Hittin' the Bricks: An Urban Erotic Tale

by Noire

  They walked down the street together talking about things Fiyah had missed while he was gone. Eva still felt guilty about getting her cousin locked up, and she was truly glad that shit was over. It seemed like Fiyah had survived it okay, and that was a big relief to her. Eva could never have forgiven herself if something had happened to him on the inside just because she’d put him there.

  “You been by the house yet?” she asked.

  Fiyah nodded, then sighed. “Yeah. I went there. I ate lunch with Rosita and my mother. That shit was a trip, man. My moms seems like she got an attitude with me about something.”

  Eva shook her head. Milena had talked about Fiyah like a dog the whole time he was locked up and hadn’t gone to see him once. She was still on that money tip, the same one she’d been on before he got locked up. Milena had really struggled to keep food in their stomachs when she got off drugs, and she didn’t respect no man unless he was giving up the bank, not even her son. She thought Fiyah’s big-time dreams of a career in music was a big-time load of bullshit, and she wanted him to put some money where his mic was.

  Eva shrugged her shoulders. Things were different with her aunt these days. Eva figured she musta found a new boyfriend or something, because Milena had been spending a lot of time in her room with the door locked. Eva usually got home late, but a couple of times she thought she heard a man’s deep voice coming from her aunt’s room. And once Eva could have sworn she heard moans and fuck screams in the middle of the night. A few minutes later Milena’s bed was creaking and rocking so hard that there was no way somebody wasn’t in there tearing her pussy up. Shit, her aunt was still young and she had a pretty face and a real nice body. Why shouldn’t she be getting herself some dick if that’s what she wanted?

  But Eva wasn’t about to tell Fiyah none of that. “I don’t know what’s up,” she said. “I leave early and get home late. I miss out on a whole lotta shit. Especially with Rosa. Your moms is good to take care of her for me the way she does.”

  “She don’t do it just for you, Eva. She does it because she loves Rosa. She loved India too. We all did.”

  Eva nodded because he was right.

  “So,” Fiyah said, like he wanted to lighten up the mood. “Shit is finally about to happen for me, ya know. I got a lotta stuff that’s coming together, Eva.”

  “Oh yeah?” Eva said. “Like what?”

  “Like a lot of stuff. You know when I was locked up I stayed scribbling the whole time, man, the whole time. I got like, a whole album’s worth of shit that I wrote while I was in there.”

  “That’s what’s up, Fiyah. You wanna spit some of that fire at Bricks tonight?”

  He looked surprised. “At Bricks? What you know about that club, Evita?”

  “I don’t know a whole lot,” she admitted. “But I know it’s hot. My friend has a table on 125th Street. He sells CDs and DVDs for the guys who run shit in the record shop in the front of Bricks.”

  Fiyah shook his head. “Nah, I’m straight. I should prolly stay away from that joint. Besides, I went to see my parole officer before I came down here. That fool gave me a ten o’clock curfew on the weekends. I can’t do nothing with that.”

  Eva frowned, disappointed. “All right. I was just asking because tonight is reggaeton night and I wanted to get you in there.”

  “Reggaeton night?”

  “You been gone for a minute, cuz. Reem is hooked up tight over in Bricks these days.”

  “Reem Raw?”

  “Yeah. Reem from Brooklyn. He got signed to a major label right after you got knocked. Anyway, they got a new jack set going on the weekends now in Bricks, and Reem hosts it. Saturdays are for new rap artists, and Fridays are for reggaeton. I heard ill Nino might blow in from Miami too, so it should be hot.”

  “ill Nino? Bottom Half Boyz, ill Nino?”

  Eva nodded. “Yep. Reem just cut an album with him and told me they’re looking to tour a new artist. Somebody fresh to warm the mic up for their opening act. I think Reem tossed out your name.”

  “ill Nino knows about me?”

  Eva laughed. “He don’t know every damn thing. Reem probably didn’t wanna scare him.”

  Fiyah kissed her on the cheek. “I guess today is my damn day.”

  “Hell yeah,” she said. “I guess so.”

  They had only walked a few more steps when Fiyah fucked Eva up.

  “Know what? It’s your day too, Evita.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Fiyah stopped and turned toward her. “Yeah. Look, you heard of that dude they call King Brody?”

