An Urban Drama (15 page)

“It’s okay. Really, Nina, I understand that you gotta go do . . .”—Victor said and paused—“whatever it is that you gotta go do.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, Nina. I understand.”

“Good,” I said and started to leave the room. I
grabbed my purse. “Get up and walk me to the door, Victor
,
” I said, smiling when he got out of bed. “Damn,” I said with my eyes focused. “You make a sistah wanna strip down and get back in the bed.”

“If that’s the case, then why don’t you come back after you do
—whatever it is that you gotta go do?”

I smiled. “Can I?”

“Of course. Just call when you’re on your way.”

 
I started out of the bedroom and Victor followed behind me. “Ain’t you gonna put nothin’ on?”

“No. This is my house.”

“You always walk around here naked?” I asked.

“Yeah, this is my house.”

I rolled by my apartment to pick up some product and then to Jimmy’s to meet Teena. On the way, I gave some thought to why Teena wanted to meet me there. I hoped that she wasn’t doing business with none of those guys who hung out down there. We had talked about this time and time again.
Leon
’s words kept ringing in my mind.
You don’t know which ones the cops got their hooks in . . . The ones that are still on the street are the ones who gave the cops something to stay out.

But at this point, it didn’t matter. I just wanted to handle my business with Teena as quickly as possible and get back to Victor.

When I walked into Jimmy’s bar, I started to make my way through the crowd. I passed by these two women who seemed to be staring at me.
Probably just a couple of lesbians that wanna get with me
, I thought and continued to where Teena was waiting for me. Even though it had been a minute since I’d been there, the faces were still the same, and even though it had been a minute, I still looked at them the same way. These were the people who sold out Lorenzo, or at best, gave up something or somebody to stay on the street.

I still commanded some respect in there, so just about everybody spoke. Only difference was, now it wasn’t just ’cause I was the bitch Lorenzo used to fuck. I had become a respectable player in my own right, and it felt good.

“What took you so long?” Teena asked, staring at me as I sat down.

“What are you staring at?” I asked.

“You,” Teena said with this look on her face.

“What about me?”

“Well, you got your hair pulled back in that fucked-up-ass ponytail, and you ain’t got on
no
lipstick.
You been
fuckin’?”

I just looked at her without answering.

“I’m sorry . . . I pulled you off some dick to come here.”

“That’s all right. Let’s just do this quickly so I can get back to him.”

“I was gonna say that I hope he can keep it up longer than Cedric, but I can tell that he did.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll tell you all about it in the morning,” I said, and noticed that the same two women had moved and were staring at me again. “Teena, you know those two bitches?”

“Never seen them before in my life. But you know you have that type of affect on women.”

“Yeah, whatever. The product is under the front passenger seat,” I said and pushed the keys to my car in front of her. “I hope that you’re not doin’ business in here.”

“Oh, hell no,” Teena said and pushed her keys to me. “I was just in here hangin’ out, when Jay rolled up on me all frantic and shit. Black Thunderbird,” she said and got up. “Call me tomorrow. I wanna hear all about this nigga you in such a rush to get back to.”

“Money in it?”

“No doubt. It’s in a bag in the trunk.”

“Go on, get out of here,” I said and watched her walk out the door. Then I saw Jay. He waved and smiled at me as he followed Teena out the door.

I sat there for a minute and looked around for the two women who were watching me. Not seeing them, I got up and made my way out of the bar. I wandered around the parking lot looking for the black Thunderbird that I now had the keys to. As I walked, I gave some thought to whose car it was that I was gonna be driving. I saw it parked two rows over. I weaved through the cars and was about to unlock the car, when I heard a familiar voice. “I’m surprised to see you here, Nina.”

“What are you doin’ here, Cedric?”

“I come here all the time. I hear that you think you’re too good to hang out in a place like this.”

“I’m here to handle my business and get outta here, Cedric. And I don’t care what people think.”

“So, you finished your date?”

“Cedric, that’s none of your business.”

“Yes, it is my business, Nina. I wanna know where you were at tonight and who you were with?”

“You’re crazy, you know that? How many times I gotta tell you it ain’t like that between us? Why can’t you understand that? You are not my man. I don’t love you. I can’t even stand to be around you!” I yelled, and that was when he hit me. Cedric hit me so hard that I saw bright lights flash; then I hit the ground hard.

“Who were you with?” Cedric yelled.

I saw a bottle on the ground near me. I picked it up and threw it at him. It hit him in the face and he grabbed it. I got up off the ground and ran back in Jimmy’s as fast as I could. Once I told everyone what happened, half the bar ran outside to look for Cedric, but he was gone.

