Chapter 20
Mary Jane
A moron wants to hang himself, but the rope breaks and he gets a bad bump on the head. He goes to the doctor, gets some salve, rubs it on the wound, and then goes ahead and hangs himself again.
–Philogelos (The Laughter Lover)
Ten days later.
Freedom at last! Let’s hope we don’t get into any trouble.
As Fuji drove me through Din City, I turned on the radio in the car. Acoustic guitar played along to a woman’s harmonious lyrics.
“Us, girls!” The singer strummed her guitar with the chorus. “Us, girls!”
I clapped. “Hells yes. That’s my song!”
“We’re going to heal the world with our flowers! We’re going to bloom in the sun for hours. Us, girls! Us, girls! We’ve got petals of power. Touch them or devour. There’s peace within our folds. There’s love that never gets old. Our flowers are made of gold. Us, girls—”
Fuji shut the radio off. “What the fuck was that?”
“Only the most beautiful song in the world.” I did my best to sing it, “Us, girls! Us girls!”
“God, no. Please don’t.”
“You didn’t even give the song a chance.”
“Sounds stupid. And how can people heal the world with flowers?”
“The flowers are metaphors for our vaginas, she’s trying to say—”
“Never mind.” He waved his hands at me, grimacing like I’d been waging a bloody tampon in front of his face and begging him to taste it. Guys could be so freaking squeamish about women sometimes. “You’re not allowed to touch my radio anymore. And get down, MJ, or I’m going to turn around and take you back to Noah’s loft.”
“Fine.” I reclined back down in the passenger seat that had been lowered all the way back so no one would see me riding with him. I felt like a damned kid, but hey, that was better than sitting in bed waiting for Noah to come home like I’d been doing for the last ten days. Instead of four enclosed walls, I got to look at the world as it passed by the window.
My phone buzzed, but I didn’t dare check it. Only two people called—Mom and Noah. Neither would let me fly free today. I needed to spread my wings for a few hours, before I choked on the prison bars.
Just one hour of freedom and I’ll call Mom or Noah back.
So giddy, I continued to hum the song and sing the lyrics in my head.
Us, girls! Us, girls! We’ve got petals of power. Touch them or devour.
Fuji scowled. “Please stop humming that, MJ. Now all I can think about is some guitar playing hippy crotch-thrusting her hairy vagina on a hill.”
“Interesting. You must’ve seen the video.” I winked with pure sarcasm. “And just because she’s a hippy doesn’t mean she doesn’t shave.”
He ignored me.
I returned to enjoying my window’s view. It should’ve been warm today with the approaching summer months, but a chill remained in the air. Leaves danced on the wind like it was fall. Grumpy, gray clouds hid the sun. Fuji had swaddled me in two blankets like a baby. I’d already had on a Din City Dodgers hat, black yoga pants and a t-shirt of Charlie Chaplin holding up a middle finger. But still, Fuji believed I would catch a cold. The big guy was worse than an overbearing mother.
Speaking of crazy moms, I better call again today. So far, I’ve been able to keep her at bay, but not for too much longer.
The last conversation hadn’t gone that well, but satisfied her for the moment.
“How are your classes?” Mom had asked the last time we spoke.
“So great. I’m probably going to make the Dean’s List.”
“Interesting, because your roommate said she hasn’t seen you in three weeks.”
“My roommate does drugs. I try to avoid her as much as possible.”
“Really?” Shock filled her voice, but it sounded like she might’ve believed me. “But, when I came by, she was reading her bible.”
“It’s part of her whole twelve step process of getting over the addiction.”
“Mary Jane, is there something that you need to tell me?”
“What? Hello? Huh? Mom? Mom? I can’t hear you.”
With that I shut off the phone and ignored her other calls. Next time, I would need to have something more to say.
Us, girls! Us, girls! We’re going to heal the world with our flowers!
I gazed up at the sky, sensing an ache where I’d been injured. “I think it’s going to rain. I can feel it in my bones.”
“You didn’t break anything, MJ so that doesn’t even make sense.” Fuji honked the horn. I lifted a little and peeked at who he was bothering. It was a man in a Mercedes, talking on his phone. Apparently, he hadn’t realized the light had turned green as he continued to yap. Fuji honked again and yelled out of the window. “Hey, asshole! Drive, before I take that phone out of your hand and ram it up your ass!”
The poor guy’s face turned red and he sped off.
“That’s was very Christian of you.” I rose some more and tried to turn on the radio again.
Fuji moved my hand and returned to the road. “Fucking cellphones have ruined driving.”
