Betrayed (16 page)

Zavion smiled. “Okay, I can see that you might be down to earth and a lot of fun to be with, but I must be honest and tell you…you are beautiful. I see more than your beauty on the outside. Yes, there's a whole lot more to you, Asia.”

“That is deep, Zavion. You're going to make me blush. You're not like those guys who only want to put their hands all over you.” Asia looked away and blushed. “You're a rare breed. Your momma taught you well.”

Zavion clammed up and remained quiet.

“Are you okay? I didn't say anything wrong, did I?” Asia asked with concern, stepping back a little.

Zavion sighed. “Naw, you didn't say anything wrong. I was thinking about my mother. She's had it hard all her life. To me, she died when I was eight. My grandmother raised me.”

“I didn't mean to upset you.”

“You didn't do anything. It's just that my mother died inside from a broken heart. After my dad got killed over some drug deal gone bad, my mother hooked up with some educated dude who bought her nice things from time to time but mainly came around to…to get in bed with her. She got pregnant and had the baby, my younger brother, and after that, dude stop coming around for a while. A couple years after that, my mother gave up on life and nearly died in the streets like my daddy. I think my mother has hooked up with that lowlife again. Most of all, it broke my grandmother's heart, but she raised my brother and me to be nothing like our parents.”

“Where is your brother?”

“He's a senior in high school. He plays basketball, too, and he's pretty good. He's thinking about going to Duke. He's got good grades, and Grandma says that if they pay his way, my brother can go.”

“Maybe his father can help pay,” Asia said innocently.

Zavion gave Asia a sharp look. “Maybe we should go to the party.”

“Okay, what did I just do?” Asia asked.

“It's like this, Asia. I had a rough life. If my brother and I didn't have our grandmother, the streets would've claimed us. We would be a couple of statistics that are recorded in somebody's book in the County Courthouse that nobody gives a damn about. I've actually wiped the images of my mother and father clean out of
my mind. My brother never knew his father. He doesn't know if he's alive or dead, and to be truthful, he doesn't even know his name. Grandma saw to that.”

“What about his birth certificate?”

“My mother used her married name. My brother has my last name.”

“And you're Zavion…”

“Zavion Slater.”

“It has a nice ring to it. Zavion Slater. Zavion and Asia Slater.”

“You're moving a little too fast, aren't you?”

“Just testing it out to see how it sounds.”

Zavion eased up and let out a laugh. “So your criteria for picking a mate will be based on how both names ring together?”

“Yes, sir. That's right. And guess what?”

“What?” Zavion asked, pulling Asia to him.

“Zavion and Asia Slater has the ring.”

Zavion laughed again but this time he reached down and kissed Asia. Asia held on tight and put as much into the kiss as Zavion. He was the first to pull away.

“Maybe we should go to that party. People are probably wondering why we've been standing in the middle of the block looking at each other for the last fifteen minutes.”

“I don't see anyone looking. You're afraid that one of your brothers might see you? Oh, I don't know if you're even frat.”

“I am. I'm an Alpha. That's how I met Keith.”

Asia smiled. “An Alpha man and a b-baller. So are you a freshman, and is this your first season with the team?”

“No, my third.”

“Third?”

“I'm a junior. Grandma told me that I had to graduate before I could join the NBA.”

“I'd like to meet your grandmother. She sounds like a jewel.”

“She is. Maybe you'll get the chance to meet her some day. Now let's go to the party.”

“Okay, Mr. Slater.”

“Work it, girl. You know you've got the Midas touch.”

“Be quiet and enjoy, Big Daddy. I'm going to rub some more oil over your body. Say my name if it feels good to you.”

Giant red candles surrounded by a cluster of red and white small and medium-sized candles, lit up the room, emitting an aroma that had Victor in a trance. The room smelled of wild cherries and vanilla mixed with the scent of musk from the oils that Sheila heated and massaged into Victor's naked body. The oil was held in a small vase that sat in a wrought iron holder, kept warm by a small well filled with candlewax that was lit and placed underneath.

