Player Haters

by Carl Weber

  “In the bathroom,” I ordered, directing her with the gun. She did as she was told and I relished in the power I held over her. “Did you take a bath today?” I lifted the gun.

  “No. I—” I stopped her in mid sentence.

  “Don’t make no excuses. I thought I smelled something funky. You know you nasty. Run some bath water.”

  “Are you serious?” She snapped, obviously forgetting who was in charge.

  “Did I stutter?” I lifted the gun again.

  She bent down and turned the water on, then looked up at me.

  “What’s wrong? You don’t put bubbles in your bath?” She shook her head, but reached for the bubble bath on the tub’s rim and poured it in. When the tub was filled I leaned against the sink and told her, “Get your clothes off.”

  “For what?” she asked defiantly. “What are you gonna do, drown me in the tub?”

  “I’m gonna blow your ass away right now if you don’t get them fucking clothes off.”

  “You’re never gonna get away with this,” she told me as she slowly unbuckled her jeans. “You realize that, don’t you? Do you really think Wil’s gonna wanna be with a woman who killed his wife?”

  “Why not? All I gotta do is make it look like an accident. Like I did Philip’s wife and your girl Jeanie. Now stop stalling and get your fucking clothes off.”

  I watched her painstakingly take off her clothes until she was completely naked. “Now get in the tub,” I ordered. She gave me this look that made me think she was going to do something stupid. I raised the gun to her head and smirked. “I guess you don’t want an open casket.” She didn’t reply. She just stepped in the tub. “Now sit down.”

  This time she did as she was told and I sat on the toilet seat to give Diane her last rites.

  “You know, I mentioned to Wil one time that I love to sit in a warm bubble bath and listen to R. Kelly.” I smiled at the thought. “You know what he said to me? He said, ‘Diane loves to listen to music in the tub, too.’” I nodded my head before I continued. “Yep, he said you have a clock radio that you keep right on a shelf above the toilet.” I stood up for a second and took the radio off the shelf. I held it in one hand. The gun, pointed at Diane, was in my other hand. “Is this it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You already have it tuned into KISS.” I flipped it on and Luther Vandross’s “There’s Nothing Better Than Love” came out of the small speaker. “Oh, I love this song.” I started to sway back and forth, then dropped the radio on the bathroom rug.

  “Oops!” I picked up the radio, making a face. “My God, I almost dropped this in the tub. You know, you should really buy a new clock radio, preferably a battery-operated one. This plug-in one is real dangerous, especially near a bathtub. You could have one hell of an accident in here if this thing falls in the tub with you.”

  Fear sparked in Diane’s eyes as I dangled the radio over her bath water.

  “Any last words? Maybe something I can tell your kids?”

  “Yeah,” she answered, then stopped when we both heard a sound downstairs. I thought I heard Wil’s voice calling for her, but I didn’t know how that could be possible. He was supposed to be at work now. This plan was supposed to be foolproof.

  Diane looked toward the door and my eyes followed her gaze. Within seconds I heard water splashing. I turned back to Diane but before I could react, she was halfway out the tub and on top of me, trying to wrestle the gun from my hand.

  “Oh, my God, Wil. Wil! Help me! Please, help me!” She was screaming for her husband.

  “Get off me, you bitch!” I screamed as we wrestled to the bathroom floor. The radio fell out of my hands, but I managed to keep hold of the gun. I had no idea where the radio went, but I couldn’t worry about that now. We tousled back and forth and I had to give her credit. She was a lot stronger than I thought. But not quite strong enough. Somehow I pulled the gun free and pointed it at her. “Back up, bitch!” She did and we both stood up just as Wil entered the bathroom doorway.

  34

  Wil

  We rushed into the house and I called out Diane’s name as I quickly searched the first floor. I was positive she was home because her car was in the driveway and her keys and purse were both on the living room sofa. I was just praying that she was in the backyard working on her flowers, or upstairs taking a nap.

  “Wil,” Keisha called from the kitchen. When I entered she was holding a box of brownies. “Maxine was here. I gave her this box of brownies this morning.”

  “Shit,” I cursed. I was truly afraid for my wife’s life for the first time. “Where could they be? I didn’t see Maxine’s car outside.”

  “Did you check upstairs?”

  “Diane,” I yelled even louder than before in frustration.

  “Wil! Help me! Please, help me!” I heard my panicked wife scream from upstairs.

  “They’re up there.” I tossed my cell phone to Keisha and said, “Call the cops.” Then I ran to the stairs and up them as fast as I could.

  When I reached the top of the stairs, my heart was almost beating out of my chest. Okay, Wil, what are you gonna do when you find them? Keisha said Maxine has a gun. I heard the commotion in my bedroom and rushed in without hesitation. I found them both in the bathroom and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Maxine was dressed like she was going to church, or maybe a funeral. She had a gun in her hand and it was pointed at Diane, who was naked as the day she was born and obviously scared. And she wasn’t the only one.

  “Wil,” Diane called out in fear.

  “It’s all right, Di.” I tried to give her a reassuring look. “Maxine? What are you doing? Put that gun down.”

  “Wil?” She actually smiled at me. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at work.”

