A Thug's Wife (Full Length Novel) (5 page)

Tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, Quasym contemplated starting his car and just leaving. Besides, Andres didn’t give him any details. He didn’t say why he’d wanted Dan-D
dead. He could’ve easily done it himself considering he had an army of goons trained to go. This was a war that he had nothing to do with.

What am I even doing here?
Just as he went to turn the key in the ignition, Dan-D tapped on the window and shot Quasym a strange look. Letting out a deep breath, Quasym stared straight ahead and hated that he had even made the call to Dan-D. He hated that he had even considered Andre’s proposition, but as he turned to look up at Dan-D standing outside of his car, he suddenly felt different.

The diamonds around Dan-D’s neck lit up the night sky, and Quasym knew that Dan-D was getting paid on major levels. He nodded his head, removed the key from the ignition, and stepped out of the car. He glanced over at the BMW X5 truck
with custom made chrome rims and cringed. It was the life that Quasym wanted-it was the life that he needed. He imagined himself riding in something similar and Zaria driving the streets in something way better. He had to do this. There was no other choice.

“What up tho’?” Dan-D greeted. He stuck his hand out, placing it into Quasym’s while giving him a brotherly hug. He hadn’t seen Quasym since before he’d gotten locked up, and he could tell that he was hurting. The beat up Chevy he was driving smelled li
ke burnt oil, and the paint was severely chipped. “Ain’t heard from you in a minute youngn’, what it look like bruh?”

“Shittt, I can’t call it. Just tryna’ get this money. Tryna’ get back right, ya’
feel me?” Quasym said motioning to his Chevy. He noticed the nasty look that Dan-D gave his ride, and it caused his stomach to turn. He was thoroughly embarrassed and couldn’t wait to get this shit over with. He could tell that Dan-D looked down on him, and it hurt him to his core.

“I feel ya’, I feel ya’. Shit,
when Andres told me you wanted to meet up I ain’t even ask no questions. I told him me, and you went way back. Back to when me and your sister used to sneak around in the abandoned buildings in the projects yo’!” Dan-D broke into laughter reminiscing about the time that he and Quasym’s older sister Tessa had together. She was his high school sweetheart, and he’d shared some good memories with her. Just thinking about those moments had Dan-D wanting to make a special call just to see how she was doing.

“So,
Andres told you I wanted to cop some work from you?” Quasym asked.

“Yea, he called me this morning and told me be on the lookout for your call. He knows I don’t do new business just on a whim. Only through referrals and being that it came directly from hi
m, and I already knew you, shit was nothing. Ya’ know?”

Quasym nodded his head unsure what to say next. Andres ensured that Dan-D would be at this meeting just so that he would be killed, so for him
there was nothing left to be said.

“
You ready? Let’s go in here and sit down so we can chop it up for a lil’ bit,” Dan-D said. He waved Quasym to follow him, and the two of them went inside the small-dilapidated house. The moment they were inside, Quasym quickly removed his pistol from his waist. He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He’d forgotten to remove the safety, and that mistake had fucked him up.

Dan-D quickly turned around upon noticing the familiar sound of the trigger clicking. To his amazement, Quasym had pulled a pistol, and he was utterly c
onfused. He thought this was somebody that he could trust, but he should’ve known not to trust no broke nigga. Instantly, he pulled his gun from his pants and fired hitting Quasym in the shoulder.

“Grr!” Quasym grunted. His eyes widened in fear as Dan-D ai
med for his head, but as luck would have it Dan-D’s gun jammed not allowing another bullet to escape from the chamber. Upon noticing this, Quasym pulled back on his hammer and fired a shot that hit Dan-D in the center of his head. Immediately, Quasym backed out of the house and took off running to his car. He’d done it. Dan-D was dead, and there was no turning back.

Chapter 6: Love & War

'Cause we made it this far on for better or worse. I want to feel it even if it hurts. If I gotta cry, to get to the other side. Let’s go cause we gon' survive, oh.
It was going on three a.m., and Zaria was up cleaning the house from top to bottom. She sang along to Tamar Braxton's hit
Love and War
as she ran the mop across the kitchen floor.

Her mind was all over t
he place with everything going on in her personal life. The man she loved was now her husband and he had a child outside of their relationship. If that weren't bad enough, her mama did the unthinkable by bringing the baby mama to the most important occasion of her life.

She hadn't spoken to her mama or Quasym since she'd left the church days ago, but now she was starting to miss her man. They couldn't afford to honeymoon, but that didn't mean anything to her. She had taken off work prior to her wedding, ju
st so that she could spend a whole week making love to Quasym. She had all kinds of sexy tricks up her sleeve, but it all had been ruined.

  
  This was not supposed to be like this
. Zaria thought as she tossed the mop to the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at nothing in particular. She wanted to call Quasym and tell him to come home. She was lonely and felt that now was the time for them to talk about this baby situation and move on from it.

She was not about to let that ruin her li
fe, but she did want the facts. She needed to know the when and the where and the extent of the relationship. She wasn't the type to try and keep a man from seeing his child, but she had some stipulations she wanted to lay down; such as Quasym bringing Quita to their home instead of him visiting her at Tianna's and also her being there when Quasym picked her up. That bitch Tianna was not about to run shit up in her house.

     Just as Zaria decided that she would text Quasym and tell him to come home, she
heard a loud crash at her front door. Her heart felt as if it would jump out of her chest, and she ran to grab a knife from the kitchen drawer.

     Another crash came and then twisting of the door knob. Zaria quickly
tossed the knife to the floor and then ran to her bedroom to grab the pistol that Quasym had hidden in the closet. She pulled the closet door open, and reached for the small brown bag that sat on top. She noticed how light it was and as she looked inside, disappointment set in and fear suddenly drowned her.

