Long As You Know Who You Belong To

by jwppublishing

  “So tell me why.”

  “I didn’t.”

  Nakami shook her head. “So you’re really going to lie to my face right now? While I have a gun?”

  “I’m not lying, you crazy bitch! I never slept with Grey! I love his brother!” I screamed.

  Before I knew what happened, a loud pop filled the air and a sharp pain shot through my arm. I screamed from the pain, and Nakami quickly put another piece of tape over my mouth.

  “Keep calling me crazy, and we’re going to play this game I like to play called how many bullets. The object is to see how many bullet wounds you can sustain before you bleed out.”

  What the fuck?! I knew that my homegirl had a few screws loose, but the person standing in front of me was sadistic. Gone was the sister who had come to my rescue and befriended me when no one else would. She had been replaced by a monster. The crazy thing was I didn’t know why she thought I slept with Grey. I would never do something like that to her.

  “I had a sneaking suspicion that you were jealous of me, but I never thought you would take it this far.” She laughed as she unscrewed the cap to the gasoline bucket. “I thought that, as friends, I did everything I could to make sure that you had what I had, or something close to it. But I guess you wanted the real thing.”

  She started to pour gasoline on the body of the dead man in front of me. I screamed against the tape because I could see what was going to happen. I didn’t want to die, especially over a misunderstanding. In that moment I knew that I wanted to live. That I wanted the life that was growing inside of me. I wanted Kimani. I was so sure of everything that I wanted. Why couldn’t I have been this sure a few days ago and told Kimani instead of Grey?

  Nakami noticed that I was struggling to speak, so she walked over and pulled the tape off again. “What bitch?”

  “Why? Why would I be jealous of you? You’re my friend. My only friend. Why would I fuck that up over a guy?”

  “People have crossed their mother for less, so how would I know?” she growled.

  “I don’t want Grey. I want Kimani. This is his baby. Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded.

  “You think those crocodile tears are going to move me? I’ve seen better acting on a telenovela. “

  My worry and angst began to turn into anger as I thought about her crazy and illogical thinking. I don’t know if it was the pain from the bullet in my arm or the pain from the thought of losing my life over some bullshit, but I lashed out. If I was going to die, she need to hurry up and kill me. Fuck this burning in a house fire bullshit.

  “You’re really a crazy bitch. I thought you were a few letters short of the alphabet, but damn! You’re really going to kill me over a nigga? And a nigga who don’t even want your ass no more.”

  “Shut up! Shut up, bitch! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “Everyone knows that Grey is over your dramatic ass. Kimani told me that your father made him propose to you to keep his business going. Tell me that ain’t pathetic. You ‘bout to kill your best friend over a nigga who was forced to fuck with you,” I laughed wildly. I was starting to feel a little lightheaded and woozy, but I kept laughing until I felt it. My eyes shot open in shock as I realized I had been shot again. I looked down and saw the blood pouring out of my stomach, and I wanted to cry. I didn’t have the time. I felt my head rolling around, and I swore I saw Kimani and Grey before I felt my soul leave my body and everything turn dark.

  Grey

  March 2015

  “Noooooooooooo!” Hearing the scream coming from my brother’s mouth tore at my heart. I watched as he rushed over to Blu’s limp body and held her. I wanted to be there for my brother, but I needed to get at Nakami first. She aimed her gun at me with wide eyes and shaky hands as I trained my gun at her head.

  “Grey, what are you doing?” she asked with fear and confusion illuminating her eyes.

  “What does it look like I’m doing, bitch? I’m about to take care of a problem I should have taken care of a long time ago.”

  We had used Nakami’s phone to track her down in Phoenix. We hopped the jet and made it to Arizona in time to catch Nakami running errands. I had Kimani follow her while I hit up a few of our workers to see if we could find Blu. We used every resource we had. The trail stopped at the Westin hotel, where she had purchased a room for two weeks. I linked back up with Kimani around 3 pm and had been trailing Nakami ever since.

  We followed her around from the mall, to the grocery store, and to the hardware store, waiting for her to lead us to Blu. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was holed up in one of my trap houses. When she went in, we surveyed the house and were surprised to see that the bitch had taken out the whole trap. After we made sure she didn’t have any help, we moved in.

  “She meant that much to you? That baby and that bitch meant that much that you’re going to kill your fiancé over it? Fuck her!”

