Chapter 3
Team Liam
(Liam)
It only takes me a few minutes to find Thaddeus. He greets me with a hug. “Hey Lee, buddy! Sorry to hear about your mom, man.”
Contrary to popular belief, Thad and I keep in touch. There’s a whole underground communications system that most people don’t know about. That’s because I invented it with my friends during our undergraduate years when I created special projects for my friends and their rich daddies. You know, the kind of projects that always skimmed off a couple of hundred grand for me and my buddies. None of our fathers needed any more money.
“Thanks, man. Listen, I sort of met someone today. She’s upstairs in my suite.”
“There you go, man! Leave it to your white ass to be able to still pull pussy even with a target on your back.”
We both laugh.
“Look, it’s not even like that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, she is beautiful, but right now I just want her to trust me enough to let me help her and her son.”
“Oh, shit! She has a kid?”
“Yeah. The guards separated them from their family because he’s biracial.”
“Wait, I heard about that. How did you get involved?”
“I saw the whole thing from the burnt out building up the street. When I got here, she was waiting downstairs trying to get in.”
“Look Lee, no offense, man, but ain’t no Black woman getting ready to follow you into the forest. She’s probably thinking you’re going to kill her.”
“I know, but what other choice does she have? She can’t protect herself and her kid out there.”
The thought of her being violated angers me to my core. “Thad, if she refuses to go with me, can you give her a job?”
“You know I’d do anything to help you out. You’re my brother and I wouldn’t have this amazing spot without you.”
I cut him off, “But?”
“But I can’t take the heat the kid would bring. Your best bet is to turn up the charm tonight and convince her to go with you. Hey… it’s the mother-son connection, huh?”
I look away and nod in acknowledgment. “Yeah, it is. Listen, I’m going to need food for three for the next three days, four if you can spare it.”
“Spare it? Man, I got you! Plus, you’re talking to the owner of the best joint in the land! And you know this!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Will you please send up dinner for us? I need to get back up there before she starts freaking out.”
Thad grabs me around the shoulders and smiles ever so cool. “I got you.”
I leave Thad and head back to the room. When I enter, I hear them talking. I shouldn’t listen in on their private conversation, but I need to know where her head is at.
“Mommy, who is the man that’s helping us? Can he really help us find Tee-tee? He’s white like me. I like him.”
“His name is Mr. Sinclair. I don’t know if he can help find Tee-tee. And for the millionth time, you’re not white!”
I hear laughter. “Why do you like him?”
“He doesn’t let people push him around. And Mom, if I wasn’t white, they would have let us go with Tee-tee.”
His struggle with his identity breaks my heart a little. He’s a little kid. He shouldn’t need to worry about these things.
“First of all, you know I hate it when you call me mom, makes me feel like my baby is growing up too fast. Come on, I think it’s time for a bath and maybe when Mr. Sinclair comes back, we can ask him if we can have ice cream for dessert. What do you think about that?”
I pull out my phone and text Thaddeus.
Me: Will you please send up ice cream for dessert?
Thad: Sure, what flavor?
Me: Don’t know and I can’t ask. I was eavesdropping. Vanilla? Strawberry? Chocolate? Cookies and Cream?
Thad: I’ll mix it up. You need all the help you can get!
The food arrives just before they come out of the bedroom. She almost looks startled to see me back. Zion stays behind his mother. Knowing that he’s Team Liam, I decide to take a chance. “Hey buddy. I’m Liam.”
He peeks around Nicole. “My mom says I have to call you Mr. Sinclair.”
“Well, I’m okay with you calling me Lee; it’s what my friends call me. That is, if it’s okay with your mom.”
She looks at me, then at him, and nods. Score one for Liam! “Let’s see what’s for dinner. I have it on good authority that we’re having ice cream for dessert.”
He smiles big and heads over to the table.
Thad, my man! He sent up steak for me, jambalaya for her, and pizza for Zion. Though steak is my favorite, I look at Nicole and apologize. “I’m sorry. I just asked him to send up food. I didn’t ask you about allergies or preferences. Which plate do you prefer?”
“I love jambalaya! It’s one of my favorite meals.”
And for the first time, she smiles. That smile sucked all the air out of my lungs, and I swear she glowed. Then again, it was probably just the lack of oxygen to my brain.
We sit down to eat at the long table. I sit at the head and she and Zion each skip a seat away from me to sit across from each other. Time to see what I can find out about her. “So, Nicole, tell me about yourself.”
“Why?”
She snaps at me without looking up from her plate.
“Just trying to get to know you.”
“Why?”
This time she looks up at me with one raised eyebrow.
This woman is going to be tough to crack. “Because that’s how you start a friendship.”
“I want to be your friend.”
Zion chimes in. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Zi,”
Nicole says firmly as if reminding him of his manners.
He looks at her and says, “May.”
Then he turns back to me. “May I ask you a question?”
I smile, “Absolutely buddy, ask me anything.”
Nicole chuckles and says, “Good luck with that.”
Zion continues, “Where did you live before you came here?”
“Rancho Palos Verdes near Los Angeles.”
I smile, remembering the good times and the parties I threw when my father went out of town.
