Authors: Karen Williams
Thug in Me (25 page)
Chapter 39
“Y'all just gonna leave me here bleeding, man?”
I did turn around, though, even Mateo was saying we had to go. But it wasn't to help Ron.
I walked back over to Ron and punched that nigga again in his mouth and this time I knocked him out.
Now I was riding in the car next to Mateo, knowing I wasn't even finished with this shit.
My chest was aching and my heart pumping from what we had just did. From what I had just learned.
I kept thinking of what Ron said.
You wanna know who set you up? It was your boy Calhoun!
I even thought about the fact that he said Calhoun was the one who had him come to my job with the gun to scare me and stop me from going back to the private investigator. Damn. If this was true Calhoun played it off real good, giving me that gun and all.
You wanna know who set you up? It was your boy Calhoun!
I even thought about the fact that he said Calhoun was the one who had him come to my job with the gun to scare me and stop me from going back to the private investigator. Damn. If this was true Calhoun played it off real good, giving me that gun and all.
There was silence in the car as Mateo drove me home. I didn't know whether or not to believe it. A huge part of me did believe Ron was telling me the truth. I think the other part of me was in adamant denial. First of all, why would Ron just decide to lie on me? What would make him just volunteer himself for that, knowing that if he went to the police he would do time too? Last time I checked wasn't no nigga going to volunteer to go to prison for nothing. It was too many holes in his shit. And what he was saying about my friend. It was hard to believe. Calhoun was like a brother to me. I always thought we had a bond. We had more years of us hanging out and being a part of each other's lives than us not. To me that seemed unbreakable. I knew I had to hear it from him. And I hoped that he would tell me that what Ron had said was all bullshit.
“Do you believe him?” Mateo asked, breaking the silence.
I didn't respond.
“You want me to go with you to your friend's house?”
I shook my head. “Just drop me off at my room.”
Once we got there, Mateo asked me, “You sure you going to be okay alone?”
“I'll be straight. Thanks, man.”
“No problem. Call me if you need me.”
I watched him speed away.
I knew I had to confront Calhoun no matter how much it would kill me to. And I didn't plan on searching for him either. I would make him come to me and tell me the fucking truth.
When I got into my room, I dialed his number on Zalman's cell.
When he picked up, he said, “Hey, what's up, Chance. Listen, I'm busy. Let me hit youâ”
“I know.”
A long pause. I grinded my teeth.
“Chance?”
“I know, muthafucka.”
“You know what?”
Oh, he was gonna play that role?
“Ron.”
Silence. I licked my dry lips and waited for him to speak.
“It's not what you think, man. Look, I will be over there in ten minutes.”
Chapter 40
I waited. I couldn't keep still. I paced for the full ten minutes, wondering what he was going to say. I continued to glance at the time on Zalman's cell phone. Ten minutes had passed and he hadn't showed up. I continued to pace. Then I sat down on the bed with my head in my hands in utter turmoil. After exactly eighteen minutes, I grabbed my room keys, shoved the phone in my pocket, and walked toward the door.
I turned the knob and pulled it open to find Calhoun standing behind it.
We both froze, facing each other.
My eyes locked with his. My look was murderous. He looked away quickly.
He stood there, frozen for a moment, until I backed into my room.
He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
I stayed standing.
So did he.
“Listen, man. I don't know what you know 'cause I don't know what somebody told you. But it's more to this shit than you really think.”
I exploded. “I grew up with you! We were boys. Tell me that this man is lying on you! That you wasn't involved in this shit, Calhoun!”
He shook his head, covered his face with his hands. He made inaudible sounds. When his hands moved away from his face I saw it was wet with tears and they continued to run down his face.
I started crying too. “Tell me the fucking truth, Calhoun! Were you a part of this shit?” Inside I was praying the whole time that he really wasn't. That it was all a big fucking lie when it was fucking obvious that the truth was staring me right in my face!
Silence was all he gave me.
I asked him again in a lowered voice, “Were you?”
