Raunchy (The Cartel Publications Presents)

by Styles, T

  “Not a problem.” He laughed. “Be careful tomorrow, Jace. After the fire at my house, and then him getting away after the doctor’s office, I know he won’t stop.”

  “I know. But I’ll be okay. You gonna be able to make it?”

  “Naw, I can’t get away. I have a few meetings in L.A. And then there’s this high roller poker game I’m going to in Atlantic City.”

  I could count the times on my hands I’ve seen him for my birthday. And I guess I could add another year to the list. “It’s cool.”

  He was always putting poker games before me. The story of my life.

  “But remember to be careful, Jace.”

  “I got you. I’ll hit you when it’s time to discuss business.”

  Hit or Miss

  Harmony

  Grand had gotten in contact with the kidnapper who was hesitant to talk to me at first, until I told him where Massive, who I found out was his boss, could locate Jace. And that was at his party. I gave him the address of his house, which I knew he’d have a harder time catching him, and the address to the mansion. After the collect call ended he sounded too happy to give the information to his boss. I also asked him would he have hurt me, if given the chance, and he said it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. So I dropped it knowing what that meant.

  Lastly I found my aunt Angela’s number in Texas from Shirley’s phonebook. She wasn’t too happy to hear from me at first, saying the rooms in her two bedroom apartment were filled with her two children. She claimed she barely had enough money from welfare to feed them and her boyfriend so taking in someone else was out of the question.

  I tried telling her that I wasn’t going to have to stay long, and that it would be just until I was able to find a place of my own, but she still wasn’t having it. But when I told her I had a little money to give her for rent, which I didn’t have yet, miraculously a room had become available. Bitches kill me.

  Before I left, Paco called me telling me he was sorry about how he acted in the car. And to tell you the truth, I was glad I got the call. I was broke and needed some money and dick before I left DC. So if he could help me with both before I left, I’d be very grateful.

  I was meeting Paco at a Burger King and was there for ten minutes when I saw him walk in with Ebony. What the fuck was she doing here? To make matters worse, I had on the earrings I’d stolen from her at her party and didn’t have enough time to take them off. When they got inside, they both looked around and sat in the seat directly in front of me. I didn’t know what was going on but I knew whatever it was wouldn’t be nice.

  “So you fucking Paco, too?” I said.

  “Bitch, I’m asking the questions.” I laughed. “So you did steal my earrings after all, huh?” She said. Then she reached over and snatched one of them out my ear.

  “Ouch!” I could feel my blood trickle down my neck. I touched my ear to see how much of my ear was ripped but it didn’t seem to be too bad. However the pain was crazy.

  “You want me to take the other one out, too? Or do you wanna give me my shit back?”

  I took the other earring out and handed it to her. Paco didn’t say anything, just stared at me wildly and I knew I was in danger. He said he would hand me over to whoever wanted to kill me, so I guess now was that time. I got up and was about to run out when her and Paco stood up and blocked me. It was a set up. How could I be so stupid?

  “Sit down, bitch!” He told me.

  “What is this about, Paco?” I asked him looking between both of them. “You said you weren’t mad at me anymore.”

  “Bitch. you burned half of DC.” Paco laughed. “You thought I was going to let you get away with that shit?”

  “So what ya’ll gonna do now? Jump me or something?” I laughed.

  “You wish,” He said. “Look outside.”

  When I looked outside I saw Trip, Meleny and five other girls standing outside of the door with closed fists and I knew they were all waiting on me. Some of the girls I knew, most of them I didn’t but I was sure I’d fucked one of their boyfriends at one time in my life and they probably caught something because of it. Some of their men I fucked for money, most I fucked just because. Still, I knew I couldn’t go outside because they’d kill me.

  So I scanned my surroundings quickly and saw a white man by the counter with a security uniform on and yelled, “HELP! They’re trying to rob me!”

  “What?” Paco said. He and Ebony looked at the man and then back at me. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? Ain’t nobody tryin’ to rob your ass.”

  “If anything you the one who robbed me by stealing my earrings.” Ebony added.

  “What’s going on over here?” The man said walking up to us. I was relieved.

  “Don’t listen to this bitch! She lyin!” Ebony said.

  “Then why is blood all over her face?”

  “She snatched my earrings out of my ear and he tried to rob me for my money.” I interjected.

  The security guard’s friends I didn’t see came from nowhere and grabbed Paco and Ebony. The man who approached first took the earrings from Ebony and put them in my hand and I saw the mob outside run away. I had gotten away and knew even more that DC was not for me.

  “Those are my earrings!” Ebony yelled while being detained. “I want my shit back!”

  “If they really are yours, you can take her to court.” The guard said.

  The guard offered to drop me off at Grand’s house. I wanted to be around somebody that wasn’t always judging me. I would normally go to Nut and Cherry’s but they seemed out of it after Cherry got cut. People said they were fucking with crack and that Kali was supplying them and I didn’t want to believe it. But every time I called, they sounded out of it and I was starting to believe it was true.

