“Hello?”
Elizabeth’s words came out in spurts as she struggled to put a coherent sentence together.
Wayne jumped off the bed and ran to the bathroom where Liana was just about to step into the shower. “We have to get to the hospital.”
The word hospital, and the alarm in Wayne’s voice turned Liana’s stomach inside out. “What happened?”
“It’s Reese. She’s been shot, and she’s not going to make it.”
***
When Liana and Wayne walked into Albany Medical Center, Jenna rushed to them to tell them how last night’s events unfolded. Reese and Dexter were at Noche Lounge when Green Eyes and his crew walked in. They started beefing back and forth. It got so hectic that the bouncers kicked Green Eyes and his crew out. When Reese and Dexter walked out of the club two hours later, two men in ski masks opened fire on them. Dexter, being the snake that he is, pulled Reese in front of him. Two bullets hit her in the chest before he tossed her and ran. The gunmen gave chase, but Dexter’s fight or flight response kicked in, and he took off like a turbo jet.
Reese was in critical condition. The doctors were able to remove one bullet, but the other one was dangerously close to her heart, and was going to be difficult to remove. The doctors gave her a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the surgery.
Liana tried her best to console her friends and Reese’s family, but she kept breaking down like the rest of them. Wayne, not knowing what to do, jumped in his truck and brought Nana to the hospital so she could bring some easiness to the situation. Nana gathered everyone and told them what Reese needed right now was prayer, so they had to pull themselves together and pray for her.
Wayne caught Liana’s attention and waved her over. He whispered so he wouldn’t interrupt Nana. “Baby, I have to go to work.”
“What?” Everybody looked up at her and Wayne. “Reese is lying in there dying, and you want to go to work?”
“Don’t do this, Liana, not now,” Wayne said in a low, but angry tone.
“You know what?” she said, regaining her composure. “Go!”
Wayne reached out to her. “Liana.”
“Just go,” she said recoiling from him, and walking away. Elizabeth hit her with the I-told-you-he’s-a-waste-of-time look.
***
A few hours later, Indio came to the hospital, along with his cousin Rasheem. Elizabeth ran into Indio’s arms and cried on his chest. Rasheem looked around, not sure of what to do until he saw Liana. Her back was to him as she soothed Reese’s daughter, Keysha.
Rasheem walked up on her hesitantly. “How you doing?”
Liana turned around, surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”
“Elizabeth called Indio, said she really needed him right now. He didn’t want to travel up here by himself, so he asked me to tag along.”
Liana nodded.
“So, you didn’t answer my question. How you doing?”
“Not good,” Liana said, tears welling in her eyes. “Not good at all.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your friend. Indio told me what happened. What homie did was foul.”
Keysha, seeing the tears falling from Liana’s eyes, started to cry all over again.
“Shh, Key-Key,” Liana rubbed her back and kissed her on the cheek.
Keysha cried even louder.
“Hey, Key-Key,” Rasheem said, kneeling down to her. “That’s your mommy in there right?”
Keysha nodded.
“We got to be strong for her, okay? They’re going to let you in to see her real soon. And when they do, you make sure you give her a big hug, okay?” Rasheem wiped her tears away as she nodded. “You don’t want her to see you crying. You don’t want her to worry about you, right?”
“Nah, uh,” Keysha finally spoke.
“Okay, then,” he said, opening his arms. “Show me how you’re going to hug mommy.”
Keysha stepped forward and hugged him.
“That’s good.” Rasheem hugged her back. “No crying now. Be strong for mommy. And what’s the first thing you’re going to do when you walk in there?”
“Give mommy a hug.”
“That’s a good girl.” Rasheem dug into his pocket, and pulled out a dollar bill. “You want something to drink?”
Keysha looked at Liana. When Liana nodded, she nodded.
“Okay, let’s go get you and Liana something to drink.”
“Auntie Liana,” Keysha said, correcting him.
