The Trophy Wife (5 page)

Kalil poked Duke in the forehead with his weapon. “When does he get back?”

“Sunday night,” he said, holding his burning leg.

“Where is his spot?”

“He doesn't let niggas know where he stays, but he is always at his baby mama house.”

“Where?”

“In Marcy. Nae-Nae stays in Marcy Projects,” Duke said, his voice trembling.

Kalil opened the door and pushed Duke out, causing him to fall backward onto the curb. Kalil pointed his gun at Duke, but when he and Duke locked eyes, he couldn't bring himself to take him out.

Had it been four years ago, Kalil would've smoked him, but he just froze up. All he could see was Jada's face as he held the gun. He vowed not to leave her again.

Quinn noticed his cousin's hesitation and took matters into his own hands. He stuck his gun out his window and let off five rounds into Duke's body, leaving him dead in the streets and looking into the sky.

The pounding sound of the rain hitting the roof awoke Kalil out of his sleep. He sat up on the couch, his perfectly toned chest, arms, and stomach stiff from the hard work that his new job required. “Damn,” he mumbled as he arose and pulled his sagging pajama pants onto his waist. His entire body ached, and he was exhausted from staying up late all week. Every day after he got off of work, he and Quinn would camp out in Marcy Projects waiting to see any sign of Fatboy or his girl, but they came up empty.

“Fuck,” he whispered as he rubbed his triceps. He knew that the heavy storm outside would shut down the construction zone for the day, and in a way he was relieved. He hated the fact that he had to work so hard just to eat.

“What up, bro? You good?” Quinn walked out of the bedroom and headed straight for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and examined the contents. He found a carton of orange juice and drank straight from it.

Kalil joined Quinn in the kitchen. “Shit, I'm hurting bad right now, bro. My pockets ain't as heavy as they used to be, and on top of that, I can't stop thinking about what happened to Jada. Fatboy pulled that foul shit, and all I can think about is deading his ass. These mu'fuckin' Italians got me on the clock too. I can't even concentrate on finding that fat nigga, because I got to keep this job. This gig is a part of the condition of my parole. This fucking construction shit is for the birds.”

“That's because you trying to do something that ain't you, feel me?” Quinn stared across the table at Kalil with a serious expression. “You out here beating down doors to get legit, but that ain't you. The only way you know how to get money is the wrong way. That's just how we do. What you need to do is get in contact with Hova so we can get right again.”

“I hear you, man,” Kalil stated as he got up and left the table. There was so much temptation for him to get back in the game. He knew that if he got his hands on some work, he could flip a profit almost overnight. He kept reminding himself that he had one good reason to keep his hands clean, and that was Jada.

“Oh yeah, and you ain't got to worry about Fatboy coming around no time soon. Word out that you slumped his lil' worker and that you looking for him. He ain't gon' be showing his face no time soon, so Jada should be safe with Destiny until we get at his ass.”

“That mu'fucka can hide all he want. He better enjoy his last days because I got something hot waiting on him when he does pop up.” The news did ease his worries about letting Jada go back home to Destiny, however. He knew that he couldn't keep Jada away from Destiny for too long. All he needed was for her to call his P.O. and report the beating that he had given her and he would be sent back upstate without hesitation. He would take Jada back home, but he knew that Fatboy wasn't crazy enough to come around that way.

Later that day he got dressed and headed to Jada's school to pick her up from her dance class. He made sure that he was on time. He didn't want anybody picking Jada up but him. As he drove up to the school he thought about how he had yelled at Jada's dance teacher. He knew that he owed her teacher an apology for raising his voice at her the first time they had met. He also wanted to let her know that he would be the only person picking Jada up from now on.

He saw his daughter and a couple other little girls playing on the playground when he arrived.
Why are they outside in this weather?
He walked over to pick her up.

Jada smiled when she recognized her father approaching and left her friends to run toward him. She splashed puddles of water with each step that she took, and the bottom of her pants was dark from being soaked in mud. “Daddy! What are you doing here?” she asked in a sweet tone.