  When I got to Grand’s house, I could smell the weed in the air and knew he was getting high. And since I was still having morning sickness, the smell was making me sick.

  “Who is it?!” He screamed from the inside of his door.

  “It’s me, Grand. Open up.”

  “Who the fuck is me?!” He yelled. I heard his footsteps approaching the door until he finally opened it. It wasn’t long before a devious smile spread across his face. “Well hello there.”

  I walked inside and sat down on the tan recliner. “I’m not fucking you again, Grand. So get that nasty ass shit out of your mind right now.”

  He laughed, closed the door and said, “I knew good luck wouldn’t strike my old ass twice.”

  “It sure doesn’t.” I saw a bottle of vodka on the table and poured me a glass. I was glad he didn’t give me the blues like everyone else did when I drank while pregnant. On second thought, maybe he didn’t know I was pregnant. “I just wanted to say bye, Grand. I’m leaving for Texas tomorrow.”

  “So you really are doing it?” He said sitting in the black recliner.

  “I told you. Ain’t nothin’ in DC for me no more.”

  “What about Jace? I thought you two would get married when the time was right.”

  “He put shit in perspective for me the other day…As long as he thinks I’m a whore, I will forever be a whore. And who wants to marry a person like that?” I said forcing my pain deeply into the pit of my stomach. It hurt too much to hear and understand the truth. That I had messed up my chances with the one person I really loved.

  He took another pull of his weed and said, “So when you gonna tell me what you wanted with that jailbird? The one who kidnapped you?”

  “It’s best you don’t know.”

  “You know that nephew of mine stepped to me and told me to stay away from you the other day.” He laughed. “That boy’s fucked up in the head and he don’t even know it.” I never told Grand about the things Kali did to me, mainly because I was too embarrassed. “Are you fucking him or something?”

  “Not anymore.” I paused.

  “That explains everything.”

  “Hey, Grand, why is Kali…You know…So violent? Did something h
appen to him when he was younger?”

  “That boy was doomed from the day he was born.” He said firing up another joint. “My sister didn’t just get high with him, she stayed high with him. When she was with his father Rufus, Kali at least ate two squares. But when Rufus got clean off the drugs, and she wasn’t, he left both of them.

  “Whenever she got high, she’d leave Kali with anybody who had a floor. But when she wouldn’t come back for him for days at a time, people got hip to her shit and wouldn’t let Kalive stay at their houses no more. So she started leaving him in this abandoned one bedroom apartment she lived in. But she had two dogs in that place too and they were just as hungry as Kalive.”

  “Dogs? Why?”

  “She figured the dogs would keep people from coming in. She didn’t care that her son was in there alone with them.” He said shaking his head. “If my trifling ass sister Bernie brought Kalive food, and left him in the house with those hungry dogs by himself, they’d fight him for it and would eventually take it from him. Look at his body, he got bruises all over from dog bites.”

  I remembered the dog marks when we took the shower together. Damn.

  “This went on for days at a time, until one day she came home after being gone for a month. And both dogs were dead. But one of them…One of them…” Grand paused.

  “What?! Spit it out!”

  “The boy ate one of them to survive.”

  “Grand, please tell me you lying.”

  “I wish I was, Harmony. But I couldn’t play with nothing like that even if I tried.”

  Kali’s life was way worse than I ever could’ve imagined and as long as he stayed away from me, I didn’t care.

  “What happened to his mother?”

  “I don’t know. People saying she moved out of the state, some people saying he killed her. No one ever really found out.”

  I shook my head and said, “He is really fucked up.”

  “More than you can imagine.”

  I kicked it with Grand for a few minutes and went back to house. When I got home, my grandmother was in the living room on the phone. Most of the things I was taking were neatly organized and stacked against the side of the wall. And reminded me of my decision to go.

  “Look, talk to this damn teacher and tell her you were lying about what you said. She been callin’ my damn house every day threatening to have folks come over here because of you.”

  I rolled my eyes, got on the phone and said, “Yes?”

  “Harmony?”

  “Yes!” I repeated with an attitude.

  Silence.

  “Harmony, I understand you’ll be leaving to stay with your aunt in Texas soon. Is this right?”

  I looked at Shirley and said, “Yeah…So what?”

  “Well, what are you going to do about an education? You don’t even have your diploma.”

  “There are schools there you know.” I said, as if I had intentions on going to any of them. “I am enrolling there.”

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  “I don’t know, Mrs. Duncan.”

  “Harmony, if you don’t go to school, how are you going to support your baby?” She persisted. “You need an education.”

  “Who told you I was pregnant?” I said already knowing it was Shirley’s ass.

  “That doesn’t matter, Harmony. But I hate seeing young black women go down the road you’re traveling. And you need…Help. If you were sexually abused, then we can help you.”

