Chance 1 (Part 4)

CHAPTER 18

As the funeral service came to close, everybody started heading back to their cars, making their way to the cemetery for the burial. Me, Chance and Letah walked back to the limo. As we were about to get in, a big black Escalade with tinted windows pulled up next to us and came to a stop. The driver’s side window rolled down. It was Tico “We just gon’ follow behind y’all, wouldn’t get lost, it’s a long ways away, and we new in town. Ha-ha-ha!” He said through his big gold fronts. Iesha sat in the passenger’s seat staring at me over the rim of her dark Chanel shades. The three of us got in to the limo and left for the graveyard. By the time we got there I was a complete nervous wreck trying to figure out what Tico and Iesha could possibly have up their sleeves. My hands were shaking like two autumn leaves. Chance touched me and held my hand, I instantly stopped shaking and for a moment everything was okay.

Letah and I walked over to the grave. It had been raining all morning, so our heels wedged themselves down inside the soft grass. We stood next to the casket as raindrops formed tiny pools on its surface and the preacher led us in prayer. “From ashes to ashes, from dust to dust.” He said as Letah and I held hands, but we did not weep! Neither one of us could shed another tear.

Tico walked over and stood next to Chance, I was sickened and my stomach was doing flip-flops. I felt like I was about to shit on myself. Tico touched Chance’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear. Chance looked over at me. I was frozen again! “What the fuck did he just say to him?” I thought. Iesha stood next to Tico, looking, hiding behind her shades. “Take those goddamn glasses off and look at me!” I thought, hoping without hope that she could read my mind. Everything went completely silent as the crank lowered Davis into the ground. Everything went black as if it were me being dropped into that burial vault. My heart broke all over again as I looked at Letah. She and I held on to each other like two lost children. Chance walked up and stood behind me with his hand on my shoulder, he was my strength and just knowing that he was near made the pain a little easier to deal with.

We shook as many hands as we could before we got back into the limo to go home. Chance put his arm around me. I was so exhausted that I couldn’t even speak. The only thing I can remember after that is waking up back at the house, stretched out on the couch, Chance was sitting on the floor next me. I guess he must have carried me in from the car, cuz I sure as hell couldn’t remember walking! Letah was curled up in an old lazy-boy recliner, underneath an old cashmere blanket. Chance brought me over a sandwich and warm cup of tea, but I was too sick to eat. I was flooded with too many mixed emotions. Chance sat next to me all night and held my hand until the next morning.

I spent most of the next four or five days doped up on tranquilizers and the only time I got up was to pee. I couldn’t eat or keep anything down. I just wanted to sleep, sleep the pain away. That was the only peace I could seem to get. I don’t remember much about those few days, other than Chance being by my side every time I woke up. I was a mess, I hadn’t showered in days, finally Chance did insist on giving me a bath and thank God, cuz I must have smelled like the rear end of an ox.

By the sixth day, it was time for Chance to head back to Chicago and get ready for his art show, but I was in no condition to travel, so he made me stay on in San Diego, plus Lynn had just gotten home from the hospital and needed my help. So, I drove Chance to the airport. He didn’t wanna leave, I could see the worry all over his face, but I managed to pull it together enough to convince him that I’d be alright without him, for a few more days anyway. We kissed goodbye and Chance ran to make his flight. I wanted to cry as his plane took off, but I didn’t have any tears left.

When I got back from the airport, I pulled in next to an expensive Jag that somebody had parked in the driveway and Letah’s car was gone. When I got out and I walked into the house I almost lost my mind! There was Iesha sitting on the sofa in the living room. My purse fell to the floor.

“You bitch! What the fuck are you doin’ in my house? And where the fuck is that nigga Tico? How the hell could you bring that mutha’fucka’ to Davis’s funeral?” I asked in outrage, surprised as hell that she would even have the nerve to show her face. Letah was gone out to run some errands and Lynn was in the down stairs bedroom with her nurse.

“Hey Rayqelle, girl, I hope you don’t mind, the nurse let me in, how you been? I’ve been calling you all week long! Didn’t Chance tell you?” Iesha asked anxiously and as if nothing had ever happened.

“I’ve been sleepin’ almost 24/7. Still tryin’ to pull myself together, I guess. Still tryin’ to cope, you know? My stepfather’s death, missing my man, and my girl stabbing me in the back!” I said, walking over to the mantle-piece, looking at an old family photograph.

“Look, I might as well get to the point. I know that you’ve been through a lot this week, but I need a huge favor” Iesha said as she walked up on me and stared into my eyes intensely.

“What?” I asked still in disbelief at this bitch’s audacity.

“I have an important meeting scheduled for tomorrow in L.A. but I have to go back Chicago right away on an emergency,” she said.

“Okay. So, what does that have to do with me,” I asked, almost ready to punch her ass!

“Well, I need you to go to L.A. in my place and meet a client, it’s very important and you are the only person I can trust to handle something like this. Like I said, I know you’ve been through a lot this week, but I really need your help.” Iesha said as she turned slightly away to avoid looking me straight in the eye.

“Wait, what do you mean? What kinda’ meetin’? And why me?” I asked as I began to get nervous.

“Well, it’s more like a date, but it’s super important or else I wouldn’t be bothering you. I swear!” Iesha said.

“A date?” I asked. “What kinda date?” I asked as I already began to answer my own questions in my head. I already knew what kind of date. Suddenly I began to get even more nervous.

“My stepfather just died less than a week ago, and you come here to ask me to go meet with one a’ yo’ tricks? What the fuck?” I asked, as I grew outraged!

“I know, and you know that I wouldn’t even have come here if I didn’t need you! Please, it’ll only be this once! Come on girl, what do you say?” Iesha asked with all the nerve of a ghetto pit-bull.

“Let me get this straight, I’m less than one year away from earning my masters degree, I am in love with the man of my dreams. For the first time in my life things are really lookin’ up for me, and you are askin’ me to do what? Why the fuck would I wanna do some dumb shit like that,” I said. I could not believe what the fuck I was hearing!

“Let me make myself clear about something. I’m trying to be nice, but I’m not askin’ you, I’m tellin’ you!” Iesha said.

“I thought you were my supposed to be my girl! You ain’t my friend. You couldn’t be if you tryin’ to make me do some shit like this! You gotta’ be outta’ yo’ mind. Get out! Just get the fuck outta’ my sister’s house!” I said growing more upset. I was about six seconds from stickin’ my foot in her ass.

“Look. I’m running’ outta’ patience. This is a client that I can’t afford to lose and I told you, it will only be this once. Rayqelle, you know I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t really need you. I’m not tryin’ to fuck up yo’ game wit’ that nigga! Please. I’m all for a bitch comin’ up. I respect the game, shit, I was the one who schooled yo’ lil prissy ass! Remember?” Iesha shouted.