No man had ever hit me. Not even my father. He always left that task to my mother, who turned it into an art form. Now I wondered what was gonna happen next. I mean, I never imagined that anything like this would ever happen to me, not even with Cedric. But
maybe
I should have seen it coming.

After about an hour, I left Jimmy’s. I started to go straight back to Victor’s house, but decided to go home first. I didn’t want to go there with this money. It would only take a minute, and Victor didn’t live that far away. I parked the car, got the money out of the trunk and put it in my purse. I walked in my building thinking about the way I’d been living lately. You know, how my recent sexual decisions had contributed to my current situation.

I took out my keys and had just unlocked my door when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the two of them coming. Before I reacted, they had their guns to my head. One took my purse and the keys from me, and the other one pushed me inside. They quickly gagged me, ripped the phone cord from the wall, and hog-tied my hands and feet with it.

Although neither one of them ever said anything, it didn’t take long for me to realize that they were women. They were the same two women who had been watching me at Jimmy’s.

I was sure of it.

I watched them while they searched the apartment, looking for my stash. It didn’t take them long to find what they were looking for and bounce. It took awhile, but I was able to work the gag loose. I lay there for a while trying to get my hands and feet loose, but they had me tied tight. This wasn’t the first time these chicks had tied somebody up and robbed them, but that wasn’t important now. What was important was how I was going to get out of this.

I figured that if I could make it to the phone, I could call for help. I inched my way along the floor until I got into the bedroom. When I finally made it, I looked up at the phone on the night table and wondered how I was going to get to it. First, I tried to get up on my knees. Each time I tried, I ended up back on the floor, face down. Then I started to hit the night table with my legs, hoping that the phone would come down before the lamp. Finally, the phone dropped to the floor. It just missed hitting me. I moved my body so that my face would be close to the receiver. I hit the speaker button, then the redial button with my nose, and hoped the last person I called would answer the phone.

“Hello,” said a sleepy voice.

It took me a second to make out who it was. “Victor, this is Nina. I need—”

“—I see you finally decided to call. You on your way back?” Victor asked.

“Listen to me, Victor. I just got robbed and they left me tied up on the floor in the bedroom. I need you to come and untie me.”

Victor laughed. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I mean they didn’t hurt me.”

“Do you want me to call the police?”

“No!” I said louder than I needed to. “Just come untie me, Victor. Please.”

“You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Victor, I wish I was.”

“So, somebody robbed you and left you tied up in the bedroom?”

“Yes. Look, Victor, I know this sounds stupid, but I really am tied up, and I really do need you to come and untie me. I’ll explain things when you get here.”

“Okay, I’m on my way,” Victor said.

“Thank you, Victor,” I said, and gave some thought to the fact that I couldn’t hang up the phone. I had to laugh as I listened to the beeping noise and hoped that it would stop soon.

I wasn’t really looking forward to explaining this whole thing to Victor. I never mentioned what I did for a living ’cause he didn’t need to know. Or was it ’cause I didn’t want him to know? Either way, I was glad that Victor was the last person I’d called, and that he was coming to untie me.

But suppose he wasn’t?

Suppose he thought the whole thing was my idea of a joke and he rolled over and took his ass back to sleep? And if that were the case, how was I gonna hang up this phone so I could call somebody else? And even if I could hang up the phone, how was I planning on dialing the number? With my nose again, I guessed.
Damn, this is so fucked up.

Time passed slowly while I lay there on the floor, thinking about where I was and what was happening to me. Those girls could have just as easily killed me after they found my stash. I was thankful to be alive, and I was happy that I didn’t keep
all the
product that I had, in the apartment.

I took the opportunity to think about what I’d made of my life. I mean, this wasn’t what I had in mind when I graduated from college. I was supposed to get a nice job, meet a nice man, get married and have a bunch of kids. But no, each time I had a chance to do the right
thing,
I chose to take the easy route. I could have tried to do something positive after Lorenzo went to jail, but I chose to be a dancer. When that didn’t work out, I chose to roll. Now look at me.

I thought I heard the door open.

“Nina!” I heard Victor yell.

“I’m back here!”

“Okay, I’m—Ahhh!”

I heard Victor cry out; then I heard a loud noise. “Victor! Victor! Are you all right?” I yelled, but got no answer. I called to him again. “Victor!”

“My name ain’t Victor.”

“Cedric?”

He came around the bed so I could see him. He had a gun in his hand and there was blood on the barrel.

“What did you do to Victor?”

“He’s all right. He’s just takin’ a little lie down, that’s all,” Cedric said as he sat down on the bed.

“Whatever, Cedric. Just untie me.”

“What are y’all playin’, some kinda kinky, bondage sex games?”

“No, I got robbed, okay? Now, stop fuckin’ around and untie me.”