Bad Habits Part 55

It was definitely Keith. She had been expecting this call, so why was she so freaked now? Maybe it was the pact she made with Joan to not agitate the man. Or maybe she wasn't the woman that could placate the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who abused her the way he did. Releasing her death grip on the sink. she ran both hands through her short cut and blew out a deep breath. She was safe, her family was safe, and Kim was getting help. Simone felt blessed to have family and friends. What did Keith really have but his ego? She wasn't going to run from him. She'd fight back. Simone walked over to the breakfast stool and picked up her purse. She removed the phone.

"What do you want?"

"WHERE. THE. f.u.c.k. ARE. YOU?"

"I-"

"I'VE BEEN CALLING!"

"Can I speak?"

"I CALLED THE POLICE!"

"For what?"

"I GET HOME AND THERE'S BLOOD ON THE FLOOR AND A KNIFE? YOUR STUFF GONE? WHAT THE f.u.c.k IS GOING ON WITH YOU? I DIDN'T KNOW IF YOU WERE ATTACKED OR HURT!"

"I was attacked, remember? You raped me."

"SIMONE!" he shouted in the phone. His yelling sliced through her skull. She clenched her teeth. Joan's words surfaced, drowning out his angry scream.

Simone, when Keith calls, you play it cool. Okay? Well, if you can. Okay? Keep him off base. My friend Sue Bailey of Bailey and Schaumberg will meet with you on Wednesday. But for now, you just keep him off balance. Okay? Christ, can you do that? Can you, Simone? If no,t let's call the police now and report the rape. Let the chips fall where they may. Tell me! Which way do you want to play it? It's up to you.

"ANSWER ME, d.a.m.n IT! WHERE ARE YOU? YOUR CAR IS IN THE DRIVE. ARE YOU IN NEW YORK? WHAT THE f.u.c.k DID YOU DO? STEAL ONE OF MY CREDIT CARDS WHILE I SLEPT? SIMONE! SIMONE! ANSWER ME!"

Simone grunted. She had sworn that she could do this. However, hearing his voice made her want to smash the phone against the counter top until it splintered into pieces and all its wire guts spilled out. Her hand twitched with the urge. She focused on her family and not him, and suddenly she could breathe. Then she spoke evenly. "You are as hard of hearing as you are of listening. I told you that Kim was in trouble. That she was in the hospital. I came home to see about my sister."

"And I told you that you weren't to leave! How the h.e.l.l did you get there? Walk?"

"Does it matter? It didn't cost you a d.a.m.n thing."

"Oh? Really? Then who did it cost? Enlighten me? You bringing other motherf.u.c.kers into my business?"

Simone bit back the rest. Panic swelled in her chest. The conversation was going the wrong way. But what was she to do? How could she pretend with someone she despised so much? Thank G.o.d it was only a phone call.

"SIMONE!"

"I needed to be here, Keith. My family needs me. Besides, you and I both know that we need the s.p.a.ce. Look at us. We can't even talk to each other anymore."

"Exactly. That's why it's not the time for a separation. To fix our marriage you need to be here!"

"Kim is in trouble! Keith? Do you think I wouldn't come to help my sister, the kids? You know me better than that."

She heard the pacing, the panting. He was worked up, but she was making sense, appealing to his logical side. That's what she needed to do. Take the emotion out of it and bring him down. Yes. That would work. So she hoped. Lack of control was the only thing that sent Keith spiraling out of it. It horrified her how blind she was for so many years. In the past, she was one of those pathetic creatures that believed a man's possessive nature meant love. If she were honest, she would admit that she was flattered by the way he dictated instead of spoke his wishes to her. She couldn't be that woman any longer.

"Did you hear me?" he asked, his voice tight but the ba.s.s was gone.

"What? No. I have to go, Keith."

"When are you coming home?"

"A month or later."

"Month? Bulls.h.i.+t! You're coming home if I have to get on a plane and drag you out of there!"

