Twisted (17 page)

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Authors: Tracy Brown

BOOK: Twisted
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Georgia on My Mind
H
ours later, Celeste's phone rang again. She knew that Ishmael was on his way. He had told her that he would be on the first flight out in the morning. But it was still dark outside. Surely he hadn't arrived so soon. She answered the phone, cursing under her breath, eager for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
A familiar voice came through the receiver. “Don't hang up.”
Celeste looked at her bedside clock and saw that it was 4:40 A.M. “Rah-lo?” she asked, holding the phone close to her ear. “Do you know how late it is?”
Rah-lo was aware of the late hour but didn't care. He
had to talk to her. “I'm sorry I woke you up. I just had to say this to you and I couldn't wait.”
Celeste clicked on her Tiffany bedside lamp and propped herself up on her elbow, sighing. “What?”
“I still love you.”
The words hung in the distance between them as Celeste closed her eyes and pictured his face. She thought about all the times he'd said that he loved her over the years, how good it used to feel to hear him say it. But those days were gone. It was too late for that now. “Raheem, I have to work in the morning … .”
“I know.” He thought about it. “What kind of work do you do?”
Celeste stifled a yawn. “I work in marketing. Advertising, promotion, things like that.”
“Wow,” Rah-lo said. “That sounds official. You like it?”
“Yeah,” Celeste said, rolling her eyes. “But I won't like it tomorrow if you keep me up all night talking.”
“I know it's late,” he said. “And I don't mean to be inconsiderate. But I need you to know how I feel about you. I never stopped loving you, baby girl.”
Celeste shook her head. “I can't do this.”
“Just listen. I should have been with you all along. I was just trying to do right by my kids,”
“So then what gave you the guts to leave now?” Celeste frowned.
“I asked you to just listen.”
She fought the urge to smile. Who did he think he was?
“I got with Asia for all the wrong reasons. By the time I realized how miserable I was, I had three little girls and a wife who was teaching them wrong. So I thought the right thing to do was stay there and be a father to my kids. Asia just came along with the deal. I never loved her like I love you.”
“Listen—”
“Nah. You listen. Why can't you just understand that I was stupid to let you leave here? I wish I would've come down there to get you when you left. I didn't see how I could have you and my daughters at the same time. Asia wouldn't have let me see them if I left her back then. Now they're older. They understand more, and they can get to me on their own. I just wanted to tell you that I'm serious about seeing you again. I need to look you in your eyes and tell you some things. That's why I contacted you.”
Celeste couldn't believe her ears. “Are you done?”
“Yeah.”
“First of all you contacted me because Nina gave you the number. Ishmael is the one who found me. So who really wants to see me again, Rah-lo? You or your boy?” Celeste knew she was hitting a nerve and she loved the feeling. “Second of all, you're crazy for even calling me at this time of night. You don't know if I got a man or what.”
“Do you?”
“That's none of your business,” she spat. “Stop calling
me. I'm not interested in your sob story. You had a wife. You had no time for me. I walked away and you let me.”
“Is that how you see it?”
“That's how it is. Good night.” Celeste hung up the phone and then turned the ringer off. She threw herself back on the pillows and covered her face with the sheet, hoping to run from Rah-lo's voice in her ears.
 
