Skeletons (16 page)

34

Jovanna

I
’d been fighting an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach since I woke up this morning, but I agreed to let Justin take me to lunch where he once again began questioning me about what happened to the ring. I hated lying to Justin, but it was necessary because the truth would hurt him even more. During lunch Asteria called to tell me about her falling out with Santana and to gush about Eric.

Later that evening while Justin was watching the game, I lied and told him that I was going to Santana’s house to try to defuse the bomb between her and Asteria, but I was really going to meet Chad and pay him back his money. I put the large envelope that was stuffed with money in my purse and headed out of the door and across the bridge into St. Charles to the casino. I fought the urge to turn and run away as I walked slowly into the casino.

I purposely sat facing the entrance to the iBar so that I could see when Chad entered the room which he did at exactly six o’clock. Dressed in a pair of copper slacks, black and copper cashmere sweater and a fedora. He was alone.

“I am surprised that you showed up.” He said as he slid into the seat to my right. “I was prepared to make a visit to your house and talk to your man.”

“I knew that you would.” I retorted as I grabbed the heavy envelope out of my purse.

“Wow, you move quickly; I thought that we would catch up and reminisce about old times.”

“This is what you came for right?” I said handing him the envelope, “So take it and leave me the fuck alone.”

With well-manicured hands Chad took the envelop out of my hands and put it in his pocket, “That is easier said than done Marquita.” He grabbed my wrist, “You see in my line of work a reputation means everything. A pimp with a reputation of keeping his hoes in their place while keeping his business tight means a lot, but a pimp who lets his hoes walk away with his money isn’t shit. What you did to me cost me a lot more than ten-thousand Marquita and that I can’t get back.”

I swallowed hard, “Let me go or I will scream.”

“And if you scream I will make sure your little snowflake and everyone else know exactly who you are and what you are capable of.” His southern voice was thick and deep, “Now what you are going to do is walk calmly out of this fine establishment without any fuss.”

“Do what you will, but I am not leaving here with you.” I spat trying to release my arm from Chad’s grasp.

“I wonder how Justin would feel about knowing the woman of his dreams isn’t anything more than a two-bit hoe that had bad cocaine habit.”

“I am not that person anymore.”

“You can’t run away from what you truly are. I wonder how many lies you told to get this money that you just handed me. I wonder who you stole it from. How would his family feel about knowing the woman their son was about to marry was a whore? I know that his family is very important in this town, I don’t think that they would take too kindly about scandal in their family.”

I held my head down low, “Chad what do you want from me? Haven’t you taken enough?”

“Get up and let’s go.”

I knew that he wouldn’t stop unless I did what he wanted so I got up and followed him to the parking lot, but I knew that if I got in his car I would never see Justin again. Chad had a tight grasp on my left arm he pushed the button to unlock his car door but as he attempted to force me into the car I reached down and grabbed his nuts with as much force as I possibly could, Chad let go of my arm and bent down in agony. I struggled to get past him and run away, but he reached up and smacked me across the mouth I felt my lip rip open and blood pour out of my mouth. The smack came with so much force that it knocked me back against a black truck that was parked alongside of his Cadillac, instead of falling I regained my balance quickly as I used my heavy purse as a weapon and began swinging it forcefully in his direction, hitting him twice in his head.

Chad grabbed the purse and tried to use it as leverage to pull me closer to him, but I let it go as I tried to run, but I ended up slamming into the truck’s side view mirror which sent a different kind of pain through my arm and chest. Chad reached and grabbed me behind my neck, throwing me down to the ground hitting my head on the hard concrete. I attempted to scream, but Chad had a tight grasp around my neck. I could feel my breath being choked out of me as I struggled to keep my consciousness; I flailed my arms in an attempt to fight him off of me. I didn’t want to die laying on a cold, hard parking lot in between two cars, I didn’t let Chad kill me when I was Marquita and I wasn’t going to let him kill me as Jovanna. Gathering all of my strength I reached up with both arms and began clawing at his face and eyes. I dug deep until he released his grasp around my throat. Chad screamed out in pain holding his bleeding with his hands.

