by Nicety
“Pick whatever you want that’s in the closet, I don’t care. Bathroom’s through there,” Oxy replied casually thumbing through her hair.
“You have your own fucking bathroom? Oh your ass is spoiled and ungrateful for real,” Pandora turned her head in the direction she was pointing, feeling the sense of shock overcome her again.
“Whatever,” Oxy retorted grabbing her IPod from the pink end table and plugging her ears, “Hey after you get out of there we need to talk about what we’re gonna do for the wedding.”
“What? Oh yeah right. Sure,” Pandora crossed her eyes as she burrowed through her wardrobe for a black baby doll tunic and a pair of skinny jeans that were surprisingly her size, despite Oxy’s frail frame.
Oxy was so busy rocking out to the loud heavy metal music penetrating her ears that she had not even heard a word from Pandora. She shook her head at the troubled girl and headed into the bathroom, which was not as luxurious as her room was. It held a small shower, toilet and sink with a well-lit vanity mirror above it. She rested the clothes on the top of the sink then opened the glass door to the shower turning the hot water knob and removing her clothes in the process. Stepping lightly into the rising steamed shower she began to think about her sisters. They were disloyal ass bitches that broke the code. They broke the covenant; the bond they had established between themselves and now it was time for them to pay the piper.
As she lathered up, she realized that they were her only witness to the crime she had committed. In her mind, without witnesses the police had nothing and the prosecution had no case. It was time to axe those bitches once and for all. Her adrenaline rushed through her veins as she turned the water off and reached for a hanging bath towel to dry off. After dressing, she toweled off her damp hair and headed back into Oxy’s room only to find her fast asleep with the music still blaring through the headphones.
The time on the pink Hello Kitty clock read 9:15 am. Pandora thought the good State’s Attorney might have been tucked away in his warm bed trying to recoup the sleep he lost but figured she would venture downstairs just to see. If nothing else it would give her an excuse to see the rest of the house’s splendor. On the first floor, she headed down the short hall and into the kitchen. It was then that she understood why the house did not look big from the outside. Most of the house was swallowed up by the living and dining room leaving a rather miniscule area for the kitchen. It was cute and compact with a nice floral pattern on the walls and stainless steel black appliances but it was indeed the smallest room in the house next to Oxy’s personal bathroom.
“Ah, I see you didn’t forget. I like that in a client. One who can remember to do what I ask of them,” Ivan appeared out of the darkness behind her.
“Oh my God!” Pandora gasped clenching her chest. “Where the hell did you come from? You scared the shit out of me.”
“My office is this way,” he laughed walking past her through a doorway in the kitchen.
“You have a lovely hou— uh, home,” Pandora stumbled over her words as she followed him into the back room.
She looked around at his office, snarling. It had a file cabinet, a small wooden desk covered in papers and an HP laptop, and what appeared to be a combination safe peeking out from behind the desk. The medium sized room almost looked like that of a playroom for children or a pet. It was not ideal at all to her and it began to make her wonder what kind of lawyer he was that he was the best in the city but he lived almost like he was broke. Nonetheless, Pandora could not take her mind or eyes off of that safe. She was itching to know the contents inside.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he began as he took a sip from his glass half filled with a dark brown substance. “Would you like some?”
“Uh no thanks, isn’t it a little early to be drinking, if you don’t mind me saying so?”
“It’s never too early for a drink, love,” Ivan smirked eyeballing her, “Have a seat.”
Pandora looked around the room noticing there were no windows or any other kind of ventilation in the room. It looked as if he had merged a simple hall closet and kitchen closet into one to make his office. The only light hung from the ceiling, but he made sure to keep bright light bulbs in it to illuminate the entire room with no problem. She was uncomfortable in there not because of him but because she thought she was going to hyperventilate from claustrophobia.
“You’re thinking, why doesn’t this man have a luxurious house and why doesn’t he drive a big fancy car? Am I right?” Ivan continued.
“Uh no, no sir I was thinking that you have a lovely home,” Pandora smiled.
“Liar, you know I can tell a liar right. Like the back of my hand.”
It was clear to Pandora that he had a few too many of those bourbons like the one in his hand. He sat the glass down on the desk remembering to use a coaster, before plopping down in his oversized computer chair. He swiveled just a tad bit before resting his elbows on his desk gazing down at the assortment of papers.
“So tell me what you were really thinking,” he smirked.
Pandora took a deep breath, “Ugh, I was thinking that if the State’s Attorney should at least be living a little hotter than this. Instead of like a pauper.”
“A pauper huh, hmm nice word, I see someone is as intelligent and as stupid as my daughter,” Ivan laughed, “And for your information, I don’t live like a pauper because obviously I have more than you. Anyway my wife and I agreed that we’d spend our money wisely, that way we could retire early and comfortably.”
“Wait, excuse me? Are you trying to call me dumb?”
“Well, you live your life like a smart, dumb criminal. You have the beauty and the brains but you choose to do absolutely nothing with it.”
“Oh, I do something with it, Mr. Smear.”
“Ivan. Please call me Ivan.”
“Well I’m not dumb, Ivan. There’s a whole lot of shit I know how to do.”