 
In the morning, Rah-lo thought about his conversation with Celeste. She sounded so mad at him, and he hated that. She wasn't giving him a chance to explain. In his mind it wasn't that he had chosen Asia over Celeste. Instead, he believed that he had never had much of a choice to start with. It really was all about his little girls. He reasoned that all he needed was to see Celeste face-to-face to convince her that he loved her. He made up his mind that he was going to Atlanta to get her.
He packed his bags and called the airport to book a flight. Ishmael crossed his mind and Rah-lo shook his head. Yesterday he had paid a visit to Cito. He hadn't confirmed that Ishmael was indeed doing business for himself on the side. Cito refused to go so far as to snitch on the guy. But Cito did acknowledge that Ishmael—and a lot of dudes who played the sidekick role—would eventually get hungry. Cito told Rah-lo to keep in mind that Ish wasn't working a day job anymore. Chances were that Ishmael would want to
make more money, and Cito told Rah-lo that he had to expect that. While it wasn't the admission of guilt that Rah-lo had hoped for, his discussion with Cito had been all that Rah-lo needed to hear. He was finished with Ishmael both as a friend and as a business partner. Rah-lo called one of his workers and left him in charge. Then he loaded up his car and headed for the airport.
On the way, Rah-lo scrolled through his Blackberry. Dialing a number, he weaved across the nearly empty expressway. “What up, Uncle James?” Rah-lo spoke into his cell phone. “Yeah, I'm on my way down there and I want to crash at your crib for a while.”
Rah-lo's uncle James was older than Rah-lo's mother by seven years, which meant that he was about sixty-seven years old. He had been a very protective older brother to Rah-lo's mom. When she died at the age of fifty, James had taken it the hardest. He left New York City, moved to Atlanta, and had a modest home there, which he shared with his much younger wife and her two young sons. It was the family joke. Clearly, Uncle James was the twentysomething woman's sugar daddy, but he didn't give a damn. Rah-lo had only met his uncle's wife once, and she and her kids had left a lasting impression. Her boys were rude and they asked questions and said things that they had no business asking or saying to grown folks. Rah-lo wasn't really looking forward to spending time with his uncle and his newfound family. But Rah-lo didn't know how long he would be in Atlanta before he found Celeste.
And in the event that he did find her, he might need some place to stay for a while. Staying in a hotel long-term could end up being costly. That's where Uncle James came in.
“Yeah, come on down here, boy. You can stay for as long as you want.” Uncle James was thrilled to have Raheem coming to stay with him for a while. Ever since his sister Vivian had died years prior, James had wanted to connect with her son and make sure that the young man was living right. James knew enough about Rah-lo to know that he sold drugs, that he was fresh out of jail, and that he had a wife, with a girlfriend on the side. But James didn't know much more than that. This trip, his nephew coming to stay with him, would be a great opportunity for James to get to know the young man better.
Rah-lo was grateful to have his uncle's house to crash at. James made his living as a loan shark and dabbled in illegal numbers. His house was comfortable and he drove the flyest cars. Rah-lo laughed to himself as he hung up the phone, thinking that his uncle's gold-digging wife was probably driving all the fly cars now. He parked his car in the long-term parking section in the Continental Airlines terminal and dialed Asia's number.
She answered almost immediately. “You can call and talk to the girls and not me?” she asked, not even hesitating to start her usual bullshit.
“Up until now I had nothing to say to you,” he told her. “I'm leaving town for a couple of weeks.”
“Rah-lo, don't play with me. Ishmael said you been left town.” Asia frowned.
“Ishmael don't know what the fuck he's talking about. Either that or he just threw some shit in the game. I never left town. But I'm leaving today. I parked my car at the airport and there's money in the glove compartment. Come get my car and hold it till I get back.” Rah-lo knew that he'd never see the money again. And there was a chance that he might not see his car again, knowing Asia. She was likely to do anything. But he knew that she would ensure that his daughters were taken care of as long as he gave her the money to do so. Rasheeda had already told him that they'd been staying at their grandmother's house, with Asia dropping off money every couple of days. Now she could give her mother a lump sum, which would keep Mrs. Hudson's mouth shut. At least then he would know that his girls were safe. Asia's mom may be a bitch, but she took good care of her grandchildren.
Asia couldn't believe her ears. She was excited at the prospect of a lump sum of cash but concerned about where Rah-lo was running off to. “Where the fuck are you going, Raheem? We still never got the chance to talk about what happened.”
Rah-lo shook his head. “There ain't shit to talk about, Asia. Just come get my car and get the money. When I get back I'll give you some more dough. Where's the girls?”
“They're at my mother's house,” Asia answered flatly.
“They were at your mother's house on Wednesday when I called. What's up with that?”
“Don't worry about it. We ain't together no more, right?” Asia's attempt to make Rah-lo jealous fell flat.
“Right. I'll call you when I get back.” Rah-lo hung up the phone and made his way to his departure gate.
Flight 1121 for Atlanta, Georgia, is now boarding at Gate 8A.
Rah-lo walked over to the desk and gave his ticket and ID to the airline employee. She smiled at him, in a manner that was clearly forced, and he walked past her without returning the gesture. Once aboard the plane, he took out a folded-up piece of paper he had been carrying in his pocket. He opened it up and read the note Celeste had scrawled for him when she'd left.
“Life is short and I don't want to look back on mine with any regrets.” Rah-lo folded the note and stuck it back inside his pocket. He had read it a million times over the past few years, and he still couldn't believe that Celeste had walked away from him. He thought about all the memories they'd made over the years. The trips, the dinner dates, the rainy nights they spent making love to the rhythm of the drops on the windowpane. He thought about how she looked in the morning when the sunlight caressed her face, and how she looked at him with her eyes so full of love. These were all
things he missed about her, things he hadn't found in his wife. Celeste's words rang in his head.
Life is short,
he thought, and he was tired of living a life full of regret. He regretted letting her walk out of his life, regretted sacrificing his own happiness for the sake of everyone else's. But he didn't regret leaving Asia. Not for one second.
He glanced out the window on the plane and looked into the clouds that surrounded him. In about forty minutes, his flight would be landing in Atlanta. He intended to find Celeste and to win her back. This time, he was playing for keeps.
 
 
Nina walked into Charly's and headed straight for Robin. Robin looked up just in time to see Nina swinging at her, fists balled up and ready for war.
“You thought I was playing, bitch? You wanna fuck my man?” Nina was out of control. Robin ducked and dodged Nina's blows and then jumped on her, knocking her to the floor. Nina kept swinging, catching Robin a few times. But Robin was surprisingly strong and she was soon straddling Nina, punching her again and again. The two women fought like cats as the patrons in Charly's shop looked on in amazement.
The man whose hair Robin had been braiding tried to intervene and separate the women. But he was afraid that he would be hit by one of the many blows thrown between
them. Finally, he managed to pry Robin away from Nina and Charly stepped in and held Nina back.
“Calm the fuck down!” Charly yelled at Nina as she tried to get free. “Coming in here with this bullshit. You two should be embarrassed, fighting over Ishmael like this!”
Robin shot Charly an incredulous glance since she herself had fought over Ishmael at one time. As Robin turned her attention back to Nina, Robin's chest heaved with anger. “You're crazy!” she yelled. “He don't want you, bitch. Leave it alone.”
“Fuck you!” Nina said. “He definitely doesn't want you! He's only fucking your dumb ass!” Nina tried to charge at Robin again, but Charly held her tightly. “Stay away from him, Robin!”
Robin smirked. “He told me it's over with you and him, Nina. He told you, too. So as far as I'm concerned, he's a single man. I'm gonna keep fucking him for as long as I want. And I'm gonna keep letting him eat my pussy, too, you stupid bitch!”
Robin knew that she was stooping to Nina's level by antagonizing her with the details of her and Ishmael's sex life. But she was heated. This bitch had charged into Robin's place of work and tried to kick her ass. At that moment, rationality went out the window.

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