Risky Business |3|

“…I’m tellin’ you man, she wasn’t like these other females that be out here. She was… I don’t know.” Desmond said to one of his associates, Calvin.

Calvin laughed and took another puff of the weed before handing it back. “Nah, man, I think you just need to get out more.”

Dez smirked. “I get out, and that’s not it. She wasn’t from around here, I’m sure of it.”

“Well what’s her name?”

They sat there silently as Desmond tried to think of her name. “Shit, I don’t even know. I forgot to ask.”

Calvin sucked his teeth and stood up. “Well, you might as well forget about her. I mean, you have no name, no location, no nothing! And that’s too bad, it would have been nice to meet the girl that’s keepin’ you up at night.”

“I ain’t losin no sleep. I’m just curious.” Desmond lied.

“Yeah okay.” Calvin responded sarcastically. “I’ll catch you later, Dez. I need to run to the bank and wire my son some money.”

“Oh, it’s lil Donny birthday today, right? Why didn’t kelena bring him back to Virginia for his birthday? He like seven now right?”

“Yup. He’s seven.” Calvin said. “Lena is too absorbed in the glamorous life to even consider bringing him up back here anytime soon. She said she loves California.”

Desmond laughed. “Yeah, I never liked her. She a gold digger.”

“You got that right,” Calvin laughed as well. “Aight, I’m out.”

“Later, man” Dez called.

For another ten minutes, Dez continued smoking and then he went back into the main part of the barbershop.

“There he is! I thought you said he wasn’t here?” Said a females voice.

Desmond knew the voice all too well. Yarnice Tatom. Also known as, queen bitch, Yap mouth, fleabag, and Desmond’s personal favorite, Whore!

“Baby, all these dudes are lying! The said you wasn’t here!” Yarnice said rushing over to Desmond. “I missed you, boo!”

“Get the fuck off me!” Desmond said pushing her away. “Why do you keep popping up out of nowhere, and shit? What part of ‘we’re over’ don’t you understand? The O the V the E or the R?”

She pouted and swung a hair full of nappy tracks over her shoulder. “I was out of town, Dez. I went to go see my brother.”

Of coarse she was lying. She must have forgotten that Dez knew that her brother stopped speaking to her six years ago—he figured she was wasting her life away and he didn’t want her around his daughters.

“I don’t care where you were, Yarnice. You need to find something better to do besides following me around all the time!”

“But Dez—”

“I’m out.”

Desmond walked out the barbershop and toward his car, he had plans for the night. He didn’t want to admit it, but Calvin was right—he hadn’t gotten any sleep last night while thinking about that girl. He was having weird thoughts and couldn’t seem to shake her out of any of them.

The exhaustion took over as he plopped down onto his bed; within two minutes he was sleep.


5 weeks prior

“Dez!?” Jodi called as he ran into Desmond’s apartment. “Where are you?”

Desmond stepped in the house from the balcony and found his father standing the in middle of his living room—gun in hand.

“Dad, what’s up?”

“They shot Grant and Wes! I just wanted to come and make sure you were okay before I went to the hospital.”

Jodi went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. There was sweat forming on his forehead and Dez could tell that something was wrong.

“Who shot them?”

“Had to be Rick…” Jodi mumbled.

“What?” Desmond asked, unsure that he had heard correctly.

“Nothing, look I have to go.” Jodi said walking toward the door. “I’ll be back later on tonight, til then keep safe… no doubt he’ll try to fuck with you too.”

Desmond nodded.

Jodi nodded too.

In a way, it was their silent ‘I love you’ … they never said it, but it was true.



The present

Desmond shot up off the bed and the room was darker, the sun was going down. He turned on the lamp beside his bed and shook off the cold feeling.

The dream, the same one he had been having all week, was making him uneasy. The only night he hadn’t had it was last night, no doubt it was because he was too busy thinking about that anonymous girl from the club.

But, that was the last night he had seen his father before he had died. Grant and Wes were with him that night, but Wes didn’t make it. He was shot in the neck and died the very next day in the hospital, there was nothing that could have been done.

Grant was still in the hospital, he was shot in both his knee caps and in the spine, he’d never walk again, but he was able to talk and he was getting a little better.

Desmond stood up, went into his bathroom and began running the shower. After stripping out of his clothes, he stepped in and let the powerful jets hit his body.

He was too busy thinking about the dream, there was something different about it, something that he hadn’t noticed before. A certain name was mentioned that he hadn’t heard any of the other times and he had let it slip his attention that night.

RICK.

“Shit!” Desmond yelled.

He finished washing himself up and then he hopped out of the shower and got dressed. He suddenly remembered where he had heard that name before that night, and before tonight.

He just couldn’t believe it—no, actually he could.




He jumped into the car and called his aunt as fast as he could. She picked up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Aunt Lina!” Desmond said, relieved that she had answered. “Where’s Ciara?”

“She’s over Shawn’s house, I’m on my way to pick her—”

“No!” Desmond yelled, cutting her off. “No, I’m picking her up, you don’t go anywhere near his place, alright?”

“Dez what the hell is going on?” She asked.

“Just do what I say aight?”

“Boy, I don’t know who you think—”

Desmond hung up the phone and started pushing seventy on the highway. There was a little traffic, but he zoomed in and out of the cars to the point where it seemed like there wasn’t any.

He had seen some crazy shit, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that a man would put his daughter in jeopardy like this! What kind of man brings his child around the person who killed her uncle?

He just hoped he made it there in time to blow his fucking head off!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Okay, so is this just a figment of his imagination, or is this guy really hanging around his little cousin after killing his father?

Crazy, crazy, crazy! Dez really needs to loosen up if you ask me! Bet hey, I could be wrong.

I mean, I'm only the author... what do I know??? =/ LOL! READ//RATE//COMMENT//SUBSCRIBE!