The Plug's Wife (6 page)

“ Go wait for me in my bedroom while I finish up with this business here.  We need to talk about this some more.”

Summer’s knees knocked together from her nerves.  As she walked by the room, she locked eyes for a few seconds with Mitch.  His beady, hazel-eyes gazed icily back.  On top of the table in the center of the room lay two open briefcases with rows of cash inside.  Summer’s heart jerked as she made her way to Jesse’s bedroom. 

Once inside she kicked off her shoes.  Pacing the floor with her hands on her hips, Summer’s mind went one hundred miles a minute.  That was a lot of money being exchanged.  Normal businessmen didn’t collect their money that way—criminals did.  Summer needed to learn more about Jesse’s enterprises.  That kind of money could solve a lot of her problems. 

In less than 10 minutes, Jesse joined her in the room.

“I’m not going to keep asking you to tell me what happened to your face.  I’m demanding it.  And don’t tell me no bullshit like you fell down some steps or some shit like that.  I wasn’t born yesterday, so start with the truth.  That’s a perfect fist mark on your eye,” Jesse said, pointing at her face.  Summer flopped down on the end of Jesse’s enormous, custom-made circular bed.  Exhausted, she cupped her face in her hands. 

“I’m waiting,” Jesse huffed.

“It was Rex…” Summer sobbed. 

“What? Move your hands and look at me!  I can’t hear you!” Jesse roared.  Summer had never seen Jesse like this before.  He was usually debonair, reserved, and cool.   She moved her hands.  The left side of her face throbbed.

“It was Rex, okay?  Rex fucked me up last night!  He found out that I was dating you and became jealous!  Although he’s got a wife and countless women on the side, he still doesn’t like that his lowly personal assistant is with someone else.  He attacked me out of nowhere and just pounded on me!” Summer sobbed wretchedly, her shoulder’s quaking with every word. 

Jesse’s whole body seemed to vibrate with anger.  Jesse’s jaw rocked, wired with rage.  He moved, but in no one particular direction.  He put his hands up like he wanted to say something.  His mouth opened, but no words came out.  He went back to pacing, fists clenched at his sides. 

“I’m scared of him, Jesse.  If I quit, I have nothing to support myself with,” Summer pleaded her case.  “He threatened to hurt you if I continue seeing you,” she whimpered. 

Jesse exploded, sending his fist into a wall next to the bed.  He didn’t take kindly to threats or woman beaters.  He grew up watching his stepfather abuse his mother while he stood by helplessly.  He wasn’t about to let the past repeat itself. 

“Please Jesse, I don’t know what to do!” Summer begged.

“Go take a bath and make yourself at home.  I’ll be back,” Jesse grabbed his leather jacket off of his closet doorknob and headed towards the door. 

“Where are you going?  Don’t leave me here,” Summer implored.  Jesse grabbed her roughly and pulled her against his body.  He hugged her tightly.  He didn’t want to let her go, but he needed to settle the score with Rex. 

“Nobody will ever hurt you again. You hear me?” He gently kissed the top of her head.  “Nobody,” he said with finality. 

Summer let out an appreciative whimper, shaking her head up and down vigorously to let him know she believed him. 

“I’ll be back soon,” Jesse said without giving her a chance to protest.

Summer waited a couple of minutes after he left before she started celebrating.  She waltzed into Jesse’s ultra-modern open floor plan kitchen, pulled out a wine glass, and poured the last of a dry red wine he had open on his counter.  Summer could definitely get used to living like this. 

“Here’s to me for being the smartest little poor girl around.  These rich business men can’t fuck with my game,” Summer toasted herself with a wicked smile. 

Getting herself a black eye was the hard part, using it to her advantage was the easy part. 

“Don’t worry, abuelita, you will get the care you need.  I have not forgotten about my real family,” Summer whispered. 

Three weeks after she arrived at Jesse’s house bruised and battered, Summer took her fake identification and beneficiary papers down to the National Benefit Life Insurance company in midtown Manhattan, where she received a five hundred thousand dollar check as one of the beneficiaries of Rex H. McKenzie, who had succumbed to injuries suffered during a mysterious attack. 

Being Rex’s assistant and dealing with his hellish behavior and sexual fantasies had finally paid off.  Using her looks and skills in the bedroom had been the easy part.  Building his trust had been the hardest part, especially getting him to sign papers she handed him without reading too closely. 

The first thing Summer did was pay a portion of her debt.  With the first payment, her grandmother would be released.  Summer planned to work very hard to get her other family members released as well.

