The Naughty Sins Of A Saint (35 page)

“What’s wrong?” Raphael asked.

“I never told you this, but when I was sixteen, I had a terrifying incident. You kinda witnessed it. One night, I was lookin’ at myself in the mirror and was wishin’ I could be anywhere, but in the house with my father. We’d been arguin’, as usual. He’d grounded me, but I wanted to go to that party over in Yonkers. I was thinking hard about the party I was missin’. You were at the party. You went without me you son of a bitch,” Saint laughed.

“You were grounded, not me!” Raphael smiled. “Shit, wasn’t no use in both of us sufferin’,” he laughed. “I don’t even remember who threw that party.”

“I don’t either, but I remember wantin’ to go so badly because...”

“Trina McDaniel was going to be there!”

Saint laughed. “She had the prettiest smile. Her skin was so chocolately and smooth, and that hair, down to her ass. It was all hers. And that ass! Dayum! I was so obsessed with her,” Saint grinned, “for all the wrong reasons.”

“You and every other horny sixteen-year-old. You dodged a bullet though. She’s an old, used-up groupie now – got a couple kids from some B-List rappers and a cocaine habit out of this world.”

Saint shook his head. “The sex was whack, too. I never went back for seconds once I finally got it. Anyway, someone called my dad that night and said I was at the party. I wasn’t at that party, Man,” Saint said as he looked at Raphael.

“But we all saw you. I thought you’d snuck out, but you swore up and down you weren’t there. You vanished just as quickly as you showed up. I figured you popped in and left.”

“Apparently I did. I ended up getting grounded for another week. My father didn’t believe me,” Saint said angrily. “I had no idea I made myself manifest somewhere else. The bad part is, when I was looking in the mirror, I saw all these people behind me, but they weren’t really there. It was like other spirits floatin’ around. I didn’t know these people. It scared the shit outta me. It happened again, but not at my parents’ house. I was already moved out. When I do that, I don’t think my spirit can interact with others. It just observes.”

Raphael looked at Saint and nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I read online last night. Look, Man, this is who you are, this is what you have, and it’s not a disease. You aren’t hurtin’ anyone. I don’t know why you were chosen, but you were. I know your profession ties into all of this too. You spent most of your life running from this. You ran away to school, got real scientific, and didn’t want to hear anything about God, spirituality, psychics, any of that. But every time you speak to people, you move and motivate ’em. You have a gift and way with women. You have a spiritual gift, a healing gift, and a psychic gift. It’s a lot, no doubt. You’ve embraced it to some extent though. You wear crucifixes, Stars of David, Buddhist beads, and other symbols around your neck, symbolizing your hodgepodge of beliefs. Your tattoo is of an angel for God’s sake. You can’t run from God. You thought you were runnin’ away from Him, but you were really runnin’ to Him, lookin’ for answers out of the corner of your eye, without lookin’ at it head-on. Now’s the time. I always knew you were different. I always knew you were the best friend I ever had, and I knew we’d be friends forever. You’re normal. There’s just this gifted part of you that you have to understand and use when needed. People gravitate towards you. When your name is mentioned for these conferences, they sell out. Even guys who aren’t into interracial dating go out of curiosity. I don’t have to be there to know that. I’m with you enough to see what happens. You always draw a crowd. You’re like a magnet. Women love you, always have and always will. But for some reason, only one woman has totally made you lose your mind right before my eyes. You’re crazy about Xenia – I mean completely out of your mind, Man. That night you two got married, I saw how you were lookin’ at her, and it was like you were in some sort of trance. I was worried for you. No disrespect, but I’d never seen you so pussy-whipped in all my life. I was happy to stand there and be the witness and sign the certificate because I knew you were happy. You chased her like she was the only female on the planet, though. It was insane.”

“For me, she is,” Saint said. “There is no one else like her. We fit perfectly. After we made love that first time, it was like she was my missing puzzle piece. I felt so calm. I never had that much peace before. I’m a headache, and she’s Excedrin. She’s like a permanent doobie in my mouth,” Saint laughed.

