Chapter 11 #2
“Where the hell have you been?” Fallon’s sentence stopped as Navie strolled in, “What is she doing here?”
“Good morning to you, too.” Navie smiled, wiggling her fingers.
It didn’t help that she sat at my desk with her heels propped on the corner.
“Now isn’t the time for games when we have a million things to do, Treason,” Fallon gritted.
“You’re really in trouble now, Treason ,” Navie taunted.
“She’s not staying, so get started,” I replied, grabbing the folder waiting for me. After removing my jacket, I tossed it on the couch and sat down since my desk was occupied.
“Are you sure you want her to stay for this?” Fallon repeated, making me curious.
“Yeah, he’s sure. If you’re gonna talk about me, at least do it to my face,” Navie said, reading the room.
“Good news, this little act is working, so far . The blogs have been running wild with photos of the two of you leaving dinner. To build off that momentum, I scheduled a few appearances, including MINT. They agreed to our terms, so I need you to rehearse the questions I emailed to you. It’s stuff real couples know about each other, so take this seriously.
It’ll make or break the public’s perception. ”
“Why are we doing a sit-down with MINT?” I asked, curious.
“It was your girlfriend's idea,” Fallon replied.
“Better than the idea you came up with,” Navie retorted, not even looking up from her phone.
Mine rang, and I walked over to my desk so Milaya could tell me that Miss Dot had abandoned her morning calls to come here in person. She was in the lobby, demanding to see me, but she’d have to wait. This meeting was more important.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“Bad news, there are whispers about Navie’s mom being a high-level prostitute. They’re trying to use old photos of you and Lorenzo Strathmore Jr to remind the public that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”
I flipped through my tablet, only half listening, until I noticed Navie was quiet. She was never quiet, and her eyes weren’t on Fallon anymore, either. The room paused, giving her a chance to reply, but she stared out the window in a daze, so Fallon continued.
“No major media outlets have followed yet , mainly low-level blogs and publications trying to be relevant. The pictures aren’t explicit. You were smiling in one of them, looks like a date, maybe. If you give us a quote, we may be able to shut it down before it gets bigger.”
“No.” Her voice was low, calmer than I’d heard since we met.
Fallon blinked. “No, what?”
Navie slowly uncrossed her legs and sat upright. “No quote. Can I go now?” she asked, shifting to me.
Fallon read between the lines, asking. “Is there something we need to know?”
“I’m not talking about this. Not now, and not on camera, and not with you. I’m ready to go.”
I could spot lies and rehearsed deflections in my sleep, but what I saw in Navie wasn’t either.
It was pain. The kind that could silence a woman who always had something to say.
“Find another way,” I replied, staring at the relief forming behind her big brown eyes.
Navie stood abruptly. “I need air.” The door snapped shut behind her like punctuation.
“Great. She’s hiding something, and we don’t know what it is.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“You can’t handle her,” Jaleb chuckled, entering the room and conversation, “She’s been on the job for two weeks and already keeping secrets. If you don’t cut ties now, this will be a shit show.”
“No risk. No reward.”
“So I’m supposed to keep funneling money into a failing campaign?” Jaleb questioned, wearing a sharp expression.
“Do what you want to do. Or not do but like I said,” I reclined, stretching my arms wide along the sofa, “we’re not done until I say so.”
There was mutual love and respect between Jaleb and me, but sometimes his last name got the best of him. It worked with other people, but this was my campaign, no matter how much money he donated.
Navie waltzed back, reclaiming her seat at my desk like nothing happened. A pattern I noticed whenever shit got hard. She’d return, trying to appear stronger than she probably felt while listening to Fallon explain the next steps.
“We’ll soft launch Navie by adding a photo of you two in a random dump of photos,” Fallon explained. “Too much silence breeds speculation, and speculation isn’t on our side.”
“Put the picture in the middle or at the end. The beginning screams look at us . That’s your style, but it won’t work like you think. People want a love story,” Navie added.
“I know what I’m doing,” Fallon snipped.
“I can’t tell. I’m trying to win so that I can go back to my life.”
“By life, you mean scamming?” Fallon scoffed.
Navie sat up, “Yeah, and not being a miserable bitch!”
“Chill out!” I raised my voice, tired of listening to them bicker. “Both of y’all.”
“You need to focus on not looking like you’re being human trafficked every time he touches you in public. Since you’re so eager to get back to your life.”
“I am being held in this lie against my will, so close enough,” Navie said in a jesting tone.
