The Man in 3B (14 page)

“Avery? Is that you?”

Speaking of my stepmother…

“Avery?” she called out again.

I stacked two full boxes on top of one another and headed out of my room.

“No, it’s not Avery,” I whined in a mocking tone as I entered the living room. I’m sorry, but I hated Connie. “It’s me.” I rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth, and she gave the same right back to me.

“Anyway, when my dad gets home, tell him to come down to my apartment. I’m in 1A.”

She stared at me with this dumb expression on her face, like she was waiting for me to say something else.

“What?” I snapped.

“Haven’t you heard? Your father doesn’t live here anymore.” She didn’t elaborate, just stood there looking stupid.

“What do you mean? Where the hell is my father?”

“Your dad left me, Krystal.” She swallowed as if she was choking back tears. “He asked for a divorce.”

“Yes!” I pumped my fist in the air and did a little victory dance. “Yes, yes, yes!” I can’t begin to explain how happy I was at that moment. Let’s say that if I ever doubted it before, at that moment, I knew there was a God.

Connie’s eyes were shiny, like she was about to cry, but I didn’t give a shit. How the hell did she expect me to take the news? I hated her guts for what she’d done to my mother, and I’d always made that very clear to her—when I bothered to speak two words to her. Over the years, we’d probably only had two or three real conversations, and it felt damn good to know that this could very well be our last one.

Connie finally fixed her lips to ask me, “What are you trying to say?”

“Ha! Do you really need to ask me that?” I replied. “It means that I’m happy my dad finally wised up and got rid of your fat ass.”

She shook her head and sniffled. “Why do you hate me so much, Krystal? What have I ever done to you but be nice?”

“You married my father, that’s what you did.”

“I’ve never been anything but good to both you and your father. I let you live at my house, for crying out loud.”

I looked around the little-ass apartment and laughed. “I’m supposed to be thankful you let me live in this dump? Shoot, I’m payin’ you rent anyway, so you ain’t
let
me do shit.”

Connie’s tears dried up real quick, and she threw attitude right back at me. “You spoiled little bitch. What, you think you’re supposed to be allowed to live rent-free?”

“If you hadn’t been around, that’s exactly how I would’ve been living. You don’t think Daddy told me you were the one making me pay rent?” I shook my head in disgust. “And all you been paying is the light bill. That’s a damn shame.”

“Light bill? Are you crazy?” She damn near exploded, but I knew that heifer was faking.

I sucked my teeth and said, “Don’t act like my father hasn’t been paying all the bills around here.”

She didn’t reply, but her face kept getting redder. I half expected to see steam start coming out the top of her head.

“All you ever wanted him for was his money, you gold-digging heifer,” I said, accusing her of the same thing I always did. Our arguments always came to this point, and it usually bothered her when I called her a gold digger. This time, she only laughed it off.

“His money? What money? Your father ain’t got shit,” she snapped. “And if he does, it’s news to me. He ain’t paid a bill around here in months. If I didn’t love h—”

“Love! You don’t love him! You never did, you gold-digging piece of shit. My momma told me about you, you fucking whore!”

“Whore? You better watch your mouth and remember who you’re talking to,” she threatened with fire in her eyes. “I’m not the one who was being passed around from thug to thug, worrying your father to
death. That was your crazy ass.” She’d turned the tables on me and hit a nerve. I felt exactly like I did when I was a teenager and Connie first came around. I felt like shit.

She kept going, trying to inflict more damage. “You are good and crazy, you know that? Just like your pill-popping momma.”

Now she’d crossed the line. I took a step toward her and roared, “Don’t talk about my mother, bitch.”

She laughed. “Bitch, huh? Well, at least I’m not a liar, am I?”

“I ought to whip your…” I took a step toward her, expecting her to back down. I was actually a little confused when she stood her ground. Usually Connie was a weak bitch.

She folded her arms over her huge belly and smirked at me. “Ha! You can come over here if you want to, but you ain’t got your daddy to hold me back now.” She dropped her arms to her sides and clenched her fists. “And this weight sure makes a girl heavy-handed.”

“You know what? You’re not even worth it.” I was too cute to be walking around with a black eye from my stepmother, so I backed off. “My daddy deserves to be happy, something you never could do for him. That must be why he’s leaving your fat ass, huh?”

