by K Elliott
In the pitch-black dark, DeVon walked quickly along the highway. Jamal pulled alongside DeVon and slowed the vehicle. The two men made eye contact.
“Yeah, what do you want?” DeVon asked.
Obviously, DeVon didn’t recognize Jamal. He stared intensely and Jamal could only see the whites of his eyes. DeVon was shaken and visibly afraid. Jamal placed his finger on the trigger of the handgun. Just one shot to his chest would rip through his lungs or stop his heart. Go ahead, don’t think, just fire. But Jamal couldn’t bring himself to fire. It would be senseless to kill DeVon. Jamal glanced over his shoulder once again. There was no traffic on the dark road. He could kill DeVon, and nobody would ever know. But why kill someone who had done absolutely nothing to him directly. Why take the risk of being charged with murder? He didn’t want to end up back in prison where there would be no money to be made and no women. He placed the gun between his legs, and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
He drove back to Dream’s apartment and dialed her number.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hello, this is Jamal.”
“And?”
“I want to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Listen, Jamal, I have to go to work in the morning. I’m a grown woman, and I don’t have a whole lot of patience for your childish games.”
“So you’re back with DeVon, huh?”
“I’m not with anybody.”
“You gonna tell me that you haven’t been with DeVon tonight?”
“I ain’t telling you nothing. In fact, I don’t feel that I have to tell you anything. Good night.”
CHAPTER 18
C HRISTMAS DAY. It was very cold, and a thin layer of ice covered the ground. Dream and DeVon were dating steadily but hadn’t officially given themselves a title. Whenever someone would ask whether they were a couple, they would both reply that they were just hanging.
It was around six o’clock and Dream had just returned from her parent’s home where she had gone to pick up her gifts. Her phone rang an hour after returning.
“Hello.”
“Before you hang up, look out the window,” Jamal said. “Why?”
“I bought you a Christmas gift.”
“Bye, Jamal.”
“Well, it’ll be outside whenever you decide to check it out.” She hung up then looked out of the window. A black 320 Eclass Mercedes, with red and white bows wrapped around it, sat in the parking lot. She anxiously rushed outside.
It was beautiful, and her name had been sprayed across the windshield with whipped cream. She examined the charcoalcolored leather seats and the wood-grained dash. A Christmas card lay on the seat.
Just wanted to say I’m sorry, and I hope we can work out our differences. Jamal. Dream immediately called Keisha; she arrived at Dream’s apartment fifteen minutes later. “Do you think I should keep the car or return it? I don’t know what to do.”
Keisha opened the door of the Benz and got behind the wheel. “I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I would do.” “What would you do?” Dream asked with serious eyes. “I would keep it.”
“Keep it?”
“Don’t you want to keep it?”
Dream hesitated before speaking. “Well, yeah of course I do.” “Well then that settles it. Keep it.”
Dream didn’t reply, instead she walked around to the passenger
side and sat down.
Keisha turned toward Dream. “You’re worried about what
DeVon is going to think, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“No.”
Keisha turned the key, firing up the ignition. “Well, keep the
damn car. Are you crazy?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong here, but weren’t you the one who said
that I should have told the police who Jamal and Dawg were?”
Dream asked.
“You didn’t though, so that’s irrelevant. Don’t you know this is
a fifty-thousand-dollar car?”
“Let’s take it for a spin!” Dream said.
*** Later that night, Dream was sitting cozily by the fireplace in her pajamas, sipping eggnog. The Christmas tree lights blinked splendidly as the Temptations sang the classic Silent Night. DeVon arrived with a gift, and she invited him inside and hugged him.
“Merry Christmas,” she said. “Merry Christmas to you,” he replied and passed her the gift along with his coat.
She grabbed his hand, led him to the fireplace and poured him a glass of eggnog, She then opened his present. “You shouldn’t have,” Dream said, examining a black Coach handbag.
“I had to. You have been so good to a brother,” he replied, no longer speaking through clenched teeth.
“I got you a present as well,” she said, disappearing into her bedroom and returning with a green box with a beautiful red bow. “Here you go.”
He smiled and tore into the package. It was a sweater from Banana Republic.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it,” he said as he picked her up and spun her around.
She smiled innocently then became saddened. “There’s something I have to tell you.”
He looked her directly in the eyes. “Good or bad news?”
“It depends on how you take it.”
“I don’t like the sound of it already.”
She looked at him then poured another glass of eggnog.
“What is it, Dream?” he demanded.
“Jamal gave me a present.”
He smiled. “Oh, that’s cool. I mean since we are not officially a couple, and we’re just chillin’. Is that what you were afraid to tell me?”
“Yeah. Don’t you want to know what he gave me?”
“Not really, but you can tell me if you like.”
“He bought me a car.”
DeVon’s bottom lipped dropped. “A car? What kind?”
“A Benz.”
“Well, you didn’t take it, did you?”
“Yeah, of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because the mu’fucka is gonna think he owns you now. I think you should give it back.”
“Seriously?”
“I am serious,” he said, staring at Dream with intense eyes.
