by Chunichi
“Nah, it ain’t my baby momma this time. Someone else is fucking up. Looks like that shit is contagious,” Touch said, confusing the hell out of me.
I could tell from the way Touch was talking, he was very disappointed in someone, and it didn’t look like he was trying to talk about it, so I chose to leave it alone.
“Well, you know Sasha is in Atlanta now,” I said, changing the subject.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. She’s working at this club called Bottoms Up. You and some of your boys should go check her, show her some support.”
“I’m-a make sure I do that,” Touch said, showing interest in something for the first time since we’d been together.
Fifteen minutes later, we were at Norfolk International Airport. I pulled up to the Delta departure terminal. “Here’s your stop.”
“Thanks.” Touch pulled out his wallet, pulled out a fifty, and handed it to me.
“Have a safe trip.” I grabbed the money with one hand and leaned forward to hug him with the other.
“Nah. You be safe. You’re gonna need it more than me.” Touch jumped out the truck without hugging me.
I sat in awe for about thirty seconds, trying to register what the fuck had just happened. When I finally came to my senses, I looked up to see him walking through the automatic doors and into the airport. The nigga never even looked back.
He’s on that Gemini split-personality bullshit for real, I thought to myself before peeling off.
Chapter 11
“Down-ass Chick”
Calico
By the time I got back to Jewel’s house, it was close to seven o’clock, and I knew that I hadn’t kept my word.
“You know you done lost a whole lotta points with me, right?” Jewel said to me as soon as I walked into her crib. She didn’t even give me a chance to respond and kept going in on me. “I thought this little trip you took out here was supposed to be all about me! I sure as hell can’t tell, from the way you running the streets. Can I get some attention, gotdamit?”
I couldn’t help but look at Jewel and smile. I loved her sassy-ass attitude and her whole style.
“What the fuck are you smiling about? I don’t see shit funny!”
I didn’t answer Jewel. I just walked up to her and smacked her on her ass and continued on my way to her kitchen to get myself something to drink.
“Mr. Burroughs, don’t fuck with me! You said this trip was supposed to be about me, and that no one was going to even know you were here. But, from the looks of it, this trip seems like it’s all about you. You already got some pussy, I cooked and fed your ass, and then you have the audacity to spend the entire day on the street. What the fuck?”
“Jewel, I told you that I got you.”
“Yeah, whatever, nigga. I can’t tell. You just seem a little too damn comfortable.”
After Jewel said that, I sipped on some fruit punch that I had just poured for myself and put the glass on her granite countertop. I walked out the front door toward my rental car.
“Where are you going now?” she asked with a major attitude.
I didn’t say anything as I pressed the button on the keychain to release the trunk. I reached inside and took out a shopping bag, and headed back into the house. “This is for you. I hope you like it,” I said as I handed Jewel the shopping bag and walked into the living room and turned on the flat-screen.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”
When I heard Jewel screaming, I knew she loved the gift.
“Calico! I can’t believe you!” Jewel came running and jumped into my arms.
“Oh, now I’m Calico again? A minute ago, I was Mr. Burroughs.”
“Yeah, but a minute ago you hadn’t given me a green crocodile Hermes bag.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Jewel as she loosened herself from me and proceeded to parade around the living room, showing off her bag as if she was a runway supermodel.
“The girls are gonna be so sick when they see me rocking this bag.”
“Yep! And they’ll have nine thousand reasons to be sick,” I said, alluding to how much I’d paid for the bag. “Now, do you believe me when I say I got you?”
“Yes, sirrr,” Jewel playfully responded.
Jewel’s mood had instantly switched up from pissed-off and agitated to warm and cheery. That was a sure indication of how to deal with her in the future.
“Come here and let me give you kisses,” Jewel said to me as she walked toward me, her lips puckered up for a kiss.
I kissed her soft lips and felt on her ass, and two seconds later she was back admiring her bag in the mirror.
