Raine
I wanted to be here at least 20 minutes early so I could case the place but fuckin’ L.A. traffic made me late! I never would have agreed to the face to face meeting but Mr. Seals assured me that he could erase Angelique for good so the offer peeked my attention so I had to find out exactly what his plans were. I also wanted to know what the fuck happened and why that bitch wasn’t in jail right now. I’d been watching the news nonstop and nothing about an escape was being reported on. She must have made bail and that shit was not a part of the deal. He had a lot of explaining to do and I was not in the mood for any games.
I could see the bar was packed as I made my way through the sea of people. I picked this spot cuz if anything fishy hit my radar I could vanish in a heartbeat pretty easily. I thanked God for making me short cuz being tall would make it that much harder to disappear into the thick crowd. As I got closer, I tucked myself in a small shadow near the edge of the building and looked for the District Attorney. I had the upper hand because I knew what he looked like but he couldn’t say the same for me. For all he knew I could be a tall Russian chick with buck teeth and blue hair.
My eyes followed the bar tender as he carried a shot glass. His wide back faced me blocking the recipient of the drink from my view, but when he moved away I seen the tipsy D.A. sitting at the bar. I smiled to myself and then proceeded to stroll in.
Tyce
It was ten o’clock on the dot. I signaled to Sway to keep his eyes open and he drank his beer and nodded back. Mr. Seals kept looking down at his own watch and then someone or something caught his attention. He perked up in his seat and waived someone over to him. I couldn’t see who it was so I adjusted my chair to get a better angle. His attention was on the entrance just to the left, all of sudden I heard my name ring out.
“TYCE!! Man whachu doin’ here? Man you had an appointmen’ to get ya' hair cut today but yoooou missed it, wasup with dat man, that aint like yoooou. You aint missed an appointmen’ in five years.”
My drunk ass barber was stumbling toward me making a scene.
“Wasup Malik. My fault man I spaced that shit out, I’ve been a lil’ busy these past few days, but yo', I’ll swing by sometime this week to get my head right.” I tried to diffuse the situation.
Malik continued. “Alright my nigga, heeey, who’s the bes’ muthafuckin’ barber in Californyaaa!? Huh? Who cuts so muthafuckin’ quick it makes the clippers quit, huh, huh?”
I looked around uneasily, “You man. You the best barber in town.”
“You muthafuckin’ correct! I’m the nigga that cut Kobe hair, Jamie Foxx hair, I cut Bernie Mack’s hair back in the day. Shit everybody knows about meeee! Shit, I’ll have ya' hair so right you don’t wanna go to sleep at night!” He looked down at me as he teetered back and forth.
This nigga was tripping. Don’t get me wrong, Malik is my dude but this nigga was really fucking up my covert shit!
“Ay look man, I’m on some other shit right now but it’s good to see you out relaxin’ a bit instead of always workin’. But I’ma check ya’ later in the week for that cut…cuz everybody know, you the bes’ muthafuckin’ barber in Californyaaa!” I gave him a pound and pushed his drunk ass away from me.
“You already know Tyce. Ay you know where to find me baby!” He pointed at his chest.
“I know man, I’ma check on ya’ later.” I waived bye.
“Ay nigga, my chair is always open for yoooou baby!” He pointed a wobbly finger at me.
“Alright man I appreciate that.”
After the unexpected interruption I turned my attention back to the bar and seen Mr. Seals still sitting at the bar…alone. I didn’t know if I missed her or what-fucking loud ass Malik.
Raine
As I walked in, I made direct eye contact with the D.A. I stared at him and he stared at me. We slowly nodded to each other as he waived me over to join him. He’d reserved a chair for me right next to him and that was my destination until I heard someone call out Tyce’s name. When my ears heard that I immediately stopped in my tracks and turned around in the opposite direction. My fishy radar was going off in my head and I was not one to ignore that. Something was off about this meeting. It was to coincidental that Tyce would be there in the same place I was meeting the District Attorney about his baby mama. As I turned to leave I bumped smack dab into another woman almost knocking her over. She gave me an evil glare peppered with a stank ass attitude which I didn’t have time to address so I let her clumsy ass slide and muttered a barely audible excuse me as I side stepped the bitch.
Once I was safely in my car, I replayed the scene over again in my head just to see if there was anyway Tyce could have spotted me. I went over all the angles, all the faces, and decided I was in the clear. As I pulled off I decided to just leave the situation alone. I couldn’t be certain if I was being set up or not but my gut was telling me to cut my losses and move on. I’d gotten away from a sticky situation tonight but I didn’t wanna press my luck. Raine was officially retired and it was time for Dallas to shine.
Tyce
Damn! It was two hours later and no one showed up to meet Seals. I had a feeling that whoever it was peeped me at the bar and bounced before I could see them. It didn’t take a genius to figure that the mystery woman that set up Angelique also knew about me. Most likely she knew what I looked like and everything. I really dropped the ball on this one.