“What game? First of all, I ain’t runnin’ no goddamn game! Those days are over! What I got wit’ Chance is real, and for the first time, I ain’t gamin’ anybody and ain’t nobody gamin’ me. I ain’t about to fuck that up!” I shouted back.

“Do you even realize what would happen if Chance found out? I’m not doin’ that shit! That might work out just fine for you, but that ain’t even how I roll no more” I added.

“Rayqelle, Rayqelle, never kiss, never tell,” she smiled and paused. “So, what ‘chu sayin’ Bitch? You better than me now? You musta’ forgot who you was, but I ain’t forgot! You better remember where you came from! I seem to recall a time when yo’ ass woulda’ been more than happy to lay on yo’ back fa’ twenty or thirty minutes to get broke off a quick stack! But, now you got cho’ self a rich nigga and suddenly you Miss Goody Goody! You ain’t nothin’ but a ho’! An expensive piece of pussy and I’m finna’ prove it to you!” Iesha said as she quickly stomped over to the table in the corner of the living room and grabbed her Prada purse. She hastily opened it, reached in and pulled out a business card. When she walked back over toward me, my heart started to pound out of control!

“Be at the Airport Sheraton Hotel by LAX. tomorrow! You remember where that is don’t you? You should, you turned enough tricks there,” she said sarcastically.

“That’s all the way in LA,” I said.

“That’s right, very good. You do remember. Make sure yo’ ass is there by four o’clock, and don’t be late! I promise you. It’s gonna be some drama if you are! I would hate to have to call Chance lookin’ for you, and end up sayin’ some shit that’ll break his heart. Feel me? Oh, and fix yo’ self up and do something wit’ cha’ hair. I can’t have you makin’ me look bad.” Said Iesha smugly as she threw the business card in my face, “Oh and here’s little something for your nerves in case you get jittery,” she said as she tossed me a small vile of white powder, before she turned walking away toward the door, cracking it open just a bit. The card belonged to a Dr. Sadaaf Deepak, a neurologist from L.A.

“Who the fuck is this?” I asked.

“It’s the client I was tellin’ you about. Don’t fuck this up, I’m dependin’ on you!” Iesha said as she turned her head slightly, looking at me from the corner of her eye.

“Sadaaf Deepak? What? Is he an Arab or somethin’?” I asked as if it really made any difference.

“No, Indian” She responded coldly as she walked out of the door, leaving it standing wide open behind her. I immediately dropped to my knees and began to cry. I cried so hard that I started to gag and vomit. And since I hadn’t eaten in days, the only that came up was bitter acid from the very pit of my stomach. I was shakin’ like a leaf, scared to death of what this bitch was about to drag me into.

I thought to myself. “Why would she want to pull me back into this shit? All we ever talked about was how one day we would get as far away from that life as possible.

Iesha knew where I came from and why I even started hustlin’. She knew it really didn’t have a whole lot to do with the money, not necessarily. It was really a sickness, a twisted desire inside me to control somebody who thought they were controlling me. You see, what we used to do was find a guy with a lot of money, usually a hustla’ that thought he was the shit and had money to burn or sometimes a doctor or a lawyer. Usually it was just about sex, other times they would really want a date, but the night almost always ended with sex, it was already set to go down that way.

Tico would hook it up. He had a team of ho’s workin’ for him, at first I was just one of ‘em. I didn’t actually become his woman until later. And even though I was his woman, I still had to pull my weight, just like the other ho’s and I was so in love with the nigga that I woulda’ did anything he told me to. And he use to always say “Pussy ain’t shit! These mutha’fucka’s can have yo’ pussy, cuz I got’ cho heart!” What he really meant to say was that he had my mind, and he knew that once he got control of a bitch’s mind, the gamin’ was easy.

The game was to meet mutha’fucka’s wit money, get inside their of heads and then get inside of their wallets. My job was to meet ‘em, impress ‘em, then feed ‘em some bullshit story about how hard it is out here, and how I would not even be doin’ this if I had a man to take care of me. Then that’s when they usually turned into “Captain Save a Ho” and started talkin’ ‘bout how they could rescue you from yo’ misery. The shit makes me sick on the stomach to think about it!

I tried to think of anything I could to get out of this fucked up predicament that Iesha had put me in, but I also knew Iesha’s potential for treachery, so I knew she wasn’t bluffing about what she would say to Chance.

CHAPTER 19

The next day I arrived in LA at the Airport Sheraton hotel. I walked up to the front desk, told them my name and asked for room 2021. The clerk gave me a key card and pointed the way to the elevator. As I got in and closed the door I felt the butterflies in my stomach going crazy, I was about to come face to face with my worst nightmare! I was about to become a whore again! Everything I worked for, all I had been through, was all for nothing. In just a few short minutes I would be at the point of no return.

My hands shook nervous as I dug through my purse looking for my compact to powder the sweat from my nose. Then, I saw the small vile of white powder that Iesha gave me, incase I got jittery. I had never been more nervous!

I had never fucked wit’ cocaine before, it was the one thing I said I would never do, but then again, I also said that I would never turn another trick. Yet, there I was. So, I opened the small glass bottle, tipped it, dumping a little onto my pinky nail, and I snorted it, just as the elevator doors spread apart.

I arrived on the 20thfloor and I stepped out, making my way down the long quiet hallway. I walked slowly and painfully, like I was on a Nazi death march. When I got to room 2021, I stopped, took a deep breath and knocked lightly on the beautiful cherry wood door. I had hoped to knock softly enough that who ever was on the other side might not hear even me and then I could just leave, but the door opened almost instantly. A woman answered.

“I’m sorry; I must have the wrong room. I was looking for Dr. Sadaaf Deepak.” I said nervously, thinking that I had disturbed the wrong person.

“I am Dr. Deepak,” the woman said, as she smiled with the most gorgeous set of blinding-white teeth I had ever seen before in my life!

“But, you’re a…” I said, stumbling over my words.

“A woman?” She replied, as she smiled again, sensing my embarrassment.

“Did you not know that you would be meeting a woman today?” She asked, with the most beautiful accent.

“Well, uh… no, but I guess you did.” I replied.

“I hope this does not change anything. I was and still am greatly looking forward to…well, you know” She said, as we both blushed uncomfortably.

“Please, come in” She said, politely.

She was absolutely breath taking! She looked like an Indian goddess. She wore a beautiful red silk robe, the kind worn by Japanese geisha girls in the movies. Her perfume was soft and unfamiliar. Her skin was a flawless dark caramel, almost darker the mine and she wore hair up in a simple twist, held together by a beautiful, long, golden hairpin.

She couldn’t have been more than twenty-nine or thirty years old, but she was a stunner! My heart pounded inside my chest like the kick from a bass drum, as she held the door from me to come inside.

