16. Joker
Joker
“ A re you fucking crazy! What the fuck, Joker!”
Halo was surprised as hell to see me standing in her living room with one of the crooks from her past.
“I brought you a gift. Are you not appreciative of that gift?”
“How the fuck is this a gift? Do you not know my son is in the other room?”
“Yeah, maybe I didn’t think this all the way through.” Looking at Dough, I said, “Pick that nigga up and take him out back. We’ll meet you out there.”
“No we won’t!” Halo protested.
Dough grabbed Nutt from the floor and carried him out the door. I turned my attention back to Halo. “That mufucka hurt you. It’s time to make him pay for all the things he’s done to you.”
“You’re really insane.” She paced the floor in front of me. “This isn’t happening. I’m dreaming right now. Wake up, Halo.” She slapped herself left and right and then stopped in her tracks. “This is real. This can’t be real.”
Stepping around her, I went into the hallway to find Brave’s bedroom. There were three doors. The one to the left of me was the bathroom. There was one ahead, which I assumed was the main bedroom, so I turned the knob on the one on the right. Brave’s head snapped in my direction. He was sitting on the floor with his back resting against the side of the bed with a book in his hand.
“Your mama is stepping outside with me right quick. Stay in here. Don’t open the door for nobody.” He nodded and took his attention back to the book. I shut the door and went back into the living room where Halo stood there by the door, hugging herself. If she was gon’ be with a nigga like me, she had to understand this shit. It’s an eye for an eye.
Stopping directly in front of her, I palmed her face and gazed deep into her eyes. It took everything in me not to smother her lips with mine. This girl was making me crazier than I already was. I feared for anyone once I finally got the pussy.
“This nigga hurt you. He broke you and you had to put yourself back together again. The one standing between me and you is him. He deserves to feel pain. We not gon’ kill him. We just gon’ hurt him a lil bit,” I told her and released her face. My hand reached out in her direction. She looked down at it with watery eyes. Hers eased out and fell in mine. I took her out into the hallway and shut the door behind me. “Guard this door with yo’ life,” I told one of my men as I led Halo to the back staircase.
We went out the back door of the building where Dough stood over Nutt’s body with a blunt dangling from his lips. He needed something to ease his nerves. I’d been working the shit out of him the last couple days. The other two dummies, we beat their asses good at the warehouse and then set ’em free like wild animals. I made sure to let ’em know what they were getting their asses beat for too.
Nutt… Halo was his karma.
Stopping, I pulled the bat away from the wall and lifted it in Halo’s direction. She removed it from my clutches and neared where Nutt laid.
“I explained all my pain to you and you turned around and did me ten times worse. You fucked me up mentally and all I ever did was try to love you.” Lifting her foot, she kicked him in the face. His head flung back and saliva sprayed from his lips. “All you had to do was leave me the fuck alone.” She looked down in his face. For a split second, I thought she was going to change her mind ’bout beating his ass ’til the bat rose and crashed into his side. His cries were muffled by a homeless man’s dirty sock being stuffed in his mouth.
“All I ever wanted was to be loved. I tried to make a two-parent home for my son. He deserves a father.” Tears cascaded her cheeks. The bat crashed down into his face. Blood gushed from his nose. “I fucking hate you for what you did to me!”
Wham!
“I hate you!”
Wham!
“I hate you! I hate you!” I caught the bat mid swing and her head snapped in my direction.
“Remember, we’re not killing him,” I told her and eased the bat from her grip. She flew into my arms, resting her head against my stomach. Her tears dampened my shirt. That alone made me want to place a bullet in him.
Dough picked Nutt up and carried him back to the front of the building. Taking Halo by the hand, I took her back inside and up to her apartment. I handed my man the bat and he removed himself from the front door. Halo turned around and faced me with tears dripping off her chin. Cupping her face, I brushed them away with my thumbs.
“I want you to go inside and take you a hot bath, drink you some wine, and relax. I’ll get dinner delivered to you. I gotta go take care of a few things before we head to Huntsville in the morning.”
