by J Peach
“You wrong as fuck fah that bullshit. Why yo ass being extra?” Blaze whispered in my ear once I was facing him.
Laughing, I started dancing. He had his nerve. “Me? You just snapped at her. Plus, I was just testing her.” Lie. “And she failed but she seemed nice, though. You know that bitch bumped me on purpose. I was about to shoot that bitch.” I joked.
Grabbing my waist, Blaze turned me around pulling my back to his front as his hands began to roam over my body. It didn’t take him long to find the gun on my hip. Feeling it, he laughed in my ear.
“Damn, how I ain’t notice that thang with this tight ass dress you got on?”
“Because you only noticed my girly parts.” I spoke loud enough so he could hear me.
He placed his arm around my waist as his head went to my neck. A hum left his mouth. The action caused the pit of my stomach to tighten. Entwining our fingers, my hips began to roll against him as I pushed my body more into his.
Blaze’s lips touched my neck, causing me to bite into my lower lip as my hand squeezed his.
“Blaze, you better stop. I’m sho yo girlfriend is lookin’ over here.” I mumbled not sure if he could hear me or not.
Blaze moved our entwined fingers down to the hem of my dress. My hands grasped his tightly, not wanting that to happen here but at the same time not wanting to stop him. As my hand tightened into his, he bit into my neck hard while sucking at the skin.
My teeth sunk harder into my lower lip. “B, not here.” It came out as a whisper over the blaring music, so I knew he couldn’t hear me.
“Let me just play with her,” he whispered into my ear.
Glancing at him over my shoulder, I couldn’t stop the slight twitch of my lips at his seriousness. Realizing how close our face were, my eyes dropped to his lips then back to those light brown orbs I loved so much.
Unlocking our hands, I laid his palm against my lower stomach before slowly moving it down my pelvis. With my hand pressed flat into his, I slid our hands into my boy-shorts then pushed his middle finger through my slit. My eyes lazily closed for a second, loving the feeling of his rough callous hand touching me.
“Come home with me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, Blaze stopped playing with my clit and moved to my opening. My mouth parted as my chest heaved, shakily anticipating the invasion of his fingers.
My stomach tightened, my legs widened instinctively waiting for his move. My pussy contracted around the tips of his fingers while my tongue played with his lips. “I missed you, we missed you. You gon’ take care of us?” Turning in his hold, I pushed both his index and middle fingers into my pussy while locking our lips together. Our tongue started their sexual dance as I grinded myself against his hand.
My free hand slide to the crouch of his jeans. I undid the zipper and slipped my hand inside, taking hold of his erect dick.
“This still mines?” Licking my lips, my lustful eyes peeked at him from underneath my thick lashes.
“It’s yours.” He kissed me again.
A wide smile came to my lips. “Then give it to me—”
“Is you drunk?” he suddenly asked.
The question caught me off guard. “No, I only had one drink and a shot of Hennessy. Are you drunk?” I questioned.
Blaze pulled his hand from my panties. “Kinda, you gon’ take advantage of me?”
Laughing at his craziness, I stood on my tip toes, grabbing the nap of his neck, kissing him. My tongue slid into his mouth as his hand slid down to my ass, squeezing. Breaking the kiss, my forehead pressed against his chin as my eyes closed. I was enjoying being so intimately close to him again. Pulling back, my eyes locked with his.
“I missed you,” I told him truthfully. After tonight, I honestly didn’t think I could be without him. “I really do, we missed you.” This time I was referring to Blake and myself. Spending another day without him wasn’t going to get it for me.
“Does Peaches love Blaze?” He questioned with a playful smile. That carefree look was back in his eyes, one I hadn’t seen since the night of my graduation. “Because Blaze love Peaches.” His arms held me tight as his head lowered.
“I love you, too.” As soon as the words left my mouth, a loud shot rang out and Blaze’s body jerked twice as more shot started going off. I grabbed the gun from my hip and hand bag. I started shooting blindly as Blaze did the same. Grabbing his two twin Desert Eagles from his hip he let it rip.