A large sculptured mirror hung on one wall of the bedroom, while the rest of the room was furnished with handcrafted antique white furniture trimmed in gold. A king-size bed hugged the middle of the room, a large armoire sat on an opposite wall, and an elongated dresser sat under the enormous mirror. Two high-back winged chairs covered in a yellow silk cloth set in an antique white frame sat to either side of a small fireplace that kept Sheila and her lover, Victor Christianson, warm on cold nights. It was the room of a kept woman because Sheila's salary was barely enough to pay the mortgage.

Victor's arms lay at his sides, his face turned to one side. Eyes closed, Victor moaned as Sheila massaged oil from the top of his shoulders down the well of his back, moving further down until
she stopped to give his buttocks a deep tissue massage. Victor moaned again.

“I don't hear you,” Sheila whispered.

“Sheila, Sheila, Sheila,” Victor whispered.

“Say my name so I can hear you,” Sheila shouted.

“Sheilaaaaaaaa. Sheilaaaaaaaa.”

“Yeah, Momma is going to make you feel so good. Now turn over and let me finish my work. Oh, oh. You aren't pointing at me because I've been a bad girl, are you?”

“Sheila, come on, baby. Stop talking and get to work. Big Daddy needs your hands to work its magic and whatever else you got up in your bag of tricks. All of my muscles are throbbing. I'll say your name louder if you need me to.”

“Raise the roof then, Big Daddy; you and Momma are getting ready to put the fireworks on blast.”

“SHEILAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

There was a knock at the door followed by the doorbell. Mimi hesitated, took a deep breath, and then walked the few feet to answer it. First she looked through the peephole, in case the face staring back at her was Victor's instead of the person's she was expecting. It was Brenda's face that stared back, and she opened the door.

Brenda still had her youthful good looks. They were both in their late-thirties, but time had been extra good to Brenda. Brenda was covered in a lightweight trenchcoat, but from the gold that dipped around her neck and hung from her earlobes, she smelled like success.

“Hello, Brenda,” Mimi said, stepping aside to let Brenda pass through.

Once inside, Brenda turned around and looked at Mimi. She tried to open her mouth, and then stifled an onset of tears. “Mimi,” was all she said before wrapping her arms around Mimi's neck.

Tears began to fall from Mimi's eyes as she embraced Brenda in return. They stood that way for several moments before Mimi removed her arms. Brenda did likewise. Mimi caught another tear. This wasn't how this get together was supposed to go. Emotions were running too high and threatened to abandon what Mimi needed to say to Brenda.

“Let me take your coat.”

Brenda slid out of her coat and handed it to Mimi. Brenda wore an ivory shawl-collar cardigan of lightweight cashmere over a pair of Dereon jeans. Simple but elegant.

“I didn't know these condos existed,” Brenda said, as she followed Brenda into the cozy living area, attempting to ease into the conversation.

“They aren't old at all. In fact, they may be six to seven months old. I bought mine brand new. Make yourself comfortable. Would you like some wine?”

“I would, but I'm still recovering from my accident, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my suit when they find the person who hit me.”

“Brenda, excuse my insensitivity. I completely forgot you were in an accident. How are you doing? Maybe this is not the right time.”

“Mimi, hold it. I'm doing real good. I'm blessed to have come out of that accident without any major trauma to my body. It was a hit and run accident and my car was totaled. They haven't caught the person who did it yet.”

“My God, Brenda. I'm glad you're all right.”

“I am, but I'm feeling much better because we've finally reconnected.
I've missed you so much, and even after the years passed, I didn't stop wondering. I may not have thought of you as often, but every now and then something would come up to trigger a memory. So how are you and what have you been doing since you walked out of my life?”

Mimi sat down and then got up. “Let me get my glass of wine.”

“Can't be that bad,” Brenda said, a small frown forming on her face.

“No, no. I'm nervous after finally seeing you for the first time in nineteen years.”

“I'm still the same Brenda, more or less. You know, Mimi, I thought I'd see your name on somebody's record label and I'd tell everyone that she was my best friend.”

Mimi stared at Brenda then looked away. “I'm a terminal disappointment, huh?”

