by B. M. Hardin
He got down on one knee and Lee Lee started to curse.
“This is crazy and I know that you might have never seen this coming but I am in love with you. It’s always been something about you that I just couldn’t shake, and maybe I wasn’t supposed to. I’ve changed so much Moet. And I’m still changing, every day, and who better to change my life and ways with then you. But before I can ask you to be you wife. I have to ask you to forgive me.”
My heart was beating faster than it ever had before.
“For what Kane?”
He took a deep breath.
“For killing your brother. Hell, I was trying to kill your father instead,” Kane said.
What?
******************************
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Stop calling me Kane!”
I hung up the phone but I knew that it was only a matter of time before he called me back again.
I was still trying to process everything that had been said to me, but Kane didn’t seem to care about all of that.
He wanted an answer but I could give him one just yet.
How could I say yes to a proposal to a man that killed my brother?
Kane said that he wanted revenge on Daddy for killing Naomi.
I knew that he wasn’t going to just let that go, but I still didn’t suspect that Kane was behind the bombing.
I assumed that Jinx’s brother and his crew was behind it all, but Kane assured me that it was him.
“Moe, I loved your father. I did. But he was ruthless. He had no right to take her away from me. Away from her kids. I’d always done everything that he said. I’d always done every single thing that he’d asked me to. And he spit in my face. It was out of hurt. As much dirt we’d done together he could have come to me to discuss other options. But since he’d taken matters into his own hands, well, I took them into mine,” he’d said that day.
I was mad as hell!
Of course he’d said that he had never intended to hurt Rum but hell even admitting to trying to kill my Daddy was a no-no.
Kane started calling again and then I heard his keys in the door.
Of course I’d given him a key to the house since we had been having relations but at that moment I wished that I hadn't.
“Look Moe, hear me out,” he said.
No matter what he said, it wouldn’t change the fact that he was responsible for my brother’s death.
“It was for your father.”
“And that makes it better?”
“No. But hell, you helped kill my brother too Moe. Or did you forget?”
Damn. That’s right.
We all played a part with killing his brother Mario.
But so what if he was right.
This was different.
“Rum was innocent. He had his whole life ahead of him.”
“It wasn’t for him. Look, you have bigger things to worry about than me okay. It was an accident. I told you who the bomb was for. I told you why I did it and to be honest, I’m not even that person anymore. I figured out what I liked about you so much. You made me want to be different. The feeling that I have when I’m around you makes me want to be a different kind of man. The man that you met at the condo. Before you found out all of the other stuff. Being around you these few months made me realize, that I like that man a little better. All we gotta do now is take care of Lee Lee, get married, and move on with our lives.”
I looked at him like he was crazy.
I know damn well he wasn’t talking about killing my sister too.
No one else was going to die.
“What do you mean take care of Lee Lee?”
“If we don’t kill her Moe. She is going to kill you.”
I looked at him like he was crazy.
Kane took a deep breath.
“Have you ever seen the medicines that she takes? Some are for anxiety. Others are for depression. But there was also some that I saw that was for obsessive compulsive disorder as well as for multiple personality disorder. She really is mental Moet. And even more so than you think, or that’s on papers.”
“What? I would have known if she had all of those things. Someone would have told me.”
“That’s if anyone knows. She only told you about the anxiety. Trust me she is capable of a lot more than you think and I’m telling you, if we don’t kill her, she is going to do something to you. I can feel it. She won’t hurt me because I’m a part of her little obsession. But you are just in the way. Listen to this voicemail.”
Lee Lee was flipping out.
She was cursing Kane out, threaten to harm herself, but then she would ask him to call her and tell him that she missed him.
She asked him if I wasn’t around or in the picture, would he love her then.
Of course I hadn't been around her in a few years until not too long ago, but I wondered if anyone else knew about her condition or if she was just pretty good at hiding it.
Thinking back, before all of the stuff with Vicki, she was normal to me.
“There’s something else that I have to tell you Moet. Remember when I told you that I was outside of your house and I saw the two men go into the house? The night that Drake was killed?”
I just looked at him.
Oh no.
“The one thing I forgot to tell you was that the person driving the car…was Lee Lee.”
My mouth fell open.
“What? Wait a minute. Jinx’s brother wasn’t responsible for Drake’s death?”
I was so confused.
“No. Sure, you said they stole money but whatever plan you said that they had must have worked because it wasn’t them. It was Lee Lee. I saw it with my own eyes. I don’t know why. I don’t know what the reason behind it was. But I saw her. She was driving the car. To be honest I thought that she had sent them in to kill you. That was the real reason that I came back to the scene. But when I found out that it was Drake, I wondered what was going on. I didn’t know how to tell you that. And for a while I’d decided that I wasn’t but you needed to know. You need to know how crazy Lee Lee is and why something needs to be done.”