“Why are you outside? Where is your teacher?”

“Ms. London told us that we could come outside to play. This mean man came in and was yelling at her, so she sent us out here.”

“Okay, baby girl, go play with your friends for a minute. Don't leave this playground. I'll be right back.”

Kalil walked into the building and headed for the auditorium. When he entered, he could hear someone crying behind the stage. He walked down the long aisle and made his way up the steps that led to the stage. “London?” he called out when he saw the fragile girl balled up in a corner.

She looked up and saw him staring sympathetically at her, and she immediately tried to wipe her eyes. Her hair was disheveled and she was shaking so badly that she could hardly stand. “I'm sorry,” she sobbed as she attempted to rush past him. Her head was turned away from him and she was trying to stop herself from crying, but the tears were continuous. They would not stop descending down her face.

The sight of her made Kalil feel weak inside. The other day the young woman before him had been so confident and strong. Today she seemed to be a completely different person. He grabbed her arm lightly and turned her toward him. It wasn't until she faced him that he noticed her blackened eye. She also had blood on her face from her busted lip.

“Who did this to you?” he asked her. The look on her face revealed her embarrassment, reminding Kalil of a frightened child. He took her in his arms and rubbed her hair gently as he swayed back and forth.

“Jada is outside,” she managed to utter as she avoided his question and pulled away from him.

“Ssh. I know where she is. I want to make sure you're okay,” he told her, trying to help her regain composure.

London stopped trying to resist and finally cried uncontrollably into his chest. She didn't know why she was letting him hold her, but in a way it felt good. She felt safe in his arms.

“What happened to you?”

“He just came in here yelling. He grabbed me in front of the girls, so I sent them outside,” she explained, her voice quivering.

“Who is he?” Kalil wished he'd been there twenty minutes earlier. He didn't know why, but he wanted to get his hands on whoever hurt her.

“My husband,” she replied almost in a whisper.

Kalil lifted her left hand and noticed the large diamond that occupied her ring finger.

London tried to stop herself from crying, but the comfort of Kalil's embrace made her feel even more vulnerable.

“Here, sit down.” He led her toward a chair. He didn't know exactly what to do for her, but he knew that he couldn't just leave her there. “Is there someone I can call for you? Do you need me to take you somewhere?”

London shook her head but didn't reply. She couldn't even look at him. The fact that he had found her in her current condition was humiliating. She always wanted to keep the fact that her husband was abusive out of the public eye. Usually when he hit her, he made sure that her bruises weren't visible. He would always leave his mark in places that clothing would cover, but this time he took it too far, interrupting her class because he thought that she'd lied about the times that she taught at the school. He was relentless in his attack against her and had left her with a black eye.

“I'm fine,” she said through her tears. “Please just give me some privacy.”

Her shaking body looked so fragile to Kalil, and he felt like he should do something. “I'll be right back,” he told her as he got up and rushed to the restroom. He pulled paper towels from the dispenser and turned on the cold water. He soaked the towels in the water and then wrung them out. Then he rejoined London in the auditorium, where she sat still in the chair with her head in her knees.

Kalil made his way up the steps and knelt beside her as he lifted her head gently. “Here, let me see your lip,” he said softly as he dabbed her face with the wet paper towels.

London looked toward the ceiling as Kalil removed the traces of blood from the corners of her lip. She grimaced when he touched her face.

“Ssh, I'm not gon' hurt you, ma,” he said as he tried his best to clean her up. As he touched her face, he examined the beauty of the woman sitting before him. She was gorgeous, and he couldn't believe that any man would want to bring harm to her.

London finally looked Kalil in his eyes and was about to speak when they both heard the clanging of the auditorium doors as they opened.

Jada came running in. “Daddy, are you ready yet? Mommy gon' be mad if you take me home late.”

London turned her head away from Jada. “I don't want her to see me like this,” she stated softly. As Kalil never removed his hands from her face, London grabbed his hand with hers and hid behind it as Jada came near.

“Jada, go and wait in the hallway. I'll be right out. Just let me finish talking to Ms. London, okay?”

