One Hustler's World

by Nikita Stewart

  Across the street, an elderly man charged forward and yelled. “Ah, you over there, what’s going on! I called the police!"

  The gunman glared at several eyewitnesses. He grabbed Angel by her jaws. "Since your fiancé is done for, his shit mine. Make me have to come back yo ugly, stink pussy ass dying too." He snatched Angel’s phone. He backhand slapped her, then bolted down the street.

  ∗

  Meanwhile...

  Maxine put on her bathrobe. She sashayed into the bedroom. Pushing the door open, she screamed. “GAWD NOOOOOO!”

  Terri straddled atop KT's nakedness had her weapon aimed at his face. Simultaneously squeezing the trigger, she flinched from the eardrum-shattering scream. The handgun erupted. A shell casing ejected, a round whizzed past KT’s face, chipping his ear. The round drilled through the bed and shattered against the floor.

  KT snatched Terri’s wrist and threw her from on top of him to the floor. He dove on top of her just as she fired another round. An agonizing force slammed against his left side. He slugged her in the face and took the handgun from her.

  KT, stumbling back, collapsed against the dresser. He aimed and fired; the weapon failed to discharge. He fought to free the jammed cartridge. Terri scurrying to her feet, was tackled. KT slapped her against her skull with the handgun.

  Terri screaming agonizingly, crawled into the corner. “Please!!!!”

  KT, disregarding a sobbing Maxine, unjammed the weapon. Chambering a round, he aimed the handgun at Terri and spat. "Tell me why I shouldn't blow your fucking head off!"

  “I won't gone do it. I swear, please, I'm sorry!"

  "BITCH, yo ass tried to body me!"

  “It’s your fiancée. She robbed him and tried to hide! It’s all her fault! She started it!"

  KT kicked Terri in her chest.

  His left index finger constricting around the handgun trigger, Maxine leaped in front of him. “KT, please, you can’t do this!”

  “Get the fuck out the way!” He snatched Maxine by her throat and shoved her aside. “This bitch not walking out of here!”

  Maxine dove on top of Terri and wept. "Don't do it... KT, don't throw our lives away like this." She shielded Terri from receiving his ultimate vengeance. Crying tears of an unfathomable betrayal, she asked. "Terri, why you try to hurt him?"

  “I swear to God, I didn't want to. Uncle P made me. My life always his."

  KT, tossing Maxine onto the bed, snatched Terri by her hair. He jammed the gun against her forehead. "Who the fuck is Uncle P? Why he sent yo larceny-hearted ass at me!"

  Terri crying and voice crackling, spoke about an Ocean City, Maryland brawl. News of her uncle's friend Sea Breeze’s murder precipitated his return to the area. Upon arrival, her uncle learned his ex-lover Angel was still in the area. Terri’s uncle enlisted his nephew Ski-Beau to track Angel down. Ski-Beau recovering from the drive-by shooting, utilized his street gang to locate his uncle’s target. Surprised to learn who his uncle’s target fiancé was, they put a plan together.

  Terri confessed her uncle forced her to reconnect with Maxine to set his plans in motion.

  KT slung Terri into the far corner. Glaring at Maxine, he said. “Get the fuck outta here.”

  “What are you going to do to her?”

  “Do what the fuck I said, and don't come back in here."

  Maxine wiped her tears. She looked at a weeping Terri, then walked out of the room. Terri wept from the sight of KT’s eerily calm approach. He calmly wrapped his hands around her throat. Gasping agonizingly, she was slowly hoisted into the air. Kicking wildly, her eyes bulging with asphyxiation, she went limp.

  KT threw her against the wall. She collapsed agonizingly. Terri, struggling to catch her breath, was kicked in the stomach. She curled into a knot and cried. "Please, I’m sorry!"

  KT backhand slapped her. By her hair, he dragged her away from the wall. He threw her against the dresser. Stalling her collapse, he connected with a right-left punch combination to her torso. He backhand slapped her again.

  Again, an agony-stricken Terri was snatched back to her feet. "Please don't kill me!"

  KT blasted. "You knew I was feeling you from jump-street, and you used it to try and fucking murder me!"

  “I'm sorry... I swear, I am! I care about you, but he does what he wants! I can't stop him! I belong to him!"

  "Where is he?"

  Terri fell silent. A rage-powered fist slamming into her gut, she collapsed against the dresser.

