Crazy Summer (25 page)

As she walked away, she swore to God that he was a dead man. Big Will stood there lost for words until he finally left.

Inside the apartment, Summer went directly to the twins’ room where they were watching everything from the window. She closed the door behind her and quickly addressed them.

“Y’all will not see him again, never. From here on, I’ll be taking care of y’all and whatever you need jus’ ask me. Y’all will go back to school and continue playing basketball or football. I’m in charge now.” She paused, her eyes darting from one twin to the other. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they answered in unison. Even though they were nearly fourteen years old and their mother had been absent from their life, they still had the upmost respect for her.

Summer walked over to the window, peered between the slates of the plastic blinds, and stared down the street to make sure he had left. She then moved away from the window and stood in front of the dresser mirror. She could see the twins watching her in the reflection.

“Who is the boy that y’all killed?” she asked calmly.

“We don’t know. We was fighting this boy named Mark, and his friend came out of nowhere. He shot me in my face. Jermaine took his gun and shot him back. We ain’t try to kill nobody.”

“Okay, that’s understandable,” she responded. “I’ll deal with that. My main priority is to get y’all out of this project. I won’t tolerate any drug dealing from either of you, and when school starts back, I want to see A’s and B’s on y’all report cards.”

“Can we go to Josey?” Jeremy asked.

“After that incident, I’m not sure if a school in Augusta will take y’all.” She paused and shook her finger to let them know she meant business. “No more bullshit.” 

*****

The following day, Summer took her mother to a spa and fitness center where they would soak in Jacuzzis and receive full body massages. They soaked in a natural anti-bacterial skin softener that helped relieve aching joints and muscles. She knew her mother needed something special like this. They relaxed for hours. During that time, Summer collected her thoughts with her eyes closed and head wrapped in a thick towel.

“My plan is to get us a house, Mama. I don’t want you or the kids in the projects.”

“Summa, you just came home, baby. You don’t think you rushing?”

Summer sat with her arms outstretched as the jets inside the water eased every muscle in her body. “I’m not rushing, Mama.”  If anything, I’m not moving fast enough. I want the best for my kids and you.” She paused and finally opened her eyes. “I don’t love anyone else.” 

Those words rolled off of her tongue like lava. Inside, she was mad at the world, and she had a right to be. Summer was too far advanced now.

*****

Red Bone walked around inside her apartment naked from head to toe. Her living room was L shaped and neatly decorated with expensive furniture and African paintings. She sipped Remy Martin from a glass and casually puffed on a blunt filled with exotic, fruity marijuana. When her doorbell rang, she walked across the thick carpet and glanced through the peephole to see two guys outside. She knew them from the club and quickly unchained the door to let them in. She stepped to the side and allowed them to enter. One of the guys, who had locs and wore shades, carried a leather duffel bag across his shoulder. The other guy stood with Red Bone at the door. He slapped her naked ass as she locked the door.

“Whuzzup, Red?” he said, then pointed at the guy with him. “This my partna Jay.”

Red Bone stared the other guy up and down. She had never seen him before, and he definitely hadn’t been in the club before.

She smiled and nodded slightly. “Hey,” she simply greeted before taking a pull of the blunt she held between her red Press-On nails.

The guy just nodded. He didn’t even part his lips nor was he impressed or aroused by her nakedness. He took a seat on the sofa, while Red Bone and the other guy walked into the bedroom. Of course, he watched her ass jiggle as she went.

Inside the bedroom, the guy dropped the duffel bag on the bed. Red Bone stood next to him as he removed the three perfectly wrapped keys from the bag. He lined them up on the bed and looked at Red Bone.

“You called your people already?” he asked.

Red Bone passed him the blunt and sat her glass on top of the coaster on the dresser. She looked back at the guy whose name was Barlow.

“I’ma tell you somethin’, Barlow,” she said calmly. “My friend ain’t wit’ no bullshit. He ain’t no gangsta, but he ain’t gonna jus’ take anything either.” 

She walked up to Barlow and began unfastening his belt and pants.

“Whatcha doin’?” he asked, smiling.

Red Bone pushed him back on the bed, and after working his penis from his jeans, she dropped to her knees and positioned herself between his legs. He rested back on his elbows.

“I jus’ wanna suck yo’ dick before he gets here,” she told him.

He placed his hand on her head and guided her straight to his penis.

  In the kitchen, a guy waited patiently inside the small utility closet where he peeped through a slight crack in the door. From where he hid, he could see the guy sitting on the sofa. He noticed the guy had rolled a blunt and was now checking his text messages. The guy in the closet removed a sharp straight razor from his front pocket. His heart was rumbling inside his chest, but he knew he had to pull this lick off because he wanted to be down with Kiki. A robbery like this was really petty to Kiki, but when Red Bone called him, he turned the lick over to another guy, which is who was hiding right now.

The short, thin guy eased quietly from the closet dressed in fatigue pants, a black t-shirt, and Air Shock Nike’s. He dropped to the floor flat on his belly and began crawling like he was a snake about to strike a very weak prey.

