California Connection 3

by Chunichi

  “Yeah. Until you so rudely kept me waiting on hold.” I couldn’t help being rude now. I had come in with that mindset, and now I couldn’t drop it. Damn. I wanted to feel Jamie out and see if he would be up for my arrangement.

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  I took a sip of my Diet Coke and proceeded. “About us. I was thinking that we could date but see other people as well.”

  Jamie looked perplexed. I couldn’t tell what his reaction was by the look on his face. He seemed to be thinking it over. He just kept looking at me and not saying anything, which was starting to freak me out.

  “So? What do you think?” I asked.

  Now it was Jamie’s turn to stare out the window. What was this dude’s problem? It was a simple question. This non-answer shit was annoying me.

  “So?” I asked again.

  Jamie snapped at me. “I’m thinking.”

  “Chill, muthafucka. Don’t snap at me.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  The waitress came back over with our food and was about to say something, but she noticed the energy at our table and decided to keep her mouth shut and walk away.

  As soon as she was out of range I resumed. “Whatever. Just answer me. Yes or no?”

  “Is there someone else? Is that why?”

  “No.”

  “Then why would you ask that?”

  “Let’s just say, I’m keeping my options open.”

  “Why can’t it just be us and no one else? I want you to move in with me. If we both work, we can save up, buy a big house, and have kids.”

  Jamie reached for my hand, but I snatched it away. His little pussy-whipped act was starting to wear thin.

  “Are you trippin’? I have my own place, and I’m damn sure not about to move in with you or start saving money with you.”

  “But the other night together was so special.”

  “Oh, shit. You have got to be kidding me. If I wanted to live with a bitch I would.”

  Those words made me realize that I was crazy to think I could make anything with Jamie work. My heart and soul were all for Jewel.

  “In fact, I want to live with a woman. We have fucked, and I am in love with her, not you. You may be acting like a female right now, but you will never replace the real thing. There is room for one woman in my life. Later, bitch. Don’t try contacting me ever again.”

  Before I even had a chance to stand, Jamie shot up from his chair and screamed, “Fuck you,” at the top of his lungs, threw his plate of food through the window, and stormed out of the restaurant.

  Everyone turned to stare at me sitting at the table alone and in shock. The whole restaurant was completely silent, stunned at what they just witnessed. I sheepishly looked around the dining room at all the customers. I was embarrassed, to say the least.

  I tried to stand up and act like I wasn’t fazed, but I’m sure I looked rattled. I was planning on walking out with my head held high and a little dignity, but that was stopped immediately. The restaurant manager came over with two waiters and blocked me from leaving.

  “Ma’am, I’m afraid you can’t leave. Your guest just vandalized our restaurant.”

  I was snapped back to reality. Cops were going to get involved in this. It would probably be department gossip in a matter of minutes. I had to make sure I wasn’t turned into a department joke.

  “Yes, I understand. I’m sorry. I was just so stunned, I don’t know what I was thinking. Let me pay for the damage and the meal.” I pulled out a credit card.

  “It won’t be that easy. There will be insurance involved, and I’m not even sure how much it is going to cost to fix. We’ll need to call the police. I’m sorry.”

  “No, don’t. Please. Let’s work it out on our own and not involve anyone else.”

  The manager thought about it for a minute and decided to not call the police. You know I was relieved. We went back to his office and got down to business. We decided that I wouldn’t leave until it was all worked out. He called his contractor and explained the situation.

  After several hours and several different quotes to fix the window, we came to an agreement. I gave the manager my credit card number to use after the work was finished. I assured him that I would be monitoring my credit statements, and if there was one odd charge, or I was charged one more dollar than the quoted price, there would be hell to pay.

  As I was leaving, I spotted the waitress who had helped me earlier. Luckily she was working a double shift. I walked over to her and handed her a fifty-dollar bill.

  “I apologize about earlier,” I said and walked out embarrassed but free. It was the most expensive breakup of my life.

