Lovers & Haters (20 page)

Please pick up,
he said to himself in growing desperation. If she didn't answer he'd be crushed. The way he was looking at it, if the phone went to voice mail then she didn't want to be bothered. And who could blame her after everything that had gone down? On the fifth ring, he was getting ready to hang up when she finally answered.

“You have a lot of nerve calling me after—” Samantha stopped speaking as she heard what sounded like crying on the other end. She became worried. “What's wrong, Xavier?”

Xavier opened his mouth but there were no words. Just tears and sniffling.

Samantha was really worried now. “Xavier, baby, please tell me what's wrong.”

His emotions were all over the place. How could she have done this to him?—his own mother for Christ sake. Xavier's soul ached for the torture that his father had endured. To think all this time Xavier thought his father had abandoned them only to find out that his mother had staged the whole thing.

“Xavier, please, baby, are you okay?”

His chest rapidly heaved and Xavier's heart was racing. He had to get himself together. He didn't want Samantha to see him like this. Xavier took a second to compose himself.

When he spoke, pure pain was behind every word. “My mother has been telling me and my brother that our father abandoned us”—he sniffled—“but she's been lying to our faces.”

“How?”

“My dad is in prison and my mother told us that he didn't want anything to do with me and Alfonso.” Xavier stopped talking to wipe away the tears from his eyes with the back of his sleeve. “I was rambling around in the basement when I found a garbage bag filled with letters from my father. I've been sitting down here reading about how she has treated him. I just can't believe it.”

Samantha didn't say anything. She knew he needed her just to listen.

“Baby, it's going to be okay. You hear me? You're going to be just fine.”

“No, it's not, Samantha,” Xavier said. “That's not the only thing—I haven't been completely honest with you.”

“Baby, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until we deal with this.”

Xavier found some Kleenex and blew his nose. “I'm afraid it can't. I have to tell you something. Been trying to find a way to tell you for a while now, but my own selfishness wouldn't let me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was afraid I would lose you.”

“Well, I'm getting ready to go over there. Perhaps you can tell me then.”

Xavier's tears started to flow again. He was kind of hoarse when he blurted out, “I lied to you about not being involved in anything illegal.”

There was nothing but silence on the other end.

“I'm sorry, Samantha. I stole cars to earn money so that my family wouldn't have to struggle.”

Xavier could hear Samantha swallow hard.

“That's not all. After what happened to you I wanted to protect you and the rest of the students at Coleman from something like that ever happening again. Romello was down with this dude named Slick Eddie. Turns out that Eddie owned a chop shop and Zulu was his muscle. So me and Romello made a pact. If I joined Zulu and started stealing cars, then they would help me clean up the school of drug dealers, thieves, and gangbangers.”

“I see why the garbage left,” Samantha responded.

“You have to remember, Samantha, I was only doing this for you, my family, and the rest of the decent students at Coleman. I didn't want y'all to have to look over your shoulders. I wanted y'all to be comfortable in pursuing an education—that's all. But it blew up in my face. Romello went behind my back after the school had been cleaned of the competition and started selling E pills. That's when these two guys came out of nowhere and started shooting at me one night.” Xavier was careful to leave out the fact that he had been at Brenda's crib the night he had almost gotten himself shot.

“Oh my God,” Samantha said.

“Doug told me that it was Romello who tried to have me killed. He also let me know that Romello was behind selling Harvey Wellington E pills he'd overdosed on. I snitched on Eddie and Romello after I heard all that.”

Samantha asked, “So that's why the kids are going around school calling you a snitch?”

“Exactly why, Samantha. I thought I was doing the right thing. I just didn't want to see anybody get hurt. Harvey Wellington is doing okay, but he could've died.”

“I guess I should be mad at you, but I'm not. You did what you felt was right. But, are you really through with all of your illegal activity?”

“Yes, I'm done. I'm never going back. I just want to be with you, but if you don't want that, I'll understand.”

“If you promise to never lie to me again, we can continue.”

Xavier didn't have to think about it. “I promise. I'll never lie to you again.”

“Okay, good. But we're just going to take it slow from here on out,” Samantha responded.

“I understand, Samantha. Thanks for being so understanding—about everything,” Xavier said as he wiped his nose again. “But on the reals, my mother should be punished for what she did. It takes a real evil person to do something like this, keeping a man away from his kids. Samantha, there's piles of letters where my dad is pouring out his soul. She not only hid his letters from us but blocked his telephone calls so that he couldn't contact us by phone. It takes a real wicked person to do something like this. I should go to her job and put her on blast,” Xavier said in a voice that took on a more sinister tone.

Samantha didn't like the sound of his voice. It frightened her. “Please don't do anything that you'll regret, Xavier. I'm on my way to you, baby.”

