Good Girls Ain't No Fun Boxed Set (The SIX romance and urban fiction volumes of the LOVE, SEX, LIES series)

by Jessica Watkins

  By the time I was finished combing my hair down out of its wrap, Blood was in the driveway blowing the horn.

  Once I got outside, I saw that it was actually Devin’s Audi R8 sitting in the driveway. Considering that he brought such luxury out of the garage for this occasion, I was happy that I through on that dress.

  Like a gentlemen, Blood got out of the backseat as I approached the vehicle and let me in.

  Of course, Iyana was sitting pretty in the front seat next to her man.

  “Ooo! To what do I owe the honor of being picked up in such luxury?” I was teasing Blood and Devin with a giggle as I buckled my seat belt.

  Devin also laughed as he said, “It’s my boy’s birthday weekend! Gotta celebrate in the finest, so I brought my baby out of the garage.”

  “I thought I was your baby,” Iyana said with a pout.

  Slyly, Devin replied, “No, you’re my woman. This is my mistress.”

  We all laughed as Devin pulled away from the condo.

  Seeing Blood riding in the back seat of anything felt funny. He had grown so cautious of things that he usually drove himself everywhere. I relaxed along with him as I realized that Devin had earned Blood’s trust. And that he should have. For over a year now, Devin worked closely beside Blood; helping Blood rebuild what thieves and murderers took away from him.

  Blood then extended his right arm in front of me. “Look what Devin got me for my birthday.”

  Around Blood’s wrist lay a Saturn Bracelet. I knew of it because I stumbled upon it when searching for a birthday gift for him. However, I could never afford its range of $45,000. Being forty-seven carets of the most beautiful Princess Cut diamonds, this bracelet was the most exclusive men’s bracelet to hit the jewelry market this year. It shone on Blood’s wrist with the utmost clarity. Though it might seem cliché, I needed sunglasses on to stare at it for too long.

  “Wow,” was all that I could say.

  “Yea, I know,” Devin gloated. “I had to show my dude some kind of gratitude for bringing me into his family with open arms.”

  “Man, I needed you more than you needed me,” Blood told him.

  “You didn’t have to continue to build with me and partner with me though, but you did. I thank you for that, for real. I know you been through a lot, and I can’t thank you enough for accepting me.”

  Blood quieted bashfully. I reached over, held his hand, and he slightly squeezed my hand in return.

  He continued to look out of the window, but squeezed mine back.

  The rest of the ride was filled with plans of relaxing trips in the future; Punta Conta, Fiji, Brazil, and even Italy, so that Iyana and I could do some real shopping.

  We arrived at Alinea on the north side of Chicago. It was a lavish establishment tucked away on the roughest side street that you could find on Halsted. Once valet approached the vehicle and saw our Black faces, the look on his pale skin was priceless.

  This was why Blood and Devin hardly rode around in their luxury vehicles. They attracted suspicious attention such as this.

  Anyway, Iyana and I excused ourselves to the ladies room as soon as we entered the restaurant. The guys waited for us in the lobby.

  “Girl, I have been holding this since we left the house,” Iyana said with a sigh of relief as she entered the stall.

  I stood in the mirror fixing my hair and make-up.

  “Oh, yea. I meant to ask you. How did your girl say Derrick was? I heard he could put it down.”

  I looked curiously as I applied more lip gloss. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

  “Derrick and your homegirl,” Iyana answered. “I heard she went home with him after the party Friday night.”

  I rolled my eyes in the back of my head as I replied, “How do you know that?”

  “Girl, you know how dudes talk.”

  STAR

  As I lay in my cell attempting to fall asleep, I heard keys opening my cell. I wondered why Malik was coming so early. Usually, he waited until most inmates were sure to be asleep before coming into my cell.

  As he opened the cell, I also wondered how he was going to get away with visiting me since Officer Harris, the guard on our floor tonight, wasn’t a friend of his.

