by B. M. Hardin
It was either Drake, or Mario.
There was only room enough in the streets for one of them.
And thanks to me, Drake got to him first.
Once Drake knew of his next plans, because I’d told him, Drake had to make a move, and he’d had to do it fast.
Killing Mario had been his only option.
Drake was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a killer.
But I’ll be damn if he didn’t become one.
What had to be done was done, and we’d thought that we’d cover all of the basics, but we’d prepared for the worst.
And I was glad that we had.
Someone came forward, putting my car, which Drake had driven the night of the murder, at the crime scene.
Of course the cops knew of Drake and some of his dealings, and past arrests, so they started to bring the heat.
They figured that it was either drug related, or since it had come up that I was “dating” Mario as well, they even assumed that maybe Drake was a jealous boyfriend or something and that he had gone to rectify the situation, and somehow Mario had ended up dead.
But whatever the case was, they’d wanted Drake so bad that they could taste it.
But they couldn’t have him.
I made sure of that.
Dray and I both knew that if he went away for the murder, then he was going away for good.
And I just couldn’t let that happen.
So, since I’d already been screwing Mario, the dead man, because Drake wanted me to get in close enough to keep an eye on him and to let him know what he was up to, it didn’t seem too farfetched if I took the rap for the murder.
And that’s exactly what I did.
I would do anything for Drake and it didn’t matter if I had to lay down with another man for information, or confess to a murder that I didn’t commit, Drake knew that I had his back and I thought that he had mine.
Long story short, I said that I killed him.
I pitched some bogus ass story about it being a night of romance that had gone all wrong.
I’d told them that I’d been cheating with Mario for months and that Drake hadn’t known about him, and that Mario hadn’t known about Drake either; which that part was true.
Mario hadn’t known that I was Drake’s woman because Drake made sure that I stayed as far away from him as possible once he’d entered the drug game and while he handled his business.
He’d said that it was safer for me that way.
I had a real job.
We kept separate places.
And we tried our best to stay low-key.
We were in our early twenties at the time, so those that were familiar with us being an item were either family or close friends.
And once he’d entered that world, the fast life, we tried to keep a decent distance, unless we were behind closed doors.
He’d tried to be prepared for anything.
He always tried to think ahead.
But, I’d told the police that Mario had done a few lines of coke, before sex, like he usually did, but for some reason or another, instead of getting him even more in the mood, so to speak, he got a little crazy.
I knew that he sampled his product just as much as he sold it, so I knew that the reports would show that more than enough of it was in his system.
With that in mind, I told them that he’d tried to attack me and in a panic, I grabbed his gun from the nightstand and fired it.
I’d stolen his gun from his top drawer just before leaving that night so that Drake could use it.
Of course Drake wore gloves so only Mario’s and my finger prints were on it.
And being that it wasn’t until the day after that the questioning began, I told them that I panicked and took the gun with me from the scene and that I’d been naked during the shooting and that I’d used something that I’d gotten from the hospital that I worked at to get rid of any gun powder residue, which I’d also used to get Drake clean.
But we did think ahead and keep a single bullet left for me to fire Mario’s gun once Drake returned, just in case though.
I also had marks on my neck from Mario choking me during sex an hour or so before the murder. The few bruises left behind made my story all the more convincing.
Mario was always rough during sex, and that day I’d allowed him to be a little extra, just in case the worst happened, which it did.
It was almost as if the whole story worked, and I almost thought that I was going to get off with the whole self-defense thing, but then they came up with something about shooting him multiple times, instead of just once out of fright, warning, or whatever.
Initially, after I was gone for the night, minutes later Drake was supposed to go through the window that I’d left unlocked for him and shoot Mario once in the head and be done with it.
But he’d said that he was late and nervous and that he’d missed the first shot.
As a result, he’d said that Mario had jumped up, startled and immediately attempted to protect himself, so he fired and just kept pulling the trigger until he was certain that he was dead.
So, one shot had turned into multiple and it raised a few questions.
Everything else had been done right though.
Locking the window back, going out the back door which no one could have seen him since there was nothing but trees in Mario’s backyard.
There were no neighbors either.
The car had only been spotted because a paper delivery woman decided to do her route early that night and drove by and saw that the car was running, but that no one was in it.
She saw the story on the news the next day and called in with the tip that led the cops straight to my front door once his family and friends identified it as my car.
Anyway, as a result, of the nosey woman and because Drake fired way too many times, I’d had to pay for Drake actions.
Unsure if I would be able to get away with it sand walk, I took the plea and I’d gotten five years in prison for Mario’s murder.
