The Pink Palace

by Marlon McCaulsky

  JANELLE

  It’s been two months since we came back from L.A. and dealt with Vanessa’s trifling ass. Jayson has to fly back out there to present more evidence against her for the prosecution. She’s now facing international drug trafficking and money laundering charges. She should be locked up for the next 20 to 30 years. The media is calling this the biggest drug bust in Fulton County history and calling Vanessa the queen behind King’s New York operation. They gonna throw her ass up under the jailhouse!

  I’m just happy that ho got what she deserved. As for me, it’s time to concentrate on graduating next month and getting my A.S. degree. The University of Georgia ain’t no joke when it comes to exam time. Now that I’m about to finish my general ed classes, I’m thinking about what major I should decide on. I thought about becoming a teacher for a hot second, until I remembered how much I didn’t enjoy high school. The nursing field is pretty wide open. I do like working and taking care of newborns, so that’s definitely a possibility. For now, I had better focus on passing this physics exam I got next Tuesday.

  There are a lot of things jumping off in the A-town, and some concerts that are going on at the school. As I’m leaving class, there’s a crowd of people gathered outside the auditorium, and I see my stepbrother, Tony.

  “Hey, what’s up, Tony?”

  “Hey, Janelle. Nothing much, man,” Tony says.

  “What’s all the commotion for?”

  “Don’t you know? Kane is signing autographs before he performs.”

  “Kane? The rapper?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I’m just trying to get some of his groupie leftovers for myself.”

  All of a sudden I get a bad feeling in my gut. “Tony, I gotta go.”

  “Okay, I’ll holla at ya.”

  I start to walk away from the crowd and push past people in my way. I know I might be bugging out a little, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

  As I’m making my way down the block, my worst fears come face to face with me again.

  “Hey, ma, long time no see,” Damien says.

  My heart starts to beat rapidly and I wanna run away, but I can’t. Damien stares at me with those lustful eyes.

  “Damn, you still look finer than a bitch.”

  “I gotta go,” I say to him as I try to walk by him, but he grabs my arm.

  “Where you running off to so soon? We just gonna catch up on some old times.”

  “We don’t have anything to catch up on. Let me go,” I demand.

  “Don’t act like that, Mo. Let’s just get to know each other again.”

  “Let go of me or I’ll scream!”

  “Now, why would you wanna go and do that, ma?” Damien says as he shows me his gun under his shirt. “Now, how’s life been treating you? You going to school? Shit, got your life all together now. I just wanna finish what we started back in the day.”

  “You mean rape me like you did Nikki?”

  Damien looks at me coldly. “Naw, I ain’t gonna rape you. I’m gonna fuck you. And you’re going be cool with it, or I’ll have to look up that ho-ass cousin of yours again. You feel me?”

  I won’t let him hurt Nikki again, not after what happened the first time. Jayson’s not here, and I can’t run away from him again.

  “Okay. Just let me go home and change,” I say to him.

  “Naw, ma, I like the way you look right now. We can go somewhere real private.” Damien lets go of me and points to his car. We get in and we pull off down the street.

  “That’s my nigga, Kane, back there. I put him on. I’m making a lot of big moves in the rap game, ma. A girl like you could make some real paper in the game with an ass like that. Of course you need the right man behind you to make it happen.”

  I don’t respond. All I can do is think of how I let myself get caught by this nigga.

  “Well, I guess I’m gonna get behind that ass of yours one way or another. Tell me, did you go to that bitch-ass Officer Harper’s funeral?” Damien says.

  Oh my God, he thinks Jayson is dead. No need to tell him shit.

  “I don’t wanna talk about him.”

  “That nigga really had you sprung, huh? He’s probably the reason you quit dancing and shit. You really thought he was Captain Save-a-Ho? That nigga fooled me, too. You see, the truth is, Mo’Nique, bitches like you are only good for fucking. All this college shit just ain’t you. You were better off making your ass clap back in The Pink Palace. Just remember that.”

