“Whateva, Iyana.”
“Do yo’ motherfuckin’ job and keep your dick in your pants before you fuck this case up!”
Derrick looked at me like I was crazy. I know he was about to check me, but, Lieutenant Fyte came into the office. We all quickly straightened up and quieted our conversation. If Lieutenant Fyte found out that Derrick was fucking Vic, this case would be ruined, he would hit the roof, and we would all be fired.
Lieutenant Fyte had it out for Blood since Blood beat that case last year. Lieutenant Fyte has been out to get Blood off the street for years, but, every time he is arrested, Blood manages to beat his case.
After Blood’s recent release from prison, Lieutenant Fyte was determined to do whatever necessary to gain sufficient evidence to lock Blood away for the rest of his life- including infiltrating Blood’s cartel with undercover officers.
Therefore, for the past year, Devin, Derrick, and I have been working undercover in Blood’s camp in order to collect evidence to lock him away for good.
“So,” Lieutenant Fyte began as he sat in his chair and leaned back. “We still need sufficient evidence to get Blood. Devin, what’s the follow up on that?”
“Man, Lieutenant,” Devin answered with a sigh. “Blood is squeaky clean. He doesn’t make any runs and he doesn’t touch any drugs or money. None of his accounts are in his name. Even his automotive business is in Tricey’s name. Everything that I have gathered up until this point is circumstantial. We have evidence to charge him with a few drug charges, but nothing that will give him any real time.”
“Has he mentioned Smith’s murder to you?”
Devin shook his head as he answered, “Never.”
Lieutenant Fyte grunted in frustration. “I need something to put this motherfucker away! I need the nail in his coffin!” Then, looking at me, he asked, “Is there anything we can use against Tricey to get her to flip?”
“Hell no,” I answered immediately. “She is too careful. She is very meticulous about keeping her hands clean. She does not involve herself with any of Blood’s business.”
“Do you think she will testify against him?”
“She’s not in love, but she is loyal to him.”
“How can we break that loyalty?”
“It wouldn’t be hard to get Tricey to turn on Blood. Her sister is up for a new trial, and Tricey wouldn’t let anything affect Star getting out of jail. She has strong ties with her family, along with having a little girl. If Tricey is facing time, I am sure she will turn on Blood.”
Three days later…
Bang
One
Monday, May 31, 2011
LYRIC
I was at Bliss Lounge with Robin and Selena. It was Memorial Day, and, after partying super hard with Tricey, Blood, and his crew all day yesterday, today I wanted to relax this holiday away in the laidback atmosphere of Bliss. Tricey was too busy majorly kissing Blood’s ass to come along with me, so I called my next best things to come enjoy a nice relaxing evening with good music, the warm premature summer wind on my face, and a drink- a strong one.
James and his bullshit ways were still heavily on my mind. There was a ball of uncertainty in the pit of my stomach that was causing a major emotional rollercoaster in my mind and body. I knew he was on bullshit, and I was so obsessed with finding out what exact bullshit he was on that it was consuming my every thought and pissing me off more and more by the second.
Since Robin and Selena had been friends of mine for nearly two years by now, they saw the look on my face and immediately knew what was up.
“What James do?”
I looked at Selena sadly as she waited for an answer. Just then, a gust of gorgeous seventy-five degree wind blew across my face, seemingly cooling off the angry heat that was on the surface of my skin.
We were sitting in Bliss’ gorgeous and chic beer garden. The setting was beautifully sculpted and decorated with eclectic furnishing, soothing water fountains, and beautiful people.
“I have no proof that he has done anything,” I finally answered. “But I have a gut feeling that he is up to something that he ain’t got no business.”
Robin asked, “So you’re letting a hunch ruin your night?”
I looked at her as if she should know better. “You know a woman should never ignore her intuition… or that nauseous feeling in her belly.”
Selena snickered and replied, “You sure that nausea ain’t a baby?”
