by N'Tyse
they’d be different, but she was wrong.
As Sand returned from Deja’s bedroom with a briefcase in
hand, she noticed Deja had not budged. Sand hated that she felt
like shit right now. The mixed feelings she had were smothering
her in an uncomfortable guilt unlike anything she’d ever felt
before. She laid the single gold key on top of the bar. She showed
herself back to the door, opening it slightly, but not before
turning to face Deja one last time.
“You know, I really didn’t know you could flow like that.”
Sand let the words sit on her tongue for a second. “And for the
record, it was always a pleasure with you, every second of it,” she
said, referring to Deja’s poem. “Just remember that.” With that,
she turned the doorknob and walked out.
Deja wanted Sand’s parting words to mean so much more
than she knew they did. As she turned to lock the door, she
realized that this was it. She would miss her. But how could she
miss something she never had?
Sand pulled out of the driveway, the case of money in her passenger seat. She pulled out Rene’s cell and made a quick phone call to an old friend who had recently contacted her. Everything was going exactly as planned.
C
23
hyna and Fantasy waited as Aaron walked his two darling little girls and wife to their minivan. Apparently, they were going to church without him. Chyna noticed the girls were wearing matching dresses, white and pink ruffled socks, and white dress shoes. Both their hair had been pulled back in a ponytail, no curls, just their straight brown hair, adorned with a single pink lace ribbon which was tied loosely in a bow. They looked like brown-skinned fairies.
Aaron kissed each one of them goodbye, mumbling something that Chyna couldn’t make out. She knew it was something enticing enough to make the wife lean back over for a second and third kiss.
Several minutes later, long after the vehicle had driven away, Chyna and Fantasy approached Aaron’s doorstep. Chyna didn’t bother ringing the doorbell, just twisted the handle. As fate would have it, she walked right in. Fantasy followed only a few steps behind.
Aaron, upstairs in his master bath, was lining up his goatee when he thought he heard the door downstairs open and close. “Juanita!” he called out to his wife. He figured she forgot something like always. He powered off his clippers and placed them back in the portable leather case. He listened more closely. “Juanita, baby!” There was still no reply. He walked back into the bedroom, tripping over unwrapped toys and rolls of wrapping paper in the process. “I’m upstairs, honey!” he yelled a little louder this time. Still nothing. But he heard footsteps. He walked over to his bed and flipped over his king mattress. In a deep pocket inside of his box spring was where his heater slept. He loaded up, running to the window that overlooked the yard and cobblestone driveway. When he saw that his wife’s van wasn’t there, he took to the stairs.
Chyna took one last puff of her cigarette before smashing it into the red and gold table runner in front of her. She departed her lips and let out a mouthful of smoke while timing exactly how long it would take for Aaron to come down from his cavern.
Aaron checked the front door first. It was closed, locked and chained. As he made his way through the foyer, he noticed a trail of mud leading farther into his house. Cocking the gun, he followed that trail.
“Officer Fields,” Chyna said, spinning herself slowly around in the swivel chair until she and Aaron were face to face.
“What the fuck are you doing in my house?”
“Ssshhh …” Chyna held her index finger to her perfectly lined, strawberry-painted lips. “We wouldn’t want to wake the neighbors, now would we?”
Aaron’s forehead began to perspire and droplets of sweat soon began creeping down the sides of his face. “I’m gon’ ask you one more damn time!”
“Oh, I’ll be long gone before the wife gets back, if that’s what you’re all nervous about. As a matter of fact, she won’t even know I was here,” Chyna said. Her pasted smile never left her face.
Aaron held the gun tighter.
“Put the gun down,” Chyna urged him. “You’re starting to make me feel like you’re not so happy to see me.”
“What is this shit about, Chyna? You don’t come into my motherfucking house unannounced! Are you crazy? And where’s James? Does he know about this shit?”
“You don’t work for James; you work for me!” Chyna clarified for him. “Now you do realize that I have to clean up this big mess you made?”
Aaron had no idea what the hell Chyna was talking about.
“Mess? What mess?”
“The money from the drop!”
“Look, I don’t know shit about no money! The only money that rolled through here is what came in from the last shipment we sent off on Friday. And you got that money already.”
Chyna stood from the chair. “I trusted James when he brought you in,” she said, shaking her head but never taking her eyes off him.
“And you can still trust me. I’ve kept my word.”
Chyna’s cold eyes showed no mercy. “Aaron, your services are no longer needed.”
“Chyna, come on, baby. I ain’t never pulled no dumb shit on you—ever. I make sure everybody get their cut, and when it’s done, your piece gets delivered to you. Hell, I even got all these thugs on the block and in the cut paranoid that if they ain’t pushin’ yo’ shit, then they’re nothing but Christmas bonuses for my big boys. I’ve made a name for you!” he said. “And I’m the one doing all the damn work and facing all the time! So don’t run up in here like you’ve done shit but sit on your ass and call shots.”
Chyna maintained a straight face. Aaron was right in so many ways, but he wasn’t seeing the bigger picture. She thought about writing the shit down in Braille for him. Maybe that would have suited him better. Or maybe he was more comfortable hearing it from somebody else, somebody with a dick much bigger than his.
