Partnerz in Crime

by Kareem

  “Damn, you so right,” I cut in just to agree. It made me briefly think about many cats we knew still in the joint with thirty years and life sentences and shit. Cats who may never see the light of freedom if something didn’t change for them. Not to mention the many street cats who had lost their lives chasing that almighty dollar while in the drug game and a part of that thug life. This was a beautiful moment for Hammer and me. I felt exactly where he was coming from. He wanted us to savor it.

  “Again, inhale and exhale the air of freedom, my nigga. Nothing can stop us from doing so now, but us.”

  Part 2

  Eight Years Later

  Chapter 30

  “Whatever you do, O, I would advise you to not tell your father about this,” Shamika warned, standing before her crying and distraught daughter.

  “I have to tell Dad. It’s the only way this is going to be rectified,” Olivia tearfully replied.

  Shamika placed her hands on each side of Olivia’s shoulders and leaned in slightly, locking eyes with her. “O, listen to me. I’m your mother. I know your father. He—”

  “I know him too, Mom.”

  “Yes, you do. Which means you know, O, that if you inform him about what happened to you, your father is going to kill those two guys. Now, do you want your father going back to prison, possibly for the rest of his life, for doing something crazy?”

  “Mom, are you serious right now?” O shot back with a stomp of her foot to the floor for emphasis. “I was forced to do something that I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life! Two men raping me! Dad has got to know about it. He’s the only one, he and my uncle, who can get me justice.”

  “Why didn’t you just call the cops, O?”

  “Mom, I was drunk! I didn’t even realize what had been done until one of the guys, who was supposed to be my boyfriend, showed it to me the next day.”

  “He recorded it?”

  “On his phone, yes! All calling the cops would have done was publicize my shame. I would become a walking public spectacle, viewed as sluttish all over my college campus. I can’t afford to be vilified.”

  There was silence for a moment. Shamika was trying to figure out what could be done other than calling Korey, but nothing registered other than Olivia should have called the cops.

  “Besides, Mom,” Olivia said, interrupting her mother’s thoughts on the matter, “Dad told me that if I ever have a problem, wherever I am, to call you, him, or uncle Hammer about it. So I called you. You want me to call the cops but, Mom, I don’t trust the cops to handle this. I trust my father. That’s who I’m calling.”

  “Your father is not law enforcement, O.”

  “In my life, he is! Especially when it comes to something like this. You and I both know, Mom, that if law enforcement gets involved with this, they’re gonna see me on that video doing something I would have never done in my right mind. They’re gonna drag this thing out. Defense attorneys, in a long, drawn-out trial, will paint the picture of me being some type of promiscuous girl who, while in a drunken stupor, had sex with two guys willingly. Even if I were to get them convicted, I would have been so embarrassed that it would be unbearable for me to live with. I’m just gonna have to trust my father’s judgment on this one because I am calling him.”

  Shamika inhaled and exhaled hard. Her head was beginning to throb with pain over this. She walked over to her drawer and retrieved an Extra Strength Tylenol. She took it with a swig of ginger ale.

  “You know, O,” she said, turning back around to face her daughter, “your father and your uncle Hammer don’t need any unnecessary drama in their lives right now. Look at them. They’re running a very successful record label now. They’re no longer a part of that life and trouble that sent them to prison. They’re completely legit. People like their recording artists and others are depending on them to be there for them for the sake of their careers flourishing. Why ruin that by telling him what happened to you? He’s only going to approach the situation with no understanding. That’s the way of your father and your uncle Hammer. They will kill over you.”

  “No one deserves to be mistreated, Mom. Some men think that they can treat a woman any kind of way and get away with it. I think that’s where a dad like mine comes in.”

  Olivia dialed her father’s number with Shamika looking on. Shamika inhaled and exhaled through her nostrils, knowing the drama dialing Korey’s number would bring. She wanted to snatch the phone from O’s hand and stomp it with her foot on the floor, but she knew that her daughter was extremely hurt and disgusted over what happened to her. Shamika didn’t like it herself but, in her mind, her place as Olivia’s mother was to comfort her, not seek revenge like she was a vigilante.

