by Shan
"It's nothing I can do about the warrant they have out, they want you and they want you bad. Anything with your name on it they treating as high priority," Detective Bradley looked around the cafe then back at me. "Who is Brandon Hamilton to you? He claims that you are a good friend or brother, do you know him?"
I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms across my chest wondering if Rozalyn opened her mouth about me killing her lil’ boyfriend and then made up some damn lie about me killing Brittany too. Either that or Keylan was starting to run his damn mouth but I knew he wasn't that damn dumb so it only left Rozalyn.
"Yea, I know him. What about him?"
"That's who came into the headquarters today claiming you killed Brittany and that you assaulted him? His face was all..."
"Wait a minute what? He came in today?" I asked cutting Detective Bradley off.
"Yes a couple of hours before I was able to make the call to you..."
Wanted Suspect Tamar Andrews has been spotted going inside the Van Dyke Cafe wearing a white t-shirt, black jeans, and black tennis shoes. Suspect is reported to be armed and dangerous. Please approach with caution! A female operator announced over Detective's Bradley radio.
"What the fuck? Yo, my muthafuckin’ son was kidnapped Bradley, taken from me and I'm supposed to pay them today to get him back. Steer them in the other fuckin’ direction and I'll turn myself in. Look I can't get fuckin’ caught up in this bullshit today. Take care of it." I mumbled.
Damn near all eyes were on me as I stood up from the table, ran out the café, and hurriedly jumped into the ride with Money. "Let's be out man, fuckin’ laws headed this way," I said clasping my hands together trying to figure this shit all out.
Keylan was starting to look even shadier and shadier to me. I know for a fact I told this nigga to finish B if he wasn’t dead so that I could catch up to Rozalyn and now I'm finding out that B is still alive. And he snitching?
"Yo, did Keylan say anything about what he did with B body?" I looked over at Money.
"Nah, he never mentioned it and I never asked him about it. Why, what up?" Money took his eyes off the road for a slight second, before making a quick right when he spotted a police car coming our way.
"Just wondering is all. Let's hit the 95, try and avoid some of these muthafuckas," I said almost breaking my neck when I seen a pregnant woman walking out of a gas station. She was wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, a pair of fitted jeans, and stilettos. "Wait, turn around! I think I just seen Diamond."
"You sure about that. It's getting kind of hot back that way," Money said stopping the car in the middle of the road.
"Yep, turn around and pull into the Shell over there."
Money did exactly as I told him, hitting a u-turn in the middle of the busy street and driving a few blocks down the road to the Shell's Gas station.
"Damn, that is that bitch. What you wanna do?" Money asked pulling into the gas station.
"Just park and we'll follow her. I wanna blow up this whole damn gas station! She better be lucky I don't know where the fuck my shorty at!" I yelled. I pulled a Newport from its pack and fired it up, watching Diamond pump gas into her Black Chrysler 300. She kept her head down with her back facing towards the street.
"Man you think that's really your baby?"
"I don't know and really don't care. I'm a dead that hoe and her baby believe that shit."
"Damn." Money sighed.
Diamond walked around to the driver's side of her car, got in, and cranked it. She sat for a couple of minutes before driving off. Money and I slouched down a little so that she was unable to see us as she pulled out of the gas station lot. We waited until she made it to the stop light before pulling out and following behind her.
EEERRRCHHHH!
WHOOP! WHOOP!
"Turn the car off and put your hands on the wheel! Now!" one of the officers yelled from within the squad car.
"Money you know I can't get caught up right now!" I roared. There were three police cars blocking our path and only one behind us. Money checked all the mirrors before putting the car in reverse and backing up. He just barely missed the squad car that was behind us. Punching the gas to the max he backed us all the way up to the next block, put the car in drive, and then proceeded down the street in front of us. More police cars came from the left and right and even some were headed in our direction.
