Heaven and Earth

by J. M. Benjamin

  He had been told that the two chicks that would soon be his latest vics were seeing major paper, and he knew that the three female hustlers he watched now were only workers for the female duo Heaven and Earth, and that’s who he wanted. Blaze had been content with the stickups and home invasions he had been doing throughout his part of town of North and South Trenton, coming up on twenty to thirty thousand-dollar licks. But when someone pulled his coat to a bunch of females, two in particular, doing astronomical numbers and getting more money than the average dude out in New Brunswick, that piqued Blaze’s interest. He couldn’t pass up the sweet opportunity and took his show on the road.

  He was told to proceed with caution because the one named Earth was known to be ruthless when it came to busting her gun, so Blaze had already made up his mind, once he located and got the drop on the two females, she would be the first to go. The last way he wanted to go out was by some female he told himself. He would not be able to rest in hell if he went out like that. His ego and pride, not to mention his reputation as a gangster, convinced him that he’d rather take his own life than have it stolen at the hands of a woman. The more Blaze thought about it, the angrier he became. If there was ever any doubt before, there was none now. As soon as he landed a lead on the whereabouts of the two named Heaven and Earth, he would take them for everything they possessed—including their lives.

  After staking out the block for what seemed like the entire day to him and seeing that Heaven and Earth were not showing up, Blaze started up his hooptie and drove off.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Bang! Bang! Bang!”

  “Who the fuck bangin’ on the damn door like that?” Earth barked.

  Both Heaven and Shell had puzzled expressions on their faces. Since they had come back from New York, Heaven and Earth had given specific instructions to Le Le and Sonya not to disturb or interrupt them while they, along with Shell, cooked and bottled up the product they had only hours ago purchased from the city. Aside from the two of them, Shell was the only other one allowed to take part in this particular part of the operation for two important reasons. One, she herself had skills when it came to cooking up the product, and two, her bottling skills were better than Heaven and Earth’s put together.

  Shell had been exposed to drugs since she first entered the world. Her father and all of her uncles were coke dealers, and even some of her cousins on her father’s side of the family. Over the years, the men in her family who indulged in the illegal drug trade had either gone off to prison for an eternity, were murdered, or were deported back to their native country of Dominican Republic, including Shell’s father who had not only been deported but was serving life in a Dominican prison. Heaven and Earth’s connect was, in fact, a mutual acquaintance of Shell’s father and uncles, who played a major part in their more-than-fair prices they paid for their product, thanks to Shell. It was one of the reasons Earth had favored Shell over Sonya and Le Le. Earth had often expressed to Shell that had she been a redbone, she would have made her wifey.

  Heaven favored her simply because she seemed sharper than her other two workers.

  “Tsk! This bitch,” Earth chimed, looking through the peephole.

  “Who is it?” Heaven asked.

  “Who you think?” she answered unlocking and snatching open the door. “What the fuck do you want?” Earth questioned, pulling Le Le inside the apartment.

  Shell just shook her head. She already had a feeling who was at the door. Le Le was the only one out of the clique who was always doing or saying something at the wrong place and time.

  “We ran out,” Le Le began to explain. “And Sonya sent me up—”

  “What the fuck you mean Sonya sent you up here?” Earth finished Le Le’s sentence, becoming angrier. “Bitch, who do you work for? Huh? Sonya don’t call no ma’fuckin’ shots around this bitch. What the fuck did we tell your stupid ass before we came up here?”

  “Gosh, Earth, I was only—Umph!”

  “Who you talkin’ to like that!”

  “E, chill,” Heaven intervened, jumping up, seeing her partner throw a punch into Le Le’s midsection, causing her to belly over.

  “Heaven, don’t grab me. You know I don’t like that shit,” Earth spit, instinctively knocking Heaven’s hands away. By now, Le Le was on one knee gasping for air. Shell had gotten up and gone to her aid but was warned against it.

  “Don’t help her ass,” Earth said to her. “Let that bitch choke.”

