by Kia
“And what’s that?” she asked.
“Haitian Creole.”
“French?” she asked.
“Something like that. Mostly French.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t explain. You’ll just have to listen to us speak it and break it down for your own understanding.
“Well, let’s start today. Start speaking your language to me so I can catch on.
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“Beni jou a ke mwen te rankontre ou.”
“Wait, not so fast,” she joked.
“See, I knew you weren’t ready,” I said with a smile.
“What did you just say?” she asked.
“Bless the day that I met you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m just noticing how much I needed you in my life.”
“You need me?” she asked.
“I told you this all last night,” I said as I thought back on our lovemaking session after I left from seeing Emo.
She had food ready that was well cooked, and my bath water ran. Of course, she joined me in the lavender bath and gave me everything she had. Hell yes I needed her.
“Have you called the hospital to check on Emo?” she asked.
“Yes. I paid four officers to guard his room when family wasn’t there.”
“What about his mom? She been there?”
“Yes, I talked to her right before our session.”
“And what did she say?” she asked.
“She been there since early this morning. She said that he was doing good. It wasn’t as much acid as we thought. But they did a blood transfusion and he’s actually doing better than before.”
“Thank God,” she said as we pulled into the projects so that she could get Rena from Mrs. Livingston.
“It’s about time for a professional baby sitter,” I said as I threw the car in park.
“What’s the difference? The ones that people think are so professional be the worst ones. I’m good with Mrs. Livingston,” she said as she got out the car. I saw a group of men standing at the entrance to the building, so I decided to get out with her. She felt uncomfortable when they would always try to get at her or harass her about her ex, Davinchi.
“Come on,” I said as I grabbed her hand and led her into the hallway.
“I hate this place,” she said as she knocked on the door.
“So why do we keep sending Rena to a place that you hate?”
“Hello,” a woman said as she pulled the door open with kids all over her and pulling on her hair.
“Where is Mrs. Livingston?” Diamond asked as she peeped her head inside.
“I’m her daughter, and she had to go to the doctor today. So she called me to fill in,” the woman said as she yelled at the kids to have a seat somewhere.
“But she was here earlier,” Diamond said.
“I know. And then she went to the doctor shortly after. She will be here after the doctor.”
“Oh, okay. I’m here to pick up Rena.”
“Okay, hold on,” she said as she put down the little girl that was in her hands.
“It’s a mess in there,” Diamond said.
“Wait, Rena is the little deaf girl? Right?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, she was already picked up,” the woman said.
“It probably was Red,” I said as I saw Diamond about to panic. She picked up the phone and called Red.
“It wasn’t Red. Call Yazz and see,” she said as she burst inside the apartment and looked all around.
I called Yazz. “What’s up?” he answered.
“Did you pick up Rena today?” I asked.
“What? No. I never picked up Rena before.”
I hung up the phone and walked inside to help Diamond look around.
“Is everything fine? Oh my God. What did I do? I told my mother I wasn’t fit for this,” the woman said as she followed us around.
“She’s not here,” Diamond said.
I stood there in silence because I didn’t trust my tongue at this point. I knew exactly who had her.
Why did I think that she would go back to Paris without a fight?
Chapter Fifty
Yazz
“That was weird,” I said as I put my phone back on the table.
“What?” Red asked.
“It was Gee.”
“What he want? Why was it weird?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said as I sat down and finished brain storming on what we would do with this little girl.
“So have you decided?” Red asked.
“We need to go and find her mom. Or at least try.”
“But where do we start?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said as my phone began to ring. It was Parish. “I’ll be back,” I said as I got up from the table and went to the balcony.
“What are you doing calling me?” I asked.
“You gave me your number. You knew I would call,” she said and she was right. I was so worked up and stressed out that all of that had disappeared from my mind.
“What’s up though?” I asked as I leaned onto the railing.
“Just thinking about you, friend. Wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch sometime this week.”
“This week isn’t a good time,” I said.
“Or are you lying to me?” she asked.
“I’m being truthful. Have I ever lied to you? Maybe was a little harsh to you, but never lied.”
“Right. So when can I see you?”
“I don’t know, Parish. You tell me. We can meet up one day and I can introduce you to my fiancé and you can do the same.”
“But I’m not getting married…”
“My bad. I don’t know where my head is,” I said as I shook that dumb shit off.
“Look, how about I call you later and we—”
“Hold on, someone is on my other line,” I said as I cut her off and clicked over. “Hello?”
“Yazz, it’s me,” I heard a voice say. I looked at the number again and saw that it was his mother calling me.
“What’s up, Ebie?”
“It’s Emo. He woke up.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Red
“Okay, call me and let me know how it goes,” I said as Yazz grabbed his things and jetted up outta here. I was happy to know that Emo had pulled through. This was the last thing that we all needed right now.
