Durty South Grind

by L. E. Newell

  She double-checked the rearview mirrors to make sure, slowly closed her eyes and gingerly slid her hand into her pants. She eased her legs apart just enough to get her sticky panty crotch away from her heated pussy and pulled the dainty lace to the side so that she could slide her trembling finger into her wetness. A whiff of fresh woman nut invaded her nostrils, sending a shiver down her spine. Letting out a soft moan, she clamped her small caramel thighs tightly around her hand. Right off the bat, another nut started to stir deep in her stomach. She opened her mouth. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.” Then she started waggling her legs back and forth. This one was so intense that she couldn’t even close her mouth as she thrust one, two, three fingers violently into her now overflowing pussy.

  “Oh shit, oh shiiiitt nnnggg, nnnggg,” she moaned just before she heard the phone being picked up on the other end. Damn, she had forgotten all about calling the chief that quick. She clamped her mouth on her shoulder, biting hard into the coarse fiber of her fatigue uniform until the feeling subsided. She heard the chief’s voice answer into the receiver and blew hard into the night sky.

  Gathering herself quickly, she forced herself to hide the after-tone of her climax as she replied, “First mission accomplished, Chief.” She listened intently to the response. “Yes, ma’am, that makes good sense to me. Word has probably spread like wildfire by now, so we’ll just let the other dealers sweat it out for a while before we strike again. Uh-huh, I agree totally; it’ll be best to hit two or maybe even three at the same time as well. Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”

  She clicked the phone off, lay back on the headrest and expelled the tension out of her body with a heavy sigh. Wiping the beads of sweat off her brow, she rolled down the window and stuck her head out of the car in search of her second-in-command. The only person she saw of any importance was the head guy of the Black Cats, which she really didn’t like or trust as far as she could spit. Hunching her shoulders, she mumbled, “Fuck it,” to herself and pulled out. She failed to notice the cracked curtain in the room on the second floor.

  Clara eased the curtain closed. “Well, I’ll be damned. That little psycho bitch got a fucking nut off of fucking with folk. Now that is some weird shit there.” She stayed at the window a little while longer, checking out the rest of those fucking pigs as they wrapped up their invasion—paying special attention to a couple of them hidden in the bushes on the perimeter. She counted the money she’d be missing for at least the rest of that night. Fuck it; business would be back to normal this time tomorrow. Now she had to think of something to do to keep her mind off of fucking up the rest of the package.

  She silently cursed those crooked bastards, spun from the window and headed to the adjacent room. Gently closing the door, she went directly to the chair beside the radiator. Flipping it over, she carefully unscrewed the foot knobs on each leg and stuck the hook of a clothes hanger in to retrieve her packages. She screwed the knobs back on, sat the chair upright and stuffed all but one of the bags into her panties before returning to the other room.

  She smiled at the few big-money spenders she had called when she had first heard about the raid an hour ago. “Aight, ya’ll niggas get that green out. Dem muthafuckas gone. But ya’ll can’t be leaving this room for at least another hour or so; a couple of them bastards done posted up out there in the bushes. But that shouldn’t last but a little while, maybe an hour or so.” The expression on her face was strictly business.

  Even though the heat was on, she still had several reasons to smile but none compared to the feeling she got from knowing that some real boss niggas had her back when it came to staying a step ahead of those dope-busting bastards. Her thoughts eventually went back to that crazed-ass, horny bitch. All she could think was “whew” as she felt the hairs on her neck stiffen at the thought of being caught short by that psycho ho. Cop or not, that bitch was crazy for sure.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Getting Legit, Yeah Right

  The sounds and smells of breakfast aroused Sparkle out of an exhausted sleep. He stretched his arms and legs, yawning and aahing at the snap, crackle and pop of his aching joints. Damn, baby sis is sho nuff doing the do to that there. Come on, soldier, getcha lazy ass outta this rack. He groaned to a sitting position and stretched beyond one final yawn.

