Pink Lips (27 page)

Willow walked into the bathroom and let everything that she was feeling drain away with the water after softly hitting her skin. Feeling exhilarated, she got dressed and realized it was time to stop sitting around.

Willow couldn't help but to feel some kind of piece of her was
gone. She wasn't used to not seeing Kail every day. They had been like conjoined twins constantly at each other's side through anything. She pushed the thought of her sister in the back of her mind while she walked back into the living room.

“You ready?” Elysia she stood up.

“I don't even have a plan,” Willow admitted.

“I do,” Elysia walked toward the door, “now, let's go.”

•  •  •

Willow wasn't herself as they pulled into the parking lot of the hospital that brought so many bad memories in her mind. She didn't ask questions; she just let Elysia be the lead as they walked into the hospital and got onto an elevator.

“Where are we going?” Willow asked as the elevator jerked as it started going up.

“To go see Choice,” she said.

“No, I'm good.” Willow said as she hit the button pad on the elevator to try to make it go down.

“Look, we gon' need her,” Elysia said as she hit Willow's hand. “It's only me and you now, so we gon' at least need her for all of the jobs that's at your house waiting to be worked.”

Willow knew she was telling the truth as the doors to the elevator opened. She had looked over the requests from several clients, and all of the jobs required a three-person squad. She had to make things right with Choice because Kail was long gone.

Craig was coming out of the room as they approached the door. Craig and Willow immediately saw nothing in their path but each other. Willow felt as if it took her an hour to get to the door because his eyes were stuck on her like super glue. She waved with a sway of her hand as they stood face to face.

“I'll be inside.” Elysia walked into Choice's room.

This is yo' girl's man,
Willow kept thinking to herself as her heart did the two-step in her chest. She couldn't help but get weak at his presence. She was madly in love with him and as she smelled his alluring scent, it calmed her mind down. She wanted to run into his arms, but she couldn't.

He looked back at her, the same thing running through his mind. Willow was now the forbidden fruit. No matter how bad he wanted to bite it, he was going to have to resist temptation. He stole a peek at her body as they went into a weird hugging moment.

“Craig.” Willow closed her eyes.

“Don't,” he said as if he knew what she was going to say. “I understand and you don't owe me an explanation or anyone else.”

“But, I'm—”

“It's cool,” he said softly as he grabbed her hand. “I don't know how, but we have to stop this.”

“I know.” She took her own hand back after so willingly giving it to him. “I don't know how either.”

“We have to figure it out.” He kissed her forehead and left. “We have to.”

Willow watched Craig get onto the elevator as she cried eternally. She felt sad knowing that she would never taste his lips again. She felt nervous at the thought of not ever being able to wake up to his face again. She felt like the last piece of her heart had just shattered and fallen to her stomach into the pit of acid that lay there.

She entered the room after a soft knock to alert them that she was coming in. It had been days, and she couldn't believe Choice was still in the hospital. She walked in the room as the television flashed pictures of old westerns. She could smell death, a familiar one that all hospitals reeked of.

“I can't even trust that bitch with my man,” Choice was saying as Willow entered. “How am I going to trust her with my fucking life?”

“That shit with Craig is nipped in the bud,” Willow said as she got deeper inside, making it possible for them to see her.

“You see?” Elysia walked over to Willow. “She ended that shit.”

“It should have ended way before that.” Choice crossed her arms.

Choice was on edge after losing her baby. She had to stay in the hospital because the amount of blood that she had lost was more than a normal miscarriage. She had caught an infection during the transport from Craig's apartment to the hospital, and once it was cleared out of her system, she could leave. She had been getting poked with needles for days and she was highly frustrated.

“Choice, it's over with,” Willow said honestly.

“I don't like second chances.” Choice rose. “Giving someone a second chance is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun because they missed you the first time.”

“Trust me.” Willow walked closer. “I have enough bullets and none of them are for you. I just need to get back to the money, Choice. I don't give a fuck if we kick it or not. It could be strictly business. Just be real enough to have my back and I'll do the same.”

