RECKLESS — Bad Boy Criminal Romance (39 page)

“Why?  You think you’ll scare me?”

“Something like that.”

“It sounds like you have something good.  Don’t worry.  I won’t freak out.”

Curtis stares at her and asks, “You don’t know who I am?”

“No,” Angela says.  “My name’s Samantha.”  She extends her hand.

He shakes it.  “Curtis.”

“What are you famous or something?”

“Only to some people.  Alright, I think I got a story I can tell you.  A long time ago when I was a kid, I got into trouble quite a bit.  My grandmother was raising me at the time.  So when I was going into high school, she scraped some money together to send me to Catholic school.  I ended up being the only black kid in my grade and felt a little uncomfortable about it.  The other kids treated me pretty nice actually, but this one teacher of mine, this big older guy, had something against me.  He started by giving me detentions and then went as far as doing things like slapping me with rulers and smacking me in the face with his open hand.  He threw chalk and erasers and even textbooks at me whenever he thought I was acting up or not paying attention.  By late October I was already expelled so I didn’t have to worry about him anymore but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  So on Halloween, I dressed in a costume with a mask and visited his house.  I was carrying this heavy-duty flashlight under the pretext of using it to see in the dark.  But when he opened the door to hand me some candy, I cracked him across the forehead with the flashlight and knocked him cold.”  Curtis gauges her reaction.  “That doesn’t scare you too much, does it?”

“No,” Angela says.  “You were being picked on and you were just a kid.  You had to stand up for yourself.  I can’t believe they beat you up at school where they’re supposed to be teaching you, like, Christian values and stuff.”

“Yeah, Christian values.”  Curtis smiles.  “The experience taught me at least one important value.  I learned it was much better to give than to receive.”

Angela giggles.

“Hey, before you go, let me show you around a little bit.  This club has more here than just naked girls.”

“I don’t know.  I should probably get going.”

“It’ll just take a second.  Follow me.”

Angela follows Curtis through the restaurant section and into the kitchen.  He pours a glass of red wine for himself and Angela and allows her to pick at the appetizer and entrées.

“This food is really good,” Angela says and pops a piece of fried shrimp into her mouth.  “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Why not?”

“You’re not trying to recruit me to get on stage, are you?”

“Pshhh.  Not at all.  You’re too pretty to be a stripper.”  Curtis grins.  “And too emotionally healthy from I can tell so far.”

“Why is that?” Angela asks.  “Why do some people turn out a certain way, like all messed up, and other people end up with all kinds of good things?”

“You’re dealt your lot in life and then you have to do something with it.  It’s cruel but fair.”

Curtis and Angela split a slice of chocolate mousse cake and talk more.  Afterward he walks her out of the kitchen and past the private dance rooms.

“What are these for?” Angela asks.

“If someone wants some special time alone with any of the girls, they can pay some extra money and come back here.”

“Can I see what it looks like?”

“Sure.”  Curtis leads her into a vacant room.  “So were you serious that coming here was the wildest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Yeah, I think it probably is,” Angela says.  “You made tonight fun after my friend never showed up.  I was kind of bummed before I met you.”

“You need to expand your horizons if this is wild to you,” Curtis says.  “There’s more to life than the box you’re living in.”

“I know one way I could do that, so that tonight could be even wilder for me.”

“How’s that?”

Angela stands on her tip-toes and kisses Curtis on the lips.

Slightly surprised, Curtis stares at her and doesn’t say or do anything at first.

Angela stands right in front of him, trying to stay composed at his non-reaction.

He stares at her for maybe five or six seconds, though to Angela it feels like an eternity.  Finally he cracks a smile and slowly places his hands on her waist and pulls her into him and kisses her.  They make out for a few minutes.  “How about we go to my place?” he suggests.  “I have a nice house.  You’ll like it.”

“I like you,” Angela says.  “I really do, but we just met.  I don’t want to feel like a slut.  How about I give you my number and we get together soon.  Being with you feels really good.  But I’d like to spend some more time together talking and whatever first.  Do you want to write down my number?”

“Go ahead.  I have a good memory.”

Angela makes up a telephone number with a Memphis area code.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Curtis says, smitten with her.  “Keep your phone on you.”

The entire encounter is recorded by the club’s security cameras.  At night’s end, Terrell brings home the security tapes and gives them to me.  In turn, I drive to Cassie’s apartment and play them for her.

She watches, a vacant stare in her eyes, until their last words and Angela leaves Curtis alone in the room.  A blanket wrapped around her legs, Cassie sits still on her living room couch, inexpressive.  She stares at the carpet floor, then shakes her head and looks at me.  “Why are all guys such pieces of shit?”

“I don’t know.”  I shrug.  “Maybe it’s our nature.  Though actually, if you wanted, I’m sure you could find a guy who is always perfectly sweet and sensitive to all your needs and all that.  A guy who dotes on you night and day and does everything to please you … but he’ll probably be boring and you’ll get tired of him pretty quick.”  I smile at her.

Cassie doesn’t laugh, cry, or get angry.  Emotionally numb, she only sits and stares into nothingness.

“Look, you need to do the best thing for you.  You haven’t done bad for yourself.  You were attractive enough and smart enough to get Curtis to support you.  But that gravy train is going to come to an end, sooner or later, regardless of me or not.  Curtis is in a dangerous business where death and prison could always be around the corner.  And who knows what he’s going to want day to day?   In time he could get tired of you and you’ll be left with nothing.  You’re still young, you’re still pretty, and you’re still smart enough to do whatever you want.  Don’t waste any more time.  He’s not faithful to you.  You need to detach yourself from him and be a little more selfish.”

“I can’t imagine being on my own again without him or anyone, just being alone.”

