by Yoshe
Vanita plopped down in a chair. “Yeah, I’m good, Cap. Just kinda exhausted, that’s all,” she replied.
Captain Phillips leaned on the desk. “I spoke with Cruz like you asked me to. She cussed me out, too.”
Vanita shook her head. “Damn. Well, you tried and so did I. She’s losin’ it, though, slowly but surely.”
“I went to see Sean the other day. He seems to be doin’ a lot better.”
Vanita sighed. “He should be comin’ home tomorrow. I’m hopin’ they find the people that done this. Even though I personally think that bitch Yadira Cruz had somethin’ to do with it.”
The next day, when Sean arrived home from the hospital, his older brother, Twan, volunteered to stay with him until he felt comfortable enough to stay home alone. Sean insisted that he would be fine. By no means was Sean a punk and he would make sure that next time he would be ready for any motherfucker who tried to violate his home. Sean put his loaded Ruger in the nightstand drawer next to his bed.
Before Sean walked in his house, all the locks had been changed. His family had his burglar alarm system installed, as well. Sean even changed his cell and house numbers immediately. Not wanting to take any chances, he parked his truck on Long Island at his sister’s house and opted to drive her Toyota Camry instead. He had to remain low key, at least until everything died down.
As far as Yadira Cruz was concerned, Sean was going to stay on point with her. She had pushed his buttons for far too long and it was time that he fought back. Brandi was the woman he chose to be with and no one was going to stop him from being with her. Nobody.
After looking in the mirror to check out his healing wound and the fresh Caesar haircut that his brother gave him earlier that day, Sean got into his bed after taking the painkillers, which were prescribed for him by the doctor. While he waited for the medication to take effect, he heard his doorbell ring twice.
“I can’t fuckin’ believe this shit!” Sean shouted to no one in particular. He walked downstairs, but this time with a loaded Ruger in his hand. He looked through the peephole in the downstairs door and saw that it was Brandi. He smiled and swung the door open. The smile was quickly erased from his handsome face when he saw what was going on.
Chapter 41
Meanwhile, across town, Brandi was worried that she still had not heard from Shamari. He should be in Downstate by now, she thought as she walked to her apartment building from her car. It would take a while for him to be processed before he would be settled in to make a phone call to her. Because of this, Brandi was not able to function at work, knowing that her only child was in some “man’s” prison. Once she talked to him, she would feel much better.
Instead of wallowing in her misery, it was 6:30 in the evening when Brandi decided to get out of her bed to go to Pathmark for some Häagen-Dazs ice cream. She could not wait to get into bed and dig into some butter pecan, her favorite flavor, and watch a few DVDs she had rented from Blockbuster.
She was going to make her days off from work seem like a mini-vacation, considering all the bullshit that was going on around her. She would do all of this and call Sean, who was home from the hospital by now. Brandi wanted to see him but she understood that he needed a few days to himself first.
Coming from Pathmark, Brandi parked her car on the street. She walked toward her building, with her ice cream in her hand. She couldn’t wait to get upstairs to call Sean.
Brandi almost made it to her building when suddenly someone pulled her hair from the back and put a gun to her head. She felt the cold steel against her skin and her body froze instantly. Brandi grimaced as she felt hot pee roll down the leg of her dark denims and dropped her ice cream to the ground. What is going on? she thought.
“Yeah, bitch, you thought I wasn’t comin’ for you, huh?” the female voice asked. “You thought I forgot all about your ass, huh?”
Brandi held her hands in the air. “What do you want from me?” she asked.
“I want you to stay away from us. Ever since you came into our life, it’s been nothin’ but a mess! Turn around and look at me!”
Brandi turned around slowly and faced Yadi. It looked as if the woman had been crying all night, with her reddened eyes and swollen face. She had a crazed look in her eyes.
“What are you doing, Yadi?” Brandi began.
Yadira recklessly waved the gun at Brandi. “Shut the fuck up! Don’t ask me shit ’cause you know what it is! You’re a grimy bitch that stole my fuckin’ man from under my nose! Now you got him disrespectin’ me and not wantin’ to be with me anymore! You’re the one that’s a fuckin’ disgrace!”
