by Nikki Turner
“What kinda message some random ho got for me?” Ginger got loud and stood up.
“Sit your ass down, Ginger. Well, umm, she said to tell your special brand he/she butt the next time you jump on two women at a funeral home, you gonna get your ass handed to you on a silver platter.”
“Oh, hell, naw! Not that lightweight bitch of all bitches! Her and her girl don’t want it with me, Bunny, or Tallhya timid ass no more.”
Simone told Bunny and Ginger all the things the smart-talking female was blowing out of her mouth. When she had them good and heated about that, Simone hit them with the fact the skank was with Walter. “Yup, y’all. And then boom went the dynamite! I was on that trick’s head. He started bad-mouthing all of us and Tallhya, and that raggedy good thieving buster even had the balls to drag Me-Ma’s name through the mud.”
“One day soon, Walter gonna get his for messing over our family,” Bunny vowed, meaning every word she was saying. “As soon as I get rid of this other situation I got brewing tonight, his nickel-slick ass is next! I’m sick and tired of motherfuckers thinking they can just do or say any damn thing, and it ain’t gonna be any consequences to they actions. That shit is a wrap with me. I ain’t buying off into the crap anymore.”
Simone immediately peeped game and fell back. She took Bunny’s tone and demeanor as an indicator someone or something was gonna feel her sister’s unpredictable vicious wrath really soon. “Look, sis, me and Ginger done hogged all the conversation. You did call us over here to talk. So why don’t you fill us in on what really jumped off at the strip club last night—your version?”
“I will. First, let me get us a taste of a little something so we can get our minds right. I’m about to put in some more work tonight; some overtime in the gangsta department. And I’ma need for y’all to have my back.” Bunny got up disappearing into the kitchen to grab the much-needed spirits. Seconds later, she returned with a chilled bottle and three glasses in hand. “Everybody take a few sips because what I’m about to tell y’all about to probably be the realest shit the Banks sisters ever about to do.”
Simone took a deep breath as she stared into Bunny’s eyes, “Realer than robbing a bank, setting up a drug dealer, and killing our own mother? Damn, sis, pour me two glasses!”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I don’t know why I let that mess go down. That entire thing was nothing more than the devil working on me. I should have never given in, Lord. I don’t know how I was so weak. I know I’ve been fornicating with various women, some even married, in my congregation, but like I said, I’m weak. God help me. The devil has been riding my back constantly and won’t give up. Please save me from his evil clutches. I’m begging for your divine mercy. That atrocity disguising itself as a woman is no more than a shepherd for Satan. He’s a roadblock for your ultimate plan for me. Perched down on bended knees, Pastor Street’s fingers locked tightly. In tears, his silent pleas for forgiveness for his homosexual sins his religion condemned bounced off the inside of his brain louder than any noise he’d heard before.
With the wetness of his tears soaking the front of his expensive silk shirt he didn’t know what to do or what to say next. Pastor Street had not only disrespectfully violated the inner sanctuary of the church, but also the Word of God. He felt he’d smeared the name of Jesus Christ in his office. He and Ginger were both sinners, yet he could only repent for himself. I know this thing is gonna come back to bite me in the ass—excuse my language, God—but you know my heart. I know I’ve been here before in this same type of situation a few years back, but this is much different. I don’t know. I just don’t know.
* * *
“Hey, baby, I thought I’d find you here. Why didn’t you answer my calls?” One of his female parishioners, the church bookkeeper, tapped him on the shoulder with her set of building keys in hand.
“Oh, hey, what are you doing here?” Cassius looked up, shocked someone was inside the locked building with him, yet alone seeing him like he was.
“Oh my God, why are you crying? What’s wrong, baby?” Katrina leaned over, attempting to wipe his face but was met with him avoiding her touch.
“Nothing is wrong with me, Katrina. I’m just praying, that’s all,” he lied, not knowing what else to say. After all, it wasn’t like he could be honest with her . . . or anyone else, for that matter. What was he gonna say; I’m asking God to remove craving the taste of a hard dick in my mouth? Hell, naw. That declaration of truth could never work. Pastor Cassius Street announcing that statement would be the scandal of the church, the city, state, and the world.