"Do you hear how you sound? Drag me away from my sister and mother? I'm not your f.u.c.king child, or punching bag! You come up here and I swear to G.o.d." She turned back to the sink and closed her eyes. "I don't want to fight... baby, please," she said through clenched teeth.

"Bulls.h.i.+t. All you ever want to do now is fight!" he fired back.

"I need to help my sister. You need to deal with the Hollingsworths. We aren't good together right now. We both know it. What you did to me," she struggled, stammered, nearly choked on her words. "You scared me, okay? You hurt me, Keith. And you did that on purpose."

"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

"I've never seen you like that," Simone pressed.

"You pushed me."

"You hurt me!"

"Okay! f.u.c.k! What do you want me to do? I apologized."

Simone's voice cracked with emotion. She wanted to vomit. The silence lengthened between them before he finally spoke calmly. "I'm sorry, babe, I didn't mean to. I love you. You know I love you. I just got so angry. You made me hurt you. If you could just be my f.u.c.king wife and not some ghetto drama queen, we wouldn't have these f.u.c.king issues. I'll come up there. We'll stay at my parents and work it out. I got some business in New York to handle-"

"No. This is not a good time."

"But you need me there. You don't even have any money. I'll come and set everything straight for those kids. And then you'll come home with me."

"No!" she shouted. "I don't need you to fix my family. I can do it. In fact, I don't want to talk to you or see you. Don't you get that? I'm sorry too, Keith. It's the truth. If you want me back, then you got to stop punis.h.i.+ng me."

"Simone."

"Right now I can't deal with us. I need a minute to catch my breath. Give me some s.p.a.ce, some time, please." She squinted through her plea. Inside, she wanted to scream. When would the day come when she could call the raping b.a.s.t.a.r.d and tell him the truth? Tell him everything that burdened her heart since she fell out of love with him. When would she finally unchain herself from the Livingstons?

Reprieve came with a deep sigh from Keith. It sounded sweetly like defeat. Her eyes slowly opened. She held her breath waiting. If he came to New York, then all bets were off. She would fight him in the streets to keep him from her and from her family. This was it.

"Okay, babe. I guess I owe you that. I know I've been a b.a.s.t.a.r.d lately. I've had lots of pressure here and s.h.i.+t, you know? Plus, there's something going down at work, a special project. I have to be out of town for a few days. So you take those days to help your sister, then bring your f.u.c.king a.s.s home or I will come up there. Remember you're my wife. Right? Unless you really want to deal with the consequences of that changing, you won't pull any s.h.i.+t like this anymore. You scared the h.e.l.l out of me. You scared me bad. I forgive you. We need to forgive each other. Right? Whatever, I'll call you later. No. You call me later." The line disconnected.

Simone exhaled.

"What is it that Keith did?" a soft voice spoke to her back. Simone whirled to find her mother standing in the kitchen staring. Diane was soaked from head to toe. "Mom! What happened to you? Did the boys take a bath or you?" she chuckled, trying to wipe the tears before her mother called her on them.

Diane looked down at herself and then back up to Simone. "The little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds pulled me in! They watching one of them movies now in they bed. Told them not to get up too."

"Hey, we talked about this. Don't call them b.a.s.t.a.r.ds."

Diane shrugged. "What was it that Keith did? Why do you need s.p.a.ce? You left him or something? What you mean you need to catch your breath?"

Simone set the phone down on the counter. "That is just Keith being Keith. Nothing major."

"Monkey s.h.i.+t!" Diane pointed a finger at her daughter. "It's your mama here, not some of those silly b.i.t.c.hes you used to run with at that hair salon. Tell me what's up. What he do?"

"He didn't do anything." Simone forced a smile.

"Did you finally leave that tight a.s.s motherf.u.c.k-"

"Mom. stop." Simone walked over to her. She took her by the shoulders. "No more cursing. Do you understand? We have the boys here and I don't want you cursing around them. Kim wouldn't approve either, and you know that."

