What Da Lick Read? The Triple Cross

by McCray, Sevyn

  __________

  “So tell me what is going on here because it is obvious that I’m missing a big chunk of this puzzle.” Sam sat nuzzled under Ponchees in the waiting room.

  “Well the story is so long, but the gist of it is that Gorgeous has an identical sister. She hates her guts. Based on what Rafek said, it was her that blew up Poke’s house. I’m willing to bet the farm that she is really the one that is behind all of this shit. Poke probably has been working for her or at least her puppet all the time. Beautiful is just like Solitaire, she is very manipulative.”

  “Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that Gorgeous has a twin named Beautiful. What the hell was their mother on?” Sam laughed at the names of the girls.

  “Actually it is three of them. They are triplets. The girls are identical and they have a brother. He really does not come around that much, because of the rift between the sisters. He plays in the NFL. His name is Handsome.”

  Ponchees knew he probably should have been told Sam that Gigi had an identical sister just to be on the safe side. But he was thinking that after he had paid off Beautiful after Sillk died that she would just disappear. But he was wrong. The thing about revenge is money can calm it down, but it will never silence it.

  “Omigod, Hand Diamond is a triplet. Get the fuck out of here! This shit is too crazy. He is one of the best players in the league and his story is known across the world, how he came back full force after battling leukemia. He never mentions his family, especially the fact that he is a triplet. I remember when he was in college and I heard his name I thought that it was a nickname. I ended up seeing him on an ESPN special and he was uncannily handsome. Who in the hell names their child Handsome? I guess the same person that names their other children Beautiful and Gorgeous. Lucky for them, they are just that. Otherwise they would have a hard road to tow.”

  Khalil came in and sat down next to Ponchees, he knew he looked a mess. He felt as if he had aged a dozen years in the last month. He rubbed his bald head and he could feel the hair starting to peek through his skin. It seemed like as soon as he finds the answer to one question, he gets hit with a million more. Now he had to deal with the fact that Loyalty was pregnant and something was going on with her and Khadafi, Jr. He wished that Sillk was here. He was the closest thing that he had to a father, but Ponchees would just have to do. After they made sure everyone was good, they needed to go and have a sit down, one on one.

  Khalil looked over at Ponchees hugged up and in deep conversation with Sam. He didn’t peg him to like her type, even if she was bad. But he could see the love in his eyes when he talked to her. This made him think about Jazmeir. He needed to check on her too. He also needed more background on her from Ponchees.

  Ponchees turned and faced Khalil. “Is everything alright with Killian?”

  “He is resting and Loyalty is in there with him. I am just waiting for the doctors to come back around so they can brief me on the next course of action. He has a long recovery ahead of him. He is going to need physical therapy and mental counseling as well. Don’t you know this is the first girl that he has ever bought home?”

  “Well he has a lot of love ones that will help him get through this. One thing I can say for sure is that he is never going to be the same. This right here is either going to make him or break him.”

  “The way I’m feeling right now, someone has gotta feel the pain that my family is feeling. All of my children are hurting in some shape, form or fashion. I need to pain someone and if that lil’ bitch Beautiful is behind all of this I don’t care who the fuck her mother or her grandfather is, she will die a horrible death. I will make her suffer every day for twenty-eight days.” Khalil’s temple jumped as he made his declaration on taking Beautiful’s life.

  “We do not know for sure. I mean why would she target you? I can understand her doing something to Gorgeous, because of her jealousy. You have never done anything to her have you?”

  “Nope, I haven’t seen her since she was a little girl, then I saw her at Solitaire’s funeral.” Khalil scratched at the stubble that was growing on his head as he tried to figure out why Beautiful had it out for him.

  Chapter 34: Beautiful Disaster

  Beautiful sat outside of Jazmeir’s door parked in her driveway. After dodging her phone calls repeatedly she finally decided to come over. She needed to look around and see if Poke had left anything in the house that pointed to them working together. Beautiful walked up the driveway in her Black shawl, Citizens for Humanity Jeans and her black sequined Ugg boots. She had just left the salon from getting her hair dyed. She hadn’t had black hair in over five years, one of the reasons being that she didn’t want to look like her sister. But for what laid ahead, she needed to look as much like her as possible. Beautiful rang the doorbell and looked down at her watch. Jazmeir snatched the door open and pulled her inside. She flung herself into Beautiful’s arms. She hugged her and petted her back as Jazmeir cried loudly.

  Jazmeir had been calling Beautiful all day. She was so distraught after seeing Poke’s badly burned body. Beautiful was her only friend in Atlanta, so she didn’t have any one else to turn to for comfort. Poke had done her wrong and other people too, but he didn’t deserve to be burned alive. The tears couldn’t stop flowing as she sat down on the couch and put her head in hands. She thought about all the good times that they had shared in the beginning. Poke would never be the type of man Sillk was, but he tried his hardest. He was there to console her and help her to remain amongst the living, because when Sillk died, she wanted to die herself.

