Getting Played Read online

  “So you think some stupid-ass little pizza job gonna get your ass back in Hazelhurst?”

  “No, but I think it’s gonna help out around the house where I live.”

  “Not anymore. You’re moving back to the house.”

  “What house?” I ask, totally surprised by this.

  “The Virginia house,” he says.

  “No,” I nearly scream. My heart slams in my chest.

  “What do you mean, no? I’m still your father and I’m the only one determining where you live and go to school. This is the second time in almost as many weeks that something dangerous has happened to you. You’re moving back to Virginia.”

  “I thought you were selling the house,” I say.

  “Not anymore, that’s off,” he says.

  “I guess New York worked out for you then.”

  He doesn’t say anything, but I see his jaw tighten and a muscle in his neck pull hard as he grimaces in profile. There is no way he was in New York last weekend, and I bet his business is just fine.

  We don’t say anything to each other the rest of the way to the house in Virginia. Then as soon as we pull up in the driveway, I see this beat-up old car parked in front of the house. “You have company,” I say.

  “What the hell is this?” he mutters, and this time I know it is rhetorical.

  We get out of the car and go to the front door. He opens it, and I walk in first. He comes in, leaving the door wide open. Neither one of us says anything as we look around. I get my cell phone out just in case something is about to jump off and I need to call for help quickly. Then we hear muttering and talking coming from his office. I follow him as he heads in that direction. The office door is open and we walk in.

  Courtney is there with a man. She is half sitting on the desk, and the man is in my dad’s chair. They are both intent on looking at his computer monitor. They don’t look up or see us come in. Again, neither me nor my dad says a word. I look at him. I swear if he was a cartoon character his face would be beet red and stacks of steam would be coming out of his ears. Yeah, he looks that mad.

  I quickly turn on the camera video application on my cell phone and point it at them. Courtney and the guy are talking, but at first we can’t hear what they’re saying. Then they start talking louder. This is like the most outrageous thing I’ve ever seen and I’m getting every second of it on video.

  “…you see right now it doesn’t show a lot,” the man says.

  “But I know he’s got money. He just won’t give it to me. I hate this shit and I’m not getting dumped without a penny…”

  OMG, please tell me this is not what I think it is. I make sure to aim the cell phone to get everything going on.

  “…you’ll get child support.”

  “…for three kids, what the hell is that? No, hell no, I want more than a couple hundred dollars a month. That’s bullshit. Whatever bitch he has now is probably already pregnant, just like I was. I know how to play that game.”

  Never mind, it is exactly what I think it is. Courtney and whoever this man is are plotting on my dad and his money. And OMG, he’s standing right here.

  “…well, this isn’t showing anything,” he says with his eyes still glued to the monitor. “Maybe he has another set of books like they do on TV.”

  “Or maybe another file, but you’d have to find it…”

  “I bet it’s at his office, I could check there,” she says. “He’s there now, so I’ll do it later this afternoon. He never works past three o’clock. I’ll go in then and look around.”

  The man nods. “All right, so if that’s the case, I think your best bet is to file as soon as possible before he moves any major assets. If he finds out you’re doing this, it might get very ugly…”

  “He can’t do shit to me or I’ll take the boys.”

  “Don’t underestimate him,” the man says, placing his hand on her knee and rubbing up her thigh under her short skirt.

  “Look, at this point I just want what I deserve. I want half of everything.”

  “Realistically, you can’t get half. You’re not married.”

  “We’ve been together for over five years. Isn’t that called common-law marriage?”

  “No, Virginia doesn’t recognize common-law marriage. And besides, you weren’t living together all that time. And he wasn’t with you exclusively.”

  Okay, I swear I want to pee my pants right now. This is straight-up some stupid dumb stuff you see in the movies. I’m like duh, idiots, look up. Candid friggin’ camera. America’s funniest friggin’ home videos. Look up. We’re standing right here. Hell, he’s standing right here. But of course I’m not saying anything. I just want to see their faces when they do finally look up. I swear I am ready to explode.

