Raunchy (The Cartel Publications Presents)

by Styles, T

  Silence.

  “You still with the baby father?”

  “Naw. We not together no more.”

  “You sounded sad when you said that…You still love him or something?”

  “No…It’s over for real.”

  “So you gonna raise this baby by yourself?”

  “Yeah.”

  He smiled and said, “You too pretty to be raising a kid by yourself.”

  “So If I was ugly it would be fine?”

  “Yeah.” He laughed. “And I wouldn’t give a fuck.” I laughed harder. Spending time with him, in the car on the way to the airport was the best fun I had since moving to Texas. “Let’s do this…If you don’t get locked up, I’ma take you out when you get back.”

  “If I don’t get locked up?” I said scared.

  “I’m just fucking with you.”

  I calmed down and said, “Why you wanna take me out? I’m pregnant and don’t have anything going for myself.”

  “Because I’m trying to get to know you. That’s why. Give yourself some credit, Harmony. You got more to offer than you realize.”

  “You don’t even know me yet.”

  “God favors the rejected sinners.” He said looking into my eyes before looking back at the road. “How else can you give a testimony, unless you been through a hard life?”

  I’d never heard anyone talk like him and knew I had to be around him, just to get uplifted. “You seem real smart.”

  He laughed and said, “Look, I’m no smarter than the average nigga. I just know something special when I see it. And I also know you hate being around Angela and her bad ass kids. You need a break. So what’s up?”

  “You gonna pick me up from the airport?”

  “I’ma be there.”

  “Then I guess we have a date.”

  Two Weeks Later

  Monkey didn’t have money like his brother Braxton, but he had his own house in the hood with a room for the baby when it was born. He took care of me, and made sure I ate and didn’t mind me having the occasional beer if I wanted to, just as long as I didn’t do it too much. There was a time when I wanted clothes, cars, and money. And to be honest I still did want those things, but staying with Angela made me realize that for now, I needed the basics so I could have this fuckin’ baby in peace. Without worrying about somebody stealing the food out of my mouth.

  Although I wasn’t feeling transporting drugs from DC to Texas at first, eventually it was second nature. I did it so effortlessly that they started sending me back more often. The only problem was every time I went to DC, I met up with the same person. This dude name Domingo, who kept trying to holla at me. Just t like Monkey, he didn’t care that I was pregnant. I didn’t know so many dudes were attracted to pregnant females. Domingo would do shit like hold me up on giving me the package, if I didn’t eat with him and shit like that. Eventually I told Monkey and he stopped bothering me all together. He told me I would regret telling Monkey though…And I never knew what that meant.

  The only other issue I had with transporting was during a close call when a few cops were determined to help me grab my luggage off the belt. I argued them down at first but it turns out that they didn’t want me lifting the bag because of my pregnancy. They had no idea that they helped me lift 7 kilos of coke in my suitcase. They even walked it to my car and Monkey was horrified when he saw their faces. I had to warn him silently with my eyes to take it easy. He didn’t breathe fully until we pulled off without handcuffs being on our wrists.

  A half an hour later, he was still looking in the rearview mirror hoping the cops wouldn’t run down on us and lock us up. Even as nervous as he was all the time, with Monkey in my life shit was finally looking up for me.

  I was cooking Monkey his favorite dinner when he called and told me he would be running late. He sounded worried and that kinda put me on edge. I always felt that any day now, something would happen and Monkey would leave me alone but so far he never did.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” I asked him.

  “I can’t tell you over the phone. I’ll see you in a little while.”

  “Is it something I did?”

  “Babes, there’s nothing you can do to make me mad at you. It some other shit I’ll rap to you about later.”

  I was a little upset because I was looking forward to spending some quality time alone with him. If he was upset, that would ruin the moment. We both knew the baby would be here any day now and that the freedom we had would be over. Even though I was pregnant, our sexual relationship was still good. Me and Monkey fucked every day since I moved in and it was the one thing I looked forward too. He didn’t let my pregnancy stop him from pleasing me and I was starting to fall for him, even though I never fully got over Jace.

  When he finally came home he looked like something was heavy on his mind. He normally came home happy but tonight was different.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked sitting his plate in front of him. “Everything cool with Braxton?”

  “No.” He said looking at me seriously. “He got locked up, Harmony. Now I gotta get in bed with them dudes from DC and I ain’t feeling that shit.”

  “What…I mean…I thought you were in charge of the blocks and collecting the money. Why that got to change now that Braxton locked up?”

  “Who else gonna run shit if Braxton gone? We don’t trust nobody else like that.” He told me. “Our main circle is small. It’s just me, Braxton you and Angela. I’m next in charge so it has to be me. I already made the call to our connect.” He paused. “Shit is going to be a little different, Harmony. I can’t spend the time with you like I have been.”

  “But…For the first time in a long time, I’m happy.”

  “And we still will be happy,” He told me pulling me to him. Then he rested his head on my belly. “But I want my little boy to come into this world not having to worry about shit.”

