Pretty Kings

by T. Styles

  Bambi and Tatiana were E2’s, which basically meant they were paid less. It didn’t mean that they deserved less respect, but Desseray didn’t care.

  "Now go see the sergeant," Desseray told Tatiana again. “Now!”

  Tatiana hopped out of the hole and obeyed her command. When she was gone Desseray leaped in her position in the muddy hole next to Bambi. Desseray set up her weapon and looked out the scope. "You know what's better than killing Ragheads?” Desseray asked Bambi.

  “I don’t give a fuck, but I know you gonna tell me anyway.”

  Desseray laughed and said, “Soldier dick. They so rough and horny that even the ugliest bitch is beautiful when they out here. That’s why I love the war. Never a shortage of good dick."

  “I guess you right,” Bambi responded. “Ugly bitches like you can make a come up out here. Knock yourself out.”

  “But I want you to tell me if this is sad.” When Bambi faced her, Desseray stuffed her hands in her fatigues, entered her pussy and smeared the cum she let one of the soldiers push inside of her onto Bambi's nose.

  Bambi was about to beat her ass back to the States, until Desseray said, "Careful Private, if you get thrown out of the army for hitting a superior, what will your father say? You don’t want him thinking you failed do you?"

  Bambi was about to respond when in a distance she heard soft cries. Bambi turned her attention to her scope thinking it was a set up and they were under attack. That is until she heard Tatiana say, "Bambi, help me. Please."

  Bambi was about to spring out of the hole until Desseray pulled her back by the wrist. "Get the fuck off of me, slut! I gotta go help my friend."

  "You better stay out of it," Desseray responded grabbing her weapon in case Bambi got wild. "Taking soldier-dick always hurts in the beginning. Besides, it's her first time. But, I’m going to tell you like I told the other bitches, you better get with the fact that in the army, men rule. The sooner you learn that, the easier the war will be."

  Bambi thought about her father. She wanted to make him proud, even though he didn’t want her there. So she remained in place. But she felt disloyal as her friend cried out for her while she did nothing. "I can't take it," Bambi yelled. "She's my friend. I gotta go help her."

  "You go back there and you’ll ruin your career in the military at the same time. Everything you've done up to this point is out the window, Bambi. It will be in vain." As if Desseray cared she said, "Remember your father."

  After five minutes, silence stood in place of Desseray's cries. And suddenly, gunfire from the enemy reigned everywhere. Bambi ducked deeper into the firing hole because she couldn't see where the attack was coming from. Desseray dropped inside with her. Now they were at war… but with whom?

  ****

  I’m sitting on the sofa. While I was trying to convince my sisters about how important the meeting is with the Russians, Bunny comes through the door with her key. Aunt Bunny is six-foot two, irritating and nosey. And, for some reason Kevin couldn’t get enough of her. Anything she wanted, she got and Kevin spared no expense. Still, all the money in the world didn’t make her an attractive woman. Not only was her height intimidating to some, she was loud and wore a lot of gawky jewelry. Her favorite piece was a gold chain with a huge red ruby in the pendant that Kevin bought her. The chain itself was worth two hundred thousand dollars.

  “Hello, Kennedy wives,” Bunny says playfully walking into the living room. She walks up to me. “Bambi, have you heard from Kevin? I spoke to him early yesterday but haven’t received my call for the evening yet. He calls me once a day to check on me you know.”

  I stand up and walk toward her. “He’s…uh…he’ll probably call you later.”

  Bunny looks at me without saying a word. And, finally she speaks. “Do you like living in my house, Bambi?” She looks at the walls and the vaulted ceilings. “I always told Kevin I must love him a lot to let him stay here.”

  “And I told Kevin we should have moved a long time ago,” I say sternly. “But, he told me you kept begging us to stay. In my mind we doing you a favor.”

  “He told me you said that,” she grins. “But, then I told him why buy another house when this one is available. It’s too big for my grandkids and me. I’m quite fine with the half of million-dollar house in Accokeek that he bought me. Needless to say once I weighed in on the situation, it was a wrap. Kevin does everything I say.”

