by Imani Black
Big K moved his hips in circular motions as he held onto Kelsi’s hips. He wanted to make sure she felt every bit of him.
Kelsi also wanted to make sure she pleased him. In her crazed state, Kelsi told herself she wanted to do what Ms. Desiree couldn’t do. Kelsi wanted to be the best woman. After all, the best woman wins, right?
“Yes, grind it. Grind this pussy! It’s your pussy! I’m not giving it to nobody else ever again. It’s all yours,” Kelsi huffed. She didn’t know what had come over her. She felt like she’d been possessed by the deep love she had for Big K. She couldn’t help it. He’d taken over her mind and body.
“Oh, fuck me! I’m right there! I’m right there!” Kelsi panted. She felt a few drops of dribble escaping the sides of her mouth. Big K had her mouth literally watering. Kelsi had never felt like this. None of the punk-ass dudes she had fucked had ever hit the right spot. The overwhelming feeling invading her was like what she imagined a sunburst must feel like. She felt as if spurts or flashes of sunlight were exploding inside of her groin.
Then it happened. It all burst.
“Ahhhhh! Yes! Ahhh!!!” Kelsi screamed over and over. She had just experienced her very first orgasm, and she knew it as soon as she felt it.
“Arrrgggh!” Big K followed right after. His body completely relaxed. He moved out of Kelsi, still hard. Then he collapsed onto the floor while she was still on the couch.
Neither of them said a word after. They both realized that they had crossed a boundary that they could never take back. Kelsi never wanted to take it back, either.
Chapter 21
Brice
Brice sat across from Kelsi Jones, waiting to hear her statement. He’d been shocked to find out that it was her boot that matched the footprint at the crime scene. She’d let him arrest her without incident, almost like she’d been waiting for it.
Brice had learned a lot about the entire family during the investigation, but he certainly wanted to hear from Kelsi now. He wanted to know why she’d done what she did.
“Well, Kelsi. I feel like we know each other well enough,” Brice said.
“Yup. I’m not going to make this shit hard for nobody. I’m just going to tell you exactly what the fuck happened,” Kelsi came back, full of attitude.
Brice put his hands up. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said, clicking on the recorder that sat on the table between them.
“After that first time we fucked, Big K and I fucked every chance we got. As soon as Ms. Desi left for work. Right before we knew she’d be home. Sometimes, we had quickies while she showered. It was foul. It was risky. It was exciting. At first, it was a game to me, but it quickly became obvious that I was in love with this man. If he had asked me to jump off the Verrazano Bridge to prove my love, I would’ve asked what time and from what point. Anyone who couldn’t understand where I was coming from after going unloved almost my entire life could kiss my ass,” Kelsi started off.
Brice swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, and without realizing it, his hand went up to his temple. He got an immediate headache listening to Kelsi.
“Two months after our love affair started, I got up one morning and found Big K at the kitchen table with a stack of papers in front of him. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back at me. ‘Good morning to you too,’ I said to him. Like, shit—I knew we hadn’t had a disagreement or nothing.
“‘Check this shit out,’ he told me, and then he slid the stack toward me.
“I read the headline: NATIONAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY and looked at him like, yeah and?
“‘Desiree took out a one-point-five-million-dollar policy on me. She also made me the beneficiary of her two-million-dollar policy. She gives me these fucking papers and tells me to sign them. She don’t discuss them with me or nothing,’ he told me, kind of angry. He seemed stressed, like he thought there was some sinister reason for her taking the insurance out on him.
“‘So, what’s wrong with that?’ I asked him. I wasn’t tracking with him. A lot of husbands and wives had insurance on each other.
“He looked at me seriously. ‘She also gave me these,’ he said, sliding some more papers toward me. I read them over, and my heart began racing wildly in my chest. She’s buying them a house? In Long Island? What about me? How will I see Big K? My mind raced like crazy, but I never actually said the questions to Big K that day.
