by T. N. Baker
Covering all areas, she was ready for whatever and had her game face on as she pranced toward the hotel entrance, where she found Smitty waiting. Inside their room, Epiphany wasted no time getting down to business. Opening her little overnight bag, she pulled out something more appropriate for the occasion. She suggested Smitty order a bottle of champagne from room service, preferably Veuve Clicquot, while she showered and slipped into something sexy for him.
Smitty liked the idea of her slipping into something sexy. The hood rats he used to fuck with considered a matching bra and panties something sexy, if he was lucky.
The champagne arrived just before Epiphany opened the steamy bathroom door. She was smelling so fresh and so clean, like cucumber melon, in her red lace Victoria’s Secret lingerie number. Smitty was mesmerized. As he held two glasses of bubbly, the bulge in his boxers was starting to show, and he wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled.
Seductively, she walked over to him, removed both glasses from his hands, and one by one took both of them straight to the head. Epiphany placed the empty glasses down, pushed him onto the bed, and slowly climbed on top of him, gliding her tongue across his chest.
Smitty’s eagerness wouldn’t allow him to just lie there and enjoy her foreplay. He wanted Epiphany—now. Flipping her over, he ripped her panties off and aggressively started licking her pussy.
Epiphany squirmed from discomfort as he licked and sucked on her with such brute force. She tried to move his head from between her legs, only Smitty continued like some kind wild beast in a trance, pinning her legs down to the bed and ignoring her screams for him to stop.
His behavior struck a chord. Suddenly, Epiphany flashed back to why she hated him in the first place. She remembered him raping her. In a panic, she began to gasp for air. Hysterical, she punched him repeatedly, finally getting him to stop.
She jumped up from the bed, grabbed her purse, and ran in the bathroom. Locking the door behind her, she quickly dumped out her bag, searching for her asthma pump. Calming down after a few minutes, she sat on the bathroom floor, holding her gun in her hand.
Meanwhile, Smitty stood on the other side of the door, begging for her forgiveness.
“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t know what got into me. Please give me another chance. I really care about you, Epiphany. Come out. We’ll just lay down. No sex. I promise.”
It was too late. Epiphany wanted to shoot him through the door, but as badly as she wanted to kill him, she knew she had to see Ness suffer first. She put her gun away, pushed her feelings to the side, opened the door, and lay in Smitty’s arms, awake for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER 55
“Shut the fuck up. Keep your eyes on the fucking road and let’s follow that van, muthafucka.” With Alpo’s piece pointed at his head, Ness had no other choice but to follow his orders.
C-God led them to an abandoned house way out in Far Rockaway, where the torture began. Ness, scared shitless, parked his Range behind the unmarked van in the driveway. Hassan hopped out the van with his Uzi ready to shoot and instructed Ness to get out slowly.
“Yo, what the fuck is going on, man? What the fuck y’all niggas want with me? Here, take the fucking truck and let a nigga go, yo. What, y’all niggas want money, too? Let me call my man, have him bring as much as y’all want.”
Ness’s pleas went ignored. The car keys and roll of hundreds he threw at his kidnappers lay right where they fell on the ground.
“Shut the fuck up, nigga! This ain’t about no truck or no money, you rat bastard muthafucka.” Hassan patted Ness down for weapons.
“Move it, you bitch-ass nigga. Get in the house,” Alpo said.
“Hell no. If y’all niggas is gon’ kill me, do it right the fuck here, ’cause I ain’t going inside that house,” Ness said boldly.
“What, muthafucka?” said Alpo and Hassan. They pushed him to the ground and started kicking and pistol whipping him.
“Nigga, ain’t nobody giving your punk ass a choice,” yelled Alpo.
Hassan grabbed Ness by his feet and started dragging him toward the house. Ness yelled out in agony from the burning sensation of his flesh ripping across the concrete.
Once inside the house, they stomped him out again and tied him to an old chair that a crackhead probably brought in to use.
