by J Peach
He pushed my dress up, raising it higher as he kissed up my body. Coming up to my breast, he sucked on my right nipple then my left before continuing his journey up to my neck. Pulling my dress over my head, Blaze tossed it to the side before leaning over me. He brought his mouth closer to mine.
Puckering my lips, I kissed him. Blaze’s response was immediate.
“Am I forgiven?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No.” My lips pressed into his as I responded.
“I love you,” Blaze said. I bit the inside of my bottom lip to keep my smile from showing. Of course Blaze saw right through my façade. “So, you still mad?” He began moving back down my body.
“Stop, Blaze. I am mad. Well, I wanna still be, so let me. You shouldn’t have pulled my hair.” My lips pursed together and I rolled my eyes at him but ended up smiling anyways. “You love me?”
Laughing, Blaze kissed me again. “Yeah, I do.” He hummed as he covered my left breast with his mouth, sucking the nipple into it.
Placing my hands on the sides of his face, I pulled him to me and kissed him.
“I love you, too.” Biting at his bottom lip once, I pulled back. “I still wanna be mad at you, though. Yo ass hurt my damn head.” Feigning an attitude, I pushed him away from me. Laughing, Blaze stood up, bringing me with him. Once he was settled on the couch, he pulled me on top of him.
Folding my arms on his chest, I laid my head on top of them, yawning. Blaze’s hand rubbed through my hair as the other moved along my back.
“I was hoping to pull some of them damn tracks out.”
Laughing, I hit Blaze on his chest. “Boy, I ain’t got no damn tracks, this all me, don’t play.”
He hummed at that and again I laughed. “You know this that horse shit.”
My mouth popped opened as he ruffled my hair. “You are such an ass.”
“Suck?” I didn’t bother correcting him. “You wanna do that again? Shid, I won’t stop you.”
My lips pursed and I rolled off of Blaze only to lay in front of him, facing the big screen TV. “Why? So you can flip out and accuse me of sucking somebody else? No thanks, you don’t ever have to worry about me sucking yo little dick again.” The attitude could clearly be heard in my voice. I worked hard on that damn cucumber learning how to suppress my gag reflexes.
“Boss, yo ass swallowed my damn dick. You couldn’t do that before. Shid, yo ass couldn’t take part of me without choking. So fah yo ass to suddenly be able to swallow my shit, hell yeah I thought that and got pissed the fuck off. I don’t wanna think about you suckin’ or fuckin’ no dick but mine. Whether we together or not don’t mean shit. I don’t want yo ass fuckin’ nobody. If yo ass horny and wanna fuck, call me. We can meet at yours, mines, shid halfway it don’t matter. Sounds good?”
I didn’t even reply to his bargain. I should’ve slapped him for even trying to make a damn sex deal. His ass was not about to have no control over my sex life.
Then again, he already had control over it. Upon this realization, I turned to face him.
“You never planned on letting me go, did you?” I asked because lately, in a way, Blaze had been a little too reasonable when it came to me moving on. I mean since day one Blaze had literally pushed, fought, hell shot anybody I tried to mess with.
A dude couldn’t look at me without Blaze snapping at him. Now this thing with Blake meant he could hold on forever.
“I don’t know what you talking about.”
I didn’t believe him.
“Why haven’t you tried to kill Jerron? And why you didn’t seem so surprised when you found out the reason he was really here?” When Blaze found out Jerron was there to kill him, he didn’t seem shocked instead he seemed uncaring about the whole situation. “You knew—”
“Peaches, I don’t know what you talkin’ ‘bout.” Suddenly, he let out a yawn with a heavy sigh. “Man, I’m sleepy as hell.” His eyes were closed the entire time he spoke.
“Oh, my God, you son of a bitch. You knew.” I slapped my hand hard against his chest, causing Blaze’s eyes to snap open. “Why else would you not kill him after knowing why he’s here? It wasn’t for me at all.”
“You think too much. Can we go to sleep?” Blaze asked, pulling me down but I pushed him away.
