When It All Falls Down: A Chicago Hood Drama (A Hustler's Lady Book 1)

by Tamicka Higgins

  “But robbin’ banks?” Ayana asked, still trying to process the information. “That’s damn near some suicidal shit if you ask me. I mean, is y’all serious?”

  “Well how else…” Tramar started to say, before lowering his tone. “I mean, what the fuck else is we supposed to do, Ayana? You heard what the nigga said, didn’t you? He said we gotta have one million in three days or he gon’ kill my family. And I don’t think he lyin’ either.”

  “Oh,” Ayana said, looking away.

  “Look man, here’s what we should do,” Jackson said.

  Tramar cut Jackson off. He was getting tired of his voice at this point. “Nigga, shut the fuck up!” he said. “Just shut the fuck up. You and your thinking is what got us in this fucked up shit to begin with. You just shut the fuck up. I’mma think on this shit, okay?”

  “Man, I’m sorry,” Jackson said, stepping closer. “I swear to God I’m sorry as hell. I really ain’t think this would happen. If I did, I woulda…”

  Once Jackson had seen that Tramar was truly serious about him being quiet, he closed his mouth. Tramar, whose veins were bulging and nostrils flaring, turned back to Ayana. She seemed to be the only person that made sense in this situation.

  “I think we gon’ have to do it,” Tramar said. “I’mma do whatever I gotta do to get my family back. If I gotta rob a bank, which is the only way I could possibly see coming up with a million fucking dollars in three days like that, then I’mma do it. I understand if you not try’na be around and wanna go back to your mama and shit. I really do. But I’mma have to do this. You saw the picture, and I met this nigga in the flesh. He is really that kinda nigga who is gonna kill a nigga’s family if he don’t get his money when he want it. I’mma have to take the chance so I can get this money.”

  Ayana nodded. For some reason, her heart was pushing her in one way while her mind was pushing her in another. One part of her wanted to run out of the door and save herself while she still could be saved. But she thought about what kind of life she had to run back to. Things were not looking promising for her outside of what she had with Tramar. She stepped up to Tramar and shook her head. “No,” she said. “I ain’t goin’ nowhere. If you gotta rob a bank to get the money to get your daddy and stepmother back, then that’s what you gotta do. I’m not gon’ hold it against you.”

  “Man, I’mma be right there,” Jackson said. “Don’t think I’m not gon’ help you or nothin’. You in this mess because of me, and I’mma help you get out of it.”

  “Yeah,” Ayana said. “I’m in this shit too. I love you, Tramar. I really do.”

  Tramar looked at his girl and then his best friend. He hugged Ayana and kissed her on her temple. “A’ight, coo,” he said. “That’s it. We gon’ plan this shit out so it goes smooth and shit with no problems. That nigga ain't gon’ kill my family. I don’t give a fuck what I gotta do.”

  Ayana stood by Tramar’s side. Little did she know, she was getting onto a ride that would have her screaming and her guts falling out of her insides. She was truly ride or die. Tramar had made it clear that he would do anything for Ayana. And now she was going to return the favor. Why not? At this point, she had nothing to lose.

  SNEAK PEEK: Strapped Up

  A Hustler’s Lady Book 2

  Chapter 1

  When Ayana heard Jackson and her man, Tramar, deciding that they would rob a bank to get the one million dollars that Byron wanted, her mind went in so many different directions. In all honesty, she could have laid down right there in the bed and gotten lost in a daze with her thoughts. Never in her life had she ever imagined she’d be helping someone rob a bank. However, she also never thought she’d see a kidnapping happen – the kidnapping of Tramar's father and stepmother, especially. She felt like she was one of the actresses in those white movies where the clock is running – time is ticking. Instantly, she realized just how much her life had changed.