  “I came to stop you from doing something stupid. Now, please, put down that gun before you hurt someone,” I told her calmly, extending my hand.

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can. Now give me the gun,” I said sternly.

  “No, I can’t!” she snapped, lifting the gun to Diane’s head until I pulled back my arm. “Don’t you understand, Wil? I’m doing this for you. For us. With her out the way, me, you, and the kids can be happy. Now I want you to leave. This has to look like an accident.” Damn, she really was delusional. God dammit, Keisha, where the hell are the cops? I wondered as I tried to keep myself from panicking.

  “I’m not leaving, Maxine. I can’t let you do this. This is not Diane’s fault.”

  “Yes, it is!” she screamed.

  “No, it isn’t. It’s my fault. Diane doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

  “No, Wil. It’s not your fault. It’s her fault! It’s all her fault! You’d be with me if it wasn’t for her.” Her face was screwed up with anger, but tears were welling in her eyes.

  “No, I wouldn’t, Maxine.”

  “Yes, you would! And stop calling me Maxine!” She turned the gun toward me and I froze. “Now I don’t wanna hear anything else negative about our relationship, Wil. Do you understand me?” I hesitated and she lifted the gun.

  “Do what she says, Wil. She’s already killed Jeanie.”

  “Shut up, Diane.” She turned the gun back on my wife.

  “Oh, my God. You killed Jeanie?” I couldn’t imagine what she’d done to Jeanie, but right now my only concern was for my wife.

  “Yeah, she was getting in the way. She didn’t want us to be together,” Mimi said in a flat, cold voice.

  “So you killed her? That woman gave you a job, Mimi. We wouldn’t have even met if it wasn’t for her.”

  I don’t think she’d ever thought of it that way, because her expression momentarily changed to one of confusion. “Don’t be mad with me, Wil.” She almost sounded like a child. “It was an accident.”

  “No, it wasn’t.” I lost my cool. “You killed her. Keisha’s right. You’re fucking crazy. You should be in a mental institution.”

  “No, I shouldn’t!” she e
xploded. “I’m not fucking crazy! Do you hear me, Wil? I’m not crazy! Now take that back! Take it back, now, or so help me God I will shoot you right where you stand.” She pointed the gun at me and pulled back the hammer. Once I heard the click, I froze up, closing my eyes as I waited for the impact of the bullet. But the bullet never came.

  “Leave him alone you crazy bitch!” Diane screamed.

  I opened my eyes just in time to see Diane grab Mimi by the hair and pull her backwards into the tub. The gun went off, but the bullet missed me completely. I tried to grab Diane and pull her away from Mimi and that gun, but there was no need. Mimi was in the tub shaking uncontrollably. Then I heard a loud pop and all the lights went out. Only the sunlight illuminated the room. In the tub I could see Mimi’s body, limp and still. I took a cautious step toward her and realized what had happened. Diane’s clock radio was in the tub along with Mimi. She’d been killed pretty quickly.

  “Is she? Is she dead?” Diane whimpered.

  “Yeah, I think so,” I replied, pulling my wife into my arms.

  “That’s what she wanted to do to me,” she cried. I held her tighter and felt her shuddering with fear.

  “I know, baby, but she can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

  35

  Melanie

  It was Saturday afternoon. I was drinking a cup of tea as I watched my niece, Katie, playing with her dolls on my living room floor. Her brother, Teddy, was having a ball, pushing his trucks and cars as fast as he could up and down the tile floor of my hallway, then in and out of the bedrooms. After everything that had happened with Wil and Diane I’d offered to watch the kids for them so that they could get away for the weekend. I couldn’t even imagine what they’d gone through last week with that crazy-ass secretary of his, but I had to give them credit, they seemed to be taking it all in stride.

  I’d always loved watching Teddy and Katie, but especially now, because they made me realize just how precious the child growing inside me was. I still hadn’t told Prince that I was keeping the baby, and it had been a struggle to get Trent to keep his mouth shut the past few weeks. I was going to have to tell him soon, though, because Trent had given me an ultimatum. He said if I didn’t tell Prince I was keeping the baby before his wedding in two weeks, he’d make it his business to tell Prince during the reception. I’d picked up the phone to call Prince on more than one occasion, but each time I’d think about him trying to get with Desiree and hang up. I knew I was gonna have to get past that shit and at least be friends with him for the baby’s sake, but I’d never had a man hurt me like that before. I guess part of me was waiting for him to call me, but true to his word he hadn’t called once since leaving Trent and me in front of the clinic that day. I guess he was just as angry at me as I was at him. We had a true love-hate relationship.

  “Auntie Mel, can you read this book to me?” Teddy came running down the hall carrying one of Desiree’s journals.

  “Teddy, gimme that. Where’d you get that from?”

  “From Auntie Dez-ray’s room.” He handed it to me and it fell on the floor with its pages open. Desiree was always writing in these journals, and I’d never disrespected her privacy by trying to read them. They stayed in her room, and I’d never once gone to peek while Desiree was out. Hadn’t even really been interested in what she was writing as long as she wasn’t writing about me. Besides, Desiree was my girl, and she pretty much told me everything, anyway. But now that Teddy had brought one to me, I couldn’t resist a glance at the open pages that were on the floor before me. And when I happened to see my name on the page, you know I had to pick up that book and see what she had to say.

