Decision Time (6 page)

“Was there anyone else with Percy?” Officer Davis asked as he continued to take notes.

“I don't know,” I answered.

“Will you testify in court?” He put away his pen and pad.

“Of course he will. I'm sure Lori's family will testify as well,” Dad said.

“I wouldn't count on that. Ms. Lori Brown and her mother are fearful of retaliation and have refused to help us in our investigation,” Officer Davis explained.

“You're kidding, right?” I asked.

“I wish I was…. The state prosecutor will look at our report and determine whether or not to press charges. In the meantime, I'll go back to the station and have a warrant issued for the arrest of Percy Jones. We'll bring him in for questioning and go from there. If you can convince Ms. Brown to testify, it would help a great deal. Get well soon.” Officer Davis rose to his feet and exited the room with Officer Miles trailing behind him.

KEYSHA

When
Jordan found me at the bus station, I impulsively ran away from him. I plowed through the crowded terminal, determined to escape the punishment that awaited me. Needless to say I couldn't run very fast or get very far with a busted suitcase. When he caught me, I wasn't in my right mind and fought him off by swinging my fists and punching him several times in the chest.

“Let me go!” I shrieked as I continually assaulted him with a barrage of jabs. When I realized my strikes were ineffective, I slapped Jordan and tried to shred his face apart with my fingernails. I was determined to be by Wesley's side one way or another. I fought Jordan so vigorously that other passengers in the terminal thought he was attacking me.

“Keysha, if you hit me again you will cause me to commit child abuse and you'll never see Wesley again!” Jordan barked. By the tone of his voice I knew he meant
business. Before I realized it, a security guard had rushed over to see what my hysterics were all about.

“She's my daughter and she's trying to run away,” Jordan quickly explained as he held on to my wrists to keep me from swinging at him anymore.

“Ma'am, is this true?” asked the security guard, who'd removed a can of pepper spray, aimed it at Jordan's face and placed his thumb on the trigger. I glared at the guard for a hot minute with tears in my eyes. Then without any further explanation, I gave up.

“Let me go, please,” I mumbled, surrendering completely to my father. Jordan released me and I sat down on a nearby bench. Feeling overwhelmed, embarrassed and disgraced, I vainly willed myself not to cry.

“Ma'am, is this man your father?”

“Yes, he's my dad and he's not hurting me,” I answered.

“I need to handle this. Can you give us some privacy?” Jordan spoke directly to the guard, who was hesitant about stepping away. “Seriously, give us some privacy,” Jordan said once again, as politely as he could under the circumstances.

“Are you sure you're okay, miss?” the guard asked once again just to be absolutely certain.

“Yes, I'm fine,” I answered as I waved him away. A massive headache had developed near the back of my head. Jordan stooped down and picked up my clothes, which had spilled out of the suitcase once again during my feeble attempt to flee from him. Once he'd collected everything he said, “You inadvertently left your boarding pass at the house.” I knew Jordan wasn't happy about the decision I'd made, but it was my choice, not his.

“I forgot it when I rushed out of the house this morning,” I admitted as I buried my face in my hands.

“Come on. It's time to go someplace where we can talk about this.” In spite of everything I'd just done, Jordan didn't raise his voice or chew me out. He was calm, cool and collected.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“No!” I answered defiantly. I knew it was wrong to have an attitude with him, but I couldn't help it. I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do and that true fact annoyed me.

“Do you want me to get ugly with you, because I certainly can?” My smart-aleck remark had ruffled Jordan's feathers.

“No,” I muttered.

“What? I can't hear you?” Jordan pressed the issue.

“No,” I answered loud enough for him to hear.

“That's what I thought you said. We're going to stop and have breakfast.” He extended his hand and helped me to my feet. I followed him to the car, wondering how I was going to get to Wesley.

Jordan headed west toward a location known as Greek Town. Neither one of us said anything during the short drive. The silence inside the car was louder than any heated argument I'd ever heard. The hushed tension between us moved like a slow-burning wick of an explosive device, just waiting to reach the gunpowder and blast.

