Chapter 4

“Ray, quit lying to me!” Jessie screamed as they stared at each other in their bedroom.

The soft glow of the lampstand traced delicate fingers of light over his wife’s smooth, caramel skin. It brought into sharp relief her agonizing expression.

“For the last time, I’m not lying to you,” Ray pleaded with her to believe him. “I didn’t shoot that kid.”

“Then how did he die, Ray?” Her chocolate eyes with their thick lashes, had a shimmer to them. “You barely got away with that LaJuan Homer kid. But this time, a boy is dead.”

Ray fisted his hands in his hair. He couldn’t believe this was happening. His own wife!

“Jessie, Caramelo, we’ve been together for how long?”

“Seventeen years, Ray.” She folded her arms.

His eyes roved over this woman, taking in every aspect. She had long weave that cascaded down her back in soft black waves. He liked the way she changed her look over the years, always keeping it fresh. It made coming home even more fun.

This was his high school sweetheart; the mother of his son; his reason for living; the love of his life.

How could the woman he’d shared a lifetime with believe he could have killed a boy in cold blood? No one was supposed to know him better than her.

“Caramelo,” he implored again, feeling his tear ducts swell with liquid. “You have to believe me. I didn’t kill that boy. I’m being set up.”

“By a robot, Ray?” she spat. “The Terminator kidnapped LaJuan Homer and killed Terrence Park?”

“Yes!” he yelled. His whole body shook with the effort to control himself. “Yes, Jess! A robot came and did it.”

Seeing the robot, again, had floored him. He’d come to terms that the incident involving LaJuan Homer had been a singular event. It happened. No one believed his story but at least they couldn’t find evidence to pin the blame on him.

Yet, the second time, during an altercation with another gang member (a tidbit the media chose to leave out) the boy had been shot by the same robot.

Coincidence left a long time ago. The fact is that this robot was on the scene again, staring at him with those glowering red eyes. But this time, it had a gun-like weapon attached to its hand.

While he was on the scene.

Ray knew then that someone had it out for him.

“Ray.”

He came out of his thoughts as Jessie pressed herself against him and lifted her arms around his neck. Her vanilla scented softness nearly undid him. All he wanted right now was to pick her up and lose himself in her. He ached to have a brief respite in heaven to escape the hell of his life.

“Yeah, mi vida?” His heart seemed to crack in two.

How could she not trust him to tell her, of all people, the truth?

“I want to believe you, papi. I do.” A tear trickled down her cheek. He captured the tiny droplet with his thumb and brought it to his mouth where he licked it off, tasting her the salt of her sorrow.

Ray hated to see her cry. Over the years, he’d been proud of the fact that Jessie had had little reason to cry. It tore at his insides that her tears were caused by him.

“You know I’ve had your back since we were in high school. You know that. I’ll ride or die with you. Even if you just admit that you harmed or killed those boys, I’d still be by your side because at least you’d be telling me the truth.”

Ray winced. Her words cut sharper than a knife.

“But when you tell these wild stories about killer robots, I can’t—I just can’t—”

Her tears flowed down in a steady trail, making pale colored streaks in her make-up. There was more to this than her disbelief though. Ray knew his wife like the back of his hand and what he saw in her eyes sent a cold wave of fear throughout him.