Against the Grain (21 page)

22

A few weeks later Kay was awakened by the same nightmare that had been haunting him for years. It had been awhile since he had it. He sat straight up in bed and put his face in his hands. Then he looked at his watch. It was 12:34 p.m. He looked at his pager, then turned his cell phone on. He was still naked, so he took off his ring and watch and took a hot shower. When he got out of the shower he needed something cold to drink so he headed for the kitchen. On his way there he could hear someone playing classical music on the piano. The first thing he thought was that it was one of the staff, but they knew better. Shu-Shu didn’t allow anyone in her living room. When he got there he found Dre sitting at the piano with his shoes off playing Beethoven. Dre must have felt someone behind him, because he stopped. He turned to face Kay.

“I didn’t know you could play the piano,” Kay said.

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me. Like I’ve got a degree in psychology. Mina and I are married, too. She’s a pediatrician now.” He paused to give Kay a moment to digest what he had heard. “She wants me to get out the game, Kay. And I’m tired. The game ain’t fun no more. Everybody has dough now. Money’s really not a big issue. Now the big issue is how to take advantage of people. How do we go to bed with this girl and that girl? How do we floss? How do we let people see our houses, our cars, and how fly we are? It’s all about what we do with our money now. So after the New Year, I’m through. My wife and I are leaving Maryland. She wants to see the world.” Dre smiled, “Oh yeah, and I speak seven different languages fluently.”

“C’mon, man, seven different languages? Shit, you barely speak English around anybody,” Kay told him.

“You’d be surprised at the things you’ll learn if you just listen,” Dre said.

“How long you been here?”

“I pulled up about an hour ago.” Then he changed the subject. “I volunteered at the old folks home this morning. You should always treat old folks nice because they feel people don’t care about them no more, and if you’re lucky they’ll teach you something that money can’t buy.”

“I wish you would have woke me up. I keep having the same bad dream since Apache died.”

“Tell me about it. Maybe I can help you.”

“Go ’head with that bullshit, nigga. Don’t try that psychology shit on me. Ain’t nothing wrong with me,” Kay said, smiling.

“Nah, I’m serious, Kay. I might be able to help you.”

“Well, the dream always starts the same way every time. I see Apache get killed by the police and it gets pitch black, I can’t see anything. Then out of the darkness, Apache is walking toward me with his right arm and index finger extended out at me. He’s shaking his head no and waving his finger back and forth as if he’s telling me something. Then he reaches out to touch me and I get so scared that I wake up covered in a cold sweat.”

Dre thought to himself for a moment before he asked, “How do you feel about Apache’s death?”

“What kind of question is that?” Dre just looked at him and Kay continued, “I’m fucked up about it. If I hadn’t panicked that day and crashed the car, Apache would still be here.”

Dre thought for another moment with his head down. Then he looked up at Kay and asked, “Is that what you’ve been thinking all these years? That you’re the reason that Apache is dead?”

Kay looked puzzled. “Do you know something that I don’t?”

“When we went in that bank and you stayed in the car that greedy motherfuckin’ Mike didn’t stick to the script; he decided that he wanted to hit the vault. That’s why we were in there longer than usual. You didn’t notice how stuffed the bags were when we came out? Everything was timed perfect. If we had come out the bank on time, we would have caught all the traffic lights on green. That’s the way we had done it all the other times. That light turned red on us because Mike put us behind schedule. No one could have planned for the cop being there. So if you want to blame somebody, blame Mike. The rest of us know it was Mike’s fault.”

Kay didn’t say anything.

“I think Apache is trying to tell you that it’s not your fault. That’s why he’s shaking his head no. He wants you to stop blaming yourself,” Dre said. They were both quiet for a moment.

Then Kay said, “Yo, you better get out Shu-Shu’s living room before she comes in. I’m going upstairs to get dressed. I’ll be ready in about twenty minutes.” He turned and walked upstairs.

Thirty minutes later Kay was dressed. They got in his canary-yellow F360 Modena and headed to Mike’s house. When they got there, they noticed a few guys standing around smoking weed. Some were shooting ball. Tank was wiping down his brand-new gold convertible Aston Martin. Tank walked over and greeted them with a hug.

“Where Mike?” Kay asked.

“He’s inside on the phone,” Tank answered.

“Damn, nigga, I see you got the fly shit. You gonna be bangin’ ’em in the head with this one,” Kay said, referring to the Aston Martin.

