“Ladies, let me holla at my man for a second.” King said to Trina and Vanessa.
“Just bring him back to me King.”
“Oh, King is way too busy to keep your boy for too long.” Vanessa said to her. Trina looked Vanessa up and down and picked up an Armadale & Coke mix from the tray.
“I know he won’t. So, you must be King’s new play thing. What strip club did he find you at?” Trina asked Vanessa, and then took a sip of the drink she had just picked up.
“I’m afraid that’s more of your thing my dear. I’ve known Dwayne for years. I’m a very special woman to him.”
“Oh, that’s what they’re calling gold diggers these days. Good for you.” Trina said as she walked to the other side of the V.I.P. section.
Vanessa laughed to herself, and then refocused her attention back on Damien talking to King. Look at him. I wonder what Damien would do if he knew the truth, Vanessa thought as she mapped out her strategy in her head. She had just found her Rook in this chess game.
“It’s good to have you back home Dame. You know a lot has changed but the game is still the same. I’ma need you by my side my nigga.” King said to him.
“Yo, I’m ready to get back on my grind. The way I was hearing things inside is that nobody in New York is fucking with The Flip Set.”
“That’s right. We’ve expanded in ways you wouldn’t believe but don’t be in such a hurry. Take some time and settle yourself back into the city. I know Trina is gonna wanna keep you tied down to her bed.”
“Yeah my nigga. Her pussy is better than I remember. She got a nigga feeling for that ass. She’s a down ass bitch for real. Not too many bitches would have stuck by a nigga’s side like she did. So you back with Vanessa?”
“Yeah, Vanessa and me have a very special connection to each other. I caught up with her over in London. I know what you’re thinking Dame…After everything that happened, why be with her again.” King said to him.
“Well, you said it not me.”
“I’ve fucked with a lot of bitches and not one of them ever measured up to Vanessa. Every King needs a queen.”
“Yeah I know.” Damien said as he looked at her.
For some reason, Damien didn’t have a good feeling about her but he decided to keep it to himself for now. After the party, Trina and Damien went back to her place. Trina was glad to be away from Vanessa.
“I really don’t like that bitch.” Trina said to Damien, referring to Vanessa.
“I know. Home girl is a little too stuck up for my taste but King likes them sorta bitches.”
“Well, as long as she stays away from you there won’t be no problems.”
“Ma, she’s the last person you need to worry about. Besides, all I been thinking about all night is getting that badonkadonk of yours outta that dress.” Damien said as he palms her ass.
“That’s all you had to say baby.” Trina said and slipped out of her dress.
Damien took King’s advice and spent the next six weeks spending time with Trina at home. Then it came time for Damien to go back and do the only thing he’s ever been good at, and that’s hustling.
King had two nightclubs that he was running full-time so he didn’t have a real manager for the corners. Damien was his go to man to take charge of shit. First he had to rebuild a crew around him. Damien found these two young cats named Corey and Quan hustling out in Brooklyn, selling weed. They were rough around the edges but they kind of reminded him of Nard, Irv, and himself back in the day so he decided to put them on. Corey was the big mouth of the crew. He didn’t know when to shut up but he was down to bust shots when Damien need him to. Quan was really laid back and the smart type of dude that was reliable when he was told to do something.
Then there was Cornell who was running the block for King after Damien went in Rikers. Cornell was twenty-three years old and an up and coming drug dealer. He had a half- brother named Absolute who ran things out in Brooklyn. Cornell was a runner. He was good for transporting shit across town in his whip. He wasn’t thrilled about Damien coming home and taking over supervising the corners. As far as he was concerned, King had given him that job of field lieutenant two years ago and he was the man now. He knew Damien’s reputation in the streets, and accepted his return.
“What up folk?” Cornell asked as he greeted Damien, Quan, and Corey on the corner of the projects.
“What up? You Cornell right?”
“Yeah my nigga. I be out here running shit. Making sure these niggas stay on point.”
“So I see,” Damien replied.
“Another day, another hustle.” Cornell said as he lit up a Newport.
“So these fiends getting served right?”
“Every hour, like clockwork. These mutha’fuckas be begging’ for IOU’s but I don’t be letting that shit slide. Either you pay now or you don’t get high.” Cornell said, blowing smoke out his mouth. “Even them little niggas be trying to get slick on a nigga.”
“Little niggas?”
“Yeah, them little crack head 12 year olds think they can get over because they little. Fuck that. You gotta pay too.”
Damien could tell by listening to Cornell run off at the mouth that he was a pussy ass nigga that would sell crack to a five year old if he had the money. He could see the hate in his eyes for him. Pushing weight to kids was a line he didn’t cross.
“Yo, Corny right?”
“Naw man, its Cornell man.”
“Whatever, I need you to run up to the bodega for me and get me some Milk Duds and a Heineken a’ight?”
“What?”
“Yeah, you might as well get me a six-pack while you’re at it. You can run dat.” Damien said to him.
Quan and Corey start to laugh.
“Yeah, I got you.”
“Yo my nigga, pick me up some Now and Later's too.” Corey added.
Cornell glared at him and walked to his car.