“It wasn't just me, man. It ain't all what you thinkâ”
Before he could finish, I grabbed him by his neck and slammed him up against the wall. “You ain't shit!”
“Chance!”
“Shut the fuck up!” I slammed him into the wall again with all my might. He didn't fight me.
That's when my room door flew open and Toi rushed in the room.
I released him for a second and raged at her. “Get the fuck out of here!”
She looked from me to Calhoun.
“I called her, Chance.”
I released him, confused.
He pushed himself off of the wall.
My eyes shot to Toi, who had an unreadable expression on her face.
“On the way over here, I figured since the shit is out and you know, you might as well know the truth,” Calhoun said.
“Yeah! Tell Chance how you set him up, how you lied and told Ron to say that Chance was with you the day you killed that man and not you!”
My eyes got wide. How the fuck did she know this?
“Bitch!” Calhoun took steps toward her, then stopped himself. He turned to me with a finger pointed at her. “Chance, this bitch is foul!”
“Fuck you Calhoun. You ain't shit!” She was pointing wildly at him. “You always been jealous of Chance and the fact that you couldn't have what he had and that included me.”
“Naw, bitch. That ain't what went down.” He turned back to me with a pleading look in his eyes. “Chance . . .”
“Don't believe what he says, he's lying, baby!” Toi screamed over Calhoun.
“What? Bitch, shut the fuck up. Chance, the truth is this! I know Ron from a stint I did in prison. We still kicked it from time to time. She set me and the homie Ron up! She made it seem like she had a lick for us to do, that dude was a dirty cop with dope and money on him that he kept when he took down a big-time dope house. She made it seem like we could have made fifty grand worth of dope and money, easily. But in the end
you
were trying to get us to kill that nigga.” He aimed a finger at Toi.
you
were trying to get us to kill that nigga.” He aimed a finger at Toi.
“That's a lie!” she screamed. “Tell Chance how you was fucking me all this time too Calhoun, and you was mad that I wouldn't pick you over Chance!”
“Yeah, bitch, I was fucking you! And that cop, you was fucking him too! You got mad that he was marrying somebody else! And he got you pregnant and told you to get an abortion. I was there, bitch! I heard what he said. He said he didn't want you! He was marrying Deyja. Yes, Chance, all this time I knew who she was. And he gave Toi money to get an abortion. The whole time you was with Chance, you was fucking around on him!” He turned to me. “Chance, you wanna know who shot that cop? She shot and killed that fucking cop!”
Toi started sobbing.
“And she told us both that if we said anything she would lie and say that we did it. She knew I had two strikes, Ron had one strike, and she had a clean record and they wouldn't believe us over her. So I got scared and I told Ron to turn himself in and say that he was with
you
. At first he wasn't going to do it and part of me was glad that he wasn't because deep down I knew it was wrong to do you like that. But this bitch offered him money. That's why she sold your house, Chance, and kept the money. She used it to pay Ron off. He was a nothing-ass nigga. He didn't have shit and probably never would be that close to the money she offered. So he agreed and did it. He ended up only getting three years for his so-called involvement in that shit. And he got those three years because he took a deal to rat out the real killer. And he only served half of it. She paid him forty grand.” He swallowed hard. “And they got you.” He slapped himself upside the head. “But I didn't think that they would keep you, Chance. I mean, your record is squeaky clean. I thought they would release you on uncircumstantial evidence. But they didn't, man, and I'm sorry. I ain't never meant for this to happen to you, dawg. I love you like a brother. If I had known it would go that far I would have neverâ”
you
. At first he wasn't going to do it and part of me was glad that he wasn't because deep down I knew it was wrong to do you like that. But this bitch offered him money. That's why she sold your house, Chance, and kept the money. She used it to pay Ron off. He was a nothing-ass nigga. He didn't have shit and probably never would be that close to the money she offered. So he agreed and did it. He ended up only getting three years for his so-called involvement in that shit. And he got those three years because he took a deal to rat out the real killer. And he only served half of it. She paid him forty grand.” He swallowed hard. “And they got you.” He slapped himself upside the head. “But I didn't think that they would keep you, Chance. I mean, your record is squeaky clean. I thought they would release you on uncircumstantial evidence. But they didn't, man, and I'm sorry. I ain't never meant for this to happen to you, dawg. I love you like a brother. If I had known it would go that far I would have neverâ”
He walked toward me but I shook my head with a look of hatred on my face and backed up.