In the living room, the guy sat on the sofa with the television remote in his hand. He pressed the power button, and the flat-screen TV illuminated the room. He flipped the channels until he got to BET. Watching a music video, he turned up the volume and then set the remote on the sofa next to him. He quickly struck his lighter and blazed up the end of his blunt, when suddenly his head was yanked backwards. The razor brushed across his neck so swiftly that he didn’t even get a chance to scream. Blood soaked his clothes and shot out from his neck like a spray from a punctured paint can. He gasped for air, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

Red Bone was now into it, covering his penis with saliva from her mouth. She glanced up at him to make sure he was enjoying himself. His eyes were closed as he puffed casually on the blunt. A draft came into the room when the door opened. Red Bone felt the air breeze across her ass, and she wiggled lightly, cutting her eyes slightly to the right. The guy had entered, low crawling on his belly with the bloody knife gripped tightly in his right hand. He crawled to the rear of the bed and tapped Red Bone on her foot. That was her cue to get her ass out of the room.

She stopped immediately and jumped to her feet. Before Barlow knew it, he felt the blade slice across his neck. It felt like he’d been clotheslined; he remembered that feeling from when he was younger playing Cops and Robbers. He was always the robber, and now he was being robbed and killed; there was nothing he could do about it.

Red Bone walked to her dresser, picked up her glass, and downed the remainder with one swallow. This wasn’t her first time being part of a robbery.

The guy from the closet looked at her and said, “Put the dope in a bag.” 

She did it without hesitation.

He then picked up Red Bone’s cell phone from its charger and quickly punched in Kiki’s number.

Summer and Kiki were peering through the front passenger side window of a gold Lexus 400 parked on the grass out front of a car dealership on Washington Road, when Kiki’s phone vibrated inside his pocket. He quickly removed it, pressed the button to answer, and dropped it back in his pocket.

“Yeah,” he said into the Bluetooth.

“Hey, bruh, this is Bookie. How you doin’?”

“I’m good. How the family doin’?”

“Everybody’s alright. Gettin’ ready to take two of my friends down to the Savannah River and throw some steaks on the grill.”

Kiki expressed a satisfied look on his face. He opened the driver door of the Lexus and pointed at Summer, telling her to get in. She did.

“Good. I tell you what. Once everything is cleaned up and handled, call me back. What’s the numbers?” 

“Three white girls so far. I haven’t checked the car.”

“What about Godsistah? Where she at?” Kiki inquired.

“She’s gettin’ dressed right now.”

“Good, man. What I’ma do is send two of my people to clean up. I’ll see you later on tonight.” He removed his phone from his pocket and pressed the END button.

 A salesman dressed in khaki pants and a pressed Polo button-down shirt approached him. He was neatly shaved with liver spots on his face. He extended his hand, and Kiki shook it.

“Good afternoon,” the salesman said. “Do you like that?”

Kiki turned to Summer, who was sitting in the driver’s seat. “You want this?”

“Yes,” she replied politely.

Kiki turned back to the salesman. “We’ll take it.”

“Great. Follow me inside.” He smiled from ear to ear while thinking about his commission from the sale.

*****

Later that night, Summer pulled up into a winding driveway that led her to a five-bedroom, one-level house. She parked the Lexus behind a black Excursion sitting high on 26-inch rims. She killed the engine and grabbed her purse from the passenger seat. She stepped out, closed the door behind her, and walked up to the white French doors that were trimmed in gold. She pressed the illuminated doorbell.

Inside the house, an old lady in her mid-sixties approached the door. She wasn’t dressed for her age, wearing a white blouse and black silk pants that flared at her ankles. She wore a huge diamond and platinum ring on her wedding finger; her hair was salt-n-pepper, permed, and hung past her thin shoulders. She was barefoot, and two twin diamond tennis bracelets sparkled around her ankles. Once at the door, she looked through the peephole after flipping on the outside light.

“Summer.” She smiled as she unlocked the door and allowed her to enter. Once inside, the old lady gladly greeted her with a hug. “How you doin’, baby? I see you finally made it home.”

“How you doin’, Mama Elizabeth?” Summer asked with an enormous smile.

“I’m fine, girl. Come on in here.”

Summer walked into the living room and looked around in full amazement at the white marble floor, white furniture, and everything trimmed in gold. She met Mama Elizabeth nearly six years ago when they were in federal prison. Mama Elizabeth had served a fifteen-year sentence for trafficking twenty kilos of cocaine. She kept her mouth shut even though she didn’t want to turn her connect in, and she damn sure didn’t want to do no fifteen years. However, she served her time and came home to her same connect, who gave her a very large amount of money for her loyalty. She took a liking to Summer when she first set eyes on her, and now they were sitting together in a million-dollar estate in Aiken, South Carolina, on nearly one hundred acres of private property. The high twelve-foot ceilings were decorated with handcrafted paint. Summer kicked off her heels, stood on the Persian rug, and cocked her hip like a model on display.