“You didn’t go by yourself, did you?”
Travis nodded.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m okay, but every bone in my body hurts.”
“And what is that smell?”
“After they kicked my ass, they threw me in a pile of garbage.”
Me’shelle went to the bathtub and turned on the water. “Come on. You need to soak for a while,” she said as she began to undress him. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask me to go there and get my ass kicked. I did that all by myself.”
“I know, but you did it for me. And I did kind of hint at the fact that you knew people who probably knew who did it,” Me’shelle said.
Once she had gotten Travis out of his clothes, she helped him into the tub. She left him there to soak while she put his dirty clothes in the washing machine and got an ice pack for his face. When she returned to the bathroom, Me’shelle knelt down next to the tub and put the ice pack gently on Travis’s face. There was quite a bit of swelling around his left eye and jaw.
“Hold that,” she said, handing the ice pack to him.
She never intended for this to happen. Me’shelle looked at his face and felt terrible. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that Travis would get right up and go after Chilly, and definitely not by himself.
“I’m sorry, Travis.” She began to bathe him, but found that her clothes were getting too wet, so she stood up and took them off. She got into the tub and continued to wash away the smell of garbage from his body.
Now that he was feeling clean and somewhat refreshed, Travis stretched out across his bed to relax. Me’shelle lay down beside him, and before too long, they had drifted off to sleep. They had been asleep for about an hour when Travis heard the doorbell. He glanced at the clock next to the bed.
“Twelve forty-five. Who the fuck could this be?”
He got out of bed, put on his pants and got his gun. His movements woke Me’shelle. “Where are you going?”
“There’s somebody at the door,” Travis said.
“What’s the gun for?”
“Security.” He took off the safety and cocked it. “Stay here.”
As Travis left the room to answer the door, Me’shelle thought, maybe for the first time in her life, that she needed a gun. She had never held a gun in her hand, much less fired one.
She got out of bed and got dressed, thinking that if she needed to run or fight somebody off it would be better to have clothes on. Once she was dressed, Me’shelle cracked the door so she could hear what was going on out there.
Travis looked out the peephole and saw a familiar but unexpected face at his door. He opened the door.
“What’s up, Freeze?”
“What’s up? You gonna invite me in or what?” Freeze asked.
“Come on in,” Travis said as he let him into the house. “Have a seat.”
“You alone?” Freeze asked.
“No. Me’shelle is in the back.”
Freeze didn’t bother to sit down. “What the fuck was you thinkin’ rollin’ up on Chilly like that?” he demanded to know.
“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t thinkin’.”
“Yes, you were. You were thinkin’ like a bitch-ass sucker.”
“It was a stupid thing to do.”
“What did you think they were gonna do, pull out a chair for you, and y’all sit down like a bunch of fuckin’ gentlemen and discuss the situation? Do you think they were gonna just say yeah, we raped the girl and we’re gonna turn ourselves in to the police in the morning? Is that what you fuckin’ thought, Travis?”
“No.”
“You know the only reason you’re alive?”
“What’s that?”
“They knew you was with me. That’s the only reason you ain’t dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I get a fuckin’ call from Chilly asking me if I sent you. I shoulda known better. I shoulda known you were goin’ over there. Now look at you. Face all fucked up. Any broken bones?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you realize the position that puts me in?”
“You? What position does it put you in?”
“You’re with me, Travis, which means you come under my protection. Chilly is old school, so he respects that, which is why he didn’t kill you for tryin’ to involve yourself in his business. But them niggas still beat the fuck outta you. I’m supposed to do something about it. I don’t do something about this, niggas start thinkin’ I’m gettin’ soft and they can come at any one of my people. Do you understand what I’m sayin’? Niggas thinking I’m soft is bad for business.”
“I wasn’t thinkin’ about all that.”
“No, you weren’t. Shit, Travis, I oughta shoot you myself.”
At that point, Me’shelle had heard enough. She came out of the room.
“Is that why you’re here? To kill me?”
They both looked up as Me’shelle came into the room.
“No. That’s not why I’m here,” Freeze said.
“I told you to stay in the room,” Travis said to Me’shelle.
“She can stay. I don’t give a fuck if she hears what I have to say. I came here to see how you were doin’. And I came to tell you again to stay out of it. Don’t you go anywhere near Chilly or his people. Let Chilly handle his business. And stay away from the cops.”
“What about my niece? They can’t just rape her and murder my brother and get away with it.”
Freeze looked at Me’shelle then turned his attention back to Travis. “Chilly is the type of man who knows that type of shit is bad for business. You let this shit go, Travis. You let Chilly handle his business and you go back to doin’ what you do. I want your word that this is no longer your problem.”
“You have my word,” Travis told Freeze.
“Wait a minute,” Me’shelle protested, but Freeze ignored her.
“I talked to Chilly, and he gave me his word that he would handle this, so you’re out of it. Now it’s my problem,” Freeze said and stood up. “Shit like this never needs to happen again, Travis. You understand me?”
“I understand.”
Freeze walked toward the door.
“That’s it?” Me’shelle asked, but Freeze continued to ignore her.
Travis got up and followed Freeze to the door.
Freeze stopped. “Oh yeah. One more thing I gotta say.”
“What’s that?”
“Whatever I do is always business. Never personal, even if it seems that way. Remember that.” Freeze continued toward the door. “And it will never have anything to do with you and me. Understand?”
“Understood,” Travis said as he let Freeze out and closed the door behind him.
“Who the fuck does he think he is?”
Travis smiled. “Freeze thinks he’s the only reason that we’re both not dead.” He put his arm around Me’shelle and led her back to the bedroom. “And you know what? He’s right.” He took off his pants and began to undress Me’shelle.
“Even so, he didn’t have to ignore me like I wasn’t even there. That was disrespectful.”