  Eva nodded. That dude had a rep on the streets of Harlem, and from what she’d heard he was shady and pyscho. Brody had gotten outta jail about a month ago. He was a big drug lord who made crazy bank on the illegal CD operation that was run out of Bricks’s record shop. It hadn’t slowed down at all while he was on lock, neither, and once he got back home he picked up right where he left off, running shit again. Mello didn’t like the cat and that meant Eva didn’t like his ass neither. Brody was into bogarting and pushing up on rivals for their drugs and their jewels, and Mello said he had a XXX video operation going on in some kind of bunkers behind the club.

  “Well I got to know him on The Rock. He’s running shit at Bricks and he’s got mad connections in the music game too, yo. Your friend might can get you in the door, but Brody can get me put on wax. Shit’s about to happen for both of us, Evita.”

  Eva’s whole chest got swole. “You running with Brody? That drug-slanging bastard? You musta bumped your fuckin’ head on Rikers, cuz. You sounding real stupid right now, for real.”

  Fiyah looked swole too. He grabbed her arm.

  “Yo, what’s up with all that disrespect, Eva? There was a time you woulda been happy to have me runnin’ with a cat like Brody. I remember a time when you ran after cats like him yourself. You used to be out there dippin’ in their pockets and sneaking out their fuckin’ windows.”

  That was a low blow. It hit Eva right in the groin where she used to shoot her drugs. She was ready to curse Fiyah the fuck out, but she forced herself to chill.

  “That was back then, Fuego. This is now. I was a kid back then. Today, I’m grown. Times have changed.”

  He shook his head. “Nah, baby. I just gave up almost a year outta my life for you. Times gone change when I say they change.”

  Eva gave him a crazy look. He was her cousin, not her fuckin’ man.

  “Yeah, whatever, Fiyah. You can go on with all that noise. You roll up talking all that ‘me-me-me’ yang. As usual you ain’t thinking about nobody but yourself.”

  He shrugged and a set look came down on his face. “Look, Eva. Your shit is set up lovely. You been out here living phat and warm. I’m the one who was on the inside dealing with the cold, grimy shit. Now, my man Brody is feeling you. He seen you on a visit and he wants to get to know you a little bit. I ain’t askin you to do nothing crazy. I just need you to get with the program for a little while, that’s all. Spending a few minutes with a big willie ain’t gonna kill you.”

  Eva smirked. Fiyah could kiss her ass.

  “I’m getting with my own damn program, Fiyah. You should try it too. There are plenty of other ways to get on wax besides running with niggahs like Brody. I don’t do drug dealers, period. I thought you knew that.”

  There was sadness in her cousin’s eyes and he looked at Eva for a long time.

  “You don’t get it, Evita, do you? That’s ’cause your ass wasn’t on lock. Brody looked out for me on them tiers, girl. That cat watched my back and kept the goonies off while I did your bid, and now I owe his ass. We owe his ass!”

  “I just don’t wanna see you get in no shit, Fiyah! And I ain’t available anyway so you can just tell Brody that. I already got a man.”

  Fiyah looked at her hard. “Who is he?”

  Eva turned to walk away and said over her shoulder, “I’m chillin’ with a dude name Ramel.”

  “Ramel, who?”

  Eva kept wal
king. She didn’t even answer.

  She heard him walking up fast behind her.

  “WHO? Who the fuck is a Ramel, Eva?”

  She tossed two words at him over her shoulder.

  “My man.”

  Eva kept it moving down the street. Even as she heard Fiyah yelling behind her like he was bonkers.

  “Hey! Hey! Don’t walk your ass away from me, Eva! Brody will fuck you and me both up! You better tell that fuckin’ Ramel cat to step off, Eva! I ain’t getting fucked up because of you!”

  Eva waved her hand in the air, then walked on without looking back. Two seconds later she heard a loud thunk, then the sound of a car alarm blared in the air. She turned around and shook her head. Stupid ass. Kicking cars. If Fiyah was crazy enough to get in the gutter with a killer like Brody, then it wasn’t a car that needed kicking, it was his ass.

  Fiyah rolled into Bricks around midnight.

  From the outside he looked chill and confident. His gear was straight and he had his gangsta mug on. But on the inside he was shook.

