Chapter 109

"A what?!" Pierre says in disbelief. "I'm sorry, were you hiding a girlfriend from us all this time or something?"

"No." Kazimir replies as he backs out of the wooded area. "But it's her, Pierre. This is my future wife and no one is going to tell me otherwise."

"Uh, I think you should get a little help before you start thinking about all of that commitment shit."

"And I think you should keep your "commitment shit" opinions to yourself. How does someone with two different mothers of his children find the nerve to tell me to wait?"

"Even a baby can see you may need to wait a couple of years. Seriously, do you even know her beyond what she shows you on the surface? How do you know she won't be a terrible mother to your children?"

"Because she won't be. Look, I was scrolling through a local real estate website and I found a house on the outskirts of the city. It comes with a huge yard that Khristina, Carabelle, and our future kids could all play in."

"Damn, I thought only females could be delusional." Pierre says, shaking his head. "What if she doesn't want to live in Claiza City?"

"That's fine. We'll all move to where she wants to go and I'll continue my business in that place instead."

"Continue? The hell, Kazimir? I thought you were only going for the law enforcement in this city."

"No. They're all the same, just different uniforms and different procedures."

"And this is why you can't just jump straight into marriage. Your wife is not going to approve of you doing that."

"Pretty sure there are lots of couples who don't like his or her significant other doing a certain thing." the young man says, quickly turning behind another car. "Mama didn't like dad leaving candy bar wrappers on the coffee table."

"THOSE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! What kind of a woman wants to live in fear that her husband might get caught or killed one day?"

"Well, neither will happen. And besides, she already knows about what I do."

"You told her already?"

"No. She's known for a while." Kazimir replies.

Pierre looks up at his ceiling in confusion before slowly coming to a realization.

"It's Nia, isn't it? See, I don't know if I can have a woman who's let another man fuck her before as my wife."

"That was her husband, dumbass."

"I heard she fucked that blondie. I mean, that's what his twin—

"Yeah, I know." Kazimir interrupts. "She told me how she regretted it and felt dirty afterwards in case you think I didn't hear."

"So then go find three women to fuck. Gotta 1-up her before you two get married."

"I'm not doing that dumb shit. She's too beautiful to do that to. She's perfect, Pierre."

"Yeah, I'm sure half of the department would agree."

The younger detective sighs as he brakes at a stoplight.

"I just want her to myself, man. And I know I shouldn't get like this, but if I see her hug another guy, even if it's just supposed to be friendly, I get a little pissed off and wish he'd die on the spot."

The older man chuckles as he watches Prince imitate the breakdancing on T.V..

"You do have a specialization in killing."

"Anyway, I'll have her to rest at home and take Khristina and our kids to school, do some household shopping, cook and clean, and greet me once I get home."

"What if she doesn't want that?" Pierre asks, sitting down on a chair in his living room. "You gotta realize that she was married to a controlling man once."

"I'm not him. I'm not going to be controlling towards her. I want her to relax. No man wants a wife who's tired because she's working for someone else. Nia deserves to stay home and do as much shopping as she wants and I'll be perfectly fine with being the breadwinner."

"Don't know, bro. If I had to do all of that, I'd cry."

"And you don't, so shut the hell up."

Hanging up, Kazimir tosses the phone into the passenger seat and makes a sharp left. Driving a little further down, he comes up onto a residential neighborhood and lowers his speed.

Turning into a driveway, the young detective puts the gear in park and looks up at the house in front of him.

"This one. This is the one."

"What's the one?"

Turning to the backseat, Kazimir groans as he watches his alternate Ryushi smirk at him.

"Okay, get out."

"Damn, I just-

"Get out."

Putting his hands up in innocence, Ryushi crawls into the passenger seat.

"All it takes is one female to mess the whole plan up. If this Nia broad asked you to quit before you married her, would you do it?"

"Well she already respects-

"That's not what I asked, Kazimir. So basically, you would."

"No, I would not."

"Then don't go after her. You still have a sister to avenge. And you're just gonna let some random girl you barely know fuck up your plan like this?"

"I already said I wasn't stopping. Even if she wanted me to, I'd make up an excuse."

The male alternate chuckles as he watches the rain come to a drizzle.

"Gotta be the dumbest shit I heard all day. That woman is smart as hell; you really think she's going to believe that you quit killing just like that?"

"Any other negative things you need to say?"

"Half of the department looks better than you. Hell, I even look better than you. As a matter of fact, if I was real, I'd probably have more of a romantic chance with the-

Wrapping his hands around Ryushi's neck, Kazimir begins to tighten his grip.

"Do I look like Nia to you?"

Watching as his alternate slowly fades away, the young detective shakes his head and turns his music back up.

After a couple of minutes, he notices a woman tapping on his window and rolls it down.

