The Silver Lining (3 page)

I grabbed the bottle and poured whiskey into my glass. A little more liquid courage will do the trick. I’ll just transition from talking about my prison case to asking for work. Ugh! Now or never.

“It was tough to pull this off, but the courts are allowing me bar work again. You guys need help around here? You hiring?” I nervously asked.

“Wow. They hardly ever let someone with what you have on your record work anywhere around liquor.”

“Right. Maybe it’s the King name. I don’t know. I’m just pleased I got a break in that area.”

“Yeah man. I could use the help. I had a few guys that quit on me last week. It’s been hard since you left, bro. You were my best bartender.”

“Tell me when. I’ll be here.”

“Tomorrow night good with you?”

“Yeah. That’s perfect,” I said. I felt this stupid grin spread across my face, but I couldn’t help it.

“Alright.” Mike smiled from ear to ear. He begun to wipe down the bar.

I grabbed my glass of whiskey, and tossed it back. The heat slid down my throat, as I breathed out an invisible fire. I slammed the glass down and stood up.

“I hate to drink and run, but I have to get going. My brother Chad’s coming back in town tonight. If I’m not there for his arrival, the Earth may stop turning, and according to my mother we can’t have that.”

“That’s funny. How’s your mom? Still meaner than a cat on fire?”

“Meaner? I think that woman eats battery acid for breakfast.”

We both laughed, and shook hands.

“I’ll see you tomorrow and we can catch up, James. Take it easy.” Mike waved as I turned to leave.

I jumped back into the beamer and drove back to my temporary place of residence as I liked to call it. As I pulled into the driveway, I could already see my mother standing outside with her hand on her hip. I parked the car quickly and mentally prepared myself for her dramatics. I stepped out of the car and walked over. She put the palm of her hand out. I looked at her hand first before I dropped the keys into it.

“Take my car again, and see what happens. The next time I’ll call the cops on you myself.”

“Glad to be home, mom. I see things are still the same,” I said and walked past her.

“Have you been drinking and driving my car, James?” she yelled and followed me inside.

I ignored her and walked into the living room. I didn’t want to fight, but I could feel she did.

“James, you answer me when I talk to you, damn it.”

“I’m not a child anymore. Stop treating me like one,” I said and turned around.

“Well, stop acting like one.”

“How would you even know what a child acts like? You were a non-existent mother. A nanny named Anna raised me and Chad.” I didn’t even mean to say it. It just came out. That comment definitely had been sitting at the surface of my mind. It was mixed in there with all the other stuff I wanted to say like a big pot of shit talk family stew.

She held her chest, as a stunned expression fell upon her face. I could see the nameless, pretty cleaning girl dusting behind my mother. She was definitely listening to this whole conversation and thinking how dysfunctional this family was, or maybe how dysfunctional I am. Fuck. I don’t care. I’m about to put it all out there, because I’m tired of hiding behind walls. I’m tired of pretending the King family was perfect.

“Are we talking about character? I’m not the jail bird here, am I?” she yelled.

“That’s not fair and you know it. Zach handed me a backpack and asked me to carry it for him. How the hell was I supposed to know we were doing a drop? I had no clue what was in that backpack.”

“Two pounds of cocaine and you had no clue? You must think I’m stupid.”

“No, you’re not stupid. A stupid person doesn’t have the ability to whore them-selves out for money in sheer perfection the way you do.”

She reached back and slapped me. The sting ran across my face. I looked down at the floor before I stared back at her. My eyes shifted from my mother to the cleaning girl who was now just staring at us. Her hand quickly covered her mouth in shock. I looked back to my mother with a mix of embarrassment and anger. I squinted my eyes and exercised a few breathing techniques, because my first reaction was to strike back. I would never hit a woman, but an unhealthy anger was building and building within me. This was our relationship. It always had been. She was poison to me and when she was around, my sunshine was stripped and torn away. No beauty. No blessings. Just a storm in high heels.

