White Lines (56 page)

Jada laughed, and gave Miss Ingrid a high five. She was glad that In-grid liked her more than Anisa. It didn’t change the fact that Born was with the other woman, and that she was about to have his baby. But knowing that she had gotten the stamp of approval from the woman who meant the very most to the man she loved—his mother—made Jada feel like she was the winner after all. Ingrid liked her, despite her struggles and mistakes, and Jada was happy about that. She hoped that someday Born would forgive her as well, and that they could have a chance to at least be friends. She still missed their friendship, and hoped to salvage that, even if there was no chance for salvaging the relationship. “Miss Ingrid, the way I feel for Marquis is everlasting. It don’t matter who has his kids, or who lives with him. I know that what we shared is more special than any of that. And I don’t think real love expires over time. I don’t know if me and Born will ever even be in the same room together again. But when you speak to him, please tell him that I miss him, and that I think about him all the time.”

Ingrid smiled, and agreed to do just that. By the time they finished talking and eating, it was almost one thirty in the morning. Ingrid offered to walk Jada out to her car, since it was late, but she insisted that she would be fine. Her car was parked right downstairs, and it was a cold winter night. No one would bother her. As Jada left her house that day, promising to keep in touch regardless of whether she and Born ever spoke again, Ingrid felt like a proud mom seeing her baby girl succeed. Jada had made it through her darkest days, and Ingrid was happy for her. She hoped that Born would get the chance to see how well Jada had fought her demons, and how she had come through the storm, still wearing a smile. And as she watched Jada leave, Ingrid realized that she still believed in second chances. She hoped that Jada and Marquis would have a second chance someday.

Jada left Ingrid’s house and headed for Sunny’s silver Jaguar, which was parked in the lot behind the building. She pulled the keys out of her pocket and disabled the alarm with the remote. She noticed that a black Suburban was parked beside Sunny’s car, and wondered why anyone would park so close to her in a nearly empty parking lot. As she got closer to the truck, she heard a voice behind her that made her stop dead in her tracks.

“You know, I never thought you would really be dumb enough to show your face in Staten Island again.” Jada spun around, and stood face-to-face with Jamari in the darkness of the deserted parking lot. Her heart beat rapidly, and she clutched her bag tighter. The money she’d come back to get was in there, and she’d be damned if Jamari would get his hands on it.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said. Jada hadn’t spoken directly to Jamari in over a year. There was a court-appointed professional who coordinated her visits with Sheldon, so that contact between the two parents would be nonexistent. But now she’d had the rotten luck of running into him on her first trip back to Staten Island since her release. “You grimy muthafucka! You stood up there in that courtroom and told them that I was a monster—”

“You
are
a monster. You’re a fuckin’ crackhead, and you made my son a crack baby. But you really got a lot of nerve coming back to Staten Island after you stole my money. Wizz’s money …”

“I didn’t steal shit from you. Or Wizz. You didn’t have to pay for that shit. You were working on consignment, so you didn’t take a fuckin’ loss!”

“I
did
take a loss, bitch! I had to pay Elliot back bit by bit for that shit before he died.” A cold and evil expression flashed across Jamari’s face. “I had to rat that nigga out, just like I did to your boy Born.” Seeing the surprised expression on Jada’s face he smiled sinisterly. “I swear to God, I’m gonna see you dead before I see you in my son’s life. Everything you love, I’m gonna take it from you! I swear I’m gonna get you back for everything I ever lost.”

“What
you
lost! Listen to you, you selfish bastard. I don’t owe you a fuckin’ dime. And I don’t owe you any explanation. I’m living my life, and I’m going to be a damned good mother to my son. You can’t control me anymore. Whatever power you had over me is gone. And now I see why Born hates you so much.”

At the mention of Born’s name, Jamari seethed. He looked at Jada, venomously. “Is that who you came looking for?” he asked, motioning toward Ingrid’s building. “You came looking for Born?” Jamari grinned. “I hope you know that he got somebody else now. She’s having his baby, and everything.” He smiled at her menacingly, and waited for her reaction.

Jada didn’t give him the benefit of seeing her sweat. She was glad that she knew already, so that he hadn’t caught her off guard. “I know about that, and I’m happy for him. At least he has the pleasure of having a baby with someone he really cares about. I got stuck having my son with an asshole.”

