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“I don’t understand why, when we are paying you according to the terms of your contract. I’m sure the men who work for you have families who are relying on their earnings.”
Floyd frowned. “I’m going to pay them. I just got a couple of weeks behind. This man here is nothing more than a loan shark. He only cares because he loaned my workers money with exorbitant interest rates and is upset that they can’t pay him back.”
Karl didn’t bother defending himself, by saying that although he was a loan shark, his interest rates were lower than the banks’. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t have to explain or defend himself to anyone, especially a woman who’d been born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
Nyla Roker then looked at him with as much disgust as she had for the contractor. “Both of you need to be ashamed of yourselves, preying on the less fortunate.” Then she said to Floyd. “I can’t do anything about how this man conducts his business, but I can for you, Floyd. I want your workers given their back pay by the end of the week, or I will have my father release you from this contract.”
Floyd Harris’ frown deepened. “You can’t do that. I won the bid for this job.”
“Yes, we can do it, and if I tell my father about you not paying your workers, he would. Pay them by Friday and make sure it includes interest that’s been compounded daily. That is only fair.”
And then as if that settled it, Karl watched her walk off, not sure just what to make of her. However, he could attest that the contractor had given the workers their back pay with interest, just as she had demanded.
Their second meeting came a couple of months later at a charity fundraising event. Unlike their first meeting, when he had worn jeans and a pullover shirt, he wore a tux that night. Looking breathtaking in a gown that captivated him, she recognized him the moment he recognized her. But she had stayed her distance, and so had he. Then, near the end of the evening, they bumped into each other in a hallway. That’s when she asked why he was there. His response had been, “The same reason you’re here. Raising money for my neighborhood.”
“The same neighborhood you prey on with exorbitant interest rates?”
He stared hard at her. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear, Miss Roker.”
She frowned. “Are you saying that you are not a loan shark, Mr. Halifax?”
He smiled. “On the contrary, I am a loan shark. Just like my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, before me.”
“You sound awfully proud of that.”
“No reason not to be, since we provide a service to the community.” There was no need to tell her that the only difference was that, unlike those ancestors before him, he offered different repayment terms.
Again, she had walked away in disgust.
Their third meeting had surprised the hell out of him when she had actually shown up at his office in the hood three months later. She had been smart enough not to show up sticking out like a sore thumb by wearing her designer digs. Instead, she wore jeans and a T-shirt. The same thing he had been wearing the day they’d met. And she had come with receipts.
In other words, one day while reviewing grants for her charities, she had discovered an anonymous donor had been funding a lot of people’s medical bills, rent, school tuition, and funeral expenses. Upon digging deeper, she had discovered that the person was him, and she’d had the audacity to question him about it. Mainly wanting to know why he wasn’t taking credit for all he was doing.
Annoyed by her question, he’d angrily shown her the door. But only after making sure she understood he didn’t need the credit, which would make it all about him. He preferred the attention be on the people that he was trying to help. They were the ones who were important.
He thought that would be the end of him seeing her again, but it wasn’t. Five months later, he received an invitation to attend the grand opening of the community center. The same one where they had met when it was under construction. He saw no reason not to attend but hadn’t known the effect that seeing her again would have on him.
Karl would admit he had been thinking about her, but seeing her again had sealed the deal for him. This time he didn’t try to avoid her, and had gone so far as to ask her out on a date. When she accepted, he told her to pick the place.
He hadn’t expected her to choose a soul food restaurant near the community center. Over the years, he had gotten to know Mama Sally, the owner. He later learned that Mama Sally had worked for years as a cook for the Rokers, and that Nyla had set the older woman up in her own business without her parents’ knowledge.
That had been a very special date, and the start of their friendship and then their relationship. He had gotten to know the real Nyla Roker, and she had gotten to know the real him. He had shared his prison days with her, and she hadn’t been offended. When she asked if he was the same man as he had been back then, he had honestly told her no, that he wasn’t.
He had spent time telling her about Sheppard Granger and the older man’s impact on his life. She had told him about Mama Sally and the impact the older woman had on her while growing up. They met every week for lunch, and then more frequently with dinners added. Things were going great as they got to know each other until her folks found out and demanded that she stop seeing him. She had refused to do that.
The only person who had accepted their relationship was her father’s sister. The woman lived in New York and was Nyla’s favorite aunt. She would come to Tampa twice a year to visit. Karl had met her during one of those visits. A year after their date at Mama Sally’s, he and Nyla made their relationship official and had been a couple ever since.
He understood her, and she understood him. He was convinced they were meant for each other, and the thought of losing her was something he could not bear to think about. He loved her just that much.
“Karl?”
He glanced over at the bed. Nyla had sat up and was looking around the darkened room for him. “I’m over here, sweetheart.”
Sliding out of bed, she came to him and eased into his outstretched arms. Without being told, he knew she needed him to hold her, reassure her that he was okay. They were okay. She told him countless times that when he was fine, she was fine, too.
He began getting his shit together years before she entered his life, but he could truthfully say she was the first person who had truly gotten to know the man he had become. For that he was grateful.
As he continued to hold her in his arms, he had to believe that Locke would clear him of the charges because he refused to spend time in prison again. Being away from Nyla was something he didn’t want to think of ever having to do again.
