Page 44 of Taming a Menace
“I’m just trying to make it make sense. Nobody has to know you’re seeing him. There are ways to keep people out of your business, sis. I know you want him. I saw how you were looking at him like the last slice of pie.”
“Well if you would shut the hell up for a minute, I came out here to tell y’all that he was giving me a ride home. You’ve almost talked me out of it.”
“No, ma’am. Don’t blame that on me. Go get that dick,” my sister urged.
“It’s not like that. He’s just giving me a ride. We already discussed that.”
“He’s about to give you a ride all right.” Patrice snickered.
“Exactly! Tell me all about your ride in the morning, baby sis,” Isis teased.
“Whatever. I hope the two of you grow up one day,” I said.
“If it means being a stick in the mud afraid to get dick I already had then I don’t want to.” My sister laughed.
“Go to hell. I’ll call you when I make it home.”
“OK, baby girl. I love you,” Isis said, pulling me in for a quick hug.
“I love you too, crazy. Night, Trice.”
“Good night,” Patrice said as I turned to walk back to the door.
When I opened the door, I scanned for Key and quickly spotted him sitting on a stool next to the wall facing the door. He was talking to a couple of other men but kept his eyes on me. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as I walked deeper into the club.
A smile curled the left side of his mouth, making me take a deep breath. What was the plan again? Before I could remind myself that he was just giving me a ride home and walking me to the door, someone grabbed my arm.
“Gah damn, girl. You thicker than a bowl of cold oatmeal. What’s your name?”
“Can you let my arm go?” I scowled as I attempted to pull my arm away.
“Damn a nigga can’t even ask you your name?” The man snarled.
“Not with your hands on me,” I fussed, irritated that he was still holding on to me.
“Y’all hos kill me coming to the club with all this short ass tight shit on with your titties and ass all in a nigga face but don’t want nobody to say nothing to you. You must eat pussy?”
“Let my fucking arm go,” I fussed.
As the words left my mouth, someone hit him, causing him to stumble back and lose his grip on my arm. By the time I realized that it was Key, he was hitting him again. Blood leaked from the man’s mouth and nose as he looked between us with wild eyes.
“The lady said take your hands off her,” Key informed him.
“You must want the pussy yourself, nigga? You put your hands on me about this stuck-up bitch.”
“All of this is mine. I should put more than my hands on you, but I’m trying to charge it to all the liquor you probably drank tonight.”
“Key, let’s go,” I said, shaking my head. This was not how I wanted the rest of my night to go.
“Yeah, Key. You better go unless you ready to die about that pussy,” the belligerent guy said as he brandished a gun from behind his back.
Suddenly I was frozen in place. I knew I should have stayed my ass at home tonight. Now I was about to die in the back room of a club. Key grasped my arm, snatching me behind him as he charged the dude pointing a gun at us. When Key grabbed him the gun went off, causing everyone in the room the scream, including me. While the other few people had the wherewithal to run, my ass was stunned into immobility. I didn’t know what to do.
Every cell in my brain was screaming for me to run like hell and never look back, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t just leave while Key was defending me. I couldn’t leave knowing something might happen to him. I couldn’t just leave him, so I didn’t. I stood by helplessly as the gun went in the air.
The hand holding the gun pointed toward the sky while Keywan held the man in a chokehold. He clawed at Key’s arms, struggling unsuccessfully against the power of his hold. There was no use. My eyes watered as I started to wonder what the hell I had gotten myself into. I should have been in bed watching reruns. Instead I was in the middle of a club fight. These never ended well.
“Key!” a man barked.
