“You’re the girl who was in that security room with my brother, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Why?” Diamond asked, preparing for a throw down.
“Girl, what’s your name? My brother hasn’t stopped talking about you since that day. I think he’s in love,” she said, laughing.
Diamond stood there for a second in shock. In love? After the way I talked to him, he must be crazy, she thought. Then she replied, “My name is Diamond. What did he say about me?”
“He just said that he liked your style, and you were sly with your mouth but he could deal with that.”
“That’s crazy, he really said that?” she asked. Now she was blushing because, though she thought he was a little punk, she thought he was cute. He wouldn’t be able to protect me, but he’s good to look at as long as he isn’t crying, she thought.
“Yeah, he did. My name is Mica and his name is Johnny. We live right over there on Dover Street. Why don’t you come hang out with us sometime? We’re always outside.”
“I might just do that. Thanks, Mica. I’ll be seeing you around soon,” Diamond said before turning to head into the store.
Soon Mica and Diamond were best friends and Johnny was her first love. She found out that their father was extremely abusive and Johnny got it the worst. He was afraid of his father and that was why he cried that day in the supermarket. Johnny was really calm, not like all of the other boys she’d dealt with. Most of them had already had a sample of sex so they didn’t really care about quality time and conversation. Johnny, on the other hand, did. They would talk on the phone for hours every night about anything you could think of. During that time Mica and Diamond hung out a lot too. They became really close but grew closer before Johnny got locked up for murder. After years of abuse he was finally fed up and in a rage he shot and killed their father.
Diamond sat on the steps, both eyes full of tears. They had just handcuffed Johnny and taken him off to jail. She was losing her best friend and there wasn’t anything that she could do to stop it. Did I cause this? she thought. If she hadn’t pushed him so hard maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
She could remember the blood all over him, when he ran to her house to tell her what happened. It was a vision that she’d never be able to erase.
She heard banging on the back door. It was almost twelve o’clock in the morning so she knew it could only be him. By the sound of the knocks she could tell that something was wrong so she hurried to the door to answer it. It was pouring outside and he stood there in jeans and a T-shirt, soaked with rain and blood. He stood there frozen as she stood on the other side of the threshold with the same look.
“What the hell happened, Johnny?” she asked as tears instantly formed in the wells of her eyes. She grabbed hold of him to make sure that he wasn’t hurt.
“I did it. I couldn’t take it anymore. I did it,” he said as he walked through the door and began pacing. Water was dripping all over the place, leaving little blood-tinged puddles all over the kitchen floor. He was disoriented and filled with anger. She had never seen him so upset. Each time she tried to touch him he’d snatch away and keep repeating the same thing over and over again. She didn’t know what it was that he’d done at that moment but she knew it couldn’t be good.
“Babe, what did you do?” She was crying at this point. She wanted to console him but at the young age of sixteen she didn’t know how. She thought about movies and TV shows to see if she could remember how they’d done it. Her mind was drawing a blank and her instinct wasn’t helping much either.
“I did it, I fuckin’ killed him. I did it.”
“Who did you kill?”
“My father. He can’t hurt us anymore.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Did he just say he killed his father? The only thing she could think of doing was holding him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight as they cried together. She felt like her world was crashing down. He was going to be taken away and she’d probably never see him again.
“It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I had to. I couldn’t let him keep abusing us. I had to stand up and be a man.”
“Stand up and be a man” was what she’d always told him. She told him that he’d never be a man if he couldn’t stand up for himself and protect his sister. She pushed him and now his life was over. She stood there holding him close without saying a word until she heard police sirens and saw flashing lights. A few seconds later there was banging at the door. She opened the door after Johnny gave her a nod. The cops pushed her aside and burst into the house, immediately putting handcuffs on him. Her mother and aunt had since woken up and were standing in the living room with her. Her mom was clueless as they dragged him out of the house. She cried and tried to free herself from her mother’s grip to get one last hug. He was out of the house and into the car before she could get to him. She sat on the steps looking on as they drove away. Her head was buried in her knees.
“Come on in, baby, and get out of those pajamas. You’re soaked.”
She didn’t budge as if she were glued to the steps. Her body felt like she was drained of the energy that she had.
“Diamond, come on, sweetie. It’s late and you have school tomorrow.”
School? Is she serious? She’d just witnessed something that would probably stay with her forever. The look in his eyes when he spoke those words reminded her of those serial killers in movies. There was no feeling behind it. It was as if he didn’t care that the man he’d just killed was his father. How could you murder someone and not give a damn? She knew that he did it to save them from abuse, but even so he should have cared.
After a while her mother just sat down beside her and placed her hand on her back. She sat there until she was all cried out and exhausted so much so that she had to lie down.
