by Amour
She nodded her head and then asked me about my parents, if they were still together.
“No. I wouldn’t know my dad if I saw him, and my mom . . . she’s okay, I guess,” I responded. I started looking around the restaurant because I had the feeling somebody was watching me.
“You okay?” Porsha asked.
I nodded my head yeah and continued sipping my Long Island Iced Tea. They talked in complete circles the entire time we were at the restaurant. I was too busy being worried, trying to figure out who was stalking me, to even care about whatever it was they were talking about.
After we were done with our drinks and food, we decided to head home. They wanted to set up another date and figured we should all do something every Friday. I didn’t like the whole idea, but I went along with the flow.
When we got to my block, there were police cars all over the place. They both looked back at me as we slowly drove down my street.
“They’re at your door,” Kim said. I looked out my window and saw that the police were indeed at my door.
“Take me to my mom’s. I know they want to question me about my neighbor whose husband whupped her ass earlier. I don’t have anything to do with that,” I said, lying. I sat back. I was so scared, and I couldn’t allow them see me sweat.
They both laughed.
“I know what you mean.” Porsha laughed.
Their giggling made me feel better. I sat in the backseat, wondering why the police had returned. They must’ve come back to arrest me, since there were so many of them.
I just prayed that my mom was home.
Chapter 11
I told Porsha and Kim that they didn’t have to wait for me to get in the house, because my mom was always there. I knew that was far from the truth. I hadn’t been to see my mom in years, and I really didn’t see the point in being here. She had made it clear that she couldn’t stand me.
I knocked on the door firmly. I could hear her getting up to answer the door. She looked through the curtain that covered the window on the door. She opened the door. If looks could kill, I would have been dead from her mean mug.
She didn’t say a word. She just moved out of the way so that I could enter. I looked at her small frame and knew that she wasn’t doing well. The house looked no different from how it had looked when I lived here.
I sat down on the couch and watched my mother as she sat down on the other end of it. She stared at me with so much hatred in her eyes. I just shook my head.
“What brings you?” she asked, knowing there had to be a reason.
“Just wanted to see you,” I lied.
She let out a small laugh and then said, “You know you’re wanted, right?” She already knew I was aware of it.
I let out a sigh. “How you know?”
“You’re only on the news. You ain’t been taking them meds, have you?”
I just rolled my eyes. She knew how I felt about those pills. I told her that I poured them down the toilet. She shook her head as she stood up and went to go get something.
Cancer had made my mother lose all her hair and a lot of weight. She looked sickly, and I could tell that this disease was eating her alive. She had gotten cancer from smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. She was one of those people that said she would never get cancer, yet she was taken by storm.
She came back with my diploma from my behavioral high school and took her seat at the end of the couch. I looked at it, and a tear fell. ANGEL CRYSTAL JACOBS, CLASS OF 2003. I looked at it and then back at my mom.
“You know that was the happiest day of my life. And even though I may have acted as if I hated you”—she shook her head as tears rolled down her face—“I didn’t and I don’t. I was just so hurt, Crystal. So hurt.”
I scooted down to her and grabbed her, and we embraced. This was the first time we had hugged each other in over two decades.
She looked me in the eyes and said, “I’m sorry for everything he did to you. I know you must hate me for allowing it, but, baby, I was dumb.” She cried. I just held her. I didn’t know what she was talking about. She had even called me by my sister’s name, so I figured she had the two of us mixed up.
The news had come on, and my mother turned it up.
“Chicago breaking news . . . Officials think they have discovered who the Chicago serial killer is. They say it’s a woman by the name of Angel Jacobs. Officials say they believe she tried to dispose of her car so that she couldn’t be traced. They found a pair of her red leather gloves that had DNA from Mitchell Perry and another man. Police are on a manhunt, trying to find Miss Jacobs. We have footage of her in a convenience store, buying lighter fluid,” said the blue-eyed reporter.
They showed the video of me at the store, buying the lighter fluid. My heart dropped. Something had told me to put that shit down, but I had ignored it. Then Josh was talking to the reporter.
“Here’s one of the lucky victims who she didn’t finish off correctly,” the male reporter said with a microphone in his hand.
Josh stood there, nodding his head.
“So tell us, Joshua, what exactly happened that night?” the reporter asked.
“I took her to a hotel with me, and she tried to choke me to death. I saw her in the store the day she bought the lighter fluid and knew she must have killed someone else,” he said, breathing heavily.
“She’s known to be dangerous and malicious,” the reporter said, ending the conversation. Then the subject changed to the weather.
My body started shaking, and my mother looked at me and said, “You need to either turn yourself in or leave town.” She started breathing weird, and then she collapsed. I rushed over to her and began shaking her.
“Ma! Ma! Wake up, please!” I begged. I was just now getting closer to my mother, and here she was, lying on the floor. I cried and screamed. I didn’t want to call the police, but I had to. I told them where to come. I checked my mother’s pulse. She was gone.
I kissed her on the forehead, and then I left. I took the back roads so that I could use a pay phone. I called Omar, and he answered on the first ring.
“Omar, I need you!” I cried.
“Angel?”