“My bad. Auntie Liana,” he said, smiling at Liana.
Rasheem bought a Pepsi for each of them. When Keysha got hers, she ran to Nana and showed her the bottle of soda, and told her that she got it from Auntie Liana’s friend.
“Tall, dark, handsome, and good with kids? You’re the perfect man,” Liana said, teasing him.
“I got two of my own, so you can say I have some experience.”
“Two?” Liana asked surprised.
“Yeah, two boys. Donelle’s three and Lionel’s four.”
“Two by the same woman?”
“Yes, by the same woman, but we’ve been separated for the past six months.”
“Why’s that?”
Rasheem’s eyebrows shot up.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Liana said. “It’s none of my business. I’m just trying to take my mind off this whole situation.”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t have a problem talking to you about it. My son’s mother and I are from two different worlds.”
“How did y’all meet up then?”
“Well, we were from the same world, once. Club hopping, pill popping, living-for-the-moment. One day, I had a moment of clarity, and I realized we had two children that we weren’t raising. We were shuffling them between her mother and mine. I decided it was time for me to be a father. I got a job and stopped clubbing. Marissa, on the other hand, kept doing her thing. Needless to say, I got custody of my two boys six months ago.”
“Got a job? You were twenty-eight years old, and you didn’t have a job?”
“I was getting plenty of money, but I didn’t have a job.” He allowed her to read in between the lines. “But then Indio hooked me up with a manager position.”
“In his store?”
“Yes, in his store.” Rasheem caught on to what she was implying. “I don’t know what you heard or what you once knew about Indio, but he’s one hundred percent legit, now.”
“I didn’t say he wasn’t.”
“Sometimes we say what we really mean by not saying anything at all.”
“Um hmm,” Liana mumbled, as she looked away.
“You want to grab some coffee or something? I think we can all use a cup”
“Coffee sounds good right about now.”
In Starbucks, Rasheem, Liana, Indio, and Elizabeth sat around the small table talking about anything other than what happened last night.
“Did you tell Liana that you got your own store, Rasheem?” Elizabeth asked him, but it was more for Liana’s information.
“No, because I don’t have my own store.”
“Sure you do, cuz,” Indio said, cutting in. “I’m opening it, but you’re running it.”
“That doesn’t make it mine, though,” Rasheem said.
“We’re family. What’s mine is yours,” Indio said with a wink.
Liana sipped her coffee. “So, you went from store manager to store owner. That’s great. I’m happy for you.”
Rasheem focused on stirring his coffee to keep from blushing.
In the five seconds of silence, Liana got a whiff of his cologne. Fahrenheit, she thought, as she inhaled him again to make sure. Umm, it is Fahrenheit. Smelling her favorite men’s cologne on him made her see him in a different light. The “tall, dark, and handsome” comment she made at the hospital started ringing true in her mind. He was definitely tall, six-foot-three, dark like her coffee, and handsome, like “Damn! Who dat?” handsome.
Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, breaking her out of her tra
nce. It was Nana calling to let her know that Reese was on her way back into surgery. They gathered their things and rushed back to the hospital.
Two hours later, the surgeon came into the waiting room and informed everyone that Reese successfully made it through surgery, and she would be able to receive visitors in the morning. There was a collective sigh, and murmurs of family praising God.
As they left the hospital, Liana let Rasheem put his cell phone number into her phone, and promised to call him to keep him informed on Reese’s recovery.
***
Wayne walked in the house exhausted and hungry. Anger was quickly added to the list when he noticed Liana hadn’t cooked anything. He knew this was her passive-aggressive way of showing her anger. He opened the freezer and pulled out a pack of hot pockets, and threw them in the microwave, then walked into the bedroom and found her lying in bed reading.
“How’s Reese doing?” he asked, sitting on the chair, unlacing his boots.
“You care now?”
Wayne sat up in the chair and stared at her for a moment. “You’re not going to upset me tonight.”