  Before I could say a word, I noticed that there were two other guards with Malik. They stood outside of my cell with their hands defensively on their batons; one being Officer Harris.

  From my bed, I curiously watched Malik as he approached me. I still lay in wonder when he was not even an inch away from my face, bending down over me with his eyes filled with rage.

  Just as I was about to speak, he barked at me. “Get yo’ ass up!” I was so taken aback that I couldn’t respond before he started yelling again. “I said get the fuck up!”

  I still lay there in wonder, not understanding why this man, that was just fucking the shit out of me in the laundry room a few hours ago, was treating me like an inmate.

  “Malik, what…” He didn’t let me get any other words out before he literally snatched me out of bed by my arms. I fell to the floor through the struggle. Malik grabbed me by both arms again, yanked me up from the floor, and I shrieked in response.

  I heard Officer Harris tell me to shut up as Malik continued to struggle with me.

  Because I continued to fight with Malik, Officer Harris shouted at me again, “Stop resisting, Anderson!”

  Despite what they told me, I continued to fight with Malik because he wasn’t going to just drag me out of my cell like this. Any other guard could have treated me this way, but not Malik. I wanted to know what the hell was going on before he just drug me anywhere. Yes, I should have listened to the guards, but this wasn’t a guard- this was Malik – and I had no idea why he was all of a sudden dragging me out of my cell like I was some difficult inmate.

  However, my fight was of no use. Malik was so much bigger than me that he literally took me out of my cell by my arm pits and carried me down the hall, kicking and squirming, with the other two guards marching behind him.

  Inmates who heard the confusion watched me curiously as Malik drug me by their cells. As we passed Dawn’s cell and she saw that it was me that was causing the disturbance, her mouth hit the floor.

  As Malik drug me towards the stairs, I heard Dawn shout, “What the hell?! What‘d she do?!”

  In response, Officer Harris swung his baton against her cell, causing an aching bang that echoed throughout the block. Then he shouted, “Lights out!!”

  Upon entering the first floor of the prison and making the necessary turns, I knew that Malik was taking me to the hole. My heart beat rapidly as I wondered just what the fuck was going on. I cursed myself for being so stupid and getting involved with someone who was obviously crazy.

  I wondered what he would do to me, because obviously, though I thought I did, I didn’t know what he was capable of.

  I had no clue what I had done. Inmates could be put in the hole for something as simple as disobeying an order, but I could not recall doing anything that violated any rules. Even if I had and Malik was just doing his job, I wondered why he was being so hostile with me.

  I looked at Malik curiously as we approached the door of the solitary confinement cell. In lower grade prisons, solitary confinement was a private cell away from the main population. However, in a maximum security prison such as this, where ninety percent of the inmates were murders, it was the hole; a cement block hardly tall enough to stand in with a mat in the corner, no windows, and a steel door with a slot only big enough for a food tray to be delivered through.

  I could smell its contents from where I stood; piss and only God knows what else.

  Malik met my curious stare with anger. However, behind that anger, I thought I saw a glimpse of sadness and disappointment.

  “What…”

  He cut me off before I could continue. “Strip!”

  And when he barked at me, I jumped in fear. I was sure that he kept cutting me off to keep me from saying anything that would insinu
ate him fucking me in front of the other officers that weren’t his friends.

  Again, Malik yelled orders. “Strip, Anderson!” As he yelled, the glimpse of sadness and regret resurfaced yet again. “You know the rules, Anderson. Don’t make me ask you again.”

  Before going into the hole, I had to get strip searched for any weapons that I could use to hurt myself; this I knew. But Malik’s cruelty was over and beyond.

  I began to strip and thoughts flooded my mind of who in the hell I had been sleeping with all of this time.

  Eleven

  Monday, May 16, 2011

  VICTORIA

  I was so tired when I woke up Monday morning, having spent most of the night at Rush with Vince’s family.

  Admittedly, I didn’t want to spend that much time there, because I didn’t feel like it was my obligation. It was his new woman’s job to play that role, but, for whatever reason, she never showed up at the hospital- at least not while I was there.

