Finessed a Dope Boy's Heart

by Racquel Williams

  “Yeah. And do me one more big favor, please? Take Jasheem with you. Jakeel just hit me up and said he wants to talk. I don’t want his first time meeting Jasheem to be him cussing me the fuck out in case he wanted to check me about goin’ up to that bitch Shontelle’s shop.”

  I looked at her, hoping that she wasn’t lying to me and planned to take her life when I walked out the door with her son. I had watched the once strong, beautiful woman become a broken shell of herself these last couple of weeks. She didn’t eat or sleep. All she wanted to do was drink. She wasn’t even spending any time with Jasheem.

  “Bitch, chill. I ain’t gonna kill myself. I gotta stick around to see that nigga’s shit crash and burn,” she said with a laugh that let me know that she really had lost herself in her desire for revenge. If taking Rasheem down was what it would take to get my main bitch on the path back to herself, then I was ready to get this shit cracking.

  Picking up the thumb drive, I walked down the hallway to Jasheem’s room. He was coloring something with so much passion that I almost hated to disturb him. Walking in, I stood behind him at his little artist’s desk that I’d gotten him for Christmas a couple of years ago and looked over his shoulder. I saw that he was making a card.

  “What you over here working on so hard?” I asked, making him almost jump out of his skin. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just didn’t want to disrupt your genius,” I said with a smile.

  “I’m making a card for Mommy so she won’t be sad no more. I want her to know that I love her and that I miss her being happy. See?” he said, holding up the card for me to view.

  That motivated me even more to take Rasheem’s ass out. He ain’t do shit with Jasheem but throw money at his mama. He wasn’t about to fuck the only loving parent that my nephew had because he was a selfish asshole. Maybe this was me tryin’a redeem myself for fuckin’ around with him behind Lauren’s back. But, even if it was, it was done from a place of love.

  “That’s nice, Jay,” I complimented. He did have talent. He had drawn his 7-year-old rendition of him and his mother, sitting at a lake, looking at a rainbow. “But you wanna know what will make your mommy happy?” I asked, knowing that this would get him to go with me without too many questions.

  “What?” he asked.

  “She asked me to do her a favor and drop some things off. You wanna ride with me? And on our way back, we’ll stop and get her some of her favorite Blue Bunny Ice Cream.”

  “OK!” he said, jumping up from his chair and running to sit on the side of his bed. He put on his shoes in record time and was at his door looking at me like I was the holdup. Jasheem would do anything for his mama, and I knew she would do anything for him. And that would make the dangerous shit that we were about to do worth it.

  On our way out the door, we both stopped when we saw Lauren asleep on the couch. It was the first time that she’d slept in days, so we didn’t want to wake her. Jasheem made a mad dash to the back and came back with the card that he’d made and a blanket. He placed the card on top of the table so that she would see it when she woke up and covered her before leading the way to the door. He was tiptoeing, so I played along and tiptoed with him. I eased the door open, and we left the house, using my key to lock the door.

  When we were a few steps from the house, I challenged Jay to a race to my car, which I let him win. He needed a few wins in his life, no matter how small, with all that he’d seen in his short time on this earth, especially in the past couple of weeks. I made sure that he was seat belted and handed him the tablet that I kept for him in my car. Once I saw that he had on his headphones, I took my phone out and dialed a number that I rarely used.

  I wasn’t close to many of my family members, but this one would go to the moon and back for me. I was so happy that he’d picked up because I would feel better with him accompanying me instead of Jay and I going into the precinct alone.

  “Hey, Uncle Bobby . . . It’s me, Gina. Are you busy? OK. Well, can I come by your office, and you accompany me to turn in some evidence about a case that I feel like may land me on the cops’ hit list?”