  Ayana knew that she couldn’t go back to her mother. Not only would going back to her mother signify that she couldn’t make it out in the world without her mother’s help, but it would also be the beginning of the end. She’d never hear the end of it, especially because she would have to grovel and beg to move back into her mother’s house. The words she’d said when leaving were full of too much contempt. Watching her mother take an ass beating out in the hallway, and not helping, only scorned her mother to an entirely new level. The split second that Ayana had thought about leaving the hotel room, essentially backing out of the situation, to go back to her mother’s house was a brief moment in time. She realized that she didn’t have anywhere to go back to. Her place was by Tramar’s side, as he was the only one in this cold world who hadn’t turned on her in all of these years. Sadly for Ayana, she couldn’t say the same.

  Since Jackson had basically pushed his way into the hotel room while Ayana and Tramar were in bed together, Ayana was still under the sheets. Ayana asked Jackson to step out of the room for a minute while she put on some clothes. Jackson did as he was asked, stepping out onto the sidewalk and pacing around the parking lot as he checked messages on his phone.

  Ayana slid out of bed. “I don’t know if I can stay here anymore, Tramar,” she said, searching around on the floor for the clothes she’d had on the night before. “How the hell does this Byron person even know where we are?”

  Tramar shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “You ain’t tell nobody that we was here, did you?”

  Ayana looked at Tramar as she jumped up and down to get her jeans up over her thick thighs and wide hips. “Now you know that I ain’t tell nobody, Tramar,” she said. “What’chu mean?”

  “Yeah, I ain’t think you did,” Tramar said. “I was just asking. You know what, though?” Tramar turned and looked at the door, stepping over to the curtain and looking out at the parking lot. “That nigga had a chick or someone over the other night. How much you wanna bet he fuckin’ around with some bitch that probably do know Byron or somebody that he know? I mean, how else would they even know that we was hiding out in Indiana? I ain’t even told my daddy or nothin’ where I was.” Tramar’s head hung low. “And now, because of me, he and Vivica are sittin’ up in some house that we don’t even know where they are. Man, this is some fucked up shit.”

  Tramar kneeled over and picked up a shirt. He slid the shirt over his dark, toned body before looking at Ayana. “So what you mean you don’t wanna stay here anymore?” he asked. “You mean, you try’na not be bothered with a nigga now that some shit done went down? When I need you more than ever.”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying,” Ayana said. “What I’m saying is that you know I love you, and you know that I’mma help you in any way that I can with this. ‘Cause, you right, this is some messed up stuff that he went and kidnapped your daddy and stepmother to get back at Jackson. But what I was saying is staying here. I mean, I’m not gon’ be able to sleep knowing that this Byron person, who is trying to get at you and Jackson, somehow knows where we are. I don’t care what you tell Jackson, or where he stays, but I’mma have to go to a different motel or something. There is no way that the Byron dude is not gon’ come out here if his goal is to get you and Jackson, and he knows where to find the two of you. We need to get out of this motel room as soon as possible. And, no matter where we go, we need to make sure that it’s the best damn kept secret in all of Chicago. For real.”

  “I feel you on that,” Tramar said, nodding his head. “I feel you on that. A’ight then, when he come back in here, I’mma ask him some shit, and we gon’ talk about that ‘cause I don’t need my baby being scared and all when she ain’t gotta be. I’m not gon’ make this any worse for you than it already is. I love you, I promise.”

  Ayana looked across the bed and into Tramar’s dark eyes. She couldn’t help but smile from how sincere he sounded. At the same time, she could see the anger and confusion in his eyes. It was clearly a feeling that she hoped she would never have to face. The lives of his
father and stepmother were truly in the balance, and they only had a few days to come up with a million dollars to save them. What made it even more scary, at least to Ayana, was the fact that if this Byron guy was bold enough to go kidnap people and call their family, there was no doubt that he’d be bold enough to actually kill them should he not get what he wants.

  Once Ayana had finished dressing so that she could be presentable, Tramar opened the door and told Jackson to come back inside. Jackson hurried over from his car, where he’d been leaning on the side as he scrolled through text messages. “A’ight,” Jackson said, as he stepped back into the room and closed the door.