I gave up my pursuit of playing music. “Some people have busy lives. They have to multitask. Text and drive or—”
“I’m going to multitask my foot into somebody’s ass the next time they don’t pay attention to the road. This is why I hate driving around here.”
With nothing else to do, I scanned the sky for rain. “Anyway, I can feel a storm coming. I think, after getting stabbed, I have a special connection with nature.”
“First of all, you only feel the weather after an injury dealing with your bones or something. Like getting it broken. I’ve had enough breaks to know about that.”
Widening my eyes, I whispered, “You’ve had enough breaks due to. . .gangster shit?”
“Due to football.”
“Oh.”
“My doc told me it dealt with the barometric pressure. Old injuries get sensitive to subtle changes in the atmosphere.”
My phone buzzed again, but I ignored it. Guilt sat at the bottom of my stomach, but at some point, I needed to think of me for a few minutes. Noah cared for me, but with this war going on, he treated me like a bird that needed to be caged, never letting me leave his bedroom or even go downstairs to practice my jokes on his stage.
I sat up in the seat. “Did you just use some big words?”
“Get back down.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”
“None of those people will help us if Noah finds out that I took you out of bed.”
“God is always watching.”
“Noah, too and he’s going to kill me.” Fuji rounded the car onto Din City College campus and parked in front of my dorm. “And it won’t be a kind death. I’m more afraid of Noah than God, these days.”
Excitement rippled through me when I spotted the place where I’d called home for the longest. “He won’t have to know about this if we hurry up and get back as fast as we can.”
“Do you think he has no idea that we left?”
“You’re the only one he lets guard me.”
“But I bet he has others watching, just in case. Plus, Butterfly wants to kill you.” Fuji looked behind his shoulder and studied the few cars that drove past us. None of them stopped and most had giggling college girls playing pop music. “We have to get in and out.”
“Oh, wait. You’re going to let me get out of the car?” I sat up a little. An ache hit my arm and chest, where the main wounds were still healing. Ten days had passed, but Noah wouldn’t let me leave the bed. He’d at least moved me from the hospital to his loft, but forced me to remain in his bed for the recommended six weeks. I couldn’t do it. After a while, the lying around and watching movies caused me more agitation and made me feel weak and helpless.
“Well, I can’t leave you in the damned car.” Sweat beaded around the big guy’s forehead. “In and out, MJ. I’m not fucking around.”
I saluted. “Yes, sir.”
Fuji grimaced. “You’re definitely not taking this seriously.”
“I am.”
He checked his watch. “Okay. We barely have two hours to go to your room, get more crap—”
“Hey, my stuff isn’t crap.”
“Whatever.” He climbed out of the car, causing the vehicle to rock back and forth a little from losing his weight. He slammed the door and waddled quickly to my side like a penguin that had snorted too much cocaine. I did my best not to laugh, but couldn’t help myself. More pain came. I gritted my teeth and dealt with it. If I showed Fuji how much everything still hurt, he would drag my ass back to Noah’s prison of a bedroom.
Us, girls! Us, girls! Fuck! Now, I can’t get that song out of my head. God, it feels so good to be outside for a few hours.
Earlier this month, the very idea of lying in Noah’s bed for weeks sounded awesome. The only problem was that Noah didn’t stay in there with me. He had a city to run and a woman to hunt and kill.
Butterfly had been keeping him busy. She’d started underground brothels that were literally below ground—basements and long-forgotten bomb shelters on the outskirts of the city. Noah’s men didn’t visit them, but the politicians and cops did—people that Noah couldn’t outright kill without explaining it to more powerful people.
The war had continued in a silent and odd way. The news reported strange events—dead low-level politicians hung from electrical lines with dildos protruding from their behinds, gun gripping female corpses were strung to light posts with blue pearls around their necks, and many burning buildings. On every block, someone had spray painted huge butterflies and put red X’s through them. No one knew why—just that somebody really didn’t like those winged-creatures.
The commissioner theorized that a serial killer was on the loose, targeting men and women who engaged in the city’s sex industry. Other correspondents suggested that it was gang-related in some way, but couldn’t find a clear connection. Apparently, the North and South of Din City, usual areas known for drugs and violence, had been quiet and calm. Besides the crazy corpses, neighborhoods had never been safer. There’d even been sightings of men guarding playgrounds trying to keep the parents and kids out of harm’s way.
Police and officials remained confused, yet composed.
Every now and then, the news flashed Noah’s face or showed recent footage of him sitting on Vaso Beach in the lotus position with his eyes closed and a neutral expression on his face. The nightly news spent twenty minutes analyzing that footage and wondering if Noah was meditating or doing some sort of voodoo chant. They were careful whenever they discussed Noah, never calling him a crime boss, but insinuating it all. The only other thing they could report about him was that he’d recently purchased Spectrum, the undersea restaurant, and closed it for renovations.
