Married to a Balla

by Jackie D.

  “Are you jokin’? Do you know how many high schools are in Atlanta?”

  “Well at least I’m tryin’ to come up wit’ different options. It doesn’t look like you’re doin’ shit,” Sandino criticized.

  “Look Sandino, I just got here two days ago and I told you I’m on it. Don’t call me wit’ no fuckin’ threats, I’m not one of your lil’ flunkies. I’ll have somethin’ for you in a few days!” Dre said, then hung up the phone. “I don’t know who the fuck ‘dat nigga think he talkin’ to,” Dre mumbled to himself.

  Dre was so pissed at the way Sandino tried to handle him on the phone. For a second he contemplated calling the whole thing off, and keeping the money he already had, but thought about the rest of the money and what he could do with it to get back on his feet.

  After riding around and coming up empty, he checked into the Marriott Marquis on Peachtree Center Avenue. After staying at and being dissatisfied at a Hilton Garden Inn the night before, he hoped this hotel was better. Dre wished he could’ve stayed with his brother, but didn’t feel like having Justice continuously judge him.

  Once Dre grabbed his bag from the car he went inside the hotel and checked in.

  “Sir, I need to see a valid ID,” the front desk agent said.

  Dre was staring at her double D breasts and plump lips so hard he didn’t hear a word she said.

  “Sir, are you okay?” the woman asked loudly.

  She was a cutie, but Dre could tell she was ghetto as hell by the bright blonde weave she wore.

  “Oh yeah, sorry,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Your ID and a credit card please.”

  “Oh…okay,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. He pulled out his driver’s license and handed it to her. “I don’t have a credit card though.”

  “I’ll need one for incidentals sir,” the agent replied.

  Dre reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. He had to do the same thing at the last hotel. “You think we could forget about the credit card. I promise I won’t be rentin’ any dirty movies or orderin’ room service,” he said, sliding the bill.

  The agent turned her head both ways before slipping the money in her pocket. “No problem.”

  While waiting for her to check him in, Dre looked over at the revolving door when he heard the sound of kids running in the hotel. He saw a woman with two kids along with a baby in a stroller walk into the lobby. He wondered if that could possibly be Skye. She was fine and fit the description that Sandino had given him. He continued watching as she made her way over to the front desk. They made eye contact before she started talking to the young woman at the desk.

  “Hello Mrs. Raines, are you enjoying your time in town?” the front desk agent asked.

  “Yes, I like it here. In fact if my husband closes this deal today, we’ll be packing up our home in New York and moving all our lil’ crumb snatchers here. We never wanted to raise our kids in New York anyway,” she replied.

  The desk agent smiled. “Well, welcome to Atlanta in advance.”

  A few minutes later a man walked in with two more kids.

  “Thanks, keep your fingers crossed that we close on that deal,” Mrs. Raines replied as the couple and their Brady Bunch headed to the hotel’s restaurant.

  I guess ‘dat wasn’t Skye, he thought.

  Once the woman checked him in, she handed him his key. Dre smiled at her as he walked away from the counter and headed to the elevator.

  When Dre got to room 304, he stuck the key in the door and opened it. He then sat his bag in a corner then plopped down on the bed. With the remote in hand he flipped through the channels.

  “Damn, ain’t shit interestin’ on,” he said, landing on The Dr. Oz Show.

  Since Dre couldn’t find anything to watch, he decided to catch up on some sleep. He scooped up one of the pillows and stuck it behind his head. After staring at the ceiling trying to figure out how he was going to find Skye for about ten minutes, it suddenly hit him.

  Sitting back up, Dre grabbed his cell phone off the night stand. He decided to call Mercedes for help even though he was hesitant after the conversation with Justice. It was obvious that she was two short of a six pack now, but at this point, he didn’t have anything to lose.

  He dialed her number not knowing what mood she was going to be in.

  “What the fuck do you want now, Dre?” Mercedes asked as soon as she answered.

  “Hey Mercedes, I was just callin’ to check on you.”

  “Well, I should be so lucky. I’m just sitting trying to decide who to invite to the wedding. I’m pissed that your brother is acting a little stupid right now, but I know he’ll come around, so I’m moving forward with the plans.”

  Dre laughed to himself. He started to ask who the hell was going to be her maid of honor since he now knew the real story, but he needed her help, so he played it cool and went along with the story.

  “So, what’s up?” she asked.

  “I need your help wit’ findin’ somebody.”

  “What makes you think I can help you do something like that?”

  “Because I thought since you worked at the shelter you might have information about the people who’ve stayed there. Plus I know about ‘dat database for all the shelters ‘dat Justice has access to, and wondered if you did, too.”

  “So, since your ass just said, worked, you must know that he fired me.”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “What did that bastard say?”

  “Look, I don’t wanna get into ‘dat right now. He didn’t say anything bad,” Dre lied. “So, can you help.”

  “Maybe…maybe not. What’s in it for me?” she asked.

  Dre shook his head, some things never change, he thought. “I’ll slide you some change if you can help.”

  “I saw the wad of money you had in your pocket Dre. I need at least four hundred dollars.”

  “Aight.”

  “What do you need help with?”

