The Awakening (18 page)

I was mentally exhausted by the time I got home.

I guess this was what my father felt like when he came home from tough cases. I guess in some ways, his career as a detective did rub off on me. I didn't have it in me to be a police detective, no matter how much it was “in my blood.”

I got through the door and my senses kicked in quickly, noticing the house was quieter than usual.

“Mercedes?” I called upstairs.

No answer.

That didn't sit well with me. Usually she texted me to let me know if she was leaving the house.

I assumed the kids weren't home; otherwise one of them would have said something as soon as the door opened. So, I slowly headed my way upstairs to draw a bath and soak for a little while, deducing Neferterri was at her mom's with the kids. That was fine. I needed some time to myself to get the day's events out of my system.

Imagine my surprise in seeing Kitana and shamise in our bedroom, completely naked—one with soap in her hand, the other with a towel and baby oil in hers, both on their knees waiting on me. While under normal circumstances it would be a wondrous sight to behold, it left me in a state of confusion. I quickly got over it and found some energy within me to conjure up my Dominant persona.

“I'm too exhausted to argue as to why the two of you are here,” I said, still standing in the doorway with my mouth hanging open.

“Goddess summoned us here, m'Lord. She said we had an important task to complete once You got home,” Kitana stated.

“It's time to take care of You tonight, Daddy,” shamise sweetly cooed as she normally did when she looked forward to pampering me. “Sometimes it is okay to let go and release energy. Isn't that what You taught us?”

As much as I hated to admit it, shamise was right. Tonight was not about me giving up control. This was about releasing the negative energy I had acquired while trying to clear Amenhotep. So, rather than resist my girls, I simply undressed, headed toward the hot bath awaiting me, and released.

20
RAMESSES

After playing P.I. all weekend, I decided to take some time to myself and try to get my wind back.

I got my apprentice to run the studio for a couple of days while I took a mini-vacation. Nothing to get out of town, mind you, but I needed to get my batteries recharged.

I surprised the kids by making breakfast before they headed off to school, which kept Neferterri in bed for a change. That didn't last long once she found herself getting raped almost as soon as the bus picked the kids up. Outside of parties and such, this was one of those rare times where I got to treat my wife like a wanton slut, and she could scream her head off without fear of waking the kids at night.

Once she headed off to work with an afterglow and a big smile on her face, I parked myself on the couch to watch nothing but football, football, FOOTBALL.

At least, that was the plan anyway. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans, of course?

The phone rang, and the caller ID let me know it was coming from Jay's home.
What the hell was this about?
I asked myself as I picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Yo, Kane, it's me, dawg. Sorry about calling from the house.” Jay sounded a little off, like he had done something stupid and was afraid to admit it.

“Why are you at your soon-to-be ex-wife's house? I thought you were done with her?” I had to ask the question because I knew Jasmine's off days were usually on a Monday, and at the time he was calling, he was supposed to be at work.

“Man, I don't know. I was trying to pick up some stuff from the house to put in storage, and she came downstairs. Before I could say anything, she started kissing me,” Jay started.

“Come on, Jay? You're gonna complicate things, man.” I tried to convince my boy, until he dropped a bomb on me.

“Naw, Kane, I'm saying…when I tried to back her off, I felt another pair of hands on me. I turned around, and it was Selena, my secretary,” Jay explained. “Before I knew it, she said, ‘I'll let you keep her if you come back to me and we can work things out.' I caved, but what else could I do, dawg? She got me twisted, especially when I was trying to have Selena anyway.”

He had a point, and I knew it. Damn, Jasmine pulled out all the stops, bringing his secretary into the mix. What man would have said no in that situation? Anger goes out the window in a scenario like that. Who was I to tell him what he needed to do with his marriage? But I already knew what he was getting himself into.

The question was, did he know?

“Looks like Jasmine might have realized what she might have been losing after all?” I queried. “If she's serious about her offer, I'd say go for it, but approach with extreme caution.”

“Yeah, but she still hurt me, dawg. How the hell do I get past that?” he asked me. “Last night was wonderful, but it was just one night.”

“It's like I told you before, man, you have to figure out what's best for you. I can't do it for you, no one can.” I thought back to Jasmine's threats from a month ago, and I couldn't help but wonder why she did a 180 so quickly.

But in truth, I didn't know Jasmine well enough to know any better about anything. I didn't want to believe she would have anything to do with that car spying on the house a few weeks back. I made myself a mental note to check with my father's connections at the Department of Motor Vehicles to find out who owned the car.

Jay changed the subject on me before I dwelled on things too much. “Yo, I heard you got ol' girl to drop the charges on Amenhotep. I don't know how you pulled off that trick, but remind me to invest some major loot into your P.I. firm when you get the chance.”

