“I’m going to call you back in a little while. I have to handle something.”
Click!
What the hell? I thought. Did he just hang up on me or was my mind playing tricks on me? He didn’t just do that. I stared at the phone hoping that it would ring again. I felt like bursting into tears. Was all that I’ve done in vain? I felt like a damn fool. I couldn’t even think straight. I was hyperventilating at one point. I’d gotten so worked up I had to pull over. I mean, I was at the point of no return. What could I do if he didn’t want this baby or if he didn’t want me? That wasn’t an option. Maybe I was overreacting and something really important caused him to end the call so abruptly. I sat there in the car for the next ten minutes before I calmed down enough to maneuver through traffic safely. I made it home and was still out of sorts when I got there. I slammed the door and stomped my feet up to the room like a twelve-year-old. Now been holding on to it until the right time and what better then almost forty-five minutes since he hung up on me. I wouldn’t give in and call him again. I wasn’t a weak chick, I wasn’t even an emotional chick so I didn’t know where the hell all of it was coming from. Wait, yes I did, this damn baby was taking me over. I got up to the bedroom and lay across the bed. I was exhausted and I hoped that maybe if I took a nap by the time I got up he’d be here apologizing for dissing me.
Chapter 14
Black
Take This Ring
I sat there staring at the phone and feeling like the biggest asshole on the planet. Did she just say we were having a baby? How the hell did that happen? I wasn’t ready for that. Not that I don’t love kids but with so much shit going on it wasn’t the time to bring a baby into the world. Shit, I still had to look over my shoulder every time I took a step to make sure someone wasn’t sneaking up on me. I knew she’d be pissed but even more hurt the way that I reacted but at the time I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I figured not saying anything at all was better than saying the wrong thing. If she was pregnant and planned on keeping it, there wasn’t anything that I could say to change her mind. With Diamond that was virtually impossible. Now, I not only had to worry about keeping her safe but a baby as well. And what would Trice do? That was a whole different issue in itself. I could see her becoming more conniving once she got a whiff of the news. JB sat across from me trying to figure out what the hell was going on. His lips were moving but I could no longer hear him.
“Hello, is anybody in there?” JB said, waving his hands in front of my face trying to break my stare.
“Yeah I’m here,” I said shaking out of it for a second.
“Yo’, what happened? Who was that on the phone?”
“That was Diamond, I just did some dumb shit.”
“What? I was sitting right here and I didn’t hear you say anything but you’ll call her back.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem, I didn’t say anything. She just told me that she was pregnant and I hung up on her.”
He sat back in his chair with a puzzled look on his face. “Damn, that’s heavy.”
“Tell me about it. I didn’t mean to diss her like that, she just caught me off guard. Now I feel like shit because it came across like I don’t want it and it’s not even like that.”
“Well, call her back and explain it. That should settle it, right?”
“Man, that shit ain’t going to just go away like that. You don’t know her like I do and she’s not that easy to smooth over when shit gets rough.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you, can’t say buy her some shit ’cause she can buy anything her damn self.”
“Let me show you something,” I said as I opened up the drawer and removed the black velvet ring box that I’d locked up inside. I sat it on the desk in front of him without opening it.
“Is that what I think it is?” He asked with a surprised look on his face.
“Yeah it is, open it.”
He sat up and grabbed the box off the desk and opened it. “Damn man, this shit is tight. Why didn’t you give it to her?”
“Because it didn’t make sense. We still haven’t straightened out this shit with Kemp that’s lingering on and realistically she couldn’t marry me if she’s still married to him.”
“So you really believe he’s still alive?”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore. I do know someone is out there trying to kill me.”
“I mean, we were both at the funeral. I know damn well I saw them put his body in the ground. Unless he has a twin, he’s dead. I think someone is trying to fuck with you and by the looks of it they’re succeeding. You can’t let this shit put your life on hold. If you love her, marry her. She’s having your seed now too—you have to keep it moving.”
What he said made total sense. Here I was tripping about a nigga that I knew for a fact was dead. This whole situation had gotten out of hand and the more I let it get to me the worse things got between me and Diamond. He was right, that’s exactly what they wanted to do. Fuck it, I was going to give her the ring and I was going to do it tonight. I wasn’t waiting around any longer.
“You’re absolutely right,” I said, laughing. “Why am I tripping, I know what needs to be done.”
“What about the baby?”
“I’m actually excited about that, believe it or not.”
“Well, congrats then, nigga,” he said, standing up to give me dap. I grabbed the box back off the table and instead of tucking it back inside the drawer I put it in my pocket. I’d been holding on to it until the right time and what better time then the present.
“So a quick change in subject, I talked to Money and he’s going to get with you sometime this week. We’re moving forward with this partnership.”
“Word, I’m glad you thought it over. I trust him, he’s a good dude.”
“Well, if not, I’ll have you to blame for it.” I said, sternly. Though JB and me were cool, business was business and if for any reason this nigga Money fucked me over, I’d be on his ass. He looked at me as if he wasn’t expecting it.
“Why you coming at me like that? You know I’d take him out my damn self if anything shiesty comes up,” he said, putting his hand on his chest.
