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The Risk of Chance
CHAPTER 10
The more time I spent with Chance the more I started to really care for him. He started to become apart of my thoughts. I was even starting to find my self fantasizing about him and imaging his touch.
I was having thoughts of him that had never even allowed me to have about Vartan and he was my fiancé. I was way out of order, and I knew it.
One night after school, I had stayed late to grade some papers. Chance was cleaning up after his latch key kids, the last of which had just gone home. He was at the sink in the back of the room washing out some paint brushes. I had come from my classroom and walked into the hall and stood outside his open door.
The evening breeze made its way in through an open window and carried the scent of his cologne over to where I stood. He wore Kenneth Cole cologne. It drove me crazy.
Chance stopped instantly and turned around smiling sensing someone watching him from outside the open door of his classroom, he knew it was me. I was startled and completely embarrassed. I wanted to run away but my legs wouldn’t move at all.
He walked over to me, wiping his hands with a paper towel. He stopped & stood in front of me and smiled with the most gorgeous white teeth.
“You scared me”, he said, still smiling and penetrating me with his dark brown eyes as I stood paralyzed, knowing that he feared nothing. Fear was not even in his character.
I was speechless, and he knew it.
“Never mind! Lemme walk you to your car”, he said as he locked up the room and turned out the lights.
“I didn’t drive today, I got dropped off. My sister Pleasure is on her way to pick me up” I said as we walked down the semi-lit hallway, and out to the front of the school.
“Where’s your boyfriend tonight?” Chance asked sarcastically.
“You know exactly where he is. He’s in Cincinnati, he had a game against the Bengal’s.” I responded to Chance, placing my hand around his strong muscular arm.
“Well, I’m not much of a football fan!” he said as he laughed lightly.
“Hey. Aren’t you from Cincinnati?” I asked.
“Yeah“, Chance answered solemnly, as his mind seemed to go to another place in time. Chance was always kind of guarded about his past for some reason. Anytime the subject came up, he would become very quiet and distant, so I never really pressed the issue.
“So anyway, when is the wedding?” Chance said as a light smirk came across his face. “I don’t even wanna think about that right now. It’s actually the last thing on my mind if you really must know. I mean my mother is dying and all this nigga can do is…” I caught myself as I began to go into a full tirade.
“I’m sorry!” I said as I quickly got a hold of myself.
“No, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just...” Chance attempted to say as he was cut off by the sound of Pleasure’s horn blowing from her new Mercedes Benz SLK. Her stereo was bumpin’ the new Keyshia Cole CD.
“Well, I gotta go. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, drive safe. It looks like a storm might be moving this way.” I said before pausing and looking away to the other side of the street at someone that appeared to be staring at us but I couldn’t see their face because they were wearing a hooded sweat shirt.
“You okay?” Chance asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I responded as I looked back across the street but the person was gone.
“Yeah, okay then. Y’all be safe.” Chance said as I got in the car and shut the door. I turned down the deafening music. I love me some Keyshia Cole too, but I wasn’t about to let her bust my eardrums.
“Oou wee, girl! Was that Chance? Or do I even need to ask? That has got to be him!” Pleasure said as she sat there for a moment in neutral staring at Chance, almost foaming at the mouth.
“Yeah. That’s Chance.” I responded, looking back at Chance, almost foaming at the mouth myself. As Chance started to walk away as Pleasure punched the clutch and burned rubber speeding down NW 71st; sometimes she could be so hood!
Chance turned around and watched us as we headed toward I-95.
“Oh! Sweet Jesus! That boy is fine! No wonder!” Pleasure shouted as if she had been touched by the Holy Ghost, but there was nothing holy about what she was thinking.
“No wonder, what?” I responded quickly.
“No wonder you talk about him all the time. He is too cute!” she commented.
“I do not talk about Chance all the time! He is just someone I work with, end of story! Now, how is momma?” I asked after immediately putting Pleasure in her place about Chance.
“She’s fine. She’s there with the nurse, and Sister Walls is there too. Look, I was thinking, why don’t we take the night off and go have ourselves a nice dinner on South Beach. We can have a couple of drinks and chill out. Let's try and get our minds off things for a while. You could use a break!” Pleasure said as she headed in the direction of South Beach.
“I don’t know! I don’t wanna leave momma alone like that!” I responded.
“She’ll be fine and it’ll just be for a couple of hours. Come on! It’ll do us both some good to get out.” Pleasure responded.
“And we’ll check on her every thirty minutes!” she added.
“Okay. But only for a couple of hours!” I said hesitantly, as we approached our favorite restaurant, Joe Stories on the beach.
