“It almost worked, didn’t it?” Scratched let out a slight chuckle himself. “What is a girl like you doing out here on these mean streets this time of night anyway?” Sudden concern now seemed to take over Scratch’s mind.
The last thing Halleigh wanted to do was stand out there and have a conversation with a man who’d just tried to rob her. She wanted to leave the raggedy man in the alley, but she knew he had a jones. She could tell, because she’d seen the same look in her mother’s eyes many a night. And with that, thoughts of her mother and this man’s relationship piqued her curiosity.
“I was just running to the store,” Halleigh told the man. “How do you know my mother?”
“Me and Sharina used to get high together.” Scratch thought back to the days when he and Sharina used to do more than just get high together. Back before Scratch was so strung out, he and Sharina used to kick it. Back then, neither one of them were users. He remembered how Sharina used to look up to him for being such a major player in the game. But once she learned of his drug use, she looked at him the same way a sinner would look at her pastor who done fell from grace. She felt like, hell, if Scratch could do it, then why couldn’t she?
Scratch tried to tell Sharina that the shit wasn’t for her; but who was he to tell her that when, by then, he had started using pretty heavy himself? Still looking up to him, Sharina wanted to be on that same high. And before they knew it, the two found themselves no longer hooking up to keep each other company, but hooking up to get high together.
“How’s Sharina doing these days?” Scratch asked, thinking about their pre-addict times together.
“I don’t know. I don’t fuck with her like that no more.” Bitterness laced Halleigh’s tone. “Last time I saw her she was more worried about a fix than she was me.”
Scratch could sense Halleigh’s feeling of disgust toward her mother and made an attempt to comfort her. “Aaah, that’s just Sharina. But you know what? High or not, she sure did love her some you.” Scratch smiled. “She loved her baby girl; talked about you all the time.” Scratch wasn’t exaggerating. Sharina did love her daughter with all of her heart, and she still did to this day. It’s just that her mind had power over her heart; and her mind needed the drug.
“Oh yeah,” Halleigh spat. “Well, actions speak louder than words.”
“Look, you don’t understand, baby girl. That crack rock ain’t no joke. Scratch know that shit. It ain’t just no little monkey either. It’s more like a gorilla; like King Kong, you know. It overpowers everything. So don’t be too hard on your moms.”
“Tuh, that’s an understatement.” Halleigh begged to differ.
Scratch could see that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the subject of Halleigh and her mother, so he switched it back to himself. “Anyway, speaking of that monkey-gorilla thing . . .” Scratch turned on his smooth, convincing tone. “Why don’t you hook Scratch up, Li’l Rina?” Scratch begged. “Let me hold something so I can get right.”
Halleigh was about to walk away and leave him there, but the fact that he knew her mother softened her up a bit. As much as she wanted every vein in her body to pump nothing but pure hatred for her mother, there was just a little part of her that still loved Sharina. At the same time, though, Halleigh was still a little scared of what Scratch might try to put himself up to next. Having witnessed firsthand what a person was willing to do for a hit, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d try something even worse. Yeah, he’d spared her, but what about the next person ?
Halleigh looked down at her money, and before she handed some to Scratch, she asked, “What do you get from getting high off of crack? I never understood why my mother did it.” Halleigh never even considered that using cocaine really wasn’t any better than using crack. She didn’t see herself as being anything like the dope fiends she’d encountered. Getting high wasn’t something she felt she needed to do. It was something she just wanted to do.
“So much fucked-up shit has happened to me in my life, Li’l Rina. It’s like when you’re high, all that goes away.”
Halleigh could feel that. She knew exactly what Scratch was speaking about. Halleigh peeled a twenty-dollar bill from her stack of money and handed it to Scratch. Then she began to walk away. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and turned around. “What did you say your name was again?”
Scratch’s eyes lit up as he gazed at the money, knowing that he could finally get the monkey off his back. He looked up at Halleigh with his gap-toothed smile. “Scratch. Everybody knows me as Scratch.”
“Well, Scratch, don’t get yourself killed out here robbing people with sticks,” Halleigh said with a slight grin.
