Game On (23 page)

40

XAVIER

 

X
avier and Samantha just stood there with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. Even though they were far off, Xavier was 100 percent sure that it was her. He could tell that raggedy weave from anywhere.

But there they were, Roxanne and some big, black unknown man, nestled in amongst the crowd, and going at it heavy, like a liquored-up teenage couple at a prom after-party. Xavier couldn't believe his luck. Talking about a gift from God. Xavier felt bad not being able to offer up the proper amount of sorrow that his old man would feel once he laid the info on him. But his father's feelings would have to wait. This chick had to be outed, and now. Noah couldn't do it. He'd been blinded by the booty. Too weak for this Jezebel and clearly not in charge of his right mind. It left Xavier with the all-too-familiar task of stepping up to save his family.

Samantha asked Xavier, “Are you sure that's your father's girlfriend?”

“It's the weave—looks like two Texas tumbleweeds mating on a dusty prairie. If I live to be a hundred, I might forget her face, but never that hair of hers.”

“Look at them,” Samantha said in disgust, “all out in public like this. I guess they don't care about these people looking at them.”

“Roxanne is all about the attention.”

Samantha asked him, “Are you going to let your dad know about this?”

Xavier smiled wickedly. “I'm going to do better than that. If I step to him without any proof he'll probably blow me off, as if I was lying on her.”

“Now what?”

Xavier got out his cell phone and jostled his way through the crowd, readying the camera app. He walked right up, aimed his phone, and said, “Ms. Hudson.”

The flash went off in her face when she broke the lip-lock and turned in Xavier's direction.

“Xavier,” Roxanne said in startled surprise, “what are you doing here?”

Xavier gazed up at the big black dude with cartoonish pink lips and then back to her. “The question is what are you doing here, and with him?”

She broke her connection with the guy and nervously started fixing her clothes and finger-combing her tangled weave.

The big black dude seemed to be annoyed. “Who is this, Roxanne?” dude asked in a deep baritone voice. He said to Xavier, “Why did you just snap me and my wife's picture?”

“Your wife?”

“My wife.” Homeboy pointed a short thumb at his chest like he was proud.

Xavier couldn't do anything but smile. He was enjoying Roxanne's anxiety. But he wasn't done. This chick was married and dating his father—all while working on getting him kicked out of the house. He was about to lower the boom on her cheating behind.

“Mr. Hudson, is it?” asked Xavier.

The big man said, “Yes. It is. Now you want to tell me who you are?”

This was the part where Xavier expected Roxanne to wet herself. She was nervously moving her feet back and forward, like she really had to go to the bathroom. Xavier relished the power he had over her. All of those nights where she had talked that slick stuff to him and reduced his character to nothing. Painting her version of his future where he would turn out to be the lowest scum on earth, a chain-snatching petty criminal. Now the shoe was on the other foot, and it was fun to watch her squirm. Xavier wanted to laugh in her face as she pathetically pleaded with her eyes for him not to drop a dime. He wanted to take it there. Tell on her butt and watch the explosion of a marriage. It'd be good for her. Xavier knew that his father loved Roxanne and the old dude was going to be crushed. But try as he might, Xavier couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger.

Xavier told Mr. Hudson, “My name is Spencer Hoffman and I was an underprivileged inner-city youth until a chance encounter with your wife, Mrs. Hudson, outside a liquor store I'd noticed that she frequented before work. I was hungry and I'm sorry to say, sir, I'd set it up to steal your wife's purse. But thank God it never progressed to that point because she talked to me and made me understand that I had to get back into school. Mrs. Hudson even gave me twenty dollars to get something to eat. And it's because of her I stand here a changed man and about to graduate high school. And that's why I took the picture, because I'll always have something to remember her by.”

The big dude looked at his wife with a smile on his face. He hugged her. “Baby, you are an angel. And I am so happy that God has blessed me with you.” They walked off.

Roxanne was looking back as if to thank him for not saying anything. But Xavier was serious when he mouthed, “Stay away from my father!” and held up his cell phone like the picture was evidence.

Xavier walked back over to Samantha.

“I heard the whole thing,” she said. “Xavier, you are wonderful.”

“Well, I try to be.”

Samantha kissed him and they walked off, holding hands.

 

It was 1:16 a.m. when Xavier pulled into his driveway. Dude was completely exhausted. He couldn't believe that he'd busted Roxanne. But the kicker was that the chick was married. How trifling. His old man was probably in the house asleep. Xavier planned to let him stay that way until morning, and then he would drop the bomb. The day's events with Samantha had his head spinning. The way things had gone down between them at the beginning of this school year, he'd thought their relationship had been a done deal. Everything was different now. They had even talked about maybe getting back together later on. His world seemed, for the first time, to be traveling in the right direction. His luck was changing and he had two papers that were sure to score high.

Xavier got out of the car and walked to the side door. That's when he felt cold steel pressed against the back of his head. The coolness of the shooting iron was ice cold against his skin.

Damn,
Xavier cursed. The two stood in complete darkness. He could've strangled his pops. Noah had been procrastinating and dragging his feet about putting up a security spotlight on the side of the crib.

“Don't turn around.” The voice was low and threatening.

Xavier froze instantly. He could've kicked himself for dropping his guard. And it wasn't all the trouble in his world that caused him to do so. The love of his life was back and he'd been seriously overjoyed with the potential to have a great future with Samantha. The potential for happiness had been enough to distract him and cause him to drop his guard. Now the Grim Reaper was at his back to collect payment for his past misdeeds.

The voice said, “Be cool and nothing happens to your people inside. I need for you to get back in your car. Me and you are about to take a ride, playboy.”

Xavier was dead and he knew it. But he needed to know. “Slick Eddie sent you?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“You know it,” the hitman answered. “You might've gotten lucky when I tried to take you out a couple months ago, but somehow you survived. I was impressed.”

