Player Haters (17 page)

It was late, somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four o’clock in the morning, when I heard Indigo come in the house. She’d been working on her music with Big Mike most of the night, then said she was gonna head over to Manhattan Proper to check out karaoke night. I pulled the covers over my head when my bedroom door opened and pretended to be asleep. I was hoping she’d be tired and just lay down and go to sleep, ’cause if she wanted some, I was in trouble. I didn’t think I had another round in me. I’d been over Michelle’s house all afternoon, fucking my ass off. We’d dropped her mom and Marcus off at some church function that wasn’t over until ten. Michelle hadn’t even let me sniff her panties since our engagement because her mom always seemed to be around. When Rita wasn’t around, Marcus’s ass never seemed to wanna go to sleep. So after dropping off her mom and my son, Michelle and I took the opportunity to get to know each other intimately again, and again and again. By the time we were finished, I was shooting blanks.

“Trent, Trent. Wake up, Trent. Wake up!” Indigo crawled into bed and shook me, which meant I was in trouble. She wanted some, all right. Maybe, maybe if I was lucky I could get away with just giving her a little head, but I doubted it. She pulled the cover from over my head and I was surprised at how dark the room was. Usually she liked to light candles and incense to set the mood when she came in late and wanted some. “Wake up, Trent. I need to talk to you.”

“What? What?” I grumbled, pretending to rub the sleep out my eyes. Not that she could see what I was doing anyway. The room was pitch black. I could barely make out her silhouette.

“Trent, do you love me?” She had a little uncertainty in her voice and I was wondering if Big Mike had mentioned my reservations about marrying her.

“Of course I love you. We’re getting married next month, aren’t we?”

“I don’t know, you tell me. Ray Jenkins told me that you asked that girl Michelle, who keeps saying she had your baby, to marry you.” Suddenly I was glad that it was too dark in the room for her to see my face. If she had, she would have known the truth. It looked like my old friend Ray was blowing me up again.

“Now, baby, I know you don’t believe that, do you? Why would I marry her when I got you? I love you, Indigo.” I reached up, taking hold of her waist.

“So you ain’t asked her to marry you?” She sounded both skeptical and relieved at the same time.

“Hell, no! That nigga Ray is lying, baby. I bet he even tried to come on to you after he said it, didn’t he? Didn’t he?” She got quiet, which gave me a chance to go on the offensive. It was time to use a little reverse psychology to get my ass out of this. “You know I don’t need this shit! How many times I gotta tell you I love you before you start to believe me? Damn! What you want me to do? Stand on the Empire State Building and scream out to the world, ‘I LOVE INDIGO JONES!’ ’Cause if that’s what you want, I’ll do it.” I let out a pissed-off sounding sigh. “Shit, I’ve given you keys to my house, let you answer my phone, hell, I even quit my job to help you start your career. Why the fuck would I ask somebody else to marry me?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, still not sounding convinced. “Why would Ray just come out his face like that?”

“’Cause he’s a hater, baby. But if you wanna believe some nigga off the street, who was trying to get some ass, then you need to bounce. Just get your shit and get the fuck out. I mean it! Get the fuck out my house.” I rolled over and started to count to five backwards in my head.

Five, four, three, two, one, now.

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly. “I know you don’t love her. I know you love me.” I smiled to myself thinking,
that reverse psychology shit works every time.

“Well, I wish you would start acting like it.” I turned over. “Don’t you understand, Indigo? It’s me and you against the world, baby. Everybody else has gotta step to the left. Now I want you to stay away from that nigga Ray. He’s bad news, you hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you but…”

“No buts,” I snapped. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

“Okay, don’t get mad. I love you, Trent.”

“I love you, too, boo.”

“I love you more,” she told me playfully.

“As Fifty Cent would say, ‘I love you like a fat kid loves cake.’”

We both laughed and she lowered her head and kissed me.

“Trent, I gotta tell you something. It’s about that girl Michelle—”

I cut her off. “I know, I know. You wanna know if the baby’s mine, right?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s not it. She’s—”

I cut her off again. “Well, I just want you to know…” I hesitated. I didn’t wanna renounce my son. I loved the little guy. Hell, I loved his mother but I was too close to the prize to be worried about moral obligation. I had to convince this girl that it was all about her so I could get paid. “That baby’s not mine, Indigo. I want you to know that.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t just deny my fucking baby!”

