Pain, Pleasure, and Lies: An Urban Romance Thriller

by Qiana London

  Lee’s car was parked in front of my house when I arrived. My gut told me something was wrong. Lee never came over this early, especially without letting me know ahead of time. I was praying nothing was wrong with my mother. I was numb as I walked through the door. Donte was sitting with Lee on the couch. She was distraught. My brother placed a box of Kleenex on her lap and was trying to console her as best he could.

  “What’s wrong? Donte, is mama okay?”

  “Mama’s fine.”

  “What is it then?”

  I was holding my breath. I had no idea what it could be.

  “Ke- Keisha is dead,” he stuttered. “She was killed.”

  Chapter Four

  There are some things in life I will never understand. I was not supposed to be in Rolling Hills Memorial Park watching my childhood friend being lowered into the ground. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d left a voicemail message for her simply to see how she was doing. I had no idea it would be the last. I was most baffled by the circumstances surrounding her sudden death. She loved too hard. All she wanted was to be loved in return. Instead, her obsession to be loved by a man resulted in her demise. I can’t imagine a woman being so engrossed in a man that she loses sight of herself. Unfortunately, this type of thing happened far too often. Keisha’s death was proof. I planned to learn from her example. Love could not be the death of me.

  Keisha died behind some bullshit. Her death could have been prevented. She got caught up in the worst possible love triangle. The scenario was doomed from the start. It pained me to think about what I heard had happened.

  She got off early and pulled up in front of her duplex.

  “Wait a minute. Why is his car here? He’s supposed to be at work.”

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She immediately knew something wasn’t right.

  “If he’s in here with some bitch, so help me God!”

  She took off her heels. She didn’t want her presence to be revealed by their hardwood floors. She set her purse down on the chair and made her way down the hall on her tip-toes. She heard noises coming from their bedroom. She placed her ear against the closed door. There was a brief silence then she heard Rodney began to moan. That’s when she lost it. She rushed into the room and saw him getting head.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” she yelled.

  “Oh shit!” Rodney replied.

  He sat up in the bed as the girl sat up and covered herself with the sheet. Keisha didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she ran over to the bed and dove onto the girl. They started fighting as Rodney hurried to pull on his boxers.

  “Keisha!” he started, “Come on baby, calm down!”

  He pulled her off the girl, but Keisha kept swinging. He was finally able to contain her as the girl stood and began putting on her clothes.

  “I’m so tired of this shit, Rodney!” She screamed. “And in my bed? What the fuck?”

  “Baby, it’s not what you think.”

  “Do I look fucking stupid to you?”

  She turned her attention to the girl.

  “Bitch, you better get out of my house. Now!”

  The girl pulled her shirt over her head before responding to Keisha.

  “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.”

  “What the fuck did you say?” Keisha asked, walking towards her.

  Rodney stepped in-between them.

  “Rodney, you better tame your bitch before I have to.” The girl replied.

  He turned to the girl with pleading eyes.

  “Come on, man. Don’t say some shit like that.”

  “Rodney, that bitch doesn’t know her place!” Keisha interjected.

  “My place? Oh, you think you’re the main chick because y’all live together? Bitch please.”

  “Stacey, chill!” He said to her.

  “No, Rodney. I’ve played this game long enough,” Stacey continued. “We’ve been fucking for just as long if not longer.”

  Keisha looked at him then at her. She realized this wasn’t some fly-by-night chick. Stacey and Rodney had history together. Her eyes filled with tears.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Rodney,” she started. “I want you out of my house, and be sure to take that bitch with you.”

  “Keisha. You don’t mean-“ he started.

  “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be gone when I get back,” she continued. “You have one hour.”

  She walked out of the bedroom, and Rodney didn’t try to stop her.

  “Stacey, you didn’t have to do that. I would have handled it.”

  “You weren’t handling it fast enough.”

  “It wasn’t your problem.”

  “Like hell it wasn’t. And trust me when I tell you, it’s handled.”

  Keisha returned an hour later. She walked back into her bedroom, and Rodney was nowhere to be found.

  “I still can’t believe that son of a bitch.”

  She returned to the living room and found her front door wide open.

  “What the hell?”

  She looked around the room. No one was there. She walked to the door and looked outside. Nothing. She closed the door and turned around.

  “I told him if he didn’t tame his bitch, I would,” Stacey said, aiming a .380 directly at Keisha’s chest.

  Two more females revealed themselves and stood behind Keisha. There was nowhere for her to go.

  “Look,” Keisha started, raising both hands in the air. “You can have him. I don’t want him.”

  “You ain’t doin’ all of that barking now, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I told you; he’s all yours.”

  “He always has been.”

  “Oh-kay.”

  “And you’ve always been a problem.”

  She cocked the trigger.

  “Wait a minute,” Keisha panicked. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “I know, but I want to.”

  She fired three shots into Keisha’s chest. Once she hit the floor, Stacey stood over her and unloaded the rest of the gun. Keisha died instantly.

