Married to a Balla (16 page)

The place was jammed packed as usual and since Skye was still in training and didn’t know much about being a cashier, she had to be closely monitored by the head cashier named Flo who always seemed to have a funky-ass attitude. Skye did her best to get along with the mean, older woman because she really needed the job. Although Justice offered to help out, she refused to ever rely solely on another man.

It had only been two weeks since Skye started, but it felt like she’d been working there forever. Skye hated it. Her feet constantly had blisters and what she hated most of all was the fact that she went home every day with her red smock smelling like onion rings and chili.

Skye was so busy taking orders and busting tables since they were short staffed that day, she didn’t even realize it was time for her break. She’d been there since seven that morning cutting up potatoes for their fresh cut fries, and it was now noon. She walked over to Flo.

“It’s way past my break time. I’m going to take it now if you don’t mind,” Skye said.

Flo was at the counter cutting a piece of their famous apple pie for a customer when she turned and looked at Skye then around the restaurant.

“I’ll let you know when it’s time for your break. Do you not see all these people in here?” Flo asked, rolling her eyes and walking away.

Flo had worked there for almost twenty years and acted as if she owned the joint.

An older heavy set white woman in her mid sixties and a bad blonde dye job, Skye couldn’t remember when the woman ever had anything nice to say. With a frown constantly pasted on her face, Skye wondered why she was so damn hateful all the time.

Instead of a having a confrontation, Skye held her composure and continued working. She took several orders for the famous chili cheese dogs and homemade ice cream during the busy lunch rush while trying to talk herself out of quitting at any moment. After nibbling on stuff all morning, luckily she wasn’t hungry and didn’t plan on using the break to eat. Skye could handle a lot of things, but after dealing with Sandino, disrespect wasn’t one of them.

About an hour later and after the place had slowed down some Flo finally walked over to Skye.

“Now, you can take a break,” she stated.

Skye grabbed her coat and quickly walked outside to get some fresh air before the wicked witch of the east changed her mind. She was determined not to let Flo ruin her day.

As Skye sat outside, she propped up her aching feet and removed one shoe before rubbing the bottom of her heel. She watched as the parking lot became full again, but was determined not to go back inside before her break was over.

When she finally got up, thirty minutes later, Skye noticed a man standing across the street looking at her. As the man continued to stare, she pulled her sunglasses down to get a closer look at him. After looking for only a few seconds, her heart felt like it was about to come out of her chest. Jumping up, Skye instantly ran back inside because the man looked just like Cruze. Same height, same skin tone…same premature dreads. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure it was him, but didn’t want to take any chances. Although she tried to take a deep breath, her anxiety skyrocketed when the man headed toward the restaurant’s front door. Panicking, she took off running toward the back of the restaurant where her car was parked and jumped inside. Curious, Flo came running behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she yelled. “Your shift isn’t over!”

“I have a family emergency, I have to go!” Skye replied.

Flo’s pale skin turned red. “It’s a packed house in there. You can’t just leave knowing we’re short staffed. If you don’t get back in that restaurant, you’re fired!”

“Well, fire me then bitch, I hated working here anyway!” Skye yelled, then pulled off. She was scared and furious at the same time.

“I can’t believe it’s because of Kareem that all this shit happened, I’m tried of running!” she yelled to herself. Skye gripped the steering wheel and shook it. She was so fucking mad at him.

Speeding down Spring Street and toward I-75, Skye almost hit several cars trying to get home so she could pick Payton up from Lydia’s house and Jordan from school. Even though Lydia lived in the same building, Skye didn’t even want Kareem to pick up the baby, especially if all of this was his fault.

With one hand on the steering wheel, she picked up her cell phone and called the shelter looking for Justice.

“BTC, how may I help you?” Mercedes answered while smacking her gum.

Skye took a deep breath before speaking. “Can I speak to Justice?”

“Who is this?” Mercedes asked with an attitude.

“You know who this is Mercedes, cut the shit!” Skye yelled.