The wheels in my head were literally turning. Everything was suddenly making sense.
“Not even King would leave Jerron alive after realizing he was hired to kill him, no matter how much I begged. You’re far more psychotic than King. Why didn’t you kill him? You had the chance twice but you didn’t, why not?”
Blaze let out a breath before starting to get up. “I’m about to go the crib.”
Pushing him back down, I climbed on top of him.
“Get off me.”
I rolled my eyes at his request and sat on his stomach. “I know not to ask questions I know the answers to, but just answer me this one. Did you know he was following you?”
“No, I didn’t know.” If it hadn’t been for the fact he licked his lips right after, I would’ve believed him.
“So, the night at your club was the first time you saw him?” I asked.
“No, Britt’s party was.” Blaze’s eyes dropped from mine for a short second before coming back up. “I’ve never seen him before that.”
Who was he trying to fool? I knew Blaze like the back of my hand but I didn’t point it out.
I decided to leave well enough alone. For whatever reason, Jerron was alive and I just needed to be grateful for it.
“Mhm.” I laid back in front of him. Blaze turned on his side, wrapping his arms around my waist then pulling me tightly against his front, kissing my shoulder.
“Don’t think because I didn’t kill him, he got a pass. If you fuck that nigga, I will put one in his forehead. That I put on my life.”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to let his threat bother me right now instead I choose to enjoy his embrace for the rest of night.
Pushing more into Blaze, I entwined our fingers, bringing them to my chest. As I did, my eyes caught sight of the ring on my finger. The thought of us being married quickly flashed through my mind and I couldn’t contain the smile my lips formed into.
“What you smiling about?” He knew me so well.
My lips pursed together trying to rid my mouth of its smile, which seemed to make Blaze laugh. I twisted my neck to look at him expecting to see him staring at me but his eyes were closed.
“I’m not smiling.” I lied again. He laughed before peeking at me through one eye.
“Mmm.” With our hands still intertwined, Blaze pushed my chin up to peck my lips. From the simple touch of his lips, I melted.
God I was so helplessly in love. I had no self-control.
If possible, I was deeper into my feelings about this man than I was a few weeks ago.
I didn’t like feeling vulnerable when it came to him. As proven in the past, he could hurt me more than any man I’ve ever dealt with, including Jerron. Even so, I couldn’t control how I felt when we were together.
Being with him, around him, always made me feel like an addict who relapsed continuously.
“I love you.”
Humming, Blaze kissed me again. “Love you, too. Now go to sleep.” Turning my neck back toward the blank TV screen, I wanted to scream at myself for being that girl, basically making it easy for him to hurt me again if he decided to do so.
Love was a bitch I was beginning to hate but couldn’t get rid of.
***
“Hold the fuck up, damn!” Blaze’s yelling woke me up.
Stretching, a yawn left my mouth. It was then I heard the loud banging on the door.
“Who is it?” Another yawn left my mouth as I perked up.
“Shid, I don’t know,” Blaze said, rounding the hallway corner. “What the fuck is this?” Just as those words left his mouth, Detective Poke came into view and I quickly covered up.
“It’s a warrant to search the property.” Dete
ctive Poke walked toward me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked dumbly while trying to find my dress or Blaze’s shirt but found neither.
“Peaches Johnson, you’re under arrest for the murder of Cornell Jones and for the involvement in the murder of Ronald Hicks,” he said, pulling me up.
“What?” I asked in a state of shock, but he wasn’t listening.
“You have the right to remain silence anything—”
“Hold the fuck up.” Blaze cut in pushing Poke back as he was in the middle of reading me my rights. Blaze took the throw blanket from the couch and put it over my shoulders, pulling the blanket closed. “Can she at least put on some fuckin’ clothes? Bae, go put something on.”
I was hand cuffed with my arms behind my back, so I couldn’t.
Seeing this, he snapped again. “Un-cuff her, you stupid mothafucka!” Once the handcuffs were taken off, Blaze’s ass still didn’t shut up. “Bitch ass cop. You can’t get me, so you go after my lady?”
