Around the Way Girls 10

by Ms. Michel Moore

  His phone started ringing. First he ignored it, but it continued ringing. I knew it was either a bitch or a switch because of how persistent the caller was.

  “Ay, yo, who dis?” he answered as I lay on his chest. I couldn’t hear what the person on the other end was saying, but I heard Keon. “How much you tryin’a get? And, what, you need it now? A’ight, I’m on the way.”

  I knew then our chill time was over. I loved spending time with him, but I’d been with him long enough to know that whenever business calls came in, it was time to go. I had no problem with that, ’cause money over bullshit was my motto.

  “A’ight, ma, we need to bounce.”

  “I already know,” I said playfully. I got up and walked to the bathroom. I was going to take a quick shower, but Keon had other plans. He stepped into the shower and behind me. He started kissing my neck while fondling my breasts.

  “Aweee,” I moaned out, as he woke up my inner desires. I felt his hard dick pressing on my butt cheeks. I took my hand, parted my ass cheeks, then slid his dick into my pussy. I moaned harder as he entered my insides and got straight to handling his business.

  I put my hand on the shower walls so I could balance myself. I started throwing this fat ass on him as he held me close to him while matching my rhythm.

  “Baby, fuck me,” I teased as he took me on an extreme sexual high.

  “Shawty, I love you,” he yelled out, while he dug deeper into my soul.

  “I love you too. Aweeeee, oh, this is good,” I screamed out as I exploded all over his dick.

  “Aaarghhhhhh.” He grabbed me closer and busted all up in me. My body trembled as my sweet juice mixed with his sweet juice. He hugged me for a good minute before letting me go.

  After we were done, we washed each other off and got out of the shower. I swore my damn body was tired and I weak, but it was all worth it. It ain’t nothing like having good sex with a nigga you’re feeling. I talked all that shit, but I swore I loved this nigga.

  We got dressed and were out of the hotel. “Man, you drive. A nigga is tired,” he said as he threw his car keys to me. He didn’t have to tell me twice ’cause I loved driving his car. I’d only gotten my license about a month ago, but the way I was whupping this Charger, you would’ve thought I’d been driving for years.

  It was dark so I was more careful. I didn’t want us to get pulled over, because his ass was always driving dirty.

  “Where we going?”

  “Hold up.” He scrolled through his phone and then gave me the address. I realized that it was a south-side address. It kind of surprised me, because the east-end niggas didn’t really do business with south-side niggas. Oh, well. I guess he rock with some south-side niggas too.

  Plies was blasting as I drove to the south. Keon was laidback in his seat and on his phone. I knew he had a Facebook page, but we weren’t friends on there. I used to feel some kind of way about that, but I soon dismissed those feelings. I wasn’t worried about nothing for real. I was going to keep playing my position.

  I pulled on the street, and drove to the address on Warwick Road. I started having a really bad feeling because there was only one streetlight, and that was dim as fuck. “Babe, you sure this where you want to go?”

  “Yeah, ma. It’s cool.”

  I wasn’t feeling this, but I took his word for it. I pulled over, but I kept the car running. He got on his phone and jumped out of the car. “Pop the trunk, babe,” he yelled.

  As soon as I bent down to open the trunk, I heard a commotion. Pop! Pop! Pop! Gunshots rang out in the air.

  I tried to see what was going on, but I had to duck. I started praying fast. I need to get out of here, was my the first thought. Keon jumped in the car. “Go! Go!” he yelled.

  I put my foot on the gas and pulled off as fast as I could. Someone was still firing at the car, but I used everything in me to get off that street.

  “Man, I’m hit,” I heard him say.

  “What! Are you serious? Where at?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the road because I wasn’t sure that we were not followed.

  “In my stomach, I think.” His voice was weak.

  “Hold on, I’ma get you to the hospital.”

  We were on the south side so I thought about going to Chippenham Hospital but, shit, MCV was the best. Especially for gunshot wounds.

