Abnormal Lives (25 page)

Simone reached over and grabbed Stefan's arm. “Ain't no need for all that; calm down.”

“Hell you mean, calm down?” Stefan snapped. “This nigga had you all beat and burned the fuck up and you're telling me to calm down.”

“This is not the time or the place,” Simone said. “Besides, what you gonna do with that?” Simone nodded toward the butter knife Stefan held in his hand. “Rub it across his neck and hope you break his skin?”

Stefan paused for a moment. Simone was right for once. There was no need to mess up his lunch by causing a scene and getting thrown out of the restaurant. Although he was willing to run up on Wayne, Wayne had a few others with him that may not let him fight alone and Stefan didn't think he would fare well against the four of them. Stefan sat back down and sipped his drink. “That's awright, I've seen the nigga here, so there's a good chance I'll run into him again and when I do, I'm whipping that ass.”

Simone shook her head. “No, I've got a better idea.”

22

Stefan flipped his cell phone closed and glanced in the direction of Wayne's table as he scribbled a message on a napkin:

Want the charges dropped? Meet me at the Hyatt hotel, room 223 in two hours.

Stefan gave the napkin to a waitress to pass on to Wayne and hurried out of the restaurant.

He looked at Simone and smiled as he got in the car. “We need a camcorder.”

Stefan lay across the bed in the hotel room on his stomach, wearing a purple corset and a matching G-string. Simone stood in the closet focusing the camcorder on the bed through the opening in the door. Her fingers were crossed. She hoped that Wayne would show up and everything would go as planned. She touched the gun on her side, recalling what Stefan had said when he handed it to her. “Don't look at me like you don't know what it is. If something goes wrong up in here, you might have to use it.”

Wayne slid the key card, which was left at the front desk for him, into the door. He walked in, checking out the curves on the body that lay across the bed. He smiled, pleased by what he saw.

Simone's palms became sweaty and she closed her eyes.
Please, please let this work.

Wayne moved closer toward the bed, taking off his shirt and laying it in the chair. Stefan sat up in the bed and stretched, leaning his head back.

Wayne came to a halt, looking at Stefan's Adam's apple, noticing how round and prominent it was. He then moved his eyes down to Stefan's chest, staring wildly as if he was confused. “What the fuck is this?”

Stefan reached his hand out, wanting Wayne to grab it so he could pull Wayne into the bed with him. “Your get out of jail free card.”

Wayne grabbed the phone off of the table beside the bed and threw it at Stefan.

Stefan blocked the phone with his forearm and jumped to his feet. “Nigga, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I don't know what you thought when you wrote your little note but I ain't no fucking punk!” Wayne shouted, spraying Stefan with saliva.

Stefan wiped the spit from his face. “What I was thinking was you could use a favor.” Stefan smirked. “And from what I heard, you like going in the rear too much not to be.”

“Watch how you come off at me,” Wayne said. “I'll hurt you.”

Stefan grabbed his clothes off of the bed. “Fuck this; I ain't about to waste my time standing here arguing with yo' ass. I'll put on my clothes and leave.”

Wayne looked at Stefan with disdain in his eyes. “You ain't hurting me.”

“After they sentence your ass and you get to pulling that time, you'll wish you'd taken me up on my offer,” Stefan said.

“Do you know who I am?” Wayne asked. “I ain't fitting to do no time for that bullshit.”

Stefan smirked. “You mean, do I know who you
were
. Nigga, that shit is old news. With the evidence they have, your fate is as good as sealed. But, on the other hand, if you let me work this out for you, I'll get her to say everything that happened that night was consensual. It's y'all usual thing; she likes rough violent sex and that's how she wanted you to give it to her. Hell, depending on how good you are, I'll get you a public apology.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Stefan glanced over at the closet, wondering if Wayne agreed to go along with it, was Simone ready, was she able to get a good view of them through the opening in the door, and was she ready to stomach the fact that what he had told her about Wayne was true. Wayne put up such a fight that Stefan started to question whether he was right about Wayne's sexuality.

Wayne moved closer to him. “What makes you think this would be an option for me?”

“If it wasn't, you wouldn't still be here.”

Wayne grabbed Stefan by his arms and threw him down on the bed.

Stefan looked up at Wayne as he unbuckled his pants. Stefan smiled at the sight of Wayne's erection. “I knew you'd change your mind.”

Wayne let drool fall from his mouth onto his fleshy chocolate tool and began to stroke it with his hand, lubricating it, preparing to enter Stefan. “Shut the fuck up and bend over.”

Simone sat on the couch, twirling a lock of her hair and watching the DVD of Stefan and Wayne as she made copies. She pinched herself.
I can't believe Stefan was right.
Why would Wayne be interested in guys? It was hard to believe it was the first time he
had been with another man. If he had never considered being with, or had never been sexually active with a man, he wouldn't have been coerced so easily. A man's pride is hard to break and when you insult it, you put yourself in harm's way. They will fight, kill, die over it. So it was hard to believe a jail sentence that wasn't exactly etched in stone would cause Wayne to go against his morals. Then again, as her grandmother used to say, they don't make men like they used to.

On the other hand, Wayne seemed too damn comfortable not to have done it before. Nonetheless she took pleasure in having her goal accomplished and prepared to go to the post office where she could have a copy of the DVD mailed to Wayne overnight.

23

W
ayne picked up the envelope he had signed for earlier that day. He wondered who it could be from. The sender had only written “guess who” on the envelope and drawn a smiley face beside of it. He debated about opening it. He thought of the possibility of it containing anthrax or something else that may be hazardous to his health. He fiddled with the envelope for a moment, trying to get some idea of what was inside. He felt something round and thin that only took up a small portion of the envelope. Right away, he realized that it was a CD or DVD. He tore open the envelope and pulled it out.

He read the label:
Did I ever tell you I always get the last laugh?

Wayne smiled. He knew it was from Simone. He would bet every last cent he had on it. He stared at the DVD for a moment, wondering what could be on it. Why would she have sent it to him? Maybe she had made a recording, ranting and raving about how she knew about what had happened between him and her cousin, enraged about the idea of him giving his dick away again.

Crazy-ass bitch just can't get over me.
Wayne looked in the mirror, flexed his muscles, and then smiled.
Shit, I can't blame her. Just look at me.

Then he thought maybe it was what Stefan had promised. Maybe it was a video of Simone admitting that he didn't rape her and apologizing to him.

Wayne put the DVD in the player and sat down on his bed to watch it. He grinned with anticipation. He was ready to laugh, ready to see Simone make a fool out of herself. But his grin quickly left his face. There was no yelling, no screaming, no confession, no apology, no Simone; just a lot of panting and him and Stefan going at it. Wayne jumped off of his bed and shoved the TV on the floor, and then stomped it when it didn't cease playing. He yanked the DVD player out of the wall and slung it into the mirror. He fell down on his bed, holding his chest, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't believe it. No one was there but Stefan and him. He didn't remember seeing a camcorder. He couldn't believe they'd set him up. What was more unbelievable to him was that he fell for it. How could he? He considered himself to be smarter than that. But he let his desire get the best of him. Not his desire to get the charges dropped against him. He had a good chance of that anyway. He had a good lawyer and there was also the maid that had overheard their dispute.