I was kind of afraid to leave Blaze alone with them, scared he’d get himself arrested. Even though I thought this, I did as I was told.
I quickly made it up to my room and grabbed a pair of panties and a sport’s bra then threw on some grey sweats, a red t-shirt and my all white forces. Once I left out my room, there was an officer waiting on me. He cuffed me again and reread me my rights while walking me down the stairs.
Coming to the hallway, I looked to see my living room furniture flipped over. I stopped and stared at the mess they created but then the officer behind me gave me a push toward the door.
“Search don’t mean you gotda tear up my shit. If you tell me what you’re looking for, maybe I can help you find it.” I snapped not liking how they were doing my house.
“A .45 caliber hand gun.”
“Well, I don’t own one of those, never have. Look all you want just don’t tear up my stuff.” A loud gasp left my mouth as a clash sounded behind me. My mouth hung opened at my fallen China in my dining room.
“You gon’ be stupid and do that, right?” I heard Blaze before he took hold of my face, turning me toward him. “Don’t worry about that. Peaches, tell him whatever he wants to know, i’ight? And I’ll deal with it. I’ll be right behind—”
“Let’s go,” Detective Poke said, taking me from the officer and pushing me harder toward the door.
“Poke, you fuckin’ with the wrong one, my nigga.” Blaze told him.
I knew this was personal.
“See, kid, this has nothing to do with you this time. We got a video of her shooting Cornell Jones.” You could literally hear the smile in his voice as he talked. “Let’s go.” He pushed me again, making my shoulder hit hard against the door frame.
To stop myself from grunting or making a sound, I bit into my lip until the pain in my shoulder subsided. But Blaze must have seen because the next thing I knew, I was jerked back before I was released. I fell to the ground as a loud whack sounded off. I turned around to see that Blaze had Poke on the ground, sending a blow to his face. But before he could do anything more, he was grabbed from behind.
Blaze wasted no time reacting as his elbow flew into the officer’s side and then his face before he turned around and rocked his ass, dropping him just like he did Poke.
Thank God I was double jointed, bringing my arms from behind my back then over my head. I focused on Blaze again.
“Blaze, stop!” I yelled as he made his way back to Poke. Once his back was turned, two more officers rushed out of the house quickly taking him down, one of which had his police stick out and was hitting Blaze in the back. “He’s fuckin’ down! You don’t have to hit him!”
Quickly making my way over there, I kicked the officer with the stick in the balls as hard as I could. Once he went over, I kicked hard at his leg then brought my arms around his neck holding him tight.
The officer that was on Blaze quickly grabbed his gun pointing it toward me.
“Miss, don’t be stupid. Let him go!” he yelled.
“Jimson, put the damn gun down. Ms. Johnson you just added assaulting an officer to your charge. Now let him go.” Poke pushed the officer’s arm down before moving toward me. “Let him go!” he repeated in a stern hard voice.
I removed my arms from the officer’s neck. I pushed him away from me as the other cuffed Blaze.
“Let him go for now.” Poke told him as he grabbed me.
I let out a breath of relief. We both could not go to jail.
I can’t believe this shit.
“Get the fuck off me, all you mothafuckas—”
“Blaze, shut up, please.” I snapped at him. Blaze looked like he wanted to tell me to do the same and continue to go off but surprisingly he didn’t.
“Poke, fuck with her wrong, my nigga, and I’m at you. Peaches, tell him what he wanna know.” Blaze repeated. “Poke, don’t fuck with her.” He snapped at Poke before pushing the hell out of the officer closest to him, making him trip back “Get the fuck out the way.” Poke ignored Blaze with a laugh as he led me to the car.
Again, Poke’s action told me he was just trying to get Blaze riled up, which he’d done successfully.
Once in Detective Poke’s car, I glanced back at the house to see Blaze on the phone looking pissed. He was standing outside with keys in his hands, no shirt, shoes or socks on. Blaze suddenly started walking to my Toyota truck. It was at that moment Detective Poke decided to pull off.
