Certainly I hadn’t just heard what I thought I’d heard. After turning to another station and hearing the same thing again, my sanity was confirmed. It was all over the news. I knew Jazz had a temper but I just didn’t believe he could do anything as heinous as that, especially since he held such a high regard for women. He damn near killed Elias after what he’d done to Rachel whom he’d only recently met.
I called Alton immediately.
“Hello?”
“Alton I’m in L.A. I’ve checked into the hotel. What the hell is going on Alton? Jazz is all over the damn news. I am about to have a heart attack!”
“Oh you have heard huh?”
“Yes it’s all over the news. He was arrested for murdering Marlena! Alton, I know Jazz and there is no way he could have done what they said.”
“Before you got on the plane he told me to make sure you know he is innocent. I don’t know much more than you right now but I am trying to find out. They said on the news here that she had been beaten and possibly raped.”
“Alton I feel sick. I can’t concentrate with this going on, but I can’t afford to be distracted. This is my big break and I can’t mess this up.”
“You have to put it out of your mind Zeke. I am doing as much as I can and I’ll keep you posted I promise, but you can’t fall apart.”
“This just had to happen now. I swear it seems every step we take forward, we leap back four. Alton I can’t find my phone anywhere. It’s not in my luggage. When you get a chance please go to my house and look for it. It should be in my bedroom somewhere.”
“Okay cuz, I’ll go right now.”
There was no way I would be able to sleep knowing Jazz was in the trouble he was in. I decided to pass time in the restaurant in the lobby until my meeting. When the time came to go to the meeting, I was a walking zombie. I kept thinking about going to the airport and catching the first flight back to Atlanta and saying to hell with the movie. Fortunately it didn’t take long to come to my senses.
A lot of good it did me to go to the meeting in the state of mind I was in. The whole time they were speaking to me, I was aloof and disoriented thinking about Jazz. Luckily, they pretended not to or didn’t seem to notice it. When I got back to the hotel I had an urgent message at the front desk. It turned out to be Randall. He said he needed to speak to me immediately so I called him when I got to the room.
“Randall I got your message. What’s going on?”
“Zeke I have your phone. You left it in my car when we went out Thursday.”
“Oh great, can you overnight it to me?”
“Actually Zeke, there is a message on it that umm …well, I don’t wanna talk about it over the phone. I am at the airport now I’ll be back in L.A. tonight then we can meet up. It’s really important. Try not to worry in the meantime.”
“That’s easy for you to say. I’ll be waiting.”
It seemed stupid to worry if I didn’t know what I was worrying about, yet it didn’t stop me. A few hours later, in an effort to relax, I went to the bar to have a drink or three to loosen up. As I sat there sipping on a whiskey neat another report about Jazz’s arrest came on. This time they said that after an initial investigation of the crime scene they felt they had enough evidence to proceed with charging Jazz with Marlena’s Murder. I couldn’t hold my tears anymore. The thought of Jazz being taken away from me yet again was just too much to handle. As I tried to compose myself to no avail, the next news segment caught my eye.
“We spoke with Officer Jamal Cummings of the Atlanta Police department about the case. Here is what he had to say regarding the developments.”
“Of course I am limited as to the details I can give but I can tell you that I have complete confidence in our case so far. We are investigating this matter diligently and have every confidence in the arrest that we’ve made.” Jamal stated to the camera.
I pushed the drink away and went back to my room. I don’t know how long I sat there staring at the walls before I heard a knock on the door.
“Who is it?”
“Randall.”
I opened the door and let him in.
“Randall I feel like I’m going crazy! I just saw Jamal on T.V.”
“So what’s so odd about that?”
“What’s odd is the fact that he is the same one who arrested Jazz on bogus charges in a hissy fit over the fact that I moved on. It’s just odd that of all of the policemen they could have interviewed he is the one who gave a statement. Something is not right about that. He isn’t the department spokesperson.”
“This is like something out of a soap opera.”
“What?”
“There is a message on your voice mail that you need to hear.”
Randall called my mailbox and put the phone on speaker so I could hear the message. I could hear a male voice and a female voice. The male voice was not Jazz. They were arguing, yelling, and cursing up a storm. The message began in the middle of their argument so I was unsure how it started. The male voice addressed her as Marlena, numerous times but she only addressed him as “J”. Their argument quickly escalated. We heard the man sexually assault her for mocking him. The last thing we heard were the unmistakable sounds of him beating her to death. Jazz’s phone had been acting up for months. I had told him again and again to check his phone periodically because it had a tendency to automatically call me. That time I was glad it did. Jazz had apparently left his phone at Marlena’s when he left.
“Randall we have to get this to the police.”
“I’ve been thinking about whether or not I want to release this information. I could easily sit and do nothing then Jazz will be out of the way for good.”
“Randall I can’t believe it is even a question. Of course you should. Certainly you wouldn’t let him go to prison knowing he’s innocent.”
“I could do just that.”
“Well it’s my phone. I can give it to them.”
“Only if you get it from me and I am not giving it to you until you talk to me first.”
“Randall are you insane? Talk about what?”