“You must be Rayqelle. You are even prettier than Iesha described!” She said, as I entered the huge luxury suite. Her voice was as smooth as silk, and her accent was like a cross between the queen of England’s and a south-east Asian princess. I had been around all different kinds of people rich, poor, intellectual, uneducated and I hardly ever let anybody intimidate me, but I knew class when I saw it, and for the first time in along time, I felt out classed.

“Make yourself comfortable.” She said. “You can change in the bedroom... I’ll be out here... I have a few phone calls to make... So take your time,” she added, giving me a provocative stare, as I went the other room to change.

I don’t know if it was her soothing presence, or the coke, but I was starting to mellow out as I changed into my sexy lingerie.

When I came back out, all the lights had been turned down, and in each corner, four softly scented tea candles burned. Sadaaf stood silently beside the sofa.

“Come here” She whispered.

My stomach quivered, as the butterflies started up all over again.

I wore a white satin negligee with nothing underneath. She reached out her hand, as I walked over toward her. She touched my hand, and slowly untied my robe as she gently slid her other hand around my waist. Sadaaf moved closer and pressed her lips against mine, slowly working her way down to my breast. She massaged me while softly sucking and pulling at my nipples. Her tender touch soon made my pussy wet. My clit started to swell and thump, as I felt her reach between my legs.

We kissed again before she led me into the bedroom, holding one candle in her hand to light our way. She set the candle on the stand next to the bed, and turned toward me.

“Please lay down on the bed,” she said softly, getting behind me to guide me by the small of my back onto the huge king sized canopy bed.

She had taken full control of me, slowly turning my nervousness into a burning desire. I leaned back on the soft Egyptian-cotton sheets as she spread my legs, running her fingers along my inner-thighs, following closely behind with soft kisses, until she reached my wetness. Her touch made me feel so good. I could feel her desire as it overflowed!

She took her first two fingers and spread my pussy lips apart. Lightly flicking her tongue against my clit. Sadaaf moved slowly, but my climax came fast. I reached down and ran my hands through her silky, black hair as she steadily sucked and kissed my swollen clit, until I exploded.

Then I pulled her up toward me, squeezing her full, beautiful breast. They looked like two ripe peaches that had been dipped half way in chocolate. My mouth watered, as I gently sank my teeth into her, and she moaned.

Her robe fell from her shoulders and onto the bed. I ran my fingers from her belly button down to her hairy treasure. She had taken her time to thoroughly pleasure me, so I felt it was only fair that I spend the rest of the evening doing the same in return. Especially since this evening was costing her two thousand dollars.

CHAPTER 20

Though Iesha promised that this would be the one and only time I had to this, she actually came back to me several more times over the next few weeks with the same pressure ploy. She was like a freight train that was speeding out of control. I could see her coming from a mile away; but I was tied helpless to the railroad tracks, unable to do a damn thing about it.

I had not talked to Chance more than once or twice in that two weeks and I knew that he was growing more and more suspicious. I had become an emotional and physical wreck! I had been taking tranquilizers during the day to help me sleep and cocaine to balance me out at night. This was so that I would be numb, but still alert enough to do what ever she wanted me to do. Letah was the only person who knew what was going on and it was tearing her apart. I now had her lying and covering up for me when I was out with a trick or when I was too sleepy or coked-out to deal with anybody, like Chance or Lynn. She would just say that I was still having a tough time getting over Davis’s death and that I was resting.

Another reason that I probably chose to hide behind the drugs was finding out that Davis had secretly been molesting Letah and that he was probably the person who had given her HIV. Not Tico like she had said earlier. In fact she may have actually infected him by accident when she ran away from home after I went away to grad school. So luckily I was never even exposed to the virus.

I never even had a clue. All this time I’d believed that Davis was the last good man on earth. I felt so guilty that I had left her behind to suffer like that; Letah told me that the abuse started right around the time I started staying at grandmas. She said that she never told Lynn what was going on either, because he had her so full of fear that if she did tell anybody the courts would come along, split us all up, and take us away. We would never see each other again. Lynn still didn’t know, and there was no way to gage how she was going to react; after all that was her daddy so we had both decided that it would be best to wait. Lynn was still way too weak for any kind of drama and we didn’t need anything sending her into a relapse.

It was all too much to deal with. Things couldn’t have gotten any worse, at least that’s what I thought. By this time I had started to spiral downward and shit seemed more and more out of control. I hadn’t seen Chance in weeks! I could barely even talk to him because I was so guilty about letting Iesha trap me into trickin’ again. I couldn’t eat, I had lost almost fifteen pounds, and I had dark circles underneath my eyes. At this point I was snorting so much coke that I was starting to bleed from my nose, but I couldn’t stop cuz if I wasn’t high on something my hands shook constantly! My mind and body were both falling apart and my soul was aching! I had done a lot of stupid shit when I was younger, and I don’t deny that. But the one thing I never did was fuck around with hard drugs. I drank and smoked weed here and there depending on who I was around. Maybe Iesha and I might pop some “X” at a party but I swore never to do anything hard like coke or heroin, because I saw the effect that it could have on people. I knew better or so I thought. Yet here I was, in two weeks I had become a stone-cold junky. A coke-head! I was on the verge of losing everything. Every trick had promised to be the last, but Iesha always had just one more trick for me to turn, just one more thing to do. She was never gonna stop! I had spent all those years perfecting the art of the hustle, only to end up as the one being hustled. Iesha had orchestrated a brilliant plan. She was using what I used to be in the past to destroy all that I had become. I was caught between the proverbial rock and the ultimate hard place. Everything I had accomplished was at stake, and I could only see one way out. Iesha had to be dealt with! She needed to be dealt with before I fell completely apart and before she got bored with this little game of cat and mouse and decided to tell Chance about my past. The past that she had again made my present.

I missed Chance like crazy, but I avoided talking to him as much as possible. I was growing more distant as each day passed. It was evident that something was wrong and he was getting more and more concerned and suspicious since I was normally too fucked up or depressed to hold any kind of meaningful conversation with him at all. Not to mention the fact that Letah was quickly running out of excuses. This was a man that I had spent everyday of the last three years of my life with and wouldn’t have been apart from him for anything in the world. Now I was dodging him like I owed him money. I missed his touch, and the sexual encounters I was having brought me no personal satisfaction or pleasure. Ain’t no love in trickin’! No matter how attractive they were, how nice or how rich… At the end of the day it was just business and I was just a whore and Iesha had made herself my pimp. The very thing I was fighting to hold on to was slipping right through my fingers. My Chance was slipping away!

Another week or so had passed and I was still avoiding Chance like the plague. I had only spoken to him once and I was so high on tranquilizers that I could barely hold the phone. Letah was still covering my ass with excuse on top of excuse and she and I both knew that time was running out. She said that the last time she had spoken to Chance he sounded really anxious and she could tell that he was getting really fed up with excuses about why I was never able to come to phone and when I did we didn’t talk for more than a minute or so. Letha said that she hated lying to Chance because she really liked him but she knew everything I had been through and that I had finally found something real with him. Something that I was about ruin with all my lies.

