TIME WAITS FOR no one. You must be ready for it, or it’ll leave you in the dust. It’s like a restless, junkie mother who’s getting ready to leave the house, and if you’re too slow coming up the stairs from your room, she’ll leave you behind, standing there on the crumbling front porch for being a few steps behind her. So after a while, you learn to be ready before she is. You have to stay ahead of her at all times so you don’t get left behind. That’s how I treat them both now: my mother and time. I hate them both, but with practice, I’ve learned to be a step ahead of them.
I’m not being left behind by time now. I’ve been prepared and a step ahead for the past three months since the Julia’s Jewels robbery. It’s been the best three months of my life, because I’ve changed everything. I took a life that was complete trash and molded it into something I’m proud to have built with the only two people I care about in this litterbox-filled-with-shit world.
I’m basically rich now. Julia’s brought Nix and I more wealth than either of us thought possible for lowlifes like us. We came out of the high-end store with two duffel bags, one filled with money from the register and safe, and the other filled with jewelry. In the end, I counted it out to be fifty-three-thousand dollars in cash, and roughly eighty-thousand in jewelry. Jackpot! Nix and I split everything sixty-forty, which is how he and I do business since I’m the mastermind behind all of this, and neither of us could be happier with how things have turned out. As we watched the report on TV from my room in the basement, we were filled with excitement as the reporter went on and on about how all this cash and jewelry was taken, but the cops didn’t have any suspects yet. The surveillance video played on TV a few times, but even as we watched, Nix and I could barely tell it was us. After a couple of days of useless, fruitless questioning and investigating, the police were getting nowhere, and the reports started dying off. We were in the clear with more to our names than ever!
We’re kings in this crappy neighborhood now, and people are starting to recognize it. No one knows for sure what happened in the places we’ve hit, but after a while, people from the hood catch on. When you’re from where we’re from, you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to be a genius in street smarts. Poor people in the hood know what’s going on in the hood, at least enough to know who and who not to mess with. Nix and I make that list of who not to mess with. People have their suspicions, but just like the cops, they don’t know anything and they’ve got no evidence to prove any suspicions they do have. But suspicion is all we need in Strawberry Mansion. Suspicion is enough to strike fear in people, and the look of fear on people’s faces has become one of my most cherished sights in this world. I love seeing it spread across their faces as Nix and I walk through our neighborhood, and it’s even sweeter when I see it as we walk through neighborhoods that aren’t ours. Everyone is starting to know that he and I are different. Even if they’re not sure how, they know we’re different in a way that makes them fearful. One day at a time, one step at a time, one robbery at a time—we’re taking over.
The hardest part has been trying to make sure that suspicions don’t become evidence. People can think what they want, but they can’t ever know for sure. That’s how you get robbed in a place like this. That’s how you wind up dead. That’s also how your mother could end up stealing every dime you’ve made.
It’s been interesting hiding all of this from Whitney, who hasn’t changed a bit. She’s still shooting that crap up her veins and passing out in the middle of the living room in a puddle of piss. Two weeks ago, she passed out right in front of the door to my room. I heard her fall, and I tried to open my door to see what was going on, but her stupid body was blocking it and I had to push her out of the way with the door. Once I realized she wasn’t dead, I left her lying there in nothing but panties and a tank top as I walked out of the house, and reminded myself that I could never let her find out about the money. She doesn’t deserve to have any of it.
I keep things subtle for the sake of keeping my money hidden, but I’ve also spent a little. I mean come on, what kind of king would I be if didn’t splurge a bit? I decided to get my first tattoo, with the idea that I would just tell Whitney I got it from a friend, although it looks much too fancy and expensive for a friend to have done it. I figured Whitney’s brain cells are too fried to ever catch on. Since my goal is to become the king of the criminal underworld, I got a gold, flame-covered crown tattooed on my left forearm. It’s big, and it’s the first of many tattoos that’ll cover most of my skin by the time I’m done. After I got it, I loved the look on Reina’s face as she looked at it for the first time. She smiled and told me how sexy and badass it was, which was exactly the reaction I’d hoped for.