“You betta count yo’ blessings, baby girl. A stick is the least of your worries. I was going to unleash my stanking-ass sock on you with the ol’ ‘sock and rock,’ ” Scratch said jokingly. He looked down at his one bare foot. He hadn’t had time to put his sock and shoe back on.
Halleigh grinned and started walking away.
“If you ever need to talk, come and holla at me, good ol’ Scratch. The rest of me might not be right, but I got good ears for listening. I’ll be right here,” Scratch yelled as he watched Halleigh walk away into the darkness.
Chapter Four
Halleigh leaned back on her bed and closed her eyes. She was tired, and her body felt extremely drained. She had swooped her shoulder-length hair, which she usually wore flat-ironed straight with feathered side bangs, into a ponytail. The fairly new blonde highlights complemented her light skin.
Halleigh was cute, but she never saw herself as beautiful, or anything close to it, especially when she was next to her former high school best friend, Nikki. Nikki had been her only friend, besides Malek. Nikki’s mom had got on that stuff too, which gave both Halleigh and Nikki a common ground to stand on. Halleigh hadn’t seen Nikki in more than a year, and although every now and then she thought about kickin’ it with her old friend, on the flip side, Halleigh was glad of it. It wasn’t because she didn’t miss her friend or want to see her, but she didn’t want her friend to see her now.
Turning over to look at the clock, Halleigh saw that it read 8:00 P.M. She let out a loud sigh, knowing that she was supposed to be over at the hotel at 11:30 P.M. I just want to get some rest before then, she thought as she balled up on the bed, put the pillow on top of her head, and turned to face the wall. The only thing that she could think of was the comfortable sleep that she was drifting into.
Less than five minutes after Halleigh closed her eyes, Mimi came bursting into the room and sat down on the bed. “Hal, you awake?” Mimi whispered, gently nudging her. “Hal, you up?” She ran her hands down her braided hair extensions, which she wore straight back, with baby hair surrounding the edges, the braids falling right above her butt.
Halleigh heard Mimi, but she tried to ignore her in hopes that she would let her get some sleep.
“Halleigh, wake up, girl. I need a favor.”
Halleigh sighed loudly and removed the pillow from her eyes. She looked up at the girl she once saw as her savior. Halleigh met Mimi the day Malek had gone to jail for the robbery. Halleigh was camping out at the police station, waiting for Malek to be arraigned, whenever that was going to be. She had no idea how long she would have to wait there, but she had no other place to go. She couldn’t go home. Her mother had just allowed two dope boys to rape her as a trade for the dope she had stolen from them. Sharina sat in her room getting high while her daughter’s virginity, the virginity she’d promised to give to Malek that very night, was taken from her.
The fact that she didn’t have anyplace to go was the reason Malek was committing the robbery in the first place. He was only trying to get money for her to pay for a hotel, at least for that night, until they could figure out something to do. But once Malek was apprehended and taken to jail, Halleigh still ended up with no place to go. Malek had promised to be there for her, so she returned the promise by being there for him, even if it meant spending hours upon h
ours in the lobby of the police station. But not even that was a solution when Halleigh was kicked out of the police station for loitering.
It was out in the rain, on the streets of Flint, when Mimi befriended Halleigh. Mimi had just been released by the police after being arrested on a prostitution charge.
“I’m Mimi. You can crash at my spot if you need to, at least for the night. My daddy will probably be able to help you out too. He can help you get your boy out of jail if you want him to.”
Halleigh didn’t know Mimi from the man on the moon, and had seen her for the first time when she was inside cursing out the police officers as they released her from handcuffs. Out of options and figuring that anything would be better than being on the streets, she accepted Mimi’s offer.
“You sure your daddy won’t mind?” Halleigh asked.
Mimi smirked and looked Halleigh up and down and then licked her lips. “Nah, he won’t mind. Trust me.”
Mimi continued to shake Halleigh. “You up?” Mimi repeated once again.
“I am now,” Halleigh snapped. “Damn, girl, that sleep was feeling good. What you want?”
“I need a favor.” Mimi stopped and waited to see Halleigh’s reaction.
Halleigh looked at her as if to say, And?
Mimi continued, “I got this private party lined up. It pays one thousand dollars for each girl.”
