The Joneses (10 page)

“And Uncle Jason will regret the day he decided to steal from the Joneses.”

His words sent a chill down my spine.

I
was lying across my bed thinking about the bombshell Lovie dropped on us. My mind felt like it was going to explode. Uncle Jason had been a part of our lives forever. Maybe Lovie was mistaken. Uncle Jason couldn't be the crook he was making him out to be.

Charity walked in and sat in the chair near my bed. “So what do you think?”

I sat up in bed. “I don't know what to believe. Maybe Dad's right. Maybe Lovie is overreacting.”

“Maybe Lovie is right and Uncle Jason is a thief.”

“I hope he's wrong.”

Charity shifted in her seat. “I didn't come in here to talk about him anyway. I came to address the issue with the man you claim you love.”

“I do love him,” I blurted out.

“Let's talk. I'm here.”

I didn't know where to begin. “Everything has happened so fast.”

Charity moved her chair closer. “Tell me about him. What is he like? Tell me the good stuff first and then we can address this cheating thing.”

“He's older than me. He's almost thirty. He owns his own business. He adores me.” I tilted my head. “I adore him and he's everything I want in a man.” It felt good to finally be able to talk to someone about Tyler.

“On the surface he sounds fine, but earlier you mentioned you thought he was cheating. If he loves you, he wouldn't cheat on you,” Charity responded.

“I think you're just bitter because of what Scotty did to you.” I shifted on the bed.

“Let's not go there.”

“You can't stand for someone else to be happy and in love.”

Charity's hands flew up in the air. “If this guy was all of that, why haven't I met him? Why are you sleeping in cars? Ask yourself that.”

“To answer your questions, I don't have a problem with you two meeting.” I picked up my cell phone and sent Tyler a quick text message about dinner. “In fact, let's make it happen this week. We can meet for dinner.”

“Fine. Give me a time and location and I'll be there,” Charity responded in a sharp, harsh tone.

I placed one hand on my hip. “And another thing. I fell asleep. Don't you think it's best that I sleep in a parked car instead of trying to drive?”

“Whatever, Hope. I know what you said when Lovie was here. Heed these words. If you think he's cheating, nine times out of ten, he is. If he loves you, he wouldn't be cheating on you. Simple as that.”

I stared at Charity without blinking once. “You and I both know love is not that simple.”

“In my world, it is. Good night, Sis.” Charity got up and left.

I dialed Tyler's number, but my calls were sent straight to voice mail. I located my keys and left the house without telling Charity. I got to Tyler's place in record speed.

I knocked on Tyler's door and waited and waited for him to answer. After what seemed like forever, he finally opened up. He
looked as if he had been sleep, wearing nothing but his pajama bottoms. He rubbed his eyes. “Hope, what are you doing here?”

I walked past him and he shut the door.

“I've been trying to call you,” I snapped.

“After we got through texting, I laid down and went to sleep.”

“But my calls were sent directly to voicemail.”

“My phone's on the charger. I turned it off before laying down.”

“I don't believe you.” I stood with my arms folded.

Tyler grabbed my arm and dragged me to his bedroom. The sheets on his bed were tousled. He picked up the phone and showed it to me. It was hooked up to his charger.

Embarrassed for my unnecessary outburst, I said, “I thought you were ignoring me again.”

Tyler sat me down on the bed. “Hope, if we're going to be together, we have to have some level of trust.”

“But—”

“But nothing. As I explained to you on the text message, Baby is my sister. That's her nickname and I make no apologies.”

“She's the one who was acting like she was your woman.”

“Baby is crazy like that. You had no business answering my phone. How would you like it if I answered your phone?”

“It wouldn't bother me. I have nothing to hide.”

“You sure about that?” Tyler stared directly into my eyes.

I didn't blink. “Positive. Since we've been together, I have not been seeing other men.”

Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “And I haven't been seeing other women. I'm just as committed to you as you are to me.”

“That's good to know. For a minute, I thought you were playing games with me.”

“You young girls have a lot to learn.”

I ran my hand up and down my chest. “I'm all woman.”

He looked me up and down. “That you are.”

“This has been such a stressful day,” I admitted.

Tyler planted kisses on the nape of my neck. “I can think of plenty of ways to relax you.”

The only thing on my mind was pleasing Tyler. We undressed each other. He'd become my everything in such a short period of time. I wanted him. Correction, I needed him. I didn't want to go back to a life without him.

“Hope, I love you.” He eased himself inside of me and we made love on top of his sheets.

I lay on his chest and drifted off to sleep. We slept that way until the next morning. I hated to leave him, but he had work to do and I had to figure out how to deal with Uncle Jason's betrayal.

S
leep didn't find me last night. I tossed and turned throughout the night. I slid on my shades. I exited my car and used my key to enter my parents' home.

“Lovie, is that you?” my mom yelled out.

“Yes. It's me,” I responded.

“I'm in the kitchen.”

The aroma of the food filled my nostrils as I entered the kitchen.

“Your dad's already left for work, so it's just the two of us,” she said. “Take those shades off. This is not the club.”

I did as instructed. Removing the shades exposed my puffy eyes.

“Did you pull an all-nighter? I told you to stay out of the clubs.”

“No, Mom. This situation has me stressed.” I took a seat at the kitchen table.

She placed a plate full of food in front of me. She sat at the opposite end of the table.

“I wanted to talk to you, but not at the funeral home. I didn't want to take a chance of our conversation being overheard.” She poured two glasses of orange juice and handed me one.

I took a bite of my food first before talking. “Sorry about storming out yesterday, but the whole situation with Uncle Jason had me pissed.”

