Get Some (17 page)

“Oh God!” Trudy screamed. “I'll tell you, please stop!”

Jimmy held the gun over Miss Dee's concave chest. Miss Dee's face was knotted. It rippled in pain. Her pleading eyes focused on Trudy.

“The car!” Trudy screamed. “It's all in the car!”

“I been in the car and didn't see jack.” Jimmy's finger tugged the trigger and almost fired again.

“It's there, Jimmy, I swear. Check the right side. I hid it inside the door panel.”

Jimmy smiled when he heard Trudy say this last part. So that's where it was. This was one clever heifer. It was too bad she tripped out and stuck him like this. He and a cold bitch like her could have worked something out. Jimmy jammed his Glock up against Trudy's rib cage. He hustled her down the hall toward the door. A bucket and mop sat next to the wall.

Trudy kicked over the bucket. Water splashed across the floor. Jimmy's Stacy Adam boots slipped in the murky, soapy water and Trudy managed to pull away. Jimmy shot wildly at her big legs but missed. He put a hole in the wall and another in the counter. When a bullet hit the sharp spokes of a wheelchair in the hall, the wrinkled-up man in it smiled. He patted the lumpy pacemaker under his shirt. This was the best shit he'd seen in years.

Trudy was free. She leaped to the door. But suddenly her whole head and neck were snapped back. Jimmy had a fist full of her braids in his hand. Trudy heard the cold first click of the safety go off as Jimmy pulled back the trigger. Trudy couldn't even struggle. She was caught and held tight. With his fist at her head, Jimmy dragged her outside. Trudy saw the broken glass outside the VW's door. Jimmy reached in and yanked open the driver's door handle. He snatched the inside door paneling off. The money and cocaine were lodged down in the metal.

Jimmy let the tip of his finger trace the edge of her face. He actually felt bad. He hated to have to kill her. For a second his hard face revealed tenderness inside. He had liked Trudy. She was all right. But then Jimmy's face changed. The gentleness quickly turned sullen. He examined the coke and thumbed through the money. He stared back at Trudy with felonious eyes. The savage eyes of the betrayed. She didn't want him. All she wanted was his money. His index finger hooked the slim trigger of his gun. He pulled the gun's trigger back.

Trudy closed both her eyes and held in her breath. The blast was so intense the Bug's window blew out. Trudy stood frozen, unable to breathe. When she finally decided to open her eyes, Jimmy's large body was slumped on the ground.

Trudy panicked. It was getting harder to get air. She looked around but saw no one in sight. Her eyes drifted around the black desert night and the red sea of passing cars. Suddenly, Ray Ray's smiling face walked toward the car door.

Ray Ray rolled Jimmy over and took Jimmy's gun. He held two fingers at his neck to check for a pulse before sliding his own gun back in his holster. He found the bag holding Vernita's cut of the money. He found a metal container with two new cigars and put it inside his jacket. He grabbed Trudy's hand, lifting her up.

“Hey, girl. You okay?” He noticed the blood on her shoulder and her earlobe cut off. Ray Ray brought Trudy back into the rest home.

Ray Ray rummaged through a drawer and found alcohol and gauze. He swabbed Trudy's face and her badly cut ear. He covered the lobe with a bandage.

Trudy went down the hall to examine Miss Dee. The bullet was lodged in the sheet.

“Homegirl got lucky,” Ray Ray said, lighting up. The bullet had gone straight through her flesh. Ray Ray bandaged her too and then picked up the phone. He lit a cigarette and dialed 911.

“Come on. We better leave before they all come.”

“No! Ray Ray, wait.” Trudy held Ray Ray's arm. “I have to see about Vernita.”

“Don't need to. I've already been there.” Ray Ray looked down. He sucked in the smoke slow. “When she saw me she wouldn't talk. She just kept shaking her head. But Pearl showed up over there looking for you too. That's how I knew you were here.”

“Tell me, Ray Ray!” Trudy said, worried. “Is Vernita okay?”

“Yeah, she'll make it, but she's hurt pretty bad. I stayed 'til the paramedics took her.” Ray Ray looked over at Trudy's bandaged ear. “I hope all this bullshit was worth it.”

