by T. Styles
“Do you know where Denim is?” Bambi questioned.
She shook her head quickly. “No, I don’t. I didn’t even know she was missing until a few days ago when Bradley came over.”
“Why are you so set on ruining your sisters’ life?” Bambi asked seriously. “Why you gotta go fucking with a bitch’s husband?”
“I didn’t fuck with him. He fucked me. First he broke my jaw and then he raped me in my own house. I don’t know what Bradley told y’all but he was lying if he said I stepped to him any other way.”
“Are you crazy?” Bambi asked. “Do you really expect somebody to believe that he raped your bum ass? Look at you. You a washed up heroin addict.”
“I was a washed up heroin addict. I’ve been clean for a few weeks now. And to answer your question you don’t have to believe me. I know what happened and now the police do too. This time the nigga gonna pay and no money can change that.”
“What exactly did you tell them happened?”
“If I tell y’all you gonna let me live?” she looked up at Race and then back at Bambi.
“What happened?” Bambi repeated.
**What Really Happened**
Bradley and Grainger were on their fifth blunt. Although Bradley was angry with Grainger he was also filled with confusion and rage about not knowing what was going on with his wife. Sure she lost a child but he did too. His mind was going into overdrive. One puff he would be relaxed and the next he would be angry again. He couldn’t get a steady moment of peace.
“What you over there thinking about?” Grainger asked smiling at Bradley who was sitting on the couch. “Your eyes little as shit.”
“I’m thinking about my wife,” his neck felt so heavy it fell into the back of the sofa. He had no idea Grainger laced the blunt with meth to confuse his mind.
“You should keep your thoughts on me,” Grainger said as she stroked his hair backwards. “It’s better that way.” She paused. “Damn, I can’t believe how good you look. Even now.”
“Fuck are you doing?” he asked.
“Making you feel good.” She kissed his lips. “I miss you so much, Bradley. I mean can’t you see what you do to me? You can’t be that crazy.”
“I need you to get the fuck up off of me.” Although he was serious, because he was high, his voice didn’t hold the hateful tone he was known for when she was in the room.
Grainger got up and looked down at him. Then she smacked him in the face. “Stupid, ass nigga. I fucking hate you.” She smacked him again. “Do you hear me, I fucking hate you. You come up in my house all the time with my sister when you know how much I cared about you. We had our fights but I know you loved me. Why you break my heart like that, Bradley? It’s because of you I started using heroin. I couldn’t take the pain. I couldn’t take seeing you with my sister.” She hit him again.
With each slap Bradley felt alive. The pain on his skin mixed with the anger in his heart and the drugs in his body caused his dick to stiffen.
Grainger represented everything he despised. He didn’t know what attracted him to her to begin with. She couldn’t hold a candle to Denim’s beauty. But for the moment he wanted something to ease his pain and she was it.
So he pulled her down onto his lap. He pushed her skirt up and ripped her panties off. Excited, and worried he was about to change his mind Grainger tried to assist him with his zipper to free his dick but he smacked the shit out of her, causing her lip to bust open and spray blood.
Finally Bradley released his dick and he pressed into her body. For the first time in years Grainger was filled with Bradley’s thickness and she was in ecstasy. There had been so many nights she prayed for the moment but she never saw how it was possible.
Bradley, angry he was fucking his wife’s sister, bit the top of her breast, leaving teeth marks along her skin. Then he bit her shoulder also causing her flesh to break and bleed. He fucked her hard and rough and nothing about it was romantic but Grainger loved every minute of it.
It didn’t take her long to cum and he followed behind her a minute later as he released his sperm into her body. When he was done he immediately felt bad.
She got off of him and repositioned her clothes. She went in to kiss him and he said, “Don’t put your lips anywhere near my face, slut!”
She frowned. “So we make love and now I can’t kiss you?”
“I didn’t make love to you. I fucked you. There’s a difference. And if you ever tell my wife I will kill you.”
****
Bambi and Race eyed Grainger suspiciously after she told the story. Of course Grainger left out the part that she was a willing participant. Instead she said he raped her to make her look better.
Although she had the bruise on her lip, which was consistent with the story she just gave, Bambi still didn’t believe her.
“Raise your shirt,” Bambi ordered.
“For what?” Grainger frowned.
“Raise the shirt or I’ll blow it off,” Race said with the gun pressed to her nipple.
Grainger quickly raised the pink sweater she was wearing. Just as she said in her story there was a bite mark above her breast and her shoulder. “You see, I didn’t lie.” She pulled her shirt down and looked at Bambi and then Race. “Now will you guys leave me alone?”
Bambi lowered her head. She wanted so badly to believe Bradley but just like Kevin, he had let her down.
Race on the other hand remembered something Denim said after Scarlett had her baby. “You know, Bambi, Denim once told me that she wouldn’t have a problem putting flowers on Grainger’s early grave.”
Bambi slowly raised her head. At first she looked at Grainger and then she looked at Race.
