Schemes Read online

  “You’re going to be okay. We are going to get you some help. You’re alive, and we are going to get you some help,” Detective Castle said almost breathlessly. He reached down and squeezed my hand. That’s when I realized I was no longer tied to the cold metal chair. “Looks like we got here in the nick of time. You’re a little banged up, but I’m sure you’re going to be fine,” Detective Castle soothed in that smooth voice of his. My forehead creased and my lips pursed with a mixture of grief and joy. I was alive and grateful, but . . .

  “Mi . . . Mil . . . Miley,” I rasped. Detective Castle’s eyes dropped to the floor. His facial expression seemed grave. My heart sank. Dread washed over me and melted my insides like someone had thrown hot lava at me. I felt an ache so far down in my soul that it threatened to send me into cardiac arrest. I started moving my head from left to right frantically.

  “N . . . n . . . no.” I flailed. I didn’t care about my injuries. I was not ready to face the fact that my sister was dead.

  “Shhh. Stop. You’re going to hurt yourself. Shhh. She’s alive, Karlie,” Detective Castle assured me. “She’s in pretty bad shape, but she’s alive,” he said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. His words were like music to my ears. Miley was alive! I knew she was probably in critical condition after what she’d endured, but at least she was alive! Finally, I closed my eyes and let my body relax against the stretcher. Nothing else mattered. Not even the fact that I’d probably get arrested for the robbery as soon as I was better. At this point, I felt like I deserved it.

  “You two took it hard. You’re pretty lucky to still be alive,” Detective Castle said, walking alongside the stretcher as the EMTs moved me to the ambulance.

  “How . . . how did you . . . ?” I struggled to get my words out.

  “Well, we had a little help,” Detective Castle replied. We had finally made it to the open back doors of the ambulance.

  “There was someone who cooperated and gave us just what we needed. Good thing too, or else you might be dead,” Detective Castle continued. Then he stepped aside and Craig stepped from behind him. My heart jerked in my chest and my battered, swollen eyes went as wide as the swelling would allow.

  “Damn, baby girl. Didn’t think I’d see you like this.” Craig smiled at me. “Glad you made it out of this shit on the right side of things.” He shook his head.

  “How?” I panted. It was all I could say.

  “Man, these niggas picked me up after they couldn’t find you and Sidney and Miley. I thought y’all had turned on me. But it’s a good thing they got me when they did. If this pretty-boy detective didn’t put the screws to me and make me talk about where the money was stashed, they would’ve never followed y’all to that gym and been able to follow the people who snatched Sidney and then in turn follow that bitch Trina to find you and Miley,” Craig informed me. “I swear, that shit played out like something from a book or a movie. It was like one crazy event after another. I’m just glad a few of us could be saved from the same fate that fell on Troy, Mega, Ant, and Walt. That shit was fucked up what happened to all of them.”

  I just shook my head. Tears drained out of my eyes. It was all my fault.

  “Yeah, that’s how I felt talking to these pigs, but it turned out for the best,” Craig said. “Never thought I would see the day that I would say talking to the cops turned out to be a good thing.”

  “Sid . . .” I started. Tears drained from the sides of my eyes just trying to say Sidney’s name. Craig hung his head, but he didn’t say anything. It looked like he was about to open his mouth to tell me something, but he didn’t get a chance before he was pushed out of the way.

  “Okay. Let’s go. We need to get these girls to the hospital. They are pretty messed up,” one of the EMTs announced. With that, I was whisked into the back of an ambulance.

  * * *

  “Knock, knock.” I heard the soft voice of my regular nurse as she opened my hospital room door and tapped at the same time. I opened my eyes and noticed her bright smile. Although it was comforting, I was trying to get some sleep so I found it a little annoying. I looked in her direction quizzically.

  “Ms. Houston . . . you have a visitor,” the nurse announced. I groaned. If one more detective, news reporter, or city official came to ask me questions, I was going to scream. It had been three days, and I had repeated my story probably sixty times by now. Aside from all of those annoying people, I couldn’t imagine who else would be visiting me. Miley was still in the Intensive Care Unit, so it couldn’t be her. I crumpled my face, partly in confusion and partly in annoyance. My nurse noticed the struggle happening on my face.