“Well, I hope you were praying for this hot and wet pussy right here.” She raised her skirt, revealing that she had no panties on. Using one finger, she slowly traced the outline of her cat, hoping to arouse the man she’d been sleeping with for the past six months after she persuaded him to stop sneaking around with the elder deacon’s granddaughter. Offering him her retirement fund equity for new clothes and the down payment on a summer home near the coast, she felt he was hers.
Trapped by his guilt, he looked away from her. Still wanting forgiveness for his sinful ways, he focused his sights on the hand carved cross that adorned the pulpit. Feeling like he needed strength, he whispered for God to help him be strong enough to say no to this temptation. “Umm, look, I’m not trying to be rude, but not now. I have a gang of things on my plate I’m dealing with.”
“Like what?” Katrina fired back with persistence, ready to get her sexual needs satisfied. “I know whatever you’re dealing with ain’t better than what I got for you!”
“Please, Katrina, not now. Why don’t you just go home, and I’ll see you at service tomorrow? I need to be alone to think, please.”
Not readily wanting to take no for an answer, she asked him if he was sure of his decision, this time exposing her lace bra with her double Ds practically spilling out of her unbuttoned blouse. Finally convincing her he wasn’t interested in any sexual exploits for the evening, he walked the horny female to the door. Being a gentleman, he watched the church’s loyal but promiscuous bookkeeper to her car.
Going back into the church, then his office to sit down, his heart and mind were heavy. Knowing he needed to relax, the pastor reached for his Bible for comfort. Before he knew what was happening, he’d lost his religion once more. Wild flashbacks of Ginger and him doing what they did the prior night commandeered his brain. Without reservations of betraying his promise to the Lord, the preacher’s right hand was tightly wrapped around his manhood as the left gripped at the tissue-thin pages of God’s Word.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Shocked at the incredible bombshell updates Bunny told them, Simone and Ginger were basically speechless. Her dramatic tales of the last thirty-six hours were that which Academy Award–winning movies were made of. Disclosing the blow-by-blow details of the moments leading up to her going into the women’s bathroom at the strip club, until the very second she caused Tiffany to take her last breath, the pair sat motionless.
Simone’s jaw dropped wide open while Ginger bit at the sides of her acrylic fingernails. They couldn’t believe the nerve Bunny had to pull such a bold feat, knowing there were so many people around. Then have the balls to have the dead girl’s bracelet and earrings on the table, saying they were “souvenirs” of the great night she’d had butchering the female. The sheer determination that festered inside Bunny’s soul to avenge Spoe’s untimely death was to be admired by any gangster that hustled around the entire country. She seemed to be operating on a much different mental brain wave than they were. Bunny was focused. The one-track-mind vixen was set on taking those out she felt was responsible for Spoe’s death from the land of the living. As they listened to her new plans to bring Dino to task next, the plot thickened and attitudes heightened.
“That piece of slimy gutter trash thought she was just gonna walk these city streets free and clear? Walk around here carefree like she ain’t did jack shit to me and mines? I don’t freaking think so.
Not on my motherfucking watch. Trust that!” Bunny’s rage could be felt with each word that flowed off her angrily poked lips. “She be setting niggas up and think the shit is all good.” Bunny saw the expressions on Simone and Ginger’s faces and still tried to justify her thought process. “I see how y’all looking at me. I mean, I know Spoe wasn’t no damn saint, not by a long shot. I know he and Tariq was going around robbing dudes and getting paid, but they wasn’t killing nobody like that nigga, Dino, did. Y’all know they was on some take-and-go type of shit; robbery—not murder.”
“Bunny, you know I love you—me and Ginger both,” Simone stated as Ginger nodded in total agreement. “But you do know the people Spoe and Tariq robbed probably had to pay someone back that money or get killed. They had bills to pay and financial obligations to their families whether they were drug dealers or not so—”
“That is true, Bunny,” Ginger spoke up, also not trying to seem as if she was going against her blood or contradict her statements. “We love Spoe and his homeboy, Tariq, just like you, but—”
“Say what now?” Jumping up from the table, knocking over her chair, Bunny was starting to get irate. She could hardly contain herself from screaming at the top of her lungs. “Seriously, y’all? For real? That’s fucked up. Y’all ain’t got my back now?”
