by Bri Noreen
I pressed the level three button, hoping to at least get her name, but the elevator took me to my original destination first. By the time I had got back to the third floor, the brown beauty had disappeared. Confused, I wandered back into the elevator trying to figure out how I was going to find out who she was. I was a fucking idiot because at the very least I knew I could’ve smashed. But I still was marinating in the sorrow of losing a girlfriend that I was sure was my soul mate. I realized in that moment, that nothing was familiar about that girl. I was just hoping to find in her or in any chick what I had found in Blu. I was a lost fucking cause.
Blu
July 2015
I popped up from the bed, bathed in sweat and breathing like I had just run a ten mile marathon. My eyes darted back and forth, desperately trying to adjust to my surroundings. I used my hand to search the bed for him, and like I’d guessed, he was gone. I sighed in frustration. I had been having the same nightmare repeatedly. I couldn’t retain any real details from it, just bits and pieces. Every time that I had the recurring dream, I remembered the same parts, nothing else new. And when I told him about it, he told me that the pills would help. But he was hiding something, and my suspicions had heightened since we’d touched down in LA.
He had been different. The smooth and affectionate man that I had come to know was now cold and distant. His conversations had been reduced to small talk, and his answers to my questions were always cut and dry. I knew that we were here to take care of business, but his sudden mood change and personality shift was unwarranted. Plus he kept pushing me to take those damn pills. I wasn’t in pain from the gunshot wound anymore nor did I need help sleeping, so I couldn’t understand why it was so important to take the pills if I felt okay. Because of his persistence, I had stopped taking the pills since the day we arrived. I would pretend to swallow them, and when he was out of sight, I would spit them out or flush them down the toilet when he wasn’t watching. The dreams had started a few days after I had stopped taking the meds, and that had fucked me up. I had thought that he was my hero, but there was definitely something off about the whole situation. But no worries, I was going to find out.
It was going to be hard, though. Although we were staying in a modern condominium style high-rise, he didn’t believe in using modern technology to communicate. It was odd because he was young; under thirty according to the driver’s license, which I now assumed was fake. But he only used an old-ass flip phone, and that was the only thing he would allow me to use even though I had no one to call. Since that one incident, there hadn’t been any trace of a computer or a laptop, and even the TV’s that were in the condo were old school. He also watched over my every move like a hawk. And he never wanted me to go anywhere without him, stating that he wasn’t sure where his enemies were lurking and didn’t want me to get hurt. I had been a good girl up until now, obeying all his rules with no questions asked. But I was going to find out the truth about this situation by any means necessary because this shit wasn’t adding up.
Karma
July 2015
“Turn around,” I commanded. She complied, and I took my time scanning her from head to toe. Dressed in a pair of blush pink, wide leg dress pants, a sleeveless turtleneck with a keyhole opening in the same color, a gold Chanel belt, and a pair of nude patent leather So Kate Louboutin pumps, Ashlynn looked like a million bucks. I had taken her to the Kim Kimble salon on Santa Monica to have her wild hair tamed and trimmed as well as colored blue black. It now flowed over her shoulders and to the middle of her back in long, bone straight layers. Her makeup had been expertly done at the MAC counter, and I had sent her to Laque Nail Bar to get her nails done. She had been cute before, but she was a stunner now.
“Damn, bitch I’m good!” I smiled widely at my work. She wasn’t Blu, but for Kimani to be interested, she didn’t need to be. She just needed to have the right combination of things in order to pique his interest. Now that I had made her over, she had the outward appearance down pat.
I watched as she marveled at herself in the floor length mirror in her bedroom. I had to give it to the lil’ feisty bitch. She was bad as hell. With a perky set of 36 C’s, a Beyoncéish waistline, and Alicia Key’s hip to thigh ratio, Ashlynn was stacked. Although her skin was a shade or two lighter than a glass of Hennessy, she closely resembled the model, Joan Smalls. They shared the same seductive cat-like eyes, high cheekbones, and perfect mouth. If she could manage to be the seductress I had coached her to be, I knew that we would have what we needed to bring Grey down in no time.
“I’ll give you that,” she murmured as she ran her hands over the Elie Saab pants.
“But you gon’ need more than a $70 full set and a good blow out to get to a nigga like Kimani.”
“Maybe not.” She smiled before she turned around to face me.
“What do you mean?”
“I ran into him yesterday.”
I bolted off the bed. “You what?”
Ashlynn looked at me like the few marbles I had left had rolled across the floor and landed at her feet.
“Um, I went to meet Roman and apparently Kimani had business in the same building.” She shrugged. “We didn’t say much, but I could tell that he was feeling me.”
I folded my arms across my chest and smirked. “Did you exchange numbers?”
“No but—”
“Did you exchange names? Introduce yourself? Get him to ask you to dinner? Hell, did the nigga even give you a compliment?”
“Well, no but—“
“But nothing.” I laughed heartily. “That little run in was nothing. Listen to me, sweetheart. While you think you might be working with something special, Kimani sees cute bitches like you on a daily basis. I’m sure he thought you were attractive, but what do you have that’s going to make him want to be with you and let you into the most intimate parts of his life?”
