by N'Tyse
Rene made her way to Albery’s chest, kissing and seductively licking every inch of his skin.
Chyna placed her hand around Albery’s fully matured dick, stroking it faster. She looked back at him and she could no longer see the whites of his eyes. He was ready to cum. That was her cue to do what she came to do. She took the blade from her mouth and in one clean sweep, sliced the thickest vein she felt throbbing against the inside of her palm.
“Awwww!” Albery howled, grabbing for the pain in his dick.
When Rene turned around and saw all that blood, she too began screaming as she quickly jumped out of the bed.
“You fuckin’ bitch!” Albery screamed at the top of his lungs.
Chyna got up in his face. “Where’s the safe?”
Albery screamed in agony as his eyes followed the bloody blade hanging over his throat. He choked on his own spit as he called out for help. But no one would hear him because the nearest neighbor was three miles away.
“I said, where’s the fucking safe?” Chyna asked again, twisting his balls with her left hand.
Albery pointed to the wall to the left of them.
Chyna motioned to Rene who had wrapped herself back in the coat. “Open it.”
Rene, scared half to death, hurried over to the wall. She removed the painting that Albery had pointed to and began fiddling with the digital combination lock.
“What’s the combination?” she yelled with shaky hands.
Chyna looked down at Albery who was turning colors. “You heard her!” she said, releasing his dick until more blood came gushing out.
Albery painfully called off the six digits and Rene punched them in. She waited nervously as the red light turned green. She opened the door, bucking her eyes at the bricks of money that lined the steel safe from top to bottom. She pulled out one of the bundles and tossed it to Chyna.
Chyna caught the package and then turned back around to face Albery. She was close enough to kiss him. She placed the hundred-thousand dollar package beside him. “You remember Donald Troy, now don’t you, Albery?”
The tears in Albery’s eyes began swimming down his face.
“You remember the money you stole from him? The life conviction you got him?”
Albery winced in pain.
“Say hello to his niece,” Chyna said. She lifted her hand above his throat, determined to finish him off when the sound of a gun rang heavily in her ears. She lowered her hand and forced herself to turn around.
Rene was shaking like a leaf as she held the gun that she had just pulled out of the safe, tightly in her hands. “Stop! You said we were coming here to take back the money he owed you. You didn’t say shit about killing anybody!”
Chyna eased her legs from around Albery’s body.
“Don’t you fucking move,” Rene warned.
Chyna couldn’t believe what was happening. “So what you gon’ do with that gun, huh? Shoot me?” Rene didn’t strike her as the type to hurt a fly, let alone shoot someone. Chyna took in a deep breath. “Rene, do us both a favor and start the fucking car while I finish what I came to do!”
Rene looked from Albery to Chyna. “Nobody’s dying here tonight.” She walked over to the phone and called 911. “I need an ambulance,” she rattled off, “at—” she glanced around the room, hoping to see something with his address on it. “It’s uh, uh …”
“Ma’am, I need the address so that I can get someone in route.”
“I don’t know it!” Rene yelled at the operator in frustration. She began calling out the landmarks that she remembered passing by. “Please, just hurry,” she said before hanging up.
Rene walked cautiously around the bed and over to the ice bucket with the gun trained in Chyna’s direction the entire time. She pulled out the chilling champagne bottle and tossed it to Chyna. “Put this on him,” she said, placing both hands back on the gun.
Chyna caught the bottle before it could hit her face. She roughly pushed it between Albery’s legs. “Rene, you don’t know what you’re doing,” she said, contemplating just how long it would take her to wrestle the gun away from Rene, empty the clip in her head, and then make a clean getaway before the cops showed up. She looked over at the clock. Her plane was due to take off in less than two hours. “You don’t understand what this man did to me. What he did to my family,” Chyna pleaded, trying to get into Rene’s head. “I’m not the bad guy here. Do you really think I could hurt someone just—”
“I know that you’re a fucking monster, and I want my life back!” Rene hollered insanely.
