“What the fuck took y’all so long? I swear y’all don’t give a damn about us down here,” she fussed, and I could understand her frustration, especially if she had already called the police, and I had gotten here—from across town, no less—before they had.
“Ma’am, what’s goin’ on?” I asked, trying to get her to focus on what was most important.
“Somebody is shooting in my neighbor’s house. There’s a little boy in there,” she said, and my heart dropped. I hoped that no one was hurt, not even Rasheem. I didn’t want his ass, but I didn’t wish him dead, either.
“Can you show me which apartment?” I asked, and she nodded, before walking toward the one that had the door opened.
“Oh my God!” she yelled when she saw the woman who was lying on the floor, bleeding from her chest.
“Ma’am, I need you to go to your house. What’s your name?” I asked her, trying my best to keep my cool. I wanted to rush in there and see what the hell else had happened, but I had to play this smart.
“Norma. Norma Jean Hayes,” she introduced herself, never taking her eyes off the woman’s body.
“OK, Norma. Go back into your house and call 911 again. Tell them a white woman has been shot, and it looks like she’s been fatally wounded. I’m gonna try to get the boy out of the house and send him next door to you, OK?” I asked, and she nodded her head, finally meeting eyes with me. As fucked up as it was, I knew that a call saying that a “white” woman had been shot would get the cops here, so I worked that shit. “Which one is yours?” I asked, and she pointed to apartment D. Pulling her phone out of the pocket of her housecoat, she dialed 911 and speed-walked toward her home.
I eased up to the apartment that had the injured woman in it and pressed my back against the wall by the door. Listening, I tried to gauge how volatile a situation I was walking into was.
“Yo, man! Yo’ beef is wit’ me, not my kid. Let him go and handle this shit with me like a man,” I heard Jakeel plead, and I wondered who the hell he was talking to.
“Nah, my nigga. You took something of mine, so I’m gon’ take something of yours too.”
Rasheem, I thought, hearing a voice I knew better than my own because I’d shared my life with its owner for the past fifteen years. But what the fuck was he doin’ here? Drawing my gun, I cocked it, making sure there was one in the chamber. Stepping into the doorway, I raised it to the head of the man whose last name I shared. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The white woman was there, and I was pretty sure she was dead. Another woman was on the floor, who, I was sure, was the mother of the little boy, and she was in and out of consciousness. And then, there was Rasheem, holding a gun to a little boy’s head who couldn’t have been 10 years old.
Looking at the little boy, I knew he was Keel’s. I didn’t need the DNA test results. He couldn’t have denied that damn kid if he’d wanted to, which let me know that Rasheem was fuckin’ around with his mama because he wanted to. There was no way that he could’ve possibly thought this little boy was his.
“Rasheem, what the fuck are you doin’?” I spoke, making my presence known. I kept the gun trained in the center of his head and would take the kill shot if I needed to.
“I knew you would come sniffin’ behind this nigga’s dick,” Rasheem sneered, and I could tell that he’d lost his mind. “You should be at home with our daughter, but here you are, running up behind this fuck nigga!”
“Rasheem, what the hell are you doin’?” I asked again because he hadn’t answered my question.
“What the fuck does it look like? I’m tryin’a save our marriage. If I get rid of this nigga and the bitches that I slipped up with, then you’ll have to take me back!”
I squinted and cocked my head to the side like that would make the dumb shit he’d just said make sense. This nigga couldn’t be serious right now. It was then that I realized that he had lost his whole mind, and I’d probably have to kill him for any of us to make it out of this shit alive.
“Rasheem, do you hear yourself? Are you really about to throw your whole career away because I want a divorce?”
“Career? What career?” he snapped, and I was confused all over again. “These bitches ruined that shit already!”
He waved the gun between the dead white woman and the black woman who had now slipped back out of consciousness. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I was sure that it was something that he’d caused, so I couldn’t summon the fucks to care. Instead, I used my training. I knew that keeping him talking would keep us alive, one response at a time, and I was just trying to buy time until the cops arrived.