  “Please, God, please help him. I can’t lose him, God,” I screamed out. “Hold on, babe, I got you.”

  “Yo, pull over real quick,” he said when we got to the James River.

  I looked at him like he lost his mind. Nigga was dying and he was talking about pulling over. “Why? No. I’m taking you straight to the hospital.”

  “Man, I said pull over. You want my ass to go to jail?” he yelled.

  I realized this wasn’t no joking matter, so I pulled over.

  “Here. Take this and throw it over there.” He wiped a gun off before he tried to hand it to me.

  “What the fuck? I’m not touching that shit.”

  “Come on, ma, I’m losing lots of blood.”

  I saw the desperation in his eyes. This was so not like him.

  “Here, hold it in this.” It was his shirt.

  I grabbed the shirt, got out of the car, and walked to the side of the bridge and threw the gun into the water. I jumped back into car with my heart racing a hundred miles per hour. I swear, I’d never done no shit like this before and it kind of had me spooked.

  I jumped back into the car and pulled off. I noticed he was passed out. I thought about calling the ambulance, but MCV wasn’t that far away. I put my foot on the gas. I believe I was doing damn close to a hundred. I wasn’t worried about getting pulled over; my only concern was getting him to the hospital.

  I pulled up by the emergency entrance and got out. I ran inside and hollered, “I have someone who was shot.”

  “Where, ma’am?” a nurse said.

  “He’s over here, in the car.”

  I ran back outside and opened his door. Seconds later, nurses and doctors ran outside, one pushing a gurney. I watched in panic as they lifted him up, placed him on the gurney, and pulled him inside. It was then that I finally broke down crying.

  “God, please, please don’t let him die,” I cried out.

  “Ma’am, I need to speak with you. The nurse said you’re the one who brought the victim in.”

  “Yes, I did.” I continued crying.

  “First, what’s your name and the victim’s name, and how do you know him?”

  This nigga was asking a million and one questions while my nigga was fighting for his damn life. “My name is London Evans, his name is Keon, and we’re friends. As far as what happened, I have no idea. He was visiting someone and I was in the car. He came in the car and said he was shot; that’s all I know.”

  “What is Keon’s last name?”

  “I have no idea,” I lied. I knew how much Keon hated the fucking police. So there was no way I was going to sit there giving up information on him.

  “Ma’am, I hope you’re not holding back any information. Your friend is in serious condition and we need your help finding this shooter.”

  “Officer, no disrespect, but I told you everything. Now I need to go check on my friend.” I walked off on him. I know he couldn’t hold me and he was pissing me off accusing me of withholding information.

  “Ma’am, we’re going to hold on to the car, since it’s part of the evidence.”

  My heart sank when he said that. I knew Keon kept work in his trunk. I just hoped he gave it all to the niggas who shot him. I wished I had thought about it at first, but that was the last thing on my mind. I tried to conceal my nervousness.

  “Is that all? ’Cause I need to go check on my Keon.” I walked off to go ask the nurse if I could speak to a doctor or something. I felt helpless.

  While I stood in line waiting my turn to speak to the nurse at the desk, I heard a phone ringing. I knew that wasn’t my ringtone so I ignored it. The phone kept ringing r
ight next to me. I turned around to see who was behind me, and that’s when it dawned on me that it was Keon’s phone ringing.

  I stepped out of the line, and looked around to see if that officer was still lurking. I saw the bathroom sign and decided to go inside. I grabbed his phone from inside of my purse. It had four missed calls. I scrolled through to see who it was. There were no names with the numbers so, for all I knew, it could have been anyone. I was nosey as hell, and this was the closest I’d ever gotten to his phone. Before I could start snooping, the phone started ringing again.

  “Hello,” I answered without thinking.

  “Yoooo, who dis?” a rough male voice yelled into the phone.

  “This London,” I nervously said.

  “Where my bro at?”

  That’s when it hit me that he couldn’t know yet what had happened. “Yo’ brother got shot.”

  “Say what? He got what?”

