by Shay Hunter
“You know I understand, I just wish you told me.”
“It’s not everyday you can tell a bitch you set your boyfriend’s brother up for more time. I’m just proving a point that Killer is my only focus. Scholar was cool but he can keel over in jail for all I care.”
“Since you being honest who told you I got a new dude?” I pointed at her. “Because I know you didn’t get the info yourself.”
“You gonna curse him out if I tell you?”
She scooted closer to me and our knees touched. “Tell me, bitch. You making me mad now.”
“Stephen.”
She leaned back. “The janitor?” She yelled.
“Yeah, you know he got it in for me so he dropped the info to make conversation with me.”
“I hate crab ass niggas.” She paused. “How a grown ass man gonna tell a female what another one is doing in her private life? These lames are too plentiful nowadays. I can’t take them anymore. I just can’t.”
“Me either, but he only said something because he’s about to leave and open that body shop. But it ain’t nothing but a death trap. Stephen’s a killer too.”
“I don’t give a fuck. I hate niggas who don’t mind their—”
“Sprinkles, what you still doing here?” Kitten asked as she ran into my dressing room. She looked like she was about to pass out and I was immediately on edge.
“What you talking about?”
With heavy breaths she leaned on the door and said, “You didn’t hear? Somebody just tried to kill your nigga!”
CHAPTER NINE
CUPID
I was in my plastic surgeon’s office going over some options for my look. With the New Year coming around soon I wanted to finally work on me. And she was the best doctor in town. I’ve seen the girls who came out of her office and they all look great when she was done with them. And I wanted to be a part of her legacy.
“You need to understand that this procedure is not permanent and you will need to use it regularly to maintain your skin tone. It’s expensive but you can obtain the desire color you want.” The doctor sat in the chair across from mine. “But can I ask you a serious question before we proceed?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” I texted on my phone.
“Why are you doing this?”
My eyes widened and I looked at her. “Doing what?”
“This process…your skin is so—”
I laughed and focused back on my phone. “You red bitches kill me. Every time a chick wants to better herself there ya’ll go with the hating shit. If you want to be black than a mothafucka burn it up, bitch. But I know you getting perks with your complexion. So don’t play me.”
She frowned. “Excuse me?”
“You heard what I said. You continue to ask the chocolate girls why we want to be light skin and I’m starting to believe it’s because you don’t want us to reap any of the benefits you do now.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Well I’m tired of the judgmental shit. I want the life you have and with me being a dancer I have to look the part and this is a part of it.” I focused back on the phone. “Now are you gonna tell me what’s the next step or not?”
She laughed. “Ignorance at it’s finest.”
I frowned. “What you just say to me?” I dropped the phone in my purse.
“Ms. Sampson, let me be very clear. I don’t know what chocolate girls think is going on in the light skin world but I can assure you this, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. We get cheated on just like you. We get dumped just like you and we have problems finding good men just like you. Outside of the occasional man who says that he prefers his woman light or white, there isn’t anything great happening in our world. Trust me.” She paused. “And I refuse to believe as attractive as you are that at the very least not one man has complimented you on your beauty.”
I thought about my customers at Skeezers and how men did seem to respond to me. In my opinion it’s still different but I did have a little fan club or whatever. I just wanted to be lighter so that I could finally get Killer to look at me the way he does Sprinkles.
“I do alright but it’s not the same. White girls and light girls get talked about more in music and everywhere else. You hardly see a dark chick on a millionaire’s arm.”
She laughed. “It’s amazing what the media portrays.” She stood up and walked toward her desk before sitting behind it. “You don’t hear about Donovan and Roxie McNabb or David and Lesley West.” She paused. “Let me tell you something, if you look for examples of what you aren’t you’ll find the examples every time.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…what’s up with the cream? Ain’t nobody come here to listen to all of this shit. I don’t know if I gave you the impression that I got time to waste but let me be clear. I’m a really busy bitch.”
She shook her head and laughed. “The cream is $230.00 plus tax but for the procedure you want to speed up the lightening process you’ll need $1,600.”
My eyes widened. “But I don’t have that right now.”
She shrugged. “Oh, the problems of a poor little dark girl,” she said sarcastically. “I’m sure you’ll be okay.”
Red bitch!
****
I was outside of the doctor’s office when I noticed the tires on my car were flattened. “Fuck! Who did this shit?” I yelled. There was nobody in sight so I was screaming to myself more than anything. “I can’t believe this!”
When I lowered my head to take a closer look I noticed knife marks in the tread. This was definitely deliberate. Standing up straight I stomped over to a donut shop in the same center.
I called Sprinkles several times to come scoop me since she didn’t have to dance for another four hours. But she was probably caught up with Killer because ever since somebody tried to take his life he’d been going out less and staying home more.
It had been one week since someone drove by his car and fired it up and I hadn’t seen him at the club or anywhere else since. And when I tried to reach him he wouldn’t answer the phone.
What did I do wrong?