“Ruined it how, Sheem?” I asked, using his nickname to try to maintain a bond with him.
“They took evidence in that showed that I set this fuck nigga up,” he said, and it took everything in me not to shake my head. I couldn’t believe that, while he had me at home, he was so worried about who another bitch was fuckin’ with that, he set a man up to be locked up.
I saw Jakeel’s jaw clench and knew that what he’d just heard had pissed him off to no end. Stepping forward, slowly, I eased past Rasheem before Jakeel reacted in a way that would surely get us killed.
“You’re a decorated officer, Rasheem. One of the best homicide detectives in Decatur. I’m sure your career ain’t ruined behind the lies of two bitches that we both know are just mad that they can’t have you,” I appealed to his ego, hoping that it would give me the advantage that I needed. I even lowered my gun slightly to remove some of the threat and show some submission. Instead, he busted out laughing.
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” he said, looking at me with malice in his eyes. “I had the same training you did, Mika. Look at you, placing your body between that nigga you been fuckin’ to block my shot and me . . . appealing to my ego. But you don’t give a damn about me. If you did, you would be by my side, ready to get rid of these muthfuckas who are trying to ruin our lives, instead of tryin’a save one of them.”
“Nobody has to die, Rasheem,” I said, trying to reason with him. “And they didn’t ruin our lives. You did—”
Before I could say another word, Jakeel grabbed me and snatched the other gun from my holster, placing it to my head. I knew that he was reacting desperately and completely understood and respected that if it came down to his son or me, he would choose his son, even if this was his first time meeting his child. I would’ve done the same thing if someone had a gun to Ky’Imani’s head.
“Let my son go,” Keel seethed, pressing the gun to my temple.
“This the kinda nigga you want, Mika? One that will put a gun to your head?” Rasheem asked, laughing again.
“I don’t want either one of y’all,” I said, and that made his ass stop laughing.
“Oh yea?” he asked, a smirk coming over his face. “You hear that, my nigga? She just like these other two bitches. They use us and throw us away when they don’t have no more use for us.”
It was appalling that he was trying to bond with Jakeel. And I could tell that the shit wasn’t working. Keel didn’t respond or flinch. That shit wasn’t what he cared about at the moment. It was what Rasheem cared about. All Jakeel wanted was to get his son away from the madman that I was embarrassed to have ever called my husband. Placing his knee in the back of mine, Jakeel knocked me down to the floor, now holding the gun to the back of my head. I put my hands behind my back and sat back on my heels. Trying to move as little as possible, I reached into my boot, pulling my revolver out.
“Let my son go, or I’ma kill this bitch,” Jakeel hollered. It was apparent that he was tired of the back-and-forth.
“Shoot her ass, and I’ma kill this li’l bastard, and then take yo’ ass out too.”
Rasheem cocked his gun, letting Keel know that he meant business. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone in the window. I tried not to turn my head too much, but it looked like someone was holding something in their hand and was watching the whole thing. That was just like a nigga. Rec
ording shit instead of calling the cops. Muthafuckas would place themselves in harm’s way just to get a couple of views on social media these days.
“Do it, Keel. I don’t want your son to die because of me,” I begged, pissing Rasheem off.
“Well, let me do the honors, then,” Rasheem said, taking the gun away from the little boy’s head. “You’re my wife, and you out here fuckin’ lowlifes and shit. That’s what you wanna do? That’s why you wanna divorce me? Because of this nigga?” he snapped, giving me the opening that I needed.
Pow!
Pop!
Pow-Pow!
“Daddyyyy!”
Chapter Twenty
Shontelle
Using the Find My iPhone app, I tracked Jakeel’s location. If he thought he could get rid of me that quick, he had me fucked up. I’d devoted too much of my life to his ass for him to just walk away from me like that. If anybody was gonna be with him, it would be me! Not some old bitch with dried-up-ass prune pussy.
