens had only been in Foot Locker fifteen minutes when Xavier heard a commotion out front. Voices were raised and one of them sounded like Samantha's. When Xavier finally made it out, his anger was instant. A small crowd had gathered, and Ozzie and that ninja Cash were up in Samantha's face like little women, talking junk. Samantha wasn't backing down, though. She had her finger damn near touching the bridge of Cash's nose, giving it right back to them.

“Trust me, we don't mean you no drama, mama. We're not following you or anything. Our meeting is straight up coincidental.” Ozzie raised his Champs Sports shopping bags. “But the homeboy Sean Desmond did tell us if we ran into you to make sure that you were tight, and to see if you needed anything. But we can see that you're copacetic.”

“Although you're not protected like we would protect you,” Cash said with an evil smirk on his face.

Xavier walked over and pushed Samantha safely behind him. “What's the problem, homeboy?” he asked Ozzie, letting the scowl on his face serve as a warning.

Dexter stepped up like he was ready to scrap.

Ozzie said to Xavier, “You again? Dude, you just won't go away, will you? Didn't we serve you up at the skating rink? I knew Cash should've did you in front of the school that day.”

“We can fix that right now,” Cash said, dropping his Footaction bags. “I'm about to stick my sneaker so far up yo' butt I'ma give your tongue athlete's foot.”

“You say you want to scrap, what you still talking crap for?” Dexter asked Cash, his fists down by his sides.

Cash tried to move on Dexter, but Xavier killed all that noise when he fired on ol' boy, catching the clown on the left temple with a vicious right jab. Cash dropped to the floor without offering a sound. After Ozzie saw his boy get done up, it looked like he was reaching into his jacket for something, but promptly withdrew the hand when security came running in their direction. Ozzie picked his homeboy up and they staggered away in the opposite direction.

Xavier and his crew weren't trying to stick around either. He grabbed Samantha and the three used the crowd to camouflage their getaway.

 

Back at the crib, Xavier went straight to his bedroom. Had some work to do inside. He'd found trying to multitask two assignments was pretty troubling. The feeling that he'd bitten off more than he could chew came to mind a few times. That excuse could kick rocks. Xavier needed to put together a dope essay if he expected to collect the loot from the writing contest winnings. His knuckles were swollen and left him shaking his head. But the truth was as painful as his injured hand. God had given him a gift for helping people. He couldn't ignore it. Seemed like it was a blessing and a curse. Somehow helpless souls always found him, sought him out, and he protected them. Xavier often felt good about helping others, but trouble was never too far behind, sometimes putting him in the position where he was forced to defend himself. More than likely it had led to him getting blasted in the shoulder. Today was just one of those instances. Billy Hawkins also told him that he had a special gift for helping others. Xavier wasn't trying to be funny, but God could've kept the gift and given him a Corvette instead.

He sat down at his desk, trying to focus on his research. It was no use, though. Dude was still too pumped up on adrenaline. That little scuffle he'd had with Sean Desmond's goons a few hours ago was far from over. Cats like them never got over a butt whipping. They were the losers who always went home to get the gat and came back to prove their manhood by killing and causing tragedy. But if he had to smack up Cash again to protect Samantha, then it would go down.

Xavier made sure Dexter had gotten home safely. He didn't have to worry about Samantha because her driver was on the job. The guy was enormous, and anybody crazy enough to muscle up to his big butt needed to be put to sleep.

An hour later Xavier had settled down. He jumped on the Internet to research famous black comedians from the seventies and eighties. Pen in hand, Xavier was about to start taking notes when he heard the front door open and Noah called his name. He would've heard Roxanne by now if she was with him. Thank God.

Xavier walked into the living room, working his injured hand. His dad was taking off his coat. Xavier's swollen hand drew Noah's attention.

“What's wrong with your hand?” Noah asked.

Xavier was about to open his mouth but his father beat him to it.

“Don't tell me you've been fighting.”

Xavier took a seat on the couch, slowly opening and closing the hand. “Yeah, it was a slight dustup.”

Noah took his son's hand and examined it. “Pretty banged up. You mind telling me what happened?”

Over the next ten minutes Xavier explained his side of the story.

“The Detroit Tigers shortstop, Sean Desmond?” his old man asked again.

“Yup.”

“If the story is true, don't you think she should be reporting this to the police?”

Xavier continued to work the hand. “Samantha's father is rich and he has a lot of business associates—”

“She's afraid that a scandal would hurt his business.”

Xavier slowly said, “Bingo.”

“Son, Samantha's a nice girl, but don't you think that's her problem?”

Xavier knew his dad wouldn't understand. “I just made it my problem.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Do I have to remind you that you were nearly killed four months ago? But the Lord saw fit for you to remain here.”

Xavier shot straight from the hip. “Why can't the Lord tell you that your girlfriend is trying to come between us?”

Noah rubbed a hand across his beard. “You're being blasphemous. Stick to the subject.”

“Pop, you're such a hypocrite. You throw Jesus at me and Alfonso whenever we mess up, but what about your girlfriend Roxanne? You allow her to get away with those little stupid cracks about me—matter of fact, you let her give me that Get Out of Jail Free card and didn't even say anything. What was up with that?”

Noah didn't quite know how to answer the question. “Xavier, I'm afraid you don't understand.”

“Yeah, Pop, I think I do. But don't worry about it. Alfonso and I are used to this type of treatment. Ne Ne put her boyfriend before us. Now you're doing the same thing—I can dig it. Same ol' game, just a different parent.”

Noah ran a hand down the back of his neck. “Don't forget your place, son.”

Xavier stood up, slowly working the hand. “I know my place, Dad. And if it's left up to your girlfriend it'll be outside of this house.” He shook his head at his dad and walked back into his bedroom.

How somebody could have so much biblical knowledge and fail so miserably in recognizing the evil serpent that was slithering in the family garden with the intention to destroy it was beyond him. It didn't matter, though. There was once a time where his old man didn't exist. And mentally it wasn't a thing for Xavier to go back to that time.