  “Man, let me ask you somethin’,” Tramar said, stepping toward Jackson. “Who was that chick you had over here the otha night and shit? Me and Ayana was talkin’ and she not gon’ be able to stay here knowin’ that Byron know where we are. And I can’t blame her either, nigga. I told you that nigga Byron was crazy as fuck. How the fuck he know where we are? Who was that chick you had over here?”

  Jackson’s eyes opened wide. The chick had been this girl, Veronica, who he’d met through a mutual friend. She was known for riding dick like no other, and doing whatever, whenever, and however, to please another woman’s man. Jackson had been trying to get at her for a while, finally succeeding this week when the two had run into one another yet again at a cousin’s bar-b-que. Jackson shook his head in response to Tramar’s question, thinking it wasn’t likely that she even knew some of the same people as Byron.

  “Man, it ain’t like that,” Jackson said. “She don’t even know Byron or anybody like that. I mean, she coo and stuff. I don’t think she went running her mouth and telling people that we was over here, staying at a motel in Indiana.”

  “Well, nigga, you heard what that nigga Byron said,” Tramar said. “The nigga know somehow that we stayin’ over here. And that’s why I asked you ‘cause you the only one who done had somebody over here that we don’t really know.”

  “Man, I ain’t know I had to ask you to have company over here,” Jackson said. “Nigga, fuck you! I ain’t no little boy. I told you I don’t think she told and shit. She just came over to, you know, get some of the D. That’s all.”

  “That may be all she came for,” Tramar said, “but she left with more. Nigga, watch who the fuck you tellin’ shit. Or, better yet, maybe when you meetin’ with your hoes you ought to go meet them somewhere else until all this shit blows over, nigga. I warned you about that Byron nigga. Now, a few days later, he seems to know that we stayin’ at a motel over in fuckin’ Indiana. He ain’t pick that information out of thin air, and I doubt the nigga just guessed that we were staying over here when he could guessed anywhere else, like up in Wisconsin or some shit.”

  “Okay, okay,” Jackson said, holding his hands up. He could see how angry his boy Tramar was, and he felt bad about it because he knew he was the real cause for his family being kidnapped. “I feel you, though. I really do. Let’s go on and get our shit together, and we can go stay at another motel. The quicker the better, ‘cause you right. That nigga Byron could have people watching us or some shit. I don’t know how he knew.”

  As Jackson walked across the parking lot, he tried to think of the possible routes for the information to travel to Byron. How would he know we were staying over in Indiana? Was it possible that Veronica’s sexy ass knew Byron in some way and got to talking too much? Did Byron have somebody out looking for us, and they came across Veronica? Furthermore, Jackson, with the guilt consuming his soul, wanted to know how Byron managed to come up with Tramar’s family when Byron had never seen Tramar a day in his life before Jackson had taken him over to the house on Monday to get the money. There was so much that didn’t make sense – so much that made Jackson feel vulnerable as he walked across the sunny parking lot. Suddenly, he felt like a walking target…and he didn’t like having such a feeling.

  Jackson and Tramar checked out of their motel rooms by noon. The two pulled their cars up next to one another at the entrance of the hotel parking lot and rolled their windows down.

  “So, nigga, where you think?” Jackson asked, trying to not be so pushy.

  Tramar looked up and down the main road, contemplating where would be the best bet. “Nigga, I definitely think that we should get outta Indiana. I mean, the nigga already know that we over here, so staying in another motel around here prolly ain’t gon’ do us a lot of good unless we go real far out from the city, like somewhere where you’d be less likely to see niggas and shit, you know, deep into Indiana.”

  Jackson looked to the southeast, which was the direction that led away from the urbanized areas of northern Indiana – away from cities like Crown Point, Hammond, and Gary. He shook his head. “Naw, nigga,” he said. “I mean, I see what you sayin’ and shit, but you know that some of them towns deep in Indiana ain’t got no niggas. And with what we gotta do, you know they gon’ find our asses real easy over there because we stick out and shit.”

  Tramar nodded. “Yeah, you right,” he said. He then looked in the other direction. “Going up to Wisconsin and shit would take too long, especially going through downtown and shit at this time of day. Plus, I don’t even really know my way around like that. Just follow me until I find a place that would be coo and shit.”