Choice thought hard. “I'll think about it,” she finally said but rolled her eyes. “Did you get that nigga Talvin yet?”

“No, I'm about to work on that now.” Willow grabbed the keys from Elysia's hand. “I'll be back in thirty.”

•  •  •

The smell of fresh orange peels and pencil shavings welcomed Willow as she walked into the private school on the outskirts of town. She walked into the front office as her heels made music on
the soft granite with each step that she took. She rang the little bell on top of the counter for assistance as she stood straight up waiting to be helped.

“May I help you?” the administrative assistant asked as she came from a side room.

“I'm here to pick up my stepson.” Willow pointed at the clock on the wall. “He has a doctor's appointment in an hour and I wanted to get him there a little early.”

“May I have his name?” she asked as she walked to the counter.

“Tyron Wilson,” Willow answered with a grin.

“Are you on the list that can pick him up?” the assistant asked.

“I sure am.” Willow handed her identification.

“Thank you so much for that,” she said as she handed Willow back her driver's license. “I'll be right back with him.”

Willow walked outside of the office knowing that Talvin's only weakness was his son. He had fallen off the face of the earth and no one had heard from him. If she had his son, she would have him where she wanted him. He would crawl out of whatever Rock he was hiding under and meet her anywhere she wanted.

Willow stood outside of the glass office as she watched the woman walk through the doors to the main entrance of the classrooms. She saw her return with Tyron running toward Willow with open arms. Willow bent down to grab him and picked him up. She squeezed him tight as she gave him a kiss on his forehead.

“Willow, Willow, Willow,” Tyron repeated as he smiled.

“Tyron, Tyron, Tyron,” Willow said, copying him. “Let's go, kiddo.”

After walking outside to the car, Willow put Tyron in the backseat and closed the door. She got in the driver's seat, started the car and drove off as she dialed a number on her cell phone. She
promised herself that she wouldn't hurt Tyron; no matter how it ended. Even if she became desperate for revenge, she wouldn't let it consume her enough to hurt a child.

“You got some nerve calling me, bitch,” Talvin said as he answered the phone.

“Say hi to Daddy.” Willow leaned in the backseat while at a stoplight, then put the phone up to Tyron's ear.

“Hi, Daddy,” Tyron said with a smile. Willow put the phone back to her ear.

“So, now can you take some of the bass out of your voice?” Willow asked as she turned and pulled into an arcade.

“I'll kill you.”

“Before or after I kill him?” she whispered softly enough so Tyron couldn't hear.

“Before,” Talvin said loudly. “You've changed everything now, Willow.”

“Meet me at the warehouse.”

“The one where you had somebody steal my dough?”

“Yes, that one,” Willow said as she pulled the phone away from her ear and held it to her mouth. “I'll be there sometime today, so make sure you're there.”

“Don't hurt my son,” Talvin said before Willow pressed the end button.

“You want to go play some games?” Willow asked Tyron as she pointed to the arcade.

He nodded, unaware that he was being held hostage, and that's exactly how Willow wanted it. She planned to tire him out, pick up Elysia, and continue her mission.

K
ail walked down the beaten path, the night air whipping her hair as if she were in a photo shoot. Her legs moved a little faster once she heard the humming sound of the neon lights from afar. She entered the empty building with one objective on her mind.

She eased down the walkway, never letting her guard down; her hand always on her pistol that was hidden on her. She hadn't been in Sweet Lips since the day she and Willow had reconnected with Choice, and surely the owner wouldn't have wanted to see her again after putting a red dot on her.

She sat at a table, placing her gun down on a coaster before she pulled out a freshly rolled blunt and lit it. She knew they were there and she was aware they could see her. She sat puffing, letting the extensive feeling from the marijuana give her patience. The last thing she wanted to do was grow impatient and start shooting to make someone appear.

