Chapter 23 #2
She lets out an emotional breath then looks at him.
She only gets his side profile because he’s looking straight ahead, emotionless.
She can’t read him at all and that breaks her.
The thin and invisible guard rail protecting her heart and mental collapses and everything in her falls, breaks, and shatters.
He doesn’t love me anymore.
“Okay. Okay,” she says resignedly before opening the door.
When she gets out, Akeem pulls off, and in her mind, never looks back.
She poured her heart out to him and he didn’t care at all.
Defeated, broken, and utterly devastated, she cries the entire walk back to her sister’s.
The front door is still ajar. In her haste to leave earlier, she didn’t fully close it.
Music still plays but louder. The smell of marijuana is stronger and her twin is in the living room with a glass filled with tequila and pineapple juice in her hand, dancing.
Dancing.
My life is in fucking shambles and she’s dancing.
What the fuck!
“Oh hey, Twin,” she says with a huge ass smile when she sees Sunjiya. “He left?” she asks but Sunjiya doesn’t answer because she’s taken back by her sister’s demeanor.
Is she fucking serious right now?
Surely, she knows the shit just hit the fucking fan. She witnessed Sunjiya collapsing on the stairs when Akeem arrived. She saw Akeem storm out of here and Sunjiya running after him. So, again, what the fuck!
As if oblivious to what the hell just happened and Sunjiya’s broken state, her sister raises her glass and has the nerve to say, “I take that as a yes. Get a drink. Let’s toast and get back to twin business!”
“What?” Sunjiya asks incredulously. She can’t be serious.
“He’s gone, right? Nothing’s stopping us from having fun. Shit, we can get fucked up and go out tonight. No need in wasting any more time. I’m ready to have fun. Calling him was the best idea I ever had.”
“You called him?” Sunjiya asks, not believing what she’s hearing. She called Akeem.
“Oh God. We’ve done worse. Quit asking so fucking dr—”
Her words are cut off by Sunjiya rushing her in a fit of rage. Sunjiya slams her sister into the digital jukebox on the wall and the glass of tequila and pineapple juice crashes to the floor and shatters.
“How could you do that to me?” Sunjiya screams as she presses her sister’s face against the jukebox. “How could you?” Her sister wiggles free and pushes Sunjiya but Sunjiya doesn’t move. She stands firm then draws back her hand and slaps the shit out of her sister. “Fuck you!”
After spitting out a mixture of saliva and blood, her sister screams then shakes her head. “No fuck you, bitch! I did you a favor,” she snaps and Sunjiya slaps her again. This time, her sister falls back and stumbles to the floor. “Shit!”
Her inebriated state is no match for Sunjiya’s. Losing Akeem obliterated any tipsiness Sunjiya might have been feeling before he showed up. She’s sober as fuck and mad as hell. When she draws her leg back to kick her sister, she freezes then glares down at her twin.
“I don’t want shit else to do with you because I’ll never forgive you for this shit,” she says firmly, meaning every word.
Then she walks away, heads to the stairs, grabs her phone, and rushes up to the bedroom.
Hurriedly, she changes into a pair of jeans, a graphic tee, and kicks.
She throws her things into her suitcase and gets the hell out of the house.
She drives to the end of the street, and at the red light, she breaks down.
Operating on pure adrenaline, raw emotion, and murderous rage, Akeem drove all night from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida.
He missed the last flight to Jacksonville by thirty minutes, and because of an approaching thunderstorm in north Florida, Friday morning flights to Jacksonville are delayed until afternoon.
He can’t wait.
He has to get to Lazy’s and kill Ano and any nigga in there who hurt her.
He arrived at Lazy Nights Club a little after three in the morning.
Just like with any other kill, he’s in the cut, observing and setting up his kill.
Ano is the primary target, but once he locates Honey and finds out the other guilty targets, they will be added to his list expeditiously.
He’s not leaving Jacksonville until he stops the heart of every man who hurt her.
The last thirty minutes of the ride until now, he’s been on the phone with Axton. He needed to talk this shit out with someone he trusted and hopefully make sense of it. Admittedly, the talking didn’t help much, his adrenaline and desire to kill outweighs everything at this moment.
“Are you sure you need to be doing this?” Axton asks.
“Fuck you mean? Yes I need to do this,” Akeem fires back.