  He agreed, and I navigated my way through the Decatur traffic toward downtown. I would make this one simple detour and then handle the business that would end all this—for us, at least. Then it would be ice cream and movies for my bestie, my nephew, and me.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rasheem

  “You might wanna put some ice on that. I hear them batons leave an ugly-ass knot,” Jakeel had the nerve to say to me before getting up from his seat at my wife’s desk. He thought this shit was a joke, but I was gonna get the last laugh. Standing up to face him, ignoring the pain that was throbbing through me, I reared my fist back, ready to punch him in his smart-ass mouth. All I needed was for him to hit me once, and his ass would be back in that cage, and then Mika would have no choice but to take me back.

  “That’s enough, Rasheem!” I heard from behind me, making me turn around. Standing in front of me was Mika’s supervisor, Matthew Long, and the look on his face was one of pure disappointment. “That’s all! Nothing to see here! Get y’all asses back to work. I don’t pay you to stand around being messy,” he spoke to his employees.

  Mika’s coworkers who had been watching the whole thing scattered like roaches, and he shook his head at them before turning his attention back to the people inside the room. He looked from me to Jakeel, and the faces that he gave the two of us were vastly different. Before he addressed me again, he spoke to Jakeel.

  “Mr. . . .”

  “Greene, sir. I’m Jakeel Greene,” he said, extending his hand for Matt to shake. They exchanged a firm handshake before Matt continued.

  “Mr. Greene, I apologize for this. If you would like to be changed to a different probation officer, I can arrange that for you. You have paid your debt to society, and from the glowing review that Ms. Blake gave me the other day, you are adhering to all of the rules that we have set in place for a successful transition.”

  “No, sir, it’s cool. Things happen, and I have to say that a lot of the steps that I’ve made were because of Ms. Blake. I just hope that she’s OK because I’m sure that this was embarrassing for her,” he said, and I knew that he was taking a shot at me.

  It was taking everything in me not to pull out my gun and blow both their brains out. Matt’s for apologizing to a trash-ass nigga like Jakeel and Jakeel for subliminally confirming that he was fuckin’ my wife.

  “She’ll be fine. She’s tough, that one.”

  “Yes, sir, I got that same vibe from her. If it’s OK with you, sir, I’m gonna head out. I have a couple of things to attend to before I have to go to work this evening.” Jakeel laid it on thick as fuck.

  “Yes, you’re done here. And thank you again for understanding. Have a great evening,” Matt said, escorting Jakeel to the door of Mika’s office before closing the door and turning to me.

  “I have to say that I’m surprised that you came in here acting like this, Sheem,” he said, once we were alone. “You know you can’t be doin’ that shit, man.”

  Matt and I had been friends for years, and he knew about most of the dirt I did. He’d been preaching for what felt like forever about what would happen if Mika ever found out. I hated to say that he was right.

  “I’m losing my mind without her, man,” I admitted to him, rubbing my hand over my head in frustration.

  “You shoulda thought about that while you were out here doin’ your dirt, Sheem. Mika ain’t the kinda woman you play with like you were. And now that you’re about to lose her, you wanna act right. You know that’s not how shit works, man,” he offered advice that I didn’t ask for. He was one to talk. He was on his fourth marriage, and it took three divorces sending his ass into bankruptcy for him to get the damn memo.

  “And I know what you’re thinkin’. I’m the last muthafucka to talk,” he spoke my thoughts aloud.

  “Long as you know,” I confirmed with an attitude.
<
br />   “But if you had any sense, you would listen to a nigga who has fucked up the same way you were fuckin’ up because I can tell ya ass what not to do.”

  I walked over to Mika’s seat behind her desk and sat down. Matt was still standing here talkin’, but something caught my eye, and I blanked out. On the floor, under her desk, were a pair of Victoria’s Secret panties. The only reason that a bitch would take her drawers off was to get her pussy ate or pounded. That was all the confirmation I needed. I was gonna kill Jakeel’s ass and use her fuckin’ an ex-con as leverage to make her take me back. We were still married, which meant that she was no better than I was for fuckin’ this nigga before we were divorced. The thought of that nothing-ass muthafucka being inside of my wife filled me with rage.

