That was earlier that day and I was dressed to kill, sitting in my car trying to pep talk myself into going inside. I hadn’t been in front of a camera in a while and I didn’t really miss it. That wasn’t like me, but I had been through some life altering experiences. What seemed important to me at first just didn’t really seem to be a priority anymore.
My cell phone rang and I literally jumped. It was Jamica. “Hey girl,” I answered trying to sound calm and collected.
“Where are you girl? It’s already eight thirty. Are you coming?” She asked in a concerned voice.
“I just pulled up and I’ll be inside in a minute.” After I hung up I checked my makeup and stepped out of my ride in four inch black red bottoms. My dress was tight, short and black, but simple. My jewels were over the top because I was “blinging.” I had my hair done up and my makeup was flawless. I loved the red lipstick and fake mole above my lip, because it gave me a sort of Marilyn Monroe look.
My heels clicked on the concrete as I made my way to the huge, night club. The music was thumping and I moved to the VIP line. The bouncer nodded at me and I didn’t have to give the dude with the clip board my name.
“Go on in Miss Beauvois.”
I walked inside and the place was packed with celebrities, groupies, unknowns and wannabees. It was a charity event and the proceeds would benefit spreading AIDS awareness in the black community as well as finding a cure.
I found Jamica and Gabby right after I grabbed a drink from the bar. They were already acting like they were feeling it and I was trying to get like them. The bright lights and pulsating music made me want to let loose and dance. I held back though as I sat down at the table in the VIP with them.
“When is Karaoke going to start?” I asked as I looked around.
“At ten,” Gabby spoke up. She was sipping her drink and waving her hands in the air to the music.
“I have a joint in the car. Ya’ll want to go smoke it?” Jamica asked slyly.
I was down. I hadn’t smoked since I stopped seeing Ahmad. He was my weed hook up and I wasn’t down for looking for that shit. I was a closet smoker and didn’t really like people in my business. I had to play it off though.
“I don’t smoke like that, but maybe it’ll make me brave enough to participate, I said.
Gabby nodded as she drained her glass. “Let’s go.”
* * *
When we got back inside the club my ass was high as hell. On the way to our table, I felt someone grab my arm. When I turned around I saw that it was Jermaine. I tried to smile, but I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to him either.
“Hello Jermaine,” I said pulling my arm away from his grasp.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I was just surprised to see you. I mean, I should’ve known since Gabrielle’s your girl.” He was still looking good. His smile was broad as he held on to his almost empty Corona bottle.
“Well, I wasn’t going to come, but she talked me into it.” I forced a smile on my face as I came up with an excuse to get away.
“You don’t have to come up with a reason to run off. I just wanted to speak to you.” He walked off and I felt relieved.
“Wow, what was that?” Gabby’s nosy ass when I got back to the table.
I rolled my eyes. “Nothing. Believe me.”
“Get out of her business,” Jamica said giving her a salty look.
After a few more drinks and some time on the dance floor, I finally felt loose. Honestly, it was the first time I had enjoyed myself since everything that had gone down with Ahmad. The DJ finally announced that it was time for Karaoke.
The first couple performers were horrible, but that was the whole point of Karaoke. It was funny and I almost fell out of my seat laughing at some dude’s terrible version of “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” Why he chose that song, I didn’t know.
“What the hell was he thinking?” Gabby asked.
I looked around and gestured for the waitress to come over. “May I have a bottle of Moet please?” I asked. I was already drunk, but I wasn’t quite drunk enough.
“At first I wasn’t planning to do this, but something told me that it was a possibility that someone I love dearly would be here. I’m a man, but I’m half the man I could be without her.”
I looked up when I heard the familiar voice on the mic. It was clearly Ahmad standing on the stage. Gabby and Jamica glanced at my reaction as he continued.
“If you’re out there somewhere Seandra, I want you to know that I love you very much. I made a big mistake by letting you go and I don’t want to miss another waking moment with you. This is for you baby.”