“So, listen, here’s the deal. That bag is my down payment on a shopping spree. Tomorrow, we’ll go shopping, but tonight let’s just go out to eat and then hit the strip club or something,” I said.
“Okay. But I thought you didn’t want nobody to know you were in town? You sure you wanna go to the strip club?”
“Yeah. Actually, there’s a whole lot of shit on my mind right now, and the strip club has always been the best way for me to unwind and get my head right.”
“Ocean Cabaret? Hell, nah. That’s not a real strip club. It’s too fucking bourgeoisie for my taste. Let’s hit up Purple Rain,” I explained to Jewel as we headed out of McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant.
“Oh, so you like that ghetto shit then. Okay, Purple Rain is cool with me. I can check my girl Shakira. But, for the record, there you go with shit being about you again. Remember, your trip to Virginia was supposed to be about me.”
I looked at Jewel and nodded my head as we pulled off in her white Range Rover. Jewel had forgotten her iPod, so she was forced to listen to the radio. When she turned on the radio, one of my favorite Jay-Z songs were on, “Can I Get a ‘Fuck You.’ ”
“Oh, turn that shit up!” I yelled. I began reciting the lyrics along with Jay-Z. I reached over and turned the volume down, and then I asked Jewel, “So if I wasn’t a nigga with figgas, would you come around me or would you clown me?”
Jewel just looked at me and smiled, and then she turned the volume back up. Right on cue, she began to recite the female lyrics of the song. She reached and turned the volume back down, and the two of us started laughing at each other.
“Wait, hold up. Don’t you ever touch a black man’s radio! What’s wrong witchu?” I asked, trying to imitate Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. I turned the radio back up and started to recite the chorus to the song, doing the wop dance at the same time.
Now can you bounce for me, bounce for me,
Can ya, can ya bounce wit’ me, bounce wit’ me . . .
“Oh my God, Calico, you are so crazy!” Jewel laughed at me.
Not much longer after that, we arrived at the strip club. The shit was extra packed. There was some porn star chick named Pinky, who was making a guest appearance that night, so that was the reason for the large crowd.
As soon as I walked in the spot, it was like a freaking love fest. Dancer after dancer kept coming up to me saying hello, as did some of the fellas that I knew from the streets.
Jewel said to me, “I see you a little ghetto celebrity in here.”
One of the dancers asked me, “Yo, Calico, you gon’ make it rain tonight?”
“Nah, baby, not tonight. I’m just chillin.”
When Jewel and I sat down, I ordered a bottle of Hennessy for myself, and a bottle of Nutcracker for her. As soon as our drinks arrived, Jewel started in with the questions. “Okay, so tell me, what got your head so fucked-up that you needed to come in here and get it right?”
I drank a glass of Hennessy and then I exhaled some air from my lungs. “It’s just that I’m real hot right now,” I screamed into Jewel’s ear over the loud music. “It’s a lot of jealous-ass snitch muthafuckas out here that wanna see me fall, you know?”
Jewel drank some of her Nutcracker. “You’ll be okay, pookie face,” she said.
I shook my head. I didn’t totally let Jewel in on everything that I kn
ew, but the fact was, I had just recently found out that I had been secretly indicted by the Virginia Commonwealth Attorney. And, from what I was hearing from my man who was fucking one of the female assistant Commonwealth attorneys, Touch had snaked my ass, and it was his testimony to the grand jury that really led to my indictment. I hated to believe that my man for so long would do some shit like that, but you could never really trust a nigga, when it comes to the drug game.
I knew that I was taking a big chance being in Virginia, with all this going on, and an even bigger chance being out at the strip club. But the thing was, deep inside, I knew that Touch had snaked me. I never wanted to show him the cards I was holding, so I purposely played things cool with him, hung out with him, and did everything as normal.