  Maxine rushed back into the room and snatched KT back just as his barefoot slammed into Terri's face. "This not right!!"

  “That bitch almost killed me. If she had, what you think would've happened to you?"

  “Have you even been listening to what she said?"

  "Fuck that lying bitch!" KT spat.

  Maxine held onto his arm. “Please try to calm down. Take a deep breath and just look at her.” She forced him to look at the sobbing, fetal position curled Terri. “It’s obvious her uncle sexually abusing her. If you can look past the hate, you'll see he has some sort of mental grip on her.”

  KT snickered. “So, the bitch responds to sexual abuse, huh." Shoving Maxine aside, he dove onto the badly beaten Terri. He tore her mini cocktail dress away.

  He was unmoved by her unwillingness to fight back. He forced her into a full mounted buck so extreme, her knees were beyond her head, pressing into the carpet. He fully extended himself on top of her. He slammed his rage harden masculinity inside her with such viciousness, he repeatedly left his feet.

  Maxine’s cries met Terri’s agonizing bawl. She fought KT until he reluctantly stopped. "Dammit, KT, that's enough!"

  KT spit in Terri’s face. “Help me turn this bitch over!"

  “Please, you have to stop this madness." Maxine, struggling to defend Terri, was thrown so far across the room, she hit her head on the doorknob.

  KT kicked Terri in her ribs.

  She was forced onto her stomach. Her forehead was repeatedly slammed against the floor. Terri’s butt-cheeks were spread so far apart, she felt herself tearing. She cried from the torment of KT ramming his unlubricated manhood inside her anus. Her nerve endings were on fire. Her anal muscles were attacked by a long stroke so vicious, he repeatedly withdrew, only to plunge with more brutality. Terri journeyed to her 'safe place.'

  KT, taken aback by Terri's sudden relaxation, allowed Maxine to pull him off her.

  Terri clawing the carpet repeatedly slammed her head against the floor. She bawled. "Uncle P, please... why you hate me so much! What I do for you to hate me so much!"

  Maxine slid down the wall. She wept from the sight of her psychologically fractured friend destroying herself.

  KT walked over to the dresser. Staring at his reflection, he noticed blood oozing from a gash along his left side. A piece of his right ear was missing. Blood oozed from his ear down his shoulder and arm. He forced Terri to stop headbutting the floor. Her face bloodied, he snatched her to her feet. He held her against the wall until she finally calmed down.

  Despite Terri's betrayal, KT was awash with a strange emotion, empathy.

  Sometime later, Terri scurried away and collapsed in the far corner. She cried. “Please don't hurt me no more!"

  KT kneeled alongside her. "Baby Girl, it’s okay. It’s over."

  She burst into another lengthy bawl.

  Maxine held a damp towel against his bloodied left side. She bandaged his injured ear then said. “I need to check her.”

  KT sat on the bed.

  Maxine sat on the floor beside Terri. She was disheartened by the bruises plastering her friend’s tear and makeup smeared face. Her chapped lips were split. Blood ran from her nose. Her eyes were swollen.

  Maxine tended to her friend’s injuries. Concerned about the possibility of several breaking ribs, she asked. "Can you breathe, okay?"

  Terri nodded weakly.

  “We need to get you to a hospital."

  “No, please don't. He'll never forgive me.
"

  KT asked her. "Who is Uncle P?"

  Terri hugging herself, shivered uncontrollably.

  Maxine bandaged KT’s left side and whispered. “Can you think of anybody who might be able to answer your questions?"

  KT quickly dressed then led Maxine into the living room. "What's wrong with her?"

  “That guy, he messed her up BAD," Maxine spoke about her stepfather raping her at ten years old. She knew a girl’s terror of merely mentioning her tormentor. "I was lucky to have someone I could run to. Terri has been abused by this bastard for so long, with nobody to turn to..." A lone tear trickling, she sniffled. "I'll look after her. You just make sure that bastard pays for what he did to her."

  KT gave her Terri’s handgun. He demonstrated how to unlatch the safety. "A round in the chamber. Anyone other than me, Yolanda, or Samantha, come here just click, aim and squeeze.”

  “I will.”

  “I’m serious. None of that scared white girl running in the woods shit. If you don’t shoot, you will be killed.” KT accepting her nod said. “Keep her here until I can figure out what's going on."

