by Styles, T
“Did ya’ll look for money in the house?”
“Yeah, we got everything we could find,” he said when they walked outside. “It looks like a little over a million.”
“Aight,” he paused. “Where are the vans?”
“On the side of the house, next to the service entrance.”
In the driveway, the two linen trucks that were stolen months back waited on Kali. One of Kali’s men opened the back door and hopped in, Cherry’s blood still on his body. Hogtied in the middle of the van was Massive. He was bleeding and the white gag over his mouth was drenched in his own blood. Also in the back of the van were two of his men.
“What you want us to do with him?”
“I got it.” Kali said still stewing over Cherry’s death. “Where’s Dino?”
“Here you go, man,” Vaughn said handing Kali’s his Silver hatchet in the brown leather strap.
Kali removed it from the leather case and without saying a word, swung and chopped Massive’s arm off. It partially hung off his body before he took the next swing at his neck. Vaughn and his crew knew how violent he could be, but didn’t think he was so disgusting. Then as if he was cutting a slab of beef, he chopped off his head while everyone stood in silence.
“Take me to my car,” Kali said wiping the blood off of his mouth and eyes. “And burn this fucking van with the rest of his body.”
Running Game
Jayden
Jayden walked into the school after a week of suspension with a new attitude. Toni was still out sick but said the pencil stabbing was an accident and neither Jayden nor Madjesty knew why.
After the conversation with her mother, Jayden decided to do what she had to, to take care of herself and her sister, even if Madjesty didn’t want her to. The moment she got to her locker, she saw a familiar face. It was Xion, one of Shaggy’s boy’s and he was looking at her hard.
“Are you gonna keep looking, or come over here and speak to me?”
“I wasn’t sure if that was you at first. The last time I saw you, you were at McDonalds and looked…I mean…”
“Fucked up,” Jayden laughed. “It’s amazing what a little money and backing could do for a girl.”
“No doubt.” He said. “But the difference is crazy.”
“Girls change.” She said leaning up against her locker flashing him her pretty smile. She saw her sister Madjesty walk past her, and did everything in her power not to look in her direction. She made a decision that if Madjesty didn’t want the relationship, she wouldn’t force it on her.
“So…You still with my man Shaggy?”
“Shaggy?” She said as if she didn’t know him. “Who that?”
He laughed and said, “Yeah okay. He the nigga who fed your ass the day I met you.”
“Oh, that nigga!!!” She joked. “I was so busy looking in your face that I didn’t even notice him.” She smiled.
“Don’t be sellin’ me wolf tickets.”
“What the fuck is a wolf ticket?” she laughed. Jayden was enjoying his conversation greatly.
“It’s a joke my mom’s say all the time.”
“Well trust me, I ain’t selling you nothing you don’t wanna buy,” she said seductively. For some reason, being responsible for herself gave her more confidence. “I didn’t know you went to Friendly.”
“It’s my last year. And I’m just goin’ now ‘cause I make money here.”
“Doing what?”
“Selling weed.” He boasted.
As they were talking, Jayden saw five girls walking up the hall in their direction. They wore real raunchy looking clothes and were loud. Immediately a light bulb went off in her head.
“Well, I gotta go. What’s your name again?” Jayden asked.
“Xion.”
“So, Xion, you said you sell smoke. But what else you got?”
“Ecstasy, too. Why?”
“I wanna buy some weed and some E pills off of you.” She said keeping her eyes on the girls. They were real loud at their lockers and it was clear they were trying to get everyone’s attention. She hoped they didn’t walk away before she had a chance to introduce herself to them.
“I ain’t know you get down.”
“There’s a lot of stuff you don’t know about me. Yet,” she smiled looking into his eyes. “Now, Mr. Xion. can you help me or not?”
“How much you need?”
“As much as you can give me.”
“I can give you whatever you need.”
“If you keep talking to me like that, you gonna make me think you wanna take care of me or something.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Let’s do this. Bring the weed and the pills by this hotel,” she said writing the name and the address on a piece of notebook paper from her book bag. “Tonight at about 6:00 pm. Let’s talk about it then.”
Xion got excited and said, “I’ll do that.”
When he was gone, she walked up to the girls and said, “Excuse me, would ya’ll happen to know where I can get some pills from?”
The main girl of the group had a tattoo on her wrist that said Passion. She said, “Damn, how you gonna just walk up to us and ask us some illegal shit like that?” She laughed.
“Yeah, what we look like?” Another girl said.
“Ya’ll look like ya’ll like to have fun. And not all stuck up like some of these other bitches around here.”
Passion looked at her friends and said, “Sounds to me like you got us down pack.”
They all laughed.
“I figured as much.” Jayden said.
“Well, new girl, you were just talkin’ to the nigga who could hook you up with some pills. At least that’s where I get my shit from.”
“Damn, I shoulda asked ya’ll before he tried to holla.” Jayden said trying to push her naivety deep inside. She wanted to seem as real as possible to them.