  “I thought you were sending somebody to come over here. To question my grandmother and her son.” Shirley stomped around in place. “What happened to that?”

  “I was told your uncle died and they believe he was the one who hurt you. People find it hard to believe that your grandmother could be so cold.”

  “This is why kids don’t tell the truth! Nobody believes them.” I hung up in that bitch’s face.

  “You so fuckin’ pathetic!” Big Shirley said. “That’s a damn shame.” She continued getting some gin. “You really told people about what goes on in my damn house. And I want you out tonight.”

  “Shirley, come on now, I’m your granddaughter.” I said. “Let me stay until tomorrow and I’ll be out of here for good, I promise.”

  She frowned and said, “And you betta tell them friends of yours to stop callin’ my damn house!”

  “Shirley, considering what you have done to me and considering how you threw all of my shit out of my bedroom and into the living room…I should be able to have anybody call I want.”

  “When are you movin’ again?”

  “Tomorrow.” I said.

  “Good!” She said walking to the back of the house.

  “Can you at least tell me who called?” I asked. “Other than my teacher?”

  “Jace!” She said bending the corner.

  “Jace?” I said running behind her. “What…What did he say?”

  “I ain’t no answering service, girl. Call him back.”

  I quickly ran to the phone but when I did, it rang. It was Shirley’s friend Lola from up the street. “Lola, can Shirley call you back? I was about to make a call.”

  “Naw…She asked me to get a number for her. And I have it and need to talk to her now. Somebody owes her some money.”

  “Lola, I got to make a call. Can I have her call you right-”

  “I know damn well you ain’t about to redirect one of my calls!” Shirley came from behind me, going for the phone.

  I rolled my eyes and said, “I’m just trying to call Jace. It’ll be…”

  “Bitch, give me my phone!” she said pushing me away. Shirley was very strong when angry even though she was old.

  I didn’t give her shit and the next thing I know, we were tussling for the phone. If Jace called me and couldn’t get in contact with me, how did I know he would call back? I was leaving tomorrow and chances are he would think I was dodging his calls. No I had to talk to him and I had to talk to him now.

  When Shirley had the phone in her hand, and was about to walk away, I kicked her in the back and she fell. I know it was fucked up that I had kicked my grandmother but I didn’t give a fuck.

  “Bitch, you gonna wish you didn’t put your hands on me!” Shirley said from the floor.

  “I put my foot on you, bitch! Get it right!”

  “Fuck a day, I want you out of my house, tonight!”

  She was right…We hated each other too much to last another night in here alone together. Somebody was going to die and it wouldn’t be me. I gave all I was willing to give and didn’t have anything left. She and her daughter took my father, and then I watched my mother murdered. I can still taste her blood on my lips. Then I lived in secrecy as my uncle and grandmother raped me for years of my life. I started to hate people, especially women, because all of them seemed to hate me.

  “I just wanted to use the phone, Shirley!” I said placing it back on the hook to get a dial tone. The moment I did, it rang again.

  “Hello?”

  “Did you get my message?” Jace asked.

  His voice sounded soothing and I wanted him to hold me. I decided after all of the drama I was in, if he gave me another chance, I’d be serious about him. And never cheat on him again.

  “J…Jace?”

  “Yeah. What you doin’ tonight?” He asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “I’m trying to see you.”

  “Okay,” I smiled. “Can you come get me?”

  “I’ma send Kevin to pick you up. Bring some overnight clothes, too.”

  I looked at my stuff on the floor and decided to take my most important shit. I knew Shirley wasn’t letting me back in the house for nothing else. And I didn’t wanna come back.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I said with a big ass smile on my face.

  “Good, ‘cause we gotta talk about you…And us.”

  “Us?”

  “Yeah…If you really are carrying my baby, I’m ready to be serious about you.”

  Wh
en I got off the phone with Jace, I was lifted. This was the one thing I realized I always wanted. A family. With a father for my baby, like I had before my father was murdered and taken from me. And now, there was a possibility of having a family again. But what about the call I put in? I had to get in contact with Grand now! Maybe it wasn’t too late to stop the hit! The only thing is, his party is today!

  Angry Eyes

  Kali stood outside of Grand’s door for ten minutes before he knocked. He was grappling with whether or not he should step to him about Harmony. He decided to do just that because when it came to her he couldn’t see straight and was blindly obsessed. Plus she had information that could put him in jail for good.

  “What you doing out there, Kali?” Grand asked opening the door. He was preparing to go to 7 Eleven because he always got hungry after smoking weed.

  “Can I come in?”

  Grand hesitated at first but then stepped back and allowed him to walk inside. When they were both in, Grand locked the door and they sat down.

  “What is it, son? I’m on my way out.”

  “Are you…Fucking Harmony?”

  Grand swallowed hard, moved around a little in his recliner and said, “You know damn well that young girl ain’t giving me no pussy. My luck ain’t been that good since I hit the lottery for ten thousand that one year.”