  Melanie and I went to the Shark Bar in Manhattan tonight. I don’t know where she got the dress she wore, but that shit was hideous. It looked like she bought it out the thrift store. I was embarrassed to say she was with me.

  I sat back in my chair. Embarrassed? If I remembered correctly, she got mad because all the cute guys were buying me drinks and she was stuck with some over-the-hill, foreign taxi driver with a receding hairline. Damn, why she gotta hate? Now I had to know more, so I flipped through a few more pages, stopping when I saw Prince’s name in bold print.

  PRINCE ratings: 10 in the face, 10 in the body, I don’t know what he’s like in the bedroom, but I’d love to find out.

  Melanie and I went to Manhattan Proper tonight. I finally got a chance to meet this mystery man Prince she’s been so head over heels about and I must say, he’s even finer than she described. She’s trying to act like she doesn’t care about him because he didn’t call, but I know she does. If she drops the ball with this one, I might have to pick it up and run with it. He’s got to be one of the finest men I’ve ever seen….

  Damn, girlfriend, it’s like that, huh? Why didn’t she tell me this shit to my face? What else did my so-called best friend have to say about me and my man in her book? A few pages later, I found another entry about Prince.

  I have to admit I was a little jealous when I came home and found out Prince and Melanie had gotten together. Especially after what happened with me and Tim. But his stopping by with presents and flowers and shit is starting to get on my nerves. What the fuck makes her so special?

  I knew she was jealous of what Prince and I had, but I had no idea how deep her feelings ran. I didn’t know whether to feel sorry for her that she was so lonely or sorry for myself. I know it hurt reading that shit, but I had to read on.

  Damn, don’t these two ever stop? It’s three o’clock in the morning and they’re going at it again. They’re making me so horny I think I’m going to masturbate as I listen.…

  “Ahhh, now that’s disgusting,” I said out loud.

  “What’s disgusting?” Teddy asked.

  “Nothing, sweetie.” I smiled at my nephew. “Why don’t you go back in the hall and play with your cars? When I’m finished reading I’m gonna take you guys to McDonald’s.”

  “All right,” Teddy shouted as he walked back toward the hall. I flipped through a few more pages.

  Prince and I had a long conversation today before Melanie got home. I knew he was good-looking, but I never imagined that he could be so fun to talk with. I was actually pissed off when Melanie came home and we had to end our conversation.…

  She was pissed off that I came home to my man? This was even more serious than I’d thought. I felt a little knot forming in my stomach, because the next entry was no better.

  Melanie, Prince and I went out to a place called The Spot in Hempstead. I had a great time and I danced with Prince most of the night. Things were pretty cool, although I did have to put Melanie in her place when she dragged me in the bathroom with some petty shit about the way I was dancing with Prince. Shit, I couldn’t help it if her man wanted me. If he didn’t, why was his dick hard when I rubbed my ass up against it?

  If she was my friend she wouldn’t have been rubbing her ass against my man in the first place! And she had the nerve to tell me that night that if I was taking him home I didn’t have anything to worry about. What I failed to realize was that she was going home with us too. And from what I was reading, I don’t think Desiree would have minded one bit if somehow I ended up out of the picture that night. I was just about ready to throw this damn book against a wall.

  It’s getting hard listening to Prince and Melanie having sex every night. I’m starting to wish it was me in there instead of her. I wonder if I would have a chance with him? I just might have to put his loyalty to the test.

  That fucking bitch! Now I was seeing red as I flipped to the next page.

  I’ve been doing everything I can to get Prince’s attention, but he’s either blind or stupid because he keeps ignoring my advances. I’ve done everything but give him an invitation to the pussy. I even went so far as to grab his ass a few times when Melanie wasn’t looking, but he still ain’t paid me no mind. But I haven’t given up yet. I got something for him when Melanie goes to register for school in the morning. Something he’s never gonna forge
t.

  The more I read, the madder I got, and the clearer the picture was becoming. I was starting to get a sick feeling that Prince had been telling the truth all along. Maybe he wasn’t the one who’d made a pass after all. But I was still so damn confused. Maybe he did finally give in to her advances. Shit, you almost couldn’t blame the man with the way Desiree was throwing her ass at him. But one thing didn’t make sense. If he had given in and made a pass, it was clear now that Desiree would not have turned him down like she claimed she had. That bitch wanted my man bad. I had to read further, because I had to know whose version of the story was true. I was becoming convinced that I’d made a very big mistake believing Desiree.

  I’m in trouble and I don’t know how to get out of it. This morning after Melanie left to register for school, I slipped into her bed with no clothes on. I figured Prince was just like every other man and wouldn’t resist the opportunity to get some new pussy. Especially if I made the first move. But I was wrong and that bastard rejected me like I was a used condom. He threatened to tell Melanie what I’d done. I had to blackmail him into keeping his mouth shut. Only I don’t think he’s going to keep his mouth shut for long. He’s one of those guys with a conscience.