by Imani Black
Kelsi rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Cheyenne, I’ve heard it all before. I mean, I fuck with Scorpio as a means to an end. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. You think I don’t know his history? I’m not trying to marry the nigga. He got fifty-eleven women out here in C.I. But right now, this nigga is keeping clothes on my black-ass back. I ain’t got nobody doing shit for me. I mean, look, I’m damn near living with y’all because Peaches’ fucked-up ass ain’t never did shit for me. Scorpio gives up the loot. I give up the ass, and we got an understanding,” Kelsi told Cheyenne with feeling.
Cheyenne guessed that was as honest as Kelsi could be about the situation. Kelsi had already become known around their neighborhood for being a gold-digger and a user.
That was the day Cheyenne realized that she and Kelsi were complete opposites when it came to most things. Cheyenne Turner wasn’t depending on a man for shit. She saw where that got her mother.
“Well, why don’t you do me a favor? Tell Scorpio to leave my baby brother alone. Tell him don’t let Lil Kev work for him or fuck with that business at all. I don’t think my mother can take my brother getting knocked. She already suffered twelve years of heartbreak with my father,” Cheyenne said seriously, her voice trailing off.
It had already been long, hard years since her father’s arrest. Life had surely not played out the way Cheyenne thought it would back when she was nine years old.
“You think I haven’t already tried that? Lil Kev is far gone in that shit, Cheyenne. Believe me, my ear is to the street. He got his own thing going on, and ain’t nobody going to stop that. Scorpio acting like Lil Kev daddy now, teaching him the ropes, protecting him, and most of all influencing him,” Kelsi said solemnly.
Hearing that broke Cheyenne’s heart. They had a father. Absent or not, Lil Kev didn’t need a two-bit drug dealer acting as his father. An ominous feeling came over Cheyenne. Nothing good was going to come of her brother being in the game. Nothing good at all.
* * *
Her father finally got his wish. Kelsi came rushing into the hospital room, tears flooding down her face.
“Chey! I just heard! What the fuck happened?” Kelsi cried out loudly. “Oh my God!”
Cheyenne jumped to her feet and grabbed Kelsi, trying to calm her down. It was too late. Her father’s eyes fluttered open, a clear sign that he was not dead or going to die. No, he was very much alive.
He kicked his right foot and lifted his left hand to grab for Kelsi. The heart monitor next to his bed sounded off with a high-pitched scream. Two nurses rushed into the room to his bedside.
“What’s happening?” Kelsi huffed, panicked, moving toward the bed within seconds.
The nurses ushered Kelsi and Cheyenne to the side of the room, away from the patient.
“Unh-uh! I want to know what’s happening!” Kelsi demanded, balling up her fists, ready to charge.
“Please, stay back. We need to treat the patient!” a nurse chastised from Big K’s bedside.
Kelsi kept her hands curled into fists. “Bitch, don’t push me again!”
Cheyenne grabbed Kelsi.
“No, Chey! That’s your fucking father lying there. And he’s the only man that ever loved me. They can’t just turn us away like that. I want to know what’s happening to him.”
The nurse drew one side of the curtain around the bed, shutting Cheyenne and Kelsi out for a few minutes. Cheyenne noticed how emotional Kelsi was and took a mental note that Kelsi hadn’t even cried that much when her mother was murdered.
“Mr. Turner, it’s going to be okay. You have to remain calm. Don’t pull on the tubes or try to get up. You’ll injure yourself,” a short, stocky nurse with calm eyes and coffee bean–colored skin consoled.
“We’re going to have to ask you both to step out,” the taller nurse instructed Cheyenne and Kelsi as she peeked out from behind the curtain.
“I’m not going nowhere!” Kelsi boomed.
Cheyenne tightened her grasp and tugged Kelsi toward the doorway. “C’mon, Kels. We’ve been through enough drama. I don’t want to get kicked out of here. Then we won’t know shit about what’s going on with him. We have to play by the rules for a few minutes, and it’ll be okay after that,” Cheyenne said as she pulled Kelsi from the room.