“Talk about what I did to make you not love me anymore. I don’t regret much but I regret not telling you how I felt when I should have. I just don’t believe that you don’t feel anything for me.”
“Randall not now please!”
“Yes now!”
“You knew how I felt and then you just stopped showing up and stopped calling. I thought I’d done something wrong. You were the first man I ever fell in love with then you rejected me. You just dropped off the face of the earth!”
“Zeke I’m sorry. Alton didn’t want me to mess with you because I was a big flirt back then and I’ll admit I did sleep around. That’s because I was using sex to fill an unfillable void. Here we are all this time later and I’m still empty! I’m empty Zeke! Don’t you see that?” Randall said as if the words burned his lips.
“Can you imagine how heartbroken I was when I saw you again and couldn’t have you? It’s not Jazz, I would have hated anyone you were with because I want that spot!” He continued.
“Randall I’ve been grown for a while. You had opportunities to tell me how you felt. When I went away to college I was away from Alton, so he wouldn’t have known. It took me years to get over how you just dropped out of my life. Now you come back and think you can simply pick up where you left off.”
“Zeke all of what and who I am now is because of you. Alton didn’t say it but I always knew he didn’t want me with you because he didn’t think I was good enough for you. In school I was just a jock who the girls flocked to. When I played pro, I was just a jock with money. So I decided to show him, you, and everybody else that I had a brain. I faked that injury so I wouldn’t have to explain to people why I quit playing pro ball.”
“Randall you were good enough for me just as you were.”
“Zeke I still love you. I’m still in love with you. I know you may not be in love with me but do you still love me? Can
you look in my eyes and say you don’t?”
At that moment I saw the same vulnerability in Randall’s eyes that I’d seen years before. I could tell that he still felt like he wasn’t good enough.
“Randall I do still love you. You went to law school to make yourself what you thought was finally good enough. When you saw someone like Jazz could win me over you felt your work was all for nothing, but Randall you are a success. I’m sure the lucky person who gets you will treasure you. There is someone out there for you.”
“But it won’t be you. All I want is to be to be good enough. I wanted to be worthy of your love Zeke.” Randall said defeated.
“Randall you are good enough, you always were.” I said, placing my hand to his face.
He placed his hand over mine, holding my hand to his cheek, and pulled me closer to him. I placed my left hand to the back of his head and placed a soft kiss on his full lips. He looked into my eyes happily confused and smiled. I kissed him again, pressing my tongue to his, and allowed myself to feel for him again. I lifted my fingers nervously to the first button on his shirt and unbuttoned it.
“Randall I want to show you that you are good enough.”
All of the emotions I’d safely hidden for years came rushing to the surface. I was once again that shy, lovesick, 17 year old wanting to be wanted by him again.
“Zeke you are shaking. Are you afraid?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’ve dreamed of this moment, but accepted that it would never be.”
“I’ll never reject you. I love you Zeke. Promise me something?”
“What?”
“Promise me that after tonight, I no longer have to regret not making love to you. Let me give that special part of myself to you. Let me finally have that special part of you.”
Instead of words, I kissed him again, removed his shirt, and then mine. He removed his pants, then mine. Randall was the man I wanted so bad for so long, but could never have. He put me at ease with his kisses as he placed them first upon my lips, then my chest, and then every other place imaginable.
Each slight caress of his fingers against my warm skin sent sensual pulses through me as I anxiously awaited the pleasure of his touch again and again. He took his time with me and I with him. Finally having the chance to experience each other we didn’t want it to end too soon. Randall gently used his long fingers to prepare me to accept him within me. Trusting him completely, I yielded to his desire. He teased me with his tongue allowing my anticipation to build until it was unbearable. I needed him and was no longer afraid to express to him how much.
He joined his body to mine as he entered me aggressively. My body trembled in response to his touch when he kissed me. My hands traveled the length of his muscular back and landed on his waist as he dipped his back, adding momentum to his stroke. He touched places inside me and claimed them as his own. Randall planted soft kisses along my neck causing me to moan in pleasure. As he aggressively seized me and took the part of me he’d waited so anxiously for I called his name loudly and lustfully. I held the sides of his face and studied its features as he pressed his long, thick, hardness deeply inside me.
“Zeke hold on to me as tight as you can baby. I want to feel you all over me.”
“Yes Randall.”
His smooth chocolate-colored skin reflected a sensual glow. His full lips framed by the intricately trimmed moustache begged me to kiss them, so I did. Transfixed in his gaze I couldn’t turn away. He pressed forward harder and harder as we looked into each other’s eyes determined neither of us would be the first to look away.
Soon I felt the eve of my orgasm quickly approaching. He read it in my face, as I too read his impending climax. Randall began to thrust desperately inside me as I caught each thrust and responded in kind with one of my own. Never looking away from each other, orgasmic tears flooded our eyes simultaneously as we reached our peaks together. We shared a lingering kiss upon our post coital descent.
“Jazz is the luckiest man in the world.”
“He is? Why?”
“He has your heart. I have your love, but he has your heart. You really do love him don’t you?”
