Wifey 4 Life

by Kiki Swinson

  “Did you get her?” I asked.

  Walt sat on the seat beside Tony. He acted like he was out of breath, but he managed to respond. “Nah, we didn’t get her.”

  “What happened? And where did everybody go? It looked like a ghost town when we drove back by the spot we dropped y’all off at.”

  “As soon as Griff and I got out of the van, the narc drove right onto the block and everybody scattered like roaches. So me and Griff started running and cut through this old lady’s backyard.”

  “Y ’all didn’t have time to snatch up Kasey?” I asked.

  “Nah, ’cause when the narcs drove up, they came hard. One of the narcs drove an undercover car onto the sidewalk where them niggas was standing, while the other narc car drove up in the parking lot of that brick duplex. They didn’t look my and Griff ’s ways at all. They were more focused on that duplex and them niggas that was standing outside.”

  “You think they ran up on Kasey?” I asked.

  “Yeah, they did run up on her. I saw one of them big ass white boys slam her on the hood of his car and put handcuffs on her.”

  “So what we gon’ do now?” I asked.

  “There ain’t shit we can do,” Walt said. “She’s gone downtown. And, besides, it’s hot out Huntersville right now. Our best bet is to get the fuck out of here before one of them narcs tries to pull us over and arrest us for having all these motherfucking pistols.”

  “So you ready to bounce?” Jeff asked.

  “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here,” Walt answered.

  I was becoming depressed. I really wanted Kasey’s head, wanted to see her beg for her life. “So what’s gonna happen now?”

  Walt said, “We gotta move on to the next nigga’s spot, since we can’t get to that chick.”

  Out of everyone on my list, I wanted Kasey in the worst kind of way. It was burning me up inside that she’d gotten away like that. She was one lucky bitch.

  Back to Square One

  The moment we exited Huntersville, Walt instructed Tony to show us where Dré lived. Turned out, Dré lived in Barraud Park, which was only a few blocks away from Huntersville. It only took us a couple of minutes to get there.

  “What part of Barraud Park he live in?” Jeff asked.

  Tony sat up in his seat. “Him and his girl live in the houses right by the play park, but they live on the left side of the street.”

  Jeff followed Tony’s instructions, and when we drove onto the street where Dré lived, Tony pointed out the house. “You see that small yellow house with the light on in the living room?”

  “Yeah,” Jeff said. “Is that the house?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.”

  Griff turned around and looked at Walt. “What’s the plan, Walt?”

  “We gon’ get Tony to call this nigga out the house, and then we gon’ blast his ass.”

  Tony looked nervous as hell when he heard Walt’s plan. He held his composure, though, and acted like he was willing to do anything to keep his ass out the hot seat. “Come on, let’s do it,” he said.

  Walt turned around and looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders and gave him a half-smile. Everybody in the van could tell that Tony was doing a little ass-kissing, trying to stay on Walt’s good side for as long as he possibly could. And guess what, if the shoe was on my foot, I would have been doing the exact same thing.

  After Walt coached Tony on what to say he dialed the number Tony gave him, placed the phone under Tony’s mouth while it was on speakerphone, and waited for Dré to answer.

  “Yo, what’s good?” Dré asked as soon as he answered his line.

  “Hey, yo, man, I know where Kira is,” Tony said.

  “Nigga, you bullshitting me?”

  “Nah, I just saw her.”

  “Where?”

  “I saw her go into the lobby of her hotel.”

  “Did you call Lanier and tell ’im?”

  “Nah, not yet.”

  “Nigga, you better call him. You know he’s out beating down the bricks to find her.”

  “I was gon’ call him, but I wanted to call you first to see if you wanted to get with me so we could both go to him and try to get a finder’s fee, since we the ones who saw her first.”

  “That nigga ain’t gon’ come off on no more money. He’s already in the hole for five grand with me and Breon, so I say, let him deal with that shit on his own.”