Cheyenne forced Kelsi down into a hospital waiting room chair and stared at her best friend for a few minutes. Kelsi was complicated. Cheyenne remembered the day she’d finally figured it out.
* * *
“So, how does it feel to be turning twenty-one and graduating from college all at the same damn time?” Kelsi asked excitedly as she flopped down on the other bed in Cheyenne’s room, which, over the years, had become Kelsi’s bed.
Cheyenne tilted her head to the side and smiled at Kelsi as she worked to remove the last big bobby pin from her doobie.
“It feels like I can finally go legally get drunk after all my fucking hard work,” Cheyenne answered, giggling as she shook her long, newly straightened locks of hair out.
They both laughed.
“Shit, I know that’s right. But fuck that. I turned twenty-one in August, and I been waiting to get drunk with your ass. I need a fucking drink like nobody’s business,” Kelsi said, following up with a long sigh. She was staring up at the ceiling.
Cheyenne knew Kelsi was telling the truth about needing a drink. She had a lot to deal with. Kelsi was beautiful, but she didn’t think so. She was a little chubby around her stomach, but she had big hips and a big butt. Her face was pretty to Cheyenne, but Kelsi had always hated the acne that left dark marks on her cheeks. Kelsi kept her hair in micro-braids so that she could pretend she had long hair. No matter what flaws Kelsi had pointed out on herself over the years, Cheyenne always thought Kelsi was beautiful.
Kelsi let dudes treat her any kind of way. She’d had many black eyes, broken ribs, and trips to the hospital over the years from dudes putting their hands on her. They’d taken advantage of the fact that Kelsi didn’t have a father around. Cheyenne knew Kelsi had been looking for love and acceptance from a man, but Kelsi was the one that didn’t think so. She thought she played the “game” so well and that she was always “playing niggas.” From Cheyenne’s vantage point, Kelsi had always been the one who suffered in the end. All Cheyenne could do was love Kelsi through the rough times as her best friend, so that’s exactly what she did.
Chapter 18
Kelsi
Kelsi flopped into the chair in the hospital waiting room, seething. She hated hospitals. Period. Cheyenne was talking, but all Kelsi could see was her mouth moving. Kelsi’s mind reeled back to her experience with the hospital.
* * *
After Took raped her, Kelsi ended up at Coney Island Hospital. As much as she screamed and begged them not to take her to the emergency room, Ms. Desiree and Big K had taken her anyway. The end result was that Kelsi had to have her perineum stitched. That, as she learned at barely nine years old, was the area between a girl’s vagina and rectum. Kelsi stayed overnight at the hospital with Ms. Desiree right by her side.
Cheyenne wasn’t really able to understand what was going on. Her mother told her that Kelsi had gotten sick and needed to get better.
Ms. Desiree cried and cried for Kelsi. “She’s just a baby. What kind of monster would do that to a baby?” Ms. Desiree whispered to Big K through tears.
“Trust, it ain’t gonna be left at this. Any motherfucker that would do this to a kid don’t deserve to live,” Big K said with feeling.
They thought Kelsi was asleep. Listening to them talk, Kelsi knew then that they really loved her.
Big K picked them up from the hospital the next day with Cheyenne and Lil Kevin. None of them spoke on the way to the Turner house. Kelsi felt too ashamed to speak. Ms. Desiree cried every time she tried to open her mouth to speak. Big K huffed, puffed, and cussed, so he couldn’t even speak. Cheyenne sensed that there was something terribly wrong, so she just didn’t speak. Lil Kevin was only a baby, so he could barel
y speak.
When they arrived at the Turner house, Cheyenne and Kelsi went up to Cheyenne’s room.
“Surprise!” she yelled as she pushed open the door.
Kelsi’s eyes lit up. The room was filled with balloons, teddy bears, and flowers.
“Daddy got all of these for you.” Cheyenne beamed.
Kelsi inched into the room slowly, the stitches still making her walk funny. The doctor had said they would dissolve on their own. Kelsi stood in the middle of the floor like a lost child. Hot tears ran a race down her cheeks.
“You don’t like them?” Cheyenne asked, moving toward Kelsi
“No, I love them. I love them a lot. I love all of y’all a lot,” Kelsi cried, unable to control the floodgate of tears that had opened up.
