Chapter 11
Bria
“I’m still trying to figure out how I’m in here for questioning on a case when I was on the courthouse steps ducking bullets with everyone else.”
I argued back to Detective Barnes and Detective Freeman. I was sitting in my room earlier when a knock came to my front door and I was asked to come in for questioning. I knew my rights. I didn’t necessarily have to come, but I had to, just to see what the hell this was about.
I actually already knew what it was for, Marcus’s dumb spiteful ass. I stopped talking to him, and now he was doing whatever he could to fuck up my life. Typical scorned man behavior.
“Well, Abria, we have reason to believe that you knew this hit was going to take place.”
“What don’t you understand about me ducking those bullets right along with everyone else. Do you think I would risk my life for a court win?”
“There was clearly a trained sniper on the hit who hit exactly who he needed to. You weren’t going to be hit, and you knew that. The win was a big win for you.”
“I could’ve beat Marcus head on with no help from a freakin hit man. That entire case was circumstantial. I could’ve won in my sleep. Do you really think I would risk my freedom or my life for a new notch on my resume?”
“A lot of people would. Especially to say that they got one of the most notorious drug dealers in the world off.”
“You can say that, but you can’t prove it. Now, if you don’t have any more questions, I’d like to be let go. I have more important shit to worry about than a scorned man’s payback.”
“Excuse me?”
I rolled my eyes.
“Just allow me to go, please. Dumb and dumber.”
I looked back and forth between them, and they were silent for the first time since I stepped in here.
“Hello, open the door so I can go.”
“They are not locked, Abria. You can go.”
He leaned back in his chair like he was defeated.
Only I was the one who felt defeated. How the fuck did I end up on this side of the law being questioned like I’m some criminal?
I walked out of the office and slammed the door so hard I am sure I jammed it.
I stormed through the building with fury and hell trailing behind me until I heard the voice and the laugh of the man who I’m sure was behind all of this. Marcus.
I walked straight up to him and grabbed his arm.
“I need to talk to you. Now, Marcus.”
“Bria,” he said smoothly. “Nice to see you again.”
He tried that casual role with me, but I wasn’t in the mood to be discreet.
“I need to talk to you outside. Now.”
I walked off, and he followed me out the door.
“Can I help you?”
“Listen, cut the act. Why the fuck am I being questioned about a murder-for-hire?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“No, you tell me. You were just saying something at the park the other day about me being too close to danger, and now this shit? Marcus, this has you written all over it. Threatening my brother didn’t work, so now you’re trying to get me sent to prison? Are you crazy?”
“I’m not crazy. I didn’t have anything to do with this. All I did was warn you because I work in this field and I know the game, Abria. That’s all.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t be mad at me because I offered you advice in advance.”
“You didn’t advise me of a goddamn thing,” I cut in.
“How about I go tell them that you and I have been fucking for years, and you openly prosecuted a case against me knowing we were involved?”
“Oh, so I see my already rich ass losing my license is equal to you going to prison. That will really suck for me.” He spoke sarcastically.
“Listen, Abria, don’t try to throw me under the bus because it is about to run you over.”
I shook my head, but slapping the shit out of him was really on my mind.
“Listen, Marcus. Make this shit go away, or I’ll take you down with me.”
“You can’t take me down. The most I’ve done is unethical practice.
I have other businesses across the city that can keep me afloat without practicing law.
You, on the other hand, will just be a hoe with nothing but a vagina you can’t even give away because you will be around all women.
That’s unless you start swinging the other way. ”
He laughed, and I couldn’t help myself.
I drew my arm back and slapped the shit out of him, hoping too many people didn't see the taste leave his mouth. This was New York, however, so even if someone did, people minded their business anyway.
“Damn, angry much.” He rubbed the part of his face that I left my handprint on.
“Make this shit stop, Marcus, or you will regret it. I’m not kidding.”
I walked away from him, marching straight to my car, even more pissed off than I had been before. Talking to him just now let me know one thing for sure. He was responsible for all of this, and I was now in a dangerous game. A game I cannot win without getting ahead of it.
As soon as I got inside my car, I dialed Crew’s number.
He needed to hear this shit first because it definitely involves him.
Crew hadn’t reached out to me since he left my place, and if I’m being honest, I understood why he was mad.
