Riding the Corporate Ladder (Indigo) (22 page)

“Get the hell away from me!” Keshaun bellowed, and that was all the warning Boogie needed. He continued to bark, but he backed up a good ten feet first. Even in Deena’s state of panic, she made a crucial decision; her next dog would be pit-bull or a Rottweiler, something big enough to put the fear of God into any man.

With so much commotion in the front room, Keshaun abandoned his efforts to find more money. He dropped the purse and stepped past Deena on his way to the bedroom. He still had her money crumpled in his hand, and Deena would be damned if he made it out with it. She sat up on her knees.

“Give me my money!”

He turned with his fists balled. He wore a look of intense evil. “I ain’t giving you shit!”

Deena ignored the pain in her shoulder and clambered to her feet. She stood unevenly and took a staggering step forward. She still didn’t know why any of this was happening, and that was the worst part. “Why are you doing this?” she screamed. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t be asking me what the hell is wrong with me,” Keshaun barked. “You need to worry about what the hell is wrong with you!”

“Keshaun, what are you talking about?” Deena was close to tears, but she refused to let them fall.

“You don’t give a damn about me,” he said. Spittle glistened on his lips. “So I’ma be like that, too! This is what happens when I don’t give a damn about you.”

Deena didn’t take a moment to consider his explanation, and she didn’t see the pain in his eyes, either.

“You are not going to steal from me,” she said calmly. “If you want some money, if you need something—”

“I don’t need shit from you!”

“Then gimme my money!” Deena squealed. “I’m calling the police, Keshaun. You’re going to jail!”

“Call ’em,” he said, and continued down the hallway.

Deena’s phone was in the bedroom. She had another one in the kitchen, but she took off towards the den instead. It was dark in there, but she ran around her computer desk and hurdled a folding chair with the stealth of a leopard. There was a small closet at the back of the room. She ran inside and stood on her toes so she could reach the top shelf. Her jittery fingers soon came in contact with cold steel, and that calmed her by degrees.

She wrapped her hand around the handle of her .45 and turned with a renewed sense of boldness. Boogie followed her into the office, and Deena locked him in there on her way out. She cocked the pistol and held it with both hands. Her nostrils flared, and her heart bounced in her chest like a kicker box. The blood flowed cold in her veins now, though sweat glistened on her forehead and chest.

She crept through the hallway like a marine. When she got to the bedroom, she saw Keshaun pulling his jersey over his head. He already had his pants on. Deena pointed the gun through the doorway, and he looked over at her with much less fear than she expected. It was more like a look of resignation.

“Give…give me my money, Keshaun.” Her voice was shaky, and so was the barrel of the pistol. Deena knew that even if she wanted to minimize the damage with a leg shot, she’d probably miss and knock the top of his head off anyway.

Keshaun saw the gun, but he didn’t make any moves to return the money. He narrowed his eyes and nodded, and then he looked down so he could slip into his shoes.

Deena entered the room with the pistol still pointed. She walked around the bed so she could get closer. When she was within ten feet, Keshaun looked up at her again.

“That ain’t the first time a gun’s been pointed at me.”

“Keshaun, I am not playing. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you, but this is stupid. I don’t want to do this. Just give me my money and get the hell out of my house.”

“I’m getting the hell out!” He had both shoes on now.

“Give me my money!”

“I ain’t!” he shouted. “If you don’t like it, shoot me then!” His eyes were red and glazed. He stared down the barrel of her .45 with a slight twitch in the corner of his mouth. His face was set in a deep scowl.

“Wha-why are you doing this?” Deena pleaded. This was insane. It was asinine. She had Keshaun wrapped around her finger. She didn’t know who this person was.

He did not loosen his grip on the twenties. “This money ain’t gon’ hurt you. You ain’t even gon’ miss it.”

She shook her head. “It’s not yours.”

“You got it all, Deena; a bad-ass job, a good house, nice car. I ain’t got shit. Why you sweating me?”

“You’re a thief!”

“And you’re a cold-hearted, bougie bitch!” he screamed. “Just ’cause I ain’t got it like you, you wanna dog me, treat me any way you want! You only let me come over when you want some dick. You don’t want to talk to me like a regular person! You wanna bust your nut and that’s it! I tried to be with you. I told you I wanted a real relationship.”

His voice cracked, and his eyes filled with tears. He turned, trying to blink them away. When he faced her again, there was no hiding the heartache and frustration. His lips quavered. The tears rolled down his cheeks.

Deena was at a loss for words. Everything he said was dead on.

“Keshaun, I—”

“Shut up!” he screamed. “It don’t matter no more!” He closed the distance between them until the barrel of the gun pushed into his chest. “If you gon’ shoot me, then shoot me. Do it now!”

Deena lowered the weapon. “Why are you doing this?” she wailed.

“ ’Cause I hate you!” Keshaun bawled. He threw the crumpled twenties at her feet. “It ain’t even about the money! I just want you to hurt!” he cried. “I want you to hurt like you hurt me.”

He took a stuttering breath and stared deep into her eyes, into her very soul, it seemed. Deena looked away. Keshaun turned and disappeared through the doorway without another word. Deena stayed put, listening intently. She heard the front door open and close. A few seconds later she heard a car start in the driveway, but she was still too frightened to leave her room.

She expected him to reappear in the doorway like an eighties horror flick. He would have an axe and her biggest butcher knife with him. He would have eyes like a wolf and a smile of sheer dementia.

Deena stood there and waited for this eventuality. She waited a long time. It was Boogie’s barking that finally snapped her out of her daze, and it took every bit of courage she had to go to the office and free him. Her baby was very happy to see her alive and well, but the little terrier’s presence did little to make Deena feel safer. She went back to the bedroom and scooped her cell phone from the dresser.

