Page 7 of Hush Money & Hits
Kenya’s eyes held a bit of sympathy. I wasn’t sure of the reason she felt sorry for me. Maybe it was because she knew more than what she was telling me. Or maybe it was because neither one of us really knew what was going on. In any case, I wasn’t about to keep stressing the shit. I had reason to believe that Tasha was alive and well. If she didn’t feel that it was necessary to come home or at the very least pick up the phone and communicate with me then it was what it was. I loved Tasha, but I hadn’t done anything that warranted her to get missing. I was baffled, but I refused to let it worry me. Maybe she’d come back in a few days with some wild ass story. Maybe her mom got her caught up in some shit with her antics because I couldn’t see Maria volunteering to leave her home.
No matter what the issue was, it stung that Tasha couldn’t come to me and talk to me about it. I left the beauty supply store with no answers. Maria’s things were still in her crib as far as I knew, and Tasha had only asked for a few days off. She was coming back. At least that was what I tried to make myself believe.
CHAPTER 4
VANYA
“I’m not fuckingwith you anymore after tonight,” I rolled my eyes at Tee doubting she would remember anything I said to her once she woke up and was sober.
My comment made her giggle which annoyed me further because what was funny? I stuck her key in the door and unlocked it. Once again, she’d asked me to do a private party with her and despite the fact that I didn’t really want to, I agreed. At the end of the night, I was glad that I had gone because I walked away with $2,000 after I gave security a cut. Finally, I felt like I was getting somewhere when it came to paying my bills, helping my mother, and being able to save money.
Tasha picked me up which I knew was a mistake, but I had a slow leak in one of my tires, and I hadn’t had a chance to go get it plugged. Getting a rideshare was heavy on my mind, but Tee convinced me to ride with her. The moment I got in her car, she tossed back a bean (ecstasy pill). At the party, she drank like a fish, and she wasn’t driving me anywhere. I wasn’t as inebriated as she was, so I drove her car to her house. If I was smart, I would have gone home and hid her keys, so she was forced to spend the night with me.
Now, I was exhausted and would have to sleep in her spare bedroom until I got enough rest to feel comfortable in a rideshare. I had taken a shower right before the party, but I couldn’t get good sleep if I didn’t wash my ass before hitting the sheets. In Tee’s guest bathroom, I took the fastest shower I’d ever taken. Shit, I didn’t stink, I just wanted outside off me. After drying off, I put on the spare shirt and panties I had in my dance bag and snuggled underneath the covers. Tee spent more time running the streets and sleeping than she did cleaning, so her living room was messy as fuck, but that didn’t concern me because the guest room was clean, and the bed was comfortable.
My eyes closed, and I waited for sleep to consume me. Just as I felt myself drifting off, my body jerked, and I jolted awake. I was confused why until I heard it again. Tee’s headboard knocking into the wall and her loud moaning.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” I mumbled through gritted teeth.
I should have just chanced it and got in an Uber. Putting a pillow over my head didn’t even muffle the noise completely. With a groan, I sat up and reached for my phone. It was four in the morning, but I was taking my chances. After pulling on a pair of black sweatpants, I put my slides on. The noise stopped just as I grabbed my phone to go in the rideshare app.
“Damn that was so fucking good,” Tee crooned through the thin ass walls. Once again, I rolled my eyes.
“You think my driver wouldn’t realize I was being followed?” the man speaking had a voice that would make the average woman’s panties moist, if he was saying anything other than what I had just heard. His tone was low, but the walls were thin.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Followed? Why would I have someone to follow you to my house?”
There was a brief silence followed by a loud thud that made me jump. My eyes narrowed as I tried to assess what had happened. Did he knock her into the wall?
“Oh you don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about? Bitch, I don’t go anywhere without shooters much less to a hood rat’s apartment. You live in a nice area, but you can’t take the rat out of a bitch no matter how you dress that hoe up. The niggas you thought were going to rob me are already standing at the gate waiting to get into hell.”
My heart galloped so ferociously in my chest that it almost prevented me from hearing because of the way it filled my ears. I swallowed hard while straining to hear.
“Kalim, stop!” Tee screamed at the top of her lungs.
My heart was pounding so fast my chest was starting to hurt. I took one hand and rubbed like that would make the tightness disappear. Kalim?! As in our boss, Kalim? Fine ass, rich, gangster turned businessman, Kalim? Tee’s mother was very sane, so for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why she did the dumb ass shit that she did.
I turned the volume all the way down on my phone and dialed 911. As soon as the dispatcher answered, I whispered Tee’s address into the phone while there was more thumping and bumping in Tee’s room. Of course, she was attempting to ask me questions, but the address was all she was getting. Just as I was about to repeat the address, a deafening pop sounded off, and my entire body jerked, as I covered my mouth with my hands. Kalim Moore had just shot Tee. The second shot made my knees buckle. All I could do was pray the dispatcher heard the shots and would send someone ASAP.
When I heard footsteps, I grabbed my phone and rolled underneath the bed. Hanging up on the dispatcher, with shaking hands, I went to my camera and pressed record. I pushed the phone down in my shorts and tried very hard not to move. Theroom door slowly opened, and my body began to tremble. When I saw Kalim’s knees touch the carpet, I knew I was cooked.
He lifted the comforter, and we locked eyes as he peered underneath the bed. The devilish grin that crossed his face made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I had never seen a man so damn fine yet so damn ugly at the same time. His cold, dark eyes told me that if he had his way, I wouldn’t be leaving Tee’s house alive. All I could do was pray that someone found my phone. His face wouldn’t be on it, but maybe his voice would.
He grabbed my arm and dragged me from underneath the bed. My skin burned as he yanked me roughly across the carpet. I kicked with all my might, but that didn’t do anything. He cocked his gun and stared down at me with empty orbs as he pointed the gun at me.
“Kalim, please no. You don’t have to do this,” I cried.
Kalim’s head angled slightly to the left as a curious look covered his face. I was sure he wondered why I’d called his name. Or maybe I was imagining things. Either way, I didn’t have to dwell. I was barely able to complete a prayer asking God to forgive me for my sins before a deafening pop sounded off followed by a searing burning pain in my stomach. It was the worst pain I’d ever felt in my life, but two more shots ended that as I fell into darkness.
When I finally woke up, the bright light in the room made me frown and blink rapidly, so my eyes could adjust. I’d opened my eyes plenty of times, saw that I was in the hospital, and went right back into an abyss. There were times that I could hear everything going on around me, but my body felt as if it weighed a ton. I couldn’t move or open my eyes. I spotted my mothersitting in a recliner that was tucked in the corner of the room. When she noticed that I was awake, she jumped up and ran over to the bed.
“Vanya. Oh my God, I’ve been so worried.”
My tongue felt thick and as heavy as my body. It was stuck to the roof of my mouth which was so dry that it hurt to swallow. “How long have I been here?”
My voice was extremely low and hoarse. On top of that, my nerves seemed to be waking up and the pain in my body was so intense that my teeth began to click together as if I was cold. The extreme discomfort reminded me that Kalim stood over me with a gun and shot me three times at close range.
“Tee.” My heart slammed into my ribcage, and I panicked.