  Then it happens. He looks up first as he gets ready to stand up. He winces, but doesn’t say anything. His jaw drops and he makes a gurgling sound as he jumps back in the chair. Courtney looks at him. “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asks, and then turns around.

  Oh, man, it is b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect expression. To say she is shocked wouldn’t even come near to what her expression is. She like yelps and jumps and falls off the side of the desk. I swear the whole room shakes when she goes down on her ass. That has to hurt. I try my best to laugh quietly, ’cause I am still videotaping all this. But my hand starts shaking ’cause I am laughing so hard inside. Tears are rolling down my face, but I know I have to be quiet to keep videotaping. “Busted,” I say quietly.

  Her hand comes up first. Then she peeks up over the side of the desk like she is five years old. She stands up and shakes her head. I look at my dad. He still isn’t saying anything. But now his fists are tight and the muscle or vein in the side of his neck is almost sticking straight out.

  “Baby, I’m glad you’re home. This isn’t what you think. I swear. It wasn’t me. He made me do it. He wanted the money, not me. I just want our life together.”

  The guy’s jaw drops almost to the carpet. “What the hell—you bitch. Nah, nah, look, look, look, sir, I’m an attorney,” he quickly fumbles and grabs a crinkled card from his shirt pocket. His hand shakes the whole time. “Your, ah, friend here hired me to go through your finances…”

  “He’s lying, James. I didn’t hire him,” Courtney screams, and then she instantly softens as she comes around the front of the desk. “You know I love you, baby. It’s me and you, remember?”

  My dad looks at the attorney guy. “Get out. Don’t ever let me see you again,” he says, menacingly. The man scrambles to his feet and grabs his beat-up briefcase. He’s stumbling a couple of times when he has to walk around my dad and me since we are still standing near the open doorway. A few seconds later, he’s gone.

  I start laughing and waiting for my dad to blow up at her now. But to my surprise, he never really does. He doesn’t even kick her ass out like he did me and my mom. I look at my dad’s face, wondering what he’s thinking. He has this dark smirk going on. Okay, this is new. I’ve never seen this expression before.

  I finally turn off the video recorder on my cell phone.

  Beautiful.

  CHAPTER 18

  Only One Logical Conclusion

  “When you’re in a hole, here’s the friggin’ thing, stop diggin’. Don’t you know the deeper you go the harder it’s gonna be to get out.”

  —Twitter.com

  So, now I’m on the flip side of all that. I’m in my room still laughing my ass off every time I think about what happened downstairs. Plus, I still have the video. My door is open, so I can hear Courtney begging and groveling about how she’s in postpartum and her hormones are making her do crazy things. My dad still isn’t saying much. Every once in a while he just says that he doesn’t want to hear it.

  “…James, please talk to me, please. I said I was sorry to let some ambulance-chasing wannabe lawyer come into our happy home and sabotage what we have together…”

  Okay, this is the part whe
re I usually put in my earbuds or turn my music up real loud, but I want to know what is going to happen. My dad was so mad when we walked in there and heard them talking. I thought he might try and kill the guy. And I know that guy was scared to death. As an ex-football player, my dad’s pretty strong and muscled. The skinny lawyer guy shook the whole time I was there. But all in all, my dad was cool about it. He told the guy to get out of his house and that he never wanted to see him ever again. The man ran. And I’m not talking about hurrying up or walking quickly. No, when I say he ran, I seriously mean it. He shot out of there like his butt was on fire.

  “…see, if you would just have been with me last weekend none of this would have happened. I’m not saying it was your fault what happened, but I would have felt so much better having you here with me. James, talk to me…”

  Okay, I close my door, enough of the pleading. I call my grandmother at the house but don’t get an answer. I figure she is still out at the senior citizen’s center. That’s another place she likes to go. Seriously, for an old woman who doesn’t work, she has a hundred places to go and a million things to do to fill up her time. Today is senior center and then bingo. I end the call and am just about to call Jalisa when my cell rings. I answer, not thinking. “Hello?”