  She listened as O began to talk on the phone, crying and sniffling.

  “Daddy,” she said after Korey answered his phone. “I need to see you.”

  “Is everything okay, baby girl? What’s up? Talk to me.”

  “Nooo, everything’s not okay. Can you come over to Mom’s? I been here since early this morning. I need to talk to you.”

  “Where’s your mother?”

  “She’s right here.”

  “Put her on the phone.”

  Olivia handed Shamika the phone. “Hello?”

  “Mika, what’s up, baby?”

  “Over here with O. She drove in from Chapel Hill early this morning.”

  “She told me, but what’s wrong with her? Why is she sounding sad and crying? Talk to me.”

  “She’ll tell you when you get here, Korey. I’ma leave it at that.”

  “I’ll be over there in less than an hour. Bye!”

  * * *

  Korey hopped in his Benz with KJ riding shotgun. He’d been in a recording session that he decided to wrap up earlier due to Olivia calling and asking him to come over to her mother’s place. He knew that She’Cute, an up-and-coming R&B young female artist he and Hammer were working closely with, had a CD due out very soon. She had two more tracks to lay, which were supposed to be completed by tomorrow, and no later than the day after. But Olivia was like a goddess in his life.

  At twenty-two years old, she still had him bowing at her every beck and call. Part of Korey being there for her so voraciously had a lot to do with the fact that she was his one and only daughter. He believed that a father should spoil his daughter, no exception. Moreover, Korey was at O’s every beck and call because he was still feeling the guilt of being out of her life those twelve years he served in the joint. She’Cute’s CD would have to wait if it came down to him being there for O.

  “Daddy, where are we rushing off to in such a hurry?” KJ asked.

  “We’re going to see your sister.”

  “Oh. We going to her college like we did last month when we surprised her for her birthday?” he said with excitement in his voice. He loved his sister very much.

  “No. She’s at her mother’s. We’re going over there.”

  “In Mint Hill?”

  “Yeah. Look, call your mother on your phone and see what she’s doing.”

  “Okay.” He retrieved his phone from his pocket and dialed her number. While he was doing so, Korey’s phone vibrated.

  “What’s up, yo?” he answered, seeing that it was Hammer.

  “Ay. You a’ight? She’Cute said you had to make a run, wrapping her session up earlier. What’s up?”

  “Yeah, I did. O phoned me crying, said she needs to talk to me. She’s at Shamika’s. Something’s wrong.”

  “You think so?”

  “Know so. She didn’t drive all the way from UNC just to talk. I know my baby girl better than that.”

  “I feel you. Well, let me know what’s up when you find out.”

  “I got you, you know that. By the way, you still over at the studio with Mad Loot, right?”

  “Yeah, Mad recording now. That cat nasty, K.”

  “Of course he is. That’s why we signed him.”

  “The boy gone’ blow up something nic
e, K.”

  “Might be the next Lil Wayne.”

  “Or better, yo.”

  “Just like She’Cute might be the next Mary J.B.,” Korey added. “The girl like that!”

  “Man, they both got the juice, K.”

  “Oh, yeah, what I was getting to, though, was since you’re still over at the studio with Mad . . . Well, first, is She’Cute still there? She told me that she was gonna hang around. Did she leave?”

  “She’s here.”

  “Cool. Look, Ham, have her and Mad go ahead and lay that track they wrote together.”

  “Talkin’ ’bout that joint ‘Shining’?”

  “Yeah. She’Cute told me that she perfected the hook on that joint. From my understanding, that’s all Mad was waiting on to complete it.”

  “Yeah, it was. I’ll have them get on it as soon as Mad finishes the track he’s spitting on now.”

  “A’ight, bet that. I’ll hit you up about what’s what with O after I talk with her.”

  “A’ight. Oh, and before you go, K, your babe just walked in. She’s on the phone, though.”