  “Did you hear me, Rasheem?” he asked, and I looked at him like I hadn’t heard what he had just said because I hadn’t.

  “Nah, man, what you say?”

  “I said, be a man about shit and sign the papers, bro. If you and Mika are meant to make up, then let that shit happen on its own. And you gon’ have to let her do whatever she needs to in order to get past what you did to her. Don’t let your ego cost you more than it already has.”

  “I hear you,” I said, and he looked at me like he didn’t believe me.

  “A’ight man, be easy,” he said, opening the door for me. I took my cue to leave because I had caused enough disruption in his place of business. But I was far from done with this shit with Jakeel and Mika. And I knew what I had to do. Heading to my car, I ran through the plan in my head. First stop, my lawyer’s office.

  * * *

  “Mr. Blake, if I may speak freely . . .” my attorney Kevin Klein of Klein and Kristoff, said, looking at me across the desk. I nodded so that he could continue. “Thank you,” he thanked me for the permission. “This has got to be one of the easiest divorces in my twenty years of being in this business. You get to keep everything. The house, the cars, the assets, the money in all your joint accounts, and even your pension that the state would require you to split with her if she hadn’t waived her rights to it. Why rock the boat? I know men who have been battling in court for five years for half of this. They would give their left nut to be in your position right now.”

  “Fuck all that. She’s fuckin’ one of her parolees. I don’t want my daughter around that shit! Make it happen!” I snapped, and he looked at me like I was losing my damn mind.

  “Mr. Blake, you have had several affairs and even proposed to my niece during your marriage,” he said, and I almost swallowed my tongue when he said his niece. Since there was only one white bitch that I’d dealt with and she was also the only person that I’d proposed to, I knew he was talking about Gina. “Don’t worry,” he said with a chuckle when he realized that the shit had just registered with me. “I still plan to represent you to the best of my ability. I just want you to know that what you’ve been doing is no secret, and even though Tamika isn’t asking for anything, if the right judge gets wind of your indiscretions, they can still order her alimony and child support, as well as half of your pension.”

  He sat there, letting the shit sink in that he was spitting at me. I didn’t want to hear any of that. All I wanted was for my wife to come home and drop this dumb shit. And I was tired of everyone telling me to let it go. She might be OK with letting fifteen years of marriage go, but I wasn’t.

  “As far as custody, do you have proof that she’s having an affair?” he asked, and I shook my head no. He let out a heavy sigh like I was irritating his ass or something, and it was making me madder and madder. “Well, she had proof of yours, and in the state of Georgia, that means that she will win custody. Not to mention that you said Ky’Imani doesn’t want anything to do with you, and she is of age to say which parent she wants to stay with. Being honest, this is a losing battle that you’re trying to fight. Save your money, sign the papers, and cut your losses,” he advised me.

  My phone vibrated with a 911 text from Moore. “I’ll think about it,” I said, knowing that I wasn’t about to sign them damn papers, no matter what anyone said.

  “Please do,” he said, and I stood up and shook hands with him. Leaving his office, I waited until I got in the truck before I dialed Moore’s number.

  “What the fuck you out here doin’, man?” Moore’s voice came over the speaker of my truck. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I didn’t think I could take any more bad news.

  “What the fuck are you talkin’ about?” I asked, thinking that he’d heard about what happened at Mika’s office.

  “A bitch came in here saying that she had evidence that you set a man up, and she had your son with her,” he stated.

  I thought that was strange. If it were Lauren, he would’ve said that it was her. Since he didn’t, I had no idea who the hell else would have my son and be trying to fuck me up. Except for—I know Gina wasn’t that stupid. She just couldn’t be.

  “White bitch?” I asked.

  “Aaaah, shit, man, yeah. What the fuck is goin’ on?”

  “I’ma call you back,” I told him.

  “Don’t call me back. Handle that shit, man!” he snapped before hanging up in my face.