"I think it's best if we find somewhere to let you out at," Money suggested quickly making a right at the next street. He jammed the gas, jumping onto the 95, within seconds we were going 100 miles per hour down the open freeway.
"A’ight let me think." I said. I grabbed my cell phone and dialed Taron's number. My brother was all I had right now. He may was a dumb ass nigga for leaving my son at home alone but I honestly doubt he knew anything about the kidnapping.
"Hello." Taron answered.
"Bruh, I need you right now. Muthafuckin’ police hot on my ass!" I yelled through the phone. "Oh shit! Watch out Money!"
"I got this!" he yelled.
"Where you at?" Taron asked.
“Man on the damn freeway with like 20 laws behind our ass. Say you gotta help me bruh. I'm supposed to be getting my shorty back; I can't let them take me in for this bullshit!"
"I got you lil’ bruh. I'm getting in the car right now," Taron said and I could hear the engine turning over and the tires from his ride burning the pavement.
"Money get off at the next exit! Say bruh we bout to exit on Sample Rd."
"I'm headed that way." Taron said.
I looked through the window towards the sky when I heard the sound of a helicopter nearby, "Man fuck! I can't believe this shit is happening right now! Today of all days!" I punched the dashboard, feeling like I should just have Money pull over and me surrender. "Go this way, go this way!"
"That damn sign says Do Not Enter!" Money said stating the obvious.
"Money, just turn my nigga! I gotta get out of this shit!"
Money turned down the street I told him to doing his best to dodge the cars that were coming our way.
HONK! HONK!
Cars were flying all over the road trying to avoid a head on collision with us. I looked over my shoulder noticing that there were no longer any cop cars behind us but the helicopter was still flying over head.
"It's a under pass about a mile up. Let me out right there and I'll meet up with Ron some kind of way."
"For sure," Money turned the wheel from left to right, dodging an 18 wheeler that was flying down the road towards us.
"Bruh, where you at?" I asked Taron.
"About ten minutes out. Where you at now?" he asked.
"Going towards Dixie Highway. I'm a hide out there until you get here. Hurry up!"
"I'm coming!"
"Let me out here!" I yelled upon opening the door before Money could even stop.
"Here!" Money handed me a 9 mm hand gun and an extra clip. "take this too!"
Money quickly pulled his black Polo shirt off and tossed it to me. I hurried and tucked the pistol in my back and put the clip in my pocket. I swapped his shirt out with mine, and then jumped out.
Damn I hope Taron gets here quick. It won't be long before they realize I was no longer in the vehicle.
35 BRANDON
Not according to plans
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"Who is it?" Rozalyn asked from the other side of the door.
"Brandon," I answered after clearing my throat.
She quickly undid the locks and swung the door open. Immediately an outpour of tears ran from her eyes as she jumped into my arms.
"Oh my God! B, I thought you were dead! Oh my God!" she laughed, planting kiss after kiss on my jaw.
"Nah baby girl it's gonna take a lot more than that to kill me. What's up? Where everybody at?"
"Kayla had a doctor's appointment. They should be back in a couple of hours."
"Can I come in for a second? I wanna holla at you for a minute."
"Um…yea c
ome on," Rozalyn stepped out the way allowing me to enter the house. She closed and locked the door, then walked over to the couch sitting on the arm of the chair. "What up? How you been? Damn, I really thought you were gone. You just don't know how bad it's been eating me up."
"Don't let my health eat you up, it is what it is and anything that happens between me and Tae is not ever your fault," I said rubbing a hand on her thigh.
"I just..."
"It's cool. Look I came to talk to you about what you planned on doing."
"What you mean?" Rozalyn asked looking deep into my eyes.
"I wanna be with you and you know that. I'm thinking about moving to Dallas to start over and I want you to come with me," I said grabbing her hand.
"Brandon I.....I've been doing a lot of thinking and I really want to work things out with Tae. We were just talking a lil’ while ago about making our marriage work and I really want to," She sighed.