I was wondering what I was going to do when Ohio walked into the shop. She went straight to the counter and ordered her donuts. She was about to walk out when I said, “Hey, girl…come here for a second.” I waved and spread a fake smile on my face like we were cool.
She looked at me and rolled her eyes. I wasn’t surprised because she didn’t get up with us black girls too much at the club. The fucked up part was Ohio was cool but the roles niggas played with wanting only this or that sometimes put us into the rival category. In other words the customers who wanted only white girls would not settle for anything else, including light girls and that caused problems. Being a stripper was tough work.
“Hey, Cupid.” She sounded dry as shit.
“Sit down…” I said kicking out her chair.
She frowned. “Why? You mad at me for something?”
I shook my head. “Why a bitch gotta be mad? We work together, Ohio. All I want to do is kick it with you. I haven’t seen you in days.”
She flopped into the seat but her body language was telling me that she didn’t trust me. And why should she? I didn’t like her ass either. “What you want for real? Because if we not friends on the inside I’m not understanding why we’d be friends now.”
I sighed. “Alright let me be real. My car fucked up and I need a lift. You gonna help me or not?”
She laughed. “Ain’t this something? Let me find out that you had to kiss a piece of my white ass just to get a ride.” She shook her head. “Sounds like your car trouble is bad news. I’m really sorry to hear about it. So what you gonna do about that?”
“I was hoping you’d give me a lift.”
She giggled harder. “Cupid, you don’t say two words to me at the club.” She pulled out a glazed donut and took a bite. “For real if it’s not Sprinkles or her man you don’t talk to nobody. So tell me…why should I help you?”
My eyes widened a
nd I remembered she did catch me flirting with Killer in the past. Since as far as I know it never got back to Sprinkles I thought she forgot about it. I guess not.
“Did you tell anybody I was dealing with Killer at the club? Because somebody fucked up my car on purpose.”
She seemed insulted and slammed the other half of her donut down on the bare table. “What I look like telling anybody you were messing with Killer when for real I ain’t even know? The last I heard he was just fucking you on the side but giving Sprinkles all the glory. Who would talk about that? It’s boring at best.”
She was really trying my patience and since it was obvious I wasn’t getting a lift I decided to go on her ass. “You got that. Me and killer do what we do but don’t act like you ain’t fuck him before too.”
“You’re right. But at least I’m not faking best friends with his girl. You’re the worst kind of snake, Cupid. You smile in her face everyday and on every other day you got her dudes’ dick in your mouth. No morals.”
She was silent for a little while but I knew she was thinking of something else smart to say. “You know what, Ohio, you better get up from this table before I—”
“Before you do what, bitch?” she yelled. “Because I gotta hear this.”
I don’t know what came over me but the next thing I knew I had Ohio’s natural blonde hair in my fingers. I pulled and tugged as hard as I could until I pulled out her hair in bunches from the roots.
I could hear someone yell to call the cops and I was about to run away until she bit down on my inner thigh. After screaming my head off I wiggled away and bit down on her shoulder. We were chomping, scratching and clawing at each other until we both oozed blood.
And it was all over Killer.
CHAPTER TEN
SPRINKLES
I can’t believe Cupid is in a donut shop fighting Ohio’s white ass. Where they do that at?
When she asked me to come get her and post her bail I was irked. She knew I didn’t have time for this shit. Not only was I mad at her for me having to put up money I didn’t want to spend but also Killer was with me and he was annoyed.
After the attempted hit on his life he didn’t let me go too many places alone. He said he couldn’t trust anyone. When I danced at the club he had one of his friends take me and wait outside when I was done just to make sure I got home safely. Shit was tight in our household and now this.
“So she didn’t tell you why she was fighting the white girl?” Killer asked as he steered the car down the road. It was the first time he’d come out in a week so I was happy to have his company but surprised he wanted to go. “Because things aren’t adding up.”
“Nope, just that she was at a cosmetic surgeon and—”
“A cosmetic surgeon for what?” he yelled. “Bitches always fucking up they shit.”
His tone shocked me because he acted like Cupid going to see one was totally ridiculous. Cupid was pretty no doubt but all girls could use a little maintenance every now and again. “I don’t know why she’s going but I guess she had her reasons.”
He shook his head with disgust. “I don’t understand why chicks stay putting shit in their bodies and faces. If you ever did that shit we over. I’m serious about that. Don’t nobody want a hundred percent plastic bitch.”
“It’s a personal preference, Killer and everybody got them.” I paused. “Anyway I wanna hear you talk that same shit when I turn 40. When things start falling and not looking the same.”
He nodded. “Well you ain’t 40 now and I want everything on my bitch to be real.”
When we pulled up in front of the police station I saw Ohio talking to an older white man and woman with red hair. I figured they must’ve been her parents because of the way they were yelling at her. We parked next to their car and I tried to eavesdrop but nothing made sense. “I’m gonna go pay Cupid’s bail. If you can find out why they were fighting.”
