TYCE

by Shareef Jaudon

“What money….what the fuck are you talkin’ about?” I played dumb.

  Detective Walsh let out a hearty laugh that shook his belly like “Santa Clause,” “What money…is that the best you can come up with? That’s hilarious! Let me break this down for you…I can bust you on a robbery, an arson and four murders, that’s enough to get you the gas chamber. Or you can give the money that you don’t know about… back…and only go up for the armed robbery and a few other minor chargers. You’d only be looking at 10 to 15 years; that’s the deal. By the way…your old boss Biz is the one who snitched on you, he told Diego you stole his five million dollars.” He pointed his filthy finger at me.

  “Armed robbery, arson and four murders…again what tha fuck are you talkin’ about?” I wasn’t giving up shit.

  “Do the names Lincoln and T.J. ring a bell?” He smiled widely.

  I shook my head, I had to play it smart, and being in the back of this car with him was dangerous. Detective Walsh was just as much a criminal as I was, but he was much worse. He was a crooked, bitch ass, greedy cop…and he had me by the balls.

  “Take me to jail.”

  “What?” He squinted at me.

  “You heard me…take me to jail.” I repeated.

  “Make it easy on yourself Jr. just give the millions you took back and this…..”

  I cut him off, “Are you deaf? Take me to jail fool!”

  He kept staring at me, “I’m going to take you to jail and let you think about your options for a while; I have a feeling you’ll change your mind about cooperating with me.”

  No Show

  Sway pulled up to the warehouse 20 minutes later. He already divided the money up four ways and he’d taken his share home and hid it. Angelique and Dallas’s share was already bagged up, Sway had already stashed Tyce’s cut in his vault. The three of them went in the warehouse and waited for Tyce to get there.

  “Thank you for coming Sway.” Dallas said nudging him playfully.

  “Yeah thank you, you work wonders with them doors.” Angelique winked at him.

  “It’s nothin’…don’t mention it, besides I never liked your ex-boyfriend anyway.” He winked

  back at Angelique.

  A half hour passed and Tyce hadn’t shown up yet. Angelique tried calling him but it went straight to voicemail, Dallas tried also but it went straight to voicemail again, Sway tried a third time but it went straight to voicemail.

  “Something’s wrong.” Dallas paced the floor.

  “Lock everything down in the vault.” Angelique ordered. “Sway, is your money hidden?”

  “Yeah.” He confirmed.

  “Good…we gotta get out of here.”

  Everybody left the warehouse in five minutes flat. Sway dropped the girls off at Dallas’s condo and went home to his family. He was uneasy and irritated; he needed to know if his friend was ok. Angelique and Dallas left the condo and went to an underground sex club that Angelique was part owner of. They stayed in an unoccupied room to hide out and get their thoughts together.

  “I’ll start calling the hospitals and the jails.” Angelique sat on the bed.

  Dallas put her finger in her mouth and leaned against the wall, “Where is he?” She wondered out loud

  I Got Him

  Tyce was processed and charged with weapons possession. Detective Walsh didn’t include the whole host of other more serious crimes….yet. He was giving Tyce time to stew but if he didn’t give up the money by tomorrow; he was a dead man and he would be more than happy to attend his execution. Half a million of that money belonged to him; he was hiding it in the church because that’s the last place anybody would look, after all, he was a cop. Diego stashed his money there for years with no problems…until now. Detective Walsh had been working for Diego for over five years and he was now a rich man. He and Diego had a good thing going…he kept the feds off his back and looked out for all his workers on the streets. In exchange, he was paid ten percent of the profit every month. Diego was holding him responsible for the robbery and had frozen his money ever since it went down. Tyce’s little stick

  up job was costing him a hundred grand a month. He picked up a secured line and called Diego,

  “Yeah, I got him, he’s locked up now on a gun charge.”

  “Muy bueno…did yu esplain tu heem hees

  options?” Diego said with an accent.

  “Yeah, he’s playing dumb but he’ll wise up over night. I’ll bury him with the other charges…he’ll never make bail.” Walsh assured Diego.

  “I wan my dinero. Nobodee steals frum me. I killed that bitch Simone to set an essample…tha sem can happen tu heem. You tellem that frum me.” Diego hung up.

  The only reason Tyce was still breathing was because if Diego killed him he wouldn’t get his money. He planned on having him killed once he was in prison…nice and neat. Diego like Biz; never got his hands dirty.

  I Hate Losing

  “You have any tattoos?” The female deputy asked dryly.