Trudy looked at Ray Ray. His left eye was busted. He had bruise marks and welts all over his skin. A monstrous cut dissected his burn. Trudy held her head down. She'd never felt worse. She was responsible for everything that happened to her friends. All of them almost got killed. “If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened.”

Miss Dee looked at her bloody dead friend. Miss Dee stroked Agnes's head. Agnes had suffered. No one had been down to see her either. Loneliness had killed her a long time ago.

 

 

Trudy kept her head down. “I'm so sorry, Miss Dee. This was all my fault.”

Miss Dee narrowed her eyes in worry.

Ray Ray smiled at Miss Dee while bandaging her leg. He whispered to Trudy, “We got to raise up, girl. Police'll be here in a minute.”

Trudy cupped Miss Dee's face. “You gonna be all right?” She knew Ray Ray was right. They were fugitives now. She kissed Miss Dee's cheek. “See you, Miss Dee.” She didn't have the heart to tell her she wouldn't be seeing her again.

Ray Ray and Trudy walked out the glass door. He lit a cigarette as they walked along the gravel road. The events of the last moments shook Trudy hard. A rush of tears streamed down her face.

“Dang,” Trudy said, trying to stifle her crying, “you saved me, Ray Ray.”

“Girl, you know I been had yo' back. I been telling you that shit forever.” Ray Ray smiled and popped in a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. “I knew that stone fool would be coming after you. Vernita told me y'all was coming up here, so I figured I'd better come too.” He winked back at Trudy and she managed a weak smile.

“We better raise up,” Ray Ray said calmly. “Am-ba-lance and po-po be all over this place.” They walked toward the Volkswagen. The highway was blazing. It raced with the hot, fast-paced traffic to Vegas.

Ray Ray blew out his smoke toward the loud, violent highway. He felt free next to Trudy under the million-starred sky. He pulled her mouth over his lips. Trudy didn't resist.

Ray Ray wrapped one arm around both of her shoulders, the other arm circling Trudy's waist. He felt a warm, luscious heat erupt from his stomach. He'd been waiting for this moment for a very long time. He squeezed Trudy real tight.

Suddenly, the Volkswagen roared back to life. Ray Ray ran over and jerked open the door.

Lil Steve looked at Trudy and then over at Ray Ray. A perplexed look passed over his face. But Lil Steve quickly masked any emotion he had. A grin eased its way across his fat, swollen jaw. “Zap-nin', people?” he said, trying to sound casual. He rubbed the groomed hairs on his chin.

Ray Ray was stunned. What was Lil Steve doing here? “Man, where you been? I've been waiting on you all night.” He was talking loud over the Volkswagen's rattling engine while Lil Steve sat squeezing the wheel.

“What, you fixin' to raise?” Ray Ray wanted to know. “Where's all the muthafuckin' bank money, G?” Did Lil Steve rob him? Was homeboy trying to leave? Ray Ray waited for Lil Steve to speak.

Lil Steve's jaw was so bashed in, it killed him to talk, but Lil Steve had to tell him something. He could see it in Ray Ray's eyes. Ray Ray was about two snaps from going off, so Lil Steve decided to try to catch him off guard.

“You stealing my woman? What's up with that, man?” Lil Steve came out the car door.

Ray Ray immediately felt awkward standing so close to Trudy. He dropped his arm from her waist and took a few steps away. She was Lil Steve's ex. She was supposed to be off limits. He didn't know what else to say.

Trudy was just as nervous standing between them both. Because of her, both Ray Ray and Lil Steve were bleeding. All of them stood wondering who would speak first.

Lil Steve watched Trudy. He was glad he made her nervous. He walked up to Trudy and tried to slap her face but Ray Ray snatched back his hand.

“What's wrong with you, boy?” Lil Steve angrily said. “This bitch set us up! She played us both, Ray Ray! I know you didn't fall for her shit.” Lil Steve tried to lunge at Trudy again but Ray Ray got between their bodies.

“Wait,” Ray Ray said, holding Lil Steve back. “Be cool, man. There's no need to trip.”

“Trip? Nigga, you the one trippin', cuz! I'm telling you, this bitch set us up!”

Ray Ray looked at Trudy but Trudy looked down.

