The Devil Is a Lie (3 page)

T
odd plopped down on the cold steel bar stool like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He’d driven to Carrington’s Sports bar with his vision clouded in anger. He couldn’t understand why he kept putting himself through the drama with Pam. Yes, she was beautiful and fine and he loved having her on his arm when they went out in public. But what price was he paying? He took every long-distance gig he could get at work—not just for the double overtime but because it kept him on the road and away from her.

Bishop T.D. Jakes was right about his 80/20 rule. Todd remembered the first time he’d heard that while visiting the Potter’s House in Dallas. Bishop Jakes had said that at any given
time you’ll only get 80 percent from your mate, and when the other 20 percent comes along in another person, it reminds you of what you’re not getting. But at the end of the day, that twenty is still only twenty. The rule hadn’t made a lot of sense to him then. But he definitely understood it now.

Pam was his twenty.

“You look like you can use a double shot today,” said Tannie, the beautiful bushy-haired bartender who always made sure he was taken care of. She placed a napkin in front of him. “So your usual, times two, coming right up.”

“You’re the best, Tannie,” Todd said. “But it’s been a rough day and I’m going to need something stronger. How about straight vodka?”

“That bad of a day, huh?” she asked.

“You don’t even know the half of it,” he muttered.

She cocked a finger at him and fired. “Well, I got you.”

“Don’t you always.” He forced a smile as she made her way over to the shelves of liquor.

A moment later Tannie returned with his drink.

“Thanks, Tannie.” Todd didn’t bother handing her his credit card. He’d been a regular at Carrington’s lately, so she knew he’d settle his tab at the end of the night.

“Anytime. Just let me know when you need something else.” She flashed a comforting smile as she went to tend to the next customer.

“Wassup!”

Todd turned toward the source of the familiar voice. “It’s you, man. What’s going on?”

“Trying to make a dollar outta fifteen cents.” Lincoln laughed heartily.

Todd’s forced smile turned genuine at the sight of the man who’d been his best friend since the ninth grade. Lincoln, a thirty-two-year-old man desperately hanging on to his twenties, was wearing his usual baggy jeans and Sean John T-shirt.

“What’s up, man?” Lincoln asked, taking the stool next to Todd. “What’s got you looking so gloomy? And what are you doing here on a Wednesday night? I thought Pam only let you come out on Fridays,” he joked.

Todd threw back his drink, downing it in one gulp. He winced as the liquor slid down his throat.

Lincoln eyed the drink, his nose turned up. “Is that straight vodka?”

Todd nodded.

“Okay, what’s really going on? Is your grandmother all right?”

“Nah, she’s the same,” Todd said. Lincoln knew Todd had been really worried about his grandmother’s health lately, so naturally he would assume that was what had Todd down.

“So then what’s the problem?” Lincoln asked.

“Women will drive you to drink,” Todd replied, sighing heavily.

Lincoln sat up straight on the stool, ready to deliver the truth. “That’s why you keep more than one. That way, when one gets to acting up, you get rid of her and move on to the next one. No headaches,” he said matter-of-factly.

Todd tsked at his friend. That was the motto by which Lin
coln lived. “You know I’m not into that love ’em and leave ’em stuff.”

“You need to be,” Lincoln replied with an airy wave. “I don’t even know why I’m wasting my breath. It’s not like you’re going to listen to me anyway.” Lincoln called Tannie over and ordered a Crown and Coke. “So tell me what Pam did this time.”

Todd debated whether he should tell Lincoln. He knew his friend didn’t like Pam and this would only bolster his case that Todd needed to dump her.

“Nothing, man.”

“Don’t ‘nothing’ me. I know you. And the only time you get all sad and dejected like that is when something is wrong with Grams or after Pam has gone on one of her spending sprees.” He nodded as Todd remained silent. “How much she get you for this time?”

“Just drop it, Lincoln.” Despite Lincoln’s ribbing, Todd knew he was genuinely concerned.