  Chapter 23

  Lisa

  “Target on Your Back”

  I looked down at my ringing cell phone. This was the third time that my girlfriend Sylvia had called me. Everyone knew not to disturb me when I was tuning into my reality shows, so I wasn’t about to answer. This night I was watching Basketball Wives. Those were my girls.

  I couldn’t take the constant texts and phone calls one after the other, so I answered. Luckily, the show went to a commercial. “Hello?” I answered, annoyed.

  “Did you get my texts?” she asked.

  “No,” I replied.

  “I figured that much. Because if you did get my texts, you would have been here by now.”

  Now Sylvia had my full attention. I pressed pause on the DVR, so I wouldn’t miss a second of my show. “Been where?”

  “Okay, listen to me very closely. Touch is at the club, Tigerland, with some girl. I thought I should let you know. I would have busted him in the head with a bottle myself, but I’m on a date.”

  “That’s okay. Let me do my own dirty work. So is that chick better-looking than me? Is she light-skinned or dark? Is she ghetto or proper? I need details.” I wanted to know what I was up against.

  “Don’t worry. She’s no competition. I’ve got to go. I’ve been in the bathroom too long blowing you up. I don’t want Jarrod to think I ditched him,” Sylvia said before hanging up the phone.

  Sylvia was a loyal friend, so it was no surprise to me that she’d made this call. She knew how bad I wanted to fuck with Touch. She even tried to tag along and help, but this was my deal and my deal only.

  This was one time I had to put Basketball Wives aside. I hurried to put on a cute top, jeans, and stiletto heels. I was going to be the shining star of the night, so I needed to dress the part. I grabbed my co-star, my gun, and put it in my purse. If things went as planned, my gun would end up inside Touch’s mouth. I was about to take this game to a whole new level. My mouth started to water, thinking about him pleading for his life.

  I was happy that Sylvia had called me. We had just talked about how I was aggravated because the past few days, Touch’s house was deserted, and that chick, Jewel, was nowhere to be found. I knew doing something to her would have definitely caught Touch’s attention and possibly pushed him over the edge.

  Every time I thought about how he spat on me and beat on me, I got angrier and angrier. Repressed rage and aggression was taking a toll on me. My hair was thinning out, and most days, I felt jittery. Getting revenge had become crack to me, and I was an addict. I wasn’t sure what my end game was with Touch, but I just knew how much satisfaction I got out of harassing his ass.

  After getting dressed, I hopped in my car and rushed to the club. Since I arrived so late, the club parking lot was half-empty. Knowing Touch very well, I knew he would be the last to come out of the building. That nigga loved his drink and would always close bars down.

  An hour passed, and cars continued to leave the lot one by one. I watched the club door, patiently waiting for Touch. The waiting was making me tired, and I started to doze off when he finally came out with this mysterious girl. They stumbled across the parking lot to Touch’s truck. He had her pressed up against the truck while he felt on her ass and managed to feel up her dress. With the way they were going at it, I thought they
would have fucked right in the parking lot if so many people weren’t around. It made me disgusted to watch them go at it like they were. I had reached my boiling point.

  I quietly but quickly got out of my car, took my gun out of my purse, and fired one shot in the air. Instant chaos erupted in the parking lot. People started scattering and ducking to the ground. Women were screaming, and their boyfriends were trying to hush them up.

  My second shot was aimed at Touch, but I missed and hit his car window. My third shot, I had a good aim at him. He was splayed out on the ground in plain view. My eyes got as big as saucers. He was going to die this night, and I would finally be able to move on with my life.

  I calmly aimed the gun right at his head and started taking steps closer to make sure I hit his ass. Right as I was about to pull the trigger, something hit me like a ton of rocks, knocking the gun from my hands and forcing me to hit the ground.

  I scrambled to turn around to see a two-hundred-pound police offer coming at me like a raging bull. Before I knew it, he was on top of me.

  “Officer, that man has been trying to kill me,” I screamed, spitting bits of dirt out of my mouth.