“Your dad was still upset with you about giving Jason his walking papers. I tried to talk to Royce about it last night, but he didn't want
to talk. He was in a better mood this morning, so hopefully he'll listen to reason now.”

I drank some juice. “Uncle Jason's no longer authorized to make any more transactions on our behalf. I had his privileges revoked on all of our accounts.”

“Royce is not going to like it when he finds out.”

“I would rather deal with his rants than to see Jason steal any more money from us.”

“I agree,” she said. “I see business has increased, but it does no good to increase revenue if the money is being taken out as quick as we make it.”

“Exactly. That's why I'm going to stop Jason. He's going to regret the day he decided to steal from us.” The veins in my forehead were popping.

My mom placed her hands on top of mine. “Calm down. I plan to stop by Jason's office today. Let me talk to him. Let me see what's going on before you do anything.”

I squinted my eyes. “For some reason, it seems like you're trying to take up for him, too. I thought you were with me? I thought you wanted him to pay too?”

“I do, but baby, Jason is someone that's been close to this family. We have to handle this situation delicately.”

“My friends know exactly what to do to handle a thief.”

“That's what I was afraid of. Do not, and I repeat do not, get any of your friends involved in our situation. You and I will handle this together,” she assured me.

“I told Hope and Charity about Jason.” I got up and put more meat and bread on my plate.

“See, this is what I was afraid of. You're going about this all wrong.”

“They deserve to know that the man we call Uncle is a traitor.”

“Maybe so, but I wish you would have waited.”

“So, what do you suggest we do now?” I sat back down and went back to eating.

“We need to get Jason to confess.”

“Men like Jason don't confess unless they feel like their life is threatened,” I said.

“I got this. You just go smooth things out with Royce. Convince him that you two are the only two people who should be authorized to sign checks.”

Less than an hour later, I was sitting in my father's office. I checked my Facebook page while waiting for him to end his phone call.

“Lovie, I don't have much time. I have a funeral to facilitate at eleven,” he said, as soon as he hung up.

“I know you don't agree with me about Uncle Jason. But I think it's best that we be the only two authorized to sign checks.”

“Son, I don't have time to handle that part. Business is picking up and I might have to hire some more workers.”

“Fine, then let me take care of it. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be a CPA. Just look at it as your investment paying off. Well this time, anyway.”

“Fine. I'll temporarily take him off the accounts. Don't make me regret this decision.”

“You got a funeral to attend to. I'll take care of everything.” I kept the fact that I'd already removed Jason from the accounts to myself.

We went our separate ways. I pulled out my cell phone. I got my mom's voicemail. “I got Dad to agree to take Jason off the accounts.” I paused, but before hanging up I added, “Mom, whatever you plan on doing, please be careful.”

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I ended the call.

“Ma'am, you can't go in there.” Jason's receptionist stood up. She tried to block me from entering his office.

“He's been avoiding my calls all morning, and I will not be ignored.” I pushed her out of the way and entered Jason's office.

“Lexi, what are you doing here?” Jason asked, looking up from his desk.

The young lady ran in behind me. “Mr. Milton, I tried to stop her, but she pushed me.”

Jason looked at her and then at me. “That's okay. I'll see Mrs. Jones. Close the door on your way out.”

“Should I call Security?” she asked.

Jason laughed. “Everything is fine here. Hold all of my calls.”

I turned and faced her. “Yes. Hold all of his calls because we have some serious business to discuss.”

I didn't wait on Jason to offer me a seat. I sat down in the chair directly across from his desk. I glanced around the room and admired the items that our money bought. Of course, when a person was spending someone else's money, they would buy top-of-the-line items. His walls were covered with expensive-looking paintings.

“Lexi, what brings you to my office?”

I crossed my leg, exposing some of my thigh. “Jason, you know exactly why I'm here.”

“Just like Royce to send a woman to do a man's job. He's always been a little soft.”

I clenched the arms of the chair. “Royce is more man than you will ever be.”

“And you would know.” I wanted to slap the sly grin off his face.

“I will regret that night for the rest of my life.”

Jason licked his lips. “I still remember how good you tasted. Sweeter than honey.”

I hit his desk with my fist. “Look. I didn't come over to reminisce about my biggest mistake. I came here to find out from you how long you thought you would be able to get away with stealing our money.”

“Clearly, you've been drinking. Nobody's stole anything from anyone.” Jason leaned back in his chair.

I eased to the edge of my seat. “I don't know how or how long it will take, but Jason, you will pay for what you did. I want our money back and with interest.”

Jason leaned forward on his desk. “Dear, I'm not Royce.”

“Clearly, you're not. Royce is a man of integrity.”

“I know some things, but I'll keep them to myself.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason rubbed his hands together. “You need to tell our son to back off.”

“Excuse me?” I knew I must be hearing things.

“You heard me. Tell
our
son, to back off or your little secret will be exposed.”

All of a sudden the room seemed smaller. The oxygen seemed to evaporate out of the air. I felt a panic attack coming on. It took everything within me to control my breathing. “You don't know what you're talking about.”

Jason removed his wallet and pulled out two pictures. He placed them in front of me. “This is me when I was a baby.” He pointed at the other picture. “This is Lovie. Now tell me Lovie isn't my son.”

I opened up my mouth to speak, but nothing would come out at first. “Lovie is Royce's son.”

“Are you sure about that? You know there's this thing called DNA.”

“Jason, I'm warning you. You've already stole money from us, but you will not rob me of anything else. You got that?”

“And Lexi, I'm warning you. Either Lovie stays out of my business, or everyone will know that he's our love child.”

“There's no love between us. I only put up with you because Royce loves you like a brother.”

“His mistake, not mine.”

“You've always been jealous of him, and he's been too blind to see it. I knew you were no good when you made a pass at me.”