The Ex Project by Nia Arthurs
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Has anyone heard from Zaka?”
Latoya handed her a glass of wine. “No, is something going on?”
“She hasn’t returned my text messages.” Yolanda folded one leg under her and got settled into the crook of the couch. “I was wondering if she’d reached out to any of you guys.”
“Nope.” Giselle pulled her mass of curls into a ponytail and shoved it to the top of her head.
On anyone else, the rebellious bun leaning lopsidedly to the left would have looked ridiculous, but Giselle turned it into a high-fashion style.
Yolanda sighed heavily. “I texted her a few days ago to see if she needed a ride to Giselle’s tonight. Then I texted her again today, but I got no response.”
“She would call if she needed help, right?” Giselle asked.
“Zaka didn’t strike me as the type to ask for help.”
Yolanda froze and considered Latoya’s words. As a former social worker who specialized in counseling children affected by abuse and neglect, Latoya knew what she was talking about.
“Why do you say that?”
“She had the same look Malika did back then.”
Giselle rested her chin in her palm. “Like she wanted to run away from home?”
“Like she wanted to slap you?”
“No.” Latoya snorted. “Like she has the world on her shoulders and she’d do anything to make sure no one knew about it.”
“Now you’re making me nervous,” Giselle said, glancing back and forth between them.
“Did you really get that sense from her?”
“I could be wrong.” Latoya shrugged. “People are generally reserved when they enter a new space or meet new friends. Maybe that guarded look was shyness.”
“Yeah, but we’re not plain ole friends. We’re K-pop enthusiasts. Our relationship is deeper because we all love Ong Sung-hoon.”
“Truth.”
“I wonder what could be wrong.”
Yolanda glanced at Giselle. “Zaka told me a few things in confidence. Without breaking her trust, I can tell you that she’s dealing with a lot right now. I’m worried about her.”
“You said you called her and she didn’t pick up?” Latoya arched an eyebrow.
Yolanda nodded.
“Why don’t we bring the K-pop session to her?”
Giselle smiled. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll drive!” Latoya flashed her keys. “Using Cole’s convertible makes me feel closer to him.”
Yolanda rolled her eyes.
After they’d packed up the popcorn, brownies and chocolate, they jumped into the convertible and headed to the south side of Belize City.
Latoya’s fingers tightened on the wheel as she slowed Cole’s ride in front of Zaka’s wooden shanty. An old man smoked in front of it, his black eyes boring into hers.
Nervously, Latoya squeaked, “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Cole’s beloved truck here.”
“It’ll be fine. Didn’t you say Cole used to drive this around the warehouse district?”
She nodded.
Yolanda glanced at her friends, her stomach uneasy. “Guys, stay here. Let me check this out.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“I’m fine.” Yolanda climbed out of the car and strode up to the gate.
The man with the cigarette stared hard at her. She ignored him, trying not to let her fear show. Just because she’d grown up in an affluent gated community, it didn’t mean she was unfamiliar with rougher neighborhoods. The Walshes hadn’t kept their wealth for generations by being naïve.
“Zaka?” She gripped the fence railing and leaned forward, trying to peek inside the slats of the dark house. There was no movement.
“Nobody here by that name,” the old man said.
She jumped, finding him closer to her than when they’d first arrived.
Beady eyes slid up and down her body. “I’m renting this place now.”
“You are?” Her eyes widened.
He nodded.
“Do you know where the girl who lived here before went?”
“Nope.”
“Can you put me in touch with the realtor or landlord who rented you this place?”
“Nope.”
Yolanda scowled in annoyance.
Two car doors slammed behind her. Giselle and Latoya had emerged from the convertible. It felt good to have backup and Yolanda grew bolder.
She dug into her purse, took out some cash and slid it into the man’s dirty palm. “Do you remember now?”
“Give me a pen and paper.” He scribbled the address down and then blew smoke in her direction. “You have a man?”
“Yes, I do.” Yolanda lifted the paper. “Thanks for this.”
“Anytime, sweetness.”
Yolanda scoffed and hopped back into the car. Giselle and Latoya followed.
“There are many things we need to discuss,” Latoya said calmly, speeding through the empty Belize City streets. “But let’s deal with the most pressing right now. Are you going to hunt Zaka down?”
“I am.”
“Tell me if you need any help. I’ve still got some contacts working in social services. Even though Zaka’s an adult, her brother might still be in the system.”
“Thanks. I’ll consider it.” Yolanda worried her bottom lip. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that Zaka was in trouble. She’d looked so weary that night while explaining how much debt she was in.
Nothing happened to her, did it?
“Next matter on our agenda.” Latoya glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Are you and Duane officially together?”
Heat bloomed in her cheeks. To avoid answering, Yolanda glanced outside at the colorful houses and cheerful coconut trees bracketing the boulevard.
“Silence means yes.”
She slid Giselle a dirty look.
Latoya laughed. “Are you two together or not?”
“We’re not faking anymore.”
“Honey, we knew that much. I’m asking if you’re officially a couple.”
She gave a thumbs up and then covered her face.
“At last. If you said anything but yes, I would have beat you myself.”’
“Hey!”
“That man publicly humiliated your ex-boyfriend in a football game just to defend you. If that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is.”
“He gave Devon the last goal,” Yolanda pointed out.
“Which is ten times hotter than if he’d been a bully all the way through.” Giselle twisted around so she could look at her in the backseat. “Did you guys go on a date after the tournament?”
“We went to his mom’s house.” Yolanda smiled when she remembered kissing a half-naked Duane in bed. “Oh.” She straightened. “I found out that we didn’t sleep together that night.”
“Told yah!” Giselle barked out a laugh in Latoya’s face.
