No Ordinary Love (37 page)

33

A
ngelo stood in the bathroom doorway, watching Aika bathing in the golden tub at the Mark Hopkins.

I am completely in love with that woman,
he thought.
She’s agile, voracious, soft, and gutsy. She could be Italian. I was ready to seal the deal and ask her to marry me, and then Tony went AWOL with Trina.

Trina is not a bad woman. She cares about Tony, talks to him, listens to him, touches him, holds his hand—all the things Aika does for me.

Well, almost all of them.

Angelo tightened the towel around his waist, opened the suite’s main door, and picked up a copy of the
Chronicle.
He flipped through the pages until he saw four headlines staring at him in the entertainment section:

A
RT
E. W
OWS
’E
M
A
GAIN
AT
J
OHNNY
F
OLEY
’
S
“M
USIC
S
HOULD
B
E
F
REE
” SA
YS
A
RT
E.
A
RT
E. S
TIFFS
C
IELO
A
ZUL
A
RT
E
.’
S
G
AL
P
AL
F
ACES
S
USPENSION

He stormed into the bathroom, put the seat down on the toilet, and sat.

“What’s wrong?” Aika asked.

“A little bit of everything,” Angelo said, reading the first story. “Tony’s all over the news.”

“And not in a good way,” Aika said.

“This first story is decent,” Angelo said. “About his performance last night. But these other three . . .” He shook his head. “They ain’t good.”

Aika squeezed the washcloth and dripped soap onto her breasts and stomach. “Start with the
least
not good one.”

“The owners of Cielo Azul are pissed at Tony and us for ordering all that food,” Angelo said.

Aika smiled. “It was a delicious prank, though.”

“Yeah,” Angelo said. “And that reporter at Johnny Foley’s was true to his word. He ran what Tony said. ‘Music should be free.’ It’s even in the headline.”

Aika lifted a silky, sexy leg out of the water. “It will blow over.”

“I don’t know if it will,” Angelo said. “He even quoted Naomi Stringer. Listen to what Naomi said: ‘I don’t sing for free, but if Art E. wants to
give
me his music, I have absolutely no problems with that.’”

“She’s an airhead,” Aika said.

“Yeah, but a well-paid airhead who pays us a great deal of money for Tony’s songs,” Angelo said. “I need to give her a call.”

“Later,” Aika said. “You promised you’d join me. The water is so warm.”

“Let me tell you about the last story first,” Angelo said. “It seems Trina is about to be suspended from her job.”

Aika sat up. “Why?”

“I’ll read it to you,” Angelo said. “ ‘Art E.’s gal pal Trina Woods, an RN at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, faces a disciplinary hearing this Monday for “dereliction of duty,” according to nursing supervisor and disciplinary review board chair Ellen Sprouse.’ According to this, Trina told her bosses she was sick the past three days when she obviously wasn’t.”

Aika laughed. “So?”

“So?” Angelo said. “She lied.”

Aika sighed. “She wanted to be with your brother. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“But she lied, Aika,” Angelo said. “If she lies about this, she might be lying about other things. Why didn’t she take some vacation time or something?”

“I’m sure she had her reasons, Angelo. Now please get into this tub with me and soap me up and down before I turn into a prune.”

Angelo rubbed his eyes. “I’m not in the mood anymore.”

Aika stood and grabbed a towel. “And suddenly, neither am I. It’s not a big deal, Angelo.”

“It is to me.” He left the bathroom and called Naomi Stringer. “Hey, Naomi? It’s Angelo.”

“Put her on speaker,” Aika whispered as she walked out of the bathroom drying her hair.

“Hold on a second, Naomi,” Angelo said, covering the mouthpiece. “Why?”

“I like hearing her ditzy ass talk,” Aika said. “I need to learn more ditz speak.”

Angelo turned on the speaker. “How you doing, Naomi?”

“What’s this I hear about Art E. giving his music away for free?” Naomi asked.

“The reporter took it all out of context, Naomi,” Angelo said. “Tony said, ‘
Music
should be free.’ He didn’t say, ‘
My
music will be free.’ He was talking about music in general, you know, musicians being free to make music any way they want to.”