CHAPTER 21

It was Friday night around eight o’clock. I had just woke up and was still trying to pull myself together. Iesha was throwing a party with some niggas from the Lakers, a couple of rookies with way too much money to burn. I was super groggy from all the pills I had taken earlier that morning to get some sleep. So, I stumbled over to the dresser to get a baggy of dope to get me started. My hands were shaking outta’ control. I needed a hit so bad. I thought to myself, “If I could just keep my hands steady enough to line it up on the damn mirror!” The doorbell rang. I about jumped outta’ my goddamn skin! I was so jittery that I must have jerked and knocked the mirror on the floor with my coke on it. All the shit fell into the shag carpet, “aww, shit!” I shouted as my stomach started to cramp. I went into an immediate panic. That was the last bag and Iesha said she wouldn’t be able to get any more until tomorrow, but I had to get through tonight. So I got down on my knees and drug my nose back and forth against the nap of the rug, trying to snort up what I could. Then Letah frantically busted in the door screaming like a maniac, “Bitch, what the fuck are you doin’? Get up off the floor! Chance is here. He is down stairs right now! You better get yo’ shit together and get it together quick! He’s …” she shouted quietly before coming to a complete and awkward pause as she looked back, stunned, with her jaw dropped wide opened. Chance had been standing behind us in the doorway the whole time. I guess he was so excited to see me that he didn’t wanna wait so he decided to follow Letah up the stairs. She must have been so shaken up that she didn’t even notice Chance following right behind her.

Chance was completely silent as he looked at me. I was still bent over on my knees with my face close to the carpet, coke dust and dirt from floor stuck to my nose and upper lip. I was stunned like a deer caught in the headlights, and the look on my baby’s face expressed the true nature of his confusion.

“Rayqelle? What’s going on? What are you doing on the floor?” Chance said as he stood perfectly still trying to make sense of everything. I scrambled to my feet. “Hey baby. Why didn’t you call and let me know you were comin’? Gimme a hug.” I put my arms around him and held him tightly but he just stood there. Then, I reached up toward him, and ran my finger softly along his right eyebrow to smooth it out. And I touched his face. He jumped back slightly and looked at me before pulling away almost in horror. Chance stepped back and went into his jacket pocket; pulling out a napkin, reaching toward my face. I had started to bleed from one nostril. I snatched the napkin and turned away quickly to dab the blood from my nose. My hands were trembling and I was getting sick to stomach. I was standing in front of the man that I loved. The man I hadn’t seen or really even talked to in weeks, and the only thing I could think about was the dope I had spilled in the carpet. My skin was starting to crawl. I needed a hit bad! I was a broken mess! Letah politely excused herself and ran back down the stairs to check on Lynn. She didn’t wanna be anywhere insight when my shit hit the fan! Chance sat down in the chair by the cedar chest. “Why haven’t you been returning my calls? What’s goin’ on with you?” he asked.

“I’ve just been goin’ through a lot since my stepfather died. So many things have been goin’ on inside my head but I’m o.k. I’ll be fine,” I said, still agonizing over the last bag of coke I had so clumsily spilled a few minutes before. I was trippin’! I wanted to get back down on my knees and lick that spot on the rug that held the last bit of dust.

“Why are you sweating like that? Are you sick? And what were you doin’ on the floor like that? Why does your nose keep bleeding,” Chance asked as he reached for me again. I snatched away. I didn’t want him too close to me. I felt dirty and ashamed. I felt like he could see right through me.

“Sit down and talk to me. I have not seen you in over a month! Why do you keep squirming and dancing around? Seriously… Are you alright?” he asked again, getting more impatient.

“I’m fine!” I snapped. “I ... I … I just need some water. Will you go downstairs and get me some? Get it from the faucet, and let it run for a few minutes so it gets nice and cold” I said trying to think of anything to get him out of the room for a minute.

“The faucet?” he asked. “You don’t even drink faucet water” he added, looking even more confused.

“Please! Chance, just go … and get… the water!” I said, almost begging. Chance looked at me with greater confusion, turning slowly and walking out of the door. I shut it behind him and quickly dashed over to the phone by the bed to call Iesha. She had to know somebody who could get their hands on some more coke. I dialed her number and the phone rang.

“Whaz-up, girl? You ready for this party? She asked. “Better brace yo’ self. I hear he’s got a dick the size of a California cucumber” she added.

“Iesha. Listen. I’m gon’ need some more coke. I spilled the last baggie on the floor when Chance rang the doorbell, and…” I tried to explain as she cut me off.

“Chance? What the fuck is he doin’ here? You better tell that nigga you got plans tonight!” Iesha said.

“Plans? I can’t just tell him that I have plans. He came all the way from Chicago and he’s my fianc.” I said as my stomach churned and my body ached.

“Not for long. Not if you fuck this up! These niggas are paying me good money for that ass! Chance can have what’s left of it after they get finished!” Iesha barked into the phone like the bitch she was.

“What about the coke? I need some bad! Right now! Please? I’m gettin’ sick!” I begged Iesha.

“Bitch! Coke? What coke? You mean that white powdered courage you been snortin’ up like you was crazy? You stupid ho. That was china white, not coke! That was heroin!” Iesha said as she laughed uncontrollably.

“Heroin? Why the fuck would you gimme some shit like that? You scandalous bitch! You got me hooked on heroin? You said that was cocaine! You said it was just coke!” I screamed into the phone in pure terror!

“No, bitch! You said it was coke! You got yo’ self hooked, not me. You are the one that was suckin’ up that shit like a vacuum cleaner! I even told yo’ ass to slow down. But I know one thing, you better be ready by eleven o’clock or I’m gonna fuck you up fa’ real, and after I get finished I’m gonna sit yo’ rich nigga down and tell him a little story. A story all about yo’ nasty ass. So get it together! Brent Williams is gonna be waitin’!” Iesha shouted into the phone. “That’s why I don’t fuck wit’ dope fiends” Iesha said to someone in the back ground as she slammed the phone in my ear.

I started to cry. The shakes were getting worse, much worse! I was sweatin’ like a run away slave and my stomach was crampin’ like a mutha’fucka’. I was so sick that I never even realized that Chance had come back up the stairs and was standing in the doorway behind me with tears in his eyes. I stood up slowly and walked toward him. He stood motionless but he exuded more emotion than I was able to stand. He had heard the entire conversation. There was really no need to try and make up anymore lies. It had been a crazy ass six weeks, and what was really crazy is that I did all this shit to hold on to the one thing that had come to mean the world to me. Only to still end up about to lose it anyway. My world was crumbling right before very eyes!