                                                        ************************

“What the hell are you doing laying down in the closet like some crazy person?” Caralina’s voice jolted Summer out of her reverie.  “I heard R. Kelly’s sick ass does shit like this.  I know you ain’t about to be pissing on little kids and shit, so get up before I have you committed!” Caralina prattled on. 

Summer bolted upright. “How did you get in here?” Summer snapped, annoyed at Caralina’s bold interruption. 

“You only got an entire army sitting down in your kitchen.  You know they hate to see me coming so they just opened up a path and let me walk right on in,” Caralina said, chuckling.  Caralina looked spry and radiant.  She wore flawless makeup, a professionally laid shoulder length, bone straight hair-do and a bright, pastel colored stripped BCBG maxi dress that hugged her curves in all of the right places. 

“I’m not really up for company.  I’m still in pain, believe it or not.  Plus, I’m pretty tired. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately,” Summer complained, scooping up Jesse’s belongings and putting them back in the bag before Caralina noticed. 

“I know you’re not up for company, but that’s exactly what you need! Plus, I’m not damn company…I’m your BFF.  That’s right, chica!  Now, get ya ass up.  I will not take no for an answer so don’t even try to say it again,” Caralina insisted. 

Summer groaned and rolled her eyes.  Caralina tapped her foot impatiently. 

“Summer...you cannot…I repeat…can NOT stay locked up in this house and in this awful bedroom another damn day!” Caralina snapped.  Caralina stepped over Summer and went straight to her rows of hanging dresses.

“How about this little number?  I remember JB liked you in this color.  He said it made your high yellow ass look vibrant!” Caralina said cheerfully as she held up a fuchsia Nicole Miller mini dress with open slits on the sleeves. 

Summer twisted her lips.  What she really wanted to do was tell Caralina to go pound sand.

“How about this one? The green would be heavenly on you. And this dress might make you look like you have a nice ass, cuz we all know you got nice tits, nice legs, but hardly no ass,” Caralina laughed heartily at her own joke as she held up a mint green Bebe strapless maxi dress. 

“Whatever you pick, I’ll wear,” Summer submitted.  Perhaps she could use a little female company and fresh air.

Chapter 5
Nothing Is What It Seems

“I can’t believe getting you outside today was so damn hard! I had to practically drag you by the damn hair just to get you into the sun!  Your ass been vamping too long!”

Caralina sat across from Summer at Cubana Café, one of their favorite spots in Park Slope.  The bright red sectional style seating, the mix-matched paisley table cloths, and the bright yellow, orange, and sky blue paint and wall tiles was just the type of lively décor Caralina thought would help brighten Summer’s mood.  Plus, Caralina knew how much Summer enjoyed getting a taste of home cooking. 

“I know it’s hard to lose your husband before you were fully even man and wife, but you can’t just stop living,” Caralina said sympathetically, patting her hand.  She hoped Summer would eventually catch her vibe.

Summer picked up an appetizer-sized empanada, took a small bite, and threw it back down on her saucer.  The food tasted like cardboard in her mouth.  Her appetite had not returned quite yet.

“JB wouldn’t want you to stop living.  He’d probably want you to go shopping and buy some more pretty dresses or take a trip somewhere exotic,” Caralina continued winking at Summer playfully. 

Summer locked eyes with Caralina.  She wanted to tell her everything, but she didn’t quite trust her.  Summer shook her left leg under the table, contemplating her next move. 

“You try losing your husband, getting shot, and dealing with being scared all of the time.  I think you’d agree that all of that could cause a person to want to stop living… at least to stay holed up in their own home for a few months alone,” Summer replied sharply.  Suddenly, the jolly light-hearted mood Caralina was trying to create dropped like a stone in a pond. 

“I wasn’t try to dismiss your feelings or brush off what happened,” Caralina retorted.  “I was just joking about the shopping and trips,” Caralina said, her voice going low.  She’d tried everything to cheer her friend up.  She’d practically had to drag her off the floor of her closet just to get her to walk among the living.  This wasn’t what Caralina had bargained for today. 

The two friends sat quietly for a minute before the waitress bounced over to take their orders.  “What can I get you beautiful ladies to eat?” the cheerful waitress asked.  The girl took their order and disappeared from their table.  Silence ensued.

“They get younger and cuter, don’t they?” Caralina quipped, trying to cut the tension. Summer bit down on her bottom lip and looked at Caralina.  She owed her some sort of explanation.

“I found out some stuff about JB that really has me fucked up,” Summer blurted.  She couldn’t pretend any longer.  Caralina paused with a forkful of ceviché about to enter her open mouth.  She put the fork down and looked at Summer, curiosity in her gaze. 

