The room fell silent. Kei-Kei’s posture, erect with her arms folded against her breasts, said she wanted to say what was truly on her mind, though she chose not to.
“You don’t have the power to sentence anyone to life. If that was his sentence, he was proven guilty in a court of law. You can’t hate yourself for the outcome nor wish you could go back in time to fix things,” Tyger comforted her, and Temper rejected it.
“I don’t hate myself for it, and I’d do it again. I told you all of that to try to explain how I feel inside. It’s serious, way more serious than I can explain. I get a high off it, and I thought switching everything up would kill that hunger I have for it, but it hasn’t.”
“Yes, it has. Look how long we’ve been friends, and you’ve been able to hide it. If it were a problem, you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from doing it,” Tyger explained as Kei’Lani spoke up.
“She’s right, Tee. When I knew you, it was a real problem. It was like you had to be a part of fucked-up shit, and if things were going smooth, you’d mess them up on purpose. The shit that’s happening to you now is just karma or bad luck. You aren’t looking for it or making it happen this time, but you should have told Julio the truth, not like he couldn’t find out anyway. Last I heard, he was a cop.”
“A cop?” the other two sang in unison.
“Yeah, he’s a cop, or at least I know he was. He had all that cop shit in his car when he gave me a ride. I asked him about it, and he lied, talking about he was going to a costume party and borrowed his boy’s shit, but I know a real badge from a fake one.”
Tyger looked at Temper, and she shrugged. “He told me he took over his pop’s construction business and they had relocated to the valley. He never took me there. I just believed him.”
“Um, sounds like you weren’t the only person hiding shit in the relationship then,” Kei-Kei pointed out, and sadly, that raggedy fact brought Temper a piece of hope. Maybe we can work things out since we both lied.
“Let me get this straight. All this time you’ve been making a bed with a cop around me?” Tyger’s voice transformed into a high-pitched tone. “You didn’t think to check the nigga out at all?”
“Damn, what are you mad at? Don’t tell me you were fucking little sexy too?” Kei-Kei asked like a member of a talk-show audience.
“Of course not. I’d never have sex with anyone my bestie and sister messed with. Hell, they can’t even get me to feed them unless she asked me to,” Tyger responded in a calmer tone. “I’m just saying it’s dangerous to have anybody around you who you don’t know anything about. It doesn’t matter if he was a cop or a killer. She shouldn’t have had him around me until she knew everything about him.”
“I didn’t know, and you should know I would never purposely bring anyone like that around you. We need to calm down because we don’t even know if he’s a cop. Kei’Lani’s ass doesn’t know everything, nor is her mouth a prayer book. Her lying is what got her cracked with the golf club, not jealousy.”
“Yeah, I lie but not about this. How do you think Julio is feeling about fucking the bitch who abandoned his godson?”
The timing couldn’t have been better. As if cued to walk in, a suited Julio, dressed as if he came from court, with two uniformed cops at his side, flashed a badge at the three women and then said, “We need to bring the three of you down for questioning.”
“For what, Julio?” Kei’Lani snapped. “Temper nor the museum is pressing charges against me. It was a misunderstanding.”
Julio, with disappointment etched on his face, looked into Temper’s eyes. “Is this true? You’re not pressing charges on the attack against you today?”
“I’m not.” Her words filled Kei’Lani with confidence.
“May I ask why?”
“Because I don’t know the truth about anything or anyone around me, that’s why, Detective. I’m sorry, what’s your last name?”
“It’s Detective Torres, Journee West. Or is there another name you’d prefer to go by?” When he realized she didn’t have a response, he continued, “To answer your question, Kei’Lani, you’re all coming in to give any information you can on Paula Hess. She was found dead in the parking lot of the museum.”
Temper and Tyger inhaled in shock. Kei’Lani didn’t know who Paula was, but she knew being at the museum with a knife was enough for her to get nervous over it.