“Hell no, man.” I almost spit out my soda. “You know that's not me.”

“Yeah, whatever, Shaft,” he managed to say while laughing. “Look, gotta head into the job for a while, are we still on for
Monday Night Football
at the bar?”

“Yeah, I'm down. Holla.” I hung up the phone and went back to my football highlights from the weekend without a further thought about the conversation.

While some guys go to a normal sports bar for
Monday Night Football,
me and the boys go to Magic City in downtown Atlanta.

I mean, come on? You can watch football and get a lap dance at the same time. Yeah, I know, I could always go to Liquid, but it's too much like going to work.

We stepped in the club after dropping money for the cover, and Ice had already spotted one of the dancers he normally spent money on, so we sat in the area she worked to get our ball on.

“Yo, J, what's up with you and Jazzy? I thought the final hearing was in a few weeks?” Ice asked while slipping a ten-spot in baby girl's G-string.

“Man, last night was about getting mine. I mean, my wife is fine, dammit,” Jay replied.

“Yeah, but so is Candy, and she ain't got no baggage,” Ice countered. “From what Kane told me, she was pissed you split when she was more than ready to give you sum.”

“Naw, I'm still tripping off you being somebody's boy toy and submissive, dawg. What's up with that?” Jay took offense that Ice was dismissing Jasmine so quickly, which didn't make any sense to me. They were getting divorced, after all. “Thought you were supposed to be top dawg?”

Ice stopped dead in his tracks.

I saw his eyes grow small, and I knew Jay had gotten personal. Even the dancer in his lap knew she needed to be somewhere else at that exact moment. Much like when birds fly away in droves at the first sign of danger, it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize the conversation was about to go downhill quickly.

“You can ignore the fact that you're slipping all you want, Jay. The fact remains is you're getting weak.” Then, Ice pulled the snap of the night. “Better to be a willing participant and get a nut out of it than to be forced to wear your wife's panties and suffer in shame.”

It was obvious from Jay's demeanor there was some information kept from me, and I could understand why. I saw Jay's face, and his manhood, hit the floor, which lent credence to Ice's claims. Jay turned pale, which was hard for a dark-skinned brother to do, and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. There was no way in hell I would have let some information slip out like that, even on my most vulnerable and drunken night.

“Naw, man, are you serious?!?!?!”
I asked, but it was too late. Jay got up out of his seat and walked away without another word. I sat there for a minute, confused at what went down. Meanwhile, Ice had summoned his favorite back over to finish her lap dances.

“Yo, K let him go, man. He needs to get his mind right before he comes back to the game.” Ice was still fixated on baby girl, not throwing another care in Jay's direction after he sliced and diced him down to next to nothing. “He asked for it; you saw it yourself.”

I figured it was better to try and find Jay to see if his head was screwed on right before assuming too much, so I got up to see where he'd drifted to. Besides, game time wouldn't be for about thirty minutes anyway, so I could play Dr. Phil in enough time to get back to the fun we were supposed to be having.

“Alright, man, talk to me.” I finally found him at the bar with a few empty shot glasses already in front of him.

“Your boy needs to keep his fucking mouth shut,” Jay blasted. “I got enough issues without his happy-go-lucky ass trying to pour salt in the wounds.”

“Man, your ego's bruised, no harm, no foul,” I told him, slapping the back of his shoulder. I still had to shake the image Ice had painted out of my head though. Damn. “So, what's the deal; you staying with Jasmine or what?”

“That's the problem, K. I don't know.” He threw back another shot. “I know she's not it anymore. But last night…I hadn't had any in a few weeks, so, she caught me slipping.”

“What do you mean a few weeks?” Now that was an eye-opener. I knew he and Candy were trying to hold off until the divorce, but I was still confused. “What about Kitana? I thought that she…”

“I told her to lie to you,” Jay confessed, putting his head in his hands. “She started on me, and I couldn't do it…my body was willing, but she knew. Jazzy's got my mind, and I can't let go. Even Candy's at the end of her rope with me.”

I had heard about this type of thing happening to men when they were getting divorced. They get so caught up in the marriage and the wife, that when it's time to get out there and date again,
they freeze up, going back to what's safe at home. It made me thankful, and humbled, I had the woman in my life in Neferterri, and being happily married.

Rather than beat him up even more, I gave him a fair warning. “You're gonna have to man up, sooner rather than later. Women pick up on weakness, whether they are in the lifestyle or not.”

“I know, dawg. I need to stay away from my wife until the court proceedings are over,” Jay concluded.

“Good. Now can we get back to the game?” I asked, pointing in Ice's direction. “Maybe see some ass shaking in the process?”