Staring through half shut eyes into the faces of Alpo and Hassan, Ness tried to figure out where he might know them from, but neither one of them seemed familiar. He wondered if this was payback for murdering that kid Righteous, or maybe just some hating-ass niggas that heard about the paper he was getting. All of his questions were answered when C-God walked in.
“Well, well, well, what up, sheisty-ass nigga?” C-God taunted.
Ness didn’t recognize C-God at first. Once a buff dude, crack had made him lose over fifty pounds. If Ness hadn’t remembered C-God’s voice, he might have never figured out who he was.
“Oh, shit. C, that’s you, nigga? Look like you could use a meal or two. What the fuck you doing, getting high? Damn, nigga, I’m disappointed in you.” Bloody, bruised, and facing death, Ness was still a smartass.
“Fuck you, muthafucka. You should’ve killed me when you had the chance, ’cause a nigga came back just for your punk ass.
“Yo, Alpo, bring your dog in, since this nigga got a thing for dogs!” C-God demanded. He planned on having Venom bite into Ness’s flesh while he washed the wounds with ammonia.
“Nah, nigga, that’s your baby moms,” Ness said sarcastically, referring to C’s baby mother sucking off a pit bull to get some free drugs.
C-God had been disrespected enough by this guy, but he couldn’t believe that Ness had the balls to be tied up with nowhere to run out in Far-ass-Rockaway and he still continued to pop shit. C-God rushed Ness, jabbing his stun gun right into his chest.
“Tape his fucking mouth up,” C ordered Hassan.
After a night filled with torture, C-God was ready to end it once and for all. For the grand finale, C-God, Alpo, and Hassan placed Ness in a barrel filled with lye and watched while he helplessly hollered and squirmed as his skin burned away.
CHAPTER 56
Keisha picked up her son bright and early from Momma D’s house. She had a wonderful day planned and wanted to get an early start.
During their visit, she noticed bruises on his upper right arm, like someone had squeezed or punched him really hard. Furious, she began to further inspect his body, finding another identical bruise on his thigh.
Oh, hell no! Right away she knew Lea was abusing her son, and there was no way she would allow him to spend another second with that monster. Outraged, Keisha called Tucker’s cell phone and went off on him as soon as he answered.
“Wait. Calm down a minute. I can’t understand a word you’re saying, Keisha.”
“I said, have you seen these fucking bruises on our son? Tucker, he’s not coming back to that house as long as that bitch is in it. She better hope to God I never see her.”
“What are you talking about? What bruises?”
“On his body, Tucker! Listen to me. Lea’s playing you like she played me. I thought she was my friend, but she set me up and confessed to it after she had me arrested.”
“What?”
“Lea drugged me the night of my party and sent you that tape. She told me how she wanted to get with you and how you shut her down ’cause we were together.
“Anyway, what’s done is done. I don’t give a fuck about none of that anymore. She got you and that’s fine, but Li’l Man is another story. If you don’t keep her away from him, I swear before God, I’m gonna hurt her.”
“Keish, are you still at Momma D’s house?”
“No, I’m at Epiphany’s.”
“Well, can you please come outside? I’m on my way.” Tucker remembered his son’s behavior toward Leanne a couple of days ago.
As soon as Keisha stepped out the front door with her son, Tucker was pulling up in front of the house. Hopping out of the car, he r
an straight to Li’l Man to see what Keisha was ranting about.
“Tucker, she did this,” she said, pulling up the baby’s sleeve. “I know she did this. When I called you after I got out of jail, she was real loose with her mouth. She asked if I was calling to speak to ‘her man’ or my ‘fucking rugrat brat.’ That’s why I tried to come get him, but you pulled that custody stunt, and now look at his arm and his leg. I’m telling you, T, she wants to get rid of Li’l Man like she got rid of me. Just think, if Lea can drug me, pay a guy to have sex with me, tape it, and send it to you, there’s no telling what else she’s capable of.” Keisha was hysterical.
Tucker listened without saying a word. Everything Keisha was saying made a lot of sense to him. It was ironic that Lea had come back into his life just as shit fell apart between him and Keisha.
