Money & Love Don't Mix

by Ace Gucciano

  Therefore he kept his game face on, and gave her a simple nod of his head as he turned around to let the Sheriff’s unlock their cuffs from behind his back and re-cuff him in the front before he took a seat. Court was already in session, therefore he quietly remained seated and listened to the case that was already in session as everyone else. But a moment later in spite of court still being in session, a cold chill went down his spine the very moment he saw Detective Sims turn around from the front table looking at him, and slowly nodding his head with a smirk. Trouble interpreted his smirk as a bad sign as he said to himself, Damn, dis muhfucka caught up wit da’ victims…Shit! I hope dem—” Then all thoughts came to a halt at the sound of the Judge slamming his gavel uttering, “This case is adjourned…next case, please!” At that point the two Detectives got Trouble and escorted him to the front table where he stood next to his public defender Mr. Barrie, then they both gave the Judge their universal look as the Sheriff went up to the Judge and handed him Trouble’s court documents. He briefly glanced through the paperwork before uttering to the Court moments later.

  “Okay. I see this case was rescheduled last week, until today…Detective, were you able to find the victims or witnesses of this case!?”

  “Well Your Honor, I uh…uh—”

  “So…were you able to find any witnesses or the victims this past week!?” the judge barked.

  “Well Your Honor, I went over to the victims residence a few times but no on was home, and the phone number we have listed on the incident report has been disconnected. But I’m still—”

  “Whoa. Wait a minute!” the judge angrily butted in, “That’s not what I asked you! I asked you a simple question! Were. You. Able. To. Find. The. Victims. Or. Witnesses?! And right now, that’s all I need to know, Detective!”

  “No sir, Your Honor. I wasn’t able to locate either of them.” He replied giving both Trouble and the Judge a hateful look as he uttered, “Well I’m sorry to tell you, Mr. Sims, but unfortunately today the court is gonna have to drop all charges on Mr. Jones.” As the words came from the Judge's mouth, Detective Sims glanced of Trouble smiling so hard from the Judge’s decision that it had him pissed to the highest level of pisstivity as he tried his best to hide his agony of defeat. But the more he stared at Trouble, and how he was rubbing his victory in his face with every smile it made it all impossible. Then the Judge looked over to Trouble shouting, “And you Mr. Jones…Weren’t you recently released from prison?”

  “Yes sir, Your honor.”

  “What did you serve time for, and how long?”

  “Uhh—”

  “What did you serve time for!?” he butted in and yelled.

  “Armed robbery, sir, I did ten years for armed robbery, Your honor.”

  “Well listen here!” he took off his glass and shouted, “Consider this your second strike, and believe me, in my courtroom you won’t get a third. I’ll try your ass and have you on your way back to prison so fast you won’t know what hit you…Now did I make myself clear?”

  “Yes sir, Your Honor.”

  “Good! Now court is adjourned!”

  The moment the Judge slammed his gavel Trouble instantly looked over at his mother where he read her lips saying, “I love you,” smiling ear to ear, wiping away her tears of joy. Then he glanced towards the back at Miranda while the two Sheriff’s escorted him out the courtroom, but she was already making way out. Therefore he picked up his speed on the two sheriff’s and the moment they made it out the courtroom he noticed her peek back and wave as she quickly made her way towards the elevator to hurry off the floor before any of her peers spotted her and got suspicious of her being up in a courtroom on her day off sitting in on a crowd of inmates and their cases.

  Then as she stepped onto the elevator, and turned around, she winked her eye and smiled. Trouble smiled in return and slowly nodded his head at her as he passed by thinking, Damn, baby girl showed up to my court date…Dat’s what’s up, fuck dat fast life, soon as these muthafuckas let me go I’m fuckin’ wit her ass da’ long way!

  And as Trouble continued being escorted down the hallway, he glanced to his right where a cold chill instantly went down his spine the moment he spotted the two amigo’s, their henchmen and Yenni seated on the bench with the rest of the citizens that had court. And just like that, with the blink of a eye Trouble went from being one of the happiest men alive, ready to settle down with Miranda, and give the street life a break, but was instantly brought back to reality realizing that he now had the repercussions of the lick they pulled to deal with as he looked directly at the faces of the brothers realizing all hell was gone break loose the moment they crossed path on the other side. As he observed them staring at him with death in their eyes as he walked by.

