by Brenae Shaw
I smacked my lips.
“Rashad, why you let me do that? You the worst man in my life, take me home. I’m ready to go please and thank you.”
He laughed.
“Not get mad at me because YOU didn’t want to put the bottle down. Come on, let’s go because right now you look like death.”
“I feel like death.”
We said goodbye to Kendra and Nick and from the looks of it, they wasn’t talking still.
“Oh shit, I left my keys in Nick’s room. I’m finna run and get them, stay right here.”
“Ok. Ima step outside for some fresh air. It’s hot in here and it’s making me sick.”
“Bet, just don’t go too far. I need you close so I can find you.”
“Ok.”
As I was walking, no stumbling, towards the door, I ran into Jayson and sobered up real quick when I seen him.
“Damn girl, that’s how you dressing now? Just like these hoes out here huh?”
He ran his fingers down my shoulder.
“Nigga don’t touch me, the fuck wrong with you? Leave me alone Jayson, I’m not in the mood for your bullshit tonight, now move.”
I tried to brush by him but he grabbed me by my arms and wouldn’t let go.
“Nigga have you lost your damn mind?! Get the fuck off of me and let me go!”
I was trying my hardest to fight him off but Jayson was loaded as hell, not himself.
“Bitch you ain’t going nowhere. What you thought, this was over? Nah, you belong to me and we ain’t done until I say we done! And that boyfriend of yours, Rashad? Yeah, go ahead and let him go, because daddy back home now.”
My blood started to boil inside of me and my reflexes went to work. I spit in Jayson face. He let me go, but a slap to the face came with it.
“Bitch you tried it. Did you really just spit in my face?”
He was finna raise his hand and hit me again, then all I seen was Jayson on the ground in seconds. I don’t know where Rashad came from, but he was beating the fuck out of Jayson. It was scary seeing him like that because no matter how bad I hated Jayson, I didn’t want Rashad to kill him. People was trying to pull Rashad off of him but that wasn’t doing anything but making the situation worse.
“Rashad! Rashad stop it! That’s enough, you’re going to kill him!”
Rashad wasn’t himself. It was like nothing but darkness in his eyes, like he seen nothing.
“Rashad, I said stop it damnit!”
I had to slap him in order to get him to stop. He looked up at me and then down at Jayson. He then grabbed my hand and rushed me to the car. Jayson body was laying there lifeless and I felt like it was my fault. I hope he’s ok, I really do.
“I think I’m going to stay here with Nick tonight.”
At this point, I was shaking and crying.
“KJ, get in the car.”
“Rashad, I’m not riding with you while you’re a mad animal and pissed off.”
“KORI, GET YOUR ASS IN THE CAR NOW!”
He never raised his voice at me. At this point, I was scared as fuck. I got my ass in the car. He pulled out so fast you would think he was trying to leave town forever. I was silent and so was he, the whole ride home.
I couldn’t get that image out of my head. That wasn’t my Rashad. That wasn’t him at all. Just imagine if I was in real danger, what he would turn into. Because that back there, had me thinking it could get worse. Worse to the point where nothing or no one would be able to stop him...not even me. And that’s the part that scare me the most.
Chapter
13
Jayson
That nigga Rashad have it coming for his ass. I been in the hospital for about a week now and they just released me today. I had a broken nose, eye was swollen, almost thought a nigga was going to go blind, and a broken rib. All this over a bitch that I’ve been fucking for years. Yeah, Kori just don’t know what she got her so called boyfriend into. I really can’t believe she really left a nigga for that hoe ass bitch of a nigga Rashad. I mean, yeah I know I cheated and fucked up a couple of times, but what nigga don’t? Shit, we all cheat. We love women, just can’t have one. That’s probably what’s wrong with my ass now, can’t keep my dick in my pants.
I just made it to school and it was cop cars everywhere.
“Damn, a nigga first day back and shit already popping off.”
