Page 9

CHAPTER 9

MCCOY

“I thought you said you would be gone for two days,” I said as soon as Jamel entered my office. He was an attractive man. Not as tall as I liked, standing at only 5’10, he had a decent amount of muscle mass, a chubby face, small lips, and a bare face like he’d never been able to grow facial hair. He also had a head full of locs, which was another thing I’d never been attracted to. I loved a man with short hair, preferably waves. To put it mildly, he wasn’t Earth, nowhere near him in the looks department. He shrugged his massive shoulders and looked around like he’d never been in my office.

“Surprise,” he finally said, and I rolled my eyes. “I went by the condo, and you weren’t there.” He picked up a picture of me from college. I was standing in front of my dorm, my two best friends on either side of me, a big ass smile on our faces. Jamel looked at it, then peeked over his black-framed glasses to look at me. “I should’ve picked Coral instead of you.”

Coral was a sore subject for me. She and I had been friends since our first day in undergrad. Coral was intelligent and ready to tackle every obstacle in front of her, and she did. But she was also stubborn as hell. When I met Jamel, she had said he was bad news and would be my downfall. We agreed Jamel wouldn't be discussed to keep our friendship intact. For the most part, it worked, but when she and Lynx found out he was hitting me, she said she couldn’t watch her friend slowly die in front of her and left. I hadn’t talked to her in over a year, and I missed my friend.

“She was fine, had a good head on her shoulders, and didn’t back talk like your stupid ass does.” He shook his head as if I was his biggest disappointment. “She wasn’t a fuck up like you.”

“I’m not a fuck up,” I sighed. “But this isn’t the time nor place for this conversation.”

“You not a what?” He let out a humorless laugh. “McCoy, look at you! Who the fuck would want you, huh?” He walked over to my desk and pulled me from my seat. “You ain't shit to look at. You not that fuckin’ smart, so I know the only way you got them degrees is ’cause you fucked a few of your professors.”

My phone ringing made both of us glance at it. No name was saved, but I knew the number was for the phone I’d gotten Earth. “I need to take this.”

“Answer the phone,” Jamel said dismissively as he let me go and walked around my desk. He sat in the chair across from me and pulled his phone from his pocket.

“It’s business.”

“I’m yo’ nigga. Answer the fuckin’ phone and talk to whoever you gonna talk to about whatever boring ass shit they need to discuss.” I picked up my phone, pushed away from my desk, and rounded it. Jamel grabbed the phone from my hand and swiped it to answer it.

“McCoy Holden’s phone,” he answered. I reached for the phone, but he smacked my hand. I was irritated for two reasons: one, he’d taken my phone, and two, he’d used his last name instead of mine. “Hello?” I reached for the phone again, and he turned, giving me his back so I couldn’t take it. “Hello?” He stopped moving and turned and looked at me with a deadly look. “Ay, nigga, I don’t know who the fuck this is, but understand something; this my fuckin’ woman. I’ll fuck this bitch with you on the phone so you can hear her scream my fuckin’ name. Speak the fuck up.”

“Jamel!” I yelled and reached for my phone again. He moved quickly, grabbed my ponytail, and pulled me back so I couldn’t get it. “Let me go!”

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled at me. “Who the fuck is on the phone, huh?”

“I don’t know!” I said through gritted teeth. “You answered it, remember?”

“Why the fuck they ain’t say shit?” He dropped the phone on the chair, face up. I saw the timer counting the seconds, indicating Earth was still there and listening. “How the fuck you know it was business, huh?” He pulled me closer to him and smacked me in the face. I felt my lip split instantly, and I sucked it into my mouth to keep blood from getting on my clothes.

“It’s my business phone,” I answered. “Anyone who calls is a client or potential client.”

Jamel mugged me, then ran his tongue over his teeth a few times before nodding. “Cool, but let me find out you’re lying and I’ll slice yo’ fuckin neck.” He let me go, pushing me into the other empty chair. “I’ll be at the condo tomorrow; we’ll leave for the party from there.” He fixed his clothes. “Get your fuckin’ hair done and make sure that lip doesn’t look disgusting when I see you.” He mugged me one last time and then left the room.

Once he was gone, I got up, grabbed the phone off the chair, and returned to my desk. I dropped into my seat and ran my hand over my face. “Fuck!” I yelled and slammed my hands on my desk in frustration. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Tears filled my eyes, and I let them fall with no shame. I wasn’t crying because I was hurt; I was crying because I was pissed. I swore I’d never be in this situation, yet here I was, being controlled by a man I once loved.

I dropped my head on the desk and cried, letting everything out because I had no plans to do it again.

“Pick up the phone, McCoy,” Earth’s deep voice called out. The phone wasn’t even on speakerphone, and I could hear him loud and clear, so I knew he’d heard everything that happened.

“I thought you hung up,” I said, not lifting my head from the desk.

“Nah,” he replied, sounding angry. I didn’t have time to deal with his attitude right now. One man being upset with me was enough. “That nigga hit you?”

“Grabbed my ponytail.” I reached up and touched the spot I knew would be sore later.

“He put his hands on you before?”

“I try to spend the least amount of time with him as I can.” It didn’t answer his question, but I didn’t want Earth to see me as weak.

“Alright.” He then sucked his teeth.