“Okay.” Jada hesitated then let out a sigh.

“I'm sorry,” London said, once Jada had left the room.

“Don't apologize. Are you okay?” Kalil rubbed the side of her face. He used a gentleness that he only shared with his daughter, and it made her force a smile.

She nodded her head. “I'll be fine, thank you.”

Kalil reluctantly got up to leave. He didn't want to leave her alone, but he had to make sure that he got Jada home. He dropped his daughter off and then decided to call it a night.

Kalil couldn't get the thought of London out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her deep, dark brown eyes staring back at him. He knew that there was something about her that intrigued him, but he also knew that she was married. He wondered if she knew exactly how beautiful she was. Her smooth skin and exotic features were uncommon in the hood. Her perfect face looked like a creation of some famous painter.

He tossed and turned the entire night as thoughts of her raced through his mind. He was anxious for the morning to come, because he knew that he would get to see her again.

The next day, after the storm had eased, Kalil went back to work for Mr. Moretti. Kalil wasn't the only black man that worked there, but they were all treated the same—like trash. It seemed like if you weren't full-blooded Italian, then Mr. Moretti had no respect for you. The only reason he even hired his black workers was because he knew that he could get away with paying them less money than advertised.

“Kelly!” one of the project managers yelled, calling Kalil by his last name, “go tell Mr. Moretti that we have another shipment coming in!”

Kalil was grateful for the break. He dropped what he was doing and went to relay the message. He walked into the room without knocking, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the pile of hundred-dollar bills on his boss's desk.

Mr. Moretti and the group of Italian men who stood around the desk immediately tried to cover up the pile of money.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you fucking stupid or something? Close the fucking door!” Moretti slammed the door in Kalil's face.

Kalil quickly made his way back to his work area.
What the fuck they got going on up in this mu'fucka? This construction shit got to be a cover-up for something. It had to be about fifty stacks on that table,
Kalil thought as he continued to work. His mind was split between the money and Jada's dance teacher, and by the time his shift ended he was exhausted.

When Kalil got to Jada's school, she was the only student still waiting to be picked up. He stepped into the auditorium and smiled when he noticed that the stage lights were illuminated on his little girl. He smiled as he watched London instruct his daughter on her form. London held Jada's waist, and they dipped their hips in unison. Kalil clapped slowly as he climbed the steps to the stage.

“Daddy! Look what Ms. London taught me.” Jada danced around the stage.

Kalil tried to focus on his daughter, but he couldn't keep his eyes off London. He could tell that she was embarrassed, because she refused to look his way. He approached her and stood silently as he waited for her to say something.

“Thank you for yesterday.” She kept her eyes focused on the CD case that she had in her shaking hands.

Kalil lifted her face so that he could look her in the eye. “You good?”

London nodded. “Yes, I'm good.”

“Did he hurt you when you went home?”

London looked at him. She didn't understand why he was so determined to help her out. “Why do you care?” she asked him, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

“I don't know. I just do.”

He brushed her swoop bang out of her face and caressed her neck softly with his rough hands, sending goose bumps up and down her spine.

“Let me take you out?”

London raised an eyebrow. “Out?”

“Yeah, out. I want to get to know you.” He noticed the skeptical look on her face and quickly added, “As friends, of course.” He looked down at her, his stare warm and full of concern. He frowned because of the black eye. It seemed so out of place on her gorgeous face.

London couldn't help but stare back into his bedroom eyes. His lips were perfect, and she could imagine herself kissing him.

“I can't.”

“Okay.” Kalil nodded his head. He understood why she turned him down. He knew that she had a lot on her mind and that her situation wasn't as easy as his. She was married and, even worse, in an abusive relationship. Kalil would be patient. Her husband obviously didn't appreciate what he had. Kalil would wait until she was tired of being mistreated and would then show her how she deserved to be taken care of.

He touched the side of her face that was black and blue then leaned into her and whispered, “You deserve better.”

With that he grabbed his daughter's hand and walked down the steps as he prepared to exit the room. Before he reached the door he heard her call his name.

