Chardonnay: A Novel Page 18

  “Shiit!Old enough to be up in here.”

  “You need to wash your mouth out with a bar of soap. Konnie next time, make sure the pre-schoolers don’t get in the college age party. Damn toddlers say everything they hear!” I said pushing Zourtni in the direction of the pool house. After I negotiated with Zourtni to go on the notion she could come back after an hour, I noticed Denim slipping something to Myron discretely.

  I walked a little closer careful not to pry, when Jase slipped his arm through mine. I knew it was him when I smelled his scent of Mamba colonge.

  “I’ve been looking for you.” he whispered in my ear through the loud music. I turned to him and kissed him on the lips sensually. Jase licked his lips after I pulled back and chuckled out,

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “That kiss was fake. You’re fronting...For who?”

  I looked down at my shimmering pink heels and shook my head. I couldn’t even shake my feelings for Myron when Jase was around. He put his hand under my chin and caressed it up.

  “Kiss me for real.”

  I smiled and before our lips could touch, Gehvoni came over to interrupt us.

  “What’s up Nay, I ain’t seen you since I been back!”

  He cut in between us and gave me a hug. Gehvoni never hugged me. I chuckled and shook my head glancing over at Myron...he was looking dead at me. I snatched my eyes back but I knew Jase had already peeped it.

  “Sup Voni? You find Zasmyth?” I knew striking a cord with him would get rid of him. Gehvoni tended to be sensitive, hence taking some of Zasmyth’s bulling.

  “Naw,” he shook his head.

  “Not really looking.”

  “Well if you don’t mind, me and the lady were having a moment.” Jase cut in.

  “I don’t mind but I know someone else that does.” Gehvoni said cutting his eyes at me and then walked off.

  Jase mugged him and then looked back at me.

  “I’m sorry about that.” I quickly let out.

  “What was that all about?” he asked.

  I shook my head and tried to take his hand, he had stiffened it, waiting for an answer from me.

  “Jase—”

  “Chardonnay!” Zasmyth called from the kitchen.

  “Excuse me.” I said rushing off.

  “What are you doing in here hiding from Gehvoni?” I said.

  “I’m not hiding. Just cooking some more wings.”

  “Girl, he off on some other trick. And umm, Zas, the wings are piled so high they about to fly away out there. Go kick it!”

  “I haven’t seen him in a while. Can’t go out dere. You know your ex can’t pop out of nowhere on you. Your heart start pumping and shit. I can’t...do it.” she said holding her chest.

  “Yeah, Myron did look and smell so good. Forget about the very reason you broke up and turn into Stupid in love again. But you can’t stay in the kitchen.”

  “He knows every-ting ‘bout mi. Nay, he was mi first everything. If mi go out dere he’ll see right through me.”

  “So what, maybe he’ll realize what he had.”

  Little did Zasmyth know, Gehvoni would find her anyway. Myron and Gehvoni walked into the kitchen smiling at us and licking their lips.

  “Hello ladies.” said Gehvoni.

  “Hi again G. Nice to see you.” I said sarcastically

  “Fuck you Voni! Why ya just showing now? Leave mi here wondering!” said Zasmyth. She scared us all with that outburst.

  “Baby look—”

  “From what mi hear I ain’t ya’ baby. Heard ya’ marrying dat girl now! Don’t lie to me!”

  Gehvoni held his head down and bit his top lip. He looked back up at her and she smacked him. Hard. It echoed five octaves. He touched his face.

  “Fucks you do that—”

  Another smack. Myron moved back from them, his eyes wide.

  “You wonder why I’m marrying her? ‘Cause yo’ ass is crazy. Fucking hitting me. Don’t love yo’ ass no mo! Tired of your shit. Tired of your pussy too!”

  “Aye yo, G, calm down man.” said Myron.

  He wasn’t heard though. Zasmyth sucked in her lips, ironically trying to avoid saying something disrespectful. She gripped the frying pan handle. I was the only one who had the view. I hoped Gehvoni would stop talking.