  “She did? More than likely, she’s on the horn with KJ. I just told him to call her. Tell her I’ll see her later.”

  “A’ight, holla, yo.”

  “Daddy, Mama asked what time are you going to have me back home?”

  “Tell her I said I got this and that I will have you back home before nightfall. I know it’s a school night.”

  KJ relayed his father’s message to his mother. Seconds later, they were pulling up into Shamika’s driveway where, parked directly behind her BMW minivan, they saw Olivia’s white Porsche. He and Hammer had bought it six years ago for her sixteenth birthday.

  Maybe my baby girl just pregnant and, being that this is her fourth year toward obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she’s debating whether or not to have the baby. If that be the case, I’m not fucking signing off on her having no damn abortion. Career or no career. I love kids too much to not wanna see their beautiful faces on this earth, Korey said to himself before turning the car off and stepping out with KJ alongside him. “Lord, let this be good,” he silently prayed. “Please let this be good.”

  Chapter 31

  Shamika was sitting next to Olivia on her midnight black soft leather sofa set with Olivia’s hand in hers when Korey and KJ walked in. Both of them looked to have been crying to Korey. They had been.

  “Hey, Mama Mika,” KJ greeted Shamika with open arms. He loved himself some Shamika, who has embraced him with love ever since he was born.

  “Hey, KJaaaay,” she greeted him back, stretching his J initial and smiling, happy to see him. She gave him a big hug. Korey hadn’t brought him over for like two weeks. This was because Korey and Hammer had been away with several of their artists on tour in New York City, New Jersey, Philly, Baltimore, DC, and Virginia.

  “Hey, sis,” he greeted Olivia, wrapping his arms around her neck.

  “What’s up, boy?” She hugged and kissed him. “What you been up to?”

  “Rappin’ in the studio. Dad and uncle Hammer both said that when I step my skills up, they’re going to let me record a CD.”

  “So you wanna be a rapper, huh?”

  “Not wanna be. I’m gonna be, sis. What? You don’t know?” KJ looked her up and down and said. Then he looked at his dad who was giving Shamika a hug and a kiss. “Dad, you better tell my sister about me. Can I rap or not, Daddy?”

  “You working with a li’l some-somethin’,” Korey vouched for him, nodding.

  “Whateva.” Olivia playfully pushed him softly at his forehead.

  “I can rap. You’ll see one day.”

  “If I know Dad correctly, you’ll be ‘rapping’ your life around getting some knowledge on how to run a successful company. Spell ‘rapper.’”

  “R-a-double-p-e-r.”

  “Ohhh,” Korey said out loud with his fist to his mouth, happy that his almost seven-year-old son could spell very well.

  “Okay, okay.” Olivia smiled hard. So did Shamika. “I might have to take you out to eat on me for that one! That was good. I’m proud of you!” She hugged him again.

  “My mama makes sure I do all my homework. Dad be on me about taking my education serious as well. Mama Mika does too.”

  “That’s right, KJ,” Shamika said. “Because, at the end of the day, ignorance is a cure for nothing. Now, do me a favor, KJ, and come out here with me and help me water my flower garden,” she said, looking at Korey and winking her eye.

  “Okay.”

  KJ followed Shamika outside to her flower garden. Korey knew that Shamika asked KJ to help her water her flowers only so that he and Olivia could be alone. At the moment, Korey understood that whatever Olivia needed to talk to him about, it had to be serious.

  He kissed her on her forehead and sat as close to her as he could. “So, what’s on your mind?” Korey asked her.

  She looked at him, took a deep breath, then dropped her head in the palms of her hands and began crying.

  Korey placed his arm around her shoulder. “Baby girl, lift your head and tell your daddy why you’re shedding tears. You can talk to me. That’s what I’m here for. What’s wrong?”

  Olivia lifted her head and face from her palms. She wiped her tearstained cheeks and looked her father in the eyes as best she could. “My boyfriend, Daddy, he took advantage of me while I was drunk at a party he had and—”

  “What do you mean, he took advantage of you? Are you telling me he raped you?” Korey cut in with hot anger beginning to surface with jet-like speed at the thought of someone violating her.