Halleigh could see the dollar signs forming in Mimi’s greedy eyes. Once the idea of getting some paper set in, Mimi was unstoppable. Nothing came between her and her paper. Halleigh had often wondered why Manolo had chosen Tasha to be the madam versus Mimi, who stayed on the paper chase and made sure her money was right. Then again, Halleigh surmised, with that much paper flowing through Mimi’s hands, she was too stuck on herself to be that damn loyal to the game. And it wasn’t no secret amongst the girls that Mimi was forever trying to hook up gigs that paid her behind Manolo’s back.
“They want two girls for just a couple of hours.”
“When?” Halleigh asked hesitantly.
Mimi then delivered the catch. “Tonight.”
“Oh, hell nah,” Halleigh replied quickly, shaking her head from side to side.
“Come on, Hal, please. You know I can’t miss this money,” Mimi pleaded. “I’d do it for you.”
“Like hell you would.” Halleigh rolled her eyes.
Halleigh thought about that time Manolo wanted Mimi to do the unthinkable as far as a hooker was concerned: fuck for free. Mimi refused to have Manolo’s back on that one. And in return, Mimi had gotten beat down by Manolo for not turning that trick he’d instructed her to turn with some baldhead, crooked cop named Troy. Granted, Troy wasn’t paying no thousand dollars or anything near it. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t paying anything. Manolo just wanted to have a cop in his pocket, but Mimi didn’t recognize that and refused to give up the pussy for free. She later regretted her disobedience.
So Halleigh knew better than to fall for Mimi’s “I’d-doit-for-you” look of pity. And on top of that, Halleigh was almost certain that Manolo knew nothing about this little private party. Mimi was always doing side jobs that Manolo didn’t know about. She kept a tight leash on her regulars just for that simple fact. Mimi had her game set up so tight that she’d schooled her loyal regulars to call up Tasha and request one thing: something simple like a blow job. Once the john showed up in her hotel room, she’d have him pay her directly for the service that he really wanted.
To date, none of Mimi’s little schemes had ever backfired on her, but when it did, the last thing Halleigh wanted to do was to be there, caught up in the midst of it all. Halleigh knew just as well as Mimi did that if Manolo ever found out, there’d be hell to pay.
“No, fuck that, Mimi. I know you ain’t forgotten that ass-whupping Manolo put on you at Wild Thangs,” Halleigh said, trying to jog Mimi’s memory of the beat-down at the strip club Manolo and Sweets, his superior, ran.
Mimi got this salty look on her face after Halleigh’s smart remark. Hell yeah, she remembered being beaten nearly unconscious and she thought that Halleigh was trying to be a smart ass by throwing it back in her face. But all Halleigh was really doing was trying to make sure that Manolo hadn’t knocked her upside her head so hard that she had lost her mind: After all, Halleigh figured Mimi had to have lost her mind in order to keep trying to do her own thing on the side; cutting Manolo out completely.
Although Mimi wanted to remind Halleigh about the ass-whippin’ she too had endured at the hands of Manolo, she decided not to start a verbal war with the person whose help she needed so desperately right about now.
“Please, Hal, you know I wouldn’t even be asking you to do this if I didn’t need you there.” Mimi used the most sincere tone she could muster up to try to convince her fellow comrade to help her out.
Halleigh stayed strong. “Uh-uh. Nope.” She shook her head adamantly. “You better ask Keesha or somebody. You ain’t about to pull me into no bullshit.” Halleigh knew that if anybody else was out to make paper like Mimi, it was Keesha. That’s why it was the first name that had popped into Halleigh’s head. She felt sure if presented with the opportunity, Keesha would do it, and therefore Halleigh would be off the hook.
Keesha, who worked at Wild Thangs as a waitress, had been wanting to be a Manolo Mami, as Manolo’s hoes were referred to, since forever. Manolo had ten girls working for him, including Tasha, who didn’t have to turn tricks because she held madam status. Working the gig with Mimi would have definitely made Keesha feel like one of the girls, but Mimi didn’t trust Keesha as far as she could throw her.
