“Yes, I know. He has that effect on me too.” Nadine kissed Joel’s cheek.
Joel giggled, and Suave grinned.
Every little thing gonna be all right.
Chapter Twenty-five
“This is a nice place you have here, Suave,” Nadine said as she walked through his house. Every room was nicely furnished and immaculately clean. But that was Suave. “It’s in a nice neighborhood too.”
“It’ll do for now. In a few years, I’ll be your neighbor up on the hill.”
Nadine paused at the door leading to the veranda and looked at him. “That’s what I want to talk to you about. Your choice of career.” She emphasized the word “career.”
“Nadine, I know you don’t like what I do,” Suave began, “but it’s only for a while.”
Nadine sucked her teeth, walked out on the veranda, and took a seat in one of the three chairs. “A little while, huh? Until when, Suave? Until you get killed or locked up for the rest of your life?”
Suave sat facing her. “That’s not going to happen. I’m very careful, and I know what I’m doing.”
“I bet you do.” Nadine rolled her eyes. “I can’t bring Joel around that life, Suave. People might be after you and get him instead.” She trembled at the thought, fear lurking in her eyes.
Suave felt like an eel for the worry he was causing her. “Listen to me.” He waited until Nadine locked eyes with him. “No one but Cobra and Daddy Lizard knows where I live.”
“Of course not,” Nadine replied in a too sweet voice. “Only the animal kingdom knows your whereabouts.”
Suave threw his head back and roared with laughter.
Against her better judgment, Nadine laughed too.
“Girl, that’s why I love you.” Suave took a gulp of breath. “I’ll always love you, Nadine.” The mood turned serious. The former lovers stared at each other, the atmosphere tainted with their sexual tension.
Nadine shook her head. “It’s over, Suave,” she said above a whisper. “We are too different in so many ways. That ship has sailed.”
Suave stared at her. He knew he could have Nadine in his bed in the blink of an eye, but he would respect her wishes. He didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize his relationship with Joel. Suave had lost them before, and he didn’t want that to happen again. “Okay, but I’ll always love and respect you,” he said. “You are my son’s mother, and I’ll always be here for you and him.”
“I know.” Nadine smiled at him.
Over the next few weeks, Nadine allowed Suave to see Joel at least twice per week. Now Suave had unsupervised visits with his son for an entire day, and he hoped soon he would get to keep Joel overnight.
That day, Suave watched Joel ride his tricycle around the yard, and pride filled his being. “Be careful, Joel. You’re going too fast.”
Joel grinned at his father but continued speeding on the trike. Suave shook his head and smiled. At the rate Joel was going, he would soon need a bicycle. Suave had Joel for the entire day. His mother had dropped him off that morning and would be back to pick him up later.
“Daddy, your phone is ringing.” Joel stopped the tricycle in front of his father, staring up at him.
“Hello?” Suave said irritated because Cobra and Daddy Lizard knew he had his son and didn’t want to be disturbed.
“Sorry to bother you,” Cobra said as if he read Suave’s thoughts. “We have a situation and need your permission to handle it.”
“Hold a second.” Suave looked down. “Joel, go on inside. I’ll come and give you your lunch, and then we can watch cartoons, okay?”
“Okay.” Joel leaned his trike up against the side of the house before he ran inside.
“What’s going on?” Suave asked after Joel disappeared inside the house.
“The store owner in Spain Town refused to sell us any more candy.”
Suave’s nostrils flared in anger. “What? We don’t owe him anything.”
“He said King Kong was paying a better price and was ordering many more candies than us. They are now exclusive.”
Suave fired off some expletives before he glanced toward the house and lowered his voice. “You know King Kong is just trying to mess with me, right?”
“Yeah, I know. But what are we going to do about it?”
“Nadine is coming for Joel around five o’clock.” Suave looked at his wristwatch. It was 12:30 p.m. “I’ll meet you and Daddy Lizard at your apartment around six o’clock.” Fuming, he flipped the phone closed.
* * *
“So, how is little Suave doing?” Daddy Lizard asked Suave when he entered their apartment that evening. Suave had invited him and Cobra over to have lunch with Joel and Nadine one afternoon. The men had looked from Joel to Suave and from Suave to Joel in amazement.
“Good God, look at little Suave,” Cobra had remarked. “I wonder if the world is big enough for two of you.”
Nadine and Suave had laughed at Cobra’s comment. By the end of lunch, Nadine could not help but like Cobra and Daddy Lizard. She didn’t like what they did for a living and told them as much, but she and Joel enjoyed their company.
“That’s my little man right there.” Suave’s eyes twinkled as he talked about his son. “Can you believe he asked me to drive my car?”
Daddy Lizard laughed. “Yup, old before he’s young, just like his daddy.”
Cobra, who was in the kitchen and heard the comment, roared with laughter. “Like father, like son, right?” he yelled.
Suave chuckled as he and Daddy Lizard walked into the kitchen and took seats around the table. In front of Cobra was a huge pile of marijuana that he was cutting, weighing, and wrapping up in little pieces of plastic paper.
“Why are you doing that?” Suave asked him. This was a job for one of his soldiers.
“Well, since we didn’t get any supply today and we already collected all the money, I decided to just go ahead
