Basketball Jones (11 page)

A couple of days after our last meeting, she had called to tell me she’d worked her rent situation out and to see if I wanted to go out and get some dinner. I was getting ready to take one of the thick pork chops I’d purchased out of the freezer. I thought it was just as easy to cook for two as it was for one and so I invited her for dinner, which she gladly accepted.

“I do okay,” I answered casually. “There are a lot of people in need of my services down here.”

“Now what do you do? I forgot.” Jade took a seat on my green-and-white-striped sofa.

“Interior design.”

She ran her hand through her hair and then twisted her earring with a knowing smile, “I know that pays a pretty penny. Don’t you need an assistant or something like the character on what’s that show I used to like
… Will and Grace?”

“I
liked it too but I’ve learned from Grace’s mistakes never to hire friends. I like you and I want to keep you as a good friend.” The truth was I thought Jade might work well for me but Dray wouldn’t like the idea of a female assistant. He said they were nosy and talked too much. I told him he was paranoid.

“But if you ever need me, to run a few errands or water your plants, I could do that until you find someone. I can run to the store and go to the post office, and you’d be helping me out because I can sure use the money. I might have to go back to giving facials and massages, because this girl sure isn’t going to be trading pussy for rent.”

“Does giving facials and massages pay much?” I asked.

“Yes, but some of those rich women got on my damn nerves. Although a few of them can be nice if they think you might come to their house to dust off those pulled-up faces.” Jade smiled.

For the first time, I noticed a huge diamond ring on her hand.

“Looks like somebody is doing pretty well,” I said, pointing to her finger. The ring didn’t look like something a casino waitress wears.

“Oh, this old thing? It’s not mine. It belongs to a friend who might be going through a divorce. She doesn’t want her husband to know that she charged this on one of his cards before she drops the ball and lets him know that she knows he’s been cheating. It’s not as big as the diamond Kobe bought his wife. Are they still together?”

“Are who still together?”

“Kobe Bryant and his wife, Vanessa. Because I thought I’d heard they’d broken up. I bet that gold digger got to keep that ring.”

“I don’t really follow basketball that much,” I lied.

“Me either, but everybody knows Kobe.”

I looked at my watch and stood up. “I need to go and check on our dinner.”

“Something sure smells good. What are you cooking?”

“Pork chops with stuffing and green beans.”

“Are you a good cook?”

“I guess you’ll know after dinner. You do eat pork, don’t you?”

“I eat anything that’s free,” Jade said from the couch with a hearty laugh.

I went into the kitchen and saw that the food was almost ready. I opened the fridge and saw several unfinished bottles of wine and realized I wasn’t being a good host.

I stuck my head into the living room. “Jade, would you like a glass of wine?”

“Do you have any beer?”

“I don’t know. I thought you were a wine drinker. But let me check.”

I ducked back into kitchen and I heard Jade’s voice again. “I changed my mind. Let me have some wine. That’s more ladylike.”

“White or red?” I called out.

“What’s the wine that’s pink?”

“White zinfandel,” I said.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Let me have a glass of that.”

I poured Jade a glass of wine and thought maybe I would give her a chance to help me out after all. Taking the glass into the living room, I thought that maybe since we were both new to the city Jade could serve a dual purpose in my life.

Something was up. I hadn’t heard from Dray for over
I
a week and I was starting to worry. Now that we’d gotten past the L.A. incident, our life had returned to normal. I had just finished a run through the Quarter with Cisco, and the workout combined with the humidity had me sweating like I had just come in from a heavy rainstorm. Sitting up on the mat and limp from exhaustion, I could feel his muscular chest pressing against my back as he prepared to stretch me out.

“So that’s some good news about your boi?”

“What news?”

Cisco continued to push my back forward. “He and his old lady are having a baby.”

I turned around to face Cisco. “What?”

“Yeah, my boi Teddy, who’s Dray’s cousin, told me his old lady is knocked up. I thought you knew. You two being tight and all,” Cisco said, with a hint of innuendo.

My heart was suddenly beating like a bass drum, my mind reeling. I was speechless. Dray had told me they were going to
wait at least five years before they even thought about having a baby. That bitch was trying to get her claws deep into him by having a kid. I had always told myself that I would be number one in Dray’s heart as long as Judi didn’t have a child. I should have seen this coming. I couldn’t help asking myself where this left me. If the news was true, it meant Judi had found a way to be in Dray’s life permanently. This wasn’t the marriage of convenience Dray had led me to believe it was.

“Are you all right, dude?” Cisco asked, clearly confused by my response.

I took a deep breath and said, “I need to take a shower.”

“Man, I hope I didn’t say the wrong thing. But it looks like all the color has drained out of you, and that’s hard to do for black people. You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I sprang off the mat and told Cisco to let himself out. I rushed to my bedroom to get my cell phone. I had to talk to Dray.