  She waved the gun wildly and my brother hopped up with the quickness, firing two shots; one landed in her leg and the other landed in her arm. The bullet to her leg sent her crashing to the ground. She landed on the floor, dropping the gun to grab at her wounds. She let out a gut-wrenching scream. Carefully, I stepped closer to Kimani and where the gun had slid.

  “No, fuck you, you lunatic ass bitch! Do you know what you just did? Huh?” I could see my brother unraveling, and it hurt me to my core.

  “Aye, Mani. Get Blu and take her to the hospital. Let me handle this. Please.” I put one hand on top of his and pushed the gun down out of Nakami’s face, while I still had my piece aimed at her. Tears continued to fall from his eyes, as he nodded slowly and walked over to Blu. I continued to aim and stare at Nakami, who was also crying, until Kimani walked pasted me carrying Blue and I heard Kimani close the door. Quickly, I picked up the gun she had dropped and shoved it in the back of my jeans.

  “Grey, please,” Nakami begged.

  “Fuck all that. You really killed your best friend over me? You are a dumb bitch. And to think that I felt a little bad about having to kill you.”

  “Wha…what?” She shook like a leaf.

  “See, the thing is…you’re fucking crazy. And I’ve put up with your bullshit for way too long. All the drama. The damaged cars, the torn and bleached clothes, the broken electronics. All that shit done based off of some imaginary shit you’ve concocted in that tiny ass brain of yours.” I tapped the gun against her forehead and she flinched.

  Carefully, I walked over towards where the gasoline can had fallen and picked it up. I started to douse Nakami in what was left. She screamed bloody murder.

  “You just killed your best friend, and your niece or nephew. Fucking killed them! I never had sex with Blu. Not a day in my life and never would have. But you just had to jump the gun before you got facts. Like always.”

  “So you’re going to kill me, Grey? My father will fucking-”

  I cut her off. “Oh, yeah I forgot to tell you. Your father died a few hours ago. I was tired of him too. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I would have hated to know ya moms.”

  Nakami tried to lunge for me, but I stuck the gun out even further to make sure she knew I wasn’t playing. She couldn’t get far on that leg Kimani had shot her in anyway.

  “Sit that ass back down, girl. You ain’t going nowhere. You made your bed, and now you’re going to lie in it.” I took her arm and dragged her to the back of the room to make sure she couldn’t get out. I pulled out my lighter and flicked it open. A flame ignited, and I started to feel euphoric. I was about to be free of this miserable bitch, and knowing it felt damn good. It was too bad that I had to lose a niece or nephew and my brother had to lose another girlfriend.

  “Grey…stop! I love you! Please!” Nakami begged for her life, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. I was sick of her ruining my life and destroying everything around me. It was the final thing I had to do to start my life again. So I took a piece of the mail that was on the counter and lit it.

  �
��Grey…nooooooooooooo!”

  I dropped the paper on the floor and watched for a moment as the whole wall went up in flames. Nakami tried to scoot out the way; she even tried to stand. But it was useless. Her leg was too fucked up, and she couldn’t pull strength from the arm she had gotten shot in. I smirked as I watched her struggle. No longer entertained, I turned around and walked away. Nakami’s bloodcurdling screams filled the air as I walked out the door and shut it closed. You may think I’m a monster, but I don’t give a fuck. Nakami had crossed the line, and she got what she deserved. Now I was free to live life in peace with her burning in hell.

  Three Months Later

  Nakami

  June 2015

  My eyes shot open, and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. Anxiety blanketed me as I realized I was familiar with my surroundings. Where the fuck was I? I tried to move, but pain engulfed my entire body when I attempted to make the smallest move. There were bandages everywhere and tubes and wires attached to my body with the opposite sides attached to a bunch of beeping machines. The room was large and bright with two bay windows on either side. The room was decorated to a tee by someone with very expensive taste. There were two arm chairs on the other side of the room that were well over a rack a piece and the wallpaper on the wall was at least three-hundred and fifty dollars a yard. There were two doors on the left side; one open and one closed. The open door gave way to what looked like a well decorated bedroom.

  What the entire fuck?

  The closed door opened and a short, dark skinned woman dressed in lime green scrubs walked into the room. She was wheeling a metal cart with a bunch of things on them. When she noticed I was awake, she smiled.

  “Good morning, Miss. Glad to see you’re finally awake.”

  “Where the hell am I?” I croaked. My throat burned like acid had been poured down it.

  “You’re in Atlanta, ma’am.”

  “I mean…where? How did I get here? What happened?”

