Firestone (11 page)

“
Mr. Wilson doesn’t do
requests . . .” Schmidty started.

“
Sure,” Jeraine said. “I
can do it. I can’t guarantee when.”

“
But you’re good for it?”
Scary Andy asked. “’Cuz if you’re not? I can always tell Tanesha
that you made a deal and . . .”

“
How do you know Tanesha?”
Jeraine asked.

“
It’s a small world,”
Scary Andy said.

“
I’ll have my office draw
up the papers,” Schmidty said, and swallowed hard.

“
Listen to you,” Scary
Andy said. He made his voice sound geeky, and said, “I’ll draw up
the papers.”

Scary Andy laughed. He stuck his hand out,
and Jeraine shook it.

“
I think you’d make a mint
on the song,” Scary Andy said. “It would be nice if maybe you
donated to soldiers coming home.”

“
Done,” Jeraine
said.

Schmidty looked at Jeraine for a moment.
Jeraine nudged his shoulder.

“
Of course,” Schmidty
said. “You have to recognize that we’re not used to this kind of
thing.”

“
Who is?” Scary Andy
laughed.

“
How do we know you have
the authority to make these agreements?” Schmidty asked.

“
You don’t,” Scary Andy
said.

Schmidty and Jeraine shifted
uncomfortably.

“
Call your mother, James
Schmidt the fifth,” Scary Andy said. “She’s expecting your
call.”

Schmidty looked at Scary Andy for a moment
before taking out his phone.

“
You remember that big
fight between your mom and dad after she found him in bed with the
soon-to-be next ex-wife?” Scary Andy asked.

Schmidty’s head went up and down in a slow
nod.

“
Remember the guy with the
blue eyes?” Scary Andy asked. “Handsome as hell. Deadly. Got you
and your mother out of there and on a plane to Denver? He bought
you ice cream.”

Schmidty swallowed hard.

“
He’s my boss,” Scary Andy
asked. “You met him last week, Jeraine. He’s blind now. Handsome as
hell?”

Jeraine nodded.

“
Before you ask, he dated
your mother when she was in high school,” Scary Andy said. “They’ve
been friends ever since.”

“
He did?” Schmidty
asked.

“
Ask her,” Scary Andy
said. “But you’d better hurry. We’re almost here.”

Schmidty looked at his phone and then at
Andy. He nodded and put his phone away.

“
Good choice,” Scary Andy
said. “Okay, this is how this goes down. We’ve got access to the
secure garage under the court house. The judge you were scheduled
with is a little too media friendly for our taste. A motion was
already filed to switch judges. Your judge today will call you when
the courtroom is clear.”

“
How . . .?” Schmidty asked.

“
You think those judges
want to piss us off?” Scary Andy asked. “What are they going to do
when some asshole tries to kill them or comes after their
family?”

“
Call the Denver Police?”
Schmidty asked. Jeraine nodded.

“
And who do the police
call when it’s too much?” Scary Andy asked. “It’s quid pro quo,
like you lawyers say.”

As the limousine passed the courthouse, they
could see that it was mobbed. A long line of fans waited to get in.
Television vans lined the street. In groups of three, reporters,
videographers, and their producers lined up on the sidewalk to file
their stories on pop star Jeraine Wilson’s custody issues.

Surrounded by television cameras, Annette
stood on the corner. Her mouth was moving and the cameras were
picking up every word. Her hair was perfectly coiffed. She wore a
designer outfit and five-inch heels. But her face showed the wear
of someone who’d been crying all night. The men couldn’t help but
gawk at her as the limousine turned the corner.

“
That’s what crazy looks
like,” Scary Andy said. “You were really going to divorce hot
Tanesha for that? You’re dumber than you look.”

“
Where’s Jabari?” Jeraine
asked, rather than dignify Andy’s question with a response.
“Where’s my son? The social worker was going
to . . .”

“
He’s with his social
worker and lawyer,” Scary Andy said. “They are secured. Jabari is
playing with JJ while the social worker speaks with JJ’s
grandmother.”

“
You’ve done a lot,”
Schmidty said.

“
This is not our first
rodeo.” Scary Andy shrugged. “Here’s how this goes: You don’t go
anywhere without me. Period. I don’t care if you have to piss or
you just gotta have some groupies.”

“
I don’t do that anymore,”
Jeraine said.

“
You just remember, I go
where you go. Got it?”

Jeraine nodded.

“
Good,” Scary Andy
said.

The limousine pulled up to a metal garage
door, and stopped. The garage door rolled up and the limousine
drove into the underground parking garage. The driver parked next
to a man and a woman. The man opened the limousine door. Scary Andy
got out and closed the door.

“
Scary,” Schmidty said in
a low tone so only Jeraine could hear him.

Jeraine nodded. They waited another few
minutes before Scary Andy opened the door.

“
Time to move,” Scary Andy
said.

Jeraine followed Schmidty out of the limo.
The man and woman stood to either side of them and Scary Andy stood
in front of him.

“
You’d better be able to
roll,” Scary Andy said. “This shit is going down right now. The
judge got stuck in all of that mess outside. He’s already issuing
orders. The Denver Police are closing the building to anyone
without pressing business inside. You ready?”

“
To fight for my son?”
Jeraine asked. “Yes.”

“
Can you handle the
stairs?” Scary Andy asked. “It’s the most private way into the
courtrooms.”

Jeraine nodded.

“
Then let’s go,” Scary
Andy said.

Scary Andy opened the door to the stairs and
took off. For a big man, he was remarkably fast. Jeraine looked at
Schmidty, and Schmidty nodded. Jeraine took the stairs three at a
time toward the courtrooms.

Monday morning — 9:35 a.m.

