Just Make Him Beautiful (27 page)

“Oh
,
Ger
dy
, let the boy go. We talked
,
and it’s a man thing
,
so everything is al
l
right
.” My stepdad put his arm around m
y neck and gave me a fake hug.
“I
sn’t it
,
Cameron?”

“Yeah, everything is fine,” I spat, removing his arm from around my neck and heading to the front door.

*

I jumped in the car and got the hell out of there as quickly as I could. He got some nerve, calling me a punk
-
ass bitch
.
C
hile
boo
, h
e the one getting fucked on the kitchen table, not me, black bastard. You know, I
wasn
’
t
a hateful person
,
but I
wanted
my stepfather and Junior to be dead.
N
ow!

The feeling was so strong that on the way home, I was hoping that Mr. Jamison was there. I didn’t know all of what he did for a living
,
other than teach
,
but I knew he had something to do with drugs. And everybody knows that in dealing with drugs, sometimes people g
e
t killed
,
so
maybe Mr. Jamison could get someone to kill my stepfather and Junior for me
.

I pulled up at the gate, put in the security code
,
and the gate opened.
As I drove up the brick road to the house, there was a small black car exiting
.
I couldn’t make out who it was because the windows were tinted so dark.

I parked the car in the garage and entered the house. I stood in the kitchen with my mouth hung open. Whoever just left here had destroyed almost everything. The kitchen table was turned upside down,
and
cabinets hung open with broken plates and glasses scattered on the floor.

I walked into the living room
,
and that was in
a
wors
e
condition than the kitchen. The couch was cut up, paintings on the wall were sliced up, and someone had pulled the plasma TV off the wall and thr
own
it on the floor
,
busting the screen wide open. The ped
estals
with busts
lay
shattered
on the floor, along with the piano being chopped up.

Chile
, I was so scared
,
I didn’t know whether to go upstairs and check to see if Mr. Jamison was up there hurt and needed my help
,
or get in the car and just leave
.

I took out my cell phone and called Mr. Jamison
.

H
e picked up
on the third ring.
“Hello?”

“Ah, Mr. Jamison, where are you?”

“Taking care of business
,
shawty
.
What’s
up?”

“Ah, I just got back from visiting my mom
,
and the house seems to have been broken into
.
”

“Say what?” he yelled into the phone.

“Ah, look like someone broke into the house,” I stated once again.

“Stay there
.
I’ll be there in
fifteen
minutes.”

Chapter 15

“Yo
,
s
hawty, whe
re
you at?” I heard Mr. Jamison yell.

“I’m upstairs,” I yelled back
.

Mr. Jamison climbed the stairs
,
and I met him in the hallway. The strange thing was
,
even though I could see the anger in his eyes as we went from room to room checking out all the damage that had been done, he
’d
never raised his voice.
I would have had a hissy fit
.

The bedrooms were in complete disarray,
with
shit thrown everywhere, and even the mattresses were thrown off the beds. It looked as though someone was trying to find something.

“Why would someone do this?” I asked softly
,
to
not upset him.

“I don’t know
,
s
hawty, but believe me, whoever it is gonna pay,” Mr. Jamison stated confidently.
“By the way, did you see anybody in the area w
h
e
n
you came home?”

“
Oh yeah
.
A
s I entered inside the gate, there was this
small
black car coming out. I didn’t know who it was because the windows were tinted
,
and I couldn’t see inside. I just assumed it was your little brother or a friend of yours.”

“A small black car, huh?” he asked
,
looking me in my eyes.

“Yeah.”

As we headed down the steps
,
Mr. Jamison pulled out his cell phone. I don’t know who he called
,
but he asked the person on the phone if he knew where Kane was. Obviously, the person on the other end didn’t know because Mr. Jamison yelled and said, “Find him and call me back.”

I didn’t know who Kane was
,
nor had I ever heard him mention the name. But
,
whoever he was, Mr. Jamison had a few choice words for him.

“Come on
,
s
hawty, let’s get out of here.”

“What about your place? Shouldn’t we call the police or something?”

