“Something interesting happened,” Michelle said. “The police didn’t book me on your word. Here you’re all shot up, saying I did it, and they didn’t even book me. Why do you think they let me go like that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because I’m not that stupid. Do you think I wouldn’t have a rock-solid alibi when I came at you? What do you think now? Do you think I have a rock-solid alibi for Nikky and me this time?”
“Yeah, I guess . . .” The last bit of hope left Jerome’s eyes.
“So now do you believe you’ll live because I say you will? And you better believe I’ll kill you if you tell the police we’ve been here. Doesn’t matter what happens. If you tell the police, you’ll be dead. Do you believe both of these things, you stupid, ignorant muthafucka?”
“Yes.”
“Now step out of your pants and lie down on the bed, spread-eagle-like.”
Jerome dropped his pajama bottoms and lay face down with his arms and legs stretched out.
“Roll over and scoot down a foot. I want you face up to see what’s happening.”
He rolled over and scooted down.
“Reach over and put your right hand through the tie wrap and pull it tight. Remember, you do what I tell you and you’ll live.”
Again, he did what he was told.
When Jerome was fully stretched out and all four points were firmly tied down, Michelle lowered her gun.
“All this here — being tied to your bed — this is what happens when you don’t trust me. If the police come knocking on my door, it doesn’t matter what they say or ask. I’ll be out free, and you, you’ll pay a big price. You really need to trust this one. If you touch any of my friends, you’ll pay the price. I have lots of friends, and each time the price is more. Last — and this is a truth — I’m going to shoot you today. Do you believe that?
Jerome rolled his head, looking back and forth at the plastic cuffs around his wrist. “Please don’t shoot me. Not again.”
“Look at me, Jerome,” Michelle said.
He looked at her.
“Answer my question. Do you believe me on all of these things?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“I trust you’ll kill me if I tell the police you’ve been here. You’ll jack me worse than today if I hit any of your friends. You’re gonna shoot me now, but I’m gonna live.”
“Do you believe that’s true?”
“Yes. You’ve been true on everything you’ve said since I met you. I gotta believe what you say now is all true.”
“Good. You and Deja are done for good. Don’t go around her ever again. She talks to you on the street, you say ‘yes, ma’am; no, ma’am,’ real polite. Then you disappear your skank-ass. You got that?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to shoot you in the balls. Only take one. Leave you one. I’ll put a pressure bandage on your shit and call an ambulance. I’ll even cut one hand free for you to keep the pressure on it until the ambulance shows up. You’ll live.”
Jerome’s hands and legs shook and Michelle recognized it as the adrenaline flooding through him.
“No, please, I swear . . . I swear on the set, on everything I love. You don’t need to do this. I did all of them things you said, but please don’t shoot my balls.”
“Jerome, you’re a liar. You’re a skank-ass liar. If I don’t shoot you now, you’ll think I’m a bitch you can get over on. No, you’re getting shot today. Fact is, I should kill you, here and now. Do you have any idea why I don’t kill you right now?”
“No.”
“You earned this little treatment here today. You earned worse than this, but Deja had hopes you were a good guy. She cared for you, and you shit on her. Because she had feelings for you, you get to live. I ought to kill you for hurting her and for the other shit you did. But she asked me not to, so you’re getting off easy with paying a smaller price than what you’ve got coming.”
“No, I swear,” his voice cracking, “I’ll never do no shit like I’ve done, never again.”
“We’ll see what happens in the future. But now, here, we need to finish this shit up. The only thing left is to decide who has the privilege of doing the job we’re here to do. You don’t mind we use a coin from your pocket to flip for it, do you?”
Michelle tossed the coin and Nikky called it.
“Nikky won,” Michelle told Jerome. “I think that’s probably best. She’s the one who personally has the biggest reason for a sister’s revenge on your ass.” She stepped back.
Nikky walked over and looked Jerome right in the eye. “Don’t move. I don’t want to shoot your dick off. Now say goodbye to your left nut.”