“Aaron, the exchange you made on Friday,” she watched his eyes light up as he waited with baited breath, “did not get to me.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I was standing right there. I put that shit in there myself,” he contested, pointing downward with his gun.
“Did you ever think to look at the driver?”
Aaron got quiet. He remembered the driver. He recalled thinking that he had never seen him before, but he assured himself it was one of Chyna’s people. He figured they were leaving from the drop-off point when he turned on his sirens and pulled them over. He was only running a few minutes behind schedule. Luckily, he recognized Chyna’s car when he did.
“Yeah, I saw the driver,” he said finally. “He watched me load that shit up and after that we all rolled out.” The fear in Aaron’s eyes was unmistakable. He knew Chyna and he knew her background. Staring deeply into her eyes, he tried reading her next move. She was alone, empty handed, and was never the one to get her hands dirty, so he’d been told. The missing piece to his puzzle was solved when he heard what sounded like an echo from a gun being cocked. He slowly turned behind him and stood face to face with Fantasy who was dressed in a black trench jacket with oversized shades on her face. The gun in Aaron’s hand seemed to be melting between his fingers as it dropped to the plush white carpeting stretched beneath their feet.
Staring down the barrel of that gun was like staring into hell. Aaron knew he’d be going there. All the people he killed, all the money he stole, all the dirt he’d ever done was coming back. Just like karma. He mouthed the simplest word, “Please,” but knew for himself that would get him nowhere. He turned back around to face Chyna, only to find a .22 aimed in his face. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried calculating his next move.
“You gon’ kill me? Right here in my home? My kids. My wife,” he said, pushing those words past his trem
bling lips.
Chyna didn’t give a damn about the wife or the kids. The man who murdered her mother didn’t, so why should she dare have heart for a dirty motherfucka who deserved to die? She pictured her mother pleading those exact words over and over, “Please. I have a daughter.” But that wasn’t enough to save her.
Aaron stood between the two women fearing for his life. One he knew for sure was ready to end it without a second thought about it. He looked over Chyna’s shoulders at the two portraits on the wall, his twin daughters smiling back at him. He relaxed his eyes on his wife. Her body he knew he’d never touch, kiss, or be inside of again. Aaron wondered what she would do and how she would make it without him. Then his eyes roamed the brightly lit tree. He wouldn’t make it to see his girls open the ton of presents their mother had stashed upstairs in the bedroom. He’d miss their birthdays, their first date, their wedding. He’d miss it all.
Desperate, he found himself asking, begging, one final time. “Please, don’t do this. I can arrange some things,” he told Chyna. He spoke fast as a round of tears started down his face. “I have about ten thousand dollars upstairs. I can get you more this afternoon. Lemme just make a phone call. I can get your money back,” he said, running out of breath.
Chyna let Aaron go on. Unbeknownst to him, she had already tracked her package. But now was check-out time, and it was his clock that needed to be punched.
“You see how quick I moved on that detective following you?” Aaron continued. “All the shit he had on you, history. So you’ll have your money by midnight, with interest,” he promised her. “You know I’m good for it, baby. Please. I’m begging you.”
Aaron’s lips were bargaining with Chyna to reconsider, but she had interpreted them differently. In her mind, they were rushing her to get it over with. She gave Aaron one last chance to say his prayers before rocking him to sleep. A fourth of a second later, she let the hot iron loose into his forehead. She watched stone-faced as his body dropped to her feet and blood oozed from the hole in his face. She stepped right over his lifeless body. No mercy. No love. “
O
24
kay, we’re here,” Sand told Rene as she led her by the hand into the warehouse building. She closed the door behind them. “So, can I open my eyes now?” Rene asked, as Sand let her
hand drop. Sand moved swiftly through the club, looking back every now and then at Rene. “Nah, not yet. Keep ’em closed.” This was the moment Sand had been looking forward to for the longest and she couldn’t wait to see the look on Rene’s face. She darted over to the deejay booth, flipped through the collection of CDs on a nearby table, and popped one in.
Rene, still quiet and eyes twitching, couldn’t wait to see what it was that Sand had in store for her. She thought about taking a peek. Just a small peek to see what was up, and when she did, “I don’t remember telling you to open your eyes,” Sand said, surprising her as she stood directly in front of her. Rene jumped a little as if she had been caught red handed stealing cookies out of a cookie jar. She let out a mischievous chuckle.
“Oh, I thought I heard you say ...” Sand leaned into Rene and kissed her on her lying lips. “Nah see, ’cause I done already saw ya. So don’t try to switch it up now,” she said, smiling.
Rene kissed her back, closed her eyes once again, and let Usher speak to them through the surround sound speakers that boomed in every direction. She placed her hands around Sand’s neck loosely, allowing the vibe floating between them to seduce her. She wrapped herself up in the moment until she felt Sand’s lips slowly departing.
“I wanna show you something.” Sand grabbed Rene by the hand again and led her further into the club. She hit all six light switches and watched Sandrene’s light up like New York City’s Time Square.