  “Say ya’ don’t love mi now?” her Jamaican roots getting thicker in her tone. The Crisco grease in the frying pan was getting hotter.

  “Don’t you get it? Your name says it all—you’re a myth!”

  Her arm came up and Myron ducked pulling Gehvoni with him. Hot grease flew in the air and slowly came down landing on Gehvoni’s hand.

  “Aaaaaggghhh!”

  Zasmyth snaps back to life at the sound of his pain. Insanity gone.

  “Oh my God! You did this!” she screamed.

  I got some ice out the freezer and she got a towel. Zasmyth kissed Gehvoni’s face as she healed him. And then I saw it in his eyes. He still loved her crazy ass. I moved back from them. Myron slipped his arm around my waist and kissed my neck.

  “Chardonnay, may I speak to you for a moment.” said Myron.

  I said yes only to give Zasmyth and Gehvoni privacy.

  I sucked my teeth at Myron as he walked us to a corner near the fireplace and the formal living room which was off limits for party lounging.

  “Problem?” he asked me after my second tisk.

  “Yeah, you. What do you want?” I asked not sure I should have asked such an open question.

  Myron licked his lips and looked in my eyes

  “So...you really over me?”

  I looked away from him.

  “You must not be since your still wearing the ring I gave you in STL.”

  “Myron, I can’t have this conversation right now—”

  “As good as any. I love you Chardonnay. I can’t change that and I know you can’t change loving me. We made a promise to each other to spend the rest of lives together.” he said cutting me off. I then wondered how could he seem so serious and be here with another girl. I began to walk away when One Chance’s So Emotional came on. Myron pulled me to him begging me not to go, whispering that he thought of me every time this song came on, telling he plays it on repeat. My hips, my arms, my lips, all became one with his slowly, moving gently into each other. As he bumped his body to mine, I persuaded myself that his mistakes weren’t that bad as I kissed him strong. The song slowly died out and Myron and I looked in each other’s eyes for all of thirty seconds when I heard,

  “Good night, Chardonnay,” from the left of me....Jase was walking off. I snatched from Myron trying to chase after him. He wouldn’t let me go. I hesitated on what I should of done and then pushed Myron away from me. By that time Jase was speaking with some folks and blind sighted by twenty feet away from me. Myron came up behind me as I watched the one man I wanted most slip away off into his wet black Maybach with his personal driver holding his door open for him. This time he didn’t save me from the madness.

  “You got something to tell me?” Myron asked in reference to Jase.

  I threw my hand up and walked around back into the house as Myron rushed behind me. Everyone was looking at us and getting their gossip on. Myron pulled me down a hallway that was dark and pulled me to him.

  “Listen, I didn’t mean that shit in Saint Louis. I was just confused.”

  “Confused,” I said nodding my head.

  “Yeah, that’s one thing I’m not!”

  He chuckled and shook his head at me.

  “I know his dick ain’t that good...at least not as good as mine.” He pressed his hands above my shoulders and ran the tip of his nose along my neck. I swallowed hard and tried not to compare...truth was I couldn’t. They both were putting it down. I pushed Myron back and said,

  “I told you this isn’t about another dude!”

  He narrowed his eyes up at me as he leaned up against the wall. As lost as we were it didn’t take long f
or Myron’s side line hoe to find us. Myron began to walk off, but she and I caught light to him. We found ourselves at the French doors leading to the pool. He pulled me to him and pressed the other girl back,

  “Cristy, I need to speak with her alone!” Myron ordered,

  “You go back in the house and wait on me until I handle this. You know what’s up.” I couldn’t believe he was speaking to her like that. She must have been looking for Myron since the moment he found me, because the patience in her face was shear to none.

  “Where you been?” she said, revealing the squeaky tone I heard over the phone while we were in the suite in Saint Louis. However she wasn’t the girl in Myron’s phone messages. It was as if she didn’t even notice me. When she looked me in my eyes she went from thinking he was just talking with some chick to realizing who I was...it seemed she had excepted his infidelity in some sorts except when it came to me.