“Aside from all of the shit that has come out about his legal and illegal business dealings, I found out that JB has a son that was born after we were already together.  A child that he never told me about.”

Caralina’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline.  She took a big sip of her pink, white, and yellow swirled frozen margarita. 

Summer had always wanted children of her own.  Jesse knew it.  He also knew about her fear of being a horrible parent because of her own childhood traumas. 

“How did you find out?” Caralina finally asked, her eyes focusing somewhere beyond Summer’s shoulder.

“I went through some of his things and found a picture of the little boy at the funeral. I could tell it was the same kid,” Summer replied, her voice trailing off.  She turned her face away, looking out of the café’s big windows.  From where they were seated, in front of the huge expanse of glass windows, she could see the bustling Brooklyn streets.  It was amazing how normal life could appear sometimes, even with so much turmoil going on inside.

Caralina was unusually quiet.  Summer turned back towards her friend waiting for her reaction.  Her friend was rarely at a loss for words.

“Shocked?” Summer asked surprised by her friend’s mild reaction.

“Nah…not shocked.”  Caralina cleared her throat and toyed nervously with her napkin before she looked her friend in the eyes.  “I already knew.”

Summer jerked in her chair, as if a bolt of lighting had struck her. A dark storm was building inside of her and she felt like she needed to do something to release that energy. 

“I’m sorry!  I found out in the most fucked up way and because of how I found out, I couldn’t tell you. Every time I got up the nerve to say something, I would chicken out last minute.  I knew it would fuck everything up for me and for you, so I thought it best to just—” Caralina rambled, stumbling over her words. 

“I can’t fucking believe you knew something like that and stood next to me as my maid of honor! You let me marry a man who was lying to me about who he was!  You’re just as fucked up—if not more fucked up—than him and his bullshit!” Summer balled her cloth napkin up and tossed it onto the table, pushing her chair back to leave. “Anything else you think I need to know?  I guess you were friends with him first, right? Bros before hoes and all that,” Summer spat. 

“Wait, Summer. Let me explain, please.”

Caralina reached her hand out towards her friend but Summer knocked it aside.  Caralina’s shoulders slumped and she exhaled a windstorm of breath.  She had seen this day coming a long time ago, but still wasn’t prepared to deal with the consequences of her inaction.

“Look, I’m fucking with Scrap, okay?  I’m fucking with him in the real sense…like involved, involved with him.  We have been for a while now.  I just didn’t know how to tell you,” Caralina confessed, lowering her eyes. 

Summer pursed her lips and shook her head in disgust.  Summer thought she knew Caralina fairly well, but it looked like no one was who they appeared to be and nothing was what it seems.  The ironic part was that Summer too was just another actor in this play as well. 

Summer was deeply disappointed in her friend.  Granted, she’d met Caralina through Jesse, but they seemed to forge a quick, genuine friendship.  Summer had made few female friends since arriving in the United States.  She didn’t like the jealousy or rivalry that accompanied most female friendships. Her friendship with Caralina, up until today, had been relatively simple and straightforward.

“What does your relationship with Scrap have to do with knowing about Jesse?” Summer pressed, needing some answers.

“Scrap got drunk one night and told me about JB’s baby mother.  A girl named Tanya that used to work at the Luxurious Ladies club that Doon owns.  From what I understand, the girl has a bad on- and off-again heroin habit.  When JB found out she was pregnant and the DNA test revealed he was the father, JB was beyond upset.  Scrap said JB was raging mad that he got the girl pregnant, so I guess he tried to keep it all on the down low.” 

Summer closed her eyes, nostrils flaring.  The information Caralina relayed slipped into her head like the blade of a knife.  She had been rendered speechless.  She nodded her head for Caralina to continue.

“Scrap said there was nothing like love or any feelings between Tanya and JB.  Apparently they hooked up during one of those rare nights when JB decided to drink and party at the club.  Some of the guys thought it was a set up to trap him into some blackmail shit.  Like someone hired Tanya to seduce JB—to slip him something and get herself pregnant.  Summer, I’m sorry.  I just wanted to keep my relationship with Scrap on the low until I was sure about us.  He asked me to do that.  He didn’t want all of the guys to know.  He didn’t want you to know right away.  I guess, just like me, he wanted to be sure that our thing was real.  I couldn’t betray his trust or else it would’ve fucked everything up for us.  Honestly, I think JB was planning on telling you.  He just didn’t want to take a chance that you’d find out before the wedding and then refuse to marry him.”

