Animal

by Foye, K'wan

  Porsha’s eyes snapped open, and she looked up at Alonzo. “Fuck that door, get this.” She gripped his ass cheeks and tried to force him deeper.

  Her walls felt like the finest silk, and for as much as he wanted to explore her further he couldn’t ignore the knocking. “Give me a second.” He pulled out of her and got off the couch.

  Porsha propped on one elbow. “Are you kidding me?” She watched Alonzo duck-walk to the door, holding his pants up with one hand. She was about to bark at him for leaving her hanging until she saw him grab the gun off the bookshelf on his way to the door.

  Alonzo’s heart pounded in his chest a little harder the closer he got to the door. He hardly ever had visitors, and they were never unannounced. When he looked though the peephole and saw nothing but the tanned flesh of someone’s palm, his mind automatically went into war mode. He looked over the shoulder and gave Porsha the signal to get clear. Then he swung the door open, ready to lay his murder game down—and was confronted by a face that looked much like his own.

  “If that’s how you greet your family, I’d hate to see how you greet your enemies.” Lakim pushed the gun aside and stepped in the apartment. On the couch, Porsha was putting herself together. He sized her up. “Nice.”

  “Slow ya roll, pimp. That ain’t community property.” Alonzo took Lakim by the arm and steered him back toward the front door. “Fuck are you doing here?”

  “Apparently fucking up your afternoon,” Lakim chuckled, trying to peer around Alonzo at Porsha. “But on some G-shit,” Lakim lowered his voice, “we gotta talk.”

  “And you couldn’t call me on the phone?” Alonzo was tight.

  “Not for this kinda talk. King need to holla about some shit, and he needs you there.”

  Alonzo sucked his teeth. “A’ight, I’ll come through later.” He tried to shove Lakim out the door so he could get back to Porsha.

  “Nah, he needs to see you now. This can’t wait. Baby bro, you know I wouldn’t even be over here fucking with you if it wasn’t important,” Lakim told him.

  Alonzo glanced over at Porsha, who looked like she was wound up tighter than a clock, then back to Lakim, who was doing a poor job of hiding the worried expression on his face. As usual, duty trumped personal interest. “Give me a minute,” he told Lakim, holding the door open for him to wait in the hall. He turned to Porsha and found her giving him a look that said she wasn’t pleased. “Ma—” he began, but she didn’t want to hear it.

  “Zo, don’t even say nothing because whatever you say is probably gonna make me feel cheaper than I already do,” she said in a disappointed tone. “I know how it is. The streets call, and you answer, right?”

  “It ain’t like that, Porsha. I just gotta handle this thing—”

  “What about handling this thing?” she motioned to herself. “You know what? Nevermind, Zo.” she gathered her purse and headed for the door.

  “Porsha, I’m sorry,” he said. He couldn’t believe that he had worked so hard for the prize and couldn’t enjoy it.

  “Alonzo, I don’t want you to be sorry, I want you to be considerate. And that’s what I’ve been trying to say from the beginning. Thanks for the nut, Zo. I’ll see you around.” She left the apartment.

  “Nice seeing you again, love,” Lakim said sarcastically to Porsha as she passed him in the hall. Porsha just rolled her eyes and kept it moving. “Yo, wasn’t that shorty from Brick City?” Lakim asked Alonzo after Porsha had gone.

  “Please don’t piss on my parade any further,” Alonzo sighed. “What the fuck does King wanna talk about that’s so urgent anyway?”

  “Murder. What else?”

  FORTY-FOUR

  FRANKIE WOKE WITH HER MOUTH FEELING LIKE she had gargled with sand and a splitting headache, no doubt from Cutty pulling her hair. She was shocked and hurt that he had carried her like that, but she didn’t know why she was. She saw Cutty treat Jada like shit, and she was the mother of his child, so it was foolish of her to think the snake wouldn’t turn and bite her one day.

  “Fuck him,” Frankie said and rolled out of bed. She grabbed her cell phone from the dresser and saw that she had fourteen missed calls and several voice mails. Cutty had called her a few times and Porsha once, but the rest were from Dena. Frankie recalled the way she had spoken to Dena and felt bad.

