Dirty DNA 3: The Renegade (G Street Chronicles Presents)

by BlaQue

  Chapter Seven

  Mission Impossible

  Pinky York

  I hate this 9-5 grinding shit. I was sitting in my office going through the new student admissions and assigning the faculty their security badges. I knew I had better finish placing the students in their respective living quarters before my boss had a fit. He was already on my ass for not having each student assigned to their rooms yet. I promised him that I would have them completed by the end of business today. I knew I was nowhere near finished and it would take a miracle for me to get them done. Since it was Friday and it was nice outside, my mind was on going for a ride on my bike.

  To tell you the truth, I just didn’t feel like doing anything that had anything to do with work. I’m not the working girl type. I am used to making my own money and working for no one but myself. Having someone give me orders and fetch their coffee makes me want to put a gun to my boss’ head and making my gun bang. Now that’s some shit I’m used to. That’s all I have ever really been good at. Well that and shaking my ass. However, that life is over. Or so I thought. I sifted through the pile of housing requests and that’s when I couldn’t believe whose name was on my housing list. I had to blink to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me.

  I know damn well I can’t be holding the form for Ms. YaSheema Nicole Evans. I read further down the form almost afraid that it really was who I thought it was. I mean really…how many people named their children YaSheema? I only knew two of them and they were both a part of the family who formerly employed me as their cleanup woman. There was YaSheema Clayton who I knew was dead and I was there the day my boss’ daughter was laid to rest. I knew it couldn’t have been that YaSheema. The only YaSheema I knew of outside of YaYa Clayton was her niece, which was Dread’s daughter that he had with that crazy bitch NiQue. As far as I was concerned, the whole family was grimy. Even the extended members of the Reynolds-Clayton clan were out of control. I wasn’t one to talk because I had done more than enough of my fair share of dirt, but that family was the worst. They used to keep bodies droppin’ left and right and the scandal among them was never ending. I didn’t mind it though, because they were good to me even though they were all shifty in their own little way.

  I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe this bullshit job had been good for something after all. I inspected the form closely and I confirmed what I had suspected. Under the guardian’s name on the form was another name I was very familiar with. My emotions rushed to my head; almost causing another one of these damn headaches the doctors had warned me about years ago. The name brought back so many memories. Neko Reynolds was named as the legal guardian of YaSheema Nicole Evans.

  It had been seventeen long years since I had seen or heard from Neko. I thought I had filed my feelings for him in a box labeled, never again. Just seeing his name damn near took my breath away. I tried to get my breathing under control and kept reading over the form. Next to Neko’s name was another name I wasn’t familiar with. It read Doctor Rhina Diaz-Reynolds. She was listed as the other guardian and I felt my heart shatter. Neko had moved on. From the form I was looking at, he had gotten married and he apparently had forgotten all about me.

  I slammed the papers on the desk and tried to hide my hurt and frustration. I was upset with him for moving on. He never even bothered to confirm if I was dead or alive before he picked up the next bitch.

  I don’t even know why I was so upset. Had the shoe been on the other foot, I would have bailed on him too. Not to mention, I hadn’t been exactly up front and honest with Neko during our relationship. I was juggling two men at once. I had slept with Dread and I had even gotten pregnant and didn’t know if Neko or Head was the father. I guess I really shouldn’t be mad that Neko moved on. For all he knew, I really was dead. Those bitch ass cops took care of that years ago. They said it was to protect me, but it didn’t do anything but take away the last miniscule piece of life I had.

  Now I was here processing paperwork for future students of Howard University when my name should have been the one on the line next to Neko’s as his wife. I stamped YaSheema Nicole’s application and approved her dorm request and tried to finish the rest of my day without thinking about the what ifs.