Only I knew about the other things. There’d been so much death and murder. At night, Noah whispered his confessions to me while I lay in his arms and caressed the ripples of muscles wrapped around his waist.
We hadn’t made love at all. He was too scared that he would hurt me. But I was so horny and not caring, I must’ve begged enough to have a hoarse voice for days.
Us, girls! Us, girls! We’ve got petals of power. Touch them or devour.
I didn’t know who was changing more—him or me. With each night, his tales of blood and killing became easier to swallow. I hadn’t seen it, but. . .I was slowly starting to understand his world and get why he did what he did. I still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
How long will we be together?
After several seconds, Fuji arrived at my door and opened it, huffing and puffing.
“I’m putting you on an exercise plan,” I declared while he undid my seatbelt, picked me up, and closed the door. “As soon as I can run, you’re going to jog with me in the mornings.”
“Good. You won’t be healing no time soon. I’m sure you’ll open up those wounds. It’ll be fucking forever before we run together.”
“Thanks for the words of encouragement.”
“You’re the worst patient ever. I thought you were horrible at being a captive, but I think you’re more cunning and annoying when you’re injured.”
“Which is why I want to get my joke books from my room. This way I can actually sit in bed with my mouth closed.”
“Your mouth closed?” Fuji carried me across the parking lot. “I didn’t know you knew how to do that.”
“Ha! Ha! Yeah. No.” I pulled my Dodger’s hat some more, hoping no one would know who I was as he carried me like an invalid. A white van parked next to Fuji’s car. I peered at the window. The person who’d been driving ducked their head, but I could see the signature hairstyle. “I think Mohawk is here. He’s always following me around.”
“Little boy probably has a crush on you, or wants to kill you. The motherfucker is weird. See, this is what I’m talking about. I could’ve just got the books myself.”
“I already told you that they’re in my secret place with other secret things.”
“Like what?”
“Vibrators and—”
“Oh, God! Never mind. What is it with you today?”
I laughed. “Sorry.”
Although full of lush, green rolling hills and several historic buildings, the campus was pretty small. It had been a convent run by nuns for years. The state closed it down in the 50s when officials discovered the nuns had been giving illegal abortions to scared, pregnant teenagers. No one had ever died and all of the nuns, who operated, had been medically trained. But at the time, abortion had been illegal in Din City—women chose a hanger or the convent to get rid of unwanted pregnancies. Once the convent closed, female deaths caused by unsafe abortions rose. Years later, the State reopened the convent and turned it into a college where a memorial was erected in the center of the grounds, honoring the nuns. The school had the top women’s studies program in the States.
My dorm was located in the back, next to the old nuns’ cemetery. Sometimes at night, I swore I heard women singing and babies crying among the shadows. That spot gave me the creeps. If it got too dark, I made sure to run by the graves and hurry into my building.
When am I going to be back in here? And what will I do for this summer?
Mom expected me to stay at the house with her while I found a proper internship. It was the sole reason why I’d stumbled into Noah’s night club in the first place, hoping to get a comedy gig. That way, when I broke the news to Mom, I could show her that I was really going after my dreams.
“See, Mom,” I would say. “I really am funny. People are paying me for it!”
With the addition of Noah in my life, I didn’t know what I would be doing this summer.
“Oh, wait.” I realized Fuji was taking us to the front of the building. “No, go the back way like you did last time when you came here.”
He switched his course and we arrived at the fire exit with no problem. The stairs caused even more of an obstacle. He hadn’t been prepared to climb them while holding me. With each of his grunts, I kept my mouth closed and made no jokes, scared that he would sling me over the railing for annoying him.
Once we arrived at my room, I thanked God that almost everyone was still in class. I had quite a few friends on my level. I usually tried out my jokes in the lobby on rainy days. The girls were fierce critics, telling me what sucked and what had them doubling over with laughter.
I handed Fuji the keys and he opened my door.
Oh, shit.
My roommate sat on her bed with the bible opened, drinking tea. She was the very model of judgment and boredom. Never letting her blonde strands down—she kept them in a tight bun. She always wore big ass black glasses. And boy did she love God. Now, I really appreciated the dude in the sky. But this one stayed on her knees, praying almost every minute of the day—at dawn, before breakfast, in between all of her classes, during lunch, after her naps, five times in the evening, sometimes in the middle of the night, and anytime I stumbled in drunk. She could never silently pray. No. She yelled out the words like hell’s flames consumed the room, tears streaming from her eyes as she cried to the lord, “Yes! Heal us. Rain down your love on me! Bring your power down. Help these people on the campus. Help the world.”