“See, I knew you would like it ’cause you got class. I ain’t one of them niggaz around the way that buys things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, to impress niggaz they don’t like. I’ma rich nigga and I can afford to shit on the fag-ass niggaz.” Tank slapped Kay five as if to say, “You feel me?”

Kay went in the house. Mike was on his cell phone and making a sandwich in the kitchen. When he saw Kay, he smiled and motioned with his right index finger for him to hold on. After a few minutes, Mike snapped his fingers to get his attention. When Kay looked, Mike pointed to the other half of the sandwich, asking Kay if he wanted it. Kay shook his head no and Mike walked into another room to finish his phone call. When he was done he came back into the kitchen.

“What up, nigga?” Kay said as they gave each other a pound.

“That was my connect. I’m getting ready to start buying two hundred of them thangs and he’s going to front me two hundred. I told you that I wanted to start bouncing around with you to other states,” Mike said with a smile.

“Yo, what happened that day in the bank?” Kay asked, taking the smile off Mike’s face. Kay knew that he’d caught him off guard. Mike walked over to the kitchen window and looked out.

“I see that bitch-ass nigga Dre finally told you, huh? Fuck it. I was tired of putting my life on the line for that little bit of dough, so I hit the vault. I didn’t mean for shit to happen the way it did. Apache is the stupid motherfucka for pulling his gun on the police. He would still be here with us if he hadn’t done that dumb shit. We can’t bring him back, so what the fuck.”

Kay was furious. He could have killed Mike but instead he smacked Mike’s glass of juice off the counter. It made a loud crash when it hit the wall. Everyone outside heard it and stopped what they were doing.

“You always have to be the greedy one, Mike. I told you when we were younger, all money ain’t good money and this is a perfect example. My friend is dead because you wanted more money. What about the rest of us?” Kay yelled.

“Look around, nigga, wouldn’t none of us have shit if it wasn’t for me!” Mike shouted back.

“Just stay the fuck away from me!” Kay said as he turned and walked out the house. Everyone stood there in shock.

As Kay and Dre were getting in the car, Mike came to the door and shouted out, “Fuck you. Fuck Dre. And fuck that nigga Apache.” Then he laughed. Dre stared at Mike as the car backed down the driveway. Tank and Gee rushed inside the house and shut the door.

“Yo, I’m glad them niggaz is gone. Kay think he better than us anyway. That’s why he’s always trying to outdo us. I even heard that he’s thinking about getting into the coke business,” Tank told Mike, knowing damn well that was a lie.

•         •         •

Kay went to meet with Scatter and Big Duke to let them know what was going on. Scatter convinced them that they couldn’t make money and beef at the same time so Kay gave Scatter his word that he would let it go. Then he left to pick up his son. Big Duke didn’t trust Mike, so he got on the phone and called three of his cousins from North Carolina that were ’bout it, ’bout it. Bill, Frankie, and Chris wanted to be down with their cousin Duke so bad, they would do anything . And that included touching Mike.

•         •         •

The next day, Scatter dropped Kay and Dre off at the airport. They were on their way to Detroit to hang out with one of Kay’s people from prison, Mingo. Kay’s friend had tickets for ringside seats at the Tyson-Golota fight that same night.

•         •         •

It was the middle of November. A month had gone by. Kay and Mike still hadn’t talked to each other. Kay, Lil ‘C’, Dre, P-Nut, Big Duke, and his three cousins were all in Kay’s home movie theater watching that Chinese hit man shit,
The Killer.
It seemed like they watched it once a week. They swore it got better and better every time they saw it. Kay had postponed his out-of-town trips because Shu-Shu had begun to act strange lately. He still sent some of his lieutenants out of town to meet them niggaz that he was locked up with who came to his party. He sent ten kilos of heroin to ten different cities.

When Kay had left Shu-Shu upstairs a half hour ago, she was getting dressed. She said she was going to hang out with some friends in D.C. When she finally came downstairs to tell Kay she was leaving, she had on a yellow cashmere sweater, a green ostrich leather skirt with matching Christian Dior green leopard-print ostrich boots. Everyone smelled her as soon as she walked in because she wore another one of Kay’s favorite perfumes, Trésor.

“Hey, baby, I’m getting ready to leave. Don’t wait up for me,” she said with a smile as she bent down and kissed Kay. And just like that, she was gone. She jumped in her new 2001 Qvale Mangusta and disappeared into the night.