I
t was just before 9
P.M.
when Xavier heard the key go into the front door lock. Ne Ne opened up the door to complete darkness. Skyrockets exploded behind her eyes when she clicked on the living room lights and saw Xavier sitting on the couch beside Samantha.

“You little whore!” Ne Ne yelled at Samantha. “Get the hell out of my house!”

Xavier and Samantha just sat there, looking at Ne Ne like she was a joke.

“Nobody disrespects me!” Ne Ne screamed, as she threw her purse and backpack in Samantha's direction.

In a flash, Xavier was up, blocking the projectiles before they could find their mark.

Ne Ne was not through. Humiliated by her son's efforts, she charged, but found herself gently wrapped up in Xavier's embrace.

Ne Ne was kicking and her arms were flailing, trying to get loose and tear at Samantha.

“Ne Ne, do you know what these are?” Right on cue, Samantha produced a handful of letters.

His mother slowly stopped squirming and went limp at the sight of her treachery. Xavier put Ne Ne down and took the envelopes from Samantha.

“Explain these,” Xavier said in an ice cold tone.

Ne Ne's mouth dropped open and she had a stupid expression on her face. Looking ridiculous, she stood there straining desperately for tears. And when that didn't work, she tried to reverse the situation with anger. “What the hell are you doing snooping?”

She reached for the envelopes and Xavier slapped her hands back. He had tears in his eyes now.

“You've been lying to me my whole life.” He yelled at Ne Ne so loud that Alfonso came running into the living room. “'Fonso, go back in your room and close the door.”

“You don't tell my son what to do—”

Xavier screamed, “Shut up!” Surprising and startling his mother.

“Ne Ne, for years I looked past your flaws. You were never the perfect mother, but that didn't change my love for you. You're evil, selfish. Everything always has to be about you. I never said one word, but what you did”—he held up some of his father's letters—“ain't right, man. Not cool at all. You see me struggling, needing my father. All you could do is think about yourself and put that bum you call a boyfriend before me and Alfonso, serving him first.”

“You watch your mouth!” was all Ne Ne could say.

“I'm not watching anything. You had me going around here hating this man because I thought that he left us. I went out and put my neck on the line so that you and Alfonso would be straight, running around in the dead of night stealing cars.” He wasn't afraid anymore, nor was he ashamed to admit his shortcomings in front of Samantha.

Samantha looked on with tears in her eyes.

“You're a liar and I will never believe anything else you say. I can't believe what you've done! Did you really put a block on the phone, so that he couldn't call us—his own flesh and blood?” Xavier wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his shirt. He tried to say something but his voice broke.

Ne Ne tried to give him a consoling embrace. “Awww, son, I'm so—”

“Don't you touch me!” Xavier growled, brushing away her hands. He quickly regained his composure, snatched up the envelopes, and looked at Samantha. He sniffled, then said, “Let's go, baby.” Xavier grabbed her hand and led Samantha out to the front porch.

“Oh. I see how it is. You gonna leave us for that tramp? Your family?” Ne Ne followed the two kids out onto the porch.

Xavier turned on his mother and said, “By the way, I'm out of the game. I'm not stealing any more cars. I'm done in the street and this time I'm doing it for somebody who appreciates me.” He looked at Samantha and said, “I'm glad you came into my life. You inspire me to reach for the stars. I love you and I always will.”

Tears dropped from Samantha's eyes. She said to Xavier, “I love you too.”

Xavier and Samantha walked off the porch. The Acadia Denali was parked out front—door open, the black Lurch standing as stiff as a board with the door handle in hand. Samantha got in first and Xavier stopped to look back at his mother.

Ne Ne said, “I only hid the letters because your father, your father—I was trying to punish him for cheating on me with another woman.” Now Ne Ne had tears in her eyes.

“I can't believe you,” was the only thing Xavier could say before black Lurch closed the door.

The car was halfway down the street but Ne Ne was still acting like a fool on the front porch.

 

Ne Ne walked back into the house and slammed the door so hard, she rattled the windowpanes. Those worthless envelopes—how could she be so careless? They should've gone up in flames a long time ago. Now her meal ticket was thinking about bailing on her.
That's not gonna happen
, she resolved,
and definitely not with that little tramp.
She wasn't worried about her son. He wasn't going anywhere, but the tramp had to go. She was too wholesome for Xavier, and eventually, her goody-two-shoes ways would influence him to go straight. Ne Ne wasn't about to let that happen, and she had a plan to stop it.

She snatched her purse off the floor, retrieved her cell phone, and dialed Nate. “I have something for you to do.”