Tanesha bristled when the
bailiff called the mother of Jeraine’s
other
child. Tanesha hated the
woman. She knew her hatred was inappropriate and a stupid waste of
time. Fin had told her so last night. It didn’t stop Tanesha from
hating her. This woman had
stolen
Tanesha’s spot as the mother of Jeraine’s first
child.

Yes, Tanesha knew that it was first and
foremost Jeraine’s fault.

Yes, Tanesha knew the girl
was
not
worth her
energy or effort.

Yes, Tanesha knew that hatred was not good
for her health or her peace of mind.

She still hated the woman.

She remembered exactly where she was when
she’d learned that Jeraine’s first child had been born. She had
been standing in the visitor line at Cañon City. She’d turned
twenty-one just six days before. As a birthday present, her gran
decided to tell her about her father. Prior to her twenty-first
birthday, Tanesha had no idea her father was alive or wasn’t just
one of her mother’s many johns. After her gran set her straight,
Tanesha was able to book an appointment to see her father the very
next Saturday.

In the six intervening days, she’d read
everything she could about her father and the murder he’d
committed. She’d even visited her mother to ask her. Her mother had
been high, and unable to speak coherently. Yvonne had been like
that a lot then. The day before Tanesha stood in the visitor’s
line, she’d told her mother to clean up her act or she wouldn’t
spend time with her. The broken look on her mother’s face had
spurred her, kept her fortified and patient in the cold on that
day. She’d probably killed her mother; why not kill her father
too?

Heather had driven her to Cañon City. She
wasn’t supposed to tell Jill and Sandy, but of course, they were
sitting in the back seat of Heather’s car when she picked Tanesha
up from her gran’s. Tanesha had made her girlfriends stay in the
car. Tanesha was going to meet her poor excuse of a father on her
own.

There she was, standing in
that line, when she heard that Jeraine was a father. She turned to
look. She didn’t want to. If it had been any other day, she would
have looked away, but there on the television screen was a picture
of Jeraine and
that
woman
. The announcer yammered on about
R&B star Jeraine Wilson’s new baby. The girl had gone to see
Jeraine in concert for her eighteenth birthday.

“
Went to a concert, left
with a baby. Not a bad deal.” Tanesha could still hear the radio
personality’s wretched laugh. “Happy Birthday, girl, you’re having
Jeraine’s baby.”

Even all these years
later, Tanesha’s heart stopped at the memory. She gave Jeraine a
dark look and watched
Miss Thing
saunter up to the witness stand. When the young
woman raised her hand to swear in, Tanesha grabbed her purse. She
was in the hallway before the woman started giving her
testimony.

Because the judge had limited the court
access to people directly involved in the custody hearing,
Tanesha’s girls weren’t with her. She felt like she was about to
cry. She glanced at one of the guys Jeraine had hired as
bodyguards. He nodded to her. The man followed her as she walked
quickly to the bathroom. She found a stall and dropped her head
into her hands.

For the first time in a very long time, she
wished she’d never come back to Denver.

She wished she’d never gotten involved with
Jeraine again.

She wished she could wish
upon a star and get to be that special person in Jeraine’s life, or
even
a special person
in Jeraine’s life. But she was just another in a long line of
stupid women who got involved with Jeraine.

“
Get the fuck out of my
way.” Tanesha heard her father’s voice outside the
restroom.

The bodyguard said something in a low voice.
Tanesha got up and went to the door to look out.

“
Dad?”

The bodyguard let Rodney step around him and
enter the restroom. He hugged Tanesha.

“
This is the woman, isn’t
it?” Rodney asked. “The one who had her baby the day you came to
see me?”

“
You remember,” Tanesha
said.

“
Of course I do,” Rodney
said.

“
I . . .
I . . .” Tanesha shook her head. “What the hell am I
doing? He’s . . . and
she’s . . .”

Rodney stepped back to look in her face.

“
Family,” Tanesha said.
“
They
are his
family, and I’m . . . nothing.”

Tanesha nodded at her logic.

“
What am I doing here?”
Tanesha whispered.

“
You’re doing what you
always do,” Rodney said.

“
Letting that man trample
on my heart?” Tanesha asked.

“
You’re standing up for
what’s right,” Rodney said. “That little boy needs you.”

Tanesha shook her head.

“
What happened when the
child’s mother started in on her bullshit?” Rodney
asked.

“
He was using me. Just
another Wilson male using me,” Tanesha said.

“
That boy climbed up your
legs so you would hold him,” Rodney said. “He hid his face in your
shoulder and held on tight. He chose you, not his mother or your
mother or Jeraine or Dionne or even me. He wanted you. He didn’t
let go until his mother was escorted from the room. You’re here
standing up for your family — and that child is a part of
it.”

“
You don’t think I’m just
another ghetto whore hanging on Jeraine’s star?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Where’d you get that?”
Rodney laughed.

“
Reporter,” Tanesha said.
“When we were coming in.”

“
I’m not going to grace
that with a response.” Rodney smiled. Tanesha shrugged.

“
That Annette hates me,”
Tanesha said.

“
Of course she does,”
Rodney said. “You’re everything she wants to be and isn’t. She
wants to be you so badly she can’t stand being around
you.”

“
Hmm,” Tanesha
said.

“
You’ve got to let the
past go,” Rodney said. “You have a right to be angry at Jeraine
and
both
of his
baby mamas. There’s no question about that,
but . . .”

“
But?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Are you really willing to
give up today for yesterday?” Rodney asked. “Your daddy was in
prison. Your momma was trapped. Jeraine was crazy. Was that so
great that you’d rather give up your great little dream home, the
love you two clearly have, medical school, and every other thing to
get back at some little girl who’s only career option was to have a
baby with a stranger?”

“
I’m not you.” Tanesha
gave Rodney a hard look.

“
You know how I was able
to let bygones be bygones after I got out?”