“I mean right now. I know you’re going to do this; I’m just questioning the timing. You haven’t had time to process it all.”
“I processed it. She lied. That’s it.”
“If that was it, you wouldn’t be there,” Axton rebuts.
“Just because she and I are done doesn’t mean that nigga ain’t dying. That’s happening as soon as I get a clear path or shot.”
Akeem’s anger comes through loud and crystal clear but so does his pain. His brother is hurting and Axton hears it in his voice. He treads lightly and speaks the words Akeem might not want to hear even though they come from a place of love.
“You and sis are not done. You love her, bruh,” Axton tells him.
“Used to,” Akeem counters vehemently.
“Just ’cause you say that shit don’t make it true. God saw fit to take my sight from me but even this blind man knows you love her and she loves you. She’s not Charis.”
“I know she’s not Charis but a liar is a fucking liar and she lied to me.”
“Sounds like she did it to save her life.”
“In the beginning, but why after that? She could have told me the truth before she… It doesn’t matter. She lied. All this shit was a lie.”
“Not all of it and you know it. Hopefully, after you handle this shit, you’ll really think about things and see what’s in your heart. I like her for you. She loves you in a way Charis never did and you deserve that, bruh.”
“I hear you,” is all Akeem says. He hears his brother but just can’t fully process his words. Right now, his heart isn’t the issue. His target and aim are. When Ano’s gold 2021 Escalade pulls out of the back parking lot, Akeem spots it. “He’s moving. I gotta go.”
“Keep me posted and be safe,” Axton says.
“Always.”
When Ano is a safe distance from him, Akeem turns on his lights and follows him.
Ano leads him through town onto the Arlington Expressway, past a mall to a motel, the Daily Inn.
Ano bypasses the main entrance and pulls around back of the three-floor, unassuming, blue and white motel.
After Ano parks, Akeem does as well, on the far end of the row.
As Ano exits and journeys up the stairs, Akeem unlocks the safety on both of his guns and stores them on his person.
He pulls his hoodie over his head and pulls the string tightly, partially covering his face.
Ano treks to the top floor and knocks on the third door from the stairs.
When the door opens, Honey stands in the opening.
She greets Ano with a kiss then grips his shirt and pulls him into the room.
When the door closes, Akeem exits his ride and heads to the stairs.
He approaches the same third door past the stairs but doesn’t knock. He fires a silenced shot right under the lock then kicks the door in. Honey screams and Ano yells.
“The fuck!” are the last two words to ever come out of Ano’s mouth because a single Gold Dot 124 grain full metal jacket round pierces his head and causes his lifeless body to fall onto the bed.
A scream threatens to fall from Honey’s mouth, but when Akeem turns his gun to her, she slaps her hand over her mouth and muffles it. Tears pour from her eyes and her half-naked body trembles from horror and fear.
Akeem steps closer and places the butt of the gun to her temple. She flinches from the warmth and screams again into her hands. She glances at Ano’s lifeless body then closes her eyes.
“Please,” she begs. “I…have…a son,” she cries.
“Look at me,” Akeem demands. When she hesitates to open her eyes, he presses the gun into her temple. “Open,” he repeats.
Slowly, she lifts her eyes. He removes his hoodie and she remembers him. “Shit! It’s you. You we-we-we’re with Tan at the club,” she stammers. “Tell her I’m sorry and I won’t ask for any more money; I promise. I’m just trying to take care my son.”
He dismisses her words because he doesn’t know shit about any money and doesn’t care.
“Who else hurt her at the club?” he asks and she shakes her head. “The Cove at Peninsula, apartment 112B,” he says and her eyebrows tent as her eyes practically pop out of their sockets.
He found out where I live.
“Please,” she cries.
“Who the fuck else?”
“D-Low! D-Low and Preach. They both work the night shift and will be there tonight. It was just them. That’s it. I swear. Please, oh god, please don’t hurt my baby or my momma.”
“As long as you forget my face, I won’t,” he warns ominously and the threat lands. She’s petrified.
Without any words, Akeem places the hoodie back over his head, pulls the strings, then turns and walks out of the room.
Casually, he unassumingly walks down the stairs to his rental.
He’s back on the highway, heading to a room so he can shower, get something to eat, sleep, not think about her, and get back to the club later tonight. D-Low and Preach are next.