War (21 page)

“Oh, and Senator Westlake,” the chief says to me.

“Yes, sir.”

              “Go home.”

              “I’ll be on the first flight out.”

MATT

“What the hell made you punch that cop?”

              “Instinct. I’m from Roxbury. It’s in my blood.”

              “Matt, you drink Pierre sparkling water and sleep on goose feather pillows,” Jake says.

              “Doesn’t matter, I’m still from The Rox.” I take a sip of my Pierre.

“Yeah, whatever. You plan on hogging all the chips?” Jacob pulls the bag of sour cream and onion chips towards him and dumps some on a napkin. We’re in the Chief of Police’s office, sitting at the conference table. Jacob went and bought us both prosciutto sandwiches, light on the oil, heavy on the vinegar, and tomato basil soup from the Italian deli next door. I’m dressed in an orange jumper, like the rest of the prisoners. Of course, I was given my new clothes after I was booked and fingerprinted. Most likely I’ll be sleeping on a paper thin mattress tonight. But this is by choice.

              “Is anyone outside the jail holding up ‘Free Matt’ signs?” I ask.

              “Not yet,” Jake says as he puts a chip in his mouth. “But I’m sure once your wife finds out that you’re not coming home tonight, they’ll be holding up Free Rena signs. And if I’m the lucky guy to let her know that you’re not coming home, they may be holding up Justice for Jacob signs.” I laugh before I take a slurp of my soup. “Not looking forward to that, I can tell you that much.” He takes a bite of his sandwich.

              “She’ll understand.”

              “You think so, huh?”

              “I can’t let you get me out of here.” The chief got the undercover to drop the charges against me but there’s no way I can walk out of here today. “I need to stand before the judge or at least stay in here over the weekend. If not, Marlon and Jon will know something’s up. They won’t understand why you got me out.”

              “But I’ll be your lawyer in court on Monday.”

              “Yeah, but I can work that like it’s a
quid quo pro
type of thing.”

              “You
do
know that according to US law and tradition quid quo pro would mean that if I get you out of jail, I expect sexual favors from you.”

              “Yep,” I say with a smirk.

              “I see it took no time at all for you to assimilate into the culture here.” We both laugh before we take a bite of our sandwiches.

              “Mac has a judge who’ll go through the motions of seeing you in court and then ceremoniously drop the charges.”

“Good. Tell him I said thanks.”

“Oh and you’ll be on a foldout couch while you’re here.” Jake points to the couches in the center of the room. “Don’t worry, they’re really comfortable. Just sleep on the one closest to the fireplace, the other one has a loose spring in it. Been asking the chief to fix that for years now. There’ll be a guard outside the door. Joe. Nice guy, he’ll bring you Starbucks in the morning if you take the initiative and ask.”

              “Do they have the pillows that I like?”

              “Shut the hell up. No.”

              “I guess whatever they give me will do.” We both let out a light laugh as we continue to eat our sandwiches. I can tell we’re both itching to talk about Jasmine since we’ve talked about everything but. We’ve talked about what happened earlier. He told me that he planned for the undercover cops to be at the hospital this morning. He told me that Adam was supposed to keep me out of the fight. But we haven’t talked about the reason for the fight. “So let’s talk about Jasmine,” I say before taking a sip of Pierre.

              “Figured we’d get around to her sooner or later.” He takes a sip of his Pierre. “I threw her under the bus.” He doesn’t make eye contact with me.

              “I’m listening.” I take a sip of my soup. He takes a deep breath.

              “Hated to do it but after last night…let’s just say I’ve been up, going on twenty-four hours.”

              “When did you see her last night?”

              “Winnie left the bar, that new one that opened up near the harbor.”

              “Rena went there last night with Jasmine.”

              “Well Rena must’ve left early. I hired a car and as we’re about to pull off, Jasmine slides into the back seat. We’re talking and then flash, someone takes a picture. I get nervous as hell since you told me that you thought you were being followed. So I go in panic mode, my mind already planning what the hell I’d do next. Because trust me, if Winnie thought I was sleeping with Jasmine, she’d take the kids and every drop of money in the bank and leave me for good. Jasmine got mad that I didn’t seem interested in her being there, so she hopped out of the car in the middle of the street.”

              “That’s the last you saw of her.”

              “That was it.” He puts his hands up. “I swear to God.”

“Alright, I believe you.”

“But that camera flash had me nervous. You know, in most people’s lives, a camera is a form of entertainment. In the lives of the Blairs, it’s normally used as a weapon. So I started plotting. I talked to Mac, talked to Nat, and then we decided that I’d come to the chief. I needed to have an excuse for Winnie if there was a picture out there of Jasmine and me. I’d just tell Winnie that Jasmine was stalking me. But I knew that wouldn’t be enough. I had to make it look legit. So, I called the chief this morning, told him what was going on-”

“Your version of it.”

“Well, of course. He met me here this morning. I showed him the footage of the fight between Jasmine and Winnie in the hallway and from Pirahna’s that same night. He looked up the audio to the 911 call and saw that Jon made it. I told him about Winnie seeing Westlake after she and I divorced, told him that Westlake was back in town. And, I won’t lie, I showed him the note you wrote me.”

“Jake…” I drop my head back. “I told you to bury that muthafucka!”