“Don’t you ever in your life, say something like that.” She pointed her finger at me. The doorbell rang. She adjusted her dress and ran both of her hands along the sides of hair. She exhaled hard and then smiled. “Now, go get dressed. The guest have arrived.”

This was so like her. Life was always a show and no matter what, when the pretend cameras were on, so was she. She dropped her smile and waved her hand in the air. I backed up slowly, keeping my eye on her. I turned and walked away. I could hear her letting people in and laughing with them as if nothing happened. How could she do that? How could she just turn her emotions on and off like a light switch. I slammed my hands against the wall in the hallway as I walked back to my room. Everything about this woman burned me up. What I hated the most, was that out of all the people in the world, my own flesh and blood made me feel this way. I almost wished I was back in prison, just so I wouldn’t have to see her face.

I was determined to get out of this house quickly, away from her and back to a normal life. A life which did not include Victoria King, but for now I would have to dance with the devil just a little longer.

I looked into the mirror and straightened my tie. I searched my face only to see brown eyes and a frown. I combed my short brown hair and threw just a bit of gel in it, and then tossed my hair through my fingers, until it looked like a perfected mess. I had to admit I looked sharp, but this style of clothing was far from what I would normally wear. I was more of a jeans and T-shirt guy, not a dress shirt and slacks man. I grabbed the cologne bottle and sprayed a few spritzes across my chest. I sat down and slid into my shoes. I was just about to polish them when the sound of knocking made me sit at attention. I remained quiet, hoping that if it was my mother, she would just go away, but the knocking became faster and louder. I stood up, walked over and swung open the door. It was her, the sexy maid.

My face was scrunched into angry wrinkles just five seconds prior to opening the door, and now I couldn’t un-wrinkle them fast enough. I didn’t want her to think I was upset with her. She stood in the hallway looking at me with those big, beautiful, green eyes. I watched her quickly scan my body and for a minute I felt something. Chemistry maybe. I know women, and right now the way she was looking at me told me she found me attractive. I raised an eyebrow while she continued to damn near drink me in. This girl was too fucking cute. Was it weird I wanted to grab her and kiss her right then? The thought was too silly to entertain.

“Your mother asked me to come get you. All the guest are here, waiting for you to join them for dinner.”

Whatever you do, don’t stare at her cleavage,
I kept repeating in my head. Her eyes met mine and I forgot what she even said. Something about my mother. Damn, look at those lips of hers. I just want to—

“Ugh, what?” I responded. I was pretty sure at this point my body had taken over and I was seducing her involuntarily, not that I would put up a fight. My body knew what I needed, and it was her. It was definitely her. Shit, my eyes just dropped to her breast.
Look up. Don’t be a pervert.

“Your mother…she asked me to…” she cleared her throat, “Come get you for dinner. There are guests and food. People are waiting.” She appeared nervous as she spoke, which kind of set off the predatory side in me. I wanted her, and I wanted her now. I played it off cool. She probably had a boyfriend, or husband anyway.

“What’s your name?” I asked grinning. I couldn’t have cared less about the guests downstairs, or the food, or my mother. There was something about this girl that made my head stop spinning, and I liked that. How do I casually ask her if she is single without coming on too strong?

“I’m sorry?” she replied. Her face was filled with a look of surprise, almost bordering shock. Had no man asked her name before? It seemed that way by the peculiar way she was acting.

“I want to know your name. You do have a name, don’t you?”

“Emily Rose Monroe.” She chuckled. Damn, even her laugh was sexy.

“I have one question for you, Emily Rose Monroe. What are you doing working here? You can’t be older than twenty one.” I leaned in closer to her. She backed up a step, clearly keeping space, making distance. All that shit girls do.

“Twenty four and I’m just working here to—”

“James, please do not keep our guests waiting any longer. It’s rude,” a familiar voice cut off Emily and from the ashes of hell, she arose. Almost out of thin air. Diabla, my mother, tapped her foot behind me.