  Damien drives me to a shitty little Days Inn on the west side of Atlanta and checks us in. It’s a small room with a king-size bed, two nightstands, and a dresser with a TV on it. Damien is still the same asshole he was back then, except this time he has more money. By the platinum chain and iced-out watch he has on, I can tell that he’s really ballin’.

  “Damn, girl, you still got a fat ass on you,” Damien says as he grabs my ass.

  “Let’s just do this.” I can’t believe I’m about to sleep with this grimy-ass nigga. His every touch makes me sick.

  “Oh, we gonna do this, ma, but first I want you to dance for me.”

  He’s got to be kidding me. “I don’t have any music.”

  “Just think of a song in your head and bounce that ass for me.” Damien sits on the bed and takes his gun and puts it on the dresser on the other side of the bed. There’s no chance of me grabbing it at all.

  I start to slowly grind for him. Damien leans back on the bed and opens his legs. I slowly dance and unzip my jeans, pulling them down and over my ass to step out of them. I have on a pair of pink panties, and Damien palms my ass as I dance for him.

  I try to make myself numb to stop thinking about him. He rubs his fingers over the sheer fabric of my panties and caresses my clit. You would think I’d be getting wet, but I only feel like throwing up.

  His hands travel under my shirt and grab my titties. He then pulls my shirt over my head and sits me down in his lap as I continue to gyrate my waist to an imaginary song in my head. I can feel his hardness in his pants as he plays with my titties.

  This is it. I might as well do this and get it over with. I don’t want to look at his face while we do it, so I bend forward to click off the lamp. As I reach for the lamp, I notice that the base is made out of metal. I have one chance and I take it. I click off the lamp and then quickly grab it, swinging it around and busting Damien in the head.

  CRACK!

  “Aarragh! What the fuck?” he yells in pain.

  I keep on bashing him in the skull with the metal base, and blood splatters against the headboard. Damien tries to reach for his gun, but I don’t give him a chance to get it. I deal him blow after blow to the skull, until he doesn’t move, and I stand there shaking, not knowing if I’ve killed him or not. I drop the lamp and stand there frozen.

  Then I see his chest move, and I swiftly grab the gun. I don’t know what to do. I quickly put my clothes back on, and then I pick up my phone to call the police. Then it hits me. Instead of calling the police, I call Nikki.

  I’m scared to death and tell her that Damien has taken me to a hotel and that I’ve beaten the shit outta him with a lamp.

  Nikki is stunned, but then she gets Dre, and they quickly drive over to the hotel and find me in the room with Damien. His head is busted open and covered in blood.

  “Oh God, Mo’Nique . . .” She hugs me.

  “I was so scared. He said if I didn’t go with him, he’d find you. . . .”

  “It’s okay. It’s over now,” Nikki tells me.

  “Where’s his gun?” Dre asks.

  “Here.” I give it to him.

  Then this fucker Damien comes around. “Oh, shit. Look who it is. If it ain’t my favorite bitch,” he says.

  Dre punches the shit outta him. “Watch your mouth, nigga.”

  Damien spits blood outta his mouth. “So, this is it, huh? You just gonna kill me?” Then Damien starts to laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” Nikki asks him.

  “You, bitch. You
weren’t nothing but some good head. You and your bitch-ass cousin. Fuck y’all.”

  Nikki walks up to him on the bed and gets in his face. “You ain’t shit, Damien. I wasn’t nothing but good head, huh? Well, you know every time you kissed me, guess whose dick I had been sucking on?”

  Damien glares at her.

  “That’s right, nigga. My dick,” Dre says to him.

  “All that shit you and Horse did to me didn’t kill me. It just made me stronger.” Nikki spits in his face.

  “Bitch!” Damien yells.

  “Nikki, take Mo’Nique and go to the car,” Dre says.

  Nikki and me walk out of the room and get in the car.

  “Are you okay, Mo?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I’m so proud of you. You fought back.” She hugs me again.