“Who was that on the phone?” he asked.

“It was Iesha, she was…” I tried to answer.

“She was what? Stuffin’ yo’ nose wit’ dope? What the fuck is wrong with you? You look terrible! Iesha did this to you? Why? Just tell me why? Wasn’t she supposed to be yo’ girl?” He asked, as he stared at me with a sobering mix of utter confusion and complete disappointment, struggling to understand.

“So is this what you been doin’ wit’ cho’ self the last six weeks? Hangin out wit’ cho’ yo girl gettin’ high? Is this why you can never take my calls? Is this why you have been avoiding me like the plague? I had started to think you met somebody new, but I guess it wasn’t a somebody, just something.” His strong voice shuttered with intense hurt, and the sad part is that he didn’t even know the half of it. Not only was I now a junky, but I was also a liar and a whore. He just didn’t know it yet. If he thought he felt like crying now, wait until he hears everything! In about two hours I was gonna have to leave here. That’s when shit is really going to go down; but before I could deal with anything I was gonna have to get a fix and quickly! Apparently I was goin’ through some sort of withdrawal from some shit I didn’t even know I was using. Since I had never used cocaine or heroin before, I had no idea what either one of them was supposed to feel like. All I knew was that it felt good and made the shit Iesha had me doing go down a whole lot easier. Tonight was the first time I had to be without it since I started using and I was not doing well at all.

Chance sat down on the bed and shook his head in disbelief; covering his face with both hands. He laid his head back on the oversized pillows. Devastated by what he had just learned and exhausted from jet lag, Chance closed his eyes, took a deep breath as he relaxed his head on the pillow. I watched him breathe as he laid perfectly still. His strong chest rose and fell as he began to drift off to sleep and before I knew it he was snoring. I sat on the floor next the bed, wanting to touch him, but I knew that this was my chance to slip out and do what I had to do. So I made sure not to wake him, then I grabbed my purse and some clothes. I knew that if I timed this right I could be out and back before Chance even realized that I was gone. I quietly crawled out of the door, gently closing it behind me. Then I carefully tip-toed down the stairs and ran over to wake Letah; who was sleeping on the couch. I touched her softly on the shoulder so that I didn’t startle her. I quickly explained to her that Iesha had been giving me heroin instead of cocaine and that was why I was getting sick and had to go find some more right away or I was gonna die; at least that’s what it felt like anyway. Letah begged to go with me, but I told her that I needed her to stay here in case Chance woke up before I could get back. If he got up and found me gone, I needed Letah to be here to try and keep him calm. Fortunately Chance was a hard sleeper, and when he was out he was usually out for the count! Letah agreed to stay behind, but I told her to call me right away if Chance woke up. If she had to tell him anything, just to tell him that I just went for a drive and that I would be right back.

So I jumped in the car and put it in neutral, letting it roll out of the driveway slowly, down to the end of the street. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to the fact that I was leaving. I started the engine as soon as got the second corner and quickly sped away. Lynn lived in the Kensington District of San Diego. This is one of the nicer areas of the city, so I knew there was no place around there to buy any dope. I mean it wasn’t like the hood, where there was a friendly neighborhood street pharmacist standing on every corner ready to serve. I had to get to City Heights. One of the roughest ghettos in southern California and it was no place to take lightly, especially at night! I did sixty the whole way there. I mean, I made it all the way from Kensington to 43rdand Fairmont in twelve minutes without getting pulled over by the cops. That had to be one for the Guinness Book of world records. When I pulled up there were three Latin Gangstas posted up against the side of a run down building. One of them saw that I was sitting there at the stop sign trying to get there attention. They figured that I either had to be a cop, or some bougie bitch from El Cerrito or somewhere trying to score some dope. Then one of them said something to the other two in Spanish and they all laughed.

“Whaz-up ma? What ‘chu need baby?” The little dark haired thug said as he walked over and leaned into the driver’s side window of the car. He looked around and then checked the back seat to make sure I wasn’t five-0.

“Got some china white?” I asked nervously. I couldn’t believe what I was doing!

“China White? Goddamn ma! You fuckin’ wit dat real shit! You gotta be outta yo…!” He said as I abruptly cut him off.

“Mutha’fucka! Do you got it or not?” I shouted at the dark haired gangsta! By then I was really starting to feel the effects of the withdrawals and my patience was running short. For a minute I musta’ forgot what type of person I was dealing with, because before I could finish my sentence the Latin gangsta had pulled a gun from up under his white-T, and wedged it between my chin and throat. I was already sweating like I had just run the miracle mile, but now my sweat ran cold as my life flashed before my eyes.

“Better pump yo’ brakes bitch! I should rob yo’ pretty ass, but no… You know what I’m gonna do instead? I’m gon’ hook you up wit’ this real shit! Yeah… cuz once you get a hit of this, you gon’ be in love…. Every time you get a dollah’, you gon’ be runnin’ back to El Cajun to holla’ at me... So. See bitch? I ain’t even gotta’ rob you… I’m already in yo’ pockets, and as soon as yo’ money runs out, I’m gon’ be all up in that lil’ tight pussy a’ yours… makin’ you moan.” He said, grinning, and looking back at his homeboys as I started to cry.

So I made the buy. Then, I sped the fuck outta’ El Cajun. I was aching all over. My nose was running and I had the worst case of chills.

I was dope sick and could barely see straight enough to drive! I’d only made it as far as 47th and Meade before I had to pull over and take my medicine. I looked around making sure nobody was walking by and that no cops were rolling through. Once I made sure the coast was clear I took the key out of the ignition and stuck it down into the plastic. I scooped out some powder, and put it up to my nose and snorted once, twice, and then again. I felt the dust hit my sinus and start to tingle, I sneezed and then… almost immediately I felt the calm, the rush, as the aches started to subside. My pain felt further and further away.

The Latin gangsta was right. He hooked me up with that real shit. I leaned forward in the seat focusing on the Acura symbol in the center of the steering wheel. I started to nod off. I could feel it all over. I was free!

Then my cell phone rang, almost scaring me to death! One ring, two rings, three rings… I heard it clearly, but I couldn’t move. I was fucked up! The phone rang again, and again, and again! I shook myself and grabbed for the phone that was lying in the passengers’ seat.

“H... he... hell…Hello?” I struggled to speak.

“Bitch where you at?” It was Iesha.

“I … I ... had to go get some ...” I was too fucked up for words. I just wanted to enjoy my high while it lasted.

“Bitch! I told you I had something for you to do tonight! It’s eleven-thirty. Do you want me to fuck you up cuz I will. Look. These niggas are waitin’ on you. Get ‘cho ass downtown now! You got thirty minutes!” Iesha shouted into the phone before she hung up. By then she had blown my high wit’ all that yellin’ and shit. But I was starting to feel well again.