“Ay, can one of y’all lend me money for a lawyer? I ain’t saying shit without one,” Kei’Lani stated. She wasn’t a fool to the way things worked, and the other two quickly followed suit.
Chapter Ten
Julio didn’t waste time once he got the girls to his precinct. He threw Kei’Lani and Tyger into a holding cell and stormed to his office, making sure Temper was on his heels.
“Why wouldn’t you press charges on her, Journee? I mean, Temp . . . Ugh. I can’t even say that name.” Julio took his palm to his head like it would wake him up from his nightmare. “She tried to kill you,” he yelled as he got Temper into the privacy of his office. Unlike the other detectives they passed on their way, Julio didn’t have a cubicle. His office sat near the restroom, along the wall in the back. His door was open when they approached, so Temper missed the title painted on the glass. However, the way the others greeted him in his unit confirmed he was ranked up.
“Look at her,” Temper yelled, returning his tone. “Life has already been hard enough on her. Why should I add to it? It was a mistake, and she feels bad about it. Maybe you stabbing her caused her to realize it. I don’t know, but why would I kick her when she’s already down as far as she can go?”
“Because she almost killed you.” He shook his head and then said, “Por favor, dime que no me enamore de un muneco.”
“No, Julio, you didn’t fall in love with a dummy, and the fact that you’re questioning if you did means you weren’t in love with me to begin with.”
Julio’s jaw dropped at her understanding of his native tongue, and she checked him on that, too.
“Don’t act shocked. My dumb ass speaks a lot of languages. It’s detecting the pigs around me that I have trouble with.”
“You know what? You’re right. I wasn’t in love with you, because Temper is a dummy and always has been, from your fake gangster bitch days to the dumb decision you’re making now. I fell in love with Journee, the intelligent, loving, smart docent from the museum. Temper is hood trash who wouldn’t press charges on Kei’Lani,” he said, opening his top desk drawer and retrieving the engagement ring. “But Journee, the woman I brought this ring for”—he slammed it on his desk in front of her—“would have, because she’d risk lying to the man she loved about her past to secure their future. You’re not that woman.”
The hurt in his eyes turned into anger. He waited for a sign of the woman he loved to show. Instead, all he got was a question.
“So now that you know I’m Temper—the hood bitch who had a baby by your childhood friend, the cause of him serving life, and the woman who gave her baby away—you no longer love me?”
“Are you fucking deaf? I’ve never loved Temper. I would never date anyone who threw her child, my godson, by the wayside. I would never date a woman who dated one of my friends, and if you remember me from back in the day, you know that I’ve never messed with anyone from that neighborhood, and I wouldn’t. They were all hoes, hood rats, and chicken heads from the bottom of the barrel.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She needed a blunt but hadn’t smoked one in two years because she’d given it up for him. He smelled the scent on her once and expressed his dislike. That was all it took for her to kick the habit.
“Is that how you see me?”
“Temper, that’s the only way I can see you. You aren’t Journee.”
“Then, Detective, can you please start your interrogation on the death of my boss? I’m ready to get it over with. I have places I need to be,” she requested in a tone absent of emotion.
“What? Are you not
hearing me? Am I not speaking English? Are you going to press charges on your attacker or not?”
“Not.”
Julio rushed over to Temper and almost snatched her out of her chair. He gained his composure as she jumped to her feet. With his finger pointed in her face, less than an inch from touching it, he whispered, “I almost killed her for you because I love you, and this is the repayment? You won’t even open an investigation to find out why she did it or who sent her. Damn, I guess I was wrong about you all this time. You are that same little hood-rat bitch who used to blow all my homies in the hood for a sack of weed and a forty. You did a hell of a job pretending for the last two years.”
“Are you saying that you knew who I was?”
