GABRIELLA
Swoopes was lying on the sofa alone, drinking the last of the Hennessey. And Ming had already gone to bed, after things didn’t go her way, which was fine with him. She wanted to be alone with Swoopes and he wanted to be alone with himself, to think things through. Although he didn’t say it, it fucked him up that he had to kill two of his closest friends. Swoopes was not the same since he went on a mission to kill Yvonna. Suddenly he was realizing that what he thought was important wasn’t and he questioned the man he had grown into. He was bitter, hateful and abused a lot of people, in a pursuit to get over in life. Now it felt like it was all for nothing.
“What are you doing?” Gabriella said, sitting next to him on the sofa. “You look like you lost your two best friends.”
He took one look at her, threw his head back into the cushion and closed his eyes. “If you think that’s funny,” he responded, referring to the members of the YBM, “it’s not. Don’t make me go off on you.”
“Cut the tough guy routine. There’s no need to be so uptight. Learn to love life, like I do.” She cooed placing her hand softly on his leg.
He sighed and shook his head. At the moment, everybody and everything was irritating him. “What do you want, Yvonna?”
“Company.” She advised inching closer to him. “Where’s Ming?” She looked around for her. “I’d think she’d be stuffed up under your ball sack.”
“Somewhere wit’ an attitude.”
“So what are you doing all alone?” Her hand inched closer to his dick. “Because you know you don’t have to be.”
He looked at her hand, which seemed out of place on his body and closed his eyes again. “I’m thinking. And what are you doing, trying to set me up? Playing games? Whatever you’re doing I don’t feel like being bothered with.”
“I’ll give you a penny for your thoughts.”
He sighed. “You gonna need more than that to hear half the shit in my head.”
“Awww, now you’ve made me sad.” She responded in a child-like voice.
Two quick laughs escaped his lips. “And why is that?
“Because I was hoping you’d say you were thinking about me.”
Swoopes lifted his head off the cushion and looked at her. Immediately Gabriella began to get aroused. “What’s up wit’ you, Yvonna? Why you looking at me like that? When your man was here, you acted like you didn’t have two words to say to me. Now you can’t stop touching me? I disgust you remember?”
“I never said that.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Why are you asking so many questions, Swoopes? I know you want me. I can see it in your eye. So let’s stop playing games because we don’t have a lot of time. He may be back soon.”
Swoopes hopped off of the sofa. He looked at the front door for Bricks and towards the back for Ming. If either of them came out and saw what she was trying to do, it could be problems for the crew. “Yvonna, I know you had a few glasses, but I’m not ‘bout to go there wit’ you tonight. It ain’t even like that between us. You know that.”
Gabriella stood up and moved toward him, as if it was dinnertime and he was on the menu. “Don’t tell me I’m about to give you the pussy and you gonna turn it down.” She kissed him softly on the neck. “This is the kind of offer that won’t come around every lifetime. You better get it while its good.”
“I hear you, but you not listening to me. Like I said, it ain’t like that between us.” For the first time in his life, Swoopes allowed another person to back him into a corner. “So I need you to step off wit’ that shit.”
“Stop fucking around with me, Swoopes.” Gabriella grabbed his dick and ran her tongue along the side of his neck. “You been wanting this pussy for the longest. I can tell by the way you’ve been looking at me. Now what you want to do?”
Swoopes wanted her so badly it was tough to deny. Part of him desired to see what was so special about her pussy that caused two of his men, Bilal and Crazy Dave, to fall. The other part of him, the part that was just as crazy as she was, wanted to fuck her into submission. Wanted to see how their bodies gelled together, legitimately this time and not by force.
“Look, I don’t know what this is about, but I’m not feeling this shit right now. Maybe if you came at me when you weren’t drinking, I might’ve taken you up on your offer and my dick would’ve been in your mouth ten minutes ago. For now I’ma have to say we gotta take a rain check.”