  Frankie had been meaning to have a talk with Dena for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to it. She was cool as hell but becoming way too possessive, and Frankie didn’t need anymore complications in her life. She intended on breaking it to her gently, but Dena caught her at the wrong time and all of the resentment came out in a wave instead of a trickle. She had gone way too hard on Dena and would make it her business to apologize to her.

  Before calling Dena back, Frankie decided to check in with Porsha. Of course, Porsha had given her an earful of the latest gossip, but what really shocked her was when Porsha revealed the details of her encounter with Alonzo.

  “I knew your hot ass would give in sooner or later,” Frankie smiled.

  “Shut up,” Porsha giggled on the other end of the phone. “I didn’t go over there to sleep with him, but one thing led to another and you know . . .”

  “Well, I need to know all the nasty details. How was it?” Frankie asked excitedly.

  “It was beautiful, right up into the point that he left me with a soaked pussy and feeling like a two-dollar whore,” Porsha said with a sigh. She went on to fill in the blanks about how Alonzo had left her hanging when Lakim came for him. “You wanna talk about burnt? I could’ve killed him and his cock-blocking-ass brother.”

  “That’s messed up. Well, I know the next time y’all get up you’re gonna put it on him.”

  “Ain’t gonna be no next time, Frankie. Never in my life have I had a man jump outta this sweet pussy and rush off because he had something better to do. I ain’t fucking with Alonzo.”

  “Maybe it was important and he had to leave. You might be overreacting a bit, Porsha.”

  “What do you mean overacting? Do you know what kind of blow that was to my self-esteem? This is the reason why I didn’t want to get emotionally attached to Zo in the first place. I’m not doing this to myself, Frankie. I can’t.”

  Frankie could tell that her friend was hurting, and she hurt for her. Porsha acted like she wasn’t, but she was really into Alonzo and anyone with eyes could see that he was into her too. Frankie knew that if Zo rushed out suddenly with Lakim, then it had to be tied into his extracurricular activities. She’d said she would confront Alonzo before telling Porsha his secret, but the truth might’ve been the only thing that could save their promising relationship.

  “Porsha, before you do something you might regret, I need to holla at you about Alonzo,” Frankie told her.

  “What, he got another bitch? I knew that nigga was foul!” Porsha fumed.

  “Nah, it’s nothing like that. It’s just . . . I don’t wanna have this conversation on the phone. What’re you doing in a couple of hours?”

  “Sitting in my house wondering why I have such poor judgment when it comes to men.”

  “A’ight. After I get dressed I’m gonna come uptown to check you. Don’t do anything until we talk,” Frankie told her.

  “Okay, but whatever you have to say better be damn good because I’m two seconds from calling him and cursing him out.”

  “Just hold your head until I get there.” Frankie ended the call.

  Frankie quickly showered and began to get dressed. She threw on a Fila sweat suit with the matching sneakers. She didn’t have time to do her hair, so she just threw on a fitted cap and kept it moving. On her way out the door her cell phone went off. She looked at the screen and when she saw Dena’s name, she hit ignore. She would talk to her when she came back from delivering the news to Porsha.

  Feeling like she was about to save the world, Frankie set out to start her journey uptown. When she came out of the building she found Bess and Vashaun sitting on the stoop with two guys she had seen bef
ore but didn’t know. The way they were spread out there was no way for Frankie to come down the stairs. She waited for them to notice her and move, but they acted like they didn’t notice her at all.

  “Excuse y’all,” Frankie said with an attitude.

  “My bad, li’l mama,” one of the dudes said, looking up at her.

  “Thank you,” Frankie said, and descended the last few steps. As she passed she felt the dude grab her ass.

  “Soft as cotton,” he laughed.

  Frankie didn’t even reply, she just punched the dude in his face. He tried to get up, and she rocked him twice more. His friend grabbed her from behind and locked her arms over her head in a full nelson. She struggled, but the dude was too strong. Frankie watched in horror as Bess stepped in front of her and extended a long box cutter.

  “You punk bitch, you couldn’t see in a fair one!” Frankie shouted.

  “Guess we’ll never know, will we?” Bess laid the box cutter against Frankie’s throat. “Maybe this will teach you that it ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at.” She ripped the blade across Frankie’s neck.

