Page 59 of Fight for Forever

Most of the stories are about his fight with Joey, the original one, and this one that has been put on hold, pending results of Joey’s drug tests. I hate reading that.

I skim through news reports, social media posts, his social media, and follow trails from friends who’ve commented, his family. After a while, I realize I’m on the wrong track.

It’s not the people who like him I should be looking at. It’s the people who don’t like him. Ones who have had nothing but bad things to say about him, and ones he has hurt over the years.

The further down that rabbit hole I go, the more I dislike this guy. Obscure comments by people on his posts take a while to distinguish from disgruntled internet trolls and people who genuinely have a problem with the guy.

After what seems like forever, my eyes are hurting from all the staring at the screen. I come across a woman who has made a few comments about him being a thief and a liar. I’m not sure this is the smoking gun I need, but I click into her social media profiles and try to glean some more information.

She posts about her brother, who passed away about seven years ago. She doesn’t go into much detail about what happened, just obscure comments it was not his fault, he should never have been where he was, and you can’t trust your so-called friends.

I switch over to a fresh page and type in their names. Police shot and killed her brother during an attempted robbery at a convenience store when he was sixteen. I have to google Astoria Heights, and learn it’s an affluent, middle-class area in Queens.

His family says he was a good kid, never got into trouble, the school corroborates it and everyone seems shocked this boy was involved in a crime like this. It mentions another suspect was present at the time of the robbery, but remained unidentified and eluded police. Was it Marris?

Biting my thumb nail, I double back and check on Marris and where he grew up. That wasn’t something I checked before. He was born and raised in the Queensbridge Houses, a public housing development in an area in Queens. Apparently, it’s one of the largest housing projects in North America. It’s about two miles away from Astoria.

My mind reels. This could be something to help Joey get back at him.

I’m so lost in my thoughts, I barely hear my phone ringing. It’s been hours since I text Joey, so I’m surprised when it’s his name on the display. I lunge across the desk and grab it. Who knows how long it’s been ringing?

“Hello?”

“Hey, I was just going to hang up and text you. Am I interrupting something?”

“No, I’m not busy,” I glare at the image of Kelvin Marris on my computer screen. I slap it closed so I can no longer see his face. “How are you?”

“I’m okay. Things are happening.”

“They are?” I ask. I don’t know what else to say. I want to help him, but I don’t want him to reject me. Not as much as he already has done by not calling me. His calling is a good sign though, right?

He’s quiet for so long. I pull the phone away to check the call hasn’t dropped out.

“Meg, you believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” I say. “You don’t even have to ask, Joey. If you’d taken the time to talk to me, I could have told you that days ago.”

That brings more silence. I didn’t mean to be so forthright, and my voice carried an edge of irritation I want to take back and tell him I didn’t mean it. But I bite my tongue. I won’t apologize for being angry and upset at him blocking me out.

“I’ve kept quiet for so long and tried to avoid everyone, so they don’t get dragged into this,” he says. “Angelina hasbeen blowing up my phone for days. Dixon had to tell her it was for her own good and to stop hassling me.”

“It’s only because she cares.”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighs. “It’s been hard. Ignoring all the bullshit in the press, letting him spew his vile crap about me. Me hiding away has nothing to do with not wanting to stand up to the prick, and everything to do with protecting me and my family and friends.”

My heart melts a little, but I’m still not convinced he means me.

“All the people I care about Meg,” he says. “You more than anyone.”

“What?” I breathe out.

“The asshole was saying shit about you.”

“What?” I blurt out this time.

“Yeah, he didn’t mention you by name, but he was saying shit about ‘my woman’. The fucking prick is lucky Sam was there to stop me going after him.”

My mouth is hanging open. That’s why he stayed away? Because he was protecting me?

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