She didn’t get up for school the following morning or the rest of that week. She cried all day and night. She wanted to close her eyes and wake up and it would all be gone. She wanted to be able to hold him at night when he’d sneak over and make love to her. She wanted to laugh with him and smile when he told her how much he loved her. She missed her best friend and letters would never fill the void.
Now all of these years later, she stood face to face with it all again.
“It wasn’t my fault,” she continue to cry.
Justice displayed a devilish smirk on his face before pointing his gun at Dior’s and shooting her.
Dior instantly went limp in his arms.
Diamond began to run toward him, screaming, hoping that what she saw wasn’t reality.
Before Diamond could reach him he let Dior’s body slip from his hands.
Diamond reached her just as the SWAT team burst into the building and pumped bullets into Justice, causing his body to jerk before hitting the ground.
“Oh God, not my baby, please don’t take my baby,” she cried, cradling Dior in her arms.
The medics who were on site within two minutes quickly took Dior away in the ambulance while fighting to save her life. Diamond was as quiet as a mouse as the detectives drove her to the hospital. Upon arriving in the family waiting room she was told that Dior was pronounced dead on arrival. She immediately fell to the floor and blacked out.
When she woke up she was staring in the face of Detective Jones.
“I’m so sorry, Diamond, I truly am. If there is anything that—”
“It’s all your fault. I could have saved her had you let me do things my way,” Diamond yelled.
“Diamond, no one could have predicted what would happen and we did everything by the book.”
“By the book? Is that what you call it? In three days I’ve lost my husband and my child. How can you call anything that happened ‘by the book’? I refuse to do this with you right now.”
“I will let you rest, however, we still need to talk. I understand what you’re going through, Diamond. I will speak with you tomorrow,” she
replied before turning to leave through the curtain.
Diamond turned her back and closed her eyes, trying to remember the life that she’d just lost. Sadly all she could see was pain and misery.
Chapter Nineteen
Light of Mine
Diamond sat peering out of her bedroom window, remembering how she’d brought Dior into the world. What started out as a plan to hold on to Black ended up making her the happiest woman on earth. Feeling like she was losing Black, she decided that having his child would be the key to keeping him around. She remembered how nervous she was when she read the positive pregnancy test and how she prayed that he would be happy. But just like most things that happened in Diamond’s life, nothing went as planned and her plan had almost backfired.
Diamond dialed Black’s number before she pulled out of the parking spot.
“What’s up?” he said into the phone. He sounded like he wasn’t in such a good mood, which might have been even better. She felt like she should be able to brighten up his day with this news.
“You don’t sound too happy to hear from me, what’s up?”
“I just got a lot of shit on my mind that’s all. What’s up?”
“Well I have some good news,” she said with a huge smile on her face.
“What’s that?” he said blandly.
This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought. Whatever is on his mind is really bothering him. “We’re having a baby,” she said, excited. He didn’t respond. That definitely wasn’t the reaction she was hoping for. “Did you hear me? I said we’re having a baby.”
“I’m going to call you back in a little while. I have to handle something.”
Click.
What the hell? Did he just hang up on me or is my mind playing tricks on me? He didn’t just do that. She stared at the phone, hoping that it would ring again. She felt like bursting into tears. She felt like a damn fool. She couldn’t even think straight. She had even begun hyperventilating at one point. She’d gotten so worked up that she had to pull over. She was at the point of no return. What could she do if he didn’t want the baby or, even worse, if he didn’t want her? That wasn’t an option. She questioned if she was overreacting and something really important caused him to end the call so abruptly. She sat there in the car for the next ten minutes before she calmed down enough to maneuver through traffic safely. She made it home and was still out of sorts when she got there. She slammed the door and stomped her feet up to the room like a twelve-year-old. Now she was angry because he hadn’t called her back. It was now almost forty-five minutes since he hung up on her. She wouldn’t give in and call him again. She wasn’t a weak chick. She wasn’t even an emotional chick so she didn’t know where the hell all of it was coming from. She got up to the bedroom and lay across the bed. She was exhausted and she hoped that maybe if she took a nap, by the time she got up he’d be there apologizing for dissing her the way that he did.
On the opposite side of town, Black sat staring at the phone and feeling like the biggest asshole on the planet. Did she just say we were having a baby? How the hell did that happen? He wasn’t ready for that. It wasn’t that he didn’t love kids but with so much shit going on he didn’t feel that it was the time to bring a baby into the world. He still had to look over his shoulder every time he took a step to make sure someone wasn’t sneaking up on him. He knew she’d be pissed but even more hurt by the way that he reacted, but at the time he couldn’t think of anything else to say. He figured not saying anything at all was better then saying the wrong thing. If she was pregnant and planned on keeping it, there wasn’t anything that he could say to change her mind. With Diamond that was virtually impossible. Now, he not only had to worry about keeping her safe but a baby as well. And what would Trice do? That was a whole different issue in itself. He could see her becoming more conniving once she got a whiff of the news.