  All I could do now was pray justice would be served. As much as I wished I could do something, the past couldn’t be changed. While I knew it would be difficult in the beginning, life would go on.

  *****

  The time I spent alone in my room made me realize how loud silence really was. I hadn’t been motivated to do anything. Keisha was still running through my mind. I knew that mourning wouldn’t solve anything, but her death wouldn’t be easy to forget. I felt like moving on would be selfish even though I knew Keisha would want me to.

  My phone rang interrupting my thoughts. Robyn must have felt my vibe. She called and suggested that I get out of the house. She reminded me that I needed to keep busy so I wouldn’t sit around being depressed. She was right. Once again, shopping was the remedy of choice.

  *****

  We were in the children’s department of Macy’s at Southland Mall looking at baby clothes. We browsed through fashions for both boys and girls since Robyn was having one of each. She hadn’t stopped talking since we had arrived at the mall, but this was one time I welcomed the continuous conversation. The highlight of her rambling, and the news that changed my mood, was learning of her recent engagement to Trevell. Regardless of my opinion of the situation, Robyn honestly seemed happy, and that was all that mattered.

  Since we were sharing and had time on our hands, I told Robyn about the now nonexistent Zereck and my new interest, Diandre. Being Robyn, she had a million questions. I laughed at her excitement and answered her questions with no hesitance. I was so involved in my discussion of Diandre; I hadn’t noticed the woman standing near me watching my every move and listening intently.

  “So you’re the bitch Diandre has been spending all of his time with?”

  “Excuse me?”

  It took me a second to process the fact that the bitch was talking to me.

  “You heard me. You ain’t all that. How
much ass are you giving up to the point that he doesn’t want to spend time with his own son?”

  It was her.

  “First of all, you better watch who the fuck you’re talking to. You don’t know me. I don’t have anything to do with what Diandre does or doesn’t do with his son. That’s some shit you need to take up with your son’s father, not me” I was pissed. “I know one thing, though. If you ever come at me like this again, there won’t be any discussion. I will simply beat yo’ ass.”

  “Whatever, bitch! It’s only a matter of time before he’s done with yo’ ass too.”

  I turned to Robyn.

  “Girl, I’m done here. Are you ready to go?”

  “Lead the way.”

  It was not about Diandre. I would never fight over a man. It was about being disrespected. Regardless of the way she may have felt, I could have been approached differently. Robyn and I made our purchases and left. It took everything in me not to go back and let her have it, but I was going to be the bigger woman. She was not my problem. Diandre would have to deal with her on his own.

  *****

  Robyn and I were having lunch at one of my favorite burger spots, Nations, while talking about her upcoming wedding. She was wasting no time. Her babies were due in two months, and her wedding would be in four. Robyn was so excited she could barely sit still. I smiled and listened intently as she explained all of the details. The upcoming weeks would be hectic for what she was trying to accomplish in such a short period of time, but I had no doubt that she would be able to pull it off.

  Robyn was discussing her potential wedding party when a group of females walked into the restaurant. They were extremely loud and obnoxious. They made sure they were the center of attention. Most of the patrons kept to themselves and attempted to ignore them, me and Robyn included. One of the females ordered for their group, then the entire bunch came and sat at the booth directly across from us. Robyn tried to focus as she described the color scheme of her wedding, but it was difficult to concentrate with the rift raft holding their conversation.

  “Shit, Rodney should be happy Keisha’s off his hands. All he did was complain to me all the time anyway.”

  “Stacey, you did what you had to do. The bitch was flapping off at the mouth. She couldn’t keep disrespecting you.”

  “That’s right! The bitch didn’t recognize, so I had to let her know.”

  Robyn and I sat frozen, listening to their conversation. I wanted to believe I was hallucinating and had totally misunderstood the girl, but the expression on Robyn’s face confirmed everything I was thinking. I wished there was something I could do, but I was helpless. There was only one of me, and Robyn was pregnant. There were six of them. If I attempted to do anything, I was certain I would become a statistic too. I couldn’t go to the police, I didn’t have proof. Besides, where I’m from if I decided to snitch, I might as well have planned my funeral too. I looked at the girl speaking and made a mental note while Robyn and I packed up and left. My mind raced with methods of retaliation. Somehow, justice would have to be served.

  *****

  I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as Robyn pulled into my driveway. A day designed to make me feel better only made me feel worse. When I was finally beginning to deal with my friend’s death, I crossed her murderer. What were the odds? Robyn, who had been in a trance since we’d left, muttered what I assumed to be comforting words. I honestly could not make out anything she was saying. I was in a world of my own. I said my goodbyes, got out of the car, and she drove off. That girl would pay, but only time would tell how and when it would happen.

