Back in Blood

10. Lisa

CHAPTER 10

LISA

Both my hands were gripping the hot mug of coffee that sat before me on the kitchen table. I stared down at the creamy light brown beverage that had been lightened to perfection using my favorite creamer. Just as I took a sip, my mother entered the kitchen dressed in a cute lavender dress. She was retired but between being the secretary of the church she belonged to, being a part of a book club, and her love of decorating, she managed to stay pretty busy.

“Good morning, baby. Have you eaten? You want me to whip something up?”

A sad smile graced my face. My mother wasn’t just doting on me because I lost my child. That was just her nature. Acts of service was her love language. “I ate some fruit. I’ll be fine until lunch. I’ve been wanting soup and salad from Panera Bread.”

“You excited about going back to work next week?” she asked while pouring a cup of coffee.

With a passive shrug, I lifted the mug and took another sip of my coffee. “I wouldn’t say excited. Just ready to get back into the swing of things.”

“Well, don’t feel like you have to rush to move out. Your father and I love having you here, and you can stay as long as you want.”

With a chuckle, I shook my head. “I think you might just be trying to be nice. I heard with my own ears how you and daddy were ready for Malik to move out two days after he came back.”

My mother kissed her teeth and waved my comment off. “That’s because Malik acts like he doesn’t have home training sometimes. Running in and out, partying until three and four in the morning two to three days a week, then sleeping half the day away. Yes, we were ready for him to go,” she replied with a frown. “But you’re no trouble at all.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

I loved my parents dearly, but after a month of living with them, I was ready to get my own place. It was nothing personal against them at all. I left home at the age of eighteen, and I hadn’t lived at home since. I was used to having my own space, but since I emptied my savings on a wedding that didn’t happen, I would need to stay with them for a few months and stack my money, so that I could comfortably afford to move out. Money wasn’t a problem because my job always had overtime available, and I made damn good money. For the past few months, I’d been laying around sulking, eating junk food, and binge watching just about every show on Netflix and Hulu that interested me. It wouldn’t be an issue for me to start out working five days a week twelve hours a day for a few weeks.

Gwen entered the kitchen. “Hey y’all.”

My mother sat down at the table across from me. “Hey. What are you doing here this early?”

“I dropped the kids off at school, and I wanted to come by and holler at Lisa. Girl, I heard Sintonio got the brakes beat off him last night at the lounge on Coast Grove. They said some guy dragged him through the lounge and commenced to beating him like a runaway slave.”

Thankfully, whoever had delivered the gossip to my sister either didn’t know what I looked like, or they didn’t see me. I was pretty sure that rumors were floating around that Sintonio and Capri were fighting over me, and that was the furthest thing from the truth. But since Sintonio didn’t want anybody knowing his dirty little secret, I was sure he wouldn’t correct anyone that assumed incorrectly about what happened.

“What in the world?” my mother frowned. “I know Sintonio isn’t your favorite person in the world, but I get the feeling that you’re hiding something. I’m not sure if you’re protecting him or what, but something about the way things happened with you and him seem off.”

Reason number two that I wanted my own place was because though my parents gave me plenty of space, there were still times that they asked too many questions. And nine times out of ten, they were always questions that I didn’t care to give the answers to. They were starting to ask more questions about my kidnapping. They also wanted all the tea about what happened between me and Sintonio. Of course, there were things that I couldn’t tell them and things that I simply didn’t wish to tell them.

“Like I said, I never liked Tay, and Sin started hanging back with him hard. Tay is just always in something, and I didn’t like Sin hanging around him, but he’s an adult, and I can’t tell him what to do. Whatever he was indulging in out in the streets started to change him, and I didn’t like what I saw.” That was all that I was willing to give.

“No body is perfect, and relationships are certainly a lot of work, but never feel that you have to settle. If you no longer felt good about marrying Sintonio don’t give a second thought to the wasted time and money. Peace is priceless.”

“That it is.” I nodded and finished my coffee.

“I have to get going.” My mother glanced at the watch on her wrist as she stood up. “The meeting at church starts in ten minutes.”

