by Onyxx Black
“What the fuck?” I stepped out of the shower butt naked and looked at him like he had lost his mind. “No cell phones. I’ll explain when we get there.” Like I said, I was rolling with it. Rolling my eyes too, but I was rolling with it.
I had on a pair of black leggings and a black long sleeve T-shirt, looking like something out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kenyon had on almost the same thing except for his jeans, which hung on his frame loosely. “What are we doing?” He put his keys to the Charger on the table and slid a pair of keys from the hook by the back door.
“Going on our date. After I get you out of Indianapolis.”
“What?” I screamed, just as a series of gunshots rang out at the front of the house. Kenyon grabbed me from behind, putting his hand over my mouth. “Get in the car and put the key in the ignition. Do not turn the key, do not start the car. Do you hear me?” His raspy voice whispered in my ear. I nodded, scared out of my mind. “Go!” He opened the door and pushed me out, getting on his knees on the ground. I ran crouched down, to the car and put the key in the ignition just like he told me to. Who the fuck wanted him dead?
I jumped up out of my sleep searching the bedroom for Kenyon. His side of the bed was cold and the duffle bag in the corner was gone too. Shit! I tip-toed from to the edge of the stairs when I heard him arguing with another man.
At the last step I could see a man who favored August Alsina standing toe to toe with Kenyon. “I was at home with Bri. You remember Bri, my little bitch from the Girl’s center. She’s a full sting now, but she still can suck dick. I got her out in the car right now so I need the bag.” I assumed he meant the duffle bag.
“Hell naw, nigga I’m not giving you shit. Where the fuck is everything else I gave you? Yo’ mothafuckin’ ass can’t even deliver to yo’ goddamn clients on time, but you got the nerve to tell me what you need. Get the fuck out of my face.” Kenyon turned to walk toward the kitchen but stopped midway. “And before I forget the next time you send a fuckin’ sting to my car window, I’m capping your ass and his.” I didn’t think that was a smart move, considering the gun on ol’ boy’s hip, but I guess Kenyon was the Alpha male of the two.
“Aight, man chill. My bad it won’t happen again. Where yo’ homeboy at? He told me we were double dating tonight, but I haven’t heard shit from him.”
“Geno? Nigga I been trying to ask you the same damn thing all day.” I could tell Kenyon was irritated with him. “What’s up with y’all anyway?”
“Nothing. He has been up his little girlfriend’s ass lately. Lexi, or whatever her name is. Bri told me her ass has gone missing, and Voila, Geno disappears.” I jumped back against the wall as Kenyon’s friend walked closer to the stairs. My head was pounding with all the information I had just got. I needed to know who this Geno guy was and why I had never seen him. I went back to the room to threw on a pair of Kenyon’s boxers and an oversized T-shirt. At the bottom of the drawer was a small pistol that fit in the palm of my hand. If Kenyon wasn’t going to introduce me, I’d introduce myself to get some much needed information.
***
Kenyon
Ashanti came down the stairs dressed in my boxers and a T-shirt. She looked damn good but I was not in the mood for Tae’s mouth.
“Hi, I’m Ashanti.” She stuck out her hand for him to shake.
“What’s good lil’ mama?” She sat down on the bar stool next to Tae and stared at him.
“I couldn’t help but overhear you guy’s conversation. Is Bri in the car? Would you mind if I go speak to her or can she come in?” Tae dropped a chip on his shirt, trying to put it in his mouth.
“She’s sleep.” I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, who Bri was or how Ashanti and Tae had mutual friends. I was lost than a mothafucka.
“How do you know Bri?” I asked looking back and forth between my girlfriend and my estranged best friend.
“She was another roommate.” Tae busted out laughing.
“Looks like we all fucking with crazy ass broads, huh?” Ashanti gave him the stale face. I knew she was holding back a punch, just like I was. Just then some bitch who looked like the drugs hit her hard, staggered through the door, leaving the door wide open.
“Brionna?” Ashanti’s mouth dropped open. Tae reached in his back pocket, fumbling for something.