  The nurse walked around my bed and pressed some buttons on one of the beeping machines. A long receipt printed out before she answered. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. And you’re getting treatment for your injuries.”

  I looked at her skeptically. None of this made sense.

  “I’m Nadine, and my boss saved you from a house fire that you were in. You were barely alive when he pulled you out, and you slipped into a coma from all of the trauma to your body. You were out for about two and a half months, girl. On top of that, you sustained multiple gunshots and third degree burns from your face to your feet.”

  Tears pooled as I listened to her continue to ramble. Everything came flooding back to me. Me killing my best friend, Grey and Kimani coming to her rescue, Kimani shooting me, and Grey lighting the house on fire. It all came rushing back. Before I could stop myself, I lifted my upper body from the throng of pillows behind me.

  The nurse noticed and quickly came to my aid. “Whoa, there! You can’t…”

  I ignored her as I continued to get up from the bed. The pain was damn near unbearable, but the thought of all that had transpired hurt even worse. I ripped the cords and tubes from my body, and Nadine ran over to the machines and struggled to keep them from falling to the floor. I noticed the mirror on the far side of the room, and I slowly walked towards it. When I finally approached the mirror, I was mortified at what I saw. Most of my head was wrapped in bandages but, from what I saw, I wanted to throw up. My face was completely unrecognizable and covered in horrifying burns. I had no eyebrows and, from what I could tell, no hair either. I began to shake with anger as I gripped the buffet table in front of me for support. Infuriated, I picked up the vase full of flowers in front of me.

  I watched as the glass vase I had been holding in my hand soared through the air, crashed landed against the white croc skin wallpaper, and burst into a million pieces. Tears rained down my disfigured face, burning my open wounds as I tried to come to grips with what had just happened.

  “Ma’am …you’re not in any condition to be moving around,” the nurse timidly stated. I whipped around so forcefully that my neck made a popping noise.

  “Bitch, if you don’t get the fuck out my business, you’re going to be the next thing that goes flying across this fucking room. Now piss off!” I roared. Without another word, she ran her ass up out the room, heeding my warning.

  “How could this have happened? Why would he do this?” I dropped to my knees and landed right on a pile of broken glass. The glass cut into my flesh, immediately causing blood to leak all over the mahogany wood floors. The pain of the open wounds felt like the cusp of an orgasm in comparison to the unbearable pain I felt in my heart.

  Rage wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the feeling coursing through my body. It was something worse than that. Deadlier than that. The feeling was consuming me, eating me alive from the inside out. It was awakening a dark side of me that no one, including me, had ever borne witness to.

  Stumbling, I rose from the broken glass and limped to my room. During the short trip from the mirror to my bed, I thought about the possible ways I could make him suffer twelve times over. Letting gunshots ring off and hit his body like Fourth of July fireworks wouldn’t be satisfying enough. Drawing blood by stabbing him directly in the heart as he had stabbed me—metaphorically speaking, of course—would be too swift. No, he needed to be dealt with in a specific manner. He needed to have everything in his life stripped from him and be forced to live with the daily reminder that he was the one that brought this on himself. The gauntlet had been thrown, and I wasn’t going to stop until the nigga that I’d given my heart to had his ripped out and hung on a wall like a trophy of vengeance won.

  to be continued…

  To receive a text when part 2 of this book is released, text the keyword “Jessica” to 25827.

  About the author:

  Originally born in Detroit, MI, Bri moved to Ann Arbor, MI with her family when she was 11. In high school she was introduced to the world of urban fiction when she read "The Coldest Winter Ever" and was hooked! She started writing her own short stories and novels soon after.

  After she graduated Huron High School in 05, she attended Central State University and from there went on to graduate with an Associate's Degree from Washtenaw Community College. After leaving WCC, she attended Eastern Michigan University where shemajored in Theatre Arts.

  After taking a screenwriting class and falling in love with a new form or writing, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in screenwriting. Being and a new city with a refreshed state of mind, sparked a few ideas that led to a full fledged novel. After reading a novel by Jessica Watkins called Secrets of a Side Bitch, she was inspired to submit what she was working on and the rest is history! “Long As You Know Who You Belong To” is her first published novel. :)

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  Website: authorbrinorren.wix.com/brinoreen

  Jessica Watkins Presents is currently accepting submissions for the following genres: African American Romance, Urban Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and BWWM Romance. If you are interested in becoming an author and have a complete manuscript, send a synopsis and the first three chapters to jwp.submissions@gmail.com.