Hot Girlz: Hot Boyz Sequel (26 page)

Sequoia

“. . . clicking VIEW RESULTS.”

It had been nearly a week since Kyle
Jr. was home with Sequoia, Torino and TJ.

Kyle was able to get Colette released
from the hospital, and she was at home with him at his place in Northridge.

Sequoia and Torino took time a few
nights earlier to swab Kyle Jr.’s mouth and they sent the kit overnight to a
genetic testing lab in New Mexico.

She was concerned that the time she
spent convincing herself they would all be a happy little family of four was
not quite coming together because of one homesick seven year-old named Kyle Jr.

“Kyle Jr., now let TJ have time on the
DS, too. I told you we’ll get you one next weekend.”

“But he played with it all this time
and I just got it.”

She said, “I’ve seen you with it most
of the morning. Now give it to him like I said.”

“Here,” Kyle Jr. said with an edge,
half shoving it into TJ’s stomach.

“Ouch.” TJ looked surprised. He eyed
his mother for help. “Mom.”

Sequoia was firm. “Say you’re sorry
and hand it to him the right way. TJ give it back to him.”

TJ did, looking sad.

Kyle Jr. took it and then handed it
back. “Here.” This time his tone was down a notch. Slightly.

“Say you’re sorry.”

“Sorry.” Kyle Jr. got up and ran
toward his room, yelling, “I hate it here. I want my mommy. I want my daddy.”

Torino came into the family room,
interrupted from his phone call, looking impatient. “What the heck was that
about?”

Sequoia explained, “He shoved the game
at TJ and I made him apologize.”

Torino shouted toward the bedrooms,
“Kyle Jr., come back in here. Now!”

Kyle Jr. walked back in at a snail’s
pace, looking at the floor.

Torino asked, “What’s going on with
you? Everyone’s trying to be patient, but I won’t have you being mean and
disrespectful. Do you understand me?”

He nodded.

“I asked you a question. In this
house, we answer with words.”

“Yes.”

“Now you two play nicely.” He gave a
stern look to them both.

TJ just looked at his brother.

“Can I see my dad?” Kyle Jr. asked,
with his lip poked out.

Torino looked like he wanted to say no
so bad, but he said, “Yes. Yes you can, actually. Hold on. Let me check and see
when that’s gonna happen. You stay right here with TJ.” He then said to
Sequoia, “Baby, I’m going upstairs. Pick up the home phone down here in a few
seconds. Keep an eye on them.”

“Okay.”

He ran up to their bedroom. The sound
of the door closing was loud.

Sequoia gave it a minute and then
picked up, hearing the phone ringing.

“Hey,” Kyle said.

“Hey, Kyle.”

“Yeah.”

“Sequoia’s on the line, too.”

She said, “Hi, Kyle.”

“Hey.”

Torino asked, “What’s going on over
there? How’s Colette doing?”

“A lot better. I was gonna call you.
Do you think I can come and get Kyle Jr.? I took some time off work. Colette
will be here, too. I won’t leave the two of them alone.”

Torino said, “Okay. That’s fine. But I
want you to know I filed for sole custody of him until Colette gets through her
problems.”

“I understand.”

“So, you two are that cool now?”

Kyle explained, “Man, just gotta keep
it real. She and I are gonna take another stab at this. I can’t leave her to
get through this by herself. We’ve been together a long time. Been through a
lot.”

“Okay. But what’s old girl, Yasmin, got
to say about that? And your brother’s gotta be upset.”

“Yasmin is pissed but, hey. I gotta do
what I gotta do.”

Sequoia said, “Uh-huh,” as though
moving on from her stuck-up self was at least one thing she agreed with.

Kyle continued, “And yeah, everyone’s
mad that I missed the wedding, including my brother. This whole thing could’ve
been worse if I wasn’t here for her.”

“With all the stuff you told me about
her, I just don’t know. Her issues are the very reasons you filed the
restraining order.”

“Torino, you should see her. She’s
docile and beat down. They’ve got her in mandatory therapy, which wouldn’t have
happened before, and we’re gonna go as a family. She finally admitted some
things to me. She was born in prison. Colette always said she didn’t know where
her mom was. Turns out her mother was a pimp. She’s doing life for killing one
of the female hookers she fell in love with. And Colette’s father, whoever he
is, is some John. Colette’s anger has been eating her ass alive. She’s way past
depressed.”

“That’s gonna be tough to work
through. You ready for all that?”

“Yeah, I’ve gotta be. Everything
happens for a reason. I just need to get her some time with Kyle Jr. right now.
We both need it. I miss that little dude so bad, I just can’t tell you. Can I talk
to him?”

“Yeah.” Torino said to Sequoia, “Baby,
put Kyle Jr. on the phone, please.”

“Okay.” She called, “Kyle Jr. Your dad
is on the phone.” He ran to her. She extended him the phone. “Here.”

He took hold of the receiver. “Daddy?”
He evolved into full on crying again, like he was being burned at the stake.
“Will you come and get me?”

“Yes, Son. I will.”

“I don’t like it here.” He cut his
teary eyes away from Sequoia, fidgeting with his Hot Wheels toy. “This house is
all sparkly and new and fancy. And they’re mad at me.”

Sequoia looked at him like,
oh,
please
.

Kyle said, “Stop it. Now I know this
is hard, but they’re nice people and they care about you. They’re trying to
make you comfortable. You’ll get used to it. And you will be polite.”