  I told him it was a boy and that I’d gone to the doctor. Truthfully I never went to the doctors. I just told him that so he could get off of my back about making sure that the baby was healthy.

  “So…What does it mean to be in charge?”

  “Well, for starters I got to meet up with our connect regularly. You might have to take trips back to DC more often too after the baby is born.”

  “You know I’ma do whatever I can for you.” I told him.

  “I know.”

  “Is that it?” I asked. “It seems like something else is wrong with you.”

  “Naw. Well…I think somebody was following me. At least I thought somebody was following me.”

  “When?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Monkey, you always think somebody following you. You gotta relax, baby.”

  “It’s easier said than done.”

  “How did Braxton get caught?” I said skipping the subject.

  “I don’t know. He was on his way to drop off a package because Angela got sick, when the cops picked him up. The only people who know about the drop was Angela, me and the connect.”

  “Why the connect?” I asked. It seemed suspicious that the connect would still be involved after a package was delivered.

  “He asked us to make a special delivery for him. And gave us a few more packs to do it, too.”

  “You don’t think Angela was involved do you?”

  “I’m not sure.” He paused not even touching his food. He loved my cooking. “Look, I gotta go wash up. I’ma eat that when I get out the shower, babes. I’m hungry as shit, too.”

  “Okay.” I picked up his plate and put it back in the pot to warm it up again.

  I hated that Monkey had to go through any of this shit alone. He was so good to me and sometimes I felt I didn’t deserve him. He made sure I was safe and even went at his brother Braxton on several occasions when he disrespected me. Although I trusted him, I’d been burned so many times that I started stashing money just in case. It was my little nest egg so that when I had this baby, I could get on my feet, buy som
e new gear and even a car. But first I would have to lose this baby weight. If Monkey still wanted me after it was all said and done, I was gonna try to be monogamous with one dude. Something I’d never done before.

  Monkey had washed up and threw on some new jeans, a plain white T-shirt and his chain. Then he sat in the living room and watched the football game. He ate his food but still didn’t look like himself and it bothered me. Normally I didn’t give a fuck about people but with him shit was different.

  He was really into the game until we heard a knock at the door. He took a deep breath and walked toward it. For the first time ever, I realized he wasn’t cut out for the drug game. I’d been around men who were ready before and he wasn’t one of them. If I wasn’t in his life, he probably would not have been bothered. He talked about working at the auto body shop working on cars. That’s what he loved. But now, it was all about the drug game, and I preferred it that way.

  Monkey opened the door and I saw him give a pound to someone I couldn’t really see. I cut a couple slices of apple pie, and placed them on our plates as I waited patiently to see who came over.

  “What are you doin’ here, man?” Monkey asked. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

  “I come at a bad time?” When I heard that voice, my heart dropped.

  “Naw, wifey in the kitchen makin’ apple pie. Come on inside and meet her.” I knew that voice like I knew my own face. I heard it many, many times before. “Harmony, come over here baby.” Monkey said to me.

  I slowly walked over to the door and my legs felt like water underneath my body. I wanted to run but where could I go?

  “How you doin’, Harmony? Long time no see.” He looked at me evilly. What really tripped me out was that I saw Nut and Cherry standing behind him. They looked strung out and not kept together like they normally did.

  “You two know each other?” Monkey asked looking in between our intense stares.

  “Yeah I know her, nigga. Very well.”

  “How?” Monkey frowned.

  “This bitch carryin’ my baby,” he said before shooting Monkey in the stomach. “Now get the fuck outta my face.”

  “Oh my, GOD!” I screamed falling down to the floor to hold Monkey. His blood poured out of his body and drenched my shirt. “Why did you do that?!!!!”

  Monkey looked scared as he gripped his stomach. He was still gasping for air when Kali said, “Nigga, die already!” And shot him in the throat.

  I jumped up against the wall and Kali walked up to me, placed one hand around my neck and kissed me in my mouth. The hatchet he carried was still on his back and I wondered if he would use it. His breath tasted nasty and I hated him all over again.

  “This some wild shit.” He released me and stood a few feet away to observe me. “The moment I give up on trying to find you, you come right to me.”

  “What do you want?”

  “My baby!”

  Nut and Cherry walked inside and they both grabbed me by my arms and pushed me to the floor. When I was on the floor, Nut took Kali’s hatchet off of his back while he held me down in her place.

  “How did you know I was here?” I cried. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

  “I found out when you dropped off the last shipment.” He smirked. “I couldn’t believe my luck when Domingo told me about this fine as bitch name Harmony. Who was pregnant…” He paused. “I thought to myself, ‘Self, there can’t be two fine ass pregnant bitches name Harmony in the world.” He continued. “And you know what, I was right!”

  “You’re the connect from DC?”

  “Yeah. I got my own operation now. Since you fucked shit up with me and Jace, I had to go off on my own.” He said. “But once I found out you were working with them Houston boys, I moved heaven and earth to get to you.”

  “You had something to do with Braxton getting locked up?”