      Running out of the closet, and into the bedroom, the sense of fear only grew stronger. Blood suddenly stained the carpet, and she had no idea where it had come from.

       "Z-baby, where you at?"

      Zaria placed her hand over he
r chest, to calm her erratic breathing. Calmness somewhat soothed her upon hearing Quasym's voice.
But, where was this blood coming from
? She thought as she followed where she'd heard his voice where there was also a trail of blood leading to him.

       "Sym, what--oh my God, baby what happened?"

        Quasym stood over the sink scrubbing the gun that she had been looking for. The white ceramic sink was filled with blood-tinged water.

        "What the fuck happened Sym? Where is all this blood-
-"

          Zaria shook her head and began to panic. She noticed the tiny hole
in Quasym's shirt and knew that it was
his
blood. She pulled him back away from the sink causing him to drop the gun on the floor.

         "Z-baby no, chill! Let me clean th
is shit up!"

          "Sym, you've been shot! What happened to you? Are you okay? Baby, we gotta go to the hospital!"

          "Nah ma’, no hospital. Just grab the bleach and get me something clean to put on."

      
             
Zaria didn't want to leave her husband in fear that he would die from his gunshot wound. She hated herself for telling him he couldn’t come home. She just knew that this was her fault, and if he had been home, then this would have never happened. But then again, she knew that Quasym did a little hustling in the streets, and shit like this happened all the time. This is why she preferred that he got a real job, but Quasym refused always saying he wasn’t about to be pushing a mop for the white man.

“Z, go get the bleach! Fuck!” Quasym yelled,
scaring the shit out of Zaria.

She jumped back at the sound Quasym’s voice bouncing off the walls at her. Turning to leave out of the bathroom, she rushed into the kitchen and
grabbed the bleach from underneath the sink. As she headed back to the bathroom, she started thinking about the gun and how it was missing from the closet. She wondered why Quasym was cleaning it off when he was the one that had been shot. She didn’t get that part and wanted to know more.

“Sym, what did you do?” Zaria asked knowing that something was up.

Quasym stripped himself of all his clothing and was waiting for the bleach in just his boxers. She could see the bullet wound more clearly in his shoulder and saw that dark red blood continued to ooze out of it. Zaria didn’t know what to think. She just hoped whatever happened that it wouldn’t land Quasym back in jail. She couldn’t handle him being gone again for any amount of years. The stress alone would be too much to endure this time around.

Quasym ignored Zaria as he folded the gun inside of his blood-drenched clothing that sat on the floor. He snatched the bleach from Zaria’s hands, opened and poured it all over the sink where he had been washing the gun off. Next he sat the bleach d
own, grabbed the pile from the floor, and headed towards the kitchen. Zaria followed behind him not saying anything, only thinking, and wondering.

“Sym, stop and talk to me! What the hell is going on? What did you
do?” Zaria grabbed Quasym’s arm to stop him as he loaded the pile of clothes and then the gun inside of a trash bag. She wanted him to tell her what happened. How he got shot and why he was getting rid of the gun? She wanted to know why he was even carrying the gun knowing that he was a convicted felon and would easily go back to prison if he had been caught with it. She always fussed at him about it, but he never listened.

“
I don’t have time to talk to you, Z! I got a hole in my fucking shoulder, and I gotta get rid of this damn gun! I’ll holla at you later, but not right now!”

Quasym grabbed his cell phone and dialed the contact number that he had for Andres. He knew that it would be a long shot to call him considering the many times he’d called the number before, it went unanswered.

“Yes,” the voice on the other line said. He surprised Quasym when he answered and caused him to stop in his tracks.

“
Andres?” Quasym questioned.

“No, but what can I do for you, Quasym? Andres is a busy man.”

“I’ve been shot. I can’t go to the hospital.”

“Where ar
e you?”

“I’m at home right now but-“

“Someone will be there shortly. Stay put.”

“Don’t you-
hello…..hello?”

Quasym looked at his phone and noticed that the caller had hung up on him. He wanted to tell them to meet him somewhere because he did not want to
do anything in front of Zaria. He wanted to keep her in the dark just until he was able to get things situated.

“Look baby, I know that you worried and that you don’t know what’s going on, but I gotta keep it that way. Trust me when I say, I’m only doing
what I have to do for us. I made so many promises to you when I was locked up, and I haven’t been able to keep none of them.”

“I’m not worried about the promises that you made to me, Sym. I am worried about you…right now. You got a bullet in you and you bout to get rid of a gun. Why?”

“I can’t tell you. I can’t tell you, baby. Just know that I’m about to make good on everything that I promised to you. I’m gonna take care of you like I said. Pretty soon you won’t have to work unless you choose to.”

“But how you gonna do that, Sym?” Zaria asked with tears filling her
eyes. She wasn’t stupid at all, and she knew that Quasym had done something really bad. As much as she wanted to know what it was, she knew that he would never tell her and that it was for her own good.

Quasym stepped closer to Zaria and wrapped his arm around her. He placed his face into her neck like he always did an
d slowly filled her skin with light kisses. Quasym loved Zaria and felt that everything he was doing to get ahead was for her. He would give his life if it meant that Zaria would be taken care of. He didn’t want her to want for anything, and he was going to see to it that she did not.

“I love you, Z-baby and a nigga mean that shit. Don’t worry about nothing. I got you.” Quasym said, and Zaria nodded her head. “
You can’t say anything about what happened here tonight, okay? Nothing about me being shot. Nothing. Not to your mama, your sister-not even Yessenia. Okay?”