Robin laughed as well, but I added a frustrated sigh to their laughter.
I wished a baby was my only problem.
Robin noticed my solemn expression and asked, “You seriously think something is going on, Lyric?”
I nodded regretfully as I sipped from my martini.
In a cute ass peach, deep-v neck, and backless bandage dress, with silver Louboutins, that were a damn good knock off, and fresh, bone straight Peruvian twenty-inch hair to die for, you would have thought that I would be feeling great. Even Robin and Selena were sucked in by girdles and waist cinchers with cleavage spilling out of dresses that we hunted for all day Friday on Michigan Avenue. For the holiday, we looked like a million bucks, but, on the inside, I felt worthless.
Before I could answer, Selena chimed in. “What reason would he have to do anything deceitful, Lyric? You give James the best of both worlds.”
Selena and Robin were a part of the lifestyle along with me. We were all members of Black Swingers Club. Therefore, Selena and Robin had full knowledge of me and James’ swinger lifestyle.
“He’s just been missing in action lately. His stories aren’t adding up. He’s never home when he says he is going to be. I have caught him up in a lie about where he has been one time too many. And I think he and Raven are lying to me.”
Robin probed me. “About?”
“About the extent of their relationship.”
James was very up front with me about his interest in Raven. Despite my funny feeling about her, I regretfully obliged to his interest in pursuing a sexual relationship with her. I knew James only wanted the pussy, but I could see in Raven’s eyes that she wanted more. However, James swore that he would nip any foolery in the bud and ensured me that Raven would always keep a level head.
Raven and I spoke at events and over the phone from time to time, when I felt as if I wanted to make my presence known to her, so I knew her well.
Yet, something in the back of my mind just didn’t trust her intentions.
“She’s his side piece. There shouldn’t be a ‘relationship’,” Selena told me.
I wholeheartedly agreed. “Exactly.”
Selena has always had an undefined distaste for Raven; so of course, she had nothing nice to say. “You need to nip that shit in the bud then.”
“I am.”
“Quick.”
Those were my intentions, but this was a darkening cloud over my relationship, and I wasn’t prepared for it to start raining down yet.
When James and I first met, he didn’t even want to be in a committed relationship. I knew that he was initially so drawn to me because I was this open-minded bisexual swinger that allowed him to have more pussy than the next man. To my advantage, he eventually fell in love with me and we became a couple. However, he stands his ground on what he wants out of this relationship, and that’s more than one woman.
We clash on the grounds of how he obtains those other women.
I knew that he loved me. I appreciated that I was the only woman that could rightfully claim him, that we lived together, and were planning for the future. However, there will only be one woman that gets emotions from him, time outside of sex from him, and anything else that resembles feelings and a relationship.
Outside sex should be just that; sex and nothing more.
James, on the other hand, needs the emotional connection and extracurricular time to actually enjoy that outside sex. Unfortunately, he does not realize that that extracurricular time and emotions lead to that other woman feeling as if sh
e “has” him; therefore falsely leading her to expect more than sex and feeling as if she has the right to disrespect me.
Hence, my problem.
“If you have any uncertainties, Lyric, that’s a problem,” Selena told me in a very mothering tone.
“And if they are lying to you, that’s a problem,” Robin added.
Selena and Robin had been involved in the lifestyle way longer than me. Selena now had a boyfriend and they swung together often. Robin was a single bisexual that swung with couples and was often the girlfriend of a couple. Therefore, they knew the ins and outs of this and felt my disrespect.
As I listened to Selena and Robin tear Raven to shreds, my eyes drifted. I wasn’t looking at anything in particular. I was just staring into space and forcing my thoughts to quiet so that I could hear Selena and Robin over them.
Suddenly, my eyes landed on 5’7” of vanilla colored hips and ass in jeggings and a cropped top. I noticed the wide hips, small waist, hell-of-a-shape, and hair, so I knew.