“Naw, Bunny, wait,” Ginger protested, but sadly, it fell upon deaf ears.
“Naw, girl, you wait. Y’all sitting here at the table in the condo my baby paid for with that stolen money talking against him! That’s foul as hell!”
“Bunny, whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, love. It ain’t like that,” Simone also tried relentlessly to defuse her sister’s anger, but it wasn’t working. “We are just saying that—”
“Naw, sis. That’s real messed up. Now y’all starting to sound like that pole-swinging-for-dollars tramp, Tiffany . . . blaming Spoe for his own death.”
“Bunny, please stop talking like that,” Simone begged, not liking this side of her sister she was seeing. “You taking what we saying the wrong damn way. Calm down.”
“What other way is it to take? I heard what y’all said!”
“Bunny, stop it! You bugging out for nothing!”
“Naw, y’all straight tripping; acting like he wanted to die or something. I thought y’all had my back. I can’t believe y’all two funny-acting bitches right about now! Ain’t this some real bullshit!”
Simone loved her sister dearly. She always did and always showed Bunny the utmost respect. The honest fact that she and Spoe lived off ill-gotten gain didn’t bother Simone one bit. Although she tried her best to never need to borrow anything from her generous sister because of its origins, she never once judged. Even when she found out she needed the special medical procedures, she didn’t want to turn to them. However, she did find a small bit of contempt for Bunny as of late. Even though they’d made a pact since small kids, Bunny was stretching the needle-drawn blood bond to the limits. Me-Ma was a strong supporter of their family charter; if one of the Banks was mad, they were all mad; if one fought, the other fought; and if one was hurt or in trouble, they all were. Bunny had them rob the bank to pay off her and Spoe’s debt to Ghostman, which resulted in them having no choice but to eliminate their own mother, Deidra, and her sidekick, Lenny.
Now she wanted them to aid her in making sure this dread-head guy from New York received the same fate as their recently departed mother. “Look, Bunny, you going way too far with this. You need to slow down and think this plan through. We’re already living on the edge of the shit we’ve done recently. It ain’t been nothing but God that has stopped us all from being in handcuffs and facing life in prison. Why push our luck? You gotta think! Please!”
Bunny’s verbal tirade aimed at her siblings continued. Unable and unwilling to endure any more of the unwarranted attack, Ginger also got in his emotions. Subscribing to the same thought process as Ginger, Simone headed toward the front door, signaling to Ginger she was ready to go. As Ginger reached for the car keys, Bunny ran over, blocking the way.
“Hey, now, I don’t give a shit if y’all two weak punks wanna go against the grain. It’s all the way good with me. I like rolling solo anyhow. But the other thing I need to know is when we splitting up the bread from the bank robbery? I got shit to do with my share—tonight.”
Simone twirled around on her heels ready to put Bunny’s hissy fit to rest. “Hey, what did we all agree upon? You wanna get us all knocked or something because you having one of your famous temper tantrums? That shit ain’t right, sis, neither is this shit you trying to pull!”
Bunny stood back out of the way of the door. She was a few seconds away wanting to jump on both Simone and Ginger if she didn’t get her way. With her arms now folded, daring them to leave without an answer to her question was definitely going to be a gateway to doing just that. “Temper tantrum? Is that what you think I’m doing by asking for my share of the money? Ain’t that a fucking trip!”
“Look, you crazy-acting bitch,” Ginger interrupted, anxious to go back to Me-Ma’s and log onto his laptop. “You keep running around here tonight saying we being fake and we ain’t keeping it a hundred with you. And we ain’t keeping it real—”
“Yeah? Well, y’all ain’t!”
“Wait, hold up, bitch. I ain’t done with what I’m saying.”
“Well, speed the hell up, then. I told y’all I got shit to handle tonight! I need mines!”
“Okay, girl. Now you trying to strong-arm and act a fool so you can get what you calling your share of the money. Is that right?”
Bunny sucked her teeth, knowing she needed some extra money to floss with later tonight if she hoped to pull off her plan to entrap Dino at his prebirthday party. “Yeah, so what? I need some of my share. What’s the fucking big deal? I held my own just like y’all did that day. Now I want to get paid. What’s due me!”
