“Jazz I’ll leave you and your dad alone to discuss whatever it is you need to discuss. I will not stand here and be disrespected by him or anybody else.” Zeke said to me.
“Mr. Hardaway you don’t know me so I’d suggest in the future you refrain from calling strangers out of their names, especially me.” He said to my dad.
“You don’t suggest me to do shit. You don’t know me and if you want to live you won’t say another word to me you fucking faggot.”
“Listen you geritol gangsta! You may consider yourself an OG, but a reputation doesn’t intimidate me neither do words. I’d like to offer you an invitation. I invite you to run your lips straight past my ass. Jazz you’d better get your daddy.”
With their equally explosive tempers a standoff was impossible. My dad suddenly grabbed Zeke by his neck and started squeezing. I saw Zeke’s eyes bulge out in an effort to breathe, and then I heard my dad scream. My dad released Zeke’s throat but he was still screaming. I looked down to see that Zeke had both on his hands on my dad’s crotch. That boy had clamped down like a vice and was twisting in opposite directions. Zeke finally let go and walked toward the door to leave. I saw my dad going after him from behind. I leapt up from the bed and snatched all of the monitors off in a hurry to get to him before he got to Zeke.
I reached them too late. As Zeke passed the glass window on the way to the door, my dad hit him; well tackled him is a better description because he went at him like he was a linebacker on a football field. He knocked Zeke into the window, breaking it with a loud crash. My dad put his hands around Zeke’s neck, choking him and trying to push him out the window at the same time.
Zeke’s back was against the small ledge and at any moment he was about to go over that ledge and fall 11 stories down. Zeke realized my dad was trying to push him out the window. What he did next shocked me.
“You’re gonna push me out the window? Well I’m taking your ass with me!”
Zeke put both of his arms around my dad and started pulling him. He had pulled them both halfway out of the window before I could react.
I grabbed my dad from the back and pulled him backwards back into the room, which made him release Zeke and fall backwards on top of me. The noise made the nurse come running into the room. She tripped over my dad and fell. My dad got up and lunged at me but the nurse got caught between us. She started screaming, Zeke started cursing, and my dad started punching….me.
I wasn’t the same teenager he’d beat unconscious before. I thought about how he’d bullied everyone my whole life. He had us scared to breathe with his rants and fits of violence. I thought about what he’d done to Zeke, who was innocent. Zeke’s only crime was that he loved me. I returned blow for blow. When I thought about the fact that my dad had intended to kill Zeke by pushing him out of the window a rage took control of me and I charged him with the full weight of my body, knocking him into the wall.
“I lied to keep you from acting like this. This is who I fell in love with. I couldn’t help that and he is the best thing that’s EVER happened to me. So yeah, I love him and you are not going to make me deny him anymore. You can’t control my life. I’m happy but all you care about is you and how you feel. You were wrong to come in here and put your hands on anybody.”
“Boy, you choosing this fag over me? You’d do that to me?”
“Stop calling him that. If he is one then so am I. Don’t you get it? This is my life, you can be a part of it or not. YOU make the choice. I am not choosing anybody over anybody. He is who I love, who I want to be with, and share my life with. You can’t understand that?”
“I raised you better than this. I can’t believe you’re embarrassing me like this. You momma’s heart will be broken.”
“Don’t bring mom into this. This is about you being pissed because you can’t control me. Nigga you ain’t God! You never loved me as a son. I’ve never been anything to you but something to control. I am also officially out of the drug game. I never wanted that, you did! I am not selling your drugs anymore! I am going to do me from now on!”
“Now that’s where I draw the line. There is no getting out of this. You will carry on the legacy. You have no choice.”
“I haven’t been out on the block in over a year and I am not going back!”
“When I get through kicking your ass, you will be running back to the block. You must have forgotten who I am boy!”
“Fuck a legacy! You and your legacy can both kiss my black ass. You don’t give a damn about no legacy. You just want me to be selling drugs to support you when you get old. You think I’m your human pension plan and you can retire like a wall street CEO or something.”
“You got stars in your eyes thinking you gonna blow up as some rapper or something. You need to face it, you are common thug, a street nigga and that’s all you ever gonna be. If you want out, OK, you’re out, out of everything! I wash my hands of you.
“I never want to see either one of you sorry faggots again. Don’t bring your ass to my house ever again. I don’t have a son, you don’t exist to me anymore.”
“I don’t have to see you, but you are not keeping me away from ma.”
“If I see you at my house you’re dead! If I find out you’ve been there when I wasn’t there you’re dead.”
“You know what? I don’t care anymore. Why don’t you go ahead and shoot me and get it over with! Do it! Go ahead, then you don’t have to think about me or see me or talk to me anymore.” I screamed at him as I felt tears form in my eyes.
“Don’t push me boy! Besides, bullets cost money why waste one on your worthless ass?”
“Do it! Cold Tony, just kill me now! Stop threatening to do it!”
