“Dorian, what’s wrong?”
“I thought you were takin’ me shopping. The only shopping you doin’ is for yourself.”
I smiled.
“It ain’t funny, Cherish… got me carryin’ all your bags,” he laughed.
After two more stops I took Dorian to the True Religion store and he went ape shit. I spent five thousand and he had a brand new spring wardrobe. He even gassed me to upgrade his IPhone. I admit; I’m a sucker for my little brother.
As we were pulling out the parking lot, a white Bentley cut in front of me. Luckily I had sharp brakes.
“Yo! What the fuck is he doin’!” Dorian yelled at the driver.
The driver stepped out the car and I smiled. It was Simeon. I rolled my window down.
“Nice car,” he said.
“Yours too,” I eyed the shiny, white Bentley Coupe.
“You’re a difficult person to catch up with. I saw your girl, Raq… did she tell you I said wassup?”
“Yeah, she told me,” I blushed.
“Did she give you the number?”
I smiled. “Yes, she gave me your number.”
“You gon’ use it?”
I put the car in drive. “I’ll call you,” I said and pulled off.
“Who was that?” Dorian asked.
“A friend,”
“What’s his name?”
“Stop being so nosy, Dorian, don’t worry about it,” I told him.
“That was a dope ass car he was driving. Hey sis, you gon’ cop me a whip for my eighteenth birthday?”
“Buy you a car? Boy you better get a job,” I laughed.
When I pulled up to my grandmother’s house it was seven thirty pm. I had spent the entire day with my little brother. We shopped, ate, laughed and talked about everything you could think of. He told me he had a little girlfriend too.
“And don’t forget, I wanna meet this girl you’re dating,” I said.
“We’re not dating, Cherish… we’re just talking.”
“It doesn’t matter. If she’s good to you, you better be good to her. How much do you like her?
He shrugged his shoulders. “She’s cool,” he said.
“That’s it, cool?”
“C’mon, Cherish…”
“Alright, alright…” I could see I was making him uncomfortable. “Tell grandma I love her and I’ll be by to see her in a few days.”
“Sis, can I get some money?”
I couldn’t believe this kid. “Dorian, I just spent five thousand dollars on your clothes,” I told him.
“I know, but I don’t have any money though.”
I shook my head, but how could I say no to my little brother. “Here,” I peeled off ten one hundred dollar bills and passed him the stack, “Start being smart about how you spend your money, love you.”
“Love you too, sis… thanks.”
I watched him walk in the house and I pulled off.
6
The next day I woke up in a great mood. I don’t know what it was, and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I felt good. It was the best I felt in a long time. I was single, I had money, no kids and I could go wherever the fuck I wanted, whenever the fuck I wanted. Life was good. No, let me fix that, life was great.
I jumped out the bed, brushed my teeth, washed my face and started cleaning my apartment. I put Mary J. Blige on and got to work. I was done in two hours. I’m not gonna front, Simeon was on my mind heavy. He was so handsome and collected. His vibe was good and I wanted to get to know him a little more, so I picked up my IPhone and dialed his number.
“Hello?” his voice was so sexy.
“Hey, Simeon,”
“Who’s this?”
“Cherish. Are you busy?”
“Cherish? Oh, nah, I’m not busy… definitely not, wassup?
“Do you have any plans for later? I thought we could meet up,” I said.
“No plans for me. Yeah, we can meet up; where at and what time?”
“Whatever time is good for you.”
“Eight o clock cool?”
“Eight is good. I’ll call you and let you know where I am.”
“Aight, later…”
“Kay, bye…” I hung up and the sides of my mouth were touching my ears. I was excited like it was my first date. Like it was the first time I was going out with a guy. Two minutes later my phone was ringing. I looked at the screen and saw it was Raquel.
“Hey Raq,”
“Cherish, are you home?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. I gotta tell you something.”
“You can’t tell me over the phone?”
“No, I need to tell you face to face,” she said.
“Alright, I’m here.”
I hung the phone up and sat on my couch. What was so important that Raquel had to talk to me face to face? It had to be something good because she never did shit like that. I hope it wasn’t any bad news. I was not in the mood for any bad news. So far my day had been excellent. The last thing I wanted was some bad news to ruin it.
I got dressed and twenty minutes later Raquel was ringing my doorbell. When I pulled the door open she rushed in. At first glance I could see that her make-up was smeared, like she was crying.
“Raq, what’s wrong?”
“Oh my God, Cherish, I can’t believe this shit,” she walked directly to the kitchen and went for the champagne rack.
“What happened, Raquel?”
She poured herself a glass, downed it and poured another one. “They came and got William,” she said.
“What? Who came to get him?”
“The feds, Cherish, they locked him up this morning,” she tossed back the second drink and refilled again.
“Okay, slow down,” I took the glass from her and placed it on the counter. “What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know,” the tears ran down her face. “He sent me this text at six this morning,” she passed me her phone.
The text read: The feds got me. Call this number 555-299-9999
“Did you call the number?” I asked her.