She sipped her eggnog slowly without responding.
“Give it back,” he demanded.
“Me and you ain’t together. You can’t tell me what to do.”
DeVon stood, went to the hall closet, retrieved his coat, threw it over his arm, and headed for the door. “When are you going to get it? That nigga ain’t no good. Okay, he has money, but is money everything?”
Their eyes met and held but neither said anything. Finally DeVon opened the door and left.
Later that night Jamal called Dream.
“Hello,” she said.
“How did you like the gift I got for you?”
“The car is really nice. Are you sure you want to give me something that expensive?”
“Don’t worry about the cost. I can afford it, or else I wouldn’t have bought it, believe me. The question is, what is your little boyfriend gonna say once he sees the car?”
“You mean DeVon?”
“Who else?”
“He already knows about the car. He stormed out of here after he learned that you gave it to me.”
“Good, now I won’t feel guilty about asking you can I come over.”
“Come on over, I’ll be waiting on you.”
*** The evening of Valentine’s Day, Jamal took Dream to T-Bones on the lake, a cozy little steakhouse located in Lake Wylie, a subdivision just south of Charlotte. The food was mediocre. But Jamal really liked it. He could have dinner overlooking the water. For February the weather was kind of warm but breezy. Jamal and Dream looked wonderful together. She was wearing a long wrap skirt with black leather riding boots and a gray turtleneck
sweater with a black leather jacket. He wore a black leather jacket, black jeans with a black headband, and a huge diamond in his left ear.
When the waitress appeared, Dream ordered a flounder and shrimp dinner and Jamal a rib-eye steak, medium well. While they waited on their food, they talked about everything from politics to music. Finally, Dream felt the moment was right and pulled a small Valentine’s Day card from her purse and passed it to him. Inside the card was a gift certificate to Dillard’s department store. It was the only thing she could think to get him, since he was such a shopper.
He smiled. “Dream, I love you,” he said, gazing into her eyes. He then dug inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box. When she opened it, a beautiful smile emerged as she pulled a four-carat diamond ring in a platinum setting from the box. Jamal placed it on her ring finger.
“Will you marry me?” he asked. She turned from his gaze, looking out on the lake at the water rippling in the moonlight. “I don’t know. I have to think about it.”
He looked sad. “Listen, Dream, I know you can’t picture yourself marrying someone like me, but I’m about to go legit, baby. I’m going to stop dealing in a couple of months.”
She looked him in the eyes. He seemed serious and his voice sounded sincere. Despite their differences, Dream did love him more than she had loved any of her previous boyfriends. “I need you to stop if we’re going to have any kind of future together.”
“So I take that as a yes.”
She met his eyes and smiled. “I’ll marry you, Jamal.”
“Yes! Yes! She said she’ll marry me,” Jamal told the waitress who had appeared with the food.
The waitress sat their food down and announced their engagement to the entire restaurant. The patrons went wild, shouting and cheering. Dream held up her ring and Jamal just looked on, sipping his iced tea.
*** “You’re gonna get married?” Keisha asked, surprised. “Yeah,” Dream answered, showing off engagement ring. “Do your parents know?”
“No. I haven’t told them yet.”
“Are you sure you want to marry this guy? I mean, after all, you
were saying just a few months ago that he had issues and you didn’t know if you wanted to deal with him.” “I know what I said, but he promised me he was going to stop dealing.”
Keisha looked at Dream oddly before saying enthusiastically, “Congratulations. When is the wedding?”
Dream beamed with excitement. “We haven’t set a date yet.”
“Well has Jamal found his mother yet?”
“No, and you know what? I totally forgot to tell him you said your private investigator could probably find her.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he can locate her. All he needs is her name, date of birth, and birthplace. I know Jamal would probably like to find her now, especially since there’s going to be a wedding.”
“I’ll get him to give me the information, and I’ll call you with it.”
Keisha didn’t respond. Her attention seemed to be somewhere else.
“Did you hear me, Keisha?”
Keisha took a deep breath. “I have to tell you something before you get married.”
“What’s wrong?”
Keisha turned away from Dream briefly. “Do you remember the last time you and Jamal had broken up, after Jamal and Dawg had the fight with DeVon?”
“Yeah.”
“One night, Jamal came over to my apartment after he had been drinking, and he tried to go there with me.”
Dream hesitated. “Why are you just now telling me this shit?”
“I didn’t know how you would respond. I knew you cared about him a lot, and I knew this would hurt you.”
Dream’s eyes became bloodshot. “You damn right it hurts. If you were anybody else, I wouldn’t have believed you, but I know it’s the truth because you’re my girl.” Dream began crying.
“Like I said, he was drunk. And since that night, it hasn’t happened again.”
“I don’t think I can marry him now.”
“Dream, it is not that serious. If you love the man, marry him,” Keisha said as she grabbed Dream’s hand. “Girl, look at this ring. If this ain’t love, I don’t know what is.”
“I still need to hear what Jamal has to say about the whole situation.”