“We’re from Los Angeles too!”
He beams, acknowledging that we have something in common.
“How old are you, Zion?
“Seven. How old are you?”
“Forty-one.”
“You’re older than Mommy. She’s thirty-eight.”
“ZION!”
Her tone scolds him for the over-share.
“Sorry Mommy.”
Laughing hysterically, I smile at her and say to Zion, “That can’t be true. Your mom doesn’t look a day over twenty-five.”
Blushing, she says, “Well, you know, Black don’t crack, but thanks.”
“So, Zion, what else can you tell me about your mom?”
“I can tell you a lot about my mom, but if I do, I’ll probably get in trouble.”
He curiously looks over at his mother. “Hey Mommy, what are you going to take away now if I get in trouble? I don’t have any of my games or devices.”
“You like video games?”
I ask. “What’s your favorite thing to play?”
“Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite. I love gaming.”
“Sweet! Maybe we can play for a little while after dinner, but we should all go to bed early since we need to leave early in the morning.”
I look over at Nicole and see the disagreement in her face. I’m sorry, Ms. Nicole Simmons, you’re coming with me whether you like it or not.
“Where are we going? Is it far? How are we getting there? And can you really help us find my Tee-tee?”
“And there it is. Zion, looks like your pizza is finished. Are you ready for dessert? Let’s see what kind of ice cream we have.”
His mother tries to redirect the conversation.
I jump up to grab the ice cream out of the freezer before she can stand. “I’m told there’s cookies and cream, vanilla, and chocolate. Who wants what?”
Zion screeches, “Cookies and cream is my favorite.”
Nicole follows with, “I love my vanilla!”
I audibly grunt, “And chocolate has always been my favorite.”
My eyes lock with Nicole’s and we both laugh at our flavor selections, not missing the innuendo. “It’s been a while since I’ve had ice cream. It was always my favorite treat growing up. My mother took me out for ice cream when I lost my first tooth.”
Sadness fills my chest. I can’t let her see my pain, not yet.
We finish up the ice cream and I invite Zion into the living room to check out Roblox. Nicole follows closely behind us. With the flip of a switch the massive screen descends from the ceiling. Zion squeals with excitement.
“Impressive,”
Nicole says from behind me.
With Zion already comfortably on the sofa and Nicole lounging in the comfy chair several feet behind him, I circle around the sofa instead of cutting across. I slow down just enough to whisper to Nicole, “We need to talk.”
I don’t stop long enough to give her a chance to respond. Zion and I both sign-in to our accounts on the split screen and play for barely an hour before I notice his avatar stop moving on the screen.
“He’s out,”
I say softly over my shoulder to Nicole. She stands and wipes her face. She’s been crying. My eyes well up with tears at the memory of my own mother silently crying in the corner while I played without a care in the world. She walks over to pick up her son. “No, Nicole, let me.”
I pick him up and we both walk him to the bedroom and I place him on the bed. Walking back toward the bedroom door, I stop in front of her where she’s leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed. “Do you want to talk now, or do you need a few minutes?”
“Do you mind if I take a shower first?”
“Not at all. I’ll go take a shower too and we’ll meet in the living room afterwards. Okay?”
“Yes. And Liam, thank you.”
I nod and leave the room. She closes and locks the door behind me. Hopefully, I can earn her trust, make her feel safe. I walk across the huge suite to the bedroom on the other side. It’s been a long day even though it’s barely 7 p.m. I take off my clothes and step into the shower where for the first time, I allow myself to feel the weight of the day. The warm water falls all over my whole body from the rain showerhead and tears fall down my face. Even though the funeral had been closed casket, her husband allowed me a few minutes with my mom where I was allowed to see her. She lay there in a navy-blue dress with the sapphire earrings I gave her on her sixtieth birthday. She told me then that she hoped I never wanted them back because she was taking them to the grave with her. With all my knowledge of the human body and pharmaceuticals, there still wasn’t anything I could do to prevent her death. My mother was a great mother. She loved and cared for me even when her own life was threatened. I think that’s the kind of mother Nicole is.
My thoughts shift to Nicole. Nicole, she’s so beautiful. Just the thought of her makes my cock stiffen a little. I’ve grown use to ignoring myself, so I didn’t give the urge to stroke my myself a second thought. Besides, it would be disrespectful, and I need to go talk to her. The last thing I need, she needs, is for me to have a flashback of me fucking her in my mind just moments before.
I never gave my mother a grandchild or a daughter-in-law. Yeah, I had my share of women, but I never took the time to get to know any of them. I was always too busy trying to overthrow my father. I came close once when I was twenty-eight, but after six months, she decided I was too wrapped up in trying to save the world. After my father died, I was obsessed with stockpiling money to synthesize drugs for the pandemics that I knew were coming. Until that point, I would still have an occasional lady in my bed, but once I had the dream about the change in society, I just didn’t have time for sex. I mean, don’t it get wrong, I still have stroke sessions with myself, but over the last three years, it’s been less often. Shit, I’ve become a weird, loner, mountain dweller.
I need to get out of this shower. Nicole is probably waiting for me.