“Are you leaving town?”
“Maybe. That’s why I wanted to come see you and tell you good-bye.”
Candi took my hand and walked me into the bathroom. Why? I didn’t know. She closed the door and stood in front of it. “Take me with you,” she whispered, as tears started rolling down her face. “Let’s leave tonight. I’ll go anywhere you want me to go.”
I cocked my head back and displayed a puzzled look. “Why are you rushing me into the bathroom to say all of this?” I reached for the knob to open the door.
She grabbed my hand, “I’m in here because I want to finish what we started in the bathroom at your place that day. But before we do, I have so much I want to tell you, but I can’t right now. Let’s go and—”
I placed my fingers on her trembling lips. I was eager to finish what we started in the bathroom that day too, especially since the only reason I’d stopped by was to get my final fuck on. “Shhh, we will. Just let me hold you for a while.”
I pulled the bathroom door open, took Candi’s hand, and walked her into her bedroom. I pulled my shirt over my head and lay back on her bed. She straddled herself on top of me. When I started to undo her silk black robe, she grabbed it with her hands and looked at me.
“Kiley, please tell me you didn’t kill anybody. I’m afraid for you and it’s just something I have to know.”
I moved her hands away from her robe, watching as it fell to her sides. I put my hands on her breasts, massaged them together, and watched her nipples harden. “Don’t ever be afraid of me, Candi. I only hurt those who hurt me.”
She grabbed my hands again and stopped me. “Did you kill Marcus, Kiley? It’s time that you open up and tell me the truth.”
I hesitated before answering, but decided to come clean. “Yes, Candi, I did. But please know that I did what I had to do.”
She busted out in tears and fell down on my chest. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “So damn sorry I—”
I tried to calm her but she wouldn’t stop crying. I lifted her face up and held it in my hands. “Baby, relax. This has nothing to do with us.”
Just then, I heard a loud crash then footsteps running through the house. And when I looked up, the cops were coming through the door. About fifteen of them surrounded us in her bedroom, aiming their guns at me.
“Officer Campbell!” one of the cops yelled, holding his gun steady. “Read him his rights!”
After the cop yelled at her again, her body shook and she mumbled in a soft voice, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or . . .” She stopped, lowered her head, and couldn’t continue.
One of the officers came over, pulling her off me. He hugged her, as she cried on his shoulder and he continued reading my rights to me.
Shortly after, Veronica came into the room. She embraced Candi, telling her it was all over with and what a great job she’d done. Candi slowly nodded and the two of them left the room.
The officers cuffed me, and that’s when everything started to make sense. Candi and Veronica had been at the game for a long time. Candi must have thought Donovan was the leader of the pack and Veronica must have thought the same about Quincy. When they realized it was me, Veronica backed off Quincy and Candi continued working on me like no other woman out there could. Thing was, deep down I’d known something wasn’t right. But as usual, pussy got the best of all of us and we lost focus. I wasn’t mad, though. I knew Candi had hurt herself as much as I’d hurt mine by trusting her. And not as if it really mattered that she’d fallen in love, but she was going to have a tough life ahead of her trying to forget about me.
The officers grabbed me off the bed, stood me up, and led me through the living room. Veronica sat next to Candi on the couch, holding her and giving me a fake smile as I passed by them. Candi held her head down, and as soon as they were about to take me out the door, she yelled for them to wait.
“Please!” she yelled, looking at me with puffy red eyes, sniffling. “It’s the least you all can do for me!” The officers stopped and two of them held my arms tightly from behind. She came over and stood in front of me. “I was really hoping that you were innocent. You made my job very damn difficult and I’ll never forget you, Mr. Kiley Jacoby Abrams.”
“I am innocent. Killing somebody for hurting the ones I love doesn’t make me a criminal; it only makes me human. But I’m sure you know that, Officer Campbell, and I’ll never forget you either.”
The cops snatched me away from her, and as they put me in the back seat of the cruiser, she stood in her doorway and watched. When they drove off and I looked back, our eyes continued to connect until the car faded out of sight.
The thought of hopefully being with Quincy again was the only thing that kept me calm, and even if they found out about what I’d done in L.A., and sent me to prison there, I’d at least get to see Rufus again. But either way I looked at it, Kareem and Daddy were probably much better off than I was. I closed my eyes, leaned my head against the back seat, and thought about what I’d thought about many, many times before. Kareem and me used to sit on the porch as kids, watching the drug dealers roll by, and always ask ourselves: “How can I be down?” wishing like hell we had what they did. Well, at this moment I finally had my answer. One thing was for sure: it couldn’t possibly get no downer than this.
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How Can I Be Down? Copyright © 2015 Brenda Hampton
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How Can I Be Down? Page 23