“So, how much are you spending this time?” Selena said, getting back to business.
“200k, Gwen shot back, proud of her accomplishments over the past few weeks.
“Damn girl you on your shit for real, right.” Selena responded.
First it was 100k, then 125k, then 150k, and now Gwen was spending 200k. She was definitely heading in the right direction, Selena thought to herself. She didn’t know that Gwen had this kind of hustle in her. It reminded Selena of how she used to be, and as long as she was moving the cocaine at this rate, Brianna was gonna keep feeding her.
__________
Tiffany stood on the porch, watching the traffic going up and down the block. She wanted to make sure that it wasn’t another hustler sitting in the wings, taking customers. The steady flow of traffic showed that the shooting in broad daylight served its purpose.
“Damn shawty, you run a tight ship around here,” Toast said, walking up to the steps.
Instinctively, Tiffany reached for her back pocket, where Anna, her gun rested. She wasn’t sure if Toast was coming as friend or foe, and wasn’t about to take any chances.
“Slow down, baby girl… I ain’t come here for dat,” he joked, throwing his hands up.
His demeanor was calm, cool and collected, and his tone of voice was smooth. Tiffany could also see the gun on his waist bulging through his shirt.
“So what you here foe,” Tiffany asked, resting her hand on the butt of her gun.
Toast couldn’t help but to think about how sexy she looked standing there. She had on a pink lace bra under a fresh wife-beater, a pair of Seven jeans that showed off her curves, and a pair of Jordans. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, which brought out the few freckles she had on her light, brown skinned face. She was pretty, sassy, and a cold gunner, a combination Toast admired in a woman.
“Nah shawty. I just wanted to let you know that I’m feelin the whole take over thing you got goin on,” Toast said, looking at one of the crackheads pass by him, and go into the house.
“Yeah, well I don’t see too many nigga’s around here getting money. Why not jump at the opportunity?” Tiffany said.
Tiffany didn’t have the slightest idea who she was talking to. Toast was a vet in the neighborhood. He was the reason it was safe to sell drugs on East Falls. He’d put more work in than anybody in the history of that block. The only reason he was letting Tiffany and Diamond do their thing was because it’s what the hood needed. Not only were they bringing in more money through the block, they were also willing to bust their guns for the cause. Diamond and Tiffany were reppin East Falls better than the men that were under Toast. The benefits were great if the girls stuck around.
__________
Today was play day for both Niya and Van’s twins. The park was always the kids’ favorite place to go, and believe it or not it was also chill time for the moms as well.
“What’s wrong wit you Ni?” Van asked, seeing the blank look she had on her face.
Van and Niya were cousins on their father’s side. Neither had grown up with the two brothers in their life. But their Grandmother, Mrs. Maggie had always made sure that her grandchildren knew each other. She knew her two twin boys where womanizers, just like their father, and had stayed in and out of jail most of their lives. So she always felt it was up to her to keep the family together. Niya and Van would always visit each other when they were young, and when the family reunion came around yearly, they were inseparable.
Once the issues of a new connect for the dope came up, Niya remembered the big trial her cousin Van’s husband had went through a couple of years ago. It was all on the news for like three weeks, and Van had spent the night with her a couple of times when she came to visit. Niya figured that even if her husband, Q, was no longer in the game, he could surely point her in the right direction. So she had reached out to big cuz and put the meeting together.
Van asked again, “Ni, what’s wrong with you, baby girl?
“I’m good,” Niya said, picking her head up to see Van’s son Khadir playing with Jahmil on the slide.
Niya had so much on her mind, that she didn’t know what to do or where to even begin. She felt like Chad had betrayed her and crossed the lines of no return by being with Gwen. She couldn’t help but to think about if she would have pulled the trigger and killed him, and at that moment, she felt like she wished she would have.
“I need a connect,” Niya said, turning to look at Van.
“A connect on what?” Van asked.