“Ashanti? I’m so sorry. I should have tol--” before she could get her last words out a bullet tore through the front of her head. Tae stood on the other side of the kitchen with his gun pointed in our direction.
“I told her stupid ass to stay in the car, got dammit!” He waved the gun with the silencer back and forth between Ashanti and me. Both of our backs were pointed toward the wall. I felt under the bar table for my gun only to realize it wasn’t there. Tae walked up, hitting me in my mouth with the butt of the gun. “If you make one move and they hear a gunshot, all the niggas you ever dropped will be in here to take you out your motherfuckin’ body!”
I watched silently as Ashanti moved quietly behind Tae. As soon as he turned around she blasted him. I didn’t see where the bullet landed nor did I stop to check. I grabbed Ashanti, my bag off the floor and jetted out of there.
***
Ashanti
“Put your seat belt on, now!” Kenyon ordered before sliding in the seat next to me, revving the engine.
“I need to tell you something.” I felt like I had it all figured out.
“All I need you to do is sit back and shoot. Can you do that?” I hated guns, but what choice did I really have. “Blast or get blasted.” Two shots rang out in the quiet of the night. A bullet ripped through the back window as he whipped the car around in a complete circle. I grabbed the pistol he extended to me and shot a few rounds back. The first shot sent a hot pain searing through my arm. Kenyon busted out laughing at me, pissing me off. How he could be laughing while niggas shot at our heads, was beyond me.
“The kickback baby. It’s strong as hell, my bad.” He handed me a small gun and I raised it to him.
“Don’t laugh at me.” That made him laugh harder.
“Don’t raise a gun to anybody if you don’t have any intentions on using it.” He hit my wrist twice and I dropped it between the seats. As we both reached down to grab it, two bullets flew past our heads from my window and on through his. He made a sharp left, then a right and another left before he peeled off down Michigan Street onto the expressway headed west. “I hope you didn’t need to get anything. If you do, I’ll buy you a new one.” This was all too familiar.
“Where are we going?” I had to ask.
“On our date finally.”
“Let me guess. Out of state?”
Kenyon nodded and kissed my hand. “Yup.” I thought about my car, most importantly the picture of my parents on the dashboard. I wonder how they would feel seeing their precious daughter riding off into the sunset with a thug.
Chapter Twelve
Ashanti
“Ti-ti. Wake yo’ ass up. You have been sleep the whole way here, T.O said.” Shauna said as she shook me awake.
“What?” I rubbed my eyes groggily, not remembering a thing. I looked around the room and it was empty. The only thing I recognized was the big duffle bag sitting in the corner. “Where are we?”
“Girl, in Colorado. T.O. said he had to knock you out to put you on the plane. What happened to you?” She was less dressed up than I had ever seen her before, in a long T-shirt that I assumed belonged to Carter. Her hair was wet and hanging down her back.
“I should be asking you the same thing. You look so, relaxed. He must be laying it down real good all the way out here.” She pulled a blunt from behind her ear and lit it.
“Or, it could be this bomb ass, legal weed that’ll we’ll never have in Indy.” Inhaling a few deep hits, Shauna passed the blunt to me. “Speaking of dick, have you ridden his shit until he slobbered yet?” I cracked up. I had missed her silly ass.
“Actually, no. I didn’t.” She got up and walked out the room, a
nd came back with Kenyon.
“What’s up with you? You alright?” He looked at me all serious-like.
“Shauna is being dramatic, I’m fine.” I waved him away with the back of my hand and crawled deeper under the warm down blanket.
“No, she got to be out her damn mind.” Shauna jumped on the bed next to me. “She hasn’t ridden the dick yet? I mean how did y’all spend two days together getting here and not fuck? You always talking about how bad you want her and she forever telling me about what she think it’s like and you mean to tell me, you haven’t dug her guts out? Y’all niggas are killing me.” Carter walked in the cloudy room and snatched the blunt from Shauna’s lips.
“Yo, what’s up with yo’ girl and dick, my nigga? Why is she so concerned with what’s up in my woman?”
