Chapter 18 #2
“Where is my car, Demi? Just give me my fucking car and go! Where is my car? I need my car!” she screamed, hitting him, again, this time slapping him, her hand connecting with so much force that he exploded.
He pinned her to the mattress, holding her hands above her head. “Calm the fuck down!” He barked. He was so close to her face that she felt his spit as he yelled. “The fuck is wrong with you?”
“I lived in that car with my mom for a year before she died! It’s the last home I shared with her. That’s the only place that feels like home! I don’t want your stupid-ass car! Where is MY car?” Charlie’s tears were rolling out of her eyes, one after another, and Demi lifted off her.
“I didn’t know about the thing with your mom, Bird. They took it apart at the junkyard,” Demi said.
It was that revelation that destroyed her. Charlie fell apart, crying inconsolably as Demi pulled her into his lap.
“Life been on me heavy. Keep me here with you. Burn me, Bird,” Demi said, voice low, pleading almost as he pulled at her hand, forcing her into his lap.
She straddled him and his nose touched hers.
Her entire face was wet, and Charlie quivered as he took his tongue to her tears.
“I’m in love with you Bird,” he whispered.
“I tried to fight the shit. Tried to stay away from you. I felt it when I met you that you were going to dismantle my life. That’s why I didn’t call.
After the first time, I went ghost because I knew I had no business being with you.
I tried, Bird, but your voice. Your burns. You. I just need you, baby.”
“You turned me into somebody I would never choose to be. You are somebody’s husband.
I do not sleep with unavailable men. I don’t cash in on another woman’s pain.
I would have never done this with you. Ever.
It is not who I am. I watched my mother fade away and die after my daddy left her for another woman.
I would never, knowingly, be a part of that,” she whispered.
“I understand that, and I know I put you in a position that’s fucked up, but ain’t no backtracking, Bird. The way I am with you,” he paused. “The way I feel about you. The way you touch me without permission. The way we fuck. The way that pussy feel sliding down on a nigga dick.”
“Demi, stop,” she interrupted.
“I want to take your soul out your body while you call to God,” Demi said, as he placed his lips on her neck, then his tongue, then his teeth.
OCD where? He was accustomed to Charlie now.
Whatever covered her was a delicacy. Her germs. Her sweat.
Her dirt. Demi was infected with her and he wasn’t seeking the anecdote.
He could die just like this and he would die a happy man.
Charlie hated that she wanted that too. God, how she wanted that.
“I can’t do shit with somebody else’s husband,” Charlie said. “You need to get out.”
“I’ll leave her, Charlie,” Demi answered.
Charlie looked around the room to make sure the second hand was still ticking on her clock because it felt like time stood still.
“It’s that easy for you? To leave your wife? She’s your wife, nigga. She has your son! If you’ll do that to her, what the fuck will you do to me?” Charlie asked, confused, disgusted.
“Just give me some time to figure shit out, Bird, damn. I ain’t got all the answers, and I ain’t trying to do nobody dirty.
I want you, though. If that’s wrong, shit, that’s what it’s going to have to be.
I’ll leave her. Yeah.” It was like he was convincing himself, psyching himself up for the challenge.
“If you were going to leave her, you would have done it already. You should have done it before you ever touched me, before you ever promised me one thing. You should not have to be caught up to move accordingly. I am not interested. I meant what I said. I’m done.”
“You don’t mean that shit, man,” he said, forcing her out of his lap as he stood.
Charlie turned to walk away but he snatched her back. Charlie swung on him, going crazy, her anger building as she pushed him, smacked him, scratched him. Bails jumped and barked, getting between them as their toxic energy put him on edge.
Demi hemmed her up, breathing hard as she screamed, “Get Out!” at the top of her lungs. “I hate you! I don’t want to see you! Just leave me the fuck alone!” She was a mess and Demi released her, realizing that he was only making things worse.
“Don’t do this to me, Bird. I cannot be out here fighting a war with niggas and thinking about losing you.
I can’t handle both at the same time,” he said, honestly.
From the moment she had discovered his secret, he had been in turmoil.
Hurting her, hurt him. He couldn’t think straight knowing she was in pain.
“We not done, baby. You the one. I don’t know how, or why the shit happened, but you belong to me. Tell me how I can make us right.”
“Go home to your wife and your son,” Charlie said.
Charlie climbed to her feet and retreated into the bathroom, shutting the door, and locking it. Bails was going crazy, barking, and scratching at the door, trying to get to Charlie.
“Bails!” Demi said, clapping his hands. Bails came to his feet and Demi picked him up, carrying him to the front door. He opened it and handed the dog to his young gunner, Malachi.
“Take the dog out to piss and when you in her face, you make sure your eyes are in the right place. Keep it respectful with my lady, my nigga, and keep her safe. Ain’t nobody coming or going without permission from me.
