by Styles, T.
While he was still talkin’, Kelsi hit him with a quick firm right knocking him to the ground. The grass rested in the palm of his hands. Jarvis balanced himself on one knee and hand. Then he brushed himself off.
“I see you mean business,” he laughed in obvious pain. “I won’t underest-,”
Again Kelsi knocked him to the ground. People within the circle laughed as Kelsi was able to get two hooks off of him in less than two minutes. This enraged Jarvis.
“Now are you gonna give me a challenge? Or just let me beat your ass?” Kelsi teased.
“Naw, nigga,” he said getting up. “I’ma-,” this time he caught Kelsi with a jab. Blow after blow they fought like animals. Kelsi thought about the stories his mother told him of when he shot her. He thought about how he hid in the closet when he was little scared and waiting for his mother to come back and get him. All because Jarvis was trying to kill her. He thought about the bullets in Janet’s shoulder courtesy of Jarvis. Lastly, He thought about how he almost lost his life in New York.
Now…he was beyond angry. That’s why he called his mother when she was at Jarvis’s house in New York. He begged her not to kill him. He wanted the honor of beating his ass first.
“Get him, baby!” Janet yelled from the sidelines.
“Yeah, Kelsi,” said Bricks. “Don’t let this mothafucka get out on you.”
Both of them were cut and blood poured from both of their mouths. It was a war. While the fight continued, Janet grew worried. Jarvis was fighting like a man who knew he was dying. Kelsi, was fighting like a man who was lost and now found. He didn’t have the same drive. In a sense, Kelsi had less to lose.
When Jarvis got on top of Kelsi, and hit him with repeated blows, Janet hurriedly walked in the direction of the circle. Kelsi managed to put his hand up and look at her. He didn’t want her to enter. This was his fight. This was his war. Believing she raised a man, she backed off.
Thinking about every man he hated. He finally flipped Jarvis on his back. Climbing on top of him with the little energy he had left he stole him over and over again. Jarvis was borderline unconscious.
“Th…this is for hurtin’ my moms,” he said stealing him again.
“This is for tryin’ to take her life,” he said again.
“And this is for O.,” he added.
Jarvis didn’t know why he was being punished for O because he’d done nothing to her. But Kelsi didn’t know or care. Weak and in pain, Kelsi stood up, looked down at Jarvis and spit on him.
“S…so what now you punk, mothafucka! You not g…gonna finish?”
“Naw…I’m done. I got what I wanted from you. I ain’t gonna kill you.”
Jarvis laughed again.
“You just as weak as that bitch of a mother of yours,” he said managing to pull himself up. Blood poured from every orifice on his face. “That’s why I beat her ass the way I did. Ya’ll can’t fuck wit’ me,” he said deliriously pointing at people he didn’t know. “I’m the king of New York! I am now and will always be!”
Kelsi walked out of the circle and to his mother.
“You can’t let him go, K-man,” she said, rubbing his wounded face.
He smiled hearing her voice. She was really alive.
“You right. I can’t,” he said. And at the exact moment, the circle closed and the women surrounded Jarvis. “And neither will they.”
Kelsi turned around to look at the girls who earlier, helped him take down Kyope’s major shop.
“Aight, nigga,” one of Brick’s girl cousins started. “I heard you like to beat bitches. And since you do, we got somethin’ for you.”
The girls closed in on him, and stomped him until the breath was removed from his body. Jarvis may have been the king of New York, but in Maryland, that ain’t mean shit.
The End
Come on now…ya’ll ain’t think we was gonna let Skully get away now did you?
Wednesday, 7:52 pm
****
I ain’t neva scared! Live by the sword and die by the sword is my motto.
• Skully
Skully was in his kitchen cooking homemade sauce for his baked lasagna. It was his specialty. Days had passed since he heard or seen from Janet and Kelsi. To say he wasn’t tripping about the matter was an understatement. After all, Janet knew what power he possessed. She knew first hand how crazy he was, Skully thought. Even with finding out Kenosha was murdered, he felt stronger than ever. Now, he was a solo act. And although Kyope, his connect, was dead, he found another supplier. And he was sure Jarvis, his arch enemy, was dead too. But what did that have to do with him? He was his own man.
Placing a little more oregano in the sauce, he smiled when he tasted the sauce. It was perfect.
“I don’t know, slim,” Kelsi said looking at Skully as he stirred the sauce with precision. “My moms would put a little more salt in there. But that’s just my moms.”
When he turned around and saw Kelsi standing in the doorway of his kitchen pointing a 357 magnum at his head, he was flushed.
“That’s not true,” Janet said appearing from behind Kelsi. “It might be aight.” She walked fully in the kitchen and stirred the sauce with the tip of her .45, keeping a close eye on Jarvis. Then she licked the barrel sticking her tongue in the hole. “You right, baby.” She confirmed. “It needs somethin’ else. I think blood.”
