The Grind Don't Stop (34 page)

They were getting back on the elevator. Sparkle left the restroom and high-stepped it back down the corridor. Ever so carefully
he cracked the door, took a quick peek in and then back down the hall before he entered the room.

In the dim light he saw that there were at least three beds, each one separated by a partition. He started creeping on the balls of his feet to each one. When he reached the last one, he could see the silhouette of two people standing over a figure lying in the bed. He had eased to the edge of the partition to get a better look, when he heard one of them say something about going to the bathroom.

Oh shit,
he thought in near panic mode and looked around for somewhere to hide. He quickly moved to the other side of the bed and hit the floor and rolled under the bed. He shivered a bout of tension away and stared at a pair of women's feet as they walked past.

“Damn!!” Sparkle muttered under his breath. When he heard the bathroom door shut, he made a break to get out of there. No sooner had he slid from under the bed, he heard the main door open again. With the quickness he rolled back under.

The unmistakable sound of a man's footsteps caused him to try to ball up in an even tighter ball. He sweated through the conversation between the guy and the woman until dude left. His footsteps were followed quickly by those of the woman. The other woman came out of the bathroom and the two women had a brief conversation before one of them left the room. All three voices sounded familiar to him, but in his geeked-up state of mind, he couldn't pinpoint who they were. Along with the loudness of the television, the machines whirling and the announcements over the intercom, he was only able to catch bits and pieces of what they talked about.

After the second set of feet left out of the door, Sparkle eased from under the bed and tiptoed back to the edge of the partition.
He held his breath as he tried to listen to whoever was left over there. Only the labored breathing of whoever was in the bed, so he chanced a quick peek around the partition. What he saw caused a frown to immediately edge across his face. He was sort of surprised to see Bertha sitting on the edge of the bed. But what really hit him was the figure of JJ lying in the bed bandaged from head to toe. His leg was propped up on a hanger, with a cast running halfway up his thigh. Damn, buddy was fucked up.

Sparkle stood there in shock, but only for a brief moment as he thought of Rainbow waiting downstairs, most likely desperately itching to follow Percy and his boy. He had to get back down there. Soft-stepping to the door, he eased it open and practically ran for the elevator. All three cars were in use, with the nearest one on the fourth floor. Without a moment's hesitation, he sprinted down the corridor, past the nurses' station, drawing looks of surprise, frowns and shouts from its occupants, and hit the emergency exit door in full stride.

He descended rapidly down the stairs, covering three steps at a time, his right hand sliding along the railing. As he got to the second-floor landing he saw, too late, a “wet floor” sign and tried to slow down, but his momentum carried him into the slippery floor. Before he even realized it, his feet shot from under him. He spiraled crazily, his back and head ramming into the wall, then caroming down the stairs, bouncing and rolling down and finally thumping hard into the first-floor wall. He ended up balled awkwardly in a fetal position.

“Ugghhnn!!” Sparkle moaned as the pain caused stars to circle his head. Dazed for sure, he pushed himself up off of the floor and staggered to the door. He couldn't hold back the tears that started running down his cheeks as he alternated rubbing his shoulder and left kneecap. He grunted his way through the door
into an emergency room crowded with patients. To his surprise, hardly anyone paid him much attention as he walked stiff-legged out of the door.

With his eyes squinched up in pain, he took a quick double-take at an older lady that looked vaguely familiar, shook his head and started speed-stepping through the parking lot. He hunched his shoulders to his lack of memory because he couldn't place where he had seen her before.
Fuck it, it'll come back to me sooner or
later,
he thought as he quickly turned his attention to the whereabouts of Rainbow. The car was nowhere in sight. “Damn, I must've taken too long up there or something.”

He grimaced as he started limping toward Auburn Avenue. Halfway through the lot, the sound of screeching tires caused his heart to skip a beat. He whirled around toward the sound and instinctively dove between two cars, pulling his gun out of his waistband before he even hit the pavement. He quickly rolled into a squatting position ready to fire. The pain from his fall was completely forgotten.

“Damn, nigga, you tripping hard for a mug,” Rainbow shouted through the passenger window. “Come on, dude, those fools turned left on DeKalb. Getcha ass up before they get too far away.”

