“What’s all this?” she said.
“I needed a few things. A friend of mine hooked me up.”
“That’s good. Is he gonna hook up a place for you to stay?”
“Maybe, or maybe not. But, is that your way of asking me to leave?”
“Kiley, you know we can’t go on like this. You’ve said some really hurtful things to me and I’m more than angry with you about what you did to my son.”
“You’ve also said some hurtful things to me, too, and our son deserved what he got. Just get over it. I have. Today is a new day, baby, ain’t no need to trip.”
“Sorry, but it’s not that easy for me. I would like for this to work out for all of us. You need to stop pointing the finger at me, and take a look at yourself. If you…”
“Ginger! It’s over, baby. You don’t say nothing to me, and I won’t say nothing to you. I got business here. And until my business is finished, I’m not leaving.”
The phone rang and she reached for it. She held it in her hand and looked at me.
“I think it’s Quincy. Do you want me to accept his call?”
“Please.”
She accepted and handed the phone over to me.
“What up, playa?” I said, and then sat on the edge of the bed.
“I got good news, man.”
I smiled, already knowing what he would say. “What the fuck is up? Tell me.”
“Bradshaw said I am out of here! I got one more week. After that, this hellhole is history!”
“Well, I’ll be damn. Things are certainly starting to look up.”
“You’re damn right they are. I’m hyped! Can’t wait until Friday.”
“Me and Ginger will come pick you up. I don’t want to come by myself ‘cause I don’t want no shit.”
“Fool, you can send a dog to come pick me up. I don’t care. As long as yo ass is here no later than…let’s say…nine o’clock in the a.m., I’m good.”
“Now, you know they gon fuck around. They probably mad as hell, ain’t they?”
“Haters! All over the place. And that muthafucka Joe, he can’t stand to look at me. Him and me been at it all damn week.”
“Don’t trip with him, Q. Ignore that punk. He just mad cause we out smarted that ass. Whatever you do, avoid his ass until you get out of there.”
“Oh, I am. But, listen…my time is up. I’ll see you Friday, and please, please, please don’t be late. And do a brotha one last favor, au-ight?”
“What’s that?”
“Get me a nice quiet room, with a Jacuzzi, some champagne, herbs, and of course, some pussy. Not just any pussy, but some good pussy.”
I laughed. “What the hell you want me to do, sample it or something? I’ll make arrangements to get you some, but I can’t promise you how good it’ll be.”
“Then, do your best. I know your best is always good enough.”
“It always is, ain’t it? Love ya, Bro. See ya in a bit.”
“Right back at ya. Deuces.”
Quincy hung up and the biggest smile I hadn’t seen in a long time covered my face. Ginger cleared her throat to get my attention, as she could see how thrilled I was.
“Did you say something?” I asked.
“I said, who are you to make plans for me on next Friday?”
“Aw, baby, quit trippin’. This is real important to me. I just don’t want to go alone.”
“Ain’t no big deal. Just because I’m mad at you, it doesn’t mean I don’t still love you.”
I gave the phone to her, as it started to ring. It was one of her girlfriends, so I left out of the room not wanting to hear her yakking.
As I walked into the kitchen, Desmon sat at the kitchen table. His head hung low and he talked to someone on his cell phone. I opened the fridge and reached for the orange juice. I turned the carton up to my lips, noticing Desmon looking at me. My heart dropped and I spilt some orange juice on my shirt. I blinked my eyes at the sight of his face, turning my head to avoid him. It took a few minutes for me to gather my thoughts, but I turned around, listening to his conversation.
His face was fucked up. His right eye was fiery red and the other was swollen and closed. The right side of his face was badly bruised and one side of his upper lip hung over his bottom lip. It hurt me like hell to see what I’d done and I couldn’t come up with anything that justified that kind of beating.
I grabbed a bag of Doritos from the shelf and sat at a chair across the table from him. He continued on with his conversation, and when he stood up to walk away, I interrupted him.
