26
“Girl, I know you heard about what happened with Uncle Melvin and Trudy. Grandma is spilling all the tea,” Caprice told Sade as soon as she answered the phone.
She and Sade hadn’t really seen or talked to each other since Trent was in the hospital.
They’d seen each other at family functions, but it wasn’t the same as before.
They didn’t hang out or talk on the phone like they used to.
She didn’t care that some of her other cousins were pissed with her, but Sade was different.
They were once thick as thieves, and she hated that they weren’t as close anymore.
She missed her, even though she would never admit it out loud.
“Yeah, I heard, but grandma is wrong for that. Her son talked to her in confidence. She ain’t have no business repeating what he said to nobody else.”
More than likely, she told one of her messy ass daughters and it was over from there.
Their grandma hated Trudy, so Sade wasn’t even surprised.
Trudy kept her kids away from their side of the family, and their grandmother was hurt.
She was thankful that her son had a mind of his own because he still came around to see her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t really have a relationship with his siblings and their kids.
She blamed Trudy for that too, even though he was a grown man.
“Fuck, Trudy! Always acting like her and her kids are better than everybody else and she outchea eating groceries. Grandma said she wanted to throw up when Unc showed her the video.”
“And he’s an asshole for even showing it to her. At the end of the day, that’s still his wife. That’s exactly why I’ve been staying to myself. This family is too damn messy.”
Sade was proud of herself for making some necessary changes in her life.
She enrolled in LPN school and met some amazingly positive friends.
They had her seeing things differently and it felt good.
She was even dating again but she was taking it slow.
She wasn’t trying to give her all to a man, especially if he was already taken.
“Girl, please. She thought that her and her kids were better than us and that’s why she stayed away.”
“Didn’t your mama do the same thing after your daddy died? She stayed away too.”
“That was different. My mama was always around before my daddy died. She just didn’t feel the need to do that anymore and moved on with her life. She got remarried and that wouldn’t have looked right. They are not the same. Since when did you become Trudy’s bestie?
That bitch hates you just much as the rest of us.”
Caprice looked at her phone and frowned, even though her cousin couldn’t see her.
Sade had been on some kind of self-righteous journey lately and everything seemed to be an issue with her now.
“She’s not my bestie, but I don’t think what happened is funny either. I’ve done a lot of things that I’m not proud of and I’m not laughing at nobody’s else’s pain.”
“Yeah, I hear you, Sister Mary Clarence,” Caprice laughed but she was serious. Sade was starting to get on her nerves. A few months ago, she would have been on the phone clowning Trudy right along with her.
“Don’t you ever get tired, Caprice?”
“Tired of what?”
“Doing the same thing and expecting different results. All the insanity. It gets draining. I’ve been trying to do better and good things have been happening. You should try it.”
“Good things are already happening for me, and I’m still gonna be laughing at the people who tried to shit on me.”
“It’s her today, but it could be you tomorrow. You be cool. I’ll see you around,” Sade replied before she hung up.
“Stupid ass. I wish I would feel sorry for a bitch who looked down on me,” Caprice fussed as she pulled up to the employee parking lot at her job. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and smiled nervously.
Caprice was trying harder to be more feminine and she’d gotten her lashes done earlier that day.
She had her hair braided up into a bun and her nails were freshly done.
She paid attention to how all the other women dressed and she tried to step her game up.
Her man never complained but she wanted to give him something to look at.
She got her purse and backpack out of the car and headed inside. Once she had everything put away in her locker, she clocked in and made her way to the break room to see where she’d be working for the night. She picked up a few extra shifts and the money was lovely.
But that wasn’t the reason why she worked so much.
Her new man wanted to see her as often as possible and she made it happen.
The dorm that he was in was one of the worst in the prison and nobody wanted to work it.
Caprice loved it, and there was never a question about where she was gonna be stationed.
She smiled when she saw her name and hurriedly made her way to the area where they were briefed by the previous shift.
She paused when she walked into the area and saw all the chaos that surrounded her.
Something must have happened because law enforcement were in there deep.
All the deputies were either standing or sitting in chairs around the wall.
“Girl, they’re on one today. I don’t know what happened but a bunch of inmates got sent to solitary,” one of the morning deputies said as soon as she saw her.
