War (9 page)

MARLON

              “Look! You guys busted my lip!” Jasmine screams into our bathroom mirror. She’s already showered and dressed for bed in her cotton two-piece Lauren set. She buttons the top button of her shirt as she continues to look in the mirror. She just finished having a fit on the phone with Dena for about a half hour about the scratches she got from the tussle. Battle scars from trying to get Jacob’s brother-in-law off of me. “I mean, I look a mess!”

“Jasmine, I can’t even tell you have scratches or a cut on your lip until I get all up on you.”

“Still. They’re there.” I’m standing in the shower, washing off tonight’s stress, Scotch and sweat. Washing off the memory of my wife walking into Pirahna’s and seeing Jacob there. Wiping off the memory of him grabbing her by her arm.

Jacob Blair wants my wife. And it looks like he won’t rest until he gets her.

“That’s what I get for trying to save your life,” Jasmine continues.

“Oh, is that what you did?”

“You know, I’m usually on Jon’s side but I don’t think I agree with what he did tonight. I think he purposely messaged Marla and asked for us to meet you guys at Piranha’s. Dammit, I should have texted you and told you that I was on my way. It sure would have avoided that whole scene.”

“Well, it’s not just you,” I say to her. “I saw Jon texting. It never dawned on me that since Matt and I were sitting there, he probably didn’t have anyone to call but Marla. I could have stopped all that from happening.”

“Well don’t blame yourself! You had no idea what Jon was cooking up.
Cooking up
, listen to me, everything is about food. That’s the makings of a true chef. Have I told you that I’ve decided to change my cookbook again? Instead of recipes of Italian food only, like I planned, I decided to go ahead and include Italian
and
French recipes in it.”

“I thought you said that the French recipes were too difficult to make and that most people may give up on them once they see all they have to do.” I lather with soap.

“Yeah, but then I thought, how could I possibly live in a world without Italian
and
French food? So…oh, will you just look at my lip!”

“It’s fine, baby.” I’m feeling better about Jasmine. After I saw her walk into Pirahna’s and after I saw how she wanted nothing to do with Jacob, I now know that she must have been on the phone with Danny earlier. She must have wanted to catch the 11 p.m. movie instead of the earlier one. Not to mention that when she saw Jacob’s brother-in-law come after me, she damn near tried to kill him. In his defense, he wasn’t looking for a fight—he just wanted Jon and Malcolm to have a fair one. But still, the fact that Jasmine jumped into the rubble of men, got all of those scratches on her face and got her lip busted, just because she wanted to have my back, is flattering. I married the right girl, that’s for damn sure.

“Oh, are you serious?” She says.

“What?”

“Why did
Marla
just send an email to my Gmail account? Wait, hold on.” She’s silent as she reads through message on her phone. “Oh my God, Marlon listen to this:

Hey Jasmine, this is Marla. Hope you don’t mind but I got your number from Jon’s cell. He’s fine, by the way, sleeping the fight off. I think he has a concussion, but anyway…I really messaged you to talk about Dan.

Dan
? Are you serious?”

“Stop being so hard on her, Jazz,” I tell her.

“’
I’m just so distraught about what happened. I went ahead and wrote Dan a letter and told her that I was so sorry that I dragged her there and that I was even sorrier that Jon had motives behind asking us to come. But I also told her that even though she’s mad, I don’t think she should be
too
mad. Malcolm wasn’t doing anything that all the others guys don’t do.’

Oh really, Marlon?”

“Leave me out of that, Jasmine.”

“’
So I just wanted her to hear a different side to the whole Malcolm-buying-that-girl-a-drink scenario because sometimes it feels good to get some affirmation from a friend. And Dan really needs us right now. So I just wanted to suggest that maybe you call or email her and say that you don’t think she should be too mad at Malcolm. I tried to call but she’s not answering, so I slipped a note under her door telling that I love and support her. I’ll be emailing Rena next. I guess we can just call this Operation: Help Dan. Ha! But seriously, whatever you can do to smooth over the problems Jon has caused would really help Jon and me out. I am just
sick
over what he’s done and as his partner, I feel just as guilty.

