by Mikal Malone
She was delusional as she cursed the woman for ever having entered her life. Once on the highway, she decided to put on her favorite CD to relax. But when she noticed traffic approaching ahead, she lightly tapped on her brakes to prevent hitting the car in front of her.
Tap.
The brakes failed to halt the car.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The brakes had failed again and she knew something was desperately wrong. When she tapped again and noticed the pedal had gone straight down with no change in speed, she realized that someone had severed her brake cords.
“Oh my Goooood! Not like this…”
SLAM!
She had driven smack dab into the back of a tow truck, which carried an empty flatbed; her head was taken completely off her body.
“If I could go back, I wouldn’t do it again if it meant losing C.”
- Mercedes
After everything that was going on, we decided to go to a lounge to get something to drink. We were different now, more bitter, more angry and ready to do whatever necessary to stay on top. In a VIP section at the Luxor lounge, we shared a bottle of ACE and was looking for the waiter to order another bottle. The buzz was a welcoming sensation to what we’d been feeling for so long, extreme depression and irritation.
“Can you believe Kenyetta’s dead?” Carissa asked. Yvette rolled her eyes hating topics, which pulled out emotion. “I mean, after all this time, it still don’t make no sense to me.”
“I can’t believe it either…but at least we got one of the members of the Klan, that bitch Energy.” Yvette said. “She can’t even have an open casket funeral.” She paused waving her hand for the waiter to come over again. “But what I want to know is, what happened to Shade?”
“She must’ve gotten on somebody else’s bad side and finally got what was coming to her.” I said.
I was just about to dig into the next bottle of champagne with them when Derrick called. He had been calling me nonstop lately but I hadn’t taken his calls. I decided today I was going to finally answer.
“What?” I said coldly.
“I can’t believe you answered. I been worried about you after hearing about you being down the jail. Look, I ain’t know Bucky was going to carry shit like that. What happens in the streets stays in the streets and she forgot that.”
“Derrick please,” I laughed. Hearing his name caused my friends to look at me. Nobody knew better than them what I went through when he left me. “I don’t give a fuck what you and that bitch named Bucky do together. Her days are limited. The only reason I don’t step to her now is because we just won our case in court and I don’t want this bitch snitching, again. But trust me, her day is coming.” I said spotting a nigga on the floor who looked like he had enough cash and swag to handle me for a few nights.
“Can I see you?”
“I’m not trying to see you right now, Derrick.”
“Ever?”
“I don’t know about ever, but I know not right now.”
“Hang the phone up on that nigga,” Yvette said.
“Yeah…fuck him.” Carissa added.
“Tell your girls I said hello.”
Since I never fully got what his reason was I decided to humor him. I put my finger up to them to stop their adlibs and said, “Derrick, why did you really leave me? I don’t wanna hear lies or anything else you think I may want to hear. I want the truth.”
He took a few seconds before he replied and then said, “Aight…I’ma keep it one hundred. It seemed like every nigga ya’ll fucked with has come up missing or dead. I didn’t want a fight to eventually cause my death, that’s the real reason.”
I believed him. “Well thanks for being honest, but don’t ever call my phone again, I don’t fuck with punks.”
When I hung up on him, I looked at my friends. “Got closure?” Yvette asked.
“Yeah.”
“Maybe we ain’t cut out for relationships.” Yvette said. “Maybe we should just stick to what we know, the pursuit of power.”
“Deep but true,” Carissa said.
“Any word on Persia?” I asked skipping the subject.
“She eventually called me and said she lied about being pregnant. I don’t believe her though.” She paused circling the rim of her drink with her finger.
“Why would she lie?”
“I don’t know. But because she’s a minor I reported her as a runaway, I really don’t think they gonna help me get her back though.”
“I’m sorry about all of this.” I said.
“Yeah…me, too.”
“It’s hard as shit raising kids and having a full time job…or in our case, full time drug operation. If I could go back, I wouldn’t do it again if it meant losing C.”
“Me either.” I paused. “But I have some good news for ya’ll. I got the address on where the rest of the Black Water Klan lives. I say we pay them a little visit.”
“I’m with that.” Yvette replied. Then she looked around and said, “Anybody looking for Dreyfus’ yet?”
“No…once we took his body out of the house, the Vanishers did their thing and got rid of it. But my thing is this, the cops, Bucky and her cousins knew we were there. It's just a matter of time before we have to answer to when he doesn’t show up. I started the rumor that he needed a break and went on an extended vacation, but what happens when he never shows up?”
“Right. So what are we going to do for money now?” Carissa asked.
“I want Emerald back,” Yvette said. “And I know ya’ll do, too.”
“I don’t.” I said. “Like we said earlier, the less responsibility the better.”
When Carissa grabbed my cup and started sipping from it I said, “Bitch, that was my glass.”
“No it wasn’t! I put mine right there.”
“Bitch, I’m wearing clear lip gloss. And you’re wearing whore time red lipstick! See!” I said picking her glass up and showing her. “You put your lips on my shit.”
