by Toy
“Yo!” Murder yelled, causing them both to look his way. “What’s the deal, A? You busting up in here and shit,” he said, looking between Allen and Nell and trying to figure out what the fuck they had going on.
“Oh, Mrs. Ella selling plates. I’m on my way to get my two. Do you want me to get you one?” he asked, still looking at Nell.
“Yeah, if you going to get them now, you might as well take Nell with you. Bring back a plate for her and Law Baby. They don’t have shit to do today besides spend my money,” Murder said, rubbing Lawrynn on her ass.
Nell looked at Murder like she wanted to kill him where he sat. Allen smirked a little bit then gave Murder a head nod to thank him for the suggestion.
“Bring ya ass, Nell. I’m not trying to have Mrs. Ella cussing my ass out today,” Allen said and walked out the door without waiting for her to agree or disagree.
Nell kissed her teeth and gave Murder and Lawrynn the middle finger before walking out behind him.
“If you make me late for my pick up with your slow walking ass, I’m gonna bite your right nipple off,” Allen told Nell.
“Nigga, fuck you, and kiss my ass. How is biting my nipple off a feasible consequence for you being late to pick up a food order?” Nell asked as she got in the car.
“You heard what the fuck I said,” Allen told her as he pulled off.
The ride to Mrs. Ella’s was only about five minutes. Being that Allen had Nell in the car with him alone, it was gonna take at least thirty minutes today. He hoped Murder and Lawrynn weren’t too hungry.
“How’ve you been, Lanell?” he asked, calling Nell by her given first name.
“Fine,” she said.
“How’s work?”
“Fine,” she said again.
“How’s your mom?” he asked.
“Fine,” she repeated.
“How you sitting in my car with a fucking attitude with me, and you’re the one who cut my black ass off? Tell me, please, how that shit works,” Allen said, finally tired of Nell and her fake ass attitude.
“I don’t have an attitude. Everything’s fine, Allen,” she said.
“Where your man at?”
“I don’t have one,” she said.
He cut his eyes at her after she gave her answer.
“It’s fucked up how you just let my ass go because of your hoe ass cousin. I told your ass that I know how not to fuck the wrong chick. It’s fucked up that you didn’t even trust me enough to at least give us a real try,” he told her.
“I did give us a try. The way I remember it, we were together for almost a year. If that’s not a chance, I don’t know what is,” Nell told Allen.
In her mind, she did the right thing breaking up with Allen. She wouldn’t have been able to handle it if he fucked her cousin just like all the others. She really liked Allen, and a blow like that would’ve damn sure broken her heart and killed her spirit.
“That wasn’t a fucking chance. That was a bullshit ass piece of you. I want, nah, fuck that. You fucking owe me a real chance. What are you gonna do? Be single the rest of your life because you’re too scared that a nigga’s gonna fuck your cousin? I ain’t fucking that hoe. I don’t even speak to her when I see her. It’s fucked up that you really can’t trust my ass. Hurting my fucking feelings and shit,” he said, shaking his head.
“Oh, you gonna stop the car and do the in ya feelings challenge? I did what I had to do, Allen. I wouldn’t be able to make it past that kind of pain if you fucked her behind my back,” she told him honestly.
“If you care about me that hard, why give up on us? Fuck ya hoe ass cousin,” he said.
“Did you hear what I said?” she asked him.
“Did you hear me? I’m telling you straight up that I’m not fucking with anybody right now. I want my girl back. I can prove to you that Nikki don’t have that kind of pussy power to make me fuck us up.”
Nell sat in the passenger seat for the rest of the ride quiet as a church mouse. She did miss the feeling of being in a relationship, but she missed Allen more. There was no doubt in her mind that if she had never broken up with him, there was an eighty percent chance that they would still be together. The other twenty percent was that he would turn out to be just like all the rest. If she wanted to take the chance again, he would be the ideal one to take it with.
“I’ll think about it,” she finally told Allen.
