B O R I S

XXIII: The First Card

The dial tone ended in her voice.

"Hey! You've reached Olyvette Grant! I can't answer the phone at the moment, but I promise I'll call you back when I get the chance! Have a beautiful day!" Bleeeeep.

A groan slipped my lips as I turned my engine off in the Fassbender driveway. I was lucky that her car wasn't parked there. I would have walked into a damn blood bath, I felt like. After this morning's event, I had every reason to believe that Olyvette was silently just as crazy as I was.

My heart beats faster at the thought of it.

My baby girl with blood in her manicured fingernails and clotted in her clothes aroused me in more ways than one.

Shit. I'm here for a reason. Snap out of it, Boris.

Getting out of the car was dreadful for my skin. It was forty-eight degrees out and all I wore was a college sweater with a tank top under it. Jeans hugged my bottom half, of course. Should've worn boots rather than my light running shoes. Would have done me more good.

Not important.

I didn't even knock. Only home owner that was present was Michael. Tia's too-big-for-her-body white truck was missing from its place next to Michael's matching black one. I wondered where she had gone as I made my way through their kitchen and to their den. The television roared about the room and in front of it sat the sleeping man.

"Michael," I called him out of his old-man nap. "Where's Ashley?"

His eyes fluttered open and set on me. "Oh! Hey, Boris. She's upstairs with the kid. Think she said they needed to get back to sleep or something. Not sure. They've been quiet." He adjusted himself onto his side, tucking his hands under the pillow. "Go see. First guest room on the left side of the hall."

"Great, thank you."

I followed Michael's directions and opened the guest room door. It smelled of cinnamon and apples. Reminded me of my Olyvette. It also reminded me that I need to be careful in this situation. She could walk in at any minute and light a fire under my ass.

As soon as my foot stepped into the room I felt arms wrap around my waist. "Boris! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I don't know what I would have done if you didn't call your dad!" Ashley cried. "I really owe you but I don't exactly have my wallet with me." She thought for a second. "How about some head? You want some head? I've lowkey always wanted to give you some head. I'm Jill Scott good, baby. For real."

I quickly shook my head no at her offer. "No, my girlfriend would murder me." If I still have one. "All I need from you is to tell Olyvette everything you were ordered to do by Nate when and if she gets here. Understand? That's all I need from you. She doesn't believe me one bit. She thinks it's the craziest thing to come out of my mouth."

Ashley nodded in understanding. She ran a hand through her curly hair and sighed. "Yeah, boss. I get it." She let out a soft chuckle. "I'm sorry for that head thing."

I waved my hand, insisting that she doesn't worry about it. Plenty of women wanted a taste. I was never surprised especially from what I saw on social media. Women will lose their minds over men they don't even know. But I'm sexy so I can't exactly blame them. That's probably why Olyvette is having trouble believing me now.

The front door cracked open as the soft alarm sounded through the house so everyone knew there was a guest.

"Dad!" My heart sunk as I heard my heart broken goddess's voice crack. "Dad!"

"Yes, darling. I'm here! What's the matter-"

I pushed Ashley back into the room before I closed the door, stepping into the hallway.

"I'm never falling in love again!" Olyvette's cries echoed. "I found pictures of some hot tailed bitch in Boris's camera roll! He cheated, daddy! Then he tried to say that Nate sent her to him so she could to to seduce him! Like what type of crazy shit is that! Did he really expect me to believe him?"

I quietly stepped to the top of the stairs and listened to their conversation. It didn't dawn on me until then that I never explained the situation to Michael. He didn't know why the hell I asked him to take Ashley into his home.

"I know." Oh? Never mind then. "He was telling you the truth. Well, at least what I know of the truth. I don't know every single detail of the situation. But you need to speak to him and her." He looked up at me from the foyer.

Her eyes followed his and caught mine. "What?"

Michael and I sat across from Olyvette and Ashley at the kitchen island, looking at each other and waiting for the first card to be played. After getting tired of the silence, Ashley broke it by telling everything that Nate did and said. How he bribed her and threatened her all in the same breath. He told her he would pay her thousands of dollars if she did it and murder her son if she didn't. She showed her messages and pictures he sent to her. Times, places, where to hide the camera and also how to erase all traces.

"I could never make this up to hurt another black woman, Olyvette. Especially not to a black woman that Boris is with. I respect you both and your relationship too much to make up something like this. But I had to do what he asked of me. I had to protect my baby boy. I'm really sorry," Ashley let out a deep sigh after she told her absolutely everything she could remember.

I looked to my queen for an answer. Her eyes were planted on the marble counter. Her face was expressionless.

I cleared my throat, shifting in my seat. "Say something, Oly," I begged. "Please?"

Olyvette set her hand on Ashley's fidgeting ones. "I'm so sorry.." She looked up at the woman next to her. "I'm sorry that you had to get dragged into something that literally had nothing to do with you. Nate is insane and he needs to be in prison or something, anything that will keep him away from all of us."

"Sounds like he needs to die," Michael mumbled.

I almost agreed with him until his daughter shot him a glare. "No, we are not killing Nate! He is sick and needs help!"

"Damn the help, Olyvette!" Michael roughly planted his hand on the counter. "Boris has already tried to take care of him and be his help and obviously he doesn't want it."

"Well what the hell can I do, Dad," she shouted back. "I'm sorry! I know this is my fault he is acting this way, but I don't have an answer to stop it-"

I shook my head out of holding in my anger for too long. "This is not your fault, Olyvette. This is him being sick and trying to ruin everything around you until he gets what he wants. I refuse to let him continue to look for ways to hurt you."

"I'm not going to sit back and watch you hurt him, Boris." Oly rested her eyes on me.

"Well." I stood and grabbed my keys off the counter, placing them in my pockets. "Guess you'll have to close your eyes."