“I know she’s my daughter! And as far as I’m concerned, she never had a mother.”
The two men went deeper into the room and lifted Delilah off of her feet. In a hurry she dropped her purse next to Yvonna. “Baby you left your…”
Before Yvonna could finish speaking Delilah shot her a look. A knowing look. But why? Yvonna couldn’t be sure but there was something in the way her eyebrows rose that made her believe that Delilah wanted to tell her something. Yet everything was happening so quickly that Yvonna’s mind couldn’t register. If that also wasn’t weird, Yvonna saw the look she gave Swoopes. It was as if she knew him, too.
“I hope you realize this is all your fault.” Bradshaw said interrupting her thoughts. “I just wanted my face to be the last face you’d ever see.”
“What about me?” Swoopes said. “I ain’t got shit to do with all this.”
“Yeah, we innocent and wanted her dead, too.” Gabriella added. “If you let us go we promise not to say anything.”
“Bitch, don’t be jumping in on my out!” Swoopes yelled.
“It doesn’t matter,” he paused. “because neither of you are leaving. In my book you’re all witnesses and as a result your deaths will be charged as a product of the company you kept.” With that one of the men cut the truck on allowing foul smelling exhaust to spew from the tail pipe. Then they left the room and closed the garage door taking Delilah and the light with them.
Submerged in darkness Gabriella said, “If it’s any consolation, I’m sorry about Delilah.”
“It’s no consolation!” Yvonna yelled remembering how she just threw her under the bus.
Feeling around within the darkness again, she grabbed Delilah’s Juicy purse. It was the purse she carried everywhere she went. Placing it against her nose, she could smell the scent of the kiddy perfume she purchased for her and she held it closely while breathing deeply. More tears escaped her eyes and she sobbed heavily.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.” Gabriella had already begun coughing due to the fumes and Yvonna could hear the car rolling away from the garage.
Although Yvonna didn’t want her daughter to leave her favorite purse behind, she was grateful to have something that belonged to Delilah. And then…she felt the weight of the bag. It was heavier than it should be. When she opened the bag, her fingers moved over a knife. “Ouch!!!”
“What happened?” Gabriella said.
“Nothing.”
A smirk spread across Yvonna’s face. Feeling deeper into the purse, she found a gun.
“OH SHIT!” Yvonna yelled out in shock.
“Fuck is up with you?” Swoopes asked.
“Nothing.” Yvonna was sure the gun was taken from Kelsi at some point. Thinking how her daughter’s sneakiness may have possibly saved her life, she started laughing hysterically. Yvonna didn’t know that Quita had been successful at stealing Kelsi’s weapon, preparing to use it on members of the YBM if they threatened her again. She didn’t know that after Quita stole it, Delilah had peeped her every move, went into the box of pads and took it from her so that she could give it to Kelsi to gain his favor. And finally she didn’t know that Delilah had lifted the knife when they were at the diner eating pancakes. When Yvonna asked her what she was doing, just that swiftly she had placed the knife in her favorite purse without her knowledge. She had all intentions on killing Little Davie, as she promised. It was definitely true when they said like mother like daughter.
“Fuck is wrong with you, bitch?” Swoopes asked. “Why you so happy?”
“Yeah…there’s nothing funny about being a few hours away from death.” Gabriella said.
“Gabriella, what is your connection with Penny?” She said ignoring her comment.
“Nothing really.” She coughed again. “They wanted us to work together to bring you to them, but the old bitch was in my way. I work better alone.”
“And what about Pastor Robinson?”
“Why all the questions?”
Calmly she said, “Are you going to answer?”
She sighed and was irritated. “Pastor Robinson knows more about things than you realize and out of respect for the man, I’ma leave it like that.”
“Last question, what were you doing in my suite? On the day me, you, Terrell and Ming had breakfast.”
“I was coming to kill you, but Onik was in the room and wouldn’t leave.”
Using the knife she cut the rope from her arm. Then she waited a minute and poked some air holes into the wall, which allowed a little light to shine inside.
“What’s going on?” Gabriella questioned. Remembering where Gabriella was in the room she fired the gun in her direction. “Oh my, Gawd!” Gabriella cried out. “I think I been shot.”
“Ain’t no thinking about it.”
Silence.
“You have a gun?” Swoopes inquired. “Because if you do you betta watch that shit. That truck is spitting gas and the shit might blow.”
Yvonna ignored him and focused back on Gabriella. “I know you still alive, bitch. I can hear you gasping for air like a fish out of water. So do you wanna say your prayers first or not?”
Silence.
“So you would kill me? The person who saved your life when you were younger? You would kill me, after everything we been through together?” Heavily insulted Yvonna fired again. This time she could hear her breaths speed up before finally phasing away.
“Swoopes,” Yvonna sang. “Swoooooooooppppeeees.” Swoopes’ heart was thumping rapidly.
“So I’m next huh?” He asked.
“What you think?”
“I think a proposition is in order.”
Yvonna laughed. “What kind of proposition could you possibly have for me? You been trying to kill me for years. Even threatened my daughter’s life at one point.” She paused. “Remember that shit?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well let me remind you.” She said waving her gun in the direction of his voice. “I was in my doctor’s office, and you said ‘I wonder how far her little asshole will stretch with my dick in it.’ Just saying it made her angry all over again and her finger was inches from the trigger.