“Do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?” I asked.
He stared at me with a blank expression, but sat back down. He ended his useless conversation. I was sure the person over the phone couldn’t understand a damn thing he said as he mumbled the entire time. He put his baseball cap on backwards, opened his legs and placed his elbows on his knees. Avoiding me, he looked down at the ground.
“What?” he mumbled.
“I…I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I did not intend to hurt you the way I did, but I can’t let you continue to do and say the things you do. You know you be out of line. I had a bad day yesterday and I snapped.”
He rubbed his hands together and closed his eyes as I talked.
“Is there anything else?” he said.
“Yes,” I hesitated and took a hard swallow. “I love you more than anything in this world. You have no reason to believe that, but if you give me the opportunity, I’ll prove it to you. Believe it or not, you’re why I have the desire to live. Before I leave this earth, I am determined to make you a better man. You’ve got to help me, though. I can’t do it alone, Desmon. And as much as I love my father, my brother, Quincy, Rufus, and myself, I don’t want you to end up like us. It was rough…too rough, and in the end, we’ve all had a costly price to pay.”
He continued to stare at the ground and there was silence. I saw a few tears hit the floor in front of him. He sniffed, “Is there anything else?” he mumbled, again.
I paused. “Didn’t you have a game today?”
He nodded.
“Did you go?” I asked.
“Not like this. Coach told me to sit this one out.”
“Maybe next week, then.”
He shrugged. “Maybe so.” He stood up, opened the door to the basement and went downstairs.
It wasn’t the best conversation between us, but it was a start. I couldn’t complain and was on a serious high after talking to Quincy and finally getting some where with my son.
Before it got too late, I drove to Wal-Mart and bought Ginger another entertainment center. It was way better than the one she’d had, and as I was in the living room putting it together, my cell phone rang. I rushed to answer it.
“Who is this?” he asked.
“Who is this?” I replied back with attitude.
“Fool, I heard you were lookin’ for me. Is this Kiley?”
“Yes. Is this Dominique?”
“State your business and stop wasting my time.”
“It’s imperative that I meet with you.”
“Yeah, well, take a number. I’ll call you back when I got time.”
“I suggest you make time. Now, I got some important information for you. Somebody I know is out to get you. If you don’t want to know who it is, then pretend this call never happened.”
“Man, there are plenty of niggas out to get me. I fear no one.”
“No doubt, but I ain’t talking about no niggas. I’m talking about one of your female companions. Now, I’m not gon say shit else over the phone. If you want to know more, I need to hear what day and time.”
“Next Saturday. I’ll call you Saturday and tell you where to meet me.”
I didn’t say nothing else, just hung up.
The week dragged on. Desmon didn’t say much to me, but he did ask about my car. He even asked if he could drive it and after I told him no, he got an attitude and left. I’d noticed he hadn’t been to
school all week, but I assumed it was because of his face. It had started to heal, but for a pretty boy, every mark had to be gone before he’d show his face to anybody.
I damn near had to drag Ginger out of bed on Friday. It was almost nine o’clock and I promised Quincy I wouldn’t be late. It wasn’t like he would be standing outside waiting because I knew they’d bullshit around with him, like they bullshitted around with me.
Earlier in the week, I’d made arrangements for him liked he’d asked. I had two badass gals all hooked up and waiting for him at a hotel with his champagne, herbs and a Jacuzzi. As fine as the ladies were, I wanted to join them, but I didn’t want to take the excitement away from Quincy since I knew how anxious he would be.
In addition to that, Al hooked up another Cadillac for me. This one was white, with soft white leather interior. It was off the chain and I was sure Quincy would love it.
Ginger and me didn’t say much in the car. I think she was still upset with me about Desmon, but after I laid it on the line for her, I didn’t think she’d want to hear my mouth again.
She pulled into the same spot she was in when she picked me up. I hopped in the back seat of her car and she pulled out a magazine.
“We gon be a while, so you might as well get comfortable,” she said.