I had found his car parked at a CVS, and it made me wonder what he could need outta there. Probably some condoms. Or some lube because I knew that the old bitch that he was fuckin’ with’s shit ain’t get as juicy as mine did.
Sitting outside of the apartments, parked two places down from his car, I kept my eyes peeled on the apartment that he’d just entered. I saw that he was at that bitch Lauren’s house and had a bag.
“Y’all niggas ain’t shit,” I said, as soon as the countdown to begin my Live ended. “Y’all can have a bitch that holds you down, and you’ll leave her for a bitch that wouldn’t even look at your ass twice. Why is that?” I asked, letting my frustration show. I watched as my views started to pick up, and that encouraged me to keep talkin’.
“I mean, look at me! I’m a bad bitch with a good pussy, who’s loyal and makes my own money. And yet, I’m outside a bitch’s house where my man, who I held down while he was locked the fuck up for seven years, by the way, may or may not have a child with. And that ain’t the worst of it,” I said, popping my mouth. “He ain’t even with that ho no more. Now he with an old-school, 1982-pussy-havin’-ass bitch. What kinda shit is that? But let us fuck around on y’all, and y’all lost y’all’s damn minds. If y’all can’t handle that shit being done to you, then don’t do the shit to us, either.”
I was at 300 viewers in that short time, and I loved the attention. It was the ego boost that I needed after the way that Jakeel was doing me.
“Then y’all wanna talk shit when we have to become FBI agents and shit to catch y’all wit’ y’all’s pants down!”
The sound of what I thought were two gunshots made me stop talking. I wanted to go and see what was going on, but secretly, I was hoping that Jakeel had been shot or shot some-damn-body. No more would I hold down his ass. He’d have to do whatever time they gave his ass without me this time. Since he didn’t appreciate my loyalty, I’d let him see what his life would be like without that shit. Reading the comments, I could tell that there were a lot of women who were going through what I was going through, or who had been through it. That shit was sad. What was a good bitch supposed to do these days?
Hearing a car screech to a stop not too far from where I was parked, I was shocked to see that it was the bitch that Jakeel was with at TGI Fridays that day.
“What the fuck is she doin’ here?” I asked, more to myself than to my viewers. I realized that I might have just pulled up on something juicy, especially when she got out with a badge around her neck.
“Well, well, well, y’all. Looks like there’s been a plot twist. There’s the bitch he’s been fuckin’ wit’ right there, and it looks like her ass is the law. Let’s destroy a couple of lives tonight, shall we?” I said, my smile getting big as hell. Turning the camera around, I pointed it at the bitch that Jakeel had left me for. She was talking to some old lady who had been outside since I’d pulled up. They headed toward the apartment that I’d seen Keel go into, and I got out of the car, planning to follow. I used Keel’s big-ass truck to hide behind until the bitch had gone inside. Then I ran up to the apartment, standing in front of one of the side windows, recording the whole thing.
My phone was ringing off the hook. Between Liza and Mel, they kept calling me back-to-back. I slid my navigation bar down and turned on the DND for my calls so that they wouldn’t keep pausing my Live. They weren’t concerned about my ass before now, so they could kiss my big, round, juicy booty cheeks.
When I looked back up through the window, I saw that the woman had her gun pointed at a man’s head who had the little boy Jasheem by the neck with a gun pressed against his temple. The two bitches who had come into my shop with him to start drama were both shot and lay on the floor. Jakeel was standing there, looking mad as hell, and that made me happy. No, I didn’t want Jasheem to have to deal with this kinda shit. He was a great kid and didn’t deserve that shit. But with the ways that his parents moved, it was only a matter of time before something caught up to them.
The old bitch walked up toward the man who was holding Jasheem, but she was also positioning herself in between the man and Keel. She was a better bitch than me because I wouldn’t put my life in danger to save no nigga. Damn sure not no nigga like Jakeel, and he proved what I thought when he grabbed her ass, took one of her guns, and put that bitch to her head. That nigga wasn’t loyal to nobody but his damn self, and that was what a lot of my watchers were saying.