  I bite my bottom lip when my jaw trembles. “Bunny, what do you want?”

  “A few bucks,” she walks toward my room and I follow her. “No need in coming behind me Bambi, I know the code to the safe.”

  I follow her anyway into my closet. When Bunny pushes my new dresses to the side and enters the code to Kevin’s safe, I feel like busting her in the back of the head. I hated that Kevin told her so much about our personal lives. He felt if we ever died, he would want Bunny to be able to take care of our sons. I saw her being so involved in our lives more like a nuisance than anything else. But, when it came to her, I couldn’t tell him shit. He was blind.

  Bunny pulls a few thousand from the fifty thousand dollar stack and I do all I can to keep a straight face. If I tell her Kevin is dead, and that the fifty thousand is all I have left in the world, she’ll throw me and my sisters out with the quickness. I have to let her financially rape me, and convince my sisters that we must see to it that the meeting goes through as planned.

  Bunny tucks the money in her dirty white bra. She steps out of the closet and sits on the edge of my bed. “I never did understand why you all would spend millions of dollars on furniture,” she touches the gold leaves on the bed. “But, I must say, it is beautiful.” She looks up at the cream silk canopy drape.

  “You have the money, Bunny. Now what else do you want?”

  “How are my grandsons? It must be hard on them being seventeen and thrown into boarding school.”

  “First of all they aren’t your grandsons,” I correct her. “You’re not Kevin’s mother, you’re his aunt. Second of all they are fine so don’t worry about them. You’d do much better focusing on yourself.”

  I sent the twins away to boarding school because they were seeing too much money being around us. I wanted them to have an education and a chance at a real life. And, since I knew Kevin was getting out of the drug game soon anyway, I decided they would be best there until he was completely out.

  Bunny seems angry about my comment but doesn’t respond. “I know you’re happy about Saturday aren’t you?” She looks into my eyes. She wants me to know that she is aware about the Russians.

  I frown. I hate her so much it probably shows in the way my limbs move, but I don’t have control over how I feel about her. “I don’t know what you talking about,” I lie.

  She stands up and walks toward my dresser. She picks up a picture of my husband. My skin crawls. She holds it to her face and rubs her index finger over Kevin’s head. Suddenly she sits it down and gives me an evil look. “I don’t know if Kevin told you, but I am very overprotective of him. To the point where if something happens to him, and I not know about it, I can be a problem.”

  “Bunny, what exactly are you trying to say to me?” I ask preparing to kill her. “Are you trying to say that I did something to my husband?”

  “Let me put it this way, Bambi, when you hold back on me it makes me think you’re hiding something from me. I don’t like people like that.”

  “Stop beating around the bush, Bunny. Stand taller and tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “Well here it is, you and I both know about this meeting with the Russians on Saturday. All I’m asking is if you’re happy or not, because Kevin is leaving the game for you.” She looks in the direction of my crouch. “I guess that pussy is golden after all. To make a man leave what he does best.”

  “Bunny, you better—”

  “I better what,” Bunny inquires using her size and weight to intimidate me by walking into my space. “You tell me just what the fuck I better do.”

/>   “For starters you better get the fuck out of my face, you big ugly bitch, before you won’t be able too.”

  She steps back and smirks. “Something is going on, because if Kevin was around you would never talk to me like that.”

  “I’m sorry for the disrespect,” I say realizing my mistake.

  “I know you are, cunt,” she tells me. “Now…Kevin takes care of me and my family, and this thing you did to him by making him leave the drug business hurts us all. What kind of woman would want her man to get out of the game that has given her everything? You’re disloyal to the business that made you, soldier. And, I’m just letting you know.”

  As she walks out of my bedroom, I can feel the word bitch roll upward in my stomach, rise into my throat and walk over my tongue. I swallow it back down, because I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of having gotten to me.

  Instead I walk into my closet, and toward my pink safe. I need a drink now more than ever. Just one taste. I’m about to put the code in when Scarlett and Race come into my room.