“I need boy and girl,” Niya said speaking the street names for cocaine and heroin.
“You need it or your husband needs it? I thought he was out of that life?”
“He is, and he ain’t my husband, the work is for me and my crew. I need it bad, cuzzo, or I’m about to lose my blocks quick.” Van was a hustler’s wife so she knew how important it was to keep a steady flow of dope coming in. It was always competition just waiting for a chance to take over your clientele. Niya was family, so it wasn’t an option of saying no. But she still had to ask
“Since when did you get into that?”
“Since I’m out here by myself with those two mouths to feed,” she spoke pointing at her twins. She knew how to push her cousin’s buttons. Niya knew that Van was as loyal has they came and it was nothing she wouldn’t do for her kids or family. And shew and her twins were that by blood.
Van smiled. She knew Niya had added that to seal the deal.
“I see you still know how to work a bitch’s heart,” Van said laughing. Her and Niya high fived each other and both broke out with loud sounds of amusement. “Exactly how much work are you looking for?” Van asked, already having someone in mind who could supply it.
Niya explained how she needed at least 20 to 30 kilos of both cocaine and heroin. Betty Ford Road was starting to go off the charts with numbers with heroin. Word traveled far and fast if some good dope was on the block. Dope fiends were coming from everywhere. Niya was moving every bit of 25k a shift, working three shifts a day, and that number was still growing on a day to day basis. Diamond and Tiffany had the trap house on East Falls doing around 20k a day and that number was also growing.
“Well… when I get home, I’ma make a few phone calls for you. Just keep ya line open,” Van told her. “Now on another note, what the hell is goin on, with you and hubby?” Van pried.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Niya replied. “Nothing I can’t overcome.”
Van knew that was the response of someone who didn’t want to talk about it, so she left that conversation alone and they started talking about the kids.
__________
Mike looked across the table at Diamond who was eating the dinner that he had prepared. He had spent half the day preparing the steak and baking the baked potatoes and apple pie. He went to three different stores to find the right apples for the pie, and went to the farmer’s market to get the veggies for the salad. He got so much enjoyment watching Diamond devour the meal. He wasn’t that hungry, and this wasn’t really the reason he had asked Diamond over. He had something on his chest that needed to come off. Something he wanted to tell her for a while now. The feelings he had developed for her sort of blocked out his judgment, but this was something he felt she needed to know, if their relationship was to go forward.
“I need to talk to you about something,” Mike said, dropping his fork onto his plate.
Diamond looked up and could see the seriousness on his face. She thought for a second that he was about to ask her to marry him or something. The thought of him doing something like that made Diamond smile. Even though she would have to shoot him down, just hearing him ask would have been cute. Diamond stopped eating, crossed her hands, and rested her chin on them, giving Mike her undivided attention.
“I been tryin to figure out how to tell you this for a while now,” Mike began. “It’s a guy named Mayo who wants you and ya friends dead,” he said, flat out. Dia
mond’s chin almost hit the table when he said that.
This was the last thing she’d expected him to say. “What did you just say?” Diamond asked, only wanting to make sure she heard him correctly.
“I said this guy I know named Mayo wants ya’ll dead,” Mike repeated.
“Wait… wait… How da fuck do you know Mayo?” Diamond shot back with a confused look on her face.
Mike dropped his head and began explaining everything that had gone down from the start. He told her about the robbery plot, and how he knew that Mayo killed Prada. He told her about how Mayo knew about MHB. He even went so far as to telling Diamond that he was the one that told Mayo that she was MHB and that he saw Prada with them, that night at the club. Diamond just sat there at a loss for words. She really didn’t know what to say. She had really started to like Mike, however now he was sitting there telling her that he was part of the reason why Prada was dead.