“First of all, you better bring that shit down to a four, because right now you’re at a nine and a half.”

Skye wasn’t in the mood to deal with her right now so she quickly changed her tone. “This is Janelle. Can I please speak to Justice?

“Bitch, Justice isn’t here.”

CLICK

“Oh my God. Mercedes is really testing me right now,” Skye said. She dialed Justice’s cell phone and waited for it to ring.

“Hello,” he answered.

“Where are you?” Skye asked.

“I’m at the shelter, baby.”

“I just called and Mercedes said you weren’t there. That bitch is getting on my last nerve!” Skye belted. “I need you to meet me at my apartment. I think I just saw one of my husband’s friends outside my job watching me.”

“Are you serious? Are you okay? I know you’re probably upset, but please drive careful.”

“I’m fine. Just trying to get to my kids.”

While on the phone, Justice thought he heard the bell on the shelter’s door open, but quickly diverted his attention back to Skye.

“Okay hold tight, I’m on my way, baby,” he said, hanging up the phone.

Justice grabbed his keys, walked out the office and then locked the door. A few seconds later he bumped into Mercedes in the hall.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she questioned him like a non-trusting wife.

“I’m headed out,” he replied in a harsh tone. “Oh, and the next time my girl calls, don’t ever lie and tell her I’m not here.”

Mercedes tossed her wavy hair over her shoulder. “Oh, so she’s your girl now, huh?” She didn’t even give Justice a chance to respond, before tossing out the next question. “So, are you headed out to meet that bitch? Justice you don’t know anything about her, or where she even came from. You running behind her ass like a little puppy.”

“Mercedes, mind your business. Nobody asked for your opinion.”

“So, does she know that you were my man, first?”

Justice glared at her. “I wasn’t your man and no, she doesn’t need to know what happened between us that
one
time. And if you wanna keep working here, you better keep your fucking big mouth shut,” he said, walking past Mercedes and heading out the door.

He quickly got into his car and tried to pull off, but didn’t make it far when he realized something was wrong. When he got out to see what the problem was, rage consumed his body instantly.

“Fuck!” he yelled then walked around the entire car.

All four of his tires had been slashed.

“I know that bitch did this shit!” Justice said, running back into the shelter

When he reached Mercedes’ office, she was sitting at her desk filing her nails and looking like an innocent child.

“Did you slash my fucking tires?”

She looked up. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play stupid. Who else would do some juvenile shit like that, but you? Puerto Rican bitches love to walk around with knives so I know you did it! I’m so sick of your psycho-ass!”

Mercedes’ face turned evil. “Psycho? Who the fuck are you calling psycho?”

“You!” Justice roared. “Do you know how much BMW tires cost?”

In an instant, Mercedes changed her tone. “I would never do that to you baby. Maybe you pissed somebody off. Are you sure it wasn’t Janelle?”

Justice stood and looked at her for a minute. He wanted to fire her ass so bad, but knew he needed time to hire someone else. Besides, he didn’t have anything to prove his accusations.

If she keeps this charade up her ass is outta here
, he thought walking away and slamming his office door.

******

Two hours later Justice finally arrived at Skye’s apartment. When she opened the door he could tell she was pissed. Even though he’d called and told her what happened, Skye was still disappointed.

“Remind me never to call you in the event of a damn emergency,” she stated in a sarcastic tone.

“I’m sorry, baby. It wasn’t my fault.”

“Do you think it was Mercedes who cut your tires? If so, she must really be in love with your ass. This whole obsession situation with you and that bitch is crazy as hell. Something isn’t right about it either. Nobody acts like that over a friend.”

“Trust me, that’s all we’ve ever been.” When Justice felt his phone vibrate, he reached on his side and saw a blocked number, but decided to answer it anyway.

“Hello, hello?” he yelled.

No answer.

Even though he hung up the phone and continued talking, Justice thought the caller was probably Mercedes.

