Page 23 of Twisted Revelations

12

Dax

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I inquired, anxious about where Laura was taking me. She had insisted it would be better if we took her car. I’m sure to aid in avoiding the extra attention my skin color would draw.

“Say what you mean, Dax. You usually have more to say,” she stated, her teasing tone irking my nerve.

“You’re taking me into your hood where I’ll likely be the only white man, an outsider. Don’t you think that’s a good enough reason for me to be concerned?” I questioned, glancing around when the businesses and buildings started to look more haggard, some boarded and some abandoned as we approached the heart of Crestwood.

Crumbling red-brown, dirty-white, and ash-gray bricks made up the buildings, some several stories high, some single-storied duplexes, and houses, all mingled together. Cracked doorframes, weathered wood, useless bars on windows and doors passed my view as neighbors and friends hung out on their porches and balconies.

The streets weren’t littered with trash, but they were bustling with people standing around, talking, smoking, and drinking, block-party style. Dingy clothing hung from balconies and open windows that didn’t have screens. People peeked down at us as onlookers on the streets gawked and pointed.

“I ain’t a killer but don’t push me….” Tupac’s lyrics spilled from Laura’s radio. The sound was set low, so the lyrics seeped into the car’s interior like subliminal messages hinting at what we might face.

“You’re with me, Dax. I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” she promised, flashing a calming gaze in my direction. Although I knew firsthand how tough she was, she couldn’t guarantee my life if things went bad. I believed she misunderstood my anxiousness. It wasn’t riding my body because I was afraid of what would happen to me.

“I figured you for the biggest advocate for my demise,” I finally replied to her statement, noticing more fingers pointing and eyes scanning as they spotted me. Although different types of music warred with each other, it became background to the eyes that followed Laura’s car as we rolled down the block.

She chose to ignore my quip. My body coiled tighter when two men stood in the path of her car, making her come to a screeching stop. Their weapons were visible, but thankfully, they remained tucked into their waists.

My hand sat on my holstered pistol, concealed by my dark suit jacket. My spare rested against my ankle. Laura hadn’t suggested I leave my weapons, a clue that we were entering the lion’s den. It wasn’t visible, but I knew she had hidden the pistol she’d taken off the stiff at the warehouse.

The man standing on Laura’s side of the car sidestepped around the hood and approached as she rolled her noisy window down, the loud squeak calling out like a woman screaming.

“What the fuck do you want, Jay?” Her gaze remained aimed straight ahead, and her tone wasn’t the least bit humble, even with the gun in the man’s waist staring at the side of her face. The man bent and peered inside the car, causing her to yank away from his intrusion.

“We can’t allow you to pass. Who is that you have with you? We don’t know him.” His hostile expression remained pinned on me.

“He’s with me. That’s all the fuck you need to know. Now, tell Buck to get his ass out of my way before I run him over,” she expressed as she revved the car engine, making the overused pistons growl under the hood. The man stood his ground and refused to relay Laura’s warning to his friend.

Clink! Clink!

The loud sound of the gun she’d drawn and slapped on the dash of the car, made the big man at her window stumble back with surprise. She glared at the ceiling of her car, her head moving from side to side in irritation. “Jesus, please build a fence around my trigger finger, so I won’t pop a cap in this nigga’s ass.”

The black nine-millimeter she’d thrown on the dash wasn’t the same as the silver Beretta she’d taken off the stiff at the warehouse, which meant she was in possession of at least two guns. Her deadly glare panned to the man at her left.

“Are we going to have a fucking problem? You’re getting on my goddamn nerves, Jay. Now, step the fuck back and let me pass before I have to explain to Kadeem why I killed your ass!”

The man lifted his hands and took another step back. “Hey, Buck,” he called to the man standing in front of the car who had never taken his gaze off me. “Let her pass. You know how she gets when she hasn’t had pussy in a while.”

“What about him?” Buck questioned, pointing at me.

“Kadeem will take care of him if there is a problem,” the man confirmed like I wasn’t sitting there.

My mind reeled at the harsh manner in which Laura had handled the serious situation. She took off, her small foot slamming on the gas, almost taking Buck’s right hip with us before he cleared the front of the car.

“It’s okay. You’re good,” she assured me, staring straight ahead. “The only language they know is curse words and guns,” she continued like her actions were the answers to my mounting concerns.

I didn’t know Kadeem’s motives for wanting to meet me. All Laura would say was that Beverly had enlisted him to help find her last night and he was like a brother who wanted to meet the man that had helped her.

When we drove up to the building located a few blocks down the road from where the men had stopped us, I was reluctant to exit the vehicle. My trust was placed in a woman I wasn’t a hundred percent sure didn’t continue to cling to the urge to kill me simply because I was a man. I’d overheard one of her conversations with Beverly , and she’d talked about men like we were all rabid dogs that needed to be put down.

After exiting the car, I followed her up a set of dusty gray cement steps, sensing eyes on me from every direction. This was the first time I’d experienced what it must have been like to be a minority. It was unsettling and humbling in a way that opened me up to appreciate some of the freedoms I took for granted.

Once we entered the building, a little of my tension evaporated until we cleared the stairs and approached an intimidating metal door. When a small metal window slid open, smiling eyes met Laura, but turned wide when they landed on me. A tiny black camera, no bigger than the tip of my finger, sat camouflaged by the black rim of the door. I’d have missed it if I didn’t have a trained eye.

“Kadeem asked me to come. He wanted me to bring the man who helped me. So, here he is. Now, open the fucking door, Barry!” she yelled at the eyes.

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