Chyna rose from the bed and took a walk down the green mile.
As Chyna got closer, Rene’s finger embraced the sensitive trigger tighter.
“You think you scaring me with that gun?”
Rene held onto her silence.
Chyna moved in closer. “You wouldn’t dare shoot me,” she threatened.
Rene could hear the ambulance from a distance.
Albery struggled to get the words out. “Kill her. There’s a million dollars …” he wheezed, “in that safe. It’s yours,” he uttered painfully.
Chyna scoffed, strongly believing that that wasn’t an option.
Rene, however, was unmoved. She could do whatever she wanted to do right now and get away with it. She considered all she had to gain and all she had to lose. It didn’t require much thought at all when Chyna lunged toward her. Without seeing it coming, Rene fired off a single shot.
Albery managed to lift himself from the bed. He limped over to where Rene stood, his stomach and midsection completely covered in blood. He eased the gun from her hands. “I’ll take care of this,” he slurred.
Rene looked at Albery and then down to Chyna who was still clinging on to life. The hole in her chest oozed blood as gurgling sounds escaped from her throat. Rene gasped. She couldn’t believe what she had done. Part of her couldn’t handle allowing a human being to die, but Chyna was no human being, she reasoned.
“I’ll clean this up,” Albery reassured her. “Gone. Get outta here.” His voice almost sounded hoarse. “Wait. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Rene looked over at the open safe then to the bed and at the bundle lying there. “I didn’t do it for the money,” she said. She started to leave but before she took another step, she turned back around to witness Albery load six more bullets into Chyna’s limp body before collapsing on top of her.
Trent spotted Illusion after rounding the block four times in a row. He wouldn’t be surprised if folks thought he was a trick the way he circled the strip.
Illusion was having one hell of a night. She had just made four hundred dollars and now she had another john honking at her. She walked over to the car but as the window powered down, the smile on her face instantly faded. “Get the fuck outta here, Trent!” she yelled, running back for the sidewalk. “Fuck!” she huffed.
“Illeshia, this ain’t you! You know that. C’mon now. Talk to me,” Trent said, riding his brakes. “I don’t want you seeing me like this. Please, just go!” she yelled, walking at a much faster pace.
Trent slammed the car into park, hit the hazard lights, and got out. He caught up to her. “Hold up! Gimme a minute to talk to you.”
Illusion wasn’t stopping. “What do you want from me?” she yelled.
“Your time,” Trent answered simply.
Illusion kept walking.
“Wait. I get it.” Trent began fiddling around in his pockets until he pulled out a wad of money. He shoved the money into her hands. “Here’s one hundred and forty-seven dollars. I know that’s less than what you’re used to, but I just want you to hear me out for a second,” he pleaded with her. “I ain’t asking for nothing else.”
Illusion stopped, exhaled and then rolled her eyes at him. She looked around her as she debated on what to do. “You have ten minutes,” she said finally.
Trent let out a sigh of relief. “It’ll only take me five.”
Eight Months Later
Sand a
nd Rene stood side by side in matching attire as they walked out of the church and down the flight of steps with flowers and ribbon twining down them. Rene wore a beautiful raspberry strapless dress that stopped just below her knees, with an attached chiffon sash. Her hair was styled in a sophisticated bun with pieces of baby’s breath sprouting out of it. She looked so beautiful and this was one of the happiest days of her life. On the other side of her, Sand looked equally stunning in an ivory and raspberry tux. Her hair was faded out and her diamond princess cuts shined from ear to ear.
Reaching that final step, Rene took her place to the left and Sand to the right. They smiled at each other, knowing what the other had in mind. Minutes later, their attention went back to the double doors in which they’d just come through.
Standing hand in hand were Shun and Carl, the newlyweds. Rene fanned at the tears jerking in her eyes. She lived for this moment since the day Shun told her that Carl proposed and finally, she was seeing the fruits of her labor. All the hard work that she had invested in planning the wedding, hiring the caterer, and seeing to it that everything went perfect was more than worth the migraines.
