by Jade Jones
Jude climbed in the bed and pulled her body close to his. He knew then that he would never let her slip away again.
***
Jag was surprised when he came home to an empty house later on that night. Evidently, he hadn’t quite put the fear in Cameron’s heart. She was still underestimating what he was capable of.
Jag chuckled to himself and shook his head. When is she gonna learn?
He headed to the kitchen and poured himself a shot of scotch. After tossing back two, he turned on the kitchen television. The station was already on CNN. Reporters were giving details about a decomposing body found in a Georgia lake. It was Lark.
Jag laughed to himself before tossing back another shot. A normal person wouldn’t have found the situation comical. Jag was a far cry from normal.
Suddenly, he heard Alessia’s voice in the back of his mind. “It’s her fault, Jag! Everything is her fault!” She was right. Everything was Cameron and Jude’s fault — and it was about time, they suffered.
An evil grin spread across Jag’s face. He had a plan. He would fly to Atlanta, and wipe out Jude’s entire organization before taking his girl and kids back. By the time Jag finished with Jude, he’d be putting a gun in his own mouth and pulling the trigger.
***
It was a quarter after midnight when Jude’s cellphone rang. He didn’t even realize he’d slept for so long. Jude would never understand how Cameron was able to rest so peacefully after everything she’d endured. Apparently, his presence offered a sense of security for her.
As quietly as he could, Jude reached over and grabbed his phone off the nightstand. He was surprised that Magyc’s brother, Michael was calling so late. That was definitely out of his character. He knew off rip that something had to be wrong.
“Yo’,” Jude answered.
Michael didn’t beat around the bush. “I got some fucked up news man,” he said. “The Warehouse was torched — a few of our men have been gunned down too.”
Jude quickly sat up in bed. “The fuck you mean torched?”
“The mufucka’s on fire. I’m staring at the shit as we speak. I got a couple of our boys trying to get rid of as much as they can before the legal thugs pull up.”
“Shit. Are you kiddin’ me,” Jude hissed. Everything he worked so hard for was in that place. Someone was definitely fucking with him. “Damn, I’m in Ohio now but I’m on the first thing back. Hold it down for me, bruh.”
“You got it, boss.”
Jude disconnected the call. Just then, Cameron’s iPhone buzzed. He started not to answer it, but his curiosity eventually got the best of him. Reaching over Cam, Jude pressed the lime button and placed the phone against his ear.
Jag’s cynical voice filled the receiver. “You fucked up, bitch. Now I’m gonna destroy you and that nigga’s world. Everybody and everything you ever loved… you can kiss goodbye. I warned you, Cameron. I told you not to underestimate me.”
Right before Jude could tell him about himself, Jag disconnected the call. This bitch ass nigga doesn’t know who he’s fucking with. I’ma have to remind him though.
Jude had no choice but to wake Cameron, pack up, and head to Hopkins-International. He didn’t tell her about her deranged lover. Jude felt like he could handle it, and he didn’t want to alarm her. Jag would be dealt with, and then buried quietly.
***
Roxie was polishing her toenails and watching reruns of Martin when someone started knocking on her front door. She could tell by how loud they were, that whoever it was had beef.
“Who the fuck is this?” she asked, screwing the top on. Roxie placed a pink toe-separator on her left foot before going to see whom it was. A dramatic sigh escaped her lips when she saw Briana standing on the opposite side. “How the hell this bitch even know where I live?” Roxie couldn’t wait to check Magyc’s ass.
Boldly unlocking the front door, she swung it open welcoming a confrontation.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Bitch, first of all, get your got damn finger out my face.” Briana slapped Roxie’s hand away.
“Don’t touch me!” Roxie shoved Briana, who in turn shoved her back.
“I’m so tired of your ass, you disrespectful bitch—”
“How the hell am I disrespectful when you’re the one fucking my man?”
“Me and Magyc had history, then you came, got all in his head, and fucked up what we had.”
“Had, bitch! Keyword! Had!”
“Yo’ ass need to crawl back to whatever strip club you came from—”
“Bitch, don’t make laugh. Are you for real serious right now? Do you hear yourself? You’re over here at my house at one something in the morning and for what? You’re ridiculous — laughable. It’s fucking sad and pathetic. That’s why Magyc’s with me. He got tired of a little girl and wanted a woman.” Roxie chuckled and shook her head. “Hoes like you never get the title or respect. So keep spitting that nigga’s seeds out. That’s all you’ll ever be worth.”
“Bitch, you must’ve forgotten about that ass whooping in the restaurant.”
Both women were too busy arguing to notice or hear the uninvited visitor walking down the hallway towards them. Jag was dressed in all black; a pump-action shotgun slung casually over his shoulder. Unfortunately, neither woman noticed their fate eminent.