“Where are we?” Rene whispered. With each step they took, her eyes perused over the beautifully decorated tables, bars, dance floor, and stage. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing and the further they moved through the club, the quicker she began putting the pieces together.
But Sand wasn’t finished with her tour. “Hold on, there’s more,” she said, excitedly.
Rene braced herself and before she knew it, they were stepping into the club’s VIP section that she had earlier mistaken for just a mirror. And the way it wrapped around the entire dance floor was why she believed that it was just a backdrop for the dancers to watch themselves in. But only the inside members of VIP could have the advantage and enjoyment of being in two places at one time, while those less fortunate, benefited from their own show.
“You know all those long nights away from home?” Sand asked.
Rene nodded, waiting to be told that what she was thinking was right.
Sand stared deeply into her girlfriend’s beautiful brown eyes. “I was here. Right here.”
Rene’s eyes roamed continuously up and down, left and right. She couldn’t believe all the time and money Sand had invested into the place. And here they stood, celebrating this moment for the first time, together. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Rene asked. “I mean, I knew you were thinking about doing something like this, but I had no idea you were—” She cut herself short. “I’m so proud of you,” she let out finally. “You did it, baby.”
“I wanted to tell you sooner, but, let’s just say we got off track.” Sand swallowed hard, taking a deep breath in the process. “But we’re here now.”
Rene cupped Sand’s chin. “I love you so much. I don’t know what I would ever do without you in my life,” she confessed deeply. She reached in for a kiss. Their tongues intertwined until they became lost in each other’s souls. Rene backed Sand into a corner, up against a wall. She eased her shirt from over her head, feeding it to the floor. The second Sand tried to reverse the hold Rene had on her, Rene grabbed her by both her wrists and pinned them together with one hand. She kissed and licked the hardness of Sand’s flat stomach. The red marks that were already there, she didn’t question, only escorted her tongue on a new path over her lover’s hemisphere.
Sand’s head rested against the cold wall. Once her wrists became free, she gripped fists full of Rene’s hair.
Rene wanted to remember this day just like this. Right here, right now, they were making memories. She unbuckled Sand’s pants and let them drop to her ankles. Before Rene could devote herself to that mystery that stared her in the face, she turned to the pair of eyes she felt resting on her back.
“Deja!” Sand jumped, snapping out of her trance. She quickly bent down and pulled her jeans back over her boxers. Rene stood to her feet, clearing her throat.
“I just came by to drop this off,” Deja said, her eyes darting between Sand and Rene. She balled her left fist, brought it to her lips, and closed her eyes as though she was trying to wish the image away. “Why did I have to see this shit?” she asked herself. Sand accepted the brown folder Deja held in her hand.
“The check is in there. The combos to the safe,” Deja inhaled another deep breath. “Everything is in there.” She couldn’t take it anymore. She smiled at Rene with such sincere hate. She rubbed her hands over her forehead and communicated to Sand with her eyes. The heartfelt passion was still there, and right now, it was making her look like a fool, all by herself. Deja forced herself to try to understand it. She tossed it around and around, back and forth all morning. She even played with the idea of being the other woman. Wondered if she could accept that position and be content with it. She wondered if Sand was worth that much and if her heart was something that could be sacrificed.
Sand remained calm, but speechless. All she could think was “Don’t do this. Not here. Not now,” as she felt Deja’s mouth preparing itself to speak.
Rene disrupted the icy cold glances. “Haven’t we met before?” she asked Deja, trying to remember where she might have known her.
Deja rolled her eyes mockingly, but undetectably. “I believe we may have crossed paths a time or two,” she replied dryly.
Sand remained quie
t.
“Well, it was nice working for you,” Deja said, speaking up. “But I guess you won’t be needing me anymore.”
Sand felt her chest swelling. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, and for the club.”
Deja just smiled. “Oh, one more thing.” She reached in her purse and pulled out her duplicated set of keys. “I won’t be needing these.” She placed the keys in Sand’s hand and then turned away to leave.
Once Deja was gone, Rene turned to Sand. No words were needed. They embraced in a tight hug, both knowing that some things were better understood when they were left unsaid.
25
“ S o,” Shun started out. Her nose was flared as she exhaled. “I take it y’all are back on track with everything?” she asked,
coming up from a sit-up.
Rene was glowing and she knew it. Her rainy days were over
and now she was dancing under the rainbow. She allowed Shun’s
observation to settle in. Hearing someone else acknowledge that
she and Sand were an item meant so much to her.
“Yeah, we’ve decided that we’re going to go ahead and give
it another try. We’ve worked out our differences and now we can
focus more on our future,” Rene smiled. She continued to put
the last few items in her suitcase, checking everything twice and
making sure she wasn’t packing up any rodents along with her. Shun sat up on her mat. “I am so proud of y’all,” she said,
nearly out of breath. “I told you y’all were gon’ work it out,
didn’t I?” She started out on her second set.
“Yeah, you did,” Rene admitted. She zipped both bags and
sat them side by side on the floor.
“Now, what are y’all gonna do next?”
Rene watched her friend closely as she struggled coming up,
going down, and coming up again. She was sweating profusely
and she knew that in any minute, Shun was going to be crunched