  Dena came out of the corner store just in time to see Bess and the others scatter from in front of the building. She shook her head, wondering what kind of fuckery the two stoop rats had stirred up. When she reached her building she found out.

  “Oh my God!” Dena dropped the bag of groceries she had been carrying. Frankie lay on the stoop, clutching at her neck and gasping for air. “No, no, no, no!” She rushed to Frankie’s side. “Why’d you have to be so hardheaded, Frankie? I’ve been trying to tell you they were gonna get at you, but you never had time to listen to me,” she sobbed.

  “Why they do this to me?” Frankie croaked. She was now bleeding from her mouth too.

  “Don’t talk! It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna get you some help.” Dena placed her hands over Frankie’s throat to try to stop the bleeding. “Somebody help! Help us!” Dena roared, but no one stirred. She knelt on the stoop next to her lover, wailing as she was forced to helplessly watch Frankie bleed out onto the stairs.

  FORTY-FIVE

  ALONZO HAD EXPECTED LAKIM TO DRIVE BACK to the projects where King held council, but instead, he jumped on the FDR and headed downtown. He’d tried quizzing his brother about the big meeting, but all he could get out of him was “King will explain when we get there.” Generally, Lakim couldn’t wait to boast on whatever plans they had brewing, but he was tightlipped about this one, which immediately raised Alonzo’s antennas. He and Lakim had come from the same womb, so the thought of his brother betraying him never entered his mind, but he didn’t like going into situations blindly, no matter who was leading him.

  Their journey ended in a housing project on the Lower East Side, where they parked and headed inside the projects. Alonzo wasn’t familiar with that particular project, but he could tell that Lakim had been there more than a few times by the way he expertly navigated the maze. The brothers ventured deeper into the heart of the projects to a playground. There were a group of men loitering on the playground, some he recognized and some he didn’t. Off to the side he spotted Ashanti. When they made eye contact, Ashanti gave Alonzo a look that he didn’t like. King James stood off to the side speaking to a Spanish cat. When he noticed Lakim and Alonzo enter the park, he excused himself and moved to intercept them.

  “Peace, peace.” King gave Lakim dap, then Alonzo.

  “What’s good, King?” Alonzo greeted him.

  “You tell me. We ain’t seen too much of you lately,” King said.

  Alonzo shrugged. “I been around, just lying low like you told us to.”

  “So I’ve noticed. I guess it ain’t been too hard for you to get MIA since you’ve been so preoccupied lately, huh?”

  Alonzo was thrown by the question. “What do you mean by that?” he asked King, but his eyes involuntarily cut to Ashanti who had just joined them.

  “I’m talking about your shorty. You’ve been kicking it heavy with the joint from Brick City, haven’t you?”

  Alonzo was both relieved and surprised. “How’d you know?”

  King smirked. “C’mon, God. You know I make it a point to know what my peoples are up to at all times.”

  “So what’s up? I know you didn’t call me all the way down here to ask me about my love life. What’re we doing here, and what’s up with all them Germans?” Alonzo was speaking of the Spanish cats who were out there with them.

  “We’re holding a war council, what does it look like?” King motioned to the hardened faces congregating around them. “It seems as if things have heated up unexpectedly. Somebody hit Shai Clark’s card game last night. You heard about that?” King stared at Alonzo as if he could see directly into his soul.

  Alonzo hesitated. “Yeah, I heard about it.”

  “The whole hood is talking about it. These cats had to be some real cowboys or real stupid to disrespect Shai so blatantly. Now, I’d love for our team to take the credit for something so brazen, but I know none of my young boys would jump out the window like that, especially without my approval . . . would they?”

  Alonzo opened his mouth to say something, but King James stopped him with a raised finger.

  “Before you answer,” King James continued, “just know that loyalty and honesty are all I’ve ever asked or expected in exchange for eating off my plate.”

  Alonzo started to gamble on a lie, but when he saw the hurt look in King’s eyes he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “I took the spot,” he confessed.

  King shook his head as Alonzo confirmed what he already knew. “Zo, are you fucking stupid? If I was able to find out you were there, how many other muthafuckas do you think placed you at the scene? Do you know what Shai Clark is gonna do to you if he finds out you were there?”