  In result of the crash, Vince suffered swelling on the brain and stress fractures in his right leg. Surgery was performed on his brain to relieve some of the swelling. He was then put into an induced coma to ensure recovery.

  Thank God Vince was wearing his seat belt, because, by the looks of the damage to his vehicle, things could have been so much worse.

  As I sat at my desk drinking a cup of coffee and eagerly awaiting lunch, there was a knock at my door.

  I regrettably told the visitor to come in.

  I was in one of those moods that did not want to be bothered by anyone’s randomness; not even my own.

  It was Lynn though, so I invited her in with a smile. “Hey, girl.”

  In response, Lynn sat in the chair in front of my desk with so much regret in her expression. I feared what she was about to tell me. I couldn’t take any more bad news. Though Vince wasn’t in as critical condition as his sister originally made it seem, his accident still left me feeling somber. I felt bad for ignoring his calls and desperately wanted the doctors to bring him out of his coma so that I could tell him so.

  “I have to talk to you,” Lynn began. And since she looked so worried and concerned, I gave her my undivided attention. “Jahleel…” At the sound of his name, my insides turned. I was not in the mood for unwanted-family bullshit. “… came into my office today. Apparently, that just wasn’t a simple fight that he got in last week.”

  “What was it? Was it gang related or something?”

  “He wouldn’t say, of course, but that’s what it sounds like. He sounds so scared.”

  “For his life?”

  “He didn’t say that either, but he was scared enough to come talk to me. He was just rambling about having to watch his back, how many of his friends have been shot; things like that. It seemed like his mind was somewhere else. He probably just needed to vent, but when he left, I was scared for him, so I went and talked to the principal to see if there was anything that we can do. Principal Wilcox is already aware of the situation. Apparently, this fighting has spilled to outside of the school. Most of the guys that jumped Jahleel last week have ditched school ever since, so the Principal hasn’t been able to talk to them.”

  “It must be a gang war or something.”

  Lynn continued to look at me like she expected and wanted me to say more. She didn’t have to worry, though. I did in fact care for Jahleel, regardless of our relationship, because he was a child, and the soft spot in my heart for children was why I chose my profession.

  “Tony isn’t ditching. I just saw him,” I told Lynn.

  The Friday after Jahleel got jumped, I recognized one of the guys who jumped him as he roamed the hall. I heard some girl call him Tony.

  “I’ll go talk to him and see what’s going on.”

  I wasn’t just saying that to put Lynn at ease. Though I didn’t want a relationship with Jahleel, I didn’t want to see anything happen to him either, as with any child in this school.

  In 2008, I lost my only favorite student, Delilah. She was murdered in her boyfriend’s home during a home invasion. Ever since, I have had a struggle in my professional life. I got very close to Delilah because she reminded me of myself. I was fully aware of the dangerous life that her boyfriend lived. I was also fully aware of the impoverished conditions that her mother lived in that led Delilah to stay with this boyfriend despite the danger.

  Therefore, Delilah’s death affected me both professionally and personally. I wondered if there was something that I should have done differently that would have persuaded her to leave the boyfriend that got killed alongside her. I wondered if I could have done or said anything that prevented her death and swore that I would never allow another child to get killed on my watch.

  “I saw him go into Mrs. Funches’ English class. The period is almost over. Let me go and catch him on his way out.”

  Lynn and I said our farewells and exited my office together. As we went our separate ways, she told me to fill her in as soon as I could.

  Mrs. Funches’ English class was right down the hall from my office, so the walk was brief. Delilah and Vince were on my mind as I took the short walk. I prayed for Delilah’s soul and for, though it was highly likely to be so, Vince’s successful recovery.

  The dismissal bell rang simultaneously with my approach to the classroom door. I stood along the lockers as students rushed the halls from all classrooms. When I saw the tall and lanky exterior of Tony, I tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

  When he realized who was attempting to get his attention, he looked so disappointed, as any child would who realizes that a school official wants to talk to them. Even though many of the students knew me as the “cool counselor”, they didn’t want to see me unless they needed me.

