Authors: Michael Lewis
“Alton when I
talked to you earlier I got a funny feeling as soon as I hung up the phone like
something wasn’t right. I can also see in your face that something happened.”
“Your feeling
was dead on. Right before I hung up the phone with you, a devil in a red dress
walked into my office.”
“Oh don’t
tell me, Nadiah right?”
“Yep.” He
said and he laid his head across my lap
“What did she
want?”
“She tried to
seduce me. I played along for a minute to make her think her charms were
working. As soon as she got all hot and bothered I told her that ship had
sailed.”
“I know she
didn’t take that well.”
“No she
threatened to kill me, slapped me, then I threw her dress out the window. I
made her believe I’d snapped. I tied her up then told her I was gonna torture
her, cut her all over with a razor blade, pour alcohol on her and set her on
fire before I pushed her out the window. You should have seen how scared she
was.”
“I can
imagine. She was probably scared shitless.”
“I don’t
think she’s gonna change anytime soon though. Hopefully she will go on with her
life and leave me alone.”
“It would
behoove her to do that. Once you and I get married then she will have to deal
with me and I will beat the hell out of her if I have to.”
“Wow baby
just think next week at this time, we will be getting married. I can’t wait!”
“I am so
anxious I might sprint down the aisle.”
“Well I’ll be
waiting with my arms wide open to catch you too, baby.”
Life went on
as usual for the days leading up to the wedding. It was a small wedding of
about one hundred fifty people. Zeke and Jazz were groomsmen along with Alton’s
friend Randall. The wedding party was a total of fourteen people including
Alton and me. Nothing was forced or rushed. To look back on our lives just a
year prior neither of us would have believed we’d even be together let alone
getting married.
In my
preparation I had to refrain from looking in the mirror because each time I
did, I wanted to cry from happiness and didn’t want to ruin my makeup.
Everything was perfect. The “I Do’s” couldn’t come fast enough.
Alton stood
at the altar looking good, standing there so tall and resilient with his eyes
on me beaming with pride. I could tell he was genuinely happy to marry me and I
was elated as well. After walking me down the aisle, my brother took his seat
in the front pew and the ceremony started. Finally after an eternity of
pastoral anecdotes, we got to the “I Do’s”
“Rachel
Richards do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, and
to cherish, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad for as long as you
may live?”
“I DO!”
“Alton Allen,
do you take Rachel to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish, in
sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for as long as you both shall
live?”
Just as Alton
opened his mouth to say “I do!” There was a loud commotion at the back of the
church like a bomb had gone off. We were all trying to see what the hell was
going on. All of a sudden the back doors of the church flew open and 4 police
officers came rushing down the aisle. When they reached the altar, one officer
asked Alton,
“Are you
Alton Allen?”
“Yes, I am.
What do you think you are doing? You are ruining my wedding!”
“Sir, you are
under arrest for the attempted rape of Nadiah Allen. Anything you say can and
will be used against you in a court of law.”
“Wait what
are you talking about? I didn’t try to rape anybody. There is a big mistake!”
“Come with me
sir.”
“Wait a
minute. I am not going anywhere until I say I Do.”
Alton
bristled his body and with his shoulders erect he only got the “I” out before
the officer spayed him in the face with pepper spray. The officer immediately
cuffed him and began dragging him down the aisle. That’s when Jazz punched the
officers then the whole wedding party jumped in.
“I do! I do!
I do Rachel! I can’t believe this is happening to me!” Alton yelled to me as he
was being dragged down the aisle.
I couldn’t
believe my eyes. I was too mad and shocked to cry. I ran out of the church
behind the officers, Randall was behind me, and Zeke and Jazz were bringing up
the rear.
Of all days
that could have happened, it had to happen on my wedding day. Nadiah had an
ass-whipping coming from me that was long overdue. That bitch’s ass was grass
and I was John Deere! There was no doubt in my mind that Alton was innocent.
She found out we were getting married and planned to sabotage the whole thing.