That leads me to Reina. My Reina. She and I have been getting closer and closer over these past few months. We’ve always had this spark between us, and that spark has become a flame neither of us can control ever since that kiss after Julia’s Jewels. I’ve always been quiet about how I feel about Reina, but deep down I know she’s special to me. Scratch that. She’s everything to me. We’ve spent so many weekends together here in Strawberry Mansion that I’m getting to the point now that I can barely stand it when she can’t make it down to see me. I know she has some annoying parents to placate, but I hate it when they get in the way and tell her she has to stay in. These bastards even have a nanny or some crap come keep an eye on her sometimes. Like, are you kidding me? Reina is fifteen years old now, and she doesn’t need a damn babysitter. All she needs is me, but her parents would never see it that way.
In all honestly, I don’t even think Reina’s parents know about me. From what Reina tells me, they’re too horrible to ever find out, because they wouldn’t be happy with their little “innocent” baby girl hanging out with the likes of me. What a joke! Reina isn’t a baby, she damn sure isn’t innocent, and she belongs more to me than she does to them. She belongs with me. She belongs in this environment with me. But that’s the last thing little weak, uppity pricks like them want to hear—that their little girl is a woman who’s capable of taking care of herself and old enough to make her own decisions. They don’t want to know that she’s too much for them, and just enough for me. Yeah, I bet their poor little heads would explode if they knew about me, so I let Reina handle them however she needs to. I couldn’t care less about her parents. All I care about is her.
Reina is the perfect ride or die chick. These past few months have proven that to be true. I watched her go off on a group of girls much older than us as we walked through the mall, because she said they were staring at me a little too strongly. She asked what the hell they were looking at and ran straight over to the tallest one of the group and pushed her face backwards like it was nothing. She was ready to square up with any one of the other three girls in the group after the tall one looked at her like she was insane. After the four of them acted like they were going to try to gang up on her, I intervened and shut that down by drawing my favorite box cutter from my pocket. They backed off, and Reina and I went on our merry way, hand in hand. I told her she was the sexiest version of crazy I’d ever seen, and she reminded me that if a group of guys had looked at her that way, I would’ve beat the hell out of every single one of them. I couldn’t argue with her there.
In fact, I had my own little situation about a month later, when someone had the nerve to ask me if I had any drugs on me. Now, I assumed the reason this idiot asked me that was because I was wearing black Timberland boots, brand new gray denim jeans, and a black and gray leather jacket. I figured he assumed I was a drug dealer because of how nice my clothes were, because that’s usually how it goes in my neighborhood. However, things turned for the worse—or better—when I told him I don’t mess with drugs, and I hate people who do. He decided to lose his cool and mention the fact that I’m related to one of the most known drug addicts in Strawberry Mansion—my mother. He even called her a junkie whore. I’m not exactly sure how he ended up on the ground, but once he was down there, I decided to beat him to a bloody pulp with my bare hands. It wasn’t until I couldn’t see the skin on his face anymore because it was so covered with blood that I realized I’d let this interrupt my walk with Reina. I wiped off the blood that coated my hands on his shirt and left him there, unmoving. The guy probably needed reconstructive surgery on his face for all I know, but I didn’t wait around to find out. Reina and I walked away like nothing ever happened. No big deal.
We’ve become the best of friends, Reina and me. I’m not even afraid to call her that either. It is what it is. I care about her, and these weekends together have been the thing I look forward to the most. We kiss, we hang out in my room, we walk the streets like we own them, we shop like there’s no tomorrow, and we laugh our asses off all day. What more do I need? Reina is the positive in my life, because everything else is negative. I’ve turned things around, sure, but I still live in Strawberry Mansion. My mother is still Whitney King, the well-known “junkie whore.” My horrific past is still my horrific past, and I’m still not a normal guy because of all of those things. But Reina is the positive in my life, and I’m the positive in hers. When we’re together, I often forget she has a horrible life on her side of those train tracks as well. She needs me just as much as I need her. Even Nix says we’re crazy together, but we’re a perfect match, and he’s exactly right. We’re Bonnie and Clyde. We’re perfect together. She’s perfect. She’s mine. Which is why I have a bit of a problem.