“Really? Interesting. Then tell me your story. Why are the police charging you with murder?” Ivan leaned in on his desk awaiting her answer.
As Pandora spilled out what actually happened that faithful night Sun lost his life, she could not help but get the feeling he had already heard or somehow knew the story already. She ended and the room filled with air. He stared at her awkwardly but oddly enough she was not uncomfortable.
“So because he didn’t respect you, you killed him?” Ivan asked taking another sip of his drink.
“No he’s dead because he rapes women and then throws money at them to shut them up,” Pandora snapped.
“But was it your place to judge him? You took the law into your own hands without even giving him his day in court.”
“He would’ve gotten off!”
“How do you know that?” Ivan yelled back banging his hands on the desk, shooting her a stern eye.
It was the first time that she realized the severity of what she had done. It had finally set in to her feeble little brain that she could actually go to jail and do time for her anger, for her actions on that night. Apart of her was scared while another part of her wanted to flee the country. But she had no money and the cops seized the little money she had left. Her thoughts ran crazily in her mind as she stood there staring at the drunken lawyer waste his life away at the bottom of another glass.
“Oh my God,” she gasped, “What am I going to do?”
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to go in there and tell them it was self-defense. Then you’re going to pretend that you are indeed the sweet, young lady that we are going to dress you up to be and gain sympathy from the judge.”
“Do you think you can get me off, Ivan?” The sweet tone in her voice made Ivan double back to check and make sure she was the same person.
“I’m gonna damn well try young lady. As a matter of fact I believe I can keep this thing from going to trial.”
“Oh my God! Are you serious? That would be so…I would forever be in your debt if you did,” Pando
ra batted her eyes, “So, I’m just curious, what did happen to your wife?”
“Ah yes the so-called love of my life. Well, she got tired of me cheating, tired of the long trips away from home and tired of the lonely nights. So now I’m the one with the lonely drunken nights,” he said realizing there was no more liquor in the bottle for him to pour into his glass, “All I have to pacify the fact that her mother abandoned us for a twenty five year old Latin bastard and is now fucking him on a beach somewhere, not even thinking about us, is this good old glass.”
“Oh wow, I’m so sorry!” Pandora covered her mouth.
There were no other words Pandora could say after that. She felt for the man and knew that was the whole reason for his self-medicating. It was that that attracted her forcing her to rise from the chair and venture over to his desk. He leaned back in the chair interlocking his fingers and gawking at the young girl standing in front of him. His eyes showed signs of tears but his pride refused to permit them to appear.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Eh. It is what it is. It’s been over two and a half years now. You can’t make the heart do what the heart doesn’t want to do,” he shuffled a few papers on his desk fighting back his pain.
“Have you thought about moving on with your life and finding someone new, someone that can make you happy?”
“Oh gee, Pandora. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” Ivan smirked rolling his eyes.
“I’m just saying, maybe you need someone to take your mind off of her. It doesn’t have to be someone you love just someone you love at that moment. You get what I’m saying?” she bent over slightly staring into his beady eyes.
“Yeah I get it. I need to go out and buy me a whore.”
“You wouldn’t have to buy one if you just fixed yourself up a bit. I mean look at you. What woman is going to want a sloppy drunk man? The only thing you have going for you is that you have money and your name. But that’s not enough,” Pandora retorted watching as he nearly passed out with his head hunched over to the side.
“I can’t do it,” Ivan slurred, “I’m not ready.”
Pandora lowered her head then turned around prepared to leave. Her feet stepped on a few pieces of paper that had flown onto the floor from the pile. She bent to pick them up and could not help but to be nosey and read them. They were quickly snatched away, leaving her dizzy from the quickness. Brushing it off, Pandora looked over at his glowing brown skin as she headed towards the seat he fell in.
“Ivan. Ivan,” she called but all she got in return were grunting noises.
She climbed on top of his lap slowly, one leg at a time then leaned in to kiss the man on his lips; they were soft and sweet tasting from the liquor. Her opening throbbed, as she had longed for a powerful piece to drive into her for weeks. He was not her ideal candidate to relieve her stress but her body needed it and from hearing Ivan’s situation his body needed it to. Pandora saw it as doing a favor for a friend; after all, he was providing her with free grade a counsel and he genuinely wanted to help her. She nibbled at his neck then made her way back up to his lips while she attempted to unbutton his pants. The thought of Oxy’s words never entered her mind.
“Hey…hey. What are you doing?” Ivan whispered oscillating his head from left to right trying to snap out of his drunken coma.
“Shh. Don’t worry, momma’s gonna take good care of you,” Pandora assured between pecks on his neck.
“Mmm, no, I need you to stop,” Ivan breathed.
“You like this baby?”
“Stop…”
“I can’t wait to slide down your—“
“OFF!” Ivan stood up as she slid to the floor.
He seemed to be suffering palpitations heavily, trembling at every limb. Ivan ran his ringers across his hair panicking and hoping that Oxy could not hear what was going on in their house. His eyes scoured the room while Pandora peeled herself from the floor totally confused and adorning a shitty look on her face. She was obviously upset but a part of him did not care.