Her fists opened and her shoulders sagged. I could see I’d taken all the fight out of her, so I took another jab. “My mother made him happy, and you couldn’t stand that, could you? That’s why you had to get rid of her.”

Before I headed back to my room to get some boxes, I said, “Both you and I know you killed her, Connie. And one day, one day, I’m gonna prove it.”

She looked unfazed by my threats, probably because she’d heard them so many times before. I’d always believed she had something to do with my mother’s death, but I’d never been able to get anyone to listen to me. “And another thing, if anything happens to my dad, I’m coming for you. And that’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

“I hope you got all your shit,” she said, “because I’m calling a locksmith when you leave.” She was so furious that I could see her hand shaking as she pointed to the door.

I laughed. “Ain’t shit in here I would want unless I was having a garage sale.”

“Hey there, sis! Guess who’s twenty-one?”

I was heading out to the U-Haul truck to help Slim with his last couple of boxes when I looked up to see my neighbor, Benny, stepping into the lobby with his arms outstretched for a hug. After the run-in with that fat bitch Connie, it was good to see a friendly face. Benny was a nice, cute college kid who liked to call me his big sister. He was real smart and a late bloomer, who was finally coming into his own. The booze on his breath wasn’t the thing that shocked me most about running into Benny, though. The thing that made my heart pound and my knees go weak was seeing the man who was following behind him.

“D-Daryl? What are you doing here?” I asked when I finally found my voice. For a second, I was so shocked it was like I forgot how to speak.

“I live here,” he replied. His eyes said a whole lot more, but I guess he didn’t want to curse me out in front of the kid.

“No, you don’t.” I was starting to feel faint.

“Um, do you two know each other?” Benny asked, but his question went unanswered by both of us.

“You can’t live here. I live here.” I leaned against the wall for support.

“Not here, as in right here in the hallway, but in this apartment building. My apartment, the one I was telling you about, is on the third floor. I live in 3B.” I was definitely getting light-headed, and the feeling got even worse when Daryl brought up the fact that I’d disappeared on him. He said, “I’ve been calling you.”

“Yeah, I know” was all I could say. I didn’t really want to go into details in front of Benny, and I think Benny picked up on that. Not to mention the fact that Slim, who was unloading the truck, would probably be coming through that door at any moment.

As Daryl and I stared at each other saying nothing, Benny cleared
his throat. “Well, uh, I guess you two do know each other.” He turned to Daryl. “Look, Daryl, man, I’m gonna head on up. I’ll meet you back at your apartment so we can put that thing back together.”

Daryl handed him the keys, and then Benny headed off, hollering back at me, “See you later, sis.”

“Yeah, Benny, uh, see you later.” I said it in a whisper. I doubt he even heard me. “Does he know about us?”

“I don’t think so, but he’s not a stupid kid. Besides, so what if he does? I’m not even sure there is an
us
. What’s going on, Krystal? Where the hell have you been?”

I just stared at him, wishing I had a lie I could tell him.

“I’ve been trying to call—”

I didn’t let him finish, because we’d already been through that, and I didn’t have the answer he wanted to hear anyway.

“Do you really live here?” I asked.

“Yes.” He nodded. “Now, can you please tell me what the hell is going—”

He stopped midsentence when he saw Slim walk up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist.

“I see you’ve met our new neighbor,” Slim said.

Oh, God. This is not happening,
I thought.

“Uh, do you two know each other?” I asked, feeling as stupid as I probably sounded.

“This is Benny’s friend,” Slim said. “We met outside by the truck. Did you know Benny’s twenty-one? He wants to go out for a drink later this week.”

“Are you two together?” Daryl asked. His tone was loud but even. Slim probably didn’t even notice anything was wrong, but because of our background, I knew Daryl was shocked—and pissed. It was probably taking all his self-control not to go off on me and kill Slim.

“Oh, uh, yes, this is my fiancé, Slim,” I replied, forcing myself to sound upbeat.

