by B. M. Hardin
“I didn’t know when it happened but he and I kind of had a little heart to heart not too long ago and it came up.”
“He said that it was to give us Krissie. He said that you knew all along that she was really your daughter.”
“Since I’m being honest, I did. But believe me everything I ever did or lied about was for a reason. You have to believe me.”
My mind was racing.
I was extremely frustrated but I also felt nervous for some reason and I didn’t know why.
“I just need to know that you forgive me.”
I nodded.
“Yes. I might as well since I’m pregnant.”
I’d taken the test that Daddy had given me earlier and indeed I was pregnant.
And now that I knew that I was, it changed a lot of things.
It changed my mind.
Finding out the news immediately seemed to ease some of the bottled up anger.
It just changed everything.
“Really? Oh baby, I’m so happy. And this time I swear nothing will happen to you or my child. I’ll die before I let something happen to either of you,” Drake said and I rolled my eyes.
Moet, get over it and just let it all go.
I internally coached myself to breathe and just let my concerns about Lee Lee and Drake go.
It really bothered me but I had to take his word that it was nothing that I needed to be worried about.
Though I still was going to try to find out what it was, there was no point in letting it stress me out.
At that moment I decided to forgive Drake for lying and forgive Daddy for the attack and for causing me to lose the baby.
I was angry at how my parents had treated me for years.
I was angry in prison.
I was angry as Drake’s side chick.
And I just didn’t want to be angry anymore.
They both were free and alive and that was all that mattered.
Kane was supposedly now in charge and I didn’t care about him, or what happened to him so the whole operation could come crashing down on him at this point.
Hell, he needed to be in somebody’s prison or in a mental institution somewhere anyway.
I just wanted to be normal.
I wanted to be a normal wife, with a normal husband.
I wanted to have a normal family and a normal life.
That’s it.
“Can I touch you?” Drake asked unsure.
“Hell no, you are definitely in the dog house mister.”
“Oh I am?”
I nodded.
“Say that’s your word.”
“Word. Now move boy.”
He moved alright.
His naked frame moved closer to me.
He smiled and touched my stomach.
And before I could stop him, he kissed me.
And my suddenly horny ass kissed him back.
I tried to clear my head as things started to heat up.
I tried to focus and before long all I could think about was Drake giving it to me long and rough.
He laid me on my back and found his way in between my legs.
He ripped the panties that I still had on at the sides and I waited for him to taste me and once he did, the touch of his tongue almost made me high.
I cooed as he moaned, slurped and made me promises that I was sure that he was going to keep.
To say that I was turned on was an understatement.
But Drake and I had always had good sex and at that very moment, I got a slight glimpse of our future.
Sex.
Kids.
Good sex.
Money.
Hot, nasty sex.
Happiness.
And did I mention sex?
I loved my husband, I always had, and despite that he had been lying to me, about pretty much everything, I got the feeling that he would never lie to me again.
Everything was going to be just fine.
I was married to my best friend and about to have his baby.
Everything was perfect…just like they were always supposed to be.
Drake came up for air and grinned at me once we made eye contact.
“I love you Moe.”
“I love you too Dray.”
“I got you,” he said.
“As long as you got me,” I somewhat whispered and he rose up and positioned himself between my legs.
He led his penis to the entrance of Ms. Pussy’s mouth, but…
All of a sudden, something happened.
It happened so fast that it wasn’t until Dray’s blood splat across my face that I realized what had just taken place.
He collapsed on top of me and I touched the back of his head hoping to stop the oozing, warm blood from racing out of it.
I heard running, just as I started to scream.
I called his name but he didn’t hear me.
Drake didn’t move and didn’t answer me.
Dray, my husband, my best friend…
Was dead.
******************************
CHAPTER THREE
“Ma’am, calm down and tell me what happened.”
I was talking so fast that I was getting confused.
I was crying, and throwing up between words and the officer tried to get me to sit down but I couldn’t.
“We were about to, well, we were about to have sex, and out of nowhere bang! Just bang!”
I was whining and the officer tried to hold me but I damn near lost it when they rolled Drake’s body out in a black bag.
“No!”
I screamed and tried to run towards him but the officer caught me.
“Ma’am I need for you to calm down.”
“Calm down? My husband is dead. He died right between my legs. I can still taste his blood in my mouth and you want me to calm down? You don’t fucking tell me to calm down!”
I jerked away from him and finally made it to Drake.
I laid on the bag and cried.
“Please don’t go. Please come back. I can’t live without you. Please. Drake wake up baby. Please just wake up.”
