Charm City Part 1 (Welcome to Bodymore Murdaland)

by S. L. Walker

  “Good!” Treach clapped his hands. “Now, please take a seat,” he pointed to the brown metal chairs. West and DJ walked over and placed all of our guns on the desk. We took a seat, all staring Treach down, wondering what he had planned.

  “We have a problem! Not only do I have a cop searching for one of my rides, that Nine so kindly ditched in the lake. My white boy is in police hands and there’s a def white boy at your hands!” He pointed at Angel.

  “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, if Jack was hot and we didn’t know or if they been following y’all, but I will get to the bottom of it,” Treach paced back and forth, trying to keep his anger to a minimum.

  “Ain’t no cops been following us. And we ain’t got shit to do with what went down with Jack,” I defended us.

  “And I guess that dead body wasn’t y’all, too huh?” Treach at Angel again. Angel looked away nervously. “I was usin’ y’all cus you made our clients feel at ease. You’re pretty and you’re in and out. But ever since I got y’all on my team, we already done got two bodies! What you think my clients are gonna feel like now? One of y’all spazzin’ cus they got called a bitch. Matter of fact! Fuck spazzin’, you killed a nigga,” he yelled at me and then at Angel. Angel wouldn’t look at him, only at the messy dark concrete ground.

  “So now you blaming Big Willy on us?! That foo was finna kill you! And I’m not saying what Angel did was right, but all they do is harass her!” I stood up yelling, mortified at how he was acting. I should’ve let Big Willy kill him. But then when I looked at DJ, I realized he would have gotten killed as well. I hated that I had a soft spot for him. That I let him take me to that concert, and out to eat. That I let him tell me about his past life and share drunken stories together. That I let him taste the sweetness of both my lips.

  Treach looked at me as if I disrespected him.

  “You need to sit down,” West came close to me, but he wasn’t going to come any closer.

  “No, nigga, you sit down!” I pulled out my smaller hand gun from the front of my pockets and aimed it straight at West.

  “Whoa!” West backed up, but the smirk on his face let me know he wasn’t scared.

  “Vee, what the fuck?” DJ put his hands in his pockets to grab his own gun.

  “Nope!” Eva pulled out a smaller gun as well out the front of her jeans and aimed it at DJ. Victoria and Angel followed, nervously, their guns aiming at Treach.

  Deon had purchased us small .45 burner guns off the streets. As soon as I told him about what Angel did, he quickly hit up one of his connects. I wasn’t expecting Treach to ask for our guns, but I also thought he would have patted us down, then, too. Treach knew about the guns we owned, he didn’t know about these. Deon was right about us needing our own, for this exact reason. I could tell in Treach’s eyes, he regretted not checking us.

  “Girls, if you don’t put those guns away,” Treach backed away slowly, with his hands up.

  “Why do you have us here?” I moved closer to Treach, so he could see the barrel of my gun in his face. Eva kept her piece on DJ and Tori and Angel was willing to put two bullets in West for me. “What is all this?” I demanded.

  “I just wanted to talk to you girls. Mostly Angel,” he looked at Angel who was shaking with fear, but her orders were not to let up unless I did.

  “So talk,” Angel said to him, her voice shaky but serious.

  “I told you they couldn’t be trusted,” West stupidly said to Treach. I looked at his dumb ass as if he was asking for a bullet.

  “Is that right?” Victoria pushed the gun closer to him. “Shut up and sit down, traitor!” She moved him over towards the sofa, sitting him down. She then felt around his pockets and pulled out his nine, now putting three guns in his face. Angel walked up towards Treach not putting her gun down.

  “Angel. Green Eyes. Put your gun away. All y’all put your damn guns away, it ain’t that deep. I’m not tryna hurt anyone. Y’all are my girls. Come on,” Treach said softly. We all knew it was a fake plea, inside he was burning with anger.

  “Yeah, Vee, this ain’t coo, ma,” DJ tried to sweet talk me.

  “What were you gonna do to us?” Angel asked him.

  “Nothin’. Baby girl, you are precious to me. I just want to know what happened. Are you okay? If this is too much for you, I am willing to let y’all go,” Treach lied. I watched Angel’s gun almost lower. She was beginning to believe him.

