Dear Summer (20 page)

By the time J.C. realized that the intruders were in his house, the two men with ski masks were standing right over his bed. “Get the hell out of here!”

“Shut the fuck up, old man,” the short one said.
“I don’t have no money.”
The short one stuffed the gun into J.C.’s mouth, breaking his

When Tommy’s phone rang, the number came up private. He answered. It was J-Black.
“I need some bread, man.”
“I don’t have no dough,” Tommy said, remembering he would need all his money for running. He had to save what little bit he had left.
“Listen, man, I just need a couple of hundred dollars, nothing major.”
“Okay, I can probably swing that. Can you meet me in front of my hotel in about an hour?”
“I’m not far. I can be there in fifteen minutes.”

J-Black was sitting on top of the Magnum when Tommy came out. Tommy gave him the two $100 bills and asked, “Did you kill Country?”

J-Black folded the money and put it into his front pocket. “Some things you are better off not knowing, Tommy. You know that. You’ve been in the game long enough.”

“Why?”
“Because the niggas tried to kill me,” J-Black said. He lifted his shirt to show Tommy the staples where he had been shot. They crossed the center of his stomach and made a lowercase t.
“Damn.”
“Damn is right.” He stared at Tommy with serious eyes. “And as soon as I find that faggot-ass Q, it’s over for him too.”
“I think you should chill. You’ve killed four people already.”
“Besides Q, you and Scooter are the only people that knows.”
“Your point?”
“Nigga, keep your fuckin’ mouth shut and I’ll be alright,” J-Black said as he lit a Newport.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m on your side.”
The smoke came from J-Black’s nostrils. “Well, if you’re on my side, help me out.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I need some money, man.”
“I can’t help you with that.”
“I’m not trying to extort you or nothing, but bro’ I really need some paper. If you can’t help me, put me on a lick or something.”
Tommy thought for a moment then said, “I really don’t have anything for you to do.”
J-Black pulled his gun from his back pocket and moved it to his waist. “I need another $200.”
Tommy pulled two more hundred dollar bills from his wallet and passed them off.

He smiled and looked down at her. “What did I do to deserve this?”
“Tommy, I just realized how much I missed you.”
He closed the door and she sat on the bed. The room fell silent and he turned the TV on. She asked him to turn it off. “Let’s talk for a minute.”
“What you want to talk about?”
“Us.”
He paced and then he peered out the hotel room window and wondered if the feds were watching. Where the hell was Mark Pratt? “What about us?”
“Tommy, why won’t you do what you’re supposed to do?”
He sighed. He had no explanation why he did the things he did. He oftentimes wondered why he had been such a womanizer. Why did counting illegal money give him such a thrill? He had lived most of his life on the edge, but that’s who he was and he’d long realized that no penitentiary or counselor could change him.
“I am who I am.”
“I know, and I love you.”
“But?”
“But, Tommy, I want so much more for us.”
“Like what?”
She stood and smiled brightly. “I want a wedding. Not just any old wedding, I want a big wedding in Jamaica with all of my friends and family. I don’t want no justice of the peace shit.”
“Weddings are just a ceremony. What matters is you love me and I love you…” He looked out the curtains again.
“Tommy, what are you looking for?”
“Nothing.” He closed the curtain and sat down on the chair beside the window to finish what he was saying. “Let’s just go downtown and get it over with, you know, City Hall. Nothing spectacular, but we can go to the Maldive Islands for our honeymoon.”
“I want a wedding.”
He huffed but didn’t respond.
“So where do we go with this roller coaster of a relationship?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“I want it to be me and you without Summer.”
“Summer is the past,” he said, knowing that Summer had been seeing somebody else.
Their eyes locked. “Is she really the past?”
Tommy moved closer to Angie and ran his fingers through her hair. He touched her butt and she pushed his hand away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Tommy, I want to talk.”
“Okay I’m listening.”
“How do we go again? I mean, I don’t know if I can trust you, but I love you.”
“Listen, I made some mistakes, but I really love you.”
“So can you promise that you won’t leave me?”
Tommy wanted to promise her that. He wanted things to go back to what they were before, but he knew that it was just a matter of time before he was brought up on that bullshit indictment. He’d be back in jail, just like Angie was afraid of. She had been right. It was his associates that had brought him down again.
“Promise me, Tommy.”
He looked her directly in her eyes. “I will never leave you if I can help it.”
She kissed him passionately then pushed him back on the bed and removed her blouse.
*****

Matt called Tommy at 10:00 a.m.
“Hey, Matt. What’s up?”
“Wondering what you’re going to do?”
“Yeah, yeah,” Tommy said, trying not to further incriminate

himself just in case he couldn’t get away.
“Tommy, we need to do this fast.”
“What do we need to do fast?”
“I have the Maserati that you wanted…remember?” “Can we meet somewhere?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah, where do you want to meet?”
“We can meet at Carolina Place Mall.”
“Okay, Tommy. Have the cash with you.”
“We can talk business in person.”
“Tommy, have the money. I have people calling me for the

car every day. I need for you to take it or else I have to sell it to somebody else.”
“I’ll meet you at two.”
“Tommy have the money.”
Tommy hung up the phone.

