Keeping Secrets (17 page)

Before the officer could pick up the plates, the dog he'd brought with him started barking and going crazy, gnawing at the duffle bag.

“Booser!” the officer shouted in an attempt to calm his dog, but that didn't work. The dog just kept going crazy, barking and trying to get inside the bag.

Both officers shot each other a look. The second officer then looked at Secret.

“Ma'am, I'm Officer Hawkins with the K-9 unit. Booser here is a dog trained to sniff out drugs. We have reason to believe drugs might be in that bag. Do we have your permission to check out the content?”

Secret felt cornered as both officers glared at her. Talk about feeling trapped between a rock and a hard place. She felt she had no other choice but to give them permission. What if she said no and out of anger they let their dog loose on her?

“Ye . . . yes . . .” Secret started.

“No!”

Lucky's loud voice came booming from around the corner. Before Secret could blink an eye, the officer's had drawn their guns and had them pointed directly at her baby daddy. While her stomach did flips and her heart practically beat out of her chest, all she could ask herself was,
What the hell is going on?

“Put your hands on your head,” the first officer on the scene shouted to Lucky as he pointed his gun at him. Lucky slowly obliged. Just as slowly as Lucky had placed his hands on his head the officer crept over to him. Once the officer was in Lucky's face, he began moving like a ninja, quickly pulling Lucky's hands down from over his head and pulling them behind his back.

The second officer kept his gun aimed at Lucky while Secret stood frozen watching it all go down. Secret watched the officer slam Lucky against the car while he handcuffed him.

“What's got you all excited, fella?” the officer asked Lucky as he tightened the metal bracelets around Lucky's wrists.

Lucky remained silent. There wasn't much he could say for what he knew was about to go down.

“Looks like somebody doesn't want us looking in that duffle bag,” the first officer said to the other one who placed his gun back in his holster, all the while never losing control of the dog.

“Well, it doesn't matter,” the second officer said. “The lady here gave us permission to do so.”

“And it is her car,” the first officer stated. He placed his lips a centimeter from Lucky's ear and whispered, “That is, if you're still sticking with that story.”

Lucky just rolled his eyes and remained silent.

Not even asking Secret a second time for permission to search the bag, operating off her initial approval, the officer with the K-9 unzipped the bag while the other kept Lucky detained up against the car.

“Well, well, well, now I see what's got your boyfriend here panties in a bunch,” the officer said to Secret, as once again his dog started barking wildly.

It still didn't register to Secret exactly what was going on, not even staring down at that duffle bag full of white stuff.

“Good boy.” The officer pet his dog, took something out of his pocket, and fed it to the dog. The dog lost interest in the duffle bag and began devouring the snack. “Look what we have here.” He held up a plastic bag full of white stuff to his partner.

“Well, I'll be damned,” the first officer on the scene said. “Who would have thought a simple case of improper tags would lead to a drug bust?”

“Drugs?” Finally Secret realized what was going on. “What are you talking about?” she asked the officer. Then she questioned the person she really wanted answers from. “What's he talking about?” Her eyes pleaded with Lucky for an answer.

Lucky put his head down as if he couldn't even bear to look at Secret.

“I'm talking about enough ounces of cocaine to keep a Hollywood starlet's party going strong for a week,” the officer said. He then turned to Lucky. “Don't tell me you planned on using all this for personal use,” he sarcastically said to Lucky.

“No,” Lucky finally spoke. “'Cause it ain't mine.”

The little smirk on the officer's face disappeared. He looked over at his fellow officer with worry, then turned his attention back to Lucky. “Wha . . . what did you say?”

Lucky took a deep breath, tightened his lips, then seethed. “You heard me, mutherfucker. I said it ain't mine.”

Now it was Secret who didn't speak. It wasn't because she didn't want to, but because she didn't know what to say. She was starting to catch on now. She realized that there were only two people in the car: her and Lucky. If Lucky was claiming that the drugs weren't his, that only left one other person to whom the drugs could belong: her!

The officer turned beet red as he used all of his body weight to smash Lucky into the car. “Look, you black-ass piece of shit,” he said into Lucky's ear, spittle soaking the side of Lucky's face. “I know you're a low-life son of a bitch, but I know you ain't so fucking low that you're going to allow your pregnant girlfriend to take the rap on this one.” He yanked Lucky to face Secret. “You really want your child born in jail?”