“Then honor her wishes and kill her.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
DENIM
I sat in the car and looked over at the cottage. I had been gone for two weeks and I needed every day of my retreat. Since I didn’t have my cell phone anymore because I threw it in the toilet after speaking to my mother, I didn’t know what was happening at home. To be honest I didn’t want to know what was happening. I had to get away to save my own life and I would do it again if I had to. Now the only thing I had to do was get my family to understand why I left. I’m sure that would be easier said than done.
It was time to face my life so I took a deep breath and got out of the car. When I walked inside the house I immediately felt tension. Not only that, everybody was wearing t-shirts with Master’s face on the front.
Bambi was on the sofa rubbing Scarlett’s arm. Since she was wearing her fatigue pants, which wasn’t a good sign, I knew something major had happened.
Race was sitting on the floor with her back against the wall. Kevin and Ramirez were pacing the floor and Camp was sitting at the dining room table crying. I never heard him cry before. But there was one thing they all had in common, they all looked distraught.
I walked inside and locked the door. “What’s up?”
“Where the fuck have you been?” Bambi asked with venom in her voice.
I tossed my purse on the floor by the door. “I know I was wrong but I had to get away. There was so much happening with me. I couldn’t cope with losing Jasmine and I needed a break.” I looked at Scarlett’s face again. Her skin was beet red. “Why is everybody wearing t-shirts with Master’s face on the front?”
“Everything is fucked up,” Bambi said angrily. She stood up and approached me. “So where do you want me to start?”
“Don’t come at me all hard, Bambi. I know it was wrong how I left out of here but like I said I just lost my baby. And the way I grieve might not be the way you would’ve done it but it’s how I handled it. Okay? Now what the fuck is going on? Or have I been cut out of the family business all together?”
Bambi backed away and sat next to Scarlett. “Ngozi got Master.”
I almost stumbled backwards when I heard the news. Although I lost my baby and it would be hard to be around Master because his presence reminded
me of her, I never wanted anything like this to happen.
I covered my mouth. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry, Scarlett.”
“He had Scarlett too for a minute,” Camp said, “but Scarlett was able to get away. But we think,” Camp choked up, “we think he killed Master.”
“Don’t say that shit,” Race said compassionately. “All we know is that Ngozi doesn’t live at his address anymore. If we find him we may be able to find the baby.”
Bambi looked like she had her own ideas but I didn’t ask her about them at the moment. I would talk to her later. She always saw what other people didn’t. I guess that’s why she was good in the military.
Instead I lowered my head. I was away in my own world never knowing that my family needed me. How selfish! I left without any regard for my family or my husband. And then something dawned on me.
“Wait, where’s Bradley?” Nobody answered me. I stood up and walked over to Bambi. “Where is my husband?”
“He’s in jail, Denim,” Kevin said. “Them pigs finally got him.”
My eyes widened and my heart rate increased. “In jail for what?”
“For something he didn’t do,” he responded.
When I looked at Race and then Bambi they looked as if they knew more. “What do you mean? I’m…I’m confused.”
“When you left to clear your mind, Bradley went looking for you,” Bambi started. “He didn’t know where to find you. The man was a mess and he ended up going to Sarah’s house. And…your sister…she…I mean…”
Bambi was never at a loss for words. She said what was on her mind and she let other people sort it out. So why was she at a loss for words now?
“What the fuck happened?” I yelled.
“Grainger said he raped her,” Ramirez added. “My brother’s in jail because that bitch said he raped her.”
“What? That’s impossible…give me the phone. I’m going to call her and get this shit straightened out right now!”
“Grainger, is missing too,” Race said with her hands stuffed in her pockets. “They think she’s on a drug binge. Your mother been losing her mind though. You might wanna call her.”
What happened to my life? I’d let what was left of my world crumble. Bradley was a good man and I didn’t know what kind of shit Grainger was trying to pull but I knew for a fact that he wouldn’t have touched her with a dog’s dick.
I didn’t care what I had to do; I was going to pull my family together. That was on my life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
SCARLETT
I was sitting in a busy train station. People with their own lives passed me by and I wondered where they were going and what they were thinking. My feet moved rapidly under me as I waited for the person I scheduled a meeting with.
About an hour after I’d first arrived Ngozi walked in wearing a black button down shirt with black slacks, and a chocolate leather coat. He was with his mother and I wondered why she came. We were supposed to be alone. Those were my specific orders.
They both approached the bench where I sat. His mother, Abebi, sat on my left and Ngozi took the right.
I looked over at Ngozi and asked, “What is she doing here? I told you this meeting was private.”
“What do you want, Scarlett?” he asked me calmly while ignoring my question. “The last time I spoke to you, you gave me a heads up that your family was after me and that I had to move.”
“And I put you up in a house too,” I said. “And from what I can remember it’s way better than the place you were living in before you met me. Be grateful because you got your wish.”
“That may be true but I told you not to contact me unless you have the information I need. Do you have it or not?”