Jamari stepped toward Jada, and she stepped back. He was pissed, and it was visible on his face. “Fuck you!” he said. “You’ll be back on that crack in no time. Once a crackhead, always a crackhead.”

Jada didn’t show it, but those words cut deep. She thought back to what Born had said to her when he found her high in their house that day.
‘Once a fiend, always a fiend, huh, Jada?” Those
had been Born’s words to her. She still remembered the tone in his voice, the look on his face. It made her heart break all over again, as Jamari said similar words
to her now. She ignored his remark, and said, “Well, your mama was a crackhead, Jamari, and look how well you turned out.”

Before she knew what happened, he was in her face, and the barrel of his .40-caliber gun was pointed at her temple. Jamari had her back pressed up against the driver’s side door of the Jaguar, and Jada was frozen with fear. “You got a lot of mouth for somebody out here all alone in the dark in the dead of winter. I should kill you right here, you stupid bitch!” Jamari was so mad that the vein in his neck was throbbing. “You think I’m gonna let you be around my son when you had him breathing through a machine, and throwing up every fuckin’ thing he ate? You had my son addicted to that shit. You dirty bitch! Coming through here in your fuckin’ Jag looking for Born. I should kill you just for that shit!” Jada was scared as hell, and he loved the helpless look on her face. “Oh,” he said, “what’s the matter? You scared?”

Jada nodded, and looked around hoping to see someone she could call out to for help. Jamari saw this, and let out a sinister laugh. “You should be scared. ‘Cuz, ain’t nobody out here but us. And I want an apology.” Jamari cocked his gun, and stared coldly into her eyes.

Jada’s whole body trembled, and it made Jamari feel powerful. “Apologize to me, Jada. Tell me you’re sorry.”

She felt her heart racing in her chest. “I’m sorry.” Her voice was barely audible.

“Say it like you mean it,” he said, still smiling wickedly.

Jada wanted to cry, but she held herself together somehow. She spoke louder, and said, “I’m sorry, Jamari.”

He nodded his head, liking the return of the power he’d once had over her. “Very good. That’s more like it. Now, what did you do with the money?” he asked. “You didn’t smoke all that money up. Not that fast. Where’s it at?”

Jada quickly handed him the bag in her hand. Fuck it! He could have it. Jamari couldn’t believe his luck. She had the money with her right then and there! His surprise was obvious, and he lowered his gun, reaching for the bag. But before he could take it away, he heard “click, click!” and he turned to see Sunny standing with a .380 in his face. In the moment
of his surprise, Jada ducked out of the line of fire, and grabbed Jamari’s gun. Jamari stood still, wondering where this woman had come from. Sunny’s smile was as sinister as his had been.

“Hey, muthafucka!” she said. “Hand it over.”

Jamari stared at the beautiful woman in front of him, and could tell by the look on her face that she meant business. Her gun had a silencer on the end, and Sunny stood in stiletto boots, jeans, and a black leather jacket, looking at him like she was growing impatient. The driver’s side door of the Suburban was open, and for the first time Jada understood why the truck was parked so close. Sunny had been inside the Suburban all along. He handed her the money, while she kept her gun pointed between his eyes.

“Something told me that if my girl Jada came back to Staten Island by herself, you might try some dumb shit. So I took my brother’s truck, and followed her here, waiting for you to make your move.” Sunny shook her head, looking at Jamari. “You didn’t disappoint me. You punk, bitch-ass nigga. You like cornering women alone and putting guns to their heads, Jamari?”

“This ain’t got nothing to do with you, ma.” Jamari’s voice was steady, but the look on his face showed that he was nervous. He thought about trying to take the gun, but knew from the expression on her face that any sudden move would have scratched Sunny’s itchy trigger finger. “Jada owes me that money. She took it from me.”

“You owed it to
her.
She didn’t take it; she was supposed to get that. I heard all about your little twisted games, muthafucka. You thinking Born is your brother; you wanting to be with her so that Born would get mad; you giving her crack, then taking her son. You’re a real piece of shit. Now,” Sunny looked at Jada. “You wanna off this nigga?”

