Chapter 9 #2
When it came to Danessa, my radar was always active and it started pulsing erratically when she entered the backyard in a scoop neck tank top and cutoff jeans.
She was dripping in gold. Her ears, her neck, her wrist and her fingers.
Her hair had that just styled bounce to it.
A group of women nearby were throwing frosty looks in her direction with the realization tonight’s competition for baddest of them all had crowned Danessa as the winner.
Danessa’s head was on a swivel clearly searching for her sister.
She was probably regretting being here and already ready to leave.
When she spotted me next to Anika, she shuffled back a step or two as if she wanted to retreat but thought better of it.
“You’re here?” she said on approach.
“I mean it is a basketball party and I’m … checks notes … a basketball player.”
“Per usual you missed all the action,” Anika said.
“There was action?”
“Yeah, your friend almost came to blows with Colin.” Dante gripped my shoulder.
“Colin?”
“Colin Pratt the point guard for the Ramblers.” Dante’s clarification caused me to roll my eyes.
“You need a drink.” Anika pointed to me.
“No, I’m good.”
Anika ignored my protest. “I’m gonna get you a drink.” Dante followed behind her, apparently they were now attached at the hip.
“I don’t drink,” I called out after her.
“It’ll be a light pour,” she said before heading inside.
Danessa took a sip from her cup, her silky hair framed her face before cascading over her shoulders.
The party was loud between the music, buzz of conversation and guest carousing all around us.
I’d never been a fan of big crowds and was often posted up in the corner.
Danessa and I had that in common. We’d be in our own little world, laughing at inside jokes or singing songs word for word.
Too caught up in one another to care what anyone else was doing.
Anika was the life of the party, but Danessa was better in smaller settings.
That’s when she let her guard down and when she locked eyes with you, you felt like the only one.
People made assumptions about who I was but very few took the time to get to know me.
And I’d let the surface shit slide because I wasn’t trying to go that deep with most people.
But with Danessa I trusted that no matter how vulnerable I got, she’d still get me. Or at least that’s how it used to work.
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“You know Anika, she begged me to come. Actually, she and Dante teamed up on me.”
“Are they a couple now?”
“Uhm, I think they’re still just having fun.”
“I wish I could turn my brain off and just say fuck it every once in a while.”
“Anika’s ability to ignore responsibility is both a marvel and a source of frustration.”
Another Ying Yang song came on. The DJ clearly had a preference. “Did you know the Ying Yang Twins aren’t twins?”
“Yeah, they’re not even fucking brothers or related. Neither is Omarion and Marcus Houston.”
“Yeah, just a bunch of fucking phonies.” Fuck Persephone. She didn’t get it. “Are you having fun?” I was so bad at this. I never expected I’d have to make small talk with the woman I once thought I’d marry.
“It’s crowded and I think I interrupted a group of people doing drugs in one of the bedrooms.”
“Really?” I hoped my tone came off as nonchalant and not slightly interested.
Parties were usually off limits for that very reason.
I wasn’t anti-social; I was a drug addict and places like this made me want to use.
While Danessa told me a story about the ride to the party.
My mind tried to calculate how I could discreetly excuse myself so I could head upstairs.
I just needed a pill to take the edge off.
The thing about being an addict was it was a lifelong condition.
For the rest of my life, I would have to choose sobriety.
If for one minute I thought I was smarter and stronger than the addiction I was toast. Relapsing was a real possibility, especially if I kept putting myself in situations like this.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you’re sweating profusely.”
I mopped my brow, which was dotted with perspiration. “I just need some fresh air.”
“We’re outside.” She tilted her head examining my features, which only made me sweat more.
“Fresher, less congested air.”
“Do you want company?”
“Yeah.” Danessa followed me through the yard and out a side gate. “Better?
“Uh-huh.” I took several deep breaths. My heart was trying to bust through my chest and my skin felt like it was infested by ants.
“Anxiety?”
“Something like that.” I sucked in rapid, stuttered breaths.
“Just close your eyes and count backwards from ten.”
“No, I’m good.”
She claimed my clammy hands and it did nothing but disrupt my nervous system further. “Close your eyes.” I did as I was told. “Ten.”
I hated myself.
“Nine.”
I was never going to be normal.
“Eight … seven.”
I was no better than my father.
“Six … five.”
I should call Pete.
“Four.”
