by Noire
Honore sucked her teeth and closed her eyes. Tingling hell. Her damn scalp was burning. Especially around the edges and near her forehead. That shit was burning hotter than hell!
A door opened and Sly McFly came out of the noisy side room. He was dressed in a sharp white suit and holding a bottle of beer and puffing on an expensive cigar. A “No Smoking” sign was prominently displayed on the wall next to him but he paid that shit no mind as the smoke trailed up toward the ceiling.
“You win anything?” Blondie asked.
Sly grinned happily as he leaned on his cane, then slid his hand across her plump ass and copped him a feel. “Hell yeah I won. I took Flip and Sammy to Boston on a six no-trump. Cleaned them nigga’s pockets right the fuck out.”
The door to the side room opened again and Cucci Momma staggered out looking lit. She had been in there drinking and dancing and getting her freak nasty on with all the drunk old men and a big smile was on her face.
“It’s hot as hell up in this bitch,” she said loudly. Her hair was sweated out and her curls had dropped. Her mini-skirt had slid around till the zipper was crooked on her ass from the hungry hands of all the old men who had felt her up while they danced.
“I’m going outside to get me some fresh air,” she announced. “I’ll be right back.”
Blondie nodded. Almost ready to rinse, she adjusted the smock around Honore’s neck and pulled on some fresh plastic gloves. Ordinarily she woulda been making all kinds of small talk with a client but she knew better than to start flapping her gums with this one here.
Sly had slid her some nice ends and asked her to hook the girl up while he got his bid whist on, and Blondie had grumbled inside because it was Sunday night and she wanted to drank and play some whist her damn self!
Plus, he had his own damn shop so Sly coulda done Honore’s hair on his own damn dime. But as bad as her feet hurt and as tired as she was, she knew better than to say no. In fact, fuck the money. Blondie woulda permed Honore’s shit up for free if she had to because despite the grin on his face Sly McFly was a brutal old gangsta who could have her and her shop burnt down to the ground for crossing him.
So she rubbed her aching toes together and kept her mouth shut as she gave the perm one last go through Honore’s thick strands. Not that this chick really needed a perm because she had some real nice shit to work with. But some people hated the curly look, so Blondie’s hands worked expertly as she smoothed Honore’s roots and made sure every single one of them strands was bone-ass straight.
“Okay, let’s get ready to rinse,” Blondie said as she lowered Honore’s chair back and let her long hair fall into the sink.
“It’s about fuckin time...” Honore sucked her teeth and muttered under her breath.
Above her, Blondie smirked. You salty young bitch! I didn’t wanna do your damn hair no way!
She had just cut on the faucet and was waiting for the hot water to kick in good when—
BOOM!!!
Blondie looked up just as her front door caved in. Shattered pellets of glass flew into the room and washed over them like a blizzard of tiny needles.
The sound of whizzing bullets cut through the air and Blondie screamed and instinctively turned her face away from the blast.
And that’s when the lights flickered out. The whole joint was bathed in utter blackness. The music blaring from the side room died abruptly and the people dancing hollered in surprise and then…
Phewttt! Phewttt! Phewttt!
Blondie was a veteran diva from the streets and her urban warfare senses kicked in hard. With her bare feet coming down on the sharp glass, she took off running toward the back of the shop where a rear door opened onto an escape alley.
Honore jumped up outta her chair and took off right behind her. The whole joint was being sprayed with rounds, and blackness and gunpowder filled the air. The perm in Honore’s hair was burning fuckin hot, but not as hot as the bullets that were whizzing past her in the darkness.
Blondie made it to the back of the shop. Her bare feet were cut open and bloody, but she didn’t feel a goddamn thing except the desire to survive. She was about three steps away from the exit door when she felt a hand clamp down hard on her shoulder.
“Move it, bitch! Get yo fuckin ass out the way!” Sly McFly hollered as he yanked her backwards and flung her down to the floor. Her tailbone fractured as she hit the ground hard. She rolled over in agony and her knee cracked hard against a door jam. Her lower leg first surged with a bolt of bright pain, then it went numb from her hip all the way down to her toes.
Blondie screamed in pain. She clawed out with her hands in the darkness, but all she saw was a white blur as Sly McFly’s long legs jetted past her and he hit the back door at a sprint.
“Wait for me!” Blondie sobbed from the floor. She rolled over and scooted toward the door on her stomach. Her shattered leg trailed uselessly behind her.
“Please….wait for me!”
Hot lead was flying everywhere and all poor Blondie could do was pray none of the bullets were aimed down low. She had just heaved the top part of her body outta the back door when a female voice screamed out behind her in pain and surprise.
“Ouch! Shit!!!”
Then something heavy landed hard on Blondie’s pillowtop ass. She grunted and collapsed forward in agony.
“Aggh!” she groaned as Honore leapfrogged through a hail of bullets and stomped dead on her spine.
The pain shifted as Honore ran straight up Blondie’s back and stepped on her neck, then took a flying leap out the back door.
The bullets were coming even faster in the darkness now. There were pounding footsteps getting closer too. Blondie rose up painfully on her knees. She tried to crawl across the threshold but the moment she felt something hot pierce her back she knew she was a dead woman.
The last thing Blondie saw as she collapsed in the doorway leading to the alley was that cane-leaning mothafucka Sly McFly. He was hauling ass down the alley on two good legs, and that uppity hoe Honore was beating feet right behind him.
With goo-gobs of perm dripping from her hair.
CHAPTER 24
Bullets But No Body
“Did we get her?”
Wild Man’s voice was high-pitched from adrenaline as his words rang out in the cool night air. The partying patrons in the shop had scattered, and the gun smoke was starting to clear as he walked up behind Jewelz. She stood gazing down the alley behind the beauty shop, gripping her hot gat in both hands.
Wild Man aimed his tool at the female body that was sprawled on the concrete and laying right at Jewelz’s feet.
“Is this the bitch?” he demanded. “Is this the goddamn Queen of Diamonds?”
“Hell nah,” Slick answered as he exited the beauty parlor and walked up from behind them. He stuck his foot out and flipped the slim woman’s body over with the toe of his boot and stared down into her slack face. “This ain’t her.”
“Yo, how you know it ain’t her, man?”
“Cause I got eyes, nigga! This is the chick who owns the shop. Her picture was all over the poster on the front door.”
“Fuck!” Wild Man snatched off his mask and cursed as Jewel took a few steps down the deserted alley. “We missed the fuckin hit!” he barked. “We missed her!”
“Nah, we didn’t miss her,” Jewelz said quietly. “We got that bitch. I got her.”
“No,” Whitey corrected her with a smug attitude as he walked up on the scene and joined them. “I think you missed her, Jewelz. If you had hit her then she’d be laying out here dead, don’tcha think?”
“No,” Jewelz rolled her eyes at him and corrected him right back as she pointed down at a small splatter of bloody droplets that stained the concrete red.
“I got that heffa. I tagged that ass! I ain’t saying the Queen of Diamonds is dead, but the bitch is sho’nuff bleeding!
To be continued in…
EMPIRE
STATE of MINE$!
(It’s A
Movie in A Book)
Episode 3
Money Makin Manhattan
A NOIRE & REEM RAW JOINT
“Harlem niggas don’t fade away,
Money Makin Manhattan get it every day!”
#BookBinge #ESOM