The Joneses (18 page)

“If you would have seen the pictures, you would be in shock.”

“If only you knew.”
She had no idea of all of the things I knew.

Charity attempted to call Hope again without any success. “I can't believe Hope is over there,” she said. “Tyler's motives were never pure. He plotted to get next to Hope and me to get back at Dad. His intentions were to take one of us from him, the way he feels Dad took his mom away from him.”

“How long did this affair go on?” I picked up the bottle and swished the beer around.

Charity repeated to me what our dad had told her. “Hope knows, so that's why I'm surprised she's over there.”

“What's his apartment number?” I asked.

“Twelve sixteen.”

“I'm about to put an end to this.” I got off the couch and put the empty beer bottle in the trash. “I'm going over there.”

“Maybe I should go with you,” Charity said.

“No. It's best that you don't. Just in case things get ugly.”

“That's why I need to be going with you.”

Charity grabbed her keys and followed behind me. “You can ride with me,” I said.

I ended up parking right next to Hope's car. I followed Charity to Tyler's apartment.

“Move away from the peephole,” I told her.

I rang the doorbell and turned to the side, so he could only see my side profile.

Tyler opened the door. “May I help you?”

I responded with a pop in his face with my fist. He stumbled and fell. “Where's my sister?” I asked.

Charity walked past me and called out, “Hope! Hope!”

Hope came out of the back room wearing nothing but a man's shirt. “What are y'all doing here?” she yelled.

Charity said, “No, why are you here? After everything this man has done.”

Tyler rubbed his jaw. “Man, I'm going to give you that. Or maybe I should press charges?”

I rubbed my fist. “Go right ahead. I suggest you don't if you have any outstanding warrants. I won't be the only one going to jail today.”

I looked at Hope. “Go put some clothes on so we can get out of here.”

“I'm grown. You don't tell me what to do.”

I looked at Charity. Charity pushed Hope toward the bedroom. Tyler and I were now alone in the living room.

Tyler said, “She'll be back. She loves me.”

I jumped in Tyler's face. “If I ever catch you with my sister again, your jaw won't be the only thing hurting.”

He didn't flinch. “Are you threatening me?”

“Take it like you want to. But keep away from my sisters.”

Hope followed Charity out of the room, but this time fully dressed.

“Come on, let's get out of here,” I said.

“Hope,” Tyler called out several times.

Charity pushed Hope out the door. I followed behind them.

I
thought getting our money back would be the end of our problems. That life for the Joneses would go back to normal. When Royce confronted me about Jason, I thought I was going to die. My mission to cater to Royce's every need, and show him he was the only man I desired appeared to be working. Well, up until a few days ago at least. Royce seemed distracted for some reason.

Royce's fiftieth birthday was coming up soon, so maybe he's going through a midlife crisis. Now that our finances were intact, I planned to throw him a party fit for a king. We've had our share of ups and downs in our relationship just like any other couple. We were just good at hiding it. He's been a great father to my three kids and an exceptional lover. I couldn't have asked for a better husband.

“Baby, what's wrong?” I asked Royce, as I massaged his shoulders while he sat at the kitchen table.

“Nothing I can't handle.”

“I know it's been hard finding out your best friend betrayed you.”

“It's not just that. I'm thinking about selling RJ's.”

I stopped massaging his shoulders. I walked around so I could see his face.

“Where is this coming from?” I asked.

“I've been thinking about selling. That other funeral home is willing to offer a substantial amount. I'm getting older. The kids are all doing their own thing.”

“But Royce, Lovie's working with you now. Train him on what he needs to know. This is your family's legacy. You can't just give it up.”

“I'm not going to make any rash decisions. It's just something I'm thinking about,” Royce assured me.

“Stop considering it.” I sat down in the chair and pulled it close to him. “You've been under a lot of stress. Jason was the source of that stress. Now that he's out of your life, you should see your stress level go down. I know mine has.”

“Jason's been texting me. Says he wants to talk to me about something. Something that he should have told me a long time ago.”

I tapped my foot under the table. “He's trying to weasel his way back into your life. Ignore him.”

“That's what I said. I just hate throwing away a forty-year friendship because of money.”

“Look at me.” Royce looked up. I held his hand. “All we need is each other. Forget everybody else. You've been telling me that for years. So now it's time for you to take your own advice.”

Royce smiled. “You're right. I have you and as long do, nothing else matters.”

Royce left for work. As soon as I made sure he was gone, I got busy planning his birthday party. First thing in order was the guest list. Who could I invite over to make jealous? I wanted all the busybodies to know that my marriage was stronger than ever, so they could stop trying to put us in divorce court. No other woman was going to be able to get their claws in Royce. They would have to kill me first. I didn't plan on going anywhere.

I needed to hire a planner to help me with this.
Duh, my daughter.
I called Charity and set up a meeting with her. We would discuss business, but I also needed to know why she'd been avoiding me since the dinner party.

It felt good to go back to valet parking. The valet attendant appreciated the tip I gave him as he went to park my car. Charity was already seated at a table in the restaurant. I saw her wave her hand to get my attention.

She stood up and we hugged. “So glad you could meet me. Missed you at the spa the other day, but Hope told me you were busy working.”

“I've been meaning to call you back.” I could tell Charity was lying.

“That's neither here nor there. We have a party to plan.” I pulled out my notebook.

We gave the waiter our lunch order and got back to discussing ideas.

Ruby walked up to our table and interrupted us. “Lexi, I thought that was you.”

I looked around. “You're here by yourself?”

“No, my hubby's here.” She pointed to a table near the door. He waved. I waved back.

“Ruby, we're planning a party for Royce so expect an invitation in the mail within the next week.”

