TYCE 5 (8 page)

Bree rocked a simple light blue short set with matching flip flops. Her hair was styled in a curly mane
and her halter top exposed the tattoo that said
Flash
on her right shoulder. In the two years I’d known her she had grown into a mature woman who handled her business.

Bree sucked her teeth. “I really didn’t
wanna bother you with this after all you’ve been through, but I really have no one else to turn to.” She looked over at the shimmering pool before she returned her gaze back to me. “I’ve been having some trouble with my English professor.”

I leaned back in my chair. “What
kinda trouble?”

“Sexual harassment type trouble. I’m his TA, and one evening I was alone with him helping him grade papers when he attacked me.”

I suddenly sat up in my chair with new interest when I heard the word attack.

“Did he hurt you?”

“Well not really. Let me jus’ tell you what happened. Like I said it was jus’ me and him in his office and he started flirting with me talkin’ about us going out for drinks after we were done. I thought it was nothin’ ‘cuz he always jokes and tries to get me to go out with him, but I politely declined and he changed the subject back to business. That time when I said no, he just kept pressuring me to go out with him. I was sitting at a desk and he came up behind me and started rubbing my shoulders. I shrugged him off and kinda ducked a little, but then he tried to kiss my neck!” Bree’s face twisted up in disgust. “So, I stood up and pushed him off and started to back up. Then he grabbed my waist and called me a dick teaser. I tried to fight him off, but besides being a professor he’s a black belt in karate, so he easily pinned me down against the desk! My face was on the wood and he pulled my skirt up. He had my panties down around my thighs and his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t scream. The only reason he didn’t fuckin’ rape me was because he heard the janitor come in his class room. That made him stop, but before he let me go he threatened me.” Bree was almost in tears.

My jaw clenched. “What did he say?”

“He told me his brother was the Dean and he would make sure I got kicked out of the school and that I could kiss my education good bye. He said I would be accused of trading sex for grades and he would ruin my life if I said a word to anybody. Tyce, I can’t risk my future over somethin’ like this. I’ve worked too hard to jus’ throw it all away over some bullshit like this. I don’t wanna go to the police ‘cuz that would do more harm than good. It would be my word against his and he’s a respected professor at a major university. I’d have to press charges, testify, and all kinds of shit. The whole story would be in the news and I don’t want that kind of attention, not when I’m so close to graduating. I don’t know what to do.”  Bree blinked rapidly to hold back the tears of frustration.

I felt sorry for her. I knew she had been through a lot in the past few years and the last thing she needed was an old
, horny ass professor trying to stick his pencil thin dick in her every chance he got.

“Don’t cry.” I reached across the table and held her hand. “How much longer do you have his class?”

“Four more weeks.” She sniffed.

“Alright, you
’re no longer his assistant, and I want you to stop going to his class.” I pointed at her.

“But I’ll fail if I don’t go.”

I smiled. “No you won’t…trust me.”

“How far along am I Dr.
Rosent?”

My doctor walked in the small patient room with her usual rock star ensemble. Her black hair had grown a l
ittle since she delivered Khari, but she still had on the same shade of bright red lip stick and colorful eye shadow.

“You’re about 8 weeks pregnant. It is a viable pregnancy so you do have options.” Dr.
Rosent sat down on her small grey stool. “Look Angelique, I’m not a priest, so I won’t judge you. You seem stressed out about this baby as opposed to your first one. I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I’m not going to dig into your personal life. Just know that I’ll help you in whatever way you want me to.”

I touched my stomach lightly. “Thank you.” I forced myself to ask the next question. “
Ummm what are my options?”

Dr.
Rosent took a deep breath. “Well, at this point, there are really only two options. One is that you can birth the baby and the other one is to terminate the pregnancy. Being that you’re only eight weeks we can do what’s called a medical abortion using a pill called Mifeprex, but that’s only an option for another week. After week nine we have to go another route. I always suggest to my patients that the abortion pill is the best way to go. The other methods tend to be more traumatic.”

I decided to bare my soul to a woman who was sworn to
keep my shit confidential by law.

“Dr.
Rosent, I was using cocaine when I got pregnant. I know it was at least for about a three month, but I stopped using it about four weeks ago. I had no idea I was pregnant, or I would’ve quit. I wanna know what kind of damage I did, or what could happen if I keep it. I’m not proud of it, but I own up to my mistakes and I wanna know everything.” I smoothed my clammy hands over my jeans to dry them off.

Dr.
Rosent looked at me and smiled gently.

“It took a lot of guts to divulge that to me. Lik
e I said, I’m not here to judge. I’m here to help and inform. Cocaine use in the early stages of a pregnancy can increase the chances of a miscarriage. The baby could be born with low birth weight, a smaller head and brain, and the risk of SIDS goes up. The latter hasn’t been proven yet, but I agree with the early findings in that matter. Children exposed to cocaine while in the womb also run the risk of lagging behind other kids as far as motor skills and development before the age of two.”

My eyes grew wider. “Damn, s
o I might have jacked this child up already? Way to go Angelique,” I scolded myself.

“No
no no, don’t beat yourself up. There’s no way you could have known you were pregnant. We all make mistakes. When I was your age I drank like my first name was Jack and my last name was Daniels. I also experimented with drugs in college. A ton of my class mates took Adderall so they could stay up all night and cram for tests...me included. Again I’m not judging you.”

A look of surprise came across my face when I heard
her confess her own drug tales. It actually made me feel better to know that my own doctor was once a pill popping party girl.

“Wow, I would have never guessed.”
My mouth opened in shock.