I started walking towards the front and shit look like a mad house.
“What the fuck is going on?”
It was news reporters and everything. Soon as I walked through the door, I heard someone say, “that’s him officer”, and pointed directly at me. “What the fuck y’all pointing at me for?!” “Jayson Williams? We have a warrant out for your arrest for the rape of Ms. LaNiesha Black.”
“What?! That bitch a damn lie! I ain’t rape that girl!”
I can’t believe this shit man. My head and my heart was pounding. I can’t believe Nene would do some hateful ass shit like this, knowing I ain’t rape her ass. I look up and there she was, fake crying while holding her stomach. Nene was showing now and all I could think was, ain’t no way in hell I was getting out of this the easy way.
“I swear Nene, once I get out, I’m on your ass. This shit ain’t over. You messed with the wrong one. On my life, I’m coming for your head!”
She looked at me with a slick smile. When she saw the news reporter coming over, she busted out crying again. Like this bitch really crying real tears like I really raped her.
Man, fuck! I just seen my life crumble in front of my eyes. What about my scholarship? What about graduating? How the fuck my mama and daddy gone take this? I can’t believe I got myself involved this deep, but one thing I can say, Nene was true to her word. She was finna make my life a living hell. But, she just don’t know she playing with the devil and this is only the beginning. Because if I lose it all, she finna feel the same pain I feel. So fuck her and that baby, they can both die for all I care.
Rashad
I haven’t been to school in a week. Kori been blowing me up every day, texting me to see if I’m ok or if she did anything wrong and that she wasn’t upset anymore. But I was ignoring all her shit. See the point is, I’m mad at myself for taking it that far. All I seen was blood, and I wasn’t gone stop until the nigga was dead. If it wasn’t for Kori and her ass slapping me back into reality, Jayson ass would have been put to rest.
I got up, got in the shower, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and got ready to go see my pops. I told him I seen the nigga that killed my brother Brandon, but I ain’t tell him I was dating his daughter, and I knew that’s where the problem was going to come in at. This street shit is dangerous and to know that KJ can get hurt, or maybe even killed, kills me. I love that girl and I wouldn’t want to see her hurt over something her father and my father had from years ago. That’s one reason I haven’t been answering her, because I know ima have to tell her about it. I’m just scared of her reaction and how she gone take it.
It took me 30 minutes to get to my pops place. Shit still looked the same from when I left to go stay with my T-lady.
“Pops, where you at?”
His ass mainly be in his study room, but he wasn’t in there.
“Pops?”
My old man wasn’t answering. I started looking around for him and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Both of his right hand men were shot point blank in the head. Blood was everywhere. My heart started to beat faster.
“God, please let my old man be ok.”
I think I prayed too late because there he was, handcuffed and tied up to the chair, with a bullet hole between his eyes.
“POP!!!”
I ran over to him and I tried to get him loose, but my hands were shaking. I couldn’t do anything but cry because I lost my other best friend.
“WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?!”, was all I kept screaming.
I just held on to my old man and just sat there. I don’t know what time it was or how much time went by, but it had
to be hours, because I heard footsteps.
“Rashad?...Rashad, it’s your Uncle Black, where you at?”
I couldn’t say the words. I didn’t need to, because he ended up finding me.
“Man not my little brother...”
Uncle Black just put his hands on the top of his head and started crying.
“We gotta get him up young blood. Let’s get him untied, can’t have him like this.”
I really couldn’t move. I was in shock still and in disbelief. But then, my blood started rushing back into my body at once and I had murder on my mind. At this rate, I didn’t give a fuck how my life turned out! I’m not going down until I kill everyone that hurt me and family.
“Rashad, look at me. Look at me. We already know who did this. We got this. Don’t get yourself into this shit because you know your old man wouldn’t want that. That was the whole point of you moving away. Your uncle got this shit on lock. Ima take care of this.”
“Yeah.”
That was all I said as I stood up and walked away.