So I decided to go ahead to the hotel. I figured I would run in, smile, walk around and look pretty. Maybe even give one or two mutha’fuckas some head, or maybe fuck‘em real quick if I had to. Then I could be back at the house with Chance before he even missed me.

CHAPTER 22

When I got to the hotel I made my way up to the penthouse and rang the bell. The door opened and there stood Iesha, wearing a short pink nighty and matching high heels. There were three other girls in sexy lingerie, sandwiched between three tall, fine ass, muscle bound niggas (all rookie NBA players) sitting on an oversized white sofa in the living room. Each guy had his own bottle of Cristal waving it around as they argued and debated back and forth over music that was too loud. They were screaming about who had gotten the biggest signing bonus while trying to out floss each other in front of their paid companions.

The hoes rolled their eyes at me as I went on in the back to get ready. I hurried up and got undressed. Then quickly got in the shower to wash the funk from my body where I had sweated in agony, fiendin’ for the bitter china white. The hot water beat down on my neck and back, momentarily soothing my body but nothing could sooth the soreness of my soul.

I got out and got dressed; slipping into a little sexy number that I had bought a long time ago for Chance but never got to wear it. I stopped, and looked in to the full length mirror that was very carefully positioned to capture a view of the king sized bed. I checked my hair and make up, adjusting my cleavage, preparing to make my entrance as Iesha stormed in.

“Hurry up bitch! I need yo’ ass out there not in here,” she said loudly. Iesha stood there with both hands placed upon her curvaceous hips as if she was Wonder Woman, Batgirl, or some shit like that. I laughed at that tramp. Not because it was funny, but because I knew it would piss her the fuck off.

I then took one last look in the mirror, hating what I saw, but vowing that this would be the last night for anymore of this kind of shit.

CHAPTER 23

I opened the door and walked out into the living room. Each one of the girls turned and looked at me as if I was public enemy number one. Shela recognized me instantly and smiled. Each of them guarded the nigga they sat with as if I had come to steal him away. Those hoes didn’t know that I couldn’t have been less interested in either one of them dumb ass basketball dunkin niggas.

I was just trying to get through this night the best way I could; hopefully without having to be kissed, fucked or fondled in the process. Ironically, neither of those niggas paid me one bit of attention. So, I spent the next few hours listening to four self indulged, over sized black men telling a bunch of over exaggerated basketball stories and over the top tales. Yelling about what they bought, what they had done, or what they were about to do. This was all I could do to keep my fuckin’ eyes open; if you want to know the truth!

Towards the end, two of the niggas ended up passed out on the couch drunk. One of them went off to a private suite with two of the girls, and the other guy disappeared into a back room with Iesha. I was just sorta’ sitting there by myself watching MTV Cribs. I’d had enough. So quietly I grabbed my shit and proceeded to bounce the fuck up outta there.

I walked exhaustedly down the long hallway. As I approached the elevator, I began to feel a new found freedom, and I was grasping for it at all cost. As I stood impatiently waiting for the elevator to reach my floor, I heard a clicking sound coming from the door situated to the right of me. It was the sound of the latches opening and the doorknob turning.

I could also hear someone exchanging words inside, it sounded like two men arguing in a hushed tone. Whatever the hell was going on I didn’t wanna know about it. I put my head down to keep from having to make any eye contact with whoever was about to open that door.

I was still half wasted and starting to come down off the heroin that I snorted earlier. I really didn’t feel like faking any smiles or small talk as they passed me. Then the door opened. I could see from my peripheral vision that it was dark inside and a large white man walked out. From a quick glance I saw that he was carrying what looked like an ice bucket.

I thought it was a bit peculiar that he had left the door standing wide open but white people do some weird shit. I had enough problems of my own to worry about.

“Maybe he left it open on purpose,” I thought as he passed behind my back still turned to avoid all eye contact. Then… as I reached out again to press the down button, I noticed that the man’s footsteps had stopped almost right behind me. Before I could turn around, I felt a great jolt against my back and then I heard a crackling sound, like electricity. This mutha’fucka was tasing me!

I was stunned! Then a strong hairy arm clamped itself down around my neck, almost crushing my windpipe and choking the life out of me! He dragged me backward into the room that sat next to the elevator. Once inside, someone standing behind the door quickly slammed it shut and the room went pitch black. “Ain’t this a bitch?” I thought, hearing the ding from the elevator open as it had finally arrived ten seconds too late!

I felt myself losing consciousness. I hadn’t had any air in over thirty seconds. It may not sound like a long time, but try doing it while you’re kicking and fighting for your life! I managed to get in one quick, precious breath as the man repositioned his grip around my neck. I couldn’t see, but I heard footsteps getting closer and then something hit me in the face! It felt like a hammer with skin around it, but I guess it was the fist of the other man in the room.

I could tell it was a man, because I heard him grunt as he was kicking and beating me over and over and over again. The man from the hallway held me. “It’s my turn” he said as he pushed me to the floor. He then stood on top of me until the other man could get his arms around me from behind and pick me up. Then the beating started again.

The second guy punched me in my stomach, knocking the wind out of me until I almost passed out. Then I heard what sounded like a third person moving toward me from the opposite side of the room. His footsteps grew closer until he stood right in front of me; so close that I smell his funky breath along with the cologne he wore that was sort of familiar. I was so terrified that I just couldn’t place it.

My body trembled as the room went dead silent. He then whispered into my ear, “Told you I was gonna have this pussy.” He then reached between my legs and jammed his fingers inside me. It was over for me! I must have passed out.

When I woke up I was in the hospital. I could only see a little light peeking through small cracks that use to be my eyes. I struggled to get to my feet but two nurses held me down, and restrained me. My eyes were swollen shut from the severe beating I had endured.

Letah and Chance stood on both sides of the bed holding my hands saying, “It’s alright calm down. You’re safe now and everything is ok,” but I didn’t know where my attackers were and since I had no idea who they were I was in a panic!

“Chance!” I called to him.

“Oh my God!” Chance gasped after seeing my bruised and swollen face when the nurse shined the bright light on to me. “I’m gon’ kill that jealous bitch!” He said, with intense hatred.

“Chance, I’m so sorry! Please let me explain!” I pleaded, reaching into the air to touch him.

“I already learned more than I ever wanted to know... But one thing is for sure; Iesha has gotta pay for everything she did to you, and to us!” Chance shouted and stormed out of the room. I called to him over and over but he wouldn’t answer. I could hear his footsteps grow fainter as he hurried away.

“He’s gone Rayqelle,” Letah said taking hold of my hand to comfort me.

Chance stormed out of the hospital, jumped into his car and sped off. He was heated, and he had only one thing on his mind, and that was finding Iesha. He looked at the crumpled note on the napkin and grew more and more angry. Beads of sweat dripped from his head. He didn’t know what he was gonna do when he got there, but he knew that he wanted to make her pay for what she had done.