  “I’m sure you’ll want to take this visitor,” she assured me with a warm smile. I exhaled and moved my bandaged head slightly in acquiescence.

  “Bring him in,” the nurse turned around and called cheerfully to someone behind her. Him? Who is him? I said to myself. Now I was really curious. I stared at the door in rapt anticipation. My heart monitor was blipping off the meters as my heart raced with a mixture of fear and eagerness. Finally I saw the wheels moving through the door. My insides got warm as the wheelchair was pushed all the way through my door.

  “Oh my God,” I gasped, tears immediately began falling from my eyes in streams. I began crying so hard, my bandaged ribs ached. His face still had the remnants of his assault, but it was just as gorgeous as ever. Those beautiful eyes staring at me lit my insides up with warmth. I felt like my heart would explode with giddiness.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Sidney said in his usual smooth baritone. His infectious smile lit up his gorgeous face. I wished I didn’t have casts on my legs and one of my arms, and bandages binding my ribs and head. I wanted so badly to jump out of the bed and into his lap.

  “Oh my God,” I gasped again. It was all I could manage through my sobs of joy.

  “Not exactly how we thought this would all end, huh?” Sidney said as he was pushed right up to the side of my bed. I stretched my hand out toward him as far as the cast on my arm would allow. Sidney grabbed my hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed it. I closed my eyes and continued to sob with joy.

  “All’s well that ends well. I love you, Karlie,” Sidney said.

  “I love you more, Sidney,” I whispered.

  TWISTED DECEPTION

  Saundra

  CHAPTER 1

  “Yazz, you down or what for Regina’s party on Saturday night? I swear it’s about to be ignorant off the hook. Hell, this is the first party since graduation.” Mimi chopped my ear off as we made our way down McLaran Street, the block I lived on. We were heading back to my house from the store. As usual, my mom had me out walking in the burning-hot St. Louis heat wave to grab her some Salem cigarettes.

  “I don’t know yet. Really I’m just not feeling it—besides, I got other things I need to be worried about, but you know that already.” I glanced in Mimi’s direction without slowing my stride. “Ruthie still all over my ass about a damn job,” I said, referring to my mother. “And you know how she is.”

  “Haven’t I told you a thousand times before, I can get you a job at the Cheetah whenever you ready.” That was the strip club that Mimi started dancing at the night of her eighteenth birthday. I mean, she made decent money, but... “I don’t know why you scared—hell, Ax would hire you on the spot with that bangin’-ass body. You need to put it to use.”

  I don’t know why she felt the need to remind me of what my body looked like, because I was well aware of it. I weighed a hundred thirty pounds easy, and had a thin waist, along with hips that curved around into a perfectly round butt. I also possessed a set of dark brown deep-dish eyes, with shoulder-length natural wavy hair that I wore in a ponytail. With a mahogany skin tone, I considered myself a natural beauty, but I was not impressed with that. And as much as I needed a job, I just could not see myself half naked, shaking my ass for a room full of thirsty niggas.

  “I’m telling you, you could make some money to pay some bills, and that would shu
t Ruthie’s mouth.” That all sounded good, but . . .

  “Nah, I’m good. Besides, the Cheetah ain’t safe. Didn’t somebody get shot down there a couple of nights ago? The last thing I feel like doing is dodging stray bullets.”

  “Girl, you know some niggas gon’ act a fool no matter what. But Ax keeps that shit under control inside the club. That crazy shit you heard about happened outside. You would be safe. Trust me.”

  “Nah, I’m good.” I was sticking with that.

  Mimi sighed. It was apparent by the look on her face she was frustrated, only wanted to help. “At least come to the party then. Have some fun, Yazz. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.”

  “Even if I wanted to go, I don’t have anything to wear. And I refuse to wear that old shit I wore to school. Ruthie has already cut me off financially. Shit, she complained about buying me clothes when I was in school.” The plastic from the Salems was starting to make my hand feel sweaty.

  “Is that what you worried about? Girl, I got you. I will hook you up with an outfit, you bony so it won’t be hard. Aye, do you remember Keisha Watson?”

  I shook my head in agreement. “Yeah, we took several classes together my senior year. And she used to be selling snacks and stuff.”