The text message from Summer read,
Come over right away
. Tommy got into his truck, and fifteen minutes later he was on her doorstep. She invited him in. Before he could take his seat on the sofa, she said, “Tommy, I’m pregnant.”

His jaw dropped in surprise but he didn’t say anything. “Tommy, say something.”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know, say anything.”
He finally sat down then looked at her, but still he did not

respond.
“Don’t you want to know when it happened? Who is the
baby’s daddy?”
“Do you want to tell me? Hell, I’m still shocked. Then again,
nothing surprises me with bitches.”
“Tommy, why you gotta be disrespectful?”
“Disrespectful? You’re the one that’s pregnant.”
She paced. “So, Tommy, what the hell was I supposed to do?
I mean, you have your life with Angie; I was just some ass on the
side.”
“Ass on the side for me or the nigga that knocked you up?” “Oh that was a low blow.”
Tommy stood. He was about to leave, but she approached
him and placed her arms around him. “Don’t go, Tommy, please
don’t go.”
He pushed her arms away.
“Baby, can we talk?” she said.
He stared at her coldly. “Talk about what? I mean, the damage
is done.” He stared at her stomach. She indeed had a pouch. “Damage?”
“Yeah, damage. I hope you don’t think there’s a chance for
us.”
“Nigga, you have a family. That’s just it. I never thought there
was a chance for us.”
“Obviously,” he said, then walked toward the door and suddenly
stopped. It was all coming back to him. This is why she didn’t want
him just showing up at her place. She’d had a man the whole time.
“Who is he?”
She looked at him, not knowing what to say. She knew that
Q knew him, but she didn’t know how well they knew each other.
She finally said, “A guy named Quentin.”
“Quentin? Where the hell does he live?”
“They call him Q.”
“Q? A tall dark-skinned nigga; deals dope on the west side?” “I don’t know what he does.”
“Yeah, he’s a drug dealer.”
“How well do you know him?”
“I know the nigga very well. Been at odds with his ass for
the past few months, now you wanna go and have this nigga’s
baby?”
“Tommy, I didn’t know.”
“Where did you meet him at?”
“Downtown.”
“You met him downtown, huh? Where at?”
“I don’t remember. I think it was a bar.”
Tommy began to pace. “I can’t believe this shit. You’re about
to have a baby by a motherfucker that I can’t stand.” “Tommy, I’m sorry.”
“How did it happen?”
She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to gather her
thoughts. She sat on the sofa.
“Okay, you want to tell me how the fuck did
this
happen?” he
said.
“Tommy, I don’t know. We met, he was charming, I was lonely,
and he told me some shit that I wanted to hear.”
“Remember when I took you to the park a while back?” “Yeah.”
“Remember those niggas?”
“Vaguely.”
“Well, one of those niggas was Q. Actually, you may have
known that.”
“No I met him after the park.”
“But you saw him at the park right?”
“Tommy, honestly, I don’t remember nobody at the park that
day.”
“Well maybe he saw you.”
“Maybe. I can’t speak for him.”
“So you keeping the baby?”
“Of course. Why?”
“That’s really fucked up.”
“Nigga you want me to have an abortion? I can’t believe you
want me to kill my baby.”
Tommy didn’t respond. He didn’t mean to imply that she
should have an abortion.
“So you want me to kill my baby?” She was now in his face. “Get away from me,” he said.
“Tommy what the fuck is going on?”
“The nigga used you. Q used you to get to me.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he saw you with me and decided to get back at me by
getting with you.”
“This isn’t making sense.”
“One of his friends got busted.”
“What the hell does that have to do with me?”
“He thinks I’m the reason he got busted.”
“He thinks that you snitched?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t. I just sold the nigga the car that he got
busted in.”
“Oh okay.” She paced and thought. She felt used. Was she
part of some game that Q and Tommy were playing? Did Q
really care anything about her? She turned and faced Tommy.
She was now crying. “Tommy, I didn’t know that he was one of
the guys in the park that day.”
“I know, but he knew who you were.”
“So what do I do?”
“Do whatever you feel is right.”
“No, Tommy. I don’t know if I want his baby.”
He walked over to her and hugged her. “Do whatever you
feel is right.”

he next morning Tommy headed to J.C’s house. When he pulled into the neighborhood, he saw a group of school kids waiting on the bus. One of the kids was off to the side by himself listening to his Ipod. As Tommy drove past the kids he made eye contact with one of them. Tommy recognized him immediately, Danny, the white kid that had sold Q the Ipods.
Damn, he was just a kid. Though he looked grown, he was just a kid. Did Q know he was a kid? Did he give a damn?