Truth be told, one of the main reasons that I had come to visit Jewel was so that I could collect on the hundred and fifty thousand that Touch had owed me, and to set him up to have him killed. I mean, I wasn’t no dummy. I knew that a dead Touch couldn’t pay me the bread that he owed me, so I had to get my dough first, and then hit his ass.
My plan was to butter up Jewel with gifts and all, just like I was doing, so that she’d be distracted. I needed her distracted because I didn’t want her suspecting anything that was about to go down with me and Touch. This way, when Touch did get blasted, she would never suspect that I had anything to do with it. I knew I had to move cautiously.
Although Touch was a pretty chill dude, he did have a dark side that would surprise any unsuspecting nigga. Shit, that’s one of the reasons I had originally partnered up with him. And that’s why I’d conveniently sent Diana his way. So that I could keep tabs on him, and she could distract him when necessary. I knew if I threw her a few dollars I could rely on her to hold things down. Plus, I even had his nogood baby mother on the team. Although she had no idea, she was probably gonna end up causing his death.
With Touch on my mind, I pulled out my cell phone and placed a call to him. “What’s good, baby boy?” I said when Touched answered the phone. I then excused myself from the lounge table that I was sitting at and made my way to the bathroom, where it was quieter and I could hear better.
“Everything’s good. What’s the deal?”
“You got that for me?” I said, referring to the hundred and fifty thousand.
“Yeah, yeah, no doubt.”
“So where you at?” I asked.
Touch explained to me that he was down in Atlanta and that he would be back next week.
“Next fucking week? Touch, what the fuck is up? Your dough is straight or what? Keep it real with me. Last week you told me this week, and now you telling me next week? I ain’t never had no issues over getting my bread from you—”
Touch cut me off. “Exactly, we ain’t never had no problem, so no need to stress me. I got your dough. I’m just outta town. When I touch down, I’ll get the shit to you, a’ight?”
“Whatever, man. Just hit me as soon as you touch down, and I’ll head out there the next day,” I said, not wanting him to know my whereabouts.
I made it back to where Jewel was sitting. I saw her chatting with one of the dancers that went by the name Paradise. Before I could blink, Jewel winked her eye at me and told me that she was going off to get a private dance.
“Oh, okay, do you, ma.”
I sat and drank glass after glass of Hennessy, and within an hour I was fucked-up. Jewel was also twisted. And after being around so much tits and ass, we were both horny as shit.
“You ready?” I asked her.
Jewel said that she was, and without making my usual rounds to tell people that I was bouncing, she and I just got up and departed from the club. I quickly peeped out the parking lot as we made our way to Jewel’s Range Rover. As we pulled off and headed back toward Jewel’s crib, I noticed Diana’s trick-ass hollering at a couple of dudes with New York plates.
We were no more than five blocks away from the club when Jewel said, “Something’s up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The fucking police are following us.”
“Get the fuck outta here.”
“Yeah, it’s a marked car. He been following us since we left the club.”
“Muthafucka! And I’m dirty too! Shit, what the fuck was I thinking?” I started to stress out.
“You dirty how?”
“I got these fucking X pills on me,” I explained to Jewel as I pulled out the bag of ecstasy pills to show her just what the hell I was talking about.
Just at that point the cops signaled for us to pull over.
My heart was pounding.
“Give me that shit,” Jewel said to me as she kept driving, disobeying the cops flashing lights.
“What?”
“Calico, give me the damn pills!”
I didn’t know what Jewel was planning on doing, but I didn’t want her to get bagged on no drug charge.
“Nah, Jewel, I got this.”
She reached over and grabbed the clear bag of X pills. She began unbuckling her tight-ass jeans with one hand, and steered the car with her other hand. “I’m putting this shit in my pussy. We’ll be good.”
Jewel was like a magician, the way she squirmed out of her tight jeans just enough to expose her pussy and stuff the bag of drugs inside.
I said to her as she pulled over, “My name is Martin Green, if they ask you.”
She looked at me. “Okay.”
