by Jacob Spears
“The money’s all dare, mon!” Stone said as he dropped the duffel bags on the floor next to Smooth’s feet.
“Baby, go get them bags out the truck,” Smooth directed China.
China wanted to cuss out Smooth’s ass because she was serious about not having anything more to do with the game, including trafficking any form of drugs. She got up and walked out to Smooth’s new Range Rover and retrieved the duffel bags.
“I got something for his ass when we get home, for this. He gonna know that when I say no, it means no!” she said to herself.
When China walked back into the house, she saw Smooth drinking another glass of rum. “Here you go, Stone.”
“Thank you, gal,” Stone said, grabbing the duffel bags from China.
“In thee morning, make sure thee mon remember me!” Stone reminded.
“I will make sure he calls you. Come on, Smooth. Let’s go. Enough of this Jamaican rum!” she said as she took the glass out of his hand and helped him to his feet.
Damn! I’m fucked up! Smooth thought when he stood up and the room began to spin.
“Damn, mon! Can you walk? Me carry you if you need!” Stone offered.
China didn’t like this at all. Who gets their connect inebriated, and why? she thought.
China then grabbed the duffel bags and allowed Stone to help walk Smooth out to the car.
Man! I can’t believe that shit fucked me up like this! Smooth thought as he was helped into the passenger-side seat of his SUV.
“Thanks a lot, Stone. Next time, please limit him to one drink!” China told Stone, who started laughing at her.
Stone liked China a lot.
“Okay, I will make sure he only drinks one drink,” he agreed as China pulled off.
While China drove them home, Tracy came to her mind. China had planned to surprise Smooth on his birthday with a threesome. She was falling for Tracy, and she couldn’t believe how close they had gotten in such little time.
I can’t wait until he meets her, she thought as she came to a red light at an intersection.
“I love you, China!” Smooth said sluggishly while rubbing on her thigh and trying to get his feel on.
China grabbed Smooth’s hand and helped him get under her miniskirt. She placed his hand on her pussy but then removed it.
“None for you tonight! I told you to leave me out of your business,” China said to a mumbling Smooth.
“Amanda, you tripping!” Smooth said, not realizing that he called China another woman’s name.
China’s rejection had caused him immediately to think about another woman.
“My name is China Preston last time I checked, but I’ma let you have that one, Smooth!” she said, a bit hurt inside, but she didn’t allow his snub to get her worked up.
When China pulled up to their apartment complex, she turned off the Range Rover after cracking the windows. Without saying a word, China exited the SUV and left a passed-out Smooth inside. She ran into Miranda getting off the elevator.
“Hey, China. How are you?”
“I’m okay, Miranda. Just taking it slow. What ’bout you?”
“I’m okay. Just exhausted. Long day at work today. How are you and Smooth getting along?”
“Oh, he’s in the car probably asleep.”
“In the car? Are y’all alright?” Miranda inquired.
“Yeah! We’re fine,” China lied. “He’ll be up once he gets sober.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll see you later.”
“Okay, nice seeing you,” China said as she walked over toward her and Smooth’s apartment.
Once inside, China fed Zorro, showered, and then lay in bed thinking of all the women who Smooth had probably slept with while she was in prison. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was seeing any of them still. He called her ‘Amanda,’ and China knew that Amanda was the cook girl.
What else do we have in common? China wanted to know.
She would see what he had to say once he sobered up. Meantime, China called Tracy to come over.
“Hello?”
“Come over. I need someone to hold me tonight,” China pleaded into her phone.
“Where’s Smooth?” Tracy asked.
“Fuck Smooth! I don’t want to talk about him. You coming over or not?”
“I’m coming now, baby,” Tracy answered.
* * *
Pascal and Mario had been watching the two workers on 26th Street for Smooth for about thirty minutes. They were
hustling nonstop on the corner.
“These Negros getting money, esé!” Pascal said to Mario, who was sitting on the passenger side of the all-black Charger.
“You ready?” Mario asked.
“Always ready, homes!” Pascal answered.
“Let’s go!”
Pascal and Mario exited the Charger and ran toward the two workers. Their backs were turned as they leaned into a car window while making a drug sale. When Pascal and Mario got close, one of the men turned around, since he sensed trouble. Before he could reach for his weapon or warn his partner, Pascal blew off his entire face with his double-barrel Mossberg pump.
Boom! Boom!
Mario took the second worker down by hitting him twice in the back of the head. The fiend quickly got out of sight after seeing both murders. He was happy, because he had also run off with the workers’ dope.
It was only midnight, and Pascal and Mario had one more block to go drop off whatever belonged to Smooth.
“Let’s go to 103rd, esé. Premo tells me there are some Negros pushing all day,” Mario exclaimed.
* * *
“Umm, shit!” China purred as she came to her climax.
Tracy ate her pussy like a professional porn star. Bad as she hated to admit, Tracy ate her pussy better than Smooth. She couldn’t say “other men” because she had only been with Smooth.
After Tracy continued to suck on China’s clit, China grabbed Tracy by her ponytail and began gyrating her hips, fucking Tracy’s face. She felt herself coming again.
