Keeping Secrets (Completed)

Nine

Charlotte Evans
I parked my car up at a school nearby the address that Alonzo had sent me. While I waited, I put on a long cardigan to cover the bruises on my shoulder and on my thigh, in attempts to not draw too much attention to myself. I jumped out of the car, walked around it; checking every door to make sure it was locked.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I turned around to see some gray undercover police cruiser behind me. The dark skinned chubby man stuck his head out the window; looking over his glasses to get a good look at me. "This isn't the neighborhood to leave a car like that unattended."

"I'll only be a few minutes, it should be fine." My words were brave but with what he said; I was having second thoughts.

"If you say so, just remember I warned you." he rolled his window up and did a quick U-turn, heading back down the street.

I gave myself a quick pep-talk and check one more time. I wanted to chicken out; but I didn't come all this way for nothing, I had to prove myself. Most importantly; I had to win.

As I walked down the street, it was like someone made an announcement of my arrival. Everyone looked so scary and so serious; I hated how they were all watched me. They stood in front of their houses, leaned against their cars and watched me walk down their neighborhood like I was a threat to them. I sped my walk up and double checked the address in my texts before turning into this tall apartment building.

I stood in the lobby for about twenty minutes, watching the variety of different people that walked by me; all of them staring at me like a sore thumb. Once again; the place smelt like weed and pee which I'm guessing is what every place around here smelt like. I stepped outside and stood at the front of the building instead; to prevent myself from going home, smelling this way.

"You're Alonzo's shorty, aren't you?" I looked over my sunglasses and watched as a tall light-skinned guy with dreads called from the group of guys that stood in the parking lot. "Who's asking?" I answered. "I'm his boy Eazy," he stuck his lit cigarette into his mouth and stuck that hand out to shake mine. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." I said, internally disgusted from touching his dirty hand.

"By any chance, do you know where he is?"

"Not exactly, but he said that he wasn't too far away. Are you waiting for him too?"

"Yeah, I've been waiting for him since last night. I have to give him something." He took a pull for the cigarette and blew the smoke away from me.

"I can take whatever it is you have for him." I suggested, mainly as a way for him to get away from me with that cancer stick.

"No offense shorty, but I don't know if I could trust you with something as valuable as this." He smiled at me and exposed the gold in his mouth. "If you catch my drift." I was too turned off to even realize what he was hinting at. It took me a while but the moment I realized exactly what he said, I looked down at the brown paper bag in his opposite hand and my jaw dropped. Now I understood what it was that he was talking about. "Now you get it!" he said chuckling, he took another couple of puffs; finishing the cigarette before he threw it onto the street. "What's your name by the way?"

"It's CeeCee..."

"That's an interesting name." he said smirking. I would've questioned what was so interesting about it but I wasn't too interested in what he had to say. "So CeeCee, what did you have to do to be pushing that Range that you parked back there?"

"What range rover?" I mentally swore, I knew I should've been more careful.

"Nothing in this neighborhood moves without me knowing, Charlotte. I saw you with it a couple weeks ago... and I saw you pull up again today, so what's the deal."

"Oh, It's not my car. I just borrowed it!" I lied, without enough time to properly think it through. "What ... What did you just call me?"

"I called you Charlotte, like the Ms. Charlotte Evans." He said my name again and my eyes widened behind my sunglasses, I tried my best to keep my composure and not give it away.

"I'm sorry but, who's Charlotte?"

"You can quit the little game you think you have going on here." He said, with a big grin on his face. "You're pretty good and this acting thing, but I already know who you are."

"How?!" I shouted, causing some of the guys from the group to look over at us. Eazy signalled showing them that it was okay before he returned his attention back to me. "Funny story, I'm not too sure you're ready to hear it though."

"I am..."

"What time did you say Alonzo was coming back again?" he asked, looking at his watch. "Tell me!" I demanded, I had become so hot that without thinking; I removed my glasses and looked at him.

"Who the hell did that to your face?!" he asked, wincing as if he felt the pain himself. "That looks really bad."

"Don't worry about that right now." I put them back on and moved in closer to him. "Just tell me please. How do you know who I am?"

"Let's just say... I'm a lot closer to you than you think."

"Stop beating around the damn bush! What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, the next time you talk down on my mother I will let Alonzo who you really are."

"What?" I started laughing, I was stressing over nothing. It was clear that this guy was clearly high off of something. "And who is your mother exactly?"

"Rosalie is my mother."

"Oh, my goodness..." I covered my mouth and took a couple of steps away from him to see the resemblance. "I never knew Rosalie had kids!"

"Yup, but that's not the point... Do you want to hear the best part of this story?" I nodded, "I bet you didn't know your dad had a son either." I looked over at him and nearly fainted after hearing the words come out of his mouth. I stepped back a few more steps and watched a cheeky smile appear across his face. "Just remember, you're not the only one that's good at keeping a secret." Before I could say a word in return; one of his boys whistled from where they were standing, he stared in the direction behind me then he pushed the little brown paper bag into the back of his pants. "We'll continue this another time."

I turned around to see where he was looking and watched as the same police car came rolling back down the street. By the time I turned back to face Eazy, he was gone.