Thank you so very much for cock blocking,
I thought. I rolled my eyes, and turned to my mother who was now looking at the poor girl in such a way it made her uncomfortable. Emily put her head down and walked away.

“What are you doing?” My mother said, as she approached me with her usual look of disapproval.

“What do you mean?”

“A maid? Really? You can do so much better.”

“Oh, you mean someone like you. Wealthy, obnoxious, judgmental and pretentious. That sounds exactly like my kind of woman.”

“Listen here, you little shit. I worked hard to get to where I’m at, and no one is going to take it away. If you want to decline a life of luxury and live amongst the poor that is your deal, but don’t come in my house and start pointing fingers. I hope you remember who paid for all the court costs and lawyer fees. If it wasn’t for me, you would have served a longer sentence and you know it. I expect every dime of that money paid back too. So while you sit under my roof, eating my food and wearing the clothes I bought for you, I would appreciate a little appreciation, James.”

My mouth was clenched now. I crossed my arms and stared her down. She lifted up her chin.

“My father earned everything you have, so don’t feed me that garbage. You had nothing before him. He gave it all to you and how did you repay him, by taking his partner to bed.”

Again I felt the palm of her hand fall hard across my face. I collected myself and looked up.

“You’re going to stop smacking me. I’m not a little boy anymore, and the next time you lay your hands on me it will be your last.”

We stood in the hallway just eyeing each other. I heard the shuffle of feet and looked back to see Emily standing there. There was a sadness in her eyes that pissed me off. She probably felt some type of fucked way about all of this. Shit, I know I did.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Mrs. King, but the guests are becoming impatient.”

“Let’s not keep them waiting then, mother.” I turned and walked passed Emily making no eye contact. My mother and her loud ass heels followed behind me. I walked to the table ready for war. My brother spotted me and instantly stood up and walked around the table to get to me. Chad stood a little shorter than me, with not a brown hair out of place. He was wearing something my mother would have picked out, and it just pissed me off even more. Chad always tried to please her. He was scared of her. If it was up to him, he would be wearing shorts and sandals instead of this tucked in preppy look that I knew she just loved. He pulled me in for a tight bear hug and sadly I was filled with so much anger I couldn’t even smile.

“James, it’s good to see you, brother. I am so glad you’re home. I missed your face. I didn’t even know until I got here, that today was your release day. I’ve been so busy with school. I haven’t even looked at my calendar. I feel really bad. I would have brought you a gift or something.” I shook my head. He looked me up and down. “Let me introduce you to my friend, Gary.”

I stared at Gary and back to my brother. There was some type of odd body language between the two that set off all kinds of flags. It was the way they smiled and looked at each other. It was the way when Gary stood, Chad pulled his chair back farther like a gentleman. It was definitely the way my brother kept his hand on the back of Gary as he spoke. I know this, no straight man is that attentive to another guy. I always suspected Chad might be gay, but this here just confirmed my suspicion. I didn’t really care either way, but I wished he would just come out already. I reached over and shook Gary’s hand. Gary reminded me of those guys who fix your computer at Best Buy. The Geek squad. He had a certain nerd thing going for him, with the white shirt, black glasses and blond hair slicked over to the one side.

I looked down the table to see another couple who I didn’t know and I didn’t care enough to get to know. I quickly waved at them before my mother introduced them. I didn’t even bother to listen to their name. I’ll just call them Mr. and Mrs. I don’t give a shit, because I didn’t. I could already tell what type of people they were, by the way they both arched their eyebrow and whispered to one another when I entered. I caught a quick snort from the Mrs. They didn’t know that I noticed, but I did.

I plopped down with disgust, as my eyes connected with my mother’s. She sat there in her red dress looking like a she devil. I wouldn’t be surprised if flames shot out of her ass tonight. I just kept staring at her, imagining how different my life would have been if I had actually had a real mom. I mean, look at her smiling, and acting like the world is her own personal stage. Look at this shit here. Inhale and exhale.