“Oh,” Naomi said. “So what about what he said a few days ago about that ‘Trina’ song? He said it was only for Trina. I want it.”

“I haven’t even seen any lyrics for that song yet,” Angelo said.

“The tune was bangin’,” Naomi said. “I want it.”

“I have to look at the lyrics first,” Angelo said. “I mean, if it’s called ‘Trina,’ it’s probably about Trina. You want to sing a love song to a woman?”

“Maybe,” Naomi said. “I know it will sell. What else does he have for me?”

“He’s been writing so many songs,” Angelo said. “I’ll try to take a look at his scribbles and I’ll get back to you.”

“It’s such a shame about Trina, though,” Naomi said.

“What about her?” Angelo asked.

“About her losing her job,” Naomi said. “I read it in the
Daily News
this morning.”

“Trina hasn’t even gone in front of that review board yet,” Aika said.

“Who’s that?” Naomi asked.

“My girlfriend, Aika,” Angelo said.

“Hey, girl,” Naomi said.

Aika rolled her eyes. “Hey, Naomi.” She threw her towel at Angelo and jumped onto the bed.

“It was on TV this morning, too,” Naomi said. “Send me those songs, Angelo. Bye.”

Aika looked out the windows at the rain. “Maybe Chinatown isn’t such a good idea today.” She rolled onto her stomach. “So what are we going to do instead?”

Angelo tossed his phone onto the nightstand. “We’re going over to Trina’s apartment and get some answers from Trina.”

“She lied to her boss,” Aika said. “Everyone does it. I’ve done it a dozen times since I met you.”

Angelo sat on the bed and rubbed her back. “You have?”

“When I was trying to leave in the morning and you had to
do
me one more time or you begged me to do that
thing
to you one more time,” Aika said.

“I didn’t beg,” Angelo said.

“You said please,” Aika said. “I have learned that when you say ‘please,’ you’re begging.”

“Well, what Trina did was different,” Angelo said.

“How is it different? You wanted more time with me, and I wanted more time with you. Trina wanted more time with Tony, so she lied.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t get caught being healthy on national television,” Angelo said. “And you’re not currently in danger of losing your job.” He bounced off the bed. “I’m getting dressed.”

“Why? We told them we’d play it by ear. It’s only eight o’clock. They’re probably still sleeping or watching the weather or . . .” She smiled.

Angelo turned. “You know something.”

“I don’t know anything for sure, but I have a feeling they’re doing what we
should
be doing on a rainy day,” Aika said.

“How do you know this?” Angelo asked.

Aika walked on her knees to the edge of the bed. “It’s just a hunch. But say they are. Is that such a bad thing?”

“Yes,” Angelo said.

Aika rubbed her breasts on his back. “They’re both adults. It’s allowed in this country. Get over it.”

“I can’t,” Angelo said. “I’m scared she’s going to . . . take him away from me.”

She turned him around and held him close. “You’ll never lose your brother’s love, Angelo. There’s no chance of that ever happening. None. You saw him the other day. He stuck up for you when I called you an asshole and you
were
being an asshole. You have his back, and he will always have yours. There’s a lot of you in his personality.”

“Yeah,” Angelo said. “The best parts.”

“So maybe this is a good time to let him go. Let him have his own life so you can live yours. He has proven he can function and thrive without you.”

“I have been his legal guardian for so long,” Angelo said. He laughed. “You know what Angela told me? She told me Tony retained her husband Matthew as his lawyer. That’s . . . almost normal, you know?”

“It is.”

“I just wish this wasn’t happening so fast,” Angelo said. “I hoped this day would come, but this is happening
way
too fast. Do you really think they’re sleeping together?”

“I hope so.”

“You hope so?”

“Yes,” Aika said. “And I hope they’re falling in love, because if they are, we’ll have more time for each other if Tony has someone devoted to him like that, and he is obviously devoted to her.” She removed his towel and pulled him onto the bed, stroking him firmly until he was hard. She wrapped her legs around him. “Show me how devoted you are to me.”

Angelo entered her. “Is this good enough?”

“Oh, that’s good,” Aika whispered. “Don’t move. Let me do the work.” She used her feet to pull him deeper inside her. “And if they’re a couple and they didn’t live with us, I could shout louder.”

