Chapter Thirteen

 

After the meeting with Cappy, I took some of the cash I earned and got a hotel room. So far I had been here for two days. Hysear was still with my father and I was happy because I just wanted to be alone. And, I was certain that Jarvis wasn’t at our apartment waiting on me.

“You still at the hotel?” Reds asked me on the phone.

“Yeah. Why? You need me to do something?”

“Naw, just checkin’.”

“I been thinkin’ ‘bout Jarvis. I miss him a lot.”

“Try not to think about him. It’s done, and ya’ll will be back together. Besides, your mind should be on Stone. I know he been laying down the pipe on you lately.”

“Not the same. I love Jarvis.”

“Maybe you shoulda thought about that before you pulled the gun on him.”

My heart stopped and I tried to regain my composure. You don’t understand, I never told her about our fight because I was too embarrassed.

“How did you know about that? I didn’t tell anybody about that.”

“Look…Jarvis has been over my house for the past couple of days.”

“Your house?”

“Yes. He says you don’t let him live. That you be naggin’ him all the time. Look, Kaneesha, there’s nothing for you to worry about. My keeping Jarvis under my watchful eyes for a couple of days is just business related. Don’t forget, I work for Stone, and you do too. If one part of the business fails, we all fail.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because we had a job to do and I needed your mind on it.”

“But you are my friend.”

“I still am, I’m just his too.”

“Are you fuckin’ my man?” I huffed.

“I already told you I’m not interested in him. So relax, all we share is a love of the pipe. Now get some sleep. Okay?”

When she ended the call I sat up in bed stuck. Too say I was angry didn’t do my emotions justice. I tried to remember every detail of Red’s body. Was her butt thicker than mine? Was she prettier than me? Suddenly my questions boiled down to one fact. They shared love for the most important thing in his life right now. The love of crack. And because of it, I risked a major chance at losing him.

 

****

 

Not being able to spend another night in the hotel room alone, I decided to go home. The moment I put the key in my apartment door, Jarvis snatched it open.

“Where the fuck you been?” He yelled.

I didn’t get a chance to answer him as he grabbed me by my jacket and pulled me through the door. He pushed me down onto the couch and I quickly jumped back up onto my feet.

“Kaneesha, I said where the fuck have you been!?” He breathed heavily into my face.

“You were at Reds so why are you asking me where I’ve been? You can’t be serious, Jarvis. Why didn’t you just ask her where I was, since it’s obvious she’s playing both sides.” I yelled back.

“Reds allows me to be me, but there’s nothin’ going on between us. I work for Stone just like you do, remember?”

“You know?” I asked feeling my heart race within the walls of my chest.

“I told you along time ago Kaneesha, I know everything about you.”

“If that’s the case, why are you all up in my face? Do you…like you want me to do me!” I yelled at him.

Jarvis looked at me like I was crazy. He grabbed my jacket by the collar and pulled me to his face.

“You must think I’m fuckin’ stupid. You been gone for two days fuckin’ some other nigga. I bet it was Stone. I know ‘bout ya’ll. So you fuckin’ him and workin’ for him, huh? You whorin’ for money now?!”

Either Reds told him, or someone else did, either way I was fucked.

“Fuck you, Jarvis. I ain’t whorin’ for shit!” I spit back.

I reached up and pushed Jarvis away from me. He grabbed me by my arms and threw me down on the couch again. He began to choke me and push my head into the cushions. My hands were free, and I used both of them to rake both sides of his face with my nails. He continued choking me and suddenly, the fight in me had gone away.

I tried to plead to him with my eyes but he was in a murderous rage and emotionally disconnected from me. I knew then, that he was wired up on crack.

Only stopping to hurt me more, he kicked me several times and punched me all over my body. When he tired of that, he took off his belt and started beating me like I was his child. With every strike Jarvis delivered to me, he shouted Stone’s name and kept repeating that I was a whore and that I betrayed him. I had nothing left in me to fight with.

With my body weakened, I gave up and after some time, felt no more pain. It was the last thing I remembered, and the thing I’d never be able to forget.