I nodded to the D.A. as I left and he returned the gesture with a bobble head nod of his own. He seemed relieved that she hadn’t shown up. Sway questioned him about the person that caught his attention and he couldn’t confirm that it was Raine or not because he never met the woman. All he said was that a black woman started to approach him but turned around and disappeared in the crowd. The fact that he was probably drunk didn’t help his indentifying skills one bit.
I had one more trap to check as Sway and I left the bar. As a backup plan I had Tasha stationed outside the bar among the beach patrons just in case something like this happened. She found me along the walkway a few feet from the bar exit. She was all too happy to help me when I asked her. I knew she was crushing on me so I used that to my advantage. Plus she was broke and right now she needed the 5,000 dollars I offered her to handle this mini stake out situation.
“Did you see anybody that looked suspicious?” I walked up to her.
She sucked her teeth. “This whole fuckin’ place is crawling with suspicious ass lookin’ people. But one stood out, she came in and then left in a hurry. The rude bitch almost knocked me down!”
My eye brows rose up, “What did she look like?”
“Ummm she was short, kinda cute, brown skin. I noticed her leaning against the wall by the entrance for a minute before she went in. Then she just left.”
Sway chimed in. “I bet you that was her.”
“Yeah you’re probably right, did you get a picture or follow her? Where did she go?” I looked around the dark beach.
Tasha smiled with her eyes. “I earn my money baby. I followed her to her car, I even wrote down the license plate number.”
She handed me a folded up piece of paper with a red imprint of lips on the front.
Tasha continued, “The phone number at the bottom is mine just in case you need anything else from me.”
I looked down at her and winked. Although she had absolutely no chance in hell to be my woman, there was no sense in being rude about it. I passed her a small stack of money hugged tight by a thick rubber band and gently pinched her exposed stomach.
“Thank you babe. You can never have too many friends in this world. I’ma hold onto this just in case.”
“You better. I got respect for Angelique but she aint yo' wife yet-I’m jus’ sayin’.”
I chuckled. “I can’t argue with the truth, I aint married yet. You take care of yourself.”
“I will Tyce and thanks for this, you could have gotten anybody to do this, but I’m glad you chose me. I really really needed the money. Now I go
tta go find Ace’s ass, that trifling ass nigga think I’m still locked up. I’ma surprise the fuck outta that nigga and get my money back!”
Although Tasha was shady, at least she wasn’t a snitch. I could admire a woman that wouldn’t let anyone including a man fuck her over.
“Good luck lil mama, I’m pullin’ for ya’.”
“Alright Tyce. You know ummm.” She looked at me and Sway mischievously. “I got some time before I go see Ace. All three of us could ahhhh get a room, close the door, and rape each other-I’m jus’ sayin’.”
“Damn you bold.” Sway looked her up and down.
“And beautiful baby, don’t forget that. I haven’t had dick in months and right now you two fine ass niggas look like lunch and dinner to me and I’m starvin’!”
Tasha was a trip. Too bad my own woman wasn’t as enthusiastic about fucking me as the sexy woman standing in front of me was. Sway was still staring at her long voluptuous body taking in every square inch of her. She wore tight fitting jeans and a black and white polka dot bikini top that barely contained her full C cups.
“As tempting as you are in your beach get up, I’ma hafta pass sweet heart.” I nudged Sway who was still staring a hole into her breast. “He’s gonna pass too.” I laughed a little.
Sway cleared his throat, “Ummm yeah baby, I’m married, happily married.” He corrected.
Tasha turned and walked away after she informed us on what we were missing out on. Her hips shifted from left to right down the Venice boardwalk until her inviting backside was finally covered up by the crowd.
“Tyce, I was gonna turn her down, you know that right?” Sway looked at me waiting for my answer.
“Ha ha ha, what was takin’ you so long then nigga? You know Ranae will jump in your back like rabid spider monkey if you fucked Tasha.”
“Hell yeah I know that, aint nothin’ wrong with lookin’ tho…I can do that right?”
“Yeah lookin’ is allowed but you had me worried for a second. I thought you were gonna get it in right here on the sidewalk.” I laughed real hard.
Sway sucked his teeth. “I was jus’ givin’ her a long no instead of quick yes.”
“Yo' wife is gonna give you a long ass whoopin’ and a quick ride to the emergency room.”
We both cracked up at that comment cuz we both knew how Ranae got down. She was from Detroit and most of the women out there didn’t know scared started with an S. I was in a lighter mood cuz I was one step closer to finding out who Raine was. All I had to do was have Pamela run this license plate number and I would finally have all the information I needed to check her ass!
Contemplation
While some things were getting closer to being tied up other things were still left flapping in the wind. When I heard men and women confess that they were in love with two people, I used to think how could that be possible. How could you be equally in love with two people at the exact same time? Now, I understood how that could happen cuz I was in love with two women and doing the crip walk on a dangerous tight rope. The days of being with both of them were over and I had to make a choice. I thought I already made that decision several months ago when I kicked Dallas out my house. But ever since Angelique started tripping on me, I was having doubts about us. Don’t get me wrong. I still wanted to be with her, it was just that I didn’t know if it would work out or not. I’m a firm believer that once the trust is gone the relationship is doomed. The two people involved may not know it, or even see it, but they’re just treading water and not making any forward progress.