  Jackson agreed as Tramar pulled out onto State Line Road. He drove toward the highway, looking in his rearview mirror every so often to make sure that Jackson was following behind him.

  “You know,” Tramar said, grabbing Ayana’s attention. “Part of me just wanna stay at different motels from him.”

  “What you mean?” Ayana asked, looking across the console. “What you mean you kinda wanna stay at different hotels from him?”

  “Look, Ayana,” Tramar said, letting her know that he was about to say something serious. “You know Jackson is my nigga and shit. I love the dude like he my own brother or something. But the nigga ain’t the brightest, you know? I mean, I told him to kill that nigga when we had the chance so we wouldn’t have to worry about this shit – so we wouldn’t have to be doing this on the run shit and shit. But, anyway, I also don’t trust who he might be talking too much to. You know that nigga don’t get chicks like that. They prolly breaking his ass off with some pussy, and he just opens up and starts talkin' and shit – saying anything to get them to stay around.” Tramar paused for a moment, looking in the rearview mirror. “Look back at him, in the mirror,” he told Ayana. “What is the nigga doing?”

  Ayana looked into the mirror, looking back at Jackson. She nodded, seeing what Tramar was seeing. “Who he talkin’ on the phone to?” she asked.

  “Exactly,” Tramar said. “And I ain’t try’na say that the dude might not have a reason to talk on the phone or nothin’, but I think his ass has already been the leak and shit, you could say, with the chick he was messing with that he ain’t even know like that. I know you and me ain’t tell nobody. This shit is just fucked up that this Byron nigga would even come for my family like this when his beef is with Jackson.”

  “You gon’ get them back,” Ayana said, rubbing Tramar’s shoulder. “And yeah, I see what you mean. But how you gon’ tell Jackson that you wanna stay at a different motel without him knowing.”

  “That’s the thing,” Tramar said. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m just trippin’. Maybe now that I done talked to the nigga and shit and let him know how I feel about whatever chick he was fuckin’ around with, shit’ll be alright. We just gotta focus on gettin’ this money and shit.” The photo of his father and Vivica that Byron had sent to Jackson’s phone popped into his mind. He bit his bottom lip as he nodded his head, knowing now that his life mission would be to put a bullet in Byron’s head.

  Tramar drove his Charger across the state line and into Illinois. Every so often, he checked his rearview mirror to make sure that Jackson was still following behind him and keeping up. Once Tramar had come to a suburban exit, he got off. He decided that staying in the sort of area that had a lot going on, commerciall
y and residentially, would be a great place to hide. Furthermore, whatever bank they decided to hit up would be easy to access from this area of Chicago. There were so many major roads, highway, and interstates going through this area that they could get anywhere within thirty minutes.

  As Tramar drove by a Motel 6, whose parking lot was rather empty, he pulled in and parked. Jackson pulled into a parking spot a couple of spots down. If Ayana had not been there with them, they’d get the same room. However, Tramar knew that he’d need a room to himself with Ayana, and that Jackson could have a room of his own. Even though they needed every bit of the money they’d gotten from Byron’s house, Tramar knew that he needed to use the money to his benefit. Whatever he spent, he would get it back from whatever bank they hit. It was that simple.

  Tramar checked into a room then Jackson walked up to the office and did the same. After Jackson took his things into his room, Tramar drove down the road and came back with McDonalds for everyone. Now, the three of them sat in the room that Tramar had reserved for the next several days. Jackson sat at the small table and chairs, at the front of the room. Ayana and Tramar sat side by side, on the bed.

  “A’ight, nigga,” Tramar said. “We know that we gotta be smart about this shit. I mean, it ain’t easy and shit to get away with a bank robbery in Chicago.”

  “You right about that,” Jackson said. “But you know there have been niggas who did it. Remember them niggas that robbed the two banks downtown in one day? That shit was all over the news.”

  “Yeah, they still ain’t found them,” Ayana interjected, just as she was putting ketchup on her French fries. “I remember seeing that stuff on the news, too. They used masks that could hide their faces and voices real well.”