“Congratulations!” everybody yelled out to them, throwing bird seeds as the pair hurried past them and slipped into their waiting white limo. They were heading for the airport to catch a plane to where they’d be honeymooning in Jamaica.
“Come on, boys,” Rene said to her God children who joined in on the excitement. They all waved goodbye to their mother and new stepdad.
Illusion slowly got out of the car and walked over to the grayhaired woman sitting on the nearby park bench. She sat watching all the kids that played, but she focused on one in particular.
“Mama,” Illusion spoke first.
“Illeshia.”
“May I sit?”
“It’s a free country,” her mother spat coldly.
Illusion tried calming her nerves. She wanted to believe that
her showing up here today was not a mistake or a huge slap in the face. “Thank you for agreeing to let me see her.” Illusion’s mother didn’t bother looking up. She kept her attention on her granddaughter who was now swinging. “Be careful, sweetie!” she called out.
Illusion tucked in her bottom lip. Her showing up was difficult enough and now she struggled with what to say. She watched her daughter play freely. She was better off not knowing her real mother, Illusion had told Trent the second he suggested she go see her. He couldn’t have understood how hard this would be for her. She felt her insides twisting. She couldn’t take it anymore. Maybe she wasn’t ready to face her daughter after all these years. How would she make her understand her reasons for leaving her? Illusion didn’t have any of those answers. All she knew was that she wanted her baby in her life, but she didn’t even know where to start. She didn’t know how to be a mom. How to care. How to love. Talking herself out of why she shouldn’t be there, Illusion stood up to leave.
“So, it’s that easy, isn’t it?” Her mother finally turned to face her daughter in what felt like ages. Illusion looked healthier, taller, prettier, but most of all, she looked exactly like her. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have the answers for why I did what I did,” Illusion said, trying to push past the pain.
“I’m not talking about that,” her mother said. “I mean, why now? Why today?”
“Because I’m tired of waking up every morning of my life wondering if I died tomorrow, would my daughter miss me.” Tears began to trail down her face.
Her mother’s eyes softened.
“I lived that life! I’ve done everything in the book that there is to do! But I’ve changed. I’ve grown. I’m ready to turn the pages and move on to the next chapter,” Illusion said. “I’m ready to be a part of my child’s life.”
Her mother was quiet. She looked Illusion dead in the eyes when she told her, “I will do everything in my power to protect that child,” she said, pointing to Zakira. She retrieved a handkerchief from her purse. “Don’t cross this bridge if you aren’t ready to see what’s on the other side.”
Illusion inhaled the smell of autumn. In her heart, she was ready. More ready than she would ever be. “I’m ready to see the other side.”
Her mother placed her hand over her chest. “Zakira,” she called out. Her granddaughter came running.
“Yes, Nana?”
She took the child by her small hands. “Say hello to your mother.”
Zakira looked up at the strange woman. “Hi mama.”
Illusion bent down, wrapped the girl tightly in her arms and released all the tears within her. “Hi, baby girl,” she managed weakly, never wanting to let go.
Sand had been taking it easy since the shooting and she was thankful that she pulled through perfectly fine. Lying on that operating table, holding on to dear life, had changed her perspective on how she wanted to live out the rest of her days on earth. She realized how for so long she had taken so much for granted and how she had taken risks for the people in her life that meant nothing to her, but never gave those who meant everything to her equal gratification.
Those last few days she spent caged in that hospital room gave her the answers she’d been looking for all of her life. And now, as she watched the woman who meant so much to her sleep so peacefully sound, she knew that she was making a decision that would alter the rest of her life. She refused to wake up tomorrow wishing she would’ve taken that chance on love.
“Rene, baby, wake up. I have somebody I want you to meet.” Rene wiped her eyes. Staring up at Sand brought a smile to her face. “What time is it?” She thought about the last joke Sand pulled on her and then checked the clock for herself. “Baby, are you serious? It’s seven in the morning.”