“The way that nigga was smilin’ all up in your face, you not gonna have no problem gettin’ what you need.” She said giving one of her friends a five. “You shoulda pushed off on that for real. Xion’s cute ass is paid.”
“The way he was acting, I’m sure he’s gonna be sniffin’ behind my ass later. But I ain’t ‘bout to chase no nigga.” She paused. “Anyway, the name’s Jayden.” She said extending her hand. Passion shook it along with the other four girls. “What’s ya’lls?”
“I’m Passion, this is Foxie,” she said pointing to a cute girl with short gold hair, “this is Na Na,” she continued pointing to a girl mixed with Asian and African American, “this is Gucci,” she added pointing at a girl with a long stringy black weave, “and this is Queen.” She ended, speaking of a girl with a scraggly looking bob.
What Jayden noticed immediately was that they all looked like she use to. Like they needed something and somebody. She didn’t know why she could pick up on such insecurities, since she just made a come up herself, but she did.
“Ya’ll live around here?” Jayden asked.
“Yeah…We live up the street.”
“And you?” Gucci asked, with a slight attitude. Jayden knew she’d be the toughest to get through to.
She wasn’t going to tell them she was living in a hotel. So she decided to use the house she hated to her advantage. “I live in Concord Mansion.”
The girls’ eyes widened and they seemed to be excited that someone so fly was keeping conversation with five wanna-bee’s. When she saw the gleam in their eyes, she knew she had them exactly where she wanted them.
When Jayden got back to her hotel, she saw someone sitting in a car waiting on her. She saw his face before and tried to run into her motel room but Jace had Kevin and Antony catch her.
When he walked up to them he said, “Let her go.” They did. “I’m not gonna hurt you. But we need to talk. Can I come in?”
There was something about him that comforted her, and she allowed him inside her room. Kevin went in with them while Antony guarded the front door.
“Don’t be afrai
d, I said I’m not gonna hurt you.” Jace said. “And if I have things my way, nobody will.”
“Well what do you want with me? You kinda scare me.”
“I want the truth.” He paused. “Are you, Harmony Phillip’s daughter?”
Feeling like she didn’t have anything to lose, she told the truth. “Yes. She’s my mother.”
Jace swallowed and said, “Who is your father?”
“I don’t know. I mean…My mother said it might be this guy named Kali who’s living in our house now.”
“So Kali does live in the house with you?”
“Yes. Do you know him?”
Jace looked at Kevin and said, “Yes. I do.”
“Can you tell me what you want from me? Did my mother do something wrong to you? And now you wanna take it out on me?”
“I don’t know about Kali but I might be…I might be your father.”
“How?”
“Me and your mother use to date back in the day. She told me she was pregnant, but my life was heavy back then and we lost contact.” He said feeling bad for not being in their lives even if it wasn’t his fault. “But I need to know if you and your sister are my daughters. And I need you to help me find out.”
“But why? Why do you wanna find out?”
“Because you and your sister,” he paused, “what’s her name?”
“Madjesty.” She smiled.
“Could have a much better life. And I’m in a position to give you a better life. But I need to know first.”
“What do I have to do?”
“Will your sister consent to a test?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She was considering telling him about her mother poisoning her with antifreeze. The only thing was, if he was not their father, and she told him Harmony’s evil secret, the plan could backfire in her face. And Harmony might kill Madjesty anyway. She’d been seeing Madjesty at school and could tell she wasn’t sick anymore and that was because she’d been paying her off. “But we’re twins. Is there a way to use just my DNA?”
“I’m not sure. But can you get some of her hair anyway? Off a brush maybe? I just don’t want to start the process and they tell me I don’t have enough DNA.”
“Yeah. I could probably get some of her hair.” She paused considering how it would be to have a real father. “If you are my father, are you going to be around?” Jayden asked hopefully. “Like in my life and stuff?”
“I can show you better than I can tell you.” He said.
Jayden smiled.
“But how are you? Do you need anything?” Jace continued.
Remembering what her mother said, to always ask for more than what you want to get what you need she said, “Yes. Some money.”
“Okay. How much?”
“Fifteen hundred dollars.”
He gave Kevin a look and he reached into his pocket. “Are you living here?”
“Yes. Me and my mother got into it.” She said, her head hanging low. “I’m not going to be here long though.”
“How is Harmony?”
Jayden frowned a little. “She’s okay. I guess. Just mean and hateful.”
He didn’t want to waste their time talking about her so he said, “Here’s some money to tie you over. If you need something else,” he wrote his number down on a pad in her room, “call me.” Then he handed her five thousand dollars. “But get the hair from your sister for me. And I’m gonna come back to check on you both.”
“Okay.” She smiled looking at the wad of cash.
“Alright, Jayden. I’ll talk to you later.”
When he left Jayden waited for Xion to get there. They went out and got something to eat and had a good time together. She was surprised at how much she liked being around him. She was having more fun with him than she was with Shaggy. They immediately fell for each other and could not deny it.