“No, after you made love that first time, you looked like shredded cheese, and were happy about it,” Raphael joked. “Both of you are crazy, a match made in Heaven.” They both laughed. “That’s another reason why I knew I had to let my concerns go about you marryin’ her so fast. I knew deep down you must’ve understood somethin’ I didn’t. You’re the one that makes women that way about you, not the other way around. I know why now. She’s your soulmate, Man, just like you said.”

Saint continued to listen to Raphael and mulled the information over in his head. “Raphael, why are you so interested in this? I mean, I know you believe in God and go to church on occasion, but I’ve never heard you express any interests in the occult. What brought this on?”

“After you got shot, I saw you levitate again. I saw how miserable Xenia was, and how whenever she’d touch you, even though you were in a coma, your pulse would race on the heart monitor. The nurses kept tellin’ me it was a coincidence, but I knew it wasn’t. Whenever she kissed you, the monitors would go crazy and the nurses would rush in, but you’d still be in a coma. I knew that even though your body wasn’t actin’ right, your spirit was talkin’ to her. You got up off the bed lookin’ for her, Man. You went up in the damn air the one time she left your side. Since we were kids, I’ve seen strange stuff – the rabbit, all of that. I’ve always been interested, but you never wanted to talk about it. Now’s the time though. Now is definitely the time. Welcome to the next chapter in your life,” Raphael said with a chuckle. “David Copperfield and Chris Angel ain’t got shit on you.”

* * *

“And I’m supposed to believe that?” Saint questioned as he moved his white cane with sterling silver embellishments around the police officer. “You mothafuckas haven’t done shit, and you won’t because you don’t give a fuck. This person tried to kill my wife. They pointed a gun right at her dome less than twenty feet away. I stepped in the way to shield her. I could’ve died, but no one seems to give a shit. We’ve turned over countless copies of threatening emails and tapes I’ve been sent. We even gave you a list of all the YouTube videos about me from people who claimed to want to hurt me, and you say you have no suspects. I bet if this was about some white women, you’d be all over it!”

“I don’t appreciate how you’re talking to me, Dr. Aknaten. We don’t discriminate here. We’re still working hard to find out who did this to you,” the officer said. Saint rolled his glimmering hazel eyes as he slowly and unevenly walked out of the precinct, his cane clicking rhythmically against the hard ground. Raphael honked his car horn, getting Saint’s attention.

“I’m surprised you waited that long,” Saint said as he made his way to the car, getting into the passenger’s side. “I told you to leave, that it’d probably take a while. I could’ve taken the train home.”

“Yeah, right!” Raphael laughed. “The great Dr. Saint Aknaten on the train. You’d be askin’ for harassment. You haven’t taken the train since you were twenty-three, and that’s probably being too kind. You refuse to call a driver or a cab for some reason. I know you hate not drivin’ yet. One day at a time, my friend.”

“Yeah, T-Rex offered to drive me home, but I told him to not worry about it.”

“Well, what happened?” Raphael asked.

Saint laughed. “Well, it was the same old story as before,” he said as he put his seatbelt on. “They claim to not know anything.”

Raphael pulled away from the curb and started to migrate through traffic. “Just be glad that you and Xenia are alive. They may never find out who did this, and you’re gonna have to accept it. There are so many people mad at you for what you do. It could’ve been any one of thousands of people, Man. There’s still the remote chance they were after Xenia, and it had nothing to do with you.”

“Oh, no, it was for me, it was specifically for me. Whoever did it was goin’ for her to teach me a lesson. This is far from over,” Saint said as his eyes narrowed. “I don’t care that hundreds or thousands of people may want me dead. I only need to worry about one of those people right now, the one responsible for tryin’ to kill my wife. It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I allow someone to try to kill my ‘queen.’ I’ll find out who it was, and they’ll pay.”

Raphael looked over at Saint. “Man, don’t go doin’ anything stupid.”

“I won’t have to. They’ll come right to me with the threats again. Now that news has broken that I’m on my feet and ready to hold a conference in L.A., they’ll come back. A real ‘king’ gets his ‘queen’ and he protects her. If he can’t, he should leave her the fuck alone.”

Raphael shook his head, “Saint, I don’t want somethin’ to happen to you. After you got shot, I thought you were gone for good. You even stopped breathin’ at one point. I don’t care what type of Superman powers you have, there’d be no comin’ back if you got shot in the head. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Just be glad Xenia and you are still alive and can go on with your lives, please!”

