Read No Justice No Peace Online
Authors: Brenda Hampton
No Justice No Peace (5 page)
By the time I woke up, it was almost nine o’clock in the morning. I sat up on my elbows, squeezing my eyes from the hangover I felt and the bright sun shining into the room. I hadn’t slept that well since I’d gotten out of prison and it was one damn sleep that was long over due.
Anna was in the shower. I heard Spanish music playing and pulled the white sheets back to get dressed and go. When I looked down, though, I saw stained blood on the sheets. I looked at my goods and there was some on me as well. Wanting to wash up, I went to the bathroom door and knocked. The music was so loud that Anna didn’t hear me. I turned the knob and entered the steam filled room. I moved the shower curtain to the side, and Anna had her eyes closed as she let the water stream out on her face. She sung the Spanish lyrics to the song, and to get her attention, I stepped in the shower behind her. Startled, she opened her eyes and slightly turned her head. She smiled at me and I wrapped my arm around her waist. I took my other arm, wrapping it around her neck. She kissed my arm and I kissed the back of her head.
“Did I hurt you,” I whispered. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Were you a virgin? I mean, you were really tight and…”
“No, you didn’t hurt me. But, I haven’t had sex for a very long time.”
“Why not and why me?”
She took my arm from around her neck and turned to face me. “Because I like you. I’ll tell you about my past another day, okay?”
I nodded and Anna lathered up soap in her hands. She touched my chest, then moved her hands throughout my entire front side. When I turned around, and pressed my hands against the wall, she worked my backside. I, of course, returned the favor. We rinsed ourselves off, and before I knew it, we were back in her bed fucking again.
I messed around at Anna’s place until damn near one o’clock in the afternoon. I knew I’d get cussed out, if not, put out by Ginger. Still, my time with Anna was well worth it. She walked down the steps in front of me, and when we made it to the kitchen, she offered me something to drink. A bit in shock, I noticed a picture of Desmon with her nephew on front of the refrigerator. I pretended not to know who he was and asked her about him.
“That’s one of Antonio’s best friend, Desmon. Antonio’s been at his place since last night.” She smiled and pulled the picture off the refrigerator. “They’ve been through so much together. I can’t even begin to tell you.”
I definitely wanted to know more, but I didn’t want Anna to know I was Desmon’s father. There wasn’t no telling what she’d heard about me, so I left well enough alone.
“So, do you have any kids of your own?” I asked.
“No, I don’t have any children. Antonio is like my child because he’s been with me forever.”
“I see.” I took a sip from the glass of lemonade she’d poured, then sat it on the counter. I stretched and yawned. “Listen, I’d better get going.”
She smiled, knowing that our time together was done. “Yes, you’d better get going.”
Anna walked me to the door and I leaned in for a goodbye kiss.
“I’ll be back. You have my word I’ll be back.”
“What about your phone number?” she rushed to say. “Can I call you?”
“Not right now, but soon.”
Disappointment could be seen on her face, and she backed away from me. She opened the door, not knowing when she’d ever see me again.
Ginger’s place wasn’t too far away, so I slowly drove to it. I knew all hell was about to break loose, and surely after I pulled up, it did. She busted out of the front door, yelling for the keys to her car. They weren’t mine, so I didn’t hesitate to turn them over. I dropped them in her hands and walked inside.
“What happened to this supposed to be headache you had, Kiley! I thought you were coming home last night!”
“I was,” I said, walking casually into the bedroom. I removed my shirt, tossing it in a chair. “Something else came up, though.”
“Something else like what! Some pussy? It’s obvious you’ve been with somebody! Your clothes all wrinkled and her scent is all over you!”
I shrugged. “If you say it is, then I guess so. I told you something urgent came up, and that’s all there is to it.”
She sat on the edge of the bed, biting down on her bottom lip. “One damn day, Kiley. You and me haven’t had one damn day of peace since you’ve been out of jail. Everyday it’s something with you. I don’t know how much more of this shit I can take.”
I walked up to her and lifted her chin. “It won’t be too much longer. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to move on and do it soon.”
I opened the front door and sat on the steps to the upper level townhouses. I massaged my temples, thinking about my fourth day out of prison. Things weren’t getting better for me, as I’d hoped they would. Desmon was nowhere to be found, and Antonio hadn’t for damn sure spent the night here. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I knew my respect for Ginger was gone the day I got home. Honestly, I hated her for raising Desmon the way she did. I know damn well I could have done a better job than her, but there was no way for me to go back in time.
Chapter Four
For the next few days, things were on the down-low. Rufus called and we made plans for my package to be delivered. Of course, it came with instructions. Apparently, one of the fools who was coming to deliver my package had been stealing money from Rufus. He explained the situation to me and asked if I would take care of it for him. He’d even offered to throw in an extra fifty grand and told me the other nigga, Marc, had instructions to get rid of the body once I was finished. What did I have to lose? I thought. Rufus had taken care of my family while I was away, and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have ever known about Donovan having Papa Abrams set up to be killed. Either way, I agreed to it and prepared myself to take care of this little problem upon their arrival.
Ginger and I had only seen Desmon twice this week. He came in with Antonio one time, and another time with Gabrielle. I guessed she’d forgiven him because shit seemed to pop off in the basement as it had done before. But for the time being, I kept my distance. Not only from him, but from Ginger as well. She’d talked her shit, but when I gave her some of my dick, she shut the fuck up. Actually, I’d gotten kind of tired of fucking her. Anna was on my mind, but I wasn’t going back her way anytime soon. When I felt that strongly about a woman, I knew it only meant trouble, so the further away I stayed, the better.
