No Justice No Peace (16 page)

            “Come on, I thought you said we were going to dance?”

            “We will—I promise you we will. Just give me a few more minutes.”

            “If he won’t dance with you, baby, I will,” Rufus said, slightly tipsy.

            “Well, come on,” she said, snapping her fingers. “I’m here to have some fun tonight.”

            She took Rufus’ hand and they made their way to the dance floor.  I continued my conversation with the ladies until Ginger made her presence known.

            “Hi,” she said sharply, while holding the beverage tray close to her hip.

            “What’s up?”

            She barked at the two chicks who stood by me. “This my baby daddy.  Do y’all mind if I talk to him for a minute?”

            One of the chicks wiggled her fingers as she walked away. “We’ll catch up with you later.”

            I nudged my head and looked at Ginger. “You look nice,” she complimented.  “But why you up in here?”

            “Do I need permission or something to be up in here?”

            “No.  But, if you’re here about your money, I said that I’d have it for you soon.”

            “Ginger, look.  Now ain’t the time or place to have this discussion.  I’m here to have a good time, so stop being bitter or else get the hell away from me.”

She waited before speaking again. “What are you doing after you leave here?”

            “Why?”

            “Because I want to talk to you about something, that’s why?”

            “If it’s not about my money or Desmon, then there’s nothing for us to talk about.”

            “It’s not about your money.  It’s about how I want to work this out with you.  I miss you, Kiley, and I miss having you around.”

            “Well, I haven’t started missing you yet.  If or whenever I do, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

            “So, it’s that easy for you to let what we had go?  If that’s the case, then you must have never loved me.”

            “I never said I did, did I?”

            She gave me a cold stare. “So, what about Anna?  Did you bring her with you tonight, or did she come alone?”

            “I didn’t know she was here.  But, let me shut you up real quick.  I haven’t heard from her or seen her since I moved out that day.  Now, would you get back to work and let me enjoy my night?”

            She raised her finger at me. “Remember, I am still the mother of your child.  You will respect me in your presence, and if you act a fool up in here tonight with any of these bitches, I will clown on yo ass and I mean it.” She rolled her eyes and walked away. 

What a fucking joke, I thought.  That bitch was crazy.  If she thought for one moment I was going to give her some respect, she was sadly mistaken. My respect for her went out the door the day I got my ass out of jail.

As my eyes searched the crowd, Ginger didn’t lie about Anna being there. I saw her on the dance floor near Rufus and Marissa, dancing with a tall and slender brotha with dreadlocks. One of Marissa’s friends asked me to dance, and not letting any woman ruin my night, I accepted.  No sooner had we got on the dance floor, Marissa switched partners.  She moved her friend away from me and started to dance.

            “So, are we hyped now,” she said.

            “As hyped as I’m gonna get,” I responded.  She turned around, pressing her ass against me as she danced.  My dick instantly responded, as I moved from side to side with her. 

            Marissa was an excellent dancer and we’d danced through at least three songs together. When the DJ switched to something slow, she placed her hand on her chest.

            “Well, it’s about time.  I’ve been waiting all night for him to set the mood.”

            I really didn’t feel like slow dancing, but I didn’t want to keep playing her off, especially on her birthday. So, instead of leaving the dance floor, I put my arms around her waist and we started to dance.  Anna had done the same with her partner.  She danced right next to me and wanted my attention so badly. 

            For a while, I was able to ignore her.  My conversation with Marissa flowed, as well as our plans to hook up tonight.  But, when Anna stared me down to get my attention, that’s when I looked over Marissa’s shoulder to see what Anna was saying.

            “Meet me outside,” she mouthed.

            Playing hard to get, I pretended not to understand her and continued a conversation with Marissa.  After the song was over, I thanked Marissa for the dance and we parted ways.

            “Don’t forget about me later on,” she said.

            “I promise you I won’t.”          

I went to the bar where Rufus was, interrupting his conversation with a female. “So, Killer, what you think?  Is this place off the hook or what?”

            “It’s cool.  You know ain’t nothing like the clubs in LA, but this a lil mo mellow.”

            I glanced at the chick standing next to him. “I see you’ve managed to hook up with something good,” I whispered.

            “Like I said, it’ll do.  If you don’t mind, though, I think I’m gon catch a ride home with Saujay tonight.”

            “That’s fine with me.  I got plans anyway, nigga.” 

            Rufus laughed and I walked off to the restroom. 

I took a quick leak and as I washed my hands, Dominique came in with some nigga he was having words with.  They came busting through the bathroom door and most of the fellas in the bathroom cleared out.  Trying to see what was up, a few other spectators and myself stood closely by the door as Dominique already had a knife up to the nigga’s throat.

            “You are lucky that I don’t feel like killing nobody today!” he yelled.  “You need to fix my damn car the right way, or buy me another one!”

            As they were leaned against the sinks, the brotha struggled to get away from Dominique. “Look, man.  Why don’t you just get somebody else to fix it?  I did the best I could,” he said with sweat dripping from his forehead.   

            I kind of felt sorry for the young man. Dominique punched him hard in his stomach and he dropped to the floor on his knees.  With his long leather shoe, Dominique kicked him in the ribs and the brotha started spitting up blood.  All I could think of was how he was about to lose his life over something as stupid as fixing a fucking car.  With that in mind, I intervened.

            “Dominique,” I yelled. “That’s enough, man.”

            His head snapped to the side and he looked at me as if hell had swarmed over him. “Kiley, do you know this nigga or something?”

            “Yeah, something like that,” I said, walking up to him.  I held my hand out for the brotha to take it. “Man, get up.” 

