Roy Glenn - The cost of vengeance

“No,” Shay said.

I looked back at her. “Go get the car, Shay.”

While Shay hurried off to get the car, me and Teena walked up on Bryce. I hid in a doorway and Teena called out to Bryce and tried to get him to come toward me. If that didn’t work, I was just gonna start shooting and hope every bullet found its mark.

It worked.

Bryce stopped and came back toward Teena. As soon as he was close enough, I stepped out and placed the gun to the back of his head. Teena took his gun just as Shay pulled up in the car. I walked Bryce to the car and we got in. “Where y’all takin’ me?” the bitch wanted to know.

“To the killin’ floor,” I said.

Shay must have known exactly what I was talking about, because she drove straight to Kenyatta’s old spot. When we got there, we walked Bryce in and took him to the same apartment that we killed Shantia Lewis in. Teena pulled the police tape from the door and went in.

As soon as we were inside, Bryce turned around quickly and tried to get the gun from me. While we wrestled for it, Shay tried to rush Bryce. He kicked her and she fell. Bryce got the gun away from me. He punched me in the face and pushed me to the floor. Teena came running at him and he shot her. I heard Teena scream and she dropped her gun. When I looked I saw Teena on the floor and I went to get her gun. Shay got up and went at Bryce, but he grabbed Shay around the neck and held the gun to her head. “Get back, Nina, or I’ll put a hole in her head,” Bryce said and I stopped. “Now! Right over there.”

I backed away and moved to where Teena was lying on the floor. “Teena, you okay?” I asked and shook her, but she didn’t answer. “Teena!” I shook her again and started to cry. I yelled her name over and over, but it was too late-Teena was dead.

I looked at Shay. Bryce pressed the barrel against her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. He began running his hand over Shay’s breasts and squeezing them. He pulled up her dress and was feeling her ass and legs.

Shay jerked when he stuck his hand in her panties and reached between her legs. “You move again, Shay, and I’ll kill you.” Bryce looked at me. “And that goes for you, too, Nina. You move and I’ll kill her,” Bryce said and ripped off her panties. Shay tried to get away, but he pulled her back and began unbuckling his pants.

He pushed Shay over and put the gun to the back of her head. I couldn’t believe that he was going to rape her right in front of me. He forced himself inside her and Shay screamed. “Shut up!”

Shay closed her eyes and I just hoped that it would be over for her soon; and I wished that I had never gotten us into this. Teena was dead and Shay was being raped because I wanted to kill Bryce so badly. I should have shot him right there on the street, and now I wished I had.

When suddenly Bryce began hitting Shay in the head with the gun. I rolled over quickly and went for the gun. I picked up the gun and held it to his head. “Hit her again and I’ll blow your head off.”

Bryce stopped punching and dropped the gun. Shay snatched the gun from my hand. “Mutha fucka!” she screamed and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit him in the chest and Bryce went down. Shay stood over him and I watched as Shay fired three more shots in him.

“You okay?” I asked.

Shay nodded her head and we walked over to Teena’s body. “We can’t leave her here,” Shay said, and our tears began to flow. We picked up her body and carried it to the car. As we drove away, I couldn’t stop thinking that sometimes, the cost of vengeance is too high.

Mike Black

“It’s Victor,” Bobby said and handed me the phone.

“What’s up?”

“Sorry to bother you, but I just got a call from Jada West,” Victor said and I sat up a little straighter.

“What did Ms. West say?” I asked and Bobby cut his eyes at me.

“She wants you to call her whenever you have time. She said to assure you that it’s nothing important,” Victor said.

“Thanks,” I said and ended the call. I handed Bobby back his phone.

“So what’s up with you and the happy hooker?”

“Nothing. She just wants to talk to me.”

Bobby didn’t say anything; he just kept looking in my direction as he drove.

“What?”

“If you say it’s nothing, then it’s nothing.”

“Then why are you staring at me?”

“I’m just waitin’ to see if you’re gonna tell me the truth,” Bobby said and finally looked where he was driving.

“What truth?”

“Nothing, Mike. So when do I get to meet Ms. West ? Or are you keeping her away from me for a reason?”

“I tried to get you to ride with me last time I went over there. You told me to take Victor.” I looked at Bobby. “Okay, I am interested in her. But what I’m more interested in, is her recruitin’ a better class of women to work for Jamaica in Nassau.”

“I knew it was something,” Bobby said and his phone rang. He looked at the display and smiled. “Hey, baby. I was just. .” he began, and then his expression changed. “What? Slow down, baby.”

Whatever was being said wasn’t good.

“Okay, okay, don’t cry, Barbara. Just put your mother on the phone,” Bobby said and made a U-turn that almost caused an accident. Barbara was his oldest daughter. She was eleven years old and very much daddies little girl. “No, no, don’t hang up. Give your mother the phone!” he practically shouted, and then threw the phone down and stepped on the gas.

“What’s wrong, Bobby?”

“Pam is leaving and she’s taking my kids.”

I believed, and at the same time couldn’t believe, what I was hearing. Pam was leaving. I know the last time I talked to her she didn’t sound good. “I’m just sick and tired of his bitches callin’ the house. I can’t go through this again, Mike,” Pam said to me the last time we talked.

“I understand, Pam. And you shouldn’t have to. But Bobby told me it was just a misunderstanding. He didn’t even know that woman like that.”

“That’s the same bullshit he told me,” Pam said calmly; in a voice that I hadn’t heard since the night she killed Cat and Melinda. “And if that’s the case, why does this bitch keep calling here? I can’t go through this again, Mike.”

“I know, Pam,” I said, and I knew she was gonna do something, but I didn’t think she would leave him and take the kids.

“What did Barbara say?” I asked as Bobby weaved through traffic.

“She said that Pam came in her room and just started packing her clothes, and said they were goin’ on a little trip. When she asked her where they were goin’, Pam told her that she was leavin’ me,” Bobby said, almost causing another accident getting on the New England Thruway.

When the speedometer hit ninety, I thought about telling Bobby to slow down, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I thought that I should say something to him, but all I could think of was that he should have seen this coming. They both should. Bobby’s involvement with other women and Pam’s refusal to have sex with him was the only place this was going. Since that wouldn’t be a very comforting thing to say, I kept quiet and hoped that he wouldn’t kill us trying to make it out there before they left.

Bobby turned on his street and sped toward the house. He pushed the button to open the garage door and Pam’s car was gone. Bobby brought the car to a screeching stop, jumped out, and ran inside. I followed him in and went straight down to the basement. I got a big glass and filled it with Remy for Bobby, then poured myself a drink and went and sat down. I knew when he hung up the phone that she wouldn’t be here when we got here.