  “I told you I had to handle some business.” he said turning to her, putting his hands in his jean pockets, a clear sign that a man wasn’t in a rush to change what he was doing at the moment. A sign of comfort. Cristy looked around to me and said,

  “You must be Chardonnay. This man always gives me his attention, except for when he’s thinking about you.” she said pissed.

  “Look, girl you can have him. He has done nothing but give me pain. Enjoy my leftovers.” I said licking my fingers one at a time.

  She raised her eyebrow and smacked her lips. Myron grabbed my arm and said, “Chardonnay, I’m not through talking with you.”

  “Umm, you may talk to Miss Cristy like that but you won’t digress me!”

  “I’m not trying to!”

  “Uht unn. Why you all on her like she’s your salvation or something?” squealed Cristy.

  “I am. And oh, thought I’d let you know, he’s using you. See I was actually fucking your brother Slim. And Mr. Kent thought he would get us back if he got with you,” I let jealously take over and laughed at her and finished,

  “You’re a game!”

  People were crowding outside by now. They caught on that there was a full-fledged drama performance for free outside.

  “Oh, so that’s why your ugly sex face had so much guilt in it when you busted your nut last night?!” said Cristy throwing her pocketbook at Myron. He stood there with his lips in his mouth, being ridiculed.

  Myron gave me eyes of I’m-sorry-once-again. Heck, if he was a dog when he had me, I knew he would be a dog when he didn’t have me.

  Anger and frustration rising inside him from Cristy blowing up his spot, he said, “Bitch! Can you leave so we can finish? You making a scene.”

  “Bitch?! Oh you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Cristy said about to smack Myron.

  “CRISTY!” yelled a male voice.

  Myron looked past me and locked his eyes on the object he was staring at. I turned and Slim was standing in the doorway of the pool house.

  “Myron I think you need to leave.” I said, a bit scared at what could come.

  “Naw, for what? I’m tired of this punk.”

  “Punk? Man you too easy to get.” Slim said as he walked closer.

  “Then come get me pussy!” Myron said.

  “Yeeah, kick his ass Slim!” said Cristy’s ghetto ass, egging her brother on.

  Suddenly we all heard gun fire going off around front. People began hollering and screaming, running in all directions. Denim came running from out the house yelling,

  “Aye—My, Miscogey’s dudes are here!”

  Both Myron and Slim flashed a look at me and damn near dragged me to the guest house. Cristy chased after us and Slim literally picked her up and put her over his shoulder as she still bitched about me. They threw us in the house ordering us not to come out until they came back for us.

  “What the hell is going on?!” I demanded.

  Myron stared at me and before he could answer three dudes came running from around the side of the house shooting. Slim pushed us all in including Myron. Myron tried to get the door unlocked but after a shot came through the door he gave up and hit the floor. Cristy’s screams made me literally loose it. I crawled over in a corner and prayed to God to get me out of this. Suddenly the gun shoots stopped and silence rang. Myron’s hard breaths told me everything was not kosher and in a world of absolute freedom of choice not everything was real. I ran to the door and Myron caught my foot.

  “Get down!”

  As I fought and pressed my hand up the side of his face to push him away he let out,

  “I need you to stay here. Stay put.”

  I looked at him and wearily asked,

  “But why?”

  Myron couldn’t look at me as he paced the floor. Suddenly I heard screams and gun shots going off-again! I froze and Myron looked over at me as if he was a lost boy being swallowed by a big world. I moved from the door and his cell rung. When he answered it he said,

  “You handle it?”

  “What’s going on?” I asked in fear.

  Cristy was now huddled in a closet and whimpering.

  Myron clicked off his cell and walked over to me.

  “I can’t tell you now. We need to get you out of here. I’ll be back, alright.”

  He swiftly left out and I was alone scared for his life. After fifteen minutes I slowly walked to the door. I peered out the window and only saw the glistening pool. There was no presence of sound or people. I slowly unlocked the door and stepped lightly. The music was gone, the people were gone. What the hell was going on? I rounded around to the front of the house and hid in some bushes. When I looked in the front yard I saw Myron speaking with Denim and Gehvoni, who was both holding a young boy by the arms and neck. Myron was smoking a blunt...something I’ve never seen him do. When I peered more around the corner I gasped. I saw a man dead in his own blood. Then I realized who it was...Slim.

