by Kiki Swinson
While Jason continued to badger me about where I lived, if I had kids, and what high school I went to, I continued to eavesdrop on the conversation Rich and Monty had about me. Before their talk ended, Rich began to whisper his plans to Monty. But I still managed to hear him tell Monty, in so many words, that he would agree to hand me over to the guys, but only after he used me for bait to rob those Arab cats and get his father back. I was floored when I heard Rich whisper that shit to him. He acted like I was nothing, a disposable piece of trash. To hear it come out of his mouth really put things into perspective for me. I knew that I was in here alone, and Rich had no intention of helping me to get my mother back, and he was going to throw me away to the pack of wolves, once this whole thing was over.
* * *
“What’s up my dude? You got homegirl handcuffed in here,” Monty said jokingly as he walked into the front room where Jason and I were.
Jason looked up at Monty. “Come on now, Monty, you know how I do,” Jason said confidently.
“You better leave her alone. I heard she be murking niggas!” Monty commented.
“I be doing what?” I asked him, giving him a hard stare. As bad as I wanted to let sleeping dogs lie, I knew that he was trying to ruffle my feathers. If I didn’t stand my ground, then he was going to tumble all over me.
“We know what you did to that nigga Terrell,” he replied as he stood with his back against the wall by the entryway of the kitchen.
At this very moment, I was sitting on the couch, and Jason sat a few inches away, but my attention was directed toward Monty. I wasn’t feeling this asshole at all. The fact that he was trying to throw me underneath the bus was an uncomfortable space to be in. I wanted to curse him out and storm out the front door, but then where would I go? I had nobody. The last person that had my back was Mrs. Mabel, but now she was dead. So, what do I do? Sit here and take these dudes’ mess? “Listen, dude, you don’t know shit about me,” I told him.
“So you’re denying that you murked that nigga Terrell?” He continued to stand there.
“Who wants to know?” I asked him defiantly.
“I wanna know. All these niggas wanna know too.” Monty pointed to Rich, Mike, and Jason.
“Wanna know what?” Jason interjected.
“She’s the one that murdered that nigga Terrell,” Monty told Jason.
Jason looked at me. “Yo, word!” Jason said, as if he needed me to confirm what Monty had just said.
“Look, I haven’t done anything. So I wish you would leave me alone,” I told him, and then I looked at Rich, who was sitting in the chair by now.
“Come on, Monty. Leave her alone, dude!” Mike stood up and defended me.
It felt good to have someone in this freaking house take up for me. I saw Rich wasn’t going to do it, so to hell with him. And whether he knew it or not, I was brewing up a plan for his grimy ass. And what was going to be so satisfying to me was that he wasn’t going to see it coming. Fucking asshole!
“Nah, fuck that, Mike! That nigga Terrell was good people.”
“I didn’t know him like that,” Mike spoke up.
“It don’t matter. I know him. Him and his cousins lived on my block. His cousins helped me when these dudes tried to rob me at this New Year’s Eve party last year,” Monty explained.
“So, what’cha gon’ do? Rat me out to them? Tell them where I am?” I spat out. This guy was starting to rub me the wrong way. I had tried to keep my mouth closed this whole time, but this dude Monty had plucked my last nerve.
“If it was up to me, I’d call ’em now. But Rich told me not to. So you better tell him thank you,” Monty continued, gritting his teeth at me. This guy had never seen me before, but he acted like he hated my guts. He was having some serious issues.
“Is this the moment when I tell Rich thanks?” I gritted back at him. I wasn’t backing down. I was tired of being Ms. Nice Girl. I figured if I kept my mouth closed, I wouldn’t start up any drama. But this guy made that very hard to do. So, where do I go from this point now?
“Nah, bitch, this is the moment when you tell me to take out my dick so you can give me a blow job,” Monty snapped. He took a couple of steps toward me too. Jason stood up and told him to chill out.
“Stop, man. Just chill out.” Jason tried to reason with him.
“Yeah, dude, leave it alone,” Mike agreed.
