by Jacob Spears
He was no longer looking at China. The person he saw in front of him was a total stranger. The China he knew would never try to hurt him, even if it meant hurting herself.
Still holding her hair, Smooth punched her as hard as he could in the face and watched as she fell to the floor.
“Shame on you, China!” he screamed, as he kicked her in the ribs.
“All this time I was your scapegoat, huh?” He kicked her again.
“You wanted me to go to prison, stupid bitch!” he spat on her and began walking out.
“Smooth, please don’t ...”
“He grabbed his keys and walked out, not bothering to look back.
* * *
Smooth dialed Monica’s number and then crossed his fingers. He was sure he’d be able to get her to see his point of view, if only she would answer.
He was glad Monica had put all the numbers on to his phone.
“Hello,” Monica answered.
“What’s up, Mo?”
“Smooth?”
“Yeah, it’s me!”
“ I didn’t recognize the number. You better be glad I answered.”
“I am.”
Monica thought he sounded happy indeed.
“Why you so happy I answered?” she wanted to know.
“Because I need to talk to you.”
“About?”
“Listen, Mo. Me and China ain’t together no more. So what you and her got going on don’t have nothing to do with me!”
“Is that right?” Monica didn’t believe a word he said, but stayed on the phone because she had nothing else to do at the moment.
“That’s right,” Smooth said.
“So why are you calling to tell me this?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“You got something that belongs to me and I need it.”
“And what might that be?” Monica teased.
“Come on, Mo, let’s not play this game. You know what I’m talking about.”
Monica laughed.
“I’ll make you a deal, Smooth.”
“I’m listening,” he replied.
“You leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. You don’t have anything to worry about from me.”
“I believe you, but you know I can’t have that hanging over my head.”
“I don’t think you have much of a choice,” she laughed.
The call wasn’t going like he expected.
“How much do you want for it?” he tried another angle.
“How much can I get for it?”
“$100,000!”
Monica laughed again.
“That’s all your freedom is worth to you? If that’s the case, you might as well let me give you that much to be my slave,” Monica was enjoying herself.
“Let me make this easy for you, honey. I got money. You know that I do. But I don’t have security. Would you go skydiving without a parachute?”
“Not unless I was trying to get myself killed!” Smooth answered.
“I’m not trying to die, Smooth. I got a reason to life. In fact, I got millions of reasons.”
“You leave me no choice then.”
With that Smooth ended the call
Chapter 21
China sat on the bed clutching the pillow as she cried. The pain she felt was unbearable, not physically, but emotionally. She loved Smooth with all of her heart and it was tearing her apart to know that he had left the way he did. It hurt even more to know that she deserved it. At that moment, she hated Monica and wanted her dead more than anything. She had to find her.
China picked up the phone and called her private investigator.
After telling him what she needed, she hung up and slowly made her way to the bathroom.
She looked at her face in the mirror. She gently touched her bruised eye and winced. She also felt soreness in her ribs where Smooth had kicked her, but that pain was bearable.
China had never been a person to sit back and wait for things to happen.
She dressed, called a taxi, and went downstairs to wait.
“China?”
She turned around and saw Miranda walking towards her.
She was thankful for the oversized dark glasses she wore, but silently cursed under her breath.
“Hi,” China said.
“How are you?” Miranda asked.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“I’m good. Thanks for asking. I know this may be a little awkward, but I’d like to talk to you about Smooth.”
Tears sprang from China’s eyes at the mention of his name.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Miranda took China by the hand.
“You wouldn’t understand. Trust me.”
Miranda laughed.
“We all got a past, and I’m sure what you’re dealing with right now is nothing I haven’t been through.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
China couldn’t place a finger on it, but she liked Miranda.
“Let’s go to my office.”
“I can’t. I’m waiting for a taxi. I’ll come by and see you when I get back.”
Before Miranda could answer, a blue and white cab pulled up.
“I’ll see you later,” China said, as she got in the back seat.
China gave the driver Ga Ga’s address.
On the way to Ga Ga’s house, she sat in the back seat in deep thought. Only a week earlier, her life seemed so perfect. She wanted for nothing. Now, only a week later, she had nothing. Nor did she care. All she wanted was for things to go back to what they used to be with her and Smooth. She pulled out her phone and dialed his number again. She knew he wouldn’t answer.
She was right.
The diver discreetly stole glances of the attractive lady in his back seat. He wondered the reason for the sadness he saw in her face.
He reached the address she had given him. After paying the fare, China got out and was thankful that Roxy was there.
“Hey, y’all,” she said to Roxy and Meka.
“Hey,” they responded in unison.
“I need to talk to you,” China pulled Roxy into the house.