She grabbed the glass of champagne and drank it. “No, I’m scared, Cherish. That’s why I came here, can you call for me?”
Raquel was my girl, without question. We had been friends since kids. We went to the same schools. We were in the same classes and once we even dated the same guy. We weren’t aware of it, but it happened. William was Raquel’s husband and the father of her daughter. I knew him, but I didn’t KNOW him. William always kept to himself. He was a loner, but he always made sure my girl was happy. He wasn’t beating on her, he hadn’t cheated on her—that I know of—and he was a very respectful person from what I saw. But one thing I never did was get involved in other people’s personal affairs. I had business of my own; my own problems. I had shit to worry about too. I didn’t have time to be up in nobody else’s shit, but Raquel was my bitch, and I could see how this situation was affecting her. She was hurting and I couldn’t sit there and do nothing while my friend hurt, that just wasn’t in my nature.
“Yes, Raq, I’ll call for you.”
I called the number in the text message and the person that answered told me his name was David Graham and he was criminal attorney in New York City. I told him about the text and everything Raquel said and he told me that he would call her back once he found out what was going on.
“What do you think is gonna happen, Cherish?” Raquel asked, pouring her forth drink.
“I think you’re about to be drunk,” I laughed.
“C’mon, Cherish, this is serious,” she said trying to hold back her smile.
“I know. I’m sorry. Well, we can’t do anything until we know what’s going on. We don’t even know what he’s been charged with.”
Raquel dropped her head. She looked defeated. I was feeling bad for my girl.
“I can’t believe this happening to me, Cherish. What am I gonna tell my daughter?” her
tears started flowing again.
I didn’t know what to tell her. “Don’t worry, Raq… everything will be alright,” I said.
________
I sat at my table and gazed out at the city’s building structures. It was a beautiful afternoon. Despite the little bit of drama with Raquel and her husband this morning, the day seemed to be moving along pretty well. The sun was shining. It was a gorgeous spring Saturday and the New York City streets were glooming with nonstop activity. I waited patiently for my phone to ring, and just as the thought crossed my mind, it rang.
“Hello?” I answered. I already knew who it was.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at One Forty Fifth East Thirty Ninth Street at the Pod Thirty Nine Hotel Rooftop.”
“Cool. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Ten minutes later I saw Simeon walking towards me. I couldn’t even hold back my smile. He gave me a hug and then kissed my cheek. He smelled so good. I wanted to hold him and never let him go.
“This is a nice spot,” he said.
“Yeah, it is. This is my second time coming here. Raquel told me about this spot a while ago.”
“You look good too,” he said, undressing me with his eyes.
I blushed, “Thank you.
Our waiter approached and asked if we were ready to order and I told him we needed a minute to look over the menu.
“So, how was your day?” he asked.
I didn’t like people in my business, so I kept it brief, “My day was cool, yours?”
“Nothing spectacular, regular business…”
“And what business is that?”
“I have three recording studios down here; all the top artist in the industry come to my studios to master their songs.”
“Oh, so, you’re in the entertainment business?”
“Something like that.” he said.
“Either you are, or you aren’t, there is no in between,” I told him.
He laughed. “What line of work are you in?”
“Stock and bonds,”
“You’re a stock broker?”
“Something like that,” I said.
He laughed again. His smile was driving me crazy. I just wanted to kiss him.
“Excuse me,” my phone rang, “Hello?”
“Cherish, where are you?” It was my grandmother and she didn’t sound like her normal self.
“What’s wrong?”
“You need to come to the hospital,” she said.
“Grandma, what happened?” my heart rate increased.
“Cherish…” she paused for a second. “Dorian got shot.”
“What!”
“Cherish, calm down and come to the hospital.”
“Oh my God, is he alright, grandma?”
“Cherish, please… jus’ come to the hospital.”
“What hospital, grandma?”
“Saint Barnabas,” she said.
“I’m on my way,” I hung up.
Simeon just stared at me. It all felt like a dream.
“Cherish, what happened?” he asked.
“I gotta go,” I grabbed my purse and put my jacket on.
“Hold up,” he grabbed my arm. “I may be able to help if you tell me what’s going on.”
“I have to go to the hospital, my little brother got shot,” I told him.
“Damn,” he let my arm go and followed behind me. “Is he alright?”
“I don’t know; that’s what I’m going to find out.”
I jumped in my truck, peeled off and Simeon followed me all the way to the hospital. When we got there my grandmother was in the lobby waiting for me.
“Grandma, what happened?”
“They tried to kill my baby,” she cried.
The atmosphere was surreal. I was physically there, but mentally I was someplace else; someplace happy. But the reality set in real quick when the doctor came out and updated us on Dorian’s status.
“Miss Carter,” he said, extending his arm. “Hello, I’m Doctor Weinberg. Dorian has suffered multiple gunshot wounds but he is okay. Right now he’s in surgery getting patched up.”
I felt a little better after hearing my brother was okay. “So, when can we see him?” I asked.
