“All the best,” Suave told him. “If there’s anything I can help you with in the future, let me know. I really mean that.”
As Joel did earlier, Suave stretched out his right hand to Phil. Phil looked at it for a few seconds, chuckled, and then grasped it for a firm handshake. An unspoken understanding passed between the two unlikely allies.
* * *
“Oh, my baby is back! I love you so much.” Nadine stood on tiptoes placing kisses all over Joel’s face. “Thank you, Lord.” Kisses kisses kisses. “I give you all the glory, Lord!” More kisses.
Suave rolled his eyes as he stood on the veranda, watching Nadine’s reunion with their son. “Thank you, Lord,” he mimicked under his breath, disgusted that once again, God was getting credit for something He didn’t do. “Makes me sick to my stomach.”
As Nadine and her husband fawned over Joel, celebrating his return and giving God praise, Suave walked out to the truck parked in their driveway.
“Nadine is very happy.” Daddy Lizard crossed his arms, his back braced against the truck, grinning at Suave.
“Yeah, and giving God all the thanks,” Suave said dryly, his back turned toward the house. The men continued talking in hushed tones for a few minutes, making plans on how to get back at King Kong and Saddam for killing Cobra and kidnapping Joel.
“We have to teach them a lesson they will never forget,” Suave said through his teeth.
“Hey, Nadine is coming our way, and she’s not looking happy anymore,” Daddy Lizard whispered.
Suave turned around to face Nadine and said, “So Joel is back home safe and sound.”
“And I intend to keep it that way,” she snapped. “I want you to stay away from my son!”
“Excuse me?” Suave looked at Nadine as if she had lost her mind. “Your son? He’s my son too.”
“I’ll be in the truck,” Daddy Lizard mumbled. He opened the door and hopped in, pulling it shut.
“You caused all this,” Nadine yelled, spit spraying Suave’s face. “You could have gotten Joel killed.” Tears filled her eyes. “I don’t want him around you and your dirty lifestyle.”
Suave briefly closed his eyes in frustration, trying to curb his anger. “Listen, just calm down and take it easy, okay?”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” Nadine pointed her finger into Suave’s face. “My son was kidnapped by your drug-feuding enemies. Michael and I don’t want you around Joel.”
Suave stepped even closer, bending slightly until he was nose to nose with his son’s irate mother. “If you think you and that bootlegged deacon boy can keep me away from my son, you better think again. You robbed me of the first four years of his life—wasn’t that enough for you?”
Nadine’s head snapped back like she had been slapped. She still felt guilty at times for having kept Joel away from his father for all those years. “That was then, and this is now.” She refused to back down on her decision. “You are endangering Joel’s life, and we have to protect him.”
An ugly grin crept up on Suave’s face, his eyes blazing fire. “We’ll see about that. I dare you to try to keep my son away from me.” With that said, he turned around and marched over to the passenger side of the truck. Suave tugged the door open, then paused to glare at Nadine one last time before he got in and slammed the door shut.
Daddy Lizard started the vehicle in silence and began reversing out of the driveway onto the street, the truck’s headlights washing over a furious Nadine.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Suave stormed into the house he shared with Monica and their kids as Daddy Lizard drove off. It was almost 2:00 a.m., and he was mad, hungry, and... well, mad. An eerie quietness greeted him as he entered the living room. Certainly, Monica was only kidding when she said she was leaving... wasn’t she?
He entered their bedroom, and the empty king-sized bed was neatly spread with one pillow in the middle. His heart racing, he moved to the closet and pulled it open. Only his clothes were hanging in there. Still unable to believe what he was seeing, Suave rushed into his son’s room and began opening one dresser drawer after the other... to find them all empty. His daughter’s room was the same. Monica had taken the kids and left him.
His chest rising and falling, Suave closed his eyes as he rubbed the center of his forehead. It felt like his head was about to split in two. “I can’t do this,” he muttered, his eyes filling with tears. “I really can’t do this.”
Suave walked like an old man to the master bedroom and threw himself facedown onto the bed. He had never felt so alone.
Unable to hold it back any longer, a small river began seeping from his eyes into the pillow. Soon, images of Cobra flashed into his mind like movie clips. There was a young Cobra when they were kids and going to high school. An excited Cobra when they were running drugs for Mason. A determined Cobra when he started working for Suave... and a dead Cobra as he lay still and powdery in his casket.
The pillow muffled the deep sobs. This wasn’t Suave, the big wealthy drug lord but the wounded man who was facing one tribulation after another. And the images kept coming. Joel being kidnapped, Monica leaving with the children, Detective Bird questioning him about Danny’s death, and Nadine vowing to keep Joel from him. Just then, the images were replaced by “The Voice.” The one that Suave was now used to but least wanted to hear.
“I’m here for you, my son,” said the Lord. “Come to me.”
Suave’s bawling increased, his body shaking at the intensity of his pain.
“You will find peace with me, my child. Come home, Suave.”
Suave ignored Him as he usually did, crying himself into an exhausted sleep.
* * *
The sound
