Gets No Love

by Eric Pete

  After my talk with Renika last Sunday, I had broken down and made that call. A nice, candid talk had gone a long way in repairing the damage done by our argument over Robert. Both of us agreed that it wasn’t worth letting Robert come between us and that we should move on. I decided to call her just before lunch.

  “Financial aid, this is Valerie.”

  “Hey.”

  I heard her pause before answering. I knew she was smiling on the other end of the phone. “Hey yourself.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Working, unlike you, Lance.”

  “Full of jokes today, aren’t we?”

  “Yep. Just been waiting for you to call so I could put them to use. How’s your day been so far?”

  “Busy. Working through lunch. Mayor Nagin needs computers and yours truly has been lucky enough to get some of the business.”

  “Congratulations. I’m impressed. But then again, I’m always impressed with you.”

  “You mean it?”

  “Of course.”

  “There’s more.”

  “More?”

  “There’s talk of me doing some computer training for the disadvantaged through a new program the mayor is setting up also. Things are looking up.”

  “Looks that way. Would you like to come by the house tonight?”

  “I’d love to, but I can’t.”

  “Oh. Another woman?”

  “No, a man,” I laughed. “Akhet’s video shoot is tonight. I promised him I’d make it by the Plaza to see it.”

  “Stay away from those video hoes, alright?”

  “I promise, baby. I’ve got an idea.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I’d like to try this again. This weekend. How does dinner sound?”

  “Where?”

  “My place. I’m going the cheap route. I’ll wine you and dine you on a budget. I’m cooking for you and Bobby.”

  “You’re cooking? That’ll be interesting,” she chuckled.

  “Trust me. You’ll love it.”

  “Okay. Let me go,” she whispered. “A student’s at the counter and staring dead in my mouth.”

  “You mean like I was when I first saw you?”

  “Bye, boy!” Click.

  Valerie hung up laughing because she knew it was true.

  When I’d met her, I had a full head of hair before I started shaving it all off. I was also a lot cockier, kind of how AK is now. I had already turned in my application, but chose to hang out and watch her for the longest. She’d caught my eye.

  It was on a day she was supposed to be off work but had come in to help pack files at Delgado. At first, she tried to ignore me as she filled storage boxes and chatted with co-workers. She wore her hair cut short then, like Halle Berry used to wear hers. Large gold earrings with her name engraved on them, and for which she will never forgive herself, dangled from her ears. “Can I help you?” she’d finally asked.

  I had ignored everyone that had asked me that question, claiming I’d already been helped. “Yes, you can,” I answered her. “Do you work here?”

  The gum she was chewing suddenly lost its taste. “Duh,” she said, indicating with her hands what side of the counter she was on.

  “Well, I’m going to be going to school here. Pleased to meet you, Valerie. I’m Lance.”

  Her eyes cut to her earrings then back to me. “Cute,” she said. “Is that all?”

  “I hope not.”

  One of the workers tapped her on the shoulder, wanting to know if her boxes were ready to be hauled off. When she turned to point out which ones, her blue warm-up top came open. Her white tee stuck out revealing the slight bulge of her stomach underneath.

  She saw me looking and pulled her jacket back over it. “Look, I have work to do.”

  “Oh. Okay. I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll bet you are now,” she laughed.

  I let her go back to work, thinking she had run me off. I showed up the next day . . . and the next.

  Noontime came around and I found an unopened bag of crackers to keep me going through lunch while I worked. I was tinkering with an unresponsive keyboard when I heard somebody walk in.

  “We’re closed,” I said while I was concentrating on the task at hand. “We’ll be open again in an hour.” I didn’t hear the person leave, so I put the keyboard down and looked up.

  “What’s up, man? You ain’t gonna hook me up on some of this computer shit?” Vaughn stood there in uniform with his shades on. He was wearing that same false smile I saw him put on when he was talking to Renika. He was dangerous and made me very uneasy.

