Chapter 24 #2
“He’s a professional athlete and some things just come with that lifestyle. There’s a lot of pressure on him. It’s the middle of the season. He…he can only juggle so many things before he drops something.”
“I don’t think being a professional athlete has anything to do with this.”
“Then what is it?” His voice rises an octave.
“The boy sat in our living room and told me to my face that he’d take care of you.
He bought you a penthouse. He’s gonna marry you in France.
His people are good. He’s good. He even donates to my gym.
What y’all have is perfect. He’s a good man in a world full of ain’t shit ones. ”
“Yeah…” I croak out. “He’s as good as Tony was, huh?”
He pinches his eyes shut. “Tony had his faults, I know. Ain’t nobody saying he didn’t.”
“His faults?” I look around the empty backyard.
I need somebody—anybody—to witness the way he rewrites history, but all I find is Old Man Hester’s rooster poking around, watching us.
Uncle Kenny opens his eyes and sucks in a deep breath. “Tony and Sonia’s situation was different.”
This time my words don’t surge out like they did when I talked to Terrica. They simmer inside of me, being careful not to get too hot and boil over because this isn’t Rich I’m talking to. This is one of those stupid ass men he’s always warning me about.
“AJ wasn’t very nice to me…just like Tony wasn’t to Mama,” I mutter, pushing up from the step. “But what was that you said about Tony? He had his faults?”
“He’s…he’s not nice?” he blubbers out. “Well, why the hell would you spend so long with a boy who ain’t nice to you?”
I let out a chuckle as hot tears cloud my eyes. They won’t fall, though. It’s like my body is telling me he’s not even worth them.
“You know, Tony didn’t just wake up one day and decide to put a bullet in my mama’s head. It wasn’t some spontaneous idea. It was a hatred that grew and festered over time. But I’m…I’m sure he was as perfect as AJ is. You know, that’s what everybody around here says about Tony—he was perfect.”
Uncle Kenny hooks his thumbs through the sides of his shirt, looking at the ground and shaking his head.
“You and AJ aren’t Sonia and Tony. You all can work through this, you know that, right?
There’s…there’s premarital counseling. Faye can call Pastor Frankfurt and have him sit down with y’all before you make such a rash decision. ”
“What can Pastor Frankfurt do?”
“He counseled me and Faye before we got married and plenty of other couples.”
“I…I don’t think Pastor Frankfurt can fix this,” I stutter, looking at him through blurry eyes.
“Listen, you and AJ can patch this up before the wedding. Let the pastor help.”
His voice turns into a muffled mess that I can’t understand anymore. The sound makes my toes curl into the concrete, and I feel that spark surging through my legs, willing me to run.
“You think God can stop AJ from putting his hands on me? ‘Cause he ain’t stop Tony from whooping Mama’s ass and I prayed every night that he would.”
The words boil over and spill out of me anyways. I’m sure Rich would be proud of how sloppily they came out and the way they seemed to punch Uncle Kenny right in the gut.
He grabs his round belly. “He…he put his hands on you?”
“Yeah, Uncle Kenny…” I croak.
“I…I think we need to call Fa—”
“Call Faye for what? Aren’t you a man? Shouldn’t you protect me? Shouldn’t you want to protect me? Didn’t the court say that I was yours to take care of after your brother-in-law took the easy way out?”
He takes a cautious step forward, holding his hands out as if I’m some strange person who showed up in his life out of the blue…and maybe I was. Maybe that’s the real meaning behind that “biological thing.”
“You need to calm down and breathe,” he says.
“I am breathing!” I shriek. “That’s all the fuck I’ve been doing for the past few weeks, but you wouldn’t know it!”
His eyes veer toward the porch, and I follow them to the broken glass and coffee splattered onto my feet. I didn’t even feel the mug fall from my hand.
He ambles toward me, but he doesn’t reach out for me. He doesn’t grab me and hold me and tell me, “It’s going to be okay.” He can hardly even look at me.
“You go in the house and let me clean this up,” he mutters, bending down and picking up a jagged piece of pink ceramic.
“I think when you calm down and think this through, you’ll realize that you need to keep these issues between you, AJ, and a trusted person like Blake because if this gets out to the wrong folks… ”
He whistles, picking up another piece of ceramic. “That boy’s life will be ruined.”
“So what about my life?”
He huffs, pulling himself upright. “When you get involved with somebody of AJ’s stature, you’ve got to think with your head instead of your emotions. We’re talking about a…a first-round draft pick, a Pro Bowler, last year’s Offensive Rookie of the Year. This ain’t some Joe Schmoe from…from…”
“From here?”
“Exactly. He’s somebody. So you need to tread carefully with these…accusations.”
I let out a bitter chortle, raking my wild hair back while sniffling. “You know…Rich was right about y’all.”
He looks up from the porch, and his eyes widen at the second instance of Rich’s name coming out of my mouth, or maybe he heard the longing in my voice this time.
“What did you say?” he asks.
“I said…Rich was right about y’all—about men,” I mutter. “You’re all stupid and selfish.”
He cocks his head back. “He said what?”
“He says men are stupid.”
He swipes a bead of sweat from his forehead, muttering, “I warned Faye about this shit when she let you go down there. It’s bad enough he’s at my gym…but now…he’s talking to you. Next thing I know, he’ll be in my damn house eating at my kitchen table.”
“You make it sound as if he’s trash.”
“Listen, he ain’t what you think he is—”
“And AJ isn’t who you think he is.”
“Me and Faye gotta sit down sometime this week.” His eyes scrape the coffee splatter on the porch. “I’ve done things her way for eighteen years, but I gotta draw the line some goddamn where. All of this is crazy.”
“So I guess this is my answer, huh?”
“Wha—”
“You never liked me living with y’all. It sounds like you just tolerated it.” I back away from him.
“That ain’t what I meant. You…you just need to stay away from that dude. You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
He hisses out that word I can never say. The one that Rich knows I hate. The one that Tony controls.
“You don’t even know him!”
“I know enough! And since he’s running his goddamn mouth to you, you oughta ask him the real reason Faye brought him over here to ask me for help. Ask what the streets are saying about him!”
“He told me why!”
“No, what he told you is a lie!”
A loud “oomph” barrels from the back of my throat as my back hits something solid. I turn and pull the knob on the back door, yanking it open.
“Lovie! I’m telling you, that dude is a wolf in—”
I stumble inside and pull the back door shut.