“Oh, I see what you niggas trying to do. Y’all trying to fuck her, that’s why you’re being nice to her. Making her feel like you gon’ save her,” Monty suggested. He was getting more agitated by the second. He even turned around to face Rich while he was still sitting at the kitchen table. “Rich, you hear these niggas taking her side?” Monty said to him.
Rich started chuckling. “Monty, you bugging out, dude. Just chill out, like Jason said. Everything is going to be a’ight,” Rich said in hopes of calming Monty down.
Monty hesitated for a moment and then said, “Yeah, a’ight. I’m gonna leave it alone for now.” But then he turned around toward me and said, “You’re a lucky bitch! But I guarantee that that luck is gonna run out really quick.”
“Yeah, whatever!” I told him. Because at this point, I knew he wasn’t going to do a thing to me. And as of right now, Rich wasn’t going to let anything happen to me because I was his meal ticket. But that’s all going down the drain, and I couldn’t wait to see Rich’s face when it did.
21
I’M A MAD WOMAN
Monty and Jason left about twenty minutes after all that shit hit the fan. I swear, no one has talked to me like that since I was with Terrell. See what happened to him? I tell you what, things would eventually turn around in my favor. Just wait and see.
Rich ended up going outside to sell the drugs he’d just packaged up. Mike stayed in the front room with me and watched television. During a commercial, he sparked up a conversation with me. His icebreaker was asking me if I needed something, since I hadn’t said much after Jason and Monty left. “I need to use the bathroom,” I told him.
“It’s upstairs on the left side,” he told me as he pointed toward the staircase.
“Thanks,” I replied, and stood up from the couch. I had to walk by Mike to go upstairs, so I stepped by him and headed up the flight of steps. I was up at the top of the staircase within eight seconds. When I entered into the bathroom, I was repulsed when I saw drips of piss on the toilet bowl seat. I wasn’t going to sit down on that thing. It was fucking disgusting. So, how was I going to relieve myself? I looked around the bathroom, thinking about how this small-ass box looked worse than a restroom at a gas station. After realizing that the only safe place I could empty out my bladder would be the sink, that’s what I did. I figured, why not? The motherfuckers in this house didn’t like me anyway, so pissing in their bathroom sink was a great start to plans I had stored away for them.
After I urinated in the bathroom sink, I threw the toilet tissue into the toilet and didn’t flush it. I washed my hands, but didn’t rinse the sink out, so you could clearly see yellow drops of my pee around the sink bowl. I wanted those bastards to see what I did, even though I planned to deny it. The reward for me was knowing that I had one up on those assholes. Fucking idiots.
I walked back downstairs and sat in the same spot I was before I went upstairs. It seemed like as soon as I sat down and got comfy, fate reared its ugly face. An emergency broadcast from Ten on Your Side flashed across the television, with my image: “This just in, authorities are looking for Misty Heiress.”
“Oh shit! That’s you!” Mike blurted out after seeing my face on the news.
“She is a murder suspect in the killings of Terrell Mason and Mrs. Mabel Davis. She is a Virginia Beach resident and a former employee at Rx-Pharmacy Depot. She is believed to be armed and dangerous. If you’ve seen this woman or know where she is, please contact your local Virginia Beach Police at once,” the newswoman reported.
“I’m not armed and dangerous!” I spat. I was about to spaz out. Really,
I’m armed and dangerous? And I didn’t kill Mrs. Mabel. Ahmad and his accomplice killed her.
“Her last sighting was earlier today when my colleague Christian Lundy witnessed her running away from her apartment. No one has seen her since then, so again, if you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact Virginia Beach Police. Remember, she is armed and dangerous. I’m Belinda Givens, reporting for Ten on Your Side.”
“Damn, girl, you’re gangsta-ass shit!” Mike sat there in awe.
“I didn’t kill that lady. Those Arab guys did it. And I’m not armed and dangerous. I don’t have a fucking gun on me. Ugh!” I protested.
“It’s bad when the police put your picture up on TV,” Mike expressed.