“I mean she could’ve done it, but since I don’t have any proof there’s only so much I could do. I don’t want to talk about that right now. Are you sure you’re alright?” Justice walked over and hugged her. “Please forgive me for being late. I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

Skye pulled away from his embrace and rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans and sat on the couch. Her nerves were still fucked up. If that was Cruze outside her job then she knew it would only be a matter of time before Sandino would be on her doorstep.

Breaking down, Skye confided in Justice.

“This shit is crazy. I can’t continue to live my life in fear.”

“Are you sure it was your husband’s friend?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe not. I’m probably just paranoid. Just like the day I thought he was chasing me in a gold Tahoe. I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“Janelle, maybe I need to know who your husband is.”

Still not comfortable about revealing her identity, she continued to cry. “I’m still not ready to talk about that right now.”

He wondered what the big secret was, but decided not to press her any further.

“Okay, we have plenty of time to talk about that. In the meantime, I’m not going anywhere baby,” he said, trying to kiss her.

She backed away. “I don’t wanna get hurt, Justice.”

“I promise, I won’t hurt you. I love you and want to protect you. I have a big, nice house in Decatur. I want y’all to move in with me.”

Skye seemed shocked. “Love me? But you’ve only known me for a few months.”

“What does time have to do with anything? Trust me, I haven’t felt this way about a woman in a long time,” Justice responded. “Don’t you have feelings for me?”

Before Skye could respond, Kareem walked into the room with an empty bowl in his hand.

“What is he doing here? You aren’t even divorced yet, and you laying up with this nigga.” Kareem walked into the kitchen and threw the bowl into the sink.

Justice looked at Kareem. He was sick of his ass, and could no longer hold his tongue. “Look Kareem, I don’t know what your beef is with me, but I care about your mother and I’m not going anywhere. You can hate me all you want, but your mother doesn’t deserve to be disrespected like that.”

“Man whatever; I don’t need you trying to tell me how to talk to my mother. You need to get the fuck out!”

Skye jumped up. “Have you lost your damn mind Karrem? Who the hell are you talking to?”

When Kareem walked to his room and slammed the door, Payton started screaming. Skye felt like she needed a drink. One thing was for sure, she was going to get a gun, because if Sandino ever decided to show up, she would be ready for his ass this time. She refused to run any longer. After Kareem’s behavior, Skye turned to Justice.

“I guess that answers your question about us moving in.”

Chapter 18

“There’s no way I can pay two thousand dollars for each for my sons to get out of jail. I just don’t have that kind of money. I thought the purpose of you being my lawyer was to get their damn bail reduced!” Mercedes screamed into the phone.

“Ms. Guzman, the reason the bail is so high is because both of your sons were on probation at the time of their arrests. I’m sorry it’s nothing I can do. I’ve been your lawyer for some time now, and I think the only way your boys are going to get their act together is to sit in jail for a while.”

“Listen, I don’t recall asking for your fucking advice right now. My sons don’t belong in jail. They’ve been in there for over a week. I suggest you get on your damn job and do something to get them out now!” Mercedes yelled then slammed the phone down. She tried her best to hold it together. “That damn lawyer hasn’t done anything but take my fucking money and my sons are still locked up,” she said to herself.

The fact that Justice wasn’t around for moral support and all his attention seemed to be going to Skye pissed her off. Mercedes had hoped things would be back to normal between the two of them once Skye moved out of the shelter, but instead she saw even less of him.

Since Justice seemed to be so pre-occupied and spending less time at the shelter, Mercedes knew something was going on. She feared that Justice was falling in love and it bothered her that he still had yet to ask about Joey and Manny.

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “I know he’s probably still pissed off about that tire slashing incident, but his ass needs to get over that shit since he couldn’t prove it was me.”

She became even more irritated when her phone rang. She started not to answer it, but suddenly changed her mind thinking it might be Justice.

“Hello,” she answered.

“You have a collect call from an inmate at, Marietta Youth Detention Center. Press one to accept this call, three to decline.”