  No one was home. I still went to my room. I needed to clear my head. While I often wrote in my journal to escape my problems, I occasionally preferred a method which required little effort. I locked my bedroom door then went into my bathroom and snatched my bath towel off of the rack. I saturated it with water in the bathtub, rung it out, and placed it across the half-inch space under my bedroom door. Next, I pulled my blinds up and opened both windows. Jack Frost was biting, but I didn’t care. I walked over to my bookshelf and pushed several books to the side exposing a wooden pencil box, which sat behind them. Inside, I had an eighth of marijuana and two pre-rolled blunts. I removed one of the blunts and replaced the bookshelf as it had been. No one knew about this habit, not even my brother. My incense of choice this time was Halston. I lit several sticks and placed them intentionally around the room and lit candles too. I turned on Jill Scott and sat down on my bed. I took a few deep breaths and fought back tears. Finally, I placed the blunt to my lips and lit away. In a matter of moments, I no longer had a care in the world.

  I was taking a long walk with Jill when my cell phone rang. Diandre’s name showed up on the caller ID. I sat up and attempted to pull myself together before answering the phone. I didn’t want to sound the least bit distorted and give him a reason to ask questions. I was glad he’d called. I always liked hearing from him, but this call was especially important because I needed to tell him about the run in with his son’s mother. I answered on the fourth ring.

  “I was preparing to leave a message.”

  “What? You don’t want to talk to me?”

  “You took forever to answer your phone. That’s all.”

  “It was at the bottom of my purse,” I lied.

  “I was calling to check on you. I know you’ve been through a lot with your friend’s passing and all.”

  “Yeah, it’s been hard, but I’m hanging in there. I’ll bounce back in due time.”

  “That’s my girl. I’ve been trying to give you your space this past week since you were so involved with the funeral arrangements. It was hard, but I managed.”

  He actually sounded like he missed me.

  “Have you been doing other things to keep from going crazy?” he asked.

  “Not much besides working before today. I went shopping with my girlfriend for baby clothes.”

  “Baby clothes?”

  There was concern in his voice.

  “Don’t worry. She’s having twins.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  I laughed at Diandre’s relief.

  “I ran into someone you know at the mall.”

  “Really? Who? How did you know the person knew me?”

  “She made herself known.”

  “She?”

  “Mmm hmm… It was your son’s mother.”

  “What? Dezzy, did she come at you foul?”

  “She tried to, but I let her know I wasn’t having it.”

  “What happened?”

  “Long story short, she accused me of coming between you and your son. I told her that the issues between the two of you didn’t concern me. Oh, and she added that it’s just a matter of time before you’re done with me too.”

  “She said what? Dezzy, this is exactly why I don’t fool with Justine’s ass anymore.”

  “Diandre, I could care less about what she has to say, but as far as me coming between you and your son–”

  “Say no more, Dezzy. I’m tired of this shit. Let me call you back.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  I told Diandre to call my home phone before we hung up. I was going to turn my cell off for a while. I believed I’d done right by telling him. If the issue wasn’t addressed now, it would definitely become an ongoing problem. I only hoped Diandre wouldn’t have to have the conversation more than once.

  I was floating on cloud nine when I heard the front door close. I could hear my brother and his girlfriend talking in the living room. I knew my brother would make his way up to my room after seeing my car in the driveway. Because I wasn’t sure if I’d camouflaged the weed smell in my bedroom well enough, I hurried to put Visine in my eyes, sprayed perfume on my neck and wrists, and went downstairs to my brother before he could come to me.

  “Dezzy, I’m so glad you’re home. Raijean and I have something to tell you.”

  I had no idea what my brother was going to say. Granted, Raij
ean was the first girlfriend I’d known him to be completely faithful to, but I wasn’t convinced that he was ready for marriage.

  “What, Donte?”

  I wasn’t sure how much more news I could handle in one day.

  “Rai, do you want to tell her?”

  “Dezzy, you’re going to be an auntie!” she said.

  I was still high, so I needed to make sure I heard her correctly.

  “Wait. What did you just say?”

  “Dez, we’re having a baby!” Donte confirmed.

  “Whoa…uh... congratulations!”

  “Thanks!” he replied and smiled. “Mama is going to be shocked.”

  “You can say that again. Well, I heard you two come in, and I wanted to come and say hello. I’m going to make myself a bowl of cereal. I’ll leave you two alone to celebrate. I’ll be upstairs if you need me. Congratulations, again.”

  “Thanks,” they said in unison.

  *****

  Lee had kept me on hold for five minutes so far, but it felt like an eternity. She had to take the other call. It was her job. Lee’s position as a registered nurse consumed her. She seldom made time for herself, let alone a man. Her last boyfriend couldn’t handle the demands of her career, so he left before anything serious could get off of the ground. This was our topic of conversation. While I empathized with her, a life in healthcare is what she had signed up for.

  “Okay, I’m back. I’m sorry about that.”

  “Lee, we both know the right man is going to come along. He will be the kind of brother who isn’t intimidated by your independence.”

  “I’m beginning to wonder about these fools I’ve been coming across. I’m starting to lose faith in black men.”

  “What? Lee, I’ve never heard you talk like this before.”

  “I don’t want to think this way, but the grass is looking greener on the other side.”

  “Lee, you can’t be–” My line beeped. “Hold on a minute.”