  “What do you want?” I did away with all pleasantries as I remembered the middle finger he had given me on Sunday. I stood up from behind my workbench to watch him better. His hand was away from his holster, which was good.

  “What kind of customer service is that, man?” he laughed. “I was just answering a call nearby and recognized your place. So, this is where you work, huh?”

  “Yeah. Looking for a computer?”

  “Nah, bruh. Neek’s into that stuff. Besides . . . If I wanted one, I could get one for better prices than these,” he said as he played with one of the sale tags. “I got some contacts. Know what I mean?”

  “Yeah. Gotcha.” I probably used to run with some of those contacts during my crazy days. “Can I help you with anything then? I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  “What’s your most expensive computer in here?” he asked as he chose to ignore what I had just said. His moves were slow and deliberate and meant to intimidate.

  “That one to the left of you. I built that one with all the extras. CD burner, DVD, extra memory. Somebody had ordered it, but then didn’t pay.”

  “You still stealing shit?”

  “What?” I asked, dumbfounded by Vaughn’s startling question.

  “Don’t play dumb, man,” he chuckled. “I know all about you. Saw your record, man.”

  “That’s supposed to be sealed.”

  “It is. Things always leak out. You just have to know where to look for ’em.”

  “Why in the hell are you poking around in my records anyway?” I thought, fuck the gun, and let my temper show.

  “You can never be too careful these days,” he said casually. His hand had moved closer to his gun holster. “I know about you and your drug dealing, rapper thug of a friend. Now, he has an interesting record.”

  “I’ll repeat myself in case you’re hard of hearing. What the fuck do you want?”

  “You tryin’ to fuck my girl.” It wasn’t a question. It was a blatant accusation. His smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of stone-cold seriousness.

  “What?”

  “You tryin’ to wax Neek’s ass and I don’t appreciate it.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not trying to do anything with Renika.”

  “Bullshit. Valerie’s got your nuts in a vise and you think you can just push up on Neek instead. You think I’m a sucker? You don’t know who you’re fuckin’ with.”

  “You’ve got issues, bruh.”

  “The only issues I got is with you. You need to leave us the fuck alone and quit tryin’ to get in her pants.”

  I started to tell Vaughn that he was way too late about my getting in the pants of Renika, but thought it distasteful. “Me and Renika go way back. We’re just friends. Besides . . . I think she’s got more to worry about from you than from me.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” I watched his face grimace and distort. I began to think my hunch was correct. I didn’t want it to be true, but, damn, it sure looked that way.

  “It means I’m watching you.”

  “And I’m watching you too. Consider this your warning, bitch.”

  “Get the fuck outta my store.”

  “Or what? You’ll call the cops?” he sneered as he walked out. I followed him, wanting to throw down in the worst way, but stopped short at the door and locked it. Vaughn m
entioned my record to keep me in check. It was working just like he knew it would. If I wanted to throw my life away, all I had to do was run out there and attack a police officer. He could say it was in self-defense after he turned around and blew a hole in me.

  “Another day,” I mumbled. “Another day.”

  It took another hour for me to compose myself and to get back to work. I left the door locked the rest of the day. Because of my nerves, it took me longer to finish the jobs, and before I knew it, it had turned dark. A truck drove by my front door with its system shaking the windows of the store. I hummed along, as I knew the beat. It was AK’s new single.

  “Oh no.”

  I looked at my watch, then frantically searched for my keys. I was about to miss the final shoot on my boy’s video. I took one final look at everything in the store before turning the lights out and preparing to set the alarm. I unlatched the door so I could get out, then reached for the alarm.

  A sudden noise got my attention followed by a gush of air. I turned around in time to see the steel doorframe as it smacked me in the face. I staggered back before a couple of large fists dropped me to my knees. I tried to grab hold of the counter to pick myself up, but was rewarded for my efforts with a hard boot to my chest. I felt the air rush out of my lungs as I crashed through the glass of the counter, then everything turned fuzzy.