“Okay, cool. You got until we finish eating our food,” he told her. Nell turned to look at him like he was crazy. “I know you didn’t think you were gonna leave my sight until I got an answer. You’ll never walk away from me. Talking about you’re gonna call me, just for me to have to hunt your ass down tomorrow,” he told her.
“I guess I’m gonna have to think hard, then,” she replied.
“I guess so.”
Chapter 20
When Allen and Nell came back in, they were no longer just staring at each other. They were talking and laughing. Murder watched them as he ate his food. As soon as he finished, he had to find out what the hell they had going on.
“What the fuck is up with you two?” Murder asked.
“She’s the one that got away,” Allen answered.
“Oh, word? Why y’all break up or whatever?” he asked.
He cut his eyes at Lawrynn because he wanted to see her reaction to Allen’s answer. Yeah, Allen had told him briefly before what the deal was, but he knew with the girls there that Allen would pour his heart out. Hearing the story again in front of the women would be some entertaining shit. Allen was already squirming, and he hadn’t even answered shit. Murder was here for it today.
“Maurice!” Lawrynn yelled.
“Don’t Maurice me like that. I need to find out if she needs to be added to the ‘cousin to kill list.’ What she do, man, because she’s sitting over there mad at the world like she can beat my ass,” Murder said and laughed.
“She broke up with me because she was scared I was gonna fuck their hoe ass cousin,” he said.
“Damn. I wish you would even fix your mouth to say some shit like that to me. I’m gonna fuck you up then go kill her to show she ain’t a problem. Shit, Allen, if you would’ve just killed the bitch back then, my baby wouldn’t have gone through all the bullshit she’s been through. Damn, but nah, if she was dead, she couldn’t fuck up what Law and Pain had. Good looking out on keeping the hoe alive. She ’bout to be dead, though,” Murder said as if everything he said made perfect sense.
“How can you just talk about killing her like that?” Lawrynn asked.
“Why you so concerned about if she lives or dies? She may be your blood, but she damn sure ain’t family. It’s not that she’s a hoe because we all have hoes in our family. It’s the fact that she is purposely aiming her pussy at any nigga’s dick that is dealing with y’all. You gotta be able to trust family, and that’s one hoe right there who I wouldn’t leave with my dog. She might fuck around and try to fuck that motherfucker too,” Murder said and laughed.
“I wasn’t asking because of her. I was asking because death is something that doesn’t seem to bother you,” she told him.
“Babygirl, they don’t call me Murder because I let niggas and bitches live,” he said, shaking his head at her. There was no way she had just said that to him of all people. “Look, I kill people. If somebody comes up to you saying I killed their father, brother, uncle, or cousin, nine times out of ten, I did the shit. I can blow a nigga’s head off then sit down and write you a love letter. Death is a part of life. If people around me don’t want to die, they need to act like it. Trust me, everybody I’ve ever killed knew that shit was coming but still did whatever they did to violate,” Murder explained.
Lawrynn understood where Murder was coming from, but she still wasn’t used to the way he just so casually talked about killing. She had never dealt with anyone like Murder before. She was still getting used to him and the logic he used in certain situations.
Knowing that going back and forth with him was something
she didn’t need to do right now, she left the conversation alone.
“You went from one crazy nigga to the next,” Nell said as she cracked up laughing.
“Don’t be comparing me to any other nigga out here. There’s only one of me, and that’s really all the world needs right now. When I have a son, then the world is gonna have to get ready for two of us,” Murder said with a smile.
“You want kids? I never knew that,” Lawrynn said.
“Babygirl, all men want kids. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I definitely need to have at least two kids to carry on my last name and my legacy. I need the world to remember that Murder was here. Yeah, all the stories about shit that I’ve done in the past will do that, but nothing leaves a mark like kids do. Yeah, I want kids, but I only want them with you,” he told her.
“What if we break up in the future?” she asked.
“Then your new nigga is gonna have to be okay with me coming through to put this dick in you and knocking you up every two to three years.”
