Big and Aimee: Beautiful Chaos (8 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Dinero pulled up to his mother’s house and got out. Rochelle had just returned from New Orleans and he wanted to see her. Rochelle’s husband, Carlos, owned a businesses in Nola so she often traveled back and forth with him. Rochelle had come into Dinero’s life two years ago after being forced away by his father when he was a baby. Dinero and his brothers had been devastated and stopped talking to their father for months after the revelation. After all the pain and betrayal melted away, they finally forgave Dom, and Rochelle found love again. Dinero rang the doorbell and waited. Carlos answered the door.

“What's up, Dinero? How’re you doing?” he asked as he gave Dinero a handshake.

“I’m straight. What's up with you?”

“Nothing much. Same shit different day.”

“I feel you. Is my mama here?”

“Yeah, she's in the living room.”

Dinero walked off and found his mother curled up on the couch watching the Lifetime Movie Network. She looked over and smiled when she saw him.

“Hey, honey. What are you doing here? Did you miss me?”

Dinero chuckled and walked over to sit next to her. “Something like that,” he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh, you're too old to miss your mama? What's up, though? How’s my baby boy?”

“I’m good. How was Nola?”

Rochelle released a sigh. “It was okay. We went there to work so I don’t have anything exciting to share. But you look like something is on your mind. Do tell.”

Dinero chuckled and wondered how his mother could always tell when something was on his psyche. “Well, I like this girl, but I don’t wanna like her.”

Rochelle laughed and shook her head. “Why not? Boy, what is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t had feelings for a woman since my ex and I honestly don’t know how to deal with it again. I ain't gon’ lie, Ma, she scares me,” he revealed.

“I think you have issues with women because I wasn’t around.”

“That’s the same thing she said. I think so too.”

“So how do you know that you like her?”

Dinero rubbed his hands over his face. “I find myself thinking about her a lot. When she calls me, I actually sit on the phone and talk to her. Mama, you know I don’t talk on the phone. Then the sex is…”

Rochelle cut him off. “Um…
TMI
. I don’t need to know about your sexual relations, okay?”

“I’m just tryin’ to keep it real. She’s cool as hell, but I'm not tryin’ to be in a relationship.”

“Well, did you express that to her?” Rochelle asked.

Dinero nodded. “I did, and she said that she was cool with being my friend. Like I said before, I don’t wanna like her, but I can’t help it.”

Rochelle adjusted her body so that she could face Dinero. “Well, son, sometimes our feelings have a mind of their own. Don’t be scared of love because it can be a beautiful thing, especially if it’s with someone who has your heart. I was around Carlos for years and didn’t realize how much love I had for him. When he revealed his feelings to me, just like you, I tried to run away from what was inside my heart. But I soon realized that I was indeed in love with him, and I put my guard down and allowed him to love me. I know you think you don’t know how to love a woman, but that’s not true. You’ve done it before. You just need to let your guard down.”

Dinero released a sigh and thought about what his mother had said. He was once in love with a woman, but she’d hurt him terribly when she disappeared. After that relationship, Dinero turned off his love for women. He had already grown up with ill feelings toward women because he thought that his mother didn’t love him. After the truth about the situation regarding his mother was revealed, Dinero knew he had to work on himself as a man so he could eventually fall in love again and not hurt his future lady. He didn’t know what the future held for him and Asia, but he knew for a fact that he liked her.

“Who’s the girl?” Rochelle asked.

Dinero smiled. “It’s Aimee’s twin.”

“I didn’t know Aimee had a twin. Well, if she’s identical to Aimee, I can see why you like her.”

Dinero chuckled. “Whatever.”

“Yeah, I know its whatever. Are you hungry?”

“Hell yeah. That’s why I came over,” he joked as he rubbed his stomach.

“I knew your fake ass ain't come to see me. Come on.”

****

Dillon sat on his couch rolling up a blunt. He had been back from Gary for a week now and felt the coast was clear for him to move around freely. He used his tongue to seal the blunt and then grabbed his lighter. He placed the blunt between his lips and fired up the end. He inhaled the strong kush and sat back. Dillon had been on the go lately, and he was happy to finally enjoy some alone time. He was an introvert, preferring to be alone most of the time. The only other people he enjoyed hanging with were the twins. Since he hadn't heard from either of them, he decided to call them. He dialed Asia’s number first.

“Hello?” she answered solemnly.

“Damn, you sound like your dog died. What's up, girl?” he asked, noticing that she didn’t sound like her usual self. Asia was quiet for a moment before she said, “Well, it’s worse than my dog. It was actually my
mother
.”

Dillon quickly sat up straight and dropped his blunt in the ashtray. “What? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. She was in a car accident yesterday morning.”

Dillon shook his head because Jovelyn was such a sweet woman. He couldn’t imagine the pain that the twins and their father were feeling.

“Damn, that’s crazy. Well, do you need anything? You know I'm here for y’all.”

“I appreciate that Dillon, but at the moment I’m okay. I don’t know about Aimee, though, because she's not answering her phone.”

Dillon bit his bottom lip. He wanted to go check on Aimee just to make sure she was okay. “Aye, I’ll go check on her so you won’t be worried. Then I’ll come over to your house to sit with you. I don’t want y’all to be by yourselves during this time. How’s your father doing?”

Asia sighed. “I talked to him earlier and he sounds like he’s doing a little better than yesterday. He has to plan the funeral, so he hasn’t had a lot of time to grieve.”

“Man, this is fucked up. But I'm about to go over to Aimee’s and then I’ll be at your place.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Dillon got up and got dressed. After he was fully clothed, he grabbed his keys and headed for his car. On the ride to Aimee’s, he tried calling her, but he didn’t get an answer. He just hoped that she was okay because she was such a mama’s girl.