  “Girl everything is going to be okay. That was just his body. The real Poke died when he stopped getting money and starting shooting dope. Death or in jail was bound to be the next place for him. I just hope you got that insurance policy on his ass like I told you when you put him out.” Beautiful smacked her lips as she sat down on the loveseat facing Jazmeir.

  “How can you be so nonchalant when it comes to death? I may have not been in love with him, but I did have love for Slow Poke.”

  “Bitch, that nigga was a muthafucking junkie, he didn’t give a fuck about his damn self, because if he did he wouldn’t have got strung out on the dope and lost his home and the only semblance of a family that he ever had. Fuck that nigga. If I was you I wouldn’t put his ass in a tea cup. Let them burn him and put his ashes in a Ziploc bag and you can throw them in the Chattahoochee with the rest of the trash.” The words laced with hatred oozed from Beautiful’s mouth as she thought about how worthless Poke was.

  “Wow, keep to yourself how you feel why don’t you?” Jazmeir said sarcastically through her tears.

  “Girl whatever, when is the last time that nigga been over here anyway? You crying and shit like you just fucked him last night or something.” Beautiful was trying to see if he could have recently been there and left something behind.

  “That black hair fits you much better. You now look just as heartless and cold as you act.”

  Jazmeir got up filled with disbelief at the way her only friend was acting and walked toward the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of water. Beautiful got up and walked behind her. The truth was that even if she wasn’t the one that killed Poke; she still wouldn’t know how to be there like Jazmeir needed her to. Her heart had stopped feeling pain a very long time ago. She lost her mom and when her first and only love Jamal was killed her heart stopped beating. She honestly didn’t think that it ever was going to beat again.

  Beautiful tried to sound as sincere as possible.

  “I’m sorry Jaz, I’m here for you and the kids any way that you need me. You know that you are all that I have. I have no family and you are my only friend. My life has been so bad that I really do not know how to process stuff like this. So please just bear with me. I’m here, I promise and I’m sorry.” She hugged Jazmeir tightly, knowing that everything she had ever told her about her life was a lie, except for her name.

  Jazmeir felt a cold chill come upon her as she was wrapped tightly in
Beautiful’s arms. Her phone started to ring and she rushed back into the living room to get it off of the table. She looked down at the screen on her Sprint Evo and saw that it was Khalil. Jazmeir smiled to herself as she answered, she then looked out the corner of her eye and saw Beautiful watching her with the eeriest expression in her eyes. Jazmeir shook it off, maybe she just looked like that because she had just dyed her hair jet black. The combination of her new dark hair with the gray eyes and light skin gave off a startling effect. She looked evil.

  Beautiful looked around and tried not to be too conspicuous as she thought about where any information could be that led to her. She knew that Poke had something that would point to her, those were some of his last words. She prayed that all the information burned up with his slimy ass in that shack last night. The fact was that sooner or later the pieces of the puzzle were going to come together. But she needed to have all her ducks in a row before it did. Beautiful had a master plan out of this world and her trip to the salon this morning was the first step in it.

  Jazmeir finished up her conversation with Khalil. Even though she was going through this tough time with Poke being killed, he was going through something much worse. He still attempted to put a smile on her face and reassure her that everything was going to be alright. Just the thought of him made something inside of her flutter and she hadn’t felt those feelings in a long time. She just didn’t want to be having them about Poke’s best friend. Khalil informed her that he would be stopping by later on after he left the hospital with his children. Jazmeir was excited; she didn’t want Beautiful to be there with her dark mood to spoil anything. She turned around and Beautiful was staring at her.

  It appeared that something or someone had lifted Jazmeir’s spirits. Her entire life revolved around the children and her interior decorating business; it was probably something to do with one or other. Beautiful grabbed her purse and headed toward the door. She had a lot of things to do and very little time to do it.

  “Call me if you need anything, I have some stuff to do before I go to work.” She gave Jazmeir one last parting hug and walked to her car that was parked in the driveway.

  Jazmeir stood there holding the door as she watched Beautiful get into her Panamera. This is not the first time that the eerie feeling came over her when she was in Beautiful’s presence. She shook her head as she closed the door. She exhaled a deep breath and said out loud. “Something is not right about that doggone girl right there.”

  __________

  Gigi and Honesty were finally cleared for discharge from the hospital. Honesty just wanted to go home and lay down; all this stuff was taking a toll on her. But she wanted to see her brother first. She gave Gigi a kiss on the cheek as she headed toward the elevators to go and visit her little brother Killian upstairs.

  Gigi didn’t want to leave Concrete’s side. Her entire body was sore and her head hurt like it had been repeatedly banged up against something. She didn’t like the unknown and right now that is what she was up against because the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Concrete. She was seriously thinking of having him transferred to Emory Crawford Long. That is where he was hospitalized at when he sustained his football injury. If they didn’t give her any info after his CAT scan, she was going to put in for a transfer.

  Gigi’s stomach growled loudly reminding her that she hadn’t ate so she decided to go to the Chick Fila restaurant inside of the hospital to get a bite to eat, plus she need to stretch her legs even though it hurt to move. When she walked out into the emergency area waiting room she saw Ponchees was still there, his presence brought her some comfort. She walked over to where he was and noticed the young lady that sat with him. They actually were cuddled up and she appeared to be sleep with her head on his chest. This came as a shock to her because she had never seen Ponchees with a woman before.