“There ain’t a man out here who will go for that,” she said with a giggle.
“I’m not gonna give a fuck if he do or not. We’re not breaking up because of that fact alone. I’m not running up in any other female out here raw. You still doubting that I’m gonna be here with you forever. I can show you better than I can tell you. One day, you’ll see the shit. I’m not gonna keep talking to you about the what ifs or what might be, though. This shit is forever, so you got time to get used to it,” Murder told Lawrynn
“Well damn,” Nell said.
“That’s what I’m talking about, my nigga. Get that ass in line. She hard headed just like her damn cousin over here. Put that boss shit down on her ass,” Allen said and got up to slap hands with Murder.
“Nell, are you ready? We need to get going. We’ve been in here with them long enough,” Lawrynn said.
“You’re gonna stop dipping on me every time I talk about relationship stuff. How you gonna avoid talking about a relationship with the same nigga whose money you’re about to spend? How the hell that shit work?” he asked.
Murder went in his pocket then pulled out some money and his black card to give to Lawrynn. The fact that she avoided talking about what they had didn’t bother him too much. He knew she was still looking for him to do the same shit the other niggas did to her in the past. Understanding her fear of what might be made him want to show her what it really was that much more. They watched as the ladies left the office.
“Nigga, we got our work cut out for us with those two. That damn cousin of theirs fucked their heads all up,” Murder told Allen.
“Yup, but fuck it. She’s worth every fucking headache,” Allen said and smiled.
“Why you never said anything to me about you and Nell before?” Murder asked.
“There wasn’t shit to tell, really. Talking ’bout the shit wasn’t gonna change the outcome. We were good on some real shit. She shouldn’t have cut my ass off like that. All because her cousin wanted to fuck me,” Allen said, shaking his head.
He wanted Nell to see him for what he was, and that’s a faithful ass hood nigga. All these niggas out here being greedy, and bitches not caring about being the side chick or one of the side chicks caused Nell to have a tainted view of him.
“I wish Lawrynn would try that bullshit with me,” Murder said, getting upset just thinking about it.
“When are you gonna kill the bitch?” Allen asked.
“Soon as she tries her hand with me,” Murder said.
“She hasn’t yet?” Allen asked, sounding surprised.
“She came at me one night, talking about her car was broke down or some shit like that. She must’ve thought I would take the bait and try to help her lying ass. I switched it up on her and called Pain to come help her. She’ll never get me somewhere and drug me or try to rape me like those chicks on those movies and shit. I ain’t the one for it,” Murder said.
“What did Pain say?” Allen asked.
“He came to me talking about how he thought she was up to something and I should watch out for her. I already knew that, but him putting me up on game showed me he was solid. He could’ve kept the shit to his damn self. I know he still feels some type of way about me and Lawrynn being together, so it showed me a lot about his ass,” Murder said.
“I don’t know what I would do in y’all’s situation. It’s gotta be awkward as fuck being around him and shit,” Allen said.
“Nah, not on my end. He couldn’t make her happy. I know I can, so fuck everybody who has a problem with it,” Murder said.
Allen nodded. This was the first time in all the years that they’d known each other that Murder was going hard for a chick.
“When’s the wedding?” Allen asked Murder.
“What damn wedding?” Murder asked laughing.
“I know you’ve thought about it. You straight told your best friend to get over his issues or get the fuck on. You better marry her ass,” Allen replied.
Murder could play like he didn’t want to marry Lawrynn all he wanted. Allen knew better. The only question he had was when it was going to take place.
Chapter 21
Nikki watched as her cousins walked around the mall acting as if they were better than everyone else. They had both hands filled with bags. Just walking around laughing and talking like shit is sweet. They were both going to get theirs today. She was tired of sitting by and watching them be happy. Nell thought she was slick because she didn’t have a man, but that wasn’t going to get her off the hook. Nikki was going to get both of them, and by the end of the day, their perfect worlds would fall apart.