  “Come on, Dré, do you know how valuable this chick is? I know for a fact that Lanier would come off some more dough to get his hands on her. Remember, he wants to get to her before she goes to the police.”

  “I understand all of that, but what if she done already went to ’em? We’re fucked.”

  “Dré, man, I don’t think she went to the cops, especially after the way I saw her walk up into that hotel. She looked like she was in a rush, to me.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Dré asked.

  “Well, I think we should get her ass and take her to Lanier.”

  “Now how the fuck you think we gon’ pull that off when she’s in a public place? I mean, it ain’t like she’s going to come running to us.”

  “Yo, Dré, man, I know whatcha saying, and I know it’s gon’ be really hard, but we can come off and make Lanier pay us top dollar for her if we play our cards right. So I say let’s put our heads together and make this shit happen.”

  Dré fell silent for a minute.

  We all sat there and waited for him to respond to Tony’s offer. It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. All of us were too afraid to breathe hard for fear that Dré would hear us.

  Finally he sighed. “Look, Tony, I don’t know about this one,” he said. “Fucking with her while she’s at her hotel is a little too risky for me. And, besides, my girl just got home from work, so if I tried to leave the crib right now, she’d go the fuck off.”

  Tony saw how he was grasping for straws to get Dré to come outside, so he turned on his persuasiveness a little more. “Yo, Dré, man, I’ll tell you what. Lend me your piece and I’ll go get her my damn self.”

  “I thought you had one.”

  “I did. But I had to get rid of it because I found out it was dirty.”

  Dré sighed once again. “A’ight. I’ma let you use it this time. But you gotta be careful and bring back my shit.”

  “A’ight, nigga, I gotcha.”

  “Call me when you get outside.”

  “I’m about to pull up now,” Tony told him. “I’m in a dark-colored minivan.”

  “Where your whip at?”

  “I had to switch it up, just in case that bitch got the police looking out for my car.”

  “Oh, yeah, you’re right.”

  “Nigga, I told you, you won’t be dealing with no corny-ass navy boy.”

  Dré chuckled. “You’re a funny cat.”

  “Call it what you like, but I got plenty of sense.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll be outside in a minute.” Dré then hung up.

  I looked at Tony when Walt took the phone from his ear. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he shit on himself, because he looked nervous as hell.

  Walt wasn’t paying any attention to Tony after he had served his purpose in luring Dré outside. I watched him and Griff load up their arsenal, making sure the safeties were off. Then they sat back, patiently waiting for Dré to approach the van.

  I was nervous, and my stomach was doing one flip after the next. I was about to witness yet another murder.

  “Somebody’s opening the front door,” Griff announced.

  I sat back in the seat and peered through the curtains of the minivan. When Dré made himself visible by stepping onto his porch, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. I knew right then and there that things were getting ready to get really ugly.

  I looked at Tony, who had laid himself back in the seat. It appeared that he wanted to hide himself, but he was sitting in a seat that wasn’t adjustable, and Walt seemed a little uneasy himself.


  As Dré walked down the stairs of the front porch and made his way over to the van, I could sense he was becoming a little leery. His facial expression started changing as he got closer to the van. He slowed down, trying to see who was sitting in the front seat. Then he stopped in his tracks. He stood about four feet away from the van and yelled out, “Yo, Tee.”

  Walt looked at Tony and nudged him in the side with the barrel of his gun. “Answer him.”

  “Yo, nigga, what’s up?” Tony asked, sounding forced. Dré said, “Come outside the van.”

  I looked at Walt and Griff, and both of them seemed like they were ready to go to war.

  “Whatcha want me to do?” Tony asked. “You heard him tell me to get out of the van.”

  Griff looked back at Walt, and in a low whisper, he said, “We gon’ have to blast him right where he is.”