  I reluctantly raised up the sleeves on my orange jump suit so she could get a picture of my tattoos…all seven of them. I took off my orange jail shirt and turned around so she could photograph the tattoo of my name across my back. My black jeans, black Timberland boots, and black T-shirt were all taken from me and stuffed in a plastic bag. They took my underwear, my belt, and my socks too. I got really pissed when they demanded I take the one and a half carat vvs diamonds out of my ears and put them in a zip lock bag; I didn’t want them to come up missing. I was finger printed, photographed, and stripped searched, and I hated every second of it. I was too good to be in jail…I didn’t belong here, but I would never let them see me sweat…never-and I would never give up my crew either, even if it cost me my life. Another deputy took me deeper into the detention center where all the inmates were being housed. Along the way, I picked up a bin that had mini versions of bathroom products and something that was going to be a mattress when it grew up. I was lead to a cell on the second floor…fortunately, for me it was empty; the last thing I wanted was to be locked up with a funky ass felon all night. The heavy cell door slammed shut behind me and it was official, I was locked up in the county jail. I laid in bed all night pissed off! I was pissed off at Omar; if I could kill his ass again I would. His bitch ass was the reason I was in here; that snitch ass nigga was telling Biz every move I fucking made.

  Detective Walsh was giving me til’ tomorrow, but I didn’t need time to think…fuck him and Diego.

  What about Angelique, what about Dallas, what about me?

  Tomorrow I’d be charged with murder, arson, and armed robbery. Yeah I did all that shit but so what.

  I banged the back of my head on the paper-thin mattress…I was fucked.

  Lost And Found

  Dallas sat on the bed next to Angelique. She couldn’t believe what the man on the phone had said. He told Angelique they were holding an inmate by the name of Tyce Adkins without bail. They both were in disbelief. Angelique called Sway to tell him the bad news,

  “We found him…he’s in jail.” She blurted out when he picked up.

  “Damn…what’s the charge?”

  “It’s a weapons charge but I got a feeling it’s much worse than that. They didn’t give him a bond.” Angelique stood up and paced the tiny room. “Where’s Omar?” She asked suddenly.

  “Oh shit…ya’ll don’t know…I forgot all about that nigga, Tyce canceled his ass.” He filled them in.

  “What? When?” Angelique asked slightly confused.

  “At the bank…that nigga was planning to clip Tyce the whole time.

  “How did he find out?” She suspected he was up to no good; he was a jealous ass nigga.

  “My guess is he got the proof from the same

  person who let him know where you two were being held. He found out Omar was working with Biz all along.”

  “I knew that nigga was foul!” Angelique pumped her fist.

  “Yeah, I didn’t like his ass either.” Sway agreed. �
�Listen I’ma call some attorneys I know and I’ll get back witcha; he gon need a good one.”

  “Ok…let me know what we can do to help.” She said.

  “Alright, peace.”

  Angelique was glad Omar was dead…she never trusted his ass anyway, but now her man was in jail…and none of this shit made sense. What happened to Tyce after they left the house?

  “I feel so helpless.” Dallas said falling back on the bed.

  “I feel the same way. I’m going to visit him tomorrow…you down?” Angelique knew the question was dumb.

  “Hell yeah I’m down.” Dallas said slightly offended, “Shit I might try and break is ass outta there if I can.” She joked seriously.

  Tomorrow they would walk in that jail together with one thing in common….Tyce Adkins.

  All Rise

  Tomorrow came and so did Detective Walsh. I had a private visit from him about seven in the morning.

  “Wake up homeboy.” Walsh banged the metal door. “How’d u sleep buddy?”

  “I slept good…I had this dream I strangled you with a piece of barbed wire and I woke up with a huge smile on my face.” I got up off the bunk and stretched my back.

  “Wow…that was a vivid dream but it was just that…a dream.” Walsh put his face up to the little window outside the cell.

  “We’ll see.” I sat back down.

  “On a more positive note, you ready to tell me

  about the money?”

  “What money?” I said looking down at the cold dirty floor.

  “THE FUCKING FIVE MILLION DOLLARS YOU BLACK FUCK!”

  I walked up to the cell window and stared into his beady eyes, “What fuckin’ five million dollars you pale fuck?”

  He turned red, “You wanna end up like

  Simone! Is that what you want?” His forehead was pressed against the glass, “That beautiful bitch was burnt alive for helping you Tyce…helping YOU!”

  “Who’s Simone?” I made my eyes bigger.

  “Ok ok, play dumb if you want to…that’s only going to get you killed. Now I’ll ask you one more time where’s my fucking money!”

  I sighed, “What fuckin’ money, I don’t know what the fuck you talkin’ about.”

  “YOU’RE DEAD! FUCKING DEAD!” Walsh stormed off down the long corridor.

  The visit only lasted about two whole minutes; that was all the time I needed to tell him to go fuck himself. He wasn’t expecting that, he just knew I was gonna roll over and play dead. That muthafucka thought I was gonna cave under the pressure like so many other niggas do. He got it wrong. What I didn’t expect was the news about Simone…that shit threw me off. Biz no doubt snitched her out to Diego, and now I had to deal with him. The odds had been stacked against me since I was born. I wasn’t supposed to make it out that dumpster, that was supposed to be my coffin, and now the odds were not in my favor again but so what…I liked it that way.