  “Have you heard anything about Sandino Washington’s wife bein’ in town?”

  “Who the fuck is Sandino Washington?”

  Dre laughed. He suddenly remembered that Mercedes didn’t know anything about sports.

  “He’s an ex NFL player who played for the Miami Dolphins.”

  “Oh, no, but why are you interested in Sandino Washington’s wife? Are you fucking her or something?”

  “No, but she took his kids and he wants them back. He payin’ top dollar to find her.”

  “Really. Well, I can call my girl Nessa. All the celebrities who come to town go to her salon. If she’s here, Nessa will know about it.”

  “Ummm. I don’t think his wife would really wanna be out there getting’ her hair done. If anything she would be hidin’ out. That’s why I was wonderin’ if you could look in ‘dat database. Maybe she’s stayin’ at a shelter,” Dre informed.

  Mercedes walked over to her computer that was already on and sat down. She had plans on logging into the shelter’s database, but decided to do something else first. “Let’s see what she looks like,” Mercedes said.

  She wanted the get her hands on some of that money too. After going to Goggle, she typed in, Sandino Washington NFL player, then waited for the results. After clicking on images, a few seconds later, a picture of him, Skye and the kids popped on her screen.

  Mercedes gasped. “Oh my God!”

  “What’s wrong?” Dre asked.

  “Ummm, nothing,” Mercedes said.

  She didn’t want Dre to contact Sandino. In her mind, she wanted to contact him herself.

  “I gotta go!”

  CLICK!

  *****

  Skye sat on the side of a hospital bed in the emergency room with Justice holding her hand and apologizing for not being there to protect her. Her body ached, her face was badly bruised, and she had a huge knot on her forehead. But nothing compared to her nervousness. Skye hadn’t stopped shaking since she arrived and jumped every time the nurse
entered the room. She wondered why a dark cloud always seemed to follow her.

  Along with being upset about her horrific experience, Skye was also saddened about Kareem coming home from school and finding her naked and tied up on the floor. After covering her up, he called 911 and stayed by her side until the paramedics arrived. Skye hadn’t seen Kareem cry in months, but once he found out what happened, he couldn’t help but shed a few tears as his mother sobbed uncontrollably. With him being on restricted house arrest, Kareem was disappointed after realizing he couldn’t escort her to the hospital, but Skye assured him she would be okay. She needed him to step up and be the man of the house for Jordan and Payton.

  Skye looked up and wiped her eyes when a female doctor walked in.

  “Mrs. Coleman, I’m Dr. Devoe, How are you feeling?”

  “Numb,” was all Skye could say in regards to how she felt.

  “I know you’ve been through a traumatic experience and I want to make this examination as quick as possible,” Dr. Devoe explained. She looked at Justice. “I’m gonna have to ask you to leave the room if you don’t mind.”

  He kissed Skye on the head. “I’ll be right outside if you need me baby,” he said walking out the room.

  Moments later, a nurse appeared and helped the doctor as she prepared to do the rape kit on Skye. The nurse helped Skye to her feet and onto a large piece of paper draped on the floor right beside the bed.

  “I need you to undress right here and lay back down on top of the bed,” the doctor ordered.

  The nurse then covered the hospital bed with the same type of paper. She later explained that the paper was used to catch any fibers or hairs that would be collected during the exam so they could be placed into the rape kit.

  “I need you to open your legs and place them in the stir-ups please. This will be quick,” Dr. Devoe reassured her again in a gentle tone.

  Skye opened her legs and did as she was told, but closed her eyes when she had a vision of the man raping her. When she began to shake non-stop, the nurse walked over and rubbed her arm.

  “I know this is hard for you, but we have to do this so we can hopefully catch this animal and put him away.”

  “Okay,” Skye managed to say.

  A few seconds later, the doctor grabbed a small kit and started combing Skye’s pubic area for possible hair samples. After that was done, she scraped underneath her nails to collect tissue samples. She would stop every few minutes and drop the samples into a container and label it with Skye’s name. She then took an ultraviolet light and scanned her entire body trying to locate semen or saliva. After the vaginal exam was over, she pulled out a camera and took pictures of all the bruises.

  “Okay, all done. We just need a blood and urine sample and I’ll give you some medication to treat any potential STD’s since you’re concerned that the rapist didn’t use a condom. We’ll contact you once we get your results back from the lab,” the doctor stated.

  “Thanks,” Skye responded.

  Once the doctor left the room, the nurse checked Skye’s IV and changed the bandage on her head.

  “Are you okay, Mrs. Colman? Is there anything else I can get you before I leave?” the nurse asked.

  “I’ll be okay.”

  “Well, buzz me if you change your mind. Also, just so you know, the hospital will provide you with information to a rape crisis center for counseling if you need it,” she said, leaving the room.

  A few seconds later Justice peeked his head in the door. “Baby, there’re some officers out here in the hall who need to ask you a few questions.”

  “Can you tell them to come back later? I don’t feel like talking right now.”

  “Baby, I know you’re still upset, but you might as well get it over with.”

  After giving it some thought, she knew Justice was right. “Alright. Tell them to come in.”