  Against her better judgment, Shell stopped in her tracks. The last thing she wanted to do was go against her boss. Although she wasn’t in total agreement with Earth’s method toward Le Le, Shell knew that Le Le had brought what happened on herself. Shell continued to stand there feeling sorry for her friend. She knew that in the game, there was no room for mistakes or weakness, each one of those costly, and Le Le was capable and possessed them both. If it meant siding with Le Le or Earth when it came to what was best for her or the team, there was no doubt that Shell would choose Earth’s side, which is exactly what she was doing now.

  Heaven knew how Earth felt about people putting their hands on her, especially when she was upset, but Heaven could not allow her partner to handle Le Le in the order she knew she would had Heaven not stopped her. “E, for me, let that go,” Heaven tried to reason, keeping a barrier between Le Le and Earth.

  “Heaven, you don’t have to stand there. I’m not going to do nothing to her ass. I did what I was gonna do, but she better watch her ma’fuckin’ tone when she talk to me,” Earth stated. “You hear me?” she then directed to Le Le over Heaven’s shoulder.

  Le Le nodded her head to imply she had heard Earth loud and clear out of fear of what she would possibly do had she not.

  “Shell, help her up,” Heaven instructed.

  “Yeah, and make sure you give her twenty-five of them clips we bottled up ’cause her ass gonna do some hustling tonight,” Earth added.

  Shell helped Le Le off the floor and into the kitchen to get her a drink of water.

  “Stupid bitch,” Earth mumbled as she and Heaven went back to their seats to finish bottling up one of the intended kilos and bagging up another in ounces before the interruption. Heaven didn’t say a word. She just looked at her partner for a moment and shook her head. Then she picked up the razor blade and proceeded with shaving the rock cocaine.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Excuse me, shorty, you doing something?” a man asked Le Le rolling down the passenger-side window of the champagne-colored ’87 model Honda Accord.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “Can me and my boy get a clip for seventy-five?” the crack addict asked, wanting ten vials of crack for twenty-five dollars short. What the addict hadn’t known was that Le Le had been out on the block by herself trying to get rid of the twenty-five clips of crack that Earth ordered her to move before she could end her shift, and if she had ten bottles remaining, she would have gladly given it to him just to rid herself of one of the clips, but the fact was, she did not.

  “Nah, I’ll give you nine, tho,” Le Le propositioned offering what she had left.

  It was nearing 11:00 p.m., not really late, but late for her. The way Shell, Sonya, and she had it set up, Le Le’s shift was technically over three hours ago, and would actually be beginning again four hours from now when she brought the dope package out to catch the early-morning rush. So, Le Le was hoping the addict accepted so that she could call it a night.

  “Damn, sis, that’s the best you can do?” the addict complained.

  “Yeah, nigga, take it or leave it,” Le Le responded as if it made no difference to her.

  The addict turned to his partner who was driving. Le Le could see that they were debating whether to take her up on her offer or try their luck somewhere else.

  Intuition kicking in, Le Le began to walk off in case the two men tried something funny, although she had backup stashed just a few feet away from her. She was not, however, in the mood for any unnecessary d
rama.

  “A’ight, yo, we’ll take it,” the addict shouted, seeing Le Le’s sudden departure.

  Relieved by the two men’s decision, Le Le made her way over to the garbage can and retrieved the brown paper bag containing her last nine vials. “Good lookin’ out,” the passenger thanked Le Le just before his partner pulled off.

  Le Le then pulled out her cell phone. “Shell, where you at? Well, I’m done, and I’m about to bounce. Okay. Yeah, I’ma just get a couple hours in, and I’ll be back out. A’ight, bye.”

  After hanging up, Le Le snatched up the trey-eight revolver she had stashed, tucked it in the lower part of her back, and began to make her way to her car. She hit the alarm button on her keychain. Just then, she heard a male’s voice in the distance. “Leann.”

  Hearing the name caused Le Le to stop in her tracks. There was only one person in the world that had referred to her by her birth-given first name, but Le Le knew it could not have been whom she thought—or could it be? she wondered. When Le Le turned around, the figure approaching her had her baffled. She did not recognize the giant of a man in the distance, but as he neared, his smile was unmistakable.

