by Lucinda John
“Why you ain’t tell me you were in Miami?” he asked taking a seat on my midnight black sofa.
“Maybe if you would have used my number then you would have known.”
“Damn MiMi, so how long are you in town for?”
“I’m on contract so it’s up to my boss and the business needs.”
“Why did you act like you didn’t know me back at my girl’s shop?”
“I saw the way she was looking at you; I didn’t want to stir up any trouble,” I replied.
“You guys stirred up enough trouble tonight,” he smirked.
“You mad at Honey?”
“Something like that,” he shrugged. “But that’s my baby, I can never be mad at her ass for too long.”
“Do you love her?” I asked already knowing the answer to that question.
“Yes I do. That’s my heart right there.”
“Wow,” I replied feeling hurt.
“Wow what?” he asked.
“Nothing, do you want something to drink?”
“Nah I’m straight. So Ms. MiMi, any lucky guy in your life?”
“No it’s just me. My profession is so demanding that my relationships never works out.”
“Damn,” he replied looking down at his ringing phone. “I have to leave, but I’ll holla at you later.” He reached over and gave me a hug.
I melted in his arms as his cologne tickled my nose. I didn’t want this feeling to end so I held on to him a little bit longer. He allowed me to hug him a few extra seconds, before pulling away. I looked in his eyes begging for him to stay, but the love he shared with Honey wouldn’t allow him to. I walked him to the door, and watched him drive away before closing and locking my door.
Walking to my room, I stripped down naked and pulled out my phone. I clicked on my Pandora app, and then skimmed through songs until I found the perfect song to fit my current mood.
Even if you were a million miles away
I could still feel you in my bed
Near me, touch me, feel me
And even at the bottom of the sea
I could still hear inside my head
Tellin’ me, touch me, feel me
And all the time you were tellin’ me lies
So tonight, I’m gonna find a way to make it without you
Tonight I’m gonna find a way to make it without you
I’m gonna hold on to the times that we had tonight
I’m gonna find a way to make it without you
Have you ever tried sleeping with a broken heart?
Well, you could try sleeping in my bed.
Alicia Keys’ song described my exact feelings, as I drifted off to sleep with a bunch of ‘what ifs’ rummaging through my head.
Chapter 22
Cole
Seeing MiMi again brought back a lot of great memories, but getting a phone call from Honey while with MiMi, reminded me that the love I had for Honey was stronger than the love MiMi and I once had. I saw the love MiMi still had for me in her eyes and I prayed that it didn’t cause any problems in my relationship. I was going to have a sit down with her so that we could put everything out on the table. I didn’t want MiMi confusing me coming over her house, for anything more than what it was.
I woke up to the smell of breakfast and an empty house. After brushing my teeth, I went downstairs and saw the cute note Honey left on the refrigerator for me. Opening the oven, I retrieved my breakfast and started going ham. Just after I put jelly in my grits and was about to fuck them up, my phone started ringing.
“Talk to me,” I answered, taking a bite of my toast.
“Aye bruh, we found Rob,” Ralph said.
“How and where?”
“Well, one of our lil’ corner boys was at the Popeyes in Khia City and spotted him. All this time this nigga was right in Pompano Beach.”
“So what’s up, let’s get at that nigga.”
“We already on our way,” he replied hanging up the phone.
I was finally getting ready to get at that fuck nigga. Just the thought alone had a nigga feeling like he was on cloud nine. Sparking up a blunt, I did the Rich Homie dance all the way to the bedroom to get dressed. I sent Honey a quick text letting her know I was stepping out with the boys, before locking up and leaving the house.
“I can’t believe that nigga bold enough to come back to Florida,” Stacks said passing Ralph a blunt he was smoking on.
“The nerve of that nigga,” I spat.
“Ayo Cole, I handled that shit for you, made them motherfuckers drop that murder charge,” Stacks spoke nodding at me.
“Good looking out,” I replied, wondering how he did it.
Stacks was so fucking feared that motherfuckers would lay their life on the line for him without being asked. He had the whole city of Miami looking for that bitch, Carla. Wherever she was, if she knew like I knew she would stay there. The plans Stacks had for ole girl, had me feeling sick just thinking about them.
We finally made it to Rob’s hideout spot, which was a little, run down house in the projects. Before making any moves, we scoped the house out and made sure the coast was clear. Making our way to the house, I picked the locks and walked through the door as if I owned the place. Walking through each room, we came up with nothing; the house was empty.
“Let’s just lay low in this motherfucker until he comes back,” I said determined to catch his ass.
“I ain’t got shit else to do,” Stacks shrugged.
Ralph stood by the window waiting for Rob to arrive, while Stacks and I sat on the futon, which was the only piece of furniture he had in the entire house.
“I see a car,” Ralph said backing away from the window.
“In here.” I motioned for everyone to hide in the room.
The plan was to fire his ass up with hot lead once he walked through the door. Screwing the silencer on my gun, I stood back and waited for him to walk through. My finger was on the trigger, anticipating shooting his ass up.
“You better have toilet paper in your bathroom,” I heard a familiar voice say.
