Pandora's Box

by Coffee

  Love Knows No Boundaries III

  Pandora’s Box

  Lock Down Publications

  Presents

  Love Knows No Boundaries III

  Pandora’s Box

  A Novel by Coffee

  Lock Down Publications

  P.O. Box 1482

  Pine Lake, Ga 30072-1482

  Copyright 2015 by Coffee Love Knows No Boundaries III

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in review.

  First Edition August 2015

  Printed in the United States of America

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Lock Down Publications

  Email: coffeeldp@outlook.com

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  Cover design and layout by: Dynasty’s Cover Me

  Book interior design by: Shawn Walker

  Edited by: Shawn Walker

  ~Dedication~

  My mama, my S. Winky Woo, the reason I know independence, strength, compassion, kindness, gentleness, gift giving, the power of speech and silence, grace, mercy and most importantly love is because of you. The way you live your life is proof of this. I love you, every day.

  My daddy, the reason I know how not to be ambiguous, fearful, disorderly, pleasing at my own detriment, needy and co-dependent. I couldn’t have had a better definition of a respectable man in my life for a father. Rest in paradise, daddy. Your little girl will love you forever.

  My rock, the reason I know balance, right reasoning, belly-aching laughter, you before me, unbreakable bonds and core commitments. After all of these years, I have learned from you that some things are simply forever.

  Everything I do, I do it just for you three GREAT individuals.

  ~Acknowledgments~

  My readers who have been extremely patient with the final coming of LKNB, I have a special place in my heart for each of you, known and unknown.

  To each of my readers on Facebook, you have embraced and lifted me even when I didn’t know I needed it. So, when I call you fam and not fans, know that it’s official. My extended family rocks!

  My peoples who chill hard with me in Coffee’s Lounge, you know what it is. What happens in Tha Lounge stays in Tha Lounge.

  T. Michelle, not every woman is able to get a two for one special in a relative, but I do. You’re my big sister and my BFF, forever or never.

  Nola B., my round, a little sister’s very own super hero. Life is so much sweeter with you in it. May we remain closer than close.

  Ca$h, every time I pick up a pen I am reminded that this platform in which I present my art had been made possible through you. It was your constant encouraging that I am now the author of three books and a contributor to our anthology, Cum For Me. How can I not give abundant thanks?

  Last but definitely not least, the entire Lock Down Publications’ squad. The LDP arsenal is locked and loaded with hollow point writers. Don’t sleep on us. The Game Is Ours.

  Special Thanks

  I often find myself asking: What would I do without my brother, Nola and sister, T. Michelle? That’s how much y’all add to my life. A triple thanks to the both of you and all that y’all have done to help the cutest amongst us, me, throughout this creative process.

  Thank you, Nikki Tee, my fellow New Orleanian author, for allowing your characters, Shaunie and Keyz of These N****s Ain’t Loyal, to make an appearance in this install and congrats on your banging series. Part 3 is coming soon. #LDP #TNAL

  Thank you, Reds Johnson, for your appearance in my book and congratulations on your recent release of Silver Platter Hoe 2 and Closed Legs Don’t Get Fed this month. Keep doing great things. #SPH #IAmRedsJohnson

  Thank you, J Peach, for allowing me to characterize you as well. I thought it was too adorable. I wish you continued success with A Dangerous Love 7, which is coming soon, and all of your endeavors. #ADL

  To my fam bams: Shenae “Butter Beans”, Tanika “Cleo”, Zanete “My Reader Boo”, Tondie “Tondilicious”, Paulette “Pee”, Devin “Diggity”, Diana “Big Fine”, Sonja “My Sunshine”, Ronnie “The Homie”, Alverda “Teedy”, Kanari “Diamond Girl” and my lil’ cuz, Tasia Lee Akem, thank you all for the individual roles you all played in this install. I love you each to tiny, microscopic pieces.

  Last but not least, Kim LeBlanc. We be epped out on the daily, so you already know how I feel about you. You’re my peoples, my round, my boogie down. Sisters for life!

  Chapter 1

  “…Is there any among you that object to the marrying of these two standing before me today?” Reverend Willis questioned the few people in attendance. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  The gentle brush of November breeze swept across Minnie’s face as she slightly looked up beyond the umbrella of trees and out at the clear blue skies.

  The day was textbook flawless. Her idea of an outdoor ceremony in the heart of City Park was a perfect plan and she was marrying the perfect man to go along with it.

  Minnie gushed with overflowing love as she stared back at Yuriah, who facially emoted her exact happiness.

  “Can’t wait to be your wife,” Minnie mouthed during the ceremony, easing a smile onto her best friend of almost twenty years face.

  “You will be soon,” Yuriah mouthed back.

  The Reverend was seconds away from continuing with the nuptials when a disturbing voice boomed with animosity.

  “I object, muthafuckas!” G’Corey came from behind an oak tree, approaching them slowly and with caution.

  He threw the balled up Lagniappe section of the newspaper displaying the elated soon-to-be on the ground as he took calculated steps toward them. His eyes were blood red and his lips curled tightly into a ball, barely able to contain his fury.

