Life After a Balla (25 page)

CHAPTER 26

Dre and Cruze rode in complete silence back to Felicia’s vacation house. Curiosity was killing Dre as he wondered how Cruze could double cross Sandino, who considered him his best friend, by stealing his wife. He decided to ask him about it mainly because he was tired of the silence and he was also getting sleepy. He hadn’t been to sleep in almost twenty-four hours.

“Cruze, I’ve heard a lot about you, how you used to be the man in the streets back in the day.”

Cruze looked at Dre wondering how he knew things about his past and why he was even trying to make conversation with him in the first place.

“Yeah man, Sandino and I were cell mates when he was locked up and he talked about you all time. He expected you to come visit him, but you never did. He considers you family,” Dre went on to say.

Cruze didn’t respond, but looked out the window instead.

“He really trusted you and probably never expected you to steal his damn wife. That’s some fucked up shit to do to the man knowin’ he’s down and out.” Dre shook his head like he was thinking about something. “But shitttt now that I think about it, Skye is fine as a muthafucka. When I saw her for the first time I almost lost my mind. She shoulda been in a beauty pageant or some shit like that. Plus, the bitch got a fat ass, too! Umm, umm, umm, I see why Sandino kept her on lock down for all those years.”

Cruze could feel his temperature rising as Dre talked about Skye.

If only I knew where Kareem was, I would pull my fucking gun out right now and blow his ass away
, Cruze thought.

He just bit down on his lip and continued to ignore him thinking about how much he loved Skye and once he got Kareem home safely he wasn’t leaving her side no matter what she said this time. He’d seen it in her eyes at the restaurant. He could tell how much she really wanted to take him back, but was still hurt and her pride wouldn’t allow it. He planned to prove to her that he was willing to do whatever it took to show her just how much he loved her… even if it meant killing for her again.

When they arrived at Felicia’s house several minutes later, Cruze suddenly had that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that he got every time something bad was about to happen. He wished he could call Skye but Dre had insisted that he turn off his phone before even agreeing to take him to Kareem.

I just hope we can get out of here alive, hopefully that won’t be a problem since I’m packing. I can’t believe the stupid muthafucka didn’t even bother to check me for a weapon
, he thought.

Dre hit the button on the remote to activate the garage door. “Let me remind you not to try nothin’ stupid when we get in here. As soon as you see that nigga, I wanna know where my brother is.”

Agreeing to his demands, Cruze followed Dre’ inside the house. He could hear the T.V. playing in the livingroom area and wondered whose place it was since it looked like the owner had money. Felicia had fallen asleep on the couch after talking to Kareem but quickly woke up when she heard the garage door opening. She hoped Dre had gotten the information he needed from Cruze so they could let Kareem go and leave. She was ready for the whole thing to be over with.

Kareem immediately became nervous. “Felicia listen…if I don’t make it out of here alive. Promise me you’ll tell my mom I love her and that I’m sorry for giving her such a hard time,” he whispered.”

Felicia sat up and looked at Kareem in his eyes for the first time since he beat her. “You’ll be able to tell her yourself. Dre’s not going to hurt you. All he wants is the location of the body,” she reassured him.

Seconds later, Dre walked into the living room and Felicia was surprised to see that he wasn’t alone. Cruze scanned the room for Kareem and his eyes widened when he saw him tied up to a chair with bruises on his face.

“Kareem, you alright?” he asked.

“I’m good, Cruze. What are you doing here? You should’ve just told him what he wanted to know,” Kareem said with concern.

Cruze was just about to walk over to Kareem, but Dre beat him to it and pointed his gun to Kareem’s head.

Cruze paused trying to decide if he should reach for the gun inside in pants. “Let Kareem go, he didn’t have anything to do with the murder,” Cruze pleaded.

“Shut the fuck up! I’m tired of waiting, where’s my brothers body?” Dre asked.

Cruze rubbed his head. He knew if they wanted to make it out of there he didn’t have a choice but to tell him.