“Go back to your parents.  They’ll forgive you for whatever bullshit you did to piss them off.  They always have, right?”

“Yeah, they probably would.”

“And get back in school.  I know your parents.  If you go back to them, trying to turn your life around, they’ll probably be happy to foot the bill.  Pick a career, do whatever you want.  No doubt you’ll end up meeting a guy better than me and definitely a lot better than Curtis who’ll make you happy.”

Cassie places her hands over her face and weeps lightly for a moment.  Then she wipes the tears away, quickly composing herself.  “You’re right.  I know you are.  I need to make a change.  But do I just break up with him?  Just leave this apartment?  I don’t know how he’d react.  What if he gets violent or sends someone after me?”

“I can help you,” I tell Cassie.  “We can help each other actually.  You need to listen and do exactly what I tell you, alright?”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“What if Curtis was gone?”

“Gone for good?”  Terrell asks me.

“Is there someone lined up to be his successor if something happened?  Or how would things change?  I guess what I’m wondering is how you would be affected.  Would someone step in and fuck around with you and your business?”

“There’s no successor.”  Terrell puffs a joint.  Curtis worries about Curtis and he plans on being on top of the mountain forever.  But … if something were to happen?”  Terrell dabs his joint on an ashtray.  “For some businesses, it would definitely send some shockwaves.  Like the drug scene, for example, would be in total chaos.  But as for me and the club?  We’re on the peripheries.  In the scheme of things, the ownership and business of the club isn’t that important in terms of being a big moneymaker.  At least not compared to his other ventures.  Those are the things other people would be interested in moving in on.”

              “So it could be better?  You could do things exactly how you want without him running the club over your shoulder – allowing the drugs and prostitution and whatever other bullshit that puts you at risk.”

              “In theory?  Sure.  Curtis being gone would mean I’d still own the club and it’d be with no strings attached.  I could do what I want and not owe anyone anything.  I wouldn’t have to take orders or answer to anybody.”

              I nod.

              “The problem is the reality of the situation,” Terrell says.  “I don’t think you should kill Curtis.  Getting him alone would be extremely difficult.  And even if you’ve figured out some way to do it, and even if you successfully murdered him, you would still have committed a major felony.  I know you’ve done some crazy shit in the past, as have I, but crossing the line into actually killing someone is big-time.  Curtis isn’t exactly beloved by law enforcement.  Even so, all it would take is a fingerprint or a chance witness who somehow sees or hears something.  Who knows what could go wrong?  Even if you got a minimal sentence, any time in prison is too long.”

I sit silent.

“I know what you’ve been thinking.”  Terrell smiles at me.  “I taught you how to think, remember?  You’ve been scheming to use Cassie to get to him and it’s a good idea.  That’s why I gave you the security tapes.  Part of me wants to just let you go and see what you can do.  Curtis dead, as you pointed out, could be beneficial for me.  The other part of me has been thinking about you getting killed and how I’d live with myself after that.  I still think of your sister on a damn-near daily basis.  The both of you being in the ground is more than I’d like to deal with.  That’s why I think you should forget it and get the fuck out of here.  But it’s your life.”

I sit quietly.

“You could still leave right now,” Terrell says.  “Get out of here no worse for the wear.”

“You know what I thought about a lot after Ariel died?” I ask him.  “You made me leave Memphis and the first thing I did was hole up in this shitty motel room for about two weeks in Birmingham.  I didn’t do much or even get out of bed much actually.  You remember Ariel, right before she died, was doing a bunch of coke.  I’d never tried it.  Still haven’t to this day.  But I kept thinking about going on the streets to find someone selling.  I daydreamed about buying as much as I could and spending all the money I had.  Then take it back to the motel, pour it all out on the desk, do it all in one sitting and just blow myself away.  I’ve never been much of a drug guy.  But when you think about it, we all have to die.  And there’s really no good way to go.  I thought it might not be so bad.  Just getting higher and higher until I float away and I’m gone.”

“I thought you hated Ariel doing that shit.  Why would you want that to be the last thing you did?”

“Yeah, I did hate her doing it.  You know, I think maybe I blame Curtis for contributing to her death.  Like indirectly, you know?  The coke she was doing came from his dealers.  Maybe that’s part of the reason I punched him.  Subconsciously it still bothers me.”

Terrell listens.

“Whatever.  It was her own fault she put herself in a bad situation.  That being said, Ariel and me came into the world together.  I didn’t feel like staying if she wasn’t.  I was kind of excited by the idea actually.  I mean, throughout history people have wondered what happens to you after you die and no one really knows.  If I were to go through with it, I’d be on the precipice of solving that mystery.”

“You’d solve what it’s like to rot in the dirt,” he says.

“Yeah, maybe so.”  I smile to myself.  “Sometimes I don’t think that’d be so bad.  I can’t really envision anything in the future for me to get excited about.”

“How about being with this girl?  Angela?”

“Yeah, a little bit.  That’s probably the only thing.”

“I know this is going to sound weird, but something about her sort of reminds me of Ariel.  The way she acts.  Her attitude is similar.  To me, at least.  Or maybe that’s just the impression I got.  You know better than I do.”

“I haven’t thought about it.  There’s something about her though.”  I chuckle.  “I think of how many girls I’ve said that to when I was totally full of shit.  This time I actually believe it.”

“Why don’t you change your life up?  Settle down with this chick, do something different.  Maybe then you’d see your future a little brighter.”

“That could be a good idea.  I honestly could picture being with her in the long run.”  I think about it a moment.  “I’ve missed having you around in my life to point me in the right direction.”

“You’re my boy.   You’ve had my back since we met back in the neighborhood.  I’ve had yours.”

“I would like to buy some cocaine though,” I say.  “A lot, actually.  Could you help me?”