  I was still struggling as I saw one, maybe two, shadows silently standing over me. Another shadow joined them with something raised in the air above it. I blinked twice then the raised object came crashing down on me.

  20

  “Any idea who did this, chief?” the officer asked. I had seen him before. He normally patrolled the area.

  “No.” I was adjusting to the light in the place and brushing the tiny shards of glass off my clothes. “Maybe the video-tape picked something up.”

  “It would if I could find the tape. They took it along with your money. Found your wallet in the parking lot. Here.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled as I took my wallet from his hands. My one nearly maxed-out credit card and driver’s license were still inside.

  An ambulance had been called out for me, but I was okay. My chest was a little sore and I had a bruise on my forehead, but that was all. The EMT worried that I might have a concussion, but I didn’t. I’d had one before and knew what they felt like. I was still given all the precautions and warning signs to look out for. I got to my feet and was now looking at the ruined counter/display case and computer that had been smashed on top of me.

  “You got a hard head, chief.”

  “That’s what my momma used to tell me.”

  “Mom’s always right,” he laughed as he patted me on my back. “Expensive piece of equipment there?”

  “You could say that. It’s my most expensive.”

  “I’m surprised they didn’t try to steal more of your stuff.”

  “Yeah. Me too.”

  “Maybe something frightened them off. I’ll check around to see if anybody noticed something. The crime lab will be out to see if we can lift any fingerprints.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No thanks needed, chief. Algiers is my neighborhood. I don’t appreciate people doing shit like this in my backyard.”

  My watch was still on my hand at least. I looked at the time. I knew Akhet’s video was over and just wanted to go home and sleep my aches away. As I eyed the officer’s uniform, a funny notion came into my head.

  “Did Vaughn get off patrol already?” I casually asked.

  “Who?” he replied.

  “Y’know. Vaughn. Doesn’t he patrol around here?”

  “There’s no Vaughn in this district, chief. Sure that’s his name?”

  “Yeah, Vaughn’s his name. Big ol’ brother. About this tall?”

  “Oooh, I know who you’re talking about. Nah, chief. Vaughn works Fifth District across the river.”

  “Sorry. My bad. I’m still a little scrambled, I guess.”

  “Where you know him from?”

  “He’s dating a friend of mine.”

  “Oh,” he chuckled. “That’s one crazy mutherfucker there.”

  “Huh?” I said with my most surprised look, the kind of look that begged him to tell me more.

  “Yeah. I’ve heard stuff about that fool. I’m not one to gossip though.”

  “Vaughn?” I asked, prodding him on more. “He’s one of the nicest people I know.”

  “Yeah, he’s cool. I hear he’s the kind of person you need to watch your back around if you get on his bad side though. Uh . . . you didn’t hear that from me.”

  “Mum’s the word,” I said with a grin.

  21

  “Mmmm. That feels good,” Val said as she bit her lip. “Don’t stop.”

  I pressed my thumbs gently, yet firmly, into the delicate arches of Valerie’s feet. The dinner had softened her up. I had surprised even myself when the homemade salad dressing tasted pretty darn good and when the jambalaya didn’t stick to the pot. Bobby had his fill and, after playing with his toys, was now asleep in the middle of my bed. I had just returned from covering him up with a blanket.

  “It feels so right having y’all here with me.”

  “Mmm. I agree. Bobby’s really enjoying himself.”

  “Are you?”

  “What do you think?”

  I leaned over, leaving her legs in my lap, and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She used her fingertips to trace the outline of my face. She stopped to curiously eye the fading bruise on my forehead.

  “Awww, poor baby. Any news on who robbed you?”

  “I already told you. I staged that whole thing to get sympathy points from you. Worked great, huh?”

  “Boy, I’m trying to be serious. You could’ve been hurt worse.”

  “Nope, no news. No fingerprints and no witnesses. I’m just glad they didn’t get away with much.”

  “I just thought of something,” she said with a burst of excitement. “Renika’s boyfriend, Vaughn.”