  “Lady, you’re the one with the gun!”

  “It’s for protection.”

  “Man, y’all just don’t know what this girl has put me through. Justice is finally going to be served. I ain’t never been a fan of the police, but I’m sure glad you’re here tonight!” Touch said, after running over to me.

  The cops flipped me on my stomach and handcuffed me. Touch was taunting my ass the entire time. Like he was the one responsible for me getting arrested. That shit pissed me off too.

  When the cops helped me to stand up, I tried to go right at Touch. I was kicking like a donkey, just trying to inflict any sort of pain I could on him. I hit him in the leg, but all he did was laugh.

  “See, officers? You see what she is like? This bitch is crazy,” Touch said, pointing at me.

  Meanwhile, the bitch that Touch was messing with before I interrupted them was crying hysterically on the arm of some other dude. I guess that guy saw an opportunity to swoop in, and he took it. Served Touch right to lose that bitch. I got some satisfaction out of seeing that.

  The cops put me in the back of the car and slammed the door after me. I started kicking the cage that separated the front from the back. Then I tried to kick out the windows, and when that didn’t work, I went back to the cage. All the while, the cops were talking to Touch, no doubt getting his version of the events between us. Which was fine with me, because when we saw each other in court, it would be my word against his. If I was a betting woman, I would put money on me to convince the jury that I was innocent.

  The crowd around the parking lot had dispersed by the time the police were done talking to Touch. His little hussy left with the other dude, which made me so happy. I had tired myself out with all the kicking I had done. My right foot was killing me. I was kicking so hard, I had actually broken a bone in it. I would make Touch pay for that when I saw him again. I figured if he caused me to break a bone in my body, he needed to have a broken bone in his body as well. Which bone would it be? I thought. I think I’ll break his back. Lay his ass up in bed for a few months. That’ll teach him. I smiled as the cops got into the car.

  Touch came up to the car window before they pulled off and said, “You getting what you deserve, bitch. You going to jail, psycho.” Then he started laughing at me.

  “You stupid muthafucka. I got my revenge on you, when I snuck in your house and beat the shit out of you. I had you scared for days.” I laughed as the car pulled away.

  Chapter 24

  Touch

  “Family Ties”

  After that incident with Lisa, I made a vow to be extra careful about where I stick my dick. Lisa had me shook. The whole time I was thinking one of Jewel’s stragglers had beat the hell out of me that night. Come to find out, it was Lisa all along. I couldn’t believe I let a bitch do that to me. I felt like a damn fool. I was definitely going to make sure no one on the street found out about that shit.

  When I sat and thought about things, I realized Lisa had been stalking Jewel and me for the entire time since I was dismissed from the assault charges on her. She was bitter, angry, and wanted nothing more than to see me die. I should have known it was her. I had a hunch, but I couldn’t convince myself that a bitch would be that crazy or clever.

  After that incident I couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning in my hotel room all night. The room was nice enough, but I didn’t feel like wasting all my money on some bullshit uptight hotel. I wanted to use it to buy me a nice house. The bed in the hotel was a far cry from my king-sized bed I was used to at home.

  After tossing and turning all night, I finally looked at the clock, and it was eight a.m. I was cranky as hell from a long night and a lack of sleep. I wanted to stay in bed all day and try to get some shut-eye, but my boy Jimmy was getting out of jail today. That was motivation enough for me to get out of bed and get dressed.

  I was happy Jimmy was getting released because I felt like there was so much he could teach me about the game. There was only so much he could teach me from the inside. I knew my street IQ was about to get a bump up. I had visions of even more money coming my way and one day running my own international drug ring.

  After a quick breakfast, I picked up Deuce, and we headed over to Jimmy’s girl’s place, so we could straighten out this missing money. On the ride over, Deuce was in a talkative mood, which was surprising. Normally he was a man of few words. When he did open his mouth, it was only about one thing and one thing only—the year of 1973 when he ruled the streets, and now he walks those same streets.