“I’m not coming at you, I’m just saying, you brought him to my attention so if something happens it’s partly your fault.”
“I’ll accept that but I gotta run, I have a few stops to make. I’ll get with you later.” He reached over to shake my hand.
“Okay, cool.” I replied, as I extended my arm to shake his hand.
Once he left the room I dialed Diamond. Surprisingly she didn’t pick up. I thought for sure she’d at least answer and curse me out. I didn’t bother to leave a message, I just headed home to straighten this out. As I pulled up to the house and turned into the driveway a blue Camry quickly sped off from the opposite side of the street. Normally I wouldn’t pay something like that any mind but they peeled off so damn fast they left tire marks in the street. Plus, with all of the shit that had been going down lately I had to be extremely careful and pay close attention to my surroundings. If I didn’t, that would definitely give them the advantage and I wasn’t going to go that route.
I got up to the door and opened it. It was pretty quiet but I knew she was home because her car was in the driveway.
“Diamond,” I yelled out through the house. I didn’t get an answer so I thought she might have been asleep. I walked into the bedroom and saw her stretched out across the bed. She looked peaceful but as I walked closer I could see the dry tear tracks on both sides of her face. Seeing the evidence of her tears made feel even worse than I had before I got there. I stood there holding onto my pocket wondering if it was the right time to pop the question. I wasn’t sure if I was ready and now that I was standing there I was more nervous than I would have imagined I’d be at this point in my life. I stood there for a few more minutes almost afraid to wake her. She must have felt my presence because she woke up and noticed me before I was able to leave the ro
om.
“Hey babe, I didn’t mean to wake you.” I turned to face her. She didn’t respond, only getting up from the bed and heading into the bathroom.
“Diamond, can we talk?”
She stopped in her tracks and turned to walk back to the door. “Talk about what? How you just dissed me? I told you I was having your baby and you hung the phone up!” she yelled as she paced back and forth. She had every reason to be upset.
“I’m sorry, okay, it just caught me off guard and I wasn’t dissing you, I would never do that to you.”
“Maybe you didn’t want to but that’s exactly what you did. That shit was low for you, I never thought you wouldn’t be able to take care of your responsibility.”
“I can take care of my responsibility. It’s not about that, it’s really about nothing. I said I was sorry.”
She stood there staring as if there was something that she wanted to say but couldn’t. She shook her head and turned to continue her trip into the bathroom.
“Diamond,” I called out to her.
“What?” she yelled with her back still facing me.
“Could you turn around, please? I need to show you something.” I pulled the ring box from my pocket and opened it.
She turned and looked at me, still angry. Not immediately noticing the ring, she said, “What is it Black, I’m really not in the mood for . . .” She was now staring at the box in my hand. Her frown quickly turned into a smile and tears soon followed that smile. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious,” I said as I walked over to where she was stand-ing. Diamond was never the mushy type and now that I knew she was pregnant that said it all. The mood swings and the arguments—I mean, it was all out of character for her. Honestly, some of it I could get used to. Assuming how she felt was what I’d done in the past—knowing sure felt a lot better. I guess this pregnancy had its pros and cons after all. I removed the ring from the small velvet box and placed it on her finger as she held out her hand for me. Tears were still flowing as she moved in and kissed me.
“I’m sorry I’m so emotional, this isn’t me. I love you so much, I’m happier than you know.” She hugged me.
I felt good, and I hoped that the feeling would last. In the past, I’ve been known for losing interest in women after a while but I didn’t see that happening with her. Regardless of the ups and downs she was actually one of the only women I felt this strong of a connection to. After a few seconds the smile that brightened her face became dim.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just thinking about Kemp—we can’t get married if he’s still alive.”
“Look, I honestly don’t believe that it’s Kemp. Someone else has to know what happened and just wants to fuck with us. I think I know him more than anyone and if he really wanted us dead, trust me, we would have been dead by now. That’s real talk, D, I don’t see it, I just don’t.” I shook my head.
“How would someone know what happened? I would have been in jail by now if that was the case.”
“Obviously they want something from us, I just have to find out what the hell it is.”
“I’m just scared, with the baby coming and all, I don’t want anything to happen.”
“It won’t, trust me, you’ve believed in me this long, don’t stop now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I promise.” I reached out to hug her and she obliged, wrapping her arms tightly around me.
I had to find out who it was and I had to find out sooner than later. I wasn’t about to let this shit ruin my future. The business was being affected as well and I couldn’t have that either. The workers were turning against me, niggas were stealing money, and people didn’t fear me in the streets. I’d worked too hard and too long to let shit slip away now.
Chapter 15
Diamond
Knock You Down
There was a loud knock at the door. I never liked the sound of that in the wee hours of the morning. I glanced to the left and the time on the alarm clock read three-thirty. Black still hadn’t made it home yet. I figured that out when I felt the untouched spot next to me in bed. I got up and grabbed my robe from the back of the bedroom door before going downstairs. As I neared the door, the knocks got louder. It was raining out too and the sound of the water beating against the windows didn’t even muffle their knocking.