The music started and tears filled my eyes. When the waitress put the bottle of Moet on the table I didn’t even bother to touch it. He was singing my song.
“I could stay awake just to hear you breathing. Watch you smile while you are sleeping, far away and dreaming. I could spend my life in this sweet surrender. I could stay lost in this moment forever. Well, every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure.”
I couldn’t help but sing along when he got to the chorus and everyone else in the crowd did too.
“I don’t wanna close my eyes. I don’t wanna fall asleep ‘cause I’d miss you babe and I don’t wanna miss a thing. ‘Cause when I dream of you the sweetest dream would never do. I’d still miss you babe and I don’t wanna miss a thing.” Aww, Armageddon was our movie and we would both sing that song at the top of ours lungs. He didn’t sound great, but it was still a sweet gesture.
“Go up there,” Jamia whispered in my ear.
I couldn’t move. I just shook my head with my eyes still glued to him. “I can’t.”
“Go!” Gabby nudged me.
They were right. Shit, the man was wearing his heart on his sleeve and I was being stubborn as a fucking bull. I stood up with shaky legs and approached the stage. He was singing his heart out of to me and I couldn’t deny the passion in his words. When I finally made it to the stage he had his eyes closed as he hit the chorus one more time. There were cell phone lights and cigarette lighters in the air. Aerosmith was one of the few rock bands that black folks sang along to. When he opened his eyes he finally saw me standing there and he stopped singing.
He placed the mic back on the stand and stepped off the stage. The crowd literally dispersed as he made his way over to me. As he took me in his arms I almost crumbled, but he held me up. We kissed passionately like we were the only two there. I knew right then that there was no match for true love; not even black magic.
Chapter 26
Raheem
When my phone rang at nine am I knew that something had to be wrong. I looked at the screen and saw that it was Seantay’s mother.
“Good morning Mrs. Beauvois.” I knew that she could hear the question in my voice.
“Good morning Raheem. I’m sorry to bother you, but I was calling to see if Seantay is with you. She had a meeting this morning at eight, but Camille called and said that she didn’t show up.” She didn’t sound too concerned. “I swear, that girl does not take anything seriously,” she added.
I was worried, because she wasn’t with me and she was adamant about making her meeting. “As a matter of fact she’s not with me.” I jumped up and started getting dressed. “She was actually very serious about making that meeting this morning. I dropped her off at her apartment last night, but I haven’t heard from her. If she didn’t make it to the meeting something isn’t right about that.” I didn’t want to scare her, but Seantay missing her meeting didn’t sit well with me.
“I will call her sisters,” she said. There was panic now in her voice. “Please call me if you hear from her.”
“Okay. I’m about to go to her place. I will call you.” I hung up and rushed into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I had already wasted enough time, so I rushed to my car. That was when I thought about it. I had actually put a tracking device in Seantay’s car after the shit went down with the shootout. It had slipped my mind and I
was glad that it did. If I had thought about it I may have removed it after Dean got locked up. Thinking that the threat was over may have caused me to relax.
My mind was racing as I pulled out my iPhone. I accessed the app that could trace her car. It wasn’t at her crib and it was nowhere near where the meeting was supposed to be. As a matter of fact her car was somewhere that I would not have expected.
Oh shit, what if the person who had threatened her was not Dean? I pressed the gas hard as hell and followed the directions on my GPS. When I got to the light I made sure that my .45 was loaded. I was hoping that it was nothing to it, but something in my gut told me otherwise. If it was some foul shit going on, they were messing with the wrong man’s woman.
* * *
Seantay
My head was pounding like someone had hit me with a truck. Not only that, but my mouth was dry as hell. When I opened my eyes I realized that I had no idea where I was. Why the hell was I asleep in a strange place on the floor? As I tried to stretch I realized that I was handcuffed to a chair. My feet were tied up and I could feel something over my mouth. I couldn’t touch it, but common sense told me that it was duct tape.
