Chapter Thirty-four
After they ate dinner, Sweets and Jewels cleared the table while Anette put Jo-Jo to bed. She wasn’t feeling well. Jonas worried about his little sister. The treatments she was getting helped ensure that she didn’t get sicker, but they didn’t seem to be improving her condition. He had looked into getting her some specialized help, but most of the places he found didn’t accept Medicaid and charged a small fortune just to get her in the door. Jonas needed a come-up in a major way. This made him think back to Prince’s deal. If the brand blew up like Prince was predicting, then he would be able to get Jo-Jo the best of care.
“You okay?” Janette brought him out of his thoughts. She was smoking a cigarette and sipping a glass of water.
“I’m fine. Just got a lot on my mind,” he said.
“Heavy is the head,” Janette said. She took a seat on the couch next to him. “I wanna thank you for making time for us, Jonas.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Ma. I wanted to be here,” he told her.
“I wish all my children felt that way,” Janette said, thinking about Yvette.
“Don’t stress yourself over her, Ma,” Jonas said as if he could read her mind.
“Let’s see how easy it’ll be for you to say that when you have children of your own.”
“That’s something you’re never gonna have to worry about. I ain’t having no kids. I’d never curse them to this fucked-up world.”
“It ain’t the world, Jonas. It’s the people in it. You know, sometimes I look back on all the time I wasted running in the streets instead of spending it with my kids, and it breaks my heart. There is so much that I wanted to do for you all, and so many things I wanted you to experience. All that damn time wasted.” She shook her head sadly.
“You did what you could, Ma. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got plenty of time to do all that stuff still,” he assured her.
“Life ain’t forever, Jonas. We’re given very little time in this world, so we should make the most out of every precious moment,” Janette replied. There was a far-off look in her eyes.
“Ma, you’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m sorry, baby. Don’t worry about me. I just get lost in nostalgia sometimes.” Janette smiled. “So, how is she?”
“Who, Jewels?”
“We both know I’m not talking about Jewels. I mean Alex. I’m sure you’ve seen her by now,” Janette said knowingly.
Jonas thought about lying but decided against it. “Yeah, I was with her earlier,” he admitted.
Janette shook her head. “You always were like a dog on a bone when it came to her. She’s always had power over you.”
“And what makes you think she has power over me?” he asked.
“Because as soon as she comes back around, you’re suddenly blind to what you have and chasing what you want,” Janette said. “That girl Jewels loves you, Jonas. You know that, right?”
“It ain’t that serious.” Jonas downplayed it.
“For you maybe, but for her, it’s real. You can see it in her eyes when she looks at you; that longing in them. I know Jewels might not have the pedigree of Alex, but she’s a genuine soul. I hope you don’t break that girl’s heart, Jonas.”
“As my mother, you’re supposed to be on my side,” he pointed out.
“I’m your mother, but I’m a woman first. You’re old enough to where I can’t tell you where to stick your little thing, but what I will tell you is to be careful when you’re playing games of the heart.”
“Me and anybody I deal with have an understanding. They all know what it is,” Jonas said proudly.
Janette laughed. “You sound just like your dad when you say that. He thought he had all his hoes in line too, but we see how that played out.”
“How come you never talk about him?” Jonas asked.
“I guess sometimes it’s just too painful,” Janette admitted. “Zeke was a good man, but he also brought a lot of grief into this house.”
“You mean because he slept around on you?” Jonas asked. He had heard the stories about how big of a womanizer his father had been.
“A man is going to be a man, I guess. Zeke’s wandering dick was only part of the problem. He played with fire and got burned, almost burning the rest of us in the process,” Janette said angrily.
Jonas was quiet for a time. He had so many questions about his father but wasn’t quite sure how deep he wanted to dig. “What really happened to my father?” he finally asked.
Janette studied her son for what felt like an eternity. She had been dreading this day but knew it would come eventually. She didn’t want to tell him the truth but knew that she needed to. She wanted to spare her son the pain of committing the sins of his father. “I will speak about it just this once. You are never to ask me again or tell your sisters what I’m about to tell you. Do you understand?”
Jonas nodded.
Janette took a sip of her water and lit another cigarette. She needed to compose herself for the tale she was about to tell. “Well, it’s no secret that your father was in the streets. Never too heavy, but from time to time, he did what he had to do to keep food on our table. In the course of Zeke’s wheeling and dealing, he found himself hooked in with a very dangerous man. It started with Zeke doing little stuff for him here and there, but as time went on, the favors he was asking got bigger. I tried to get Zeke to cut ties with him, but by the time I understood what he was involved with, he was already in too deep. Eventually, Zeke did try to break away, but the man wouldn’t let him. Zeke started trying to duck him, but it never worked. The man always seemed to be able to find him, no matter which hole he crawled into. Eventually, Zeke saw only one way to break the hold the man had over him, so he ended his life.”
“Why lie to us all these years about him being killed?” Jonas asked emotionally.