“Where is it?” Dre asked again.

“Inside an abandoned glass factory out in Newnan, Georgia. If you need to know where Newnan is, then Google the shit cuz that’s all I’m saying. Now, untie him,” Cruze demanded.

Dre smiled like a kid in the candy store once he finally had the information he’d been waiting for. “Nigga, you think you can just smoke my damn brother and walk away?”

Felicia finally spoke up. “I found out the entire story, Dre. Justice’s death was an accident. He got killed by a stray bullet when Kareem and his father were scuffling over the gun.”

“You can believe that shit if you want to, I don’t,” Dre said just before he pulled the trigger.

Felicia went completely ballistic and started screaming as Kareem’s body slumped down in the chair. He’d been shot in the side of the head.

“You muthafucka!” Cruze yelled reaching for his gun. He pulled it out and pointed it at Dre who in return lifted his gun and shot Cruze first.

Dre stood and watched as Cruze’s body fell to the floor. He then ran up and shot Cruze again, this time in the chest, aiming straight for his heart. By now, Felicia was hysterical and screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Oh my God…oh my God. Why did you kill them, Dre? You got the information you needed! I’m not going to jail for you!”

He walked over to Felicia and grabbed her tight trying to calm her down. “Listen to me and calm down. We had to take them out. That nigga Cruze had a reputation in the streets, he would’ve come after me. Trust me, you’re not going to jail. Once we get that money all this will be forgotten. Go get your things together and call a cab to take you to the airport and get out of here. I’ll clean up this mess, get rid of the bodies and meet you back in Georgia. Don’t do anything or speak to anybody until you hear from me. Do you understand?”

Felicia nodded her head before taking off running to the bathroom and throwing up in the toilet. All she could think about was the fact that she was responsible for two people losing their lives.
I should’ve never asked Dre to help me. He’s out of control
.

After getting herself together she called a cab and grabbed her suit case.

“I better get out of here before this fool tries to kill me next!”

CHAPTER 27

Skye stared watching the news as they talked about Sandino’s death. She listened as they said, “Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.”

“Until I find Kareem, I’m not even thinking about burying Sandino,” she said to herself.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that the press was constantly staked out outside, Skye felt like she couldn’t even turn on the T.V. without hearing Sandino’s name.
If it were up to me, he would’ve been dead a long time ago.

Her mind drifted back to Sandino’s first night home. She remembered sneaking into his room and standing over him with a pillow ready to smother him as he slept. All her years of domestic, sexual and verbal abuse, danced in her head. When she heard Quinn moving around in his room across the hall, Skye finally snapped out of her trance. It was at that moment when she realized it would be too hard to explain Sandino’s sudden death and going to jail was definitely out of the question. So, she quickly left the room.

Skye shook her head focusing her mind back on Kareem.
Why hasn’t Cruze called me back about Kareem? I told him being back in the streets would interfere with him being there for his family and this is a prime example. Even If I did consider taking his ass back he can forget it now. He made his choice…the streets. Why did I think he was any different from all the other no good men I’ve had in my life
?

“Maybe I’m cursed!”she yelled.

Skye threw the remote across the room and quickly hopped up and caught a glimpse of her image in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot red and the puffy bags under lids now seemed to be permanent. She hadn’t bathed or combed her hair in days and looked a complete mess. But for now appearances didn’t matter. All she wanted to do was talk to Kareem. Four days had passed, and she still hadn’t heard one word from him. She’d even called the Georgia Police Department and filed a missing person’s report, but since Skye didn’t even know Felicia’s address, the police told her it was going to be even more difficult to find him. Now, she didn’t know what else to do.

“I can’t believe I was so consumed with getting back to Miami that I didn’t even take the time to find out where Le Le lived or got her number.”

Suddenly Skye heard a knock at her bedroom door.

“Who is it?” she yelled.

“Jordan!”