Brenda got up from her seat. “No, you aren't, Mimi. I'm grasping for straws, trying to understand where we went wrong.”

“We didn't go wrong, Brenda.” Mimi went to Brenda and held her hands. “I've missed you, too. Not a day went by that I didn't think of you. You were my best friend, and I loved you with all my heart. If you don't remember anything else, remember that. Now sit down. I'm going to get that wine.”

Brenda sat down, but she was puzzled. She looked around the room and smiled at Mimi's handiwork. She looked in the direction of the marble fireplace and saw what appeared to be a family picture. She started to get up but Mimi returned to the room.

“So why doesn't Victor want me to see you?” Brenda asked forcefully.

Mimi wasn't expecting Brenda's forwardness. She remembered Brenda as more on the timid side. “We'll get to it, but first let me tell you what I've been doing for the last nineteen years. I left Durham and went to Hampton, Virginia.”

“Did you continue your education there?”

“Yes, I did, and I met the most wonderful man who happens to be my husband.”

“Oh, you're married. Is he working in Durham?”

“No, he's a full bird Colonel in the Army. At the moment, he's overseas getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.”

“What a senseless war.”

“Yeah, it's been rough. He's served in Iraq several times.”

“So you met this wonderful man and you had a little girl.”

Brenda was pushing Mimi's story faster than she wanted it to move. Mimi was planning to tell it a different way, but if there were patches in the story, she would smooth them out later. After all, this was why she called Brenda. To get it all out in the open. No more secrets between them, although it would be on track to hurt others…their daughters' friendship for one.

“Yes, Raphael and I became proud parents of Afrika Nicole Bailey.”

“I can't believe you still named your baby Afrika…that you remembered what we said a long time ago.”

“I can say the same for you, Brenda. You named your little girl Asia.” They laughed.

“Wow, that was a long time ago. So tell me about Raphael. I thought you only had eyes for…for…John…what was his last name, Mimi?”

“John Carroll.”

“Oh, John Carroll. You say his name like you've never stopped being friends. I thought that boy was going to die after you left without as much as a goodbye.”

“Life is funny, Brenda. I ran into John a few days ago. I went to Lake Johnson to jog, and who should I run into?”

“You're kidding me. Just like that. It's been a while since I've seen John. He's got a bald head now.”

“Yeah, but it's becoming.” Mimi needed to steer the conversation away from John. Not that she was obsessed with him; it was that he had now become a part of her new story. And again, she wanted to furnish the story in her own time.

“Now, Raphael, he's the love of my life. He's tall, a carbon copy of Vin Diesel, but darker. He has a bald head, too. When I saw him in his ROTC uniform back when we were at Hampton, I realized that I wanted a military man. All that precision built up in one body, saluting and marching to their own frat beat. But we fell in love, and Brenda, I've been in love with him ever since. We complete one another, and my husband feels the same about me.”

“I'm happy for you, Mimi. I really am.” Brenda looked away and down at her hands that were folded in her lap. She got up and went to the mantel and picked up Brenda's family picture, although it had been taken when Afrika was small. “A beautiful family.”

“Thank you,” Mimi said.

Brenda put the picture back on the mantel and sat back down in her seat. She looked at Mimi, who was smiling at her. “I wish that I'd listened to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wish that I had never married Victor. I thought that having his child would endear him to me. Yes, he claims that he loves me and we've had a respectable life together, but he can't keep his thing in his pants. He's like a maggot when he sees a beautiful woman. He's got to get in bed with them, blow on them, and do all kinds of filthy things, and then comes back to me expecting me to be his bitch. You just don't know, Mimi.”

“Maybe I do.”

Brenda jumped to her feet. “I hate that son-of-a-bitch, Mimi. He's sucked me dry. Yes, I have two wonderful children and I've got my practice, but at what cost? I'm constantly having to bail out his sorry ass because he's indebted himself to his whores and
my name happens to be dangling next to his when the creditors come calling. He used to be fine back in the day, but he's a cheap imitation…like a fake Rembrandt. He's so fake that only the old women want him now.”