Jordan pulled into the parking lot of a small breakfast place I'd never been to. There were several blue-and-white police squad cars in the parking lot and I intuitively knew it was a popular spot with cops. Not wanting to look at Jordan, I focused on a homeless woman approaching us,
pushing a shopping cart filled with all of her belongings. There was nothing interesting about her, so I turned my head slightly and focused on a cluster of pigeons squabbling over scraps of food on the ground near a Dumpster. At that moment I wished I were a pigeon with no worries and nothing better to do other than eat crumbs.

“Let's go sit inside and talk.” Jordan opened the door and stepped his foot onto the concrete.

“I don't want to!” I snapped at him. I wasn't hungry nor was I in the mood for one of Jordan's self-righteous lectures. I just wanted to go back to the bus terminal, get on the bus and go see Wesley. Why Jordan didn't understand the urgency of the hour was beyond my understanding.

“Okay. Then we'll sit here and talk.” Jordan locked the car door and positioned himself so that he was looking directly at me. “I want you to hear me crystal clear, Keysha. I am not going to allow you or Mike to give me a coronary, so I'm going to give it to you straight and raw just like I've been giving it to Mike. All of your sneaking around is unacceptable. If you want the privileges of an adult then it's time for you to leave my house and head out into the world on your own. If that's what you want then let me know so I can pack up the rest of your belongings.” Jordan was trying to play hardball and scare me, but I didn't believe a single word coming out of his mouth. After all that he'd gone through to make sure I stayed in the house with him, I felt pretty confident that he wasn't going to suddenly change course and turn his back on me.

He tried to entice me once again with the offer of total freedom. “Just give me the word, Keysha, and you can
go.” I looked directly in his eyes, searching to see if he truly meant what he was saying. After a long minute of silence, I sensed that he was just bluffing.

“Are you saying that you don't want me anymore?” I called his bluff.

“You have to live by my rules, Keysha. I've been giving you the benefit of the doubt and cutting you a lot of slack because I didn't raise you. But right here and right now, I'm drawing the line and giving you an option. You're welcome to stay, but my rules must be followed. No more sneaking around, no more dishonesty and no more running away. You are to go to school, get good grades, do your chores, be respectful and most important of all, stop getting into trouble. If you can't abide by those simple rules, then the door is wide open and you can walk out.” Jordan leaned over and opened up the car door on my side to prove his point. “You can walk back to the bus station and go to Wesley, but if you do, that really says to me that you no longer want my help and you don't want to be with the family any longer.”

I thought about my next move and concluded that Wesley needed me and nothing was going to stop me from getting to him. I knew Jordan would never understand, so I didn't bother trying to explain it to him.

“Whatever! You don't own me! You can't tell me what to do! I've been taking care of myself ever since I was a little girl. I didn't need you then and I don't need you now! I can make it on my own. No, Wesley and I can make it on our own. We love each other and nothing on this earth can ever break my love for him. Not you, not Justine or
anyone else for that matter!” I snarled with defiant ignorance. I felt as if I'd put him in his place by telling him exactly what I thought. Then I pulled out my suitcase from the backseat, got out of the car and began walking back toward the bus terminal. As I walked away, I noticed the homeless woman stop at the Dumpster and shoo all of the pigeons away. They flew above my head and I ducked because I didn't want to get hit with pigeon droppings. Once the birds were gone, I focused on the homeless woman once again. She opened up the Dumpster lid and began searching for food. I watched as she removed a white foam container and ate a crust of bread that someone had taken several bites out of. I then looked back at Jordan, who'd gotten out of the car.

“Keysha!” he called to me, but I quickened my pace because I didn't want to hear a word that he had to say. “Keysha!” he called out once again. By that time, I'd flagged down a cab. As soon as I got situated I told the driver where to go. “Pull off, please,” I urged. The driver immediately made a U-turn and sped off in the direction of the bus terminal.