  She dropped her head again and buried her face in her palms, crying.

  “Did he rape you, Olivia?” The volume of Korey’s voice raised as he asked her for a second time, fearing the worst answer.

  She nodded, with her face still inside her palms. “Yes, sir,” she tearfully confirmed. “Yes.”

  “Look at me right now, O.” He reached and gently placed her hands in his as she looked into her father’s eyes as best she could through her tears. Her father’s eyes were stone cold at this point. She’d never seen them look that way. “Tell me exactly what happened. I wanna know everything. And, O, don’t you leave nothing out. Now, what happened?”

  Olivia wiped her cheeks with her palm and said, “My boyfriend threw a party at an apartment he has in Chapel Hill. A lot of people were there, and we all were drinking heavily. It was his twenty-first birthday. Some of his boys were there. One of them was like his very best friend who is home on leave from the military.”

  “Okay, O, just get to what happened. Get to him violating you,” Korey rushed her. Even though he had told her to tell him everything, the anger that was surfacing within him had him growing increasingly impatient. For he found it extremely difficult to look into his baby girl’s pretty eyes and face and know that someone did the unthinkable to her. He wanted her to get straight to the heart of the situation now, without delay.

  “Okay, so when the party was over and everyone left, he asked me would I stay. I told him I didn’t mind. Mainly because I was pissy drunk and unfit to get behind the wheel. Anyway, like I said, everyone had left. Only him, his best friend from the military, and I were there. He asked me if I would do him a favor for his birthday. I told him yes, I would do anything for him on his special day. He said, ‘Then make my best friend and me happy. Give us both blowjobs.’ I told him that I cannot do that because I’m not having sex of any kind until I’m married. That’s when he pulled a gun out, put it to my head, and forced me to blow him and his best friend or he would kill me! He even recorded me blowing the both of them, but the recording doesn’t show him with a gun. But he had one. The following day, he showed me the recording. He told me that he was just playing with the gun and that he wasn’t really gonna kill me.”

  “Did they have intercourse with you, too? Be honest.”

  “Dad, I wouldn’t lie to you about any of this. They just wanted blowjobs. And I did it
because I was drunk and scared.”

  “Had your boyfriend done something like this before to you?”

  “Never. I believe his military buddy put him up to it. Mama told me that I should have called the police, but I remember what you told me years ago. You said if I ever have a problem of any sort to tell Mama, you, or Uncle Hammer.”

  “That’s correct. To hell with the cops. They don’t love you like I love you.”

  “So I told Mama. Then I told her I was calling to tell you.”

  “You did right. Listen, what happened to you was not your fault, you hear me?”

  Olivia nodded with tears running down her face.

  “Some guys are just straight up ignorant, with no real respect for a lady. Now, tell me, O, do you love this boyfriend of yours?”

  “I thought I did because, like I said, he has never asked me to do what he asked me to do. He has always been like real nice to me. I know his military buddy put him up to do what he forced me to do.”

  “Well, that’s bullshit. No one can make you do something like he forced you to do if he didn’t want to do it. I don’t give a damn how nice he’s been to you previously. Guys are notorious for being nice one minute, then dirtball nasty the next. A real man, with real love for you, would never do no shit like that to his woman. What’s his name?”

  “David. David Blakely.”

  “What about his friend?”

  “I heard him call him Tim.”

  “Is Tim older than him?”

  “Yes, sir. Like two years older, I think.”

  “Where does he stay? This Tim guy. You know?”

  “I think on a military base in Fayetteville. I can find out. See, my boyfriend—well, my ex now—he doesn’t know that I’m really upset about what he made me do because I downplayed it when he showed me the recording on his phone. I just pretended it didn’t affect me because I was drunk. But, deep inside, I knew I was gonna contact you about it.”

  “I want you to keep your composure about this. You only have, what? Two more months before you graduate college?”

  “One more month.”

  “Good. I want you to get that recording, even if it means you steal his phone.”