Relapse: A Novel (26 page)

Six weeks of romance had sped by since Lootchee’s heart-wrenching confession to Beijing. Since that time their relationship had taken on a life of its own and they had grown even closer. Beijing felt that same rush she had at the beginning, every time they were together.

The two lovebirds were doing a little shopping, and Lootchee even picked out a few outfits for her.

“How do you like this one, baby?” Beijing held a low-cut black cocktail dress under her chin, posing for him.

Lootchee studied her for a few seconds. “I think the dress is beautiful,” he finally said. “But with you rocking it, I think it would be drop-dead gorgeous.”

“I agree,” she said with a smile. “Now all we have to do is to find you something to complement it and I’ll wear it next week when we go to the NBA All-Star Game. My friend Teflon the Don
is opening the event with a performance. I want us to be there together, to show support.”

“I’m going to pass on that one. I’ve been consuming too much of your time. Between your working and spending time with me, you’ve been out of the loop with your girls. This is something I think you should do with them,” he suggested.

She raised an eyebrow.

“But you love sports,” she said. “You’re not going to the All-Star Game at all?”

“Naw, baby, I’m going to pass.”

“But I really want you to go with me.”

“I think I’m going to stay here or shoot over to Atlanta. I need to make the money to pay for my boo’s dream wedding,” he said, pulling her closer to give her a soft kiss on the lips.

“But you know you don’t have to do that. My dad will pay for the wedding. He’s been putting money away for that day since I can remember.”

“Whatever you want, baby girl.” He smiled. “You think you got enough stuff yet?” He changed to an easier subject.

“Just about,” she said.

While she was picking out a few more things, Beijing’s cell phone went off. It was Dennard. He told her he was coming to town for a few days.

“Are you staying at the Tabby?”

“If I can get a room,” he hinted.

“Stop it, I will make sure that you get all squared away. What’s the date that you arrive?”

After noting the date of the arrival, she told him that she would make sure he was taken care of while he was in town for his convention.

In the car, on the way back to their condo in Charlotte, Lootchee was unusually quiet.

“A dime for what’s on your mind,” Beijing said. “It seems like something heavy is on your mind.”

He never took his eyes off the road. “Nothing to trouble you with, just my own problems.”

“Your troubles are mine too.”

“I’m just trying to come up with a proper solution to a small inconvenience.”

“Tell me about it,” she said, turning in to face him. “Maybe I can help.”

“Thanks, babe, but it’s not your problem. I’ll figure it out.”

“You don’t have to always be Superman with me. I love you just the way you are,” she told him. “If you got a problem, then I have one too.”

“If you insist,” he sighed. “I got some money that I need cleaned up.”

Beijing knew exactly what he meant by cleaned up. Making dirty money clean.

“How much?”

“Three, maybe four million.”

“Dollars?”

“No, pesos,” he joked. “Of course I’m talking about dollars. I live in America, don’t I?”

“That’s a lot of money, but I can make some phone calls and check to see if I know of someone who can take care of it.”

“Really?”

She nodded. And at the end of the day Beijing always made it happen, didn’t she?

Houston was bubbling with energy and it was only two thirty in the afternoon. Some folks on the sidewalks were taking advantage of capitalism, selling everything from sports memorabilia to accessories to sexual favors. You could scoop up almost anything your heart desired for the right price if you knew where to look.

The All-Star Game festivities weren’t scheduled to take flight until six thirty, but the restaurant and lobby of the hotel were filled to maximum capacity.

Beijing was in the midst of it all, having a ball. It was the first time she, Paris, Seville, and Rayna had all been out together; neither Paris nor Seville had ever met Beijing’s newest friend.

Beijing noticed that Rayna and Seville seemed to hit it off right away, but Paris was cold and indifferent to Rayna.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you, B,” Rayna said, “you looking too good in those jeans and pumps.”

Beijing was rocking a pair of figure-hugging jeans, four-inch purple pumps, and a fitted top.

“Just a lil somethin’-somethin’ I threw together,” she said. “It don’t look like you slummin’ none either.”

Rayna had put on a few pounds since the last time they were together, but she was tall and carried her weight well.

“I relapsed to my bad eating habits and slacked on my workout for a minute, but I’m trying to get back on track,” Rayna confessed. “That ordeal in Atlanta kind of threw me off point,” meaning the robbery.

“I wouldn’t even have noticed it, if you hadn’t said anything,” Beijing lied.

“I wish I would’ve brought Jack with me,” Seville said as she checked the fellas out. “All these fine brothers are gonna push my temptation to the limit.” She chuckled.

The four girls definitely were not going unnoticed as they waltzed around the star-studded lobby. They looked like money. Even in a room filled with various industry people, actors, musicians, professional athletes, and models, Beijing, Seville, Paris, and Rayna turned heads.

“I don’t like that bitch,” Paris told her sister as she looked Rayna over. Rayna was talking to some rapper who was way too short for her. But what the entertainer lacked in height, he made up for in bank.

Beijing asked, “Why? What did she do to you?”

Paris shook her head, “The bitch ain’t do nothing to me. I just don’t like her vibe. I’ve rolled in the grass long enough to know a snake when I see one. I can be got, but not too often.” She then added, “Just don’t give that bitch your full trust.”

A few months ago Beijing would have dismissed Paris’s ramblings as drug talk, but she’d been drug-free for a minute; had gone to the drug treatment program was going to the outpatient meetings, doing well for herself, the whole nine. Beijing heard
the warning but didn’t take heed because she thought her sister might be a little jealous of her and Rayna’s relationship.

“Beijing?” a voice called out from behind. “Is that you?”

She turned around; the voice belonged to Jeff, Lootchee’s friend, the one she’d met at the New Edition show.