When she looked down to the floor, Skully was pissing on himself. Janet stepped away as not to get any on her.
“Not now, Skully,” she laughed. “We haven’t started with you yet.”
“Janet, please!” Skully cried. He was on the same floor Janet was the day he shot her multiple times in the body. And just as he tied her arms around the pole in the basement of 2151 Monroe street, she did the same to him. “You know I neva wanted to hurt you.”
“You funny,” Janet said. “Real funny.”
“Naw, ma! This nigga’s hilarious!” Kelsi interjected.
“You right, baby. The man who shot me and left me for dead, is beggin’ for mercy. He actually has the nerve to beg for his life. And he was tryin’ to kill my only child. Damn, Skully, have some respect for yourself. Cause right now, it’s not lookin’ good.”
“What they call this shit, ma?” he asked looking into the dirty ceiling. “You know…when a nigga gets what he deserves?”
Janet scratched her head with her index finger, using the same hand which held her gun.
“Poetic justice.”
“Yeah! Poetic justice!” Kelsi repeated. “Yep, that’s it.”
“Baby, let’s get outta here,” Janet added. “I don’t have time to fuck wit’ him. I’m tryin’ to live out the rest of my life happy. You ready?” she asked.
“Born ready, ma!”
Without further words, they fired eight bullets in his head. There was no way he was alive. Knowing their work was done, they walked out of the basement. Five minutes later, the lady who saved Janet’s life entered and saw his mangled body which was tied on the pole in the same fashion Janet was.
“Damn, she really got you back,” she giggled. The old woman remembered it all. “Karma, is somethin’ else ain’t it?” she examined his lifeless body. “Shit! Oh well…I’m told you got somethin’ for me. Let’s see.”
Rummaging through his pocket’s she found five hundred dollars in cash.
“Jackpot!” she laughed exposing her missing tooth.
When she left the building, she saw Janet sitting in the car. She’d been waiting for her to come out. The aggressive paramedic, who helped lift Janet’s body into the ambulance after Skully shot her, told Janet when she was conscious who saved her life. And Janet never forgot.
“Thank you,” Janet said as Kelsi sat in the driver seat. “Thank you so much.”
“No problem, suga!” the old lady waved. “Just live your life!”
“I will.”
And just like that, they were out of sight.
“What’s on your mind, Kelsi?” Janet asked. Although e
veryone who’d caused problems in their life was out the way, he still seemed detached.
“Nothin’?” he lied driving on the Maryland streets.
“So after all this time, we lying to each other now?”
“No,” he said looking at her and then the road. “I let somebody down and it’s fuckin’ wit’ me. I been tryin’ to put it out my mind. I just can’t. I was really feelin’ her, ma.”
“Who was she? And where she at?”
“Her name was O, actually, Constance…Constance Brail. I know they killed her ma and it fucks me up cuz shawty really held me down. And I coulda done somethin’ to save her.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“She was wit’ a white dude wit’ red hair. He said he was wit’ Jarvis but I ain’t sure who he was wit’ now.”
“I know a lot has been happenin’. It’s hard to tell who’s who.”
“You think,” he laughed. “I’m just findin’ out Crane was my uncle. That explains why he was always so overprotective of me.”
“Yeah…he really cared about you, son. And he told me to tell you he loved you.”
“How did you get over them rapin’ you?”
“Turns out my father was the reason. They never wanted to.”
“Damn…at least you got to be with them again.”
“I know.” Janet told him.
“Did you love her?” Janet asked, skipping the subject a little.
“I think I did.”
Janet took a deep breath.
“I just wish I knew either which way that what happened. Feel me?” He continued.
Janet thought about it for a minute. She knew a man with red hair and he worked with Skully from time to time. And since Skully was involved, she was certain his muscle would be involved too. The only thing was…he lived in New York. She also remembered something else about him. He had a fetish for raping women. He tried to rape her once and she kicked him in the nuts so hard, she permantelly damaged his left testicle.
“Hit 95 North towards New York!” Janet told Kelsi. “I got an idea.”
No questions asked, he complied.
Janet and Kelsi sat in the car and followed Jax on his way home from work. Her idea was far fetched, but to ease Kelsi’s pain, to her it was worth a try. Jax lived in a quiet residential community in Queens. And the quiet blue home he owned, looked more harmless than it really was. Wearing his police uniform, he entered his home. And when he did, Janet and Kelsi bombarded their way inside with him.
You see, Janet knew what kind of man he was. She knew having a young girl at his beckon call, against her will, would be something he couldn’t live without. She was so certain he couldn’t resist, that she was positive O was at his house. And if she wasn’t there, they’d have another causality to their list.
“What the fuck are you doin’?” Jax asked in full uniform.
