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“You need protecting. Look at what happened to Mama.” Calvin’s voice took on that serious, brother-knows-best tone. “This world is rough. You wouldn’t survive without me to protect you. I couldn’t protect Mama because I was just a kid. But I’ll protect you with my life, Minerva. And that’s real talk. Trust me, when the right guy comes around, I’ll know and I’ll let you know. For now, just focus on getting those degrees and making your big brother proud.”
She let out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes. There was no talking to Calvin and certainly no way to get him to see how stifling he was being. In fact, he saw that as his main purpose in life since their mom had passed away. Sometimes she wished she didn’t have a big brother.
“So I’ll see you in a few days for dinner at our spot, right?” He pulled up to her apartment building.
“Yes, Calvin, I’ll be there.” She got out and walked inside.
Where is he?
She glanced at her watch. It was telling her she might have been stood up. Usually when her brother said he would meet her somewhere, he got there before she did. Of the two of them, she was the chronically late one. And today she was running late from work. That’s why when she got to Roscoe’s House of Chicken ’n Waffles and found that she had beaten him there she should have known something was wrong.
After waiting an hour with no sign of Calvin, she decided he must have made good on his threat to leave the next time she kept him waiting. She finished her meal alone and ordered one special to go before getting on the bus heading toward her brother’s apartment.
Standing and brushing the crumbs off her navy-blue-and-white pin-striped suit with wide leg pants and a double-breasted jacket, she shook her head. Calvin was probably mad at her. But the meal would be her peace offering. Although she didn’t know why he wasn’t used to her perpetual lateness by now. He didn’t have to pick tonight to set an example and leave. It was their official graduation celebration, after all.
But his door was open when she got to his apartment.
That wasn’t a good sign.
Given some of Calvin’s unsavory business dealings, a busted open door signaled either a police raid or a rival gang’s hit. She never thought the day would come when she would be hoping for the former.
Feeling like the stereotypical hapless and clueless teen beauty in a horror flick, she pushed open the door and went in.
Things were strewn all over the normally neat living room. Papers covered the floor and Calvin’s coveted Crip-blue crushed-velvet sofa had been turned upside down, the pillows torn to pieces. She didn’t have to walk too far into the room to see her brother.
He lay on the floor with a bullet in the middle of his forehead.
Thena’s legs threatened to give way and she stumbled, dropping the container of food. Somehow she managed not to hit the floor along with the fluffy waffles and crispy chicken.
Her handsome, tall, strong and protective older brother, the only constant in her life, lay dead. Her heart dropped and her knees buckled. She hit the floor with a thud and her hand flew to her mouth. She wanted to scream but no sound came out. The air was as empty as she felt.
How could this be happening?
She reached out and touched his caramel face. His eyes were still open and she moved her hand over them to shut the lids.
Her heart felt as if it had exploded in her chest the pain was so deep. Tears fell, feeling hot and scorching against her skin. She grabbed her chest and gasped before she realized she wasn’t alone.
Someone was in the back room throwing things around, obviously looking for something. Whoever it was must have heard her because the shuffling stopped.
Somehow, even with the ever-expanding hole in her heart, the pronounced lack of air and the absence of any rational thought, she was able to pull herself up from her brother’s side and run. She dashed out of the apartment building and ran as if her life depended on it.
The burning tears cooled somewhat with her sprint, but they kept falling. She ran for blocks and blocks before she had to stop. The vision of her brother with a hole in his head stuck in her mind until the food she’d eaten at Roscoe’s would no longer sit in her stomach. Everything came barreling back up and out, projecting forward and hitting the cement before she could even come to a full stop. She fell to her knees and sobbed as she vomited. The navy-blue headband that held back her shoulder-length natural curls popped off her head and landed in the mess.
She had never felt so empty in all her life.
Realizing that whoever was in the apartment hadn’t followed her, she didn’t know what to do. She thought about going back to his place and calling the cops, but decided to go home and get cleaned up first. She could call the cops once she got rid of the tears and the sour taste in her mouth.
The emptiness, the guilt, the loss, all threatened to consume her, to eat her alive. What was she supposed to do without Calvin?
When she got home she saw, David Sims sitting in front of her building in his luxury car waiting for her. The tall, golden, honey-complexioned man stepped out of his car and walked up to her. She couldn’t think of anyone better to be waiting for her at this time.
“David.” She ran right into his arms. “Oh, my God, David…Calvin is…Calvin…I just came from his house and…” She took a deep breath. She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t say the words; her brother was dead.
