The man eased out of the mosque and left him alone.
Rasim was grateful because his heart was heavy and he was too embarrassed to hold an audience and talk to Allah at the same time. Anyway, he felt like a hypocrite asking for God’s grace considering all of the murders he facilitated but what else could he do? He tried his way and in the end he lost his wife and possibly his only son. He couldn’t take any more.
For some reason, he thought about what Snow said when they were teenagers many years ago in Strawberry Meadows.
“You shouldn’t turn your back on God, Rasim. You never know when you might need him.”
He hoped it wasn’t too late.
“Allah, I’m coming to You humbly. I know You don’t recognize my face but I need Your help. I…I love my wife more than anything in this world. And I’ve made some mistakes, most of which I don’t want to admit to, but I’m truly sorry. But I can’t be the man I know I can be without her in my life. Please bring her back to me. Please give me the strength and help to be the husband she wants and deserves. Please help my son so that he doesn’t die because of my sins. All I’m asking is a chance to be a good father. To be a good husband. To be a good man. I’m asking for Your mercy.”
Rasim rose up for a few seconds and prostrated again.
When he was preparing to stand up and leave, Parker came into the mosque and whispered, “I’m sorry to bother you, Rasim. But your counselor said your wife is waiting on your call.”
****
Rasim held the phone to his ear so close it almost muffled out her sweet voice. Just hearing her talk was like music to his ears. He figured Allah was great but he never expected Him to move so quickly. “Where you been, baby? I haven’t spoken to you in months.” It’s funny how absence made his voice softer. The last time he spoke to her, he was yelling but now his tone was gentle as a baby’s kiss.
“I’ve been out, Rasim,” she responded in that breathy tone she was known for. “Where else would I be?”
He recognized how she was using his words against him but he didn’t appreciate the humor. “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked pacing in the place in front of the phone booth.
“Listen, I didn’t call to argue with you. I reached out because I heard what happened to your son. I know you wanted to help and I hate that the past affected his future. What happened to the man who hurt him anyway?”
Rasim didn’t want to talk about that bullshit but he didn’t want to be ignorant either. “He locked down. They’re taking him to another prison later.” He wanted to say that wherever he landed his reach was long enough to touch him but of course the call was recorded.
“That’s good to hear,” she replied knowing full well that he had plans to lay the stabber to rest. He should’ve bucked them all on the day he busted Levi. “So how is Stanley now?”
“In critical condition,” he sighed. “This is what I was talking about, baby. This is why I didn’t want no kids. They fuckin’ used him against me.” Rasim paused realizing he was saying too much over the phone. “Anyway, I’m hoping for the best. How did you find out?”
“Selena. She was bouncing off the walls too. Said something about Stanley having a fractured jaw and now this.”
Rasim rubbed his temple. “Selena, need to back the fuck up and relax.” Rasim leaned up against the wall and looked up at the light. He had another question, although he wasn’t sure if he was prepared for the answer. “Snow, are you…are you dealing with another nigga?”
She exhaled. “Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”
His guts bubbled even more. “Yeah.”
“Yes I am.”
Rasim lost all reason and religion.
He pushed off the wall and yelled, “But why?” He startled a few inmates who were already terrified of him as they walked by. They hustled down the hall before they gained a fractured jaw like Stanley or suffered dying in their sleep like Montana. “What would make you do some shit like that, Snow? You’ve never been with another man outside of me. Not every nigga is gonna respect your body like I do, baby. You gotta be careful.”
“Who said I never been with another man but you?”
Rasim was as stiff as his first hard on. “So…so you…you saying before I came back in here that you were with another nigga? Outside of me?”
“Yes.”
His free hand crawled into a fist and he pumped it repeatedly like he was about to give blood. “Who the nigga, Snow?”
“Rasim, please don’t—”
“Who?” he roared.
“Somebody from Strawberry Meadows.”
Rasim touched his stomach. “When, Snow?” he yelled. “What the fuck you doing to me? You want me to zap out on these niggas in here? And get ten to twenty?” he paused. “Huh?”
Hearing his statement an inmate who was on the phone next to him immediately hung up on his mother. The old woman was in the hospital and everything. But the last thing he needed was to be a victim of Rasim’s wrath so he bounced.
“I was with him the last time I left you,” she responded. “When I was gone all of those months and came home to find you on the floor under the sink with blood pouring out of your head. After you put a rock to your face.” She paused. “He took care of me then and he’s taking care of me now.”
Every vein in Rasim’s body pulsed and bubbled. “So when you left me you were living with another man the entire time?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You didn’t ask.” She paused. “Don’t be so surprised, Rasim.”
“Just because I fucked some bitch? You would go this far?”
“That’s what’s wrong in our marriage. I caught you letting another female suck your dick and I decided I wouldn’t take it anymore. Do you remember that? Just because you’re a nigga don’t mean you can be unfaithful, Rasim. I deserve more.” She paused. “What did you think,” she giggled, “just because I was quiet that another man wouldn’t look at me? Huh? Did you really think I was that undesirable?” If that wasn’t enough, she took jabs at his jugular. “Didn’t you notice the next time we made love how my fuck game gained value? He taught me and he’s going to teach me so much more.”