I peeked out from under the covers to shoot him a look. Carter choked on the smoke and Shauna’s jaw dropped.
“Wait! Did this nigga just say woman and not bitch? He had to have got some pussy.” Carter busted out laughing. “Well, I don’t know why he don’t want any, but can I get some?” He leaned over and blew smoke into Shauna’s pursed lips. “Whenever you want, however you want and whatever you want.” She said as she jumped up and wrapped her bare legs around his naked waist. Carter passed the blunt to me and just as I was about to hit it, Kenyon slapped it from my hands. The two lovebirds looked at him just like I did.
“Why would you do some dumb shit like that?” He just shook his head and walked out of the room. Shauna and Carter exchanged a look, and went back to their room. His attitude had done a complete 180-degree transformation in the past few days and quite frankly it was working on my nerves.
We stayed in Colorado for at least three weeks before I finally had gotten in contact with Ms. B. “What in the world happened?” I knew she was upset with me but she sounded relieved to hear from me.
“I’m fine. Just on vacation with my boyfriend, Shauna and her boyfriend. Her mom just left this morning, so we should be home in a little while too.” I already knew that she knew, I wasn’t telling the full truth.
“Whatever you say, Miss Thang. You do know that your car went missing and your mail has piled up since you’ve been gone. I also have your cell phone and a few acceptance letters. I already knew you would get into college so these letters are not my concern. My concern is who the nice young man was that knew to bring it here.” I had her on speaker phone. Kenyon looked at me and shook his head “Dammit! We need to get out of here first thing in the morning.” I said my goodbye’s to Ms. B. and got off the phone. I couldn’t understand what he meant but as his rider, or in Shauna’s words, his ride or die, I didn’t question him. I just ride.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
I felt the bed shaking. Kenyon reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to him. “Did you hear that?” He jumped up.
BOOM.
The loud noise rang out again. “What the hell was that?” I heard a creak in the hallway and almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the door crack open. “Did y’all hear that?” Shauna peeked her head in. “I can’t find Carter anywhere. Did he say something to you?” Kenyon jumped up and slid on a pair of basketball shorts. Grabbing the duffle bag, he tossed me the Rutger .9mm. I loaded the clip and climbed out of bed. Going to the range to practice in the mountains helped my aim. Not so much with my nerves though. He tossed Shauna the keys to the car.
“Don’t start it, just get in, put the key in the ignition and wait for us.” Kenyon looked at me like a proud father as I gave her the same instruction he had given me in my dream about a month ago. I watched as Shauna ran out of our room and back to her bedroom. “ASHANTI! KENYON!” I heard her scream all the way in our room.
“Stay right here,” Kenyon ordered me.
“No, she called me first.” We exchanged a series of looks before he finally gave in and made me walk ahead of him. I tiptoed to her room with the gun aimed high in the air. “Oh, shit.” I felt the urge to vomit.
Shauna sat there with Carter in her arms, crying. “Please, please, please. God, no.” She cried cradling his head in her lap. Blood poured from his stomach, and mouth.
“T-Ta--”, he tried to speak, but I shushed him.
“We already know.” I looked up at Kenyon who nodded and took the gun from me. He left out of the room to check the other rooms. I bent down and checked Carter’s pulse. “It’s weak so we need to get him to the hospital, now.” Kenyon came back in and shook his head. “Did you see anything?”
“No, the door was broken in but nobody was in here. I smell gas so we need to go, now.” I stood up and touched his shoulder.
“You okay?” It looked like he was trying to keep from crying. I grabbed the keys and a sheet from the bed. Ripping the sheet and pressing it into his side, Kenyon finally got the bleeding to stop before he picked Carter up and carried him out to the car. I grabbed the duffle bag and Shauna’s hand before we ran through the back door. I smelled the gas as we opened the back door. Once we finally made it to the car, I smelled smoke and turned around just in time to see the cabin burst into flames. I still hadn’t got a chance to tell Kenyon how I knew Tae was up to no good. Now wasn’t the right time either, but I promised myself I’d make time.