What I did that night with his alarm, I didn’t have to do, but I also felt like it was something I had to do at the time.
I regret it, true enough, but that night was so needed.
I would probably do it again if the opportunity presented itself.
“Hello, what’s up, Bria?”
He answered the phone, with a baby crying in the background.
“Crew, I need to talk to you. Now.”
“Talk to me about what?”
“It needs to be in person.”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t think you and I really need to speak on shit. I’m still not really feeling what you did the other day, and I don’t want to speak to you while I’m mad, so let’s just not talk.”
“Crew, this is much bigger than me and you and whatever we call this fling we have going on. I need to talk to you about what I just went through.”
“And that is??”
“Well, I was questioned about the courthouse shooting. They’re trying to connect me to it.”
“Connect you to it? How the fuck did that happen?”
“Can you meet me somewhere? I can tell you all my theories in person. I don’t really want to discuss this over the phone.”
“Let me see if I can move around right now, Bria. I’ll call you back in about ten minutes.”
“Okay.”
I hung up and pulled off, driving and zoning out to keep from breaking down completely.
By the time I got a few blocks down the street, Crew was calling me back.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Meet me at your spot.”
“I don’t think we should meet there.”
“Why not?”
“Because I feel like we’re being watched and that’s the whole reason this shit is even happening.”
“Damn, well, where do you want to meet then?”
“By 57th Street. Under the bridge.”
“Alright. I’ll be there.”
“In about how long? I’m just down the street.”
“Give me about fifteen minutes.” He hung up.
I drove and arrived at the meet-up spot first and had been there about ten minutes when Crew pulled up. He jumped out of the car and walked straight toward mine, yanking my door open.
“Get out of the car.”
“Why won’t you just get in here?”
“Because I want you to come get in my car.”
“That’s fine, Crew. No problem.”
I didn’t argue because it didn’t matter which car we talked in as long as we talked.
I stepped out, and the moment I did, Crew pulled me in for a hug. Well, for a second, I thought it was a hug until his hands started patting over my entire body.
“Are you checking me for a fucking wire?”
“Hell yeah. All this shit popping up just doesn’t sound right, and I’m not dumb.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, we can talk, but we’re not going to talk until you take off those earrings and that necklace you got on too.”
“Wow. Okay,” I scoffed because I see now what Crew thinks of me.
I took off my bracelet, my ring, my watch, and my necklace and threw everything on the ground.
“You ready to talk now?”
“Yeah, lead the way.”
He pointed to his car.
I walked over to it and snatched the passenger door open as he took his seat inside. I followed, but I didn’t stop there. I pulled off my jacket, then started stripping out of my shirt.
“Bria, what the fuck are you doing?” he asked, watching me let down the window and throw the clothes out.
“You obviously don’t trust me, and you think I would wear a wire, so I’m proving to you that I am not.”
I unclasped my bra and tossed it too, then slipped my pants off.
“Bria, you don’t have to do all that. You already took off the pieces that could be used as wires, and I felt you up. You good.”
I ignored him, slipping off my panties before I threw them out the window along with everything else I had on.
Crew leaned against his window, just staring at me like I’d lost my damn mind.
“So now, do you want to talk?”
“Yeah, I guess shorty. Can you make me understand why they are trying to connect you to some shit you had nothing to do with? And now you’re telling me they’re watching your spot.
Since fucking when? Why would the police be watching you unless you’ve been running your mouth or told someone something? ”
I exhaled. I knew what I was keeping from him was the clue he needed to put all this shit together.
“Listen, Crew, I know I didn’t tell you this at first, and I should have, but Marcus and I were sexually involved.”
“Who the fuck is Marcus? The prosecutor, Marcus Leeland?”
“Yes. He and I have been sexually involved for years.”
Crew sat back in his seat, shaking his head, as a laugh slipped through his nose.
“I know I should’ve told you, Crew, but I didn’t think it was important, until he started getting mad about you and me sleeping together.”
“How the fuck does he know about you and me?” Crew snapped. “And why wouldn’t you tell me that a prosecutor had it out for us?”
“I didn’t know he had it out for anyone until they called me in. Yeah, he’s been saying stupid shit to me, but I thought he was just hurt. I didn’t think he’d go as far as putting something in the detective’s ears about me and you being involved in Kairo’s murder.”