Diane nodded that she understood. Simone hugged her tiny wet frame. Her mother, for all of her years of abusing alcohol, had never aged. Only five foot two and one hundred and eight pounds, she could easily pa.s.s for a forty year old instead of fifty-eight. "I have missed you so much!" Simone grinned.

"I missed you too, baby. I had a bad dream that stuck up b.a.s.t.a.r.d had hurt you. Told Kim about it but she never listens. He didn't take you down there with them white folks, then be mean to you did he? Did he? It just didn't feel right you being gone like that, so he can be some big shot. I'm glad you home. Did he hurt you? Do sumthin' to you?" She broke away searching her face.

"Of course not. But you know what?" Simone asked.

"What?"

"You were right. He is a dweeb." Simone's brows lowered and her nose wrinkled in disgust. "An imposter. A tight a.s.s. And I'm getting a divorce."

"WHAT?" Diane gasped. "You is?"

"I am. It's over between Keith and me. I'm not going back to Castle Rock. I'm staying right here where I belong."

Diane grinned, hugging her neck. Simone laughed. "I knew it! I knew it! I never liked him. I knew you'd leave him!"

"Okay, Mom, let me go," Simone said through laughter.

"Sorry, baby." Diane let her go.

Simone touched Diane's wet afro. "Look at you. How did you get so wet if I only put a little water in the tub?"

"The boys made a mess." Diane shrugged.

"Un huh, well go get changed."

"I need a drink," Diane said softly. She peeked up at her youngest daughter with a sheepish smile. "A beer. Just one."

"No, Mama."

"I need it. You knows I do."

"Mom, you said you could do this."

"I can, I can. I'll help. But I need a beer, or something. You know how it is." Her eyes darted to the fridge then back to her with rapid eye movements. "Ya know what,? I think I saw some beer in there." She pointed to the fridge. "I bet it's from that Mathew guy. A six pack. Yeah I saw a six-pack. Give me one. Just one. If not, I'ma get sick. You know I will."

Simone wondered if that clinic that Kim went into had a two for one kind of deal. Diane was now staring directly at the fridge. Her body tensed. If she didn't grant her mother's wish, she'd fly off into a rage, and then probably storm out to drink in the streets. She'd seen this show before.

There was no option to commit Diane. She had tried before and failed. Keith told her it was useless. Kim told her to just give up. It was only Dennis and her that believed Diane deserved to be saved. So she used her own money, and with Dennis's help, put her mom in the best facilities. But Diane would either end up restrained or tossed out. Nothing worked. And now she was out of money, resources, and patience. She needed to keep Diane balanced, to do so meant to feed her addiction. It killed her to admit it. "Go ahead, Mama. One beer. Then you go to bed."

Diane walked past her to the fridge before she finished the sentence and s.n.a.t.c.hed it open. Simone watched her remove two bottles. Her mother walked out of the kitchen with one under her arm and the other cap in her mouth being twisted off by her teeth. She followed with an objection in her throat but swallowed it. Diane sat on the sofa, smiling. Everything about her seemed to be put at ease. "So tell me about that mothaf.u.c.ka. What he do to make you leave him, huh? Cheat with some white girl?"

"No. What I want to talk about is us. You, Kim, and me. We're all we have. Mama, I need you to stop this and really make an effort to stop this. We got to get healthy and part of that is on you too."

Diane drank the beer, staring her in the eye. Simone relaxed back in the chair, sadly watching her. She thought of Cain. She missed him. She wondered if he was thinking of her too.

"It's like this, baby. I'ma stay and help you, and I'ma help Kim, but none of yall can help me. Feel me? I know I got a problem. I knows it, but one bad habit at a time, okay?"

Simone shook her head.

Diane chugged more beer, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, burping. Her gaze s.h.i.+fted to the second beer. "I know you running from something, baby. Seems like both my girls got issues."

"Mama."

"It's my fault. I knows this. I'm a bad mother, bad grandmother. f.u.c.k, I was an even worse wife. I knows this."

"Mama, let's not do this."