“Yes and no. I knew your real name wasn’t Journee. I tried to pull you up when we first met. I was bored and thinking about you. That’s the same moment I had to be honest and admit that I had feelings for you. Fuck, it couldn’t be real. Me, fall in love with Miss Perfect? There’s no way in hell love would come that easily for me. I ran the name you gave me to make sure I wasn’t dating a criminal, and nothing popped up in criminal, traffic, or warrants. I assumed it was a middle name you preferred to go by and left the shit at that. I didn’t hunt to try to figure out who you were, which was idiotic of me. Blame my stupidity on my heart. I thought I was in love. No, I didn’t have a clue that you were Temper until today. I even convinced myself that you lied because you loved me and that I shouldn’t hold your actions as a kid against you. Boy, was I wrong. You’re just as dumb as you were back then.”
“Wow, listen to you. Big, badass Julio with the badge thinks he’s better than me because he made slim to no mistakes in his youth. He had a strong, providing father and a mother who prepared three meals a day for him while instilling morals, traditions, and family values. I didn’t have any of that fairy-tale shit. You were my first knight in shining armor, and I lied about who I was the moment I saw it was you who bought my drink. I was a kid back then, Julio. Lost, confused, and fucked up, but I get it. I’m below you, and if I don’t press charges, you’re done with me. Okay then, I’m not. So I guess I am that little bitch who sucked all your homeboys’ dicks to stay high so I wouldn’t have to deal with my fucked-up life. You know what, King Julio, aka Mr. Perfect, after kissing, licking, and fucking me for the last two years, you can say you blew your homies too.”
Julio cocked his hand back and froze in the stance.
“What would that make you if you slapped me, knowing I’m a ho? A pimp?” Temper egged him on and went so far as to turn her face to give him more coverage to slap.
After seconds of waiting, he began to walk back to his chair behind the desk. “Temper Chey, I’m clearing you as a suspect. Now get the hell out of my office.”
“What about my two best friends?”
“They will tell you their situations when they can. One more thing.” He stood up and sat on the corner of his desk. “Earlier today, when I found out who you were, I remembered going to the first Hood Day celebration after Khasema got sentenced, and your name was the topic of conversation. I just want to know this—does Kei-Kei know you used to fuck and suck her daddy, too?”
“Fuck you!”
“Me and the rest of the east side already did. Get the fuck out of my office. I need to disinfect the ho from that seat.”
“No problem,” she said as she removed her keys from her purse. “I’ll see you when you get home, Detective. I’ve been living there for over fifteen days. If you want me to go, bring home an eviction notice with you. I have ho juice to spread throughout it.” She rushed out of the office to get in the view of witnesses, not knowing what he’d do next. Julio stood in the doorway, fuming as he watched her leave.
“Send in Tyger Rae Washington next,” he said to no one in particular. He waited ten minutes, and then he was informed that Tyger was still waiting for her counsel to arrive, so he called Kei’Lani instead.
“Whatever Temper said to you, Julio, is a goddamn lie. Up until today, I hadn’t seen her lying ass in years, and I didn’t even know her boss.” Kei’Lani gripped her side, praying for a little sympathy since he was the person who’d stabbed her. “I left there in an ambulance. I don’t know what happened after that.”
“Why were you there?” he asked calmly.
“I heard about the tattoo exhibit and went to see it. You know, I’m tatted up and was like damn, let me go check out the history of this shit. I didn’t know she worked in there.”
“If that is true, why did you have a knife? There’s a sign on the door that’s visible and says that it is a felony to possess a weapon in the museum.”
“Come on, man, you know how rough those streets are and where we grew up. I don’t leave the house without one. I can’t.”
“So your story is that you wanted a piece of history and ran into your childhood best friend. Honestly, I remember y’all being closer than that. Why did you try to stab Temper?” His voice cracked as anger overtook him, and he knew he should have recused himself. He was too emotionally attached, and that made him unqualified to perform the legal duties required. There was a conflict of interest, but he couldn’t walk away. He was in love with Temper and determined to get to the bottom of it, whether they were in a relationship or not.
