by Carl Weber
“So, let’s get to testing.”
“I’ll set it up for the morning. Now, go get yourself something to eat and get some rest. You look beat.”
It had been damn near twenty-four hours since I’d slept, and I was definitely hungry. The dinner Kandace and I had in Miami the night before was long gone, so I took the doctor’s advice and went to grab some food from the hospital cafeteria.
As I stood in line trying to decide between the dry-ass baked chicken or asking the fine-ass nurse in front of me for her number, Denny called.
“Yo, what’s up? You a’ight?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m a little shaken up, but I’m holding it together.”
“Where you at right now?”
“I’m at the hospital. I’m probably gonna be here for a minute.”
“You at the hospital for real? Damn, man. I mean, I heard what happened, but I thought the niggas was lying. I damn near put my hands on the dude that told me.”
The nurse turned around, and we made eye contact. I smiled as she gave me a quick look up and down. Her face wasn’t as impressive as her ass in those scrubs, but she was decent.
“This is crazy. You know if I woulda knew that shit was going down, I would have had your back,” Denny said.
“It’s cool. I ain’t even tell nobody. I just came straight here.” I was surprised that Denny seemed so upset about my moms. Then again, we had been friends and partners since middle school.
Denny exhaled. “He whooped your ass that bad?”
“What?” I said, thinking I’d misheard him.
“I mean, when I heard it, I figured you got roughed up a little, but you went straight to the hospital. Yo, how we gonna handle this shit?” Denny asked. “Matter of fact, don’t even worry about it. You rest up. Trust, this nigga Vaughn ain’t getting away with this shit.”
“Vaughn? Denny, what the fuck are you talking about?” I said, hopping out of line and rushing out of the dining room.
“I’m talking about Vaughn putting his hands on you in the bathroom at the club last night.”
“His hands on me? Now, you know that shit ain’t happen.” I almost laughed at the thought of that ever occurring. “That nigga might be big, but there is no way I’d let him put his hands on me. I’d shoot his ass first.”
“But you just said you was at the hospital.”
“Bro, I’m here with my moms. She had a heart attack last night, and now it’s some shit going on with her kidneys.”
Denny was quiet for a minute.
“Denny, what the fuck is going on?” I asked.
“Yo, man, this shit is crazy. Word on the street is Vaughn rolled up on your ass last night and fucked you up.”
“I wasn’t even in New York last night. I was in Miami with Kandace. That’s probably why he’s coming out of his mouth sideways like that, but he’s about to regret it.”
“Word,” Denny said. “Let’s take care of this nigga.”
“Where the fuck you at?”
“I’m on my way to my baby mom’s right now. What you thinking?”
“I’m gonna go spend a little time with my moms and then catch a catnap. I’ll call you in a few hours. I got an idea that’s gonna put Vaughn in his place and get my moms the money she needs for her hospital bills.”
Nevada
16
I was lying across my bed, half asleep, when a chime came from my iPad. I sat up and read the notification from Instagram, letting me know that someone named KBeauty was attempting to send me a message. I had no clue who KBeauty was. It wasn’t anyone I followed, so I wasn’t going to accept the message without doing a little investigating. I clicked on the profile and smiled when I realized it was Kia, then immediately accepted the request.
KBeauty: I need your help!!!!
NevadaD23: You okay? What’s up?
KBeauty: I’m going to fail this GED exam if I don’t get some help.
NevadaD23: No you’re not. I got you. What seems to be the problem?
KBeauty: Everything. I just don’t get any of this math. Think we could meet up so you can help me?
NevadaD23: Meet up? Like in person?
As soon as I typed the message, I regretted it. I no doubt sounded like a lame, and Kia would think I was corny after reading it. But I was pleasantly surprised by her response.
KBeauty: Yes, in person. Not only can I get help with my math, but I also get to see your cute face.
NevadaD23: I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m kinda on lock down.
KBeauty: I mean, I kinda figured something happened when you left all of a sudden the other day without saying goodbye.
NevadaD23: Yeah, my mom kinda spazzed out and made me leave, but I’ll make this happen. Gimme five minutes.
KBeauty: Okay.
I hopped up and walked into the living room, but no one was there. I went into the bedroom on the other side of the hotel suite that my mother slept in. She was going through some papers in her briefcase.
“Mom?” I walked in.
“Yes. What is it, Nevada”?” She sighed, putting the papers in a folder, then into the leather bag.
“Are you going somewhere?”
“No, I have a business meeting with someone here in the suite,” she told me.
That was good news to me. She might be happy to have me out of the way so she could have privacy for her meeting. I took a chance and asked, “Well, can I go to the library?”
“Library? Why? School hasn’t even started, Nevada.” She wasn’t as eager as I had hoped.
“Mom, you know I’m in AP classes and had summer assignments.”
“So, you haven’t completed them? The summer is over.” She shook her head and folded her arms.
“I have completed them, but there’s some last-minute research I want to do, that’s all. Besides, I’m about to go crazy in this suite. It’s just the library. Please,” I begged.
“Fine, Nevada. You can go for the afternoon, and that is it.”
“Thank you, Mom.” I ran over and gave her a kiss.