  “Omg!” Le Le gasped. “Monty?”

  “What’s up, girl?” Monty greeted her wrapping his pythons around Le Le’s waist, lifting her off the ground.

  Monty was Le Le’s ex-boyfriend; it had been ten years since the two had seen each other. They had been like Bonnie and Clyde before Monty had caught thirty years in prison for a murder he had maintained his innocence on. Le Le had stood in his corner throughout his entire trial, but when he lost, Monty told her it was best to forget about him and move on with her life. It was during that time Le Le had met Heaven and Earth. She met the two while trying to boost anything she could get her hands on at the mall. Taking an immediate interest in Le Le, Heaven and Earth approached her, offering Le Le an opportunity outside of petty thievery.

  As soon as Le Le began seeing a nice amount of money, she saw to it that Monty was well taken care of in prison, at least for a few years, until he got into trouble and was transferred to another facility. Nearly most of her earnings while hustling for Heaven and Earth had gone to him up until the time they lost contact. No one had any inclination about how Le Le spent her money or even about her incarcerated lover, for that matter, and that’s the way Le Le had preferred it. He was a life and memories outside of her relationship with her crew, and now seeing Monty at that moment had caused feelings Le Le had buried for what seemed like an eternity to resurface.

  “How?” was all Le Le had managed to get out.

  Monty smiled. “I finally won my appeal and got a reversal. The appellate division found the evidence they claimed to have on me inconclusive. They granted me an immediate release.”

  As Monty talked, tears began to roll down Le Le’s face. She still couldn’t believe that the love of her life was standing before her. Without hesitation, Le Le enveloped Monty in a tight embrace and kissed him.

  “Whoa, baby girl, I’m home now, and I ain’t goin’ nowhere. We got all the time in the world,” he smiled, breaking their lip-lock. “Come on now, wipe your face; no more tears,” he said, wiping her cheeks.

  “How’d you know where to find me?” she asked through sniffles.

  “Just ’cause I wasn’t out here doesn’t mean I didn’t keep my ears to the streets. All these years I’ve always known where you were. I just chose not to reach out,” Monty admitted.

  “I was always confident that this day would come, so I patiently waited, and I never stopped loving you either,” he added, kissing Le Le gently on the forehead.

  “I never stopped lovin’ you,” she softly replied.

  “I know,” he said sincerely. “That’s why I came back for you.” Monty put his arm around Le Le and continued walking with her toward her car. “Let’s get up outta here. We got a lot of catchin’ up to do,” he then said, dropping his hand down to Le Le’s backside.

  Same ole Monty, Le Le thought with a smile as she deactivated the alarm on her Z for a second time.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Goddamn, I missed this dick, daddy,” Le Le grunted as Monty pumped away vigorously from behind while she took all of his length in the doggie-style position.

  Le Le could not believe she was here with the love of her life. She had dated others since she and Monty had lost contact, but none ever touched her heart as he had. Now, lying here with him, she understood why. It was love that made the difference. His touch, his voice, and even the way he smelled made her wet, and her heart feel things it had never felt for no other.

  “You missed this shit, huh?” he joined in the bedroom talk, switching his hands from her petite waist onto her voluptuous backside. He spread her caramel ass cheeks apart and raised them up giving him full access to her dripping sex.

  “Yes,” she cooed through clinched teeth. “Right there.” Each stroke sent a new emotional spark through her body, igniting and confirming old feelings.

  Monty continued to pound Le Le’s tight and juicy cave like there was no tomorrow. Ten years of frustration had built up in him as he watched his tool insert and exert between Le Le’s inner thighs. No more imaginary sex he told himself, remembering the times he had masturbated to the likes of J-Lo, Esther Baxter, Halle Berry, and Buffie the Body magazine photos, to name a few. Today and every day thereafter, Monty intended to enjoy the real thing. Unable to withstand the pleasurable feeling any longer with the help of Le Le now throwing it back at him, Monty felt his fluids building up.