Sparkle stretched his neck over the hood of the nearest car, eyeing him angrily. “Whaddafuck you leave the spot for?”

“Fuck dat, move now, talk later!” Rainbow yelled back at him.

Sparkle groaned loudly as he staggered to his feet and limped to the car. He eased into the seat gingerly, but before he could close the door, Rainbow mashed the pedal to the floor and sped off down the lot. A completely shocked Sparkle was caught leaning halfway out of the door. He barely got the word “muthafucka” out before he slammed on the brake, causing the door to bump Sparkle across the seat crashing into his shoulder.
“Whaddafuck, nigga!” Sparkle screamed as his right leg kicked under the dashboard.

Rainbow elbowed him back to the passenger side and pressed the accelerator, swerving in a wide arc onto the street as he sped toward Auburn, cursing under his breath. He ran through three straight red lights in pursuit of Percy's car, which was still out of sight. He continued with the pedal to the floor until he finally was able to spot them as they passed the East Lake MARTA station. Only then did he slow down and began railing them at least two lights away. Neither of the occupants of the other car seemed to notice that they were being followed—at least they gave no indication from any movement of their silhouettes through the back window.

With his concentration locked on their prey, Rainbow didn't know that Sparkle had lit up a rock until the acrid fumes assaulted his nostrils.

“Hit and pass, nigga, hit and pass,” he said out of the side of his mouth.

Sparkle exhaled slowly, closing his eyes so that he could put more concentration into the full effect of the exhilarating smoke. The euphoria enveloped his entire body as he sighed. “Aaaaaahhh, did I ever need that there.” He tried to tune out the anxiousness in Rainbow's voice.

Rainbow knew all too well the tension-releasing feeling his boy was enjoying. Hell, he needed that feeling right then, so he leaned closer to him and hissed, “Hit and pass, bro. Damn, you make a nigga have to shout and shit.”

Sparkle blinked rapidly with his eyes budging as he cocked his head sideways toward Rainbow, whose mouth seemed to be moving in slow motion and his words echoed throughout the car. It had to be the excitement of the chase or something because he didn't
recall this dope ever having such a mind-blowing effect on him.

It suddenly dawned on him that he had never gotten the chance to test the coke he'd gotten from Duke when he got shot. He had to give his buddy credit; this stuff was a real head banger.

Rainbow, backhanding a stinging slap against his thigh, immediately brought him back to the here and now. He gingerly placed the glass shooter in his outstretched hand. “Aw, godayum, man, you put the hot end in my hand,” he yelled as the shooter hit the dashboard and rolled under his seat. He shook his hand vigorously, grimacing and frowning at his boy, who had crouched against the door with his knee and forearm raised to cover himself from the hot glass missile in case it shot in his direction.

“Man, keep your eyes on the road, for God's sake,” Sparkle yelled as he felt that he was going through some déjà vu like when he was with Joyce.

Rainbow rolled his eyes at him. “Man, could you please stop hanging on that damn door and get the thing from under the seat. I sho can't drive and get it, too.”

Sparkle rolled his eyes at his boy and wheezed as he began to unfold his body so that he could bend down and put his head under the seat. It didn't take long at all for him to spot the shooter rolling back and forth on the carpet between Rainbow's legs. He cursed out loud and got on his knees between his legs and stretched his arm out for it.

Rainbow looked down at his upturned face and put his hand over his mouth to try to stifle the laugh boiling up from his stomach. It didn't work as he burst out with spittle flowing freely over Sparkle's eyes and face. He shot his hand to his mouth immediately. “Sorry, dude.”

“Sorry, my ass,” Sparkle yelped and pressed his face harder into
the seat. Damn, he was directly in front of Rainbow's crotch. He began to jerk his head back when he felt the shooter on his fingertips. He stretched his fingers out, but it rolled out of his reach again. Feeling as shitty as he could possible feel with his boy's dick print pressing against his forehead, he wiggled his fingers out and finally got a hold of it.

“Damn, dude, you pushing my foot on the pedal,” Rainbow grumbled at the same time that he saw a police car pull up beside them. A streak of panic ran along his spine as beads of sweat immediately started to form on his forehead.