“As soon as he comes out of surgery,” Doctor Weinberg was about to walk off, but he turned around. “Dorian’s a tough kid, surprised the hell out of me. Usually you see kids come in with injuries like that and they don’t make it. God was on his side today. Have a nice day,” he said, walking off.
I looked at my grandmother and tears were spilling from her eyes. I wrapped her in my arms and tried to console her. It hurt my heart to see her cry. “It’s okay, grandma… Dorian’s gonna be alright, he’ll be just fine.”
As we were waiting for Dorian to get out of surgery Jillian and Raquel rushed into the emergency room.
“Cherish, is he alright? I just got the call,” Raquel said, rushing to give me a hug.
“The doctor said he’s gonna pull through. Who the fuck would do some shit like this to Dorian, he don’t fuck with nobody.”
“Troy told me he was in the Bronx gambling and they robbed him,” Jill explained.
“Robbed him of what, he ain’t got no money,” my grandmother said.
“I gave him money yesterday, grandma,” I shook my head.
“I told that boy to stay in the house. He’s so damn hardheaded. I told you to talk to him, Cherish.”
“I did, grandma. He said he wasn’t doing anything.”
“Well, he’s doing something because you don’t get shot for doing nothing.”
She was right. Dorian lied to me. He was into something that he wasn’t telling us about and it almost cost him his life. I was pissed, and I couldn’t wait to see him to tell him how upset I was.
7
A few days later they released Dorian from the hospital. He got shot five times. Whoever did it was really trying to kill my little brother, and I still couldn’t believe it. Seeing him lying in that hospital bed did something to me. It definitely scared the shit out of me, but it also made me realize how precious life is. How one moment you could be laughing and smiling with someone and the next minute, they’re gone. It was crazy.
One of the bullets hit him in his jaw and knocked two of his teeth out, so his mouth was wired shut. I wanted to ask him a million questions, but I knew he was in pain. I knew he was suffering and I didn’t want to make him feel any worse. But as he soon as healed enough to talk, I was going to be on his ass like never before.
The day Dorian got shot was one of the worse days of my life. I don’t know what it was, but the drama was in full swing, and I couldn’t dodge it. It was like I was attracting that shit.
Ever since that day Simeon started playing me real close. We talked on the phone almost every day and we even met up a few times for dinner and drinks. Simeon was cool and he had money. Not that I needed his money, but it was good to know that it was there if I did need it; something like a security blanket.
The weather was starting to break, the sun was shining and I had on my Dolce and Gabbana shades doing eighty down I95. I was on my way to meet up with Simeon. He said he had something very important to tell me. He told me not to worry because it wasn’t bad news, so I wasn’t stressed at all. I gripped the steering wheel, pressed the gas and pushed the Porsche past speeds of a hundred miles an hour.
I pulled up to Amy Ruth’s on a hundred and sixteenth and Simeon was leaning against his Bentley, talking to two young looking kids. I got out the car and walked to where they were. The young boys were staring hard.
“Damn, ma… what’s ya’ name?” one of them asked. He had cornrow braids and gold teeth in his mouth, but he was a cutie.
I smiled at him. “Cherish,” I said and gave Simeon a kiss on his cheek.
“Oh, you fuckin’ wit’ this lame ass nigga…” the other young boy joked.
Simeon threw a few playful jabs at them and they took off down the block.
> “Come take a ride wit’ me,” he said, getting in the driver’s seat.
“What about my car?”
“Leave it there, ain’t nobody gon’ fuck wit’ it.”
I jumped in the passenger seat of his Bentley Coupe and he pulled off.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Shhh…” he hushed me and hit the speaker button on his phone, “Yo, Lex, where them niggas be at that put the work in on the young boy the other day?” he asked.
“That’s lil’ Ron and dem’ niggas…” Lex replied. “They be over there by One Seven Oh and Park.”
“Oh, okay, okay… yeah, I know that lil’ nigga Ron, he a trouble maker too,” Simeon said. “Aight, good lookin…” he hung up.
I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.
“You heard that?” he asked me.
“What was I supposed to hear?”
Simeon shook his head. “My lil’ man jus’ told me the kids who shot your lil’ brother be on One Seventieth and Park. You wanna see em’?”
I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked and speechless at the same time. And that’s something new for me. My heart started beating faster. “How did you find them?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about all that, shorty… I know a few people. Do you wanna see these dudes or not?”
“I don’t know exactly what you’re asking me. I don’t wanna kill anybody,”
Simeon bust out laughing.
“Don’t laugh, I’m serious,” I said.
“Girl, I ain’t talking about killin’ nobody, you wild… I thought maybe you wanted to see these niggas; say something to em’ or whateva.”
I thought about it for a moment, “Yeah,” I nodded my head, “I do wanna see them.”
We pulled up to a red light on One Seventieth and Park.
“There they go right there,” he pointed. About four or five young dudes were standing in front of the corner store. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”
I watched Simeon cross the street and approach the small crowd. After a minute of talking to them, four of the kids slowly walked off and he continued to talk to the fifth. I could see them clearly, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying, so I rolled the window down.
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