by Kiki Swinson
Shannon
There were a few awkward glances exchanged as I sat down at the prison visitor’s table. I felt just as strange as my visitor, but still, I had to play it off.
“What’s up, Shannon? Really funny coming to see you here,” LaShell said as I looked at her strangely from the other side of the visitor table. “I thought it was a prank when I got your letter requesting me to come see you.”
She had a self-serving smirk on her face that made me feel like pure shit. She knew I needed her, so now she was going to do everything in her power to remind me of who was the one that was down and out right now. And my dear cousin LaShell had made it a point to wear some of my old high-end designer clothes and shoes that I had had to sell when Todd first got locked up. I know it made her feel real good to rub that in my face, but I was humble enough to act like I didn’t even notice. It was a lesson I had learned since being locked up.
“Well, thank you for coming, Shell. I wouldn’t have asked you to come if I had anybody else to turn to,” I said sincerely, lowering my gaze to my hands, which were wringing against each other seemingly involuntarily.
“That’s the thing, Shannon—you acted all fucked up towards your family when you was living large with Todd, but look now. You calling me for help,” LaShell reminded me cruelly. My jaw rocked and I wanted to tell her off so badly, but I needed her, I swallowed hard and rocked a little bit in the chair. “When you started living like a rich chick, you ain’t even come to the nursing home to see Big Mama. You sent flowers? Flowers, really? That lady raised you from a child and she may not have had a lot to give you, but she kept you out of foster care,” LaShell continued her verbal assault. My heart was breaking in my chest and my stomach knotted. I inhaled deeply and fought against the tears welling up at the backs of my eyes.
“I know, Shell, but it’s not like we all had the greatest relationship growing up. Our family always been jealous of each other and we were taught to be in competition with each other instead of being like a close family,” I told her honestly. “If you remember correctly, after I got with Todd Big Mama told me not to come back to her house and Poochie put me on a restricted list at the nursing home. Y’all tried to even keep me from the funeral, even though I was paying for it. It wasn’t all my fault,” I said with feeling. The tears finally fell from my eyes. Reliving those painful experiences is something I had tried not to do over the years, but I was not going to let her turn me into the bad guy all by myself.
LaShell seemed to contemplate what I was saying. She twisted her lips and shook her head up and down.
“You right, Shannon. We did have a fucked-up childhood and I can’t really blame you for getting out. I guess we all played a role in being fucked up towards each other. Let’s just move on. I still think of you as the only sister I ever had,” LaShell said, cracking a small smile. My shoulders slumped with relief that we could make amends.
“So, what’s up? What’s so important that you needed me to come?” LaShell asked, her eyes filled with curiosity. I leaned in to the table so no one else could hear what I was telling her.
“I need you to get at this attorney for me. His name is Mr. Kaufman—the one that Todd always used when he got locked up. I had the last seventy stacks to my name stashed away and I told Kaufman where it was so that I could pay for him to represent me. He fucking stole my money and never showed up to represent me. He thinks he got away with my money, but I want somebody to show him that he didn’t.” I laid it all out. LaShell was all ears, her eyebrows dipping low with concentration when she heard about the money.
“If you find him and get him set up, I’ll make sure you get some money. Whatever you take from him during the robbery is all yours to keep. Right now, it is about revenge for me,” I said somberly.
“Damn. I gotta think about what niggas I got that would fuck with this. You know niggas don’t wanna fuck with robbing no white muthafuckas,” LaShell said, rubbing her chin like she was thinking hard.
“Trust me, Shell . . . it’ll be worth your while. I have a little something more out there but I just need to make sure this traitor bitch Kaufman is taken care of first,” I confessed. It might’ve been a mistake to let her know I had another stash, but I was desperate.
“Well, if you got more money stashed somewhere, you better hope that nigga Todd don’t get to it before you,” LaShell said with a chuckle. I crinkled my eyebrows and cocked my head to the side. I didn’t think I had heard her correctly. I was staring at her blankly.