Kyle Jr.’s sentences fired away, one
after the other without a break. “I want Mommy. I wanna come home. Are you at
home now? Did you come back home? I asked Mom and she said you wouldn’t, but
you did, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Can I talk to my Mommy?”

“She’s sleeping. I’ll be there in
about an hour to get you.”

“Okay, bye.” Sequoia took the cordless
back and headed to the office while Kyle Jr. ran off, even skipping like he had
morphed back into happy-land just that fast. He even told TJ, “My dad’s coming
to get me and take me home.” It was as if he was bragging.

TJ simply said, “Uh-huh.”

Torino said, “Okay, dude. See you in a
minute.”

Sequoia added, “Yeah, we’ll have him
ready.”

“Bye.”

They hung up and Torino came back
downstairs.

Sequoia was in the office sitting at
her desk on the computer and the boys went into the family room right next
door.

She and Torino looked at each other
and she said, “Kyle coming to get him isn’t such a bad thing. This hasn’t been
easy.”

“We knew it wouldn’t be. Kyle Jr. just
needs time.”

“He needs his mom and dad. Speaking of
that, I’m checking on those results. I signed up for online access.”

Torino sat on the edge of the desk.
“Oh? I thought they had to mail it back.”

“Not anymore. They won’t tell you over
the phone, but you can select online order status.”

She typed away and clicked the mouse
and maneuvered her way through the website, clicking VIEW RESULTS. “Let’s see.”
She read each word closely.

“What does it say?” He tried to figure
out which part she was reading.

She scrolled through a section of the
page with her fingertip. “It says Torino Wilson. Negative results.” She looked
up at him. “Torino, you are not the father.” Her face was not shocked.

His head darted back and his eyes
doubled in size. “What? You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

He stood and looked over her shoulder,
saying, “Let me see.”

She pointed, “It says right here under
the summary,
Not a paternity match. To get further, more accurate results,
the mother’s DNA may be required
.”

“Oh, shit. What have I done?” he
stepped back.

She swiveled her desk chair toward
him. “You’ve got a son who you’re paying child support for based on Kyle’s
suggestions to get him away from his mother, when even Kyle couldn’t stay away
from her.”

“And I’m trying to file to get full
custody of a child who isn’t even mine. I knew it. Dammit. Why didn’t I stick
to my hunches?” He walked over to the window and stared outside. “I didn’t
think she could’ve used any sperm from a condom. I should’ve fought this and
just taken the court ordered test.”

She asked, wanting to say
I told
you so
, but didn’t, “So, what now?”

“We get him ready for Kyle to pick him
up.”

“You telling him?”

“I am. One-on-one, in person. Not only
am I telling him, I’m going to suggest he get a paternity test, too.”

TJ yelled from the next room. “Mommy,
he hit me.”

It was Torino who said to him, “I’ll
be right there.”

Sequoia stood up. “I’ll pack his
things.”

29

Mercedes

“. . .
Forever One
.”

Mason had been back and forth, coming
home regularly, mainly to check the mail and then he would head back out to his
place in Leimert Park.

Mercedes tried and tried to get used
to him popping in and out, and tried and tried to be patient. It was
reluctantly becoming a way of life. She felt helpless yet waited for the love
of her life to come back around.

She went to work early on a Sunday
morning so she could catch up on her unattended projects.

She sat at her desk when to her
surprise, Mason called.

“Hi,” she said, half excited, half
not.

“Hi. What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Everything was frozen but
her mouth.

“Cedes, I’m at home.”

“You are?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the office.”

He asked, “This early? On a Sunday?”

“I came in at five. I have some things
I need to get done.”

“I want us to go to church.”

“You do?” Her eyebrows showed shock.
“This morning?”

“Yes. The eleven o’clock service.” He
sounded matter-of-fact, as though they had not missed a Sunday of church ever.

Mercedes felt a tinge of warmth
thawing out her inability to move. She turned away from her desk, looking at
the wall clock. “Okay.” She wanted to say,
I wish you’d told me earlier
,
but considering everything, she didn’t. “It’s eight-thirty now. I’ll be home
soon.”

“Okay. Bye.” He disappeared with a
click.

She simply shut down her computer, got
up and headed out, walking out a little bit faster than when she walked in.

She prayed that it was not a dream.

~~

Just before ten-thirty, both wearing
royal blue suits without even planning to, Mason and Mercedes Wilson arrived at
the church in Mason’s Corvette. He parked, turned off the ignition and got out.
She sat in the passenger seat and waited. Instead of him coming around to her
door right away, he hesitated. She still waited.

She wondered who he could have
possibly been with who would have allowed such nonsense. He then came around
and opened the door. “Thanks,” she said as she got out, although he did not
extend his hand to her as he always did before.

They headed inside of the sanctuary,
each holding their Bibles, and they sat in their usual seats in the front row.
The choir began a rendition of “Victory” by Yolanda Adams led by the Rev’s
energetic wife. Some people stood and sang along. Within minutes, Mercedes
stood and sang, too. Mason didn’t. “Truly I’ve been through the storm and rain,
I know everything about heartache and pain, but God carried me through it all,
without His protection I’d surely fall,” and within minutes the song went from
full effect to winding down, with most of the congregation singing, “I got the
Victory, yeah, yeah, yeah,” over and over. Mercedes noticed Mason still seated,
clapping, barely nodding with a stoic face.

Once the song was done the applause
for the choir led into applause for the Rev as he approached the podium.
Mercedes remained standing out of respect. Mason stood out of respect, as well.