Wifey 4 Life (21 page)

Dré fell silent for a minute.

We all sat there and waited for him to respond to Tony’s offer.
It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. All of us were too afraid to breathe
hard for fear that Dré would hear us.

Finally he sighed. “Look, Tony, I don’t know about this one,”
he said. “Fucking with her while she’s at her hotel is a little too risky for me.
And, besides, my girl just got home from work, so if I tried to leave the crib right
now, she’d go the fuck off.”

Tony saw how he was grasping for straws to get Dré to come outside,
so he turned on his persuasiveness a little more. “Yo, Dré, man, I’ll tell you what.
Lend me your piece and I’ll go get her my damn self.”

“I thought you had one.”

“I did. But I had to get rid of it because I found out it was
dirty.”

Dré sighed once again. “A’ight. I’ma let you use it this time.
But you gotta be careful and bring back my shit.”

“A’ight, nigga, I gotcha.”

“Call me when you get outside.”

“I’m about to pull up now,” Tony told him. “I’m in a dark-colored
minivan.”

“Where your whip at?”

“I had to switch it up, just in case that bitch got the police
looking out for my car.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right.”

“Nigga, I told you, you won’t be dealing with no corny-ass navy
boy.”

Dré chuckled. “You’re a funny cat.”

“Call it what you like, but I got plenty of sense.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll be outside in a minute.” Dré then hung
up.

I looked at Tony when Walt took the phone from his ear. If I
didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he shit on himself, because he looked nervous
as hell.

Walt wasn’t paying any attention to Tony after he had served
his purpose in luring Dré outside. I watched him and Griff load up their arsenal,
making sure the safeties were off. Then they sat back, patiently waiting for Dré
to approach the van.

I was nervous, and my stomach was doing one flip after the next.
I was about to witness yet another murder.

“Somebody’s opening the front door,” Griff announced.

I sat back in the seat and peered through the curtains of the
minivan. When Dré made himself visible by stepping onto his porch, my heart sank
to the pit of my stomach. I knew right then and there that things were getting ready
to get really ugly.

I looked at Tony, who had laid himself back in the seat. It appeared
that he wanted to hide himself, but he was sitting in a seat that wasn’t adjustable,
and Walt seemed a little uneasy himself.

As Dré walked down the stairs of the front porch and made his
way over to the van, I could sense he was becoming a little leery. His facial expression
started changing as he got closer to the van. He slowed down, trying to see who
was sitting in the front seat. Then he stopped in his tracks. He stood about four
feet away from the van and yelled out, “Yo, Tee.”

Walt looked at Tony and nudged him in the side with the barrel
of his gun. “Answer him.”

“Yo, nigga, what’s up?” Tony asked, sounding forced. Dré said,
“Come outside the van.”

I looked at Walt and Griff, and both of them seemed like they
were ready to go to war.

“Whatcha want me to do?” Tony asked. “You heard him tell me
to get out of the van.”

Griff looked back at Walt, and in a low whisper, he said, “We
gon’ have to blast him right where he is.”

Walt nodded. Without saying one more word, he grabbed the door
handle and pulled back on it to slide the door open. As soon as the door opened
wide enough for Walt to get a full view of Dré, he pulled back on the trigger of
his pistol. I didn’t hear the shot being fired because Walt had attached the silencer,
but I saw the shells from the bullets pop out of the top of the chamber.

As Walt got closer to emptying his magazine, Griff opened his
door and began to release the bullets from his burner as well.

Tony immediately dove to the floor of the van. Dré got a chance
to point and aim his pistol at Walt, but he was unable to pull back on the trigger
before bullets riddled his body. To see his body grow weaker and weaker as each
bullet entered it gave me a sense of satisfaction. He deserved every last one of
those bullets Walt and Griff emptied out on him.

Once Dré hit the ground, and it was clear he was dead, Walt and
Griff both closed their doors, and Jeff sped off like lightning. “Walt, I see you
weren’t playing,” Griff said.

“Hell nah! You saw how that nigga was acting. He knew some
funny shit was going on, and that’s why he stopped in his tracks and started calling
Tony’s name.”