JB sat across from him, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. His lips were moving but he could no longer hear him. “Hello, is anybody in there?” JB said, waving his hands in front of his face trying to break his stare.
“Yeah, I’m here,” he said, shaking out of it for a second.
“Yo, what happened? Who was that on the phone?”
“That was Diamond. I just did some dumb shit.”
“What? I was sitting right here and I didn’t hear you say anything but you’ll call her back.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem. I didn’t say anything. She just told me that she was pregnant and I hung up on her.”
He sat back in his chair with a puzzled look on his face. “Damn, that’s heavy.”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t mean to diss her like that, she just caught me off guard. Now I feel like shit because it came across like I don’t want it and it’s not even like that.”
“Well, call her back and explain it. That should settle it right?”
“Man, that shit ain’t going to just go away like that. You don’t know her like I do and she’s not that easy to smooth over when shit gets rough.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. Can’t say ‘buy her some shit’ ’cause she can buy anything her damn self.”
“Let me show you something,” he said as he opened up the drawer and removed the black velvet ring box that he’d locked up inside. He set it on the desk in front of him without opening it.
“Is that what I think it is?” he asked with a surprised look on his face.
“Yeah, it is. Open it.”
He sat up and grabbed the box off the desk and opened it. “Damn, man, this shit is tight. Why didn’t you give it to her?”
“Because it didn’t make sense. We still haven’t straightened out this shit with Kemp that’s lingering on, and realistically she couldn’t marry me if she’s still married to him.”
“So you really believe he’s still alive?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore. I know someone is out there trying to kill me.”
“I mean, we were both at the funeral. I know damn well I saw them put his body in the ground. Unless he has a twin, he’s dead. I think someone is trying to fuck with you, and by the looks of it they’re succeeding. You can’t let this shit put your life on hold. If you love her, marry her. She’s having your seed now, too, you have to keep it moving.”
What he said made total sense. Here he was tripping about a nigga he knew for a fact was dead. The whole situation had gotten out of hand and the more he let it get to him the worse things got between him and Diamond. JB was right, that’s exactly what they wanted to do. Fuck it, he was going to give her the ring and he was going to do it tonight. I’m not waiting around any longer.
“You’re absolutely right,” he said, laughing. “Why am I tripping? I know what needs to be done.”
“What about the baby?”
“I’m actually excited about that, believe it or not.”
“Well, congrats then, nigga,” he said, standing up to give him dap.
Black grabbed the box back off the table and instead of tucking it back inside the drawer he put it in his pocket. He’d been holding on to it until the right time. And what better time than the present? he thought.
Once he left the room he dialed Diamond; surprisingly she didn’t pick up. He thought for sure she’d at least answer if only to curse him out. He didn’t bother to leave a message; he just headed home to straighten things out. He got up to the door and opened it. It was pretty quiet, but he knew she was home because her car was in the driveway.
“Diamond,” he yelled out through the house. He didn’t get an answer so he thought she might have been asleep. He walked into the bedroom and saw her stretched out across the bed. She looked peaceful but as he walked closer he could see the dry tear tracks on both sides of her face. Seeing the evidence of her crying made him feel even worse than he had before he got there. He stood there, holding on to his pocket, wondering if it was the right time to pop the question. He wasn’t sure if he was ready, and now that he
was standing there he was more nervous than he would have imagined he’d be at this point in his life. He stood there for a few more minutes, almost afraid to wake her. She must have felt his presence because she woke up and noticed him before he was able to leave the room.
“Hey, babe, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He turned to face her. She didn’t respond, only getting up from the bed and heading into the bathroom.
“Diamond, can we talk?”
She stopped in her tracks and turned to walk back to the door. “Talk about what? How you just dissed me? I told you I was having your baby and you hung the phone up.” She yelled as she paced back and forth. She had every right to be upset.
“I’m sorry, okay? It just caught me off guard and I wasn’t dissing you, I would never do that to you.”
“Maybe you didn’t want to but that’s exactly what you did. That shit was low for you. I never thought you wouldn’t be able to take care of your responsibility.”
“I can take care of my responsibility. It’s not about that. It’s really about nothing, I said I was sorry.”
She stood there, staring, as if there was something that she wanted to say but couldn’t. She shook her head and turned to continue her trip into the bathroom.
“Diamond,” he called out to her.
“What?” she yelled with her back still facing him.
“Could you turn around please? I need to show you something.” He pulled the ring box from his pocket and opened it.
She turned and looked at him. Still angry and not immediately noticing the ring she spoke, “What is it, Black? I’m really not in the mood for—” She was now staring at the box in his hand. Her frown quickly turned into a smile and tears soon followed that smile. “Are you serious?”
Black Diamond 3: Lucky Chance (Urban Books) Page 14