*** Jamal blew his horn and Dawg came running to the car with a small nylon bag in hand. Inside the car, he unzipped the bag and showed Jamal what he had traded for product. “Check it out, man. It’s a baby .380,” Dawg said, rubbing the small chrome handgun.
Jamal looked at the gun briefly before screeching out of the parking lot. He wasn’t in the mood to comment about a handgun. Actually, he felt Dawg should have left it inside. They rode a few minutes before Dawg asked where they were going.
“Nowhere specific. Just needed to talk to you about some things.”
Dawg put the gun back in the bag and tucked it under his jacket. “What you want to talk about?”
Jamal looked at Dawg for a second then shifted his attention to the oncoming traffic. “I proposed to Dream.”
“You did what, nigga?”
“I’m going to get married.”
“You making a big mistake.”
“I love this woman, and I think I’m doing the right thing by tying the knot.”
“What about your goal to make $500,000?”
“What about it?”
“So I guess making money is no longer your focus, huh?”
Jamal looked away briefly before resuming eye contact, “Of course it is; I just think this is the right thing for me to do. You should be happy for me, man.”
“She’s going to change you. Her mama and daddy already think she’s too good for you, remember?”
“I ain’t marrying her mama and daddy; I’m marrying her.”
Dawg looked out the window. “Don’t do it, Jamal. The next thing you know, she’s going to have you talking about getting a job.”
“I plan on looking for one real soon,” Jamal said.
“There goes the goal out the window.”
***
“I feel like I’m losing my best friend,” Dawg said to Mark. “What do you mean?” the agent asked, admiring Dawg’s apartment.
Dawg looked at him intently as if he were contemplating the disclosure of a deep secret. “Jamal, my boy, is about to get married. I mean, I know I should be happy for him, but I really think the woman is going to change him. He’s already talking about getting a job and retiring from the game. That’s the reason I haven’t been able to supply you lately.”
Mark took a deep breath. “This must be one helluva lady to make a man think about giving up the kind of money that comes along with the game.” Mark had not gotten any closer to Jamal over the months. For this reason, he had not yet sought an indictment against Dawg.
“She’s okay, I guess. She’s a teacher. She comes from a family that thinks she is too good for my boy.”
“So what about you, Dawg? I don’t ever hear you talking about no women in your life.”
Dawg pulled a picture from his wallet and presented it to Mark. It was a photo of a little girl in a leotard and ballet shoes.
“Is this your daughter?”
“Yes, that’s my angel.”
“Where is she?”
“In New Jersey with her mother.”
“Do you get to see her often?”
Dawg yawned. “I haven’t seen her in three years. Her mother won’t allow me.”
Mark passed the picture back to Dawg. He didn’t want to ask too many questions about Dawg’s personal life, because he didn’t want to become attached to him. Dawg was a criminal and Mark knew he had to keep that in mind.
“So what about you? Do you have a woman?” Dawg asked.
“No, I don’t have one.”
“Kids?”
“No.”
“Why not, man? You have got to be at least thirty.”
Mark smirked. “Yeah, I guess you can say I’m an old man
now, but to be truthful with you, I’ve just been concentrating on making money. I guess one day I’ll find a woman. She’s gonna have to be strong, though.”
Dawg turned and faced him again. “You know what? You sound a lot like Jamal. I wish you could meet him, man. You two guys are a lot alike.”
Mark longed for the day he could meet Jamal as well, but he knew it wouldn’t be under pleasant circumstances. He was nothing like Jamal. As far as he could tell they were opposites. Jamal was pushing the poison, and he was trying to stop it from coming into the community.
CHAPTER 19
T HE HUGE SMILE ON Jamal’s face revealed that he was glad to see Dream as he entered her apartment. He kissed her on the forehead and noticed she was frowning.
“What’s wrong baby?” Dream placed her hands on her hips. “Jamal, do you want to tell me about the night you visited Keisha’s apartment and tried to get with her?”
“Ah, shit,” Jamal said as he threw his hands up in disgust. “Do you know how long that’s been?”
“Answer the question, Jamal,” Dream demanded.
“I was drunk, okay? I was drunk and horny. If I hadn’t been drunk, I would have never tried her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about it, Jamal?”
“It happened during the time we weren’t speaking, about a week after we kicked DeVon’s ass?”
“Why did you have to try my best friend?”
Jamal approached Dream, placed his hand under her chin, and kissed her lips gently. “Baby, I made a mistake. Nothing happened, I promise you. What did Keisha say happened?”
“She said nothing happened.”
“Okay, there you have it. Why are you still tripping?”
Dream became sad. “Because I don’t know if I can trust the man that I’m about to marry.”
Jamal entered the living room and took a seat on the sofa. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand then glanced at Dream. “I guess that stupid-ass Keisha is trying to mess things up for us now. Since she doesn’t have a man she probably doesn’t want you to be happy either, huh?”
“No, that ain’t even the case, Jamal. Believe it or not, she actually thinks I should go ahead and marry you.”
“And what do you think?”
“Jamal, you already know that I love you but—”