“Uhhh, shit! I’m coming!” China moaned loudly as she squirted all over Tracy’s face. “Yes, baby!” she continued breathlessly.
China quickly rolled off the bed and attached a twelve-inch dildo strap.
“Put that ass in the air!” China ordered.
“Yes, baby!” Tracy replied and did as she was told.
When she was on all fours, China climbed back in bed, grabbed Tracy by her hips, and then plunged deeply inside her wet pussy.
“Ohh, baby! Yes! Fuck me, China!” Tracy cried in ecstasy.
China fucked Tracy all the way until dawn and then let Tracy go home. China then showered, cleaned the room so Smooth wouldn’t see the sex evidence, and made breakfast. When Smooth walked up to the apartment, he was hit with the redolence of China’s delicious breakfast. When he called for her, she had already gone to work.
7
After dropping off the extra ten bricks for Stone, Smooth headed over to the trap to see how things were holding up. When he pulled up, he saw Sue Rabbit’s Caprice with new rims. He got out of his truck and walked up to the door, just as Sue was opening the door to let him in.
“What’s up, my nigga?” Sue Rabbit said to Smooth.
“Just chilling, man. How’s everything going?”
“Business is fast, and product is low, and two of our workers are dead!” Sue explained.
“Who are they?”
“Travis and Danny,” Sue Rabbit said.
“Ain’t no one see nothing?”
“Nothing! But we already know who it is. It happened on 26th, and then early this morning, three more niggas got killed on 103rd,” Sue Rabbit informed Smooth.
“Damn, we got to call a meeting today and find out how we can pay for their funerals. It’s the least I can do,” Smooth said. “Far as product, do you have enough to hold you for two days?”
“Yeah, I got enough to hold me for two days.”
“Alright, so where is Guru?
” Smooth asked.
“He busy picking up the money from the traps.”
“That’s wonderful. Let’s go get some breakfast. I already ate. I just want to treat you, feel me?” Smooth said.
“Shit! Let’s go. I’ma call one of our workers to keep an eye on the trap,” Sue said as he called up Mall.
“What’s up, Sue?”
“I need you to keep an eye on the trap. I’m about to step out for a minute.”
Mall was just down the road already, keeping an eye out for suspicious activity.
“Okay. Shit, you know I’m here, bro,” Mall said.
“Good. Good. See ya later,” Sue Rabbit said before hanging up the phone. “Who’s car we taking?”
“You know two niggas in your toy will look like straight dope boys.”
“Yeah, I know. That’s why that bitch for sale!”
“Nah, I can’t go for that!” Smooth exclaimed while walking to his Range Rover. “How much you selling it for?”
“$40,000,” Sue Rabbit replied.
“I’ll buy it,” Smooth responded sincerely.
“When and why?”
“Why is my business. When? Later on today,” Smooth told him.
“Alright.”
“Sue, I want you to know that I appreciate you and Guru for always looking out.”
“Always, bro!” Sue said.
“When y’all niggas had no clue when I would jump, y’all went to hit a lick and robbed the Mexican just to keep business running,” Smooth said, making a quick left onto 86th.
“I don’t ever want y’all to struggle if I’m not around, so we gonna keep extra product put up. Today, I’ma show only you my connect to the cooking. You are to bring nobody with you. Nobody!” he emphasized.
“I got you, bro,” Sue Rabbit said as they pulled up to Roxy’s restaurant.
* * *
“China! Smooth’s here!” Roxy screamed for China, who was working in the back chopping up potatoes.
So what! What the hell does he want? He must be on some guilt trip! China thought as she continued to work. She was on her last three potatoes. Can’t he wait!
“Girl! Who is that nigga he be with? It’s the second time I’ve seen them together. That nigga is fine too,” China’s friend Jane, who was washing and cutting collard greens alongside China, said.
“Girl, since we been home, yo pussy been a hot commodity. Every nigga you fuck, you leave ’em the next morning. Slow your ass down. You see Tabby got a steady man. Shit! Be like her and stick to one nigga, before one of these niggas gives you something that you can’t get rid of!” China said to Jane.
“I already got something that I can’t get rid of—good head and pussy!”
China erupted in laughter.
“And ass if the mood’s right!”
“Bitch! You is stupid!” China said after laughing and wiping her teary eyes.
When China walked out into the dining room, she found Roxy sitting at the table with Smooth and his homeboy, who was flirting with Roxy. China knew when her sister was in heat like a female dog.
“What’s up, baby?” China asked Smooth, who was drinking a Coke.
“Just stopping by to see what you were up to,” Smooth replied.
He stood up and embraced China and then gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Sorry for getting fucked up. I know that’s why you let me sleep in the truck. Seriously, I’m sorry, baby.”
He don’t even remember calling me another bitch’s name! China thought.
“It’s okay. I got a break in a few minutes,” China said.
“Baby, this is my homeboy, Sue Rabbit.”
“Hey, Sue Rabbit.”
“Hello, China. Nice meeting you.”
“I’m not always nice,” China said.
“That’s okay. Nobody is!” Sue joked.