  Scarlett walks up to me and pulls me to her. Her body is warm and her red hair smells like strawberries. I want to cry on her shoulders, but I feel the need to be strong right now. After what I’ve seen in the military, I can handle this. Right? Well why am I trembling, and hoping she doesn’t let me go?

  “Are you okay,” Scarlett asks separating from me and rubbing the sides of my face with her cold hands.

  I walk away from the attention. It’s too much. I sit on the edge of my bed. I don’t say anything at first. Instead I allow the silence to speak for me. When I’m ready, I look at them both sternly. Scarlett’s pale cheeks redden and Race is shaking so hard, the tentacles of her hair quiver.

  “Bunny is one of the reasons that meeting with the Russians must go down,” I say. “If we give up the opportunity to secure our financial destinies, we won’t have anything. That man-looking bitch will move into this house, and throw us out on the street. We have to do this for each other; otherwise our husbands would have died in vain. What are ya’ll going to do?”

  SCARLETT

  I told Bambi she had my full support, and I meant it. I don’t want to give this lifestyle up. And, since I met my family, and experienced true love with my sisters, I don’t want to let them go either.

  When I walk into my bedroom, I strut to my red dresser. Everything in my room is black and red, they are Camp’s favorite colors. I open my bottom drawer, push my silk underwear to the left and remove a pregnancy test from a pack of two. I go into the bathroom and remove my underwear. My feet nestle into the red carpet in front of the tub and toilet. Before, sitting down I place my hand on my belly. Can I take care of another child if I am pregnant without hurting it too?

  I sit on the coal black toilet and remove a pregnancy test from the pack. I look down at the red strip of hair running down my vagina. Camp likes a little hair so I never shaved it all off. I push down hard to pee so that I can use the test, but nothing is coming out. Maybe unconsciously I don’t want to take the test. Maybe I don’t want to know if I’m pregnant or not.

  When the private phone line rings in my bathroom, I raise up to answer the call. I take the red and black cordless handset, and sit back on the toilet. I never get any calls with the exception of Camp, so I wonder who is on the other line. “Hello,” I sigh still trying to pee.

  “Scarlett, how are you this morning?” Bunny asks me.

  I take the phone from my ear and look at it crazily. What the fuck does she want with me? I hated Bunny more than Bambi, after she called me a dumb white bitch when Camp told her he was marrying a white woman. “I’m fine,” I remember my husband is dead and that my response is a lie. “I guess.”

  “I feel so bad about earlier. I came over to get my allowance from Kevin, and I didn’t even speak to you. How rude of me.”

  “Bunny, I’m tired right now so can you please call back later?” I rise up to hang up the phone until I hear what she says next.

  “How is your daughter,” Bunny asks. “Has her vision come back, or is it still lost forever?”

  I sit back down on the toilet. Urine finally releases itself from my body, and I forget to use the test. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about. I…don’t have any—”

  “You were married before you got with Camp,” she cuts me off. “Your ex-husband’s name is Mark Kirk. He divorced you due to domestic violence. While divorced, your daughter Samantha stayed in your care. You lost your temper, although I’m not sure why, and sprayed something in your child’s face resulting in her permanent blindness. Your husband filed to have her removed from your home, and you were due in court to answer to charges of child abuse. Instead of staying and facing the charges, you ran off with a black man and marry him. To this day there are warrants out for your arrest,” she pauses. “Now Scarlett Kennedy, are you sure you want to tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about?”

  Silence.

  “What do you want?” I ask as tears roll down my face. I cry harder on this toilet than I did when I first learned my husband was killed. “Why are you doing this to me? I’ve never bothered you, Bunny!”

  “Shut the fuck up, bitch,” Bunny tells me. “Now answer my question, did Bambi do anything to Kevin?”

  “What?” I yell wiping my tears. “No! Bambi would never do something to Kevin. She loves him too much.”

  “Well has something happened to him, and the rest of my family members? Because, Kevin hasn’t called me today, and it’s out of character for him.”