            He reached for my hand, slowly making his way off the floor.  He held his side, and after Dominique looked at him again, he took his fist and punched him hard in the stomach again.  Unable to sustain the blow, the dude fell down again.  For whatever reason, I was pissed.  I placed my hand on Dominique’s chest, and could tell by the look in his eyes that he was about to kill him.

            “Let this one go for me, au-ight?” I said.

            “This punk-nigga messed up my car.  Do you hear me?  Him and his friends stole my shit, fucked up my sound system and cut my leather seats up because they didn’t have shit else to do.  Instead of taking his life when I found out he did it, I gave the sucker an alternative.  I said either fix my shit, or suffer the consequences. Instead of fixing it, his ass made matters worse. My shit burned up because he messed up the wiring.  I’m sorry, but this one I can’t let go.”

            “Well, you gone have to, because if you hit him again, it’s gon bring about some drama between you and me. Now, you don’t want that, do you?”

            Dominique stretched his neck from side to side. “So, it’s like that, huh?”

            “It don’t have to be, so let the brotha go. If he’d fucked over your family or your boyz or something, then I’d say to hell with him.  But a car ain’t worth taking no life over. That can all ways be replaced.”

            “You’re right.  How-eva, he fucked me over and that’s a good enough reason for a nigga to die.”

            Dominique hesitated no longer and slashed the young man’s throat right in front of me.  That caused everyone in the bathroom to scatter, and before the cops showed, I gave Dominique one of the hardest looks he’d probably ever seen before. Like the others, I didn’t want to be around when the cops showed, so I made my way to the exit.

            “Kiley,” Dominique yelled as I was on my way out.  I turned around. “Nice suit.  I see you spent my money well. Just remember, though, I’m in charge around here.  Don’t you ever forget that, you hear me?”

            I eased my hand into my packet. “There’s always a price to pay for being in charge, Dominique. And your money was chump change for what I did for you. It’s a shame you wasn’t willing to make an exception for me and that ain’t good, my brotha.  That for damn sure wasn’t good.” 

            I walked out and looked around for Rufus.  I couldn’t find him for nothing because people ran like crazy trying to get out of there.  As soon as I got outside, I rang his cell phone.  He answered.

            “Where are you?” I asked.

            “I’m chilling in a car with a ghetto girl.  Why all these folks running wild like the place on fire or something?”

            “Because somebody got killed.  Thanks for making sure it wasn’t me.”

            He laughed. “Shit, I knew it wasn’t you.  Not with that piece you got tucked away in your pants it better not had been you.”

            “No doubt. Gon ahead and tend to your ghetto girl.  If you need a key to my place, it’s an extra one underneath the doormat.”

            “Au-ight, playa.  I’ll catch up with you later.”

            I stood outside, looking for the valet so I could get my car keys and go.  The police started to arrive, and by the time I had my keys in my hand, they were walking around questioning people about what had happened. 

            As I put the key in the door to unlock it, one of the officers came up to me.  Before he could ask for my name, Dominique walked out with a few of his boys by his side.  He pretended as if he didn’t see me, but he turned and listened in as I told the officer my name and that I hadn’t seen anything.

            “Mr. Abrams,” the officer said. “So, are you sure you didn’t see anything? A few other witnesses said you did.”

            I could see Dominique from the corner of my eye. “No, I didn’t see anything.  Your witnesses must have been talking about somebody else.”

            “Are you positive?” he pressed. “The only way we can begin to cut back on crime is when people start coming forward.”

            “Sorry, but, I can’t help you.”

            The officer nodded and gave me a card. “If you have any information for me, give me a call.”  I took the card and he walked away.

Knowing that he was probably on Dominique’s payroll, I got inside of my car and closed the door.  Dominique’s eyes and mine met up and he could see me looking at him through my lightly tinted windows.  He grinned and nodded his head.  Mad, about the whole damn ordeal, I shaped my fingers like a gun and aimed it at him.  I mouthed “pow” and had every intention of following through with my threat. 

Soon after, I backed up and pulled off.  No sooner had I made it down the street, I noticed a white car following closely behind me.  When I turned, it turned.  And when I ran a red light, it did the same.  I sped up, and when it sped up after me, I slammed on the brakes and placed my hand on my gun. I quickly hopped out, firing one shot into the car’s windshield.  The car slammed into the rear of mine, before I noticed it was Anna in the car.  I heard her loud screams as she dropped her head and bent down in the front seat.  I rushed to the car and opened the door.

            “Did the bullet hit you!” I panicked and yelled at the same time.  “Damn, did it hit you!”

            “No,” she sobbed while still leaned over.  I pulled her from the front seat and held her trembling body in my arms.

            My heart raced fast. “I am so, so sorry!  I didn’t know it was you.  Don’t ever follow me like that!” I yelled.

            She continued to cry, as I held her with a tight embrace. After I walked her to my car to get in, I got in the car she drove and parked it close to the curb.

            When I got back into my car, Anna was still shaken up.  Her hands covered her face and tears poured down her face. There wasn’t much I could say to her because I felt awful about my quick reaction.  Instead of saying anything else, I drove her home and got out to open the car door for her.  At first, she didn’t move.  Then, I moved her hands away from her face and slowly pulled her out of the car. I wrapped my arms around her again and continued to apologize.

            “If I had known it was you, you know I wouldn’t have done that.  My windows are tinted and I couldn’t see—

            She moved away from me and walked towards the door.  Wanting to talk to her, I followed behind her.  She turned and looked at me.