I saw Daryl’s shoulders slump ever so slightly and I felt terrible. I really didn’t want to hurt him, and I definitely hadn’t planned on ever telling him about Slim. When I left the rental house, I thought I was
leaving Daryl and the affair behind. Little did I know that by running away from the Hamptons, I would be running into Daryl—literally.

As much as I wanted to run away again, I had to stay put and act like nothing was out of the ordinary. “Slim, this is—”

“Daryl, right?” Slim interrupted, unaware of all the tension that was going on between us.

“Right,” Daryl answered stiffly, his eyes darting in my direction every few seconds. “We met outside.”

“Slim, Daryl’s an old family friend. He was there for me when my mother died.” With my eyes, I begged Daryl not to go there.

“Is that right?” Slim asked.

“I always seem to be there when she needs me.” Daryl nodded with what I considered a condescending smile. “So, Krystal, you did say he’s your fiancé, right? How long you two been engaged?”

Slim placed his arm proudly around my shoulders. “Yeah, I finally popped the question the other day. Even went and asked her old man for her hand in marriage. Trying to make an honest woman out of her. Know what I mean?”

“Oh, I know exactly what you mean.” Daryl chuckled and shook his head. I could feel my stomach begin to churn. “Nothing like an honest woman.”

Daryl was getting dangerously close to busting me in front of Slim, and I was terrified. Damn him, he was enjoying it too. I did not need this drama.

“Anyway, we have to finish up here…” Slim hinted that it was time to stop catching up with old friends, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

“Oh yes, for sure. Besides, looks like we’re going to be neighbors.” Daryl glanced in my direction, probably to be sure he was making me squirm. I managed a nervous, tight smile as he continued to put on his show. “So we’ll have plenty of time to shoot the breeze. I’m looking forward to that spades game.”

“That’s what’s up,” Slim said. “I’ll talk to Benny and arrange it.”

Daryl said, “On the real, though, holler at me so that we can go grab a beer or something. I’m sure we have a lot in common.”

“I’ma do that. If my girl Krystal here is down for you, then you must be an okay dude.”

“Feeling’s mutual, my friend. If Krystal vouches for you, you must be a’ight,” Daryl said. He looked at me with a grin on his face, and then he walked away. His act was over. I could only hope there wouldn’t be an encore.

“He seems like a cool dude,” Slim commented as Daryl walked up the stairs.

“Yeah, real cool,” I replied. “You could almost call him cold.”

I was about to plop down on the sofa and turn on the TV when Daryl finally walked into his apartment with a scowl on his face. The look didn’t surprise me, considering the tension between him and Krystal in the lobby. It was pretty damn obvious the two of them knew each other, and it was also apparent from the way they were ignoring me and talking in code that they had some kind of issue to work out. I didn’t know what was going on, but I was too hungover from my birthday celebration to try to figure it out. That’s why I got the hell out of there when I did. It looked like things had gotten even worse after I left, given Daryl’s mood when he came in the apartment.

“I can’t believe she played me like that,” Daryl huffed. He looked even more pissed off and hurt than he had last night when he found out his Hamptons friend changed her number.

“Played you how? What’s up with you two anyway?” I wasn’t sure I really wanted the answer, because not only did I consider Krystal a friend, but her man Slim was cool too. “Please tell me you’re not banging Krystal.”

He sat down next to me and said, “Let’s just say we’ve got history. A long history.”

I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. “History, huh? Spit it out, man.”

“Benny, she’s the woman I was going out to see in the Hamptons.”

“Get the fuck outta here. I didn’t think Krystal was like that.” I was expecting him to say they used to date or something, but you
couldn’t have paid me to think Krystal was cheating on Slim. They always seemed so devoted to each other.

He laughed. “Neither did I.”

“Damn, I guess she did play you.”

Daryl shot me a sarcastic look. “You think?”

“Look, I know you’re pissed, but maybe you could keep that shit on the low. That guy unloading the truck outside is her boyfriend. He’s also a friend I’d like to keep. As you know, I don’t have many of them around here.”

“Fiancé,” Daryl snapped irritably. “He’s her fiancé.”

“Really? Well, that’s news to me, but let me give you fair warning as my friend. Slim ain’t nobody to play with.”

Daryl stood his ground. “Benny, I don’t know if you realized it or not, but I’m nobody to play with either.”