“Oohhhh, the two scary lines.” Ming said.
“Exactly.” Directing her attention to Bricks she said, “Baby,” Bricks was sick over the idea of leaving her alone with Swoopes, “how did you find me?”
“Melvin, he was following Swoopes for awhile, until he saw them niggas who came to the house and took Tracy that night. You remember, they had her in the car before they let her go?”
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, he started following them, until they went back into the hotel, and he lost them niggas again. But in the process he saw some other dudes leaving out the hotel. He said one dude had you in a wheel chair, and that you looked sleep and that the other dudes were walking really close to this nigga over here and Gabriella. So he followed them with the rental truck until eventually he lost them, too.”
“Doesn’t sound like Melvin is good with following,” Ming said. Yvonna laughed, just happy to see her friend again.
“So he came back and got us and we been going up and down the same road he lost them on in the hopes that I would find you. And I did,” Then he looked into her eyes, “So you see baby, I can’t let you go. And if you gonna fight these mothafuckas I’m with you. I don’t give a fuck about nothing anymore. But I’ll kill you before I let you get in a car or anywhere else with this dude alone.” That was the most romantic shit she’d ever heard in her life.
“Ming is going, too.” Ming said. “So don’t even try leaving me.”
“You can’t,” Yvonna said, “What about Boy?”
“Ming already made arrangements,” she said, “Quita is taking Boy to my aunt in Maryland, I told her he may have to stay for awhile. Ming didn’t know how long it would take to find you, but Ming wasn’t giving up.”
“What about your mother? You were supposed to meet her next week.”
“Its fine,” Ming said sadly. “We all we got.”
“And not only that, Yao is talking about killing niggas and shit.” He paused. “And I think he used those words exactly. They found Urban’s body in the hotel with Carmen. He thinks we’re involved.”
“We?”
“Yeah, the boy Phillip told him everything. He said he saw me through the crack of the door in the room. I think he even told the FBI, too. They was already asking questions once they discovered Urban, Carmen and some nigga floating in the pool. Now that nigga put us directly in the mix.” Bricks said. “We fugitives, Squeeze. Ain’t no normal life for us unless we want to be behind bars forever.”
Yvonna was devastated. She didn’t want her friends going through this shit. “Where’s Kelsi?”
“He went back home,” Bricks said. “But fuck all that. It’s me and you against the world.”
“We staying.” Ming said. “With you.”
Their display of love was overwhelming and then it dawned on her, despite not taking medication she was seeing Gabriella less frequently. Like Satori said, could love really conquer all?
“There’s nothing I can say is it?” Yvonna asked looking at Bricks and Ming. “Ya’ll coming with me whether I want you involved or not.”
“Pretty much,” Bricks said.
She gave them all hugs and said, “Finally after all of these years, I found a real nigga and a friend who truly loves me.”
“Yeah, well, I just hope you deserve it.” Melvin interrupted the love parade.
She walked up to him and said, “I know you don’t get me, and you try to play hard ass all the time, but there’s something about me you like. Just admit it.”
“I ain’t admitting shit,” he said getting into the truck. Her feelings were hurt.
“He’ll come around,” Bricks said, “but even if he don’t it don’t make me no difference, I love you. That’s all that matters”
“I love you too, baby.”
They were walking to the truck when she said, “Wait. I got to make a call. Bricks, can I use your phone?” Bricks hands her his phone. Taking the sheet of paper out of her back pocket she dialed the number Penny gave her.
“Hello.” A man’s voice said.
The sun beat against her skin. “I’m coming for you. Be ready.”
“Yvonna?” He said confidently. Silence. “We’ll be waiting.”
“Not for long.” She said before hanging up.
“Who was that?” Bricks asked.
“Someone we got to get rid of.”
After the call they all piled into the truck and Ming sat in the front with Melvin. Bricks sat in the back on the right, Yvonna in the middle and Swoopes on the left. Once again the two men gave each other evil stares. Swoopes looked over at Bricks and said, “I hope you know that after we get them baby rapers and find the kid, we got beef.”
“Nigga, you put six slugs in me, we got beef now!” Bricks said.
As the car rolled down the dusty roads Ming flicked a few matches and looked back at Swoopes. “To be wild, you kinda cute. Eye patch and all.”
For the first time that day Swoopes grinned, “Thanks, ma.” He looked out the window.
“Keep that up and you just might get some.” Ming continued. Bricks and Yvonna shook their heads.
He looked at her and said, “We can get into all that if you want, but for now, let’s go smoke some crazies!”
Chocolate City
Yvonna
There were no praises of worship in the church today. After all, having raised enough money from the collection plate that circulated every five minutes, the church was being renovated and was closed. Smells of paint and new furniture were heavy as Pastor Robinson crept into the basement. His hair was completely silver and he had deep-set wrinkles in his face.
Singing hymns, he flipped on the light switch. And when he did the brownness of his skin was almost drained when he saw Swoopes sitting on the table picking his nail with a knife, Bricks leaned up against the wall with the handle of his gun showing under his shirt, Ming sitting down in a chair with a rope on the floor next to her black Jimmy Choo’s as she flicked matches and Yvonna standing in the middle with a look that alone could kill.
“Uh…what are you children doing here?” The old preacher stuttered. “I ain’t got nothing you want.”
“Oh you got something we want alright,” Yvonna said.
“Like what?”
Yvonna walked so close to him, he could feel her body heat and smell her strawberry scented breath. “For starters, you gonna tell us everything you know about them baby rapers you affiliated yourself with. And if you don’t,” she paused, “well sir, let’s just say I really hope you alright with the Lord.”
Chocolate City
Bilal Jr.
Bilal walked alone on a street in a small DC project. He knew he could’ve been killed but he was meeting his brothers for the first time. Swoopes didn’t make good on his promise to handle AJ and Dirk, and as a result, he had beef and was forced to leave home.
Taking the piece of paper out of his pocket with the address, he bypassed the evil stares of many as he made his way up the street. But when he approached a green house, he saw two young twenty something year old men fixing a car shirtless. On their backs were identical tattoos that read, “Don’t Get On My Shyt List Again”. He wondered what that meant.
When he moved closer, one of them turned around and tapped the other on the shoulder. The moment Bilal saw their faces, he knew they were related. All three shared the same soft curly hair, and their complexions were identical. He was happy to have family of his own until he felt an unwelcoming vibe from one of his brothers.
“So, you our baby brother,” the nice one said. “It’s good to finally meet you, nigga. I hope you ready to put in work.”
Bilal just nodded, not knowing what that meant.
“Yeah, lil nigga,” the other said, “Welcome home.”
Shyt List 5
Smokin’ Crazies
The Final Chapter
ications Presents)
Shyt List 4: Children of the Wronged (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 23