  Skye fixed her hair and tried to get herself together before the officers entered the room, one of which was a female.

  “Hello, I’m Officer Smythe and this is Officer Jenkins,” he said pointing to the female.

  “For the record, can you state your name?” the officer asked with a pad in his hand.

  Skye broke down and immediately started crying. She wanted so badly to give them her real name, but gave them the fake name instead.

  “Janelle Coleman.”

  “We just need to ask you a few questions about what happened to you. We were able to get a sample of the semen for the DNA testing. Did you by any chance know the man that raped you?”

  “No, I didn’t know him. I’m new to the area and don’t know many people here.”

  The officers both looked at Justice like they were wondering what his relationship to Skye was, but didn’t bother asking. After several other questions, they finished up.

  “Mrs. Coleman, once you’re released we’ll come to your house and dust for finger prints.”

  “Okay,” Skye replied. For some reason she started to breakdown.

  When they left, Skye continued to cry. Justice walked up and consoled her.

  “Janelle I want you and the boys to move in with me so I can protect you.”

  She lowered her head before speaking. “Justice, I have to decline because if I agree to move in with you, Kareem will probably have an issue with that. I just can’t risk it. I’m already having problems with him.”

  “Well, if you can’t move in with me, then what about me moving in with you?”

  After thinking about it, surprisingly, Skye agreed. She looked over at his handsome face and decided it was time to tell him who she really was.

  “Justice, I have something to tell you. She broke down again. “I’m so tired of running, lying and being scared. My name isn’t Janelle Coleman, it’s Skye Washington. My husband’s name is Sandino Washington who used to play for the Miami Dolphins. I can’t keep living my life like this,” she dropped her head and wailed.

  Her name sounded so familiar. Skye Washington…Skye Washington. Oh, wait that’s the name Dre asked me about the other day. I wonder what’s the connection, Justice wondered. But he mentioned something about green eyes.

  He stared at Skye. “So, is that your real eye color?”

  Skye shook her head. “No, I’ve been getting these fake contacts from a beauty supply this whole time. My eyes are really green. It was all a cover-up, but I’m tired of that, too.”

  “It’s okay, baby, I love you regardless of who you are. I’m just glad you finally told me the truth.” Justice lifted her head. “I like the name Skye better anyway. Do you think we can get a hook up on some tickets to a Dolphins game,” he joked.

  Since she’d finally decided to come clean, Justice desperately wanted to tell her about the night with Mercedes and even his wife, but still didn’t think it was the appropriate time.

  Ain’t no sense in making her even more upset, he thought. In the meantime, I’ve gotta find out what Dre wanted with her.

  Chapter 24

  Kareem stood in the small, cramped, smoke-filled kitchen trying to prepare a meal for the family. On the menu were peas, boxed macaroni and cheese along with some spaghetti noodles with tomato sauce. He’d watched Ms. Petra prepare their meals for years and it looked easy, so he decided to take a chance.

  Kareem stirred the noodles trying to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pot, but wasn’t having much luck. The kitchen was a complete mess and it smelled like burnt food, but he was determined to have a nice, hot meal when his mother returned home from the hospital. He was in a good mood, and had already cleaned up the apartment so Skye didn’t have anything to do once she arrived. He just wanted her to relax.

  The vision of him walking in the house and finding his mother laying on the floor naked, badly beaten and tied up was still etched in his mind. After calling 911, he constantly asked Skye who’d done that to her, but her response was the same each time, “I don’t know.” He wanted to kill whoever had the audacity to touch his mother.

  When
the paramedics arrived, Skye made Kareem promise that he would take care of Jordan and Payton while she was gone. She also asked him not to tell Jordan what happened. Skye definitely didn’t want him to know anything about the incident. She wanted to tell him on her own time, if she said anything at all.

  Kareem remembered snapping out of his frantic state of mind once the ambulance pulled off and realized he needed to step up and be the man like he promised he would be when they first left Miami. The one thing he admired about his mother was how she was always able to remain strong and keep moving forward, no matter what she went through. Now, it was finally time to make her proud.

  When Kareem heard his favorite song, 6’, 7’ by Little Wayne, he threw down the fork he was using and turned up the small portable radio. He began rapping along with the lyrics and even displayed a few hand gestures, imitating the New Orleans native MC.

  At that moment, Jordan walked into the kitchen holding Payton. He looked at the food frowning up his face then started waving his hand back and forth from all the smoke. He walked over and cut on the fan over top of the stove.

  “Damn, I was wondering where that shit was,” Kareem joked.

  “Why are you in here trying to cook? You’ve never cooked a day in your life. This don’t even go together, where’s Ma?” Jordan inquired.

  “Stop asking so many questions, she’ll be home shortly. She asked me to look out for you and Payton, so I’m cooking some food, it’s almost ready.”

  Jordan frowned again. “I’m not gonna eat that food. You haven’t even been around, now all of a sudden you wanna play big brother and cook? Ma doesn’t fix no nasty food like this.”

  Kareem got mad and started throwing the plates down on the counter. He knew Jordan was right, but refused to admit it in front of his little brother.

  “Jordan shut up before I choke your ungrateful-ass out!” Kareem yelled.