Was it easier to start over with someone that trusts you completely, or try and patch up the relationship you’re already in? I asked myself these questions along with many others as I pulled up in front of Pamela’s house. I hadn’t heard from Angelique all night. My guess was she was still mad at me or whatever her problem was.
Honestly, I was starting to not care if she called me or not. My mind was on Dallas and the way she related to me. I felt so carefree around her. Maybe that was because I knew she took me at my word. I couldn’t say the same for the mother of my child; she thought I was a liar and a cheater.
I never thought I would be contemplating or even entertaining breaking up with Angelique to get involved with Dallas again. But what was I supposed to do with a woman that didn’t trust me? I was at a loss. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what my next move was and that was new territory for me.
My Little Angel
The past few weeks I’ve spent with my grand baby have been the most full filling weeks in my life. She’s such an angel. It’s like I’m getting to be a mother all over again. I feel such a magnetic attachment to Khari. I could tell it’s because she’s my own flesh and blood and the daughter of my only son.
She’s the cutest little thing. She looks just like her daddy. When I watch her sleep at night she sometimes smiles like her father while she’s dreaming the innocent dreams of a baby girl. She holds my finger in her tiny palm and tries her best to put it in her mouth. One thing I can say about my little Khari; is that girl can eat! She can polish off an eight ounce bottle in five minutes flat and she will let you know if you’re moving to slow getting her food ready.
Music soothes her soul and calms down her fussy spells. She’s especially fond of Marvin Gaye, I’ll even throw a little Whitney Houston in the mix when I’m feeling sentimental, she seems to really enjoy her gorgeous voice. I know my one on one days with her are coming to an end, especially since Angelique is out of jail so I’m savoring these last moments with my grand baby and looking forward to being in her life for a lifetime.
Guess Who
Mr. Seals relaxed in his king sized bed laying on Egyptian cotton sheets watching Judge Mathis on television. The work day had been a grueling one with difficult case after another landing on his desk like airplanes on a runway. The ultra soft mattress felt like heaven on his aching shoulders and back. All he wanted to do was finish his scotch and soda and fall into a coma like sleep. He took the last sip of his night cap placing the empty glass on the night stand when he heard a knock at the door.
His eyes darted to the digital clock next to the glass and he let out an agitated huff as he angrily got out of the bed to see who dared disturb him at this hour. Seals crossed the living room and put his eyeball in front of the peep hole, but didn’t see anyone there. He blinked scanning the hallway once again from his limited vantage point behind the door. Just at the bottom of the peep hole view he noticed an array of color spring up. Every hue you could think of poked out from a massive vase overflowing with an assortment of exotic flowers.
He thought it was kind of odd that flowers would be delivered after eight then he reasoned that the delivery man must be working late to make up for lost time and just dropped them off then left. He was cautious however because the last time he walked out his apartment he was busted in the face with the end of shotgun and woke up in his shower. Again he looked side to side scanning the hallway for anything suspicious. Once the search was complete and all was safe he opened the door stooping down to retrieve the vibrant surprise bouquet. He wondered who sent the flowers. Was it the woman who worked the register at the coffee house? She was always flirting with him. Or maybe it was someone from his office. The new intern was always game for a little office hanky panky. She even ‘accidently’ emailed him naked pictures of herself claiming they were meant for her boyfriend. Maybe it was her that sent the flowers.
The D.A. noticed a card attached, he opened the mini envelope and read the words scribbled on the folded up piece of paper inside.
“I’ll make sure these get put on your grave.”
Before he could react to the threatening words, a bullet knifed its way into the side of his head exploding out the other end. His blood and final thoughts littered the beige walls and spotless brown carpet of the empty hallway. His tired body was now resting in peace next to the most beautiful arrangement of flowers and the mysterious deadly note.
She Is H
er
Pamela sat next to me talking on the phone with her anonymous connection at the LAPD. I listened intently as she read the license plate number off the folded up piece of paper to the unknown person. The hour was late but the holice department never closes at least when it came to her anyway.
“It will be just a couple of minutes.” She held one finger up.
I sat patiently waiting then I decided to have a late night smoke on her back patio to pass the time. As I walked out into the cool night air my thoughts shifted to my daughter. I wondered if she was sleeping right now, or up wondering where the hell her parents were at. It had only been about two weeks since I dropped her off with my other mom, but it seemed like two months. I’d be glad when all this was over so she could return home; I really missed her. Then my heart sunk a little in my chest as I thought about the recent static between me and Angelique and wondered if the dream of raising our child together was just that…a dream. I mean, could an ex drug enforcer, slash heist man, slash former all around ladies man really live happily ever after with the ex girlfriend of a kingpin that had major trust issues? As I exhaled the tasty smoke I really had no definitive answer to give myself. I guess it would just all have to play out. I was halfway finished with my cigarette when my mom slid her short body through the sliding glass door to join me. I gave her an expecting look as I waited for the news.
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