“Karma, you’re really starting to get on my nerves with this shit.” The words flew out of her mouth laced with malice. “There wasn’t nothing wrong with me before, and there damn sure ain’t nothing wrong with me now. You’re talking to me like I’m some type of remedial short bus bitch. That ain’t gon work for me. I understand that I’m being paid to do a job, but the last time I checked, Roman deposited the money in my account and is paying my bills, not you.”
While she called herself going off I just stared at her slender throat. My mind kept triggering images of a sharp knife going across it, and blood pouring out like liquor while her eyes bulged from their sockets. Killing Blu had really given me a newfound appreciation for death. Though I could handle weapons like a military vet, I had never killed anyone before her. Taking her life had given me such a surge of power that I craved the feeling like a bad addiction.
I continued to listen to her rant with a blank expression on my face and murder on my mind. Roman had better be lucky that my hatred for Grey was stronger than my disdain for this hoe, because I had been wanting to body her since we met. I wanted to put her in her place or a casket, but I had a job to do. And no matter how much I might have wanted to watch lead pierce her dome, we needed her to get to the brothers.
“A nigga is a nigga whether people know his name or not. And all men’s needs are the same. And from the way he reacted to me, I don’t need to do a damn thing but be me.”
“Take that shit off.” I said once she was done talking.
“What?”
“The clothes. Take them off.”
Confusion swept across her face, and she hesitated to remove her top. When I didn’t say anything else, she continued shedding her clothing. Then I was on her like white on rice. I slowly slipped my hands around her waist and let them travel up her spine. She frantically placed her hands on my shoulders and tried to pull away, but I held her close and made my way to the clasp on her bra. Within seconds, I had unhooked her bra, snatched it off and moved my hands to the front of her body, gently caressing her breast with my hands.
“Karma, what the entire
fuck?” she screeched.
I ignored her and made myself eye level with her breast. I pulled one of her taut nipples into my mouth and looked up at her, batting my eyelashes. Again, she tried to move away from me, but my touch was starting to do something to her. Her struggle became weaker as I quickly unzipped her pants and eased them down her round hips. I let my hands linger on her ass before I gave it a light squeeze. A moan freed itself from her lips and floated into the air as her body began to betray her mind. I swirled my tongue around her nipple as I held it between my lips and then eased my hand over the top of her soft ass, using my fingernails to grab her meaty flesh.
I pulled back from her, releasing her breast and let my hand wander her body, finally landing at the curve of her back. Kissing her collarbone softly, I asked her, “Do you want me to stop?”
What came out of her mouth was not audible, so I continued feasting on her flesh, letting my tongue drag along the dips and curves of her shoulder and neck. Once I landed in the crook of her neck, I picked the most delicate and sensitive spot and let my stiff tongue draw circles there. I could feel her body shiver in my hands, and I immediately pulled her skin into my mouth and sucked on it as my body pressed against hers. I could feel her losing control by the way her body was melting into mine, so I grabbed the back of her head and pressed my lips against hers. I kissed her with such urgency and passion that her knees buckled slightly. Running my fingers through her hair, I deepened the kiss until I felt like I had sucked all the lust out of her. Gradually, I pulled back and watched for her reaction.
Her eyes fluttered open, and when her gaze finally landed on me, she balked.
“Whaaat….the fuck!” she choked on her words.
“Are you gay?” I asked as I sauntered back to the bed.
“Fuck no!”
I watched in amusement as she scrambled to get her clothes from the floor and use them to shield her body.
“You sure?” I smirked.
“Yes, damn it! You had no right—”
I cut her off. “Do you know what just happened there?” I crossed my legs as a bewildered look spread across her face. “I just almost made you cum and you don’t even fucking like me.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Apparently you don’t like fucking women, but if I would’ve continued, I would’ve had you on your back with your legs in the air calling on Jesus in seven different languages you aren’t even fluent in.” I threw my head back and laughed when I saw the look on her face.
In my head, Ashlynn was no longer a person. She had morphed into a cartoon character from Looney Toons or some shit complete with the smoke shooting out of her ears. I couldn’t get the image out of my head, so I kept laughing. Before I realized it, she was in my space, and I felt a hand race across my face with force. I was thrown off for a millisecond, but then my training kicked in.
Swiftly I kicked Ashlynn in the stomach and sent her flying to the floor with a loud thud. Hopping up, I picked the bitch up off the floor, slammed her against the wall and choked the shit out of her. She scratched at my hands frantically while she tried to gasp for air, but my grip was too strong. Her arms flailed wildly, and I had to suppress my laugh. Bitch looked like she was one of those air dancers you saw at a used car lot. Once I felt like she was nearing her last breaths, I let her go and watched her slide down to the floor, panting for air.
“So tell me again how all you need to do is be you?” I asked.
“Wha…” She attempted to speak, but she was still trying to control her breathing.