  “I don’t know anything about that, Bunny,” I say in a breathy tone. “I’m sure he’ll call you later,” I lie. “Just give him some time. It’s still early.” I feel faint. My stomach churns and I sob louder.

  “Calm down, Scarlett,” she says. “Now I believe you don’t know anything, but I’m not sure about that Bambi bitch. So I want you to keep your eyes and ears open, and I’ll call you back later when I need you.”

  Before Bunny hangs up I ask, “What about the things you know about me?”

  Bunny laughs. “Scarlett, my dear, I won’t tell anything about your past. So rest easy.”

  I exhale. I’m not a racist person, but the word nigger sits on the edge of my tongue, and I contemplate yelling it out.

  “After all,” she continues, “I know that if I tell that you’re a baby beater, that no one won’t want to have anything else to do with you. They’ll probably throw you out on your lily-white ass and everything. The last thing I want to see is you out on the streets. I need you,” she giggles. “I’ll be in contact soon, Scarlett. Enjoy the rest of your evening, but please remember that I own you.”

  BAMBI

  I open the door when my doorbell rings. When I see Cloud standing outside, I cringe. Does he know about what happened in LA to Kevin? I need the secret of Kevin’s murder to keep until Saturday.

  “Hello, Cloud,” I say not as mean as I normally am to him. “What do you need?”

  He walks in and kisses me on the lips again. His lips are cold today, not warm like they usually are. I think about what Kevin said, about him not kissing me, but bite my tongue.

  “What’s up, kid?” He asks walking into the house. “Kevin hasn’t called me to tell me what he wants to do with his truck. You talk to him yet?”

  I follow him toward the living room. He’s very attractive and I could never understand why he didn’t have a girlfriend in his life. He seemed content hanging around the eight of us on the solo tip. I guess he was trying to get at me.

  “He called earlier,” I lie clearing my throat. “He didn’t say anything about his truck though. When he calls back, I’ll ask him what he wants you to do with it then.”

  He looks at my fatigues. “Aw shit. What’s going on?” He walks up to me and rubs my shoulders. Why does he touch me so freely when I don’t give him permission? It makes me nervous. “You two have a fight again?”

  I step out of his embrace. “No, I’m fine. But, I’ll tell Ke
vin you came by.”

  “Bambi, what’s wrong with you? I know I’m not my cousin, but you can talk to me about most anything. I know you know that. But, holding a grudge against me this long is totally ridiculous.”

  I want to tell him about his cousin. I want someone other then my sisters to know about what happened to Kevin. I can still see the darkness of his blood that came into view on my iPad when he was killed. But, I can’t trust anyone right now. I’m still unclear on who the enemy is and who may have a stake in the one hundred million dollars on Saturday.

  “Cloud, I really want to get some sleep. I lied to you earlier, Kevin and me did have another argument, and you’re right, I’m taking it pretty hard right now. But, its marriage shit and it’s nothing for you to worry about. Besides, you made that clear to me before remember? When I came to you about him?”

  He seems disappointed.

  I walk to the door and open it. “I’ll tell Kevin to call you,” I say to him. “Okay?”

  He walks toward me, kisses me on my lips again and rubs his hand over my face. Without saying anything else, he walks out. I watch him until he enters his car and closes the door. For some reason, I have an idea. Although Kevin and his brothers can’t attend the meeting, I know someone who can.

  ****

  I sit on my bed and call Mitch McKenzie. Mitch is a long-time friend, and supplier of the Kennedy Kings. At first I thought he was a gimpy white man, who was hanging with the Kennedy Kings for some sort of thug clout. Before long I discovered that Mitch was not a thug, he was the Kings best kept secret.

  I’m a true hustler’s wife. Some bitches call themselves hustler’s wives but can’t tell you that in 2010, Peru surpassed Columbia in the production of pure cocaine. Columbia’s coco crops get thinned out on a regular basis by toxins, reducing the quality. However Peru’s crops are mostly untouched by toxins, so we talking about that pure shit. The organic. The white gold. Virgin Pussy.