“Come on. Get dressed.” Rene shook her head and dragged herself out of bed. She went in the bathroom, freshened up, threw on a t-shirt and jeans, then made her way across the hardwood floors of their new apartment, yawning. She saw Sand hunched over on the living room floor and immediately thought something was wrong. “Sand!” she yelled. “Are you o—”
Sand took Rene by the hands as she positioned herself on one bended knee. Rene’s watery eyes meant that she was all too familiar with what was getting ready to take place. She took a deep breath and tried to relax as best she could. Her hands weren’t sturdy, but Sand managed to calm them with her opening line.
“Rene, I love you with all my heart. I’ve loved you since the first day we met, the first day we kissed, and the first time you allowed me to make you mines. I’ve loved you over and over again. It took me almost dying to realize that I have the most precious thing that one could ever ask for. I have a woman who loves me. Me and only me. Rene, I don’t want you to ever stop loving me. I want this love we have for each other to last forever, even when our days on earth are done.” Sand pulled her mother’s wedding ring from her pocket. “This ring belonged to my mother.” She sniffed.
“It’s okay,” Rene said, her aching eyes sympathizing with her girlfriend.
Sand held onto Rene’s left ring finger. “She left this to me in her will.” As more tears fell, she fought through them and slipped the diamond onto Rene’s finger. “Rene.”
“Yes?”
“Will you be my forever?”
“Yes! Yes, I will.” Rene wrapped her hands around Sand’s face and kissed her. Their tongues danced around each other’s passionately. Just as hands began to roam, Finesse came out of nowhere, pretending to clear her throat.
Rene jumped. She hadn’t heard or seen anyone behind them. She watched as Finesse wheeled over a white man in a wheelchair. Rene was confused. She quickly looked up at Sand with questions in her eyes.
“Baby,” Sand said, “I’d like you to meet my father.”
Rene’s eyes widened with surprise. She was shocked and nearly speechless. “Mr. Ross,” she began. She was so shook up that the words wouldn’t leave her mouth quick enough. “It’s such an honor to finally meet you, sir.” She reached for his han
d.
Mr. Ross pulled himself up with Finesse’s help. He stood to his feet. “Do you love my daughter, child?”
Rene batted her eyes. “Yes sir. Very much.”
Mr. Ross opened his arms and extended a hug. “Well, now I have two daughters instead of one.”
Sand joined in on their hug and Finesse fell in as well. It was at that moment that Rene knew what it felt like to have a family. She leaned in and kissed Sand again. “Thank you for never giving up on us.”
Sand blinked backed a tear. “I always knew you were the one. I thank you for giving me time to grow up and letting me come home,” she said, placing Rene’s hand over her own heart.
“I love you so much,” Rene said again.
“I love you too. Always ...”
Rene finished the sentence. “And forever.”
I always seem to draw a blank when it comes to this part. Not because I don’t have anyone to thank, but because I’m afraid I’ll leave someone out. So before my memory escapes me, I want to first give glory and praise where it’s due. I thank God for taking me through all the trials and tribulations that I had to endure at such a young age. He tested my patience, my strength, but most of all, my faith. Now as I set out on my next journey, I want all of you to know that I appreciate the love you showed me during the labor pains and final delivery of Stud Princess, Notorious Vendettas. It’s all for you babies.
Rolling Credits Cory Williams (Hubby)
Joan Burke Stanford (Editor & Friend)
Mark Harris (Business Mgr.)
Marion Designs (Graphic Artist & Typesetter) Oddball Designs (Graphic Artist)
Torrian Ferguson (Literary Friend & Publisher) Mary HoneyB Morrison (Literary Mentor) Trice Hickman (Literary Mentor)
Lesley E. Hal (Co-Author)
Vernella Henry
Shirley, Donaldten, Demarcus, Kadriona, Javontay, Antorio, Satoria aka Candy (Sister & Proofreader)