Chapter Eighteen
Trinity
Terrence and I still weren’t on good terms. To be honest, ever since our blowup over Big Cal, I’d been avoiding him. I left for my art gallery before he awakened, and most nights, I’d stay awake until he fell asleep. Hell, I was close to moving into one of the guest bedrooms altogether. He’d rescued me from the entrapment of Pooch only to turn around and get entangled in the same foolishness. What the fuck was the point in changing our names and moving if we were going to be tracked down because he refused to let sleeping thugs lie? He knew firsthand the power that Pooch had. He’d touched him. Just because he was a free man now didn’t mean that Pooch couldn’t touch him again. Moreover, this time, Pooch would touch me too. What would happen to our children if Pooch killed us?
Then, to add insult to injury, he’d put his hands on me. Out of all the people in the world, Terrence was the last person that I thought would do something like that to me. Pooch, yes. I really wasn’t even surprised when his jealous ass turned physical. Hell, I’d expected it to happen a lot sooner. But Terrence? Never in a million years. Regardless of what we went through, he’d never been the type. I didn’t know if it was the bid he had done or the chickenhead bitches he fucked around with before we got back together, but the mere fact that he’d reached that point with me bothered me. If he thought he could start trying to control me through physical abuse, then he had another thing coming. The first and last man to do that to me was Pooch. No other man would get that chance again. Not even Terrence. Until he could properly apologize for what he did and leave this Pooch vendetta alone, then he could prepare himself for many more lonely days.
As I rode to the art gallery, I connected my phone to my car’s internal speaker and dialed a number.
“Charice Westmore speaking,” Charice answered her private line.
“Hey, Charice.”
She gasped, and I heard her moving about before everything went quiet and she spoke again. “Trinity?” she whispered. “How are you calling me? I thought you all were disconnecting from everyone until the coast was clear.”
“We are,” I said around a sigh. “But I needed to talk to someone, and I knew you were the safest since Ryan has y’all’s shit secured like Fort Knox because of his celebrity status.”
“Yeah, that helps me, but how does that help you?”
I scoffed at my friend’s naiveté. “Girl, this is a burner that I just picked up for cash at the corner store. You think I’m that crazy? Hell, I wasn’t with a D-boy all them years and didn’t learn nothing.”
Charice giggled. “Valid point. So, girl, what’s going on? I haven’t spoken with you in so long, and I’ve missed you. But I also know if you’re calling me, especially from a new phone, then something is up.”
“Does Ryan know any hitmen who can off someone in prison?”
“Uhh, I’m gonna pretend like I didn’t just hear that and this conversation never happened.”
“I’m just joking, Charice, although a girl can wish.”
“Please don’t make me disconnect this line!”
I rolled my eyes at my scared friend. “Okay, but something is up. Apparently, you-know-who is trying all kinds of things to get out of his little situation, including snitching on his business partners.”
Charice made an awe sound in realization. “So, now the family could be exposed?”
“Right. And my husband wants to be involved to help resolve this foolishness. That is the last thing I want him to do.”
“Have you told him that?”
“Would I be calling you if I hadn’t and he didn’t listen?” I asked smartly. “He’s hell bent on helping the family, claiming to ensure our protection.”
“That’s risky as hell.”
“You’re preaching to the choir on that one, honey,” I agreed, flailing my hand in the air.
Releasing a frustrated deep breath, Charice quipped, “T really needs to leave this alone. I understand that it’s family involved, but you and the kids are the most important thing. Besides, what is the real possibility of him getting out of the current predicament? He’s got life four times over.”
Excitedly, I hit my steering wheel. “Yes. That’s exactly what the fuck I’m saying, Charice. Like, there isn’t a real threat. I know he’s concerned, but he’s going to make a mountain where there is only a mole hill.”
“I feel you, girl,” Charice said sadly. “I wish there was something that I could do for you. I know that’s got to be hard. And then we’re not near you or can even really communicate for now.”
She was right about that. There was really nothing anyone could do, and I missed my girls so much. I loved my life with Terrence and the kids, but I hardly had any family in Evanston, and everyone who I was close to, outside of him and the kids, lived away from us. I couldn’t communicate with them, for now, to keep us safe. It was a lonely existence, especially when Terrence did have some family in the area that he could spend time with and confide in.