If she sabotaged my relationship, then Keisha’s right. What else . . .? Tucker couldn’t even finish his thought. He looked at the marks on his son again and his blood boiled.
“Keisha, I’ll be back, a’ight.”
“Tucker, have you been listening to anything I just said?”
“Yeah, and I believe you.” Tucker got back in his 745 and sped off.
When Tucker reached home, Leanne was in the kitchen trying her best to cook, but the burning smell that lingered throughout the house told a different story.
“Oh, hey, honey,” Lea said excitedly when she spotted Tucker standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
Tucker gave her a fake smile. During his drive back to the house, his first thought was to fuck her up, but since Leanne liked to play games, he decided to play one on her.
“Ummm, smells interesting,” he said.
“I know, honey. I wanted to make you some breakfast, but it didn’t turn out so great. Maybe we should go and get some takeout again. I’m sorry,” Leanne said in a disappointing tone.
“It’s all good. Listen, let me kick it with you for a minute.” Tucker took her by her hand and led her to the living room couch. “Leanne, I’ve been thinking about just letting Keisha go ahead and take full custody of Li’l Man. I know he’s a handful, and with you in school and everything, I just don’t feel it’s fair to you to have to take care of my son when he’s Keisha’s responsibility.” Tucker wanted to see where her head was at.
Leanne’s face lit up without smiling. “Well, honey, you know Li’l Man is a handful, but I don’t mind looking after him. However, I think he does need to be with his mother. He misses Keisha. That’s why I think he doesn’t like me.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right, ’cause I know Li’l Man can make you wanna knock the shit out of him sometimes, right?” Tucker chuckled then got serious. “Right, Leanne?” he asked again, looking her dead in the eye.
“No, I would never do that,” Lea answered nervously.
“You wouldn’t? Are you sure about that?”
“Of course I’m sure. What are you getting at?”
“I’m getting at the fact that you’re not the only one that knows how to set up a hidden camcorder. That’s right. Don’t look sick in the face now. I saw you! I got you on tape hitting my son,” Tucker lied to get her to confess.
“Tucker, wait. Hear me out. I can explain that. I didn’t even hit him hard. I was just teaching him some discipline.”
“Just go upstairs, get your shit, and get the hell up out of my house. A’ight!” Tucker didn’t want to hear her bullshit.
“Tucker, please, don’t!” Leanne cried.
Tucker let out a hard sigh, jumped up, and yoked her up from the couch by her neck.
“Don’t what? You violated when you put your hands on my son, and that shit you did to Keisha was foul. Either you gon’ get your shit and go, or leave it for the trash, but you better decide quick, and trust me when I tell you this is me being nice!”
Leanne’s eyes watered from the tight grip Tucker called “being nice.” When he let her go, she was so shook that she left her all her belongings behind, grabbed her car keys, and got the fuck up out of there. She knew she could never be his number one.
CHAPTER 57
Epiphany thought about what had happened between her and Smitty the entire night. Allowing herself to be in his company again sickened her. She didn’t feel comfortable playing this little game anymore. All type of thoughts started to cross her mind, mainly that maybe she was the one being played.
Smitty almost raped me a second time last night, and Ness tried to kill me. Shit, maybe they’re scheming to finish me off.
Finally, thinking sensibly, Epiphany felt seeking revenge this way didn’t seem so sweet or safe for her anymore, and it certainly wasn’t worth losing her life over (for real this time).
She eased Smitty’s arm from around her, got out of bed, and quietly put on her clothes. Before sneaking out, Epiphany gathered up all Smitty’s belongings, including his cell phone, and took them with her. Inside her car, she emptied out his pockets: $180 in crumpled twenties, a Cartier watch, platinum chain with a diamond-studded Jesus head medallion, a wallet with nine crisp $100 bills, and his license.
Epiphany started up her car and pulled off. Reaching halfway home, she smiled to herself, thinking, Payback is a bitch.