Caralina’s words fell like bricks off the side of a skyscraper.  Summer turned and raised her hand for the waitress.  The cheery bombshell Latina sprang over again, her smile just as bright as earlier. 

“I’ll take the check.  You can scrap the order.”

“Is everything alright?  Did you not like something?” the waitress asked worriedly. 

“Just the check, please,” Summer said firmly.  Taken aback, the waitress scampered from the table.  In less than 10 seconds, she was back with the bill. 

“Hurry up,” Summer said, slipping her card inside holder. 

Caralina took a big gulp of her margarita, draining her glass.  She couldn’t believe how quickly their conversation had deteriorated.  She wished now that she’d kept her big mouth shut. 

“It didn’t tell you because I knew how hurt you would be,” Caralina implored, trying to salvage what was left of their friendship.

“Really? You kept a potentially life-altering secret from me because you were getting some dick from a fucking boy—not even a man—a boy that probably doesn’t give a flying fuck about you.  You’d rather stay loyal to a dude than to your so-called best friend? Then you lied in my fuckin’ face at that funeral…you knew damn well who the little boy was then. Yeah, that tells me as much as I need to know about our friendship and about you,” Summer gritted. 

The waitress returned, cutting their conversation short.  “Ma’am, your card has been declined.” 

Summer glowered at the girl. “Impossible! Run it again!”   The room was starting to spin. Summer needed to get out of the restaurant before she knocked over tables or threw plates at the wall.  She felt ready to explode. 

“I can’t. We are only allowed to do it three times.  I did it the allowed three times and it said “declined” each time.”  The waitress patiently waited for an alternative form of payment.

Summer dug into her fuchsia Givenchy clutch and pulled out three more cards. 

“I have fucking money!  Run them all!” Summer flicked each card at the waitress like she would deal cards for poker. 

“I got it,” Caralina said, pulling out a wad of crumpled cash from her pocketbook.  Summer shot her a look.  Summer was usually the one who paid for their meals. 

“I don’t need your fucking money.  I don’t want shit from you.  What you could’ve done for me, months ago, you failed to do!” Summer drove her point home. 

Caralina dropped the money on the table and stood to leave. 

“Sometimes Summer, everything is not about you.  You’re not the only one that deserves love.  You’re not the only one who deserves to live well. If you can’t understand that, then have a nice life.  There aren’t many people that will put up with some of your shit either.  If you’re mad at me because I kept information from you, remember that it wasn’t my secret to tell.  I can’t help it if your husband didn’t respect you enough to keep his junk in his pants,” Caralina said tightly, storming past the table and out the café doors.  Her final words filled Summer’s head like smoke from an old Cuban man’s cigar—redolent and sharp. 

“All of these cards were declined too,” the waitress returned, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. 

“Fuck all of you!” Summer spat, grabbing her bag and exiting in a huff.  Her paid security scampered behind her like lost puppies as she stormed to her waiting car. 

                                                        ***********************

Summer kept her eyes trained on the silvered haired old man on the other side of the desk.  His furrowed brows, pinched mouth, and rapid tapping on the computer keys unnerved her.  She could sense that something wasn’t right.  With each keyboard peck, the old man’s facial expression grew graver.  Summer had never been in the corporate office suites of this bank, but this was where exclusive wealthy clients conducted their money transactions. 

She went to the bank to demand an explanation for all of her cards being declined.  They almost immediately referred her to the bank’s manager who escalated her “case” up to corporate chain.  Summer wished she could see the computer screen so she could glean some information about her accounts. 

“Let me just try one more thing,” the old man said, popping up out of his chair like a jack in the box.  “I’ll be right back, Mrs. Banks.” 

Summer looked down at her watch.  She sucked her teeth in disgust.  She’d already been waiting for forty minutes.  The old man returned with a much younger man.  The tall, pimply faced, raven haired man stretched his hand out towards Summer and identified himself as Mr. Chumpsky, Vice President of the branch.  To her, he looked more like Vice President of student council. 

“Mrs. Banks, I’m very sorry but all of Mr. Banks’ regular and investment accounts have been frozen.  At this time, we do not have any other information for you.  We will further investigate the matter and get back to you.  There’s really not much else I can tell you,” Mr. Chumpsky said, his protruding Adam’s apple nervously bobbing up and down.

Summer closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to keep her composure. 

“I don’t understand.  My husband has hundreds of thousands of dollars. How can none of that be available?” Summer asked as calmly as her raging brain allowed. 
How am I supposed to live now?  I can’t support myself, let alone help my family.  Oh my God! 
Summer’s mind did somersaults.  “How long do you need to investigate this?” she asked, desperation underlying her words.