  Walt nodded. Without saying one more word, he grabbed the door handle and pulled back on it to slide the door open. As soon as the door opened wide enough for Walt to get a full view of Dré, he pulled back on the trigger of his pistol. I didn’t hear the shot being fired because Walt had attached the silencer, but I saw the shells from the bullets pop out of the top of the chamber.

  As Walt got closer to emptying his magazine, Griff opened his door and began to release the bullets from his burner as well.

  Tony immediately dove to the floor of the van. Dré got a chance to point and aim his pistol at Walt, but he was unable to pull back on the trigger before bullets riddled his body. To see his body grow weaker and weaker as each bullet entered it gave me a sense of satisfaction. He deserved every last one of those bullets Walt and Griff emptied out on him.

  Once Dré hit the ground, and it was clear he was dead, Walt and Griff both closed their doors, and Jeff sped off like lightning. “Walt, I see you weren’t playing,” Griff said.

  “Hell nah! You saw how that nigga was acting. He knew some funny shit was going on, and that’s why he stopped in his tracks and started calling Tony’s name.”

  Griff chuckled. “You see I wasn’t letting off his ass either.”

  “Yeah. I noticed how you pulled your burner out and came in for the kill,” Walt said.

  “Shit, man, I only did that because he threw up his burner and tried to let one off on you.”

  Walt reached forward and patted Griff on his shoulder. “You did good, man. You did real good.”

  “Anything for you, man.”

  As Jeff sped out of Barraud Park, Tony tried to ease his way back into the seat, but Walt stopped that move, pressing his feet against Tony’s leg and telling him to keep his ass where he was.

  I almost burst into laughter, but I kept my mouth closed. I wanted to remain serious, especially around Tony. I couldn’t let that motherfucker see me grinning like everything was all peaches and cream. I wanted him to get the impression I was an evil bitch; that vengeance was mine.

  “Who we getting ready to get now?’ Griff asked Walt.

  Walt turned around and looked at me. “Who’s next, baby girl?”

  I wanted to tell Walt that Breon would be next, but it was he who made it possible for me to get away when he tried to take down my uncle. I knew he really didn’t want to participate when Dré helped Kasey sexually assault me. After replaying everything in my mind, I decided that I wanted to leave Breon alone and concentrate on Tony and Uncle Lanier.

  “I’m ready to close the chapter on my uncle,” I said.

  Walt pointed to Tony. “What about this piece of shit right here?”

  “We still need him as bait to get my uncle out of the house,” I said.

  Tony lifted his head from the floor, with the most pitiful expression on his face. “Please don’t kill me, y’all. I got two kids that need me. Tell ’em, Kira. My shorties just lost their mother, so they gon’ be lost without me.”

  One part of me felt really sorry for him, but the other wanted to spit right in his fucking face. Always out for himself, he wasn’t shit, for real. And today I was going to be just like him—hard-core with no cares in the world. I ignored him and looked out the left side window. Walt kicked him in his side and told him to shut the fuck up, and that was what he did.

  Ten minutes into the drive to Uncle Lanier’s house, Walt instructed Tony to get up from the floor. Tony sat back up, but instead of being allowed to sit on the seat beside him, Walt made him stay on the floor. He took Tony’s phone from his pants pocket and asked me for my uncle’s cell phone number and then once again he prepped Tony on what to say. He also gave Tony a firm threat that if he disobeyed him in any way that he wouldn’t hesitate to pump two bullets into the back of his head.

  When my uncle answered, Walt pressed the speakerphone under Tony’s chin. Tony tried to speak, but nothing came out. Walt nudged him in his side again. “Say something,” he whispered, so my uncle wouldn’t hear his voice.

  My uncle said hello three times before Tony finally answered him. “Oh, um, Lanier, this is Tony.” He cleared his throat.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lanier asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Well, when I was saying hello, why the fuck didn’t you answer me?”

  “Because I didn’t hear you.”

  “Something must be wrong with your phone, because I said hello loud and clear.”