Mimi stood up, trying to convince Halleigh to roll with her. “Come on, now. Girl, you know I can’t get Keesha to do it with me. That snitching-ass bitch, she can’t hold water. She’d be the first one running to tell Manolo, to try to get a bitch in trouble so that she can take my place. You know I can’t trust her ass.” Mimi cuddled next to Halleigh and brushed her hair with the back of her hand. “You know you my girl. I need you there. Come on, Halleigh. Just have my back this one time,” Mimi begged.
Halleigh sighed in frustration. I know if I don’t roll with her, she gon’ do it anyway. I can’t let her go solo. Halleigh knew that Mimi wouldn’t let a dollar slip through her fingers. With or without her, she was going. And if the girls had learned anything, it was to be paired up when hustling.
A few years ago, one of the dancers at Wild Thangs left with a customer who wanted to do a little more than stick money down her thong. The customer had been buying the girl twenty-dollar drinks all night long. He was dressed in a suit and just appeared to be paid.
The customer ended up taking her back to his condo, where two more of his dudes were waiting for her. All three men ended up having their way with her for the next four hours. They paid her money, throwing it to her afterwards as if she were less than human. All the things they had her doing, she did out of complete fear because they were so drunk and high and dominating that she was afraid what might happen to her if she refused. But it went without saying that no amount of money was worth it.
After that incident, Tasha set a house rule that the girls had to work in pairs if they were going to turn tricks outside of the club or hotel atmosphere. And even though Mimi’s hustle wasn’t one of Manolo’s assignments, Halleigh knew she still had to be there for Mimi.
“All right, girl . . . damn, I’ll do it.” Halleigh sighed. “You know you get on my nerves, don’t you?” Halleigh sat up in the bed, surrendering to Mimi’s pleas.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Mimi whispered eagerly as she hugged Halleigh and then got up from the bed. She pulled out a tube of lip gloss and began coating her lips as if she were preparing on the spot.
“Who are these niggas anyway?” Halleigh inquired.
“Jamaica Joe and his people,” Mimi said under her breath. She turned toward the full-length mirror and applied another coat of lip gloss.
“Jamaica Joe and his people?” Halleigh abruptly got up
out of the bed, realizing that this was, in fact, the actual catch. “Hell no, Mimi! Are you out of your mind? Jamaica Joe?” Halleigh began pacing. “Manolo will kill both of us. You know Sweets and Manolo don’t fuck with them North Side niggas. And what if Joe finds out we down with Manolo? That nigga might pop off just because. He might try to use us as ransom or something. I’m sorry, Mimi, but you are on your own with this one.”
“Come on, Hal. You already said yes,” Mimi reminded her.
“But that’s before I knew who the dudes that hired us were.” Halleigh couldn’t believe that Mimi still expected her to lend a helping hand after dropping Jamaica Joe’s name. Hell, she couldn’t believe Mimi had even given it a second thought. Maybe Manolo had hit her upside her head to hard, because she had definitely lost her marbles. “You done lost your mind. Manolo will have our heads on a platter and you know it.”
Halleigh wasn’t saying anything that Mimi hadn’t already thought of. She was well aware of the beef between Sweets and Joe. Manolo was down with Sweets, who was Joe’s archenemy, and this scenario was nothing but trouble. If Sweets ever found out that Manolo’s girls were associated with Joe in any kind of way, then he would make Manolo teach them a lesson they wouldn’t soon forget.
But Mimi was a risk-taker. At the end of the day, she knew that together, they made too much money for Manolo to ever get rid of them, or to hurt them bad enough that they couldn’t eventually make him more money.
“Please, Halleigh? Look, it’ll be short and quick. We can be in and out of there in an hour. One hour and we’ll be a thousand dollars richer, and you ain’t even gon’ have to split that shit.” Of course, when dealing with Mimi, she always had a scheme inside of her original scheme.
Jamaica Joe was actually paying $1,500 per girl. He knew that in order to get Mimi to take such a risk and fuck with him, he’d have to be willing to pay the price. But he didn’t mind at all. He got a thrill knowing that he had the power to get a couple of his rival team’s cheerleaders to come cheer for his team for a little while. And even though he was willing to pay each girl $1,500, Mimi decided, that she was entitled to a $500 finder’s fee. This was a $2,000 come-up for her. She needed Halleigh to come through for her.
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