While Yazz was gone, I had some business to tend to of my own. I was determined to find Lily’s mom today so I could curse her mothafucking ass out. Of course I would be strapped this time.
“Ready?” I asked as I went to see if Lily was done putting her clothes on. It was the same thing she had on last night. I just washed it and patched it up a little bit. I didn’t have anything that she could fit. But her clothes looked brand new right now, so I wasn’t tripping
“Yes, ma’am,” she said with her small voice as she grabbed my hand and walked with me out the door.
“Hungry?” I asked as the elevator landed us in the lobby.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Come on.”
With my 9 mm in my purse, we walked the streets looking for her guardian. I wasn’t sure if I would give her back to her mother though. Kinda wanted to take her to CPS and let them place her in a better home.
NYC was so weird to me. No matter where you were, you couldn’t escape the junkies. We finally made it to the alley where her mother’s car was and still no one was there.
“You have a picture of your mother?” I asked.
“Yes.” She pulled a picture out of her shoe and gave it to me. I was shocked when I saw that her mother was white. I saw that Lily was light skinned, but I would have never guessed her mother wasn’t black.
“Let’s go a little further down,” I said as I led the way, being sure to keep her in clear sight.
“Looka here, I know you got a dime,” an old man came and said to m
e. He only had one tooth, and his lips were pushed out.
“Move, man,” I said as I tried to walk past him.
“Bitch!” He tried to swing, but I pulled out my gun and pointed it at him. Quickly, he took off running. These junkies were getting bold as fuck. They would kill for a damn rock.
We walked a little further until we got to another alley. Something told me to walk into this one and I did. I found three men huddled around a white woman. She was on her knees, topless and sucking dick after dick while they threw ones on her.
“Yeah, suck that dick, bitch,” one said as he threw another bill on her.
“Come back this way.”
“Na, nigga, you fucking up the rotation.”
Pop!
I shot my gun into the air. The three men zipped up their pants and left. They were so scared that they all dropped their wallets. The woman didn’t even budge. The thing that made her eyes light up was when the wallets hit the ground. She put her shirt back on, grabbed the wallets and tried to run.
I grabbed her shirt. “Get back here!”
“What, lady?”
“That’s not her!” Lily yelled when she saw it about to turn ugly.
“Crazy, bitch!” the woman yelled as she yanked away and ran. She jerked back so hard that her shirt ripped off.
“Fuck!” I yelled, feeling hopeless.
I walked over to the dumpster and opened it, preparing to dispose of the funky shirt that had just come off the hooker. That’s when I saw something that caught my attention.
“I don’t know where she could be,” Lily said.
I ignored her as I processed the fact that there was a dead body that was in the dumpster.
“Oh shit,” I whispered as my hands flew over my mouth. Then I looked at the picture.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.
“Nothing. Let’s go,” I said as I grabbed her hand and sped out of that ally. I’d never dealt with this before.
How do you tell a little girl that her mother is dead?
Chapter Fifty-Two
Diamond
“I can’t do this shit, Gee! Shit has gone too far! My sister is gone because you couldn’t control your bitch!” I yelled as I jumped out of the car and started to walk.
He pulled over and ran behind me. “Diamond!”
“Leave me alone!” I yelled as I fell against a brick wall and started to cry. This was always my biggest fear. Rena was probably scared for her life right now.
“Come on, baby. I’m going to fix this,” he said as he tried to reach for me, but I yanked back.
“I can’t do this,” I said before I took off running.
I ran as fast as I could until I looked back and didn’t see Gee anymore. Then I caught a cab to Red and Yazz’s place.
“Thank you,” I said as I paid the cab driver and stepped out.
As soon as the cab driver pulled off, shots rang out. I looked at the door next to me and saw bullet holes. Someone was trying to shoot me. I ran down the block in fear for my life. I begged for help, but people looked at me like I was a crazy junkie. They paid me no mind.
“Diamond?” I heard a voice say. I turned around and saw that it was Neek leaving a Deli shop.
“Neek, thank God. I need—”
Shots started to ring out again and rain all over the place.
“Come on!” Neek yelled as he extended his hand to me and dropped his food.
“Oh my God!” I yelled as I hopped in the passenger seat and we got the fuck up outta there.
“What the fuck is going on?” he asked as we hit an ill left on the main street.
“I don’t know, man. I wish I could tell you,” I said as I looked in the rearview and saw that no one was following us. We had lost them.
“Yo, you got beef with some cats?” he asked.
“Man, fuck no!”
“It don’t look like that to me,” he said as we pulled up to a house.
“Who lives here?” I asked as I caught my breath.
“This my uncle’s spot for now. It’s too hot to go back to the projects. Police all over it, and we still don’t know where my brother is. I’m hearing him and Gatha the ones that set bro up.”
“Word?”
“On the dead homies. I ain’t lying,” he said as he got out.