“Naw, you know I’m not gonna drop it. Tell me, what did she do? Did she buy a Bentley?”

One corner of Todd’s mouth turned up in a sly smile. “Yeah, right.”

“Don’t act like she’s incapable of something like that.”

“Okay, you’re right. But, naw, nothing that extreme, but she did let the lights get cut off.”

“What?” Lincoln exclaimed. “How can a grown dude who works sixty hours a week have his electricity getting cut off?”

Todd sighed. “I know.”

“I told you a thousand times, that broad ain’t no good for
you.” His look was one of pity, like he didn’t understand how someone could be such a fool.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Todd lifted his empty glass, motioning for Tannie to bring him another drink. “One more, please,” Todd said when she approached.

“Coming right up,” Tannie said, setting Lincoln’s glass in front of him and grabbing Todd’s empty one.

Lincoln eyed Tannie’s firm behind as she walked off. “Lord, that girl is fine.” He turned back to face Todd. “Anyway, Pam ain’t nothing but trouble. I mean, last month you didn’t have the money to pay your car note because she bought some Jimmy Choos. She ain’t got nowhere to walk to, but she buying Jimmy Choos.”

“She just has expensive taste,” Todd said, not sure why he was defending her. Lincoln knew all about his troubles with Pam, so no matter what Todd said, his friend was not going to change his view of her.

“If she has such expensive taste, then she needs to get her a job. You’re my boy and all, but a baller you are not.”

“Thanks a lot, Lincoln.”

Tannie set Todd’s drink in front of him.

Lincoln flashed her a sexy smile and tipped his drink to her. “I’m just keeping it real. You need to stop trying to pretend you’re a baller.”

“I don’t try to act like a baller,” Todd said defensively.

“Yes, you do. You’ve been doing it since the first day you met Pam, using up all your money to wine and dine her. I think you were hanging around all those celebrities at the radio sta
tion and you just lost touch with reality. Then you got a little taste of money and it went to your head.”

Todd weighed his friend’s words as he thought back to the first time he met Pam. He’d been a happily married man and making six figures. “Pam knows I’m not a baller.”

Lincoln shot his friend a discerning look. “Yeah, she knows
now
, after she dang near broke you. Come on, dude, you took out a loan against your 401k so you could take her to the Virgin Islands, as if she needed to be going anywhere near anything virgin.”

Todd cut his eyes at his friend, causing Lincoln to throw up his hands apologetically. “Sorry, man, don’t mean to be talking about your girl, but she was a little loose back in the day.”

“
Was.
That was a long time ago.” About nine months ago Todd had found out about Pam’s sordid history, thanks to one of his coworkers who took great pride in telling Lincoln what he and two of his boys had done with Pam.

“I’m just saying, if you keep letting her get away with stuff, she’s gonna keep doing it. Shoot, I don’t blame her. If I could find me someone stupid enough to let me milk her for all her money while I sat back and did nothing but shop, I might do it myself.”

“Look,” Todd said wearily, “can we change the subject? I came here to get away from the drama, so can we talk about something else?”

“That’s cool,” Lincoln said, shrugging. “Did you see the Rockets game last night?”

“Nah,” Todd said, relieved. “I missed it, but I wanted to see the highlights.”

“Hey, Tannie, put on ESPN,” Lincoln shouted.

Tannie, who was at the other end of the bar, stopped fixing a drink, picked up the remote, and began flipping through channels.

“Man, you missed it,” Lincoln continued, not taking his eyes off the TV. “Tracy McGrady owned that court. I’m telling you, he…Wait!” he yelled to Tannie. “Go back, go back to channel thirteen!” Lincoln shook Todd’s arm as he pointed toward the TV. “Look! Isn’t that Nina?”

Todd peered up at the television, and his heart stopped at the sight of his ex-wife on channel thirteen’s ten o’clock news. She looked as beautiful as ever with her honey brown hair in the spiral curls he liked so much. His smile faded as he noticed the tall, muscular, dark-skinned man standing next to her, looking like Mr. Olympia.

