Love is a Losing Game

ART: "Good Night" By Andrew Nichols

" She didn't know where I was when you first got hired" said Ezekial Porterhouse

I had been chasing this man for a week and here he was standing there like a ghost who had returned from the grave. If I told you that I was confused..I wouldn't be lying. I had figured out that Laura knew where he was ..but it was the why that bothered me.

" Kevin, I'm leaving my wife...and I'm leaving this city and the rap game...I owe people money,I'm on the verge of losing my two best acts..and I'm sick of it all..I just wanted to get away for a few days...I left my car with Laura, but she had no idea where I was or if I was coming back..until after she hired you to find me. I knew you'd ask my wife questions and if she
knew that Laura had hired you, she would never know that Laura and I would be together..She'd think that Laura was as in the dark as she was. I'm surprised your boy, Cock Robbins didn't tell you that I was back...I'm the one that put his ass out.. I guess his punk ass was too scared to mention my name." Laughed Zeke maniacally..

If I somehow got out of this, I was going to shoot Cock Robbins myself..He could have told me this and I could be home making love to Sepia instead of standing here on the porch with a gun pointed at my head.


"What? man are you crazy? Why didn't you just
take Laura and go?" I asked.

"I was gonna, but after I found out she had you looking
for me, I figured that that would throw Jack Diamond
off...make him think that I was dead..I certainly never meant
for Laura to get kidnapped...but you rescued her and now I
plan to pay you for your continued silence." He said.


"Hold up man, if you can pay me to shut up...how come you can't
pay Jack Diamond his six g's?" I asked. Suddenly wondering why the hell I cared about Jack Diamond and whether he got his money. I just didn't want to get shot at this point. But I suddenly felt a cool hatred for Zeke...I didn't want him to get away with this..but I didn't have anyway to stop him. I didn't figure on seeing him, so I hadn't planned ahead.


"Nigga ,I aint givin you no money...I'm gonna walk yo ass into
that house and shoot you....by the time they find your body,
Laura and me will be long gone...and since I'm missing anyway,
and people saw her abducted...The whole thing will be blamed on
Jack Diamond...You see, I'm in the clear." He laughed as he cocked
his pistol.


I hadn't figured on this..I didn't have a plan of action at all.. I looked over at Laura, I pleaded
with her-

"Laura, you're going to go for this?? You would be
part of a murder..for this peice of crap?" I said.

Laura's face was blank, devoid of emotion....and that scared me more than anything-

"You don't know how bad I want this man....
His wife was never going to give him a divorce..
I'm sorry Kevin, just close your eyes...It'll be quick
and painless. I promise...Zeke is a compassionate man
if nothing else." she said.

Those were the last words she would ever utter in this life..a shot rang out that hit her right between the eyes...blood splashed out like a gusher and she slumped to the ground... Zeke spun
around..and before he could get off a shot..he was hit in the abdomen and right in his heart..He was dead before he hit the ground.. I turned around and there she was to my surprise.....Big
Nasty, holding a smoking and big gun...a .44 magnum... They really need to do something about the availabilty of so many guns on the streets of Philadelphia.

'Hey.....why did you do this, are you crazy? " I yelled. Horrified and glad that Zeke was dead all
at the same time. I had no love lost for this creep at all..I did feel bad that Laura was dead..she
was still as fine as hell... (I know, she was going to let him kill me just a minute ago and all I cared about was how good she looked...I'm a man, what can I say??)

Lights started coming on in people's houses and folks started coming out.. I expected to get shot next...

"I knew that no account negro was still alive...
I knew it when you found the car..I just staked this
house out and waited for him to come back..I knew
he would...wasn't no way in hell I was going to
give him up to that heiffer...I'd kill em both before I
allowed that." she said...


"You know the cops are coming ?" I said.

"That's right and you'll tell them that I just
saved your life" she said. The lady was as cool as a cucumber. I was suddenly filled with a great
lust for her..didn't know why, but she just seemed so sexy all of a sudden, standing there with that gun in those tight jeans and with that pink middrift on..

It was, after all the truth...She had saved my life and that's what I told the cops, plus the whole story of his faked disapearence and her kidnapping, her rescue(by me alone, no need in involving the others) and their plot to kill me and leave town. The cops found two airline tickets for the Caymen Islands in the house and over 200 g's in cash stashed in paper bags in the basement. I suspect that Zeke was planning to get his money and make a run for it ,whether Laura was here or not. He saw us pull up and he hid until he took account of the situation.

He had certainly made no plans to rescue her once he found out what had happened to her. She didn't think of that...She died believing that he loved her...He didn't love her, he loved himself.
He didn't love Big Nasty either...and she killed him, still loving him, but not wanting to see him with another woman. What was love? What was it really? It was a losing game for both of these
poor deluded women. I began to think of Zeke and of Cock Robbins and men like them. These were the type of men who always seemed to get the beautiful women and always seemed to treat them badly and yet the worse they treated their women, the more crazy and devoted these women were to them. It mattered not to Laura that Zeke was married, someone else's guy and that he could do the same thing to her one day that he was doing to his wife. It mattered not
to Big Nasty that he for better or for worse had made his choice and that it wasn't her..She still loved him..Loved him so much that she'd rather see him dead than see him with another woman.
Love was a losing game....

Believe it or not, The Detectives let Big Nasty go...They bought the story that she killed them to save my life. Really it was more likely that they just wanted a cleared case. It involved Black people, killing other Black people, there would be no public out cry, so why not just wrap it up and call it a night? That's exactly what they did..Lazy asses. I wondered about Big Nasty...Her
"punishment" would be that she would have to live with this...The really scary thing was..I think
she could...I think she was relieved that it was all over with..No more drama.. She could go and meet someone else..start all over again. Who says there are no second acts in American life?

I was certainly relieved and glad to be alive. (I was horny too..) I drove home and walked into my silent living room, I pulled the curtains to. I walked into my bedroom and Sepia was lying in bed, sleeping silently.. She was wearing a Pink baby doll and a matching pink string bikini ...She was sleeping so soundly, I hated to wake her up.I undressed and took a shower, then slipped on some silk boxer shorts and slipped under the covers...my extra weight on the bed woke her up.

"Where you been?" she asked sleepily...

"I'll tell you about it tomorrow..but you
know what?" I said

"What?" she answered ,still half asleep

"I'm not getting involved with anymore bloggers
and I'm taking Cock Robbins's number out of my
phone." I said.

"I could have told you to do that a long time ago..
I took his name out of my phone..That loser."she said.

I looked at her laying there looking so good and I nudged her awake....

"Okay...I do feel like being involved with
one blogger." I said...

"Yeah? Well it had better be the one laying
beside you right now. ..she laughed.

"That goes without saying." I laughed
as we began to spoon.

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