I opened the door and walked to the front door with him.
“Nobody here?” I asked as I began to get nervous standing out in the open.
“Na. But it’s an extra key under the flower pot,” he said as he grabbed a gold key and opened the door. “Come on,” he said as he gently pulled my hand and led me inside.
“What now?” I asked as I sat on the rusty couch and placed my hands over my face.
“I’m about to try and call my homie so we can come up with a plan. Man, damn! Shit just fucked up that quick.”
He slammed his hand on the table.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Gee
“Fuck!” I yelled as slammed down on the brakes.
I had lost Diamond that fast. I had looked everywhere that was near but still couldn’t find her. And then on top of that, she didn’t answer the phone. Just as I was about to lose my cool, my phone began to ring. It was Yazz.
“Hello?”
“Emo woke up. Get up here now!” he yelled before hanging up.
As much as I wanted to sit around and chase Diamond, I had to check on my brother. This had just made my day a little better. I didn’t know what to expect, being that he’d just come out of a coma.
I drove so fast over to the Bronx that it didn’t even take long to get there this time. I even parked my car slap in the front. “You can’t leave your car there!” A nurse yelled as she chased after me until I got on the elevator and let the door close.
“Finally!” Yazz yelled as soon as I landed on the Emo’s floor.
“This way,” Emo’s mom said as she led us the way.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You have to hear this,” Yazz said.
“Hear what?” I asked as my phone rang. It was Kasha returning my call.
“Come on,” Yazz said as I answered the phone and stopped at the door.
“I’ll be right there,” I said, then Yazz walked inside Emo’s room.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Don’t play dumb. Where is Rena?”
“What? Rena?”
“Yes, Kasha, where the fuck is Rena? And where are you?” I asked.
“I’m in Paris… you know? Where you sent me. I told you that I would let you live your life as long as you let me live mine. And now you’re calling me just like I knew you would,” she said. I could hear her smiling on the other end.
“How do I know that?” I asked.
“You’ll just have to take my word for it,” she said before hanging up. Then I walked inside the room to see Emo smiling like everything was cool.
“Happy to see you okay,” I said as I clapped hands with him.
“Tell him,” Yazz said to Emo.
“Tell me what?” I asked.
“He knows who did this, but he doesn’t want to call the police,” his mother cried.
“Because we can handle it,” Yazz said.
“Who did it?” I asked.
“Biz. Neek’s brother.”
“Neek told us that,” I said.
Yazz nodded his head at Emo. “Tell him what else you told me.”
“Neek did it too.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
Diamond
“Where is the restroom?” I asked as Neek held a conversation on the phone.
“That way,” he said and pointed down the hall. The restroom was mad nasty, so I went to the master bedroom because I knew it would be another restroom in there. I used the restroom and washed my hands. Just as I was about to walk back down the hallway, I heard Neek talking in the room across from the master.
“You almost shot me, nigga. Yeah, I got her. Don’t kill her sister unt
il we get the money from Gee. Nigga, just know I’ma get it. Don’t worry about that nigga Emo, he ain’t ever waking up. I had my homie slip acid into his IV. I keep trying to get that nigga, Yazz. We don’t need him, we need Gee. He got the real money. Fuck you, nigga, I got the plan.”
“What the fuck?” I whispered to myself.
“Man, that nigga Emo was supposed to die that night. But them bitches started shooting, fucking shit up.”
“Having fun?” I heard a voice say as I turned around.
“Bizz?”
“You don’t know me, bitch. Why you saying my name like that?” he pushed the door open and grabbed me by the hair.
“Yo, Bizz, what you doing, B?” Neek asked.
“Cut the shit, nigga. She already heard yo’ big mouth ass talking.”
“How?”
“She was listening by the door.”
“Fuck!”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked Neek.
“Because this shit your fault.”
“How?”
“That night my brother tried to rob him, y’all didn’t have to shoot. Shoulda minded y’all business.”
“So you been setting Emo up from the beginning?”
“Correct. Take that bitch to the basement,” Neek said to his brother.
“Get the fuck off me!” I yelled.
“Shut up, bitch,” Bizz said as he slapped the hell out of me.
“Yo, nigga! Don’t be hitting her like that,” Neek said.
I sighed. “Thank y—”
“We ain’t gonna get much money if she’s hurt and bruised.”
“Mothafucka!” I yelled as I launched at him, but Neek grabbed me and literally tossed me into the basement.
I fell right on top of Gatha’s dead body.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Red
“Can we stop and get some food?” Lily asked.
“From where?” I asked as I tried to call Yazz for the last time.
“Right here,” she said as she led my hand to a Deli shop. The same one that she tried to get me to go to last night.
“Yo, I need to talk to you,” a woman said as she pulled my hand.
I looked her up and down. “And who are you?” I asked. She looked familiar.