Nikki took the bottle of cleaning solution that the janitor had left on the bucket of mop water unattended. She slowly walked behind them, making sure not to be noticed. They walked into Macy’s and headed straight for the ladies’ department. Nikki watched as they gathered clothes for them both to try on.
She watched as the worker gave them both keys to vacant dressing rooms and waited until the lady left the fitting room area to stand at the corner of Lawrynn’s dressing room. When Lawrynn came out to look in the mirror at the end of the hallway, Nikki came out with the bottle.
“Yo, Lawrynn,” she called out.
When Lawrynn turned around, she sprayed her in the eyes with the cleaning solution.
“Fuck!” Lawrynn yelled as she grabbed at her face.
The chemicals made her skin feel like it was in flames.
“Murder is not gonna want a blind bitch on his arm,” Nikki spat as she watched her cousin on her knees yelling out in pain.
“Bitch,” Nikki heard from behind her.
She turned and tried to spray Nell too, but Nell ducked out of the way then popped back up to hit Nikki in the face.
“Call the police. Call the police,” Nell yelled as she hit Nikki over and over.
Mall security came and pulled Nell off Nikki. They were sure to hold her there for the police to come get her as well. When Nell looked around, she saw that Lawrynn was gone. She ran over to some workers who were standing around looking at the scene before them.
“Where did they take my cousin?” she asked frantically.
“The paramedics came to get her and took her to Norfolk General,” one of the workers said.
“Shit.” Nell ran back to the dressing room that Lawrynn was in to get her stuff. She picked up the phone and called Murder.
“Hey, Ba—” he started to say.
“Murder, that bitch sprayed her in the face. She’s on her way to Norfolk General. Meet me there,” she yelled before ending the call.
Nell ran to the dressing room to get her things as well. One of the workers saw her struggling to get all the bags in her hands, and the older lady slowly approached her.
“Baby, get your ass to that hospital with your friend. I heard them say they were taking her to Norfolk General. I will bring you these bags when I get off. You need to get to that hospital now, though. Just take y’
all purses, and I’ll handle the rest,” the lady told Nell.
“Thank you, m’a’am,” Nell said.
She knew there was a chance that the lady could run off with their stuff, but she couldn’t worry about that. The only thing on her mind was her cousin as she hauled ass out of the mall. It was a blessing that they had chosen to come to McArthur Mall, which was about ten minutes away from the hospital if you obeyed all the traffic laws. The way Nell was driving, she got there in four minutes. While driving, she made a call to her auntie and her mother to let them know what happened. They told her they would meet her at the hospital. She rushed into the emergency department and went directly to the police officer at the information window.
“My cousin was just brought in by ambulance. She was sprayed in the face with something. I need to get to her,” she told the officer.
“They’re still working on her in the back. There are two detectives in the waiting area, and they want to talk to you,” he told her.
“Okay,” she said and walked to the room that the officer was speaking of. “How can I help y’all?” she asked them.
“Do you know why that young lady would want to do that to your friend?” one of them asked.
“First of all, the one who did the attacking is a hating ass hoe who is mad at the world because her pussy has more miles on it than a Carnival cruise ship. You’re gonna have to ask her why she did this stupid shit right here, though. The other girl, just like the hoe y’all arrested, is my cousin.” She saw the shocked and confused look on the detectives’ faces. “Yes, you heard me right. We all cousins. That bitch y’all have at the precinct or wherever y’all got her has been like this since we were younger. I don’t know what is going on with her,” Nell cried. She was really scared for Lawrynn.
“Ma’am, any help you can give us would be great. Your cousin that we have down at the station isn’t talking to us,” the detective said.
“She doesn’t need to talk. Everyone there knows she’s the one who did it,” Nell fussed.
“Who the hell are y’all, and why are you talking to my daughter?” Nell’s mother, La-La, asked the gentlemen. Her nerves were on edge, and her sister was torn to pieces.