17. Smoke
Smoke
Eleven Days Later
T he bathroom door opened, and I took another puff of my cigar and blew out four rings of smoke into the air.
“What the hell do you want?” Terry thundered at the sight of me behind his desk.
“You shouldn’t be so disrespectful, Terry.”
“Why are you in my office? Cassandra! Get in here, now!”
“She took an early lunch break, Terry. Sorry about that. It’s just you and me here in this office. Oh, yeah, and Big Sam. He’s in the lobby. You don’t have to worry about any visitors. We have the out to lunch sign hung on the door, and the door’s locked.”
“What out to lunch sign?”
“The one that we purchased for the convenience of today’s meeting,” I stated.
I spun around in his chair and looked out the window.
“Very impressive view of the falls,” I stated.
“Listen, you thug…”
I spun back around to face him.
“Aht, aht, aht. I’d be careful with the name-calling if I were you. I’m a sensitive man. My therapist told me that I have an emotional behavioral disorder. You know,” I stated as I steepled my fingers. “I wish that someone would have figured that shit out and diagnosed me when I was just a kid.
“I mean, they could have gotten me help as a kid, and I wouldn’t have these anger management issues that I deal with now. But that’s what the love of a good woman can do for you. She helps you see your flaws so that you can deal with them properly. Well, I guess that’s why you’ve replaced Devorah with Cassandra. She wasn’t good enough?”
“It’s none of your business, but Devorah and I are still together. She’s starting her own business.”
“Does she know you’re screwing your new secretary? That must be a thing for you.”
He frowned but didn’t respond.
“Unresponsive. That’s rude, Terry. I’m still in the early stages of therapy, so I wouldn’t advise you to push my buttons and test me to see if the therapy is working or not. I hate to fire my doctor because her techniques failed. You wouldn’t want that either, would you, Terry?”
“What I want is for you to leave this office and never come back.”
“I’m hurt that you feel that way. I thought that you might be excited to receive a visit from an old friend.”
“I’m no fool, Socco. I know that the flowers sent to the hospital, the man who walked by my room on several occasions just to peep in, and even that strange male nurse were all sent by you. The cars that followed me and the ones that sat outside of my house watching me were all your people.”
“You shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Maybe they were just curious about what happened to you. I heard that you had to undergo a few cosmetic surgeries to repair the damage done to your face.”
Terry sneered at me, and his nostrils flared.
“Unclench your fists, Terry. That stress can’t possibly be good for your heart. The last thing that you would want to experience is a heart attack after you’ve finally recovered from that assault.”
“You’re really fucking crazy, you know that?”
I held my head down as I covered my fist with my other hand.
“I really don’t like it when people call me crazy. That shit bothers me.”
I pulled my hands from underneath the desk. Terry winced when he saw the brass knuckles on my right fist as I dragged my hand down my beard.
“Have a seat, Terry,” I stated and gestured toward the chair on the other side of his desk. “I feel like we’re on an uneven playing field here. I’d like for us to be on the same level, if you don’t mind.”
Slowly, he dropped to his seat. I opened the desk drawer and pulled out an envelope. I slid it across the table to him and gestured with my cigar at it. “Open it. It’s a gift for you.”
He looked warily at the envelope and then up at me.
“Go ahead. There’s nothing harmful in there. If I’m nothing else, I’m a man of my word.”
He slowly slid a nail underneath the envelope flap and opened it. When he looked inside, I stated, “There’s one hundred and forty stacks in there. She’s paid you a total of sixty G’s. I took the liberty of slashing fifty G’s off the repayment price, considering the pain and suffering that you sent Kaifiya through. Not to mention, you had the privilege of having her on your arm for a couple of months as your fiancée. A beautiful woman like that surely bought you clout that you couldn’t get on your own, no matter how much money you had.”
“So you’re her pimp now or what?”
I leaned forward so quickly and slapped the shit out of him in the face and then hit him in the mouth.