“‘She’s trying to get us up out of these projects. The only place I’ve ever know is Coney Island,’ Big K complained. He never said anything about not being able to see me anymore. I mean, I was grown now. The chances of Ms. Desi inviting me to move into their new house with them would probably be slim. I was quiet,” Kelsi said, her voice cracking.
Brice was hanging on Kelsi’s every word. He was thinking this shit was like a movie or something. “Okay, so she wanted to move and had taken insurance out on him,” Brice said, moving Kelsi along in her story.
“Yeah, so Big K was like immediately plotting or something. ‘You know what two million could do for us right now? Me and you? We could get rid of everybody. We could really be together for good. I would have enough to be a real factor in the game out there. I could put my investment up and triple that shit in no time. I could take you with me to another country where we could live like a fucking king and queen off that, baby girl,’ he told me. It was like he was selling me a dream. Those were the words I’d been dying to hear my whole entire life. Big K speaking about us having a future together. As insane as it might’ve seemed at the time, I was longing for that.
“‘You hear me, baby girl? That money could free us,’ he told me as he pulled me onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and massaged my breasts. I closed my eyes and smiled. I could actually picture us living together happily ever after. I was quiet while I dreamt of what it would actually be like to have our love on public display instead of all of the sneaking around we were doing. He knew I was desperate for love. He wanted to play on that.
“‘Too bad Desiree would be in the way of our dream. I mean, she would have to die before I got that shit,’ Big K said to me all sad-like. It was the furthest thing from my mind. Honestly, I always loved Ms. Desi.
“‘Yeah, we might as well forget it. She’s the picture of health. She won’t be dying no time soon,’ I told him, totally dismissing the idea that she might die. I stood up from his lap. I was uncomfortable all of a sudden. We were getting a little too bold for our own good.
“‘Even people who are the picture of health die. They could die in accidents. They could die in a robbery gone wrong. I mean, good health ain’t got shit to do with it. Especially when you live in the projects. Especially when your husband and son was in the game and made enemies. You feel me?’ Big K told me.
“I remember screwing up my face as I listened to him. I was confused. What the fuck was he trying to say? I asked myself.
“He didn’t keep his intentions a secret for long at all. Right after that, Big K fucked me in the shower. He fucked me so good I got nauseous and threw up afterwards,” Kelsi said, her voice cracking with emotion. She looked up at Brice to gauge his reaction.
His eyes were wide, but he quickly put on his poker face. He was completely flabbergasted by what he was hearing, but he knew, in order to keep her talking, he’d have to play it cool.
“He... he was kind of proud that I had gotten sick. ‘Damn, I fucked the shit out you, huh?’ he asked me as I threw up in the toilet. ‘Either that or your ass is pregnant with my seed.’
“I hadn’t even considered that possibility. A cold feeling shot down my spine when he said that. In all the time we’d been having sex, I hadn’t even realized that my period was missing.
“Kelsi! What the fuck is wrong with you? What are you doing? I screamed in my head. Big K didn’t care. He just grabbed me from the back and fucked me some more.
“When Ms. Desi came home that night, I faked like I was asleep. I heard her come to the room and tiptoe back out when she
saw that I was asleep. I listened as she took her shower. Then, I heard it. I was frozen. Paralyzed by anger. That fire had sparked up in my chest again, and I could hardly control my breathing.
“I lay there listening as Big K had sex with Ms. Desi. I immediately hated her. I hated her for being his real wife. I hated her for being able to fuck him while someone else was in the apartment. I hated her for having what I thought was mine. That night, I put myself against Ms. Desi. It was a crazy way to think, but in my crazy-ass mind, she had become my enemy.
“Every day for three weeks, Big K worked his magic on me. He fucked me. He fed me lies. He pumped me up, and he made a plan. We would be together forever. He would love me forever—if I did this one thing to make sure,” Kelsi said, and then paused like she couldn’t bring herself to go any further.