“You fucking bitch!”

Coughing I managed to rise to my feet as I staggered away from the cars I saw two women getting out of their own cars and I waved my arms in the air in an attempt to get their attention.

“Help!” I screamed while holding my throat, the women came rushing towards me with concern in their eyes but that concern turned to fear. Suddenly the pain in my back was so intense that it took the remainder of my breath away. I felt the effect before I heard the cause.

I felt as if I were falling in slow motion, I could see the women running towards me and the faint sound of Chad’s car starting up then speeding out of the parking lot. Hitting the ground with a thud I felt as if I were paralyzed. But the sharp sting in my back told me that I still had some sort of feeling as the blood trickled down my body onto the stony pavement.

“Hang on honey help is on the way.” One of the women cried as she took off her coat and laid it on top of me. I could hear her friend on the phone with the police and three men rushed over to see what was going on.

“Oh my God what happened?” one of the men said as he lifted my head and placed his rolled up coat underneath.

“I don’t know someone shot her.” The answered.

“Did anyone see who did this?” someone asked.

“No, but we did see a red car with out of state plates drive off.”

“Hang on sweetie.” The woman said as she held onto my hand, “The police are coming.”

I attempted to speak, but agony and weakness made it impossible. I was grateful for all of their help, but I wondered how many of them would have been by my side had they’d known that I deceived my soon-to-be husband and that the man that shot me was my ex-pimp because I stole money from him when I was a prostitute.

35

Santana

“T
his is so good.” Tabitha smiled as she forked more spaghetti in her already full mouth, “I can’t believe that I’ve never been here before.”

I felt bad about pressing her for the money and since Mike wasn’t answering his phone, I decided to take her to Maggiano’s Italian restaurant. “I can’t believe that no one has taken you here either. Mike and I use to come here a lot when we got married.”

“Wow it must be nice to have someone splurge money on you like that.”

I took a sip of my Pinot Noir, “I never looked at it like that. Well someone is spending money on you; look at those rocks you’ve been sporting in your ears lately.”

Tabitha touched the large diamonds in her ear nervously, “I’ve had these for a while.”

“Maybe you should’ve pawned those to pay your car note.”

Tabitha looked insulted, “If you only brought me here to chastise me about the money then you may as well take me back home.”

“I’m sorry Tab; I didn’t mean to offend you. Let’s enjoy the rest of our night together.”

“You made me feel bad.” She pouted.

“Well maybe later I can make it up to you by making you feel good.”

Tabitha raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, “I like how that sounds.”

My phone alerted me to a text, to my surprise it was from Mike:

Where are you?

I didn’t feel like arguing with him and I was enjoying my night with Tabitha so I ignored the text.

“Has he came back home yet?”

I shook my head no, “Now ask me if I miss him.” I winked.

Tabitha laughed I felt her foot on my lap inching its way between my thighs where she used her toes to toy with my pussy. Closing my eyes I smiled, I was transported back to reality when my phone began to ring. It was Mike, if it weren’t for the fact that I wanted to make sure the kids were okay I would not have answered.

“Hello?” I answered with annoyance.

“Did you get my text?” he sounded frantic

“Did you get mine from today and yesterday?”

“I don’t have time for this Santana; where are you there has been an accident.”

My heart sat in my throat, “An accident, are the kids okay?”

“Yes the kids are fine, but Jovanna has been shot.”

“Shot what do you mean shot?” My hand trembled as I tried to keep a tight grip on the phone.

“I don’t know what happened, but I just got the call from Asteria she said that she tried to call you but you wouldn’t answer her calls either.”

After our argument the other day I’d been avoiding Asteria’s calls.

“What hospital did they take her to?”

“Right now she is at DePaul in the trauma center, but Justin said that they were going to rush her to St. Johns so he is telling everyone to meet there.”

“Oh my God Mike, I am on my way.” I cried.

Tabitha looked uncomfortable by my crying, “What is going on?”

“My best friend has been shot.” I beckoned for the waiter to bring me the check.