“The big fucking deal is I’m about to give you a double dose of reality in your keeping-it-real diet.” Ginger’s usually feminine-toned voice was three octaves deeper as she began to read Bunny. “You know good and damn well we had a plan. Now me and Simone got stuff we need to do too, but you don’t see us breaking the plan or no bullshit like that. And if you wanna keep shit official, bitch, your greedy ass done spent your share when you paid Ghostman ass off. Or did you just conveniently forget about that huge chunk of money that went to you? Do you need me to jog your fucking memory?”
“What?” Bunny was dumbfounded. Momentarily silent, she then tried flipping the script like most people did when they are wrong and caught out there. “What are you talking about, Gene? That shit was my idea in the first place, so what? Y’all lucky I cut y’all a piece!”
Ginger immediately got more pissed at his sister and the situation in general. Here, Bunny was wrong as two left shoes and had the nerve to post up and call him by his government name, no less. “Oh, hell, naw! I know you ain’t trying to diss me for keeping it real and not being fake like you said we was being. That’s real fucked up, but it’s all good in the hood, bitch. Do you! Matter of fact, Miss Keeping it Real, do you until the wheels fall off that motherfucker. But don’t come crying to me when your ass get handled to you by that New York nigga that don’t mind spilling blood, because I’ma prance my pretty ass to the other side of the room like I don’t know you! For sure!”
Simone wanted to be peacemaker, however, she saw that might be a losing battle. Bunny had called them out, and that was that in Ginger’s eyes. “Look, sis, how much of the money do you need? Maybe you can just spend a little bit.”
“Naw, Simone, don’t give in to this crybaby-acting bitch!”
“Fuck you, Ginger!”
“Naw, fuck you twice as hard, Bunny! You bugging! Simone, like I said, don’t give this rat nothing. She already cashed her share out since she wanna be all technical and shit! Let’s keep that shit one hundred!”
Simone stepped in between the two before they came to blows. “Come on, y’all, chill out. We supposed
to be family, remember? Us against the world. Maybe we can take a little out of the stash right away.”
Bunny reached her hand over placing it on the doorknob. After twisting it, she swung the door open hard, causing the brass decorative knob to knock a hole in the plastered wall. “Naw, you and this greedy whore Ginger can keep that bread. I’m tight on both y’all. Trust me, I’ma make a way to do what I gotsta do; you can believe that much. Unlike you two that sit around and wait for some random faggot nigga or your dead daddy’s wife to issue me out money, I make my own!”
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” Simone tried once more to make peace after Ginger was halfway down the driveway stepping to the car. She wanted to blurt out that she possibly had cancer and wanted to use some of the illegal funds for treatment but just decided to let it go and let Bunny bug out.
“It’s just like that, Simone. I’m good. You can be gone like Ginger over there. I guess at the end of the day, all the family I truly had was Spoe and Me-Ma. And considering they both gone, I guess I’m solo out in this world. Now get the fuck on and watch a bitch work!”
* * *
Absolutely no words passed between Simone and Ginger on the ride from Bunny’s condo. Both concentrating on different issues and concerns, being quiet was a welcome change from the boisterous tirade they’d just endured from their sister. After arriving back at Me-Ma’s, Simone went straight up to her room to count and divide up the rest of the money they had left from the bank robbery. If Bunny was to come over and try acting a fool once more and breaking the agreement, Simone would be happy to just give her what she had coming and send her on her slap-happy way.
Ginger was already planning, plotting, and scheming from earlier in the afternoon. No sooner than the mailman had delivered several pieces of mail into the box, Ginger flipped through the various envelopes. Unexpectedly, he was met with one letter in particular that sent him damn near into a rage; a rage that could easily rival his wayward sister Bunny’s contempt for seemingly the world. As if things were awkward enough between him and the good Pastor Street, now the fake man of the cloth had the real estate office sending a letter of an upcoming eviction notice and warning if they didn’t vacate the property after receiving the notice, the church will be forced to get lawyers involved. From the moment Ginger had torn open the beige-colored document, he knew what had to be done.