“So, James. Is it true that you were just released from prison today?” asked Mr. I don’t give a shit. He swirled his wine around, sniffed at his glass and stared at me waiting, just waiting like the prick he was.

Inhale and exhale. It’s just a dinner. We don’t need to go to war, right? Breathe.

“Yup, sure is,” I replied and stared down at my empty plate and then across the table at all of the food.

“I told you,” the guy said to his wife and chuckled.

I jerked my neck up. “Excuse me. Did I miss something?” I asked the wine drinking asshole.

“Harold, we shouldn’t talk about that at dinner. Let’s discuss how your Step Up magazine is doing instead. James has had a trying day. He doesn’t want to discuss his personal business right now, right, James?” My mother turned to me and smiled.

I looked at her dead in her eyes, and smiled right back. She shifted in her seat. Oh, I know this guy, Harold. I remember him. Now, I know why I didn’t like him. This asshole ran a tabloid called Step Up News. I remembered, because he wrote a story on me, and how I was a childhood addict and how I was the reason why our family tore apart, and that the stress from it all killed my father. He was the biggest douche bag ever. No good person made up blatant lies like that. I couldn’t believe my mother had him sitting here. I guess she wanted a story redo, and she would definitely get one after what I was about to say.

“There’s no better time than now, mom. Honestly let’s air all of our dirty laundry out. Let’s give your guest something to talk about.” I turned my attention from my mother to the guy who was whispering to his wife again. He looked up and now I had his full attention. Hell, I had the whole table’s attention. Here goes. “Since you asked, yes, I was busted on cocaine charges. I just served over a year, and today was my release day. Nobody gave a shit about picking me up today, so I took a cab home and had to deal with nosy ass neighbors, was followed by a maid who tried to stab me, because my mother has no pictures of me in the house therefore the maid thought I was a robber. But just like she wasn’t there for me today, I notice one thing. Carl, her husband is not here tonight. That’s because he’s been banging his secretary since he hired her four years ago. He’s probably busy tapping that as we speak.” I paused and looked around the table. My mother was clenching her wine glass so hard, I figured broken glass would be on this table any minute now.

“Oh don’t feel bad for her. It takes a cheater to know a cheater. My mother was banging my father’s business partner long before my dad died to further her career. How do you think she met Carl? Carl was my father’s business partner. Not enough yet? Let’s drop some more hidden secrets. The King family has plenty. Victoria planned this nice welcome home party for my gay brother Chad, not for me on my release day, but just for him. That’s right, mom. Your baby boy over there is gay. That’s not his friend with him. That’s his lover. I hope that doesn’t put a damper on your perfect life.”

I kept my eyes directly off of my brother Chad, but I saw him drop his napkin and put his head down.

“James!” my mother yelled.

“No, enough with all the secrets. Why does our family have all these damn secrets? Now it’s all out in the open. I think Chad should know you’re the reason dad is dead. Your affair killed him. You gave him a heart attack.”

“Get the fuck out of my house, now!” she screamed and stood up.

“Gladly,” I said, as I pushed back my chair with so much force the whole table shook, causing a few glasses to fall over.

I was already down the hall and headed straight for my room with plans to pack a bag, and get the hell out of dodge. I had a little money left over from what my mother gave me earlier. I’d get a hotel for the night and figure out what to do tomorrow. I marched into my room, straight toward the closet. I grabbed a duffle bag from the top rack, and started shoving whatever clothes I could inside.

“Those stay here. I bought them,” she barked from behind me. I swung around to see her huffing and puffing.

“Fine,” I dropped the bag. “Where’s my stuff? My old clothes, furniture and my car? Where is it?”

“Your stuff? Your car? Everything was sold. You didn’t think I was going to use all of my money trying to fix your mistakes, did you?” She laughed.

“You sold my car?” I pinched the bridge of my nose seeking some small piece of tension relief. “You know what? I don’t need any of it. I’m gone.”