“Okay,” she replied and opened the door. I stood there ’til I heard the lock click.
The following day
“Come on, ref, I know you saw that!” I barked, tossing the hand that held my clipboard up into the air. This game was pissing me the fuck off. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they were cheating. We had five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The other team had us by two points. If we didn’t score, we were gon’ lose this game.
The referee blew the whistle and tossed a flag. “Damn!” I yelled. If I hadn’t said anything, that nigga wasn’t gon’ do shit. Daniel jogged out onto the field and stood in front of the ball. He was one of the best kickers on the team. He ran up, kicked the ball and scored a goal. “Yes! That’s what I’m talking ’bout!”
We were now in the lead. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Halo sitting at the edge of her seat with her hand resting underneath her chin. I looked back and Brave had the ball. He tossed it to TJ and those lil boys guarded him with their lives as he ran to a touchdown. And that was the game. I punched the air and all the boys ran over to me.
“Y’all did what y’all was supposed to. I’m proud of y’all.”
Everyone began to scatter. Halo found her way over to where Brave and I stood. “I really thought y’all were gon’ lose for a second,” she said with a light smile.
“You always underestimating me. Wait right here. We’ll be ready in a few,” I told her and met my team out on the field. They dapped up the other team and we all went our separate ways. “You ready?” I asked her.
“Yeah, let’s go, Brave,” she said and nudged him.
We exited the field and crossed the parking lot to my truck. I opened the door for Halo and she and Brave got inside. Once she was securely inside, I shut the door and went around to the driver’s side.
Instead of getting a hotel room like I initially thought about, I decided to rent an Air B&B while we were here. It was better and more spacious. On the way back to the house, I stopped by Chick-fil-a to grab food. I was going to go out for dinner, but judging by how Brave’s head was resting against the window, he wasn’t up for it.
Pulling into the drive thru, I sat there ’til it was our turn. My eyes drifted to Halo, who was in the passenger seat with her phone up to her face. We hadn’t really talked ’bout that shit that happened with Nutt. When I picked her up this morning, she acted as if nothing had happened. Now that she handled that, maybe she’d be able to move forward and heal and stop making every other man that comes into her life pay for her getting hurt.
The Chick-fil-A employee approached my window. I let it down and greeted her with a smile. “What’s the name for the order?
“Knox,” I responded and turned to Halo. “Do you know what y’all want?”
“Yeah, just get us the number one, add American cheese with Polynesian sauce and a lemonade.” She ordered that shit like she ate here all the time.
“Did you get that?” I asked the girl standing at the window.
“Yeah, and for you?”
“I think I’ll take the same.”
“Okay.” Reaching into my glove compartment, I pulled out my wallet, removed my card, and pressed it against the reader. “Have a nice day,” she said, and I let my window back up.
“Do you eat here a lot?” I questioned Halo.
“Not really. I’ve had it a few times. It’s good.”
I stopped at the front of the line and seconds later, a chick approached my truck with the order. “Knox?”
“Yeah, ’preciate it.” I took the food and handed it over to Halo. She placed the food on the floor and set the cup holder in her lap.
I pulled off and went to the house. When I turned into the driveway, Halo looked back and said, “We’re here, Brave. Get up.”
He stirred in his sleep. Stretching his arms out, he yawned and his eyes scanned his surroundings. I got out and rounded the truck to their side and then opened the door for Halo. She handed me the drinks and grabbed the food. Once she was out, I shut the door behind her and went up to the front door. I punched the code into the lock and opened the door. Stepping back, I allowed Halo and Brave to enter before me. She sat the food down on the island and I shut the door behind us, locking it.
“I’m going to go take a nap,” Brave said and reached for the staircase.
“Take your food with you,” Halo stopped and told him.
She dug down into the bag and found their food and then grabbed his drink. He took his food and jogged upstairs, leaving us down here alone. Halo pulled out one of the barstools at the island and sat down. She grabbed her food and placed it neatly down in front of her. “What do you plan on doing for the rest of the evening?” she questioned me as she ripped open the sauce and dipped her fry inside it.