There were plenty of people in her contact list who would comfort her in this crisis, but only one who would come over at this ungodly hour and not be too judgmental. Deena made the call and sat on the corner of the bed with the lights on for what felt like an eternity. The doorbell eventually rang. She looked at the clock and realized only twenty minutes had passed.

She stood on stiff legs and walked slowly to the living room with Boogie quick on her heels. When she opened the door and saw Yesenia standing there, the weight of the whole evening fell hard on her shoulders. Deena’s eyes watered and the tension leaked from her with the tears. Yesenia dropped a duffle bag she brought with her and stepped forward quickly to embrace her friend.

The women held each other in the darkness without words until the pain receded like dry leaves gathered in a gust of wind.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, they sat at the kitchen table with coffee, scones, and a nurturing bond only two women can share. Deena wore the same robe she donned for Keshaun’s visit. Yesenia wore a blue t-shirt with cargo shorts. She was a little raw and unkempt because of the rush over there, but Deena didn’t think she ever looked more beautiful.

“Were you really gonna shoot him?”

Deena shook her head. “I don’t know, maybe. When I thought he was stealing just for the hell of it I was.”

Yesenia frowned. “You would have shot him?”

“Nothing worse than a thief,” Deena said. “Stealing, killing, and lying; three things I can’t stand.”

“You’re a lawyer,” Yesenia pointed out with a smirk. “You represent killers and thieves and liars all day long.”

Deena grinned weakly. “I guess I can’t stand it when it’s happening to me.”

“Why do you think he wasn’t stealing for the hell of it?” Yesenia asked.

“He wasn’t. He told me he hated me. He was doing it to hurt me like I hurt him.”

“He said that?”

Deena nodded.

“Man, that’s deep.” Yesenia shook her head. “That’s crazy.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So, what did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Deena said. “We always had a good time.”

“How did you hurt him?”

“I don’t know how. We had just got through making love, Yesenia. He was happy. I was happy. I fell asleep holding on to him. I don’t know when or why he got upset. I mean, not really.” She looked away uneasily.

Yesenia frowned. “Girl, you got me over here at four in the morning; you’d better tell it.”

Deena sighed. “He said I don’t give a damn about him. He said he wanted to be in a regular relationship, but I didn’t want one.”

Yesenia raised her eyebrows.

“That’s bogus though,” Deena said. “He knew what this was.”

“Maybe you knew what it was,” Yesenia said. “But did you ever sit Keshaun down and have a serious talk about it? I’m not saying you lead him on, but…”

Deena didn’t need this. She already felt bad enough. “Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not.”

“Are you saying this was my fault? The way he threw me on the floor, you think I deserved that?” The mere thought of the abuse caused pain to rupture in her back again. She reached to rub the sore spot.

“Of course not, Deena.”

“Then why are you taking his side?”

Yesenia put her hands to her head and rubbed her temples. “You need to calm down a little. We’re just talking.”

Deena took a slow breath and sat back in her seat.

“Do you not see anything wrong with the way you treated him?” Yesenia asked after a while.

“I thought I treated him good.”

“You lied to him,” Yesenia said. “You didn’t want the kind of relationship he wanted, but you strung him along. He wanted more from you, and he found out he was being used. You should’ve expected some type of reaction.”

“I see what you’re saying,” Deena conceded, “but he didn’t have to act like that.”

“That’s the thing,” Yesenia said. “When you hurt people, you have no idea how they’re going to respond. That’s why it’s best not to hurt them in the first place—not if you can help it.”

Deena rolled her eyes. “Okay, Mother Theresa.”

“I’m serious, Deena. I think you need to get a regular boyfriend, someone who satisfies you mentally and physically so you don’t have to go through this anymore.”

“It hardly ever works out like that.”

“Well, you’ve got to try,” Yesenia urged. “I don’t want to come over here at four in the morning again.”

Deena looked up and saw that she was smiling. “Thanks for coming,” she said.

“It’s okay. You’d do it for me, right?”

Deena looked off into the distance.

“Bitch, you’d better!”

They laughed. “What’s in that?” Deena pointed to the duffle bag Yesenia brought in with her.

“Those are my clothes for work. I figured I wouldn’t have time to go back and change.”

Deena checked the clock mounted over the stove. It was already five-thirty. “My alarm’s gonna go off in thirty minutes,” she said wistfully. “You can use my shower if you want. Spencer came by, and I don’t know if he cleaned up in the guest room or not.”

“All right.” Yesenia grabbed her bag and headed in that direction.

Deena got up, too. “How’s everything going with you and Darren?” she asked.

Yesenia stopped and turned with a bright smile that said it all. “He’s awesome, Deena. He wants to take me to San Antonio this summer.”

“That sounds great.”

“It is,” Yesenia said. “He is.” She noticed her friend’s expression, and her smile ebbed a bit. “But you can have the same thing, girl. All you have to do is open up your heart.”

Deena smiled, but she knew that was easier said than done. She couldn’t remember the last time she was truly in love with a man. She didn’t know if she was still capable of such things.

* * *

After they showered and dressed, the ladies met back in the kitchen for another much-needed cup of coffee. Yesenia told her she stayed up until one talking on the phone with Darren. Deena felt even worse about waking her at four, but Yesenia was happy and energized. She had a lot to talk about, and Deena was obliged to listen to her romantic story of springtime woo. Darren was starting to sound like the best man ever, and his awesomeness was making Deena more and more sick to her stomach.

When it was time to go, Deena was almost happy to get away from Yesenia’s overblown tales of grandeur. There’s no way any man could be all that. Deena had been with enough of them in her lifetime to know that the perfect gentleman does not exist. She hardly believed Yesenia lucked up on an anomaly.