“What about all the shit you did to me? You fucking had me raped in prison. Do you know how fucking humiliating that shit was?”
“Yeah, nigga and you had your boys rape me and leave me for dead in an abandoned house! And then had a dog fuck me! You think I forgot about that?”
Silence.
“I know you didn’t forget! And I admit, I did some shit to you and you did some shit to me. So why wouldn’t I try to kill you? You wouldn’t even have respect for me if I didn’t push off on that ass.” he paused. “But how many mothafuckas you killed for getting you wrong?” Silence. “If you let me go,” he paused, “I can help you get your daughter back.”
“What makes you think I need your help?”
“Because we in this together.”
“How you figure?” She laughed.
“Because the people who sent this dead bitch over here will never let us live in peace. We gotta find out what’s up with this shit and set things straight. Since she name dropped on the phone, they want both of us now.”
“Want both of us? What are you talking about?”
“You heard that bitch, they won’t rest until they kill you, and now me too. The way I see it, we could get much further in two’s. Let’s smoke some crazies together.”
“I don’t know…”
“If you let me go,” he paused, “I’ll help you get your daughter, and then we can both go find the mothafuckas who took our lives from us when we were kids.” He paused. “Let’s put this petty shit behind us and work together.”
“It ain't happening, Swoopes. I could never trust you.”
“You don’t get it do you?” He asked.
“Get what?”
“THEY CAN’T STOP US TOGETHER.” He said firmly.
Silence.
“Well…what the fuck you gonna do?!” He ye
lled. CLICK CLICK. She cocked the gun and aimed. “I would’ve never hurt your daughter,” he revealed. “Despite what I said.”
“How do I know that shit, nigga?”
“The YBM had her last night. They had your daughter and I found out about it. They said they saw her wandering in the hallway, looking for some ice or some shit like that. I made them let her go. I walked her back to that same hallway myself.” How could he know about the ice if he wasn’t telling the truth? “Now I’ll admit, I didn’t take her back to the room, because she said she knew where she was going. But I didn’t sign up for stealing no kids. That’s not my style. I’ll kill a few bitches and a few niggas in my lifetime, but I would never fuck with a lil kid! I ain’t wit’ that shit so I left them niggas.” The sound of the gun followed by the cold steel against his head alarmed him. “So you not gonna take me up on my offer? Even after I tried to do right by your daughter?”
Silence.
“If I let you go, and you stab me in the back, I’ma gonna finish what I started. You got me?”
“You know I don’t do well with threats.”
“NIGGA, I’M MAKING YOU A MOTHAFUCKIN’ PROMISE!”
“I gave you my word, but if you don’t trust me, kill me now. I’m not about to kiss your ass anymore. I lived a fucked up life anyway.”
Silence.
Instead of steel ripping through his skin he felt tugging of the ropes holding his arm against the wall. And just like that, his wrists were free. He stood up and although they couldn’t see one another clearly, they could feel each other’s breath and stares. They were standing face to face.
“Are you gonna keep your promise?” Yvonna asked. Silence. “Well are you?”
“Like I said, I don’t have nothing to lose. Let’s do what we gotta do. I’m ready to put this shit behind me.”
Sin City
Yvonna
Yvonna and Swoopes escaped the abandoned garage, which held them hostage only to find out that they were in the middle of nowhere. They tried to drive the old Ford truck but it wouldn’t move two feet before it eventually shut off. The place was abandoned and held no working phones; they knew they had to kick rocks. On foot, in the middle of Nevada’s dusty streets they both realized there was a long road ahead of them. Miles away from public transportation, the hot dessert air made it impossible to have any hope of survival. Yvonna herself had begun to wonder if it would have been better to die inside the garage.
Tiring of walking in silence she decided to spark a conversation. “You miss her? The girl Gabriella killed?” Yvonna asked as they walked with their thumbs out periodically, the dust covering their faces and mouth. No matter how tired she was, she held tightly onto Delilah’s purse and its contents.
“You just had to bring that up didn’t you?” Swoopes had taken his t-shirt off and placed it on his head to fight the sun’s thick rays. Sweat covered his chocolate body and she was surprised that he was cut up like a male model, six-pack and all. To be eyeless and fingerless, he was still fine. But it was the track marks on his arms that had her fucked up; she decided to leave that alone.
“You didn’t say anything about it back there. Not even when Gabriella was alive in the garage. You never asked why she killed her and I want to know why.”
“Because I know it wasn’t on purpose. I charged it to the game.”
Yvonna frowned. “You must didn’t love her.”
Swoopes was getting irritated with the soft Yvonna but he couldn’t deny, it was refreshing to see her like that. Normally they throwing guns at each other and yelling hateful shit. “I don’t think I could ever love another human being.” Then he paused remembering Newbie and the way the small heart tattoos trailed from her ankle to her pussy. If he loved anybody, she would’ve been it. “Why you getting all mushy? You in love with that nigga I’m beefing with?”