It was then that everything settled in.
I was being arrested for killing Cornell.
Chapter 20
Peaches
When we arrived at the station, I was thrown in an interrogation room where I’ve been for the last three hours. I’d never been arrested before but I thought I was at least supposed to be processed first, take a mug shot or something. But they’d done neither, just locked me up in a room.
Letting out a heavy breath, my head fell down on the table. God I’m starving. As that thought came, my stomach growled loudly. I was so hungry to the point it felt like I was about to get sick. I would think about food at a time like this.
Hearing the door open I didn’t lift up, I stayed laying down.
“I don’t know how this work but can I make my phone call now?” I asked finally looking up at Detective Poke. He didn’t answer me, instead he start clicking on the laptop in front of him. After a few more clicks, his lips turned upward and he looked at me.
“It’s nice seeing you again, Ms. Johnson. Now what I’m about to show you, only two people have seen, myself and the person that gave it to me. Tell me what you think.” He turned the laptop my way and clicked a button, widening the screen then he pressed play.
The screen lit up green from the night camera vision. Immediately, I heard shots before I saw somebody run past, then another figure soon appeared following behind. The entire time I could hear shots being fired.
The video then zoomed in as the first person fell to the ground. The second person then came into view running past the fallen body. It wasn’t until the second figure turned around to go back to the body on the ground that I got a glimpse of the face.
I looked at Poke.
“What am I supposed to be seeing exactly?” I asked before looking back at the screen when I heard another shot. Once the second figure ran off of the camera, it started moving forward. A close up of Cornell’s face came into view.
“I guess now you’re going to tell me you don’t know him.” He suggested and I shook my head.
“No, I wasn’t. I knew him but I didn’t kill him.” Detective Poke went back a few scenes to where I could get a glimpse of the shooter’s face.
“So, you’re telling me that’s not you?”
Squinting, I looked hard at the screen. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying. The face is blurred, so how can you say that’s me?”
Laughing, he pulled a photo from a folder then sat it in front of me.
“You know we have software to clean up the blur
s. I did that Ms. Johnson and you know what I got? A clearer image.” Sure enough that looked like me.
“I don’t care how clear of an image you got. I didn’t kill nobody. They also have software now that can make an image seem to be something it’s not. I can show you a hundred fake photos and you’ll never know it wasn’t what it seemed.” I told him truthfully. “If you’re planning on pinning something on me, you need to have better evidence than a photo shopped picture.”
Detective Poke laughed at me. “You’re a smart girl and I have more than just a photo to back up the fact you killed him. But I don’t want you, Ms. Johnson. Maybe you had a reason to kill him. It could’ve been self-defense. Then again this doesn’t even have to come up. All I want is your boyfriend. Tell me what I want to know and all this goes away.”
Is this mothafuckin’ man serious? My eyes roamed over his face not seeing any traces of a joke. “I’ve told you before. I won’t do your job. If you want him, then go after him yourself. Now can I make my phone call?”
He pulled out his cell phone and slid it to me, my brows furrowed. “Make your call.”
I was not about to use his phone to call nobody. “I’d rather not use your cellphone to make my call.” Once those words left my mouth, he quickly took his phone back.
“I offered and you denied your call. Look, Ms. Johnson, we can help each other. I want your boyfriend and you don’t want to be in jail doing twenty-five to life for him. Not only would you go down for Cornell, but I have evidence tying you to Ronald’s death and now Leslie—”
“What, you can’t pin them on me. I don’t even know Leslie and I only met Ronald once. I have no connections to them.” This man had seriously lost his fuckin’ mind.
“Oh, I can and will. Blaze is your connection to both of them. You killed Leslie to get Blaze. If that ring on your finger is any indication, that plan worked pretty damn well. Ronald was asking you questions about Blaze, if he turned his attention toward your boyfriend there was no doubt he was going to find something. You couldn’t allow that and risk Blaze getting taken away? So, you killed him.”
This man is fuckin’ crazy. “Nobody is going to believe that.”