  Nikki starts the car, and suddenly we hear a loud crack. Dre walks out of the hotel room, and we drive off down the road.

  That night, I turn on the TV and see Fox 5 News reporting about a notorious drug dealer found dead in a Days Inn hotel room. Damien Ruffin had ties to hip-hop recording artist Kane. The police have no suspects and believe it was a drug deal gone wrong.

  Dre tossed the gun in the river. Maybe this is wrong, but I feel good knowing that Dre was the one that killed him, considering what Damien had done to his cousin Rodney. Finally, after so much pain, this chapter in my life and Nikki’s has been closed.

  Epilogue

  A woman’s worth

  JANELLE

  I graduate from the University of Georgia today, and Jayson, Nikki, and Dre are there to cheer me on. After all the craziness in my life, this has got to be one of the most fulfilling things to ever happen to me.

  When Jayson came back into town from L.A. a month ago, I told him everything that happened with Damien. I really didn’t know how he would react to it, because he’s still a cop. Jayson just asked me if there was anything left in the room that could be linked to me, and I told him Dre got rid of the lamp and the gun.

  Jayson just caressed my face and told me that I did what I had to do, and that was the last we spoke of it. I guess Jayson just figured that sometimes you gotta go outside of the law in order to get justice done.

  It’s funny seeing Dre, an ex-drug dealer, and Jayson, an ex-undercover cop, sitting next to each other clapping their hands for me, but I guess life is filled with surprises.

  After the ceremony, Jayson is driving us back to our place in Decatur.

  “I never would’ve done this without you, Jayson.”

  “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re smart and beautiful. It was just going to be a matter of time before you realized what you were capable of,” Jayson tells me.

  “That might be true, but because of you I realized that a hell of a lot sooner.”

  We pull up to the house and walk in, and I see four suitcases packed and in the living room. “Jayson, what’s going on?” I ask, confused.

  “Oh, didn’t I tell you? I bought tickets for us to go to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Happy graduation, baby.”

  “Oh my God! I love you, I love you, I love you!” I scream as I jump into his arms.

  About two and a half hours later, we’re on a flight to Jamaica. I’ve never been out of the country before. From what little I’ve heard about Jamaica, I know that it’s a beautiful island.

  When we get to Montego Bay I see what all the fuss is about. The water is brilliantly clear near the shores, and the cool island breeze feels so good.

  Jayson arranged this whole trip months ago. I can’t believe he did this for me.

  After we check into our beachfront hotel, we find a club that’s playing Buju Banton’s “Champion Remix.” I’m wearing a tight red-and-black summer dress. I move my waist to the music when “Time to have Sex” comes on, and I give Jayson a dirty grind on the floor. For once I don’t mind flexing my stripper skills in public. From the rock in Jayson’s pants, I can tell that he doesn’t mind either.

  “I love you, Janelle,” Jayson says as he gazes into my eyes.

  “I love you too. I’ve loved you from the first night we met,” I tell him.

  “I promise you that I’ll never let anyone hurt you again,” Jayson says.

  “I know. And I’ll never let anybody hurt you again either.” Jayson kisses my lips tenderly.

  That night we go back to the hotel about three in the morning, and it’s on. I don’t know if it’s the margaritas or the island vibe, but Jayson and I make love to each other like we’re in heat—up against the wall, on the couch, and then eventually on the bed. When we wake up in the morning, we have more hot sex.

  All in all, this is the best vacation I’ve ever had. I never thought I’d be somewhere like here with a man I’m so in love with. I just feel like I haven’t been living my life, and now I can truly begin.

  NIKKI

  Dre has been here with me for six months, and I can’t believe that he’s kept his word to me. He really has given up the game. It’s not easy to walk away from it when that’s all you know, especially when you’re an ex-con and nobody wants to give you a job, but Dre’s a hustler. He and a friend opened a little music store in midtown Atlanta that also makes custom grills. They call the place A-Town Grillz. Dre still has a little money put away that he refused to touch until now, so he could start this business.

