by CJ Hudson
Although he was scared to death, Steve was determined not to let Hakim know it. He decided right then that he was going to show Hakim that he was a man too. “Look, youngsta. I told yo’ ass before that I wasn’t looking at yo’ damn sister! Now, if you don’t believe me, then that’s yo’ damn problem!”
“Who the fuck you think you talking to? My mother ain’t here to save yo’ ass this time, so I suggest you stop getting fly out the muthafucking mouth!”
“Whateva, Hakim! Like I said the first time, I ain’t—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Hakim punched him in the stomach. Steve doubled over in pain. He tried to catch his breath and recover, but he wasn’t fast enough as Hakim maneuvered his way behind him and put him in a chokehold. Steve gasped for air as Hakim increased the pressure of the hold.
“Now what? Talk that bullshit now!”
Steve’s face changed colors as he was on the verge of passing out. He tried desperately to pry Hakim’s arms from around his neck, but Hakim was much too strong.
“Hakim! What the hell do you think you’re doing? Let him go,” Janice yelled. But Hakim couldn’t or wouldn’t hear her. His rage and hatred of Steve had taken over. Hoping to get Hakim to let go of Steve before it was too late, Janice quickly grabbed her cell phone and started dialing.
* * *
Tammy sat quietly in the break room, eating her lunch. She was trying to push back the smile forcing its way to her lips. Even the drama surrounding her family life couldn’t spoil her mood. She was still feeling giddy about Bobby picking her up from work. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her coworker Sharon walking toward her.
“Hey, Tammy. Have you talked to ya girl today?”
“Who?”
“Nancy’s missing-in-action ass. She was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago, and now Mr. James’s punk ass is telling me I can’t leave until she shows up.”
“He can’t do that,” Tammy said.
“Well, his ass is doing it!”
“You know that’s some bullshit. He cannot make you stay past your regular shift.”
“No, but his ass can cut my hours down next to nothing if I refuse. He did that shit to me last month when her ass pulled a no call, no show. That bitch must have some hellafied pussy or give vicious-ass head.”
“What? Girl, please, they are not fucking.”
Sharon laughed so hard at Tammy’s naivete that she caught a cramp in her side. “You done fell and bumped yo’ head if you believe some shit like that. Now, I know y’all cool and all, but you better open yo’ damn eyes.”
Sharon walked away, shaking her head. Tammy took out her phone and called Nancy. When the call went directly to voicemail, Tammy became slightly worried. She made a mental note to stop by Nancy’s when she got off. Tammy was seriously starting to wonder about her friend. First, Ivory accused her of being on drugs, and now Sharon was talking about her and the boss sleeping with each other.
Before she could put her phone back in her pocket, it vibrated. Seeing that it was Ivory, she answered it before the third ring.
“Where you at?” Ivory asked without even saying hello.
“I’m at work. You need to come in here and fill out an application with your out-of-work ass.”
“Yeah, yeah, whateva. What time do you go on break?”
“I’m on break now.”
“Cool. Come outside in the parking lot right quick.”
“For what?”
“Just bring yo’ ass on.”
Before Tammy could question her further, Ivory hung up.
“Damn, this bitch gets on my nerves sometimes,” Tammy said to herself.
Looking at her watch, Tammy saw that she had about twenty minutes left for her break. She quickly bagged up the uneaten portion of her food and headed out the door. When she got outside, she looked around for Ivory but didn’t see her. Like only a true ghetto queen would do, Ivory started blowing her horn as if she were in a parade. Tammy quickly ran over to Ivory’s car in an attempt to keep her from making a bigger fool of herself.
“Why in the hell are you blowing your horn so damn loud?” Tammy asked as she hopped inside. The minute she closed the door, she caught a contact high. “I see you’re getting blazed already,” Tammy said.
“You damn skippy! I was supposed to go and get me some dick on the side while Darnell was out of town, but my side dude ain’t answering the damn phone!”
Tammy looked at her friend in surprise.