“Is she going to be alright?”

“I don’t know.” I looked through my wallet for my credit card. “Can you get the car from valet while I pay for dinner please?”

“Here, give me your credit card, I’ll pay for dinner and you get the car from valet.” She snatched the company credit card from my hand, but I was too upset and hurried to even care.

“Are you going to take me home before you go to the hospital?” she asked with annoyance.

“No I don’t have time, besides I really need you right now.”

I didn’t see Tabitha roll her eyes as she looked out of my car window.

I drove like a bat out of hell down the highway towards the hospital; Tabitha didn’t say a word during the drive. When we got to St. Johns hospital we were told to wait in the emergency trauma center where I saw Mike who was holding a crying Asteria. Mike’s eyes went from me to Tabitha then back to me again.

“How is she?” I asked.

Asteria wiped her tears with the back of her hand which smeared makeup across her face and on her hand. “We are not sure yet. Justin just went back to see her before surgery.”

I sat down next to my friend and hugged her, “Let’s pray that she will be alright.”

“That is what we’ve been doing.” Asteria said, “Why wouldn’t you answer your phone?”

Ashamed by my behavior I looked down at my clenched hands then over to Tabitha who sat next to my husband. “I was still upset.”

“I don’t give a damn about you being upset Santana we have been friends since high school and have fallen out countless numbers of times that is still no excuse for you to treat me like this.”

“I apologize, but I didn’t know that Jovanna was hurt.”

Asteria looked at Tabitha, “Why are you here?”

“Excuse me?” Tabitha snapped.

“You heard me why are you here?” Asteria’s voice got louder, “Don’t think I don’t know who you are and what you are about! You may have Santana in your back pocket, but I’m cut from a different type of cloth.” My friend fussed with one finger pointed into Tabitha’s face.

“Hey let’s calm down for a moment.” Mike quieted Asteria, “Our friend is hurt so instead of allowing negative energy fuel this moment let’s get past our feelings and seek God for help and forgiveness.”

Asteria cut her eyes at Tabitha, “Yeah you are right Mike lets pray before I lose my religion.”

We bowed our heads and held hands in prayer; I felt comfort in Mike’s words and holding his strong hand made me feel even more secure. I knew that Mike loved me, but I didn’t know if I wanted to continue to pretend that I loved him the same.

An hour passed before Justin walked out of the back looking tired and distraught. I embraced him tightly as he cried into my arms.

“How is she Justin?”

“I don’t know yet, she is still in surgery.” He cried, “I couldn’t sit back there any longer.”

“I am sorry Justin.” I said.

Looking at me with tear-filled blue eyes and he said, “I thought that she was with you.”

“I hadn’t heard from Jovanna since the other day.”

“I knew that she’d been lying to me all of this time. First it was the late night phone calls, then she started becoming distant, she lost her engagement ring and now this.”

I looked at Tabitha who was cleaning her nails while flirting on her cell phone; I see that I was not the only one who was keeping secrets.

“Had Jovanna confessed anything to you guys about what was going on with her?” he asked.

“No, as far as I knew she was just pre-occupied with your wedding.” Asteria said.

“That is what I thought then she told me that she lost her ring when she fell while running which I know is a lie. Jovanna never takes her ring off so why would she take it off just to run? It just doesn’t add up.”

“It kills me to think that she was living a double life.” Justin sighed.

“I know how you must feel; in a marriage there should be no secrets.” Mike said while looking directly at me.

Justin sighed, “I wanted to come back here to let you know how she was doing. You are free to go home and I will call you with any updates.”

“I am staying right here until I know that Jovanna is going to be okay.” Asteria said.

“Me too.” I said looking over at Tabitha who was sure to have a fit once I told her about my plans.

“Thanks guys, Jovanna always said that if she didn’t have anyone she knew that she would have you.” Justin smiled then walked out of the waiting room.

Walking over to Tabitha, who quickly ended her phone call. “So what are we doing?” she asked with irritation in her voice.

“What do you mean?” I asked also irritated by her behavior.

“Are you ready to go home and finish our date.”