“I will have the driver drop you off,” she stated.
I turned to walk away with a slight smile on my face, which she quickly erased for me.
“And I’ll have him wait for you until you are finished. Two hours. That’s it.”
“But Mom, why can’t I just have my phone back and I can call an Uber?” I complained.
“You don’t agree? Then fine, you will remain here in the suite that you say you are so desperate to leave.” She shrugged.
“Fine” I said then hurried back to my room to tell Kia.
NevadaD23: You still here?
KBeauty: Yep, you good?
NevadaD23: I’m good. We can meet up. St. Agnes Library. In an hour. Will that work?
KBeauty: On Amsterdam?
NevadaD23: That’s the one.
KBeauty: See you in an hour.
As I got dressed to go meet up with Kia, something dawned on me. My mom wanted to know about me completing my summer assignments. If she was going to move me to California, then why did she care if I finished assignments for a school I wouldn’t be returning to? I almost went back into the living room to ask her about it, but I decided not to jinx it. I was in a good mood at the moment and wanted to stay that way while I was out with Kia.
* * *
I arrived at the library right on time. Since I didn’t have a phone to call Kia, I decided to wait for her just inside the entrance, where she could see me, but my mother’s driver, who was parked out front, could not. I could feel my heart racing. Was that because I was nervous about being caught in a lie by my mom, or was I nervous about seeing Kia? I wasn’t sure, but I took a few deep breaths to try to calm my nerves.
Fifteen minutes later, she still hadn’t arrived, and I started to wonder if she was ever coming. I slipped my iPad out of my book bag and logged on to the library wifi to message her.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Before I could type a me
ssage, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and there she was. Dressed in a cropped T-shirt, cut-off denim shorts, and sandals, she looked even more beautiful than she had the other day at the water park. It was hard not to stare.
“It’s no big deal.”
“Then why does it look like you’re about to send me a message?” She pointed at my iPad screen with her IG profile displayed.
“Uh, I was just gonna let you know I was grabbing us a table.” I shrugged as I put the iPad back into my bag. “You ready?”
We went inside the main room and found a table near the back, somewhat secluded. Kia reached into the bag she was carrying and pulled out a thick book, tossing it onto the table with a thump.
“GED preparation guide,” I read aloud. “This is a big book.”
“It’s a big test,” she said, reaching back into the bag and taking out several pens, a notebook, and a calculator.
“I see.” I sat in the chair beside her. “I guess we’d better get started.”
As we got to work on the subjects she was struggling with, I noticed that Kia was really focused, which made me even more curious about her. How did someone who was obviously smart and eager to learn end up without a high school diploma, working for someone like Marie?
“Here, let me show you.” I slid a little closer to correct a problem she was working on. I couldn’t tell if it was her hair or her perfume, but she smelled as good as she looked.
“Oh, I get it now.” She exhaled loudly and sat back in her chair. “I’m so slow.”
“You’re not slow. You’re actually very smart,” I said.
“You think so?” She glanced over at me.
“My grandfather says that really smart people are ones that use their resources. You needed help, so you came to me and asked for it. You used your resources,” I said with a smile. “So, just based on that logic, you’re smart. And based on the work we did today, I know you’re gonna ace this test.” I fumbled with a pencil on the table to keep my hands busy so I wouldn’t give in to the urge to brush away the piece of hair that was hanging in her face.
“I don’t know about acing it, but I do feel a lot more confident. So, let’s get back to work, teach.” She put her hand on my arm. Unfortunately, at that moment, my stomach decided to growl loudly. “Whoa, sounds like my teacher is hungry,” she said with a laugh.
“Maybe a little.” God, how embarrassing. I had been so excited about the two hours of freedom my mother granted that I forgot that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
“Why don’t we grab something to eat? I’m a little hungry myself.” Kia began packing up her study materials.
I looked at my watch. We’d been studying for an hour, but because Kia had been fifteen minutes late, that only left forty-five minutes before my mother’s driver would be looking for me.
“I don’t really have time to go anywhere.”
“We can just walk over to Central Park and grab something quick from a cart. Come on. My treat.” She stood and reached for my hand.
I packed up my stuff in a hurry, then wrapped my fingers around hers, momentarily forgetting everything but the feeling of our palms connecting. We were almost at the exit before my senses kicked back in.
“Wait.” I stopped in my tracks.
“What’s wrong?”
“Let’s go out the other door,” I suggested, remembering the Town Car was parked out front.
Kia looked at me funny, but then shrugged. “Okay, whatever you say.”
We changed directions, slipping out the side door of the building and out into the street. She held on to my hand as we walked to the park, only releasing it to pay for two slices of pizza. The park benches were all full, so Kia found a nice grassy spot where we sat down to eat.
“This is so good,” she said with a mouth full of pizza.
“It really is. I haven’t had a slice in a while.”
“Yeah, probably because your family has a chef making you gourmet meals all the time,” she teased.
I shook my head. “Nah. Believe it or not, my grandmother does most of the cooking at our house.”
“Stop it.” Kia looked surprised. “Your family has all that money, you live in that huge mansion, but she has to cook? Why?”