Inwardly, I prayed that as soon as my mother left, my sister didn’t probe me further about the whooping that Capri put on Sin. Capri. The moment his face clouded my brain, my nipples hardened. The way they felt rubbing against the thin fabric of my shirt made me feel weird. A month later, I was still grieving and hadn’t thought of sex in the least bit. But Capri. The moment I realized that he was sitting beside me at the lounge, I felt butterflies in my belly. The feeling wasn’t because of fear. I wasn’t afraid of Capri doing anything to me, and I couldn’t figure out if it was because I had that much faith in him or simply because I just didn’t give a damn about dying.

“I know this is probably a silly question, but what are you doing tomorrow?”

My brows pinched together as I tried to think of why Gwen asked me what I’d be doing. “Um, probably the same thing I do every day. Nothing. What’s special about tomorrow? Should I be doing something?”

Gwen didn’t respond right away. Instead, she studied me with the look of pity that I’d become accustomed to. “Lisa, tomorrow is your birthday. Please don’t tell me you forgot.”

My confusion was replaced with irritation causing me to frown slightly. “Yeah, I actually did. Why does it seem so odd that I’d forget? Tomorrow is just a regular day.” I stood up and went to the sink to wash my cup.

“I know things have changed. And you have every right to feel how you feel, but your birthday isn’t just any other day. I’ve never known you not to treat that day like a national holiday. You don’t have to go all out and do the things you used to do but at least come to dinner with me and Gemini. Please.”

I sighed because even though my back was turned on my sister, I knew she was doing her puppy dog pout. She wasn’t going to let up. I could appreciate the fact that people cared about me, but since losing my son, people acted as if me wanting to be alone was a major issue. I didn’t wish to fake smile and laugh and bullshit my way through the grieving process. I wasn’t okay, and I didn’t have the energy to pretend to be okay. But, I was finally starting to go stir crazy in the house, and alcohol was never a bad thing. At least in my opinion. I didn’t give a damn about my birthday, but actually getting dressed and getting out of the house might do some good.

“I guess. Dinner and nothing else.”

“Yayyyyyy,” Gwen squealed and clapped her hands while I eyed my crusty nails.

I needed a fill weeks ago, and I didn’t possess the energy to take the nails off, so my hands looked hideous because of how far my nails had grown out. My feet looked just as bad, and my hair had been up in a messy bun on top of my head for the past few days. Maybe, I could take the time to run around and get some much needed self-care, so I wouldn’t be out looking neglected and unloved. I didn’t really care about the opinions of others, but maybe I still felt like shit because I looked like shit.

There was only one thing that I wanted for my birthday, and since I couldn’t have that one thing, I didn’t want anything.

On my birthday, I woke up to a room filled with pink balloons and a vase containing a dozen pink roses. I had to smile at the effort that my parents put in to make the day special. And they didn’t stop there. My father cooked a huge breakfast large enough to feed five people. I almost questioned the reason he’d cooked so much food, but it made sense why when Malik showed up with more balloons, more flowers, and a card that contained $400.

“I know it’s not a happy day, but try to smile, Sis. I love you.” He hugged me tight, and I had to thank God for my tribe.

“I love you too.”

Maybe my anti-depressants were finally starting to kick in because when it was time to get dressed for my lash appointment the idea of cancelling didn’t cross my mind ten times. I just knew I was going to wake up and cancel on my sister and Gemini, but I didn’t. The day before I’d gotten my nails done along with a pedicure and after my lash appointment, I had an appointment to get my coochie and underarms waxed. A forest was growing on my legs, but I’d handle that in the shower. I didn’t think Robin was back to taking appointments yet, but it didn’t matter. I was so consumed with the guilt of knowing that I knew who took her child from her, I’d never be able to sit in her chair again. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of Caprice. I thought about her as much as I thought about my own child. And even though Capri had beaten him silly, Sintonio was still walking around just fine. His life was still going, and he was the reason someone else’s got cut short. I hated everything about the situation.

