by Mikal Malone
“Watch out!” I yell as I draw my weapon.
Kenyetta and Mercedes pull out theirs and we all start firing. The men on the roof and the ones in the field fire as well. Why would these suicidal niggas try us? Bullets rang from everywhere and before long two of them fall. We continue to fire when all of a sudden one of my girls yelp in pain.
“Owwwwwww!” she yells.
Terrified, I can’t bring myself to look at who it was. Filled with rage, I hop down the stairs two and three at a time. I want his life with disregard for my own.
“Boss, get outta the way!” one of the men yells from the roof.
I don’t stop running until I’m directly in front of him. Bullets stop flying behind me too. I know they are trying to avoid hittin’ me. I walk up to him with warm tears streaming down my face. He’s a kid. About nineteen or twenty years old and he possibly killed my friend. When I look at his expression, he appears demented. He’s on something for sure. I raise my arm and my gun.
He laughs and says, “Fuck you, you crazy-,” before he finishes I fire and hit him in the center of his face. He falls.
His blood splatters on my face and white Dior coat. At my feet, I watch the blood rush from his body. Not satisfied, I shoot him a few more times until my gun can only produce a click click sound. It was my first time killin’ someone but I’m sure it wouldn’t be my last. When the high I felt from his death passes, I’m left with the horror of finding out which of my friends are injured. Or dead.
Turning around, I slowly take the walk toward the steps of Unit C. And all of a sudden the sensation I felt when I lost Dex and Stacia overcomes me. Was I about to lose another friend? I feel light as I move and it’s as if I’m not walking anymore. The moment I take another step, I pass out on the ground.
Yvette
“I should’ve never left my friends’ side.”
“What you want me to do, Chris? I can’t just up and tell people I’m a lesbian!” I cry as I watch her fold and pack her clothes on the kitchen table. My body feels like it’s sinking into the large chocolate leather sofa I’m sitting on.
“Yvette, you ain’t gotta do shit,” she says grabbing a folded shirt from the pile, placing it neatly in her suitcase. “You made your decision already.”
When everything is packed, she walks toward the bathroom. I quickly follow.
“Chris, please…give me some time!” I say grabbing her arm. “I can’t just tell my friends about us overnight! I’m not like you! I haven’t been gay all my life.”
“Fuck off me, Yvette! You had two years to deal with being gay. But I know what it really is,” she says moving toward the living room to grab her coat from the closet.
“What is it?”
“You never had any intentions on telling them about us. You just wanted me to lick your pussy and stay under your bed like some fuckin’ sex slave! That shit ain’t for me! And that ain’t for us! Find another sucka ass bitch. I’m outta here!”
She was just about to leave when I hear multiples gun shots outside. It sounds like war was taking place in the yard. Rushing toward my table I grab my Glock and push past Chris. I was so scared I didn’t stop to grab my coat. It had to be about thirty degrees outside. My adrenaline was pumping and suddenly the time I wasted on Chris felt stupid.
I decide against the elevator and take my chances running down the stairs. My heart races as I imagine the worse. I should’ve never left my friends’ side during one of the most dangerous times in Emerald. As I open the door to the building, the first person I see is Carissa being helped upstairs by two of our men. Her facial expression scares me and my heart sinks. Holding the pit of my stomach, I see Mercedes lying on the ground with Kenyetta above her crying.
“Mercedes!” I scream rushing to her side. “How the fuck did this happen?!”
The soldier in me wanted answers but my love for Mercedes prevents me from running through the city and shooting anybody with the slightest look of guilt on their face. Stooping down, I hover over top of her. Her eyes open and she looks scared.
“What happened, Kenyetta?” I ask.
“We were on the steps and these niggas started runnin’ toward us firin’.”
I’m so angry my hand is shaking and I place my gun in the back of my pants to prevent from firing by mistake.
“Mercedes…where are you hit?”
“In my arm. It burns a little but I’m fine.”
I open the blue North face coat she’s wearing to check the wound. She moans a little in discomfort as blood pours from her body and onto the concrete.
