Chapter Forty-Eight
Ladelle woke up to go to work. He was anxious and hyped. He did-n’t tell Lydia about the money because he knew she would have started riffin, and he didn’t want to hear it. He felt bad enough already. But he would put the money to good use. He just had to.
Ladelle kissed Lydia on the forehead and left her a note. I love U. C U 2nite, it read.
Ladelle got in a cab and headed toward midtown. He called the insurance agent who was handling his claim on the Escalade. The agent told him that it was damaged beyond repair and they were going to replace it. Ladelle wanted to know when; it had been over a month. That shit should have been taken care of immediately. The truck had full coverage. What was the hold-up?
The cab pulled up in front of Ladelle’s job and dropped him off. Some chick who worked in the area was standing outside smoking a cigarette. Ladelle knew she worked close by, but he didn’t know exactly where and didn’t care.
”Good morning,” she said to him licking her top lip.
”Yeah, good morning,” Ladelle replied. She put her cigarette out and followed him inside his building. Ladelle looked back at her. Scram, will ya? he thought.
”My name is Lisa—and you are?” she said giving him her sexiest come-fuck-me look.
”I am happily married with a baby on the way,” Ladelle said watching the sexy look melt off her face.
”Congratulations,” she said not really meaning it.
Beat it, Barbie, Ladelle thought. That’s just what she looked like—fake hair, tons of makeup and showing too much skin. Ladelle never did like chicks like that. Without the makeup they looked like shit. He liked his chicks natural. He started to tell her to go and find a pole to dance on.
Ladelle got to work, punched in, changed into his cook uniform and got busy. He made small talk with the other cooks as he chopped up carrots, celery, onions and green peppers. He was hoping the day would go by quickly; he wanted to do some shopping for the baby and Lydia.
Venus and Andre arrived at his place after going on a boat ride on the Spirit of New York. There was a live band and everybody was on the dance floor. Venus never imagined that she’d be having this much fun after BJ’s death. Andre made her feel alive again.
Andre had a nice bachelor pad. Venus looked around for signs of another woman staying there. There were none—at least she didn’t see any. She looked through his medicine cabinet for bobby pins, a douche, mascara, etcetera. Maybe he’s gay. The thought terrified her.
She sat on the sofa bed and checked the time; they both had to go to work in the morning. Andre slowly came up behind her. He began massaging her shoulders and kissing the back of her neck. His touch felt so good, and Venus felt like years of tension was being oozed out of her.
She got up and took off her clothes, and Andre undressed as well. He walked her over to the bed and then turned on his stereo system. He put on a Keith Sweat CD. The speakers pumped Nobody, and Andre made love to her like nobody ever had. Venus used muscles that she didn’t even know she had. They tumbled around on the bed, making love while Andre whispered sweet nothings in her ear...he was so big, and Venus prayed that he wasn’t damaging her uterus. They came together, and Andre rolled over and reached for the remote to the CD player. Twisted now played as he prepared to get in the shower. Venus dozed off, still hearing Andre’s voice in her ear and feeling his hands on her body. She really was twisted.
Andre awakened Venus. He had made a light breakfast for the two of them and was getting ready for work. Venus tried to focus; she wasn’t used to waking up in somebody else’s bed.
Andre brought her breakfast in bed. ”You look so beautiful in the morning,” he said.
”It’s too early to be telling lies, Dre. But thank you,” Venus said. She started fixing her hair...God, she hadn’t even brushed her teeth. She bit into a raisin bagel and drank some coffee.
Andre finished his breakfast and gave his keys to Venus. ”Lock the door, and I’ll see you at work. I gotta go to that meeting this morning.” Venus knew what meeting he was talking about. If he waited for her he’d be late.
”All right, drive safely. I gotta go home and change clothes,” she said before locking the door behind him. Now that he was gone, she had the opportunity to really snoop around.
Venus looked through his drawers and his mail. There was no indication that he was involved with someone else. Andre was too good to be true. She found his social security card and birth certificate and decided to run a check on him. She knew Share ran background checks on people all the time, and she would let her do it.
Venus got home, showered and changed. Bullet and Diamond had both given her a ‘why are you just getting in?’ look. She let them out the back door, filled their bowls up with food and headed out to work. She put on the headphone to her cell as she drove through traffic and called Share.
It seemed as if they hadn’t seen each other in ages. Share told Venus about the restaurant she was going to buy downtown, and Venus told Share about Andre, hoping she’d be happy for her. She was, even if it was so soon after BJ’s death.
”It’s not like you don’t know Andre; you’ve worked with him for the longest,” Share said when Venus asked her to run a background check on him. Venus thought Andre just seemed so perfect and there had to be something wrong with him. Share didn’t understand Venus’ paranoia, but she took down his information anyway.
Venus got to work and checked her voicemail. She had half a dozen messages. BJ’s aunt had phoned her, and the rest were business calls.
Venus returned the District Attorney’s call immediately. He told her that Annette’s lawyer was trying to cut a deal and have the charges reduced to a lesser crime. He said the chances of that happening were slim to none. They were closer to none actually, because Annette’s pregnancy test showed that she wasn’t pregnant at all. She had also failed a polygraph test.
The District Attorney’s office was ready to charge Annette with second degree murder if she didn’t cop out. Venus was very pleased with his work, and she wanted to be present when Annette got sentenced.
Venus hung up from the D.A. and called BJ’s aunt to tell her the good news. They agreed to be at the trial every day if it came to that.
Venus ended their call and sat back in her leather chair. She remembered her and Andre doing the damn thing right there on the office carpet. She laughed out loud to herself as their episode continued to run through her mind.
