An Urban Drama Read Online Free PDF Page B

pulls his gun and shoots me in the arm.”
    “You’re lucky it was just your arm. He coulda aimed for your chest.”
    “He did, but I moved, just not quick enough. The bullet caught me in the arm and I dropped the gun. Then it seemed like all the cops started kickin’ me and hittin’ me with them clubs. I heard somebody yell, ‘That’s enough,’ and I blacked out. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital.”
    “Where was Chris while all this was goin’ on?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Over the next few months, the government took everything. Yes, everything. I never did get back in the apartment. I was told that it had all been purchased with the proceeds of a criminal enterprise or some shit like that. So now I had nothing—no home, no car, no clothes. It was a good thing that I did leave my old stuff at my parents’ house, ’cause I needed it then. Since my parents wouldn’t let me move back in the house, I had to get a small apartment. It was a dump, but it was all I could afford. I had given just about all the money to the lawyer.
      At the trial, the prosecution presented their case and rested. This was when it became apparent what part Chris had played in all this. He became one of the star witnesses for the prosecution. Lorenzo’s lawyer told him that Chris began telling everything he knew as soon as Lorenzo blacked out. Chris didn’t want any part of the murder charge, so he rolled on Lorenzo and did it quick. He wasn’t the only one. Lorenzo had another partner named Bryce, who had seemed to disappear about four months earlier. As it turned out, Bryce had been busted on a possession charge, and he was the one who gave them Lorenzo.
    Lorenzo’s lawyer didn’t have much of a defense to mount. He tried to discredit Chris and Bryce on their drug-related testimony, based on their admitted involvement in a criminal enterprise, but the bomb was already dropped when they put Chris on the stand to talk about the murder. He testified that he heard Lorenzo talking shit to the cops, then the next thing he saw was Lorenzo grabbing the cop’s gun and killing him. Not a word about the cops beating Lorenzo. That bitch didn’t say shit about that. I wanted to shoot that nigga myself. How you sellout your boy like that? Lorenzo said he understood, but I could see in his eyes that shit hurt him. Both of your boys rolling on you—you can’t tell me that shit is easy to swallow.
    It took the jury less than an hour to find Lorenzo guilty on all charges. I can’t ever remember crying so hard over something, than I did for Lorenzo that day. Inside, I felt like my life was over too. In those two years, I had built my whole life around Lorenzo Copeland. What would my life be without him? Did I even have a life without him?
    His lawyer arranged for Lorenzo to see me for a minute before they took him away. I began to cry again, as soon as I saw him.
    “Don’t cry, baby. We knew this day was coming,” Lorenzo said.
    “I know.” I continued to cry and Lorenzo held my hands.
    “There’s something that I gotta say to you,” he said.
    “What’s that?”
    “I want you to know that I love you. I have always loved you, Nina.”
    “I love you too.”
    “If you ever need anything, you gotta call my cousin, Leon, in Jacksonville .”
    “I will,” I said, still not able to stop myself from crying.
    “I been thinkin’ about this for a long time, and I know it’s gonna be better for you this way.”
    “What are you talkin’ about?”
    “I don’t want you to come see me anymore.”
    “What do you mean? Why don’t you want me to come see you?”
    “I know that I’m never gonna get out of here, and if I do, it won’t be for a long time.”
    “What are you sayin’? Lorenzo, I love you. I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll wait for you.”
    “Nina, you gotta listen to me. It’s not fair to you. I can’t do that to you. Make you live your life alone, or worse, lying to me.”
    “No, Lorenzo,