I shook my head.
“So you never thought that Daddy had something to do with Drake’s death?”
“No. I’d actually come to tell you about Lee Lee that day but as I started to talk, I changed my mind. I decided that I wasn’t going to say anything. I wanted to see if I could find out why. But she never told me. But I have a pretty good guess of the reason.”
My own sister had brought men to murder my husband.
Why?
And all along Daddy and I were thinking that it was drug related and she was behind it.
That bitch is going to get it!
I was so angry that I was starting to sweat.
And I was angry at Kane too.
“Why didn’t you tell me Kane?”
“It was already too late.”
I wondered who Lee Lee had gotten to kill Drake.
How did she find someone to do it?
Who would even do something like that for her?
She didn’t have many friends, but a visual of her and that strange man in sweats that day that she met when she’d said that she was going to sleep instead of wedding shopping with us crossed my mind.
Had she been ordering the hit then?
I also thought about the old woman across the street.
I thought about her saying that she’d seen Lee Lee at the house, twice, without Drake and before finding out that Drake was dead.
“Why do you think that she would try to kill me?”
“Because she wants to be you. She wants your life. It’s about more than just me. It’s about everything.”
“But why?”
“Do you want to know the truth? The real truth?”
What kind of stupid ass question was that?
Of course I did.
“She was in love with Drake Moe.”
What the hell was he talking about?
“No she wasn’t.”
“Yes Moe. She was. Even before you two became more than friends all of those years ago. I read her diary.”
It just didn’t make sense.
Drake and I had been together since our teens.
We’d been best friends for years and then finally we crossed over to dating.
“She said that she wanted him and even said that he was her first.”
What the fuck was he talking about?
“Her diary said that you and him were just best friends at the time. She said that he had come over one day for you but you had gone with your parents and the other kids. She said that she’d stayed behind because she’d said that she was cramping. But she said that she was lying. She just didn’t want to go.”
Lee Lee had always had bad periods.
She would cramp so bad that she would cry and act as though she could barely walk.
So that could have been a number of times.
And that statement alone assured me that Kane was telling the truth.
“She said that Drake came over and asked for you but said that he would wait inside for you. She said somehow they talked and laughed and then they ended up kissing. And then they had sex.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe so I sat down.
That’s not what she’d told me.
We were close back then and her virginity was taken by the neighborhood cutie at the time, Coby Hall.
That’s what she’d told me.
She damn sure hadn't told me that it had been Drake!
My Drake!
“She said that he said that he wanted to be the one to tell you so she didn’t say anything. And then she said that suddenly his parents died and after that, he seemed to be all in love with you. She said that the one time that they spoke about it he said it was an accident and that she was supposed to just pretend that it never happened. Her diary said that she was crushed because she’d had a crush on him for years even though he was younger than her.”
Drake and I were two years younger than Lee Lee.
But it just didn’t make since.
First she had him killed and pretended like she didn’t know who would do something like that to him and even helped get everything ready for the funeral.
Then I found out that apparently they’d had sex.
Drake and Lee Lee?
And he was her first?
She’d had sex with him before me?
I just couldn’t believe it.
“She said shortly after that, you guys had the whole boyfriend and girlfriend going on, so she started doing someone else and shortly after she started dealing with a pastor or something. But she always felt like you’d taken him from her. Like she had some kind of special connection with him and you stole it. And then in her eyes you were trying to steal me.”
“Steal you? I didn’t steal you. I dealt with you first! And I can’t believe that she had sex with Drake and didn’t tell me!”
“I’m just telling you what her diary said. She had at least a dozen of them in her closet. One day, when we first started to become friendly, she said she had to make a run and asked me to stay there until she got back. I started snooping around. Just so happens I came across them. I chose two of them to read a few pages out of and that was in one of them. She wants to be you. She’s always wanted to be in your shoes. That is another reason I decided not to go to the next level with her. She would have definitely been tripping then. I discovered that she was definitely a little crazy, so I knew not to take it too far. But I also wanted to know a little more. In a way I felt like the more that I knew, the more I could protect you. As I said, my delivery might have made me seem crazy, or like a stalker, but I was always in a way looking out for you.”
I was so overwhelmed.
It just seemed like it was always something.
“In the other diary she talked about being raped, but it never said by who. She also talked about therapy, so I can only assume that she either still goes, or used to go for whatever reason. The girl has a lot of personal issues Moe, and I just don’t think you’re safe.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do with all of this Kane huh?”