“I was just gon’ chill with you, if that’s cool.”
“That’s fine,” she simply replied. Grabbing my food, I took a seat on the other stool alongside her. “It was nice getting a way for a bit. Montgomery can be a bit draining.”
“I understand that. You know you can escape whenever you want to. Just give me the word.”
Turning in her seat, she cocked her head to the side and asked, “Why do you keep helping me?”
“Do you really have to ask me that? I like kicking it with you.”
“What about that girl?”
“What girl?” My brows dipped.
“The one I first saw you with.”
“Oh, Monica. She don’t mean shit to me.”
“But she keeps calling you her man. I’m not tryna go through another Nutt situation.”
“Halo, look at me.” Her eyes poured into mine. “Do you really think I’m gon’ play with you like that after I just had you beat the shit out of Nutt? Don’t play with me like that.”
“I’m sorry. I just have to be cautious.”
She went back to eating her food. Once we were done, we went over to the couch to find something to watch on television. I relaxed back against the cushions and flipped through the streaming applications. Halo sat on the opposite side of the sofa as if I was gon’ bite her.
“What do you like to watch?” I questioned her since I didn’t too much watch television.
“I’m a romance girlie. The stuff I like to watch, you wouldn’t dare,” she snickered.
“I love romantic shows and movies, and I also like to watch paranormal.”
I frowned. “You talking ’bout like paranormal activity?”
“Not that. Stuff like werewolves, vampires, witches. Witches are my favorite.” Her eyes lit up as she discussed what she was into. It was the passion behind ’em that got to me. Every time I tried to have a conversation with Monica, it was as if she was completely dead inside. The bitch didn’t care ’bout shit unless it had something to do with her getting some money, being my girlfriend, or me buying her something.
“How ’bout you find something to watch then. I’on want to put it on something you not gon’ like.”
I handed her the remote and she removed it from my grasp. “I really like anything long as it’s good.” She clicked on Peacock and stopped at this show called Found . “Have you seen this? I’ve really been thinking about watching it ever since I saw it on Facebook.”
“Nah. I ain’t really a TV type of person.”
“Okay.” She pressed the show and placed the remote in the center of us on the couch.
“You really gon’ sit all the way over there the entire time?”
Her eyes pierced mine. “I—” escaped her lips, but before she could finish her sentence, I reached over and grabbed her, pulling her into my side.
Her hair stroked my face, giving me a whiff of vanilla. Her heart beat frantically. I could feel it through her frame.
“It’s alright, Halo, you’re safe with me,” I assured her, and her head nestled into my side.
We sat there and watched that show. We were three episodes in so far and it was damn good to me. Halo got even more comfortable, balled up on the couch with her head resting in my lap.
“I want something to snack on. Do you think they have something in there?” she popped up and asked.
“I think I saw some chips in there earlier.”
“Let me see.” She got up from the couch and went into the kitchen. Not long after, she came back with a bag of Cheetos and plopped back on the couch. She ripped the bag open, dug her hand down into the bag, and stuffed her mouth with the chips. “What?” She stared at me.
“You got something…” I stroked my thumb against the corner of her mouth to remove the Cheeto dust. Before I knew it, I gripped her by the throat and brought her lips to mine. They were softer than the foam mattress I had at home. Her lips lightly parted, welcoming my tongue. I slipped it into her mouth and intertwined it with hers. We kissed long and hard before my phone chimed. Breaking away, Halo got up from the couch and headed toward the staircase. I grabbed my phone off the coffee table and looked at the message that just came through and fucked up the mood.
Looking down, I saw it was a message from Dough. His call came through and I swiped, placing the phone to my ear. “Look at that fucking message,” he said, not even giving me the chance to speak. Removing the phone from my ear, I went to his message. It was an attachment. Pressing the message with my thumb, I saw the image of the field burning at home. Directly underneath that one was another picture with the message burned into the grass. I’m coming for you.