by Styles, T.
“No…but I can’t say I don’t trust him either.”
“I’m not gonna lie cuzo.” He said as he moved over on the picnic bench so that Simon could sit down. Simon’s stomach protruded a little, but to be a big dude, he stayed fresh. “Anything involvin’ money is gonna involve risks. That’s life.”
Nyzon took what he was saying to heart and respected the truth.
“What about you? Would you be down?”
“Dependin’ on how big the score is…I might be tempted to get in on that action too. Then again, I’m always lookin’ to get paid.”
“I guess it’s settled.” Nyzon responded.
“You offering?”
“Wouldn’t want to do it without you. That brings me to my next point, he told me to get my starting line up together and we’re askin’ everybody to put in on the initial package. He’s gettin’ his money together on his end and Simon already said he’d be down wit it yesterday. We need a half of mill and we almost got it. Just fifty grand short.”
“Nyzon, why we need them?” Royala asked. “You got the connect info.”
“Cause the type of weight we buying we need major distro to move.”
“I see.” Cooks said looking at him intently.
“Do you still fuck wit them block niggas in Southwest and Southeast, Cooks?”
“No doubt.”
“Well let’s get money.” Nyzon responded. “That’s the last missing piece.”
“Ya’ll can leave me out of it.” Lazarick said. “I like my freedom.”
Nyzon thought his comment was funny because nobody planned on asking him anyway. Everybody knew he loved his job at Verizon, the local telephone company. He was about to tell him just that until Monesha strutted to the table and everyone grew silent. It was obvious from the moment they found out they were family, and since they fucked, that they’d been avoiding each other.
“Mamma said the steaks are ready if ya’ll want some.” She said walking off not really acknowledging anybody in particular.
Lazarick shook his head in disbelief after seeing how fine she was.
“I’ma leave that one alone.” Lazarick said looking at Nyzon and than back at her.
Simon and Cooks remained silent. They knew that at one point they were together but what they didn’t know was how far they took it.
“Yeah…leave it alone!” Royala responded shaking her head at her brother.
The conversation quickly returned to money until Angel, his old babysitter strutted through the party. She was sexier than he remembered. Her natural coal black hair fell on her shoulders. And her fat titties and round hips filled out the white BeBe cotton dress she wore. She looked better than ever, and he hadn’t seen her since he was a kid.
“Please tell me she’s not related.” He said pointing at Angel who was standing beside a cute girl with braids.
“No…I never saw her before until now.” Cooks squinted his eyes to get a look at her frame in the sunlight.
“Hold up! That ain’t Angel is it?” Royala asked staring her down.
“Fuck yeah that’s her!” Lazarick yelled. “Damn dude…she lookin’ betta than the last time she dropped your ass!”
“You know her?” Cooks asked. “Please tell me you hit that cuzo.”
“Naw…she was his babysitter.” Lazarick joked. “All he did was suck some titties and shit.”
Everyone laughed.
“You’s a hatin’ ass, nigga!” Nyzon spat. “And how the fuck you know I ain’t hit?”
“Cause for starters you still had that weak ass baby chain a day afta you said you was gonna give it to her.”
Lazarick was laughing so hard he could barely sit in his seat. He was playing him in front of his family and Nyzon hated that shit.
“I don’t tell you everything nigga!” Nyzon advised squirming in his seat. “So you don’t know what I do wit my dick.”
“You ain’t got to tell me everything cause Angel only fucks wit ballas!” He continued egging him on. “So you might as well get her right out ya mind.”
“Nigga, shut the fuck up and throw out your card.” Royala said to her brother, getting the attention off of Nyzon and back on the Spades game. “And you bet not renege either. Don’t even think about askin’ what led.”
Nyzon tried to brush Lazarick’s comments off his shoulders, but he was still thinking about Angel. And although it was good seeing her again, he never got over how she played him. Suddenly he had an idea on how to pay her back and revenge never sounded so sweet.
Crayland Bailor
The Set-Up
Cray sat in Blunt’s basement with Jason, Jinx, Blunt, and Blunt’s two cousins Tony and Larry. He was discussing the details of his new plans to take over Melody’s operation.
“Thanks for comin’, yo.” Cray started sipping his Corona after topping it off with Vodka. He had a black skull cap on his head. He was recruiting his starting line up.
“I called ya here on some serious bizness. There’s bout to be a shake up in Bmore unlike any ya’ll ever seen. Now I’ma be honest, a lot of niggas gonna buck cuz they not gonna be ready for change, but I venture to say many more will be down cause there’s a lot to cash to make out here and fuckin’ wit me, everybody gonna eat.” He continued turning around briefly to look at their faces. “Befo I began, any nigga who feels like they may not want to hear this shit, leave now or forever hold your piece.” He said referring to their weapons. “Cause if I discuss this shit in front of you, and you cross me, it’s ova.” He waited on their move.