When they got back to her room after hanging out, Shaggy was there. He didn’t let them see him, but it fucked him up that Xion got with somebody he was keeping time with. And then he remembered, he never told anybody he was with her. Anger covered him when he thought about all he had done for her. If she wanted to fuck with Xion so be it, but he decided he wasn’t taking care of her anymore. He knew Xion’s money was okay right now, but he had plans to cut him out of the business. Then he’d be broke and Jayden would come running back to him. But he wouldn’t clean her up so quickly this time…Unless she came back begging on her knees.
A New Crew
Madjesty
Madjesty and her friends skipped school and were at her friend Wokie’s house smoking weed, drinking and getting high. These days Madjesty was different. She was angry, she was violent and she didn’t care if she lived or died and that made her extremely dangerous. Shortly after being suspended from school, she started feeling slightly better and wasn’t sick anymore. With her newfound health and energy, she decided to be the menace she always wanted to be.
One thing she taught herself within a matter of days was how to shoplift big items. She stole everything from designer jeans and tennis shoes, to food and liquor. Just like her mother, she’d taken to the bottle but she favored Hennessey. And with a person already on the edge brown liquor did nothing but made her evil.
On top of everything she was the leader of a gang of five kids from her school who were outcasts like her. The five of them were already together and after seeing how she stabbed troublemaking Toni, they brought her into their pack. The gang consisted of three boys and two girls. The boys’ names were Kid Lightning, Wokie, Krazy K and the girls’ names were Glitter and Sugar. And with Mad’s leadership, they called themselves the Mad Max. Madjesty dropped the last part of her name and went by Mad and anybody who failed to call her by her nickname had problems.
Unlike being home with her mother, she felt love for life when she was around them and as a gang they made themselves stronger than ever.
“Why you mad?” Kid Lightning asked.
Kid Lightning had a honey colored complexion. He was lanky with arms like twigs. But his outspoken behavior made him a favorite amongst the crew.
“No reason.” She said laying on the floor smoking.
“You sure?” Krazy K persisted. “’Cause I felt like something was off, too.” Krazy K had feet as big as shovels and a permanent scowl on his face, but out of all of them, he was the nicest.
“She said she don’t wanna talk about it,” Wokie added. Wokie was short, dark and often more quiet than the rest.
“Why you always taking up for Mad? She can take care up for herself.” Glitter interjected. Glitter had deep-set chocolate brown eyes and she wore her hair in braids. She always had weed and liquor which made them love having her around even more. And over time, Glitter was quickly becoming Mad’s girl.
“I said I’m fine. I don’t know why ya’ll don’t believe me.”
“Stop lying,” Sugar said. Sugar had a very small mouth and wore her hair in a curly ponytail. Large red glasses rested on the bridge of her nose and she had a squeaky voice. “I know what it is.”
“What is it?” Mad asked.
“You saw, Jayden. And you always get like that after you see her.”
Sugar was right, Mad was still stewing over the fact that her sister had come over to the house to give her mother some money and didn’t bother speaking. Even though Mad told her she wasn’t her sister anymore, she was angry that she didn’t at least try to reach out to her again. She wanted a relationship with her twin, but she’d been hurt so much, that she wanted to know that she wanted the same.
What bugged her out the most was the fact that she swore she saw Jayden going into her room. When she asked her did she invade her privacy Jayden said no but Mad knew she was lying. So what did Jayden want? She couldn’t be stealing because it was obvious she had more money than she did, judging by the designer labels she wore. And then there was the relationship Jayden had with Harmony and money exchanging hands between them. Mad was full of suspicion of those around he
r, even her gang members.
“Ya’ll know we have to do something together to make our gang stronger right?” Mad suggested. “It ain’t enough for me to hear ya’ll say ya’ll got my back. I need you to prove it.”
“What can we do?” Glitter asked kissing her in the mouth.
“The ultimate, baby.”
“And what’s that?” Wokie questioned.
“We need to do something that will bind us together forever. Something that if somebody ever found out, we’d all go down for.”
“The only thing I can think of that would bind us like that is murder.” Glitter said.
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking,”
“Who we gonna murder? Some random person?” Krazy K asked.
“I got somebody in mind. But once we do this shit, we can never turn back.” She said looking upon her crew. “Ever.”
Raw Meat
Jace
I met Kali at the Deli to see what he had to tell me. He seemed excited and I hope he had news about Massive. When he pulled up in a minivan and his cousin Vaughn got out to open his door, I knew he had started his own thing and that this meeting had to be about the money. I never fucked with Vaughn and he knew it. Antony let Kali inside alone after searching his pants. He had an extra bop to his walk and I knew he was feeling himself.
“What’s up, Jace.” Kali said walking in fully, revealing the hatchet on his back.
“You can’t come in here with that, man.” Antony told him.
“Here,” he said handing it to him. Then he set a box on the table. “Because today, ain’t nothin’ more important than what’s in that box right there.” Kali said pointing at it.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That’s for you,” he winked.
I opened the box to see Massive’s mutilated head inside. Antony and Kevin looked at me and for the first time in a long time, I smiled.