“What’s up, sis?” she asked China, once they were out of earshot of Meka.
“Smooth left me.”
“Y’all are always going through something. It ain’t never been a big deal. Why you acting like it’s a big deal now?”
China removed her glasses.
Roxy let out a gasp.
“Who the fuck did that to you?” Roxy was pissed.
“I deserved this and a lot more, Rox. I showed you this to say I think it’s really over this time,” China said, as she put her glasses back on.
“So Smooth did this?”
“Would you just listen?” China ordered.
“Talk!” Roxy folded her arms and began tapping her feet.
China told her sister about what she had planned to do and how Monica now had the pistol.
Roxy had stopped tapping and now stared at her younger sister as if she had two heads.
“How could you do something so fucking stupid, China? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Roxy exploded.
“I thought ...”
“You thought shit! You didn’t think. If you did, you would have seen that he had your back since day one.”
“I don’t need to feel any worse,” China sunk to the couch.
“I can’t believe you would do something so stupid. So where is Smooth now?”
“I don’t know. He just left and hasn’t answered his phone since,” China began sniffling.
Roxy picked up the phone and called Smooth.
“What’s up, Roxy?” he answered.
“Hey Smooth,” she looked at China, who jumped to her feet.
“Where are you?” Roxy asked him.
“Just driving around.”
Roxy noticed that he sounded extremely depressed.
“China told me what happened,” she told him.
&n
bsp; “She did, huh? Did she tell you why?”
“She told me that, too. I just want you to know I’m not mad at you.”
“Thanks, sis. I just can’t figure out why she would do some shit like that to me.”
Smooth and Roxy talked for several more minutes before disconnecting the call.
“Where is he?” China asked.
“He ain’t nowhere!”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s just driving around, China.”
“I know what I did was fucked up, sis, but it sounds like you’re on Smooth’s side.”
She received a dirty look from Roxy.
“That’s your problem right there, girl. In your eyes, it’s a his side and your side. But in his eyes, if it hurts you, it hurts him. We would’ve never did that to you. So no, lil’ sis, I’m not on his side, but I’m damn sure ain’t against him! And you should never have been either, especially for that no good trifling hoe.”
“I know. Ohhhhh, I want to get my hands on that bitch so bad.”
“So what’s your plan to get Smooth’s life out of her hands?” Roxy asked.
“I got to find her first, and I need to buy a gun. I’m going to fucking kill that bitch!”
“Where are you going to buy a gun?”
“I have no clue,” China told her.
Roxy went to her room and came back with a shiny silver pistol wrapped in white cloth and handed it to China.
“Two things,” Roxy held up two fingers. “You didn’t get that from me and don’t ever bring it back to me.”
China placed the gun in her purse and zipped it closed.
“Thank you, sis. This never happened.”
Both girls laughed.
“What are you doing with a gun anyway?” China asked.
“You ain’t the only one that got a little thug in you. It runs in the family, girl.”
“I don’t know what you talking about,” China laughed again.
“China, let me say this to you, Smooth really loves you. If I were you, I’d do whatever it takes to get him back. He’s a good young nigga and he’ll only get better with time. He’s the one any woman would be smart to marry.”
China listened as Roxy explained to her what type of man Smooth was.
She knew her sister was right about Smooth, just as she was about Boss. She agreed with Roxy.
She’d do whatever it took to get him back.
* * *
Nick Ferro, the private investigator China hired for all the investigative work she needed, dialed a number and then waited.
“Hey there LeeAnne, I got one for you.”
He waited for a moment and then spelled out Monica’s full name.
After being placed on hold, Nick picked up the pen and jotted down the information.
“Thank you, LeeAnne.”
He typed the address into his navigation system and followed the address. After arriving at the location, he drove passed the house and parked a few houses down where he’d be able to keep the house under surveillance.
After more than three hours of waiting, he was surprised to find a white family exiting the car, with the kids running to the front door. It was obvious they lived there. He looked at the address on the paper and on the house. They matched.
He pulled up in front of the house just before the middle-aged man walked inside.
Nick got out.
He explained that he was with the Department of Children and Family and he needed to investigate a report of abuse on a Monica White. He looked at the paper with Monica’s information on it.
“There’s no one that lives here by that name.”
Just as Nick had suspected.
“How long have you been living here?” he asked.
“Just over three months,” the man answered.
“I’m sure it must’ve been the family that lived here prior to your family. Our caseload is so heavy that we can’t get out to investigate reports of abuse in a timely manner. I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Nick got back in his car and drove away.
He could justify his rates to China as long as he produced results.
He headed back to his office. He needed more information on Monica. She was going to be more difficult than he first thought. But he was Nick Ferro, and he always found his subject.