“No shit! I can’t believe that they’re trying to pin that murder on me. And then to say that I’m armed and dangerous! That’s some bullshit right there,” I said with frustration.
“You know you can’t be out on the streets now. If somebody sees you, they gon’ call the police,” Mike assured me.
“I think I’ll take my chances with the cops than with those guys that know Terrell. Monty made it perfectly clear that those guys want to seek revenge on me,” I mentioned.
“Don’t worry about Monty right now. Rich told him that he couldn’t fuck with you,” he replied.
“Don’t leave out the part where Rich told him that he couldn’t mess with me until after he robs those Arab dudes and gets his father back.”
“Nah, he didn’t say that,” Mike said, trying to lie.
“Listen, Mike, I know Rich is your boy and all. And I know you aren’t trying to rat him out, but I heard him. I mean, he didn’t even add my mother to the equation. So, why shouldn’t I be worried about that? Rich don’t give a damn about me. His main agenda is to rob those Arab guys, walk away with as much money and drugs as he can, and get his father back before the heist is over,” I explained.
“Look, I’m not trying to get into all the politics with you about what Rich said, but I will tell you that Monty isn’t the type of dude that would let stuff go. He’s a hothead. And he has no conscience. When he say he’s going to do something, take his word for it,” Mike warned me.
“What kind of guy talks to a woman like that? He acted like I did something to him,” I pointed out.
“It doesn’t matter with Monty. He’s one of those guys that would die for something he believes in. So just watch your back and what you say from now on.”
“Yeah, all right,” I said, and turned my focus back to the television.
A few seconds later, I looked back at Mike and said, “Please don’t tell anyone that I was just on the news.”
“Sure, no problem,” he said, and then we both turned our focus back on the television.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. About three hours into my stay at this nasty-ass house, I found myself becoming drowsy. Before I even realized it, I had fallen asleep. Startled by the front door slamming, I jumped out of my sleep. When I opened my eyes, Monty started walking toward me. “I’m back,” he announced, with a bottle of liquor in his right hand.
I looked around the room and noticed that Mike was nowhere in sight. I looked back at Monty and sat straight up in the chair. “Please leave me alone,” I begged him, dreading what was about to happen.
Monty stood in front of me and took another swig from the liquor bottle. “You know that you are one lucky-ass bitch!” he commented after he swallowed the alcohol in his mouth.
“Look, I don’t wanna start up another argument with you,” I told him.
He laughed. “You think I wanna argue with you? I’m standing right here because you owe me.”
Puzzled, I said, “Owe you for what?”
“For not telling Terrell’s cousins where you at. I saw those niggas about an hour ago and I could’ve told them where you were hiding, but I didn’t. So you owe me. And I’m ready to collect,” he continued, and took another swig from the bottle. After he swallowed the alcohol, he unzipped his jeans with his left hand, then pulled out his dick. “Suck it,” he continued, looking down at me like I was his slave.
“You better get your little-ass dick out of my face,” I said calmly. In my mind, I had decided that if this dumb-ass motherfucker didn’t get his penis out of my face, I was going to show him where to put it.
“What’cha gon’ do if I don’t?” Monty tested me while taking another swig from the bottle.
“I’m telling you right now, you better get that thing out of my face,” I warned him again. I was two seconds from ripping the head of his penis from the shaft. I pictured blood gushing out of him like a waterfall while he squirmed around like a little bitch.
“Why the fuck you taking so long? Lick it,” he instructed me, and started gyrating his penis in my face.
Without giving it a second thought, I grabbed his dick in my hand and tried to rip it from his groin. Monty screamed like a little bitch and dropped the liquor bottle on the floor in front of us. Vodka splattered everywhere after the bottle shattered. Some of it got into my eyes, but that didn’t stop me from unleashing the beast on this disrespectful bastard. “I told you to get this shit out of my face, but you didn’t. Now you wanna scream like a lil bitch! Man up, you stupid piece of shit!” I mocked him while I gritted my teeth.