“I can’t watch this,” Carissa says as she turns around.
Lifting up her t-shirt, I see her torn flesh in her upper arm.
“Oh shit, Yvette! We gotta call the ambulance,” Kenyetta says.
“No! It’ll be too hot,” Mercedes replies. “Plus we have to get rid of the bodies.”
“She’s right. Let’s get her to Old Lady Faye’s house downstairs,” I tell them as I motion for two of the guys to help pick her up. They run upstairs.
“Kenyetta, call the Vanishers and have them remove the bodies off the field.”
The Vanishers were our best kept secret. Whenever we wanted a body gone, they would come in this black beaten up van, and take the body off of Emerald City grounds. I don’t know how they disposed of the remains, but the bodies were never found.
“Carissa, tell the lieutenants we have an emergency meeting in two hours at the community center. Shit is about to get serious around here.”
“Huh?” she says staring off into space, disoriented.
“Carissa, you hear me?” I reply walking up to her.
She doesn’t move. I guess all of the action must’ve been too much for her. But as far as I was concerned she would have to get use to it because things were about to get real nasty. The fuckin’ games are over.
“Carissa, wake the fuck up!” I say smacking her in the face. She rubs her skin and looks into my eyes. “I said tell the lieutenants we have a meeting in two hours. I need you wit’ me so man the fuck up!”
“Oh…okay. I’ll call everybody now.”
“We ready to take her to Faye’s.” the men say holding Mercedes in their arms.
“Cool, I’ll be down to check on you later, Mercedes.”
“Okay.”
After my orders were given, I turn around to see Chris standing there.
“You okay?” she asks in a concerned tone.
I want to lie and say no thinking she’d stay. I look around to see who’s watching but there’s so much going on and everyone is so preoccupied with Mercedes that they don’t notice Chris was in my face for the second time that day.
“I’m fine,” I say softly keeping my voice down. “You sure you wanna do this?”
“I’m sure I gotta do this, Bye, Yvette,” she responds walking down the stairs.
“Mercedes!” I hear Derrick screaming as he runs up the stairs and toward us mad as hell.
There’s commotion everywhere but for the moment, all I see is Chris walking away. Even Derrick’s distraught voice disappears as he rushes past me. I want to beg her not to take another step away but I can’t. She’s gone and my soul misses her already.
Black Water
“If we gonna move we gotta move now.”
The room is almost completely dark with the exception of the light illuminating from the clock and bathroom light. The fan above the huge brass bed cooled Black Water’s body. Half sleep, he grips his wife’s slender leg when she places it over his. After the sex-capade they had the night before, they were beat.
Shade Holman had been married to Jesse Holman, also known as Black Water since she was seventeen. And now that she was 34, she’d bore him twelve children including his sixteen year old son favorite son, Tamir. Her body showed no signs of birth. Her beautiful dark skin and long silky hair transferred to all of her children.
Black was careful about picking the right women to bare his kids. He wanted his offsp
ring as beautiful as their mothers. And had he not bought out Dreyfus for twenty million, to own Tyland, the women he picked would’ve been unattainable to such an unattractive man. But his power, and swag, made him appealing.
When the phone rings at seven in the morning, it startles Shade a little. “Mmmmm, baby, you expectin’ any calls?” she purrs gripping him. Her hair falls down her back and her fingers are covered in diamonds.
“Naw,” he says groggily. “Answer it.”
“Hey, Shannon…Get the phone,” Shade tells her sister who’s also in the bed on the other side of Black.
Although Shannon was also Black’s wife, their marriage was not legal. Shade managed to convince Shannon to participate in the marriage the moment she was eighteen because Black wanted her the moment he saw her. At first Shannon refused cursing the idea of sleeping with the same man as her sister. But when she was presented with a custom colored pink Rolls Royce on her nineteenth birthday it sealed the deal.
Shannon was two years younger than her older sister Shade. And just like Shade, she possessed the same silky hair which she kept neatly locked. The sisters’ body frames were totally different. Shade was tall with large breasts and Shannon was short with a fat ass and beautiful brown eyes. Shannon had given him ten children.
