“TJ! Where the fuck are you?!”
Leaving my room, I couldn’t help the scowl on my face at the sound of Lisa’s voice. I stood at the top of the stairs and glared down at her. I hadn’t seen her since I beat her ass after she got me suspended from my job and told Blossom about us.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hissed as I reached the bottom of the staircase and hovered above her. “You know damn well I’m not fucking with you.”
“Hmph.” She smirked, crossing her arms as she eyed me. “From the looks of it, whoever did this to your house isn’t fucking with you either. You can’t go around doing people any kind of way and expect good things to happen to you.”
Waving her off, I walked past her to the middle of my living room and looked around. It was going to take a while to clean this shit up, and I was going to have my mother come over and help me. She would be down for whatever as long as I threw her a few dollars and some gin. Dialing her number, I cursed under my breath as it went to voicemail again. I was going to have to pull up on her since I hadn’t been able to get in touch with her for a few days. Her ass was probably with Aerial and those other old chicken heads, partying like they usually did in that ghetto-ass neighborhood.
“Look, Lisa… As you can see, I have other shit to worry about.” I turned to face her. “Why the fuck are you at my house anyway? I told you I wasn’t fucking with you, and that I love my girl.”
“Your girl?!” she shouted as she stepped toward me, her light skin already turning red. “That girl doesn’t want you, Tyreek! She’s seen you for what you are: a cheater and woman-beater! You think she’s going to take you back after everything you’ve done to her—to me?!”
Shrugging my shoulders, I stepped past her as I headed toward my front door. I needed to get my mama over here beforeit got too late in the day. Once she got with her friends, it was a wrap.
“My girl loves me, and she knows I love her.” I held my door open as I glanced over my shoulder and smirked. “Ain’t shit coming between us ever again.”
“Not even a baby?” My face fell in an instant. Now, it was her turn to smirk. “You think she’s going to be okay with another woman having her man’sfirstchild?” She reached into her hoodie and pulled out ultrasound pictures. “She’s a sweet girl, but I don’t think she’ll be a good stepmother to the kid her man made on her.”
Stepping toward me, she slammed the grainy photos into my chest. I stood in shock as I watched the black-and-white film fall to the floor. The room began to spin as I thought about what she said. I knew Blossom, and she would never forgive me for this. Lisa had officially ruined my life.
“You weak-ass bitch!” I roared, yanking her back from the door as she tried to leave. “You trapped me! You fuckin’ trapped me, you no-good bitch!”
“Let me goooo!” she screamed as she clawed at my hands in hopes I would let her loose. “You’re hurting me, TJ!”
“Bitch, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Throwing her to the floor, I watched as she fell on her tailbone before trying to crawl away. Kicking her in the side, I watched as she arched in pain before rolling over.
“TJ, please, don’t do this!” she mumbled through her cries, but her tears didn’t mean shit to me. “Think about the baby!”
Dropping my eyes to her midsection, I saw red. All I could think about was Blossom and what she would do if I told her I was expecting a little one. She would never forgive me, and our relationship would be over forever.
“Fuck you and fuck that baby.”
Raising my foot, I stomped on her stomach as hard as I could. My ears rang as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Bending down, I used the butt of my gun, hitting her in the temple repeatedly to shut her up.
“All that damn crying and shit.” I frowned at her as her body went limp. “You shouldn’t have even come over here.”
Standing upright, I looked over her unconscious body and noticed the blood seeping from between her legs. I didn’t feel bad for her because if anyone was having my kid, it would be Blossom. As I stood there and watched her, something didn’t seem right. Using my foot, I tapped her leg to wake her, but there was no response.
“Wake your bitch ass up, Lisa!”
When she remained still, I dropped to the ground, placing my finger on her neck for a pulse. My eyes expanded from shock and a whole lot of fear when I didn’t feel one. Jumping to my feet, I stumbled backward to my front door. Snatching it open, I all but jumped down the stairs, ignoring the stares from my neighbors. Starting my car, I floored it all the way to my mother’s house.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I screamed as I beat the steering wheel repeatedly. “I killed her! I fuckin’ killed her!”
I didn’t want Lisa anymore, and I didn’t want her to ruin my relationship once I made things right with Blossom. Even with all of that being true, I never wanted to kill her. The only person I wanted dead was Jaseon McKnight; the junior and the senior.
Even though killing her wasn’t my intention, Lisa wasn’t my first body, and she wouldn’t be the last. Since becoming an officer, I’d committed several crimes, including the death of Jamal Cummings, Chris’s brother. The day his severed head rolled around Rowan’s office, I was relieved but also worried. I had killed Jamal in hopes of placing the blame on the McKnights. It was supposed to fuel the fire within Chris andmake it easier for him to agree to help me take them down. The only thing it did was get his ass killed too. Killing Jamal was a means to an end. Killing Lisa was a mistake that I shouldn’t have made. There were too many people who had seen her at my house and could easily point the finger at me. I knew my life would never be the same once they found her body.
Speeding into my mother’s neighborhood, I damn near ran over the kids in the parking lot, splashing water every which way. It had been raining so much lately that the storm drains were clogged, causing overflow into the parking lots. It was still early in the morning, so even though there were kids outside, there wasn’t much else going on. The hood usually only came alive after lunchtime, which is why I was trying to snatch my mama up early before people started to wake up from the previous night’s activities.
“Mama is going to kill me,” I murmured to myself as I jumped out of my car. “She’s going to—Ahhhh!”
Reaching the top step to her porch, I dropped to my knees as I peered into her living room window. Bending over, I threw up all the food in my stomach as hot tears blinded me. Her neighbors began to step outside at the sound of my shrieking cries. Heaving, I pushed off the ground and took slow steps into the house. Before I could get inside good, the horrid smell hit me immediately.
“Mama!” I cried as I ran into her home and dropped before her headless body. “Mama, no!”
