Once a Dog Always a Dog!

Chapter 8

  There's a saying: Hurt People, Hurt People. The saying basically means that when someone is hurt in an emotional way by someone else, they will go out of their way to hurt the person who hurt them. Cheyenne was obviously feeling hurt by all of my actions and she really was trying to hurt my ass. It was evident that she was trying to hurt me, because although I had been hit with some serious charges, those charges really had no substance to them, considering that we were still husband and wife. But yet Cheyenne had a bunch of connections with the Queens County district attorney's office and with one phone call she was able to get my case buried among the other cases. So what she was able to do with that phone call was to delay my seeing the judge. I had been arrested on Thursday morning, and under most circumstances I would have seen a judge by Friday morning and either been released on my own recognizance or given a bail. I only would have been kept in jail if I couldn't make bail. But it was now Monday morning and I was just getting ready to see a fucking judge! And that was only because I had called Layla and she was able to work some of her attorney contacts who also had friends in the district attorney's office. 

In addition to getting my case buried, Cheyenne had also tapped some of her news  organization sources and with one phone call on Thursday afternoon I had instantly become an infamous figure. And that was because my face was on the front cover of Friday's edition of the New York Daily News. I knew that Cheyenne had to be behind the sensationalism of the story simply because of the way they connected me to DJ and The Unit. Her goal was to embarrass me and to hurt me like I'd hurt her. And I must say that she definitely landed some good knockout punches. The headline in Friday's paper read: MEMBER OF THE UNIT JAILED FOR ROBBERY AND ASSAULT. Underneath the headline was a picture of my mug shot that the police had taken of me inside the police precinct. The story went on to say how I was linked with DJ and how apparently the violence that followed him was now infecting the literary world. And it went on and on and on about things that were not even true, all for the sake of selling newspapers and making things bigger than it really was. So being that the news organizations now had ahold of this story, the district attorney had to go hard on me and they were pushing the judge to set a high-ass bail. The judge folded under the pressure and hit me with a fifty thousand dollar bail, which was excessive considering the nature of my crime and considering that I had no prior felony arrest record. 

My lawyer stood with me before the judge and informed the judge that I was prepared to make bail. The judge stated more legal talk and then he asked me if I understood the seriousness of what I had been charged with. After I told him that I did, my lawyer Victor Spitz, spoke up and said something to the judge, who then noted something on some papers that were in front of him before informing everyone of my next scheduled court appearance. And with that, I was finally free to go. "Thank you for everything," I said to my lawyer as he packed up his things and we prepared to leave the courtroom. Chris walked up to me and Attorney Spitz as we were walking out of the courtroom and gave me a pound and a quick ghetto embrace. "There's gonna be a zoo outside with the media," Victor said to me. "Just try not to say anything specific about the details of what happened on Thursday between you and Cheyenne." "Nah, I won't say anything. I'll let you handle that part." Just before we got outside of the courthouse, my lawyer stopped so that we could talk for a moment. He reassured me that this was all bullshit and that it would go away. 

"The district attorney will throw out the robbery and assault charges and you'll plead guilty to the two misdemeanors of trespassing and disorderly conduct, and that will be it. This whole thing will be treated no different than getting caught driving with a suspended license. But I gotta warn you, keep your nose clean. Do what you gotta do to work out a healthy situation with Cheyenne. If you violate the order of protection, you will be spending some time on Rikers Island." I nodded my head and told Victor that I understood and I would be sure to watch my temper and stay in line. I also told him that I would follow up with him on Wednesday after I had some time to rest and to clear my head. After we had taken care of that small talk, we walked out to the courthouse steps that were facing Queens Boulevard. There were a bunch of photographers, cameramen, and news people that rushed me, my lawyer, and Chris. They converged on the three of us and started asking all kinds of crazy questions at the same time. "Kha'Darious, were you also a small-time crack dealer in the nineties like DJ?" "The stories that you write, are any of them based on real life?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the ignorant questions, and I just had to answer. At the same time, I knew that I had to play up the moment to my benefit. It paid to be controversial. "Why couldn't I have been a drug kingpin? I think big, but I guess you're insinuating that I'm a small-fry. 

And to answer your question, Miss, I write fiction but I draw from real life." "Oh, so are you saying you are a former drug dealer?" I smiled and responded, "I didn't say that. You did." "Why would you stoop to robbing your wife? Do you have a drug problem, Mr. Wright?" My lawyer butted in. "Mr. Wright doesn't have a drug problem and the charges against him are frivolous. This was nothing more than a big misunderstanding." I hadn't brushed my teeth or washed my ass in like five days, so I was desperately wanting to get to a shower and to a bed so I could get some real much needed sleep. As we tried our best to make our way to our cars, a reporter shouted and asked me if there was anything that I wanted to say. So I paused, smiled, and said, "Yeah, I just want everybody to know that my new book is called Harlem Heat. It hit the stores last Tuesday, so go check it out." If I was gonna go through this bullshit I figured that I might as well profit from the publicity. "What is it called?" the reporter asked as she jotted down notes. "Harlem Heat," I replied. Finally me and Chris were able to make it to his car.

 Just as we were about to get in, a van pulled up and sort of boxed us in. A lady got out of the passenger's side. She came over to my side of the car and tapped on the window. I rolled the window down and she introduced herself as Meagan Washington. "You look familiar," I said to her as I tried my hardest to figure out where I knew her from. Then she handed me her card and that's when it hit me. She was an on-air television personality for this show on CBS called Media Edition. The show was similar to Entertainment Tonight and BET's Black Carpet. "Meagan Washington, you look a little different with the coat and the winter hat," I explained with a smile. She smiled and then told me that she would love to sit down with me and interview me for an upcoming episode of the show. I was about to say something flirtatious to Meagan but I kept my cool and professional. I told her that I would love to be on her show. "Do you have a cell phone on you? Let me give you my cell phone so we won't play phone tag or anything like that." "Okay, sure," she replied as she took out her cell phone and removed the gloves from her hands and programmed my number as I read it off to her. "I'm gonna call you right now, lock my number in your phone too," she added.

Unfortunately, my cell phone was still at the police precinct along with my money and my wallet. So I had to explain to Meagan that the police still had it. "Oh, okay," she said with a small chuckle and a smile. Meagan extended her hand to me for a handshake, and I extended mine back. "Nice meeting you. So we'll be in touch," she said before walking back to the black van with dark tinted windows. As soon as she was back in the van and we were about to pull off, I said to Chris, "Yo, if meeting her was the reason that I got locked up, then there is no way I could be upset!" "Kha'Darious, that's the major leagues right there, son!" "Yup, and I'm a pro at this. I guarantee you I'll be smashing that soon," I said as I reclined my seat all the way back and just beamed from the thought of what it would be like to get with a chick on Meagan's level. I knew that I had the power to do more than just imagine what it would be like to bag Meagan. I had the power to make bagging her a reality. And I was determined to do just that.