Brandi turned around hoping to see someone walk or drive by but she had no such luck. Starrett City was usually busy around that time of day but for some strange reason, no one was in the area when she needed them the most.
“Yadi, can we please talk about this?” Brandi asked.
“Shut up, bitch!” Yadi yelled. “Let’s go to your fuckin’ car and go pay Sean a visit. I want you to tell Sean to his face that you’re not gonna see him anymore!”
Brandi painstakingly walked to her car and pressed the keyless entry to open the door for Yadi. She could have tried to run away but in the state of mind that Yadi was in, she did not want to take that chance. After all, she was a mother and a grandmother. Brandi was just thankful that she didn’t have her grandson when Yadi rolled up on her.
Brandi got into the driver’s side and started the car up. Yadi poked the gun in her ribs.
“Drive this car to Sean’s house, you stinkin’ bitch! You know where he lives, right? You been fucked there enough times, haven’t you?” Yadi exclaimed.
Brandi reluctantly pulled off and made her way to Sean’s house. The ride to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood was nerve-wracking. She looked straight ahead, not daring to look at the foul-faced woman sitting in the passenger seat of her expensive car. Brandi took a quick glance at the clock in her car and it was 7:15 P.M. when they arrived in front of Sean’s house. Yadi had not uttered one word the entire trip, and by the time they pulled up on Sean’s block, Yadi had completely lost it.
“I’m sick of you subpar chicks thinkin’ y’all could fuck with a beautiful woman like me!” she stated, as they got out of the double-parked car. “What makes you think that you could compete with me, huh, Brandi?”
Brandi glared at Yadira. She was losing her patience. She just shook her head, amazed at how crazy Yadi sounded.
They walked down the steps to the door that led to Sean’s family room. Yadi shoved the gun into Brandi’s back. A tear slowly crept down Brandi’s cheek. Brandi rang the bell and Yadi moved to the side so that Sean couldn’t see her when he opened the door. Meanwhile, Yadi was lingering in the dark corner with the gun aimed directly at Brandi’s head.
Sean opened the door with his Ruger in his right hand and saw that it was Brandi. As he went to hug her, the smile on his face disappeared. He saw Yadi appear from the side of his house with a gun in her hand and was more than surprised.
“What the fuck?” Sean said, with a shocked look on his face.
Yadi laughed and pushed Brandi inside, making her fall at Sean’s feet. She pointed the gun at the both of them. Sean gripped the Ruger and hid it behind his back. He didn’t expect Yadi to show up on his doorstep.
“I should fuckin’ kill the both of y’all motherfuckers!” Yadi screamed, with spit spraying from her mouth. “I can’t stand the sight of y’all, standin’ here in my face, lyin’ to me! Makin’ me look like a damn fool!” Yadi rambled on.
Yadi held the gun in her hand so tight, her knuckles were turning white. She slowly placed her finger on the trigger and pointed the silver gun at the both of them.
“Yo’!” Yadi screamed, swinging the guns in their faces. “Sit down, you pathetic motherfuckers! Can’t stand the sight of y’all right now!”
She made them sit on the couch. Brandi sat next to Sean, shivering from fright. Sean just sat in one place, watching Yadi and careful
not to make any sudden movements. He just sat in one place, carefully sliding his gun between the couch pillows.
“See what you’re makin’ me do, Sean?” Yadi shouted, pointing the gun at him, then at Brandi. Brandi closed her eyes, tightly.
“See what happens when you choose a bitch over me? I’m a good fuckin’ woman and you wanna trade me for some punk bitch with a jailbird son!”
Brandi wanted to jump up and beat Yadi senseless but maintained her composure. She had to remain calm or end up a statistic.
“My son don’t have anything to do with you and me!” Brandi said, unable to compose herself at the mention of Shamari’s name.
Sean interrupted before everything went awry. “Yadira, you don’t have no beef with her. It’s me. I’m the one that you claimed rejected you. Leave Brandi out of this!”
“Fuck her! Fuck Brandi! Thinkin’ she’s all that with her nice clothes, thinkin’ she better than somebody! You ain’t nobody, bitch, ’cause I’m the law!” Yadi screamed and pointed the gun in Brandi’s face. “I’m a correction officer! You couldn’t do my job in a hundred years!”