My pops always kept cameras around his place and the only ones that knew where he kept them hidden was, me and Brandon. I went to where he had them kept at. I took a flash drive and saved all that shit to it. Once it saved, I wiped out the whole system and locked my pops shit back up.
I left my old man house and instead of taking my car, I took his BMW and just started driving with no destination in mind. I heard my phone going off, but I ain’t feel like talking to nobody. One thing that kept coming up in my mind though, was the way my uncle was reacting. It wasn’t his normal way of acting if something was up. And one thing fa shit sho was, my uncle never cry. Like, never. Well at least in front of me. And two, him and my pops wasn’t getting along, and only certain ones knew the code to get in, and my uncle wasn’t one of them. And out of all the days, he decided to show up today.
See, one thing about me, I’m far from dumb, and I’m very computer smart. Shit is finna get exposed and people finna lose their lives, and I don’t care who it is.
Chapter
14
Kori (KJ)
With Rashad ignoring me and not talking to me, it really got my nerves bad. I haven’t talked to, nor seen him in a week, and it’s starting to piss me off. After the whole incident with Jayson, shit just been crazy between us. Actually, everyone around me seem to be acting different. Nick and Kendra still on bad terms. And I know Nick is getting fed up with Kendra shit, but that’s not my business, and I’m going to stay out of it. They’re both my best friends and that would be messed up for me to choose between the two.
“Hey Nick, you talk to Rashad? I haven’t heard from him in a week.”
“Nah, I haven’t talk to him since the party, he been sending me to voicemail. You seen Kendra? I haven’t seen her since this morning. She mainly wait for me after class so we can walk to 6th period together.”
“Nope. I haven’t talked to her since I seeny’all this morning. She been acting funny lately. And dealing with her attitude and Rashad, I’m a ticking time bomb.”
I started rubbing my head because this shit was stressful.
“Trust me, I know. She changed once she had her accident. She keep thinking shit ended for her when it didn’t, but she don’t wanna work for it no more, and that’s what pisses me off about her. She smarter than that. She at her lowest moment and I’m trying to be there for her, but she making this shit hard as fuck.”
Nick had this look like he wanted to give up, but didn’t at the same time. I can tell he loves Kendra, but sometimes, love ain’t enough.
“Trust me, I understand completely. But, sometimes you gotta let shit go in order to make you happy. She my friend and all, but you gotta let her fall on her ass and let her get back up herself. She gotta want it for herself.”
“Yeah, you right. See that’s why you my nigga. You gone keep it real with a real G.”
Nick put his arm around my neck and we started walking to our athletic period. We took the long way and Lord, I wish we didn’t.
“What the hell is that noise?! Yo, someone getting they back pounded”, he laughed.
Nick moved closer to the door to listen.
“Nick, come on man, that ain’t none of our business, nor our concern.”
“Wait, wait, I know that voice.”
Nick face expression changed and it wasn’t a good one.
“Nick, it’s probably Kesha ass. You know this her spot, now let’s go.”
I tried to pull his arm, but once I heard the voice myself, my whole body went numb.
“Bro, I know damn well that ain’t her.” “KENDRA WHAT THE FUCK?! This
what the fuck you doing now?!”
“Oh my God, Nick! I...I...I...I’m sorry baby. I’m so sorry.”
Kendra started to cry as she got up off the desk.
“Bitch, ain’t no fucking sorry. You know what, you can have all of this, because you really let yourself go. You really a low down dirty hoe just like the rest of these hoes. Congratulations, you made the cut. You ain’t got shit else to say to me. Keep being the hoe you are.”
“Say man, you ain’tgotta talk to her like-” Before the dude could finish his sentence, Nick punched him so hard he put him to sleep. Nick looked back at Kendra and you could see the hurt in his eyes, which made me hurt inside. All he could do was walk away.
“Nick! WAIT! PLEASE!”