“A’ight yo!” Tony said giving his cousin Jinx some dap. “I’ll get up with ya’ll lada.
“No love lost.” Cray said.
Larry left too.
After they exited, Cray watched them close the basement door before he began again. “Anybody else?”
Silence.
“Cool. It’s like this…the nigga Melody got West Bmore locked down, and most of East. But I got a plan, on makin’ this dude fall. And I already got wit my nigga from DC, so we gone eat regardless.”
“So we dealin’ wit DC niggas now?” Blunt asked.
“Yeah…cause the dude Ny got access to the connect, but I’ma always make sure my peoples eat first. I put that on everything.” Cray nodded.
“So what’s your plan? I mean, Melody got everybody on payroll.” Jason questioned looking at him sideways.
“We gonna try to bring most of his dudes on board because they got the distro, but if they buck, we comin’ out blazin.”
“But we don’t even know everybody he got on payroll.” Jason continued.
“I got that covered too. J-Swizz is his right hand man. He stay by his side but he’s weak. Niggas been talkin’ from miles around about their ship not bein’ tight. And if it wasn’t for a few cats on his squad, Melody wouldn’t even have an operation right now.” He continued sipping his beer.
“So what’s up, chief? How we gonna do this?” Jinx asked.
“I was gonna say the same thing.” Blunt said more than ready to get down with business.
“J-Swizz keeps this white broad close. I mean real close. This nigga Bloc said he saw him followin’ her ass one day afta she cut him off for messin’ wit Bloc’s sister. I think the girl answered the phone one day when the nigga was sleep and the white broad flipped. So now he wants to marry her.”
“That niggas a bum!” Jinx yelled. “
They all laughed.
“Exactly.” Cray responded. “I figure if she be wit him like they say she do, she’d have access to information the rest of our asses ain’t privy to. If nothing else, she’d be able to find out if put in the right position. Now what we got to do is put ourselves in this bitch’s way, you feel me?” he advised looking around for confirmation. “Once I have all the info I need, there won’t be any need for J-Swizz or Melody. You got me?”
“And if the block niggas on the payroll not down we’re knockin’ their blocks off too?” Jason said finally seeing the big picture.
“Brilliant yo!”
“Right! And that’s where ya pretty ass come in at. Since she’s into niggas I figure it wouldn’t be hard for you to get at her. With a little persuasion she’ll be willin’ to tell you everything we need to know. Plus I hear she’s loose when she’s drinking. They say that thang been all over West Baltimore and half of the county.”
“Damn!” Blunt laughed.
“And you want me to bang her white ass?”
“You fucked worse.” Cray said firing up a bob before leaning back in the recliner. He took a pull and blew the smoke into the air forming a circle.
“But what if she notices me? I’m around the way all the time. Plus I was tryin’ to be more hands on.” Jason interjected.
“You never got out of my car when she was around.” Cray assured him. “And trust me…this is as hands on as it gets.”
“You sure?”
Cray looked irritated.
“Positive! I been plannin’ this shit for a year. Trust me…neva.” He affirmed.
Silence.
“So who’s down?”
All raised their hands and Jason also, he just raised his a little more slowly.
“How soon this ‘spose to get started?” Jinx questioned.
“Today my niggas…we need to get rollin’ on this plan today.”
“Count me in!” Blunt responded ready to get blazing.
“Hold up…there’s a bad side to this too. Certain dudes not gonna give in easy so shit’s gonna get violent. Particularly Grimy Mike and Charms. I just hope ya’ll up for the challenge.”
“I was born challenged,” Jinx laughed.
“Damn yo!” Jason yelled shaking his head.
“What?” Cray asked.
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
“Tell me about it.”
Tiara Cartier
Reisterstown, Maryland
Rocked From Up Under
Tiara sat on her bed with her books open. She’d just finished writing an entry in her diary about Cray and she was staring at his name. It was already midnight and she didn’t write word one for her homework. She couldn’t concentrate…ever since she met him, she wanted to be with him. It didn’t help that he wasn’t perusing her or trying to get with her like the boys in her school. His age made him more appealing. He did everything he said he would last week. Came by the next day, fixed her car, and left without so much as asking her to call him. She waited everyday just knowing he would ring her phone, but it never happened.
“Tiara…you okay?” Kavon asked walking into her room.
His real estate business was doing pretty well but he found himself out later than he wanted to be. A key connected to a silver chain hung around his neck. He never took it off and when Tiara asked about it, he told her it held her future.
“I’m okay, daddy…just doing homework.”
“Don’t look like you’re doing much to me.” He stood over her and noticed nothing was on the white notebook paper. “You need anything?”
