CHAPTER ONE
Showers were supposedto be relaxing. It was a rare day that Symphony got off work before rush hour traffic began. She rushed home to wash away the day’s germs and get dinner started since her nephew was spending the night with her. The phone call she received as she pulled into her circular driveway had Symphony’s teeth clenched together as she rubbed her skin vigorously with the pink loofa gripped tightly in her hand.
Inhaling deeply through her nose, Symphony waited for a few seconds before releasing the air. As she relaxed her jaw muscles, she allowed her head to fall back while enjoying the warm water pelting onto her skin. “Handle him with grace,” she mumbled in an effort to remind herself to be gentle with her nephew Mason.
Life for him changed suddenly and abruptly, and he was still adjusting. Mason was thirteen and at that age where he dealt with his emotions mainly by being withdrawn and rebellious. It was his third fight in three months. Fortunately, this time he wasn’t at school, so he wouldn’t be suspended again. The bus driver had called and informed her that Mason got off at another stop because he and one of the neighborhood kids were going to fight.
Kids were going to be kids no matter where they were from or where they lived, but Symphony lived in a neighborhood filled with lawyers, dentists, and even some rookie athletes. Kids out on the corner engaged in a fist fight didn’t necessarily go with the aesthetic of the neighborhood. God forbid someone called the police. Cutting her shower short had not been in her plans for the day, but Symphony turned the water off and stepped out of the shower to grab her towel from the warmer.
Her eyes closed briefly as she wrapped the towel around her body. Being a doctor meant that she rarely had down time at work. From the time she arrived at work until she clocked out, there wasn’t a shortage of patients to see, notes to review, prescriptions to send to the pharmacy, and tasks to delegate. There were days that Symphony scarfed her lunch down so fast that she almost choked. Going home in the evenings and being able to relax and decompress was her favorite part of the day, and things were starting out wrong already.
Quickly, Symphony dried off and rubbed lotion into her skin so fast, she scratched herself twice. Walking into her massive closet she grabbed a pair of gym shorts and a tee. Any shoes that had been worn outside couldn’t touch her bedroom floor, so she grabbed a pair of slides and carried them while jogging down the stairs. Before she could place both feet in the shoes, the front door opened. Symphony and Mason’s eyes locked, and she observed that his jaws were clenched just as hers had been. Mason’s chest heaved up and down while his nostrils flared. He was visibly upset.
“Who did you get into a fight with?” she asked while crossing her arms underneath her breasts.
The way that Mason kissed his teeth and groaned, she knew he hadn’t expected her to know about the fight. Thankfully, the bus drivers and most of the people associated with that neighborhood actually cared about the kids. Kids playingoutside cursing, being disrespectful, smoking, or doing anything inappropriate would get them snitched on if they were seen by the right neighbor. The subdivision was sprinkled with overly nosey Karen’s and their husbands. However, it was a predominantly black neighborhood. Symphony didn’t mind anybody snitching on her nephew because she wanted to know if he did anything he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“People in this neighborhood run their mouths too much. That’s why I like staying at grandma’s house. Why can’t I just go to school in her district?”
“Because she wants you at Wilson Prep, so that’s where you’re going. Now, answer the question.” Symphony didn’t raise her voice, but there was no mistaking the authority in her tone. She was pissed, and Mason knew better than to take it too far.
“This guy named, Mario. He’s a nobody.” Mason’s jaw muscles flexed as he avoided eye contact with his aunt.
“Why did you fight?”
“Because he’s mouthy and annoying.” Mason was clearly perturbed by the interrogation, but she didn’t care. His aunt was determined to get to the bottom of his issues and help him figure them out before he ended up getting himself into trouble that he couldn’t get out of. Mason’s mother was somewhere addicted to drugs, and his father was MIA. The past year that his mother had been absentee had been hard on him. Symphony and her mother felt for him. They tried very hard to be patient with him and even had the teen in therapy, but all the understanding in the world wouldn’t allow Symphony to sit back and watch her nephew go down the wrong path. Not if she could help it.