Black didn’t lie to his wives and he always made his plan clear. He wanted to wife as many women as possible so that they could birth his children. And for their participation, he lavished them with anything they desired. He wanted an army which he called the Black Water Clan. His quest for power consumed him.
Shannon complies rolling over to answer the phone. “Hello?”
“Is Black there?” Cameron asks.
“Who’s calling?”
“Tell him it’s Cameron. I need to talk to him right now.”
“Baby, it’s Cameron,’” she says holding the cordless phone. “He says it’s important.”
Black sits up in the bed and angrily accepts the phone. Shade and Shannon rub and kisses his chest. The diamonds on their hands stand out against his dark skin.
“This betta be good,” Black says as his wives’ caresses causes him to grow hard. His chest was his hot spot and they knew it.
“What the fuck is goin’ on in Emerald?!”
“I don’t know what the fuck you talkin’ about but I ain’t one of your bitches! Now I think you better calm down a little, partner and explain. ‘Cause this sounds like a misunderstandin’ and that shouldn’t be when we ‘bout to make money together.”
Cameron takes a deep and says, “Mercedes was shot last night.”
“I don’t know shit about that. Sounds to me like you callin’ the wrong dude.”
“Well who was it then?”
“Look…niggas get shot all the time in this game. Just cause they got pussies don’t make them immune. But whateva happened to her was not by my hands. Give me some time, I might be able to find out what went down later.”
“Yeah well I need to know quick.”
“Like I said, I’ll check on that and get back wit’ you.” Black was desperately trying to maintain his composure. For now, he still needed Cameron. “Did you get things together wit’ your peoples in Emerald? If we gonna move we gotta move now.”
“What peoples?”
“Cam, you aight ? Cause you actin’ irrational right now.”
“I’m fine, nigga.” Cameron barked.
“Good. Now what’s up wit’ your crew in Emerald? Are they ready?”
Cameron still mad Mercedes got shot says, “Yeah. They waitin’ on my word.”
“So when you gonna give it? Or are you gonna let bullshit get in the way of business?”
“When you tell me what went down last night, I’ll place the call. Not ‘til then.” Cameron says hanging up the phone.
As Black lay in the bed he was trying to avoid having him killed. He didn’t feel like receiving calls over a bitch the nigga said he wanted dead.
“Don’t worry ‘bout that dumb shit, baby,” Shade coos.
“Yeah, big daddy. You still the man and that nigga betta be glad you even let him in your world,” Shannon adds feeding his already large ego .
Black knew his wives were right, but he was still heated. Cameron was accusing him of something he didn’t do and was threatening his plans.
The Night Before
“Get the tires too!” Cristal said to one of Black’s men.
“This shit can’t get more fucked up than this,” Jam J laughed looking at the ruined black Dodge Magnum. One of the rearview mirrors was hanging off the car, and scratches and dents were everywhere. “Call Ed and tell him we done.”
“Bout time!” Cristal said dialing his number. “We almost got caught twice.”
It took Ed two minutes to drive his black Honda from the guard’s station to the back of Unit B. Ed parked his car, opened his door and walked toward Carson.
“Carson, I think somebody fucked your car up man,” Harold told him while smoking a blunt. “You betta check that shit out. It don’t look too good.”
“What?” he asked leaning on the wall next to the back door. “Ain’t nobody crazy enough to fuck wit’ my shit ‘round here.”
“Apparently we got niggas in Emerald who ain’t from ‘round here.”
Carson wiped his hand over his face in frustration and said, “So you serious?”
“Dead serious, homie. I was drivin’ to my crib when I saw that shit.”
“Fuck!” he said rubbing his hands over the top of his head. “So you just drivin’ around the city and saw my shit, huh?” He nods yes. “I thought you and Harold was ‘spose to stay on post.” Carson didn’t trust Ed. “The bosses said everyone works.”
“Look man, I was makin’ a run to my crib to get some smoke. The bosses wouldn’t even miss me unless somebody told ‘em. You not gonna tell ‘em, are you?”