“Tannie, turn that up!” Lincoln shouted down the bar.

Tannie complied, and the two friends walked to the end of the bar to get a closer look at the television.

“What are they doing?” Lincoln asked.

“I don’t know,” Todd responded. He felt a small pain in his heart as he saw Nina and the man lovingly hold each other’s hands. It’s not like he hadn’t expected Nina to move on. Thanks to his cousin Shari, who still kept in touch with Nina, he knew she was in a serious relationship, but to actually see it hurt him. Nina’s grandmother Odessa, a small but feisty white-haired woman, stood next to her.

They watched as a heavyset man in a too-small suit talked at a podium.

“So,” the man said, “it is my pleasure to present to Ms. Nina Lawson a check in the amount of eight point six million dollars as the newest winner of the Texas lotto.”

Todd and Lincoln exchanged shocked glances.

“Do you know her or something?” Tannie asked when she noticed their expressions.

Todd was too stunned to reply.

“Th-that’s his ex-wife,” Lincoln said, speaking for him.

Nina came to the podium and began talking about what she planned to do with her winnings and how happy she and her fiancé were.

“I can’t believe that’s your ex-wife,” Tannie said, now just as much into the press conference as Todd and Lincoln were.

“Yeah, that’s his now
very, very
rich ex-wife,” Lincoln said, turning to stare at Todd.

“Wow, she’s pretty. Why’d you two break up?” Tannie asked.

“He left her,” Lincoln answered. “For another woman. A crazy woman.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Todd mumbled.

“You left
her
for Pam?” Tannie asked, pointing at the television. “The same Pam you’re always in here complaining about?”

Todd had to sit back down on the bar stool.

“Yeah, he did,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. He had always liked Nina and had told Todd at the time that he’d been a fool to mess over her.

They watched as Nina and her fiancé accepted their mock check for 8.6 million dollars.

“You know what, Tannie? I think my boy is going to need a
pitcher
of vodka. Eight point six million dollars? And he’s so broke he can’t pay attention. Oh yeah, it’s gonna take a whole lot of liquor to process that.”

T
he news hadn’t been off ten seconds, and already Nina’s phone was blowing up. Both of them. Her cell phone and the house phone were ringing simultaneously.

Rick was pacing back and forth across the living room. “It’s starting already.” He rubbed his hands over his head, something he did whenever he was frustrated. “I told you we shouldn’t have gone on television. We should’ve just let them send us the money.”

Nina pressed Ignore on her cell phone, but before she could set it back down, it was ringing again. She hated to admit it, but Rick was right. Why hadn’t she thought about the consequences? Her friends were always telling her she was impulsive, and she was starting to believe they were right. At least Nina had contacted an attorney, who was helping her handle the
winnings. He’d had her form a corporation to claim her money and had even explained the amount of additional taxes she’d have to pay if she gave Rick half the money like she wanted to. He didn’t try to stop her, though, from going on TV.

“It’s not like we had a choice anyway,” Nina said meekly. “The lotto rules say we have to take part in the press conference. Besides, Mr. Abernathy said he didn’t think going on TV was that big of a deal.”

“That’s because your attorney is a money-hungry publicity hound who just wanted the cameras to get a shot of him, too,” Rick snapped.

“He was my father’s friend for years,” Nina protested.

“
And?
From what you told me, your father was questionable himself, so his friends had to be just as shady.” As soon as he said it, Rick looked like he wished he could take the words back. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to speak bad of the dead.”

Nina pursed her lips. Her father had been dead ten years, but she still loved him like crazy. Her mother had been sent to prison for drugs when Nina was just seven years old. Nina and her sister, Yvonne, had been raised by their father and grandmother. Their mother had banned them from visiting her in prison, saying she didn’t want her daughters to see her there. And after she was released, she’d moved to Chicago and, last Nina heard, had gotten wrapped up in drugs again. If not for her grandmother Odessa, Nina didn’t know how she would’ve survived all these years. Her grandmother was the first person she called after confirming the winning numbers. Odessa had been genuinely happy for Nina’s win, but like Rick, she thought it was a mistake to go public.