  "I will."

  "Pay attention because this part is important. If Terri even talks about leaving, call me asap." He gave her all the cash in his pocket. "If she leaves or calls anyone, get the fuck out of here. Find a hotel room or go to Yolanda's. And take Samantha with you. There's a good chance this Uncle P knows about this place. At the first sign that something might be off, haul ass. And DO NOT tell Terri where you going. Just leave that bitch." KT pulled his phone out. He made three calls. Each time the phone rang until the voicemail came on. He chambered a round in his firearm then bolted from the apartment.

  Maxine closed the door. "Please be safe."

  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil

  is for good men to do nothing

  -Edmund Burke 1729-1797

  CHAPTER 26

  Beware the fury of a patient man

  -John Dryden 1631-1700

  Trant Avenue

  Ingleside, Norfolk

  16 minutes later

  The dining area was enmeshed in a sensual cherry dimness. Yolanda, seated at the candlelit table, slid her dinner plate aside. She pulled her lovely hostess onto her lap and kissed her. "What's my tab?"

  "A new outfit, that jacket I just love... how about letting me__" Honey’s illicit response was interrupted by the chiming doorbell. She stood up and said, "I'll send whoever that is away, so we can finish talking payment options."

  Yolanda placed a modified cigarillo between her lips. Flame set, she ogled Honey's pink boy short & lace bra sashaying from the dining area. She inhaled THC-rich, blueberry Kush smoke. Her thoughts swirling with images of capturing the blond bombshell's orgasm, an arctic chill shot up her spine. A frightening scream was followed by a thud slamming against the floor. Yolanda tossed her chair aside and bolted towards the noise.

  The front door wide open, a bloodied, whimpering Honey lay sprawled across the floor. Three dark ski-masked figures occupying the living room spied the fast-emerging homeowner. The taller intruder raised a sawed-off Mossberg shotgun. Pump action engaged and fired upon the woman.

  With the horrific roar engulfing the home, Yolanda dove behind the loveseat as 12-gauge buckshot pellets whizzed past her face. The masked gunman fired three more shots into the loveseat and wall. Splintered wall plaster sofa fabric rained down.

  Yolanda reaching underneath the loveseat she came up firing with a semi-automatic handgun. Her twin 380 caliber dum-dums slammed a masked intruder through her coffee table.

  The tall shotgun-wielding gunman snatched Honey to her feet. Using her as a human shield, he jammed his sawed shotgun underneath her chin. Watching the brazen homeowner disappear behind the ruined loveseat, he barked. "Bitch, you best toss that muthafucking ratchet out!"

  Yolanda fired back. "What the fuck you doing in my house!" Peering around the smallest edge of the loveseat, she spied two more armed masked intruders storming her residence. "Under the nightstand, far corner. Move the carpet, pull out the floorboard. There’s a million dollars. Just let her go, take the cash, and leave!"

  The tall gunman gestured towards the nightstand. One of the accomplices went through the floor and found a hefty duffle bag. Looking inside, the intruder gave a thumb’s up.

  The sawed-off shotgun-wielding intruder looked at their fallen comrade sprawled on top of the destroyed coffee table. A crater was where his nose once resided. Another one was in his chest. Blood & protoplasm seeped from both wounds.

  Yolanda’s eyes as large as traffic lights, she froze from the three pump-action shotguns aiming at the loveseat. A concerto of thunder erupted. The loveseat was decimated. Scurrying to her feet, Yolanda bolted down the hallway.

  The tall intruder threw a weeping Honey back to the floor, then yelled out. “lf you don’t want this blond bitch bodied, toss the gun and come out!"

  Honey screamed. "YOLANDA, DON'T!!!” Shotgun barrel jammed against her chin; she peered into the tall intruder's ski mask and whimpered. "Please don't."

  "Where the rest of the shit that bitch keeps?"

  "I... I don't know."

  One masked intruder took the duffle bag outside. Another gestured to their accomplice by tapping his wrist. The tall lead intruder yelled out once more. "Bitch, ALL I WANT IS EVERYTHING! Either come out, or I'ma body yo white bitch right here!”

  Yolanda eased her 380 caliber Sig Sauer semi-automatic around the edge of the hallway wall. Pecking into the living room, she was paralyzed.