I spent the entire day in shock. A bunch of my co-workers got together and sent edible arrangements to my parents’ house for me. I got an array of cash apps from different people that totaled more than $500, and some of the people from my mom’s church sent me flowers, and a cake. There was no way I could sulk and walk around showing my true feelings when so many people were going out of their way to make my day special. I was another year older, and it wasn’t a big deal because I was supposed to be on my way to being a wife and a mother. Both those things got abruptly taken away from me, so what did I do? Change the way I wanted my life to go and settle for being childless and single? I was tired of hearing the phrase, ‘you’re still young.’

Young or not, I thought I found my person. I thought I was on my way to having baby number one out of three. There weren’t a lot of great options out there. I may never find Mr. Right and as much as I wanted to become a mother, I refused to have kids by just anyone. So yeah, that was that. My outfit for the evening was an oversized white cardigan that was trimmed in baby blue. It was long enough to cover my booty, and I was wearing it as a dress. Paired with denim thigh high boots, the outfit was fire. Despite the cardigan fitting large on me, I still had enough hips and booty for my curves to be seen, but it was large enough to conceal the slight pudge that I still had from giving birth. I wasn’t in the mood to wear Spanx or to suck my stomach in half the night.

I left the first two buttons undone to make the outfit even sexier and added gold accessories to the mix. There was no time for me to get my hair done, so I slicked it back into a sleek bun and laid my edges. I stayed away from the swirled, super dramatic baby hairs, but I left two pieces of hair out by my ear and used water to curl the hair into tight coils. I looked presentable enough. Hell, I looked damn good. It was the best I’d looked in a long time. After putting on light foundation and lip gloss, I grabbed my purse and stepped into the living room to wait for Gwen.

“I have to get out my phone for this!” My father gushed. “You look good, girl.”

I blushed and released a small giggle. “Thank you, daddy.” It almost felt wrong to be celebrating. In the back of my mind, I had to wonder if I really loved my son as much as I said I did because if I did, how was I dressed up ready to go out and have fun?

I pushed those thoughts out of my head, because no one could convince me that I didn’t love my child. Not even my own overthinking. My mother entered the room, and she joined my father in gassing me up.

“Girl! I love that outfit. Check you out! Oh, baby, you about to turn heads.”

“Thank you.” The blushing and giggling continued, and then Gwen entered and started making a fuss too.

Our parents took pictures of me and my sister together, and then Gwen and I left. She drove to the restaurant that she’d made reservations at. “You look really good. How are you feeling?” She took her eyes off the road long enough to glance over at me.

“I feel pretty good. It’s the first day that I haven’t cried since I gave birth, so I’d say that’s a start.”

“It sure is. But even if the feeling hits you, and you want to cry. Let it out, sissy. I’ll cry with you.”

I smiled at my sister. She turned the music up and set the tone for the evening. We listened to feel good rap that made us feel like the baddest, richest women on the planet. The way we were rapping and flexing, in my mind, my rose gold watch was an iced out Patek, and Gwen’s Kia was a Bentley. We arrived at the restaurant at the same time as Gemini. I smiled as I eyed the huge gift bag in her hands. It wasn’t even about the material gifts or the money. I was going to make the genuine effort to return all the energy I’d been given on my birthday. At the table, the moment we were seated, the server came over, and my sister ordered a bottle of champagne. My brows lifted, but I didn’t say anything. My sister wasn’t broke, but I’d never seen her splurge on pricy beverages even during celebrations. She worked at an insurance company, and her husband was a middle school teacher.

Frugal was definitely a word that I could use to accurately describe my sister. After the second glass of champagne, I had a buzz, and that’s when my sister and Gemini went in for the kill.

“Soooo,” Gwen shifted in her seat. I noticed the gleam in her eyes and immediately shook my head.

“No ma’am. I know you better than you know yourself. You want something. I don’t know what it is, but I’d be willing to bet money that you’re about to try and convince me to do something you know I don’t want to do.”

“You don’t have any faith in me,” Gwen sighed. “Hell, Gemini is the one that really wants to go.”