“Like I was saying before you got up on your soapbox, you still need work. You may have the basics of seduction, but you’re going to need more than that to get what we need. You’ve got to work fast and you have to get that nigga to trust you, so you need skills that aren’t quite common.” I brushed my fingers across my lips remembering the kiss we’d just shared. She was a bomb kisser. At least she had that working for her. I continued. “You’re going to have to control him and the environment you’re in, and you obviously don’t have a clue how to do that.” I walked into her bathroom and poured her a glass of water from the sink. I entered the bedroom and gave it to her. She snatched it from my grasp with angry eyes.
“You need to be able to read emotions and small nuisances that most people don’t pay attention to in order to get what you want. You think I wanted to grope you? Hell no! But that was my in. The way that you hold your body lets me know that it hasn’t been touched in at least four months, and the way that your hands linger on your body when you dress yourself let me know that you admire the female anatomy. I used those things to make you vulnerable. And I could’ve gotten you to do anything I wanted. That’s what the fuck you need to be able to do. That’s what I’m going to teach you.” I finished with a satisfied smile.
Ashlynn took a sip from her glass, swallowed, and then picked herself up off the floor. She wiped the corners of her mouth and then handed the glass back to me, her eyes blazing.
“Then get to teaching.”
Grey
August 2015
I had my chrome plated nine mil resting against my thigh as I paced the floor. I was tired, horny and irritated, but niggas stayed testing me. After I had killed Hero, his band of fucking brothers came for my head. I was still a new nigga on the scene, and they felt Hero’s right hand man, Lotto, deserved to take his place. I spent months at war with my own camp, and at the end I had gotten rid of every single threat including Lotto. I had promoted some of the niggas I had put on to take the place of everyone that I had gotten rid of and I had restructured the entire organization. By May, I could finally chill out knowing that I had rid my team of snakes and everyone was happy and getting money. But when you’re that nigga, enemies never die, they multiply. And whoever these two niggas were that were trying to take my spot, they were going to learn the hard way how I dealt with my enemies.
The one thing that I could already tell about these niggas was that they were bitch-made and green as fuck. I mean what type of connect sends some random niggas to go scope out competition and solicit business? When I took over for Hero, all the spots that we weren’t currently supplying, I went and got that business…me, personally. I researched these niggas and their movements before I even approached them. And I based my pitch on their current deal and their future needs. Whoever was behind this shit, was either dumb as fuck or they were gunning for something other than my traps. Whatever the case, I was going to get to the bottom of it before it got outta hand.
I’m a smart nigga, and based on the traps they had already hit up, I was able to tell which ones they would hit next. I was able to catch the two dumbasses that were perpin’ for these fools, and they were going to help me send a message to these disrespectful mothafuckas.
The dude sitting directly in front of me tried to hold in the tears I saw mounting in his eyes. I laughed out loud, knowing that he was in pain and realized that he thought that he would be remembered as more of a man if he didn’t scream. With three fingers hanging off his hand, I knew that he was suffering, but I needed answers to my questions, and this nigga was going to keep losing body parts until I found out what I wanted to know. His homeboy was right next to him, bound and gagged, but relatively untouched. Buddy watched in horror as I continued torturing his friend.
“Who are these niggas you working for? Give me names.” I demanded calmly.
“F-fuuu…”
“Yeah, fuck me. I know, I know.” I kneeled down in front of the man who was now bathed in sweat and shaking with fear despite his best efforts to stay strong. “Do you know how long it takes to bleed out from losing an extremity?” He didn’t answer. “Well, I don’t either, but we gon’ learn today.” I chuckled at my Kevin Hart reference, but the nigga with the hanging fingers didn’t really find it funny.
“I…don’t…know…anything,” he struggled to say.
“You’re…a…liar,” I mocked him. “You can’t possibly think that I would believe tha
t you know nothing about the nigga that sent you to my neck of the woods to try and cash in on my territory. Ya’ll been trying to convince me that you’re the ones in charge, but I don’t buy that bullshit for a second. Ya’ll are fucking yes men and low-ranking soldiers. You’re fucking minions.” I wiped the small beads of sweat forming on my forehead with the back of my hand. “I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me who put you up to this shit, so don’t fucking lie to me!” I screamed.
My voice bounced off the walls and floated around near my ears, making it seem like five different niggas were in my head at the same damn time. To be honest, ever since I had taken over Hero’s spot, I had slowly began to feel like I was losing it. Between having to basically off every nigga that I had working for me and needing to test the loyalty of the new niggas I’d put on game, I had watched and orchestrated so much bloodshed, a nigga thought he had enlisted in World War III. Now that everything was calm, here comes some faceless bitch nigga who sent these young niggas to do his bidding for him. Fuck outta here! Someone was waging a slow and deadly war, and I wanted that mothafucka’s name.
“The crazy thing is ya’ll are being loyal to a nigga who wouldn’t care if you lived or died. If your boss knows anything about me, then he knows I don’t give a damn about ending a nigga’s life if I feel violated. And right now, my nigga, I feel violated as fuck.” I snarled waiting on a reply. I got nothing. “Since you’re on mute, you’re about to force me to initiate plan B. And you ain’t gon’ like plan B. Now, I got one of my hitters parked outside of your granny’s house, waiting on my word. You fail to give me the answers I need, then granny goes boom!”