A few weeks back, Reina and I were hanging out at a park in Philly. I can’t remember what led to the conversation exactly—something about her mother being a bitch again—but I’ll never forget the moment she turned around and looked at me. Her ice-blue eyes locked onto mine and grabbed my soul, begging me not to get upset with what she was about to say, and from the look on her face, I knew I was going to struggle with that.
“So I’ve gotta tell you something,” she said as she sat up and faced me, adjusting her black sweater and flipping her flowing blonde hair over her shoulder. “I need you stay calm about it, though.”
I smiled at her pleading face as I sat up and braced myself for the bomb about to be delivered.
“I’ll do my best, baby,” I replied.
“Prom is coming up.”
I immediately felt heat manifest in my stomach and climb out of the pores of my skin. My face tightened, but I didn’t respond. I knew where this was going.
“I don’t want to go, and I tried to tell my stupid mom to just drop it, but I’m sure you know how that went. She’s making me go. With him,” she finished.
Him, is that little piece of rich shit named Charlie. Reina has been telling me about him on and off for a while now. He’s just some guy Reina’s parents try to force into a match, but I know she would never go for some arrogant, obnoxious, spoiled bitch like Charlie so I’ve never felt truly concerned about it. Reina has been leaving her life of luxury behind to come to Strawberry Mansion and be my partner in crime, so when she mentions her parents trying to act like Charlie is her perfect match, I’ve always laughed it off. What could someone like him possibly do for my Reina? Nothing, is the answer! Absolutely nothing. But when she said her parents were forcing her to go to prom with Charlie, I started feeling some type of way about it, especially since I know this asshole has tried to make some unwanted advances on her already.
I let out a frustrated growl. “Charlie. The same guy you told me about? The one who can’t keep his hands to himself? That Charlie?”
“Yep. It’s not even worth fighting them over. Like I’ve told you before, Charlie has my parents in the palm of his hand. They believe he’s some good guy because he puts on this front when he’s around them. He’s so smarmy. You know you don’t have anything to worry about, Solomon. Right?” she asked when she could sense my anger growing like a cancer inside of me.
“I know that,” I said, swallowing the fury boiling under the surface. “I know you’d get out of it if you could. That’s not the case, so what can we do? When is this prom?”
“Next Saturday at Rittenhouse. I don’t want to go, but you don’t understand what it’s like living with my parents. I don’t have a choice. Believe me, I’d much rather run him over with his stupid BMW than be inside of it with him. Are you okay?”
“Don’t worry, babe. I’m good.”
Of course I wasn’t good! Even though we spent the next hour kissing and rubbing each other in the park, I was dying inside, thinking of her going to prom with some rich little creep who severely needs his ass kicked. Reina means everything to me, and the fact that she’s going to prom with some rich asshole from Center City West is a problem. I never figured her idiotic parents would do anything that’d bother me like this, but they’ve gone and done it by forcing my Reina to go dancing and crap with another guy. Like I said, it’s a bit of a problem. At least it was.
Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t possibly care less about a prom. I dropped out of school a long time ago, and I wouldn’t be thinking about anything like prom if it wasn’t for Reina. If she was going with a bunch of girlfriends, I wouldn’t be fastening the belt on crisp white pants right now. If she was just going to have a girl’s night out with some dancing and laughs among girlfriends, I wouldn’t be cinching the black buttons on a perfectly white shirt. I wouldn’t be rolling up the sleeves enough to showcase my new tattoo with the vibrant orange and blue flames engulfing the large crown. I wouldn’t be spraying on cologne and grabbing the keys to a royal blue Mercedes I had Nix rent for me—since Nix is the only person I know who has a driver’s license. If Reina meant nothing to me, I wouldn’t be on my way to Center City to crash their little prom being held at some fancy hotel. If I didn’t care for Reina, her date, Charlie-something, wouldn’t have anything to be afraid of. But I do care about Reina, so Charlie has everything to be afraid of tonight. He just doesn’t know it yet. Oh, but he will. By the time the night is over, Charlie will know Reina belongs to me, and me alone.
The drive to Rittenhouse is annoying. How many fancy buildings and houses does one place need? It’s like watching an episode of Cribs. Ugh. Everything is nice and looks brand-spanking-new. Brand new white lights illuminate the street leading to the hotel, showcasing buildings that look like they just finished construction last week. You can tell just from driving through the place at night, there are no robberies here. No bums on the street begging for change. These establishments look like they’d actually hire someone for more than minimum wage. If you work here, you’ll have enough money to do more than just pay your rent and not die. You can live here. Money has been poured into Center City West by the government to keep it bright and vibrant. It keeps it beautiful and drives the prices of everything in it up, so that poor people like me can never come here. When the prices are high, poor people can never come here because we can’t afford to shop or live here, and the owners of these establishments would never hire someone who looks like they live in Strawberry Mansion, so people like me are forever stuck in the environments we were born into. This system is designed to keep us out, and keep us poor. This is nothing like where I come from, and it fills me up with envy. I hate it, but I also know that one day soon, I’ll be more than capable of living in a place like this, because I’m going to beat the system. Once you know the system exists, you can learn to exploit it. You can be the anomaly that breaks out of the place you were supposed to be stuck in, and move amongst the people who are supposed to be “better” than you. I’m the anomaly, and I’m coming.
Envious feelings aside, I press on towards the lavish hotel as I see it in the distance and come off of a circular exit. It’s huge and sort of reminds me of a mini castle with its peaking roofs that look like church steeples and lavish, decorative brick design. My first thought is that I should figure out a way to rob this place, but that thought quickly evaporates as I drive up to the entrance and see Reina already standing outside. My eyes zoom in and focus on her. She looks unbelievable, with a red dress that fits her so perfectly and jewelry that glistens as the lights from the hotel hit each piece, including the bracelet I bought her in the mall a while back. She’s a vision, but I don’t know why she’d be standing outside right now instead of being inside enjoying herself. The party started over an hour ago, so I know I’m crashing it, but I wasn’t expecting to see her outside when I arrived.
With a second glance I realize what’s going on. Reina’s not alone. She’s facing the road I’m driving on, and there’s a guy who has his back to the street as I approach slowly. All of the happiness I felt at seeing her standing there with that sexy red dress on has all but vanished and been replaced with a slow-boiling anger. The guy has a black tuxedo on and I can tell from just looking at him as I stop the car behind him that he thinks he’s the best thing that has ever happened to planet earth. It’s Charlie. After all this time, I’m finally seeing him. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time, and I’m going to enjoy every second of it
“Okay, honestly, what is your problem, Reina?” I hear Charlie say to her as I open the door quietly and step out. I don’t close the car door because I don’t want to startle him with my arrival. I want him to keep talking, and he does, totally focused on Reina.
My Reina.
“I’ve been doing everything in my power to show you that you and I are a great match, but you keep blowing me off,” Charlie continues, blind to the rest of the world around him. “Do you know how many girls in there were giving me the eyes? I could’ve hooked up with any one of them, but instead of doing that, I’m standing outside, begging you to go back in. This is ridiculous. You should be begging me! Would you please just stop being such a bitch and come back inside.”
“Fuck you, Charlie,” Reina spits back, not even realizing I’m approaching from behind him.