“I don’t know Moe. I told you my thoughts. But I can tell you this. I don’t know what happened to her in that basement or as a result of Vicki going psycho on her, but something must have triggered her already messed up mind. Maybe it caused memories and feelings to come back that she’d tried to forget about. Maybe she blames you for the way her love life has turned out. Nevertheless, if she will kill Drake, for whatever reason, Moet, she will kill you too.”
No.
I was her sister.
She wouldn’t do that to me.
And I wouldn’t try to kill her.
I’d felt like it not too long ago, but knowing that she was sick and that she probably couldn’t help it changed everything.
I wouldn’t lose another loved one.
I could get through to her.
Now that I knew the truth, I could definitely get through to her.
“I have to come up with a way to get through to her.”
Kane looked at me.
“She won’t listen to you Moet. She asked me if I would be with her if you were out of the picture; which means she wanted to know if she and I would have something if you were dead. You do the math,” Kane said.
Hell do the math?
I was still trying to process it all.
“Let’s get rid of her. Take the kids. All of them. And go. Neither of us really have anything holding us here anymore. I’ll move my family to wherever we settle. I’ll find folks to run my businesses.”
“My sisters are that all I have left.”
“You went years without them right?”
“Yes. But that wasn’t by choice.”
“You wanted to move not too long ago right?”
“Yes. But I wasn’t going to write them out of my life.”
“Well, what do you suggest?”
“I don’t know. But in the meantime you have to go.”
Kane looked at me.
“Until I can figure out what’s going on with her I need for you to stay away from me. Stay away from her. Maybe you should try to date her.”
“What?”
“If you think that she will harm me because of you, that’s the only way.”
“No it isn’t. I can set something up today. I can make a few calls you know.”
“No. If you are who she wants, then give her you. Not the new you. The old, annoying, aggravating as hell you. Make her your main chick but make her regret it. Problem solved.”
“You really think it’s that simple?”
“It has to be. If she want you that bad, let her have you. Give the girl what she wants and you let me handle the rest.”
Truth be told, after all of this, I wasn’t going to be with Kane.
But I didn’t need to tell him that.
I just needed him to date Lee Lee.
I had kids to take care of so I couldn’t put myself in a situation that might take me away from them, so I had to fix it.
And right now, Kane being with her was the best solution.
I was still thankful for all that he had done, but it was just too much.
Too much trouble.
Too many secrets.
Too many problems.
Too much bad history.
I just couldn’t deal with any of the extra anymore.
My life had been nothing but trouble for a long time.
And I was damn tired of it.
Everything and everybody in my life was a lie and I just wanted to start over.
And finding out that my life could depend on it just made realize that my life had been nothing but hell; especially since the day that Kane walked into it.
Kane left under the impression that we were going to figure everything out together but I knew that there was nothing left for us and there was no place els
e for us to go.
I didn’t want to be his main chick.
I didn’t want to be his side chick.
I didn’t want to be anything but alive.
Period.
~***~
I still wondered why Lee Lee would have wanted to kill Drake.
What did he do?
I would think that it wouldn’t have had anything to do with what they’d shared apparently in the past all of those years ago so it had to be something.
I’d invited all of my sisters to dinner.
Including Lee Lee.
Kane and I hadn't seen each other in days and I assumed that he was already putting the works on Lee Lee.
“I’m pregnant!” Velvet squealed as three out of the four of us got settled at the table.
Legacy wasn’t there yet but she was who I really wanted to see.
“Finally!”
Velvet talked about her pregnancy and then she dropped another bomb.
“Well, since the baby is coming and all, he wants to be closer to family. He found a job in Ohio. We move at the end of the month.”
She frowned and so did I.
Surprisingly Chardonnay smiled.
“What a coincidence. I sold my house…and bought one in Ohio!”
“Really?” Velvet smiled.
“Yes. Before I quit my job, I’d apply for a sister-company there. They called the other day and told me that I had the job and even though I don’t need to work anymore, I’m bored. I’ve gained all of this weight and to be honest, with all of this money, I’m not happy. So, I told them to let me think about it. I started looking for a house, I found one. I found a buyer for mine. And so, I’m taking it. I’m moving there and taking the job. Plus I’ve heard good things about the men there. I think it’s time that I get a husband too,” she said.
Chardonnay still looked as though she had been hit in the face with a pillowcase full of bricks.
It was something definitely going on with her.
I didn’t know if she was sick or something and I mentally questioned her real reasons for wanting to move and take a job, though she should have a good bit of money left.
But I didn’t say anything aloud.
Damn!
Now Kane’s suggestion didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
If they were moving, I could surely pack up the kids and move too with no problem.