  I tried to call Gina’s ass back-to-back. Her phone kept sending me to voicemail, and that pissed me off to no end. She was playing with fire, and I was ready to kill her ass. I made a U-turn and headed toward the one place where I knew Gina would’ve been able to get any dirt on me. It looked like I was about to have a whole lot of blood on my hands tonight.

  * * *

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  I beat on Lauren’s door with the butt of my gun. She had changed the damn locks on my ass. Otherwise, I would’ve just walked in on her ass and commenced to beat the hell outta her. I didn’t see Gina’s car, but I knew that all it would take was a call from Lauren to get her ass here.

  “Who the fuck is beating on my door like the police—”

  Whap!

  As soon as she opened the door, I slapped the hell out of her with my revolver. I could’ve just shot her ass, but she needed to suffer for the shit she was tryin’a pull. She grabbed at air tryin’a to find something to help break her fall, and for some reason, that shit was hilarious to me. Then she hit the floor. I knew that if she had turned in what I thought she had, I was facing jail time and would lose everything that I’d worked for. If I’m going to jail, then it was gonna be for something other than setting up a nigga like Jakeel Greene.

  Stepping over her, I went to her bedroom and got the duct tape and handcuffs that we would use when we role-played. This time, though, her ass was about to be held hostage in real life. I knew it was only a matter of time before the cops came for me, and I planned to make her ass tell them that she’d made it all up to ruin my name because I ain’t want her ass no more and was tryin’a make shit work with my wife. If that didn’t work, then she would become a bargaining chip. And as a last resort, if I were going down, then her ass wouldn’t get the pleasure of witnessing that shit on this side of the afterlife.

  Picking her ass up, I put her in a chair and handcuffed her hands behind her back while duct-taping her mouth. I had just finished taping her ass when I saw her phone vibrating on the table. Checking it, I saw that Gina had said that she was on her way back. This was about to be a two-for-one. And, as if God were on my side, I heard loud-ass music blasting outside the house. Going to see who it was, I couldn’t believe my luck to see Jakeel whipping a tricked out Expedition into the parking lot. When I saw him get out and head toward the apartment, I hid behind the door, waiting for him to walk in. This shit was way too easy. It was almost like I was supposed to take these muthafuckas out the way they were all coming to me—without any hard work on my part.

  Jakeel pushed the door open, and I let him take a couple of steps into the house before I drew back with all my might and slammed the butt of my gun into the back of his head. When that nigga fell face-first onto the floor, I swear my dick jumped in my pants a litt
le. This shit took me back to my grimy nigga days. See, they’d let the rep and the badge fool their asses. They didn’t know that they were crossing a real live, old-school-fuckin’ savage. But they were gonna learn today!

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jakeel

  Earlier

  “When I saw you callin’, I thought I’d had one too many glasses of Moscato,” Lauren said, opening the door to let me into her house. “Then I thought that you were coming here to go off on me for upsetting your main bitch a couple of weeks back.”

  “Nah,” I said, walking in and looking around. I had to say that her place was nice. It made me wonder how much of Mika’s hard-earned money paid for it. “She ain’t my bitch no more.”

  Hearing that seemed to make her perk up. I knew it would, but I didn’t say that I didn’t have a bitch . . . just that Shontelle wasn’t her. You could tell a ho’s intentions by speaking less and watching more.

  “Then what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?” she asked, a smirk crossing her face. I hoped she ain’t think I came to fuck her ass. But for some reason, I knew that was exactly what the hell she was thinking.

  “I came to meet my son,” I said, and her mouth dropped open.

  “Really?” she asked like she was shocked.

  “Yeah, but I have one condition,” I said, and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “And what would that be?”

  “Lemme test him and make sure that the li’l nigga mine,” I said, expecting her to object. She smiled instead, and looking at her for the first time, I noticed that she seemed tired. She wasn’t the same Lauren I remembered, but seven years could change a person—in a good or a bad way.