I knew it was the bitch that was supposed to be my friend. I knew it was the bitch that fucked me every other day. I knew it was the bitch that, because I wanted to get married to the man that I loved, rather than have some gay lesbian affair with her, told on me to my fiancé and ruined my happily ever after before I could walk down the aisle.
I knew that it was Veronica.
I think I was getting out of my chair before I even calculated that next step in my head. My anger drew me to her. I could hear Selena and Robin asking me where I was going and calling my name over and over again, but their voices sounded like faint whispers as I made my way through the thick crowd of holiday partiers.
I didn’t even know what I was going to say to her. I was just walking towards her and feeling the anger in the pit of my stomach that burned like fire as I realized that this woman fucked my life up with her jealousy and selfishness.
I thought, I wouldn’t be dealing with this hoe-ass James if she hadn’t have fucked up my marriage. I would be somewhere happy and content with the man of my dreams- not sulking in this lounge because the nigga I ended up with can’t keep his dick in his pants.
You would think that after two and a half years, I would have let go of the anger. In all actuality, I had managed to forget how mad I was, but seeing her brought all of that hate back to the surface.
Without even thinking, without even knowing what I was going to do or say, as soon as I was in arms reach of her, I tapped her on her shoulder with the stabbing force of my acrylic nails. There was a friend with her that gave me a concerned stare once she noticed the anger in my eyes. Yet, it was too late for her to warn Veronica before Veronica was spinning around to see who put their hands on her.
The bitch had the nerve to laugh once she saw my face.
And, without any further ado, I fucking lost it.
Bow!
I hit her right in that laughing mouth of hers. I can’t say that I wanted to, and, as soon as I did, I regretted looking like a violent child amongst the sophisticated crowd of Bliss Lounge, but that bitch deserved it! The more I realized how much she deserved it, and the more I envisioned her standing on the steps of that church telling Bradley that she was really my lover and not my best friend, the less I cared how I looked to those people and tried to beat the brakes off that bitch.
Phap!
I smacked the shit out of her while she was dazed and confused from the first blow. Then, just as I attacked her, she attacked me; punching, kicking, clawing, biting, pulling hair – the whole nine. I wanted to draw blood from that bitch. I wanted her heart in my hands because she walked away with mine in hers when she left that church two and a half years ago.
“What the fuck was that about?!”
As Robin waited on her answer and caught her breath, she was looking at me like I was crazy as hell.
Robin, Selena, and I were standing two blocks away from Bliss Lounge. We had, of course, been kicked out after security broke me and Veronica up not even two minutes after we started fighting. Of course, other people were trying to pull us off of each other, including Robin and Selena, but none were successful other than the security guards.
I had a few choice words for the bitch, and so did she for me, but our words fell upon one another’s deaf ears as guards literally carried us in opposite directions.
Robin and Selena were close behind the guard as he carried me kicking and cursing through the club.
He didn’t put me down until I was at my car.
“That was that bitch, Veronica!” I was boiling with anger as I spoke.
I felt my face to see if I felt any blood and there was none. I felt burning and stinging, which I knew were scratches, and my head was soar from Veronica pulling my hair. Without even looking at myself, I knew that my hair was all over my head and that my clothes were a mess.
Selena was in front of me confused and looking at me like I was crazy. “Who?!”
Robin gasped. “The chick that told on you and fucked up your wedding?!”
I nodded with so much astonishment at my reality.
I couldn’t believe where I was in my life.
I was so pissed off. Letting out that aggression had only fueled more anger in me. Now, I was mad about everything; Veronica, my marriage, Raven, James- everything.
“I gotta go,” I told Robin and Selena.
“Uh uh,” Selena said shaking her head and standing in front of my car door. “You are too drunk to drive.”
“I’m not drunk! I’m pissed! Now move!”