I cried to him from the deepest part of my heart but I knew that he didn’t hear me.
He wasn’t there anymore.
His body was.
But his soul was gone to wherever it would eternally call home.
How could this happen?
Why would this happen to me?
To Dray?
It just didn’t make sense.
Right when things were just about to get back on track, he was gone.
He was just gone.
It wasn’t until I heard a familiar voice behind me, that I stood up from the body bag and they rolled it away.
Kane.
I’d called everyone but no one had answered their phones.
Not Daddy.
Not any of my siblings.
But I damn sure hadn't called Kane.
What was he doing here?
“I was riding by…”
“Why? Why were you riding by?”
“I always ride by,” Kane said like it was normal.
I couldn’t deal with his nonsense.
Not now.
Not ever.
“I was riding by and saw all of the police and stuff so I stopped.”
“He’s dead.”
Kane looked at me and then in the direction of the men rolling the body bag away.
He didn’t say anything.
Kane just stood there.
I turned my back to him and watched them put Drake’s body in the coroner’s car in tears.
This was not supposed to be happening to me.
Suddenly I had an epiphany.
Knowing Kane’s crazy ass he could have been the one behind all of this.
How convenient of him to just be “riding by” after something like this happen.
“Did you do this? Did you do this!” I screamed and I actually proceeded to swing on him.
“No Moet. I didn’t do this.”
“Then who did huh? Who did this? If you didn’t do this, then who did? I swear to—,”
“I didn’t do this. I had no reason to do this.”
I stared at him as his face showed no emotion.
Especially not guilt.
As strange as it was, I believed him.
I continued to cry as the coroners drove away and as the police hustled about all around me.
Kane didn’t say anything else.
He didn’t try to hold me.
He just stood there.
“Ma’am do you have any idea who could have done this?”
I shook my head.
“We’d been having some break-in trouble, but we never found out who it was.”
“Well, there was no forced entry. Whoever came in used a key.”
What?
But no one had a key.
We’d had the locks changed, only a few days ago, again.
We hadn’t had a chance to give anyone a spare or even hide one outside around the house.
“No one has a key.”
“Oh trust me, someone has a key. We’re going to need you to come down to the station to continue with all of this tomorrow. Not tonight. We will give you time to mourn your loss.”
I shook my head.
The officers the last time said the same thing about how the intruder was getting in, but it just didn’t make since.
The alarm hadn't gone off either.
Maybe Drake hadn't set it or maybe they were inside already before we got there like they had been the time that they’d broken into our other house.
I just didn’t understand.
I was so confused with everything and I felt like I wasn’t going to make it.
I just didn’t know how I was going to be able to get through this.
I would never forget our last moments.
I would never forget the look on his face or the last words that he’d said to me.
Someone had shot him in the back of the head, cold blood.
But why hadn’t they shot me?
It just didn’t make any sense.
“Oh, we noticed that you have a child’s room. Do you have a child? Is the child with family tonight?
Oh no!
I’d forgotten all about Krissie!
I ran inside of the house and past all of the officers and other crime scene officials.
Entering Krissie’s room, immediately I noticed that she wasn’t where I’d laid her.
She wasn’t in her bed.
I dropped to my knees and looked under the bed.
She wasn’t there either.
I headed for the closet, nope.
What?
She was gone.
Krissie was gone!
“Ma’am what’s wrong?” The same officer and Kane had followed me inside.
“She’s gone! She was in her bed and now she’s gone!”
The same officer started to talk on the walkie-talkie on his shoulder and everyone seemed to start running around.
Drake had been killed and now Krissie was missing?
Huh?
I started to scream and fall to the ground and this time, instead of just watching me, Kane caught me.
~***~
After searching for a while longer, and almost assuming that she had been kidnapped, I ended up checking in Krissie’s favorite hiding spot underneath the cabinets in the kitchen.
She was there.
Thank goodness!
I guess all of the noise and people had scared her and she’d decided to hide.
Daddy held her as he talked to me about Drake.
I’d asked him, just to be sure, if he had anything to do with Drake’s death but of course he denied any involvement.
But he couldn’t say whether or not it was related to any drug business or not.
“You just never know. When he first told me about the break-ins, my mind started to wonder. It’s a grimy business. No one is loyal. Sometimes you just never know what the next man is planning against you. Everyone wants to be the head and no one wants to be the tail. Everyone wants to be in charge. That’s why I kept such a small team. As far as I know, Drake didn’t have any enemies. None that he’d mentioned or any problems. But you can never be sure who had something against him. But I’m going to find out. I swear to you that I’m going to find out who did this,” Daddy said.
