Raunchy 2 (141 page)

KALI
SEVERITY

Kali was in Atlanta in a hotel watching Antoinette eat fries from the two-piece whiting meal she ordered at a carryout spot. Jace would never allow her to eat that way. He liked his women lean and mean but Kali didn’t give a fuck.

“Which one is his number?” Kali asked holding her cell phone.

“All of ‘em in there.” She chewed the fish with her mouth open. “His father’s number, Kreshon…all of ‘em.”
“I need the home number.” He paused, pushing different buttons.
She took the phone from his hand and found it. “It’s the first one.”
The phone rang twice before Jace answered and she sat back down.
“Hello.” Jace said.
“What’s good, man?”
“Kali?”
“What you think?”
“Where’s Ann?”
“Listen, she’s gonna be good. I changed shit up a little but you gotta pay me first.”
“I know…you asking for a million now. You doubled the payment.” He paused. “I got your money though, just tell me where she at.”
“Naw…I changed shit up even more.”
“What you mean?”
“I just want you to pay me the five hundred G’s.”
“So you don’t want the extra five? Why?”
“I want Shaggy. Where he at?”
Jace laughed. “So you did have something to do with Paco being murdered?”
“Jace, I told you when you ganked me for my cash at the deli that you made a mistake.” He paused. “But you’re only realizing that mistake now.” He paused. “Paco wasn’t no good, dude. He sold you out. Now me and your girl out of the state. I was the best man on your team and you lost me. Simply because I bark when I bite.
“What you talking about?”
“I was able to pay Paco to get off my trail when you were on to me about kidnapping Ann.” Kali laughed. “I bet you didn’t know that shit.”
“So why you kill him? If you had business with him?”
“Because his son raped my daughter…and I was trying to get at Shaggy and he wouldn’t hand him over. I guess he did have some loyalty, at least to his family.” He paused. “Bring him to me, along with the five, and all debts will be paid in full.”
Jace laughed. “You think you running shit don’t you?”
“Actually I do.”
“And why is that?”
“Because you move by your heart and I move by my heart.”
“That shit don’t make sense.”
“That’s why you’ll always come out on the bottom.” Kali said. He kissed Ann softly on the lips and she quietly begged him to get off the phone. She wanted to fuck, not be bothered with Jace anymore. She was done with him and on to the next one.
“Explain.” Jace said.
“You care too much. You cared about Harmony when you shouldn’t have. You cared about me when you should’ve put a bullet in my head and you cared about my daughter, Mad.” He laughed. “Now I got her heart too. Heart where I don’t give a fuck about what I gotta do, or who I gotta kill. If I stand by it, I stand by it even if it means my death. That means anybody in the way gets dealt with.” He paused. “If I was in your shoes, I would’ve murdered Harmony, Madjesty and my entire crew. But you couldn’t. You not built for this shit. You never were. You needed a nigga like me, who was bred for this game but you weren’t loyal. You wrote me off over a bitch.”
“You really feel that way don’t you?”
“Come on, Jace. Since when do I say shit I don’t mean?” He paused. “I need my money. Don’t fuck with me. Give me my dough, with Shaggy and you get your bitch. I’ll call you later with the details.”
When he hung up, Ann was nervous. It sounded as if he’d kill anybody, even if it meant her. “So you’d kill me too?” She asked when he sat on the bed next to her.
He kissed her softly on the lips. What the fuck you think? He thought.

MADJESTY
HALF CRAZY MONTHS LATER

Some of us were black and a few owned corporations. Others were white and went to college. And then there were people who’d been in here since they were kids and now they were senior citizens. Through it all there was one thing we all had in common. We were all considered crazy.

I couldn’t believe all of these doctors were right. If you saw some of these people you’d think the same thing. For instance if you had a chance to talk to Sally Porter, a white girl who went to Yale, you wouldn’t believe she’d bitten three of her own fingers off her hand. And then there was Dynamite, a short black girl from South Africa, who could pick any lock you placed in front of her, that they claimed had multiple personality disorder. Then there was me…a girl from Texas, who sliced off her own breasts and in its place, had a mutilated chest which I loved. They said I had Gender Identity Disorder. I guess I’m crazy too.

Being in this mental institution proved one thing, that there were so many different people in this world, and that we all had a story. Still I was tired. Tired of getting the calls that everyone else was having fun out in the world. And tired of getting the calls that my own sister betrayed me. I was alone. Cut off by my own twin. A person who shared the same womb as me. And a person who more than anything knew what I’d gone through with Harmony as a mother.

“Madjesty, you have your call for the day.” The doctor said holding the cream phone in his hand.
“Who is it?” I asked with hopeful eyes.
“Your mother.”
I reluctantly took the phone because at least she called regularly. “Hey, ma.”
“How are you?”
“I’m cool.”
“They not over medicating you are they? Because them white peoples love to overmedicate folks.”
“Ma, I don’t know. You been down here how many times?” I paused. “You tell me.”
“At least five times and I still don’t trust them.”
As my mother ranted on the phone I watched Dynamite picking the lock to the door, which held our medications. After all this time the employees still didn’t understand that she couldn’t be trusted around locks.
“You there, Mad?” Harmony asked.
“Yes, ma.”
“So how are you?”
“I’m fine. I just miss, Jayden.”
She sighed. “Madjesty, I told you she’s gone on with her life.”
“Well did you tell her I asked about her?” I said. “And that I want to see her?”
“For the hundredth time…yes! Pretty soon you gonna realize you just have me. Ain’t I good enough?”
I ended the call five minutes later without her question being answered. She knew she wasn’t good enough but she kept asking the same thing and each time my answer was no. Where was Jayden? And my father? And why didn’t they want to see me?
“Madjesty…look.” Dynamite said pointing to a roll away cabinet full of drugs. The door was wide open. They were supposed to take the cabinet out of the rec room after administering our medications but for whatever reason they didn’t. “I popped that shit!”
Dynamite laughed at her handiwork and I smiled. If I ever got out of here, I had plans to take her with me. But as it stood the doctors wouldn’t give me a release because I refused to see myself as anything other than a boy.
“
SHE MIGHT BE DOWN HERE!
” I heard a familiar voice yell in the hallway outside.
“
BITCH, SHUT UP! YOU ALWAYS TALKING SHIT WHEN YOU BE WRONG!
” My heart raced as I picked up on another voice
“
FUCK YOU!
” Sugar said. “
BET I’M RIGHT!
When I saw their faces appear through the glass window in the door I couldn’t believe it. Was I having a bad moment? Was my recovery failing?
“MADJESTY, DID YOU REALLY CUT YOUR TITTIES OFF?!” Kid asked.
I laughed.
“FUCK ALL THAT!” Krazy said. “YOU COMING WITH US OR WHAT?!”
Standing at the door, was Mad Max. And because we’d been cut short, the only members left were Sugar, Kid and Krazy. It broke my heart that Glitter and Wokie could never come back. I thought about them every day.
I grabbed my shit and said, “I’m rolling with ya’ll!” Looking at Dynamite I said, “And she coming too!”