  There is no answer at first, then I hear talking in the background, and I figure it’s the private caller again. I end the call immediately just as someone says my name. I turn my phone off. I hate this. I get up to talk to my dad about the calls. I walk down the hall to what used to be my mom and dad’s bedroom. The door is open. My dad is sitting in his armchair watching television with a glass of something in his hand. There is a college basketball game on.

  I knock and go in. Courtney turns and glares up at me. Looks like I am the one she’s pissed at now. “We’re busy,” she snaps.

  “Dad,” I begin, ignoring her.

  “Kenisha, I said we were busy right now. You need to come back later.”

  “I’m not here to talk to you, Courtney. Dad…”

  “Kenisha, give me a minute,” he says, still watching TV.

  I nod. “Okay, fine,” I say. I turn to leave and then he calls me back. I turn to him again.

  “Wait, what do you want?” he asks.

  “I need to talk to you about my cell phone.”

  “Your cell phone,” Courtney repeats. “I can’t believe you. This world does not revolve around you, Miss Kenisha. If you want another cell phone, get a job and buy one.”

  “I had a job,” I say quickly.

  “Then get another one,” she adds, just as quickly.

  “All right, enough,” my dad says. “Kenisha, you’re not getting a new phone. There’s nothing wrong with the one you have.”

  “If you’d hear me out and not just jump on what she says, you’d know that I don’t want or need a new phone.”

  “Well, then, what do you want?” Courtney asks, impatiently.

  My dad looks at me blankly. I can see he isn’t going to be much help, so forget him. I’ll take care of this by myself. I am getting used to doing my own thing. Why stop and ask for help now? “You know what? Never mind,” I say turning and leaving.

  “Kenisha,” I hear my dad call my name. I just keep walking. Seriously, I don’t need this. Then just as I close my bedroom door, I hear the front door open and loud giggling. Then there is running up the stairs. I hear the boys running down the hall calling for our dad. They sing a “dad’s home” song over and over again. I grab my backpack off my bed to leave. Then it hits me. I need a ride to the Metro station.

  I grab my phone from the backpack. The little white message light is blinking. I look at it. I’m sure it is just another missed call from “Private Caller.” I sit on the side of the bed scrolling through all the messages I missed in the past few days. The last message was from Diamond just two minutes ago. I call her back.

  “Hey, guess what?” I say, as soon as Diamond picks up.

  “Where are you? What’s wrong with your phone?” Diamond asks. “It’s Kenisha,” I hear her say to someone she is with.

  “What? Nothing,” I say.

  “Jalisa, Jade and I have been trying to call you all afternoon. Your neighbor called the police. Somebody broke into your grandmother’s house. Li’l T told us they trashed your room and Jade’s room.”

  “What?” I scream. “Oh, my God, what about my grandmother?”

  “She’s fine. She wasn’t home when they were there. Where are you?”

  “In Virginia,” I say. “Can you give me a ride?”

  “My mom has her car,” she says sadly.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I say. “I’ll call a cab home.”

  “No, Jalisa just said Natalie can give us a ride to D.C.,” Diamond says.

  “Okay. I’ll meet you at Jalisa’s house.”

  “Why don’t we just meet you at your dad’s?”

  “No, I gotta get out of here. I can’t stay,” I say. Just then my bedroom door bursts open. My dad is standing in the doorway looking at me like he is all pissed and concerned. Oh, please. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” I close my cell and stuff it in my book bag.

  “What’s wrong with you?” he asks.

  “Nothing,” I say.

  “If nothing’s wrong, then why did you scream?” he asks.

  “Nothing,” I say again.

  “Kenisha’s home. Kenisha’s home.” The boys are singing.

  “Come back in here,” I hear Courtney yelling.

  A few seconds later the boys come peeking around my dad’s legs, still calling my name. “Kenisha. Kenisha. Kenisha.”