Secret locked eyes with Lucky. Inside she was wishing the officer had asked him something else. Maybe if that really had been Lucky's blood growing inside of her it would have made a difference. But it wasn't his baby. Lucky knew that and so did she.

Lucky dropped his head.

“Oh, no, you don't,” the officer shouted, grabbing Lucky by the chin and making him look at Secret.

Secret stood there trembling as her mind began to foresee just exactly how things were possibly going to go down. “Lucky,” she whispered, pleaded, and cried. Her heart rate sped up as she anticipated Lucky's next move.

“Yeah, Lucky,” the officer continued to taunt. “You're not going to sit here and tell us that all those drugs belong to your pregnant girlfriend are you? Because unless you tell us the drugs are yours, well . . .” He shrugged. “The car is in her name. The bag was in her car. As far as we're concerned, the drugs are hers then. So either you man up or we handcuff your girlfriend and haul her and your unborn baby off to jail.”

There was silence as the ball bounced in Lucky's court.

“Come on, man, really?” the cop with K-9 said. “What kind of man are you? Even if she was the biggest drug lord to ever walk this earth, even if you were a choir boy and never touched drugs a day in your life, as a man, wouldn't the right thing to do be to say the drugs are yours? Save the damsel from doing at least a ten bid in the joint?”

Again, there was silence.

The officer who had Lucky apprehended just shook his head. “Well, it looks like you better book her,” the officer said to his partner.

The officer exhaled. “Come on, Booser,” he said to his dog. “Looks like we're gonna have company.” He gathered the dog and took him back to the car. This time he placed him in the front passenger seat.

Secret stood there the entire time immobile. This was not happening. It could not be happening to her.

“So these drugs don't belong to you?” the officer kept pressuring Lucky as they waited for the other officer to return.

“I said they ain't mine,” Lucky replied.

“Then you're saying they are hers?” He nodded toward Secret.

Lucky stared into her pleading eyes once again. “I said they ain't mine.”

“Then I guess they're hers.” The officer shrugged.

“Lucky, please . . .” Secret begged as her bottom lip began to tremble. “Lucky. They're not mine. What are you doing?” Secret's shoulders began to heave as Lucky seemed unmoved by her pleas to him.

“Well, did the owner of the dope fess up?” the second officer said, returning without the dog.

“Yep,” his partner said. “Looks like they belong to the little lady, right, Lucky? I mean, her car, the drugs were in a bag that was in her car.”

The second officer to the scene looked at Secret. “You know you are going to do quite a bit of time for this, young lady.” He looked down at her stomach. “Plan on missing that baby's first everything: first step, first birthday, first words, because it's going to be a long time before you see the light of day.” With that being said, the officer took out his handcuffs.

“No, no!” Secret's instincts, for the first time since the cops had pulled them over, began to kick in. Without thinking, she went to run, but the officer was able to snatch her up quickly.

“No, stop it! No!” Secret screamed as she fought the officer as he forced her hands behind her back.

“Is that what you want?” the other cop whispered in Lucky's ear. “You're really going to let this happen to her?” When Lucky didn't answer he continued. “Look, just claim the dope and we'll work out a little something with you. Some kind of plea you know. You help us, we'll help you.”

“You mean you want me to be a snitch or else you gon' put my black ass away for the rest of my life,” Lucky said.

The officer feigned to be thinking for a moment. “Yeah, something like that.” He snickered. “So what do you say?”

Lucky feigned to be thinking for a moment, mocking the officer, he then replied, “I say fuck you, pig.”

In anger the cop slammed Lucky against the car. He took one hand and smashed the side of Lucky's face against the car. “Book her,” he shouted to his partner, sure to make sure Lucky's head stayed in place so he could see Secret's arrest going down.

The officer who had Secret apprehended placed one cuff on her wrist and she about lost her mind.

“God, no! No!” she cried out as she bucked her body. “No, they're not mine. Please, Lucky, tell them. Help me. Don't let them do this to me. I can't go to jail. Please! Please!”

Through all of Secret's yelling and struggling with the cop, the officer managed to place her in handcuffs. Secret was crying so hard she was about to hyperventilate.

“You sure about this?” the officer who had Secret cuffed said to Lucky.

Secret cried out desperately to Lucky one last time. “Please. Please.”

