No Justice No Peace (22 page)

THE BEAT DOWN

Chapter Thirteen

I was tired as fuck.  After I took Desmon’s
tutor
home the other night, I thought I was going to come back home and get some rest.  That didn’t happen because he stayed up all night arguing on the phone with Gabrielle about who the hell she’d been seeing.  Evidentially, she hooked up with another one of the football players on the team and Desmon was irate.  He’d called Antonio up and told him about it, and I had to listen to him go on and on about how she played him.  That totally fucked me up because he was definitely the one playing her.  He’d had his share of females and had even taken another chick to homecoming with him. 

Now, his so called tutor did help him with his homework, but it wasn’t until I heard the music blasting that I realized what was actually going down.  When I walked up to the door to ask him to turn in down, I could hear the moans and groans coming through the door.  I didn’t want to be nosy, so I stepped away from the door and went back into my room to watch TV.  That night, when I dropped her off at home, my suspicions were confirmed.  Her hair was a mess and all of the make-up she had on was cleared from her face. Desmon gave his goodbyes with a kiss and I was so sure I’d probably never see her face again.

When Saturday rolled around, Desmon asked me to drop him off at Ginger’s place so he could drop in to say hello and later go to the mall with Antonio.  When I asked if he’d make his way back home, he said he didn’t know and promised to call me later.  Since his hoop-tee wasn’t working, he asked me if I’d take a look at it to see what was wrong.  I didn’t want to work on his car in front of Ginger’s place, so I called Al’s to see if he’d have it towed back to my place for me.  He came within the hour and towed it to my house.  He also told me the police were looking for me and had paid him a visit several times.  When I asked if there was a warrant out for my arrest, he assured me that there was.

I wanted to tell the police what really happened, but I was going to wait until they caught up with me.  I’m sure Dwayne’s story was full of shit, but I was also sure they didn’t have no sympathy for an abusive drug dealer either.

Either way, I didn’t trip.  It was too beautiful outside, so I put my old jeans on and a white wife-beater.  I searched for my tools and went outside to work on Desmon’s car. 

As usual, time had gotten away from me.  By now, my hands were oily and so was my face since I’d rubbed it a few times to wipe the sweat from my forehead.  Realizing that Desmon needed a whole new engine, I called it a day and headed back into the house.  As I was about to step in the shower, the phone rang.  I looked at the caller ID and it was Jada.  I didn’t answer because she’d been bugging the hell out of me since we’d last got together.  Thing is, she didn’t want shit.  Her messages were clear that all she wanted to do was fuck again, and for the moment, I wasn’t interested. 

I hopped in the shower to wash all the grime and dirt off my face, body and hands.  When I finished, I dried off and wrapped a towel around my waist.  Since this was the perfect opportunity for me to get some rest, after I made a sandwich, I fell backwards on my bed.  I looked up at the ceiling, taking large bites into my sandwich.  It was gone in four bites and I was still hungry.  Trying to decide on sleep or more food, I continued to lye back on the bed and stare at the ceiling.  I started to think more about Desmon, so I reached for Marissa’s number on my nightstand to call her.  She answered, but I could barely hear her from the noisy background.

“Who is this?” she asked.

“Kiley,” I responded.

“Hey, Kiley.  Give me your number so I can call you right back.”

I gave her my number and waited for her to call back.  Within ten minutes she did.

“Hello there,” she said.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“You know I gotta ask you this, but, what happened to you last Sunday night?  I looked all over for you but you were gone.”

“I left after that incident.  Somebody got killed, didn’t they?”

“Yeah.  My friends and me got the heck out of there too.  I did look around for you, but I figured you’d left as well.”

“I looked around for you too,” I lied. “But there was so many people that I couldn’t find you no matter how hard I tried.”

“You could have called me.  It’s evident you still have my phone number.”

“No doubt.  I’ve been kind of busy with Desmon.  His leg still trying to heal, so I’ve been taking care of him on that end.”

“I see.  Since I know you’ve been busy, no need to apologize.”