I leaned back on the seat and closed my eyes. I must have dozed off because by the time I opened them, it was a little after eleven o’clock. Ginger looked at me in the rearview mirror and sighed.
“You be snoring too loud. I’m glad you don’t sleep as much at home. Lord knows I’ll never get any sleep.”
“Whatever,” I said, looking out of the window for Quincy. “Have they even opened the gates?”
“No. I haven’t seen anybody.”
“Well, keep looking.”
Ginger smacked me on the leg with the magazine. “Don’t you take your butt back to sleep. Talk to me or something. I’m getting bored.”
I sat up. “What do you want to talk about?”
“About Desmon. And…about why you haven’t had sex with me all week.”
“Desmon and me gon work things out. And, I haven’t had sex with you all week because you’re the one who’s been acting all funny and shit.”
“Of course. You shouldn’t have called my pussy lousy.”
“If it were lousy, then I wouldn’t be in it.”
“Then why did you say it?”
“Out of anger, Ginger. Nothing more, nothing less. Besides,” I said, placing my hand over my dick, “I planned on making up tonight anyway.”
She cocked her head back. “Did you?”
“Uh-huh. You ain’t got a problem with that, do you?”
“I might. But, you know you always got the solutions to my problems, don’t you?”
“Always,” I said, and then looked out for Quincy again.
Time had moved on. I’d nodded off again and even Ginger had dozed as well. By now, it was almost three o’clock and I figured Quincy had to be making his way out soon.
Feeling cramped in the back seat, I got out to stretch. Ginger did the same and started to complain.
“He should be out in a minute. This around the same time they let me out.”
“This is ridiculous, baby. I’m tired. I didn’t mind waiting for you, but…”
I was getting worried, but didn’t want it to show. “Just cool out, au-ight? It shouldn’t be much longer.”
Ginger leaned against the car and I stood in front of her. I pressed myself against her.
She playfully pushed me back. “Don’t play, Kiley. You can’t smooth me over with your so called charm.”
I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her waist. “Give me a kiss.”
“No.”
“Come on, now, give me a kiss.”
She held her lips tightly together. I placed my lips on hers, and soon after, hers loosened. We smacked lips and Ginger backed away. She played with the top button on my button down Sean Jeans shirt.
“Why’d you go buy yourself all these nice clothes and didn’t think about me?”
“I did. I bought you an entertainment center, didn’t I?”
“That’s because you broke it.”
“I didn’t break it. Desmon broke it.”
“With your help.”
“I’ll buy you something later, okay?”
She nodded and hopped on the hood of the car. I stood between her legs and inched my hands up her shirt to play with her nipples. She smacked my hand.
“Would you stop playing? You haven’t been this excited since the day I picked you up. I hope Quincy’s presence keeps your attitude this way.”
I laughed because Ginger was certainly right.
By six o’clock, I let it be known that I was worried. Ginger was tired of waiting and so was I. We’d gotten in and out of the car several times and tried to keep our conversation going to pass by the time.
When eight o’clock came, I’d given up. I called Bradshaw on his phone all day, but his answering machine said his office was closed. I told Ginger it was time to go home, hoping Quincy called me from somewhere when he got out.
I hung around at home for the rest of the night. Ginger went out with one of her girlfriends, and Desmon was in the basement with several of his friends.
Every time the phone rang, I ran to it. It was for Ginger or Desmon, but never for me.
By midnight, I knew something was wrong. I lay in bed, in the dark, staring at the ceiling. My heart ached and my gut told me this was a bad sign. All kinds of shit ran through my head. The only thing that could have gone wrong is maybe he got put in the hole. That for damn sure would have delayed his time, but I knew he wouldn’t do nothing stupid, since he was so close to getting out.
About four in the morning, Ginger strolled in blasted. She took her clothes off at the door, and crawled up to me in bed. I was wide-awake and for damn sure wasn’t in no mood for fucking.