“She doesn’t have to. She chooses to,” I said. “She’s really family oriented, and she says this is her way of showing love to her family. And she can cook.”
“She sounds cool.”
“She is. I’ve learned so much from her. From all my family.”
Kia’s phone vibrated. She took it out of her bag and checked the message. “Guess it’s time to head back. That was Marie. I have an appointment in two hours.”
Reality was like a cold bucket of water over my head as I remembered where we were and, more importantly, who we were. Neither one of us could lounge around in the park all day. I had a mother who would kill me for sneaking around like this, and Kia had a boss who was very demanding of her time.
I stood and helped her to her feet. “Yeah, I gotta get back myself.”
“I really appreciate you helping me, Nevada.” She smiled at me, then stood on her toes and kissed my cheek.
“I enjoyed it,” I said, blushing. I’d tutored lots of people before, but never one as pretty as Kia, and no one had ever thanked me with a kiss.
We started walking back, and Kia took my hand again.
“Can I ask you something?” I said.
“Sure. Ask away. I’m an open book.”
“Do you enjoy your . . . appointments?” I knew it was a personal question, but this little bit of time I’d spent with Kia made me feel comfortable enough to ask it. Plus, I just really wanted to get to know her better.
Kia got quiet for a minute, and I worried that I’d insulted her. But she didn’t drop my hand, and eventually she shrugged and said simply, “It’s a means to an end.”
I took a chance and pressed further. “And what about your family? Do they know about what you do?”
We’d arrived at the corner near the library. I was ten minutes past my curfew to return to the car, but that didn’t matter to me in that moment. Kia’s eyes met mine, and neither one of us moved. Then, she told me her story.
“My dad was a soldier. He died when I was ten. I don’t even know if my mother is still alive, honestly.”
I touched her cheek, thinking that was the end of her sad story, but the tragedy had only just begun.
“When I was twelve, my mom married a guy who was a regular at the bar she worked at in Korea. I guess she thought since he spent lots of money, he would be a stable husband. He wasn’t. Turns out he was a creep, a drunk, and a perv—and an abusive one at that. He would beat and rape my mom, which drove her to drink. Then, while she was passed out, he would come in and rape me, and eventually my younger sister. It went on for a couple of years, and then we decided to escape the hell we were living in. We ran away from home.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered. It was kind of surreal, standing on a busy New York corner with people rushing by, oblivious as she poured out the story of all the pain she’d suffered in her life.
“A couple of weeks after we left, we were sleeping on the street, and this woman offered to take us in. But she let us know real fast that we had to earn our keep to stay with her. It turned out she had a pimp who was calling all the shots. She cleaned us up and taught us what men wanted.”
“But you were only kids . . .” I said.
“Yeah,” she explained with a sigh. “But it was scary out there on those streets. We thought about running again, but to be honest, it was better than being forcibly raped by my stepfather, and they did feed and clothe us.”
I felt rage as I imagined Kia and her sister in such a horrible situation, which, she explained, didn’t get much better after that.
“Eventually, the lady and her pimp sold us to some men who brought us to the United States and put us to work in Asian brothels. They moved us around from one shithole to another across the country.”
She brushed away the lone tear that fell from her eye.
“What about your sister? Where is she?”
“Probably dead. They separated us somewhere in Florida before I met Marie.” Now she allowed the tears to flow freely.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, wishing there was more I could say or do.
“Don’t be. Marie found me a year ago, and I’m in a better situation now, and I’m grateful. I could be dead too. Yeah, I’m still turning tricks, but at least most of the money is mine.” She sighed. “Right now, I’m saving my money so I can get out of this business and go to college. I want to become a private investigator.”
“A private investigator? Why?”
“So I can find out what happened to my sister.”
And just like that, it all made sense.
Roman
17
I hopped into the passenger’s side of the Expedition Denny had purchased while I was in Miami. It wasn’t brand spanking new, but it was new to him, and he was proud of it. Normally I would have commented on his ride, but not that night. I was in no mood for mindless car talk. All I wanted to do was hurt somebody the way I was hurting inside about my mom, and our next stop would be the perfect place to inflict some pain.
“You bring the bag?” I asked.
“It’s right there in the back.”
“Good. I can’t wait to pay that lying-ass Vaughn a visit,” I said, reaching for the bag. “He ’bout to make a nice donation to my mom’s medical expenses.”
“You sure you wanna even deal with this right now?” Denny raised an eyebrow at me.
“Hell yeah. I been wanting to rob this nigga for three years,” I said, taking the ski masks and guns out of the bag. Denny and I didn’t discriminate in who or what we robbed, although up until a few months ago, our primary business had been robbing drug dealers and dope boys around the city. “Why wouldn’t I wanna deal with it?”
“Your mom. How is she?” Denny asked.
“She’s real sick, man. In ICU right now. I might have to give her my kidney.”
“Damn, I’m sorry to hear that.” Denny shook his head.
“The thing is, even if they say she can have it, she ain’t got the insurance to cover it, so I gotta come up with the money,” I said, pumping a shell into the shotgun chamber. “Which makes robbing this motherfucker even sweeter.”