At that moment Tommy was glad he wasn’t a drug-dealer. Selling stolen cars never hurt anybody. That was the way he chose to justify his criminal activity, but when he sold drugs, his mindset was—If the users didn’t get it from him they would get it from somebody else.

When he stepped inside his dad’s house, he climbed into the attic and got his money. When he came back downstairs, he yelled out to his father, but nobody answered. He continued to yell. He figured that J.C. might have still been asleep, though he was usually up at that time of morning. When he walked into his dad’s room, he dropped his bag of money on the floor. The hole in the middle of his father’s head and the blood that was splattered on the sheets almost made him vomit. He picked his dad up from the bed and held him for a long time while running his fingers through his hair. He didn’t want to believe this. He couldn’t believe it. His heart ached for the man who had raised him. He knew that he would never be the same. He continued to brush through his hair with his fingers. He kissed his pops on the jaw and then called the police.
*****

Tommy and Ditty sat on the hood of Ditty’s car, which was parked in his driveway. “Yeah, I know Q had something to do with J.C.’s death,” Tommy said.

“So how you want to handle it?” Ditty said, revealing his gun. “I gotta get out of here, Ditty. Shit’s about to hit the fan for me.” “What you talking about?”
“Matt did me wrong.”
“What you talking about?” Ditty asked, looking confused.

“Does he owe you money or something?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He set me up.”
“If he set you up why are you still here?”
“He got me to talk about buying cars and he was with the feds.” Ditty was silent and tried to make sense out of the whole situation.

“Yeah, they recorded the whole thing.”
“How do you know this?”
“Jay told me.”
“Damn. Can’t trust white boys, can’t trust niggas, can’t trust

drug dealers, and you can’t trust car thieves—it’s a dirty game and a dirty lifestyle.”
“And Summer’s pregnant.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“No that’s a bad thing. She’s pregnant by Q.”
“What?!” Ditty said surprised. He pulled out his cigarettes and lit one.
“Yeah, I think he got at her to get back at me.”
Ditty gritted his teeth. “Tommy, we got to get this motherfucker. We can’t go on like this shit didn’t happen.”
“I gotta think about myself, Ditty.”
“So what’s next, Tommy? What’s next? What are we going to do?”
Tommy pulled thirty $100 bills from his wallet and handed them to Ditty, along with an address in South Carolina. “I want you to pay

to have my pops cremated, and scatter the ashes on the lot on this address.”
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t ask questions. You will hear from me soon.”
Ditty looked at the paper then back at Tommy. He hugged his friend then said, “Take care of yourself.”

When Tommy opened the door J-Black stood before him unshaven and dirty. He looked as if he’d been up all night. “Can I come in?”

“What do you want?”
“I just wanna talk,” J-Black said.
Tommy pulled his gun from his back pocket and cocked it. He

J-Black smiled. “Man, you can put the gun up. There ain’t gonna be no problems.”
“I don’t trust you, nigga.”
J-Black eased into the room and walked to the other side. He sat at a table by the window and peered out. “Have you ever wondered what you’re going to do next? I mean, where your next meal is going to come from?”
“What the fuck are you getting at?”
J-Black looked at Tommy. “I need money, and I need help.”
“You always need money.”
“Yeah, but I need help, man. I mean, I’m 34-years-old and I’ve run these streets for the longest man, coming up on big licks. Do you know I robbed a dope dealer for 38 kilos last summer?”
“It’s a wonder you’re not dead.”
“I know. I’ve did a lot of shit, Tommy, and I’m tired.”
“I know the feeling.”
“Right now I don’t give a fuck if the cops know if I killed Country. In fact, I think they know.”
“How do you know?”
“Somebody said they flashed my picture across the six o’clock news.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think so, I don’t give a fuck.”
Tommy sat on the bed. Never really knowing this side of J-Black, he actually felt kind of sorry for him.
“Can you give me a thousand dollars?”
“What you going to do with it?”
“Get high, fuck a bitch…I don’t know, man.”
Tommy knew J-Black was an addict, but this was the first time he had ever discussed it with him. The man had robbed so many people in the past, but he could never manage to keep any money.
“So can you help me?”
“I don’t have any money.”
“Come on, man, help me. I need to smoke.”
“I don’t have no money.”
J-Black’s eyes grew; his lips were dry. “Tommy, I need to smoke. I need a job. I’ll do anything for you. Just give me some money, man.”
Tommy walked over to J-Black and grabbed him by the arm. “Come on, man, you gotta get the fuck out of here.”
J-Black said, “Listen, man, I’m sorry. I need some money… I’ll do anything you want me to do. Do you have a job for me? I’ll kill whoever you need me to kill.”
Tommy thought long and hard before saying, “Hey I got an idea.”