Neither of us knew where the shots where coming from. My eyes were jumping in every direction, trying to find the source.
“Go!” He yelled, pushing me toward the back. As Blaze was distracted, warning me to run, he didn’t see the man with the 9mm pointing at him.
Grabbing the front of his shirt, I jerked him down as hard as I could. I started shooting toward the man. I kept shooting until the gun just clacked.
“Peaches, get the fuck outda here!” Blaze snapped, pushing me toward the back exit.
“No, not without you. Now come on!” Grabbing one of his guns, I pulled him up.
Blaze pushed me in front of him as we made a quick dash to the doors. Once outside, I started looking around to make sure no one was out there. The constant screams from bystanders and party goers were so loud in the mid-morning air as everyone tried to get out safely and away from the flying bullets.
“Ah shit!” Blaze cursed.
My eyes snapped to him as he leaned against the building. I checked the area once again to make sure everything was clear and no one was behind us. Not seeing anything I turned back to him.
“I parked across the street. Come on before the police show up.”
Blaze fell into the dumpster and I quickly ran to his side.
“Shit!” I could see he’d been shot through his right shoulder. “Come on, bae. We can call King on the way to the house.” I tried not to freak out.
“Just go get the fuckin’ car.” He pushed me away from him.
I fell to the ground hard. “Blaze, I’m not leaving you! Now come on.” He could yell, fuss and cuss at me all he wanted, but I wasn’t leaving him out there by himself. Standing up, I pulled at his left hand trying to get him to stand up.
“Ah shit,” he cursed again, grabbing his leg. Once I got him up, the back doors of the club came flying open. My eyes locked with a tall, lanky, dark skinned man before they drifted to the barrel of his gun.
My mind didn’t process what was happening as my body hit the ground hard, causing the gun to fall from my grip.
Chapter 8
Peaches
Blaze’s body knocked into mine before he fell on top of me, knocking the air from my lungs. He covered my body with his as both Blaze and the man started shooting at one another.
I couldn’t see a thing. All I could do was hear the thundering sound of their gun fire. It wasn’t long after that more shots followed from another direction.
“Peaches!” I heard King call after the last shot went off. Relief quickly filled my body.
“Blaze, get up.” I grunted, trying to push him off of me but he didn’t move. His body felt heavier than it did before. “Blaze,” I shook his shoulders again and I didn’t get a response. “King!” I screamed for my brother as loudly as I could.
“Oh shit!” King cussed as he rushed over to us. “Bell, help me get him up!” He frantically demanded. Once they got him off of me, King pulled me to my feet. “Peach, you straight?”
Snatching away from him, I went to Blaze’s side only to see his eyes closed. I pulled his shirt up, there were two holes in his chest. I broke down. “Blaze, get up!” I cried, trying to pull him up. “Come on, baby. Get up! We’re going to get you to a hospital.” I pulled his head into my chest as my tears ran rapidly down my cheeks.
“Peach, we can’t stay here? Baby girl, I need you to go get your car and come get us.” King instructed as he pulled at my arms. “Bell, call the twins and tell them to meet us at the house on fo-9.”
I couldn’t leave him. I didn’t want too. I
felt if I did, something worse was going to happen. “Blaze, come on—”
“Peaches, go get the fuckin’ car.” King snapped at me as he yanked me up.
My vision went blurry and my chest shook violently. I couldn’t leave him. “Not without Blaze.”
“Baby girl, I need you to get it together. I need you, Peach, now go get your ride.” He turned me away from Blaze and gave me a push.
With a nod of my head, I took off on shaky legs toward my car. Hearing sirens in the back ground, my legs moved faster.
***
We pulled into one of King’s low kept houses on 49th Avenue. The twins were already there. Once they saw my truck, they quickly rushed to the back doors where Blaze and King were.
He pushed the back doors opened and hopped out. After I threw the truck in park, I jumped out as well.
“Peaches, go opened the door.” Catching King’s keys midair, I hurriedly ran to the front door fumbling them in the door. “Peaches, open the fuckin’ door!” King yelled at me.