My doc touched my hand. “Life is just one choice after another. The only
thing that separates us from animals is the power of choice. An ant can only do what an ant was created to do. It can’t just decide one day that it doesn’t want to participate with the rest of the colony. It has no choice, but humans do. We have the power to decide what we want, and that’s what makes us great. You have to choose what’s best for you Angelique. Do you have antennas growing out of you head?”

“No,
” I said quietly.

“Can you carry 20 times your body weight?” Dr.
Rosent’s eyebrows rose up.

I chuckled. “Nope.”

“That’s because you’re not an ant. Think long and hard about what you want to do and call me in a few days. Either way, I’m your doctor.”

After Bree left and Dallas put Khari to sleep I finally had the chance to call Khalil. I had to tell Dallas to let me handle it because she wanted to call him herself and tell him the good news. It took a second
, but I convinced her to let me handle it and she agreed. I was starting to like the new mature Dallas. It seemed she’d done a lot of growing up and we were becoming closer and closer by the day.

I stepped onto my patio to smoke a cigarette while I rapped with the new drug lord of the west coast. Khalil held that title as a result of the death of Armando and the incarceration of my punk ass dad Diego. With them out of the picture, he’d taken over and was now living large. As I put the fire to the tip, my woman’s cousin answered the phone.

“Wasup Tyce, long time no hear from. How you doin’ these days?” I heard soft music playing in the background behind his voice.

“Oh
, I’m good now.”

“That’s
wasup, how’s Dallas?”

“She’s good, real good.”

“So wasup?” He asked suddenly.

I cut the fat and got right to the meat. “I’m
callin’ to let you know if you don’t already…that I cancelled that plane ticket to Rome.”

Khalil paused. “Oh yeah, I heard that. I can’t say I blame you. I heard Rome is all fucked up now.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty dead there. It ain’t live like it used to be, so you ain’t missin’ nothin’. Holla at me when you get back in town, so we can catch up in person.”

“
I’ma do that. Tell my cuz I said wasup.”

“I will.”

“A’ight.” He hung up.

The coded conversation lasted all of two minutes. I planned to really fill him in when I saw him in person.
Lately he’d been a busy man, but I would run into him sooner or later. If need be, I would show up at the next family reunion and feel him out while he stood next to a hot ass grill. That nigga better not be salty about me squashing Roman’s head like a watermelon because after all, if it wasn’t for me, he would have still been a mid-level dope dealer riding around in a three year old Benz with pockets that were as skinny as Tommy Davidson.

Khalil’s
sixteen hundred dollar Salvatore Ferragamo crocodile loafers pressed into the mineral rich soil on a farm in between San Diego and Los Angeles. The location was remote. Not only was the isolated property used to grow sweet corn, it also served as the normal meeting spot when he wanted to conduct secretive business.

The individual he was scheduled to meet was already sipping a bottle of water under t
he hot noon sun. Khalil leaned against the hood of his four door Porsche and folded his arms across his peach linen shirt. As the other half of the duo approached the car, Khalil took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“You’re late.”

Khalil’s face remained expressionless. “I took the long way here to make sure nobody followed me. Anyway, I’m here…so wasup? We usually meet once a month so why the sudden change in the schedule?”

“You know damn well why I’m out here walking through tall corn and it’s not because I need the cardio. What I need is for you to finish the job.”

Khalil cocked his head to the side. “I kinda figured it was about that. I’ll put some people on it right away.”

“
Naw, that’s not good enough. You tried that shit before! Roman was supposed to kill that bastard, and look how that turned out! You tried to outsource a murder instead of getting your own hands dirty and you failed! It’s you, or it’s you this time!”

Khalil sat on top of his own hood. He didn’t run the risk of dirtying up his tan linen slacks because the luxury car was as clean as brand new carpet.

“I’ll take care of it.” Khalil swatted a bee that buzzed around his head.

“Let me know when he’s dead!”

“Sabrina, how are you and Tyce related? Are you two like play brother and sister or what?

Peck sipped the delicious margarita she’d just served him as he waited to be f
illed in on their family lineage.

Sabrina sat down at her sea side table. “
Me and Tyce have the same father. His name is Diego Alverez.”

“The notorious drug dealer?!” Peck leaned into the glass table.

“Yep, the one and only, but he’s in prison now. It’s a complicated situation, but I’ll tell you about it one day.”

Sabrina looked over at the blue water of the ocean. A mischievous look adorned her pretty face.

“You ever skinny dipped?” She changed the subject.

“
Ummm naw, I haven’t.” Peck shook his head cautiously.

“Well, there’s a first time fo
r everything.” Sabrina stood up, unbuttoned her jean shorts and slid them off revealing her smooth hairless lower half.

Next, she unsnapped her bikini top and her perky breasts made Peck
’s mouth water. She kicked off her flip flops and before Peck could utter a word she dashed down the steps, sprinted across the sand, and dove into the cool water completely naked.

“Don’t b
e a pussy! Come on!” Sabrina waved her wet hand while the waves sloshed around her.

Peck took a look up and down the beach to see if he could spot any people. He saw a couple walking toward Sabrina’s house holding hands.

“Fuck them!” Sabrina waved her hand again.

Suddenly Peck felt that shyness start to paralyze him, but again he forced himself to rise to the occasion. There was no way he was going to sit on the bench while the finest woman he’d ever met was playing in the water like a mermaid. He followed Sabrina’s bold lead and undressed just as fast as she did. He took a big gulp from his stiff drink, adjusted his balls, and stepped over his pile of clothes. As he trotted toward the tide, the couple was only about 10 yards away. He gave the shocked man and woman a thumbs up sign, and then he waded into the water to join Sabrina.