by Nicety
“Fine. We were just leaving anyway.” Key cupped the small of my back gently. “Let’s go, baby.”
“Ugh, baby now huh?” Carter grimaced as we exited the door.
“There that bitch go right there,” Salina pointed and screamed. “This shit ain’t over bitch. I’m gon’ catch your stupid ass.”
I tried not to pay her any attention as Key and I headed for the sliding Emergency Room doors. I knew that once Nina woke up there would be even more hell to pay seeing as though she would definitely tell them all what happened. But hopefully by that time, Key and I would have gathered all of my things and moved me out of my own condo.
Since Carter’s name was on the lease too, I was already planning in my head to simply let the building manager know that I was moving out and to take my name off. He could have it all. The furniture I worked so hard over the years to buy, the glorious view of the city, and the spacious master suite. I was done with it all and ready to begin my new life with my new soon to be love. No, I wasn’t in total love with Key yet. But it was surely slowly growing into that. I knew he would give me everything I was missing and everything that I didn’t know I was.
Chapter 25
Moving On
“Is that the last of it?” Key asked as he walked back through the door.
“Yeah, I think. The only thing left is this Louis duffle bag right here on the floor.” I pointed.
“Alright, baby. You make sure everything is good up here and I’ll meet you downstairs in the car.” Key kissed my lips lightly.
“Yeah, I just need to speak to the building manager and then I’ll be right there. Thanks babe.” I watched as he headed out the door with the bag in tow.
My eyes searched every nook and cranny of the condo making sure that I hadn’t left anything of importance. We had been moving my stuff out for almost six hours. It was so long that night had fallen on the sky. I had one hour left to get to the building manager before he left for the day and I didn’t want to miss him. It would have meant coming back to this wretched place and risk running into Carter and his official bitch once more. Needless to say, I never wanted to see either of them ever again.
Sighing a breath of relief, I snatched up my cross bag and headed towards the door only to be bombarded with Carter’s face. My heart jumped clean out of my chest for a moment. I felt stuck and helpless, not knowing what my next move should have been. I didn’t know if I should have kept going past him as if he wasn’t even there or if I should have backed up to give some space between the both of us. My breathing slowed as I looked up into his eyes. His face read blank and the only thoughts running through my head were of whether or not Key saw him enter the building.
“So you’re gone huh?” Carter released through the long awkward silence. “You’re gone just like that? Just going off to live a nice cushiony life with my Pops, with an old man.”
“He’s not an old man. He’s very distinguished. And, he fucks like a—“
“You’ve fucked him? Oh my fucking— I can’t believe you fucked my own damn father man. You nasty as hell. A fucking ho.” Carter had called me the very thing I was trying to avoid becoming in this situation. “Out of all the bitches I done fucked with man, I thought you was truly one of the good ones.”
“You thought that but yet you still fucked around on me, treated me like shit, and left me crying alone some nights. Ugh. Call me whatever you want,” I gritted through my teeth and the sting of his words. “But he is a good man and I know he will make me more happier than you ever did.”
“I made you happy, Liv. You can’t sit there and say that I didn’t.”
“By doing what? Running off with every ho that would spread her legs for you? By manipulating me with sex into thinking that we were really meant to be together? No, you said it yourself that you were only using me and that you were going to leave me. So why do you even care what the fuck I’m doing?” The snappiness exited me flawlessly.
“Cause man. You bogus as hell for this shit. It’s cool though. Don’t trip.”
“I’m not. You’re the one who is obviously trippin’.”
My feet led me out the door just as cool as the breeze. A smirk perched atop my lips like it was bred to be there for this moment. My back was arched and my ass poked out switching to give him the right kind of last glimpse of what he would be missing. He needed to see what he lost and would never in his life touch again. My hair whipped extra hard around to my back to show him just how impeccable I knew I was. As I bent the corner, there was a tug at the back of my head as if my hair was being yanked roughly out of my scalp.
“Get your fucking hands off of me. What the fuck do you think you are doing, Carter?”