Late Friday night, I asked Ginger if I could use her car. Before she handed over the keys, she asked where I was going.
“I talked to Al earlier this week about finding me a car. He’s supposed to hook a brotha up, so I’m going to see what’s up.”
She dropped the keys in my hand. “Please don’t do what you did last time. Everything’s been going cool between us and I’m not up for a bunch of drama tonight.”
“Just give me a couple of hours. Besides, once I have my car, I won’t have to ask for yours.”
I pecked Ginger on the lips and stepped outside. I took a few puffs from my cigarette, then got into the car. On the drive to South St. Louis where I was supposed to meet Marc and Cortez, I thought about how I would put my money to good use. A car? Definitely. Some clothes? Without a doubt. A decent place to live? Yes. Things for Desmon? Maybe. Quincy? Of course.
I turned off Grand Ave and pulled into an alley. I saw Marc and Cortez parked exactly where I told them to meet me. I pulled Ginger’s car next to theirs and we all got out. I remembered Marc from back in the day, so he and I gave each other a slamming handshake. Cortez didn’t say much.
“Damn, man,” Marc said. “Yo shit is right. The pen buffed you out like that?”
I nodded and suspiciously looked at Cortez while taking a puff from another cigarette. Marc opened the trunk and pulled out a huge black suitcase. He sat it on the ground.
“Ain’t no need for me to count it, is there?” I asked.
“Naw, man,” Marc said. “It’s all there.”
“Are you sure?” I took another puff of the cigarette.
“Positive.”
I kneeled down on one knee and started to unzip the suitcase. Before I did, I looked at Cortez. “How about you, Cortez? Are you positive my shit is all here?”
He fidgeted a bit, but spoke up. “Definitely…most definitely.”
Marc took a few steps backwards. Cortez turned his head to look at Marc and that’s when two bullets from my gun blew right into his chest. His body jerked backwards, then plopped to the ground. His legs flopped around, before they stopped and he took his last breath. Some of his blood had splattered on me, so I wiped the specks of it off my face. I then put the gun inside of my pants and picked up the suitcase.
“Tell Rufus I said thanks,” I said to Marc. I dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped it out with my shoe.
“I will,” Marc said, looking to be in a panic. “But, help me put this nigga in the trunk.”
“I ain’t got nothing to do with that. Rufus gave instructions and that was supposed to be your job.”
“Come on, Kiley. Don’t leave me standing out here next to no dead body.”
I looked at Marc’s scary ass and quickly got pissed. One thing I hated more than anything was a wannabe gangsta who didn’t have guts to follow through with a plan. “Look, I’ve done my job—now, you do yours! Put him in the fucking trunk, take his ass to another city, and dump him! Now, I can always call Rufus and tell him the plans have changed. If I do, you may be reluctant to go back to LA.”
With that, Marc hurried to put Cortez’s body in the trunk. I opened the back door to Ginger’s car, tossed the suitcase inside and left. Before I went home, I stopped at Al’s place on Natural Bridge Ave. and gave him a little somethin-somethin to get me a car. I knew he’d get me something nice and he told me he’d bring it to me by noon tomorrow. After I cleaned myself up a bit from the incident in the alley, I shot the breeze with him for an hour or so and headed home.
When I got back to the crib, Ginger and one of her girlfriends were in the living room talking. I strolled in with the suitcase and hurried into the bedroom. I slid the suitcase underneath the bed, then went into the living room to join them.
“Baby, you remember Allison from the other night, don’t you?”
“Yep,” I said. I sat on the couch next to Ginger and she passed me a joint.
“What’s that on your face?” she asked.
“Where?”
She rubbed my face, specifying that a dab of dried up blood was on it.
“Yuk. Is that blood or something?”
“Maybe so. Some fellas got to fighting at Al’s place and I tried to break the shit up.”
“You need to be careful. Let them niggas bust each other damn heads and stay out of it.”
I took a hit from the joint and passed it back to Ginger. Just so she wouldn’t question me again, I went to the bathroom and thoroughly washed my face. I wanted to take a shower, but I decided to wait until later.
Since Ginger was occupied with her girlfriend, I went back into the bedroom and locked the door. I pulled the suitcase out and tightly held the money in my hands. It had been a long time since I’d seen this kind of money and it surely felt good. Soon, I started to count it. After getting mid-way there, I reached for the phone to call Rufus. He quickly answered.
“All I have to say is you are one psycho muthafucka, Kiley!”
I laughed. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“That nigga Marc called me whining like a bitch. He told me what you said and I couldn’t do nothing but crack the fuck up. ‘Cause, you still my nigga. That’s why I need you here with me.”
“No can do, Rufus. I got plans, man. Plans that do not include moving back to LA.”
“So, it’s like that, huh?”
“I’m afraid so. Quincy will be out in a few and we gon get ourselves a nice place to chill, find us some everyday-pussy-giving-ass women, possibly have some more babies, take good care of my son and live until I’m a hundred years old.”
“What a boring life? But, it’s yours. I ain’t mad at cha, but the Kiley Jacoby Abrams I know, can’t have a simple life like that.”