“I think so.” She stopped walking and leaned on her knees for support. She was exhausted beyond belief. “I don’t think I can make it any further.”
Swoopes frowned and said, “So you being weak now?”
She stood up and moved toward him. “I’m not weak! And don’t call me that shit again.” She pointed her finger in his face.
“Bitch, get your finger out of my face before I break that shit!” She did. “We fuck around and kill each other before we get at those crazy mothafuckas. So don’t say a lot of shit to me and I won’t say a lot of shit to you.”
“Fuck all that, just don’t call me weak again.”
“Then stop talking shit and toughen up. Don’t keep telling me you not gonna do what you gotta do.”
Yvonna mustered a little strength and said, “I’m fine.”
Remembering the commercial he said, “I saw they ‘bout to make a movie on your life. That shit is too funny.”
Yvonna stepped up to him again and said, “There are two things that’s liable to make me pop off, calling me crazy and talking about that movie. You got it?”
“Bitch, please!” He yelled waving her off.
When they saw a black and silver tractor-trailer she threw her thumb out again and this time the rig stopped. Yvonna and Swoopes looked at each other in disbelief before running up to the truck’s door. Over one hundred vehicles later, finally someone was willing to take a chance on them.
Swoopes opened the truck’s door and helped Yvonna climb inside before he followed her. The black older male driver had an inviting smile on his face and Yvonna was momentarily at ease. “You two look like you might be thirsty.”
He grabbed a cold bottle of water out of a cooler and handed it to Yvonna. She snatched it out of his hand and gulped half of its contents greedily. The man laughed heartedly.
“Don’t be so fucking greedy, bitch!” Swoopes said snatching the spout from her face to finish it off. She hit his arm. Water dripped on his chin leaving trails along his dusty face.
The driver laughed again and said, “Don’t worry, ‘bout that. I got plenty of water.”
He reached in a cooler and handed them a bottle each. But this time when he opened the cooler, Yvonna saw a picture of two kids touching each other’s genitals taped on the lid. With the spout of the bottle against her lips she looked at Swoopes and he immediately followed her stare.
“So where to?” The driver asked. He still hadn’t moved an inch.
“We’re going to Las Vegas.” Yvonna said.
“Got plans to gamble?”
“Naw, we got plans to put a few dirty men out of their misery.” Swoopes replied.
“Good luck on that.”
With that Yvonna took the gun from the purse and fired at his head. “Yeah, mothafucka! Good luck!”
They spent the next fifteen minutes trying to drive the rig along the road. Since neither of them was successful, they hopped out in an effort to get as far away from the crime scene as possible. They made it a few miles when all of a sudden, a black truck pulled up next to them in a hurry. Was it Bradshaw? Yvonna grabbed her gun ready to fire at will. That was until she saw Bricks jump out of the passenger door while the truck was still in motion. Melvin eventually brought it to a complete stop before he and Ming got out also.
“Please tell me you see them approaching us,” Yvonna said afraid her mind and the brutal heat were playing tricks on her again.
“Yeah I see that nigga.”
Yvonna ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He kissed her passionately before pushing her away to walk up to Swoopes. Stealing him in the face Bricks caught him off guard. The two of them scrapped for five minutes with no one breaking them up. When both of them seemed to tire due to hours of no sleep and the dessert heat, they stopped on their own.
“Baby,” Yvonna said walking up to him as he lie on the ground, “Swoopes is going to help me with something, and I don’t want him killed.”
Ming and Melvin looked at each other in disbelief as both Bricks and Swoopes stood up. It never dawned on them when they pulled up that she was with him of her own free will. Dusti
ng himself off Bricks said, “If you go anywhere with this nigga I’ma kill his ass and you, too.”
“Then do it then, nigga!” Swoopes said stealing him again which resulted in another short-lived fight.
Blood covered their faces and again Yvonna stated her peace. “Baby, he’s gonna help me find the people who raped us when we were kids. We gotta do this.”
“Us?” Bricks said hearing the recollection for the first time. This caused Swoopes a little embarrassment and he walked away to give them some distance.
Yvonna stepped closer to him. “Yes. I didn’t tell you all of the ends and outs with us but we were both raped as kids.” Yvonna could see Bricks’ chest soften a little although not a lot, because he still hated the nigga. Still, there was nothing in his opinion worst than a boy child being raped. “And if we don’t take care of this problem, and kill these people, I’m never gonna be free. I’m never gonna be able to make you happy. I gotta do this and I gotta do this alone.”
“But you gonna be with that nigga!” Bricks yelled pointing at Swoopes who looked back at them before looking away. “I can’t have that, baby. I’ll die if he hurts you.”
“He won’t,” she pleaded, “Please, Bricks, I need to close this chapter in my life. And afterwards I need to get my daughter back.”
“You found out who has her?” Ming asked feeling comfortable enough joining the conversation.
“Yes, it’s Bradshaw.”
“WHAT?!! HOW DID HE FIND HER?!!!”
“He’s been following us for awhile. His wheels were leaving tracks everywhere he went. That’s what Delilah was trying to tell me and I didn’t believe her.”
Shyt List 4: Children of the Wronged (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 22