“Whatever,” she said, getting back to her book.
“So, you’re not going to tell me how she’s doing?”
“The doctors were able to get to the second bullet. She’s going to be fine.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
Liana didn’t respond. She felt his eyes on her, but continued reading as if he wasn’t there.
Wayne sucked his teeth and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. You want me to spaz on you. I’m not feeding into your bullshit, not tonight. I’m too fucking tired. You want to catch an attitude because I didn’t sit at the hospital with you? Fuck out of here. And the next time I see Elizabeth, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.
Wayne had to stop talking to himself, because he was winding himself into a rage. Liana walked into the bathroom, pulled down her pajama pants and sat on the toilet.
Wayne shook his head. You know damn well when she’s done, she’s going to flush the toilet. The water’s going to get hot for a quick second, but you can handle a little heat. Wayne braced himself.
After taking her sweet time wiping herself, Liana pulled her pajama pants up and walked out the bathroom. Wayne listened intently. He was surprised she didn’t jump at the chance to be passive-aggressive. He closed his eyes and slid back under the shower. His finger grazed the scratch along his face and neck. It triggered a memory that made him oblivious to the faint sound of a toilet flushing. He jumped out of the scalding shower, screaming like a girl. “What the fuck is the matter with you?” he shouted, standing in front of her butt naked, dripping wet.
She looked up at him innocently. “I forgot to flush the toilet.”
He glared at her as she calmly crawled back into bed and picked up her book. He yanked his dresser drawer open and grabbed some underwear, then got dressed and swiped his keys off the dresser.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“None of your fucking business.”
“Excuse me? Did you just curse at me?” She jumped out of the bed and followed him to the staircase.
“Yeah, I just cursed at you, because you’re acting like a bitch.”
Liana’s head snapped back as his words smacked her in the face. She ran down the steps after him. “Who the fuck you calling a bitch?”
Wayne ignored her as he got closer to the front door.
“You want to see a bitch?” Liana yelled from behind him, as she pushed him. “I got your bitch for you.” She ran back to the bottom of the stairs and grabbed the baseball bat that Wayne kept concealed there.
Wayne stopped walking and started to turn around to give her a few choice words. Lucky for him he did, otherwise he would have never seen it coming. Liana swung the bat at his head like she was Barry Bonds. Wayne dove to the ground as the bat went sailing over his head.
“What the f—”
Liana swung the bat again, determined to hit a home run. She grazed him on the left side of his head. Wayne screamed as he snatched the bat and shoved her to the ground. He threw the bat down, grabbed her by the throat, and pinned her to the wall.
“This is it! It’s over between us. Pack your shit and get the fuck out of my house!” He threw her to the floor and walked out the front door.
Liana stood up, rubbing her neck. She tried calling his name, but nothing came out. “Wayne,” she finally managed to whisper, but he was already in his truck, pulling off.
She walked halfway off the porch then stopped when she realized he was long gone. She sat on the porch steps and began to cry. When she touched her neck and felt the scratches on it, she cried louder. From the corner of her eye, she saw a shiny metal glistening in the moonlight in the bushes. She wiped her tears and looked at it more closely. It looked like a key.
She reached into the bushes and picked it up. It was a key, and it had hunter green paint on it. Her whole body grew cold. It wasn’t because it was the key that put the big scratch on the side of Wayne’s truck. It was because the key was Ron’s.
***
She ran inside, threw on a coat and snatched her keys off the table. She dialed Jenna’s number through teary eyes. “Meet me out front,” she said to Jenna when she picked up.
Jenna got out of bed and tiptoed downstairs, past Nana’s room, and slowly opened the front door. It was all in vain, because Liana screeched to a halt in front of Nana’s. She jumped out and ran up the steps, clutching Jenna’s hand as she pulled her inside.
Both of them jumped when they saw Nana standing by her bedroom door.
“What’s going on?” she asked, putting on her glasses.