“What? You thought that I was only gettin’ it from Darnell? I don’t know what the fuck he be doing when he be up in New York.”
“You could’ve told me! I thought I was your girl.”
“I ain’t got to tell yo’ ass everything!”
“Whatever,” Tammy said. “Let me hit that before I have to go back to work.”
Ivory smiled as she passed the blunt to Tammy. That was her whole reason for calling Tammy in the first place. She was a little upset that she wasn’t able to hook up with her fuck buddy, so she found solace the only way she knew how. Smoking weed.
“Check this shit out, though. I just came from Akron and . . . bam,” she said as she pulled out a large knot of money.
“What the fuck did you do, go down there and rob a fucking bank?”
“Hell nah! Darnell had me go down there and take care of some business for him.”
Tammy raised her eyebrows. She had her suspicions of what “business” Ivory went to Akron to take care of. Still, she wanted to hear Ivory say it. “Business, huh? What kind of business?” she asked.
“I think you know what kind. Since he knew he was going to New York, he wanted to make sure that the money kept flowing down here.”
“And he trusted you? Someone who has never sold drugs before?”
“Who the fuck else was he gonna trust? Besides, this shit easy as fuck. I just made five Gs in five fucking minutes.”
“You’d better be careful. This shit don’t sound too kosher to me.”
“I got this,” Ivory said as she took another puff.
“I have to get back to work,” Tammy said while looking at her watch.
“A’ight. I think I’m gonna treat myself to a shopping spree,” Ivory said while putting the money back in her pocket.
Tammy walked back inside the mall, wondering if her friend was getting in over her head. She’d only met Darnell a few times, but he didn’t strike her as the type of man to let someone else handle his business. For him to do that, Tammy felt that he must have had something up his sleeve.
When she got back to her work station, she looked across the room and saw that Sharon had a very noticeable scowl on her face. Figuring that it was because Nancy hadn’t come in yet, Tammy took out her cell phone and sent her friend a text message.
Nancy, where the hell r u? Aren’t u supposed 2 b @ wrk? Call me wn u get this mssge.
Tammy didn’t know what was going on but told herself that she was going to get to the bottom of it when she got off of work. Five minutes into the second half of her shift, she received a phone call. She didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway.
“Hello?”
“I have a collect call from Hakim Green. If you wish to accept these charges, please press one.”
“Collect? What the hell is he doing calling me collect?” she wondered. Slowly pressing 1, Tammy wondered what other drama was about to creep into her life. “Hello?”
“Sis, it’s me.”
“Why in the fuck are you calling me collect on my cell phone?”
“I need you to bail me outta jail.”
“Jail? What the hell are you doing in jail? Does this have anything to do with those thugs you were hanging out with the other day?”
“Nah, nothing like that. Look, I don’t wanna be in this damn place no longer than I have to, so could you please just get me outta here?”
“I am not getting you out of anywhere until you tell me what the hell you are in jail for!”
“Assault!”
“Assault? On who?”
“I ain’t got time to be going through this right now! The CO is rushing me off the phone. It’s gonna cost a thousand dollars to get me out. Go up in my room and look under my mattress. I got the money there.”
“Under your mattress? Where did you get a thousand dollars? Hakim! Hakim!”
Before she could get an answer from her baby brother, he had hung up.
* * *
Tammy ran upstairs as quickly as she could. Her boss didn’t like it when she told him that she had a family emergency and had to go home, but she didn’t care. The only thing she could think about was getting to her baby brother and getting him out of jail. She had never been to jail, but she had heard all the horror stories of being locked up. Lucky for her, Ivory was still in the mall when she got the call from Hakim and was able to give her a ride home. Ivory bombarded her the entire time with questions about Hakim being in jail. After convincing Ivory that she really didn’t know anything except what Hakim had told her, she spent the rest of the ride wondering why Hakim had called her instead of their mother.
Trying not to waste any time, Tammy lifted Hakim’s mattress and gasped when she saw a large roll of money bound with a rubber band.