  “What you think?” He said. “It took me all this time, and I finally found you.”

  “Kali, please leave me alone. We were supposed to be friends.”

  “And you are one of my best friends. Why do you think I killed your grandmother? And your uncle? And your dog?” He paused. “I killed everybody who has ever caused you a problem.”

  “Then what do you want with me?” I cried. “Why can’t you just let me go?”

  “Because I came for my baby.” He said. “I told you that already.”

  Nut stood over top of me with the hatchet, lifted my shirt and lunged it into my stomach.

  “Don’t cut too deep.” Kali advised.

  Kali pressed his hand over my mouth and I could not begin to describe the pain I was in. It was totally unbearable. I felt them tugging and pulling at my body but didn’t know what they were doing. Then out of nowhere, Kali takes the hatchet and slashes me across the face.

  My face burned. My stomach burned and I wanted to die. After awhile I didn’t feel the pain anymore. Just extreme pressure, before I passed out cold.

  The Deli

  Jace

  After five location changes I knew this was the place for us to be. There was a leak in my organization and I wasn’t having any more excuses. I tightened down on my circle and now we were eight deep including me. After Massive poisoned and killed over twenty people at my party, which caused the cops to fuck with me every day of my life, I couldn’t make money as easy as I could before. This change was necessary for the operation. We even tried showing him the same consideration he showed us by poisoning him, too. But every piece of food he ate, was inspected. Even the clothing he used was brought in by a special linen cleaning company.

  When I got out of my limo, my bodyguards Kevin and Antony checked my surroundings thoroughly. When the coast was clear, I followed them into the Gee’s Deli on Good Hope Road in Southeast DC.

  “Hello, sir. Everyone’s in the back waiting,” said Paris, a neighborhood girl I trusted to run the counter. She was young and dedicated to moving up in the ranks. Since there wasn’t a lot of places I could use a female, I told her to start with lookout at the deli. If she continued to prove her loyalty, I’m sure I’d be able to find her something else. There’s one thing you can never have enough of and that was loyal people.

  “Thanks. Is my cousin here?” I asked.

  “No, he called and said he wasn’t feeling well again.”

  Ever since the poisoning, Tony had been off. We were able to get him to the hospital in time for them to help him, but his mind had never been right since. Massive killed all those people to get to me and failed. And it was only because I had Kreshon and Paco get some beer from the outside, which I drunk instead, that’s why I was still alive today. Mostly everybody else who drank Massive’s poisoned liquor died.

  As I walked toward the back, Antony stayed at the door to deter any customers from coming inside and Kevin followed me. We were closed until our meeting was over because I had a few things to discuss with my squad in private.

  “Aight, if he calls come back and get me.” I told Paris.

  “Yes, sir.”

  I moved toward the back of the deli but before I walked into the room, he walked inside to be sure everything was okay. When it was he said, “Everything’s good, sir.”

  “Thanks.”

  I walked inside and Kevin stayed outside at the door. Most of my crew was there and I was ready to tell them about the new direction we would be taking.

  “What up, Jace?” Said Kreshon.

  “How’s it going, boss?” One of my new men said.

  I sat at the table they were seated at, and folded my hands. I knew they wouldn’t understand my reason for our next move but I was running shop and I was going to do what needed to be done.

  “As you all know, we own pretty much all of Southeast DC.” I paused. “We are the single source for the manufacture and distribution of crack cocaine in these areas. But by the end of the week, we will be the single source for the entire city.”

  “What?” Kreshon laughed. “I thought we were gonna mov
e slow, especially after that attack from Massive.”

  “Fuck movin’ slow. We moved slow enough and the money not comin’ in how I want it. It’s time to push.”

  “Don’t you think we’ll get some flack from the people we distribute to?” Paco said. “They buyin’ from us but won’t be able to move it if we take their territories.”

  “Yeah…We gonna catch plenty of flack. But they gonna catch more.”

  “Then why fuck with it?” Asked Paco.

  “Because I got plans to take DC now, and Maryland later. Why move to Maryland if I don’t even have DC yet? We need DC…I need DC.”

  “Whoa…This is a serious move.” Kreshon added. “And a heavy one, too.”

  “But we can do it,” I assured them. “I want what I want and what I want is DC.”

  “Kali know we making this move?” Kreshon asked.

  Although me and Kali had our riff the night of my birthday party, I kept him on as muscle. He didn’t need to come to our meetings and I never invited him because I still couldn’t trust him, as far as I could see him.

  “Kali and Tony Wop will be brought up to speed when its time.”

  Prior to my decision to change things up a little, Tony Wop handled our connect. But ever since he got poisoned I had a feeling he was the reason we were losing kilos of cocaine at a time. He’d claim he’d have a package delivered of a certain weight, but when our customers got it, it would always be short. And I’m not talking about a little short, I’m talking kilos short at a time. Tony would claim it was our connect and our connect would tell us to fuck off when we told him we needed to weigh each individual pack prior to money exchanging hands. So I found a solution for everything. And part of my plan was taking Tony off the weight.