“Tell him!” Lil Steve demanded. “Tell him how you got the money!”

Ray Ray eased his grip on Lil Steve's wrist.

“Man, she got the cash. She been playin' us all. She shot Charles and snatched up all the ends! He laying up in King Drew right now.”

Ray Ray studied Lil Steve's face. Lil Steve was so adamant, so righteously pissed. He now knew Charles was shot, but Ray Ray didn't know by whom. Ray Ray looked back at Trudy again. Trudy wouldn't have crossed him. She wouldn't have set him up. She wouldn't do something that would send him back to prison. Trudy's dark eyes were glued to the ground. But maybe she would. He'd been gone for almost two years. Maybe she and Lil Steve used him all along. Maybe he was the one playing the fool. But then he remembered what Charles had said about the money.

“Naw, man, you wrong,” Ray Ray said calmly. He spoke soft and slow, like he was sorting things together. “Charles got the money by selling Flo's car.” Ray Ray waited for Trudy, expecting validation, but Trudy kept her eyes on the ground.

“Oh, wow. Come on, man, she's clowning you, dog. Charles didn't sell shit. Think about it, homie. Why the fuck would some drug dealer be tryin' to off us, huh? Where's our money from the bank? I bet we didn't get jack. I'm telling you this bitch set us up from day one.”

Ray Ray looked confused. He didn't know what to say. It was true, his blue envelope only held newspaper shreds. He turned from Lil Steve and completely faced Trudy.

Trudy grabbed Ray Ray's arm. She tried to hold Ray Ray's hand.

“I told you don't do it, Ray Ray. I begged you, remember?” Trudy's pleading eyes tried to make Ray Ray understand.

Ray Ray pulled his arm away. He stared at her hard. She ground her right foot in the sand.

“See, man! I'm telling you she played you, my brotha. Didn't I say from day one she was foul.”

“He's lying to you, Ray Ray. He's always lied to you about me.”

Ray Ray backed away. He looked Trudy up and down. All he knew was that it was really getting hard not to smash one of these fools in the ground.

“She's been using you, Ray Ray. Selling you wolf tickets, homes. Your dick got your vision all twisted.”

Ray Ray pushed past them both. He didn't want to listen to this madness. Though he couldn't hear them yet and they were miles away, Ray Ray could faintly see the flashing red and blue lights of the cops.

Trudy grabbed his hand and gently turned him around.

“Remember that party?” she asked. “The first time we ever spent together.”

Ray Ray looked down. He bit his lower lip. It was the night he went to jail. Before he and Lil Steve did that robbery. “I try my best to erase it.”

“Don't listen to her bullshit, man. All women lie. Lyin' and bitches is like dog shit and flies,” Lil Steve said.

Trudy ignored Lil Steve and kept her focus on Ray Ray. “I felt something that night. I know you felt something too.”

Ray Ray remembered that evening full well. Though he never spoke about it once, the memory loomed in his mind. In prison, he'd played it back hundreds of times. He used to lie on his cot and think about it for hours. With his eyes closed he could still see what Trudy had on. An ivory lace dress, with thin skinny straps, her hair piled high on her head. He remembered how good it felt to touch her. The rich brown warmth of her skin. But in a fraction of a second the whole thing was over. Next thing he knew he was stuck doing time and Trudy was with Lil Steve.

Lil Steve disgustedly spit on the ground. “Who gives a fuck 'bout some damn high school party! We talking about how we got pimped up here, G! We talking 'bout how this nasty trick dogged us!” Lil Steve turned to Trudy and got in her face. “Don't cloud it by bringing up that janky shit now!” Lil Steve didn't want Trudy to talk about the party.

“This 'ho got your nose blown open so wide you couldn't see this raggedy shit coming.” Lil Steve stared at Ray Ray. He shook his head, disgusted. “She's working you, man, just like she worked Charles, and that nigga's laying in King Drew barely breathing.” Lil Steve sneered in Trudy's fuming face.

But Trudy stepped up to Lil Steve this time. She whipped back her braids, putting one hand on her hip.

“You don't want me to tell him, huh? Look, you're scared as shit now. You're scared I'ma tell what really happened that night!” Trudy said.