The wheels of the car came to a screeching halt inside the underground garage of the hotel. Chance looked at the crumpled piece of paper on his lap and it had Iesha’s room number and phone extension. Chance grabbed his cell phone and angrily mashed Iesha’s number. He then waited as it rang over and over again.

There was no answer so he tried once more. Still no answer. Then he decided to dial her room directly since he had the extension number right in front of him. Dialing the hotel main number, he asked to be connected to ext. 1100. The phone rang but there was no answer. His frustration grew.

CHAPTER 24

Chance was sick of waiting! So, he decided to get out of the car and make his way up to Iesha’s suite. His heart pumped and he could feel the blood course through his veins. He looked around the ground floor of the parking garage to make sure that there was no one around; then walked quickly and steadily toward the elevator, but he thought to himself that he should take the stairs to be on the safe side. He quietly opened the door to the stairwell, holding the handle so that it wouldn’t slam shut behind him. Then he carefully pounced up 11 flights of stairs, taking two to three steps at a time. Exhausted and gasping for air, he reached the floor and opened the door to the hallway, and discreetly entered! Chance had in mind what he wanted to do and witnesses was not an option..

Chance moved swiftly down the long hall with a blood focus on the double oak doors trimmed in gold that lay directly ahead. The closer he got the more his blood boiled! He had never been so angry, so disrespected or so violated. “Nobody is about to destroy my life and get away with it,” he said to himself. All his thoughts came to a head as he approached the suite and banged on the door. He knocked repeatedly. “Iesha, open the mutha’fuckin’ door! I’m about to teach yo’ stank ass a serious lesson! You should ‘a never fucked wit’ what was mine!” Chance shouted and slammed his fist against the hard wood. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob and shook the door as hard as he could. With one firm twist of the handle, the door inched open. Chance stood at the crack of the opening peering in. “Iesha!” Chance called aloud. “Bitch! I know you hear me!” Chance pushed the door open cautiously looking around the huge living room from outside the door.

He stepped inside and continued yelling for Iesha. No response. The big screen television blared loudly and music thumped from behind the bedroom door. Something was wrong, something just didn’t feel right. Chance was mad as hell! He stormed over to the door and shouted one more time; “Bitch, come out here! I’m about to fuck you up!” When there was no answer Chance turned the handle and flung open the door and rushed inside the dark room.

He slipped and fell, “Damn, what the fuck?” he said, “What’s this shit all over the floor?” thinking maybe someone had spilled juice or champagne. He got up even more pissed off now after falling and getting his clothes all wet. He walked back over to the doorway and felt along wall for a light switch and flipped it on. Chance began shaking as a cold chill ran down his spine. Standing frozen in horror, he looked around the room and gasped.

It was like a seen out of Friday the 13th! There was blood everywhere. It was splattered all across the walls and ceiling. Where he thought he had slipped and fallen on some spilled juice or champagne, it was really a puddle of blood with Iesha laid in the middle. She was cut wide open, from her neck down to her pelvis. All of her insides were exposed. She was wearing a white satin negligee that had been stained the color of crimson. Chance trembled! Everything was covered in blood, even himself from where he had fallen! This was a macabre mess. Chance was immediately seized by panic! He began scrambling quickly out of the room but fell again in the slick pool of blood. He tracked through the living room, up to the foyer and out of the front door. Not realizing he was stamping bloody footprints all along the shiny marble floor behind him. Quickly he ran back into the hallway, out of the door and down the stairwell. He made his way down the eleven flights in half the time it took to him get up.

Chance dashed down the last flight of stairs in the hotel with intense fear. The front of his clothes was covered with blood. He began noticing that he left crimson handprints smeared all along the wall and banister behind him. As he reached the bottom of the dimly lit stairwell, he quickly headed toward the back entrance and scrambled out of the huge rusty steel door marked emergency exit. Chance could hardly catch his breath; so he stopped a moment and kneeled forward with sweat pouring from his face. He struggled to figure out what to do, where to go, who to call and how he got caught up in such a helluva’ mess! As the sound of approaching sirens grew closer, Chance dipped back to the car and pulled out of the dark parking garage. In complete shock Chance sped down a dark back alley, disappearing completely into the night.

All that night the doctors came in and out checking on my condition. A police detective showed up asking a bunch of questions that I wasn’t ready or able to answer. I just could not get my mind off Chance. It had been over three hours and we still hadn’t heard a word from him.

I was worried sick. I spent a major part of that night answering questions from the police and there wasn’t a while lot I could tell ‘em except that I was snatched into a room where I got beat the fuck up by two white guys. I was in pretty bad shape. I had a concussion, two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a bruised kidney. But through it all there was only one thing on my mind, and that was Chance!

CHAPTER 25

While being questioned by the police, a special all points bulletin came over the radio. It was in regard to a murder at the Omni Hotel, “the victim was a 27 year old African American female, with a California driver’s license DJ01478L registered to an Iesha Ellis of Los Angeles.” It went on to say that the victim had been badly mutilated and a suspect was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder. Twenty-five year old Evan Chance of Chicago, Illinois. The suspect was described as an African American male, about 6’1” in height, 185 pounds, dark brown skin, bald head with no facial hair, and a slim to muscular. Approach with caution!”

The detective turned his eyes slowly toward me. “Miss Davis, didn’t you say that your boyfriends name was Chance? Evan Chance?” He asked.

My heart began to pound against my chest like a sledgehammer as sweat poured from my brow. “Yes! But he is not a murderer! He could never do anything like this! You need to be out there lookin’ for the mutha’fuckas that did this to me! You find them and I bet you’ll find Iesha’s killer. Chance did not do this!” I exclaimed through my loose teeth and swollen upper lip.

“Where is he?” The detective asked calmly.

Letah and I both looked and each other remaining quiet. The silence in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife! And then …

“Don’t play with me! This is not a fuckin’ game! Your boyfriend is out there with a warrant for his arrest and an approach with caution advisory over his head. That means if he even so much as sneezes, some nervous ass rookie cop is probably gonna blow his mutha’fuckin head off his shoulders! Is that what you want? Now, tell me where he is!” The detectives’ voice broke through the dead silence like a brick through a glass window and I fell to pieces.

“I don’t know I swear! He’ll be back here to see about me. He won’t stay away with me here! Please don’t hurt him!”

The detective grabbed his cell phone, punching the life out of the buttons! “This is detective Rick Connor. I’m at the Sharp Memorial working the Davis assault case. Hey listen. I just got a possible lead on the Iesha Ellis murder case.” I was sick to my stomach as he spoke coldly to whoever was on the other end. He talked about Chance like he was talking about an animal they were hunting!