Rasim was so hot you could fry a bag of nuggets on his forehead. He licked his lips and then wiped them with the back of his hands. “Snow, when I see you I’m going to choke the life out of your pretty face. Then we’ll see if your nigga will still want you when your body is blue.”
“You have to get out of jail first.”
Click.
****
Rasim was on his bunk with his hand behind his head and the other tucked in his pants.
He was planning his wife’s bloody murder.
Rasim spoke to Snow over a month ago and he hadn’t heard from her since. The only bright side in the tunnel is that Stanley was getting better. Because of his fractured jaw and the recent stabbing, they decided to keep him segregated from the rest of the population until his sentence as over. Rasim preferred it that way because at least he would know that he was safe.
He started to write Snow another hate letter but the next thing that happened fucked up his head. Officer House strolled into his cell and said, “Nami, it’s time to go.”
Rasim looked up to him from the bunk. “What you mean?”
“You’re being released.”
He tilted his head. “Being released? I got at least five left.”
“They’re letting you go now, man. We need the space so they reduced your sentence.”
Rasim grinned.
Imagine his luck.
Suddenly it was payback time.
****
Rasim’s eyes were as wide as the windshield as he drove in his Escalade on the way to his house. It had been seven months since he laid eyes on his wife and it was time.
When he was released earlier in the day, Brooklyn and Chance picked him up. They made several attempts to calm him down by getting some drinks up in him or maybe a good meal but Rasim wouldn’t hear none of it. He had a one-track mind and all he wanted was to see Snow.
Yes, he was anxious to get his palms around her neck. She violated severely when she told him that she fucked another man. He knew he was wrong considering he had many, including Selena and Queen, her sworn enemies.
But it was different for men. They had the right of the land and that included the women who grazed upon it and he needed a variety to survive. If he recalled correctly, even Jesus said that. Right? If Snow didn’t see it his way then that was fine with him. He would simply choke her until she realized it.
Damn. Because of Snow, he was going to break his vow to never touch a woman. Unfortunately it wasn’t the first vow he broke; he started with his marriage of course.
When he pulled up on his block he saw two cars parked out front of his house. One belonged to Snow and the other God only knew. In his haste the last time he spoke to her he forgot to ask the name of the person in Strawberry Meadows she fucked.
Had he been given the name he would’ve started with him and then worked his way to her. He only hoped that the violator wasn’t close to him, like somebody he loved.
Rasim parked his ride and hustled toward his house. He was about to use his key but when he turned the knob, he immediately gained entry. Who he saw next caused his blood to boil over. The perpetrator was wearing a high-end security officer uniform complete with a shiny gold badge and stripes on his shoulder. He was standing on a chair in the middle of the living room removing a light bulb.
Seeing his angry face, the Security Guard hopped off of the chair in an attempt to run. But Rasim rushed inside, gripped him by the collar and slammed him into a beautiful crystal vase that sat on a small table by the door. Not done with him quite yet, he crashed his body through the glass table before stealing him in the jaw. With thoughts of him fucking his wife fresh in his mind, Rasim picked him up, carried him over to the window and pushed him through it before pressing him through the window on the right too. Both fractured under the weight of his body as glass splashed to the floor and cut into his face.
Rasim was so focused that he didn’t see the gun on the Security Guard’s belt until it was brushing against his nostrils. The matter had escalated quickly and in an attempt to save his own life Rasim stole him in the eye and knocked the weapon out of his hand.
But the Security Officer hustled toward his weapon and with him unarmed momentarily, Rasim dipped toward the basement to grab his .45.
Unfortunately he wasn’t alone. Ole boy was right behind him.
The Security Guard fired in Rasim’s direction, sending bullets screaming past his head and into another window. Luckily Rasim was faster and was able to pull the basement door open moments before another bullet went flying into the wood paneling of the door.
Once inside, Rasim closed and locked it and dodged down the steps toward his safe. Quickly he keyed in the code, grabbed his gun and loaded it with bullets. To be sure he had enough, he also stuffed ammo into his pockets and slowly crept back upstairs.
From inside the basement, before opening the door, he could hear his wife yelling but he couldn’t make out her words. All that did was cause his blood to boil over as he pushed out of the basement, armed and ready. For all he knew, the nigga got fly and decided to take his frustrations out on Snow and he wasn’t having it. Not while he was home. Not while he was alive.
Creeping out of the basement, he maintained his aim. Slowly he advanced toward the living room and that’s when he saw him. At the top of the foyer holding Snow’s hand as if they were leaving together.
Fuck they think they going?
Snow stared into Rasim’s eyes but then she looked away as if she were trying to hold back her feelings. It had been months since she’d seen him and look at what had become of their marriage.