Sins of a Siren (32 page)

Trenda opened her eyes.
What the hell is this old broad doin'? I hope she ain't some kinda old lesbian freak!
“Whoa! Wassup, woman?”

Gloria pulled her white bra down just enough for Trenda to see an ugly zipper-like scar between her breasts and a quartersized scar about four inches from her heart. “You see this? This happened to me one night about fifty years ago when I was about your age. Being too cocky, thinking I was untouchable, me and a couple of fellow gang-bangers went to a Halloween party on the border of our turf, and of one of our most vicious rivals. As expected, some of them were there—double the number we had actually. As we tried to escape, four of our five were shot to death. I alone survived. I was shot twice, point blank in my chest.” She tapped the smaller scar. “This one bounced off one of my ribs and ended up missing my heart by an eighth of an inch. Good thing for me the gun was only a .22-caliber and not something more powerful.”

Shocked at the display, Trenda stared at the wounds. “Damn…”

Gloria buttoned up her blouse, then took off her watch and showed Trenda an equally ugly scar on her wrist, hidden by her watchband. “Since the gun only had two bullets left, the heathens, in hopes of making sure I would die, decided to slit my wrist.”

Trenda's mouth went dry. “No shit?” She sat up on her elbows. “How did you get away?”

Gloria put her watch back on and rolled down her sleeve. “I didn't; the scum just left me in an alley behind the house party.” She fingered her jade crucifix. “This is what saved me; the love of our Lord.”

Again, Trenda rolled her eyes and lay back on her pillow, the knot on her head reminding her it was there. “I'm glad for you but I need some rest. My head is startin' to hurt.”

“Do you believe in God, Ms. Collins?”

“Not really.”

She began unwrapping the bandage holding the cold compress against Trenda's head. “I didn't either until that Halloween night when I was shot. And believe me, I had done far more than my fair share of sinning before that night. I can tell by the looks of your knife that you've had it for a while.” She rolled up the bandage and set it and the blue ice pack on the table next to Trenda's bed. “And chances are you have used it. I'm not here to judge, just here to do my job as a good Catholic and pass along a bit of the Lord's word.”

Irritation gnawed at Trenda's patience. “Look…I told you once—”

Gloria lowered her voice to a stern but warm whisper and pointed a slightly shaky and wrinkled finger at her. “No,
you
look,
Trenda
.”

Trenda nearly lost her urine. “Wha?
Who
did you call me?”

Gloria didn't flinch. “Yes, I know your real name; you were so
relaxed from the sedatives you were on last night you gave me your real name—a few times. As it stands, I am the only one here that knows. I could have given that information to the detective, but I decided against it.”

Trenda's mouth sought a reply, but all her brain gave her was, “Oh shit!”

Unmoving, Gloria went on. “As I told you, I have unshakable belief in my faith. While I was lying in that alley with my blood running into the gutter and flipping between being dead and alive, a voice told me to go back in time and recall the faces of everyone I had stolen from, beat up, lied to, let down or otherwise hurt in my life. The guilt I felt was so powerful I couldn't close my eyes. Each time I did, as I was about to give in to death, the guilt of looking into all those faces forced me to keep my eyes open. Through the pain, I did my best to focus on the blurry stars overhead and the sound of a bird singing in the distance. What seemed like years later, the bird song grew so loud it began to hurt my ears. The next thing I knew, I was surrounded by flashing red lights; the bird song was an ambulance. My blurred vision was the result of my tears of repent being spilled. And I finally realized that the voice I heard was the same one I often ignored while I was in the clutches of Lucifer.”

Trenda couldn't stop looking into the old nurse's eyes. They reflected great wisdom and more compassion than Trenda had ever encountered. She was momentarily torn between wanting to give Gloria a tight hug and jumping out of the bed and running her ass off. “I see…”

Gloria finally broke her gaze, checked her watch and gathered up her clipboard. “Well, Ms. Collins, my shift ended about eight minutes ago; if your head gets any worse, use the button on your bed rail and call the nurse immediately. Other than that, use the
ice pack as often as you can; it will help get that walnut on the side of your head to shrink.” She smiled and brushed Trenda's forehead. “Just remember this, honey; no matter how rocky, lonely, filthy or dark the road is you travel, God allows U-turns.”

With that, Gloria quietly left. The only sound in the room was the ventilator her unconscious roommate was connected to. Trenda lay staring at the ceiling in silence long after her Catholic devotee left.

T
wo hours after receiving her breakfast, Trenda had a guest. “Oh my God! Are you okay, Mya?” Eli asked after rushing into her room. “I saw a picture of you on the news last night and almost had a coronary!”

Trenda covered the remains of her breakfast with the stainless steel lid and allowed Eli to take her hand and kiss it. “Yeah, I'm okay…just a little headache.”

That was the first time she had seen him in relaxed clothes; both his jeans and blue UC Berkeley T-shirt could stand a little ironing. “
Just a little headache
?” His eyes gave her the once-over. “I saw your car burning up and you on a gurney! What happened?”

“I still can't remember much after leaving the hotel to go to my car. They say it's because of my concussion.”

He carefully caressed the side of her face. “It must be a pretty serious concussion. Usually they just send you home with some Tylenol and codeine and put you on bedrest for a few days.”

She managed a weak smile. “How you know so much, Dr. Teddy Bear?”

He broke eye contact with her. “Well, you know, Meagan being in the medical field…”

She inconspicuously reached under her covers and tucked Baby just under her right butt cheek. “You are one lucky man to have a brainiac like her sharin' your bed.”