  “Yeah, you might be right, because my girl said the same thing about my phone earlier. But the reason why I called you is because I know you’re looking for your niece, and I just saw her walk into the lobby of her hotel.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  “About ten minutes ago.”

  “Was she with anybody?”

  “Nah, she was by herself, and she looked like she was in a rush too.”

  “You think she’s about to check out?”

  “I’m not sure. That’s a hard one to call.”

  “Where you at now?”

  Walt muted Tony’s phone and instructed him to tell my uncle that he was sitting outside in the parking lot of the hotel, and Tony did as Walt told him.

  My uncle paused for a moment, and then he said, “You think she called the police?”

  “I’m not sure, but if she did, they would’ve been here by now.” Lanier hesitated for several seconds before saying, “It’s been over two hours since she got away, so she could’ve gone to the police right after she ran off.”

  “I don’t think she went to the police, because she pulled up in a cab. And I’m thinking, if she did get a chance to go to them, they would’ve had an officer escort her back to the hotel.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right. Stay right there, and I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

  “A’ight. I’ll be here waiting, but I’m not driving my car.”

  “Whatcha in now?”

  “I’m in this dark-colored minivan. I couldn’t risk her having the police looking for me in my Camry. That’s why I switched cars with my kids’ grandmama.”

  “That was a good idea. I’m gonna swap cars with my wife.”

  “You coming now? ’Cause I don’t know how much longer she’s gon’ stay in her room.”

  “I’m leaving out my house right now. Look out for a two thousand eight hunter green Nissan Altima. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna call you when I get within two miles of the hotel.”

  “A’ight. And if she tries to come out of the hotel before you get here, I’m gon’ call you.”

  “OK. Do that.”

  I sat there and thought about the conversation Tony and my uncle had just had. To know he wanted my head served to him on a silver platter made me sick to my stomach. It seemed like he wasn’t going to rest until he had me the way he wanted me. I wanted to see him suffer at the hands of Walt. I wanted him to be tortured just like I had been, but worse. And I believed in my heart that Walt and Griff would be the men to do it.

  Tony sat there on the floor looking severely depressed. I guess he knew his life was about to end, and there was no way of reversing his fat
e.

  I thought about how his children would react when they found out that they’d now lost their father. I knew it would crush their little hearts, and that did bother me, since I would have a hand in their misery. I was wishing I could take those kids and whisk them off with me, so they wouldn’t have to stay in this town. So much shit had happened around here, it wasn’t even funny. I figured if they came with me, I could show them a better life, but then again, life had a way of throwing people curve balls. So it’d just be my luck that I’d lose them too, since death always seemed to find me.

  The ride to my hotel didn’t take long. My heart started beating like crazy because I knew there was about to be an all-out war between my uncle and Walt. Griff and Jeff were going to throw their weight around too, so Uncle Lanier was going to be outnumbered three to one.

  As Jeff pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, an eerie feeling came over me. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary when we drove into the parking lot, but I still sensed that something wasn’t quite right. I immediately told Jeff to stop. Instead of coming to a complete stop, he slowed down the van and looked at me through the rearview mirror.

  Walt turned around and asked me, “What’s wrong?”

  “Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Whatcha mean? Explain to me whatcha talking about.”

  “I know we supposed to be meeting my uncle here, but I don’t feel good about it. I think we should call him back and change the plans.”

  “What don’t you feel good about?” Walt asked.

  By this time Jeff had come to a complete stop and had parked the van on the side of the hotel, but away from the other cars. The entire parking lot was lit up with street pole lights, so everything around us was visible.

  I sighed heavily. “Look, just take my word for it. When I start getting weird feelings and stuff, something usually goes wrong.”

  “Well, what do you want us to do?” Walt asked me.

  “Let’s get out of this parking lot first, and then we can form another plan.”

  Just as I requested, Jeff turned the van around and headed out of the parking lot. As we were leaving, Tony’s cell phone started ringing.

  Walt retrieved the phone from his pants pocket and looked down at the caller ID.