I didn’t respond because my intentions weren’t to apologize.  Marissa cleared her throat. “So, what you got up for the evening?”

“Nothing.  I just called to see if we could finish the conversation we started at the game about Desmon.”

“Oh, that.  Well, along with that, I was hoping you’d let me take you to dinner or something.”

My stomach growled from the sandwich I’d eaten, but I really wasn’t up for dinner. “Thanks, but I’m not in the mood to go out anywhere.”

“So, basically, the only thing you want from me is information about Desmon?”

“That’s only if you got vital information.”

“Kiley, like I told you at the game…Ginger was the one who said Myles was Desmon’s father.  I dated him for years, so I know how much him and Desmon look alike.  After you see the picture, you be the judge.”

“Would you say that Myles looks more like Desmon than I do?”

“I really can’t say.  You have to be the judge of that.  All I can do is give you his picture, then you decide.”

“Where do you live?”

“By the Halls Ferry Circle.  But, since you won’t have dinner with me, I’m going to step out for the night.  Why don’t you let me bring the picture to you.”

I was skeptical, but I gave Marissa the address to my place.  She said that after she picked one of her lady friends up, she’d drop the picture off for me to see it.

A bit nervous about seeing the picture, I poured myself a glass of Vodka and rolled up a Bahama-of-a-mama joint.  I was fucked up by the time Marissa made it to my place, and when I opened the door, the looks of an unstable man was written all over my face.

“Kiley, are you okay,” she said, walking in. 

“I’m cool,” I said standing in the foyer. “Where the picture at?”

Marissa looked out at her friend in the car and dug into her purse. “She’s been rushing me, so I hope you appreciate me bringing this picture to you.”

“I do.  I very much do,” I said, leaning against the door.

Marissa handed the picture over to me and I looked at it.  The picture looked a lot like me, but Myles’ eyes and eyebrows were quite different.

“See,” Marissa said, pointing to the picture. “Desmon’s got his features all up in here.”

“I don’t see all that, but thanks for bringing this over.  Do you mind if I keep it?”

“Sure.  Just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you. If you’re that worried about it, Kiley, then why not have a blood test?  That will determine everything.”

“Maybe I will.  In the meantime, if there’s anything else you can do, I have your number.”

“And I have yours too,” she said, on her way out.

I thanked Marissa again and she jetted. 

By midnight I was tow-up from the flo-up.  I’d gazed at Myles’ picture at least a million times.  It seemed as if the more I looked, the more Desmon looked like him.  I’d even put their pictures side by side, and still there were some resemblances.  When I got my picture and placed it next to Desmon’s, he was all me.  I was confused, but I knew there was only one way to get to the bottom of this. 

The phone awakened me, as I lay naked on the couch in a deep sleep.  I glanced at the clock on the wall and it showed a little after midnight.  When I answered, it was Desmon.

“Wake up,” he said. “You ain’t sleep already, are you?”

“Yeah, I was,” I mumbled, as my head was banging hard. I sat up and rubbed my hand down my face.

“Kiley,” Desmon said.

“What!”

“Why you yelling? You the one who told me to call if I was gon stay out.”

I took a deep breath. “Yeah, I know.  So you not coming home tonight?”

“Naw, I’m gon stay at Antonio’s girlfriend’s crib.  I just got into a fight at the mall a few hours ago.”

“A fight? With who,” I said, discouraged.

“With Gabrielle.”

“Man, why you fighting girls?  You know better than to be fighting girls.”

“Okay, Pops, when I show you how badly she scratched my face, you gon want to fight her your damn self.  You should see these scratches she put on my face.”

“First of all, what are you doing out at the mall with an injured leg?  You need to stay off that leg and let it heal.”

“I be bored, man.  I just wanted to get out for a while.”

“Are you coming back tomorrow? I need to talk to you about something important.”

“I might.  If so, it’ll be late.”

“Don’t make it too late. Until then, stay out of trouble and…I love you.”

He hesitated. “Um…uh, Antonio wants to speak to you.  Hold on.”  He passed the phone to Antonio.

