I threw up my hands and headed back toward the door. He followed me, walking so close he stepped on my heels. I stopped and whirled around. “You must think I’m crazy!”
“If you make me blow the whistle on you when I’m giving you a chance to stop me, you crazier than me!” he yelled, stabbing my chest with his finger.
I grabbed Milton by his shoulders. I pushed him up against the wall and held him in place. I couldn’t tell which one of us was breathing and snorting the loudest. “Do you honestly think I’d be willing to put you on the MacPherson’s payroll and you don’t work there?”
“Turn me loose, Odell!” His breath was so hot, I was scared I’d get scorched. I released him and moved to the side, huffing and puffing like a bull. “Don’t you never come in my house and manhandle me again. It’d make things a whole lot worse than they already is,” he warned.
“All right. I’m sorry. I just lost it,” I apologized.
“You give me my money under the table in cash and ain’t nobody got to know nothing.”
I stared at the floor, which was where I thought my stomach had dropped to. When I looked back at Milton, that stupid, crocodile grin I had come to hate was on his face. “And how long do you expect me to pay you off, man?”
He shrugged. “As long as you want to.”
“And what will happen when I don’t want to?”
“You can answer that question yourself.”
Chapter 50
Odell
LAST NIGHT AFTER TWO DRINKS AND LISTENING TO A FEW MORE minutes of Milton’s rigmarole, I agreed to pay him off every Wednesday, starting this week. That bastard! I cursed the day I met his greedy, lowdown black ass!
The day after our conversation at his house, he showed up at my door a few minutes after I got home from work with a stupid look on his face. “Today is Wednesday, so you know what I come for,” he snickered, looking over my shoulder. “Where Joyce at?”
“Don’t worry about her. She went to a tent revival with her mama and daddy so she’ll be gone for a while. Come on in.” I didn’t waste no time pulling out my wallet, disappointed to see that I didn’t have exact change. All I had on me was two tens and some loose change. “Can you break this?” I waved one of the bills in his face. “I didn’t have time to check my money before I left the store. I meant to get a few dollars from Joyce before she left but I forgot.”
“Nope, I can’t break no ten-spot. I ain’t got nothing on me but some pocket change.” He grabbed the money and slid it into his back pocket. “It’s cool, so don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t cheat you. Next week all you need to pay me is six bucks.”
“Fine,” I mumbled. “Listen, man. It’ll look suspicious for you to suddenly start coming over here every Wednesday. Sooner or later, Joyce will start asking questions.”
He shrugged. “No problem. Then you’ll need to bring my money to me. Just don’t hand it to me in front of Yvonne. And just to show you how fair I am, if you pay late I ain’t going to charge you interest. Just don’t make being late no habit.” Milton sniffled and gave me a smug look. “You mind if I sit down and stay a few minutes? I had a real hard day.” I couldn’t believe how casual he was acting. I didn’t want to do or say nothing that would make him mad. Paying him off wasn’t enough. I had to be “nice” to him too, so he wouldn’t raise the stakes.
“Yeah, but I have to go somewhere in a little while,” I told him as I waved him to the couch. I sat down at the opposite end with my arms folded, tapping my foot impatiently.
“I won’t stay long. I just wanted to chat for a little bit.”
“What about?”
“You really love your babies, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. I hope to have some more. I just pray that me and Joyce have a few someday. It would mean the world to her, and to me. But, after all this time, I don’t know if she’s able to get pregnant again or not. I’d never say that to her though. The miscarriage she had a few years ago was real rough on her. She bled for almost a whole week. What do you care? I thought all you cared about was money.”
Milton focused on the wall for a moment, and then he turned to me with the saddest face I’d ever seen. I thought he was about to cry. If one of us had something to cry about it was me! But I refused to let him see me squirm any more than he already had. “I can understand you having a attitude, but things could be a whole lot worse for you. I could have been a sure enough asshole and took your money and told Joyce about you and Betty Jean anyway.”
“You might still do that!” I seethed. I got up and stood in front of him. “But I’m telling you now, if you do, you’ll curse the day you was born!”
Milton’s eyes got as big as walnuts and he stood up. “I could take that as a threat!”
“You can take it for whatever you want.”
“Humph! Well, I know you don’t mean it as no threat. I don’t know you that well, but I can tell that you too sissified to be the violent type. I picked up on that the first time I met you.” The self-satisfied smirk on his face was off the charts. I couldn’t get no madder if I tried. On top of everything else, this low-down