  Chapter 13

  Miranda was sitting in her car in the parking lot of the Clayton County Jail, scrolling down her Instagram page while waiting for Trouble to be released when suddenly she heard.

  If you were my best friend,

  I’d think about you all da’ time,

  can I be ya’ best friend,

  I promise that you’ll be mine.

  The sound of her ringtone being played, it was the same number Rude Boy texted her from so she quickly answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Aye, yo’ Miranda, what’s good ma, you get my text da’ other day?” Rude Boy hollered.

  “You know what I am so sorry! Cause I did get ya’ text but by me running late to work it slipped my mind to let Dex know you said get at him, my bad.”

  “It’s all good ma, but where is he, I been tryin’ to get in touch wit him fo’ a few weeks and nobody seems to know where I can find him.” He madly expressed with anger.

  Miranda knew Rude Boy as one of the only niggaz in the Atlanta that was moving heavy weight. He had been doing his thang for years, and everyone knew it. Not only was he one of the biggest drug dealers in Atlanta but he was one of the most feared, due to him having majority of the police in the city on his payroll. Because it was no way he could serve heavyweight, run several trap houses and make niggaz disappear whenever they’d bullshit him about his money and not be in jail. But he wasn’t and he had the streets on lock, and Miranda knew that if dey was dumb enough to fuck up anything that belonged to Rude Boy then he’d be digging his own grave, and with her being aware she nervously told him.

  “Well…I wish I knew where he was myself of how to get in touch wit him, cause I need him to come gat da’ rest of his shit outta my house!”

  “What?!” he curiously responded, “What happened?” she hesitated with her response for a moment thinking if she should let him know what happened between them or not, but knowing of his reputation in the streets and how he was about his money, led her into telling him the problem between the two.

  “What happened?!” she hollered with excitement, “What happened was I caught his ass in my motherfuckin’ bed cheating on me wit another man.”

  “Huh –what de’ fuck!?” he yelled, hard to swallow the shocking news he just heard about his right-hand man that had been booming more than half of his weight for years. “When did dis shit happen?” he madly inquired.

  “It’s been a few weeks now, but the day I walked in and saw what was goin’ on I never felt so betrayed in my life that I snapped right then and there. And the lil’ time it took me to run and get my .380 out my glove compartment and come back they had already got their shit and took off out the back door.”

  Rude Boy listened to every word she spoke and felt as if she were in a vulnerable state of mind as he completely disregarded his sole purpose for calling, and by him having a big time crush on her for the longest he figured it was the perfect opportunity for him to get in where he fit in telling her.

  “Aye, dat’s fucked up…But check dis out, how bout I swing through later on, and take you out to sho you de’ time of ya’ life?!”

  Before she had a chance to respond, she heard a tapping sound on her passenger side window, she
glanced over and to her surprise it was Trouble looking in waiting for her to unlock the door Rude Boy who was anxious to get up with her, still on the other end said.

  “Yo, why you get quiet on me ma’, you afraid I might sho’ you too much of a good time, and you’ll end up liking a rawsta like me?”

  However, Rude Boy’s question and suggestion wasn’t even heard as Trouble opened her door, got inside giving her a hug saying to her in a low-toned voice.

  “Damn, I ‘appreciate you being here fo’ me baby…Real talk, loyalty means a lot to a nigga like me. Since you looked out fo’ me while I was in there, I’ma look out for you out here! When I get on my feet you ain’t gonna want fo’ shit a’ight?”

  “A’ight! That’s what’s up baby!” she replied, and an excited Rude Boy on the other end thought she was referring to him and at the top of his voice he said.

  “Good! What time you—”

  That moment she realized that she was still on the phone with Rude Boy and quickly uttered.

  “Uhh—I gotta go, I’ll talk to you later.” Then hung up, since she had nothing to hide and didn’t want Trouble questioning her loyalty so she took it upon herself and said.