“Bitch you thought you was gonna just walk out the door all smooth and shit like that, huh? Six years, bitch and you go and fuck my damn Pops?” Carter snatched me back so hard that my body hit the floor like dry cement. “Who the fuck are you trying to play me for?”
“Fuck you Carter. You deserve everything that’s coming to your ass after all the shit you put me through.” My leg rose and with a mighty force and kicked the shit out of his shin hoping to send his ass the message that he was not about to take control of the situation. “Fuck you, your daughter, and your motherfucking baby momma.”
“Fuck who, bitch?” Carter mounted me, biting my neck with a vengeance as if he were trying to draw blood.
I felt a drip of something ooze down the side of my neck as he sat up on top of me delivering blow after blow from his fists. His heavy ass was sitting one inch away from my chest. I fought him back for a moment but the whirlwind became too much. All I could do was cover my face with my hands and pray for salvation. I could hear voices in the distance. My only hope was that it was a couple of neighbors who were about to walk past and would look in the open door to lend a helping hand or at the very least call the cops.
A few seconds further into my beating, I felt a set of hands around my neck. The air was quickly becoming thin as I tried to pry them off of me, scratching and biting. Simultaneously, kicks riddled the side of my body and it was then that I realized Carter was still on top of me beating my ass.
"Get the fuck off me," I yelled.
"Fuck that bitch up baby," Salina's voice rang through my ears. "Kill that ho."
"Naw we ain't on that cuz. Let's go and let the police handle this bitch," her cousin Dickie's voice rang right after. "Man, I can't go back to jail. Shit you know damn well I just got out."
"Man, fuck this bitch. She's done." Carter stood, stomping me in the stomach with his colossal sized foot before stepping over my body, to catch his breath.
"How'd you find out?" Salina asked, standing to catch her breath as well.
"Find out what?" Carter darted a confused look her way.
"Find out that...wait. Why were you whooping her ass then if you didn’t know?" Salina questioned.
"Man fuck all that. Tell me what you were about to say." Carter fanned her side question off.
"Carter…our precious baby Nina is dead."
Chapter 26
We Ready
The words seemed to echo through the room in slow motion. My head was whirling and my body felt like pulverized meat. Blood spewed from my lip as I coughed onto my hand. The three of them hovered over me like a plague as I cowered on the floor as helpless as a mouse. My heart felt like it would cave in once my mind wrapped around the realization that I had killed Nina. Of course she deserved some sort of retribution for her actions but death shouldn't have been one of them. Even if I had tried to express my deepest sympathies, it would've undoubtedly fallen on deaf ears.
"She's...dead?" Carter stumbled backwards into a dining room chair breathless. “I just can’t fucking believe it.”
"She died five minutes after you left, baby. I'm so sorry." Salina moved towards him quickly, wrapping her bony arms around him for comfort.
“What? What did they say?” Carter questioned.
“For now they’re
saying that too much chlorine must’ve filled her lungs and that she died as a result of being allergic to it. They didn’t get to her in enough time to pump her full of drugs. They said they won’t know more until they do an autopsy.” Salina bowed her head. “The police claimed there was nothing they could do until the results of the autopsy came back but they will continue their investigation.”
“Aye, you still had that life insurance on her though?” Carter asked halting his waterworks for a moment.
“Shit, hell yeah. $30,000. You can thank this bitch for helping us keep up with those payments.” Salina sucked her teeth.
More tears formed in the depths of Carter and Salina's eyes as the two huddled together in reminisce of their daughter. But the more I looked at them the faker their show became. The real side of their hurt was contagious as Dickie became teary eyed as well. She bawled uncontrollably for a second before pounding her chest with her fist, seemingly saving face in front of everyone.
Even though I was a bit relieved that the police weren’t totally blaming me for the accident, I knew that there would be repercussions somewhere down the line. For now, I was a free woman and very fortunate not to be locked up in the shit hole Cook County jail. My face felt as if it were swelling by the minute as I slowly tried to rise to my feet. In a split second, my back was greeted with a foot kicking me back down to the floor.