  What if none of that shit had happened? Would Neko and I have been married? Would we have children? I almost broke down thinking of what my life could have been. I honestly felt like losing Neko was karma kicking me in the ass. After all…I killed a baby that could have been our child. I guess God punished me in other ways. He took the only man I had ever loved. That was nothing more than payback for all the underhanded things I had done in my past. My past wasn’t exactly clean and I had to settle my debt I owed to the Devil at some point. Losing the man I loved and having to live with the memory of lying on that table in the abortion clinic killing my own baby was definitely torture. I was heartless and cruel when I was paid to be that way, but nothing could compare to me taking the life of my unborn child.

  I pushed away from my desk and got up. I gathered my things and prepared the lie I was about to tell my boss about why I had to leave early. There was no way I would be able to finish the rest of my day like this.

  I made a copy of YaSheema Evans’ file, replaced the original and then headed to my supervisor’s office. I made up some shit about not feeling well. I didn’t care if he believed me or not. I had too many things on my mind and being cooped up in this office wasn’t helping. I knew what would help though and I was going to make sure I did everything I could to close up all loose ends I had with the Reynolds’, Clayton’s, and Evans’ families. If I didn’t close those doors, then I would forever be caught up in this world wind of confusion. It was beyond time for me to take my life back. I didn’t want to be stuck wondering how things could have been. I was going to find out if Neko ever really loved me. I had to know for my own sanity. I wasn’t going to call him either. I was going to take a trip to the A. The conversation we needed to have had to be done face to face. There was no other way. Then I was going to find Dread. He and I still had unfinished business. I learned long ago that you never left a target alive. Dread was out there somewhere and I had let him live far too long. He took the only person I ever loved and for that he was definitely going to pay. He killed my sister and I hadn’t forgotten about that shit. He took the only person who loved me wholeheartedly.

  I walked out of my office and to the garage. I put my pink helmet on and hopped on my pink bike. It was the only piece of my past that I had left. It was the last thing Neko gave me before we fell out and then he was told by those punk cops that I was dead.

  The accident never made me fearful of riding my bikes. It was the only thing I had left of who I used to be. I sped out of the garage feeling better than I started out. I guess because I had two missions to complete. I was going to see Neko and get the answers I needed and I was going to find Dread. I had to do it so I could move on. I needed closure on my feelings for Neko and I needed to kill Dread for killing my sister many moons ago. It was definitely time to put an end to the what ifs that haunted me.

  Chapter Eight

  When Opportunity Knocks

  Dread

  I hated when I had to do these small time hosting gigs. Crack had talked me into doing these showcases to keep myself afloat. The only reason I did it was to keep Queen and Crack off of my back about me wasting my life. Queen would never be able to understand what I was really feeling. I may have come off as arrogant and secure, but that wasn’t the truth. I felt like shit. I had let my life fall apart. My life hadn’t been the same since I met YaSheema Clayton and her family and friends.

  I can’t say I regret meeting YaYa because shawty was official. She should have been my wife. Instead, she was ripped from me and that started the downward spiral in my life. I looked for comfort in the arms of her friend NiQue, who I found out later was her sister.

  That whole family was insane. I was so petrified of that family that I abandoned my daughter out of fear of them. There s
eemed like there was a dark cloud hanging over their family and I didn’t want any parts of it. I left my daughter –YaSheema Nicole – with her uncle Neko because I was afraid of what else would happen to me if I stuck around. Nothing but tragedy followed them; and I figured if I steered clear of them, then their curse wouldn’t attach itself to me.

  I got myself ready to go onstage and host a bogus DMV Hip Hop All-Star banquet. I didn’t want to be here. I would rather be in the confines of my house with a big bottle of Ciroc and a pound of Kush. The thought of leaving and going to the nearest liquor store entered my mind. I immediately started thinking of what lie I could tell Queen and Crack for missing the event. Since I knew Queen and Crack had booked this stupid gig, I had better make the best of it. There was no lie I could tell to get out of it, so I had better just do it to keep them off of my ass.