“Yeah I do.”
“And I love you so I’m gonna do something totally selfless to make things right.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m gonna represent him and get this legal mess out of the way so you can two be together.”
“Are you serious?”
“What I did wasn’t right and I need to get my karma right.”
“I don’t know if he’ll go for it Randall. He doesn’t like you very much.”
“I’ll talk to him, it’ll be ok. I love you Zeke, I always will. I want you to be happy, even if it’s with him.”
Seventeen
Jazz Hardaway
Why was so much shit happening to me? I consider myself a pretty good guy. I don’t mess with anybody unless they mess with me or mine. I gave in to Marlena, the Cougar, thinking I was doing a good thing to protect someone I love and I ended up in jail. I couldn’t win for losing. Once again I’d let Zeke down. He believed in me so much but I couldn’t seem to stop messing up.
I had felt like strangling Marlena’s ass but I didn’t. I walked away to keep from killing her ass. She was very alive when I left. Something else was going on, because after sitting in jail all day, I still hadn’t been questioned. They also had me isolated from the other inmates.
Monday morning an officer came and said my lawyer was there to visit me. That was interesting since I hadn’t contacted a lawyer because they wouldn’t let me call anyone. I went anyway to find out who the hell it was. When I walked in and saw Randall sitting on the other side of the table, I did an about face.
“You can take the cuffs off of him.” He told the officer, who complied.
“You got a lot of nerve coming here man. What are you doing here?”
“I know I’m the last person you want to see.”
“You got that right. You probably got something to do with me being in here. Do you? I haven’t even been questioned yet.”
“What?”
“I haven’t seen or talked to anybody.”
“So that’s why I had to threaten them to let me see you.”
“Randall why are you here?”
“Jazz, I’m sorry. I was wrong for what I did at the police station. I was wrong for all of that and I want to make it right. Let me defend you. I know you have no reason to believe you can trust me and I understand. I love Zeke and he loves you, I understand that now. I want him to be happy and I want to right my wrongs against you. I know you didn’t do this.”
“What brought this on?”
“Let’s just say Zeke made me understand it.”
“I don’t trust you and don’t need your help. I’ll get my own lawyer. You can kiss my ass.”
“Jazz stop being a jerk for a second and listen. I’m trying to help you! Do you want to get out or stay in here because you’re mad at me?”
“Man who the hell you think I am? You’re asking for an ass whipping.”
“Oh shut up, sit down, and listen.”
“What?”
“I’ve looked into your case. The only thing they have is that they found your cell phone at the scene. That’s why they arrested you.”
“Oh, shit! I know exactly when I dropped it. I found out about her stealing my royalties and keeping a second set of fake books. I told her I was gonna sue. Plus I took the pictures she used to blackmail me. She attacked me and we got into a scuffle. That’s when I left to keep from really having to whip her ass.”
“Zeke and Alton told me about her blackmailing you to make you sleep with her. So she did it with pictures?”
“Yeah, explicit pictures of …ummm…well, ummm of me and Zeke getting busy. She also threatened to ruin me in the industry.”
“Damn, she was ruthless!”
“I still said no. Then she threatened Zeke’s car
eer. She knew about the movie and said she had friends everywhere.”
“Are you serious? Wow. She had no boundaries.”
“That’s why I left Zeke. You were just a convenient excuse. I am in some real trouble, huh?”
“All is not lost. First you need an alibi. Where did you go after you left there?”
“I went home.”
“Did anybody see you?”
“There was a security guard there I think, but we have to use a key card to enter and exit.”
“Were the gates working the night you went home?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you go anywhere else that night?”
“No, I didn’t leave again until Saturday morning. I went to the bank and put the envelope in my safety deposit box, and then went to the studio to work on a track.”
“Alright I’ll get to work. I guarantee I’ll get you out of here.”
“If you’re really gonna help me then I guess I can say thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I owe you, Jazz.”
“Yeah you do!”
When I was finally interrogated, Jamal’s punk ass was the first to walk into the room. He tried like hell to get me to say I killed Marlena. I wasn’t about to say that because it was a lie, especially under the rotten circumstances that I came to be with her in the first place. Eventually I grew tired of his dumb assed attempts to use reverse psychology and just stopped responding altogether. I looked at both of them like fools when they asked me anything else. That irritated the hell out of both of them. I hadn’t killed anybody and nothing was going to make me say I did.
“We got all the evidence we need so you should make it easier on yourself and confess. If you go to trial the D.A. will ask for the death penalty.” Jamal said.
They had nothing and I knew that. Jamal was a controlling little prick and he was taking things way too far. Nothing was going to make me fear him. Fear didn’t exist where I came from.
“Okay, you want to play games. You’re going down Mr. ThugLife believe that!” He said with a dumb smirk, believing he’d said something clever. He reminded me of a corny, Black, Jethro Bodine from the Beverly Hillbillies. I just looked at his dumb ass. He threw a temper tantrum and left the room and I had to laugh at him. Since they pretty well knew they weren’t getting anything out of me they took me back to my cell.
Get Somebody New Page 24