“I know. It’s bad. He was into some serious stuff this time. I tried to bail him out, but I got there too late.” He took a short step away, placed his hand under her chin and tilted her head so that he was looking right into her eyes. “Did you see anything?”
She gazed up at him. “There was someone there looking for something when I walked in. I heard noises in the back of the apartment and I ran. I ran and I haven’t even called the police yet. I have to call the police and—”
“I must have gotten there after you. Because there was no one there when I got there. I did make an anonymous call from a phone booth to the police.” He shook his head. “The thing is, baby girl, according to your brother, the people he got on the wrong side of are not the kind of people you want thinking you know anything or saw something. And they have folks in the LAPD on their payroll. If they thought you knew anything they would have no problem killing you, too.” The warning in his voice and the stern expression on his face made her heart stop.
“I didn’t see anyone. I don’t know anything.”
“You can tell me if you do. Did Calvin give you anything recently? Did he tell you anything?”
Besides the surprise party, he hadn’t given her anything. And besides his typical warnings—about staying away from guys and making sure to run anyone interested in her past him because too many people might see her as an easy mark to get back at him—he hadn’t told her anything.
“No, he didn’t and I don’t know anything.”
“Okay. We still can’t risk the cops questioning you and those folks thinking you might know something. Some of the things Calvin told me about them…” He shook his head. “Trust me, you don’t want to mess with them. You have to get out of L.A. It wouldn’t be good for them to find out you spoke to the cops, especially if they saw you leaving Calvin’s place.” David rubbed his chin, while keeping a careful eye on her.
She tried to hold it together, because she didn’t want to appear like some weak-willed woman who couldn’t deal. She gulped in an attempt to swallow the fast-growing lump in her throat.
“I can’t just up and leave. I don’t have anywhere to go. And what about Calvin? I have to bury my brother! I can’t just leave.”
“You don’t have a choice.” His face went hard and serious before he softened slightly. “You were the most important person in the world to Calvin. The only family he had. He wouldn’t even let a straight-laced guy like me try and kick it to you because he felt I wasn’t good enough for you.” David gave a rueful smile at the memory. “And I was his best friend. So I feel obligated to look out for you and make sure the cops don’t unwittingly put you in danger. I have some folks in Jersey you could stay with until the danger passes. You remember my twin cousins, Timmy and Tommy McKnight?”
She remembered the twins who used to hang out with Calvin and David before moving back East. They had been members of the same gang as her brother. She nodded.
“Well, they’re probably the only people besides me that would feel strongly about protecting Calvin’s little sister.” He ran his thumb across her cheek, wiping away endless tears.
She willed herself to be stronger. “Why would they feel obligated? I doubt they even remember me.”
“Because Calvin, Timmy and Tommy all started banging around the same time. They share a bond.” He glanced down the street, no longer looking her in the eye, as he finished. “And even though I never went there with them, I know how seriously they took their affiliation.”
“Are they still banging?”
“I have no idea. I doubt it.” He turned and glanced at her briefly. “We need to get you out of here before the cops start questioning you. Come on.”
“But don’t I need to pack or—”
“No. You don’t have time. I’ll give you enough cash to get some things when you get there. We need to leave here now.” He glanced away again. “I also have something for you to give to my cousins. It’s just a jacket…a family heirloom of sorts…It used to belong to my dad…their uncle. But I need you to give me the keys to your place and Calvin’s.”
She bit back a sob. This couldn’t be happening. This was supposed to be the happiest time in her life. She was going to finally get that nice pretty diploma to hang on her wall. She was going to show her brother that all the sacrifices he had made for her and everything he’d done to raise her when their parents died was worth it. And now he was dead and she had to go on the run.
“When the coast is clear, I’ll be able to send you your things and get into his place and see if they left anything you might want. I’m so sorry this happened, baby girl. But I’m going to help you. Because I know Calvin would’ve wanted me to help you. And don’t worry. I’ll be coming for you when it’s safe.”
He opened up his car door as he spoke and guided her in.
She took one last look at her apartment complex as she got in the vehicle. She had no idea how her life could have taken such a drastic turn in a matter of hours, but she did know things would never be the same again. She just felt lucky to have Calvin’s best friend looking out for her. And she hoped Timmy and Tommy McKnight had her back the way their cousin David did. My life depends on it.
Chapter 1
One month later…
“Now, you’re looking like a real down-ass chick.” Timmy McKnight reached out and touched the bright auburn extensions that had been placed in Minerva’s—no more M. Athena for a woman on the run—hair at the Dominican beauty salon.