“Roxy, can I go for my break now?” China asked Roxy, who was mesmerized and gawking at Sue Rabbit.
“Yeah, half an hour.”
“Great. Come on, Smooth. Tell your friend that you’ll see him in thirty minutes.”
“Shit! You already told him!” Smooth said.
As China and Smooth walked out the front door toward his truck, Tracy looked on with extreme jealousy. She knew that China was going to get her a quick fuck, and she badly wanted to be a part of it.
Smooth is a good-looking guy, but China is my bitch, and I’ll soon have her make up her mind, Tracy thought while staring daggers at Smooth’s Range Rover. I know how to get rid of him.
If anyone in the city knew where to find Juan, it was Tracy, who used to date him, until he cheated on her.
Bingo! Tracy thought.
* * *
Italian Seafood on South Beach was a nice luxurious restaurant. When Guru stepped through the door with Landi on his arm, the smell of fried shrimp lingered.
“Place smells good, Landi,” Guru stated, with a grumbling stomach.
“I love this place.”
They took their seats on opposite sides of the table. Guru wanted to look in her eyes and admire her stunning beauty.
“So, what do you want to eat?” she asked.
“Wait a minute! Let me set this straight. I’m paying the bill. So you tell me what you want to eat, beautiful,” Guru announced.
“Is it a man’s pride that a woman can’t pay for your meal?”
“Landi, baby, what do you want?” Guru asked her again, with a smile on his face.
“Stop looking like that. It turns me off!” Landi said as a joke.
“What do you want me to look like, huh?”
“I’m only kidding. I love your smile and gangsta look,” she replied as she picked up the menu to order.
“Welcome to Italian Seafood. Are you ready to order?” a waitress asked.
Damn! Guru thought as he checked out the beautiful Italian server. He was glad that Landi’s focus was on ordering and not where his eyes were at the moment.
“We’ll take the fra diavolo and two glasses of 2004 Bell Epoque rosé champagne,” Landi said.
“Okay, ma’am. We will be right with you. Do you want ice in the champagne? It’s already chilled.”
“No, just chilled.”
“Okay,” the server said and then left.
“What the fuck is her problem? Ice in champagne? Where do they do that?” Landi exclaimed.
“Maybe she’s on drugs?’
“Yeah, right!” Landi said.
“So, are you enjoying yourself?” Guru asked.
“Are you really asking me if I’m enjoying my time with you?”
“That too!”
“I’m loving every moment with my new friend, if that’s what you want to know,” Landi said seductively.
“As long as you are enjoying being in the presence of a real man, then everything is okay,” Guru said.
Guru was feeling Landi, and he had made up his mind that if she wanted more out of just being friends, then he was going to cash in his player chips. Good girls like Landi were not easy to come by in life. There was always a woman out there for a man who knew what loyalty was, and that’s what Guru seriously wanted in his life.
I’m not interested in a woman who is ready to fuck the next man just because, Guru thought.
Landi and Guru had gotten deep into each other’s personal lives. Despite talking on the phone daily, seeing each other in person was another thing. Landi knew that Guru was a drug dealer, killer, and gentleman. But she didn’t care. Guru was her type, and she definitely had a thing for bad guys like him.
* * *
Tina and Ham were happy soon-to-be parents. Ham knew that he was taking a risk by being with Tina, knowing that she had another year until she turned eighteen. But Ham didn’t care. He met her on the streets and felt that he saved her from drugs. The night she decided to quit smoking crack and clean up her life was a good thing for both of them. Her parents had left her for dead, so Ham prohibited her from any type of association with them.
&
nbsp; “Daddy, I love you!” Tina said to Ham as they were cuddling up cozy in bed.
“I love you too, beautiful,” Ham agreed as he leaned over to give her a kiss.
“So tell me. If it’s a boy, what are you going to name him?” Ham asked.
“I would love to name him after you as a junior, but I don’t want the police messing with you,” Tina explained.
“Fuck the police! They are not going to sweat that shit. You a black—”
“No, Ham! I’m not taking any chances. If our child’s a boy, we will make him a junior. I’ll be eighteen next year. Let’s just not get them folks in our business,” she begged.
Ham turned her on her back and softly kissed her lips. He understood exactly where she was coming from and was only testing her to see where her head was.
“I love you, baby. Ain’t no system will ever get between us, okay?” Ham said.
“Yes, daddy,” Tina purred when Ham slid his cock inside her.
“I love you too, Ham,” Tina said as she kissed him deeply as he made love to her.
Tina had never had a man love her just for who she was. Since the age of thirteen, she’d been giving her body to older men in exchange for crack. Ham was different. He saw potential in her that no man before him saw. Ham was her official first love. He had the power to make her and break her.
* * *
Amanda heard the knocks at her door after stepping out of a soothing shower.
“I’m coming,” she shouted as she quickly dried off and then slid on a pair of sweatpants and a sports bra.
The visitors continued to knock persistently.
Who the fuck is this knocking like they don’t have no sense? Amanda wanted to know.
When she got to the door and opened it, she saw Smooth standing there with a man who she had never met.