“A man is supposed to touch you when he likes you. It’s called affection.”
“Only a man would say something like that. You touch me because you want to fuck me. That has nothing to do with feelings, Tre.”
“You must have some for me because I’m Tre again.”
Navie’s eyes narrowed when my office door cracked open, again . My jaw tightened before I even glanced up.
“Miss Dot said, and I quote, he can either open this door or I’ll start knocking everything over out here ,” Milaya reported.
Navie hid a smirk behind her hand while Fallon shook her head.
“Send her in before she sets the building on fire.”
A menace and a legend, dressed in her Sunday best on a Tuesday morning. Miss Dot walked in holding a Tupperware container, already rolling her eyes.
“Bout damn time. All these degrees in the room and not enough sense.” She set the container in front of Navie with a thud. “These are for you, baby. Those pigs were dead ass wrong, but you held your head high, and that’s the kind of woman we need ‘round here to keep them in line.”
Navie smiled, basking in Miss Dot giving us hell. “Thank you.”
Miss Dot waved her off. “Don’t thank me. Eat one.”
“What’s the emergency this time?” I asked, moving things along.
“Don’t you get smart with me,” she warned, moving on to the reason she was here.
“There’s a mama and three babies sleeping in a sedan on Stephenson behind my house.
One kid was coughing so bad I almost called the coroner.
They’ve been making rounds to the church and the community fridge, but it ain’t enough. They need help.”
“There’s a woman’s shelter on Hinton,” Fallon added.
“The shelter is closing down, since you know so much. What’s your plan for that?”
Fallon cleared her throat, trying to recover. “We’re working on a homelessness initiative?—”
“Y’all been workin’ on that since Moses parted the Red Sea.
” Dot didn’t even look Fallon’s way. She was too focused on me.
“You sitting here with all this Langston money and can’t find fifty dollars for a motel room?
” she asked, raising an eyebrow in Jaleb’s direction.
“You remember what your granddaddy used to say, Treason? A man who can sleep knowing a child is hungry ain't worth the spit it’d take to curse his name.”
My grandfather was a steel-spined, work-til-your-knuckles-bleed kind of man. The kind of person who looked out for everyone, not just his own. That made Joe Westbrook a fan favorite to the neighborhood and the women, too, but Evie didn’t play that shit.
“Sounds like something The Green Ribbon Project could help with,” I suggested, killing two birds with one stone, but Navie froze mid-bite.
“I know you’re busy, but this is important. Help me out.”
My office didn’t see the gentle sparring behind our neutral expressions. Navie was on defense, standing with heart-shaped lips pressed thin until my pleading grin wore her down.
“Of course,” Navie said slowly, curling her lips into a smile. “We can’t have them sleeping in a car. That’s dangerous.”
Miss Dot clapped her hands like she’d won a game of spades. “When I saw you on the news, I said she’s going to get stuff done around here. Ain’t God good?”
“All the time,” Jaleb smiled.
“God probably ain’t heard from you in ages,” she rolled her eyes, causing me to snicker. “Alright, I’ll let y’all get back to your little meeting. Navie and I have work to do.”
I dropped my head to keep from laughing at Navie, wide-eyed. Otherwise, Miss Dot would’ve cussed me out for finding humor in the city’s homeless problem.
“I’m not done with Navie,” I spoke up.
Miss Dot waved me off, “You are now. We’ve got a family to put in a motel.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I recanted, not in the mood to argue.
Navie was halfway to the door before doubling back for a performative goodbye. A lesson that didn’t come naturally until I told her never leave a room without showing me love.
When she was close, I whispered, “You’re learning.”
“I’m going to kill you,” she whispered.
Navie went for my cheek like we were cousins, but the red matte lipstick had been calling my name all morning.
I lived by the words take the risk or lose the chance, so I took mine, turning my head just in time to deliver a slow kiss.
The sound of Navie’s own gasp made her pull away, shoving me in the chest, angry, she enjoyed it more than she wanted to.
Miss Dot marched out, running off a list of shit I knew I’d hear about later with Navie beside her. I expected Navie’s frustration to slam the door. Instead, her palm caught it before it closed, shutting it quietly.
“You really like her,” Fallon said in a way that combined shock and horror.
“I’m having fun and keeping up appearances. Sounds like you don’t like her ?”
“She’s a liability, so no, I don’t.” Frustrated, she turned to Ward and tossed a hand, “You know him better than anybody. What do you think?”
“Tre calls the shots,” Ward replied, keeping it simple.