Thanks Jasmine,

Marl
’

“That was nice.”

“Did you hear her, Marlon? She’s talking like she’s Jon’s wife! And
Marl
. Ugh. Would it have
killed
her to push the ‘a’ key? And Operation: Help Dan? Who does she think she is, making herself the founder of an organization to help Danielle?
My
Danielle! And how
dare
she make suggestions as to how I can be of assistance within her non-profit. ‘She really needs us right now.’ First of all, I’ve already called, texted and left Danielle messages telling her not to be mad at Malcolm for too long. Thirty-six hours would be sufficient enough. But I
definitely
didn’t need Marla advising me to do so. Let the record show that Danielle is my best and
oldest
friend, so not only do I know exactly what she needs
right now
, but I’ve known what she’s needed before now, right now and forever more. How
dare
she!”

“You know how Marla is, she’s been down for Jon since day one. All she’s trying to do is smooth things over for him.”

“Oh, please.”

That’s Marla for you. In college she was just a regular girl from Philly. A no-name who was a couple of years older than us. There wasn’t anything remarkable about her; she definitely blended into a crowd. She wore weaves and clothes from those stores like that store ‘21’ or whatever it’s called…just real normal. It wasn’t until she moved in with Jon that she became the ying to Jon’s yang. Jon’s always been into a ‘peaceful’ existence, with the herbal teas instead of coffee, burning essential oils instead of candles, wearing oils instead of cologne and doing yoga to relax instead of smoking a joint. He was like a black Buddha. Marla then became one. But she’s taken it to another level. For example, there’s always a fine haze of smoke near Jon’s ceiling because of the incense fumes. She wakes Jon up at six each morning to do couples yoga in the living room. She has potted plants of rosemary, thyme and basil on their kitchen windowsill to season their food. She and Jon watch Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and then go to the Buddhist temple on Sundays instead of church. She’s decided to name their first daughter India. She’s going overboard, but that’s Marla. When it comes to Jon, she’s down for the man.

“Was she down for Jon when you slept with her?” Jasmine asks with a little smirk in her voice. Here we go with this.

“First, that was three or four times in college,
weeks
before I met you. Second, she was bummed out because Jon dumped her for Danny.”
Why Marlon? Why her? He just left me. Just left me! He just said:
Marla, Danny’s the girl that I want.
What does that even mean?

“Do you blame him?”

“Third, I felt bad for her and saw her crying in the dorm hallway and one thing led to another.”

“Ugh, tell me no more.”

“And need I remind you that Jon doesn’t know that? In fact you’re the only person besides Marla and Danny who knows so-”

“Oh please, like I would tell anyone that my husband touched Marla.”

But on the real, Marla’s not half bad in bed. In fact, she’s damn good. Out of all the women that I’ve been with, she’s in my top three. Actually, she’s number one. But I most certainly can’t say that to Jasmine…or Jon. “Thank you.”

“But do you think Jon’s okay? She mentioned a concussion,” Jasmine says.

“I won’t lie, he took a beating. That’s why I was trying to get over there to him.”

“But it was a fair fight, ya know.”

“Not at first.” Jon was getting jumped by six guys when Matt and I ran over there. The only person who didn’t jump in it was Nat. He was rushing towards the back of the bar for some reason.
‘Don’t need a murder case, Mac,
’ Nat had said as he pulled Malcolm away. Malcolm and Jon had gone to opposites sides of the bar as if they were in a boxing ring: bloodied, struggling for air, drenched from sweat. But there’s no denying who came out on top. Malcolm: Rocky Marciano. Jon: Down goes Frazier.

“Still,” Jasmine says. “Jon kinda started that whole thing.” I hear her take a deep breath. “I’m just glad no one was hurt…well, that is, except me and my poor face.”