“Yo, from now on, nobody sells to them little shorties. I catch anybody doing that shit and I’ll bust they ass a’ight.” Damien said to Corey and Quan.
“Yeah we got ya.” Quan answered.
Damien quickly reestablished the chain of command among the niggas. If they did their job right, Damien would make sure they had some money in their pockets. It felt good being in charge, but Damien couldn’t help but remember that King had told him he’d be by his side again. Not just another hustler hugging the block.
30
Half On A Baby
August 2004
Trina was Damien’s woman and he kept her looking good in Gucci, Fendi, and all the other designer brands. Only the best was good enough for his woman. After all, she held him down when he had nothing so it was only right that she get everything now that he was back on top. But lately, Trina had been feeling nauseated and sick and she knew it was more than just a stomach virus. So she went to CVS and bought herself a First Response pregnancy test. As soon as she got home, she went to the bathroom and peed on the plastic stick. One minute later, it confirmed what she thought.
“Dame, I got something I gotta tell you.” Trina said to him as he watched TV.
“What’s up ma?”
“Dame, I took a pregnancy test this morning and it came up positive.” Damien turned and looked at her.
“Word? So you saying what I think you saying?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“Oh shit! I’m a be a father!” Damien said happily.
Trina was relieved that he was happy.
“So you want this baby?”
“Of course I do. I’m gonna take care of you ma.” Damien said and kisses her lips.
As the months rolled by, Damien had the whole project clicking right. Trina was seven months pregnant and Damien was happy. King had some other business opportunities and bought a couple of day spa locations in Manhattan. Vanessa put him on to it and King went with it as a way to sell cocaine in Manhattan more easily than before. Vanessa was a smart and ambitious woman. Over the past eight months since she ha
d kept her eyes on Damien and she saw the hunger in his eyes for more power. Damien came by The Blue Angel to drop off the money they earned from the block to Vanessa like usual. Vanessa was King’s accountant like Clifford Allen was for Bishop.
“Here you go.” Damien said to Vanessa as he dropped the bag down in the office.
“How much?”
“About 45 G’s give or take a hundred.”
“Wow, you must really have them boys out there slanging hard.” Vanessa said.
“Yeah, that’s how I do it.”
“How’s Trina doing these days? Is she all big and swollen with your seed yet?”
Damien looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, she’s doing just fine. Tell King I’ll holla at him later.”
“Maybe you should treat her to some new clothes. I know she can’t fit into her old stuff anymore.” Vanessa said as she got up from behind the desk.
Today she wore a red feminine business suit with a black blouse underneath, and a matching red mini-skirt that contoured to her round ass. She sat on top of the desk and Damien’s eyes stared at her long sexy legs.
“Why are you so concerned about what Trina has to wear?”
“Well, I know it must be hard for her to go from such a lovely body to four sizes up. Well, maybe I don’t. My body is quite fit, don’t you think?” Vanessa asked as she opened her legs.
“What are you trying to pull ma? You think I’ll fuck my man’s woman? I knew you were a sheisty trick.”
“Damien, I’m not just offering you some pussy. There’s a lot of money here that should be yours.” Vanessa pointed out to him.
“Oh, so this is the part where you suggest that I kill my nigga, take his money, and fuck with you right? I ain’t a disloyal nigga. I think King is gonna wanna know what type of gold digging bitch he got counting his money.”
“You see? There you go again, calling it his money when it should be yours.”
“Don’t try and play me bitch. King has been my nigga since day one and ain’t no trick gonna come between us.”
“So you think King has always had your best interest in mind? You think he really cares about you?” Damien stared at her as he tried to figure out what kind of game she was trying to run on him now.
“What you trying to say bitch?” Vanessa got up and walked to her cabinet.
She opened it and took out some old Kodak pictures and handed them to him. Damien looks at the pictures with shock.
“This is a picture of my mother, me and…”
“Bishop.”
Damien looked at picture, and then he looked on the back and saw ‘Lamont & Darlene at Coney Island 1976’ written on it.
“Lamont,” Damien said out loud.
“Yes Dame, Lamont Ruffin, a.k.a. Bishop, your father. You worked with him for all those years and never knew. Why didn’t King tell you that before he killed him?” Damien looks at her stunned.
“King knew this?”
“Yes. I told him this years ago. I thought he would tell you too. I guess not. You were the one that was supposed to be running the business. Why do you think Bishop had you working side by side with him? He wanted his son to take over after him. Now what does King have you doing? Making deliveries.” Vanessa said to him condescendingly.
“How did you get these?”
“I was his woman for years, Dame. I stumbled across them years ago.”
“And you never said anything to me.” Damien puts the photos back down on her desk.
“It wasn’t my place to. It was Dwayne’s. Listen Dame, I’m not trying to break up your little thing you got with Trina. I just want to give you what you deserve and make a little something on the side.” Vanessa said to him.
Damien thought about all the things that could have been that were gone now. It made Damien wonder why King never told him the truth all this time. Damien looked at Vanessa seriously.
“I changed my mind.”
“Good. Let me tell you what I’ve been working on…”
Before she could finish her sentence Damien grabbed her, turned her around, and bent her over her desk.