  “That was Rude Boy. He and my so-called husband do business together, he hit me up cause he ain’t been able to get in touch wit em…Whatever he trying to get in touch wit him about I know it gotta be important cause he called my phone looking for em’.” She sadly expressed as she crunk up her car and began backing out of the parking space.

  “And I don’t even know how dat fool got my number, but I hope Dex handle whatever business that needs to be handled cause dis nigga crazy!”

  “Yo who I dis nigga Rude Boy anyway?” he questioned with an attitude from not liking the fact of seeing fear in Miranda as she pulled out the parking lot onto the main road.

  “Baby boy, Rude Boy ain’t to be fucked wit out here in these streets in case you ain’t know da’ nigga a lunatic, he’s crazy! Plus, he got killaz and da’ po-po’s on his payroll…Just so you’ll know.”

  “A’ight I hear ya’ baby and so you’ll know, if ah nigga wanna act crazy, I can get crazy right along wit em’ shit!”

  “Okay! Okay! Fuck him, baby boy, let’s not waste our time talking bout a nigga dat we don’t have anything to do wit…My main concern is that you free and now you can get ya’ life back on da’ right track.”

  “Hell yeah, you right, baby.”

  “I know I am, so where you wanna eat at? We can go anywhere you want baby boy my treat.”

  He thought for a moment then stated, “How bout we go down to Spondivits over on Virgina Ave since it’s like five minutes away?”

  “Okay that’ll work bae, hell I had a taste for some seafood da’ last couple days anyway.” She replied making her way to the restaurant. Ten minutes later she pulled into Spondivitis where it wasn’t a parking spot in site, so she slowly circled the restaurant in search of one. They could tell that the well known upscale restaurant was a bit crowded due to a number of other people looking for a place to park beside them. After circling the parking lot for nearly ten minute, Trouble had given up saying.

  “Fuck it. Let’s find somewhere else to go. Dis muhfucka too crowded.”

  She then began making her way towards the way out, but before they made it Miranda quickly hit the breaks causing the tires to squeak as she slowly put the car in reverse and started backing up.

  “Good lookin’ baby.” Said Trouble as she put the car back in drive and pulled into the parking space she peeped at the last second.

  After shutting off the car they got themselves together and got out, but before they got a chance to move a black on black 96 Impala SS with pitch black tinted windows pulled up behind her car, blocking them in..

  The passenger side window came down and to Trouble’s surprise it was Yenni aiming a Glock .40 on them both while the two henchmen stepped out the back seat followed by both brothers. The henchmen immediately demanded Trouble and Miranda to get back in the car. Then the brothers told them to get out of their way. One of them went over to the driver's side window while the other remained on the passenger side next to Trouble telling him.

  “Aye ese, we know you had a lot to do with us getting’ robbed!” He said with aggression, while letting him see a picture of Smoke and Dre laying on his basement floor badly bruised and tied up from his cell phone.

  “Now if you don’t wanna see these two motherfuckers die, then I suggest you come up with our shit ese! We give you, seventy-two hours to clear their debt, or our gators are gonna have a new lunch!”

  The confrontation had Miranda frightened and wanting to know why these four Hispanic guys had her blocked in as she glanced over at Trouble. Then out the blue it hit her saying to herself. These got to be da’ folks him and his homeboys robbed in that case, as she looked over quickly stating, “Don’t trip, we got you!”

  At that point, Trouble who was sitting in the passenger seat with a nonchalant attitude since the confrontation didn’t phase him a bit, curiously looked to Miranda and said, “What you mean we got you?!” in a low voice, but she never responded, instead she uttered, “We’ll have y’all shit today, if y’all guarantee us that all of this shit will be over wit and y’all let his homeboy’s loose.”

  At that point the brother standing on the driver side by Miranda added.

  “Fair enough, Amigo…Now, before I tell you where to meet us, you are aware of what they owe us aren’t you?”

  “What do they owe?” she questioned.

  “A hundred-fifty thousand and five bricks, Ese.” He replied staring at her with a mischievous looking grin on his face, almost certain that she wasn’t gonna be able to clear their face, however she stated.