The wind started howling, like souls beckoning him to the grave.

“So that was you who shot me?”

“Yup.”

“One more question.”

“Ninja, this ain't
Jeopardy
. But since you about to die I think I can accommodate you.”

“It's been you stalking me since Slick Eddie and Romello were locked up? You're the big-eared guy wearing the Rocawear hoodie? I'm not dying without knowing your real name, you feel me?”

The guy pressed the muzzle aggressively into the back of Xavier's head. “You got jokes. I don't make it a habit, but like I told you before, I can accommodate you. Name's Dirk Frazier. Enough talking, let's go.”

With a name like Dirk Frazier, no wonder he's violent
, Xavier thought.

Dirk Frazier took the weapon down and planted the muzzle in the small of Xavier's back. The dude pushed as if to relay to Xavier to get moving.

They had the car door open and Dirk said, “You're gonna drive. I'ma get in the passenger side. Do what I tell you because if you don't, I'll come back here and kill your family.”

This was the first time that Xavier had seen the killer's face. Yup. It was him all right, the charcoal-black, big-eared rascal, and dude was still wearing that Rocawear hoodie. Xavier shook his head. This was it. Throughout the years of them trying to punch his ticket, this was the day, February fourteenth. He wouldn't put up any resistance. This would be his last act of unselfishness. Xavier wanted his dad to raise his brother to be a better man than both of them. Alfonso deserved a shot at greatness. And at the same time, Xavier thought about his greatness, a greatness that would go unfulfilled. It was a damn shame about how much work had gone into perfecting the research paper and essay.

“Don't try anything,” Dirk said, “I'm gonna walk around and get to the other side.”

Xavier sat there in the cold, eyes closed, head down, praying.

A minute later, a highly familiar voice said, “Youngster.”

Xavier slowly opened his eyes and saw . . . Billy Hawkins, his friend and mentor. He had to pinch himself to make sure this moment wasn't some hallucination.

“What—how, who,” Xavier mumbled. He opened his eyes wide. It was Billy all right. Big black winter coat, hospital scrubs pants, and combat boots, laced tightly all the way up.

“No time for that,” Billy said, vigorously massaging the knuckles on his right hand. “You should be all right from now on.”

When Xavier exited the car, Dirk lay unconscious on his back on the cold, hard cement behind the car. Xavier watched suspiciously as Billy slowly trotted down the street and came back driving a yellow cab.

“So, you're the one,” Xavier asked.

Billy told him, getting out of the cab, “I don't have time for no jaw-jacking. Let me get him in the trunk.”

Xavier was about to help but Billy stopped him.

“I don't need you involved. Take your tail in the house, young'un.” Billy smiled at Xavier. “Remember, you ain't seen nothing.”

He did as he was told, not even looking back when he heard the trunk open and close. As soon as he put his key in the side door lock, Xavier heard the taxicab burn rubber and then take off.

 

The next morning Xavier got up to the sounds of gospel music and the fresh fragrance of bacon, pancakes, and eggs. He climbed out of bed, yawning and stretching. Anxiety had its way with him last night. The boy twisted and turned until he finally went to sleep.

It was six o'clock Monday morning. President's day. With everything he'd gone through last night, Xavier was glad it was a three-day weekend. He would have time to chill.

Xavier rubbed his eyes and walked into the kitchen. His father was working over the stove, wearing pajama bottoms and a robe slightly open, showing his bare chest. Xavier leaned against the wall by the basement door.

He mentally braced himself. “Pop, I have something to tell you.”

His father took a few pancakes off the griddle with the spatula. There was no expression on his face. “No need to, son. Roxanne called me before you got home last night and told me everything.”

“You all right?”

Noah broke open a few eggs and started scrambling them in a bowl. “I'm fine.”

To Xavier, short answers like that meant the opposite. He wasn't fine. Far from looking it.

“You sure, Pop? You want to talk?”

“Are you going out today?” his dad asked him.

“Nah. I'm too mentally exhausted.”

“Okay. Why don't you see if your brother is good and ready for breakfast?”

Xavier hesitated and considered telling his dad about what Billy had done last night. But he decided he'd better. “You know Billy—”

Noah beat him to it. “He called me this morning and told me everything.”

Whatever it was the old man had done, Xavier didn't want to hear any details. He was about to get ready to walk out of the kitchen.

“Slick Eddie won't be bothering you again. Did a little research earlier this morning and found out he's at the prison that I did time at. Got some people in there.”

Xavier waited on his father to continue but he didn't. The boy wasn't a dummy. His father had been a real bad man in a life before prison. And it was apparent that the old man still held powerful connections on the inside.

Noah continued, “In case you were wondering, Billy explained to me that you and Alfonso are like his kids. Said that when y'all hurt, he hurts. He also said that you seemed to be hiding something, maybe the reason why you were shot. When it happened to you, he vowed to find out why. So he got himself a cab job. That way he could keep an eye on you.”

“I used to see a cab following me. I thought I was losing my mind.”

“He just wanted to protect you. I owe him my life for keepin' my oldest son safe.” He looked at Xavier through eyes of seriousness. “You are never to talk about what happened last night with anyone. Billy had friends that took care of the hitman. Let's just say that the guy was roughly persuaded to leave town or die. The guy wasn't a dummy, he left town.”

“How will he assure that the dude won't come back?” Xavier wanted to know.

“Somehow, Billy found out where his family lives. Y'all be safe son. I'm proud of the man that you are becoming.” Noah smiled. “Go and see your mother soon.”

When the landline rang, Noah answered. After a series of questions, he smiled and gestured with the receiver. “Looks like she beat you to it, your mother is on the phone, son.”