The rest of their snitching asses were telling me that I needed to get off Live and call the cops and acting as if they had never seen no shit like this go down before. I was up to over a thousand viewers now, and I wasn’t about to miss out on this shit because of some bleeding heart muthafuckas. They could call the damn cops themselves if they wanted to.
“Oh shit!” I looked up from the comments just soon enough to see that Keel’s new bitch seemed to have seen me, but that wasn’t what had made me cuss.
Pow!
Pop!
Pow-Pow!
“Daddyyyy!”
Three guns went off, and Jasheem screamed at the top of his lungs. I jumped so hard that I damn near dropped my phone. I wanted to run in the house and get that baby, but my feet felt like they were stuck in cement. I couldn’t move.
“Freeze! Put your hands up!” I heard behind me, feeling a gun pressed against my back.
I threw my hands up immediately, and the cop who had snuck up on me snatched the phone from my hand.
“Officer, I think I just caught a triple homicide on my Live,” I told him. “End it and save it so that we don’t lose that evidence,” I said, playing the good citizen.
There was silence, and it made me nervous. I didn’t know what he was doing, but as I stared at Jakeel on the floor bleeding, tears came to my eyes. I knew I acted like I ain’t give a fuck about him, but I loved him. And now, I wished that I had called the cops instead of being an attention whore. Maybe they would’ve gotten to him sooner and saved his life.
“Turn around,” the cop said, and it was then that I saw cop cars all over the street. They hadn’t used the red and blue lights or the sirens because they didn’t want to let the people who were holding guns and shit around a kid know that they had arrived. “Come with me.”
Obediently, I followed him, and he walked me to a cruiser, opening the back door for me to sit inside.
“What are you doin’ out here?” he asked me, his eyebrow raised.
“I was following my boyfriend because he’s been cheating on me,” I said honestly, and he shook his head.
“Why not just leave him alone? Why would you run behind a man or put yourself in harm’s way to catch him doing something that you knew he was doin’?” he continued to question me. I didn’t respond right away because I watched as the woman next door met a cop right outside and picked up a crying Jasheem, holding him in her arms.
Then I watched the ambulance jump the curb and pull almost up to the door. They raced inside and started wheeling bodies covered in sheets out of the house.
I didn’t know if one of them was Keel, and that was fuckin’ with me.
The nigga who had been holding Jasheem hostage was led out in handcuffs, and he was saying something that I couldn’t hear to the cops that they weren’t tryin’a hear. They led him in my direction, and I felt my heart rate increase.
“I’m telling you, it was life or death,” I heard him trying to lie.
“This lady here got the whole thing on camera,” the officer who had just been lecturing me, said, holding up my phone. The way that the man in cuffs looked at me made my blood freeze over.
“I only got the last shooting,” I admitted, looking everywhere but at the cuffed man, as they led him past me and put him in another cruiser. But unlike me, he wasn’t sitting in the back with the door open. They slammed the door on his ass, and the cruiser took his ass away.
“I got the rest of it,” the neighbor who was holding Jasheem said while the medics checked him out. Being real, I was surprised that her old ass knew how to use a damn camera phone, but it looked like the cops would have all the evidence that they needed to close their case between the two of us.
I kept my eyes glued on the door, and right when I was about to lose my shit and accept that the only man that I’d ever loved was dead and gone, and it was partially my fault, another gurney came out with him on top of it. He was bleeding from his head, but there was no sheet over him, so at least he was alive. He was followed by that old bitch who wasn’t letting him out of her sight. She hopped in the ambulance with him but then got out and walked over to where the neighbor was holding Jasheem. After a brief conversation that I was too far away to hear, the neighbor lady handed Jasheem off to the woman, and she carried him to the ambulance that his father was in. They slammed the doors once she was inside and turned on the sirens, speeding out of the complex.
“Are you through with me?” I asked. I wanted to find out what hospital Keel was going to so that I could be there when he woke up. I felt like it was my last chance before I lost him to that bitch forever.
Finessed a Dope Boy's Heart Page 17