Unknown to all of us, Chance had gone back to the house to get some clean clothes and to talk to Lynn. He wanted to try and explain everything that happened. Still in the car, he sat in the driveway and leaned back in the seat to catch his breath for a moment.

The first thing that he wondered was, who could have done this to Iesha, secondly he thought, how badly he wanted to hurt her for what she had done to us, and his intentions were to go over there and fuck her up. Somewhere deep down inside he was glad that he didn’t, but he wasn’t the least bit sorry for her. After all, if she had been anywhere near as foul to anybody else as she had been to me, she had it coming. He just hated that fact that he had to be the one to walk smack dab into the middle of the shit. Literally!

Chance was so tired physically, mentally and in every other way you could image from all the shit I had taken him through over the past two months. He put his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. Just then he heard a click as he opened his eyes to find the end of a nine-millimeter handgun pressed up against the side of his head. It was a deputy from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. “Evan Chance, you are under arrest for suspicion of murder. Put your hands on the steering wheel and don’t move!

At the same time Lynn was also placed under arrest for Davis’s murder. They carefully placed her inside an ambulance and escorted her to the infirmary at the Justice Center, where she gave a full confession. It turns out that she had been slowly poisoning my stepfather with arsenic, because of all the medications he was on, it was difficult to distinguish the difference between possible drug interaction and him actually being poisoned until an autopsy was performed. The detective asked why she did it and here it what she said.

Lynn was at home with Ladybird the day that she died. They had been playing hide and go seek when Davis came home for lunch, that’s when him and Ladybird started to argue. Lynn said that she heard Ladybird tell Davis that she knew what he had been doing to Letah, and that she was gonna go to the police. Lynn said that Davis told Ladybird that he would kill her first. Then he put his hands around her neck, and strangled her to death. Davis then picked Ladybird up and took her into my room, placed a rope around her neck and hung her from the wood beam in the ceiling. Lynn was behind the door hiding the whole time, he never even noticed her.

I was laying in that hospital bed bruised and battered, with that fuckin’ cop getting on my nerves, askin’ all those damn questions. And I was going out of my mind with worry about Chance. On top of all that, now I was starting to go into withdrawals again. It had been close to 12 hours now since my last fix, so the cramps and fatigue were kicking back in. It felt like I was itching inside and I couldn’t keep still! The only thing that was really saving me from going completely nuts was the morphine drip they had me on for the pain. But I still needed a hit. My body craved it!

And in a short while I knew I would be crying for it! So, I begged Letah to go out to the car and get the stash that I had bought earlier last night. She didn’t want to, but I insisted, so she finally gave in, only after I promised on LadyBird’s grave that this would be the last time.

While I waited on her to get back, I figured I would turn on the TV to pass time. I clicked the remote control until I landed on channel 8. Then, I just about swallowed my tongue! There was a picture of Chance being broadcast in connection Iesha’s murder.

The reporter was saying something about investigators finding Chance’s fingerprints at the scene, and surveillance video from the hotel at the time of the murder showing him entering and leaving her suite. They also said that this was a particularly gruesome crime, and something about the murderer having removed Iesha’s heart from her chest.

They also said that chance was being held at the San Diego County Detention Center with a one million cash dollar bond. They were also saying some crazy shit about this being the second time he had been charged with murder. They said the first time that the case was thrown out due to a hung jury or something.

He supposedly beat some guy to death in 2001, a football player from N.K.U at a college party. I was in a complete state of shock!

What they were saying just could not have been true. Chance and I had been together for over three years and he never even so much as raised a hand to me, and now I’m supposed to believe that he killed somebody six years ago and never mentioned anything about it.

Letah stood at the entrance to the door where she had been standing for about the past five minutes, but I hadn’t even notice. She walked over to me slowly. I began to cry, “If I had only told Chance the truth about my past when we met none of this would be happening. It’s all my fault!” I said.

“Looks like you both had some skeletons in the closet.” Letah said as she reluctantly handed me the small baggy of heroin and nervously stood watch while I quickly snorted the “real” pain medicine. And like magic, the ache left me as I eased back onto the bed and prepared to take flight for one last time. You see, I promise Letah that I was gonna tell my doctor that was hooked on dope, so that I could start some kind of treatment right away. I had too much to live for to go out like this! And then…

About twenty minutes later I went into heart failure and slip into comma due to a bad interaction from the mixture of heroin and morphine. The doctors worked on me for the next two hours, but it was no use. I was pronounced dead at 8:47pm. The toxicology report showed high amounts of heroin in my bloodstream, cause of death was rule an overdose, enough to kill a horse they said.

Even with all of his family’s money and influence behind him, Chance spent the next two weeks in police custody. The district attorney managed to convince the judge that he was a flight risk, and an extreme threat to the community. So a bond was denied. But, shortly after that, some new evidence was introduced that proved Chance’s innocence and cleared him on all charges. He was finally released. With his life shattered and his heart broken into a thousand pieces, he returned to Chicago, placed his house up for sale and disappeared. My fear and my lies destroyed the only man I ever loved!

Apparently Franklin Jordan the Congressman from Chicago that Iesha was gamin’ finally got wise, and when he figured out that he could never really have her, no matter how much he loved her or how much that he gave her, he had some of his goons track her down and wipe her out.

He had fallen deeply in love with her and was determined to have her heart one way or another. So he had his boys remove it from her body and bring it to him. That way, he knew he would always have it.

One of the men that was paid to kill Iesha suddenly found religion and developed a conscience. Ain’t that a bitch! He blew his own brains out, but before he did he left a note confessing to God and to man every filthy deed he had ever committed, among them was Iesha’s brutal murder.

The Cook County District Attorney’s office immediately issued a search warrant for the Congressman’s home. There they found all the evidence they needed to gain an indictment on a capital murder charge, in addition to a felony charge for gross abuse of a corpse. They also arrested the other fools who were responsible for Iesha’s death, among them was my ex-boyfriend Tico.

It turns out that he had actually met the Congressman through Iesha when he got out of prison. He was hired to handle some of the Congressman’s “dirty” street business. Tico also admitted to attacking me at the hotel that same night, he said that it was payback for setting him up, which I did in order to escape him four years ago.

It also turns out that Tico was actually the one who cut Iesha open and removed her heart (while she was still alive!). He told her that this was payback for all the hearts she had stolen. I always knew that he was a cold-blooded mutha’fucka, but what he did to Iesha was just sick!

I guess the “chance she took” ended up costing her dearly! Just like mine ultimately cost me everything that I had cherished and waited so long for, my peace, my happiness, my new life and my “Chance.”

Thanks for taking the time to read my work... I love you, madly

And remember… There’s only one

KOLE BLACK

See you soon!

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Other exciting novels by,

Kole Black!

*THE CHANCE SHE TOOK

*THE RISK OF CHANCE

*THE GAME OF CHANCE

*CHANCE & DRAMA

*END OF ALL CHANCE

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