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I sat quietly and watched her for the next thirty minutes or so; watched her until she went to sleep.
"Good-bye, Taye."
It was almost ten o’clock before I got up from the chair and went downstairs. I went to the bar in the living room, poured myself a drink, and drank it down quickly. I had another before I walked out of the house and got in my car.
I tried not to think as I drove to a pay phone to call Qianna. All I had to do to end this was not call, and it would be over. I stopped at a 7-Eleven about ten miles from the house, and pulled up in front of the phone, knowing that I had made up my mind when I left our bedroom.
I walked to the phone and dialed her number. "Hello," Qianna said.
"I’m out," I said, and hung up the phone.
I got back in the car and drove back toward the house. There was a sports bar not far from the house that Taye and I used to go to, before she lost the baby. I still go there every once and a while to have a drink and watch a game. I wasn’t a regular there or anything like that, but I went there enough that the regulars knew me. I had even told Johnny, the bartender, about the problems Taye was having, one night when he asked why she didn’t come with me anymore.
I went inside and waved to the people that I recognized, and took a seat at the bar. "Barcardi 151," I told Johnny when he put the napkin down in front of me.
"Comin’ out the gate strong tonight," Johnny said, and went to fix my drink.
"Me and the wife are having problems again."
For the next minute or two, I caught Johnny up on what had been going on with Taye. I told him that I loved her, and didn’t know what I was going to do next.
"Keep them coming," I said when he returned with my drink.
Just after Johnny put my second drink down in front of me, my cell rang. I looked at the display. It was Avonte calling. I couldn’t tell you the last time I’d talked to her, much less seen her. The last few times I called her, she had some lame excuse why she couldn’t get away. It didn’t take me long to get the hint that she didn’t want to be bothered, so I stopped calling.
Since I knew what she wanted, I started to answer the phone, but I knew that I was in the right place doing what I needed to be doing. I put the phone back in my pocket and picked up my drink.
I was pretty fucked up by the time he sat the forth one in front of me. That was also the first time that I paid any attention to the guy that had sat down next to me. He was drinking beer by the pitcher, and watching whatever baseball game was in front of him.
As the game began to go against his team, he started trying to talk to me about the game. For the most part, I just ignored what he was saying and kept on drinking. It wasn’t until he grabbed and shook my arm, when his team made a big hit to tie the game that I had something to say.
Besides, I was fucked up.
"Get your fuckin’ hands off me!" I yelled, and snatched my arm back.
"Did you see that? It’s all tied!" he yelled back and pointed at the big screen.
"I don’t give a fuck! Just don’t put your hands on me again, you fuckin’ asshole!" I yelled, and elbowed him.
"Who the fuck you think you talking to?"
"Talkin’ to you, asshole," I said, and pushed him this time. Before I knew it, he had hit me in the face, and I fell off my chair. I got up and went right at him.
I don’t remember too much after that. But I remember the bouncer coming at me, and me, taking a swing at him. I remember fighting with the police when they got there, but nothing after that, until I woke up on the floor in a cell.
* * *
Chapter Twenty
Avonte
I was alone.
For the first time since I left Tyrone, I was alone when I didn’t want to be alone. Since then, anytime I wanted to play, there was somebody available to come play with me. First Devin, and then Qianna. She had been occupying all my time lately; and I’ve loved every second of it. But not tonight.
I haven’t seen or heard from her in almost two days. I’ve called her several times, but she hasn’t answered, so I stopped calling. I hoped that she was just busy and would call me when she could, and that she wasn’t trying to give me a hint that she had moved on, and I should too. You know, the way I did Devin.
I know I could have handled it better, but I just couldn’t help myself. The last few times that Devin and I were together, I thought about being with Qianna the whole time. It wasn’t like I was in love with the woman or anything close that, but I’ll be damned if she didn’t have me so far gone on her sex, that it isn’t funny. There is something about the way she grabs