Nikky lined up the gun, then moved around the bed and tried again. “Um, how do I just hit one?”
“No,” Jerome started, “you don’t need to do this at all, I’ve learned my lesson, I prom—”
“Shut up.” Michelle pointed the barrel of her gun at Jerome’s chest, over his heart. “Not another word.”
She turned to Nikky. “This might be too hard of a shot to start with. We’ll spend some time on the range, teaching you how to slow your heart rate to help keep your hand steady. But for now, maybe it’s better for me to do it. What do you think?”
“The only thing is,” Nikky said, “if I don’t do it now, this asswipe might think I don’t have the balls to shoot him.”
Jerome’s eyes were wide as he shook his head.
“No, I think he can see you’re serious, and it’s a matter of wanting to do the job right.”
Jerome nodded several times.
“Tell you what,” Michelle said. “Since you’re being so conscientious, you can help, and together well get it done right.”
“Okay,” Nikky said.
Michelle went into the bathroom and brought back a towel. “Grab his dick and pull it off to the side, then cover your hand and arm with this. You don’t want his blood on you.”
Nikky did as instructed.
Michelle looked at Jerome. Tears ran down the sides of his face. “Understand this, asshole, this is your last — your absolute, very last — warning shot. You hurt any of my friends, or any woman, and I hear about it, you’ll be dead before you hear me coming.
Puhffiitt!
* * *
Steam wafted from several large bowls and dishes piled high with delicious-smelling food set in the center of the Nguyen’s dining room table.
“What did you call this again?” Nikky asked.
“We call the soup ‘fuh,’ like you would say ‘duh’ but with an ‘f’ like in ‘funny.’ If you see it on a menu at a Vietnamese café, it’s spelled p-h-o,” Mrs. Nguyen explained. She picked something out of the soup that looked like a piece of a white plastic straw. “This is lemongrass. You don’t eat it. Just put it on the side of your dish.”
“Sort of like the bay leaf in spaghetti sauce?” Nikky asked.
“Exactly.” Mrs. Nguyen offered Nikky a serving plate piled high with colorful sliced vegetables and meat. “And the other dish is bò lúc lắc. It’s pronounced baa, luke, lock. It’s thinly sliced beef, stir-fried in light oil with bell peppers, onions, and some spices. Do you like it?”
“Everything is delicious!” Nikky said. “I’m definitely checking out more of your kind of food. They told me you were going to have octopus tentacles.” She hooked a thumb at Michelle and G-Baby. “They’re so full of shit.”
“Well, we don’t get much octopus. It’s very expensive in this country so we mostly eat the tentacles of squid. They are quite delicious, as is the rest of the squid. You have to spit out the beak because it’s too hard to chew. Maybe if you come back, I will make you some. We have a dish similar to bò lúc lắc made with squid.”
“Michelle told us you eat baby chickens, dead in the egg. Is that for real?”
“Are you interested in the chicks in the shell? You can get them at most Asian markets. Ask the clerk for hot vit lon. Would you like me t
o write down the name for you, dear?”
It was clear there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell Nikky would ever eat vit lon.
Equally clear, Mrs. Nguyen enjoyed teasing her about it.
Tuan and G-Baby had had a successful day of fishing.
Michelle and Nikky, well . . . they had an extremely full day.
Overall, it’d been a long and interesting day for everyone.
.
Twenty-Eight: Trouble Brewing
“ONE CHEESBURGER WITH THE WORKS.” Scott sat the burger and fries in front of Deja. “A Chef salad, with ranch on the side for you.” He set Michelle’s food in front of her. “And for Miss Nikky, the house specialty, one club sandwich. I added some fries along with the chips just in case you wanted them.” Scott smiled and laid her plates on the table, adding, “And drinks all around — an A&W, a Pepsi and a Pepsi.”
After Scott left, Deja asked Nikky, “What was that?”
“What?”
“I didn’t get free fries and called by name, that’s what.”
“He’s just being nice.”
Deja smirked. “Hmm . . .”
“I’ve been thinking about Jerome,” Michelle said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him.”