  He blinked a couple of times and smacked his mouth. “Damn, ugh, shit be rough,” he yucked to the foul coating on his tongue. It dawned on him that he was in one of the kids’ beds and he sprung up, stammering to the bathroom to get the morning crust off. On the way, he noticed a set of pants and a shirt draped across a mini-recliner. “Mmm, Boo Bear must have jacked JJ up for some of his rags,” he mouthed as he sneered down at the wrinkled clothes he still had on.

  Minutes later, after handling his hygiene, he put on the clothes and prowled after the delicious aromas teasing his nose and causing his stomach to growl. He had bent the corner into the dining room and said in a grumpy early morning tone, “Thanks, Boo,” before pausing when he saw JJ’s smiling face finishing up the remnants of a scrumptious breakfast.

  “Taint nuthen, dog. Debra’s gone to the beauty shop and the kids are off to school. I figured you’d think that it was her in here, but you can straighten up your face, looking like you done forgot how I used to hook your ass up back when I used to do the master chef thang down there in that Columbus joint.”

  “Huh!” Sparkle retorted lazily.

  “Freeze frame, nigga, and just enjoy my Chef-Bo-Ardee,” he added as he nodded toward the plates on the counter filled with steaming cheesy eggs, beef links, buttered toast and grits. “Go ahead. Take those there to the dining table. I’ll bring the OJ and coffee.”

  They ate in silence for a while until JJ nodded toward the stereo system. “There’s a MARTA card and a 23 Candler Road bus schedule over there. Figured you’d be heading downtown to finally get your legal on, with the way Debra got in your shit. You know, just in case you’re smart enough not to go jumping in no fly ride with all that cheddar you done clocked,” he said between bites of the steamy hot meal.

  “Thanks, dog, a nigga’s got to go ahead and handle that there as soon as possible; that’s for sure,” Sparkle downed the last of the orange juice, realizing that he certainly had a point.

  JJ sipped on the coffee and tapped a short rhythm on his forehead with his fingers. “Oh yeah, before I forget, they done moved the social security building to that building right behind the Subway at the bus stop; you know, the one that used to be the VA.” He didn’t wait for him to reply as he cleared his throat. “You already know where the human resources office is at, uh-huh, and knowing your half-slick ass, you gonna play for some get-out-of-jail emergency money and food stamps just to make yo sisters think you’re going on the straight and narrow.”

  Sparkle smiled at him. “Yeah, dog, you hit it on the head with that one there, and thanks for thinking ahead for me. That’s a real good look. I’m still in a daze from all the things that have gone down in the past couple of days.”

  JJ nodded in agreement. “Yeah, dog, I know, taint nothing, though; you’d do the same for me, and I’ve definitely got your back. Oh yeah, and check this here out. When you are finished handling that biz there, that is if you ain’t bent out of shape by then, holla at a nigga from wherever you at because that poker game is gonna be jumping big time over at that nigga Al’s crib again tonight. I’ll most likely be over there trying to get back some of the ends that weasel bit out of me the other day.”

  Sparkle’s eyes lit up. “For real, dog? Shiitt, I could use some more of that fat nigga’s digits again myself.”

  “Hell yeah, man, it had to be at least three heavy-hitting games from the sounds in the background when I talked to his ass earlier,” JJ got in as he drained the last of his coffee.

  “Shit, ya’ll going back tonight, huh?” Sparkle said to keep the conversation going as he started gathering the dishes. It was close to the time for him to split.

  “You bet your ass, I am. Like I said, holl
er at me when you finish up downtown and I’ll get you over there.”

  “Okay, my nig, that’ll work. Man, let me go get myself ready for all this legal I got to handle. Oh, yeah, thanks for the clothes, man,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for the bedroom.

  It took him only a few minutes to get himself together before he was out the door. A couple of steps down he heard JJ calling out to him that someone wanted to talk to him on the telephone. It was his sister, Janet Bea and she had hooked him up on a three-way call with his mama in Virginia.

  He couldn’t even measure the joy he felt when he heard her voice. “Hey there, boy, how ya doing?”

  He certainly didn’t mind the “boy” coming from his special lady. He was smiling so hard that his cheeks started to ache as he beamed. “I’m getting settled in; how ya been doing? Oh yeah, and Big Mama and Aunt Aurelia?”

