SHARIECE
I could barely make it up the stairs of my apartment complex; I was so tired. I saw Emjay’s SUV parked in front, so I was glad he was home ’cause I was in desperate need of one of his state-of-the-art back rubs. Just as I was about to push the key in the lock to open the door, it flew open.
“Damn, baby, you scared the hell out of me.”
Instead of helping me with the groceries, and when Emjay walked off with a grimace without the usual greeting of a kiss and “hey baby,” I knew something wasn’t right, that he was angry about something, that maybe he didn’t get the movie theater job he wanted.
“Baby, is everything okay?” I asked as I set the bags of food and my attaché case on the kitchen table.
“I’m good,” he said sternly. I always knew he was mad or didn’t want to talk about something based on these one- to two-word answers he would give. Hate when he does this passive-aggressive shit, I thought. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was bothering him.
“How did the job interview go?” When I attempted to cuddle with him, he jerked away. “What’s wrong with you?”
“It might be better to show you what’s wrong.”
As soon as he grabbed my iPad off the coffee table, I knew he had seen the video. I remembered when I got to campus this morning that I’d left it on the dining room table. As soon as he opened the attachment, I wanted to jump out of my skin.
“I can explain.”
“What is this, Shariece? Who took this?”
“I got the email on Monday while I was in my office grading papers.”
Emjay got up and began pacing the living room floor. I could sense the anger that was coming off of him.
“What the fuck. Somebody videotaped us.” I knew that if I told him it was Deandre, not even God could keep him away from beating his ass. “You know who it is, don’t you?”
“Jay, I don’t know who sent the video. The email doesn’t look familiar. When I responded to it, my message was kicked back to me.”
“Well, whoever the fuck he is, he wants you to meet him.”
“I have no plans to meet up with whoever this is,” I lied.
“You don’t have to, ’cuz I’m going to get up with this sick fuck myself.”
“And then what?”
“What the hell do you mean and then what? I’m going to break their fuckin’ neck.”
“And that is exactly why you’re not going anywhere near this man.”
“Hold up, how do you know he’s a dude?”
“What?”
“You just said you don’t know who it is, Shariece, so how do you know it’s a guy?” I had never seen Emjay so pissed. “You know this nigga, don’t you?” I scrambled for the right words. “Did you meet up with this motherfucker already?”
“Jay, I got us into this. This is my—”
Before I could push out the rest of what I had to say, Emjay turned over the coffee table in an angry rage. “Fuuuck!”
“Baby, calm down.”
“Shariece, have you seen that fucking video? I’m on that shit too.”
“But I stand a lot more to lose. If this gets out, it could ruin me. I’ll never walk into another classroom again.”
“I can’t believe you said that. You think that I don’t have nothing to lose? Do you think that I can just go on with shit as usual with something like that floating around?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I could get kicked out of school. Shit like this could follow me, us around for the rest of our lives, but that’s cool; maybe I’ll have a great career in the porn industry.”
“I told you I’ll handle it.”
“So what does he want? I know ya’ll didn’t meet to talk about the fucking weather over chocolate frosties.”
“You need to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down, and stop talking to me like I’m a fucking teenager and tell me what happened.”
“Nothing happened, Jay!”
“What does he want, money?”
“He doesn’t want money.”
“I find that hard to believe. This dude’s blackmailing you and he doesn’t want money?”
“He wants me to write him a letter of recommendation?”
“Hold up. This motherfucker’s a student?”
“I told you I’ll take care of it, goddamn.”
“What else does he want?”
“That’s it,” I lied.
“Bullshit. What else does he want?” All of Emjay’s yelling had given me a headache.
“He said he would give me the copy of the video if I had sex with him.”
“So that’s what his ass meant at the bookstore?”
“Who?”
“Deandre Knowles showed up at the bookstore today asking me questions about you.”
I noticed scarring on Emjay’s knuckles. “Jay, what happened to your hand?” He covered his bruised left hand with the right one. “Did you and Deandre get into a fight?”
“I wasn’t going to let him disrespect you.”
“That’s your answer for everything. If somebody says something you don’t like, you get in their face?”
“If they disrespect me and you, you’re damn right.”
“You can’t go punching people every time they do, or say something you don’t like. It’s no wonder you didn’t get carried off to jail.”
“I can take care of myself, just like I’m going to take care of Deandre. I’m going to get the video, all the copies, then I’m going to finish beatin’ that ass.”
“You are not going anywhere near him.” Emjay looked around the living room. “What are you looking for?”
“My car keys. I’m going over to Deandre’s.”
“The hell you are. You’re drunk. There’s no damn way I’m going to let you drive in your condition.” I wrestled the keys out of his hand.
“Shariece, stop playing and give me my keys.”
Emjay could barely stay upright.
“I told you; I got this.”
“You’re gonna fuck him, aren’t you?”
“You need to lie down somewhere and sleep it off.”
“Mama was right about you. You’re nothing but a ho.”
I knew he didn’t mean what he said, that it was the vodka talking. Emjay stumbled back onto the sofa where he passed out. I rummaged through my purse for the napkin Deandre wrote his number and address on. I retrieved it from the bottom of my bag smudged with makeup. I dialed his number as I watched Emjay snore on the sofa.
“What up, this is Dre.”
“It’s me. We need to talk.”
“Hey, baby girl. I was just thinking about you. Have you given any thought to what we discussed?”
The mere sound of his voice made me want to throw up in my mouth. “I’m coming over.”
“I’ll be here, hard, willing and able.”
I hung up before he could say another word. It was time to put an end to all of this. First, Myrick’s psycho crazy-ass, now Deandre.
“This ends now.”