Before we could blink, there was one cop on the driver’s side window, and another on the passenger side. They were both shining their lights inside the car after Jewel and I had rolled down our windows.
The cop asked Jewel, “Miss, can you tell me why it took you three extra blocks of driving before you pulled over?”
“I pulled over as soon as I saw your lights in my rearview mirror, officer.”
The cop shook his head and asked for Jewel’s license and registration and insurance. “Is this your car?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, the reason I’m pulling you over is because of your tint,” he explained. “You can’t have your tint so dark. It’s illegal.”
Jewel responded, “I didn’t know that, officer.”
“Okay, sit tight. I’ll be back.”
As soon as the cop walked off, Jewel exhaled. “ I am drunk as a skunk. I hope he can’t smell that shit.”
“Nah, you good. Just relax.”
“Damn, that was quick,” Jewel said in reference to how quick the cop had returned to our car.
“Ms. Diaz, can you step out of the car, please?”
I yelled over to the cop on the driver’s side, “For what?”
“Sir, just put your hands on the dashboard and relax,” the cop on my side said to me.
The cop said to Jewel, “Turn around and face the car,” and he whipped out his handcuffs and placed her under arrest.
“This is crazy! What are you arresting me for? Tinted windows?”
“No, ma’am. Your license is suspended. That’s what I’m arresting you for.” The officer frisked Jewel.
The cop on my side asked me, “You have a driver’s license?”
I shook my head no, and at that point, my mouth became dry as shit.
Jewel spoke up and told the cop who’d handcuffed her that it would be all right for me to drive her car home.
“Not without a driver’s license,” the cop explained.
“Do you have any identification on you?” the cop asked me.
“No.”
“Do you have a name? Date of birth?”
“Martin Green. 7/22/78.”
The cop walked Jewel to the back of the police car, while the other cop radioed in the information that I’d just given him.
For five minutes I sat in limbo in Jewel’s Range Rover. Then the other cop that had walked Jewel to the squad car came back over to the Range Rover and whispered something into the other cop’s ear.
“Can you step out of the car please?”
I obeyed, not fully knowing what was up.
“Michael Burroughs, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you . . .”
Muthafucka! I shook my head and clenched my teeth in anger, wondering just how the fuck was I gonna get myself out of this sling that I’d suddenly found myself in.
Chapter 12
“Payback’s a Bitch”
Touch
After I hung up the phone, I shouted, “Bitch-ass nigga!” Calico was really becoming a pain in my ass.
I immediately called Jewel, and her phone rang out to voice mail. “Jewel, what’s up? This is Touch. Call me back as soon as you get this message. Gone.”
I made my way into Bottoms Up. I needed a drink in the worst way. I headed to the bar and ordered a double shot of Grey Goose and took it straight to the head.
“Oh shit! Hey, Touch. What’s good, homie? Is this like a fucking high-school reunion or some shit?”
I squinted my eyes, trying to figure out who the fuck it was that was talking to me.
“It’s me, man. Diablo.”
“Oh what’s the deal, Diablo?” I extended my hand to Diablo and gave him a pound.
The deejay shouted into the microphone, “Coming to the stage, we got Juicy on stage one, and Malibu on stage two. Show them some love, fellas.”
Diablo said to me, “That thick shit right over there on the stage, Malibu, that’s what’s up.”
I looked over to the stage and saw Sasha wiping down the pole on the stage, preparing to do her thing. I have to admit, looking at Sasha instantly made my dick rise.
I hadn’t seen Diablo in years. I’d heard that he’d moved to Atlanta from Virginia and was doing his thing and getting money down there. But I never really liked the dude. I always tolerated his ass, but I never really fucked with him like that. He wasn’t an enemy per se, but he wasn’t a real nigga. He was one of those niggas that always managed to get over and shit. Besides, that nigga ain’t like me back in high school because he thought I was knocking Jewel off when they were kicking it.