WESLEY

The
following morning I was wheeled out of my room so a series of X-rays could be taken. Once completed, I was transported back to my quarters, where my breakfast was waiting on me. I scooted back into bed, got comfortable and began eating. Being restricted to a hospital was a drag. I was ready to go home. But more importantly, I was eager to find Lori to talk some sense into her. I had a difficult time comprehending why she refused to cooperate with police, especially after all of the mayhem Percy caused. I understood her being afraid, but this wasn't the time to turn into a yellow chicken. At least it wasn't from my perspective. I could hardly wait to go to court and put Percy behind bars for what he'd done to me.

“Ahhh,” I groaned as my right arm began twitching violently. It ached so badly I moaned again. I tried to cope by breathing hard and grinding down on my teeth. It was difficult to manage the pain, but I was determined to
bear it while waiting for the excruciating episode to pass. Dr. Foxx explained earlier that sudden sensations of discomfort were a part of the healing process. My distress was so horrific it caused me to have a flashback. I immediately remembered the scent of my burning skin when the red-hot bullet bored through me. I recalled trying to brace myself before I hit the ground and even recollected the haunting sound of my skull slamming against the concrete. I slapped myself on the head a few times with my left hand as if hitting myself would rid my mind of the recurring memory. I willed myself to focus on something else, but it was difficult. Then, I had a revelation and reached for the television remote. I turned on the television just in time to catch an episode of
Family Guy
. I watched the program and laughed loudly at the antics of baby Stewie. Just as the program ended, there was a knock at my door. When I looked up I was surprised to see Lori. I smiled as I turned off the television.

“Hey,” she greeted me as she approached my bed.

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“Around,” she answered as she removed her jacket and placed it on a nearby coat hook. “How are you feeling?”

“My pain comes and goes, but overall I'm doing well considering how everything went down.” I repositioned my bed by adjusting the height knob, so I could see her better. She looked great. Nice jeans, formfitting top and hair styled nicely. I noticed her succulent lips and the pretty red lipstick she'd applied.

“I know. That was crazy, wasn't it?” she asked, agreeing with me.

“Crazy is an understatement.” I laughed a little. “So what's up with you not wanting to help the police convict Percy?” I asked flat out.

“It's complicated, Wesley.” She paused. “Let's not talk about it right now, okay? I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get here to see you. I had to lie, steal money from beneath my grandmother's mattress and sneak out of the house. I'm so glad you're going to be okay. I truly am.” Lori leaned forward and hugged me. I embraced her with my left arm while she simultaneously kissed my forehead.

“You've got to testify, Lori,” I tried to persuade her because it was important to me.

“Shhh, baby.” Lori placed her index finger up to my lips. “Can I say thank you first? What you did was so brave and heroic. You literally took a bullet for me and saved my life. Wesley, I'll always be grateful to you for doing that. If you had not pushed me out of the way and stepped in front of me, I would probably be dead right now. No one has ever protected me the way you have. I feel so safe when I'm near you.”

“I can see why. Especially if I'm the one absorbing all of the bullets that are meant for you,” I said.

“I know, sweetie, and I promise you I'll make it up to you. Whatever it takes I'll be there for you. I'll help you with your work at school. I'll help you get well…I'll be at your service, Wesley.” Lori tenderly caressed the side of my face. I held her gaze for a moment and could see that she was thinking about something really hard.

“You're my Superman,” she whispered and then leaned in to kiss my lips. When our lips met, I tried not to enjoy
it. I wanted to resist, but the tasty sweetness of her soft lips caused my body to betray me. I surrendered to her. Lori then placed her sweet kisses on my cheeks and neck.

“Doesn't that feel better?” Lori spoke deliberately in my ear like Aphrodite, the goddess of love tempting a new boyfriend. I was somewhere between confused and horny and would agree with anything she said.

“Yeah. That was nice,” I admitted as I tried to understand why and how we were heading down the road of intimacy. Common sense told me to beware of Lori, however my hormones were unmistakably energized about the possibility of more kisses.

