Raunchy 2 (70 page)

On The Road

Bernie was quiet as she drove us to another location. She scratched her head and her gold wig moved a few inches. She seemed to be in her head as she chain-smoked and drank the liquor out of the cup I used earlier. Had I known it was hers I would not have used it. On second thought…I probably would have. I wanted a drink and didn’t care who I was drinking from.

“There the house go right there.” Kali said pointing at a house in some part of Maryland. “Stop right here, B.”
“You not gonna be long are you?” Bernie asked. “I need a fix.”
“Naw…but you gotta wait for me aight?” He said leaning over to kiss her.
“You know I ain’t going nowhere.”
He smiled, looked around the car before getting out and said, “Come on, kid.”
When we got out of the car and approached the house I could smell weed before we even hit the front door. Off the break I hoped he was friendly enough with whoever inside that they would share.
Kali looked behind him and then at me and said, “Whenever we go anywhere, we always have each other backs.”
“I got your back.”
“Good.”
He knocked at the door twice before somebody opened it up.
“WHO THE FUCK IS IT!?” Some chick yelled from inside.
A black girl in a pair of high heels, little jean shorts and a purple bikini top opened the door wide. When she saw it was Kali she tried to shut it back. But he pushed the door so hard, she fell on the floor, holding her bloodied nose. I shut the door behind him and ran through the rooms within the house. We were alone.
“Nobody’s here.” I told him.
He smiled. “Real smart, kid.” Then he turned his attention to her. “Now don’t fuck with me, bitch!” he yelled over top of her. “Where the fuck is my money?”
She scooted backwards on her elbows until she sat on the couch. “What money, Kali? I ain’t got nothing of yours in here.”
“Bitch, don’t fuck with me!” He yelled. “Vaughn told me my shit was over here. Now go get it!”
“But he dead! I don’t know where he put your stuff. I’m for real, Kali.”
“Bitch, if you think you can keep a million dollars worth of my money you got another muthafuckin’ thing coming. Now go get my shit.”

A million dollars? What the fuck was he in to?
I thought. “I ain’t got no money, but I got some bags that Vaughn brought over here before he died. I never went through them so I don’t know what it is.”
“How you know it’s not money then?”
“I just know its bags. That’s it.”
“Fuck you think I’m talking about?”
“Okay, give me a second. I got to think about where he put it because it’s been a long time.” She continued to hold her bloodied nose.
“You think it’s a game?” He asked.
“No. I really can’t remember.” She paused. “If you give me a sec…”
Kali rushed up to the couch, grabbed her by the hair and stole her in the nose. If it wasn’t broken before it was definitely broken now. Then he hit her again and again until her face was so red it didn’t look real and her nose spread out like jelly on a sandwich. For some reason, shit like this was starting not to bother me anymore. Since Kali entered my life death and gloom had been nonstop and I decided to just go with the flow.
“Now, bitch, I’ma ask you again, where the fuck is my money?”
She pointed to the couch she was sitting on and he threw her body to the floor to get her out the way. It made a loud thump and he told me, “Help me look for my shit.”
I moved the pillows off the sofa with him until we got to the handle of a sofa bed. When we pulled it out we found two duffle bags full of money. Kali smiled, dug into one of the bags and handed me a stack of hundred-dollar bills.
“That’s for the shit you been through. Tuck that.”
“This mine?”
“Yeah, call it child support.” He winked.
“It’s got to be at least five hundred dollars here.”
“Five hundred dollars?” He said. “I gave you a full stack of hundreds. That’s five thousand.” He frowned.
“Five thousand!!?”
“Yeah…what you can’t count or something?”
I stuffed it as best as I could in my pockets. “Yeah…I’m just tripping that’s all.”
I never had this much money in my life. I was going to go wild with Mad Max!
Once back in the car he told Bernie, “Take me to get something to eat.” Then he looked back at me. “You hungry?”
“Yeah, but I’ma need some more liquor first.”
He laughed and my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a voice message from my sister. I’d been ignoring her calls ever since I left her house. I remember that day and it played over in my mind constantly. I hated that she was letting Jace come in between us.
That day, after we had our conversation about me staying away from Kali, she got on the phone. It seemed pretty important so I went back to sleep. When I woke up she was gone. I took a few dollars I saw on her dresser and went about my business. But now it was time for me to stop avoiding her and my friends so I listened to her message.
‘Mad, mom is in the hospital. So much has happened and I really wish you’d answer your phone. I’m not mad at about the money you stole from me.”
She paused.
‘So stop dodging my calls.’
She continued
. ‘The social worker found ma in the house and ma says we have to go home or they’ll put us in a foster home. I don’t want that, Mad. Please call me. Oh…and she wants you to go see her. Call me when you get my message, if you want, I’ll have Jace take you to the hospital. I Love you.’
My heart dropped.
She was in the hospital?
But that bitch was supposed to be dead!