“Dammit!” Latoya slapped her palm on the steering wheel. “Go on and take your fifty from Cole’s dashboard.”
“He keeps that kind of cash in here?”
“He’s crazy.” Latoya rolled her eyes.
Yolanda frowned. “You two bet on me?”
“Yes, indeed,” Latoya sang, without a speck of shame.
“The more I got to know of Coach Marden,” Giselle explained, “the less likely I thought he was to have a fling with a parent. He’s too responsible.”
Latoya groaned. “But the way he looks at her is so intense…”
Yolanda laughed.
“He’s attracted to her, yeah, but it’s not just physical,” Giselle said. “He looks at her like she’s his entire world. He treats Tay-Tay like his own son. I don’t see someone like that pouncing on a woman when she’s barely thinking straight.”
“And I,” Latoya defended herself, “was sure that Yolanda wouldn’t be mistaken about something as massive as having sex with her son’s football coach. I was betting on you.” She shook her head slowly. “You let me down.”
Giselle snickered.
Yolanda hunkered in her seat. “I’m disowning you both.”
“Too late. You’re stuck with us.”
Latoya slowed the car in front of Giselle’s apartment building.
“Are you guys coming back up?” Giselle asked, stepping out of the car.
“It doesn’t feel right. We already inducted Zaka as an official member. Meeting for K-pop Sunday when we don’t even know if she’s alright…”
“True.” Giselle tilted her head. “I’ll go inside and call West then. Yolanda, you’ll keep us updated and tell us if you need our help?”
“Definitely.”
Giselle wiggled through the window and gave Latoya a one-armed hug. Next, she turned to Yolanda who was standing on the side of the street, fishing for her car keys.
“I’m really happy for you, Yolanda. You deserve to have someone adore you.”
She sighed. “Do I?”
“Do you what?”
“Deserve it?”
“Why wouldn’t you?” Giselle blinked.
Yolanda opened her mouth but voicing her doubts to her friends would, somehow, make them more real. Give them more power.
Pulling back, she shook her head. “Nothing. I need to pick up Tay-Tay from Devon’s studio.”
Giselle flashed a pretty smile and waved in the moonlight. “Safe trip home. Kiss Tay-Tay for me.”
“He always runs from my kisses.”
“Then hunt him down if you have to.”
Yolanda laughed, waved and drove off.
* * *
Devon’s studiowas located on the first floor of a two-story building. The bottom half used to be a hair salon, but now it was locked up and graffiti colored the white paint.
She parked in one of the empty spaces and called Devon.
He answered quickly. “Yollie, what’s up?”
“I’m here for Tay-Tay.”
“Already? Me and Little Man were just starting up a new round.”
“You’re playing games?”
“He’s got me playing FIFA. Says it can help me when I join another football tournament.”
She smiled because she could imagine Tay-Tay saying something like that. He was serious about his football and his video games.
“Why don’t you come up?”
“It’s okay. I’ll wait down here.”
“That wouldn’t feel right,” Devon said smoothly. “And Tay-Tay would worry. Wouldn’t you, son?” There was a pause and then, “He said yes.”
She laughed. “Fine. I’ll come up. But only for one game.”
“Straight.”
Taking in a deep breath, Yolanda gathered her purse, cell phone and keys and headed to Devon’s studio.
He was at the door waiting for her. His appreciative look slid down her checkered maxi dress and reminded her of the old man with the cigarette.
“You look fantastic. Why’d you always get so dressed up just to meet with your girls?”
“I like getting dressed up, period.” She scooted past him and walked into the room.
The ‘studio’ was just a bare apartment with a section roped off with foam boards, a microphone stand and a mixer. Her son was in the tiny living room, sitting on the floor. A large bottle of soda was open beside him.
Yolanda frowned. “You gave him sugar?”
“I’m not like you. I don’t know how to be the bad cop.”
Yolanda started to walk forward when Devon put a hand on her arm.
She jerked back and shook him off.
He lifted both hands in surrender. “Calm down. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“It’s been a couple weeks since you gave me that ultimatum.”
Her stomach knotted again and her body felt cold.
Devon tilted his head. “I’ve been picking Tay-Tay up from practice everyday. I showed up to his game—”
“Late,” she reminded him. “You missed his match.”
“Yeah, but I came.” He stepped closer to her. The golden light twinkled in his diamond earring. He wore a sleeveless shirt that showed off all his tattoos and hinted at the markings on his muscular chest.
“Yolanda,” Devon’s voice was breathy, almost like a moan, “you’re my family. You gave birth to my kid. That’s not something anybody can replace.”
The breath she pulled into her lungs was shaky. “I’m with someone else now, Devon.”
“That coach punk? He’s not Tay-Tay’s father. He won’t ever love that kid like his flesh and blood.”
She bit down on her bottom lip.
“You think that’s natural? Tay-Tay doesn’t even look like him. Everyone will have questions. Everyone will know something’s up. I don’t want my son to go through that.”
“What I do and who I date has nothing to do with you.”
He grabbed her hand. “Yolanda, please.”
Her heart pounded fast.
“You promised me a chance. You promised.” He was almost pleading. “One date.”
Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “Devon.”
“One date. Let’s go out. Have a nice time. Try to recapture what we lost.”
She opened her mouth.
He quickly added, “If you still don’t feel anything for me, if there’s really no spark between us, I’ll let you go. I won’t bother you about getting back together again.”
She whirled around and stared into his eyes. “You mean it? You’ll stay involved in Tay-Tay’s life without trying to get at me?”
He nodded.
She glanced at the floor, considering the proposal. It was a great opportunity, but the thought of Duane made her hesitate. She knew him. He’d be utterly crushed if she went out with Devon.
“One little date won’t hurt anyone, Yollie. Huh?” Devon pressed close and whispered, “What do you say?”