While we waited to be seated I called home to check on things at the house. Sister walls answered the phone and said that my mother was resting comfortably and had just had her bath and been put to bed. She told me that my father had just gotten home from church and was sitting with my mother in her room, which made me feel a little better.
Sister Walls said that she had been there all day and was about to go home and get some rest herself. But my mother was in good hands with my father and the nurse.
So, I decide to try to take Pleasure’s advice and try to relax a little and have a nice dinner. Pleasure was having no problem at all relaxing. She was already at the bar; having a drink and getting her serious flirt on with the sexy Cuban bartender as he mixed her drink.
I was just about to walk over to the bar with Pleasure when I looked out of the side window. There was that same guy I saw earlier across the street from the school. I recognized him because he was wearing the same grey hoodie. I tried, but still couldn’t see his face. Then I heard Pleasure call my name from at the bar, I quickly looked over at her and when I turned back around, just like that, the guy in the hoodie was gone.
I walked over and sat down on the bar stool next to Pleasure and forgot all about the stranger once we began talking.
“I just called to check on Mama. The nurse said she was resting and my father was there too”, I said as I stared at Pleasure sideways.
“Good! See, I told you everything was fine when I left. Stop worrying! Let’s just chill and have a little fun. Girl, do you see this bartender? He is as fine as he wanna be! I’m gettin’ my holla on tonight! I’m through wit’ Boom” Pleasure said as she stuck her finger into the glass of Hennessey she had ordered. She pulled her finger out, and licked it, in full sight of the bartender.
“Yeah right! Where have I heard that before? And why are you actin up? When did you start drinking?” I asked as she teased the bartender with her eyes.
“Girl calm down! It’s just Hennessey! You act like I’m in here smoking crack or something! Relax! Oh! Look there’s yo’ husband on T.V. Opps! He dropped the ball again! What else is new? Let’s hope he’s better in bed than he is on the football field or you are gonna be one sexually frustrated housewife. But I guess that doesn’t matter too much, since sex doesn’t really interest you anyway“ Pleasure smirked and pointing to the television set that was positioned above the bar, set on ESPN. They were showing the game between the Miami Maxx and the Cincinnati Bengals. As the camera panned across the field and onto the sideline I just about choked on the glass of water I was sipping. There was Dilonda Lovetts, from Liberty City. “But it couldn’t be” I thought to myself, trying not let Pleasure see my expression. She hated that girl because she swore up and down that Dilonda was after Vartan. But had already told that she was messin'’ around with one of the other players from the team. I just didn’t feel like hearing Pleasure’s mouth. So I decided to distract her with a little friendly argument.
“Well, at least I’m not messin'’ wit some thugged out street hustla from Overtown! And still getting’ up in front of the whole church on Sunday mornings fake, praisin’ the Lord!” I fired back rapidly. Most people still had no idea that Pleasure and Boom-Boom were involved, nobody but me. And I never told anybody, not even my mother.
“I’m sorry, Girl! I didn’t mean any harm. I was just givin’ you a hard time, that’s all” Pleasure said as she grabbed my hand, knowing she had really struck a nerve. But I knew how to strike right back.
“It’s cool. Hey! Our table is ready. Let’s eat! I’m starving!” I said as the waiter motioned for us to followed him over to the table to be seated.
I ordered the Seafood Deluxe. Pleasure had the grilled salmon Florentine. We both had the Baked Alaska for dessert.
Dinner was fabulous and it really did feel good to get out of the house, and get things off my mind. I was able to push everything out, except for the thought of Chance. For some reason, I just could not get him out of my head.
Pleasure talked all-night about her new album. She said that Big-Mann was pressuring her to get back into the studio. But she told him that she needed more time, because of my mother.
He told her that he didn’t care about that. He said that her mother was dead, and that there was nothing that she could do for mine. So he wanted her back in the studio in two weeks, period. He said that she had a music career to think about, and that she was affecting his money. And in the end that’s all he ever really cared about was his money. I never like that fat bastard anyway!
So, after dinner we paid the bill, which came to $190. And we didn’t even have enough left for a to go box. But Pleasure paid for it, so I guess it was okay. I didn’t throw money around like that, because technically I was sill poor.
I mean, true enough, we lived in a nice home in Miramar and my father now had a brand new Caddy, and Pleasure was rolling around in a new Mercedes Benz s500, but I was still a school teacher, making 45,000 a year, so I drove a car that I could afford and only spent according to my budget.