“Revenge,” she bellowed. “She’s the reason I’m like this, the reason I stay in and out of the hospital. She found out I was messing with Khasema after she had the baby, and she beat me over my head with a golf club. I had to be put in a medically induced coma for months because they couldn’t get the seizures to stop, and when I saw her, I snapped. I wish it had been a gun in my purse.”
For a woman who was stabbed less than twelve hours earlier, Kei’Lani’s reflexes were intact as she dodged the items that flew off Julio’s desk as he flipped it over and darted her way. He scooped her up by her shirt.
“Cut the fucking lies, Kei’Lani. I heard you say someone sent you to do it. You said ‘he’ sent you. Who is he?” he yelled as she curled up into a ball to protect herself from the ass beating she was sure would follow.
“I was lying. I didn’t want to go to jail. I was scared, just saying shit that I thought sounded good. Please, Julio, don’t hit me. Don’t hit me for lying.”
“I’m not going to hit you for lying because I can’t prove it, but what I think happened was you gave a deathbed confession. You thought you were dying and told the truth. I can’t prove it yet. However, I’m going to arrest you and let the State of California pick up charges against you for your attempted attack with a deadly weapon on a museum worker.”
“You mean for the attack on your future wife, the bitch who ruined my life in so many ways I can’t even count, right? The baby mama of your best friend who you stopped writing once you made the force, but you continued to help raise his son? But I thought I was brought in for questioning on her boss. I didn’t know that you could handle your own personal affairs with that badge. Aren’t you supposed to recuse yourself? I was told that if Julio’s sprung ass got involved, he would recuse himself, but it looks like you’re all in.” Her laugh couldn’t be touched by any wicked witch from any side of town or movie. She scooted away from him until her back was parallel to the wall.
“You’re not smart enough to know what recusal is. That’s confirmation that you were coached into doing this. I also know you moved in with Khasema’s mother a few years after she moved to Victorville, and I know you are still in contact with Khasema. Your last visit was two months ago. Be smart, Kei’Lani, and work yourself out a deal on this attempted murder charge I’m about to throw on you. Did Khasema send you to the museum to kill Temper today?” He paced his words as he came to her.
“Temper has done a lot of people wrong and has a lot of enemies, Julio. She thinks she can fuck and fuck over anybody she wants, but she can’t, and it’s her time to get fucked. You need to be smart and get away from her, or you’re going to find yourself like me. That badge won’t protect you.”
> “And how are you, Kei’Lani? Are you being blackmailed?”
She laughed. “Blackmailed by a black male. Is that what you think? No, Julio, I’m dead and have been dead from the moment I made her my friend. I’m sorry, but remember, I tried to warn you.”
Julio wasn’t sure what she was about to do next, but he flew across the room to stop her. Before he was halfway there, Kei’Lani slammed the back of her head into the wall with all the energy she could muster and instantly hit the floor in a full-blown grand mal seizure.
“I need help in here,” he screamed, and immediately his office filled with his colleagues.
* * *
Temper had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for Julio to return home to continue their conversation. She packed and cried. Once again, her past forced her to throw away the love and happiness in her life. She hadn’t felt this kind of pain since Isabel died. Even then it didn’t hurt as much. It wasn’t the same feeling as losing a parent or sibling. She’d lost her soul mate because of her foolishness as a child.
“Why can’t you see that I was young and dumb then if you’re so fucking smart?” she yelled at the framed picture on their dresser of her and Julio. After staring at it for a few minutes, she waved the white flag and curled up with the memory of them on their first trip to the cabins in Big Bear. They never got a chance to play in the human-made snow. There wasn’t time. They were making love from the moment they arrived, and neither had a problem with the change in itinerary.
“Hello.”
It was 1:30 in the morning, and Julio hadn’t come home. Temper was sure he wouldn’t show once she informed him that she’d be there waiting. When her phone rang, she only answered the private number because she thought it might have been him.
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