  As he waited for her to respond, he heard some voices in the background that were unmistakably his two brothers, Jimmy and Mike, wanting to holler at him. His mother said in a voice full of concern, “You gonna do the right thing this time, ain’tcha? I can’t stand too many more of these gray hairs worrying about you, baby. You know that, don’t you?”

  He answered, hoping it would make her feel better, although he knew that she would be bugging about him anyway. “Yes, ma’am. Matter of fact, I was on the way downtown to the DMV, social security place and of course, the employment office.”

  He could have sworn that he heard an mmm-hmm coming from one of the lines. But he didn’t let who he guessed it to be, Janet Bea, being sassy, get to him.

  He knew that his mama had heard it too, but she chose to ignore it as well. “That’s good, baby, that’s good. Just keep your head on the right path this time and stay away from those guys that like to get you in trouble. You know that we all love you, you hear me.”

  “I know, Mama, I know. I’m gonna do it right this time. I promise.”

  “I sure do hope so, baby. I sure do hope.”

  He took a peek at the kitchen clock on the far wall. “Hey, Ma, I hate to run like this and stuff but I’ve got to run up the hill to catch the bus that should be about to pull up to the stop any minute now. Tell Jimmy and Mike I’ll holler at ’em soon. Gotta go; gotta go.” He had heard them squabbling about which one was gonna get on the phone next.

  “Okay, baby, I’ll tell them. Now you call your mother every now and then to let me know how you’re doing; you hear me?”

  “Yes, Mama, I’ll do that. Love ya.”

  “Love you, too, baby.”

  “Yo, Bea, I’m gonna call ya from the Decatur station after I hit these offices so you can tell me how to get to your house. It’ll probably be around four or five o’clock, I guess.”

  Janet grunted, “Okay, I’ll be home from work around four or so. Call me then. I might be in the mood to pick you up. I said that I may be in the mood; I’m not sure but I might.” Her tone was sassy as usual.

  “You hear how your daughter talks to her beloved brother, Mama? A lot of sisterly love there, huh?” he said with a slight smile on his face.

  “Uh-huh, I heard her. Stop being like that, girl. Go ahead, sweetie, and take care of your business. I’ll be looking to hear from you soon, okay?”

  “Okay, I’m out. I love ya.” He hung up the phone and looked at the clock before he sprinted out the door.

  It took a lot longer than he expected—the whole day—to get around to all the places. He had regretted not bringing a book or something to read through the long strung-out progress. He did manage to get a temporary social security card and sweet-talked a lady at the DOC office to help him trade his prison ID card for a Georgia ID. He even talked a stern-faced old biddy at the Office of Human Resources out of some emergency food stamps and a $175 check to get on his feet. He finished off his active day getting an appointment at a downtown office on Peachtree Street to talk to some organizations that helped ex-cons to get on-the-job training. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

  By the time he had wrapped up everything, he was mentally and physically spent as dusk was settling in at the Decatur MARTA station.

  Sparkle was sitting on a bench in front of the bus stop massaging his tired eyes, waiting for the 23 Candler Road, when he saw none other than Ms. Violet strolling across the street. He had to blink a couple of times to make sure it was her before he lowered his head and tried his best to stifle a laugh. Just as simple as you please, home girl was waddling across the street toward him in a maternity dress. If he hadn’t known any better, the size of her belly and the strained look on her face would have anyone thinking that she was about ready to drop her load right then and there.

  She was halfway across the street when she looked up and saw him. From the expression on her face, it was evident that she was just as surprised to see him. She immediately swerved her eyes all around, checking out the scene before a sly smile edged to the corner of her mouth. She waddled wide-legged straight to his bench, holding a huge shopping bag in one hand, while the other one held her bloated belly in place. She plopped down beside him as a loud exaggerated sigh escaped from her lips.

  She squeezed her eyes together as she shifted around on the bench, trying to get comfortable. After finally getting settled, she wheezed in a whisper out of the side of her mouth, “Whatcha doing down here, looking all spent out?”