“Let me help you eat your food.” Lori picked up the knife and fork on the tray and began to cut up my food into smaller portions.

“My mother is acting crazy,” Lori confessed. “When the police came to talk to me, my mother freaked completely out, especially when the police told her Percy was a gangbanger. She thinks you're one, as well.”

“Why does she think I'm a gangbanger? I'm the furthest thing from that. I don't wear sagging pants or have tattoos. I don't walk around with a gun in my pocket or have a criminal record.” I got upset because of how I was being perceived.

“It's complex, Wesley.” Lori lifted some food up to my mouth and began to feed me.

Once I chewed my food I said, “It's not difficult at all. Percy shot at us because he thought we were dating. It's a clear-cut case of jealousy.”

“That part is.” Lori smiled slyly.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, eyeing her suspiciously and suspecting she was eluding some bigger secret that I knew nothing about.

Lori exhaled and remained silent. “Promise you won't get mad at me?” Lori asked.

“Get mad at you for what?” I was confused, but wanted to know where she was going with the conversation.

“Wesley, first off, I'm not even supposed to be dating. I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend. I was sneaking around with Percy behind my mother's back. I think my grandmother knew, but I can't be certain.”

“What does that have to do with you testifying?” I asked.

“Wesley.” Lori paused again. “I provoked Percy.”

I sat up as tall as I could. “What did you just say to me?” I asked, not sure if I wanted her to repeat what she'd just said.

“When I asked you to go out with me for pizza I knew Percy was going to show up. I told him that you and I would be there.” Lori lowered her eyes in shame.

“Why in the hell did you do that?” I shouted, feeling my aggravation mounting.

“Revenge, Wesley. I wanted to get payback. I wanted to crush his ego and teach him a lesson. I told him stuff—told him I'd given it up to you…even told him that I let you put it in without a condom. He'd been trying to get me to get down with him for the longest, but I wouldn't and that frustrated him. That's why we were fighting in the car that day. He was forcing himself on me. He kept trying to get between my legs. He wanted to do me right there in his car in broad daylight. He was rough and ag
gressive and wouldn't take no for an answer. I told him I wasn't ready and he should respect me, but Percy didn't want to hear it. All he wanted was some sex. He tried to force my head down between his thighs, so that I'd give him oral sex, but the very thought of it made my stomach turn. I fought him off and jumped out of the car. That's when he lost it and decided to beat me down. Anyway, after you helped me, he kept calling me. I wanted the phone calls to end, so I figured if I told him you belonged to another gang back in Chicago and that you were going to kick his ass again, he'd leave me alone. I made stuff up just to get my vengeance. I had no idea Percy would bring a gun with him to the pizza parlor. I had no idea that he'd even do something as crazy as try to murder us. I never intended for any of this to happen.”

“This entire situation is—”

“Wesley, I know I've messed up,” Lori interrupted. “Please don't yell at me because I can't take being shouted at right now. Yelling at me would just crush me right now. I just want to make things right between us. I want you to know that I'm sorry and that I'm forever indebted to you.”

“You need to work with the police and testify, Lori,” I said, wanting to win my argument of helping the police bring Percy to justice.

“Wesley, you're not understanding. My mother won't let me testify because she's afraid of retaliation. She doesn't want me to have anything to do with this. She's too afraid. She didn't even want me to come here to see you because she fears that Percy and his goons will come in here and just start shooting up the place.”

“Lori, if you don't stand up now and this guy gets off, he'll continue to harass you.”

“I know.” Lori paused in thought. “I'll do it, Wesley. I'll have to find some way to keep this from my mother, but I'll do it.”

“Good, because it's the right thing to do,” I said, feeling more at ease now that I'd talked some sense into her.

“So we'll go through this together, right?” Lori asked.