  “Get back in here,” Courtney yells again. She is louder this time. She must have been coming down the hall to my bedroom because the boys made a mad dash to my bed. They hop on and grab me. I give them a big hug just as Courtney rams up behind my dad still in the doorway. “Go to your room,” she demands. They don’t move and I hold tight.

  “Jr., Jason, let’s go,” Dad says. The boys climb down slowly and walk to our dad. They turn to me. I smile and wave. They wave back. Then they run to get away from Courtney. My heart sinks, thinking she’ll catch them. Then I hear them yelling again. “Cash. Cash. Cash. Cash.”

  “Come on in here, little guys,” Cash says from the door down the hallway. Fine, I know they’ll be okay now.

  “Kenisha…” my dad begins again.

  I stand up and grab my bag. “I gotta go,” I say, trying to brush pass him. He steps over and blocks my exit. “No, I said you’re staying here, didn’t I?”

  Oh, please, does he really think he’s gonna do this with me? “Dad, I gotta go now.”

  “What’s going on?” he asks again.

  “Nothing you would be concerned about.”

  “You’re grounded. You’re in your room for the rest of the night,” he says, trying to act all parental for the first time in his life.

  Seriously, I try not to laugh. I nod and stomp back to the bed and plop down playing the pissed off teenager. He must have thought he succeeded, ’cause he leaves and closes the door behind him. “And the Oscar goes to…” I whisper happily. I swear, I almost can’t stop smiling. When my mom was alive and he was “at work” all weekend, I’d sneak in and out of the house on a regular basis. I get up, lock the bedroom door and open the window and roll my eyes. This is almost too easy.

  I get to Jalisa’s house in no time. They are already standing outside waiting for me. We drive to D.C. A block away from my grandmother’s house, we see the police car still parked out front. There are a few people standing around looking. Natalie parks down the street and we run to the house. I bust in looking for my grandmother. “Grandmom,” I yell.

  “In here,” she says.

  She is in the kitchen. I run to her and grab her. “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “Fine,” she says. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, fine. We got robbed?” I ask.

  She nods. “Jade is upstairs going through her bedroom now. The de
tectives want you to do the same thing.”

  “Okay,” I say, then I look at her again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask again. She nods and smiles.

  I take the back stairs to my bedroom. Jalisa and Diamond follow, Natalie stays with my grandmother. When we get to my bedroom, I am stunned. “Shit, what the hell?”

  “Kenisha.”

  I run out of my bedroom and meet Jade halfway down the hall. We hug like we used to, like sisters. “Are you okay?” we both ask at the same time. Then we smile and nod. “Good,” she says. One of the detectives that was at our house Sunday night comes out of her room.

  “Kenisha,” he says, “I’m Detective Clark. I was here last Sunday evening…”

  I nod. “Yeah, I know. I remember you,” I say.

  “Good. I’m gonna need you to try and look around your bedroom and see if anything’s missing. We’ve already taken pictures and dusted, but I doubt we’ll find any useable prints.”

  I look at Jade. This is all so crazy. “Does the rest of the house look like this?” I ask.

  “No,” Jade says. “Just our bedrooms.”

  “What? Why?” I ask.

  “I’d say the thief or thieves were looking for something specific from either one or both of you.”

  “This is so sick,” I say, going back in my bedroom and looking around at the disaster.

  “We’ll help you clean it up. Don’t worry,” Jalisa says. Diamond nods.

  “Your friend Ursula’s house was trashed, too,” Jade says. “I tried to call you. What’s wrong with your cell phone?”

  “Nothing. I keep it turned off. I keep getting crank calls.”

  “What kind of crank calls?” Detective Clark asks.

  “Some girl keeps calling saying she wants her money back. But I don’t have her money. I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “Wait here,” the detective says, then hurries downstairs. A few minutes later, he comes back with his partner, Detective Wilson. “Please tell Detective Wilson what you just told me.”

  “What—you mean about the crank calls?” I ask. He nods. I repeat what I just said.

  “Your friend Ursula mentioned crank calls they’ve been getting at her house, too. She also mentioned that someone had been at their house before.