“Mmmm…mmmm…” I moaned for no reason. There was no one around to hear me and if there was, I was sure that they didn’t give a shit about my wellbeing. If they did, I wouldn’t have been in there in the first damn place.
I heard movement outside of the room and I closed my eyes out of fear of what or who I would see. It was enough that I was in a musty smelling room, with dirt and dust everywhere. There was a stained, twin size mattress on the floor across from me. The gray cement floors were cold and dingy. It looked like a make shift prison and I prayed that I would make it out of there alive.
The sound of a door opening and then closing caused me to flinch in fear. My eyes were still closed, but when I heard a man’s voice I reluctantly opened them.
“You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said breathlessly as he pulled the tape from my mouth.
“Oww!” There was a big, long, black gun pointed in my face, so it took me a while to focus on his face. “Avery?” I asked when I recognized my first real boyfriend. As a matter of fact he was my first everything. When I recalled him spending his inheritance on me it made me wonder if he had always been crazy. “It was you who…?”
“Uh huh. It was me. I sent you the text and the email. It looked like you were already going through enough with the accident and all. Then you were constantly surrounded by those big ass Michael Jai White looking dudes. I had to wait until I caught you by yourself. Shit, that street thug you’re with now is always around too.” He shook his head. “It was hard, but this had to be done. I couldn’t let him get away with what he did.”
I gave him a confused look. “Who is he and what the hell are you talking about? Why the fuck am I here if your problem is with him?”
“Because he is your fucking father!” He walked back out of the room. When he returned with my father with his hands tied and his mouth covered with tape, I let out a loud sob.
“What the fuck is going on Avery?” I asked as I tried my best to be strong for my daddy. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was trying to be strong for me too.
“Let me let him tell you.” He pulled the tape from my father’s mouth and pointed the gun in his face.
“Please, don’t…”
Avery pointed the gun at me. “Shut the fuck up!”
I closed my mouth.
He pointed the gun at my father again. “Okay Mr. Beauvois. Tell your precious daughter how you ruined my fucking life. Let her know why I should blow your brains out right now.”
“I didn’t know Avery,” my father said calmly.
“Don’t lie to me! You knew!” He slammed the gun into my father’s face and he hit the floor. Blood leaked from an open womb on his forehead and my tears were uncontrollable.
“Stop Avery! Please!” My father was out cold and I wanted to make sure that he was still alive. When I saw his chest rise and fall I knew that he was breathing. I promised to myself that I would do whatever I had to do to keep him alive. Even if it meant risking my own life. My leg was hurting because of the uncomfortable position that I was in and I tried to shift my weight.
“Whatever it is, it can be fixed Avery,” I tried to plead with him.
“It could’ve been fixed, but it’s too damn late. Since your old man isn’t talking, I guess I have to fill you in huh?” He spat on my father and then looked up at me.
That was when I remembered what had happened. I was on the way to my meeting when someone ran into my car. My head hit the dashboard and that’s where I drew a blank. Whatever happened after that I couldn’t recall. My head was killing me and I knew that I had another concussion.
“My mother was running for a seat on the bench. Being a judge was her life’s dream, but your father ruined all of that. His grimy ass friend Frankie Williams had just became the DA. He was taking bribes and laundering dirty money for criminals. They were on to him, but he blamed it all on my mother because she was the assistant DA. At the hearing your lame ass pops took the stand and lied. He told them that Franklin Williams was an honest person and had confided in him that my mother was the culprit. After that my mother lost her job and her respect. It was a slap in the face and she had to use all of the money my father left to pay off her legal expenses. After that the banks took the houses and the cars.” He shook his head. “We don’t have shit! We’re broke and if it wasn’t for Frankie and your father...”
I had no idea any of that had happened. Shit, I
hadn’t seen or heard from Avery since we had
broken up. Why the hell was he coming after us instead of Frankie. I didn’t bother to even bring that up. There was no rationalizing with him. “Look, we have lots of money. You don’t have to hurt anybody. Just let us write you a check and…”
He blew up and went off. “Fuck that shit! No amount of money can change what the fuck you and your pops did to destroy me!”