When she prayed in the middle of the night, I might’ve accidentally slung a book at her head. Those few times didn’t stop the praying or help our relationship.
“Hey, Tasha.” I waved.
She twisted her face and returned to the bible. “Where have you been?”
Tasha thought I was the biggest sinner in the world because I had liquor hidden in my drawer and never went to church. If she knew the things I’d done to Noah, she’d probably be hosing me down with holy water.
“Well, I’m glad you’re doing fine. By the way, I’ve been where I’ve been, Tasha.” I pointed to the ceiling tile above my bed. “Fuji, everything is in there. You’ll have to put me on the bed.”
Fuji did and climbed up to remove the tile.
Stunned, Tasha stared with an opened mouth. “What are you doing?”
“Getting my secret stash.”
Fuji moved the tile away and spotted some of my hidden treasure. “You keep vibrators up this high?”
Blushing, I pretended like I didn’t hear him. “So, how’s school?”
Tasha picked up a yellow highlighter and began coloring some scripture lines. “There’s been a lot of people coming by here and asking about you.”
Fuji paused from messing with the ceiling. “People like who?”
Tasha raised her eyebrows at the big man and looked at me as if questioning who the hell he was.
“He’s my. . .cousin. Felix meet my roommate Tasha.”
Fuji glanced over his shoulder. “Who’s Felix?”
“Never mind.” I returned to her. “So, who’s come by? My mother said she stopped by.”
“Like almost every day.” Tasha flipped a page. “Your aunt has been around too. She took your computer since it was broken and some of your photo albums.”
I did my best not to look alarmed as I sat up. “My aunt?”
“Yes.”
Mom has no sisters. Neither does Dad, not that I would know them if I’d seen them. I’ve never met that side of the family. So. . .who the fuck was that?
“So, I wonder which aunt it was.” I gave a nervous laugh. “I have so many of them. What did she look like?”
“Pretty,” she said, sounding surprised. “Glamorous, I guess. She had on a sun dress with a rose print and a beautiful necklace with a ruby butterfly hanging from—”
“Shit,” I mumbled.
Vibrators, lube, and tons of notebooks rained down from the ceiling after Fuji knocked the ceiling tile out too hard. “That was Butterfly.”
“Clearly.” I shook my head at all my sex toys on the ground.
“She’s been here,” Fuji said. “Noah isn’t going to be happy.”
I shivered in fear, wishing I wasn’t injured and could kick her ass myself. “Yes and the bitch has my computer and photo albums. That’s all of my personal information.”
Tasha scrunched her face at me saying bitch. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged while a few more vibrators fell.
“How many of these things do you need?” Annoyance laced Fuji’s voice as he picked up several vibrators.
“Those are emergency ones. I don’t need them, now.”
Fuji didn’t bother replacing the ceiling tile. He jumped off the bed and gathered the notebooks. “We got to get you the fuck out of here.”
“Mary Jane?” Tasha closed her bible and stood. “What’s going on? Who are all these strange people coming by?”
Fuji glared at her. “Who else came by?”
“A little boy. I think he was Mexican or something. He had a Mohawk.”
“What did he want?” Fuji cursed some more and slung the notebooks into a bag on my desk.
“He didn’t say anything,” Tasha said. “He just waved, walked in, looked around like a detective and left. I think he had a key.”
Mohawk. Knowing him, he picked the lock.
Tasha continued, “After that, he left. It must’ve been the day after your Aunt came. And then your boyfriend, Harrold—”
“We’re not dating anymore,” I corrected.
“Well, he came here in a wheel chair with three guys. I think they must’ve been coming from baseball practice or something, because they all had bats. He left a message that you are to call him immediately.”
Awesome. Harrold is seeking revenge. You may want to focus on healing, before Noah ends up killing you.
“We have to go.” Fuji grabbed me up fast, not being as careful as he’d been earlier. A bag of my joke books hung on his other arm. “Tasha, if anybody else comes by, you call Mary Jane’s phone and let her know immediately.”
Tasha grabbed her bible and scowled. “And who are you?”
“Eh, do what I said, so I don’t have to slap you.”
Shocked, she dropped to her knees. “The lord is my shepherd! He takes care of me!”
“Really?” I shook my head while being carried me out. “You could’ve been nicer.”
Tasha yelled off in the distance, “He leads me to green meadows and quiet waters!”
“We don’t have time for nice.” Fuji huffed. “Fucking Butterfly knows your name, if she knows this is where you went to school. Next stop is going to be your families’ houses if she gets a good picture of them.”