“I ain’t no snitch, nigga.”
“Okay then. I’m lookin’ out for you, but if you don’t want me to, that’s cool.”
Ed was preparing to leave hoping he’d stop him and he did.
“Hold on!” Carson yelled. “Can you watch my post while I check on my shit?”
“I’ll watch it for you, but you gotta hurry up back.”
Carson thought about it for a moment and jogged to the location where he left his car. Ed waited for him to be completely out of view before calling Black Water.
“You can come out, Black. The post is clear.”
When Black came out, he hurried to Ed’s car and dove in the back seat. Without altercation, Ed drove past Harold at the gate. Since Tyland was only a few blocks up, when he dropped Black off no one noticed he’d left. When he came back, he discovered Mercedes had been shot. Turns out he could not have gotten Black out of Emerald at a better time.
The Present
“Don’t worry about that shit, baby,” Shannon says. “Worry about this pussy and charge the rest to the game.” She continues to stroke his thickness.
“Handle it,” he tells her.
Without complaining, she throws back the covers so he can see her putting in work. He loved to watch getting his dick sucked. Shannon always could suck his dick better than her sister or any of his wives for that matter. That’s why she was favored.
“Shade, tell Energy to make me some breakfast,” he says referring to his third wife who was in the other bedroom sleep.
“No problem,” she says smacking her sister on the ass, before exiting the bedroom wearing only her royal blue panties.
Energy was Black’s third out of ten wives. Although Energy was beautiful, she wasn’t as sexy as his nine other wives. Energy was so light skin she could past for white and the five children she bore all looked like her with silky long hair and light green eyes. But because she could cook her ass off, Black allowed her to stay in his apartment with the sisters. His other wives lived in the same building and on the same floor.
Since everyone had their duties, things ran smooth between them. Bl
ack didn’t allow bickering, fussing and fighting between his wives. Shade, Shannon and Energy tended to his immediate needs while the other seven took care of the children. No children were allowed to stay in the apartment with him, not even their own. Energy never said it out loud, but she was jealous of the attention he gave the sisters. But she knew if she disputed, she might lose her position as the third favorite. Because her sex was average, she rarely had the honor of sleeping with Black. It hurt hearing the lovemaking sessions at night by the three of them while she lie alone, playing with her own pussy until she went to sleep. Secretly she was building her children up to become the strongest, thereby securing her future.
Between all of his wives, Black Water had thirty-five kids. And if Kenyetta acted right, he had plans to make her his eleventh. She was stronger than the others so it was harder breaking her down. He couldn’t win her with promises of riches because she had her own. In order to get her, he was sure he’d have to strip her of Emerald. And if things went his way, that would be happening soon. enough
As Energy prepared his meal, Black Water palmed the back of Shannon’s head in the bedroom.
“Don’t forget to hold my balls, baby,” he coaches.
“Sorry, daddy,” she says bobbing on his dick while stroking his nuts softly.
As she went to work he thought about what he was going to do about Cameron. He always thought better during sex and with the work Shannon was putting in, he felt like Albert Einstein. If Cameron wanted to play games, he was going to write the rules. One playbook at a time.
Lil’ C
“I don’t pay a bitch shit but attention.”
“We moved that shit already?!” Nicholas says looking more like Snoop Dog did in his prime with his hair braided. He counted his share of the weed profits from school.
Lil’ C met Nicholas at Sidwell Friends, a prestigious private school in Washington D.C. It was the same school Sachi, Lani and Jona attended. The criteria was tough and the tuition was heavy but both Lil’ C and Nicholas’s families could afford the fee.
Nicholas’s mother was a District Court judge in DC. And before meeting Lil’ C, Nicholas fantasized about the Gangsta lifestyle he saw on TV. But with Lil’ C, he got to live out his fantasies first hand. His privileged life was boring and he wanted a release. Lil’ C used him at first because he had a car. He would’ve had one himself if he hadn’t failed the knowledge test repeatedly. But after a while, he liked Nicholas for his loyalty.