“Oh, I wasn’t involved in anything.” He replied with a confident chuckle.
“Cut the act,” I shot back.
“I’m fucking naked right now, so there is no need to deny anything.
What do you think, they put a wire under my skin?
I don’t fucking know what’s going on, and I’ll be honest, I already have a lot on my plate.
I’m jobless, about to be homeless, and I don’t even know what me and you are anymore, so that little spark in my life is slowly leaving too. ”
“We’ve been having fun, up until you overstepped.”
I shook my head.
“Okay, I admit, I did that, but it’s because I wanted you to stay with me so bad, Crew. I mean I like you and in my mind, I had to do what I had to do to keep you in my reach. You just don’t know what you do to me. Even right now, just looking at you makes me so fucking weak.”
My emotions got the best of me, and I reached over the seat, grabbed him, and pulled him toward me, trying to kiss his lips, but he dodged me like a bullet.
“What are you doing, Bria. We didn’t come here for that.”
“And! Let’s just have sex please. Let’s make love, and then I can think straight.”
“We’re not about to have sex under a bridge, and I can’t make love to someone I don’t love.”
“Wow, this new act is because of your baby mama, isn’t it?”
“Look, don’t bring her up. She has nothing to do with how I’m feeling right now. I’m confused myself about a lot of shit, but P is not in my ear telling me shit. Her and I are coparenting right now and that’s it.”
“Crew Coparenting is just a new word for baby mamas and baby daddies to fuck with one another. Just like you said, I’m not dumb, Crew. I’m not dumb at all.”
Tears started to run down my face, and all this told me was that I was too far gone in this game, and I needed an escape route.
Sitting up here trying to make something work because of a trauma bond and this man having good dick is going to do nothing but further hurt me in the future.
I did this same thing with Marcus. He found me at one of the most vulnerable times of my life, with my brother going to jail, and law school coming down on me hard.
I often feel the need to be with someone to ignore my real-life issues, not realizing that being with certain people can bring even more issues in my life. I’m just done with this shit.
“Crew, I need to leave, so could you please grab my clothes from outside the car and give them to me, so that I can leave. I’ll only reach out to you again if I need to, alright. I won’t be a bother in your life anymore.”
Crew exhaled deeply.
“Bria, you doing too fuckin much.”
“No I’m not. Crew, it sounds like you already know what you want out of life, and I don’t have your kid to build that bond with you, so I’ll forever be irrelevant to your growth.
All I come with is baggage. That’s all I have to offer you or anybody.
So, I’ll make sure everything on my end with that case is handled, and you don’t have to worry about hearing from me anymore. ”
“Bria, you're talking like I wasn’t fuckin with you tough when I was. You are the breath of fresh air that I needed in my life.”
“And now you can breathe just fine, so please get my clothes so that I can go. Please Crew”
I crossed my arms over my bare chest and glanced out of the window. The fact that I was sitting here butt naked let me know I had really lost the plot.
All I wanted was to get in my car and drive so far that New York became nothing but a glimpse of my past, but then again, that would be too easy. That would go against everything I’ve ever known or stood for.
I know how to play Marcus’s game, and I know I need the right players on my side.
If I had to pretend, I’d pretend just to know I won in the end, and I’ll show Crew it didn’t take for me to have his kid to have his back.
Some men don’t know how to cherish their good things until they are a thing of the past.
I got dressed and got out of Crew’s car so fast that he didn’t have much time to say anything else to me. I took off from under the bridge and then pulled up the keypad on my dashboard and dialed Marcus’s number.
“Abria, you got some nerve calling me when you slapped the hell out of me earlier.”
“Meet me at my house in twenty minutes, Marcus.”
“For what?”
“Because I want to see you. I need to see you. What we’re doing, going against each other, needs to stop. I get it now. I need you in my life, and I want to be your everything. Start putting me first, and I’ll do the same.”
He chuckled, feeling accomplished.
“I hear you, Abria. I’ll be there, baby.”
“Okay, see you in a bit.”
He hung up the phone, and I rubbed my fingers through my hair knowing that this was just the beginning of a very long end game, but a game that I will ultimately win.