“Shauna? Mr. Hardison would like to see you now.” Shauna looked at us confused trying to figure out who the hell they were talking about.
“That’s Carter,” Kenyon and I told her at the same time. She jumped up and ran to room 207. Shauna was a wreck. I knew then that she was in love with that man by the way she was willing to go out in public for him. She didn’t even ask once to get a change of clothes and that was unlike her. Kenyon and I sat in the unusually small waiting room of the ER. The whole place smelled of blood and chemicals. It made my stomach turn flips.
“We shouldn’t be here, Shanti. He knows where we’re at and we got to get the fuck up out of here. Using the ID’s was smart as hell, but we have to find somewhere to go.” How the hell did I let him put me in such a predicament? Was love something that made you do crazy shit and possibly run from death to achieve some fairytale happily ever after? Is that what I was doing? What did Kenyon have over me? I felt in that moment that I was floating and falling at the same time. “Ashanti. Are you okay?” I heard Kenyon calling my name before I fell on the floor and blacked out.
“Ms. Woodson, are you alright?” A nurse dressed in blue scrubs took the cold pack off my forehead when I finally came to. It took me a minute to find out who she was talking to. As of today, I was Ms. Woodson. I felt the IV in my arm. My stomach was turning and I felt like I had to throw up. Kenyon walked over to me and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at me with those big brown eyes. He bit his lip and touched my stomach.
“How you doing, Mama?” My mouth dropped open and he cracked the biggest smile I had ever seen, showing off that dimple.
“No.” I touched my own stomach. I had been feeling sick and extremely exhausted for the past few weeks and it all made sense. I didn’t think about using protection, being a mom in college or being a teenage mom at all for that matter. Now all of the thoughts ran through my head at the same time. I looked at Kenyon and I knew deep down that I loved him, but running from my problems and possibly dying with a baby in my womb was out of the question. Now I was not just riding for this thugged out light skinned nigga with tattoos and a bad reputation; I was riding for him and my child. I don’t think caring for my child meant finding a hiding place and being afraid of getting caught. I had to go back to face my fears and fight for my little family.
“Kenyon, I don’t want to run anymore.” I grabbed his hand and held it, looking him directly in his eyes.
“I know. You can’t run with my baby. I just want you to sit back and ride. Keep my little man safe in there. Can you do that for me? I promise you, when I get somewhere for us to settle down, I’m coming for you. I promise you.” I kissed him right on the lips. I knew this would be the last time I saw him for a long time, but it wasn’t the
last time I would ever see him. At least I hoped not.
***
Kenyon
If going back to Indy was what my baby wanted, I was going to make sure she could. In order to do that, I had to see the one person that I knew could make that happen.
“Inmate 45945, you have a visitor.” Kenny Tunde stood at 6’9” looking like a giant version of myself.
“Son,” he nodded, acknowledging me. “What do you need?” I pulled out a picture of Ashanti and showed him my life in one photograph.
“They’re looking for me. You were right. He turned on me, framed me and now they want to kill me. I need you to help her. Not for me but for your grandchild.” I thought I saw a tear appear in the corner of his eyes, but when I looked again it was gone.
“Change her name, cut her hair, and put her in the house that I bought for you.” I didn’t think of it. I vowed to never step foot in the house again after my mother died. Now I had no choice. “And the only way that I can ensure your safety is if you’re in here. Turn yourself in and I will handle the rest. All I need is for you to do is trust me.” I looked him in his eyes and saw that same tear again that dangled but never fell, not even at Mom’s funeral. “If you’re not doing it for me. Do it for your child. The worst pain is missing a milestone in your child’s life. I should know,” his thick Colombian accent slathered on the feelings of regret. I stood up and hugged my pops. He was right after all, I didn’t want to be like him, missing any of my child’s life. As for turning myself in for a crime I didn’t commit, I had to make it sound as good as it did to me, to Ashanti.
***
Ashanti
It had been months since I found out I was having a baby and I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting on my OBGYN who was late as usual.