Page 24 of Love Me Now: Adrian & Kwamé
“Everything’s gon’ be aight, baby. “He’ll never hurt you again, and he’ll damn sure never get his hands on Jessie. You trust me?”
“Yes,” she declared against my chest.
Thirty minutes later, Kwamé had finally fallen asleep. I tucked her in and ensured that Jessie was still good inside her playpen. Turning the lights down, I left the room, closing the door behind me.
As I sat down on the living room sofa, I took my phone out to call Antonias. He answered on the second ring.
“Please don’t tell me something’s wrong,” he said.
“The babies are fine,” I assured him. “I just want you to know I’m ‘bout to kill me a nigga. I thought you’d wanna know.” With bile in my throat, I gave him the rundown of what Kwamé told me. Like me, Antonias blew a fucking gasket.
“I’m on the next flight,” he barked. I hung up, then hung my head. Adrian went out of the window. In his place was theas fuckto Adir’s crazy. That was how I handled shit. Crazy as fuck.
While I waited for Antonias to land, I traded my time between watching Kwamé sleep and finding out whatever I could about Damon. Dothan slid me some information which cast a little light on who Damon was off the court.
He grew up in Alabama and went to one of the roughest high schools in his city. Although he’d gone to jail a few times in his youth, once he found basketball, he used it as a way to keephimself off the streets. A couple of his friends died in a tragic drive-by shooting the night of their homecoming game.
That incident thrust Damon into a new mindset. His family was full of drug dealers and those who were closest to him either passed or went into the system. All that shit was fuel to Damon. He used it to claw his way out of the trenches.
Somewhere along the way, he’d lost his fucking mind. He had no record of children, and social media dated his love life back to at least three semi-popular chicks. He and his wife married last fall and had been trying to maintain a low profile ever since. Absently, I wondered if Alanis knew what the fuck her husband had done to my girl.
Just then a text came through my phone.
Dothan:Wifey boarded a plane to LA an hour ago.
Good,I thought. Regardless, Damon wasn’t going to see the sunrise.
Hours later, there was no hesitation as Antonias and I entered through the patio door of Damon’s mansion. It was pitch black in this muthafucka and it bothered neither of us. The night vision goggles we wore led us through the mansion without a single mishap.
We climbed the nice stately staircase leading to the second floor and let ourselves into Damon’s bedroom. He was alone in bed and snoring so loudly that he wouldn’t hear a train if it came through this bitch.
Removing the rope from my shoulder, I quickly and efficiently lassoed that nigga like he was prize bull. By the time he knew what was going on, I had the rope around his neck and yanked him from the bed. As conditioned as Damon’s body was, he was no match for me. He was a beast on the court, but I was a beast in the muhfuckin’ streets. If I was coming for a nigga, that nigga was as good as dead.
Dragging Damon from his bedroom, neither Antonias nor I said a word as Antonias tied the rope to the stair’s banister. Damon choked and grabbed at the black gloves I wore. Not an inch of my skin was exposed, so wherever he grabbed, it was covered by the black fit I wore.
After Antonias was done tying the rope, we hauled Damon over the banister. His weight didn’t so much as cause the well-crafted banner to bow. It was great craftsmanship. Silently, Antonias and I descended the stairs until we stood in front of Damon dangling from the second floor. I folded and rested my hands at my crotch and observed the way he struggled to free himself.
This was how I handled shit. Quiet and to the muthafuckin’ point. If that nigga didn’t know why I was killing him, he’d find out soon enough. His sins would follow him out of this world. He did my girl dirty, and he’d better be glad that this was all I could do to his ass. Fuck his family. Fuck him. And fuck whoever was going to mourn him.
CHAPTER 10
KWAMÉ
“Whyareyousomean sometimes?” I asked Adrian. He’d been extra crabby with everyone because he was leaving for school tomorrow. The stress of it all laid in his eyes. I didn’t want to believe that some of his irritation stemmed from him leaving me and Jessie. He invited me to dinner at his place and promised to keep his hands to himself. So, I was here to appease him even though his attitude was on ten.
Across the dinner table, Adrian frowned. “As opposed to being nice? If niggas think I’m nice, they get tempted to trysome dumb shit. Then, I’ma have to kill ‘em. I prefer to give niggas the chance to leave me the fuck alone.”
“So, you’ve always been this way?”
“I’m a Bell, baby. Pick out one of my family members who givesplay wit’ meenergy.”
After a full minute passed, I was stumped.
“Exactly,” he mumbled. “It’s not easy belonging to a family who has the power we have. We’re always a target even when shit seems quiet. Nice makes niggas comfortable. I don’t ever want a nigga or a bitch to be comfortable around me.”
“What makes you want to be nice to me?”
He frowned. “You ain’t a nigga or a bitch. You my girl, and if anybody fuck wit’ you, I got a pit deeper than a black hole ready for ‘em.”