An hour later, Kay got a call on his celly. He got up and walked out. Just as quick as he left, he returned.

“Yo, Dre, Duke, let me holla at you for a minute.” When they came out into the kitchen, Kay told them that he needed them to ride somewhere with him. They both agreed and without asking any questions they left in Big Duke’s truck. When they got to D.C. Live, the hottest club in the chocolate city, they parked and Kay located who he was looking for. Teresa Melvin was a short dark-skinned woman who used to be a police officer but now worked as a private investigator. She was sitting in a Toyota Echo. Kay walked up to the driver’s-side window.

“What’s up?”

“She’s inside with him and they’re sitting in a corner toward the back,” Teresa told him. He passed her an envelope and said, “Thank you.”

“Just give me a call if you need me again,” she said as she drove off. Teresa had been following Shu-Shu for two weeks and now Kay’s suspicions were about to pay off.

Shu-Shu was right where Teresa said she was. She and one of the players for the Washington Wizards were hugged up at a table in the back. On the table there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket with two glasses. She was smoking a cigarette. He had one arm around her and he was kissing her neck and ear. Someone walked up to the table and asked him for his autograph. While he was signing a napkin for one of his fans, Shu-Shu thought she saw Big Duke standing in the crowd to her right, looking at her. Someone walked in her line of vision and when they moved, he was no longer there. She thought she was seeing things. Then she saw Dre standing in the crowd to her left, watching her. Someone walked in her line of vision and he was gone. Her eyes frantically searched the crowd. Her worst fear had come true. She looked straight ahead and saw Kay looking at her. Again, someone walked in her line of vision and when they moved, just like the others, he had vanished. She jumped up and hysterically made her way through the crowd and out the front door. By the time she got outside, she saw Big Duke’s Excursion turning the corner down the block. The basketball player made his way outside after Shu-Shu to see what was going on.

“Are you okay?”

“Hell no! My man just saw us,” she said as she paced back and forth.

“Fuck ’em, you don’t have to go home, you can stay with me as long as you want,” he said, walking up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She snatched away from him. “Are you crazy? Stupid motherfucka! He’ll kill me and you both!” He backed away when she said that. “Look, don’t call me anymore, I got to try to fix this. Where’s my fucking car?” she said as she tried to remember where she parked. She drove around for a while to get her thoughts together before she went home. She knew she had an ass-kicking coming and she had to psych herself up before going home to get it. When she drove up, she noticed that Big Duke’s truck and Dre’s car were gone. Maybe Kay wasn’t home. Maybe he packed his stuff and left her. When she walked in, she could hear Sade playing real loud. Kay was in the exercise wing of the house. He always did an intense workout when he was upset. He was doing bench presses when she walked in. She walked over to the CD player and turned it down a little then she sat on the bench across from Kay. She didn’t say anything until he’d finished his set and sat up. Tears ran down her face.

“I’m sorry, Kay. It’s just that I’m lonely. You’re always gone and I might see you three nights out of a week if I’m lucky. Every time I tried to talk to you about it, you never had time. You used to give me all your time, now I’ve got to compete with all your other bitches.” When she said that, Kay looked right at her.

“Oh yeah, you don’t think I’m crazy, do you? I know more than you think I know. I just didn’t say anything because I love the ground you walk on. It didn’t matter to me as long as it didn’t interfere with my time with you, but now it has and I just didn’t know what to do since you wouldn’t talk to me. I know about your white bitch and I even know about them two bitches in North Carolina that you and Mike are fucking. I know that they make trips to New York for ya’ll every month to buy a bunch of cut for the coke and dope, then drive it back to Baltimore. You and Mike even opened up a hair salon for them bitches. I know everything, trust me,” she said.

“Listen for a minute, ShuShawn. I know I haven’t given you the quality time you deserve. And I took for granted that you would always be there. It’s just that I feel that you’re turning me into something I’m not. I’m not with all this fancy shit for real. I ain’t with the age-delaying creams, meditation, and that aromatherapy shit. You’re Eugene’s; I’m McDonald’s. You’re the Oprah Winfrey Show; I’m the Queen Latifah Show. You’re Prada, Gucci, and Chanel. I’m Sean John, Phat Farm, and FUBU. You feel me? We’re just going in two different directions. I’m not happy in this relationship anymore. I haven’t been for a long time. That shit I saw tonight gave me the strength to walk away,” he said.