“I never lied to you; I just never told you all the details. That part is true. Zeke had a nice-sized life insurance policy, but we wouldn’t have been paid a dime if he committed suicide. So he figured another way. He knew what would happen if he was ever caught with her, which is exactly why he kept going back.”
“He intentionally got the man to murder him so that you could cash in the policy?” Jonas said, with the pieces finally starting to fit.
Janette nodded. “That was Zeke for you. He could find a loophole in even the most airtight agreements. I always told him he should’ve been a lawyer,” she half-joked.
By the time his mother finished her story, Jonas was numb. All these years, he had thought his father had been killed over some bullshit, only to find out that he had orchestrated his own murder for the good of his family. He wasn’t sure if he hated him for taking the coward’s way out or respected him for putting his woman and kids above his own life. “What happened to the man? The one Daddy was in debt to?”
“I have no clue. If there’s really a God, then that bastard is rotting in hell by now,” Janette spat. Just then, she was hit by a wave of coughing. This time, it was bad, so bad that she had trouble catching her breath.
“I got you!” Jonas patted her back until the fit of coughing passed. When she removed her hand from her mouth, specks of blood were in her palm. “Ma, you need to go to the hospital.”
“I keep telling you I’m fine,” Janette insisted. She pulled a napkin from her pocket and wiped her palm on it.
“You okay?” Sweets came out of the kitchen with Jewels on her heels.
“Yes.”
“No, she isn’t. She’s coughing up blood,” Jonas told his sister.
“Ma, I’m taking you to the E.R. Get your coat,” Sweets ordered her.
“I wish you all would stop fussing over me. It’s nothing,” Janette protested.
“Coughing blood is not nothing. We’re taking you to the hospital,” Jonas said.
“I’m not going to sit up in no emergency room all night, just for them to prescribe me antibiotics or some other shit that I don’t need. I’m supposed to be going for a checkup in a few days anyhow. I’ll see about my cough then,” Janette promised.
Jonas wanted to argue with her, but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. You couldn’t force one of the Rafferty women to do anything they didn’t want to. One thing was for sure, though. He would make sure that he was around to see that she kept her appointment.
Once things had settled down, they all sat in the living room to watch television. Reruns of The Cosby Show were on. Jonas had always loved that show. He would sometimes dream about what it might’ve been like to be a Huxtable instead of a Rafferty. While everyone else’s attention was on Bill Cosby, Jonas was thinking about his father and the man who had driven him to his death.
In the middle of their show, they heard the front door open and slam loudly. A few seconds later, Yvette appeared in the living room. She was wearing leggings, heels, and a T-shirt that was a size too small. Her hair was slightly mussed, and her eye shadow was partially wiped off one eye. She looked a hot mess. With her was a shifty-looking, light-skinned dude who Jonas had seen around before. Jonas didn’t know his name, but he knew his game. He was a stickup kid.
“I hope you didn’t wake Jo-Jo up when you slammed that door,” Anette said with an attitude. When they were younger, the twins were very close, but as they got older and Yvette got wilder, they had grown apart.
“Sorry,” Yvette said in a less-than-sincere tone. From the slight slur of her words, you could tell she had been drinking.
“We missed you at dinner,” Janette said.
“My bad. I guess I lost track of time. Is there any food left?” she asked.
“I left a plate in the oven for you. Make sure you wash your hands before you go in my kitchen,” Janette told her.
Noticing that all eyes were on her guest, Yvette finally made the introductions. “Oh, this is my friend, Steve. Steve, this is everybody.”
“What up?” Steve offered in the way of a greeting.
“Oh, Sweets, I’m glad you’re here. I need a favor,” Yvette said to her sister.
“No,” Sweets said flatly.
“But you don’t even know what the favor is.”
“Knowing you, it’s probably money, so the answer is no,” Sweets said firmly.
“C’mon, Sweets. I don’t need but twenty dollars. I’ll pay you back when I get paid Friday,” Yvette whined.
“You must think I’m stupid. I spoke to Mr. Lewis at the supermarket the other day, and he told me they fired you two weeks ago. Said you kept showing up late and high,” Sweets informed her. “Besides, you still owe me $100 from the last time I loaned you money.”
“You acting like you ain’t got it. All the coke your man is pumping in the hood, I know you ain’t hurting for no bread.” Yvette folded her arms.
“What my man does or what’s in my pockets ain’t none of your business.” Sweets rolled her eyes.
“I can’t stand a bitch that gets a little come-up and think they better than everybody else,” Yvette spat.
“You know I don’t play with people calling me out of my name. Watch your mouth,” Sweets warned.
“How about you, Mama? You got twenty dollars?” Yvette asked.
“Yeah, but I ain’t about to give it to you to shove up your nose. Why don’t you ask your new friend?” Janette eyed Steve.
“Because I’m asking you!” Yvette got loud.
“Yvette, if you’re hungry, I’ll feed you. If you’re tired, I’ll give you somewhere to lay your head, but I can’t contribute to you hurting yourself,” Janette told her. It broke her heart to see her daughter like that.
“Ain’t this some shit?” Yvette snorted. “All I’m asking for is twenty damn dollars, and I can’t get it? It’s the least you can do, considering you ain’t never did shit else for us.”