All of a sudden the ceiling light flashed on and my eyes were fighting to adjust to the lights. I couldn’t see shit, but one thing was for certain. I’d been set the fuck up, ’cause that was Michelle’s voice and it sounded like it was getting closer.

“I could take that other shit. I been taking that for years, but I can’t take this! That’s my fucking son! That’s your fucking son, Trent! How could you deny him? You son of a bitch! I’m gonna kill you!”

Next thing I knew, I felt a hard slap across my face and Indigo was screaming, “Get the fuck off my man, bitch! I told you he ain’t want you!” Then I heard a loud thump.

My eyes finally adjusted to the light and I could see Michelle and Indigo tousling on the floor like two WWE wrestling superstars. Indigo was on top and she was definitely getting the best of Michelle. I jumped outta bed and separated them, trying my best to keep Indigo off Michelle.

“How could you, Trent? How could you do this to me and Marcus? I thought you loved us.” Michelle wasn’t trying to fight anymore; she was crying hysterically.

“Michelle, I’m sorry…” I didn’t know what else to say. On top of that, I was still trying to keep Indigo at bay.

“Save it, Trent, all right? Just save it.” She sniffled. “I don’t need you and neither does Marcus. From this day forward the only family he’s got is me and my momma. So keep yours away or they might get their feelings hurt.”

“Michelle, don’t…” I stopped myself in mid sentence. What do you say to a woman you’re engaged to, who just heard you tell another woman you’re engaged to, that you don’t give a shit about her or her child? Well, I guess it really doesn’t matter ’cause even if I had thought of something, Michelle didn’t seem to wanna hear it. She turned around and walked out the door. I wanted to run after her, but like both Melanie and Big Mike had said, I had to make a decision. Was it going to be love or was it going to be money? I wanted it to be love, but what the hell was love without money? Besides, the chances of talking my way back into Michelle’s heart after this one were almost none. So I retreated to the safety of money and placed my arm around Indigo.

“Fuck her, Trent. You shoulda let me whoop that bitch’s ass,” Indigo told me.

I should whoop your ass for bringing her here,
I thought.

The end of the month had come much quicker than I would have liked, and I was saddened because it was my last day as Wil’s secretary. I was gonna try to spend as much time as I could with him tonight. The sales department was giving an end-of-the-busy-season party at Antun’s, a little catering hall in Queens Village. I was hoping that afterward I’d be able to talk him into stopping by my apartment for a nightcap. We didn’t spend as much time together as we used to, but we were still close, and he took me out to lunch at least once a week, which was nice. The only problem was, we always seemed to have a third wheel around like someone from the sales department or that pain in the ass, Jeanie Brown from upstairs. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I understood what was going on. Wil was trapped in a marriage he didn’t wanna be in and it was my responsibility, not his, to free him if I wanted us to be together. The only problem was, it wasn’t that easy coming up with an accident that everyone was going to believe. It took a lot of planning and a lot of thought.

Wil walked out of his office carrying his briefcase. He smiled. “You still here? I thought you left for the party an hour ago.”

“I’m about to. I just have to take care of a few things with human resources before I leave on Monday.”

“You want me to wait for you?” he tempted.

If you do, we might not make it to that party,
I thought.

“No, I’ll be along shortly. I wanna make a grand entrance. It is my last day in sales.”

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it.” He sighed sadly. “Mimi, I hope you’re not gonna be a stranger around here, ’cause I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Wil. But I promise, in the long run you’re gonna see a lot more of me than you’d ever expect.”

“I hope so,” he replied, giving me that smile that always made me feel like I was melting. “Well, don’t take too long. I’m expecting a dance.”

“Only if it’s a slow one.” I smiled, thinking of how nice it would be to wrap my arms around him and dance the night away. He was mine tonight. I dare a bitch to get on the dance floor with him.

“I’ll see you at the party,” he told me, walking away.

I watched him walk down the corridor, then stood up to retrieve my coat and bag from the closet behind my desk. I folded my coat over my arm, then opened my bottom desk drawer to remove the nine-inch box I’d hidden there this morning. I placed the box on my desk and opened it, staring at the contents with a satisfied grin. Covering up the box, I tucked it under my coat, then pushed in my chair and walked over to the window to see if the red convertible was still parked in the executive parking lot. It was, and I smiled as I walked to the elevator and pushed the “up” button.

“You going to the party, Mimi?” John, a nerdy sales intern, asked.

“Yep, I sure am.”

“You wanna catch a cab?”

“No, I have to drop off some paperwork upstairs first. I’ll meet you over there, okay?”