  I went through the motions of hosting the banquet, but I couldn’t help checking the time after every guest speaker spoke. I wanted to get out of here and catch the liquor store before they closed. The drinks they were serving weren’t worth shit. They were watered down and I needed something with some kick to it. When the banquet finally wrapped up, I went back to what was supposed to be my dressing room and prepared to leave. I had fifteen minutes before the liquor stores in the city closed and I intended to get there before they did. There was a knock on my door and Queen walked in before I could say it was ok for her to come in.

  “Are you busy?”

  “If you mean busy like I’m leaving…then yeah, I’m really busy,” I said smugly.

  “I have someone I want you to meet before you go,” Queen said. I knew she wasn’t asking. She was telling me that I had to meet whoever it was she wanted me to meet or I would have to hear about it later. I nodded my head and flopped back down in the metal chair and waited for her to get whoever it was she was excited for me to see. A minute later, she returned with a tall dark skin woman. She was dressed in a black cocktail dress that she filled out to the nines.

  “Dread, this is Ms. Grey. She heads up the arts and cultural division at Howard University. She wanted to speak with you about an opportunity she may have for you.”

  I looked the woman over and couldn’t help but notice the way her curves hugged her dress and her smooth dark skin reminded me of Hershey’s milk chocolate. At least if I was going to miss the liquor store, Ms. Grey was nice to look at.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Evans; I’m a huge fan of your music,” Ms. Grey said, extending her hand to me. I nodded in her direction, dismissing her gesture and wished I could hurry her up so I could get out of there.

  “I won’t take up too much of your time, but I head up the arts program at Howard and I wanted to know if you would be interested in doing a few lectures at the university on the history of DMV music?” Ms. Grey said, smiling.

  I don’t know what I thought she was going to ask me, but I sure didn’t think it was going to be this. What did I know about lecturing some kids on music? At the height of my music career everything I had was stripped from me because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants. The only thing I was capable of teaching them was what not to do in the music industry. That shit didn’t even require more than one lecture. I would be able to wrap up all my lessons in one sentence: Leave women alone.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, Ms. Grey…what’s the catch? I’m sure you know I haven’t done anything in regards to music in about seventeen years and I don’t plan on starting now. Hell, the only reason I’m here tonight is because she made me,” I said, sarcastically pointing at Queen.

  Queen screwed up her face and I knew I had better be nice to Ms. Grey or I would have to hear about my behavior later.

  “There’s no catch, Mr. Evans. There are classes and lectures being held all over the country like the one we have developed. 9th Wonder teaches a class at N.C. Central University. McNally Smith College in Minnesota offers a full course where you can get a degree in Hip-Hop. Berklee College of Music has a Business of Hip-Hop/Urban Music Symposium. It has been done, Mr. Evans, and I think with your help, we could bring it to Howard University. I am sure you know we have had several artists grace our hallways and we would like to have you come on board as one of the instructors. We could get any one of our celebrity alum to do this, but we want you,” Ms. Grey said, smiling.

  I don’t know if she thought I was a fool, but no one would take something like this serious. If they did take it serious, where was Puff Daddy and why hadn’t they offered him this opportunity? He was a better candidate than I was. At least the man attended Howard. I was a has been doing bullshit gigs to make ends meet. This lady was pulling my leg and if it wasn’t for Queen standing there breathing down my neck, I would have told Ms. Grey to fuck off. I didn’t care how fine she was.

  “Ms. Grey, I ain’t sure you want me to do this. I don’t know what I could possibly teach these kids,” I said, hoping she would see that I wasn’t in the mood for the bullshit.

  Queen didn’t look pleased that I was blowing Ms. Grey off and I didn’t really care. I only had ten minutes before I could find a liquor store and they were both holding me up from doing so.

  “I hope you will reconsider, Mr. Evans. I think you are just what we need to pull this off. If you change your mind, here’s my business card. Call me and we can discuss this in further detail,” Ms. Grey said, handing me her business card.