“A rain check?” She repeated, not believing his reason. “Did you actually just say that you wanted a rain check on this pussy?” She placed her hand between her legs.
“Come on, man.”
“Take me up on my offer now, Swoopes. Not later. I’m saying I’m trying to fuck you and all you can say is if I wasn’t drunk you’d be down?” She massaged his dick to a stiffness. When he was as hard as he was going to get, she dropped to her knees, released his dick and placed him into her warm mouth. “Hmmm, you taste so good.”
“Oh my, God!” He looked down at her. The way her head bobbed and her tongue rolled was beautiful. If he could take a picture and refer to this moment as many times as he could, he could beat his dick for the next six months and be fine. “What the fuck are you doing to me?” He looked around to be sure no one was coming. If Bricks came back he would have to kill him if he saw this, he was sure of it. “What if your nigga comes in? You know this shit wrong.”
With a wet mouth Gabriella looked up at him and said, “You thinking about shit you shouldn’t be.” She stuck her pink tongue out and eased it on the tip, eying him the entire time. “Let me worry about Bricks. You just enjoy yourself.” When she said enough, she went back to work.
Fuck it! If she wanted to take care of business, why was he going to stop her? He wasted enough time begging with her to leave him alone as is. Had he went with the flow, he could’ve came by now. Swoopes looked down at her and couldn’t wait to shoot his load into her mouth. “Keep it like that, bitch.” He grabbed two fistfuls of her hair in the pursuit of her throat. When he found it, his head dropped back against the wall and he enjoyed the performance. “Damn that shit feels so good.”
“I’m glad you like it.” She managed to say as she looked up at him.
“I do,” But when he looked at her this time, something came over him. He tried to close his eyes and not think about what he was doing, but the nagging feeling wouldn’t go away. He felt no better than the men who took advantage of her, when she was a kid, and he didn’t want to contribute to that type of lifestyle anymore. If she wanted to get it in when she was sober, he was game. But until that moment came, their little rendezvous would have to wait.
Reaching down, he helped her to her feet. “I can’t do this shit.” He zipped his pants. “Not like this anyway.”
“Fuck you mean?” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “What…you didn’t like it or something? I can do it better.”
“I’m saying I can’t do it like this. If you want to see me, make it another time. When you ain’t have so much to drink. Until then, I’ll get up with you later.”
YVONNA
Yvonna woke up in the bed, with Bricks not next to her. She knew they had an argument but they argued all the time and always managed to move past the dumb shit. When she sat up, the headache she developed from drinking like a sailor kicked her hard. For a second she lay back down, to let the pain subside as she wondered where he could be. Although she didn’t remember going anywhere after Bricks left her in the bedroom, she felt like she only had an hour sleep. And there was blood on the edge of the shirt she was wearing. Had she hurt herself?
Twenty minutes later, she finally decided to check on Delilah. She realized it was insensitive to make her go another night without her, since she’d been without her for so long, but the past few days were wearing on her and caused her to be a little selfish last night. Guilt plagued her when she considered the reason she didn’t spend time with her, was because she was drunk. She hoped that
her irresponsibility was not a sign, that she wasn’t fit to be a mother. Delilah was the one person who made her feel that maybe she was actually sane.
On her way out the bedroom she heard a voice say, “You killed Tree last night. You took Bradshaw’s cell out of his bedroom and found his address. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I wanted you to know.”
“Who is that?” She looked around the room. “Where are you?”
“I have to talk to you, Yvonna.” This time when the voice spoke, it caused her entire body to tingle. She hadn’t heard it in awhile, but that didn’t mean she could forget it. Slowly she turned around and when she did, her first love, Bilal, was standing before her. But instead of excitement, she knew his presence meant death.
He was wearing the same thing he had on the night he asked her to be his wife, and the night she took his life. “You’re not here, Bilal. You can’t be. I killed you.”