  The lead, tall intruder, pressed his boot into Honey’s chest. A 12-gauge round was engaged. The intruder aimed and called out. "BITCH, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, LAST WARNING! COME OUT, OR WE DEAD THIS WHITE BITCH!"

  Yolanda watched a racing glove-covered index finger constrict around the shotgun trigger. The house was rocked by a tremendous explosion. The intruder’s shotgun recoiling heavily, at point-blank range, a swarm of buckshot pellets obliterated Honey's face.

  Yolanda screaming horrifyingly came from around the hallway wall and cut loose with her weapon. The tall intruder dove behind a recliner. Bullets nipping at his sleeve, over his head, the intruder smiled.

  Yolanda ducked back behind the wall. She quickly exchanged her weapon’s magazine and chambered a round. She came around the wall simultaneously, with the tall intruder standing up. Both raised their guns. Yolanda’s handgun trained on the intruder’s face, her weapon jolted. An unfired cartridge protruded from the partially engaged hammer-slide. The intruder firing upon the fast retreating woman yelled. "Get that bitch!"

  The masked intruders gave chase.

  Shotguns roaring gloriously, buckshot pellets tore into her t-shirt. Yolanda crashed through her master bedroom door nanoseconds before it was blown apart. Dashing across her king-size bed, her pursuers chased her into the room. Shotguns roaring, she dove through the bedroom window.

  Yolanda spilled into the pitch-black night. Covered in glass shards, she scurried to her feet. Her pursuers opened fire from the destroyed windowpane. She bolted to the rear of the backyard and scaled the picket fence. Exploding wood splinters slicing her flesh, Yolanda spilled into the back of a Gatling Avenue apartment building. Footsteps were fast approaching the opposite side of the picket fence. Yolanda's body aching, lungs burning, and blooding climbed back to her feet.

  KT drove his Oldsmobile Ciera up Trice Terrace. Nearing the Gatling Avenue intersection, he noticed a half-naked woman running from behind an apartment building. Three dark figures were in hot pursuit. He slammed on the brakes, leaped from behind the wheel, and yelled. "Get down!"

  Yolanda, diving to the ground, KT fired upon her pursuers. As the dark figures retreated behind the apartment building, Yolanda ran into the street. She dove into the Oldsmobile Ciera back seat. KT reversed back down Trice Terrace and away from the reemerging, shotgun blazing figures.

  ∗

  Waverly Way

  Villa Heights, Norfolk

  32 m
inutes later

  After a detour to the top of Norfolk's Grandby Street Bridge, KT raced home. Turning onto his street, swirling blue & white lights ricocheting against the night caught him off-guard. Troubled by the lone police cruiser parked irregularly, he parked. KT ran to his apartment. The front door unlocked, he stormed inside.

  The leather sectional sofa was sliced to shreds. The entertainment center was destroyed; craters were all over the walls. Lamps were overturned. The tinted glass coffee & end tables were shattered. The wall paintings were spewed about.

  Frantic, KT called out. "Angel... Angel!"

  Angel ran from around the kitchen partition and threw herself into his arms. Her tears soaking his silk shirt, she bawled from indescribable anguish. "I believed him! Baby, my gawd, I believed him!"

  KT took her face in his hands. “Look at me, beautiful... It’s okay, I'm here."

  The front door creaking open, Angel’s tear swollen eyes fell upon an emerging, barefoot, t-shirt half-naked Yolanda. "What are you doing here?"

  Yolanda shook her head and stood in the far corner. Her face in her hands, she slid down the wall.

  Angel held onto KT with everything she had. "Baby, he broke in."

  "Who? Who broke in... Were you here?"

  "He was waiting for me outside."

  KT asked. "Beautiful, what happened?"

  Angel laid her head against his chest. She ran down what took place after she returned home from work. Most importantly, the man brandishing a Desert Eagle handgun. She wept in an elderly neighbor's arms until the authorities arrived.

  Angel was interviewed by a robbery-homicide detective. She spoke about the robbery of her cellphone. She was given the detective's card and told to come to the police precinct to view mugshots. Once the detective left, Angel went inside their apartment, only to find it ransacked.

  She sniffled. "Baby, Pierre's back."

  “Pierre... Pierre." KT thought aloud. The same name Terri said about the man from the Ocean City, Maryland brawl. He spat. "That muthafucka behind all this! Over a fucking fight! Shit ain't adding up."