  I politely took her card and stuffed it in my back pocket and excused myself. I left both Ms. Grey and Queen standing there. I knew this wasn’t going to be the last time I heard about this “supposed” opportunity; but before I had to hear about it again, I was going to be high and drunk when Queen and Crack came my way to badger me about it again.

  Chapter Nine

  YaYa Nicole

  Believe

  I woke up with a pounding headache. It must have been the drinks from last night that had my temples rocking.

  “I think you should get up and change your clothes,” Takiya whispered in my ear.

  I ignored her and rolled over and looked at the clock on my nightstand. It only read 7:00 a.m. and we weren’t pulling out to leave for D.C. until noon.

  “Leave me alone. I still got some time to sleep,” I groaned and pulled the covers over my head and ignored Takiya and her ruckus.

  “If you don’t get your ass up out of that bed and get out of those clothes, you ain’t gonna’ have nothing but time. You’re gonna have all the time in the world. You’ll be sitting in a jail cell with nothing but time on your hands. I don’t think you have it in you to waste away for twenty-five to life,” Takiya chuckled.

  I sat up because clearly Takiya wasn’t going to let me sleep until we had to make the nine-hour trip to D.C.

  “What are you talking about? I ain’t in the mood for your lil’ rhymes and games,” I said, annoyed with her. She had showed out last night and I wasn’t feeling her right now.

  “Take a look in the mirror, sleeping beauty,” she giggled hysterically in my ear.

  I swung my legs over the side of the bed and decided to humor her. Besides, if I didn’t, she would never let me get a few more hours’ worth of sleep in and for some reason I was drained. I honestly didn’t know why I felt like I had been through a war. I got a glimpse of myself in my mirror and had to stifle my screams. My entire body – my blue dress included – was covered in what looked like blood. Even my hair was a sickening hue of brownish-red.

  “See I told you,” Takiya laughed hysterically.

  “What the fuck did you do?” I started to peel the clothes away from my body afraid of what I would find when I got them off. As soon as I was completely naked, I scanned my body from head to toe to see where the blood could have come from. I even stuck my hand between my legs to make sure I hadn’t come on my period, even though there was way too much blood all over my body for me to be my period.

  Takiya was still laughing as if I had told her the funniest joke she’d ever heard. “Calm down bitch. It ain’t your blood.”r />
  “Well, whose is it then?” I stood there naked and trembling, waiting for Takiya to give me some type of explanation on why I would be covered in someone else’s blood.

  “Aww, you shouldn’t worry about that. The less you know, the better off you’ll be.”

  “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but I don’t want to play anymore. Takiya, this shit ain’t funny. Either tell me whose blood this is, or I’m gonna tell Uncle Neko and Aunt Rhina. You know what’ll happen if they find out about this don’t you? They’ll put us both away. Do you want that?”

  “You ain’t gonna tell either of them old fools nothin’,” Takiya snorted.

  “Glad you think I won’t. Just because you don’t trust them doesn’t mean I don’t,” I said, stepping over the pile of bloody clothes and grabbing my bathrobe off of the back of my bedroom door. I had every intention of going straight to Uncle Neko and Aunt Rhina. I had the sinking feeling something pretty fucked up happened for me to be covered in that amount of blood.

  “Wait! I’ll tell you if you swear you’ll just leave it alone.”

  “I can’t make that kind of promise, Takiya. You know I can’t!”

  “Well, if you can’t promise me that this will stay between you and me, then I can’t tell you shit. When you run off to tell your uncle and his bitch then you will look like a fool because you won’t even know what you are telling them. The choice is up to you,” Takiya said, growing quiet.

  I knew she had me between a rock and a hard place. I had to know what happened and the only way she was going to tell me was if I swore not to say anything to Uncle Neko and Aunt Rhina. I weighed my pros and cons and decided after very little thought to promise Takiya I would keep whatever she had done to myself.