  Gigi sat on the opposite side of him and exhaled loudly when she sat down so that the girl would know that she was there. This startled Ponchees and he laughed to himself. Gigi never wanted to share him or Sillk and that was the number one reason why Sillk never told her about Jazmeir.

  “Hello Mija, how is your head feeling? Any word on Concrete yet?”

  Ponchees wrapped his other arm around Gigi’s shoulder and pulled her into him in an embrace. He felt every word that Khalil had said earlier. Beautiful had to be stopped. He had heard about twins being able to feel what the other was feeling or thinking. He needed Gigi to use that power if it indeed was one.

  Sam stirred in her seat when she felt Ponchees moving under her. She cracked one eye open and she saw that Gigi was sitting on his opposite side with her head bandaged up. She didn’t have on a lick of makeup and she had bags under her eyes but she was still a show stopper. Her mother had picked out the right name for her. Sam sat up and cleared her throat. She rotated her neck and stood up to adjust the pencil skirt that she had on. As she sat back down she felt Gigi’s eyes staring at her.

  “Hello Gorgeous, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Sam.” She extended her hand to her in a friendly gesture. She was filled with apprehension because she knew that if Gorgeous didn’t approve of her; Ponchees would look at her differently.

  Ponchees could feel the tension in the air. He was bad at introductions and explanations. He knew that he should have introduced the two of them a long time ago. He just didn’t know how Gigi would feel knowing that he had someone watching her every move. He did it partially to protect his investment, but more because of his undying love for her.

  “Gigi, this is Sam, she is my partner. Sam this is Gigi, my God daughter.” Ponchees loosened his tie; he could feel Gigi glaring at Sam with her steel gray eyes.

  “Partner, huh? So that is what they call them these days” Gigi scoffed and walked away abruptly as the tears fell down her face.

  Chapter 35: Angel in Disguise

  Beautiful had just returned to her condo loft from shopping and getting her nails done at Perimeter Mall. She was ready for her full transformation into Gorgeous Diamond the business owner and queen of the drug game. She must admit her sister was on a whole other level when it came to fashion and how she carried herself. She dressed everyday like she was going to corporate america. She had gone into Ann Taylor and Black and White and picked up a total of five outfits that she thought that Gorgeous would wear. Beautiful’s bag and shoe game was up to par, she didn’t have to buy any of those. Everything had to be long sleeved to cover up Beautiful’s full sleeve of tattoos on her right arm.

  Beautiful put the clothes in her closet and went to her mini bar and fixed herself a glass of Moscato. She was gonna have to do something with Honesty too, because she knew for a fact that she wasn’t going to be able to fool her. There was no way in hell she planned on licking, kissing and fucking her or whatever the hell her and her sister did when they were intimate. Beautiful was definitely going to have to put Honesty up too. The hard problem shouldn’t be snatching them up, they are inseparable. With Concrete in the hospital, she didn’t have to worry about him hovering over them all the time. They didn’t have a bodyguard so it should be easy as pie. She rubbed her hands together devilishly and said out loud, “Aint nothing like a well laid plan coming together.”

  Beautiful stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself with the black hair. Her and Gorgeous really were identical when it came to looks, but that is where it began and ended. Gorgeous always thought she ran everything ever since they were little kids. When Black Sillk adopted Gorgeous, it only made the situation worse, she now had money to go with her superiority complex. She was the main reason why Handsome hardly ever came home. He always hated to be put in the middle of everything with them. He didn’t want to take sides. She often thought that he secretly requested the trade from the Falcons to Baltimore just so that he could get away from all the drama between his sisters.

  The picture of Jamal on her coffee table seemed to be watching her. She often wondered did he go to heaven. He had a good heart; he just d
id bad things to make money. He was her knight in shining armor, her back bone, her everything and she knew that she would never get over his death. Many guys had tried to step in and fill his shoes, but in her mind no feet could fill his shoes. Not even the record executive who had been showing up at her job and trying to get her attention. He had all the money in the world and he wasn’t shit compared to Jamal also known on the streets as Shooter because of his deadly aim. Beautiful poured herself another glass of Moscato and sat down looking at his picture as the tears rolled down her face. Coach K was going to pay for having him killed but she had to make him suffer first. The shit that she had done so far was only the tip of the iceberg. She was killing two small birds with one big stone. They were going to feel her wrath and the worst has yet to come.

  __________

  Honesty sat beside her brother’s bed with her head down in her hands. Being Gigi’s girl wasn’t a bad thing, but she had taken a back seat where she was used to being the driver. She has never been a follower but now it seems as if she was just along for the ride. This was bothering Honesty, she needed to get her life back. She was going to find somewhere they could go on vacation for at least a week and when they get back things are going to be a lot different, starting with her going home to her own place every night. She made things so convenient for Gigi; she had never even been to her loft much less spent the night with her there.