  Several months had passed since the last time he saw his beloved Minnie. There wasn’t a day that came to its dawning that he didn’t long for her, wondering where she was and how his bud was doing. So to finally see her for the first time wearing a ceremonial gown standing alongside another man, preparing to dedicate her life to another, a life that belonged to him only, was unbearable.

  He click clacked one into the chamber. Shit ain’t even happening like that, G’Corey grimaced. With his gun at his side, he continued his creep.

  Yuriah whipped his head toward the sound of the disgruntled man, instinctively maneuvering his bride-to-be behind him.

  “Oh, God!” Minnie grabbed ahold of Yuriah as she stumbled on the length of her dress, finding her place behind his broad frame. She then tilted her head off to the side so she could see what drama she was being shielded from. She gasped when she saw the eeriness that permeated off of her ex-husband’s face.

  When Yuri saw it was G’Corey, his expression turned stone in the face of his enemy. His groom’s men, Munch and Kamal, masked scowls as they immediately went on red alert, preparing to stop shit before it started.

  “Who the fuck this thuggah is, Drop?” Munch asked of his cousin while he removed his jacket, throwing it to the ground, taking a few steps forward to find out for himself. Kamal was on Munch’s he
els, preparing to do the same.

  “I’m ‘bout to get in son ass.” Kamal cracked his knuckles.

  Yuriah swiftly stretched out his arm to stall them out, “Chill, fam. He bitch made and I got this.” Yuri spoke clearly and audibly to be understood by both his mans and G’Corey, who was steadily approaching.

  Munch temporarily paused, but how long he’d keep the leash on was another topic because he had no manners when it came to addressing pussies in the streets.

  “Handle dat, ‘fo I do,” Kamal spat at the ground as if it disrespected him.

  G’Corey never forgot their last encounter. He saw flashes of it damn near every day and with each step he took, he became angrier. Yuriah should have known he was going to strike back.

  Initially, G’Corey came to only lay Yuriah down but his boys, who were standing there flexing, were about to get it too. He had more than enough ammo to distribute to anyone who wanted to feel it.

  G’Corey raised his gun and took aim.

  The wedding guests of ten stooped lowly behind their seats, seeking partial cover when they saw the gat in the gunman’s hand.

  When G’Corey was close enough, he finally spoke. “Die slow, bitch!” He smiled sinisterly before setting it off.

  Boc!

  By the time Yuriah saw the gun, he only had enough time to spin around and push Minnie down and out of the way. When Kamal spotted the hammer, he dove and tackled Yuriah, knocking him to the ground to take cover, but the hollow point whizzed through the air quicker than Kamal’s ability to move his boy out of the way and it bull’s eyed the intended target.

  The searing metal jacket tore through Yuriah’s flesh on his right side, cracking a rib which punctured his lung, forcing him to gasp for air almost immediately.

  The small crowd erupted in full-fledged screams and scattered confusingly to dodge harm’s way.

  “Yuriiiiii!” Minnie scrambled over to him, hovering over his body in a protective manner, oblivious to the looming danger around her. Minnie’s hands trembled as her eyes searched his entire body. The noises grew louder from the frenzied cries of people, but she was unable to concern herself with the chaos around her because she was too much in shock at what lay before her.

  Just as G’Corey was squeezing off another shot, Munch pulled out his Glock from the small of his back and began to let it rip.

  Boc! Boc!

  Munch’s steel piece delivered its deadly bullets G’Corey’s way. One shot missed him, but the other one penetrated his shoulder, jerking his left side backwards and offsetting his second shot, hitting nothing.

  G’Corey recklessly starting firing shots as quickly as his finger would squeeze the trigger before he took off zig zagging through the park with Munch kicking up dust behind him in hot pursuit.

  Kamal kneeled down beside Yuriah and pressed his hands against his wound. “Minnie. Minnie!” He finally got her attention. “Reach inside my jacket pocket and call 9-1-1.”

  She bobbed her head quickly and nervously as she patted his lapel, feeling for the device. Minnie fished out his phone and proceeded with the call.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

  “My fiancé been shot! We’re the wedding party in-in-in-in umm umm City Park by the museum. Hurry up, please, hurry up!”

  The dispatcher informed her that a unit was less two minutes away. She also asked that Minnie remain on the line but she dropped the phone and focused back on Yuriah.

  “Help is on the way, baby. Hold on. You gon’ make it. Just hold on. Okay,” she bobbed her head rapidly. “Just hold on.”

  “Minnie, take my place. Hol’ ya hands right here.” Minnie shuffled to the other side of Yuriah’s body while Kamal took off his jacket and ripped his vest off. He then removed his shirt, leaving his wife beater on and tied the long sleeve shirt around Yuri’s body to bridge back the bleeding. But it took no time soaking through the shirt.

  Shit! Kamal had to think on his feet. He needed something that would do a better job of suppressing the crimson flow oozing out of him. “Stay with ‘em.”

  Yuriah took strained breaths. His eyes reflected his struggle to retain air, but he was still alert.