  “Uh . . . what about him?”

  “Well, he works for NOPD too. Maybe he can check into things and get them to investigate this more thoroughly.”

  “I don’t know about that, baby. The officer I met is doing fine. I’m sure Vaughn’s busy with his own issues.”

  “Issues?”

  “I meant work . . . with his own work.” I wasn’t dragging Val into my beef with Vaughn. Renika being in the middle of it didn’t make for a comfortable situation, given our past. The more I thought about my suspicions, the more I worried about Renika. I had decided to innocently ask Val if she had noticed anything unusual about Renika’s relationship, but Val interrupted me.

  “Hey. Phat Phat ’n All That’s coming on. You wanted to see your boy’s video, right?”

  “Yeah . . . yeah. Let me turn the TV up.”

  All I’d heard since Wednesday was how hot AK’s video was. I had apologized to him for getting smashed into my counter and missing all the fun, but didn’t tell him either about Vaughn’s visit with me earlier that day. Who knows how Akhet would have handled somebody digging into his criminal record.

  On the cable access channel, the host of Phat Phat ’n All That, Wild Wayne, was just introducing the On-Phire Records family. I recognized the location as the parking lot of the Plaza Mall in the East. Jason North was wearing one of his best suits and bragging about how they had spared no expense at announcing AK to the world with this video. Behind the throng of thugged-out faces and enough jewelry to feed a third-world country, were a few of the women from the video. Based on Akhet’s promises from before, I looked in vain to see if Roxie and Alexis were among them. The only female that looked familiar was one I had recognized from a few other videos. Valerie giggled at Akhet as he sat there, between shoots, trying to scowl and look hard.

  “I don’t like much rap, but this may be pretty funny,” she said.

  “Hey, my boy’s about to go global. This video’s supposed to air on BET’s Rap City next we
ek.”

  We got comfortable as the show progressed and other videos aired leading up to the world premiere of “Realer Than Ya Know.” The video started out with a black screen, then the director appeared in front of it briefly before screaming, “Action!” Horns began blaring while I heard my boy’s raspy voice repeating, “Realer than ya know. Unh. Let’s do this.”

  The scene started with a weather radar image of Louisiana showing a large hurricane off the coast and heading straight for New Orleans. The scene made me a little uncomfortable knowing the whole area would be underwater if that really happened. The video then went to the real live storm over the Gulf of Mexico, then the camera shot sped ahead, as if flying, to New Orleans where AK was waiting for it. In an empty parking lot was AK, astride a Hayabusa motorcycle, dressed all in black. He flashed the RIP tattoo on his forearm, then held up his diamond On-Phire Records medallion before spitting out, “New Orleans finest, you don’t wanna to try this! I’ve put in my time, now I’m gonna rock this!”

  It was amazing watching my boy’s transformation when he was in the zone. This was what he was born to do. We watched on as AK’s flow and intensity picked up as if linked to the weather that was dumping rain on him by the gallons. Everything just began building in intensity, from the beats and the horns that were blaring to his delivery. Even Valerie was nodding her head and smiling.

  Lightning flashed across the screen and with each crackle, leggy, scantily clad dancers and a crew of hundreds appeared briefly behind him like ghosts urging him on before fading away between thunderclaps.

  “They must’ve spent millions on this,” Val mumbled, afraid to take her eyes off the video. “They could have at least afforded to put some clothes on the women.”

  I sarcastically replied, “Fabric’s expensive these days.”

  “Hmph.”

  From the blackness of night, the video switched to the image of the computer-generated storm as it approached the Superdome. Trees were starting to uproot and power lines began crackling as they broke beneath the hurricane’s fury. When it switched back to AK, he was now all in white in front of a white Hummer H2. What we thought was a parking lot turned out to be the roof of the Superdome. The rain was still coming down and the crowd was still there, but now two women were gyrating on each side of him. Just when I thought I had seen it all, it got really interesting.