  “Then he’s gonna have to do it to both of us, because I was there too.” Ashanti stepped forward.

  King looked at the two of them as if they had both lost their minds. “It’s a fucking mutiny.” He threw his hands up in frustration. “I hear there were three of you. Who was the other cat?”

  “Just some nigga I was locked up with,” Alonzo lied. King didn’t look like he believed him, but that was the story he intended to stick to.

  “Who’s to say this clown y’all rode out with decides to start running his mouth?” King asked.

  “Nah, niggaz like him don’t break,” Ashanti assured him.

  “You willing to bet your life on it?”

  “Absolutely,” Ashanti said without hesitation.

  “Good, because you just did. I won’t have nobody’s careless-ass antics fucking up my grove, Ashanti, feel me?”

  “Yeah,” Ashanti nodded. He didn’t miss the threat in King’s tone.

  “Fuck it, we can’t do much about it now other than damage control. It’s only a matter of time before Shai puts this together . . . if he hasn’t already, so the first thing we need to do is get dumb and dumber out of his reach.” He pointed at Alonzo and Ashanti respectively.

  “I got a bitch who stays down in Philly that they can crash with for a week or so until we sort this out,” Lakim offered.

  “Bet, get on it,” King told him.

  “Wait a second. I don’t remember agreeing to go nowhere. If Shai wanna get it on, then I’m gonna stay right here. I ain’t no coward.”

  “Zo, we ain’t trying to son you, but this is for your own good. You a working dude now, Zo, and instead of encouraging you to keep at that, I let you get caught up in this bullshit,” Lakim said sadly. “This isn’t a request, baby bro.” Lakim placed his hand on Alonzo’s shoulder.

  “La, I love you for wanting to look out for me, but I’m not the same kid brother you used to send to stay with relatives whenever you went to war in the streets. I carry my own weight.”

  “Zo, I know you’re a tough nut, but I’m not sure if you’re built for where this is about to go.”

  Alonzo looked his brother dead in the eyes and spoke slowly and clearly
so that there was no misunderstanding. “I’m built for more than even you understand, big bro. I wasn’t given the name Zo-Pound; I earned it. Thanks for the ride down, but I’ll take the train back to Harlem.” He walked off.

  Ashanti stood there looking confused. He wasn’t sure if he should follow Alonzo or stay with King and Lakim. He looked at King with questioning eyes.

  “You know damn well you wanna follow him, so go ahead,” King told him. He watched as Ashanti jogged off to catch up with Alonzo. They were promising soldiers and would make more promising generals but only when they outgrew the ignorance of youth.

  “You believe that shit about the third dude being some nigga Zo was locked up with?” Lakim asked King once Alonzo and Ashanti had gone.

  “Hell, no,” King said.

  “Who do you think it was?”

  King took a long pause. “I have a theory, but I hope I’m wrong.”

  FORTY-SIX

  IF THERE HAD EVER BEEN A SHADOW of a doubt in Animal’s mind as to what Shai’s true intentions were, seeing the massive scrap yard looming in the distance removed it. Before he even approached the gates he could smell the stench of death reeking from the place. Shai meant to make the yard Animal’s final resting place, and even knowing this didn’t stop him from coming.

  His cell phone vibrated on the center console. Animal looked at the caller ID and hit ignore. Ashanti and Zo had been taking turns blowing his phone up all day, but he hadn’t answered any of their calls. The two young men had pledged their loyalties to Animal and their lives to his cause. For as noble as their selfless acts had been, Animal didn’t fool himself. It was a fool’s mission that he was on, and the chances of survival were slim to none. They were good soldiers but too young to die, so he left them and made other arrangements.

  Animal pulled up to the high gate and flashed the headlights on the rental twice, as he had been instructed to. A few seconds passed, then Animal heard the engine that powered the automatic gate roar to life. Gravel crunched under the tires of the rental as Animal drove slowly into the yard. Though it was nearly pitch-black, he could see figures moving around in the shadows. There had to be at least a dozen of them, give or take. He absently rubbed the grip of one of the Pretty Bitches for comfort. Behind him the automatic gate rolled closed, letting him know he had reached the point of no return.