“Fuck you!” Carissa said pushing the glass over to me.
“I don’t want that shit now!”
“Then why you say something?”
“You know I’m so sick of you two arguing all the time. When is this shit going to end?”
We both looked at each other and decided not to answer. I was staring to believe that me and her would always have a love hate type of relationship.
“Sorry, ‘Vette. She just burns me up sometimes.” I said. “But I’m serious. I’m not trying to run Emerald nomore.”
“But with Dreyfus gone, both Emerald and Tyland still need product.” Carissa said. “We short.”
“If it would be possible to be their supplier without the responsibility, I’d be with it.” I said.
“Again we don’t have Dreyfus. So we can’t supply shit.” Carissa said.
“I got a plan for that. But I don’t want to give up on Emerald. Just so ya’ll know.” Yvette said.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch! I’m not playing your games anymore.”
- Yvette
At first my mother looked pitiful as we stood around her hunched over body on the floor. Looking at her, I tried my hardest not to feel bad about the bite mark on her arm, instead I remembered how she was the cause of my relationship ending, firing my maid and me putting my dogs down. I had just run down to her everything I learned after watching the camera tapes and she burst into tears.
“I thought you rigged the phone,” she said.
“Well you thought wrong.”
“So what are you going to do to me?” She asked looking up as we stood over top of her.
“I’m going to help you get your boyfriend off the hook,”
“Really?”
“Yes…and in exchange for my help you’re going to give me Judah’s number.”
“But…I can’t…”
“You don’t have a choice. I have you on tape talking to your friend about how you were afraid that if you didn’t set me up, Judah was going to kill
you and the cops were going to lock up your boyfriend. It’s all here.” I said showing her the tape.
“I’m scared…” she sobbed. “Please don’t do this to me, they’ll kill me.” Her tears got heavier and louder.
“Shut the fuck up, bitch! I’m not playing your games anymore.”
Proving the entire act was fake she stopped crying and said, “Okay…what I gotta do?”
“Oh no…I trust you.”
-Loretta
After receiving Zulo’s number for a package, Loretta placed the call to meet him. Before meeting her, he grilled her about whom she knew and whom she was with. She said she’d gotten his number from Mercedes who vouched for his quality of product and that she needed the package for a friend. Since he felt he and Mercedes were on good terms, he trusted the woman. Later that day in front of a 7-Eleven, Loretta got out of her car and slid into Zulo’s.
“Where’s the money?” He asked eager to make a little change to go to Vegas the next day.
“It’s right here,” she said handing him an envelope stacked with one hundred dollar bills.
Zulo accepted the money and took his time counting it. When he was done, he handed her the overcooked crack she requested.
“Thank you,” she said, nervousness all over her face. “I’ll be in contact.”
“You not going to look at it? To make sure it is right?”
With her hand still on the door’s handle she said, “Oh no…I trust you.”
“You trust me?” he said growing heavy with suspicion. “In this business you don’t trust shit people say.”
“Well I trust you. Besides, Yvette vouched for you.”
“I thought you said, Mercedes made this arrangement?”
Before she could answer he took out his gun and shot her in the middle of her head. If he hurried, he’d have time to meet up with these dudes he knew to clean up his mess and get rid of the body. But the moment he backed up, five cops blocked him.
“FUCK!” He yelled shooting her again. “I knew it was a fucking set up!”
“…after seeing that fine ass nigga, I gotta get more batteries for my vibrator.”
- Yvette
When we finally met with Judah he wasn’t sure if he could trust us and we were unsure if we could trust him, but luckily our reputations preceded us and he agreed to meet. Judah towered over me like a basketball player and his complexion was a golden yellow. He was the finest man I had seen in a long time.
“What happened to Dreyfus?” He asked as we spoke on a roof of one of his houses. He was into real estate in Baltimore heavy. “After the millions you made him, I’d think he wouldn’t wanna lose the business.”
Then he looked at me differently, in a way Thick use to look at me when we first got together.
“Shit happens, he went his way, and we going ours.” I said.
“Why did you do that for me? You know, throw the Feds off my trail?”
“Everybody wants something,” Carissa said. “And we want your product.”
“Yeah…we still have a demand to meet.” I said.
He smiled at me again and I turned away, his attention was turning me on and I hated the feeling brewing between my legs. I was afraid of men like him and never wanted to love again.
“Okay…you’ve more than proven you can be trusted. And I’m sad to hear about what happened to your mother.” He said to me.
“Fuck that bitch. She got everything she had coming.”
He smiled slyly and said, “Gangsta…I like you a lot.” He gave me that look again and said, “Okay…I’m gonna give you my best price. If you like my product, we can arrange to meet up again for future purchases. Deal?”
“You got a deal.” I said.
“I hope so, Yvette. Because I definitely would love to continue our relationship.”
“You mean business relationship.” I corrected him.
“Yeah…whatever.” He winked walking away.