  “Well, now that chick boosts clothes. She’s who I’ve been getting all my dancing outfits for the Cheetah from.”

  “For real. She boosts?” That surprised me. “You mean she went from selling chips and blow pops . . . to stealing clothes? Hmmm, what a career change.” We both laughed. Keisha used to supply the whole school with snacks. She was a walking vending machine, only you didn’t have to worry about your money getting jammed. Word on the streets was her mom used her food stamps to buy the snacks. Keisha then sold it for cash so they turned a good profit.

  “That’s what I said when I first heard about it, but she be having them good tags though. A couple weeks back, I got two pair of True Religion jeans from her for a hundred fifty dollars. I’m telling you she got the hook-up.” I thought about what Mimi was saying. It sounded good. I knew she was trying hard to convince me to go, but I was still hesitant.

  “I’ll think about it,” was all I was willing to promise. I hoped this would shut her up. We walked in silence for the next couple of seconds and were only a few feet from my house when we both glanced at Kevon, a local dealer in our area. He was standing on the corner, chatting with a couple of knuckleheads from the block. They were a bunch of young peons hoping for a come-up. I noticed Kevon had his eyes set directly on me and hurriedly looked in the other direction.

  Mimi’s eyes were burning a hole in the side of my face. “I saw that. Don’t even try to cover it up,” she interjected. Every word of her statement told me she was about to start speculating. And I hated when she did that.

  “What?” I played dumb.

  “Don’t you even try that innocent shit with me, I saw Kevon’s fine ass checking you out. Don’t play you peeped it too. That’s why you tried to look away.” She grinned. She had been watching me the whole time.

  Trying to remain serious, I rolled my eyes at her. “No, you are seeing things because that ain’t never happen.”

  “Yeah, whateva, you ain’t slick. Kevon’s sweet on you, and you know it’s true.” She folded her arms across her chest with a smirk on her face. There would be no changing her mind.

  “See, that’s why I ain’t going to that wack-ass party with you. ’Cause you stay tryin’ to hook somebody up. Ain’t nobody got time for that.”

  “Heffa. I know you ain’t tryin’ to blame this on me? I ain’t tried to hook you up. Yet.” She laughed.

  “I swear you get on my nerve.” I playfully pushed her. The one thing I could be really good at was pretending to be uninterested.

  “Yazz.” I heard my name soar through the air and paused. Turning to my left just a little bit, I almost smashed into Kevon—he was in my space within minutes. With a smile on his face he spoke again. His smile was sexy; he possessed one dime-size deep dimple on his left cheek. I acted casual.

  “Hi,” floated from my lips, in just above a whisper.

  Mimi saw Katrina climbing out of a car in front of Ms. Peggy’s house.

  “Aye, I’ma about to go catch up with my girl Katrina. We have business to discuss. I’ll call you later.” Mimi winked at Kevon and then excused herself. I wanted to yell for her not to leave, but she was halfway down the block before I could say anything. Feeling awkward and trapped, I stood stock still staring at Kevon, praying he would walk away. After thirty seconds passed by, I attempted to walk away first. Turning around nervously and focusing on our run-down house, I made it my destination. I took only a few steps before I felt Kevon grab a hold of my left elbow, slowing me down. Spinning around to face him, I gave him an annoyed stare. But he smiled in spite of it.

  “Why you always acting so mean? Do you hate me or something?”

  I could not believe he had just asked me that. He had some nerve to question me. We were not cool like that.

  I fired back, “Since we are asking questions, I have one. Where is your girlfriend?” Clearly he thought I was stupid. Everyone knew that Kevon dated Misti since forever. And I was not interested in being a man stealer. No fucking way. He was cute, but not that damn cute. A thot, I was not.

  “Girlfriend? I don’t have a girlfriend.” His lips spread into a smile, but I didn’t see any reason for him to be smiling. That was the problem with dope boys—they all thought they could have anyone they wanted, because of their reputation for having unlimited amounts of cash and power. But not this chick.

  “Now you being a fraud,” I read him. “Everyone around here knows that, so do not play with me.” Again I turned to leave, but he stopped me, this time by brushing my elbow with his finger.