But I was out in three and a half.
I’d lost everything behind Drake.
I’d lost my job as medical assistant.
I’d lost my family and my friends.
But I didn’t care as long as I still had Dray.
And I did, or at least I’d thought that I did.
Every week he was there to see about the woman who loved him enough to give up her freedom so that he could have his.
He’d told me that once I was free, he was going to marry me, and that we were going to start a life and a family together.
I wanted that more than anything in the world, but I wasn’t that stupid.
Initially speaking, I knew that five years was one hell of a long time and let’s be real, I wasn’t that stupid to think that he would wait.
I knew that he wouldn’t no matter how much he’d said that he loved me for what I had done and no matter how many times he’d said that he could wait for me.
So, I just asked him to be ready.
He could do his thing, or deal with some random chick, but when it was time for me to come home, I just asked him to be ready.
But I’d gotten the complete opposite.
At some point or another, while I was locked up, Drake had decided that the fast life just wasn’t worth it anymore, and he’d changed his life.
He’d done a complete 360 and at first, I thought that it was a good thing.
He’d always loved houses, so he’d gotten into real estate and gotten his license.
Since no one wanted to hire him due to his past, he’d had a good bit of dirty money saved up so he started up his own real estate company.
He’d found an investor and financial advisor, with lots contacts that had been willing to back him, and just like that, he had a new, legit business, new clients and new money.
And his new investor…became his new wife.
She owned her own big money company as well and I wasn’t sure if it was becaus
e of gratitude, or if it was because he’d actually managed to fall in love with her while working together, but the day that he’d picked me up from prison, he hadn’t had a choice but to break the news to me.
And I swear that I’d tried to break his jaw!
We’d actually gotten into a car accident as a result of me fighting him as he tried to drive.
How could he do something like that to me?
How could he marry another woman while a woman that he knew loved him was behind bars serving time for a murder that he’d committed?
The whole thing had left me flabbergasted.
And pissed off to the max!
I mean who in their right mind does that to somebody?
Drake had been coming to see me for over three years in prison and he’d been married to her for two whole years of them.
I could have killed somebody, for real this time, but Drake promised me that the marriage was just a sham and that he’d just wanted to get what he needed out of her and then he was divorcing her and marrying me.
That was over two years ago, now, and Drake was still married to her and not to me.
Just like that, and after everything I’d done for him, I was now his side chick.
But I definitely had main chick feelings.
But didn’t I have a right to?
Or was I just supposed to settle for being his other woman forever?
I just didn’t know how much more of the situation that I could take before I did something crazy.
And speaking of crazy, Drake had this crazy idea of killing his wife.
He’d mentioned it once or twice before, but I hadn’t taken him serious.
But remembering his response earlier, maybe he was.
Of course he’d said that he’d wanted her gone so that we could be together, but I didn’t believe that.
If he’d really wanted to be with me, he would have divorced her a long time ago.
He’d said that the first person they would look at as a suspect would be him, so of course he suggested that I somehow take care of her, but there was no way in hell that I was killing anyone.
Not her or anyone else for that matter.
And especially not for him.
He could kiss my ass, real talk.
After him marrying another woman other than me, I wish I would do something so extreme for him again.
Not in this lifetime.
Sure I loved him.
I really did.
But if she literally had to die for me to have him, then I wasn’t going to be the one to pull the trigger.
I wasn’t even sure if I would still want him if that was the case.
And I was sure that if he really wanted her dead that it was for other reasons and not because he wanted to be with me. He could save that lie for someone who would believe it.
Still yet, I knew that I didn’t want to be his side chick much longer, so one way or another, something just had to give.
Or I was giving his ass a fist full of my tears and one big ass goodbye.
Sooner or later.
~***~
“Damn baby, what’s up?”
I looked at the man that was eyeing me greedily.
“Ain’t nothing up but the rent. What can I do for you?” I asked him with an attitude.
“So I’m saying, where your man at? Or is that position currently open? I don’t see a ring on your finger,” he said.
Yeah, don’t remind me.
He was cute and all but he wasn’t my type.
Hell anybody that wasn’t Drake wasn’t my type.
I didn’t bother to answer him and I finished paying for my things and headed out of the store.
I couldn’t help but smile.
I still got it.
And if Drake didn’t get it together, someone else was going to have it too.
The man came out of the store and put his hands in the air.
I smiled at him and pulled off.
One of these days I would be ready, but I wasn’t ready yet.
But today I had to hurry and get home and prepare for my surprise for Dray.
I couldn’t wait to see the smile on his face.
I’d just finished cooking Drake’s favorite meal and I was impatiently awaiting his arrival.