“Who is it?” I yelled, hoping that they’d stop.
“Ma’am, it’s the police. We need you to open the door, please.”
“The police?” I looked through the peephole and saw two male officers standing outside. One was black and the other was white. I slowly unlocked the door and opened it. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, we’re looking for Diamond Brooks, is that you?” the black officer said immediately.
“Yes, that is me, my last name isn’t Brooks anymore but how can I help you?”
“We need to take you down to the station for questioning. I need you to go get dressed.”
“Questioning? At three o’clock in the morning? What do you have to question me about?”
“The death of your deceased husband and one Mica Thompson.”
“What? Why would you need to question me now—that happened over a year ago.” My heart dropped to my stomach. What the hell was going on?
“Please ma’am, just get dressed so we can take care of this.”
“What if I say no?”
“You don’t have a choice, we can come back with a warrant if you’d like,” the white cop added.
I was pissed and I was afraid. I couldn’t go back to jail. I was pregnant. I wasn’t about to have my baby behind bars. The officers were pretty clear so I knew that the only option I had was to go along with it. I motioned with my hands to allow them in from the rain. They came in and stood near the door as I headed upstairs to throw something on. I was afraid to call Black since they were probably standing downstairs listening. Instead I sent a text message to his phone explaining what was going on. I hurried into a sweat suit and sneakers and ran back downstairs. I followed them out of the door and into the police car that was waiting at the end of the driveway. My heart was pounding and my entire body was trembling. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me at this point but whatever it was it couldn’t have been good. It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the station. Once inside they placed me in a room alone. The room was cold and small. The walls were painted dark gray with white around the edges. There was a small wooden table in the center of the room with one chair on each side. There was also a large mirror on the wall opposite the table, which I assumed they could view me from the other side. I tried to keep my cool and not look all nervous because I was sure I was being watched. If I looked guilty they’d be sure to use it against when they had the opportunity.
Twenty minutes later a plainclothes white detective entered the room. He looked to be in his late fifties, early sixties. His hair was mixed with gray and he was dressed in black dress pants and a white button-down shirt. He had a smirk on his face that rubbed me the wrong way. I still remained calm.
“Hello, Ms. Brooks. Is it okay if I call you Diamond?”
“That’s fine,” I said, blandly.
“Okay Diamond, my name is Detective Hill.”
I sat silent.
“I’m sure you want to get down to business so I won’t keep you waiting any longer. We’ve recently gotten some information that indicates you as a suspect in the murder of your husband and one Mica Thompson.” He sat down in the chair opposite me.
“That’s ludicrous, I didn’t have anything to do with that. It was a home invasion and robbery, everyone knows that.”
“Well, we have a witness that tells us otherwise.”
“Well, your witness is mistaken. I wasn’t even anywhere near the house when it happened. When I came home the cops were already at my house.”
“I’m going to give it to you straight. They claim to have video that will back up their story even though we already have evidence to p
ut you away as an accessory to murder.”
“An accessory? You just said that they said I was the murderer.”
“That’s not what I said, I said that you were implicated in the murder. The charges are against your boyfriend, Black.”
“What?” I yelled. Who the hell would try and put everything on him? He had nothing to do with it.
“What we believe happened is you walked in on the murder and you ended up covering for him.”
“That’s so far from the truth it doesn’t even make sense.” My heart was pounding even harder than it had been a few minutes earlier. “Where are you getting your information?” I asked as if he would really give me the answer to that question.
“That’s confidential. The bottom line here is that if you choose not to tell us what happened, we’ll lock you up right along with him.”
“Neither him nor I had anything to do with it and that’s the truth. I don’t know why someone would tell you that. I loved my husband. I would have never hurt him and Black was his best friend.”
“His best friend that you’re now in a relationship with? That’s extremely suspicious, especially when you inherited all that he had.”
“I was his wife, who else was it supposed to go to?”
“I’m going to walk out of here and give you a few minutes to think, okay? I’m not going to sit here answering your questions and you haven’t been able to answer any of mine.”
“But . . .”
“There is no but, you need to talk or you’re going to jail.”
“Well in that case, I need to call my lawyer,” I replied. I knew that they didn’t have anything concrete because my ass would have been in a cell rather than sitting here doing a damn survey.
“I figured you’d say that, that’s what all criminals say!” he said as he walked out and closed the door behind him.
I was pissed. What the fuck did he mean by that? Okay, I know that I was the one that committed the murder and I couldn’t let Black go down for that. I had to somehow let him know what was going on. I was praying that he hadn’t rushed down here to the station like I’d asked in the text because they’d probably never let him go. I didn’t know what to do but I knew that I had to get my lawyer on this if I wanted to walk out of here. After a few more minutes of waiting, they took me out to the desk so that I could call my lawyer. After I called and left her a voice mail they took me right back into the box that I’d been in for the past two hours. Black had to have been worried sick and I refused to call him. Then I thought about it—Kiki. I could call Kiki so that she could somehow get a message to him. Just as I was about to sit down I told him that I had figured out who I wanted to call. The officer looked at me as if I’d pissed him off but I didn’t give a damn, I needed to make my phone call.
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