I went to the
police station still wearing my wedding dress. “Don’t worry Rachel I’ll
have him out of here in no time. This is some bullshit. Nadiah’s gonna regret
this when I get through with her.” Randall fumed.
After about 2
hours Randall was able to go see Alton. He came out after only 30 minutes.
“That was
quick. What happened?” I asked.
‘This is a
real simple case if we can get one thing. She is saying that he tried to rape
her when she came to his office last week to talk to him. He told me what
happened. All we need to do is get the video from the surveillance camera in
the office and it’s a done deal.”
“She is such
a bitter, mean, evil bitch.”
“Well go to
his office and see if you can find the video. He said you should know where he
keeps them.”
“Okay. I will
change and go over there.”
Zeke took me
home in his car and Randall stayed at the jail.
Zeke and I
went on to Alton’s office. When we got there the door was open and the light
was on.
“Shh, someone
is in here. It can’t be anybody but Nadiah.” He whispered.
We tiptoed into
the office undetected. I went to the closet where I knew he kept the
surveillance videos. Sure enough there was Nadiah rummaging through the file
cabinet looking for the video.
“Bitch! You
got a lot of nerve.” I said.
“You better
get out of my way before I hurt you.”
“You messed
up my wedding! Bitch I’m gonna kick your ass till hell won’t even have it!” I
told her.
“Bring it
then!”
I went in on
that bitch like a hurricane! She caught me in the face one good time but that
was the only lick she got because I whipped her ass at warp speed. Zeke just
stood and watched.
“That’s
right! Whup….Her…. ass!” He shouted.
I hemmed her
up between the file cabinets and wore her out hood style. All of a sudden I
heard a crash and saw Zeke standing over another woman.
Nadiah
managed to get free and run out of the office.
“Zeke who is
she?”
“This is
Ingrid. She is forever jumping up in some man’s face. You shouldn’t try to do
smart things when you are a dumb ass!” He shouted at her.
“Get your ass
out of here while it’s still intact.”
As soon as
they left, Randall called to tell us that Alton remembered that he didn’t file
the disc. He took it home. So it wasn’t in the office after all. Randall had us
to just meet him back at the house so he could get the disc for court. He’d
been granted an emergency hearing with a judge.
Jazz
What Randall
said to me at the police station dominated my thoughts for days. No matter how
much I tried not to think about it, my mind kept going back to it. I hated to
admit it, but there was some validity to what he’d said. Zeke and I are from
two completely different worlds. He is intelligent; college educated, and has
his life together and figured out. I on the other hand have hustling in my
blood. All I’ve ever known was street life. It is so much a part of me that I
don’t think I can ever be anything more than a street nigga.
Words can’t
describe how much I love Zeke. He is the first person in my life I’ve ever
cared so much about. That’s why I keep asking myself “Am I good for him?” I
would never want to hold him back. Things seemed normal for a minute the week
leading up to Alton’s wedding. Zeke and I were groomsmen. I’d never even been
to a wedding let alone been in one. The wedding began nicely and Rachel looked
amazing. The duet Zeke and his friend sung was the business!
The wedding
was almost over when shit went left. Alton was about to say “I Do” when the
police stormed in and messed the whole wedding up. They arrested my man at his
own wedding. That was some tacky shit. I mean they coulda waited until he
finished, but they were intent on embarrassing him. Then to make it worse when
he tried to say “I Do” a second time the motherfuckers sprayed him with pepper
spray. That pissed me off. When they did that the whole wedding party got
involved.
The
bridesmaids were coughing because of the mist from the spray. I got a good
couple of punches on three of the officers. So much was going on they didn’t
know where the punches came from. They didn’t arrest anyone but Alton. I felt
sorry for dude because he is a good guy and that shouldn’t have happened to
him. That dude didn’t deserve that. Besides, anybody that knows him knows he
isn’t capable of raping any woman. He got mad respect for females, even that
broad he was married to, so I know he didn’t do what they said he did. That
bastard Randall was in the wedding too. I put my differences aside for that day
because I didn’t want to cause any problems on Alton and Rachel’s big day. When
I got him in another setting I was gonna deal with his ass, please believe.