The elevator bell rang and the arrow indicated it was headed down. I watched John disappear into that elevator, then waited for an another one heading up. When it arrived, I stepped in and pushed four, for the executive floor. When the elevator door opened on the fourth floor, it was like a ghost town. All the secretaries and the receptionist had left for the weekend. I made my way down the hall unannounced until I was in front of Jeanie Brown’s office. I tried to steady my racing heart, then knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and walked in. Jeanie was sitting behind a glass desk, pecking away at a computer. “Maxine? What are you doing here? I thought sales was having a party tonight.” I couldn’t read her expression, but she definitely didn’t seem overjoyed to see me. Not that it mattered to me. Her attitude toward me was not gonna be a problem much longer.

“They are, Ms. Brown, but I wanted to talk to you before I went over there.”

“I’m kind of busy right now but have a seat.”

I sat down in one of the two leather chairs in front of her desk.

“What’s on your mind, Maxine?”

“Well, there are a few things. First, I wanna say thank you. I know I acted a little unappreciative about the promotion you gave me, so I wanted to give you this.” I handed her the box I’d been hiding under my coat. She got a huge grin on her face when she opened it.

“Oh, Maxine, thank you. You really know how to get on a person’s good side, don’t you?” She was all smiles.

“You always seemed to be fond of my sister’s brownies, so I had her whip up a batch just for you.”

She reached in the box and pulled out a brownie square, closing her eyes as she bit into it. “Mmm, would you like one?” She offered the box to me.

I smiled. “You know, I don’t mind if I do.”

I took out a square and bit into it. Jeanie was already on her second square. She was grinning from ear to ear like she’d had the ultimate orgasm.

“Oh, my God, these are so good. Tell your sister I want the recipe.”

“Oh, I can give you the recipe.”

“You can?”

“Sure.” I took a pen out my purse as I watched Jeanie pick up another brownie square and shove it in her mouth. “It’s really pretty basic. You know, just a couple’a eggs, some flour, oil, baking soda and chocolate. She uses both cooking chocolate and those little Hershey Kisses. But this batch has a secret ingredient. I think you’ll like it.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” she asked in a suddenly raspy voice.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Sure I would. What is it?” Her voice had gotten raspier and now she was holding her throat.

“Sesame seed oil.” I smirked at her as I said, “I had her replace the cooking oil with sesame seed oil.”

“Sesame seed oil? Oh, God! I’m allergic to sesame seeds.” Jeanie’s panic was written all over her face. She pushed the box of brownies across her desk like it was poisonous. Actually, I guess it was to her.

“Oh, damn. That’s right. You did tell me you were allergic to sesame seeds, didn’t you? I must have forgot. Are you okay?” I watched her face go pale and her eyes start to water as she struggled to get her desk drawer open. She pulled out something that looked like a white tube, the size of a pen. She tried to stick it in her arm but I snatched it out of her hand.

“Uh-uh-uhhh.” I shook my head and waved my finger at her. “What’s this, one of those EpiPens?”

“Give it to me.” She coughed, lunging at me as she struggled for air.

“Oh, that’s right. You need this to stop the swelling in your throat so you can breathe, don’t you?” She nodded her head. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Here.” I extended my hand, dropping the pen on my side of her desk. “Oooops.” I laughed.

“Nooooooo,” she struggled to get out. “What are you trying to do, kill me?”

I stood up straight and smirked. “You know, you’re a lot smarter than you look. I didn’t think you’d catch that for at least another couple of minutes.”

“What are you, crazy? You’re not gonna get away with this, Maxine.” Her lips were turning blue and she was knocking shit all over her desk just trying to breathe.

“Really? Why not?” I hesitated as if I was waiting for her to give me an answer. “If the cops ask me if I gave you the brownies, I’m not gonna deny it. Everyone in the building knows you love my sister’s brownies. And how could I know you’re allergic to sesame seeds? Besides, why would I hurt you? You just gave me a promotion. The cops are gonna look at this like it was just one unfortunate accident.”

“You are crazy,” she managed to murmur.

“That’s what the doctors say but I am not crazy! But one thing’s for sure, Jeanie. Your ass is dead.” She fell on the floor, kicking, then suddenly stopped. I bent down and picked up her EpiPen, wiping it clean of my fingerprints before tossing it near her body. “It was nice knowing you, Jeanie. I’ll send a wedding invitation with your friend Diane. She’ll be coming to see you real soon.”