“I’m sorry, baby, I had no idea you were going through a tussle with Jacob’s brother-in-law.” I rinse off my lather.

“Wasn’t really a tussle; I just got in the way of everyone running for cover. Oh well. Could’ve been worse.” She lets out a deep sigh. “How long you planning on staying in there?”

“Why? You eager for me to get out?”

“I am,” she says before giving me her best Eartha Kitt purr.

“You know you’re silly, right?”

“Yep.” She peaks her head into the walk-in shower. “Or if you plan on being much longer, I can come in here.”

“The more the merrier.” I gesture around the shower.

“Hold on. Let me adjusts the towel and floor warmers.” That’s Jasmine Kyles for you; she insisted that I put heaters in the bathroom floor so her feet won’t freeze once she steps out of the shower. She insisted we have a towel warmer because she likes to feel ‘snuggly’. “Ready,” she says as she steps into the shower, her hair up in a high bun. I smile at the sight of chocolate brown skin and curly black lashes as she heads over to me and wraps her arms around me. “I like this.” She runs her hand over my abs before kissing me on the chest. Damn, I love this woman.  I wrap my arms around her. She stretches up on her tiptoes to brush her lips against mine.

“You smell good,” I tell her.

“That’s my hair perfume.” I give her a long kiss. “You taste good,” she says against my lips. “I love you.”

“You know, right now’s probably the worst time to mention this but-”

“Let’s try for that boy.” She smiles.

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” I lean over her and take her completely in my arms. The feel of Jasmine, of her smooth chocolate skin against my hands, my chest, my groin, sends a chill through me. “I love you,” I whisper against her lips.

No, Jacob. You will not take my woman from me. I saw you tonight, I see that you want her. But I also saw her resist you. She
resisted
you. But you know what? It’s pissing me off that you won’t leave my wife alone. It’s making me angry that you won’t let her move on from you. But you know what? Two can play this game, Attorney Blair.

DEMETRIUS

              “Yo, what’s up?” I say as I rub a hand over my face. What time is it?

              “I need to talk to you.” Marlon. I look at the clock on the bedside table. 1:36 a.m. Sammie moves next to me, draping her leg across me.

              “Marlon, it’s one-thirty in the morning,” I whisper. Sammie adjusts again. “Hold on.” I slide from under her leg and watch her turn her back to me and readjust herself on the bed. I walk over to the chaise and pull my boxers off of it. I walk over to the lamp post and grab my tee off the shade. Where in the hell did Samantha throw my pants? I use my cell as a flashlight and see my pants hanging off the doorknob to the bathroom suite. “One second,” I say to Marlon as I slide my clothes on. The last thing I need is for my kids to see me, yet again, butt-ass naked, courtesy of their mother. Samantha Rosen is a woman who thinks turning a lock to a bedroom door is inconvenient. “Alright,” I say as I head to the bedroom doors.

              “I gotta make this quick. Can’t be on the phone all night.”

              “You called
me
.” I walk out of the bedroom and close the door quietly behind me.

“That was just a forewarning in case I have to hang up on you,” he whispers.

“Why are you whispering?”

“Jazz is a light sleeper…wait, hold on.” Dead air. Jasmine. Marlon Kyles has always been a damn sucker for love. Never fails. He was like this when we were younger, when he fell for the girl he knew he’d never be able to have (my baby sister) and then rebounded with another girl to cope with the pain of heartache (some girl in college named Marla), who was also unavailable since she was in love with his best friend (some Cali hippie named Jon). So then Marlon was dumped again by Marla after only three weeks, which made him rebound with a girl who ended up sleeping around on him (his future wife, Jasmine) until her other boyfriend married another girl (my ex, Gwenni). See what I mean about Marlon? Never fails with this kid. He always finds himself in some kind of sucker-for-love situation. “Now what’s the problem?”