  “Your bother got shot and we’re down here at MCV.”

  “Yo, I’m on my way,” he said and hung up.

  Even though we’d been creeping for all those years, I’d only met his brother a few times. I had not met the rest of his family. He had invited me to their cookouts, but I always found a reason not to go.

  I threw the phone back into my purse and washed my face. My eyes were bloodshot and my heart was aching. I needed to know what was going on with him for real. I wiped my face and walked back out into the waiting area.

  “Miss Evans?” I heard a nurse calling my name.

  “Here I go.” I damn well ran over to her.

  “The doctor wants to talk to you.”

  I followed her into a room where a doctor was standing.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Joseph. I heard Keon is your friend and you’re the one who brought him in.”

  Okay, just hurry the fuck up.

  “He is in bad shape, but he’s in surgery right now. Do you have his next of kin information?”

  “No, but his brother is on the way up here.”

  “Nurse, please let me know when he gets here. Miss Evans, we will keep you updated if there are any changes.”

  “Thanks.” I walked out of the room.

  Oh, God, I didn’t like what the doctor just said. I was trying to read his facial expression and I didn’t feel like he was letting me know the seriousness of Keon’s situation. I felt weak in my knees, and felt like I was about to collapse. I looked for the nearest seat and walked over to it. I took a seat and buried my head into my lap for a long time.

  “God, please don’t take him away from me. Please, God,” I cried out. I heard the hospital doors open and I lifted my head. I saw a tall, light-skinned dude walk in. He resembled Keon, down to the way he dressed. I got up and walked over to him.

  “Hey, Deon.”

  “Yo, what’s this ’bout my brother? Who the fuck did this?”

  “The doctor want to see you,” I said.

  He looked at me and walked off. A minute later, I saw a light-skinned woman running into the hospital. “Where is my baby?” she asked no one in particular.

  “I’m over here, ma. She went to get a doctor for us.”

  She ran over to her son. I watched as they hugged and consoled each other. I watched as the doctor came out. I tried to make out what he was saying, but I was too far away.

  “Nooooooooooo! Oh, my God, noooooooo! Not my baby, nooooo!” His mother fell to her knees crying.

  The doctor and his brother tried to pick her up, but she was not having it. My throat got dry and a lump formed in my stomach. I ran over to them.

  “What happened? What did the doctor say?” I asked.

  “My brother is gone,” his brother said while fighting back tears.

  “No, this ain’t true. He’s not gone.” I started hitting on his brother.

  “Who the hell is this?” his mother said between her screams.

  I really didn’t have time to respond. My world was in turmoil and I couldn’t think. I felt everything around me spinning. I continued crying. This can’t be, was all I kept saying to myself. My right hand, the nigga who made sure I was straight, was dead? This was not true and there was no way I was going to accept this.

  “Shawty, I need to holla at you.” His brother tapped me on the shoulder.

  I looked up at him with tears and pleas of desperation. I didn’t want to move from where I was.

  “Come on, let’s talk out here.” He extended his arm to me.

  I got to my feet and fell into his arms. This stranger held me tight and rubbed my back. I swear I needed this. I needed to know I was not alone. We walked outside of the hospital and away from the entrance. I no longer saw his mother and I wondered where she was.

  We found a bench and I took a seat. “Yo, B, what happened to my brother, was you with him?”

  I wiped the tears that continued to flow and I wiped my nose. “We were at the hotel together, chilling.” More tears started coming down as I remembered how happy I was just hours ago. “He got a phone call from somebody. I couldn’t hear what the other person was saying, but Keon told whoever it was that he was on the way.” I paused. I was trying to gather my thoughts so I could tell him every bit of detail.

  “He asked me to take him over to the south side, I put the address in the GPS. It was over by Warwick. But when I got on the street, I got nervous. I got this feeling.” I paused as I recalled the feeling I had.

  “What kind of feeling?” I could tell he was gripping on to every single word that I was saying to him.