  “What’s up, Miss Brown?”

  In order to be out of the way of kids who were rushing to their next class, I began to walk further down the wall, guiding Tony along with me.

  “You tell me. I hear that that fight with Jahleel wasn’t the end of it. What’s going on?”

  Tony bit his lip as most men do when they are thinking of a good lie.

  “Is this beef over something petty, or is it bigger than that? Is it gang related?”

  Tony sighed and shook his head in frustration. Then he told me, “Miss Brown, you cool and all, but I can’t talk to you about this.”

  I just stood there, wondering how to persuade him into doing otherwise. As I contemplated, he looked at me regrettably for a few seconds and then just walked away.

  I didn’t bother to push the issue and allowed him to continue down the hall. I knew that these guys had some stupid ass ignorant code that they go by, so asking Tony to “snitch” was a little farfetched.

  A few hours later, I was at home opening the door for Taij. He was picking DeSire up so that she could spend a few days at his place. Lately, he hadn’t just been picking her up on random weekends, but during the week as well. We were basically splitting custody at this point, which I thought was great.

  However, what wasn’t so great was when he walked into my house with this bitch with him. As I sat on the couch and watched him enter my home with, who I assumed was, Kim, the irritation was so evident on my face.

  Truth be told, since he was marrying this chick, I should have met her eventually. However, it should have been a meeting that was planned and discussed. Apparently, it was planned and discussed, but that planning or discussion did not include me!

  So, I sat on the couch not willing to give any acknowledgement to who she was because I should have had full knowledge of who was coming to my house before they got there.

  “Hey, Taij. DeSire is ready. She is in the back sleep.” As I spoke and stood to walk to the back, I knew that I was being petty, but, fuck that; they should have said something before ambushing me like this.

  “Wait, Vic. I want to introduce you to Kim.”

  Honestly, Taij looked uncomfortable, so I started to think that maybe this meeting wasn’t as planned and discussed as
I assumed. When Kim looked all too happy to meet me, Taij looked irritated.

  “Hi, Kim!” I overtly put on the happiness and charm for her. “Nice to meet you. I have heard so much about you.”

  She looked shocked to hear that lie as she extended her hand to shake mine. “Nice to meet you too, Vic…”

  Then I cut off the introductions. “Feel free to have a seat anywhere. Me and Taij will be right back.”

  Then I just walked away.

  I wasn’t prepared for this meet and greet, and I didn’t feel like pretending that I was.

  Not to mention, this heifer wasn’t even that pretty! I mean, she was cute, but it was that run-of-the-mill, “will do”, kinda cute; not so overwhelmingly gorgeous that would make a man propose after just a few months of dating.

  Not what I would think anyway.

  I immediately went in on Taij as soon as we entered DeSire’s room. “You think you could have warned me first?!”

  In defense, he raised his hands. “Aye, I wasn’t planning this either. She just happened to be in the car with me. She wanted to come in and meet you, and she wouldn’t let me talk her out it.”

  That shit irritated me even more. Not only had he asked the girl to marry him after merely seven months, but he was allowing her to punk him into making decisions against his will.

  The power that she had over him, that I never ever had over him, amazed me. Yes, I was jealous, and rightfully so. I would have done anything to be with the father of my child; not only because he was DeSire’s dad, but because I still harbored feelings for him and the happy household that we once had. Taij didn’t know how I felt for him, and hadn’t for years, so I didn’t blame him. I blamed me for not having what Kim had that won him over.

  I was way too arrogant to express my frustrations or feelings, so I allowed Taij to gather DeSire and her things in peace while I escaped to my bedroom where I heard my cell phone ringing.

  I was hoping that it was someone from Vince’s family with news that he was awake, but it was Derrick.

  “Hey stranger,” I answered.