“No…I’m fine.”
Kavon was just about to walk out and get some sleep when she said, “Daddy, how did you know when you were in love?”
“With your mother?”
“Yes.”
“I knew the moment I laid eyes on her.”
Tiara thought about Crayland, and how he moved her. Her virgin body longed to be with him. Could she be in love too?
“I see.”
“But Tiara…sometimes people mistake lust for love. You’ll know its right when your world is knocked from up under you and the feeling is mutual. When that happens, you won’t be able to go back to your regular life.”
Tiara giggled when she remembered ramming into Cray’s car. In a sense, both of their worlds were rocked.
“Should I know something? You got a boyfriend?”
“No. Just asking. For this project I’m doing.” It was the second time she’d lied to her father. She was changing for the worse and didn’t like it.
“Okay, sweetheart. Good night.”
When he left she thought about what he said. She never thought about a man the way she did Cray. She had to talk to him and she had to do it now.
Picking up the phone she slowly dialed his number.
“What up, beautiful?” His voice set her heart on fire.
The way he answered it, you would’ve thought he was thinking about her as much as she was thinking about him.
“Hi! Why you answering the phone like you were thinkin’ about me?”
“How you know I wasn’t.”
“Were you?”
“If I told you I was would it make a difference?”
She couldn’t’ answer the question. Everything in her spirit told her she was out of her league, but still, she wanted to play.
“I don’t know.”
“What you doin’ now? Playing Yahtzee with your father?”
“Stop playing boy! I’m supposed to be doing homework but I can’t concentrate.”
“Let me come scoop you up. Hang out wit me.”
“I can’t.”
She thought about her father and felt bad enough lying to him two times in a month’s timeframe.
“Okay…well let me handle some things on this end. I’ll call you next week.”
Next week? She repeated to herself. It was hard enough for her to go a few minutes without talking to him let alone another week.
“What time can you be here?”
“Quicker than you give the word.”
Columbia Lake
The water looked beautiful even though they watched it from the car. Cray chose to take her to the lake in Columbia, Maryland to spend some alone time with her. Plus her gear needed work if she was going to be seen with him in public. Sure he could’ve taken her to a hotel, but he wanted her mind not her body. Once he had that, he was confident that everything else would follow.
“How many girlfriends you got?” she asked as Raheem Davaughn’s CD played.
“I ain’t got no girl.” He turned around and looked at her.
She wore a plain red skirt and a black blouse.
“But why are you so beautiful?” he asked as his eyes roamed to her thighs.
“Stop sayin’ that.”
“Okay.” He said turning around.
“Okay what?”
“I’ll neva say it again.”
“Stop playin’ wit me, Cray!” she said hitting his arm. “And I know you got somebody.”
She didn’t realize she sounded childish. He was trying to make millions yet her young mind couldn’t conceive anything outside of a boy and girlfriend relationship. Kavon sheltered her too much. He hid her from the world trying to protect her when all he really did, was make her more vulnerable.
“I don’t believe you’re a virgin.” He said totally from left field.
They weren’t even talking about sex. It was time that he kicked his control game into full gear.
“I am! I swear it.” She said shaking her head up and down.
She didn’t want him even thinking that she was a freak. “I’ve never been with any body in my life. Why you say that?”
“Cause you hang wit Felecia. I heard about her. My man Blunt stay over her crib beatin’ that pussy up.”
“But I’m not the same way.” She pleaded. “I wish there was some way I could prove it to you.”
“There is.” He said devilishly. “Take your skirt and panties off.”
She quickly did as she was told and sat naked from the waist down in his car seat. She didn’t bother asking for his reasoning.
He positioned himself to get a good view and said, “Now put your finger in your pussy. If it goes too easy, I’ll know you a liar, but if it don’t I’ll know you’re tellin’ the truth.”
She eased her fingers inside of herself and tried to provide traction. She couldn’t tell him that this wouldn’t prove a thing considering she stayed playing with herself on a regular.
He knew she w
as telling the truth but liked the control.
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Did what?” she asked looking around.
“Took your clothes off just cause somebody asked you. If you were a real virgin, you’da neva gave in so easy. Put ya shit back on yo, I’m takin’ you home.”
Without saying anything else he pulled off on the way to her house. She rustled to put her clothes back on and tried finding her dignity. She was pouting the entire way and he saw remnants of tears falling down her face. He loved it.
Once he made it to her house he stopped and said, “Get out my car.”
She grabbed the door handle and said, “Cray, I know you don’t believe me, but I’m tellin’ the truth. And I really like you. I’ve never been with anybody before and I hope I can see you again.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He said pulling off.
Tiara cried as she walked into the house. She had no idea that his mind games were just getting started.