The beautician at Esmerelda’s Beauty Salon had glued the auburn weave tracks in layered spots of Minerva’s dark-brown hair. The extensions mixed in and gave her a two-toned look without her having to dye it. And the amount of spray, mousse and gel piled on her hair made her normally soft curls hard and cardboard straight. She looked like a mix between Cruella De Vil remixed with Remy Ma and lots of auburn hair color.
I hate it.
Between the outlandish hairstyle and the Baby Phat outfit she had purchased in downtown Paterson, she felt like a different person. Just a little over a month ago she wouldn’t have been caught dead looking like a hoochie mama. Now her life depended on being able to blend in and appear to be the type of girl who would actually hang out with Timmy and Tommy McKnight.
She had no choice.
She had spent the majority of the money David had given her to get lots of things she would have never worn before. Lots of Apple Bottom, Rocawear and other hip-hop brand names made up her wardrobe now. No more Michael by Michael Kors or Bitten by Sarah Jessica Parker—even if it was on sale—for a while.
David had been really generous when it came to giving her the funds she’d needed to relocate. She vowed to make it up to him one day. Her brother’s life of crime had put David in the awkward position of having to lie to the police about her whereabouts and who knew what he had to promise his cousins to get them to help her.
“Yeah, you’re looking real ride-or-die, baby girl. You can roll with us now,” Tommy nodded in approval. As he moved his head, his shoulder-length dreadlocks bounced.
Hair was the one thing that allowed her to tell the two identical, mocha-complexioned twins apart. Timmy wore his hair low-cut with brush-waves. They were each the same medium height. Timmy was a little bulkier than Tommy in size.
As nice as they had been to her, Minerva didn’t want to roll with them. She just wanted to stay home. But they didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone just yet.
The three of them ended up at a nice bar downtown. It was packed and bustling with energy.
From what she could tell about the city of Paterson, it seemed like a fairly segregated place. The neighborhood where she lived with the McKnights was predominantly black and poor. She thought she’d seen ghettos growing up in South Central, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw living on Governor Street in Paterson. There were always people out and about, but no one ever saw anything when something went down. The run-down tenements didn’t seem habitable; but they were overflowing with tenants. Some of the dilapidated buildings made where she grew up in South Central look like the suburbs. At least they had trees and houses back in Cali.
Thena, now Minerva, needed the semi-makeover to be able to walk down the street and not get robbed or otherwise victimized. Her little “Cali office girl” style was not going cut it here so she had to adapt.
“Have you heard from David?” Tommy gave her a probing stare and interrupted her reverie about her ’hood status and staying alive in Paterson.
“Not in a couple of weeks,” Minerva answered. “He said he’d slack off calling until things cooled down. They still haven’t figured out who killed my brother.” She felt her voice choke but she willed herself to keep it together.
She had cried the entire bus trip from California to New Jersey. But she refused to turn into a babbling brook in front of Timmy and Tommy. She knew she had to be tough, even though she was walking around with this gaping hole in her chest. More like in my heart.
Putting on a brave face didn’t stop her heart from pounding. She understood that she had to be strong. But how could she when the pain sometimes went so deep that she felt she could barely breathe?
She had left without burying her brother.
And she could just see her parents and Calvin in heaven looking down on her with disappointment. They were supposed to always take care of one another. He’d been the overprotective big brother and she did what she could by learning to cook and take care of their dayto-day living. He had always come through for her and she had let him down when it really counted.
The guilt she felt threatened to overwhelm her. She felt like it would suffocate her.
“Well, well, well…if it isn’t Timothy and Thomas McKnight. What are you two doing here? I hope you’re not scoping out the place as a spot for illegal drug distribution.”
Minerva looked up and into the most intense brown eyes she’d ever seen. The man who had pulled up a chair, straddled it backwards and interrupted their conversation had a perfectly chiseled face with bold and strong features. In addition to the seriously penetrating stare, he had a five-o’clock shadow that gave him a rough and rugged appearance. His full lips didn’t seem like they ever smiled, ever. But that didn’t take away from the fact he was fine. Fine with a capital F.
Fine and he has cop written all over him. Minerva looked him up and down.
“Detective.” Tommy nodded and focused on the drink in front of him.
“Wow…if it isn’t my favorite narc, Detective Hightower. I would ask if you’d like to join us. But seeing as you already have…What can we do for you this fine evening?” Timmy, the older twin didn’t seem like he was one to hold back.