Griff chuckled. “You see I wasn’t letting off his ass either.”

“Yeah. I noticed how you pulled your burner out and came in for
the kill,” Walt said.

“Shit, man, I only did that because he threw up his burner and
tried to let one off on you.”

Walt reached forward and patted Griff on his shoulder. “You did
good, man. You did real good.”

“Anything for you, man.”

As Jeff sped out of Barraud Park, Tony tried to ease his way
back into the seat, but Walt stopped that move, pressing his feet against Tony’s
leg and telling him to keep his ass where he was.

I almost burst into laughter, but I kept my mouth closed. I wanted
to remain serious, especially around Tony. I couldn’t let that motherfucker see
me grinning like everything was all peaches and cream. I wanted him to get the impression
I was an evil bitch; that vengeance was mine.

“Who we getting ready to get now?’ Griff asked Walt.

Walt turned around and looked at me. “Who’s next, baby girl?”

I wanted to tell Walt that Breon would be next, but it was he
who made it possible for me to get away when he tried to take down my uncle. I knew
he really didn’t want to participate when Dré helped Kasey sexually assault me.
After replaying everything in my mind, I decided that I wanted to leave Breon alone
and concentrate on Tony and Uncle Lanier.

“I’m ready to close the chapter on my uncle,” I said.

Walt pointed to Tony. “What about this piece of shit right here?”

“We still need him as bait to get my uncle out of the house,”
I said.

Tony lifted his head from the floor, with the most pitiful expression
on his face. “Please don’t kill me, y’all. I got two kids that need me. Tell ’em,
Kira. My shorties just lost their mother, so they gon’ be lost without me.”

One part of me felt really sorry for him, but the other wanted
to spit right in his fucking face. Always out for himself, he wasn’t shit, for real.
And today I was going to be just like him—hard-core with no cares in the world.
I ignored him and looked out the left side window. Walt kicked him in his side and
told him to shut the fuck up, and that was what he did.

Ten minutes into the drive to Uncle Lanier’s house, Walt instructed
Tony to get up from the floor. Tony sat back up, but instead of being allowed to
sit on the seat beside him, Walt made him stay on the floor. He took Tony’s phone
from his pants pocket and asked me for my uncle’s cell phone number and then once
again he prepped Tony on what to say. He also gave Tony a firm threat that if he
disobeyed him in any way that he wouldn’t hesitate to pump two bullets into the
back of his head.

When my uncle answered, Walt pressed the speakerphone under Tony’s
chin. Tony tried to speak, but nothing came out. Walt nudged him in his side
again. “Say something,” he whispered, so my uncle wouldn’t hear his voice.

My uncle said hello three times before Tony finally answered
him. “Oh, um, Lanier, this is Tony.” He cleared his throat.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lanier asked.

“Nothing.”

“Well, when I was saying hello, why the fuck didn’t you answer
me?”

“Because I didn’t hear you.”

“Something must be wrong with your phone, because I said hello
loud and clear.”

“Yeah, you might be right, because my girl said the same thing
about my phone earlier. But the reason why I called you is because I know you’re
looking for your niece, and I just saw her walk into the lobby of her hotel.”

“How long ago was that?”

“About ten minutes ago.”

“Was she with anybody?”

“Nah, she was by herself, and she looked like she was in a rush
too.”

“You think she’s about to check out?”

“I’m not sure. That’s a
hard one to call.”

“Where you at now?”

Walt muted Tony’s phone and instructed him to tell my uncle that
he was sitting outside in the parking lot of the hotel, and Tony did as Walt told
him.

My uncle paused for a moment, and then he said, “You think she
called the police?”

“I’m not sure, but if she did, they would’ve been here by now.”
Lanier hesitated for several seconds before saying, “It’s been over two hours since
she got away, so she could’ve gone to the police right after she ran off.”

“I don’t think she went to the police, because she pulled up
in a cab. And I’m thinking, if she did get a chance to go to them, they would’ve
had an officer escort her back to the hotel.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Stay right there, and I’ll be there
in about twenty minutes.”

“A’ight. I’ll be here waiting, but I’m not driving my car.”

“Whatcha in now?”

