regular ritual. She was so thankful for her son, who was beyond helpful. When she passed his room a few moments later, her question was answered after seeing him sound asleep with his mouth wide open.
Skye then glanced across the hall into Kareem’s room and immediately noticed his bed was still made up, which meant he hadn’t come home either. She was pissed off even more that he hadn’t called to let her know where he was.
“I know that bitch, Le Le, probably influenced him to stay out.”
When Skye got closer to the living room and saw a body on the couch with a blanket draped over their head, she breathed a sigh of relief that Cruze had come home after all. He was known for falling asleep after watching movies late at night. Before she could wake him up, Payton started crying again, this time having a full tantrum by kicking her feet and moving her head from side to side.
“Okay little girl, calm down,” Skye reacted.
After putting some apple juice in one of Payton’s bottles she headed back into the living room to wake Cruze up and drill him about what time he’d come in. However, when she got to the couch and pulled the blanket back, Skye was shocked to see that it was Kareem laying there…not Cruze.
“What are you doing out here or should I ask what time did you come home?” Skye asked with an attitude. She then frowned up her nose. “You smell just like sex. I know you didn’t come in here and lay your nasty ass on my couch!” she yelled.
A sleepy and dazed Kareem looked up and wondered why his mother was bothering him so early in the morning.
“Ma, please don’t start with me again. I’m tired,” he said, turning over.
Skye decided to leave him alone for now since her main concern was Cruze, but the shit definitely wasn’t over. She headed back to her room to get her cell phone and call him once again. As soon as she laid Payton back down in her crib, Skye wondered what type of lie he would come up with for staying out this time. Was it really work related or was he going to try and pull the same stunt he did the month before saying that he’d gotten drunk with the boys and fell asleep in the car?
After calling Cruze’s phone at least five times and it continuously going straight to voicemail, Skye’s head started to spin as she took her fist and pounded it repeatedly on her bed.
She then decided to text him as if that would make a difference.
Her blood began to boil, as each minute passed and Cruze never text back. After waiting for almost twenty minutes, Skye decided to go to his job and see if he was there or even worked the night before. She glanced over at Payton who’d fallen back asleep. She then walked back into the livingroom and woke Kareem up once again.
“I need you to listen out for Payton. Cruze didn’t come home last night and I need to go look for him. I’m worried.”
Kareem smirked, “There you go running behind another man. Where are you going to look for him at, the strip club? Tell Jordan to watch her, I told you I was tired,” he said, with a smart tone. When he attempted to turn back over, she yanked his shoulder.
“Kareem, I’m tired of you disrespecting me. If you think you’re gonna just come and go as you please and not do shit around here, you better think again! I’m sick of your selfish, lazy ass!”
Skye knew Jordan had been going hard for the past few weeks in football practice and didn’t want to wake him. But Kareem on the other hand never did anything to help her out and she was beyond sick of him not pulling his weight.
“Get the fuck off my couch! You bitched and complained about having your own room this time, so go get in your own bed!” Skye continued to roar.
Kareem sucked his teeth and jumped up snatching the covers. “You don’t say shit when Cruze be sleeping on the couch,” he replied, stomping toward his room and slamming the door.
Once again deciding to let Jordan rest, Skye chose to take Payton with her to Cruze’s job. As her heart paced, she prayed he was there as she quickly got dressed and grabbed Payton out of the crib still in her pajamas and left the house.
Skye made the fifty-six minute drive to College Park in less than thirty. She was so anxious to get where she was going, the police pulling her over for speeding was the last thing on her mind. While driving, she glanced at all of the people out walking the streets and began to think about her problems. She had so many thoughts in her head about whether she should go back to Miami. She also didn’t like the strained relationship between her and Kareem. Skye had let him get away with so much because of what he’d experienced the night Sandino was shot, but she was beginning to think he was using it as an excuse to be a loser and not do anything with his life. And that wasn’t going down. All her kids were going to be successful if she had something to do with it. She also didn’t know what was up with Cruze lately. All Skye knew was that she wasn’t about to put up with any more bullshit from another man. Years of putting up with Sandino’s lies and abuse were never going to be repeated.
When Skye finally saw the sign that said, Sal’s Used Cars she quickly turned into the parking lot and immediately noticed that Cruze’s car wasn’t there. She parked and grabbed Payton out the back of her black 2003 Nissan Maxima that Cruze bought when her Honda finally broke down. She remembered how proud Cruze was when he gave her the keys. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings so Skye acted as if she liked it.
Skye looked around and wanted to laugh at some of the old cars the dealership was attempting to sale. A gold 2007 Infiniti G35 was the nicest thing on the lot. She wondered if the cars were the new inventory Cruze had mentioned the day before. Skye couldn’t even picture Cruze working there, but he constantly told her how cool the owners of the mom and pop dealership were and how they didn’t judge him or the fact that he had a felony.
Skye walked towards the sign on a raggedy trailer that said office and went inside. The office was shabby, junky and smelled like moth balls. After seeing her reflection in a dusty mirror, she tried to finger comb her hair that was all over the place as an older man drinking a cup of coffee immediately walked over with a huge smile.
“I got the perfect car for you out back. It just came in yesterday and has your name written all over it. It’s a 2006 Honda Odyssey,” he said
“I’m not here to buy a car even though my boyfriend who works here told me about the new shipment of cars coming in. Is he here?” Skye asked.
“Who is your boyfriend? I know you’re not talking about my crazy ass nephew. You’re too pretty for Lamont.”
Skye shook her head. “No, I’m talking about Dezmond. Dezmond Cruze.”
The salesman looked at her crazy. “Who? Nobody by that name works here,” he informed, taking another sip of coffee.
Skye stood there for a minute. “Are you sure Dezmond Cruze doesn’t work here?” Skye looked around as if she expected Cruze to walk out of one of the offices in the back.
“Miss, I own this place, and I’ve been here every day for the past twenty years. I would know if somebody by that name ever worked here. I’ve had a lot of guys run through here, but ain’t nobody ever worked here by that name.” He took another sip of coffee. “Now, do you wanna take a look at that Honda? It’s a beauty. Only got 78,000 miles on it.”
“No, thanks,” Skye said, walking out.
Skye left puzzled. Cruze had been claiming to go to this job every day for the past seven months and it was obviously all a lie. She could feel her temperature rising as she thought,
After opening the back door and putting Payton in her car seat, Skye hopped in the driver’s side. She banged her fist on the sterling wheel with all types of thoughts going through her mind.