Was it always going to be this hard?
“Three … Two … One.”
Opening my eyes, Danessa greeted me with a reassuring smile. “It happens to the best of us. I was in Whole Foods a few months ago and broke out into a cold sweat. My cart was full, but for some reason the thought of being in the store one minute longer wigged me out.”
“What caused it?”
“Stress, life, too many people. I don’t really know.”
“I think for me, it’s trying to solve problems that haven’t even presented themselves yet.”
She checked her phone and smiled. “This party is a bust. I think I know a place that will provide the wide-open spaces you’re seeking.”
“I’m down.” Anything to get away from this den of iniquity.
After a quick twenty-minute drive, we were back downtown and pulling up to a chain linked fence. Pushing the call button, we waited for what felt like an eternity before the speaker crackled. “Who is it?” an aggressive male voice asked.
Danessa draped her body across my lap to be closer to the speaker.
“It’s Danessa.” She leaned further out the window so she could wave toward the camera, her ass perched in my face.
It was perfectly positioned for a quick smack or a naughty love bite.
There was another brief pause and then the gate rattled open.
Danessa made her way back to the passenger seat and said, “Take the first left.”
Once inside we stopped at a guard station and parked next to the only other car in the small lot.
“Danessa, what are you doing here?” An older gentlemen exited the guard shack with a limp.
“I know it’s late Earl, but I was hoping I could show my friend around.”
When I exited the car, Earl’s face lit up. “Oh shit it’s number four.”
“Earl, this is Aldridge Mosley, he’s a client.”
“Damn, you’re tall.” Earl accepted the hand I extended, and we exchanged daps. “Welcome to Vegas.”
“Thank you.”
“I see you’ve met one of our finest resources … Miss Danessa.”
“We actually went to college together,” Danessa said.
“Is that right? So you got to witness his meteoric rise from the bottom up.”
“I don’t know about all that.” Normally I wasn’t shy, but something about Earl’s down-to-earth nature made me want to be modest.
“Shiiiiiit, you brought your team to the finals in your third year. That team was a mess when you were drafted. They went from dead last to contenders in the span of three seasons. Hopefully you sprinkle some of that magic on the Ramblers.”
“I’m sure gonna try.”
“If it isn’t too much trouble, could I get a picture for my son?”
I posed for a picture and grabbed a basketball from my gym bag in the backseat. Signing it, I gave it to Earl.
“I appreciate it.”
“Anytime.”
“Do you remember your way?” Earl asked Danessa.
“Yep, just follow the lights.”
“Alright, I’ll leave you two to it.”
I watched Earl walk away. He was bowlegged and each step looked painful. “Where are we?”
Danessa pointed in the direction of travel, and I fell in step with her on the dirt path. “We are at a Vegas staple. It used to be a hidden gem, but now everybody and their momma knows about this place.”
Although it was well after one in the morning, the area up ahead was bright with a flicking light source. When we rounded the corner, my feet stalled and my mouth unhinged.
“Welcome to the Neon Museum.”
“Are you shitting me right now?” In front of me was a metal Hard Rock guitar standing over eighty feet tall, all lit up in red and white lights. Next to it was a Stardust sign in a funky vintage font.
“This is the place where old Vegas signs are retired. Which is cool because it gives them a second life.” Danessa had always been a history buff. She loved digging into the story behind forgotten things.
“This is impressive. When you said you had a place, I wasn’t expecting this.”
“I like to keep you on your toes.” She offered a casual leg kick.
“My footing is always precarious when I’m around you.”
“Let’s go. This is your VIP tour.”
“How do you know Earl?”
“He used to date my mom.”
My left brow lifted to signify my skepticism.
“He may not look like much now. But back in the day he was a professional wrestler. He was super strong and could lift both me and Anika at the same time.”
“And now he works as a security guard?”
“Life comes at you fast. You know how it is, people come into a ton of money and start spending. Fuck the future when you need a Rolex and a Mercedes right now. He got injured and was never on top again, and after that he blew through his cash pretty fast.”
“Damn.” A chill overtook me. You hear about stories like this and think that could never be me. But a bad investment, health issues, or a greedy accountant and all you could be left with are the memories.
“A common Vegas cautionary tale.”
“And when the money was gone, so was your mom?”
“You know Jemini. She doesn’t do broke.”
“I respect your mom for her honesty.”