Cheyenne hugged her tight. “We love you too, Kelsi, and we ain’t never going to let nothing bad happen to you again,” Cheyenne promised.
For the first time in Kelsi’s life, she believed someone’s promise. Even Nana hadn’t kept her promise to keep her in the Bronx with her. But with the Turners, something in Kelsi’s heart told her the promise was real.
Cheyenne was the one who told Kelsi about what happened to Took. He was beaten so badly, she said, that his entire face had become unrecognizable. All his fingers were broken, and every tooth in his mouth was knocked out. Cheyenne told Kelsi she also heard that whoever beat up on Took had also shoved three broomsticks taped together up his butt hole. Cheyenne was been the first one to start laughing when she said “up his butt hole,” and then Kelsi burst out laughing right behind her.
Kelsi laughed so hard at the end she was crying. She didn’t feel sorry for Took, not one bit. But for the weeks that she stayed at the Turner’s, Kelsi often wondered about Carlene. Took was always the one who made sure Carlene had stuff, like food, the medicine she took to keep from being sick every morning, and just basic things like soap to wash her ass. Kelsi could only imagine what Carlene was doing to stay afloat while Took was gone.
After a few days of worrying about Carlene, Kelsi stopped thinking about her entirely. Out of sight, out of mind.
It was almost the end of summer before Kelsi’s body fully healed. She finally got well enough to go back outside with Cheyenne. Although Kelsi thought about what had happened to her every day, she put on a happy face and tried to be a normal nine-year-old.
Cheyenne and Kelsi were sisters in every sense of the word. Ms. Desiree treated them as equals, even when they got in trouble for giggling all night when they were supposed to be asleep. They would ride with Big K over to the projects every day. While he “worked,” they played double-dutch, hopscotch, hula-hoops, red light green light, steal the bacon, and skelly.
Cheyenne and Kelsi were called the Bobsie twins. They dressed alike. They acted alike. They liked the same foods. The Turners had essentially adopted Kelsi.
Most days, when Big K finished up his work at the building, he would take Cheyenne and Kelsi to the rides. Sometimes, he got finished early and would pick up Ms. Desiree and Lil Kev, and they’d all go to the movies and dinner in Sheepshead Bay. Those nights became Kelsi’s favorites because she got to watch how Big K loved all over Ms. Desiree. How he opened doors for her, held her hand, kissed her, and smiled at her like she was the only woman alive. Kelsi would pretend she was Ms. Desiree and Big K was her husband instead.
Kelsi would never forget the day when life as they all knew it came to a screeching halt. It was a blazing hot August day in 1996. Kelsi had just turned ten the week before. Cheyenne and Kelsi were about to jump out of Big K’s Range Rover with their matching Guess jean skirt outfits, hula-hoops, and two bags filled with candy.
“Stay right in front, little ladies. I’m not staying that long today,” Big K said as he parked the Range Rover.
“Okay, Daddy,” Cheyenne said as she and Kelsi giggled out of the door.
“Okay, Daddy,” Kelsi whispered after her.
They started laughing harder. Big K parked and got out. Kelsi watched him walk with his distinct bop toward the building. She always watched him go in and come out with his money.
That day, as he walked closer to the door, something seemed different to Kelsi. There weren’t half as many people outside as usual. Lula was even missing from her bench.
Cheyenne was gabbing to Kelsi about something because she was nowhere near as observant or street smart as Kelsi was. Being raped had done away with the little carefree kid in Kelsi. She noticed everything, and she was always watching people.
“Where is everybody?” Cheyenne finally asked, stopping for a minute.
Kelsi swung her head from left to right. Her face grew serious as her eyes scanned. She opened her mouth to respond but never got the chance. She had her eye on Big K’s back, and then BOOM!
It all happened in slow motion. Big K yanked on the door handle of the building, and as soon as he pulled it back, Kelsi and Cheyenne heard it. It was like thunder and lightning had struck. The rumble of feet came from everywhere like a herd of wild elephants were trampling through the block.
“Police! Police! Don’t move! Put your fucking hands on your head!”