Jada smiled at Jamari. My, how the tables had turned! She and Sunny had Jamari’s life in their well-manicured hands. She looked at him, his eyes pleading with hers to let him go. She thought about her son, and all the hoops she had to jump through just to see him. All because Jamari had assassinated her character in court. She thought about Born, and how Jamari had hidden his history from her, making it likely that Born
would never want to see her again. “I want an apology, Jamari.” Jada turned his words back on him. Now she wanted what he had demanded of her moments earlier.

He looked at Jada like she had lost her mind. “Fuck you.” He frowned, and looked at this woman he had once loved beyond reason. “I ain’t apologizing for shit.”

Sunny shook her head, ready to blast him, and looked at Jada for a cue. Jada folded her arms across her chest. “You sure about that? ‘Cuz, I’m only gonna ask you once more.”

Jamari was done talking. He lunged for the gun, ready to kill both of these bitches. But Sunny was faster. Living life as a gangsta bitch had taught her well. As Jamari made his move, Sunny’s .380 spit a slug into his brain, sending his
eyes
flying open in surprise, and sending his body falling to the ground with a thud. Her gun still smoking, Sunny looked at Jada and said, “You got too much fuckin’ patience!” The silencer had muffled the sound of the blast, but the dead body at their feet would be hard to explain. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

The two women jumped into their cars and drove off, leaving Jamari to draw his last breath all by himself.

When they finally got back to Brooklyn, Jada was a mess. She was crying and scared, thinking that she was going back to jail, but for murder this time. She figured someone must have seen her and Sunny. Someone must have witnessed the murder they’d just committed. Sunny, on the other hand, was as cool as a cucumber. “Calm the fuck down, Jada! It was like one in the morning. People were probably sleeping, and even if they did see something, they can’t prove it was us. You gotta calm down, and let’s get our story straight.” Jada pulled herself together, and listened as Sunny ran down their makeshift alibi. She was still nervous about what they’d done. But Sunny made her see that at least she was finally rid of the sorry bastard who was her son’s father. Maybe now she’d be one step closer to having her son all to herself.

Jamari’s murder became another one of Shaolin’s unsolved mysteries. The police had come to question Jada, and to ask for her whereabouts on the night Jamari was killed. She had, after all, been locked in an ugly custody
battle with him for more than a year. Jada explained that on the night in question, she and Sunny had enjoyed dinner with Sunny’s mother and brothers, and that there was no way Jada could have been anywhere near Staten Island. After questioning Marisol, who corroborated Jada’s story, the police stopped eyeing Jada as a suspect. Jada was forever grateful to Sunny for saving her life—more than once. But getting custody of Sheldon wasn’t such a walk in the park. With his custodial parent dead, the state of New York wanted to place Sheldon in foster care until Jada could petition for custody. But to Jada’s surprise, an unexpected ally stepped up to take custody of Sheldon until Jada could wade her way through the mountains of red tape that stood between her and her son.

Jada got a surprise phone call from her sister. The two of them hadn’t spoken in years, and it was with mixed emotions that Jada talked with her. It wasn’t that Jada wasn’t happy to hear from Ava. But she still hadn’t forgiven their mother for leaving her to stand alone when she’d needed someone to lean on. And she felt a certain anger toward Ava as well. Ava had left Jada’s house after finding out about her drug use, and pretty much never looked back. There had been numerous occasions over the years when Jada had longed for the comfort of her sister, and Ava had been nowhere around. They had written letters to each other during Jada’s incarceration. But to Jada that wasn’t enough to erase the void Ava had left when she walked out of her sister’s life.

Part of her reluctance to talk to her sister stemmed from some feelings that Jada never admitted she had. She felt inferior to her sister. While Jada had done so many things wrong, Ava had done everything right. Sure she had attempted suicide as a teenager, and been a chronic runaway. But Ava had turned her life around, finished high school, gone on to college, and then to law school, and was now a very successful attorney. Ava was a corporate lawyer working at one of Philadelphia’s top law firms, and was close to making partner. No kids, no husband. Ava was just living life to the fullest, and traveling whenever the mood struck her. Ava had never been addicted to anything, never been to jail. Next to her
sister, Jada felt like a complete failure. Hearing her voice on the phone did little to soothe that.