“I need a little bit more details because most teenagers are mouthy and annoying. That’s not a reason to go around fighting. Is he bullying you?”
Mason’s eyes found her face as he drew back. The look on his face said that was the most outlandish thing she could have insinuated. “Nobody is bullying me.”
“Then, what is the problem?” she spoke slowly. Symphony was losing her patience, and Mason could tell. “Do you want me to call your grandmother?”
That was the last thing he wanted because his grandmother was extra as hell and ten times worse than his aunt. She’d take his phone, drive him to and from school, make him clean the baseboards, all kinds of shit.
“He said his cousin be serving my mama, and that she has sex with men for drugs,” Mason mumbled with a deep scowl embedded in his face.
Symphony’s facial muscles relaxed, and her heart ached just a bit. She had many questions but none that she wanted to ask Mason. How did this little asshole know who her sister was or that his drug dealing ass cousin sold her drugs? Did he sit around and talk about all of his customers to his underage cousin? It didn’t make sense.
“Where does he live?”
The look of rage melted off Mason’s face instantly, and his eyes widened as panic took over. “Why? You can’t go over there. That’s embarrassing. I’m not a little kid.”
Keeping her eyes trained on her nephew, Symphony counted to three in her head. Her patience was wearing thin, but she didn’t want to yell. She didn’t have kids and had no clue how to raise a teenager. Mason stayed primarily with her mother but shit, she was getting up there in age and dealing with a teenager on a daily basis wasn’t a walk in the park for her either. Symphony split the responsibilities with her mother and soon learned being an auntie and helping to raise a child when his mother wasn’t around was vastly different.
“I will knock on every door in this neighborhood until I find the right house.” She threatened in a low tone.
“He lives on Manchester in the brick house beside the one on the hill,” he huffed and stormed up the stairs. Mason was pissed, but she didn’t care. The little juvenile delinquent on Manchester needed to keep her sister’s name out of his mouth.
It wasn’t Mason’s fault that his mother was addicted to drugs, and he shouldn’t have to hear about the demons she was fighting from kids at school. She had always taught her nephew to have thick skin and for the most part he did. However, his mother was a sore subject. After snatching up her car key, Symphony walked out to her Audi and got inside. Manchester was two streets over. She hadn’t even backed out of the driveway before she decided to hit her favorite fast-food place, Cava, and grab food on the way back. Just that quick, her desire to cook had gone out of the window. Food and wine would hopefully bring her back to a relaxed state. Either Mason had won the fight or both boys held their own because aside from a slightly swollen lip, Mason didn’t have any visible injuries. She was relieved about that but still annoyed that he even fought in the first place.
Symphony pulled in front of the house. There was a green Challenger in the driveway along with a red Range Rover. The driver’s door of the Challenger was open, and there was a leg extended outside of the car with the foot resting on the concrete. Symphony eyed the designer sneaker as she walked up the slightly elevated driveway. The scent of marijuana infiltrated her nostrils as she got closer making her scoff. Maybe there were criminals in the family as a whole and it wasn’t just the juvenile and his drug dealing cousin.
A man so handsome emerged from the car that her breath caught in her throat. Suddenly, Symphony’s mouth was dry, and she forgot the lines she’d rehearsed on the short ride over. Dark, piercing eyes glared at her as she walked closer. The sexy,scowling stranger was six feet tall barely, with skin damn near dark as night. The beard that covered the lower half of his face gave him a mature look, but it was hard for her to tell if the man was old enough to be the father of a teenager.
“I’m looking for the parents of someone named Mario.”
“His parents don’t live here,” the sexy stranger with red rimmed eyes spoke in a flat tone. There was an indifferent expression on his face, but Symphony got the feeling, he wasn’t too thrilled with her presence.