He called his contact at the post office, but was told he was unavailable. Nick would have to call back another time.
The next call he placed was to China.
“Let’s hear it,” she answered the phone.
“Up until a few months ago, she lived at ...” He looked at the paper and gave her the address. “Now, I have run my normal checks. Because of her age, I’m sure she doesn’t have any credit cards or property in her name. So that brings me to the purpose of this call.”
“Which is?”
“What can you tell me about her ... about the people closest to her? Give me your best guess as to where she might’ve run off to. Does she have any family out of state that she can turn to?”
China thought for a moment.
“She has two younger brothers, Marvin and Marlin. The only family member I know of is her Aunt Donna ... Donica Kelly. Oh shit!”
“I take it you have something for me,” Nick said.
“Her brothers are in her aunt’s care. Or at least they were up until I got arrested. So all you’ve got to do is find her aunt.”
“That’s what I need, kiddo. C’ya.”
Nick hung up the phone and went to work.
It was always easier to find adults. Underage subjects were usually what he called ghosts, because it was hard to find any trace of them.
“Let’s see what Donica Kelly turns up?” he asked himself.
* * *
Smooth sat on Miranda’s couch in deep thought.
It was obvious to her that he had plenty on his mind and she suspected that China had a lot to do with it.
“Have you eaten?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“What would you like to eat?”
“Whatever you cook,” he told her.
“Cook? You better look through these menus,” she handed him a stack of menus from different restaurants in the area that delivered.
He half-heartedly picked a Chinese restaurant and handed it back to her.
After placing the order, she took a seat on the recliner and looked at him for a long while.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she finally asked.
“Talk about what?”
“The pain you’re going through right now.”
“It’s that obvious, huh?” Smooth said.
“Yeah, added with the fact that I saw China today and she was a hot mess herself, and she began crying when I mentioned your name.”
Smooth laughed. He’d never heard anyone describe China as a hot mess.
“Why did she start crying?” he wanted to know.
Miranda recognized the hurt lover in Smooth. He needed to know that she was in pain as well.
“Whatever you guys are going through is hurting her just like it’s hurting you,” Miranda replied, knowing he needed to hear those words.
“China really hurt me, Miranda. I never thought she’d ...”
“Thought that she’d what? Cheat on you? Maybe she thought the same thing about you, Smooth. But she forgave you.”
Smooth shook his head.
“It’s not another nigga. She betrayed me, and I can’t ...”
“You men are all the same. You betrayed her. Betrayal is betrayal. She forgave you, so it’s only right for you to forgive her.”
“It’s not that easy, Miranda. You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand,” she said.
“Let’s just drop it.”
“Fine by me.”
They sat in silence until the doorbell rang.
Miranda paid the deliveryman and then ordered Smooth over to the dining table.
&nbs
p; After placing their food on plates, the two dug in.
Smooth’s mind was on China, and Miranda’s mind was on him.
Occasionally, she looked up from her food to steal a glance at Smooth.
“You know,” she dropped her fork with a loud clank on to her plate. “I’m glad I put a stop to us when I did.”
“I was that bad, huh?”
“No, actually you were real good,” Miranda replied and felt a tingle between her legs when she thought about their sex.
“I’m just glad that I didn’t allow myself to get pulled in any deeper.”
“How deep did you get pulled in?” Smooth asked, holding Miranda’s stare.
“Not as deep as you and China are with each other. Not even close.”
“How should I take that?” he asked her.
“Anyway you want,” she returned.
Smooth returned his attention to his food.
“All I’m saying is this, Smooth. I’m glad I was able to get a hold of myself, because you’re obviously something special. I saw the hurt in China’s face earlier and it’s obvious to me that she loves you. Looking at her made me regret my actions with you. You guys love each other. I know it just as well as you know it. But let me share something with you that you may not know.”
Smooth lowered his fork again to show Miranda that he was paying attention.
“When you love someone you accept them as they are, not as the person you think they’ll be or the person you believe you can make them out to be. You share in their pain and you delight in their pleasure. You always want what’s best for them, even when that’s not what’s best for you. Love is forgiving. If you love this girl like you say you do, and then find a way to forgive her. Forgive her because you love her, but also forgive her because you know she’d forgive you, Smooth.”
“Would she?” Smooth asked himself.
For the first time when it came to China, he wasn’t sure.
“Can I ask you something?” Miranda inquired.
“Ask me anything you want.”
“Are you ready to walk away from her?”
Smooth didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be willing to walk away from China.
“Don’t make any decisions about her without hearing what she has to say for herself. And that’s if she’s in the wrong. But if you’re in the wrong, don’t be a jackass, Smooth!”