Angelo held her hands. “Yeah?”

“And I’d even let you get me pregnant so we can start a family of our own,” Aika said louder. “You can start moving now.”

Angelo began thrusting.

“Because despite your arrogance, rudeness, and anger, I believe that we can make some beautiful children together,” Aika panted. “And I haven’t taken any birth control in over a month.”

Angelo smiled. “Will the baby be Italianese or Jap-alian?”

Aika gripped his buttocks. “Neither sounds very nice. We’ll just call them ours.”

Angelo plunged deeper. “Them?”

Aika arched her back and howled. “Twins run in my family, Angelo. I want to have two. These walls are pretty thick, aren’t they?”

“I guess,” Angelo said.

“So get to work and make me scream. . . .”

34

T
he ringing of Trina’s phone woke Tony, so he silently left Trina’s bedroom and the peacefully sleeping Trina to pick it up off the coffee table. “Hello?”

“Put Trina on the phone,” a man said.

“She is asleep,” Tony said.

“Put Trina on the phone now,” a man said. “This is Robert.”

“Hello, Robert,” Tony said. “How are you?”

“Put
Trina
on the phone,” Robert said.

“She is sleeping,” Tony said. “She is very tired. May I take a message?”

“You can
take
the phone to Trina,” Robert said. “It is very important.”

Tony blinked. “I will have her call you back.”

“No!” Robert shouted. “This is a matter of life and death!”

“Oh,” Tony said. “I will wake her then.”

Tony went into the bedroom and shook Trina’s leg. “It is Robert.” He put the phone into her hand. “It is a matter of life and death.”

Trina covered the mouthpiece. “Why did you answer it?”

“I did not want the ringing to wake you,” Tony said. He smiled. “We are still naked.”

Trina nodded. “Yep.”

“I will take a shower while you talk to Robert.” He went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Trina sat up, located her pillow at the foot of the bed—
how did that get there?
—and leaned back on the headboard. “What now, Robert?”

“You’re losing your job, Katrina,” Robert said.

Geez! Word flies so fast in the medical community, and I’m sure Nurse Sprouse broke quite a few HIPAA laws to make sure it flew faster.
“I haven’t lost my job, Robert. I go before the disciplinary review board on Monday.”

“The story is in the
newspaper,
Katrina,” Robert said.

I’m in the paper. How did an internal hospital affair become public knowledge? ES had to have made a phone call. I’m impressed. She actually did some work at work yesterday.
“What did the paper say?”

“That you lied to your supervisor about being sick,” Robert said.

“And?”

“You
lied
to a supervisor,” Robert said. “That alone should be grounds for dismissal, Katrina.”

“What about all the times I lied for your sorry ass when you were too wiped out from studying,” Trina said. “ ‘Hi, this is Robert Allen’s fiancée. He has a touch of the flu.’ ‘Hi, this is Robert Allen’s wife. He has a stomach virus.’ You could have been dismissed from med school if it weren’t for my lying.”

“Don’t you care about your livelihood?” Robert asked.

Once again, he didn’t hear a word I said.
“Oh, so it’s okay if I lie for you, but it’s not okay if I lie for me.”

“What have I always told you?” Robert asked.

Trina pulled a sheet up to her neck. “You have
always
told me so many forgettable things, Robert.”

“I’ve told you that you’ll have to work twice as hard as the white people at that hospital for them to see you as half as good,” Robert said. “One slip up and you’re gone.”

“You are so full of bullshit, Robert,” Trina said. “I work for a light-skinned
black
woman. How does this figure into your racist theories?”

“From the way you talked about her, I always thought Nurse Sprouse was white.”

“You
met
her once,” Trina said.

“And she looked white,” Robert said.

“Whatever.” Trina sighed. “Look, this is my first time ever before the disciplinary review board. I’ll get a slap on the wrist or a formal reprimand or another petty write-up in my file. That’s all.”

“They’re going to fire you, Katrina.”

“No, they aren’t.” Trina yanked the sheet off the bed, wrapped it around her, and stood in front of her mirror.
Look at you all wild-haired and wild-eyed. It’s a good look on you.