Rich and Mike heard all the commotion in the house and ran in from outside. Rich came in the front door first and Mike followed. When I saw them rushing toward us, I let Monty’s dick go and stood up from the couch. I figured whatever was going to happen next, I was going to be ready for it. I was tired of these losers treating me like shit.
While Monty rocked back and forth on the floor, with his hand covering his dick, Rich rushed to him, towering over Monty, asking what just happened. Mike stood a few feet away from the whole thing and watched as an onlooker.
“That bitch tried to rip my dick off me!” Monty shouted as he continued to rock back and forth. He was holding on to his penis for dear life.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Rich yelled at me.
“That nasty motherfucker took his dick out and told me to suck it. And I told him to get out of my face, and he wouldn’t listen. So I did what I had to do!” I roared. I was ready to go head-to-head with Rich for even taking this asshole’s side. He was the one out of line. Now I’m the bad one?
Rich got in my face. “Do you know what that nigga would do to your stupid ass?” He continued to yell and curse.
“What about what I just did to him?” I snapped.
“What, you think this is a joke!” Rich screamed at me.
“Why the fuck are you screaming at me? I was sitting in here, minding my own business, and then he comes in here and demands that I suck his dick! Was that not fucked up?” I continued to scream at him while I stood my ground.
With no warning, Rich lunged at me and smacked me with the back of his hand. The force from the sudden blow knocked me back and I collapsed on the couch. After I landed on my back, I held my face with my hand. “Are you out of your fucking mind?!” I screamed at Rich.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch!” Rich roared while holding his arm up in the air like he was ready to strike me again.
One part of me wanted to stand up and charge him with all the strength and force I had inside of me, but then I thought about how badly things could go if I did. But at the same time, I didn’t deserve any of this treatment I was getting. What was I supposed to do? So I sat up on the couch, holding the palm of my hand against my face.
Meanwhile, Monty had gotten a grip on himself and was finally able to deal with the pain I inflicted on him. He climbed onto the couch near me. Immediately after that, he gave me the stare of death. “You feeling better, man?” Rich went to his aid after hitting me in the face.
I sat there and watched both of these assholes as Mike stood away from us, but at the same time, I surveyed what had just happened. I really wanted him to be the adult in the room and tell those two bastards that wha
t they did to me was wrong. But he didn’t open his mouth—not one time.
“Yo, I swear, I wanna kill that bitch right now,” Monty said through clenched teeth. I could see the veins bulging through the skin near his temple.
“Don’t worry about her right now. She’ll get dealt with,” Rich assured him.
“What the fuck you mean, I’m gonna ‘get dealt with’?” I spat out at him, even though I already knew what that comment meant.
“Bitch, just know that you’re on borrowed time,” Rich replied menacingly.
“Be a man and say what you gotta say!” I yelled at him.
Within a flash, Rich made a dash toward me; Mike must’ve known what was about to happen because he slid between us before Rich got within a couple of inches of me. “Move, Mike!” Rich roared at him. Mike’s back was facing me while he shielded me from Rich.
“Come on, Rich, we got things to do, so let’s keep this ship moving.” Mike was trying to calm the situation.
“Nah, fuck that! She keeps running her mouth, and I need to make her close it for good.” Rich kept ranting while trying to push his way by Mike. Thankfully, Mike wasn’t allowing that to happen. Not only was he bigger than all the guys there, but for some reason, he acted like he wanted to protect me. He didn’t say it out of his mouth, but his actions showed it.
“Rich, man, come on, dawg. You’re better than that,” Mike continued, trying to hold Rich back.
“Move out the way, Mike,” Rich warned him.
“Nah, fuck that bitch!” I heard Monty say, and then he lunged at me with full force. Bam! Bam! Bop! Bop! Bam! Monty’s blows hit my face, one after the other. I tried to shield my face with my arms, but it didn’t work. “You fucking bitch! I told you I was going to fuck you up!” He continued to hit me with one fist after the other. I tried desperately to cover my face, but it wasn’t working out. At one point, I tried to get up from the couch, but I couldn’t. Monty was hitting me so fast and so hard. “Bitch! I’m gon’ kill your ass today!” He gritted his teeth.