“I will take a little pussy after all.” Damien said as he hiked her mini-skirt over her thick ass and pulled her panties to the side.
“Aaaahhhh…” Vanessa moaned out as Damien’s hard dick pushed up into her.
Damien fucked her hard and deep, pounding his dick into her pulsating pussy. Face down, ass up, Damien fucked her pussy with no concern if she was enjoying it or not. Vanessa’s legs begun to tremble uncontrollably as a mixture of pleasure and pain shot through her pussy. Damien fucked her royally. Damien withdrew and busted his nut on her ass while she lay face down on her desk, trying to recover from the experience.
“I’ll let you know when I’m ready to take you up on your offer.”
“Was cumming on my ass like that really necessary?”
“Well, you wouldn’t want to get all fat like Trina, now would you?” Damien laughed and walked out the office.
Asshole, Vanessa thought as she grabbed some napkins and wiped the cum off her ass.
31
Coming Of Age
April 2005
Trina gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Harlem Hospital. They decided to name him Darius Taye Ruffin. Damien had never been so happy in his life. He thought about what his life was like as a child, and promised himself that Darius wouldn’t have to go through that kind of childhood. Since he found out about Bishop being his father, he thought about all the things he tried to teach him that he ignored.
Pops was a hustler and my mom was a dope fiend. Guess I was born to do this, Damien thought. After thinking about everything that had happened between Bishop and King, he came to the conclusion that King had done what he had to do. He wondered if King had known the truth about him beforehand. King came by the hospital to see the new baby. Damien was standing in front of the viewing window for the newborns.
“What’s up big poppa?” King said to Damien as he greets him with a man hug.
“What up my nigga?”
“So you a father now Dame. You know, everything you do now is for that little man in there.”
“Yeah I know. I’m gonna make sure he has everything I didn’t have when I was a child.”
“Well that’s what a father is supposed to do.” King said.
Damien looked at him and wondered, Did he take away everything his father was going to leave to him?
While Damien was enjoying becoming a father, his crew was still on the block holding things down. Cornell thought he was in charge when Damien wasn’t around and always tried to show out.
“Y’all need to stay focused and watch how I do this.” Cornell said to Quan and Corey.
“What? Nigga you ain’t nobody special.” Corey snapped.
“I was the one running these corners for King for two years nigga. I had this shit on lock.”
“Now you picking up Milk Duds for Damien so shut the fuck up.” Quan said to him.
Cornell knew that was the truth. As long as he was working under Damien, he would never be nothing more than a worker. It was time for the change.
For the next four months, Damien spent more time with Trina and his baby instead of on the block. Having this baby really made him think about his future and where he would be if he continued to stand on the corner hustling. King wasn’t keeping his word and making him his partner.
Vanessa’s offer to take control of the empire was starting to make more sense every day. They never finished their discussion, but Vanessa knew she got his attention. King took Vanessa down to Atlanta, Georgia for the winter and bought a house in Buckhead. Atlanta had become the new Black Mecca, and King saw the opportunity to really make a major move and lock it down. Especially in the College Park and East Point areas where the drug game was growing with no main organized cartel running things. King returned to Harlem with a plan. King called Damien down to The Blue Angel to explain to him what he had in mind.
“If we c
ome in there hard and take out all the small time dealers down, we can lock the whole city down. I already got a lieutenant from NY leading the squad down there in narcotics. And he got ten other officers in the Atlanta Narcotics department on our payroll as well. Let me tell ya, they some crooked ass mutha’fuckas down there! All I need now is for you to go in with a squad of niggas and run that shit. I need you to take charge and keep them niggas in line. You think you ready for that?” King asked Damien as he sat in the chair in front of him.
Damien thought about his offer.
“Sounds like you have everything all worked out but I just had a kid my nigga. Setting up shop down there is going to take months and Trina ain’t gonna be feeling that shit.”
“Well think about your seed Damien. After you do this, you gonna have more money than ever to take care of him. Trina will get over that shit as soon as she starts seeing all that loot you gonna be bringing home. Listen Dame, I could get some other nigga to go down there but you’re the only nigga I trust to get shit done.” Damien stared King in the eyes and thought about what he said to him.
“A’ight, I’m in. Just make sure you right about this shit.”
“When have I ever let you down?” King asked and held out his hand for him.
“Word is bond my nigga.” Damien shook his hand and smiled. Then thinks to himself, Have you ever had my best interest in mind? Now the hard part will be telling Trina I’m going to Atlanta.
“What the fuck do you mean you’re going to Atlanta?” Trina yelled at Damien in their living room.
Trina was livid at the whole idea of him going down south. It was no less then what Damien expected her to be.
“Listen, King got big plans for us down there.”
“Has he forgotten that we just had a baby four months ago? We need you here Damien!”
“What do you think I’m doing this shit for? So I can make this money so we can take care of Taye.”
“You act like we’re broke or some shit! King doesn’t give a fuck about you or us! He’s just using you to go down there and do his dirty work. What if you get killed or locked up down there? What am I supposed to do then, huh? I can’t go through this shit again Dame. I stood by your side for seven years Dame! I can’t do that shit again!”
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