“Where’s my man?” he asked, kissing her on the cheek. Jeff scanned the area like he was looking for someone.

“He couldn’t make it. We’re having a girls’ weekend,” she told him. “You remember my sister”—she nodded to Paris, then pointed to Seville—“and my cousin, from my birthday party, don’t you?”

“How could I forget Miss Seville?” He smiled. “She shot me down at least twice that night.”

“Over there, getting her mack on, is my girlfriend Rayna.”

Beijing saw him admiring Rayna’s backside. There was no denying Rayna had booty for days. When Jeff realized he was busted, he pulled his attention away from Rayna’s ample rear. “I’m surprised my man ain’t here, ya heard?”

“Me too,” she said honestly, “but you know how it goes.”

“Yeah, I know how it goes but I would’ve definitely been here, ya heard.”

Beijing eyed Don across the room. He was obviously trying to go incognito, wearing dark sunglasses and a hoodie over his head and most of his face. She couldn’t be fooled; she knew that walk anywhere.

“Well, I’ll probably see you somewhere later,” she said, happy for the distraction. “I need to go say hello to someone.”

Jeff tracked the path of her vision. “I didn’t know you were a fan of Teflon the Don, but who isn’t? I tried to book ’im at my spot before he blew up.”

Beijing wasn’t sure if he was asking a question or making a statement, or both.

“He’s an old friend, I actually used to work with him.” She explained to Jeff the nature of her and Don’s business relationship
before walking away. She didn’t want it to be a mix-up whenever the conversation came up between him and Lootchee that Jeff had seen her with Don. And she knew that it probably would one day. She knew they were close and they kicked it a lot.

“Well, hook a brother up, ya heard.”

She nodded as she hurried to catch up with Don before he got on the elevator. Beijing called out, “Hey you! Slow down.”

By the look on his face, she knew that Don had been trying to avoid her.

“Hey, sweets, when did you get in?” He gave her a hug after being cornered.

As soon as the first word came out of his mouth, she knew that something wasn’t right.

She pulled him away from his mob. “You okay?” she asked out of concern. “You look a little funny.”

“Yeah, I’m aight,” he said unconvincingly. “Just a lil tired.” He rubbed his eyes. “That’s all.”

He’s more than a lil tired
, she thought. She was about to comment when her phone went off.

It was a 212 area code.
New York
, she thought.

“Hold on a second, let me get this,” she said, thumbing the green
TALK
button. She could see the relief on Don’s face for the temporary interruption. Beijing knew that he wasn’t feeling where their conversation was headed anyway.

“Beijing, it’s Seth.”

Please not this Natalia bullshit today. She’s supposed to be in Hawaii
. She turned her back to Don after giving him a one-fingered
Wait
signal, but he took it as his cue to flee. She did not feel like or want to deal with Natalia’s drama today but she put a smile in her voice and said, “Yes, Seth, is everything okay with Natalia?”

“Besides being off in Hawaii, spending my money recklessly, and trying hard to send me into bankruptcy?” he joked.

“You’re way too smart for that to happen,” Beijing shot back.

“I would hope so.” He shifted the conversation. “This time it’s a friend of mine who could really use your help.”

“How can I be of service?” she asked as she noticed Don getting on the elevator. She walked into the bathroom so she could hear Seth.

He began to tell her about a friend of his named Amir, a prince from somewhere in the Middle East. They were traveling in a Gulfstream IV and scheduled to touch down in Miami on a private landing strip at nine thirty. If it was at all possible, Seth asked, could she manage to have someone deliver to them about a pound or so of the sticky-icky!

“Of course.”

“Since you are in Miami,” he said. “Do you think you’ll be able to make this happen for me?”

“I’m actually in Houston, but it shouldn’t be a problem at all. I will take care of it for you.”

“Of course you know this needs to be done with the utmost discretion,” he said.

“Of course. Give me a couple of minutes and I will call you back.”

In less than five minutes, Beijing had cut a deal with another one of her clients who distributed large quantities of marijuana in his spare time and was passing on the particulars to Seth, who was so grateful to her.

In the meantime she received a call from Lootchee. “I’m lonely and I miss you.”

“I miss you too, baby.”

“I hear you down there looking good, smelling good, and having lots of fun.” She knew that Jeff had already run and called Lootchee and told him only
God
knew what.

“The girls and I are having a ball. You should’ve come.”

“Well, I miss you and want to see you.”

“You will see me the day after tomorrow.”

“But I want to see you now. Book a limo to Dallas, stay a few hours and then you can be back by morning.”

Beijing thought that was rather selfish and that he should’ve been there with her. She said “Okay,” slowly, but she didn’t want to say it to make him mad.

She went over to the concierge’s desk to try to get a limo, but it was almost impossible. Besides, she didn’t really want to leave her friends anyway.

She called Lootchee back, “Baby, they are trying to charge us like three grand to drive me from Houston to Dallas. It’s ludicrous to pay that kind of money for me to be there for only a few hours, and then come back.”

“Aight, if you think so.”

“But I will be in your arms day after tomorrow; I’m still coming there just like we planned.”

After the business with Seth was taken care of, Beijing let the girls know she was going upstairs for a minute. In the lobby she ran into Bill—the security guard she had hired when Don first started. He told her that Don was in room 1725 and she should go and talk some sense into him. He had relapsed again, and Bill was afraid that Don might kill himself if the leeches around him didn’t.

Beijing entered the elevator and pushed the button for the seventeenth floor, not before realizing that Corday, the club owner from Atlanta, was in the elevator with Dazzle and several of his strippers he had brought out to the All-Star Game to work. She shared a few words with Dazzle and promised to get up with her later before getting off on Don’s floor.