  “Aye, all right, you’re right. I had a girlfriend, but I don’t anymore. That relationship is a wrap.”

  I wasn’t really sure why I needed this information because I did not care. Kevon had been running this block for years. And as far as I could remember, he had never looked at me twice. So why he was sweating me so hard today was a mystery I did not care to solve. And I was about to tell him just that when my mother opened the front door and started yelling.

  “Yazz, I don’t have all day. Hurry up and bring me my cigarettes. Shit!” She slammed the door so hard the house looked like it shook. I blinked twice before turning my attention back to Kevon.

  “Well, as you can see, I gotta go.” I took off toward the grass that led into my yard. The sidewalk would only take longer. And I knew from experience that if Ruthie came back to the door, she would really embarrass me.

  “Aye, can I take you out to eat or some? We could grab some wings,” Kevon shouted.

  Yes, almost flew out of my mouth, but I paused for a brief second. “I can’t,” was my reply instead. Without another word or glance in his direction, I twisted the brass knob on our front door and made my way inside the house. And just as I thought, Ruthie was waiting on me with an ashtray in her hand. Snatching the cigarettes out of my hand, she looked me up and down.

  “Why do you have to snatch them?” I asked. I had just walked a full two miles, coming and going to Jack’s Grocery to pick that up for her. The least she could have done was allow me to hand them to her, or say thank you. But typical Ruthie, she just strutted off in the opposite direction. Pulling one of the brown wooden chairs from the kitchen table, she sat down.

  Walking over to the tan loveseat with burgundy and green stuffed pillows, I bounced down and grabbed the remote to watch some television. Because being raised by Ruthie had groomed me to understand that, in her house, you should pick your battles very carefully. And her being rude wasn’t worth the hassle. I pressed the ON button, then selected the On-Demand menu. I needed to catch up on Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.

  “So when you plan on gettin’ a job?” Ruthie spat out aggressively at me. I should have known she would not let me sit in peace. “How long do you think I’m gon’ let yo
u live here rent free? You already wasted twelve years in school. Now it’s time to get busy. There are bills that gotta be paid up here; this ain’t no vacation spot with free cable, food, and utilities.”

  “I know that, Ruthie.” I referred to her by her first name. Ever since I was in the fifth grade, she had forbid me from calling her Mom or Mother. She said she was too young to be called that. And if I ever made the mistake and called her that in public, she would whoop me to remind me to be more careful the next time. “I just graduated a month ago, Ruthie. Since that time, I been filling out applications everywhere. Somebody will call soon.” I wanted to sound hopeful.

  “Well, you must not be looking hard enough. Hell, by the time I was your age I was on my fifth job. Your ass just being lazy.”

  I almost responded, but I knew it would be a waste of my time. So I decided to try and ignore her. But that was damn near impossible to do when she wanted to be heard. I sighed as she mouthed off a few more complaints. Locating Love and Hip Hop Atlanta in the menu, I pushed PLAY on the remote. As I got comfortable on the loveseat, the living room door swung open. Rodney, Ruthie’s deadbeat boyfriend stepped inside. With a wide grin spread across his face, Rodney’s ugly left front rotten tooth shone a grayish brown color. Ugh. I wanted to puke just looking at it and him. Sporting some dingy Lee jeans and a gray T-shirt with a pocket on it, Rodney walked over to Ruthie. He leaned in close to her left ear, so that I couldn’t hear what he said to her. He did things like that to annoy me, but if he only knew that I didn’t give a fuck. Soon after, he walked back over to where I was sitting and bounced down next to me on the loveseat. My stomach turned—he disgusted me.

  Prepared to ignore him, I gave Love and Hip Hop Atlanta my undivided attention. But I could literally hear every rough, ragged breath Rodney took. Annoyed, I wished I could snatch out his nostrils. I almost said that out loud, but bit my tongue instead. Then he opened his mouth to speak. “This is the stupidest show I eva seen. Why do you watch this shit?” he asked me, as if I would answer him. It was no secret to the man that I could not stand his trifling, no-job-having, freeloading ass. Oh, did I mention his breath smelled like chitterlings that had not been cleaned? Ugh. Anyhow, all of a sudden he reached over next to me, snatched up the remote control, and turned the television off.