“Yes! Please come and get me,” I begged. I kept looking around, hoping nobody saw me. I told him where I was, and he said he’d be there in fifteen minutes. It suddenly started pouring. I stayed in the phone booth and waited for Omar.
A while later his Charger pulled up. I ran and got in.
“Baby, you’re all over the news,” he told me as he pulled off.
I started crying as I held my face in my hands. I didn’t know what to say. I was a wanted woman, and I had just lost my mother.
“It’s gon’ be cool, baby,” Omar assured me while he rubbed my back.
I was torn and had no place to go. I couldn’t go to jail. My sister needed me. We pulled up to a run-down house on the east side of Chicago. I didn’t complain, but I would never allow myself to stay at a dope house. At this point in time, I was desperate. We ran up to the porch as the rain continued to pour down.
He unlocked the door and led me in. The inside of the house shocked me. It was the complete opposite of the outside. It was well decorated, and it screamed “Expensive!” Omar was at the door, taking all his clothes off, and I just slipped out of my shoes.
“Sit down,” he demanded.
I went to take a seat on the cream sofa. I knew he wanted me to explain what was going on. I didn’t know myself. When he was stripped down to his boxers and socks, he came and sat down next to me.
“Now, what’s going on?” He was puzzled.
“Baby,” I said, shaking my head, “I honestly don’t know!” I put my hand on his leg and said, “I think somebody is trying to set me up.” I wasn’t lying. I wasn’t capable of killing anybody.
He looked into my eyes and shook his head. He grabbed me and held me tight. I could feel the love that he had for me through his touch. “You gotta leave town,” he whispered.
&
nbsp; I agreed, and I already knew that my only outlet was Cliff. We watched the news again, and it seemed as if I was on every other channel. My name was tied to several murders, and they were saying that I was the worst killer yet. They were warning all men to stay clear of me. There was a cash reward for any leads that led to my arrest.
I was praying that all of this was all just a bad dream, and that when I woke up in the morning, things would be back to normal. I knew they wouldn’t, though. I just couldn’t understand who would want to send me away for the rest of my life. I felt the world closing in on me.
Omar turned the TV off and carried me upstairs. He set me on his king-sized, wood-framed bed and kissed me on the forehead. He kept asking me to tell him about myself, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell him; I just couldn’t remember anything.
He held me close to him throughout the night. Before I fell asleep, he whispered in my ear, “I love you.” I smiled. Through all the pain and the losses I had endured, I managed to smile. I wished that I could clear my slate and be with him, but it was impossible. He was too young, and clearly, my life was coming to an end.
Although I was in a fucked-up situation, him telling me that he loved me made me want to fuck him. I began kissing his muscular, tatted-up chest, and he started rubbing my ass. I pulled his dick out of his boxers and began sucking on it.
While giving him head, I replayed the last conversation I had with my mom. I was sad that she had died, but I wasn’t hurt, because we never had that bond. I felt like she must have known that she was getting ready to die, because she wanted closure with me. It was fucked up that she didn’t even mention Crystal. I had to get in touch with Tiffany to let her know I had to leave town and I wasn’t going to be able to take Crystal with me.
I continued sucking Omar’s dick to perfection, and then I started spelling my name in cursive with my tongue on his shaft. He lifted my head and started kissing me on my lips. He put his dick in my pussy and started grinding in me. He kissed my neck and flicked his finger across my clit. I was on cloud nine. At that very moment, I forgot about all the trouble that I was in.
He worked me slowly. He lifted my legs up on his shoulders so that he could get deeper inside of me. The deeper he went, the louder I moaned. He started slapping my ass, and I loved every bit of it.
“I’m about to cum,” he whispered to me. I didn’t recall him putting a condom on, and I figured he was telling me this because he hadn’t. I didn’t care, though. He loved me, and I loved him too.
“Cum, baby,” I moaned.
He pushed himself deeper in me and stopped moving. His body went limp as sweat dripped from both of our foreheads. I wiped his forehead off with my hand as he lay on top of me and told me that he loved me again. We lay there, naked, and eventually we fell asleep.
When I woke up, Omar was nowhere in sight. I slipped back into my clothes and searched the house. I found a cordless phone sitting on the receiver in his kitchen. I decided to check my voice mail. I had a few messages from Kim and Porsha, one from Cliff, and one from Omar. I listened to the one from Omar several times as tears fell from my eyes.
“Baby, I love you a lot, and I know you got yourself in some shit. In the room there’s an envelope with some thousands in it. You gotta leave town, and that should help you for a while. I don’t want to let you go, but I understand I have to. Be safe and be good. Love you.”
I had finally found somebody who cared about me, and I had to leave him. I had only one place to run to. A place where I knew I would be taken care of, and that was with Cliff. I called him, and he answered happily. I told him that I had decided to move with him. He was happy, and he told me that he could have me on the next plane, which would depart in three hours. That was fine with me, so after we hung up, I went upstairs and searched the room for the envelope Omar had left me.
I found it under the pillow that I had been lying on. The envelope had five thousand dollars in it. I cried after counting it. I had never had that much money at once. He loved me enough to aid me in my escape from Chicago.