Saint looked over at Raphael angrily. “What if I told you that about Latrice? What if I told you to just pretend like someone didn’t try to split her wig open? What if you were left a widower, your children motherless, and you with a broken heart, like my father? You saw how he changed after my mother was killed. When my father came to visit me in the hospital, we had a heated conversation. I’ll never forget one thing he said to me: if I was in his shoes, if Xenia was killed, I’d understand his pain better. I’ve judged him when I had no inkling what he goes through on a daily basis just to make it. Shit like that never goes away. You just learn to live with it. You don’t get over it, you get through it. We can’t tell someone else to not fight for themselves, their family, and what they believe in. If I don’t do something, they’ll try me again and again and again! No, they’ll think twice about tryin’ to hurt me and mine. I’m goin’ to protect my ‘queen.’ I’ll bide my time and do this right. It’s my move, and I play to win.”

* * *

Two months later…

“Your keys have been here the entire time. You rush around so much, Saint, that you don’t even remember where you lay things,” Xenia said as she slid her sundress over her head. “I’m still sleepy. I could go to sleep right now, but my public awaits.” She laughed as she played with her shiny hair twists. “You like the henna dye?”

“You look good, Baby. You always look good,” Saint responded as he brushed his hair.

 “I don’t know if I’m used to it. I think I better throw on a wig. I don’t have time for this today.” She raced from the freshly painted bedroom into her large, custom walk-in closet. She pushed a button on the wall causing her shoes to rotate until she saw the ones she wanted. Saint smiled as he still got a charge from her excitement. The newly built house was still fairly sparse, but she acted as if it was filled to the brim. He had just approved the blueprints for the pool and was anxiously awaiting the guesthouse to be finished so that he could invite Raphael, Latrice, and their children to visit.

“I could get used to all of this sunshine,” he said as he buttoned his shirt. Xenia walked back into the bedroom dangling her white sandals as she sat down on the edge of their California king covered in black silk sheets. She slid on her sandals and popped back up, kissing Saint on the cheek.

“I gotta run. I’m running late. This morning Tyga, the rapper, is coming in – should be a great interview. Anyway, your coffee and keys are in the kitchen by the bowl of bananas,” she said as she sprinted away.

“Thanks, Baby!” he called out as he heard her walk swiftly down the stairs. Saint finished tying his tie and ran his hand over his face as he looked himself over. He pulled at his bottom lip, noticing a small piece of dry skin.

‘I need some chapstick. I lick my lips too much,’ he thought as he walked into the master bathroom. “I’m sure she has some,” he said aloud as he pulled out the top drawer of his wife’s vanity. “Nope, none in here.” He continued to look around, finally opening her medicine cabinet. His hands roamed about, sifting through cold medicines, perfume bottles, and toothpaste. His eyes shifted to her birth control. He looked at it for a moment then pulled it out of the cabinet.

‘I thought we agreed she was gonna stop taking these,’ he thought. He opened it, and felt relieved once he saw that the circular container was empty. He looked back up and noticed a long rectangular box that had been lying behind it. He removed it from the cabinet and read it, ‘Ovulation Predictor Kit.’ Saint stood for what seemed like an eternity staring at it. His thoughts anxiously raced.

‘Why does she have this? Is she trying to get pregnant? Why didn’t she tell me? We agreed we’d wait. This doesn’t make sense.’ He felt his anger multiplying by the second. ‘She’d never get away with it. She knows I keep track of her cycle.’ Saint slammed the medicine cabinet and stormed out of the bathroom.

‘Why would she keep something like this from me?’ he thought. “This is a decision we’re supposed to make together.” Saint thought about their recent rambunctious lovemaking. He knew she was ovulating, so he had been using a condom, but his suspicions began to get the best of him. ‘What if she poked holes in them?’ He thought about how his already powerful sexual attraction to her had been heightened the last couple of days, how her pheromones were sending him into overdrive – how he slipped up once last night and went in raw. He wrestled hard with the thoughts flooding his mind. He knew that a part of him wanted a baby, too.