I
t was the first week of May and some time had passed since Xavier had put Ne Ne on blast about his father's letters. He and Samantha were back together, but they were taking it one day at a time. Their parents would just have to see young love for what it was and get over themselves. And they did. Samantha was living with a little less stress from her father. Her mother had always been cool with their relationship. The old man had been a hater from the very beginning, though. Mr. Fox wanted the very best for his daughter and Xavier was nowhere near that. But Samantha had put her foot down and explained to her father that either she would be allowed to see Xavier or she would sneak. Her mother had been the voice of reason. She simply explained that his ultimatum would turn his little girl into a rebel. Therefore, he would be setting the stage for her to make some bad decisions out of pure anger toward him. Eventually, Mr. Fox caved in and swallowed his pride. He'd rather put up with Xavier being in her life than lose his baby girl to some foolishness.

It wasn't about their parents anyway. The Lord always moved in mysterious ways. Before he had laid the verbal smackdown on his mother, Xavier had called Samantha expecting to plead and beg her forgiveness, but once she'd heard the pain and agony in his voice, she got off the phone and had Lurch bring her right over. The girl was simply amazing.

Since then, Xavier had been staying at Billy's house. Sure, Xavier had to get used to some of the old man's disgusting habits, like farting wherever he pleased without regard for the oxygen of others, and sitting on the couch with his bare feet on the cocktail table, cleaning his toenails with the tip of an enormous Rambo blade. That was just his way. Xavier still went by his brother's school and walked him home. With only six thousand dollars left, Xavier still paid the rent, while he could, and gave Alfonso whatever he needed. He hadn't spoken a single word to Ne Ne.

Xavier had had numerous conversations with Billy, who told him to get in touch with his dad. But the boy wouldn't be swayed. Now that Xavier knew the truth, Billy had told him to write his father back, maybe even go for a visit. Xavier explained that facing his father would be too painful for him to deal with right now. He had too much on his plate already, especially with trying to cope with his mom's brutal betrayal. Xavier's world was crashing down around him and he felt powerless to stop it.

Weeks after the confrontation, Samantha had started receiving prank phone calls—heavy breathing on the other end, with no identification. The girl had changed her cell phone number three times, but all yielded the same results. She'd also reported the strange presence of a black late model Ford cargo van that had been lurking on the streets of her Birmingham home. The driver always managed to stay at a distance to keep his face concealed. One time, she'd gotten a decent peek and saw that the driver was a male. Samantha couldn't get a full description because of the baseball cap that was pulled low over his eyes. Her most terrifying moment came when that same van showed up this morning, cruising around the parking lot when Lurch was dropping her off at school. But this time, Xavier was waiting there. Once the driver spotted Xavier, he slowly retreated.

Xavier had started hanging back out with his boy, Dex. The two were at the locker jaw jacking about the fact that the black van could be tied in with Romello on a get-back creep. Since Straight Eight, and what was left of Zulu, hadn't been able to catch Xavier, they would probably start trying to split the wigs of his loved ones to cause him grief. Xavier and Dex really didn't know how powerful words could be when they'd talked up on Romello.

The boy emerged from the group of students who were hanging out in the hallway between classes. Romello had been running ever since Xavier dropped a dime and gave the police every illegal operation that Romello was involved in. Five-o ran up in Slick Eddie's junkyard and found drugs, illegal assault rifles, pounds of marijuana, and half a million dollars in dirty money. Slick Eddie, the core of Zulu—they were no more. When Slick Eddie fell, one by one, the dominoes toppled.

“Snitch,” Romello yelled loudly at Xavier, the word of shame echoing through the hallways.

The place went silent, as students backed away. Everybody had been anticipating a showdown like this, but didn't think it would take place at Coleman—with Romello being on the run. The crowd was stunned. Romello's face was gaunt with hard lines, like the dude hadn't slept or eaten since the chase began. He'd lost a ton of weight and his clothing looked like rags, hanging and sagging from his bones.

“Xavier Hunter is a snitch!” he said once more for the benefit of those who hadn't heard him the first time.

Xavier and Dex stood their ground. Either Romello's red eyes were from using a substance or from lack of sleep—nobody knew. The idea that homeboy could be packing was on everybody's mind.

Xavier spoke up. “Call it what you want, you feel me? I was loyal to you but, homeboy, you're the one who sent your henchmen to pop me out. So you can say what you want.”

Romello started moving closer. “Yeah, I did that because you were too soft to get paid.”

“Did you do Alex?”

“That's how I do losers who are soft,” Romello said. To nobody's surprise, the weak chump pulled a pistol. After that the scene was chaotic—students running, screaming, and scrambling for safety.

Xavier and Dex looked at each other and stood firmly.

“What about Arson and Go Go—you set them up too?”

“I had to do something with 'em. They were like you, didn't get with the program.” Romello took aim. “You played yourself, X.”

Xavier calmly asked, “Why are you here? Shouldn't you be on the run?”