“Damn. I wonder why.” Caprice was hoping that her man wasn’t one of them.
“I don’t know, but we’ve been sitting in here for over two hours.”
“Seriously? I would have stayed my ass at home if I knew all of this was going on.” Caprice looked around, trying to see what was going on. She leaned up against the wall, preparing to wait it out. A few minutes later, their sergeant entered the room with a few more police officers.
“Caprice Latimer?” he asked, trying to see if that was her name.
She had seen him in passing more times than she could count, but they never spoke or really said anything to each other. He wasn’t her direct supervisor, and she was shocked that he even knew her name.
“Yes, sir,” Caprice stood up straight and replied respectfully.
Once of the officers walked up to her and spoke, “You’re under arrest. Turn around and put your hands behind your back.”
The gasps and murmurs started as soon as the words left his mouth.
Caprice was about to ask why but she didn’t even waste her time.
She already knew but she wondered how they found out about it.
Unlike her previous job, she didn’t tell anyone about her relationship.
She was cordial with the people that she worked with but she never made the mistake of calling them her friends.
Conrad, the man that she was dealing with, was a big deal in prison, but she didn’t think he would do her dirty like that.
He was benefitting from the contraband that she was sneaking in for him so that would have been a stupid move.
With tears falling from her eyes, Caprice was cuffed and led downstairs to be processed just like every other inmate.
Embarrassment wasn’t the right word to describe how she was really feeling.
She actually felt stupid and she knew that her auntie was gonna be pissed since she got her the job.
She was about to be the talk of the family and they weren’t gonna let her live it down.
Sade’s words were replaying in her head like an old school track.
She laughed at Trudy’s misfortune and, now, it was her time to be laughed at.
“Bitch, they ‘bout to lose her stupid ass in jail!”
Iva yelled as she, Clover and Diva read about Caprice on their local news website.
They had her picture plastered all over the news, social media and the newspaper.
It was clear that she had been crying because her eyes were red and swollen in every pic.
“Girl, I didn’t even know her manly ass wore lashes, but most of them came off probably from crying so much. I don’t even feel sorry for her stupid ass. She was too damn messy.” Diva shook her head, as Clover read the charges out loud.
“Sexual contact by employee or agent in the first degree, items prohibited for possession by inmate, violation of oath by public officer, and the list goes on. They said they were watching her for over a month. Chile, she’s cooked. Monty said he had something for her ass and he wasn’t playing,
” Clover laughed.
“Who made the call?” Diva asked while looking at Iva.
“Me, duh. That bitch played with me and my man entirely too much. I don’t know why she thought she couldn’t be touched.”
Iva and Monty called the sergeant the morning after DJ told him about what Caprice had been doing at the prison.
After being arrested for doing the same thing at her previous job, Monty was shocked that she even worked at another prison.
Apparently, he didn’t even know that she’d worked at another facility since it wasn’t on her resume or application.
Aside from their family, they didn’t tell anyone else about their plan.
Iva got aggravated for a while because she didn’t think they were gonna do anything.
When Irie called her earlier that morning, she and Monty rushed over to Clover’s house to tell her what happened.
Diva came over a short time later, and they all had a good laugh at Caprice’s expense.
“Are you ready to eat, Lucky?” Dash asked when he walked into the room.
Clover hated that he was there at first but she appreciated it now. She didn’t have to lift a finger if she didn’t want to. Just like before when she was pregnant with Kardi, Dash catered to her every want and need.
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
Clover sat up on the sofa where she had been lounging since that morning. Dash set up the serving table before he sat a plate of food and a drink on it. He had some napkins there too, and all Clover had to do was feed herself. Knowing him, he would have done that too had she asked him to.
“That nigga didn’t even offer us a piece of bread. I bet your greedy ass man is in there eating though,” Diva fussed.
“Dash got you spoiled like a child,” Iva laughed, as Clover devoured her food.
“As he should. And she better not accept nothing less and that goes for you too, Iva.” Diva gave them both a stern look.
“I can’t even lie; my baby is the best and I love being spoiled too.” Iva blushed as she thought about Monty. Hank taught his sons well and he led by example.