I jump hard and drop the keys on the ground. I quickly picked them up. I fumbled with them for a few seconds with shaky hands. “I’m trying!” Finally I found the right key. The moment I stuck it in and turned the knob, I was pushed inside of the house.
“Put him on the table,” King told them before his focus turned on me. “Peaches,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me back outside of the house. “I need you to get yoself together, right now. I’m about to ask you to do me a favor.”
I wasn’t trying to hear shit he was saying. Blaze was in there stretched out on a damn table bleeding to death. “King, I can’t leave him.”
“He’ll be good.”
“King, you don’t know that! He lost a lot of blood. I gotda make sure he’s okay.” I tried to push around him so I could go inside of the house to see what they were doing to Blaze. I had to make sure he was going to be okay.
My emotions were getting the best of me and no matter how many times I silently prayed or chanted in my mind that he was going to be okay, a part of me felt it was a lie.
“Ha’Keem, move! Damn, get the fuck out the way!” My voice shook with the last word as that lump grew thicker in my throat, causing a burning sensation. “King, I gotda know he’s going to be okay. Just let me check on him. King, there was so much blood. Just let me make sure he’s okay, please. Let me check on him.” I constantly repeated as tears fell rapidly from my eyes.
King shook me hard. “Baby girl, I’mma need you to put yo fuckin’ emotions away right now, i’ight? Lose those mothafuckin’ tears. Ain’t no time for crying.” He shook my body harder as his firm, demanding voice barked at me.
The bass in his tone got my attention and I focused on him through blurry eyes.
“I need you to clean out that truck, baby girl. Wipe that mothafucka, inside and out then park it in the back of the shop and leave it. Peach, you gon’ have to clean these burners for me. Strip ‘em then toss ‘em in the sewers, i’ight? Can you do that fah me?” he asked in a calm tone of voice.
Realizing I couldn’t break right now, I nodded my head. “Yeah, yeah, I can do it.”
King led me to the white truck he brought me five years ago as a graduation present. He opened the door and handed me a pair of gloves from his pocket while he pulled out his phone to make a call.
“Start taking everything out. I’ll be right back.” He turned away from me. “Yo, Ron, I need a favor.” I heard him say before he disappeared into the house.
I didn’t know why he was calling Jerron but at that moment, I could care less. The back of my hand rubbed at my eyes before I blindly started doing as I was told all the while trying to keep my mind off of Blaze.
***
“You good?” Bellow asked, getting out his truck and coming to me.
“As good as I’m going to be.” I told him while tossing my keys to Sam. “Here, we’ll meet you back at the house.” My eyes felt swollen and I was worried sick thinking about Blaze. All I could do was pray that he was going to be alright.
“You straight?” Sam repeated Bellow’s question.
As bad as I wanted to yell at them both and tell their dumb asses hell no, I kept my cool, even though I was anything but that. I was beyond pissed that somebody would start some bullshit like that at Blaze’s party. Then the mothafucka had the nerve to shoot him. I was hurt and pissed the fuck off!
“I’ll be better once I get back to see how he’s doing.” My tone was neutral and I gave him a nonchalant shrug.
Sam didn’t buy it. Instead, he pulled me into his chest holding me tight. It was at that moment I felt myself starting to crumble but I couldn’t let King down. “I’m good, Sam. Seriously, I am.” I lied as I shook out of his hold.
“You know he gon’ be good. He too stubborn to die by somebody else’s gun. So don’t stress yourself out too much worrying about him,” Sam reassured me.
Giving him a small smile, I pulled back and then got in Bellow’s truck.
“Peach, you know that dread head bastard right. That man of yours is too gotdamn stubborn. Plus, he not gon’ leave you and little man by y’all self.” Bellow awkwardly patted my hand.
I simply nodded at his words, knowing he was right. Even so, it still didn’t change the ache in my heart. I had to clear my mind, I needed a distraction.
I turned the radio up and leaned back in my seat trying to get comfortable in an attempt to keep Blaze off of my mind until I got to him. But the constant images of his blood covered body kept invading my thoughts.