I put my hand up to stop the guys from firing their weapons. Peering through the cracked room door, I spotted Rob holding lil’ man, which meant Honey had to be here. I felt my head get fire hot as I waited for her to leave the bathroom.
“Ok, it’s time for us to get going. See you next week,” Honey said getting the baby from Rob.
“That ass looking fat in them jeans,” he smirked causing my anger to boil over.
“Rob, don’t start,” Honey said walking out of the house.
Rob walked them out to the car, closing the front door behind him.
“I can’t believe that bitch,” I said pacing the floor. “I’ma kill her ass.”
“Cole, chill out,” Ralph said.
“Don’t tell me to chill out. If you were in my same predicament, you would have been getting buck too,” I snapped.
“He’s back,” Stacks said getting refocused.
We trained our guns to the door waiting for him to come in. The moment he walked through the room door, we pumped fire in his ass. His body jerked from left to right in slow motion, as bullets from three guns tore through his flesh. The hollow tips from our gun had Rob’s body looking like ground beef. Pulling out another gun from the small of my back, I emptied it in his dome, causing his head to fly off his shoulders.
“Rob, I forgot Rob Jr.’s…. OMG NOOOOOOO!” Honey yelled trying to run back out the house.
I grabbed her by the hair and slammed her into the wall.
“So you been fucking around on me with your ex-husband bitch?” I seethed with a tight grip on her hair.
“OMG!” She cried pissing me off more.
“You feeling sad over this nigga?” I snapped, slapping her in the mouth causing her lip to split. “All I ever did was love your ass and this how you do me!” I yelled punching her in the face.
“That’s enough,” Stacks said pushing me back, but I wasn’t done with the bitc
h. I was so hurt that tears clouded my sight. I ran over to her and slapped her again.
WHAM!!
Stacks punched me in the jaw.
“I said that’s enough!” he yelled getting in my face. “Hit her again and I’ma fuck you up personally! Ralph, you make sure she gets home and gets some medical treatment. I’ll call the cleanup crew,” Stacks ordered.
My adrenaline was pumping so hard that I punched holes in the walls until my knuckles started to bleed.
“All I did was love the bitch and this is how she treats me,” I rambled on. “She goes back and fuck that nigga behind my back!” I yelled with tears now streaming down my face.
The images of Honey letting another between her legs, fucked with me. The same nigga that shot me and tried to take my life, is the same nigga she decided to fuck with. I was starting to think that she did have something to do with this shit all along, and if she did, I was going to night-night that hoe.
“You straight?” Stacks asked.
“I’m straight,” I replied looking out the window.
“You want to kick it at my crib until you calm down?”
“Nah, take me to my friend house,” I said punching the address in the GPS.
“If this is a female friend, don’t do anything that you are going to regret later on.”
“That bitch tried to play me, fuck her.”
“You don’t know the whole story so don’t go to jumping to conclusions.”
“Why else would she be at that nigga’s house?”
“Did you ever stop and think about their son? Maybe she was allowing her son to spend time with his father.”
“Father? That lil’ boy is mine. I am more of a father to him than Rob will ever be. Instead of thinking of his responsibilities, he decided to put pussy first, so stop making excuses for that nigga.”
“I’m not making excuses for anybody. I’m trying to get you to think rationally about the situation.”
“Make a right into that apartment complex,” I replied ignoring him.
When the car came to a stop, I jumped out and slammed the door closed. I walked to the apartment I was looking for and knocked on the door. Dressed in a blue, polka dot maxi dress, MiMi answered the door with a smile on her face. Her smile quickly disappeared once she looked down and saw my bloody knuckles.
“What’s wrong Cole?”
“I caught that bitch at her ex’s house,” I sighed walking in the house.
“Oh my god Cole, I am so sorry to hear that,” MiMi replied offering me a hug. “Don’t tell me you did anything stupid,” she said running her soft hands across my knuckles.
“No, I just punched a couple of walls.” I cracked a smile.
“You still got that temper I see,” she said walking to the kitchen. I heard her rummage through something, before she walked over to me with some ice on a rag. She led me to the sofa, straddled me, grabbed my knuckles and started applying the ice to it.
“How does that feel?” she asked looking me in my eyes.
“Good, thank you,” I replied with a half-smile.
“She didn’t deserve you anyways,” she said pressing her lips against mine. We engaged in a deep kiss that caused my dick to get hard. I wanted to stop her, but images of Honey fucking Rob kept popping up in my head causing me to cringe in anger.
“Follow me,” she said walking to her bedroom.
Against my better judgement, I got up and followed her.
Chapter 23
Chasity
I was physically at my husband’s funeral, but my mind was elsewhere. Everyone was coming up to me asking me if I was ok. I wanted to scream NO in their faces, but I decided to be kind and just nod. I looked over in Ralph and Cole’s direction, with anger in my eyes. If looks could kill, they would have been buried next to their father.
My women’s intuition told me that those two had everything to do with my husband’s death. However, according to the police, they didn’t have enough information so they dismissed the charges against Cole. Before DC left that day to go fishing with Cole, he told me he had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. I begged him to stay home, but he stressed that his son needed him.