Romello cut loose with wicked laughter. “I'm tired of running, so before I give myself up to the police I came back to look you in eyes one more time to say that you won't last another school year at Coleman High. Your days are numbered, homeboy.” He chuckled and put his hands up to his mouth. “Oops, I mean snitch. Slick Eddie asked me to personally hand deliver your message. He told me to tell you that you are a dead man walking. You're gonna suffer, slowly, but you will suffer.” Romello cocked back the handle of the pistol.

Students were packed in the hallway, listening to the exchanges, but seeing the weapon caused everybody to scramble.

“I could wax you right here, right now, if I wanted to. But I have loyalty to Eddie. He didn't order for me to body you. Your snitching ass is gonna rest but not by my hand.”

Word had finally gotten to security. Doug and a police officer advanced on Romello. The dark, thick officer had his service automatic weapon drawn on Romello. “Slowly turn around, lower the gun and drop it, and then put your hands in the air.”

Romello complied by decocking the pistol and dropping it to the floor.

The officer moved on him, kicking the pistol away and forcing Romello's hands behind his back to handcuff him.

Romello turned back around to Xavier. “X, it ain't gonna be that easy, snitch.” Romello laughed sinisterly. “I guarantee you won't graduate out of this piece—not alive!”

 

After school Xavier and Dex walked through the South lobby doors out into the back parking lot. Some kids were calling Dex stupid for hanging around Xavier, especially after Romello had threatened him. Dex let them know that he was far from being stupid. But if loyalty was considered stupidity then he was guilty. Because he believed in true friendship, and theirs had gone back to junior high school. Make no mistake about it, Dex knew that whenever Zulu retaliated on Xavier, whoever else was with him would receive the same treatment.

Students were everywhere. Some were loitering in groups, as others walked home.

Dex said to Xavier, “You're not afraid, are you?”

Xavier really didn't know how to answer the question. He didn't particularly fear what could be done to him. He was more concerned that his friends and family members would get harmed once Slick Eddie released the hounds of revenge.

“Listen, Dex, like I told you inside the school, homeboy, you don't have to hang around me. It's not your fight. I don't want you to get mixed up and stand a chance of getting hurt because of me.”

Dex looked at Xavier like he'd disrespected him. “I've known you a long time and that counts for something. I'm down to ride if my brotha's in trouble, you feel me?”

Xavier stooped down to tie his shoe when he heard somebody say: “Yeah, nephew, we feel you.”

Xavier stood up quickly and saw his old friend Dylan Dallas and the rest of his goon squad closing in around them.

“Xavier, I know you are many things, but a snitch . . . that's surprising to me,” Dutch Westwood said, walking up with his boys at his back.

Dylan added, “We have us a rat here, boys. That's the lowest form of human. Xavier, you're even lower than cockroaches and bedbugs.”

Everybody laughed.

Students milled around but kept their distance. Things like this had a tendency of getting ugly real quick.

Westwood said, mischievously smiling, “You dimed on Slick Eddie. Man, are you crazy.”

“Homeboy must have a death wish,” Dylan said to Westwood. “But since Zulu ain't at his back anymore, we have some business to handle with Mr. Hunter first. So Slick Eddie's gonna have to get in line.”

“You disrupted me making money,” Westwood accused. “I told you that you'd have your day in front of us, fam.”

Things were about to get heated and Xavier knew that there was no way he could take on all of them. The only thought on his mind at the time was that he didn't want Dex to get hurt.

Xavier looked at Dex and then to Dylan. “Let Dex go. He didn't have anything to do with it.”

Dylan said, “That may be true but that don't mean we gonna grant your request. He gets what you get. We're sending a message.”

A voice seemed to come from somewhere in the back of the crowd: “What message is that? That you can crew up and beat down on one dude?”

Everybody looked around and saw Felix Hoover, leader of Second Street. It was like dudes started coming out of the woodwork like roaches. Second Street swarmed, and members of the football team stormed out of the back doors, ready to bring the noise. They surrounded and locked down the entire scene.

Felix bulldozed his way through the crowd. He said to Xavier, “I told you we had your back.” He looked at Dylan and Westwood. “You fools don't get enough.”

Xavier smirked at Dylan. “Like I told you back in the hallways: it's your move, homeboy.”

Dylan smiled, looking around at the manpower Felix possessed. “It'd be a stupid move. Y'all have us outnumbered.”

Xavier said, “It wasn't going to stop y'all from getting down on me and Dex, and it sure didn't stop y'all from trying to get me a little while ago on Roper Street, didn't it?”

Dylan played the dumb role. “Don't know what you talking about.”

Westwood said, “Another time, Xavier. Another time, fam.”

Felix said to Westwood, “And we'll be at his back, fam. You can believe that.”

Police car sirens wailed in the distance.

Xavier said, “That's five-o. We'll handle this at a later date, Dylan.”

“Indeed we will, Xavier,” Dylan responded.