  Minnie ran her red stained hand over his forehead, swooping it downward to cup his cheek. Her eyeliner drained down her face as the downpour of tears drenched his.

  “It’s gon’ be okay. It’s gon’ be okay. It’s gon’—” She mechanically repeated over and over as she rocked back and forth. She was doing her best to convince them both.

  Less than thirty seconds later, Kamal returned with a plastic covering he found draping the gift table. In a rush, he bumped Minnie out of the way as he created space to undo the knot in the drenched shirt and replace it with the plastic, instead.

  Yuriah stared up at Minnie, barely able to lift his arm, he feebly pointed to The Reverend who was perched not too far from them, praying aloud. “Fini—” His lips hardly moved as his weakened voice quaked.

  Reverend Willis only prayed louder as he was too fearful to stop.

  Kamal looked to the man who was too shaken and caught up in his prayer babble to hear Yuriah call out for him. “Yo, Rev! Get over here.”

  Reverend Willis jumped at the boom of Kamal’s voice, snapping out of his zone. He quickly drew a cross over his chest, then hesitantly crawled over to where Yuri lay and looked upon his body, chillingly so.

  In a raspy tone, Yuriah mumbled. “Sayyyy it!” He forced his words out as best as he could.

  Meanwhile…

  G’Corey was getting further away from meeting his fate. The Ferragamo dress shoes Munch was wearing didn’t provide enough traction and he wasn’t able to keep up, but that didn’t stop him, though. Come hell or high water, he was going to stand over the man that stood against them.

  G’Corey pressed his right hand against his left shoulder where he’d been shot, trying to slack the blood that was profusely oozing. He was growing faint and his labored breathing intensified the harder he ran. He needed to catch a second wind, but when he looked over his shoulder, Munch wasn’t far enough behind for that to happen. So his feet propelled him through the throng of people, pushing past them with urgency.

  Some of those same people were unaware of his injury while others noticed the fresh crimson stain on his white t-shirt, shoo-shooing to whoever stood nearby.

  “You see that?” One woman shockingly questioned her friend as she pointed to G’Corey as he jetted by them. Twenty seconds later, she gasped and grabbed her friend’s hand to pull her out of harm’s way when she saw a man with a gun in hand.

  When Munch was finally able to clear a shot, he paused long enough to take it. He didn’t care about potential witnesses because if they were able to identify him, they would know not to.

  In the streets of New Orleans, he was a known head buster. On 6th and Clara St. out of the Magnolia projects in the uptown area, the hood coined him Munch for the way he ate a thuggah up with the fair ones or the gun. So, it was safe to say his reputation preceded him no matter where his feet were planted in the city. If any person in the crowd didn’t know about him, someone amongst them was sure to let it be known.

  Right as he was about to pull the trigger, an elderly couple holding a little one walked in his line of fire, making it impossible for him to shoot.

  “Shit!” Munch hustled to regain ground, pushing and knocking over people in his pursuit. The natural low gaze in his eyes from all of the Kush he smoked daily were made even tighter as he grew more impatient. The cat and mouse chase only infuriated him and made him more determined to have G’Corey’s soul kiss the sky.

  In the meantime…

  Yuriah continued to fidget with excruciating pain the more his fight to breathe increased. His flushed face was evidence of his battle.

  The Reverend was confused. “Say what?”

  “Finish the ceremony. What the fuck else?” Kamal snapped.

  Yuriah’s eyes blinked rapidly, pushing tears out of their corners.

 
“Baby!” Minnie fearfully called out for him. Then she looked off into the distance. “Somebody help ussssss!”

  Reverend Willis looked around but nervously abided. “Ah, ummm, by the power vested in me, me, me, me by the state of Louisiana, I do pronounce you hus—husband and wife.”

  Minnie burst out crying even harder. That was all she could continue to do.

  Kamal had seen many men get ate up with choppas and heavier hammers than what G’Corey came spitting with and survived, so he held steadfast that his dude would pull through just the same.

  With as much composure as Minnie could muster, she leaned down to kiss her husband and feel his warm lips when he suddenly sprayed blood into the air. His airways were becoming progressively restricted.

  His eyes grew big and his body began to shake. He was going into shock.

  “Oh, my God! Nooooo!” Minnie jumped back and freaked out as she saw her husband’s life disintegrating right before her eyes.

  “Shit! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Kamal started pacing a tight walk as he tried to think straight. He didn’t know what else to do, but he knew he couldn’t just let him die. “Fuck dat!” He was seconds away from throwing Yuriah on his back and getting him to the hospital himself when he heard sirens blaring in the distance. He dropped down to his knees. “Hol’ on, bruh. Just hol’ on.”

  “Kamal, he can’t breathe! Oh, my God! He’s dying. Do something, Kamal. He can’t die!”

  Minnie’s father finally rushed over to his daughter after ensuring his wife, who’d passed out from the commotion, came to. He tugged on her arm. “Baby girl, let me get you out of here.”

  “Don’t touch me! Move!” Minnie became irate, crying non-stop as she resisted her father pulling her away from her husband.