  The veteran street player in him had him radaring the area to see if anyone was paying them any attention or was within ear-shot before he gently reached over to touch her belly. “How’s the little guy or gal doing in there?” He had a “well, I’ll-be-damned” look on his face.

  She gave him a smile as she looked down and started rubbing her stomach while she let out a motherly sigh. “Ah man, the little bastard has been kicking the shit out of me all day long.”

  He arched his brow in amazement. “Where ya coming from, a doctor’s appointment?”

  She played right along and rolled her eyes slightly. “Naw, I’ve been doing a little shopping for this new addition to my life.”

  He couldn’t help but to laugh. “Girlfriend, you’re something brand-new. You know that, don’tcha?” He was really starting to get attached to her vitality.

  She was feeling something special happening between them as well as she lowered her gaze. “Not really, I’ve been doing it for a while now.” She began looking around to see if anyone was paying them any attention before she lowered her eyes again and gently pulled back a large pleat in the dress.

  He looked into the crack she had revealed and saw a large ball of plastic strapped to her body that was fully loaded with clothes bunched tightly together. He recognized it immediately as a masterful piece of boosting equipment. Looking back up into her now smiling eyes, he said, “Yeah well, I see that you’ve been quite busy there.” He took another peek at the bundle and added, “Oh hell yeah, you’ve been on your job, for sho.”

  She let out a short snicker, cocked her head to the side and practically whispered, “Uh-huh, a bitch has got to keep the green flowing; know what I’m saying?”

  He looked away down the street and stifled a yawn. “Damn, it’s been one long-ass day.”

  She nodded in agreement, showing signs of being bone-tired herself. She bent over and rested her elbows on her knees she had spread far apart because of the contraption strapped to her stomach. “Sho nough has, hasn’t it?”

  “Shiiiit, long for you also from the look of things.”

  That brought a cute smile to her face and she flicked a wrist at him daintily. “Aw hell, honey, it’s exciting and fun but sometimes it gets to be a real job, stealing folk stuff. Everything gets boring after awhile.” She smiled, scanning the area as she lifted some pleats on the side of her dress to reveal the large plastic bubble contraption full of stolen wares.

  Sparkle leaned forward and rested his elbow on his knees along with her. “Yeah, I guess it does after awhile.” Out of his side view, he could see the Candler Road bus approaching and despite being
overly impressed, he braced his hands on the bench and started to push himself up.

  Before he could get up, she reached over to caress his hand lightly and whispered, “You wouldn’t happen to have a little something-something on ya, wouldcha?” Her eyebrows were hopefully arched.

  He gazed down at her hand and slowly raised his eyes to meet hers. He felt them staring straight into his soul, as a tingling warmth spread throughout his whole body. Damn, he hadn’t felt anything like that in many years.

  After a moment, he broke her hypnotizing stare by reaching into his pocket to fumble the few rocks left over from him dipping into bathroom stalls throughout the day. He removed a couple of twenty pieces and pressed them into her small hand, grasping them firmly as he did so. He sighed heavily. “You know something, shawtie. I can’t quite put my hand on it, but I got this odd feeling that we’re sorta like one and the same. Like I’ve known you for a lot longer than I actually have; shit feels strange.”

  She narrowed her own eyes before she looked away shyly. “I got that very same feeling about you. Felt it the other night, too.” She paused for a second as her smile rose from her cheeks to her eyes, meaning those feelings she had expressed were genuine. He also felt it as he heard her add, “You reckon there’s something to this here?”

  “Uh-huh, there’s definitely something to it for sure,” he replied as he stood up. The bus was loading its last passengers. He winked at her. “I’ll make it my business to catch up with you in a few, shawtie.”

  “Hey, what about…” she started to say as she nodded toward the rocks palmed into her little fist.

  He waved her off, got on the bus and headed for the back. After settling in the seat, he looked out the window but she had magically disappeared. His face flushed with confusion as he looked up and down the street, trying to spot her. As the bus was about to pass the corner of the social security building, he saw her easing her plastic bubble belly into the driver’s seat of a green Thunderbird.