“No bitch. Where the hell do you think you’re going? You’re the cause of this shit. You’re still breathing and my baby girl isn’t. You should be dead, not her,” Salina growled overhead. “I want this bitch dead, Carter. I want her body buried so deep that no one will be able to find her until we’re old and gray.”
“Wait, what? Okay, bitch you have truly lost your damn mind,” I spat eyeing the both of them like they had lost their damn minds.
“I know you do, baby. I do too.” Carter kissed her lips tenderly in a manner that he never did me.
“No, Got-damn it,” Salina slapped his lips away. “I’m dead ass serious. I want this bitch dead. She’s been a factor in our lives for too long and since we no longer have a need for her ass anymore, I want her motherfucking ass dead.”
“What?” Carter looked up at her.
“Salina, no. I can’t go back to jail, bitch.” Dickie waved her hands and shook her head simultaneously.
“Then leave now bitch. ‘Cause this ho is about to lose her damn life today.” Salina hovered over me displaying a hideously wide grin, slightly rocking back and forth.
“Salina—“
“No, Carter. Either you kill this bitch now or I swear I will never fuck with you ever again.”
Carter’s eyes glossed over as they locked with mine. It was then that I realized just how much of a hold over him Salina actually had. What was her pussy made of platinum? Did that bitch have a spell on him or something? Was she casting voodoo on his ass? All I could think about was why was he feeding off into her bullshit? He was taking orders from her like she ran him, like he wasn’t capable of standing on his own two feet as a man.
“Carter, don’t do this,” I warned him in a stern yet shaky tone. “Don’t you fucking listen to her. You’re better than this bitch. Don’t you see that?”
“Don’t cut her up or nothing,” Salina ordered bouncing up and down happily, flicking her long dark hair. “We don’t want nobody finding blood nowhere up in my new condo.”
“Shut up, Olivia. You should’ve just played your part and none of this would’ve ever happened.” Carter moved slowly towards me.
“Man, I can’t watch this shit. I ain’t about to be an accomplice to some shit and get my ass tossed back down. I’mma be in the hall.” Dickie walked out closing the door behind her.
It was hard for me to fathom my life ending this way. Going out without a fight would never read on my obituary. I jumped to my feet despite all of the pain my body was in then bolted to the kitchen in search of some sort of weapon. I need something that would help me fight off the both of them. They charged at me like raging bulls hoping I could find something in time. Carter pulled me by my hair and Salina punched me in my jaw inches away from the knife drawer. Salina disappeared for a few seconds while he knocked me back down to the floor with one swift blow.
I struggled to get to my knees and Carter seized the opportunity to kick me in my abdomen. Just like a fucking coward to fucking kick a person when they are already down. The pain was beyond brutal but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. I crawled on my hands and knees as fast as I could, trying to reach the front door. Carter pulled my legs back the closer I got to it. Salina returned with one of the massive throw pillows from my couch.
“Help. Somebody fucking help me.” Despite the pain, I tossed my voice as high as it would go.
“Here, use this to suffocate the bitch and muffle the screams.” Salina beat the pillow against his chest passing it to him.
“Alright. I’m gonna sit on her stomach. You hold her legs.” Carter pulled my legs once more then kicked me once more to slow me up from moving again.
Agony screeched from my veins louder than nails on a chalkboard begging and pleading for someone to help me. My entire body trembled from my head all the way down to my toes. As I coughed, blood and saliva mixed forming a disgusting combination that I decided to spit right on Carter’s shirt. He slapped the shit out of me, which only made me scream louder.
“Help! Somebody fucking help me. They are trying to kill me,” I shrieked. “Help.”
“Shut the fuck up bitch,” Carter raised his hand to the heavens slapping the shit out of me again. His eyes were riddled with a look I had never seen before. He wasn’t the Carter I knew.
Salina stomped on my chest as if I were a bug underneath her shoe. “You deserve exactly what you’re about to get bitch.”