“I need you to go,” Ivan cringed still searching the room with his eyes frenziedly. “I need you to go, now!”
“What the fuck did I do? I was only trying to help you?” Pandora pleaded.
“No you belong to…I am old belong to…ugh, please just leave.”
“I just thought it would be nice if we could make each other feel good. You know help each other get over our problems,” Pandora replied seductively as she removed her shirt, revealing a nice set of perky brown tits enveloped in a lace purple bra.
“No girl! Don’t you understand? Here let me fucking help you!” Ivan pulled his desk drawer open and pulled out a .38 pointing it right at her. “I need you to leave now!”
“Ha, ha, you couldn’t hurt me. You couldn’t hurt a fly. You don’t have it in you. It’s gonna take a lot more than that to scare me, sugar. But don’t get your panties in a bunch, I’ll leave. But you will regret not hitting this ass later,” Pandora blew a kiss at him then left the office heading back upstairs.
In the room, she laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling as the heavy metal music finally died and the IPod cycled itself down. It may have been pretty forward for her to come at him that way but she did not care. When her lips throbbed down below they had a mind of their own and she was not going to ignore its cravings. She actually did not mind giving him any seeing all that he had been through. Still, her kindness would come with a price and that would be him getting her a not guilty verdict. Feeling herself drift back off to sleep, she bounced up needing to get out and bend some corners before it got too late.
“Hey. Hey Ox, get up,” Pandora yelled as she crawled over to the side of the bed, shoving Oxy in the head.
“Huh…wha?” Oxy grumbled.
“Get up bitch. You can sleep when you’re dead. We got work to do so get dressed.”
Chapter 10
“Tell me something I don’t know.”— Lexi
Diamond shuffled around to the side of the house hoping to be able to hear the noises within. The windows were all shut but she knew from past experiences that neither he nor those cackling bitches of his could keep quiet at any hour but the sleeping one. She moved slowly as not to alert the ones inside but she had to admit for it to be early in the day there was not one sound coming from the house. Usually his minions are rotating the house, cooking and cleaning and making sure everything was in order for when Tino woke up. But on this day the house sounded as if it was lifeless.
She was about to cease her snooping until she heard faint voices in the backyard. Moving quickly yet as quiet as a ninja she headed for the back area hoping to not only get a glimpse of who was back there but also over hear the conversation. Her body pressed against the wall of the house like moss as she slowed her breathing and prayed no one saw her over there, even with the sun casting all sorts of shadow.
“Yeah nigga, you got these bitches on lock don’t you?” A heavyset guy addressed Tino as he puffed on his cigar.
“Man these hoes ain’t worth a damn. They just looking to get somethin’ for nothin’ you understand what I’m saying,” Tino responded as the men laughed, “Shit they’re gonna have to be gone and find themselves somewhere else to live, a nigga getting’ too old for this shit.”
“Awe man you straight trippin, but you don’t look too good though, nigga, you straight?”
“Man, its nothin’. I just need to take my ass to the doctor and get this cold in order you feel me.”
“Right, right, aye, so whatever happened to that dark haired bitch you used to fuck with? I would’ve loved to have that walking around my crib butt hole ass naked baby,” the man’s belly chuckled as Diamond brought her eye slickly around the corner.
“Man that bitch dead yo, straight up.”
“Fuck you mean dead, nigga? You axed the bitch, Tino?”
“Man, she had to be dealt with, caught her stealing. She wasn’t nothing but another little crack head hoe, just like the rest of
them. She wasn’t special,” Tino said as he coughed up blood into his handbag, which was already full of it.
“Word, damn that’s fucked up, I was really feeling her man. She was right, thick in the waist and she didn’t have any stretch marks on her stomach or her titties,” The man bowed his head as if he was doing it as a moment of silence for her.
Diamond’s disgust grew for Tino as she stood there listening to him lie about her. She was far from a crack head and even though there was a little truth behind her being a whore she most certainly carried herself with class. She did not get with men who did not have money and could not provide for her the miniscule luxuries she was used to. In her eyes, that made it all better. The men seemed to be wrapping up their conversation and heading inside. Diamond reached behind her back pulling out Kojack’s gun securing it in her hand.
“Don’t move motherfucka!” Diamond yelled crossly, pointing the gun straight ahead.
As she looked around at the air she was pointing towards she realized that she had jumped out a second too late. She wanted to wait until the big dude went into the house before she cornered him but as the cold air slapped her face she quickly understood that her plan was not as well thought out as it seemed in her head. Feeling a bit of defeat and exhausted from all of her planning and coming up short, she tiptoed back to the car trying not to be seen.
“Shit!” she screamed loud and wildly in the car, “Why the fuck?”
Her fingers started the car almost immediately as if her mind unconsciously knew that she could not wait to get out of there. Beyond infuriated and exhausted from failure and lack of sleep, she slowly pulled off wishing she had set a bomb underneath his house so she could watch it explode. The metal of the gun pierced her back while she sat in the seat prompting her to toss it in the glove compartment in a forceful manner. She took one last look at his house deciding that the best time to deal with Tino was when he least expected it, in his bed.
****
