Out of Control

“Let’s go outta here, Bobby,” Black said and turned around. Bobby laughed and followed him in. Jada turned and looked around. It was almost like she could no longer feel his eyes on her. “Come on, Alex,” she said quickly and started for the building. Knowing that he had a habit of leaving without telling her, she picked up her pace. She got to the front door in time to watch them drive away. Jada started to call him and make up some excuse for him to come back, but then she caught herself. She went upstairs to her office and tried to push all thoughts of sex with Mike Black out of her mind.

“Where we goin’?” Bobby asked as Black drive away from Paraíso.

“Home. I promised that I would take the girls out on the boat this afternoon,” Black said as his cell phone rang.

“You got a cell phone?” Bobby asked.

“Cee insisted. With her being pregnant she needs to be able to get in touch with me if she needs me,” Black answered as the phone rang again.

“Drivin’ your own car, got your own cell phone. What other surprises you got for me?”

Black gave him the finger. “Hello.”

“Hello, Mike. It’s Deidra.”

“I was beginning to think that you weren’t gonna call.”

“I needed some time to think,” Deidra said. She spent the night thinking about whether she wanted to come back to the island.

“I understand.”

“Anyway, I’m staying at the Hilton.”

“Good. Relax and enjoy your evening. Tomorrow morning you catch a flight back here and we’ll talk then,” Black said.

“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know when my flight arrives,” Deidra said. She started to ask about Harry, but she knew if she was coming back that it was over and Harry was dead. “Mike.”

“What?”

“Thank you,” she said and ended the call. Deidra was sincerely thankful to be alive. She knew that she could have suffered whatever fate Harry had. Still, Black’s words echoed in her mind. You work for me now. Deidra wondered what she was going to be doing. She hadn’t had to do anything other than tell Harry what to do these last few years. But she had no prospects in Miami other than to hit the streets. Whatever Black had in mind for her was surely better than that.

“What you gonna do with her?” Bobby asked.

“Put her to work doin’ what she’s best at,” Black asked.

Later that afternoon, Black sat alone on deck in the shade, while Bobby, CeCe and Michelle fished off the side of the boat. He looked at his family; his brother, his daughter, his woman and thought that this was what life was all about. What made all the things he had done over the years worth doing; family. Being able to provide for and take care of his family.

Just then, Michelle put down her fishing rod and came to sit in her daddy’s lap. “What’s wrong?”

“Uncle Bobby is catching all the fish and me and Cee haven’t caught anything,” Michelle said and buried her head in his chest.

“Uncle Bobby’s been fishing a long time. He’s good at it. When you get older you’ll be good at it too, if you want to. You can do anything you want, all you gotta do is want to,” Black told his daughter.

After a while, Michelle drifted off to sleep and Black took her below. When he got back CeCe was sitting there. “What’s the matter? Bobby run you off too?”

“That what Michelle said?”

“She said that Uncle Bobby was catching all the fish and you two haven’t caught anything,” Black said and sat down.

“Well he is and then he talks shit about it. But that not why I came over here,” CeCe said.

“You feel all right?”

“Yeah, I feel pretty good today.”

“I’m not makin’ you sick to your stomach?”

“Not today, but I have been staying away from you. You know how I get being around you for too long,” CeCe smiled.