If you don’t hear it from me, they don’t enter this door.
Have the dealership pick up the car and fix it, then park it back in her spot. Understand?”
“Got it, big bro,” Malachi replied.
Demi went back inside, washed his hands, and then turned to leave. The pen and notepad on the counter halted his tracks.
He picked it up and wrote a message before leaving. He wanted to stay but Charlie needed some time and he had somewhere to be.
“I’ma kill this nigga, man,” Demi said as he sat in the darkened car, pulling on the blunt, words choking out with the smoke.
“You want to wait until he comes out or we running in the joint?” Day asked.
Ski masks were rolled up on the tops of their heads and pistols sat in their laps. They were prepared for anything.
“I’m too old for this shit,” Demi stated. “Every time a nigga try to be normal, motherfuckers bring me back to the dark. I want him alive. I need him to take me to his uncle.”
“Understood,” Day replied.
Demi mashed out the blunt and popped open the door and then rolled the mask down over his head as he stepped out.
They wore black coveralls, gloves, and black boots.
There was nothing distinguishing about them except for their height and build.
It was four o’clock in the morning. The club had let out at two.
If the parking lot indicated anything at all, it meant that only Frankie was inside.
Day and Demi ran up to the door. Two shots to the lock and they were inside the club. Rushing onto the main floor, Frankie let off shots instantly, missing because he was shooting out of fear. Demi put him down instantly. A bullet to the leg took him down to one knee.
“Where can I find your uncle, nigga?” Demi asked.
“Fuck you, man,” Frankie said, writhing in pain as he grabbed at his bleeding thigh.
“Oh, he a tough guy?” Day asked.
“Let’s see how tough,” Demi added.
Day pulled the trigger again, blowing a hole through Frankie’s right hand. The scream reverberated through his brain like a pinball, but it wasn’t Frankie’s. He turned to find Charlie standing at the bar, shaking, trembling.
“Demi, please...” she said, choking on air as she gasped through the hands that cupped her mouth in disbelief.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, walking over to her. “What are you doing? I told you to stay out of this club!” He barked. “You’re hardheaded, Bird.”
“What are you doing, Demi? Please, you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded.
“We got an issue?” Day asked.
“No issue,” Demi replied. “Go get the security tapes, Bird. You just said my name all over them shits. Hurry, baby, go now.”
“Are you going to kill him?” she asked.
“No questions, Bird, just do it,” he instructed.
Demi watched her rush to the back office and then stalked back over to Frankie.
“Tell me where to find him? You got five seconds,” Demi said. He put the gun between Frankie’s eyes. “5...4...3...
“Okay! Okay! At Rube’s bar. He plays an all-night poker game on Friday nights,” Frankie said.
BOOM!
Demi laid him down without remorse and then looked into Bird’s eyes as she came back into the room.
“It’s a new system. I deleted it,” she stammered. She looked at the blood on the floor and then up at Demi.
“Go home. I’ma be by there,” he instructed. “Straight home, Bird.”
She was unable to find her words and he knew it was her first time seeing a murder. He remembered that feeling but he had been responsible for so many men meeting their maker that it no longer affected him.
“You sure about letting her leave?” Day asked.
“Yeah, she’s solid,” Demi replied. “Let’s get this over with so I can get back to her.”
“How you know, bro?” Day pressed the issue. They had never left a witness alive. Ever.
“Because a nigga gon’ have to kill me to get to her. We not doing that. She’s off fucking limits, Day,” Demi said. “You hear me?”
Day gritted his teeth. “Yeah, man. I hear you.”
Six hours had passed, and Charlie couldn’t get the sound of the gunshot out of her mind. She had called him every 30 minutes since then. When she heard him put the key in the lock, she stood. She didn’t know why. She just needed to be on her feet. Her anxiety was rotting inside of her.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Demi paused at the door, looking at her. She was scared.
“I’m good, Bird,” he answered. “I can’t stay, though, baby.”
She nodded. “So why come at all, Demi?” she asked.
“You saw something tonight that you were never supposed to see,” he answered.
“I was at the club, writing. I stay late sometimes to soak up the vibe while I write my songs. I write songs when something hurts. Everything hurts right now, Demi,” she explained, wiping away effortless tears as they fell silently.
“I need you to forget what you saw. You were never there. You went home. When you left, Frankie was still there alone. That’s your story,” Demi said. “If anybody asks.”
“And that’s it. Tell me my lines and now you go back to your wife? And your son?” she asked. She was trying so hard not to care. Demi approached her, caressing her face as he pressed his forehead against hers.
“My Bird,” he whispered. He was soft for a millisecond before he turned it off. “I need you to focus on getting this right. Nothing else matters. I know you’re hurting. I know. I’ma fix everything. That’s my word, but tonight, I need you to get your story straight.”
He kissed the tip of her nose and then walked out, leaving her with more questions than answers.