  My scream could not be sounded. I tried to say his name but I couldn’t do a damn thing. So I just stood there and a low scream came out my mouth. When I finally got my feet to move, I tried to run to Slim. Jaydee who was sitting on the stoup pulled me back and held me as I broke down crying.

  I looked at Myron a yelled, “WHY?”

  I stepped back over out of the shadows that it appeared I had been in most of my life to discover what and who Myron truly was. Although I was looking at him with a gun to a man’s head it never once occurred to me to run. The glassed look in his eyes told me in this moment he wasn’t just Myron the all American kid that had dreams of going to the NFL, who was a wholesome graduate. I didn’t know this man that stood before me.

  “G, Denim, y’all handle this for me.”

  “Myron answer me!” I demanded.

  He took me by my arm around the corner and said,

  “You never saw any of this.”

  “Why did you shoot Slim?!”

  “I didn’t shoot him—that little nigga there did.”

  I shook my head as Myron signaled Jaydee to let me go and said, “We need to get him help!”

  “They’re coming. But when they do I need you to tell them this was self-defense.”

  “What is this all about?! Who—who are you?”

  I heard the kid screaming, suddenly being silenced by a one round shot.

  Myron looked back and then simply answered,

  “A Kent.”

  Slim was gasping for air and there was a gash so deep in his chest I was sure a lung was tore. I pushed Jaydee back from him overlooking the kid, that was alive only ten seconds ago, brains and slain body on the lawn and scooped Slim up in my arms while sobbing.

  “Slim! Can you hear me?! Someone call the ambulance!”

  “They are on their way!” yelled Zasmyth as she ran from across the street. She got up close to us and once she saw Slim she backed away crying,

  “Oh my Lawd.”

  Gehvoni was silently crying and shaking looking at Slim.

  I could hear the same rattle in his chest I heard in my Grandfather’s before he died. Out
the corner of my eye I saw Zasmyth throwing up on the sidewalk from the gruesome scene and crying too hard. Konstance ran out the house and down the front lawn, her steps tracking slowly down as she saw the scene before her.

  “Man how the hell they find us?!” Gehvoni yelled staring down at Slim.

  “I’m tired of Miscogey! He done fucked with me for the last time!” said a furious Myron.

  I was now in a bewildering world, outside of that bubble Slim told me was custom built around me and that Myron was trying to protect me from. Seeing Myron this way...seeing my life spawning away, I was now officially a woman with the innocence of a child ripped away from me.

  “What the hell are you talking about,” my voice dragging, singing the ugly cry.

  Myron looked away from me, his face tight. Slim’s breathing wheezed and his chest rose. I feared the worst until he started taking slow easy breaths.

  “He’s breathing! Where are the fucking ambulances?” I yelled

  As if on key an ambulance arrived on the scene driving like a bat out of hell. They rushed us and took Slim’s limp body from my arms. I watched them tear his clothes away and hook him up immediately to machines in the ambulance. The police pulled up just as soon as the ambulance did and begin asking questions. Since I was the one with the most blood on me, they begun with me.

  17

  All-American Gangster

  He was still a man in my eyes, my man I thought as I leaned over the bathroom sink and ran cold water. I splashed it on to my face trying to relinquish the gruesome images that spawn into my eyes only hours ago. I looked back up in the mirror to see Myron in his blue silk pajama’s looking at me through the mirror. We were at his penthouse down town.

  “I wanted to tell you but—”

  “But what? Why, how, just tell me now! Who are you?”

  “Char, I’m still the man you know, I just have been—”

  “Leading two different lives?”

  He sighed and dropped his pleading arms.

  “There’s a lot of shit I can’t tell you! I was raised that way. Chardonnay, my father is who he is...the richest drug lord in Kansas City.”

  “So, let me get this straight. Your father is a big time drug dealer and you’re what...one too?”