I didn’t respond.
Hell, Daddy was one to talk about loyalty. If Kane was supposedly his right hand man, but he’d killed Naomi.
So, my mind wouldn’t allow me to digest his words the way that I’d wanted to.
I was still in shock and I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
I’d gone from being Dray’s ride or die chick, to just his side chick with main chick feelings. And then finally after two years I’d gone back to being his main chick and then finally his wife.
And now you mean to tell me that I was now his widow?
I hadn't even gotten use to using my last name yet.
Just like that, our happily ever after had come to an end.
“We need some input on the arrangements,” Lee Lee said.
She as well as my other sisters had been so helpful through it all.
Considering what I was going through, the tension between us was now at a minimum.
I was no longer worried about what the big secret between her and Drake was.
I just wanted him back.
As far as I knew I was still pregnant, despite the lack of eating, stressing and sleeping.
I had started bleeding lightly, but I didn’t care if I lost the baby or not.
I felt like I could barely live without Drake so how in the world was I going to raise two kids without him?
I was depressed.
My life just never seemed to work out the way that I wanted it to no matter how hard I tried.
“Whatever you choose is fine.”
It wasn’t like anyone was coming to the funeral anyway.
Drake didn’t have any family of course, but an old uncle. So the only ones that would be there were us, the few family members that knew him from my side, and if any of his past employees decided to show up.
Daddy got from his favorite chair and he and Krissie came and sat beside me.
I flinched as he patted my leg.
“I know it’s hard right now, but it will be okay. As your father, I can promise you that I’m going to bring you justice and I’m going to bring you peace.”
“Meaning?”
“If I find out who is responsible for this, well…”
“No. We don’t need something happening to you too,” I managed to say.
“I have something for you. Here,” Daddy handed me a piece of paper.
“I’ve had that for a long time for Drake, just in case something ever went wrong. He left his, you know what there. His stash.” Daddy whispered.
His what?
Oh.
Maybe he was referring to dirty, drug money.
He and the others walked out of the room and I glanced at the paper.
It was an address.
Without saying a word to anyone, I grabbed my keys and headed out the door.
After following the navigation and after driving for about thirty minutes, to the outskirts of town, I finally arrived at the address.
It was a cute little house and in a neighborhood that looked like it was full of old people.
I got out of the car and walked slowly to the door.
I held the paper from Daddy firmly in my hand.
He hadn’t given me a key but I knew Drake had one hidden somewhere close by.
He’d gotten that from me.
“Hello.”
A voice came from behind me and I turned around.
She was a little old lady.
She had to be damn near a hundred years old.
�
�He’s not here. He works out of town. No wife. No kids. He’s always gone. Only comes every three days or so and then he’s right back out again. He said that he would be by to help me with my yard work today, have you seen him?”
Yard work?
Maybe that’s where he had been when he’d told me that he’d gone to work and came back hours later all dirty and smelling like outside.
He’d been helping some old lady with yard work?
Really?
Aww.
“No ma’am, I haven’t seen him,” I lied.
I wasn’t sure of what to tell her.
Death was already damn near trying to beat down her front door, and I didn’t want to tell her something that might make her sad.
But she looked at me as though she already knew that I wasn’t being honest.
“Are you Moet?”
I was surprised that she knew my name.
“Yes ma’am.”
“He said if a Moet ever came by and he wasn’t here to tell her to think about your sixteenth birthday. Whatever that means. Tell him that I will see him later. Better yet, I’ll probably see him before you will,” she said in a tone as if she’d figured out that he was probably dead.
She walked off slowly as I thought about my sixteenth birthday.
Of course Drake had been around, he was my best friend.
I tried to remember what we’d done or things that he’d said.
It took me a minute, but I figured that it could only be one thing.
I looked around the house for a brick.
We’d thrown a brick through my teenage rival’s parent’s car because she’d decided to have a party on my birthday so that everyone would go to hers instead of mine.
Drake always had my back.
Sure enough, there was a brick tucked away under a few things on the back porch and under it was a key.
I used it to open the back door.
I walked in, surprised to see that the house was fully furnished.
As though someone was actually living there.
I wasn’t sure when Drake had gotten the house but I was sure that he had his reasons for never mentioning it to me.
Considering what Daddy had said, I figured that he was referring to some kind of stash that Drake had hidden there.
I already knew about Drake’s million dollar life insurance policy and of course I had access to all of his money in the bank, but I assumed that inside was a pile of dirty money from his share of moving drugs for Daddy.
Let Daddy tell it, they’d made a good bit of money, so I was interested in seeing just how much money it was.