“What? Say you ain’t know Todd beat his case and got out?” LaShell asked. “Been out for the past two weeks or some shit.”
I squinted at her to make sure I was clearly hearing what she was saying. I couldn’t even speak. I had literally lost my voice and my tongue and brain would not cooperate to even formulate a sentence.
“Shannon . . . Todd is fucking out on the streets of Tidewater. He is driving a fat Benz and moving like he used to. First niggas was saying he was snitching and got out, but I heard he just finally got up the cake to get a lawyer that fought his case. Word is he got off on a technicality . . . something to do with the illegal search or arrest or some shit like that.” LaShell ran it all down. My body was suddenly burning up hot and I felt dizzy. All I could do was stare at LaShell with my jaw hanging down. It felt like the walls were closing in on me.
“Shannon? Shannon? You a’ight?” I heard LaShell say before I felt the sharp pain crash into my head. The next thing I remember, I was waking up in the infirmary again.
I found out from the nurse that I had fainted. I guess the bomb LaShell had dropped on me had caused an explosion in my head. I couldn’t take hearing that Todd was back on the street. How could that be? Everything that had happened to me was his fault, including me being locked up, and he was out on the street living large again? Where the fuck was the justice in that? When LaShell told me that Todd was out, I kept thinking about the last word I had gotten from him where he promised me that he would make sure I never had another red cent. I felt like the joke was on him because he was locked up for good and I still had one last stash of cash. But now that he was out, I was sick with worry because my last stash spot with all of the remaining money I had to my name was one Todd had shown me early in our relationship. I knew how Todd operated and I also realized that he knew me very well. I was one hundred percent sure he would figure out that I had put some money away. It had always been my style. Even if it was a small bit of money, it would be something. Todd was far from stupid so it wasn’t going to take him long to check all of the possible stash spots before he found mine. I closed my eyes as the tears leaked from the edges. I had to think quickly before Todd ended up pulling the last heist on my ass.
10
Todd
“Yes! Fuck me! Harder!” Dugan screamed out as I went to town slamming my hips into her pelvis, devouring her pussy.
“Yeah, right there!” she panted and I flipped her over and slammed it from the back. I hadn’t seen her in the month since I had been out, but I had made sure to stay in touch with her. I wanted to find out how the pregnancy was going, but more important, I had convinced Dugan to put in for a transfer to the women’s prison where Shannon was, to get information. Initially my plan was to send another hit out on Shannon, but then I figured getting updates on how miserable Shannon was would be good enough revenge for a while.
Dugan lived a little minute from the house LaBeckie had me staying in. It had taken me a whole lot of dipping and dodging to get away from LaBeckie and his crew to meet up with Dugan, but when she told me she had information to share with me about Shannon, I made the meet-up happen with the quickness.
“I love you so much, Todd! Yes! Do it to me, baby!” Dugan screamed as I grinded into her from behind harder and harder with each stroke. “I love you!” she hollered again. I slowed down the pace of my thrusts and let out a grunt of frustration. She almost made my dick go soft with what she said. I leaned on her back, reached around and covered h
er mouth roughly with my hand. It was either that or let my dick get limp. I hated when she started talking that love shit. That’s the shit I was talking about with these chicks, they never knew how to just play their position. She was cool for fucking in prison and now for using to get information but that love shit had to go. Dugan couldn’t understand that I wasn’t trying to love her or wife her or play house with her with no fucking baby, either. Ours was a relationship of convenience; I didn’t know when she was going to get that shit through her hard-ass head. Pregnant or not, I wasn’t about to marry her ugly ass. I would take care of my seed after I got a DNA test to make sure it was even mine. Other than that, Dugan could forget me settling down with her.
After I shut her up and kept pounding her out, the pussy started getting good to me. I was more worried about satisfying her, though. I wanted her to have a good nut so I could make sure she told me everything I needed to know.