  I laughed.

  “Let us go?! Yeah right! Tell the fucking truth!” I yelled, taking the safety off of my gun.

  “You gonna shoot me?” Treach backed up.

  “Vee!” DJ yelled.

  “Stop calling me that! It’s Raven!” I yelled at DJ, tired of him making our relationship more than what it is. He quickly shut his mouth.

  “Raven, if you want out, you got it. I just need to get to the bottom of this. That’s all. I’m not mad,” Treach continued to stay calm. He was good. I chuckled in disbelief. “You know if you kill us, and walk out of here, people will be after you. Think about this,” Treach almost pleaded. What he didn’t know was that this was already thought about. This was just happening earlier than expected and DJ and West weren’t supposed to be apart of it. But I was okay with getting rid of Treach now. The sooner, the better.

  “Raven. I swear to you. Walk away. And you will never hear from me again. Just promise me you won’t say nothing. I’ll keep you protected if you keep me protected. You saved my life. It’s the least I can do,” Treach continued to plead. I found it funny how calm he was being after he was just yelling at us five minutes ago. I didn’t believe shit he was saying, but a part of me felt if I could get out of this without hurting more people, then we could win and we wouldn’t have to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.

  “Sit down,” I told him to take a seat at the desk chair. “You too, DJ,” I told him, pointing towards one of the metal chairs. DJ and Treach both sat in their separate seats. West rolled his eyes, disgusted at what he was seeing. “Angel, find something to tie them with,” I told her. She instantly searched around the room for something. She then left the room to search elsewhere when she noticed there was nothing.

  “Why are you doing this?” Treach questioned me.

  “I need to think and I don’t trust you,” I told him, walking up to him and holding the gun towards his head. “You really think I believe you weren’t going to hurt us?” I laughed. “That you will just let us go?”

  “Yes! Yes, you can believe me,” he told me, looking straight ahead, afraid to look me in my eyes.

  “What about that shit with Reggie?” I dug deeper, curious about his little plan with him. Before Treach could answer, Angel ran back in with rope and phone cords in her hand. “This is all I can find, but we got company. Some dudes are walking up to the door right now,” she said. As soon as she said that, the doorbell to the warehouse rang.

  “Who’s that?” I asked him, pissed.

  “It’s Reggie. We were meeting today,” Treach told me; speaking of the devil.

  “Meeting for what?!” I grew angrier thinking about what Reggie wanted from him in the first place.

  “Just talkin’ business. I can send him away,” Treach said, now looking me in my eyes.

  “Don’t trust it,” Eva warned, still holding her gun towards West face.

  The doorbell rang again.

  Fuck.

  “Raven. Just leave. And I will forget this all happened,” Treach knew I had no way out of this. Unless I was willing to blow them all away, including Reggie and the two men he had with him, there was no other way to get out of it. I looked over at DJ, and was pissed at myself.

  I could kill them all and leave DJ.

  Reggie banged on the door this time.

  “Tie them up and get our guns, Angel,” I told her.

  She quickly grabbed Treach’s hands and tied them tight. Then she did the same to DJ and West. West tried to intimidate her but Eva pressed the gun to West head, da
ring him to play with his life. Angel grabbed our guns and handed them to each of us.

  “Let’s go,” I told the girls.

  “What?” Eva looked at me crazy. “We have them! Fuck Reggie and them too!” Eva yelled. I knew she wouldn’t be okay with this decision, but I needed time to think. Treach would get his. This wasn’t over.

  “Eve, let’s fucking go!” I yelled at her. Reggie banged on the warehouse door some more and I could hear him yelling Treach’s name. I looked at Treach, only lowering my gun enough for him to see my face and eyes clearly. I patted him down and took his gun. “This is done, Treach. Whatever plan you had for us, is over,” I gave him a final warning. I was sure my threat didn’t matter anymore. He was literally saved by the bell. But I hoped he would walk away, but I knew he wasn’t. Not after I had just threatened his life. Eva patted DJ down and took his gun.