“Honey, just hearing your voice is enough right now,” I admitted as I pulled into my parking spot in front of my art gallery. “I just wanted to talk to someone about this craziness going on in my life. I needed some type of reassurance that I wasn’t being selfish or not understanding toward my husband.”
“Well, he should really let his cousin, the law enforcement, do his job when it comes to this situation. Isn’t that why he volunteered to be a part of this whole sting operation in the first place?”
“My next point,” I agreed. “Telling him that is a taboo subject. I’m itching to call Big Cal to ask him to intervene and keep T out of this, but if T found out I did that, he’d go berserk. He already feels a way about me communicating with him as is. Like as if I’d ever do something with his kinfolk.”
Charice scoffed. “Really? There’s literally nothing for him to be worried about when it comes to that. For one, that’s his family and you are not that kind of woman. He knows that. For two, last time I remember seeing his cousin, bruh was not fond of cuteness, if you know what I’m saying.”
Her dig sent me into a fit of laughter. Wiping the playful tears from my eyes, I shook my head. “Nope, girl. You know you’re dead-ass wrong for that. I will not join in with you on that foolery.”
“You know I’m right.” Charice giggled. “That nigga is a straight-up Biggie song.”
“Biggie song?” I asked, confused.
“Black and ugly as ever,” she said, and we both howled.
Holding my stomach from the cramping pain, I said, “See, you know what? I cannot fool up with you. Whew, chile. But you know Biggie said he still stayed Coogi down to the socks now.”
“Shit, that’s ’cause Biggie had a rap career and money. Ain’t a whole lot of women checking for no police detective with a barely-there pension.”
“Shit, these bitches be lucky to get a man that’s loyal. That pension will have them twerking a little sumthin’,” I joked, and this time Charice hollered hysterically in my ear.
“You know what, sis? You right.”
“Ryan done made you forget. A policeman with a barely-there pension is a downgrade for you, Mrs. A-list celebrity Real Housewife of New York, but a lot of these women would just be glad to say they have someone who has a job, let alone an actual career,” I explained, and Charice agreed. “But career, pension, and all, I gotta admit that nigga ain’t nothing cute to look at, though.”
Charice laughed. “See, look at you. Talking about me.”
“The truth is the truth. I can’t argue with you there.” I shook my head. “And like you said, he’s family, so I would never. Hell, if he wasn’t family, I still would never.”
“That motherfucking part,” Charice hollered.
We carried on for a little while longer. I couldn’t help it. I enjoyed joking and talking to my girl. I missed this and her so much; all of them. If there was one thing that I wish I hadn’t had to sacrifice in all this was my time with them. My girls had been so integral in my life, and then all of a sudden, they just weren’t. It was an unfillable void.
“Well, girl, let me get out of this car before one of my workers gets worried about me. I don’t need my warden husband getting upset with me for breaking protocol. We don’t need any more reasons to bump heads.”
“I understand, girl. Your secret is safe with me.”
My shoulders slumped, knowing that our phone call was about to end. “Well, all right, girl,” I said, downtrodden.
“I know. I miss your ass, too.”
“I love you, girl.”
“I love you too, and look, the only thing you can do is tell him the way you feel. If he insists on continuing that bullshit plan, just pray for the best and do what you gotta do to protect your man, your family, and yourself. All things aside, T loves the hell outta you, and though his mindset is ridiculous, he’s only doing this because he loves you and he’s just as scared of something happening to y’all as you are. And for that, you can’t knock the man. He’s doing what most men do. Real men anyway. Trying to protect his family, even if he doesn’t see the detriment in it.”
And that right there was why I had called Charice. Out of all of us, I knew I could speak to her safely and privately, but that she’d also give me very sound advice. More than ever, I needed that.
“Thank you, Charice. You know just what to say.”
“And that’s why you called me,” she joked. “Go inside before the warden calls you to his office.”
“Love you, girl.”
“Love you too.”
We disconnected, and I gathered my things and walked inside to start my day at the gallery. I didn’t have all the answers I needed, but at least I had a sense of calm. Since I already knew Terrence was as bullheaded as they come, I also knew there was nothing I could say to stop him from doing what he felt he needed to do. That part pissed me off, but all I could do was keep myself calm and brace for the impact, whatever that impact may be.