He’d called earlier that day to tell me that he’d sold a house worth a couple of millions, and he wanted to celebrate.
Since I knew that going out wasn’t an option, I’d decided to do something special for him at home.
I was so proud of him.
His business was actually doing really good and for the most part, I liked the new him, business and legal wise.
But the old him was a much better lover and friend and a hell a lot more loyal.
But nevertheless, his good-looking, suit and tie wearing ass had the biggest part of my heart, and I was going to make sure that he knew just how proud I was of him.
I threw on something sexy.
I decided to wear something that could easily be taken off because once his belly was full, hopefully he wouldn’t mind filling my belly up with something else.
He loved when my hair was pulled back off of my face and when I wore red lipstick, so I did my hair and make-up and blew a kiss at my reflection.
After I was fully dressed and put together, I set the table and then I called him but he didn’t answer.
I figured that he was on his way, so I poured myself a glass of wine and sat at the table to put icing on the chocolate cake that I’d made for him.
Chocolate cake was his favorite.
It always had been.
Two hours had passed.
The wine was gone.
The food was cold.
And finally Drake walked in.
He looked at me and he automatically tried to explain.
“I went home to shower, and I walked in to a house full of people. She’d set up some kind of surprise gathering for me to celebrate. She’d called a few of our mutual friends and business partners over. I had no idea that I was walking in to all of that. I tried to get away as soon as I could,” Drake said, approaching me.
I just looked at him.
And then I looked at the knife.
I wanted to stab him, but prison was not my friend.
It was horrible and I never wanted to go back but for killing a disloyal, heartbreaking scumbag like Drake, prison might not be so bad after all.
I tried to understand his plight, but if he’d just followed through with what he’d told me that he was going to do a long time ago, we wouldn’t be having this issue.
Unable to calm myself down I pushed the cake off of the table and stabbed the knife into the table.
I was sick and tired of his excuses.
I was sick and tired of my heart being broken.
But at the end of the day, I could only be mad at myself because I allowed it.
And how could I be mad at a situation that I was allowing to happen?
Taking deep breaths, I stood up and fixed my clothes.
There was no point in arguing.
There was no point in fussing or complaining.
I might as well enjoy him for what little time I had him.
I walked over to the cold food on the stove and picked up a plate.
I guess I was just going to have to warm it all up.
“Sit down, I’ll fix your plate,” I said.
“I’m sorry Moet, but I already ate.”
What?
I turned around and threw the plate at his head.
My day had been hectic, but I’d rushed home to make him a celebratory dinner and he didn’t even want it.
I was too through!
Without saying a word to him, I stormed out of the kitchen, headed to my bedroom, and locked the door behind me.
I stood at the door as Drake knocked on it and begged me to let him inside.
I wished that he would just drop dead already.
Then I wouldn’t have a
choice but to stop loving him.
After a few more minutes of knocking, I heard him head towards front the door, open it and shut it behind him.
“Please let him get hit by a bus, Amen,” I prayed and exited the room to head back to the kitchen to clean up the mess from the plate and enjoy his favorite meal all by myself.
This little side chick thing was for the birds and as of right now…
I quit!
********************************
Chapter TWO
Shooting him would be too fast.
Stabbing him would be too messy.
But killing him would definitely make all of my problems go away.
I thought about smacking him as he tried to nap.
He definitely deserved it.
After ruining the dinner I’d made for him, I’d been walking around with an attitude.
Drake apologized continuously but he was failing to see the big picture.
If he wasn’t still married, all of our problems would be solved.
Yet, what I said to him seemed to go in one ear and right back out of the other.
But one of these days he was going to wish that he had listened.
Drake decided not to go to work that day and spend the whole day with me.
He’d said that he’d wanted to do something special for me, so he’d taken me out for lunch…in the next town over of course.
I could barely be seen with the man that I loved in public.
How degrading was that?
Nevertheless, I’d tried to enjoy his company and he’d actually given me an estimated timeframe of divorce, which he’d never done before.
Maybe he really was on top of it all.
But the proof was in the pudding, so I wouldn’t believe it until he showed up at my door with those papers.
I continued to watch him.
Drake was fairly attractive.
He was average good-looking, nothing to brag about or anything, but he was decent.
He was a peanut butter brown complexion and well over six feet tall.
He loved the gym so of course his body was up to standards, but the thing that I liked most about him was his smile.
His smile just made my heart melt.
His smile could light up the darkest room and make even the coldest heart fall in love with him.
I started to play with his lips and his nose with my fingers.
With his eyes still closed, he started to swat at my hands.