All of the
turmoil and chaos finally died down after a couple of days. Marlena finally
called me with some good news. Two of my tracks were sold. There were also three
other artists requesting to meet with me. As I drove to my meeting with Marlena
I couldn’t shut my brain off. Pressure was coming from all sides and taking its
toll on me. I finally got to my destination and hesitated a bit before going
in.
“Hi Marlena,
sorry I’m late. Things have been hectic for a minute. You had a sense of
urgency on the phone. Is everything ok?”
“Things are
better than okay. The track for Ice-D is skyrocketing up the charts. If it
continues at this rate you are gonna have a number one hit under your belt. How
does that feel?”
“That’s
what’s up! You really think it’s gonna get to number one?”
“Well the
single is on fire and it’s in heavy rotation in all of the major markets.”
“Maybe I’m
about to blow up.”
“Too bad you
are gonna fuck it up!”
“What? Fuck
it up how?
“When were
you gonna tell me about your little jail incident?”
“You know
about that?”
“I know about
everything. Your arrest is not the problem.”
“Then what?”
“You need to
keep in mind the image you want to project. In hip hop certain things are
career suicide.”
“What are you
talking about?”
“It seems
there is a buzz about you having a boyfriend. Luckily it’s not too late to do
damage control. If you are serious about eventually being an artist in Hip Hop
then you are gonna have to make a few sacrifices. It’s better to stop the
rumors now.”
“Marlena I
don’t know what you heard but you heard wrong. I ain’t no fag.”
“Well does
Ezekiel Nelson know that?”
“What about
my homeboy Zeke?”
“Jazz save it
for someone who’s gullible enough to believe that.”
“I don’t know
what the hell you trying to get at but……..”
“Like I said,
you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” She interrupted.
“What do you
mean?”
“Well, I’d
hate for someone to blow the lid off of your secret just as you are gaining momentum.”
“Blow the lid
off what? Zeke is my homeboy. I told you already, I ain’t no faggot.”
“Well prove
it then.”
“I’m outta
here. You on some straight bullshit.”
As I grabbed
my keys, Marlena reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a large envelope
and slammed it on the table.
“You might
want to take a look at what’s in that envelope.”
When I
reached into the envelope I got the shock of my life. There was a stack of
pictures. I immediately realized they were pictures of Zeke and me. The first
one showed us kissing. Then there was picture after picture of Zeke and I
having sex. I recognized the bed as our own, so somebody musta planted a camera
in our bedroom, or was outside the window watching us.
“Where the
fuck did you get these?”
“Never mind
that. Now I can make these and the others disappear or they could accidentally
slip into the hands of the press at the worst time if I don’t get what I want.”
“You would do
that? You would sabotage your own artist?”
“You don’t
seem to understand. When I want something I get it. If I don’t then I have no
problem destroying it.”
“What do you
want from me?”
“Oh I think
you know quite well what I want.” She said as she moved closer to me.
“Why are you
doing this?”
“Because I
get what I want and I want you.” She said before she grabbed my dick.
Normally I
would have pushed her away and left but she had me between a rock and a hard
place.
“Mmmm feel’s
nice. Let me see it.”
“Come on
Marlena don’t do this.”
“Don’t be shy
out with it.”
Reluctantly I
unzipped my slacks and pulled it out. Marlena immediately grabbed it and
started stroking it. Naturally my dick began to harden. Once she’d succeeded in
making me feel as cheap as she could she was satisfied.
“So nice oh
so very, very nice. I’m tired of wasting time with you. I can kill this single
like that.” She said while snapping her fingers.
“You are an
evil woman. What satisfaction do you get out of blackmailing someone into
sleeping with you who is obviously not attracted to you?”