"Oh, Nick! That feels so good," Vivian moaned.
I looked down at the dance floor at Impressions. From above the stage, I could see the entire club from where I was standing. I came here with Freeze. He didn’t tell me where we were goin’, he just said, "We need to ride." Next thing I know, we’re gettin’ valet parked at the club. "What we doin’ here?"
"Time you and Bobby made peace and put that Camille shit behind y’all. Bitch been dead for ten fuckin’ years."
Now why he wanna go and do that?
Not this, not tonight. Freeze knew I’d had a rough week. I wanted to relax, clear my mind, and have a little fun. I needed to think about where I was goin’ from where I am now. But I got lucky; Bobby had already left for the night. "Good, I wasn’t up for that tonight anyway." That’s when I saw an old girl friend of mine named, Vivian Merrick.
I just got back from Jett’s funeral in Iowa. Explaining to Jett’s parents how and why he died was hard. But it was harder to tell Monika. The afternoon she came out of her coma, I ran fanatically down the hall, screaming for a doctor or a nurse or anybody. Once the doctor checked her out, she left us alone. I told her that Jett was dead and how things played out with Chilly. She cried softly when I told her about Jett. "I’m going to take his body home to his parents in Iowa tomorrow," I said. "I talked to them yesterday. The funeral’s gonna be on Saturday."
"I’m goin’ with you, Nick," Monika said softly as the tears poured from her eye.
"Monika, I don’t think you’ll be strong enough to leave the hospital in time for the funeral."
"Don’t argue with me, Nick. He saved my life and yours, too. He died goin’ after the bastard that shot me. I have to go," Monika mumbled, as she began to drift off to sleep.
"You get some rest and we’ll talk about it in the morning." I knew better than to argue with her. Even in her condition, Monika was still as strong willed as ever.
As promised, Monika went to Jett’s funeral, albeit in a wheelchair and in the company of a private nurse. After the funeral I took Monika back to the hospital and sat with her a while until she went to sleep. I left there and went to check on Gee. I walked up to the house and saw a for sale sign in the yard. I drove downtown to Chezara’s apartment building. The doorman told me that Ms. Rollins had moved out and he was not at liberty to say any more on the matter. I was happy for them. They were finally free at last.
"Nick, that feels so good," Vivian moaned. "You’re gonna make me cum!"
"Nick! You up here?" Freeze yelled, seeming to appear from nowhere.
"Yeah!"
"Well come on. I’m ready to go."
"Alright — alright —" my voice trembled. "I’m coming."
"Well hurry up then," Freeze said shaking his head as he turned away. "You ain’t changed a bit."
Once I finished doin’ my thing with Vivian, I met Freeze at the bar and got myself a drink. Freeze looked at me and shook his head. "You ain’t changed a bit, nigga."
"Give me a break, I’m tryin’ to relax."
"You looked pretty intense from where I was standing."
"Whatever."
"I gotta go by the office, then we outta here. Come on."
"What you gotta go to the office for? Bobby ain’t up there?"
"No, Wanda’s up there. She got something for me. So stop actin’ like a bitch and come on."
I followed Freeze upstairs to the office at Impressions. I didn’t appreciate him calling me a bitch. But if I wanted to be honest with myself, he was right. After reading Camille’s journal and talking to Wanda about it, it made the whole situation easier to deal with. In fact, it was like a tremendous weight that I’d dragged around with me for years had been lifted from my shoulders. I needed to put this shit behind us and move on. So what’s my probl
em? Probably because I was fuckin’ Camille behind his back. I didn’t think that Bobby would pull out his gun and shoot me on sight. But I wouldn’t put it past him. The fact was, I did some foul shit, and now I had to step up and face it.
Freeze burst into the office, "What’s up, Wanda! What you got for me?"
I followed him in. There was a woman standing by the window. Tight black mini skirt and black heels. The woman turned around, and to my surprise, it was Wanda.
"I got a message for you. It wasn’t anything that couldn’t have waited," Wanda said as she walked toward Bobby’s desk. "How you doin’ tonight, Nick?"
"I’m good. How are you?"