  “The lights were dim, like someone knocked out the streetlights. The address was at the end of the street. I told your brother that I didn’t like it, but he said it was cool. I pulled over, and he jumped out. He asked me to pop the trunk and I did. It was dark so I couldn’t see anyone. I heard a commotion. I heard your brother yelling then gunshots rang out. Your brother jumped in the car and told me to drive. I pulled off, but somebody was still firing at us.”

  “Did he say anything to you?”

  “Nah, only to stop so he could get rid of his gun. After that he was passed out.”

  “Man, I put this on my motherfucking seed: I’ma kill all these pussy-ass niggas. I know they set my brother up. I told him to stop fucking wit’ these lame-ass south-side niggas. Now they done took my fucking nigga.” His voice trembled as he talked, but his words sent chills through my body.

  “This can’t be real. Oh, I got his phone. He told me not to give it to anybody. But I’m giving it to you. The call he got is in there. It was around eight p.m.” I dug into my purse and took out the phone. I hesitated at first, because I felt like I was giving away the one thing that he left with me. I finally shoved it into Deon’s hand.

  “Good looking out. Listen, I’m ’bout to check on my moms and make some phone calls. Take my number and call me if you need anything.” He stepped toward me and gave me a hug. I hugged him as the tears continued flowing.

  I pulled up the Uber app on my phone and requested a ride. I didn’t want to leave the hospital, but there was no need to hang around. My head was pounding and I was exhausted. This was too much for me to bear and I couldn’t deal with it alone.

  * * *

  As soon as I got in the house, I crashed on the sofa. Being by myself was not helping. I kept seeing Keon’s face in my head. His smell was fresh in the air, even though he had never been in my apartment. I felt like I was losing my sanity. This life was not fair at all.

  I got up and walked into the kitchen and searched around for the bottle of Malibu Caribbean Rum that I had. I opened the bottle and took it to my head. “Nooooo! Keon, baby, how could you leave me? I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuu,” I screamed. I threw the bottle into the mirror in the living room, shattering glass everywhere. I didn’t give a damn about breaking shit, because I was broken into a million pieces.

  I got up and cut on my Adele CD, putting “Hello” on repeat. I lay on my back on the carpet just crying my heart out! I kept hoping this was a nightmare that I would wake u
p from.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ajanay

  Ol’ boy was on my mind a lot, which was crazy because I wasn’t into Creighton niggas. But there was something about his swagged-out attitude that kind of drew me to him. I knew it was early, but I still dialed Melody’s number.

  “Bitch, either you’re in jail or you dying, ’cause it’s only seven in the morning.”

  “I know, boo, but I couldn’t sleep. I got a question for you, though. Is ol’ boy stingy with money? And how many bitches he got?”

  “Bitch, let me find out the nigga got you wide open and you ain’t even get the dick.” She busted out laughing.

  “Bitch, you know I don’t even be on niggas like that, but since ol’ boy pursued me, I decided to see what’s good with him.”

  “Well, you know he a dope boy. Matter of fact, he the head nigga in charge of most dope that is in Richmond. He got his hands in everything, legal and illegal. As far as bitches, what dope boy don’t have bitches? I don’t think you should worry ’bout no other hoes. Shit, you trying to fuck with him and not them hoes.”

  “True dat. I think I’ma holla at him today and see what he talkin’ ’bout.”

  “Uh-huh; and, bitch, please don’t forget we’re friends so when this nigga start lacing you, please look out for your bitch.”

  “I got you, boo, you know how we roll.”

  “A’ight, I’ma bring my ass back to bed. These kids still over their daddy house so I got a little free time.”

  “A’ight, boo, talk to you later.”

  I hung the phone up and lay on my stomach, trying to come up with the perfect plan. I had to figure out a way to get into this nigga’s pocket without falling for him. I done fucked a few dope boys before, so I was familiar with how they rolled. I also heard some gruesome shit about Amir’s ass, so I knew I was in a bigger, more dangerous league. That was cool, though, because I was a dangerous bitch also, only with a smoothness.