“Jerome’s a coward and a liar,” Nikky said. “He only said that stuff about doing right because he was scared shitless. Guaranteed, as soon as that sonuvabitch is back on the streets, he’ll be looking to cause trouble.”
“She’s right,” Deja said. “You don’t know that man like I do. Maybe he won’t talk to the police this time, but he’ll have to do something. Since the ambulance had to take him out, everybody will know he got shot. You know how it is in the hood. By now, word’s out that he got tied to his own bed and shot in the balls.”
“Since people will know how he got shot, he’s got to show he can do something.” Nikky added. “If he lets that shit slide, he’ll get dissed, bad. He couldn’t stand that. He won’t have any choice, he has to do something if he wants to stay in the hood.”
“You were right,” Michelle said. “Killing him wasn’t right for what he did, but we couldn’t let him get away with it, either. Shooting off his ball was rather extreme. You’d think he’d get smart after that.”
Deja nodded. “Yeah, he definitely had it coming. I’m glad y’all did that shit. All I’m saying is he’ll come back at us, and we’ve got to be ready.”
“What do you think?” Michelle asked.
“First, Jerome’s a coward. He won’t go against us alone,” Nikky said. “He’ll talk shit to anyone who’ll listen to try to get someone to back him up.”
Deja scoffed. “Nobody with juice will back his play.”
“You’re right on that,” Nikky said. “No matter, because he’ll talk to whoever he can. You know the kind of trifling men who’ll listen to him. The kind who’s not doing shit, but thinks their woman is supposed to take care of them just because they’re men. They’ll be dangerous if they’re all emotional and pissed.”
“And you can bet they’ll be scared and act real pissed because some woman shot a man’s shit off,” Deja added. “I think we should get some backup.”
“She’s right,” Michelle said. “Word will spread, and the brothers’ll be scared. When an ignorant fool gets scared, he’ll start out being jumpy and stupid, then he’ll turn mean. Sad truth is, there are a lot of ignorant fools around.”
“I agree,” Nikky said. “You’re telling it like it is. I know how childish they can be. What do y’all want to do about this?”
Michelle paused, spread her hands, and shook her head. “Really? I think we need to think of it as a women’s thing. I mean, we don’t have any men who can watch our backs. Deja was only with Jerome.” She nodded to Nikky. “You’re not with anybody regular, and I don’t even live here.”
“That’s all true,” Nikky said.
“Without any men in our lives, we don’t have any real way of knowing what the brothers are up to. If we stay alone like we are, we won’t know when something’s coming.”
“What about your uncle, G-Baby?” Deja asked. “He should hear something at the barbershop. He’ll tell you if anything’s jumping off, right?”
“Sure he would,” Michelle said, “if he hears it in time. Everything that happens in the hood gets talked about in his shop — sometimes before it happens; most times, after it’s all done. We need to know what’s coming before the shit goes down.”
“So, we need more help than just him,” Nikky said.
“Right. I can holla at Baby-Sister,” Michelle said. “She and G-Baby have been getting tight. She might help. She works over at B’s Salon. The women sit around and talk about the menfolk.”
Nikky nodded. “That’s good, real good, but most of the women in Miss B’s are older. They won’t be in the mix with the pricks we’re dealing with. But you’re right about the women. The younger sisters sit around talking about their men, same as the older ones do. Sisters spending time in bed with their men will hear the grumbling long before it jumps off. We’ll need to hook up with any sister who could have a problem if their man starts getting ideas from Jerome.”
“That sounds really good, Nikky, real smart,” Deja said. “But how do we know who they are, and how do we get them to help us?”
“Good question. Got any ideas, Michelle?”
A smile spread across Michelle’s face. “Yeah, I think I might know just the thing.”
* * *
Michelle rang the bell at Miss Betty’s townhouse-style apartment. A moment later, Miss Betty opened the door. “Well, I’ll be, Michelle. What a nice surprise.”
“Hey, Miss Betty, how’re you doing?”