Kendra was crying hard now. I would have never thought I would look at my friend, my sister, in this way, but she low as fuck for what she did. And I know for a fact it’s going to take time to forgive her.
“KJ, I don’t know what to do. This ain’t me, this ain’t like me. I really fucked up.”
She just sat there with her face in her hands crying.
“Not only did you hurt yourself, but you hurt someone close to me because of your insecurities and doubts about yourself. I can’t believe you Kendra. You really out did yourself with this stunt! Like wow, you need a fucking award for this shit.”
“How can you say that?! You supposed to be my sister no matter what.”
“But when you’re wrong,I’m going to call you out on it. And you are so fucking wrong for what you did. Grow the fuck up and get your shit together. Since your accident, you been a real bitch and we been dealing with your attitude because we know you was going through it. You act like that was the end of the world. You act like you can’t run again. It might not be on your time, but if you pushed yourself to believe that you can, all this shit wouldn’t have happened. You fucked up big time because you messed up two relationships, and that trust is going to be hard to get back.”
At that point I just left. I couldn’t believe she tore us apart like that. I didn’t lose one best friend, I lost two, and this shit was starting to get to me.
I felt my phone ringing and it was a text from Rashad.
“Meet me at the park, gotta talk.”
That “I gotta talk” shit never went well, but I needed to know what was going on and why he haven’t been talking to me.
“Okay, I’m on the way.”
I hit send and also sent Coach Lee a text telling him I’m not gone make it to class, and neither was Nick.
“Ok, y’all good to go.”
I rushed to the car and as I was on my way to the park, my mind was racing a thousand miles per minute. Whatever this is, I hope it’s nothing bad, because I don’t think I can take any more bad news.
Chapter
15
Rashad
I texted Kori and told her we needed to talk. I think it was time to tell her what was going on and what might happen. See one thing I didn’t want, was for her to get hurt because of her father’s past. That would hurt me, but she had to know the truth.
Five minutes later and KJ pulled up.Damn, I missed my baby. How the fuck did I go a week without talking to her? She walked up to me but she was kind of hesitant at first. She didn’t know if she wanted to hug me, kiss me, or punch me, but she walked u
p to me and gave me a hug. Man I needed this. I didn’t want to let her go. If I could, I would stay like this forever.
“Rashad, what’s going on? Why haven’t I heard from you? It’s been a week, you had me worried.”
“Baby girl, it’s so much shit I have to tell you that you wouldn’t understand. I don’t know how I should tell you without you looking at me differently.”
“Just tell me. I’m stronger than what you think Rashad. I just wanna know what’s going on.”
It was a long pause before I could start. The way she was looking at me with those beautiful green eyes, her hair in a messy bun, with those sweats and T-shirt on, was turning a nigga on. Get it together.
“Fuck. Where do I begin? ...A few years back, I was in a business with my old man. Actually, he was the biggest dope dealer in Houston. Nobody, and I mean nobody, messed with him. Well, this man owed my pops some money and I’m not talking about no thousand…millions of dollars.He got word that he was abusing it, instead of paying him back after my pops gave him plenty of chances to pay it back. Pops got tired of asking for what was his,so he decided to put a hit out on him. That night went all wrong.”
At this point, tears was coming down my face. I couldn’t hold back. I haven’t talked about my brother since the shit happened, and now that I was talking about it, I remember the shit like it was yesterday.
KJ got up from where she was sitting and stood in front of me and just held me, but I couldn’t let her. Because what I wasfinna tell her next, was finna hurt her.
“Baby, if it’s that painful to talk about it, we don’t have to. It’s ok, we can wait on it.”
“No Kori, we can’t wait on it. I gotta let this shit out…That night we went to the house and we just started shooting, no matter who it was. We didn’t care. That same night I lost my best friend…I lost my other half…I lost my brother…And the nigga that shot and killed him was your dad KJ.”
When I finally looked up, KJ distanced herself from me and had tears falling from her eyes.