“Matt, this is my life, my wife, we were dealing with here.” He locks eyes with me. “I can’t lose my wife.” I take a deep breath before taking a sip of Pierre.

“Go on.”

“Chief saw the evidence, I told him that something may happen at the hospital, he agreed and arranged for the undercovers.”

“All premeditated…damn.”

“We planned to set up Jon and Marlon, we had no idea if Demetrius would be bold enough to come to the hospital. But, if he was, we had Cadence to cover him. Looks good, ya know? Senator Westlake showing up at the hospital where he knew Senator Cadence Blair would be. Turned the whole thing political at that point. Big fight about The Hill. Senators fighting for their country. And it took the heat off Winnie just in case the media found out that her ex-boyfriend was there.” He rolls his eyes at that last part.

“So is it over?”

“What? The beef between Marlon and me?”

“Yeah.”

“No idea. I mean, I just told this man in a room full of people that his wife was sexually harassing me. That his wife is obsessed over my dick.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I’m in here.” I take a sip of my soup.

“Now Jon and me? I’m sure there’s no beef left between us. He’s mainly Malcolm’s headache.”

“And Demetrius?”

“Gone back to DC with his family.”

I nod before taking a bite of my sandwich. Jacob gazes off for a moment, thinking.

“What?” I ask.

“I’m a fucking idiot.” He takes a bite of his sandwich.

“I’m listening.”

“I’ve been married to Winnie for thirteen years, minus the year we were divorced.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And, between you and me, I’ve cheated on her with four different women.”

“Not that bad. At least it’s not as bad as I thought.”

“Bad enough.” He takes a sip of his water.

“You plan on doing it again?”

“Never.”

“Good. Then move on.” He nods his head and then stares off.

“What? So now you plan on beating yourself up about it for the rest of your life?”

“I feel like a piece of shit, Matt.” He sits back in his chair, his eyes staring down towards the table. “Winnie is
down
for me.” He looks up at me. “Do you hear me? She’s
down
for me, Matt.”

“I already know. I’ve got one at home myself.” He nods, knowing that I completely understand him. Rena is the only woman alive that I have ever, and I mean ever, loved. There is no woman on the face of this earth, dead or alive, like Serena Beauvais. Not one.

“So I know what I did to Jasmine today was shitty.” He shrugs before taking a bite of his sandwich. “But it is what it is. Because there’s no way in
hell
that I’m losing Gwyneth.”

I smile at my man. He’s serious about that shit. “You know, now that you have a whole new outlook on life, maybe you should get Malcolm to tell Rena about me staying in jail over the weekend. You know how in the movies a bad guy turns good over breakfast and then gets hit by a bus right after lunch?”

“You’re right, my life matters.” He takes his cell out of his pocket. “I’ll have Mac deliver the news.” I slide the potato chip bag back over to me.

“Well, knowing my Rena, she’ll take it all with grace.”

MALCOLM

              “All bets are
off
up in this muthafucka!” Rena screams out in the hospital suite. Red, Winnie and I look on, waiting for the other to say the first word. Winnie’s seated on a couch in the suite’s living room, Red is on a bed nearby and I’m sitting on the side of it. We’re all bracing ourselves. Rena starts pacing, her arms folded across her chest, her heels clicking against the floor.

Thanks, Jake.

              It’s ten at night so visiting hours are over. But of course, the nurses gave Rena and Winnie a pass. Jake’s been at the jail all day with Matt. Last he texted me, they were watching the Celtics and the Knicks and eating kettle corn in the chief’s office. He hadn’t spoken to Winnie yet about the Fultons saying he was with Jasmine, but I had prepped her for what was to come, according to Jake’s instructions: Jasmine was starting to stalk him. Winnie didn’t say a word, was noncommittal in her reaction and simply took the information in without saying a word. This was done partly because there was family here and Jasmine was here as well. But Winnie isn’t an arguer. She isn’t a debater; she’s a fighter. And Jake knows this. They won’t be resolving matters over the phone; they’ll be doing that in person. Winnie smiled and carried on today like she didn’t have a care in the world. I’d hate to be Jake tonight.

Jasmine wasn’t as carefree. I told her that Marlon was released from jail at around one and yet by seven, she had been calling him and still couldn’t reach him. Her parents took Tiffany and Pearl to their home at Jasmine’s request. All day I saw her on her phone, her face marked with worry lines, whispering with a concerned Dena, but still trying to smile and look happy. About an hour ago, she whispered something to Dena, punched something into her cell phone, left the room and never came back.

My family had just considered the fight one incident among many that would always fester between Jon and me, since they’re convinced he still secretly loves Red. The consensus was that what happened this morning was a crime of passion. A handful of us knew otherwise.

Jax, Red’s father, invited me to sit with him in his truck. Once comfortably inside, he proceeded to chew me the hell out. I sat there and took it like a man.

My only daughter … My only granddaughter … Be the bigger man … Could have ended real bad, real quick … Stole her from Jon … Paying the price now … These are the breaks …She’s happy now … Doesn’t mean everyone is … Security should have stopped him at the door … Would never have gotten this far … Are we still on for Monday’s Celtic game?

“
My
husband? Out of everyone’s husband,
mine
goes to the slammer?” Rena says. She looks at Red, Winnie and me. I look at Winnie and Red. They look at me. We unanimously decide that this is a rhetorical question. We say nothing.