“Bell, do you have an extra shirt and a bag in here?” I asked while looking around trying to find something to wrap myself in so I could rid my body of my dress. “I need to get this off of me.” I gestured toward my blood covered clothes.
“Look in the back seat, I have a shirt back there and Kim keeps a box of wipes under the seat.” He reached in the back like he was trying to find something. A few seconds later, he handed me a shirt.
For some reason a smile came to my lips at the thought of them. This was the distraction I needed. “Y’all nasty ass. I’m not touching that backseat. I’m not about to sit on yo dried up nut or her juices. I knew it smelled funky in here.”
Bell broke out laughing before muffing my head to the side. “Shut the fuck up. We clean the seats, sometimes. Shid, that be yo girl, though. A nigga ain’t complaining. Real shit! I love that damn girl, man.”
My smile kind of dimmed from the shine in his eyes as well as his smile. I could tell he meant it. “You really love Kim?” Kim was stupid if she didn’t leave Mike alone and make things right with Bellow.
“What?” His brows rose as he stared at me dumbly like he hadn’t expected the question.
My brows furrowed as I took him in. Had he not realized what he just said? “You said you love her.” I repeated his words as he turned down Clark Road.
Bellow stared at me for a second before looking away and turning up the radio, ignoring me completely.
A heavy sigh left my mouth as the conversation died and the silence allowed my mind to wonder back to the shooting. Mentally, I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those thoughts. But once my eyes closed, my mind quickly went to Blaze. He just had to be okay. I didn’t know what we would do if he didn’t make it through this.
I couldn’t fathom what life would be like for myself or Blake without Blaze. My fingers wiped at my checks, brushing the tears away as I sniffled.
My body suddenly jerked forward as Bellow’s truck swerve off to the side of the road before smacking into a tree.
My forehead hit hard against the dashboard. A groan left my mouth as my head snapped back against the headrest. My vision blurred and my hand went to my aching head, as I felt blood run down from the side of my forehead to my eye.
“Peach, you good?” Bellow’s voice seemed just above a whisper as I began fading in and out.
A groan left my mouth as my head laid back against the passenger side window.
“Come on, baby gi
rl. You gotda stay awake for me. You hear me?” I felt him slap me on my cheek.
My eyes drifted from him to a red beam that soon appeared on the dashboard. Bellow was too busy focusing on me that he didn’t see it.
With the little strength I had, I quickly jerked him down to me. I pulled him to me just as his window shattered.
A scream tore from my throat as the bullet missed the back of Bellow’s head and lodged into my shoulder.
That was the first of many shots that started flying into the truck.
Last thing I remembered before everything went black was the hot bullet tearing into my flesh.
Chapter 9
Peaches
Two Weeks Later
I walked out of the hospital’s bathroom from just taking a shower. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there so I could see my baby and Blaze. I knew Blake was fine but he was worried sick about me.
I looked down at my right shoulder to the patched up bullet wound before my eyes went to my side where a bullet grazed through my skin.
The shot to my shoulder had just missed the main artery but the bullet that had lodged inside of me was still close to a blood vessel. The doctors didn’t want to risk the bullet moving, so they performed immediate surgery to remove it.
Now that everything was fine and I was cleared by the doctor, I was ready to get the hell out of there. I needed to see Blaze. I hadn’t heard from him and no one was telling me anything, not even Bianca would let me know how he was.
I’d been in the dark for too long trapped in the hospital and I couldn’t stop my mind from thinking the worse. Blaze was dead.
That had to be the only reasonable explanation as to why they wouldn’t tell me anything. A lump formed in my throat as I thought back to that day. Tears ran down my cheeks as a smile stretched across my face from the flashes that flickered through my mind of our moment on his birthday.
He couldn’t be dead. Blaze wouldn’t leave us. We needed him.
But why wasn’t anyone telling me how he was? My eyes burned and I thought about Blake. He couldn’t be without his dad. I couldn’t be without his dad.