With a heavy sigh, Sparkle braced his hand on the floor for leverage to raise himself up. But the pang in his neck from Rainbow shoving him down into his crotch to keep the police from seeing him made him feel momentarily paralyzed.

“What the fuck you doing, man?” he muffled near his crotch.

Rainbow pressed down harder. “Shh, be quiet, my nig, five-o is right beside us,” he hissed out of the side of his mouth as he tried to maintain a picture of composure for the officer who was momentarily gritting on him. Even though he was greeting him with a nod of his head, he also had a stern look on his face. It seemed like an eternity before the light finally changed and the cruiser sped on ahead of them.

“Okay, man, dey gone. Damn, that there was close, soldier, too damn close.” He wheezed while he wiped the sweat off his brow. Sparkle, using Rainbow's thighs for a brace, pushed himself up as roughly as he possibly could, frowning stiffly at his boy as he handed him the shooter. “Here, nigga, you damn near broke my neck, man. Oh yeah, and you can wash those musty-ass nuts of yours like yesterday, muthafucka.” He spit out the window several times. Ugh, damn, that there was really rough on a nigga's nose, fer sho.

Rainbow eyed him up and down as he smirked. “What in the fuck you doing smelling them, nigga?”

“Aw, fuck you, man,” Sparkle spat as he was wiping the thought off of his mind.

“Naw, on the real, dog, I'm sorry about that. But that five-o would've pulled us over for sure if you would've come up looking all geeked up and shit.”

Knowing that he was right, Sparkle still waved him off and stared straight ahead trying to spot Percy's ride or the cops. Neither were in sight. Rainbow's cell phone started ringing. It was Miriam. He nodded a couple of times and hung up. Then he looked at Sparkle with a gleam in his eye. “We got this nigga finally, partner.”

“For sho, man?” Sparkle muttered in response.

“Uh-huh, he's in room 25 at the Heart of Decatur Hotel waiting for her to get back from the Dairy Queen on the corner.” He reached into his waistband and tossed Sparkle his piece. “Check-mate on that bitch, dog. His ass can't get away this time, the horny bastard. She managed to get a key to room twenty-four. We're going to stop at ‘D' Queen to get it. When I get everything ready in twenty-four, I'll give the signal to knock on twenty-five three times. That'll keep him from concentrating on hearing me opening the suite door. Pht, pht, pht, and we roll.”

Sparkle found it hard to keep the smile off of his face as they pulled into the Dairy Queen lot. Rainbow came out in record time, along with Miriam, who got into the car and reached the key out to him. He didn't even realize that he was holding his breath. The anticipation of finally getting rid of this nigga Don had him hyped up for sure.

“Here, baby girl, we about to do this fool, so don't be pulling out all scared and shit if you hear some gunfire.” He got out of
the car and handed Miriam the car keys. He turned from her and saw Rainbow going under the hotel's arch. He sighed away some of the tension and adjusted his baseball cap before he headed that way. He had made only a few steps when he suddenly jerked his head back toward the street and he saw Al's car zoom by. He turned right on Candler Road and bumped across the railroad track and down the hill out of sight.

What the hell is he doing way out this way?
Sparkle thought, shaking his head in bewilderment. As he was about to turn the corner to pass under the arch, a familiar car passed by him, but he couldn't see who the driver was through the tinted windows. By the time it dawned on him to look back to check out the license plate, the car had spun around the corner and definitely too far away from him to be able to read it clearly.

Sparkle turned back around and passed under the arch in time to see Rainbow going toward room 24. He picked up his pace, hurried into the adjacent room, rushed to the adjoining door and knocked rapidly three times. He counted to ten and knocked again. Confused because he didn't hear a gunshot, he automatically figured that his boy must've run into some kind of obstruction. He pulled out his own pistol, pressed it against his thigh and opened the door, ready to fire. As the door creaked open he stood there stunned to see Rainbow standing over Don's inert form. His obviously dead body was lying on the floor under the TV set.

“Man, I ain't heard no kind of shot; you must have a silencer or something,” he asked Rainbow.