“I knew this boy was doing something he didn’t have any business doing,” she muttered, shaking her head. Peeling off $1,100, Tammy stuffed it into her pocket and raced back down the stairs.
For the first time since she’d gotten inside the house, she noticed that her mother wasn’t at home. She thought about calling her mother’s cell phone but decided to wait until she talked to Hakim. She didn’t know why her brother was in jail, and with the way things were going with her family, she didn’t want her brother and mother getting into it again.
Tammy bolted out the door and jumped in Ivory’s car. Ivory gunned the engine and fishtailed down the street.
“Slow the fuck down! I don’t want to be in jail with my brother!”
Ivory ignored her and continued driving. By the time they got to the police station, Tammy was a nervous wreck. She tripped twice going up the steps, trying to get to her brother. She didn’t even wait to see if Ivory was going in with her as she made a mad dash to the service desk.
“May I help you?” the overweight cop behind the glass asked with a disinterested attitude.
“I’m here to post bail for Hakim Green.”
After shuffling through some papers, the cop told Tammy that it would be $1,050 to get Hakim released. After posting his bail, Tammy took a seat on the bench and waited for her sibling. Forty-five minutes later, Hakim came out looking wild.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m straight,” he said, laughing.
Tammy instantly became pissed. “What the fuck are you laughing about? Your ass just got out of jail, and you’re standing here laughing like you’ve been vacationing to Hawaii or something.”
“Chill out, sis, damn. You act like I been in Alcatraz.”
Tammy just sighed loudly and shook her head. She knew that her brother was on a path of destruction, but she was powerless to stop it. “What the hell were you in jail for?”
“Mama didn’t tell you?”
“I haven’t seen Mama since I left for work this morning.”
“She wasn’t at home when you went to get the money?”
“No! Now tell me what the hell happened!”
“That punk-ass nigga Steve tried to flex up on me, and I put his bitch ass in a sleeper hold,” Hakim said as he demonstrated his choking technique.
Tammy was speechless. She knew that Hakim didn’t like Steve. Hell, she didn’t either, for that matter, but she didn’t think it would get that far. Nor did she ever think her mother would call the police and have Hakim arrested.
Reading her mind, Hakim nodded. “Yep,” he confirmed. “Mama had me arrested.”
“Hold up. Let me get this straight,” Tammy said as she stopped walking. “You mean to tell me that our mother had you arrested? And put in jail?”
“Yeah, she did that punk-ass shit! All because she was trying to protect her ho-ass boyfriend!”
Knowing that her brother had a quick temper, Tammy decided to get the full story before jumping to any conclusions. “Just tell me what happened from start to finish.” Before Hakim could get the first sentence out of his mouth, Ivory blew her car horn.
“Come on,” she yelled out the passenger’s side window.
Tammy grabbed Hakim by the wrist and pulled him to the car like he was a little kid.
“Stop pulling on me. What the hell wrong with you?”
Tammy ignored him as she continued to lead him toward the car.
“Damn, boy, what the fuck you done did?” Ivory asked Hakim when he got inside the car.
“I had to beat the brakes off a bitch-ass nigga I know.”
Ivory burst out laughing. “Ah, hell to the nah!”
“I don’t know why the two of you are laughing,” Tammy scolded. “I don’t see shit funny about this.”
“‘I don’t see shit funny about this,’” Ivory repeated in a mocking tone. “I mean, damn, girl, you act like the boy been in Mansfield some damn where.”
“I’m just saying, Ivory. I don’t see anything funny about being locked up.”
Ivory let the subject die. She knew that continuing to speak on it would only upset Tammy more than she already was. She glanced in the rearview mirror at Hakim, who seemed quite unfazed by the whole thing. His smug, roughneck attitude slightly turned her on. As soon as Ivory got three blocks away from the police station and turned the corner, she reached into her console and took out a half-smoked blunt.
“Is that the same one you were smoking on when I saw you earlier?”