The cop turned his direction toward her.
Great, was all she could think as the detective hit her with his x-ray-vision stare. The last thing she needed was for some cop to get her on his radar.
“And who’re you?” Detective Hightower was looking at her so closely she wanted to bolt.
Damn, his deep voice is sexy.
Instead, she pursed her lips before rolling her eyes and letting out a deep, overly dramatic breath. “Who wants to know and why?”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
She narrowed her eyes right back at him. She never liked bullies and this “detective” had bullying down to an art form. He had some nerve just inviting himself to their table and grilling everyone as if he didn’t need a reason.
And then there was the stir in the pit of her stomach that seem to kick up to a fevered pitch when he looked at her. It wasn’t fear, no, that would have been too much like right. No, the things she felt just staring in his eyes and having him so close caused her to feel things like want and need.
“This is Minnie Samuels, Detective Hightower. She’s a good friend visiting us from California.” Tommy offered the information a little too freely for her taste. And apparently Timmy’s, too, because his twin brother turned and glared at him at the same time she did.
The three of them had decided to just change her last name and have her go by her childhood nickname, Minnie—which she hated more than she did her actual name—in order to keep things simple. But they’d also decided that her “name” would only be divulged on a need-to-know basis. She and Timmy clearly had different ideas about who needed to know.
She gritted her teeth in irritation. The cop annoyed her and caused her heart to flutter at the same time, and she had just met the man. “I’ll be back. I need to powder my nose.”
She stood and went looking for the ladies’ room without so much as a second glance back. She did take the liberty of cursing the smug cop out in her head as she walked away, imagining all the ways she could read him up, down and sideways if he was still there when she got back. While she had never developed the unhealthy, hateful and distrusting relationship to cops that her brother and others in her neighborhood had, she could see herself heading in that direction fairly quickly if she had to deal with Detective Hightower much longer.
She really hadn’t had to use the rest room or fix her makeup. She wasn’t even wearing that much makeup. Just a little foundation, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick and lip gloss. It was a lot more than she normally wore, though. Typically, she couldn’t be bothered with more than a little lip gloss. But she figured a girl who wore hip-hop designer clothing like the hot-pink, skin-tight Baby Phat denim minidress she was sporting and rocking two-toned hair would have on foundation and lipstick at the very least. She drew the line at eye shadow and blush, though. And there was no way she would get any long fake acrylic nails. There was only so much she was willing to do for appearances.
She looked in the mirror, surveyed her outfit and cringed.
This is so-oo not me…
Hoping the cop was gone, she decided to head back out to their table and try to talk the McKnight twins into calling it an evening. The sooner she was out of the flashy clothes and into some sweats the better.
She walked out of the ladies’ room and right into the nosy detective. He must have been standing in the narrow hallway waiting for her. He pretty much blocked the way back into the bar so she decided to lean against the wall and wait for him to be a gentleman and get out of her way. Heart thumping and pulse racing, she folded her arms across her chest and twisted her lips to the side.
A full minute must have passed with him just standing there staring at her like he was trying to figure out one of the great mysteries of the world. She huffed and moved to go around him. He grabbed her forearm and moved her back.
A tingle raced across her arm and landed smack-dab in her heart. At such close proximity, the masculine scent of him assaulted her nose and sparked a keening need in her gut. She took a deep, calming breath that she hoped looked like she had an attitude and not like she had been shaken to her core.
“Can I help you with anything, Detective? I couldn’t imagine what. But you must have some reason for making yourself a nuisance this evening, especially since you don’t know me and have no reasonable cause to harass me.” She tilted her head to the side partly for appearance’s sake but mostly because it helped with the sudden feeling of vertigo this man had her experiencing.
He looked puzzled for a moment before his lips formed a slight snarl. “You hanging with the McKnight twins is all the cause I need to keep an eye on you, Miss…Samuels.”
“So the whole ‘innocent until proven guilty’ thing is just a cute idea for a fairy tale or are you really an officer of the law?” She folded her arms across her chest and swallowed. She had no idea what had come over her, but she knew she refused to back down and let some cop punk her.
“Oh, so you’re a little smart-ass? You should ask your friend Timmy McKnight what happens to smart-asses in jail. ’Cause that’s where you’re headed if you keep moving in the wrong circles. I don’t know you but I know plenty of dumb little girls like you who get caught up, carrying weight across state lines, holding things they shouldn’t be holding in their purses…” He glanced at the small leather handbag she was carrying.
