"Popular Thug"

Chapter 4

--(A couple of weeks later)
  
       Antoneo Brice was walking down the sidewalk looking for some new restaurant, he was to get his girl some food from then meet her at her crib, he had been walking slowly because of a crowd of guys that was standing on the opposite side of sidewalk.
       His eyes were so trained in spotting rival dealers that he hardly noticed the police, who had conspicuously maneuvered themselves so that the crowd wouldn't notice them until they wanted to be noticed. Antoneo's senses were strong, his eyes were slick, and his reaction silent and unnoticeable. Before he had noticed the police and the crowd his mind had been on seeing his girl, it had been a minute since they had spent any time together and he was looking forward to see her smiling face again.
       Antoneo noticed the restaurant on the opposite side of street, he glanced at the semi-busy street before crossing, and strangely enough there was not a single car coming down or up the street. He was half way across the street when he heard a distant voice yell and his body jerk with a sudden force against it. As he hit the gravel he noticed a bullet fly over him from the crowd of guys just over to the police officer partially hidden in the bushes...who had shot the fist shot.
       Antoneo's head began to spin and he saw officers over him yelling, "Civilian down! Civilian down!"
       The officer reached down and touched his chest, it hurt even before the cops finger tips touched his chest. When the officers hand raised back into the air he saw a deep crimson red dripping from his fingers...he had been hit...by the first shot. He was the civilian down.
       As his eyes rolled into the back of his head uncontrollably, he struggled to hold on, his mind flew to one place - Brittney. Brittney, he couldn't leave her. What was she gonna do without him? He had to hold on, he struggled to lift his head, the light was dimming slowly as he noticed her father coming running toward him.
       "Antoneo!" Joe yelled as he came over to examine the scene, Antoneo tried to smile, it was the first time he was glad Joe was around.
       Antoneo lifted his head, maybe for the last time and whispered breathlessly, "Br-Britt-Brittney...."
       "She's all right, just rest yourself Antoneo, just rest yourself. Lay your head down, slowly." Joe replied trying to calm him down, but he noticed the moment her name slipped from his lips his eyes didn't open again.
       Antoneo saw her smiling at him somehow and he let go, he reached for her not knowing she wasn't real. Just before he became out of reach he whispered, "Love her...."
       Joe's head fell as he watched the last breath slip from Antoneo's young lips, he was gone, and the EMT's hadn't even arrived yet. Joe knew then that life would never be the same for him nor his daughter, she would lose love so young, just as he lost his very own love.

       Brittney jolted out of the familiar dream, daresay nightmare, that she had been having for years now. No matter how many times the scene flashed through her head she could never get used to it, though it wasn't the real scene, her father had come home and described some of it to her, some she picked up over her reading a lot of police documentation, and some was purely imagination.

       She glanced at her clock noticing it was only 2 am, wishing the dream hadn't come so early tonight, she made her way down the hall to her bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror, looking at the person she had become, wondering what happened to that young girl who loved and was in love. Brittney shook her head throwing the endless questions away and picked up the pill bottle that would ensure her sleep but she refused to become dependent on a little pink pill that only brought worse dreams.

       On the walk back to her room she thought about Druex, strange enough as it was she wanted to hear his voice, hell right about now anybody's voice would do. So she went on a search in her purse for the piece of paper he had scribbled his number on. She dialed quickly, not knowing what she was going to say, it rang once, it rang twice, it rang three times, it rang four times, then the answering machine picked up.

       "Aye, cuzzo if this is real important and you know who I am leave a lil somethin for me to remember you by. If not just leave your name and some words." Druex's prerecorded message floated into her ears like syrup over pancakes, she knew what the beginning of the message meant, her brother and Antoneo had messages just like it on their phones.

       The beep interrupted her thoughts and she was forced to say somethin, "Druex, this is Brittney, I know it's kind of late but I couldn't sleep and I just wanted to talk. So um gimme a call whenever you get this. Bye." She hung up the phone with a defeated sigh, she hated giving messages, she always felt so stupid once she had given it.

       Before she even had time to lay her head down she phone rang and a deep concerned voice poured over her, "Aye, you aiight?"

       "I'm fine," Brittney replied sinking into her sheets letting the sound of her voice warm her up, "I just couldn't sleep, I had a crazy ass dream."

       "Antoneo?" Druex replied as he shook the hand of customer of Jarell's that he was just getting in touch with after a week of trying to find them.

       "Yea, more vivid than most, I just can't seem to sleep." Brittney sighed wondering where he was, but she learned from her brother and Antoneo to never ask questions.

       Druex got into his car and sat a moment wondering should he even step to where his mind was taking him, like always he wasn't scared of taking risks, "Want me to stop by? If that would help."

       Brittney thought on it a moment, she wanted to say no, but something wouldn't let her. Her father was at work, he wouldn't be back until 3 in afternoon because several crisis' that he wished to handle personally, "Yea, that'd be nice."