"So what about me and you Rozalyn. We don't have anything worth working on?"
"No, and you know we don't. What we've done should’ve never happened..."
"Nah, what you and Tae have should’ve never happened. Look you don't have to worry about being scared of what Tae gonna do to you. I took care of that. I know you don't wanna be with him."
"What you mean you took care of that? What do you mean by that?" Rozalyn snatched her hand away from me now eyeing me suspiciously.
"He won't be in the picture any longer. I had him arrested for what he did to me and what he did to Brittany," I said
"Brittany? What....wait a minute," Rozalyn placed her hand over her mouth and stood up from her seat. She stumbled a couple of steps, regrouped, and then took off towards the bathroom. I got up from the couch and followed her. She was slumped over the toilet, vomiting and spitting. I reached to pull her hair out of her face when I spotted a box from a pregnancy test and the actual test sitting beside it. I was able to glance at it and see there were two pink lines that were slowly disappearing. I couldn't help but wonder if the baby she was carrying was mine.
"Rozalyn, you pregnant? Is it mine?" I asked pulling her hair from her face.
"Get your hands off of me!" Rozalyn yelled. She got up from the floor, slob dripped from the side of her mouth, and tears fell from her eyes. "What did you do Brandon? What did you do?"
Rozalyn was swinging at me, landing blows to my face, and reigniting the pain from some of the wounds that were there. I grabbed her, wrapped my arms around her, and planted kisses all over her. I wanted her to see the good in the situation and realize that things can finally go our way now that Tae was out of the picture. I would raise Tamarion as mine and the baby she's carrying whether it was mine or not.
"Calm down! It's not as bad as you think Rozalyn! We can finally be together and not have to worry about Tae getting in our way!"
"Are you fuckin’ stupid? Get off of me! Let me go! You may have just cost my son his life! I'll never be with your ass!" Rozalyn screamed.
She pushed me back, then gawked a mouthful of spit at me. I brought my hand up to knock the shit out of her when I was unsuspectingly hit from behind. The blow sent me flying to the bathroom floor. I was able to roll over onto my back and see Taron standing over me. He had a pistol idling by his waist and a mean ass mug on his face.
“Get the fuck out of here before I murk your ass!” Taron said.
I slowly got up from the bathroom and crept around the two of them. Quickly I left the house and jumped in my Range Rover; getting off the block as fast as possible.
36 ROZALYN
All in my hands
The police station was packed with some of everybody; people were all over the place trying to get some information on their cases, file charges against someone, and some were even restrained to chairs for crimes they allegedly committed. Taron and I have been sitting at the station where they were holding Tamar for over two hours waiting and getting the run around on what they planned to do with him. Taron said that he arrived to get Tamar at the same time the police arrived and unfortunately he could only ride by the scene. Tamar called him the minute they allowed him to have a phone call and told Taron that he needed to get to me. Sorry to say that was the last thing that was heard from him and wasn’t sure if he would be getting out in time enough to get Tamarion back.
I don’t know what the hell Brandon was thinking about or what the hell was even going on with him. Never would I have ever thought that he would do something like this; and to think that I would actually be with him after he pulled some hoe ass shit like this. Never in a million fuckin’ years.
I admit that I was wrong in going back and forth with Brandon but he had to know that my love for Tamar was stronger than the small feelings I had for him. Each time I was with Brandon was an accident, something that should’ve never happened; a mistake that I truly regret ever making. No matter what anyone says I know it’s all my fault that Brandon and Tamar are beefing, that Tamar almost killed Brandon, and that Brandon thought it best to rat out his best friend. I will never forgive myself for allowing this to happen and hope that one day I can make things right. For now I had to focus on getting Tamar out of jail and getting my son back.
“Rozalyn. Taron,” Dave Clemmons, Tamar’s attorney said as he walked from the back of the police station. Both Taron and I stood at the same time, relieved that someone was finally here to give us some news on Tae’s status.