“Aghhh!” she finally screamed, her legs buckling under her until she fell onto her stomach. I felt her pussy walls pulsing and closing around my dick as she climaxed. I was next. It wasn’t all that good for me . . . but a nut was a nut to a nigga who had been locked up. I rolled over onto my back breathing hard and this chick wanted more.
“Hold up. Hold up, ma. I need a breather. Plus, we need to talk real quick before you-know-who starts looking for me and shit. I’m on borrowed time. He thinks I’m at some important meeting with my connect; that’s the only reason I was able to give him the slip,” I huffed, pushing Dugan off of me. This chick was like a dog in heat. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to look at the soup cooler lips and the big-ass gap between her teeth. Why the ugly ones always the loyal ones? I asked myself silently.
“Awww, daddy, I missed you. Plus, fucking you in the bed is so much better than that dirty mop closet,” she whined, trying to move her mouth down to my dick. I closed my eyes, trying to stay patient. I pushed her away and tried to put on a voice that wouldn’t let on that I was annoyed as shit with her.
“So c’mon, tell me what’s up?” I said, getting to the point.
“With what? Me and our baby? My health? Maybe you’d like to know how I am doing these days?” Dugan snapped sarcastically. I could see in her eyes that she was getting upset.
“Awww, here you go getting all emotional. You know I care about you and the situation . . .” I started, reaching my hand toward her to try and calm her down.
“It’s your fucking baby, not a situation!” Dugan snapped, jumping up from the bed before I could touch her.
Fuck! I screamed in my head. She better stop fucking playing!
I didn’t have time for the bullshit and Dugan was wearing down my last good nerve. I needed the information she was holding and she was playing games. I got out of the bed and followed her into her master bathroom. I tried to put on my sympathetic face and soften my voice. Dugan just didn’t know how much I wanted to curse her ass out.
She was sitting on the toilet holding her head in her hands sobbing like someone had just told her the world was ending in ten minutes. I took a deep breath, bit down into my jaw, and bent down in front of her. I touched her hair softly and cleared my throat so I could make sure my words came out softly.
“Listen . . . I’m trying to eliminate all of the problems I got out there so that we can just be together. I care about you that much, Laila,” I lied, using her first name to try and make her feel that I was serious.
“I don’t mean to seem abrupt with asking you the questions, but I don’t have a lot of time. It’s not going to be long before LaBeckie figures out that I haven’t made contact with that gun connect and that I don’t have any intentions on doing it. If I don’t play these cards right . . . shit is not going to work out. We are not going to be able to leave Virginia and run away together like I plan. I’ll be right back in prison and you’ll be left out here on your own with the baby and maybe even without the job. It’s a fine line we walking and all I’m saying is let me get the information, take care of business on the streets, get rid of all of the threats to us, and let’s live happily ever after,” I lied some more. I couldn’t believe how convincing I was myself.
Dugan was sobbing like she was at a funeral or some shit. Maybe it was the pregnancy making her so emotional, but my patience was wearing thin.
“Shhh, don’t cry. Let’s try to talk or else I’m going to have to leave,” I comforted. I started to hear a little annoyance under my words so I cleaned it up right quick.
“Okay,” she sniffled, raising her face from her hands. “I’ll tell you what I heard,” she said as she rolled off some toilet paper and blew her nose loudly. My heart jerked in my chest with excitement when she said she would tell me. I was looking at her with anticipation dancing all over my face.
“Okay so . . . Shannon had a visit from her cousin LaShell and—” Dugan started.
“LaShell?! You sure?!” I cut her off.
“Yeah, LaShell,” Dugan answered, looking at me like I was crazy. I realized that I did look and sound crazy, I just couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the name LaShell.
“I’m sorry . . . it’s just that Shannon hates her family so I can’t see her cousin LaShell just coming to visit her,” I explained. My mind was racing a million directions now. I knew my wife was a calculating bitch too.
“Well, this cousin visited her and I heard Shannon telling her she wanted LaShell to help her set up some lawyer named Kaufman that stole Shannon’s money from a stash spot and never came to be her defense attorney,” Dugan went on.