He grinned and walked over to her. She saw the tattoo on his arm that read ‘LalVon’. It was short for Bilal and Yvonna. The words were inside a coffin and it represented his motto that it would be he and she until death.
He grinned and ran his hand over his smooth black goatee. Since he was Hispanic and African American, it lay smoothly against his skin. “You did kill me, baby. But that’s not why I’m here to see you. Miss me?”
Her heart told her he wasn’t there, but that didn’t stop her from melting. “I do miss you, but…what’s going on?”
His hazel brown eyes twinkled. “I’m here for two reasons. For starters, I need you to do me a favor that only you can do. And secondly, I don’t want you to be scared, but I’m here for you.”
“What you mean you’re here for me?” She backed herself into the wall but he followed.
“Yvonna, you already know what I’m saying.” She shook her head in defiance. “You’ve gotten away with a lot. You killed some people you may have thought needed to die, and a bunch of others along the way.” He pointed at Tree’s blood on her shirt. “You don’t get to live a life like that, without having to pay the piper.” He placed his hands on her shoulders. “It’s over, Yvonna. You had a good run.”
She walked away and sat on the bed. For the first time in her life, she hoped she really was crazy. She closed her eyes and reopened them, but he was still there. “I know what this is,” She smirked, rocking back and forth. “I’m seeing you because I took your life. Just like I’ve seen some of the other people I killed. It’s all a part of my illness.”
He sat next to her. “You’re about to die, and before you do, I’m going to give you an opportunity to right some wrongs.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.” She turned to face the door. Why did her life have to be like this? Why did she have to see people who others claimed they couldn’t? The people that came to her in life were so real, that sometimes she’d think others were lying just to fuck with her mind. “Leave me alone, Bilal. Please. I’m dealing with a lot right now. I don’t think I can handle all of this.”
“I can’t leave you alone, Yvonna. Not this time. But I wish I could.”
Yvonna got up and walked out without hearing anything else he had to say. She was sure seeing her daughter was guaranteed to make her feel better. She knocked on the door twice and when she didn’t get an answer, walked into the room. Surprisingly Delilah was up already and sitting on the floor, with three pink Hello Kitty suitcases next to her.
“Good morning, baby.” Yvonna said, cheerfully. “What’s this all about?” She pointed to the luggage on the floor. “Going somewhere without me?”
When she approached, Delilah jumped on the bed and sat with her legs folded closely to her chest. “Please don’t hit me. I wasn’t doing nothing. Please.”
Yvonna backed up and tilted her head. “Hit you?” She frowned. “Why…why would I do that?”
“I don’t know, but I want to go see my aunt Jesse, okay?”
“Sure.” She nodded. “We can do it when everything settles down. But I can’t take time out to drop you off now, there’s too much going on. But if I’m going to take you anywhere, can you tell me what’s wrong first?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. I just wanna stay at my aunt Jesse’s.” When she started crying, Yvonna was startled. Her daughter was acting like she was scared of her, when she didn’t have a reason to be. “Please...take me to see her, mommy. That’s all I want. Okay?”
Yvonna sat on the bed and Delilah jumped off. She was doing a good job of keeping her distance and Yvonna was trying to figure out why. Just yesterday she couldn’t keep her little arms from being wrapped around her and now she acted as if she was contagious. “Delilah, come here, baby” she extended her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Please.” She shook her head no. “Why, baby? Did I miss something?”
“No!” she yelled. “I just don’t want to be here. I want to be with my aunt.”
Yvonna took a moment to look at how frightened she was and it dawned on her. She heard all of the commotion in the living room last night and was nervous. She reasoned that Bradshaw probably did a good job of keeping her away from drama, so she wasn’t use to being in fear. Yvonna knew she couldn’t keep her with them while they fulfilled their mission, she just hoped they’d have a few more days together, before they parted ways again. Her living with Jesse was always in the plan, but not now.
“Baby, if you’re worried about the things you heard yesterday, you don’t have to be. I’ll make sure you’re safe while we sort things out, Delilah. You don’t have to worry about anything. I will never put you in harms way.”