I closed the door and hit speed dial. The call went straight to Dray’s voice mail, so I sent a text saying to call me immediately. I heard the door slam, which meant that Cisco was gone. He must think that I was one strange bird, or maybe he figured out there was more to my relationship with Dray than us just being bois.

The television in my bedroom was on mute but I stared for a moment, lost in thought, at the newly skinny Star Jones talking to the actress Vivica Fox, whose new television show
Court Tele vision
was on the air for the first time. I was happy to see that Star had bounced back. Just as I was getting ready to turn on the volume and hear what they were talking about, the cell phone rang.

“Dray!”

“What’s up, boi,” he said cheerfully, as if all was right with the world.

“You tell me.”

“It’s all good. Now tell me who was that young lady I saw you at the Ritz with.”

“I told you she just a girl I met in the coffee shop. We were just hanging out.”

“You need to be careful who you hang with. Bitches are nosy as hell, boi.”

“I know, Dray, and you have nothing to worry about. Now is there something you haven’t told me?”

“That I miss you. Yeah, that’s true. I really do miss you.”

“Then why haven’t you called me?”

His tone changed. He had to have guessed there was more to this call.

“Sorry, AJ, but I’ve been busy. I’m dealing with some issues.”

“Dealing with what issues?”

“Some stuff, but nothing that involves you. Just stuff with Judi.”

Furious, I paused for a second before blurting out, “Is Judi pregnant?”

Dray didn’t respond. He must have been almost as stunned by my question as I was to hear the news from Cisco.

“Did you hear me? Answer me, Dray!” I shouted.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Is it true?”

We sat there in silence, waiting for him to answer. It seemed like forever. I was consumed by feelings of anger and
betrayal. How could he hurt me so badly? Finally, in a cold, deliberate voice, Dray said, “I’ve got to go.”

Before I could say “WTF” he had clicked off.

I’d had a couple of martinis and was slumped lazily across my bed in a wifebeater and gray shorts. Dray had hurt me as much as he had angered me. I couldn’t think of anything else the entire evening. I was about to switch off the flat-screen television and crawl under the covers when I heard the doorbell ring. I jumped up, figuring it was Dray and he had forgotten his keys. I was suddenly very happy and excited.

I rushed down the stairs and opened the door. Standing in a tight-fitting white T-shirt and a black baseball cap covering a red bandanna was Cisco.

“Cisco? What are you doing here so late?”

“I was in the neighborhood and I saw your lights on, so I decided to see what was up.”

Cisco walked into the foyer as if I’d been expecting him.

“What’s up?” I asked, puzzled as to why he was here.

“Just chillin’. You looked a little upset this afternoon, so I was just checking to make sure you were all right.”

I was touched, yet a little suspicious. So I told Cisco I was doing okay. Something about him dropping in worried me— what if Dray had been with me? But maybe after all, considering where we left off with the phone call, there was little chance of that happening. I decided to be polite and offered him a drink.

“What you got?”

“What do you want?”

“How about some vodka, like some of that Grey Goose joint.”

“I think I can do that. What would you like me to mix it with?”

“Some cranberry juice would be sweet.”

I walked over to the bar, suddenly a little embarrassed that I was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but, shit, I wasn’t expecting a guest. I fixed his drink and made another martini for myself. With him just standing there I realized how lonely I felt and how nice it was to have a man in the house.

“So you just chillin’?”

I handed him his drink. “Actually I was just watching a little television in my bedroom.”

“What’s on?”

“I don’t know, some reality show.”

“We can chill up there if it’s cool.”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” I said. I started to say maybe we shouldn’t, thinking this would be a disaster if Dray did show up, but it would serve him right. The martinis had me feeling a little reckless for once.

I put out my hand in a gesture to let Cisco know he should walk up the stairs first, but in a very masculine move he placed his hand in the small of my back and said, “Naw, you go first.” He had an almost sinisterly seductive smile.

I started up the stairs and could feel Cisco walking closely behind me. Even though I couldn’t see his eyes I felt that he was staring at my ass. When we reached the bedroom, Cisco plopped down on the plum-colored chaise longue in the corner.

I turned the channel to ESPN and took a seat on the bed, quietly sipping my drink. The silence was finally broken when Cisco asked whether I minded if he smoked a joint. I didn’t like people smoking in my house but said, “Yeah, go ahead.” I
thought this was funny from a guy who had given me the blues over drinking coffee.

The dim lighting in the bedroom gave a feeling of subdued elegance. All the while I could feel Cisco looking at me, not the television. After an uncomfortable few moments I looked over at Cisco. He took a puff and blew smoke circles between sips of his drink.