I sat back on my butt on the bathroom floor with my mouth slightly open because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. So this bitch Shannon actually did try to hire my old defense attorney, Mr. Kaufman!
“Shannon told her cousin that she has another stash spot somewhere and that they would split what was there if the cousin got Kaufman set up, robbed, and maybe killed,” Dugan went on. I perked up when I heard the words another stash spot.
“Did she say where the stash spot was?” I asked with urgency in my voice.
“No, but when the cousin told Shannon that you were out of prison, Shannon fainted,” Dugan said with disgust in her voice. “She busted up her head and I had to be the one getting her help. What the fuck was so crazy about the news of you getting out that the bitch fainted?” Dugan complained.
I sprang up from the floor like a jack-in-the-box. I knew why Shannon had fainted. I grabbed Dugan’s face and kissed her deeply. I let her go and raced back into the bedroom so that I could slip into my clothes. I knew there were only a few places Shannon would stash money. Shannon thought I was never getting out so she figured using my old stash spots was going to be safe. I had news for that bitch. My heart was beating with excitement now. This was just the thing I needed to get back at Shannon’s ass. That bitch liked to send me letters but looked like she was going to be getting a letter this time.
“Wait! Where are you going?!” Dugan ran after me sounding like she was going to cry again.
“I gotta go. I’ll be back,” I huffed. “I promise to hit you up later,” I lied again.
“But . . . I have the information about Jock’s whereabouts in the witness protection program too,” Dugan announced. I froze dead in my tracks and turned around slowly as I buttoned up my shirt. Dugan sat down on the bed with a smile on her face. She knew she had me at least for a few more minutes.
Dugan laid it all out for me. At that moment, I think I could truly say I loved Dugan’s ass. I wasn’t in love with her like but I had mad love for her for real. From the time I had gotten locked up until now nobody else had came through for me like she had.
11
Shannon
“So, Ms. Marshall, where is the money?” Dray the crooked fed asked.
“I don’t have it here,” I lied. I was shaking all over.
“Well, you don’t fucking have it in a bank, either,” Dray barked, lifting his gun up menacingly.
“I have it put away,” I s
aid sarcastically; shit, at this point if he was going to kill me, he was just going to kill me.
“Okay, well, I’m waiting to hear where that is,” Dray said snidely.
“I bet you are,” I retorted.
With that Dray pointed his gun at Jock and shot him in the leg.
“AHHHHHH!!!” Jock let out a screeching animal-like scream, his head falling in to his chest as he tried to catch his breath from the pain. Blood was pouring out of Jock’s leg. I started crying when I heard Little Todd start crying upstairs.
“Please! Let me get my son,” I pleaded with Dray, looking him in the eye to appeal to any mercy he may have.
“Baby girl, all you got to do is tell us where the money is so we can get the fuck up out of here. See, I don’t have beef with you, I had the beef with Bobby Knight so his money belongs to me . . . you know, payback, restitution,” Dray growled, his eyes looking all fucking crazy. He was a DEA agent but obviously he wasn’t sticking to no fucking code of honor right now.
“The money is in a safe in the closet.” I surrendered because my son was screaming and I was so scared he would open the door and run downstairs and see what was going on. It wasn’t worth it.
“Go,” Dray said, nodding his head to his partner. The man left. I heard his gun go off as he shot the fucking lock off the safe. I jumped hoping he didn’t try to hurt my son.
“There’s no money in here!” he called out.
As soon as Dray turned his head to the side in response to his partner telling him there was no money in the safe, the next sound I heard was voices screaming, “POLICE!!! POLICE!!! Drop the weapon, drop the fucking weapon!!!”
My jaw dropped when all those cops came trampling up in my apartment. I was really confused as hell now. Dray turned toward the cops that were rushing in and raised his gun. Before he could get a shot off, like ten of the cops that were filing in the door let off shots on his ass. I heard Little Todd crying louder at the top of the steps. All of the screaming and chaos must’ve scared my baby almost half to death.