“I want to live with my aunt Jesse!” She screamed, crying harder. “Please!”
The look in her eyes was filled with fear and pain, and Yvonna held her chest because she found it difficult to breathe. She reminded her of how Jesse looked at her, on the night Bilal was murdered. “Delilah, please stop crying. I’ll do anything you want but I have to know.” She felt the inside of her nose burn and knew she was on the verge of sobbing. She didn’t want Delilah to see her in such a desperate way, but it appeared she might not have a choice. “I just have to know baby, if I let you go, will you ever want to live with me again?”
It seemed like she waited forever, for her to respond. “I just want to be with my aunt Jesse.” She continued. “Please, mommy, take me to her house.”
“Okay, baby, there’s no need to,” she felt tears coming so she made an exit and closed the door before she could finish her statement. There was no way she could hold back. She couldn’t face her. After speaking to Jesse on the phone and getting over the chivalries, she explained that her niece would be coming to stay for an indefinite time and as always, she was happy to oblige. Now alone in the bathroom, she wailed harder. She didn’t understand. If that little girl didn’t want her, than there was no need to be anything other than pure evil.
“Do you realize that ever since I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you cry?” Bilal asked, sitting on the edge of the tub. “I must say, I love the vulnerable side of you.”
The last thing she needed was to be bothered with him. She wiped her tears and said, “Bilal, please go away. I want to be left alone.”
“I told you already that I can’t do that. I’m here to take you with me. And, I also need you to do me a favor.”
“Well since I already know that you believe you’re here to lead me to death…”
“I’m here to lead you to hell.”
An icy feeling ran over her. “Well, since you believe you are hear to take me to...to...,” for some reason she couldn’t say the word, “take me away, what is the favor?”
“I need you to check on my son. And you know you feel guilty for how you treated him, which is why you’re here talking to yourself about it.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“I do,” he laughed, “now that you have a daughter, you know how it feels to want the best for a child. So you can’t help but remember what you did to him. And he’s all alon
e and it’s all your fault.”
“First off what son are you talking about?” Yvonna stood up to turn the faucet on. She ran her fingers under the cold water and splashed it against her face. “You have three kids remember? Well, three that I know about. You were always good at sticking your dick into any and everything.”
He didn’t seem phased by her comment. “I’m talking about Bilal, Jr. The one you owe. You knew which one I was talking about.”
“I don’t owe anybody anything, Bilal. I’m not his mother. Sabrina was.” She turned the water off and looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t remember the last time she looked so rough. “Now either kill me or let me be.”
“Not only do you owe him, you owe him big time.”
“Why is that, Bilal?” She turned to look at him. “You slept with my best friend and had a child by her. I don’t owe that kid shit but to leave him alone and let him live. Since you know so much, you also know I wanted to kill him to get back at you. So consider it a favor that he’s still alive.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Dead serious. I wanted to put a bullet in his head. Which was my original plan. But everybody who would’ve cared is gone and unable to be hurt by his death.”
“You still don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“That the reason you are even having this conversation with yourself, because you are talking to yourself, is because you feel guilty about what you did to him. You realize that he didn’t do anything but breathe on the day you chose to hate him. You despised him from the start and took everything and everybody away who loved him. His mother, me, and even my mother, Bernice. At least the twins had the love of Treyana and Avante until they got older. He didn’t even have that.” He stood up. “The bottom line is, you are about to die, and you have a chance to make a few things right. You need to check on him, to make sure he’s okay. Do it for me, or do it for yourself.”
“You sound like a fool!” She placed her hands over her ears. She didn’t want to hear any more of his lies. Because she was getting sicker by the day, she wasn’t realizing that Bilal was in her mind. Holding her ears would not make him go away. She was falling further into insanity.
Shyt List 5: Smokin' Crazies The Finale' (The Cartel Publications Presents) Page 14