CHAPTER 9

DANE

 

I’m yelling at the officer at the front desk. I don’t understand if my brother was stabbed, why he’s in jail. “Sir, you have to tell me what’s going on. I was told my brother was stabbed and I don’t understand why he isn’t in a hospital. No disrespect but you seem real nonchalant about this shit, that’s why I’m so mad.”

The officer looks at a stack of papers, pasted to a brown clipboard in front of him. “And like I told you before, when I find out what is going on I’ll let you know. You can’t make me tell you nothing I don’t know. But if you keep pressing the matter, you won’t have to wonder if he’s back there because you’ll be able to see for yourself. Now have a fucking seat, before I lose what’s left of my patience with you.”

“Nig—” I’m about to go at him until Asia pulls my arm.

“Don’t do this, Dane. Let’s just sit down and wait to see what he has to say. “Please, baby. Not like this.”

I look at the officer and decide to calm down. If I’m locked up I can’t help my brother and I won’t be good to anybody. My heart feels like it’s about to jump out my chest, because I always know what’s going on with my brother.

I still don’t understand what’s happening. One minute I’m in Baltimore trying to convince Asia not to stab my sidepiece, and the next thing I know Ray-Ray is texting me that my brother was stabbed.

I sit in one of the hard plastic black seats, across from the officer. I’m staring him down, not all the way sure I won’t punch this mothafucka in the face. “He’s fine,” Asia says softly, placing her hand over mine. “Try not to worry about him. He’s a big boy, Dane. Trust me things will work out.”

“You don’t understand. He told me if anything happened to him it would be my fault. And now he gets stabbed? How can I not carry this shit on my heart?”

She shakes her head slowly. “What happened tonight isn’t your fault, baby. Tex got caught up in some shit, and got hurt…that’s it, and that’s all. Look at the good part, if he’s here he can’t be hurt badly.” She sighs. “Baby, I want you to remain positive, because you have a tendency to fly off of the handle and make things worse than they are.”

I look into her eyes. “Remain positive as in still go to college? Because if that’s what you’re talking about, Asia, we ain’t talking.”

“I just don’t want this incident to push you all the way back, Dane. That’s all I’m saying. Tex is a grown man, with a son and family of his own. You have to let him do him. We not getting any younger, we’re getting older, and the opportunity you received with the scholarship doesn’t come all of the time. Plus if you don’t go to college, all that shit you said to me earlier would be a lie. And I hate to be lied to. Just like you hate to be bossed around.”

I clench my fists. “Asia, shut the fuck up with all this dumb shit! The only thing I’m thinking about right now is Tex. That’s it, and that’s all.”

She throws her hands up in the air and leans back into the seat. It squeaks a little. “All I can do is be real with you, Dane.” She says under her breath. “If you want a bitch to tell you what you want to hear so that it will sound good, maybe I should’ve let you fuck Memory. Sometimes I think I’m too much woman for you.”

I shake my head and laugh. “You always find a way to bring up the past. Always. Why is that?”

“I’d think you’d appreciate living in the past, since that’s all you keep talking about. In my opinion you don’t care about anything that has to do with the future.”

I’m about to walk outside and wait on news from my brother, to get away from her annoying ass, when I see Tex strut out of the back of the precinct. His lower arm is bandaged, close to his wrist, and he has blood all over his jeans.

I stand up and he walks toward me. I rush up to him and grip him into a hug. I push him back and observe his bandage. “What the fuck happen, Tex? Who did this shit? Give me the address and I can be on my way now.”

“It’s not worth it, anyway it’s dumb,” he says under his breath. “I’m sorry to even put you through all this shit, man. It’s a complete waste of time and Ray shouldn’t have called you. I told her to get the money to bail me out but she was broke.”

“Why you get stabbed? Is it somebody I know?”

“It doesn’t matter why I was stabbed. And thanks for bailing me out.” He looks down at the grungy floor. “But can we talk?” He looks over my shoulder. “Brother to brother?”

I look back at Asia. “Yeah…let me go rap to her right quick. We drove here together but I’ll find a way to get her home.”

He frowns at her and says, “I’ll be waiting for you outside.” I throw him the keys to the Tin Man. “Try not to be too long.”

I walk over to Asia, and hold her hands into mine. Before I can say anything she says, “Don’t tell me, you want me to catch a cab home.”

“Where did all that come from?” I say, mad she knew before I could say anything.

“Cut the shit, Dane. Just keep it real.”

“I can put you in a cab or you can take the car and we’ll catch a cab.” I shrug. “I just have to talk to Tex in private, and we can’t do it with you in the car. He seems like he wants to tell me something important, and after everything that went down tonight, I figure I’ll give him that time.”

“You mean he doesn't want to tell you anything in front of me, because he doesn’t like me." She rolls her eyes. "It’s cool though. I'll catch the cab, but you need to tell your brother that I'm not going anywhere. And one of these days we’re going to have to learn to get along, especially since I have plans to be your wife." She kisses me softly on the cheek. "And after you tell him that, tell him that I was worried, and I’m glad he is okay."

She walks away from me and pushes out the front door. I follow her out and surprisingly a cab pulls up directly in front of us. She waves, enters the cab and drives off. I walk up to my bucket and slide inside. Tex is already inside waiting, with a bar lit up, right in front of the police department.

“She threw the fuck you sign up in the air at me,” Tex says. "I don't care what we do I doubt very seriously we will ever get along. I’m not even gonna try anymore."

"I hope you don't mean that, man."

"Look…I don't wanna talk about her tonight.” He sighs. “While I was in the cell I had a lot of time on my hands to think.”

“You act like you did fifteen upstate,” I laugh.

“I’m serious, nigga.” He tosses the rest of the blunt out of the window. “Even an hour is too much time to be in that mothafucka. Anyway, I thought about this college thing and I really want that for you.”

"Holdup," I smile, "what the fuck they do to you in there? Not even five hours ago you were giving me the blues.”

He shakes his head and laughs. "I'm not gonna lie, I did get a little mad at first. But I can't stop you from doing what you wanna do either. I just hope it's a choice you wanna make and not one that your girlfriend is making for you. That’s all I’m saying."

"When have you ever known me to take orders from anybody? All my choices are my own."

"I don't know, man, you just seem different now that’s all.”

"Well regardless of what you think I'm still the same, and even when I leave for college I’m going to be the same." I open up the glove compartment, and pull out two freshly rolled bars. I hand him one and I keep the other. After lighting mine, I light his. “So you gonna tell me now what happened?" When my phone goes off I quickly answer it.

"Dane, is Tex with you? Logan just choked, and he almost died. I’m at your house. He gotta come now!”

I swear Ray-Ray is always the bearer of bad news.