“Just throw me under the bus,” Gemini laughed as my head swiveled in her direction.

“Go where?” my eyes narrowed while I waited on an answer.

“The hookah lounge that’s like ten minutes from here. Scott’s best friend is the owner, and he said he’d hook us up if we came through.” Scott was Gemini’s husband, and he was a doctor. Because he was a prominent person in Diamond Cove, North Carolina, he knew a lot of people. He was always getting us the hook up somewhere. The best thing he’d gotten us was court side tickets to an LA Lakers game.

I rolled my eyes upwards. I should have known that dinner wasn’t going to be enough for those two. Gwen was married with two kids, so she didn’t hang out often. Even when her kids spent weekends with our parents or her husband’s parents, she was usually so tired that her and her husband would just stay in. Gemini on the other hand didn’t have any kids, and her and Scott loved to go out and do things. Those two never sat still when he could manage to get time off.

“Pleaseeeeee,” Gwen and Gemini begged in unison making me scrunch my nose. They knew each other through me. Gwen had her own friends, and I had mine. But they seemed to be on one accord with wanting me to hang out.

“Fine,” I pushed out a dramatic sigh. “But I’m only staying for an hour and a half at the most. I’m not in the mood to be out around a lot of people.”

Gemini stuck her tongue out and did a little dance in my seat. I had to shake my head because with her excitement one would have thought we were going to a Janet Jackson concert or something and not a hookah lounge. Dinner was good and with three glasses of champagne and two lemon drops I had a nice buzz going on. The hookah lounge was nice. There was a decent sized crowd, and I was glad to see that it didn’t appear that the place was filled with young niggas wearing sagging jeans and smelling like marijuana. The crowd was diverse. I wasn’t an expert in the art of deciphering nationalities, but there was a group in one of the booths that looked like they could have been Armenian or maybe Arabic. The men looked like models, and the women were gorgeous.

There was also a group of white women in one corner, but the majority of the crowd was African American. The sip of my drink that I’d just taken almost slipped down the wrong way causing me to choke when I looked up and saw Capri across the room staring at me. I was too stumped to be concerned about the fact that it was the second time in two days that I’d run into him. Granted, he was a kidnapper, so it wasn’t too far-fetched that he’d be following me. But there was a drink already at his table. Correction, there was an empty glass. So, he’d either downed the drink really fast, or he was there before I arrived.

Capri and I had a stare off for all of thirty seconds before I looked away. Yes, he had kidnapped me, but that didn’t take away from the fact that he was the epitome of handsome. Capri was a dark-skinned, sexy, bow-legged muhfucka, and I’d be willing to bet my last dollar that he had a big dick. Why are you thinking about his dick? I chastised myself. Gwen passed me the hookah, and I concentrated on putting my tip on. The alcohol in my system had it so that I wasn’t nervous or losing my cool knowing that Capri was in the same vicinity as me. Me pulling from the hookah was the only reason that I couldn’t smile as I thought about the way Capri beat Sintonio’s ass. Even that was sexy to me.

“Gemini. I’m glad you decided to come out.” I looked up into the face of a very handsome man that had to be damn near seven feet tall. I didn’t mean to gawk at him, but I’d never seen anyone in person that damn tall. And he was fine. “Ladies,” he flashed a dimpled smile at me and then Gwen.

“I’m glad I finally made it. It’s my girl’s birthday,” Gemini smiled. “This is my best friend, Lisa and her sister Gwen. This is Scott’s best friend, Sage.”

I gave Sage a tight smile and a head nod.

“I’ll be sure to tell the waitress that your tab is on the house.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. Extra strong drinks or a few extra wings will suffice,” Gemini spoke up.

“Nonsense. Enjoy ladies.” Sage hit us with that award winning smile again before ambling off.

“Damn, he’s fine,” Gwen marveled as she picked up her drink.

“Baby, all of Scott’s friends are fine. He’s super close with three of his frat brothers, and when they’re all together, girl, girl, girl,” Gemini fanned herself.