“Nothing,” Liana said out of breath. Nana looked down at Liana’s pajama pants and slippers. “Nana, I’m all right. I just need to talk to Jenna.”
Nana huffed as she went back into her room and closed the door.
“What’s going on?” Jenna whispered in a shaky voice.
Liana kept shaking her head. “I don’t know. I mean I don’t know what to think.” She pulled out the key and showed it to her.
Jenna looked at it and shrugged. “It’s a key.”
Liana took a deep breath. “Two weeks ago, Ron called my cell phone when I was at Wayne’s house. Wayne answered it. Ron was livid. He cursed me out and hung up on me. Later that night, Wayne and I had an argument, and I left. The next day, when I went to his house, he had a couple of scratches on his face. He told me some story about scratching himself in his sleep. Then I noticed the long scratch alongside his truck. It looked like somebody had keyed it. Tonight, I found this in the bushes in front of his house.” Liana showed her the chips of paint still embedded in the grooves of the key.
Jenna blinked, still not seeing where Liana was going with this.
“This is Ron’s house key, Jenna.”
Jenna’s mouth hung open. “Holy shit!” She covered her mouth with both hands and stared at Liana.
“Ron must’ve come over that night looking for me, and when Wayne told him I wasn’t there, he probably started keying his car. Wayne must’ve run outside, and that’s how he got that scratch on his face and neck.”
Jenna dropped her hands to her sides and whispered. “Please tell me that you’re not thinking Wayne had something to do with Ron’s murder.”
Liana looked away from her.
Jenna grabbed her by the shoulders. “You need to get that thought out of your mind, right now. There’s no way Wayne would ever do something like that. As a matter of fact, ask him.”
“How am I supposed to ask him something like that? Uh, hey Wayne did you murder Ron?”
“Ask him if Ron came by that night.”
“He’s going to say no. He already lied to me about how the scratch on his truck got there.”
“Well then, you go to plan B. Confront him. Let him know that you know he’s lying and show him the key.”
Liana shook her head. “I can’t, Jenna. I’m shaki
ng right now just thinking about it.”
“So, you’re not going to say anything?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Liana sat down on the couch.
Jenna sat down with her, and held her hands. “Let’s go back to what we know. The police said that an unidentified man ran up on Ron’s car and pulled him out of the window. Can you picture Wayne pulling anybody out of a car window? And according to the eye witness, they said the assailant had a gun, and that’s why Ron was stumbling away from him. Now, we both know Wayne doesn’t have a gun. He never even fired a gun.” Jenna watched Liana’s eyes narrow. “What? What’s that look about?”
“Cee said that Taz couldn’t stop talking about how he and Wayne beat that kid up who stole my truck. He said Taz and Wayne had guns.”
“That’s impossible. Taz probably had a gun, but Wayne? Besides, everybody knows that Fat Sha was behind the whole thing with Ron.”
“Everybody is assuming Fat Sha was behind it.”
“You sound like you really believe Wayne did it.”
“No, Jenna.” Liana took a deep breath. “I’m just a little shaken up. As crazy as it may sound, when I found Ron’s key, it was then that it really dawned on me that he’s dead. He’s really gone, Jenna.”
Jenna hugged Liana as she cried on her shoulder.
Liana quickly pulled away from her with a nervous smile. “I’m so used to disconnecting myself from pain for so long that I didn’t even realize that’s what I did in order to cope with Ron’s death. How else would I be able to bury him and then move in with another man all in one month? What’s wrong with me?” Liana pulled away from her. “I have to go,”
“Slow down, you don’t have to go now.”
“Yes, I do.” Liana wiped the tears from her eyes. “I have to go back and pack my stuff.”
“Liana, wait.”
“No. It’s really over between us this time.” Liana laughed. “And can you believe, he actually broke up with me this time?” Liana watched Jenna go to the closet and grab her jacket. “Where you going?”
Soul Dancing Page 10