“Hey, Mr. Abrams, I don’t mean to be up in yo bitness or nothing, but what’s up with you and Anna?”

By Antonio’s tone, I could tell he was high. “Nothing, why?  We cool.”

“She don’t seem to think so.  I ain’t liking to see hu upset all the time.  I’on know what’s up, but you told me you’d take care of hu.”

“Antonio, please don’t get in the middle of this.  I’m digging Anna, but I got so much shit on my mind right now.  It has nothing to do with her.”

“Then, why don’t you just tell hu?”

“I have.  I told her to be patient with me, but I don’t know what else to say.”

“Well, whatever you’ve been saying to hu ain’t working. She be tearing up all the time and you got to know how much it hurt me to see hu like that.”

“Anna is very emotional.  I will deal with her when I can.  Again, don’t you take this personal and please don’t come between us.”

“I’m not.  Just do the right thing, okay?”

“If I knew what that was I would.”

He gave the phone back to Desmon. “Are you in the dog house,” he laughed. “I got a feeling Jada, the baby-girl with lots and lots of back, got you in trouble.”

“Did you tell Antonio about Jada?  Man, tell me you didn’t.”

“See, it slipped.  I—

I hung up on Desmon.  That’s why I didn’t want his punk ass in my business.  I knew he’d run his mouth and I hoped Antonio wasn’t stupid enough to hurt Anna’s feelings even more by telling her. 

Curious to find out, and even though I said I wouldn’t, I picked up the phone and dialed Anna’s number.  I could tell she was asleep by the way she answered.

“If I woke you, I can always call you back later,” I said.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know.  Antonio said you were upset about something.”

“I don’t know what Antonio is talking about.”

“So, you’re not upset with me about not calling—

“Look, Kiley, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but this shit is not working out for me.”

“So, you are upset.”

“Are you intentionally trying to screw me around so I will get upset?”

“No, I’m not.  I’ve just been busy.”

“Too busy for somebody you say you care about?  That doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t even think it makes sense to you.”

“By the sound of your voice, I can tell how much you’ve missed me.”

She paused and continued to speak in a higher pitched voice. “Miss you?  Yeah, I’ve done that a lot.  Missing you does me no good, though, especially since I don’t even have a phone number to reach you.  You call here privately like you’re trying to hide something.”

“What time would you like for me to pick you up tomorrow?”

“Don’t bother.”

“Why?  I thought you wasn’t upset with me.”

“I’m damn upset with you.  You gotta stop doing this shit to me, man.  I can’t be on your time like this, I just can’t.”

When I heard her voice crack, I could tell Anna was getting emotional.  I didn’t want to hear it, so I made a quick attempt to end the call. “How about lunch, shopping, dinner, a movie, the racetrack, and sex tomorrow?  I’ll pick you up around eleven so we can get an early start.”

“If you do not show up tomorrow, Kiley, I swear to God that it will be the last time you ever see me.  I will not—

“I hate threats,” I said, calmly and clicked Anna off the phone. I dropped the phone on the floor and lay back on the couch to continue with my rest. I was glad she didn’t have my number because I knew she’d call right back.  In addition to that, I knew once I picked her up tomorrow, she’d have an earful of bullshit for me to listen to.

By morning, I got up early because I had a busy day ahead of me.  I put on my comfortable white sweat suit and white new tennis shoes to match.  After I grabbed my keys off the dresser, I jetted.  I stopped by the supermarket to get Anna some roses so I could purposely be late.  She just didn’t know how much I loved a challenge and how dare her threaten me to be on time.  Still a bit early, I went to Al’s place and messed around with him for about an hour or so.  He said the police hadn’t been back looking for me, but claimed that Dwayne and some of his partners were.  Apparently, Al knew Dwayne from working on his car, so he gave me a heads up and told me to be careful.  I wasn’t the least bit afraid because any man who beats on a woman for no reason is a punk.  Now, I admit, Jada can work a nigga’s nerves, but I only resorted to putting my hands on her when she’d put her hands on me.