Skye was surprised. Jordan hadn’t said a complete sentence to her since Sandino’s fatal seizure.

It’s not my fault he had the damn seizure. If he had left us alone and not come to my apartment that night we all would be just fine right now
, she thought to herself.
As a father he was suppose to give his sons good life lessons, and good memories. Yet Sandino has left his sons with nothing but taunted memories. Sorry muthafucka
.

Not only that, Quinn was so upset that he wasn’t around to possibly save Sandino, he packed up and left right after the Coroner’s took away the body without even saying goodbye.

“I didn’t like his punk ass any damn way,” Skye mumbled before telling Jordan to come in.

Jordan walked in the room carrying Payton and sat on the side of her bed. He looked really upset like he’d been crying.

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?” Skye asked, grabbing Payton.

Jordan didn’t say anything. Instead he stared Skye down with uncertainty. Seconds later, he broke down crying again. Skye put Payton down on the bed and reached over and grabbed her son.

“I know you’re upset son and I’m sorry. I know you loved your father and were finally developing a relationship with him again. I told you it wasn’t going to be easy coming back here. I’ve been thinking lately and I know now that I made the wrong choice. I was so worried about us struggling and being broke thinking if we came back for the money we would be happier. But in all honesty it seemed like we were happier without the money,” Skye admitted.

Jordan lifted his head. “You’re right. We were happier without all the money. We would still be together as a family. Me, you, Payton, Kareem and Cruze. You used to tell us that it wasn’t healthy to carry around a grudge but you are. If leaving this house will make you turn back into my mom again then can we please leave tonight?”

At that moment Skye felt even worse. Realizing her son was right, she knew it was time to make some drastic changes.

****

Later that night, Skye heard the door bell ring. Thinking it was a reporter trying to get her statement about Sandino, she first decided to ignore it. But after looking out the window and realizing that all the paparazzi were camped out at the end of the driveway, Skye became excited hoping it might be Kareem. Running down the stairs, Skye kept visualizing how big her hug was going to be as soon as she saw his face. Skye knew at that point she never wanted to be without her kids, and would cherish them every day after this scare. Opening the door, her heart was filled with anticipation, until she looked at the person standing on the opposite side. She was surprised to see who it was.

“What are you doing here? How did you find out where I lived?” Skye asked.

Suddenly all the paparazzi ran up to the door, taking pictures.

“We need to talk,” Felicia said. “Can I come in?”

Realizing the pictures of her would be all over the news, Skye quickly stepped to the side, allowing Felicia to enter. However, as soon as she closed the door, Skye immediately became alarmed because it looked as if Felicia had been crying for hours.

Skye’s heart rate began to enhance. “Has something happened to my son, Le Le?”

Felicia looked up, then swallowed the huge lump in her throat. “My name isn’t Le Le, Skye. It’s Felicia…Felicia Mitchell. Justice was my husband.”

Skye backed away. “What? Is this some type of joke? I need to talk to Kareem. Where is he? Where’s my son?”

Tears formed in Felicia’s eyes. She even opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

“Where is he? What happened to Kareem? Why are you here?” By this time tears were in Skye’s eyes as well. “Answer me!”

“He’s…he’s dead,” Felicia was barely able to say.

Skye immediately fell to her knees and wailed. “I knew it. I felt it.”

Felicia ran over to Skye to comfort her.

“Get the fuck off me. It’s all your fault! If it wasn’t for you my son would be here in Miami with his family. I knew you were bad news the first day I laid eyes on you!” Anger and sadness consumed her body at the same time. If her son was dead, Felicia was gonna pay.

“I’m so sorry. I know you already hate me,” Felicia said, sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly, Skye reached up and hit Felicia in the face then grabbed her hair, pulling her onto the floor. Within seconds, she’d gripped Felicia by her neck trying to cut off her air supply. Felicia fought back desperately trying to push Skye away. When she was finally able to loosen Skye’s grip, the two rolled around on the floor fighting for what seemed like an eternity.