“So you mean to tell me…” Diamond started to say, but stopped. Tears began flowing down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Diamond,” Mike pleaded. “I never—”
Diamond got up from the table and walked into the kitchen. Mike didn’t even want to get up and go after her, knowing that he had really messed up. He just sat there with his head down. Diamond, on the other hand, was hot. She started thinking about Prada and how much she loved and missed her. Knowing that Mike had something to do with her death ripped through her heart. Then guilt started to set in, she was thinking that it was her fault. If she wouldn’t have gotten so into Mike, he would have never been coming to pick her up, and would have never seen Prada. She looked up to the sky and pleaded with Prada for forgiveness. When her head dropped she knew that it was only one way to make it right with her girl. Diamond took a deep breath grab a larger knife out of the knife holder and walked back into the dining room.
Mike sat at the table with his head in his hands. He was so far gone into his thoughts he didn’t even feel Diamond standing behind him. She grabbed a handful of his hair, pulled his head back. Kissed him on his forehead, looked him square in the eyes and sliced his neck from ear to ear. She had cut so deep into his throat that his Adams apple was dangling. Blood squirted out across the table, and pretty much all over the dining room.
Mike reached for his throat, but stumbled out of his chair and onto the floor. He died in less than a minute from all of the blood he had lost. She grabbed a cloth napkin, wrapped up the knife and placed it in her purse. Diamond stepped over his body, grabbed the rest of her things and walked out the door. The tears where still flowing down her face. She had started developing real feelings for Mike, but those feelings could never be like the ones she had for Prada. Mike had to die and she had to be the one to do it.
Chapter 12
Gwen pulled up to Washington Street and beeped the horn twice, like she always did when she was serving Dollaz. On cue, he came out of his trap house and got into the car. The fact that Gwen was now serving major weight and getting real money, it was making her a little peeved with coming to get these crumbs from Dollaz small time ass. She kat this was most likely going to be the last time, so she had little arrogant demeanor when Dollaz got in the car.
“What you need, Dollaz?” Gwen asked as she looked out the window.
Dollaz noticed her new attitude, but didn’t’ pay it any mind. He just grinned to himself, digging in his pocket and pulling out a large stack of bills. Gwen still wasn’t looking over at him. She was feeling herself a little too much.
“You can give me the usual, shawty,” Dollaz said reaching into his other pocket.
This time it wasn’t money that he pulled out, it was his gun. Gwen still didn’t know what was going on, until Dollaz stuffed the 9mm into her gut. Gwen jumped, looking down to see the slide of an automatic weapon. She then looked up at Dollaz like he had lost his mind.
“Beep the horn,” Dollaz commanded, nodding at the steering wheel.
“You must gotta death wish,” Gwen said, looking in the rearview mirror at Browny and Rell sitting behind her in their truck.
“Nah… I don’t gotta a death wish, but if I gotta ask you one more time to beep the horn, I’ma make sure you’ll never be able to have any more kids,” he said shoving the gun deeper into her side.
Gwen was mad as hell, but she did exactly what she was told to do. Once she tapped the horn, Tiffany came out of the trap house with an AK-15, running right up to the driver side of the truck that Browny and Rell was in. Browny and Rell were tempted to bail out of the passenger side, but had second thoughts about it when Alexus came out of the garage across the street with a chopper in her hands.
“Dollaz… you better kill me right now,” Gwen said, looking at him with hatred in her eyes.
A tap at the driver side window caused Gwen to turn around. Diamond stood there motioning for her to roll the window down. Gwen rolled her eyes and did so, having much to say.
“Dis how ya’ll ridin’ D?” Gwen said, looking at Diamond with the same look she had for Dollaz.
“It ain’t my call, baby girl. You’ll get ya chance to holla at her,” Diamond said, speaking of Niya. She then gave Dollaz a nod, signaling that he could exit the vehicle.
Gwen turned to look at Dollaz, but the last thing she saw was his fist. He almost took Gwen’s head off with one punch, knocking her smack out cold. After stripping Browny and Rell of their guns, Diamond gave them ten seconds to get as far away as they could before Tiffany and Alexus opened fire on them. All you heard was the engine in their truck screaming down the street.