Brice needed her to say it. He needed to know what exactly happened. “Kelsi, you’ve been brave and courageous talking to me up to this point. I know you loved Ms. Desi. I know you love Cheyenne. I know you know that they both deserve closure. Tell me what happened... your side of the story. The only thing you have left is your side of the story,” Brice said, urging Kelsi to tell him everything.
Kelsi was sobbing until her body rocked, but she talked. “The night Big K gave me the nine-millimeter Glock, he handed it to me and said, ‘This is what is going to make things for us official. We won’t have anybody to worry about, and we will have the money we need.’ I took the gun, stuffed it into my bag, and left the apartment. I had had five shots of Patron that served as my liquid courage that night.
“I tried to clear my muddled mind. I couldn’t allow myself to think about Nana, who I had missed dearly. I couldn’t think about my friendship with Cheyenne. I couldn’t think about my past. I couldn’t think about my piece-of-shit mother. I couldn’t think of anything except being with the man I had always loved. Finally getting love from somebody was motivation enough for me.
“I started to fantasize about the future Big K and me would have. Being able to walk down the street holding his hand. Being able to marry him in a church. Most of all, being able to give birth to the baby I was carrying and celebrate with Big K like parents of a newborn should. Those fantasies propelled me to do what I did. I can’t remember much from that night because I have purposely put it out of my mind. But just like Amy Fisher, I know that I pulled the trigger to do away with the wife of the man I loved. I was finally going to have someone of my own. At least that’s what I had convinced myself. As crazy as it may seem now, I actually felt like I’d done the right thing for everyone involved.”
Kelsi and Brice sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Brice was stuck. He had seen and heard a lot of things, but this... this was something else. This girl had been practically raised as Big K’s other daughter. She had been more than a friend in the Turner family, and suddenly, she’d turned into a foe. Brice realized then that there was a thin line between love and hate.
Chapter 22
Kelsi
Kelsi remembered exactly what happened and how it happened. She could and would never forget.
* * *
Big K timed it all out for Kelsi. He had been watching Ms. Desiree at work for months because he thought she was cheating on him with some doctor. He was the one who told Kelsi which stairwell to hide in near the elevator Ms. Desiree would take to the man’s BMW.
Ms. Desiree had her bag flung over her arm, and she was humming a tune when she got off the elevator. At that moment, Kelsi wondered what the fuck she could be so happy about. She was planning on buying a house and trying to leave Kelsi behind! That’s what Kelsi told herself.
Kelsi took her last swig of Patron from the flask Big K had given her. She winced as it burned her chest going down. It eased her nerves a lot. Kelsi fingered the Glock in her hoodie jacket pocket. It’s now or never, she told herself.
She stepped out of the darkness. “Waiting for someone?” Kelsi asked in an eerily low voice.
Ms. Desiree jumped so hard she almost tripped and fell. “Ah! Oh my God! Kelsi, why would you scare me like that?” Ms. Desiree huffed, holding her chest in a clutch-the-pearls manner. “What in the world are you doing here? And how did you... ?” she rambled, her voice still trembling from the scare.
“Don’t talk. Just stop talking,” Kelsi demanded. She felt the alcohol taking over her speech. Her heart hammered so hard she felt short of breath.
Ms. Desiree’s eyes went wide. She saw the gun before Kelsi had intended for her to see it. “Kelsi! What are you do—”
“Shut up! Shhhh! Don’t talk, I told you! If you talk, it will make this harder!” Kelsi growled at her, looking around to make sure no one was coming.
Big K had told Kelsi to keep her back to the left where the camera was. With the black hoodie on, she’d look like a robber.
“Okay. I won’t,” Ms. Desiree whispered. “But think about—”
“I’m done talking. I said shut up!” Kelsi hissed. This time she pushed the gun toward Ms. Desiree’s chest.
Ms. Desiree started blinking rapidly in response. She was too shocked to speak. Tears started falling from her eyes. “Why?” she mouthed.
Even in the haze of her intoxication, Kelsi felt something in her heart burst. She felt herself about to give in to emotion and run away. But she had come too far for that. Now that Ms. Desiree had seen her with the gun, she would report Kelsi to the police if she left things as they were.