“Get off of me. Stop it. Help.” Even defeated, if it took my last dying breath I was still unwilling to give up on my life.
Carter held my arms to my side before sitting his knees on them and his butt on my chest. Then he placed the pillow over my face, pressing down as if he was trying to make my body one with the floor. Squirming and gyrating all over the place didn’t seem to work with two bodies on top of me. The air was quickly becoming thin as I fought hard to slow my breathing and preserve whatever air I had left.
“This shit ain’t working,” Carter snarled pushing the pillow into my face even harder.
“Put your hand over the part of the pillow where her nose and mouth is, you dumbass,” Salina ordered again.
“Don’t you think I’m trying that? She won’t keep still.”
“Ugh. Must I do everything myself. What good are you if you can’t even kill a bitch for me right.” Salina made her way above my head. “Die bitch and take what’s coming to you already.”
I wiggled my entire body attempting to free my hands from under Carter’s legs but to no avail. With my legs now free, I kicked and shimmied all over the place. If nothing else, I was going to make killing me seem like the hardest job they ever had to do. I wasn’t going down without a fight and if they truly wanted me dead they would definitely have to put in some work for it. But with all of my struggling, my body began to feel weaker by the minute. My head felt lighter and breathing became extremely difficult. Death was just around the corner, I could feel it tapping in and there was nothing I could do to stop it. All I could do was pray to my maker that they would go to hell when it was their time die.
My body was tired of fighting, ready to give up my ghost to the earth. My ears began to pop and my mind felt like it was shattering. And then, I could breathe again. Air seemed to flow effortlessly to my lungs as I gasped to collect as much as I could. My hands clenched my throat realizing it had been freed. It felt raspy through the horrendous coughing. My body ached like a thousand daggers were poking through it but somehow I was rising to my feet and regaining consciousness. Then I looked up and feasted my eyes on the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my entire life, Key.
“Back the
fuck up, motherfuckas. Back up,” Key pointed a silver .45 at each of their heads as they reached for the sky. What I thought was popping in my ears was actually Key’s gun shooting the living room windows out and making them shatter. “You motherfuckas are bold enough to take a life, you’d better be ready to give yours up in the process.”
“Pops, what the fuck are you doing man?” Carter winced.
“Where’s my cousin?” Salina squealed. “Dickie, are you out there?”
“Ain’t nobody out there bitch. Shut your ass up.” Key was clearly heated from the ordeal. “Now we’re leaving this motherfucka. I suggest you two lame ass dipshits find something better to do with your life before we call the police and press charges on your dumbasses.”
“No, I’m pressing charges on her ass. She killed my baby.” Salina pointed her accusing finger my way. “Yeah that’s right. Your granddaughter is dead.”
“Hmph.” Key bowed his head as if to recognize a moment of silence. “Well, first of all two idiots procreating is not a good idea from jump. Secondly, that is just something that y’all need to deal with. Deal with that shit.”
“Deal with it? Pops that was your only grandbaby and she’s dead. She’s fucking dead,” Carter bellowed.
“That ain’t nothing but the Lord calling her home to be reborn to better parents. You know, some parents with some damn brains.” Key shoved the gun Carter’s way. “You lost your way a long time ago, boy. And, if you know what’s good for you you’ll get your stupid ass out from up under that dumb ass bitch behind you before it’s too late.”
“Excuse me?” Salina cocked her neck to the side.
“You heard me, you fucking clown. Run from that bitch like the Black Plague, boy.” Key wrapped his arm under mine helping me to the front door.
I was all too relieved that he came to my rescue. He had been heaven sent not once but twice in one day. For a moment, I thought he would never come or that he would come too late and I would already be dead. It didn’t even dawn on me that he would come back up stairs to check on me but baby if I’m not glad that he did. Him saving my life forced me to understand deeply that he was definitely the right man for me. I would not even dream of being with anyone else. Key was the man for me. I only wish I had met him before I met his fucked up son.