Sean cut her off. “Please, Yadi! Nobody gives a fuck about you bein’ a correction officer, okay? If you kill us, you are goin’ to jail! Do you understand that? To jail! Why would you wanna subject your daughter to that?”
Yadi began nervously pacing around the room. “Sean, my daughter has her father and grandparents to take care of her. She’s better off without me. I fucked up ’cause you don’t love me, Devin doesn’t love me, my family thinks I went bonkers . . . I just don’t give a fuck anymore!”
Sean frowned. It sounded as if Yadi might hurt herself, as well. He couldn’t allow that to be on his conscience. “Yadi, put the gun down, please. We don’t need any more drama. Maybe we could work somethin’ out—” he pleaded.
“Sean, baby, you don’t seem to understand. I just love you so much. I need you to hold on to.” Yadi began crying. “I don’t have anyone except my baby and she is too young to understand me. I wanna be with you, Sean! I can make you so happy! Pleeeease!” she cried out, holding the gun in shaky hands. She was sweating profusely.
Sean shook his head. He didn’t want to say anything that would set her off so he had to think of something else that would make her put the gun down. Maybe he could try to get Brandi out of the house so that she could call the police.
Sean tried to soothe the tensed Yadi. “Look, Yadi, you need to calm down! You gonna get into a whole lotta trouble if you hurt us! Just put the gun down, please!”
Yadi wailed and let off a warning shot in the air. Sean watched as dust fell from a gaping hole in the ceiling. He shook his head in annoyance and fear for his life.
“Why are you doin’ this to us? Brandi don’t even know you!” Sean asked.
“Oh, so you takin’ up for her now? I thought I was your girl, Sean!” Yadi asked, waving the gun in their faces.
She then raised the gun and pointed it toward Brandi’s direction. Sean just sat in one place, carefully sliding his gun between the couch pillows.
Yadi pulled her victim by the hair, dragging Brandi onto the floor. Once she was on the floor, Yadi gave Brandi a swift kick to the ribs. “Now get the fuck out so that I can be alone with my man!”
Brandi slowly got up from the floor and tried to stand up. Her ribs felt as if they were about to crack in half from the impact. Brandi thought back to a time when a female wouldn’t dare step to her, let alone put their hands on her. Holding her rib cage, she realized how much she had evolved as a woman. Yadi would have definitely been six feet under if a younger, more volatile Brandi had anything to do with it.
Yadi grabbed Brandi by her shirt and led her to the door. “Get the hell out of here, you fuckin’ ho! I better not see your ass around here no more or else I will murder you, bitch!” Then Yadi pushed Brandi out the door and locked it.
Sean frowned and realized that Yadi was not letting that gun go, no matter how crazy she sounded. All he could think about was Brandi getting the cops over there before Yadi killed him.
Outside, Brandi got up from the stained concrete, brushing the dirt off her bloody, scraped knees. She searched her pockets for car keys and limped to her car. Rubbing her bruised ribs, she broke down and began crying. Brandi wondered how she had even got involved with all of the craziness between Sean and Yadi.
On the outside looking in, she was able to relate to Yadi’s conflict and pain. At one time, Brandi was madly in love with a man who was not in love with her. Those feelings of rejection drove Brandi to conspire murder. Ironically, almost fourteen years later, Brandi found herself face to face with Yadi; a woman who felt the same way she did when she found out Maleek was leaving her for another woman. Those feelings of rejection forced Brandi to do something that she never thought that she would do, and that was conspiring to kill Maleek.
At that moment, Brandi regained her senses and thought about Sean. If Yadi felt anything like she did back then, Sean was as good as gone. She had to hurry up and get help for him.
Brandi limped to her car. She looked through her bag to retrieve her cell phone. As she attempted to dial 9-1-1, her phone beeped and she realized that her cell phone battery was dying.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Brandi said. Sean was in trouble and there was no time to waste. Brandi didn’t want to knock on the door of any of Sean’s neighbors and she didn’t have time to look for a working pay phone. This meant she would have to drive to the nearest precinct to get help, which was approximately two blocks from Sean’s house. Brandi just hoped that it wouldn’t be too late for him, because truthfully, Yadi sounded like she was on a murder-suicide mission.
