Chapter 22

After closing up the club, I headed to my car, still not over how much fun I had hanging out with Zetta. During the night, I caught Kisha giving me several funny looks like she was jealous or something behind the way I was mingling with Zetta. I hoped she didn’t call Markita and start no bullshit. She had never done it before when she saw me chilling with a lady in the club, but after our little disagreement tonight, I wouldn’t put it pass her. Women are very unpredictable.

I decided to leave the money in the safe tonight and put it in the bank first thing in the morning. It would be stress on the body getting up so early because I basically became a night owl, living like a vampire. It was a little after 4:00 a.m. and I’d only get about four hours of sleep at the most before heading to the bank. On second thought, I decided I might as well take the money with me so I wouldn’t have to do so much driving.

With that in mind, I got back out of the car and headed back to the club. I put the key in the master lock that held down the steel curtain and opened it. After pushing the steel curtain half way up, I opened the front of the club. As soon as I pushed the glass doors open, I heard rapid gunfire.

What the fuck? I thought, instinctively diving into the club and slamming the door. I lay on the ground for a second, heart pounding wildly in my chest. I tried to see the feet of my assassin. I didn’t see anything, but I heard more gunshots hitting the steel curtain and then hitting the glass door. A few shards of glass flew in my face when the glass exploded at the bottom.

I bolted up to my office to grab the Mac-90 that I kept there for just-in-case purposes. I kept all the lights out and waited with my back against the wall. If I was going to die, I intend on taking whoever wanted me dead with me.

The suspense was killing me as I waited for the deadly confrontation. I stayed in hiding for a good little while and never heard a peep. When I felt safe enough to move, I eased out of my office onto the balcony of the club. I glanced around and saw no signs of entry. And then I looked over at my right shoulder and saw my white linen suit covered in blood.

I became weak instantly, more out of shock than anything else. I’d been shot and

I didn’t even feel it until I saw the blood. I couldn’t die like this - not by some lucky shot from a cowardly assassin. I fumbled in my pockets for my iPhone, hating myself for what I was about to do.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

“I need some help. I just been shot while closing up my nightclub,” I said hysterically. While she questioned me, all I could think about was Kisha telling me to get a living will.

Just in case, I thought as the emergency operator asked me for the address to the club. I gave her the address and she told me to put a warm towel over the wound and press hard to stop the bleeding.

“Okay, but please send somebody quick before I die,” I said and then I hung up the phone.

I rushed to my office to stash my weapon and then rushed to the bar to grab a few towels. By the time I made it outside the club to wait on the cops and ambulance, the whole top right side of my all-white linen suit had changed to a crimson red. I pressed the warm towels over my fresh gunshot wound and retrieved my iPhone again to call Markita. All I got was the answering machine. She usually stays up waiting for me to get home, so I called her again.

 She answered on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Markita, baby, don’t get scared or nothing, but I’m on my way to the hospital.” I winced a little, feeling the burn in my shoulder blade.          

“For what? Baby, what’s wrong?” she asked, and I heard the concern in her tone.

“Somebody was shooting tonight while I was closing up the club and I got shot.”

“Oh my God! I’m on my way right now. Where - ”

“No, it’s not safe for you to come here. I just need you to call my bouncer, Tiny, and Kisha and let them know what happened. Have Kisha get someone down here pronto to watch the club until she can get the glass and shit fixed on the front doors.”

“Baby, I want to be with you.” She began whining like a baby.

“I’m going to be fine. Besides, you can’t leave the baby in the house by himself. I’ll call you as soon as I get to the hospital, okay?”

“Okay, baby, I love you and I need you to come home to me.”

“I will, soon as I get fixed up.”

“Okay, and we need to talk about you working in that club. My brother died in there and I don’t want it happening to you. I just don’t think I could take it.”         

“Ain’t nobody dying, Kita. I got this.”

“I don’t care what you got!” she snapped. “We gonna talk, because you not gonna have me worried sick to death about you every night that you go out to work.”

“Okay, we’ll talk. I have to go ‘cause the ambulance is here.”

“Okay. I love you, baby,” she said, giving me a kiss over the phone.

“Love you more,” I said and ended the call. The ambulance was nowhere in sight. I just didn’t want to hear all that nagging from Markita.

Looking around the front entrance of the club, I saw several bullets on the ground by the steel curtain. I walked out by Markita’s car and noticed several shell casings on the ground. That really scared the hell out of me, because whoever was shooting at me could have just crushed me before I got back out of the car and I’d never see it coming. Maybe this was a warning from that crooked cop, letting me know I could be touché. Or maybe somebody wanted to kill me, and I thought I knew who it was.

Just in case, huh? Damn, I knew she wanted a partnership, but I didn’t think she’d go this far to get what she wanted, which was to be the head bitch in charge, I thought. I decided to talk to Kisha the first chance I got.