“What?!” I tensed.
“Sorry, MJ. Everything should be fine. Noah’s had security on your mom since the first day you were in the hospital.”
“He has?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” He sped up, the bag of joke books slapping his back with each step. “Now, he’ll probably have your mother brought to the loft and watched over. We probably have to—”
“Excuse me? Do you realize I’ve been lying to my mother this entire time? Not to mention the fact that she will not like Noah because he’s a murderer—”
“What are you more scared of, her dying or you getting into trouble?”
“Hmmm. Let me think about that.” I attempted a joke, but neither of us had any humor left. Shit was becoming even more serious.
We made it back downstairs and outside faster than we’d went up. Maybe we shouldn’t have taken our time in my room, because when we arrived at the car, someone had flattened the tires.
Not good.
“Motherfucker.” Fuji sighed. “I knew this was a bad idea. Noah is going to kill me.”
“He better not touch you.” I held him tighter. Recognizing the van, I was glad Mohawk remained by Fuji’s car. I was about to say let’s just see if he’s in there, but then a female whistled behind us.
Fuji turned us around. Three identical black women stared back at us, dressed casually, but elegant. All three had hazel eyes. Their faces were exact replicas of the other, but their hair was different. The one on the left wore braids. The one on the right was baldheaded and in the center, the triplet had blue waves.
I recognized their black pants and horn shoes from Le Couture. They had to be Butterfly’s crew. The flash and expensive clothes screamed her, but most of all, one of them had a gun in their hand, pointing at Fuji’s head.
Fuji’s voice shifted into a thunderous sound from nightmares. “Put that fucking gun down.”
The blue haired one spoke up in a raspy voice, her hand shook a little as she held the gun. “Don’t make me shoot you, Fuji. We’ve had some good times. I’d hate to throw flowers on your casket. Just put down the girl.”
“No.” Fuji’s voice became colder. “What do you know about a gun, NeeNee?”
“That it goes boom and kills a motherfucker real fast.” Blue hair raised the point a little higher.
“You’re not going to shoot me.”
“Don’t play me, Fuji.”
I swallowed down fear. “So. . .I really don’t want you to shoot Fuji. Is there a way that I can convince you to put that gun down?”
“By getting into our van over there.” The baldheaded one gestured to it. “Butterfly got a price tag on your head. We’re just trying to collect. We don’t want to hurt you or anything.”
“Bullshit,” Fuji hissed.
I tried to climb out of Fuji’s arms. “Let me go.”
“No.”
“Eh, put me down.”
“No.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I’m a free woman. I have a right to go with the creepy triplets if I want to.”
The weird women exchanged glances while we continued to argue. I looked around. A few students walked by, but no one noticed what was going on.
“Are you fucking crazy, MJ?” Fuji asked.
“Yes.” I hit his arm. “Come on. At least let me stand.”
“You’re not going with them.” Slowly, Fuji let me down.
“They’re going to shoot you if I don’t go with them. I almost lost Crusher, not that he is a bestie, but I would’ve missed him. If something happens to you, it’s going to be hard on me.”
“Man, do you think I care about a bullet to the brain. I’m more afraid of Noah than these hoes.” He cleared his throat. “I mean women and besides, NeeNee ain’t going to shoot that thing.”
“Relax. I’ll be okay.” Doubt filled my head, but what other option did I have. Butterfly was looking for me so hard that she might go for my family. I didn’t want that. I might’ve fallen for Noah and put myself into his dark world, but Mom and the rest of my family were innocent.
“MJ.” Fuji’s bottom lip quivered. “You’re not going with them. They might not hurt you, but Butterfly. . .”
Let that bitch come around me. She surprised me with the knife last time. Next time, I’m attacking first with anything in my damned hand.
I stood up straight. Pain swelled in my chest. “Tell Noah that I kneed you in the balls so you couldn’t chase after me.”
He twisted his face in confusion. “Tell him what?”
I rammed my knee into his crotch as hard as I could.
“MJ!” Fuji doubled over and crashed to the pavement.
The three women exchanged glances again while the blue haired one put the gun away. The whole time, her fingers continued to shake. “Oh, shit. Uh. Get in the van.”
“I need help.” I glanced at Fuji. “I’m so sorry, big guy, but I’d rather your dick hurt than your head explode from a bullet.”
Besides, I have creepy little Mohawk boy around this parking lot, somewhere.
The girls led the way and I took a page from my judgey roommate’s book. In my head, I prayed to God as much as I could.
The Lord is my shepherd. He takes care of me. . .