“I tried but I really can’t,” I said turning around to face him. “Too much is going on and I don’t even know where it is. Bambi keeps all of that stuff away from us. For our own protection.”
“Are you saying you can’t because you didn’t try? Or are you saying you can’t because you don’t want to?”
I couldn’t answer his question. All I knew was that I wanted him out of town. If he stuck around and they found him and asked him where Master was he would say he didn’t know. And right now Camp and I were trying to make it work because we were trying to find our baby. Getting rid of Master worked for my marriage and it actually brought us closer.
My plan was almost good but I had to make sure Ngozi wasn’t found and that he didn’t know that I framed him for taking Master.
“I’m saying I can’t because I tried and it was too difficult, Ngozi. Just leave town, please.”
I reached down between my legs and grabbed the black leather duffle on the floor. I looked back at Abebi and then at him. I threw the heavy bag in his lap.
“What is this?” he asked.
“One million dollars. Every dollar I have.”
His eyes widened. “Wow. And it isn’t even my birthday.” He scrutinized his surroundings for a second and then looked into the bag really quickly. He closed it up.
“You have more than enough money to start all over.”
“Why the urgency?” He brushed is knuckles along the side of my face. “I thought we were getting along so well.”
“I’m serious, Ngozi,” I said frustrated with his lack of urgency. “I need you to leave and never come back to the DMV area again. Now I might not be able to give you the information you want from Bambi, but that’s a lot of money to walk away from.”
He closed the bag. “And what if I don’t leave?”
“Then my family will have you executed.”
“They have to find me first,” he said confidently.
“They will find you, and they will kill you.” I touched the bag in his lap. “Take the money and leave while you still can.”
Instead of answering me he smiled. I was about to give him a piece of my mind until his mother touched my face from behind me and left something wet on my cheek. She said a few words in her African tongue and laughed.
I jumped up and wiped my face off with the back of my hand. I looked over at her. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
She smiled. “Nothing, my dear,” she said calmly. “But I can’t say the same for you. You will experience pain like you’ve never imagined,” she said to me. “And when it is all said and done you will die.”
I looked over at Ngozi and he smiled. He threw the bag over his shoulder. “Goodbye, Scarlett. I will be in contact.”
Both of them walked away, leaving me alone.
****
After the day I had all I wanted to do was go in the house and go to sleep. Besides I had to rethink my entire life and what would happen if my secret got out. Something told me that Ngozi was not going to go away so maybe I would have to do something I never wanted. Leave the Kennedys.
When I walked into the bedroom Camp was sitting on the edge of the bed. “We have to talk,” he said seriously.
I put my purse down on the dresser. “Okay.” I leaned up against it. “What’s up?” I placed a few strands of my red hair behind my ear.
He looked over at me. His eyes were as pink as they’d been since he first learned that Master was gone. “Where is my son?”
My heart pounded in my chest. “I don’t know, baby. Remember we went over Ngozi’s house, only to learn that he moved?”
“I know what we did. I know we tried to find him and I know you’re saying you escaped but couldn’t get my son, but I’ll never forget what you said to me a few days before you had the baby. Do you remember that day?”
My eyebrows rose. “When?”
“You made me breakfast and I knocked a plate of eggs to the floor.”
I remembered now. “What did I say?”
“You said, ‘If you don’t give a fuck about this baby, there are always things I can do to correct the situation. Don’t test me, Camp. Like I said you never got the chance to really know me. But I do know you and your weaknesses.’” He paused. “Now what di
d you mean by that?”
I felt faint. “I don’t know what I meant by that. I was angry because you didn’t want me anymore and there’s nothing I want more in life than to be a Kennedy.”
“And you were also mad that I didn’t want you right before the baby went missing. How do I know you aren’t lying? Did you sell my son? Did you kill him?”
“What? Of course not!”
“Who are you, Scarlett? I mean who are you really? How come I haven’t met your parents? Why haven’t I been able to find out anything from your past? Why are you more scared of the cops than we are? That’s why we couldn’t call on them to help find Master, right? Who the fuck are you?”
I walked toward him and dropped to my knees. I looked up at him. “I’m your wife. I’m the one you chose to be by your side and that will never change.” I coughed a little. Suddenly I was feeling ill and I didn’t know why.
“Everything changes, Scarlett. Everything. Look at our lives.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
BAMBI
I stood over Bunny’s gravesite with Kevin, Melo and Noah. Kevin came to this site at least once a week. Normally he would go with the boys or by himself. But this time he wanted me to go along. I think he was trying to figure me out, and get a reaction from me. He wanted to see if I had anything to do with her death. Didn’t he know that I was the master of disguises?
Kevin walked up to Bunny’s huge headstone. He and the boys placed a bushel of flowers down on the grave. The cold air blew a few petals away.
“I miss you, Bunny,” Kevin said. “I know I tell you all the time but I really want you to know how much me and the boys love you. Even with you being gone, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about you.”
My stomach grumbled. I hated that bitch, even in death.