Page 44 of Smoke

“You just love to act up around this woman,” I mumbled.

I headed for the sauna. Maybe I could get my shit together in there.

I feltlike a whole new woman after the spa visit with Devin.

He had no idea how bad I needed a moment to just relax and have a carefree day. I hadn’t had a massage in so long. The hair and head massage was absolutely the best part. I ended up falling asleep as they catered to me. This was what pregnancy should feel like, not the constant stress I was enduring.

The most surprising thing about all of it was the package delivered to my door the day after. I wasn’t expecting anything, so I was curious about what it was. When I opened the box, there was nothing but stacks of twenties and a handwritten note.

Pay your people and keep your peace of mind,

Smoke D.

I could have shit myself seeing that. I’d immediately called him to thank him and protest such a gesture, but he wouldn’thave it. He told me if I didn’t accept it, he was going to walk in there and personally pay the staff and make a scene about it. Safe to say, I accepted his kindness, immediately thinking of how I would repay him.

A couple days had gone by, and I was still in a pretty decent mood. It had been quiet around here since Patrick finally got what he wanted. In the week that he made me close down the shop, I had been there every night to let him in. As soon as the sun went down, he was calling me. One night, he had some strange guy meet us there. He wouldn’t let me in the basement, but I could hear what sounded like construction going on down there. When I snuck in the next day, there was a door I didn’t even know existed behind the brick wall.

There was a huge padlock on it that looked brand new, and I didn’t have a key, so there was no way for me to get inside. I was afraid to ask what was behind the door, but I didn’t like not having access to a room in a building I paid for. Everything in me told me that was where he was storing everything. Patrick gave me strict instructions not to have them moved. He told me there would be peace as long as I followed his orders. While I tried not to be the skeptic, I knew it wouldn’t last.

“Knock, knock!”

I looked up from my computer to see Laurel standing at my door.

“You leaving soon?” she asked.

“Yeah, in a few. I’m just submitting an inventory order, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“You want me to wait around for you?” she asked, tapping away on her phone.

I shook my head. “No, I’m okay. I won’t be long.”

“Okay. Well, everybody is gone, so I’m gonna lock up out front. I know you like to leave out the back.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you.”

She left the office, and I refocused my attention. It was nearing six, and I was due for dinner with my family about six thirty, so I had to hurry up. It took me another ten minutes before I was done. Gathering my things, I shut off the lights and headed for the back entrance where my car was parked.

When I opened the door, I was met with a cloud of smoke that threw me into a coughing fit. When the smoke cleared, I came face to face with Patrick and another man I’d never met, holding a duffel bag. He pushed me aside and stepped into the building.

“Come open this basement.”

“Patrick, please. I don’t want to do this. Why can’t you just take what you already have here and leave? I have children. One of them being yours?—”

“Bitch, I don’t give a fuck about none of that shit. I don’t want this little bastard. I’ll take that shit from you just because I can.”

I slapped the shit out of him. “You will never take my child, you son of a bitch!”

The feeling of his hand coming across my face caused me to stumble back into the wall.

“That’s the game you wanna play, Romi?” he yelled, towering over me. “Putting your hands on me like I won’t hit back? You must really want to see the side of me that you won’t like. Keep your shit up. Get down the hall and open the fucking door. Just because you want to be a bitch about it, you can sit and wait until we’re done.”

He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back down the hallway. When we got to the basement, he pushed me toward it. I was in tears as I fumbled with the keys to find the right one. Once I got it open, he motioned for me to go down ahead of them. I gripped the railing for dear life because I fully believed that he would push me down the stairs.

Patrick pulled a chair from the corner and placed it in front of me.

“Sit.”

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