She stopped at a gas station and tossed the useless possessions—his clothes, sneakers, empty wallet, and phone—in a dumpster.
Strolling in the house, Epiphany was so excited to see her godson and Keisha together. She picked him up and held him tightly, and he patted her softly on her back.
“Ooh, it’s so good to see you, Li’l T. I can’t believe how big he got, Keisha.” Epiphany kissed his cheeks. This was the first time she had seen him since she’d been home from the hospital.
“I know. They were feeding my baby well in ATL.” They laughed, and so did Li’l T. “E, I thank you for making me realize that my son is my life. So much has happened, and part of it was because of my stupidity. The other part, girl, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
“What?” Epiphany asked.
“We’ll talk later, but since you’re finally home for a change, why don’t you take us for a ride to get some breakfast?”
“Damn, I would love to, Keish, but I have to start packing.”
“Packing what? Where you going? You just got home.”
“Packing my shit, girl. I’m moving to Jersey with Wild.”
“The music producer?”
“Mm-hmm, and by the way, where’s my parents?”
“Damn, E. See, that goes to show that you ain’t never home, ’cause you don’t never know what’s going on. Tiara and Jay went on a three-day Gospel cruise.”
“Gospel cruise! Pops must’ve finally gave in,” Epiphany said in shock.
“Yeah, church is not so bad, you know.”
“Oh God, not you too, Keish?”
“Epiphany, don’t knock getting saved until you try it. Can I use your car while you pack?”
Epiphany paused for a moment and wondered how her mom had managed to turn everybody holy.
“Unbelievable,” she mumbled as she handed Keisha her car keys.
“Thanks. We won’t be long.” Keisha took Li’l Man from Epiphany’s arms and headed out the door.
Epiphany rushed to the basement and started packing. Far in back of one of her drawers, she found some photos of herself, Keisha, and Shana from the old days, when their clique was inseparable.
Now Keisha’s a mommy, Shana’s married, and I’m finally getting out of Southside Jamaica. Deep down inside, she was going to miss her hood, but she vowed she’d never come back there to live.
The house phone rang. Epiphany thought about not answering it, but she assumed that it might be her parents calling, so she decided to pick up.
“Wright residence.”
“You have a call from ‘Ramel’ at a correctional facility. To decline the call, please hang up. If you accept, dial five now,” said the recording.
Epiphany rolled her eyes and hung up. A few minutes later, it rang again, and she
accepted the call.
“Hello? What happened?” Ramel said, wondering why the phone cut off.
“Nothing happened,” Epiphany said coldly.
“Epiphany!”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, shit! What up, baby girl? I finally caught up with you. I been trying to holla at you for a while now, but you don’t never be home. How’s everything? You all right?” After Ramel had moved out of her parents’ house years back, he and Epiphany did their best to avoid each other.
“I was until now!”
“Yo, listen, Epiphany. I’m sorry for that foul shit I put you through. Damn, you don’t know how much that shit fucks with me every day, especially now that I got a little girl. I hate myself for that nasty shit. I know I violated you in the worst way, and you never told on me. As many times as you threatened to, you didn’t. . . . Hello? you there?” Ramel was uncertain she was there because she had been so silent.
“I’m here.” Tears started to run down her face.
“Oh, a’ight. Just making sure. But listen, that’s my time. I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry. I love you, and please be careful out there on them streets. Oh, and between me and you, your pops and I searched hard looking for the nigga C-God. But don’t worry. He’ll surface one day, and word is out in all the jails, so if he get locked up, he’s finished—dead just like the rest of his brothers,” Ramel guaranteed her.
“Ramel, can you keep your eyes and ears open for this kid named Ness? He was the one that shot me. Oh, and a cat named Smitty. He was down with it too.”
“Ness. Oh, word, he was the trigger man! I’m hearing a lotta bad shit about that kid. He done already signed his death certificate when he kill that cat from Lefrak. He won’t be breathing too much longer, but the other cat, I got you. A’ight, baby girl, I gotta go. Please take care of yourself.”