“You could’ve walked away and left him with me! Why didn’t you just do that? You tried to move to a house and leave me!” Kelsi said through her own tears now.
Ms. Desiree was shaking her head from side to side. “Please, Kelsi. What is the matter? Are you on something?” Ms. Desiree whispered.
“Why did you have to always control everything? Get in the way all the fucking time?”
Desiree blinked rapidly, her heart ramming into her chest like a wrecking ball taking down a skyscraper. She was too shocked to speak and couldn’t help her knees from knocking against one another. The harsh question resonated through her brain like loud clanging.
“Huh? Answer me! You always have to act so perfect, right? You easily forgot where you came from!”
The booming, shrill voice made Desiree shiver. Her lips moved apart, but no sound came out. She would’ve answered the question, but given the circumstances, an answer would probably have made things worse. Was this what they meant when they said the cat got your tongue? Desiree’s mind turned into mush. She saw the faces of her children flash by her. Something in her gut told her it might be the last time she saw those faces.
“Oh, you ain’t got shit to say now, Ms. Goody Goody?”
Desiree flinched as her tormentor waved a gun around, haphazardly dangling it in front of her. This had to be a nightmare. There was no way she could be seeing this correctly. Desiree was too afraid to move her hands to even pinch herself to check. Any sudden movements could be deadly, she reasoned—if reasoning was a thing with the kind of fear she was experiencing at the moment.
“Please.” Desiree finally managed a shaky whisper. Her lips trembled so fiercely she couldn’t even pronounce the L in please. “Can’t we talk about this? I... I can...” she murmured, tears racing down her cheeks in fast streaks.
The shock of seeing the familiar face made the situation even worse for Desiree. She couldn’t think back to what she’d done to deserve this. In fact, she had never harmed a hair on anyone’s head or ever muttered a malicious word about another person. Desiree had practically given up her entire life for everyone around her. It was her nature to take care of others. All she could think of was, why me?
“No! Don’t you understand there is nothing to discuss? This has to be done! Especially now! You think I’m that stupid now that you’ve seen my fuckin’ face?”
The crazed but familiar eyes were scarier for Desiree than the fact that she was staring down the end of a wavering silver handgun. She’d seen guns before, but never had she had one poin
ted at her.
Desiree started to pray silently. She should’ve seen this coming. But how? Why? A million thoughts played in her head, rewinding, staticky like an old VHS movie. Desiree quickly scolded herself. She had ignored the writing on the wall, all the signs.
“After all I’ve—” she whispered, closing her eyes. Her words were cut short.
Kelsi heard a noise on the other side of the parking garage. She jumped. Ms. Desiree went to open her mouth. Maybe she was going to scream. That’s when Kelsi panicked. She had gone over the time allotted that Big K had given her to get the job done.
“Oh, shit!” she huffed.
Kelsi pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun exploded in her ears. She hadn’t anticipated it being so loud. She immediately felt nauseous, and she’d gone deaf in both ears. Kelsi couldn’t concentrate on the pain throbbing at the center of her eardrums.
She took off running as fast she could go. As she ran, the hood flew back off her head. Kelsi knew then that one of those surveillance cameras in that parking garage was going to get her. She ran and ran until her body finally gave out.
Chapter 23
Cheyenne
Cheyenne screamed so loud and for so long that Detective Simpson had to almost carry her to the couch. What he told her couldn’t possibly be true. Not Kelsi. Not her father. There was no way the two of them had had an affair and then plotted and killed her mother. There was just no way that was possible. That was what Detective Simpson had told her. It was the worst thing she’d ever heard in her entire life.
* * *
Six months after Cheyenne got that bad news, she slipped into one of her mother’s nice Anne Klein suits and took a look at herself in the long mirror in her mother’s bedroom.
“I’m going to court today to hear the sentence, Mommy. It has been a long road, but justice will be served. Everyone involved will get what they deserve.” Cheyenne spoke out loud, believing that her mother was always with her and would hear her.