She did what she knew best and placed my dick in her mouth. It took forever for me to rise, and when I did, it slowly but surely went back down.
“Not tonight, baby, I got something heavy on my mind,” I said, and then moved her over to the side.
She glared at me in the partially dark room. “Come on, Kiley. You said that we…”
“I know what I said earlier, but I’m not in the mood.”
“Just five minutes,” she said, reaching for my hand. She placed it between her legs. “Can’t you feel how horny I am?”
Ginger’s insides were drenched. I tickled her with my fingers, digging them deep inside of her. She moaned for me to fuck her. I quickly turned her on her stomach and hurried on top of her. I pecked my lips down her back and then made my way to the end of the bed. While standing, I grabbed her ankles and pulled her towards me. When she backed her ass up against me, I slammed myself inside of her. I pounded her hard because I was mad. Mad because Quincy hadn’t called, mad because Desmon and his friends were downstairs smoking weed, and definitely mad because I told Ginger’s ass I didn’t feel like fucking. If she had to be the one to pay for it, then so be it. I continued to fuck her hard, and with each frustrating push, the headboard slammed against the wall. She tried to move away, but I squeezed her hips tightly to keep them in place.
“Ki…Kiiiiiley,” she cried out and lowered her head. “You’re hurting me. Baby, slow down…that shit hurts.”
“You told me to fuck you, didn’t you? I’m just doing what you asked.” I continued on with my aggressiveness, and after Ginger came, I pulled out and released my juices on her ass. She fell on her stomach and let out a deep sigh. I massaged her butt, spreading my come all over her butt. I then smacked it hard and told her I’d see her in mid morning.
I went into the living room to relax on the couch. After I flipped through a few channels, I then rolled up a joint and smoked it. Soon, I was high as hell. I could barely keep my eyes opened and finally fell off to sleep.
I was awakened by Desmon’s tap on my shoulder
. He told me a call was waiting for me on the phone in the kitchen. I rushed to it, anxious to see if it was Quincy. Realizing that I didn’t have on any clothes, I figured that’s why Desmon was shaking his head.
“Do you need a towel or something?” he said, and then picked up a bag of Doritos.
I ignored him and picked the phone up that laid on the table.
“Hello,” I said.
“Kiley?”
“Who is this?”
“Pedro,” he said in a low voice. “Quincy’s roomy.”
“Man, I know who you are. What’s up and where is Quincy?”
He paused for a few seconds. “I…I got bad news, mon.”
My heart dropped. “Wha…what’s up?”
“Quincy dead, mon. They killed him.”
A cold chill came over me and I could see the goose bumps on my arms. “What the fuck you just say?”
“Listen, I can’t say much, but he told me if anything happened to him to call you.”
My legs weakened, so I dropped to one knee. I lowered my head, and spoke softly. “Pedro, please tell me this is a joke. If it is, don’t play with me, nigga, don’t play with me!”
“Kiley, I’m sorry, it’s no joke. They say he killed himself, but you and I know better. I gotta go, I’ll call you soon.”
He hung up and the phone dropped out of my hand. I covered my eyes with my hand and the tears started to fall. My fist tightened and my breathing increased. Somehow I stood up, slamming the phone against the receiver on the wall.
“No! No! No! No! Hell fucking naw!” I yelled. The phone broke off into pieces as I continued to slam it against the receiver. In a rage, I flipped over the kitchen’s table, on the verge on breaking down.
“This shit is not happening!” I yelled while squeezing my head with my hands. “What in the fuck is going on! Somebody tell me what the fuck happened!”
Ginger ran into the kitchen, halting her steps at the doorway.
“What’s the matter!” she yelled, standing clear of my madness. “What happened?”
I began to sob. Tears rushed to the brim of my eyes and poured down my face. Spit dripped from my mouth and my entire body was numb. I took deep breaths, trying to catch my breath but couldn’t. I looked at Ginger. “I don’t believe this shit. My…my boy is dead!”
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