I walked inside of the precinct, filled out the necessary paperwork and slid them the $1000 bill required to get Cupid out. I fully expected her to pay me back my rack the moment she got the paper. I still can’t believe she got into a fight with Ohio of all the bitches because although nobody liked her, she never started trouble. Ohio made her money and stayed to herself.
What changed?
When she finally came out of the back she seemed angrier than I was. Considering I was the one who just dropped the cash I thought her mood was a joke. She signed a few documents, got back her phone and purse and walked over to me. “Thank you, girl. I thought I would be in there forever. I really appreciate this shit.”
“Don’t thanks girl me.” I stood in front of her. “Do you know that me and Killer was home cooking dinner when you called? We had to get out of the bed just to come down here.”
She smiled. “He came too?”
“Yes and he’s mad about it, Cupid. It’s not a game. You don’t do shit like this. You’re too old to be fighting some chick you work with in the streets. What if you killed her?”
“You going too far now. Ain’t nobody gonna kill that bitch. But I do know this…if she would’ve caught me near my car I might’ve took her out.”
“I’m not going too far and this ain’t a joke. Look at where we are, Cupid. We in our twenties now. What we look like fighting broads on the floor in a donut shop?”
“We weren’t fighting as far as I remember. I was.”
“You know what I mean.” I paused. “And what was this all about?”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it, Sprinkles. And if you so worried about the money don’t be because I’m gonna pay you back everything.”
“Oh I already know I’m getting my ends back so that’s a non factor. I was just hoping since I did you a favor by breaking my day to come scoop you that you would show me a little respect and tell me why. But I guess it doesn’t matter anyway because Killer outside right now finding out the ‘‘T’. I guess I’ll know in a little while.”
“Finding out the ‘T’ how?”
“Because Ohio outside…she must’ve gotten locked up too and her family is—”
She looked like she saw a ghost as she ran outside of the precinct before I could finish my sentence. I don’t know what she was trying to hide but it’s obvious she didn’t want Killer to find out. Since he was her boss at Skeezers I figured it had something to do with work.
When we got there Ohio was talking to Killer passionately and I wondered what was being said. The moment I walked up she turned toward me, looked at Cupid and cleared her throat. “Well I’m gone, Killer. Thanks for listening.”
Cupid moved close to Ohio but she kept her distance. I don’t know what went down at that donut shop but I could tell it was deeper than I thought.
“You should go ahead and get in your car, Ohio.” Cupid warned and looked at her parents who were waiting. “I know I don’t have to tell you again. Especially after everything we just been through.”
“Just leave it alone, Cupid,” Killer yelled. His voice was deep which meant he was serious. “She leaving anyway.”
“Well she should move faster before we go another round. That’s all I’m saying.”
Ohio smirked. “Sprinkles, you got my number. Call me whenever you want. I’m sure we’d have lots to talk about.” She stormed away and got in the car with her parents.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I said out loud.
Killer shook his head and wiped his hand down his face. “Let’s just get in the car. I got beef out here and I’m facilitating a fight between two bitches.” He sighed. “I’m hungry and don’t have time for this shit.”
****
Killer had a habit of starting a trip by driving me somewhere but at the end of the night it was me being behind the steering wheel. It use to make me mad because I could never get comfortable since I knew I would have to bring us back. I don’t care how tired I was.
The worst part is I had to dance tonight.
As Cupid sat in the ba
ck seat Killer was on the phone with Scholar. After confessing to Cupid I was always worried that my secret would come back to bite me in the ass.
So far it hadn’t.
“You got it, man,” Killer said. “I’ll work on that later but don’t be in there worrying about stuff. You got family out here, man. I’m always gonna do right by you.” He paused. “I love you too, bruh.”
Killer barely expressed love to me but when he talked to his brother he told him he loved him everyday. That was another reason I wanted him gone. I was use to it being just Killer and I. Anybody else in the picture, including his brother, meant my time was divided.
When I made it to the carryout restaurant I parked. We ordered fries and wings instead of sitting in since me and Cupid had to work. “I’ll get the food.” He slid the cell in his pocket. “Give me a second.”
I watched the black car that followed us everywhere since Killer got shot at pull up behind us. The vehicle was filled with Bryson and three of his friends I didn’t really know but was willing to do anything to protect him.
When he was gone Cupid, who had been on her phone, as usual, said, “He don’t know about what you did does he?” She paused. “Because he seemed real sad.”
See that’s why you never tell bitches shit. I wasn’t worried about Cupid violating my trust but she shouldn’t be throwing up in my face what I told her in private either. What if he had his car bugged or something? I could get caught up. “Why you being all loud and shit?”
“He’s in the carry out.” She frowned. “You act like he got Go-Go Gadget ears or something.”
“I don’t know what you talking about and I don’t care. While you’re too busy running your mouth about Killer you need to tell me what’s up with Ohio because I smell something foul.”
She looked away. “I didn’t want to tell you but since you keep pressing the subject I’ll give it to you raw. It’s been going around that you had something to do with Scholar going away.”