  I even quit my job and started to work there as a cashier. I’m more or less eye-candy for the guys that come in.

  So much has changed in our lives, and still there’s one more surprise.

  That night, Dre comes home from the store, I cook him dinner, and we sit on the couch to watch TV.

  “Dre, do you love me?”

  “Yeah, I do. What kind of question is that?” Dre asks me.

  “I just wanna make sure you’re happy with me. I know there’s a lot of other women around that you could be with.”

  “But none of them I’ve been in love with. Nikki, I done been with a lot of women, and none of them make me feel the way you do. I told you a long time ago you’re the only lady I wanna be with. So why do you doubt me now?”

  “I don’t know. I guess because things change after a while. People change.”

  “That’s true, but I haven’t.”

  “Dre, I got something to tell you,” I say nervously.

  “What is it, Nikki?”

  “I didn’t think it could happen again after what happen to me, but . . .”

  “But what? What’s wrong?” Dre asks, concerned.

  I look into his eyes and hope I’m doing the right thing. “I’m pregnant.”

  Dre doesn’t say anything right away. He looks at me and then puts his plate on the coffee table. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah . . . I’m two weeks late, so I took a pregnancy test this morning. Shit, I took three different ones to make sure. Listen, Dre, I know you’re just starting this business up, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m trying to trap you into—”

  Dre puts his finger over my lips. “Stop talking. I’m trying to think of a name for my little boy.” Dre smiles at me. I feel like a world of pressure has just been lifted off my shoulders.

  “Who says it’s going to be a boy? It could be a girl.”

  “Naw, trust me, it’s gonna be a boy.” Dre puts his hands on my stomach and rubs my belly. “Junior.”

  “Oh, hell no. I’m not calling my boy Junior.”

  “See, you said my boy.”

  “That’s not what I meant! Oh God, you’re so aggravating,” I say to him.

  “And you’re having my baby,” Dre says and hugs me.

  Is this really happening to me? I’m gonna have a baby. Dre is gonna be my baby daddy. After all the shit I used to talk about not wanting to get knocked up by no trick, this happens. Mo’Nique and Penny are gonna flip when they hear this.

  Dre starts to make plans for us to buy a house in the next few months and makes sure I go see the doctor regularly. I can’t believe this is the same man I us
ed to think was too young and immature to handle a relationship. I guess I should have been looking in the mirror when I said that. This is the best thing that could ever happen to me.

  JAYSON

  Doing what’s legal and getting justice can often be two different things. Too often in life, things are not black or white. There are areas of gray. After Janelle told me what Damien tried to do to her again, I was glad Dre killed him. As a cop, it’s my job to arrest people like Dre, but as far as I’m concerned, he did the world a favor. Does that mean I’m a corrupt cop like Denzel in Training Day? No. It just means I’d rather see a murderer and rapist like Damien get what he deserves.

  As for Vanessa, she was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison. Her lawyer was able to get some time knocked off because they took an early plea by the D.A. She was almost as bad as Damien. I guess with the divorce from Lauren, being undercover and seeing her again after so long, it clouded my judgment, but with all that chaos going on in my life, I still found Janelle.

  Taking her to Jamaica for a week was something I wanted to do for a long time now. It’s just amazing to me how much she has stood by my side throughout everything. I just hope I’m making the right decision by doing this now.

  I’ve taken Janelle to a little Jamaican restaurant on the beach, and we sit at a table, eating some curried goat, white rice, and fried plantains.

  “So, how does it taste?” I ask her.

  “It’s good! You know, when you told me it was goat meat, I didn’t think I would like it, but it tastes so good!

  “I told you it would be good.” Damn, she is so beautiful.

  “Janelle, you know, these past two years have been crazy. Even from the beginning when you thought I was Tommy Holloway you’ve been here for me.”

  “I told you, Jayson, it doesn’t matter what your name is. I love you.”

  “Well, I’m glad you said that, because I wanna change your name now.”

  Janelle looks at me oddly, as if she knows what I’m going to do.