“I’m in this dark-colored minivan. I couldn’t risk her having
the police looking for me in my Camry. That’s why I switched cars with my kids’
grandmama.”

“That was a good idea. I’m gonna swap cars with my wife.”

“You coming now? ’Cause I don’t know how much longer she’s gon’
stay in her room.”

“I’m leaving out my house right now. Look out for a two thousand
eight hunter green Nissan Altima. As a matter of fact, I’m gonna call you when I
get within two miles of the hotel.”

“A’ight. And if she tries to come out of the hotel before you
get here, I’m gon’ call you.”

“OK. Do that.”

I sat there and thought about the conversation Tony and my uncle
had just had. To know he wanted my head served to him on a silver platter made me
sick to my stomach. It seemed like he wasn’t going to rest until he had me the way
he wanted me. I wanted to see him suffer at the hands of Walt. I wanted him to be
tortured just like I had been, but worse. And I believed in my heart that Walt and
Griff would be the men to do it.

Tony sat there on the floor looking severely depressed. I guess
he knew his life was about to end, and there was no way of reversing his fate.

I thought about how his children would react when they found
out that they’d now lost their father. I knew it would crush their little hearts,
and that did bother me, since I would have a hand in their misery. I was wishing
I could take those kids and whisk them off with me, so they wouldn’t have to stay
in this town. So much shit had happened around here, it wasn’t even funny. I figured
if they came with me, I could show them a better life, but then again, life had
a way of throwing people curve balls. So it’d just be my luck that I’d lose them
too, since death always seemed to find me.

The ride to my hotel didn’t take long. My heart started beating
like crazy because I knew there was about to be an all-out war between my uncle
and Walt. Griff and Jeff were going to throw their weight around too, so Uncle Lanier
was going to be outnumbered three to one.

As Jeff pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, an eerie feeling
came over me. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary when we drove into
the parking lot, but I still sensed that something wasn’t quite right. I
immediately told Jeff to stop. Instead of coming to a complete stop, he slowed down
the van and looked at me through the rearview mirror.

Walt turned around and asked me, “What’s wrong?”

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Whatcha mean? Explain to me whatcha talking about.”

“I know we supposed to be meeting my uncle here, but I don’t
feel good about it. I think we should call him back and change the plans.”

“What don’t you feel good about?” Walt asked.

By this time Jeff had come to a complete stop and had parked
the van on the side of the hotel, but away from the other cars. The entire parking
lot was lit up with street pole lights, so everything around us was visible.

I sighed heavily. “Look, just take my word for it. When I start
getting weird feelings and stuff, something usually goes wrong.”

“Well, what do you want us to do?” Walt asked me.

“Let’s get out of this parking lot first, and then we can form
another plan.”

Just as I requested, Jeff turned the van around and headed out
of the parking lot. As we were leaving, Tony’s cell phone started ringing.

Walt retrieved the phone from his pants pocket and looked down
at the caller ID.

“Who is it?” I asked Walt before he could utter one word.

Walt turned toward me and said, “It’s your uncle. You think we
should answer it?”

“Yeah, you gon’ have to, because if you don’t, he’s gonna think
something is wrong.”

The phone was on its fourth ring before Walt took the call. He
immediately put the phone to Tony’s ear.

“Hello,” Tony said.

Lanier barked, “What the fuck took you so long to answer your
phone?”

“I had the music up, so I didn’t hear it ring until now.”

“Where the fuck you going?” my uncle asked him.

I immediately peered through the curtains to see if I could locate
my uncle. I knew he had to be somewhere in the vicinity, because he could clearly
see the van. I looked out both sides of the van, but I still couldn’t tell where
he was.

“Ask him where he’s at,” I whispered to Tony.

Tony sounded really nervous, but he managed to repeat the question
I instructed him to ask.

“I’m coming into the hotel parking lot from the North Hampton
Boulevard entrance, but I see you leaving out on the Military Highway side.”

Everybody in the van turned around toward the North Hampton
Boulevard entrance of the hotel parking lot, and sure enough, there was my uncle
pulling into the opposite side of the parking lot. My heart fell into the pit of
my stomach.