       "Aiight I'll be there in five." He hanging up, leaving her with wide eyes in disbelief of herself, she had just invited him to her house, to Joe Anderson's home.

      

       Druex made good on his promise, he arrived a little early smiling sweetly, "Come on I'll get you to sleep."

       Brittney looked at him in disbelieve as she locked the door behind them, "Are you so sure about that?"

       "Yes, I am now, lead me to your bedroom." He replied with a straight face, for some reason his request didn't bother her at all, she wasn't nervous at all as she lead him up the stairs and straight into her room.

       "Now what?" Brittney asked as she shut the door to her bedroom.

       "Get under the covers." Druex replied pulling off his thick Nautica Jacket, pushing up the sleeves to his white Nautica sweater, watching as she did just that. She was dressed in pastel pink PJ set, the shorts were short showing her chocolate colored legs, and her top was loose showing the soft skin that made up her neckline.

       Brittney laid under the blankets, on her stomach, closing her eyes, she her heard him moving toward the bed then his soft hands found themselves under her shirt. He gave her a soft, slow, sensual back rub humming some old Jazz song that she had heard when she was younger.

       "Just Think of any place but here," He whispered as he swept some hair off her face, "think when you were a little girl and your Mom would sing "Autumn In New York", think of the warm loving feeling that always came with that song."

       Somehow his words were working because she could feel sleep coming around, she moaned in pain and his humming turned to singing.
Autumn in New York, why does it seem so inviting?
Autumn in New York, it spells the thrill of first-nighting.
Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds in canyons of steel; they're making me feel I'm home.
It's autumn in New York that brings the promise of new love.

       He hummed a bar as he felt her breath go deeper and leaned in to murmur the last line of the verse....
Dreamers with empty hands may sigh for exotic lands;
it's autumn in New York; it's good to live again.

      Druex let the last line slip out with a sigh of his own, it felt strange to let his childhood out, his mom would do that before she and his dad split and their special time became time for her second job. Cornell had told him once that having that song sung was the only his little sister could ever get to sleep when she was little and for some strange reason it stuck. It almost felt alien to him for him to be so real, so sincere, so caring because in his profession showing an emotion could mean death.

       But when it came to Brittney he knew he was willing to break some rules and this was one of them, he had left his . 9 in the car, along with the blade he had a tendency to carry, the only thing he brought was his phone with him. He stared at her sleeping form wondering what it would be like to kiss the soft skin, that the blanket now covered so well, wondering what it would be like for her to want him. Want him with all the passion within her, for him to want her, to need her, to touch her, to hold her, to do this all the time. But so much stood in his way.

       Druex's phone rang and he knew his moment was over, he kissed he cheek softly and made his way out of her room, answering his phone on his way out. Back to business, no one could stop business from moving, only God could. Work was work and he had to live with it, even if he didn't have to live with it could he live without it?


       Brittney's eyes opened to light pouring into her room, she looked around and thought about the night before, and looked over at her clock -- 11:15 am -- she had slept about nine hours. But she was alone, somewhere deep down she had wanted him to stay and lay, the whole night, next to her.

       She sat up with a disappointed sigh, mumbling to herself, "Damn Druex."

       She had become so preoccupied by her thoughts that she missed the knock on her bedroom door, then her father's smiling face came into the room, "Well, goodmornin babygurl."

       "Daddy," Brittney gasped surprised, he wasn't supposed to be home for hours, "you're home early!"

       "Yea, the conflict was resolved rather quickly by our standards and they let me go at seven. I've been waiting on you to wake up for the longest but I'm guessing you had a long night, with those damn dreams." Joe replied leaning on the door frame, never once noticing the startled look on his daughter's face.

       "Waiting on me?" Brittney replied trying not to stutter, she was almost glad her mother wasn't there, he mom had always noticed the slightest change in all of their behavior.

       "Yea, wanted to treat you to lunch and tell you all about the lead I've got on one of those so-called 'Popular Thugs'. So I'll see you downstairs in an hour, OK?" Joe smiled, throwing his daughter a kiss, then closing the door not knowing the whirlwind that he had just threw his daughter into.

       "OK." Brittney whispered throwing her legs over the bed, frowning as her disappointment turned to guilt. She felt guilty for having Druex in his house and especially in her room, though nothing happened. She felt guilty for actually liking Druex, she felt guilty for having him fill her dreams last night after he lulled her to sleep, and she definitley felt guilty for not feeling so alone last night.. She wasn't ready for another Antoneo nor was she read to live out the ultimate urban Love & Honor story. It didn't interest her and she had no want to experience the pain but it was coming at her as fast as the speed of light. Brittney was wondering how she was going to look her father in the face after dreaming of Druex touching her in every place imaginable. No matter how hard she fought, she found herself even more attracted to Druex everyday.
....
As long as friends want pain then I'm gon' slang when my financial change then
I'm gon' change

Lyrics - "Autum In New York" - Billie Holiday (c) circa 1942 -  1949