It was pure adrenaline talking for me. I was so fed up and angry that I didn’t care anymore. It was like slow motion. He pulled the gun from his waistband, aimed it at me, and I closed my eyes. I heard the click then the shot. When I opened my eyes Zeke was standing between my dad and me. He’d jumped between my dad and me and taken the bullet. The police rushed in and cuffed my dad before taking him out of the room.
“Oh Zeke he shot you!”
“What are you talking about Jazz?”
“Look at your arm!”
“Damn, he did shoot me. I guess it happened so fast I didn’t even feel it.”
The nurse came back with a doctor and put Zeke in a wheelchair. I sat there looking into space because I couldn’t believe all that happened. I mean I knew my dad was a loose cannon but I never thought he would act like he did.
Ezekiel
When Jazz asked me if I’d slept with Randall, I almost froze in my tracks. Although I hadn’t, I felt somewhat guilty about what happened. The whole incident with Jazz’s father at the hospital was so surreal I still couldn’t believe it happened. The bandage on my arm reminded me that it was real. The bullet went into my bicep and nicked an artery. Once they removed the bullet and dressed the wound I was able to go home. The nurse was on the way to the room to inform Jazz that he was cleared to go home when all the madness popped off with his deranged dad. Jazz and I came home together.
About 5 minutes after we got home, Alton called me.
“Hey cuz, what’s up?”
“Nothing just got home.”
“Is everything ok with Jazz?”
“Yeah, he’s ok.”
“Alright, I’m calling because I was about to come over.”
“Okay, I’m here.”
Already knowing how Alton would react, I decided not to say anything about what happened. Jazz sat silently in his favorite chair in the living room. The wheels were turning in his head so I let him have his space.
Before I knew it Alton was at the door. Knowing I would have to explain things to him, I took a deep breath before opening the door.
“Hey cuz!”
“Hey Alton.”
“Why are you guys looking all gloomy? What happened to your arm?”
Jazz lifted his head when Alton asked the question, loo
ked at him, and then looked back at the floor while shaking his head.
“Well we had a little altercation at the hospital.”
“What are you talking about Zeke?”
After telling Alton everything that happened he looked at me in slack-jawed amazement.
“Jazz your daddy sounds like a mental case. He could have killed you and Zeke.”
“I know Alton, I feel bad enough about it. If I hadn’t provoked him to shoot me, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“He shouldn’t have had a gun in a hospital in the first place. What kind of man goes to that extreme over someone being gay, that’s just crazy.”
“This is partly your fault too.”
“Me? How the hell do you figure that?” Alton asked.
“If you hadn’t suggested that Zeke call that Randall clown, I wouldn’t have ended up in the hospital.”
“I didn’t suggest him but he got you out of jail didn’t he?”
“Yeah but at what price?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Zeke when we were walking out of the police station, you had already gone ahead so you didn’t hear what that fool said to me.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me my time with you was up and you were done slumming with me. He said you deserved better and that you two had discussed it and you were just waiting for the right time to break up with me.”
“He said what? Why are you just now telling me this? You should have told me then.”
“Then he threatened me, said he would set me up and have me locked up for years if I didn’t go away.”
“Jazz none of that is true. So now I know why you asked me if I slept with him.”
“Yeah and you lied to my face. He told me he hooked up with you. He said I was clear for release 10 minutes after he called, but you were here getting busy. That’s why it took two hours to come get me.”
“Jazz don’t tell me you believed that? You must have a low opinion of me to just accept the first thing a stranger tells you. Didn’t it dawn on you that if he told you to get out of the way so he could get with me that he has a reason to lie?”
“Yeah, well explain how he knows about the birth mark on your ass if he didn’t see it! When he told me about that is when my chest started hurting and I collapsed. Explain that shit to me Zeke?”
“You have already convinced yourself that I did it. It’s sad that you don’t trust me any more than this. I can’t believe you are this damn gullible.”
“Gullible? I’ll show you gullible motherfucker!”
Jazz grabbed me by my shirt collar.
“Get your damn hands off me and back up. You have gone insane?”
Alton put him in a chokehold from behind causing Jazz to release his grip on my shirt.
“Calm your ass down! You can’t be grabbing on my cousin like that. What’s wrong with you!” Alton shouted at him.
It took a bit of effort but Alton was able to get Jazz outside where he could talk to him.
“Jazz, look at me!” Alton shouted.
“What?”
“You’re trippin that’s what. I know my cousin better than anybody and I can tell you he is not lying.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because I know how much he loves you. You should know that too. He has been in love with you since he met you. Can’t you see that? You know what kind of person he is. Do you honestly think he would do that to you?”
“I don’t know. You should have heard how Randall said those things to me.”
“Jazz he is a lawyer he gets paid to lie with a straight face and be believable. Zeke jumped in front of a bullet for you what more proof do you need that that? He could have died trying to save you. If it had happened out in the street somewhere and not in the hospital, he’d be gone!”
Jazz came back inside and got his keys.