When the calls from Rob stopped and he disappeared, I put two and two together. I held possession of Rob’s daughters, so there wasn’t a day that went by he wouldn’t call begging for their safe return. Somehow, Ralph and Cole found out and there was no doubt in my mind that Rob was now laying somewhere dead.
“Hey ma, are you ok?” Cole had the nerve to ask.
“I’m dealing,” I shrugged.
“If you need anything don’t hesitate to call,” the bastard said with a straight face.
“Will do.” I rolled my eyes behind my dark lens shades.
The day couldn’t end fast enough. After putting my husband to rest, I went home to an empty house. I had a few emails from people who were interested in purchasing Rob’s twins, so I decided to quickly go through them. After settling with a Russian couple who offered me two-million dollars for the twins, I turned off my phone and rolled over on my side.
Rubbing my growing belly, tears fell from my eyes as I realized that my baby would have to grow up fatherless. Anger began to replace the hurt in my heart, as my mind screamed revenge. If the police wasn’t willing to do their job, then I was going to take matters in my own hands. My grimy and ruthless ways came back full force, as I thought of all the things I was going to do to cause Ralph and Cole a great deal of pain.
The following morning, I decided to get the ball rolling on my plan. I was able to locate Terri’s phone number through DC’s contact book. Grabbing my Magic Jack phone, I dialed the number and waited for her to answer.
“Hello?” she sung into the phone.
“Hello, may I please speak with Terri?” I said putting on my best professional voice.
“Speaking, may I ask whose calling?”
“Hi, my name is Barbara Wright, I am DC’s lawyer. He included you in his will and I wanted to set up an appointment with you to discuss everything.”
“He had me in his will?” she asked, shocked.
“Yes he did,” I replied, remaining professional.
“What about his sons?”
“He have them here as well. He wanted me to meet with you privately so that we can discuss how everything will be divided. He appointed you as the executive of estate so you’re the only one with authorization.” I fed her a bunch of bullshit.
“Ok, when would you like to meet?”
“My office is located here in Flint. DC mentioned that you were located in Miami. I can come down and meet with you, if you’d like,” I offered hoping she would take the bait.
“That’s fine with me.”
“How’s tomorrow at three in the afternoon?”
“That will work.”
“Ok, see you then. Have a nice day.”
“Likewise.”
I hung up the phone with the biggest smile on my face. I rushed to my computer and started putting fake documents together. I transferred money from our joint account and placed it in a fake one, making it look like it was an account created for Terri. Five hours later, I was finally able to put together believable documents that I would use to lure Terri into my trap.
The only part of my plan I was missing was somebody to fill in and pose as Barbara Wright. Terri was there at the funeral so she knew what I looked like. After posting an ad on Craigslist for the job, I waited by my phone for replies.
The more I sat in this house, the more depressed I became. DC was like my breath of fresh air. When I moved to Flint, I was hurt, broken, and battling with my cocaine addiction. I was down on love because of the pain I experienced between Chad and his late brother Vic.
When DC came into the picture, he saw me for who I really was. Underneath all the grim, was a girl looking for love. He brought out the peace and joy in me. For the first time in a long time, I was finally happen and now, like always, somebody had to come an
d snatch my happiness from me.
I started to feel my head overload as the pain of losing my husband damaged me all over again. Doing the only thing I knew how to do best, I got in my car and headed to a corner. I copped some rocks and went back home to smoke them up. Grabbing the picture of DC and I smiling holding my baby bump, I placed the crack in the pipe and fired it up. Inhaling the smoke felt so good. The feeling of the crack entering my system was similar to a mind-blowing orgasm. I promised DC that I would never pick up another crack pipe and in return, he promised not to leave me. I guess promises were meant to be broken.
******
I sat in an all-black Dodge Durango as I watched Holly, a white girl I hired to pose as Barbara Wright. Terri and Holly were meeting in a small coffee house that was always overlooked because it was located in the cut. My hand began to tremble as I nervously waited for the meeting to end. I was praying that Holly didn’t fuck shit up and blow my cover.
When the meeting was over, Holly sat in the coffee shop for ten minutes and left, just as I instructed her to. I didn’t want to risk her being followed by anyone.
“How did it go?” I asked when she climbed in the car.
“Everything went great. Here is the information you requested,” she said handing me a piece of paper with Terri’s address.
“Did she buy everything?”
“Yes.”
“Good work,” I smiled, handing her an enveloped that contained five thousand dollars and a flight ticket. “I’m going to drop you off at the airport, thanks for your services.”
“Anytime,” she beamed, thumbing through her money making sure it was all there.
After dropping Holly off, I headed to my hotel room for another hit. Since I introduced crack back into my body, I couldn’t get enough of it. I pulled up Google Maps and punched in Terri’s address. She was about six miles away from where I was located, making getting to her that much easier.
Once the effects of my high wore off, I dressed myself in an all-black cat suit, and black boots. Pulling a red wig over my head, I applied a darker shade of foundation to my face, just to conceal my identity a little bit. Glancing in the mirror, I looked like a completely different person. I smiled at my handy work, grabbed the car keys and headed out to begin Cole and Ralph’s nightmares.