  “I ain’t got a hundred and fifty thousand laying around that I can dish out, but if it’s not a problem I’ll give y’all ten bricks of pure uncut cocaine if that’ll do.”

  He didn’t know how to respond since she gave him a completely different response than he expected. Trouble gazed her way in disbelief himself wanting to know where the hell she was gonna get ten bricks from to clear a debt for him and his homies and why. But before he could answer his own question, Amigo glanced over to the passenger side where his brother stood to get his approval, and his brother nodded his head to let him know it was okay he went ahead and told her.

  “Okay Amigo, it’s a bet…Ten bricks. Meet us in the parking lot of the El-Rancherio Mexican restaurant right off the old national highway exit you can’t miss it.”

  “We know where dat shit at!” yelled Trouble with anger and a desire of not wanting her to pay him and his homeboy’s debt, but had no other choice if he didn’t want them to end up dead.

  “Good Ese! We’ll meet y’all there at eight o’clock tonight, once we get our coke, check it and make sure they’re all good, we’ll give you his two compadres…understood?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Good see you guys at eight!” he replied as he, his brother, and the two henchmen got back in their whip but before they left the scene Amigo yelled from the passenger window at Trouble.

  “And Ese! If you try anythang crazy…Pow!” he uttered with two fingers aimed at his head letting him know he was gonna blow their brains out, “And after we kill them, we gonna kill da’ both of you!”

  Then he bust out laughing as the car burnt rubber leaving the scene. Once gone, Miranda and Trouble sat there a moment in shock trying to get their thoughts together as they eyed one another off and on not saying a word, still a little traumatized from getting caught down bad.

  However moments later he looked her way and uttered, “Yo, you ain’t got shit to do wit dis baby girl! We got ourselves in dis shit…So, we gone get ourselves—”

  “Boy chill!” she yelled, “You ain’t tryna see ya’ homies end up dead are you?”

  “Hell naw!”

  “Well get da’ fuck out, lemme give dem folks their shit, then we can put dis bullshit behind us.”

  “Y
eah I hear ya’ baby girl, but…but—”

  “But nuthin’! Just be glad I got it to pay dem people, cause shit ain’t no tellin what dey mighta wanted to do to us if I didn’t have it to give. Dem migos are crazy bout dey money… can I ask you something?” she asked cranking the car and backing out of the parking space.

  “Yeah you can ask me whateva baby,” he responded as they exited the restaurant parking lot onto the main road.

  “What made y’all pull such a desperate stunt?”

  “What you mean?” he replied with an attitude.

  “Come on, baby boy, you know what I mean, stop playing, I’m dead serious you gotta be a fool or death struck to go rob some migos, knowing how they are and knowing dey ain’t gonna just let da’ shit go. That’s why I asked baby boy, don’t get offended.”

  “I’m not, but desperate times call for desperate measures Miranda.” He stated before he took a deep breath and said, “What I mean by that is…See when I came home from prison after doing ten I ain’t have shit to come home to; none of my homies had shit going on so I couldn’t ask dem fo’ help my nigga Slick was da’ only one in my circle seein’ any major paper and—”

  “So what’s up wit him, he looked out for you didn’t he?”

  “Yeah…I mean he did what he could, he took me shopping and got my swag back intact as far as my clothes, and was bout to put me in position to make some sho’ nuff paper. But da’ feds snatched em’ up, so dat made it impossible…So, I started lookin’ fo’ jobs. Baby I was putting in application after application but nobody was tryna hire me since I’m a convicted felon. Plus mom had pressure on me to hurry up and get on my feet so I could start bringing money to help her wit bills and erry’thang.” Said Trouble as he took a deep breath, and Miranda pulled in her driveway.

  “So dat’s how we ended up hitting dem migos fo’ dey shit. All of us needed money, shit our backs were against da’ wall and desperate times called fo’ desperate measures.”

  “I hear ya’ baby boy…But what’re you gonna do this time around, being that you just escaped going back to prison for probably the rest of ya’ adult life and that I’m helping you and ya’ homeboys out by paying their ransom.”