“Zeke, baby come in the room for a sec, I want to talk to you.”
“Zeke I have a lot to think about and I need to go clear my head. I believe that you didn’t mess around with Randall. I am sorry I grabbed you like that.”
“Jazz you have to look at the big picture. I’d never cheat on you. I had it done to me and it hurts.”
“Yeah, after I thought about it I knew better. I got a lot on my mind right now. I’ll be back later.”
“Okay.”
When Jazz walked out the door I had a strange feeling that I couldn’t explain. The feeling just wasn’t right.
“So Alton how are things with you and Rachel?” I said switching the subject.
“Oh good, real good. She is a wonderful woman.”
“I know. That’s why I made sure to get you two in the same room whenever I could. I knew you both needed each other but were mismatched with two devils.”
“I’m glad you did. I’ll be indebted to you forever.”
“You happiness is satisfaction enough for me.”
I didn’t let on to Alton but when I mentioned Rachel’s name, he beamed from ear to ear like the cat that swallowed the canary. I knew right then that they’d done the do. For the first time I couldn’t wait for him to leave, because I wanted to call Rachel immediately. As soon as he backed out the driveway I was on the phone.
“Hi, Rachel how are you?”
“Hey Zeke, I am good and you?
“Alton just left. When I mentioned you he smiled so wide I thought his face would crack. He didn’t tell me but I already know you have been naughty haven’t you?”
“Okay, I confess. Zeke I would have called you but I just came down off the ceiling a few hours ago.”
“Ha ha, I told you!”
‘That man touched me in places I didn’t even know I had.”
“And the way you had him glowing you must have put a whammy on him too. I am glad. I so wanted to see you two together. Now you two are engaged! You deserve him and he deserves you.”
“Zeke he is so different. I mean the confidence in his stride and the strength of his character is amazing. He is just so wonderful. He makes me feel so comfortable and safe like he can do anything.”
“He is blessed and highly favored, you are too.”
“I feel it. The Lord definitely smiled on me when he opened my eyes and put Alton in my life. I haven’t felt this kind of happiness since I don’t know when. How are you and Jazz?”
“Oh Rachel, you got a minute?”
“Sure what happened?”
“An arrest, a fainting, a fight, and a shooting in the hospital.”
I proceeded to fill Rachel in on the latest happenings in my personal soap opera Nelson Place.
Nadiah
What a perfect little actress I am. Charming the Sunny Brook staff was a piece of cake. They decided to release me early. It was time to work on getting Alton back. He loved me once and I would make him fall in love with me again. The first thing on my agenda was to get my hair done. I needed to put on my A game and make myself irresistible to him. Second was a new wardrobe so off to Neiman Marcus on Peachtree I went.
“Hi Mrs. Allen we were beginning to worry about you since we haven’t seen you in a while.” The salesgirl remarked.
“Oh I’ve been laying low for a while. I decided to come out today to update my wardrobe a little.”
“Sure, well you just let me know if you need anything.”
I liked the fact that all the sales staff knew me by name and taste. I never had to spend too long in the store. I only got 4 dresses, 3 new pairs of pumps, and some accessories. My total bill came to under $5,000.00, which was good for me. Since “Alton the money well” had dried up, I had to exercise some discretion in my spending. I’ve easily spent $12,000 in one evening before.
After getting myself together, I decided to surprise Alton at his office. Besides, I wanted to be able to talk to him without Rachel being around to run interference. Knowing Alton couldn’t resist me in red, I wore a long red dress, which I was working the hell out of by the way. As soon a
s I stepped out of the car, I felt my power.
My head straight, my back erect, I began my walk from the parking lot. The wind tossed my long, loosely spiraled curls as they hung down my back. The fluid movement of my generous hips drew attention to me as I walked. Teasingly, I feigned indifference to the stares of numerous men as I wet my red, succulent lips with my tongue for added effect. A gentle breeze blew softly across my proud breasts sending a sensual charge through me as I prepared to enter the building.
What’s-her-name would be a distant memory once he saw me. When I reached his office, I steadied myself before going in. Alton sat at his desk with his back to the door. He was on the phone but I quickly surmised that it wasn’t a business call.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to see you either baby. I’m gonna make love to you all night tonight.” He said into the phone receiver.
“Okay, love you more.” He said as he concluded his call.
When he hung up the phone he didn’t turn around so he had no idea that I was standing there. As I planned what to say to him Alton looked out the window daydreaming. I could see his right arm moving slightly, but didn’t know what he was doing. My curiosity was satisfied when I heard him moan.
“Oh man, I’m gonna put it on my baby real good when I get home. Damn, I love that woman!” Alton said aloud to himself.
Still with his back turned to me, I decided to take advantage of his aroused state. After locking the office door I quickly slipped out of my dress. As I stood there in my black and red lace teddy and red stiletto “Fuck Me” pumps, I softly whispered to him,
“Why wait till you get home to her when you can have all of me right here and now, baby.”
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