  “Done,” he sneered. I darted out of the back door with the girls following me. I looked behind me expecting Treach to come running behind, but surprisingly nothing. We dipped around the corner and waited till we could see Reggie and his boys go inside. We ran towards our bikes just a few feet from the front entrance.

  “Let’s go to the shack, now!” I motioned for them to follow me.

  CHAPTER 33

  “What the fuck were y’all doing, jacking each other off?” Reggie insultingly joked. Treach gave him a hard look and Reggie put up his hands in apology.

  “The doorbell don’t work,” Treach told him, still a little shaken by the girls turning on him. He rubbed his wrist where the phone chord was tied. It wasn’t hard to remove the ropes and chord once the girls left. He knew Raven only did that, so they wouldn’t go straight for the girls.

  He guided them towards a second part of the warehouse, revealing a small room with unopened boxes. West and DJ also followed. DJ could not keep his mind off of Raven and her attempt to possibly end not only Treach’s life, but his. He wanted to talk to Treach privately. He knew Treach would never let this go and in fact, would retaliate as quickly as he could on the girls.

  Treach reached down and opened one of the boxes, revealing packs of coke wrapped up.

  “Hot damn!” Reggie’s eyes grew. There was at least half a million dollars worth of coke in the box. “Where do you get this shit?!” He asked, excited and reached down and picked one up.

  “This is a loan nigga! This will help get you started and get your girls some nice shit,” Treach told him. Treach loved having people in his debt. The more he helped people the more he knew he would always get what he wanted from someone. Reggie would now owe him big time. Not only did he hook it up with Lila, but this coke would fund everything Reggie needed and Reggie was now his bitch.

  “And guess what? I’m even gonna throw in one of the little mamas for you,” Treach sneered. He was never planning on doing the girls any way other than needing them for his runs, but now that they had played with his life, trust was out the door and they no longer mattered.

  “Ah shit! Word?! I can get the girl with the green eyes?” Treach smiled from ear to ear.

  “Fuck no, but I’ll make sure Lila will give you Kaitlin as your first girl. She will help you run things as well,” Treach told them. He knew he could not keep the girls in his vicinity any longer or working with anyone near him. He would get rid of them the way all the top drug men got rid of their girls.

  Through prostitution and trafficking.

  Treach caught a look from DJ, but ignored him. He made a mental note to take him to the side and warn him to keep his feelings for Raven at bay. Raven and the girls had to go.

  “Fine wit me,” Reggie closed the box back up and had his two boys grab it and take it to the car. He shook hands with Treach and followed behind his boys. “I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Yeah, do that!” Treach yelled out to him.

  “So what we doing about them little bitches?” West asked as soon as the door slammed behind Reggie.

  “Get Cash on the phone. I got a business proposition for him,” he told West.

  “Wait, Miami’s Cash?” DJ interrupted.

  “Yes,” Treach rolled his eyes at DJ.

  “You got it,” West smirked, knowing exactly what Treach had planned.

  “T, that’s doing too much,” DJ tried to reason with Treach. He knew Treach was offended and didn’t trust the girls, but Cash was a top notch trafficker, who only saw green. This was beyond punishing the girls. “They are only 15, bruh,” DJ pleaded with his eyes.

  “I’m only gonna tell you this shit once. Sit the fuck back and stay the fuck out of my way before you end up just like them,” Treach put his finger in DJ’s face, almost touching his nose. He then shoved past him, leaving DJ stuck with his own emotions.

  $$$$

  All the girls were arguing back and forth, trying to get their point across at the shack. Fire was lit, alcohol was poured and fear was in everyone’s eyes.

  “Okay everybody chill!” Raven screamed above the scared girls. “Treach is gonna try us! Period! We just need to be ready when he does,” Raven plopped down in one of the old wooden chairs.

  “And how the fuck are we going to be ready? This is Treach!” Eva argued.

  “What if he turns me in to the cops?” Angel whined.

  “What if he turns us all in for Big Willy?” Victoria added.

  “He won’t. We can easily take him down with us and he has a lot more to lose. Which only leaves one other option. Killing us,” it made Raven’s stomach hurt saying it. The girls grew silent. There was no easy way to say it.