Janet held him at gunpoint as Kelsi ran through the house. He knew his mother could handle her own. All of the rooms he entered were neat and void of any signs of O. And then…he came to a door which was not only locked, but also dead bolted. This was a room he wasn’t allowed to enter. And this was the room he had to get in.
Running downstairs, he jumped in Jax’s face.
“Open the door wit’ the deadbolt,” Kelsi demanded. He was anxious and had a feeling if O was alive, she’d be in there.
“Man, I’m not doin’-,” was the last thing Jax said before Janet shot his hand.
“Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” he whined.
“The next one’s goin’ in your chest, bitch!” she told him. “Now open the fuckin’ door!”
“O…kay! I’ll do it!” he said holding what was left of his right hand. “Just don’t shoot me no more!”
Kelsi grabbed him by his collar and pushed him toward the secret door upstairs. Reaching in his pocket, Jax removed the keys.
“You gotta do it,” he whined. “You shot my hand.”
“Aight…no problem, cuz. Is this the key?”
“Yeah…that’s-“
“Thanks.” Kelsi said shooting him in the head. He was done with him too.
“Damn, baby,” Janet said looking at Jax’s lifeless body. “You ain’t no stranger to this shit are you.”
“I learned from the best.”
Kelsi was silent until he opened the door and saw O hanging from the ceiling by her neck with a leather black strap. A wooden block stood under her feet which she had to step on using her tiptoes to prevent from being hung to death. She was naked and badly beaten. Bruised from head to toe, Janet and Kelsi couldn’t get over how bad the room smelled. Feces were on the floor and there was a red ball in her mouth which was connected to a black leather strap which connected in the back of her head.
The moment she saw him, her stomach trembled. She was crying and her sounds were muted due to the ball being inside her mouth. Not caring about the smell, he rushed toward her and helped her down. With the little strength she had, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She was alive. She was okay.
Kelsi removed the ball from her mouth and held her closely.
“I’m sorry, shawty,” he said caressing her back. “I’m neva gonna leave your side again. Ever.”
Janet smiled. Although she realized she wasn’t the only woman in his life anymore, she was happy her son was happy. Placing some clothes on her frail body, they left New York and Maryland, never to look back again.
Epilogue
Kelsi, Janet, O (Constance) and Janet’s brother Rick ran a small strip club in Atlanta called Heart. Rappers, ball players and the like frequented the spot for the classy atmosphere and beautiful girls. It was a change of pace from the cheaper and classless spots in the city.
“You okay, ma?” O asked kissing Janet on the cheek. Janet was wiping the bar down preparing for more customers. “You been workin’ nonstop since the grand opening two months ago.”
“I’m good,” she smiled rubbing her hand over O’s pregnant belly. “But I wish you’d relax. You a boss now.”
“I know but it feels weird. I’ve always worked for somebody.”
“And now you work for me,” Kelsi said walking behind her planting a kiss on her cheek.
“You mean you work for me.”
“Ya’ll betta stop! That’s how she got in this position now!” Janet giggled.
“At least you got a grandbaby on the way,” Kelsi said hugging his mother next.
“You right. Somethin’ good came out of ya’lls nonstop humpin.”
They all laughed.
Although life appeared to be okay, Janet was still sad. She loved the comfort of a man and now she had none. Outside of Kelsi, she wasn’t even close to a male. Truth be told, she trusted no one.
Until, about twelve midnight.
“Can I get a Merlot?” a handsome man wearing black slacks and a grey shirt asked O.
“Sure,” she said politely. “Does it matter what brand?”
“No…but it matters who pours it.”
“And how’s that?” O asked.
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like that young lady right there to pour me a glass. And if she’ll allow me, I’d like to buy her a glass too.”
Hearing this Janet turned around and saw a familiar face. She’d seen him before but didn’t pursue. Because the moment he walked in the club, women would flock to him. He looked like Billy Dee Williams in his prime. And he was beyond sexy.
“So what do you say? May I buy you a drink?”
Janet couldn’t help but feel privileged. He never paid anyone any attention. He was always the one sought after. Pulling her shoulder length hair behind her ear, she smiled and looked at Kelsi. He nodded in approval. He wanted her happy and could sense her loneliness even though she never expressed it verbally.
“He’s a good look for you,” he said.
In that case, “Yes you may.”
It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Jan
et was enjoying the attention she was receiving from him until she saw a loud mouthed man enter the club. He was flashing money and speaking to the strippers rudely. Janet figured he’d be an easy target. And judging by his rude demeanor, it would be a pleasure taking him down.
“Excuse me,” she said to her friend. “I have to talk to my son for a moment.”
“No problem,” he responded.
Then she got up and walked toward Kelsi. Without using words, since O was around, she used her eyes to look in the direction of the loud customer.
Kelsi smiled slyly and said, “What’s one more body.”
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