Cheyenne whipped her head around and saw what Kelsi had already been watching.
“Daddy!” Cheyenne screeched at the top of her lungs.
Kelsi grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground. Loud flash bangs erupted around them. Kelsi felt her heart hammering against her chest.
“Daddy!” Cheyenne screamed again.
Kelsi held onto Cheyenne with all her might to keep her from running toward Big K and the danger. Police with long guns, short guns, helmets, and black bulletproof vests had surrounded Big K. Kelsi and Cheyenne watched in horror as they threw Big K to the ground face first.
Kelsi saw blood explode from Big K’s face and nose. That was when she started screaming too.
“Big K! No! You can’t take him! He didn’t do nothing wrong!” Kelsi let out a guttural scream. “Don’t hurt him!” She got to her feet and raced toward Big K with Cheyenne hot on her heels.
Within seconds, Kelsi was scooped off her feet like a little ragdoll.
“Hey! Get out of here, little girl, before you get hurt!” a police officer chastised.
Cheyenne was right next to Kelsi, flailing wildly as another officer held her. She sobbed uncontrollably.
“Let her go. Let her go,” Kelsi screeched.
Cheyenne was thrown right down next to Kelsi. They hugged each other tightly up against a fence and watched as Big K was hoisted up off the ground in handcuffs.
“It’s going to be all right, little ladies,” was the last thing Big K said to them before he was thrown into the back of a waiting black van.
Sixteen other guys that they knew from Kelsi’s building were also arrested and carted off like animals.
Cheyenne and Kelsi cried for two days straight after. Ms. Desiree cried for months, maybe years after. The final word about Big K’s arrest was that Took had snitched on Big K and taken down his entire empire just like that. It was all because of Kelsi and the beating Took had been given by Big K and his workers. Big K had risked everything—all because he was protecting Kelsi.
Chapter 19
Brice
“Fuck!” Brice growled as he slammed the phone at his desk down. He got to his feet and paced, the vein at his temple throbbing.
“What’s going on, Simp?” the lieutenant asked, coming out of his office in response to the noise.
“The fucking boots we got at the search warrant don’t match,” Brice replied, pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the pressure cooker in his brain that was about to blow its top.
“Did you test any others?” the lieutenant asked.
“No,” Brice grumbled. “I thought for sure these would match. I had a lot of reason to believe this kid might’ve been there when it happened. All fingers pointed to him or his enemies,” Brice huffed, shaking his head in disgust.
“What about the husband?” the lieutenant
asked. “We always have to check the husbands.”
“He’s laid up in the hospital after thugs shot up his wife’s funeral trying to get revenge on his son,” Brice said.
“How do you know those same thugs weren’t trying to kill the man they shot?”
Brice sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He’d been so laser focused on Lil Kev that he might’ve missed a lot. He picked up his phone and dialed Cheyenne’s number. He was going to need to see her
* * *
Cheyenne had been waiting for Brice. As soon as he knocked, the door swung open.
“I heard you had to let my brother go,” Cheyenne said as soon as Brice crossed the threshold.
Brice’s cheeks flamed over. “Yeah, his boots didn’t match the print left at the scene.”
“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot and seeing a lot around here. So, here. I bagged these up for testing,” Cheyenne said, pushing a bag of boots toward Brice.
“Damn. How many pairs are here?” he asked.
“Everybody in the house owns more than one pair. Kelsi had hers packed up. I found out she was leaving town before she found out my father got shot. Now she can’t leave his bedside. Just so weird,” Cheyenne confessed.
“Tell me a little bit about that. Is there anything I should know about those two?” Brice asked.
“All I can say for sure is that Kelsi is definitely in love with my father. It is not the same as when we were kids and she thought of him as a father figure. Kelsi Jones is in full-out love with my father. It’s no longer a gut feeling. It’s the truth,” Cheyenne said with feeling.
Brice sucked in his breath. He had to get to the lab quick before Kelsi had a chance to leave town. He had an entirely new outlook on Desiree Turner’s case.
* * *
Within a week, Brice had a match to the print. He’d also found blood on one of the shoes that matched his victim and his suspect.