__________
Niya Walker… Alyah Shaw aka Alexus… Daneill Smith aka Diamond… and Tiffany Grey aka Tifi …” Detective Butler announced standing in front of a small classroom of plain clothed officers. “These are our subjects, and please don’t let the innocent, pretty faces fool you” he warned. “You are not here to make any arrests right now. Our goals and objectives are to build an airtight case against each and every one of these women and anybody that is associated with them. You will all be broken up into teams and assigned to one of these women. If Ms. Walker decides to take a shit, you better be recording what kind of toilet paper that she used to wipe her ass. And if Daneill decides to have sex in the middle of the night, I wanna know the name she screamed out and what kind of sausages they had for breakfast the next morning,” Butler yelled.
Once Butler was given the green light on this case, he turned into a drill sergeant. He wasn’t about to screw this up for nothing or nobody. Dealing with people like Niya, Butler knew that he had to be at his best. He broke down everything from what kind of money they had to work with during the investigation, all the way down to the names and phone numbers of all five informants he had working for them. Butler was smart. He was starting this investigation right at the start of MHB’s reign. This way he would be able to grow with them and watch their rise to the top, before bringing them down. One thing was for sure, and Butler knew this beyond a shadow of a doubt, and that was a guaranteed fact that he and the rest of the officers in that room were in for a hell of a ride.
__________
Jamaica was a vacation destination, and was one of the most beautiful places in the world, unless you left the tourist part of the island and went into the slums. If one of the tourists traveled too far away from the hotels and found their way into the hood, it was a slim chance he would make it back out of there alive.
Niya and Van rode on scooters down a longer dirt road through the outskirts of Kingston. Niya noticed the way the locals stared at them and prayed that the scooters wouldn’t run out of gas before they made it to their destination. The dirt road led them into a small village. Van pulled over and parked right in front of an old, beat down shack. Niya looked up at the shack and wondered how in the hell she was going to find a new connect here.
“Ingaaaa” Van yelled, getting off the scooter.
“Girl me gone kill ya callen me name like dat,” Inga laughed coming ou
t of the shack with open arms.
Niya just sat on the bike and didn’t know what to do, until Inga walked over to her and grabbed her by the arm.
“You must be Niya,” Inga said, walking her into the shack.
The inside of the shack looked nothing like the outside. It was nicer and more Americanized than anything, Inga even had tea ready to serve. Niya took a look around and noticed that Van didn’t come into the shack with them.
“Don’t worry about Van, she out back wit da dogs,” Inga said, seeing the concern on Niya’s face. “So, before we talk about anything, let’s talk about business,” Inga said, sipping her tea. “Why are you here?” she asked.
“Well Inga, I’m looking for a connect. Not just any kind of connect. I need somebody who can consistently supply me with Grade-A cocaine for the best possible price,” Niya explained. “I also need for this connect to supply me with heroin. Not just any heroin, I’m talking uncut fresh out the opium plant type of work, and I need good prices on that as well,” Niya said, sipping her tea.
“Damn mon, Van was not playin when she said you come direct,” Inga chuckled. “Look, me gone take real good care of you. Van my sista and she say you family …”
Inga got quiet for a minute. She sat back in her chair and put her finger on her chin. It was a lot to calculate considering she was more than likely gonna have to get the cocaine and the heroin over to the states.
“I can go as low as 18.5 a key for the cocaine… minimum of ten key per purchase a trip,” Inga said sitting up in her chair.
“And what about the heroin?” Niya asked.
“Heroin come wit a lot of problems. I gonna have to charge you a little, more but I give you de best, so you make ya money back … 100k a key is the best I can do right now,” Inga said. “My people risk a lot bringing it to the states. You keep buying, we can talk about the price next time,” Inga said in her Jamaican accent.
Country Girls Trilogy (Parts 1-2-3 Boxed Set): MHB Love Page 14