“Kalil?”

He stopped walking and turned to face her. “Are you better?” she asked him, her shaky voice echoing through the large room.

“For you, I would be,” he replied and then left the room.

 

 

From that day forward, Kalil made it a point to pick Jada up from school every day. He told himself that he was doing it for his baby girl, but truthfully a part of him wanted to check on London. He was attracted to her, and even though she was married, it didn't stop him from wanting to see her.

Every day he would watch as she taught her class. He told himself that he was there to show Jada his support, but he often found himself spending more time watching London than his daughter. He was infatuated by her style. Her smile was gorgeous, and when she danced, he saw a passion in her that was inspiring. Each day he would watch as London's bruises healed, but he always noticed when a new one would appear. He noticed everything about her, and he could tell that silently she liked the attention he was giving her.

“Why do you show up here every day?” she asked him one day as she gave the girls time to warm up by themselves.

“What? You don't want me to?” Kalil sat low in one of the auditorium seats.

London smiled and shook her head. “You have to stop this. I can't allow myself to start this with you,” she stated seriously. Her voice was full of concern as she stood with one hand planted firmly on her hip. Her eyes watered over as she looked down at the man she desperately wanted to get to know.
Why does he have to be so damn charming?

“Start what with me? I know you've got a lot to be afraid of. I would never put you out there like that. You're not doing anything wrong. I'm just here for Jada,” he stated with a smile that melted London's defenses.

“I'm serious. You have to stop, Kalil. Just please don't complicate things for me more than they already are. You have no idea what I'm going through.” London looked back at her class on the stage.

“I hear you, ma,” Kalil stated as he stood up, “I hear you.” He wasn't upset because he already knew why she was reluctant to fuck with him. She began to walk away, but Kalil reached for her arm.

“Oww!” She grimaced and quickly pulled her arm away.

Kalil turned her arm around and saw the red marks deeply embedded in her skin. Her arm was blotchy and swollen. Kalil shook his head in disgust. “You stay beautiful, a'ight. When you ready to leave that nigga, you let me know,” he stated as he put on his fitted Yankees cap and exited the room.

London didn't know what to do. She couldn't keep her mind off Kalil. Even though she hardly knew him, there was something about him that kept her thoughts preoccupied. She couldn't help but think about the way he looked at her. His eyes seemed to penetrate her, and his presence made her heart race.
What the hell am I doing? I don't even know him,
she thought to herself each time she found her mind wandering off.

To keep herself busy she went to the school early to prepare for her class that evening. She loved volunteering at the performing arts elementary school. Her first love was ballet, but her husband never let her pursue her dreams. She figured that since she couldn't do it, she may as well teach other young girls how to. Now twenty-six, she'd wanted to join a dance company since she was a young girl.

She had been dancing since she was a five-year-old, but when she married her husband she was forced to give up all of her goals. She wasn't a dumb woman; she never had been and never would be. She was stuck in a bad situation and had no control over her own life.

Kalil had come out of nowhere, and she didn't know what to do with him. It was obvious that he didn't have much, but he had the swagger of a man who was working with big chips. She didn't know him very well at all, but the little bit of time that she'd already spent with him made her yearn for more.

She thought of him at night when she went to sleep, and he occupied her thoughts constantly throughout the day. She wondered what it would be like to be his. She knew that he had to have someone in his life, and she often found herself jealous of Jada's mother. What was she like? What made her so special? Why not me? These were questions she asked herself every time she saw him. She knew it was crazy, but she couldn't help herself.

She wanted to be a part of his life.
There's no point in starting something that I can't finish,
she thought to herself.

On the outside, her life appeared to be perfect, but on the inside she was dying slowly. She put in the Mary J. Blige CD, positioned herself in a dramatic starting pose, and waited for the music to begin as she got lost in her creative dance.

 

 

Kalil kept his distance from London for a while. He knew that she wasn't trying to leave her situation. It was evident that she was used to living the good life and he couldn't offer her that, so he stepped off. He kept his distance from her and kept his mind focused on providing for his daughter.

