“I went to Melo’s ranch again this morning while I sent Lovie to clean Ms. Farris’ place and run a few errands for me,” she says. “I got there right before Rasheeda and Chubbie did. His wife answered the door. I told her I was there from New Bethel and I wanted to talk to him about Pastor Frankfurt solidifying his endorsement for the campaign since it’s so close to election time.”
She chuckles. “Boy, he flew to the door. He tried to leave when he saw it was just me, but I wouldn’t let him. Icouldn’tlet him. I pushed my way inside and saw the opulent foyer they had decorated with expensive art and knick-knacks and…all I could think about was you—how all you’d done was what your daddy taught you to do and how it got you swept up in Melo’s orbit. One time I asked Senior if what was happening to us was just a streak of bad luck. He said, ‘It’s just life, Faye-baby.’ But I can’t understand how God would let something like this happen to us—how he could drop a boy like Jamari in Arnez’s life and let her fall for him after what your daddy taught her—how he could align things so perfect that our lives got upended by some boy whose parents didn’t raise him right.”
She reaches over, running her finger over Senior’s pale cheek. “I told Melo to name his price. I told him whatever it was he wanted, we’d pay it.”
“Faye…”
“He laughed and said I was tough for waltzing my narrow ass up into his place of business with no appointment—said he could kill me right there for trespassing on his property and theBrazoria County sheriffs wouldn’t do a thing about it because he had them in his pocket too.”
I swipe my hands down my face. “If he would’ve touched you…”
“But he didn’t,” she mutters. “He’s crazy, but he ain’t that damn crazy.”
My fingers curl into my palms, and my body wants to move—to run—to go pick up Slim from wherever she is in the city and bring her back to Joliet so I can hold her and think about something other thanthis.
“He wouldn’t give me a number at first. But then his son came bouncing through the foyer with his backpack on that was bigger than him, and his daughter came after him with a mouthful of braces and her head buried in her phone. They had their Rhodes uniforms on and were ready for that drive to Bayou Crest…and you popped up in my head again, but this time, Arnez popped up with you. So I looked at them and then at Melo and I asked him, ‘Did you ever teach your son how to protect your daughter? Did you ever teach him his responsibilities as a man? Because Rich ain’t end up in your crosshairs over some silly street shit. He was only doing what a man is supposed to do.’”
I close my eyes and instead of thinking about this mountain of a problem sitting on my shoulders, I’m thinking about Slim again and how long it took for AJ to realize there was no man around her to do what needed to be done.
“He wants two million,” Faye mutters.
My eyes spring open. “What?”
“It would’ve been one if you hadn’t beaten up his brother. That’s…that’s why I wanted you to come by here today so I could talk to you and Arnez together, but then she started her bullshit…” She looks past me. “It’s a lot of money…I know. But I’ve been saving every penny that comes my way anyways. I know your daddy put the house in your name a while back;maybe you can sell it. Then I can take an equity loan out on the gym since it’s in my name, and I can talk Kenny into getting one on the house. That’ll put us at close to a mil.”
“So then I’ll owe you and Kenny Fairchild?”
“You’ll never owe me.”
“But I’ll owe your husband. The man you married. I’ll owe him the money his wife loaned to her ex’s son.”
“Rich, please. You’ve…you’ve got to stop talking like that. I told Melo to give us a year to come up with all of it, and once we pay your debt off, you’ll go away.”
“Go away? What you mean ‘go away’?”
“Kenny’s friend, Chico, has a buddy with a boxing gym in Vegas. You’re gonna go up there and live and train after we pay Melo the money. We just need to convince Kenny to set you up with him and Chico, but he can’t keep putting his reputation on the line for you if you’re not serious. If you just come by the house…and…and have a civilized conversation with Ken?—”
“Vegas?” I croak with my stomach in knots. “I ain’t going to no Vegas.”
“I’m gonna talk to your daddy and?—”
“I’m grown, Faye. I ain’t a kid no more. This ain’t no argument about me going to school or not. You can’t make plans for my life.”
“If you stay here, you’ll die.”
“That’s always been the plan, ain’t it? To live and die right here.”
She folds her lips under her teeth, shaking her head. “Rich…once he’s done shaking you down…that…that’s it for you.”
“I ain’t going nowhere,” I hiss. “And you ain’t taking out no million dollar loan to bail me out of this.”
“Just let me talk to Senior?—”
“What about yourhusband, Faye? What the hell does he have to say in all this? You gon’ ruin your marriage over us—over meand a decision I made?” I shake my head and try to push up from the chair, but she reaches out and holds me down with that strength I always remember her having.
“I told you and your daddy I’d take care of this mess, and I did. I told him I’d always take care of you and Nez no matter if he was here or somewhere in the dirt, and I kept my word. So I guess I’ll go tend toyour babynow. I just hope that when you’re holding her and loving on her, you ain’t pouring sugar over shit. You tell her exactly how this life goes. You make her understand exactly what you did because I told you she’s delicate, and if you know as much as you say you do, you should know why.”
CHAPTER