Lucky stared deep into Secret's innocent, naïve, and vulnerable eyes. He knew she wasn't cut out for jail. Hell, she wasn't even cut out for the streets of Flint, but what he had known all along was that she was loyal to a fault. Only somebody loyal would give up their virginity for a man who left her and her mother for dead. From the moment Lucky heard that story he knew Secret was someone he needed in his corner. Kat had been down for sure, but Kat's loyalty didn't rank anywhere near Secret's. Lucky knew that at the end of the day, Secret was the exact someone he needed in his life for such a time as this.

“They ain't mine,” was all Lucky said as he then watched the police officer drag a shocked Secret over to his car and place her in the back seat.

“I'm going to call this in and call for towing to repo the vehicle,” the second officer said before climbing into the driver seat of the car.

“No problem,” his partner spat before turning his attention to Lucky. “Got somebody to call to come pick your sorry ass up, because there's no way your shitty black ass is gon' stink up my car,” the officer spat to Lucky as he removed the handcuffs from him.

“Yeah, can I go for my phone though?” Lucky asked.

The officer glared at Lucky before responding by doing a body search to make sure Lucky didn't have any weapons on him. The officer retrieved the phone and then shoved it into Lucky's chest.

Snatching the phone and rolling his eyes, Lucky punched in some numbers and within seconds began speaking into the phone. “Look, I know you're pissed,” he said, “but now is not the time. Five-oh got me on the side of the road and I need you to come get me like yesterday.” Lucky proceeded to recite his whereabouts through the phone and then ended the call. He then looked at the officer. “Can I at least sit in the car until my ride comes?”

“Hell no. Sit your ass right here on the curb where trash belongs,” the officer spat before heading back to his own vehicle.

After about ten minutes both officers were still at the scene and Lucky stood waiting for his ride. The officer with Secret in tow had called in the incident, requested a tow truck, and had started filling out his report. The other officer was waiting for the tow truck to show up.

The officer driving Secret put down the clipboard he'd been writing on the last few minutes and put his running car in drive. He rolled down the passenger-side window and then slowly rolled up beside his partner, who was waiting with his window down. “The tow truck is about three minutes away. I'm going to go ahead and take her in.” He nodded back toward a weeping Secret.

Just then a royal blue Toyota crept up behind them and parked. Lucky shot up from off the curb and headed toward the vehicle.

“He's really leaving me,” Secret said out loud, although it was just supposed to be a silent thought roaming through her head. Was this real? Was it really happening? Secret turned around as best she could to see where Lucky was going. She didn't have a full vision, but she saw him open the door of a car that was parked behind her. He got in and closed the door as if he didn't have a second thought about her. Secret turned back forward and tears just spilled from her eyes.

As the car behind them slowly crept by in order to get back into traffic, Secret looked to her left. She'd wanted to lock eyes with Lucky. She wanted to look him dead in his eyes and try to read him. Was he this cold? Secret had no such luck as he was looking straight ahead with a stone face, like he couldn't bear to even look at Secret. Before the car could safely dip back into traffic though, Secret's eyes managed to lock on a sight she never expected to see: the driver. Katherine, aka Kat. Her sister.

“Oh my God.” Once again the thoughts in Secret's head had escaped through her mouth. Was this nightmare really happening? Had her man just practically left her for dead and driven off into the sunset with her sister? Was this some bad joke? If so, who was in on it? She needed answers. Lucky wouldn't even look at her so she knew she wasn't going to get any answers from him, so out of instinct she began to shout out, “Kat! Katherine, wait!”

With the front driver window being down, Secret's cries echoed into the royal blue vehicle. This caused Lucky to turn and look at Secret. He then looked at the driver and then back at Secret with a huge question mark on his forehead. His question mark, though, after looking into Secret's pain-filled and confused eyes, turned into empathy, sadness, and regret.

Even as Kat pulled off into traffic and Secret sat in the back seat of that police car, still crying and pleading through the window, Lucky just watched her until she was out of view.

Lucky hadn't meant for this to happen, but it had. He really did care about Secret, but he could not put himself in a position where he'd have to sell out his crew, especially Major Pain. He would do all he could to help Secret out, and hopefully get her to understand his reasoning and motives some day. Who knew? Maybe one day they could work things out and live that happy life he knew she wanted and deserved. But right now, that game had changed. And even though one day Lucky wanted to be a changed man, as much as he thought Secret would be the one to soften him and change his ways, he was who he was: Lucky. Literally, because the fact that it was Secret being hauled down the highway off to jail instead of him, where he could go on with life living as free as bird, made him one lucky motherfucker indeed.