“I’m gonna let that slide because I know it’s the drugs talking, but don’t push your luck,” Janette warned her.
“What? You gonna go upside my head again like you used to do?” Yvette challenged. “I ain’t a little girl no more, Mama. I’m grown.”
“If you’re grown, then you shouldn’t have a problem getting your own money,” Janette replied. “Why don’t you let me get you some help, Yvette?”
“If that ain’t the damn pot calling the kettle black! You spent my entire childhood banging smack and selling pussy, and now you wanna try to tell me something?” Yvette was becoming belligerent.
“Yvette, you bugging. That’s still our mother,” Jonas spoke up. He could feel the tension mounting and knew the situation was about to take a turn for the worse.
“Ha! Now you wanna try to play the good son?” Yvette laughed. “You ain’t shit either, Wrath. You think I don’t know what you out here doing?”
Jonas got up off the couch and addressed Steve. “Fam, I think it’d probably be a good idea if you and my sister go back to wherever it is y’all just came from. At least, until she comes back to her senses.”
“Don’t talk to him like he’s one of your little friends!” Yvette barked. “Ain’t nobody scared of you, Jonas.”
“Yvette, I’m warning you.” Jonas’s voice dripped ice.
“What? You gonna shoot me too? Or maybe you’re just gonna bash my skull in like you did Black? I know all your dirty little secrets, Wrath. The streets are talking,” Yvette sneered.
Jonas hadn’t even realized that he had moved until his sister bounced off the living room wall. He had slapped her so hard that it sounded like a gunshot. He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her damn near off the ground. “You disrespectful little bitch! Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”
“Jonas, let her go!” Jewels tried to pry his hands from around Yvette’s neck, but he shoved her away.
“If you weren’t my sister, I’d put your junkie ass in the fucking ground!” Jonas rained spittle in her face. He was choking her so hard that Yvette’s eyes had begun to bulge.
Steve finally got over the shock of what was unfolding and decided to do something. He ran up on Jonas and sucker punched him.
Jonas released Yvette, letting her fall to the ground. He then turned his rage-filled eyes toward Steve. “She’s family, so I can’t kill her, but you?” he cracked his knuckles. “You’re about to meet God.”
Jonas attacked Steve with a fury that none of them had ever seen him display before. He rained punches all over his head and face. Steve tried to defend himself, but he was no match for Jonas. All five of the women in the living room tried to pull Jonas off him, but they couldn’t. He was in an insane rage. Long after Steve was on the floor, unconscious, Jonas was still hitting him and screaming curses. The only thing that stopped Jonas from killing him was Jo-Jo.
“Jonas?” Jo-Jo appeared at the end of the hall.
When Jonas looked up and saw the terrified expression on his sister’s face, he stopped his pummeling of Steve. He could only imagine how he must’ve appeared to her, fists slick with blood and his shirt torn. “Jo-Jo, I . . .” He couldn’t find the words. With terror in her eyes, the girl ducked back into her room and slammed the door.
“I’ll go check on her.” Anette rushed past him.
Jonas pushed himself to his feet and took stock of what he had done. Steve was sprawled on the floor. His face looked like hamburger, and the only sign that he was still alive were the gurgles of bloody bubbles coming from his mouth. When he turned to face the women in the living room, they all looked terrified of him, even Jewels. She had heard the stories about Jonas when he became Wrath, but this was her first time seeing it firsthand.
“I’m so sorry,” Jonas whispered to his mother before rushing from the apartment.
* * *
Jonas was on fire when he got outside. He could feel the anger clawing at his insides like an animal fighting to get out of a cage. He began screaming like a madman, punching out the windows of parked cars. He had knocked out three of them before Jewels came out behind him.
“Jonas,” she called after him.
“Leave me alone, Jewels,” he growled and started stalking down the block. With the mood he was in, he didn’t trust himself.
“No.” She caught up with him. Jewels grabbed him by the arm and spun him around. Jonas tried to turn his face away, but she held it in her hands and forced him to face her. “Look at me,” she commanded. His eyes were full of anger and tears. “I got you. Do you hear me? I got you.”
Jonas felt some of the rage begin to drain away, but it still lingered beneath the surface of his skin like worms. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this,” he sobbed.
“Don’t you dare apologize to me for being you. You’ve seen me at my lowest and never judged me. Me and you against everybody else, right?”
“I can’t, Jewels . . . I can’t bring you into this madness. I’m poison,” Jonas said sadly.
“Then let me be your antidote,” she replied. “Don’t you understand that I am here for you? Where you lead, I will follow.”
“You don’t want to go where I’m going,” Jonas said, thinking about the murders of Flair and his lady.
“What part of I will follow don’t you understand? I want to help you, with whatever is going on with you, but you have to let me in. I will do any and everything in my power to make sure your heart is always protected.”
“Even kill for me?” Jonas asked. He had been trying to turn Jewels off, anything he could think of to get the girl to wash her hands of him.
Jewels looked at him with great seriousness and said, “Without question.”