"Let me finish. If I could change anything, it would be to go all the way back to the beginning. To the first drink and throw it out. Be that mama that brushed your hair and took you shopping for things. You know, normal stuff. But what's done is done." Diane reached for the second beer. "I just want you to be strong, baby. Whatever he do to you, don't let it defeat you. I want you to fight back, okay? Don't give up like me." She twisted the cap on the bottle.

Simone rose. She sat next to her mother, reaching, taking the cool bottle from her fingers. "Mama, I love you. I can't give up on you. You would never give up on me." She pulled Diane into her arms and held her. Together they sat on the sofa, staring at the beer bottle.

Cain made the turn up into his drive. Immediately his eyes went to the Livingston's. He'd gone into the office late. After seeing Simone off, he was a man on a mission. The past six hours were spent locked in his boss's office unlocking selected dirty details of project Opal with Andrew Hollingsworth's blessing. Hoping to wet Keith's appet.i.te, he fed him more and more. Keith sat there like a fat cat gorging on it all. But the plan wasn't working, not as he hoped. First was his distraction. Each time he looked at the man he wanted to throttle him, break his f.u.c.king jaw. He actually fantasized about it a couple of times while listening to Keith's dull monotonous voice. Second, Keith was too smart. When Cain tried to steer him toward reviving the deal or signing off on a new one to get the project reopened, Keith would sidestep his suggestion and go back to the facts, unwilling to dip his hands in further enough to get snared. Finally, after everything else failed to gain Keith's trust, he proposed that his boss make a surprise unsupervised visit to their Phoenix office and meet with Jerry Danberry, the Executive Director down there in charge of National Client and Commercial Sales. Jerry's operation was Opal's cover, where all the money got washed cleaned. He proposed that Keith warm up to Jerry and make his own end roads. He took the bait. But hooking the fish was one thing. Reeling him in and not getting taken under for the effort was something entirely different.

His head hurt. He pinched the bridge of his nose to stay away the pain that reached all the way to the base of his skull. He was trying too hard. He wasn't thinking it through. He had to focus. Plus there was Andrew to deal with.

Throwing the car in park, he dropped his head back on the headrest. Inside the nook under his radio was his mobile. It beeped twice and with closed eyes his fingers reached, seeking the tiny contraption. Maybe it was another message from Simone. He immediately thumbed through the screens. There was a message waiting for him. But not the one he hoped. He stared down at Maryanne's text: We're here. Wish you were 2. Miss u babe. Call 2 nite. Got a surprise waiting for u!

Cain sighed, opened the door and got out. He crossed the yard slipping the phone in his pocket. After a shower, he'd call Simone and talk with her until his eyes grew heavy. Tomorrow, he'd go and get help from the one person that could set it all straight.

The door opened. Cain doubled back, shocked. There indeed was a surprise waiting for him but not one he could have antic.i.p.ated.

"Surprise!"

"Joseph?"

"In the fles.h.!.+ Come here, bro!" Joseph, who was an inch shorter than him with a marine buzz cut to his sandy brown hair and their mother's eyes, grabbed him in a bear hug. Cain's briefcase dropped from his hand. He was too stunned to speak. Lailynn, a beautiful Asian woman that was four years older than his baby brother, stood in the foyer smiling. He'd married her in Korea and brought her to the states. Cain had not met her face to face before. He broke free and looked at his baby brother.

"What are you doing here? We said the fourth of July?"

"Your wife called. She sent for us early. Said we should keep you company while she goes on some trip. Man, I've missed you!" He smacked his arm hard.

Cain frowned. Maryanne had done this? Was it to keep tabs on him, or truly give him what he needed?

"Well, d.a.m.n. I think I shocked the h.e.l.l out of him, Lailynn. All he can do is stand there with his mouth open!" he hugged Cain again. "Say h.e.l.lo to my wife!"

"Hi, Lailynn." He walked in and kissed her cheek. "Nice to finally meet you."

"d.a.m.n right!" Joseph chuckled. "This reunion has been a long time coming."