Play The Game. Doug Dixon

Чтение книги онлайн.

      Curtis came in at around three o’clock with a look of exhaustion on his face. I was in the kitchen finishing up dinner as Brandon sat in the den watching cartoons. Curtis put his thermos on the kitchen counter and kissed me on the cheek.

      “Hey, baby,” he said as he continued past me.

      “How was your day?” I asked. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”

      “I’m beat. I’m going to take a shower and get into bed.”

      “How long are you planning on sleeping?” I asked as I dropped everything and followed him into the bedroom.

      “’Til about ten o’clock and then I’m going out. Why?”

      “Well, I had planned on going out with the girls tonight and I wanted to make sure you were home to watch Brandon.”

      “What? Going out where?” Curtis responded as he turned toward me.

      “I’m going out to have some drinks—why?”

      “Why tonight?” he asked.

      “Why not tonight? Didn’t you go out last night?” I replied defensively.

      Curtis reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of money. “Yeah, and look at what I made in doing so.”

      I looked at the hundreds and twenty-dollar bills he had in his hand. “What does that have to do with me going out with my girls?”

      “Nothing, but I was going to meet Cedric tonight to try to get some more clients.”

      “Cedric? Is that who you’re hanging out with?”

      Cedric Nichols, Curtis’s childhood buddy, has a reputation for being in all kinds of illegal shit.

      “That’s who’s helping me get work. What’s wrong with that?”

      “Think about it, Curtis. What kind of brothers do legitimate business in a club?” I asked firmly.

      “I’m not going to a damn club. I’m going to meet them at Cedric’s body shop.”

      “Club, body shop—it doesn’t matter where. Who does business with clients that late at night?”

      “I’m just trying to help Cedric with his workload until I can build up my client base to start my own business.”

      “You’ve been using that same line for the last year. But almost every night you come home smelling like liquor and weed.”

      He bit down on his teeth and gave me a hard look. “Look, I don’t have a master’s degree like you, so I’m doing what I have to do for my son.”

      I turned and walked away. “Yeah—whatever, Curtis. I’ll just get a baby-sitter, then.”

      “A baby-sitter? You know how much that costs? How can we save money if you’re always spending it on things like a baby-sitter…. Fuck it, do what you want—I’m going to bed.”

      I kept walking as I heard the bedroom door close behind me. Have patience, have patience, I repeated as I continued on into the den. I called Carol down the street, who is our regular baby-sitter—she agreed to come by at around seven o’clock.

      By the time I gave Brandon his bath and got dressed, Carol was at my door. I put on my makeup and left for the night.

      CHAPTER 4

      Mya

      I jumped in the shower before heading to the mall. Macy’s-Rich’s was having a sale, and since I hadn’t been to a club in a while, I needed something more in line with today’s fashion and appropriate for the cool night air.

      The store was filled with people aggressively walking from rack to rack, picking out clothes. All I was trying to find was a pair of black pants to wear with my black leather boots.

      For hours I went back and forth to the dressing room, trying on one pair of pants after the other, until I found a really nice pair that matched a pretty blouse on the rack directly across from it. This would blend in well with my golden-colored hair hanging past my shoulders.

      I walked through the rest of the mall looking in stores to see if I could find a matching scarf or something that I could wear to accentuate my outfit. Finally, after the fourth store with no luck, I found myself near the food court. My stomach began to growl at the smell of the different foods being prepared by the fast-food restaurants. I walked over to the Chik-Fil-A, where the line wasn’t as long, and stood to the side of the register looking at the menu. Hmm, the grilled chicken sandwich looks good, I thought.

      “Excuse me, are you in line?” a deep voice sounded from behind.

      “Well, no, I—”

      As I turned around there was a small-framed, light-skinned brother standing behind me with gold СКАЧАТЬ