“No, I’m going to stay here until she comes out of surgery.” I said.

“Why would we sit here while she is in surgery when it could take hours? There are plenty of other things that we could be doing besides can’t they just call you if anything changes?”

I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing, “Look Tabitha, if you don’t want to stay then feel free to go.” I fussed in a whisper.

“It is not that I don’t want to stay but I just don’t see the point. We could just come back after she wakes up from surgery.” She pouted.

“And what if she doesn’t wake up?”

Tabitha just sighed folding her arms in front of her chest in a huff; I could see Mike eyeing us from across the room.

The time passed slowly without any word from Justin, Tabitha was back on her cell phone and Asteria had fallen asleep.

“Hey I’m going down to the cafeteria to get something to snack on; do you want anything?” Mike asked.

I looked at Tabitha who just rolled her eyes then decided to join him.

“Is that Tabitha?” he asked.

“Yes, she is my assistant.”

He hit the down button to the elevator, “Is that all that she is?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean you have been spending a lot of time with your assistant lately so I’m wondering if that is all she is to you or is she also a friend.”

“I guess that you could consider her to be my friend Mike.”

“I am suprised that a girl like that actually works for a living.” He added, “She looks as if she is accustomed to being kept.”

“Looks can be deceiving. Tabitha is actually a great assistant.”

We rode down to the cafeteria in an uncomfortable silence. Mike smelled like Irish Spring soap, I chuckled because that is the only soap his mother and father would use no matter how badly it dried their skin. I remembered our first date all that I could smell was Irish Spring.

“What is so funny?” he asked once we stepped off of the elevator.

“Nothing. How are the kids?”

“They are fine; I told them that you needed some space so we had to stay at my parents’ house for a few days. You know that was not good enough answer for Mya, she questioned me for an hour before she was satisfied. Malik was cool because he has his eye on this little girl across the street.” Mike explained with a smile. Mike may have sucked as a passionate husband, but I couldn’t deny the fact that he was a great father.

“Wow this place brings back so many memories.” Mike said as he grabbed a tray. “I remember coming down here to shovel food down my mouth while you were in labor with Mya.”

“That girl caused me so much grief.” I smiled.

“You were in labor for two days only for her to just pop out after two pushes.”

“When the doctors said that she was a girl, the look on your face was priceless.”

“I can’t believe you and my mother played me like that. You both knew the sex of the baby all along, but you wouldn’t tell me.”

“I’m sorry, but I knew how badly you wanted a girl and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for you.”

“I almost fainted.”

“I know!”

We shared a laugh off of our memories.

“What happened to us Santana?” he asked looking deep into my eyes.

I thought about his question for a moment and answered, “We just got bored.”

“I was never bored.”

“You’d rather watch T.V. than make love to me.”

“Is that what this all is about?”

“I don’t know what this is all about Mike.” I sighed then I got a text from Tabitha saying that she was leaving in a cab.

“Is it another man?” he asked.

“No, it’s us.” I answered as I looked through my purse trying to find my credit card, but remembered that I’d given it to Tabitha to pay for dinner.

Mike handed the cashier his card instead, “I got this by the looks of your Visa bill you can’t afford to treat me to a snack.”

I rolled my eyes, “I already took care of the bill Mike. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, I can’t and I will not live with uncertainty Santana. I can’t live with the fact that I don’t know how you feel about our marriage and that you are hiding something from me.”

“And I can’t live with the fact that you can’t trust me. I can’t live with the fact that you ignore me as if I’m not even there!” I huffed, “Mike this is neither the time nor the place.”

“When is it ever the time Santana? You spend so much time running away from our issues that we never get anything resolved.”

“I run away because I don’t want to face the fact that you are no longer in love with me.”

“I never fell out of love with you; you pushed me away.”

“Why did you allow yourself to be pushed?” I asked looking my husband in his beautiful eyes. “Why won’t you fight for me?”

“Why should I have to fight for someone who suppose to love me in the first place?”

Just then my phone rang it was Asteria telling me that our friend was out of surgery.