“What?” I was shocked. “I didn’t do a damn thing to you.”
“Yes you did. You dumped me for a classless street thug. I knew that you liked that type. You would always complain about how bored you were with me. You broke my heart and that’s what I meant when I said you fucked over the wrong nigga. I wanted to throw you off. You never suspected me. I guess you thought it was just one of those crazy, thug ass niggas you were fucking with, since I don’t talk like that.”
“How long have you been stalking me?” I asked nervously. It made my skin crawl to even think about him following and watching me.
He laughed wickedly. “Long enough to know that the woman I thought I loved is just a common, low life whore!”
The anger in his eyes was raw and it made me cringe. I watched as my father stirred and moaned as he reached for his head. Why couldn’t he just pretend to be dead while I distracted Avery’s crazy ass. Of course his motivation was to protect his daughter, but I wanted to protect my father.
“I really did love you Avery, but we were kids. What happened with your mother was unfortunate, but it’s no need to hurt my father. Maybe he didn’t know. I’m sure he will be happy to make it up to you. I’ll ask him to get you a nice office and title as well as a big check to make up for what happened. That way your mother will be taken care of.” I was trying my best to find some way to fix what he felt like my father and I had done to him. If we could both just make it out alive.
He just pointed that huge gun at me with a menacing smile plastered on his face. At 6’2, he looked pretty intimidating. His pecan tan skin was still smooth and flawless, but his broad, muscular build boasted of his manly strength. He was no longer the naïve, lanky sixteen year old boy that I knew.
“Money can’t fix this shit. I need your father to know how it feels to lose something. I’m going to start by killing you. Shit, you’re a waste anyway.” His finger was on the trigger. I watched and counted down
the moments of my life. It was really over.
Before I knew what was going on I heard gunshots. As Avery’s body hit the floor I looked up to see Raheem standing there with a smoking gun in his hand. My fucking hero, but how did he find me?
* * *
Okay, so I was grateful to know that Rah had put a tracking device in my car for all of the right reasons. After the police came and got our statements it was clear that we were all telling the truth. They took Avery’s body away in a black body bag on top of a gurney and it was easier for me to deal with death that time. For some reason I didn’t even look away from his lifeless body when they zipped him up.
“Damn, the men in your past are bananas,” Rah said as he shook his head.
I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a kiss. “You came just in time.”
After my father’s wounds were cleaned by the paramedics he came over to give me a hug. “You have to go to the hospital to let them check your head out,” he said worried about me when he was all banged up.
“I’ve been through worse old man,” I laughed.
He chuckled and then shook Raheem’s hand. “You’re alright with me young man,” he added. He then leaned over and whispered in my ear. “You’re also 99 percent all Beauvois.”
I gave him a questioning glare. “How do you know?”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “It didn’t matter, but you had left your toothbrush. If it had said otherwise it wouldn’t had changed anything. I had just got the results before…I was abducted. I wasn’t even going to tell you, but hey, life’s short.”
My tears were happy tears that made the words on the paper blurry, but I could still clearly see the results. Sean Rene Beauvois was without a doubt my father. I clung to him and let the tears fall in relief. It was all finally over.
Chapter 27
Seantay
Dean’s sentence was announced a few weeks before. He had received fifteen years which was a long time, but not long enough. With his funds depleted and his ass behind bars, he was no longer a threat to me or Raheem. We’d taken drastic measures, but it was still easier than killing him. The maximum sentence for rape in the state of Florida was life in prison, so he had gotten lucky. Maybe in seven and a half years he’d be eligible for parole. I was just elated with the thought of him getting his the whole time he was in there. His diva ass was going to get tore up in that bitch and the thought put an evil smile on my face.
Black Magic: Book 3 of The Black Butterfly Series Page 16