“What’s up? What’s it looking like?” Taron asked.
“I’m sure I will be able to get him a bond but it won’t be until the morning before he sees the judge. Also if they do set bond they won’t release him until 48 hours after the victim as been made aware of his release,” Clemmons stated regretfully.
“Okay...wait...they gotta release him now. He has to be somewhere at 6 p.m., they can’t do this. He didn’t do what they are saying he did,” I cried.
“I know and after speaking with Tamar I’m pretty sure this will be an open and shut case. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“You not understanding. He needs to get out of there now so that he can make his appointment at 6. Please you gotta get him out of there.”
“He’s been charged with murder and aggravated assault. There is nothing more I can do until he has been arraigned,” Clemmons looked over his shoulder then pulled both me and Taron out of the police station. He led us to a corner where there were barely any people hanging around. “Tamar explained to me the situation he is in and the reason he chose to run from the police. He told me to tell you Taron that you would have to handle it. He says he’s counting on you.”
“Damn, did he give you any information? I don’t even know who I need to be getting in contact with,” Taron sighed. He leaned back against the brick wall and ran his hands over his face and looked at me fearfully. I now knew what it looked like to have a lot of weight on your shoulders ’cause Taron suddenly seemed to be worn down by a ton of bricks.
“Here is his cell phone. He said that everything is in there that you would need. He wanted you to contact them and warn them that it would be you and not him so there won’t be any surprises. Also he said to call Keylan and bring him up to speed. I’m going to go back in here and finish up the necessary paperwork. Call me if you need anything,” Clemmons leaned down and kissed me on my cheek then shook hands with Taron. We both headed back to the car in silence; not really sure what to say to one another. I had no doubt that Taron could handle this and bring Tamarion home. I mean all it’s supposed to be is a simple tradeoff, right? They hand over Tamarion and Taron hands over the money; even I can do something as simple as that.
We made it back to Kevin’s at exactly 5:05 p.m.; Kayla had already begun making dinner and Kevin was seated on the couch smoking a blunt when we walked in. I explained to them everything that went down and how Taron was now going to have to handle it all his self. Everybody seemed a little worried and that only made the queasiness I’ve been feeling in stomach all day even worse. It was like they didn’
t have any faith in Taron; and if they didn’t have any faith in him then how the hell was I supposed to. I was feeling so confident on the ride home but now a thousand thoughts of what can go wrong was flowing through my brain. What if I never see my child again? What if Taron does something wrong and they change their minds about handing him over? What if they keep the money and keep Tamarion? What if Tamarion is already dead and they are just trying to get the money and run?
The whole room became silent when Taron pressed the speaker button on Tamar’s cell phone. It was almost time to meet with the kidnappers and the call needed to be made just like Tamar said so that when Taron showed up to make the trade it wasn't a surprise. The line rung a total of three times before a husky but feminine voice came over the line. It was almost like I knew the person that answered the phone; like I had heard the voice several times before. You could tell that they were using some type of device to disguise their voice but even then it didn't take the familiarity away.
"Hey this is Tamar's brother Taron. Tamar has been locked up...so..."
"Locked up? Seems to me he is uninterested in getting his son back. Do he think this is some kind of joke? Doesn't he know that I will hurt his son and get my money some other kind of way," the voice said.
"Wait.." I started to say before Kevin placed a hand over my mouth.
"No, he doesn't think it's a joke. I have your money and I'm ready to make the trade with you. I just wanted to contact you and let you know it will be me instead of Tamar."
"I don't know if you will be acceptable Taron. Let me get back with you," the line suddenly went dead.
"They gonna kill him! Ron we gotta get Tae outta of jail!" I cried.
"Baby girl just calm down and see what they say..." Kevin started
The phone vibrated against the table, forcing immediate silence out of everyone. Taron pressed the talk button, then the speaker button.
"Hello," Taron answered in a fidgety tone.