  I walked into court and just like he’d promised, they threw the book at me. Detective Walsh made sure I was brought up on as many charges as possible; including murder. I had court that morning to be arraigned and formerly advised of the multiple charges I faced. The bald white judge asked me if I would be hiring private council or if I would like to be appointed a public defender. I chuckled and told him I’d be hiring my own attorney, “this wasn’t no jaywalking ticket,” I told him. That got me a laugh or two out the crowded courtroom…the judge even smiled a little. He set the next court date for 30 days out and remanded me over without bail. I was taken back to my tiny cell where my gourmet lunch of a dry ham sandwich, a rock hard peanut butter cookie, and a warm carton of milk was waiting for me on the

  floor. I wasn’t hungry enough to eat that nasty shit; plus I don’t eat swine.

  Visit

  I was transferred to pod four, which was a maximum security area for felons. I still had a cell to myself and I was given another orange outfit to change into. I got a few books from the book cart to occupy my time, it’s funny how I never had time to read before, but in here, time was all I had. I was taking a nap on my bunk when the guard told me I had a visit. I’d already talked to Sway on the phone and he told me my lawyer would be down to see me first thing in the morning…maybe he was early. A young guard escorted me down to the day room where I waited with the other inmates that had visits. Four other guards kept a watchful eye on things as the visitors were led in. A huge smile spread across my face when I saw Angelique and Dallas stride in. They looked fine

  as frog’s hair; it felt like I hadn’t seen them in decades even though it had only been three days. I wasn’t allowed to make physical contact with them; there was a thick red line on the table that separated us that we weren’t allowed to cross. I was on my side and they stayed on theirs.

  “Damn it’s good to see you two.” I smiled, “I

  thought I didn’t want ya’ll to see me like this but I’m glad you came.”

  “It’s good to see you too, we would have come sooner but they said you couldn’t have visitors til’ you were transferred to general population.” Angelique said apologetically.

  “How you doin’?” Dallas’s voice was heavy with concern.

  “I’m ok…it’s jus’ a lil’ rough being locked up, I aint used to this shit.” I rubbed the five-day facial hair growth on my cheeks and chin. “How you two holdin’ up?”

  They looked at each other, “Were fine…we jus’ miss you and were worried about you. We checked up on the attorney Sway got for you and he’s one of the best in the state. We gave him fifty thousand for your defense and he’s already working hard on your case. They haven’t touched your house or the other spot but jus’ in case they did we moved all your shit.” Angelique stroked her hair confidently.

  I knew what she meant by all my shit; that’s why I loved her…she was always looking out for me. Thanks to Angelique, my money was safe and sound; it was a good move telling her the combination and giving her an extra key to the

  vault. I knew I could trust her. Dallas’s hair was in a ponytail that extended to the middle of her back. She had a part on the left side of her head and her makeup was soft with subtle tan tones. Angelique wore light purple eye shadow with matching berry lip gloss. They both had cling tight jeans on that made me want to break the no touching rule and just take my punishment.

  “Thanks for movin' my things Angelique.” I winked.

  “You're welcome, but don’t jus’ thank me…we did it.” She wiggled her finger back and forth between Dallas and her.

  “What’s with all this we shit?” I raised my eyebrows.

  Dallas looked me in the eyes, “I told her about us.”

  I was stunned; I just kept looking at both of them…one then the other. Did I hear her right? Did she just say she told Angelique about me and her? I didn’t know what to expect, maybe they were gonna cuss me out or something. I mean technically I wasn’t wrong, I wasn’t with either one of them, I was single. On the other hand, I knew they both loved me and I’d finally realized that I loved them also. I was in an awkward and difficult situation…how do you choose between

  two women that you love equally?

  “Ummm…ahhh…I didn’t mean no harm…I jus’, well both of you are amazing women and I, I, I ahh I’m in love with both of you.” I finally confessed. “I didn’t mean to hurt you Angelique; that’s the last thing I wanted to do. And Dallas, I’m not trying to hurt you either…I jus...”

  “Stop apologizing Tyce…it’s ok, were not mad at you.” Angelique cut me off.

  Dallas jumped in, “We’ve decided that since neither one of us wants to walk away from this situation…….we’re not.”

  “Can you handle the both of us?” Angelique asked with the sexiest grin I’ve ever seen.

  Dallas held the same look on her face as they waited for my answer. Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Did they just ask me if I could handle being with them both in a relationship?

  “You mean be with the both of you?” I asked c
autiously.

  “Yes. You would have to commit to us and only us. We’re ok with this…we talked about it extensively. We love you Tyce and we know you love us. You risked your life to save ours and we would do the exact same for you. We belong together…all three of us.” Angelique

  stated proudly.

  “But…I’m in here,” I raised my hands up looking around, “I jus’ got charged with murder and a whole lotta other shit.”

  “This is jus’ a hurdle we have to get over…together. Were not gonna abandon you when you need us the most baby.” Dallas looked at me lovingly.

  Angelique spoke defiantly, “Fuck what everybody else says or does, we’ve broken all the laws and rules anyway; why stop now, let’s jus’ keep doing it the way we wanna do it.”