He sobbed and said, “I wanted to say something. But I was scared that would be it for me. And I didn't know about the blood, Chance. She had to be the one to plant it.”
He was right. She was the only one who had an extra set of keys to my car and all this time it never occurred tome.
Toi had her back to us now and continued to bawl. “Chance, don't believe him,” she pleaded.
“Bitch!” Calhoun yelled. He rushed toward her.
She spun around quickly; that's when I saw the gun in her hand. Without a second's hesitation, she fired several bullets straight into Calhoun's chest.
I watched horrified as the bullets sent him flying back into the wall. He then slid down to the door, covering the white paint with his blood. He landed on his stomach with his body slightly twisted.
I rushed over to him quickly and dropped to my knees near his body.
I turned him over to see if he was still breathing. He was. But his breathing was ragged.
Blood flowed out of his mouth as he attempted to talk.
My hands slid over his heart. His shirt was soaking up his blood. I almost didn't feel his heartbeat 'cause it was beating so slow and felt so faint. I felt for the bullets. Several were lodged in his chest.
“I'm sorry, Chance, so sorry,” he said.
I reached for my cell phone to call 911.
“Put down the phone!”
I eyed Toi as I was about to dial the number. She now had the gun pointed at me.
Still, I took a chance to dial. Just as I pressed nine, the gun clicked.
I froze.
But it didn't go off. Her gun must have been out of bullets.
Without even looking her way, I dialed the rest of the numbers.
“Nine-one-one. What's your emergency?”
“Yes, someone has been shot.” I placed my hand back over Calhoun's heart to feel it still beating softly.
“What's your address?”
Toi ran.
I could hear someone yelling, “Freeze! Put your hands up!”
Security in the building must have heard the gunshots and went after her.
As I gave him the address to the hotel I could hear Calhoun softly saying, “I love you, man. I never meant to do you like this.” Over and over he repeated the same thing.
“We will be there shortly.”
I sat the phone down.
Despite what Calhoun did, I still loved him. He was the one who I had experienced so much with growing up. He was my boy, really my best friend. We had had so much history together. But he betrayed the fuck out of me.
“I love you, man,” he repeated in a hoarse voice.
“I know.”
“Aye. Remember when we broke into Fred Sanford's house and that crazy-ass monkey came out of the closet? You were shook.”
I laughed as tears slid down my cheeks. “You always get this wrong.
You
were shook.”
You
were shook.”
He gave a laugh and with it more blood flowed from his mouth. It trailed down his chin. His shirt was now completely covered. He saw it. It scared him. But he continued to talk almost as if he was in denial about the fact that he was dying.
“All right, man, I was scared. I'm only admitting that to you. I don't want to jack up my street cred.”
I couldn't help but start sobbing as a glazed look came over his eyes.
“I sure miss Paul. Remember when he used to pop those wheelies in his wheelchair? He had some serious skills, man.”
“He did them better than we did them on our skateboards.”
“Yep. He did.”
There was silence for a moment.
“Guess I'm going to see him soon.”
“Naw. Not yet.” My lips trembled. “The ambulance is on the way.”
“I always looked up to you, Chance. I always wanted to be just like you, despite all the shit I talked.”
His heartbeat was fainter. “Like me. I'm the boringass square.”
“Naw. You're somebody special, Chance. Don't forget that shit. You're too good for this world. I love you.”
And it didn't matter if the ambulance had rushed through the doors in that very moment.
His heart stopped.
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