  He’d done a little asking around about Eva’s boy. The kid they called Ice Mello. The streets of Harlem had offered up nothing but high praise about the cat. Fiyah had heard amazing tales about Mello’s flow game and his reputation for dominance on the mic. Instantly, his competitive juices began to flow. Fiyah had been gone too long. Jealousy had washed all over him as cats whose opinions he trusted told him sagas of Ice Mello’s lyrical game. Fiyah had spent all that time in jail because of Eva’s ass, and while he was locked down her man had been on the streets making a name for himself, pissing on mics and marking his territory all over Harlem.

  He’d caught up with Eva again at the crib. The way she had dissed him outside her job earlier was still burning him up.

  “Fuck Mello!” Fiyah had said when Eva started making noise again about her man. “That cat is a nobody. He’s selling hot CDs off a table on 125th Street, Evita! You gonna turn down a capo like Brody for some flea-ass chump like that?”

  Fiyah and Eva had a bond, and they both knew it. There’d been a lot of times when the only person they had was each other, and it wasn’t just love that flowed between them. There was loyalty too.

  “I’m your cousin,” Fiyah had pleaded. Eva didn’t know who she was fuckin’ with. Fiyah was trying to save their lives. Brody was a killer, and he would murk them both without even blinking. “You gonna let this nobody niggah come between us?”

  The look in Eva’s eyes had been like a knife across Fiyah’s throat. Yeah, the love for him was still there. And it was still just as strong. But Eva wasn’t about to bend to his will. No matter what he said, Fiyah couldn’t talk her off of her position.

  “Mello is my man. And even if he wasn’t I wouldn’t fuck with a low-life like Brody. He don’t rep what I rep, Fiyah. I don’t think what he reps is your flavor neither.”

  She’d stormed into her room and Fiyah had wrestled with himself over coming out to Bricks tonight. The smart thing to do woulda been to stay his ass home and stroke his sore dick. He had a ten o’clock curfew from a PO who swore he checked beds. And even worse, Brody was expecting to get next to Eva tonight. Double-crossing a maniac like Brody was just as stupid as jumping in front of the number three train. But despite his fear, there was something else that had pushed Fiyah to stand in the long line outside and wait to have his name checked off on the guest list at Bricks. Eva had said ill Nino was gonna be in the house looking over prospects for next week’s reggaeton competition. Fuck Brody, fuck a speeding train, fuck the world if it meant getting on with a baller like ill. Sometimes a certain level of risk was acceptable, ya know? If you wanted something bad enough then there were times when you had to be willing to put your dick on the chopping block in order to get it.

  Fiyah took the risk.

  Bricks was a banging club and a baller’s delight. It was an Alizé, Patrón, Cristal and Krug set, and the sweet smell of Philly blunts and Game Dutch Masters was thick in the air. A cute Latina waitress sauntered past in a short skirt and high heels. She smiled and Fiyah grinned when he saw the blue glow tabs she was playing with in her mouth. The music was bumping, the beat was sick as shit. Fiyah knew he would piss Brody off by showing up without Eva, but despite his fear he was feeling the hell outta Bricks’s atmosphere. He stood on the sidelines and checked out the pole dancers, the shot callers and some of the badass chicks who worked the underground XXX video circuit. Every female in the house was a stunna. His eyes got full on all the phat asses, high breasts, and flat tummies he could stand.

  There were two bars in Bricks, on opposite walls. Fiyah checked out the pool tables, the booths and the love seats, then imagined himself up on the raised stage. Shitting all over the mic. He walked deeper through the club and passed a room where three ballers sat on stools with their pants down around their ankles. There was a naked chick in front of each one of them, down on her knees bobbing her head. It was a dick-sucking contest and cats was standing around waiting for their turn as they cheered the hoes on.

  Fiyah backtracked his steps and went back to the main room. From his position on the wall he spotted the VIP area. It overlooked the packed dance floor where sexy-ass waitresses threaded through the crowd delivering drinks on five-inch heels. Fiyah found a spot at the bar and ordered a rum and Coke. He paid for it with some of the doe Brody had torn him off that morning.

  “Fiyah?”

  He turned left.

  “Whassup, baby! Que pasa, maricón?!”

  “I’m good, Sasha,” he said, reaching for a hug. Sasha squeezed him close, rubbing up against him. His dick jumped bad and he ran his hand up her thigh. “What’s up with you, girl?” They’d gone to high school together and had fucked a couple of times back then.