Vartan tried to buy me a luxury car as an engagement gift. He said that no fiancé of his ought to be ridin’ around in Honda accord, because he had a reputation to up hold and that I was cramping his style. But I explained to him that things expensive didn’t impress me. I didn’t need a $100,000 car to make me feel special, because I knew that I already was special. I still don’t think that he ever really understood.
That night, it was starting to get pretty late, so we headed home. On the way, I decided to call and check on my mother once more and let my father know where we were. But there was no answer, which was kind of strange.
“It is after eleven-thirty! Everybody is probably asleep. At least they were, until yo’ happy ass decided to ring every phone in the house. You need to relax, before you bust an artery or somethin”, Pleasure said as she turned up the stereo again, about to let Keyshia Cole destroy what was left of my hearing.
The next fifteen minutes were torture on my eardrums. I praised the lord as we approached our sub-division and Pleasure had to cut the stereo down. They didn’t play that ghetto stuff around there like they did in Liberty City, it was a $1000 fine for breaking the noise ordinance, and Pleasure had already been cited twice by the police.
As we got to the house everything was calm. All the lights were out. Everybody seemed to be asleep. We both eased in the front door. Pleasure went into the kitchen for a glass of water and I went in to check on my mother.
Quietly, I walked down the hall, stopped at my mother’s room, gently turned the knob, and opened the door.
Immediately my blood ran cold. My mother’s heart monitor was beeping like crazy. I quickly turned on the lights and ran over to her bed. She wasn’t breathing and she had no pulse.
I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran out into the hallway. Pleasure hurried from the kitchen. I told Pleasure to call 911 and go back in the room with my mother. I ran down the hallway in terror looking for my father, knowing that he must have fallen asleep and not heard my mother’s heart monitor going off.
I ran up to his door without knocking and turned the knob.
“Daddy, Daddy!” I yelled as I opened the door to find my father on the couch, buttnekket, in between the legs of my mother’s nurse. They were going at it like two rabbits.
I was sick. I couldn’t speak or catch my breath. I threw up all over the floor.
My father and the nurse scrambled for their clothes. The nurse tried to run out of the room pass me but she slipped and fell in my vomit. I quickly reached out and grabbed her by her hair and slammed her face against the hard marble that was all covered in puke. My father jumped in between us and tried to break it up, so I punched him too. Just then, the paramedics were beating at the front door. Pleasure ran and let them in.
My father started yelling, “What’s wrong, Bean Pole? What’s wrong? Why are paramedics here?”
Apparently neither my father nor that nasty bitch nurse had any idea what was going on. I guess they were both too horny to hear my mother gagging for her last breath. The nurse was so embarrassed that she ran out of the house and left.
The paramedics rushed my mother to the ambulance, and then off to the hospital, I road with them. Pleasure jumped in her Mercedes and sped the whole way. She even beat us there.
CHAPTER 11
The Paramedics worked on my mother the whole way, but there was nothing they could do. It was too late. They said that she had lost too much oxygen. So, the doctors pronounced her dead at 12:16am that morning.
I sat in the emergency room in shock. Finally, Pleasure and my father arrived. They knew my mother was gone. They could tell by the look on my face that she had passed away.
My father began to cry. I walked right up to him and tried to slap the damn taste out of his mouth, Then, I just walked out of the hospital.
Pleasure was completely stunned by my actions, because she didn’t get the joy of walking in and seeing him with his dick inside the nurse. So she had no clue. But she ran out side to catch me and I told her what had happened. She broke down all over again.
That night, not only did I lose my mother, but I also lost my father.
I was so confused and had no idea about what to do next. But I knew one thing. I knew that I could not go back home. And I didn’t want to be alone so I called Chance.
By then, it was almost three o’clock in the morning. But I didn’t know who else to call. I didn’t even think to call Vartan. He was actually the last person on my mind.
So, I asked Chance to come and pick me up from the hospital. He was there in twenty minutes; he pulled up in a wet, candy colored BMW745. I had never seen his car, so I had no idea that he was rollin’ like that!
I hugged Pleasure and told her that I needed some time to think and I’d call her in a day or so. Then I jumped in to the car with Chance and we pulled away.
“I’m sorry, Angell” Chance said as we rolled down Biscayne.
“Yeah me too” I said leaning back in the soft heated leather seat as we sat at the red light near the end of Biscayne.
Just then out of nowhere three thugs wearing ski masks surrounded the car. They were each armed with semi-automatic glocks.
“Get the fuck out the car! Get the fuck out now, nigga! And hurry up!” The second thug shouted as he stood beside the driver’s side door and pressed his pistol against Chance’s forehead. Click here to order this novel