In My Car
As we walked to my truck I thought about the meeting with Judah. For some reason, I knew he was going to be something else but I didn’t know how. Did he want to do business with us or just me? I guess all would be revealed soon.
Once at my truck Carissa moved for the front seat and so did Mercedes.
“I was here first,” Mercedes said holding on to the door’s handle.
“You rode in the front on the way over here.” Carissa said pushing her a little.
“That’s because I always ride in the front. When I drive, she rides in the front of my car.” She said pushing her back. It wasn’t long before a pushing match occurred.
“JUST GET IN THE FUCKING TRUCK!” I yelled at them. Mercedes sat in the front and Carissa reluctantly sat in the back. “This shit is getting so old between you two.”
Silence filled the vehicle for a few minutes.
“It looks like we back on.” Mercedes said.
“Yeah…it does,” I said still stewing about how they were acting. “And I called C, he’s willing to take our product to supply Tyland and Derrick is the point person for Emerald.”
“What about Harold?” Carissa asked.
“Without Dreyfus, he don’t have shit. We own the product so we own Emerald.” I laughed.
“For now anyway.” Carissa said.
When I looked at Mercedes she looked sad. “What’s up, Cedes?”
“C talks to you, but he won’t say shit to me. His own mother.”
“Just let some time pass between you two. Things will be okay.”
“I hope so. I miss him so much, ya’ll.” Mercedes said.
“He knows.” Carissa paused. “So Yvette, Judah seems to be smitten with you.”
“Yeah…that nigga act like he didn’t even see us.”
“It don’t even matter. I ain’t paying none of these niggas no mind out here no more. I’m all about my paper.”
“So you’re still on some gay shit even without a woman in the picture?” Carissa said.
I started to swell on her but I was use to her shit.
“It’s not that, it’s just that I don’t feel like all the mental games right now.”
“We understand girl,” Mercedes said. “But if you got a chance to feel something, you gotta take it.”
I wasn’t going to tell them I still missed Chris because I knew they wouldn’t understand. “But before I go home I gotta make one last stop at the store.”
“Why is that?” Carissa asked me.
“After seeing that fine ass nigga, I gotta get more batteries for my vibrator.”
We all laughed.
“Tell me about it bitch!” Mercedes laughed.
Epilogue
Yvette, Mercedes, Carissa and Toi looked at the buildings they learned were owned by the Black Water Klan. They were scoping the scene so that they could come back later and finish off the rest of the sick family.
“Where the fuck is everybody?” Toi said looking at the buildings. “We been out here for twenty minutes and not one soul has walked out.”
“I don’t know, but this is definitely the address.” Mercedes said.
“Maybe they’re inside fucking each other,” Carissa laughed.
“Oh shit! Is that Persia?” Yvette pointed looking at her walking out of one of the buildings with a woman. Her stomach large.
“Yeah…but what the fuck is she doing here?” Yvette said. “I didn’t even know that she knew them.”
“Oh my God,” Carissa said covering her mouth. “That’s my baby and she’s still pregnant!”
“Right…but with whose baby?” Mercedes said to no one in particular.
“Don’t fucking start with me! You know whose baby she’s carrying.” Carissa said. “Your grandchild at that.”
“If it’s true, C not gonna want her anywhere near these fuckers.” Yvette said.
“Fuck this, I’m going out there.” Carissa ran up to Persia in the street and was almost hit by a car.
“Watch where the fuck you’re
going!” the driver yelled before pulling off.
“Fuck you!” Yvette said smashing the horn in her friend’s defense.
“Baby, what are you doing here?”
“Ma? How did you find me?” She said putting her hand over her eyes to shield the sun.
“Don’t worry about that, you’re still my daughter and you’re coming with me!”
“I can’t, this is my family now.”
“Fuck that…I want to take care of you and your baby, honey. I’m sorry about everything we’ve gone through, please come home.”
“I’m not going anywhere! Leave me alone!”
When other Klan members heard the commotion, they came out of the buildings and flooded the street. The girls knew shit had gotten way too serious now.
“Let’s go break this shit up.” Yvette said, Mercedes and Toi were right behind her.
“Fuck are ya’ll doing here?” One of the men said. “She doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
“What kind of sick shit is this?!” Mercedes asked. “You can’t just take a child and think shit is sweet. She is a fucking minor!”
“We can take better care of her than her own mother can,” said another woman.
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I am not leaving here without my daughter!” Carissa cried out, the crowd was so thick now no one could drive on the street.
“Where’s Cheese?” Someone yelled.
“He’s not here!”
“Somebody go get Karen!” Another said. “Tell her we got outsiders out here!”
“Yeah, get Karen, bitch! Like we give a fuck!” Yvette said.
“Karen must be their fake ass leader.” Mercedes said. “Ya’ll packing right?”
Toi and Yvette put their hands in their purses, “You already know it.” Yvette said.
“What’s going on?” Karen’s voice rang through the crowd.
“We got trouble over there!” Another person said as the crowd parted from the entrance of the building where she exited, to the place Yvette stood.