“Hoe, you’ll never be enough for a nigga like Magyc. When you go to sleep at night, I hope you remember that shit,” Briana said.
“Fuck you!”
“FUCK YOU!”
POW!
Jag blew Briana’s head clean off her shoulders. Brain matter and DNA sprayed the walls and splattered all over Roxie. Shells dropped at his feet. He didn’t know or give a fuck about who Briana was. The only thing that mattered was shedding blood, no matter whose it belonged to.
Roxie screamed and took off running towards the back of her apartment. She wanted to believe it was all a nightmare, but she knew better. Jag was her reality — her end.
“Where you goin’, Rox? You ain’t happy to see me? I thought we were family.”
Jag stepped inside like he had a personal invite. Roxie quickly locked herself inside Rain’s bedroom and said a silent prayer. “Shit,” she cursed after noticing she’d left her phone in the living room. Now how the hell was she going to call for help?
Roxie knew then that everything Cameron had said about Jag was true. He had snapped. Oh my God, please don’t let this man kill me, she prayed.
Where’s Magyc, she asked herself. He should’ve been there to protect her, but instead he was fucking off at Wet Willies with his homeboys.
Meanwhile, outside the bedroom, Jag placed the shotgun down against the wall. He felt like being a little creative instead of killing her rapidly. He wanted to make the moment last; make it memorable. Cameron would feel his pain after today.
Jag entered Roxie’s kitchen, stopped at the counter and gazed at the wooden knife holder. There was a deranged look in his eyes as he extracted a butcher. It was sharpened and shiny. “Roxie, Roxie, Roxie, where are you?” he teased, walking through the apartment.
“Jag, what are you doing?” she cried. “It’s me. I loved your brother. Why are you doing this? He wouldn’t want this!”
Roxie’s words went in one ear and out the other. Jag didn’t give a damn. As far as he was concerned, Joaquin was dead. His opinions held no weight. Roxie opened her big mouth and now she was going to pay.
“Jag, you know the police will be coming. You need to just go! Just leave!”
He stopped right outside of her door and tapped the knife against it. “You were on the phone that day. You told Cam she should leave. You should’ve stayed out of our fucking business.”
“Jag, I’m sorry.” Roxie bawled her eyes out as she stood next to her daughter’s crib.
“You’re right. You are sorry. NOW OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR!”
“Go away!” Roxie screamed.
Jag rammed his shoulder against the door tw
ice. It finally flew off the hinges on the third try.
“No, no, no, no.” She tried to back away but there was nowhere to run or hide.
Jag smiled, satisfied at the sight of fear in her eyes.
“Jag, wait.” Roxie held her hands up. “I’m pregn—”
Her sentence was cut short after Jaguar brutally stabbed her repeatedly.
38
Jude barely made it to ground transportation before his cellphone started blowing up. He had just powered it on after being in airplane mode. This time the caller was not Michael. In fact it was his protégée, Magyc.
As soon as Jude answered, Magyc started talking a mile a minute. The young cat was so frantic that Jude could barely make out a word he was saying. “Hol’ up, slow down. What happened?”
“I need you to get to Emory Hospital.” Magyc’s voice cracked as he spoke. He was so upset that he wanted to murder someone — anyone.
“A'ight. I’m on my way, man.” Jude hung up the phone and put a little more pep in his step. He knew something was wrong by the sound of Magyc’s voice. This night couldn’t get any more worse.
“Is everything okay?” Cameron asked in concern.
“Yes, everything’s fine,” Jude lied. “Just got a lil’ business to handle and then I promise I’ll come back to you.”
Cameron didn’t like the sound of that. For some reason, hearing him say it made her feel like she would never see him again. Jude was telling her everything was okay, but she had a feeling it wasn’t.
When Cam and Jude finally made it back to his home, he made sure she was comfortable, left her with a loaded 9mm, kissed her on the forehead, and told her he loved her more than himself.
“I love you too, Jude. Please be careful… and please try to hurry back.”
“I’ll do my best,” he assured her.
Jude left the house around 4:30 in the morning and headed downtown to Emory. He found Magyc, Michael, and a few of their men in a hospital room. Jude was shocked to see Roxie hooked up to a breathing machine. A heart monitor positioned beside the bed was the only proof she was still living. She looked bad — really bad. Now Jag had gone too fucking far.
“I’ma kill the mothafucka,” Magyc said with tears in his eyes. “I’ma kill him.”
Jude stood in the doorway in silence. Jag was supposed to be his. But seeing Roxie lying there helpless made him feel like Magyc deserved to off him.