Rick sat down next to Nina. “Baby, I’m just worried. I think we really messed up by taking this thing public.” He jumped as the cordless phone rang again. He picked up the phone, pushed the Talk button, then quickly pushed the End button. “I mean, do you really think this is gonna stop?” He tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

“It’s probably just people calling to congratulate us.” Even Nina knew that was wishful thinking. She came from a pretty big family, and she was expecting to have relatives coming out of the woodwork, hoping to get in on the winnings.

Rick scoffed at that innocent idea. “Yeah, the very first call was from your cousin Luther. You haven’t talked to him in how long? Do you really think he was just calling to congratulate you?”

Nina laid her head back against the sofa. Rick was so right. No doubt Luther was calling for money. Even so, she didn’t see what the big deal was. She had been so excited, and she planned to share with her family anyway. Then Mr. Abernathy had told her that going on TV would be great publicity for her real estate business, which she still planned on moving forward with. She’d already found a building before winning the lottery and was just waiting on loan approval from the bank.

Nina’s best friend, Michelle, had also advised against going public. Michelle was a researcher for a local television station, and she had looked into past lotto winners. Many of them said their lives changed for the worse after winning. How could that be? Nina wondered.

“Look, what’s done is done,” she said, finally deciding to
stop beating herself up about it. She’d just won 8.6 million dollars. They needed to be happy, not stressing over begging relatives. “Let’s go out and celebrate.”

Rick sighed, giving in, even though he was still upset. “Okay, you’re right. Let’s not harp on it. But mark my words, we’re gonna regret this.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s go someplace real nice.” She planted a kiss on his lips.

He finally flashed a genuine smile. “What about Vargo’s?” he said. “You usually have to have reservations, but I’m sure once we let them know who we are, they’ll squeeze us in.”

“Look at you, already getting the big head,” Nina joked.

He pushed out his chest with mock overconfidence. “Do you want to go or not?”

“I do, but isn’t that place really expensive?” She was all for celebrating but didn’t think they needed to splurge just yet, especially because, technically, they didn’t have the money in hand. A new law mandated a three-day hold on the check disbursement from the Lottery Commission so they could make sure Nina didn’t owe the government any money or have any liens against her.

“Yes, Vargo’s is expensive, but we can afford it now,” he said patiently. “So go get dressed in your nicest outfit. And hurry up. It’s already six thirty.” He spun her toward the stairs and popped her on the behind.

She headed toward the stairs but stopped at the bottom step and turned back toward Rick. “Should we really be going to Vargo’s when we haven’t even gotten the check yet?”

“Would you stop worrying? Please? We can max out the credit card now since how we’re going to pay it is no longer an issue.” Nina had recently added Rick to her credit card and bank account. He couldn’t qualify for an account on his own because he’d messed up his credit in college. She’d been real nervous about it, but so far he’d exercised extreme caution in using the card. He’d also been real careful about how he spent the money in the bank, even though he regularly deposited his paycheck.

Nina grinned widely. “You’re right about that, huh?”

Rick walked over, picked her up, and spun her around. “Yeah, baby. Our money troubles are officially over. Let’s go get dressed.”

Rick called Vargo’s and secured a reservation while Nina went to get dressed. Twenty minutes later, she had pulled her hair in an upsweep and was wearing her nicest cocktail dress, a deep green V-neck number that she knew Rick loved.

“Wow,” he said as she walked down the stairs. Nina couldn’t help noticing how rickety the railing was.
Oh well
, she thought. They’d no longer have to put off repairs because they couldn’t afford it. The thought made her beam even more.

“You like?” she asked, striking a pose.

He nodded. “You look amazing.”

“Like a million bucks?” she purred.

“Like eight point six million, to be exact.” He kissed her lightly and guided her toward the door.