“Owww!” He screamed like a bitch. I grabbed a handful of tissues from a dispenser on his desk and handed them to him.
“Watch your damn mouth.”
He pressed the tissues against his mouth and stared in disbelief at me.
“You two deserve each other.” Terry moaned in pain, and I stood up behind the desk.
“We do, don’t we?” I asked with a wide grin. “Have yourself a nice day, Terry.”
I headed to the door and stopped just before I opened it.
“Oh, and Terry. This visit is just between you and me. And it’s the last one that I’ll ever pay you. If I ever hear of my name or her name coming out of your mouth, I’ll be visiting your grandmother. And Big Sam will visit you. And it will be the last visitor that you ever receive.”
I winked, opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind me.
“You ready, Big Sam?”
“Yeah, Bossman.”
I needed to get my girl back.
I walked around the suite and made sure that everything was set up the way it should have been. I rented out a penthouse suite for Kaifiya and me for the weekend. Kaifiya loved lavender because of its royal purple coloring and its sweet fragrance, and she also loved blue. She used lavender oils at home, and her favorite candle scents also contained lavender.
Because I knew she preferred the actual lavender plants over the oils, I ordered thirty bouquets of lavender and thirty bouquets of blue hydrangeas and strategically placed them all around the penthouse. The dining room table was set, and the hotel’s kitchen was waiting for me to send the call for them to serve us. Even the table setting had a mixed bouquet of lavender and blue hydrangeas since purple and blue were her favorite colors.
I picked up my phone and dialed the number again.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me. I’ve just finished that other business and ran back to the hotel to make sure that everything was set up properly. Everything is a go. They’re just waiting for me.”
“Yeah, about that…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m having a problem with getting her up and moving around.”
“Shit.”
“I think the only way to get her moving is to tell her the plan.”
“Nah. She’s still too pissed at me. And when she learns what I’ve done, that shit won’t help.”
“Listen, I’ve known her damn near all her life. When I say she can be a stubborn ass, that woman won’t do anything unless she wants to. I’ve tried to get her up, and she ain’t moving, homie.”
“And I’m telling you that she responds to firmness. Now, she might not be used to all that from you, but that’s what I need you to do. Be firm but in a gentle way. Don’t leave her little ass with a choice but to get out of that damn bed.”
“A’ight. I’ll try again.”
“Thanks, man.”
I ended the call and sighed. I had met Noel on a few occasions, but I had to ambush his ass outside of their apartment to have a private chat with him. She wasn’t answering my calls or texts, so I got with him to set some shit up for me. I knew he wasn’t thrilled about it, and he’d shared his concerns with me. I didn’t give a fuck what he thought, and I told him that. I wanted my baby back.
Kaifiya meant the world to me, and I didn’t want to lose her. I hadn’t been in love before. But I knew that I was now. I knew love when I saw it in other people’s relationships.
Love hadn’t been difficult to come by for me. I just hadn’t allowed myself to be open to it because I had other plans. I wasn’t letting shit get in the way of my goals. But I had accomplished all the shit I wanted to, and I was making moves to leave the arms industry. I needed a woman by my side. She genuinely made me want to go legit.
That shit wouldn’t happen overnight, and it wouldn’t be easy, but I was ready. And as if on cue, my phone rang with one of my connections.
“Yo, wassup, Kent?”
“I got word you wanted to holler at me, man?”
“Yeah. I’ve got some business I want to discuss with you. Think you can meet me Monday morning at the office on Covington Street?”
“What time on Monday? I’ve got some shit happening on Monday already.”
“Nigga, I know yo’ ass don’t move until around eleven. Can you roll by my way first and then handle your other shit?”
“Yeah. As long as we done by one, I’m all good.”
“A’ight. I’ll holla at you then.”
“Yo! You gon’ keep this shit a mystery?”
“You wildin’ my guy. I don’t do shit on these wires.”
“I feel ya. A’ight. I’ll get up at you on Monday.”
“Word.”
I ended the call and headed out of the hotel suite.