"Young man, this community has a strict, no tolerance policy against explicit, violent, gang-related music. I'm going to need you to turn this down or get out of this neighborhood."

"I didn't see a sign that said that when I turned in here."

"We don't put signs up. I'm here to tell you to turn the music down. You need to be respectful of kids and others who—

Turning the music up louder, Kazimir rolls his window back up and continues to scroll through the website he was currently looking at.

"A down payment of $10,000 is required at signature, blah, blah, blah." he says to himself, ignoring the lady's screaming. "I guess in about a week-

*KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!*

Rolling the window down, Kazimir gives the woman an angry look.

"If you break any of these windows, I'll make sure to run your ass over."

"I said turn the fucking music down!"

"How do you want me to turn the music down and you're cursing at me? Put the kids in the house and let them watch something on television. And why the hell are little children even outside playing in the rain anyway? You know, it's good that I met you because maybe I need to call Child Protective Services to your house. I think I will, actually."

"Step out of the car." the woman says.

"Give me your name first."

"I don't have to give you my name."

Pulling out his badge, Kazimir flashes it into the woman's face.

"You do now. Hurry up, I don't have all day."

He watches as a shocked expression comes onto the woman's face.

"Maybe the media is right. Law enforcement really does need to change."

"Yeah, it does. Fuck you and this neighborhood. It's clear what kind of issues my future family and I would have to experience if we did choose to live here."

"Well good! Good! None of us want your tainted ass around here!"

Kazimir looks up from placing his phone in a cupholder and turns to the woman.

"My what?"

"I don't understand how you can be so normal looking yet drive around doing things that another racial demographic does. You know, those people-"

Putting the gear in reverse, Kazimir quickly backs up before putting it back in drive and stepping on the accelerator.

*CLUNK!*

He watches as the woman's body hits the garage door and sticks his head out of the window.

"And I don't understand why you need to categorize a whole race of people as if they all do that! You better hope your security cameras work tonight!"

—————

"Okay, green peppers are the last thing on the list."

"I'll go find them!"

Kenneth Mondalle chuckles as Milette walks forward and follows behind her.

"Does the recipe call for baby or adult sized?" she asks.

"Doesn't specify. I guess we can get both."

Reaching for a green pepper, Milette watches as her hand and another hand both touch the vegetable at the same time.

Looking up, she comes face to face with an unfamiliar young woman, a young man standing behind her.

"Oh! You touched it first, so you should have it!" the young woman says with a smile.

"No, your hand was there before mine!" Milette says. "You can have it, I already have two!"

"But it's-

"Naydine, she said that you can have it." the young man interrupts. "I'm sorry about my friend here, she can run her mouth all day."

Tilting her head, Milette warmly smiles.

"Naydine? Can I just say that you're extremely beautiful?"

"I could say the same to you too, girly! What's your name?"

"I'm Milette! And this is my fellow colleague, Kenneth! He's been teaching me how to cook recently!"

"You two should send me a plate once you're done! I'm a big foodie!"

"So you're not going to introduce me?"

"Oh!" Naydine says, placing a hand on her heart. "I'm so sorry, this is my friend, Liyusk! We've known each other since middle school!"

"Nice to meet y'all."

"Wait, I think I know you! You play college basketball, right?"

"Yes ma'am."

Milette chuckles as she places the vegetables in the shopping cart.

"Yeah, my cousin keeps the sports channel on all day long. I'm like, "bro, can we watch something else for once?""

"My little brother does the same exact thing! My mom had to recently put parental controls on the channels because he used to hide the remote and-

"Naydine, I thought you said you had a nail appointment at 2." Liyusk interrupts as he tosses a tomato in the air. "It's 1:39."

"Shoot, I forgot about that! Let's meet up again sometime, Milette! Here's my number!"

"Okay! I'll call you later!"

The two young women hug, Kenneth and Liyusk chuckling in the background.

"She looks familiar." Kenneth says, waving bye to Naydine and Liyusk. "Seems like I've seen her face come up on a missing persons report somewhere."

"Yeah, she does." Milette says. "On a side note, her friend is very cute. I wonder if she'll hook me up sometime."

The older man shakes his head and continues to push the shopping cart.

"Women."

Watching as Liyusk places the items on the conveyor belt, Naydine leans against the shopping cart.

"Her colleague is way too fine. There's no way that man is single looking like that."

"He looks a little older than to be in his 20s. Maybe mid to late 30s."

"So? If he's fine, he's fine."

"Maybe you should ask her to put you on." Liyusk replies. "I know when it comes to girls, y'all have no game."

"Shut up before I throw that apple at your big head."

"If you can throw it right."

Picking the apple up, Naydine watches as her friend laughs and shakes his head.

"I'm playing girl, damn. Now, what'd you say Kazimir's address was again?"