  I was sick and tired of his same old stories. It was like he stopped living after 1973. At first, I liked hearing the stories, but after hearing them over and over, I wanted to punch him in his mouth. I wanted to scream, “Shut the fuck up, you old fool!” but I would just tune out instead, and continue doing whatever it was I was doing at the time.

  This day he was talking about how happy he was Jimmy was getting out but that he wasn’t sure if Jimmy would be able to survive on the streets anymore. He kept talking about the missing money and asking me if I knew anything about it.

  “If you took it, you can tell me,” he said. “I won’t tell Jimmy. You’ll just have to split it with me.”

  “The fuck kinda snake you think I am? I didn’t steal shit. My money was always tight.”

  After that, we pretty much rode in silence. Occasionally Deuce would say some stupid shit like, “I can’t wait to see Jimmy.”

  Deuce started in with his trip down memory lane, but we had gotten to the house before he could really get deep into his 1973 stories. I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.

  When we walked in the house, Jimmy was sitting on the couch, sipping a glass of Rémy. This old dude was slick. When he saw us, he put the drink down as he stood to greet us.

  “’S up, Jimmy! You home, big man,” I said after we walked into the living room of his house.

  I started to give him a hug, but he stopped me with a handshake. I guess he didn’t like to be touched or some shit. He shook Deuce’s hand as well. He was acting real cold toward us. I was expecting a warmer return from him. He was mad cool in the joint, so I just expected even more of it now that he was on the outside. Especially since I had been making so much money for old dude.

  Before I knew it, a gun was at the side of Deuce’s head. When I moved back to get out of the way, the gun was pointed at me. I had no idea what the reason for this show of aggression was. Had Jimmy been playing me this whole time? He set my ass up. He softened me up in the joint, got me connected on the outside, so I could make him money. Then when he got out and everything was in place, he would off me and take all the profits for himself.

  “Yo’, man, Jimmy—” I said with my hands in the air, wondering what the hell was going on.

  “My money is missing, and one of you have it. I need ans
wers,” he demanded, cutting me off.

  “Jim, it’s me, man. I took it. Please, man, just put the gun down.”

  I looked over to see Deuce on his knees, begging for his life, a big wet spot in front of his pants. I shook my head. This nigga was a fucking disgrace. All the talk about how bad-ass he was back in the day, and he punks out like this? At least he could have tried lying for a while, tried blaming it on me, something to save his ass, but to just cop to it so fast, that shit was embarrassing.

  “I was shaving ten grand off the money here and there. I have about fifty thousand dollars in the safe. It’s all yours. Take it, man. Just don’t kill me, Jim. I know it was wrong, and I felt bad about doing it. That’s why I told you. I was going to give it back. I promise. You gotta believe me.”

  Deuce continued to beg like a little bitch, piss running down his leg. I swear I started to smell shit too. Absolutely disgraceful. I couldn’t stand watching his ass beg like a woman.

  “Man, have some fuckin’ pride!” I yelled, annoyed not only by Deuce robbing Jimmy but by his bitch-ass attitude. “You fucked up. Now be a man about it.”

  “How could you do it, Deuce? We’ve been friends over thirty years, man,” Jimmy said, shaking his head, still with gun in hand.

  I looked at Jimmy, and he had a sadness in his eyes. I could tell it hurt him that his good friend had betrayed him.

  “You fucked up our bond when you let Touch in. You have never taken to no dude like Touch before, so it was mind-boggling for me. Jealousy kicked in, and I was planning to pin the missing money on Touch. I know I was wrong. Come on, man. Please. Have sympathy on an old friend.”

  Only mere seconds passed before Jimmy shot Deuce twice in the head like it was nothing. Good thing he did because if Deuce had walked out that spot alive, I’d have killed him myself for trying to set me up.

  We silently stood there watching the blood ooze from Deuce’s skull. His eyes were still open, and I felt like he was staring at me. I thought, Good riddance, you thieving bastard!