“Yeah, you got that right,” Charlie retorts. “Instead of being an ice queen, that’s what you should do. Fuck me.” He breaks into a ridiculous laugh, so I decide to join him. It is funny, after all, that he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. I throw my head back and laugh hysterically. The two of them seem to catch on at the same time.
“Solomon?” I hear Reina say. I can tell from the sound of her voice that she’s smiling when she says my name. Charlie stops laughing, and he isn’t smiling.
“Oh how can anyone resist you with jokes like that?” I say to Charlie as I step up on the curb and stand next to him, sizing him up. He’s a clean cut, white collar type who hasn’t gone through anything in his life that could ever be considered tough. He’s exactly the type of person I despise, and it takes everything in me not to just punch him in his face right now and take his wallet. Even with all the money he has inherited from his mother, this guy is beneath me.
“Who are you?” Charlie responds to me, looking me up and down and staring at the tattoo on my forearm like he’s afraid of it. He sees how different we are, and it scares him. I love it.
“Who, me?” I answer, smiling. “Oh I’m just an admirer of your super fresh jokes! You should do standup. Let me hear that joke again. Reina said ‘Fuck you’ and then you said something witty. What was it again?”
Charlie looks back at Reina, who’s smiling at me like I’ve just given her her first taste of sunshine after a lifetime of darkness. He doesn’t like that she’s smiling, and his face contorts into a frown.
“Aww come on, guy. What’d you say in response?” I press him. “Oh I remember! You said she should stop being an ice queen and just fuck you. That is clever. But I think maybe your observation is all wrong, because she doesn’t seem like an ice queen to me.”
With that, I walk past Charlie, bumping him with my shoulder as I step up to Reina and press my mouth against hers and we embrace, falling into a passionate kiss. By the time we separate, Charlie looks like I just killed his cat. If I find out he has one, I just might.
“What the hell is this?” he says, his voice trembling.
“Well, I think it’s time we have a proper introduction,” I say as I turn around and face Charlie. I smile at him as I look him in the eye. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Charlie. My name is Solomon, and you seem to have a hard time understanding when she says it, so allow me.” My smile fades. “Reina doesn’t belong to you. She’s not your prize to be won. She’s not even your friend. She’s someone you’re never gonna talk to again . . . because she’s mine. You’re just some little bitch who could never know what it takes to satisfy a woman like her. You could never know, and she would never waste her time trying to show you. You see, all the begging you’ve been doing to try to win her over—I’d never do that. I never had to. Because she knows just from looking at me that I’ll give her everything she needs. I can satisfy her in ways you couldn’t imagine in your wettest dreams, little boy.” I reach into my pocket and remove my box cutter, slowly revealing the razor blade and lifting it to his neck. “You see that look on your face? That terrified expression shining through your eyes? I love that. It’s one of the things I live for. You know what else I live for? Reina. So if you ever come near her again, I’m going to take this razor, and slice you from ear to ear. I’m going to make you smile forever, Charlie. You’ll be permanently smiling in your sleep when I’m done with you.” I pause long enough to reach back and take Reina by the hand. “Do you understand everything I just said to you?”
Charlie nods, but that’s just not good enough for me. I want to put a smile on Reina’s face, so I take it further.
“I want to hear you say it, Charlie. That way I know you really got it. Reina is not yours. Whose is she?”
Charlie swallows hard as his eyes well up in embarrassment and fear, and a couple of people from inside come out and watch in terror. “Sh . . . She’s yours.”
“That’s right. Good boy. Now move out of the way.” Charlie steps aside and I step up to the Mercedes, guiding Reina into the passenger seat as I put the box cutter back into my pocket. “Have a great night, Charlie. I’ll make sure she gets home safe,” I say as I close her door and walk to the driver’s side, smiling at the tiny group of people watching from the entrance of the hotel. We leave Charlie and his audience standing there, fighting back tears of anger as we drive away. Now he knows she’s mine, and he’ll never forget it.