“Not really…she is nothing like you.” The infatuation in his face read like a billboard. “Not even close.”

You have no idea how lucky you are she's not
, she thought after visualizing Gloria's face. “You are way too sweet to me, baby. Keep that up and I am gonna get spoiled.”

Hovering over her like a cuddly Sasquatch, he took her hand again. “Mya, I don't like the way things have been going for you; you deserve better.”

“Well, I'm glad somebody does…thanks, Boo.”

“What are you going to do about transportation? Have you contacted your insurance company yet?”

Regretting she hadn't yet insured the Honda, she shook her head. “No…”

“Do you want me to call them for you?”

Drawing in a deep breath and letting it go, she confessed. “No… I didn't have time to put insurance on it.”

Head lowered, he shook it slowly. “Oh wow…that is bad.”

“Yeah, I know but shit happens.”

“Does your family know what happened? Do you need to call them?”

The lump on her head began aching with stress. “Yeah, I called and told them I'm okay and there's no need for them to fly all the way out here from the East Coast.”

He nodded. “Cool…at least they know you are okay—not as okay as I would like you to be, but okay.”

Trenda noticed he seemed to be distracted. He was fidgeting more than normal. “Good thing is I found out this is a county hospital and I don't have to pay the bill since I don't have any medical insurance yet.”

Holding her hand a little tighter, he looked at her in silence for a few moments. “Mya, I am leaving Meagan.”

Oh-the-hell-no he didn't!
“What are you talkin' about? How you gonna do that when she's your fiancée?”

“I never
officially
asked her to marry me. We talked about it a few times, but never set a date. She is too busy with school to really be ready for the kind of commitment I want.” He leaned over and kissed Trenda's stunned lips. “Besides, my heart has found what it has been looking for…”

A bolt of pain shot from the lump on her head through her brain. “Eli, do you really think—”

He caressed the side of her face and gazed into her eyes. “I love you, Mya…and I want you to be with me.”

No less than a thousand thoughts filled her cloudy mind. Ashamedly, most of them were thoughts of how to best take advantage of the man and situation. After all, this was by far not the first time she'd been the recipient of that love line. “Wait… hold up, baby…this ain't…no…think abo—”

He shook his head. “No…I have thought about this ever since you arrived. This is the first time I have truly felt this happy.” He let go of her hand, went into the large side pocket of his jeans and pulled out an envelope. “I have to get back home and get dressed for work. I will be back to see you as soon as I get off about five-thirty or so. In the meantime, think about what I said; I am very serious, Mya.”

“Eli, we need to really talk about this…I mean, this is pretty damn serious.”

Smiling, he leaned over, laid the envelope on the table and kissed her again. “You will see just how serious I am when you see what's in the envelope.”

She watched him lay it on the table and hastily leave. A tingle of fear touched her as she reached for the white envelope.
What have you done, man?

As soon as he disembarked from his red-eye flight into Newark, New Jersey, Darius got in his Escalade and hurried to the vacation cabin in Avalon. After tossing his bags on the bed, he called his partner. “Hey, wake up! I'm back in town.”

“What the hell? Do you know what time it is?”

Darius checked his watch. “I don't give a shit that it's four in the mornin'! You need to get up and get your ass over here to Avalon so we can go over the new plan.”

“What new plan? What the fuck is goin' on
now
?”

The calming sound of the waves hitting the beach outside did little to ease the tension Darius now felt. “Just get your ass here… and bring some coffee…”

This was the first time Officer Kain had a loose end he couldn't tie up. And he did
not
like the feeling of helplessness.

Nope, not at all.

T
he two items inside the envelope both chilled and thrilled Trenda. She could feel her pulse rapidly beating in the bump on the side of her head. Her hand shook as she reached for her unfinished cup of orange juice. “Damn, Eli…damn…”

She picked up Eli's personal check, made out to Mya Collins, for five-thousand dollars. Along with the check was a short note in some of the neatest handwriting she had ever seen:

Hey, sweetheart! This is just a little something to get you on your feet. I figured you could use this to rent out a chair in a nice salon and do hair, get another car and get a down payment on an apartment. Actually, I would prefer you just move in with me. I have plenty of room. And don't worry about paying me back; this is a portion of the cash I had put aside for my wedding with Meagan. You have no idea how good it feels to know I have finally found my Queen! I love you, Mya…

Is he for real?
She stared at the check.
Five grand?
The hustler in her went to work calculating how to best take advantage of this windfall. As always, her thoughts went first to turning a profit, then turning the Trick. Just holding the check seemed to ease the pain in her head.
Fuck just renting a chair in a salon; I can probably get him to help me find a spot and open up my own shop…

Not once did she think about Eli leaving his longtime girlfriend for her. The lure of fast cash had blinded her as it had for most of her life. She tucked the note and check back in the envelope, set it on the table next to her carafe of ice water and prepared to turn on the TV for the first time since she had arrived.

Although she rarely watched TV at all, as she flipped through the channels, she was drawn to an episode of the
Maury
show. She paused on the show just as a heavy-set black woman was crying and yelling at a white woman and a tall, slim black man. “I wonder what made her go off,” Trenda said as she sat up in bed, preparing to go to the restroom.

After returning, Trenda climbed back in bed and continued to watch the show. She found out that the man had filed for divorce from the crying woman after reuniting with a former lover he ran into at a high school reunion. Out of nowhere, a shroud of depression descended on her. She remained transfixed on the black woman, now on her knees, crying her eyes out to the asshole of a man in front of her while his white lover looked on unsympathetically.