He worked day in and day out for Mr. Moretti, and the longer he worked there, the more he became convinced that there was more to the old man than what met the eye. Kalil was growing tired of getting fucked over by Moretti. He wasn't getting paid like he needed to, and his patience was growing thin. He was working like a slave, but still couldn't afford to cop his own crib and car. The only thing that he'd invested in was a new cell phone so that Jada would be able to reach him.

His cell phone rang, and he flipped the face up. “Hello?”

“Hi, Daddy,” Jada greeted him, excitement in her voice.

The sound of his daughter's voice put a smile on his face. “Hey, baby girl. Daddy's at work right now. What's up?” He wiped the sweat from his brow.

“My recital is tonight. Are you coming to watch me dance? Mommy is coming. I want you to be there too.”

“What time does it start?”

“At six o'clock.”

Kalil pulled the phone away from his ear to view the time. It was already four-thirty, and he wasn't supposed to get off work until eight.
Fuck,
he thought to himself, knowing that he was going to have to leave early.

“Daddy, will you be there?” she repeated.

He could hear her getting teary at the thought of him not showing up. He sighed. “Yeah, I'll be there.” He hung up the phone and went to Moretti's trailer to ask him for the rest of the day off.

Moretti never even looked up from his desk. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I need to leave early. I promised my daughter that I would be at her recital and—”

“Get your ass back to work before I fire you,” Moretti said calmly. He still hadn't looked up at Kalil.

“What?” Kalil asked, feeling himself get heated.

“I don't give a fuck about your daughter. Get your ass back to work!”

Kalil nodded his head out of anger. He had to calm himself down before he did something to land him back in prison. He'd been disrespected by Moretti time and time again, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. He decided to fall back and leave.
I'ma make sure this mu'fucka get what he got coming to him.
He took off his hard hat and threw it on the ground as he walked out of the office. He couldn't afford to just walk out on his job, but at the same time, he was a man and was tired of being degraded by Moretti. The only thing he wanted to do was be a good father and take care of his responsibilities, but it was almost impossible for him to do that in mainstream America. He only knew one way to get money and was trying to avoid that route at all costs.

He knew that Mr. Moretti would be upset with him for ditching work, but he left anyway. He had to be at Jada's recital, or he would never hear the end of it. He would much rather deal with the repercussions from his boss than disappoint his daughter, so when the shift manager wasn't paying attention, Kalil slipped out.

Kalil made sure that he stopped by the crib before he made his way to Jada's school. He knew that he would run into London and he wanted to be fresh when she saw him.

He walked into the full auditorium and made his way backstage. He found Jada standing in line with the rest of the girls, her long curly hair pulled up in a ponytail, and her pink ballerina skirt making her look like something out of a fairy tale.

“Daddy!” she yelled in excitement as she jumped into his arms. “Where's Uncle Quinn?” she asked, looking past his shoulders.

“He couldn't make it, sweetheart, but he told me to give you this.” Kalil pulled a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to her.

“That'll do,” she said smartly.

“That'll do, huh?” he said as he tickled her. He hit her on the butt and told her to get back in line. He shook his head as he thought about how much she reminded him of Destiny.

London asked, “You ladies ready?” Then she wished them luck and sent them onto the stage.

When the lights in the entire auditorium dimmed, Kalil couldn't see anything but London's silhouette.

She could feel his eyes on her, and she smiled when she felt him walk up behind her.

“How you been, ma?” he whispered in her ear.

She kept her eyes on the stage as she replied, “I've been well. I haven't seen you in a while. You used to pick Jada up every day.”

“What? You checking for me now?” Kalil was standing so close to her, his lips touched her ear every time he spoke.

She turned around and faced him with a slight smirk on her face. “Checking for you? How can I be interested in somebody I barely know?”

“Because you feeling the kid,” he replied arrogantly.

The feeling of his breath bouncing on her neck gave her goose bumps and her nipples came alive. He placed his hands around her hips and pulled her close. His touch felt good and she wasn't going to stop him, even though she knew that she had no future with him.