Selena and Robin looked at me with dire concern. I knew they were surprised at my anger. I had never been one to pop off or even be violent, but enough was enough! I was irritated. Granted, I may have taken my current anger out on the wrong bitch, but Veronica had it coming too.
“Just let her leave, Selena,” Robin told her as she gently pulled Selena away from the door.
I attempted to take deep breaths and calm down. I didn’t want to offend my friends.
I simply told them, “I’ll call y’all in the morning,” hopped in the car, and pulled off.
Two
Tuesday, June 1, 2011
LYRIC
I don’t know what specifically led me to Raven’s house.
Something in the pit of my stomach told me to just go over there. James was at work, as he was on every holiday. Because of his level of seniority with the union, he got stuck working every holiday. Therefore, I wasn’t expecting to see him there.
Yet, I just needed to see. I needed to see her empty driveway to put my aching heart at rest, because it had been beating two hundred miles an hour with anxiety for three days; signaling my women’s intuition that something wasn’t right.
I pulled onto Raven’s block praying that my man wouldn’t be there deceiving me and disrespecting me. But there James’ truck sat in her driveway, shiny and clean, as if he’d gotten it waxed just for the holiday. I wondered how long they had been together since he left “for work” at seven o’clock this morning. I wondered how important Raven must be that he was spending this holiday with her, and the simple thought of it made me gag. The thought that these two lying motherfuckers had been deceiving me this whole time made me want to throw more of a tantrum than I threw in Bliss.
The more I thought of how I let this motherfucker have threesomes with more women than he could ever dream of and that still wasn’t enough, made me beyond mad. The more I thought of how I allowed him to have excess pussy on the side and he still hurt me, pissed me clean off.
I think I hopped out of the car before it had come to a complete stop.
It was almost four in the morning at this point. Knowing James’ sleeping pattern, I knew that he and Raven were up and either fucking or just got finished fucking.
That thought fueled my fire as well.
The thought of these ungrateful bastards taking advantage of my kindness threw me for a loop, so, instead of ringing the bell, I rung it and kicked the door repeatedly with
the heel of my bare foot. The framing of the house seemed to shake under the fury of my feet.
Soon, lights began to come on where I knew was Raven’s bedroom. Then other lights appeared until the light behind the front door was lit. Still, I kicked and rung the bell. The longer they took opening the door, the more pissed off I got.
I’m sure that it was only a few seconds, but it felt like minutes had gone by and that damn door had yet to open, so I went from pissed to psychotic.
I swear I was having an outer body experience. It was like my body was doing things without me even clearly thinking out my next step. Before I knew it, I was popping the lock of my car, reaching in the back seat for the hammer that I kept underneath my driver’s seat for protection, and walked up to James’ truck.
I looked at Raven’s front door, giving them another chance to submit. When I saw that it was still shut, that they had the audacity to hide from me, I lost my rabbit ass mind. “Oh, you motherfuckas ain’t gone open the door?!”
I answered my own question by shattering every single solitary window of that pretty black 2011 Infinity truck.
Of course, James came frantically running out of the house then.
Standing in the grass barefoot in jeans and no shirt, he gruesomely stared at his truck, which was now as open as a convertible. Those pretty brown eyes almost looked tearful. His dark skin would have been lost against the night sky had it not been perspiring with anxiety and rage. His 6’3” frame and football build looked weak and feeble with sadness as he watched me dismantle his “baby”. He looked like he wanted to hit me, but noticed that I looked psychotic and was swinging a weapon, so just stood several feet away from me in shock.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” He could only curse and whence in agony as he looked at the glass covering the pavement.
“Nah, what the fuck you doin’ here?! I told yo’ ass don’t play with me, didn’t I?!”
I was screaming at the top of my lungs like a maniac; continuing to swing that hammer and allowing it to land wherever it wanted to on the body of the truck.
Good Girls Ain't No Fun Boxed Set (The SIX romance and urban fiction volumes of the LOVE, SEX, LIES series) Page 70