“Thank you for not saying anything.” I lifted my head off the desk and wiped my face. I hadn’t worn makeup today and was glad because it would have been ruined. “If you had, there was no doubt he would’ve known it was you.”

“Yep,” he said.

I picked up my headphones off my desk and put one in my ear, pausing a few seconds to allow them to connect to my phone before getting up from my desk. I went to the bathroom connected to my office and looked at myself in the mirror. Just like I knew it would be, my bottom lip was busted, and my face was red. I had bruises, a fat lip, and a sore head. I sighed and shook my head before taking down my hair and running my hand through it. I’d always loved my hair, but having Jamel use it to control my movements made me want to cut it. After fixing my hair and doing a simple bun style, I returned to my office and sat at my desk.

“Why’d you give me this kiddy ass phone?” Earth asked. I’d forgotten he was on the phone.

“Because you need to be able to get in contact with me while you’re at my house,” I answered, knowing if the shoe were on the other foot, I would be mad as hell the only connection I had to the outside world was a phone that was programmed with four numbers I had no control of putting in.

“Shorty, you gave me one of those kiddie phones, though.” Earth laughed. His deep voice vibrated through the headphones in my ear and caused goosebumps to form on my skin. “Like, legit, I only press one, two, three, or four. And if you said one is you, then who the fuck is two, three and four?”

“Me,” I replied, and he grunted. “Two is my direct office line at work, three is my direct line to my office at the house, and four is to my condo, but never call that one unless you’re sure I’m dead.”

“The fuck I gotta call you for if you at home?” he questioned. The way he said home as if it were our shared residence sounded good. I shook my head at the thought. I was reading too much into shit that wasn’t there. “Huh, Coy?”

“Sometimes I get stuck on a case and lock myself in my office,” I answered as I nibbled into my lip. “It’s a bad habit I have.”

“Not while I’m here,” he grumbled. “I’ll be damned if I’m bored ’cause you’re working. You invited me, so you’re going to keep me entertained.”

“I invited you?” I repeated with a laugh. “Is that what you gonna call it?”

“Fuck yeah,” he replied with a small laugh. “I’ll be damned if I admit you kidnapped my ass. That shit is going to be our little secret until well past both our deaths.”

“If you say so.” I smiled. I looked up to see my computer alert me that I was due for a meeting with a new client. “Look, I gotta go.”

“Ah, for real?” Earth sucked his teeth. “Cool. I’ll see you later.”

“Later,” I replied, then hung up the phone.

“Coy!” Earth pushed open my office door and strolled in with a stack of menus. He dropped into the chair across from my desk and kicked his feet up. It amazed me that even though this wasn’t his house, he walked around like he owned it. “What you tryin’ to eat tonight?”

“I’m not hungry,” I replied without taking my eyes off my computer screen. I had to be in court tomorrow at eight and wanted to refresh my memory on some essential information.

“It’s damn near ten at night, and you have been sitting in here for the last three hours. I get you gotta work, but that shit is dead.” He reached up and turned off my screen. I cut my eyes at him, and he stared at me with murder in his. As soon as I came home, I went straight to my office and continued to work. “That nigga hit you.”

“I told you I wasn’t hungry.” I turned my screen back on and continued to look over the evidence. This was a cut-and-dry case, but I never went into anything cocky. That was how people lost, and I hated to lose. “I ate earlier at work.”

“You also said that nigga didn’t hit you, and obviously, you lied,” he grunted, then pulled out the phone I’d given him. I let out a small laugh and shook my head. The fact he was carrying the phone like it was a regular phone killed me. He cut his eyes at me, and I held up my hands in surrender. He put the phone back in his pocket and mugged me. “Ain’t shit funny.”

“You and the phone are,” I replied, and he stood up.

“Bring your ass,” he said, extending his hand.

“I’m working,” I weakly protested.

“I’on give a fuck about none of that shit,” he said, waving me off. I started to protest but stopped when he cut his eyes at me. “We got some shit to talk about because one of us doesn’t know the rules to this shit.”

“Rules?” I asked as I shut down my computer.

“Rules,” he repeated with a shrug. “Yo’ ass got too many secrets, and that shit gonna get me killed if I let it.”

“I doubt it,” I said, shaking my head.

“How the fuck do you know?” he grunted. “You ever did some shit like this before?”

“No,” I answered as we walked out of my office.

“Alright then. Let’s get some rules agreed on, then.”

“It’s not necessary,” I said without thinking.

“I say otherwise.” He laughed. We made our way to the living room and sat on the couch. I tucked my feet under me, and Earth stretched his long legs out and rested his feet on the table. His socks were stark white, but I still didn’t like his feet on my table. “If my feet on your shit bother you, speak up.”

“It bothers me,” I said. Earth nodded, then moved his feet off the table. “Thank you.”

“See, rules,” he said, pointing to his feet. “Look, this your shit. I gotta follow your rules. I’m not denying that, but we also gotta have some trust between us.” He shrugged. “This shit ain’t gonna work otherwise.”

“What do you have in mind?” I sighed and ran my hands over my face.

“You gotta start with the truth,” he said. I looked at him, waiting for him to ask me what he wanted to know. “I ain’t gonna beg you for your words, though.”

“I don’t know where to start,” I finally said.

“Shit, tell me anything,” he said with a shrug. “What do you like to do? What is your favorite color? What made you become a lawyer?”