  “Le Le, I-I’ma about to co—”

  Before he could get the final word out, Le Le pulled away from him and spun around. She was just in time to catch Monty’s juices in her mouth. As she clinched her jaws around his sex and allowed the heavy fluid to fill her mouth, Le Le looked up at Monty to determine if she had done her job. As she studied Monty’s facial expressions and scrutinize his body language, she noticed that Monty’s upper body and some of his lower had many new battle scars. She attributed them to fighting in jail, and then, for a split second as she relaxed her throat in order to allow the come to move down into her abdomen, she wondered if she should have made Monty wear a condom, but instantly dismissed the notion. Le Le told herself that Monty was too much of a killer to allow or even to indulge in something like that, and then she carried on with her assault.

  “Sheeit,” he yelled out as he sprayed the inside of her mouth with his fluids. His knees nearly buckled from her performance. He couldn’t help but place a hand atop her head to brace himself as she licked and swallowed every last drop of his semen. This was not the Le Le he remembered, but he was glad to meet her. He stared down at her as their eyes met, and with a devilish grin on her face, she purred, “Welcome home, baby.”

  And a beautiful welcome it was, thought Monty, knowing she had no idea just how much of a part she would play in his homecoming.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Yo, what’s up?”

  “E, where you at, boo?” Melissa asked.

  “I’m on Seventh coming up on Arbor School,” Earth replied.

  “Oh. Well, hurry up. I thought you got lost or something. The food’s getting all cold, and I’m getting cold too,” Melissa seductively stated.

  “I’ll be there in a few. Don’t worry. I’ll warm everything back up when I get there,” Earth slyly remarked. “And I do mean everything.”

  “Umm, that’s what’s up. I’ll be waiting, daddy,” Melissa cooed.

  Earth made a left turn at the light onto Rock Avenue as she hung up with Melissa. It had been some years since she had really hung and chilled in Plainfield, and she couldn’t resist riding down the infamous Third Street Strip. This was the only strip in her town that from the beginning to the end, every block was actually drug infested. Earth’s head nodded with the rhythm and lyrics of Jay-Z’s track, “The City Is Mine” as she turned onto West Third Street. Now floating down Third in her triple-black S500 Coupe, Earth smiled at the sight of th
e Elk’s Mohawk Lodge on the corner of Third and Rushmore. On many occasions, she had partied, left with a nice redbone, or sometime got into beefs up in the monumental establishment with an occasional hater.

  When she was growing up and first started running the streets, the area known as the Hilltop used to be flooded with hustlers like P-Love and Billheem, day in and day out, remembered Earth, but tonight, the area was a ghost town. Stopping at the corner of Third and Clinton now waiting on traffic to pass by, Earth observed a group of what she believed to be hustlers off to her left. The corner of South Second and Clinton was body infested. Before she had left Plainfield, the block had been run by her cousin Goldie. The last Earth had heard, he had blown trial and was now in prison.

  As Earth came up on Halsey Street, she saw heads turning. She knew they were wondering who was pushing the Benz, but Earth’s 5 percent tint made it difficult for them. She didn’t recognize any of the faces as she drove by. Everyone appeared to be young. Earth knew the older heads from the known money-getting block. Names like Bo-Dee, Folge, OE, Malik, and Marcus Benjamin before he was killed during a carjacking came to Earth’s mind.

  As she approached Third and Monroe, she was not surprised to see the heavy human traffic flow. For as long as she could remember, Monroe had always been a live spot. This was the block hustlers like Master Love and a female name Wompa had established their legendary names long ago. As she got closer to the notorious block, it dawned on Earth that predominantly everyone out there had some form of the color red on. Instantly, Earth realized that Monroe Avenue had become a Bloods’ set. One kid tried to flag her down, but she paid him no mind. To her left, Earth noticed that the once-popular block called Pond Place was now deserted. Back when crack had first come to town, a kid named Tizz was making noise around there before he had relocated to the New Projects. Pond Place was definitely the place to be back in the day she recalled.