Chapter 32

After parking the rattling pickup in a visitor spot at an upscale residential complex, I scanned the area. Under an ominous gray sky, well-maintained trees and shrubs dotted an immaculate plush green lawn.

With a sigh, I headed for Chanelle’s car parked before the nearest of five white-trimmed, baby blue three-story buildings. As I clomped over the glossy black asphalt, I glanced at the darkening waters of a large rectangular swimming pool. A chilly and rising wind was driving ripples across it. The earlier phone call returned to me for the hundredth time.

My pulse raced. When she’d asked to meet her in Anniston, her voice had been shaky. And low, since she’d been working at DiGrigio’s.

“Pappy kicked me out, Hiram!” was followed by a long stretch of heavy rapid breathing until she added. “I, um ... I’m living with Lisa, uh, in Anniston. It’s a nice place. Just until we can leave.”

“Isn’t Lisa the one with the sugar daddy?” After I’d asked, the silence had stretched on as I stared at the willow branches sweeping the front yard.

“Yes.” Her voice was barely audible. And the way she spoke that single syllable drove an icy spike into my soul. “Look, could we talk? Today. I’ll ... I’ll tell them I’m feeling sick.”

So there I was, walking towards Chanelle’s new home right as fat drops of rain began splatting down around me. After climbing three flights and rapping on a red wooden front door, I huddled under an overhang. It didn’t matter. A blast of shiver-inducing wind pelted me with a chilly spray. While I was fumbling to turn up my collar against the gust, the door opened to reveal a tall, slender young woman.

From beneath an unruly mane of thick fiery hair, brilliant blue eyes sparkled on a sharp-cheeked, elegant face. After giving me a quick scan, she flashed me a smile. Once she’d pulled it wider while stepping aside, I flicked my gaze over her. Toned and tanned, she wore black booty shorts that clung to her firm ass like paint. A taut green crop-top exposed the curvaceous undersides of enormous swaying breasts.

“Oh, damn.” When she spoke, my eyes returned to her face as I managed a nervous grin. “She said you were handsome, but wow.” After gesturing me inside and pushing the door closed against another forceful gust, she yelled towards an open doorway at the far side of a large room. “Hey, Chains! Your boyfriend’s here.” As I examined the expensive-looking furnishings, her long fingers twisted a lengthy orange-red strand of hair. “She’s, um, running late. The bastards at the restaurant wouldn’t let her go.”

“Uh, nice place you’ve got here,” I said while glancing at the brilliant white and gold-tiled kitchen. Gourmet quality, its silvery appliances gleamed. “You, um, must be Lisa?”

As I shifted from foot to foot, again scanning the apartment, the aromas of fresh paint from the cream-colored walls and its new beige carpet filled my nostrils. Although a set of bookshelves held not a single book, all the items on them had been aligned in perfect order. The whole place was a full-size dollhouse. Or a museum set. Only a stack of brown cardboard moving boxes marred its perfection.

“Yep. That’s me, Lisa. And thanks. Yeah, it’s kinda sweet, ain’t it? Dale’s loaded.” Lisa laughed before prancing away towards the kitchen. As she moved, only her chest wiggled, and even then, just barely. “And he don’t mind sharing.”

“He, um ... He doesn’t mind Chanelle living here?” As I shook the rain off my sleeves, I followed her.

“Oh, hell no, sweetie!” After taking a sip of water from a pink metal bottle, she flashed me a grin. “What’d he say?” Lisa called out right as Chanelle stepped into the room wearing a green, shoulderless dress that swished around her hips as she moved. Although Lisa, taking another sip, missed Chanelle’s stern look, I didn’t. Lisa added. “‘With suction like hers, Chains can stay as long as she likes.’”

As soon as Lisa caught my raising eyebrows and Chanelle’s gasp, the chuckle died in her throat. With the room whirling, every muscle in my body twitched. And they kept twitching. Oh, I was aware of the hypocrisy. Business or not, I’d been sleeping with Mrs. Jenkins. And Yeshia.

But, at that second, an image I never wanted to see again shot into my brain. Around me, the entire room buckled and weaved.

“Oh, shit. You didn’t know?” Lisa’s mumbled voice pierced the rising roar of blood in my ears. “Oh, fuck, Chains. I’m sorry, sweetie. Damn, do I feel like a right fool?”

As time staggered to a languid crawl, and my heartbeat became only a single thump every two or three decades, I turned from Lisa to Chanelle. With my teeth grinding, my jaw was so tight it pulsed. Eyes watering and fists balled at her sides, Chanelle had stumbled backwards to the doorframe.

“You...” Despite swallowing, my throat became drier, and I croaked out the remaining words. “You...? Him? Dale? You sucked a guy off to stay here?”

Yeah. Double standards. I had them.

It wasn’t right. But me, the man who’d spent three days fucking a woman she knew about and another she didn’t, had just asked that of her. What an idiot I was. But my brain was mush, replaying the image of Chanelle on her knees before some other dude. So, my heart, already shredding after the last few days, failed. As the room whirled, I yanked on the doorknob, flung the door wide, and rushed from the apartment.

There were words from behind me. High-pitched. Desperate. But I didn’t care.

Before I could raise my hands, a powerful gust shotgunned icy water into my face. With a snarl, I endured the bombardment of piercing needles to leap down the stairs. While gathering myself for the dash to my car, my entire body was a block of frozen steel.

Okay, I was leaving alone. And not heading for Vegas. Not if she was gonna be there. Because of the whistling, ice-laden wind, I only caught the racing click-clacks of high-heels when they clattered behind me.

“Hiram! Please!” As Chanelle’s voice pierced my frozen heart, her clawing nails dragged along my back. “Please don’t leave me, Hiram.”

After I’d turned to her, Chanelle stared up at me. Racing down both cheeks, shiny tears melded with wind-driven raindrops. God, even with the redness filling her glimmering amber eyes, they staggered my soul.

And right at that exact moment, with us shivering under that fierce icy bombardment, my damned fool heart melted. As the world returned to focus, my brain uncurled from its shaking fetal position.

And I grew up—again. Remember old Hiram? The new one I’d uncovered in Atlanta? Well, this was more of that newer version. A bit wiser, I squared my shoulders and listened.

“I had no choice. Pappy changed the locks. He called me a ‘nigger lover’ and a ‘race traitor.’ My own father, Hiram! Fuck. Him. I had no place to go. Lisa offered, but Dale ... Dale’s been hounding me for the longest time.” She swallowed before adding in a lower, shaky voice I could barely hear over the howling gusts. “It was only supposed to be a handjob, but ... At the end, he begged me, Hiram. And I remembered us in the car. And I—I’m so sorry. But I did it. Only his ... Only the tip.”

“And that’s all?” My tone was as icy as the rain slashing into our swaying bodies.

“Yes, Hiram.” She gave me several vigorous head bobs. “I swear. That was it. We could leave at the end of the week. I can quit work earlier. Lisa and Trish could come later.”

“I fucked another girl,” fled my lips. I’d love to say my brain had no chance to stop me, like before, but that’d be a lie. Right then, part of me wanted to hurt her. “In Atlanta. Her name’s Yeshia and she stayed with Mrs. Jenkins and me for the entire weekend. And I fucked them both. A lot.”

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