“I’m doing fine, child. Doing fine. And who’s that with you?” She looked past Michelle. “Deja? Is that you? I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays.” Miss Betty gave her a church-lady guilt frown.
“And who else do we have here?” Her gaze shifted over to the other side of Michelle. “Nikky, Nikky Harris? Where in the world have you children been? Y’all come on in out of the weather. The news said there’s a summer storm coming in and it’s about to turn nasty.” Miss Betty stepped aside to let the three friends into her home. “What can I get you? I’ve got iced tea, lemonade, or I can make some hot tea.”
“Is it your famous ‘picnic’ tea?” Michelle asked. Miss Betty’s iced tea was so sweet, the ants tried to carry it off.
“Course it is, child. What other kind is there?”
“I’ll have some of that,” Michelle said.
“Me, too,” Deja added.
“Me, three,” Nikky chimed in.
They all moved into the dining room and sat down at Miss Betty’s big table. She served up her picnic tea with slices of her best lemon cake. No one could visit Miss Betty without her feeding them something.
“All right, ladies.” Miss Betty took a seat across from Michelle and looked at each of the friends, one by one. “What’s this all about?”
With that, Michelle brought Miss Betty up-to-date on the Jerome situation and how they were concerned about what could happen if he got some of the brothers in the hood riled up and acting out. She left out the part about who shot Jerome.
“Some men will think Jerome had it coming,” Michelle said. “We’re worried that there might be some who’ll act like fools. They might even start acting out with their women. The women in the hood need to know this could blow up.”
“Well, that does sound like a fine mess,” Miss Betty said when Michelle finished her story. “What do you girls want to do?”
“At first, we wanted to make a list of the women most likely to need our help, but that list would be huge,” Nikky said. “Our next choice is those most likely to help us. And they’ve got to understand the police can’t be involved, so that’ll take some of them off. Once we have a good, solid list, we’ll tell them what happened to Jerome and why. Then ask them to pay special attention to any shit-talking from their man on the issu
e.”
“Where y’all getting this list from?” Miss Betty asked.
“That’s where you come in,” Michelle said. “We need help with creating the list. Between us, we know a lot of women our age, but that’s not enough. We hoped you would want to help. Sorry to bring up old memories, Miss Betty, but I know you’ve had some experience with this sort of thing a long time ago, and understand how a fool can act stupid for no real reason.”
Miss Betty nodded. “You’re right, they’re old memories, and bad ones, too.”
“Also, you know most everybody in the hood.”
“That I do. And everybody knows me, because I’ve been here since most of these fools were in diapers.” Not only did she know everyone, and their mommas, she also knew who was honest, who was a liar, who had heart, and who was a born coward. “Lots of people come to me to learn what’s happening, and I’m usually the one who can tell them, too. One thing’s for sure, I’ll keep this type of thing to myself.”
Miss Betty knew two types of secrets: those that begged to be spread far and wide, and those that were nobody’s business. If someone did any dirty business, or if a minister had an affair, it was all over but the shouting; the news would hit the streets before whoever it was had their lies straight. A woman in trouble is a whole different thing; she could trust her life to Miss Betty.
“We were hoping you might see your way to help us with this problem,” Michelle said.
“Lemme see . . . You need a couple things,” Miss Betty said, adding a bit of drama. “You need to figure out who you can hook up with and you’ll need to meet someplace where it won’t draw special attention. Good you came to me because I can help you better than just about anyone else.”
“Thank you.” Michelle nodded in respect and gratitude. “We appreciate your help, Miss Betty.”
“Well, girl, we women have to stick together. I had me a really good man for many years, God bless his soul. Before me and Big John got married, my first husband treated me really bad.”
From the time they were young, single girls, Michelle’s mother and Miss Betty had gone to the same church, and Michelle knew the story of how Miss Betty’s first husband put her in the hospital several times. It was one of the biggest reasons Miss Betty would always help a woman in need.
Hard Revenge: Action Adventure Pulp Thriller Book #1 (Michelle Angelique) Page 17