Lovin' Harlem

Ch. 14

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." Nicki paced back and forth with her hands on her hips. She turned to look at me and wiped the blood from her cheeks. I stood next to DJ's body unable to move. Until I heard footsteps at the top of the stairs.

                                "Titi? Daddy I'm 'fraid." Harlem's voice didn't come closer because it was dark downstairs. Nicki and I were standing in the dark trying to figure out if this was really happening. I shot and killed DJ. Nicki was smuggled with panic and fear as she looked at DJ's body.

                                "I'm here baby. Go back to your room, I'll bring you some milk."              

                                "What was that noise? Where is daddy?" Harlem asked as she made her way downstairs. Nicki's back was turned as she made her way to the kitchen so I had to run to the bottom of the stairs so Harlem couldn't see the dead body. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

                                "Come on, let's get you back to sleep. I had to shoot a raccoon," I nudged her upstairs and made sure she didn't turn around in hopes to see Nicki. She slipped her finger inside my hand and grinned until I was tucking her in.

                                "Tell me bout the raccoon you killed daddy," Harlem cuddled with her life sized teddy bear as if it were a real person. Her body was almost completely undetectable with its arm around her torso. My stomach flipped upside down and it was suddenly hard to breathe. Thankfully, Nicki came in the room in new pajamas with a warm cup of milk and she wasn't covered in blood anymore.

                                "Well the raccoon um...he almost attacked your Titi and it was basically let her get rabies and die...or kill the raccoon. So I killed the raccoon."

                                "Daddy you're no good at bedtime stories." Harlem chuckled and then downed her milk. Nicki's smile was sad as she watched me sit on the edge of the bed and rub Harlem's back until her eyes were too heavy to keep open. Thinking about DJ made my body shutter because I knew if we got caught I would never be able to hold Harlem like this again. Nicki sat down and put her hand over mine.

                                "I'll take the fall if we get caught. You should be the one who raises Harlem...ya know..." Nicki was uncomfortable and I could hear it in her voice. She looked straight ahead instead of matching my gaze but I still stared at her. I couldn't see a life of my own without Nicki in it. Things between us couldn't stop here just because we killed two people. I didn't look at her differently anymore because I was no different than she was. We're both murderers.

                                "Nah, we just ain't gon get caught. We gon' raise Harlem together. And we gon' go downstairs and handle business. Like you said, we're the only two who know they're dead." My voice was a whisper but she heard it, the small smile on her face told me so.

                When we got downstairs it was almost midnight. Blood, glass and broken wood were all over the living room floor. My body was exhausted from lack of sleep but I tried to ignore it. Nicki didn't seem to be tired at all. She scrubbed everything down with bleach and washed the carpet three times. There was a small bloodstain where the coffee table used to be but it was almost faded enough to look like a wine spill.

                                "You should go upstairs with Harlem and sleep...I'll take care of the body." Nicki stood by the front door. Her face was blank enough to send goosebumps up my arm. When she smiled, I shook my head but she stepped closer and kissed me quickly. She ran her hands over my chest before they lingered down my abs and into my sweats. When she convinced me to help her wrap DJ's body in a rug and put in her car, I should have said no.