“She lost the baby…” Magyc’s voice trembled with anger. “A nigga ain’t even know she was pregnant. She didn’t tell me…” He shook his head. “And now I gotta explain to Briana’s family why their daughter’s dead. This shit’s all bad. It’s fucked up, bruh. I should’ve been there. I should’ve fuckin’ been there. If she doesn’t make it, I—”
“Don’t put that shit out there in the universe,” Jude said. “She’s gonna pull through. Roxie’s strong and you know it.”
Guilt consumed Magyc. He hated that he hadn’t given a hundred percent of himself to her. He hated that he’d ever lied to and hurt her. Roxie was his baby; his everything. He couldn’t lose her. Not like this.
Magyc promised himself that when she finally woke up from her coma, he would marry her. He didn’t care that he was only twenty-two. He wanted to spend his life with her. But first and foremost, he had to put Jag in a casket.
“I’ma get at that nigga,” Magyc said. “On life. I’ma end that nigga’s existence.”
***
Jude left the hospital around 5 in the morning. With everything going on, he wanted to get back to Cameron as fast as he could. He ran a couple red lights in order to make it home in haste.
Jude was surprised when he noticed the gates to his house opened. Sadly, he had never fixed the system. “Shit!” Jude punched the steering wheel after remembering that Jag knew about the glitch. All he had to do was push 0 to mosey inside. “This is not happening!”
Jude parked his car crookedly before hopping out. His heart thumped wildly inside his chest. He knew shit was real the minute he saw his front door cracked open.
Jude snatched his gun out and ran through the home. As expected, Cameron and the children were nowhere to be found. They were gone. Just like that. Jude wasn’t even away a full two hours and they were gone. His heart broke when he saw the 9mm on the hallway floor. A few furniture pieces were overturned, which indicated a struggle.
“FUCK!” Jude punched a hole in the nearby wall. His knuckles tore open and bled but he didn’t notice or care. The only thing on his mind was the fact that Jag had gained the upper hand. How the hell I let this motherfucker catch me slipping? he asked himself.
All of a sudden, Jude’s cellphone rang. He recognized the number immediately. “Bitch nigga, I made you! I could break you too,” Jude threatened.
Jag laughed, clearly amused. “I won.”
Jude finally calmed down after remembering he had his wife and son. “Jag? Jag, listen to me. Our beef ain’t got shit to do with Cameron. Leave her out of this, man.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? It’s got everything to do with Cameron,” Jag reminded him. “My mother… Lark… my little sister. You don’t recall that? It was all for Cam, am I right?”
“Jag, look, I never hurt Alessia. That’s on everything I love. She got away, dawg. She’s still out there.”
“You’re lying,” Jag denied. Due to his mental disassociation, he didn’t know what was real and what was fake. His sister could’ve been alive, but he had a feeling Jude was bullshitting.
“I’m not lying! She’s alive!”
“I may be a killer, but at least I take responsibility for the fucked up things I’ve done,” Jag said. “You took my family away from me… now I’m taking yours…”
Click.
Jag disconnected the call, and Jude launched his phone in anger. “Dammit!” His hands trembled uncontrollably. He didn’t know what to do.
Suddenly, Jude remembered the test results on his office’s desk. A part of him still wasn’t ready to learn the truth, but at the very least he deserved to know.
Jude walked inside the spacious room and stopped in front of his desk. Now that the answer was at his fingertips, he was anxious to find out. With shaky hands, he grabbed the envelope, tore it open, and read the letter.
Journee was 99.6% Jude’s daughter. Tears fell from his eyes as he read the results over and over.
That mothafucka has to be stopped, he convinced himself. One way or another, Jag was going in the ground.
Jude cocked his gun, tucked it in his waistline, and left the room on a mission…
TO BE CONTINUED…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jade Jones discovered her passion for creative writing in elementary school. Born in 1989, she began writing short stories and poetry as an outlet. Later on, as a teen, she led a troubled life, which later resulted in her becoming a ward of the court. Jade fell in love with the art and used storytelling as a means of venting during her tumultuous times. Aging out of the system two years later, she was thrust into the dismal world of homelessness. Desperate, and with limited income, Jade began dancing full time at the tender age of eighteen. It wasn't until fall of 2008 when she finally caught her break after being accepted into Cleveland State University. There, Jade lived on campus and majored in Film and Television. Now, six years later, she flourishes from her childhood dream of becoming a bestselling author. Since then she has written the best-selling "Cameron" series and the highly rated "Schemin'" trilogy.
Quite suitably, she uses her life's experiences to create captivating characters and story lines. Jade currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. With no children, she spends her leisure shopping and traveling. She says that seeing new faces, meeting new people, and experiencing diverse cultures fuels her creativity. The stories are generated in her heart, the craft is practiced in her mind, and she expresses her passion through ink.