“I'm glad that you could come,” Vinny said as he appeared through a door with Evelyn at his side.

Kail looked at her; immediately recognizing her from the day she had put the scope on her. Evelyn stared at her, their eyes paying attention to nothing but each other. The tension was so thick in the room it could choke them by draining every ounce of oxygen from their lungs.

“I don't think we've been properly introduced,” Evelyn said as she and Vinny took a seat at Kail's table. “I'm Evelyn, your father's wife.”

“My sperm donor,” Kail said as she tossed the blunt, which was at its end, on the floor before putting it out with her heel. “No need for labels. I'm here, so what's up?”

“What's up is that my Poppa,” Evelyn looked at Vinny, “paid you a hefty amount to make Rock disappear.”

“I can't get close to him with Junior around,” Kail defended.

“Excuses are like assholes,” Vinny pointed at her, “everybody fuckin' got one.”

“That's true,” Kail shrugged her shoulders, “but, everyone's asshole isn't as pretty as mine. Now, we can talk business, figure out how to take over this city, and become bosses, or we can talk about what I didn't do and waste time.”

“I agree.” Evelyn crossed her legs and leaned back. “Willow,” she said softly.

“What about her?” Kail asked. She, too, crossed her legs as they shined under the mercury lights.

“What if she needs to be disposed of?” Vinny interrupted.

“That could happen,” Kail said with a grin. “I'm not opposed to the idea at all.”

“You mean you could kill your sister?” Evelyn asked out of curiosity.

“Wouldn't you if you had to?” Kail picked up her gun that was on the table and pointed it toward Vinny. “You're no saint when it comes to siblings. You think I don't know what happened to Uncle Gino?”

“I never said I was.” Vinny grinned. “I'm a businessman and that means that sometimes family is expendable.”

“Agreed,” Kail said.

“You remember that job I gave you with Detective Hall?” Vinny asked as Kail batted her long eyelashes, saying yes with them. “Well, on that tape is something that will bury Rock under the jail. The problem is your sister and your brother. Neither one of them will sit back and not do anything. Get them to leave town or kill them.”

Kail sat there as she remembered she and Willow as little girls running across the shoreline. Back then, she never thought it would come to this. It was them against the world. But as they matured, she always figured she would have to repeat history and kill her sister like Mahina had done her mother.

She sat there for a moment, pondering on if she could actually go into it with the frame of mind to kill Willow. She didn't want to, but it wasn't about that; she had to. She locked that inside of her head as she thought about what power she could have in Philly with all of them out of the way.

“I'm in.” Kail stood up. “I'll be in touch,” she said before she left.

“Do you think she could do it?” Evelyn looked at her Poppa.

“She's a beast, a savage.” Vinny stood up without a doubt in his head. “She is about money. She would commit suicide if offered enough money.”

“Do we really want somebody like that around, especially in our circle?”

“Don't worry,” he said while walking to the bar. “People like that always self-destruct. Give it some time and she will go boom all on her own.”

•  •  •

It was a beautiful sight; the house was built nicely with a Victorian edge to it. Under the sun, it beamed a deep blue, with pale ivory
running along the edges outlining the house. In general, it gave a feeling of calmness to all who passed by. But Willow wasn't passing; she and Elysia were watching it in hopes of seeing Talvin, so they could make their move.

It had two floors total; windows popped out of every direction, but didn't amazingly make it look overrun with windows. Indentations of small figures were carved into a line outside the attic window. In all truth, the house reminded Willow of the mansions the South used to have before the Civil War.

“Is he here?” Elysia asked.

“I don't know.” Willow fixed herself in her seat. “But, he knows we have his son.” Willow looked in the backseat at the sleeping boy.

“You think he would show up here before he is supposed to meet you?”

“I hope so,” Willow said.

They sat there for another hour in vain. Countless cars passed, but none of them were Talvin's. Tired of waiting, she started the car and just when she was about to pull off, the door to the house opened wide.