“Of course,” I answered. “Come here,” I said, reaching up to embrace her. Lori allowed me to hug her and I whispered, “It's going to be okay. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard to do.” We held on to each other for some time before I let her go.

“You know, I was thinking.” Lori fed me more of my food. “You're a really good kisser and you're not a bad-looking guy. You're nicer than most guys and I'm glad that you haven't tossed me out of the room for what I've done.”

“I don't want to talk about it anymore,” I said.

“Okay, but I just wanted to let you know that your kisses are so sweet and I would love to be your girlfriend.”

“Lori—”

“Don't say anything. Just think about that and let me take care of you,” she said as she placed more food in my mouth. We looked at each other for a while, then I smiled at her warmly.

“Wesley, is that you?” the sound of Keysha's voice startled me. I looked past Lori and was super shocked to see Keysha standing in the doorway. I quickly swallowed my food.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Oh, my God, it is you!” Keysha positioned her suitcase
against the wall and rushed over to my bed. “I'm so happy that I've finally found you.” Keysha seemed overjoyed but I could tell right away that something was slightly off.

“Are you hurting? Is there anything I can do for you?” Keysha asked a number of questions. She appeared to be overly eager to help me in any way she could.

“He's okay. I'm taking good care of him,” Lori spoke up as she gave Keysha a judgmental glare.

“Who are you?” Keysha asked defensively.

“I'm—”

“Keysha, how did you get here?” I cut Lori off before she could answer.

“It's a long story, Wesley, and I don't want to talk about it right now. All I know is I wasn't about to allow you to sit in this hospital all alone. I knew you'd want me to come. I knew that you'd want me to be here with you. I could feel it in my heart,” Keysha said as she rubbed my leg and then my bare feet. “I couldn't sleep at night knowing that you'd been hurt.”

“How did you even find out?” I asked, still dumbfounded as to how she'd gotten here.

“Your grandmother told me,” she said.

“And once your parents found out, they drove all the way here so that you could see me?” I asked, figuring I'd pieced together the scenario that got her here.

“Not exactly,” Keysha answered as she continued to rub my feet.

“What do you mean, ‘not exactly'?”

“Yes. What do you mean?” Lori asked as she moved my food tray out of the way.

“Are you his nurse or something?” Keysha asked Lori, looking her up and down.

“No, I'm not,” Lori answered.

“Then can you, like, excuse yourself or something while I talk to my man?” Keysha rolled her eyes and became deliberately snotty with Lori.

“Oh, hell no! Hold up, chick! You don't come up in here telling me what to do,” Lori snapped.

“Wesley, who is she?” Keysha asked, her voice rising. I looked into Keysha's eyes and could see that she was in a very feisty, “take no prisoners” kind of mood.

“Keysha, this is Lori. She's a friend,” I answered truthfully.

“So you're the whore.” Keysha gave Lori a nasty glare as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Slut, you don't even know me!” Lori barked back matching Keysha's fire with her own.

“I know enough about you to know that I don't like you.” Keysha didn't hold back for one instant.

“Hold on, you two. Stop it before things get out of hand.” I tried to cool the tension between them. It was clear, at least from what I was witnessing, that Keysha and Lori were heading down the slippery slope of a girl brawl.

Lori postured defiantly, raised her right arm high above her head and pointed two fingers and her thumb at Keysha as if she were shooting a gun. “How are you just going to come up in here and start calling people out of their name?” Lori ignored what I'd just said about calming down and was sharpening her claws for a catfight.

“Wesley's grandmother told me all about you.” Keysha sized Lori up once again and then cautiously turned back
to look at me. “What I want to know, Wesley, is why is she even here and how did you get shot over her?” Keysha rudely pointed her index finger close to Lori's face.

“You'd better get your damn fingers out of my face before I chop them the hell off!” Lori threatened.

“Oh, I can't believe this is happening,” I said, not wanting to deal with this type of drama.

“Well, Wesley? Is it her or is it me that you're in love with?” Keysha asked flat out as she lowered her hand and glanced sideways at Lori.