I needed to change my identity. There was no way I would catch a cab to the airport without a disguise. I went in the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. I started braiding my hair straight back. When I was done with that, I went in Omar’s closet and put on one of his sweat suits. I looked like a stud, but that was the look I was aiming for. I sprayed some of his Gucci cologne on my neck and decided that that was the icing on the cake. I then called a cab to meet me around the corner.
I decided to write Omar a note before I departed. I found an envelope and a pen. I turned the envelope the long way and began to pour out my heart.
Omar,
I never would have imagined that I would have these feelings for you. I really do love you, and I hate the fact that I have to leave, but if it’s meant to be, we’ll be. Can’t wait until I see you again. Love you forever and always.
I kissed the envelope and held it close to my chest. I wished we had spent more time together, but it was a little too late. I put the envelope on his bed and went downstairs to leave. I turned the lock on the inside of the doorknob and shut the door.
There was no turning back.
My journey officially began once I got outside to the cab. The cabdriver was already there, waiting for me. It appeared to the cabdriver that I had come from the back of my house. I had actually come from the alley. I got in the cab and directed the Arabian driver to take me to the airport.
Chapter 12
When I reached the airport in Atlanta, Cliff and his bodyguard were sitting in the lobby, waiting on me. I was still dressed in my stud attire, so the facial expressions they were making weren’t shocking to me at all. Many people approached Cliff for pictures and autographs, but he politely turned them down.
When I got within his arms’ reach, he embraced me. I didn’t hug him back. I just smiled a fake smile. He looked at me sideways and he grabbed my hand as we started walking.
“Why do you have that shit on?” His voice was deep and low. I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t feel like getting into all the details as to why I had this shit on. I was caught up in my thoughts about my sister and the death of my mother.
When we walked outside, the sun was scorching. With the sweat suit I had on, I was damn near dead. We all climbed into a black Suburban and pulled off. I fell asleep during the drive to wherever we were going. I hadn’t got the opportunity to sleep on the plane, because I didn’t want anyone at any moment to recognize me. Hours later we pulled up to his estate. He woke me up.
“Go straight upstairs and change up out of that shit. I bought you a few outfits. They’re lying on the bed,” he said, climbing out of the car. I got out and followed his instructions.
Inside, there were so many niggas hanging around that I felt uncomfortable. I rushed past the four that were blocking the stairway. I ran up the steps, not really sure which room he was referring to. I went in at least three rooms before I discovered the room with my clothes. I looked over the outfits, and they all were True Religion. There were heels for every outfit, and they all were designed by Christian Louboutin.
As I was looking over the attire, Cliff walked in with a Victoria’s Secret bag.
“Here’s some underwear and body lotion,” he said, handing the bag to me. “I wasn’t sure what smell you liked, so I got the one I liked.” He chuckled.
I smiled as I grabbed the bag and pulled the body lotion out. It was Pure Seduction, my second favorite scent, so it was okay.
He told me I could shower in the bathroom adjoining the room I was in. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask, because I’d be happy to get it for you.”
Finally, I felt like he was the Cliff that I had first met. I was enjoying every minute of it. I gathered the things I wanted to wear that day and headed to the bathroom. As I scrubbed my skin clean, I had a flashback of me waving bye to Crystal as she got in the car with Tiffany. I also replayed my mom telling
me to leave town and Omar holding me tight through the night. I slid down the shower wall and cried my eyes out.
When I finally got myself together, I turned the water off and dried off. I slipped into the black lace boy short panties, hooked the matching bra, and then I put my new Pure Seduction lotion all over my body. I put on the True Religion jean vest and shorts and sprayed myself with the matching mist. I walked out of the bathroom with the clothes I had on earlier balled up in my hands.
Cliff grabbed them from me. “You don’t mind if I throw these away, do you?” He smiled.
I did mind, because they were the only thing I had left of Omar. I didn’t want to start a fuss, so I shook my head no, and he walked away with the clothes. I watched him leave the room. I sat down on the bed and sighed. I needed a breakthrough. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the news about the murders hit the national TV stations, and I didn’t want to be here when it did.
Cliff came back into the room and sat down next to me. “I don’t want you to be bored. I’m gonna have my little sister, Chelsea, come and keep you company. She’ll be in town within an hour or so.” He rubbed my hair.
“Thanks,” I said. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be thankful or not.
He told me that he would be going out of town for a fight next week and that if I wanted to come, I could. I really didn’t want to be in the public eye, so I told him I’d think about it.
“I’m about to head to the store. You want anything?” he asked before he left the room.
I told him no. I pulled the covers back on the bed and got under them. I was exhausted, and my body needed to rest.
Later I went downstairs and Cliff was nowhere in sight. There was a guy sitting on the couch, watching TV, in a room that had a pool table, arcade games, a bar, and a stripper pole. He couldn’t see me, because I could see only the back of his head.
I walked in front of the TV. He had to be the finest man I had ever seen. He resembled Cliff and had dreads just like him. He had a caramel skin complexion and brown eyes, with a scar under his right eye. He was muscular and had tats on his chest and all over his arms. The fact that he was shirtless took my mind elsewhere.