“You know better than that. That muthafucking tree been burned to the ground.”
Ivory lit it, inhaled a couple of times, and then held it out for Tammy to grab it. When she didn’t take it, Ivory cut her eyes sideways and saw Tammy staring at her. Tammy jerked her head toward Hakim to indicate that she didn’t want to smoke in front of him.
“I know you ain’t trippin’ ’cause Hakim back there. That nigga ain’t thinkin’ ’bout yo’ ass. He done already told you he know yo’ ass be smoking and shit, so you might as well stop frontin’.”
When Tammy hesitated, Hakim reached. “Shit, if she don’t wanna hit that tree, pass that muthafucka to me,” he chimed in.
“Hakim!” Tammy yelled and snatched the blunt out of Ivory’s hand before she had a chance to give it to him. “Ivory, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“The fuck you talkin’ ’bout?”
“How you just gonna give my little brother a blunt right in front of me?”
A wicked frown formed on Ivory’s face. She slowed the car down and pulled over to the curb. In her mind, her friend was being judgmental and a hypocrite. Someone had to put Tammy in her place, and she figured that she was probably the only one who could do it.
“Why the hell are you stopping?”
“Because I got something to say that yo’ ass needs to hear.”
Tammy folded her arms and rolled her neck. “Oh, is that right?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s right. First of all, I didn’t pass yo’ brother shit! I held it up for you to take, and you didn’t. He reached up here on his own and tried to grab it. That’s number one! Number two is that yo’ ass is bein’ a fucking hypocrite! Hell, yo’ ass been smoking weed wit’ me for a long-ass time! How you gonna try to check Hakim ’cause he smoke it too? Turn around and look at yo’ brother, Tammy! He ain’t no damn kid! He damn near grown, so you need to quit tryin’ to baby him.”
Without saying another word, Ivory pulled away from the curb and into traffic. The fact that Tammy didn’t respond to her rant told her that she was at least thinking about what she had said.
Meanwhile, Tammy sat there with a somber look on her face. Deep in her heart, she knew that her friend was right. Hakim was gr
owing up. He wasn’t a child anymore. Needing an outlet in the worst way, Tammy put the mind blower to her lips and inhaled, hoping that it would somehow relieve the stress of the day. Tammy then leaned back, closed her eyes, and exhaled.
“Hakim, just tell me what happened, okay?”
“I ain’t talkin’ ’til you release that tree.”
Reluctantly, Tammy passed the blunt to her brother. After taking a deep pull and blowing out, Hakim told his sister the whole story. By the time he was done talking, Tammy was livid. Ivory hadn’t even come to a stop yet before Tammy was jumping out of her car and storming toward her house. Hakim and Ivory were right behind her. If something was about to go down, then Ivory was going to be there for her girl.
Tammy was surprised to see that her mother still wasn’t home. “I don’t where the hell she is, but me and Mama are going to have a talk when she gets here.”
“You need me to stay with you?” Ivory asked.
“Nah, girl, I’m straight.”
“But what if that nigga come back wit’ her?”
“I’ll slice his muthafucking ass up if he fucks with me.”
“You know what? I don’t even wanna see Mama right now. And I really don’t wanna see that bitch-ass nigga she with. I got some shit I gotta do anyway, so I’m ’bout to be up outta this piece.”
“Huh? Where the hell are you going, Hakim?” Tammy asked with concern.
“Ay yo, don’t start this bullshit again.”
Tammy started to say something but was cut off by Ivory. “It might not be a bad idea for Hakim to get away from here for a li’l while, Tammy. What do you think is going to happen if that asshole comes back here and they see each other? Not to mention, what if that nigga try to sneak up on Hakim?”
“I wish that bitch-ass nigga would,” Hakim said, cracking his knuckles.
Ivory cut her eyes at Hakim and gave him a “nigga, I’m trying to help you out” look.
“Maybe you’re right. The last thing I want is for something to happen to my bro,” Tammy said as she playfully mugged Hakim upside the head.