“Naw, it
’
s
cool.
I’ll have some friends come by and clean everything up
.
”
H
e open
ed
the front door for me.

We got into Mr. Jamison car and sped off. I didn’t know where he was taking me
,
but I really didn’t care
,
as long as we were together.

As we drove, he had one phone call after another. Seemed as though he was
talking
in riddles because I really didn’t understand what he was saying
other than he must have found out where this Kane person was
.

H
e responded to the other person on the phone, “Good
.
I know where he is now
.
I’ll handle it.” He then hung up the phone
. 
“You min
d
if we make a brief stop?”

“No,” I replied
,
not knowing what to expect.

Next thing I know, Mr. Jamison started speeding down the highway and pulled off on Route 4, made a left on Cathedral Street
,
and then turned into this dark, seedy
-
looking alley and parked.

“Look, wait here
.
I
f I’m not back in five minutes, drive off as fast as you can
.
” He then opened the back of his Escalade and pulled out what appeared to be a few handguns.

“What’s going on?
”
A lump formed in my throat, making it hard for me to swallow. “
Why do you have a gun?” 

“Yo
,
s
hawty
,
chill
.
T
here is something I gotta do. Now
,
like I said, if I’m not back in five minutes, drive off as fast as you can, a’ight
.
”
H
e walked off
,
a black bandanna tied around his head, wifebeater, baggy jeans
,
and carrying two handguns, one in each hand.

Lawd Jesus
!
S
ee
,
I didn’t expect all this
O
.
K
.
C
orral
bullshit. I just wanted to find someone to love me and protect me
,
and here I
was
sitting in a car
,
and
my man
wa
s about to go and kill someone.
Chile
, this
was
way too much for me.

I took a deep breath, slid over to the driver
’
s side
,
and tried to get my bearings
,
just in case I had to pull off in a hurry
. As I looked about the car,
I realized this was not an automatic, it was a fucking stick shift
,
and I d
id
n’t know how to drive a stick
.
Girl,
you
talking about being in the wrong place at the wrong time
.
T
hat was the position I was in
.

B
ut then I began to realize that this is what they called being
“
down for your man.
”
I kn
e
w that Mr. Jamison
wa
s involved in drugs
.
I
wasn’t
that naïve
.
B
esides
,
who could live th
at
way off a teacher’s salary?

I looked at my watch and noticed that four minutes had already passed and
he
hadn’t come back yet. The car was still running because
he’d
never turned it off when he got out of
it.  H
e
’d
just left it
i
dling
.

Suddenly, I heard gunshots ring out. I looked around to see if I could hear which direction they were coming from
.
I looked through the rearview mirror
and
saw Mr. Jamison running his ass off.

He jumped in the passenger side of the car and yelled, “
Let’s go, let’s go!”

As nervous as I was, I placed the gear shaft in second
,
but as soon as I did, the car turned off.

“What the hell are you doing?”
he
yelled.

“I don’t know
.
” 

He yelled,
“Leave your dayum foot on the clutch, start this muthafucka
,
and let’s get hell outta here
!
”

See, I don’t know about you
,
but I can’t understand a word of what someone is saying if they are yelling at me.
Chile
, my brain
doesn’t
work that way
.

I somehow started the car back up and put it in second gear
,
and the next thing I knew, the car started going in reverse. I pressed the brake pedal so hard
,
the car jerked and shut off once again.

Mr. Jamison yelled at me,
“Dayum
,
s
hawty
!
C
an’t you drive a stick?”

“No
!
” I yelled back.

“Fuck
! M
ove over
.
”
H
e opened the passenger side and came around to the driver
’
s side.

As I slid back over to the passenger side, I happened to notice this guy limping and coming towards us with a gun in his hand.
“Mr. Jamison, that guy has a gun
!
”

“Duck down
!
I got this
.
”

And
as soon as we
drove
by the guy, he jumped
up
on the passenger side and aimed his gun right at me. Before I could blink, Mr. Jamison whipped his gun out and shot this man dead in the face
, and b
lood splattered everywhere, even on me.