  “Everything’s up with me! Where you been, man?”

  Fiyah shrugged. “Grindin’, baby. Laying low and grindin’ hard.”

  He tugged at her little skirt. Her toned legs looked luscious under her sexy sheer panty hose. “You a waitress now or something?”

  “Yeah. I gotta grind too, you know.” She picked up her drink order and smiled. “I gotta run, but it’s good to see you. I heard you was coming home from jail, meijo. If you need some good pussy, you know where I stay.”

  Fiyah grinned and went back to his drink. A hardbody song by ’Hovah came on and he drummed his fingers on the bar, imitating the beat. He glanced around again, unable to believe that he was actually tossin’ drinks down inside of Club Bricks.

  But unbeknownst to Fiyah, a black Cadillac Escalade had just pulled up outside, and pretty soon his drink wasn’t the only thing that was gonna get tossed.

  Brody’s whip slid up to the curb outside of Bricks with the music blasting. Rolo put the car in park, then jumped out of her seat and opened the back door for her don.

  Two sexy-ass chicks slid across the seats, followed by Bullet and Anwar. The girls had just hit a few lines of coke and were now sucking on mini bottles of Cristal from tiny straws. The men were pressed out heavy in expensive urban gear. First to get out were the Latina girl, then Serena, and then Brody. Charlene lingered inside.

  Where Brody was all man, muscular and thick, Serena had a small frame with sweet titties and a firm round ass that said her last name shoulda been Williams. They looked real good together and Brody knew it, which was one reason he kept her whiny ass around. Brody was expecting good things tonight and his mood was up, but Serena was starting to drag him down. Earlier, the dumb bitch had complained about the blister on her chest hurting, and before he knew it Brody had almost blacked out on that ass. That was why right now she was out at night wearing a ton of makeup and some oversized sunglasses. Her chest wasn’t the only damned thing Brody had blistered neither.

  “Hurry up and get the fuck out,” he snapped. She slid across the leather seat like her big ass hurt too. Brody had put some fire on that shit, so he was sure it did. “Let’s get inside and do the damn thing.”

  Tears swelled in her eyes. “Brod
y…” she said, moving like an old lady. “I can’t move—please wait…”

  “What?” he barked. “You wanna take your ass home?”

  “No.” The seventeen-year-old girl shook her head. “I wanna be right here with you, baby. But I’m feeling real dizzy. Like I can’t—”

  “If your ass is sick and you wanna go home, then step, bitch, step! You know the way!”

  “I can’t walk all the way back…” Her voice was a whisper.

  “Then take the train or get in a cab.”

  “I don’t have no money…”

  Brody’s voice was like ice.

  “That’s right, ho. You ain’t got no money. You ain’t got shit unless I give it to you, remember? So get the fuck outta my ride and hurry ya stupid ass over there in the club before I fly your fuckin’ head again!”

  Bullet and the rest of the posse were still standing on the curb. After hearing his brother’s threat, he reached inside the whip and took Serena’s arm and gently helped her out. She wobbled on her feet for a moment, then she pulled her shit together. Bullet looked down at her with sympathy in his eyes. Serena didn’t look back. Instead she did just like Brody had said. She hurried her aching ass over to the entrance of Bricks, and along with the rest of the crew she went inside.

  Up on the stage rapper Reem Raw was holding court with a couple of VIPs from Los Angeles. Reem was originally from Brooklyn, and had made big dents in the music scene in that borough before coming to Harlem. He’d toured with Robb Hawk, Hood, and the Bottom Half Boyz, and his top-ten Billboard track “No Regrets” was so gully and spoke such gutter truth, that it had become a ghetto national anthem.

  Scanning the club, Reem nodded at Daddy Dre, who was the owner of Bricks and an all-around Papa Cat to some of the young’uns in the hood, then nodded toward the front door where ill Nino and his small entourage were just coming in. ill Nino was a slick and stylish reggaeton artist. The king of the Latino music set, he stepped inside of Bricks and immediately started getting mad love and props. His beautiful dark-skinned girlfriend looked like chocolate candy on his arm, and several Bottom Half Boyz were handling shit from the rear. ill stopped in front of Dre, who looked him up and down.