Dillon arrived after twenty minutes and hopped out of his ride. He walked to her door and rang her doorbell. Dillon heard the locks disengage seconds before he came face to face with Big. Big gave him a blank look as he stood there and waited for him to say something.

“Um, is Aimee here?” Dillon asked.

“Who are you?”

“I’m her friend, Dillon. I was just coming by to check on her.”

“Aimee’s not feeling too good right now,” Big said and slammed the door in his face.

“Did this mothafucka just slam the door in my face?” Dillon asked himself.

He became furious by Big’s blatant disrespect. All he wanted to do was check on his friend and see how she was doing. Dillon started to ring the doorbell again and give Big a piece of his mind, but he decided that Aimee didn’t need the drama right now. Dillon reluctantly walked off and got inside of his car. He figured he would try to talk to Aimee later when Big wasn’t around. In the meantime, he drove off and made his was to Asia’s place.

Once he arrived at Asia’s house, he walked straight in. Dillon found her lying in her bed. He tapped her lightly to see if she was awake.

“I’m up,” Asia said softly as she patted the space next to her.

Dillon took off his jacket and climbed in the bed. Asia’s hair was covering her face, so he gently moved it out of the way. He saw tears smeared across her brown skin. Dillon hated that his friend was in such a broken state. He wished that he could carry all of her pain for her.

“You good?” he asked, knowing that she wasn’t.

“I’m alright.”

Dillon knew Asia would say that. She always tried to remain strong even when it hurt. Asia didn’t display her emotions often.

“I went to go see Aimee, but her weak-ass boyfriend answered the door blockin’ and shit,” Dillon spat.

“Who Big?”

“Yeah. I don’t like his ass.”

“He don’t like you either.” Asia chuckled.

Dillon waved his hand. “Whatever. Man, I'm fucked up about your mom. She was cool as fuck.”

“I know,” Asia said and sat up. “This is a hard pill to swallow.”

Dillon grabbed her hand. “I'm sorry I brought that shit up. You know I'm here for you, right?”

Asia nodded with a faint smile. “I know, Dillon. You’ve always been there for Aimee and me. Have you been staying out of trouble?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Not really. I missed my last probation appointment,” he said and looked over at Asia.

Dillon was on probation for a possession charge he scored the year prior.

Asia smacked her lips and threw a pillow at him. “Now why would you do that? She may lock your ass up.”

“Man, she ain't gon’ lock me up. Don’t worry about me, though. I'm worried about you and Aimee.”

Asia lay back on the bed. She didn’t know how she was going to get through her loss. Since she’d learned about her mother’s death, Asia’s heart didn’t beat the same anymore. She’d just spoken to her mother the night before and had no idea that it would be their last conversation.

“You want me to stay with you?” Dillon offered, breaking her from her thoughts.

“Sure. I would love that.”

Asia snuggled up to Dillon and allowed him to hold her. She was so grateful for their friendship because Dillon was always there for her. Asia was so relieved when he offered to stay with her because she was scared to be alone with her thoughts.

****

Tara was on her iPad trying to look for information on Aimee. Recently, she had become obsessed with trying to obtain any kind of clues that would lead her to Aimee. Tara was still mad at the sucker punch that Aimee had delivered to her face, and she was even more upset that she was Big’s leading lady. In Tara’s mind, she felt that Big was only taking her to court because Aimee had convinced him to. No, she didn’t have any concrete evidence of that, but Big had never threatened to take her to court.

Tara logged on to Facebook and went to the search engine. She typed in Aimee’s first name and started to go through every page. Most of the Aimee’s she saw were Caucasian girls, but Tara continued her search. While clicking on another page, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She looked over and saw Zaria standing next to her bed.

“What do you need, sweetie?” Tara asked her while she stroked her pigtail.

“Mommy, can I call Daddy?” she asked sweetly.

Tara shook her head. “Daddy doesn’t want to talk to you,” she lied.

“Why not?” Zaria asked sadly.

“Because he’s a mean daddy. That’s why,” Tara spat, becoming lost in her own emotions.

Tara saw tears pool in Zaria’s eyes as she pulled her over to her. She gave her a hug and then looked Zaria in her face. Tara didn’t realize that she was poisoning Zaria with her hateful words against Big. Her vendetta against Big was no longer because he didn’t want to be with her. It was now for him taking her to court, and trying to take Zaria away from her. Despite her foolish antics, Tara loved Zaria and would die if she were to ever be removed from her custody. Zaria was her everything, and she couldn’t fathom not seeing her every day.

“Look, baby, we don’t need your daddy. We have each other. Okay? Now how about I cheer you up with some ice cream? Will that be cool?” she asked.

Zaria smiled faintly and said, “Yes.”

“Okay, as soon as I’m done here, I’ll take you to get some ice cream.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Zaria said and left out of the room.

Tara got back to her search in hopes of finding Aimee’s page. After looking relentlessly, she saw a profile picture with Aimee and her twin. “So that bitch really does have a twin,”
Tara said to herself. She clicked on her profile and was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t private. Tara went through all of her pictures trying to see if Big were in any of them. When she didn’t see him, Tara then went to look at Aimee’s statuses. Aimee hadn't posted in a while, but Tara noticed that people were posting sympathy messages for her loss.

“Who died?” Tara whispered.

Tara continued to look for clues until she stumbled across an announcement from someone letting the others know the time and place for Jovelyn’s funeral.
Who the hell is Jovelyn?
Tara wondered. After further investigation, Tara determined that Jovelyn was Aimee’s mother and that she had been killed in a car accident.

“Umm hmm, that’s what your ass gets for hitting me in the eye,” Tara spat as if Aimee were in front of her.