“Will do. I just wanted to come speak. See you at our luncheon.”

“Okay, dear.” I smiled.

She walked away.

“That outfit she has on is so tacky. With all of the money she has, you would think she would have better taste,” Charity said.

“Dear, money can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy class. Either you have it or you don't.”

We went back to planning Royce's party.

Charity drew a design on a piece of paper and showed it to me. “I like that,” I said.

“I will let you see the invitation after I design the whole thing.”

“We don't have much time.”

“It'll go out as soon as you give me your approval,” she assured me.

I smiled. “Look at my baby. She got her own business. You make your mama so proud.”

Charity blushed. “I learned how to throw a party from the best, right?”

I chuckled. “You got that right. One thing I know how to do is throw a party.”

D
ays at work seemed to drag on. Even with business better than ever, I couldn't shake this bout of depression that fell over me. Alcohol had become my trusted companion. It was after six, and instead of being at home with my beautiful wife, I was at the bar drowning my sorrows with drink after drink.

Jason took a seat next to me. “I knew I would find you here.”

“Needed to unwind. Didn't feel like going home.” I tipped the glass to make sure I got every last drop of liquor.

“I'm sure Lexi's worried about you.”

“I'll call her when I leave here. But why do you care?” I called for the bartender. “I'll have another bourbon.”

Jason said, “Cancel that. I think he's had enough to drink.”

“I'm a grown man. I know when I've had enough.” I looked at the bartender. “Bring me my drink.”

The bartender said, “I think he's right. You've been drinking it like it's water. You should slow it down. At least give it a little time before drinking another.”

“Fine. I'll go to another bar where they don't mind taking my money.” I reached into my pocket, pulled out my wallet, and threw some money on the counter.

“Come on. I'll drive you,” Jason said.

“I'm not ready to go home.” My words slurred.

I stepped from off the bar stool. The room felt like it was spinning. Maybe I had drunk too much.

Jason grabbed my arm. “You don't have to go home, but I'm not letting you behind the wheel.”

The last thing I remembered was Jason opening his passenger door. By the time I sat down in the seat, I'd passed out.

“Lexi,” I called out. My head felt like a tractor-trailer had hit it. The bright lights hurt my eyes.

“Darling, I don't know who Lexi is, but I'm sure I can make you forget about her if you give me the chance.” A woman wearing nothing but black lingerie got up on top of the bed.

I blinked a few times. “Who the hell are you?”

“I'm the woman who is about to make your fantasies come true.” She crawled closer to me.

I pushed her away. “Where am I? And how did I get here?”

The strange woman laughed. “You were here when I got here. I've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up.”

I shifted to sit up in the bed. My head hurt worse the more I moved. I realized that I was nearly naked. I only had on my boxers. I grabbed the bed spread.

“Young lady, I don't know how you got in here, but I think you need to put on your clothes and get out of here.”

“But we haven't had sex yet.”

“And we're not. I'm a married man.”

“Hey, your marital status has nothing to do with me. This is just a business transaction. What you do is your business.”

“I'm not paying you anything. I don't even know who you are.”

“Now you want to have amnesia. Well, good thing I saw the money on the table waiting for me.” She reached into her bra and pulled out a wad of money before placing it back in her bra. “You look sort of familiar. Do I know you?” she asked.

“I doubt it. Now, please leave.”

She mumbled a few obscenities. She put on some clothes, and left me wondering how I ended up in this position. I glanced at the telephone. It gave me the hotel name.

Now I had to figure out how I got here. A light bulb went off in my head. I looked for my pants. The sight of myself in the mirror scared me. I didn't like the view of the man staring back at me. My eyes were bloodshot.

I located my pants. I checked to make sure the prostitute hadn't stolen anything else from me. I pulled out my wallet, and my money and credit cards were all intact.

My cell phone beeped. There were several missed calls from Lexi and Lovie. Three o'clock flashed across my phone screen. I called Lovie several times until he answered. He agreed to come get me.

Fifteen minutes later, I eased in the passenger side. “Son, looks like you've been rescuing me a lot lately.”

“At least you didn't try to drive home,” he stated, as he pulled away.

“Your mom's going to kill me.”

“Yes. That she is. I did call her to let her know that I was bringing you home.”

“Jason's behind this. He was supposed to take me home. Instead, I ended up here.”

“Dad, I don't know why you insist on dealing with Jason. He's a crook. Face it.”

“I'm hard-headed, but I've learned my lesson.”

Lovie's phone beeped. He glanced it. “Oh, no. Dad, what did you do?” he asked.

“I just told you. I drank too much and ended up at the hotel.”

Lovie handed me his cell phone. I looked at the display. “What in the hell?” I blurted.

Lovie asked, “So you're sleeping with prostitutes now?”

“Son, I did not sleep with this woman. You got to believe me.”

“How do you know what you did? You were drunk. Even you admitted that.”

“That's just it. If I'm drunk and passed out, you best believe I wouldn't be able to perform sexually. I'm the first to admit that.”

“Well, you better hope Jason didn't send this picture to mom.”

Wait until I get my hand on Jason. I wanted to kill him.

H
ope's been avoiding me since Lovie and I rescued her from Tyler's clutches. She promised me she was through with him for good this time. Did I believe her? Absolutely not.

I'm still upset at Dad for cheating on Mom, but it was over twenty years ago. So I was willing to pretend like I didn't know. Like Lovie said, my parents are just like us. They make mistakes.

Hope promised to go with me to the craft store. There were so many things I needed to do to prepare for our dad's party. I knocked on her door. I didn't get an answer.

“Hope, open up,” I said.

Still no answer. I turned the doorknob and looked inside. She was nowhere to be found. I went to her window and looked outside. Her car was gone.