  “I told you we should have offed him!” Eva jumped up from her seat on the floor. “Now, we’re going to be paranoid waiting for our deaths!”

  “No we aren’t! We’re going to get him before he gets us and this time while he’s alone,” Raven reassured them.

  Zara suddenly burst through the door, startling them.

  “I got your page!” She closed the door bringing in the cold breeze behind her. She took off her white beanie and sat it on the table. All the girls halfway greeted her. “What’s going on?” She could feel the tension in the room.

  “We need your help again,” Raven told her. “It’s time.”

  RAVEN

  Christmas was just days away and the past couple of days we all had been looking over our shoulder. There was no page from Treach, no goons following me, no cops at our door, but I knew it was only a matter of time. The girls were chattering as I poured us our usual shots and rolled up some weed. Zara was hanging small Christmas decorations up by the windows making the shack less depressing.

  “Let’s open up our gifts already,” Victoria stopped her conversation with Eva and walked up to me. I had all the gift bags on the table as I finished pouring the last shot.

  “Girl here,” I grabbed the bag that was for her and gave it to her. She smiled and rubbed her hands together as if she was about to eat a meal. “Take this, too,” I handed her a shot. “Come on y’all!” I yelled at Eva and Angel who were now having their own private conversation and Zara stopped hanging popcorn strings. Everyone took a shot glass and I handed over everyone’s secret Santa bag.

  “How do y’all do this? Just open it at the same time?” Zara asked.

  “Pretty much,” Victoria said, already digging into her gift bag, pulling out a pink and black leather Victoria Secret backpack. “Awwweeee, too cute! Thanks, Eve,” she gleamed from ear to ear. She tiptoed over hugging her and then taking her shot.

  “You’re welcome,” she smiled. “Told you all my gifts weren’t bad!”

  Victoria rolled her eyes but gleamed at her new accessory. I dug into my own small Christmas bag and pulled out a small jewelry box. I looked at Zara who was my gift giver, she didn’t know jewelry wasn’t my thing. I opened the gold square box to reveal a silver chain. It gleamed in the little light we did have.

  “Oh shit, that’s nice!” Victoria leaned over. The chain was thick and flat.

  “Very nice,” Angel smiled. I had not
iced Angel was happier than usual. I didn’t ask her any questions about it, though. I was happy to see her not letting our situation get the best of her. I was proud of her for being as strong as she was. I knew she was probably breaking down on the inside, but she had us to hold her up.

  Eva nodded at the chain in agreement, even though I could sense a bit of jealousy sweep back over her. It hadn’t been too long where she didn't even trust Zara, so I wasn’t about to banish the fact that I knew she still had her guards up with her.

  “Open yours,” Victoria told Zara.

  I took my chain out the box and Angel walked over and helped me put it on. It fit like a glove around my neck, falling over my sweater collar.

  “Damn it looks good on you,” Zara smiled from ear to ear.

  “Thanks, it’s dope,” I smiled back.

  Zara reached into her small bag and pulled out a little white box.

  “So everyone is getting jewelry but me, huh?” Victoria teased. We watched Zara pop open the box, revealing a friendship bracelet.

  “Dang, Raven,” she pulled the tan leather bracelet out and read the small silver token that decorated it. “Strength,” she looked at me and smiled. “You got me a friendship bracelet?”

  “I didn’t know you knew how to make bracelets,” Eva said, jealous. “How come we don’t have any?”

  My eyes shot at Eva, “I don’t. I paid this girl to make them for ALL of us.” I reached into my own separate little bag and pulled out four more separate white boxes, handing it to them.

  “Awwww,” they all cheered at me.

  “This is so cool, Vee,” Zara stepped up to me and hugged me. I hugged her back.

  I couldn’t think of anything better than for us to all have something to remind each other of our friendships. The fact that they were holding me down throughout all of this proved enough. Even Zara.

  “Zara, I hope you’re okay with that. I know I could've gotten you something else for Christmas, but I figured you didn’t need anything,” I shrugged being as truthful as I could be. She didn’t. She was technically rich, but more so, I just didn’t know THAT much about Zara to buy her stuff.