In the meantime, at Sean’s house, Yadira had him sit on the couch in the family room, while she walked back and forth with the gun in her hand. She threw her thick mane back and forth across her shoulders as she listened to Sean. He talked about how much he really cared about her, even though at that moment he could have killed her himself.
“Yadi, put the gun, down, baby girl, please,” he said sweetly. Sean gave Yadi a million-dollar smile. “We’re good. Brandi is gone.” Yadi walked back to Sean, who was still sitting on the couch. She tried to kiss him and he pulled away.
Yadi laughed aloud and Sean frowned. “Oh, Sean, you are so stupid! You think I’m gonna let you get away with playin’ me? You knew how much I loved you. You knew this but you proceeded to fuck with Brandi, a visitor bitch comin’ to Riker’s Island to see her jailbird son! You have officially reached an all-time low. We’re correction officers. Those visitors are beneath us!”
Yadi continued with her ranting and raving. “Sean, we can be together. I can live here with you and eventually become your wife. Don’t you want me to have your baby, Sean? We can make beautiful babies together!”
Sean was growing angrier by the minute. Fortunately, for him, the love-crazed maniac hadn’t realized that he had his own gun hiding behind his back the whole time. He would have hated to have to blow Yadi’s head off her shoulders in self-defense. All he could think about was her daughter.
“What the hell are you talkin’ about, Yadi? How could you think some shit like that? What’s the next step, huh? You got a gun in your hand, kidnapped Brandi, I mean, why are you even puttin’ yourself and us through this shit?”
“Because,” she shouted, waving the gun above her head and crying again. “Because I’m tired of y’all triflin’-ass men puttin’ me through shit! I just wanna be happy, you know, is that a crime? I wanna be able to love somebody and they love me back, unconditionally!”
Sean smirked. “You got the nerve to talk about lovin’ somebody? What about you loving yourself first? You up here with a gun in my fuckin’ face, tryin’ to force me to be with you and that’s supposed make me love you?” Sean paused. “At one time you had me, Yadi. You had me thinkin’ you were the complete package. Instead, a few days with you and you turned into a whinin’ basket case, always wantin’ a nigga’s undivided attention all the
time like you can’t function unless you got some dick in your life. You’re on some real selfish shit! That ain’t no love!”
Yadi frowned and pointed the gun at Sean. Sean stood up and pointed his Ruger at her too.
“Play yourself if you want to. I will smoke your ass right in this house, woman or not,” Sean warned her.
Yadi held the gun in her hand, staring at Sean. A few more seconds, her hands began shaking. She finally broke down and Sean was able to take the gun out of her hands. She fell to the floor on her knees with her face in her hands. He gripped his Ruger in his right hand, afraid that it might slip from his sweaty grip. Who knew what Yadi had up her sleeve? Sean let her sit on the floor and cry as he absent-mindedly placed her gun behind the bar.
Yadi held her head up and looked Sean in the face. He was scowling at her and shaking his head.
“Sean, I am so sorry! I know I fucked up! It’s just that I love you so much! You have always been good to me and I took our friendship for granted! I just thought that after I broke up with Devin, there was a possibility we could be together.” As Yadi shook her head, her wild hair framed her face. “I just needed to be with somebody,” she whispered, while breaking down in tears.
“Why stress bein’ with a man, Yadi?” he replied. “You have a family, a daughter that worships the ground you walk on. You don’t need a man to make you feel complete. You can get as many men as you want. Sometimes you just gotta accept certain things as they are and move on with your life. Forcing me to be with you is not going to work!”
Yadi buried her head in hands again. Sean plopped onto the nearby bar stool and took a deep breath. She’s a pathetic bitch, he thought as she sat there and sobbed loudly. Sean didn’t feel sorry for Yadi this time. He had been there for Yadi when she needed him the most and this was how she repaid him.
Suddenly, the bell upstairs rang. Sean glanced at Yadi, who was in a fetal position in front of his fireplace. He hesitated to leave her there alone but he couldn’t but help but wonder if it was Brandi with the cops. Sean ran up the stairs to see who was behind the voices on the main level of his brownstone, leaving Yadi sitting on the floor and looking into space.
