31. Givens #2
“Then you’re dumber than I thought,” Shai slurred. She used her one good eye and looked Mercy up and down. “I don’t even know what he sees in you.”
“You don’t have to,” Mercy replied as she circled Shai.
“Just know that what he sees is what he loves. Him and Faylin.” She grabbed the back of Shai’s head and pulled it so she had to look up at her.
“Speaking of Faylin, do you know that she got a hold of one of those water bottles at your house that had that shit in it?”
“She’ll be alright,” Shai said as if she didn’t care. “It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten one.”
“What?” Mercy’s eyes narrowed, and I stood. The glass wall that was separating us wouldn’t do shit to stop me from getting my hands on Shai’s stupid ass. “You drugged my daughter?”
“She’s a fuckin’ brat that her daddy created,” Shai spat. “Any fuckin’ time I told her no, she cried to him. They were there for when I needed some peace.”
“You’re a sorry excuse for a mother,” Mercy said, shaking her head.
“She’s fourteen, a fucking child, and you would rather drug her than to parent her?
” Mercy let out a humorless laugh. “I almost felt sorry for stomping that baby out of you the other day, but now I see I was right.” She let Shai’s hair go and stepped around to face her.
“If you hated her that much, why not let Givens raise her? He was dumb enough to pay you child support while she lived with him anyway.”
“Because I wanted my family! I thought having Javien leak those pictures from the fight in his house would be enough to run you off, but I was wrong,” she yelled.
I wiped my hand over my mouth and sighed.
Shai being behind the pictures wasn’t even a surprise at this point.
“I wanted Givens, and the only reason he would come around was because of Faylin, so I put up with her. Our new baby-“
“That wasn’t his baby, bitch,” Mercy spat. “That was Javien’s baby!”
“It was Givens’!”
“No, it wasn’t,” Mercy laughed humorlessly. “Melissa told us everything before I killed her. You had her drug Givens, and that shit worked a little too well.”
“Light skin thug, your dick don’t work?” Krude asked me in surprise. “Damn, man.” He shook his head. “Don’t trip; it's some medicine for that shit. I can call my connect and see if she can get you some.”
“Galaxy gotta stop supplying you with shit,” Judge sighed.
“Harlot, I keep trying to tell you it ain’t her,” Krude said. “Ms. Nadine has been my connect for years. She’s who gets me the chloroform and shit.”
“Nine gotta get his mama under control.”
I let them continue to go back and forth and turned my attention to Mercy.
She was back to circling Shai with a disgusted look on her face.
Seeing her slice open Melissa’s neck earlier was one thing, but knowing that she was going to kill Shai was another.
I didn’t have any feelings for Shai, nor did I want her to live, but I didn’t want her death on Mercy’s hands, either.
“You are a desperate piece of shit,” Mercy said, shaking her head. “I don’t even feel bad for having to kill you because Givens and Faylin deserve so much better.”
“You think you’ll get away with this?” Shai asked. “I’m a public figure; my name means something. As soon as my body is found, there will be questions. People will look into it. You’ll never get a peaceful night's rest, and if you do, it’ll be in jail for my murder.”
“Doubt it,” Mercy shrugged as she pulled a gun from her pants. “You aren’t the first person I’ve killed, and I doubt you’ll be the last.” Shai didn’t get a chance for Mercy’s words to sink in before she pulled the trigger.
“I been sitting here, can't get you off my mind, trying my best to be a man and be strong. I drove myself insane wishin’ I could touch your face, but the truth remains: you’re gone. You’re gone-“
“Krude, that song doesn’t even fit the situation,” Judge said, shaking his head.
“I know, but I started singing it earlier and couldn’t get the words out of my head,” he laughed and stood. “Shit was a hit back in the day.”
“It’s seriously something wrong with you,” I laughed as I stood.
I left out of the room and met Mercy in the hallway. She closed the door behind her, leaned against it, and crossed her arms over her chest.
“DeCorte, you about this life, huh?” I asked with a laugh, and she nodded.
“I tried to warn you from the beginning; you just didn’t believe me,” she answered with a shrug.
I approached her and brushed her hair from her face. “I see, and I was wrong. I’m sorry about what Shai said in there about people looking into her death. If they do, I’ll take the charge. Nothing will ever be linked to you.”
She laughed softly, then shook her head before putting her arms around my neck and pulling me close.
“I love you, Givens.”
“Is that all I had to do was say I’d take a charge for you, and you’d profess your love?” I asked with a laugh. “I mean, it ain't the first time I heard it, but I don’t think that time counts, cuz you had a gun to my head.”
“I mean, you pissed me off,” she said with a shrug. “It was a passionate moment.” A smile tugged at her lips; all I could do was nod. This girl was nothing like I thought. The good girl front was just that, a front because at the end of the day, she was a fucking hell raiser, just like Krude said.
“I love you, too, DeCorte,” I said, then kissed her.
“Oh, this nigga is definitely family; he kissing on her like she doesn’t have blood and shit on her,” Krude said from behind us. I didn’t give a fuck, though, he could talk all the shit he wanted, but Mercy DeCorte was it for me.