I pulled from the hookah again while discreetly attempting to see if Capri was still in the same spot. He wasn’t. My irises danced around the room until I located him at the bar. It felt as if a lump formed in my throat as I watched him talk to a pretty female that had skin just as dark and rich as his. She was gorgeous, and I was jealous. Picture that. I barely knew Capri, and the way we met was messed up to say the least. Even if he ended up being kind, the way he forced me into his car with a gun to my belly still sent chills down my spine. But he had let me go.

I wasn’t sure why I kept seeing him all of a sudden. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was just the universe’s idea of a joke. I looked away before he caught me staring. Even though I was reluctant to even go to the lounge, I had to admit that I was having fun. The shots seemed never ending, and I was a little past drunk. Gwen decided to stop drinking since she had to drive but the way she kept giggling at everything, I knew she was fucked up. The time frame of an hour and a half that I said I was staying went out the window as I decided to sit a little longer and let Gwen drink water, so she could sober up some.

“What the fuck?” I mumbled with a frown as I pulled my phone from my purse and saw that Sintonio had called me twice. I was tempted to ignore him, but I was curious about why he was calling. Especially after the way Capri did him.

After a few moments of contemplation, I told Gwen and Gemini that I was going to step outside and use the phone. After making a quick detour to the rest room, I stepped outside and called Sintonio back. He wasted no time revealing his reason for reaching out to me.

“When that nigga was on me yesterday, you called his name. You were touching him, and you were acting like you didn’t want him arrested. You know that nigga? What you snitched on me?” His tone held a hint of disdain that made my face contort into a glower.

“Snitched on you? Nigga, you really are stupid,” I hissed in a low tone. “You didn’t get away with as much as you think you did. He already knew who you were. You want to know how I know? Because he’s the one that kidnapped me,” I snapped. “He was going to kill me for what you did until he had pity on me and dropped me off at the hospital when I told him about my son’s condition.” I was met with silence. It was taking Sintonio so long to respond that I almost hung up on him.

Finally, he spoke. “Whether he dropped you off or not, I know you don’t trust that nigga. You need to stay away from him. And why didn’t you tell me he knew who I was?” Sintonio sounded panicked.

“I don’t have to give you a heads up about anything. You were the one going in and out of town, staying gone most of the day, and leaving me to be a sitting duck while pregnant. All you cared about was yourself.”

“That’s not true, and you know it.”

I rolled my eyes and paced as Sintonio shot out various excuses for why he did what he did. I was barely listening to him anyway, but when I looked up and saw Capri walking in my direction with his penetrating gaze trained on me, I stopped in my tracks and tuned Sintonio all the way out.

“Who you talking to?” He questioned me boldly in a deep rumble.

His question made my heart slam into my rib cage but not because I was scared for Sintonio. It was almost on some possessive type shit. Like he was my lover, and that shit made my pussy wet.

“Huh?” I frowned as I stalled.

Capri gently took the phone from my ear and placed it to his. He peered at me as Sintonio talked a mile a minute. “She should stay away from me, huh?”

My mouth fell open and eyes damn near jumped out of my head.

“Nah. I don’t think she’s going to be able to do that. You stay safe though.” Capri ended the call and passed it back to me while I stared at him in amazement.

“What you about to get into?” he asked casually.

My mind was absolutely blank. What kind of response was I supposed to give. I clamped my mouth shut and opened it again. “Um, going home.”

“I think you should come with me.”

My left brow hiked. “I’m not interested in being a part of your revenge on Sintonio. We already tried that once.”

Capri drew back. “I can hurt that nigga a hundred different ways. One of them being the way I fucked his ass up last night. I’m an adult, and I can tell when there’s chemistry between me and a person. We’re both going through our own shit. I’m damn sure not looking for anything serious, and I’m sure you aren’t either. We can be two grown ups having fun or not. It is what it is.” Capri was so passive about what he was saying, I truly felt that he didn’t care one way or another if I obliged him or not.

He didn’t lie when he said the chemistry was there because not only was it there, but it was on a hundred. “Where are we going?”